Abduction 4

Raven successfully escaped from Hanzo as she carefully carried Quare on her back and the blades on her gauntlets disappeared. Raven went back to where she left Lia.

“Let’s run while we can!” Raven told Lia as they immediately dashed together. Raven slowed down a bit to match Lia’s speed.

A few minutes later, they stopped and hid on another alleyway not too far away from the previous one. They weren’t able to get very far because Lia’s exhaustion caught up to her. It was expected since it was her first time running after getting freed from isolation, plus their walk from the amusement park.

“Let’s take a break here,” Raven said as she carefully placed Quare down against the wall and scouted if Hanzo was tailing them. Upon confirming their security, Raven went to pat Lia’s back, who was breathing heavily. It took Lia a bit of time to catch her breath as she leaned her back against the wall. Quare remained unconscious, Lia rested, while Raven stood on guard for Hanzo.

Raven has already expected Lia to ask a sum of questions because Hanzo kept shouting "Project Oblia" or "Oblia," which Lia heard during the Royal Phantom’s meeting. Worried, Raven stole a glance at Lia, hugging her knees with some shadow forming underneath her bangs. Most likely, she already knows the reason why Hanzo attempted to kidnap Quare.

“She seems… dejected.” Raven thought.

Seconds later, Raven tried fiddling with her phone once again and checked if the network returned. And it seemed that it was the case. She then decided to call Dright, but then suddenly, her fingers started to feel numb, making it hard for her to tap on her phone’s screen. Eventually, it affected her hand, dropping her phone to the ground, unable to call Dright. Her hands began to shake slightly. Her vision became somewhat blurry. She also started feeling complications in breathing, but it was just slight. Although she felt these symptoms, it wasn’t so severe that it gravely affects their current situation. Lia noticed this and asked worriedly.

“What’s wrong, big sister Raven?”

Raven smiled as she looked back at Lia with gentle eyes and shook her head.

“It’s nothing! We should get going soon. Have you rested well?” Raven said as she picked up her phone and placed it back in her pocket. Lia nodded in response as she stood up. Raven took a peek again to check Hanzo and saw him slowly walking in their direction. Raven immediately carried Quare on her back once again, but it seems like she is shaking. Raven then further enforced herself and paid no heed to her trembling.

“Let’s go!” Raven said, and Lia nodded. Lia took the lead once again while Raven followed her while instructing the direction. They kept running at a constant speed, further increasing their chances of escape. They ran and ran, but then Lia suddenly stopped. Raven had a confused expression because of Lia’s action.

“What’s wrong, Lia?” Raven asked with her expression looking somewhat pale. Lia then faced Raven with a somewhat sad expression.

“That person… mentioned Project Oblia… Big sister… He meant me, right?” Lia asked while looking down, her bangs shadowing over her eyes. Raven kept silent. She wasn’t expecting Lia to ask blatantly.

“Is he… one of the people who made me like this?” Lia followed up. Since she heard the Royal Phantom’s discussion, it was expected for her to be aware of what she is. Silence took place for a second, and as if on time to break the silence, Quare mumbled while unconscious.

“L… Lia… run…”

Hearing Quare’s mumbling, Raven smiled and decided to tell Lia the truth.

“… Yes. There’s a big chance that he was the mastermind behind your situation… But don’t worry! I won’t let him get you!” Raven said, assuring Lia, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. Lia shook her head and opened her mouth.

“It’s because of me… It’s because of me that we’re in this mess… It’s my fault that big sister Quare is in that state. I… I’ll only keep causing trouble to the people around me…” Lia answered. Her statement made Raven surprised. What she just heard didn’t seem like it came out of a child’s mouth. Raven shook her head and refuted Lia’s statement.

“You’re not causing us any trouble! We care for you, just like Quare! Even though she is unconscious, she wants you to gain freedom, freedom from those that treated you like a test subject! And I feel the same. We all do! So please… let us protect you!”

