Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 498: Wind Blast.
The echoing gunfire sound faded into silence, and the smoke rising from the gun barrel vanished into the air.
"... Either you’re an idiot, or you’re just a masochist."
A look of disappointment painted the redhead’s face.
A bullet was fired, but before it could reach its target, a wall appeared in front of it—a wall of muscle covered in white fur.
Werewolf stood with his eyes wide open. After parrying that missile, a bullet seemed like nothing. Not only was it slower, but the force behind it was barely enough for him to feel a tingle.
The bullet itself wasn’t what left the white hero shocked— it was the fact that the redhead didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger, almost as if he had intended on killing the old man.
"You... you were about kill him..."
"In self-defense," the redhead replied. "Didn’t you just see him try to blow up my head?"
A sound argument, but Werewolf wasn’t about to buy it.
"Your life might have been in danger, that much is true. But that doesn’t give you the right to execute someone. Said the hero. "You had the chance to escape. Instead, you chose to stay behind and put yourself in more danger."
"... You seriously trying play that shit with me? Besides-"
Their conversation was interrupted by the sudden eruption of spears. In an instant, the entire room turned into a messy spike pit. Werewolf had to hang from the ceiling to avoid being impaled, and from the looks of it, the redhead did the same.
"Look what you’ve done," he said. "You could’ve just let me finish him off."
Something snapped inside Werewolf, and his head snapped in the red head’s direction, bearing his fangs as he barked.
"You don’t get to make the call!"
"And who decided that!?"
"The goddamn law!!! You don’t have the authority! If you go around killing people, you’re nothing more than a criminal!!!!"
"Let me guess, the law lets you make the call?" The redhead scoffed. "Just what we needed. Freaks playing cops."
The spikes shattered, turning into a cloud of white powder that retreated toward the old pastor.
"Damn fools," the Pope spoke between gritted teeth. "You will buy fo-"
His face had been beyond pale thanks to all the blood he had lost, but then it seemed to get worse as the words got caught in his throat. The skeletal arms that began to form around him began to disintegrate, and his shaky hands reached for his neck, slowly clawing at it.
His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Werewolf was confused for a moment, but then he noticed the white powder stirring around the old pastor, making him realize what was happening.
"The hell?" The redhead didn’t seem to notice, remaining on guard.
Soon after, the Pope’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his body went limp, falling forward as it lost the strength that had kept it up.
"... Is he dead?
Hearing the question, Werewolf focused on his hearing and then let out a sigh.
"Just passed out," he turned to the stairs leading to the upper floor. "Thanks, Gale. And sorry for making you do this."
A petite woman emerged from the stairs to the upper floor, carried down by a gentle gale, making it appear as if she were a feather. Her green tunic and the silver sash fluttered as she landed. Crossing her arms, she stared up at the redheaded youth before turning to the furry hero.
"What did I tell you about setting up dates during missions?"
"Nothing?" Werewolf answered on reflection, but then he seemed to read between the lines, his eyes snapping wide open.
"You a hero, too?" The redhead scoffed. "Is the BEO so short on freaks that it has to hire brats now?"
Werewolf’s head snapped in his direction, but it was already too late.
"Brat, you say..."
The air inside the room moved, them it raged, suddenly turning into a storm.
"C-calm down, leader! He doesn’t know!"
A sharp glare silenced the white hero, then it turned to the red-haired youth. Just as it seemed like the storm was going to get worse, a hand fell on the petite woman’s head.
"Okay, okay." Said the redhead, casually patting her. "You aren’t really twelve. I’m just messing with you."
A powerful current slammed into him the next second, and his entire body was suddenly launched out of the broken window.
Werewolf watched him go. A second later, they heard the sound of his body hitting the building.
~[ ]~
"My apologies!"
Night Gale bowed her head, bending her body at a 90° angle. Standing before her was a very angry, very red demon.
"You think a sorry will make this go away!!?" He yelled, his arms crossed. "I’m gonna sue you to oblivion!!!"
The operation was over, and only the arrests remained. While the police was putting away the criminals, Team Silver Wind was standing to the side as their leader apologized for the massive mistake she made.
"Attacking innocent bystanders with your powers. Pretty sure there are at least twelve laws against that!"
The number was fourteen, to be exact. As Genomes became more prevalent in society, laws that restricted the use of their powers had to be passed. Those laws were more for the public’s peace of mind than they were for restricting superheroes, and because of that, cases where they become relevant are few and far between.
"The hell is he talking about?" Said White Arrow. "He almost killed me just now."
Though his voice was no more than a whisper, the redhead still caught it, his glare turning to him.
"Don’t get me started on you! The fuck were you thinking, shooting explosives into a closed room!!?"
"Maybe don’t sit around eating lobster with a known criminal." Arrow shot back. "Besides, aren’t you a gang boss yourself? As far as I know, you’re the farthest thing from an innocent bystander."
Werewolf, having transformed back to his base form, nodded along with what his teammate said, then suddenly froze. Replying to the words in his mind, he turned to look at him.
"... Ah..." as if he realized something, Arrow quickly averted his gaze. Werewolf turned to Sunray, but she looked away, not meeting his eyes. When he looked at their leader, she turned away as well.
The only one who met his gaze was the red-haired youth, but he didn’t seem in the mood to elaborate on what White Arrow said.
"Um... Wolf," Sunray said, looking nervous. "Remember that video you have been watching all the time this past month?"
"He took over the gang," Arrow clicked his tongue. "That muscular guy was a famous gang boss. This A-hole beat him and took his place."
Werewolf stared at him for a very long moment, but when he turned to the others for confirmation, they avoided his gaze once more.
For the last few weeks, Werewolf had been obsessed with another video featuring the red-haired youth. Unlike the last one, it depicted a real fight between two skilled martial artists, one where mind-blowing techniques were exchanged.
As the video was filmed in an arena, the worst Werewolf assumed was that it was some underground fight club. Turns out there was a lot more to it than just that, and from the looks of it, he was the only one who didn’t know.
"You... you’re a gang boss?"
"YoU’rE agAnG bOsS?" The redhead parroted him in a mocking tone. "So? Last I checked, I wasn’t doing anything wrong! You can’t go putting my life in danger just because you think I did something wrong."
Werewolf was lost for words. He had only met the redhead one time, and a few months had passed since. Even then, it still felt like he had changed way too much.
"Now now, let us all calm down and not overthink things." Sunray walked over to the redhead, patting him on the shoulder. "Everything turned out just fine, right? You are a tough fellow, being blasted into a building or two shouldn’t bother you that much."
The redhead fixed her with a glare, but then his gaze went down and up again. He then looked over at Night Gale and let out a disappointed sigh.
"Fine, I get it," he said, turning to Werewolf. "Be thankful your friend has such a nice rack."
Sunray froze. Her eyes then wandered down, and after taking a good look at herself, she slowly backed away from the red-haired youth.
Wind stirred once more, and all eyes turned to Night Gale.
"... Sexual harassment-" she said, a subtle smile on her lips as she looked up. "Is a crime, you know?"
A hand fell on her head, and the wind died down instantly.
"Shush now. The adults are talking."
There was a moment of silence, then the wind roared. As they braced themselves to avoid being blasted away, looking in the direction the wind blew, White Arrow spoke in a whisper.
"That guy doesn’t learn, does he?"
