“... Breaking News. Authorities have finally revealed the official details of yesterday's incident in Amaterasu's Heavenly Park. The famed amusement park was the site of a vicious attack done by, as witnesses and recorded videos show, ninjas. A spokesperson for the Council has revealed that this was an attempted terrorist attack, however, no known terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for this heinous attack. The spokesperson has also verified that, while many were injured, no one had died from the attack. We will now speak to our reporter who is on site …”

“Look at that,” John muttered after a swing of his mug. He wiped the streak of alcohol that was running down from the corner of his mouth before gesturing at the holo-screen. “We've got rogue Espers fighting it out with AEMers in AKEERAs in the middle of the streets, spellcasters blowing up themselves and everything around them ‘cause of their experiments, and this gets into the headlines?

“How bout how shitty people's lives are in the Sumps? Or how people are turning to crime in the Slums because of society. The story on how a kid was robbed and shot by a desperate gambler? Or that university student gangraped by a bunch of rich kids? Is that not newsworthy? What do you think?” John turned to look at Emily and Asami who were nearby.

Emily looked thoughtfully at the screen without answering while Asami opened her mouth to answer.

“Not you. You're a rich one,” John interrupted Asami stopping her from speaking. His eyes were on Emily as he continued speaking. “I want someone who knows what it's like to answer. That's right, I can tell that you're just like us, a fellow resident of the Sumps.”

Emily and Asami exchanged surprised glances. Emily was shocked at how John was able to tell where she lived, while Asami was stunned that Emily was actually living in the Sumps. From the way she dressed and acted, it was hard to tell that Emily was living in a bad neighborhood, but that was only because Asami didn't know how much effort the former had to put in.

“I think they're focusing on issues that are foreign to amass sympathy while avoiding issues that are internal,” Emily answered slowly. “If people knew the condition of the Sumps and the Slums, Sanctuary wouldn't look so good in the world's eyes.”

“Right on,” John said with admiration. “That's exactly what they see us as. Mistakes. Unseen, unspoken, errors. Shit that they can sweep under the rug.

“But I digress. These are issues you pretty kids don't need to think about. So how bout leaving right about now, hm?” John shook his head and asked them with a polite smile. “You kids are in the wrong place after all.”

“Well now, that depends,” Emily said leaning on the counter without making any indication of leaving. “Do you have Accelerant?”

John narrowed his eyes and his fingers twitched when he heard Emily's question, these movements were noticed by the two teenagers. Knowing that they caught on, he sighed and pulled a cheap cigarette out, lighting and breathing its vapors while ignoring them. Asami coughed and almost gagged on the smoke before taking a step back and using Emily as a shield, leaning close to her and trying to breathe in her aroma to combat the vapors. Emily rolled her eyes, knowing that Asami was acting so she could get close and breathed her scent instead.

“You two need to leave,” he finally said after a few minutes, when he saw them firmly stand their place. “And don't try getting that stuff. Oh, and no, I'm not trying to be hypocritical. I mean it.”

“So you know its effects,” Emily said. “Does it really help increase your strength?”

“Does it matter? Not like you'll ever get it,” John replied.

“Why? Because of him?” Emily pressed with an emphasis on ‘him’. John chuckled and looked at her amusedly.

“I have no idea who you're talking about,” John said. His voice was calm while his eyes showed no sign of surprise only confusion.

“You think I'm bluffing,” Emily said after giving John an intense glare. “Unfortunately, I happen to know Jason. Intimately.”

Emily finished her last sentence with a sigh of longing, her soft voice revealing how infatuated she was. John looked at her in surprise and he couldn't help but study her carefully. He knew Jason's taste and realized that Emily was quite the beauty. Her vibrant green eyes could draw anyone into an amorous fantasy while her vaguely delicate face had a hint of stubbornness sculpted into her chin. Her cheeks were beginning to hollow and the baby fat was disappearing to reveal a more refined feature.

