When Shi sat silently in the infirmary, a heavy silence had been hanging in the air. On her patrol late last night, she had sniffed out a horrid smell, one that would make one sick, and since she had an enhanced sense of smell, it would have caused her to stop and puke her intestines out if she wasn't used to it.
She was oddly thankful to being acquainted with the foul odour. It proved to be handy.
Hokori who had been tagging with her during their late night shift wasn't as lucky with the smell, hence why he wasn't here with her. It would just make things worse, especially after what he saw that night.
Lambert looked down at his current patient, ignoring the one to the right of him as they were covered from head to toe under a pristine, clean white sheet.
The guard dog wanted to say something, but nothing really came to mind, but it wasn't long until a cup was placed in front of her. "Here, you've been waiting for a while." smiled the other head doctor, Carna. The dog nodded, taking the cup as the female doctor headed over to the covered up prisoner.
With one quick intake of air, she pulled the sheet right off, not even waiting to exhale as the prisoner underneath was revealed under the seemingly blinding lights. The figure was missing his eyes with an unhinged jaw as both hands and unequal parts of the forearms seemed to be cut off, that was also including the legs, but they were more symmetrical in what was missing, looking to be sawn off by the knees in a messy way. The last part that stuck out was the skull, a large part of it was busted open like a pinata or a watermelon that just took a baseball bat directly.
It was a bit better looking than how Shi found it, seeing as the corpse was no longer having bits of their brain leaking out of their skull for example. "Hmm," Carna inspected the corpse with a serious look in her eye. "The only sign of brutality is the wound from the head and was definitely the cause of death, everything else is too precise in comparison."
Lambert stopped looking at his patient and turned to face the corpse. "Wasn't he one that eyepatch convict's lackey?"
Carna nodded. "He was, but upon some questioning, it seemed he was more shocked to discover that he ended up dead more than anyone else. He is still being tested, but at this point, he seems genuinely shocked."
Shi closed her eyes, sadly deaths in Styx was just as possible as any other.
Any one of those prisoners could end up dead.
"We can't find any prints? While the arms, legs and eyes seemed to be done by tools, surely the skull might have some prints we could use to find the inmate responsible."
"We're not detectives, Lambert, we're simply doctors." Carna sighed as she pointed to the skull. "Whatever prints were on the skull, are now mostly faded, but we can—"
Shi started to tune out the talk between the two doctors, it wasn't really something she was interested to learn about really. Her ears did perk up once she heard something about 'trying to find the prisoner' though, an idea had formed. "If finding prisoners proves to be difficult, considering all the numbers we have to work with, why not use a trusted prisoner to find out?" she offered to the two doctors, backs faced against her as they looked over the corpse. "A trusted prisoner like Mariko."
It was then that the two doctors stopped, silence once returned to the infirmary.
"Is something wrong?"
The two doctors shared a look to one another before Lambert ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry Shi, but Mariko isn't up for the task."
"Why not?"
"She's gotten more reclusive, she has her meals but she rarely pops out anymore." Lambert waved his hands, causing the guard dog to take a sip from her drink.
"I suppose that's why her scent isn't as strong as it used to be. Is she being held, elsewhere?" the only response she got was that of Lambert nodding.
It was then that Carna spoke up, covering the corpse again. "We'll probably get more test results shortly to find at least one person involved, it definitely seems like a two man job, but if you need another trustworthy prisoner, we got a few suggestions."
Shi raised an eyebrow. She would like that.
"There's three that come to mind."
One of the two wardens, Seimei, was sitting in his office. His hands interlocked as he was deep in thought.
"There's been no news as of yet," he thought, closing his eyes. Despite their efforts, things have been progressing rather slowly. He needed to talk to Eris about it later, or maybe she was informed of something herself.
He was also informed of a death that had recently happened too, which was currently getting looked into. It wasn't out of the ordinary to hear of prisoners dying at the hands of each other.
Prisoners either went about their days with nothing happening to them, got into brawls and suffered injuries or happened to have pissed off the wrong person on their bad day and ended up dead. It was nothing new, but sometimes they popped up from time to time.
Usually it was either the first two. Injured or uninjured. Some prisoners were more likely to kill and some only chose to kill, but generally, that was more of a minority of prisoners. The ones that preferred or only chose to kill were instantly handled.
The most likely suspect had been currently locked up in his cell while the victim was still alive and Fumma was currently being questioned, but seemed to be uninvolved in the murder despite what had happened prior to the death of their own meeting. Seimei wasn't worried about the killer, they would figure them out soon enough, but it was the precise cuts found on the victim that he struck out to him.
It wasn't exactly the first time that happened.
Last time a body with precise cuts to their body popped up, well, it wasn't exactly precise. It was messier and more like bites from which an official investigation claimed that they were from some really hungry pests that might have gotten a small taste of blood and ate as much as they could, like crows pecking at roadkill on the side of the road. There was a possible case of cannibalism or torture form some other convicts before the victim died along with the appearance of bites, but he found no human prints on the body, which meant pests, such as rats. However, the body that was found last time was indeed a victim of a previous inmate attack that resulted in some serious injuries and a loss of limb in the past, which would have made him an easy target for any future attack which could have weakened him enough before he was killed, though hungry rats eating corpses weren't uncommon, sometimes hungry rats did in fact eat human corpses if they needed to and even rarer, attacked people...less rare when a quirk was involved.
Especially when a quirk was involved.
A former prisoner at the time of that case, around the age of eighty-seven, had a quirk that allowed him to pretty much command rats by whistling.
The detective handling the case, at the assurance of Sagimaru wanting to lend a helping hand, took to the investigation, using his own forensic quirk to figure this mystery murder out while the guards followed their roles and let the detective do his thing. It was especially helpful at the time with the doctors being busy. In the end, he came to the conclusion that it was most likely pests that finished him off which lead to the speculation of the old man. It didn't help that when he first came to Styx that he had commanded some rats follow him.
When a murder occurred, the culprit was punished. However, that case was the first time it was difficult to find the culprit...and it seemed to be repeated today, years later. Thanks to the detective, this rare anomaly of a case was closed as the old rat man had passed away due to naturally causes a week before the inmate turned up dead, which lead it to being a case of a dying wish command whistle with that particular inmate being the very unlucky victim. One inmate in the neighbouring cell confirmed that he heard some whistling before it went dead quiet the night the old man had passed away.
These particular wounds were cleaner than the supposed flesh eating rats that the detective who investigated the corpse last time. There was also the fact that it was the calves and forearms that were cut off rather than being bitten or torn off. Normal rats couldn't get through that, even if they were quirk affected corpse eating ones. There was a possibility that another prisoner could have had a hand in it for their own bizarre reason this time, which was probably the reason that happened, but it was just bizarre.
Another was that the victim purposefully cut off their own limbs to use more of their quirk at the cost of losing more blood in their system.
The victim's quirk allowed them to weaponize their blood into whips with sharp tendrils on the end, more blood just made the quirk more powerful, at the cost of using said blood inside the user at the time.
It seemed to be a likely case.
The only prints the doctors were able to find was the killing blow and while he knew that the killer would be found, the fact that the cuts didn't have prints, that's what caused confusion, much like that one singular case in the past.
