They are resilient.
"They aren't resilient at all!" exclaimed a high-pitched and hoarse male voice. He was a man in his late forties, donning a white lab coat on top of his lanky, tall body. As if to match his thinness, his long and gaunt face was extremely angular with high cheekbones and defined brows, though extremely thick white hair furrowed above his eyes. He had matching short, white hair. "All we had to do is say her name, and the government will lose itself in fear and order a hit on the speaker, just as it did to that foolish man playing hero."
"The world sees us as monsters, Searcher" explained another voice, deep and dark like an abyss, trembling with a unseen frigidness. It's owner was mammoth in size, easily reaching above two meters and built like a tree. Scars decorated his shirtless body, but a black veil covered his face. He was motionless save for the veil fluttering by his breath. "It is a primal instinct to survive, to run from the monsters that can threaten your existence."
We are what the world sees us as.
"I don't like that, Soldier, darling." This next voice was possibly female, but it was distorted and unrecognizable. "How could you be a monster? Oooh, I just wish I could take you out for some shopping someday, get some fresh air and sunlight. Have you looked in a mirror lately? You look so ill, you poor thing, and so pale! Being cooped up inside for so long is– Oh, this is my stop. I'll call you darlings later. Lover out! Ciao~."
We still know little.
"Your talkin' about New Tokyo, right?" The man this time carried violence and bloodlust in his voice and with those, experience of both. He was a large man, though not nearly the size as the behemoth. He was reclining, obviously much more self-confident, or perhaps arrogant, than the others. "That's because our spy got stupid and tried takin' out a hero we know nothin' about. I could've killed him if I was there, but instead it was her."
It is expected, Warrior.
"It's a waste of resources. I'd admit that she'd be one hell of a soldier if she didn't have that annoying habit of wasting time playing games, but because she does she dies the most out of all of us. And this time? She was done in by a blob! A blob! What's his name... Yoshamatsu?"
A naked woman walked into the conference unabashed, coated in a strange translucent liquid. Her first words were correcting the violent Warrior, "Yoshimitsu."
"Speak of the devil and he doth appear, eh?" He answered, both bemused and irritated.
"Was it painful?" Asked Soldier, his dark voice holding what seemed like a tinge of concern.
"The pain was out of this world." The bare woman answered, giving two thumbs up and a cheeky large grin. The man seemed to relax at that answer. The unclothed woman giggled, before looking up and calling out, "So, what now?"
You go back.
"W-wait!" Both the Warrior and Searcher exclaimed at the same time, with Soldier glancing around in a confused state.
The main obstacle is the authorities. They are different. More corrupt than usual, yet also more efficient. They are resilient.
"And what do you want me to do about it? I obviously don't know anything about them either."
They are after a certain individual.
"Ha?! And why the hell does that matter to me–" She stopped suddenly, realization touching her face.
Make a distraction. Play a game. Do anything to get their attention.
The unclothed woman tapped her chin. “You sure?”
This would not be the first time.
A familiar, toothy smile stretched her cheeks, looking far too comfortable on her excited face...
“Get me a ticket to New Tokyo, and a phone. I’m going to set a stage.”
~New Tokyo~
Though Guanyin's recent arrival heralded an intense panic among the leaders of the Japanese government, the city of New Tokyo was split. The public, despite the collapse of the top of the Mahogany Tower, were relatively untouched by the matters taking place in the city. A terrorist was stopped at the unfortunate cost of the city's mayor, a warrant for the capture of two individuals was issued overnight, and some strange happenings were taking place in the richer part of the town as a man was robbed in his home (his safe seemingly eaten through) and a shipment of coin disappeared without the delivery vehicle even being touched. The alleys and houses held stories of their own, but were so far out of the public eye that even a great explosion at an entrance to New Tokyo's underground was as noticeable as the unseen disappearance of a small orphan.
Though many events took place during the afternoon of New Tokyo's Guanyin incident, the rest of the night was quiet and peaceful. It gave people time; time to remember the recent events, time to think about what has happened, and time to plan out what will.
It was a restless night, but a peaceful one nonetheless. It had to be. The morning would awaken a chaos not seen in New Tokyo for a long time...
Static suddenly replaced every news channel as soon as the clock hit 9 A.M. Within moments, the static cleared and all of Japan was watching the face of a man with two red lines painted on his face and a lazy, slightly forced smile plastered on his carefree face.
"
Good morning, New Tokyo! Welcome to Guanyin's 9 A.M. Announcement."
The government immediately reacted, but the source of the signal was undiscoverable. It was as if every news station directly took its own measures to make sure the video's source remain undisclosed.
"
As you all remembered, a "tragedy" happened just last night. For those just tuning in, here's a clip."
Immediately the channel switched to the frightening image of the Guanyin last night having a bullet pierce through his head and the mayor and his body being wrapped in flames before cutting off.
"
All we wanted was a nice chat with a certain someone, and yet we were treated this coldly."
The man's voice was lethargic and slow, and a bit distracted as if he didn't really care about doing this. His eyes kept wandering between obvious glances at some notecards below the camera. Regardless, he continued:
"
But never mind that. No one is to blame, except maybe that certain someone and his hit man. Rather..."
He cleared his throat and looked directly at the camera for the first time.
"
Someone had the gall to call themselves a Guanyin. We don't have any clips when he did it, but we do have an image."
As soon as he said that, the image of a man in a mechanized suit free-running across a collapsing Mahogany Tower while holding onto a grappling rope was displayed. It was slightly blurry, but sharp enough to make out the suit's features. It was taken from quite a distance.
"
It seems he was being very naughty and even tried breaking into the Police Department and sabotage their data."
He was lying, as evident in his poor performance of sounding alarmed. Though... that could also just be his normal, lazy tone. It was hard to tell since he wasn't taking this video seriously.
"
You all must be wondering why Guanyin thought it would be a good idea to tell you this. I wonder that too. Well, we don't care about the little things as much as you think, so let's just go with it."
He frowned slightly and glared into the camera.
"
It's just that, when someone steps on our name..."
He cracked his knuckles for emphasis.
"
It makes us want to break them. And so, Guanyin is putting out a reward for anyone who captures this guy. Yay. Obviously, most people know that we can get anything we want, but someone decided to turn this into a game."
"
Capture this man who called himself Guanyin, and the real Guanyin will grant you a wish. If you want the power of firearms unmatched by today's militaries, or some carnal desire for a paradise that only exists in fantasies, or maybe even the "ultimate treasure" of simply having Guanyin in your debt: Capture this man alive and bring him to us."
He sighed heavily, not even looking at the notecards anymore.
"
This goes for all you "heroes" and do-gooders, too. A certain Guanyin will be waiting at a cafe called the Daily Grind at noon tomorrow. Wait, but didn't that- Never mind. Bring him there and, even if you were the Chief of Police, Guanyin will do "everything in its power" to make one wish come true. Also, apparently someone had a tie in with one of us earlier. She wants me to ask you if want to go on a second date– What the hell do you want me to ask?!"
The video abruptly cut off and, with a few seconds of white noise, the normal channels came back on with stunned reporters quietly sitting in front of the camera. Though many people were awake earlier, it is only now at 9:05 AM that one can consider all of New Tokyo to be fully awake. The city anxiously prepared for what tomorrow will bring.