8

/Sorry for the late update! My coauthor and I have been super busy!/

Where could they be? It's already been five minutes and they've still had no luck in finding Iwaizumi or Kindaichi... And Oikawa is unnaturally tense. He hasn't felt this much stress since.. the incident. There is a lot of pressure from all sorts of feelings, really, but his thoughts of the outcomes and alternatives make his head spin. Too many variables are being included in the current search already. The newly-found allies to Terushima, Kindaichi a traitor to his trust, and Iwa-chan - he shouldn't have be involved in this. As if his two best friends haven't been through so much already, Oikawa's secret world is now being brought upon Iwaizumi. "They couldn't have ended up in some other country, right?" Oikawa asks, maneuvering above the treetops of a park. He glances towards Ushijima, who had been keeping a sharp eye outside Lesya's dusty window, scanning the ground below

"The average human can't handle the impact from the teleportation," Ushijima answers bluntly, continuing to scan the scene outside, "Unless you mean to say that Iwaizumi has any kind of special powers, he could be in bits - wherever he is right now."

Oikawa's eyes widen to saucers but he grips his teeth and jerks the car wheel to the side. His random but quick movement results in a surprisingly controlled swerve... A swerve that manages to help them avoid the blast of a different ship's laser guns. Kyotani's ship. "So you're telling me," Oikawa growls, "That we might be searching for a dead body? We might be fighting this Kyotani prick for a dead body? Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

I TOLD YOU WE COULDN'T TRUST HIM

Ushijima sighs at the words Lesya displays on her windshield. "I was going to tell you earlier, but I didn't want to get your hopes up. If I had told you earlier, you would have insisted on me sharing my scans... The scan I did on Iwaizumi during the volleyball match made my systems glitch. My systems are old, so it could mean nothing or it could mean that iwaizumi has powers... Iwaizumi could be an alien." After helping Lesya line up her sights to fire some shots at Kyotani's ship, he adds, "Statistic wise, Iwaizumi is most likely human. In other wise, Iwazumi is most likely-" Oikawa cuts him off.

"You know what Ushijima? Shut up! Shut up and help us fight Kyotani. Help us find Kindaichi and Iwaizumi. If your fucking systems can't at least do that, I'll hand you over to Kyotani. I bet he'd find a way to make you work!" The searing hot feeling of anger courses through Oikawa and makes him speak without thinking... Makes him say things he doesn't mean. "Prove to me you're not a useless monster."

MEANWHILE:

"So what's the plan?" Iwaizumi asks Kindaichi, who is busy pushing various buttons on his.... TV remote? The device, whatever it is looks like a shiny, high-tech TV remote.

Kindaichi emits a nervous laugh. "I have a plan... I have a GREAT plan. However, it depends on me getting this," the word he utters sounds like complete gibberish to Iwaizumi, "to work. This device has multiple purposes, but it is main purpose is to serve as a cloaking device. If we were able to hide our location for a few minutes, I could try to contact Ushijima or Oikawa or..." Kindaichi's voice trails off as his facial expression grows solemn. "We only have Ushijima and Oikawa that can help us, don't we? After all, I don't even know if they're real..."

Iwaizumi is immediately curious. "You don't know if who is real?"

"The rebel group that is fighting literally every bad guy in the universe... They call themselves Hydra," Kindaichi explains, with his eyes never leaving the glorified TV remote.

Iwaizumi can't help but feel confused. With his brows furrowed, he asks, "Hydra? Like the bad guys from Captain America?"

"Are you kidding me?" Kindaichi exclaims, "It turns out I, somehow, turned it on a few minutes ago." It takes him a few seconds to realize he failed to answer Iwaizumi question. "What? No. Hydra as in the constellation. You know, the one that looks like a snake."

"Oh," Iwaizumi says, with a memory just coming back to him. "The snake one is Oikawa's favorite."

"I think everyone loves Hydra, or at least the idea of Hydra. Just imagine it, a sneaky yet powerful force that strikes its enemies down with ease... I'd love to see that," Kindaichi responds in a soft voice. Pressing a couple of more buttons on the TV remote, he starts to speak. He starts to request help. "This is Kindaichi with the Outsiders of the Andromeda. I'm looking for back up. Can you hear me, Ushijima?" After minutes of painful silence, he adds, "Can anyone hear me?"

Silence.

Silence and then static.

Static, then a crackling voice...

"I can hear you".

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CHAPTER CREDITS

Character design & development (for Oikawa): Nika Ravenscraft

Character design & development (for Lesya): Nika Ravenscraft

Character design & development (for Ushijima): Kira (nvillera)

Character design & development (for Kindaichi): Nika Ravenscraft

Character design & development (for Iwaizumi): Kira (@nvillera)

Scenario development: Nika Ravenscraft & Kira (@nvillera)

Writing: Nika Ravenscraft & Kira (@nvillera)

Editing: Nika Ravenscraft