Karen ignored them and continue preparing the meal. His hand transforms into a pan. Literally.
His fingers melded together, skin hardening and turning into a shining black surface his.
A sizzling sound can be heard as the butter start melting.
"Is he really cooking?" Makoto can't help but turn to the middle aged man.
"This is.....weird..." Wak Tolak can't help but commented as he watches Karen flipped the steak, "That was a good flipping skill."
"Damn, he's using butter that way? That's creative."
"Putting chopped onion right after that. A little too late but onion was easy to burnt so I can understand that."
"Is that his drawback?"
"How many times did he used his Aspect?"
"Quite a lot."
"Was the mission successful?"
"Somewhat."
"Oi Karen."
Karen did not respond. His eyes blankly staring at the steak that is almost done.
The moment the steak is finished, Karen placed the well done steak onto a plate.
His pan hand tremble, reverting back to it's normal form. Sensing the greasiness covering his hand, he put the water tab on, washing his hand.
Karen blankly look up, meeting the gaze of Wak Tolak.
Sensing his gaze, Wak Tolak's eyes tremble as they flashes in an odd light.
"Here, have the fork and the knife." Wak Tolak immediately picked up the cutleries and give them to him.
Karen did not respond. Snatching the forkas he began devouring the steak like there is no tomorrow.
"So how was the mission?" Wak Tolak turns to Makoto.
"Not that good not that bad." Makoto shrugged.
"Explain?"
"Good because we've got what we wanted " Makoto pulls out a USB drive.
"Bad news the kid fought against a top ranking hero of the United Federation of America."
"A hero of the UFA? Which one? Crimson Witch?"
"That heroine who's been missing for almost a year now? Not her."
"That's good to hear."
"It's Dark Whip."
"Dark Whip?! Crinson Witch's twin brother?!"
"They're twins?!"
"Oh right no one knows that."
A sound was heard.
The two turns to Karen who had pierced the fork into the table on the kitchen.
Silence.
Karen sat down, laying his head on the table before abruptly falling asleep.
"Did he really just fell asleep?"
"I suppose this is the drawback of his Aspect."
"Drawback?"
"During the mission, how does his Aspect works?"
"He can uh well at one time his hand transforms into claw, he seems to have super strength and speed and there is also that one time wings grew out of his back."
"So it's some sort of a body transformation Aspect. No wonder." Wak Tolak nodded.
"Almost all humans in the world has a mutated genes in their bodies known as Evolved genes. These mutated genes are what allowed mankind to tap into the power granted by our evolution."
"Evolved genes are the result of the mutation of our ancestors who survived the radiation from the nuclear weapons used during the Great Cataclysm."
"Each Aspects are unique in their own way, each with their own drawbacks, the more powerful an Aspect, the more powerful the drawback."
"A transformation type Aspect typically costs a lot of energy just to be use. From the look of it, his Aspect granted himse some sort of a energy preserving mode."
"Granted, this mode come with him losing his consciousness."
"As for what had just happened, just take it as his body's response to losing too much energy."
"So what are we going to do now?"
Wak Tolak yawned.
"Just let the kid rest. I'm going to sleep."
The very next day Makoto was woken up by a loud noise. A really loud noise.
"Who is so loud this early in the morning?!" Makoto gritted his teeth as he stormed off into the kitchen.
The sight that greeted him causes his to froze. To he more precise the smell causes him to froze.
There inside the kitchen is a white haired boy blending a smoothie.
In the table, various dishes had been served. Breakfast that can only be described in one word.
Heavenly.
"Oh my god."
"You're late for breakfast." Wak Tolak who is already sitting down an enjoying a pancake said as he drink a cup of coffee complained.
Makoto remains silence.
He knows Karen knows how to cook. He had seen it himself when he cooked that steak last night.
But he doesn't know that he is this good in cooking.
Karen glanced at him, signaling the redhead to sit down and eat.
Makoto did as he was told. He subconsciously reached out to the energy bar on the bowl.
It's pretty good.
A little salty, but good.
"You've made this?" Makoto can't help but questions.
The energy bar is a little chewy but has a good combinations of flavours.
"Added oat, berries and nuts. Good to keep you working for the whole day."
Although the ingredients used were quite low in quality-given how expensive good quality good are- but Karen knows how to use them to create a flavourful snacks.
Karen sat down and pours down the smoothie for him to enjoy.
He reached out and grabbed a handful of nuts from a bowl and scattered it across his bowl of smoothie.
Then under the eyes of the two-
He dipped his bread into the smoothie.
"Smoothie as a dip? Really?" Makoto was speechless.
Karen remains silent.
He continues eating, savoring the flavour inside his mouth.
"It's nor that bad." Karen said barely a whisper.
Back at Samara, it is hard to find anything to pair the bread with. Sugar is hard to find and so does honey.
Some Samarans would go out into the wilds in search for wild berries.
Then, all the people in the community would gathered together to crush to berries right after the isyak prayers.
Together, surrounding the fire the people in the community would take turns crushing the berries using a huge wooden bowl or a stone mortar.
