Chapter 1: Season 1 - Episode 1: Luz Noceda, Origin.
Chapter Text
[Opening Song: Kyouran Hey Kids!! – By: The Oral Cigarettes]
Two silhouettes stared one another down, one with blood covering their face, or at least, what remained of it, laying back first on the destroyed pavement of a city street, and the other, heavily wounded with a spear-like appendage going through their stomach and out of its back. The one with half of its face, specifically the right half missing, had a large, near-demonic smile taking up its visage with blood trailing down the sides of its mouth. The other standing silhouette, meanwhile, had nothing but fury, pain, and agony taking up its visage.
Blue eyes stared into the sole remaining crimson-red eye of its opponent. Decades and decades of history lurked behind that one eye. Knowledge unseen and unknown. Like a scholar staring at a fledgling. A part of the standing silhouette felt as if it was felling an immortal being. One that had illuded it for far too long, and needed to be killed.
For all the evil it had committed. For all the deaths that it caused. For all the pain and suffering that it had spread throughout the standing silhouette’s home. It needed to be done. For the good of the public and those in charge
So why… oh why… did it feel as if it had been played? Why did that sole, crimson-red eye shine with what looked to be both acceptance and joy rather than anger and grief that its plan had been stopped? Why did that sole, crimson-red eye stare back up at him as if it had known that this was going to happen? As if it had planned this whole thing?
Why?
Why?!
To the outside world, a battle unlike any other had just occurred. It would rock the world for generations to come, and the repairs it would take to fix the city where the battle had taken place would take well over hundreds of billions of dollars, and decades of time. A battle so devastating, a battle so soul-crushing, a battle that killed so many that it rivalled the events of the Nagasaki Bombing in terms of destruction.
Fires raised over the horizon, as rubble filled the streets. Dead civilians who unfortunately got caught in the crossfire littered the place. Families would have no choice but to bury their wives, husbands, and children, and it was all thanks to the two combatants. To make matters worse, helicopters belonging to the public news channels hung overhead, recording every detail, all the while the government worked as hard as it could to try and get the broadcasts shut down.
No one was allowed to know this battle took place. No one was to know the damage that it caused. Certainly not the public. Government officials? Maybe, but only those that needed to know. This needed to be put under wraps, for the safety of the world at large, and anyone who spoke out… well, they wouldn’t remain alive long enough to speak for too long.
All for the safety of the people of their honoured country.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, the standing silhouette spoke.
“It’s over… You’ve lost….” The standing silhouette said with pain in its voice as the one on the ground coughed, blood staining its chest as it laughed. Not a cheery kind of laugh, either. One that was deep, and filled with just as much malice as there was merriment. The kind of laugh only a demon could muster.
And then, its voice. Deep and baritone. Haunting yet elegant. Spoken like a true demon. A monster all of its own, however yet distorted due to the blood feeling its lungs and choking it out.
“Did… I… really? Ehehe… no…. I did not lose…. I will live on…. In a different place…. In a different time…. I have supporters in places you could never reach….” The silhouette paused, coughing up more blood as the other, standing silhouette scowled. “You… have not won this day…. You will never win…. Not when I am two steps ahead of you….”
“What do you mean…” the standing silhouette growled, narrowing its eyes as the laying one spoke. But this time, there was no merriment. There was no joy. There was nothing but pure hatred and malice and had anyone been around them to hear it, they would have recoiled in fear.
“Oh… you’ll see soon enough…. I will return. And when I do… it will not be in a form you recognize. And when I find you…. I will kill everyone you ever loved. I will paint this world red with your and yours blood! I will make sure that everything you ever cared about will be destroyed. I. WILL. COME. BAC—”
The standing silhouette raised its fist and slammed it into the remaining portion of the others face, causing it to go stiff like a board, before it fell flat against the ground, blood covering the standing silhouette’s fist and decorating what remained of the other's head. Rage coloured its blue eyes as its teeth gnashed together.
It was over.
He was dead.
He would never hurt anyone ever again.
The self-titled Demon Lord will never hurt anyone ever again.
Right?
[XXXX]
The sound of birds chirping could be heard throughout a small, quaint little neighbourhood located in the town of Gravesfield, Connecticut. It was bright and early in the morning, the sun just starting to peek out from the treeline, its rays of honeyed gold hitting the streets and sidewalks, unleashing a cascade of warmth typical of a summer day in the southern United States Of America.
As the birds chirped, doing their regular morning greetings to one another, signs of people waking up became prevalent as lights turned on in various houses, front doors opened as men and women alike began their commute to work, and in some instances, dogs barked and cats meowed, telling their owners that it was time to greet the day.
In the distance, the sound of the local church bell began to ring, the bell belonging to St. Peters Liturgical Church. Of course, it was only one of the many churches in Gravesfield, but it was the second most prevalent, aside from The Wittebane Megachurch located further up in the town.
Within the neighbourhood, filled with similar houses all akin to one another, there was one house tucked away a little further than the rest, as it wasn’t built by the construction company who had built the other houses, rather, it was built by a personal construction company well over 80 years ago.
The house sat near the woods surrounding the small town, as the family who had it commissed wished to be by their lonesome. And while that family no longer owned the house, it was still being used and currently owned by a family of two. As for the house itself, compared to all the other houses, it wasn’t all that big. As a matter of fact, it was no bigger than what one would expect a slightly below-middle-class home to be, and the same could be said for its appearance.
It was a small, two-storey home with a blue convex roof with blue tiles and a brick chimney. The base of the house was constructed out of wood, whereas the walls were made of off-white concrete. Bushes surrounded the wooden base of the house, some with flowers and others without. Peeking out of the roof was a wooden framed window, with another smaller convex roof atop it.
The front of the house had several windows, with two windows flanking the screen door, one on the left and one on the right. Further off to the right, four more windows sat with a gutter pipe dividing them that led into the ground and connected to the sewer system underneath the house.
A set of stairs that thinned out at the entrance of the house was connected to a small stone pathway that met up with a sidewalk. Surrounding the house, aside from the front, was a white fence that divided the properties surrounding it. A garbage can sat next to the path, filled to the brim with trash, set out from last night and ready to collect.
The lawn had seen better days, what with it not being maintained in a little over a few weeks. Not that it was the fault of the homeowners. The lawnmower had broken down and was still needing repairs. But, due to budgetary restrictions, they couldn’t get it fixed. And so, the messy lawn would have to do. Even if it greatly upsetted the neighbours.
It was a Saturday, and the beginning of summer vacation, meaning school was out for the rest of the year. However, while that normally meant it was time to sleep in and catch some extra Z’s, for one Luz Noceda, that was not the case. She had to be up bright and early to catch a special bus that would take her to a not-so-special summer camp.
The sound of an electric alarm rang into her ears, a buzzing, irritating sound the likes of which she did not enjoy. Luz groaned as she sat up in her bed, throwing the covers off of her body as they hit the floor with a soft thud. She was wearing a set of light blue pyjamas with stars littering across the outfit, and white buttons keeping the top together.
Her hair was an absolute mess—the worst case of bedhead ever imaginable. Her eyes were droopy and tired as if weighed down by bags of cement. A yawn escaped her mouth as she stretched out her arms from behind her head, after which she slumped forward. Had this been any other day, she would have been excited for the morning. After all, it was the best time of day.
But today? Not even remotely. She was actually hoping that she hadn’t woken up at all. Not because she was depressed, mind you. Far from it! Her reason for not wanting to get up had to do with the aforementioned “not-so-special summer camp”.
Reality Check Summer Camp. Their slogan? Think Inside the Box. Her mother had signed her up for it in a misguided attempt to help her get her, and she was quoting directly from her mother “Her creativity in check”.
Bless her mom to the heavens and back, but there were some days that she wished that her mama would just listen to her. Luz even knew that her mother knew that it wasn’t even a good idea, as she had been really touchy about talking about it. As if she knew that Luz would have gotten extremely upset at the mention of it—which she was! She didn’t even get to a say word about it!
So, yeah! Not exactly something that she would be all too fond of going to. Luz was the type of person who loved to think outside of the box. Her mother even said that her creativity knew no bounds! However, it was because of that creativity that she was in the situation she was in. Because of her rampant creativity, she had a hard time, well, not being overtly creative. It often made it so she overdid things, to the point where it got out of hand.
For example, her final project for her English 9 class that year was a book report. That was the metaphorical straw that broke the camel’s back, seeing as it involved live snakes that she may or may not have stolen from the local park. Don’t ask her why she chose to involve live snakes, it just seemed like a really good idea at the time!
And so, because of that blunder, which her mama was now calling the “Creative Incident of 2018” in a joking manner, she was going to have to attend that rubbish, no-good, no-fun, uncreative summer camp.
It wasn’t because of that one incident, either. There were plenty of other incidents just like it. Like the time she tried out for the cheerleading committee and had gone entirely off script. Or the time she was in a play that she may or may not have overacted in. The less she talked about the accidental home-economics kitchen fire, the better, too. She didn’t know you could burn water! Honestly!
All of that, combined with the live snakes, had caused the principal to put his foot down, and had it not been for her mama swooping in and promising that she would get Luz “under control” over the summer, she would have been expelled from the school and would have had to find another school to go to.
Hence her going to Reality Check Summer Camp.
Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Luz crawled out of bed with an unenthusiastic groan, meandering over to her dresser to get a fresh set of clothes to put on. From drawer number one she pulled out a short-sleeved half-lavender-blue and half-white hooded shirt that had cat ears attached to the hood. In drawer number two high-waisted pair of jean shorts along with a pair of dark navy-gray capri leggings. In drawer number three, and the final drawer, she grabbed a pair of black socks, along with assorted undergarments.
After a few minutes of getting dressed and brushing her hair to make sure it didn’t look as if she had woken up in a tornado, Luz sat down on the edge of her bed and looked at her alarm clock, which read the time. Her alarm was scheduled to go off at 7:30 am, and the clock displayed that it was 8:00 am. Her mama had specifically told her to get up at 7:30, hence the alarm.
Usually, Luz never got up this early, which was weird because she was often known for her energy. But, all of that energy had to come from somewhere. So, she often found herself oversleeping on the weekends. But, due to her having to go to the bus stop at 9:30, her mama wanted her to be up so that she had an hour to become a person.
Contrary to popular belief, Luz was not a morning person. And while her mother forbade her from having coffee due to what it did to her, she had other ways of waking up. Such as drinking sugary drinks to give her a boost in the morning—mostly Decafe G-Fuel, specifically their Lord Frieza Flavour. She might not have liked Dragon Ball the show, but the memorabilia surrounding it was always fun to look at.
“Mija! Get ready! You need to start walking to the bus station! You don’t want to be late!” The voice of her mother, Camila Noceda, rang throughout the house as Luz sighed.
“Coming, Mama!” As Luz said that, she balled her hands into fists, trying to get herself out of the little funk she had been in. “Come on, it won’t be that bad, right?” Luz muttered to herself, bringing her arms and balled-up hands from either side of herself, resting her fists on her bed as she tried to think happy thoughts.
“It’s just the whole summer at a boring, dull, number-crunching camp. This might be a chance to make friends!” As Luz said that, she slumped, uncurling her fists as she rested her hands against her chin, resting her elbows on her knees. “Yeah, right… like that’ll ever happen…”
A sad fact about Luz’s life was that she had, quite literally, zero friends. No one wanted to hang out with her. Not because of anything about her, but because of all the rumours at school. There were times when Luz would find herself just… staring out at the world, thinking about what she wanted to do after school or daydreaming about The Good Witch Azura.
That’s not where the rumours stemmed from. They stemmed from her hyperactivity. How she was constantly bouncing all over the place. When she was little, it was seen as cute. Now that she was on the precipice of becoming a full-blown high school student, and considering her ethnicity… well, teenagers were always cruel.
The term “co*ked-up Mexican” came up a lot in the rumour mill. Which was weird, because Luz wasn’t Mexican. She was Dominican. But, then again, she didn’t exactly expect much from a bunch of low-life racists, now did she?
There was also a rumour going around that because she got good grades and got along with one of the teachers at the school, Mr. Jones, who had been her science teacher…. Again, you can imagine where that went. And while that part mostly circled the girl's friend groups, it was still a rumour and people heard it.
Neither of those rumours she had told her mother about. She refused to tell her mother about it because she would worry too much. She also didn’t need to hear about the bullying either. She would deal with it herself by ignoring it.
Yes, it made her angry at times. But she would never allow it to boil over. She would plunge herself into her shows and AMVs and ignore them. Ignore their toxic words and their disgusting rumours. She didn’t need friends, and she certainly didn’t need her mother freaking out about what was going on at school. She had been able to bury it for this long, a little longer wouldn’t hurt at all.
That’s why Luz had been so looking forward to summer. Where she could relax inside and edit AMVs, read fanfiction and watch movies with her mother all summer long! At least, until this whole summer camp thing jumped her out of nowhere. Now she had a summer full of number-crunching and other related subjects ahead of her.
When Luz first found out, she begged her mama to reconsider. But, she wasn’t having any of it. Her mother had been extremely angry at her for the snake incident, which had only made her decision easier. It was funny and slightly annoying at first. But what she did could have caused actual, real harm. Snakes were no laughing matter. They were dangerous, sometimes venomous creatures that were liable to bite when threatened.
No matter how many times she apologized, and no matter how many times she promised her that she would never do that again, her mama refused to budge. She had made her choice and had already paid for the camp. If there was one thing that Luz didn’t like about her mother, it was her stubbornness.
In Luz’s mind, her mother either couldn’t or wouldn’t understand her. Considering recent events, she opted for the latter explanation. She loved her mama from the bottom of her heart. But when she was angry, she refused to listen to anyone. It was her way or the highway and that was final.
It was what annoyed her the most about this. Her mama wouldn’t listen, and it was actively driving them apart. Some days, Luz wished that her mama would just sit down and talk things out. And while that did happen from time to time, stress mixed with wine and an overactive daughter didn’t mix well. Outbursts would happen, and they’ve only gotten worse as time’s gone on.
She knew her mom was doing this out of the goodness of her heart. She knew her mama wasn’t doing this to spite her. But it just felt like she was up against a brick wall. “I know the difference between reality and fantasy. Why won’t Mama see that?” Luz thought as she wiped at her eyes, preventing any tears from falling before they had the chance to leave her eyes.
She promised herself she wouldn’t cry over something so small. But after everything that her mama had said to her yesterday, it was too much. That was the angriest she had ever seen her. And the loudest. The drive home was even worse.
Collecting herself before she could start full-blown crying, Luz took a few deep breaths, before pulling her hands away from her face to look down at them, her expression going from one of sadness to one of confusion in a matter of mere moments.
Why? Well, it was because that was when she noticed something off about her hands. Specifically, the palms of her hands.
Typically, when someone assumed that there was something off about their hands, it was usually a cut or a scrape. That was what people usually saw on the palms of their hands when they were referring to something off or weird. But in this instance? Luz saw neither of those things. What Luz saw was, potentially, worse than that.
In the palms of her hands were tiny, dime-sized holes. Luz blinked, as initially, she thought that her eyes were playing tricks on her. She blinked once, and then twice, but each time she blinked, those holes remained there. In a bid to make sure she wasn’t dreaming, Luz pinched herself on the cheek. When she felt the slight jolting pain that came with being pinched, it dawned on her that she was, in fact, awake.
Alarm bells went off in Luz’s head as she jolted up from her bed. Unfortunately, at the same time that she had jumped up from her bed, she had accidentally slipped on a piece of stray paper on the floor, causing her to slam up against her mattress as she groaned, a loud thud echoing throughout her bedroom.
“Ow…” Luz groaned as she looked back at her hands again. It was… weird to say the very least. And, also a little bit distracting. She couldn’t stop staring at the little holes in the palms of her hands. So many questions blurred about in her head as she tried to figure out when she had gotten them.
“When did I get these?! I didn’t have holes in my hands yesterday, so why do I have them now?!” Luz thought, panicked as she tried to rationalize the reason she had holes in her hands.
“Come to think of it, there was that strange dream I had…” Luz thought, frowning. She had “woken up” in a dark, black void of a room. It was barren and empty with nothing in sight except for two, empty chairs, a concrete platform, and a large red carpet. It was devoid of life, with nothing but darkness surrounding her.
She had remembered calling out to someone in the dream, asking if anyone was there, but to no avail. There was nothing and no one. At least, not until she felt someone clasp her right shoulder. But, before she could say or do anything, she had woken up. By then, it was midnight, and rather than bugging her mother about it, she had promptly gone back to bed.
Strangely, that dream never returned. It was probably the first lucid dream she had ever experienced, and it just had to be a creepy one. But, that begged the question…. “Did that dream have anything to do with these holes in my hands?” Luz thought, frowning.
“Mija?! ¿Va todo bien ahí arriba? I heard a loud noise up there!” Her mother called up, breaking her out of her thoughts as Luz instinctively slid her hands into her shorts pockets, just in case her mama ran up the stairs.
“I’m alright, Mama! Just slipped on a stray… piece of paper!” Luz called down, earning no response. She sighed out of relief, taking her hands out of her pockets as she helped herself off the ground. Looking back at her palms, Luz bit the inside of her lip. Deciding to test something, she took her left pointer finger and went to stick it inside of her right hand’s palm hole.
In the best-case scenario, they were just random doodles she did on her hands yesterday.
In the worst-case scenario, the holes were real, and if the holes were real, that meant something must’ve happened to cause them.
The more realistic side of Luz rationalized that it was nothing more than a drawing she had done on herself out of boredom. Besides, it would’ve been fantastical to believe that the holes were real. And Luz was able to separate fantasy from reality, so obviously what was going on had to be the former. There was just no possible way for it to be the latter.
So, when the tip of her finger actually went into the hole, and immediately came out, to say that Luz was beyond confused, concerned, and also a tad bit excited, would be an understatement. Without thinking twice, Luz immediately ran and opened the door to her bedroom and ran down the stairs, her expression riddled with confusion, slight excitement, as well as enthusiasm.
She had to tell her mom! Especially because if her mom didn’t find out sooner rather than later. If she had waited, then the freak-out would probably be worse. That, and perhaps there was a chance that she could avoid going to that summer camp. Especially because of this! She could pass it off as a medical emergency and ditch the camp entirely!
When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she sharply turned into the kitchen, which was where her mother was. “Mamá! Mamá! Look! C’mere! Mamá!” Luz practically shouted, trying to get her attention. Unfortunately, her mother was on the phone, and more focused on the call than her pleas for attention.
Strangely, Her expression was confused, too. Luz didn’t know why, but she seemed confused as well. A part of Luz suddenly became worried, especially considering the recent happenings. For some context, Camila was an immigrant from The Dominican Republic of Spain. As such, much like Luz, she had caramel tan skin. Unlike Luz, medium-length brown hair with some grey hairs mixed in, and dark brown eyes, whereas Luz had short brown hair and golden-brown eyes.
Right now, Camila was wearing a set of cyan scrubs with darker blue-rimmed sleeves, along with a pair of white shoes. She wore a pair of glasses with white and black frames, along with a pair of blue earrings. It was what she usually wore in the mornings, except for on weekends when she didn’t have work.
As for why she was wearing that, her mother was a vet, and she worked at the local vet clinic in town. She had recently taken up a job to look after an elderly lady's sick cat that needed to be monitored. Luz had met Mister the Cat and had grown quite attached to the old flee bag. She hoped it wasn’t any bad.
“I don’t understand. What do you mean your son started to breathe fire? Rachael, please calm down. I’m sure he’s just being hysterical. Look, I have to go, my daughter is bugging me. I’m just a vet, so I can’t help you with what your problem is, go to the doctors and have them check it out there,” Camila said, hanging up the phone before looking over at Luz. “Hello, Mija, how’re you doin—”
“Mamá! Look! I’ve got holes in my hands!” Luz exclaimed as Camila recoiled, her eyes adjusting to having hands shoved into her face. When she saw the small holes in the palms of her daughter’s hands, she pushed down the urge to frown, sighing.
“Mija, come now, this is ridiculous. Come here, I’m going to clean your hands, then you gotta get going,” Camila said, not too impressed with what was going on if her annoyed expression was something to go off of.
“No, Mamá! I’m serious! I’m not—”
“Luz, not right now!” Camila snapped, causing Luz to wince as they walked over to the sink. Camila grabbed the cloth that was draped over the sink tap, before rinsing the cloth under warm water, and immediately afterward she put a drop of soap in the center of the cloth, scrubbing it together to create suds. Once she was done, Camila walked over to Luz, grabbed her wrist held her hand steady, and then began to scrub over the hole. “You need to stop drawing on yourself. That’s something a little girl does. Ahora tienes catorce años, Luz. Empieza a actuar según tu edad!”
Luz frowned. “Mamá! Por favor, just listen to me, I’m not—”
As she scrubbed the “doodle” one of Camila’s fingers brushed over it. As she put more pressure on it, her finger, along with the part of the cloth that her finger had pressed down on, entered the hole, making Camila’s eyes widen.
Camila backed away, taking the cloth away from the hand and letting go of Luz’s wrist. Luz shook her hand, an uncomfortable expression on her face. The two stared at one another, Camila flabbergasted and Luz a little nervous.
“See, I told you Mamá, I’m not lying. I really do have holes in my hands!” Luz said, her voice meek as Camila looked over to her phone, then back to Luz, then back to her phone, then finally back to Luz. It was then that her motherly panic took over, which caused Camila to once again grab Luz by the wrist and take toward the front door.
“¡Oh Dios mío! Luz! We’re going to the doctor, right now!”
“¡Espera, mamá!”
“No discussion, we’re getting this checked out, now!”
And that was exactly what happened. There was no argument, and there was no fighting about it. Luz was going to the doctor for an impromptu appointment. When they got to the bus station, instead of boarding the bus heading toward the Summer Camp, which funnily enough was not there. Luz, now with Camila, boarded the bus toward the city to take her to the doctor, the entire way Camila was nervously muttering to herself in Spanish, making Luz feel a tad bit uncomfortable.
If what Luz had overhead on the phone conversation was true, perhaps the summer camp was being delayed due to what was going on. If other people were waking up with strange anomalies like the holes in her hands, then maybe the camp was cancelled.
If that were the case, then Luz would be pretty happy with that idea. Not going to that lame summer camp would have been the best blessing in the whole wide world! Then she could actually do what she wanted over the summer and not bore herself to tears.
When they got to the doctor's office after getting off the bus, the pair were greeted by several children Luz’s age in a very similar situation. Some kids were floating things with their minds with excitement on their faces, and worry and trepidation from their parents. A few had ice forming on their hands, and a few even had gills on their necks.
If Luz had to describe it, she would probably have to describe it as something ripped out of a fantasy novel. However, if that wasn’t confusing when she walked into the room, there were thin, barely visible strings attached to those with powers. Out of the 50 people in the room, 35 of them had some kind of power, visible or otherwise.
None of the other kids knew about the strings, or if they did they didn’t pay attention to them. Luz blinked in a bout of confusion, and just like that, the strings were gone, which only served to confuse Luz even more.
Why were there strings around those people? Better yet, why didn’t they notice them? “What was that?” Luz thought as she observed the atmosphere of the waiting room. The staff were just as confused as everyone else, trying to organize something to make the area less chaotic. TVs were playing as they usually did. News stories of children 12 to 15 waking up with superpowers across the globe.
It was like a national disaster was being reported on. Some of the news anchors were freaking out, saying it was some sort of secret conspiracy. Of course, it was Fox News who was on, specifically Tucker Carlson, because of course it was.
“Let me guess, your kid got one of those freaky superpowers, too?” The secretary lady asked, catching both Camila’s and Luz’s attention. The pair walked up to the desk as the lady sighed. She looked tired with bags under her eyes. She was wearing a white shirt, and that was all that Luz could see seeing as the counter blocked the rest of her view. “So, does she? If it’s nothing too troublesome we can let you see a doctor right away.”
“I don’t know if it’s troublesome or not, but…. She’s got holes in her hands. I don’t know when they showed up, but—”
“It was probably late last night, that’s what everyone else is saying. So that probably extends to your kid, too,” the secretary interrupted, reclining in her chair, giving Luz a glimpse of the lady’s black yoga pants. “Seeing as your kid’s power doesn’t cause any kind of property damage, we’ll let you sneak into one of the doctor’s offices. Quickly, get. The furthest down on the right. Go.”
With that, Camila and Luz went down the hallway. Luz looked back at everyone else in the waiting room, all of them trying to figure out whatever superpower they had gotten. To Luz, it all made no sense. Just yesterday, everything seemed normal. Now all of a sudden everything was warping into some strange amalgamation between fantasy and reality.
In a way, she found it funny. Everyone had been telling her to separate fantasy from reality, and now it was blending together. The irony was palpable. “Suck it, crappy teachers! 1 point for Luz, 0 points for restrictive school!”
When they entered the doctor’s office, they were greeted by a young white-skinned black-haired man, wearing a white doctor's coat. Underneath the coat was a pair of light blue scrubs, not too dissimilar to what Camilia was wearing, and a pair of black lace-up shoes.
“Good morning. I take it you’re in a similar situation as everyone else right now?” The doctor asked as Luz took a seat in front of him, shuffling around anxiously while Camila sat on the sidelines before speaking up.
“Yes. My daughter woke up this morning and found holes in her hands. At first, I thought she drew on herself again, but this was different. Please, doctor, can you tell me what’s wrong with my baby girl?” Camila asked, her voice almost desperate sounding as Luz recoiled. There was nothing wrong with her. Why had she assumed the holes in her hands were bad? It wasn’t like they hurt or anything.
The doctor motioned if he could see her hands, to which Luz reluctantly accepted, opening her hands up to reveal the small dime-sized hole. The doctor scratched the side of his head in confusion, shrugging his shoulders as he looked over to Camila.
“There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong. But… just in case….” And thus, the doctor began a rather standard check-up procedure. When nothing was found wrong with Luz, the doctor scratched the side of his head again, just as puzzled as everyone else. “I can honestly say your daughter is in good health, Mrs…?”
“It’s Ms. And, my name is Camila Noceda. This is my daughter, Luz Noceda. I’m sorry, I should’ve introduced ourselves before this. I was just so caught up in what was going on that I—”
“No, no, it’s quite understandable, Ms. Noceda. However, your daughter is fine. The only thing I could recommend right now is for her to be careful and to wash her hands extra thoroughly. Although, I’d like to ask you, Luz. What’s your perspective on this?” The doctor asked as Luz rubbed the back of her neck, a tinge of anxiety building up in her chest.
“Uh… well, when I woke up, I didn’t even notice them at first. It was only after I… wiped the sleep out of my eyes that I saw them. I told my mom, then we came here,” Luz began, before glancing to the side of the room, making her nervousness evident with how she raised her shoulders. She never liked talking to doctors. There was just something about her that gave her the heebie-jeebies. “But when I came into the waiting room and looked at the others… I saw strings. I counted the strings, and all those who had a string had superpowers because others didn’t have strings… the older people, I mean. When I blinked, the strings were gone.”
