Percy shifted around on the small chair, he'd noticed that chairs in Japan tended to be a bit on the smaller size, and it made finding a comfortable seat more than a little difficult. It didn't help that the stool was probably designed to be uncomfortable. He was filled with an odd sensation of nostalgia, as he sat in the small interrogating room. It was very much what his life could have been, had Nezu not seen something in him. It was hard to believe that only a few months ago, he'd been running around the city, trying to hide from Rumi and dodging the pros as he tried to get the school's attention.
It was comforting, in an odd way.
The door to the room opened, and Tsukauchi walked in and sat down on the other side of the small table. He shot Percy a calming grin, as he placed down a small recording device on the table. Hitting the button on the side of the device, and it lit up for a second as it began recording the conversation.
"Hello again Percy," He said cordially,
"Evening, Tsukauchi." Percy said around a jaw-breaking yawn.
"Sorry about this Percy," Tsukauchi apologized, "I know you've had a long day, so we'll try and make this quick."
"It's fine, I get it," Percy said dismissively, waving off the apology. Tsukauchi reached down below the table and grabbed a small briefcase, he spent a few moments rifling through it before he pulled out a stack of papers, and took a pen out of his coat pocket.
"For the record, you are aware of how my quirk works, correct?" Tsukauchi asked, and Percy confirmed that he did, "Let the record show that I am now using my quirk," Tsukauchi said into the recording device, and Percy waited for the familiar feeling of losing his ability to speak freely, but was surprised when, after a few moments, he felt nothing. He looked quizzically at Tsukauchi, but the detective just shook his head minutely. He then began scribbling something down on the paper,
"Two hours ago, a bar in Kamino was raided by police forces. Inside they discovered the bodies of Shigaraki Tomura, and the man Kurogiri. Kurogiri's neck-brace had been crushed, killing him instantly, and Shigaraki had been decapitated. You were last seen, and there is video evidence corroborating this, of you chasing after the pair in Hosu, before disappearing through a portal summoned by Kurogiri. It is safe to assume that you were the one responsible for their deaths then?" He gave Percy a barely perceivable nod, and Percy understood the subtle cue he was getting.
"Yes," Percy said, doing as best as he could to keep his tone monotonous.
"There were signs of a struggle inside the building, was there a fight?" Percy's eye narrowed slightly, there had most certainly not been a fight. He'd cut the men down in cold blood. But he understood what Tsukauchi was after with this.
"Yes," Percy said again.
"Did the fight escalate to a point where you feared for your life?" Tsukauchi asked.
"Yes."
"Did you fear for the safety of others?"
"Yes."
"Did you truly believe that you had no other option than to use deadly force?"
"Yes." That was the first time he hadn't lied since the interview began.
Tsukauchi nodded and finished writing something in what Percy assumed was a report of some sort. After a few seconds of writing he looked up and gave Percy a small smile.
"I believe we have everything Percy, thank you for your time." He reached out and turned off the recording device. Percy made to say something, but Tsukauchi just held up a finger for Percy to wait. A moment later, the door to the interrogation room opened, and, to Percy's surprise, Nezu walked into the small room. The small rodent scampered into the room and hopped up onto the table between Percy and Nezu.
"Good evening Mister Jackson," Nezu said cheerily,
"Evenin' sir," Percy greeted, and looked between the small rodent and the detective, "Mind telling me what the fuck is going on?"
"Certainly, Mister Jackson," Nezu said happily, "You, Mister Jackson, crossed a line tonight." Nezu said, the same merry look on his face, "You took a life tonight. Two, as a matter of fact. You killed two men, in cold blood. Were they dangerous men? Undoubtedly. Have they killed, and put lives at risk? Yes, yes they have. But still, you killed them. They were, I'm guessing, completely at your mercy, and you struck them down. You acted as judge, jury, and executioner."
Percy felt a trickle of sweat drip down the back of his neck, and he could feel his heart pump a little faster, a little harder. His muscles unconsciously tensed, and he prepared himself to potentially have to fight his way out of the building.
