This World

by Lee, TD

  “I can also vouch for Meteor. For the little time I was able to be there, I had no success in speaking with Adele too,” Kirika chimes in.

  “Damn,” Dom mutters. “Well, we should at least have a lead if Vesper will get out of a shadow any time soon.”

  On cue, Vesper emerges from Drake’s shadow by launching himself high into the air. He does several somersaults before landing and posing with the victory sign again to everyone. God, was that necessary?

  “Vesper, get on with it,” Dom says impatiently.

  Vesper hands Dom a small object that I can’t quite see from where I’m standing. He then manipulates his shadow on the ground to speak to us:

  I hope you liked my entrance! :Dc

  “Get. On. With. It,” Dom repeats.

  Vesper shrugs his shoulders and lets out an inaudible sigh. He continues to manipulate is shadow:

  OK, OK jeeeeeez. ლ(ಠ益ಠლ) Adele had this on her and gave it to me before they confiscated everything from her. It’s a data drive containing a song or something? I didn’t really understand what she was saying because she was like (OxO) so no one would hear her. (>ლ)

  “A song?” Kirika mutters. “Can we play it real quick, I might know what it’s used for once I hear it.”

  Dom moves over to Adele’s computer and plugs in the data drive. With a couple of clicks a nice, beautiful sound fills the room. Kirika’s voice starts humming and singing from the music. I feel at peace, refreshed even with how the song sounds. The worries I was having earlier are a bit subjugated now. Dom and Drake even look to be more relaxed. It takes Kirika to move over to the computer and take the data drive out for the music to stop playing.

  “What was that music? You know, asking for a friend,” Drake says, strangely calm.

  “It’s something I worked on with Adele’s suggestion,” Kirika explains. She reaches into her bag and pulls out the boxes that contain the earbuds. “These are mind blocking earbuds. They contain the same song that you guys just heard.”

  Dom picks a box up and looks at them closely. “Mind blocking?”

  “They’re supposed to be able to help people resist mind control. I haven’t been able to test it out yet, since, well, you don’t exactly know that many people that can do that to you that will stop,” Kirika answers.

  “So you two were working on a device that helps with resisting mind control huh,” I hear Drake murmur.

  “Yes, that was my role in the group. Providing these. I do hope they work,” Kirka says, with a bit of doubt in her tone.

  “It’s something, better than nothing,” Dom says.

  “Please take them, just in case,” Kirika says, sliding a couple of boxes to Vesper and Dom. There’s even an extra box for Shiko. She moves over to Drake and extends her hand out with a box.

  Drake shakes his head and says, “Don’t need one. Immune to the whole mind thing.”

  Kirka looks at him. “If you say so.”

  “How many of those do you have?” Dom asks.

  “Not many. There’s enough for all of us in here, one for Ainia and Adele each, and maybe a couple more left over. These were just testers so they’re not meant to be mass produced, though I’m starting to wish that they were,” Kirika answers.

  “Better than nothing,” Dom mutters. “Can you give another box of that to Vesper?”

  “Um, sure,” Kirika says, handing a box to Vesper.

  “Give those to Adele when you can,” Dom orders.

  Vesper stands up straight and salutes. Controlling his shadows to say:

  On it! O-O7

  “I’ll keep the data drive just to be safe. I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do with it, but Adele gave it to Vesper for a reason,” Dom says, taking the data drive from Kirika.

  “Anything else you got for us?” Drake asks.

  Dom shakes her head. “No, although I feel like we at least made some sort of progress. The only thing is that Adele is still in captivity and I’m assuming that with Ainia not being here that we have no luck in contacting her.”

  “Sorry,” I say.

  “Not your fault kid,” Dom says. “We have to figure out something soon, I don’t know what they’re going to do with Adele, but it sounds like they’re taking her as a high level threat despite having no superpowers.”

  “Adele has no superpowers?” I question. I never really thought about it, but Adele hasn’t really showcased anything superpower related at all in the time I’ve known her. Although it sure seemed like she could read minds or something since she was always so good at telling me what I was thinking before I could even say it.

