Neutral Spin

[ Neutral Spin: Fortune looks upon you with interest. ]

Although he didn't understand exactly what it meant, Sebastian wasn't forced to ponder on it long. As the answer was unveiled soon enough.

The food thief's projectile rushed through the air, ripping through space like a bloodthirsty torpedo. Indeed, had it hit, there'd be no chance for Sebastian's survival. A guaranteed death.

Had it hit.

But of course, the nervous robber's hands were shaking as he took the shot.

His aim was skewed, causing the blue light to instead collide with the chest of the thief who'd been threatening Sebastian before. Their body was immediately knocked through the air.

The force of the blast tossed them through shelves and displays, reducing them to a lifeless ragdoll. The horrifying display only stopped when their body was rammed head-first into one of the refrigerators.

Sebastian's eyes widened while he tried to catch his breath. His pupils darted across the room, attempting to grasp some semblance of understanding as he began to rise to his feet.

The shooter stared at his boss with an obviously dumbfounded look, his body trembling as he saw his superior's grip on his firearm tighten. It wasn't long before the poor fool turned tail and darted through the door, but unfortunately the dilapidated shop had long since been on the brink of collapse.

It was only a moment — signalled by a quiet cracking sound — before a large fragment of concrete tore off from above the door and fell directly onto the shooter's head, knocking him out cold instantly.

The big man stood completely perplexed for a moment, his body all but paralyzed with fear of whether or not he'd be next.

He looked at Sebastian.

He looked at Baba.

Sighing, he lowered his weapon carefully to the ground and fell to his knees. Bowing to the newly awakened hero.

"Guess things got out of hand…"

'Huh?'

Raising a brow, Sebastian glanced at Baba, who seemed equally if not more confused as him. In the heat of the moment, he'd become more accepting of the strange sphinx creature and the messages he'd received.

But only now was reality truly beginning to settle in, reminding him of just how insane everything that just happened was.

Staring down at the last assailant, Sebastian adjusted his coat and forced a confident look. The sides of his lips twitched as he formed a sneer.

"Look at you, bowing down to me! Exactly as you should be! I'll have you know I could've killed those two with my bare hands back there."

Baba awoke from her stupor at his violent words and glared in his direction.

Shivering, Sebastian cleared his throat and continued.

"...Anyways, uh, who sent you? You guys don't look like typical Lower District Thugs. Not with that kind of tech."

He gestured toward the big man's firearm.

The assailant hesitantly looked up at Sebastian, removing his mask to reveal the face of a fairly young man. He couldn't have been more than a little over twenty, just about the same age as Sebastian himself.

Though, his bearded face carried a deeper sense of maturity, albeit licked by fear.

"We weren't…hired. Not technically. We just got this stuff for free, the seller said something about it being a 'test run' and sent us here. That's all I have, really."

'Seller? Damn, don't tell me the Black Market spreads here too!?'

The Black Market, an exceptionally dangerous and interconnected group that spanned over a few regions in the Lower District. Considering the district took up about sixty-percent of the planet's surface, the Black Market made up for about half of that.

Nonetheless, its reach should've been limited to places with low police presence. As bad as Sebastian's living conditions were, this area had at least a few stations here and there.

Sure they wouldn't act on most occasions, but something like a Black Market opening up basically promised them a promotion. No way would they not act on something like that!

'Are they paying the feds off?'

Noticing his silence, Baba walked out from behind the counter and lightly tapped Sebastian with her cane.

"Don't you dare go investigating again! You know your father wouldn't want you digging your nose where it doesn't belong."

Sebastian flinched, but reluctantly nodded.

"I guess you're right. But what if there actually is a Market? You know…that can be dangerous for Liz."

Baba shook her head.

"You've got a future ahead of you, boy! Let me deal with all the paperwork, you just keep up with your studies. Besides, isn't there something of far more importance you need to worry about?"

Sebastian tilted his head,

"Importance?"

