Sinister Rendezvous
Janice was standing by the streetlamp, with the yellow light shining on her face.
She was thinking about how she wanted to smoke like Uncle Michael, but darn it, she didn't have any cigarettes on hand.
"Hey~" A sharp voice cut through, making it easier to recognize.
"Tana," Janice turned her head towards the source of the voice, a silver-haired girl. "What's up with that flower in your bangs?"
"A friend gave it to me."
"I don't remember us ever giving you anything."
"But couldn't it be from a friend I made recently?"
"Oh~"
"That guy with his hair tied back and the doll-faced girl, if I remember right, they're from the Potter family...?"
"The greenhouse flowers?" Janice sighed as she filled in the gaps for her.
"Exactly."
"Well, she might not be the one."
"... Could be." Tana started reconsidering Lily, the one with the fierce fighting stance, who was indeed quite the looker.
"Speaking of which, why did you kidnap Gray?"
"Who said I kidnapped her?" Tana got a bit angry. "I just wanted to bring her in front of me; someone's after her!"
"... True." Janice remembered being chased by SHADOW.
"Are you being chased too?"
"Let's not talk about that now; there's a rat." Janice pulled her sweater open, revealing her belly button, from which she pulled out a handgun.
BANG!
She shot out a window, which seemed covered by fog outside, making it hard to see inside. But the sound of the gunshot gave away the fact that someone's head had turned into a flower vase.
"I got one too." Tana's words dropped, and Janice noticed that Tana's hand had turned into a "rope" made of water. She quickly retracted it, and the "rope" was now strangling a poor guy's neck.
A crisp sound, and that poor guy was dead.
"A SHADOW guy." Janice recognized the uniform on the dead guy.
"Well, looks like Gray's presence has been detected too. But speaking of which, where's Gray?" Tana got to the point.
"My friend's looking after her." Janice thought, with Gordon's invisibility power protecting her, she should be fine.
da!
Footsteps, heavy ones, like someone wanted to announce their arrival.
dadada...
Getting closer and closer.
Janice aimed the gun at the source of the sound, while Tana turned her "rope" into a "big knife."
Someone arrived under the streetlamp, a face covered in a full beard, eyes golden, hair and beard all gold, wearing a brown suit, eyes vacant but locked onto them.
"Golden-haired dude" stopped, raising his hand, and Janice raised her gun even higher.
"Go." His words had just left his mouth when Janice's gun suddenly turned freezing cold, so cold... it started to freeze, well, more accurately, the whole gun turned into ice.
The gun seemed to crack open due to feeling her hand's warmth, and then it exploded, some shards scratching her face and neck.
AAAAA!
Janice turned to look, and Tana's big knife had also turned into ice, and then it exploded. In other words, she lost her left hand.
Her blood was a lighter shade of red, and it was spilling all over, lots of it falling on the ground. Tana's legs were trembling; she was trying hard not to kneel down.
"Don't strain yourself; it's not good for your body." "Golden-haired dude" gave her a reminder.
"... Shut up..." Tana's eyes looked like she wanted to eat someone.
"Don't be so mad at me; it's his doing." "Golden-haired dude" pointed behind him, and then he slowly turned into a block of ice, cracks forming, and then all those cracks converged, and he exploded.
Behind that completely shattered form, stood a guy wearing a headscarf, looking quite handsome, in a sleeveless sailor outfit. His golden hair gave him a somewhat feminine touch.
"You guys should also watch your backs." "Headscarf dude" spoke with a bit of a boy band idol vibe.
Suddenly, Janice felt herself being pulled up, and then a knife was pressed against her throat, leaving her unable to speak, only able to look at what was happening behind her.
Was it that "golden-haired dude"?! Wasn't he dead?!
"My power is to resurrect after death, and I can also use it for teleportation," "Golden-haired dude" explained slowly, speaking even slower than before.
"You, you..." Tana was about to turn her right hand into water, but "headscarf dude" froze the soles of his feet, skillfully sliding towards Tana and grabbing her neck.
Starting from her neck, Tana began to freeze, and her back of the head hit the wall. Because of the frozen state, her head got stuck to the wall.
Even though her face was frozen, her expression still changed, filled with the desire to eat someone.
"Alright, time to wrap things up." "Golden-haired dude" pushed Janice forward.
Janice's gaze became hazy, making "headscarf dude" a bit worried, so he followed closely.
Sure enough, Janice stepped on "golden-haired dude's" toes, but he seemed not to feel any pain, he just threw her down and used his foot to trap her hand.
Janice swallowed her cry of pain, even if her hand was throbbing a bit from "golden-haired dude's" foot.
...
If only she hadn't taken this job and had just stayed with Uncle Michael...
Uncle Michael...
... Why is his name suddenly popping up in my head?
Why am I suddenly missing him?
Oh well, maybe it's because she's about to die.
"Get up." "Headscarf dude" held her hair down.
"No need." This voice...
"She can get up on her own." Janice looked towards the source of the voice in surprise.
"Every kid has to stand up on their own to face their pain." The source of the voice held a cigarette in his mouth. His scruffy beard made him look like a sneaky guy, but his eyes were sharp as heck.
It's Uncle Michael!
"You two gentlemen, have you forgotten who your father is?" Michael yelled with a grin, pressing a button on his collar.
At that moment, those two guys were doomed.
"Who are you?" The two "gentlemen" weren't a bit afraid; they thought the guy in front of them wasn't worth fearing.
"I'm Michael Jackman, 56 years old, the No.1 at 'TOWER.' My power is to manipulate the numerical values of all the world's matter, like... the speed at which ice melts and the limit on the number of times you can resurrect from death."
He suddenly raised his hand and pushed, enhancing the kinetic force of the air. Their direction of movement also changed, and rushed towards the two men. But to the two girls, those two men seemed to have jumped through a window behind them.
"Today, you're skipping dinner as punishment." Michael scolded Janice with a look, then walked towards the window.
He touched Tana's face; the speed of the ice on Tana's face melting increased under his influence, and finally, her back of the head could peel away from the wall.
He jumped up, crossing the broken window, and entered the interior. It looked like a restaurant, maybe a fast-food joint, because aside from the glass shards, the floor was covered in ketchup. The employees here probably forgot to clean up.
There were no regular chairs; just long couches and several stone tables with wood grain patterns. On the right, there was a counter with three robots standing behind it, likely handling money. The kitchen was blocked by a red door, with a smart lock on it.
Many of the lights here were broken; a glance at the blown fuses showed that the owner probably took too much money.
Two men crashed into two tables and landed on a couch. They struggled to get up.
"... I missed something. I used to be the owner of 'UMBRELLA,' a tech guy who got shut down for illegally making androids, so I went under. If my memory isn't failing me, or rather, if it's not totally off, I think I might've sold two androids to this place, 'TOWN.'"
"Could be you guys?" Michael stared at the two men without blinking.
"... Yes." "Headscarf dude" answered.
"Well then, farewell." Michael swung his right hand to the right, and the two men disappeared with a clear yet subtle sound, leaving behind nothing but blood and scattered parts on the ground.
"Headscarf dude" couldn't possibly survive, and the other guy had a chance to resurrect, but Michael had reduced his resurrection count to zero, so they were both as good as dead.
Only blood and scattered parts were left behind on the ground.