95 Esper Rehabilitation Center

Ed and the President appeared in the sky out of thin air. Ed hurriedly examined his surroundings.The sky was dark despite it being daytime. Fortunately, his chimera eyes and mana-enriched body allowed him to easily see within the darkness. Ocean waves gently roared beneath him, and they were all he could see that was nearby. He searched in all directions, finally spotting something far off in the distance. On the edge of the horizon, there was a snowy mountain with what looked like steam coming out from atop it. "Is that a volcano?" He questioned aloud.

The President ignored the question and waited silently. Several minutes later, someone flew a steam quadcopter towards them from the direction of the snowy island. The hatch to the quadcopter was already open. The President Hurled Ed inside, and then turned around to leave, seemingly in a hurry to leave this desolate place. He didn't even spare Ed a 2nd glance as he left.

"Tsk. Bastard." Ed clicked his tongue. 'Does he think I won't try and escape?' He wondered. Mana began to course through his body as he prepared to forcefully leave the quadcopter. However, he was surprised to find out that his mana was slow and unwieldy, making it impossible for him to fly.

"No point trying to escape." A high-pitched voice called from the pilot's area, which was separated by thick panels of reinforced glass. "Even if you managed to break out of the quadcopter somehow, you'd just plummet to your death. Trust me, your powers aren't going to work out there. Also, the pilot's cabin is reinforced with manullium, so you can forget about taking over the controls."

"Where are we." Ed questioned.

"The cage, of course." The pilot replied. "That's just its nickname though. The official name is Esper Rehabilitation Center. But no one calls it that. Not really all that surprising when you consider that we don't really help espers so much as hurt them."

'She sure is talkative.' Ed rose an eyebrow as he listened.

"You might as well get some rest while you can." She continued. "It'll take us a few hours to traverse the safe paths to return to the island. I only got here so fast since my coworker helped me. I couldn't exactly keep the President waiting, now could I?"

Ed took a seat and strapped himself in. He repeatedly tried utilizing his powers to activate the mana-batteries in his limbs, but he continued to fail. 'Oh well.' He sighed as he closed his eyes to get some much-needed rest. 'Dupe will probably handle Harmony just fine while I'm gone. Tao will probably harass him too, or maybe just go play in the woods. Slowly, the world turned black as he drifted off to sleep.

Within a bright white void. A shadow playfully circled around Ed, moving up and down as it laughed. "Kekeke, you really got yourself into a pickle this time, Edward."

"Nexus." He replied calmly. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"You killed my frontman." The shadow frowned. "Phantom was such a convenient tool. Everyone was so sure he was me, and he was more than happy to play the role as long as I continued providing him enough benefits. But you've ruined all that now."

"And your point?" He questioned.

"No point this time." The shadow grinned. "I just thought I'd come say goodbye to a former business partner. After all, no one escapes from the cage."

"Why not tell the truth?" Ed replied confidently. "You're not here to say goodbye to me. Your time would be far too valuable for that. Instead, you're here to celebrate the fact that I'm being locked up. In fact, I'd say you specifically wanted me locked up instead of killed."

The shadow suddenly froze in place as it stared wide-eyed at Ed. "Kekeke." It laughed as it slowly started to swirl around him again. "Let's assume what you say is true. What does it matter?"

"Ever since I beat Phantom, I wondered just who in the hell you are." Ed closed his eyes as thoughts and theories flashed through his mind. "At first, I suspected Dupe to be involved somehow, though he couldn't have been the main instigator. However, I quashed that suspicion relatively recently. The prime suspect for the man behind Nexus was obviously Phantom. He knew me already. He seemed like the type to manipulate things from the shadows. Most importantly of all, he had powers that perfectly matched with the idea of what Nexus can do. But when I killed him, I knew immediately that he wasn't Nexus. If he was, then I would have gained your golden faith energy you showed me previously."

Suddenly, the void trembled. The shadow's voice sounded like static radio as a result. "We're running out of time. Damn manullium. Get on with it. What's your point?"

Ed's eyes opened as he stared into the shadow's eyes. "With Phantom dead and some time to think, my mind has finally become clear. Nexus appeared out of nowhere, literally popping up overnight. If an esper had such power and desired to create such an organization, then why wouldn't they do it sooner? The answer is obviously because they couldn't. This eliminates almost every esper in America as a suspect. If we take another step and assume that Nexus is neither an agent outside of the US, nor some type of prison escapee, then we can only conclude that the person behind Nexus is a relatively new esper."

