Seven Heroes Redux

They stood close. Yuto used his gravity sensor, but found nothing around. However, he noticed an anomaly far from where they were: a huge hole in the ground.

When their vision returned, they rushed to the spot and were surprised. There was a crowd surrounding the hole. More people gradually entered, probably because they were slowly recovering their vision. They cut through the crowd to see the hole up close. It had a peculiar shape: crescent downwards.

That is, the deeper it went, the larger the radius of the circumference, resembling a cone without a tip. Yuto used his sensor and increased the search area hundreds of times, but he couldn't find the bottom. If someone fell in there, they would certainly die.

He saw the nearest exit, which was broken. The melted reinforced metal was shaped close to that of a human, which meant that someone had created that hole and immediately fled through the exit.

If the level 7 alert sounded, it meant that only 7 people could have done it. Since the threat had already fled, the mall's security system was disabled and the exits were reopened.

Some witnesses commented:

— Caliel was here a few minutes ago... what happened?

— Is she dead? And what the hell was that light?

Yuto, Genesis, and Haji listened to the conversation, startled.

They returned home, deep in thought. The three of them were at home, watching TV. The event was eye-catching enough to attract the attention of journalists in less than an hour. The place was already packed, full of witnesses being interviewed.

The reporter said:

— Witnesses say Caliel was last seen at this mall less than an hour ago. Her body has not yet been found, and it is believed she was killed by a Level 7.

The three of them watched without commenting. They were still shocked by the event, so they didn't know how to react. Genesis stood up from the sofa, announcing decisively:

— Yuto, I'm going to find out who the seven are and their powers.

— Why? The app already has almost everything.

— No, Yuto, that app hides a lot of things. No one knows who #1 and #3 are yet. We only know that their nicknames are Hakkiri and Stopwatch. The powers on their profiles may not even be their real ones. If they care so much about hiding, why would they reveal their powers?

— I don't know, maybe to create fear. If no one knows their identities, they could be anywhere. It reduces the chance of people committing crimes in a very exposed way.

Yuto realized something:

— Wait, I haven't seen who the current level 7's are yet.

Yuto took out his phone and opened the association app. On the level 7 page were:

1. Hakkiri: Electricity and Light

2. Slade: Shadow

3. Stopwatch: Time

4. Zenith: ???

5. Distortion: Black Hole and Portal

6. Unizard: Universal Magic

7. Wisedroid: Premonition

When he saw the second ranked, he paled.

— Wait...

Haji, worried, asked:

— Yuto, what happened?

— Haji, have you seen Slade since that day?

— Who's Slade?

— So you never got to meet her. She was my best friend until she was part of an experiment. That was right before I met you in that prison.

— Why didn't you ever tell me about her?

— I wanted to forget the past… I thought she was dead, so I moved on.

Genesis, bothered, asked:

— Wait, Yuto, she was your friend? How long ago did that happen?

— More than five years... I never thought she'd still be alive.

— Yuto, I'm sorry to inform you, but she's not the same person you knew.

— What happened to her?

— Well, that experiment changed her forever. She may never be the person you knew again.

— If she sees me, she'll remember me, won't she?

— I don't think it'll be that easy, unfortunately. Yuto, if you want to save her, I'll support you with everything I have.

Haji, agreeing with Genesis, declared:

— Me too, Yuto. I know you can bring her back. We'll help you until the end.

Yuto, more hopeful, said:

— Thank you both. I'll make her go back to who she was, no matter what.

Genesis decided: she would infiltrate the association's central building. Since she had connections with Exwind and Ria, she would know when level 7 meetings would take place.

Genesis was still known in the association as a maid, and they wouldn't be surprised if she was at the front of the room cleaning the hallway. Besides, Wisedroid was her master and would be at the meeting. If she was caught, he would protect her.

Wisedroid was already in the meeting room and noticed Genesis' unexpected presence, but ignored her. Maybe this was part of his mission to spy on Yuto, so he let her do whatever she wanted.

Hakkiri and Stopwatch never showed up for the meetings. Their identities were kept hidden by the Boss, so not even the Level 7's themselves knew who they were or looked like. Maybe they wanted to live a normal life and not be recognized wherever they went.

One other person would miss the meeting. In fact, she didn't even know there was one happening. That person was Slade. The Boss had purposely kept her out. She was now the Boss' personal guard, and the subject of the meeting would affect her drastically. They were going to talk about Yuto.

The first to arrive was Wisedroid, who was always punctual. Then Zenith showed up with an irritated expression, as if she didn't want to be there. Finally, the Boss's twin sons: Distortion and Unizard. Neither of them seemed to take any of this seriously, they were just there because their father said it was important.

Wisedroid was a tall, muscular android with black covering most of his body, except for his core, which was light blue. He wore a face mask, also black. He had blue eyes and white hair.

Zenith was a tall woman, compared to the average Japanese woman, with short dark blue hair. She wore a white suit, a black top hat, a red magician's cape, and black glasses with light blue lights. These lights projected from her eyes, like a monitor.

Distortion was a muscular man over 2 meters tall, with short black hair and purple eyes. He wore black and yellow military clothing. Unizard was a little shorter and wore a purple wizard uniform and hat. She had long, messy orange hair and yellow eyes.

Genesis saw the three enter and the door close. In order to gather as much information as possible, Genesis created thousands of nanocameras and spread them around the room. There was one more person inside, who Genesis did not see enter nor recognize his voice.

That person's voice was that of an old man. The only one who could have contact with level 7's in an important meeting like that was the Boss.

The first to speak was the old man:

— My dear heroes, thank you for coming here.

Zenith, impatient, lit a cigarette and interrupted his speech:

— Spill the beans, old shit. I have much better things to do.

— I should have expected this kind of reaction. Today's topic is Ishikawa Yuto.

— Wait, where is that slut who follows you wherever you go, that Slade?

— This is something that must be emphasized: do not tell her about this meeting or today's business.

— What would happen if I told her?

Unizard, impatient with the interruption, exclaimed:

— Can't you be a reasonable person for once in your life?

Zenith looked at Unizard with contempt, spitting on the ground and saying:

— You're two ranks below me. Do you really think you can talk to me like that?

— Who the fuck cares? Just shut your goddamn mouth and listen, you scum. I'm tired of hearing your disgusting voice.

— Hey, Distortion. Did you fuck her brains out this time? She's out of her mind if she thinks I can't kill her right here.

Distortion, who had been smirking since he arrived, replied calmly:

— She's a little more impatient than usual, right, Komoe? Also, Zenith, can we not escalate this situation further? Our Boss is trying to say something important to all of us.

— Listen here, you prick. Don't fucking tell me what to do.

— I'm not, I just want us to have a peaceful meeting. Is that too much to ask?

He smiled at her arrogantly. Feeling offended, she stood up and grabbed his uniform, threatening to punch him in the face. Wisedroid also stood up. Zenith shivered and glared at him, even more angry.

— And you... go fuck yourself, tin can!

She flipped the android off, but he didn't react. She sat back down, enraged. He sat down too. Whenever Wisedroid moved, even a little, it meant he was about to do something. He and the Boss were the only ones who knew about Zenith's powers besides her.