Chapter Three: “Intended” Consequences
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For the first time tonight, the sky was silent. There was no more rain, no more wind or thunder, just a quiet, clear expanse of complete black. "Well, damn. That was fast..." Nihil let out a sigh as he continued walking down the cobblecrete road to his high-rise home, making sure to keep his cowl up as he did.

He felt so spent after those two blasts of energy, so empty and clear, that he really didn't want to ruin the catharsis by having some passer-by call him a freak. In fact, it almost felt like he was radiating positive energies for once. "Does that mean I'll have to keep killing people just to feel good without being 'rewarded' with pain?"

Nihil blinked and winced, clicking his tongue in rising annoyance before letting out a heated breath and watching the steam fly up into the clear, darkened sky. "No way..."

He snorted and chuckled lightly, his throat feeling dry and his body awash with empty relief. "An angel of God wouldn't and shouldn't have that kind of need, even if the people I kill are sinners." As he continued walking, Nihil noticed an electronics shop that had an exposed, half-deconstructed car risen up by a machine. It was one of those specialized cars that worked on electricity alone, but that wasn't what caught his attention. Rather, it was the car battery that had been left out in the open, despite being in the rain. The concrete next to it looked charred and singed, which means it probably exploded due to the weather. "Someone's getting fired tomorrow~."

Another spree of chuckles escaped the boy as he returned his focus onto the road ahead. "Still... a battery, eh? My power isn't real electricity, but maybe it is a form of useable energy? Who knows, it might even be safe for the environment." Nodding to himself in satisfaction, Nihil smiled and took out his phone in order to call Ivan, his agent and doctor from ESCP. "Ivan could probably hook me up with something. Hell, the crazy bastard will probably get a hard o-"

Nihil's phone came to life with sudden vibrations, very nearly making him drop it in the process, but the boy managed to catch the thing in mid-air. "Huh?" He paused as he realized who was calling; 42PD, aka, City 42's police department. It was a call he expected, but this quickly? "Hello?"

"Nihil, I presume?" A weird, machine-generated voice echoed from the other side, causing Nihil to grimace and put the thing on speaker mode instead as it grated against his eardrums. "Yes?" The boy replied with a confused and inquisitive tone, almost swearing he could feel the person on the other side quirk an eyebrow.

"A kid, eh? Just like she said." A deep sigh echoed from the other side, but before Nihil could comment, the person continued. "I don't know what kinda trick you used to kill Yulcer, kid. Fact is, your method is untraceable. And that got you some attention from people you really don't wanna know exist."

Nihil blinked and tilted his head in confusion. "... The fuck do you mean?"

"Look, I really don't care or want to know how you managed to pull it off. The money has already been deposited on your account, Ynim Citae. We know you aren't a registered cleaner, which makes your 'kill' an actual murder by law." Nihil swallowed down hard, he hadn't thought of that. Plus, lying to the police?

In this day and age where they control basically everything that isn't criminal in nature? "S-so, what do you want me to do about it, s-sir?"

The other side let out a chuckle of its own. "Changed your tone real quick, didn't it? Good. That attitude makes things infinitely easier on us both so I'll be quick." The figure cleared its throat as Nihil decidedly removed speaker mode and pressed the phone hard against his ear as panic began to worm its way into his heart, quickly breaking through his previous catharsis.

"Like I said, people that you don't wanna know exist have caught on to your style. What that means first and foremost is that 42PD ain't gonna hunt you down for your 'crime', but will rather mark you as a potentially useful asset. This is where I come in, as I'll be your contact from now on." Great, first an agent, now a 'contact'.

Nihil let out a sigh but nodded towards nothing nonetheless. "Let me guess... I'll have to kill people you guys want me to kill?" He grit his teeth and cursed under his breath. This wasn't something God would want one of his angels to do and it made the boy extremely angry. "No. Not for now, at least. Actually, were a lot more interesting in getting an explanation as to how exactly you managed to mind-control the rest of Yulcer's gang to just turn themselves in without a firefight."

