Chapter Twenty

Haruki suited up and disappeared from the base, covering hundreds of miles in a blink. He honestly had no idea where to go. His first choice was to scout out the mental health facility. He hovered nearby, and watched it for a few moments.

Surging Lightning through his Fire blasted his senses. Every sound for hundreds of miles bombarded his ear as a wall of noise. He sifted through it for Kenshi's voice. He hovered along, high up, his ultra-enhanced vision scanning hundreds of acres of land at once. On the outskirts of the Chūbu region, his senses locked on. The boy’s body lit up with a surge of power. Haruki hadn't put much focus on reading his allies' bodies with Lightning, but each had a kind of color to their power as it passed through them. Fast Mover's speed power was indigo, while the same power copied in Kenshi was green.

Now that he’d memorized the power, he could keep track. He dropped to the ground and ran the rest of the way. “Wait!” He stopped in front. Kenshi, recognizing Japan's top hero, came to a stop on the side of the road. Cars zoomed by again as both figures dropped out of super speed. Haruki dropped his Lightning to avoid ground-shattering footfalls.

Kenshi clenched his fists and scowled. “Out of my way.”

“Wait, I said!” Haruki repeated. His voice must’ve sounded weird through the helmet. He reached for it.

“You're not stopping me,” Kenshi said. His body's invisible internal energy lit up green again as he shifted into super speed.

Haruki shifted into gear and dashed, having to catch up to the boy. Objects froze around them as they ran. Kenshi looked over and saw Laser Hammer following him. He huffed and changed direction, weaving through frozen traffic like a show dog around obstacles. Haruki struggled to keep up. “You don't understand! I’m not…!”

Before he could finish, Kenshi abruptly shot ninety degrees right and plowed straight into Haruki. Haruki bounced off the traffic barricade and righted himself midair. Before he could, Kenshi crashed a downward leap onto him. They hit the ground, Haruki driven into the dirt. He skipped like a pond stone, throwing up chunks of soil and rock into the air. Kenshi caught up, grabbed his neck, and ran him through several trees. “You're not stopping me from saving Haruki-kun!”

Haruki kicked himself free. The boy tumbled and plowed through a tree. The hero had a moment of frozen terror before the boy flipped onto his feet and continued his run. Apparently, in the hour or so since finding freedom, Kenshi had copied more than just super speed. Haruki put up defensive hands. “Stop, listen!”

Kenshi threw a left hook. Haruki barely dodged backward, catching the limb. Undaunted, the boy swung his other arm, which also got caught. He pulled the boy off the ground. “I told you…” Kenshi used his newfound strength to pull his legs up and slam both feet into the hero's chest. Haruki launched backward, pulverizing a large hill. He recovered in time to take an uppercut to the chest. “I told you, I'm saving Haruki regardless of what you want!”

“I don't want to fight you,” Haruki said. He put his Lightning back up and the next punch hit him like a minor annoyance. Kenshi stared in confusion before attempting another strike, which landed like a mild softball pitch. “I'm not fighting you. I'm telling you…”

Kenshi swung, and Haruki pulled back concavely, only to get blasted in the face. The boy had feinted into an uppercut. Haruki's helmet shattered and the punch knocked him upward. Kenshi grabbed his legs on the way up and slammed him down. “I don't care if you are working for the same guy as the Americans, you're all…!” Haruki stood up, spat blood to the side, his mouth healed by the time he faced Kenshi. The boy’s face froze in horror before tears began pouring. Hands trembled as the boy approached Haruki. “Haruki! My god, I don't…”

Haruki decked him in the side of the head with both powers turned on, knocking the boy clean out. He sighed, wiped his brow, and waited. Sure enough, Kenshi's stolen powers revived him quickly. He healed by the time he stood. “You going to fight me some more? Or are we going to talk?”

Kenshi blinked away tears. “I…you don’t know what’s going on!” He grabbed him by the shoulder. “My parents are working for…!”

“A power-hungry god?” Haruki finished the sentence.

Kenshi pulled back. His face changed from confusion to shock with understanding. “Oh my god, you mean the American scientist is a god?”

Haruki took him by the arm. “Come back with me. I need you to explain everything.”

A few minutes later, after a detour, they arrived back at base. Kensuke sat the boy down and had his security team take vitals, biometrics, and get the entire team watching him. He then pocketed more than a dozen samples of three different kinds of medication.

“The green-and-white pills,” Kenshi explained, “are power enhancing. The orange-and-white pills give you the ability to sense who has powers within a certain range, and what they are. The red-and-white pills allow you to copy someone’s power.”

“Take this to R&D,” the boss told Matomaru.

“Right away,” said the second-in-command, departing.

The boss turned back. His eyebrows lowered. “So, you’re telling me your parents cancelled these projects and the American…”

“Daniel Areston,” Kenshi added.

