Heroes in bulky armour and bodysuits whirred and compressed as they patrolled; the Rikherian commissioner children accompanying them. These children were orphans of Juvia given a new life to be raised as heroes in training, Hiroto didn't have much more information on them… they had always seemed odd as a concept, the recruitments.
He'll have to take a path where he could avoid them.He held his shoulders and took a few breaths to calm his growing anxiety after which he quickly scrunched his messy hair up into a bun. "It'll be ok-", he heaved himself up, looking around his pristine room. The walls were plain creams and mainly glass decorations were built into them. He ran to get ready in the bathroom before he got even more late. It wasn't like him to be tardy. Random black and white layouts of different gears and weapons scribbled into codes that were attached all over his work desk. It was the only messy part of his room, no matter how many times he tried organising it, he had to plan out things somewhere.Hiroto sniffled as he stared at himself in the mirror, he looked weak and tired. No wonder Sylvester was worried about him these days. He shakily reached for the towel, water droplets hurrying off the sides of his cheek. He dismissed any second thoughts, too late to think about changing his initial decision because of cowardice. He heated his own hair a little, combing his hands through it to warm himself up. In the mirror he could detect his own visible hesitance, he sighed solemnly and stared. He grabbed the location pin raya had left in the letter that wasn't destroyed after the message, decoded it earlier and now entered it into his barcode. "Location identified."WhirrHiroto immediately squashed himself between two buildings, panting in horror as a hero stomped by in his mech suit. He shook visibly and gripped the hood of his disguise cloak above himself. He sniffled and cursed himself silently, jumping up when he felt the familiar feeling of a gun at the back of his head. Looking behind himself in horror. "Kill on sight-" the robot croaked before being slammed and broken into the wall by another person. Hiroto melted the robot into a weapon to use against the man, getting into position, "wha-""Woah!" He backed up, "Yes! Don't waste time, I'm a part of the movement, c'mon." The man grabbed Hiroto's arm to which he sharply pulled himself away, "just show me!" He whispered aggressively. The other simply grumbled in annoyance, beckoning Hiroto to follow him into a myriad of alleyways. Hiroto trembled and looked at his code's hologram projection to track their location, "who are you-" Hiroto barely had time to make out any features of this man as they rushed through repetitive patterns of metals, glass, dumpsters and bricks since the man was also wearing a cloak.And a red thread tied to his wrist."People wearing some sort of red."
Hiroto hummed at the confirmation, feeling more secure under this man's guidance. He shouldn't, he understood that, but it helped that at least he wasn't following a fraud.He stopped infront of what looked like the sewage system. The older man spoke in a dialect of Ichodenishayn and Hiroto stared at the gateway in shock as it glowed red and disintegrated. So… not a sewage system. Looking behind him to where he came from and thinking about the streets that were swarming with heroes he decided dying in a ditch was a better option now than to get caught and tortured for information. He shut his eyes tightly before jumping down and latching onto a metal bar in time. It creaked horrendously loud in protest, Hiroto flinched as the gate immediately closed after him with a slam, barely missing his head.The man below on the ground laughed at him. Hiroto shook his head in bewilderment and frustration, slowly clambering down the bars. The sewage systems were much more modern than this, these were built by rebels. hopped into a channel which lit up with flickering lights. This was a bad idea, wasn't it? Too late to change his mind, he trotted after the man who was walking towards a beautiful red crystal carved opening, "Mayrinmberin 678.09 Haruhi Gogatsu."The crystals flashed before cracking open a narrow thick opening to an utterly complex pathway. The adrenaline was pumping throughout Hiroto's body, "where are we?"There were other people, possibly like him following behind in the gutter system, hesitant in their steps and slow."Welcome to the underground pathways of the Crystal Rebellion… for members who live in the capital, mostly spies and to steal materials." He rambled. Hiroto hummed as he looked around, reaching out to the side to slide his fingers up a cold crystal, humming powerfully under his touch. Hiroto was baffled at the sensitivity of the crystals."Don't get distracted," Haruhi warned. Hiroto immediately shot his hand away, rust scraping off and hurried after the other. The pathway seemed to be never ending. He looked around, crystals amalgamated into metal frames that held the channel together. It was suffocating and cramped, he covered his face with his hand, nails scraping over his lower face in anxiety. The other man stared at Hiroto with the corner of his eye, "I'm not bringing no traitor to the Kakyumin. If you're hesitating you can leave." The man growled, pointing a bony blackened finger at him. The channel crystals dimly lit everything red.Hiroto opened his mouth, wanting to express the offence he felt at the mistrust. He couldn't get a word out and trembled at the lifted hand, staring, "I- am not here to hurt anyone." He stuttered. He stared at the chuckling man, feeling mocked."Haruhi, don't" A woman approached behind both of them, Hiroto narrowed his eyes as he saw her pat the man's chest to call him off. She was wearing a mask instead of a cloak and her arms were littered in tattoos. The woman must have been a guard of sorts with such little camouflage. He didn't see her in the entryway… the stealth must've gotten her a position up front, "this is a joke! It can't be anything else-" Haruhi exclaimed, flailing his hands, "look at him. The boy's weak. He's a toothpick that might already have been snapped.""Your 'kayumin' invited me here." Hiroto snapped, appearing bored but in reality he was panicking on the inside. Dirt crunched under the woman's boots as she sighed and turned to walk over to him, "look, I'll escort you instead. Haruhi, stand guard." She glanced at the older man as he grumbled and stopped away, his footsteps echoing in the distance. "The kakyumin's waiting for you, the rest of the expected members have already arrived."Her voice was smooth, she seemed gentle. Probably in her 40's, this woman definitely seemed like a