"You can relax, Mister Jackson," Nezu reassured, though Percy felt anything but, "You are not going to be prosecuted over this. You won't be expelled. Nothing whatsoever is going to happen to you,"
"Forgive me sir, but that's a little hard to believe at the moment, given the fact that I'm currently sitting in a police station," Percy said idly, he was doing his best to remain looking as calm as possible, in spite of the rumba his heart was currently doing in his chest.
"An understandable apprehension," Nezu said, "Allow me to reassure you." Nezu plopped down onto the ground, "It is like I said. You crossed a line tonight, but you will not be prosecuted for it. Allow me to clarify some things, while it is true that you killed two men in cold blood, those two were extraordinarily dangerous. They targeted students at my school, students, I might add, who had been in their hero training for less than a month. As far as I'm concerned…" Nezu leaned forward, "Their lives were forfeit."
"You're willing to just let me walk away from this? What about the Hero Commission?" Percy asked, flabbergasted,
"These kinds of things happen with some regularity. Every once in a while a battle goes beyond the conventions of a normal fight and lives are lost. The Commission understands that these situations come up, and is willing to, for the most part, bury the story." Tsukauchi explained,
"Quite right," Nezu nodded, "It is an unfortunate reality of our world that, occasionally, the safest thing a pro-hero can do is take a life. In such situations, the Commission is willing to turn the other way, provided that it doesn't become a habit." Nezu leveled Percy with a meaningful look, "It won't, will it Mister Jackson?"
"Not willingly," Percy said,
"Can you explain that to me?" Nezu asked. He didn't sound upset, merely curious,
"You're asking me to promise that I won't make it a habit of killing people," Percy said, "And that's a promise I'd like to make, but I can't. Not when there are other people out there like Shigaraki, not when there are people out there who are willing to target kids. Not when there are people out there who are willing to go to extreme measures to make a statement. Not when there are maniacs out there, who want nothing more than to revel in death and destruction." Percy leaned forward, his arms resting on the table as he got nose to nose with Nezu,
"As long as there are people like that in the world. As long as there are monsters like that in the world, I can't promise you that I won't kill them. I can only promise to try, but if that trash, if trash like Shigaraki pop up again, I can't promise you that I won't do the same to the name. Some people are simply too dangerous to be left alive."
Nezu stared appraisingly at Percy for a few moments, before nodding his head, a broad grin on his face,
"I can live with that." He nodded, and looked over his small shoulder at Tsukauchi, "How about you, detective?"
Tsukauchi nodded, "Glad you and I are on the same wavelength on this Argonaut." He smiled, "There are an awful lot of dangerous folks out there, monsters like that thing All Might defeated tonight. Some of them are simply too dangerous, and the Prime Minister of the same mind."
"Excellent," Nezu said, clapping his hands together, "Well, if that's everything-"
"Wait," Percy said, stopping the rodent from getting to his feet,
"Yes, Mister Jackson?" Nezu asked,
"Speaking of that thing, All for One or whatever, what happened to him? And what's happening to All Might?"
"All Might is currently recovering at U.A." Nezu explained, "Given the extent of his injuries, and how much he was forced to push himself to overcome the foe, it's likely that he'll be forced to retire, especially since the…reality of his situation has been made public."
That was true enough, Percy mused. He remembered seeing the news helicopters and drones over the fight. There would be no hiding All Might's secret anymore, and given that he looked like he was damn near dead at the end of the fight, Percy wasn't surprised that he would likely be forced to retire.
"As for All for One…" Nezu said, and sighed, "He, unfortunately, lived through the fight. He has been transported to Tartarus."
"Excuse me?" Percy choked,
"My apologies," Nezu chuckled, "I suppose that would be rather confusing for you. Allow me to clarify, Tartarus is the name of the maximum-security prison here in Japan that houses the most dangerous criminals in the country."
"Would have been nice to know," Percy said, "Damn near gave me a heart attack," He glared at the small rodent who just laughed happily at him.
