Unit HAZE

Part 7

Part 7
Izuka checked his phone.
11:56am.
He and Marika were now boarding a car in the giant wheel known as the London eye. Even only a minute or two since they began moving, the height between them and the ground was frightful to say the least. The experience was made even scarier by the fact that the architect thought it a good idea for the eye to be next to the Thames.
Marika tightly gripped onto Izuka.
"It's okay. This thing is completely safe. It even has several support cables embedded in concrete in case of an accident. It's very unlikely it will fall, and even more unlikely for anyone to die." Even though he was trying to calm her, Marika did not stop hugging him with all her strength. Seemingly given up, Izuka ruffled her hair and smile wryly.
They were now two thirds of the way up. In another two minutes, they would be at the zenith of their ascent. After that, they would slowly be brought back down.
But when they reached the top, the wheel stopped. Marika did not know what this meant, but Izuka knew full well how unordinary this was.
(Was it meant to stop?) he reluctantly let go of Marika to check out of the car. Nothing appeared to be wrong. But at this height, it was almost impossible to be sure.
Marika timidly shuffled towards the side of the car facing the Thames. Even though the water was an unpleasant colour, the fact it was half frozen made it look as though it had its own beauty. Still with her arms wrapped around her own body, she became very close to the window.
Izuka seemed convinced that this was just a planned stop for viewing or something, so he turned from the window.
When he did, he tripped backwards.
At least, that was what it felt like at first.
His footing was fine.
It was the wheel that jutted backwards. Just to be clear, 'backwards' in this case was in the direction of the water.
The movement was quick and sudden, and above all, large. The angle of the wheel must've change from ninety degrees to seventy or so.
Izuka immediately reacted, correcting himself before he could fall any further.
"Tsubachi-kun-!!!!!!!!!" He heard Marika shout, no, scream at the top of her voice, along with the sound of shattering glass. Also, her voice was becoming increasingly quieter.
"!? Marika-chan!?" Noticing the smashed glass and absent Marika, he threw all reason and caution to the wind.
He leaped from the broken window.
Below him was Marika, screaming something inaudible and flailing about. Izuka streamlined himself to catch up with her before she could hit the water. Even though water was a liquid, if hit hard enough, it could act as a solid. The sudden deceleration would kill her. But Izuka was not invincible, so he would also die.
He eventually caught up to her, grabbing her gently with both hands. But this was not so they could die together.
Izuka thrust out his left hand at the eye. The two of them were pulled to the main support stand at a high velocity, creating a dent in the metal where Izuka's body struck it.
(Magnetism at 20 percent. There's a reason I don't normally exceed 15. It really hurts!) his arm creaked a little, but all he cared about was the safety of the girl in his arms. From the look of her face, she was still shocked, not even building up the thought to scream. She was literally frozen in fear.
Izuka used magnetism to 'leap' to the nearest car. After landing on top of it, he kicked out the window below him, gingerly sliding Marika inside.
"Look after her." He said, without even looking at the person inside.
(What the fuck happened!? Did it fall? Luckily the cables are holding. How long will an evacuation take though?) Izuka looked down at the ground, and smoke assaulted his senses.
(A bomb!? What is it with Britain and terrorists!?)
He looked around frantically, spying one of the support cables. The weight of the eye had straightened it fully, which offered a quick way to reach the ground.
He jumped to the thick cable and slid down, the smell of burning emanating from his shoes. Normally, this act would be impossible. But Izuka had both magnetism and his suit. He could easily slide down a cable.
As he was sliding, the cable suddenly snapped. He lost his footing since the cable was no longer under tension, but his body continued forward. The cable moved away too quickly for him to 'grab' it, so he was going to have to fall several metres to the surface.
Landing first with his legs and bending his knees like a cars suspension, he allowed his momentum to continue carrying him to reduce the damage done to his body. He was forced into a continuous forward roll, until he hit a nearby vendor.
Upon reaching the ground, the first thing he noticed, or rather didn't notice, was people. The surrounding area was void of people.
No citizens, no police, no drivers, no stall owners and not even the people who ran the London eye. Everyone was gone.
Despite that, Izuka still felt a presence near him. It was not that of a normal person. It was that of a person trying to be hidden.
