What could hurt more: a broken bone, or a broken trust that never existed to begin with? A betrayal that you could see coming from a mile away, a strike that you knew would crush your skull into trillions of pieces, yet you foolishly held onto hope. Hopeful that "maybe it wouldn’t be that bad," or "maybe it will leave only a small scratch." Maybe. Or maybe not.

When you're aware of the possible outcomes but do nothing to prevent them, yes, that’s foolish! And for such foolishness, a broken heart might be well deserved. But here's the catch: humans are foolish! They can do the dumbest things and still feel wronged. Fascinating, right?

For Kabbo, however, the concept of stupidity had lost its meaning long ago. His persistent willingness to trust people had led him through irreversible catastrophes, despite that he loved to trust others. Or at least, he loved to appear as though he did. To him, this was a habit that kept him connected to his past self. Without it, would it not be easy to see how all the transformations had changed him?

One of the door's hinges cracked, drawing Kabbo back to the present. His jet-black eyes shifted to the blonde beside him. Her eyes were clenched shut, her face turning bright red as she exerted all her strength on the door. A thick frown on her face, matched with the old man beside her, whose wrinkled hands shook faintly as he too tried his best to help.

Kabbo looked at his own hands. Three of them struggling against one single opponent seemed almost comical. Nobody spoke, but Kabbo could feel the pressure on his shoulders. The heavy, trembling breaths mingled in the air, making it feel dense. All he could feel was the immense force on his palms with each punch Blake inflicted on the door.

"How strong would he be?"

He pondered.

"How long can I hold up?"

He questioned himself.

"Why should I care?!"

Chills ran down Kabbo's spine. Every hair on his neck stood up as he realized what he had thought for a split second. For split second a sinister idea had swayed him. He sucked his teeth, hissing loudly enough to get the attention of the other two.

"A.K?"

"Renessa, take Dr. Dorrman and leave the hospital."

"What? No! How can I do that?"

"Renessa! Have you not realized what’s triggering them the most?"

A lump formed in Renessa's throat. She faltered, but Kabbo’s face only grew more stern.

"Yes, humans! We don’t know why they suddenly started behaving like this, but these superhumans are no longer interested in humans!" Kabbo paused. His gaze dropped to the floor. Through the small gap under the door, he saw Blake's shadow suddenly stand still. For some reason, Blake stopped attacking from the other side. It only fueled Kabbo's worry even more.

"Leave!" he spoke under his breath. His eyes were still fixed on Blake's unwavering shadow, contemplating whether Blake had been listening to their conversation all along.

"But what about you, Cab-Boo? What are you planning to do?"

"I... I’ll keep this sir company until others arrive, I guess."

"Hey!" Renessa moved closer to Kabbo, closing the distance between them. Panic flashed in Kabbo's eyes, and he subconsciously tried to widen the distance again. Renessa narrowed her eyes, looking at Dr. Dorrman from the corner of her eye. She lowered her voice almost to a whisper.

"Do you think you’re a superhero or something? What kind of nonsense are you spewing right now?"

Kabbo took a moment to compose himself, his eyes darting back to the floor, Blake still showing no sign of movement.

"Not a superhero, I agree. But at least a superhuman who can withstand Blake Ytres."

"Then what about this? As soon as I leave you alone, that thing will stop. What will you do then? Die?" Renessa pointed at Kabbo’s left chest, frustrated. Kabbo knew what she meant. This matter had crossed his mind as well, but the timeframe he could survive without her didn’t seem too short to him.

"40 minutes! I can survive 40 minutes without the host, Renessa." Kabbo took a deep breath, preparing what to say next. "My heart will beat fine with the backup power, but god forbid if something were to happen to you here, I’ll be doomed, won’t I?"

Renessa fell silent. Her grey eyes trembled at his words, heart prickling at the thoughts, but she cut off her emotions immediately.

"Alright..."

Blake's shadow moved, disappearing. Within seconds, a clunking reached Kabbo’s ears, alarming him.

"Move!" He broke into a sprint, scooping Renessa and Dr. Dorrman into his arms.

The door behind him burst, crashing against the wall with a loud tremor. Kabbo turned his head. The pile of deformed metal that used to be a stretcher lay pathetically on the floor, hugging the broken pieces of the door. He bit his lips, the thought of what might have happened if they had stayed there making him sick to his stomach.

"Hurry! Leave!" he urged in a low voice.

