Kana's P.O.V. - 24th March 2012

Over the past 3 days, two other men applied for the job so I didn't really need to work today which meant I could finally hang out with my friends. Unfortunately, it was just Emily I would be hanging out with, Mark and Nate didn't want to go shopping with us. In fact when I asked them they were muttering 'it's from hell' and 'my arms, my arms'. Well at least with my decreased workload it meant less time at the shop and it was that much easier to avoid Steve. 

I was in my room getting ready before Emily arrived. I was wearing a striped white and pink short sleeve shirt under a sky blue sweater with a yellow star in the centre and a pink skirt that reached my knees.

"Kana, Emily is here," Margaret informs her voice muffled by the closed door and the fact that she was downstairs. I was just in the process of putting on my black tights but I accidentally caused a small tear near the top. It was covered by my skirt but I wasn't exactly comfortable leaving it as it was so I threw on some black shorts.

"Coming!" I yell putting on my ankle boot before sprinting down the stairs, jumping two steps at a time. "I'll be back for dinner. Tell Andrew I hope he gets back home soon," I kiss Margaret on the cheek then walk out with Emily who ecstatic at finally being able to spend some time with me.

Manhattan Mall

"Ooh, look at that dress! It's so cute!" Emily squeals pressing herself up against the window of a store. The building was jam-packed with people buzzing by to do their shopping. There were a lot of couples and groups of friends. 

"I guess so," I say in a daze. I never really liked being stuck in a crowd.

My response irritated Emily who pouted at being ignored. "Kana, come on. It's been years since we last hung out," Emily moaned in a dramatic manner.

"We just saw each other last week," I point out chuckling at her whining. She sounded a bit like Mark.

"Yeah, but you were working. The boys and I had to watch you go back and forth constantly, we couldn't even have a decent conversation," Emily explains.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that. With Jacob and Raoul, my workload has decreased," I assure then yelp when Emily captures my hand then drags me into the shop with the dress she was eyeing. We spent the next hour trying on clothes before heading to the bookstore. Emily slumped down and began to complain, saying how boring it would be but she ended up discovering the wonders of manga and is now a proud, self-proclaimed otaku. I wonder if that is a good thing? 

Afterwards, we decided to grab some food, pretending to eat and enjoy the food without gagging was most difficult but I managed to do it without getting Emily suspicious and was able to immediately throw it back up as soon as I was finished.

Currently, we were outside the building, done with our shopping spree so we thought we'd walk around and window shop.

"Do you hear that?" I could faintly hear shrieks and thundering crashes in the distant. Emily stopped and tried to listen but ultimately heard nothing so we just carried on.

"This is nice," Emily comments as we stroll through the plaza languidly. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the sky clear. I spotted a flash of red and gold from the corner of my eye, it was a shop that sold Iron Man memorabilia. Needless to say, it was popular, people were flooding in and out with armfuls of merchandise.

"Give it back!" A squeaky voice squared in distress. 

"What's going on there?" Emily hums so I look to my right to see a Hispanic kid bullying a smaller Caucasian boy the same age. He was holding an Iron Man mask out of the smaller boy's reach.

"Give it back, Eugene!" The small boy was hopping wildly trying to grasp the mask but it was hair's breadth away.

For some unusual reason the Hispanic kid, Eugene, got furious at him if his flushed face had anything to go by and he shoved the smaller boy to the ground. "Shut up, you little freak! It's Flash, not Eugene!"

The little boy sat up and used his arm to wipe away the snot leaking from his nose. He glared at Eugene with all his little might before pushing himself to his feet and getting right in the other boy's face. "I'm not a freak! I'm Peter!" Peter bellows which causes Eugene to take a couple of steps back in shock.

Eugene blinked a few times before he scrunched his face into a snarl and lifted the mask behind his head, clearly intending to throw it away up into a tree. That's when I intervened, I yank the mask from his hand which makes both boys look up at me.

"It's not nice to bully others," I chastised firmly, lightly bonking his head as punishment. "Apologise."

"No way!" Eugene spits out sticking out his tongue before fleeing the scene.

"Brat," Emily comments unsurprised. She has younger twin brothers who love to irritate her at any given moment. At least that's what she told me.

I sigh before crouching down to reach eye level with Peter, I smile kindly at him as I offered him back the mask, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, thank you," Peter sniffles as he accepts back the mask.

I could see he was still upset over the incident and with the mask, I knew how to cheer him up. "You were really cool, ya know. Kinda like Iron Man."

Peter's face brightened immediately, his eyes twinkling in the light as he gushed about what I said. "Really? I wanna be just like him! When I grow up I'm going to be a super duper superhero, beating up bad guys and saving the day."

"You already have the right qualities to be a superhero," I said ruffling his hair lovingly which makes him grin, satisfied.