Standing, Seimei headed over to a bookshelf, searching through the many thick books that stood tall in a line. Eyes scanned over each one until they landed on a red one, pulling the book out of the shelf, he quickly flipped it open. "Hmm."
It was handy to have records so easily on hand.
The male warden flipped through the pages, a log of the more recent events within Styx in terms of their death count until he found that old case.
"Investigation carried out by Detective Tsutsui." he read aloud from the red book as he found the page he was looking for. Tsutsui was a highly skilled detective and was spoken highly of by Sagimaru. Tsutsui did help out with the investigation quite well on that one rare occasion. They have dealt quite well by themselves ninety-nine percent of the time, but that one time case was appreciated. The caped warden read through more of the book, lingering wasn't going to unravel the mysteries.
Some other pages in the book of prisoner deaths also showed former prisoners losing limbs in their battles against their fellow convicts, dying in the process as their arms, legs or other body parts were cut, pulled and smashed and whatnot all together. There were some prisoners that had lost their limbs when fighting other prisoners before too that were still kicking to this day, whether they remained here or not.
But only the rat case shared a similar pattern to the body found today.
It definitely couldn't be that same corpse-eating rat or other pest reasoning again, these were cleaner and the culprit last time had been dead for a while (not to mention the rats being removed from Styx). It could have well been the convict's own quirk with how difficult those wounds were to get prints. Once again, it seemed to be a likely case. Stuck against a tough opponent, cutting your body up to use more of your quirk to survive and win, but ultimately losing.
From the report he got from Carna not that long ago, the prints from the initial killing blow could be found they have already tested it with some of the current free roaming prisoners. Though nothing was turning up for the precise cuts.
"..." Seimei glanced from the ones that lost their limbs in battle and the current one on his desk that was found late last night. Sagimaru was also just one phone call away if they really needed it. "No, we cannot be reliant. This is a Styx issue." Seimei couldn't deny that they wouldn't need Tsutsui's help, but it might be a last resort if the doctors couldn't find anything. Plus, the killer needed to be dealt with first along with something just as equally important.
Before he could think more on the subject, the phone on his desk began to ring as he let out a soft groan following the ringing, "if the phone goes off one more time, I think I'm going to go insane." The warden closed the book, shoving it back into the bookshelf as he then picked up the phone, hoping it was some news that he wanted earlier.
"Eris?"
Blazing orange eyes opened, back into the cramped space that was his cell. The muscular figure tapped his foot to an offbeat tune against the wall, it just didn't sound right at all.
He wanted to get out again. His encounter last night was fun and all, but he rarely got to do that, trapped within the tight space of this cell, unable to leave.
The encounter also proved one thing: the food chain was out of whack.
That poor bastard he crushed never knew who HE was! Outrageous!
It was then that a light shined into his cell. "It seems you had fun last night." a voice drifted into the cell, giving the ash blonde haired man a glimpse at the speaker's eyes.
"It would have been more fun if I got to leave this shitty cell more often," the man groaned, still tapping his foot against the wall. "As well as being able to roam the place too."
He was very limited to where he could go once he did leave his cell, but that was only one tiny area and back here. It sucked.
The voice came from where the light shined in saying, "hahaha, that's funny, real funny. You know that you're not allowed to be seen anywhere that is out of your cell." another short laugh followed. "Besides, you should be glad that you are even allowed to leave this cell in the first place. I'm being quite generous."
The trapped prisoner groaned, "I'm pretty sure that it isn't time for my meals. So what do you want?" he watched as the guard's eyes rolled around. "It's not like you guys to come get me during the day besides giving me food."
"You sound like you don't want me here."
A scoff came from the prisoner. "Unless it's one of those nightly activities that I enjoy so much." he said with a smirk, forming a fist with his hand. "If it's not that or food, leave me alone."
"Guess you want to stay locked up in that cell forever then."
It took a second for it to fully sink in. "What...do you mean by that?" he asked as the grin fell from his face, now replaced with curiosity.
"What does that mean? It means that you'll be able to walk out of this door in the daylight."
The convict stood up, immediately. "What's the catch?"
"There's only one real thing I need you to do, but I think you have that covered already." the voice sighed. "Not like you'd even follow my orders if it were different."
The muscular man crossed his arms, thinking over what they said. If he was honest, he didn't really give a shit, it meant that he was free to roam the prison once more! "You've already decided to let me out, so hurry it up!"
"Hahaha! Great! I'll open the door for you now."
As the door opened, with a resounding creaking noise that echoed in the cramped room, he was told one last detail, something that tickled him pink from pure joy.
"Go crazy."
Rhys looked around the prison, things had calmed down from Gousen's sudden attack a while back and now that snake guy, the one with the tail, was taken to the infirmary as a cowboy went around the ward, challenging others to a duel for some reason or another.
But now? Silence.
So for now, he just gazed and people watched. The guards, the inmates, the occasional fly or some other small bugs that managed to get in. He kept his bloodshot eyes on some of these guards and inmates, ones that were strong, like that Gousen guy.
The Irish prisoner made sure to keep out of their way. He found it quite interesting that he could understand everyone that didn't speak the languages he knew. Outside of Styx, he couldn't even translate what someone might have said in Korean for example, but here, it was like they were all speaking his language. Was this perhaps the effects of someone's quirk? It had to be. There were some processes they went through when they arrived at the prison.
"Quirk usage on the human brain is quite something." he found it very interesting. He glanced at some other prisoners that sat near him, nodding towards him as they did. Perfect.
The sounds of stomping gained his attention as a bald prisoner appeared, and it caused him grief already.
"They let you out, already?" one of the prisoners, the grey eyed Gin glanced in the direction of Gousen.
Gousen, who had stepped foot into the ward narrowed his eyes at the self-burning inmate. "Don't worry, I'll get to you soon, parasite. I'm not done yet."
Seeing the two strong contenders, Rhys coughed into his hand. "I'm more surprised they didn't lock you back up immediately—" when Gousen turned his gaze to him, he found himself rushing the words out. He did not want that guy to hunt him next. "—when a beaten up body was found just a little bit ago."
Some of the other nearby prisoners that were of note slowly began to tune in. "So there's someone else acting like Gousen? Great..." sighed the half Russian, Juro.
"..." Kuroishi said nothing as he sat further away, though he kept his eyes on Gousen while Reiji Maeda was in a similar position as he chose to simply watch from afar. It was safer that way.
Of course, as soon as he appeared, some prisoners who didn't want to get caught up in the mess, that was usually what happened whenever Gousen was released, took off, such as David and Jin while some others were never there to begin with.
"..." Gousen didn't know how to feel about how there was someone else doing it. "Tch, probably just another fucking parasite."
The long haired Kuroishi narrowed his eyes. Not at Gousen, just on his own thoughts as Juro next to him sighed. "Well, how about you go and deal with that 'parasite.'"
"And let any of you leave? No chance. Bugs need to be crushed before they spread, infect and multiply."
"Just, fuck off would ya?" came one of the other prisoners.
"You wouldn't have any other 'bugs' to crush if someone beats you to it." said another.
