"What the hell, Zac?!!!" A hooded figure shouted as he leaped over the rooftops of the Akihabara District in Tokyo, Japan. Their navy blue and gray camo cloak fluttered in the night sky as they moved silently over the brightly lit bustling city streets. 

"What you mean?!" A voice echoed into the figure's ears. 

"Where am I going?!" 

"UUUUHHHHHHH, keep going straight. 400 meters." 

"UHHHHH? Are you a serious man? Do you know how to use that damn thing?" 

"Not really; it was just finished like 2 hours ago. Don't worry, I'm a fast learner." Zac's half confident voice chuckled over communications. 

"Not really?! You invented it!"

"No, I had the idea and designed it… the twins invented it. I'm the 'idea guy’." 

"Then where are the twins?" 

"They're busy! Look, it was my idea; I want to be the first one to play with this thing. Go left!" 

The cloaked figure groaned, turning left sharply. 

"No right,  I meant right." 

"Goddammit..." The cloaked figure pressed his feet on the air beneath him. The space beneath his feet rippled as he pushed off air to change course. 

"Are you sure I'm going the right way?" 

"If this thing is working like it should, the closer you get, the easier it will be to know. Right now, I'm 70% positive. Come on, have faith in me. When was the last time I led you astray, huh?" 

"Exactly 36 hours ago." 

"Stop talking about old shit. The target should be heading towards the train station." 

Zac sounded confident. In return, the hooded figure quieted as he slowed his approach, stopping on the roof of a building that overlooked the busy entrance to the Akihabara train station. 

"I figured out why it was so hard to track him, and you might want to hurry up." Zac's voice came in over the communicator.

"What's happening?" 

"You have two groups of 'Chasers' coming in. One from the south, another from the east. 11 in total. You got about 5 minutes." Zac explained.

"How? I didn't pick up anything." 

"No shit. Obviously, while we've been working on ways to find things more efficiently, they've been working on ways to hide, but it looks like our toy wins. We'll need to work out the kinks later though, their signals were interfering with the target's and," 

The cloaked figure listened to the rambling coming from the other end while making his move. He jumped from the building disappearing into the busy crowd below. 

"What a long unfulfilling day. Just 3 more years, just 3 more years." 

A young man with dark brown tousled hair moved through the crowd chanting to himself. College during the day, working a 6-hour shift, returning home to study, and maybe getting himself 4 to 5 hours of sleep if he was lucky. It was a familiar story for many University students, especially those who didn't have a family to pay for their education. His mom helped as much as she could.  She mostly paid for his housing, and he had to handle everything else. 

She would send him a little extra money if it seemed like he was falling a little behind or had to miss work for some reason. He couldn't complain; he was better off than most and was well on his way to a better life; he just needed, 

"3 more years. Just 3 more ~." 

"Cheong Isuel!" 

A shout interrupted the young man's mantra before he entered the station. He turned to see the hooded figure heading his way. He didn't seem shocked by his odd attire; no one in the area did. Akihabara always had its share of cosplayers roaming around, so this guy didn't stand out much at all. 

"Nice cosplay, my name is Suzuki Kenji; you got the wrong guy," Kenji spoke in Japanese to the hooded figure. 

"I know your father, Isuel…," The cloaked figure spoke in Korean to Kenji. 

Kenji’s look soured, his hazel eyes tried to tear a hole in the cloaked figure's body, 

"Tell that bastard we don't need him anymore!" Kenji or Isuel shouted in Korean and then quickly caught himself, noticing some of the crowd looking over at the two of them.

"Well, I mean, technically, he's the bastard, right? Hehehe!" Zac quipped over coms.

"Pfft! Zac, now is not the time." The cloaked man responded,. 

"Now is not the time for what?" Kenji asked. 

"Now is not the time to be hating your father. We're here to help you, and you need to come with me if you want to live." The cloaked figure returned to speaking in Korean. Kenji looked at the cloaked figure and tilted his head, 

"Are you serious right now?" 

"Very. Look, if we don't- Shit! They're here." 

"Who's here?" Kenji jumped in. 

"The people coming to kill you." The cloaked figure groaned. 

"How many?" Kenji asked

"Does it matter? Zac, give us a way out of here. I can't fight them while babysitting, at least not here." The cloaked figure spoke. 

"Give the kid a communicator, and go catch a train." Just as Zac's suggestion came over coms, two groups of similarly cloaked figures began to appear from the crowd. 

Five wore maroon cloaks. On the left shoulder of their cloaks was a crest shaped like a bouche shield. Its borders were fashioned with the visage of the intertwining of the deadly Oleander flower. At its center, two ornate daggers crossed. Of the 5 maroon cloaked figures with this crest, 4 wore crests silver in color, while the 5th was rose gold. 

The other six wore dark green cloaks. On the shoulder of the cloaks was a crest. These crests had a circular design with two Adder snakes making its' frame. In the crest's center was the druid spiral. Of the six of these figures, 3 of their crests were solid black, 2 were white in color, and the last crest was a deep blood red. The two groups  faced each other only for a moment before the one wearing the Blood Red crest spoke. 

