WEAKENED TO REMEMBER
.
| Lucy Bruden. Quirk: Solar Aurora. Affiliation: K.I Academy.
"Not so easy, is it?" the dreadlocks guy says through his mask, in a deep and raspy voice as he comes to stand over my body. "When you're in a fair fight."
"...who..."
The shotgun barrel is aimed at my head. "Children on Man."
I shut my eyes only to feel the steel raise my chin.
"Rubber bullets," The man says, "but even if they weren't, you have nothing to worry about little one. I'm not going to kill you, it would only make you a martyr, but I do want you to help send a message."
The end of the shotgun they guides my face towards the front of the seats of the theater where the usher from earlier is, now holding a large video camera over his shoulder.
"My name is Cain," the dreadlocks guys says looking toward the camera. "And before I became what you see before you I was an average man in the Pendelan workforce who watched day after day as my quirkless brothers were replaced or laid off because there was an activated who could do their job better."
He pauses and walks over to the camera, apparently recognizing I'm not a threat anymore, as my breathing labors.
"I want everyone to remember before quirks, before people like them," and Cain points to me, "these cities were built and rebuilt a dozen times over. The rivers already brought to heel, the skies already conquered, and it was all done with two hands and two legs and nothing more. Before quirks there were only, Children of Man!"
If the speech goes on I don't hear the rest of it, because my eyes begin to fade and I rest my head against the floor.
II../..o.
II..\..I.
| Shrike Amuna. Age: 15. Quirk: Palm-munition. Affiliation: K.I Academy |
"So, do you want to talk about it yet?" I ask Perci on the bus ride back home.
She shakes her head as she stares out of the window, watching the landscape glide by.
Her blue scales shine in the light of the morning sun. I wonder if she'll cut her stark red hair again, it's grown all the way to her shoulders. I know it's a tactical decision to keep it so short, so I swallow the desire to tell her that I really liked the way she looked when her hair reached all the way to the small of her back.
I watch her reflection in the window, her brow is tight, her eyes low. She's had quiet spells like this before, but never this long.
I rub my thumbs over the gun barrels that protrude from my the center of my palm. Perci being quiet always puts me off edge, and the edge is where you survive. In Avallone. I remind myself, but we don't live in Lower South anymore, and maybe that's the problem.
We get off the bus and walk the way home. Perci still as silent as ever. Getting home, I push open the front door.
"Mom, Robin. We're home!"
I hear my little brother crash a few things upstairs before his little feet start stomping their way downstairs.
"Shrike!"
"Hey buddy," I lower and bring Robin into my arms in a hug and pick him off the ground. I put him down and he crashes into Perci, who can't keep a straight face around Robin.
"Hey you two." Mom comes out from the kitchen, a warm smile on her face.
"Hi mom." / "Hi." Perci accelerates forward and wraps mom in a tight hug.. Which takes mom aback a little.
"Well, hi to you too, sweetie." Mom says still trapped in Perci's embrace. She raises her eyes dart towards Perci, asking what the matter is.
I shrug to tell her I still don't know.
I give mom a hug, at which point she takes a long look at me. "Okay, I suppose that's all I'm getting of you for a while."
"What?" I ask in confusion.
"You have that look in your eyes," Mom replies, "like you have a job to do."
Oh. "Yeah."
"You're not staying?" Robin tugs on my arm. "But mom got me the new hero game. You gotta play it with me."
"Sorry bud, I promise we will next time I'm back."
"Where are we going?" Perci asks, breaking her silence, because she's loyal to a fault. Where would I be without her.
I can't help the smile, "You are going to kick Robins but at video games, I am going back to Avalonne."
"Shrike, wait," the concern is Perci's voice is deep and thick as she worriedly wrings her tail, "I'm sorry I'm all moody and stuff, but I'm good I promise."
I place my hand on her shoulder, "That's not why, I just have to do this alone. I'll see you back at school next week."
"Shrike—"
"Perci, I'd trust you with my life on your worst day, but I need to do this by myself."
I pick up my bags and turn back to the door, ready to head Lower. Mom just stands in the back with folded arms and a quiet acceptance. I guess she know there's no point in talking me out of something that I have to do.
"Wait, why are you going back?" Perci asks from the doorway as I leave.
Why?
Because I don't know if I can protect you when the things coming for us are only getting tougher. Because I'm having to rely on other people more. Because even though I'm number one now, I've never felt more out of place.
I'm going because I need to get stronger. "I'm going to see my dad."
….
I knock on the door of a crumbling and tiny home in the outskirts of Avallone. Once then twice, then I bang on it non-stop until I hear...
