Chapter 3: Part 16
Giving Mikan a fake key would only stall her for so long before she'd know she was tricked, especially with how Junko's room wasn't far from Sayaka's. Along with how deranged she was at the moment, Peko and Gundham needed a plan when subduing her. That plan was made with neither of them uttering a single word. Gundham glanced at Peko and nodded at her before heading in the opposite direction as her. Peko nodded back at the animal breeder before taking the shorter path. She unsheathed her sword, ready for her inevitable faceoff.
"You really make being deadly look sexy," Teruteru commented as he stepped alongside Peko.
Turns out, sneaking up on a swordfighter was a terrible idea as Peko swung her sword at Teruteru, just barely able to stop herself in time from cutting his throat open. Teruteru gulped as he tried to keep a brave face by brushing the sword away from his face.
"Nice to see you too," Teruteru said.
Peko eased herself before speaking. "What are you doing? You should stay back with the others."
"Aww, are you worrying about me? I'm touched," Teruteru winked. "But I got orders from Angie to help deal with this."
Peko sighed, understanding that arguing with him would be pointless. "You and Hiyoko are quite loyal to her, aren't you?"
In a rare change in attitude, Teruteru's smirk vanished and was replaced with irritation. "She has her moments, but…a bit too clingy if you ask me. Honestly, I'm more jealous of you working for Miss Ludenberg. What's it like serving a fair maiden like her?"
It was Peko's turn to become melancholic over her boss. "It's not as glamorous as you might think…I'm honestly starting to feel like…a tool."
"She could use me as a tool anytime," Teruteru quipped, completely missing Peko's conundrum.
Peko retreated into her thoughts, ignoring whatever simping rant Teruteru had in store. 'Celeste is clearly a cruel and selfish person, almost to a childish degree. Why did I even agree to work for her? Am I…too used to acting like a tool? Is this just my instinct?'
The sound of rattling metal and grunting broke through to Peko. She immediately knew it was Mikan, and as such she readied herself. She grabbed Teruteru by the wrist and dragged him right along the side of the wall. Peeking around the corner, Peko saw Mikan attempting to jam the key into Junko's lock while still holding Rantaro at knife point.
"Why isn't this stupid thing working?!" Mikan shrieked out as she bashed her fist against the door.
"Mikan, just calm down," Rantaro said nonchalantly as if he wasn't in danger of being cut open.
"SHUT. UP," Mikan leered at her hostage before punching the door once more.
Peko looked back at Teruteru. "Stand behind me," she whispered to the chef, which he nodded to.
Peko stepped out from behind the wall. "Tsumiki," the swordswoman called out.
The demented nurse snapped her head toward Peko, glaring at her like a rabid animal. Mikan tossed Rantaro to the side and pointed her scalpel at Peko. "I told you all to stay back!"
"You know we couldn't let you do that," Peko said as she held her sword up. "You don't have anywhere to go anyway."
Teruteru popped his head out from behind the corner to comment. "Yeah, I mean, that key won't work anyway."
Mikan glanced down at the key in her hand, flipping it over to see Sayaka's name engraved on it. Growling with rage over being fooled, she tossed the key onto the ground and reverted to her original strategy of taking Rantaro hostage and hold a scalpel up to his neck.
"You still can't take me without me cutting him," Mikan shouted.
'She's right,' Peko thought to herself. 'My weapon is too large for a strike at Mikan's wrist without potentially maiming Rantaro too.'
As Peko contemplated her next steps in subduing Mikan, she peered over Mikan's shoulder to see Gundham approaching from behind. Peko smirked slightly, decided to feign defeat and sheath her sword.
Mikan smirked. "Good to see you still understand when to stand down and do what you're told, Peko. As for you, Teruteru, be a good boy and get me that ke-"
A sudden surge of pain in Mikan's wrist caused her to let out a shriek that both interrupted her speech but also echoed throughout the halls. Her wrist was in so much pain that dropped her scalpel and released her hold on Rantaro. What caused her so much agony? Gundham's snake, Mephisto, had managed to wrap itself around the nurse's wrist and squeezed onto her tightly, nearly snapping it in half. Mikan grabbed onto Mephisto, attempting to pull him off while Peko and Gundham closed the distance.
