Chapter 14 – Deals with Friends

The fates seemed to have a grudge against me. In one fell swoop my apartment had been seized in the name of evidence, all my possessions bagged and tagged, my freedom replaced with cold security glass, and my quirk placed on lockdown courtesy of the oppressive collar that I now sported around my neck. The exact nature of my abilities was still unknown to the HPSC and they were not taking any chances with me - opting for the highest possible security measures until they had more information to go off of. I was a complete mystery and I wasn't exactly forthcoming to clear the air of any misconceptions that they had.

It was a cruel joke that I found myself thrown in the very prison I had only broken into days prior. I had seen Purveyor in his cell as I was led down the hall to my own prison chamber. It was a small mercy, I guess, that we were not neighbors and he had not recognized me as I passed by, but it was only a matter of time. The man's eyes were sharp and I would not put it past him to put two and two together eventually. He had seen my face as a child. It would not take much imagination to wonder what I would look like as an adult.

So I stayed quiet in my cell like a good prisoner. Not because I wanted to, but because I did not want to attract the attention of a certain someone a few doors down. The chamber walls and security glass were thick enough to block out most noises from the outside, but they were not completely soundproof.

I was currently curled up on the stiff cot that served as my bed, desperately willing for sleep to take me. Now that I had all the time in the world to catch up on some much needed rest, I found that I couldn't. My mind refused to shut down. Over and over again my interrogation replayed in my head on an endless loop. I thought about what I could have done differently, what else I could have said that would have granted me a different fate. The more I analyzed, the more I found that my fate had been sealed the moment I woke up to find the dark hero standing in my apartment. How he had gained entry still greatly peeved me. The security measures that Ivan had installed were supposed to be state of the art. Well, all those cautious measures were worthless now.

My thoughts drifted over to Ivan then. I had had no contact with him ever since that fateful night and I wondered what he was up to. Had the police found him too? No, I had to shake myself of the thought. If he had been the one to blow up my laptop, our main form of communication for years, then he knew what had happened and had no doubt gone into hiding. He was far too crafty to be caught so easily. I held out hope that he was out there strategizing of a way to get me out of here. Hope was all I had to cling to, and all I could do was sit and wait.

I let my eyes flutter close as I drew in deep breaths in an attempt to force sleep to come. The heavy metal collar around my neck made getting comfortable on the cot an impossible task, and I knew my body was suffering greatly. I just managed to broach the divide between consciousness and sleep when the soft crackle of the intercom system came to life inside my cell. A voice floated in and out of it, too distorted for me to make out any actual words being said. Nonetheless, it had roused my attention. The distortion faded away, and there was no mistaking the voice that came through.

"How's it going, Ghosty?"

"Ivan!" I yelled joyously, forgetting my promise to stay quiet, and leaping off the cot into the air. "You beautiful bastard! Where have you been?"

He chuckled at my exuberant greeting and spoke. "I've been working on a way to bust you out."

"So you didn't abandon me." I sniffled. I could almost feel the tears welling up in my eyes with the confirmation that I was not alone.

"Now why would you think of something like that?" I could hear the frown in his voice.

"Well, you blew up my laptop! What else was I to think when I woke up and found a hero in my apartment and my smoking computer on the floor? Care to explain how he got in?" I accused.

"Yah - sorry about that." Ivan said guiltily. "That hero had some serious skills to bypass the security lock on your door. By the time I saw that the door had been unlocked, he was already inside. I sent a code to your machine to self-destruct and wipe all the data we had taken. I had hoped that it would be enough not to tie you to the theft. But I guess you know that didn't help."

"No." I agreed with him. "They had a tracker in the flash drive that I took back with me. That's how they found me."

"You gotta admit that's pretty ingenious of them -"

I shot the intercom a dirty look, knowing that there was a camera positioned just above it.

"Right, the rotten bastards." He coughed out, quickly changing his tune. "How dare they think of something so sneaky."

I rolled my eyes in a huff. "If you could stop fawning over them, and get back to how you're getting me out of here. I would really like to leave soon. Purveyor is just a few doors down just so you know."

"Sorry." He apologized. "Right! Back to the plan! The plan is...for you to stay put."

"I'm sorry, what?" I spoke incredulously.

"Stay put, Ghosty." He repeated.

