I don't own any of this. Worm belongs to Wildbow while Bungou Stray Dogs belongs to Kafka Asagiri
As I lay bleeding on the ground, dying from the excessive blood loss pouring out from the stump where my arm used to be before it was torn off, a bizarre image flashed in front of my eyes as I began contemplating my final thoughts.
That last burger I ate with Dad at Fugly Bob's just last Friday afternoon.
100% pure beef patty, crispy bacon, mozzarella cheese, a sunny side up egg, all on a bed of crisp lettuce, tomato, pickles and a sesame seed bun, baked fresh from their oven.
It was basically a heart attack on a bite.
And it also tastes so damn heavenly.
All those extra helpings that I would beg my Dad for takeout every time we ate at that place, it was one of the very few moments where we both felt like we are acting like a normal family again every since… Mom…
Damn it…
I guess this is how things are going to end for me.
My name is Taylor Hebert.
Due to unfortunate circumstances, I'm about to die from getting mauled by a huge angry dragon man.
Enter the Tiger 1.01
If there is one thing I learned from discovering how people develop their powers is that the events where they received said powers can be pretty much unsettling and can range from being sucky to overtly damaging and traumatizing.
Unfortunately, mine is somewhere much closer to the latter description.
Even after it has been a considerable amount of time, I can still feel the agitating and disconcerting sensations of the hundreds of bugs crawling all over my skin during the horrible, nightmarish moment that I had been shoved and trapped in my locker, the horrid stench from the disgusting used tampons stuffed inside still inciting my nostrils for a quick reaction to throw up. I can still remember with clarity the sounds of laughter from the voices of the perpetrators who shoved me inside in the first place as I screamed and demanded from to open the door. Though I never managed to get a good look at them, it was the distinctive sound of their laughter, a cruel sound that I had already heard at least hundred times before and had gotten so used to ever since that they had first decided to pick on me, that managed to help me deduct their identities and I immediately recognized them as belonging to two of my three chief tormentors.
Sophia Hess, Winslow High's star track athlete, and Emma Barnes, my former best friend who turned on me ever since she replaced with Sophia as her new best friend. Never had I ever imagine that they would ever escalate to such depraved actions such as this even after they had been pushing this long, extended bullying campaign against me for some time. Madison Clements, the last member of the trio, doesn't appear to be with them as I didn't hear the sound of her voice laughing alongside with them but knowing how the Terrible Trio works together and operates their plans, it is not a stretch to say that Madison somehow lent a hand in this situation.
I never actually remember exactly how I got out of that horrid thing in the first place as all I can vaguely recall was that I eventually passed out inside after screaming endlessly for what seemed to be hours inside. The next thing I knew, I woke up safe and sound on a bed in a clinic belonging to the Armed Detective Agency, a private investigation firm run by a group of Parahumans who operate in a similar matter as New Wave, that is, keeping much of their identities open to the public with the exception that unlike New Wave, the Parahuman members of the ADA considers themselves and their work to be much more in line with being rogues rather than being full-time heroes. However, there are various rumors circulating around Brockton Bay, spread by the numerous crackpots and tinfoil hat users lurking in the PHO forums that the ADA did more than just handle cases that involve lost pets or alleged extramarital affairs and that they are actually a highly sophisticated agency specializing in objectives that cannot be entrusted to the government or even to the likes of the PRT and the Protectorate, a twilight armed force positioned between the world of night and day.
Personally though? I believe that the forums may have been exaggerating the rumors a bit too much cause the two Asian looking guys I woke up to find standing next to my bed looked anything but professional as one of them, a man with dirty blonde hair and glasses, has his bony fingers wrapped around the other's neck, a man with short dark brown hair, and wringing it harshly while angrily screaming what I assumed to be profanity in his native tongue which I presumed is Japanese. The brown haired Asian guy doesn't really appear to mind being choked half to death as the expression displayed on his face seems to be one of euphoric bliss.
I stared dumbfounded at the two Asian guys for several seconds, unsure of what I was suppose to say in this situation and the blonde haired guy finally appears to take notice of my staring as he and his acquaintance quickly stopped what they were doing and immediately began to adopt a professional looking stance (which is kinda lost on me due to what I had seen a few seconds earlier) as they started introducing themselves to me. The blonde haired guy introduced himself to me as Kunikida Doppo, a private detective working for the ADA alongside his partner, Osamu Dazai, the brown haired guy that he was choking to death a few seconds earlier. Mr. Kunikida explained to me how I was lucky to be discovered by him and his partner who were just passing by as the two of them apparently found me unconscious; shivering to death on the floor of a bus stop that was just several miles away from my school and how they quickly brought me in to their own clinic after they noticed I started displaying much more serious symptoms of TSS and the like. He told me how their local healer, Dr. Yosano, was able to fortunately stabilize me and heal my condition as well as any existing injuries that I currently have.