"Oh?" The shadow grinned. "And what if I am? It's not like that matters."

"It does matter." He countered. "A new organization propping up right after I myself became an esper. That means you're practically guaranteed to have awoken in either Reef city, Florida or Atlanta, Georgia. The majority of espers that awoke in Atlanta were ordinary and don't know me personally, so we can narrow it down even further to just Reef city. Of the most powerful espers awakening in Reef city, most of them were recruited by the Hunter Academy in Steam Work City. Of the espers there, I can only think of one that meets all the criteria for creating Nexus. A quiet esper that hardly interacted with the others. I don't think we ever even spoke, but I can think of no better suspect. You're Feather, right?"

The shadow remained silent in shock for a moment before laughing. Slowly, the shadow transformed. A beautiful woman appeared. She had short ruffled white hair, which was further decorated with white feathers. She wore a white dress with matching white sandals. The pure colors made her appear as if an angel had descended from the heavens.

"A little bit showier than at the academy?" Ed smiled as he saw her appearance.

"I was keeping a low profile at the academy, and their uniform didn't really suit me." She replied in an angelic voice while stretching her arm behind her head. "I'm quite surprised you figured it out. I suppose all the hints were there once Phantom died though."

"I'm surprised you were willing to expose the true identity of Nexus even if I was right." Ed replied.

"Well, it doesn't really matter." She replied nonchalantly. "You'll never escape the cage anyways, so I've already won. Espers only go in and never come out of that place."

The void trembled again, even harder than last time. Both of their bodies flickered as they seemed to be on the verge of disappearing.

"Damn manullium interference." She grumbled again as she crossed her arms.

"Tell me, Feather." Ed interrupted. "Why did you want me locked up in the cage?"

"What makes you so sure I wanted that?" She scoffed, raising her head up proudly.

"At first, I wasn't." He admitted. "However, it made more sense the more I thought about it. Why come after the manullium supplies if not too hurt me? Sure, it's valuable, but there's plenty of ways someone with your communication network could obtain it. Thus, the value of obtaining it was in harming my overall power, as opposed to securing a meager supply of manullium. This brings me to my next point. Why not have Phantom and his group finish us off? At that stage, my preparations were nowhere near complete. If he participated, then his win was almost guaranteed. But instead, he only sent his men to cause minor damage before falling back. The only reason I can think of for all of these actions is that you believed I would win the war and get locked up as a result of it."

"Wow!" Feather clapped her hands slowly. "Such deductive reasoning. There's some jumps in logic here and there, but you're mostly on point. You should have showed this side of yourself at school. Maybe then you wouldn't have been so lame."

"Funny." Ed frowned. "So, I know who you are and what you planned, but what I don't know is why? I can't think of anything I could've possibly done that would make you my enemy prior to the manullium incident."

"Oh, Ed." She slowly reached forward and gently brushed his cheek. Her calm face hinted anger as she furrowed her brows. "You hurt the only thing I ever really cared about at the academy." Her hand moved down from his cheek towards his neck and slowly squeezed. Fortunately, this void was imaginary, and so he felt no pain.

"Hurt the only thing you cared about?" Ed repeated as he thought of the possibilities. "The only thing I hurt at the academy was Jake..." Suddenly, his eyes shot wide open from shock. "You were in love with Jake?!" He questioned.

"Right." She grinned as she placed her other hand on Ed's neck, squeezing both hands tightly. She slowly pushed Ed to the floor and sat atop him, madness covering her beautiful face. "Jake was such a kind boy, yet you continually tried to hurt him!" She yelled as her hands trembled. "You tried to turn the class against him, causing others like Mordy to shun him! Still, I was willing to forgive all of this. I didn't start Nexus as some sort of convoluted cliché revenge plot."

"Then why?" Ed interrupted.