I forced a smile to my face as I slunk towards the intercom. "Maybe you didn't hear me when I said Purveyor is just a few doors down. How soon do you think he's going to figure out who I am? Get me out of here." I let the smile fall and gave a low growl.

Ivan stood firm against my display.

"No can do, Ghosty. But don't fret. Some friends of ours are going to be paying you a visit there real soon."

"Friends?" I frowned. "We don't have any friends."

"We do now, or at least we will if everything goes smoothly." Ivan admitted.

"Who are they?"

"You'll see." Ivan slyly said. "You'll meet them very soon. In fact you already met one of them."

Now this really got my attention as I scrambled my brain trying to figure out who in the world I knew who would help me escape from my prison cell. I came up empty. The curse of being an irredeemable recluse and all that.

"I have?"

"Yep!" Ivan piped up. "Though this whole thing really depends on you, Ghosty. You're going to have to trust me on this."

I gave out a loud sigh. "All right. What do you want me to do?"

"You have to tell them everything. And I do mean everything."

"If they're our friends, don't they know everything already?" I bit out.

"Well yes, and no." Ivan teetered, adding, "They know some things, at least the important parts, but they need to hear the rest from you before they can help you get out of there."

This didn't sound right to me.

"How does spilling my secrets exactly help me get out of here? If they knew everything I've done, they would throw away the key to my cell and leave me to rot."

It took a moment before Ivan spoke to answer.

"I made a deal with our friends." He confessed. "The terms were this: if you told them the whole truth about yourself and what happened that night at the HPSC then they were willing to strike a deal to get you out. The act of confession on your part will show them that you're willing to work with them. And in turn they're willing to take a chance on you."

"And when I tell them who I am, what's to keep them from going back on their word?"

"Nothing." Ivan sighed admittedly. "But I've gotten to know these people, and I think we can trust them. They're good people and want to help."

"Why do they want to help?" I asked aloud. I was naturally suspicious of people wanting to help out of the kindness of their hearts. In my early years of being the Ghost, it was that suspicion that had kept me alive. There were far too many people out there that wanted to prey on others under the guise of 'wanting to help'. Ivan was not put off by my suspicious nature. Indeed it was something he had to break through with a sledgehammer when he and I first met.

"Do you trust me?" He spoke.

I took a moment before I answered. "Yes."

"Do you trust me to look out for you?"

"Yes." I answered again.

"Then trust that these people want to help you."

I sighed heavily at the weight that Ivan wanted me to cast aside as if it was an effortless feat. Chewing on my lip, I mulled over the choices before me. Reveal my identity to complete strangers for the slim possibility of being released, or stay quiet to slowly waste away until Purveyor got wise to my appearance. He had promised that he would collect me and I didn't want to give myself over on a silver platter when my quirk was out of commission. The choice wasn't hard to make. If there was a chance to leave, then I would take it.

I didn't have to say anything for Ivan to know my choice. He knew me well enough to know that I would eventually come to the right conclusion.

"When you meet them," Ivan spoke up, "please try not to mention me." He pleaded with me. "I haven't told our friends my identity just yet. Just that I'm your partner. I'll reveal myself soon, I promise. But there's some things that I need to attend to first and it'll be easier to do those without looking over my shoulder for the police since they'll be listening in too when you meet with our friends."

"What exactly are you up to, Ivan?" I narrowed my eyes at the intercom camera in suspicion.

"Something badass, I assure you." His tone was lofty, and I knew that he wasn't going to tell me any more details.

"All right, just be careful." I murmured. "Can't have you getting caught while I'm stuck in here. Speaking of which, any ETA on when 'our friends' will be arriving just so I can prepare myself?"

"They're already there."

I whipped my head around to the glass divider as I picked up on the footsteps of the guards approaching.

"Be nice, Ghosty!" Was all Ivan said before his voice fizzled back to static.

The two guards stopped in front of my cell's glass screen, blissfully unaware of the conversation that I had just been having with the intercom.

"You have visitors." One of them grunted, releasing the lock on the door so it could rise up into the ceiling.

I was escorted out and down the hall, all the while being flanked on either side by the guards. I turned my head to the side as we passed Purveyor's cell, suddenly looking very interested in the features of the white cement block wall on my left. When I was sure that I was out of sight of Purveyor's cell did I face forward once more.