She's the opposite of Mary, John ruminated while puffing out the cigar he was inhaling. She's the center of attention, the beauty queen … whereas Mary's…

“So, that's what he's into now, eh?” John muttered to himself while Emily waited patiently for him to continue their conversation.

“Does he know you're here?” John finally asked aloud to Emily. Her eyelids fluttered slightly against her will, answering his question and he, John, sniggered. “I won't lie to you, I happen to know Jason too. We were in the same ... orphanage. And, if you don't want me to tell him what you're up to, you'll walk away.”

Emily glared at John for a moment before looking away, her mind in turmoil. She didn't think he was lying, Emily remembered how she had found Jason exiting the Sumps in a foul mood, his mind wandering while he sat on his bike.

Wait. That time … wasn't he upset? And over people he considered friends. So ... was it this guy? Emily looked at John as she thought about it. Slowly, it began to make sense as she pieced it together, but she was still uncertain. Should I take a chance?

“Funny, you still consider him a friend?” Emily chuckled and turned to look at John. “After what happened?”

Surprise and shock covered John's face before he sighed resignedly. The shock turned into regret as he smiled wryly before answering Emily. “He told you?”

“He told me,” affirmed Emily with a vague smile and a raised eyebrow while Asami, who was now a bystander, sneakily pulled a holo-pad to write her notes in, her eyes were flashing as she watched the two go head-to-head in a conversation that made no sense to her.

“Then that means he cares about you,” John said after a while. He snuffed out the burned cigar in an ashtray before resuming his drinking. Only after taking three swings did he continue speaking. “Why are you so fixated on using Accelerant? You don't need strength to stand next to him.”

“I want to get stronger for myself. I don't want a knight in shining armor, or to be stuck as a damsel in distress,” Emily answered. “I want to be myself, to stand on my own without support. But I need to be stronger to do that. And I'll use any advantage I have to get stronger, even if that means using Accelerant.”

John rolled his eyes when he heard her. Being independent wasn't bad, but she was willing to risk her life to get stronger and that was infuriating to him, especially since she already had a nuke named Jason next to her.

“Oh, boo-hoo, cry me a river,” John sneered. “You that desperate to kill yourself? Fine, I won't stop you. Look for the rebel in Terence Street; you'll find what you're looking for there.”

Once John finished speaking, he ignored them and continued drinking. Emily said her thanks before walking out the bar with Asami in tow, the latter had question marks floating around her as she was dragged away.

***

“A.V.A?” Jason asked into his helmet. He drove the bike through the streets, slowly making his way to the Loft.

“Alice is with Ms. Graves and there appears to be no danger to either of them,” A.V.A answered mechanically. “However, it appears that Ms. Graves has realized that Alice is no ordinary child.”

“Is she making any moves to test her?” Jason asked grimly.

“Only a DNA test,” A.V.A confirmed after a moment. “She seems to have a stand of Alice's hair.”

“You're plugged into her system, right? Forward me the results and mess around with the file before she gets it,” Jason said almost immediately. He had an inkling as to what Alice really was, but he didn't want to raise any more suspicions.

“Understood,” A.V.A said in an emotionless voice. “I'll compile the results to show that the testee is your daughter and is entirely human.”

“Not funny, Ava,” Jason muttered unamused.

“... That was not a joke.”

“Oh, for crying out loud!”

***

Alina entered the Loft after passing through several security systems. Not only did she have to go through the usual voice recognition, fingerprint access, and eye retina scan, she also had to be subject to a DNA verifier, a scanner that checked her DNA structure as she passed through it. Its ability to scan the user's DNA made it almost impossible to fool but it was also one of the reasons why Alina hated coming here; trying to enter this bunker was like waiting in line for a burger during rush hour.

As the elevator behind her sank in, Alina kicked off her boots and took her coat off. A little bot scurried forward and picked her shoes up before placing it carefully onto the shoe cabinet. It then picked up a small mop and began cleaning the puddles of water her shoes left on the floor.