Izuka ignored it for the moment, and instead checked on the condition of the wheel's base.
The base itself was essentially undamaged. If a strong force were to push the eye slightly, it could go back to standing straight. What stood out was how the accident had occurred.
Part of the main stand had collapsed inward massively, as though it had been kicked by Keisaku, but with the force amplified by a hundred times, maybe even more. The source of the smoke was just a nearby vendor with a grill that had caught fire, probably due to the incident. Having exhausted all the fuel, the fire had gone out, but it was still producing smoke.
Izuka brought his attention back to the presence. He looked around, but saw nothing. But then he looked closer. A small bubble, big enough for a person. An odd shape stood out amidst the smoke. No, it was more like an outline. The flow of smoke around it and inside it did not match.
"I see. Early invisibility technology, right? Come on out, I know your there." As ordered, the field disappeared, revealing the person(?) inside.
They were about the same height as Izuka, their face covered by a carbon black metal mask. The long equally black hair drifting to the waist alerted him to the fact that they were most likely female. Other than that, nothing could be told about their features.
"You," suddenly, they spoke, "Tsubachi Izuka. For the plan to continue, this person must be eliminated." They raised their fists slowly, like a rag doll. "Engaging."
In the next moment, Izuka was assaulted by an intense pain, leaving a rich trail or fresh blood behind him. His momentum was that strong that the ground below him cracked upon his landing. Immediately after recovering, he instinctively leapt back at his foe, striking them in the mask.
His fist felt like it was going to break. The person showed no reaction, their body not even moving from the spot in the slightest.
"Warning: stats of Tsubachi Izuka appear to be incorrect, but rather appear greater than expected. Countermeasures will be applied." From the arms grew two long blades.
Just to be clear, this person did not have special gauntlets. The blades seemed to have come from under the skin, evidenced by the trail of blood running along the metal.
Izuka stepped back in astonishment. His eyes were quivering slightly at that sight.
In an instant, the distance between them became nil. The unidentified assailant launched themselves at an immense speed, aiming to slice Izuka's face.
In reaction, he jumped to the side as quickly as he could, not taking his eyes off the assailant. If he had, he most certainly would have died. Five more slashes came in rapid succession, each one only being narrowly avoided.
Only when Izuka was given time for breath did he notice the blood running from his cheek, arm and even his waist.
(That speed-!)
Another assault began, but Izuka did not move his feet. He angled his body as to avoid a direct hit, although he received a cut to the abdomen, and threw a punch in.
This was not a normal punch. He had deemed the mask to have magnetic properties, so he used attraction to increase the speed and power of his attack greatly. Just before contact was made, he reversed polarity to repel away from the target at 20% capacity, forcing both him and the assailant to be thrown away in different directions.
The masked assailant struck the eye whilst Izuka crashed into a food stand.
A heavy pain encased his left hand, as though several, if not all, of his fingers had been broken or dislocated. He ripped off the cuff of his jacket and clasped it between his teeth as he forcibly fixed the positions of his fingers one by one.
"Unknown attack recognised. Formulating countermeasure." The assailant seemed no different. The one difference was that a huge part of the mask was now missing. The absence of the covering allowed one to see the partial features of the real person. Their skin was unnaturally pale, even more so than Haruke. The eye was revealed to be the same colour as the hair, making it difficult to distinguish between iris and pupil. Below the eye was a small cut, leaking a tiny amount of blood. But on closer inspection, the liquid was too dark to be blood, yet it was seeping from a wound.
Before Izuka could examine it any further, the wound closed itself, leaving no scar or sign that it had ever existed.
(Wha-?)
"What are you!?" His thoughts slipped into a shout directed at the emotionless drone.
"............................."
Izuka sighed in relief that the monster hesitated for a second.
"No, who are you!?"
".........this subject has had its name and other identifying characteristics removed. For reference, it is know as Cerebra." The monotonous voice gave its reply, but this did not help Izuka at all. Why were they referring to themselves in the third person? And a 'subject'?
"Cerebra..........what is your objective?"
"The primary objective is to eliminate Tsubachi Izuka as swiftly as possible so that the plan may continue." Cerebra took a small step forward.