As Luz finished her explanation, the doctor quirked an eyebrow. “Strings? Did anyone else see them?” The doctor asked as Luz shrugged.
“If they did, they paid no attention to them,” Luz replied as the doctor sighed.
“Alright. Well, my recommendation is the same as before. And if you see those strings again, maybe try seeing what they do. I suspect the government is going to want to know what these powers are about at some point. Try and stay safe. You’re free to leave.”
When the doctor finished, he gestured for the pair to leave his office. The two did as they were silently asked as another older person walked past her and entered the office. As Luz re-entered the waiting room, she saw the strings again.
So, she did as the doctor suggested. She reached out toward the string, her palm connecting to the string. When it did, small crimson-red sparks started dancing around on her fingers and all over her hand, before she swiftly put her hand away in her shorts pocket, as a few people looked in her direction. She casually waved at them, chuckling nervously before turning away from the crowd.
“Weird….” Luz thought as Camila glanced over at her, then away. Luz felt weird when her mother looked over at her like that. There was a hint of concern in her eyes, yet also… fear? No, that made no sense. Maybe it was because of what she described to the doctor that she was slightly scared of her. But why? Luz had no idea why that was, but she wasn’t going to press it.
When they got home, her mother immediately asked her to sit down. When she did, her mother sat across from her at the table and placed her phone down on the table. There was a picture of Reality Check Summer Camp with big red words saying “Closed till tomorrow”.
A part of Luz got excited. Maybe because it was closed, her mother would—
“You’re still going there, Luz. I already paid $250 for your admission. I know you don’t like it, but I promise you will come out of it a better person. You’ll meet friends! Bond over classical radio and crunch numbers! Besides, it’s a learning experience, too. What’s so bad about that?”
Luz was taken aback by that, before frowning. “But, mama! I don’t want to go! I’ll die there of boredom! That’s like, torture!” Luz said as Camila crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at Luz. That was the “you're on thin ice” stare.
“We are not getting into this again, Luz. You are going, whether you like it or not. I am not going to budge on this. I know you don’t want to, but I don’t want you expelled from school. So, for your own good, you’re going there,” as Camila said that, she stood up and put her phone away back into her purse, before circling the table, and smiling. “Te quiero, Luz. I’ll see you after work.”
With that, Camila kissed her forehead, then left the house with the sound of the door closing echoing throughout the now-empty house. Luz sat at the table, slumping forward, her hands on her cheeks as she looked absently at the time on the stove.
It seemed like that she was going to Reality Check Summer Camp after all. “1 point for dull and crappy camp. 0 points to Luz Noceda…..”
[XXXX]
“Are you sure about this, sir?” A man pale-skinned man with brown hair, black eyes, and thin-blue framed glasses dressed in a black suit and red tie asked a man obscured in shadow. He sat at his desk, clear of all things as he tapped its surface in a steady rhythm. It was a slapped-together, half-baked plan. Realistically, it wouldn’t, nor should it work.
But… The Federal Government had their hands tied behind their back. This sort of thing had been happening for well over a week now. Kids were waking up all across the world with superpowers of some kind, and it was causing mass panic and far too much trouble.
The man in the shadows frowned. He was not about to have this state fall into utter pandemonium. Not because of those freaks. Besides, he wasn’t doing anything illegal. It was a matter of national security. If he didn’t stop this outbreak of misfits from spreading, then what would happen when the world was ruled by those mongrels?
“Our benefactor has already paid us to get it done. We are not going to waste his time. I already spoke to the counsellor of that camp yesterday. A deal has already been reached. I’m too far in now. Besides, we have a part of the military in on it. We’ll be fine. Just in case any of those little demon spawns try to escape, they’ll be gunned down on sight."
The man in the suit swallowed back his nervousness, silently nodding before leaving the small office. It was empty, save for his aforementioned desk file cabinets and a calendar. By God as his witness, those heathens would not hurt the god-fearing citizens of his state. They elected him to do as such and come hell or high water, nothing, and he meant nothing, would get in his way.
-To Be Continued in – The “Not-so-Dull” Summer Camp Pt 1-
[-Ending Song: Life – By Rude-a]
Chapter 2: Season 1 - Episode 2: Not So Dull Summer Camp - Part 1
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
[Opening Song: Kyouran Hey Kids!! – By: The Oral Cigarettes]
[The “Not-So-Dull” Summer Camp – Part 1]
Last night sucked. Plain and simple. There was nothing else to it. Maybe it was because Luz simply didn’t want to go to Reality Check Summer Camp. Maybe it was because Camila was too stubborn and refused to back down from her decision. But whatever the case was, another argument broke out between mother and daughter, and it was bad. Very bad.
It didn’t help that Camila had already had a glass or two of wine, and being the lightweight that she was, wound up being a tad bit on the drunken side. If it were up to Luz, she would’ve destroyed the bottle of wine before her mom even noticed she had bought it. But, then again, that probably would have gotten her in more trouble than she had already been.
The words that were exchanged between one another were far from pleasant. If it wasn’t for the fact that her mama had been drunk, then she would’ve assumed the worst. Luz didn’t want to remember what her mother had said under the influence. She never usually did. But those last words. That final thing she ended the night with….
The argument had been entirely in their native tongue. Luz had made an effort to stick to that so that the neighbours didn’t call the police or anything like that. The last part of that argument… that part had been ingrained in her mind for the rest of her life.
And it went something to the effect of this:
[9:30 pm, last night]
“Eres un fracaso. Un niña que nunca escucha una palabra de lo que digo. No importa lo que te diga, me ignoras y te sientas en tu cuarto a soñar despierta mientras yo me rompo el culo para mantenerte,” Camila shouted, glaring at Luz with a gleam of annoyance in her eyes, who in turn stared at her mother with nothing but bewilderment and shock. Something Camila was too drunk to notice, or simply didn’t care.
It was always like this. Whenever her mother got drunk off of wine, all reason would fly out the window. It started when Papa died, and it never got any better. Her aunt on her Papa’s side wanted nothing to do with their side of the family, and it had been years since cousin Riley came over. This was partly to blame for it.
Luz remembered how sloshed her mother had gotten on that Thanksgiving. It was a month after Papa had died, and her Mama wasn’t taking it well at all. Luz was too young to remember the full event that had taken place, but she did know that her Mama had hit her Aunt’s husband for something that he said. What that was, she couldn’t remember.
Whatever it was, knowing her Aunt’s husband for the jerk that he had been, it was probably nothing good. He had always hated Papa, so when he died, he probably saw it as something worth celebrating. Regardless, it caused a divide in the family. So much so that she had never seen Riley again after that.
She missed the days when Papa was around. When things were more peaceful….
Now, Luz had to deal with this. Every night, for the last few nights in a row, Camila would sit at the dining room table and drink away the stress of both constantly being at work and being a single mom. Now add onto the fact that Luz had suddenly gained some sort of superpower, and that made the stress even worse.
“¿Qué? No lo dices en serio, ¿verdad?” Luz asked, staring incredulously at her mother, a hint of hostility in her voice as Camila glared at her.
“Cuida tu tono,” Camila said, as Luz, for one of the first times in a long time—since last year—returned the glare her mother sent her way. This whole thing shouldn’t have happened. Her mother had sworn off wine last year and here she was, drinking away. Luz let it slide for a while because, as her mother had said “one glass couldn’t hurt” but now, here she was, drunk and slurring her words.
“¡No! ¡Sabes qué, no vigilaré mi tono, porque prometiste que dejarías de beber!”
“Luz—”
“¡Qué pensaría papá viéndote así! ¿Lo has pensado alguna vez? ¡Papá odiaba que te emborracharas y ahora estás aquí, sentada a la mesa, bebiendo alcohol...!”
The two stared at one another for a moment. Shock dressed Camila’s drunken expression as Luz stared at her, on the verge of tears. It was true. Papa loathed it when Mama got drunk. Apparently, it was a huge point of contention before they got married and had her. Mama was a party girl at heart, self-admitted as it was, which at a party was where she had met Papa. When she was younger, she had a higher tolerance. But, as she got older… not so much.
Maybe what Luz had said was unfair. Maybe she shouldn’t have brought Papa into it. But it got Mama to at least stop what she was doing and think. That was all Luz wanted her to do. Getting Mama to think when drunk was a difficult thing to do. So if she had to go for low blows, then so be it.
“Por favor, mamá, baja el vaso. Deja de beber. ¿Por favor? Te lo ruego. Odio esto. Papá odiaba esto. Prometiste—”
Luz barely had the chance to move out of the way before the glass filled with Camila’s wine flung past her, and broke against the wall closest to the rear window. Luz crouched at the last second as she sucked in a breath, shock filling her system as she slowly stood up. Camila had stood up as well, but there was nothing but sheer indignation on her face.
“¡Vete a tu habitación!”
Finally, it clicked. What had just happened, happened. Her Mama just threw a glass of wine at her… her mom tried to hurt her…. That wasn’t like her at all. Never once had she done that. Not even drunk. This was a first…. And it set Luz off.
“¿¡Qué demonios ha sido eso!?” Luz exclaimed as Camila glowered.
“¡Cállate y vete a tu habitación! ¡No bajes en lo que queda de noche! ¡No quiero verte la cara hasta mañana!” Camila spat as Luz looked back to the now bright red stain on the wall and the shattered glass on the floor. She looked back to Camila, who stared at her. There was nothing but anger behind those eyes.
“¡Eso podría haberme hecho daño! ¡¿Qué demonios, mamá?!”
“¡No me importa! ¡Vete a tu cuarto!”
“I—”
“Luz Noceda si no te vas a tu cuarto ahora mismo te juro por Dios que no te voy a caer bien. Lárgate de aquí. Ya esta bien. Vete a tu cuarto. ¡YA!”
Luz flinched but sighed in defeat. There was no reasoning with her. Nothing she could say or do would mean anything. And just as she began to walk up the stairs….
“Deberías haber sido tú. Deberías haber sido tú y no tu padre. ¡Hubiera sido más feliz si hubieras sido tú quien murió en aquel accidente de coche! ¡No habría tenido que soportar esta humillación y vergüenza si hubieras sido tú! ¡Todo el mundo piensa que estoy loca por tu culpa! ¡Te odio! ¿Me oyes? ¡Te odio!”
[Present Day]
Those last words that her mother had said to her had hurt her the most. She knew her Mama didn’t mean that. She was drunk, and she hadn’t been thinking clearly. They had both said some awful things, but that… that might have crossed a line. And from how Mama had been acting in the morning as if it hadn’t happened at all…
“Luz, I’m going to work,” Camila said, snapping her out of her thoughts. Luz was currently sitting at the table, eating breakfast, which had been a bowl of cereal. She had already had everything packed and ready to go in her bright blue suitcase, covered in stickers belonging to The Good Witch Azura. A final gift from Riley on her birthday before what happened at Thanksgiving. It was sitting just by the entrance of the house, next to where her Mama was standing. “I love you.”
“Yeah… love you too, mom…” Luz said as Camila looked away. If she had anything she wanted to say about last night, she didn’t say it. It was a tad upsetting, but then again, there was the possibility that her Mama might not have remembered what she had said.
Her Mama opened the front door and exited the house, closing the door behind her as a quiet thud echoed throughout the mostly empty home. All Luz could think about was last night. “But do you really? Or was what you said last night the truth…” Luz thought, poking at her bowl of Cap’n Crunch with her spoon.
A haunting silence filled the air as Luz felt a shiver crawl down her spine. Today was going to suck. She knew that from the moment she woke up. She stared at the front door, watching her mother's silhouette grow further and further away. That was the last time she would see her mother until summer break was over, and that last night was the last conversation that they’d have until after summer.
Maybe… she just wouldn’t return after summer camp. Maybe she’d go somewhere else. Maybe, if she made any friends, she’d live with them instead. It beat whatever the hell that was last night. Drunk or not, she shouldn’t have said those things. It was wrong, and it was rude.
“Well, as long as she didn’t mean it, that’s all that matters…. Right?” Luz thought as she stood up from the dining table, taking her half-eaten bowl of Cap’n Crunch to the counter, and dumping the rest of it down the sink. She watched as the food travelled down the drain, eyes slightly narrowed. Afterward, she rinsed out the cereal bowl and placed it next to the sink, before giving the clock a passing glance, the time reading as “8:30 am.” Meaning, she had to get to the bus station in thirty minutes.
Walking over to the front door, Luz slipped on a pair of white sneakers before tying up the laces. She grabbed the suitcase next to the door, before opening the front door. She peeked outside, watching as cars drove down the street, some staying at the speed limit, while others went well over it. She glanced at the right palm of her hand, and frowned, staring at the dime-sized hole.
She couldn’t get over it. What was its deal? What was it for? Was it just a stylistic change or did it have a purpose? Could she blast fire out of it? Maybe water or ice? What about beams of light? With each thought, she tried to put it to use, but nothing happened. The only thing that happened was that her arms and hands sparked red with electricity. As if it was trying to do one of those things.
The best way she could describe it was like an unloaded gun trying and failing to fire without any ammunition. No matter how many times she tried to get the hole in her hand to fire out something, it would not fire. “What is this power? What does it do?!” Luz thought, a bout of frustration beginning to bloom within her, only for it to be pushed down. “Forget it. I’ll just try and figure it out at camp…”
With that, Luz exited the house through the front door, but not before locking the door behind her. As she began to walk away, she glanced back at her house. Instead of feeling joy, or anything like that, she felt nothing but sadness. What used to be a place of care and love was no longer that. It was a place of bitter resentment and forced cheer.
Now that she would be gone, leaving for Reality Check Summer Camp, all she hoped was that her mother would stop drinking when she returned. Maybe then… things could return to what they used to be. Back when her Mama was still happy, and there were no arguments. No harsh words being screamed at one another over the smallest of issues. No overtly stressful situations. No forced love or lack thereof.
With a final huff of air, Luz began her walk to the bus station, leaving behind her house, potentially for good.
[XXXX]
“Grant that we, having received Christ Jesus the Lord, may live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith, as we were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Give us the grace of Your Holy Spirit that we may believe what has been proclaimed to us. May we bring glory and honour to Your name in all that we do, as You conform us to the image of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen!” An aged pastor proclaimed, his once dark hair faded to a pale gray, his skin covered in wrinkles and his eyes closed in prayer whilst gripping the sides of his standing lectern.
The pastor was dressed in a black robe, with a golden cross motif across the front of the robe. Around his neck was a golden cross necklace, and his hands were covered by white gloves. Large black lace-up boots sat comfortably on his feet, and as he fidgeted in place, a chorus of “Amens” filled his church.
St Peters Liturgical Church. A place where all of those who believed in God, no matter of race, sexual orientation, or creed could come and pray to give thanks to their lord and saviour Jesus Christ for giving them the beautiful life that He oh so graciously gave them. And all of it was run by one Domenico Gregorio Jacobson. A true man of God who loved everyone equally by the grace of The Lord. A man who held himself to the values of God.
It had always been his dream to be a pastor, and after decades of studying the bible, understanding every word, learning Latin and reading the original translation of the bible he fully committed himself to its teachings. Of course, The King James Bible was his go-to source, as not many people could actually read or understand the original work.
His one and only rule that he had made blatantly clear to any newcomer to his church was that everyone was treated as if they were equal. Just as their lord Jesus Christ intended. Not whatever those hack jobs in the upper part of town were spewing. That hate-filled dribble made him want to vomit. Those were not the teachings of God. Those were the twistings of the words of God used to propagate hate and nothing more.
It was very clear to Domenico that his Church was the only one in the town that gave shelter to those who “did not conform to societal norms.” The majority of people in his service were the oddities. Those with piercings and tattoos. Those with dyed hair of wild varieties. Those of the LGBTQ+ community. As a matter of fact, he had recently officiated a wedding between two men. If what he saw there wasn’t true love, then he didn’t know what was.
He wished the Andre’s well in their love life. And their adopted son, Theodore Andre. He was moved to tears after hearing that boy’s tragic story. How his biological parents left him on the side of the road, only to be found by Clark Andre and his at-the-time boyfriend Robert Larson. How they had taken him in and helped them discover his true identity. Theodore wasn’t always Theodore. He used to be a she by the name of Rebecca.
But that wasn’t his story to tell. That was Theodore’s.
Domenico looked out at his Church, a wide smile on his face, happy as can be. He felt the positive energy in the air and soaked it in, basking in it as he always had. He smiled at the laughter and joy in the pews as the sermon broke out, allowing him to overlook the church with a proud gaze.
The Church itself was rather small in width and only modestly tall. It was a 23x24 building, about the same size as an average garage, that rose 15 feet high. The main building and the roof were separated by a few wooden rafters, of which on one of them he could make out an abandoned bird’s nest. There was enough room in the building to, realistically, hold around 300 people. Not that there needed to be that many people in the building, but he digressed.
On both sides of the building, there were four rows of pews, a few of which were filled, while some were empty. The walls were plain white, and there were three large windows on each side. On the left, the windows had painted glass that had presented The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, whereas, on the right, there was The Virgin Mary, The Ark, and the picture of God and Man touching fingers in the skies above.
Finally, at the front of the church, where Domenico stood whilst giving his sermon, there was a large life-size golden statue of Jesus on the cross. Domenico stood behind a standing lectern, which held his copy of the King James Bible. A red carpet spanned the hall lining the rest of the church, and at the back, there was a set of double doors that separated the service room from the foyer of the Church, along with the bathrooms and his office.
The building used to be a stable before his grandfather had bought it and repurposed it. This building was old, and it survived some of the worst disasters known to man. And it would survive many, many more in the future. So long as God was behind it, then this Church would continue to stand the test of time.
As the crowd began to make their leave, he spotted a young, pale-skinned girl with golden-blonde hair and golden-yellow eyes. She was dressed in a white summer dress and a pair of red high heels, and in her lap was a suitcase covered with stickers of various sizes and meanings. Two of the most prominent stickers were of the LGBTQ flag and the flag that specifically represented lesbians.
Alongside that, there were other stickers that were of various fictional characters. From Puss from Puss and Boots to Harry Potter from the titular book. The girl had a contemplative look on her face, the kind that signalled some form of discomfort. Domenico stared at the girl, having recognized her, worry on his face. He walked over to her whilst greeting the other leaving members of the Church.
Slowly, he sat next to the young girl, glancing over at her as she stared at her suitcase deep in thought. She looked both anxious and upset, which did not look good on her. He cleared his throat, which had gotten her attention, causing her to recoil. She glanced over at him, before smiling.
“Ah, Pastor Domenico. I didn’t see you there. My apologies,” the teen said as Domenico smiled, patting her gently on her back. A gesture that he performed as an act of comfort. There were no bruises today. That’s good. The last time he had seen her, she had a bruise on her face in the shape of a fist. He knew that that awful, no-good Tyler was abusive, but he hadn’t expected him to stoop to physical abuse.
And to think, he used to be a true, stalwart believer in God. Well, he still claimed that, but anyone who hurt a child had no right to call themselves a believer in Christ. It was a sin to harm the innocent. And a child was the epitome of innocence.
Thankfully, it seemed that had either ceased or, perhaps, the girl had decided to run away for good. Either way, he didn’t know. It wasn’t as if he could do anything about it. He wasn’t nearly as powerful as Tyler. Politically, and physically. Tyler had a solid 30 years on him and had more muscle than your average civilian. He was no slouch, and it showed.
Pushing those thoughts aside, he removed his hand and placed it on his lap, bowing his head in greeting as he spoke. “Julia, it’s good to see you again. How have you been, my dear?” Domenico asked as Julia winced, a half-smile on her face. It was not filled with joy, but rather sadness. Domenico frowned, sympathy dressing his face as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “Tell me, what’s wrong.”
“Father decided I was not worth his time anymore. That I am a “Devil Child” and threw me out. I knew it was going to happen eventually…. But, I didn’t think it would be on my birthday….” Julia said, the sombre smile on her face faltering into an upset frown, her cheeks going red with anger as tears threatened to burst out from her eyes. “I… I don’t understand, Pastor. Why does my father hate me? What did I ever do wrong?”
Domenico embraced Julia, who cried into his robe. He gently stroked her hair, letting her bury herself in his chest as he hushed her. “You did no wrong, Julia. The one who has done wrong is your father. That man puts shame on his family’s name, and with each day, I pray that you and your mother will one day escape him.”
Julia stirred briefly, removing her head from his robe as she shook her head in disagreement, clearing the tears from her eyes as she spoke. “Mother was the one who had suggested it. Father has her under his thumb. She finally caved. She bares his child now, and I fear for their life. Father is cruel, and evil. I doubt even our ancestors were that cruel.”
This had come as a shock to Domenico. For as long as he had known Mary Delmisso, she was always headstrong and never abided by anyone’s rules. And yet, to hear that she had kowtowed to Tyler of all people… “That is very unlike Mary. Are you sure it wasn’t out of a need to protect you, Julia? Mary knows how much Tyler hurts you. How poorly he treats you. The Mary I know would never stoop to such a low.”
“Maybe…” Julia admitted, rubbing the side of her left arm absently, before perking up with a new, revitalized gleam of joy in her eyes. “On the bright side, I’m going to a summer camp. Maybe there I can finally make some friends who won’t judge me?” Julia said, turning to face him with cheer in her voice as Domenico chuckled, ruffling her hair.
“That’s the spirit. Would you like me to drive you? I have plenty of free time on my hands now that the Sunday sermon is over,” Domenico said as Julia waved off his offer, standing up from the pew before bowing politely.
“Thank you for your offer, Pastor Domenico. But, I already have a bus I need to catch. I’ll see you after summer, Pastor.” And as Julia said that, she scooted out of the pew, leaving Domenico all by himself. He got up and turned to face the door, waving goodbye to someone whom he viewed as his daughter. As she left, Domenico couldn’t help but have a bad feeling wash over him.
Maybe it was because he always had a good instinct. Maybe it was because he didn’t trust Tyler as far as he could throw him—which wasn’t very far—but something about this reeked of foul play. Tyler never cared for his daughter or went out of his way to do something nice for her. So for him to have supposedly set up Julia to go to a summer camp for the summer after kicking her out of the house…. Something had to have been up.
All Domenico hoped was that, for once, his gut instinct was wrong.
[XXXX]
The walk from her home to the bus stop had been a pleasant one. Luz never really got out often unless it was for school or when she wanted to hang out at the park, letting her imagination run wild. To see Gravesfield in full once again was a breath of fresh air both literally and figuratively. Of course, dragging her suitcase behind her had made it a little bit more tedious, especially for the small hill that took her to the location she needed to be at.
The highlight of the walk had to have been the time that she watched a few birds chirp away at one another, hopping from one side of a powerline to another. It was cute, watching the wildlife do their thing. One of them even landed on the top of her head before promptly flying away.
Maybe this whole thing wouldn’t be so bad. Bah, who was she kidding? With a camp named “Reality Check Summer Camp,” it was bound to go poorly. But, it was nice to have an optimistic outlook on things. Luz always liked to see the bright side of things, even if the situation looked horrendously bleak.
She could see the bus stop off in the distance, the bus had not arrived yet. She briefly pulled out her smartphone to check the time. It was 7:57 am, and as soon as she had seen the time, a sigh of relief escaped her lips. Good, she hadn’t been late. For a moment there she had been worried. But then again, if she had been late, maybe she could’ve avoided this whole thing altogether.
“Nah, I’m not that lucky…” Luz thought as the sound of a pair of footsteps grew louder and louder from behind her. Specifically, the clacking of heels. She glanced over her shoulder, and when she did, she was met with a sight straight out of one of those cheesy romance novels of a very stereotypically looking, conventionally attractive teen.
Golden-blonde hair flowed down from her head to her back with bangs that framed her face in such a way that made it look like a portrait, occupied by equally as golden eyes. She was slim, as were most girls assumedly her age, and she wore a white summer dress that stretched down to her knees. Her hands were behind her back, which dragged behind her a suitcase. Although, if there was one knock against her, it was the sickly pale skin that she had. Either she never got outside often, or she had albinoism for skin pigment.
The teen looked at Luz before a faint smile took up her features. “Oh, I’m sorry. Are you heading to the bus stop as well?” The girl asked as Luz nodded silently. “Well, care to join me, then? I’m assuming you’re heading to, uh, what was it again…”
“Reality Check Summer Camp?” Luz asked as the girl nodded.
“Yes, that’s the one. My apologies, my mind’s a little all over the place. A pleasure to meet you, Ms…?” The girl asked, outstretching a hand as Luz faltered for a moment. Was she… actually talking to her? Like, legitimately talking to her?
Slowly, Luz reached out and shook the girl's hand, laughing awkwardly to herself. “Hehe… Luz. Luz Noceda, and you?”
“Ah, where are my manners,” the teen said, removing her hand before putting it back behind her as Luz lowered hers. “Julia. Julia Scotsman Wittebane of the former noble family The Wittebanes. But, most people call me Julie for short.”
“Wittebane…. As in the town’s founders?” Luz thought, blinking in surprise. She hadn’t known they had descendants. The rumours said that they had no remaining family. The only thing that they left behind was their church, which soon became one of the most popular churches in Connecticut, allowing it to gain fame and notoriety as one of the main staples in The South.
To find out that the Wittebanes had remaining family members left in town showed Luz that maybe it was a good idea to not believe everything that she had seen on the internet. Still, it was interesting nonetheless. To know that there were still some surviving members of the family that founded Gravesfield were still alive and kicking was nothing short of amazing.
If that was the case, then maybe she knew what happened to the founders. Where they disappeared to. Maybe they left detailed journals of where they had gone and she knew about it? Luz obviously wouldn’t ask right away—she had more tact than that—she would wait until she got to know Julia more, first.
After blinking, something that Luz noticed was that, much like the children who had superpowers that she had seen at the doctor’s office, Julia had a string connecting to her forehead. When she blinked again, it was gone. So, she had a superpower, too then? According to the news last night, this sort of thing had been happening all week, with kids her age, younger and older, waking up to have superpowers.
It was bizarre, and something straight out of a fantasy novel. Given what people said of her, the irony was palpable. However, the Government was supposedly holding a hearing about what it was that they were going to do with superpowered people, calling them Aberrants for the time being until they figured out what was going on.
That aside, Luz pushed the thought away and smiled at Julia.
“Nice to meet you too, Julia,” Luz said as she glanced back over to the bus stop. Nothing yet. Maybe the bus was running late? “Uh… I guess we should get going,” Luz said as Julia nodded. The pair walked the short distance between them and the bus stop, and sat next to one another, enjoying the silence. Before long, the bus finally pulled in, a whole five minutes behind schedule.
