Yuki had experienced a number of shocking things for the couple of hours she had spent in Deckstoru after waking up with no memory of who she was.

Seiren had tried to grope her, Hikaru had teleported her away from policemen who were looking for her, a group of soldiers had kidnapped her for unknown reasons and at the moment she was using her newfound ability – an ice deva – to finish off the leader of those soldiers.   

Having put that leader atop a 15-meter ice spike she had created herself, the baby doll thought there would be no more surprises for that day.

Then he shot a thick chain with multiple spikes on it and a spear tip at the end from his mouth, sending it straight to the white-haired beauty at a very high speed.

Hikaru and Seiren roared with their full might, having just smashed a fist enveloped in each one’s deva in the enemy’s head but still seeing the attack he had sent to Iceflame.

The two managed to send streams of their elements down the thick chain which led to its disintegration, the spear tip breaking off and cutting Yuki’s shoulder, after which it fell to the ground.

The rivals were on their way to fall to the ground as well, the baby doll’s focus turning to them as fast as they had reacted to save her, jumping up high and grabbing them both by the necks.

She landed back on the ground and let them go, neither one having suffered any damage from the landing thanks to the lady of ice.

The same could not be said for the villain who had led the soldiers Yuki had been fighting until recently, Hikaru and Seiren’s attack having destroyed a part of the ice spike which had now crumbled behind the trio, the chainman having fallen amidst the ice shards and a puddle of his own blood.

The three stepped closer to him as he made several unsuccessful attempts to get up.

Eventually he realized that wasn’t going to happen due to the severity of his wounds which made him smile while sighing.

‘-Not bad at all, brats. Not bad.’

‘-Time for some answers, I think. Why don’t you start by telling us who sent you and what does he want with Yuki?’

‘-If your sole interrogation technique is asking questions, boy, you won’t get far.’

‘-I can always hurt you a lot more than I already have.’

‘-Seiren …’

‘-What? They opened fire on civilians! They tried to take you away! Almost killed all three of us!’

‘-Nice drive, boy. I like that. I would’ve loved to have some fun being interrogated by you but I’m afraid I won’t be able to stick around till the end.’

He pressed a button on his belt, causing the bodies of all his men lying around and his own to be enveloped by pale green energy, by the time the energy disappeared, all that was left of the bodies being small piles of ash.

‘-What did they just …’

‘-It looks like mass suicide.’

‘-With the push of a button? I’ve never seen tech like this!’

‘-Whoever they’re working for must be hell-bent on concealing their identity.’

‘-And you two … don’t you know the limit of usage after which you can’t use your deva at all? You seemed like you had completely exhausted your powers up there.’

‘-Yeah. Thanks for saving us, Yuki. Truth is, we’ve never exhausted our powers until now.’

‘-You saved me right after and many times before, so I’d hardly call us even.’

‘-We’ll deal with that later. Let’s focus on what we’re gonna do right now.’

‘-I say we go back to the square and see if the people there are okay.’

‘-Yuki, you’re in enough trouble as it is! The police may already be back at the square and that’s where you want to go?!’

‘-Didn’t you say we’re supposed to help each other out?’

‘-I meant me and Hikaru! Doesn’t mean you need to get involved in this, too!’

‘-I’d say I’m pretty involved as it is, Seiren. So I’ll do what I can.’

‘-Well, let’s start by …’

That’s when Yuki heard the sound of sirens, realizing they were mixed with another sound, only now both her and the rivals noticing the activated deva sensors, the sirens belonging to a number of police cars that pulled over at the remains of the construction site.

At least twenty policemen dressed in uniforms in gray and dark green got off the cars and pointed their anti-deva weapons at the three who looked at each other again, smiles on their faces.

‘-Hands in the air! And don’t move a millimeter of anything else!!’

‘-Welcome to the party, Yuki. This is what everyday life for deviants in Deckstoru looks like.’

‘-Not for all deviants, but it definitely counts for us.’

‘-Looks like a lot of fun, boys. Guess I’ll stick around.’

That sounded fun and very adventurous when she said it but only seconds later several policemen pushed her and her friends on the ground and put cuffs of a similar design to the ones the white-haired beauty’s kidnappers had used earlier on their wrists.

She felt the same prick on her wrist probably caused by the small needles that had come out of the inside of the cuffs, realizing that it was those needles that were used to neutralize her deva.

Those cuffs weren’t going to neutralize her increased strength and speed because they were most likely of the standard type but fleeing a scene like the one she and the boys had left along with those two wouldn’t lead to anything good.

Iceflame could only hope the police would give the trio some credit for taking care of the villains who had opened fire on civilians on the square and give them a pass.

They did.

They gave them a pass for one of the holding cells inside the precinct but only after Hikaru and Seiren were given basic treatment for their wounds and Yuki underwent a different procedure.