Gousen however, kept his gaze on all of them, ignoring their words. All these parasites, acting like they were humans. It made him sick.
When he looked at them, he simply didn't see people. He saw parasites, in their head. Imagine a person as a grey silhouette with one writhing parasite in the area of their head. Some had small parasites, some had big, some even had multiple writhing around! Disgusting! How insane of this man!
There were parasites that needed to be purged!
"So you're the person that people have been crediting for my deeds," a voice came from behind the bald man as a new arrival entered the room. "I don't like it when someone walks in and gets all my credit because of my elongated stay in the solitary slammer."
It was a prisoner none of them could recall. Tall and muscular, blazing orange eyes with a grin ready to cause carnage. Their whole appearance and vibe screamed monster.
However, what shocked the male ward prisoners the most was that Gousen, the prisoner that would attack you no matter what and potentially kill you, froze as he gazed at the new arrival.
What Gousen saw wasn't a man, far from it. Nor was it a parasite crawling around in his head. What Gousen saw, was that from head to toe...was parasites. This man, this new arrival was entirely formed from those parasites, an incarnation of writhing maggots.
This man wasn't infected. He was the parasite.
A hivemind!
"Stunned by my beauty?" he grinned. "Allow me to introduce myself to you fresh bags of meat. The name's Vito and I heard that the food chain was out of whack, so I'm here to re-establish it and remind everyone just who is on top!"
"...Oh god, it's another Gousen..."
One random, nameless prisoner had happened to share all their thoughts aloud.
"Oi! I thought I said that I was the original prisoner beater here!" Vito grinned, licking his lips as he walked forward. "I don't play nice like someone who only kills occasionally. Even if you don't know me, I'm going to make sure you all remember."
With a widened grin, Vito raised his arm high into the air before slamming it down onto one of the prisoners that had nodded previously at Rhys. When he raised his hand off the ground, the prisoner was crushed into the ground, into a small little compacted crater.
Dead.
"Who's next?" Vito licked his lips again, the grin widening. "Come on, don't make me choos—" a punch to the jaw sent the ash blonde monster back a bit.
"Disgusting parasites need to be purged." Gousen frowned at the seemingly older prisoner in terms of sentence before throwing another, landing another clean blow on the man.
Gousen never let up the blows he started, making sure to punch as hard as he could. This man needed to die! The parasites needed to go! "ARGH!" he screamed as he pummeled the hivemind of parasites.
The punches connected, but they might as well have been butterflies. "Is that all you got?"
Vito punched back, the same way that Gousen had hit him as a glint of rage appeared within Gousen's eyes. Now the tables were back to how they were before, just swapped. Vito's punches were doing nothing now. "HAHA! SO YOU HAVE A DEFENCE TYPE QUIRK! LET'S SEE HOW LONG THAT HOLDS UP! HAHA!"
"Should we help?" one prisoner asked.
"Fuck no!" another slapped the first before they ran off, Reiji ignored them as he himself was almost going to leave too, but…he didn't. This Vito guy rubbed him the wrong way, like one of those prisoners that tried to climb the hierarchy ladder, but...the best bet was to leave. Kuroishi on the other hand just watched the fight and soon stood up himself as he left too.
"Let's see if you can handle this?!" Vito barked suddenly as his punches grew stronger, despite the resistance of the bald inmate hunter's quirk, those blows were becoming too much.
Dominate: This quirk allows Vito to boost his own strength and durability immensely! The more he uses this power, it has an impact on his body, growing temporary to match the amount of power he is coursing through his body as he pushes those muscles beyond normal limits!
Yes, he did name the quirk himself.
Now with even more powerful punches, Vito continued his one-sided barrage against the defending Gousen, who started to sweat from the blows. He knew, as soon as his quirk became more effective for a few seconds, it was over for him.
"This parasite...his punches are fast and powerful..."
Gousen slowly began to throw some punches back before he suddenly changed it up with a low sweep, interrupting Vito's barrage somewhat.
He was not going to let some filthy hivemind of parasites win! "I'LL ERASE YOUR ENTIRE EXISTENCE, YOU DISGUSTING PARASITE!"
He would make sure of it!
...
Parasites. Gousen had always hated parasites as long as he could remember. Why was he the only one who could see them? Because it was his job to remove the parasites from society.
Right?
A ten year old Gousen had just watched his father fall to the ground, lifelessly as a man with a long tongue cackled to himself. "That's what you get bastard. Now take her away."
"Gousen!" the cries of his mother, being restricted by the arms of another man, holding her closely, a disgusting grin on his face as he dragged her outside. "GOUSEN!"
"Shut up!" shouted the second, clamping a hand around her mouth.
Small little Gousen could do nothing as his mother was taken away, her screams fading away as the long tongue man spun a knife in his hands. "Man, she'll definitely score us quite the sum." the long tongue swabbed his brow. "A woman like her would be worth a lot...now time for you."
The man had turned his attention back on the child, little Gousen stuck in the corner of the room, his father's corpse only inches away from him. The blood had poured out of the wound, staining his mother's lovely white carpet an ugly shade of dark red.
"Stay...stay away!" he cried out, the man had stomped forward, gripping the knife.
"Sorry kid, but you're just not what's hot on the market right now, you know." Mister long tongue did not sound the tiniest bit sorry before he had stomped on the head that belonged to the man he had just killed seconds before.
The grin of this madman had caused something to snap within the child. It was supposed to be a simple job for this killer, kill whoever wasn't hot on the market, kidnap who was and meet up with his partner to sell off that woman for some easy bucks to whoever was willing to buy after he dealt with the clean up. However, the knife that was supposed to kill the child, bounced right off the kid's body just as soon as he had his tongue pulled, causing him to fly towards the child, tripping over the dead man.
The knife, discarded to the floor, was picked up by the child suddenly. "AAAH!" cried the child, fear plastered over his fast as he drove the knife down.
Mister long tongue laid on the ground as the knife embedded itself into his scalp. That was the first time Gousen had taken a life. An act of survival.
He ran outside, calling for his mother, searching.
Yet he never found her.
At the same time however, he had another goal that he discovered. Something more important than that.
He saw it squirm, in both of them! Rolling around, writhing, pulsating. Icky bugs that crawled around in their heads. His father said that the doctor will make the yucky bugs go away, but...he found another way to make the bugs disappear!
From that day forward, the child ran away, growing into a teenager and then a man. He kept himself occupied during those years as he killed more and more of the people who had bugs in their heads. He swore he would get rid of them. He had realized early on, he was too weak without his quirk's time limit, so he trained himself, pushing his limits. He needed to be stronger than those bugs. During the majority of his teenage years, the teen known as Gousen had started to kill any criminals he came across.
Never once showing them remorse.
Why should he show remorse to a bug? All the bugs did was do bad things. He was just cleaning them up!
These criminals he targeted were small and more of the back-alley variety type of criminals. They stayed out of the hero's eyesight. To Gousen though, they were just like the man with the long tongue. Infested by parasites, crawling in their skin.
It was then that he decided for certain that he would free the world from its filth, rid it of the creatures hiding in human skin!
Those parasites would die at his hands!
He will find the source of these parasites!
It didn't last long however.
