章 49: Bad Trip. Part III: Utility.
She didn't know the man standing there in front of her. Couldn't distinguish his face from any other hole in the ground, just stare at him with the same anticipative expression and clutch the dying boy in her arms to her chest as if her own life depended on it. I mean, he was a complete stranger. Old enough to be her father. She found no semblance, no familiarity in his face, no nothing. - Which is what made this so weird. Because he definitely knew her.
(Y/N) didn't know what put her off more at that moment. The weapon in his hand? Or the petrified look on his face. Completely silent- Just standing there, still as a board, with a grimace so tight it had sunken into his lower jaw and stretched his expression up to a scowl. ~ She'd say he looked terrified. She'd guarantee it if it were for the barrel pointed mouth first for her forehead.
The man gave her a wandering look as he followed her eyes down to his rifle. Snapping it back with a quick draw of breath until it was hung safely in his belt holster. - He held the same headlit expression as he crouched down in front of her. Hands held up in surrender as he slowly situated himself to meet her gaze, and dropping them momentarily to keep them placed stationary between his thighs.
"W-What-" He sputtered. "What are you doing here?"
She didn't know how to respond to that. If she even should. His remorseful tone didn't correspond with his appearance at all. Covered from head to toe in tattered leather and aluminum thorns as his mask, half discarded from his face, unsheathed a scar blemished jaw and a dark tint of stubble that nearly hid it completely. He smelled of copper and gasoline - gunpowder. It didn't take three looks to know that he was involved in this situation in some way. A villain. The cause of all of this. Crouching in front of her and staring at her with the type of compassion you'd expect from a man who'd just stepped on a kitten's paw.
Which is what made her all the more confused when he opened his mouth to speak again. "Shit, you're hurt. - Fucking Christ," He sighed. "If I'd've known you were here I'd have- Fuck..oh my God... How am I gonna fix this."
(Y/N) tried backing further back against the wall behind her, although attempting fruitlessly. "Wh-Wha-"
"-What are you doing lugging that kid around anyway? Wha- You tryna get yourself killed?"
"..He's hurt."
"He's dead weight." He shook his head. "And you don't look too good as it is."
The man looked her over again before letting out a long sigh. "You're bleeding a lot. And I'm hoping that missing hand's just apart of your quirk. -You know, since most nubs don't usually ooze smoke."
"If you can walk, get up, yeah? And ditch the kid. You're coming with me."
(Y/N) furrowed. "W-What? No? I'm not- I'm not going anywhere with-"
"I'm not giving you a choice. If I have to carry you then I will, but I'm not letting you sit here to die. - Too many people's lives are at stake if that happens." He pressed. "And I like seeing that my family is alive and safe without worrying that this fuck up could get their throats slit in their sleep." He stood. "So get up. I don't wanna have to ask you again."
"But I- Wait what? Wait." She chopped up. What the hell is he implying? She didn't know if she understood him correctly. "I-..N-No. No. I can't leave him? He'll die if I leave him ~ He's so much more wounded than I am-"
"He doesn't matter." He cut her off. "He doesn't put my ass on the line as much as you do, snake. Stop wasting your time on pointless things already and get up."
"No!- Fuck you. I already said I'm not-"
She paused.
"....What did you just call me?"
The man gave her an overcast look. Teetering on the back of his heels as he spoke through a sneer, he tilted his head derisively. "Would you rather me call you princess, Adder?" He sighed. "Look, I can tell that you're not used to it, but we can't afford you being a brat in this situation. Like I said, a lot of lives are on the line because you showed up somewhere you shouldn't have, and if you die, that's on me. - Me and every other unlucky bastard I've ever come into contact with."
"If I have to kill that fucking kid just to get you up. Then I will."
(Y/N)....
(Y/N) didn't say anything for a while.
Oh. That's what this is about. That is.
The fact she hadn't figured it out sooner made her feel foolish. But that could honestly be the brief hazing and the fact that her vision had somewhat started to tunnel. Right, of course he knew her. I mean, every second rate villain that knew worth a damn knew him, so by unfortunate extension, they knew her as well.