"Alright, alright, shut up already!"
I hear footsteps and glass bottles falling over, the steps get closer until the door starts to rattle when the key turns in it.
"Who the hell—" He opens the door with one hand while he aims the double barrel of his shotgun quirk down the middle of the doorway right at my head.
He gets a look at me and stops short, "oh, if it ain't mr hero. What the hell are you doing here?" Roufus asks with a no small measure of scorn.
The best way to describe Roufus is scruffy. Everything from his unkempt afro, to his five-o clock shadow, his torn jeans that weren't that way new.
I can't believe I'm here. I look him in the eyes, even as I do there's look of disdain on his face. Him of all people, somehow always manages to make you feel small. I stand silent for while, hating myself for needing his help, but I grit my teeth before opening my mouth and saying.
"I need you to teach me Canon-fire."
There's a second of shock in Roufus' eyes before they narrow, and a long menacingly smile pulls his face.
"Well, you better come in then, son."
II../..o.
II..\..I.
| Lucy Bruden. Quirk: Solar Aurora. Affiliation: K.I Academy.
All I see is white, a blinding white. For a second I'm afraid this is where I think it is, but the smell clues me in immediately. The heavy scent of hospital practically unmissable.
I wake up in phases, my eyes taking time to adjust. There's a slow metronome beep in my ear and something heavy on my hand. The room becomes clearer and the fluorescent light bounces of the predestine white tiles, and white curtains and white ceiling and white bed sheets spread over my body.
I look down at my hand to try and figure out why someone would put what feels like a small bag of cement on it, only when I do it's the large scar hand of my dad.
"Hey there, sweetheart." Daddy says when my eyes meet his even bluer eyes. Even seated next to the bed all six-foot-eight of him still looks like he's standing straight up.
He's dressed very casually, this muscled frame tightly cover by a white shirt and black jeans. I didn't realize how long it's been since I've seen him. He's grown a short beard. I always found it strange that despite sharing golden blond locks, he's always grown a ginger red beard.
"...daddy…" I open my mouth to find it shockingly dry. I try to sit up to hug him and— "HSsss!"
Pain explodes through my body.
"Don't move, Lucy." Daddy says gently putting his palm on my hand to my forehead to push me back to my horizontal position on my hospital bed.
Why did that hurt so freaking much? I lift my free hand to tug on my sheets and find my entire chest plate is wrapped in bandage.
"...what happened?"
"You were at a movie theatre and there was a villain attack."
Movie theatre. OH!
"...my quirk?"
"Is fine. The doctors did extensive tests, you and your quirk are perfectly fine."
"Is everyone else okay?"
"Yes, everyone is fine. Relax, Lucy, don't worry about anything. The theatre did come down, but no one was injured, you did a great job."
Except I didn't. How many losses does that make it now? I'm sick of this, sick of trying and failing over and over again.
"Hey," Daddy continues, "you did great, okay? You still have a week off from school, so you have to focus on rest, and when you're ready we'll explain everything."
He ends by leaning in and planting a soft kiss on my head before he's about to leave, but I stop him by holding on tightly to his arm.
"Lucy, are you alright?" He reacts.
No, I'm not alright, and I don't want to rest. "I want to be stronger."
II../..o.
II..\..I.
One Week Later.
| Lucy Bruden. Quirk: Solar Aurora. Affiliation: K.I Academy |
This is going to suck.
I sit on the edge of my bed in my gym uniform, it's finally time to head back into classes after our study break. I pretty much snuck into the dorms but now I'm going to see everyone and they'll all know by now how I got my butt kicked at the movie theater incident. It's one thing to have all the adults fussing over if I'm okay, I don't know if I handle that coming from my classmates.
Chalk up another loss for the formidable Bruden name.
Then there's this whole thing with Shrike and Perci. I haven't thought about what I'm going to do when I see either of them.
Oh, and I'm still on my way to the B class, on top of all of that. Gosh, my head hurts thinking about it all, and I bury my head in my hands.
I flinch when I knock comes from the other side of my door.
When I realize how this feels unfortunately familiar, I relax a bit. "Kay?"
"Yep!" She says from behind my door.
I unlock and open it and before it's all the way open Kay has already rushed in and wrapped me in a tight hug. Her twin braids falling down her back, and her half fair and half brown skin split down the middle of her body still looking as cool as ever.
"Next time we have a break," Kay says from the side of my head, and I'm already laughing, "You're not leaving my sight." She finishes.
"Sounds good to me." I reply. I've missed my best friend, so very much.