Renessa and Dr. Dorrman complied, scurrying toward the staircase despite their reluctance.

Renessa looked back one last time, taking her right thumb to her chin and flicking it out, signing Kabbo "Don’t" in sign language. Kabbo narrowed his eyes as they attentively followed Renessa’s quick hand gestures. She pointed her index finger at Kabbo, then up, closed her fingers into a tight ball, flicked them open, crossing her middle and index fingers, and folded them again. Finally, she flipped both hands simultaneously to the opposite side and spelled out Kabbo's name.

"Don’t you dare die on me, A.K.!"

A small smile bloomed on Kabbo’s face. He raised his fist, shaking it, signing back, "Yes, ma'am!"

Renessa and Dr. Dorrman disappeared from Kabbo’s sight. He let out a sigh. It could be his brain playing tricks on him, but with each passing second, he felt as if his heartbeat was dropping.

A footstep could be heard. Kabbo whipped his head to the back. Meeting the pair of bloodshot eyes.

"Umm... Hello!" Kabbo trailed off because of the sudden thump in his heart. For a split moment, his eyesight blurred, and the air got stuck in his lungs. He understood the pacemaker of his heart stopped working. Meaning Renessa had left its radar range. But the inconvenience was just momentary. Kabbo gasped sharply as his heart again started banging hard. And soon everything returned to normal. After all, even without the host around, his pacemaker had a backup, with its stored power it was supposed to work for 40 more minutes.

Kabbo looked at Blake's face again. He was standing still yet till this moment. His grey orbs showed no sign of urgency, unlike his past maniac self he looked rather relaxed. If anything, he looked more tired. The blood rolling down his eyes had dried up on his pale white cheeks, mimicking the illusions of tears rolling down.

Kabbo carefully took a step towards him. No! No movements from him. Only his tired gaze followed him silently.

"You are unexpectedly calm sir!."

Blake's iris trembled, slowly now, vigorously just the next moment, a symptom Kabbo was looking for. When a superhuman breaks down, they can no longer look or think straight. But as for Blake Ytres, he unnaturally showed signs of both stability and instability. As if his sanity was going on and off every second. A rare case! The very first case that Kabbo witnessed at least.

Kabbo's gaze trailed down to Blake's neck, No Myriad-Meter was on him of course. But clear traces of it being there before was present. The 3 red punctured holes done by the myriad meters needles and the leftover glue on his skin left by the sticker indicated this person did own a Myriad- Meter, thus, a civilized citizen he was! However, for reasons unknown, his Myriad-Meter was missing at this moment.

"Sir, Where is your MM?"

Blake did not reply, but he closed his eyes instead.

"Why do you care about Humans?"
A booming voice came out from Blake's mouth. Kabbo was taken aback for a moment. While still wondering what that question meant he heard Blake asking again.

"You are a Superhuman yourself, but why do you seem more human?"

"I beg your Pardon?"

Blake opened his eyes, the quivering of his iris was much more prominent now. He held Kabbo's wrist out of nowhere, confusing Kabbo.

"If I chop your hand now, will it grow back?"

"No?!"

"But they said it would!"

Kabbo cocked his head, one eyebrow raised high. He struggled to pull back his hand for Blake's grip was surprisingly strong.

"Sir! I dunno who gave you this misleading Info, but this is my hand, not a lizard's tail. It will never grow back"

Kabbo finally managed to free his hand. But Blake didn't plan on letting him off just yet. Next, his hand moved forward trying to seize Kabbo's throat.

"Then what about your head?"

Kabbo instantly sidestepped, dodging the reapproaching hand.

"No sir! Neither my head. No limbs of us can regrow, be it hands, legs, or heads. We originate from humans, not Centipedes!"

"Why? Why'd they say Joe will?"

"Sir?"

" They said if I waited long enough, Joe's head would reappear, why did they lie to me?"

Kabbo pursed his lips. He had his fair share of experiences with superhumans speaking gibberish in their fallen state but they felt unsettling every time nonetheless.

He noticed how Blake's condition deteriorated with every new sentence he spoke. His facial expression slowly projected his progressive insanity.

"Joe! Those people lied to me! I waited, I waited every day! Still, Joe didn't come back."

Red fluids again slithered down his face. His grey orbs twirled aggressively.

"Those humans... I wanna kill them all...I will...I will kill...I...kill....will... Will...Kill..."

