Chapter Six
The Rotten Core
Doctor Von-Taven was anything but a fool.
Anything but a moron.
Anything but a lackey to be tossed at the disposal of a corporation he served for YEARS.
ANYTHING.
BUT A FOOL.
He stormed into Toshi Muteki's office, ignoring protocol and his assistant trying to stop him, "Mr. Muteki is a busy man!"
"SKIP IT! I need to speak to that Arschkriecher!"
The assistant pushed her glasses up, "Mr. Muteki-"
"Where is he, Yuna?!"
"Edgar?"
The literal Mad Doctor turned to the office door to see Toshi Muteki in his pin-stripe suit sigh, "Why am I not surprised?"
Edgar gritted his teeth, "YOU SOLD MY JOB TO EDITH VOID!"
"A partnership," he explained, coldly and cruelly, walking past him to sit in his office chair, "Is only built on trust. My best genetic splicer and pharmacist is the best kind of gift. By letting her borrow you-"
"I am not something to be traded!" Edgar laid his hands on the table, leaning on it to stare into Toshi's eyes,
Toshi turned to Yuna, "Leave us...let us talk."
Yuna bowed her head and walked out of the room, while Edgar stood enraged.
"Sit down, Edgar. We need to have this discussion."
The Doctor sat down in a chair, while Toshi began to chuckle.
"You remember when I hired you? All those years ago?"
Edgar nodded, "Seven years ago...when I graduated out of Oxford...still a bookish little Austrian, fresh off the docks...'
The CEO smiled and nodded, "Yes, you were. So green I could have easily lost you in a forest."
The doctor snickered and the CEO laughed.
Edar finished his bout and smiled, "You came to me and offered me a job...one I could hardly refused."
"And you almost did, need I remind you," Toshi smirked, and leaned back, "But it was when we discussed our dreams when you finally took the job. Your dream is more or less the same. Mine? My dream has evolved into a reality. Beware the dreamers of the day."
The doctor became serious once more.
"Why did you sell me to Edith Void?"
The silence was only broken by the soft ticking of a clock in the corner of the office, second by second, ticking away.
"Because I need you to focus on what is real."
"What do you mean real? My work is real!"
"Edgar-"
"I am sooo close, Toshi!"
Toshi scowled, "Y-"
"I am THIS CLOSE TO CREATING ARTIFICIAL QUIRKS!" The doctor stood up, pinching his fingers together to show the example.
"IT IS A FANTASY, EDGAR! ONE I WILL NOT STAND FOR! NOW TAKE THE JOB I ASSIGNED, OR YOU ARE FIRED!"
Silence enveloped the room once more.
Toshi took a deep breath and held his hand up, "Edgar-"
"You hired me..." He started, "Because you shared my vision! You believed in what I was doing! You trusted me to do it, you gave me all but the FUNDS, which I perceived as my PAYCHECK! I helped build this company, helped create the office you sit in now!"
Toshi sighed, "And yet so easily replaceable! My work expands the era of quirks and heroes! My work is for the benefit of human race itself! What is your work? A little steroid so you can finally feel the power MY kind feel?!
Toshi opened the palm of his hand, exploding it with sparks and pops similar to a firecracker. His quirk was akin to the no2 hero Ground Zero, albeit way less powerful.
"I am not only offering you a great deal, but a good sum of money to do it! Now drop this, take my work, and leave!"
Edgar parted his lips to form a betrayed expression.
"My work-"
"Is gone!"
Toshi leaned closer into the staring contest.
"I ordered security to confiscate it and ship it to Site C where it is to be destroyed tomorrow."
"YOU WHAT?!"
Toshi sighed and stood up, straightening his tie.
"Edgar. What I am doing? Is more helpful then your precious hobby. My work is to benefit all...and even better, make this company a profit while doing so. My work is to be the dawn of a new age. Where heroes and villains all, will bow to the Muteki name like so many others did so long ago. Clans fall...The Todoroki Clan is nothing but sold out to Hero Work. Yaoyorozu clan is washed up. MY clan will live on."
Edgar stood there, jaw dropped, still not believing that his work was taken.
"I would have helped."
"You are one doctor. And I have more..."