Nihil stopped dead in his tracks, genuine confusion flowing like a river from his tone. "I... I did what?"

A massive sigh erupted from the other side. "I thought as much. You don't even know. Well, you're gonna hear about it on TV anyway, so I'll just tell you right now: after you killed Yulcer, 42PD stormed the hideout in full gear, but nobody resisted arrest. More than fifty individuals were chained up tonight and plenty of people saved, zero casualties except some cooked whore a young girl that was found comatose and bleeding from her head as well as the back of her neck."

Nihil's head swam from the onslaught on information. "The thugs just gave themselves up? And that girl... so there was an esper inside the base!"

Blinking and shaking his head out of an apparent stupor, Nihil finally gave a reply to the officer on the other side of the line. "Uhm... That's great but I have no cl-.. wait." A sudden idea formed inside of Nihil's mind, a thought that he realised now should have been obvious. As he uses his own emotions to fuel his psionic abilities, those emotions gets expelled from his body and leave him cathartic.

Earlier on, he drained the power he needed from others, from the momentous memories of the gang members, as well as the people themselves. He could drain power directly from the mind of living people!... or at least he thought he could. This kind of thing needs to be experimented on and confirmed.

A tinge of joy struck Nihil, a form of excitement as new ideas and hope welled up from inside of him. "If I really have this kind of power, I could help people defeat depression! I'll be like a true angel of God!" The boy grinned to himself, feeling a grand level of self-satisfaction and assurance.

"... Nihil?... you still there?" The voice echoed from his phone, causing Nihil to instantly reply. "Yeah! Yeah, I am. Man, I have an idea of how I might've made those scum give themselves up, but I'm not sure yet. I'll have to do some testing first. Can I call you later to explain?"

"Testing? So, are you some kinda illegal mechanist or loner genius that knows how to handle nano machines or something?" Nihil's glee was brought to a stop as he tried to process what was asked of him. In the end, he just mindlessly said the truth. "Uh, no. I barely even know how to maintain my robot maid, dude. I'm an esper."

"Interesting. Ah, wait, gimme a second." Strange sounds echoed from the other side for a few moments, like the synchronized beeping of an autotune. "Alright, looks like the top brass wants to know what kind of powers you got, kid. I'd advise you not to lie if you want to keep your head."

Nihil swallowed down hard. "Uhm, that might be a problem. You see, I just awakened my powers a week ago and most of that was spent in a coma... actually, today's the first time I used my powers."

Another deep sigh erupted from the other side. "I see. Your records say as much too. Oh well, just tell me what you've figured out so far, kid."

"Well, I-uh..." Nihil blinked and thought for a moment before replying. "The doctors said that my brain turned me superhuman physically and that I have superconductive skin but I can't really manipulate natural electricity per-say. Actually, I got burned by a wire for trying earlier..."

"Irrelevant information, kid. What can you really do then? How can you generate a lightning strike?" Nihil let out a sigh. "You're not gonna believe me but basically, I can turn anger and other emotions like it into ... emotional lightning? What did the doctor call it? Rage plasma?"

"If I didn't have a recording of your talk with that ESCP employee, I'd think you're lying to me kid. And you're right, I don't believe any of this shit, but you do seem to be honest enough." Nihil felt himself swallowing again. A recording of his talk with the doctor? "Holy shit... all the conspiracy theories about the police disregarding every possible privacy law are true!"

Naturally, he wasn't stupid enough to comment on it. Even Nihil understood that going against the police is a clear death sentence. "Well, at least for now, it is." A cruel smile etched itself onto the boys lips. "They'll get what they fucking deserve, one day..."

"Thanks, I guess?" Nihil answered with both confusion and glee, which served to confuse the officer. "Right. Anyway, we're done here for now. Report whenever you find out more about yourself, kid. Believe me, its in your best interest that we don't have to look for the information ourselves."

