Away From A Hot Needle
Chapter 1 - In the Ice
Violence had always come easy to Shouta. No matter how hard he tried to rewrite the muscle memory in his hands, his fingers would always coil more comfortably around a knife than, say, the hand of a lost child.
It was something he normally despised, and, with great self-control, something he rarely let show. Sure, violence may be part of his nature, but so was his resolve for peace and a lack of conflict altogether.
The point of this, however, is that the rumble of the bus he was currently occupying had almost lulled him to sleep.
His head rests against the window as he tries to tune out Yamada's incessant babbling. The man is turned around in the seat next to him, talking animatedly to Shinsou and Eri, who occupy the row directly behind them.
From his too-tight shirt (civilian clothes, Shouta wrinkles his nose), his increasing volume and animated moves - Shouta is ready to wring his neck.
Is it too much to ask for even a moment, Shouta thinks as he sinks further into his capture scarf. The bus was only twenty or so minutes away from their destination - the hero support store that he and Yamada were taking Shinsou to for a capture scarf of his own.
He wills himself to fall asleep - maybe he even has enough time to dream of cats - when an elbow from Yamada comes entirely too close to his temple. Giving up, he watches his reflection with half-open eyes.
A hiss of hydraulics and the bus rocks to a stop. Shouta's gaze wanders from his window to the one on the opposite side to observe the bus stop, where just one person gets up. The rest remain sleeping.
As the door swings open, the person ambles on and up the steps. Rather than coming down the aisle, he encroaches into the bus driver's space. Shouta grunts and instantly sits up, pulling Yamada's attention away from the kids and to the front of the bus.
The newcomer forcefully reaches up to put it in park, and before Shouta can even think of activating erasure, his skin strobes in an array of blinding psychedelic lights.
...
Hizashi wakes slowly, blinking the darkness -and water crystals?- from his eyes. The cold bites deeply into him, and with a click and a hiss, oxygen suddenly floods his lungs.
He crumples to the floor as whatever was holding him in place opens - and is that a cryogenic chamber? Like from a space movie?! He rolls his head away from his former resting place to take in his surroundings.
Sleek metal panels line the floor and walls of the chamber he finds himself alone in - the room itself barely larger than his closet. A bright yellow suit hangs upon the wall next to the door.
Rolling onto his side, he pulls his phone from his pocket to find it dead. Frowning, he rubs the last of a headache from his eyes and a chill from his arms.
"...the heck happened?" He groans and turns to look back up at the door.
Pulling himself from the floor with surprising ease for someone who had just been frozen solid apparently, Hizashi moves to run the yellow fabric of the suit between his fingers. It was thick, almost like hazmat material. An equally bright helmet catches his attention.
"A space suit too?"
Thick material still between his fingers, a sign on the door draws his attention next. Blocky insignias stand out clearly against the bright background, and that was a clear warning if Hizashi had ever seen one.
"No need to tell me twice." He says as he scans over the multiple hazard symbols.
He tugs the suit free from its hook and pulls it on over his clothes. A tablet powers to life on his left sleeve, and he briefly swipes over the controls to see a map and a list of tasks. Oh shit, he thinks, tasks for what? I'm no rocket surgeon! The helmet goes on last, a small display screen popping up in the lower corner.
Taking a deep breath, he steps from his small room - only to find himself in a small crowd of other people.
A message pops up on his helmet, 'Oxygen Levels: Normal. Radiation Levels: Normal. Helmet not required.'
Taking a quick glance at the other people gathered, he noticed none were wearing theirs. Pulling the helmet free, he clips it to his belt and turns to look at the room he came from.
On closer inspection, it looks absolutely like a pod from sci-fi movies. Oh my god, I really am on a spaceship!
His name is situated on a plate screwed to the pod door, and turning to his right he sees the next two belonging to Shinsou and Aizawa respectively.
Knocking on Shinsou's door, he leans in close, "Shinsou, buddy. You in there?"
Muffled shuffling can be heard, and soon his student speaks up.
"Yamada-sensei? What's going on?"
He looks around at the people gathered, confusion and mild panic muddling their faces.
"Not too sure, but how about you get that suit on and come join us. I'll check on Aizawa."
Hizashi turns to Aizawa's door after Shinsou's grunt of acknowledgment. He knocks on it next.
"Yo man, you in there?"
He hears the man grunt, and surprisingly, Eri's voice as well.
"Mic-sensei!" She squeals.
"It safe out there?" Aizawa asks a moment after.
Hizashi hums, "I don't see any immediate threat, and despite the suits it seems like the air is breathable."
