Midnight's Little Big Problem
The school bell finally rang as the clock ticked 03:00. As the students started to gather their things to head back to their dorms, the tension of the day in Midnight's shoulders eased and she left the classroom, heading straight to the staff room to gather her own stuff.
As soon as she sat in her desk, she realized how tired her legs had gotten from standing up all day. Taking a deep breath, she laid back in her chair for a minute, cherishing the feeling of sitting on a chair.
"You look like you could use a breather." The voice of Erase Head came from beside her, stoic as ever. "You gonna head to the teachers' lounge before joining the rest of us at the dorms?"
"Yeah… I'll probably do that. Although, I kinda have some groceries I need to buy for my room before I head back, so I'll likely go to buy those." Midnight replied, the fatigue in her audible in her voice.
"Tough luck. I'd join you, but I-"
"Wouldn't want the media to babble. I understand, Downey-Downerson." She teased.
"Don't take a while outside. It's important that the faculty is present for as much time as possible." He said, paying her sarcasm no attention.
"Yeah, alright." She replied in a tired manner.
"Why are you so fatigued anyway? You're supposed to be a hero. Don't tell me you're growing old…" He said, causing her to stand up abruptly and completely forget the soreness in her legs.
"Hey, have some decency, will you?!"
But by the time she was done with her words, he was already on his way out, a corner of his mouth slightly raised as he thought that 'Downey-Downerson' had made his comeback.
Later that day, not long after sunset, Midnight had changed out of her hero costume into something more casual. She couldn't wear her hero costume outside, after all. Besides, it was better not to attract too much attention. It was a breezy night. Not cold, but rather… refreshing? Midnight – now in her normal, Nemuri persona – really missed the norm. Then again, what was the norm in the hero society anyway?
At that moment, she heard a racket coming from a nearby alley. The sound of… sniffing? Someone was apparently in distress. Despite the tiring day she'd had, she figured she had to check it out, so she slipped into the alley.
Trying her best to walk stealthily in her sneakers, she followed the sobbing sound until she came across another alley. Keeping herself concealed behind a building, she saw a man and a crying woman. However, he seemed to be comforting her, if anything.
"There, there…" He said.
"Apologies, sir. It must be a mood swing or something, I…" She fell into more sobs as Midnight noticed for the first time that the woman before her was pregnant. Also, it seemed that both of them didn't know one another. Nevertheless, it looked like Midnight was afraid over nothing, so she turned to leave…
Only to hear a thud behind her. Turning back, she once again so the man and the pregnant woman. That time, however, the man was on the ground, and the woman held some kind of handkerchief in her hand. The woman then quickly walked towards a red sports car. Midnight walked out of her hiding place, luckily still unnoticed by the woman, who had pulled on her hood and worn a cap. She didn't pull out any keys, though. Rather, she looked around her, as if to check if someone was looking then faced her palm towards the car door. Midnight heard the car doors unlock as the woman got in and did the same thing to start the engine.
"Hey!" Midnight came yelling, but the car was already making its way down the road. However, memorizing the license plate, she was quick to type it out on her phone before turning to the unconscious man behind her.
She checked his pulse. He was still there. No injuries. He was definitely drugged then. Keeping her cool as much as possible, she pulled her phone out again, and made a call.
"Hey. I need you down here, STAT. I'll send you my location."
Not too long afterwards, at the Midnight Agency, the four known as the Midnight Boys sat around the man, laid across the couch, while Midnight was changing into her hero costume in her private office.
"So, any of you gonna tell me why we had to save a man and bring him HERE?" Said the blonde one.
"Apparently, Mistress Midnight wants to ask him a few questions about someone who stole his car." Replied the one with the glasses.
"Well, if he tries anything fishy with the Mistress, he'll have to get through us first now, won't he?" Said the long-haired one.
"We owe to her to hear what she has to say, though. She'll appreciate it." Said the short one, seemingly excitedly over the idea of Midnight's appreciation.
"Yeah… she will." The other three agreed.
"Uh… You okay, boys?" Midnight asked in confusion as she came out of the room and saw the faces of her sidekicks all dreamy.
