Glass finally arrived a block away from the Inoue's residence just like Thandiwe asked him to. He sees the house burns as it's being engulfed by horrifying flames. The thought of fetching someone's body inside as Thandiwe asked would be impossible if not very challenging but after a few minutes of the house being scorched, he saw something moved in the house which seemed to be a person from where he was standing. Glass immediately thought that this is the person Thandiwe asked him to fetch and is currently trapped inside. Without any second thoughts, he rushed into the burning house hoping that he could save this person.
To keep himself from being harmed by the flames along with the house together with the random explosions happening inside, he uses his Anomaly and creates two defensive walls of glass that he can easily manipulate to shield himself from the flames. One wall shield from his right and the other wall to his left. If the fire is intense in front, at his back, or over him, he can easily move either of his glass walls to block it.
"Hello? Is someone here?" Glass shouted aimlessly hoping that someone would respond. "Hello!?"
He immediately noticed some explosions from the furthest ceiling and coming towards where he was standing. The explosions are relatively not too strong but not too weak as well. He's quick to think of defending himself by maneuvering his walls over himself and as expected, he wasn't harmed by the explosions but he noticed that the explosions stayed where he was and they slightly intensified. The explosions eventually stopped and he was convinced that the explosions were caused probably by the bad wiring in the house.
Glass thought of taking the stairs to go to the second floor of the burning house but before he could take the first step, he suddenly heard someone that seemed to be running towards him from his back. To his surprise, it wasn't actually someone but something. A dark humanoid figure ran towards him from the back and started to attack him mercilessly. It's good that Glass is quick to shield himself with one of his defensive walls. He immediately concluded that this was not someone Thandiwe wanted him to pick up because this was not even human.
"Hey, man. Are you the one who started this chaos?" Glass asked the dark figure as it continued to throw its punches and kicks at his wall but no response was heard.
The dark figure started to make a few cracks in Glass' wall from its nonstop attacks so to avoid being completely wrecked, Glass enhanced the wall by fusing the other wall into it making it more sturdy. But to his surprise, the dark figure multiplied into two and just like the first attacker, the second dark figure started to throw its punch and kick to Glass' enhanced defensive wall. The surrounding flames from the burning are affecting the durability of the walls which once again started to get cracks. The two dark continuously attack the wall.
With the attackers' last blow, the wall shattered even before Glass could reinforce its' sturdiness. The dark figures landed their blows to Glass making him thrown out of the burning house to the backyard. Glass managed to stand up right away since he was not seriously injured. He moved to his attack stance to prepare for enemies to come out from the burning house. As he waits for the attackers, only one of them comes out and immediately runs towards Glass and also preparing itself to attack.
"Where's your partner? Was he burned inside the house after your rampage?" Glass asked mockingly. "Such pity."
The dark figure responded to Glass by multiplying again into two as they continued to run towards him. Without any hesitations, Glass prepared for another wave of attack by taking on his attack stance. He blew air into nothingness as if he did a mild sigh and several sharp discs suddenly materialized and hovered around him from thin air. As the two dark figures close their range with him, Glass starts to maneuver his discs to attack the pursuers. The attackers didn't have any choice but to defend themselves as the discs were coming from all directions with Glass' intent to slice through them. The dark figures were able to shatter a disc or two with their counterattacks but Glass is quick to spawn replacements.
As the tide of the fight favors Glass since it appears that the dark figures are weakened by his attacks, Glass feels a painful blow from behind making him fall to his knees. Before he knew it, his discs shattered all at once since he wasn't able to maintain his concentration due to the pain. He slowly looked back to see how he got attacked from behind and to his surprise, he saw a third dark humanoid figure which seemed to emerge from the shadowy woods nearby.
"Great. You're ganging up on me now. That's enticing." Glass sarcastically said and as expected, no response came from the dark figures.
The third dark figure started to beat up Glass who was still lying on the ground and the other two approached them as well. Just before Glass gets tons of damage, he mustered his energy as swiftly as he can and made a defensive glass dome that perfectly fits him inside as he lies down on the ground. This shielded him from the continuous attacks from the dark figures. He suddenly heard a familiar voice from somewhere nearby.