"Well, if that's all," Nezu said, "I believe you still have a few days left of your internship Mister Jackson, please do your best to keep your nose down for a few days and let all of this blow over." He hopped down from the table, and made his way to the door, Tsukauchi stood up and opened the door for the diminutive creature, just before Nezu left the room, he turned and looked back at Percy,
"By the way, you might find this curious, but Miruko has apparently been telling everyone who will listen that she saw you fighting Shigaraki and Kurogiri and you were accidentally swept up into the portal." Nezu flashed Percy a toothy grin,
"Just thought you'd like to know."
BREAK
It took some time and a fair bit of paperwork before Percy was finally allowed to leave the station. Apparently a large number of the press had gotten wind that Percy was at that particular precinct and were waiting on the steps outside, so Tsukauchi led Percy out through a backdoor.
It had been an excruciatingly long night, and the first specks of sunlight were just starting to creep over the horizon. Percy let out a jaw-cracking yawn, and thanked his lucky stars that he had been given a ride back to Musutafu, he had not been looking forward to figuring out a way to get back to Rumi's agency.
"Took you long enough." A voice called out, and Percy jumped. He was so wiped out that he hadn't even noticed that Rumi had been standing, perched up against the wall of the precinct, supposedly waiting for him.
"Oh, hey." Percy said, and as his eyes adjusted slightly to the semi-darkness, he could see that she was looking as ragged as he felt. Parts of her uniform were torn, and she had a rather dirty looking bandage tied around her right bicep.
"Long night?" He asked, as he walked over to her,
"Something like that," She nodded, as she scanned him up and down with a critical eye, "You look like shit," She added bluntly.
"Thanks Rumi, you really know what to say to a guy." Percy said around another yawn, "Head back to the agency? We should probably talk."
"Follow me," She said, and without another word, she leapt up into the air, landing on the roof of a building a block away. Rolling his eyes, Percy followed suit.
They jumped in silence and within only a few minutes, they were sitting on the ledge between the large bunny ears that marked Rumi's agency.
"So you're not under arrest," Rumi noted, after a few minutes of silence,
"Astute observation," Percy snorted,
"Don't be a jackass," Rumi snapped, "I heard they found bodies. Plural. What the fuck happened? And that's not even to mention that little throw down you had halfway across the fucking country"
Percy sighed, and scratched uncomfortably behind his ear, before briefly recapped the events of the night. From how he killed Shigaraki and Kurogiri, to how he had been transported across the country by All for One, to the showdown, and finally the conversation he'd just had Tsukauchi and Nezu. As Percy led Rumi through the events of the night, the sun had steadily risen and it was just starting to peek over the tops of the buildings. Rumi let out a low whistle, and leaned back against one the of ears, her arms crossed under her chest.
"You don't do things by half, do you Percy," She muttered and Percy let out a small snort,
"Gotta keep life interesting," He said bitterly, "Would hate to get bored."
"You did the right thing," She said, and Percy turned to look at her, "Killing those two," She clarified,
"Yeah, I know," Percy said, and he meant it. He didn't regret what he'd done for a moment. Given the opportunity, he would have done the same thing, his only regret was not getting the job done at the USJ. Really, the only concern he'd been having was the potential blowback on him for cutting the men down in cold blood as he had.
"Given the way you don't seem to give a shit that you killed some dudes tonight, I'm guessing this ain't the first time you've killed someone," Rumi observed.
"Times were different," Percy said, before shooting her a cheeky grin, "Back in my day,"
Rumi glared and kicked out at him, Percy yelped and rubbed at where her foot connected with his upper thigh,
"Could you not?" He grumbled,
"Don't play that old man shit and I won't," Rumi said with a roll of her eyes. "Now how about you give me a serious goddamn answer, before come over there and kick your ass."
Percy grumbled under his breath as he rubbed at the spot she'd kicked him, knowing her, he was likely going to be bruised in the morning.
"Well, it's not like the time before quirks was all sunshine and rainbows." He explained, "I mean…" Hey struggled to find a way to explain things in a way that didn't sound absolutely insane.
