They ran toward the tunnel entrance, into the broad opening where the rails lied. A group of guards sprang from where they came from, while footsteps were getting louder behind them.
"We've been infiltrated," somebody yelled amidst the storm of footsteps, "they headed this way. Hurry!"
"Follow me!" shouted Tracy.
Edwin ran after her while the flashing headlights behind them grew brighter. The duo was suddenly stopped by a thick blockage made of dirt and rocks. Then, the pursuing group caught up. There were a dozen troops, armed with close combat knives and pistols, blocking the only way out of the tunnel.
"I told you we would have a lot of fun," said Tracy in a nervous tone, her eyes locked on the metallic weapons aimed at them. After a brief series of crackling noises, a pair of crystal daggers appeared in her hands.
"Better bring out everything you've got, pal," said Tracy, her voice shaking with nervousness and excitement.
Edwin observed his surroundings – no exists other than breaking through the enemies besieging them. They could end up with more holes than a hornet nest at any second. There really wasn't any way out…
…Other than stop holding it back.
"What a pain…" Edwin grunted.
He stepped forward, while the crowd of troops in front of him shuffled in alert. Edwin felt his chest heating up while all outside noises diminished, leaving only the loud banging of his heart. Then, he looked up, allowing the dim scene of the rusted rails to be replaced by a mesmerizing view of space twisting and bending…
He was looking down at the three-dimensional space from the view of God himself – the perspective of hyperspace.
From Edwin's perspective, the distance between him and the enemies stretched and contracted like a rubber band. Before anyone could notice, Edwin reappeared behind the crowd, accompanied by a dim, blue flash. Puzzled, the patrols pointed the pistols aimlessly in all directions as the target just teleported to the other side of the tunnel.
"Fire!".
With his mind running at full capacity, Edwin was capable of making calculations needed to perceive the geometries of an entirely new dimension – something even the best supercomputer had a hard time accomplishing. Such processing speed gave Edwin super=human reaction speed, making the bullets drift at him in slow motion. Edwin locked onto his first target and tilted his head slightly to dodge the copper projectiles. In real time, after a round of loud gun fires, one of the troops had suddenly dropped to the ground in a suppressed growl. The remaining patrols turned toward the injured man, leaving themselves completely open to the ghostly shadow that bounced between his targets, dropping enemies with his bare fists here and there.
"Spread out, spread out!" The patrols now changed tactic as they moved further away. Some gave up using guns and took out their knives.
Edwin stopped in the middle of the encirclement, then swinged his arm in front of the charging troops. With a sharp click, metal fragments that used to be guns and knives dropped on the ground in a rain of metallic shrapnel.
Edwin proceeded to rush through the crowed like a bolt of lightning. He concentrated his sight on the extra dimension, allowing the internal structure of the troops to be revealed without any reservation. He grabbed here and there, knocking out fragments of bones from the enemies. To an observer, it would look as if he defeated the men without ever touching them. When he finally stopped, a trail of bodies yelling in pain was left behind him. Edwin opened his tightened fist, as a bunch of reddish-white bone pieces dropped to the floor.
To Edwin, the world had been twisting in a dazzling dance that mixed reality with imagination. The headache was slowly consuming him. Even the screaming and gunfire sounded like distant echoes compared to the ringing in his head. He despised this sensation…along with the memories it accompanies.
"Not…this again…"
Finally, his sense of balance slipped out as his legs softened. Edwin fell to the floor, panting, warm blood flowing out of his nose and ears, while red veins crawled into his eyeballs. He took a deep breath in, pulling himself back from passing out. At last, the moist smell of underground air and the view of the rails returned.
"Edwin, Edwin!" yelled Tracy as she ran towards the collapsed teen.
A few uninjured troops jumped out of the shadows in an attempt to ambush Edwin.
"He's down, take him now!" They charged at the collapsed boy with knives in their hands.
"Y'all forgetting about me," Tracy yelled, successfully attracting their attention, "great that my friend still left some for me!"
She charged at them full speed. Just when they got around a meter of proximity, their movements slowed down. The air around them bended like a magnifying glass, with light being deflected in twisted patterns, as if they were in a sloshing tank of water – except the walls of the tank were invisible. The troops looked at each other in bafflement, while their faces twisted as they struggled to move their arm.
"The hell? It's like walking in honey…"
"Not adapted to thicker-than-usual air?" Tracy teased, "c'mon, y'all look tougher than that!"
Angered, the troops tried their best to reach for her, but their punches were slowed to a gentle touch before reaching Tracy, who carelessly deflected the attacks with a flick. Then, she began her offence. The air around her moving fists returned to normal, allowing her to deliver the punch without being slowed down. Then, she twisted her body and swinged he legs at the next target, delivering a powerful kick like a whip, sending the patrol into the air.
Another group of patrols came from behind. Just when they thought they had taken her by surprise, she leaped into the air. Then, the air pressurized below her feet, creating invisible stairsteps for her to leap even higher.
"Great view from up here."
Before falling back down, she gently touched the metal piping on the tunnel ceiling. The pipes twisted and fell down as a puddle of liquid metal – except they did not glow, since they had their intermolecular attraction weakened, not heated. Tracy landed swiftly, catching the dark liquid pouring down. As soon as it touched her hand, the metal condensed back into solid shapes, forming a pair shiny blade. Some remaining troops charged at her, only to drop to the ground in painful moans after a series of bright flash, created by the shining blade edges slicing through the air.