"Glass!" Thandiwe called out as he arrived at the scene. He saw what was happening in the backyard through the burning house. The foundation of the house is weakening and almost half of it couldn't stand the flames.
Thandiwe rushed to where Glass was. He instinctively transformed his arms into his ever-favored gorilla arms. As he arrived at where Glass was lying down while his being shielded by his dome, he punched his way through the three dark figures making them cease to attack Glass' dome then they were knocked back. Glass shattered his dome as he stood up to greet Thandiwe.
"About time, man." Glass greeted.
"Where's the body?" Thandiwe asked
"What body? Oh, that body. I couldn't find any body inside the house. I wasn't able to roam around that much because as you can see I've been occupied."
"I wonder where she is. Have you checked the second floor or here in the backyard?"
"I was just able to search through the first floor. I doubt the body's on the upper floor as well because look, it's pretty burnt up and it seems that no burning body is in there."
"Right."
"The backyard has only one possible place where someone can hide in and it's in that greenhouse but I'll check on that after we finished these pests."
"I see you're being beaten into a pulp back there."
"I could've taken down those two a-holes if the third one didn't show up."
"Whatever you say, man. Whatever you say."
"So, are you ready to crush them with our teamwork?"
"I sure am!"
Both of them took their attack stances as they prepared to strike the enemy. As for the three dark figures, they were knocked back earlier a few inches away from them and they instinctively took their attack stances as well but the two figures seemed to melt down and became 2 shadow circles on the grassy plains and squabbled back to the shadowy part of the woods. The third one which stayed with its attack stance suddenly changed its form and became more slender. This is to probably enhance its speed. As the third dark figure changes its form, another dark figure emerges from where the first two enemies disappeared but this new dark figure looks so different compared to the others. This one has a Hulk-like physique which most likely focuses on attack power.
"Well, that's something." Thandiwe commented as he did some stretching with his gorilla arms.
"That definitely is something." Glass agreed.
"I'll take on the black mammoth." Thandiwe announced pertaining to the dark figure with the hulk-like physique.
"I'll go with the stick guy." Glass announced as well then he summoned his sharp discs again.
"Woah! I didn't know you can create many discs in one go."
"I've been training myself. With the help of the professor of course."
"That's so neat! But, you're not the only one whose training. See this." Thandiwe claimed. He then transformed his legs into gorilla legs. He has now the arm strength of a gorilla as well as the leg strength.
"You've improved your Anomaly." Glass complimented.
"It's not just the appearance. It's also the strength. It's strength was upgraded hundredfold." Thandiwe explained.
"That's great! But, also very hard to look at." Glass complimented Thandiwe's achievement but he teased him right after as he slightly chuckled.
"Oh, shut it. Here they come!" Thandiwe declared.
The slender figure was quick to run in front of Thandiwe and was about to land its first attack by preparing to kick as it stretched its foot backward. Thandiwe and Glass were surprised as to how quick the figure was but just before it hit Thandiwe, Glass immediately thought of maneuvering one of his discs to slice through the enemy, and in his quick succession, the slender dark figure chose to avoid the disc and jumping back slightly.
"That guy's fast. You think you can handle him?" Thandiwe asked.
"Don't mind me. I can definitely beat this dude. You go beat that ridiculously huge raisin over there." Glass said.
"Raisin? Don't joke around at times like these but here I go!" Thandiwe responded to Glass as he slightly laughed at the joke. Both of them took on their enemies and started to fight.
The hulk-like dark figure was just standing a few inches away while the slender one seemed to be in charge of confronting their opponent. Glass started to attack the slender figure as well defending himself and Thandiwe whenever attack landed to them by maneuvering his discs. Thandiwe, on the other hand, approached the big guy on all fours. Using his gorilla arms and leg strength for significant reinforcement. They both clashed by initially clenching their palms with each other trying to wrestle and knock each other out but both seemed to have the same level of strength as neither one budged.
While Thandiwe is wrestling with the huge dark figure, Glass is doing good with his offense and his defense. He's able to match the speed of the slender figure with his several discs flying around the area. However, the problem that he may encounter is if he runs out of energy which in turn will be a challenge for him to replace the discs that the enemy already shattered. This goes for Thandiwe as well because if he also runs out of energy, he won't maintain his transformed limbs and eventually revert back to normal.
