Free Web NovelChapter 139: Chapter 138 - Relocation
Point-of-View: Neo Cronje
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This is a huge pain...in the aftermath of yesterday’s battle, the UN and Sri Lankan government contacted Harmony and asked us to give a press conference to explain what happened, in order to help ease any tensions amongst the general public.
For some reason, they decided to hold the press conference in front of the Lotus Tower, of all places. The bodies had been removed and the blood and guts had been cleaned up, but still, the scent of death was still pretty fresh here. Seems just a little bit messed up to hold it here, if you ask me.
I’d managed to answer all of the reporters’ questions so far, and it looked like the interview was finally about to wrap up, much to my relief. After this, I’m heading right back home and going to sleep for an indefinite amount of time.
Seriously, why is it always me who has to represent Harmony in these things!? There are plenty of others who could do it in my place, after all.
Fortunately, it ended shortly afterwards, a huge sense of relief flooding over me as the reporters began to pack up and leave. Finally, a chance for some rest and-...huh?
Did I...just sense an unleashed Aura? For a Space Skill user like me to sense one, must mean there’s a Meta-Human very, very close by. Oh, no...is it Chaos again? Crap, did Anarchy come here after seeing the press conference!? This is bad.
What should I do? Should I portal all the reporters away? Yeah, I probably should...
"Listen, everyone, I’m sensing another Meta-Human nearby here, but I don’t know who it is...in case it’s an enemy, I’ll transport you all a few kilometers away that way, please excuse me," I remarked, as I opened a portal beneath them and sent them away, some of them letting out yelps of surprise as they fell through.
Now, then...let’s find out exactly who it was that I sensed. The fact that they released their Aura, even briefly, meant that they probably wanted to get my attention on purpose.
"Easy, I’m not here to fight," Came a familiar voice, as a splash echoed out, someone climbing out of the lake.
Huh? Why is she here?
"Well, you’re the last person I expected to see...what’re you doing here, Fake?" I inquired warily.
"Ugh, would you stop with that, already? Anyway, I’m just here to talk. I’m kinda on the run from Eden at the moment," She replied with a sigh. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
Hm? What does that mean?
"You were here last night, weren’t you? You fought one of my acquaintances," I remarked with a frown.
"It’s a long story...but, in a nutshell, Anarchy showed up at one of Eden’s bases and blackmailed them to send me and some others here yesterday to ’spice things up’ or something along those lines. But at the end of that battle, right before Chaos’s portal user send us back, Anarchy used Dispel on me and freed me from the Condition that one of Eden’s Category 0 Dark Skill users had cast on me.
And so, I killed the Category 0 in charge of me and escaped, before coming here. I honestly didn’t think I’d actually find any Meta-Humans here, but guess I lucked out, after all. Anyway, here’s my proposal...in exchange for all the information I’ve got, I want Harmony to guarantee my safety," She explained, looking like she’d gotten a weight off her chest as she finished.
I really don’t think she’s lying...but what should I do? After all, she has killed a fair number of Harmony’s Meta-Humans over the years...
"Why should I trust you? You’ve been our enemy for quite a while, after all," I pointed out with a grimace.
"Yeah, well, it’s not like I had a choice, you know. If I ever defied Eden, I’d have died for sure. Sure, I might have used some of the Harmony members I encountered as outlets to let off some steam and my frustrations, but the fact is that I couldn’t resist Eden even if I wanted to. And I definitely wanted to. I mean, I killed a Category 0 literally minutes after I was freed from my Condition," She countered objectively.
"Assuming all that’s true, and you weren’t genuinely loyal to Eden, you probably don’t have any real information of worth to begin with," I shot back.
"Oh, but I do. I know the specific locations of two Eden hideouts, I even have the coordinates for one of them, and I have a approximate idea of the locations of five other Eden hideouts too. But most importantly, the one that I said I have the coordinates for is where they’re holding their Outliers. And I’m sure that there’s at least one of your Outliers who would kill for that particular information," She replied with a raised eyebrow.
Huh? Does she mean Dieter?
"What’s your endgame here?" I inquired suspiciously.
"Well, at the moment, it’s saving two of Eden’s Outliers. They’ve been cast with the Dark Skill: Condition too, so I had no choice but to leave them behind. But I can’t just leave them there, who knows what might happen to them without me?" She grimaced, clenching her fists.
She seems genuinely concerned about them. If I take her to the campsite, I can have Aurora use her senses to determine if she’s lying or not...but is that worth the risk? Hm...with her Nullification, she’d probably be able to take out most of the Outliers, but not Aurora.
And based on Kiyana’s report, she had the advantage over X yesterday, even with Nullification active. She certainly could be useful...her power has always been a huge pain to go up against, but if it were on our side, then...
"Alright, fine...I’ll take you to where we’re holding our Outliers, but any sign that you might be trying to trick us and I will kill you. Got it?" I warned her.
"Yeah, sure. Also, could you have someone heal me, and then I wanna sleep for, like, a couple of days," She requested with a sheepish smile.
"Don’t push your luck," I responded, as I opened a portal.
"Yeah, well, you have no idea how exhausted I am," She grumbled as she walked towards the portal.
"Huh, I’d have thought you might try to cling onto me like you did last time," I remarked in surprise.
"Well, I really need you to trust me, so the least I can do is trust you. Just...please don’t dump me in the middle of the ocean again, that was traumatizing," She replied with a wry smile, before adding with a smirk, "Oh, but if you want me to cling to you, then that’s different-."
"Yeah, no. You’re soaked to the bone," I cut her off.
"Mhm, mhm...in other words, if I was dry right now, you’d want me to cling-?"
"Please, just stop, or I’ll drop you in the ocean again," I interrupted dryly, before gesturing to the portal.
"Alright, here I go," She responded, as she walked through the portal.
I then followed in after her, letting out a worn out sigh as I did...why do things keep happening, is a little peace and quiet too much to ask for anymore?
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Point-of-View: Arisu Kimura
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"You mean she killed Trevor and escaped? But what about the Condition?" I inquired with a frown.
"We can assume that Anarchy must have used Dispel on her at some point during the battle in Sri Lanka," Responded the higher up I was talking to.
"Alright, so what does this have to do with me?" I asked him.
"Eden needs to go into hiding. We’ve been painstakingly determining which of our members are well and truly free of any suspicion of being traitors, and gathering them in the secret base we’ve been building for the last few years."
"Huh? Ohh, wait, you mean that one that was being built to serve as the main base for after we achieved world domination?" I responded with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, exactly. Of the few that knew about the location of that place, we have already killed those that we determined could not be trusted. It’s big enough to house close to ten thousand people comfortably, we’ll stay there along with all those we can trust for a while and lay low. We have already started transporting the Outliers there, one by one. You’ll be joining us there too, of course, along with the other Category 0s."
Ugh, seriously? That sounds awful...but I guess none of the other bases are safe anymore.
"Alright, fine. So, where is it?" I asked him with a sigh.
"Cairo, Egypt."
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