Senku sat leaned against the wall across from the door in a featureless metal cube of a room. They'd taken all his things, even his clothes, and stuck him in this place without even a blanket to sit on. It wasn't cold, at least. Just uncomfortable. Incredibly uncomfortable. He was getting old—his body wasn't as forgiving about extreme situations. Like sitting buck-ass naked on a flat metal surface with a flat metal wall for a backrest.
He should've seen something like this coming. More and more people were waking up, and with more people came the higher likelihood that someone would try to steal something for themselves, imagining incredible power and wealth could be theirs with very little effort at all. More people came to the lab to see what 'Dr Stone' was doing and some decided that Senku was some kind of super-genius.
Like these idiots who'd kidnapped him. Senku obviously presented the things that worked or almost worked to the various people that came to visit the lab and his development team, hoping to convince them to donate or sponsor, but for each working project, there were at least five in various levels of development and completion. It wasn't like he had all these ideas stored in his head anymore. They were inventing, not reinventing, and that meant lots of tests and experiments to get it right, lots of collaboration. It took a massive team to get anything done.
And these 'pirates' (as they called themselves) thought he was going to invent stuff just for them, to help them get ahead and have power and money. What a bunch of losers. That wasn't exciting at all. He wasn't a cartoonish evil scientist hellbent on world domination, or some kind of bastard who didn't care if people got hurt so long as science was happening.
At least they seemed to be getting frustrated with his complete unwillingness to cooperate. He could hear them shouting at each other, though couldn't make out what they were saying.
The door to his steel room banged open again and he stared at the intruder with a level gaze, since it seemed to unnerve them to have a naked guy stare them down. They'd taken his clothes partly as psychological torture and partly because they were worried he could use any things on hand to escape. Joke's on them. He didn't care about nudity, and he wasn't the type to panic when in difficult situations.
"We can give you anything you want," the man, a guy that looked to be in his forties, cried. "Let you do whatever kinds of experiments you want, and you don't have to worry about some ethics committee holding you back."
"I commissioned the ethics committee, and they're paid fixed amounts that I have no control over. Didn't you losers do any research about me at all?" The damn trope of scientists not caring about people was infuriating. He was a scientist because of people, because people needed and wanted newer and better things. Problem solving—to help people. Wasn't that ten billion percent obvious?
"It's no use," said a woman from the connecting room. "Talking's not going to get us anywhere with him." Then the unknown woman laughed. "Bring in Crusher. Maybe breaking a few bones will have our little scientist here more willing to work with us."
That did worry Senku, although he didn't show it. He was a weakling of the highest order—if he'd been in a video game, his character would have zero natural defense. Grade A squishy nerd. But the petrification could always patch him up…assuming they didn't cut anything off. Or crush anything to a mushy pulp. Oh, he wasn't looking forward to this at all.
A door in the connecting room slammed open and the man in the room with Senku looked out the door, went pale, then shut and locked the door while still inside the steel room, leaning his weight against it and pressing his ear to the metal.
Senku grinned. It seemed like his rescue party had arrived. It wouldn't do to let them have all the fun, though. He quietly got to his feet and snuck behind the man, who was closing his eyes and focused on the sounds of fighting just outside.
The man glanced over to check on Senku, then did a double take when he realized Senku wasn't sitting in that same spot anymore. Senku used the opportunity to kick the back of the guy's knees, unlock the door and jump out of the way, and good thing he did, because the door burst open almost instantly, knocking into the stumbling 'pirate' and sending him flying.
And there was Kohaku, not even breathing hard, a smug look on her face. She looked him up and down and her grin widened. "I didn't realize it was that kind of party. I would've picked a different outfit."
Senku snorted. "Price of admission isn't worth it. Not even snacks here." He walked past her and glanced back in time to see her blatantly checking him out. "I'm not a piece of meat, lioness."
"I'm not a lioness," she said, still grinning, then came right up behind him and whispered in his ear, "And you look so tasty, how am I supposed to resist?" And pinched his butt.
He swatted her hand away—Kohaku had finally figured out how to make him blush, and it was very specifically by coming on to him quietly in public. She could be merciless with her newfound knowledge. "Save it for tonight, kitten, and help me find my clothes."
Of course, he gave back as good as he got—and Kohaku never protested his newest nickname for her, her nose and cheeks always flushing pink.
The rest of the police team locked down the site. Dressed once more, Senku finally left, walking with Kohaku to the police station to give Tsukasa the details of what had happened. As they walked, he realized something and laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"Do I count as a damsel in distress?" he asked back. "I think you meet all the qualifications for a hero saving a damsel from dastardly pirates, but that leaves me as a bit of a deadweight in this equation."
"I don't think you were nearly tied up enough for a damsel," she said with a grin. Then she added, quieter, "But we can fix that. I picked up some nice rope the other day—silk, nice and smooth."
Senku felt his ears burn. "Don't talk about that kind of thing in public, lioness." He'd blushed more in the three months he'd been dating Kohaku than the entire rest of his life combined.
"Hm, if it didn't excite you when I do, I wouldn't. But it does, so I will."
Damn it. She knew too much about him now. Any illusion of dignity was long gone. Ah, but she'd rescued him from pirates today, after he'd been dumb enough to get captured by them, so he'd let her tease him.
And maybe they could roleplay a more exciting version of his rescue once they got home.
