I ran as fast as I could, but the shadow figures were hot on my heels. To my left was a construction area, an easy escape. I rushed in to find somewhere to hide. My little body could fit anywhere, so it was easy to get into the cramped areas. "***** GET BACK HERE." That word sounds so foreign to me, but I knew it well. It was to me like a house I used to live in as a child, but left years ago, returning as an adult. Familiar but not familiar. I know it, but I didn't recognise it. It's in my heart but not my memory. The shadowy figures somehow spotted me through all the steel pipes. "***** I WILL KILL YOU. YOU HEAR ME?" one of them yelled. They started ripping apart all the pipes as they laughed, getting closer and closer. The other one pulled out a whip, ready to attack. I closed my eyes and screamed.
The world fell apart, and I was in my room "YATO! Get up, breakfast is ready!"
I huffed heavily as I looked around the room to find sandy brown hair splashing on my lap. Her small frame made it hard to feel her head on me; no wonder I didn't notice sooner. On the other side, I could see Chrys and Bethany giggling to themselves, watching me.
"Leave her alone, will you?" I grew as I grabbed my pillow and through it at them as they scurried off. "Yato, get up, we have to get to Hida's place soon." Sis was yelling from the kitchen. I looked down at Sutetchi; she must've had a nightmare and wanted to sleep by me. I gently woke her up and told her to get ready for breakfast.
I put on some clothes and rushed downstairs.
Our house wasn't the biggest, but we made do. Honestly, to most people, we'd look relatively well off, but on this side of the island, we looked dirt poor. We got it thanks to Sis's university since she's studying medicine, we get free housing in exchange for five years of quarter pay work as debt to the Kara-no-goki's. It's somewhat steep, but with how much she can get paid with that quarter, it doesn't matter at all. It's similar to or identical deals with all the other poor students at her university, actually.
"Big bro, how was your sleep last night? Must be hard with Su's fat head on your lap." Asked Beth.
"I remember when you were younger, you'd wet the bed and I'd have to hide it from big Sis, wanna keep talking."
Her face turned bright red. "Okay, fine, I'm sorry."
"Ha, big bro got you."
"Hey, Chrys, the water park incident."
"Hey, bro code, we swore never to speak about it."
"Then I take it you'll leave Su alone?"
"Fine." He sat back, folding his arms.
"Thanks, big bro." Said Su, smiling.
"Alright, I've made eggs, bacon and fresh orange juice with toast. There's also beetroot salad." Sis gave each of us a plate, and we sat together eating. Her plate was filled with beetroot salad; I guess she really likes the stuff. The twins shared school stories, and Chrys got some advice from Sis about a physics test. Once we finished, I washed the dishes as the kids walked to school.
"Alright, let's get going, don't want to be late for the meeting," I yelled.
"I'll be with you, just gotta finish my report....aaaaaand done. Alright, let's go."
Sis and I walked to the junk yard together, as we walked down, she forced me to revise my chemistry.
"Come on, Yato, you have to know this; otherwise, you won't be versatile in battle. Now, what happens when Tert-butyllithium is in contact with oxygen?"
"It becomes a poison green vapour?"
"Wrong again, it combusts."
"Like an explosion."
"More like gasoline on a hard rock floor. And the formula?"
"4 Carbon, 9 Hydrogen and 1 Lithium."
"Good boy, we'll make a scientist out of you yet."
"Thanks," I said while hugging her.
We arrived at the entrance, and the camera noticed us and opened the gate. To my surprise, Hida's brother was standing at the doorway to the living room...okay, calling it a doorway is misleading. It looks more like the doorway to an aeroplane hangar, but still.
"So, you two are back again?" He asks Sis
"Look, we are doing what we have to; this is more than just selfish thievery. You need to understand that."
"You're helping put my sister in danger, that's all I need to understand. I swear if anything happens to her..."
"She'll be alright, you have my word. None of us wants to lose the other. Look, all she'll do now is help with planning; she won't be risking anything."
"Fine...I...I already agreed not to turn you in, but I won't stop trying to convince her to walk away." He then walked to the gate and began jogging off to his duty. Sister had a longing look in her eyes as he ran away. I felt bad for her. She's spent so much time looking after us that she hasn't had time for herself. I hugged her and kissed her cheek.
"What was that for?"
"Just coz."
"Alriiiight, anyway, we'd better meet the others inside."
Hisashi was sitting on a couch next to Liam, and Hida was sitting at the table. Her eyes were a little puffy; something must have happened.
"Hey, guys, grab a seat", said Liam.