The bus was a deep black, with a banner on the side that read “Come join us in reality at Reality Check Summer Camp.” It rubbed Luz the wrong way just how condescending the banner was, but then again, what was she supposed to take away from this camp? And considering Julia was frowning at it, too, she harboured a guess that she wasn’t here of her own volition either.
The bus was similar to one of those Greyhound buses, meaning that this was going to be a long drive. Luz hated long drives. But hey, at least she could catch up on some sleep while she was there.
The double doors to the bus opened, and a thin, chocolate-coloured-skinned woman walked out from the bus. She was dressed in a dark green button-up top, fitted with pockets on the sleeves, chest, and upper waist. Atop her head was a hat that had mathematical symbols etched into the front-facing side of the hat, with a dark brown ponytail sticking out of the back. Paired with this she wore a set of khaki shorts, long black knee-high socks, and dark brown timberland hiking boots.
In the woman’s hands were a clipboard and a pen, and as soon as she stepped out of the bus, her dark brown eyes focused on the pair, smiling. “You two, are you here for Reality Check Summer Camp?” The woman asked, a hint of forced enthusiasm in her voice as the pair nodded. “Great! Come here then, I have to ask you two some questions first before we let you on board.”
Wordlessly, the pair approached the woman, suitcases in hand. When they did, they stopped about two to three feet away from her. The woman looked them up and down, before nodding to herself. “Alright, names, please? Just your first and last, there’s no need for any middle names in case you have any.”
“Luz Noceda.”
“Julia Wittebane.”
For a moment, the woman stared at Julia, as if flabbergasted. “I… wasn’t expecting someone from a rich family to be joining us this year. Well, either way, we’re glad to have you on board!”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Julia replied, bowing politely.
“Anyway,” the woman continued, writing down something on her clipboard before addressing them again. “Alright, now, first things first, did you or your parents pay the $250 fee?”
“Yes,” the pair responded in unison as the woman nodded.
“Great, next question. When you signed up for the camp, do you know what you specifically signed up for? Is it two weeks, or the whole summer?”
“The whole summer,” the pair once again responded in unison, something that made Luz glance at Julia, who glanced back. It was kind of funny, even causing Luz to crack a grin. Julia did the same, too, covering her mouth as a soft giggle escaped from her lips. It was… kind of cute. In the platonic sense, of course. Luz wasn’t into blonde girls.
“I see…” the woman checked her clipboard before nodding to herself, returning to look at them. “Alright, and one final thing before I let you on the bus. As you two are most likely aware due to your ages, superpowers have been cropping up recently. It was why we had to delay sending the bus to Gravesfield as our higher-ups were checking to see if the local Government would allow us to continue our work. They said yes, hence why you all weren’t refunded. So, with that in mind, we would like to ask if you two have any superpowers of your own?”
“Uh… why?” Luz asked as the woman shrugged.
“I can’t really say why. My superiors just wanted me to ask the question,” the woman continued as Luz frowned, an uneasy feeling washing over her. Maybe it was just her, but she felt a little iffy now. Even moreso than before she had left the house. Maybe it was just for safety concerns?
Honestly, she was banking on them not accepting people with superpowers. However considering they were asking if she had any superpowers, and seeing as she could see through the window that the bus was jam-packed with people, she had to assume that wasn’t the case. And so, Luz spoke.
“Well, I have these holes in my hands,” Luz said, showing her empty hand to the woman. “I don’t know what they do, though. Oh, and I can also see strings attached to others with superpowers. But, that’s about it,” Luz replied as the woman nodded, before looking over to Julia.
“And you, Ms. Wittebane?” The woman asked as Julia fidgeted uncomfortably. A hint of shame showed up in her eyes as if she was displeased by her superpower.
“Well, I suppose I have no choice, do I?” Julia said, before removing one of her hands from the suitcase, turning her hand so her palm faced the sky. When she did, long, slender, dark-green vines began to grow out and around the base of her fingertips. They were spiky vines, and they reached up to Julia’s forehead. “As you can plainly see, I can grow vines out from my fingers.”
Once again, the woman nodded, writing something down on her clipboard, before putting her pen in her waist pocket, and sliding her clipboard under her armpit. “Well then, looks like everything is in working order! C’mon you two, let’s get going!”
And so, without arguing or complaining, Julia and Luz followed the attendant onto the bus, and upon entering, Luz was met with a series of strings flooding her vision—thirty-three, if she counted correctly, all spaced out throughout the bus. It was… overwhelming to say the very least. Once again, when she blinked, the strings disappeared.
“Come, Luz. There’s a seat in the back,” Julia said, taking Luz out of her thoughts as she followed her. As she walked, she counted each of her fellow campers. Forty kids, none of whom she recognized. That must’ve meant that she and Julia were the only ones who were going to the camp from Gravesfield. It was a little unnerving, but at least she had Julia. Even if she was also a stranger.
Everyone on the bus was more than a little chatty, talking to one another about random things, not paying attention to the pair as they walked down the aisle. From a glance, you couldn’t tell anyone apart from a regular human. Sure, some had strange features like gills and cat whiskers, but aside from that, there was no real outside change to some of these people.
Still, seeing gills and cat whiskers on people that weren’t made of makeup just felt wrong. But then again, seeing as this was such a big and recent change, of course, it would feel wrong. Humans weren’t supposed to have whiskers or gills. Though, they also weren’t supposed to have holes in their hands either.
Once they got to the back of the bus, they took the last remaining seat on the left. Julia sat first, taking the window seat, and Luz promptly sat next to her. The two put their suitcases in front of themselves, and as soon as that was done, Luz spoke.
“So, you’re rich?” Luz asked, blurting out the question as Julia shook her head.
“No. My parents are rich. But, in a roundabout sort of way, due to my name, one could assume I am rich,” Julia answered, not the least bit upset by the question. “If I may, but… do you believe in God?”
Luz blinked. That was an odd question, and just as abrupt as her own. “Uh… no. My Mama does, though. Or at least, she used to, I think. I don’t know. All I remember was going to church with my Mama and Papa when I was younger. But, aside from that time, I haven’t gone lately.”
“Ah, I see. Well, I won’t bug you about it. Pastor Domenico said that believing in God is a choice. You are not wrong for yours, and I respect that,” Julia said as Luz mentally sighed. For a moment there, she thought that Julia was about to go on a lecture about how “not believing in God was a sin” or something like that. Her aunt from her Papa’s side would do that sometimes whenever the topic came up.
After Julia asked her question, she followed it up with another. “Noceda is a Spanish name, correct? Are you from Spain?”
“Uh, why?” Luz asked as Julia shrugged half-heartedly.
“Curious. That’s all. I’ve never seen you before in town, so I felt as if it was appropriate to ask,” Julia answered as Luz hummed to herself. It was weird having a conversation with someone her age. She wasn’t used to how friendly she was being, either. It just… wasn’t normal. At least, to her anyway.
“Ah…” Luz muttered, scratching the back of her head. “Well, I know my Mama is. But, that’s it. I was born in Connecticut, and I’ve only lived in Gravesfield for a few years. I don’t really go out much so…” Luz said as Julia nodded.
“I see. Well then, that makes sense. You didn’t strike me as the outgoing type. No offence,” Julia said as Luz flashed her a half-hearted smile.
“None taken.” As Luz said that, the woman from before stood front and center down the lane of the bus, clapping her hands to get everyone’s attention, which worked almost instantly.
“Alright everyone, listen up!” The woman called out as she checked her clipboard, clearing her throat as she did. “This will be a rather long bus ride to the camp, around ten hours or so. We will be making pitstops at gas stations to refuel the bus when need be, so at that time, it is suggested that you go into the gas station to purchase some snacks or whatnot; don’t worry, you’ll be allowed to eat and drink on the bus, so long as you clean up afterward. If you don’t have any money to buy anything, ask the person you’re sitting next to for some to get something. This will be your first “lesson” at the camp, so to speak. Loans, and how to pay them off properly.
“‘Course that’s up to the person next to you to decide whether or not they’d consider it a loan or an act of giving to the needy. Either way, the idea is simple enough. Get comfortable, and keep your hands and feet in your seats at all times, but if you can’t help it, that’s fine too. Those with superpowers, keep it to yourselves. No overly loud shouting, Yadda-yadda-yadda, you know the drill, standard field-trip procedure, let’s go!”
After that announcement, the woman sat down in one of the front seats as the bus began to start up, and for the doors to close. When the bus began to move, Luz jolted forward from the sudden bounce of the tires. Julia giggled to herself at the sight making Luz flush red with slight embarrassment. “I take it your sense of balance isn’t the best?” Julia questioned as Luz frowned.
“Well… I did try out to be a cheerleader at school. It… didn’t work out,” Luz replied as Julia nodded.
“I see. Well, the point is that you tried, right? As my mother told me once: If you don’t try something, and give it your honest effort, then what’s the point in saying you don’t like it? Honestly, it’s admirable of you to try something that could seem so daunting. I know I would never let myself do that. I guess I’m a bit more… reserved than most others. Especially with what’s been happening recently….” Julia said, looking over to the window of the bus, avoiding meeting Luz’s eyes.
Luz quirked an eyebrow at that. “Do you mean the whole “people randomly waking up with superpowers?”” Luz questioned as Julia glanced back over to Luz, nodding her head slightly.
“Yes, that would be correct. It was why I was so hesitant to reveal my power. It’s… a sore spot for me, I suppose,” Julia said as Luz felt a tad concerned for Julia. Why would it be a sore spot? Sure, Luz herself had been a little freaked out when she woke up with holes in her hands, but after the brief scare, she was immediately excited.
She had freaking superpowers! It was a fantasy nerd’s dream come to life! And considering Julia had a Harry Potter sticker on her suitcase, she assumed Julia was a fan of fantasy as well. So, why would her awakening a superpower be a sore spot?
Was there something that she wasn’t getting?
“Well, it can’t be helped,” Julia said as she yawned, blinking her eyes rapidly as she cleared her throat. “If you don’t mind, I’ll be taking a brief nap. Wake me up when we get to a gas station, please? I didn’t sleep well and I haven’t eaten this morning. I was… rushed out the door, you could say,” Julia said as Luz nodded.
“Sure thing! I don’t mind,” and with that, Julia rested her head against the back of the bus seat, closed her eyes, and relaxed, leaving Luz to her thoughts. Once again, Luz looked down at the palms of her hands, staring at the holes. The same burning question she had for the last twenty-four hours came to her mind yet again, causing her a brief amount of frustration.
“What are you…” Luz thought as she looked around the bus. The chatting had risen back again, and this time it was louder than before. How Julia could sleep through that was anyone’s guess. But, then again, some people were deep sleepers. Luz was not one of those people. Not unless she was tired enough.
Back to the topic at hand—no pun intended—she couldn’t help but wonder if the holes in her hands and the strings were connected. Maybe, if she followed the string to the source and placed her hand on where they were attached, i.e. the person’s forehead, something would happen? Maybe she could feel someone’s power and learn all there is to know about it.
If that was the case, then she’d make a great advisor! But, it wasn’t the kind of power a hero would have. More like an accountant or something. And that was boring. Luz wasn’t a fan of boring things. Maybe she could copy people’s powers? If that was the case, then she’d have to try it out later, when given the chance, of course. Maybe Julia could help?
A bored sigh exited her mouth as Luz slumped forward, resting the palms of her hands on her chin and her elbows on her knees. Maybe summer wouldn’t be so bad if she and Julia became friends. She seemed nice enough, so who knows, sometimes even the impossible could happen.
Looking out the window past Julia, a realization came over Luz that made her want to groan in frustration. This was going to be a very, very long ride. And a very boring one, at that. So, with nothing but her thoughts to keep her from dying of boredom, Luz stared up at the ceiling, patiently waiting for their arrival at a gas station.
-To Be Continued in The Not-So-Dull Summer Camp – Part 2
[Ending Song: Life – By: Rude-a]
Notes:
Translations to the argument that drunken Camila and Luz had.
(1) You are a failure. A child who never listens to a word I say. No matter what I tell you, you ignore me and sit in your room daydreaming while I bust my ass to support you.
(2) What? You're not serious, are you?
(3) Watch your tone
(4) No! You know what, I won't watch my tone, because you promised you'd stop drinking!
(5) What would Dad think seeing you like this! Have you ever thought about it? Dad hated you getting drunk and now here you are, sitting at the table, drinking alcohol...!
(6) Please, Mom, put the glass down. Stop drinking. Please? I'm begging you. I hate this. Dad hated this. You promised—
(7) Go to your room!
(8) What the hell was that!?
(9) Shut up and go to your room! Don't come down for the rest of the night! I don't want to see your face until tomorrow!
(10) That could've hurt me! What the hell, Mom?!
(11) I don't care! Go to your room!
(12) Luz Noceda if you don't go to your room right now I swear to God you're not going to like me. Get the hell out of here. That's enough. Go to your room. NOW!
(13) It should have been you. It should have been you and not your father. I would have been happier if it had been you who died in that car accident! I wouldn't have had to endure this humiliation and shame if it had been you! Everyone thinks I'm crazy because of you! I hate you! Do you hear me? I hate you!
Before anyone accuses me of doing character assassination, first of all, hush you this is my story I can write the characters however I want. Second of all, drunk people do and say stupid things a lot, so this type of thing can happen. I would know. And finally, this adds depth to an otherwise bland character. Anyway, till next time folks. Ciao~!
Chapter 3: Season 1 - Episode 3: Not So Dull Summer Camp - Part 2
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
[Opening Song: Kyouran Hey Kids!! – By: The Oral Cigarettes]
[The “Not-So-Dull” Summer Camp – Part 2]
[3 days ago]
Reality Check Summer Camp. A camp located in the wilds in Springfield, Connecticut. It was a privately owned Summer Camp, given a license by the Government. The people who worked at the camp had been previously getting ready for a new batch of kids this summer, and everyone was excited. Events were being planned out, as were activities, most of which were already nearing completion.
At least, that was what had been happening. All work ceased immediately when a black limo sporting the logo of the Connecticut government pulled up. Nobody knew what was going on. All they knew was that a group of men in business suits walked out, and made their way to the office of the Camp Counsellor.
Twenty minutes had passed since their arrival, and most of the staff had no idea what was going on in there. The truth of the matter was that a deal was being hashed out. A deal that would change the fates of everyone at that camp. A deal that would make or break the state.
A deal that would potentially have generation-defining consequences.
“What do you mean you’re commandeering the camp?! On what grounds!?” A man with tan skin, black slicked-back hair, and the beginnings of a mustache on his upper lip exclaimed, eyebrows knit in a furious rage as his eyes narrowed, staring down the person sitting in front of him.
The man, the camp counsellor for Reality Check Summer Camp, wore an open-face brown button-up vest with the camp’s symbol in badge form on the left breast pocket, revealing a purple long-sleeve shirt underneath. A pair of black khaki shorts covered his waist and stopped at his knees, alongside a pair of white knee-high socks and black timberland hiking boots.
Sitting across from him was another man dressed in a two-piece black business suit and a bright red tie, with a white shirt peeking out from underneath the suit. In one hand, the man held onto a lighter whilst he puffed a cigar, leaning into his chair with one leg crossed over the other. Meanwhile, his free hand was stroking his beard, as a toothy, predatory smile gleamed just behind it. His piercing blue eyes shot metaphorical daggers into the other man’s soul, who tried his damnedest to not look intimidated.
Next to the man, on either side of him, were two members of the FBI, signified by their badges on their breast pockets. They too were dressed in black business suits and red ties with wiretap devices attached to their ears, sunglasses obscuring their eyes. All three of the men looked about ready to pounce at any given moment.
“Come now, Counsellor. I’ll give you however much money you want in return for this! Think of it! You could give your family whatever it is they want. Just name the price, and I’ll pay for it out of my pocket. Just, try to be realistic, yeah?” the man said, as the two FBI agents bristled as if waiting for orders to attack the counsellor.
Unfortunately for the man across the table, the counsellor was not interested. He would stand his ground, if not for himself, then those who he had promised that their children would return home safe and sound. “I don’t care what you offer me. I will not hand over those children or this camp to you! Forget it!”
The man across the table frowned, as if disappointed. He took the cigar out of his mouth, before tapping it once, allowing the ash to fall to the ground. He sat up straight, tilting his head down ever so slightly, his eyes hardening like steel, glaring directly at the counsellor.
“With all due respect, Counsellor Johnson, this is for the safety of the people of Connecticut. I’m sure you understand, don't you? You wouldn’t want any accidents happening and have it blamed on you, right? For all we know, those “children” could be Chinese super soldiers here to kill the innocent children of America. You wouldn’t want that, would you?” The man in the business suit asked as Johnson rocketed up from his chair, slamming his hands onto the desk with enough force to shake it.
For a second, one of the FBI agents went to lunge toward Johnson, only stopped by the man in the suit, raising his hand, as if to tell them that it was alright. The FBI agent reeled back, getting back into posture with both of his arms crossed in front of his chest. “Maybe it would be best for you to not do that again? I don’t know if I can hold him back after this.”
It was a small taunt, but a taunt nonetheless. It made the counsellor bristle with rage. His blood boiled with fury. To think that this man… that he represented the people of Connecticut. It was a complete and total shame. He had always hated the Governor for political reasons. But now? Now he had a personal reason to hate him.
“With all due respect, Governor, that’s a load of bullsh*t! You know that I know that they are born and bred American children. It says as much on their birth certificates. We do background checks, so we get to see that type of thing. And besides, that doesn’t give you the right to walk in here and say that you’re going to do something without my knowledge! You didn’t talk to me about it! I run this camp! No one else, and I for one am not stupid enough to fall for that kind of nonsense! What do you take me for, a retard?!” Johnson spat as The Governer frowned, sighing.
“You know, Counsellor, you’re right. I apologize. I shouldn’t have worded it that way,” The Governor said, his frown turning into a scowl. “I don’t need to talk to you about it. This is an order.” As he spoke, he snapped his fingers as one of the men beside him threw down a folder in front of Johnson, who faltered for a moment.
The folder was labelled TOP SECRET in bright bold, red letters. Underneath it was a title. Project “Protect America” underneath it in cursive writing. Johnson stared at the folder, before looking back at the group of men in front of him, a bead of sweat trickling down the side of his face as he swallowed back a lump of fear.
“What… is this?” Johnson asked as The Governor smirked. He crossed his arms, nodding his head once as if to give him a silent command to look at it. He was apprehensive at first, knowing that it was a top-secret document. “Why… did you give me this?”
“Go on, open it. You should at least know what the plan is. But know this, if you speak a single word out to anyone… you and your family will find themselves missing and unable to be found.” As the Governor said that, Johnson paled, recoiling in the process. The Governor stood up from his chair and walked around the table to right behind him, draping an arm over his shoulder.
“Y-You… You wouldn’t dare…” Johnson muttered as The Governor chuckled.
“On the contrary… I very much would. If it meant that National Security was protected, I’d do anything in my power to ensure that our country was safe. Including sacrificing some random shmucks who don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. What was your child’s name again? Masha or something? It would be a shame if something bad happened to her, wouldn’t it? What about your wife? Lesley? I can only imagine how they’d feel if—”
“Alright, alright!” Johnson snapped, glaring at The Governor as he smirked, pulling away as he walked back over to his seat, sitting down with his hands clasped together. Reluctantly, Johnson opened the top-secret document, taking in a deep breath, and reading. As he read, his expression twisted from anger to downright horror.
Word after word, page after page, it only got more and more cruel until it turned into what amounted to a death mill. All under the perverted guise of “protecting the God-fearing people of America from demons possessing the bodies of children.” The contents of the document were nothing more than the ravings of an utter lunatic.
What this document was suggesting… It was… it was utterly barbaric, and no better than what happened back in the Second World War. Johnson looked back at the Governor and stared, appalled. “You… you can’t be serious…. And the Government is sponsoring this… act of terrorism? On its own people?” Johnson muttered as The Governor smirked.
“That’s the best part. As far as they’re aware, I’m doing my duties as a Governor. They don’t know what I’m doing, and these two,” The governor said, pointing to the two FBI agents beside him, “they’re under my payroll. Besides, all you need to know is that I’m sparing your daughter from it, per the agreement I’d have you sign. So, you personally have no stakes in it. Everyone else, on the other hand… not so much.”
All Johnson could do was stare at the Governor with abject horror. The worst part was that there was nothing he could do. What was he, a lowly camp counsellor, going to do? All he could do was shut up and agree. Pretend as if he had never seen that folder, and continue his life knowing that what he was about to do would put him on par with a Nazi soldier.
What The Governor was planning to do… would make Benito Mussolini spit on him. It would cause Stalin to puke, and Hitler to blush. And he was going to agree to it.
The Counsellor let out a shaky breath, closing his eyes as he relaxed his shoulders. “At least Masha will be safe…” The Counsellor thought, before opening his eyes and glaring at The Governor. “Fine. You can take the superpowered kids. Just… please, keep up your end of the promise.”
“I’m glad we could come to an agreement, Johnson,” The Governor said, a wide smile on his face as he outstretched his hand for a handshake. Reluctantly, Johnson took it, shaking his hand, a wave of disgust washing over him. The two let go of one another, and as they did, Johnson sat back down. The closest FBI agent picked up the document and slipped it back into his suit, leaving the desk empty before a piece of paper took its place.
Johnson recognized the piece of paper. It was a legal document saying that he would be handing over the camp to The Governor of Connecticut. Ten years ago, when he first opened this camp, the previous Governor tried to do the same thing, though with the intention to make it a state-wide thing, and a means of punishment for unruly students. Not turning it into a death camp to torture children.
Johnson never saw his camp as a punishment. He saw it as a place for those who were a bit slow to learn things through interactive experiments, and group activities, and to build bonds with other people. That was the goal of Reality Check Summer Camp. A fun getaway with education mixed in. While the marketing made it seem like a disciplinary camp, it really wasn’t.
It was kind of ironic. The people who signed their kids up for RCSC wanted to “instill normality into their unruly child” but that wasn’t the point. It was to have fun. He also made it a habit to report the parents to CPS just in case something bad was going on because this camp also worked as a front to protect children.
But now... now it was going to be used to do the opposite of that. If he signed this piece of paper, he would be doing the very thing that he hated. He would be endangering children. But, if he didn’t, his daughter would be put in danger. Masha would be hurt, or worse, and he couldn’t bear that.
Maybe he was being selfish… no, scratch that. He was being selfish. But… he’d rather be selfish than have a dead daughter. And so, with a heavy amount of reluctance, Johnson signed the piece of paper, the smile on The Governor’s face increasing twofold.
“Thank you, Johnson Sung-woo, for your cooperation. You’ve made this country proud,” The Governor said, reaching to take the piece of paper. But as he did, Johnson grabbed his wrist and forced him to stare him in the eye.
“You’re a sick, depraved, disgusting, maggot-filled wretch of a man. As God as my witness, and as Jesus as my Lord, I pray that one day, you get what you f*cking deserve. The only afterlife available for you, Governor, is the eighth ring of hell, where all the fraudsters and deceivers go. You promised to protect the people of Connecticut, and now you’re openly vying for their deaths. Go to hell,” Johnson hissed, spitting in the man’s face, directly on his cheek, before letting go of his wrist.
The Governor took a step back, staring at Johnson, before slowly reaching into his suit pocket, and pulling out a napkin, wiping the loogie off of his cheek. The two men stared each other down, a bitter anger between the two. After a long moment of silence, The Governor turned to leave with his men, and as the door to the office closed, Johnson slumped in his seat.
He had done it.
He signed away the camp he had built for twenty years to an evil man, all so that his daughter could live another day. He doubted the Governor would keep his word, but if he did, then that was great. But that didn’t change the fact that he had doomed the lives of so many others.
Johnson closed his eyes, the guilt building up in his chest as he tried not to sob. He was a monster. A horrible, no good, rotten monster. No better than the man who had just walked out of the door. And while there was a way out of this mess, he refused to take it. It was far too cowardly, and it would throw away what he had just done.
So, instead, he clasped his hands together, sucked in a deep breath, and prayed. For that was all he could do. “Oh, Lord Jesus, hear my prayer… I am a fool. An absolute, unforgivable fool. I’ve doomed the lives of thirty-three children, all so that my own daughter could live another day. Forgive me, for I have sinned…. I am a murderer.”
[XXXX]
Fact number one about Luz: She hated long car rides because they made her sleepy. It was something that she had picked up from her father. He often tended to sleep in the passenger seat when going on long car rides. The same went with his father and his sister. She, naturally, being his daughter, picked up that trait too.
It was annoying. Especially when someone asks you to keep an eye open and ears peeled for when a stop is made. She had promised Julia that she wouldn’t fall asleep to keep an eye open for a pitstop, and to wake her up when they got there. At first, about an hour into the drive, that was a fairly easy task. She kept herself busy by opening her suitcase and reading The Good Witch Azura.
Fact number two about Luz: She loved the Good Witch Azura. It was one of, if not her favourite book. Oh, sure, she’d read it well over a dozen times, to the point where she could remember the plot off by heart, but that never stopped her enjoyment of it. She also wasn’t blind to the faults of the book, either. From the bland protagonist to the trope-filled sidekick and the generic plot structure. It was quite literally a dictionary definition of a book of tropes. But even then, it was still her favourite. Why?
Because it was the last ever gift she received from her Dad. So she treasured it for all it was worth and some more. If anything were to happen to that book… she’d probably lose whatever remaining sanity she had left.
That aside, for an hour, she read that book. Eventually, she put it down, growing bored from reading it as her mind dotted about with several ideas, but without the ability to act them out without making herself look like a fool. So, instead, she hummed songs quietly to herself for another hour, growing tired around the halfway mark.
Two hours into the drive, she could see some of the other would-be campers doze off. Even the camp attendant had dozed off. Leaving only herself, and a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy in the seat next to her. He had short, ear-length hair, and was dressed in a white short-sleeve shirt with two green stripes going through the center. He also wore a pair of long, off-white pants with zippers at the knees, and a pair of green and black lace-up Adidas shoes.
He was sort of lanky, and he had slightly hairy arms. It was kind of weird, but considering she didn’t know his age, she assumed he was at least two or maybe three years older than her. The boy glanced over at Luz, eyebrow raised. “sh*t, are you the only one awake?” He asked as Luz shrugged.
“Probably, I guess most people went to sleep. How long have you been here?” She asked in return as the boy crossed his arms, leaning back into his bus seat.
“Got here at 4:30 back in Bridgeport with a few other kids, about uh… six, I think? Then we went to Milford to pick up another two which was like… what? Eight minutes? Then it took us about an hour from there to Litchfield to pick up ten other kids. Then we stopped in Kent to pick up another eight kids half an hour later. Finally, before we stopped in Gravesfield, another half an hour away we picked up twelve other kids in Washington Depot. So, add another two hours from leaving Gravesfield to wherever the f*ck we are now? I’d say…. four hours?”
