Project K
The chaos outside the Eclipse Agency has reached its breaking point. Enforcers from the agency were in confusion as police struggled to restrain the panicked civilians and enforcers.
Firefighters arrived at the scene and started battling the raging inferno consuming the imposing Eclipse Agency building, but the flames only seemed to intensify.
Sato surveyed the scene with growing unease. The timing of this disaster was too coincidental, happening right as Chairman Kurosawa arrived.
Sato suspected the Chairman's involvement in orchestrating these events, though he couldn't begin to guess the reason.
Around him, the lower ranked enforcers buzzed with nervous speculation about what was happening and what they should do next.
Before any course of action could be decided, a booming voice cut through the din.
"Attention all Enforcers!" Chairman Kurosawa's commanding voice echoed from the rooftop, amplified by a microphone. Beside him stood Daichi Fujimoto, gazing impassively over the crowd.
He held the microphone with a grip that was almost too casual, his smile a chilling contrast to the warmth in his voice.
"Here's a delightful little secret, so lean in and catch every word. You've been cut from the team, effective immediately, right this very heartbeat," Kurosawa's smile didn't waver, freezing the air around him.
"Let's keep the drama to a minimum, shall we? Some stories just end this way. A farewell devoid of tears because, honestly, who's keeping score at the end of the day?"
Shock rippled through the gathering, followed quickly by outrage. The enforcers roared in protest, surging forward in an attempt to storm the building.
Police shouted for reinforcements as they struggled to hold back the tide.
At that moment, the truth became clear to Sato - Kurosawa was indeed behind this elaborate scheme.
Sato knew he could not stop the Chairman's sinister plans, so he quickly left the scene. He knew there was only one person capable of confronting Kurosawa now - Kaze Jūryoku. An imminent showdown was coming.
After causing such an uproar, Kurosawa strolled down the corridors of the Eclipse Agency, casually adjusting his white gloves and whistling a tune without a care, while Daichi accompanied him, hoisting Yamada over his shoulder.
Yamada, struggling slightly under Daichi's firm grip, tried to reason with him.
"Come on, Daichi, you know I won't run. Just let me go, and I promise, I'll stay put. No tricks, no escapes, cross my heart," he implored.
Daichi just ignored him and kept moving.
Taking a left turn, they encountered Saki, a B-ranked enforcer, poised for combat with her red hair tied up, her enforcer uniform cast aside, brandishing a gun in her right hand and flames in her left.
Kurosawa, with a smirk, casually remarked, "Oh? Was it not clear that your services are no longer required here?"
Saki, visibly shaken by his daunting presence and sinister tone, felt as though she could collapse under the weight of his words alone.
Saki stood firm, her voice steady.
"Kurosawa, your actions have brought nothing but chaos to this agency. You're responsible for the death of General Hiroto, the capture of Mei Tanaka and Rin Asakura, and for disbanding our enforcers," she accused.
As Daichi moved to act, Kurosawa gestured for him to halt, grinning, "It's fine, Daichi. She's merely saying facts. We can't retaliate against someone for simply saying the truth, right?"
Puzzled, Daichi stepped aside, and Kurosawa advanced towards Saki.
With each step Kurosawa took, Saki retreated until her back met the wall, her escape route cut off. Despite her fear and inability to read his next move, she was determined to confront him.
"You've underestimated our new weapon, Kurosawa. This gun can neutralize anomaly abilities. Once I disable yours, I'll finish you with my flames," she stated with resolve.
Kurosawa, feigning surprise, inquired, "Oh, is that so? Yamada's handiwork, I presume?"
Within Daichi's hold, Yamada chimed in, his voice laced with concern, "Be careful, that weapon's effects are no joke Chairman."
Kurosawa, unfazed, encouraged, "Well then... let's see it in action."
As Saki hesitated, questioning Kurosawa's sanity, she resolved to proceed, unleashing a barrage of shots and an explosive burst of flames.
As the black smoke enveloped the area, Saki allowed herself a fleeting moment of hope, thinking, "Have I done it? Have I really managed to stop Kurosawa on my own?"
A brief smile crossed her face at the prospect of victory, "This could be just the distraction Miyu needed to sneak into the underground prison and rescue Mei and Rin."
"This could be the turning point," she mused internally, the weight of her potential victory momentarily lifting the burden of fear from her heart.
However, Kurosawa's laughter pierced through the smoke, stunning Saki.
As the smoke dissipated, she witnessed a shield emerge from his mechanical hands, a revelation that left her bewildered.
"You hid mechanical hands beneath those white gloves! So, you're not an anomaly after all!"
Kurosawa's grin took on a sharper edge, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
"Ah, you thought I was one of those anomalies? you're giving me too much credit. Honestly, my backstory wouldn't even make the cut for a second-rate romance novel. Just a guy who lost his hands chasing a woman. Pretty anticlimactic, don't you think?" He shrugged his shoulders.
