Chapter 3
Flowery Iris

 

The sun rose and brought with it the morning light, the greenery and foliage and its red and blue flowers sweep against the glass window wall, reflecting on its surface.

A week has passed since the reconnaissance mission that the two had departed on. Footsteps echo through the white tile floor, and stood in front of the black metal door, Felix impatiently tapped his foot in wait.

For her to still be asleep at this hour... He thought to himself.

After repeatedly knocking on the door, yet the only response he received from her was a sleepy “Hngg…”

Stood in wait, he recalled a memory from long ago, one where Luna went to his room and pulled up the sheets from his body. He nodded to himself and came to the same conclusion.

He sighed before announcing, “I’m opening the door.”

The metal hatch automatically opened as he entered, “Come on, Marie…”

“Hehe… who?” She responded, still in bed and wrapped in blankets.

“It’s me.”

“Hi me… ehe… ehehe…” She giggled in her slumber.

“Marie…”

Maria buried herself in her sheets and blurted out, “What do you want? Just let me sleep forever…”

Felix entered the room with a disappointed scowl, yet his eyes squinted as the first thing that caught his attention was the light from the scattered shards of a broken mirror on top of her make-up filled desk.

“Why is your mirror broken?” He mumbled under his breath. But then looked at his own hand.

A memory resurfaced, a warm smile from a white-haired woman.

With a focused gaze, he reached out his hand from where he stood, hoping to call out the power he once had. “Come on, work.”

Felix’s expression filled up with desperation, his hand shook, yet as soon as a drop of sweat slid down from his temple to his chin, nothing happened.

He sighed and walked towards it, and picked up one of the shards.

With a somber expression, he takes a long look at his reflection. There was nothing but disappointment hiding behind his mismatched eyes.

“Mhhmm~!” Maria groaned happily as she got up from her bed.

He placed the shard back on the table, “Good morning, it’s currently ten A.M.”

“Had some of that good sleep.”

“It’s about time you woke up...” Felix changed his disappointed expression to a more presentable one, then turned to face her.

“Wait… what are you doing in my room?” She mumbled as she stretched out her arms. Her bedsheet fell off from her chest.

As she slowly looked down, her eyes widened and her face turned beet-red.

Felix’s eyebrows raised slightly. Covered only in her underwear, Maria pounced out of her bed and quickly wrapped herself in bedsheets.

“Wh-what’s wrong with you—?!”

Felix let out a smirk and replied, “Heh, a great, many—”

Yet before he could finish, a pillow launched at him like a cannon, tearing out the edges of his hair before promptly cracking the window walls outside her room. With a look of fright, he returned his gaze toward her as his eyes radiated a faint blue glow, only to see Maria’s face, flustered and flushed in red with eyes tightly closed.

“Get out!” she cried as she began to throw whatever she could get her hands on toward him.

He caught everything she threw at him and gently put them down in an attempt to calm her down.

“I can’t get out if you keep throwing— Eh, what’s this…?” He distractedly said as he inspected a black, oily substance that slithered out of the bottle he caught.

“N-No fair! You’re using Blue Mode!” She bumbled to speak, snapping Felix out of his threatened state.

“I just…what is this— Wait, Blue Mode? Does that mean that…” He turned to face her while the black fluid clung to his hand.

Maria whimpered, still clinging to one of her pillows, “Get out of my room!”

“Fine, fine.” Felix replied as he walked away.

Does that mean my powers triggered from her bloodlust?

Maria, with an infuriated smile, clenched her fist in response.

Clueless, Felix left the room, but felt a chill down his spine. A sixth sense suddenly screamed for self-preservation. Another pillow was hurled with immense speed and power.

As he dodged it, however, a shrill shriek echoed through the hall, “KYAH!”

A girl cried from before as she plopped down, ambushed by the pillow.

“M-Marie! Be careful!”

“Sorry!” Maria cried out as the door automatically shut.

The girl’s body was sprawled out. Her hair became a mess, and her face masked by the pillow while on the ground. Standing next to her was a blond young man who looked forward across the hall, his face was obscured by the shadow against the morning light, and his hands tucked his dark red coat’s pockets.

