“Hi, Hanako,” Jessica said with a smile as she walked into the small atrium where the young Korean girl was tending to her plants.
“Hello, Jessica,
it is good to see you again, and in good spirits too.” Hanako said with a smile of her own.
Jessica kneeled next to Hanako and marveled as she watched a wilting rose flourish and bloom as Hanako held her hand near it.
“That’s quite the green thumb you have,” Jessica commented.
“My name means Flower Child,
so it’s only fitting that I live up to my namesake,” Hanako said.
“Tell me, Jessica, what can I do for you?” she asked.
“Well, Hannah thought it would be a good idea to get to know you guys,
and you’re the first person I’ve seen, so you get to go first,” she explained.
“I see, what would you like to know about me?” Hanako asked as she pruned the newly rejuvenated flowers.
“Well, where are you from? How’d you become a hero? The basics.” Jessica said.
“I am seventeen years old.
I immigrated to America with my parents when I was seven.
When my father got us passage to America,
he was led to believe that he and my mother would have jobs and a better life waiting for us here,
but he was deceived.” Hanako said.
“When we arrived here,
we discovered that we had been sold into slavery to the Tsoo, an American faction of the Yakuza,” she explained,
a forlorn expression on her face as she recounted her history.
“That’s awful, what did your father do?” Jessica asked.
“My father and mother and I worked every day for the Tsoo,
hoping that we would be rewarded for our hard work with our freedom,
but as the months and years went on, our hope began to fade,” she said.
“One night out of desperation to save his family,
my father gathered my mother and me and attempted to escape the camp the Tsoo were keeping us in.
As we neared the fences we were attacked by several of the Tsoo,
they killed my parents right in front of me, and moved in to do the same to me,” she said,
a single tear trailing down her pale cheek.
“What did you do?” Jessica asked,
her own eyes brimming with tears of sympathy for the brave young girl.
“My powers emerged that night as the Tsoo warriors moved in on me,
and I killed them all,” she said flatly. “
After I escaped I lived on the streets for a long while before I was discovered by Ataris,
he brought me in to give me a warm place to stay,
and when he discovered my talents I was recruited to the team.” she said.
“Wow, that’s an incredible story Hanako,” Jessica said.
“You’re a very brave woman,” she added.