Night Seventy One
Age 1991
Outside The Main Enforcers Training Room...
'His message was simple. He wants you to meet him in the Training room after this announcement is over with.'
Hero stared at the sliding doors in silence as he considered what he should do. "Am I really about to walk into what may or may not be a trap involving Max? Then again... I may not trust Max, but I do trust Shelly... I don't think she would do something that led me into a trap... But... She has been a bit distracted lately... Fifty, fifty shot, this turns out good or bad." He nodded.
Hero reached up pushing his hands on both sides of the door and pushing down on them only to remember they were sliding doors so he instead hit a button causing them to slide open.
"Man glad no one saw that..."
"Wow. You actually came..." The voice of Max called out from inside the training room. "I was beginning to think you would do the smart thing and not show up... And yet here you are."
"Yeah... Here I am..."
Hero walked into the room at a slow walk as he looked around. It was the same room he had fought Arthur in earlier, although by now all the damage and destruction him and Arthur had caused was gone. It was as if the room had magically healed or something not showing any signs of their massive battle.
"So..." Hero said calmly. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about-" Hero stopped mid sentence when he looked up and saw Max wasn't alone. "Looks like it was a trap... Damn you fifty, fifty luck... When the hell did I get Ken's terrible luck curse... Next thing you know I'm gonna be the one being thrown around by Irene... Then again that doesn't sound so bad actually..."
Standing in the training room was two people. The first of course being Max, but the second one was that weirdo Shiki. That boy who is always growling all the time... Max had a small smirk on his face and his arms were crossed, while Shiki being the weirdo he was had a blank look on his face and was kind of just standing there like a total weirdo...
"I assure you this isn't a trap." Max said. He was dressed differently from when they first met. Before Max kind of had the look of a rich kid but was dressed in old ragged clothes showing he grew up on the street. He looked like a homeless person but acted like a typical rich Noble... Now though he was dressed in a fancy suit and looked even more smug than he first did. He leaned forward giving a smug grin as he cocked his head to the side. "I wanted to do a bit of a test."
"A test?" Hero asked in a flat tone as he cocked his head to the side for a moment. "I didn't study..."
"Wrong test."
"I know."
Max let out a sigh as he shook his head for a moment. "You never change do you... I'll cut to the chase... I talked to that blasted Bestia Macht again. The one who sorted us I mean... I know about your little secret."
"Oh damn..." Hero hissed as he gave a small wince and stepped back. "If you know about it then I guess the higher ups know to huh."
"Maybe... Honestly I don't know about that." Max said walking forward and throwing his arm around Hero's shoulder. "If they don't it's only a matter of time before they discover your secret... The secret of how you were actually assigned to Squad One and not Six... So... Why did you lie?"
"I had my reasons." Hero said taking Max's arm and pulling it off of him. "I could try and explain them to you but I doubt you'd get it... Still though... I'd hate to be found out and for them to put me on Squad One." His mind went through all of the Squad Six members from Katrina, to Jackson, to Ken, Kitsune, Light, Dawson, and of course finally Irene.
'Hero! You idiot! Stop worrying me! You're doing something dumb! I asked you for one thing... One thing... Please stop making me worry for you... Please... Do it for me... There's no need to give into despair Hero... You look better when you smile, and give off so much hope.'
The words replayed over and over again in his mind...
Hero stepped back as he shook his head for a moment. "I would rather not be separated from them all... I think I've grown to like them. From Ken's small and angry nature, even to the Foxes dumb ideas and weeby nature." He said bowing his head for a moment. "So what exactly was your test you wanted to try?"
Max's smug smile came back once again as he stepped away from Hero. "Well Mr. Law. To put it bluntly... I've grown interested in you. I did some research and found out that one Captain was named Hero. Though she was a young girl. Second youngest person to become a Captain at only the age of fifteen... You know I did some digging and found out some things..."
"Like what?" Hero asked with a frown.
"Tell me Hero... Have you heard of the Second Generation Experiment?" Max asked.
"Nope..."
"It's pretty simple actually... You see back in the day it was much harder to find Equations and the Equations were being destroyed everyday by the Bestia Macht... And when a person with an Equation does die their Equation is sent back into the world unless that person has surpassed 100% in which case it refuses to bond with anyone else. So a program was started. You see it was discovered that when an Equation reaches past 100% it doesn't just bond with someone but rather leaves behind a trace of that person in the Equation. Its small. Less than 0.1% but it's there."