  “She doesn’t, just a lot of good intuition and perception,” Dom answers. “Is there anything else we need to know Vesper?”

  Vesper nods.

  Adele was arrested under suspicion of murdering Mariana and the officers transferring her over to HERO HQ. But what you guys don’t know is that Mariana and the officers were killed with weapons, the same ones Mariana would use.

  “What?” Dom questions. “Then why would they suspect Adele?”

  Not sure on that one. Adele thinks it was a murder-suicide. Maybe King was involved somehow. Not sure, but that’s probably what it was. And let me tell you it was unbearable listening to the HERO officer people interrogate Adele. I was just all like ｢(ﾟ～ﾟo) and it was so awkward, but hey what can you do? ┐(-｡ｰ;)┌

  “I wouldn’t be surprised. Maybe King had Mariana kill herself,” Drake suggests, “sounds like a mind controller kind of thing to do.”

  “We’ll have to look into it if we can,” Dom says.

  I’ll try again at HERO HQ,” Kirika suggest, “maybe use some of my own powers to get to her or somebody so we can get a better understanding of what happened.”

  “Do it,” Dom says. “There’s not much the rest of us can do, so we’ll just have to hang tight and hope for the best. We’re done with today.”

  Chapter 30

  Drake and I headed back to his apartment so we can rest and just think over the day. Drake filled me in more on what happened at HERO HQ. Drake basically said that as soon as he got there, security was watching him like a hawk. Drake claims it’s because he hasn’t been at HERO HQ in a long time and last time he was he may or may not have set a couple of floors on fire. Apparently where Adele was being held was heavily guarded, so it’s hard for anyone to get in there to talk to her. It’s strange how heavily guarded they’re having Adele be. If she has no superpowers then what is the point in looking after her so intently? Hopefully we can find out.

  When it gets late, Drake and I go to sleep. He, of course, fell asleep with the TV on. It took a while for me to fall asleep. Maybe it was anxiety that kept me from sleeping, but man it really took a while.

  My body shoots upright and forces me awake. I hear the dreaded, familiar voice.

  Come to me my pawns! By any means necessary you will get to me even if your life depends on it!

  My body starts moving by itself. Damn! I can’t do anything about it. I try to fight against it, but I can’t. I can’t even attempt to argue against it since my voice won’t even come out. I move through the door and living room. With what I can see from my eyes that won’t even move for me, Drake is on the couch. He really is immune. I move to the balcony and climb onto it. I step off and start falling to the ground with a several other people.

  My body is whipped as strong arms warp around me. Drake rescued me by flying and grabbing me before I can splatter all over the concrete. My body tries to fight against his strong hold over me, I think I might have even tried to bite him too. He grabbed the others that were falling with me, they try to fight against him also. He tosses the people onto random open doors and melts the doors together to make it harder for them to get through it. He puts me back on to his balcony and forces something in my ears.

  My whole body is completely relaxed and void of any horrible thoughts as my head is filled with Kirika’s song.

  “You doing okay?” Drake as
ks.

  “Yeah, I’m fine now. Thanks,” I say, filled with relief.

  I see Drake’s chest heave as he takes a deep breath in relief. “Good, looks like those earbuds work.” Several bodies quickly fall before our eyes. “Shit!” Drake says as he takes off flying to catch all of the people that are falling.

  I watch Drake quickly fly and coordinate himself to catch people while putting them somewhere safe. But there’s too many people for him to handle. Drake extends a hand down towards the ground and forces a large pillar of dirt that pierces through the concrete to rise up that softens the landing and he smooths the concrete into a ramp that carefully slides the people from their deaths.