"Hey Glass, these guys are pretty tough! Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Thandiwe asked from the distance as he still wrestled with the huge dark figure but it seemed that he was still far from winning. He appeared to think of some sort of strategy to defeat their opponents.
"Not really but let's try it out!" Glass responded while shooting his discs to the slender figure but it appeared that it could perfectly defend itself from those flying discs by evading or if not breaking them. He somehow got what Thandiwe is talking about.
As they both brawl with their opponents, Thandiwe with the huge dark figure and Glass with the slender one, they both suddenly disengage. Thandiwe ran towards the slender guy and Glass did the same with towards the huge one. Their opponents seemed to catch on with their plan and prepared for a change of battle. The slender guy approached Thandiwe at his inhumane speed. The huge dark figure seemed to prepare itself to take on Glass and his flying discs. Little did their enemies know that this was part of the strategy they thought of. This is to defeat once and for all. Thandiwe was able to catch up with the slender figure's speed and was able to pin him down using his arms and legs then his punches poured down to it until it couldn't move. Meanwhile, as soon as Glass reached his desired distance from the other dark figure, he maneuvered his discs and sliced through the enemy's body several times until it was knocked out.
"Well that went well." Thandiwe commented while pinning the unconscious slender figure to the grassy ground.
"Very well." Glass agreed as he looked at the knocked-down huge dark figure.
In their surprise and confusion at the same time, the dark figures infused their bodies to the ground making it look like mysterious shadows were cast from someone or somewhere. The shadows then went back to the shadowy woods nearby. Thandiwe and Glass were the only ones who left the scene with the house over halfway burnt. A few minutes of eerie silence pass and they can't keep their eyes away from that part of the woods where the shadows are since they're hearing something odd.
"Hey, something's moving in the trees. We should check that out." Thandiwe said.
"No, I'm good. I used too much of my Anomaly earlier. I need to take a breather. You go check it out." Glass responded then he lay down on the ground.
"Really? Oh, whatever. I'll just go." Thandiwe replied but even before he took his first step toward the woods, a familiar sight went out. "Glass, you seeing this?"
"What? Seeing what?" Glass got up and was shocked at what he saw. Three dark figures emerged from the shadowy woods which looked like the ones that Glass fought earlier. "Is there any end to this!?"
"You must've pissed some spirits here, man." Thandowe teased Glass.
"There's no such thing as spirits. Those stories are just used to scare kids." Glass replied as he strongly believed that the supernatural world doesn't exist.
"So, are you suggesting that these are someone's Anomaly and this someone is targeting us?" Thandiwe suggested.
"I doubt about us being targeted because why would they? But, I'm not taking out the fact that this may be someone's Anomaly." Glass is thinking about it as hard as he can and he suddenly comes up with something. "I think I got something!"
"What is it? Come on. They're about to attack again. I used most of my energy earlier." Thandiwe said as he could only maintain his transformed gorilla arms now.
"Hold them off for a second. I'll end this crap." Glass said he then suddenly sent one of his discs flying to the darkest part of the woods.
"Are you blind? You just missed those bastards!" Thandiwe shrieked in disappointment as he continued to fight off the dark figures on his own.
"Don't be dumb you dummy!" Glass responded. "I saw someone's lurking around the woods while we're busy kicking these guys' butts off. It seemed to me that he's the one controlling these dark figures."
"Oh, yeah? Well, nothing's happening!" Thandiwe reacted.
A few moments later, the dark figures appeared to be sliced with something sharp through their left shoulder making them outbalanced and fall to the ground. They immediately dissolved to the ground which made what appeared to be patches of shadows and they slithered back to the shadowy woods. Thandiwe and Glass suddenly heard someone running in the woods as if someone was escaping.
"What just happened?" Thandowe asked.
"I was right. Someone's controlling those freaks." Glass claimed.
"Nice work."
"Let's catch that guy! It seems that I sliced through his arm with the disc I sent earlier. He mustn't go far."
"No, we have to look for the body first. It may be too late if we waste our time hunting that bastard."
"What is this body your very eager to find? Or better yet, whose body is it?"
"I'm not personally interested. I was just scolded by my sister to do it. We're looking for a woman's body."