A large white door with a thin window at eye level soon greeted me. I could feel my anxiety and nerves slowly rising. Whoever 'our friends' were, lay just beyond that door. I was sure of it. I would be lying if I didn't say I wasn't just a bit hopeful at the prospect of leaving here - even if it meant the sacrifice of giving up my secrets.

One of the guards opened the door and allowed me to step over the threshold before quickly closing it behind me. The room I had entered was overwhelmingly white with a clear glass wall dividing the space into two equal parts. A chair sat on either side close enough to the glass for a conversation to be had. The chair on the opposite side was, however, already occupied by the last person I had ever expected to see again.

"Oh, it's you." I grumbled moodily in recognition. "Why in the hell are you here?" I spoke out as I sat down in the only chair before the glass divider. He couldn't be one of the friends that Ivan had promised who would visit me. Hell! He was the one who put me in here in the first place!

Eraserhead didn't react to my brash attitude towards him. In fact he looked disinterested to even be here.

"Hello to you too." He sighed tiredly, leaving forward slightly to support his arms on his knees.

The bindings around his neck started to squirm on their own and a white - was it a mouse, or a dog, I couldn't tell - popped out to perch on Eraserhead's shoulder.

"And a hello from me as well!" The mouse-dog thing said exuberantly, giving a short wave.

I had never seen such a creature before in my life. Sure there were those who had quirks that made them look like animals, but this creature was far too small to be a human. I blinked owlishly at the creature while my mind was still working out exactly what it had seen. Eraserhead didn't seem bothered that a mouse-dog had just sprouted from around his neck and was now sitting on his shoulder. He acted like this was a daily occurrence for him and so he ignored it.

"Thank you for taking the time to meet with us." The mouse-dog spoke politely.

I simply nodded at the white creature. It's not like I had a choice to begin with, but his polite mannerisms at least struck a cord within me to be polite in return. Ivan's last words of 'Be Nice' sang in my head as a reminder.

"My name is Nezu and I am the principal at U.A. High School. And this here," he shoved a paw into Eraserhead's cheek, "is Eraserhead who you've met before. He's also a teacher at U.A. High."

My eyes darkened when the hero was mentioned, but I couldn't help but be a bit surprised to find out that he was a teacher in addition to being a hero. No wonder why he looked exhausted all the time. Nonetheless, this didn't answer the question that had been circling my thoughts. How could these two people be 'our friends' as Ivan had called them? They were not ministry officials. They were high school teachers and had no pull within the government.

"You're probably wondering why two teachers came all this way to see you." Nezu spoke up, almost as if he had read my mind. "So I'll tell you." He continued without waiting for me to answer and launched right into his tale. "It all started a few days ago when I had just brewed a delicious cup of tea. Green tea - not black. The cleansing properties of green tea does wonders to keep my fur the soft and shiny appearance it has come to be known for. It was early morning, and I was sitting down to my desk to look over the testing results for our incoming freshmen students. So imagine my surprise when I got an email from an unknown sender claiming to be your accomplice and admitting to the data theft. They also told me some other things, but we'll get to that in a little bit." Nezu hopped off Eraserhead's shoulder and walked towards me with his hands behind his back. "Naturally, of course, I was curious why this sender was telling me all of this and not the HPSC, so I replied back. Over the course of the next few hours we got to know one another, and the more we talked, the more I learned about you."

Nezu had talked to Ivan. That at least confirmed that these two were definitely the friends Ivan had mentioned before.

"But why did the 'friends' have to include that hero of all people?" I thought with a scowl. I was of course referring to none other than angry eyes himself.

Nezu continued on. "From my conversation with the mystery sender I knew I had to meet you for myself and see what kind of person you are. I called up the HPSC to arrange this meeting of ours, and had Eraserhead tell me everything he knew about you."

I glanced up at Eraserhead as Nezu said this, frowning. Based on my limited interactions with the hero in the past, I wondered what kind of information he could have had on me that would be of any use. He and I weren't exactly close buddies. Eraserhead remained impassive, but locked eyes with mine as I stared at him.

"So here we are," Nezu threw out his arms to his sides, "to hear your story. Depending on what you can tell us, I may be able to pull some strings within the HPSC to commute your sentence."

And there it was - the deal Ivan had made. All I had to do was tell them the truth. Easier said than done. After living most of my life in hiding, spinning one lie after another, the truth was something that did not come naturally.

