"Touchan!" Asami rushed to her father, weaving past the bodyguards and paramedics as she ran towards him. "Are you hurt? What happened? OMG, you're bleeding."

"Chibi, you're panicking. Calm down and take a deep brea - ouch!" Mr. Chiba was sitting in the back of an ambulance and he raised a hand to stop Asami from screaming. A Medi-bot stood over him and was dabbing the cut that was above his eyebrow with antiseptic while Mrs. Chiba stood next to him frowning when she saw him wince.

"Stop squirming," she scolded Chiba lightly in Japanese. "It's just a flesh wound."

Chiba smiled but said nothing in response; he was aware that his wife was simply fussing over him in her own tsundere manner. He gazed at her with a stupid smile filled with infatuation, and Asami visibly gagged at their reaction.

"Ok . . . seeing as you two can flirt, it's obvious that you're, like, totally fine," Asami rolled her eyes and moved away from them. "So, I'm just gonna move over here. You know, away from you two lovebirds."

"Ah, wait a - ouch!" Chiba tried standing up but fell back down almost immediately, holding his head with gritted teeth and both his wife and daughter looked over him with worry while the Medi-bot examined his eyes.

"Please refrain from excessive movement until you've had a checkup," the Medi-bot said mechanically. "We've yet to determine if you have suffered a concussion."

"What he said," a paramedic, who emerged from inside the ambulance, said while gesturing at the Medi-bot. "Protocols are to have you sent to the hospital, Mr. Chiba."

"First, I'm busy: I have a meeting with General Sato in two hours. In case you haven't noticed, there's a diplomatic crisis going on and I have a duty to protect my people, possibly from this very city," Chiba said slowly. "Second, I'm not wasting eight hours in the ER waiting for a doctor to do a checkup then say there's nothing wrong. I just need an aspirin." [1]

"Yeah-huh, awesome," the paramedic barely listened to Chiba and instead went through a handful of digital notes that were holographically floating in front of her while blowing a bubble with the gum in her mouth. "Right, we gotta check if you had spinal damage too. After all, that was a nasty crash and you did fall on your head."

"Did you not hear a word I said?" Chiba asked, exasperated.

"Hmm? You say something?" the paramedic pretended to not hear Chiba and instead asked sarcastically. The latter looked on speechlessly while Asami raised an eyebrow and examined the feisty paramedic. She was already liking her. "Oh, you agree to getting a checkup? Great! That's perfect. Let's get a move on, M guy."

The paramedic spoke to the Medi-bot, patting the robot on the shoulder before moving to help Chiba into the ambulance trunk. Mr. Chiba turned to look at Asami and her mom for help, but both shrugged nonchalantly like it couldn't be helped.

"The patient hasn't confirmed his approval of transportation to the hospital," the Medi-bot stated and the paramedic paused and rolled her eyes.

"You see his family complaining?" the paramedic asked while chewing a piece of gum as she cocked a thumb towards Asami and her mom.

". . . No," the Medi-bot turned to Asami and Mrs. Chiba for a moment before turning back to the paramedic.

"Then that's your answer, M guy. Now stop whining and help me get him in the stretcher."

"Wait a sec, at least let me speak to my daughter," Chiba tried to protest as the paramedic eased him into the stretcher.

"You can have a nice chat with your daughter as we drive you to the hospital," the paramedic answered before gesturing at Mrs. Chiba and Asami to enter the ambulance as well. "They're both welcome to come along."

Three hours later, Asami exited the private ward of the hospital with a frown. Mr. Chiba had explained to her why he wanted her to arrange a meeting with Jason, and the two fought as Asami felt that her father was only using Jason to ingrate himself to the Singh ambassador. Regardless of what Asami said, Chiba stubbornly refused to change his mind. He argued that he had already given his word and that it was imperative to maintain good relations with the ambassadors of other countries.

Thus, with a sigh, Asami reluctantly began calling Jason. After several rings, Jason picked up but the background was filled with the noise of laughing children. "Jason here. Sup, Asami?"

"I - whoa," Asami said, caught off guard by the noise. "Did you really go and make an army of little kids, Jason?"

". . . They're not my kids," Jason replied speechlessly. "I'm volunteering at a place right now."

"Ah," Asami understood and wanted to explain to Jason why she called but found herself quiet as she wondered how to say it.

"Something wrong? You seem a tad bit reserved, more than usual," Jason joked. "If I didn't know better, I'd say Michelle called."

"Oh please, I'm not some blushing teenager who can barely speak to her crush," Asami snapped back. "Although I am a teen."