"A woman's body? Can you elaborate? I think I'm getting the wrong idea here."
"We're looking for the Reaper's Aunt."
"Oh, an Aunt. Good to be clear. Who branded that Liu guy?"
"I'm not sure myself. I heard it first from the Banshees."
"Okay. As if I'm interested. So going back to the task at hand, where should we look for the Aunt's body. Is she even still alive?"
"I believe so. I can't say for sure. Anyways, since it's highly unlikely for us to go back to the burning house, we should go check the greenhouse for now."
"Sounds like a plan. Let's go!"
The two of them went straight to the greenhouse which is on the other side of the backyard. They came inside and they immediately noticed that it was unlit. Glass then created a disc from the entrance of the greenhouse to reflect the light inside which surprisingly worked as more things were seen inside. They saw the typical plants that were mostly planted and nurtured by Eden. They slowly roamed the area and they found a strange hole in the farthest wall of the greenhouse. It looked like it was used as an escape route since the hole seemed to fit an individual.
"What do you think it?" Thandiwe asked.
"It's a hole, man. Obviously." Glass responded sarcastically.
"I know. What I meant was is what's it for?"
"It was probably used by someone to slip into and out of the premises."
"I think so too. But, who might've used this?"
"That I don't know and probably don't give a damn. I'm exhausted. I wants to rest."
"We must find the body first."
"You know what? I'll give you a theory of mine. That guy who seemed to manipulate those dark figures earlier may have infiltrated this house, set it on fire and planned to kidnap whoever's inside. Unfortunately, the Auntie was the only one they got."
"Why are you so persistent in giving this up?"
"Because it's obvious that the one we're looking for is not here anymore. Also, I'm very exhausted."
"Fine. But, what are we going to say to that pain-in-the-neck Tobias?"
"We can make something up while on the way back to the mansion."
"Alright."
"Wait. Before we leave here, let's look for something valuable."
"Are you serious? You're really thinking of stealing stuff?"
"Maybe."
"Man, you got through that phase. Don't mess yourself up again." Thandiwe told Glass making him realize his actions from the unsettling events that happened early in his life.
"Chill, man. I'm just bluffing. Come on. Let's get out of here." Glass responded as he laughed his way out of the conversation.
Only a few people from the mansion know what's Glass' past before the Anomaly era surfaced. He was once an orphan in a small village in Grand Britain but how he came to be in the world was quite unsettling. On a typical stormy night in the small village he came from, a passerby heard a baby crying. This man looked around the surrounding area but he didn't see anyone who was carrying a child who might be the source of the cries. The rain was pouring heavily so most residents decided to stay in the comforts of their own homes. The cries continue but no baby is to be seen.
The passerby realized that the cries were coming from a dark alley just beside the village's chapel. The rain makes it more dark and creepy since the only lamp post at the end of the alleyway is busted. He immediately noticed a huge trash bin that was full of garbage inside not to mention all the other rubbish along the alleyway. He immediately thought of diving into the messy alleyway to confirm if he was really hearing a baby crying somewhere inside. But just before he went deeper into the alleyway, he heard the cries intensify as he stood right next to the huge trash bin. In his disbelief, he saw a newborn child struggling in the pile of trash. Luckily, the baby doesn't seem to be harmed in any way.
The passerby immediately took the baby and tried to clean its skin with any clean clothes he had. He was successful in cleaning the baby but what will he do next? That's the question that popped into his head. What would he do to a newlyborn child who was dumped and most definitely abandoned in a messy alleyway during a stormy night? He came to a decision to leave the baby in his hands. He wrapped the baby with the clean cloth he had and headed to the chapel to seek help.
"Good evening, sir. Is there something that I can help you with in this stormy night." A dignified man said. Probably a reverend.
"Good evening. I happened to find a new born child crying in the alleyway next to this chapel." The passerby said.
"By the gods, what did you say?" The reverend responded in disbelief. "Come inside quickly!"
"Is that the child you found?" The reverend asked the passerby as they both walked farther to the chapel isles.
"Yes. Luckily, this child is not injured in any way." The passerby responded.
"That's divine to hear."
"I'm here reverend to see if I leave this child to your care."
