XIV - Mission Accomplished

Those 4 black cars drifted to the right and sprinted as Kaizo and Nerissa chased them behind their back.

"Which one is his car now?!" Kaizo questioned

"Probably the front!" Nerissa replied

"My Lady! I scanned the two cars in front of us and no signs of Guzik!" Grandia informed her.

"And the other?!" She shouts.

"I couldn't scan them because they're too far from my reach!" Grandia answered her.

A few miles in front of those cars, there is an intersection. There's a high chance they will split up to fool them both.

"Are you sure, Nerissa?!" He shouts.

"I hope so!" Nerissa said half-aloud.

And just like he predicted, they split up. Two cars went to the right side, and the other two took a left. But Kaizo witnessed the front car take the left road. Yet he isn't very sure because Guzik could be in any vehicle.

"They're trying to fool us!" She shouts.

"We'll take a left!"

He turns his sportbike to the left. Nerissa is a little bit terrified about how he uses his vehicle.

They both saw a person come out of the car window. He pulls out a black rifle and ready himself to aim. Nerissa felt rocked back, and she summons a small blood shield with her hands in front of the bike to protect themselves.

The guard shots at them several times, yet its bullets couldn't pass the shield. Then, another person came out from the other window and pulled a bazooka-like rifle. It shoots a giant laser bomb at the protection and the road, causing the bike to wobble. Kaizo tried his best to stay in the clear.

"Kaizo! Go to the side of them!" Nerissa shouts.

"What for?!" Kaizo shouts again.

"Just do it!"

He does as she says. He sprinted the bike to the right side of the car. She turns the shield to the left side and controls it with her right hand. On her left hand, she summons her blood sword. She shoves her sword deep into the car, and the guy gets stabbed.

"Gas it!" She commands Kaizo.

He twists the handlebar, and the bike sprints fast. The sword slices nearly the entire car. Until the car driver was dead, the vehicle reeled back. They both could hear the tire screeches and the sound of a car rolling on the cold asphalt. She disables her shield since nobody is shooting at them for now.

"Grandia! Did you scan it?!" Nerissa asks.

"Yes, my lady! But no signs of Cobra Guzik!" Grandia informed.

"Then he's on that car!" Kaizo said.

He twists the handlebar again. Now, they are pursuing the car on a very long bridge. Two men came out from the window along with the bazooka rifle. She summons the blood shield again. They shot it on the asphalts and against the protection. Kaizo tries his best to keep it steady.

Nerissa disables the shield and quickly chokes the two guards using her blood-bending. Then she tosses them out of the car and slams them on the asphalt, leaving the other two far from the bike. Now, nobody is shooting at them. Kaizo clenches his fist, some bright blue circles on his wrist.

"Energy Push!"

He swings his push, and large blue circles appear moving forward to the car. The car is forcibly pushed, causing it to roll onward. Kaizo slowed down his speed and watched the vehicle rolling. It stops when the car is in a reversed state. The streets are exceedingly empty at this hour. There would be no other witnesses.

Kaizo stops driving, and Nerissa quickly gets off the bike to check the broken car. She rushed there and saw the driver promptly run to the bridge fence and fell himself into the river. Fortunately, Kaizo witnessed the suicide.

"Unbelievable," Kaizo commented.

"Cobra Guzik!" Nerissa shouts her target's name.

Nerissa checked every side of the car. However, the weird thing is he isn't inside. The driver wasn't him either. It is strange, indeed. She even hesitates to tell Kaizo.

"Nothing..." Nerissa mumbles.

"Huh?" Kaizo asks.

"He's... not here," Nerissa said.

"Wha- You were sure about this!" Kaizo told her as he got off his bike and checked the car.

"Well, that's what I thought since Guzik wasn't in those two cars!" Nerissa commented. "Grandia also checked!"

"YOU SAID HE'S IN THE FRONT, NERISSA! AND NOW LOOK! HE'S NOT EVEN IN THERE! DO YOU GOT ANY EXPLANATION?!" Kaizo shouts at her.

"KAIZO! EVERY ACTION MOVIE THAT HAS CHASE SCENES IN IT ALWAYS HAS THE BOSS IN THE VERY FRONT CAR! IT'S OBVIOUS!" Nerissa shouts back at him.

"Oh, you thought this idea came from a movie scene?! How laughable!" Kaizo chuckled.

