Chương 243: Chapter 240 - The Wolf In Sheep's Clothes
It was mayhem.
Despite beefing up security for tomorrow's transfer, it was far from enough to deal with the current chaos.
From the explosion in inmate 77's room, three levels had been breached.
The inmate in the cell right above had been charred by it, caught unaware, and had died in his sleep.
Unfortunately, it had blown off level two's inmate's door.
He'd been one of the few who hadn't been to Tartarus yet and was, thus, fully able to fight his way out, and that's exactly what he did.
From then on, more prisoners found a way to get out, causing more chaos : they were overwhelmed in no time.
The gradual heat was soon starting to get suffocating, the very air scorching hot.
It felt like you were taking gulps of pure fire, your throat sandpaper, and your lungs desert – and it was only getting worse as time passed.
"Sir-"
"I know", cut them the captain, browsing through their recordings.
Perspiration made his unadjusted clothes uncomfortably cling to his skin : he was red and had trouble breathing – like everybody else – yet he was glad he'd managed to switch positions with the warden's captains right before shit hit the proverbial fan.
At least the other warden was too busy freaking out to go to the bathroom and find the conveniently laid-out body in the last stall.
Most of them watched over his shoulder, increasingly worried, as he kept browsing through the computer's files.
"Sir, I insist but-"
"Do we have a hard drive ?", he wondered out loud. "Anything on which I can find the cameras' recording of the cells ?"
"Here, sir"
Someone scrambled to get it, and the captain had to pat himself on the back for asking.
He should've done so a while ago but it was difficult to consider them as anything but foes.
He pocketed the hard drive.
Most were chancing glances at the door, afraid that the inmates would get to them, yet unable to do anything not ordered by the captain in fear of it being seen as desertion.
One of them hadn't and frowned when he saw him pocket the proof of whatever the hell had happened to cause this fiasco.
Even though they were on the highest level of the underground prison, smoke was starting to gather close to the ceiling.
On a few screens, they could see inmates – mostly the lethargic ones from Tartarus – banging weakly on their doors or falling to the ground, clutching their throats with their bony hands.
"It's inhuman...", someone whispered.
They could only hope that the smoke would kill them before the heat did.
An idea flashed through the pretending captain's mind :
"It is indeed", he said. "They may be criminals, yes, but they're still humans"
A few exchanged glances.
Those imprisoned here had done a few – or many – atrocious things to warrant such treatment.
The captain's hand hovered above a specific button on the central monitor.
"Sir", insisted the one who'd caught him pocketing the disk. "We can't-"
A bullet tore right through him, his brain matter splattering all over the four other dummies behind him.
They were gasping, frozen, wondering why their captain had killed one of them.
"Shut up", the captain said, nonchalantly tugging at his shirt to let some fresh air get in.
His hand caught the light : his ring flashed, the logo of a stylized flame shining.
He surveyed the other men and, judging them as no threat, pushed the button opening all of the cells before taking care of them.
*
It was pure coincidence that Katsuki met Shoto and not one of his clones – even more surprising that he met him at all.
Shoto's gaze had lit up before his nostrils had flared : his gaze had gone from Katsuki's groin to his stained shoes.
His red eyes had stayed locked on them for so long that, Katsuki, first relieved, had looked down before realizing what he was looking at, shame turning his face red.
He tried to rub his wet ankle on his pants to hide the stain but there was no point.
Shoto's eyes snapped to his, his whole body tense : something dark had flickered in his gaze.
"Did you piss yourself ?"
Hearing it said out loud was like a slap to Katsuki.
He clenched his fists, face burning : he felt like he would die of embarrassment.
"Chisaki..."
Katsuki shut up, unable to say more, biting his lip until he drew blood.
Shoto hadn't seen the bodies and the walls covered in blood, hadn't heard his chilling tone when he told Katsuki to run, he couldn't– Yuei hadn't prepared them for that, for dead people splattered like gum against walls, for a psycho who ate kids like you for breakfast, fuck-
Shoto had no right to judge him.
"Did you flee ?"
