BNHA: Dual Fates
Chapter 49: Hopeful Guesstimates.
"Bad news?" Worried for her friend, Uviel's parted lips moved as she asked and watched the student in the doorway nod.
"Yeah..." Shinso trailed off for a moment with his purple eyes looking over at Haru, who remained dazed and still in her spot. "You want to tell her, or should I?" his question received a simple nod of the brunette's head, before she lifted her blind hues, towards her best friend.
Still very much dazed from crying, her usual smiling lips stayed as a frown and soon enough her head lowered again. "Shigaraki... He said he was going to force marriage on me, to try and help me. He said... He wanted to marry me, to keep me focused on being villainous since my father offered him a spot as a marriage candidate. He still thought about the offer even after he died... What am I supposed to do? I don't want to be a villain! I don't want to kill!" This time, with devastation, she quickly raced over to Uviel and clamped her fingers tightly onto her small shoulders.
"I don't know what to do! I don't know what to do anymore! I'm... I'm so scared... Uviel, please," To her knees she fell and buried her face into her best friend's stomach. Her shaky hands kept a firm hold on Saito's stomach area, clenching the fabric of her hoodie. "I can't hide this anymore... -hic- I can't, I'm so tired of this -hic-, I'm so tired of faking everything!" Her muffled sobs and words stunned everyone, especially her best friend who stood in astonishment upon seeing Haru's actions.
With gaped lips and wide eyes evident, the only thought that ran through the lighter redhead's mind was... She's terrified. Very gently a tiny, pale hand rested on top of Haru's head to hold her close and let her cuddle.
Kamihara's thoughts were the same as the cybergirl's, for he too believed the brunette was terrified and that her actions were a little unusual to see compared to her happy and cheery self. Faking? That's right... Har-Har hides a lot of how she feels with a smiling mask, she's tired of wearing it. She's so afraid, the fear she feels hides behind her bright smile, and keeping it from showing is only making it worse. She's always in pain, but to know Shigarashi's carrying on what her father was going to do... Saito's monologue echoed for a moment before those blue hues looked up at Eijiro and the others.
Kirishima's worried eyes met hers then watched as her concerned ones shifted into strict ones, from then he knew she was planning something. "Uviel, what are you up to?" As soon as he asked, her attention moved to Shinso, Wani, Edgeshot, and a glance behind her to peek at Thirteen. They were all either as astonished as she was a second ago, or had sympathetic faces.
Returning her gaze back to her caring man, anger began to fill those stunning eyes and her breathing was starting to become harsh from the pressure of her ever-growing rage. Soon enough, a flash of blue in her gaze proved that she was trying to hold back a heavy scream she wanted so badly to let out. The crying of her friend and the situation she's been through all her life, to know Shigaraki was willing to keep pushing after Tadami's death put her on the edge of her last nerve.
"Thirteen, Edgeshot, Eijiro, Hitoshi, Kyoshi, all of you... Since Hatsume's still asleep- I need one of you guys to hold me back. I don't want to wake her up abruptly... Cause, for once in my life I want to tear someone apart and I'm afraid someone will get hurt," This was all very new to everyone, for they've known her to be quiet and to dislike getting too much involved with anything. To know that she wanted to go after someone willingly, even Kamihara who was pretty good at keeping his emotions under control- was amazed by her words.
Edgeshot's gray eyes noticed how Uviel tried to hold back her free hand from turning into a large, metal claw, as he saw before during their spar a while back; metal bones were trying to shift and moved under her skin. So, as if on cue, he used his quirk to reach across the room and bind her arms behind her back. It was a good thing he did because as soon as Haru backed up and stared at her friend, those large claws appeared against her backside and the rage in the girl's eyes was proof that she wasn't lying.
Saito stared into the space before her and kept thinking about her friend's words, the strength in her arms only increased by that. It was a bit of a power struggle, with shaky arms from the pressure of their struggles, the girl was just relieved that Kamihara bound her. "I've never wanted to kill or hurt anyone so bad like this before," Leaning over and her teeth grinding together, those metallic fingers twitched with eagerness to break free; however, it wasn't long until they reverted back to her normal hands.
It was her turn to sit on her knees, still leaned over and her head down, the anger finally subsided for now. When the pro hero saw this his red streams released her and ceased his quirk, he couldn't help but sigh at their situation. "I'm going to play Stargazers Online tonight, I need to kill something," simply spoken, Uviel stood to her feet and lifted her hands with deep thoughts swirling in her eyes.
"Saito?" Behind her, everyone gasped when they saw Hatsume open her yellow eyes to the group.
"Oh, hey," Uviel's small hand nervously rubbed the back of her head and stared at the pinky with a bit of worry, she sure hoped their antics didn't wake her.
"We all came to check on you, Thirteen wanted to ask everyone some questions earlier. How are you feeling?" Kirishima stepped closer to the bedside and placed a reassuring hand on the cybergirl's shoulder.