  Drake rises back up and picks me up and we float in the air. Looking all around, with what we can it’s absolute chaos. There are hordes of people falling about that aren’t being saved and dying. Squads of people just marching towards the same destination. Vehicles, whether flying or on the ground, crash into buildings and people. Several things are on fire, illuminating the streets from the darkness of the night. Screams erupt here and there, I can hear some things breaking. There are even some people flying by us slowly and in a daze. Other superpowered people are quickly moving through the streets whether it be by speed or by any other means of transport. Sirens are ringing in the air, lights are flashing violently. People are suddenly starting to attack each other.

  “Error, error, safety mode cannot be engaged,” the robotic voice echoes in the air.

  “It looks like they’re all being mind controlled,” I say, trying to understand what’s happening.

  Drake talks as we soar through the sky. “Mind control at this capacity thought? This is beyond just normal mind control.”

  “Do you think King is behind this?” I ask.

  “He has to be, it’d be surprising if he wasn’t,” Drake replies. “Dammit!” Drake quickly glides downward and starts using his earth powers to stop people from attacking each other by encasing them with the concrete. Drake even creates giant concrete walls to prevent some people from being able to move forward. Despite having these obvious obstacles in the way, people are clawing and climbing their way out, even at the expense of their own blood and limbs.

  “They’re hurting themselves,” I murmur. If it weren’t for these earbuds and Drake saving me, I would be in the same position as all of them. Knowing that terrifies me.

  “It’s what happens when mind control is a thing,” Drake responds. “Let’s head to the agency and hope that Dom and Shiko aren’t under mind control.” Drake picks up speed with his flying and we make it to the agency in record time.

  We barge into the office to almost be punched in the face by Dom. Drake dodges and I just luckily duck to avoid the fist. Dom looks at us and sighs in relief. In her ears are the earbuds, same with Shiko who looks to be a bit agitated as he’s snarling and barking.

  “Good to see you two are okay,” Dom greets us.

  “Back at ya,” Drake says. “What do you suggest we do? It’s chaotic out there.”

  Dom shakes her head, saying, “I don’t know. I don’t understand how any of Adele’s stuff works so I can’t even trace where the mind control is coming from. From the looks of what I was able to do, it’s coming from everywhere.”

  “Everywhere?” Drake questions.

  “Yeah, or at least I think so, I’m not good with this tech stuff,” Dom affirms.

  “You don’t have to be. If it’s coming from everywhere then maybe the Seeker is where it’s all coming from,” Drake suggests, folding his arms in thought.

  “Why the Seeker?” I ask.

  “Remember, the Seeker is a device for telepaths to use to communicate with people all over the world. Which would mean that King somehow got to the Seeker and is now controlling everyone,” Drake explains, I can see in his eyes that he’s really starting to piece things together.

  “Great, now how do we stop that asshole?” Dom asks.

  It takes Drake a bit to figure something out. “The Seeker is basically a supercomputer. We need to get to the Seeker with that data drive you have.”

  “And do what exactly?” Dom questions.

  “If we can somehow get the data drive in the Seeker, then we can cancel out all of the mind control that King is doing,” Drake answers.

  “Then let’s get to it boys,” Dom says, running out the door with Shiko quickly trailing behind.

  Dom starts running down the street. She yells at Shiko, “Shiko, I need you to evolve buddy,”

  Shiko barks. He then glows brightly and becomes huge. Shiko grew two heads and looks ready to eat anything in his way. I think this is Shiko’s Mature tier. Dom jumps onto Shiko’s back as Shiko starts quickly sprinting down the streets. Drake and I follow behind by flight.

  The chaos in the city grows more violent and crazy as even giant mechs, including some of the Mobile Knights are flying in the sky and destroying buildings without abandon. If even the pilots of mechs are under control does that mean…

  “You have to be shitting me,” I hear Drake mumble.

  Both Drake and Shiko stop in front of a complete wall of superheroes that stopping us from getting closer to HERO HQ. All of them look like they’re in a complete daze. Strangely, all around them are super people that are fighting each other. Powers are being used without a single shred a thought. It’s just destruction.

