Splintered Family

A mesmerizing purple portal reopened, its swirling vortex casting an ethereal glow on the surrounding containment cell. Shintaro fell through along with the enraged Toriyama.

He landed on his feet with a soft thud as Toriyama did a double backflip, landing a few inches away from him.

Shintaro pressed his communicator, "Kai, open this cell hastily!"

"I'm on it," Kai replied, a cracking voice coming from the communicator as he pressed a button on the control panel.

The cell's futuristic door hissed open. Riyoka roared through the portal on her bike as it slowly winked shut.

She drove past them and headed for the cell's exit while Toriyama charged at Shintaro with sheer rage. Riyoka drifted, her hair swaying swiftly as she turned towards the cell.

"Shintaro-Kun!"

Toriyama's devastating backhand caught Shintaro, sending him crashing into the cell's energy barrier. A portal ripped open beneath him.

He tumbled through and fell right next to Riyoka. Shintaro scrambled to his feet and slapped his earpiece, a confident shout escaping his lips.

"Close it now!"

The door closed as Toriyama ran towards it and delivered a powerful punch that caused a deafening sound that reverberated in everyone's ears.

Kai's hands hovered over the control panel as he activated the cell's energy and ability-disturbing technology, causing Toriyama to deshift and return to normal.

Toriyama calmed down, his rage slowly dissipating, his humanity returning. Then his brain finally registered.

"Where is he?! Where is that bastard?!"

"Calm down, Mister Toriyama. Tsuchiyama is being pursued as we speak; don't worry about him," Riyoka said as she helped Shintaro stand up.

She then walked towards the cell while Shintaro stood there, his body still recoiling.

"What?" Toriyama seethed as he clenched his fists tightly, so much so that his knuckles turned white. "That murderer killed my wife... and Anna. You have to let me out of here; my daughter is going to die... let me out, please... I can't lose her as well..."

"What's your daughter's location?"

"She is in the same neighborhood you found me in."

Riyoka pressed her own communicator in her ear. “Kai, you can turn off the ability disturber or whatever it's called.”

“What? but—”

“It's fine. I'll allow it.” Shintaro stated.

“R… Right, turning it off… Now.”

The ability-disturbing technology turned off as Riyoka outstretched her arm towards Toriyama. 

Her eyes glowed as she opened another portal behind him that led to the district, specifically the destroyed neighborhood.

Toriyama turned around and ran through the portal without hesitation. Riyoka closed it and buckled on one knee, her breaths getting heavy.

"Fujita! Are you okay?" Shintaro inquired as he took her hand and placed it on the back of his neck and supported her.

"I'm fine, but I guess the fatigue has finally sunk in."

"Don't push yourself, alright?"

"Yes sir, Shintaro-Kun."

“Be serious for once in your life.”

“Hehehehe… Yes sir.”

The two of them walked slowly towards the true interior of the Union's headquarters as they continued supporting each other, their silhouettes slowly heading towards the elevator.

In the meantime, Toriyama ran towards his home, ascended the stairs, and entered the apartment.

He stumbled over the pond of sticky blood, the air cloying with a metallic stench. The sound of his breathing was somewhat loud and unnatural.

He kneeled right next to Anna, who lay facing the ceiling. Her eyes were half-lidded. He picked her up as he murmured:

"Anna? Anna… Please… do not leave your old man behind..."

"Da-ddy... I'm... Scared... It... Burns..."

"It's okay; you're gonna be fine," Toriyama rasped as he exited the room with her in his arms. Just as he was running down the stairs she whispered, her voice unstable:

"Dad, listen... I don't... Blame you... for what happened... So please don't... Ever feel guilty... For it..."

"Don't try to talk, just hang on."

Toriyama ran through the street as Anna decided to tell him her parting words. Somehow she knew he was going to feel guilty for their deaths.

She didn't know what happened between him and Yoroi, but even so she still knew her father far better than anyone—well, aside from her mother, of course.

Anna gathered up all the supernatural energy she could muster from her entire body, focused all of it into her hand, and placed her hand on his chest.

It was a common courtesy for a supernatural being who was on the brink of death to pass their energy to someone else as a way of carrying them on and as a way of increasing the capacity of the one receiving the energy, making them all the more powerful.

"What are you doing? That will kill you!" Toriyama exclaimed, his eyes wide with panic.

"It's... too late... for me..." Anna whispered. "I love you daddy..."

She transferred all her energy into him and shortly after, her hand lost its strength as it fell. Toriyama's eyes shook as they welled up with tears.

He looked at her face as it slowly turned pale, her chest moving more and more slowly, her breathing also coming to a halt.

Warmth slowly escaped her body. Her eyes were still half-lidded, but now the color and warmth of her normally bright yellow eyes was no more.

Her eyes looked dull and lifeless as Toriyama's tears streamed down his face. He halted and pressed his ear against her chest. There was no heartbeat.

Toriyama's eyebrows furrowed, his eyes slowly widening in a mix of horror and disbelief as he pressed his ear harder against Anna's chest, as if trying to will her heartbeat back to reality.

The warmth of her skin, the gentle rise and fall of her breaths, everything seemed to fade into the city's background as the silence screamed at him.

He clenched his teeth as his entire body froze still, suspended in a terrible, awful moment where time... stood still. 

Toriyama's remaining kindness splintered away right then and there as his knees buckled.