Thank you to everyone who has submitted a character so far.
Asano sat in the empty room, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, and glaring daggers at the glass of water they had given him as he adjusted the manacles wrapped around his wrists. He leaned back in his chair, letting out a sigh of boredom before standing up and inspecting the room he was in. As he looked around, the door to the room was swung open, and a man with thick glasses in a business suit walked in, clutching a briefcase.
"Good evening," The man said briskly, adjusting his glasses as he sat down opposite Asano's old chair, placing his briefcase on the table. "I'm your lawyer," he explained as he unlocked his briefcase, "I'm here to review your legal options."
"Not interested," Asano replied, leaning against the wall with a disinterested look, "I know the law, at least where it applies to my situation."
"Mr Torio," The lawyer said, as he produced a few documents from his briefcase, "I would advise at least taking a few moments to look over your options. A plea deal would greatly reduce any time you serve in prison, and the situation you were caught in would definitely paint you in good light for the jury,"
"I'm not going to take a plea deal," Asano answered, "I stand by my actions, I do not deny what I have done, but I'm not going to play by the rules of the system,"
"Mr-" the lawyer began, but the door swung open, cutting him off. In the doorway stood a police officer, and behind him was Armarhino, who had changed from his hero uniform into a more casual outfit, wearing cargo pants and a blue shirt stretched over his shell.
"Visitor for you," The officer grunted, stepping out of the way to allow the towering hero to duck into the room. He straightened his shirt as the lawyer stared at the pro-hero, his jaw dropping in amazement
"Hello Asano," Armarhino began, ignoring the lawyer beside him, "I have a proposition to offer you, if you're interested," He said in his usual level tone.
"Unless you came to thank me for my help, I don't think we have much to talk about," Asano replied, uncrossing his arms, "But what the hell, I'll hear you out,"
"I would prefer we did this in private," Armarhino said, with a pointed look at the lawyer, who finally found his voice.
"Now wait a second!" the lawyer responded loudly, standing up to argue with the pro-hero, "It is Mr Torio's legal right to have my council in any decision he makes! If he wants me to stay, I'm staying"
Armarhino and Asano glanced at each other, then back to the lawyer. "No, you're not," Asano answered, a slight edge in his tone, "I don't want, or need you, or your legal advice,"
"Mr Tor-" The lawyer began, but Asano cut him off.
"Leave, now." He demanded with a glare. The lawyer fell silent, packing up his briefcase, and knocking on the door to be let out of the room. The door opened, and with one final glance at his client, and the pro-hero, the lawyer left the room.
After the lawyer left, Armarhino sat down in his chair, his massive frame dwarfing the plastic seat, as he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Take a seat," He said, indicating to the opposite chair, "Lets talk."
Asano sat down, keeping his eye on the pro hero as he did. "So, what's this proposition you have?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"I can get you out of prison," Armarhino stated.
Asano let out a short burst of laughter, "So what?" He replied, "I'll just go right back in, I'm not going to stop being a vigilante just because I got a slap on the wrist. I might as well spend some time in prison, I put enough bastards in there, maybe I should show them it's not safe in there either."
"Let me rephrase that then," Armarhino continued, "I can get you out of prison, and make sure you don't go back in, while still letting you continue your work."
Asano's eyes narrowed in suspicion, as he watched the pro hero for any signs that he was lying. "What's the catch," He asked in a suspicious tone.
"No catch," Armarhino replied, as he unfolded the piece of paper.
"Bullshit," Asano spat, "There's always a catch,"
"There's no catch, trust me," Armarhino said, still keeping his tone level, "I'm here to offer you an invitation into the Last Chance Program,"
"The what?" Asano asked in a confused tone, "Never heard of it."
"It's a secret project," Armarhino answered "Funded by private investors, but with government approval to operate,"
"So… what is it, and why should I even consider joining?"
"Its an attempt to rehabilitate vigilante's, and get them the proper training to become professional heroes,"
"Why?"
"Why did you help me with the hostage situation? Why do you take down muggers, or go after gangsters? If people have the instincts of heroes, we want them dealing with criminals, not filling jail cells."
Asano sat back in his chair, crossing his arms again. "So, it's either this, or prison? Well, how about I go public with this? I'm sure the general public trusts vigilantes with their safety." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"You could go public," Armarhino nodded, "But who would actually believe you? It's like you said, the public doesn't trust vigilantes,"
Asano scowled, then snatched the piece of paper off the table, quickly scanning it. It was a contract, stating that the signee had agreed to desist any illegal hero work, and enter a rehabilitation program. It required the signature of a pro hero, but Armarhino had already filled out that field with his messy and short signature.
Asano placed the contract on the table, and looked the pro hero in the eyes.
"Got a pen?"
The prisoners lined up in the prison cafeteria, sliding their trays along the serving bench, waiting for their serving of lunch, then spreading out across the cafeteria tables, silently picking at the unappealing food, eating the bare minimum they needed to survive as they waited for the bell to signal that lunch was over. Everyone in the prison was in a sombre mood, the reality of their situation seeming to have sunk in for them, except for one. Prisoner Five-Three-One sat by himself, quietly eating with a slight smile decorating his face. A few prisoners scowled as they looked at him, envying whatever made him smile, but all but two of them returned to their meals. Prisoner Nine-Nine and Prisoner Seven-Two stood up, carrying their trays with them as they moved over to sit opposite and beside the smiling convict respectively.
