Chapter 42: Chapter 40 - Flashback (3)
'Shit! I knew I shouldn't have come here!' Apate thought as he attempted to battle the paralysis that engulfed him. Luckily, these were the slums. No one with a worthwhile quirk would ever be here, so the paralysis was quite weak, and its duration was short. Unfortunately, it was more than enough for the nearby men to grab the two kids.
"Knock the brats out before we continue, I really don't want to hear their screams again," The red-haired leader said. A man with blond hair quietly approached Mike, before putting his hand over his mouth. a second later, he was out cold.
'Shit, not like this!' Apate thought desperately. He knew that if he were to be knocked out now, he would become a slave to these bastards. They would hook him on some kind of drug, like how it was commonly done. After he would be hooked, he'd need to work whether he wanted or not.
'Go away! Go away! GO AWAY!' Apate screamed in his head. The blond man suddenly stopped with a blank look in his eyes. After a second of hesitation, he turned around and began to walk away. "Hey! What're you doing?!" The red-haired man yelled, but he was ignored.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Apate screamed in desperation. The group that encircled him froze, before putting him down and walking away with Mike. "That... That worked?" Apate questioned no one in particular as he began to walk back to Alon. A huge wave of drowsiness swept across him as Apate struggled to keep himself awake. After arriving back in his familiar alleyway, he immediately fell into a deep sleep.
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"WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?!" In a large building deep in the slums, the group which Apate mind-controlled finally returned to normal. And justifiably, they freaked out. "Listen, Ray. Let's stay away from the kid." The scared woman said to the red-haired man while shaking horribly. "..." Ray couldn't even reply as he was still processing what had happened. While they were controlled, everything felt normal. But after they were free, they realized the severity of the situation. Moving like a puppet with no will of its own, doing anything the controller wants with no power to resist. Having your mind, your very being, defiled so thoroughly is traumatizing, to say the least.
It's a feeling no one should experience, and if you do experience, you won't be the same. The utter powerless feeling you get is overwhelming. "...But we need to get him off the slums. I think it's for the best if we sell intel on him to some higher up." Another member of the group spoke. "Yeah, we can't let him stay here. But first, we need more concrete intel. We need to test it again, just to be sure. If he was not the one that controlled us, and it was a messed up coincidence, and we sell wrong intel on this magnitude, we'd be goners." Ray said slowly.
"You can't be serious! You want someone to experience 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?!" The scared lady said. "Unfortunately, we don't have a choice. We're all rather infamous here, so everyone will realize what's going on when they see us take action. We need someone unknown..." Ray replied. "How about this idiot? The kid must have followed him for a reason, maybe they have beef? If they do, we can make him use his quirk rather easily." The blond man said.
Ray turned over to Mike, who was panicking internally. "Why did the kid follow you?" Ray asked. "Y-yes? I used to beat him up," Mike replied. "Hahaha! Man, if this isn't karma, I don't know what is." Ray laughed.
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"Ugh..." Apate woke up with a grunt. "Finally awake, eh?" Alon chuckled. "So, how did it go?" Alon turned serious. "Um... Well... If you're talking about the revenge, I didn't do it." Apate informed him while scratching the back of his head. "...Well, don't say I didn't warn you. You'll face more trouble from now on, so be prepared." Alon said. "I doubt it," Apate replied with a confidant smile. "Your funeral. Speak of the devil, would you look who's here." Alon replied as he saw Mike coming near them. However, something was off. Mike had a fearful expression which he unsuccessfully tried to suppress. 'Did the kid lie? Something must've happened. Maybe I should watch this...' Alon thought as he stayed in his place instead of walking away like usual.
Mike walked slowly towards Apate while slowing even more with each step he took. "...How did you escape?" Apate asked after an awkward silence. "I... Well... You'll see. Just know that I really didn't want to do this," Mike said with a solum expression. "What do you-" Apate's sentence was interrupted as Mike kneed his stomach. Apate folded over as he held his stomach, and Mike didn't hesitate for a second as he grabbed Apate's head and slammed it back into the wall behind it.
Apate coughed out blood as he yelled "DIDN'T YOU SEE WHAT I DID YESTERDAY?". "As I said," Mike said as he threw a punch at Apate's face, "I didn't want to do this. I would explain further, but the old man here isn't qualified to hear it. Speaking of which, aren't you going to help him?" Mike turned over to Alon. "Honestly, I wanted the kid to fight for himself. However, if you insist..." Alon said as he picked up a small pebble from the ground, before throwing it and Mike's throat.
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I'm not sure how long I want the flashback to be... I mean, I have some plans for Apate, so maybe I should divide the flashback into parts? (Like doing some now, and a couple later.)
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
stone