Desert Winds Academy for Superheroes

Chapter 8: The Eclipse: Part 1

"Forgive me for this, sir, but are you truly sure about this? I don't believe I need to stress just how dangerous this man is. My men have been watching Kaii since his invasion of Desert Winds, and I'm not sure we can safely bring him here." Commandant Okura would pace around the large office while Araki simply listened. "What about The Hand of Odin?" Araki would look over to the Commandant.

"The Hand of Odin, sir? Are you sure you wanna send them?" Okura would sit down across from his boss, who was as sure as ever. "They rarely ever get to go out anymore, and this is a big target. If they can bring him to me, that'd be great. If not, then they can simply kill him and get me some of his blood. Go ahead and call in Ryōshi."

"Very well, sir." Okura would pull out a small device, and at the press of a button, someone would walk through the door. Standing just afew feet away from Araki and Okura, a man in a variety of armor on his torso and legs with cloth acting as a cloak would stand. Araki would smile at the man. "Well! Ryōshi! It's been quite some time. We've got a job for you and your Hand of Odin!"

"I already know. You want us to hunt and bring you Kaii Yamamura. Consider it done." As Ryōshi walked off, Araki would speak up again. "Ryōshi for a bonus, try to bring us the other Trumpets. Remind me, your brother has been sighted with them during the invasion, right? This job isn't gonna be any trouble for you, I hope."

Ryōshi would stop, and with his head down, he'd answer after a moment of silence. "No...sir. It won't be a problem at all." Ryōshi would open the door and leave while Araki and Okura spoke to one another. "Commandant. Call in the Head Scientist."

"Of course, sir." Okura would proceed to call someone and Moments later, a group of scientists would walk in, and at their center, an older man would sit down on the metallic chair made for him. "You called for us, sir?"

"Ah! Yes! I did, Head Scientist Shinka." Araki would turn to face Shinka and the other scientists who stood around them arms behind their backs. As Araki got closer, the armrests on Shinka's chair would suddenly close around Shinka's torso, trapping him in the chair. Araki's expression told Shinka all he needed to know, and the old man began to panic. "Sir..! I know why you're upset.. Our tests were-"

Araki would cut him off. "Your tests were all failures, Shinka, and your deadline is drawing closer. I'm beginning to think that you've outlived your usefulness." Araki would lay his eyes on Shinka and then eyeing his other scientists. "You know what? You might need a different team of scientists. Okura, get your men and take these fools out of the city. Kill them and get Shinka a team that's actually useful."

"No! Sir! Please don't blame them! We just need more time to figure everything out! I promise!" Shinka would start to plead for his team's lives, which clearly moved Araki as he released Shinka from the chair. "You've got two more weeks. Fuck this up again Shinka and I'll be sure to make an example of you to everyone in this building. Now get the hell out of my office."

Shinka and his scientists would all run out of the room and Araki would sit down on his chair, looking at him computer screen and seeing the sales and who is selling. "Huh...hey...this is different. Okura, go get this employee. I wanna speak to him." Araki would turn his screen over, showing Okura the profile of Yashiro Yashmoto. "He's selling alot more than usual. Maybe he finally got his act up." Araki would kick his feet up, staring at the screen showing all of his sales.

In their compound, Kaii would sit at a crudely constructed bar, sipping on a mixed drink with his wounds still causing him some pain if he moved wrong. "Fucking Omega-Man... fucking Desert Winds..." Kaii would touch a bruise on his face, gritting his teeth and slamming his glass down. "Yashmoto...!"

"Boss, I'd suggest that you didn't do that. We're limited on glasses." Tensai would stand at the door with his hands behind his back. Kaii would look back and let out a sigh. "Tensai. How are the others doing?"

"Well, Shinda and Kōri went to look for more people to recruit to our cause. They're awfully close. Ryomen went to get us some groceries...it's all he's really good for at this point."