"Thanks." Responded Vesta.
"Alright, first order of business is to know our target. Hisashi, if you will."
He laid down a large map of a five-story building. "This will be our target, the Vermont Delores. It's a massive art gallery filled with pottery and paintings from around the world, and it also doubles as a nightclub. Our job is to steal some sort of flash drive that contains information on some tech that the Kara-no-gokis are developing in an underground lab. The plan is simple, first we need a way in and to know where we are going, this map is old and isn't very detailed, so we'll need a new one if we are to do this right."
"Hisashi Chisha miso can take care of that."
Hisashi snapped his fingers, pointing at Liam, "precisely, plus last time I didn't see this huge underground lab that we are apparently robbing. Second, we need to gain access to an elevator in the main office. The elevator is surrounded by five feet of concrete, so we won't be able to busy is. Liam says that he has family who run some parts of the building, so they might know something if we are subtle about it. He also says that they can even give us jobs there for cover. Every room has cameras, so someone needs to take the surveillance room. Next is the escape, Yato. We need to produce a large volume of knock-out gas."
"Nitrous oxide will take them out, with a little smile to boot." I chuckled
"That means it's fish for a few months." Respond, big sis.
"Lastly, we need a getaway vehicle. The Peacekeepers said that they'll take care of that part for us. Seems like they don't fully trust us to deliver the card on our own. Unfortunately, their offer doesn't extend to us. Once we hand this thing over, all of our business with them will end, so we need to find our own way out."
"I can park a van in the underground garage. We can use that to escape to this building right here." Liam pointed to a large office building in the old city ruins. "It's a manufacturing district, but it's all automated, nobody lives there anymore, so it will be perfect. Plenty of noise, plenty of hiding places. Once we ditch and burn the truck, we split."
"Hey Liam, that's your favourite hiding place, it'll be crawling with cops for months if we use it."
"It's worth it if we get your name cleared."
"Wait, we aren't just gonna trust them to keep their word, right?" I asked.
"Definitely not," responded Liam, "just coz it's a time-tested code to honour all agreements on this island doesn't mean that they will follow those rules, that was clear when they attacked Hisashi, all our other payments were on time and yet... anyway, we'll be taking it for ourselves and ransoming it to them. We'll use Hisashi's Chishamiso to make a copy of whatever it is, and" a sinister grin slithered across his face and his eyes turned an ominous blood red. "We'll threaten to spread it publicly. Alright, first order of business before we assign Jobs. What are all your Chishamisos, and what new abilities have you unlocked recently?" Said Liam as he finally calmed down. "I'll go first, my ability is called Bioleap. I can teleport by controlling the atoms in my body. I disassemble and vibrate them at an insane frequency. I then move them to another location, then reform them there all at light speed. I actually can't control how far I go when I put this ability into full motion, so I use an energy anchor to mark where my body will go." He pulled out a small disk no bigger or thicker than a CD, "That's where these come in, it's a mixture of my cartilage and a few other things to help electricity pass from my spine to the disk, keeping me from flying to Timbuktu. See, my power runs on electrical energy, meaning that an EMP or dead zone is my worst enemy. Every month, I go to one of my aunt's houses to have some of my spinal bone removed and replaced and turned into these disks. This usually gives me at least fifty to seventy disks to use. When I teleport, I retain the speed I had when I started, but with a little effort on my part, I can slow down a little. I can sometimes enter a mode where I can travel without the disks, I call it limit breaker mode-"
"You're such a nerd." Giggled Hida.
"An awesome nerd! Anyway, what this allows me to do is travel at insane speeds without using my disks; my speed is greatly reduced. At best, I can only move at four hundred kilometres per hour in short thirty-meter bursts; otherwise, my body will rip apart and be turned to mush. All right, Hisashi, you're up."
"Alright, my Miso is called Blueprint. Basically, I can make a perfectly detailed blueprint of anything that I touch. I normally use these for buildings. The details I gain usually only include things that are integral to the general functionality of the object that I touch, but with enough time, I can gain other knowledge, too, like what all the rooms are used for or a basic idea of who uses them. The more time I spend touching it, the more details I gain. The moment I let go of the object, my mind will have a perfect schematic of the object, and my hands will draw what I know, then immediately delete all information from my brain. In other words, if I want to gain more information on the target, I must treat it as if it's my first time scanning."
"How long does it usually take? You've never taken Yato or me on recon missions before, so I wouldn't know." Asked Sis.