"Oh, wait! A boss always leads on the front line! So there goes my concise theory!" She points out to him.

"You two are like a fighting married couple, you know," Grandia commented to the two arguing people.

"Grandia, I swear to god-" Nerissa scolds her assistant.

"Then, he's already in the Headquarters," Kaizo said.

Nerissa went silent for a while, then realized, "Right! He's back!"

* * *

Guzik enters his office with some severe injuries on his body and messy hair. He smokes the entire way to the Headquarters. However, there seems to be a person who awaits his presence. A man in a brown suit and slick hair.

"Ah, Mr Guzik. Good to see you aga-"

Before he was about to offer his hand to shake, Guzik slapped his hand in anger and frustration.

"I guess not." He clicked his tongue.

Guzik took out his cigar and puffed. Then, he headed to the drinking bar. Took a small chilled glass and poured his whiskey.

"Diego," Guzik calls his assistant.

"He agreed with your terms. Guess he doesn't have many options, so there's no other way." He informed, "Sir?"

He tried to call out, but he saw a terrifying face on Guzik. He's trembling and breathing heavily. So much going on tonight that he wanted to collect himself before speaking.

"Are the power spheres safe?" Guzik asks, heavily breathing.

"What? They're well protected, of course." Diego answers.

"Mr. Guzik. A bad evening, I assume? May I ask why?" The brown suit man joins the chat.

"Mr. Frithjof. Apologies for my recent behavior." Guzik said.

"No worries, Sir. But what happened?" Frithjof asks.

Guzik gulps his whiskey before he can speak, "I was lured into a trap. A girl."

"A girl?"

"Yes. I suppose that girl used a fake name and a friend she called Kaizo, or so I've heard." Then, he saw Frithjof's terrified face, "What's with the face?"

Frithjof breathed heavily, and he was very terrified. He gulps the whiskey he has.

"S-Sir. Remember the story I've told you before?" Frithjof asks.

"Which one?" Guzik pours another alcohol into his glass.

"The legendary space rebel." Frithjof answers.

"That. What about it?" He said, putting the whiskey bottle on the shelf.

"Captain Kaizo... is that legendary space rebel."

Silence. That's the atmosphere in that room. Guzik's right-hand trembles as he sips his whiskey. He walks to his painting on the wall with windows beside it. He throws his glass at the picture in frustration. Diego and Frithjof just flinched at the sudden sound.

"God fucking damn it!!" Guzik waves of anger.

"Wha-What is it, sir?!" Firthjof worried.

"I told those two... about the power spheres!!" Guzik confessed.

Diego just stands there and watches Frithjof and his boss shouting. He stared out the window, and he witnessed something weird. Two people are jumping on rooftops. They came forward very fast and got close.

"Sir!" Diego alerted.

A man and girl jumped into the room and broke the entire window. Once they arrived on the floor, the man summons his energy blade.

All the guards in the room are about to shoot the girl. Before they could even pull the trigger, the girl chokes them with blood and slams them to the hard wall. Making them unconscious and passed out. The man slashed Diego and watched him die.

They heard the guards coming on their way. The girl quickly summons her blood wall with her magic. Frithjof quickly backs off to the wall, and Guzik is very terrified.

"Y-Yo-You're... Captain K-Kaizo!" Frithjof stutters.

"Cobra Guzik. Where are the power spheres?" Kaizo asks.

Guzik chuckled for a bit, "Captain Kaizo. Very pleased to finally meet you. I've never thought I let go of you because you were the staff. How foolish of me, indeed."

"Yeah. You are." The girl commented.

"Nell... Good to see you again, traitor bitch."

"Nell, huh? Bold of you to call me with that name."

Nerissa suddenly heard a loud terrified shriek from Frithjof.

"You-You killed my men! Wh-Who the fuck are you?!" He shouts at Nerissa.

"Do not raise your voice at me, boy!" Nerissa scolded him.

Felt offended by the way she called him "boy" he tried to stand up, "I-I'm not a boy! I'm a grown-up man!"

"Then be like one." She said.

"Cobra Guzik. You used two power spheres for illegal purposes. In exchange, we will exterminate you and return the power spheres to the safe hands." Kaizo said.

"No, no, no-"

Kaizo immediately slashed Guzik with his energy sword. Left him unconscious. Easily defeated. Then he saw the power spheres being displayed. Kaizo approaches the display. He took out his tablet and scanned them.

