บท 34: The Girl? Part Two

Age 1991

"I'm kind of worried about Hero," Ken said letting out a tiny sigh.

"Relax. I'm sure he'll be fine." Nick said causally as they stepped under a sunroof, finally managing to get from out under the snow. "He's an adult... Actually, he's a sixteen-year-old child... But he's smart... Actually, he's kind of an idiot... But he's strong... Actually, I'm pretty sure anything that is an actual threat could take him, since he's not only inexperienced, he also doesn't know any kind of strategy or fighting style, and half his moves take up to much of his stamina, and break his limbs, so he can't even fight that long... But uh... Huh... Yeah, I see why you're worried."

"Hero is gonna get himself killed if he's by himself..." Ken muttered as she let out a heavy sigh. "Why does he get so stupid after every loss. He lost to Max, and stopped caring about being the strongest. He lost to Zero, and went through depression. And now he lost to that skeleton man, and he went off and wanted to be alone! How was I ever in love with that idiot!"

"You were in love with him???"

"Not the point!" She shouted.

"Oh right sorry..." Nick said sheepishly.

"I'm waiting five minutes..." Ken said going into a serious tone. "I'm gonna give that idiot five minutes to show up and then I'm going after him."

"I don't think that is a good idea..."

"I don't think your opinion is a good idea."

"...That was just rude..."

"Don't care..."

"Devil girl..."

"Dumb metal man."

"I hate you..."

Meanwhile...

"Come on," Dawson said marching out of the building.

"Where are we going?" Ren asked curiously.

"Back to the hotel. We should tell the others. Plus I bet Sif will be heading back there at this time. I'd like to tell her, and Nick what we learned, as well as consider where to go from this point on... If what the doctor said was true, then we have a lot to worry about... Especially if he is changing his attack method up... I still don't know how his abilities work, but he appears to be able to become any man hiding inside of them. More disturbingly is from what I was told after the battle Hero, had with the cop, the victims seem to still be partially conscious. At least to an extent. We still don't know if he can change that or not, or anything about how powerful he really is."

Ren gave a small nod. "This is all so worrisome... He's a complete monster who kills for fun... And thanks to this blizzard I can barely see... And worse yet my Attribute can't really do much for fighting..."

"I thought all superhuman's had an Attribute that allowed for combat?" Dawson questioned.

"No. Superhumans are the only kinds of people that can have an Attribute designed for combat. However, we don't all have battle based Attributes. We still got the superior bodies though, and access to Mantra..."

"How's your Mantra then? Can you use any of the Words of Power? Maybe use Pero?"

"I can use Fero, and tiny bit of Dero, but that's it..." Ren said shrugging. "I guess I could try to use Pero, but you know how taxing that is on the body. One wrong mistake and I could destroy myself on the inside."

"I understand," Dawson said nodding his head. "Even I have trouble using Pero for long. The only person I've seen that is any good with it has been Jackson. Then again every Storm is a master of the Words of Power, so I'm not surprised. He also has access to Noble Mantra which is way easier, to control, and way more powerful, then normal Mantra."

Ren let out a tiny laugh as a small smile managed to find its way onto her face. "Nobel's... They get all the good stuff... Well since you're able to use Fero, do you think you could see through the snowstorm?"

"I suppose I can try. Never used it for that though. My type of Fero is more on the instinctual, prediction side of things." Dawson said casually. He cupped his hands together in a prayer as he closed his eyes. "...Fero..." He said softly as a white aura covered his eyes. Suddenly in front of him, the snowstorm vanished. Or at least it appeared to vanish. He could still feel the snow hitting him, but his eyes saw through the storm. Like X-ray vision, he was able to see the unseen. "Okay. Follow me."

"You can see?"

"Yeah. I'm able to-" Dawson stopped as a heavy frown formed its way onto his face. "What? Why is she?" He grabbed Ren's hand as he marched through the storm?

"What is it? What do you see?"

Dawson ignored her as he walked forward. "Lady Sif!" He called out stepping forward.

Now that they were closer Ren could see the outline of two small figures. Sif, and Sera?

"Dawson?" The small Captain said turning to look at the man.

"My lady?" Dawson said with a tiny bit of confusion as he turned to look at Sera. "Why is she here?" He questioned.

