Chapter 1 - Call from the Damned
Sirius' eyes fluttered open to the feeling of disturbance. He felt his groggy self trying to piece his own mind and consciousness together. He had been sleeping quite deeply, it seemed. That was good; a full 8 hours sleep wasn't something Sirius was familiar with for quite some time. Though, he couldn't shake the fact that he had been woken up from something… important. His heart felt heavy, for no reason at all, leaving him in a state of wondering. What was this phantom anxiousness?
Sirius tossed and turned in his bed, unable to sleep again even if he tried to command himself to do so. Today was a Sunday wasn't it? It would be an annoyance to get up so early on a weekend, he thought. He felt the bandages all over his body itch, the slowly healing burn marks and scars under it started to sting every second his awareness seeped in from his fading state of slumber. In the end, he couldn't bring himself to fall back to sleep. He looked up at his rundown ceiling of an apartment with a sigh, before lifting himself off of the bed as soon as he felt his stomach churn.
"Good morning, New York, I'm Tyra Janes. How are you all feeling this winter? If 'chilling' is the word you're looking for, then you might be right."
Half past 8 was beeping dimly from the small digital clock that he placed next to his bed, and he had been cooking in the kitchen for at least five minutes. A small portable TV was filling up the deafening silence between him and his morning routines, playing the morning news as it usually does. It was difficult to move his joints today, Sirius mused, much to his morning annoyances. He couldn't have been able to predict the intensity of his last battle, he mindly mused to himself once more, but even so he should've made more intelligent decisions then. Reaping what he sowed seemed like a fitting theme for his life.
"10 years have passed since the discovery of Singularities, or more commonly known as Living Quirks. Since then, people have been living in fear of themselves and their own powers, dreading metamorphosis and becoming a Living Quirk themselves. The number of metamorphosed victims only increase throughout the years, but not as tragic as those caught up in the crossfires, as seen by a recent rise in Singularity attacks, one of which was a case in Manhattan suburbs that left the neighborhood speechless: in the night of November the 22th, a silent household fell victim to what is reported to be a parasitic-type Living Quirk. An unnamed Specialist arrived just in time to resolve the incident, but not after consuming—as of now—an uncountable number of victims."
As the eggs and bacon sizzled, Sirius' attention was brought to the corner of hIs kitchen counter, where he saw a small red blink of light. His phone was sitting idly on the marble top, until Sirius picked it up and found himself staring at one unread notification.
"In order to discuss these incidents, we have a guest here today: a DA who reportedly handled and closed over 200 Singularity cases in New York last year alone, and a candidate for next year's seat in congress, representing New York, Victoria Stane. Mrs. Stane, firstly I'd like to thank you for accepting this interview at a very sudden time."
The portable TV on the other side of the room started to speak a new voice, to which Sirius lifted his head up and saw himself staring at the image of a well-dressed lady.
"It is a pleasure to be here," Said the DA's voice, "I think it's very important for me to make a statement regarding the recent situation of… Singularities and Living Quirks alike. Seeing as how I am familiar with this new phenomenon."
"Of course, New York State itself has seen a rise of… 10% of new cases last month alone, most of them are in this city. A lot of people are very concerned about what this means for the Quirked population and America as a whole."
"Yes, I absolutely understand the gravity of the situation. But the statistics that you mentioned—the one about the rising cases—that is what I feel should be made clearer. Because as we know, Singularities are… divided into three forms, based on their level of… assimilation, or so to speak: Larva, Chrysalis, and Imago. These cases, or rather the increase of it, mostly covers Larva and Chrysalis cases, in which the former is as I understand it is easily cured and is the most vulnerable stage of a Living Quirk's lifespan."
"But that does not… invalidate the fact that the Living Quirks phenomena is increasing? Or becoming more frequent?"
"Well… I think it's also important to understand that, based on a research done on population increase in parallel to Singularity existences, the ratio between Living Quirks and the Quirked population is 1 to a 5 hundred thousand, which is the same as it had been last year and the year before that."
Sirius sighed, swallowing up his unease before getting himself to focus his attention back onto his phone. From the home screen, where a picture of an old movie poster appeared as its wallpaper, Sirius saw the white bar highlighting a private message from a familiar contact, saying: "USUAL PLACE. SEE YOU THEN". It didn't take him long to know who that message came from.
"So to summarize, as we—humans—grow in numbers, so do the cases of Living Quirks. Then, what, in your opinion, is our best call of action. Surely, there has to be contingencies taken in order to lessen these cases."
"Absolutely. In terms of… actions, I believe, as a person who has handled some of these cases, what's best for America—or at least for New York alone—is prevention at the earliest stages of metamorphosis. We've discussed Larvae-types earlier, yes?"
"Yes, of course."
"I believe that creating proper communication between institutions—independent agencies that help recognize these phenomena early on—and the public, is what is missing in the current government's first response policy against Singularities. When we recognize the symptoms early on, we can prevent metamorphosis completely. If we succeed, then even if the cases of Living Quirks increase alongside our population, they won't be mostly hard-to-kill Imago-types anymore, just curable Larvae-types."
"I see."
"Of course that would mean we make the system reliable. We have to trust that the first responders of Singularity incidents will be effective and reliable, in order to create a sense of security. Responders like the heroes or the police…"
"Or the specialists?"
Sirius' ears perked up.
"... No, not like specialists. People that the public can trust. Faces that we are familiar with. Specialists were a necessity during times of… civil unrest, where we barely understood the nature of Singularities and the metamorphosis. But now, if we are to strive for prevention and not extermination, I believe that relocating funds towards research is the better way to do it."
"I remember they were a subject of a large debate of whether or not an organization of… frankly, monster hunters, was necessary. But now you're… confirming they aren't?"
"Not at the moment, Miss Janes. Yet I understand the discourse surrounding them. America is a country built on superheroes. Which adds more to why… I think a proper reform towards the policy of responding to the Living Quirk phenomena is important, because it is not a question of 'do we need them', but more of a 'how they can help us'."
"But you are positive that, in the future, or if ever at all, we will be able to tackle this global problem."
"Of course, there is no doubt in my mind that we can go through this dark period of ours. I believe that it is too early for us to lose our hope."
The channel went on with other news after that. The comment on specialists was brushed off as easily as it was introduced. Well, Sirius couldn't quite get himself worked up over it. In the end, he went back to the frying pan, mindlessly flipping and moving the bacon around. A chill creeped in from the open window. He felt goosebumps slowly rising on his skin.
"So cold…"
Some old swing jazz was playing from a speaker above, on the ceiling. The smell of cigarettes and whisky invaded his nose the second he stepped foot into the premises, most likely from the rows of liquor behind the bartender's counter. So many people were talking above one another, and that in itself was enough to get Sirius' anxiousness to skyrocket. But then a small, blonde-haired feminine figure waved at him from one of the occupied tables inside the pub, bringing him back to reality. It didn't take him long to recognize who it was, as he could see the familiar sight of two crutches resting against the table on her side, the colorful patterns on most of her sweaters including the one she was wearing today, her harajuku-style miniskirt and kneesocks, and the completely unabashed attitude she had in crowded places.
"Hey! Hey Sirius! Here! I saved you a seat!"
Sirius' mind waddled about in his currently flooding headspace, heart rate jumping up and down like a rollercoaster. He walked over and greeted the girl with a sour expression; "Can you not shout? It's really disturbing…"
"Sirius Wilsk! We've got a Sirius Wilsk over—!"
"Hikari!"
"Oh, just sit down you buzzkill," The girl dismissed him. Her bespectacled eyes narrowed towards Sirius', "I got your sword fixed. You wanna see it or not?"
For a second, the older man hesitated. This girl in front of him was always the unnecessarily unrestrained type. He'd rather not have people focusing too much on the fact that he was meeting with a much younger girl. Well, there wasn't anything Sirius could do at this point but hope that the tension (if there was any) will just calm down on its own.