The more he killed the 'parasite infected' criminals living in the back alleys, the more he bleed into the highways of society. He couldn't focus on only the ones that stayed in the dark forever. There were bigger bugs to squash. He killed more of the criminals that appeared in broad daylight, the criminals that the heroes hunted to keep the world safe.
It didn't take him long until he was arrested. Apprehended by heroes. One of those who caught him was a new to the game, looking to be an intern from one of the hero school programs, work experience most likely, not much older than sixteen. She had separated his arms and legs with a dark coloured light, bypassing his defences.
A rookie that went by Dark Feather among some seasoned pros that he could hear when one of the pro-heroes congratulated her as was unable to move from where he was cut down. But despite his arms and legs being separated from his body, he didn't even feel any pain. He was tied up and found that his arms and legs had reattached themselves, probably from her quirk. As the police van's doors closed, he was glad that he was able to take down that parasite but he didn't understand why the heroes attacked him! He was helping them!
When his trial went underway, it was clear that he was guilty, yet they all understood one thing perfectly clear.
He did not see the people he killed as humans anymore. Only husks moved by parasites, though at times, this had caused a problem. His delusions of parasites were wrong sometimes, and some clean blood was mixed in among his usually stained ones. While most of the people he killed were bad people, that didn't stop him from killing the occasional bystander.
"From the sounds of things, he should go to an asylum and get professional help."
"An asylum?! No! He needs to be behind bars! He's a killer and will kill again! We already know he kills when he sees those delusions!"
"We already know that he kills, but he only sees these 'parasites' when it comes to criminals for the vast majority. He still has a stable mind asides from those delusions, I agree that it would be better to send him to a secure prison instead."
"He should get some help first..."
"Some of the people he killed were criminals, sure. I'll give you that, but what of the ones who weren't? He killed innocent people because he saw those delusions of his in their heads! It's better to lock him up. There's no telling if he would see those delusions in those doctors and therapists."
The argument didn't last long however, as they soon came to their decision.
"Send him to Styx."
The rest was history.
Gousen had changed the tide of the battle. Punch after punch, he was taking control. Straight right, left jab, right hook, knee, left hook, right uppercut and then a kick to the stomach to send him back.
Some onlookers frowned, the same conclusion was going to happen again. Seems this guy was just like the few who only talked big. It was a common thought they shared, until they saw the grin that appeared on Vito's face as he took the pummeling head on.
The only one who didn't see this grin was Gousen himself.
He was too focused on the whole legion of parasites he saw this man to be. "Ah, this is quite refreshing!" the blows he received got lighter, softer. It only took a single action, a grab, to break Gousen's entire attack.
It was a simple grab to the head, but it was enough to temporarily stop Gousen's attacks due to the suddenness of the action. "Since you showed me a good time, I'll return the favour!"
Vito gave him a full on headbutt, sending the muscular wall staggering backwards. The monster took the opening and began to increase the strength of his punches, attacking the other prisoner beater and occasional inmate killer.
Now it was back to how it was before: Gousen taking the brunt of the attacks.
The bald prisoner couldn't do a thing except to try and defend himself with his quirk, shielding himself as the onslaught continued.
"Come on, you're not even making me use enough power to cause any visible power growth!" Vito laughed maniacally to the bald man blocking his attacks. Despite the now stronger punches, Vito's body remained entirely the same. It was nowhere near the point where the power also changed his form.
Gousen could do nothing against the flurry of blows.
The few seconds of increased durability while helpful, couldn't do anything afterwards. The previously mentioned flurry of blows connected against his flesh. Every square inch of his body was hit, the torso more so as blows connected with his face until one last punched sealed the deal, causing Gousen to fall.
As Gousen fell, not a prisoner present moved nor acted. Some watched the onslaught with grins, some watched as if it were just a movie night, some have left, feeling bored or not wanting to get caught up in the fight as others stayed wary in case the other inmate tried to drag them into their madness.
There was one thing for certain though. No one tried to avenge or help the fallen prisoner.
There was no comradery in this prison.
Sure, there were some groups that looked out for their own, like Fumma's small prison group or just two or three prisoners forming a team together. Sure, they might have helped one another now and again, but when it came down to it, with their life or death on the line.
It was just a free-for-all.
Simple as that.
As Gousen laid knocked out on the ground, Vito was already looking for his next victim. "He's strong," thought Rhys, looking at the downed Gousen as a brief smile appeared on his lips as he looked back at Vito. "He seems like a good choice."
Though those thoughts didn't last long however as Vito stared back at him. Now, at the sudden eye contact, Rhys quickled looked to some of the other prisoners he knew before he pointed at the stronger prisoner. "Attack!" it was a simple command, but the prisoners jumped in like mindless drones, puppets, only to meet a cruel fate as Vito's basic attacks easily tore them to shreds. A simple swing of his arm had managed to slice through them like a hot knife through butter.
A rain of giblets and blood followed rather quickly as Rhys had made his escape, keeping an eye on this powerful prisoner. "That strength is amazing."
Vito removed his fist from the cracked wall, the bloodied form of a prisoner had been crammed into it due to a single punch. "Tch, so weak." The monster had seen Rhys disappear and was about to give chase, before deciding to handle some of the remaining prisoners around him first.
Maybe these ones would give him a worthy challenge?
He doubted it though, but that didn't matter to him though. As long as he was having the time of his life, that's all that mattered.
And it seemed to look that way.
"I hope you won't be as weak as the others," he said, challenging the remaining prisoners. Oh he couldn't wait for another fight so soon. The fight with that bald prisoner was somewhat refreshing, he wished he could have been let out much, much earlier!
Gin however, had no choice in the matter as Vito was already upon him!
"Looks like I have to use my quirk from the get go."
He immediately went onto the defence as he dodged Vito's sudden attack.
Juro, who had been watching, decided to leave before they too were dragged into it. This thought was shared by some of the other remaining prisoners as they took off immediately, seeing how quick this Vito jumped to another target. Some of these prisoners even grinned at Gousen's defeat before running away themselves.
"What a shame, cowards running away." Vito laughed, licking his lips soon after as Gin had dodged some swings. "Don't worry, I love a good chase."
Juro stopped, looking back over their shoulder, a chill went up their spine as Reiji shrunk from where he watched. It was if the mood had changed.
Was this man willing to hunt them all down?
"Where was I?" as soon as Vito had asked, the burning form of Gin whacked him right in the face. What a friendly reminder!
As soon as Vito's attention was back on Gin, Reiji took this time to leave. Being out in the open like this with not many people around was dangerous. Definitely not his ideal situation.
Juro kept their eyes on Vito as he was dealing with Gin. It was now or never. To leave or to stay. Risk being hunted down, or help take him down now. Juro needed to come to a decision soon, before one was made for him.
Gin felt unnerved as he continued to hit the man in front of him, probably because of the man's face. It was yearning for this.
When Vito finally began his counterattack, the smoldering Gin had easily jumped out of the way yet again. It was then that Juro narrowed their eyes, focusing on their target as they activated their quirk, causing Vito to freeze in place.