Sif turned to look at the girl next to her. "Oh. Sera. Apparently my Vice-Captain, really, really, sucks at babysitting, and let all the recruits out. Now they are all running around the city apparently..."

"What!" Dawson said in shock. "No! We need to find them!"

"Calm down. What's wrong?" Sif asked confused?

"Lady Sif you don't understand!" Dawson said in a panicked tone. "I just found out that the Skeleton is going to strike again! He strikes on every blizzard!"

Sif's eyes slowly began to rise as she realized the gravity of the situation. "Uh oh..."

"Worse yet... He's upgrading his strategy. He's out to kill. And my guess... Is he'll be going after Hero. He seemed to be after him the other night. That boy, and anyone near him is in serious trouble." Dawson hissed out.

"This is bad..." Ren said letting out a sigh. "How did the situation end up this bad..."

"Indeed..." Sif was silent as she tried to think of a plan. "Alright. Let's search for them. And be quick about it. Who knows how much time we might actually have." Sif said calmly.

Meanwhile...

"So is this like your house or?" Hero began as the girl dragged him into the building.

The building itself was a massive wooden warehouse in the middle of the docking area, of the city. It was fairly big, offered no cold resistance, and had ice everywhere on the inside of the room. Shattered glass was also present, as well as boxes of who knows what, and wooden beams were scattered around. It did not seem like a safe place...

It also didn't seem like the kind of place any girl should have been living at. Especially in tight clothing like the one escorting Hero?

And of course because its Hero, the boy naturally didn't see how strange, and bizarre this situation was.

"Sure..." The girl said rolling her eyes. "This is my house." She stated in a very sarcastic tone that Hero belived no questions asked. She had very quickly learned just how easy it was to bs the young teen. He would just take her word on whatever she told him.

"Oh. This place is kind of cold." Hero muttured shivering slightly as he glanced around the open room. "And messy. You should clean up more. Especially if you are having guests."

"I'll keep that in mind..." The girl said slowly walking over to Hero.

Hero let out a small hum as he glanced around. His ears twitched as he listened to the ice melt slowly and drip down to the floor. He listened to his breathing, and the woman's breathing... Her breathing which seemed strained, and almost familiar. Like he had heard it before... It sounds almost like-

"Oh my God, a bicycle!" Hero announced walking over to one of the boxes and accidentally avoiding the women who made a grab for him. She slipped and fell to the floor but Hero didn't really notice as he opened the wooden box up and pulled out a shiny silver bike. "Cool. My grandpa had one of these. But it was stuck to the floor, and wouldn't move when you rode on it. He told me that an actual bike had wheels like this one does, and when you used it, you could move fast, it's also the poor man's vehicle or something like that I'd dunno?" Hero said casually setting it down and slowly climbing onto it. "Away-"

The bike tipped over causing Hero to slip and fall off of it tumbling to the floor.

"...Oww..." The Enforcer groaned slowly sitting up.

The girl frowned as she slowly scratched at her arm which was badly scraped up after her tumble. "Will you sit still!"

"Sorry..." Hero said sheepishly. He turned away from the girl as she slowly stood back up. He stopped paying attention to her as he poked at the bike, with fascination. "So these are toys, right? I was told kids played with toys and stuff. I never really got one though? I mean for White-Out, my grandpa once gave me a pair of gloves with eyes painted on so I guess that was like a toy? I still have them but they kind of just lay not doing anything. Then again this bike is laying not doing anything, so..."

"...Right..." The girl said with a heavy frown. She slowly raised her hand up as the skin around it began to slowly peel off...

"Anyways. I guess thanks for taking me here. I should get back though. There's this skeleton man who-"

Hero's eyes went wide as he ducked down. A large sharp blade-like object flew over his head as the teen turned around to stare at the girl.

"I missed! Oh, come on!" The girl shouted. "I took over this body for nothing!"

"You! Your arm!" Hero said in shock.

"Yeah... My arm..." Her smile came back as she raised her left arm. It was a bladed limb. Like a giant curved sword, made of bone. There was no flesh, blood, or muscle. Just a boney slab taking the shape of a sword.

"Oh..." Hero said slowly with wide eyes. "You're the skeleton... Am I an idiot?"

"Yeah... I'm the skeleton! And yes. You are."