Chapter 3:

The Roadblock

Karma


The Villain Suppression Force is just a fancy name for "The Hitmen Squadron" or “The Villain Elimination Force”. In short, they get the name of a target with a negative count, hunt them down, and ultimately kill them. All in the name of what they believe is justice. But does justice mean killing people with a negative count just for the sake of it? Is that truly the right way to go about it? Aren't you just as bad as them then? Well, not in their eyes, at least.

And to be honest, it frightens me to think that Haru has decided to side with killers like them. I don't know what he is thinking. Maybe they have infected him with sweet lies.

The problem is that crossing the VSF means trouble for me. I will most certainly get a couple of point reductions. And that’s considering I currently only have 16 points.

But, there is a way for me to bend the rules. As long as I don’t physically harm them, my count won’t be affected since it won’t be seen as I’m attacking them.

If I really want to go through with this rescue mission, I also have to hide my identity. Actually, I’m not sure why I’m even considering this bad idea. The elderly man must have a negative count for a reason, right...? Maybe he is a serial killer after all?

Nevertheless, I can’t ignore the fact that they have decided to attack him unprovoked. Maybe he has a family at home who are waiting for him. What if all of his grandkids are waiting eagerly for him to get back home?

I take out a black face mask from my bag with a cute cat face on it and pull it over my face. The men surrounding the elder have cornered him, and they are ready to engage him any moment.

I sprint around the corner and head straight towards them. The elderly man’s eyes light up with hope as soon as he sees me. The guys from the VSF don't notice me until the elder tries to shoo me away. I guess he doesn’t want me interfering. But I can’t let this slide.

I place myself in front of the elder and lock eyes with the guy in charge.

“Oh? Who might you be…?” He asks me curiously.

“Just someone who can’t let you do this.” I say.

“Scared to show your face? What a chicken.” He says as the others laugh wickedly. This reminds me of all of the times the girls at school have tried insulting me. But this time, I’m ready to fight back.

I’m interrupted by the old man. He grabs my arm, and it seems like he’s trying to push me away. I turn my head slightly.

“Don’t get involved in my mess. Please just walk away.” He begs me.

“No can do.” I say as I turn towards the group.

“Now, who’s ready for a beating?” I ask as I crack my knuckles. For the first time, a quick flash of fear shows in their faces, but they quickly remind themselves that I’m just a schoolgirl. But I’m no schoolgirl you wanna mess with.

I push the elder away gently to not get him caught in the crossfire. The leader of the group backs away slightly to enable his lackeys to do the hard work.

They engage me from both left and right, and I dodge them with ease by performing a quick somersault forward. Good thing I practiced gymnastics when I was younger.

I repeat the plan I formed in my mind before I made my entrance. I will primarily have to dodge the hits while trying to take advantage of my surroundings. The street we stand on is surrounded by fences in two directions. There are garbage cans in front of the houses that I can make use of. There are also some branches sticking out from over a few of the fences.

The two men throw punches and kicks in my direction like some kind of killing machine, but I manage to dodge them all with grace. Unbeknownst to them, I am positioning myself closer and closer to some garbage cans.

Suddenly one of the men has seemingly lost his patience and activates his power. His amber eyes start glowing, and I am guessing that his power might be fire. Confirming my suspicions, only seconds later, he throws a couple of fireballs in my direction. I only barely manage to dodge them this time, feeling the heat burn my skin as they pass by my cheeks.

It's time to resume my plan. I begin sprinting away from the man with fire powers and towards one of the garbage cans. As suspected, he tries to catch me from behind by chasing after me. However, he thrusts himself forward by placing his hands in a position like two jet engines. He gains speed at an exponential rate, and the distance between us grows smaller by the second.

I gasp, not expecting him to almost catch up to me, but I quickly realize it might be to my advantage. I focus my attention on the can and jump over it in what seems to be slow motion. That is when I realize just how close he was to reaching me. His fingers were almost touching my hair. 

But the man didn't have enough time to dodge the garbage can. Instead, he crashes straight into it. He must have gained too much speed, and my body had also blocked his field of vision.

He falls to the ground with trash covering his body. Either he is knocked out or too embarrassed to move since his body doesn't move. An unpleasant smell fills the air. I applaud myself internally in victory.

