Death's Stain 死の染み

Chapter 5: B.E.T.H.A

A few minutes go by of driving and Seiji questioning his inner thoughts. The downpour is still going—if not stronger now than before.

The terrain outside begins to slowly shift from a grassy landscape to a small town, then to a city. As he looks around outside, he then notice the Ajinomoto Stadium, so they have to be in Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan. Fuchu is pretty long distance from where Seiji's orphanage was, so in his head, he was also curious about where they are taking him since this is such a long distance to drive.

As they drive deeper into Fuchu, the rain begins to clear up, going from a downpour to a light drizzle on the window.

Seiji would then realize the increase of armed military presence as they go farther, until they finally stop and the driver rolls down his window and presses a card he pulled out his chest pocket against a scanner. The scanner turns green and they begin to drive again.

Seiji finds it kind of eerie how the driver and passenger haven't spoken a single word this entire drive, neither has he, but there's zero words to be exchanged between any of them. He also notices how secured the area is, like military grade fencing with biometric sensors that zaps anyone who touches it seemly due to the occasional spark of white light coming of the dark metal, the dozens of parked military grade vehicles with machine guns and even rocket launchers on the roof of them, the semi-futuristic look of the place which looks like a prison that could hold damn near every supervillain Seiji read in comics and manga.

"Wow," he can't help but say at the look of the place, he's seen nothing like it. But also the thought of possibly having to stay there lingers in his mind, casting an intimidating aura onto him.

The special units SUV then comes to a stop, parking behind a tank with the an acronym on the back spelling BETHA in all bold and blue letters. The driver and passenger would then get out of the SUV and the driver comes to the left side back door where Seiji is sat as the special units officer that got out the passenger side talks to someone outside who is standing with some grey and navy blue armored uniform which says the same acronym across the chest.

The special units officer opens Seiji's door, unbuckling the seat belts that are restricting him back. He then grabs Seiji's upper arm tightly which causes Seiji to flinch and squirm a bit from the grasp, doesn't help the officer has gloves with metal grips and reinforced palms. He is then pulled out the SUV and guided by the officer towards the front of the BETHA building. As they approach, Seiji notices how much BETHA officers there are. There has to be around 60 just only outside.

At the front door, it is super strong looking with reinforced metal and missile proof glass. The doors don't slide open right away, they both wait there for a moment before one of the BETHA officers with the other special units officer uses a card to unlock the door. You could hear the thick locks let out a pretty loud and sudden hiss as compressed air within them release and the sliding door opens up.

Once inside, another massive sign shows the acronym is seen that is glowing white. Under it is the meaning of BETHA, which is written in smaller letters and says "Bio-Energetic Threat Hunters Association".

Then, they would walk up to the front desk. The special units officer who is holding onto him talks to the front desk receptionist, saying, "Got a kid here. He somehow destroyed the foundation of an orphanage he was staying at. It killed one worker and injured several others, some in critical condition, including some kids."

The receptionist listens to the officer while typing away on his laptop. He then looks up at the officer, then looks at Seiji before speaking, "Do you have a clue what he could've awakened?"

The officer shrugs slowly, replying with a skeptical look, "All we know is that he caused a sudden and intense increase in air pressure. The air molecules also rapidly increased and accelerated with something, but they're still looking into that. So basically it was heavy vibrations and shockwaves that stressed the building out, causing it to collapse."