Rolling her eyes, Baba thrusted her cane deep into the crevice of his rib. Causing him to recoil backward.

"You've awakened, fool! Is that not cause for celebration?"

His eyes widened in surprise, he'd completely forgotten about the whole reason he was even alive right now! Everything had been moving so fast he'd hardly processed it once it all died down.

'Right! How did I forget? I'm a genuine Hero now! I have to tell Liz!'

Almost immediately he turned to run out the door, before halting right at the threshold. Turning back to the burly man he gave a worried glance toward Baba.

"Uh…what do we do about him?"

Baba smirked.

"I have a feeling he won't be causing you any more trouble, boy. As I said, I'll handle all the paperwork. You just get back home and get some rest, you're up far too late and all this stress couldn't possibly be good for such a young boy."

Nodding excitedly, Sebastian ran out the door and left the rest to Baba. Sure she was old, but something about her words gave off a certain…reliability.

Baba meanwhile glared down at the man who'd once threatened her life, shoving her cane into his scalp as he winced before turning back to the counter.

"That boy…he forgot to take his books."

***

Bursting through the front door, Sebastian dropped his backpack and threw his coat to the side. Slamming the door behind him just as he began to run through the narrow hallway.

Upon reaching Elizabeth's door, he banged his fist on the wooden frame.

"Liz! Liz! Wake up, I've got something crazy to show you!"

A soft groan emanated from the other side of the door, soon followed by a quiet creak as it just barely opened.

"What the stars are you waking me up this late for…?"

Sebastian's grin widened even further,

"Come on! Just get out here, trust me it's worth it!"

"Fine?"

Wiping her eyes, a bewildered Liz opened the door further and followed her ecstatic sibling into the living room.

Once they both sat back down onto the small couch, her narrowed eyes looked at Sebastian coldly.

"So? What is it?"

Sebastian rubbed his hands together and licked his lips. His heart was practically thumping so loud Liz could probably hear it if she was actually listening. He wasn't certain whether this would work or not, but it was worth trying wasn't it?

"Alright, give me a second…"

Calming himself down, Sebastian allowed his eyes to slowly close. Deep within the core of his being, a warm light could be felt.

He wasn't exactly certain of the mechanics behind being awakened, nor exactly how the abilities worked or what a 'Fateless' was. But it seemed almost as if the basics were engraved into his very being.

Even if he wasn't sure of the complexities of being awakened, there was one thing he knew how to do. In fact, it practically became second nature the instant he gained the ability.

[Summoning Arcana…]

Instantly, the warm light began to collect in the center of his chest. The formerly intangible substance began to solidify and clump together as it made its way through his ribs and outside his chest.

The golden light dripped into existence like drops of ichor, slowly molding itself right in front of him. Elizabeth, on the other hand, looked utterly terrified…and admittedly a little curious.

"Seb, you mind telling me what the cosmic hell is going on?"

"Shh, this is the best part!"

Following Sebastian's retort, the light finally became fully formed. Unveiling an adorably small kitten-lion creature. Small, white wings waved slowly behind its back while it stretched against the strange roulette wheel it'd been laying on.

The kitten turned toward Sebastian and narrowed its eyes.

Even though the creature couldn't talk, Sebastian didn't need to hear its voice to understand what it was saying.

'What could possibly warrant you waking me up this late?!'

Elizabeth's eyes widened even further, staring at the leonine creature with stars in her eyes. Her hands trembled slowly as they carefully began to reach towards the cat.

It seemed like she wanted to say something, but the only thing that left her mouth were disjointed utterances.

The sphinx only managed to shoot one final glare at Sebastian before it was grabbed right out of the air, torn away from the roulette wheel in an instant by his sister's absurd grip strength.

"It's a kitty! An alien…? An alien kitty!"

Falling to the floor, Elizabeth rolled across the ground with the kitten. Had he been anyone else, Sebastian might've found it a little pathetic for an eighteen-year old girl to be rolling around like this.

