The Price of Liberty

"Dad?" looking up from the bed where Dad had settled him down, Niseko smiled as Dad reached down to gently stroke his head.

"Settle down, Niseko-chan," Dad said, right hand gently pressing down on his head to push him back to sit on the bed where the both of them were waiting. "The doctor will be here soon. Then, once we determine just what kind of Meta Ability you have, we can go see ReDestro, and he can help you get settled into a training program that will allow you to learn to use it properly."

"Okay," he said, wrapping his right arm as far as he could get it around Dad's waist, holding him as the doctor came into the room where the pair of them were waiting.

~MHA~

Holding Niseko closer, Kagemitsu Sezu found himself more than a little unsettled when the doctor hurried out of the room, and then all the moreso when the doctor came back and Kagemitsu found himself being called out of the waiting room. He was all the more unsettled when he found himself asked – though the tone almost sounded more like an order, something else that gave him a crawling feeling of unease up his spine as he followed behind the doctor – to leave Niseko behind while they all spoke. Finding himself ushered into a room where not only his superior Skeptic, but also ReDestro himself awaited him, Kagemitsu paused for a long moment as he found himself the target of both their gazes.

Skeptic, as usual, seemed flatly unimpressed, but it was the look of sympathy plain on ReDestro's face that truly gave him pause.

"Is something wrong?" Kagemitsu found himself asking, without any preamble.

ReDestro seemed to be willing to ignore his momentary lapse, though the clear disapproval on Skeptic's face couldn't help but unsettle him.

"Shadow Walker, the doctor delivered your son's x-rays to me," ReDestro said, the expression of contrition plain on his face letting Kagemitsu know that – in spite of something like this being routine to the point of sheer unremarkability – something had gone terribly wrong; what it was, Kagemitsu didn't truly know, but there was clearly something that both ReDestro and Skeptic wished to speak to him about.

It was more than a little unsettling, under the circumstances, to find both the Grand Commander of the Meta Liberation Army, as well as his most ardent and dedicated lieutenant facing him. ReDestro had an expression of subdued, gentle sadness on his face; something that gave Kagemitsu even more of a reason to be concerned about what might be going on.

"Shadow Walker, the X-rays…" ReDestro paused for a long moment, but the snarl that twisted Skeptic's face… Kagemitsu was beginning to suspect that he knew what had happened.

The sight of Trumpet, a man that Kagemitsu only truly knew by reputation, drew his attention for a moment, before Kagemitsu quickly returned his attention to ReDestro once again.

~MHA~

Watching as Trumpet settled Shadow Walker down, ReDestro found himself more than a bit relived to see that the inversion of Trumpet's Meta Ability was effective enough to calm Shadow Walker; pleased to see that the trust the pair of them had developed was enough to allow him to use such an inversion in the first place.

"It's all for the best," Shadow Walker muttered, eyes half-closed as Trumpet guided him out of ReDestro's office.

"Yes, Shadow Walker," Trumpet said, a gentle look on his face as he helped to guide Shadow Walker out of ReDestro's office. "That's right," Trumpet nodded, beginning to lead Shadow Walker out of the room. "I'll go fetch Spyglass."

"Thank you, Trumpet," ReDestro said, turning slightly as the sound of furious typing drew his attention; Skeptic was raising a pair of his remote-controlled puppets; one in the form of Shadow Walker, and the other in the form of his wife, Spyglass. "Be gentle, please," he said, turning his attention back to the man.

Skeptic clenched his teeth. "My own subordinates," he hissed.

"Skeptic, please," he said, turning squarely to face the man. "Be gentle. It's hardly their fault. These things still happen, sometimes, though we both know it shouldn't," he said, turning for a moment to look at the path that Trumpet and Shadow Walker had both taken.

"Of course, Grand Commander," Skeptic said, though there was still a growl to his voice that told ReDestro that his old friend didn't truly understand his point of view.

Still, even though he did regret the necessity of the action, ReDestro knew that Shadow Walker and Spyglass' poor, flightless little bird could never truly have a place with them. However, the paired facts of Harvest's presence in the world, as well as the sheer power of his Meta Ability, meant that the poor, flightless bird would have a better chance than most of finding his true place in the world outside the bounds of Deika city. Harvest, no matter his odd desire not to take his place at the crown of the world, was still a kind enough person to take in such a poor, flightless bird.

Truly, it was a kindness that he was offering the poor, flightless bird up to Harvest, that the child might then be given his own wings.