"Aw, you're breaking my heart here. Literally, I feel it burning - oh wait. That’s heartburn."

"Jason, here are the dishes," Emily interrupted Jason's call and handed him a few more dishes, which he readily took and placed on the dining table.

"Thanks."

"Whoa, wait a sec. Was that Emily?" Asami was quick to catch on and she grinned when she realized that it was a weekend and the two were spending it together.

"No," Jason denied brusquely. ". . . Maybe? What's it to you?"

"Oh, nothing much," Asami evasively laughed. She was certain that Jason would kill her if he found out what had happened between her and Emily. "Does Alle know?"

". . . No."

"Huh."

"Alright, is there a reason you're calling?" Jason snorted when he heard Asami smirking and asked with a hint of annoyance.

"Yeeaah," Asami replied derisively. She massaged the back of her neck with a hand while walking to the exit of the hospital. "Here's the thing: my . . . dad. He . . ."

Asami explained everything to Jason very quickly, about how Mr. Singh wanted to meet Jason, and how her father, Mr. Chiba, agreed to arrange something using her as an intermediary.

"Basically, my dad's using my relationship as your student to get you to meet Singh when, you know, you visit my place," Asami finally finished.

Jason was silent for a moment, waiting for her to speak, before opening his mouth. "Ok. And?"

"And?" Asami repeated in surprise. "That's it? My dad is literally, like, using you and you just go and say 'and'? No 'How dare he, rah rah blah blah'?"

"Nope, none," Jason replied slightly speechless at how she expected him to react. "So what if he's using me? That's just how society works. There's nothing wrong about that."

Asami was stunned into silence, unsure of what to say as Jason continued.

"So when's the meeting?" Jason asked.

"You mean you're coming?" Asami asked back.

"Duh. I'm not gung ho about it and you can definitely bet your ass that I'm gonna get back at your dad but, yeah. I'll show up. With Alle," Jason added and Asami closed her eyes.

"Thanks. I don't know what to say," Asami finally replied.

"How bout 'Oh, thank you, brave hero! I can't live without you. Please marry me'?" Jason suggested cheekily.

"Sure thing, princess," Asami laughed.

"Damn it, I lost that round."

The two chatted for a bit longer with Asami mentioning a few minor things to Jason before he had to hang up as a child began crying after scraping his knee. Asami prepared to head back and tell her dad the good news when she saw the paramedic who helped her father sitting outside, browsing her phone while smoking, looking dead bored.

"You know those things are gonna kill you, right?" Asami pointed out the cigarette and the paramedic looked up at her before shaking her head.

"Sweetie, I'm more than likely to die from suicide or an angry patient long before I get lung cancer," the paramedic replied as she flicked the cigarette butt away. A small cleaning bot rushed to sweep it away before buzzing at her angrily in response to her littering. "Ah beat it, you dumb droid. S'not like you've got better things to do."

Turning to Asami, the paramedic got a good look at her as she did the same. The two were dressed very differently; Asami was dressed fashionably in a knee-length dress and a cardigan jacket while the paramedic was dressed in a loose paramedic uniform zipped up to her chest with rolled-up sleeves, giving her a tomboyish aura. They stared at each other for a while longer before the paramedic cleared her throat.

"So," she broke the silence casually. "How's your dad?"

"Other than being slightly annoyed? Not bad," Asami replied. "He has no concussion, or any other injury, to speak of. Just some glass that was stuck in him."

"That's good," the paramedic said. The two were silent again and the paramedic finally pointed to her ambulance. "I'd . . . better get going."

"Oh, yeah, yeah. I - I just wanted to thank you," fumbled a bemused Asami. "For helping save my dad and stuff."

Gee, why am I nervous around her? Asami asked herself. Is it cause she's older and hot?

"You're welcome," the paramedic responded with a smile before cracking a joke. "Anymore thank yous and we're gonna end up kissing."

"Oh, yes please," Asami responded in reflex before realizing that she said it out loud. "I mean, clearly you were joking -"

"Clearly," the amused paramedic said in between Asami's fumbling.

"I was just - uh, I meant - I should stop talking," Asami continued without taking a breath. She closed her eyes and chastised herself for being a bumbling idiotic virgin as the paramedic's smile grew wider.

"What did you say your name was again?" The paramedic asked.

"Asami. Chiba Asami."

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Asami," the paramedic shook Asami's hand before leaving for her ambulance.

"Wait," Asami called out. "You haven't told me yours."

The paramedic paused and smiled teasingly. "Maybe if we meet again, I'll tell you."

Damn . . . that booty, Asami thought as she watched the paramedic leave.

