Leo found himself on the indoor balcony of the underground Resistance base, watching operatives train in the hall below.
Each person moved with purpose, some sparring, others practicing with their abilities. Their coordination spoke of discipline and Trust, something Leo had always avoided in his solitary career.
He flexed his fingers, watching as tiny wisps of shadows moved between them before dissipating. It had been three days since he'd woken up in the medical facility with Neo and Marcus, three days since he'd heard the Warden's voice in his head.
They cannot contain us.
The memory sent a chill down his spine. Despite the calmness he felt now, he had an unsettling understanding of the current situation, something fundamental had changed within him.
"Quite the view, isn't it?" a voice said from behind.
Leo turned to find Kaori standing there, her posture perfect as always. Unlike their previous encounters, she wasn't wearing her tight bodysuit but instead a simple, loose black training outfit that couldn't hide her figure.
She joined him at the railing, letting silence settle between them. It wasn't comfortable, but it wasn't hostile either, just two people watching the scene below.
"You've been avoiding me," she finally said, her eyes still on the training floor.
"I've been avoiding everyone," Leo shrugged. "Needed time to think."
"And have you reached a decision? About Neo's offer?"
Leo's jaw tightened. "Would it matter? According to her, I'm 'involved whether I like it or not.'"
Kaori smiled slightly. "She has a way with words."
Another silence stretched between them, broken only by the sounds of combat from below. A young woman with gravity manipulation abilities was floating several training dummies, while her partner practiced shooting the targets.
"You know, just like you, all of us here have a reason for doing what we do." Kaori said suddenly.
"I was ten when the GPA came for my family," she said after a brief pause, her voice was so quiet Leo had to lean closer to hear. "We lived in a compound with other Yamashita clan members. It was peaceful."
Leo looked at her, surprised by the personal revelation. Kaori had never struck him as the type to share willingly.
"They came at night," she continued. "My mother used her powers to hide me beneath the floorboards before they took her. I could hear everything, their boots on the wooden floors, the screams, the crystal shattering." Her fingers tightened on the railing. "The official report called it an accident, but it was a planned operation to capture people with crystal abilities."
As an accomplished Journalist, Leo had naturally known of the GPAs hidden agendas. "I'm sorry," He said simply.
"For six years, I lived in hiding, teaching myself to control what little power I had." Her eyes remained fixed on the training below, but Leo sensed she was seeing something else entirely. "At sixteen, some people helped me hone my abilities, taught me to coat my body in diamond armor."
'That's how she deflects attacks,' Leo realized, remembering her fight with Vale's mercenaries.
"By eighteen, I wore the GPA's uniform. At twenty, I burned it" Kaori said fiercely.
"Know your enemy," she continued. "I rose through their ranks, all while searching for information about my family."
Leo watched as she unconsciously rubbed her wrist.
"On my twentieth birthday, I found documents proving the GPA had executed my father and tortured my mother to study our family's powers." Her voice remained calm, but her hands angrily squeezed the railing. "That night, I made sure to encase fifty high-ranking officers in crystal orbs and burn their western facility to the ground."
"And formed the Resistance," Leo concluded.
"Not immediately. Revenge wasn't enough." She finally turned to look at him directly. "The Resistance exists to prevent others from suffering as I did… as many of us did."
Below them, a new pair of operatives had taken the training floor. One manipulated electrical currents while the other created force fields to contain the sparking energy.
"Why are you telling me this?" Leo asked.
"Because I brought you in for your espionage skills and rebellious nature," Kaori answered frankly. "But then you came back carrying something from the Shadow Realm, and I questioned if it was a mistake."
Leo felt the shadows stir within him at her words. "You think I'm a liability."
"I think you're dangerous," she corrected. "But so am I. So is Neo. Power always is."
A training dummy below exploded into pieces as an operative miscalculated their strength. Instructors rushed in to correct them.
"Did you know," Kaori said, gesturing at the scene, "that powers come from the Green Light Event? It left Lumina energy in the atmosphere. Only some people awaken because their bodies can absorb and activate Lumina cells."
Leo nodded. "Basic history. Everyone knows that."
"But not everyone knows that rank is determined by Lumina cell concentration," she continued. "More cells equal stronger abilities and higher rank."
"Like your three star, A-rank crystal manipulation," Leo said.
"Exactly. And first-generation Awakened, like me, pass abilities through bloodlines." She touched her wrist where her marking lay hidden. "These markings indicate a stable, inheritable ability."
Leo remembered the marking on his arm. He rubbed it, realizing what it signified.
While people would randomly develop powers that could sometimes be similar to others, there were those who would generate abilities that would spread exclusively amongst their bloodline, with no one outside that lineage ever receiving that power. These individuals often gained a special marking somewhere on their body when their abilities awakened.
We call these people First-generation Awakened.
Kaori's eyes sharpened with interest. "Shadow abilities have no known classification in our records. Therefore you should just be a random awakened but the marking ton you states otherwise."
"My mark appeared before I even gained these shadow powers," Leo said bitterly. "I guess that makes me an anomaly."
"You're unique," Kaori corrected. "And potentially valuable to our cause, if you choose to help us."
Leo ran a hand through his hair, considering everything. "The GPA and Vale will hunt me regardless, won't they?"
"Yes. With or without the Resistance, you're already at war."
"And the... thing inside me? The Warden's voice I heard?"
Kaori's expression darkened slightly. "We have specialists who might help with that, too."
Leo stared at his hand. The truth was, he couldn't fight alone, not the GPA, not Vale, and certainly not whatever had followed him from the Shadow Realm.
"If I join you," he said slowly, "I do it my way. I'm not a soldier."
"We're not asking you to be," Kaori replied. "We need your investigative skills as much as your emerging powers."
Leo took a deep breath. "Then I'm in."
Kaori nodded, satisfied. She understood what his choice meant, this wasn't a moment for rejoicing but for solemn acceptance of the battles ahead.
"Training starts tomorrow," she said, pushing away from the railing.
As she turned to leave, she paused, offering one final thought: "You might not trust us yet, but you'll find that fighting alone is the surest way to lose."