"Mistress!" They all stood up abruptly.
"Okay, squad, we have a few tasks to help this man out so we can get back to our usual business." She said authoritatively before turning to the one with the glasses with the license number written on a paper. "Hey, could you be a dear and find the whereabouts of a car with this license number?"
"Whereabouts coming right up!" He said, losing his calm demeanor from before.
"Thank you. Now, let me give you guys the rundown of what exactly happened…"
Ten minutes later
"…and that's when I called you guys." She concluded her story.
"Why didn't you want the police involved then? Surely it would've been easier, seeing as how this is just theft, right?" The long-haired one asked.
"As heroes, we'd need to give them more intel than what we have now. That's why I had us bring the guy here. I couldn't quite see the woman's face, but he probably did." She explained. As if on cue, the man started groaning. Slowly opening his eyes, he looked around him, and his eyes widened as soon as they landed on Midnight.
"Y-You're-"
"I'd stay put if I were you." Said the short one as he glared at the man, prompting him to simply sit up on the couch and nothing more.
"I AM Midnight, yes." She said, face-palming. "You're in my agency. The woman you were standing with drugged you and stole your car and we're trying to help out. Are you in a state to answer some questions or do you need to rest a bit more?"
"I… think I'm fine. Yes." He said groggily.
"Good. Let's begin then." She pulled up a chair and sat down before him. "Do you know her?"
"No. I doubt I'd ever seen her before in my life." He replied.
"Why were you talking to her then?"
"I almost ran her over, I'm afraid. There wasn't even a traffic sign, but she practically jumped before me out of nowhere! I'd say she was having a contraction or something. I got out of the car to see if can help her, then next thing I know she was crying. The last thing I remember is trying to comfort her."
"Sounds like she had planned it all along…" Midnight thought. "Can you describe her to us?"
"She was a tad bit shorter than you, Midnight. Light brown hair in a ponytail and sapphire eyes. Also, well, she was-"
"Pregnant?" Midnight interrupted.
"Yeah…" He said, the idea of a pregnant thief a little foreign to him.
"Well, sir, we'll take you home now. We'll bring your car back to you ASAP." She said, before motioning to her blonde sidekick to take the man to his house. As soon as they were out, though…
"Found the car." The sidekick with the glasses announced.
"Great! Where is it?" She asked.
"Outskirts of town. Nothing's there, not even other cars, so she was probably disposing of it." He replied.
"Then here's the plan." She said with authority. "Once the four Midnight Boys are reunited, you'll tell the police about this and go with them to pick up fingerprints off that car for them to run through their database. Tell me the results once you find out."
"What about you, Mistress?" The long-haired one asked.
"I… have to go to school tomorrow." She groaned.
The following day, Midnight was walking around the school hallways, with no aim in particular. She couldn't help but think about the pregnant thief she was trying to catch. Why would a pregnant woman do anything like this? Shouldn't she be thinking about her unborn child? And what did she do with that car? She had so many questions…
Feeling her phone buzz, she pulled it out of her pocket and found a message from her sidekicks. Opening it, she found a picture of a report, with a picture matching the man's description stapled to it.
"Sharon McKenzie…" She read the woman's name out loud. Apparently, the woman had no dirt on her. Then why now? A lot of things didn't add up. The silver lining was, however, that they had an identity now. But how careless did she have to be to leave traces of herself like that?
"Well, looks like I'm off to the agency to catch a thief tonight." She said to herself as she continued on her way.
Almost at the same time as the previous day, Midnight walked around the streets in disguise. She had no better plan in mind, so she decided to patrol the streets undercover and keep an eye out of the time being. She made her way towards where she first saw the pregnant thief, maybe she worked at a specific region or something. Before she arrived there, however, she felt someone's eyes on her, and turned to see a hooded figure watching her from an alley. Midnight took a step whoever it was, but once they disappeared, she broke into a full-speed sprint.
"Damn it, why is it always alleys?!" She said whilst running.
