Point-of-View: X
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"You...! What are you doing here!?" Exclaimed one of the guards warily.
At last, I finally made it, to the Eden base in Greenland. After days of random searching, I finally found it. The entrance was hidden inside a cave, and a Dark Skill illusion technique had been used to make it look like there were bears hibernating inside, to keep away any intruders.
Obviously, a hidden base is going to be, as the name suggests, hidden, but still...why the heck did they have to make it so hard to find!?
If I hadn't been here once before, there's no way I'd have ever found my way here. But enough complaining...in the end, I did manage to find my way here, and naturally, this is how I'm greeted. Well, I didn't exactly expect to get a warm welcome, far from it...
"None of your concern, lackey...mind fetching someone important I can talk to? I don't have time for you, small fry," I responded cuttingly.
"Tch, don't be so arrogant, you faux Meta-Human! I won't stand for any disrespect from the likes of you," He growled in reply.
"Ooh, I'm sooo scared, how terrifying. Don't test my patience, lackey, or I'll kill you," I warned him icily.
"Hah, that's a bluff! I'm aware of the Condition placed on you, you insufferable wench, you can't betray us or you'll-...ahhh!" He began cockly, before letting out a scream of pain as I slashed at him with one of my hidden daggers, slicing through his left eye.
"Or I'll what? Yeah, it's true that I can't betray Eden, but, then...I really wouldn't call an act of trash disposal betrayal, would you?" I responded innocently, before smirking as I held up my blade, which was dripping with his blood.
He trembled as he met my gaze, clutching the left side of his face with a pained expression as blood poured out of his left eye, running down his hand and dripping onto the ground...
"D-damn you, you little-!" He wailed in anger and terror.
"I'll ask you one more time. Go fetch someone important, or your other eye is next," I stated coldly, causing him to flinch, before muttering something underneath his breath and taking out a phone.
He then called someone and informed them of the situation in a painstaking tone, saying that I was here and asking to meet with them.
"Well?" I inquired with a raised eyebrow, as he put the phone back in his pocket.
"Tch...follow me," He responded with a grumble, looking a bit wobbly from the pain as he unlocked the entrance and pushed it open.
He shut the entrance and locked it as I followed him in, before leading the way inside, walking a bit unsteadily as he clutched onto his slashed eye, which was bleeding profusely.
"Hey, watch it, you're leaking blood all over the floor, someone might slip on it," I remarked tauntingly.
I can't help it, after the last few days, I've got a lot of pent-up frustration, and naturally, I need to take it out on someone. I mean, it isn't healthy to bottle it in, after all.
"Don't push your luck, you bitch," He snapped in response.
"Heh, you don't say...," I scoffed, before adding in low, menacing tone, "I'm the one who should be saying that to you...do you really want to provoke me, hm? You think that's a good idea?"
He muttered quietly to himself but didn't say anything, as he continued to lead the way. We passed by a few others on the way, most of them staring as we walked by.
Well, can't really blame them, with this guy dripping a trail of blood. Plus I'm all covered in dirt and my clothes are a bit ripped, from wandering the forest looking for this place for the last few days.
After what felt like ages, he finally stopped outside a metal door, tapping on it and stepping back nervously. Nothing happened for a few seconds, when suddenly, the door slid open with a mechanical hiss.
"Come in, X. You, get back to your guard post," Came a woman's voice from inside, one that was kinda familiar.
"Y-yes, ma'am, but I need to get treatment on my eye first and-," Began the guard, before she cut him off by shutting the door with a press of a button as I entered.
"Oh, uh...it's you," I recognized her, taking a step back.
Great, just great...it's this piece of work...
"Are you sure you want to take that attitude with me, X?" She responded with a sweet, terrifying smile.
"I'm not taking an attitude, per say, you just freak me out," I replied warily.
"Blunt as ever, I see. Well, I suppose I don't dislike that. Now, then...," She trailed off, the phony smile disappearing as a dark, intimidating look appeared in her eyes, her expression deadly serious, "Why are you here? Explain...now."