“Thanks, little guy,” Alina said while bending down to pat the little robot cleaner who hummed cheerfully in response to her actions before quickly wheeling away once it was done cleaning the floor.

Alina took a deep breath before walking forward, bracing herself for the inevitable as she entered the main room in the Loft. A woman was standing beside the large quantum computer. Her fair skin was unusually smooth with no blemish or beauty spot and her bright brown eyes, while expressive, had no emotions which were quite similar to Jason. Her wavy black hair blossomed perfectly as it cascaded down her head, the hair pulled to one side and resting snuggly on her left shoulder while her bangs covered a side of the face.

“Good day Ms. Sage, how was your drive here?” the woman asked, her voice also unnaturally calm and emotionless. Her voice was also not in sync with her mouth movement.

“It's Alina, Ava,” Alina answered with a hint of exasperation. “And you know how the ride was, you were the one driving the car.”

Indeed, this woman was, in fact, A.V.A, specifically a robot controlled by the AI that Jason had created. The latter had hoped that Ava would be able to emphasize with humans better if she were one herself. And while Alina had no issues with Ava, she was a bit uncomfortable with her.

“How's Emily and Alice?” Alina asked while pressing a button on the computer.

A section of the floor slid away and a reception lounge slowly rose up from it. It was complete with four sofas and holo-computer in the center. A holo-computer was a device that worked as a computer, television, and gaming system all at once. The sofas were designed with the ability to become recliners, allowing the seater to lay back and connect their holo-lens to the holo-computer, giving them the ability to watch and play anything immersively while relaxing their body.

“Alice is currently with Ms. Silvia Graves,” Ava answered as Alina collapsed on a sofa. “Emily, however, has left.”

“What?!” Alina shot back up and prepared to call Emily while Ava continued talking monotonously.

“She increased her Esper level, which allowed her to accelerate her healing,” Ava said. “After she fully recovered, she left the mansion with Asami and Jared.”

“Still, better to check up on her,” Alina muttered as she called Emily. A few moments later, Emily picked the phone up and Alina immediately started talking. “Hey, Emily. Just wanted to check up on you. You ok?”

“Yeah, I'm alright. I'm hanging out with Asami at an arcade,” Emily's voice came through the phone slightly muffled because of the background noise which was mostly music from arcade games.

“Seriously? You just got out of the hospital, you shouldn't be there!” Alina said. “... You should've called me if you were going to go there!”

“... Did you … are you ... jealous?” Emily asked between giggles, besides herself with amusement from how Alina was acting. She could even imagine Alina's pouty face as she continued giggling.

“No. Yes. … maybe?” Alina answered in a slightly meek voice. “Argh, I'm just bored. Jason ditched me and went on a date with Raphael leaving me all alone here!”

As Alina leaned back on the sofa, she began kicking her legs displaying her childish attitude to Emily for the first time.

“Wait, what? You- did you just say Jason's dating Raphael?! Isn't that Michelle's brother?!” Asami who was near Emily shouted in surprise after grabbing the phone.

“Uh, dude. I didn't mean that, like, literally,” Alina winced and moved lowered the volume through a hologram before answering.

“Well, we're almost done here, maybe we can meet up in an hour or two?” Emily suggested after snatching the phone back.

“Really?” Alina turned to look at Ava who nodded back, indicating that Jason was alright with bringing them to the Loft.

“Really really,” answered Emily with a laugh.

“Alright!” Alina answered as she texted to Michelle. Alina received a message from Jason, as she spoke, and she cheered after reading it. “Skip a meal before coming, Jason's cooking tonight! Oh, Michelle texted back too, she’ll be coming too!”

“... Jason will be there?” Emily asked hesitatingly.

“Yeah … why?” Alina asked slowly.

