章節 9: Stronger

Kaine had flown out of the compound in South Korea deep underground. He didn't care about what they had going on; he wasn't with the bureau anymore. More like an old guard dog. Thugs, and petty criminals didn't know much about "The Reaper", he had never gone after lowlifes like them, his job was to go after the big leagues, and that's exactly what he did.

He had been an attack dog, whenever the B.V.A needed him to bring someone in-he did. And he did it flawlessly. When he was younger, he had usually brought in criminals with not as much as a scratch on their body, but months right before the Martin incident, he had developed an almost sadistic nature. Taunting his targets, turning them from suspects, and criminals... To victims.

Kaine swiftly hovered, suspended over the Asian nation he watched. He didn't look for anything. He was perhaps a few thousand feet up, to those on the ground he was a speck in the sky. Plus, it was nighttime, not that the boy had even worried about being seen. It didn't matter to him, the quiet in the sky while watching the bustle of the city was peaceful, and peace was all he could ask for.

Two years, being held captive by his own body, unable to communicate with friends and family. The ring had changed him. The feeling of being in control yet being controlled haunted him. He was looking for something, anything to bring back that feeling of control. And as if the Gods up above heard his plight a scream reverberated in his ears.

Turning to the source of the sound, roughly three miles from where he was, someone was being attacked. In an instant he was there, his white hair contrasting the dark sky allowed him to land behind the attackers with ease.

Three men, two women. One with the guys and the other being attacked.

'Hmm... How do I play this out?' He thought to himself before cracking a smile.

He perched himself on top of a building above the alley way where the woman was being assaulted. Although the weather for the day had been calm, a sudden storm brewed. With rain washing over the surrounding area. Lightning and thunder began to take shape as well, a single bolt crashing a few miles away illuminated Kaine ever so slightly as he was perched above the attackers.

One seemed to notice and pointed up at Kaine.

"Look! It's one of them Heroes! We gotta bounce!" He shouted to his two colleagues.

'An American? I couldn't see their faces well before, but now I see. Two white, one black, and the broads the Korean.' He said to himself.

"Man fuck this guy!" The Black man shouted quickly brandishing a pistol, before letting three shots off in Kaine's direction.

Kaine simply moved out of the way of the bullet's trajectory. Before once again another streak of lightning lit up the area.

"I am vengeance, I am the night, I am B-" Before he could finish spouting whatever nonsense he was another bullet whizzed past his ear.

The expression on his face clearly illustrated how annoyed that action had made the boy. "Fuck you..." He said under his breath disappearing.

"H-hey... Where'd he go?" One of the other men asked looking around, now pulling out their own weapons.

"..."

"Shh..." The darker man ushered them into silence. Looking around waving his gun in the air. The woman on the ground grabbed her bags and scurried away, fixing her disheveled appearance. The woman that was with the gang of men simply propped herself up sitting on a garbage bin.

'She seems calm... Too calm' Kaine thought as he dropped from another building.

Hearing the boy's feet meet the ground the three men turned around and pointed their gun at Kaine.

"Get em'!" One of the men shouted. Kaine stood still as the men dumped clip after clip into his body. One of the white guys had a smile on his face. He stood a bit taller than the other two men, slightly above 6'0. As the smoke from the gunfire dissipated the shared smiles on their faces dropped.

Not even a scratch was present on Kaine's body, the only thing that had caused damage were his clothes, which had been riddled with bullet holes.

"Uh... What-What the..." The Black man stuttered out, dropping his gun, falling to the ground.

Kaine rushed towards the man and swiftly kicked the man in the side of neck, dragging him from under the top of his foot. The momentum had the man now in the air flailing his body around like a lunatic. The man had multiple bruises in his neck. He was suffering.

He was perhaps only twenty feet in the air, Kaine promptly leapt up above him. He slammed his foot into the man's gut and flung him back towards the ground, his body bouncing off the concrete.

"Blegh!" He let out. He was still alive, very much alive. But his spine had been bruised and battered, it was certain he wouldn't walk again, perhaps not even lift a finger for the rest of his life.

