[Charlotte] Seventy-Five Years (Discontinued)

Chapter 22: Recovery

One of the assistants, apparently tired from all the researches he recently did, found himself sitting on an empty bench provided only for people like him. A sigh had been freed, along with his back leaning and relaxing against the wall next. "It won't be long, and Charlotte will be ours," uttered him as a relieved smile carved itself on his lips.

Crashes of bottled specimens reached his hearing range, allowing him to jolt in surprise, and shift his attention to the location of the ruckus. "What the hell is going on?!" Quickly so, the man went to see what was up.

Before him stood other scientists, angrily breaking the stuff they certainly own.

"What's going on with you guys?! These are important parts of the researches we conducted; stop breaking them!" Ordered him, yet they only growled in rage, feet hastily marching to his direction. It had taken him aback, left foot moving backward once, then body came seemingly immovable thereafter.

Aggressively, the group pointed directly at him, eyes glaring in utmost infatuation. "You! You and that demon are the reasons why we can't get enough sleep; you treat us like some dogs!" They gathered around him, fists clamped tight.

"It's pretty normal! Of course, if you want to gain more, you have to work more! You cannot gain more by doing less!" Countered him with a shaky voice, terrified and confused.

The angered researchers raised their clamped fists on the level of their wrathful glares whilst simultaneously showing their palms as it created a ball of fire, launching it at the direction of the loyal worker.

Frightened, the man sat in a jiff, both hands covering the top of his head. Successfully, he managed to avoid their deadly attacks, but his co-scientists' approaches allowed him to quickly stand, and step backwards again.

Behind him were machines used in researching and experimenting people, but those were now on ablaze. Accidentally, he stepped on the side of one of these machines, allowing his laboratory coat to burn. A piercing scream of pain indisputably escaped his lips, his call for help was headed by no one, for only scientists who despised him were the ones present.

The fire quickly crawled on his legs, to his upper body, making his cries sounded more of panicking. Wiping it away with bare hands wouldn't help, and wet clothes weren't seen around, but only reddish-orange surroundings. Soon, most of the place were aflame.

The man was burnt into ashes.

His workers went straight to a seemingly secret passage to escape the unbearable heat, and aimlessly then stood in front of their burning building, bemused of what happened earlier. If any, their countenance only held a huge question, asking the same aforementioned thing.

"If that's me, I would burn them too," heartlessly commented a certain platinum blonde, pertaining to the saved workers.

"That's cruel! You already saw that they're against of this, Tomori-san! What's the use of killing them?!" Insisted her vice president.

"It's possible that they're going to do it again," commented her, rather effortless. Not explaining it further, she only sighed. "Anyway, it already happened. I'm just going to stick to the part that they detest their methods so they won't do it again."

"Good work there, Nishimori," uttered a maroon-haired male--though his Marionette and Dementia trick had worked earlier too, another man followed it up with a thumbs up--more of a good job which the latter responded with a cute, blushy smile.

The voice of a fierce, older female captured their senses, but only to them alone, for they were allowed to. "Hey! Don't get cocky around my little sister! It doesn't mean that I've given you my permission, you can do anything to her!"

It made Takajou shudder in apparent surprise, his head bowing in immediacy. "Yes, I won't!" Not entirely sure which part was he was agreeing with, but he was sure not to hurt Yusa in any way.

Nao opted to break their conversation by speaking once again, "We still have another person to deal with. You can continue that later," she went off ahead.

Yuu, though attention was divided, followed her, allowing the other three to do so.

It didn't take long for them to turn left to see a door ticking close, and a man coming out from it.

"Oh," uttered Nao in surprise, purely sarcasm. "You seem to be in haste," said her after, hands on her waist.

The unfamiliar sound had taken the old male aback, his gazes quickly shifting at the students' direction. "So, you are the ones who destroyed this very facility of mine?! The nerve!"

"So are you. You do have the nerves to experiment people, and take their abilities off them," fired the slim female back. "Not only that, even using it to become powerful, and rule the world? Sometimes, being too smart makes one crazy."

"You're calling me crazy?!"

"Did I stutter?" Reconfirmed Nao, countenance unchanging.

Furious, the head researcher began releasing the powers he grabbed off from the people he had examined before. Huge rolls of stones came rushing toward the teen, and in swift motion, Nao took Yuu and turned themselves invisible, while Takajou took Yusa and teleported their ways out from the battlefield.

The vice president returned in the same cell he was standing on earlier, and began charging to their target. Takajou battled him through combat movements yet could he dodge it effortlessly. A devilish grin was evidently seen curved on the latter's lips.

Nao brought Yuu closer, but he couldn't use Plunder to sip the abilities in. Therefore, the female brought herself out, and tried troubling the researcher further, but it still had given the same result. On the other hand, her boyfriend was standing firmly behind their target, readying himself.

However, their enemy had noticed this beforehand, and began abandoning the two in front, and speedily made his way to capture the young man. "You gotta think better than that!"

Surprised, Yuu lost a bit of his concentration upon the other shifting their movements. Even so, Misa created a firewall in front of the student, breaking every piece of rock penetrating her barrier. "Thanks!" Said the maroon-eyed male, nodding to her next.

Misa opened a small hole in her firewall so the researcher could enter; the latter pretended it intentionally broke because of the man's strength. The expression she could see undeniably meant that the man thought the same. Amused, she began, "Hey, old man! You're not exactly as smart as you deem yourself to be!" Entertained, Misa smirked.

Confused, the old man turned to her, only to know that his abilities had been stripped off. The overflowing strength he once felt vanished in a jiff, making him a defenseless enemy at most.

Udou arrived at the scene with tons of reinforcements behind him, together with Shunsuke and their friends. The policemen captured the man, jailing him without questions upon seeing the ruckus he made.

All of them watched the man restrained and leaving, speechless. Soonest they disappeared from their sights, they intently watched the research building get devoured by fire.

Yuu fell on the ground, unconscious. Only the voices of his friends--his girlfriend overtaking--calling his name could be heard slowly vanishing into the oblivion, along with flickering and swaying of the fire.