“Nothing. We'll be there after a few hours. See you soon,” Emily answered before hanging up.

Weird, Alina thought. Don't tell me she's planning to dress up before coming here...

***

Emily sighed after hanging up with Alina. Like she told the latter, they were currently at an arcade. After arriving at Terence Street, they searched the whole place but couldn't find any rebel. Only after the third search did Asami point out an old Star Wars poster on an Arcade's window. The poster had the Rebellion symbol on it while having a ‘Join the Rebellion!’ slogan in a weird language. Although shocked, Emily realized it made sense for the dealer to be in the arcade; their clients were mostly students.

After entering, Emily approached an employee telling them that Papa John sent them, and the employee pointed to a private room where a dealer soon met them. Before selling it, however, they were forced to a scan that searched for wireless signals while the dealer explained what Accelerant truly was.

He told them that it wasn't truly a drug in a manner of speaking. While it was a substance that altered the body physically, the dealer insisted that it was a one-time ‘medication’ that wasn't addictive but had various side-effects. He warned them that each person had a different reaction to the drug and that it would take about fifteen to twenty minutes for the results to show. He also threatened them to never reveal anything about this meeting and how they obtained it.

After buying the drug from him, both Emily and Melanie remained in the private room while the dealer left. It was at this point that Alina called, asking them how they were.

“So, will you take it?” Emily asked Asami, who pondered for a minute before she shook her head.

“No, I won't. Not yet,” Asami said while putting her Accelerant away. “Not until it's necessary. What about you? You gonna take it now?”

“Yeah, keep an eye out for me, alright?” Emily replied while examining her dose of Accelerant. It was a red liquid that was in an automatic injector that was professional looking, indicating that the drug was aimed at the higher class of society, the Espers specifically.

After observing it for a while, Emily took a deep breath and injected herself in her forearm. Asami looked on worryingly for a whole minute while Emily looked at her and shrugged; she felt nothing. Right after shrugging, the drug began working, filling her with euphoria as the room around her became unbalanced.

“Whoa,” Emily muttered as she looked at Asami whose face was stretching and spinning. Looking around she saw bright lights all around her. They slowly danced towards her as she raised her arm to touch them.

Soon after she pulled away, mildly horrified when she noticed them burrowing into her arm. The lights slowly moved towards her chest as she panicked and tried to stop them. However, her arm didn't move as she felt her body become sluggish and heavy. Her body leaned backward as she felt another burst of joy that calmed her down while the lights slowly converged on her navel.

Right after that, a burning sensation filled her body, almost as though she was burning up from the inside. Immense pain coursed through her body, so potent was the pain that she could feel it through the euphoric signals that her brain was emitting to her. In an instant, she realized why the drug had a psychoactive stimulant added: it was there to dull the pain.

Unknown to her, impurities from deep within her marrow was being forced out. It leaked through her pores, covering her body in a layer of black filth, stunning Asami who was watching this.

Da fuck? Asami thought. Is this a wuxia novel?! How can the drug do that?! Is it an immortal pill or something?

A pungent smell drifted over to Asami, causing her to move away from the sofa and closer to the door.

And why is it they never mention how stinky it is?! Wait a minute, if it's coming out of her pores … then …

Asami looked at Emily's face and gave her a sympathetic look to her as she knew what was about to happen. After half an hour, Emily tried to open her eyes but closed them back immediately when she realized that her face was covered in black filth. She nearly gagged but refused to open her mouth as Asami came to her rescue.

“Here, wipe your face with this,” Asami said to Emily while handing a wet towel to her. “Also, there's a bathroom behind that door, guess they knew that this would happen.”

Emily didn't answer and instead rushed to the bathroom as soon as she wiped her face. Asami watched her go with a small chuckle.

Ah, speaking of which…

Asami checked her phone, opening an app. She realized that Emily wouldn't be able to wear those clothes anymore so she ordered an outfit online and was currently checking the delivery time.