“I’m sorry about what happened…” Felix knelt down as he took the pillow off her face.

As he did, the young lady placed her palms against his cheek. Felix pulled back slightly, startled by her soft touch as she softly muttered, “Your eyes… they’re like flowers.”

Her thumb caressing the mole under his right eye, as if to wipe away a blemish in a clean canvas.

The white-haired woman found herself captivated in his azure eyes, watching. As if petals bloomed the pistil, light flowed out his iris, and danced like tides as the eye bore a cosmic glow.

Rather than reflect the light of the world, he created his own.

Though the same could be said of her own crimson eyes.

“My eyes…?” Felix mumbled out curiously as he found himself lost in thought.

She said my eyes… so then, right now, both of them are…

My face felt hot as her palms touched my cheeks. Her hands were soft and cold and smelled of citrus. Her face was small and cute, no, beautiful even. With bright crimson eyes she held a piercing gaze, yet I found that my focus was drawn mostly to her long silvery hair. It reminded me so much of—

“Like a flowery iris… It’s a lot like ours...” Her voice was soft as sweet.

“Who… are you—?”

“Come on, Isa. A hit like that shouldn’t have taken you out.” The blond man said as he knelt down next to them, extending his hand, but to Felix’s surprise, he reached for the pillow and stood back up.

The silver-haired girl pressed her arms behind her head, and swung herself back up, “Sorry, it just caught me off guard! Hehe.”

As the two of them got up, so did Felix. Felix got a clear look at the young man. The blond young man stood almost a foot taller than him, with golden hair and keen facial features. His eyes were sharp, painfully sharp, and that shined with the same shade of crimson as the girl who was with him.

He had an air of danger surrounding him.

“That girl just now had a mean swing… I’d like to compare.” He pulled back his arm with his hand clenched on the pillow.

“What do you—?”

With a wry smile and a tinge of red glow, the pillow instantly escapes Felix’s line of sight. Followed by a loud bang that echoed through the corridors.

“What the fuck?!” Maria yelled out from her room as she was in the middle of changing.

Felix turned his head to Maria’s door. A cold sweat dripped down from his face as he tried to process what had happened. After a small pause, he then returned his sight back to the two strange guests, but the two were already far across the hall.

He looked back and said, “So you’re the Blue Phantom? Frankly, I’m not impressed.”

The silver-haired woman then turned her eyes towards the blond man and remarked, “You’re so petty.”

“Who… are you two?” Felix asked.

The blond young man looked over his shoulder and waved, “I have a feeling you’ll find out very soon.”

With a gentle smile, she responded, “Actually, the two of us are—”

He covered her mouth and groaned, “Don’t answer him!”

The two then turned the corridor and left.

“Gobshite.” Felix whispered under his breath as he watched them walk away.

When the two were gone, the door opened as Maria haggardly burst out, apparent in her appearance as how much she hurried, “Okay! I’m dressed! What was that noi—NANI THE FUCK?!” She shouted as she saw the consequences of her actions.

The entrance to her room had been marked with a crater, decorated with traces of cloth and cotton.

“That was probably payback.” Felix shrugged. The blue in his right iris slowly faded, and returned into a pitch-black color.

“This is an iron-door! They dented it! WITH A PILLOW! MY PILLOW!” Maria put her hands on the sides of her head. The shock of seeing the remains of her pillow embedded into her silvery door is apparent from her expression.

“Yeah. It’s... strange… those two…”

“They… might be fun.” Maria whispered under her breath with a grin on her face.

“Sigh, What’s wrong with—”

“No. No! You do not! Get to say that. Right now!” She expressed with a sulky, sour expression.

After the brief encounter with the two strange individuals, Felix and Maria went to get breakfast. Though Felix was normally reserved, he tried to pick up a conversation with her, to no avail. Afterwards, the two walked around the base, only for her to ignore him at every turn and avoided his gaze.

Every time she looked away, he pouted slightly and wondered where exactly he went wrong.

