The difficulty to swallow was the first thing to set in Geus. Then was the shiver of the body, and the cold sweats. So many ideas stormed into his brain. Suicide, run away, death, brain dead, and yet he didn't want to hear the truth. The connection between the two was weak at best. He and Geus were the two youngest members of the family. And since he was below the intelligence to grab on the racism of his family, he held no ill will towards his older cousin.
"What did you do to him?" Geus's tone was serious behind the constant voice cracks. His head banged against the wall, his eyes closed and waited for the response. Maria continued to cry through the speaker. It was a clear sign it wasn't a simple run away as he hoped. Combined with the recent UA attacks, this would be no sheer coincidence. "Tell me."
"They took him. Some villains." She cries hid behind whimpers now. "All because of your stupid quirks."
Geus's eyes broke open. "Shut up." He whispered directly into the phone. "Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut. Up. Why the hell are you calling me and not the police? I want to help but you know damn well... That I can't."
"They told me to tell you. I-I don't know why all they"
Geus's phone was snatched out of his hand. He didn't yell at the thief or start a fight. How could he fight the man that held his life on the edge of nothing? Iroh hung up the phone and placed the device in his breast pocket. His cockiness continued as he patted his pocket with a large smile.
"I told her not to worry with you. But the afraid never listen to reason. I'm parched, how about we talk as we go to the cafeteria for an early lunch. My treat."
"What the hell was that?" Geus shouted. Voices started to come from the inside of his classroom. He paused and waited for the eavesdroppers to silence themselves before he spoke again. "Why did my aunt call me just now."
"To place it in simple terms; it's the other reason I'm here. I had a talk with UA staff about their recent run-ins in hope of finding your cousin. We're afraid they might directly attack the prison"
"Detention center."
Iroh cleared his throat. "Yes. Detention center, so we're figuring out a strategy to fix things silently."
Geus didn't believe a word of this man's true intentions. Everything he said could be true, but the underline reason for it is not. He hid something behind that yellow line of teeth. "Why are you really doing this Iroh?"
"Isn't it obvious? I thought we got to know each other pretty well Mr. Sansei. If I'm able to stop those villains and save that little boy with the help of the police force and pro heroes, then I could finally get that promotion I talked so heavily about. I guess your family is my saving grace."
It took all his strength to hold back every fiber in his body that wanted to punch the giant in front of him. The clench of his fist turned his knuckles white, his blood enhanced with adrenalin, all signs ticked green to gas this man. One side also pulled a little command. The one passive said that wanted to let him do what he needed to do to get his cousin back. It was the most logical course as well as the safest bet.
Iroh stretched his lower body down to one knee. A sincere smile changed the monster's face. A kind gesture towards Geus that acted as a safe goat to the public eye of the school.
"Listen here, Geus. I could care less about that boy and who he is or belongs to. I save him, I take away the most dangerous terrorists right now, and I get what I want." Iroh reached in his pocket and returned Geus's phone. "If I could I'd lock you up right now and take that phone away from you. But the school and how well I'm appealing to all my bosses I'm not going to do that. Don't listen to your aunt or whatever she says. The last thing I need is a jailbird breaking rules and making things difficult for me." He slapped Geus's shoulder and got back up to his feet. "I'll see you on the security cameras." Iroh took a few steps closer to Geus. He leaned in and pulled open the massive door.
No words were exchanged, the look on his face told what he needed to see. The onlookers of the class and Aizawa forced both of them to hold back. Geus slowly swung his leg over the other and entered the classroom.
Midoriya was the first to Geus, like normal Izuku he was worried. "Everything alright? You look kinda angry."
Geus paid little attention to his concerned friend. To watch that door close and Iroh with it was the only thing he currently worried about. "Really nothing," Geus said as he watched the final click of the door. With the biggest threat to him gone, Geus was finally able to clear his mind. "Just some more restrictions on the trip. What'd I miss?"
"Well everyone was planning to go to the mall for the... Trip."
A light sigh moved out of Geus's mouth. "Sounds like fun, you'll have to tell me about it on the way to the camp thing." Geus pulled up his hood. "If anyone asks I left early." Geus sighed again and swung around from Midoriya. "I'll see you later." He left as quickly as he came.
"So you want to carpool back to the prison or are you going to turn back inside?" Iroh asked. He stood ten paces away from Geus. His arms were interlocked with each other and his smile was as devastating as ever. He wasn't shocked when Geus didn't answer his question, he just nodded to the side and turned around. "Listen to me Sansei, these people aren't your friends. In three years you'll be charged as an adult for your crimes and follow me straight to the real prison. Right now all that is happening is they are hoping your crimes are false. But after those tapes get recovered in a month and that hearing takes place, you'll be yanked right out of here." He looked back at Geus and chuckled. "Did I not mention there was a hearing going to take place? My apologies, after those tapes are ready to be presented to a judge we'll finally know the truth. Then the foolish government can stop sponsoring you. Or you could tell me right now that you did do it, get it all out of the way now."