"Foolish girl," Gundham laughed manically. "You made a mistake facing a swordfighter with greater skills than you, but your bigger mistake was thinking you could avoid the Dark Overlord, Gundham Tanaka!"
Taking that as his que to be helpful, Teruteru ran in between the trio and grabbed Rantaro's arm. "Not every day I get to be the knight in shining armor."
Rantaro was quick to go along with Teruteru, leaving Gundham and Peko to deal with Mikan. Mikan backed up against the hall's wall, still tugging on Mephisto to break free from its grip. With the snake's grip tightening by the second, Mikan became desperate. So desperate that she picked up her scalpel with her free hand, ready to saw the animal's head off. With fire in his eyes, Gundham pointed at the nurse, commanding both his birds, Phoenix and Raijin, to charge at Mikan, pecking at her body from several different angles. Dropping the knife once more, the nurse flailed her arms around to shoo the animals away from her. With Mikan far too distracted to fight back, Peko stormed towards her and bashed her with the bottom of her sword hilt.
While the group waited for the situation to die down, they moved out of Sayaka's cramped room and into their usual spot of the cafeteria. No one spoke to one another as they waited. All the suspicion towards each other combined with the uncertainty of how dangerous Mikan could be created an air of unease. No one truly felt safe anymore. Some of the students would hope Ibuki would fill the silence like she used to, but looking at her stare off into nothingness and drool only reminded them how fleeting hope and joy truly were.
This moment was thankfully brought to an end when Teruteru entered the room while dragging Rantaro along with. "Oh, there you guys are," the chef said.
"Ah, Teruteru," Angie flashed her smile and clapped her hands. "You did a wonderful job retrieving Rantaro!"
"But of course," Teruteru bowed his head with a cocky grin. "I'm always looking to satisfy."
Celeste, along with the rest of the group, had another concern. "Where are the others?" Celeste asked.
"Well, Peko told me to stay out of things, so I just grabbed handsome over here while she and Gundham went after Mikan."
"You left them behind?!" Mahiru gasped. "What if they need help?!"
"What? They were doing fine before I left," Teruteru shrugged. "Besides, it's two on one, plus some animals. I don't see the big deal."
"I could go back and offer some assistance if needed," Keebo offered.
"No," Celeste held her hand up. "I trust Teruteru's judgement. Mikan is far too crazed to deal with both Peko and Gundham."
The pervy chef blushed and slicked his hair back. "Weeell, I'm glad you agree with me, Miss Ludenberg."
"We should plan on what to do with Mikan once they bring her back," Chiaki spoke up.
"What do you mean, Nanami?" Taka asked. "We simply need to place her in a cell until we can reverse her brainwashing."
"That's not going to work," Rantaro muttered, not even bothering to face the rest of the group.
"I mean, sure Oma was able to breakout of his cell," Taka explained, "but surely Iruma could create a better-"
"That's not what I meant," Rantaro interrupted. "Mikan chose to do that to herself…Being an Ultimate Despair is what she wants…Even if you guys somehow found a way to undo her brainwashing, she'll attempt to change herself right back."
"Then what the hell are we supposed to do, man?" Leon complained. "Just put duck-tape over her mouth?"
"Of course not," Rantaro responded. "You just…you need help her."
"How we help if she don't want help?" Gonta asked before turning to Mukuro.
"I don't think helping her will do any good," Kirumi spoke up. "If she's willing becoming an Ultimate Despair, then she's willing choosing to be a threat to all of us. Which leads us with two options; we either let her rot in a cell where she could plan on killing us…or-"
The conversation was once more interrupted upon the arrival of Miu and Nagito. Nagito dragged in two new metal cells behind him while Miu swaggered into the room with a shit-eating grin while holding her security pad.
"Oh, hey," Kaede smiled. "You're done with the new cell!"
"Yep," Miu said as she confidently checked her nails.
Ryoma raised an eyebrow. "Why did you make two?"