Basilisk: Juro's snake-like eyes when activated can direct killing intent that affects the target at varied levels such as cold sweats or temporary paralysis or even more dangerous effects. Though, they're limited to three people at a time being affected as well as being required to keep their eyes open when using the quirk when using it. Using this quirk is also quite draining on them.
"Shit." a bead of sweat rolled down Juro's face as Gin got caught in their line of sight too. The two fighters, paralyzed in place, stared at each other, both stuck right in the middle of their attacks.
Juro stepped back as Vito looked right at him, as his body shook, trying to fight off the paralysis. They knew that it was only a temporary solution before they began working on removing Gin from their line of sight.
Gin fell forward as soon as his own paralysis wore off and began to burn his body once more. "Drop your quirk. I can't punch him like this." Shinoha demanded, but the yellow slitted eyed Raisa shook their head (as little as they could).
"Just, go get a guard while he's stuck like this."
"Your eyes already look like they're trying not to blink."
"Don't say that, that will make me—" Juro snapped their attention back to Vito. He got distracted.
Vito had moved. It wasn't by much, but he moved.
As Gin's body burned, he turned to face his ally in this fight. "I'm wasting my body away here, drop it."
"I rather not get killed."
"He's just going to break free as soon as you slip up."
Before Juro could respond, Gin had charged in. "Damn it, Gin." It was now a case of keeping the quirk up or dropping it and allowing Gin to fight, but also freeing Vito in the process.
Then again, teamwork wasn't really that common here.
There was always a chance to run away. Gin's body was practically built for fights like these. Juro wouldn't deny that they didn't feel their quirk draining them out. So Juro turned tailed.
They would let Gin handle it.
"About fucking time!" shouted Vito, finally free. A large grin plastered on his face as Gin landed his attacks before the two got back into their brawl. The surrounding area of the fighting got wrecked and ruined. Cracks in the ground, any tables and chairs that were bolted to the ground were bent or smashed. It was a warzone.
As Gin fought Vito, he couldn't help but think about the fight he had with Gousen not that long ago. It was as if Vito was a much more defence monster. Perhaps what he said was true?
Gin's fist clashed with Vito's own, and just like the fight with Gousen, the same hand broke. Shattering to pieces, but it wasn't just the hand this time. Gin's forearm shattered and crumbled completely.
"Ah, smoldering rock, huh?" the singsong tone of his enemy came as a surprise as his remaining wrist was being crushed in a tight hold and with incredible strength, Gin watched as his left arm was ripped off entirely.
Gin, now no longer smoldering as he halted the use of his quirk, just watched as Vito threw it at the escaping Juro. Sadly for Vito, Juro had escaped. "Damn, well, it's time for you to go too."
Vito raised his leg, ready to crush Gin's face in, but a smirk appeared on the armless Gin's face before Vito had a chance to act. "Sorry, I won't give you the satisfaction. I'm already burned out." Reactivating his quirk, Gin burned the remaining of his body as Vito just watched the smoldering man wilter down.
It didn't take long as the orange eyed convict sighed as he looked down at the now pile of dark ash. "Taking the easy way out, huh?"
Vito picked up a large, cindery rock that he pulled out of the dark ash pile. Inspecting it for a while, he threw it behind him.
"Now where did those other guys get to? Eh, I'll find them soon enough." he laughed to himself as he began to walk off, wondering where else he could cause more chaos and have more fun. It was quite the arousing feeling for the ashen blonde.
As the guards were on their patrol, they were alerted to fighting happening in the male ward, however the alarm was blaring more than usual.
"What's going on?" Hokori held his ears as he followed. This was a much different siren than what he had heard before.
"It's an alarm that only goes off when a really dangerous criminal gets loose, something that is never supposed to happen." the cloning guard, Bunri, frowned. "But that shouldn't be possible. All those prisoners are highly secured."
He came to a screeching halt, grabbing the rails as he looked down to the lowest floor of the male ward. His eyes bulged as he took in the form of the prisoner. "Oh god, no! Not Vito!"
Hokori, who had been following along followed Bunri's gaze. "Vito?" all he saw was just some muscular looking person, but if Bunri was this worried, he must have been bad news. Books and their covers.
"Long story, but just know that he's strong and very dangerous, stay back." Bunri's pale yellow eyes glared at the prisoner. "Good thing it's just him." the cloning guard thought as he began to divide, his clones appearing as they immediately jumped the rail.
Vito was a dangerous prisoner, a monster in every sense of the word. Someone who was driven solely by pure self satisfaction, he followed his own desires, pleasure. Total domination. There was one positive to this and that was that the dangerous prisoner that escaped was Vito. He was thankful that the other more troublesome prisoners hadn't broken out of their confinement, but Vito was still a force to be reckoned with, even alone.
The fox was about to jump the rails too, however he was stopped as he was pulled back. "Just what are you doing?!"
Hokori's ears perked up as he said, "I'm going to apprehend that prisoner."
"No, you're not! You're still wet behind the ears!" the darker skinned guard stood in front as more and more clones went down to halt the prisoner in any way.
"I can help y—" it was then the cloning guard had slapped both hands on the fennec guard's face, making sure they kept eye contact between one another.
"Hokori. If you fight him, you will die!" Bunri shouted, squeezing the newer guard's face together a bit. "If you want to help, go get help! Get the wardens!"
Hokori shivered but managed to nod a tiny bit before he was released. As soon as he was, he turned tail and immediately booked it for the wardens.
"Sorry, Hokori." sighed the clone maker as he created even more clones to slow down the monster that was Vito. "...I hope Seimei or Eris can get here soon."
Bunri then watched as his clones were tossed, smashed and crushed by Vito with ease as he continued to make his way through the prison.
He turned to another clone of his and said, "you lot go around and secure other parts of the prison, make a defensive line and keep an eye out for the other prisoners. In case they think they can get lucky."
With a salute from his clones, they all ran off, leaving Bunri alone as he watched the clones and Vito get out of sight. "Now, where are you heading?"
Vito grinned as he stomped forward, the clones didn't put up much of a fight, or well, they did well to slow him down a tad.
He had no real goal though and he didn't need one. He was doing the same as always. Whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted! Oh the good old feelings were back.
"Stop—" a clone had called out as they laid on the ground, the lucky sole survivor. A simple stomp to the head caused the clone to dissipate. It gave no satisfaction whatsoever!
What was the point of snuffing out a life like that? There was nothing. Nothing!
What this prisoner needed was one that could bleed. The man scratched his chin as he took in his surroundings. While it had been ages since he had stepped foot outside of that cramped little cell, parts of the prison were just how he remembered it.
He had no idea where to start his ongoing chaos.
"Hm?" Vito had spied another. One that wasn't present when he fought that credit taker. "I'm either lucky or they're all coming to me!" Licking his lips, he already darted forward.
"YOU'RE MINE!" he growled holding his arm out, ready to clothesline the unsuspecting prisoner.
Thanks to the shout however, the inmate was able to dodge the attack, if only by a thread. "What the-!" Jin looked over to his attacker. "Who the hell?!"
Jin was not expecting this random prisoner to attack him. Was he the cause of the alarms? The alarms were blaring and he only saw that cloning guard rush around, even station themselves at different parts of the prison, he just assumed that it was handled.
Apparently not.