"And Kiyoshi? He's probably out there killing someone..." Kaii would let out another sigh at the idea of Kiyoshi blowing their cover. Tensai would look behind him, seeing Kiyoshi asleep on the couch. "He hasn't moved from that spot at all today. Quite wasteful."

"Hm, at least he isn't causing unnecessary trouble." Kaii would stand up and walk out to the common area where Kiyoshi was asleep, and Seno would be reading the newspaper. Just then, the double doors would open and a flamboyantly dressed man would walk into the room, causing Kaii to smile and walk over to him. "Finally! Jikan! It's been awhile!"

"Kaii Yamamura, how are you! I haven't seen you since you were a small child following Genesis around." Jikan would hold his arms apart as he and Kaii met. "I heard you were recruiting, and I decided to bring you some possible candidates." Jikan would hand Kaii 4 folders, each containing a file on different villains. "The top one interested me a lot, so I hope you give her a shot. Let's go to your office and discuss things more." Jikan would prepare to walk off but was stopped by Seno. "Ah! Seno! I didn't notice you. I can't believe you're still here, you know, after last time?"

Seno would cross his arms and watch as Jikan and Kaii walked to Kaii's personal office and shut the door. Kiyoshi would sit up and rub his eyes, fully waking up after a minute. "Hey, butler, what is that new smell?"

"Butler? I'm nobody's butler Kiyoshi. That new smell is probably Jikan. He's a benefactor for us and even has some money invested in fronts to help us. He's talking to Kaii right now."

In Kaii's office, Kaii would open each folder, looking over their files and thinking. "This girl. Tell me about her."

"Gladly." Jikan would stand and pull out a small holographic device, turning it on and showing Kaii his favorite recruit. "Her name is Kueiku. She's a very interesting individual from what I saw."

"Ok. What can she do?" Kaii would ask and Jikan would smile at him. "She can control and manipulate the earth and stone around her. Think about earthquakes for a moment. She can cause them but ten times as bad and that's when she isn't trying. She'd definitely bring more diversity to the team."

"Maybe. Who else is there?" Kaii would sit back as Jikan prepared the next file. "This is Todo Tarou. He's got the power to reflect damage done to him onto other people. Ultimately unimpressive."

"Agreed. Next." Kaii would cross his arms almost like he was losing his patience with this. Jikan would hold up another file. "This is Naifiu Kurokube. She's got the power to form small blades out of thin air and use them." Kaii would read her file and set it down. "Kiyoshi can do that, but more also. We'll see." Kaii would stand and pick up Kueiku's file and read over it. "Toss that last file along with the rest and go find Kueiku. She's one of us now."

Jikan would leave and begin his mission to fins Kueiku and bring her back to the Syndicate's Base. Kaii Yamamura would feel a vibration in his pocket and pulled out his phone. Answering, he was greeted by muffled screaming followed by a voice. "If I had known it was this easy to contact you, I'd have done it earlier. Unfortunately, your teammates here caused me quite a bit of trouble." The voice would chuckle after this, pissing Kaii off more. "Who are you."

"Step outside Yamamura and we can talk face to face." The voice would hang up and Kaii would make his way to the main door of their base. Opening it, he'd quickly walk out and look around for a minute. Just then, his phone rang again. Quickly, Kaii would answer it with a more annoyed tone than last time. "Where are you. Come out and we can talk man to man."

"Oh, I already have you in my sights." The voice would hang up again, and a slight noise could be heard, and then a needle would strike Kaii in the side, stinging him. "What!?!" As Kaii went to try create a shield, he fell to the ground and was unable to stand up. "What happened...Seno...Kiyoshi...!" Kaii found himself unable to speak as he saw the culprit behind the calls: Ryōshi Byōki.

Ryōshi would crouch and stare at Kaii with a frown. "The Leader of the Syndicate...how embarrassing." Ryōshi would stick Kaii with another needle which caused him to fall unconscious. Ryōshi would sigh and press down on an earpiece. "Hōahasen. You went after Ryomen, right? Do me a favor and go easy on him, please."