"Thank you, pretty lady!" Peter says as he waves us goodbye while running off.

"You're quite skilled with kids, aren't you pretty lady?" Emily teases after a few moments of silence. "Telling him that he could be a superhero. That's basically impossible," Emily says with her hands behind her head kicking her legs as we continued walking.

"That's true but not for the reasons you think," I mutter. I stopped in the middle of the plaza and stared up at the sky in nostalgia. "Superheroes only exist in comics and movies. In this world and many others, there are heroes and there are villains though the line between them blurs constantly." My words made me reminisce my world, I close my eyes so I could envision my friends at Anteiku, who were considered the villains, and the Investigators who killed Ryoko-san, who was considered the heroes. Nothing is ever black and white.

"You're a little weird Kana, you know that right?" Emily says seriously.

"Yeah, I know," I admit chuckling embarrassed as I scratched the back of my head. "I'm sorry for rambling about such strange things."

"It's fine," Emily assures before she starts babbling about all the mangas she bought. "I barely read Boku No Hero Academia but I think I get the concept. Quirks are so interesting. You know what quirk I want? To see into the future whenever I want. That way when a villain is coming I can just yell out 'Look out its a monster!'"

(Crash!)

Civilians started screaming as masonry flew through the air and crashed into the ground like comets, spraying debris like a Gatling gun. A ghastly beast emerged from the dust, howling in agony. She appeared to be a human/scorpion hybrid of some sort.

The lower part was entirely scorpion with its leathery bark-brown skin and dull amber yellow mesosoma. The eight creepy stick thin legs were also amber yellow, appearing almost like plastic, with jagged talons that were digging into the concrete as if it were clay. Her slim tail swung hypnotically behind her, the curved stinger poised threateningly with a globule of purple liquid leaking from the tip.

Her upper body and face almost appeared human except for the fact her arms were replaced menacing pincers so sharp it desperately insinuated it could slice a human clean in half. Her milk chocolate torso was mostly bare but the leathery skin painted up her sides and meagerly covering her breasts.

"Kana!" Emily shrieks so I whip my head to see her being whisked away by the hoard of fleeing civilians. Good. I can focus on the monster without worrying about her. I seize my bags before vaulting into an abandoned store.

I pull my mask out from my sweater pocket and place it over my face after removing my medical patch. I nearly pounced into the fight but stopped myself at the last second.

My clothes. If I jump into a fray in these then Emily will undoubtedly recognise me. Never mind the other civilians but she's one of the few people I know that I wouldn't want to find out about my... abnormality so I rip off my sweater and remove my skirt. There. She wouldn't be able to recognise me now.

I peek out from under the desk to see the police had already arrived, their cars forming a linear barrier which they hid behind while getting into position, civilians a few feet behind with their camera phones out. Their arms outstretched with their fingers held firmly on the trigger. I examined most of the officers, each had their mix of emotions which consist of fear, disgust, shock and hostility.

"Fire!" The chief orders and he was obeyed. All officers started spraying bullets towards the monster who shrieked and snarled at them. The monster snapped a tree from the base then hurls it towards the row of police cars as if it were as light as a feather. She didn't stop there as she instantly charges towards the officers who were unprepared for the oncoming assault.

No longer willing to stay on the sideline, I dart for the beast who was preoccupied with her own prey, this made my attack much easier to perform. I vaulted into the air, left arm bent with the elbow out which hooked around her neck thus I was able to knock her to the ground. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to land correctly so I ended up tumbling, only able to stop by gouging my fingers into the concrete.

"Ah, concrete burn, concrete burn," I alternate between blowing my stinging fingers and shaking my hand to soothe the dull burn.

"Look out!" A familiar squeaky voice warns and I lift my head just in time to see a prodigious pincer intending to smash my head. Out of instinct I scramble back, dodging the pincer that crumbled the ground, and ended up falling on my behind.

"Eek!" I shriek as I once again shove myself back, while simultaneously pushing my legs apart when her tail swoops down right between my legs. I could feel my face drain of colour as I scrambled to get away without ever taking my eyes off of her. Luck was on my side however as her tail cemented to the ground.

"P*ta madre!" The monster cursed as she attempted to free her tail, she had a mild Spanish accent. The fact she spoke caught me off guard, I don't know why but it just did. That's when I got a good at her face, specifically her eyes. They were a faint blue giving the impression that she was blind. There was anger, that was without a doubt, but there was also fear betrayal and grief. (Motherf***er!)

She reminded me of someone.

"Fire!" The shout snapped me out my pondering as the police returned to firing at the monster. If she wasn't p*ssed before then she definitely is now. She let out a battle cry before launching herself back at the police, leaving a trench within the concrete as her tail was still stuck through it freed itself at the last minute.