"Like my skin had too much sun at the beach.~" Giggling with closed eyes, the pinky tried to not make her slightly red skin look too painful. "I can't believe that villain escaped through the vents," despite her cheery mood, her voice was a little scratchy from being so dry.
"Do you know what he was wearing? I learned from Thirteen and Edgeshot a few details, but we were all waiting for you to wake up," A frown on her half-black lips showed how disappointed she was, that the villain escaped using a very simple method.
"A tight suit, bright yellow as if it were glowing. It was really cool though!" Immediately after the pinky exclaimed, her sore throat tightened and made her cough. "I didn't see anything else on him aside from that. I bet his outfit helps him control his body heat.~ But, all that heat destroyed the room, melted a lot of the stuff in there, and broke some glass. It became too unbearable to stay in," through her sore throat, she managed to explain and provide her signature smile.
Uviel blinked with a curious brow risen, however, a thought came to mind. Her head turned to view her best friend then pondered for a moment... Maybe, that villain works for Shigaraki? This should be an even more reason to go look for him, we need to know if that villain works for him or not. Her thoughts, full of determination, echoed once her gaze sharped with seriousness. "Har-Har, maybe the villain that jumped Hatsume, is connected to Shigaraki? We need to find out where he came from," demanded the girl.
"I don't think so," Thirteen decided to step in and walk a little closer to the students, with her attention on the cybergirl. "Shigaraki is not to be taken lightly. I understand, since you're aiming to become a hero, that you feel it's right to jump into action but it's too dangerous for a student. Midoriya and a few other students managed to make it out alive during their fight against Stain, however, their actions had consequences. As for you, it wouldn't be wise to do it. You are already being investigated and Yukimura is bound to stay within the eyes of everyone so as to not kill anyone during her episodes. Neither of you, are in good condition to even set foot out into any hero duties, not yet. Leave this to the pro heroes," the teacher explained as she lifted her hand and pointed to Kamihara, who curiously blinked in return.
"Me?" the ninja questioned, before switching his view of Thirteen, to Uviel and Haru.
"Yes. If it's alright, would you mind looking into it?" However, despite the teacher's request, she glanced at Kyoshi who began to tap his foot impatiently and fold his arms. "Hm... Who might you be? I never asked since I've been thinking about everything that's been going on," Not a second later did everyone's heads turn to see the Crock glare daggers at the teacher.
"H- He's just here because of Haru! That's all," Quickly, Saito moved in front of Thirteen's way with defensive hands waving and beads of nervous sweat trickled down her face. What she and the others weren't expecting was for the Crock to walk closer and brush the lighter redhead gently aside, nearly knocking her into Kirishima's chest. Even though the hardening student caught her by her shoulders, he and the girl were both surprised by the six-foot- eight-inch brute.
"I hate all of you heroes and shit, but if it means helping Yukimura, then let me help. I'll go to that decaying brat myself... He once gave me an offer to join him and I refused it. But- If I accept it, then, I'll be able to see if that heated villain is there or not. If he tries to use his quirk on me... He's going down with me, so I don't care," Pent-up anger could be heard in his low, bellowing growl and the glare he gave the teacher was enough proof.
"I'm not going to let a civilian enter a villain's territory, may you have a strong quirk or not," Suddenly, after her words, a scaly hand gripped the front of her suit and yanked her up to his eye level with dangerous eyes peering directly into that dark helmet.
"I fought one of those fucking beasts when they attacked the city, was almost eaten by Serpentine, and helped take down that bastard snake with Endeavor! So, you can't tell me whether or not it's dangerous for me, of all people!" Furious, he released the teacher and stomped his way towards the door.
However, with a short halt of his feet, he glanced over at Haru, for he pondered on her well-being and about what Shigaraki said. If anyone's going to marry her... It'll be someone who's not a brat like him. His thoughts echoed for a moment before he finally left the doorway. He didn't completely leave, despite his words for wanting to go about his plan, he wanted to stay close to Haru and make sure she'd be okay.
"Later today, there's something I want to look into. I'll need to ask Mr. Aizawa if it'd be okay though. There have been rumors for a long time, I've even heard about it when I was in elementary school and people stopped talking about it after a while," this piqued everyone's interest, for their gazes all landed on the cybergirl who lowered her eyes in thought.
"What is it?" This time it was Kamihara who spoke, as he leaned against a nearby wall and watched her from the side.
"Mina asked Mr. Aizawa before, he said it was just an old case that's never been solved... But, I want to investigate it myself. A rumor has it that an assistant went missing or something. While you were asleep last night, Edgeshot, I looked up some stuff..." for a moment she paused, making sure to use his hero name around others was important. "I learned that this assistant was assumed dead or killed- not only that but her grave couldn't even be found. It just... Feels weird that the rumors started to spread close to the time when I got my cybernetics. If I can find out who the assistant was and locate their grave, I might find some-" before she could even finish, once again, her eyes darkened and fell back against Kirishima as though she was shut down.
"Not again! Uviel!" After the darker redhead's panicked words, the others perked up and Haru rushed to her side worriedly.