The paramedic entered her ambulance and noticed that her mechanical friend, the Medi-bot, was staring at her carefully.

"Not a word, M. Not a word," she warned the Medi-bot remained silent, much to the former's relief, despite his mechanical eyes whirling with thoughts. Just as she was about to start driving, however, the Medi-bot spoke.

"Your hormone levels suggest that -"

"Oh, for crying out loud!"

***

Alina said goodbye to Katherine and Selena outside of Harvey's before ducking into a deserted alleyway. She looked around to make sure she was alone before using her powers to electromagnetically run up the side of the building. Once she reached the roof she sighed and sat down while laying the briefcase she was holding down on the ground.

Okay, so let's recap, Alina thought. A lot of crap has been going on for a while now. First, I run into a kid who coincidentally - or not so coincidentally - turns out to be my niece who's also Katie's kid. That damn horndog …

Alina gritted her teeth and formed a fist when she thought about Jason. She took a deep breath to calm herself before going back to her musings.

Then, surprise surprise, we get attacked by some ninja inspired Altair wannabes. My friends and Alice get hurt, everything's thrown under the rug, and Jason pretends it never happened. Urgh … Alina groaned once more while leaning back and looking upwards at the setting sun. Then he starts getting all secretive, even more so than he usually is. Like, Batman level secrecy and that's saying a lot. Oh, and did I mention that I'm related to the Rogues? Yep, I'm related to those business mongrels that literally own half of a continent. What. A. Crazy. Month. Well, a month and a half but who's counting?

Now, where was I? Oh, and then, I find out that Alice is a homunculsous - whatever they call it - and then, get this, our penthouse gets blown to pieces. I mean, my favourite hoodie was in there! Oh, and sometime between all that, my brother gets some superhero, or supervillain, inspired armour and goes around maiming and killing people. Believe it or not, that's not the worst thing he's done.

"And … I'm monologuing again. To literally no one," Alina said out loud. "Okay, Alina. Focus."

The carnival attack and the missile strike were obviously done by the same group. The same group that wants Alice for some reason. Jason seems to know the reason but, of course, he won't tell me. Neither can I find anything about it on his computers; A.V.A made sure I can't hack it.

All in all, things are not looking good. Which is probably why Katherine gave me this, Alina turned to the briefcase and opened it. Inside was a prototype under-armour that was similar to the one that Jason uses as Fenrir. On top of it was a half-mask, a breather that covered her lower face without obstructing her vision. Like Jason's, it was shaped like a wolf's maw that was growling, showcasing its magnificent teeth. It was this mask that had caught her attention earlier resulting in Katherine and Selena teasing her for being a lone wolf, just like her brother. [2]

Hehe. Gotta test this suit out, only to see if it fits … no other reason, Alina gave a gleeful laugh, like a child who discovered a world of secrets, before lifting the skin-like armour from the briefcase. Although … changing here is a little …

Alina looked around and shifted uncomfortably when she realized that she'd have to change into the armour after stripping her clothes. Outside.

Gritting her teeth, she clutched at the helm of her hoodie and pulled it upwards ever so slightly. Ah, who cares, no one is here. I can do this, I can do this …

Alina exited the roof and landed back in the alleyway and she hid her ripe-as-a-tomato face with her hands.

I can't do it. It's so embarrassing!

After regaining her wits, Alina searched for a public washroom before changing into the armor. She wore a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants over her armor to conceal it and placed the mask inside her pocket. She then proceeded to reinforce her joints by wearing elbow and knee protectors before putting on a pair of armored gauntlets. Raising the hood and lowering her head, she covered her face to make sure it was hard to see her features before she left the cubicle.

Alright, now to find a few baddies to test this on …

Alina tab from rooftop to rooftop, using the sky-high buildings to scale around the city. She made her way to the Sumps, aiming for sleazy areas within the seedy neighbourhood. Soon she came across an old and almost rusted van from which loud music could be heard from.

Let's see … Alina thought as she watched the van from the rooftop of a building with narrowed eyes. Looks like a deal's going off. That's what happens in games and shows, right?

She crouched down over the ledge and waited impatiently to see if she was right. Fifteen minutes later, she noticed a figure in a school uniform hesitantly approaching the van. Her eyes narrowed when she recognized the figure: it was the bullied student that she once helped. [3]

What is he doing here . . . ?

Alina took her half-mask out and placed it over her face. There was a click as it closed in and firmly covered her mouth, nose, and ears. She raised her hand and the fingertips, which was covered in her under-armor, glowed a light purple before cackling was heard: the suit had an integrated sound analyzer that was connected to the earpieces on her mask.