As the boy explained the route the bus took to get to Gravesfield, which was seemingly the last stop before the camp itself, Luz realized that all of the kids that were going to this camp were from Connecticut. It was a little strange, knowing that everyone was from Connecticut, but it did make her a little bit more comfortable. The boy looked at her, a neutral expression on his face. “So, uh… random change of topic, but, uh… you got a favourite band?”
“Oh!” Luz said, smiling, “Yeah, I really, really like NateWantsToBattle! He’s not a band, but he does a bunch of nerdcore music. My favourite of his is The Finale!” As she said that, the boy across from her chuckled to himself. It caused Luz to blush with embarrassment. At least, until he said something that caught her off guard.
“A fellow Nate fan, huh? That’s rare. The Finale’s alright. Never been huge on the Five Nights At Freddy’s stuff. But personally, his cover of The Take Over, The Breaks Over, is my personal favourite.” As the boy said that, Luz was almost elated to find someone with at least somewhat of a similar musical taste to her.
That was one of the many things that Luz found herself getting bullied over. Her taste in music. She was never a huge fan of established bands. They all sounded the same to her. Aside from Owl City and The Beetles, she never really cared for established artists. Indie Artists? That was where it was at.
Of course, when others found out that she was a massive Nerdcore fan, it made her a laughingstock. Apparently, it wasn’t cool to support small artists. Not that she cared. It was her taste in music and no one else's. Even if it did get her cornered by a few of the other girls in class and beat up. Though, she was pretty sure it was for standing up for someone else, rather than that. But, honestly, she didn’t really care.
That one was a hard one to explain to her mother. Especially the black eye. She was slowly starting to not buy the whole “falling down the stairs” excuse.
“Name’s Kennedy, and you?” Kennedy asked as Luz smiled.
“Luz. Nice to meet you, Kennedy.”
“Same here,” Kennedy said, a small smirk taking up his visage. “So, what else do ya like?”
And so, for the next little while, the two talked about things they liked. Such as books, movies, and even Anime. It turned out that Kennedy was a huge fan of Madoka Magica and Naruto. Luz wasn’t all for the latter, but the former was a good one, even if she thought its depiction of Witches was kind of creepy. Seriously, it was something straight out of a drug trip.
Luz, on the other hand, was a massive One Piece nerd. She found Luffy to be extremely relatable, going against the establishment and rebelling against the rules and standards. She was currently on the Enies Lobby Arc. Kennedy was ahead of her, being at Thriller Bark. He didn’t spoil anything for her, only saying that Thriller Bark sucked in his opinion.
Aside from that, they chatted a storm about movies they liked and what other types of music they liked. They had talked for so long, that a whole two more hours passed, when the bus suddenly stopped. Luz looked over her shoulder and saw that they were at a Shell Gas Station. Putting a hand on Julia’s shoulder, she shook her lightly, causing her to grumble, sitting up slowly as she clutched her forehead.
“Ugh… Huh?” Julia grumbled, squinting as she shielded her eyes from the sunlight coming in through the window. A yawn escaped her lips as she blinked a handful of times, before looking out to the window. “Oh, we’re at the station… Thanks, Luz.”
“No problem, Julia,” Luz said, hopping out of her seat as several of the other campers got up and out of the bus. Kennedy did the same, stretching as he stood up. Luz looked over in his direction and had to stop herself from staring due to just how tall he was. She could’ve already guessed that he was tall due to how lanky he looked. But this? This was ridiculous.
Kennedy easily stood two heads higher than Luz, who was a flat five-foot tall person, five foot one inch if she was on her tippy toes. Meaning Kennedy was probably, like, six feet five inches, at least. The woman from earlier stood up from the seat she had been seated in, rubbing at her eyes as she stood at the front of the aisle, yawning as she did.
“Alright. While the bus refuels, you all have fifteen minutes to get something from the convenience store. Remember what I said before. If you don’t have any money, ask the person you’re sitting next to to get you something. But just remember, by the end of summer, you should pay them back. Don’t be the type of person to take advantage of their generosity,” and with that, the woman sat back down, as everyone filtered off of the bus.
“Do you two need any money?” Julia asked Luz and Kennedy, as Kennedy shook his head.
“Nah. I had the foresight to bring some. What about you, Luz?”
Luz rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed. “Sorry… I didn’t think this would happen…” She muttered as Julia smiled, patting her shoulder with a good-natured smile.
“It’s alright,” Julia said, before reaching over to her suitcase, pulling out a wallet, opening it, and pulling out a twenty-dollar bill. Inside the wallet, there were well over a hundred dollars in there. Luz knew that Julia was loaded with cash, but holy crap that was a lot.
“Jeez, don’t your parents spoil you rotten. You got nearly over a hundred dollars in there!” Kennedy quipped as Julia frowned, closing her wallet before putting it back in her suitcase, zipping it up and turning back to Kennedy.
“No, actually. I earned that money myself from doing odd jobs around Gravesfield. My parents had nothing to do with that. We… don’t get along,” Julia stated as Kennedy hummed, nodding.
“Yeah, I get that. I never got to know my mom and my Dad was a wife-beater. So I think we’re in the same department there, Jules,” Kennedy said, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
“Jules?” Julia asked, blinking as Kennedy shrugged.
“Yeah. You don’t like it?” Kennedy said as Julia shook her head, a soft smile taking up her face.
“No, I don’t mind it. I just wasn’t expecting that. Most people call me Julia or Julie. Jules is a new one,” Julia said as Kennedy snorted, resting his hands behind his head. He watched as everyone slowly trickled out of the bus, and so, after a quick stretch, he stood up, gesturing for Luz and Julia to follow him.
“We don’t have a lot of time, so let’s get going. Don’t want to miss the possible only chance we have to get something to eat before we reach Camp.”
And that’s exactly what they did. They exited the bus and entered the convenience store, aware of the time limit over their heads. Julia found herself buying a snack-size bag of all-dressed Lays potato chips and a bottle of Pepsi. She also bought a survival knife for camp, namely because she didn’t have one in her suitcase.
As for Kennedy, he bought himself a bag of flaming hot Cheetos. He was planning on saving the money that he had while he was at camp in case there were vending machines. Nothing else was of interest to him. He was trying to keep his weight low, only getting the Cheetos because his stomach was growling and if he didn’t eat something soon, he’d go stir-crazy.
Luz wound up getting herself a Coca-Cola and Pepsi-flavoured Slurpee and a bag of Mini-Eggs. She also made a pit stop for the bathroom before they left. All in all, it wasn’t much, it was better than only going off of a half bowl of cereal.
Over by the front of the store, Julia and Kennedy were standing outside, laughing about something. When they spotted Luz, Kennedy waved her over, a huge smile on his face. “Yo, Luz, hear this! Apparently, when Julia was younger she thought a bear cub was an overgrown puppy!”
“Wha?!” Luz exclaimed as Julia flushed with embarrassment.
“Give me a break! I was six and my parents kept me sheltered inside our home for most of my life. That was the first time I even heard of a bear,” Julia said, pouting as Kennedy held back another bout of laughter. Luz had to admit, that was funny. Julia then looked over to Luz and smirked. “What about you, Luz? Have any embarrassing stories?”
Luz faltered, looking at the floor. A few came to mind, but the most recent one, the snake incident, was still fresh in her mind. The others were too personal, and she didn’t want to share them. Especially the one about the fake love letter she had gotten which resulted in her being drenched in a bucket of expired milk.
"Well, I brought a bunch of live snakes into my classroom for my final project for English 9. It was, uh… the reason why my Mama signed me up for this camp,” Luz said, absently looking to the side as Kennedy snickered.
“Damn, Luz, that’s rough. Also, Mama? Uh, is that like a Spanish thing?” Kennedy asked as Luz nodded.
“Yeah, it is. What, you think it’s weird?” Luz replied, raising an eyebrow as Kennedy shrugged.
“Nah. Just never heard someone call their mother “mama” unironically before above the age of four, that’s all,” he quipped before shoving his hand into his bag of Cheetos, popping a couple in his mouth. “Ya know,” Kennedy began through chews, swallowing afterward, “once this camp nonsense is over, maybe we can all friend each other on Discord. I kinda like this dynamic we got going here. I don’t have many other friends back home, and I wouldn’t mind to keep in contact.”
“Discord?” Julia questioned as Kennedy stared at her incredulously.
“Oh Nah, you don’t know about Discord either?” Kennedy asked, raising an eyebrow. “What, did your parents lock you in your room or something?”
The silence in response to that question was deafening. Kennedy, looked at the floor, rocking front to back on his heels. Luz looked at Julia with a gleam of sympathy in her eyes. Just what kind of parents would do that kind of thing? That was just cruel.
“Alright everyone, back on the bus!” The woman attendant called out, drawing everyone’s attention. Without a word to each other, the group of three walked back onto the bus. As they walked past, the attendant had a garbage can stationed next to her. With each would-be camper walking past, a few things of garbage were added.
One would-be camper, in particular, a tall, muscular teen, with muddy brown skin, broad shoulders and the makings of a goatee stood in front of the attendant. He was wearing nothing but a grey tank top and black sweatpants, along with dark brown lace-up boots his arms crossed, and a contemplative look on his face. “Hey, question,” the teen asked as the woman raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, Stanley?”
“If I roll down one of the windows, can I smoke on the bus? All this stress is killing me, and I can’t relax,” Stanley said as the woman sighed. She looked almost disappointed. She looked over to the bus driver, who nodded, as Stanley smiled. “Thanks. You’re a lifesaver.”
“Why would someone smoke? It’s just a pathway to having cancer in the future,” Julia said as Kennedy sighed.
“Stan’s always been like that. We grew up in an orphanage. The place sucked, and so he picked up a smoking habit to deal with the stress,” Kennedy said as Luz looked at Kennedy with a raised eyebrow.
“Didn’t you say your Dad was a wife-beater? How could you have grown up in an orphanage?” Luz asked as Kennedy gave her a deadpan stare.
“The keyword is “was” Luz. My Dad beat my mom to death and was arrested and hauled off to jail. Hence, I now live in an orphanage,” Kennedy said as Luz flinched.
“Sorry…”
“No need to apologize,” Kennedy said, waving it off as if it was nothing. “‘sides, it was a valid question,” and with that, the group of three re-boarded the bus, heading to their seats at the back. It was only then that Luz realized that Stanley had been the one whom Kennedy was sitting next to, the window rolled down as the tall, muscular man had one hadn’t draped out the window, smoke blowing in the wind outside of it.
Luz was kind of upset with herself that she had failed to notice him. But, then again, given the fact that he was now sitting upright and not asleep, he was far easier to spot now. Stanley looked over to Luz and Julia, his expression neutral.
“Those new friends of yours, Ken?” Stanley asked as Kennedy nodded.
“Yup. Stan, meet Luz and Julia,” Kennedy introduced as Stanley nodded in greeting. Luz waved awkwardly as Julia did the same, only politely, as if she had been trained to do it in that specific way.
Luz yawned, a wave of drowsiness washing over her. She could hardly keep her eyes open. Not that it was her fault, she could hardly sleep well last night. Especially after that argument. “If you guys don’t mind, I’m going to take a nap. Julia, can we trade spots?”
“I don’t mind,” Julia said, standing up as the two traded places. Stretching briefly, Luz curled up into a ball and rested her head against the window, closing her eyes.
“Don’t wake me unless it’s important…” Luz grumbled, as she did, very quickly, she found herself in a deep sleep.
…at least, that was the case, until her eyes shot open, sucking in a deep breath as if she had just been pulled out from underwater. Her eyes from left to right, and instead of finding herself on the bus, she found herself in the same dark, void-like location she had woken up in two nights prior. Nothing had changed about the place. The interior was still the same.
The same two throne-like chairs greeted her, empty as they had been the last time she was here. A cold chill washed through the void-like room as Luz shrunk in on herself, a feeling of nothing but despair taking root.
Where was she? How did she get here? She knew this was some kind of lucid dream, but why now? Lucid dreams, from what she knew, were not reoccurring. So why now was she having this one again? She swallowed the building fear in her throat, as, suddenly, without warning, several blue lights began to glow around the roof of the void-like room, each providing an eerie glow.
She flinched in place, looking from left to right, her eyes dilating in fear as she faced the pair of thrones in front of her. “What’s going on?!”
“ルース・ノセダ….”
A deep, baritone voice reverberated throughout the void-like room as Luz looked over her shoulder, into the darkness behind her. What she saw was nothing but two pits of crimson red staring at her from a distance. A shadowy form, with no body, no face, just two crimson, demonic red eyes. And it was speaking to her in, from what she could understand, Japanese.
“まだ準備ができていない。接続が完了していません.”
Suddenly, a gust of powerful wind blew over Luz. She braced herself, putting one foot in front of the other and shielding her face with her arms. With each passing second, the gusts of wind grew stronger and heavier, the lights on the walls slowly going out. Behind her, a white, door-like gate appeared, and just as Luz was being lifted from the ground by the wind, the voice had one last thing to say, even if she could not understand it.
“次にあなたが影と過去の記憶の世界に戻ったとき、私たちは多くのことを話し合えるだろう。目を覚ませ、ルス。運命があなたを待っている.”
And then, she was flung out of the void-like dream. She shot up in her seat, her breathing heavy and shakily with sweat trickling down the side of her face, her eyes dilated in her fear. Her heart beat against her chest rhythmically, as if she had just finished running a marathon racing against a pack of feral wolves.
Slowly, she began to calm down, swallowing down the lump in her throat as she blinked, adrenaline leaving her system as she looked around the bus. It was… empty, and it was completely dark out. The bus driver was oddly slack, and… so was the attendant.
Fear once again began to claw up her spine as she slowly stood up, grabbing her suitcase. Had she been left behind? That wasn’t right. Why was she left behind? Where was everyone?
“Hello…?” Luz said, her voice meek and timid. So many questions raced through her mind. What was that just now? That freaky dream? That voice, and why was it speaking to her in a language she couldn’t understand? And now this? Where was everyone? What had happened? Why hadn’t anyone woken her up?
Slowly, taking one step at a time, Luz crept down the aisle of the bus, and when she made it to the front and turned to look at the attendant, she was slumped over the seat… with a bullet wound right between her eyes, which stared vacantly at the ceiling lifelessly. Luz screamed, stumbling backward into the driver, who, as soon as she bumped into him, also had a bullet between his eyes… and riddling his face and upper torso.
Blood droplets from his wounds splattered on Luz’s face and clothing, as she shoved his body off of her. She stumbled forward, grabbed her suitcase and ran down the stairs of the bus entrance. When she got out there, she was met with seven dead bodies, all riddled with bullet holes. All of the bodies belonged to the children aboard who did not have any superpowers.
Luz wanted to puke, her body shivering with fear as she swallowed down the vomit. What the hell happened here!? What was going on?! Where was—
A sharp pain reverberated throughout her body, as a loud, smacking sound sounded off behind her. She didn’t even realize what had happened. All she felt was something hitting her in the back of the head, and after that, she hit the grassy floor, and the last thing she remembered seeing was the black boot and the beginnings of camo-coloured pants.
“We found the last one. Project Protect America is officially underway….”
And then, there was silence….
[XXXX]
Camila sat at home, having just gotten off shift at the vet clinic. Today had been an absolute nightmare, filled with nothing but screaming patients, panicking over their pets and their health, to constant confused phone calls from other previous pet owners who were trying to figure out what to do now that their child had dog ears.
¿Qué demonios was she supposed to do about a child with dog ears?! She was a vet, not a doctor. Oh, sure, she had basic medical training, but that was all. The rest of her training was directed toward four-legged or winged animals. Not people. And those treatments weren’t exactly transferable to people. No matter their newfound animalistic mutation.
Oh well, at least she was getting paid overtime due to staying two hours later than normal. Sitting on the couch, she relaxed into the back cushion, closing her eyes as she took a deep breath, and exhaled. She could really go for a glass of wine right about now. Unfortunately, she was bone dry from last night. She was pretty sure she had gotten blackout drunk, having not remembered what happened.
Whatever it was that happened, though, seemed to have been bad. She had woken up to there being a red stain on the rear wall and shattered glass. Coupled with how Luz had acted this morning, being distant and nervous around her…. It made Camila question what had happened.
She had a feeling that whatever she had done was horrible. She wasn’t blind to the facts that had been presented to her. A shattered glass with a red stain on the wall? Either Luz took her wine glass from her and threw it away, or… she threw the wine glass at Luz. And if it was the latter rather than the former, then that would have explained why she was so distant.
Unfortunately, she had no way of confirming what had happened with Luz. She had already left for Reality Check Summer Camp, and wouldn’t have cell service there for her to call her. So, she’d just have to wait till the end of summer vacation.
Camila would like to think that she was a good mother. She put a roof over her daughter’s head, put food on the table, and tried her best to be supportive. Oh, sure, they had their roadblocks and their arguments, but it was never anything detrimental.
And yet, now she was starting to have doubts. Doubts that wasn’t the mother that she thought herself to be. In truth, it had been a struggle ever since Manny died. Working late into the night, being shouted at by pet owners for not being able to read their thoughts about what they wanted done to their cat dog or bird. Stressing over whether or not she was giving the correct medicine to the right animal, and in that dosage that they needed.
Sometimes she slept at the Vet Clinic, not coming home till the next day, and coming home to a mess as if a tornado tore through the place. Luz was a messy person, that much was obvious. She blamed it on her hyperactivity and her inability to sit down and chill out for a few hours. She always had to be doing something, and that caused Camila even more stress.
It was managable with Manny around. But after his tragic passing in a horrendous car crash, whilst he was taking their daughter to daycare for that afternoon, things had only gotten harder. And to make matters even worse, Luz was showing no signs of maturing, or at least, in the way that most people did. Some people thought that was a good thing. Camila, on the other hand, didn’t.
More than anything in the world, Camila wanted an extra pair of hands to help around the house. To make a living and income so that they didn’t have to go paycheque to paycheque for half the year. Oh, sure, there was the option of going on dates, but she personally wasn’t interested, and she wasn’t going to force herself into a loveless relationship for money purposes only. She was desperate for money, but not that desperate.
So, with all of the stress she experienced to give her more than enough gray hair to last her till she got to her 60s, she found it acceptable that she could reward herself with a drink or two. But, if that drinking was causing Luz’s and her relationship to go by the wayside, then maybe she should try and go sober again. For good.
The problem was that, when you are addicted to something, you get heavily irritated and become quick to anger without the vice you’re addicted to. It’s a cruel cycle. Even crueller when it comes to vices like alcohol.
The worst part about this whole ordeal was that she never remembered anything from when she got drunk. Not even an inkling or a sense od déjà vu. Apparently, that was called “Jekyll and Hyde syndrome.” Not quite disassociative identity disorder, nor was it borderline personality disorder, but it was related.
It didn’t excuse whatever her behaviour was when she got into that state. Whatever she did, as it was obviously something bad, was unacceptable.
Camila sighed, sitting upright as she took off her glasses and wiped her face, dragging her hand across it as she yawned. Forget making dinner, she was close to passing out. Just as she was about to get up to head to her bedroom, a buzzing sensation vibrated in her left pocket. She didn’t need to check what it was, because she already knew it was her phone ringing. Her only question was who could be calling her at 10:45 in the evening?
Taking her phone out of her pocket, she looked at the screen and raised an eyebrow. She recognized the number but was still confused as to why it was calling her. It was the St. Peter’s Liturgical Church. Why would they be calling her now? She hadn’t been there in over a month and a half. Maybe they were calling to check up on her? That was entirely possible, but still, it did strike her as a little… odd.
Deciding that it wasn’t worth her time to question it, answering the phone, Camila put it up to her ear and spoke. “Hello? Camila Noceda speaking. What can I do for you?”
“Oh, good heavens, I’m glad I got into contact with you, Camila,” an elderly, but familiar voice exited the phone’s speaker, the voice having belonged to Pastor Domenico. Once again, Camila was left confused. Why on earth would he be calling her now? He was usually in bed by this time. Then again, the Church was closed on Wednesdays, so it made sense if he decided to stay up later than usual.
Still, though, it was weird. The last time Pastor Domenico called her directly, it was regarding the funeral service for Manny. And that was well over a decade ago. So what could’ve possessed him to call her like this?
“Pastor! Good evening. You sound… upset. Is something the matter?” Camila asked as Pastor Domenico cleared his throat.
“Pray tell, have you watched the news at all today?” Domenico asked as Camila’s eyebrow raised even further, confusion painting her expression. Camila, in general, hardly watched the news in the first place. To her, it was all over-dramatized slop for people who had nothing going on in their lives to watch. The only time she watched the news was during election season, and that was so she stayed up to date with the polls. Still, as Domenico spoke, there was a hint of fear and nervousness in his voice. Why would he be afraid? And how did the news tie into any of this?
“Uh… no I haven’t. Why?”
“Turn on the TV and go to CNN. It’s important,” Domenico instructed, and out of the need to cure whatever was building up inside her, Camila did just that. She grabbed the TV remote that was next to her and flipped on the TV, which was a 27-inch flatscreen TV. It cost her around about $685 to buy, and that was because it was second-hand. Once the TV was on, she flipped through the channels until she got to CNN. And what was on made her stomach drop.
“Thank you, Stephen. Returning after the weather, we still do not know the full story behind the bus attack in Springfield, Connecticut. The bus belonged to the privately owned Reality Check Summer Camp, and for unknown reasons, it was attacked at 9:30 pm. The crime was reported at 10:00 pm when a scream came from the area of the attack, and since then, the only information police have been willing to give us is that there were nine bodies found at the scene of the crime, two adults, seven children, four female and five male.
“All of the children are currently unidentified. According to currently collected evidence, forty children were reported to have been on the bus, thirty-three of which are a part of the new “aberrants” popping up worldwide. Police suspect this to be a kidnapping by a terrorist organization, and are currently asking for help investigating. The FBI has been notified and will be joining the investigation as soon as possible. As soon as we have more information, you can count on us at CNN to deliver it to you immediately.”
Camila stared at her TV, her hand covering her mouth as her eyes widened to the size of saucers. This couldn’t be happening. Luz was on that bus. Her querida hija was on that bus, and she was just finding out now that it was attacked. If Pastor Domenico hadn’t called, she would’ve never found out, because she would have never turned on the TV.
“Camila, are you still there?” Domenico’s voice broke through her thoughts as Camila snapped back to reality.
“Y-Yes. O-Oh, dios mio! I-I need to call—”
“Don’t bother, Camila. I already have. The police still haven’t identified the bodies. But, there is a silver lining. I gave them Luz’s description, and none of the bodies matched it. So while she isn’t dead, that still means that your daughter has most likely been kidnapped by whatever group did this. I’m sorry.”
And just like that, Camila’s heart sank further. While Luz was alive, thank God, her fate was still up in the air. What did those people, whoever they were, want with her daughter? She wouldn’t know, and likely would never know until the situation was solved. And by then, who knew what would’ve happened to her daughter?
For all she knew, she could be dead by that time. And to know that their last interaction was one that potentially resulted in a fight…. It made her well up inside.
“Camila, try and get some rest. It’s already late and I know that work must have been hellish for you. I’ll let you know if I hear about anything else, alright?” Pastor Domenico said as Camila hummed in acknowledgement, hanging up the phone moments later as it fell to the couch with a thud.
All Camila could do was sit on her couch, hands in her face as she sobbed. Her daughter was in danger, and there was nothing she could do. And the worst part? She had sent her there. She had put her on that bus, and now because of that, because she put Luz on that bus, she may or may not be dead due to her actions.
Camila Noceda was a horrible mother.
[XXXX]
A throbbing headache was the first thing that Luz was greeted two when her eyes peeled open, the rays of the sun blinding her in the process. She felt something soft, yet slightly uncomfortable underneath her—like a stiff mattress or something akin to that. Her hand lazily hung over her face as she blocked out the sun, squinting all the while. Luz groaned, slowly sitting up as she clutched the back of her head. What was going on? Where was she? All she remembered from last night was…
“The bus!” Luz exclaimed, shooting up from whatever she was lying on, instantly regretting it as she groaned once more, her headache worsening as she did. A cacophony of confused voices echoed throughout wherever they were being held up, as Luz surveyed the area.
From what she could tell, they seemed to be in a tent. The tent walls were dark green, with plastic windows on the roof. Metal beams kept the tent from falling on them, planted firmly in the ground, and lined against the walls were metal-framed beds with white sheets and white mattresses. There were no pillows, just the mattress and sheet.
And also, as she noticed, everyone still had their shoes on. They slept with their shoes on, even her…. That was just barbaric. Clearly whoever kidnapped them—because that was obviously what had happened, there was no two ways about it—were monsters. Although, that was apparent, given their situation.
“Luz?” Julia’s voice cut through her observation as she turned to look in the direction of where she was, that being right next to her. “Are you alright?”
“Could be better…” Luz answered, chuckling awkwardly as she scanned the room once more. Everyone on the bus who hadn’t been… killed were here, all of them having strings attached to their foreheads, confirming her theory that those who had been shot and killed were those without powers. That only led to a single, solitary question forming in her mind.
“Where are we?”
“EVERYONE, FRONT AND CENTER!” A bellowing voice echoed out from the entrance of the tent, catching everyone’s attention. The voice belonged to a man dressed in a camo, army-styled uniform. He had peach-coloured skin, and on the left side of his army coat, there was a name tag. Sergent Dempsey.
Sergent Dempsey had a shaved head, piercing brown eyes, and a look that screamed of revulsion. His hands were behind his back, standing in proper military form. Proud and tall, without slouching even an inch. He overlooked the room, eyes narrowed, before grunting. “Alright, maggots. You have ten minutes to figure yourselves out. And then, I expect to see you out of this tent. If you’re not, I’ll come back in here and drag you kicking and screaming. Understood?!”
Confused and scared silence was all he was met with, which seemed to make him angry. “I said… DO YOU FILTHY f*ckING WASTES OF SKIN UNDERSTAND?!”
That got everyone to respond, as a cacophony of “Yes sirs” echoed out from the tent. Dempsey nodded, before turning around and walking out of the tent. Something told Luz that this wasn’t Reality Check Summer Camp. If anything, this seemed more like boot camp. And considering what it was that she saw back on the bus….
“Alright, I think it’s fairly obvious, but something f*cked up is going on,” a rough-sounding voice echoed from the back of the tent. Luz looked in that direction and saw Stanely, who sat on his bed with one leg pressed up against his chest, his right arm draped over it.
“Thanks for pointing out the obvious,” another voice spoke up, but this one was one Luz didn’t recognize. It was feminine, and the person to whom it belonged was a shoulder-length black-haired girl with cat ears sticking out of the top of her head, along with whiskers coming out from her cheeks. A single pointed tooth poked out from underneath her upper lip as a frown sat on her face.