"Because you took it even further!" She screamed in rage. "How could you blind my poor Jake?! What did he do to deserve it?! I swore at that moment that I'd use everything within the power of Nexus to make you suffer! I'd kill your friends and comrades, impede your every step, and become the obstacle preventing your happy life. But I soon discovered that you're even more of a monster than I thought. You cared nothing for your pawns you called friends and comrades. You performed inhumane experiments that would easily get you lynched if it ever leaked out. And you weren't even bothered a little bit by any of it! You're completely insane! So, I came up with a new plan. I'd take away the thing you value more than anything else." She grinned as she started to chuckle ominously.

"My freedom and control." Ed replied calmly, his eyes crystal-clear from understanding. He pushed Feather off, causing her to fall to the ground. He slowly stood up as a confident smile appeared on his face. "It all makes sense now. Man, I really have shit luck. I always seem to inadvertently piss off the crazies somehow. I'm already having flashbacks about Luny." He chuckled as a shiver went down his spine due to the memories.

The void flicked again, cracks beginning to appear within it.

He stared into Feather's eyes while still smiling. "Unfortunately, you made one major miscalculation in your plans. I'll escape the cage and come out stronger than before. I quite look forward to the army I can build there."

Feather's eyes trembled as she stared in shock. "You're insane if you think you can escape when no one else ever has!"

"Maybe." Ed grinned. "But insanity is only a single step from genius." His eyes turned vertical as scales covered his body. "And my genius has given me something no one else in the world has."

"You! You!" Feather's voice grew hoarse as she crawled backwards. "You definitely won't succeed!" She yelled.

"Who are you trying to convince? Me? Or yourself?" Ed replied calmly as he looked up at the white void, more cracks appearing within it. "Looks like we're out of time." He smiled while glancing at her. "You best start preparing. I'll be coming for you in the future, and as I'm sure you know, I can be quite scary when I have a lot of prep time."

Feather's face froze in fear as the void shattered. Ed reappeared within a black void. His 7-colored mana-core shone brightly within it. Numerous gold threads danced around the core, so numerous as to form a small pool. However, there were two cracks on his mana-core, crisscrossing each other.

'There's no damage to my physical mana-core.' Ed rubbed his chin as he watched. 'This must be the soul damage I took from the soul absorption process. I wonder how it can be healed?' He tried to fly closer to the mana-core but failed to do so. The longer he flew towards it, the further away it felt. Slowly, the void faded away. Ed awoke within the quadcopter, still strapped within his seat.

"We're here!" The pilot's voice yelled as the quadcopter landed on the edge of a volcano island.

The hatch opened, and Ed walked outside. The freezing wind brushed past him, stinging his face and sending his curly hair into a tangled mess. He looked around at his surroundings. The island was snowy white, appearing to be completely deserted. However, an island wasn't a very accurate description, for at the center of the island was a tall volcano. Something resembling steam continuously wafted out from within it. 'Manullium?' He wondered as he saw the very slight purple hue the steam had within it.

He turned around and looked out towards the ocean. The sun was just barely visible on the horizon, giving off an eerie twilight that sparkled across the waves. 'Am I in Alaska?' He wondered. He turned his sights away from the sun, looking out towards the darker portions of the sea. It was difficult to make out within the night, but he saw what looked like roving purple fog covering the water.

"That's the manullium." The pilot said as she exited the quadcopter, seemingly holding no fear for the esper in front of her. She wore a blue jean jacket and dark trousers. Her brown hair was tied up in a ponytail. "That's one of the reasons no one's ever escaped from here. Not that many have ever made it this far." She pointed her thumb back towards the volcano. "Come on. I'm taking you to the cage."

"And if I refuse?" Ed questioned as his eyes turned vertical. He was having a hard time controlling his mana, but his chimera abilities still came as naturally as breathing. He grinned. 'Hell, the quadcopter is right in front of me. I'd be a fool not to take it. Recruiting espers from the cage can always wait until a later time. Who knows when the next opportunity to escape will present itself?'

"They always want to do it the hard way." The pilot sighed while shaking her head. She slowly took off her jacket, throwing it to the ground. It sunk straight through the snow and even managed to cause the ground to tremble. Next were her boots, gloves, and pants, each of which caused the ground to shake. She now stood within the freezing tundra, wearing nothing but a sports bra and gym shorts. "Well, I could always use a good workout." She grinned. She used her toes to repeatedly hop against the ground and rose her fists into the air. She threw forward a couple of mock punches as she prepared to start the fight.