Daddy's little Adder. Now that he's dead his little princess has a throne to fulfill. And with his last living heir not in his pits slithering grasp, his previously instated rules had all but doubled down now. Of course his empathy was borrowed. This man had a hell of a price to pay for his insolence.
A hand for an eye. That's what the rule was. Every little hair off his Adder's head was another tombstone in your kindred cemetery. - He could hurt her. He could hurt her a lot. But God forbid if anyone else did. God forbid if she came back with a few bruises that didn't come from him, a cut, something as little as speaking to her the wrong way. His little messiah. His successor. The only soul unlucky enough to share his vile genes. She was the only other Viper, now last living. An heiress to his putrid empire and with only her and the memory of her father to bow down to, they were getting desperate.
(Y/N) let out a long sigh.
Fine. If he wanted an heiress then by God if she'd give him one.
"We take the kid with us or I don't go."
He scowled. "Did you not hear what I said? The kid's-"
"I don't care what you said. I don't remember asking."
"We take the kid. Or I don't go." She reiterated.
The man looked at her for a while. Staring her down with a dissatisfied glare as she met him with one just as fierce. Never letting her eyes fall from his as his scowl deepened to an agitated glower, darkening as he glanced at the wheezing body still limp in her grasp.
He kissed his teeth as he readied himself to reach for her. "We don't fucking have time for-"
"You have a wife right?" She cut him off.
He stopped.
"You have a wife. A nice one, if I can remember. Really pretty," She bottomed softly. Lies. She's never met this man before in her life.
But by the looks of it, he's buying her bluff. "I think you're pretty lucky." She added.
"Not a lot of wives have fingers,"
"Or two hands for that matter. - A tongue, or all of those pretty pearly teeth. Ones that can look that good in a smile."
"I think so, at least."
She could hear him audibly swallow. Hand retreating slowly back to his side as his scowl softened into an apprehensive frown. Half ducking into his shoulders as he listened further. It made her sick to her stomach to speak this way. To make someone afraid of her like this. It felt repulsive and all the more nauseating. - But she couldn't just let this kid die.
She continued with an innocent drawl. Tone airy and almost childish as she spoke to him. "I'd like to keep it that way? Keep her all pretty and whole for you. ~ You're a beautiful couple. A happy one it seems. I'd hate to see that change in any way."
"You..You're not-"
"But as it would seem that feeling isn't entirely mutual." (Y/N) bit in quickly.
"I'm not judging you." She shook her head. "Your life is your own and by all means, I won't stop you from doing your job. If you truly want me to leave this kid behind then you can snatch me up and drag me to where ever you'll take me. Put a bullet in his head even. ~ You can think about your wife's smile while you do it too."
"And then you can go home." She continued. "Drop your keys on the mantle. Put your feet up, you know, since I can imagine you'd be pretty tired after all this,"
"Maybe grab yourself a couple of drinks, go upstairs- Or," She shrugged. "Wherever you're bedroom is, how would I know?" (Y/N) chuckled indifferently.
"Open the door. Look around. - Take in your bearings a moment," She added.
"... And then you can fuck the bloody stump that was just your wife."
She nearly gagged on her own tongue as she stared at his horrified expression. Like he was going to throw up. Like she had hit everything she'd just said on the noggin. No far from fainting as his breaths shallowed and his eyes glazed over a sickened stare. She didn't mean anything she said but he needed to think she did. To seal the deal.- She was her father's daughter, as much as she despised it. And she knew his way of getting what he wanted.
(Y/N) kept her eyes on his, even as he tried to avoid her's. "You can do that?" She recommended. "I can do that, we both know I can. All it takes is a little disobedience and I can find plenty of people who are more than willing."
"But that's just a possibility." She tilted her head. "You wouldn't disobey me. Would you, Mister?"
He shook his head with enough vigor to crack the ligaments in his neck.
"...No, Adder." He swallowed. "Never."
"That's good. That's really good. I'm glad." She praised him as if he were a dog. "You wanna do yourself a favor?"
He nodded rigidly.
"Help me help the kid up. Keep him on your shoulder if you can ~ But watch his head," She included. "Got a gash back there that's bleeding a lot. - And you've wasted enough of our time already."