She looked a little on the bulkier side, and she was dressed in a black, knee-high dress with cat-themed leggings, along with a pair of high-top boots. One of her arms had a sleeve that started at the elbow and stopped at the wrist, X’s sitting on the interior of the sleeve, and on her fingers were what appeared to be long, three-inch claws that replaced her nails. She sat on her bed in the butterfly position, one hand pressed against the mattress while her other rested against her leg.
“So, what’re we going to do? Do as they say? We’re the ones with powers here, right? We could easily beat the crap out of them!” A boy with bright orange hair, fiery red eyes, and pale skin with freckles exclaimed, one of his hands bursting to light with fire as a smirk took up his visage.
“Yeah, great idea! Then we can all get shot by high-power assault rifles together! Go us!” A sarcastic, german accented voice spoke from the front of the tent, as Luz once again found herself looking in that direction. The voice belonged to a pale-blonde-haired woman who looked to be around eighteen years old with emerald green eyes and freckles.
She was dressed in a black leather vest with spikes on the shoulders, and a sleeveless dark blue tube top that topped just below the chest, revealing her midriff and exposing her belly button, alongside a pair of jean shorts with torn edges, and a black beanie that sat lopsided atop her head. A black spiked choker fitted around her neck and matched with her spiked bracelets. To complete the punk outfit, she wore fishnet stockings with spike-toed boots that had belt straps on the sides.
“Hey! It’s not a bad idea! Besides, fire trumps guns 100 times out of 100! Scared of a couple of loud noises, Nazi?” The redhead asked, a snarky tone to his voice as
“Blöder amerikanischer Hund. You want to die, don’t you? Also, just because I am German does not make me a Nazi Du mieses Schwein,” the punk woman spat, glaring at the redhead. It was only when someone cleared their voice loud enough to get everyone’s attention that the two stopped glaring at one another, and for everyone to turn to face the person in question, said person being Kennedy.
“Ladies, ladies, you’re both ugly, so let’s not fight and analyze the situation we’re in, yeah?” Kennedy said, earning a glare from the punk woman, not that Kennedy seemed to care. “Right now, we’re hostages of some militant group. What or who they are, we don’t know, nor do we know what they want, so instead of sitting here and plotting to attack them right away, let’s go see what they want. Besides, for all we know, they could have our families held hostage.”
For as much as Luz hated that idea, Kennedy was right. They had zero power in this situation, and while it was tempting to do what the redhead said, the smarter choice would be to scope out the situation. See what could be done, and if it was nothing, then follow what the kidnappers wanted until an advantageous position showed itself.
What? She had played her fair share of strategy games. She knew what was she talking about.
“Alright, so then, why don’t we get to it?” Luz said, springing off of the mattress she was on, followed by everyone else doing the same. As they began to walk out, Luz noticed that Julia had decided to stick close to her, because she was standing next to her, and was holding her hand. Luz wanted to say something about it, but given how much Julia was shivering and seemingly terrified, she decided not to object.
Once they stepped out of the tent, they were met with a wide, open forest surrounding them from all sides. Trees that reached up to touch the sky blocked their view of anything except the sky and nature. Everything, except, for the small battalion of soldiers standing in a semi-circle behind one, singular man. A man whom Luz recognized from seeing him on billboards and TV.
The man was tall, with broad shoulders and a beard that went down to the base of his neck. He had a predator smile plastered on his face, and his blue eyes gleamed with anticipation. He was dressed in a black suit with a white shirt and red tie underneath, accompanied by a pair of black slip-on shoes. On his upper right lapel was an American flag pin, and he held himself in high regard, as not even for a second did he slouch.
“Is that… The Governor?” Stanley said, blinking in shock as the man looked over to Stanley, his smile widening.
“Why yes, hello young man, you’d be correct. I am your dutifully elected Governor, Governor Rodger Maxwell! And I would like to thank you all for coming to Reality Check Summer Camp,” Maxwell said as Luz raised a skeptical eyebrow. This was Reality Check Summer Camp?
“I call bullsh*t! This ain’t no Summer Camp! You kidnapped us!” A bulky-looking Hawaiian teen spat, who looked eerily similar to Stanley. He had muddy-brown skin, jet-black hair, and dark brown eyes. The main difference between Stanley and this guy was that he was wearing an orange and white striped, short-sleeved, V-collar shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans and brown timberlands. Aside from that, they looked like long-lost brothers.
In response to the accusations, Maxwell chuckled light-heartedly, rocking on his heels and toes a few times before clearing his throat, and staring at the Hawaiian teen. “Well, you’re not wrong. There’s no point trying to lie. But, legally speaking, I didn’t. See, I recently purchased Reality Check Summer Camp, and since you all willingly signed up for it, I did not kidnap you.”
“What about the people you killed on that bus!” Luz blurted out, glaring at Maxwell, who turned to face her. She had expected to see an angered glare. Instead, she got a smug grin and a confident stare. And that wasn’t to mention the cool, calm and collected stance he took…. “He’s a psychopath! Oh my god he’s insane!”
“Unfortunate casualties that didn’t need to happen, but did anyway. Besides? I didn’t anyone to know where you lot were taken. This is kind of Top Secret, and the Government does this kind of thing regularly. Once again, I’m legally in the right.” Maxwell then turned away from Luz and stared everyone down. “Now, time to explain to you all what’s going to happen. For the next two and a half months, you all are going to be put into three groups of eleven, and the last team alive wins $150,000,000 divided among themselves, followed by signing an NDA to not speak of what happened here. M’kay?”
While most of the people were focused on the large chunk of change that Maxwell offered for the winning team, Luz included because holy sh*t, that was a lot of money! Julia was the one who spoke up, alerting everyone to a minor, very important detail that changed the scenario from a strange but interesting game to something far, far more nefarious.
“What do you mean by the last team alive?” Julia asked as the large-scale discussion halted immediately after those words left Julia’s mouth.
“Oh? Well, isn’t obvious? This is a life-or-death game! Welcome to reality, kiddos! Any questions?”
-To Be Continued-
[Ending Song: Life – By: Rude-a]
Notes:
What The “Mysterious Figure”, Camila, and Emelia Worstoch said in English:
(1) Luz Noceda….
(2) You are not ready. The connection is not complete.
(3) Next time you return to the world of shadows and memories of the past, we will have much to discuss. Wake up, Luz. Fate awaits you.
(4) What the hell […]
(5) Darling daughter
(6) Stupid American dog
(7) you rotten swine
Chapter 4: Season 1 - Episode 4: The Not So Dull Summer Camp - Part 3
Chapter Text
[Opening Song: Kyouran Hey Kids!! – By: The Oral Cigarettes]
[The “Not-So-Dull” Summer Camp – Pt 3]
Silence. No one dared to exhale even the faintest bit louder than a whisper. Whatever conversations were being had before Maxwell answered Julia’s question had completely halted, in favour of staring at Maxwell and the militia behind him. It was only now that Luz had gotten the chance to see what they had been carrying, and it wasn’t limited to rifles.
They had heavy machine guns, shotguns, and even miniguns. They were prepared should any one of them step out of line. And the worst part? They knew that they had them cornered. Sure, they all had superpowers of some variety. But bullets would still pierce flesh. Still strike arteries. Still do ever-lasting damage.
Those weapons were used to render whatever they fired at into tiny little bloody puddles. They weren’t aimed at them just yet. But she felt as if at any moment, should any of them breathe incorrectly, they would be aiming down their sights faster than she could say “Wait”. What was worse was the look in their eyes.
They were bloodthirsty. Ready and waiting. Maxwell stood behind them, arms at his sides, expression twisted into one of false glee. The weight of his words hung heavily over them.
There was often a saying used to justify actions like these, the saying going along the lines of “This is a kill or be killed world so it’s best to be the one who kills first, otherwise, you might be the one killed.” But she didn’t think it would apply to this situation. At least, currently. Maybe… maybe there was a way out of this?
“I, uh… what?” A French-accented voice spoke out, as Luz glanced in the voice’s direction. A black-haired boy who looked no older than twelve stood more toward the center of the group, skin an ashen pale most likely due to the fear he was feeling. He had a single streak of white going through the right half of his hair, and he had heterochromia, with one of his eyes being blue, and the other silver.
He was dressed in a black shirt with a missing right sleeve, and a pair of dark brown shorts with black socks and shoes. He had a burn scar on his wrist, and she noticed that he had a hole in his wrist—most likely a side-effect of his power, whatever it might have been.
“What’s the matter? Can’t handle the truth?” Maxwell asked as the boy flinched.
“N-No, it’s just… why?”
“Why?” Maxwell replied, tilting his head slightly to the left as if puzzled. He smirked, before tilting his head upward ever-so-slightly, holding his head high as if he were some kind of judge. “Well, I could lie and say that I want you all turned into super soldiers for the benefit of the country. But, considering that’s what Texas is doing, quite literally might I add, I wanted to do something else. Except, I didn’t know where to begin. Until one person approached me and offered me a deal I just couldn’t refuse.”
As Maxwell spoke, the tension in the air seemed to spike. Luz was the only one who noticed it, her shoulders raising as she felt herself begin to shake. She couldn’t tell if it was out of fear, or anger, or both. But the feeling Maxwell’s words gave off was nothing but sinister. That was obvious, especially considering the context behind them, but still!
“This person offered me as much money as I needed to make this project a reality. We only had a week to do it, but it worked out in the end, didn’t it? I can’t go saying my benefactor's name, but they are a consistent backer of mine. But, instead of making it obvious and boring and painfully clear that all I want is for you kids to die—because, I mean, I’m an open book. There’s no reason to lie about it. I decided to make it a game! And, don’t worry, I’m a man of my word. If there are any survivors by the end of it, you’ll get the money I promised.”
“This isn’t a game… this is just murder with extra steps! How can this lunatic think this is a game?!” Luz thought, frowning. She was getting major Danganronpa vibes off of this man. The more he talked, the more he sounded like Junko. Except, even Junko was more reasonable than this nutcase.
“But why?!” Kennedy exclaimed, glaring daggers at Maxwell, his hands clenched into fists as he sneered. “What did we ever do to deserve this!? We’re just kids! It’s not like we kicked your dog or some sh*t!” Kennedy spat, taking a step forward. As he did, the sound of a gun firing echoed throughout the silent clearing in the forest, causing Kennedy to stop dead in his tracks.
In the dirt, an inch away from where Kennedy stood, there was a bullet hole. Kennedy paled, eyes wide as Maxwell frowned, turning to look behind him, his back facing them. “Which one of you idiots fired your gun?” As Maxwell asked that, one of the soldiers from the back raised their hand. Maxwell sighed, before digging something out of his pocket, that something being a gun, a revolver, to be precise.
Maxwell pulled back the hammer on the gun, and without so much as giving the soldier a chance to say anything, he raised the gun toward him, and fired, shooting a bullet between the man’s eyes, watching as he fell to the ground in a heap, his gun falling to the floor as well. The other soldiers straightened out, holding their heads high and keeping their guns lowered.
Maxwell pocketed the gun, the butt of it sticking out from his pocket as he glowered. “Now, I don’t think I should have to say that we’re trying to get these kids to not panic anymore than they probably are. What’s rule number one about hunting an animal? You, private Stevenson!”
“Never try and make them feel threatened, sir!”
“You’re goddamn right! So, let’s make this a lesson, folks! No firing at the kiddos unless they try to escape, ‘kay?” Maxwell said to the soldiers, who all barked out “yes sirs” in tandem with one another. Maxwell then turned to face the would-be campers turned hostages, a slightly apologetic look on his face. “My apologies for that, son. He didn’t know his place. Anyways… what were you going to do? Attack me? Tackle me? Punch me? Don’t suppose you have a plan, do you?”
Kennedy gulped, taking a step back as Maxwell smirked. “Smart boy. Now then, any other questions before we begin the main event?” Maxwell asked, scanning the crowd. All Luz could think about was just what kind of mess she had gotten herself into. She was stuck in a rock and a hard place and that hard place was backed up against a grinder.
Their lives were, essentially, handed to a psychopath with what appeared to be the attitude of a child. Either that, or he was having way too much fun. What was worse was that this whole thing could’ve been avoided if she had just stayed home. Ignored the wishes of her mother, and tried to lie to her about the bus not showing up when she got home from work.
Though, then again, that probably wouldn’t have ended well either. She most likely would get angry at Luz, and they’d have a repeat of last night, just… hopefully without the whole glass-throwing thing. Assuming she’d get drunk. If not, then hey, maybe they could have a civilized conversation. But that was all just a bunch of what-ifs, and it was unfortunately not the reality of things.
The reality of things was that she was stuck in what amounted to a game of life and death, surrounded by a bunch of complete strangers, with no real way to escape without the threat of being gunned down! And all of this was happening on the third day of summer vacation! Just what kind of screwed-up situation did she find herself in? What was this, a book? A TV show? A movie? Where are the cameras, the director, or the showrunner? Because she sure heck wasn’t seeing them!
Unfortunately, there was nothing of the sort. This was the reality of the situation. This was real. She could truly, honestly, die here. All it would take was one wrong move. One wrong word. It didn’t matter. She would die horribly, so for her sake, she had to keep her mouth shut. Because she knew the moment she opened her mouth, she would say something to piss Maxwell off.
Then came everyone else. Her fellows in this situation, and the threat they presented to her now. They were all superpowered children, much like her, and they knew the stakes, too. They knew that they were in a kill-or-be-killed situation. And chances were? They were eyeing up each other, her included.
It was only then that she realized, truly, that she was a dud. They were being thrust into a situation that banked on survival of the fittest, and she had yet to figure out her powers, what they did, and how they functioned. While some people’s powers were hidden or unable to be figured out, some of them, like the girl with the cat ears, were obvious.
What was she going to do if she ever got into a fight with these people? Maybe she could try and talk them down? Pull a Naruto and befriend them? That was honestly her best shot until she figured out what her palm-holes did. She was still working on the theory of her being able to copy people’s powers. But, for all she knew, she could be wrong.
What she did know, was that, compared to everyone else, she was nothing. She had nothing to her name, no ability to fight, and the unique thing she had was her ability to see strings on people’s faces that made her hands spark red! What kind of lame power was that?!
“Everyone else in this place has stronger, better powers than myself, even Julia does! If I’m caught off guard by someone who has murder on their mind….”
A wave of dread washed over her as a horrifying idea welled its way through her head, finally fully setting in. “Oh, Dios mío! I could die here!” The dread on her face was visible to anyone who looked at her. She felt a squeezing sensation on her right hand, and when she turned to look where it was coming from, she saw Julia.
She had completely forgotten that Julia was next to her, still holding her hand, still just as scared as she was, and was now staring at her with concern in her eyes. It was sweet, and she was glad she had someone like Julia right about now. Despite having just met, it was clear that Julia was, on some level, an empathetic person. She liked that. Aside from her mother and late father, oh, and her cousin Riley on some levels and Mr. Jones, Julia was the only person she had known who had been nice to her.
“Are you alright?” Julia whispered as Luz sucked back a shaky breath, nodding. Julia looked unconvinced but didn’t bother to say anything. She just smiled and nodded, letting go of Luz’s hand, who swallowed a lump down her throat. Her nerves were all over the place right now, and try as hard as she could, she couldn’t get them under control.
After a few more moments of silence, Maxwell nodded to himself, before speaking up. “Alright, to the main event, it is! Now, pay attention, because I won’t explain this again. The game that’ll be had all summer long, or until one team is left standing, is called Civil War! The rules are simple. All thirty-three of you will be split up into teams of eleven, and of that group of eleven, one of you will be pronounced the Leader. It is that leader’s job to, well, lead the team to victory! Everyone following me so far, nod your head yes or shake your head no.”
Everyone nodded in unison.
“Great! Now, some ground rules! I will condone murder and torture on game grounds. I mean, that’s the whole point. But I don’t want any of you older kids to get frisky, ya hear? We’re here for killing not making love, yeah? Don’t matter if there was consent or not involved. I don’t want to see it, because I have cameras set up everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. And where I don’t have cameras, I have drones. Which leads me to my next point. No breaking the equipment on purpose. If it’s an obvious accident, that’s cool, sh*t happens. Especially so with superpowers.
“Now, these are the three most important rules. Everyone gets a base. Each of your teams will be led by one of three individuals to go to your corresponding bases. For Team Alpha Squadron, when you’re all picked out, you’ll be led by Sergeant Dempsey. You all met him, he’s the guy that woke your sorry asses up,” Maxwell said, pointing to the man in question, who was standing beside what Luz assumed to be the flag of that group, which was black with three large blue knives going across it, along with the initials A.S in the upper right corner.
“Team Foxtrot will be led out to their base by Sergeant Mathers. He’s the big black guy with the buzzcut and beard.” As Maxwell said that, a man with dark ebony skin and bulging with muscle, dressed in the same camo uniform as every other soldier, stood next to a bright red flag with a white kitsune mask logo on it, surrounded by a sakura flower. He grunted, nodding at them as he did.
“And finally, last but not least, Team Heavens Devils will be led out to their base by Sergeant Holden. He’s the big guy with the eyepatch and bushy mustache,” Maxwell concluded as he pointed toward Sergeant Holden. He was shorter than Dempsey or Mathers, but Holden was still very much an intimidating individual.
He was like a mix between Dempsey and Mathers. He wasn’t scrawny or bulky like the other two. He fit in a comfortable in-between. He had tanned skin, either because it was a tan, or because he was born like that, and he had a single brown eye, narrowed with distaste at them as if he found their existence to be offensive. And, much like the others, he wore the same uniform, though he had a sunhat on his head to block out, well, the sun. Holden stood next to a flag that had the decal of a pair of red horns accompanying a halo, with one angelic white wing and a bat-like black wing on both sides of the decal. It was probably the most basic of designed flags that Luz had seen out of the three, but the name was kind of badass.
“Focus, Luz! Death game, remember! Don’t give this guy any praise, he’s a monster!” Luz thought to herself, turning her attention back to Maxwell. The man put his hands behind his back, clearing his throat as he did before continuing.
“Now then, as for the second very important thing. At the end of every week, until only one team remains, there will be an air-drop containing food, water, and clothing. It will land precisely in the center of the forest, and it will be your guy’s job to try and capture it for your base. Only one air-drop will be available, so be quick about it.
“Don’t be alarmed, as we have also given you enough rations to last the whole summer, provided you use them correctly, of course. The airdrops are meant to give you a safety buffer. After all, while the goal is to kill people, survival is kind of necessary. Also, it would be boring just watching a bunch of teenagers starve to death, right?”
The question was obviously rhetorical, but still, the way he said it rubbed Luz the wrong way. What was he implying here? Were… people going to be watching this? Who? Where? How? Was that why he had set up cameras? What kind of sick freaks would watch such a thing? Then again, considering just how depraved some people could be, and also the existence of murder-mystery games, and novels… yeah that checked out.
Of course, he could also be implying that it would be boring for himself, considering it was obvious that he was observing the whole thing from start to finish. Which got Luz wondering. If he was here, then who was in charge of Connecticut while he was away doing this? Was taxpayer money being poured into this death project?
She’d have to assume so. This whole thing reeked of illegality on so many levels. The only thing he probably wasn’t able to be charged for would be kidnapping since he technically was right. Luz didn’t know law stuff very well, so she just assumed he was right.
“And finally, and this is the most important one. If there is not just a single team left standing by the time the summer is out, I’ll press a neat red button in my observatory far, far away from the site of this little camp… and have it carpet bombed. And again, before you ask, I have all of these guys on my payroll, funded by your tax dollars. Isn’t that amazing?”
And just like that, things went from bad, to even worse. How was this guy even allowed to run for office as the Governor? There had to be a background check or something for that, right? That, and there was no way he was just allowed to do that. That sounded super illegal.
So, to sum up what they were being told, not only were they being forced to kill one another, but if not enough people were killed, he was just going to bomb them. She guessed that once the media found out, he would paint this as them carpet bombing the kidnappers and frame it as a shame that everyone died in the bombing.
“You… you can’t be—”
“Can’t be serious? Why, I very much am,” Maxwell said, interrupting the German girl from before, whose face had turned completely pale after what it was that Maxwell had said. This was a nightmare scenario, and the only winner here was Maxwell. He would get what he wanted, regardless of the outcome. “Now then, onto the leaders! We’ll start in reverse order, so, the Heavens Devils are up. Holden, who is the leader of Heaven’s Devils?”
Holden looked at them, before looking down at a clipboard he had pulled out from underneath his armpit. He looked back at them again, a smirk taking up his visage before a New Yorker accent came out of his mouth. “Kennedy Jennkins.”
Kennedy froze, before shaking his head. He looked back at Luz and Julia, before smiling at them. “Let’s hope we’re on the same team, yeah?” Kennedy said, before walking over to his flag, standing in front of it as per instructed by Holden, who pointed at the spot in front of the flag.
“Alright, and Foxtrot! Tell me Mathers, who gonna lead it?” Maxwell asked as Mathers wordlessly pointed at Emelia, who gulped, walking over to the flag without saying a word, standing in front of it, just like Kennedy. That left The Alpha Squadron. Maxwell smirked, before clearing his throat. “Alright, and Dempsey, who’s going to lead The Alpha Squadron?”
Dempsey smirked, co*cking his head from left to right, cracking his knuckles as he did. “Well, if it were up to me, I’d say no one, since none of you spineless f*cks are worth the sperm you were made out of. But, since I’m being forced to choose…” Dempsey said, a co*cksure tone to his voice, he tilted his head up, as if to analyze everyone.
“Hmm… well, I gotta say, this is a bit harder than I thought. Those two f*cks already had their choice when they looked at the files. I decided to wait till I got to see ya all, and personally, the type of qualities I pick in a leader are the kind who don’t show any visible fear in a dire situation. For a majority of ya, ya failed that right off the bat when I showed up. But there was one person. Only one. Who didn’t show that fear? Who stared at me, and even had the gall to glare at me. That person has balls of steel. Metaphorically speaking, obviously. And for that, they got my respect, for what that’s worth anyway.”
And then, Dempsey’s eyes landed on Luz, his smirk increasing tenfold. “And that person is you. Congratulations, Luz Noceda. You get the sh*tty job of leading a buncha pathetic whelps. Good luck. You better win this sh*t, or I swear to God, I’ll haunt ya.”
And as soon as Dempsey said that, he looked over to Maxwell, and straight out glared at him, confusing Maxwell. “What’s got your panties in a twist?”
“Max, buddy, I respect ya mate. Through ‘n through I did. We agreed on a lot. When you proposed this idea to me and this little group here, I thought you were joking. But then ya go out and do it and throw me into this mess? What kinda friend does that? So, ya know what, f*ck you. f*ck you, and f*ck your little twisted game. If you hadn’t jammed communications, I would’ve alerted the rest of the military to your sh*t. I’ll see ya in hell,” and as Dempsey said that, he drew his gun, a Berreta 92X, aimed it at Maxwell, and just as he was about to pull the trigger, a bullet shot through his skull, courtesy of Mathers.
“Damned rat,” Mathers spat as Maxwell blinked, staring at Dempsey’s corpse with a disappointed look on his face. He snapped his fingers, as another soldier took his place, while another one dragged Dempsey’s corpse away. All Luz could do was stare with wide, horrified eyes. In the last few minutes, two people were already killed, and excluding those back at the bus, that was far too many for her to stomach. But, because she was running on empty, she couldn’t exactly throw up—though she did want to.
This was awful. If Maxwell was so willing to kill his own people, be it by himself or through others, then that meant that he really did have no qualms with killing them or watching them die. A naïve part of her hoped that maybe this was all just a prank, and Maxwell had a horrible sense of humour. But, she couldn’t deny it anymore.
Once again, she was faced with the reality of the situation that this really was happening and no one was coming to save them.
“Well, that was a waste of time and effort. Oh well, not that I care,” Maxwell said, turning to face Luz. “Well, what’re you waiting for, get over there, kid.”
Luz didn’t know what to say, or to do. What happened in that moment was far too bizarre for her to even ask about. It looked like Dempsey was trying to spark something in them, but whatever it was, it didn’t work. But, those last words that Dempsey said specifically to her. The “you better win this sh*t, or I swear to God, I’ll haunt you.”
Maybe it was because she was a bit on the naïve side but she wanted to honour that. And she’d do it without killing a single person. Flat out, she would not cave to this madman’s so-called game. She refused it. But, for the time being, she’d play her role. So, she walked over to the flag, closing her eyes, before standing in front of it, glancing over at Kennedy.
Kennedy stared back at her, an upset look on his face. It was clear that he didn’t want this to happen. She guessed they were enemies now. But, that didn’t feel right. None of this felt right. Everything since the second she woke up here felt wrong, and now, more than ever, that sensation was ringing in the back of her head.
This was not what was supposed to happen. Something was missing. There had to be. Maybe this was some kind of dream. Maybe the first time, when she pinched herself, she didn’t do it hard enough. So, she did it again, and yet again, she felt that same sharp feeling when one did when they pinched themselves.
“Alright! Well, that concludes the leaders. As for the rest of the teams, choose whoever you want to go to. Just remember that only 10 people can join that specific team. We don’t want to make things unfair, do we?” You all got a minute to get this done, so, go!” As soon as those words left Maxwell’s mouth, the others filtered their way to find their respective teams.
The first person that she saw come over to her was Julia, who stood next to her, glancing over at Kennedy who nodded in understanding. The next person who joined their group was that Stanley person from the bus, and so too did that goth-looking cat girl. They both stood close to one another, both talking in hushed voices, which meant that they must’ve known who each other was.
One of the stranger people who joined Luz’s team was the boy with the holes in his wrists. The French-sounding kid. Another person who joined was the other bulky Hawaiian kid. Next to him was a girl with neck-length black hair, who seemed to have two-toned skin in splotches, like spots of black and white littering her skin, along with bright yellow eyes. She was also by far the most mature-looking person out of all of them, minus the adults and Emelia, so she was probably 18, maybe 19.
She was dressed in a brown sweater shirt with the sleeve on the right having been cut short, bandages travelling up the rest of the arm and hand, even wrapping the individual fingers. She wore a pair of high-waisted jean shorts and fishnet stockings with heeled boots. Around her neck was what appeared to be a yin-yang necklace, and over her shoulders was a cloak of sorts, a deep viridian with a circle pin keeping it in place.
Why would she be wearing a cloak? For fashion? Probably, but it was a little weird. Then again, Luz knew she had worn weirder herself. The less she talked about the embarrassing Shrek shirt, the better. Honestly, she had no idea what possessed her mother to buy it, but it was kind of funny.
The next person to approach Luz’s group was a golden blond-haired boy with hair that was styled in curls, dressed in a pink, wide-collared shirt and dark blue pants. He had paler-than-average skin and greenish-blue eyes. Along with that, he had a ladybug-themed bracelet on his wrist and a pair of slip-on red shoes. He also had a chain in his pocket that circled up to the lip of them, clipping onto it with a clamp-style clip.