Kaine didn't use nearly as much force for the other man, rushing over to him and quickly flinging him into a wall. He was quickly taken out, losing his grasp on consciousness. Kaine glanced back to the last man... No, boy? He was close to Kaine's age, perhaps only a couple years younger?

Kaine shooed the boy away. "Scram kid..." He finished, turning his attention to the woman.

"You've just been sitting there not a care in the world. What's that about hmm?" He asked walking up to her.

"Ano Shiraga… Shinigami?" She spoke out.

'Japanese? Who is this lady... And how does she know about The Reaper?"

"Watashi no kami wa shiragade wa arimasen... Soshite, rīpā ni tsuite nani o shitte imasu ka?" He asked.

She chuckled before hopping off the trash can.

"What does a kid like you know speaking fluent Japanese, huh? She asked, switching her dialect to English.

Kaine stopped in his tracks as he listened to the lady.

"What does a lady like you know about The Reaper? Is that why you're so calm? You know who I am?"

"Oh yes, Kaine Lenoir. I know who you are, but not because of the B.V.A." she said smiling as she walked over to the two men on the ground.

Standing over the black man she retrieved his gun from the floor.

"Tsk, tsk. Matthew, you have failed." She said, before a shot rang out. The bullet chiseling off a piece of skull. Blood leaking onto the concrete, his already limp body, feel unmoving.

She walked away and pointed her palm towards the man who had been knocked out, a white mist surrounding him. The few scrapes on his body disappeared as he woke up.

The woman looked at the man and the boy before ushering them to get ready.

A large blue portal appeared and the three walked through.

All Kaine did was watch in confusion.

"What...the...fuck?"

***

Kaine had flown back to campus perching himself in a tree listening to the commotion at the scene. It seemed as if a festival had taken place. Perhaps an opening ceremony? Seeing as if tomorrow would mark the first official day of classes.

He snapped switching his dirt ridden, holed clothing into his school uniform. If anyone had seen what Kaine had done they´d think it was something akin to magic... And in a sense it was.

Rubbing his fingers along his palm a simple blow dryer appeared. Quickly blowing his hair out, snapping again the dryer vanished, being replaced by a small vial of argon oil. He applied it to the ends of his long stark white hair, before swapping the oil with two new hair bands. Sweeping some of his hair back, shaking his head, he tied it all into a simple bun. He swept over the top of his head allowing a few loose strands to fall in front of his face. It was impossible to say he didn't look good, but his hairstyle was a carbon copy of the main character from a popular anime, his name being-

"Eren! The dorms are ready! "A voice called out. Kaine snapping out of his elegant hair routine, jumped out of the tree and flew into a road on campus quickly blending with the rest of the rabble...Students.

Snapping once again his book bag appeared.

´Did he know we´d switch? ´ He asked himself. It had seemed as if the content for school had already been thoroughly, and meticulously planned out. With notes indicating what everything was.

Kaine simply shrugged the thought off as he slipped into the school issued bracelet. He then took out the Quantum Phone that was placed right underneath.

Kaine had vaguely remembered what took place when he arrived at campus. Scrolling through the phone he saw that out of the few thousand names in it´s registry only about six were saved. Eight if you included professors.

"Myla, Eliza, Donovan, Shiro, and Niko, huh? They must be important." Kaine said under his breath. Checking the time, it read 10:43, Kaine sighed as he headed to his assigned dorm determined to get a good night's rest.

Shoving his hands inside his pants pockets he traversed the large city campus. H.G.V had a ¨No-Power¨ rule unless in instances of emergencies. The university was about 22 acres of land, which was roughly 34 miles. Of course, most of this land was comprised of trees, nature and other various things of the sort. But some mileage would be used for certain training facilities, labs, ¨off¨ campus classes.