Toshi growled, "Now take the assignment. NOW."
Edgar curled his lip.
And backhanded his boss in the face, hand making contact with Toshi's left cheek.
Toshi sat there stunned for a second, reaching a hand to touch where Edgar hit him.
The Austrian Man stood there, fists closed and desperately wanting to hit him again.
"Don't bother calling Security. I quit."
The Doctor turned around and slammed the door shut on the way out.
Katsu and Tasai had been...
Getting along it seemed.
Kazumasa had never been happier, watching the brothers now playfully argue about who would win their playful bokken match.
Katsu ducked under a swing from Tasai, striking upward, which Tasai narrowly avoided. The older boy swung to the left side, where Katsu moved his wooden blade to intercept.
As the sticks clashed, Katsu leaned in, "If you concede now, I'll consider not damaging your face!"
Tasai laughed, "And WHEN I win, I'll say fair game! Which I haven't seen so far."
Katsu leaned back and let Tasai win the pushing game, making distance and pointing the end of the bokken at Tasai, "Come on! Your quirk is an advantage! You probably had dad use that blade and just copied his moves!"
Kazumasa chuckled.
Psychometry was a powerful quirk used right. He recalled one Christmas Eve Party when Tasai played Mozart in one try just by touching the antique piano. Later, Katsu had practiced the violin in an attempt to be better then Tasai again, only for Tasai to snatch it and woo the crowd again the New Year's Gala instead.
Katsu dodged a heel kick from Tasai, and hit the leg down with his sword, connecting it with the shin.
Tasai stumbled back, while Katsu went in for the kill, crashing it down diagonally, to the side, down, and then a jab into Tasai's belly.
"Ow!" Tasai exhaled, and Katsu struck his shin again, sidestepping back and twirling the bokken.
"Strike for Strike? You're losing."
Tasai grinned, "I'm not out of the fight yet!"
Katsu smirked back, "Let's go, crybaby!"
"Alright, bad apple!"
The two charged into each other.
"ENOUGH!"
The sharp voice of Toshi Muteki caught everyone's attention; Katsu and Tasai stopping in their tracks, when Kazumasa turned to the door where Toshi enterred.
He looked...angry.
"Master Tos-"
"So this is what? Second time I've caught them fighting?!" Toshi grunted, glaring at Kazumasa, "Honestly, I thought you could keep them under control!"
Kazumasa snarled back, "Sir, I-"
"We were just having fun!"
Toshi scowled, and snarled sarcastically, "Oh, hitting each other with sticks?! Great fun it is. VERY!"
Tasai rubbed his belly, and stood by his younger brother's side, "I was having fun."
Toshi blinked, not expecting Tasai to say that.
"Tasai, can you let me and Katsu talk?"
Tasai blinked, "Katsu and I."
Toshi rubbed his eyes, "Please?"
Tasai lowered his head and flashed a smile at his brother. He chuckled and handed him his bokken, "See you at dinner."
Katsu's expression lightened and nodded his brother goodbye, taking the sword so he now had two.
As the eldest Muteki brother left, Toshi sighed, "Katsu, we need to talk."
"I'll say."
"I'm gonna send you to a private school."
Katsu blinked.
That...how was that bad again?
Katsu nodded, "Um...okay? That...is that good?"
Toshi let out a sigh of relief, "Yes it is good for you. It is very regal and the teachers are better then the ones at your current school."
"What is wrong with the school I'm at now?"
"It's..." Toshi faltered, "Well, It doesn't seem to be doing you any favors like it did with your brother."
Katsu found no fault there and chuckled, "True."
His father chuckled back, albeit more nervously.
Kazumasa watched.
Something was wrong.
Why would he-
"When do I start this school?" Katsu inquired, before Kazumasa could ask his question. He bowed his head, waiting for their conversation to be done.
"Oh, when they called back they said any day was fine, so I told them tomorrow. So I need you to pack your things."
Katsu blinked, "What do you mean, pack my things?"
Kazumasa gasped sharply.
"Toshi, no. I have to insist, this is something you cannot do!"
Katsu looked at his butler, "What do you mean?"
Toshi glared at Kazumasa, "The school-"
"He's sending you away to a private BOARDING school!"