The final three weren’t much to write home about. They walked to them in a group, meaning they were a tight-knit group. From left to right, there was a small girl who was maybe 13 years old with shoulder-length strawberry-red hair, pink eyes, and a permanent blush on her cheeks. She was a little on the bigger side of things, and she was dressed in a black hoodie and red pants with black hiking boots.
Then, there was a slightly taller boy with an average-ish appearance. The only thing that made Luz say that he wasn’t completely average was the streak of green in his hair. Aside from that, he had brown hair, brown eyes, and peach-coloured skin. He was also wearing a sleeveless pull-over hoodie, the hood being down, with a pair of light brown cargo shorts and black sandals. Of note, he also had a tattoo on his arm, signifying that either his parents allowed him to get a tattoo, or he was older and just turned out to be a bit on the small side. The tattoo in question was of the Vampire Mask from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, a show that Luz wasn’t exactly too fond of due to the intense amount of gore.
Finally, the person on the right was another boy, though he was the tallest there. If the strawberry-haired girl and the average-ish guy were four foot five and five feet flat, then he was five feet seven inches, hitting the standard height most boys were supposed to be at 16 years old. He was dressed in a standard white T-shirt with short sleeves, and the starting of a mustache on his upper lip. He had a nose ring piercing, along with a few horn piercings in his eyebrow. He also had a pride flag pin on the shoulder front-facing part of his shoulder.
He also wore a pair of snake-skin slacks, held up by a pair of black leather belts, along with a pair of cowboy boots. A pair of suspenders was also attached to the lip of the pants, and he had a bowtie on the collar of his shirt. It was like he had walked out from the Wild West, and it was more than a little jarring.
Luz looked over to the other groups, though she could see no one she recognized from the bus in the other teams. Although, the boy with orange hair was on Kennedy’s team, and he looked more than a little eager to get things rolling. It made Luz wonder just how many other of her fellow kidnap victims were of the same mindset as him.
Kennedy, for his part, didn’t seem the least bit happy about his attitude but didn’t show it. She could tell, though. It all came from how his eyes gleamed with annoyance staring at the redhead. As for Emelia’s team, she looked content with the people she had around her. Luz looked over her team and felt fairly confident. Now all she had to do was find a way to not have this whole thing end in a blood bath.
“Alright, alright! This is looking good! Now, one more thing. For the next 24 hours, there will be a time of peace. Meaning no bloodshed can occur during this time,” Maxwell said, clasping his hands together, before smirking. “Holden, Mathers, and Private Daniels will lead you now to your bases, respectively. Get going!”
And so, without another word, they were led off to where they needed to be, into the brush of the forest led by their captors to where they would be for the rest of the summer break. As they hiked through the woods, no words were exchanged with anyone. The sounds of the wilds echoed around them, such as the chirping of birds, the rustling of bushes, and the rays of the sun peaking out from the leaves covering the sky.
All the while, Luz was left to her thoughts, frowning as she did. She couldn’t find any silver lining here. Not only were they kidnapped, but they were on a time limit, too. She glanced down at her hands and shivered. Maybe… maybe she could just let the other two teams kill themselves. But, then that meant that Kennedy had to die, and Kennedy was a friend, so that couldn’t happen.
“This sucks… what am I doing to do!?” Luz thought, clasping her forehead as she mindlessly followed Private Daniels and everyone else through the forest. She glanced over at Julia, who had a stoic expression on her face, her hands clasped one over the other as she walked forward. Everyone else was still in the groups they had made for themselves, seemingly watching each other's backs.
Luz felt out of the loop. But then again, she was used to that. As Luz continued to walk, she stared blankly ahead, stuffing her hands into her shorts pockets. She had to admit, that probably the only good thing about this was that they were in the wilderness, so they were away from constant air pollution. Not to mention the sound of the birds chirping was nice. It helped her—
“Watch out for the root. You’ll trip.”
Out of nowhere, a sudden, baritone voice invaded her thoughts, causing her head to ache. Clasping her head in pain, she hissed, squinting her eyes as she stopped dead in her tracks. The group stopped, turning to look at her, including Private Daniels—not that he seemed to care, more of it was out of reflex. Luz looked up, then at the ground, and saw the root that the voice had mentioned.
She looked back at everyone else and smiled faintly, laughing awkwardly to herself. “Sorry ‘bout that… uh, sudden migraine?”
“Whatever,” Private Daniels spat, before continuing forward. Julia walked over to Luz’s side and helped her up. She glared at the back of Private Daniel’s head, before turning back to face Luz.
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
“I’m fine Julie, promise,” Luz said, smiling earnestly as Julia stared at her for a second, determining whether or not she was lying or not. If she had made a decision, Luz couldn’t tell, as she backed away, smiling, before following the rest of the group, who had begun to leave them behind. Luz glanced back at the root, then scratched the side of her head, following after everyone.
That voice…. It was the same one from her dream, though this time it was speaking English and not Japanese. “What is going on today…? Why is my life becoming so damn weird all of a sudden?” Luz thought, shaking her head with disbelief and annoyance. This was starting to get a little too much, even for her.
It took another hour before they were brought to their base, and when they got there, all Luz could do was stare up at it with a mix of amazement, and also disgust, especially considering what it took to get her there. What she was being forced to do, and why she was being forced to do it.
The walls were made of logs, spiked at the top with two towers at the entrance. A giant-bridge-like gate sat between them and the interior, with flags planted into the walls, said flags belonging to them. Private Daniels marched them inside the base, and as they entered, Luz was able to get an idea of just how large their base was.
The walls of the base were at least 30 feet wide and 30 feet high—at least, that was what Luz thought anyway. There was a lot of open space, mostly empty but still, there was stuff to do. Several wooden cabins sat in the center in a semi-circle, about three to exact. In the center of the cabins, there was a campfire, unlit with supplies next to it to light a fire. There were also cooking materials like pots and pans hanging from a makeshift rack.
Out from the center of the base, there were two pathways, one going left and the other going right. On the left, there was a path leading to what appeared to be a bathroom set up with two outhouses, both connected to a septic tank that was covered by a wooden building. Luz knew that because of the sign on the building of a tank and the common graphic for the toxic smell above it.
To the right there was what appeared to be what Luz could only describe as a storage shed, and next to it was another shed, though it had a skull insignia on top of it. That made Luz think that was where the dead were supposed to be stored. Not that she would allow anyone to die. It was a leader's job to ensure that their people survived. And Luz would do that. She would not fail them, regardless of what happened.
Even if it cost her her life.
That bitter thought made Luz feel gross. She just hoped it wouldn’t get to that point. But, considering that redhead and his eagerness…. There was a distinct chance that not everyone was of the same mind as her. And that could be very, very bad.
“Don’t think about that,” Luz chided to herself, frowning. “Have faith in others. Everything will be alright… for the most part…. No one is going to die. Not on your watch.” As Luz thought that, she looked over to Private Daniels, who was beginning to leave, shoving people out of his way. However, as he walked past the girl with the black and white spotted skin, and as he shoved her, she stomped on the grassy terrain below her feet.
As soon as she did that, a shadow appeared underneath Private Daniel’s feet. The shadow was circular, and as soon as that happened, he fell through the shadow, only stopping halfway as the shadow snapped shut, cutting him in half as blood splashed on the floor surrounding him. People flinched, Luz included as the gun clattered to the floor. The black and white-skinned woman picked up the gun as one of the spots on her skin disappeared.
“Idiot,” she spat, before putting the gun into one of her spots, kind of like a miniature pocket in her skin. Luz stared at her with wide eyes, shock evident within them as the girl shrugged. “What’s got you bugged out?”
“You just… killed him,” Luz said, staring at her. In response, the teen scratched the back of her neck, an uncaring gleam in her eyes.
“Well, he had it coming. He’s one of the people who kidnapped us. Besides, that prick Maxwell said no bloodshed between us. That, and do you really think he cares about those under his employ?” She said as Luz went to say something, but stopped, closing her mouth before sighing. She supposed that the girl was right.
Still, it just didn’t sit right. It also unnerved Luz how willing the girl was to kill him. Then again, she had no idea what kind of life the girl before her had before this. For all she knew, she was some kind of assassin or something like that. Not that it was possible for that to be the case. Right?
“So, leader, what’s the plan now?” Stanley spoke up, as Julia was over by the draw bridge, using her vines to pull the rope to bring it to a close. She made it look effortless, though she guessed that made sense. It wasn’t like she was lifting it herself using her arms. Despite her frail appearance, she seemed stronger than she let on.
Luz let out a shaky breath, her nerves unwinding and her hands shaking. A bout of nervousness washed over her in such a way that it made it hard to think. The last hour and a half had been filled with nothing but terror and turmoil. The last thing she wanted to do was come up with a plan. “Plan? What plan? I don’t have a plan. We just got here…”
“M-maybe we can leave her be for a minute. Give her a chance t-to, uh… get her nerves in check?” The strawberry-haired girl suggested as Stanley nodded.
“Yeah, makes sense. I’ll go scope out the cabins.” And with that, Stanley walked past Luz, but not before patting her on the shoulder, and whispering “You got this buddy” before walking away. Luz was inclined to disagree with him, but for her sake, she had to “have this” so to speak.
“How about we do a get-to-know-each-other thing?” Julia suggested, walking over to stand next to Luz, the drawbridge now being fully raised.
“Like, share our names?” The boy with the green streak in his hair asked as Julia nodded.
“Precisely. We’ll go from left to right, starting with me. Oh, and the boy who walked into the cabins is Stanley Richardson. He has a strength-based power. He told me as such on the bus,” Julia said, before putting a hand above her chest. “As for myself, I am Julia Scotsman Wittebane, and I can produce thorny vines from my fingertips. I call my power Vines. Basic, but accurate.”
“What about our leader?” The goth-looking girl asked as Luz looked over at her, smiling faintly.
“Oh, uh… I, um.... don’t know,” Luz said as the goth-looking girl raised an eyebrow, which prompted Luz to quickly follow up. “A-And by that I mean I don’t know what it does! I, uh… I can see strings attached to people who have powers, and my, uh… hand sparks red whenever I touch the string. But, um… I don’t know much else, hehe….” As Luz finished frantically explaining what she knew about her power, and after the embarrassment of being called out faded away, the goth-looking girl nodded.
“Well, if you don’t know, then you don’t know. But try and find out soon, yeah? As for me, I’m Carla Tsunata. And, if it wasn’t obvious, I’m part cat. I can also turn into a cat if I scratch myself with my claws. I’d demonstrate it, but it’s kind of messy. I can either turn into a house cat or a panther and I act accordingly with no control over it,” Carla explained as Luz’s eyes sparkled with intrigue.
“That’s so cool!” Luz exclaimed, and in the blink of an eye, she was up in Carla’s face who recoiled at the sudden action. Julia watched from a distance, giggling softly to herself at Luz’s antics. It was almost relaxing to know that Luz could go from depressed and moppy to excited and happy in the blink of an eye.
However, Julia did find it a bit strange. How could she do that? Especially knowing the situation? Or, maybe, she was forcing it? That was definitely a possibility. Julia blinked, and in the time it took for her to do that, Luz had been picked up by the back of her shirt by the Hawaiian boy, lifting her off the ground a few inches as she crossed her arms, pouting, with Carla giggling to herself.
“Jeez, you’ve got quite a lot of energy in ya,” the boy said, putting Luz down, who brushed herself off after landing.
“Sorry about that,” Luz apologized to Carla, who waved it off.
“Nah, it’s fine. You’re cool.”
The large boy smirked as Luz turned to look over at him, an eyebrow raised. “So, what about you? What’s your deal?”
“Me? Names Ronny Armstrong. I can enhance my base strength. Dunno by how much, but I think it’s doubled,” Ronny said, flexing his arm as it bulged with muscle. “You see this? Wasn’t like that last week. It doubled my muscle mass, too. Freaky, yeah?” Ronny asked as Luz nodded, scratching the back of her neck.
That was kind of weird. It sounded like super strength, but not really. “Uh… so, you have super strength?” Luz asked as Ronny lowered his arm, shrugging.
“Yes and no. Pretty sure cousin Thomas has that, and he’s with that Kennedy guy. It sucks, but it happens, I guess. I just hope we can find a way to make sure this doesn’t turn into a bloodbath…” Ronny said, frowning.
“Considering everything? I doubt it,” the golden-blonde-haired boy spoke up, getting Luz’s attention. “Name’s Marcone. Marcone Giovanni. I can give life to anything I touch, but it takes a lot out of me. Makes me sleepy.” As he said that, a butterfly, which Luz had just noticed was sitting on his finger, transformed into a dollar bill, before it then transformed into a flower, specifically a rose.
“I’m Jean Pierre,” the French-sounding teen, who was standing next to Marcone, spoke up next. He shifted uncomfortably where he stood, rubbing the back of his neck as a nervous look took up his visage. “Bonjour. C'est un plaisir de vous rencontrer…”
“Huh?” Luz tilted her head to the side, confusion on her face as Jean sighed.
“Right, u-uh, it’s nice to meet you. Er, well… It would be, but considering the situation….” Jean said as Luz looked away. Yeah, she felt the same way. It was kind of upsetting that she was getting this chance to meet all these people but in this crappy situation. “U-Uh, I can sprout swords from my arm…” Jean said, flexing his wrist as a sword blade ejected out from the top of his wrist. “I can create them anywhere on my arm, but this is, uh… easier.”
“Judy,” the girl with the black spots on her skin spoke up. Jean faltered, earning a snort from her. “You saw my power. I can control the dark spots on my skin and put them anywhere. They can act as storage or as weapons. I call it Spot.”
“Like Spot from the comics or some sh*t?” Stanley called out from the cabins, who were walking out from the one in the center. He approached the group, a smirk on his face. Judy huffed, crossing her arms. She muttered something, which earned a snort from Stanley. “Knew it.”
“What about you Stanley? What can you do?” Julia asked. Stanley, for his part, looked over at Ronny.
“You got a strength power, yeah?” He asked as Ronny nodded. “Good, hit me square in the chest.” As he said that, he tapped himself in the center of his chest. Ronny raised an eyebrow, before glancing over at Luz. Honestly, she didn’t know what to say. At first, she was a little concerned, especially considering that Ronny didn’t look too sure of himself. But, that confident look on Stanley’s face. “C’mon, don’t just stand there, do it!”
Ronny glanced again at Luz, who stuck a thumbs up. Ronny nodded, before turning to look at Stanley, clenching his hand into a fist. As soon as that happened, Ronny’s arm bulged, veins becoming more apparent as if he had just taken steroids. His eyes became bloodshot, and his teeth gnashed together. He charged toward Stanley, who stood with his arms wide open, a smirk on his face, not once losing confidence.
When Ronny struck, Luz thought that Stanley would go flying. She expected it to be something out of one of those anime fights. That Stanley would crash into the drawbridge and get knocked out. But, that wasn’t what happened.
The fist made contact with Stanley’s chest, the impact causing a massive burst of wind to blow through the air, blowing leaves off of nearby, low-to-the-ground trees. Bits of grass were torn up by the wind and flew against the wooden wall behind Stanley. Anyone around Stanley had shielded themselves from the wind, Luz included, who covered her face behind her arms.
After a second of the wind blowing as hard as could be, it stopped, allowing Ronny to look up at Stanley, removing his hand from his chest, Stanley not even having a single speck of dust on his body after the fact. Luz lowered her arms, staring at the scene before her, mystified. While what she imagined before was cooler, what she witnessed was just like in those crazy action anime. That kind of awesome power was only something seen in fiction. And both Stanley and Ronny displayed such feats in real life.
Her inner nerd was screeching with excitement, and a large dopey smile had wormed onto her face, while it wasn’t displaying the same amount of excitement in her head, it was still there, and it was showing that she still thought it was cool.
“Shock Absorption,” Stanley said, smirking. “I can absorb a lot of force, nullifying the damage. Pretty cool, yeah?” Stanley continued as he put his arms down to his sides, his right hand in his pocket and his left hanging around uselessly. “I found out at the start of the week when I got hit by a car, and instead of me going flying, the car flipped over me.”
“I would say that’s u-unbelievable, but a-after seeing what we just saw…” The pink-haired girl said, before glancing over at Luz. “O-Oh, a-and I’m Arla. Arla Thatcher. I-I can heal people j-just by touching them. T-Though it makes me sleepy… and I-I can’t heal myself…” Arla introduced as Luz nodded. A healing power. Interesting. And also very helpful given the situation that they had found themselves in.
“I’ll go next,” the boy with the green streak in his hair said, crossing his arms as he smiled. “The name’s Johnny Marshal,” as Johnny introduced himself, he picked up a stone, and as soon as he did, it began to vibrate. “And I can vibrate things.”
“And I’m his cousin!” The boy with piercings said, wrapping his arm around Johnny’s shoulder, transforming his other arm into, quite literally, a sword. It went from his slightly peachy, slightly tan skin colour, to jet-black steel. His fingers formed together to make the point of the blade, the blade itself gleaming in the sunlight. “Names Theodore! Theodore Jackson, nice to meet you all! Wish it was in better circ*mstances though.”
“Well, if that’s everyone, then I guess we can just, uh, relax for a bit?” Luz said, earning a nod from everyone. Everyone except Julia, looked at her with a concerned look in her eyes. But why? Was it something that she said? As everyone broke off from one another, Julia approached her, placing a hand on her shoulder. As she did, Luz yawned, a wave of exhaustion washing over her.
“Are you alright? You look like death warmed over,” Julia asked as Luz shrugged, rubbing at her eyes. Where had this sudden exhaustion come from? Well, she hadn’t exactly slept all that well, having been knocked out and all. Not to mention she had hiked a distance she wasn’t used to walking.
Maybe she could go for a nap…
“I’m just tired, that’s all. I didn’t sleep well for, well, obvious reasons. Being knocked out sucks…” Luz replied, rubbing the back of her head, right where she had been hit with what had knocked her out, which now that she thought about it, was probably the butt of a gun.
“Then go lie down,” Julia said, causing Luz to frown.
“But… that’ll set a bad first impression. I don’t want people to think I’m lazy…”
“You’re not, though. Besides, this will probably be the last day anyone one of us will get a chance to relax without feeling like we’re being watched. So go take some time for yourself. I can take charge of everyone while you’re out. Besides, everyone in a leadership role has a second-in-command. I can be yours!”
“Really?” Luz said, as, only now, she realized that she had been tense since they walked through the drawbridge, her shoulders just now relaxing as Julia nodded.
“Why not? Think of it as you being King Arthur, and I’m Sir Geraint if you know what I’m referring to, anyway,” Julia continued as Luz scratched the back of her neck.
“The only King Arthur I’m familiar with is from Seven Deadly Sins…”
“Ah, well, maybe I’m Meliodas and you’re Ban?”
“That implies you’re a pervert and I’m into young-looking people….”
Julia giggled, shaking her head as Luz sheepishly smiled. “Well, either way, you get what I mean,” Julia retorted, crossing her arms. “You need the rest, and I’m all energized. If anyone asks, I can just say that you were about to fall asleep standing up. Friends look out for other friends, right?”
Luz smiled, relaxing even more. If Julia was willing to take up that burden to let her sleep, she’d take it in stride. Besides, she was right. Friends were there for one another when they were needed. And right now, she needed a friend to help her out.
“Thank you, Julie, you’re a lifesaver,” Luz said, not realizing she had embraced her in a hug, which she didn’t seem to mind, even hugging her back after a moment of shock. It was only when Julia hugged back that she realized that she may or may not have overstepped her boundaries, causing her to take a step back and start to apologize.
“A-Ah, my bad! I’m sorry if I offended you, I—”
“It’s alright, Luz. Seriously, calm down. Go rest. I’ll wake you up when you’re needed. Besides, I don’t mind hugs from people I believe I can trust. You seem more than trustworthy, so you’re okay,” Julia said, a faint smile on her face as Luz sighed, her cheeks still tinged pink with embarrassment.
“R-Right… uh, wake me up in an hour or two, Adiós!” And with that, Luz walked over to the cabins, she entered the middle one, and upon entering, she was greeted with exactly what Stanley had described. Three bunk beds on either side, with sloppily put-together beds, each with a single pillow and sheet to act as a blanket. There were no lights, just windows, and aside from suitcases lining the back of the wall, there were no decorations within the cabin.
Honestly, it looked like a military barracks, which was more than a little disappointing. But, what was she to expect from a psychopath with no concern for human life?
Luz walked over to the nearest bed, and sat down, before shifting to lay down on the thin, barely even usable pillow. A heaviness washed over her eyes, making it extremely difficult to keep them open. After just a few seconds, and with one final yawn, Luz drifted off into a deep, mirthless sleep.
And then, as if zapped back to life, Luz’s eyes reopened, her vision flooded with darkness, and the same place that she had been in before. The same carpet. The same throne. The same fireplace—all as she had last seen it. Except now, there was another person. And just by looking at him, Luz could tell that he was bad news.
He sat on the left throne, dressed in a black business suit with a crimson red tie hanging from the collar of a white dress shirt poking out from underneath the suit top. He even had a gray pocket square in the left pocket of his suit blazer. Pale skin, the same kind of pale a ghost would have, and crimson red eyes were his most defining features.
He wore a thin-lipped smile on his face, one hand stroking his chin as he hummed in thought. Short, white, ear-length hair sat atop his head, and he had a few freckles on his cheeks. There was one more thing about the man that caused Luz to be more than a little nervous.
He was a very broad-looking man. She could tell, just by looking at him, that he was powerful. His gaze doubled that feeling as if his eyes were scanning her like a machine would, breaking her down into individual categories and judging her before even speaking a word to her.
Alarm bells rang in the back of her head. This guy, whoever he was, was bad news. His stare, combined with his smile, and combined again with the way that he sat screamed evildoer. And the worst part? She felt as if she had met him before. As if she had known him. But, for the life of her, she couldn’t recall anything about him.
And then, in a voice that she recognized, the man finally spoke.
“Luz Noceda. A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. It’s time that we’ve had a little chat.”
-To Be Continued in – The First-
[Ending Song: Life – By Rude-a]
Chapter 5: Season 1 - Episode 5: The First.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
[Opening Song: Kyouran Hey Kids!! – By: The Oral Cigarettes]
[The First]
“Luz Noceda. A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. It’s time that we’ve had a little chat.” As those words left The Mysterious Man’s mouth, Luz couldn’t help but feel more than a little trepid about him. Her inner “stranger danger” alarm blared like a warning siren during an air raid, signalling to her to stay away from this man, as if he were some kind of threat.
Just by looking at him, she knew that was the case. The moment she laid eyes on him was the moment she knew that something was off about him. But there was just something about him that she couldn’t shake. Something that she couldn’t quite figure out. Something that made her inherently curious about the man, and allowed her to, at least partially, drop her guard around him. As if she knew inherently that he wouldn’t lay a finger on her.
Yes, it was obvious that he was dangerous. He was a threat. But she knew, instinctively, he was not a threat to her. And it all came down to how he appeared in front of her. From his relaxed expression to his inviting tone of voice, to the fact that he hadn’t moved even an inch from where he sat. And while he had a rather uncomfortable aura around him, to her, he didn’t seem that bad.
Besides, there was also the fact that she had been here before. She had been in this exact spot, facing these exact thrones on the exact same platform, standing in the exact same position. The only difference was that now, there sat a man in one of the thrones. The only thing missing was the strange, ominous presence in the void-like room. And, if she had to guess…. “You’re that presence from before. The one that shot me out of this place yesterday. You said something to me in Japanese back then. What was it? I couldn’t understand you.”
The man hummed, his thin-lipped smile widening ever-so-slightly, a hint of amusem*nt in his eyes. “Ah, so you didn’t forget. I would have assumed you would have. Very well. I told you to wake up, and that your fate awaits you,” the man said as Luz raised an eyebrow.
“My fate?”
“Yes, Luz. You’re fate,” The man continued, before gesturing to the throne next to him, Luz looking over at it with a hint of suspicion. “Which is preciously what I wish to talk to you about. More specifically, the role in which you will serve to play. In order to do that, however, I advise you to take a seat.”
Luz’s stare lingered on the throne, a combination of emotions running through her all at once, all of which were positive. It was inviting, to say the very least. It also looked insanely comfortable. From the deep red cushions and armrests to the fact that it sat just high enough off the ground that it would make her feel tall, and to the fact that her body ached all over, she could really go for a sitdown right about now.
But, a part of her, the same part of her that was warning her to stay away from the man, told her that sitting next to him would be a bad thing. Her gut instinct, so to speak, and it had yet to be wrong. She looked back to the man, her expression containing a bit of defiance as she spoke. “I prefer to stand.”
“Very well,” the man said, straightening his posture, seeming entirely nonplussed about the whole ordeal. However, as he straightened his posture and adjusted how he sat, Luz noticed a shift in his body language. A slight one, but one nonetheless. She had learned from a young age that body language was an important thing to decipher during conversations. Years of being bullied and tolerating what was essentially borderline abuse from her classmates forced her to learn such a thing.
The way his body shifted from a calm, relaxed, hardly concerned individual offering up information to someone who was more upfront and business-like caused Luz to feel slightly more tense than when she had first shown up here. Wherever “here” was, exactly. She knew it was a dreamscape seeing as the only times she had been here she had fallen asleep, but that was about it.
A part of her considered that maybe he was the reason why she was being pulled into this place. Or maybe, the last two times, it was a fluke, and this time it was on purpose. Either way, it weirded her out. As the man finished adjusting himself, he spoke. “But first, I’m sure you have questions. Go on, ask away. We have some time to burn. Not a lot, mind you, so do keep that in mind. Keep the questions simple, if you can.”
Luz frowned, crossing her arms, speaking the first question that came to her mind. Well, not her first question, but still a rather important question nonetheless. “Who are you?”
“I am your predecessor. You may call me Shigaraki Rikitasu, though do keep it to Shigaraki for now. In my culture, only family and lovers should call one another by their first name, unless that person is a teacher or boss, of which I act as the former to you, hence, I call you Luz instead of Noceda. Makes sense, yes?” the man, Shigaraki, said as Luz uncrossed her arms, confusion littering her expression.
While yes, that did make sense, that wasn’t what had her confused. What confused her was the first thing that he had said. “Predecessor? What are you talking about? I’ve never seen you in any family photos before. And I’m certain I don’t have any Japanese blood in me. Mama would’ve mentioned it in one of her drunk ramblings by now,” Luz said, apprehension in her voice as Shigaraki hummed.
“We’ll get to that. Now, this is the last question for now, so make it important. I won’t accept another question until we next meet that isn’t directly related to the conversation at hand,” Shigaraki replied, giving her a non-answer, which frankly annoyed her. But, considering the gleam in his eyes was practically telling her to “not ask further” Luz decided to move on to the most pressing question that she had in mind. The one that had been burning in her mind the moment she laid eyes on him.