Shoto's tone startled Katsuki, striking him as (INHABITUEL), making him uneasy.
Katsuki's throat was dry, his hands clammy.
He looked away.
"There was..."
His vocal cords were in a knot, and he realized he could barely speak because he would sound so weak.
Unshed tears of shame burned his eyes, and he lashed out :
"Yes I fucking fled because this guy is a fucking monster !"
Shoto, Katsuki slowly realized, was judging him.
His gaze was accusatory, something akin to anger twisting his expression, disgust dripping off his features, and it fucking pissed Katsuki.
Wasn't he supposed to be his friend ? Why was he looking at him as if he were so far beneath him, not even the dirt under his shoes ?
"And why the fuck are you looking at me like that ?", he screamed "It's not because you are a murderer that I-"
Between one breath and the next, Shoto was in Katsuki's private space, his grip tight on his neck.
Katsuki's gaze widened when he met the unnaturally red eyes, the same ones that had given his classmates nightmares.
The world blurred : one second and they were in a perfectly normal corridor, the next Katsuki was back a few levels deeper, right where there had been the two bodies lying around, except now there were only two large splashes of red and guts, and Katsuki thought he was going to throw up.
Shoto shoved him forward unceremoniously.
"You can't flee"
Anger and incomprehension flared in Katsuki's chest.
"You're strong", Shoto insisted. "You've got All Might's Quirk. You can't flee"
"Are you cra-"
"Look who's back"
Katsuki's stomach dropped.
Crouched a few meters behind Shoto, right where Katsuki had been earlier, was Kai Chisaki, patting the pockets of a dead warden, searching for something.
He rose from his position, gaze flickering from Shoto to Katsuki.
"And you even brought a friend. How thoughtful"
Shoto didn't seem the least bit concerned about Chisaki's presence ; his hard gaze was locked on Katsuki.
"You can't flee", he repeated.
Panic was rising in Katsuki's chest, his heart pounding painfully against his rib cage, the air suddenly scarce.
What the fuck was Shoto doing, acting like such a lunatic ?
"I won't k-"
"You will"
Katsuki was panting, black creeping at the edge of his vision, his eyes locked on the twisted face of Kai Chisaki, the man who'd killed- who'll kill-
"We are not negotiating"
The more Shoto spoke, the less Katsuki felt as if he were the same person he knew.
Grinding his teeth so hard his jaw hurt, Katsuki blurted out :
"Why do you care so much ?"
Shoto's face hardened.
"Because it's not fair that you can walk away when you want and I-"
He shut up, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then looked down at Katsuki, a lot more subdued :
"If you do not kill him I will kill you"
Katsuki's whole body froze : Shoto's words chilled him to the bone.
Shoto's face was as smooth as a lake, unyielding.
"What ?"
There was no amusement in Shoto's eyes, nothing that could've pointed out to a distasteful joke.
Katsuki's adrenaline spiked up.
The coldness of Shoto's features, the dark resignation of his gaze petrified him.
For the first time in his life, Katsuki was terrified of Shoto.
Legs shaking, he took a step back ; a knife glided into Shoto's palm, the ceiling's white lights reflecting harshly on it.
Katsuki stopped moving, stopped thinking, stopped breathing.
Chisaki walked leisurely towards Shoto, gaze dull and one eyebrow raised :
"What-"
Both his hands fell to the ground, sliced clean, the first burst of blood from the severed wrists violent and messy.
He screamed, hysterical, and it rattled Katsuki, whereas Shoto looked like he hadn't moved from his position, red-flecked knife in hand.
Katsuki and Shoto seized each other, the first terrified and the second coldly resigned.
Chisaki fell to his knees, trying to gather his severed hands with his forearms, crawling in his own blood.
Katsuki started retching.
Goosebumps were breaking across his skin.
Shoto's malevolent gaze was leveled with Katsuki's.
"He hurt you", he said, voice dangerously low. "He deserves it"
Katsuki shook his head yet did not speak, fearing that Shoto would act on his threat.
