Elvira stepped through the metal frame, wild hair clinging to the steel door as it swung open. She fussed with her head, splashing water on her hands and patting down the mayhem as best she could. Hitori followed behind, taking the door and gently guiding it shut.

Hah, she looks like a cotton ball.

His hair managed to avoid complete disarray, owing to the generous application of product he used. Still, a few strands broke free, and were floating above his head. He coaxed them back into position.

“Electrified’s a great look on you,” Hitori said. Elvira hissed at him and he laughed.

“Thanks to your shenanigans I lost my hair pin,” she said.

“You mean this?”

“Ah, give it!” She snatched it from his hands. “Uh, I mean, thanks.” She smiled. “I was rather fond of that one. Still, that game was terrible.”

“That why you were laughing your ass off a minute ago?”

“It’s more fun when you’re getting zapped.”

“Hey, I told you they were mischievous.” Hitori grinned.

“No you did— uh, ok, I guess, but not directly.”

“Consider it a lesson, gotta pay attention to every detail, stay on your toes.”

“I’m sure that’s what you were going for,” Elvira said. Hitori grinned impishly. They approached an elevator, and Elvira pushed the button to summon it. “Anyway, fine, maybe it was a little fun, but why does Nova have so many metas? Was that a normal training thing you guys do?”

“Oh, no, that was an unsanctioned ‘game’ devised and executed by ‘children’ for ‘fun’ of course,” Hitori said. Elvira gave him a dry look while they boarded the cab. “On a totally unrelated note, recently cities have started accusing mercenary groups of breeding and releasing praepotent metafauna to generate business.”

“Praepotent?”

“A fancy way of saying very powerful. There’s some details and theories and stuff, but nothing important.”

Elvira hemmed. “Shouldn’t you not have them at all then?”

“It’s too late for that. What are we going to do now, kill them? To satisfy urban paranoia?” Hitori waved his hand dismissively. “They’ll drop it in a few years anyway, Mr. Foster is only trying to keep the peace. As long as we’re not training with them we can claim they’re here for study.”

“I guess,” Elvira said. They waited in silence as the elevator slid to a stop and the doors opened. They walked out. “You could get rid of them, let them go or something.”

“I don’t think doing what the cities claim we’re doing is going to convince them we’re not doing it,” Hitori said.

“Yeah, I totally understood that.” Elvira laughed.

“Put more clearly, because we’ve had these metafauna so long, they are, technically, praepotent. Pierre alone could kill a hundred D-Ranks.”

“What’s a D-Rank?” Elvira asked.

“Are you familiar with CAST?” Hitori said.

“Some kind of mercenary logistics thing, right?”

“Close enough. In it, combatants are grouped according to their threat rating, with D-Rank being one level above a normal adult. You’d probably fall somewhere around C.”

Elvira nodded and laughed. “I think I vaguely remember Li explaining this.” She glanced behind her. “I assume Pierre is the sparky little brat. Is he really that powerful?”

“He’s more skilled than powerful. The game’s a lot harder when he’s the one chasing you.”

“Does he use techs or something?”

“No, metafauna can’t use techs, unless they have a human shape. Like, do you remember those wolf creatures from yesterday, the Lupins?” Hitori asked. Elvira nodded. “They can, at least if they figure out how.”

“So, if Molniya can’t use techs, then how is, uh, Pierre able to catch up, heck, how are regular metas dangerous at all?”

“Artes, mostly, but outside humans restructors are free to make drastic changes. You’d be surprised how useful an extra twenty tons can be in a fight.”

Elvira laughed. “It barely sounds helpful at all, really.” They walked a moment in silence, before Elvira said, “I’m not saying you should, but still, couldn’t you like, you know…”

“Kill them?”

“I was going to say euthanize, but yeah, basically.”

“Wouldn’t that be a waste? The cities are going to drop it in a few years. They’ll get into another hot mess and then mercenaries will be true Esperian heroes, for a little while.”

“It’s not like you can’t capture more.”

“I suppose.” He glanced at Elvira. “That’d be a lot of extra work, and, uh…”

“You know, it kinda sounds”—she met Hitori’s eyes—“sentimental.”

Hitori started laughing, but abruptly quieted at a look on her face. “Ah, yes, maybe we can be a little sentimental sometimes.” He spend a moment studying her. “That doesn’t mean we don’t think you’ll be useful.”

“And that’s better?” Elvira said.

“Is it?” Hitori asked. They stopped walking and matched gazes.

Elvira flinched. “I don’t know! Whatever, I’m tired.” Elvira walked off at a clip, her eyes locked forward. Hitori watched her leave before continuing.

What’s her problem?