~~~Elsewhere~~~
"Have you found any information yet?" Aizawa, who strode into a room, just finished one of his classes and chose to visit someone who seemed to be surrounded by computers. A man, clad in tight black clothes and glasses over his aquamarine eyes, even the hood from his jacket covered more than half of his forehead.
"No... This person's good. Whoever they are- the firewall that was implemented into your student's cybernetics is difficult to bypass," explained the shady man who soon took a sip of his coffee and pulled a loose mask back over his mouth.
"Edgeshot should be reporting back to me soon. He's supposed to inform me of anything new that happens to her," Annoyance could be heard in Shouta's voice as he leaned against the inside of the doorway and pulled the scarf over his mouth.
"Whoever your student is, their doctor must be very skilled," for a moment, the hacker hummed and kept eyeing something that continued to pop up on his screen. With a blink or two, he lifted a brow, clicked on the pop-up, and suddenly... A window appeared. Exposing the memories Uviel had during the times she was taken control of. "Mr. Aizawa, come look!" For once, after a while of trying to find something, he finally had and the groggy teacher soon hurried to his backside so he could see.
"What is it?" With a risen brow of his own, Shouta concluded that what he was staring at, was a memory through the girl's eyes. It was during the time when she was taken control of during the sports festival, crying and screaming out to the voice she heard. Even the strange, sharp-tooth grin that flashed for a second, before it faded away. So, after all this time... She heard the hacker's voice and didn't even want to bother giving us precise detail of what it sounded like? Why does that voice sound... Vaguely familiar? His thoughts, full of confusion and curiosity, echoed before he saw the hacker click on another window that popped up.
This time it was during her shutdowns, every time someone spoke of anything relating to the assistant or her Doctor, her mind would shut down. However, from the side, Kirishima rushed past the door screaming his name, and seemed to be rather panicked.
"Mr. Aizawa!" With a rough hand, as soon as he passed the door, he used it to push himself backward and look into the room. "There you are! Uviel has shut down again! I ran all the way from the hospital, everyone else is with her right now!" As quickly as he could, he hurried back down the hall from where he ran and left the teacher there.
Both he and the hacker were awestruck, astonished by his outburst and the fact that she shut down again. "That explains why I was suddenly able to get into her system like this. She was shut down, so it pulled down a lot of her firewalls. Whoever is hacking into her, they must have to shut her down or render her unconscious in order to take over," the man clad in black concluded and started watching the videos, until...
"Quick- try to get into her system more and see who's hacking her! Find their location if you can!" From there, he too ran out of the room and hurried his way to the hospital; the man at the computers simply got to work without a single complaint.
Through the halls, he ran, pondering on the cybergirl and the villain who keeps shutting her down like a computer. It took some time to reach the hospital and find the room number, but the moment he found them she was already starting to wake up. Uviel's head was placed in Kiri's lap a few minutes ago, so she was laying on her back and groggily opened her eyes. The boy had reached the hospital sooner than he did, considering his own delay in speaking with the hacker.
"Edgeshot. She was shut down, is she okay? Any reports yet, regarding her uncontrollable state?" those dark eyes soon looked at gray ones and received a nod in return.
"Just this time, that's all. Because we haven't mentioned anything about her cyber doctor and the rumors about an assistant, she hasn't been taken control of. However, I did some investigating myself... I looked into her cyber doctor and there is certainly something uneasy and suspicious about him. He rarely talks, no one's there, and his lab is deep within a basement. The computer he uses is a simple one with little to no data to go on, so it feels as though everything was cleaned up for a reason. I also need to find the one who attacked Hatsume, Thirteen asked if I could," explained the ninja, before his attention returned to the lighter redhead, who was soon hounded by sympathetic questions that he paid little mind to.
"I see... Alright- I'll have the hacker look into her cyber doctor later, then, after he's finished with his task. Although, there is one thing I've been curious about as well," Aizawa began with a turn of his heel, so he could lean against the inside of the doorframe.
"What is it?" Gray eyes peeked at the teacher from the peripherals and not once moved in his spot.
"Who was that woman with the Gatling gun? I've informed Principle Nezu of her and I'm still waiting for an answer. No one knows her name and she hasn't been recorded in any recent crimes, yet she still attacked me then left," Determined, his dark eyes sharpened at the memory of the pain on his face and lifted a hand to touch where it was before.
"What did she look like? I'll keep an eye out for her while I follow Saito around and look for the heat villain," With folded arms, he shifted in his position and felt rather curious as to who this woman was.
"She looked dead... Pale skin, stitches, glasses, silver hair, and black eyes. Not to mention a white trench coat and a Gatling gun that she could swing effortlessly, which isn't normal for any amount of human strength," finally he explained, the corners of his eyes he saw Shinya return his gaze to the kids and couldn't help but hear him hum.
"As long as she doesn't turn into a zombie or something. I'll keep an eye out for her as I said, then," The ninja couldn't help but half-joke about the woman and find it a little amusing, nonetheless he decided to lend a hand.