"Oh, wow, really?" Miu did a mock gasp. "How crazy? What possible reason could have I done that for?"
Kaede immediately groaned. "OK, Miu. What do you want?"
"Whatever could you mean?" Miu asked as she leaned against the wall, just waiting for everyone to ask her question.
"You obviously know something," Kaede said. "So, stop trying the whole "get us all as curious as possible" thing and just tell us already."
Normally, Miu would've been annoyed with Kaede for ruining her fun. However, due this being a special occasion, Miu kept up her shit-eating grin and strolled over to the main table. "Well, I did a little bit of investigating while Nagicuck was prepping the cells, and I found something very interesting."
"What is it?" Shinji asked.
Miu prepared her security pad. "Well, it's a little movie I like to call "LYING BITCH!" Miu turned her security pad's screen to the rest of the group, showing footage from the girl's locker room.
While it wasn't the actual reason as to why Miu was showing them footage from the lockers, the group caught the final glimpses of the ladies changing back into their clothes. Chihiro and Taka both covered their eyes, Kaede, Tenko, and Mahiru blushed, and Leon couldn't help but peak just the slightest bit. However, Angie turned pale as sweat trailed down the side of her face.
"M-Miu!" Tenko shouted. "Don't show the guys that!"
"I-I swear I'm not looking!" Chihiro proclaimed.
"Not that, you chodes! Just wait a second!" Miu rolled her eyes as the footage continued. As the girls stepped out one by one, everyone leaned in to catch what Miu saw. Eventually, everyone saw that Angie was alone in the locker room. Both Hiyoko and Hifumi shot glances at their leader, noticing just how nervous she truly looked. Whatever was about to happen, they knew it involved her…
It was worse than they could imagine. They, along with the rest of the group, witnessed the security footage of Angie suspiciously looking around, shouting something, and Monokuma of all people appearing to speak to her. Everyone turned to face Angie while Miu kept smirking like she was engrossed in a compelling scene in a reality show.
"Angie, what is the meaning of this?" Shinji asked.
"Yeah, Angie," Miu asked sarcastically. "What's up? I mean, why'd you have to talk to that monochrome shit stain before Ibuki got brain-fucked?"
"Wow, wow, wait," Leon spoke up. "Are you saying she screwed over Ibuki?!"
"Th-that's absurd!" Taka spoke in Angie's defense. "Yonaga has done nothing but reach out to assist others and unite everyone. Why would she harm Mioda when she would do that?"
Angie was still for a moment. All eyes were on her, most of them immediately ready to turn on her and toss her in a new cell. However, Angie knew two weren't. Glancing over to her side, she saw both Hiyoko and Hifumi staring at her, not out betrayal or fear, but confusion and worry. Angie smiled at the two of them before looking at Miu.
"Oh, silly, silly, Miu," Angie wagged her finger. "You really wish to turn everyone against me with some doctored video?"
"What, are you stupid or something?" Miu snarled at the artist. "Why the Hell would I fake this? I got Nagicuck to back me up on this."
"Yes, but Nagito is quite the liar, no?" Angie retorted. "He has planned several murders before. In fact, you've even attempted to kill Kokichi? Should we all truly but our trust in someone who's willing to take the life of another?"
Hifumi's eyes immediately lit up. His trust in Angie had been restored. "Th-that's right! All of you are so desperate to make Miss Yonaga a bad guy for no reason!"
"I…I don't know," Hiyoko frowned. "Can you really fake video footage?"
"I mean, you can," Chihiro answered, "but it's very hard to do within such a short amount of time, especially since it's a video rather than a single picture. To cover up a person to make them look like someone else without noticeable outlines or jump cuts takes a lot of effort."
"And from Miu just showed us, it's live and uninterrupted," Ryoma commented.
"N-no…" Hifumi frowned as his final pieces of faith were shattered. Yet, when one is proven wrong, they still attempt to hold onto the pieces. "Th-there has to be some sort of trick…"
"Stop defending her," Mahiru snapped at the round boy. "If you had some proof that it's faked, then you should show it. But you don't have any, do you?"
Hifumi finally went silent and hung his head down.
