Chapter 19: Attachment

Sector 27: MRPA Pharmacy

“It’s just not fair,” Arisa pouted.

“Hmmm it certainly is not, Zero-chii,” Ms.Mary was sitting next to her while she was on her break, “You were the one who found all of it out, it’s not right that you get left out of the operation,”

Arisa nodded, “And Kimaru was so nice about it all, I feel bad to not be able to help them...”

“Kimaru?” Ms.Mary looked at her closely, “Is that the name of the dealer you spoke to?”

Arisa nodded, “He is such a nice man...”

“00!” Akumako called to her sharply, though her eyes were glued to Ms.Mary.

“Oh, 014 back so soon?” Arisa smiled at Aku, but Aku grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away without a word, “Bye, Ms.Mary!!”

Ms. Mary smiled, “Bye-bye Zero-chii”

“014, where are we going?” Arisa followed behind her.

Aku sighed and let go of her arm, “I just wanted to bring you to get some snacks from the cafeteria with me,” she smiled, and keep you away from Ms.Mary…

“Oooh! What about 013?” she clapped her hands together.

“Ah, she is still out on the last of the pick-up points we got,” Aku grinned as she began to pick out snacks from the wall.

“Hmmm…” Arisa grabbed at the snacks without thinking- she was back to feeling bad about her own abilities as an agent. As the two sat down with their snacks Arisa finally spoke, “Say….Aku?”

Hearing her own name Aku’s ears perked up, if Arisa was calling her Aku here…it meant that she was going to ask a favor from her, “What is it?”

Arisa looked at Aku with big eyes and a pleading face, “Will you train me to be a stronger agent??” she paused, “I want to be sent on missions…I want to be worthy of the black agent rank….I want to be able to protect mutants,”

Aku told herself to say no. She couldn’t. She couldn’t get close. Just say no…don’t get close, don’t make attachments….don’t make this harder than it has to be. She looked up from her bread to tell Arisa that she couldn’t- but those eyes that stared at her were filled with determination. Arisa was serious. She wanted to train, to learn, to stand up on her own feet. Who was Aku to deny her that ability? “Sure,” she couldn’t hide her own smile as she watched Arisa’s face light up.

“You mean it?!” Arisa bounced in her seat, “You really, really mean it???”

Aku nodded, “Why not? You’ve learned all the basic training to be an agent. You really only need to work on controlling your powers to be a perfect agent…so why not?”

“Oh you’re the best!!!” her face fell suddenly, “Can we keep this a secret from 013? I don’t think she will be very happy to hear I am trying to get involved in more dangerous missions…”

As Arisa continued to ramble Aku’s gaze found the TV behind her, “Mr. YongGuk Brown, prominent member of the Bridge party found dead today-” Aku brought her attention back to Arisa, she knew what the rest of the report would be: suicide.

Aku chuckled, “I wouldn’t dream of telling her something like that…she would set me on fire for agreeing to something like this,”

Arisa grinned and munched happily on her snacks, but then Aku stood up, “hmm?”

Aku looked down at her, “You said you wanted to train didn’t you?”

“Now?!?”

Aku grinned and started to walk off.

“Ahhh 014 wait!!!”

MRPA’s Training Facility

“SO what are we going to start with?” Arisa bounced around Aku, “Some physical stuff? High kicks? Dodges and punches and things?” she jabbed the air playfully.

“Hmmmmm” Aku thought for a moment, “Shift into what I look like,”

Arisa pouted, “Just that?” she shifted her face and hair and body type to match Aku’s with little problem, “I can do this easy, I’m used to yours and 013s forms even without a mirror,”

Aku grinned and kicked high in the air forcing Arisa to duck under her leg, “Don’t let one hair on your head shift away and don’t let me hit you,”

Arisa’s eyes widened, she jumped back to put some space between her and Aku. Just holding the shift would be fine, but concentrating on a fight and her shift? That was something she wasn’t good at.

Aku grinned, “Smart choice- but,” she disappeared into her own shadow and came out of Arisa’s shadow. Aku threw a punch but Arisa had quickly jumped up in the air to avoid it.

As she came back to the ground Aku did a leg sweep forcing her to jump again, but this time Aku slid beneath her and grabbed her ankle and threw her to the ground.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Aku stood over Arisa, “You got hit and,” she pointed to her eyes, “My eyes are Red not white,” she turned around and walked back to the wall, “Again,”

Arisa jumped back to her feet and shifted her eyes back to the right color. She couldn’t help but smile as Aku ran toward her; she was finally training.

Many Hours Later: MRPA HQ

Aku and Arisa kept training until they heard the announcement, “ALL AGENTS WILL REPORT THE AUDITORIUM IMMEDIATELY!”

They looked at each other concerned, “Was that Keiko?” Aku helped Arisa up from the ground.

“She doesn’t sound very happy...you think something happened while she was out?”

Arisa and Aku went to the main stage of the auditorium to see Keiko pacing furiously. She normally addressed the agents in her full uniform, but it looked like she had just returned from her mission. He hair was messily up in it’s ponytail, her knees dusty, and there was a small scratch on her face.

As the room filled up with Blue agents, Keiko’s patience was all used up. She slammed a button on her omni-book and 5 faces popped up on the large screen behind her, “ALL OF YOU HAVE FAILED TODAY!” her voice was coarse and filled with anger, “Your job is to keep mutants safe and out of the hands of STAM! AND TODAY WE HAVE LOST ALL OF THESE PEOPLE AND THERE WAS NO FIGHT!!!” she took an angry breath, “STAM TOOK THESE MUTANTS AND NO ONE WAS THERE TO PROTECT THEM!” she glared out at all the agents, “I hope you recognize these 2 face in particular,” the pair that Kyou and Kenji had captured grew to take the entire screen, “These agents in training were taken today,” there was a hushed gasp from the group. Keiko looked down at her omni-book, “AGENT 78!!!” she screamed and a young agent in the middle jumped to her feet, “You were to be with them AT ALL TIMES!” the agent fell to her knees and started weeping, “ALL OF YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE LIVES!!” she felt her own throat choke up and bit back her emotions, “Everyone’s patrols will increase, 15 hour shifts.” she stormed off stage.

Arisa jolted to run after her but Aku held her back, “I wouldn’t.”

Keiko stormed through doors, hallways, stairwell, and opened the door to the top floor of the tower above ground. She let the door slam behind her and screamed out into the waste land.

STAM had won today. They took 5 mutants, probably one more who hadn’t been in the MRPA database, and MRPA had only documented 2 newborns. STAM won.

Keiko bit down hard on her teeth, STAM was taking mutants and what did she do? Found some hidden drugs to protect humans! Her job was to protect mutants and humans while STAM hunted out the mutants. She sniffled back tears and cursed them- cursed her school friends she would have to smile at tomorrow knowing that they would kill her if they ever had the chance.