"What's got you in such a good mood?" Prisoner Nine-Nine asked in a deep voice, a slight croak betraying him as a smoker, "You're not getting out of this hole in a long time, and no matter what the other prisoners say, there's no chance for a conjugal visit."
"Don't worry about it my friends," Prisoner Five-Three-One said in a slight English accent, "I was just lucky enough to catch the sunrise, it's such a beautiful day outside."
The two other convicts stared at him with a confused expression, then glanced at each other.
"Fuckin' weirdo," Prisoner Seven-Two spat, glaring at the smiling prisoner, "You're either crazy, or you're lying,"
"And crazy people don't end up in this prison, so what's really up huh?" Prisoner Nine-Nine commented.
"Gentlemen, please," Prisoner Five-Three-One said in a calm tone, "Let's not use such unpleasant language, and instead, introduce ourselves properly," He placed his hand on his chest, "My name is Virgil, Virgil Everett. Who might you two be?"
"Adam," Prisoner Seven-Two answered, "Adam Blunt,"
"Lucas Prist," Prisoner Nine-Nine added quietly.
"See, wasn't that much more polite," Virgil answered, his ever-present smile growing slightly, "Now, I'll be honest with you gentlemen, the real reason I'm smiling, is that I just got some exciting news."
"What is it?" Lucas asked, his curiosity evident in his tone.
"Today, I'll be leaving this prison, and leaving all you sorry bastards behind."
Adam and Lucas sat for a moment in stunned silence staring at Virgil as they processed his words.
"Now wait a moment…" Adam began realisation slowly dawning on him.
"You bastard!" Lucas shouted, reaching across the table to grab Virgil, but he reacted too slowly. Virgil kicked the seat of Lucas's chair, tipping him over and sending him tumbling away from the table, before grabbing his tray and swinging it horizontally at Adam's throat, crushing his windpipe and sending him choking to the floor. Lucas climbed to his feet and leapt across the table, drawing a shiv from behind him with his right hand. Virgil side-stepped his clumsy thrust, grabbing his wrist with his right hand, and smashing his left palm into Lucas's elbow, dislocating it with a sickening click. Lucas dropped to the floor, writhing in pain and letting go of the shiv. Virgil picked it up and crouched over Lucas.
"Now that wasn't very polite, was it?" he growled, before stabbing the shiv into Lucas's throat.
The whole cafeteria watched the fight in stunned silence, listening to Lucas's dying gurgles as blood filled his lungs, and Adams gasping breaths as he strained for oxygen. One of the cafeteria workers slammed his hand down on the alarm button, ducking down behind the serving table to avoid any collateral damage.
As the alarms rang throughout the prison complex, another prisoner raced towards Virgil. This prisoner was different from the others, his mutant type quirk clearly shown by his appearance. He resembled a bipedal lizard, his body covered in mottled green scales, his eyes vertical slits, and his tongue forked. In addition, he had two massive scaled wings protruding from his shoulders.
"You cocky little fucker!" He shouted, as he barreled down on Virgil, "This prison is my turf, you think you can fuck around like that?!"
Virgil sidestepped the charging lizardman, circling around his back with a smirk. "You're turf? I think the guards would have a few things to say about that,"
As if on cue, the guards began to stream into the cafeteria, bearing riot shields, tasers, and batons. "Freeze!" One of them commanded, aiming his taser at the lizardlike prisoner.
"Fuck you!" The lizardman responded, charging across the cafeteria towards the guards, "Your anti-quirk chips won't work on a mutant type like me!"
The guards responded by firing a volley of tasers at the charging prisoner, the coursing electricity immobilising his muscles and sending him to the floor in a spasming mass. The guards quickly reloaded their tasers behind the cover of the riot shields, switching their aim to the other prisoners.
"Stand down convict!" The guard from earlier commanded, aiming his taser at Virgil.
"No, I don't think I will," Virgil answered, his smile widening to a manic grin, as the wall beside him exploded, spraying fragments of concrete across the room, and throwing up a thick cloud of dust. Through the hole they had just made in the wall, a group of people dressed in black clothing, with balaclava's over their heads and submachine guns in their hands stormed in, firing towards the guards, who began to retreat out of the cafeteria.
Virgil seemed undisturbed by the explosion, and instead climbed up onto one of the tables, clearing his throat loudly, "Listen up!" He shouted, "Anyone willing to return to their criminal past, follow me," He commanded, before leaping off the table, and strolling out through the hole into the prisons yard, where a large van had smashed through the fence, followed by several other vans of a similar size. Virgil pulled open the side door, climbing into the van, followed by a few other prisoners, before the van reversed out of the yard, and sped off into the distance, leaving the prison compound and its chorus of alarms behind it.
"Wh-who are you?" one of the escaped prisoners asked.
Virgil smiled at him, "Call me… Darkangel."
So far, I have accepted 4 characters
Haruka Amamiya (gamergirl101)
Drake Artorigus (SoulMatter)
Itsumi Kaguya (Spirytas)
Edith Kucharski (JackHammerMan)
I appreciate all the submissions, and even if all the spots are full, or they don't meet the standards, I'll still try to find a place for them in the story