With nothing to talk about, the chief’s assistant, Murphy, came up to them with a clipboard in hand.

“Miss Readman, the chief has requested an audience.”

“Got it.” Maria nodded.

She left with the chief’s assistant, ignoring Felix’s presence completely. Felix sighed and left it at that.

 

*

 

Felix laid flat on the ground and gazed through the rifle’s scope, focusing on mark of the target at the edge of the training field.

What the hell was that? That guy dented an iron-door, the red power that he used is exactly the same as…

Two images flashed in his mind, one of his sister, Luna, the other, the silhouette of a large man with a mechanical arm, wrapped in a blazing crystalline fire.

He scrambled in thought while his finger pressed against the trigger, ready to fire. But before he did, he spoke, “I didn’t expect you to come to the field just to visit me, Professor.”

From behind him, a familiar scruffy voice answered, “But of course, unless it is a warzone, there is no reason not to see you when I have the time. I heard that you had an encounter with an Elite Agent.”

“Yeah.”

Professor Tetsuya scratched his beard, “So, how was your first real battle?”

“Did you not read my report?”

“Not yet, though I would like to hear it directly from you while I can.”

“Well, it was just the slightest bit harder than my spars with sis.” Felix scoffed.

“I see… seeing as you were working with young Maria, I would hope that it wasn’t so bad…”

“You have a lot of faith in her, she must be one of your better results.”

“Truth be told, although it was filed under my name and instruction, I was unable to see to her batch personally, so I do not know how well the process went.”

“Ah, so you don’t get your hands dirty with everything? If I had to tell you, that girl is definitely a real piece of work.”

“Is that so? I haven’t known her for very long. But Maria is not the only successful one as of late, there are a number of new recruits from the other organizations who have successfully gone through the process based on my research.”

“So I was right… that means that the two from earlier...”

“Two from earlier?”

Felix loaded another round and continued, “There were two people from this morning… a blond guy… and a white-haired girl. Both of them had red eyes. That wouldn’t happen to be them, would it?”

As he remembered the white-haired girl, his memory quickly flashed to Luna’s smiling face.

“I’m not certain, for I have yet to meet with them myself, though I believe there should be more than two. But if they had white hair, then that means the research was going smoothly.”

“More than two, huh?”

“Indeed, though lamentably, none of said projects have resulted in something of your caliber yet.”

“Aw… you’re making me blush, professor.” There was a loud bang as the rifle fired. It was a bullseye.

“For now, just be considerate to young Maria, the way Luna was to you.”

He recollected the events from earlier this morning, and remembered her expression clearly. A teary, angry expression.

“… I thought I was.” Felix answered with a confused, downtrodden tone.

“My, did something happen?”

“I was trying to imitate Luna, but she was clearly angry. She wouldn’t even look me in the eyes.”

“Then clearly you should apologize.”

“Sigh, I want to, but she keeps avoiding me.”

“I would like to help, but I must take my leave now. I still have—”

“Wait, eyes…” Felix stood up, “I actually had a question about my eyes.”

“Ah, yes. Your blue eye. As I’ve told you before, I will make the time to explain to you when the rest are—”

“You didn’t read the report yet, right? Both of my eyes turned blue for a little bit during the mission, and apparently did earlier today, but it doesn’t last for too long. I have too many questions and I’m not getting a lot of answers…”

“So it’s made it to that point. It won’t take long for your abilities to fully develop. I will make it so that I can explain it to all of you at the same time.”

“Ah, right.”

The professor smiled warmly, “Be glad. You’re starting to be more like Luna now.”

Felix scratched his rosy red cheeks before quickly turning to the side to hide it, “R-right.”

“I will see you when I can Felix.”

“Right…”

After the professor had left, Felix pulled out the four-leaf clover necklace under his shirt and smiled, “Starting to be more like her?”

Felix fired one last round with a wide grin on his face — and missed.

“Bollocks.”

 

**

 

Deep in the chrome narrow hallways of the base, Murphy opened up the door to a dimly lit room, where there was only one chair and an obsidian glass table with a glowing red dot.

