"Uh, so he mentioned nothing else? Like, at all. Nothing. Nada?"
Arfa looked up at the two from her perch on the edge of the rooftop of the arcade building, the glow of neon and fluorescent casting their faces alight in the night.
Sanjeev shrugged, hands in his pockets as he stepped closer to the edge.
Arfa sighed, a leg dangling, her eyes tracking the streets below.
Riyyan, meanwhile, was still invested in his switch, fingers flying and mercilessly thrashing the buttons.
"Man..." He mumbled, slumping once he lost, pocketing the switch.
Arfa rolled her eyes.
'About damn time he put that away. Now... where exactly did Arun say this Hollow was?'
Her brows furrowed.
Sanjeev spoke up, the Contractor device already in hand and tapping at the screen.
"Right, so Arun said that the Hollow might be around the 4th neighbourhood near the water reservoir."
Right, the Contractor.
A device that all three of them had currently, though for some reason, hers' was blinking red.
'Maybe no signal or something?'
She thought to herself, squinting at the device in Sanjeev's hand.
The Contractor apparently did what its name implies.
Contracts for terminating Hollows were sent through the device.
With these contracts being accepted through it, and apparently all registered users of Drive at BMDTA always carried Contracters around with them.
'And the user who accepts the assignment, which when accepted and completed, can be rewarded for excursions or even desired changes in living or food accommodation.'
'But mostly, the Hollow tracking thing is what gets me.'
'It's like a mobile phone with an actual, functioning ghost tracker app.'
Arfa thought dryly, huffing a breath.
Sanjeev blinked down at her, soft hair tousled.
Riyyan was already leaning over his shoulder to poke at the screen.
"Hey—! No touching! Bad Riyyan!"
Sanjeev face twisted into a scowl and Riyyan pouted, eyes still lazily tracking the streets as he yawned.
"Why did Arun even assign this one to us? Could have just let Ayesha or Shariba do it or something.."
Riyyan pulled his hoodie over his head as a breeze carded through the raven hair of the night, his hair falling over his eyes.
'Wow, is literally everyone around me this hot? Not even trying, these bastards..'
Arfa stood up, face etched in frustration and brows drawn together, the wind sending her coat flapping behind her, hair curling in the air.
Running a hand through his hair, Sanjeev sighed and shrugged, almost comically, seeming nonchalant to the point that Arfa wanted to shake him.
"Sanjeev, you little bastard, if you don't just—"
Arfa barely finished her sentence before the guy just grinned, completely feral.
Riyyan blinked as if realizing something.
"Wait—"
Sanjeev, some guy Arfa thought was a social golden retriever, made the most unhinged choice yet.
He leapt off the building.
With a grin of all expressions on his face.
"What the hell—?! Is that even safe for you?!"
Arfa shouted, skidding to the edge with Riyyan, who just muttered a loud 'Woah.'
"Never gets old.."
He murmured again, to which Arfa's head snapped at the speed of light just to glance at him.
'What? Does this mean they do this everytime???'
Sanjeev had landed safely on the roof of the adjacent building.
You'd think he'd fall given the space between the two complexes.
But now, he was just waving and already turning, sprinting ahead with that same shimmer around him.
Arfa's eyes narrowed.
'Drive as propulsion?
I didn't think he'd expend whatever energy he had into parkour, given how light his Drive felt.'
She was lost in thought, so much so that she barely reacted when Riyyan leapt up as well, with such sudden force that it sent her reeling back a little.
"What the actual—? What is it with you two?! I'm the suicidal one here, just so you know!!"
She lowered her arms and tried to focus her Drive into doing the same thing.
Her dark eyes fluttered shut with an inhale.
'Would it even work though? My Drive is mainly suspension of time. How would—?'
Her eyes snapped open, lips curling into a little smirk.
'Of course! Suspension!
If I could reduce the area of suspension just to the space beneath my feet... I could walk on air!'
'But it's something I need to test now. And possibly not fail at.'
She thought dryly, eyes tracking the two guys already ahead of her.
She could barely focus on the first few tries, but once when the wind started picking up, she felt that familiar thrum of energy flooding her veins.
'That single thread of energy that I pull at... imagine the air molecules as strings, Arfa...'
She placed a foot in the air tentatively, dense energy underneath her feet already gathering.
She grinned, and Sanjeev, too, stopped once Riyyan skidded to a halt with his eyes wide.
"Jesus?! Is that you!?!"
Arfa tucked her hands into the pockets of her coat, face unbelievably smug.
Sanjeev almost wanted to tackle her.
"Hah... You're really a surprise."
He murmured, hand in his hair and a smirk on his face, brows drawn upward in that almostsadistic glee.
Arfa almost tripped then, stumbling forward.
But then she caught herself almost instantly, gliding across the air with a grin and a laugh that echoed.
She caught up to them, bending slightly toward them with her hands still deep in her pockets.
Her face was alight with that same grin.
"Yo. Will you lead the way or nah?"
Riyyan rolled his eyes. "Don't get cocky just yet."
He was already walking away.
Arfa just lowered her place in the air, hair still flowing gently in the wind, eyes closed with a smug smile.
"Sorry, can't do~! I've already reached such greatness that I have to lower my position in the sky for y'all~!"
Sanjeev laughed then, loud and brash, eyes crinkling.
He was already catching upto them, his Contractor in his hand.
His lips had an amused smile plastered on them, fingers already tapping at the screen of the device.
His eyes were alight with mirth.
"You're such an annoying piece of work."