"WHAT?!"
Katsu's startled shock wore off quickly as he realized what was happening, "YOU'RE SENDING ME AWAY!"
"Only for a couple of months," Toshi defended his action, "I'm doing you a favor! This school will be really good for you!"
"NO! IT'S SO YOU CAN GET RID OF ME AND SPEND ALL YOUR TIME WITH TASAI! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU'D DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS!"
"WATCH YOUR TONE YOUNG MAN! I-"
Before Toshi could do anything, Kazumasa intervened, "Toshi I-"
"STAY OUT OF THIS!" Toshi AND Katsu both screamed.
Katsu was seething with rage, unaware of what he was about to say.
"Leave us alone! You're a butler! Do as I say, and LEAVE!"
Kazumasa blinked.
And lowered his head.
"If that is your wish, son."
"I told you never to call me, son!"
Kazumasa sighed.
"Very well. Goodbye young master."
Before Katsu could regret his actions, the older man left the training room, where Toshi and Katsu stood.
The two stared at each other.
"This is happening, son. Whether you like it or not."
Katsu glared him down, bokkens still in his hands.
His knuckles tightened around one.
A phone blared and Toshi looked at it and sighed.
"I have to take this. It's important."
Katsu felt nothing other then rage in that moment.
His eyes narrowed on his father, who had now turned around and put the phone to his ear, "Yes?!"
"More important then your OWN SON?!" Katsu screamed, throwing a Bokken with great accuracy and precision, hitting the wrist of his father as the phone flew to the ground.
Toshi clenched his wrist in pain as the wooden sword, bounced on the ground coming to a stop.
He turned around, furious at his son.
"I don't have time for this, Katsu."
"A good FATHER WOULD MAKE TIME!" Katsu ran forward and tried to strike his father's face.
Toshi dodged, and gripped Katsu by the two hands holding the stick, lifting him up and punching him in the gut.
"A better son, would DESERVE IT!"
He dropped his son and the boy doubled over to his knees.
Katsu felt squeamish and nauseating, but no pain.
He began to stand.
"All your life, you have continued to BULLY others! Because they were better then you!"
He kicked Katsu down to the ground.
This...isn't fair!
He didn't realize he didn't feel the pain.
Katsu glared back up at his father, teeth gritting.
"I...hate...you!"
Toshi glared back down at his son.
"I...wish...I could be proud of you."
His mind went haywire.
Katsu strangled his father.
Katsu scalped his father.
Katsu impaled his father with a REAL sword.
The young boy envisioned EVERYTHING he ever wanted to do to his father, and grew angrier and angrier at the afterthoughts.
Katsu began to stand up, clenching his fists and tried to hit his father.
But a ten year old could not beat his own father, and Toshi kicked him again.
Katsu grunted, standing up again.
"This...isn't...FAIR!"
Once again...he didn't notice his lack of injuries.
Or the fact that his eyes started to glow red, the veins in his blood pumping something warmer then blood.
Electric like...
Energizing him...
Katsu swung his hand back and his his father in the chest.
Toshi didn't even try, finding this pointless, not expecting the boy to actually manage to wound him.
And then he flew backwards, crashing through the wall and into the kitchen.
The amount of power in the strike created cracks surrounding the hole in the wall, while Katsu's eyes ceased their glowing, and his arms instead cascaded in a red aura.
The cooks and servants looked at their master and screamed in shock.
"OH MY GOD!"
"IS HE DEAD?!"
"WHAT IS THAT THING?!"
"CALL THE POLICE!"
Katsu growled.
Not only was he glowing red.
But he was seeing red.
Unaware of anything else, Katsu charged forward, his steps taking him further then he wanted, traveling faster then expected.
All he appeared to others was a blur.
Until it wore off, quickly even.
He felt a sheer amount of exhaustion, and collapsed when he made it to the kitchen.
Toshi began to stand, in pain and angry.
"YOU BASTARD!"
He struck Katsu again, this time punching him in the mouth.
Katsu moved back by the force of the blow...
But felt some energy returned to him.
His eyes glowed again as the force of the punch seeped into his skin and powered him up.
He roared again, and swung his fist back.