Chiaki turned to faceoff against Angie. "Do you want to explain yourself? If you really did tell Monokuma about Ibuki, we need to know why?"
"And please don't lie," Celeste said with the biggest smile on her face. The gambler had actually been enjoying the fall of her rival's credibility. Just knowing that her authority was about to be unmatched caused her to make a mental list of plans and celebrations for herself.
Angie kept up her smile, but even those who were weak in their perceptiveness could tell that it was a façade to hide her panic. Her hand shook as she balled it up and lifted it up against her face. Eventually, Angie let out a giggle.
"Nyahahahahahahahaha!Silly, silly, silly me! I made such a silly mistake!" Angie said. "It's so silly of me to trust Monokuma with anything."
"Stop acting, Angie," Keebo finally spoke up. "You've been caught, and playing innocent isn't going to work anymore…You need to be the real Angie Yonaga now."
"The real Angie?" Angie repeated and, for the first time, her face hardened into a scowl. She shot up from her seat, her voice was low and cold. "Who do you think you are to talk down to me? You're nothing but a prop. Just a bunch screws and wires pretending to be human."
Angie's jarring change in attitude took everyone back, particularly Hifumi and Hiyoko. Angie leaned in closer to Keebo.
"You have no soul," she continued her diatribe. "You're just an experiment made by another fool trying to play God. As if he'd even have any idea what that's like."
Angie then turned her attention to her two remaining followers. Their confusion was finally replaced by fear, with Hifumi shaking in his seat and Hiyoko committing the ultimate betrayal by clinging herself onto Mahiru. Despite the pain, Angie stood tall and spread her arms out in a Christ-like manner.
"If you all truly long for redemption, you need me. I'm not just any vessel for Atua. I'm Atua's only vessel. As far as you all should be concerned, I AM ATUA! I AM YOUR SALVATION!" Angie took a deep breath. She glanced over at the braindead Ibuki. "What happened to Ibuki was tragic, I didn't know this would be the state she'd be left in…but…it needed to happen."
"How could you say something like that?!" Kaede shouted. "Ibuki was doing her best to keep us together!"
"But at what cost?" Angie asked in response. "She was encouraging you all to ignore the problems we're all facing. How many of you actually asked for forgiveness? I know Kiyo hasn't asked me at all."
Kiyo hummed slightly.
"And how many of you would be willing to forgive your killers? None of you, I imagine. You're all so selfish. You've all been given a rare miracle, a second chance to live, and none of you have made any steps to improve yourselves."
Angie glared at Leon. "You're still full of lust."
She then turned to Mondo and Mukuro. "You're still full of anger."
She turned to Kirumi. "You're still subservient."
She looked down at Ryoma. "You still don't value your lives."
Angie finally turned to Celeste. The gambler's confident smile made her blood boil. "And you," Angie pointed at her, "you value nothing but yourself. You're a danger to everyone here, but they've done nothing to punish you. It's only ever been me. I'm the only one that's been treated with suspicion and distain. And for what? For comforting those in pain? For wanting accountability? None of you were there for Hifumi when he felt betrayed. None of you were there to help Teruteru deal with his trauma. If you truly wish to lock me away, I will accept that. However, if you do nothing about her, then you'll willingly going down a path towards damnation."
"I believe we've all had enough of your excuses," Celeste responded. "You can't claim to be some precious little angel when you're willing to let someone get a lobotomy."
"But I never killed anyone, no?" Angie snapped back.
Just as the tensions in the group were reaching their zenith, Teruteru brought Rantaro back to the cafeteria. The chef had his usual grin across his face as he waved to everyone. However, it quickly disappeared as he noticed absolutely everyone in the room looked either angry or miserable.
"What's with all the long faces?" Teruteru asked.
No one answered.
"Uh, ok then," Teruteru gently pushed Rantaro over to Sayaka. "Well, I got our prisoner back, and Gundham and Peko probably dealt with Mikan by now. So, we're all good then, right?"
Teruteru was ignore and he was left to watch Mondo put Angie in handcuffs.