"For the few of us that there were…it was kind of just kill or be killed, you know? And it's…it's not like we were a merry band of misfits, all happily working together towards a common good. We had our fights…and those fights could be nasty….usually ended up with one person not walking away from it." He trailed off, and had to fight down the bile that threatened to build up in his throat, as his heart started hammering in his chest. His fingers began to shake, and it was like his skin was vibrating. The strange sensations were only compounded by his teeth, which started to suddenly chatter uncontrollably in his mouth. His mind was whirring like a projector, as memory after memory flashed through his mind's eye. His chest started to constrict, and he was finding it impossible to catch his breath, his eyes glazed over and he couldn't see what was in front of him. It felt like he was falling, and he couldn't really see Rumi or even the building in front of him.
Then, suddenly, he could feel warm and calloused hands gripping the side of his cheeks, he couldn't see anything, his vision had blurred so badly that the scenery before him was a distorted mess of indistinguishable colors and shapes. Warm breath danced on his lips and he could hear someone speaking, but their voice sounded as though it were far away and garbled. As though speaking through a radio with a very poor connection.
"…cus…y…eath…" Percy screwed his eyes shut, and tried to force away the images that were playing in front of him over and over again. He tried to force himself to take a breath, but it was like inhaling through a straw, and he it was getting worse by the second. The voice continued speaking, and Percy screwed up his concentration and did his best to focus on the voice.
"Percy, focus on my breathing. In and out, nice and slow, just focus on me and my breathing." The voice was saying, followed immediately by a slow and deep inhale of breath. Percy latched onto the sound like a lifeline, and did his best to mimic the sensation. He took in a shuddering breath, and did everything in his power to suck in as much air as possible, and it felt as though he only got a miniscule amount of air in his lungs. But Percy followed the voices instructions, and over the course of a few minutes, he managed to get his breathing under control, listening intently to the breathing of the body in front of him. His vision slowly began to clear, and the pounding of his heart slowed down to a more mundane pace. As his vision slowly cleared, he found himself staring into a pair of worried red eyes.
"Percy," Rumi asked, "Hey, you with me?" She asked, and it took Percy a moment to answer, as he sucked in another deep, shuddering breath.
"Y-yeah," He said between shuddering breaths, "Sorry, that was-it was nothing, sorry, thanks but for-"
"Nothing my ass," Rumi snarled, "That was a full-blown panic attack, you shut down Percy, what the fuck was that?"
"It's nothing!" He insisted, but he was talking to someone every bit as stubborn as he was,
"Bullshit!" Rumi seethed, "You can lie to those kids of yours, and you can lie to the Cats, but don't you fucking dare lie to me! Now what the fuck was that?"
Percy thought for a minute about pushing harder, but he'd been around the woman enough to know that she wasn't about to let the matter drop, she really was too much like Annabeth for her own good sometimes. Sighing her ran a hand through his hair, and slumped against the ear he was perched against.
"I don't know," Percy said, "It's-it's not the first time it's happened though. Hound Dog says it's PTSD or something, I have these…I guess you'd call them panic attacks? Usually happens at night, when I'm trying to sleep, but I just get overwhelmed with-with these memories. It's…it's kind of like a movie starts playing in my head and I just watch all the same horrible shit on repeat. It gets hard to breath and it usually takes like…twenty minutes to shake it off."
Rumi let out a slow breath, and stood up, before moving to sit beside Percy, and plopping down onto the ground next to him. For a moment, she seemed to hesitate, and her arm brushed against Percy's.
"You know, I used to hate you." Rumi said softly, "Back when you first showed up. Talking mad shit, and giving me the run around, making me look like an absolute idiot. Worse still was that I knew that bringing you in was wrong, that you had been helping people and that by bringing you in, Musutafu would be a little less safe. I hated feeling like I was the bad guy for doing my job, and I hated you for making me look like some academy reject."