Despite barely keeping up with the hooded watcher, Midnight did not let up. She followed them all around the network of alleys, eyes focused to see better in the dark. Nevertheless, as expected, the figure soon slowed down to a halt and used a nearby wall for support. Midnight approached them with caution.
"Surrender. You have nowhere left to run… not while pregnant, Sharon." Midnight said as the hooded figure looked at her, panting… and revealed herself.
"Finally… took you long enough."
"Hey! I met you yesterday, y'know!" Midnight said begrudgingly. "Wait… what do you mean 'finally'?"
Before Sharon could answer however, she grabbed her head and screamed bloody murder, almost forcing Midnight to cover her ears. However, she opted to pull up her sleeve and activate her Quirk, the purple smoke eventually rendering the pregnant lady asleep.
"Well, I hope I didn't harm your baby…"
When Sharon woke up, her eyes were immediately met with the blinding lights of neon bulbs. Looking around her to avoid it, she made out her surroundings to be a hospital ward. Once she tried to get up, however, she felt metal around her wrists and looked to see both of her hands handcuffed to the sides of the bed.
"If it helps, your baby is fine. I had them check it."
Sharon turned to see Midnight seated there, staring at her. They both shared a long look, before Sharon laid back in the bed.
"You have lots of questions, don't you?" She said.
"Wouldn't you?" Midnight commented.
"Fair enough. Got a lie detector set up?"
"Yep. You can talk whenever you're ready."
"I won't take up much of your time. I'm not doing these jobs of my own free will." Sharon said. The lie detector did not beep.
"I'm from Canada, originally. I met a guy there, went on a lavish date with him. We… had our fair share of fun."
"And he's daddy." Midnight concluded.
"Yes. I called him when I found out. He told me that he was originally from here, and that if we were to raise the baby, he needed me to move there. He showed me on our date that he could follow out with the promises he made to me afterwards, about finding me a job and taking good care of me and the baby… but as soon as I came here, I found out all of that was bogus."
"He's the one pushing you to steal cars."
"He is. He runs an entire underground gang. I tried to break free of his control, but he threatened the baby. He has the resources to follow through on his threats as well. He said that if I manage to steal 1 billion dollars' worth of cars for him, he'd let us go." Sharon said.
"So you're between a rock and a hard place then. You either run away a free woman, but live running away with your child for God-knows-how-long… or you abide by his rules to save the baby the trouble."
"Exactly. When you saw me last night… I recognized you. I knew you were my way out, so I left the car out for you to find. And I hoped you'd go back there and find me."
"You ran away for appearances then, in case they were watching. You put the baby at risk, though."
"I… had to. I'm just glad it's okay in the end." Sharon said, casting a sad look towards her belly. "So… I need your help, Midnight. Please. For my baby."
Midnight sat back in her chair and rubbed her chin. The lie detector didn't give off any indication of deception, so Sharon must've been telling the truth the entire time. She was just someone else who had to be saved… looking back at her, Midnight smiled rather sadistically.
"We'll arrest them all, Sharon. But you'll spearhead the operation…"
"Are you sure about this, Nemuri?"
Tsukauchi Makoto, sister to the famed detective Tsukauchi, stood beside Midnight the following night, surrounding a warehouse on the outskirts of town with concealed police forces all around them. Midnight looked at her confidently.
"Don't worry, dear, I trust her. You should too."
"She's a thief! How can I trust her?" the policewoman protested.
"Hey, remember our deal? You help me out with this, then you do with her what you want. Just don't be harsh." Midnight retaliated.
"Fine." Makoto pouted.
"Target's inside. Commence operation." Makoto's walkie-talkie came to life.
"Alright. See you once this is all over." Midnight said before moving discreetly towards the warehouse with two other cops.
Once there, one of the cops handed Midnight a gun and told her to point it upwards. Firing it, a grapple wire reached high up and clutched to the roof, allowing Midnight to climb up to the roof. She scanned her surroundings with her eyes, until they landed on the big fans of the air conditioning, and went towards one of them.