Sirius complied with her offer. Across from where the girl sat, he caught a glimpse of her crutches just beside her chair, along with what seemed to be a small personal handbag. She wasn't reaching for any of them, though. Instead, she bent down to get something hidden from underneath the table.
"Boom," With bravado, Hikari placed a black suitcase on the table, just right beside the plate of nachos. The same black suitcase that Sirius was using not too long ago.
It had been newly waxed and cleaned, judging by the shine of the leather, but he noticed something else too.
"Umm, that's not my suitcase."
"Nope," Hikari simply said, "It's your new suitcase."
"Excuse me?"
"It bent during the last time you fought, right?" Hikari said, "Yeah, well, I couldn't fix that. The metal's already giving out, the wiring's all curled from the thermal expansion, it's all a mess. Then, I thought, if I was going to replace the sword anyway, I might as well replace the entire kit."
She then flipped the suitcase around, letting Sirius have a good view of the front. The silver frame of the suitcase glimmered under the bar's yellow light. The locking mechanism, too, looked brand new. Hikari reached for it and the suitcase simply responded by revealing its hidden insides. Sirius laid his eyes upon the enigmatic mechanisms of gears and strings, all compacted neatly inside the suitcase. Every metal was still clean and polished, stacked upon one another in an orderly manner, and Sirius couldn't help but to feel pulled by the intricacy.
"Check it," Hikari smugly said, "More space. Even a place for replacement blades; all reinforced, of course. Now when you open it, the sides don't have to fly around like a giant peanut."
She closed the suitcase with a click, and placed it down on the floor just right next to the foot of her chair. Sirius could guess that she was trying to reduce the number of eyes on what was about to happen next, just enough for himself to see. The man followed her lead, watching her stand the suitcase on its bottom. With a light click, Hikari pressed a tiny button underneath the leather arch, and all of a sudden she pulled it apart from the rest of the case.
Something sharp and glinting that was once hidden from view sprung out in the blink of an eye. From the disconnected arch, now acting as a handle, a thin blade appeared. It was a shape Sirius was very familiar with, but one he also found quite new. It was sleeker, thinner, and the mechanism that was built into it seemed to work more fluidly than what Sirius used to have. He could also recognize what particular kind of blade he was looking at; curved, with only one cutting side, it was no doubt a tachi sword.
"Well, the downside is that I sort of dump the stats on this thing's shock absorption," Hikari added, putting the sword back upon the table, "Try not to block this time. You'll break a bone now if you do."
"I see," Sirius had no words, he was too filled with awe to respond properly. His eyes then wandered to the suitcase itself, and saw an unfamiliar block taking up space inside it, "What's tha—"
"Don't touch that," Hikari barked, her eyes widened and staring directly into his, "Emergency explosive. Only activate when you need to."
Silence.
"I'm just kidding," The girl said with an innocent smile, "It's battery! For quicker unsheathin'!"
Sirius felt like he was going through all the stages of stress a human could experience after being told of the possibility of him sitting in front of a bomb. His mouth was still gaping though, unable to properly smile at her joke.
"It's all yours, my friend," Puffed the girl egotistically.
"Wow, I don't know what to say," The man said the moment he recovered some of his train of thoughts, "It's just… wow…"
"It's not cheap too," Hikari added, "You know I had to buy 200 dollars worth of used support items just to find the right racks and bevels and worms and whatnot. If you had just been a gun guy rather than a sword guy, I would've cut a lot of losses."
"Oh," Sirius couldn't exactly respond to that. That fact was quite true, "Sorry…"
"Bah! Forget about it. I can make something cool either way," The girl brushed him away with a flick of her wrist, "Anyways, let's talk prices!"
The man internally sighed, but he had to expect such a thing. Sirius wasn't the richest man in the world, but he wasn't a cheat either. It wouldn't be right to let her hard work go unpaid.
"Alright, umm…" Sirius mused for a couple of seconds, his mind wandering to the closest memory he had of looking into his bank account balance, "Name your price."
"Take me to your next case."
Sirius' mouth went agape, unable to find the right words to say quickly.
"W-what?"
Without skipping a beat, Hikari said again, "Take me to your next case. I've been holed up all month doing my stupid mock exams, you wouldn't believe how boring it was! You know, if it hadn't been for this side project–" Hikari said with a wink, "–I think I would've lost my mind without the distraction."
"Absolutely not," Sirius said, rather too quickly too. He realized the sudden change of tone in his voice and backtracked, "I mean… not at the moment."
Hikari's expression dropped to a frown, "Come on. You already said you would last time!"
"Thing's… changed," Sirius responded back hesitantly, his mind wandering to the events that occurred a few days ago. The interview on the TV this morning played in the back of his mind, "I'm sorry, but I will not put you into the front lines. Not yet."
Hikari scoffed, "Alright, then I guess I won't give you your new kit!"
"That's fine," Sirius felt a bit disappointed at her decision, but he decided that that was the better outcome.
"Hmph. See how long you survive. I bet you only survived this long thanks to me! Since you're so weak!"
Sirius' eye twitched. But he could see past through her mean words and recognize the goal of riling him up, "Look, I appreciate the effort for doing this for me, but I just can't bring you along yet. Sorry for wasting your time. I'll make sure to pay back the amount you bought for the parts."
Hikari pouted back, her face reddening in annoyance, "Typical. After everything I've done for you, too…"
Sirius couldn't answer that, not immediately anyways, "The situation's different now, Hikari. It wasn't like 6 months ago, anymore. If I were to bring you with me… I wouldn't be able to guarantee your safety like last time."
Not that I've ever had a guarantee, Sirius thought to himself. Working together with someone else in this line of job was never something that he ever thought he'd be ready to do. But certain… circumstances had brought him and Hikari together, nonetheless.
"So… what are you going to do now?" Hikari spoke up to break the silence.
"Got another job in a few hours," Sirius shrugged.
"Ah," Hikari noted. There was a rather odd pause until she spoke up again, "Outside of town again?"
"No, nearby, thankfully."
Hikari hummed to herself, her bespectacled eyes wandering towards the space faraway. Sirius felt his gaze fall towards his crossed arms, both of them sitting just on top of the table, with each swallowed in their own thoughts.
"You know what? You're right!" Hikari said aloud, almost surprising Sirius.
The man blinked to himself, rather speechless. He thought for sure that she'd try harder convincing him.
"O-oh! I just remembered! I have something important to do!" Hikari laughed awkwardly to herself, "Welp! Better go home then!"
"E-eh? What?" Sirius, without thinking, stood up as well, "H-hold on a sec, let me get your crutches."
"No no no, I got it!"
Sirius fumbled with his words, unsure if he should just watch as Hikari lifted herself up from her seat and slowly adjusted her crutches under her arms. He watched as she, weirdly, hurried past him, and Sirius only followed suit the moment he realized Hikari had forgotten the briefcase with him.
The two of them found themselves standing outside on the sidewalk. The streets were lit a bit grayish from the rather cloudy sky above, signaling that the December sun had reached New York. Sirius stared forwards towards the wide street of New York, where a bustling crowd occupied both sides of the pedestrian street, trying to keep his mind off of thinking.
He looked around, waiting for a cab to pass, but before he could even keep the idea long enough in him, Hikari was already going the other way.
"Hey, where are you going?" Sirius raised his voice, feeling himself a bit worried and confused, "Aren't you going to take a cab."
Hikari only looked at him wide-eyed, as if shocked to remember that that was what Sirius usually did for her before sending her home.
The girl was mumbling an apology to herself, pupils darting everywhere else but Sirius himself. He sighed, deciding not to ask upon the odd behavior Hikari seemed to show suddenly.
"Here," Sirius said, handing over the briefcase in her hand to her. That seemed to have successfully brought her senses back to reality, "I'm… sorry, for wasting your time on this."
The girl only stared at him, her eyes darting up and down the case and his figure, "You know what? Just keep it."
"What?" Sirius raised his eyebrow, "But I thought–"
"Like you said, it would've gone to waste, right?" Hikari responded, "Then don't waste it, idiot."
"Hikari…"
"Just pay me back on our next tutor session!"