"Uh, right, so what happened was...," I began to explain immediately.
She's one of Eden's Category 0s, from one of the Japanese Meta-Human clans affiliated with Eden, her name is Arisu Kimura, she's currently the youngest Category 0 at just twenty years old...not just in age, but also in terms of experience. She'd only been promoted to Category 0 recently, and I'm pretty sure that Harmony doesn't even know she exists yet.
She had long, straight black hair that went down to her back, terrifyingly cold, piercing black eyes, her upper eyelids were painted red and she had a pale complexion. She was of average height and build, but that didn't do anything to diminish the intimidating air around her.
She wore a black Japanese sailor school uniform top with a red bow, combined with a pair of black jeans. It's a little questionable that a twenty year old is wearing a high school uniform top, but I sure as hell am not going to ask her about it.
Earlier, I mentioned Meta-Human clans, and to elaborate on that, I'm referring to all the current existing Meta-Human bloodlines. There are a little over two hundred such bloodlines, scattered throughout the world in various different countries.
None of them are independent, all two hundred plus clans are affiliated with either Eden or Harmony. Any that try to cut ties with the one they're affiliated with or jump ship to the other one are to be eliminated.
From what I know, there have been some Romeo-Juliet type incidents between couples from either side, and whenever those instances are found out, both involved parties are eliminated. Both Harmony and Eden don't tolerate that.
In the past, Meta-Humans were only allowed to hook up with those of the same bloodline, or in other words, in-breeding. But in the last hundred years or so, to keep up with the times, they've been allowed to mix between different clans, so long as they're both affiliated with the same side.
There are no known cases of Meta-Humans hooking up with regular humans, though I bet it's definitely happened. I mean, whenever I got laid during my past missions, I'm definitely sure those male hookers weren't Meta-Humans. Though to be fair, I'm not a natural Meta-Human.
Anyway, I bet that hook-ups with regular humans aren't all that rare, but in all likelihood, they take extra care not to get them pregnant...it'd probably be a disaster if a normal person bore the child of a Meta-Human, assuming that the child is likely to awaken their Meta gene.
It's definitely a possibility...I mean, just because Meta-Humans keep their powers hidden doesn't mean that they're completely isolated from regular society. In fact, it's the opposite...the majority of Meta-Humans live in normal houses, go to school, college or work normal jobs, they just hide the Meta aspect of themselves.
After all, they've still gotta earn money to survive, and Meta-Humans in the lower Categories probably don't get much financial support from whichever side they're affiliated with, either Eden or Harmony.
Honestly, I'm surprised that some random hormonal Meta teen hasn't like, had a meltdown in school and revealed their powers or something like that...I didn't exactly have a normal time during my teenage years, but I still know that people tend to be the most dramatic and emotional when they're in their teens.
Well, whatever, I may find this all interesting, but at the end of the day, I don't really care about how Meta-Humans spend their lives. Okay, so that was some random facts about the global structure of Meta-Human society, and in the present, I've just finished explaining to Arisu what had happened to me since my mission to apprehend that Outlier...
"Normally, I wouldn't tolerate someone reporting such a failure to me, but...I have to admit, finding your way here after being stranded in the middle of the ocean is...impressive. And the fact that you're still alive means that you haven't done anything to willingly betray us in any way. Alright, then, I'll contact your idiot keeper and let him know that you're here," She decided, after a really stressful few seconds of silence.
Guess she's talking about Trevor...not a lot of respect, despite him being her senior, both in age and as a Category 0.
"Oh, uh, thanks, I appreciate it," I replied gratefully...yeah, I know that I'm being unusually docile, but I don't care, she's way too scary to let my pride get the better of me...if I piss her off, she won't hesitate to kill me, and even with my nullification, I don't think I can beat her.
Well, it's a moot point, since even if I could beat her, trying to do so in earnest would probably count as a betrayal and that'll be it for me.
"Hm? Why are you still here? Go wait in the cafeteria or something. We're done talking, so get out," She remarked icily.
"Right, uh...yes, ma'am!"
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