"You know if this is supposed to cheer me up-" Percy started to say,
"Shut up," Rumi growled, "I said I used to hate you." She punctuated the statement by jabbing him with her elbow in the ribs, and Percy grunted. "I-I misjudged you." She admitted, "I thought you were just some attention whore, that you were some nobody that couldn't get into one of the schools or something and you were trying to make a name for yourself by showing the rest of us up." She sighed, and one of her ears flopped down dejectedly,
"I'm sorry about that." She said, "Truth is…you're probably one of my only friends these days. Talking with you is easy and I enjoy spending time with you." She glared at him, "And I'm only going to say this once so don't make me repeat myself." Her expression softened, "You were right, that night at the restaurant, we do work well together. And I like fighting with you, you keep up with me, and better yet, you push me. I feel like I've made more progress in my training in the last week than I have in two years."
She sighed again, "I guess what I'm saying, and I know this might seem kind of shitty, but I'm really thankful that you're here. I know that-that things have been really fucking hard for you…I know how much being here has cost you…but selfishly…I'm really thankful that you're here."
Percy didn't know how to respond to that, but a warmth spread through his chest. On an intellectual level, he knew that he had friends here, friends he cared about and people that cared about him in turn. He'd had that realization beaten into him quite thoroughly, and he had a pretty constant reminder of it in the form of his right arm, but there were still moments where Percy had a hard time accepting it. To hear someone say it to him, that they were thankful he was there, that they were happy to have him as part of their life…it made him feel happier than he'd felt in weeks.
"Thanks Rumi…" He said quietly, looking down at the smaller woman and smiling, "I…I think I really needed to hear that."
Rumi's face flushed slightly red, and she averted her eyes, "You tell anyone that I said that, and I'll kick your ass." She grumbled, and Percy just chuckled, and nudged her. Rumi just glowered at him, but the red didn't disappear from her cheeks. She fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat, before she reached down to her belt, and grabbed something from the inside,
"I know you have things you hold onto from you past," She said, adamantly looking anywhere but at him, "And that you're…I don't know…nostalgic or some shit…and I know your time here hasn't been awesome…but I just wanted-I think you should have something to remember that things here ain't so bad…so here…just-just take it!" She thrust something into his hand, and Percy looked down. Sitting in his palm was a small, white, rabbit's foot. The kind of little knickknack that he might have bought when he was a kid. On the side, painted into the glistening white fur, was a small, purple, crescent moon. It was Rumi's symbol.
For the second time in as many minutes, Percy found himself feeling more than a little overwhelmed. Swallowing thickly, he stood up, his real hand unconsciously tracing along the necklace over his chest. Clutching the small rabbits foot tightly in his hand, he took the small chain and attached it to his belt. It fell and dangled against his left hip.
"I love it," Percy said genuinely, running his fingers through the soft fur. Looking up, he met Rumi's eyes, a wide smile stretching across his lips, "Thanks Rumi," he said, "This…well it means a lot to me, ya know?" Rumi averted her eyes, and just shrugged,
"I'm just getting sick of you being all mopey all the time," She deflected, and Percy chuckled, before sitting back down on the ground next to her. The sun was peeking over the buildings now, and the light was reflecting off of the windows, creating a scene that was…indescribably beautiful. Letting out a low sigh, Percy felt relaxed, and happy, and just sat back, enjoying the incredible view.
"For what it's worth," He said softly, but just loud enough for Rumi to hear, "I'm thankful to know you too."
He pretended not to notice the grin that spread across her face.
BREAK
He felt like he was…floating. He felt weightless, adrift, it was similar to wading through the waves. He felt warm. Safe. Comfortable. It felt…it felt like he was home. He couldn't see anything, his vision was blanketed by a thick fog, so thick that he couldn't even see his fingers. Or…maybe that was because he didn't…have…fingers? What was happening? What was going on? Where was he?
The warm sensation in his chest grew in intensity, though it wasn't uncomfortable. It was akin to being layered in a soft blanket, curled up in a plush chair beside a fire on a cold winter's night. He felt content. Relaxed. And he allowed himself to be washed away in the sensation.