Before Sirius could respond, Hikari was already walking away. Her two crutches were doing their best carrying her small figure, the sound of them against the concrete followed her further and further away.
Sirius tightened his hand to a fist as he watched. As expected, he couldn't bear to watch, so he shouted, "A-are you sure you don't want me to call a cab?"
"There's someplace I have to be! Don't worry, it's nearby!" Hikari shouted back.
Once she disappeared past the corner of the street, Sirius was left with a clenching gut feeling that he himself couldn't recognize where it had come from. Though he knew he could get an earful from her mother if she heard about him leaving Hikari by herself, so that was probably the reason for it. Despite that, it's not the first time Hikari had fend for herself without his help. Hell, wasn't that the reason they had met in the first place?
In the end, Sirius decided to trust her, not his better judgment, and leave all his worries unsaid.
Sirius walked down the usual New York-esque street, though somewhere further from where the areas he usually had considered his territory. Just like last time, when a case had requested Sirius to leave the city, he would wander a short distance to where he was needed.
The streets, as Sirius observed his surroundings, seemed desolate. This was somewhere in the heart of Hell's Kitchen, if the man could recall correctly, a place once full of people back in the old days before Singularity. If it was a bit over a decade ago, Sirius could probably smell the scent of naan bread from the corner, or the sound of cyclists passing through the sidewalk. He remembered these memories faintly from his younger years, perhaps more so after staring at what was left of it. Then, Sirius came across a junction, where in one roadway a barricade was structured. He saw graffitied concrete blocks and tall metal fences from where he stood. For a moment Sirius' mouth was covered in bitter aftertaste, his memories now playing in rewind once more, remembering the time where the Living Quirk phenomenon was feared like a disease, and barriers were put up to contain the "red zones" and the people around it.
He vividly remembered fighting at some of the lonely streets and alleyways around him, both humans and Living Quirks alike. During times of stigmatization. During the ever spreading fear towards neighbors and friends. His heart grew heavy, realizing how very little had changed.
Some time passed with his mind slowly calming away from boredom, until he finally arrived at where he had intended. He stood before the sight of another metal fence, but this one wasn't enclosing a street, rather, a building. His shoe soles were tugged towards the asphalt, on the street just before the property, feeling the need to double-check his position. He pulled out his phone and checked his messages. Without a doubt now, he knew he had turned up where he needed to be.
"A school, huh," Sirius muttered, "A rundown one, too. Creepy."
"Afternoon, sir."
Sirius' attention flew sideways. A rough, gravel-like voice brought his thoughts to a pause, and he found himself staring at the sight of a tall and robust police officer, dressed in his complete black and blue uniform, decorated with a holstered pistol and a radio strapped to his right shoulder. He was a well-built man, and his clean shaven jawline did nothing to help Sirius feel any less of his intimidating aura.
"Afternoon," Sirius idly responded, "Can I help you, officer?"
"I just wanted to tell you this area's closed off," Said the policeman, "So if you don't mind me asking: may I know the business you have here?"
Sirius had his fair share of running into the authorities at the wrong moment, most of which regarding him giving a statement on nights where his workings had been most active. It gave him an experience on how to deal and converse with the law when needed since he wasn't really that keen on getting himself jailed for a misunderstanding, more importantly than that was the learned trait of reading the atmosphere. This situation wasn't as serious as most of the times he had been approached, but he could tell that from the officer's appearance here in itself something abnormal was afoot.
"Of course. I'm a private specialist here on a request," Sirius explained, letting himself look more relaxed than how he was, "Is there something of matter? I heard of an activity here."
"Something definitely is. We were suspecting certain… Larvae activity around here—suspicious individuals going in and out of the abandoned school, so we closed off the location based on the reports," The policeman told him. The way he spoke expressed a deep regret, almost as if he sympathized with Sirius, "Don't know what to tell ya, bud, but it's probably in our hands now."
"Oh…" Sirius' gaze fell.
"Is it alright if I check your ID?" The policeman continued, gesturing to Sirius' briefcase, "It'll be a moment."
"Oh, yeah, yeah, of course," The lanky man rustled his free hand against the back pocket of his pants, and pulled out to view the sight of a thin leather bound wallet, kept safe only by a single flap.
He immediately offered it to the policeman, who proceeded to open it for himself to see. As the officer was busy scanning the legitimacy of the identifications he needed from Sirius, the man himself found his attention averted to the sight of the school gates once more.
"Hey, you said it was a possible Larvae activity?" Sirius said aloud for the policeman to hear, while looking somewhere else.
"What? Ah. Yeah. That's what I was told," Said the officer, "Those things are a hindrance you know. They run just as much as Imago Singularities but look just like a regular guy. Closed off the area and monitored everyone around after the first report, if I remembered correctly."
"That's weird."
"What is?"
"I was told to take care of a Chrysalis today," Sirius said. It was then that his crimson-colored gaze returned to the officer's blue ones, "If it were a Larvae-type, it wouldn't be in my hands."
The officer stared at him for a moment, before chuckling to himself, "Must be a false report. I hadn't heard of any Chrysalises in the area."
"Have you checked inside?"
"What?"
"Have you checked inside the school?" Sirius continued with his musing, "Larvae-types have so many places for them to hide. They are, after all, still partly human. It would be weird for them to only situate themselves in one location, unless..."
"What are you saying, exactly?" The officer responded.
"Well… would it be alright if I just take a look around the perimeter?" Sirius asked the policeman.
"That'll be against the lockdown rules, bud," The officer deadpanned.
"Some Larvae-infected people develop behavioral patterns, but usually when they're ready to metamorphose into a Chrysalis-type," Sirius added, "I need to check inside to find either one of three possibilities."
"And what's that?"
"If we find a Larvae-infected man inside, or anyone for that matter, then we arrest them quickly. If we don't find anything then they might haven't been anywhere close to transforming, and I'll let the authorities do their job then. I'm just worried that we'd find a Chrysalis-type and be too late to reverse it…" Sirius felt his stomach churn at the thought, "But I'm sure we won't, so…"
The policeman gave him a look of suspicion the moment Sirius finished his explanation. Sirius himself was surprised that the officer was willing to listen to him rambling about his theories, even though he was sure he would be going home on the 'three possibilities' line. By the moment the pause ended, Sirius heard the policeman sigh.
"Look, it's not that I trust you…" The officer said begrudgingly, "But I really want this case to be over with. It has been one of several reports just this month, and I really rather just go home, you know?"
"O-oh," Sirius could only say, "Don't worry, I won't get in your way. We just need to check the perimeter again. I'm good at this sort of thing, you know? If it turns out to be nothing, then I'd a-apologize to your chief myself for wasting your time."
"Don't bother, man," The officer grumbled. He made the first move towards the gate and opened it without any effort; it seemed to had been unlocked all along, "You comin' or what?"
With the last of his nervousness flushed down with a silent gulp, Sirius followed the officer into the abandoned property. Not even that far inside from the front gate, Sirius could see the vastness of the school grounds once he was inside the front lot. Both on his left and right he saw untended gardens, grasses sprouting up from cracks, and faded whites of what had left from parking paints. The asphalt path that he and the officer walked on branched into two, where each circled the school building itself and disappeared curiously into different corners. There must've been another parking lot, Sirius thought to himself, or another building.
"This property is about 2 acres big. Was abandoned in 2325, I think," The officer said as he led Sirius to a dusty set of entrance stairs.
"Are you the only one patrolling the area at the moment?" Sirius implored, then he realized how his question could come off as stepping outside a civilian's boundary of knowledge and decided to add a couple words, "I-I'm just asking how serious this case is."
Oddly enough, the officer merely chuckled, "Yes, it's just me. And it's just a couple of suspicious activities, so there's no large manhunt to be mitigated."
Sirius nodded to himself, musing over the theories that his head could create, until the policeman stopped in his tracks right before the large rotting entrance door that led to the inside of the school. The policeman guided them both inside, after a minute fiddling with the rusting handle.