Nerissa looked bored holding the blood wall and watching Frithjof terrified about what he had just witnessed.

"Now, as for you," Nerissa calls him.

"Wha?! What are you going to do with me?! P-Pl-Please have mercy!" Frithjof cried out.

"Oh, don't worry, old man. I will give you mercy."

Nerissa pressed his forehead with her thumb. Her red eyes start to gleam. She accesses his memory sequences and starts removing everything he saw earlier.

He passed out, and her gleaming eyes slowly faded out. She stood up and approached her captain.

"So? What do we get?" Nerissa asks.

"I got their names," Kaizo said.

"What is it?"

"Realibot is a power sphere that gives the person the desired reality. And, Futurebot, a power sphere that allows seeing a possible future." Kaizo informs her.

"Alright, let's take it," Nerissa said.

Kaizo took Realibot and Nerissa took Futurebot. They both jumped out of the window and fell from high. Nerissa summons a red portal, and the wall in his office automatically disappears.

Kaizo and Nerissa fell into the portal and arrived on a rooftop.

"Well, that's one hell of a fall." Nerissa commented, and she felt a cold breeze, "Huh... It's already dawn?"

"Where are we now?" Kaizo asks.

"We are now..." She said as she looked around. She saw the mafia HQ far away, "Well, I could say we wouldn't be seen."

"Alright, good."

Suddenly, the power spheres they hold are activated.

"Are... Are you TAPOPS?" Futurebot asks.

She and Kaizo looked at each other in confusion.

"Uuhh... Yes? We're from TAPOPS." She answers.

Realibot gasps after it sees the person who holds it, "You... You're Captain Kaizo! Realibot, we did it!"

"Why, hello." Kaizo greeted in a low tone.

"Wooww... So popular." Nerissa mocked him.

"Thank you so much for saving us!"

"No worries." As she patted Futurebot's head, Nerissa said, "Now, I assume mission accomplished?"

"You could say that," Kaizo smirks.

"Great." She smiles.

Kaizo calls Lahap with his watch, "Lahap! Get the engine started. We're done here."

"Roger, Captain!"

***

The spaceship now moves at a very high speed towards its destination. The Tempur-A Station. Nerissa is amazed, looking at the colorful stardust from the window. Kaizo stood up beside his pilot, Lahap.

"Are we being followed?" Kaizo asks Lahap.

"So far, nothing is tailing behind us, Captain." said the purple alien.

"Good." He said.

"How was your first mission, Vice-captain?" Lahap asks Nerissa.

"I think I did good back then," Nerissa said while caressing Futurebot's head, "Well, although there were some misleads."

"Is that true, Captain?" Lahap asks.

"Yes."

The alien asks again, "What kind of misleads?"

Kaizo crosses his hand, "That is something you don't need to know."

"How did you two even meet, actually?" Lahap said while steering.

"Long story short, she saved me. Then, I took her in." Kaizo told him.

"Really? Why did you even accept it?" He questions the girl.

"Well, I might be bored if I stay on Earth and do nothing. When he asked me to join his cause, I thought this was good timing for me to shine." Nerissa explains.

"Then, you'll be a great help for us. Just, one thing, don't disobey Captain Kaizo." Lahap warned her.

"Disobey Captain Kaizo?" She glances at her captain, "Oh, don't worry about that, I won't."

"I'm serious, Nerissa. He would punish anyone who disobeyed him, without a doubt." Lahap warns her again.

Nerissa puts Futurebot aside and then walks beside Kaizo. She grasped his shoulder and said, "Like I said, Lahap, nothing to worry about." She laughs nervously at the pissed captain, "L-like what?"

"Oh, one day, he punished Fang for not following his orders," Lahap told her.

She gasps in disbelief, "Kaizo! Without hesitation?! What a bad brother."

"I know, right." The alien chuckles.

"Whatever. Looks like you two get along very well." Kaizo said in a pissed tone.

Kaizo glances at the two power spheres being deactivated. He picked up Realibot.

"Nerissa." He called her out.

"Hm?" Nerissa glances at the sound source.

"Take Futurebot and come with me." He commands.

"Okie-Dokie."

***

"So, this is where we'll keep these?" She asks.

"Yes."

They both entered some kind of particular room for power spheres. It is covered with dark panels with cyan lines with a huge window. Kaizo and Nerissa place the power spheres in their chambers.

"Good." Kaizo breathed.

"Um... Kaizo."