But to be honest, he couldn't be happier seeing her so genuinely thrilled for the first time in a while.

"It's not an alien, or a cat for that matter. I don't think it is anyway."

Shaking his head, Sebastian continued.

"That's not the point! I awakened!"

Elizabeth suddenly stopped rolling, the Sphinx seemed surprisingly distraught by this fact and curled itself deeper into her arms.

"You awakened? When!? How!? Why!?"

Jumping to her feet, Elizabeth began to bombard her brother with questions. Some completely pointless and others practically impossible to answer.

Raising his hands dismissively, Sebastian tried his best to speak up through her assault of questions.

"I'm just about as knowledgeable as you! But it happened when I went to Baba's store, there were a bunch of thieves that ran in, but right when everything seemed to be going downhill this thing appeared."

For some reason, he neglected to mention the panel or even the 'Fateless' title the strange thing had referred to him by. It was almost as if he'd protected such information instinctively.

"But…I think it's something like fate or luck! Isn't that badass?"

Sebastian pumped his chest pridefully. Neither the Sphinx nor his sister seemed very amused by his poor attempt at seeming cool.

"Thieves!? Are you okay? Any injuries?"

She took time observing his body to make sure there were no visible injuries, much to Sebastian's surprise. He genuinely expected her to be more concerned with the prospect of awakening than his safety.

'Then again, I guess it was rude of me to assume I was the only one caring for my sibling here.'

Smiling warmly, he responded to his sister's worries.

"Nah, don't worry. I'm doing just fine thanks to that thing. Still not sure exactly what it is, but just the fact it saved me and Baba back there is more than enough for me."

Elizabeth paused and looked down at the Sphinx, which snuggled comfortably into her cradled arms. Sebastian wasn't exactly sure how he felt about his sister being more liked by his own ability than he himself was. 

Nevertheless, he pushed his jealousy aside and continued.

"But I'm not really sure about when we'll get out of here. I'll definitely try, don't get me wrong. But I can't just abandon all of my pilot studies to become a Hero, you know? I'm sure being one will get me a much higher chance of being approved!"

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, but sighed understandingly.

"I get it, I guess. But if we're not out of here because you flunked the test I'm beating your butt personally!"

Sebastian laughed softly,

"Yeah yeah, I'll hold you to that."

Then, his face suddenly turned pale. Elizabeth worriedly looked at her brother's face, which became noticeably lighter than its usual darkness.

"Uh, you alright?"

"I forgot my books at Baba's shop! Damn it!"

***

Meanwhile, far from the sibling's apartment in the middle of a desecrated alleyway was a single man. Resting on the top of a dumpster his gaze fell upon the man in front of him, or more specifically the bruise on his forehead.

"You're telling me one of them was awakened?"

The man's voice appeared oddly distorted, his frame obscured from the food thief's view by a thick veil of shadow.

The thief shivered but responded without pause.

"No Boss! He awakened right there! I promise you he wasn't before, we couldn't have predicted it!"

The man obscured by shadow shifted slightly, causing the thief to flinch. Rubbing his chin, the strange shadow shook his head.

"And then there was one..."

Looking down at the thief, the shadows around the man seemed to grow thicker, almost subservient as he approached the shaking soul.

"Wait, sir! We couldn't have done anything to stop it! I promise—"

Before the thief could finish his final thoughts, the man's hand gripped his throat. The thief winced and tried to fight back, but it was all for naught. The very life was drained from his body, reducing him to a lifeless husk.

As the man dropped the corpse to the ground, he turned to face the dark sky.

"It won't be very long now, I suppose. I'll need to rush things along, then."

The shadows obscuring the man's body retreated just barely, revealing his eyes covered in a thick, worn rope. It barely seemed to be holding on by a thread, yet somehow managed to function as a semi-decent blindfold.

"Where are you, Justice?"