Capítulo 231: Chapter 228 - Verdict
The kid had broken into the highest security level, most protected prison in the world to talk.
There was a limit to how baffled one could get, and Shirai felt he'd reached it long ago.
"Is he telling the truth ?" asked Shirai
"He is", Tsukauchi answered. "He did not lie once"
"Though he eluded multiple times when it came to saying if he intended to get Hawks out"
Shirai, hands clasped behind his back, watched intently as Jin Woo stood up and left, leaving the kid alone.
What a waste it was to see such a powerful, talented individual reduced to his whims.
He could've been so much more.
At last, he was but a criminal.
A few moments later, the door to the prison's director's office opened :
"What do you think ?", said Shirai, eyes never leaving the screen.
"He rarely hesitated when answering", said Jin Woo. "I believe he genuinely cares about Hawks: for him, Tartarus was just the place where he was. He did not consider for a second what getting in would entail"
For him, Tartarus was just a place like any other.
A regular place.
He'd strolled in the same way as he would've gone inside a supermarket.
In other circumstances, Shirai would've blamed the security: yet how could you blame a submarine, thirty-five soldiers, and someone with a country-annihilating Quirk for not being enough?
Seven minutes.
From the moment he'd gotten into Tartarus's 'danger zone' - a roughly five-kilometer diameter circle around the island – it'd taken him seven minutes to breeze through the integrality of their security.
Shirai's lips pursed in a bitter line.
Truly, what a shame.
He was regretful their country had lost such a potential asset.
"We still haven't talked about what happened with All Might's kid", said lazily Shino, Shirai's second-in-command
Shirai nodded toward Tsukauchi ; Tsukauchi bid farewell to everyone and left.
"He's a kid", said Jin Woo once the door was closed. "His feelings interfering with his work is something that can be curbed out of him with time"
"Or can it ?"
Shino's eyes snapped to Shirai.
"You think he's a potential threat too, sir ?"
"It is possible, yes"
He was sixteen and, despite how young it was, he wasn't younger than All Might when he'd started making a name for himself.
But contrary to All Might, he wasn't trying to make a name for himself: he was just garnering enemies by helping people he shouldn't be helping and opposing people he shouldn't be opposing.
Saving the sorry ass of his friend was bound to ruin his career.
"Although we can't afford to lose our next Peace Symbol", said Jin Woo
Shino nodded.
"Civilians would go crazy, especially after the hectic months we've had"
Panic would spread like gunpowder scattered by the wind : it could propel their country into a civil war.
"What's worrying me", said Jin Woo. "Is Endeavor"
Shirai shared some of these worries, although he had enough on his plate to not focus on it right now.
"How so ?", asked Shino
"Enji Todoroki is an ex-special forces member", he explained. "He had been the Top 2 Hero for over twenty years and had recently been hailed as the second Peace Symbol. He's privy to a lot of secrets and important information. There's plenty of things he could do to force us to get his son out"
Shino studied her boss's face intently, thoughts flashing behind her forest green eyes.
"We won't cede, right ?"
She was playing with her ring: it caught the light, hitting Shirai's left eye, and he squinted.
"We won't"
It was a gray band with the logo of a stylized flame.
*
I woke up to the sound of clapping and cheering.
"They're praising you"
I turned to Dad and he was smiling this small, affectionate smile I loved so much.
I looked around, dizzy.
A crowd was around us, people with huge smiles and happy faces.
A little girl with two pigtails was jumping right ahead of everyone.
Behind them was a huge, blurry building I couldn't see well: it looked like a pyramid, or maybe a Maya temple with lengthy stairs.
I waved tentatively and the clapping grew louder, more hectic.
The little girl screamed.
"You're our Hero !"
Blood ran from the corners of her mouth down her chin.
Her stomach opened itself – as if something was clawing at it from the inside – and her guts fell on her shoes, jiggling against each other.
I smiled.
"I'm not a Hero"
They cheered louder.
"Of course you are", said a man
His head exploded like a ripe watermelon.
Blood showered us.
The crowd laughed, and I laughed with them.
"You saved us !", they said. "You're our Hero !"
Dad's hand squeezed my shoulder.
"You're a good man, Shoto. I'm proud of you"
I looked up to meet his gaze but he wasn't there anymore.
"Dad ?"
I jolted up, blinking profusely, trying to make sense of the banging on my door.
They woke me up so early I had trouble remembering my name.
I walked hallways while flanked by a squad of soldiers: the one behind me held a gun so close to my head that had it been able to breathe it would've been like a third pulmon.
I was pushed inside a bathroom so long it looked like a corridor. There were dozens of rusty showerheads and mold was creeping up the wall.
On the corner, sitting on a stool, was a woman whose face I could not see, yet the way she held herself – most of the weight on her left leg, shoulders hunched forward, rounded back and right knee going inside more than it should have, as if it had already been broken – was enough clues for me to remember her as the one who'd bend water against me.
"Strip"
I gritted my teeth as I did so, the metallic crown heavy on my head.
"Your mask too"
"No"
I didn't need chakra to beat the shit out of them, and I wouldn't mind making a demonstration.
One of them tried to move forward yet I stood my ground, as naked as the day I was born.
"He can keep it", came the woman's voice
They finally let go and I returned to a non-threatening, harmless, and obedient persona.
"Hands on the wall"
I gritted my teeth as they showered me with a hose.
"Turn around"
My feet were stuck on the spot, icy water running down my wet hair and falling on the floor.
I couldn't bear the humiliation any longer.
My palms – flat against the wall – turned to fists.
Fuck it.
Chakra-
From the corner of my eye, I caught shadows twirling.
My head snapped to the right.
Nothing.
"I said turn around"
I did.
*
Shirai raised a lazy hand, his cold, icy blue eyes locked with mine.
The judge momentarily paused to let him speak.
There was no resentment in Shirai's gaze, no anger in his gestures. What was happening wasn't the result of his bruised ego nor done out of spite : he was merely doing it because it was his duty.
"In regards to the services done to our nation", he said. "Your sentence has been lightened"
He gestured to the judge to carry on.
The judge cleared his throat.
"The defendant is accused of several serious offenses against military law and order. The charges include threatening a high-ranking official of complying with his demands, unauthorized trespassing on restricted military grounds, illegally breaching a military prison, assaulting and injuring military personnel, endangering the lives of soldiers by nearly destroying a submarine with its crew on board, and attempting to facilitate the escape of a prisoner. These actions represent severe breaches of the law and endanger the safety and security of our forces. After thorough deliberation, this court-martial finds him guilty on all counts and sentences him to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole"
*
A/N : This is Sunday chapter. Monday's coming tomorrow.
Only three weeks left of writing this FF and then I'M FREE.
Eren never craved his freedom as much as I do mine.
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