“What do you want?” Luz asked, an edge to her voice as Shigaraki chuckled, and when he did, she couldn’t help but feel a shiver claw down her spine. If she hadn’t thought him to be at least somewhat evil before, she definitely did now. His laugh was deep, filled with just a hint of malice that was either intentional or not, and his eyes gleamed in such a way that it gave her a hint of what kind of person the man before her was.
Depraved. That was the best way she could describe that glint in his eyes. He was the type of person who revelled in others' suffering. The kind of person who would go out of their way to cause people harm just for a bit of a laugh. Someone who would kick and stomp on puppies just because they got in his way, or accidentally peed on his shoes or perhaps even just for the fun of it.
And she was in the same room, space, dreamscape—whatever this place was—with him. There was no exit, no form of escape, no nothing that she could do to leave. She had no choice to but wait until she “woke up” or met whatever conditions had to be met to get away from him.
And that was assuming she even could get away from him, especially if that voice that had told her to watch out for the root in the path was most likely his, considering it shared the same cadence, the same accent, and the same baritone tone to it. If it was his, that Implied that he was in her head, and that partially—no, outright terrified her to think that such a man was in her head.
Finally, after what felt like forever, Shigaraki responded. “Well, Luz, you’re going to have to be a little more specific with that question. I want a lot of things. None of those things, however, are worth you knowing. So, elaborate a little, will you? After all, such a multi-faceted question will just extend the conversation without a clear point A and point B, you know? And we are on borrowed time. I wouldn’t like to waste even a single second,” Shigaraki answered as Luz’s expression tightened, her frown turning into a thin line as she clenched her teeth together.
She could already tell that talking to this guy was going to get infuriating quickly. It was like talking to a slimy lawyer or a politician. Always being met with half-truths and semi-answers rather than the full truth and complete answers. Leaving just enough information to be able to piece together the puzzle, but strategically leaving out key pieces so that someone couldn’t, nor would they be able to, see the complete unfiltered, unedited picture.
“Uh… what do you want with me?” Luz clarified a slight sensation of concern and annoyance in her voice as Shigaraki hummed, steepling his fingers together as his thin-lipped smile turned into a slightly toothy one, sitting up straight as he tilted his head to the side ever-so-slightly.
“Why, isn’t it obvious, Luz? I wish to enlighten you about your power. After all, you were on the right track before, so I believe it’s about time that I give you the full picture. And seeing as now The Connection has been fully established, should our time cut short, I can always continue this conversation with you at a later date.” As he said that, his voice gained a subtle hint of excitement. As if he was proud of something. What that something was, Luz didn’t know. But whatever it was, she didn’t know what to necessarily think about.
Maybe he was referring to “The Connection” as he had just mentioned. What would be so exciting about whatever this “Connection” was? Maybe it was like a Kurama and Naruto-type thing? But, if that was the case, then why would he be excited? Wouldn’t he be annoyed?
Again, it was far too confusing for her to think about, and it gave her a headache trying to piece it all together. As she had noted, she didn’t want to really think about it right now to spare herself the migraine for later.
What she did want to think about, or in this case vocalize, was what he had just said. “You know more about my power?” Luz said cautiously, her eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly, signalling distrust, something that he noticed as he smirked.
“Yes, Luz. I know your power very intimately, there’s no need to cast suspicion. I’m being completely forthright with you here. Besides…” As he said that, he raised the palm of his hand in her direction, and as he did, her eyes widened. There, in the center of his palm, was a small dime-sized hole. The very same dime-sized hole that was on her palms, “…the power you have in your possession, Luz, was once mine.”
Luz’s mind ground to a halt. A flurry of questions raced about in her head, her eyes sparkling with wonder the likes of which only rivalled when she found something to hyper-fixate on. Shigaraki, the man in front of her, could give her valuable information about her seemingly useless power. Especially considering that, at least according to him, he used to be the one who owned this power.
Any of his information was invaluable, and her curiosity was killing her. But then, she was brought back down to reality when she remembered everything else she had noticed about him. While his information was useful, there was no way she was going to listen to him. Not at all. No way, nuh uh, not going to happen.
…but even so, it wasn’t like she had much of a choice. The best she could do was take what he had to say with a truckload of salt. Given that this man looked to be, at the very least, a bad person given his whole demeanour, she quickly controlled her excitement, dialling it back as she spoke. “We… share a power then?”
Shigaraki rested the hand he was showing her on his left knee, before leaning back into the throne he sat on. “Well, if I was still alive, we’d share a power. But, as it stands, I am dead. I have been dead for a long time. I only truly regained consciousness when you awakened to your power.” As he said that, he shifted in his seat. “Though speaking of your power, I must say I am more than a little disappointed that you have yet to use it.”
“How can I use something that I don’t even know how to use?” Luz asked incredulously, her tone gaining a slightly angered edge to it. Really? Disappointed? Who was he, some random stranger, to be disappointed in her over something she barely even knew a thing about? To that, Shigaraki merely chuckled, almost waving off her annoyance, a hint of arrogance in his eyes.
“Fair enough. Though, I guess I should tell you something about that power of yours, what it means for you, and more importantly, the world around you,” as Shigaraki spoke, his voice gained a weight to it. The kind of weight that would be reserved for speaking about a dangerous weapon, like a gun, a bomb, or a knife.
There was a caution to his tone. Not a wariness, but something else. Something she couldn’t describe. A warning, almost. Like a police officer talking about gun safety to a child in one of those gun safety classes that they did in high school for the twelfth-graders. It honestly made Luz a little nervous. What was so dangerous about her power?
“What do you mean?” Luz asked as Shigaraki sighed.
“To make a longwinded speech short. Your power, Luz, makes you nothing short of a God. Or, I guess, in your case, a Goddess. The power you have quite literally in the palm of your hands is unlike anything this world will ever see. It is a rare kind of power, one that only those who have the right to own it can manifest. The power you have, Luz, will make you unrivalled, undefeatable, unkillable. Of course, should you use it right. With enough guidance, Luz, you can become a Goddess in human form. A testament to power. You are, for what it’s worth, the chosen one.”
As those words filled her brain, all Luz could think about was that last part. She was the chosen one? Her? Wimpy, lame, pathetic, Luz Noceda was the chosen one? Was he being serious? Or was he just saying that? His tone of voice said to her that he was being extremely serious. So much so that he almost sounded inhuman for a moment. As if she was speaking to a demon or monster from some other world given human form.
For a moment, she almost bought into what he was saying. But, the more she thought about it, and the more she dug into his words, the way he hyped up her power almost made her not believe him. For starters, if her power would make her unkillable, then how come he was dead? Did he die of natural causes, old age, or was he killed? If he had the same power as her, then shouldn’t he be alive right now?
It was contradictory, and she had noticed it almost right away. “If my power makes me unrivalled and all that jazz, then how are you dead? You know, ‘cause you had the same power and all?”
That caused Shigaraki to frown. His eyes narrowed, his expression becoming angered. It made Luz flinch, even if it wasn’t directed at her specifically. Rather, it seemed to be more directed at himself more than anything. “I made a mistake. A foolish error. I created the power required for me to meet my end. But, that power does not exist here. It exists in another world, and potentially another separate from that one, but that’s for a different conversation.”
The way he spoke with such finality only served to make Luz a little uncomfortable. And when she was uncomfortable, she was bound to say something stupid. Case in point: “Are you some sort of demon?” Luz blurted out as Shigaraki blinked, his expression becoming one of befuddlement, until finally after a moment of awkward silence, he laughed.
And it wasn’t just any kind of laugh. It was a full-on, red-faced, die-laughing kind of laugh. As if what she had just said had been the funniest thing he had ever heard. It caused her to let out a silent, awkward chuckle of her own, scratching the back of her neck in such a way that made it obvious that she was uncomfortable, not that he noticed.
“Oh! Now that is something I’ve heard plenty of times!” Shigaraki said as he stopped laughing, wiping a tear from his eye, calming himself. “But sadly no. I am… or was, just as human as you are, Luz,” he bit his lip for a moment, stopping himself from saying something. Almost as if he was withholding information. He seemed to mull it over before he opened his mouth to continue.
“Should we have been alive at the same time, which the more I think about it could be more possible than I once believed when I first laid eyes upon you, would be the universes in which we inhabit, or in my case, inhabited.”
Once again, Luz was riddled with confusion as her mind flooded with questions. What the heck did he mean by “the universes in which we inhabit”? Was he referring to The Multiverse? Before she could ask her question, Shigaraki spoke up. “Tell me, Luz. Have you ever heard of The Multiverse Theory?”
Luz pursed her lips in a frown, squinting ever-so-slightly. Sure, she had heard about the theory, but it was never explained to her. Not that she particularly cared about it, but it used to be a topic she used to think about from time to time. “Uh, kinda?” Luz began, scratching the back of her neck for what felt like the umpteenth time. “I mean, I know of it, and people have talked about it around me, but I don’t know all the details….”
“Hmm… interesting,” Shigaraki continued, a sly smirk taking up his visage. “What if I told you it does exist? What if I told you I had proof of its existence? And while I can’t physically show it to you due to my current state of being, I can eventually show you. If that were to be the case, would you believe me?”
“Probably not,” Luz answered abruptly as Shigaraki frowned.
“Would you care to indulge me then, for a moment, so that I may explain to you why I think that The Multiverse exists? This is related, I assure you,” Shigaraki said, before glancing around himself, as if he were checking for something. When his eyebrows knit together and a scowl took up his visage, he sighed. “Well, I’ll have to make it short. But, if I told you there existed a bridge-like dimension that essentially gave someone a way to leap from one world to another, and that I knew how to get there, would you believe me?”
The more Shigaraki spoke, the more serious his tone became. And while she didn’t want to put too much thought into what he was saying, the way he said it, and considering he had been, in his own words, forthright to her the whole time, she didn’t see a reason to believe that he was lying. So, with that in mind….
“That’d be really cool!” Luz said excitedly, her eyes twinkling with wonder and amazement. “So, can you like, show me now?” To that, Shigaraki shook his head.
“Unfortunately, I cannot. Not in the situation and location you are in. When you return to Gravesfield, however, there will be a place where you can find what will help me prove to you that what I say is true. At least, I think so anyway. For the time being, however, we’ll have to wait. But, essentially, this all comes back to the point I’m going to make. You see, you and I, existed in parallel worlds. And I suspect that my death is what caused the awakening of powers, or as they were referred to in my world, Quirks in your world.”
Once again, Luz was left stumped. “Huh?”
“I can understand your confusion. So, allow me to explain,” Shigaraki began as he brought up both of his hands, the backs of them facing where Luz was, before sticking up both pointer fingers on both hands. “The finger on the right is my world. The finger on the left is yours,” Shigaraki started before he then outstretched both of his thumbs and made them touch. “My thumbs are the aforementioned bridge dimension I spoke of. I discovered it when a close friend of mine captured a very strange, unorthodox creature in the Musutafu Prefecture of my world’s Japan, and ran some tests on it. We found that its blood contained some kind of Quirk Factor or something that our medical equipment picked up as a Quirk Factor, that allowed for dimensional travel.”
“Quirk Factor?” Luz questioned as Shigaraki cleared his throat.
“Essentially DNA that links one's Quirk, such as yours, to yourself. Science mumbo-jumbo,” Shigaraki said as Luz muttered an “oh” under her breath as he continued. “We were able to extract a decent amount of the creature's blood before someone broke into our labs undetected and stole the creature away from us. Though by that point it had been well over a few years and it had grown to quite the size and had quite the temperament. Not helped by the countless amounts of drugs he had used to keep it mindless so it wouldn’t lash out and attack. However as I quickly learned when visiting that bridge dimension, what was years for me, was more like days for them. I was only fairly young, only being around 80 years old at the time, but—”
“You call being 80 young?!” Luz exclaimed, earning a chuckle out of Shigaraki.
“Well, considering I was well over 160 when I died, 80 is young in comparison. As to how I was able to achieve such an age, we’ll get to that when I explain your power,” Shigaraki continued as he cleared his throat once again. “Now, as I was saying, with the blood I had at my disposal, and with the known location of where I could access this world being pinpointed to a rundown, abandoned school building, I used the blood to bridge a connection to that world, which then, in turn, allowed me to have access to your world by extension, despite me not ever going to it.”
“What did you do in that world?” Luz asked as Shigaraki shook his head.
“Not important right now. If you want to learn at a later date, I’ll oblige you. For now, though, let’s stay on topic,” Shigaraki said, as a frown took up his visage. “Besides, we’re running low on time. So I need to make this quick.”
“But, I thought you said we had plenty of time?” Luz said as Shigaraki grunted, crossing his arms.
“We would had someone in the waking world not been trying to wake you up. This place, The Vestiage World, is a dreamscape. The longer you are asleep, the more time we have to converse. But, the moment someone starts to wake you up, a timer is put on us. We now only have five minutes left before your brain realizes something is going on in the waking world, and requires you to be awake.”
“Oh…”
“Oh, indeed. So then, because I had died, and because your world was on the verge of something fantastical happening, it would seem as if the universe took it upon itself to grant your world the same gift mine had in store for my universe well over 200 years ago. The gift of Quirks. And your Quirk, Luz, is something that I like to call a “failsafe.” And for someone like yourself, it is quite a fitting one. Especially given what I know of you and your struggles. A very apt power if I say so myself.”
A part of Luz was beginning to get wary of what Shigaraki was implying. Calling her power a “failsafe” made it sound like her power had some kind of responsibility. And while Luz wasn’t exactly one to dislike responsibility, all she wanted to do was live freely. Not be chained down by obligations or be forced to do things that she didn’t want to do.
It went entirely against her mentality. It went against everything she stood for as a person. It suddenly made her less excited to know about what her power was. Especially if it came with something as crappy as “responsibility.” Although, it wasn’t as if she had to hold herself to that responsibility. Besides, if there was anything she learned about in school, it was that you could delay something until the last minute and still come out on top by making the best essay known to man one hour before it was due.
Was it optimal? Probably not. But hey! She hadn’t been let down by that strategy yet! And with that in mind, she couldn’t help but get excited. Finally, she’d get some clarity about her power, Quirk, or whatever the heck these palm holes were supposed to be! “So, what is it?! What’s my power?!” Luz asked, slight impatience in her voice as she spoke.
And then, Shigaraki smiled. It was the kind of smile that only true-blooded villains could have. The wide smile of someone who had been bottling up something nefarious for quite some time. The kind of smile that one would whip out when a well-laid plan was coming together perfectly. A part of Luz immediately felt off when she looked at Shigaraki.
And then, he spoke.
“You see Luz, the power that you possess, the power that was once mine and allowed me to dominate my world single-handedly, and the power that will pave your way to glory is known as All For One. As for what it can do? Well, you were close when you said that you believed your power could copy the Quirks of those whom you came into physical contact with. But you were still wrong. No. All For One allows the user to steal other people's powers, and make them yours. It can also, assuming you have powers already stored within you, give others powers. But then, why on earth would you want to give away something that is meant to be yours? Not unless you were getting something out of it, of course.”
And as Shigaraki finished his explantion of what Luz’s power was, of what All For One was, she felt a pit in her stomach grow. Her power, the one that awakened upon the death of Shigaraki, was a power that allowed her to steal away someone’s gift. Essentially, it allowed her to steal away the very thing that makes someone unique.
“That’s…” Luz began, as she looked down at the palms of her hands. Now, the holes in her palms suddenly had a less appealing look to them. Suddenly, the holes in her palms looked like nothing but something to be ashamed of. She was a leech. A parasite. Her power was to take stuff that didn’t belong to her. That was… that was… “That’s awful! It’s wrong! It’s horrible! Why the hell would I ever do that to someone!?”
And all Shigaraki could do was laugh. For what reason, she didn’t know. After a moment, he spoke. “Oh, how that brings me back. Back to the days when my younger brother was alive. He used to tell me the same thing. But, that’s in the past. He’s been dead for a long time, and while your little outburst reminded me of him, allow me to let you in on a little secret about Quirks,” Shigaraki said, his expression one of nonchalance, before it quickly fell into an emotionless mask. “They’re a reflection of the person who awakens them.”
“Huh?”
“You heard me. If you really found stealing power from others to be as underhanded and as awful as you proclaim, then would it have not made sense for you to awaken some other kind of power? Yet, you awoke to mine, so what does that say about you?” Shigaraki said as Luz narrowed her eyes at him, a hint of fury dancing behind them.
“Are you trying to get at something here, or are you just trying to piss me off?” Luz spat as Shigaraki smirked.
“I’ll let you decide that. After all, we’re running out of time. There’s only a few more seconds before you wake up. So, I’ll leave you with this. When someone is pushed down by society. When someone is hurt and constantly trampled on by the world around them. It only makes sense for that person to desire a fraction of that power that is actively being used to hurt them, even if they themselves must do things that they would otherwise consider immoral.”
As soon as those words exited his mouth, the world became a starch white, and the corners of her eyes became filled with a bright, blinding light. The last thought she had when she was forced out of the Vestiage World was one of reflection.
“What did I just get myself into?”
[XXXX]
Two days. It had been two, agonizing, horrible days since the news broke out that Camila learned that her precious daughter was in trouble. In those three days, she had not turned up to work and had emptied every single bottle of alcohol in the house trying, and failing, to drink away all of her problems. And no better did anything else reflect that than the state of the house.
Dirty glasses lined the table and the counters. Empty bottles knocked over with dried-up spills staining parts of the tile floor. For some reason or another, there was a fist-sized hole in the wall, and there was a pile of laundry that had yet to be done. The upstairs was untouched, Camila not even so much as wanting to look in the direction of Luz’s room, namely because if she did she’d feel another wave of guilt.
This whole situation had been nothing but awful. She had gotten next to no sleep, and when she woke up, she’d feel like crap due to being extremely hungover. Her phone had blown up with calls and emails, though she had never once bothered to look at them.
Camila wanted nothing to do with the world at the moment. The only thing she wanted to do was sit in and wallow in the fact that her daughter was gone. Disappeared. Vanished with no signs of returning. She hadn’t even bothered to turn on the TV to check the news—that was how bad it had gotten.
Maybe it was a bit of an overreaction on her part, but even if that was the case, that wasn’t how it felt for her. To Camila, it felt like the whole world had flipped upside down. She should’ve just kept her home. She should’ve never signed her up for that camp. If she hadn’t done that, none of this would’ve happened. Luz would be home, safe, and away from whatever hell she got roped into.
And what was worse was that she finally got an idea of what it was that she had said to Luz the day before she was sent off to camp. It was something so awful she dared not repeat it. What was worse was that she had no idea why she had said it. She didn’t know the context—not that there was any context to be needed for saying such a horrible thing—and now Luz was gone, disappeared into the wind, taken somewhere most likely horrible.
Scenarios ran through her head, each darker than the last. There was a known child trafficking ring in the southern United States for labour and other horrible things. The mere thought that Luz was wrapped up in such a thing….
There was a sudden knock at her front door, causing the hungover Camila to stir from her spot on the couch. She was dressed in a loose-fitting shirt and a pair of shorts. She looked dishevelled, with bags under her eyes and lines on her forehead from stress. There were even a few grey hairs starting to form. She was in no state to be visited right now, so who could that have been?
Slowly, Camila got up from the couch and walked to the door, groggily wiping at her eyes, dry tear stains on her cheeks. There was another knock at her door, prompting her to mumble “I’m coming” under her breath. When she finally got to the door, she opened it and was greeted by someone whom she hadn’t seen in just a little over a month.
He was a little shorter than her, with silver-grey hair, a clean-shaven face, and wrinkled skin. His eyes were a piercing blue, but they contained a softness in them that was typical of him. Rather than having been dressed in what she had typically seen him in, the man was dressed in a white short-sleeve shirt, and a pair of blue pants with black dress shoes. He had a cane in his right hand, signifying that his back pain might have been acting up again. Something that Camila had known about due to how often they used to talk.
And while it had been a while since they had seen each other, she knew exactly who that old man was. She blinked, staring at him with a confused look in her eyes. “Pastor? What are you doing here?”
“Ah, Camila, it’s good to finally see you again,” Domenico said, looking her up and down, his expression dipping into one of worry. “I see that you are not taking this very well, are you? Not that I blame you, of course,” Domenico looked over her shoulder, his frown deepening. “Would you mind if I came inside? There is something I wanted to talk to you about. It’s concerning the mess of a situation we’re currently finding ourselves in.”
“Uh… sure, come on in,” Camila said, unlocking the screen door as she stepped away, Domenico walked through the entrance as she took a step back, moving first with his cane then the rest of himself. Once he got into the house, he gently closed the doors behind him, before gesturing her to follow him to the table.
He cleared off the bottles and took a seat for himself, Camila sitting in front of him, her expression sombre, as to be expected. For a moment, they sat in silence, until finally Domenico spoke up. “Whatever it is you’re thinking about doing, Camila, I want you to stop.”
“I’m not thinking about anything,” Camila retorted, a slight edge to her voice as Domenico sighed.
“I know that look in your eye, Camila. Need I remind you when you spoke to me about that particular incident when you were 17? The one where I held a private confessional for you?” Domenico said, causing Camila to flinch. That was a dark time in her life, one she didn’t think about too often for very good reason. It was when she first moved to America from The Dominican Republic with her mother.
It was a time when her family had to rely on the Church. A time when they could barely get by and afford food. A time when Camila had lost so much weight that she was borderline anorexic and considering doing the unthinkable. It was also when Domenico took over as the pastor at St. Peters Liturgical Church. When he intervened and donated three month’s worth of food collected from the community to their home.
She had owed Domenico more than what she was worth in money for that. He would never accept any payment. After all, as he would put it, “I’m just doing the Lord's work” or something like that. That was the kind of person Domenico was.
“Camila…. It isn’t your fault, you know? None of this was your fault,” Domenico said as Camila looked away, shame on her face.
“I was the one who put her on that bus… I might as well have pulled the trigger….” Camila replied as Domenico shook his head, sighing.
“No, Camila. You did nothing wrong here. You signed Luz up for that camp thinking it would be safe. There was nothing you could’ve done to prevent what had happened. Whoever kidnapped Luz and the other children will pay for this. The FBI and the Police are looking into this as we speak. They will capture whoever did this.”
“But—”
“But nothing, Camila,” Domenico interrupted, frowning. He then placed one hand over one of hers, his frown turning into a smile. “Do you believe in your daughter?”
And wasn’t that the question of the year? Honestly, she should have immediately responded with yes. But something in her was stopping her from saying that she did. Maybe it was because she knew how Luz liked to deal with problems, and that was staying silent about them. Not talking about it and bottling up the trouble, just like her father had.
Knowing Luz, and knowing the type of person she was, she was going to do something stupid. She was going to say something or act out in some way, and it would result in her getting hurt or worse. And the thought of that broke Camila’s heart.
“I…” Camila faltered, biting her lip. “Of course I do…. I just worry she’ll do something and… and…”
“Make the situation worse?” Domenico finished her sentence, his tone inquisitive as Camila flinched. “It’s not wrong to think that. Your daughter is quite the troublemaker. But then again, a town needs a troublemaker to have it feel complete. Gravesfield would be a husk without one,” a soft chuckle escaped under Domenico’s breath as he spoke, Camila glancing back at him, a tired gleam in her eyes.
Camila didn’t understand Domenico. He could always see the good in any situation, no matter how horrible had the chance of going. Maybe it was because he was just that carefree? It was strange, but then again, a lot of things were strange. And in such uncertain times, with people changing rapidly at a constant rate, that kind of thing was sorely needed.
“I…” Camila began, closing her eyes tightly… “I know I haven’t been to Church lately… and It’s because—”
“Your faith is waning, am I correct?” Domenico asked as Camila’s expression tightened. It was like he could read her mind, and it was clear that her expression gave it away as he hummed in thought. “Well, if it is, then so be it. Who am I to try and convince you to keep your faith? Waning faith or not, that does not mean I cannot be there for you and your family. What servant of God would I be if I didn’t?”
There was comfort in knowing that, and she was glad for it. Glad that at least someone wasn’t abandoning her. She tried getting in contact with her ex-sister-in-law but when she answered, she was told to “never call this phone line again” before hanging up. Her mother also wouldn’t pick up, no matter how many times she rang.
The last time they spoke, they left on bad terms. She couldn’t remember the full conversation, but she did recall there being booze involved. That was a pattern. Her and her dependency on alcohol. It had shattered her relationship with her mother, and was now slowly breaking apart her relationship with her daughter….
And now, she didn’t even know if her daughter was still alive….
“Camila,” Domenico’s voice speaking her name broke her out of her thoughts, concern on his face as she looked up to stare at him, eyes still heavy from a lack of sleep, her head hurting from the searing hungover migraine. “Tomorrow, I would like you to come to Church.”
“Pastor, I—”
“Not for the service, Camila, last we talked you had said you wanted to stay away from the Church due to recent events. I am not asking you to come because of that. It’s for something else,” Domenico interrupted as Camila shifted in her seat, crossing her arms as he continued. “I doubt you’ve seen the news, but all the media channels have stopped talking about the kidnapping. The only reason why I know that the FBI and the Police are still looking into this is because of our very own police chief Sheriff Johnson.”
“You mean the racist, bigoted, white supremacist piece of trash Martin Johnson?” Camila spat venom in her voice as thick as syrup. She loathed that man. Moreso than that nutcase Jacob Hopkins. The damn conspiracy theorist. Both he and Martin shared the same views when it came to race and sexuality and it plagued this town. “Great replacement” this, the “LGBT mind virus”, and “Wokeness taking over media” that. It was all lunacy.
It was a mockery of Conservatism. Back in the early 90s and 2000s, she voted for the Republican party due to her views aligning with theirs. And while some policies she wasn’t exactly for, others she had been. But now, in the last ten years, ever since Barrack Obama was elected in 2008, it had become strikingly clear that the Republican party had fallen from their previous status as the “Everyman’s party” and went to the “Nationalist Party.” Hell, some would even say they were a Christian Nationalist Party.
And with Donald Trump currently making a mockery of the presidency…. She honestly didn’t know why she had ever voted Republican in the first place. Since 2008 she had started voting Democrat, mostly out of spite for what the Republican Party had become. Though that was a tangent for another time.
The point was, those two nutcases, Martin and Jacob, were utter disgraces to the movement they claimed to be with. They claimed one way, acted another, and made themselves and those that called them friends and family look like utter morons due to sticking by their side. Heedless of the words they spew and the hate that they utter.
Then again, what was she supposed to expect from the two people who regularly attended marches and rallies with Neo-Nazis?
Domenico frowned, stroking his chin as he groaned. “Yes, unfortunately. But, he’s at least dedicated to his job. Not to mention his nephew is wrapped up in this as well, so there’s no reason to believe that he won’t drop it just because of the others. If there’s one thing that man cares about, it’s his family. Even if he’s more than a little bit of a sleazeball.”