After two minutes, a knock was heard and Asami opened the door. An employee of the arcade was there and handed her a small parcel that had the outfit she ordered. Asami chuckled evilly as she shooed the attendant away and closed the door. She then opened the parcel and pulled out the outfit: black leather pants, knee high boots, a white shirt, and a black leather jacket.

Hehe … I can't wait to see everyone's faces! Asami thought gleefully as she sniggered again. Plus, now I have an excuse to peep on her! God, I'm a genius.

Asami skipped to the bathroom and knock once and opening the door before hearing Emily's response. A wave of steam escaped the door as she entered but Asami froze, stupefied by what she saw.

Emily's creamy skin was glistening like porcelain as water cascaded down her body. Her bright brown hair was matted with foam from shampoo and her jaw-dropping curves stood out more than usual.

Holy smoking shit! Asami thought with her mouth open. Was she always this hot?! Why didn't I try to get her before Jason did?!

“Wha- what are you doing?!” Emily asked when she noticed that Asami barged in. She tried covering her large melons with one arm and her honeypot with another but her breasts were too large to be hidden with just one arm.

“Oh c'mon, we're both girls… there's no need to be shy!” Asami said before fixing her eyes on Emily's bountiful mounds. She sighed as she rubbed her own small hills with both hands, crestfallen at how small they were compared to Emily's.

“Why are mine so tiny?” She lamented before looking at Emily and grinning. “Hey, Em, we're close right? You mind letting me touch yours?”

“Oh my god, stop being a pervert and get out!” Emily said almost shouting with a red face.

“Aw, but I just wanna touch yours!” Asami protested while stripping. “It's not fair that you have such big tatas! I wanna know what it feels like!”

“Then go and massage your own,” Emily said. “And stop undressing!”

“But I need to undress if I wanna shower with you. Unless you want me to get my clothes wet,” Asami said as she exposed herself completely. As she spoke, she joined Emily in the shower.

“You're not listening to me, are you?!” Emily said, frustrated at Asami's insistence. However, she made no move to kick Asami out after the latter joined her.

“Damn, these are enviable,” Asami muttered as she cupped Emily's breasts in her hands while she stood behind her.

Emily moaned as Asami slowly massaged her; Asami's fingers dug into the firm but soft marshmallows before cupping them again and lifting them up. At the same time, Asami pushed her perky breasts onto Emily's back, and the latter could feel her protruding nipples gently rubbing against her skin.

“Alright, that enough,” Emily said while trying to pull away.

“Aw, but we're just getting to the fun part,” Asami whispered while kissing Emily's shoulder and neck, causing Emily to shudder as a shiver ran down her spine.

“No, you're underage, that's enough,” Emily replied.

“Oh bullshit, when did you lose your virginity?” Asami grumbled while hugging Emily closer.

“That's-”

“I bet you were fourteen, no. Thirteen,” Asami cut off and said. She grinned when she noticed Emily wince and look away; Asami was right. “So what's wrong if I try it? Besides, I'm not telling you to take my virginity or anything, just enjoy the moment.”

“I- oh alright, but just a little. We're not exactly in a private place,” Emily answered.

“I knew you'd agree!” Asami giggled before advancing her hands to the center of Emily's breasts. She slowly and gently twisted the nipples that were standing out.

“Oh, why's that?” Emily moaned at Asami's expert handling of her bosoms.

“Oh, you know. A little birdie told me that you also dated girls before,” Asami while moving to Emily's front. She gently massaged both breasts with precision while kissing Emily.

“Weren't you aiming for Alina?” Emily asked after they pulled away, both of them were savoring the taste in their mouth.

“True, but who says I can't have fun while chasing her?” Asami asked while licking her lips intoxicatingly. She leaned forward to kiss Emily again while guiding Emily's hands to her own breasts.

Oh god, this is bad, Emily thought as she returned the kiss passionately…