I must have been too focused on this one guy since I no longer can spot the other man that came after me. I turn my head in all directions, but the only figures on the street are the older man and the group leader, and they are pretty far away from here.

That's when something hits my face out of the blue with such brute force it flings me to the ground almost instantly. I let out a yelp and clench my jaw as a pang of pain hit me.

I look in the direction that I was hit, and to my surprise, the man who was nowhere to be seen just seconds ago is suddenly standing in front of me. Is his power super-speed? As I scrutinize him from a squatting position, I notice that his hair and eye color are silver.

At school, we learned about a few hundred of the most common powers and their characteristics. Silver features could mean his powers are invisibility or wind. Considering he appeared out of nowhere, I suppose invisibility would make the most sense. If I remember it correctly, he can only physically interact with me as long as he is visible.

I raise to my feet and look him in the eye. Suddenly his eyes widen slightly, which leaves me wondering why. Don't tell me he recognizes me?! I adjust my mask and ensure that it covers my face. My thoughts are interrupted by his deep voice.

"I never anticipated that a non-neg would interfere with official VSF business..." He says curiously. His comment catches me off-guard for a moment. How did he know that my count isn't negative? I mean it's hidden underneath my shirt. Then I realize that he must have received a point reduction for punching my face.

"If you keep on punching me, you will turn into a villain yourself." I say as I smirk. He snorts in response and something wicked glimmers in his eyes.

"I will just have to make sure my punches are strong enough to knock you out quickly then." The man says as he turns invisible once more. What? Doesn't he care in the slightest about his count? Knocking me out would lead to a massive point reduction. My only logical conclusion is that his count is high enough for him to be willing to risk a few points here and there since it wouldn't make much of a difference to him.

Since he has the unfair advantage of turning invisible, I have to do the same. Before I revealed myself, I grabbed dirt with my fist in case it would come in handy. Now it will. It's also time to make use of the branches.

I have to move fast since I have no way of telling from which direction the man intends to attack.

The sun has already started setting. I have to get home soon.

I feel a sudden surge from the wind to my left and quickly jump to the right, and his fist only slightly graces my cheek as a result. I run faster towards the branches, now sensing that he is right behind me.

I thrust my fist full of dirt towards the ground, which creates a cloud of dust, almost like a smokescreen. The man behind me coughs intensely, which confirms that my plan is working. I bend the branch like a banana, thankful that it is somewhat elastic. As I hear his footsteps stabilizing somewhat from the cloud, I launch it straight towards him.

Just as the dust cloud clears, the branch hits him right in the gut, making him fall to his knees in defeat. He lets out a small shriek of pain. I hope he stays there on the ground.

My jaw still throbs with pain, and I pray that there won't be a visible bruise tomorrow. I sigh in relief as I realize that there hasn't been a point reduction on my behalf yet, as it still says 16. 

Then I notice that the elderly man and leader are no longer anywhere in plain sight. Maybe the elder was kidnaped while I was distracted?! The mere thought sends chills down my spine. I have to locate them quickly!

I look around in panic, only to slip on my own two feet. I condemn myself for not paying enough attention to their direction. I take a deep breath to calm myself down and decide to get information out of the lackeys instead. Maybe they will tell me where they went.

Then I realize that the invisibility guy is no longer there, and the same goes for the fire guy. Cowards...!

This entire rescue mission was a complete failure. Not only did I risk my identity, but I also couldn't achieve my goals. This just proves how useless I am. Maybe I tried keeping too low of a profile that I let them all slip away instead as I didn't dare using my power. As much as I hate to admit it, I am at the mercy of the system. Why did I try to oppose these VSF guys in the first place? I should just give in...

The air feels intoxicating, and I can hardly breathe. I crawl to the ground in a desperate attempt to get some oxygen.

A sudden flash before my eyes interrupts my despair. A black shadow swoops all over the street but does not have an owner. How is that even possible?

I stand up a bit wobbly and walk over to the shadow, but as I approach, it disintegrates, leaving me in solitude once more.

The street feels more gloomy than before, and the sun has already set. How long have I been here? 

Something feels off...

Then I avert my gaze towards a flowing, water-like barrier just a few steps away. I walk closer with hesitant steps. The barrier emanates a strange surging noise, unlike anything I have heard before. I blink a few times in surprise.

This wasn't here before!

Dean.J
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Ana Fowl
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SummonerOfBugs
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