Rogue

Chapter 26

Akira wandered around the Forbidden Zone with several different markers on locations that humanoid Neighbors had been encountered. She was running through at full speed, hoping to catch the blonde boy before anyone else had a chance to engage. Her vision was tunneled and all she could focus on was finding him.

From the left, a white creature emerged from an alleyway and smacked directly into her side with incredible speed. The blonde went flying across the street and through the walls of an abandoned house. She tsked and dusted her uniform from drywall dust. She then stepped through the wreckage and back out to where she had encountered the beast.

As her eyes adjusted to the lighting, she found a white Trion soldier that was a little over three meters tall. It had hunched shoulders and big hands and feet. Two antennae stuck out from its head, twitching around as it stared back at her. Akira stared at it unblinking. This creature was all too familiar to her. Bile rose up in her throat and an unsettling feeling made her shiver.

"A Rabbit...?" The soldier charged her, slamming a fist into the ground where she once stood. Luckily for her, she was in shock but still able to dodge its attack. The creature continued jumping at her in an onslaught of swings of its huge hands. The Rabbit attempted to swat her like a fly, completely erratic for its original intention.

Akira growled and finally ended things quickly. The Rabbit severed into tens of pieces, her scythe making quick work of its tough armor.

A couple of golden cubes fell from within its body and clanked to the ground. The girl moved to investigate the items but was stopped as she suddenly became surrounded by four more of the Trion soldiers. The blonde stood up straight and narrowed her eyes as she surveyed each and every one of them. Her hand clenched around her scythe, dragging it along the ground and creating an eerie scraping sound. "First they run me out of the country... Then they use my old designs...?"

Akira glared at the Trion soldiers which had been designed by her and her father almost ten years ago. The Rabbit had gotten to the prototype stages but was never furthered because of her father's other work. And then... You know. Angry tears filled her eyes at the sight. After everything they did to her and her family, they still had the audacity to use them like this? It disgusted her. "I'm gonna make them pay."

They all attacked at once but turned out to be no match for the Grim Reaper. She continued to slice at them but gradually became more frustrated and sloppy. She didn't realize that she was full-on crying now due to the fact that the Rabbits were multiplying. Four became five, then six, seven, eight, and then nine.

She finally managed to decapitate the last one and wasted no time in following its limp body to the ground, stomping on the eye over and over and over again as her frustrations poured out. It took a minute, but she eventually stopped and sobbed as she realized what monsters they had been back on Aftokrator. Even though it came from good intentions, her family's creations were probably responsible for so much damage and terror. She felt immense guilt but also sorrow for staring in the face of one of the last memories she had of her father.

"Akira!" The girl froze as the voice called out behind her. Her crying had ceased and now she simply stood on a pile of defeated Rabbits. A shiver ran down her spine as she realized what this encounter could lead to if she didn't get her feelings under control right now. Also, was it really the right time, Izumi? "Hey..."

"Can we please not do this right now?" The blonde rubbed at her eyes and inhaled a deep breath to stop her body from shaking. Izumi's shoulders slumped. Of course, he hadn't planned on having a full discussion about things right now during the invasion, but he just had to see her. He needed to speak to her if only just a little bit.