95 Esper Rehabilitation Center (1/2)
Ed and the President appeared in the sky out of thin air. Ed hurriedly examined his surroundings.The sky was dark despite it being daytime. Fortunately, his chimera eyes and mana-enriched body allowed him to easily see within the darkness. Ocean waves gently roared beneath him, and they were all he could see that was nearby. He searched in all directions, finally spotting something far off in the distance. On the edge of the horizon, there was a snowy mountain with what looked like steam coming out from atop it. ”Is that a volcano?” He questioned aloud.
The President ignored the question and waited silently. Several minutes later, someone flew a steam quadcopter towards them from the direction of the snowy island. The hatch to the quadcopter was already open. The President Hurled Ed inside, and then turned around to leave, seemingly in a hurry to leave this desolate place. He didn't even spare Ed a 2nd glance as he left.
”Tsk. Bastard.” Ed clicked his tongue. 'Does he think I won't try and escape?' He wondered. Mana began to course through his body as he prepared to forcefully leave the quadcopter. However, he was surprised to find out that his mana was slow and unwieldy, making it impossible for him to fly.
”No point trying to escape.” A high-pitched voice called from the pilot's area, which was separated by thick panels of reinforced glass. ”Even if you managed to break out of the quadcopter somehow, you'd just plummet to your death. Trust me, your powers aren't going to work out there. Also, the pilot's cabin is reinforced with manullium, so you can forget about taking over the controls.”
”Where are we.” Ed questioned.
”The cage, of course.” The pilot replied. ”That's just its nickname though. The official name is Esper Rehabilitation Center. But no one calls it that. Not really all that surprising when you consider that we don't really help espers so much as hurt them.”
'She sure is talkative.' Ed rose an eyebrow as he listened.
”You might as well get some rest while you can.” She continued. ”It'll take us a few hours to traverse the safe paths to return to the island. I only got here so fast since my coworker helped me. I couldn't exactly keep the President waiting, now could I?”
Ed took a seat and strapped himself in. He repeatedly tried utilizing his powers to activate the mana-batteries in his limbs, but he continued to fail. 'Oh well.' He sighed as he closed his eyes to get some much-needed rest. 'Dupe will probably handle Harmony just fine while I'm gone. Tao will probably harass him too, or maybe just go play in the woods. Slowly, the world turned black as he drifted off to sleep.
Within a bright white void. A shadow playfully circled around Ed, moving up and down as it laughed. ”Kekeke, you really got yourself into a pickle this time, Edward.”
”Nexus.” He replied calmly. ”To what do I owe the pleasure?”
”You killed my frontman.” The shadow frowned. ”Phantom was such a convenient tool. Everyone was so sure he was me, and he was more than happy to play the role as long as I continued providing him enough benefits. But you've ruined all that now.”
”And your point?” He questioned.
”No point this time.” The shadow grinned. ”I just thought I'd come say goodbye to a former business partner. After all, no one escapes from the cage.”
”Why not tell the truth?” Ed replied confidently. ”You're not here to say goodbye to me. Your time would be far too valuable for that. Instead, you're here to celebrate the fact that I'm being locked up. In fact, I'd say you specifically wanted me locked up instead of killed.”
The shadow suddenly froze in place as it stared wide-eyed at Ed. ”Kekeke.” It laughed as it slowly started to swirl around him again. ”Let's assume what you say is true. What does it matter?”
”Ever since I beat Phantom, I wondered just who in the hell you are.” Ed closed his eyes as thoughts and theories flashed through his mind. ”At first, I suspected Dupe to be involved somehow, though he couldn't have been the main instigator. However, I quashed that suspicion relatively recently. The prime suspect for the man behind Nexus was obviously Phantom. He knew me already. He seemed like the type to manipulate things from the shadows. Most importantly of all, he had powers that perfectly matched with the idea of what Nexus can do. But when I killed him, I knew immediately that he wasn't Nexus. If he was, then I would have gained your golden faith energy you showed me previously.”
Suddenly, the void trembled. The shadow's voice sounded like static radio as a result. ”We're running out of time. Damn manullium. Get on with it. What's your point?”
Ed's eyes opened as he stared into the shadow's eyes. ”With Phantom dead and some time to think, my mind has finally become clear. Nexus appeared out of nowhere, literally popping up overnight. If an esper had such power and desired to create such an organization, then why wouldn't they do it sooner? The answer is obviously because they couldn't. This eliminates almost every esper in America as a suspect. If we take another step and assume that Nexus is neither an agent outside of the US, nor some type of prison escapee, then we can only conclude that the person behind Nexus is a relatively new esper.”
”Oh?” The shadow grinned. ”And what if I am? It's not like that matters.”
”It does matter.” He countered. ”A new organization propping up right after I myself became an esper. That means you're practically guaranteed to have awoken in either Reef city, Florida or Atlanta, Georgia. The majority of espers that awoke in Atlanta were ordinary and don't know me personally, so we can narrow it down even further to just Reef city. Of the most powerful espers awakening in Reef city, most of them were recruited by the Hunter Academy in Steam Work City. Of the espers there, I can only think of one that meets all the criteria for creating Nexus. A quiet esper that hardly interacted with the others. I don't think we ever even spoke, but I can think of no better suspect. You're Feather, right?”
The shadow remained silent in shock for a moment before laughing. Slowly, the shadow transformed. A beautiful woman appeared. She had short ruffled white hair, which was further decorated with white feathers. She wore a white dress with matching white sandals. The pure colors made her appear as if an angel had descended from the heavens.
”A little bit showier than at the academy?” Ed smiled as he saw her appearance.
”I was keeping a low profile at the academy, and their uniform didn't really suit me.” She replied in an angelic voice while stretching her arm behind her head. ”I'm quite surprised you figured it out. I suppose all the hints were there once Phantom died though.”
”I'm surprised you were willing to expose the true identity of Nexus even if I was right.” Ed replied.
”Well, it doesn't really matter.” She replied nonchalantly. ”You'll never escape the cage anyways, so I've already won. Espers only go in and never come out of that place.”
The void trembled again, even harder than last time. Both of their bodies flickered as they seemed to be on the verge of disappearing.