“This will be your station, miss Maria.” He said.

The dark-haired woman stepped inside and felt the frigid chill of the air. The low rumble of the air conditioner.

“What is this e-sports training room?” She scoffed as she sat on the down and dragged herself closer to the table, pressing the red dot.

From the table, several holographic screens popped up, all depicting several faces, as well as events and disasters.

“Hm…” She placed her finger on one of the tabs and pulled it out, creating its own screen. She then gestured with her fingers, creating four more projections.

She placed her thumb against her chin and tilted her head as she read what was written on the screen.

Murphy then placed a dark red folder atop table, “Here is what the Chief wants you to look over.”

Maria opened up the folder in response and looked over the documents, “This is…”

“Then, I’ll leave you to it.” The old man nodded and left the room.

As she flipped through the pages, she sighed and looked at the screen, slowly typing in, “Felix Aster.” To which it projected the words, “Access Denied.”

“Can’t access the information to my own partner, huh?” She pouted, “Then… those two from earlier, he called her Isa, didn’t he?” She muttered as she typed in the words “Project ASTRAEA Isa.”

Only for it to display “No Results Found.”

“Hm, weird.” She continued her search and looked up “Agent Harbinger,” whose profile appeared with only the word “REDACTED” popping up.

“I have access to the entire database of the twelve agencies and it can’t even answer a single question.” She sighed and scratched her head. Her eyes narrowed, “Then, how about… The Fallen Sun incident…”

 

***

 

Rubber knives and wooden staves clanked on the floor while half a dozen people fell flat on their backs on the dark folding mats. A loud thump followed as another fell to the floor.

Out of breath, an auburn-haired man spoke, “Felix, come on. Everyone knows what you can do, so take it easy on us.”

“I was going easy on you, Lance. Any more and that would’ve been an insult to you as a fighter.” Felix replied.

“Heh, an insult is being repeatedly knocked down. You know if David was here, he’d give you a taste of your own medicine.”

Felix clenched his fist and forced out an irritated smile, “Who?”

“Don’t be an ass, Felix.” The man grinned in annoyance as he wiped off his sweat and tried to calm his breathing.

“You’re the one who tried to hit a low-blow.” Felix shot back.

“Whatever it takes to win. Anyway, I’m gonna hit the showers.”

“Good, you reek.”

As Felix’s sparring partner headed to the showers, he was left to clean up the training room alone. He strolled around, picking up the equipment. His eyes were drawn to the dents on the worn-out punching bag hanging in the center.

He picked up a wooden staff and struck the punching bag playfully. Yet without a hint or notice, a familiar voice called out.

“What’s this? So you do know how to socialize!”

Sat atop a crate, Maria spoke. Dressed in sparring clothes, her legs swung back and forth, with a strawberry popped between her confident, smirking lips.

“How long have you been there?”

“Long enough... I see the scratch on your face has healed up already.” She commented as she pointed to her own cheek.

“Is your head okay?”

“You calling me crazy?”

“That’s not what — Sigh. Never mind, you seem okay to me.”

“Nothing leaves a scar on us, remember?”

“Right. Why are you here then? Weren’t you mad at me?” Felix asked while putting back the weapons to the side of the room.

“Mhm…a little.”

“Sorry about earlier, it’s just… how my mentor used to wake me up, so I wasn’t really thinking.” He admitted.

“Apology not accepted, you really should start thinking.”

Felix scratched his cheek, “Right. So what did chief need you for?”

“Just tried to decrypt some files. It was a bit of a hassle. But enough about that, let’s talk about you… talking.”

“Lance is an old sparring buddy. And, well, I guess your silliness rubbed off on me.”

“Hoh? The stoic and somewhat sassy Felix telling an aspiring agent inspiring yet gentle words. Pretty out of character if you ask me.” She replied gleefully with wide gestures.

“Nobody asked you. Also, you’re the only one who calls me those things.” He replied as he continued to wipe the sweat from the back of his head.