"I didn't do it." Geus's barely audible words managed to break out from his mouth. "My actions were forced out of me."
"We'll see kid, we'll see."
A small kid bumped through Iroh and Geus while Iroh looked back with intentions to discipline the kid, Geus walked past the warden. The kid waved them off and laughed. "Killer doesn't belong here!" He continued to laugh away and turned into one of the halls to one of the school's classes.
"See kid? I'm not the only one that believes that." Iroh growled in his throat and fixed his tie. "A still very rude child."
There was no detour back to the detention center for them. Straight through the checkpoints back down to the empty cell he called home. Now he was alone again, without his friends, or the school that pulled him out. The doubt came back without a warning. Ideas flowed across his head about Iroh. Something was off about the man that he couldn't figure out. Anytime he's gone it's the best times and everything was according to plan. But the second he's around, he's reminded of the true game behind the scenes.
'I can just escape, lose everything I've gained.' Geus grabbed one of the filters on his face. 'As he said, this is all nothing.'. He looked up into the camera that focused directly at him.
Geus slowly untwisted the filter, his eyes followed the camera sway side to said as he did so. The cameraman behind the scene tried to convince Geus of his actions. He chose to ignore his silent helper and popped the filter off. He did the same on the other side and dropped them to ground. The gas from his quirk flowed out and filled the area around his face. No longer could he see the elevator doors and the camera.
He dug into his pocket and pulled out a small, wrapped up piece of paper. Around the single lined message were hearts and small doodles of one person in different murder scenarios with another. He memorized the single written line and shoved it into his shoe.
The elevator doors opened and the sounds of guns cocking filled the room. "Return your quirk!" Bailey yelled.
Geus moved his quirk down to the floor. He jumped down from his bed and onto the hardened gas. A constant flow of fresh gas flowed around the solid material. It lifted up and rose him above Bailey and the two guards.
"This isn't smart." Bailey warned. "This isn't a smart thing to do."
Geus lowed his platform to eye level with him. "I know, I got to practice for this training camp. The better I can manipulate my quirk, well you know."
Bailey groaned and rolled his hand through the stubs of his hair. "You know you can't do that without the supervision of approved personnel. The real question is." His eyes narrowed down. Geus looked down and noticed the tightened grip around the taser in his hand. "How did none of the defense mechanisms went off once that mask went off?"
Geus flew back to his bed and grabbed the pair of filters. He rolled right back to the men, he dropped the filters into Bailey's hand. "Kind've easy to see but my quirk is able to melt away the circuits."
"Why didn't you call one of us down for this problem? It would've been nice to know."
Geus flew back to his bed and dropped onto the mattress. "Think you would've believed me?"
Bailey signaled both men to the elevator. "Stay put and keep the quirk a minimum. We'll get you some replacement filters." He turned around and entered the elevator himself.
Geus waited for the doors to close. His eyes closed and sighed away his anxiety. "That was close."
The elevator opened back up fast enough to cause Geus to jump. "One more thing, your class is having a training session at the school tomorrow. You're going."
His fingers dipped inside the pool water of the next day. He watched his classmates race in the pool. And at a small drone that flew high above. This time Bailey wasn't present with the class but still kept a watchful eye from a distance.
"Sansei!" Iida yelled, his loud announcement wobbled Geus from his position and toward the water. His quirk blasted through the filters and caught onto the ledge. Geus looked up at the drone, a single bead of sweat dripped down from his cheek and into the water. Iida grabbed Geus's neck and pulled him back. "Sorry for scaring you like that. It was not my intention to do that."
"I jump easy, don't worry about it." Geus tried to avoid the scenario. "What is it?"
"It's time for you to join in on the training. Under Lieutenant Bailey's direct orders; you must participate!"
About that." Geus's laugh was suddery and oddly pitched for his voice. He walked over to the fence and reached in his bag. "I only came because I wanted out." He turned around with a new pair of filters in hand. "And I can't swim."
He didn't see Jiro next to him as she slapped his stomach and laughed. "All this muscle and you can't move your arms like a fish!"
His face turned slightly red. "It's not that I can't swim like that. If water gets into my mask, I can't flow out my gas and slowly will choke to death. So if any of you plan on killing me, drown me." 'Maybe that's enough of a distraction from the whole filter incident.' Geus pressed the final click of his filters. "Well? We only got today before the camp."