"We can. We run a small orphanage here in the village. We can take him in."
"That's good to hear. Here, please take him." The passerby carefully handed the newborn child to the reverend but the child started to cry intensely again. Moments later, the glass window somewhere in the chapel's walls shattered due to the monstrous gust of storm winds that were whipping the area.
"Look out!" The passerby quickly reacted and shielded the reverend who was currently holding the child using his body. Large portions of the glass window are falling down to where they're at. The passerby was stabbed and pierced in his back multiple times by the incident.
"Sir, are you alright?" The reverend asked but no response was heard from the passerby. The passerby was the only person that got injured. The reverend and the child were out of harm's way.
The malevolent winds came rushing into the chapel as it made its way in via the broken glass window. The rain started to pour in as well. The child started to cry again from all the noise. The passerby collapsed and he fell down to the ground. The reverend tried to check if the passerby was badly injured and as bad as it looked, the wounds were deep and it appeared that no one could survive it.
"Take them out." The passerby murmured to the reverend as he regained consciousness.
"What!? You're going to die if I do that!" The reverend refused.
"Just take them out. Please." The passerby asked again.
Even though the reverend is still not convinced that something is going to happen right after he pulls out the shards of glass, he is able to make himself do it. Blood started to burst out from the passerby's back. The reverend pulls out the glasses one by one slowly and carefully. The passerby seemed to pass out again and the reverend immediately thought of calling the nearby clinic but just before he stood up and called for help, the passerby seemed to regain consciousness and grabbed the reverend's arm to stop.
"Don't." The passerby said. "I'm fine. Please take good care of the child." He slowly stood up and the wounds he got from the stabs were magically healed and the bleeding stopped. After confirming his request to have the child taken care of, he ran off and exited the chapel and ran into the stormy night. The reverend tried to chase the passerby to confirm that what he saw was real but he vanished. He looked back and blood was still there and he had nothing to do but to clean it up.
As the reverend said, the child was sent to the village's orphanage and the reverend dismisses what he witnessed that stormy night and he made him believe that the stress and the late night made his imagination so active. The incident was never shared with anyone even the sisters and ones who manage the orphanage. The reverend insists that it's just his eyes playing with him. Some did ask what happened that night and where the blood came from. He just said that a dog probably was stabbed by the broken glass window and was just cleaned by the townspeople the day after. Not everyone bought the reverend's story but they didn't have much of a choice so they believed this statement eventually.
Roughly a decade passed and numerous unfortunate events occurred in the orphanage where the child was kept. To start it off, the reverend died due to an undiagnosed heart disease. Next, a series of break-ins happened in the orphanage which caused dozens of the orphanage's valuables to be stolen. Lastly, the village head bought the deed of the orphanage and its new owner ran the facility in the most corrupt way possible making the orphanage met its closure soon after. The orphans who were not lucky enough to be adopted before the closure were forced to be kicked out and live in the streets. Unfortunately, the child who was brought in by the late reverend was one of those who were evicted.
The kid and some other orphans resorted to wrongdoings just to survive. Theivery was the most common choice. Due to their size and agility, theft is the best crime for them. A huge variety of food from market stalls, pieces of jewelry from an unsuspecting passerby, and hanging clothes that are left to be dried up from random homes are the easiest targets for them. Almost another decade has passed and their numbers fortunately dwindled as one or two of their members were busted and eventually caught by the police force.
In one of their hectic days, the few members who were left in their congregation plotted to rob a bank for the first time. Most of them got over their heads plotting something this big. There's been a debate whether they'll continue or not but they eventually got a unanimous decision on taking on the project. There's only one condition that has been agreed upon and no one will commit murder. No one will kill anyone. They suited up the next day wearing their black overalls and a mask and geared themselves with their guns but they committed that they'll only use them to strike fear in people and finally, they headed to their targeted bank.
Everything's going as they planned until one of them messed up. One of the hostages was able to remove the mask from one of the assailants making his face visible. The man was stunned as he's not sure of what he'll do. Since his face is already exposed it's just a matter of time until he and their entire congregation will finally be put behind bars. The rest of the gang immediately pointed their guns at the hostages and decided to shoot them all but one of them objected. The child who was discovered by the mysterious passerby a few years ago, who also happened to be a member of the congregation, strongly disagreed with what his team would do.
