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The rest of the introductions were lackluster, but not entirely uninteresting. Even as names and powers were being showcased, there were still a few late stragglers sweeping the streets below, charging into the meeting place with beady strings of sweat lining their brows. Kina could swear that one of the Gifted entering the warehouse had his eyes on her, but before she could so much as meet his gaze, he turned away. Her lips fell into a straight line. From his angle, he had surely attained a clear view of her position. If he had spotted her, she hoped that his mind would persuade him otherwise. In some cases, she found that the most intelligent minds were the easiest to trick. Stagnant brains barely challenged anything, and leaped into accusations with blind courage. Garth Holden seemed to possess that kind of judgement. Shrewd minds, on the other hand, held skepticism. Shigeru had taught her the pattern: skepticism leads to questioning, and questioning leads to doubt. If the boy who had noticed her held any shred of intelligence, he would dismiss the mysterious figure he had seen perched upon the roof. With the sharp expression he exhibited, Kina assured herself that he would take what he had seen with a grain of salt. After all, the exciting shenanigans inside the ramshackle building would surely guide his thoughts elsewhere.
She stooped over again, narrowing her eyes as she continued to watch the meeting unfold through the privacy of her hidey-hole. Another lanky boy with a sparkling grin stepped forward, introducing himself as Percy. He had a cadence about his voice that reflected confidence and good character, and it left Kina more entranced than she would have cared to admit. He pushed forward a mopped-haired teen with an average build, no distinguishable features about him. His expression was pretty average, too. "Felix. Electricity," he seemed to groan. This boy was an absolute antithesis to the last, but opposites attracted, or so Kina presumed.
Garth approached a girl next. She was tall, wore almost nothing beneath her unzipped jacket, and possessed a greasy smirk that reminded Kina of the shady street cons she encountered her first day strolling through the city. Her power was illusion manipulation, and she had no problem addressing this to the whole crowd. Despite the unsettling judgement Kina branded upon the girl, she couldn't help but snort at the quip she punched at Garth before revealing her identity and ability. Maria was such a pure-sounding name. It didn't seem to match her appearance or demeanor in the slightest.
Then came the ghost boy Kina had spotted just before Felix had introduced himself. Unlike the girl before him, his name seemed to suit him rather well. Casper was slick, captivating, and acquired a knack for pissing off others; Frankie the redhead, in particular. Her face scrunched up into a fearsome glower before he could so much as step forward. His tongue was sharper than his attitude, and he made an impressive display of his second power, which, unsurprisingly, was invisibility. He faded from view for a long minute, the panicked expressions of the other Gifted being the only indication of his presence. His footfall was mute. Suddenly, she could hear Frankie squeal in anger, her hair suddenly tugging at the end. Kina's brows lowered. There was a deep, dark history between the two, she was sure of it.
After that, a boy named Dylan turned into a teakettle and smashed into the ground. Cute. He was followed by a small sprout of a thing, stuttering his name and intention. He was Sunny, and he was reluctant to reveal his power, but he wanted to help. Kina respected his wish from afar. Up close, Garth Holden did not.
"So what is it that you can do then?" he growled. "Get it out! We already have someone who turns into a fucking tea kettle."
Her fingers balled into fists as the pressure in the room began to boil. Sunny described that he could manipulate and control clouds. Not create storm clouds or anything ominous in intent, just move normal clouds. Much unlike the mousy boy's impression or warm name, Garth did not take his explanation lightly.
“Oh, well that’s going to be useful against a fucking killer!” he spat, silencing the room.
Killer? So that's what this meeting was about. Everyone situated in the warehouse was prepared to take down a murderer. But who was this killer, and why did everyone want to take him down themselves and not leave the suspicious matter in the hands of the authorities? Wouldn't that be more practical and less of a risk? No one wanted to tangle with Death if the meeting could be avoided. Moreover, what was the morality of the people in the room? Had they done something to provoke the killer? Did they even know of their whereabouts, who they were, why they had killed in the first place?
The situation below was fraught and riddled with murky intents, and in that moment, Kina Qadir decided that she did not want to be a part of it.
As the warehouse became a heated crucible, Kina arose from her crouched position, brushing off the small pieces of wood and tile that had clung to her long black trench. The light that remained on the horizon was slowly being sucked away by the stars and moon. Soon, the sky would blot into an inky ebony color. Although she was curious to learn of the name and power of the boy who had spotted her from below, Kina's full attention was on her stomach, which now growled with the ferocity of an angry lion. She hadn't eaten in several hours, and with all the walking, running, and jumping she had done before, it was about time she rewarded her body for its efforts. When she got home, she would make herself a nice bowl of soup. That would warm her up. Perhaps she'd use some curry in the recipe. It'd make her stuffy nose run like a gushing waterfall, but with the crappy day she had survived through, she needed the favorable kick...
Kina made to leave. Yet, she hadn't judged that the roof she ran upon was in such desperate need of repair, then she would've been more prepared for the spill she took as her legs burst through the rusting ceiling, filling the entire warehouse with plaster, and bits of beaten tile.
She had crashed through the room as soon as Garth had left. The shrill sound of her scream bounced across the walls as she fell. Her mind overcoming shock at the last possible second, she cushioned her landing with a quick blast of wind, which spread to every corner of the warehouse. But even that couldn't prevent the jolt of searing pain she felt as her backside smacked the concrete floor. Bits of tile, dirt, metal, and dust buried upon her as she groaned and grunted. She was locked inside a gravelly tomb, and with the penetrating silence that followed, she wasn't sure if it was appropriate to get up. A part of her wanted to take the pain in privacy.
A slough of Pashto and Japanese curses repeated in her head as she found the courage to rise.
Ignoring the rest of the pain, she burst through the pile of destroyed roof like a straight-spined rabbit peeking from its hole. Her lips tightly sealed together, the girl's brown eyes darted back and forth in fright. Everyone's attention had been focused on Garth as he had departed the scrappy premises. Until now. Now every eye was on her. She was right in the middle of it all, conveniently lying in the center of the circle the adolescents had instinctively created during their meeting. A few seconds ago, she had been hidden from view, invisible like the ghost boy. Now she was the elephant in the room.
She took a second to look up. A hazy beam of afternoon light shone upon her skin like a spotlight. Other than that, there was nothing to be found. She was a trespasser.
To put it simply, Kina looked like a deer in headlights. She blinked rapidly, looking for sympathy. Looking for mercy. She only found cold silence and confused glares instead.
Removing thick locks of black hair from her eyes, she swallowed, trying her best to soften the terrified expression on her face. In doing so, she only appeared more nervous.
She looked at Casper. Then at Gracie, Percy, Frankie, and Sunny. Her eyes finally fell upon the boy who had spotted her on the roof. Glaring at him was the worst feeling in the world.
"Hi," she stated, her voice forcefully calm. "I'm Kina."
[Edited by GMs in absence of writer]