Takeda Himeko was rather satisfied with the way her life had turned out, working at a tender balance between her secretary work and visiting her family with decent frequency. 

Family came first, which was exactly why Himeko put her surname first. No one else in the highly Americanized family did, but Himeko was quite the oddball in her family in many ways.

However, she had been called into the boss's office today. The man was a mystery, for an understandable reason: No one ever seemed to see his face after the interview. He conducted each one personally, but after that he demanded to be left entirely to himself at all times. Himeko handled everything via text and email, with occasional Skype conversations for the more important things.

Being called into the man's office was unheard of.

This could not be good.

---------

Within moments, Himeko had straightened her skirt and stood in the doorway. She had certainly misremembered the man: gone was the well-groomed professional. 

Christopher Knoll was dressed in a fairly typical suit, rather poorly maintained. He was also reading "The Nine Romances of Lumine", and Himeko had a sinking feeling it wasn't the censored version. 

It was quite the interesting book, actually- exactly eighty-one chapters, nine upon each other deity in the pantheon. Despite its concept, which sounded like the plot to a bad porno (notably, that Magia, King of the Gods, makes a bet with Lumine that she cannot sexually satisfy every deity in the heavens within a month), the novel was extremely well-written, considering the twist that Lumine explicitly romance all of the other members of the pantheon rather than simply using her great strength to achieve her goal. 

Himeko had not actually read the uncensored version since she was a horny teenager, but remembered it catering to every major fetish under the sun at the point in time it was written. It was interesting as, despite being an ancient book from a culture that vanished extremely quickly, it had been translated into every major language the world over. Good pornography was universal, she supposed. 

"Ah, Ms. Takeda," Mr. Knoll said quietly, not looking up from his book, "a lover of books?"

"It stems from a love of knowledge, sir," Himeko nodded.

"Well, then it seems I chose the right person for this assignment," Mr. Knoll said. "We have . . . issues with the Research and Development rooms being responsible for massive leak into several of the office suites. I need you to determine how much I am to be sued for, inevitably."

Takeda Himeko found the offer interesting, and pressed further. "What, exactly, would I be doing?"

"Asset management," Mr. Knoll replied, his voice dull. "Our . . . Unbound assets. Just saying that word disgusts me."

Himeko knew when she took on a career here that Knoll had no sympathy for the Unbound, and clung to outdated belief that they were monsters. In fact, his bigotry spread so far as to repeatedly propose that Unbound be stripped of human rights. But referring to them as assets . . .

"You can't exactly call them 'assets' unless we own them, Mr. Knoll," Himeko said cautiously. 

Mr. Knoll smiled darkly. "But I do own the assets," he replied. 

Mr. Knoll was rather cryptic regarding what he had meant by that, so Himeko had had no choice but to follow him down to R & D.

Once entering the door, they were in a small, rectangular room, smelling strongly of disinfectant and decorated with hypodermic syringes by the thousands, all filled with the same fluid, which vaguely resembled antifreeze. 

"This," Mr. Knoll explained, injecting himself with one, "is something the boys down here have spent the last three years developing. It provides a temporary immunity to Unbound abilities . . . and, if used on an Unbound, permanently robs them of said immunity." He offered one to Himeko, giving a hand signal to inject herself with the fluid.

Every bone in the young woman's body screamed that this was dangerous, but complied. Suddenly, she felt very cold. Extremely isolated. Horribly, horribly vulnerable. 

"Don't worry," Mr. Knoll laughed- a horrible, raspy sound with no real humor in it, "it always feels bad the first time. You'll find that it bothers you less the more you do it." With that, he opened the internal door, and motioned for Himeko to follow. 

"You see," he said, pulling a pair of surgical gloves from the suit jacket's pocket and donning them, "I've come to a bit of an accords with the police department. I make rather generous donations, and any criminals who just so happen to be Unbound monsters are brought here, rather than prison. It is quite the merciful thing, really, as here they are guaranteed to be under the strictest of supervision- the best of care. And this lab can analyze every bit of what goes into making an Unbound."

Himeko nodded, keeping up just barely- not only was Mr. Knoll a full foot and a half taller than her, mostly in the legs, but he was going as quickly as he could in a fashion that could still vaguely be called "walking", and Himeko was in heels, as per her mother's advice. "Sir, I was just wondering what the damage could be. Everything looks clean, well-kept, and organized."

"Good question," Mr. Knoll said softly. "Hence why I brought you in. We've determined the Unbound that caused the damage, at least, but it isn't one we know the capabilities of, nor has it seen fit to cooperate. You, Ms. Takeda, have proven to have an excellent bedside manner," Mr. Knoll said, stopping in front of one of the large steel doors. "I learned this through surveying your coworkers. In any case, there is only one thing I must ask of you: get this Unbound to admit to the destruction it's caused. Get it to tell me how it happened."