Once inside, Sirius took note of the rotting carpet, the torn down wallpapers, and the lack of distinct school furniture in sight almost as if they had been taken away during the period of abandonment. The policeman waited until Sirius was further enough into the building to close to the entrance door, possibly to prevent anyone else from entering. The both of them now were staring into a dimly lit hallway, where the only light that could break through the shadows were ones that struggled to pass through the rows of dirty gray windows.
"Let's get a move on, shall we?"
"H-hold on," Sirius suddenly said, stopping the officer in his tracks.
When the policeman looked past his shoulder, he found himself staring at the sight of the specialist kneeling down on the floor while running his fingers across the dust.
"A Chrysalis' trait is that their presence affects their surroundings," Sirius explained, "I'm not feeling any… rhythmic beats or low hums so maybe you were right. Maybe there's no Chrysalis in the area…"
For a moment, the officer said nothing, until he scoffed to himself, "That'd be better, don't you think?"
"Yeah," Sirius nodded in agreement, "L-let's keep on looking anyway. Just to be safe."
A slow walk through the inside of the abandoned campus gave Sirius just enough to calm his nerves. He was a man more suited to these kinds of environments, he would like to believe. Busying himself with investigating would normally ease his ever so anxious mind.
"I never asked," The policeman suddenly said. The two of them were investigating a random classroom on the second floor now, "But how do you uhh… specialists work anyway? Do people just call you up when they see Singularities, or…"
Sirius shrugged, meanwhile as he took note of the pile of rusting metal desks stacked on top of one another at the southernmost corner of the room, "Most of the time."
"Why? Do they just not call the police or the heroes or…"
"Well, I never usually ask about the reason but… I know some of them would rather have their incidents solved without a fuss. The police capture Singularities, if they can, instead of killing them," The specialist chuckled to himself, "Since only certain Quirks could kill Imago Singularities and whatnot. For some people… well, I suppose they'd rather want quick mercy for their loved ones…"
"Ah, yes, the executioner-for-hire, eh?" The officer chuckled.
For some reason, Sirius found himself replying to that, "... No, I'm different."
"Oh?"
"It's my power. I can talk to Singularities," Sirius said, his chest tightening with every word, "I call it Host. I— nevermind, it doesn't matter."
The officer only looked at him incredulously, "What was that? You were about to say something."
"It's not important," Sirius coughed.
"Your Quirk, what does it—"
Suddenly, the officer went silent.
"Officer?" Sirius raised his voice in an attempt to reach the man behind him. The specialist looked past his shoulder, and felt himself tense up when the officer slowly reached for his gun.
"Did you hear that?" The policeman said in a hushed tone.
Though his mind was telling him to wait and listen, Sirius could instinctively feel his index finger rub over the hidden latch under his briefcase's handle. The policeman proceeded to lift the firearm right next to his torso, in a stance of preparation, as if something had evoked a feeling of danger within him.
In a moment of heightened senses, Sirius' gaze finally found himself meeting the door to the classroom, which was opened just enough for him to see a pair of eyes looking straight at his own.
For a moment, Sirius considered calling out to whoever was spying on them, but he realized the owner of the watching eyes had known he noticed. In a split second, the eyes disappeared, and running footsteps could be heard in the hallway outside.
Sirius felt his instincts drive his body, and he leapt forward without thinking. Without delay, he immediately kicked open the classroom door and readied himself to unsheathe his sword from his briefcase, only to be met with the sound of a painful thud and a loud yelp.
In front of him was the sight of a human rolling around painfully on the dusty floor, clutching their knee in pain. Sirius' sense of danger turned into an exploding feeling of shock when he realized he could recognize that bright sweater.
"Hikari?!" Sirius found himself gasping, half relieved that he hadn't pulled his weapon on her accidentally.
"Owww…"
"Wilsk? Who is that?" The policeman said as he came out of the classroom.
"Someone I know," Sirius gritted his teeth, unsure how to approach the situation at first. He decided to focus all his attention on the girl first, to see if she was hurt.
Hikari was still sitting on the floor when Sirius approached her, she was rubbing her right knee up and down as if it had been chaffed. But it seemed like she only had fallen on top of it, as no signs of bruising could be seen, much to Sirius' worry. She must have fallen when Sirius had surprised her as she was trying to run away.
Knowing this, Sirius proceeded to collect her fallen crutches, while also giving her some well needed reprimanding, "What are you doing here?!"
Hearing the irritated hiss come out from Sirius mouth was enough for Hikari to start getting flustered and realize her situation, "I-I just wanted to, umm, see… You know…"
She didn't need to say it, for he already knew. For now he needed to make sure of two things: that Hikari wasn't hurt, and that either of them, or the two of them, won't go to jail for disrupting an active police investigation.
"How… did you follow me here," Sirius asked, making sure that the policeman could hear the least of their conversations. Hikari was a lot of things, but she wasn't nearly as stealthy as she'd hoped, so that begged the question on how Sirius wasn't able to notice her presence following him until just recently.
Hikari's eyes darted around, avoiding his crimson ones, "Please don't get mad… but I might have bugged your suitcase."
"You bugged my suitcase?!"
"I'm sorry! It's just that you never take me on patrols and I-I thought with a tracking device I could watch you from a safe distance without you knowing!"
"Oh no."
Hikari's bespectacled eyes broke off their gaze from meeting Sirius' to looking at the stubbled officer behind him. Sirius himself looked past his shoulder, and found the unnamed policeman staring at the both of them with dark, uneasy eyes.
"Officer?" The specialist spoke, hoping to bring the policeman out of his trance.
"You two need to get out of here," The lawman suddenly commanded, his mannerism was no longer inviting, "Goddammit how did this happen?!"
"... Yes, you're right, sorry. I'll escort her out of here," Sirius responded in kind. Partly, he felt responsible for Hikari following him, too.
"Well don't dawdle then, get her out of here!" And with final bark, the policeman marched to the direction of the stairs hurriedly, "Come on, it's not safe here."
Sirius sighed to himself, now he was definitely going to have to fight this in court. Right when he was in the middle of helping Hikari up and putting on her crutches, the girl suddenly gripped at his overcoat hard.
"Hikari?" Sirius looked at her quizzically, unable to assess what she was doing.
"The policeman," Hikari told him, eyes still fixed on the officer marching away from the two of them, "Does he not use his radio?"
The specialist opened his mouth to respond, but the realization brought to him by Hikari made the man stop to start questioning it too. As far as he could recall, he never heard any chatter coming from that unnamed policeman's walkie talkie. Was that normal, for a policeman on guard duty to have his radio shut down?
"No, don't get too ahead of yourself, Wilsk," Sirius thought to himself, "It might just be an uneventful day. It might mean—"
"Hey! Hurry on!" The police officer's shout brought Sirius' thinking to a stop.
"Coming!" Sirius shouted back, only to avert his attention back to Hikari a second later, and he started to whisper, "Listen, we need to get out of here first. We need to make sure you're safe."
A bead of sweat trailed down Hikari's Rosy cheeks, "I-I don't know… I don't trust that guy, he feels really—"
DRRRR!
The tension then was broken off, replaced with an even bigger more apparent feeling of danger as a low rumble shook the whole building. In a fraction of a second, Sirius' subconscious jumped into action, and his head swiveled towards where he could feel like the rumbling could come from while his body instinctively shielded the younger girl on his side. The gears in his head started to turn, the moment he remembered something important.
"Oh."
Sirius' focus was broken off by the officer's low mutter from afar. The lawman was also staring off into the distance, the sunlight that crept from the second story window hitting his figure from the end of the hallway, and Sirius couldn't tell what expression he was wearing from the darkness that contrasted it.
"Seems I miscalculated."
Sirius had even more reasons now to keep his finger hovering over his briefcase's hidden button.
"It's a Chrysalis," The specialist said aloud, putting two and two together.
The stubbled policeman didn't respond.
"An area affecting Singularity has infested the area, just like what I was told," Said Sirius, "But…"
The officer merely looked at him once more, but this time, the lawman's eyes seemed to show a glimmer of hope. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't seem like the specialist shared his sentiment.