His orbs slid towards Kabbo's direction. Before Kabbo could react, in a flash a hand grabbed his face. Pushing with great strength Blake cornered Kabbo to a nearby wall. Kabbo grabbed Blake's wrists, attempting to remove the hand on his face. But he wasn't fast enough! Blake held his face tight! The next moment he slammed Kabbo's head on the wall with massive force.

Blood splattered on the wall, tainting the pearl-white wall in dark red. Kabbo fell on the floor, groaning. He held his head. The throbbing brusting pain left him breathless. Ears rang with a long suffocating silence. The world spun around into a whirlpool of nothingness.

Warm fluid spewed through the gaps of his twitching fingers, flowing down. He dare not to look at the blood. His eyes pressed shut. He could feel the blood heavying his eyelashes, dripping. Leaving the sticky, warm sensation everywhere.

"See that? You are as weak as a human. As easy to crush."

Kabbo felt a pull on his clothes. He was forced to be on his feet once again. He opened one of his eyes behind the bloodstained lashes. The blood trickling in made his vision blurry. From behind the blurry vision he watched as Blake had his fist prepared to greet his face. But Kabbo's left hand moved on its own, blocking the punch from falling on him. A reflex that he got from years of defense training.

His body moved without him realizing as if he had gone into autopilot mode. His free hand positioned itself under Blake's arm that held his clothes. Wrapping around Blake's bicep he hooked him in. Then gathering all his strength Kabbo hit Blake's throat, pushing him backward. Kicking his leg out from behind he finally managed to take down Blake on the floor.

Although the fall was big, Blake barely registered the pain. He sat up right away, proceeding to stand.

Kabbo rubbed his eyes on his forearm, wiping the blood on his cardigan's sleeve. The thought of kicking Blake down to the floor again did come to his mind, but he ruled it out. Even so, Blake went berserk, he was still a civilian. And not a criminal of all.

Suddenly a faint screeching from outside came to Kabbo's attention. Followed by several doors opening and shutting. Kabbo let out a sigh of relief, knowing it was all over now.

Renessa hurried towards the I.A.S cars. A brown-haired man in a white shirt and brown blazer came out first. Seeing Renessa he looked relatively confused, his hazel eyes squinting.

"Renessa? What are you... Where's Ahsan? We got a signal from him that..."

"He's inside the hospital, engaging that berserk superhuman."

"All by himself?"

Renessa nodded. The brown-haired man swore under his breath.

"Where exactly are they?"

"Second floor, east wing"

The man looked at his comrades and waved his hands as a gesture to charge in. Five superhuman I.A.S officers marched inside the hospital. The brown-haired man followed behind.

"Wonder!" Renessa called, halting the brunette on his way. He turned back to look at her. His eyes observed Renessa's growing restlessness.

He did not pry much about why Renessa and Kabbo went to the hospital in the first place, but now looking at her agitation he was slowly starting to get curious.

"What is it?" he asked in a calm tone.

Renessa looked at her watch for a moment then replied.

"Please send A.K. out as soon as you see him. He's injured, he needs treatment as quickly as possible."

Wonder's lips parted. He wanted to say something but didn't at the end. Closing his lips he shook his head in affirmation. Turning back he sped up. Catching up with his comrades.

"Ahsan's injured?" The thought crossed his mind. An ominous feeling slowly crept inside his heart. It would have not surprised him much if it was someone else of his colleagues but hearing Kabbo getting injured sure astounded him. Wonder had been working with Kabbo for the past seven years, and yet he had never witnessed him get even a scratch on himself before. He typically had records of being the only one returning unscathed from every mission, thus getting the nickname 'Mr.Untouchable' from friends. Now thinking about Mr. Untouchable getting actual injuries seemed very unreal. To the point, it felt eerie.

Wonder broke into a run. Skipping the stairsteps with his spacious long legs we reached to 2nd floor before others. Striding through the hall which led to the junction of four corridors, Wonder took the eastern passage.

As he kept approaching the end of the said corridor he spotted two blurry figures. At first, they were undetectable. But when he got closer he finally could discern them.

Wonder's hazel eyes narrowed. Mouth slightly agape. The scene that unfolded in front of him left him concerned.

Kabbo was kneeling on the stomach of a person, his hands pinning him down. Fresh blood dribbled down Kabbo's dark brown skin, covering his head and dark olive cardigan in red stains. Blood spurted out of his nose with every short breath he took. His eyes sparkled as soon as he felt Wonder's presence.

