𝑸𝑶𝑻𝑪:

𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒓𝒔?

***

Her breath dropped in her throat as the back to back harsh surprises hit her. Her great grandfather, brother to the man who made the P.E.D., was the one who created POWANs.

She gulped out loud and the man in glasses sensed her disbelief and discomfort regarding the situation. Asami choked and pressed her hand to her chest, which she had to force against the paralysis working on her, and two people came to her aid.

"Calm down. Take a deep breath." The man told her and she did what she was told. The least she wanted at that moment was collapsing from an anxiety attack. She needed the truth more than she needed water or medicine. Reaching out her hand to the man standing beside her, she caught hold of his wrist and pulled it lightly.

"Yes, I will tell you. First, calm down."

Asami took consecutive long breaths before her heart finally started settling down.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....

She counted in her mind, and the world took shape again. Reverse counting was an effective method to counter an anxiety attack, and it seemed to work quite a few times, Asami having experienced them more than often.

"Take her," the man said, after shoving a glass of water in her mouth. Two people dragged the wheelchair she was in beside her ancestor. The truth of the man beside her, the truth of the organisation her father ran, it was eating away at her. Why? Why was she kept in the dark if she had to be the one to succeed as their leader? Why was she not told that POWANs were the fruits of their mistakes? Why was humanity being betrayed by their own saviors?

Frustration welled up in her heart and her eyes screamed blood.

"Are you calm now?"

"Hm," she nodded at the man who would be her way to truth. "First thing, why are you so similar to Kiyoshi? Is he a part of this? Was that why he followed me?"

Asami felt a sense of betrayal from not only her father but also the gray-eyed man who had caught her attention several times. Despite all the tension between them, he was the one who read her like the back of his palm, and his aura always seemed so clean and welcoming. Why didn't he tell her the truth?

"Kiyoshi?" the man brushed his index finger on his chin, "don't know him. We had code names for everyone in the lab, but you say we are similar, so can you describe him?"

"Black hair, gray-eyed, son of Azuma." She had nothing more to describe about him.

"Ah! That bastard. Yeah, I remember. No, he is not the part of the organisation. But he was definitely an experiment. His mother is the head director of the present Kyoto laboratory. He was the experiment closest to success. In front of him, they regarded us as total failures. That son of a bitch got special treatment being the son of that Azuma and his wife. I don't know what happened to him after the lab was disbanded."

One more surprising truth, but it felt nothing compared to the absurd trail of events that took place earlier. But now, she knew the reason behind his strength.

"Is- Is he a POWAN?" Asami asked out of curiosity.

"Too interested in him, huh? No, he is not. The lab was not creating POWANs, my dear, they were creating immortals. Kiyoshi was not a complete success, but he was the closest; he had inhumane strength, speed, and sensory skills, plus top-notch instincts he inherited from his father. His recovery power was faster than humans, and he barely caught any ailments. An almost perfect breed of humans.In the lab, he was known has 'Hawk'."

"I see." Asami left it at that. It answered all her questions about him knowing exactly what she thought, his powerful strikes and unmatchable speed.

"What about him?" She said, glancing at the old man lying beside her. Her mind was still in shackles, but she had managed to regain the nonchalant look on her face.

"I will tell you. First, we need to take some samples."

"Samples?" Asami raised an eyebrow at the man in the lab coat.

"That's what we brought you here for. We are continuing the research abandoned by the P.E.D. but in a more humane way, and then we will commence our mission."

The man said as he sliced off Asami's little finger. Pain like a thousand needles pierced her skin, went blazing through the point from where her finger was missing. She screamed in agony until she got used to the throbbing in her finger of her left hand, which was slowly going numb under the coat of smooth, red blood. She gulped and gasped in pain and sent a glaring look to the man who placed her finger on a metal plate held by his assistant. She growled in frustration and he finally paid attention to her.

"Sorry for that, we needed to take skin, blood and bone samples. Although, it was not the last one. Please grow accustomed to the pain because more of it follows."

He asked her as if he was asking her little daughter to not be angry if he were to be late.

"You get the information you need, and we get what we need. Fair enough, right?" He smiled, to which she smirked.

She was the girl who survived through the pain of turning into a POWAN, plus a week of self-torture and stabbing her eye. This pain was nothing compared to that.

"Bring it on," she said.

The man himself smirked before getting up and let out a huge sigh.

"Well then, let's start with the story of the first POWAN, P.E.D. and Gretta."

The name itself was unfamiliar to her, but she nodded, "Finally."