Suddenly Shoto was beside Katsuki : he fisted his hair and yanked his head up harshly.
"It's an opportunity", Shoto said, voice dangerously low. "I am helping you"
Katsuki's chest rose and fell quickly, eyes dilated like those of a prey who knows it's one breath away from dying.
"If you kill in a controlled environment, next time you won't freeze – next time it will be easier"
Katsuki didn't want next time to be easier.
As if he'd heard his thoughts, Shoto violently pushed him forward.
Katsuki tripped on his own feet.
Confused and afraid, he didn't even dare look back to him.
Who was this guy wearing his best friend's face ?
Shoto shoved his knife in Katsuki's hand and forced him to kneel next to a still screaming Chisaki.
There was something deeply unsettling about seeing the previously cool Kai looking like he was on the verge of losing it.
Chisaki's face twisted with rage as he caught sight of the one who hurt him, something bordering on insanity in his eyes :
"You bast-"
Shoto's shoe found his face and he held him down, helpless cheek wet with his own blood.
"You asked me to help you", Shoto said, gaze locked on Katsuki, not acknowledging Chisaki flailing helplessly like a fish out of water under his shoe. "You cried and you complained and I answered"
Chisaki's angry, bulging eyes nearly popping out of their socket as he strained to look at Shoto, above him, and Katsuki, so close they could touch.
They settled on him as he saw the weapon between his childish fingers.
It was freezing between his fingers.
"Kill him"
Suddenly, Chisaki stopped buckling.
He smelt Katsuki's weakness, relished in it.
There was a twisted, vindictive gleam in his golden eyes, as though he knew that the picture of him dying would haunt Katsuki for the rest of his life and he exulted at the idea.
He'd die but he would take a part of Katsuki with him as he did.
"Kill him !"
Katsuki's sudden move was one caused by sheer panic.
Rather than slitting his throat like he should have, he stabbed : a spray of blood hit Katsuki's left cheek. He dropped the weapon as if it'd burned him.
Chisaki's gaze did not leave his as his chest was rising and falling quickly, as though something was building up in his lungs that couldn't get out. Blood bubbled like foam on the hole that Katsuki had made.
There was no panic in Chisaki's eyes, no frightened twist in his expression.
He welcomed death like someone ready to face the full consequences of his actions.
Chisaki died, and something in Katsuki did too.
Shoto crouched, head cocked, looking down at the handiwork as though he wanted to criticize Katsuki's messy methods before he decided to pat him on the shoulder.
Katsuki flinched.
"See ? Wasn't that hard"
His voice was now nice and smooth, sickeningly comforting, and Katsuki drew support from it as much as it gave him goosebumps, his blood curling at being so close to him.
There was a puff of smoke, but Katsuki could not look away from Chisaki's dead eyes.
He'd stolen his future, he'd stolen from him the ability to change, to become someone better ; he'd stolen a man, a friend, a son, maybe a father, Neito's uncle.
Katsuki had stolen a life.
It hadn't been an accident, this time.
He had had the choice of complying with Shoto's order or not, and he'd driven the knife in.
Shoto gently grabbed Katsuki's shoulder, and Katsuki wanted to scream and tell him not to touch him.
"I was bluffing, you know ? I wasn't going to kill you if you didn't do it"
Katsuki didn't move.
Shoto sighed.
"The building is going to collapse. We have to get you out"
Then the world blurred.
*
Smoke was rising from Enji's skin, billowing around his arms and legs, while he breathed heavily.
All around him, in the spots that Enji's lava hadn't covered yet, shadows gathered and stirred.
His muscles were shaking painfully : he gritted his teeth to force himself to focus on the lava swirling inside of his body.
Teka would've called him stupidly insane : pouring lava into his own body to withstand the monstrous temperatures he'd wanted to bring the world to was pure suicide.
It was only a matter of time before his organs started shutting one after another – and, frankly, he was surprised he'd stayed conscious for that long.