Jin had barely any time to react to another one of Vito's attacks. He barely had enough time to create any large crystals! At most, all he was able to do was create small projectile crystals that broke on contact with Vito's skin.
"Is that all you got?" Vito taunted the man on the floor. "Hit me with your strongest!"
Jin watched as he was given space. He concentrated as he formed a larger crystal, it was almost spearlike. "That's much better! Come on, hit me with it!" the hedonist held his arms wide open.
But as Jin went to attack...he stopped.
His arms dropped as a realization hit him. If this spear didn't break on contact with this man. It would kill him.
The floating crystal began to crumble away into a fine brightly coloured dust.
"What?" The man who was so eager just moments before had no idea what was happening. "Why the fuck did you drop it?!"
Jin had no answer for that as he sat there. It was as if he was in another world and all he could hear was screaming echo around his head.
Until he screamed himself as a powerful kick to the head knocked him flat on the floor.
"Pathetic." Vito spat as he glared at the fallen Jin. "What do you call that? Fighting? I fought younger brats who actually wanted to fight stronger than you!"
A sharp pain formed in Jin's stomach. A strong kick had planted itself deep into his stomach, sending him rolling.
Jin was picked up easily, like an old disregarded child's toy ready to be trashed. His eyes focused on the tight fist that Vito held out in front of him. "Take your shame and die, alright."
As soon as the large fist flew through the air, Jin felt pain. The pain was much softer than what he was expecting. He had closed his eyes as soon as the hand moved, but when he opened them, he felt why the pain came from his back as he was now back onto the floor and saw just what had happened.
"Oh?" Vito raised an eyebrow as his punch connected with someone else's face. A man with a buzz cut and beard had taken his hit as they had pushed the already winded and defeated Jin out of the way.
Before Vito had any time to react, this mystery man attacked. "Thanks for the boost." it was a thankful response before the blonde prisoner got a fist slammed into his face which took a rather excited turn.
Jin weakly looked up from where he laid defeated. "...David..."
David Flannegan stood his ground as he sent a glance over his shoulder. "Sorry about that, Jin. I'll be finished soon."
"Man! That punch actually had some actual punch to it!"
David ignored his words, focusing more on this sudden enemy's guard and weak points. "He's completely open...yet, it radiates danger..." he couldn't place his finger on this feeling, perhaps this was the cause of a quirk? Quirk reliance? "Hopefully it's not a strong quirk. I just need to tank it for now..."
No Pain No Gain: The more pain David feels, the stronger he gets! Pain into power! The quirk doesn't nullify the feeling of the pain he receives and his body has limits to it!
David raised his hands into a defensive stance as he stared down the muscular opponent in front of him.
"Kinda reminds me of those underground matches." he briefly smiled at that thought. "Very well, I'll be your opponent."
"Now you're talking my language!"
The two fell into silence right after, both ready to leap into action. One side ready to dash in and enjoy his freedom to the fullest, the other ready for whatever the crazed inmate would do.
The first to make a move was none other than Vito! Starting things off with a fake out, a sucker punch taking David off guard. It was the start of a quick barrage of fists to his solar plexus. Vito's expression morphed from excited, bored and back to curiosity as David regained his footing.
Then it was time for the counter attack.
David returned the favour, his fighting style was definitely more refined in comparison. Four punches to the chest and three to the head as he landed the final punch to put space between the two. A sigh escaped the bearded prisoner's lips as he went back into a defensive position, ready to tank more hits.
"Did your punches get stronger? Were you holding back on me before?" asked the ash blonde, frowning in confusion. "Nah, that's not right. You seemed pretty keen on taking me down..."
A bead of sweat rolled down David's forehead. "He's tanky...not even that power boost was enough to take him down." He needed more power, he just needed to wait for Vito to strike.
He was broken from his thoughts however when he heard cackling. Snapping his attention to the now cackling opponent, he felt a cold shiver down his spine unlike anything before in his life.
"So that's your quirk then?" the sudden grin that appeared on Vito's face was like the cat who just ate the canary. It was like he had discovered a great secret as he bared his fangs. "Now what you said before makes sense! But, I wonder...can you handle this?"
David watched as this man's muscles began to grow, expand. His muscular build was even more bulky than before. The poor American tried to block the incoming attack that suddenly landed without warning. Unlike before, instead of multiple barrages to his body, it was just a simple, singular attack.
It was too much for David to handle as the last image he saw was that of Vito standing much further away than before as he felt the last of his saliva fly out of his mouth as the pain was still trying to settle in before it all went dark for him.
Vito looked down at the defeated American who he had thrashed. "Eh, pretty nice quirk you got there, bucko." Vito's visage twisted into a vicious grin. "Next time, let's see just how much pain you can handle, eh? You just might be my golden ticket for fun."
Unbeknownst to the inmate, a pair of eyes watched his movements. "Yes, he's definitely strong." these thoughts belonged to the criminal that had just escaped when Vito first arrived. Rhys Dignam.
Rhys weighed his options as he watched the looming figure in the distance. "This could be my only shot for such a powerful brute. He's the best choice!"
The convict stepped out silently from their hiding place before charging the muscular prisoner with all his might with an outstretched arm. It seemed to work as he touched the prisoner's back, unnoticed until that very moment. He had never seen a prisoner with such a low guard before. "Become mine!"
Pavlov: This quirk allows Rhys to cause pain or pleasure reactions associated with a specific action upon direct contact!
Rhys grinned as he kept his hand on the other convict as long as he could, but was whacked away.
"Annoying fly." Vito scoffed as he watched Rhys eat the floor.
The Irish prisoner laid on the ground. The hit hurt much more than he thought it would. "Of course it would," he mentally scolded his rather bold move. He had witnessed what that man was capable of, the ability to be a one man army.
It was quite alluring.
He heard a crack from that same man's neck. "So, what was that? Your quirk?" Rhys couldn't help but notice the curiosity within the man's gaze. The way he cracked those fists together next...he knew what may come.
"Yeah, it's quite slow though."
The man came closer.
"Oh?" a large grin appeared on his face. "And it requires your touch eh?"
It was out of his expectations, he didn't predict this ever happening. The man grabbed hold of his wrist and placed it on his bare chest. "Go on." Vito taunted. "Use that quirk of yours until I can feel it."
The grip on his wrist tightened, a cry of pain almost escaped from the already losing convict, but it came out as a muffled wince, biting into his lips to stop it. The lanky, brown haired prisoner nodded, intensely. Upon doing so, any more future pain halted as the grip loosened.
"Now, go ahead." the poor inmate kept his hand on the man.
Seconds passed as Rhys used his quirk on Vito, who just stayed put for a few minutes, until he frowned. Without saying a word, he placed his foot on Rhys's chest and started to push down.
"AAGH—"
As soon as the scream escaped his lips, a large hand immediately muffled those cries. "Seems your quirk is a bit too slow." Rhys tried to shake his head, trying to call out just what was happening.
As soon as Gousen removed his hand a smidgen, enough for the prisoner to get a word in, Rhys panted out, "it ties itself to a specific action..."
"And what's that?"
"For you..." the man huffed. "Fighting."