I gave the pair of them a long hard stare, silently thinking. They gazed back at me. Nezu's face told me that he was eager to hear what I had to say. Meanwhile Eraserhead's eyes had sharpened to a rapt attention. He too was waiting to hear the truth. Ivan had said to trust them - that these were good people who wanted to help. I may not trust these people entirely, but I trusted Ivan without a doubt.

After a moment more I opened my lips and began to speak.

"My real name is Eve, not Evelyn Nishimiya, but you might know me better as the Ghost."

I drew a long breath and began the story that was me. I told them of the orphanage and the abuse. I told them of Natsu, my childhood friend and our plan to escape from that place. And I told them of the night when everything changed. Nezu nodded every once in a while to my story, giving indication that he was actively listening. Eraserhead had brought out his phone when I began to describe the events at the auction house. His thumb swiped rapidly across the screen as he looked up the reports from that night to cross check against my story.

After the auction house I went on to explain how I became the Ghost, all the while searching for my lost childhood friend. I glossed over the decade and a half until I arrived at the scene where I had encountered Purveyor again in that underground base. Eraserhead's eyes narrowed in recollection as I recalled the events that went down before he and the other heroes had arrived on scene. This was familiar but altogether new information to him.

"You were the one to make the call to the police, then?" He questioned aloud.

I nodded. "I couldn't get the girl out on my own. She was hurt and I couldn't protect her if I had to fight my way out. My quirk is great for stealth and infiltration, but when it comes to protecting others it's useless."

"I see." He murmured, his face thoughtful.

I moved onto my conversation with Purveyor and the name he had given up.

"I have never heard of this Titan Alliance before." Nezu spoke up this time, turning to Eraserhead. "How about you, Eraserhead?"

"No." He replied.

"Neither had I." I interjected, "And no amount of searching on the net would tell me anything I needed to know to find Natsu. So I broke into the Hero Public Safety Commission in hopes that their databases would have something that could help me."

"Yes, about that." Eraserhead voiced heatedly. "Because of you the entire HPSC building is undergoing a security overhaul to find out how you were able to get in and out without tripping any of the alarms."

I scratched the back of my head guiltily. "I am sorry about that." I wanted to put forth a show of good faith, so I offered up a suggestion. "You might want to tell the HPSC to check out their ventilation system. That's how I was able to sneak the data out."

"The ventilation system?" Eraserhead spoke questioningly, frowning a bit as he thought. But before he could ask his next question, Nezu cut him off.

"Thank you, we will pass that along to them." Nezu nodded his head at me in appreciation.

"Sensei," Eraserhead spoke up, clearly annoyed that he was being overruled. "I don't need to remind you that she attacked the HPSC president."

"But didn't otherwise harm her. Isn't that correct, Ms. Eve?" Nezu turned to me for confirmation.

"Please tell her I'm sorry. I tried to be as gentle as I could." I grimaced in shame at the memory. I didn't like to possess others. It was far too intimate for my liking.

"How did you do it?" Eraserhead asked darkly. There was a vested interest behind those eyes.

"I-"

"We'll save that for another time." Nezu cut in, giving Eraserhead a knowing look.

The hero gave Nezu an equal look before sighing, drawing out his phone again to search for something.

"Were you able to find what you needed on this Titan Alliance?" Nezu directed my attention back to him.

"Sort of." I bit my lower in thought. "Though, there wasn't much info on them. The file said that they were based in America."

"America?" Nezu asked.

I bobbed my head and continued. "The file also said something about seeking out and cultivating powerful quirks to create a god. I wonder if that's why they bought Natsu since he has a rare quirk."

"That may be the case." Nezu murmured thoughtfully. "Though this concept of theirs to create a quirk-user with powers to become a god in this superhero society of ours disturbs me greatly. Was there anything else you could find?"

"That was everything that was in there." I replied.

"Thank you for sharing that info with us." Nezu said. "I will have to look further into it."

I nodded, hoping that he might discover more than I had and be willing to share. Any more information I could get would be another step forward in finding Natsu.

"You stated your real name was Eve, correct?" Eraserhead spoke up, seizing the moment to ask the question.

"Yah." I cocked my head to the side.

"No last name?"

"None that I know of."

"Hnnn." He peered down at the phone in his hands, scrolling through something before speaking again. "There is no Eve registered in the quirk database with a quirk resembling what you have described." Eraserhead accused me, looking up to pin me with a stare.

