Chapter 11: New Crewmate
"So here is my question for you... Are you with me or against me?" Cthulu said seriously.
He wanted to see where Sheffield stood if given an ultimatum. He wasn't expecting an answer from her. He knew that she was neutral regarding most issues, but in the case she could no longer remain neutral for whatever reason; which side would she take?
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Those were some bold words right there. Sheffield was still processing everything she heard until now and then Cthulu unashamedly drops a metaphorical bomb on her. Things escalated too quickly! What the hell is up with that!
She inwardly agreed with most of his reasonings, she begrudgingly recognize that him 'dying' brought a lot of benefits in the long run for everyone involved. Still, she didn't like it. She didn't want him to throw his life away like nothing. Did he not care how they felt...How the team felt?
She just didn't know how to interpret the actions he took. Was there really no other way? Couldn't he have trained Reyes, or had been honest with Kurapika? Why did the plan have to be so risky towards himself... just why?
"Why?.... Why risk yourself like that!... Was risking your life that important that you ignore our feelings!... You could have taken another route, another way... Just tell me why you risked your life." Sheffield responded.
"That doesn't answer my question" Cthulu tried to get her to answer his 'ultimatum'.
"Fuck your ultimatum!... Just tell me why" Sheffield responded
"I told you why already... I needed to do it. I had that fucking device in my head that no one was able to remove. I figured that I might as well try a blast of my head off and see if that would get rid of it." he said giving the answer in a more digestible manner.
He started walking around her "You know that my quirk had reached another bottleneck that needed to be surpassed. Blowing my brains out was both an experiment and a gamble...My quirk has potential. To a normie, my quirk might seem like a curse but it has certain advantages that could be exploited. It so happens that in order to do that I have to take a more...painful path..., but, who cares. If a little pain is the price for power then so be it... I didn't know If I would survive the encounter, but I was sure as hell that the so-called bottleneck was going to be the end of me if left unchecked... my story would become stale, meaningless... I rather have a chance to live my life as I want it than to live always on the run, limited and afraid of every corner... I am either completely free or not free at all." Cthulu said with conviction.
"You are telling me that you gambled your life because of that! What about us?! Does it matter to you how much it hurts us to see you in pain! Maybe you don't care about Reyes and Phantom as much but Kurapika went through depression because of you!... Just why, why can't you just be sincere with us now that you are free!"
" I care about you all, for that reason, I can't join you. A goal like mine requires sacrifices...commitment. The path I walk down is going to be violent and unsafe. My objective is not something that people without resolve can 'tag' along. There are going to be a lot of uncertainties and obstacles. It is essentially me vs society. That life isn't safe for you guys..."
"Then why even ask me to come here... why not text me all of this and be done with it?!" Sheffield responded.
"The reason I called you here was to talk to you face-to-face one last time. I came to this place to have a final catch-up in order to set off without regrets... I can't have you guys meddle in my affairs later on... it's too dangerous... I would dislike having you die on me, similarly, I would also hate to have to face y'all as enemies in the future... Don't answer my ultimatum, it doesn't matter anyway... Just don't become a hero and everything will be fine." Cthulu said. He was sure that Sheffield would not give him an honest answer but one could try. Not having anything more to talk about he walked into the edge of the building prepared to leap off of it.
As he was about to exit the building using unconventional means he heard Sheffield yell "I'll join you!". That caught his interest enough to delay his spectacular exit.
He turned around and said, "No, you won't. I don't want you to join something you don't believe in"
"Who said I don't believe in it!" Sheffield stated
"We both know you don't care enough for you to go out of your way"
"I said I'll join!" she replied lauder this time.
"And I said No" Then he leap off the building
As he was falling down he heard someone screaming and felt his waist heavier than normal. He turned around and saw Sheffield latching on to him as if her life depended upon it. Well, it did, but that is beside the point. The crazy bitch jumped off a skyscraper!
"Are you crazy Sheffield! You can't fly!" Cthulu yelled frustrated by Sheffield's reckless actions.
"Neither can you!" she responded while closing her eyes.
"Fuck!" Cthulu then grew some wings on his back as they were falling. He had to make them bigger to carry the extra 'baggage'. He planned to keep his newfound 'abilities' a secret but Sheffield forced his hand. He had to reveal it in order to save his companion's life. Damn her and her crazy shit!
Flap-Flap-Flap, after several seconds he was able to glide with Sheffield in his arms to the nearest building. He was somewhat unstable but he managed to land on top of the construction without suffering major injuries.
"Ah~" Sheffield moaned as Cthulu let her fall on her butt
"Why did you jump after me you crazy bitch!" Cthulu yelled angry at her moronic actions.
"Don't call me a bitch, asshole!" she replied incensed by the insensitive words of her companion
"I'll call you whatever the fuck I want retard"Cthulu rebuked
"Shut up mongrel, I need to follow you to make sure you don't kill yourself doing one of your crazy plans!" she stated with some anger in her voice. "Without me, you would probably die in a week anyway!"
"Of course not, I can take care of myself, you moron"
"I am following you, want it or not" she said with conviction.