He didn't know how long he floated in that nothingness, washed away as he was in the comfort of the warmth blanketed around him.
Then, abruptly, he was no longer floating. He was falling. His stomach plummeted, and he could hear the wind whistle beside his ears as he fell from the clouds, he tumbled and tried to right himself, tried to summon his winds to stop his abrupt descent but nothing happened. He simply continued to fall, seemingly tumbling end over end as he soared through the sky. Suddenly, he could make out dark shapes below him, rapidly approaching. He became violently aware that they were buildings, and he was rapidly approaching them, faster and faster with every second. Then, as suddenly as he began falling, he stopped. He could make out the dark street below him, and he craned his neck to try and see where he was. But…this couldn't be right, the buildings…they looked far too familiar.
But…it was impossible. He couldn't be….not here. No. This was…it was just a dream, right, he was dreaming. It had to be. Or…no, not a dream. It was a nightmare, and all he had to do was wake himself up. He tried screwing his eyes shut, but realized to his mounting horror that he'd lost all control over his body. His heart hammering in his chest, he felt himself yanked upwards. The fog around him ascended, and he found himself staring up at an achingly familiar building.
The Empire State Building.
It looked every bit the same as it had when Percy had seen it last only a few months ago. A crack of thunder roared overhead, before forked lightning streaked across the sky. In the brief moment that the top of the building was illuminated by the crack of lightning, Percy could have sworn that he saw someone at the top of the building. An old woman, draped in a worn traveling cloak. She was vaguely familiar, but Percy couldn't place where he recognized her from. The warmth in his chest turned into a raging inferno, what had previously been a comforting embrace was becoming torturous. It felt as though his insides had caught on fire, and he tried to let out a scream but no noise escaped his lips. There was another crack of thunder, and a flash of lightning, and everything went black.
Percy jolted awake, his heart hammering in his chest and sweat dribbling down from his forehead and dripping into a small puddle on his sheets. He was shaking, and he ran a hand through his hair as he tried to run through the breathing exercises that Hound Dog had drilled into him. That-that hadn't been like any of the other nightmares he'd had before. It was…it was almost like one of the dreams he'd had as a kid.
But…that couldn't be possible. The gods…they'd all faded. They weren't still here. Olympus was gone. It had to be, right? Surely he would know if they were still around, right? But he still couldn't shake the tight feeling of apprehension in his chest. As he ran his hand through his soaked hair, he decided he would need to look into this. Dreams like the one he just had…they never happened without reason.
Sighing, he swung his legs out of the bed and checked the clock, he'd only been asleep for a few hours, but he wasn't going back to bed any time soon. Deciding he'd waste some time, and burn off some of his restless energy he started getting ready to go workout in the gym.
But he couldn't shake the tight feeling in his chest, as he popped his arm into place. Glancing out the window into the morning light peeking through the blinds, he came to a decision.
He needed to get to New York.
BN: Hi there, I'm Double, LilDrummerBoi's beta, and after several minutes of combing through all of the reviews I can safely say you guys are gonna have to be waiting a little while longer to be able to see Eri. I know, I know, it sucks, but trust me, y'all will get her interacting with Percy eventually. Other than that, have a great day and I'll hand over to LilDB for his little spiel.
AN: And we. Are. Back! Sorry for the long delay folks but I wanted to give some of my other stories some much needed love. But you guys are going to be getting four more chapters of this over the next month so get excited! I had a lot of fun writing this arc, and I think you guys are really going to enjoy the direction this story begins to take, I have a lot of fun plans in store moving forward and I can't wait for you all to see what me and Double have in store for ya'll. As always shoutout to Double0Sxvxn for being an awesome Beta and dealing with my bullshit and as always if you enjoyed this but haven't checked out my other work, give them a try you never know you might find something else you like. I'm also on discord now, where I and a bunch of other writers hang out, chat and brainstorm ideas, you just have to copy the link that's in my profile bio if you want to come and hang out with us. Stay safe, stay healthy and have an awesome week
All My Love,
LilDB