Saki's desperation surged.
"He's not human; he's a nightmare," she thought, terror gripping her heart as she faced this man who seemed to transcend humanity with his sheer will.
"A man with such a twisted aura, speaking of love while wielding malice like a second skin... What chance do I have?" Saki thought.
Summoning her courage, Saki directed a powerful blast of flames at Kurosawa, declaring, "This is the end for you, Kurosawa, Blazing Arc!"
The attack connected, wrapping Kurosawa in a fierce inferno, his attire and flesh consumed by the blaze.
Kurosawa's cries of pain echoed through the corridor, prompting Saki to laugh, a mix of relief and scorn in her voice.
"Why was I so afraid of a human?" she mused, watching him struggle.
"He seemed so scary, yet all it took was catching him off guard before he could deploy his defenses."
In a rush of urgency, Daichi sprinted towards Kurosawa, shouting, "Father!"
This revelation stunned both Yamada and Saki, eliciting a simultaneous exclamation, "WHAT? HE'S YOUR FATHER?!"
Daichi, undeterred by their shock, swiftly utilized his portal ability to retrieve a serum, forcing the badly injured Kurosawa to ingest it.
"He's my adoptive father, the only family I've got," Daichi said.
Then he turned to Saki and added, "As for you, you have three seconds to get out of my sight."
Saki felt a wave of fear wash over her, Daichi's aura was felt in the air.
But before she could react, Kurosawa miraculously recovered, his burns healed, standing with just his pants, his upper body bare and unscathed.
He placed a reassuring hand on Daichi's shoulder, chuckling, "It's okay, son. She was just stronger than me—after all, I'm only human."
With a newfound resolve, Saki realized her time to retreat had come.
"I've provided enough of a distraction for Miyu to rescue Mei and Rin," she thought, creating a wall of flames to cover her escape.
However, her plan was abruptly halted as a metal boomerang struck her from behind, sending her crashing to the ground.
Confused and wounded, she looked back to see Kurosawa, arm outstretched, wearing a sinister grin. "I never gave you permission to leave, did I?" he taunted.
As she lay defeated, the realization of her end settled in.
Kurosawa, seemingly amused by the turn of events, said,"Well, that was entertaining, wasn't it? Let's go, Yamada, Daichi."
Yamada, still processing the scene, replied hesitantly, "Y-yes, sir."
_____
Upon arriving at Yamada's laboratory, their attention was immediately captured by Project K.
Inside a tube filled with a vibrant orange chemical solution stood a young boy, seemingly aged between 10 and 13 years and approximately 5 foot 5 inches tall. His head and face were obscured by a helmet, adding an air of mystery to his appearance.
Kurosawa couldn't help but marvel, his voice tinged with his characteristic blend of amusement.
"Well, well, isn't this a sight? After all this time and effort, what do we have here? My very own masterpiece."
He began stripping away his mechanical hands. "Tell me, Yamada, have we managed to splice in Kaze's anolity, or is that still just a pipe dream?"
While busily orchestrating the lab's supercomputer, Yamada answered without missing a beat, "Unfortunately, Chairman Kurosawa, Kaze's ability remains beyond our grasp. But, in a stroke of inspiration, we've combined Daichi's and Rin's powers for Project K. Is that satisfactory?"
Kurosawa paused.
"Yamada, you might just be a dark horse in the realm of science. Merging two anolity's? That's the stuff of legends."
Pleased with himself, Yamada allowed a rare smile.
"Adapting to necessity truly is the mother of invention, Chairman."
Yamada mused to himself, "He actually praised me? That was nothing but a stroke of luck, what I managed there."
Daichi, drawn into the discussion, asked, "What do we anticipate happening when my anolity merges with Rin's?"
With his grin widening, Kurosawa entertained the possibilities, "Ah, the beauty of the unknown! This could very well end in a spectacular disaster for me. But what's life without a little risk?"
"You're planning to integrate with Project K yourself? That's a gamble," Yamada said.
Kurosawa, maintaining his playful demeanor, continued, "And here I thought the letter 'K' was unmistakably clear. Though, to be fair, 'K' could stand for Kaze, or perhaps Kotomi, that lunch lady from our lovely agency. Oh, and maybe—sorry, got a bit carried away there. Shall we proceed?"
As he positioned himself to enter the tube filled with the glowing orange chemical, he glanced back at Daichi. "While I'm undergoing this merger with our young friend here, you're in charge. Protect me... my son."
Daichi nodded, understanding the weight of the responsibility placed upon him.
Kurosawa flashed a reassuring smile and quipped, "Alright, see you guys on the other side in about five hours." He then donned a mask, mirroring the one worn by the boy in the tube.
As the tube sealed shut, Yamada activated the machine, initiating the merging process. The display flickered from 0% to 1%, indicating the beginning of Kurosawa's consciousness transfer into the boy.