This was far above what God Mode should be able to do, a theory coined by one of his insane grand-father : should one Todoroki prove his body strong enough to withstand it, he'd be able to call upon earth's inner core, a power so strong that, if ever used, could provoke the extinction of humanity.
He'd bought Shoto enough time : as it was, he should already be halfway to Atami.
Enji panted as he tried to focus on the fight ahead. Any second he could stall for was one second more for his son to flee.
His vision was blurry, the heat burning his eyes, yet he forced himself to look up.
He was not afraid of dying – rather, he welcomed it.
The only thing he regretted was not being able to see Shoto one last time.
"You're too much of a threat to be left alive"
Humanoid creatures made of shadows shot up like spikes from the ground.
They grew in length and size, reaching unnatural heights, towering over Enji's prostrated form like an undead army.
Enji's mind swam : he tried to count them.
… fifty-six, fifty-seven-
Enji blinked, the ground roared, cracks spreading and lava bubbling from it.
Enji's nostrils flared.
This was it – he was reaching the end of his abilities, unable to draw on more power from the earth.
He rose on shaky legs, refusing to die on his knees, lava armor swirling on his body as if he were alive. Enji exhaled, and a cloud of smoke came out.
He barely realized that his tongue was burning, as was his flesh.
Fire flickered across his skin ; it was only a matter of time before he combusted.
Yet, still fighting for some precious seconds, Enji's arms rose as the shadow beings sprung to action.
Enji-
There was a flash of darkness, a gust of wind, something that flashed so quickly it looked like both Enji and Jin Woo were statues.
A bolt of lightning fell from the sky and hit the top of Jin Woo's dome : it shattered like blackened glass.
Jin Woo craned his neck up painfully slowly, his brain unable to fully process what was going on as it happened.
Something slammed in Enji's chest, uprooting him with the ease of a tornado uprooting a house, ground shattering in slow motion.
It caught fire as soon as it brushed Enji.
-inhaled.
The world was a blurry mess of lightning-fast sky and earth merging into each other in a brown mush of nothing discernible.
Puke was at the back of his burning throat but he held it forcefully down.
As suddenly as it had happened, everything stopped.
Enji was unceremoniously pushed to the ground where he threw up.
The salty wind hit him like a slap and the grass he grabbed onto caught fire.
His dilated pupils took a while to adapt to the bright world after the overwhelming darkness and his breath caught when he realized where he was.
Atami.
*
BONUS :
His ears were keen enough for him to pick up on the sound of fighting.
The pained screams and the agonizing gurgles echoed like an awful, awful melody.
Despite his brief imprisonment in Tartarus, his senses were still strong enough for him to be the second to notice that the earth was boiling.
There'd been a loud explosion, and then it was mayhem.
Dozens and dozens were dying. He'd die soon, too.
He closed his eyes, head resting against the warm wall. Black smoke was billowing in his room. He coughed, though he did not try to breathe in the fresh air close to the floor.
Suddenly, the door to his cell was pushed open : it hit the wall so loudly that it rattled on its hinges, the tremor spreading through the wall.
He had trouble picking up the smell, but he hoped it was someone who would kill him.
Gently – as though they were scared of breaking him - someone's hands grabbed him under his knees and armpits.
Yellow eyes opened under heavy eyelids.
"I told you that if you tried to get me out I'd kill myself", he mumbled, though his tongue was so heavy the words got out incoherently.
His gaze locked on the bi-colored eyes who were looking straight ahead and not at him.
"Close your eyes"
The world blurred, and he closed his eyes.
Part of his mind – the small part still sane enough – noticed that his legs were too thin, his knees too knotty, his whole body too light.
He wondered if it was why the boy carrying him had looked so pained.
The world stopped spinning.
He was laid out on a cool, fresh patch of grass, far away from the collapsing prison.
When he opened his yellow eyes he was alone under a starry sky.
He contemplated the stars while the wind carried to his ears the sound of the dying.
*
A/N :
I think that's the last of the chapters left I had to publish before I start publishing those of this week - though even if it's not (and you got a free one or smth) it doesn't matter because it's the end of the story soon.
See you in the next update everyone !
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