"Woah!" Teruteru blushed. "I wasn't expecting this to have gotten this spicy while I was gone. So, who's going to tie who up-"
"Can you just shut up, you little shit?!" Mondo growled. "We're locking this psycho chick up."
"Woah, hold on a sec," Teruteru rushed over to Angie's side. "You wanna tell me why?"
"Angie's the one who got Ibuki lobotomized," Mahiru stated.
"What?!" both Rantaro and Teruteru were stunned.
"The chick told Monokuma what happened just after everyone changed last night," Mondo explained.
"That's…are you sure?" Teruteru asked.
Miu turned her security panel over to Teruteru, immediately confirming her guilt.
"Huh…" was all Teruteru could say.
After locking the cuffs tightly onto Angie's wrists, Mondo shoved the artist into her new prison cell and shut the door behind her. "Alright, time to lock up the goth chick too."
"Oh?" Celeste placed her hand over her mouth. "Now I'm a prisoner."
"Angie was wrong for what she had done," Chiaki spoke up, "but she wasn't wrong when she said you were a threat. You want to be in charge of us, don't you?"
"Of course," Celeste smiled brightly. "But I feel like my results have spoken for themselves. Besides, don't you need that cell for Mikan?"
"Yeah, I'm not in the mood to make another fucking cell right now," Miu said. "I'm sick of making the same shit over and over again. I want to make actual cool shit again."
"Just get over it," Mukuro rolled her eyes. "We're not just going to let her walk free because you're bored of making cells."
"Oh, would you look at that, Kirumi," Celeste gestured to her maid. "The genocidal soldier is upset with me."
"It certainly is hypocritical," Kirumi commented.
"You're siding with her?!" Tenko gasped. "Kirumi, why would you do that?!"
Kirumi frowned as she faced her fellow classmates. "As a maid, I must keep my word when assisting my clients. I must serve Miss Ludenberg to the best of my abilities."
"It's not like it matters anyway," Sakura faced off against Celeste. "We outnumber you."
Mondo, Gonta, and Keebo joined Sakura's side, with Keebo turning his arms into blasters once again. Celeste remained confident.
"True, I am outnumbered," Celeste said. "However, I believe the odds are still in my favor."
Celeste raised her hand and snapped in her fingers. On cue, Peko dashed from the doorway and swung her sword right at Keebo's arms, slicing them off in the blink of an eye. Sakura took a step forward, ready to fight back, but Peko rose her katana right to the martial artist's throat.
"Stand down," Peko said with a solemn expression.
Sakura glared at Peko, unperturbed by her threat. "I beat you before."
"You didn't have a broken arm back then," Peko pointed out. "Please…don't fight this."
Gundham strolled into the room afterwards. He had placed Mikan's unconscious body over his shoulder while his four dark disciples moved in front of him, all ready to sick themselves onto the class. "And don't believe you are capable of escaping! The Overlord of Ice and his Dark Disciples were able to best the mad doctor herself and we still have a craving for the blood of our enemies!"
With everything under her control, Celeste's smile grew wickedly, almost spiraling at the edges. She rested her cheek onto her hand and crossed her legs in her seat. "Now, are you all ready to bow down to your queen?"
Jesus, this took too long. I'm so sorry how long I took. I'm not even sure I like how this chapter turned out. It took several rewrites in the beginning to make things feel more natural. I also went back and forth on how to handle Angie's reveal and breakdown. It would end up in a major change in her character and doing major character changes are a huge risk. Either it feels right or it feels unearned and too out of character. I eventually convinced myself that this would work decently since Angie's true motives and character are still up to interpretation. Still, I'm not too sure if I'm proud of how the story has gone. Things just haven't felt as strong as the first chapters to me. Then again, you are always your own worst critic. Please don't hesitate to tell me if things aren't working. As for the future, I hope to get the rest of these chapters done faster. I think I just needed a break to work on other stuff and get my life in check. At times, I felt like I should just quit this, but I can't. I have too many ideas for it and, if I can't finish this, what does that say for any future projects I try to write? Thank you all for your patience. I can at least promise things at the start of the next chapter will be cool.