"Y-you sell it here?" the student, a bundle of nervousness, knocked on the van's door and the music stopped suddenly, leaving a deathly quietness echoing through the area. The student stuttered as he asked almost hopefully to a silent van.

A few seconds passed before the door slid open and a man stepped out. He gazed at the student carefully before gruffly asking, "You wanna buy?"

The student nodded his head fervently and Alina, who was listening in, frowned. From out of the van came out two more men, armed with guns, each watching the surroundings carefully.

Drugs? That student didn't seem like the type to . . . Then again, he was being bullied. I guess desperation is closing his judgement.

"Guessing you ain't here for the norm," the man studied the student with a leer before sniggering. He went back into the van and pulled a cheap-looking syringe out. "You want Accelerant."

Accelerant? That volatile shit that forcibly levels up an Esper? Alina had been cautioned by Jason of Accelerant. He told her to destroy the drug whenever she encountered it, even if it meant using her true capabilities as it would save people, specifically students. The rumours had been circulating since the start of this year's class, but neither Jason nor Alina had seen the drug, yet both suspected it to be a Practitioner drug, specifically a volatile drug that worked as Qi Supplicants.

Supplicants were used for enhancing the strength of a low levelled Practitioner while simultaneously cleansing the impurities within the body. Unfortunately, Qi Supplicants were harmful to ordinary humans, even those that were Espers, as their body could barely handle the stress of the sudden intake of Qi. Worse, this version was loaded with chemicals and drugs that made the supplicant even more harmful.

I can't let him buy that, Alina thought as she lowered her hood as much as she could and prepared to intercept the deal. Taking that drug could ruin his life.

Before she could leap into action though, she noticed another student walking towards the van from the opposite direction. His warm brown hair was ruffled by the wind, and his usual innocent face had a look of determination.

". . . Ken?" A stunned Alina said out loud.

Alina watched him walk over to the van and encounter the student from their school. The two warned to recognize each other but said nothing. Instead, Ken ignored him and turned his gaze to the man in the van.

"Whaddya need, kid?" The man asked Ken. "A dose of Accelerant like him?"

"No," Ken answered with a shake of his head. "I need a weapon. A gun."

The man whistled and stared at Ken closely, observing the micro-movements of his body language; he wanted to check if this student was serious and whistled when he realized that Ken was.

Despite that, the man shook his head. "Sorry. We don't sell guns here. Especially not to kids."

"And selling drugs is?" Ken asked incredulously. "What's the difference?"

"The difference is that you can't go on a school shooting spree with a syringe," the man explained impatiently when he realized how naive and green Ken was. "The only person you could kill is yourself, and that's only if you're stupid enough to OD."

"I'm only intending on killing one person," Ken said slowly but the man shook his head again.

"Beat it, kid."

After supplying the other student with a syringe of Accelerant, the man moved to close the door.

"I'll pay you triple, no four times the amount!" A rather desperate Ken clung to the van's door and the man paused.

After a few moments, the man eventually made up his mind and turned to glare at the other student. "You got what you wanted. Scram!"

Alright, that's enough, Alina thought as she prepared to fight. I need to take them all out and figure out why Ken wants a gun of all things.

Alina picked up a pivot grapple from the briefcase and attached it to the edge of the roof. Since she didn't have A.V.A's support, she had to divert a fraction of her powers to electrically control the grapple and aimed it at Ken. Then, she made a final check over herself to see if she missed anything before jumping off the rooftop. Alina landed on the roof of the van, which caved from the impact and surprised everyone.

"What the -?" The dealer who was handling Ken spun around and stared at Alina with a loss. He gazed at her hoodie before moving his eyes to gaze at her guarded joints and then her masked face. Is it Comicon today?

Before he could think about it further, Alina jumped and kneed him in the face. Her knee broke his nose and his mouth caved in as almost all of his front teeth were knocked out. The force of the blow sent him reeling and he could barely get up as he had unintentionally swallowed and choked on a few of his teeth while gobs of blood spilled from his gaping mouth.

Before she landed, Alina activated the pivot grapple which launched towards Ken. The reinforced graphene cable wrapped itself around Ken before going taut and pulling him back and upwards while he shouted in surprise. He slammed into the wall of the building and had the air knocked out of his lungs as his legs dangled helplessly; the grapple had also pulled him upwards so he was now off the ground and about three stories high. Even if he found a way to escape from the cable, he would risk falling and injuring himself.

Meanwhile, Alina didn't pause for a second. She spun around and kicked the side of the van with so much force so slid a few meters away and slammed into one of the armed gangsters. The armed gangster couldn't avoid the van and was sent flying until he crashed into garbage cans, completely knocked out.