If they are lucky, some would found some herbs and pour down a pinch or two into the unfinished paste. If they are lucky enough in rare instances, they would have a few bags of sugars laying around and they add a little to sweeten the berries.
What come out will be a rough berry paste with huge chunks of berries.
The people in the community will gathered, passing the paste from one to another to enjoy it with a piece of stale bread. Such meal is a luxury.
Sometimes that will be only meal they had for days.
"Makoto, bring Karen around Undercity." Wak Tolak suddenly said as he stood up.
The middle aged man ignored the two kids and walked into his room.
Makoto and Karen look at him.
The two turns to face one another.
"So have you ever tasted neodles before?"
Neodles, a food special to the people of Undercity.
A neon coloured glowing noodles. Looks like it had been contaminated with radiation from some nuclear site.
Karen looks down on the bowl of noodles. The noodles are neon in colours, like a bunch of colourful rainbow worms put inside a bowl and had a green neon coloured broth poured down.
Karen takes a slurp.
"So? How was it?" Makoto beside him grinned.
"Tastes like a radioactive worms cooked with a radioactive broth."
Makoto laughed hearing his comments.
The two are currently sitting in a street vendor just a few blocks away from Saranjana Bar. Both are currently in a civilian outfit.
Funnily enough, the two is wearing a set of school uniform. To be expected as they both are still teenagers. Still weird considering that schools in Undercity barely existed and not many goes to school.
Makoto had dyed his hair black, wearing a lng sleeved black school uniform without buttoning it, revealing the white shirt he wears underneath. His shoe ties are not tied up properly and one can see that he didn't even bother to wear a proper school shoes and wore a red shoes to school.
Right now Makoto looks like a bad boy.
Karen on the other hand looks like his complete opposite. He wears the school uniform and everything that students are expected to wear. School badge, name tag and even a necktie. His hair had been shortened and darkened. A round glasses adorned his face, giving him a nerdy look.
The shop keeper also laughed when he heard their conversation.
"Mikano, a new friend of yours?" The shopkeeper grinned seeing their interactions.
Makoto grinned in response, wrapping his arm around Karen's shoulders.
"A distant cousin, just moved to district twelve. He's a little bit shy but overall a good kid."
The corner of Karen's lips twitched. He really wants to smash Makoto's head as of this moment.
"Is that so? District twelve eh? I heard that district has quite a lot of Christians," The middle aged shop keeper grinned even more, "So, what do you think about the meal in this district? Is it good?"
"Horrible. Really horrible." Karen said while slurping the neodles.
"The meal here may have not been heavenly, but they can bring you to heaven." The shop keeper laughed.
The street vendor is located just by the side of the street. The hygiene in the place is not exactly the best. Not just this vendor, but the other vendors too.
Some even sell a very suspicious looking meat.
Nonetheless, Undercity still looks as lively as ever.
Undercity is a place littered with criminals. Outlaws who care less about the laws and the heroes.
One would thought this place to be a living hell. Unexpectedly there exists a place like this in Undercity. A place that is oddly warm.
"Hey, where did all of these bubbles came from?" Makoto suddenly said cutting Karen off his thoughts.
From god knows where, bubbles had littered the sky. Literally, it is everywhere.
"Weird, where does these bubbles came from?"
"Mommy, the bubbles are in the skies." A girl giggled.
"Who the hell used their Aspect in public?"
"Is there an event nearby?"
Everyone's attention turned to the countless small bubbles that float in the air.
Suddenly.....
The street vendor's head snapped, "Everyone! Run!"
The others aren't able to react when the bubbles in the air glows in a bright silver colour before detonating.
Explosion rang out across Undercity.
The shockwave from the explosion sent carts flying, buildings completely obliterated leaving nothing but rubbles.
The beautiful scenery of bubbles in the air had turned this part of Undercity into a hell like place.
"Mommy! Mommy!"
"My arm-I can't feel my arm."
"Dark- it's so dark...."
Makoto firmly latched onto a wall, using a knife to secure his position.
With his experience, he was able to ran off and escaped from danger the moment he sensed something was amiss.
When the explosion had erupted, he had been thrown. Luckily, he was able to latched himself on the wall, stopping himself from falling further.
However.....
"Where the hell is that kid?" Makoto clicked his tongue, sensing that Karen is not with him.
Now, should he ran off and escaped from danger or start searching for the kid?
As Makoto is still deep in thinking, a civilian suddenly exclaimed.
"Heroes! It's the heroes!"
"The Ascengers!!"
"Stop your crime villain!" A hero dressed akin to a knight in medieval times exclaimed.
"Great, the heroes are here." Makoto rolled his eyes in annoyance.
While all of these are happening, Karen gasped as leaned his back against a rubble.
The explosion had sent him flying before landing on the ground.
Karen leaned his body against the rubble, sweats pouring down from his forehead, his figure trembling amidst the destruction.
Around him, pieces of human bodies littered the street. The smokes and fires from the explosion hasn't yet dissipate, making the surrounding look no different than a warzone.
Karen's breath grew, his heartbeat increasing.
Silence.
Not quite.
A high pitched ringing filled his ears.
People are screaming, heroes are fighting and there are still explosions revebrating in the distance.
However he can't hear any of them.