"R-right... just uhm, how do I contact you and what do I call you?" The voice sighed again as familiar synchronized beeps resounded in the background. "You don't contact me. You call 42PD and an AI will reroute your phone call to me. Oh and, you can call me H."

"That's just calling you but with extra steps, asshole." Is what the boy really wanted to tell the officer, who shall be henceforth known as H. "I'll do it when I can, t-then."

"Be sure you do." And with that, the call was off, though Nihil didn't speak a word. He was sure now that the police was always listening in. Hell, he'll have to keep as far away from his phone as he can from now on.


Hello, everyone!

This is your favourite narrator speaking~.

Sorry about my absence and all, I just had to go planet-side for a bit to take care of my 'client'.

Heh. Now then, let us see what our dear, oh-so-special friend has been doing!

Oh. It seems like he's only managed to reach his home now? Eh? What took him so long?

Its been several hours since he left the hospital. He should have reached it long ago even if he got lost and walked across a quarter of the city!

Hmm... lets see here.

Oh.

Oh my.

It seems that our vaunted protagonist has gone on a little adventure! He even kill- ah, sorry, I mean, he 'liberated' a few sinners from this cruel, cruel Earth!

By blasting them with so much psionic lightning that he reintegrated them into the fucking soil.

Sniff, sniff, what an angel!

Such a pure, heroic character!

...

Wait...

Did I hear that right, just now?

"... - just call me Nihil."

...

What?

...

How the hell does he even know that name? Wait a minute, I need to rewatch this. I didn't actually mention his codename, right?

No.

Nope.

I'm clean, my bodyguards are clean, not that they talk much... or like, ever, really.

Damn cyborgs, thinkin' they're better than everyone else just because they cut off their dicks and replaced them with mini-nuke launchers.

P.S - I do not actually know if any of them did this but I would not be surprised.

Wait, fuck- this is bad.

Oooh no. No.

Nonononono-

Please tell me the energy scans are faul-

*Announcement: Dr. Ivan Petrovich, please make your way to the commander's office. Failure to do so within five minutes will result in your immediate termination.*

SHIT!

FUCK!

SHITFUCKSHIT!

WHY DID ANOTHER OBSERVERS FUCKING ESPER HAVE TO BE THERE?!


Presumably less than five minutes later!


Opening a stainless steel door, I was greeted with quite the sight; two rather attractive young women angrily staring at me. My, if I wasn't about to get roasted and possibly fired, I may have enjoyed their stares quite a bit.

The first of the two was a woman in a white lab-coat and raven hair that went to her thigh, with high heels to supplement her otherwise shorter frame. A real, nerdy prima-donna, I tell you! Unfortunately, I was already acquaintances with this beautiful young lady of rather volatile temper; Anne J. Katzenland. She is one of my fellow observers, tasked with gathering information about as well as aiding the development of potential espers, much as I am to Nihil.

I'll just go ahead and assume that the esper my boy nearly fried tonight is her charge. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself, Mr Petrovich?"

I blinked as I turned around to face my boss, a really, really attractive office lady in a suit, with short, pink hair and an attitude befitting a tomboy with excessive daddy issues. What? Don't judge me. "What is this? Some kind of ridiculous start of a porn video where a guy gets interrogated by his science teacher and the headmistress?"

My sentence had the structure of a joke, but I assure you, my tone possessed none of it. Both women just looked at me in disbelief. "I'll assume that means you have no clue as to why you're here right now?"

Shrugging at her, I replied. "Well, what can I say here, miss Landers? I had literally just arrived from planet-side transit after spending a week looking after a psi-coma patient. I've been a good lad this week! You have my repo-"

Anne stomped with her foot in anger, interrupting me in the process. "Bullshit! I don't know how or why you did it, but you ordered your charge to attack mine and interrupt her awakening process!"