It hit his father's knee, with the same effect as Toshi's punch.
His father hit the ground and hit his head against piece of wall, knocking him unconscious.
Katsu lifted his fist and went to hit him again.
Only for something stretchy to wrap around his hand, and then move to incapacitate him.
His mother, using her quirk, to elongate her limbs and wrap him up.
Katsu growled, "MOTHER! LET ME GO!"
"The police are on their way Katsu!"
"FOR WHAT?! TO ARREST ME?!" Katsu sneered back at his father
Layla Muteki looked at her son with love...and...sorrow.
"Please don't make this harder then it has to be."
Katsu understood that she wasn't bluffing, and grew angrier, "YOU'RE DEFENDING HIM?! YOU'RE MY MOTHER, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ON MY SIDE!"
Katsu screamed, "I HATE YOU TOO! JUST LIKE HIM! I HATE YOU, I HATE KAZUMASA, I HATE PAUL, I HATE TASAI TOO!"
Layla Muteki looked to her knocked out husband and parted her lips to reveal a worried expression, "Toshi?"
Katsu growled, "DON'T LOOK AT HIM!"
Katsu heard sirens closing in.
This wasn't a joke?
Katsu began to realize what was happening to him, what was GOING to happen to him. He began to let his furious face fade, and he began to crack. "Please! Don't...They're gonna arrest me?!"
"You attacked the CEO of Muteki Tech and Indutries...they have to Katsu..."
Katsu blinked and began to panic, "Wait! Don't! I'm sorry, Mom! I'm so sorry!"
He struggled, and tried to break free, trying to summon that power he had earlier.
It didn't come.
"PLEASE! I'll go to that school! I'll go away like dad wanted! You'll never see me again, PLEASE!"
The doors opened and by then Katsu realized he was too late.
Three police officers walked into the room, guns drawn, and when they saw Layla Muteki holding their son, they relaxed and put the guns away, "Okay. Thank you ma'am we can take it from here!"
"NO WAIT!"
The slapped quirk restraining cuffs on him, and he began to cry.
"No...Please!"
What was happening?!
Ten minutes ago he was sparring with Tasai!
Now the police are here?
He began to cry, being lead out of the house, while reporters had just arrived on the scene.
Cameras and Recorders were in his face, and before he knew it.
He was place in the back a police van.
Three days later.
"And then...I ended up here."
Katsu finished the story, and looked to the police officer and tall women with bushy ponytail, his head still lowered.
The Police finished jotting his notes down while the woman looked on with compassion.
"You've been through a lot recently, it seems."
Katsu finally looked up at the women.
Her face seemed familiar.
The young boy sighed and the women began to stand up with a comforting smile, "Don't worry...a friend and I are gonna take care of this."
Katsu blinked in confusion.
"How?" Katsu asked.
By that time, she had already been escorted out of the room.
The women sighed as the door shut behind her, and she looked to the side of the hallway and entered a door.
The room she was in now was across the one sided mirror, where an older officer and a another man in a blue jumpsuit waited.
"Well Ms Yaoyorozu?"
Momo Yaoyorozu sighed, "He looks like the one we researched. What was his quirk again? Super strength?"
The officer grabbed a file and reading glasses, "No, it says here he can exert the same amount of energy and force he comes into contact with. The Quirk Doctor has dubbed it, Energy Absorption."
"Well then they are wrong, then, he can distribute it as well, if he can punch a 43 year old male across a thirty foot room and into a kitchen through two inches of wooden walls."
"Yeah, well Energy Absorption and Redistribution was a mouthful."
The other man who was not an officer rubbed his chin staring at the boy.
"Can we trust that you will be able to observe the boy?" The officer asked the man.
"He is under house arrest, isn't he?"
"Only if you can keep him in your house. The boys father has disowned him. Fully."
Momo sighed, "Dreadful thing."
"Let me speak to him. I'll talk to him myself," the man stood up and went for the door.
Momo went to follow him until he huffed, "Alone."
Katsu looked at the door as it opened and revealed a man with bicolored hair and hetrochromia.
Katsu gasped.
He recognized him.
Shoto Todoroki.
And there you have it.
Origin almost done.
See ya, and don't forget to review.