Two officers escorted her to a room with a number of medical devices and equipment of different kinds and strapped to the operation table in the center, a man who wasn’t police entering the same room soon enough.

Were they going to perform a deviant test on her?

Yuki thought it would be redundant at this point and even if they were going to examine her, she would not struggle against that at all.

She was willing to cooperate with anyone who didn’t wear creepy helmets and open fire on innocent people.

‘-Um … if I may ask … why exactly am I here?

If you’re going to torture me to talk, there’s no need. I’ll tell you everything.’

‘-Well, aren’t you cooperative. Don’t worry.

We’re not monsters. No one in here is going to torture you.

We’re just … taking precautions.

As per the law valid in our and pretty much every other country in the world.’

‘-Which law is that?’

The man who had been talking to the baby doll up until that point suddenly pressed a pistol-like medical device to the side of her neck.

‘-All verified deviants must have an output-limiting chip in them.’

Yuki immediately ripped the straps tying her to the bed but the man holding the pistol-like device injected something in her before she could stop him, the two officers taking out the short sticks attached to the outer side of their right boots, turning out those sticks were expendable batons.

Iceflame leapt at the man who had injected her, suddenly feeling a wave of heat passing through her whole body, followed by a wave of pain which made her fall to her knees, the man taking a sigh of relief for being released from her grip while the officers loomed on both her sides.

‘-Sorry about that.

Nowadays we use nanotechnology for the chips to ensure the injection is painless even for babies but the effect the chip has once it enters the bloodstream …

(he grinned while saying that)

… I’m afraid it will be quite different for a fully grown individual with a released deva compared to a baby with still-dormant deva-genes.’

She was starting to feel numb from the pain and the hit from the batons at the back of her head, which felt like they were enveloped in some kind of energy and electricity, made her completely lose consciousness.

 

*

 

When the white-haired beauty woke up, she was put between Hikaru and Seiren, the three of them sitting on the bench attached to the wall which was the only piece of furniture in the cell they were being held in, large parts of each of the rivals’ bodies being wrapped-up in bandages.

They had rather dull expressions on their faces but livened up once they saw Yuki was awake.

‘-Welcome back to the shitty real world, girl.’

‘-Seiren? Are we … this is a cell, isn’t it?’

‘-Don’t worry, Yuki. It’s our first time in a cell as well, so it’s still strange for us, too.’

‘-Hikaru, they … earlier … I think they put a chip in me.’

‘-Figures. Ordinari wouldn’t just let a chipless deviant wander around, even though you’re in a cell.’

‘-These cuffs … do they completely nullify our deva abilities?’

‘-Yep.’

‘-I am so sorry … I know saying it won’t change anything at this point … but everything that happened back there … what’s happening to you guys right now … it’s all my fault.’

‘-You didn’t make us follow you after they captured you.’

‘-And you didn’t make us help you ever since Summerbolt found you. That was our choice.

You should actually be proud of yourself.’

‘-I should?’

‘-You’ve got multiple devas, baby! That’s a goddamn gift from the heavens!! Superstrength, superspeed and an ice deva?! That’s just sheer madness!

You train hard enough, you’ll be unstoppable even with a chip in you!’

Yuki turned her eyes to Hikaru for a moment who had a thoughtful expression while Seiren had been praising the baby doll.

‘-Hikaru? Are you okay?’

‘-What’s the matter, mad bastard? Can’t handle the fact my girl here’s gonna become stronger than you?’

‘-I would welcome that. That way I’ll be able to enjoy watching her kick your ass every time you try to make a move on her.

I was thinking about something else, actually. How what you have isn’t really a superstrength or superspeed deva, Yuki.’

‘-What?’

‘-Hold it, Yuki. You don’t want to interrupt the bastard while he’s giving one of his genius explanations.’

‘-I’ll strangle you if you interrupt me again, Blackscale. That’s for sure.’

‘-Shut it, damn brats.’

That didn’t come from any of them. A cold voice coming from the corridor outside the cell said those words.

And as Yuki and her friends listened in, they could hear the approaching footsteps of the one who had said it.

Suddenly the lights in the corridor started to blink and within a few seconds all of them had gone out.

The sound of the footsteps had also stopped.

The trio heard the sound of a fist hitting against someone’s palm and with that a burst of bright yellow flames formed in front of them, illuminating a woman that looked around thirty years old, had an outfit in dark purple and yellow, skin and long straight hair without a fringe the same color as Hikaru’s, and fiery-red eyes, currently having the most terrifying angry expression on her face.

‘-WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, YOU FU**ING IMBECILES?!?!!’

‘-Mom?!’

‘-That’s Hikaru’s mom?!’

‘-We’re all gonna die!!!’