Chapter 3: Nightlife

The end of day felt like a normal routine. Keiko, Arisa, and Aku made their way to the East bound train. Arisa, seated on closest seat to the door, was flipping through her notes asking Aku about various things they had learned today. Keiko stood beside her, leaning against a pole.

It was a long train ride from Sector 1 to the end of the line in Sector 25. By the time they got to the final stop the sun was already turning its usual pink color.

Sector 25: The Border

“We weren’t followed right?” Keiko looked over her shoulder once more. While the landscape in Sector 1 is a dense city, here there were still remnants of the war. Buildings were crumbled, stores deserted, and the first sign of weeds were sprouting from the dusty earth.

“As if anything is alive out here but us…” Aku looked at the large fence that marked the border between Sector 25 and Sector 27. There was just one sign on the fence that read: SECTOR 27 DANGER with the radiation symbol below it.

“Come on you two!!” Arisa pushed them forward, “Red is waiting for us.”

The three entered the dead sector through a hole under the fence and continued walking through the wreckage of what was once Tokyo. Whereas Sector 25 still had buildings and the occasional person, this place was flat and empty. The only thing they could see was the remnants of a tower far off in the distance: their destination. Keiko knelt down in front of a small shrine and slipped her hand under the stone circle.

“Arisa, stay close this time please,” Keiko stared up at her as she raised the secret entrance.

“I won’t get lost again- jeeze”

The three climbed down the ladder and were in the subway. The once dead sector suddenly came alive underground- but they were not in the company of humans. A man with wet skin rushed by them, a woman with long thin blue fingers was burping her purple child, and a large cow-like man was handing out flyers for his ramen shop. This was the only sector where mutants could roam around freely and this subway was their link from MRPA to the other sectors.

“Hurry that’s our train,” Aku pointed to the boarding train and the three ran to jump on it before it departed.

“Arisa, here,” Keiko pointed out the only open seat on the train and pulled Arisa over to it to sit. Keiko and Aku stood in front of her for the short train ride.

“Now Arriving : 27th Sector Hospital”

The three followed the flow of traffic off the train and walked into the hospital entrance with the others. The hospital in Sector 27 was the most advanced hospital in Japan. Even the newly finished hospital in Sector 1 was not as well equipped as this one. With their extensive use of radiation treatments and access to complexities of the omega cell, this “dead” sector was actually spearheading all mutant related research.

They took the stairwell down 3 levels- it was the most deserted of all the levels of the hospital as it cared for the patients in comas or life support. They walked to the very back of the hall and turned the corner into the dead end. Keiko placed her hand against one of the tiles on the wall. The holographic display of the wall flickered before giving way and creating an opening into another room. The three walked into the room, the hologram re-appearing behind them.

The entrance released Keiko and Aku from their human-like shells as they all entered a small room. “Ah I feel so stiff,” Keiko immediately went to tie up her long red hair immediately exposing the scaling along the side of her face and down her neck.

“Do you think that’s how humans always feel?” Aku gave a small laugh as she went to the wall and tossed them both their uniforms. She pulled her now white hair out its braid. Her skin seemed whiter and the whites of her eyes were a deep red.

“Aku do you have a mirror in your bag? I can’t find mine…” Arisa was searching through her bag on the ground- her appearance unchanged.

“Here you go,” Aku handed it to her and started to change.

Arisa looked into the mirror and immediately her face started bubbling. The tone of her skin grew tanner, her eye shape sharper, the color bluer, and her hair fell black. As the change settled, so too did the bubbling, “Why can’t shapeshifting be pretty?”

Once they were all ready they opened the doors to the bustling MRPA HQ and made their way to Red’s office.

Red’s Office

The 3 agents say at the large table as they waited for Red to give them their mission. The wall at the end of the table lit up and they were greeted with the large silhouette of Red- the leader of MRPA, “Hello Black Agents,”

“Ey not you too now Red,” Keiko rolled her eyes, “It’s bad enough that’s how STAM has labeled us.”

“Doesn’t that make us famous though?” Arisa smiled.

“Isn’t there a mission, Red?” Aku was playing with the ends of her hair, not really paying attention.

“Ah- yes...The problem is MS. The Mutant Suppressant drugs are causing a problem.”

Keiko jumped up, “Are they not safe?! What about Arisa?” her mind quickly jumped to worry for Arisa- the only one of them who took MS.

“There is a mutant that is selling MS to humans,”

Arisa’s eyes were wide in shock, “To Humans?”

Sector 1: STAM Headquarters

“I’m sure you all met our new comrade at school today. Kenji is now an official disposer in our agency,” Shizune, Blue’s secretary spoke in her usual lifeless voice. She was a wide woman with a small head and large hands, “He will be the new partner to Kyoushirou,”

Kyoushirou didn’t act in outrage as the others had expected him to. He just nodded without a word: although they all understood that Kyoushirou was only holding in his anger: Blue didn’t care about how they felt about his decisions and Shizune would ignore him.

“Now, on to the next order of business. The mutants have begun to bare their teeth against the humans,”

Seiji scrunched his face, “What is it they are trying now?”

A screen turned on to show a blown up image of a pill, “what you see here is a Mutant Suppressant. When taken by a mutant it allows their physical deformities to disappear for about a day. We are still studying it but there is a bigger problem and that is the fact that this pill is being sold to normal humans,”

Kyoushirou perked up, “Normal humans? Why?”

“It appears that when a human takes this Mutant pill, also known as Free, the human experiences hallucinations and extreme amounts of dopamine and other chemicals are released. What the humans don’t realize as they buy and consume this drug is that it is deadly. The components of this pill suppress the omega cell found in mutants that humans don’t have. The effects of the pill end up tearing apart a human’s brain tissue and they die,”

“You mean the mutants are distributing this on purpose?” Shoutarou crossed his arms.

“That’s right. We found the mutant who is dealing these pills. Rank 2 team- this mission is yours. Blue wants all mutants captured- you are free to dispose of the Free dealer,”

Seiji and Shoutarou bowed deeply, “We accept the mission,” the two agents left on their mission immediately.

“As for the rest of you, Blue wants you out scouting Sector 7 and Sector 12. There have been reports that lead us to believe there are mutants that you can bring back for studying,”

Sector 27

“I need these Mutants to realize the dangers of what they do. I know it is for money and they don’t know what MS can do to them but it must be stopped. 013, you will go to the head dealer. He is a mutant named Durim, I’ve sent all of his data to your omni-book,”

Keiko grinned, “Leave it to me,” she left the large office.

“What about us?” Arisa looked up at the silhouette of Red.

“I want you and 014 to go and warn a mutant in Sector 12. There have been several reports now that MRPA has had to intercept to keep his identity a secret. His name is Ping, I’ve sent the information to your Omnibooks,”