"You knew," Sirius said under his breath, "You knew, and you brought me here."
"Wilsk," The policeman's deep grunt overfilled the silent hallway.
"Did you put out the request?" Sirius' hold on Hikari's figure tightened, "Were you planning on leaving me here to die?"
"This is a test."
"What?"
Another rumble shook the building, the sound of Hikari's shocked shriek filled his ears, and Sirius couldn't keep his thoughts in line as he was still in the middle of processing his situation. The policeman turned around from where he stood, and shouted to the specialist:
"HURRY!"
Sirius couldn't quite respond to him in time when another big roar reverberated through the school. If there's one thing he knew about Chrysalis-types is that they really do not like buildings. He wasn't unfamiliar with fighting them, but there was always a sense of claustrophobia whenever he did, and he was about to go through that kind of fight once more.
The walls seemed to be crushing inwards to the hallway, but only in some parts did it appear as if roots were growing just within the old oak foundation. The next thing he noticed was falling sand, which he initially thought was dust falling from the ceiling, but the golden yellow glitter that was constantly threatening to get inside his eyes was unmistakable.
"WILSK!" The stubbled policeman's shout could be heard from the direction in front of him, "IF YOU STAY THERE YOU'LL DIE!"
"Sirius, what do we do?" Hikari cried, mirroring the specialist's indecisiveness in the face of danger.
But then Sirius found himself left without any choice, all he needed was for Hikari to escape the school unharmed, "Crap… Hikari, hold your glasses in place…"
Hikari, who was still like a statue from shock just seconds ago, jolted in surprise when she heard her name being spoken. She glanced at Sirius, wondering what he was going to do, only to find herself being lifted by the waist with his right arm and her crutches were being carried with his left.
"Eh—?" Was the last thing she could say before Sirius' legs jumped into action at full speed.
The specialist rushed through empty hallways, through empty classrooms, avoiding any leftover tables and classroom chairs scattered throughout the building, all while carrying a smaller girl, her two crutches, and a briefcase. Sirius was by no means a tall man; he only stood at 5'8, while the girl he was carrying was only a head shorter. Yet he made sure that Hikari wasn't touching the ground for even a second.
He followed the policeman's figure, still wary that he might lead them into a trap. But Sirius wasn't familiar with the campus grounds, a fatal mistake that he swore cursingly to never make again in the future, and all the hallways and walls were starting to crush inwards into space. He decided that the only thing he could do was to anticipate any surprises.
The specialist found himself ending up in a curious spot; one where he couldn't quite figure out if it was still a part of the school. From where he stood, he could see the figure of the policeman not far from him, but the lawman was looking straight into what seemed to be a growing patch of… sand?... placed smackdab in the inside of the school; spreading quickly from a room just at the end of the hallway.
In the corner of his eye, Sirius could see sandstone, or… sandstone-colored root-like appendages creeping towards his direction. They were almost everywhere, on the walls and the ceiling, like an infestation.
"What the hell…" Was all Sirius could muster to say, carefully placing Hikari back on her feet.
"Look," The policeman said, moving aside to give Sirius a better view of the room just at the end of the hallway.
The specialist gulped, forcing himself to think critically. He felt a tug at his side; Hikari was leaning her weight on his figure due to her legs' inability to support her body properly. He closed his eyes, forcing himself to not look at her scared expression, and he gave her back her crutches.
"Stay here," Sirius told her.
Hikari opened her mouth, but no voice came out. She swallowed whatever words she wanted to say and let Sirius approach the lawman and the enigmatic space not far ahead.
As he did, the view became clearer and showed that of an indoor pool. Once thought to be pristine, now overrun by sandstone and desert-like patches on the walls, the windows, and the pool itself. And there, in the middle of the room where all the sand-vegetations collected, lay an asymmetrical dodecahedron, almost like a roughly carved block of mineral. It's edges and corners shifted and changed sizes just barely, but enough for it to appear as if it was pulsing. Perhaps that was what caused the rumbling earlier.
"That Chrysalis is 2 months old," The fake policeman said, "Kill it."
"No. We need to leave," Sirius' reply was firm, "I'll kill it when I can be assured of her safety."
"Look at it. The Chrysalis is already going to hatch, you and I both know that," The policeman said, his brown colored gaze intensifying into Sirius crimson ones.
The specialist couldn't argue that, so he decided on a bargain, one that the impostor might not like; "Take the girl out of here, to safety. I'll stay here and cut the Singularity down, but if you lay so much as a single finger on her—"
"I'm sorry, Wilsk. I can't do that," The policeman cut him off, there was a slight smirk on his lips when he did, "I have to watch. Like I said, this is a test. The girl shouldn't have gotten herself involved."
Sirius' lowered his gaze and bared his teeth. His fingers hovering over the small button on the hand of his briefcase, "Bastard…"
DRRRR!
CRASH!
Another earthquake almost shook the specialist' footing on where he stood. His head swiveled around to the sound of falling objects, and much to his dismay he saw that the hallway where they came from had been blocked off by falling ceilings and growing sandstone roots.
And the destruction only kept spreading.
He saw cracks forming on the ceiling above him, sand was pouring through from the gash and, with all the rumblings, it was only a matter of time before all of them were buried under debris. His suspicion of danger was proven correct, for the ceiling did fall, and it started falling on top of where Hikari was standing.
Hearing the young girl scream as she braced for the falling debris, Sirius took no time to pull on her wrist and let their momentum carry them down towards the overgrown abandoned pool room. Sirius wrapped himself around Hikari like a shield, and when they fell on the sandy floor with a thud the two of them rolled further down before stopping.
Sand was getting in his eyes and nostrils, and he could feel the hallway where they came from collapse completely.
"WAAAAAH JHIRIUUUZZZ!" Hikari wailed while she was still wrapped around his grasp, it seemed like all the excitement had broken her.
"Hey, hey! It's alright, you're fine," Sirius said through trembling lips, it seemed all that running was starting to take a toll on him.
"Not quite."
The voice of the policeman could be heard from beside Sirius. He looked up, and saw that the officer was taking cover behind one of the giant sandstone-stalagmites, his gun already unholstered and ready to shoot. Though, it seemed that his attention was focused on the Chrysalis rather than Sirius.
"Wilsk, I might be able to get it's attention, but you have to deal the killing blow," The policeman told him, "Can you do that?"
Sirius stared at him for a moment, until his expression softened. He placed Hikari down on his side and he stood up with his suitcase.
"You're not off the hook yet, you know that?" Sirius said with his best attempt at faking bravado, only to earn a scoff from the fake policeman.
"Yeah I know," the officer said. Without a second delay he left his cover to find a new one further away.
Sirius sighed to himself, forcing himself to calm his nerves, before turning to the sight of a girl sitting and shaking like a leaf on the sandy ground behind him.
"Hikari, whatever happens, don't leave this cover," Sirius said, pointing to the large stalagmite in front of him.
Hikari nodded, blabbering something along the lines of "Sirius, don't dieeee."
Sirius, with one last deep breath, sidestepped out of the cover and ran. The sound of gunshot was echoing from the other side of the pool, the policeman seemed to have noticed his commencement of action. The dodecahedron, which Sirius deduced as being the body of the Chrysalis, was in sight, and he could see bullets bouncing off of its mineral carapace. There was another loud rumbling after a few shots, and Sirius took that as a sign that the Chrysalis was getting angry.
All Sirius needed to do was focus on doing his part. He leapt from one stalagmite to the other, careful not to slip, and jumped as far as his Oxford shoes could take him to the air once his feet touched the point of the highest stalagmite. His right hand straightened backwards, pointing the briefcase away from his front, and just when enough of his potential energy was stored up he unsheathed his weapon.
The briefcase clicked in midair, in a split second his tachi elongated and—by the time his momentum brought him down on top of the sandstone-Chrysalis—stabbed his target without a second of hesitation.