“That’s ‘cause I’m the only one here who has the balls to do so. I’m not particularly good at hand-to-hand combat, but how about it, wanna go for a round?” She confidently approached him with arms wide open.

“Why?”

“Thought you might wanna polish up a bit, I mean, after all… Didn’t you say you wanted to be the best?” She insisted as she picked up one of the fake knives from the table.

“Don’t twist my words to your favor. Besides, your wounds might reopen.”

“All right then, I was told that you were a natural but had little to no experience. Was your first time really that scary for you?” she smirked, waving the rubber knife back and forth.

“You’re still mad, aren’t you?”

“Take a wild guess!”

Keeping her head low, she lunged for the first blow, quickly closing the distance between them.

She struck with a right, a left, and followed with a straight kick, all of which Felix effortlessly blocked.

She smirked. She raised her arms once more and threw an ax kick, which he once again dodged before following up with his own counter attack. He had his arm set back, but before the blow could land, his hand was stopped in the space between her head and his fist.

A cold sweat dripped down Felix. It was almost as if he couldn’t push forward or pull back his fist.

His eyes widened as he noticed Maria’s foot stomping on his. Maria smiled and hopped away, and he felt like he could move his arm again.

Felix gasped and he brought back his guard. More cautious than he was previously.

She once again sprung forward.

This time her strike was swift, direct and predictable. Felix dodged and prepared another counter, but his body suddenly stiffened to the point where even his fingers weighed a ton.

The second strike followed. The knife in her hand danced unpredictably. Something about it just moved the way she wanted it to. Felix raised his guard, but his arms felt locked in place. His eyes widened, and his left eye turned bright blue. With a burst of blue, he quickly bounced out of the way.

But he couldn’t even let out a sigh of relief as Maria had already caught up to him.

As soon as they made contact with each other, he felt a familiar sensation under his skin. Like a sharp current coursed through his veins.

Before he even realized it, he was already on the floor.

She put all her weight to keep him while holding the knife against his throat. His mind suddenly exploded with rapid thoughts.

My body was…

The first two strikes were a diversion to get me off balance. Her movements weren’t bad, but they were amateurish, and unrefined. It was easy to follow, yet she knocked me down.

She knocked me down, and I couldn’t move.

She knocked me down.

So this is how it feels to fight her? I knew she was strong… but this wasn’t the same. Strength isn’t the right word for what she did. She’s… I don’t know how to describe it.

It’s almost like she cheated somehow. Every time I touched her, I froze.

An almost overwhelming feeling of something unstoppable up against you. On the ground, I was basically her prey. In that moment, I was the rat, and she was the snake. Without question, she is dangerous.

It’s the same sensation I felt when I faced Luna… and against David. Yet somehow, this was a million times worse. Like my body became a prison from within.

The intensity of her bloodlust was suffocating. But more than that… where was it?

The energy… the… ‘fire’… where was it?

With a vibrant and satisfied smile on her face, Maria poked the tip of the knife on Felix’s nose, “Boop.”

Never mind, I was still facing Marie after all.

“What just… how did?” He said dumbfounded. The glow in his left eye faded.

“Twenty-eight seconds. Twenty-eight seconds was all it took to knock you down a peg.” She teased.

“I thought you were just a computer cracker. How did you do that?”

“… There’s a reason why I’m an Elite Agent, y’know?”

“Right, the Venom Vanguard... You didn’t lace my coffee with poison, did you?” He scoffed at her.

“We all have our experiences. The world is an ocean, and I’m the biggest fish there is.” She brazenly boasted.

“I’ve been trained by the best of them. I don’t think a lack of experience was all there is to it.”

She reached out her hand and lifted Felix up, “Tell that to Harbinger.”

“That was… different.”

“Of course, it was.” Maria placed her hands on her chin, “Tell me, when you fought Harbinger, you went on all fours, and started fighting him like a wild animal. Why is that?”

Felix’s gaze shifted downward and gave it a few seconds of thought, but nothing came to mind and he answered, “No idea.”

“Does it have anything to do with you being called Black Cat? Gonna have to investigate.” She muttered to herself, “Anyways, you’ll figure it out soon enough with Blue Mode, Mister Child of Stars.”