I got the distinct impression that he was trying to tear my story apart, searching for any possible lie to prove that I was untrustworthy - just like he had done back at my interrogation.

"There is if you look up a quirk called 'Sleeping Beauty'." I sighed heavily. It had been a long time since I had said that name. "That's the name the staff at the orphanage gave my quirk when I was young. They didn't understand the full nature of my quirk, but it always looked like I was falling asleep at random times so they called me Sleeping Beauty." My lips twitched upward briefly at the memory. It was from a happier time before the orphanage was taken over by new management.

Eraserhead typed the new info into the phone and frowned at what he read. "You were reported missing fifteen years ago by state inspectors when your orphanage was shut down. Why didn't you go to the police to say that you were safe once you had escaped?"

"And be sent back to an orphanage where I could be kidnapped again by the very criminals that took Natsu and I?" I gazed down at my tightened fists, missing the softened expression Eraserhead was quick to hide. "No. I was just fine on my own. Always have been. Plus, I had to track down the people who took my friend."

"So you learned how to adapt and survive at a young age." Nezu spoke with a tinge of respect in his voice. "I'm surprised that you did not end up on the side of villainy. It would have been so easy for someone like you with your abilities."

I stared at the floor as his words washed over me.

Oh, I had been tempted in the past. Nezu was right. My quirk made it so easy for me to control the people around me. And when I fought, I was invincible. But my quirk also made killing an effortless thing to do. All it took was for my soul to reach out and tear the flame of another soul from a person's body. Or I could have forced someone to end their own life through possession or manipulation. Over the course of my life I had seen unspeakable things that made me want to jump into the void, to cross that line over to the other side just to make things easier. But one thing held me back from that line in the sand - my memory of Natsu. He wanted to be a hero. Called me his sidekick even and said that we would always be partners. It was for him that I never allowed myself to take the easy way out. It was for him that I never took a life. Slight maiming, on the other hand, was always on the table.

"My friend Natsu wanted to be a hero." I whispered. Slowly, I raised my eyes to look at Nezu. I wanted to make sure he didn't mistake my next words. "I don't want to think of how he'll act if he knew I became a villain. l may be many things, but I am not a villain."

Nezu nodded, a smile of relief crossing his features at my declaration.

"That settles it!" He cried out. "I want to have you at U.A. High."

I blinked once then twice, taken very much aback. For a moment there I was not sure if I had heard him correctly. Ivan had failed to mention this part to me.

"Say what?"

Nezu ignored my shock, and spoke. "I assume that you did not attend school?"

"N-no." I managed to stammer out. "I never had time." I bit my lip and quickly added on, "But I'm not stupid or anything. I learned what was necessary as I went."

He nodded in understanding while his fur bristled with an excitement he could not contain. Eraserhead, who had fallen silent for the time, was now watching Nezu pensively as if he knew what was coming and didn't like it one bit.

"Sensei..." He murmured in caution.

But Nezu did not heed him. "I will have to discuss it with the HPSC, but I think it'll be no problem to have your sentence commuted to attend U.A. High where you will receive a top-quality education guided by our teachers, earn your hero license so you can be an asset to society, and help teach our new freshmen hero class - all under the tutelage of Eraserhead."

A visible tick had formed on said hero's brow, but he said nothing as if resigned to his fate to accept the burden that Nezu had suddenly added onto his shoulders.

My mind reeled with the offer. They wanted me to attend high school. High school meant students. Students meant teenagers - lots of teenagers. And I was expected to teach them.

"Teach them what?" I yelled in my head. And all the while I would be heavily watched by Eraserhead - that I had no doubt of.

I took another look at the person who would be my warden - there was no other word for it. Eraserhead was studying me just as carefully as I was with him. My mind flashed to the time where I had found him sleeping peacefully on that sofa - it was a sharp contrast to the person now sitting before me. Here now he was cold and intimidating with those piercing eyes that refused to look away. So I had to. I knew those hooded eyes would be watching me constantly and my anxiety flared with the thought of never having another moment in solitary peace. But there again, I wasn't exactly having solitary peace here either. Purveyor sooner or later would get wise to who was just a few doors down from his cell, and I certainly didn't want to be here when that happened.

"Well, what do you think?" Nezu asked me excitedly, clearly unaware of the battle of emotions running through my head.

I turned to the principal, my mind was already made up if it meant getting out of here - even if I had to be chained to that bastard.

"I accept."