"That was quite the fun," said Tracy, dropping the metal blades before brushing her hair backwards, "now, time to check on the show-off boy."
Suddenly, she felt a shiver on her back – the knife was mere inches away from cutting into her. Just when she turned back in alert, a powerful blow knocked the attacker on to the ground. The sudden blow shocked Tracy, who's palm was filled with sweat.
"You are being too playful," said Edwin, panting as he struggled to remain standing. He shook his right hand due to the amount of force he put into that punch.
"Well…thanks for saving my life." Tracy responded.
"If you can one-shot your enemy, do it." Edwin complained. Tracy, obviously annoyed at being lectured, turned her head away with arms crossed.
"Any remaining enemies?" asked Edwin, his body wobbling slightly, as if he would fall any second.
"Nope, that was all," said Tracy, glancing around the now dead-silent tunnel, "let's go check on their little gadget, shall we?"
"Hope it is worth all this brawling," thought Edwin as he wiped the blood around his mouth.
◆ ◆ ◆
"Such incompetent clowns" was probably what everyone in the conference thought of each other.
The man in the black, ragged robe was frustrated in particular about this meeting, as he was just getting his job done when he received the news of the event. Now he had to sit in a dark room, look at the 3D holographic projection of childish symbols, each representing what he believes to be some of the most ridiculous weirdos of this century.
"I assume you have all received the message from the Head," spoke the holographic image of the symbol marked "Tensor".
The voice sounded rough and menacing, quite fitting for the deadliest cadre in the team. Even though only a few members witnessed his rampages first hand, the stories and records made sure no one disobeyed him.
"What is the deal of using another esper? 'Remedy' has enough freaks already." The voice came from the symbol marked "Fusion". Though the voice was female, it was nothing less threatening. "Having all of you to lead is already a pain in the ass."
"Language, my dear fellow," said the symbol titled "Inventor", with his annoying formalism. Though not visible, the man in robes was sure that everyone in the meeting rolled their eyes like he did.
"That is where your primitive minds fail to comprehend such an elaborate power," continued "Inventor", dragging his rough voice across the room, "the amount of potential is…incredible, to say the least."
"Know your place, Doctor Alva. Being a class Epsilon esper gives you no superiority," spoke the man in robes, "remember that being in the 'Remedy' is already an absolute honor for you, so don't reach out for a yard after taking an inch."
He hated when anyone ever looked down on him – after all, he was an almighty Class Beta esper, which was three classes above the arrogant insulter.
Classes – that was how they rank their destructive power. Epsilon was the lowest, with Alpha being the highest. Anything above Beta had potential of being city-destroyers.
"I will continue after you idiots are done arguing," said Tensor.
Everyone immediately quieted down. No one wanted to anger the Head's direct subordinate.
"For now, our target – code named 'Hyperspace' – seems to be within the region of Positron's jurisdiction," Tensor continued.
A new logo popped up in the middle of the screen, with the title "Hyperspace" right below it.
"It is up to you how to obtain the sample," Tensor said, "but remember – this is to all of you – it is nothing but a side quest. Your top priority is still to complete Remedy's ultimate mission. No deviation from the main goal is allowed."
"I doubt our friend Positron can have it handled," "Inventor" mocked, as if to counter the previous insult, "we have all heard the mess you created on the laboratory raid. I know we desperately needed the technologies, but that was far from subtle, my friend."
"How hard is it for you to shut up," the robed man rebutted in anger, slamming his rough hands on the table, "your 'subtleness' is an insult to our power!"
The meeting was then interrupted by a cry.
"Sire! Our base had just been attacked!" the patrol said, running toward the man in robes and stopped next to him, "it might be him."
"Oh, my dear subordinate" the man said in an emotionless tone, "please do not tell me that an entire squadron of our armed men were defeated by a foreign brat? That did not happen, didn't it?"
With the last sentence suddenly rising into a roar, the messenger shivered in fear, then began again.
"I'm afraid that was the case, sire…after all, he was the esper we were told to look for."
"Great of you to have found him," said the robbed man, suddenly calming down, "at the expense of exposing our carefully selected spot to plant the 'gift'."
"So-sorry, sire, we will find a replacement," he muttered, but the glowing lights on the device around the man's wrists had already signified his doom.
"No worries. You people are dispensable anyways."
In a blinding flash, the room had no other colors but pure white. The loud banging of superheated air expanding rapidly filled the empty space. A second later, all that was left were the ringing from the explosion, and a charred body with an abnormally circular hole in the chest.
"Having a little trouble there, Positron?" The voice of "Fusion" came from the microphone.
"Nothing more than a simple educational session to my employees. Anyways, let's end the bloody conference already."
Knowing that was the meeting's conclusion, everyone prepared to state the vow – the only thing they believed in common.
"Only fueled by hatred –" Tensor began.
"– would change be casted," replied the rest in unison.
The holograms turned off with a blip. The room receded back to its usual blackness. "Positron" stood up from the chair, and kicked aside the sizzling black mass on the ground before exiting the room.