Vito stepped back, giving the middle aged man some time to breathe. "Ahaha! That's just perfect." he sent a look back to the fallen two that he had just beaten, mostly that one that David fellow. "What a shame, you should have done it earlier."
Rhys tried to focus on the muscular monster, it was getting blurry. He felt something touch his head before pain suddenly coursed through it. A tight grip!
"If it's fighting, I guess I can count this as fighting, right?" he didn't get too far as he let the lanky convict go. "But, there was a giant I saw earlier." he turned around and low and behold, he was already spying the giant who already began his approach.
"I really am lucky!" smiled Vito.
Kuroishi calmly approached the man, his expression blank as usual.
"You don't seem like the type to come and start a fight." Vito knocked his head back, taking in the giant's tall form as he wondered just what had caused this giant to come to him. Not like he was going to complain about more time and boredom killers.
He got a rather stoic reply from the long-haired man. "You're the type that hunts people down. It would be easier to get this over with now." He stared down at the man causing such panic throughout the male ward.
A laugh echoed all around him, "so you're saying, you'd rather fight for your life now than wait on the slaughtering list? I like that." The amusement in the blonde's tone was a little alarming to any other prisoner. "Say, since you're tall, I wonder if I can knock you over in a single hit?"
"..."
"Don't give me that look. I have been stuck in a cell for years now. YEARS! I need something to lighten things up and while punching, kicking and sometimes killing every passing inmate is fun and all, sometimes you need to spice things up a little, to make it all count! I'll even give you a chance to prepare for the strike."
The giant didn't respond, but he did think it over. While he wanted to end things quickly with Vito, the chance to build his defences up with his quirk was a tempting offer. "Will you hold your side of the deal?"
Vito bowed, "of course! I have nothing to fear." Confidence. It was clear in his tone, the confidence of the strong and unbreakable.
"Fine."
"Great! I'll be David and you'll be Goliath!" It was like a child in a candy store. "Go ahead and prepare, don't keep me waiting too long though, who knows when those party crashers will arrive, so prepare as fast as you can!"
Kuroishi kept his eyes solely on this surprise prisoner. He, much like the others who had been present when Vito arrived, had no idea who this convict was aside from the fact that most of the tales of Gousen attacking prisoners were actually from this guy, with Gousen taking the credit due to this more dangerous inmate being locked up away from the rest of the prisoners.
Thinking about it, it did make sense. There was a lot of fear around Gousen with some of the prisoners and while Kuroishi himself didn't care about it, seeing Gousen in person did live up to some of those claims, but nothing like the exaggerations some others had spewed.
It was clear now that those stories were about the man in front of him and Gousen just fit the bill of those stories. Like hearing about vampires and werewolves from myths and legends only to see people with quirks exactly like that nowadays.
During all of this, Kuroishi did indeed work on preparations all the while Vito threw some punches, perhaps shadowing boxing as he waited before he started stretching his arms once that was done.
Kuroishi wondered if he should even bring out his stronger arsenal, but he was still constricted to a short time limit and from what he had seen from this man, he probably wouldn't have much time anyway. So he decided to keep it short and simple.
Vito however took this time to look around. The other guards haven't arrived yet, it was just that one cloning bastard, but they will arrive soon. He knew all too well. "Hurry up." he inwardly snarled and it was then that his spirits were lifted from what he saw.
Protruding from Kuroishi's body were large bones, wrapping around his torso like a layered ribcage. It left his arms, legs and of course his head open while the bones around his body formed pretty much a breastplate. The giant of nine feet didn't consider any other additions were necessary seeing the battle he had with David and Jin.
"Bones? Huh, didn't expect that from you." Vito gave one final stretch. "Let's see if you can take more pain than that other guy."
As the bone armoured inmate kept his eyes on the muscular man who began to use his own quirk, he had a decision to make. He had watched him fight David and saw that he could grow stronger, so the decision was either: attack now or let him take a swing.
Could Vito even expand further? There was no real way to tell. Vito didn't appear to change all that much, a bit more bulkier than when he fought David for sure, but it seemed more focused elsewhere. The right arm for example.
"LET'S GO!" Screamed Vito as he charged in, though as soon as he did, his eyes widened as he felt a long almost forgotten feeling return to him after all this time.
He still charged forward, unfazed by this sudden feeling growing within his body. "No. This feeling has been here for a while… It's just catching up to me."
Vito landed his right hook on the bone armour, the ribcage breastplate? He had no idea what to call it, it was just an extra layer to break through.
"Ghh-" the normally silent giant gasped lowly in pain as the sound of his armour cracked. This was the first time in a while that he could remember someone being able to break through his armour. Then again, he rarely used it ever since he came to Styx.
As soon as the armour broke, he wondered if he needed more time to create a sufficient barrier that could have taken the blow, but right now, the feeling of pain was the only fresh thing he could keep his mind on.
Vito followed through, wincing as he did. He pushed his fist deeper into the giant's stomach with enough power to lift him off the ground. "Heavy bastard." The bone giant stayed up in the air for less than a second before he landed on the ground right after as Vito grabbed a hold of his own wrist, staring at it. "The fuck is happening with me?"
A groan from Kuroishi regained his attention. "At least you remained conscious." Vito applauded before stomping down on the giant's knee, focusing the same power that was in his arm into his foot.
Instead of Kuroishi reacting to the pain, it was both of them. Both low, almost whispered groans. It was then that Vito realized what was happening as pain started to radiate through his body.
"It's working...it's finally working." Rhys grinned, Vito's actions clearly showed it as he backed off the fallen giant. "I wonder how much pain you're feeling right now?"
Much to Rhys' horror as he watched his quirk finally taking its effect, Vito just grinned happily. "Ah! This feeling! It's been so long!" Drool escaped from his mouth, eyes almost rolling back into his head. "I haven't felt this pain in years!"
The weakened Rhys could barely keep his eyes open. The pain was getting to him as he pushed himself to remain conscious. As his vision darkened, he saw that damn face wrapped up in pleasure, pure ecstasy. Like he had never been so aroused in his life.
"So...gooooooood!" Vito turned back to the lanky prisoner, a twisted expression of pleasure was plastered on his face. "Oh, seems you couldn't keep up huh? I completely forgot about you until your quirk finally kicked in. So, just for giving me such a great feeling again, I'll let you live. I need to taste all this place has to offer, after all. You might be the second person I might keep close to me."
Vito's eyes widened in realization as he stood back up, "ah, that's right. There's a co-ed ward in this place, isn't there?" he gave his arms a bit of a stretch as he made his way to the co-ed area.
As he left, a person had a bead of sweat roll down their face. Reiji stood not too far away, he never expected Rhys of all people to go in and try to attack this monster. It was almost uncharacteristic, unless…
The hidden convict let out the deep breath that he was holding, this was not the time to be thinking about theories right now. He needed to go.
There was a monster on the loose.
It was supposed to be another day, just like usual. Fights breaking out on the occasion, but not this.
The Yomaura siblings were having their break. Muika having no sessions and Osamu swapping shifts with another guard as he pulled up a chair, laughing at some televised program as his sister struggled with a crossword puzzle.
But now, an alarm that wasn't meant to be heard blarred.
