Universal Power System

Erin quickly rushed after Andrew, asking the nurses on their rounds whether they had seen a person with their description walk through but had no luck getting any useful information.

By the time she exited the building and went to see if she could find him near the entrance, Andrew was already long gone and so was the mysterious girl who had been giggling on the bench right next to the main gate.

Bill's words were still fresh in her heart and so she didn't give up hope and decided to check all the common spots where Andrew could have possibly gone.

She checked her dorm but he wasn't there. She tried to visit the Special Martial Arts class that Andrew had chosen as his special class course but he wasn't there either.

She checked the cafeteria and every single training room in the entire complex but still, there was no sign of Andrew anywhere.

By now Erin's hope was starting to falter, she used different routes as she went from location to location to try and cover as much ground as possible but still had no luck finding him.

By the end of her long search, she found herself by the large fountain that was located exactly in the middle of the advanced class complex.

Erin had finally had enough and broke down in tears alone on the bench as she couldn't believe how something so cruel could happen to her in such a short span of time.

She and Andrew had always had a good relationship and they were always playful and open to each other. Of course, she would see him less than what she would have wanted as she had to commit to her training and the crucial mission that was entrusted to them by their commander.

She had felt quite bad in her heart to keep Andrew out of the loop as he wasn't part of the group and they couldn't risk compromising their mission by revealing the mission to him.

Despite that Andrew had never shown her any signs of being distrusting or sad from her actions.

It all had begun just today after he had surprisingly disappeared after the announcement in class was over and hadn't said a word to anyone. She wasn't able to see him anywhere on her way to Bill and was surprised to see him find her and immediately dump her over a misunderstanding.

Something definitely wasn't adding up as Andrew was never like this; however, in her shock of the whole situation, she didn't even stop to think about the facts.

*****************

Erin sat alone on the bench beside the fountain with her face covered with her hands to hide the tears that were falling down her face.

She felt as if her whole world had just crumbled in front of her in mere hours.

Just then she felt a warm and soft touch on her shoulder. Erin hadn't even removed her hands to look at who had approached her but she felt a sense of relief and odd happiness, the moment the hand came in contact with her.

Erin quickly looked up to find none other than Mako who had his hand placed on her shoulder. Erin's teary eyes widened with shock as the blur in her vision due to the tears slowly faded and she was able to see Mako limping and covered in small injuries from head to toe. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Mako!? What happened to you?" Erin asked in worry to which Mako just likely chuckled.

"I told you I had a plan to get our third member for the special exam," Mako said with a light smile on her face.

Erin was in so much shock and surprise after seeing Mako's condition that her mouth remained open but she could not utter any words.

"Forget about me? What the hell happened to you?" Mako asked as he took a seat beside Erin he still hadn't fully recovered and didn't have the strength to remain standing after walking around for so long.

Erin explained to Mako what had happened back in the recovery room and how Andrew had been able to find her with Bill and dump her on the spot.

"Well, that explains the text I received..." Mako said as he pulled out his card.

On it, the latest message that he had received was from Bill. It wasn't their usual encrypted message which was a bit odd but even weirder than that was the fact that Bill had sent him a message.

******************

Moments after Bill had told Erin to go after Andrew, he quickly began spamming the tiny buzzer that the nurses had placed in between his index finger and thumb which could be pressed with the slightest of movement and would give an alert to an attending nurse that he was in need of their help.

A female nurse quickly opened the door and entered the recovery room to see what Bill wanted only for him to be crying and begging her to quickly pick up his card and send an

important message.

The faculty and staff of the military base weren't allowed to interact much with the student's personal items, especially their student cards.

However, with how much Bill was begging her and telling her that it was very important, the nurse caved in and picked up his student card.

Bill gave her the passcode and told her to message a student named 'Mako' in his contacts.

"Tell him to find Erin as quickly as possible and that she could be anywhere in the complex by now. Tell him that she desperately needs someone by her side and it is extremely urgent," Bill explained to the nurse who quickly drafted the message and sent it to Mako.

On the other side of the complex, Mako had just finished receiving Magnus' scolding and was about to head back to his dorm room for a much-needed shower and rest to allow his body to heal and recover in time for their meeting later tonight.

He had just taken two steps out of the building when he received the text from Bill and he quickly read its contents.

After having expended all of his energy and stamina in his duel against Alexi, Mako barely had any energy left, but after understanding the severity of the situation, he gave out a long sigh before beginning his search for Erin.

Bill specifically added in the text that the situation was very fragile and not to tell any of the other members of the group just yet.

It would have been so much faster for Mako if he could have asked for Leon's help to use his Speed ability and quickly find Erin, but also he wasn't able to. He decided to trust in Bill's word and set out to find her himself.

Luckily he didn't have to search for too long as on his way to the third location where he thought Erin might be, he was able to spot her sitting alone on a bench beside the big fountain in the center of the complex.

******************

Erin quickly understood why Bill had done that. Seeing how much his life had been affected after losing someone he loved, Bill knew exactly what Erin was going through and in order to prevent her from sinking into the same pit that he had just now been able to climb out of, he quickly reached out to Mako to be there for her.

Erin had completely broken down in tears in front of Mako and he quickly hugged and consoled her, telling her that it wasn't her fault and that this wasn't over just yet.

He patiently waited for her to calm down and told her that he would see to it that she and Andrew were able to talk it out like real adults and that she didn't have to worry at all. Mako knew that it wasn't coincidental that Andrew had just happened to find where Erin was especially since no one in the class knew why Bill hadn't been present lately in class, and even though he wasn't his closest friends they still had regular conversations and Mako knew that Andrew wasn't the type of guy to do such a thing completely out of the blue.

He knew there was some reason behind all of this that he didn't know at the moment and it would only make sense once he would be able to hear Andrew's side of the story and his reasoning to act out in such a harsh and cruel way.

"I think it will be best for both of you to keep some distance from each other for a couple of days, just enough for both of your emotions to die down so that you can talk with a cooled head," Mako suggested to Erin.

Erin was reluctant at first but quickly understood that Mako was making sense as right now both she and Andrew were in a bad state of mind to meet and talk. It would definitely be for the best for them to wait and talk things out like mature people.

"Thank you, Mako..." Erin said with genuine gratefulness in her heart as she felt so lucky to have found such great friends.

'And thank you too, Bill...' Erin said in her thoughts as she would forget what Bill had done for

her as well.

******************

Some distance away from where Mako and Erin were sitting on the bench, two girls groaned in anger and disdain as they quietly walked away from the scene being unsuccessful. "What was that?! Why was she not falling under your influence?" The first girl snapped at the second on their walk back.

"I'm not sure..." The other girl replied coldly with a hint of irritation. "She was already being swarmed with negative emotions, It shouldn't have taken too long for you to break her," The first girl continued to berate the other girl after failing so miserably. "What did you think I was trying to do, you bitch!? This whole thing was your plan so you tell me what had gone wrong because the moment that boy approached her, all the negative energy and emotions surrounding her completely disappeared in an instant!" The other girls snapped back at the first girl, not having a single second more of her annoying attitude. The first girl groaned internally as she couldn't believe he was able to show up once again at the perfect time to ruin her plans.

"I don't know either... but we have to salvage what we can from this. We still have that cutie under our grasp that we can use," The first girl replied.