"Wait!"
"Too much time had elapsed during this interval. The primary objective must be completed."
"Then," Izuka looked over at the wheel behind Cerebra. "Let me save those people. If you let me save them, I will not put up a fight."
".............." Cerebra tilted her head to the side by a fraction of a degree. "It is not understood why you wish for this, but avoiding a struggle will benefit the plan."
"Thank you."
"However, it is impossible to rescue every person in that structure. The instability is gradually increasing, creating tension on the steel cables. The cables shall snap and the structure will fall. Calculations determine the time until then to be.........one minute."
Izuka gritted his teeth in response to this information. How was he supposed to save all those people in one minute?
"Hey, you seem to understand everything about me. What am I going to do?"
"Information predicts that you will attempt to be the hero, but upon inevitable failure, you shall be damaged mentally, removing any reason to kill you."
"Hah. That sounds like me. But if I have a choice between me and her, there's no choice at all." He spread his feet apart and took a step back.
"Next question: what scientific breakthrough am I responsible for?"
"Tsubachi Izuka created a graphene-silk based wonder material that is stronger than steel, thinner than paper and can be used as a circuit board."
"Correct. However, that is just what people remember. My proudest breakthrough was to give myself the power of a superconductor."
The cables supporting the eye snapped simultaneously, allowing the wheel to freely fall into the water. But it did not.
Even though the cables had snapped, the eye did not move.
"This.....really hurts!" Izuka screamed to himself. His arms were outstretched into the air towards the eye, and ripping sounds were coming from both them and his legs.
Somehow, he was holding up the entire London eye.
Even the emotionless Cerebra could not hide her astonishment. How strong of a magnetic pull is required to pull off such a feat?
"Impossible............even if one has the power to hold such a large mass, the same magnetic pull should instead pull the smaller mass towards the larger one."
And since Izuka was tiny in comparison to the London eye, logic would say that a strong magnetic force would pull him towards the eye, not the reverse.
"Looks like you have no idea." Despite the incredible amount of pain he was in, he could still manage a basic explanation. "This technology is centred on my hands and feet. To keep myself still, I am applying an equally strong force to the sewer system below my feet."
"The sewer system..........." Cerebra was completely awestruck. This boy was only the lance of the second ranked unit. However, that analysis was without the inclusion of what he could really do. His magnetism was known, but this was approaching its true limits. He could quite possibly become the spear of the top unit, or become a unit on his own. "So why?" She asked. "If you can do such a thing, why stay as the HAZE lance?"
"Hah, that's an easy one." He let out a small laugh. "If I were to go deeper into the underground, I wouldn't get to see Marika-chan."
Cerebra remained speechless as Izuka began taking steps back, slowly lifting the large mass back to an upright position. With each step, the tole on his body weakened, but the damage was still done.
"This person who is important to you, 'Marika-chan', is she perhaps on the eye?"
"That's right. If she wasn't, I'd be fighting you instead of lifting this big hunk of metal." Izuka's arms relaxed once he stopped emitting his magnetic fields. With the eye stable, he could start to recover.
He immediately collapsed.
He retained his consciousness, but he could not move his body.
"On the contrary; if it was not for that girl, we would not be fighting."
"...........what.......do you mean........?"
"She is, to us, an uncertain factor that influenced your decision to remain in England, and so brought about the decision to have you killed during this part of the plan. As we speak, the underground base in this part of the world is under attack. With the unit team based in France away in the US, the attack will go smoothly."
"Huh? So you planned that far.........."
"Yes. Now, with your deed done......"
"I know. Just get it over with. I couldn't retaliate if I wanted to, so go ahead and kill me."
Cerebra stood over him, casting a deep shadow over his face. Her lips moved, and Izuka could barely hear what was said.

'I'm sorry.'

One of the blades penetrated Izuka's chest. It did not cause any reaction to his face. He just smiled and accepted it.
Cerebra, who never showed any facial expressions, looked disheartened for some reason.
(Looks she has regrets. Dammit, don't take pity on me! I'm supposed to be dying valiantly!)
"Tsubachi Izuka.............terminated."
His limp body spread across the ground.
A large puddle of fresh blood grew around him.