Chapter 55: Awakening
"Um, can I have a picture?" The pink-haired cleaner suddenly moved closer to Zero, but before the hitman had the chance to respond, their leader grabbed her by the collar again.
"We’re done here," he said as he dragged her away, which caused Zero to chuckle at their antics.
The four cleaners were quite the dangerous bunch, so he was glad that they were completely uninterested in the bounty.
Would they be able to take him in?
No.
However, they’d cause him quite a bit of trouble, which would only end up delaying his shopping further.
The cleaners walked out of the isolated space, leaving Zero, the lawyer-like bounty hunter and an unconscious Volt.
The four were....wait, four?
Zero’s eyes suddenly fixed on a man in pajamas, standing quietly in the isolated space.
He looked like someone who hadn’t seen a wink of sleep in years...which was far from the case.
Zero was quite surprised that he hadn’t sensed his presence until his eyes rested on him, but the hitman wasn’t worried about his presence.
Instead, he said, "Did Sable send you?"
"Hmm," the man answered, but even his voice sounded lethargic.
He then turned towards the lawyer-like man and asked, "Is he the one?"
"Yeah," Zero nodded, and the bounty hunter’s eyes widened before he said, "W-we had a deal!"
"We do," Zero nodded in agreement, "and I’m not going to kill you."
The hitman then turned to the sleepy man as he added, "He, on the other hand... I’m not so sure."
In other words, he was still going to die, but not by Zero’s hand.
He immediately understood that, so in a last desperate attempt, he tried bringing down the isolated space.
The scene might’ve been completely restored to what it once was, but he could still find a way to reveal who Zero really was.
Or he could just escape into another Isolated space until he reached safety.
Unfortunately, before he had the chance to put his plans into play,
"Sleep."
The last thing the bounty hunter heard was the perpetually tired voice of the man in pajamas before darkness swallowed him.
Before the isolated space could crumble, the sleepy man walked to the sleeping bounty hunter, picked him up and without saying anything, the two turned into mist.
"Dracula?" Zero let out as he observed the scene.
Since he got no answer, he also went back to being Liam as his white hair turned black and the face mask disappeared.
He then looked down at the unconscious hero before letting out an exhausted sigh.
Liam was tempted to leave the hero as he currently was, but in the end, he decided otherwise.
He calmly walked towards Volt, ensuring that he didn’t look suspicious to the onlookers, before crouching down and patting the man on his cheeks.
It took a couple of slaps before the knockout gas wore off and the hero slowly regained his consciousness.
"Where am I?" Tyler let out as he opened his eyes.
"The mall," Liam responded, "and you’re currently being indecent."
"Hmm?" Tyler let out in confusion at both the fact that he was in front of a stranger and said stranger’s words.
He then sat up, massaged his forehead before freezing and looking down.
His clothes somehow had lots of burns on them, which meant that he had been using his Factor earlier... but why?
Before he could recall, the stranger who had woken him up suddenly took off his coat and handed it to him.
"Here," Liam muttered, "cover yourself up."
"R-right, thanks," he answered before clearing his throat and adding, "you have done the HA a great service, I, Volt, will personally ensure that you are—"
He didn’t get to finish his words when he realized that the stranger had already walked past him and towards the escalator.
"W-wait!" Volt called out, but the stranger didn’t bother turning back.
[Volt!] A voice suddenly came from his earpiece, stopping him from following the stranger.
"Emily?" He responded.
[What the hell happened?] His agent asked, sounding worried.
"Not sure," Tyler said as he massaged his forehead, "I remember breaking into the Isolated space and then...."
He paused.
[Then?] Emily asked.
"White hair," Tyler muttered, that’s the last thing I recalled before passing out.
He then looked down at the coat in his hand before letting out a sigh, "It seems I failed the citizen that was within it."
[....] Emily was silent for a while on the other end before she said, [You’ve had a long night; why don’t you go get some rest.]
"Yeah," Tyler muttered as he stood up before pausing as he seemed to recall something, "ah, if you can, help me find a man with black hair and grey eyes, I have to thank him."
[Alright.]
***
Liam, meanwhile, let the earpiece dissolve as he continued forward.
"It seems he doesn’t know who I am?" He muttered, "Good."
At least he was able to avoid the Volt headache....for now.
Unfortunately for him, he had just attracted the Tyler headache, which would be a lot worse than Volt’s.
But he’d find that out later....for now, he had to continue shopping for Lea’s upcoming birthday.
"First things first," He muttered, looking down at his list, "ingredients for cake."
***
Meanwhile, in Lea’s school, she stood in front of a mirror, looking at her eyes that were now glowing green.
She then looked down at the cut on her palm, one that she had acquired by accident.
She watched as the wound slowly stitched itself together and the skin smoothed itself out.
"It’s happening again," she muttered to herself.
Ever since her kidnapping, she had been getting random episodes like this... sometimes it’s her wounds healing on their own, other times it’s her feeling the emotions of others.
The same had happened when she had spoken to Olivia back in their apartment’s hallway.
It also allowed her to absorb one’s emotions, though these abilities had been random so far; one thing was for certain.
She had awakened a Factor.
The question now was whether or not she should reveal it to her brother.... especially given the situation that most likely caused this awakening.
A knock from outside the restroom pulled her out of her thoughts.
"Lea?" a girl’s voice called. "Class is about to start."
"I-I’m coming!"