The third and final gangster aimed his gun at Alina and fired while the driver regained his wits and decided to run away.

"Dammit," Alina muttered, her voice electronically scrambled by the mask. She saw the van driving off but had to create an electromagnetic field to stop the bullets that were fired at her. In a few seconds, the gangster had emptied his entire clip and Alina's eyes sparkled.

Chance! She thought.

She coalesced the spread-out field of frozen bullets into a tight formation and, like a swarm of bees, they flew around her once before flying at the gangster with tremendous speed and knocking him out. She had applied enough force into the bullets so that he would be knocked unconscious but not severely injured. Spinning around, Alina saw the van getting further away and quickly created a whip of electricity. She swung the whip which flew out and went under the van before tightening itself around the vehicle's axle. Alina dug her heels into the ground as the momentum of the vehicle tried dragging her away and yanked hard on the whip. The vehicle was unable to handle the force and flipped over.

With a yell, Alina yanked again and with a tug, the van was dragged back to her, unlike how a child drags a sled. When she stopped, a dazed and bruised punk came out of the driver's seat. But before he could do anything, Alina kicked him unconscious. Alina then turned to the student who hadn't left yet, and the latter's legs failed and he fell down.

"The drug," Alina stretched out a hand and told the student quietly. With a frantic nod, the student threw the syringe of Accelerant to Alina before picking himself up and running away. Alina dropped the syringe and crushed it underneath her foot before turning to Ken.

After a moment of hesitation, she used her holo-lenses to program the grapple to slowly lower Ken to the ground before releasing him. Aina grabbed him by the front of his shirt and slammed him into the wall. She was angry at him, and herself, but she needed to find out why he was attempting to purchase a gun.

Before she could open her mouth though, she felt a sense of danger and quickly released him and moved backwards. Mere millimetres from her face was the cold glint of metal as a blade passed by. She turned to look at Ken with surprise as he repositioned himself into a fighting stance while firmly clasping a scalpel in his hand. His hazel eyes held no warmth and gazed at her with zero emotions.

Damnit, his eyes, Alina thought with a shudder. Hate it when he does that.

Ken's Esper ability allowed him to redirect certain parts of his brain computing. His best application was to divert his emotions and calm himself while enhancing his observational skills and reflexes, hence why he aimed for her head; he accurately deduced that the upper part of her face was unprotected and aimed for it. His special ability is what allowed him to survive longer than other students when he sparred with Jason; surprisingly, Ken was able to predict Jason's movement.

Unfortunately, his body couldn't keep up with his accelerated thought process and he'd eventually end up like everyone else: on the ground battered and bruised while groaning in pain. Nonetheless, his ability had impressed Jason who stated that Ken would've made an excellent mercenary, especially if he was a sniper. Luckily, Ken was more interested in being a doctor. With his ability to focus, he could keep his hands steady for hours while remaining calm and collected.

Alright then. Let's spar, Alina thought as she recollected herself and moved into a fighting pose.

Ken didn't move forward despite being prepared. Instead, he remained in place in a passive stance that was more defensive than offensive. Alina nodded her head appreciatively as this proved that Ken was still soft-hearted, but she was baffled as she recalled the fact that he was looking for a gun. Deciding to take the first move, Alina used one step to slide close to Ken and released a punch at him. In Ken's vision, Alina's fist slowed down as the synapses in his brain lit up and went into overdrive. He could see where her punch would land and tilted his head ever so slightly. The punch grazed his face but missed, and Ken used this opportunity to send an upward slash at Alina, who moved her body backwards while keeping her feet planted firmly in the ground. Ken switched the scalpel he was holding up high into a reverse grip position before bringing it down on Alina. The latter slapped his forearm, changing the directory of his stab while sidestepping closer to him and pushing his shoulder down. This forced Ken to bend down and Alina kneed him on the forehead, disorienting him. Alina then wrapped her legs around his waist and flipped, rotating his body a full 180° and sending him barreling to the ground where he lay stunned.

With a groan, Ken slowly picked himself up but froze when he turned back to Alina. During the fight, her hood came off and now he could see the features that were partially hidden and, instantly, he knew who she was.

" . . . Alina . . .?" An astonished Ken asked the stupefied Alina, who froze once her name was uttered.

"Oh, shit."

[1] Free healthcare like how it is in Canada, only lousy waiting times due to a lack of doctors.

[2] A face shield like Zora’s mask from Black Clover.

[3] The student that was being bullied by Markus in Chapter 30.