Edwin jumped up from the ground and prepared for battle. Without giving him any break, the girl threw her fist at his chest. Just when he tried to dodge it, a peculiar feeling of something pushing his chest emerged. It couldn't be the fist – her hand hadn't even touched him yet. Before he could finish thinking, the push grew into intense pain. He was flung towards a wall and collapsed in the corner.
Struggling to his feet, Edwin gasped for air and wiped away the blood on the corner of his mouth.
"It would be unfair for me to know your ability without you knowing mine," the girl said, striding around him, "here's the disclosure: I am capable of controlling the attractive force between molecules of any matter."
That would explain a lot of what she did: the mysterious fist and the flying rubble were all results of compressed air on the tip of her hand – the result of increased attraction between air molecules.
"Now that we are fair, let's get it started!" she yelled with confidence.
"I tried my best to contain it…" Edwin sighed and lifted his head, then stared at her with eyes that glowed in a dim blue, "but you leave me with no choice."
Before the girl could make a move, a powerful blow landed on her stomach.
"What the-" She tried to yell, but was unable to as the air in her lungs were punched out. "Such speed…how?"
She landed swiftly, but had a hard time standing as a result of the hit. Suddenly, she raised her hand. A thin fog formed around her palm, which grew into a thick cloud of water vapor. Within a second, it condensed into a clear, rigid blade. She rushed at Edwin and the swinging blade made a loud woosh as it sliced through air. Suddenly, Edwin, who was still in the path of the blade, disappeared in a blue flash before reappearing behind the attacker.
"How did you-" Baffled, the girl turned around, when a swift kick landed on her calf, completely throwing her off balance.
"Whoever you are, know this…" Edwin said emotionlessly while approaching the defeated enemy slowly, "do not let me see you again. Ever."
She tried to get up, but suddenly twitched as an extremely bizarre sensation rushed through her chest – it was the feeling of pressure being exerted directly on her heart, as if it was being held by a hand. The pain, completely internal and unavoidable, dropped her to the floor once again.
In front of her, Edwin was stretching his arm out, his hand flashing in and out of existence – the sign that he was accessing a higher dimension of space. He was indeed, literally, holding her heart.
"My mistake…to push you this far…" Her voice trembled, but the corner of her mouth raised in a smile. "You could manipulate the fourth dimension…us third dimensional beings are like flat paintings to you – no internal structures are hidden…"
"You know me well," said Edwin. Her knowledge of his power had actually sparked some interest than alert at this point – which was the girl's intention.
"You won't kill me, won't you?" she asked,
"No." Edwin quickly released the grip on her heart. "What do you need me for?"
The girl gasped, coughing heavily while the pain dissipated away.
"Oh, it's something that only a fellow esper like you can do," she said, trying her best to sound casual while getting up, "I want to ask you a favor."
The girl quickly straightened her back and stretched out her right hand towards him, replacing the painful expression with a confident smile, which juxtaposed with the bloodstains and scratches on her face.
"Forgot to introduce myself there. I'm Tracy Waals. Nice meeting ya!"
◆ ◆ ◆
"You could've just asked nicely," Edwin complained across the table.
"Nah, that would be a lot less fun." Tracy leaned back in the sofa of the café and yawned loudly. "Besides, I wanted to confirm what you are capable of."
"Keep it low when you are discussing esper matter," warned Edwin, checking for any eavesdroppers. Fortunately, the customers kept chatting and sipping their drinks. "Now, who are you really? What do you want?"
"I'll skip the first question since we all got secrets, don't we?" said Tracy, leaning forward towards Edwin and lowered her voice, "let's just say I am a lone esper who had been a vigilante for a while."
"In terms of the second question," she continued, ignoring Edwin's puzzled expression, "there had been quite a scheme going on around the city, you know."
She glanced at the TV, which was, for the third time of the day, displaying the news regarding the recent attack on the laboratory.
"Why should I care?" Edwin sighed in frustration.
"Because you don't want the whole city being reduced to ash, don't you?" replied Tracy, as if it were no big issue, "even for a wanderer of your sort."
"I don't see why I should care," replied Edwin, also leaning forward. Having the word "wanderer" come out of her mouth suggests that she might know about the past he tried to hide.
"But that funny uncle you live with might change your mind."
Edwin couldn't counter that statement – his reaction already gave Tracy the upper hand in the conversation. Though he hated to admit it, Edwin wasn't ready to leave Dan…
"So, what do you want me for?"
"To run a quick investigation on the man who blew the laboratory," answered Tracy, leaning back comfortably in the chair, knowing that she had convinced Edwin, "meet me in the valley three blocks East from here at midnight. We are gonna have quite the fun together."
◆ ◆ ◆
The road lamps were laid out sparsely along the street, casting circular spots of light that resembled lone islands scattered in an abysmal ocean. The crickets screamed nonstop while the moths kept dancing under the lamps. There were no humans around at the time other than a few homeless men who watched the streets in alert.
"So, you kept your promise," said Tracy with a grin, with her back against the road sign. On her finger tips was a thin, kite shaped ice crystal, glittering under the light of street lamps while balancing on its edge, casting dots of white light on the concrete road. Edwin's attention seemed to be attracted by the shining object.