Kay pulls away to look me over, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I answer honestly, "I had a full week to get passed it, and to heal the injuries."
"You Brudens are built tough."
Some of us at least.
We settle down on the edge of my bed. "So it was those same villains that attacked the museum?" Kay asks.
That is the story they're pushing.
Though it's clear to me that they had nothing to do with the museum incident, and pinning it on them just incited them to action. That's why they targeted me, they were answering a provocation, but… is that something I can say out loud?
"Uhm, yeah. Same guys," I lie, "My Dad insisted on aiding in the investigation."
"Oof, I almost feel bad for them now." Kay says before draping her arm over me, "almost."
"Thanks, Kay." I smile back, "how have you been?"
"Who me, I'm fine." Kay answers, "but then again I've never been the target of entire militias."
"You will be soon."
"That what everyone says, but it never happens," Kay says falling back onto the bed, "honestly, at this point I'd settle for a small gang of miscreants."
"Haha, you deserve better. Whole armies even."
"Promise?"
"I promise. You'll barely survive."
"Awesome, thanks Elle." Kays sits up again and sighs, "Are you ready for this?"
Facing the school, still being ranked in the bottom five, Shrike and Perci? She could be asking about anything and the answer would still be the same.
"I don't know, but I'm going to go find out." I say rising to my feet.
Kay rises as well, taking my hand in hers, "Mind if I come with?"
"I wasn't going to do it if you didn't."
"Cool. Now, let's do this."
II../..o.
II..\..I.
| Shrike Amuna. Quirk: Palm-munition. Affiliation: K.I Academy |
Lucy.
I feel like a jerk. The whole time I was training with Roufus I never turned on the news, and when I do I find out that she was in another villain attack.
What do I say to her? I hope she's okay. I think to myself while Sam, and Mago, and some of the other guys chat away about their week off with Elan, all of us dress in our gym clothes before the final evaluation. The whole class inside the massive enclosed training stadium.
"Shrike."
I look up from my thoughts and Perci stands next to it. This is the first time I'm seeing her since I got back from Avallone.
Her blues scales mostly hidden by her clothes, but she didn't cut her hair. The bright red strands now go passed her shoulders, and I smile a little before I know I'm doing it.
"What?" Perci asks noticing me smile.
"Nothing," I answer, "you just didn't cut your hair."
"Oh," Perci reacts by pulling running hand over hand through one side of it, "yeah, sorry." She replies.
"Why? You look good."
Perci's green eyes light up and a smile pulls at her lips, "Thanks." She hesitates for a second then takes a deep breath, "So, there's something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you long—"
"Lucy!" Mandy's voice yells everyone turns to the entrance to see Lucy walk in hand in hand with Kay.
I look right at her from a distance as she starts to get crowded by most of our Upper side classmates, like Darama, Mandy, and Jasper. She doesn't look hurt but I know she can put on a good front.
I want to walk over to her. To hug her and ask if she's okay, to do something, anything.
"Rainbow lights returns." / "For a Bruden she sure does get beat a lot." / "And by a guy who was quirkless, bro, how low can it get?"
I hear Sam and the others talk about her behind me and I clench my fist.
"Next person who talks crap is getting a face full of lead."
When I turn around they are all satisfying quiet but I also notice Perci has her face low.
I'm about to ask what's wrong but—
"Alright class, please quiet down, we're already running late." Mr Conrad hurries into the class to stand in the front.
"Welcome back to all of you. I hope you all had a productive study break. Now, I'm sure you've all been made aware that Lady Bruden was involved in an incident last week, but she wouldn't be here if the school and medical officials didn't make sure she was fine so please don't worry." Mr Conrad says, "Lucy, I'm glad you're alright." He says directly to her.
"Thank you, Mr Conrad." Lucy replies.
I'm glad you're alright too.
"Good, now. Having said that, let's refresh you on the current class rankings. Remember the object of your assessments is to achieve the lowest score possible, meaning the higher your score, the worse your rank. And of course, not that you need reminding, but the bottom five students at the end of this semester will be dropped and replaced by the top five of the B class, where you will risk getting expelled at the end of year."
Rank. Name Current-Score
1. Shrike Amuna— 16
2. Morales Dotti— 18
3. Jasper Sekai— 24
4. Kapercia Kashana— 25
5. Michael Darama— 26
...
6. Elan Tamanga— 27
7. Kay Kaladi— 28
8. Samantha Amaka— 30
9. Mago Lemba— 32
10. Mandy Kuziba— 33
...
