Weirdos IV: The Emerald Heart

Prologue

Deafening sirens of police mobiles and fire trucks chorused with the frantic shouts of the alarmed people. As the police tried to escort the crowd away from the area, the firemen tried to extinguish the fires on a burning building. Scattered on the street is a mixture of numerous debris, people who are either dead or wounded, police, firemen, and agents—the latter three doing their best to deal with the situation.

One of the people on the street is a young lady wearing an emerald-green agent suit. Just like all the people in the area, her expression is torn somewhere between fear and concern. However, as she gazed at the panicking people in the area, her eyes suddenly lit up with a burning fury so intense that they seem to burn hotter than the fire burning on the building in front of her.

"Are there any civilians inside?" she asked, turning to a nearby policeman.

"All the civilians have been evacuated from the area, but the terrorists are still holding a lot of hostages. They're somewhere at the fifth floor of the building. They said that if we don't follow their request within the next hour, they will blow up the entire building," the policeman replied.

"What do they want?" the young lady asked.

"Lots of money, an entire truck of military weapons, getaway cars where they will load their hostages, and getaway helicopters. If we follow their orders, they will leave their hostages unscathed in particular places after they take off," the policeman said.

"Do they have a weirdo in their group?" the lady asked further.

"Their leader is a weirdo—a fire elemental," the former replied.

"Of course we're not going to let them boss us around."

"Definitely."

A girl in tears suddenly approached them. "My mommy's still inside that building, and she told me that if I ever get lost, I should ask for help from the police or agents. You're an agent, right? I want to see my mommy but they won't let me in the building. Please help me."

The lady in green knelt in front of the girl before smiling. "Don't worry, I will bring your mommy back to you, okay? For now, I want you to stay here and wait. You're a strong girl, and I'm sure that your mommy will be very, very proud of you."

The young lady took her green cloak off as she stood up and walked towards the burning building.

"What are you doing?" the policeman called at the lady. "We're still awaiting orders!"

The young lady in green looked back at the policeman. "We don't have time, and there are people who are in dire need of help. I just can't stand here and wait for orders when I know that I can do something right now. I am an agent, and it is my job to save the people in whatever way I can at any given time," she said before turning around.

"Come back here, Esmerelda!"

But the young Esmerelda walked straight towards the burning building. A man carrying a megaphone suddenly appeared from one of the windows in the building. "Stop right there or we'll shoot you! I said, stop!"

Gunshots suddenly erupted from the building, causing the people in the area to take cover. Esmerelda, however, stood mightily in front of the building with her arm shielding her face. A green barrier suddenly rose in front of her, blocking all the gunshots directed at her. Sparks flew around her as the bullets hit her barrier and ricocheted off.

She then jumped towards the building and crashed right into the window of the fifth floor of the burning building. Upon landing, she knelt and slid on the floor towards a couple of men who immediately fired their guns at her. Esmerelda shot a green rope each at the two men as she slid on the floor. The green ropes wrapped around their bodies tightly, completely immobilizing her opponents. She then jumped into the air before pulling the ropes with a mighty heave, causing the two men to crash into each other forcefully. Both of them fell to the floor unconscious.