  Several pillars that help hold up the rails of a running train break from several super people smashing or slicing through them. The train starts falling. Drake lets me down on the ground and he quickly flies over and raises large chunks of the earth and fashion them into a slide so the train can safely land. Inside the train are several passengers that break the windows to get out. They’re probably under mind control too.

  “This isn’t looking good,” I say to Dom who dismounts a growling Shiko.

  “Yeah, this is a shitty situation,” Dom responds, reaches into the back of her pants and grabs a couple of gloves and slips them onto her hands. She assumes a fighting stance as she stares down the super people in front of us.

  Drake flies back over to us and it looks like he’s ready to throw down also. “This isn’t going to be easy.”

  “Not even a little,” Dom adds. Dom turns her head to me and says, “Ridley, when you see an opening, you need to run in there and try to find Adele or Vesper or Kirika, really anyone that can help out. Run and find someone like your life depends on it, because it does.”

  “Wh-what? I-I can’t-”

  “Now really isn’t the time to be doubting yourself. Just get in there and find someone that can help,” Dom interrupts me.

  My heart starts pounding faster and faster. Sweat falls down my face. I know I have to do what I can, but I can’t do much here can I?

  “Let’s go flame boy,” Dom says, charging towards the super people.

  Drake and Shiko follow after Dom. Drake immediately takes to the air with several super people following him. He punches, kicks, and tackles people all around while also using his fire and earth powers to defend himself. Dom is using her martial arts prowess to gain the upper hand, she’s really acrobatic and limber with how she moves. I haven’t seen this until now, but Dom will sometimes punch the air and a ball of blue flames will come out and knock someone out. Shiko is putting in work too, even though he’s exponentially larger than normal, he still moves pretty quick. One of Shiko’s heads will breathe out a stream of fire, another takes some of the super people into its mouth and throws them, the third uses his head as a whip to pacify any threats. It’s a treat seeing all of them work together, but I need to focus.

  I watch the battle intently, trying to find a good opportunity to run through the battle. There hasn’t been a good time, once there’s one super person knocked out, like five more will take their place. This is ridiculous. Not to mention that there are even mechs stomping about that are making it even harder to get through those doors. Building debris is flying everywhere. Any sort of element is being thrown
around. The ground is shaking violently from all of this.

  All three of Shiko’s heads and Drake create a wall of flames that give me a passageway to the HERO HQ doors.

  “Go, now!” Drake orders me, he looks to the side and throws a flame at an attacking super person.

  I take that cue to run as fast as I can in between the flaming walls around me. I have to make it. I’m almost there!

  The ground shakes violently causing me to lose my balance and I fall to the ground, but I keep going. I crawl until I can get back up on my feet. I throw the doors open of the HERO HQ. I made it! I actually made it!

  Then I’m immediately forced out of the HERO HQ, crashing through the glass doors on my way. My stomach hurts, I think something kicked me. And my back, I crashed through the doors. Shit, it hurts! Can I even get up from all this pain?

  I see something jump high in the air and quickly falling towards me. Shit! I need to get up. I muster all of the energy I have and try to at least crawl away. I can’t move fast enough!

  I’m ready for something to fall onto me, but I’m saved at the last second by a shadow that parries a blade and launches whatever was falling away from me. The shadow helps me to my feet and of course it’s Vesper who greets me with a wink and a victory sign, as usual. This guy has saved me at the last second so many times in the last couple of days it’s ridiculous.

  Bursting out of the doors is Adele who is being pursued by a group of super people that throw whatever powers they have at her. She dodges them, but doesn’t dodge my attacker’s swift kick that sends her flying towards us. Vesper catches her and lets her down gently.

  “Thank you Vesper, but I need you to try to grab Ainia!” Adele orders, she points at the person who attacked me. Is that person really Ainia?

  Ainia quickly dashes forward with the other super people towards us. In her hand isn’t an umbrella, but an actual sword. She’s preparing to attack, luckily we have Vesper who is parrying her sword strikes. Any time that Vesper would attempt to grab a hold of Ainia, she would strike back. Even in a mind controlled state she is really good with attacking with her swords.