Wonder rushed to Kabbo's side. Holding him by arms he pulled Kabbo off the man on the floor. Despite Kabbo's skinny appearance, his tall frame weighed quite much. But thanks to Wonder's well-built body it was a piece of cake for him to pick him up.

Kabbo leaned his head backward. A big smile stuck to his face.

" Hey, ya Wonderland! You're finally here!"

"Look at yourself, Ahsan. Are you ok?"

"I'm perfectly alright..." a drop of blood dripped down on Wonder's coat. Kabbo's smile shrank at the sight.

"It's just raining blood a lot today."

A sigh of relief escaped Wonder's mouth. If Kabbo could still be like himself, then he should be not in danger at least. Then his eyes fell on Blake who was again trying to come to his feet. Seeing him crawling up, a muscle ticked in his jaw. He slid Kabbo aside. Without any warning, he threw a hard kick on Blake's stomach.

"Wonder! Don't! He's just a kid!"

Wonder pulled back. Thinking something he hefted up Blake and punched him in the face. A terrifying clunking noise made Kabbo flinch. As if some heavy metals had collided with each other.

"If he can hurt people like this, he...no longer a kid!"

Other I.A.S Officers finally reached to them. Three of them went to help Wonder handle Blake while one prepared a calmative shot. The youngest one of them came to Kabbo. Kabbo noticed how this person's face paled as a sheet of paper. He was Kabbo's one of most adored subordinates; Sub-inspector Kyle Merrel. Being the youngest one on the team, he was the least experienced one as well. Which explained his ghastly appearance, for falling into a situation he never faced before.

"Sir, we'll take things up from here. Please come and get your wounds treated."

"Kyle, it's your first time seeing a berserk Superhuman right?"

Kyle hesitantly nodded. Kabbo put his palm on his shoulder and gave him a quick squeeze.

"Stay here and learn!"

"But Sir you...."

"I can go by myself. Don't worry."

With a few light pats on Kyle's shoulder, Kabbo retracted his hand and turned around. As he started to walk away Wonder spoke up with a cheeky tone, "Careful tho Mr. No more Untouchable! Don't fall off the stairs now." A grin bloomed on Kabbo's face and he turned and yelled back, "You wish! Wonder Allan! You wish!"

A burst of hearty laughter spread amongst his colleagues and Kabbo discreetly left them to do their job.

Once Kabbo descended to the first floor by the stairs, he started feeling slightly light-headed. The back of his head pulsated, and so did his whole body. If anything he wished most at that moment then that was to go back home.

The first floor was still emptied. People still waiting outside. So walking through the barren hall, where every footstep of Kabbo eerily resounded made him feel more and more dazed.

Suddenly his Myriad meter went off. With an ear-piercing beeping sound, its mechanical voice spoke up.

"Warning! Warning! Infectious Corruption identified! Ex240452 please be alert!"

"What? Myriad?" Kabbo held his neck, totally confused. His myriad meter unnaturally heated up out of nowhere. As well as the beeping sound from it intensified.

"Attention! Attention! Myriad proceeding to execute emergency SDS"

"What's SDS? What's going on?"

Suddenly a hand grabbed Kabbo's Myriad meter. Tugging its sticker off the person detached the device from Kabbo.

"Please excuse me!" an unfamiliar voice said.

Kabbo winched in pain when the needles of his myriad meter got pulled out of his flesh by force. He turned to his left to look at the stranger. But froze instantly. He had a hard time believing his eyes. They opened wide in shock. Cold droplets of sweat started to form on his temple. His lips trembled as they slowly parted. Looking at the stranger in question he almost forgot that he needed to breathe at the moment.

With his stuck breath, he watched as the stranger quickly hurled the myriad meter on the floor, and it crackled with a slow electrical spark. Soon with a loud rumble, the device exploded, leaving its scattered parts burning on the floor.

The stranger looked Back at Kabbo. A mix of curiosity and concern flashed in her brown eyes as soon as she saw his condition. She smiled at him softly, trying to comfort him. But it did the opposite to Kabbo.

"You okay?" her silvery voice asked. But no words came out of Kabbo's mouth.