11. Oketeos Mumiya— 35
12. Leon Malite— 37
13. Frank Mishi— 40
14. Taiya Konkosha— 40
15. Calata Intao— 44
…
16. Lucy Bruden— 42
17. Peter Miyala— 45
18. Jack Tambo— 46
19. Kul Makasa— 48
20. Chimney Akuguila— 50
"For those for you in the bottom five," Mr Conrad begins, "today you get a chance to save yourselves, but it will be a gamble."
There's an ominous tone in Mr Conrad's voice.
"The final assessment of this semester will be a one on one tournament."
"Yes!" / "Finally, enough of this team crap." / "Why do I have a feeling there's a twist coming?"
"You will face each other is one versus one combat. Half the difference in opponents' scores will be removed from the winner's score, and added to the loser's. Lower ranked students have the power to choose their opponents and are allowed to choose the same opponent, no matter how many times that student has fought previously."
Wait, what? "Oh, crap."
Slowing and all at once, I can feel the tension in the air thicken. And everyone's eyes begin to turn towards me.
"The bigger the difference in scores, the better your chances of jumping the rankings." / "Beat the guy with the lowest score in the class and you could get in the top 5 just like that." / "And they have to fight as many times as we like."
Did this just become me vs Class 1-A?
| Shrike Amuna. Quirk: Palm-munition. Affiliation: K.I Academy |
| Lucy Bruden. Quirk: Solar Aurora. Affiliation: K.I Academy |
II../..o.
II..\..I.
ELSEWHERE
.
"Marcus 'Cain' Smith, leader of the quirkless guerrilla group, Children of Man and creator of the 'Yellow Death' toxin."
"'Cain', as in the first son of man, unfavoured by god."
"It would appear so. The movie theater incident was their first crime of real significance."
"These images don't look like the aftermath of an explosion. It looks, well, tidy."
"Indeed, this was a controlled demolition, and I mean that literally. From what we understand several members of the militia were former construction. The foundation is still intact, it's entirely possible that the theater could be rebuilt in less than a few months, there are highly paid contractors who might not have been able to bring down such a structure with as much finesse."
"And you say no one was hurt, you're sure, even the Bruden girl?"
"Yes, everyone was accounted for, no deaths, no injuries. As far as we know they have never actually used lethal force, always threaten, but never followed through."
"So they just wanted to send a message, that they could do it if they wanted. Safe to say, the message has been received."
"It does seem as though that Lucy was a particular subject of their interest."
"What do they want with her?"
"To prove a point. If you recall earlier this year we pinned them for the Sekai museum incident. Lucy was credited with it's resolution."
"How do we reconcile that those perpetrators had quirks."
"It would seem that they outsourced, but have now decided to take matters back into their own hands due to the slight of Lucy's success over them."
"What happened to her quirk? Is it gone permanently?"
"The Yellow Death toxin. I can go into the details of what it is but essentially once inhaled it inhibits the activation of a person's quirk, however the effects are only during direct contact."
"To even the playing field, hm, clever."
"That sounds like admiration in your voice."
"Can't you not help but respect their vigor."
"Yes, I can. Nevertheless, the Bruden needs to redeem her loss, we need her to appear invincible for the fast approaching wars."
"And are you going to tell be the one to tell her father that you wish to send her to her potential death."
"Would he deny a direct order?"
"He's a patriot, unquestionably, but then… Well, have you ever heard the question, 'where does a 600lb gorilla sit?' The answer, 'Wherever the hell he wants.' If he were to refuse, well..."
"He is number one in the country for a reason."
"Fine then, but at the very least we have to tender the incident case to some other hero. We can't have her father running to her rescue, it's a bad image."
"Fair enough, but which hero."
"The number 2."
"No."
"Why the hell not! He is more than capable."
"Exactly the problem. It does have to be somebody capable, but not too capable that it makes Lucy's defeat seem pathetic."
"So then perhaps someone from the Lower South perhaps, maybe—"
"He just said someone capable."
"And this has to be a victory for the Upper South, it can't be someone with an anthropomorphic quirk. How about Tuvili?"
"A little young, and reckless."
"Young means we know which side he's on, reckless means he won't make it look easy. I have no complaints."
"And he has a 98 percent resolution rate and is a few years off the top ten. I'm taking him on his merit as well, I assure you."
"Hm, very well. And what about Lucy?"
"Clearly in need of more training, more time in school. We can't have her lose again."
"I agree, leave her where she is. We simply have to hope she becomes what we need her to be when the time calls. Though it may be time we took a deeper interest in the education sector."
.