"Right…" Hesitance laces his friend's voice, "I'll help Eri get hers on. Why don't you stick with Shinsou for the time being."
"You got it!" He spins on his heels and leans next to Shinsou's pod. "Just out here whenever you're ready!" He calls to the teen.
While he waits, his eyes roam back over the room. These were the people on the bus with him - but what of the hijacker? He had no doubt in his mind that their current predicament was due to whatever quirk he hit them with.
"I'm coming out." Shinsou steps from the room, lilac suit adorning his body and matching helmet tucked under an arm.
Hizashi grins cheekily, "You don't have to tell anyone your interests if you are not ready yet."
The look Shinsou sends him could freeze hell right over, and yet there is no outward change in his near passive expression.
"Geeze," he holds his hands up in a placating manner, "You certainly got that Aizawa-look down!"
The door next to Shinsou's slides open, and a bedraggled Aizawa steps out with Eri in tow - both with matching black suits and helmets.
"Yamada, is now really the time for jokes?"
Shinsou butts in with a "No, but here I am.", and Eri turns to Aizawa and sincerely asks "But I thought you said the others were part of the circus?"
Snorting, Hizashi decides, no, it really isn't the time.
Aizawa slides his hand from Eri and she moves to stand with him and Shinsou. Without waiting for a response, Aizawa turns to leave.
"I'm going to see if I can't find anything about our situation."
"We'll ask around ourselves!" He calls back with a smile. Eri slides her hand into his, and together the three make their way around the gathered groups. Most seem to be either elderly or university-aged - which makes sense as this was the middle of a work day. The last person eventually leaves their pod - a middle aged man in blue with a dragon tail quirk - and Hizashi resigns to the fact that they would likely get no new info.
Sure enough, it proves fruitless - from what he could gather, everyone had memories up until the bus stop, but few remembered the hijacker. None knew what happened after.
Aizawa sidles back up to their group but keeps his eyes wandering around everyone else. Arms crossed, he murmurs just enough for them to hear.
"I can't use my quirk."
The cold that washes through him doesn't snuff out his optimism. He swallows and hums a response to test out his own.
His quirk falls to respond as well.
Aizawa uncrosses his arms and faces the three of them fully at that.
"I'm beginning to think this quirk did more than just teleport us somewhere."
Before they can further discuss, a man in tan who had been talking to a woman in maroon, stops to look at him.
"Hey… are you perhaps a Pro Hero?"
Surprised that he was recognized without his hero attire, Hizashi grins and nods.
"Yup! Actually, we should probably let everyone know!"
The tan-suit man nods, but the serious-looking woman in maroon seems withdrawn. He off-handedly notices they were about the same age as he - if not slightly younger.
Raising his voice like he would when addressing his students, he turns to the group. "Yo, yo, yo! Listen up fellow befuddled-onauts, me and this guy," he gestures to Aizawa, "-even though he doesn't look it- are Heroes."
"Ah!" A kind looking young man in a pink suit says as the group gathers around them, "You're Present Mic, aren't you? I love to listen to your show all the time!"
Hizashi finger-guns him, "That's it! Now - I'm sure you all are wondering what you're doing here. Well, same here if I'm honest!"
A chastising growl sounds out behind him, one Hizashi has long associated with Aizawa.
"No worries though!" He's quick to assuage, "We can figure this out together. We already know all of us were on the bus, and that a hijacker hit us with a quirk - now we just gotta figure out what that was!"
No one responds for a moment, until a hand raises from the crowd.
"Excuse me," A young man in red speaks up, one Hizashi vaguely remembers playing on his phone towards the front of the bus, "Um, I think I know what this is."
All eyes fall to him, and red suit guy turns to speak to the group.
"Well… we're obviously in a spaceship." He starts, and when multiple people gesture him on, he continues, "I think that quirk transported us into a game - specifically a game I was playing called Among Us."
Shinsou coughs in surprise - or maybe disgust - but Hizashi doesn't turn to check on him. Transported into a game? Disbelief floats through the crowd, Hizashi himself included.
"What made you jump to that conclusion?"
"The tablets." Red says with conviction. Multiple people pull their arms up to look at their own. "They display a map used in the game - a ship called the Skeld."
"Shit," Shinsou hisses as he swipes through his tablet, "I played it once or twice with the others - I think he's telling the truth."
"So this is a game?" A man in brown steps forward, "Can we assume that we'll be transported back home if we win?"
"Let's hope so." Red nods.
Aizawa speaks up for the first time since the group formed, "There are too many factors to consider right now to assume anything. This could be a collective hallucination or a dream for all we know."