"Wha...what's going on?" Muika's hands covered her ears as the siren was unrelenting. "I never heard this before..."
Her brother, on the other hand, had shot up, rushing to a locker. "It's a siren implemented in case one of the more dangerous prisoners got loose. You were told about it, but since it never went off..." he shook his head, gearing up. He really had to thank Styx's armourers again one day.
The eldest Yomaura sibling glanced towards the younger as they suited up as quickly as he could. There was no real time to waste. "Now isn't the best time to explain," he said, gearing up with pieces of what seemed to be armour over his regular uniform. "It just had to be today of all days..."
"I've...never seen you this...worried." the words had just rolled off her tongue. She didn't mean to say that with that slightly worried tone. Seeing her older brother so worried about this alarm wasn't exactly comforting compared to him being more composed when the regular alarms went off on occasion. Perhaps that itself spoke more about the situation at hand.
Though, it was as if her words never registered with him. "I want you to lock yourself up in here and make sure only a guard is on the other end of the door."
"...What?"
"Going out there is way too dangerous. You need to stay somewhere where it's safe."
She couldn't believe what she was hearing, as her older brother was now decked out and ready to take on this prisoner. What he put on top of his guard uniform was more suited to fit a riot officer than a guard, but to see him wear the full set was quite rare. She had only recalled him wearing the gauntlet part of the outfit on regular patrols.
That was expected seeing his condition and while seeing him wear more protection then he wore before was great, but it was also very worrying. Just what was the type of person that caused the alarm to get Osamu all geared up like this?
Sure, he said it was a dangerous one, but how dangerous?
"You can't. Other guards are responding to this one right? Surely they can handle it!"
Fear. That's what he saw in his sister's eyes. If it was a regular prisoner, then sure, they could have handled it, but not this time. Perhaps it was because of this alarm going off for the first time that caused her to panic and stumble her words that he sadly had to ignore.
"I need to go, it's my duty as a guard of Styx."
"Then…then...let me go too," Muika stepped forward, reaching out towards her brother. "I can help!"
The dark purpled haired guard shook his head. "Sorry, Muika, but I can't allow that. We're wasting enough time as it is."
"My quirk can help you!" she gripped her brother's protective vest that he now wore, we'll, she tried to keep a hold on it.
"No, Muika!" It hurt him to say that and he could only wince once she let go, the look in her eyes hurt him. "Muika, I'm sorry, but your quirk isn't suitable for this situation, I'm sorry..."
It hurt him to hear the change of tone. "Just because my quirk isn't the best right now, that doesn't mean it's useless, so please." she pleaded, but he wasn't having it today, for her sake.
"...Muika." Osamu began to push her away. "If it's because of my condition, then please stop. I'm geared up for a reason, so drop it. This is for the good of everyone, so please just do what your older brother says!"
He saw a flurry of emotions roll over the face of his sweet, little sister. Betrayal, anger, sorrow, defeat and the strongest of them all that still remained: fear.
"I...I..." in the corner of her eyes, he could see the small tears form but they never came as her breathing quickened.
"Sis?" he grew worried as she didn't even respond. "Sis?!"
It was then that a white hot flash engulfed her vision as her eyes lit up, shining a lovely bright purple colour as she halted her movements, frozen in place.
There stood a prisoner, large and muscular with a grin that was beyond demonic. His body pulsed as a heavily armed guard stood before him.
The prisoner rolled his arms, his blazing orange eyes dug into the heavily armoured guard who took up a combat stance.
It did not take long for the inmate to dash right at the guard as all faded out back into a white abyss.
Osamu rushed to his sibling's side. "Muika! Are you okay?! What did you see?"
"I...I saw you," she blinked, the brightness of her eyes going back to normal after a few seconds as she blinked rapidly. "I don't know when, but—"
"Shh, calm down sis. We don't want to overwork your quirk."
Despite the situation at hand, she nodded as her brother helped her take a seat.
Psychosight: This quirk allows Muika to see a few hours into the future with the last few people she either spoke or came into contact with! However, she is unable to control these premonitions of what she sees or knows when they occur. It's practically random!
Once his sister was comfortable, he asked again. "What did you see, sis?"
"I... saw you and an inmate, I can't remember who, I don't think I have his profile on hand."
Osamu crossed his arms, eyes closed. "That makes sense. With this type of alarm going off, they're definitely not the type you'd be assigned with."
"There wasn't much else. You seemed pretty ready to fight when he suddenly dashed at you and that was it."
She watched as her brother tapped his chin and nodded. "Okay, change of plans." he said, grabbing her by the wrist. "I need you to go get the wardens, okay?"
Muika slowly nodded.
"Remember, if you see any guards sticking to their patrol—"
"—don't bother them, cause they're keeping the others in line. I know, Osamu. I'm not a child."
Osamu gave his apology as a fresh face passed through his mind. "I hope he's alright." from the corner of his eye, he saw Muika give him a curious look. "Ah, you haven't met him yet, it's the new guy. Now we better get a move on—"
The door flung open as a man dressed in dark blue janitor outfit ran into the room. "Sorry, sorry! Can I lay low here for a while?"
"Perfect timing." Osamu blinked, walking towards the man.
"Eh?"
This man, despite being garbed in typical janitor attire, had a light complexion and a mop of light brown hair that was quite shaggy which covered the upper half of his face, eyes included. It was a miracle that he could even see. His attire did include the logo for Styx and its motto.
"I'm sorry to bother you, but can you please escort Muika to the meeting?"
The janitor was practically shaking as Osamu kept his unblinking gaze on the janitor.
"O...Osamu..."
Ignoring his sister's stutter, he released his hold on the janitor. "I know you're not handled to deal with anything going on, but there is safety in numbers. Please, you won't go empty handed."
"I...I don't need—" before the prison's counsellor could even finish, the janitor slowly nodded.
"Okay, I guess I'll do it. We're not actually fighting right? Just running, right?"
Osamu gave the janitor a big smile, "thank you. I'll leave her in your hands."
Watching her brother leave almost immediately afterwards, the ultra violet haired counsellor turned to the light brown haired janitor. She gripped at her skirt as she tried to find the words to say now that this task was lumped on them with this now awkward feeling situation.
"We...better get going..." said the janitor as he kept his distance. "The faster the better, right?" It was clear to Muika that the janitor didn't really want to go.
Muika felt her useless grip loosen. She had no idea if he was even looking at her due to his choice in hairstyle, but he did start the conversation, so she was thankful for that. "Ah, yes. We should." she nodded, almost not getting the words out entirely. "Um...it might be best to know who you are?"
"Penthus, you?"
"Muika."
The co-ed ward. The ward where some prisoners from both wards could meet, a ward that was more of a reward and was blocked off to many, many convicts.
A ash blonde muscular man walked up to the wall, near the entrance into the co-ed ward from the male side of the prison. He glanced up and down the wall before he raised a clenched fist.
Sometimes the best way forward was to tunnel right through regardless of any obstacles.
Before he could act, a voice called out.
"Stop right there."
Now we have some trouble brewing, I warned you eh. Sorry for the bit of a delay in this update, but it's here! The next chapter shouldn't take as long as this chapter to come out, but until then!