Giving her a look and letting out a sigh, I continued my explanation to the boss. "As I was saying, you have my full report, as well as all the recordings of every conversation I had this week. The only thing you don't have is a recording of me sitting in transit, staring into open space and wishing to blow up the planet."

I cleared my throat. "So pardon me, but I'll ask again boss, what is this about?"

Anne practically visibly steamed as Ms Landers let out a giant sigh and threw a look at some screens, rapidly flicking away and collecting some data. "Unfortunately, I have to agree with Petrovich here, J. I've looked over the entire thing through speed-screen several times and there is nothing there to implicate him in actively disrupting your operation."

"So you're telling me that his charge just HAPPENED to destroy a bridge leading to my clinic, right before he blasted the ground in front of Ayano with so much psionic energy that it fried two other people into gory, burning chunks, RIGHT AS my charge decidedly entered the preliminary stage of an ESP awakening, hmm?" Landers and I both just stared at the woman incredulously, before my boss turned towards me for an explanation and with an expression that basically said: help me or I'll fire you.

I just let out a massive sigh. "Look, I didn't manage to get a good look at my observation records in the time it took you to call me here, but from what I saw: Nihil had a verbal confrontation with a thug on the south-east bridge to District R, which resulted in him obliterating the thug and running forward, which brought him close to the Yulcer gang hideout."

Taking a breath, I hummed in thought before continuing. "And just like the edge-lord teenager he is, he decided that the best way to use his new powers is to commit even more murder. So, he climbed up some cargo containers, charged up another lightning strike somehow and well, you know the rest."

Landers and Anne went quiet for a few moments after that, then they both nodded with a glint in their eyes. I knew these looks... they just discovered some new conspiracy theory. "Hey, boss. What if this lazy old bastard really isn't at fault? What if his esper is actually a double agent for 42PD?"

"Then Petrovich is at fault anyway for not reporting Nihil's connection to the police. This would also explain why I couldn't get a voice recording from Nihil's phone." I blinked in utter confusion. "What? But I'm sure I installed the proper software..."

Thankfully, Landers nodded in approval. "You did. I watched you do it to make sure it happens. Somehow, the 42PD must've gotten to Nihil before us. Otherwise, this entire sequence of events is one God-made coincidence."

Both Anne and I shared a look of disgust. "... Boss, could you not mention the G-word?" Anne put my thoughts into words before I could, bless her.

Our boss only offered us scowls of disapproval. "I'll say whatever the hell and when the hell I want, thank you for understanding."

"I don't understand at al-"

"Shut up, Ivan."

Landers let out a massive sigh. "I'll be opening up an investigation into these matters. For now, I want you to monitor both of your charges VERY. CLOSELY."

Then boss turned towards Anne, who shuddered from the look she get. "And I'll be expecting that report about Codename: Freide from you, Katzenland. We must keep an eye on the level of her mental taint."

Anne let out a sigh and grimaced towards me. "Well, because of you know who's fuckup, her psionic taint has 'stabilized' at FUCKING 70%. My perfect, wholesome, heroic tomboy femsamurai is basically gone! Corrupted by Nihil's raw hatred and angst to the point where she can't even have a thought without wanting to murder someone!"

I blinked in confusion. "Wait... if you wanted your charge to awaken as some kind of heroic, katana-wielding schoolgirl, why the hell was she even inside of that gangster's den?"

"Well, I wanted to have her experience extreme emotional trauma directed at evil people and criminals, so I arranged for her sister to get into a drug debt and her to fail hard as a Cleaner~. Tonight, she was supposed to heroically awaken as an esper and beat up all the bad guys with her cool new powers!"

After hearing that wonderful piece of information, I just smiled, nodded and turned towards my boss, who was already reaching for a hidden compartment of her desk. "Boss, I gave all of my military-grade aspirin to Nihil earlier. May I please borrow some from you?"

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