"Depends on three factors: size, complexity, and detail. For something like a gun or a remote-controlled car, it will only take about fifty seconds, but for something like a real car or a nuclear bomb, it will take a few hours. Similarly, a basic house will only take a few minutes, but a mall will almost take me a full day. Since it's easier to build a house than it is to build a car. And a mall is far larger and has more going on than a car. Alright, your turn, Hida...Hida...Hiiiidaa"
"OH, sorry, I was just zoned out. What were we talking about?"
"Your miso child, explain it to them."
"Oh, right, sorry. My miso is called Hephaestus. " Vesta chuckled a little. "I can understand and build just about anything given enough time and understanding of how it's supposed to work.....ya."
"They need details, Hida." Said Hisashi.
"Right, okay. For example, let's say I don't know anything about artillery and guns. If u tell me to build a machine that shoots projectiles, I'll build a catapult or slingshot. If you tell me that it must fire at a very high velocity using mechanics and a trigger, I'll build a crossbow. And if you add that it must use a high-powered non-lethal explosion to increase the projectile's velocity, I'll build a flintlock, so on and so forth. The better I understand how the object works, the more likely I am to build a perfect replica. It's also important that I have the correct tools and parts on hand. Building extremely complicated things gives me a massive headache, though and may take a few days to fully recover. Like when I built that facial recognition camera, it took me a month to fully recover because I knew nothing about the hardware or software."
"Alright, MY TURN MY TURN," I yelled.
"My miso is called Alchemy Lab. My body can mix and combine any chemicals within itself and except them through sweat glands as a gel that degrades and releases the compound after a few seconds. I can only release the compounds in either gas or liquid form; solids could do damage to my body. I mostly use it to excrete explosive or flammable compounds since poisons can directly affect me too, but internally."
"I'm sure you remember the bottles of Azidoazide azide, ya, he made them for us." Said Hisashi
"Wait, really?" Asked Liam with surprise.
"Yep," I responded with pride.
"Alright, Vesta. You're up." Said Liam.
"Okay, my miso is called blood work. I can manipulate any blood that I make eye contact with. I can condense them to be as hard a steel or make threads as thin as yarn but strong enough to lift a person. The more iron there is in the blood, the stronger the thread. The strongest I've ever made could lift an SUV. I can even shape them to make basic weapons like spears, swords and shields. I can also tell what's in the blood by coming into contact with it."
"Okay, so blood work, alchemy lab, Hephaestus, Blueprint, and Bioleap. We've got a pretty good roster. Now for the jobs. I am on car duty, I'll drive the van and park it. Vesta and Hida, I'll get you both a job in the nightclub. The workers have access to most of the main building, but you'll have to find a way to steal a key card to the upper office. Yato, you are our distraction; we need you to run interference by drawing police activity. Pretend to be robbing a jewellery store and cause as much havoc as possible at least until a pro hero arrives. You can ride a motorcycle, right?"
"Yep," I respond in an uneasy voice. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, you'll need to be mobile; a lot of people will be after you, so hit and run is your best bet. I picked a jewellery store that is close to the railway line. Use that train to get into the badlands and then get off the train BEFORE you reach The Playground. I'll see if I can get you something for the fall. Next up is Hisashi. You'll watch the van while I get into the lab to steal the hard drive and teleport back to you. Vesta and Hida, you will stage an art heist by stealing a bunch of paintings. Use the knockout gas to make things easier, hey Hida, can you whip up something that can control a car remotely?"
"Huh...oh, come again?"
"Hida, you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine, just ask what you need, alright." She responded irritably.
"Ummm, alright, we need you to whip up something that can control a car remotely. Do you have something?"
"It'll take some time, but ya."
"Good, you'll load it up with the art and set it to drive around the city. Once you are done, you'll meet Hisashi in the parking lot to help him knock out the Peacekeepers. Get yourself a tank gun or something. Then we'll tie them up and drive off. Any questions?"
I put my hand up, "You said that we'll get revenge on them for what they did to Hisashi, what's the play here?"
"Oh boy, here we go again." Exclaimed Hisashi.
"I'm glad you asked. We will put a tracking chip in the hard drive that will secretly alert the Kara-no-gokis where it is. The two of them will destroy each other, mwahahahaha." Liam laughed maniacally. It will also give Hisashi enough time to sneak on a boat and leave the island."
"You're scary," said Vesta
"Thank you, the only thing we are missing would be the map for the underground lab, my mom might have something, so I'll see if I can search her stuff. Now, we'll split apart and get everything together. Once we've got this all sorted, we'll act. Keep each other posted on all details. Best of luck."
We broke off, and went our separate ways. Hoping for victory.