As she uttered those words, he remembered the warm touch of the girl with crisp, red eyes, as well as her remark.

“Speaking of, does my eye look like a flower to you?”

She turns her head toward him with a gaze full of disgust, “Are you trying to make yourself look better because that sounds really self-absorbed.”

“Ugh, I meant literally. It’s something that white-haired girl said.”

“Just take a good long look in the mirror.”

“I just wanted a second opinion.”

“Sheesh, you really don’t have a clue, do you?”

“Hm… about what?”

She stretched out her arms as she walked away, “…How to flirt with a girl, idiot.”

Felix, with a look of annoyance and defeat, watched as she walked away. Only for her to stagger over and fall.

“Are you okay?” He quickly helped her get back up.

“Yeah, just a little… dizzy.” She spoke, her voice clearly holding back pain.

“I told you we shouldn’t have sparred.”

The training room doors opened as an agent in a black suit entered with a clipboard in hand “Sir Felix, the chief wanted to—”

Before the man could finish, Felix pointed his finger towards the agent’s feet, “No shoes in the training ground, Murphy.”

“I apologize, sir. I simply came to hand you your next assignment.” The agent awkwardly responded as he took off his shoes at the side of the entrance.

“A mission?” Felix muttered as he went over the documents.

“Indeed, sir. You are to leave shortly.”

“Welp, my moods’ ruined. Looks like we’ll have to settle this another time.”

“Feeling better?”

“Of course, I am. It was just a slight headache, let’s go.” With a vibrant smile, Maria poked Felix’s cheek before leaving the room.

“I will have my rematch.” Felix declared before following after her.

With the spar cut short, the two agents were immediately sent off to their next mission.

 

***

 

In a cramped, moist room with dimly lit red lights sat two figures. Above them hung a mesh work of leaking pipes and staring rats, and beneath them was the stained concrete floor.

“So, which card is this?” Asked a young man with orange hair wearing a brown, fur-collared jacket. His voice sounded high with giddy excitement as he held up a card from the deck he was holding.

“Eight of Clubs.” Answered the older, sharply dressed man with blond hair, who wore sunglasses that reflected light from the smartphone in his hand.

“How do you keep doing that? You weren’t even looking!”

“Don’t you get tired of—”

“How about now!”

“Queen of hearts.”

“You wouldn’t happen to be cheating, would you?”

The blond man sighed, “Of course I am, you’ll just never figure it out.”

“Ah, that so…” The orange-haired man’s expression soured, and he started to shuffle the cards, “So Julius, has Harbinger answered yet?”

“It’s been a week since I last heard from him. It’s possible that he’s been compromised.” The blond man sighed and put his phone down on the table, “Here I thought he was one of the stronger ones.”

“Maybe someone stronger was in the way? Or maybe I didn’t fill him up with enough steroids?” The orange-haired young man pondered.

“Any more drugs and you would have left him mentally impaired.”

The young man pressed his back against the brown couch he sat on, making himself comfortable before replying, “So, what now?”

“We continue moving forward. I’ll have to find someone new. In the meantime, would you get rid of the freeloaders? Try not to leave a mess.”

“Right.” The orange-haired young man walked over to the room behind him, one that was not lit, and was in near total darkness.

“Please… don’t hurt me…” A woman with dark hair pleaded, her body shivered while her heart raced.

“Sorry, miss. But your husband has failed and is probably dead. So you have effectively lost your value.” The young man cocked the gun.

“Wait, please! I’ll do anything you want!” She cried out.

“Okay then! I’ll spare your life, if you answer this one question.” He smiled brightly and pulled out a deck from his back pocket, and picked out a card, “Which card is this?”

“K-King of Hearts?” Tears blurred her vision, and she closed her eyes.

He flipped the card in his hand, revealing a red joker, “Wrong answer.” He hissed.

An unfortunate sound echoed in the dark room.

He then looked at the rest of the cards and added, “Well, you wouldn’t have gotten it anyway.” All the cards in his hands were red jokers.