Looking down at the husk like boy still struggling for breath in her grasp, he moved forward without question. Gentle in his attempt to lug him out of her hold, and brief as he tossed one of Masuku's arms around his shoulders.
She followed with a struggled breath. Clutching her blood-soaked stomach as the springs in her chest and lower abdomen recoiled and tightened fervently. He wasted a lot of their time actually. She could feel her insides desperately trying to keep a hold of themselves. Straining down to the very last lepton. It was painful, nearly tear-inducing. But that was better than what it could have been without the adrenaline. That would be agony.
She glanced at her missing hand.
Maybe it was a good thing that soulmate bond wasn't there.
She couldn't imagine.
"Take me to the nearest exit." (Y/N) ordered. "Don't be too slow."
_________ _____ _________
BREAKING NEWS!
"Minasankon'nichiwa! I am your host Natsua Nushiba, here with Otoko Rashīkou, on behalf of Tokyo9 to bring you breaking news from the Asakusa city district."
"We are currently receiving unconfirmed reports of an ongoing terrorist attack on the city coast of Yaminashi prefecture. As it would appear, the renowned Tokyo museum 'Dai bijutsukan' may - or may not have been hit with a level 4 quirk collision. These reports are still unconfirmed, and as such, we are efforting more information on the subject as it becomes available to us."
"Right now we've got, Yubishu Mirūto, a TNN producer on the telephone right now," Otoko chimed in. "Yubishu, what can you tell us about what you know?"
"This is uh, Yubishu Mirūto, I just was uh on the phone with the vice president of finance for Dai bijutsukan- ah, shoot."
"Yubishu, we're on the air right now. What- What can you tell us about this situation?"
"I just witnessed the uh, first initial impact." He cleared his throat. "As you might hear I am very close to the incident itself. - And, as it would appear, from my perspective at least, this is, in fact, the work of a very defensive quirk. Most likely pyro-inclusive~"
"And where are you to make that conclusion?"
"I was- well I fled the east wall of the building when the first wall broke. Barely.. Barely got away if I'm being honest. A lot of the structure is collapsing. A lot of..- A lot of people are hurt," He breathed. "It's not looking all that good over here if I'm being honest."
"Yubishu, did you see what happened?"
"I uh, I heard it. I think. To be honest I'm not hearing much of anything- Hey! Hey over here!"
"Are you-? Are you still in the building, Yubishu?"
"I am still very much in the building, yes."
"Have you not...called for assistance yet?"
"119 operator call lines are all busy, As well as 110. I'm-..uh.. I gotta go."
"Wait-"
"Thank you for having me-"
"Yu-Yubishu? Yubi-" Click!
"Wha- Aww~" Kaminari groused. "We were watching that."
Mina gave him a hard nudge on his side as she made herself comfortable in the seat beside him. Dismally sighing into her café cup and meeting the collective eyes of the friends in front of her. Well, save for an extra set, he'd had his eyes glued to his phone screen since the moment they'd got here. How knew "get my keys" meant "I'm coming with you."
"Dude, I think you were the only one not bummed out by it." Sero chided. "Ugh, Jesus and we're so close." He sighed. "I'd have half a mind to just get up and go if we had our gear."
"Yeah.." Mina nodded. "I'm sure there's a bunch of heroes on the scene now, though. Wouldn't doubt they'd be flooded at this point."
"Like we could even if we had our gear," Kaminari twisted his straw in his tea. "We're still on permit remember? The authorization for something like that would take ages, let alone calling another hero to supervise. - We'd be picking up scraps by the time we got the O.K." He sipped. "All we can really do is watch."
"You say that like we'd want to," Mina whined. "That looked like an absolute nightmare. Who knows how many people could be hurt."
"Yeah," Sero seconded. "Hopefully most of them get out safe though."
"-You seem pretty silent, Kirishima?" Kaminari nudged him. "Well you and Blasty, but I doubt he's even listening. - Oi, ain't that right, Bakubabe?!"
"..Hm? Fuck off."
"My point exactly."