"Stop. We didn't agree to this!" He said.
"We didn't agree to get busted as well, Connor!" One of them responded as they still pointed their guns at the civilians.
"We're not murderers, Maxx!" Connor pointed out.
"Stop us if you can you coward. Fire!" Maxx commanded the rest of their gang but just before any of them pulled the trigger, something extraordinary happened.
Connor, the child who was discovered in a dumpster, seemed to muster his energy and he suddenly created one glass disc that sliced through his gang members guns preventing them from shooting the civilians. A few of them were grazed with the attack making them stumble in pain. Realizing what he had just done, he ran away as fast as he could. He thought of taking the van they'd used and just leaving the area. But, something he didn't expect happened.
"Not so fast, man." Thandiwe said as he landed right in front of the driver's seat to block Connor from driving off. It seemed that he was chasing him as he jumped from building to building to stop him. Connor was startled by what he saw. In front of him was a human but had gorilla legs and feet.
Connor didn't know what to do at that point but out of his shock, he instinctively created a glass disc to attack Thandiwe but just before he could strike him, his glass disc shattered as Fiona came running in and kicked the disc. She then did an arm lock to Connor to restrain him and said, "Calm down you, sir."
"You calm down!" Connor said as he struggled to break through Fiona's grip. "Get off me you psycho!"
"You know you're hurting my feelings right?" Fiona sarcastically asked as she tightened her grip. "Annie! He's being harsh now." She called out. Connor suddenly has a disturbance with his sight and hearing it's as if someone is messing around with his mind's frequency.
"Stop it. I'll calm down. I'll calm down. Please." Connor begged whoever was doing then it did stop.
"My apologies for my rude greeting, Mr. Connor Proudmore." Anastasia arrived at the scene with the Professor.
"How do you know my name? Who are you people? Are you planning to kill me? If you are, just do it. No one's stopping you." Connor intensely said.
"We're not here to kill you. We're here to help." Anastasia responded in a calm tone as usual.
"What?" Connor asked in disbelief.
"Thank you my children. I'll take it from here." Prof. Trevor said. "But before we continue this chat, would you like to be released first?"
"Yes, obviously. I won't run I swear." Connor promised but since Anastasia is already in his mind, she's sure that he'll run away.
"Oh, yes you will." Anastasia said.
"Who said that? Is that you Russian miss?" Connor asked.
"Yes, that's me." Anastasia responded with a smile on her face.
"Holy crow! I just realized. Were we just talking without you opening your mouth? " Connor just realized what Anastasia can do. "I must be tripping."
"Connor, focus. Do you want to get released or not?" The professor asked him again. Connor just nodded in agreement.
Fiona undid his grip on Connor and he didn't run away just like he initially planned. The professor initially introduced Anastasia, Thandiwe, Fiona, and himself to Connor then he told him how they found him. The professor and the others happened to be in the same bank Connor's group had targeted. They witnessed the robbery they did and the time it went downhill. The professor didn't instruct the others to use their Anomalies yet to avoid striking any more fear in the non-anomalies to avoid making the existence of the Anomaly known. But, his perception changed when Connor's group finally decided to kill everyone in sight. The professor discreetly instructed the three to neutralize the situation but before they can do anything, Connor happened.
After what he did, Prof. Trevor asked Anastasia to connect to his thoughts to see where he was headed to right after running away from the scene and leaving his members behind. Anastasia confirmed where he was about to go and gave the directions to Thandiwe and Fiona. Thandiwe transformed his legs into a gorilla's and started to chase down Connor. Thandiwe ran through alleyways and jumped from wall to wall to catch up. Fiona's physical strength made it easy for her to catch up as well unlike Anastasia's and the professor's.
The professor showed interest in taking in Connor as their new member. The professor told him about the world of the Anomalies. He shared the reason and goal why they're gathering their kind. Connor didn't care about everything the professor explained at the time because he was only concerned with his welfare. After confirming that he'd have a proper place to stay and meals to eat, he signed himself up willingly. Eventually, everything made sense to him and he was branded as Glass in the mansion. On the other hand, the rest of his gang members were all caught by the police force.