Raven’s statement touched her emotionally as tears went down to her cheeks. Fragments of her memories came back to her, but it wasn’t the most joyful ones. Memories of the times she was conscious as members of the Grimmers performed inhumane experiments on her. The memories that she wanted to forget came rushing into her head like an endless stream. But, as if to cure that sorrow, she remembered the good times she had with Raven, Quare, Rheyya, and Crimson. She remembered the time she went to the amusement park with Raven. She remembered Dright’s kindness that got her out of isolation, even though she was unconscious at that time, Lia determined that it was thanks to him that she got out because of the knowledge Dright spoke of during their meeting. And most importantly, she remembered a scene from her past way before her tragic fate as a test subject. A memory about her family, bonding happily together, but sadly, her parent’s and siblings' faces were blurry.

Lia kept silent as tears flowed down to her cheeks. Raven placed Quare down once again and took out her handkerchief as she approached Lia to wipe her tears.

“How touching…”

Suddenly, Raven and Lia heard a familiar voice they’d rather ignore. Raven took a stance and covered Lia. It was Hanzo's voice, who is walking towards them with a sinister smile.

“Stand back, Lia!”

“Oh? Are you sure you’re in the condition to act tough, young lady?” Hanzo said as if he is aware of Raven’s status. Raven is currently quite unsteady. Her feet are slightly trembling, and she was having trouble breathing. Then, Hanzo’s smile shifted to laughter. Raven tightened her fists as three blades emerged from each gauntlet.

“I won’t know until I try!” Raven said willfully with a smile as she struggles in maintaining her posture. Lia immediately went to pull Quare further away. Hanzo took his chance as his hand disappeared, deploying a part of him to Lia, but Raven sensed it and moved in to shield the two as she sent wind blades towards Hanzo’s attack. Although Raven was sluggish, she was able to block the attack. It seemed that wind is effective against Hanzo’s attack since they seem to cancel each other. Upon being deflected, Hanzo's hand returned to normal.

“Go!” Raven said as Lia nodded with a determined expression. Then, as if responding to the crisis, one of Lia's abilities activated. Lia took notice of this as her size increased and is now as big as Raven. It also seemed that her power increased, for she can now carry Quare on her back and ran away as fast as she could.

“Ohoo! Impressive!” Hanzo honestly praised the two as he clapped his hands in amusement. He didn’t expect Raven to still be that agile despite being weakened. Then, Raven’s breathing began to worsen as she breathed heavily for air and closed her other eye. She fell to her knee as the blades in her gauntlets vanished.

“Oh? Done already?” Hanzo said mockingly. Raven glared at him begrudgingly.

“What… did you… do?” Raven said weakly.

“I see you’ve finally noticed…” Hanzo said he showed his hand transforming into green gas. Raven immediately recognized what it is. Poison.

“Since when?!” Raven thought.

“Kahahaha! AHAHAHAHA!” Hanzo laughed maniacally. But then, Raven remembered that time when she slashed Hanzo.

Generally, Hanzo’s whole body was in a gaseous state back then, and it was highly possible that she was able to breathe in some of it. Even if it was scarce, it was possible to become fatal since it could spread throughout the body because of blood circulation.

“Damn you…” Raven cursed as she glared at Hanzo.

“Yes, that’s right! I poisoned you, but don’t worry! It’s not that fatal… for now!” Hanzo said with a sinister smile as his left and right arm disappeared as the green mist began to expand.

Raven braced herself for the worst as she closed her eyes and held her gauntlets up, crossed position as she attempted to defend against Hanzo’s assault.

Raven felt a breeze as she stopped breathing for a while to avoid intaking any of the poison. She braced herself, but then she had a feeling that the breeze she felt wasn't poison. Raven opened her eyes and saw a person, spinning rapidly with the color of dark red. Due to the rapid spinning, the poison got sucked into it like a vacuum. Because of it, the poison mist gathered on the rotating individual as it rose in the like green tornado, eventually dispersing into pure air.

Seeing this, Hanzo clicked his tongue as the individual finally stopped spinning. A Dark red-haired boy with a size smaller than Raven stood in front of her, holding his thin swords upward which assisted in the tornado-like feature he just accomplished. It was Crimson that stood before them, wearing a gas mask. Raven stared wide-eyed.

"Tsk! You kids keep popping up like cockroaches! Who are you?!" Hanzo asked, pissed.

"Crimson?!" Raven said in surprise.

"Yo, Raven! It seems like I made it in time!