Sirius could feel as well as hear the sound of metal grinding through sand and minerals as his blade went deeper into the outer shell. The sandstone-Chrysalis definitely felt the penetration as the entire pool bellowed with a tremor that was even stronger than before. That was its way of responding to pain, it seemed.
No resistance, Sirius thought, as his sword dug deeper. Hopefully this would end it quickly and—
SMACK!
"GAH!"
Sirius felt himself flying through the air a second later. His body tremored violently after what felt like a car had hit him on the left of his torso. When he landed, the Specialist was already in a daze, that extra pain did not register quite as quickly as the one that had hit him the first time.
"Sirius!" The sound of Hikari's shout was drowned by ringing in his ears.
His face was laying on rough sand and he couldn't do anything to move away. His entire body was temporarily paralyzed with pain. Despite that, the indigo-haired man mustered every last strength he had to at least look up, towards the sound of the voice.
What he saw, however, was not what he hoped. Before him were two tendrils of sandstone-like appendages looming over him. They were moving like a standing cobra, ready to strike at him once more with their blunt, rock-hard heads. He quickly glanced at the Chrysalis, hoping his stab had at least fatally hurt the monster. But then he heard a wet sloshing sound, like the sound of an egg being cracked. He watched as the giant cocoon cracked open in the middle, echoes of flesh and rock filled the pool around him, and a giant fleshy eye revealed itself and started staring back at him.
This was bad, if Sirius didn't move soon…
BANG! Goes the sound of a pistol. Something ricocheted off of one of the tentacles, another one followed and hit the other appendages.
The ground seemed to hiss at this. The giant eye swiveled its iris towards the source of the gunshot. The sand that Sirius was laying on began moving sporadically on their own, and he could finally tell that this thing was pissed.
Sirius noticed movement just from the other side of the pool and saw the policeman from earlier keeping his end of the fight. But it turned out to be a risky move, as more sandstone tentacles appeared. A big one burst out of the ceramic floor just near where Hikari was hiding, and Sirius' heart stopped when it saw just how close it was to falling on top of her and her cover.
He stood up and grabbed his fallen sword, chest tightening.
"Hikari—!" Sirius shouted unknowingly.
He was almost sprinting when other tentacles started circling him like snakes, stopping him in his tracks.
He swiveled around, trying to get a view of Hikari. One of the giant tentacles indeed had fallen on her cover, destroying it completely, but it seemed like the policeman was just in time to pull her out of it before it crushed her too.
DRRRR!
Sirius' attention was brought back to the opponents he had surrounding him. They were hissing like rattlesnakes, ready to slither around him and flatten him like flattening a tube of toothpaste, but all Sirius could think about was how he didn't have time for this.
The tentacles pulled their heads back one by one, before all of them attacked him at the same time.
From afar, the policeman and Hikari watched, anticipating the worse outcome, but what happened next had frozen them in shock nonetheless.
Sirius was fighting them, and he had total control of the situation. The giant sandstone tentacles couldn't even touch even a single hair on him as the movement of his blade was too fast for their attacks. He cut through their sandstone exterior like he was cutting through butter, revealing the fleshy insides beneath. Shrapnels of rocks and sand were flying off of his blade, but he was showing no signs of stopping as he kept marching closer and closer towards the core of the Chrysalis.
"Hahahaha!"
Hikari, right after she was pulled out from the risk of being crushed, was lying somewhere on the sandy pool with the policeman who had saved her in the nick of time. And now here she was, staring at the impostor as he laughed joyfully at the sight of a struggling Sirius.
"Now that's the Sword Saint I heard so much about!" The policeman cried to himself in pure joy.
The bespectacled girl averted her gaze back to the sight of Sirius. She never wanted to swallow the words she had said before about him being weak so much before.
But then she also noticed that Sirius was being pushed back. It was subtle, but it was apparent that he was losing his stamina. The tentacles were only going to keep showing up if he didn't kill the Chrysalis. Hikari closed her eyes, hoping that her brain would churn faster that way in order to come up with a plan to help him. Then, it clicked.
"The suitcase, the suitcase, where is it?!" Hikari muttered to herself in stress as her eyes scanned her surroundings. Then, right when she noticed the body of Sirius' suitcase lying not far from her, she started crawling.
"Hey! Girl! What are you doing?!" The policeman hissed when he noticed Hikari.
And the girl, amidst cursing at her useless legs and the urgency of the situation, simply pointed at the suitcase in front of them, "Bring that to me!"
"What?"
"JUST DO IT!"
Hikari could hear the policeman grumbling, and she watched as he hurried over to the suitcase, picked it up, and settled next to her. The bespectacled girl quickly snatched the suitcase from the policeman's hands and began working.
"What are you planning?" The stubbled officer asked, a sense of curiosity invading him.
"I put lead-acid batteries here," Hikari said in a hurried tone, sweat running down her cheeks as she kept working on the cables of the suitcase that she herself had built, "You throw it at the giant eyeball once I've combusted the chemicals inside, got it?"
"I—"
BZZZT!
The policeman didn't have time to argue when the suitcase suddenly exploded in tiny sparks. Smoke started coming out of the case and the officer simply took a step back in caution.
But he only had so little time to prepare when the girl suddenly threw him the case without warning, "THERE, THROW IT NOW!"
The policeman gritted his teeth, and without thinking, he threw it as far as he could towards the target. The suitcase exploded in midair, sparks of electricity and fire burst forth from the plastic and leather casing. It seemed like it had prematurely combusted, but that was what Hikari wanted to happen. The flames and the chemicals were being carried by momentum, and, like a splash of water, found itself splashed across the Chrysalis' giant eye.
DRRRRRRRRRRR!
The earthquakes were even more violent now. Hikari couldn't even see her own fingers in front of her from how much the floor had tremored. She couldn't even watch when, as the Chrysalis was too focused on the burning pain that scorched it's fleshy eyeball, Sirius made his move through the distracted tentacles and placed himself directly in front of the giant cocoon.
Two slashes and a deep stab was all it took. Two slashes to completely open up the eyeball's flesh, and one stab to the core inside of the Chrysalis where the poor sap who used to be human was located. The tentacles around them started flailing madly at this, and at some point almost hitting Hikari and the policeman in their crazed state.
In Sirius' mind, as he watched the giant eyeball keep struggling, pulsing, and vomiting blood under him, something clicked. Like a dial to a radio, the deeper his blade went into the flesh of the cocoon, the more the hands gripping on his blade were stained from the erupting fountains of blood, the clearer the voices he could hear.
"HURT! PAIN! HURT! KILL! KILL! KILL!"
"Forgive me," Sirius whispered to himself, steeling himself for one last push of his blade past the core.
And after that, with every passing moment the earthquakes' intensity started to dissipate. One second, two second, three second, and then finally, everything was quiet.
Hikari didn't feel like it was over for her personally, knowing that there was still the problem of leaving the campus, but the policeman beside her stood up and approached Sirius as if what had happened hadn't occurred at all.
"Hahaha! As expected of the veteran!" The officer bellowed happily, clapping as he did, as the silence of the abandoned pool started seeping in.
Sirius was standing right in front of the Chrysalis, almost completely showered in blood, not giving the policeman any attention. The cocoon's giant fleshy eye was limp, unmoving within its socket. Two X shaped slashes were cut into the eye's flesh, and a mixture of blood and sand was running down the open wound.
The policeman was 10 feet away from him, but Sirius had closed the distance so fast that it had seemed like he had moved at superhuman speed. Hikari didn't even realize at first that the specialist had his blade pointed straight at the fake policeman's throat.
"Who are you," Sirius' question was straightforward, showing his demands clearly, "Why did you bring me here?"
The policeman only smiled at him, as if confident that Sirius wouldn't cut him. But all Sirius could think about was the possibility of this imposter policeman in front of him putting Hikari in danger again, and that was enough reason for Sirius to shed blood.
"I suppose it's too much to ask for us to have this conversation without the risk of me getting beheaded?" The policeman tried to joke.
But Sirius only stared at him, eyebrows full of splashes of Singularity blood furrowing.