"Why, thank you~! I maintain it quite well."
She winked, walking backwards in the air now and bowing.
Riyyan already had a scowl on his face, mumbling something incoherent about her 'trying to aura-farm' and stuff.
Sanjeev spoke up, head raised and turning in the north-east direction.
"The Hollow should be around here—"
Unfortunately, the side of a building exploded from the inside.
Fortunately (or not, depends on who you ask), the Hollow had come to them.
This one was larger, more grotesque in its shape.
Riyyan gaped at it, eyes ringed with red going wide. "Whoa, what..."
It's maw hung open, body almost fluid, the inside of its mouth like a void swallowing the screams of the civilians.
Sanjeev had already started evacuating them, the police already pulling up and yellow-taping the scene, trying to maintaining calm.
Of course, that's nearly impossible when some of the civilians can see the creature above them in the sky, floating like the worst nightmare they'd ever had come to life.
Of course, while Sanjeev handled the civilians and had come back just in time, Riyyan had already leapt up with a violent burst of Drive, fist already aimed the thing's head.
Arfa's eyes stayed on him the whole time.
'So that's why his Drive felt passive. It's basically like short-term bursts of emotion released all at once.
Passive inertia..? Right. The Hollow's still there.'
Arfa leapt as well, from her place in the air, extending the domain of her suspension.
'The Hanged Man... very fitting. Now that I've got this ability...'
Arfa's mind flashed back to something someone important had said to her once.
All those years ago at the port.
"You're still human. You've got free will, Arfa. You've got the choice of leaving or doing."
She snapped her eyes shut for a second before they snapped open with more vigour.
Sanjeev pulled the whip at his side, releasing dense fumes of energy, curling into the air as the whip immediately latched around the Hollow's body with a loud 'thunk!'
"Arfa! Riyyan probably will weaken this thing after a few minutes!"
Arfa turned to him, stopping mid-air.
His eyes narrowed, head nodding at her.
The creature still raged, and Sanjeev's feet skidded forward before he pulled back the whip, tugging the creature into restraints.
"Find something to impale this thing with! Anything will work!"
"Don't you usually have weapons for this sort of work?!"
She yelled back.
But she was already searching.
Amidst the rubble of the destroyed side of the building, she pulled the broken half of a rebar rod, leaving dust in her wake as she leapt back up.
With the broken end of the rod aimed at the Hollow, she launched herself with just enough Drive.
Just enough that she could land a piercing blow in its head.
'If I could just let my Drive flow through the particles of this rebar... maybe I'll infuse more energy into my attack..'
Riyyan, who had almost depleted half his energy just beating the thing up with nothing but fists and weakening it successfully...
...Now stood on the back of the raging creature.
He spotted her and waved.
"Out of my way, sleepyhead!"
Her voice echoed, with the rod slamming into the head of the Hollow.
A sick, squelching sound followed.
The creature squirmed, shaking off Riyyan from its back.
"Hey, WHAT—"
Riyyan stumbled, letting out incoherent noises before he fell down.
Sanjeev leapt up and caught Riyyan instantly, both landing hard and tumbling on the roof of a home undisturbed.
Arfa let go of the rebar, the Hollow now dissolving into shimmering dust.
The rebar dropped from the sky and onto the mess of yellow tapes, tearing through them and landing with a clang.
Reporters had already gathered at the edge, their cameras flashing, being kept away by the police.
Arfa landed beside the two guys, both of whom were just laying there.
A soft grin appeared on her face when looking at their state.
"Tired already, Akhtar?"
Riyyan scoffed softly under his breath, turning on his side.
"What a hassle, man... I'm sleepy..."
Sanjeev immediately sat up, poking at him hard.
"Wake up, you idiot! I'm not carrying you again!"
"Mmm... Ow.. but I already used up my energy.."
Riyyan didn't even bother opening his eyes.
Sanjeev grimaced, knowing he'd yet again be caught carrying this guy up to the dorm rooms.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
Arfa was still watching the spectacle down below, and then finally turned to the two.
"Wow. What a mess, huh?"
"You're a mess, Sayeed."
Arfa simply laughed, breathy.
Sanjeev let out an amused exhale, already standing up and dragging Riyyan up with him, who simply let out a loud groan.
"No...."
Moonlight spilled from between gaps of obscure clouds, casting a soft sheen on them.
Fluorescent of the street lights flickered once before becoming stable again.
Sanjeev's Contractor sounded with a loud ring, followed by a voice announcing the end of the assignment.
Sanjeev pulled it out, tapping at the screen.
Arfa peered at the screen from over his shoulder, and Riyyan did the same.
"Woah, hey, I forgot. This is my first assignment!"
Arfa snapped her fingers.
Sanjeev still stared at the message on the screen.
[Congratulations! You three have completed the latest assignment from Arun Madhav.]
[The reward points will be split for each person, with which you can gain access to certain commodities.]
Sanjeev pocketed the device, already trotting ahead with a sigh.
"Hey, wait up!" Riyyan called out softly, rubbing his eyes.
Sanjeev leapt off the roof and landed on the road below.
"Come on, Arfa, Riyyan! We've got to go home, right? I'm tired!"
He called out, night breeze already ruffling his shirt.
He walked from under the yellow tapes.
Arfa watched him as Riyyan followed behind, leaping in that same manner despite having low energy.
She laughed softly.
Home, huh?
'A bit too early to be inclusive like this, Sanjeev. You never know what I might turn out to be.'
With that, she leapt off as well, closely following behind them both.