"Uh yeah.." Kirishima nodded warily. "Yeah...it's just..." He shook his head. "It's nothing."
"You sure?"
"Mhm. It's just- crazy, what's going on down there, I guess."
Sero crossed his arms as he pressed his back into the booth, pointing his nose to the muted T.V. across from them. He scoffed emphatically. "More like devastating."
Kirishima nodded along. "Yeah."
Laboriously, he kept his lips sealed as he waited for the conversation to wade over. Carried throughly, and apathetically, by the blonde not sitting across from him. He stayed still in his seat as he kept his eyes faithfully on the café monitor. Chasing forward moving alerts that repeated as they reappeared, memorizing them to a mantra. The familiarity felt dreadful. And the more he chased the words off screen the more he wished they wouldn't return. His friend had told him something today. Something about a date that unfortunately, he was only half listening to. A museum date. (Y/N) had left before they did and he took the time to ask her soulmate why. He didn't know if he said exactly where or if his mind was just sending him in a panic for the sake of it. But he didn't wanna say it out loud if that information was misheard. Maybe he heard the news. Maybe he was just purposely ignoring it?
Kirishima looked over to the blonde much too oblivious to his stare to feel in anyway allayed by it. Too caught up in whatever aimless object of his attention in that moment to acknowledge anything outside of it. He couldn't have been listening. That didn't make this any less nerve-wracking. Teeth clenched and jaw aching from the pressure, the redhead dipped into his own pocket to pull out his smart phone.
His thumbs hesitated over the screen before he opened up his message bar.
Kirishima
Hey bro where'd you say (Y/N)
nd Midoriya were heading?
|15:27|
Bakugou furrowed down at his screen.
Boom!
Some shitty museum date
Why?
|15:28|
Kirishima
Yeah but where dude
like where at
|15:28|
Boom!
Fuck if I know? She
didn't tell me.
|15:29|
Boom!
Why you wanna kno so damn bad
|15:29|
Kirishima held in a hard exhale. He didn't know how short lived his relief may be. Him not knowing didn't entirely mean she wasn't there.
Kirishima
I'll tell you in a sec
|15:31|
Boom!
???
|15:31|
Kirishima
Shit I dont have her number.
Is her location on?
|15:32|
Kirishima watched him scowl as he flicked his thumbs across his phone screen. He kissed his teeth as he ran his fingers against his message bar.
Boom!
They're in uptown Tokyo.
|15:35|
Kirishima
Near Yaminashi prefecture?
|15:35|
Boom!
Sure
|15:35|
Kirishima had to drop his phone for a moment to glance across the room. Jaw held tight enough to shatter his teeth as he hesitated to respond. Shit. - Shit. Shit. Shit!
Kirishima
So Dai bijutsukan.
|15:37|
Kirishima
Check out Tokyo9 dude.
I'll link you.
|15:37|
He watched with a disquieted eye from his spot across from him. Attentively tracing out his movements as his scowl deepened and his thumbs haphazardly moved across his screen. Anxious as a carmine glare scrubbed against the news alert in front of him, and holding his breath as his teeth slowly bared through a beset grimace.
Which is why he was a little more prepared than the rest of his friends when he too quickly shot up from his seat at the table. Abrupt enough to spill Mina's drink and nearly have the rest of the table falling down after it. - He was moving toward the door without another word.
"Wha- What the hell! Bakugou! Where are you going?!"
He didn't say anything. He didn't have the time too. Nearly sprinting for the outlet doors as he reached for the keys in his pocket, deaf to the troubled yelling calling out from behind him. Because that didn't matter right now. Nor the shoulders he bumped into on his run for the parking lot, or the feeling of racing footsteps trailing far behind. What mattered was his girl. Getting to her and finding her. Why hadn't he felt anything? Why hadn't she called him? Maybe- Maybe she's not there? Maybe she and Deku had gotten away? Maybe anything- Please God let it be anything but that fucking nightmare. Let that be why he hasn't felt anything. Why he'd been completely oblivious until now. Why-
His eyes glanced over at his wrist as he belted himself into his car. Hoodie sleeve pulled downward as he reached for the steering wheel.
Numbers don't usually emit steam.
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