The policeman sighed seeing how the specialist responded. The tall stubbled man removed his officer's cap, and rubbed his hands against his face. Sirius, still cautious, wondered what the man was doing. But he couldn't properly finish his guess when, right after the policeman removed his hands from his face, he had a completely new appearance.
What used to be a strong jawed handsome stubbled man had disappeared completely, and what replaced it was a face fitting of a more feminine one; long eyelashes, round lips, and sharp eyes. The impostor took Sirius' baffled look as a chance to start running his hands through his hair, and that, too, changed into a darker, straighter type of hair.
Unbeknownst to Sirius, the grip on his blade lowered a bit, and the… person in front of him took this as a sign that they had successfully infiltrated the specialist's headspace.
"Name's Origami," The impostor said (with their voice being the only thing that hadn't changed), hands resting on their hips, completely relaxed, "And I come from an organization who wishes to recruit you into our ranks."
Sirius was silent, taking his time to process what they said. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts, and straightened the grip on his blade once more.
"What organization?" He demanded.
The imposter chuckled, "Something you're familiar with. An organization your squad had fought for all those years ago."
Sirius blinked, finally realizing what he meant, "No. That's impossible. The Task Force disbanded years ago."
"And yet here I am, at their behest, recruiting you back into their ranks," Origami told him. Their faces inching closer into the sharpness of the blade, teasing Sirius, "But I wanted to see you in battle, you see. Unlike the other recruits I had to go through, you're the only one who was there that day…"
Sirius' gaze lowered, "Stop."
"So I got curious. I wanted to see what the man that fought both in the Plague War and the Great Singularity Crisis is like. It wasn't easy finding you, you know. You really made a point when you say that you do things without making too much of a fuss," Origami took a step back, enough so Sirius' blade won't reach them when they continued, "But when I saw, I truly have seen! At first I thought this fumbling, introverted young man couldn't have been one of the original Task Force! But Mr. Wilsk, you have definitely earned your reputation."
Every word from this person's mouth was like a cut into Sirius' soul. The past that he thought he had buried deep within his subconscious were starting to resurface once more.
"Appreciate it," Sirius said once he had gotten ahold of himself, "And no thank you. I'm not joining."
The specialist lowered his blade, subtly telling Origami that they were no threat to him.
"Oh, but you haven't listened to what more I have to say."
"You've said enough, shown enough," Sirius spat back, "You endangered both the lives of both the girl and I. I have no reason to trust any other words that come out of your mouth."
"And I truly do apologize for putting the both of you through what happened. I admit, it was only due to my miscalculations that the circumstances turned sour," Origami bowed, yet their eyes didn't wander off from meeting Sirius' gaze, "But you must understand that it is very important for me to assess you, Mr. Wilsk. I must see for myself that you are the same man that you were 8 years ago."
"Well, then there you have it, I'm not," Sirius interrupted, not wanting to give Origami the luxury of prolonging the conversation, "I'm not the man who I used to be."
"Oh, don't sell yourself short, Mr. Wilsk. We both know that's not true," Origami chuckled.
Sirius shook his head in disbelief, "You don't know anything about me."
"On the contrary, I know you were a Forge graduate. General Studies program, Class of '17. Valedictorian."
Sirius' eyes widened. Origami smiled.
"I know you didn't leave the Task Force when it disbanded. I know that you were forcibly kicked out because the division was going under from… oh, what was it? Lack of manpower?"
Stop it.
"You were angry weren't you, when you were told that you have been dismissed, permanently, from the fight. Even after watching all your comrades fall."
"Enough." Not in front of her.
"Imagine, a child who enrolled in a prestigious hero school, basically indoctrinated with the idea of heroism, who found himself fighting for the cause of protecting humanity, only to be thrown away when he wasn't needed anymore. That would make anyone angry."
"I SAID ENOUGH!"
"Sirius?"
The specialist had unknowingly charged at Origami, his free hand holding the impostor's collar and his sword hand directed his blade straight into their trachea. It was only at the sight of Hikari, struggling to stand as she leaned upon a stalagmite for balance, looking at him with petrified eyes, did Sirius break out of his trance.
"Mr. Wilsk, I'm giving you a chance to redeem your lost years. To use that anger to fight again, to be a hero," Origami told him, this time their voice quieter and softer, "The world needs you right now. You know that. Cases of Singularities and Living Quirks are skyrocketing, and even when thousands of dollars are put into research of a cure, it's not enough to prevent civilian casualties from the ones that are too far gone. Someone must stand in the front lines, Mr. Wilsk."
Sirius felt disgusted when they uttered that word in his presence. He let go of Origami's collar, and took a step back to calm himself.
Then, it was his turn to scoff, "So you want me to be expandable, is that it? What was it you said… executioner-for-hire? How does killing Singularities make you a hero?"
"To be willing to die in the dark just so people in the light could live their lives happily and without worry," Origami told him, "To completely disregard your pride, your identity, for the safety of others, without any wish of recognition. There's no greater heroic deed than that, to me."
Sirius was silent. Between the stress of trying to bottle up all his resurfacing trauma and memories, and the fear towards the idea of returning to it, he was considering Origami's words. His blood was still boiling, perhaps that was why he couldn't find it in himself to respond back in argument.
"This isn't just about you or me, Mr. Wilsk," They said, "This is about all those lives who fell that day, fighting for the cause of saving humanity. We owe it to them."
Origami lifted their right hand, showing a watch that was once hidden under their uniform's sleeve. Their eyebrows furrowed.
"Well. Regardless of whether or not you still believe in the same cause, I'd appreciate it if you would at least listen to what more we have to say this Saturday morning," Origami reached for their front pocket and pulled out a small business card. With a quick gesture, the card flung out of their hand and flew towards Sirius, only for the specialist to catch it nimbly. "Go to the address written there. Many people are expecting you and your return, Mr. Wilsk."
Then, they simply walked away, past the giant stalagmites and the sandy debris, past the teenage girl who they didn't even give another moment of attention, and disappeared out the collapsed hallway that they came in from.
Sirius was watching them from behind the entire time, still cautious of the face-changing messenger. When Origami finally left, Sirius averted his focus to himself and Hikari. Examining himself first, he touched the part of his rib cage where he was hit before, feeling relieved that the pain was starting to fade and he hadn't broken a piece of his bone. Apart from his strained arms and callusing palms, he didn't seem to show any signs of extreme injury.
"Hey, Hikari, you alright?" The man said once he could ascertain his own state of being, now approaching the girl leaning on one of the stalagmites nearby, "Where're your crutches, I'll go get them for you."
"I'm cool, don't worry," Hikari said through relieved breaths, her legs were shaking from trying to support part of her weight, "God, that was so cool…"
"What?" Sirius exclaimed, just when he had found her missing crutches on a patch of sand nearby, "What was cool?"
"Everything! Woah—!" Hikari's exuberance had made her lose her grip on the stalagmite, and her legs couldn't support her full weight so suddenly, making her fall on her rear, but she was still laughing when she did, "Everything was so cool! You were so cool! Like how you slashed and swooshed and pow!"
Her voice fell not long after.
"It was… a bit scary too, not gonna lie," Hikari said with a rather small tone. She leaned back on her arms, and sighed towards the ceiling, "Phew! I think I've had enough excitement for one day…"
Sirius was too busy drowning in his own thoughts, he wasn't paying attention to her words that much with the amount of events he had to process so far. He idly walked over towards her, carrying both of her crutches in one hand.
"It was nothing," Sirius said, in regards to her words of him being cool, "Thank god it didn't turn out for the worse. Ah—"
Before he lent Hikari's crutches back, he realized the bloodstains that he had accidentally smeared on it from his hands.
"Er… Sorry about the blood…" He said sheepishly.
The teenager blinked at him, only to burst out in tiny laughs. Carefully, Hikari placed each crutch under each arm, not worrying about the smears, and started balancing her own weight on her two walking aids. Sirius nodded to himself, relieved over the good work he had done in the span of 2 minutes. He turned on his heel, scanning the pool room, looking for paths of exit, until Hikari spoke again.