“Yes,” Kensuke agreed, waving, “he’d been running these in secret?” His skeptical expression remained. “How am I to believe that?”

“Because,” Kenshi argued, “one of the powers I copied was a low-level truth-seeking ability, and I could tell he wasn’t lying when I overheard him arguing with the American.”

“Daniel Areston,” explained one of Kensuke’s subordinates, “was an American scientist and investor, born into money on the east coast. He helped found Sugawara Pharmaceuticals and has a history of working with the United States government, the exact purpose and details of which are unknown.”

Kensuke listened and pondered. “I think we have to assume that his goal has always been to replicate Haruki in some fashion, or at least his power.”

“To what end?” Kenshi asked.

“I think I know,” Haruki said. All eyes turned to him. “Based on the visions, he clearly framed his father for the crimes done against my original people.”

“Why, though?” the boss asked.

Haruki knocked the ideas around. “Because he wanted power and likely expected to be able to oust his father from the throne.”

“Classic Greek tragedy,” Kenshi agreed.

“So,” Kensuke argued, “you were a loose thread.”

Haruki nodded. “He couldn’t ignore me, especially since the Spirit of Fire empowered me, and even more so when that wind god helped me survive the Spirit of Lightning. I had two of the Spirits of the Universe within me.”

Matomaru came back in. He pulled an earpiece out and set it on the counter. “But tell me this: why here? Why would you be sent here, and why would he come here?”

They all pondered the question for a solid minute. Operative slapped fist into palm. “I got it.” They turned to him. “The Spirit of Earth.” Several confused glances met him. “Think about it this way: there might be all kinds of aliens out there in space. Why do the gods look human? Even the people Haruki supposedly came from, they don’t look that alien. What’s special about the two arms, two legs, two eyes, one nose, and one mouth arrangement that’s so special if it’s not the Earth that’s special?”

Haruki’s eyes widened. “He’d copy me and have two of the powers.”

“But,” Kensuke argued, “if both of you fought with both powers active, it might destroy the Earth in the process!”

“In which case,” Haruki pointed out, “he’d have a body that has two of the powers, his godly powers, and no third Spirit to create opposition to him, and I’d be too dead to oppose him.”

Despite the room temperature air, an arctic chill overcame them. Matomaru swallowed and cleared his throat. “We still have time.”

Kensuke’s head practically shot around. “How can you be sure?”

“Because, sir,” Matomaru argued, “if he had Haruki’s clone body figured out, how to activate his powers, and how to integrate godly powers into that? He’d have just stormed our base and killed us already.”

“Fair point,” Kensuke argued, “so, how do we take advantage of however much time we have to prepare?”

Haruki jerked his head towards Kenshi. “How did you get those pills?”

The boy blinked in confusion. “I swiped a couple from my house before being sent away, and then I…” He drifted off, eyes widening.

Haruki gestured in realization. “And then you stole Fast Mover’s power and used it to steal more from the company.”

Everyone turned to the boy. Operative broached the subject first. “You can get more.”

“We can get more,” Haruki corrected. “How long do those last?”

“I can copy an ability for two hours,” Kenshi explained, “and as long as I eat another pill before time runs out, it extends the time limit.”

Matomaru tapped his boss on the shoulder. “And now we know how Aeriesai has been body-swapping and transmitting his power.”

“He copies Freedom’s Ring and maybe a few others,” Kensuke said, “and combined with power enhancing drugs, he can become anyone and easily empower and control them.”

“Wait,” Haruki pointed out. “If he can do that, why doesn’t he do it more often?”

“I think I can explain that one,” Kensuke said. “Maybe he can overpower your average super. But, clearly, the Americans must only give him access to their most powerful weapon on occasion. And even then, they’d have powerful supers watching him so as not to damage their biggest asset.”

Operative snapped his finger. “If he didn’t need Haruki’s power, he wouldn’t need the subterfuge.”

“Right,” Kensuke agreed. He paused and clasped his hands in front of his mouth.

“What?” Haruki asked.

The boss breathed in and out. “Once he’s got the body up and running, and all his power integrated and enhanced, what’s his first target going to be?”

“Me,” Haruki speculated.

“Wrong,” Matomaru corrected. “His first target is Freedom’s Ring.”

“Samantha Bordman,” Operative added.

Haruki shivered. “Take out the closest huge threat before going after me.”

Kensuke turned to Kenshi. “Tell me, do these power enhancing pills still cause the user to shrivel up afterward?”

Kenshi shook his head. “No, because I saw my father take one and confront Daniel Areston.”

Kensuke gestured at everyone. “So, we’ll keep that in reserve. All of you, take a pill and copy each other’s powers. As soon as you can use them effectively, you’re to steal more of these pills, and then go make sure Freedom’s Ring is safe.”