But from the west wing to east it was only about 15 miles of land. With the dorms surrounding the main campus and facilities on all fronts. It was odd honestly, at least to Kaine who had been homeschooled for most of his life and some... External training from other regions, Kaine had not grown to expect how suburban the university felt. It seemed like its own little city. With shops lining the streets, tall skyscrapers like buildings meant for teachers, and other things. Parks, bus stops and so on.

It took Kaine nearly an hour to get from where he was all the way, walking only some of the ways, particularly to other bus stops.

He had arrived at a large complex, resembling that of a suburban neighborhood. There had been multiple types of residency options. Ranging from dorm styles housing, with up to five people to a room, to what was in front of Kaine; A two story hacienda style home. Apparently, he would be the only one staying in it. Looking around he noticed that not all the homes around him looked the same.

To his right it was a one style ranch house, and on his left an all-white modern home. Were they specialized to each student?

'Because they knew I was staying in California? Could it be so that students don't miss home too much?' Kaine thought to himself. Walking to his front door a holographic message appeared stating:

"ID Needed", tilting his head he figured pulling out his hand from his pocket. Swiping on his bracelet the identification tab appeared. Flipping the sensor towards the door a holographic lock appeared which then had an unlocked animation.

He heard the mechanical click of the locks undoing as he twisted the doorknob.

Upon arrival his questions were answered.

It wasn't just that they tried to style homes so they wouldn't be homesick. They made it feel like it was their home.

Walking throughout the house multiple framed pictures of the Lenoir family could be seen. Continuing his walk, he came across three rooms, two empty and plain. But the largest one was strange...

Strange because it was a perfect imitation of Kaine's own room.

A smile formed on his face as he paced around the area.

"Down to the fucking wire. Haha, I suppose parents send details to the school?" Kaine said to himself.

Hearing a knock on the door Kaine's ears perked. Walking back downstairs, through the door window masked by the night Kaine saw an assumed silhouette.

Opening it there were two individuals.

"H-hi... I'm Myla and this is Shi-" The girl's face dropped. "Oh, it's you?", It was Myla and Shiro, some of the few from earlier.

'I vaguely remember them...' Kaine thought as he gazed at the duo.

"Hey man! Just wanted to say great fight. Didn't think a pretty boy like you could throw down." Shiro said putting his fist forward.

Kaine returned a smile and bumped fist with him.

"So, who are you? I mean you're strong sure, but you don't seem like someone who would be in an ED." Myla said, breaking the fist bump.

"ED?" Kaine asked tilting his head slightly.

Sighing, Myla rolled her eyes. "An Elite Division, I mean the Dean did pick you up himself. But what were you doing at that funeral?" She asked, staring into his eyes.

Kaine bit his lip in thought for a moment. "Oh, I thought I already said it, but I'm Kaine Lenoir, son of Martha and Allen Lenoir. Aka Quantum and Night-Owl." Kaine responded.

Myla didn't seem impressed, however. "Oh great, a nepo baby." She said scoffing.

Shiro flicked her forehead lightly. "Myla... were like all nepo babies. I mean you're the daughter of a fucking business mogul.

Kaine glanced at Shiro, "And who are you?" He asked.

Shiro simply shrugged, rubbing his finger through his palm a sword appeared. "Son of one of the strongest swordsman in history."

Kaine laughed as he looked at the sword, and the technique that spawned it. 'Could they be related?' He asked himself, his mind drifting off to Yukiko's.

"Well, Myla. I'll say this one thing... I'm strong, stronger than all of you guys put together. So please don't think I'm only here because of my parents." Kaine responded. Although there was a smile on his face, it certainly seemed off, and forced.

Both Shiro and Myla seemed to take the comment as a jabbing joke and nothing to get offended by, Shiro haphazardly punched Kaine in the arm before turning away to begin to go home. Myla followed suit and they walked off.

However, Kaine stood there at the open door, watching...waiting.

Shiro glanced down at his hand. Even with the dark hue of his skin you could see the red markings on his knuckles. To say he had applied any force to Kaine would be a massive exaggeration. It was little to none. Yet to him it felt like he had punched a bag of bricks with his full strength.

'How strange...' He thought as he walked off.