"What?"

"Can I... talk to you? For a bit?" Nerissa asks.

"What about?" Kaizo leans on the window

Nerissa crossed her hands and said, "Look, I'm sorry for being dramatic when we were at the club."

"What do you mean by being dramatic?" Kaizo confused.

"You know, me, tearing up after casted Guzik." She giggled nervously, "Stupid of me, I know."

Remembering what happened back then only made Kaizo hurt on the inside. He honestly doesn't want to recall it. Especially when he witnessed the two in the room.

"Yeah. Very stupid, Indeed." Kaizo commented.

"Then, I'll take that as an apology accepted." She nods to herself.

"And don't say that name again." He demanded.

"Who? Guzik?"

"Please," Kaizo scoffed, "Just don't."

"Why?" Nerissa questioned, "I mean, he's dead."

"Yes, but..." He looked away from Nerissa.

She tried to look at his face, "But, what?", Then she realized, "A-Are you still jealous about that?!"

"Yes!! I am!" He shouts at her, "Did you forget what he had done to you?!"

"Yeah, I know I was careless! I didn't even imagine he would do that! Alright, I understand. I'm the reason why you became so jealous!" She shouts back.

"Oh, great! You finally realized! Perfect!"

"Indeed!"

They both faced away from each other. Still mad about what happened back then. Nerissa wanted to say sorry about it. She felt hesitant. Don't know how to express it adequately. Kaizo, on the other hand, wanted to erase all of his feelings at this moment. He tried to let it all out.

"Another question, if I may." Nerissa requested.

Kaizo faces her, "Go ahead."

"Actually, I wanted to make things clear about us." She says, heavily breathing.

"What things?"

She could feel her breath shaking and how nervous she was. She gathered all her strength to this question.

"What are we, Kaizo?"

"Huh?" He confused.

"This time... we've played around like there was nothing between us. I've been waiting for myself to question this, yet the timing was good." She inhales, "It's just... I wanted to make sure of it."

"You wanted to know?" Kaizo stood closer to her.

She nods as an answer. Kaizo inhales and is prepared to answer.

"We're co-workers, Nerissa."

Nerissa could not believe the words that had just come out of his mouth. She glances her face away from his eyes. Her vision became blurry, and she tried to fight back the tears.

"Co-workers," She thought to herself.

"Do co-workers kiss each other, Kaizo?" She questions him.

"No. But, Nerissa..." He held her.

"Then, friends with benefits?" She scoffs, "Looks like you forgot that night, huh! You're the one who initiated it first!" She tried to resist him.

"Wait, Nerissa. Listen to me!"

"To think I'm the only one who had feelings for you! I'm so stupid!"

"I ALSO HAD THOSE FEELINGS, NERISSA!"

Nerissa stops her movements. Did she just hear it correctly?

"W-What?" She disbeliefs.

"Ever since that night at Tempur-A, right after we kissed! I don't know what I felt back then, but something inside myself was shaken! I don't even know why!! Whenever I noticed your whole being, those feelings kept back at me! And now this, you being kissed by another fucking guy other than me, and you nearly did it with him! I hate to remember that again or even to think about it!! I thought this was just some damn jealousy, but no! Later I thought to myself, 'Oh! Maybe this is because I love you, that's why!! Because you are being who you are! So, here I am, standing right in front of you, releasing all of my goddamn feelings I've been holding this whole time for you, Nerissa!!"

Kaizo lost his breath, shouting his confession. All of his pent-up feelings are finally let out. He could feel the pressure he held in his heart slowly fades away. He is somehow relieved.

"You did it, Kaizo!" He thought to himself.

Kaizo looked up at her face to see what she thought. He was suddenly shocked after he saw Nerissa teared up.

"N-Nerissa?! W-What's wrong?!" His hands touched her shoulders.

She sniffles, "What's wrong, you said?! You scared me to death, Kaizo!", She slapped him.

"Look, I'm sorry for shouting at you. Please.." He touches her face and gently wipes her tears with his thumb.

"Not that. I always wondered why did you kiss me in the first place. I thought I was the only one who loved you this whole time. When you said that we're just co-workers... My heart feels like it shatters."

Kaizo suddenly kisses her soft and tender lips. She returns the kiss, and tears run down her cheeks. Kaizo felt a different taste when he kisses her.

"You cheated." He commented.

"Took you long enough." She smiles.

"I love you, Nerissa."