"You like it? Isn't it such a work of art?" Noticing his interest, she asked.
"No, Let's just get this over with." Edwin replied coldly.
"Shame. Esper abilities can be pretty too, you know." She sounded disappointed. "It can do more than just killing."
"Tell that to the public."
Sighing, Tracy crushed the delicate piece and walked away.
"Now, please help the young lady with the doors." She gestured towards the barbed wire fence that sealed the entrance of an abandoned subway.
Edwin swinged his arms. A pair of parallel cuts appeared on the fence, then the rectangular piece of wire mesh leaned away and slammed to the ground.
"How genteel of you," teased Tracy before moving on.
"Please stay quiet."
The duo continued down the stairs while the dim light from the entrance disappeared behind them. The flashlight casted a circular region of light, showing a barren view of a tunnel filled with cracked walls and leaking pipes.
"Does the place frighten you?" Tracy broke the silence. "I'm not saying that I am, but it's pretty dark here."
Edwin walked on in silence, visibly frustrated.
"C'mon, utilitarian-wise, answering me guarantees me shutting up."
"Not at all," said Edwin, after agreeing to Tracy's reasoning, "in fact, it fits me: dark, silent, and undisturbed."
He purposely punctuated the last word.
"I see. Now, as promised, I'll stop – AHH!" Tracy suddenly yelled, instinctively jumping sideways, and ended up throwing herself into Edwin's arms.
At where the flashlight pointed, a rat the size of a rabbit dashed across the corner into a crack in the wall.
"What the-" Confusion flashed across Edwin's face, since no one, for a long time, had been this physically close to him. "The hell are you doing?"
"Jeez, everyone's got a fear or two they can't overcome, alright?" complained Tracy, completely losing the cool, careless attitude she had, "not everyone is as freakishly composed as you."
When she realized that she's at zero proximity to Edwin, Tracy quickly stood straight and looked away, hiding her slightly blushed face. Edwin watched from behind as she quickly walked away. He was going to treat her as an esper – a dangerous and calculated individual. As a result, he was more than surprised to find that she was as human as any other girls of her age. For a moment, Edwin was ashamed and angry at himself for thinking that way: he had been a victim of the same mindset, too.
Edwin shook his head to rid himself of the thought.
The duo continued in silence. They soon stopped in front of a platform, beneath which lies the rusty rails, bent and covered in dust.
"Over there, in that opening," said Tracy, pointing at an opened gate across the railways, "trust me, I'm a frequent visitor."
"I hear some talking," said Edwin, suddenly stopping and lowering his voice.
"Same here," whispered Tracy.
They hid on each side of the gate and only entered when they were certain that no one was around the corner. Soon, a locked metal door was found on the wall of the tunnel.
"The voices are coming from inside," said Tracy, then turned to Edwin, "hey Ed, it's your time to shine."
"Don't call me that," complained Edwin.
He closed his eyes in order to focus. When he opened them again, they were glowing in a ghostly blue – dim, yet as clear as water. In his perspective, the entirety of the tunnel began dissolving into a series of complex geometries which would make no sense to an average man – shapes danced while the internal structures of doors, pipelines and concrete walls appeared and merged with its surroundings. Edwin, with an esper's brain that could process the mountainous of visual information, deduced the scene behind the wall.
"A dozen men, all armed with close-combat knives and pistols," he said with clarity, "further away…I can't see well, but they seem to be guarding a setup, around which a few men are analyzing it."
"Let's get a little closer."
Once again, Edwin concentrated. This time, the internal structure of the lock behind the doors was laid out. With a gentle flick, the locks sprang open. The doors lead to an empty hall way, with a more doors on the walls. The hall was partially lit by neon lights, while the simple metal frames that set it up suggested that it was just recently constructed. Edwin walked toward one of the doors and used his ability to observe what was behind it.
In there, the technicians kept working on the device, which revealed its true form upon a closer look: a metal cube, suspended by steel wires from all sides. The cube had what seemed like attachments on its faces, with small carvings that resembled wire routes and symbols.
Peeking inside the cube, Edwin was initially puzzled by what he saw. Then, confusion turned into fear – something deeply worrying was concealed in that device.
"What's in there, Ed?" asked Tracy.
"Nothing." He shook his head.
"Identify yourselves!"
The order scared the souls out of the two spectators. They found their faces lit up by a bright headlight, beneath which was a man in a camouflage suit held a pistol.
"Um, we were just-"
Before Tracy could try explaining, Edwin hopped up and stood right between the bore and Tracy. The latter watched in disbelief as the man pulled the trigger with zero hesitation. However, all that came out was as sharp click noise, and nothing else. In front of the patrol man, Edwin was holding out his right fist. He then opened it, dropping a few golden copper parts to the floor.
"How…when did you…" the man immediately checked the gun's magazine – it was empty. Edwin had stripped the weapon of its bullets without even touching the gun.
Tracy immediately joined the fight and knocked out the patrol with a solid hit on the head. With a ridiculously loud bang, he was sent flying out the hall way.
"You had to use your air pressure fist?" complained Edwin, his ears ringing.
"Party's over, we've been spotted," she said.
"I don't need you to tell me."