I subconsciously made an act to take a brief look at my arm and I immediately saw that Mr. Kunikida had been correct. There were no visible signs like any bites or bruises on my skin that would indicate the time I spent inside my locker, appearing completely healthy and unblemished as if it was never injured in the first place. I wonder if this Dr. Yosano Mr. Kunikkida was talking about was some sort of cape like Panacea if she can apparently heal me this so quick and easily?
While I was contemplating this thought, Mr. Kunikida casually continued speaking as he told me how they had already called my father an hour ago using my student ID to get his contact information and how they also told him about the circumstances in which the ADA found me at the bus stop.
I suddenly felt something mentally slapping myself in the head. Dad! Of course! He must obviously have been worrying himself sick all this time. Who knows what reasons or scenarios he might be thinking about why I didn't come home last night?
As if on cue, the door at the far end of the clinic suddenly swung itself open and my Dad, Danny Hebert, immediately barged into the room, looking very tired with bags under his eyes. When his eyes quickly fell on me sitting upwards on my bed, he directly moved forwards to approach me before immediately giving me a deep heartfelt hug full of thankfulness. Afterwards, he then went on to explain to me how worried he was when I didn't came home from school last night and how he tried contacting anyone who might know where I was.
I felt my guts clenched a bit when my Dad told me how he also asked Emma and her father about my whereabouts and how she had casually told my father that she had no idea where I could be. It was then that Dad was just about to approach the police to file a missing persons report on me when he apparently received Mr. Kunikida's call telling him about how the ADA had found me at the bus stop.
Things began to become a lot more discomforting when my Dad began asking me about the details about the events that lead to this situation. I swallowed as I saw my Dad look at me with eyes full of deep pain and worry and though I was reluctant, I tried my best to muster up as much courage as possible as I finally began laying the truth before him.
My Dad's face seem to darken as he patiently listened to my story as I described in detail every act of suffering that was inflicted upon me by my trio of tormentors. I told him everything. Emma's sudden betrayal of our friendship, the year and a half long bullying campaign that she pushed against me, how the faculty at Winslow turned a blind eye towards my accounts of abuse, how no one actually stepped up to put a stop to it, the events of last night where the Sophia and Emma shove me into my locker which they had filled to the brim with used tampons and all sorts of bloody biological waste and finally, the reason why I was afraid of bringing any of this up to him was that I don't want to burden him with my situation knowing how he just recently gotten over my mother's death. I was aware of how Mr. Kunikida and Mr. Dazai appear to be listening patiently to my story and I noticed how their expressions seem to be somewhat affected, with Mr. Kunikida appearing to scowl at my mention of how Winslow's faculty acted and Mr. Dazai replacing the cheerful smile that he had been wearing earlier with a deep seated frown.
When I had finally finished narrating my accounts, Mr. Kunikida then spoke up as he told Dad that Dr. Yosano, the agency's healer, has kept a detailed medical report when she examined me which describes the conditions I was found in and that if my father wants to, they could give us an exact copy. He also told us that if we are planning to file a case against the school then we need to hire a really good attorney since the father of one of my tormentors is a lawyer himself. Mr. Kunikida then pulls out a small notebook, writes something down before tearing the page out and handing it to my Dad, saying that it is a list of public prosecutors that are heavily affiliated with their agency which we can get into contact to about our case. My Dad immediately thanked Mr. Kunikida for the assistance that he and the ADA provided us with and Mr. Kunikida welcomed him in response, telling him that it is the ADA's job to help those in need. Mr. Kunikida even told my Dad that the ADA would be willing to provide further aid to us on our case if we are somewhat planning to hire their services in the future, an offer which I believe my Dad will be greatly willing to consider as from what I heard from the rumors, the ADA possesses an extremely powerful Thinker in their ranks whose powers allows them to solve any crimes, even the ones that were previously deemed unsolvable by the police and even other PRT affiliated Thinkers in the past.
After an exchange of welcoming thanks, my Dad and I eventually left the ADA's headquarters so that we can rest ourselves at home and prepare ourselves for the hell that we are about to unleash. As we finally got home, I tried turning the tv on to see if there was anything good on air and that was when I saw a strange news segment detailing a situation that happened last night. Apparently, someone reported sighting an enormous tiger prowling the premises of Winslow last night and tearing the place apart.
Special thanks to my brother Dax-Ranger Guy for helping me modify and edit this chapter. I never thought I could make so many mistakes on the very first story that I made. Hope everyone like the first chapter of this new story I made. It has been months since I had wrote my last chapter and I don't know if my writing is even okay enough even with all the edits my brother made.