Chapter 27: Rank 3

Sector 1: STAM HQ

The agents had been called in for their meeting, their usual meeting. Ryuichi stood there with his hands in his pockets, it was really quiet without Kyoushirou and Seiji.

Shizune entered the room and stared silently at the gaps in their formation. She scribbled down a note and played the recording from Blue of their orders, “We have an emergency today agents. There is a mutant that has lost it’s mind in Sector 9. It’s running around and terrorizing the sector- not sparing the lives of any human it sees,”

Ryuichi tried to hold back his gasp, it wasn’t as common as people believed it was for a mutant to rampage a sector.

“Since this is a high level threat I want 1st Rank on it-”

“Ah, Shizune...” Ryu interrupted, “Kyoushirou is still at the academy-”

Shizune sighed, pulled out her phone, and held it to her ear, “Kyoushirou is gone.” she said flatly.

After a moment of silence she addressed them again, “Rank 2 will-”

“Actually...” Ryuichi spoke nervously, “Seiji is also still at school...”

Shizune twitched in annoyance and put the phone on loudspeaker. Blue’s voice boomed at them immediately , “Ryuichi, Hiroto- take care of this!” the line cut off and Shizune sat behind her desk.

Ryuichi sighed in relief and tried to calm the beating in his chest.

Kenji chuckled, “I can’t believe you told him twice...”

Ryu laughed nervously, “Me either...”

Shou grinned, “What do you think those two are doing right now?”

“Probably nothing good,” Ryuichi picked up his school bag before leaving the meeting room, Hiroto closely behind him. Hiroto had never been a good match with Ryu- personality wise. Ryu was known to be very serious and deep when he wanted...but often he enjoyed being silly. Of course, Ryu knew exactly why he had been paired with Hiro...it was because Kyou couldn’t take it anymore: Kyoushirou- the top agent of STAM- couldn’t handle Hiroto anymore.

Sector 9: The Main Street

The sun was starting to set in the sky- the air was cool in a warm, refreshing kind of way. In any other situation- it would be the perfect weather to sit down with a parfait and read in the park...but it wasn’t that situation.

They arrived and immediately were drawn to the screams of citizens. Ryuichi broke out into a run first with Hiroto several paces behind him.. As people ran past them in fear, they knew they had come to the right place. It was here, in this narrow street.

The rampaging mutant was uglier than most mutants- his eyes were wide and crazy, his hair was ripped out in chunks and what did remain was tangled and stood up on his head. His body was covered in green scales and his arms were bent back like praying mantis limbs...his hands were now long black spikes that dripped with some kind of liquid. The mutant no longer spoke- but hissed and screeched at the people around.

Unable to watch this mutant terrorize the citizens any longer- Ryuichi pulled out his gloves, “Everyone please evacuate the area!!!!” the people looked to Ryu and Hiro and looked relieved to see that STAM had come to the scene. Ryu quickly charged the mutant and punched him square in the jaw, knocking him to the ground, “Hiro- we need to get him out of here! Make him follow me!!!” Ryu jumped over the mutant, making sure to kick him in the side as he did, and ran through the narrow alley way that lead to the open park.

He looked behind him to see the mutant chasing him while hissing and screeching. He was catching up too! Ryu screamed as he dodged one of the mutants long arms and jumped to the end of the alley to the large open park, “EVERYONE PLEASE EVACUATE THE AREA!!!!!” he screamed loudly just seconds before the mutant pushed through the opening of the alley and out in the open. All of the people in the park began to scream and panic as they ran away from the terrifying sight.

Ryu tried to keep the mutant’s attention on him and went forward to attack. The mutant shrieked again and balanced up on its long arms to kick Ryu away. The mutant coughed and cried out in pain once more- hiding his face in the crooks of his arm. He cried out and screamed- his voice becoming more monster-like.

Ryu didn’t have the ability to attack him- he looked like he was in so much pain...how could he attack something in that much pain?

Suddenly Hiro’s metal string wrapped around the mutant throat- shocking it violently, but not fatally. The mutant fell over and writhed in pain- it’s eyes no longer remotely that of a human.

“Orders?” Hiro came beside Ryu- his glasses were hanging on his shirt collar: the sign that he was ready to kill without a second thought.