kind soul. Hiroto was extremely distrusting with people he would have just met, but extremely gullible when he had a feeling the person is trustworthy, like a switch of mistrust had been overloaded and shut off. Hiroto's eyes softened as he hesitantly followed the woman, "if the channels can be made underground, why not build an underground channel to the kingdom to attack?" Hiroto blurted, clearly confused at the new discovery."Ha! Have you ever seen the capital of Valeshik, child?" She looked at him with an amused expression behind her mask as they walked, her gauntlets clinked with each step they took, attached to her muscular arms with bandages. These weapons were of poor quality."On television." He answered, "it seems easy enough to infiltrate." He whispered nervously. It was one of his first times talking to a stranger outside of work. "If I told you that beyond the gates at the end of the channel, there's several things worth gold that the kakyumin has arranged for your arrival would you believe me?" The woman hummed. Hiroto stared at her skeptically, "no.""I wouldn't either but it could be true. You aren't so sure I'm 100% lying. I could rephrase and say that the people that are gathered are worth more than gold and deceive you by twisting your perspective." The woman smiled. Hiroto felt mildly annoyed at her analogy, perhaps that was her goal, "what are you trying to say?""You see Valeshik only through the eyes of what the drones show you, they show the inner cities through drones and in that perspective it looks like the capital is on the ground. The residential areas are present on pillared structures called philayrons. Magnetised structures that withhold the buildings and residential areas on top of them."Hiroto's eyes widened, "a floating city…?""To prevent entry and departure from the capital as much as possible."He looked down in thought, The woman grabbed his arm and pulled him away from slamming himself into the wall at a sharp turn. He seized up and pushed her away with all his strength, "I-" his cloak hood slipped off slightly, ruining the illusion of his disguise in the crystal's light. The woman was startled, "y-you're Takahashi's son." She then made a scowling face behind her mask, more hesitant to be near the boy. "You're one of them- why did the kakyumin-" she shook her head in disappointment."One of.. them?""I think our conversation has come to an end." She glared at him through the mask and made her way forward, "come."Hiroto blinked in confusion and hesitantly followed her silently. Awkward tension stretched between them now, Hiroto had time to think and weigh his choices. The capital is a floating city? He can hire someone to investigate further on this. Father never mentioned it to Sylvester and neither did his brother. When he went to Britain the government officials sedated the child before taking him to the plane, heavily guarded and Sylvester was bardcoded twice, one on his thigh no more functional and a practical nobility code on his wrist. Hiroto joined the profession he had because he thought engineering new gadgets for the betterment of society was an honour, but he was forced into weapon making, they fed him the information through his barcode in an excruciating process.He held his throbbing head thinking about it."Wait."He halted at the sudden voice. A gentle acrobatic woman descended from the crystals, "Hiroto?" She hopped down from the top of the heightened channel, from where she was hanging by twisting her legs into the gaps of the crystals. Hiroto had noticed thick lead in the channels above the crystals, probably to block out the robot inspections. Toxicity?"The lead's non-toxic."Freaked out, Hiroto took a step back. "Oh no no please don't be so baffled, I don't mindread it's just, your curiosity is written all over your face." She smiled behind her own mask, an interested glimmer shining in her eyes. Hiroto tried his best just not to think, still freaked out and unable to say anything. The older woman rolled her eyes, "Elite 6, To duty." She saluted by a hand motion from her head to heart, nodded and went away."Oh alright, Elite 7 to duty." The younger woman casually waved her hand at the older before looking at Hiroto, "Ray- I mean- the kakyumin's told me about you. You seem very interesting. I doubted you would come, she was confident that you would. Anyways, there's a little time left till Raya sorts all of her business." Hiroto cringed and held out his hands, "please talk slower…" he whispered."Oh!" The girl squeaked and ushered Hiroto into the channel, "ah, my bad! I am Elite 6. Code and real name; Kanna." Before she continued her monologue a few late comers started greeting and proceeded without her, "the channel is so long." Hiroto looked ahead in distaste. She laughed, "of course! We are heading towards the speeches beyond the border walls, the walls are thick and the base is not built too close to the guarded borders. We aren't that stupid.""Is that why you told me your real name and the bunker's potential location in a few seconds?" Hiroto monotonously hummed, pretending to be interested as they walked, people's footsteps echoed in the distance, "aren't I also to wear red?" he frowned."You? No." She fanned herself using a paper handcrafted fan, very inconvenient in a time of robotically controlled flying fans, those things were practically ancient. Hiroto felt odd seeing it being used outside of a museum, they always looked so delicate and the woman- Kanna was aggressively flapping them. Hiroto took a step away from her towards the left and even though she definitely noticed, she didn't mention it, "well then!"People crowded chatting amongst themselves in front of a redlit heavy metal gate. Scanners poorly connected into the diamonds, detecting the barcodes of people. Hiroto couldn't feel the particles in the metal, something prevented him from doing so. He stared and then looked at kanna who was gone, "on your left!" She squeaked, Hiroto jumped away again, sulking. "Sorry." Kanna blinked, People glanced back at her, nodding their heads in what Hiroto could guess was respect or trying to give her a signal.Some of these people looked at Hiroto suspiciously, their smiles fading into confusion and skepticism. They couldn't see him properly, he knew that. Maybe they were curious since they were also looking at other loners with no reds in their outfits. There were many others, Hiroto didn't expect people to actually come and support this woman by the masses, but this whole channel's width and integrity told him otherwise. He was dragged by Kanna through the gates.Hiroto was immediately stunned by the beauty that welcomed him.