"We take care of the Renegade first, then we'll decide who gets the boy?" 

"Fine by me." The cloaked figure with the Rose Gold crest agreed. 

When they turned to face Kenji, the only thing that was there to greet them was a busy crowd of people flooding the station's doorway. Curses echoed as the 11 of them forced their way inside past the crowded doors. Pushing their way in, they saw the cloaked Renegade pushing Kenji around the corner, his middle finger poked out to greet them. The group of 11 hurriedly made their way around the corner but had lost the two of them once again. The cloaked figure with the Rose Gold crest groaned to himself and began to talk, 

"Reporting, we need visual assistant on one target Suzuki Kenji, currently chasing through the Akihabara Train Stati~." 

"Yeah, I'm going to stop you right there, Dropper. None of you are getting in contact with y'all bases." A familiar voice interrupted the communications of both groups as each squad leader tried to contact support. 

"The Anomaly." The man with the Blood Red crest named Dropper responded through clenched teeth. 

"I’m off the clock, so say my name." Zac chuckled into their ears. 

"Zac, you are far too annoying for someone so killable." The man with the Rose Gold crest jokes. 

"Is that you, Cage? Your sister thought that too, and she ended up walking away with one less arm." The man with Rose Gold crest, named Cage, clenched his fist. 

"We don't have time for this. Catch!" Dropper motioned for a cloaked young woman with a white crest on her shoulder. “Catch” nodded her head, 

"Initiating Program: Hunter. Target Suzuki Kenji." Her body twitched for an instant, and her eyes began to grow as she scanned the area. Her head and neck twitched and turned mechanically as she saw the glowing outline of Kenji's feet on the ground. Without speaking, she charged forward, and the other ten trailed behind her. 

"Whelp, I bought you all the time I could, but they have a Chaser with the Hunter Program with them," Zac called out through the communicators as The Renegade and Kenji made their way to a passenger platform. 

"Hunter Program? Chaser?" Kenji looked at the cloaked figure in confusion. 

"Don't worry about it right now. How much time do we have, Zac?" 

"Not much. Lugging that kid around, you're not going to get far; it's best just to fight." 

"You know what will happen if ~." 

"Oh shut up, you're not the one who's going to have to clean it up. Why do you care?" Zac interrupted The Renegade. 

"You won’t have to clean up either!!" 

"You're right! The Twins are, and all parties involved are going to have to help. Sooooo, why do the two of us have to care?" 

"You're an asshole, Zac." 

"Your point? Now look pretty, they're coming." 

Just as Zac finished speaking, the 11 cloaked figures arrived at the platform. Kenji looked at the 11 of them and then at the crowded platform,

"They won't try anything with so many witnesses, right?" Kenji thought to himself. Just as he thought that a man standing next to Cage said, 

"Initiating Program: Puppeteer." His body quivered for a moment and then lifted both his hands out in front of him. All the people present on the platform suddenly seemed to be in a daze. Like zombies, they all trotted off the platform back into the station's hallways. 

"What the fuck?!" Kenji silently gasped to himself as he watched the civilians all march off at the simple motion of this man wiggling his fingers. In a matter of moments, the platform was clear, leaving only the 13 of them. 

"Hand over the boy!" One of the cloaked figures blurted out in English. 

"Let's just get this over with." The Renegade said dismissively, 

"We need the boy alive; the condition wasn't specified. Do wherever you want with the Renegade." Cage said with a grin on his face. Dropper gave similar instruction to his group as well. 

9 Cloaked figures began to move forward slowly.  Even if the Renegade was alone, he must be capable if they sent him on this mission, especially with The Anomaly assisting him. They needed to be careful. However, one of the more overzealous Adder Crests jumped in front,

"Initiating Program: Blaze!" He laughed as flames began to ignite his sleeves, and a blast of fire roared towards The Renegade and Kenji. The giant Fireball melted and destroyed the platform as it traveled. Kenji's breath was ragged as soon as he saw the man's sleeves ignite, 

"I only needed three more years. Just three more years!" 

"Calm down, kid." The Renegade's voice rattled Kenji's consciousness as he calmly walked forward and extended his palm. 

The Fireball touched the tips of his fingers. With a swipe of his hand, the flames dispersed in a fiery display. A powerful gust of wind blew a hole through the Fireball and proceeded to flow through the platform. This gust pushed the 11 would-be kidnappers back several meters. The fluttering of wind removed the Renegade's hood, revealing short messy black hair and light green eyes that were paired with an annoyed expression. 

"Cover your ears kid, you may not want to hear what happens next." 

The Renegade turned his head to face the 11 of them. When Cage and Dropper saw the man before them, they both staggered back as if they had seen a ghost. 

"Why are you here?!" Dropper muttered.

"I was in the area." Only now did they understand that he wasn't just a Renegade; he was "The Renegade" As their breathing picked up, Cage shouted, as he and his Oleanders began to flee, 

"RUN!!!" 

"Too late. Initiating Program: … Zero." At the moment, everything went dark throughout the entire Akihabara District. On that lonely platform in this rolling blackout, faint screams of horror could be heard.