I couldn't let her attack them so I unfurl my kagune before leaping right onto her back, two of rinkaku's wrapping around her pincers while the other trapped her poisonous tail.

"Agh!" She screeches in outrage as she jerked about violently trying to throw me off. It was difficult to state on top even more so considering I had to keep an eye on her tail. I clasped both hands together before lifting it above my head and smashing it behind hers which sends her and me crashing to the ground, hard.

Immediately I flip back onto my feet but it wasn't as easy for her as it was for me.

She struggles to get back on her... feet? Either way, she was stuck on her back and flailed about until she got back into position though she was stuck limping, the collision obviously breaking a couple of legs. It wasn't just her legs in bad shape, she had scratches and cuts all over her. She was bleeding though her lower body oozed a colourless liquid.

She looks at me in disbelief before freezing at the sight of my kagune, her soft pastel eyes widened exponentially as they welled up with tears and she clasped both hands over her mouth as if she was holding herself back from crying. The question is... why?

"You..." her voice was so small and quivered. "You're like me?"

'Like her?' Her words baffled me but I'm glad there's a chance to settle this peacefully. I hold my hands up beside my head to show that I am not a threat.

"I don't know about that," I admit not wanting our camaraderie to start on an untrustworthy note. "But what I do know is that you don't actually want to hurt anyone. You're angry, with reason to be, but there are peaceful ways to settle this. I know people who can help you."

"You do?" She utters, her brow creased as she scrutinised me for any sign of deceit.

Before I could reply, a legion of black cars flooded onto the plaza, all of which had the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo plastered on. 

"Speak of the devil," I breathe a sigh of relief when I saw all the agents doing damage control. Unfortunately, due to my idiocy, I never showed or even mention to anyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. about my mask so guns were also pointed toward me. Uh-Oh.

The scorpion woman hissed before getting into a fighting position but I stuck out my arm, requesting she back down which she obeyed. For now. I scan the crowd of agents and immediately spot Agent Coulson who was watching the both of us carefully.

As I mentioned earlier; I'm an idiot.

"Mr Coulson!" I exclaimed jumping up and down while waving my hands wildly before ducking down with my hands over my head when the agents start firing at me. The scorpion woman launches herself towards the agents so I leap up and grasp her waist digging my heels into the ground as I begged her to stop.

"Hold your fire!" Agent Coulson commands desperation laced in his voice. I peer up to see him battle his way through the hoard of agents. He faltered in his step, he had shades on so I couldn't see his emotions, but I guess he was hesitant in approaching the scorpion woman.

"Stay here," I plead, she appeared hesitant but nods and backs down. I walk towards Agent Coulson though I took long-legged strides so it didn't take me long to reach him. "Mr Coulson, it's me, Kana."

"What are you doing?" He questions taking off his suit jacket before draping it over my shoulders. It befuddled me for a moment before I realised that the fight had torn my shirt to shreds. How embarrassing. 

"I was just hanging out with Emily when she started attacking. I couldn't just stand by and let the chaos go on without doing anything and I had my mask on me so I jumped in."

Agent Coulson took off his shades, his eyes darted towards the scorpion woman before he nods to his colleagues. The other agents nodded in response before taking out some very large and strange handcuffs and heading to the to scorpion lady.

"Wait, what are they planning on doing?" I question.

"The monster is a threat to humanity, she attacked civilians and destroyed public property. We just can't leave her to her own devices," Agent Coulson explains without attempting to reveal that he was going to lock her up.

Now that's the problem. People think that with my cute face and innocent personality that I'm an idiot but I'm not. I may be naive and unbelievably kind but I know how the world works. They're going to lock her up and throw away the key without ever giving her the chance to explain.

"I'm not going to let you lock her up," I state determined looking him right in the eye without flinching.

"We are not-" Agent Coulson attempts to justify but I intervene.

"Agent Coulson, please do not lie to me. Despite how I act at times, I am not the child that everyone thinks I am. You see a monster and nothing else but you need to understand that she is human and there must have been a reason for her rampage. I mean look at her. She's half scorpion!" I exclaimed throwing my arm to point to the absurdity of the situation. "I'm pretty sure hybrids like that aren't born through conventional means. You won't get any information if you treat her like a common criminal."

Agent Coulson stared at me without saying a word, I began to get a little unnerved and was about to speak up when Agent Coulson let out a little chuckle, he covered his mouth to stifle the laughter as he shook his head in disbelief. "You really are something. Okay, I'll listen to you but you'll be the one to explain your decision to Director Fury."

'Who?'

Finally! Damn, things are heating up. I can't remember how S.H.I.E.L.D. was like before but, according to others, they were the type to sacrifice or do bad things for the sake of being good. Don't exactly know how to describe it except they had the mentality of 'the ends justify the means.'

Please leave me comments ;D