"So what?" Hero shrugged.
"So..." Max shook his head for a moment. "They made a new Program. The Second Generation Program. A way to bring the dead back. They discovered that by doing a few forbidden experiments on Equations that surpassed 100% they could increase the amount a person is left behind by 45% rather than less than 1% of the total. And... This would allow a person to be bonded with the Equation once again after their death... And that 45% of the person inside would replace 4% of the new person... Not enough to bring the person all the way back, and not little enough to keep the new person all the way there. This will usually leave the person as a new being..."
For a moment Hero's mind went over to what Hannah had said. They had known a Light before this. And as his mind wandered he never recalled a young Light just a grown man called Light. And yet the current Light had memories of him, and always acted weird. Like two people merged together swapping personalities back and forth.
Now he knew why...
"So why are you telling me all of this?" Hero asked. "I mean I guess it's a cool story and all?"
"I'm telling you all of this 'Hero' because I found something out. You see the last Captain named Hero was also a Transformation Type... Her Equation was placed in her right hand... It involved turning into a metallic arm that was able to produce heat and sound... Also as it just so happens she had white hair, and red eyes... Same as you."
"I get what you're trying to say but I'm not that girl remade..." Hero said shaking his head.
"And how can you be so sure." Max asked cocking his head to the side for a moment. "I mean... Is there anyway you can truly know."
"I can... Trust me..." Hero said. "I'm not exactly sure how... But I know for a fact that I'm not her. I may have her Equation, and share the same name, and look very similar to her, but I am not her." Hero said giving a shrug.
"I think you're in denial that you used to be a girl previously..."
Hero let out a snort for a moment as he crossed his arms. His mind went back to a much younger time. His memories were always blurry about the first couple of years of his life but one memory stood out. A memory of a young woman with long silver hair and an Equation placed in her right hand. Standing behind her was Piero his father, as well as a scientist.
'We made a copy of her Equation... We placed it in this one. We call him... Row...' The scientist said nodding his head.
'I see...' Piero let out a small hum for a moment. 'And what of the other one... Vil? What Equation did you copy and give to him? After all these two are hardly human, so they should be able to bond with anyone right? They'll be fellow Dragons in no time...'
His mind went blank once again as the memory began to fade.
"Whatever the case." Hero said getting his mind back on topic. "Just know that Hero chick isn't who I am. I'm Hero Law. Son of Piero. I am a Hero of Justice. A Superhero." He announced happily. "I am not the previous First Captain as I have met her."
"Wait you did?" Max asked with wide eyes. "I feel like this should have been mentioned sooner?"
"I did mention it before. She was the girl with Silver hair from my dreams. The one I was in love with. Turns out though she'd be old enough to be my older sister, or even my young mother. Yeah I met her... After all I was named after her. Why do you think I am named Hero, and have an Equation just like hers? Duh." Hero said rolling his eyes.
"Wait but I thought your previous name was Row?"
Hero went silent for a moment as he scratched at his chin. "Huh... I forgot about that. Why the hell do I go by Hero again? And why do I have memory problems. Questions for later, I can tell you though I am for sure not her. Now did you actually have something you wanted to talk about or is this over?"
"Oh there was more..." Max said raising one of his arms up and gesturing over to Shiki for a moment who took a step forward. "You see Hero Law... Much like you Shiki was assigned to the First Squad, even though you lied and went to another Squad, also much like you Shiki is a Transformation Type, who has a strange Equation..."
The silent man began to crack his knuckles for a moment as he let out a small growl finally making his first noise since Hero got there.
"Creepy..." The hero of Justice muttered. "I really, really, don't like this guy... Man he is strange... He's crazy..."
"I want you two to fight." Max said giving a small smirk as he once again looked down on Hero. "I want to see who's stronger currently. I heard you got a new power up right? Show me in your battle with him."
"And why would I do this exactly?" Hero asked raising an eyebrow at the lava teen.
"Oh..." Max said giving a small smirk as Shiki's body began to glow and a strange power was unleashed. "You don't have a choice."
"Oh God damn it, it was a trap!"
"Yep! Get him Shiki! Let's see who is really the strongest between you two! Unleash all of your power and let your energy flow!"
"Well..." Hero sighed as his right arm began to glow and changed into his weapon. "I guess we're doing this then..."