His eyes dart from person to person, and Hizashi could tell his mind was working overtime on something. Likely memorizing their appearances, or assessing how best they could help in this situation. Heavens knew both of them couldn't get out of this predicament without cooperation from the others.
"However, it would be in our best interest to act like we really were transported to outer space - or a game or what not." Aizawa continues, "If this quirk has a requirement we must fulfill to break it, then beating the 'game' should be our first shot."
Hizashi takes over, gesturing to Red, "Right. So what do we do?"
"To beat the game, all we have to do is repair the ship." He looks down to his tablet, "Each of us should have a map and our assigned tasks marked there."
"You're kind of forgetting a key point," Shinsou interjects, "The whole point of the game is that there are imposters on the ship trying to kill you the whole time."
Red ducks his head, "Heh- well I was kind of hoping that, since this is more like real life, the imposters would also be in the same situation as us. Real people that we can maybe reason with."
A portly old man in gray clacks his cane, "Hold on, so you're saying some of us here are going to try and kill the others?"
"I'm saying this situation isn't like the game, we shouldn't just jump to conclusions before we know more."
"Okay, so-" Hizashi holds his hands up and waggles his fingers, "If you're an imposter raise your hand!"
No one moves. Shinsou snorts next to him and Aizawa quirks a brow - as if he had been expecting any better from Hizashi.
"Welp, it was worth a try."
The man in the tan suit speaks up, "Actually, that was a good idea. If the imposters aren't speaking up because they reasonably don't trust a large group of strangers, well, no harm done."
Tan scans the crowd before continuing on, and Hizashi almost sighs in relief at the realization that this group isn't working itself into a panicked frenzy.
"We can just figure out how all of us win. But if there is some other reason, then that means we can't trust them. They could be real, legitimate imposters - with who knows where the originals are."
Red nods at that, and Shinsou addresses him again.
"There's normally two imposters right? Can we assume that that number will remain the same at least?"
Their resident Among Us-expert shrugs at that, "If I had to guess, then I'd say yes. There's fifteen people here - in a game of that size there'd only be two imposters."
A man in blue steps up, his dragon-tail quirk thrashing in unease, "Then Present Mic and Mr.-" He trails off and looks to Aizawa.
"Eraserhead."
"Eraserhead, how do you suggest we handle this situation?" Blue finishes and Hizashi bets this is a man who's had to write too many emails to his superiors over his career with how he presents himself so formally.
Briefly looking at Aizawa for input, Hizashi announces, "We'll do a little recon of what it's like outside this room - sounds like we're gonna have to take you out there so we can all complete these tasks. That's our best bet for escaping this quirk at the moment."
No one objects, and he suddenly wishes his students had this level of cooperability.
"For now," Aizawa, arms crossed, adds, "Present Mic and I will scout out the ship to check for any danger. We're Pro Heroes and are accustomed to danger, it'd be irresponsible to let you guys out into the ship without knowing what its state is."
Wow. Aizawa was going to hit his monthly word limit if he spoke up anymore. As if sensing his internal teasing, Aizawa fits him with a look of impatience.
"Right, right!" Hizashi jumps and they walk to the doors leading to the rest of the ship, "Watch over them for us, Shinsou! Everyone, we'll be back in a jiffy!"
The doors slide open at the push of a button, and together they step into the dark unknown.
Thank you very much for reading!
I've embraced the cringe, and I'm sorry about it. But this fic has been sitting in my docs for over 2 years, and I meant to get it out at Halloween but life took me into the ring and kept pummeling after the referee called for a stop. Anyway, this is going to be Crack Treated (Very) Seriously, and I will be updating the summary as the chapters go on and things are revealed. I have the next chapter complete, and most of the rest of the fic, but I don't know when I will update next. I hope you guys enjoy, would love to hear your guesses on who the imposters are before the reveal (it'll happen early on for us, not for the characters though).
For reference (mostly for myself), these are the colors of everyone (15 members):
Aizawa & Eri -Black
Yamada - Yellow
Shinsou - Lilac
Other characters are:
Red(amongus player)
Tan (young office man), Maroon (young office woman)
Brown(salaryman)
Green(bee grandma), White(flower grandpa)
Coral(young woman)
Cyan(college girl)
Blue (dragon tail guy)
Pink(kind-looking young man)
Gray(old man w/cane)
Anyway, thank you so much for reading! Any sort of feedback is greatly appreciated!
Hope you were able to get some enjoyment and a break from reality for a short while, I'll see you next time!
Thanks again! :)