Ryu looked at the mutant with pity, “We contain the mutant- it seems to be evolving or morphing of some sort...it may be valuable,”

Hiro nodded silently as the mutant rocked back onto it’s feet- screaming at the two agents before jumping toward them.

The two agents moved in sync- Ryu attacking with his suffocating gloves, while Hiro made openings for him with his strings- but this mutant was resilient.

Ryu slipped under the body of the mutant- hoping to hit its more human flesh that was left. The mutant’s limbs were tied by Hiro’s strings- and yet it cried out in defiance. Ryu pulled back his arm- determined to finish this here- yet the mutant ripped against the strings- breaking them into nothing. Ryu was suddenly thrown onto his back, he looked over to see Hiro running toward him- pulling out more string but was smacked aside by the mutant’s now extendable arm. What are you? Ryu barely had time to even question this as the other, dripping arm came down to pierce him. He rolled out of the attack- but felt his face get smashed into the ground by it’s legs- over and over again. His mind going dark- Ryu pushing his strength and grabbed the legs of the mutant- throwing him several hundred yards away. He could hear the mutant’s screech and the heavy impact it made as it hit the ground.

Ryu stood wobbly to his feet, “It needs to be disposed of...” he looked over to Hiro whose body was against a tree, barely on his feet.

Ryu sighed and wiped the blood out of his eyes- his face bruised and swelling- as he punched his gloves together out of habit. The mutant screeched as it jumped to it’s feet and growled deeply at Ryu before it charged. He was ready, Ryu could take this monster. He just needed to focus. It was already weakened so all he needed to do was-

The mutant wasn’t looking at him anymore. Those large, black eyes were looking past him, just beside him. The target had changed. Ryu turned his head to look.

“Nee-chan?” the small girl sniffed the tears off of her face as she looked around desperately...the small...mutant girl. The girl had large pockets...or holes, in her neck. Ryu looked back at the rampaging mutant- his gaze fixated on the young girl beside him….she couldn’t have been over 5 years old.

“Nee-chan??” the little girl called out a little louder- her body shaking in fear at the loss of her family. She’s just a little girl…

The mutant was getting closer...it would only be a second or two before he got to the little girl...the little girl that was looking for her sister...the little girl in a pink dress with pig tails...the little mutant girl with a sister.

The little mutant girl screamed as she saw the attack of the rampant mutant- his dripping- spiked arm loomed above her, ready to break her.

Ryu quickly wrapped his arms around the girl- her body still shaking in fear. Ryu forced himself not to scream- he didn’t want to scare the poor girl anymore. But the mutant’s arm was deep in his shoulder...he could feel his arm begin to go numb.

The mutant hissed and screeched before ripping its arm out from his shoulder. Ryu held in a cough as he looked down at the little girl- Good...she isn’t hurt….

Ryu didn’t turn around to see it...but he heard Hiroto- the clean sliding sound of his metal string- as it wrapped around the mutant. He heard the screech of the mutant as Hiroto used the maximum voltage he could- obliterating the mutant into a pile of static ash instantly.

“Are you alright?” Ryu looked down at the little girl- his eyes feeling heavier with each second.

The little girl looked up at Ryu with fear, tears welling in her eyes and spilling over. Her body was shaking and the holes on her neck began to pulse.

“It’s ok...I’m not going to hurt you. My name is Ryuichi. What’s your name?”

The little girl squeezed her eyes shut, small tears escaping from them, and smoke or dust of some kind began to come from the holes in her neck.

What happened next was too fast for Ryu to understand- the little mutant girl was obliterated.

Her pink dress laid on the ground beside the small pile of ash that was once her body.

Ryu turned to Hiro- hatred and rage lining his voice, “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”

Hiro shrugged as he put his glasses back on, “That thing was going to kill you. That was poison from her ne-”

“SHE WAS SCARED!!!” Ryu fell forward- his body feeling weak he caught himself above what was left of the little, lost mutant girl, “She was just a child...she was just a scared little girl...” he felt tears well in his eyes at he looked down at the pink dress.

Hiro crossed his arms, “It was just a mutant- they’re just trash anyway,”

Ryu felt his eyes get heavy- his limbs had gone numb and cold. He couldn’t stay awake any longer. He felt the tears fall down his face- the warm blood that was flowing down his back. Yet through all the physical pain he felt- his mind could only picture the little girl. The lost little mutant girl...that died- terrified of him.