Himeko nodded. "And how will I be compensated for doing something not within my job description?"

"Until such time as it seems necessary for you to stop, you are to receive double your current pay," Mr. Knoll said, his position offered.

"Agreed," Himeko said, walking through the heavy door.

She had standards, yes, but in an economy like this, double pay was not rejected. Himeko stepped into the room. 

Beyond the heavy metal door was a padded cell- or, rather, what remained of one. The white padding was utterly ravaged in many areas, leaving a sobbing form in the corner sitting on exposed cold steel.

"P- please . . . no more needles, no more pain, NO MORE BUZZER!" A young brunette in a straightjacket began slamming her body against the exposed metal of the floor, apparently trying to dig her way out with her face.

"I'm . . . I'm not here to hurt you. I just would like to ask some questions," Himeko asked quietly. Everything about this was disturbing.

Himeko turned the insane situation around in her head. Her options boiled down to either continuing here, doing her job, and getting out, or bailing and calling someone. 

The young woman couldn't believe how filthy she felt; she made the mercenary decision. 

"Questions?" The brunette asked. She rolled to the side, giving Himeko a look at her face- flushed with fear, cut and bruised by her earlier efforts, and misshapen, perhaps due to whatever the "buzzer" was. However, Himeko couldn't help but be drawn to her eyes- one orb of crystalline blue, the other a cloudy gray. "What . . . what questions?" Himeko couldn't help but take pity on the poor young woman. 

"Let's start with your name," Himeko said, embracing her humanity.

"My . . . my name? A- A- April. I was April," the young woman said. "They- I can't . . ."

"Was?" Himeko asked. "You can still be April. Hello, April. I am Takeda Himeko. I hope you can tell me everything I need to know."

"Hi . . . me . . . ko . . ." April said quietly. 

Himeko nodded. "Yes, that's my name," she said, smiling. "I'm surprised you knew how to pick out my given name."

"M- my friend was Korean. I know Asian names," April attempted to smile. "Is Kim alright?"

Himeko sighed. "I wouldn't know. I just found out about you today."

"Oh," April murmured, immediately depressed again.

"Do you know what your Unbound ability is?" Himeko asked- she figured she should get everything necessary out of the way.

April's eyes began to tear up. "I didn't even know I was an Unbound. I thought I was a normal person, living like everybody else." She sniffed, beginning to cry. "Before that, I wanted to be a singer. Fans everywhere, making people happy . . ."

Himeko nodded. "I'd heard some Unbound don't realize what they're capable of until they've already grown up. You're in the minority."

"Great," she muttered, "I'm a freak among freaks."

Himeko smiled at her. "That's not what I meant. You're special. You have something most Unbound- let alone most people- have." She had to shift the subject. "Do you have any idea what your ability could be?"

"None," April answered sadly. "I go to sleep, I have nightmares, and then I wake up with more of this place destroyed." She stared blankly at a dangling strip of padding on the ceiling. "The orderlies clean up the damage every so often. Before they start, though, they jab me with a needle. Then the buzzer." April's eyes glazed over, the tears freely flowing.

Himeko listened to April, paying rapt attention. "This needle- it's filled with a green, almost clear stuff, right?"

April nodded, still staring at the wall.

So much for being something permanent, Himeko thought. "What is the buzzer?"

April shook her head, as if clearing it, and looked at Himeko in confusion. "It's a little black box. It makes this horrible, horrible noise . . . and then I can't move . . ." The brunette shook like a leaf, unwilling to relate more.

Himeko narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Do the orderlies . . . do anything to you with the buzzer on?" The Japanese woman had to know. It was more than a morbid curiosity-it seemed important she know. 

"Sometimes," April whispered, "they hit me while I can't fight back." The young woman shook in fear, putting a hand to her swollen face.

Himeko internally sighed in relief that that was all- and then immediately berated herself. That much was too much. Himeko was prepared to advise Mr. Knoll that, if he wanted cooperative test subjects, he'd need  to start treating them with a modicum of respect (she'd internally decided that he wouldn't hear out cries for the humanity of Unbound, and this was the next best thing).The room's gloom and the broken young woman before her were starting to seriously overwhelm Himeko. 

"I'll see you next week. Maybe things will improve around here," Himeko said quietly, stepping out of the room.

In the moment Himeko closed the door, she heard five words that nearly drove her to tears. 

"How long is a week?" April asked, in innocent desperation.