"I might not be the strongest or the fastest but my quirk is damn useful, you have to at least give me that. Besides without me who would keep you grounded." Sheffield stated while looking at Cthulu's eyes.
After a pregnant pause, "If I can't keep you from throwing your life away in your foolish mission; I can at least prevent it as much as possible"
Cthulu was getting tired of Sheffield's antics. He knew by experience how stubborn she was; Sheffield was the type of person that would stop at nothing to find him if he dared leave. She would probably even blackmail him if driven into a corner.
"What about Kurapika and the others? Are you abandoning them?" Cthulu tried again
"Of course not you retard!! They can take care of themselves...mostly." she said a little unsure
"It doesn't matter, you have the most dangerous mission by far... Kurapika is hunting his family's murderers and should be done in a year or two. Phantom is chilling with his family so no worries there. And Reyes is...well, Reyes... He always makes it at the end...somehow." Sheffield pointed out her reasoning.
"Are you sure Sheffield, once you are on board there is no turning back" Cthulu gave her one last chance to back away and live a semi-normal life. If he asked his original world 14 y/o self that same question he would have taken it. He would have led a middle-high class lifestyle, have a family, and die in peace; but as he grew older his personality changed...he was molded by his experiences. At this point his personality just wouldn't let him stay put and be a 'good boy', he just couldn't. He blames his mother for that, both of them.
"Yeah... I didn't have anything to do with all my newfound 'freedom' anyways" Sheffield cheekily replied, her face adopting a light smirk aware that she had succeded. "What's the plan captain?"
Cthulu sighed recognizing that he had no choice now.
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(At a high-rise Apartment)
Cthulu was laying on the sofa looking at the ceiling contemplating while Sheffield passed back and forth trying to get answers out of him.
"Are you finally going to tell me your 'How to Get Rich Plan!!' It has been almost 3 days since I got us this cozy apartment studio!" Sheffield declared bothered by how long Cthulu took to tell her his first step towards 'World Domination'.
"Ok Fine!.... Now shut up and listen" Cthulu was annoyed by her insistence since his plan was still in the preparation stage. He wasn't sure about the semantics but he at least could tell her the overview of it if that would keep her quiet.
"What is the thing that most people consume even if they don't want to?" Cthulu asked.
"I don't know...food, water?" Sheffield responded not sure where the conversation was heading.
"Close enough, but it's not it... try something more... let's say... artistic" Cthulu pitched a clue.
" Aha...Entertainment!" She figured making the connection of Cthulu's insistence on obtaining an apartment with a 'studio'. Those studios were great for many things. From shooting films to recording music, they were versatile if someone knew how to use them.
"Now you are getting somewhere... What is the worst entertainment there is?" Cthulu wanted her to use her rusting neurons for solving this simple puzzle. She had been watching TV dramas for days!
"Everything that isn't Romance or Drama based!" She loudly exclaimed, proclaiming her love for those genres.
"Bingo! That's right!. Entertainment in general sucks ass, but people still consume it. Do you know why?" He softballed.
"Because they are bored?" Sheffield stated unsurely. There were a lot of reasons to consume entertainment but she guessed that the most fundamental reason for seeking entertainment was boredom.
"Yup... What would people do if suddenly something genuinely entertaining drops out of nowhere" He urged her to answer.
"Binge watch it and make it viral!" Sheffield finally caught on to what Cthulu was implying.
"That's right! they would consume it so much that whoever created it would be rolling in dough!"
"So that's us!... What are we going to create a TV series, a novel, a new hot romance?!" She inquired elated by the thought of creating her own romance series. 'Ahhhhhh' Sheffield squeaked in her mind.
"No, we are making music!" Cthulu loudly stated while Sheffield's face dropped.
"Music is the thing that most people consume want it or not. They are in the supermarkets, bookstores, malls, radios, stores, online, and even on elevators!... They are easy to make, easy to edit, and more importantly easy to sell!" Cthulu proudly revealed his plan.
"What are we going to be now fucking K-Pop idols! What the hell!"
"Jajajaja... not you...me" Cthulu stated while closing his eyes.
"What do you.." as she was expressing her doubts Cthulu's face morphed to look like a handsome young man with long white hair and red eyes. Sheffield was gobsmacked for a second but she recovered fairly quickly.
"Holy shit Cthulu!! You did it!" Sheffield tackled her partner into a hug, happy that he accomplished his desire of 'becoming human' all be it partially. She knew how much that meant to him...Now, no one would call him a monster.
Cthulu unconsciously leaned into the hug. He would never admit it to anyone but he liked to receive physical affection. It filled him with warmness and joy that bubbled out of nowhere. He chalked it up to growing up unappreciated and neglected, but he indeed liked them.
"I can even change my voice to suit my needs making me the perfect singer" He said while smiling at Sheffield.
She was taken aback. Sheffield had never seen Cthulu smile so warmingly. She had watched his usual bloodlust smile or his dammed smirk but not this wholesome smile. She would not say anything of course, but she thought that her teammate was finally warming up to her after all these years.
Both enjoying their hugs were looking towards the future.
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