"Time to go to sleep, babies…" She whispered, before ripping off both her sleeves and activating her Quirk. In no time, the giant fan sucked up the smoke she produced, and a few minutes later she heard the sound of boots running on the ground, prompting her to deactivate her Quirk and head downstairs.
Inside the warehouse, Sharon was helped up by Midnight, standing groggily. She looked at the smiling heroine, and couldn't help but show a smile of her own.
"We did it, didn't we?"
"Yep, not a single one got away thanks to the diversion you caused for us Sharon. We owe you." Sharon smiled at Midnight's words, looking the most… alive since they first met.
"I'm afraid that's not enough to drop the charges against you, though." Makoto came up to then, looking grim as though she didn't like doing what she had to do.
"I… understand." Sharon replied, her face falling.
"You will not be in a cell, but in a heavily guarded room. We'll also provide you with a nurse. You… also won't stay locked up as long. That's as much as I can do for you, to be honest. Now, if you'll please come with me?"
Sharon complied wordlessly and made her way towards one of the police cars. Makoto turned towards Midnight, a knowing look on her face.
"I'll be waiting for you." Then she left.
"Mistress Midnight!" The Midnight Boys, all four of them, ran up to their Mistress checking for her well-being.
"Boys, boys, boys, I'm fine, believe me. More importantly…" She turned to the long-haired one. "Do you have what I asked?"
"Yes! Right here." He gave her a briefcase, which she took from him.
"Thank you. Now, as promised…" She cupped his face and kissed him on the lips –much to the other three's chagrin'- before quickly pulling away and leaving, her hips swaying flirtatiously as she made purposeful strides.
Sharon was at the police station, waiting to find out what kind of accommodations she and her baby were going to get. She hoped they'd hurry, though; being in a police station was kind of depressing, and she had had enough of that for a lifetime already. Still…
"It's nice to be free, right baby?" She patted her belly caringly. "Even if it's for just a little while, I'm glad we're finally free. And who knows? Maybe we'll get to thank her in person someday. Maybe you would. I promise you, I'm not ever going to leave your side."
"Good. Tell it that at my place, away from all this racket where it can actually hear you."
Sharon looked up and saw Midnight standing there, arms folded and looking at her with a smile.
"What're you doing here? What do you mean?"
"Look, Sharon, I never told anyone this, but I recently had a pregnancy scare of my own. I… did something wrong and the baby paid for it. Life haven't been the same ever since. You're my form of redemption, so to say." Midnight said, avoiding eye-contact. "I bailed you out of jail."
"You… you what?! Midnight, are you serious?" Sharon said, her eyes shining with joy.
"I am. And you can call me Nemuri from now on."
"Okay, Nemuri… Gosh, thank you! Thank you so much!" Sharon said with glee.
"Are you going home?" Midnight asked.
"Well… he kind of took over my apartment and turned it into kind of a safe house. I just thought I'd get a job and rent a place here for the time being, focus on raising this little thing." Sharon said, placing her hand on her stomach.
"Really now? I've got a much better idea…" Midnight said cheerfully.
Five years later
Midnight came home from work, looking more tired than she ever thought was possible. She was feeling it too. No matter how she loved it, teaching proved to be one tiring profession. Not even two steps into her own home, though, she heard footsteps as something wrapped around her waist.
"Yay! Aunt Nemuri's home! Now we can have lunch!" Said the little boy.
"Aww, were you hungry, Timmy? Sorry I'm late, then, little squirt." Midnight patted his head gently as she looked up to find Sharon standing before her.
"You most definitely did not keep him waiting. He refused to eat until you came home. Wouldn't even let me eat!" Sharon complained.
"Yeah, well, we can't leave Aunt Nemuri eating alone. She fights off bad guys enough as it is. Now, to the dining room!" He said as he took off, making all sorts of rocket sounds. Both women laughed, before turning to each other.
"…Thank you. He would never have been such a healthy boy if it weren't for you." Sharon said.
"No, thank you. You gave me another shot at having a bundle of joy in my life." Midnight replied.
After sharing a sentimental hug, they both walked to the dining room to answer little Timmy's calls, a sense of peacefulness in their hearts.
The End