"... Sorry about following you here," She said with a pout.
"Don't worry about it. Just… don't do it again. I can't always make sure to protect you," Sirius reassured her. His mind then recalled the words Origami said to him a couple minutes ago, and he could guess Hikari had heard everything that he had as well, "I'm… not as good as I used to be, 8 years ago."
Hikari saw the way Sirius' shoulders tensed up. Her eyebrows furrowed in worry, but still she felt vividly surprised, "So… you were there during the Crisis?"
"Yep," Sirius simply said.
"Oh," Hikari's eyes wandered about, unsure on how to approach the topic, "I mean… It's not like I paid attention in history class. Heh, and you didn't strike me to have that kind of past either, so… well…"
Sirius pursed his lips, preventing himself from interrupting the girl as she fumbled with her words. In the meantime, Sirius decided to lead the two of them towards the hallway from which they had arrived from.
"But I feel like I'd be safe even with the you right now, so…"
The specialist stopped in his tracks, the grip on his sword tightening just slightly.
"... Thanks."
Two days have passed since then. Sirius had not heard back from Origami or his shadowy organization, which, by the way, he had not found any information about on the internet or anywhere else he could get his hands on. For the past 48 hours, Sirius spent his time researching, and waiting for any more sudden contact from the so-called resurrected Task Force. Perhaps his suspicion of them stalking and collecting his contact information was a bit too far-fetched of a theory? Origami never did say that Sirius couldn't just walk out of the recruitment, but it had only been Tuesday and Saturday was still four days away, and he needed to know if these people would come find him again if he didn't show up for the promised meeting.
The specialist decided to take a few hours of his mind off of thinking about such things, which was why right now he was sitting on a random bench, under the shade of a tree from the colorless winter sky. Far from where he sat was a local high school, and it was already time for the students to go home. He stared blankly into space, not finding anything interesting in the crowds of children chattering between each other, or the club activities occurring in the track field nearby.
"Hey. Don't stare like that. You're near a school, for Christ's sake."
Sirius was taken out of his daydream to find himself before the sight of a much older oriental woman towering over him, and the intimidating look of her leather jacket and jeans. With her stance, and her height, Sirius looked more pathetic by comparison. She was also well kept, with her short graying hair brushed to a sleek pull towards a short ponytail on the base of her neck.
"I wasn't staring, I was lost in thought," Sirius responded meekly.
"Good luck explaining that in court," The older woman said, "Hikari told me what happened."
And just like that, Sirius' entire dignity was shattered in a matter of seconds.
"Ah, crap, look, I'm really sorry Miss Honoka. It was— I swear I was always telling her no, but she kept— No, you're right I shouldn't have accepted her gadgets in the first place…"
"Yes, you shouldn't have," Miss Honoka's voice was like ice, and she didn't even need to look at him for Sirius to feel her deathly gaze, "And I know that it was her idea in the first place to make you all that crap just so you'd take her on a trip, but you're the adult here, you should be firmer when saying no. Got that?"
"Y-yes."
"Denying her request while still accepting her gadgets isn't saying no, you got that?"
"I-I got it, I got it," In all his years fighting Singularities, he never felt fear quite the same as this one, "I'll, umm, pay for everything…"
"Don't worry about that, she's not gonna be making you more things anyway," Honoka dismissed him, "Now, what I want to hear is this Origami fellow, and the organization he works for."
At the mention of that name, Sirius started to tense up.
"Yeah, he, or they, were the ones who got us into that whole situation," Sirius said, recalling the events clearly inside his mind.
"So it's true then," The older woman said with a slight growl, as if she had been preparing for the worst outcome, "Task Force is returning."
The young man didn't answer at first, there was still a little bit of doubt within his mind for him to make a clear assessment of the situation, "I'm not sure… but they knew about Forge. That wasn't made public when I became a part of the old Task Force."
It was Honoka's turn to be quiet. Sirius would guess that she was piecing together the clues in her mind, just like how he was doing it as he talked.
"Someone's keeping tabs on me to know that information," Sirius deduced as he twiddled with his thumbs, going through all the assumptions he had made in the past 48 hours, "That or… one of my old mates is involved. Which is impossible because—"
"You're the only one who survived that night."
"... Yeah."
"... Did they also know about…"
Sirius' ears perked up, knowing Honoka was referring to something else. Something completely unrelated to everything they had been talking about.
"... No, they don't know about that."
"Alright, so now we know that this… organization doesn't have all the cards, then," Honoka said, the tone of her voice sounded more lax and confident, "Any other news from them?"
"Yeah, they said I have to go to someplace else to meet the rest of the organization," Sirius' hand idly hovered over the inner pocket of his overcoat, where the business card from the other day hid.
"Bah. All the more reason to ignore them."
Honoka was more of a skeptical person than Sirius, for the former the choice for her was already obvious. But Sirius felt like something was tugging him to go.
"I'm going," He casually revealed, "... Probably."
Honoka glanced sideways at him, as if wishing she didn't just hear what he had said, "Wilsk, do you not get it? It's a trap."
"I have to know where they get their info on me."
"Curiosity, eh, so that's your excuse?" Then, the older woman turned to face him completely, making a statement that she was being more serious about the current issue than he thought, "Look, from what I've heard from Hikari, even if they're who they say they are, who's to say that it's not a lost cause just like last time? What could they offer you that these last 8 years hadn't proven wrong?"
"Shouldn't we be doing more?" Sirius inquired much to the state of his nerves, feeling like every word he's going to say was strangling his conscience, "I mean, it's not like Singularities are just going to stop appearing that quickly. In the time it's going to take for people to look for a cure, more Singularities are just going to do more harm. And, I dunno, I wouldn't be able to handle every cases by myself so—"
"Sirius, you're looking at something that isn't there" Honoka cut him off. She looked straight at him, earning his silence, "I know how you act when you think there's a good fight to be done, I've known it even from when you were still my student. But tossing your life back into the frontlines after surviving it isn't a good fight, Sirius, it's just martyrdom."
"... It's just seeing what more they have to say," Sirius was internally biting his tongue, he knew he had said too much, "I need to know where they keep getting info about me."
Then, silence overcame the two of them. The pair each staring off into their respective distances. Just as Sirius thought he'd be spending the next hour wallowing in his own dead end deductions, a familiar but distant laughter echoed brought his attention back to reality.
In the crowds of high schoolers scattered across the school grounds, one circle of 3 to 4 people had a recognizable combination of blonde hair and large round framed glasses. The sight of her laughing with her friends, while she clutched both her crutches, struggling to walk at other's pace, as if all's right with the world, brought a bit of needed calmness back into Sirius' state of mind.
"You being here, for her, in my stead, is more than enough of a good fight. You should know that."
All Honoka received in return was more silence. She was used to it, of course, having to know the young man for years now.
"HIKARI!" The older woman shouted, waving one of her hands in the air, bringing the attention of the crowd of girls from afar.
Sirius watched as Hikari turned to her friends for a couple seconds, before the two of them parted ways while waving goodbye to each other. The teenager walked up a small elevated ground, reaching the two adults waiting for her at the top.
"How was school?" Honoka idly asked as she helped get Hikari's backpack off of her. An empty question to a predictable answer.
"So-so," The teenager said. She then turned to Sirius, after noticing him, "Sup, loser."
She hit him playfully on the shin with her crutches, earning a yelp from the young man, "Ow! Rude…"
"Hey, don't dawdle," Honoka reprimanded the two of them, "If you still want to come shopping with me, Sirius has to finish tutoring you before then."
"Ugh, yes Ma," Hikari groaned, "Is Sirius coming?"
"He has to, I'm paying him to carry the bags."
Sirius, watching the exchange unfold, could only chuckle to himself in amusement. He stood up from where he sat and followed the two of them out of the school grounds.
He still had four days to make his decision, until then, it was probably enough time to enjoy himself first.
OC list:
1. Sirius Wilsk (27) - Quirk: Host - Codename: Sword Saint - Sender: Me
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Thanks for reading!