Kabbo's head felt empty, and his feet slowly moved. Ignoring the stranger fully he strode away. Slowly breaking into a run. Run! I need to run! I need to get away! Was all playing inside his head. He knew the stranger girl had her confused gaze fixed on his back. He could feel it! But he dared not look back. He in fact didn't want to see her again. Although he did not know why running away was his first choice. However that mattered the least at that moment. His no limbs were listening to reasonings after all.

Kabbo suddenly bumped into someone. Almost toppling over. But the person he bumped into prevented him from falling.

"A.K!" an anxious voice of Renessa brought back Kabbo to his senses. He looked at Renessa, who still had her hands wrapped around his arm. Her face looked terrified, her gaze scanned him head to toe.

"Why are you bleeding so much A.K?"

"W.....er..." Kabbo said inaudibly.

" Huh?"

Kabbo took a long breath. Mastering his strengths he straightened himself. " I need some water." he again said.
Renessa nodded her head fiercely.

"Got it! Nahida! A bottle of water!Quick!" she shouted at one of her subordinates. "Come A.K!" she then led Kabbo to his car and opened the door for him. A gesture Kabbo would have loved with his life if his mind wasn't so preoccupied. Kabbo immediately collapsed on the seat as soon as the door opened. Sub-inspector Nahida Nurdiana reached with a bottle of water. Renessa uncapped the bottle quickly and handed it to Kabbo.

Kabbo immediately chugged down the whole bottle in a few attempts.

"How are you feeling now, A.K?"

"Well, excuse me!"

Kabbo's shoulder stiffened. He clenched his fist tight, crushing the plastic bottle in the process. Renessa noticed his unusual behavior silently, before turning to look back at the girl who just made her way to them.

"Yes?" she asked targeting the raven-haired stranger. The girl smiled awkwardly and raised her hands, revealing something wrapped in a white handkerchief.

"I believe this belongs to that Mister."
The girl said as she passed the wrap to Renessa.

Renessa confusedly looked at Kabbo. Who had his eyes glued to the crushed water bottle in his hand. Refusing to budge. Renessa trailed back to the wrap on her palms. She carefully unwrapped it and her eyebrows knitted. It had nothing but some charred remains of something that she couldn't quite decipher. But by the look of it, they seemed like parts of some small device. Nahida peeked over Renessa's shoulder and looked back at the girl.

" What is this?" she asked. The girl gave a short glance at Kabbo and replied, " That's Mister's Myriad meter. It blew up a few moments earlier."

"What?!"
"What?!"
Both Nahida and Renessa exclaimed in unison.

" I think there was some sort of malfunction within the device, luckily Mister was able to figure it out in time" the girl again added to which Kabbo visibly flinched. His eyes darted toward the girl. The girl returned him a small meaningful smile.

"Well, now See you then!" the girl gave them a last glance and started to leave. See you? Renessa frowned at the statement. Were they supposed to meet again? She pondered. Her eyes returned towards Kabbo. He seemed to hesitate. Then suddenly he called for the departing girl.

"Miss! Wait! Please forgive my rudeness earlier, but could you please tell me your name?"

The girl looked a bit amused at that. As if she was expecting this question from Kabbo. She looked at the other girls from the corner of her eyes and replied, "Nishi Eumireqa."

"Th-thank you!..." Kabbo faltered. The girl nodded her head and left.

Renessa watched as Kabbo leaned back on his seat and covered his eyes with his forearm. His lips pursed tight as if he was thinking something very unpleasant. Renessa cleared her throat to get Nahida's attention.

"Nahida, could you please bring Dr. Ruben Dorrman here?"

"uh! Okay, Ma'am!" Nahida also left searching for Dr.Dorrman. As soon as she was out of their sight she turned to Kabbo.

"What's wrong A.K? Is there something bothering you?"

But no response came from him. "A.K?" she again tried. This time only a tired voice of him said, "Renessa, please leave me alone for a bit."

Renessa understood whatever it was Kabbo was not going to talk about it. So she didn't pry more. Looking at the pieces of his myriad meter something clicked inside her mind. So she left Kabbo alone and moved to a secluded area to make a call in haste.

Meanwhile, in his car, Kabbo had his mind occupied with all the incidents of that day. Although a lot had happened what most bothered him was his encounter with Nishi. Why did he have to meet her once again after so many years? Ten years to be exact! For ten years he was just fine keeping her in his head as a bad memory. He was just fine cursing her in his heart for every single hardship he had to bear. Then why out of nowhere she have to reappear?

And last but not least, why she did even lie in front of the girls?