“We can agree on that,” Camila scoffed, before blinking. She had been a little distracted by the mention of Martin that she had completely missed the fact that the news channels weren’t covering the kidnappings, which she quickly corrected, “What was that about the news not covering the kidnappings?”
Domenico fidgeted in his seat, clasping his hands together in his lap as he nodded solemnly. “I was wondering when you would pick up on that. But, in short, the news stations are not covering the topic anymore. Someone, or some group, has more than likely paid them off to cease discussion of it. As a matter of fact, articles online are calling it a hoax. And not just fringe political websites, we’re talking Fox News, MSNBC, and even CNN.”
“But it’s not a hoax!” Camila all but roared, shooting up from the table as Domenico scowled, not at her mind you—not at her, he had no reason to—but at the situation at large.
“You of all people would know that. You’re a victim in this, as are many other parents. Many other parents I just so happen to be in contact with. I reached out to them, knowing full well that they more than likely needed an outlet to talk to. Most Churches state-wide have closed due to the “outbreak of demonic activity” or what have you, i.e. power awakenings. I’m fairly certain that, aside from my Church, Greg Abbots Mega Church, and The Wittebane Congregational Church Association and all of their various Mega Churchs across the country, every other place is shut down,” Domenico began, his jaw set as he glanced around the house.
“You see, Camila. I believe that something is going on here. If it wasn’t obvious, someone or some group is trying to sweep this under the rug. If I had to guess, it’s someone who would benefit from seeing those children go missing and turn up dead. And if I were to further continue my assumption, I believe this could potentially be the work of The Witch Hunters Association.”
Camila blinked, confusion painting her face. “The what?”
“I don’t suspect you’ve heard of them. But, they’re a rag-tag group of very wealthy, very elite individuals who are high up in society. The Witch Hunters Association used to exist in the early 1600s, back when all of that fantastical nonsense was believed. In the mid-1770s, when America broke off from The British Empire, they were all enlisted into the war, and then promptly dissolved after America won,” Domenico explained, leaning in his chair, Camila listening intently, although she was confused about one tiny, little thing.
“So, what does this have to do with what’s going on now?” Camila asked as Domenico hummed.
“And you’re right to ask that. And so, I shall answer. Would you believe me if I said that this wasn’t the first time that superpowers were beginning to show themselves?” As those words left Domenico’s mouth, Camila recoiled in shock.
“Huh?”
“I know, right? I hardly believed it myself. But that’s when I met 26-year-old Amy Thatcher. She’s the mother of one of the children who had been kidnapped, 12-year-old Arla. And yes, I did the math. It’s as bad of a situation as it sounds,” Domenico said as Camila shook her head, total bewilderment in her eyes as Domencio continued. “In 2008, when Amy was pregnant with Arla, she awoke one morning with the ability to repair whatever object she had touched. She even showed me proof by repairing the broken organ at the Church.”
“B-But how? Why didn’t it blow up like it has now?”
“The Witch Hunters Association. They rounded up all of the super-powered kids and killed them before the media could catch on. And besides, it was only a localized awakening in Kentucky, and not anywhere else in America. As for how Amy is still alive, she was only spared because she was pregnant. She had to use her unborn baby as a shield to defend herself. The WHA people took pity on her, expecting her to die in childbirth like most teen parents do. She didn’t, and she’s the only surviving member of the super-powered kids in her generation,” Domenico answered, causing Camila to pale in disgust.
“And… what about the rest of the world?” Camila asked, though having already known the answer given how this conversation was going.
“I don’t know. But, if I were to guess? All round-up and killed by the WHA, which, mind you, is a worldwide organization. It is not limited to our country. Not that it truly matters for us, what matters is what’s happening here. And I know exactly who founded the WHA. It took some digging, but I was able to figure it out due to his family’s history,” Domenico said, as he pulled out a folded-up sheet of paper from his pants pocket.
He placed it on the table, unfolding it, before turning it to Camila, which she read out loud. “Witch Hunters Association Founder… Tyler Wittebane?” Camila muttered, looking at the photo of the man in question. Dark brown ear-length hair, Golden yellow eyes, and pale skin. Sunken cheeks and stubble on his chin. “I mean, it’s horrible, but, what does this have to do with me? Aside from him obviously being the one who more than likely kidnapped mija.”
Domenico took back the piece of paper and put it in his pocket, levelling a glance at Camila, his expression unreadable. “You see, Camila. I plan to take this battle directly to him. My accusations, and my evidence. I have it all gathered and prepared. I’ll be delivering it to the court system and filing a collective joint lawsuit. One signed by every single parent who has been affected. I wanted to add your signature to it. What do you say?”
-To Be Continued in – Forming The Team-
[Ending Song: Life – By: Rude-a]
Notes:
I don’t have much to say, other than I hope you enjoyed this. Now, as of right now, we do not know what All For One’s real name is, other than it ends in Shigaraki. So, here is the name I have given this version of All For One, Rikitasu. The breakdown of the name means this:
Riki (力輝), separate, Ri (力) in this instance means power, and Ki (輝) in this instance means splendid. Together, they mean Splendid Power.
Tasu (多数), separate, Ta (多) in this instance means many, and Su (数) in this instance means number. Together, they mean multitude.
Put the town names together, and you get Rikitasu (力輝 多数), which roughly translates to Multitude of Splendid Powers. Which, as far as I am concerned, makes sense. Now, combining both names, Rikitasu (given) and Shigaraki (familial) you get Rikitasu Shigaraki (力輝多数 . 死柄木), which means a Multitude of splendid powers of death, which fits All For One’s character, considering who All for One is.
Now with that name breakdown finished… what did you guys think of this chapter? I eagerly await your speculation! Till next time, peace!
Chapter 6: Season 1 - Episode 6: Forming The Team.
Chapter Text
[Opening Song: Kyouran Hey Kids!! – By: The Oral Cigarettes]
[Forming The Team]
“…Z…! L…Z…! LUZ!” A voice Luz recognized as belonging to Julia called out, breaking her out of her groggy half-sleep. Her eyes were heavy with the same kind of feeling that someone who had just woken up had, a tired groan sighing from her as she cupped her forehead. The headache from earlier was gone, thankfully, though now it was replaced with a heavy weight on her shoulders.
“All For One… the power to steal away others powers…” Luz thought, a frown taking up her visage, only for it to disappear a moment later when a hand grasped her shoulder. It was Julia’s, that much was obvious, given how it had been her voice that had woken her up from her sleep. “Julia…?” Luz muttered, turning her whole body to face the girl in question, who looked down at her with worry written all over her face.
“Are you okay?” Julia asked as Luz raised an eyebrow.
“I mean… aside from not wanting to be here, I’d say I’m fine. Why?” Luz asked as Julia breathed out a sigh of relief. But… why? What was she so relieved about?
“Well… when I came to check on you, you were, uh, what was the term again… sweating buckets? Yes, I believe that was the saying. And when I touched your forehead, you had a blazing fever. To the point where I almost believed you were going to go into shock from how hot you were getting,” Julia answered as Luz blinked.
That… wasn’t good. It also didn’t make sense. She was fit as a fiddle when she woke up the day of her getting on that bus. So why or how on earth did that change? Not to mention she didn’t feel sick. Not even remotely. Was it a consequence of speaking to Shigaraki or being inside that “Vestiage Realm” or whatever it was called?
Luz frowned. This was all too confusing for her to deal with after the massive bombshell that was dropped on her by her less-than-a-friend mental pal. It was clear that whoever Shigaraki Rikitasu was before he died was nothing but trouble, and should be avoided at all costs. If it can be helped, obviously. If she couldn’t avoid him, then she’d deal with it.
She found herself still staring at the palm of her right hand, glaring at the hole in the center with nothing but aggravation and annoyance. Theft. Stealing. That was her power. She stole from others the power of which was rightfully theirs. The jokes wrote themselves, and while she knew it was wrong, there was a voice in the back of her head, tiny as could be, whispering to her.
It wasn’t Shigaraki’s voice. It wasn’t a mysterious third party, either.
It was her voice. And it was telling her to indulge. To take without consequence.
“No…” Luz thought, clenching her hand into a fist, covering the hole with her fingers, her nails digging into her palm as her frown slowly morphed into a toothless sneer. She glanced up at Julia, who was still staring at her with worry written all over her face.
A string, barely even visible, marked itself right between Julia’s eyes. It sparked with red lightning, like a tempting offer. Her left hand twitched, small, barely noticeable sparks jumping to and from her hand and fingers as the voice of her subconscious began to speak.
“Go on… do it. You know you want to. Why not? Who’s going to stop you? The world is your oyster, so goes the quote, right? Why not indulge a little? Take what’s yours. You’re the one in charge. You’re the one with the control. For once in your life, be a little greedy. What’s the worst that can happen?”
For a moment, her hand rose an inch off of the bed, but she stopped herself. “No….” Luz thought, this time with more defiance in her mental tone. “I won’t do it… I can’t do it…. Mama raised me better than that….”
The voice had no response. Just pure, utter silence. Well, that was until Julia spoke up again. “Luz? Are you alright?”
“Huh?” Luz snapped back to the world around her, blinking rapidly as the string disappeared. She looked up at Julia, meeting her eyes, before a blush of embarrassment washed over her cheeks, a nervous chuckle following after it. “Hehe… sorry about that. Just spaced out, that’s all!”
“Well, if that’s all,” Julia said, a heavy dose of skepticism in her voice. She sat next to Luz, hands flat against her knees as the two stared at the wall. There was a heavy silence between them, and as Luz glanced outside, seeing the veil of darkness begin to coat the ground outside, she realized just how long she had been “asleep”.
Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie to say she had been asleep. She certainly felt rejuvenated, but the heavy weight of the revelation of what her powers made it almost feel pointless. What made it worse was that it finally had begun to sink in that this, all of this, was real. Oh, sure, she had acknowledged that fact earlier, but now she was truly coming to grips with it.
Luz had hoped, with all of her heart, that this was just one big bad lucid dream. Or, well, a nightmare would be more apt to describe the sh*tshow she was in, though that was just semantics. She wanted this to be fake—desperately so. She wanted to have woken up, back home, in her bed, in the comfort of her home with her Mama making her favourite food and continue binge-watching The Legend Of Korra—she had just finished watching The Good Witch Azura, The Animated Show, for the fifteenth time that year so she decided to spice things up—while knowing she had the whole summer to make more AMVs and read more books.
But now. Now that she sat there, staring at the cabin wall, Luz realized that this wasn’t just a big, fake, lucid nightmare. This was her reality. Her fate as Shigaraki had put it. She was destined to be put into this situation, or worse. This was what she was going to be subjected to. And it opened up the possibility of a very mortifying thought.
“I’m going to die here…” Luz muttered, earning a sharp stare from Julia.
“No, you won’t,” Julia stated in a matter-of-fact tone, causing Luz to glance at her, her eyes narrowing slightly.
“At least you have something to defend yourself with. What do I have? These useless hands that do nothing,” Luz grumbled as Julia crossed her arms, giving her the typical “are you kidding me” stare that her mother would often give her when she did something, admittedly, stupid. Although hidden in that stare, there was an accusatory gleam in her eyes, something that Luz picked up on.
“You’re lying,” Julia stated, leaving no room for argument. Luz was about to say something, but Julia continued. “I know you’re lying because I’m the queen of lies. I had to be to get stuff around my father. You looked at the floor for just a moment, so therefore, you’re lying.”
“And how do you know, huh?” Luz spat, as Julia smirked.
“Because you just confirmed it,” and with that, Luz realized that she had fallen for the good ol’ bait and switch. She should’ve seen that coming, but, she didn’t. Blame her social unawareness of cues like that, but it wasn’t all that wrong for her to get defensive. No one liked being told that they were lying, even if they knew deep down that they were.
Luz brought her arms up to rest on her legs, her elbows sitting on her thighs as she uncurled her right hand, making both of them face her palm-up. She looked at her hands, her palms specifically, and regarded them with disgust.
Before, she used to look at her newfound palm-holes with intrigue. With curiosity. With joy. Her one major fantasy, the one where she received a superpower, came true. Where she could be the hero of her own story and save people from themselves and others. To bring about world peace at a time when it was needed most. Basically, she wanted to be like Azura.
She finally had something, even if it was a little confusing and something she was having a hard time figuring out, to do that with! And what was better was that others were awakening powers like her! She could have cool, awesome battles that she’s always envisioned to have. It was her dream come true!
And then she met Shigaraki. She learned the truth about her power, about where it came from. She learnt that it was, in fact, not that. It was something that embodied the very thing she despised. The taking away of someone’s individuality given manifest. Greed incarnate. Something that she had no business being linked to.
But yet, if that was the case, if that was true… when why had Shigaraki said what he had said? Was he just trying to manipulate her? Or was he telling the truth?
“They’re a reflection of the person who awakens them. If you really found stealing power from others to be as underhanded and as awful as you proclaim, then would it have not made sense for you to awaken some other kind of power?”
Those words stuck with her. If what he was saying had been true. If “Quirks”, as he had called them, reflected the person that they awoke in, then why would she, someone who was entirely against taking away things from others for the basis of “just because” then why would she awaken to a power that’s sole purpose was to do that?
Was it a cruel joke on behalf of the world? Or was it something else?
She would admit to herself, and herself alone that there was one or two times where she would have fantasies. Violent fantasies. Where she’d corner someone who had been bullying her for years on end and making them bite the curb. Stomp their head and revel in their pain. It was a part of her she utterly loathed. She hated that she had those kinds of fantasies.
She never told her Mama about them, out of fear of scorn. But it was the truth. All of her life she had been trampled on and mocked for her likes and beliefs. She had been made to be the school punching bag and made to endure things no student should have to face. Granted, worse could’ve happened to her, but she’d rather not think about that.
On days she’d get violently angry—she blamed her ADHD for that one—she’d find herself acting out those scenarios in the basem*nt of her house. Using piles of clothing for that express purpose. Imprinting those who had wronged her on them and doing something of the most vile acts to them. It was all imaginary. All fake. None of it was real so she was allowed to go all out.
Of course, she feared the day where one of those times she’d do it for real. Where one day, someone would do something that would make her snap. There was only one time when she almost caved. It was a girl named Amber.
She remembered the whole scene like the back of her hand. Amber had been pestering her, as had been the usual. There was never a day when that didn’t happen. But she had said something. Something she dared not repeat. Something about her father.
And that was something no one did.
That day, Luz had brought a knife to school. Why? She didn’t know. She just picked it up off the table and slid it into her pocket. It was one of those “pick-up-and-fiddle-with” moments she had. She had forgotten it in her pocket and was far too afraid to call her mom about what happened. Especially because the school police officer had a special kind of dislike for “her kind” as he put it.
Had she not stopped herself from turning around and lodging the knife in her pocket into Amber’s throat, she most likely would’ve been in prison. She wanted nothing more than to kill Amber. For what she had said about her father. For all the trouble she had been causing. Hell, she was fairly certain it was her who had spread the rumours about Luz sleeping with Mr. Jones.
It could’ve all ended. Right there and then. But, then she would’ve been caught, and there would’ve been no point. So, she decided against it. Besides, there would be no point in killing someone for doing something so petty. If she had any reason to kill someone, it would be for a damn good one, not just a petty insult directed toward her dead dad.
Still, it was around that time that she realized something had been wrong with her. Rather than confront it, though, she bottled it up, just like she had with everything else. Maybe that was why she had awakened such a horrid power. Because she refused to speak about her problems and kept them to herself?
But then, how did that translate into having a power as greedy as one like All For One? It made no sense, and it confused her more than anything else. It wasn’t as if she had any prior desire to steal things from others. Although, she had wished in the past to take everything from those that had wronged her. Just as a way to point and laugh at them.
That might have had something to do with it.
Of course, there was always the chance that he was manipulating her. And, considering the kind of vibe that he gave off, that was more than possible. But, on the off chance that he wasn’t doing that. That he was being honest. Then she had to take his words to heart. Regardless of what she wanted to be true.
Even if Shigaraki was lying to her, it could be a white lie. And a white lie was often far worse than a normal lie. Because a white lie contained just enough truth to deceive the person being lied to. She thanked having her binged Death Note for that one.
And that, most of all, made him that much more terrifying. The fact that he could so effortlessly lie and tell the truth at the same time was horrifying. And that wasn’t even considering the presence he drew in. Just knowing him for a few minutes left her with the impression that the man she was speaking to was nothing short of a master manipulator and genius. When he spoke, he commanded respect. He commanded fear. He commanded obedience.
And he was in her head. Rikitasu Shigaraki, a man who supposedly conquered his world, was now living inside her head. Someone who she had no doubt in her mind was a bona fide supervillain. A monster beyond compare. And now, not only was he in her head, but she had his superpower. She had become a wielder of All For One.
A power that could take other people’s powers.
A power that was Greed incarnate.
A power that reflected its user, but did it really? Was he telling the truth? Or was he lying to her? The fact that she couldn’t tell if she was being lied to scared her. She was really good at piecing together that type of thing. So for her to be unable to tell was a feat in of itself.
And if Shigaraki was honest about that, what else was he not lying about? Or better yet, how much of his words had been whole truths? It started to make Luz panic a little bit because now she was on a deadline. She didn’t want to hurt anyone. She refused to hurt others. It was wrong, even if there were a few times where she had so badly wanted to.
Luz wanted to discount everything that Shigaraki had told her. She wanted to throw away every word that he had spoken and forget their meeting ever happened. But logic demanded that she heeded his words. If what he said was true, then she might’ve been in for a rude awakening very soon.
She had no idea how close “soon” was. For all she knew it was a few days away, or if that was only moments away. Hell, it could’ve been right now and she wouldn’t have been any the wiser—
“Luz? Are you alright?” It was Julia’s voice that snapped Luz out of her thoughts yet again, a frown on her face. “You spaced out again. Luz, tell me what’s wrong?” Luz blinked, her dark brown eyes meeting Julia’s golden yellow. She wanted to tell her the truth. Really, she did, but…. What would her reaction be? To learn that her friend—someone that she trusted—had the power to take away the very thing that was hers. All with just a handshake.
It would paint all of their previous interactions in a bad light. And the last thing that she wanted to do was to drive a wedge into their budding friendship. So, against her better judgment, she lied.
“No, I’m… I’m alright. Let’s just get this party started, yeah?” Luz said as Julia arched an eyebrow, her frown deepening as she crossed her arms.
“Luz…. You just about had a stroke,” Julia said, her tone of voice dripping with worry and concern. “I don’t know what happened, but you need to see a doctor, or—”
“What doctor, Julie?” Luz interrupted, her voice deadpan as she stood up, dusting off her leggings as she looked over her shoulder and back at Julia. “There’s no doctor in this camp, and no, Arla doesn’t count. Besides, I doubt the Governor is gonna send one because one of us got sick. Hell, he’s hoping for us to die here anyway, so what does it matter?” Luz said, her tone cold as Julia looked away.
“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have said anything…” Julia muttered, causing Luz’s features to soften. Why had she said it like that? Sure, she was in a bad mood, but Julia was the last person who needed to be on the other end of it.
“No, Julia…” Luz said, shaking her head. “I should be the one who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I’m in a bit of a bad mood right now, and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
Silently, Julia nodded, her expression one of understanding, if not a little on the upset side. She couldn’t blame Julia for that. Not one bit. “Uh… how about this, I’ll gather everyone and I’ll finally tell the truth about my power, okay?”
“Alright,” Julia said under her breath, standing up next to Luz before looking her over one more time. “But Luz, please, if you need someone to talk to about something, I’m willing to listen. After all, my old friends used to tell me I was an amazing listener.” As Julia said that, Luz couldn’t help but smile.
What did she do to deserve suddenly getting a friend like Julia? Maybe this was the universe’s way of counterbalancing all the toxicity that she had encountered in her life. If that was the case, then she would be more than glad about it. However, there was something in the back of her mind telling her to not get too attached.
The situation they were in… it was obvious that something bad was going to happen. But, she’d like to think that no one would take any of the bait that The Governor would put out. She had confidence that, given enough time, they could all work together to revolt against The Governor. Especially if there were people like Arla and Stanley around.
“Do you think you can gather everyone else, Julia?” Luz asked as Julia nodded, stepping out of the cabin. Luz breathed out, calming herself as closed her eyes. “Come on, Luz! You can do this!” As soon as that thought ended, an idea formed in her mind. On top of revealing what her power was, she was going to divide people into groups.
The groups would be simple, and also small. It kind of had to be, especially given how many people she had to work with. But, if there was something that Luz was semi-good at, it was strategy. Those 1500 hours of Command and Conquer were going to come in handy, it seemed. And while she wished the circ*mstances behind it were better, it was better than nothing.
Exiting the cabin, Luz saw her fellow prisoners, all of whom were sitting by the fireplace. A nervous sigh escaped her lips before she approached the group of now ten people, including Julia. The moment she stepped out, all eyes were on her. She had no idea how long she had been out, though considering the sun was about to go down, she must’ve been asleep for a while.
“Commander, you’re here,” Stanley said as he stood up, a smirk on his face as he stared at her. “So, what do you have in mind? Do you have some form of game plan for tomorrow?” Stanley asked as Luz scratched the back of her neck.
“Well… to be honest, no….” Luz replied as Stanley frowned, crossing his arms. He was about to open his mouth to say something, though Luz quickly followed up her reply. “BUT! I do know what we can do right now,” that seemed to appease Stanley, who shifted in place, uncrossing arms as Luz continued. “The nap I had allowed me to clear my mind, and I came up with an idea for how we can operate going forward. Have any of you played Command and Conquer?”
“My mom used to,” Carla spoke up, raising an eyebrow. “But, what does that have to do with us?”
“A lot, actually,” Luz quipped, a smile slowly taking up her visage. “You see, for those who haven’t played, as the commander, you can group up people and have them do specific things. Can anyone guess what I’m trying to do?”
It was then that Marcone’s eyes widened, and as soon as they did, he chuckled, before flashing a toothy grin. “Good idea, Signorina Comandante,” a few seconds later, his grin turned into a look of confusion, as he stroked his chin in thought. “However, how can you group us into, well, groups, without knowing our capabilities? Sure, you know our names and powers, but none of us know how to fight—supposedly, and we’re all just a bunch of kids. We have no survival skills outside of maybe Stanley.”
He had a point, unfortunately. That was another aspect of this nightmare of a “game” that they were being forced to play. Assuming that everyone here had no real experience in these sorts of situations. Like, fighting, survival, and all of that fun stuff, then they were all at a disadvantage.
“Well, don’t go assuming that stuff,” Johnny said, crossing his arms. “I just so happen to know how to survive in the wilderness. Looks like I can put my scouting background into action!” Johnny said as he smirked. “And besides, with my Vibrations, I can probably use it to track animals for hunting purposes.”
“And how do you suppose that’ll work?” Judy asked incredulously. “Haven’t you only had your power for a week? ‘Cause that’s when these things started showing up, yeah?”
“Huh? No,” Johnny replied, tilting his head to the left. “I’ve had my power for over a year at this point.”
“Y-yeah! And I was born with m-mine,” Arla added, causing Luz to blink.
“Wait, what?!” She exclaimed as Arla giggled, a smile on her face.
“Y-Yeah… it’s because of my Mom. She can Restore things, and I guess I got a better version of it. T-Though, I’m not supposed to say anything about it. I-I guess it’s okay here, s-seeing as we’re all the same,” Arla muttered, causing Luz’s brain to, for all intents-and-purposes, shutdown. How was this possible?! This was supposed to be a new thing, so how did Johnny and Arla have their powers before the beginning of the week?
“That doesn’t make any sense, though,” Julia noted, crossing her arms. “Superpowers have only been around for a week. If you’re truly claiming that you’ve had yours your entire life, Arla, then that implies that this sort of thing has happened before, and there are no records of it happening prior to the beginning of this week.”
“Well, personally, I don’t trust the Government to be honest about that sort of thing,” Jean said, frowning, earning a skeptical gaze from Julia, which he returned in kind. “What? Do you mean to tell me you’d believe the people who said that the reason we were in Iraq was to “get rid of terror” and then tell the truth a few years later saying that they’re only there for the oil?”
Julia went to say something, only to stop, looking away with a hint of embarrassment on her face. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Jean snarked, before scoffing. “I mean, if something like this has happened before, then it makes sense how the Government, or at least Maxwell, was able to set something like this up rather quickly. And the reason why we never knew about whoever pre-dated us, is because they were successful in wiping them out.”
The air around the campfire suddenly became heavy. If what Jean said was true, then…. “Let’s not think about that right now, yeah?” Luz said, nervously smiling as nods and grumbles came from around the campfire. The last thing that they needed on their minds right now was the idea that this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.
“So then, how are we going to do this, then?” Theodore asked as Luz smirked.
“Well, let’s start with the simplest team to sort out. A scouting party. The group of people who’ll get the supply drop for our team,” Luz said, before looking over at Judy. “You’ll be leading it, and the two other people with you will be Stanley and Arla.”
“Aye, aye,” Judy replied, a smirk on her face. Stanley grunted, and Arla nodded.
“Next up, we’ve got the two lookouts. That’ll be Marcone and Theodore. I’m sure you guys can find a way up on the walls, right?” Luz asked as the pair nodded. Marcone grabbed a rock off the ground, before grunting, and as he did, it began to transform into a thick, rope-like vine with large, heavy-looking leaves. An exhausted sigh came out after he was done, and a bead of sweat dripped down the side of his face, which indicated he was suddenly exhausted.
“I can create a vine-stair case out of rocks, but it drains me…” Marcone said as Julia shook her head.
“You could just ask me to lift you up there, I can carry well over a tonne of weight with my vines. Remember, the tree?”
“Oh, right, yeah…” Marcone muttered, causing Luz to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
“What are you talking about?” Luz asked as Ronny chuffed, looking over to Luz with a smirk on his face.
“A tree, for some reason, nearly toppled over the base. Guess it just got too old or something. It was gonna crush the cabin you were in, and Julia wasn’t a big fan of that. So, she used her vines to grab the huge thing—and I mean, it was f*cking huge—before chucking it across the forest without so much as breaking a sweat, ya shoulda seen it, it was amazing!” Ronny explained as Luz slowly turned to look at Julia, who had a sheepish smile on her face.
“Remind me to never get you angry, okay?” Luz asked as Julia giggled.
“Don’t worry, I doubt you could. You’re face is too cute for that,” Julia replied, an honest smile on her face as she closed her eyes, both of her hands clasped together and sitting front and center in front of her. As those words left her mouth, Luz’s face became as red as a tomato, stammering as she tried and failed to get out a single coherent sentence. Julia opened her eyes, raising an eyebrow, confusion coating her expression as she tilted her head to the side. “Luz? Are you okay?”
“I-I-I-I-I—”
“I think you broke the captain there, Jules,” Stanley quipped, wrapping an arm around Luz’s shoulder, which seemed to snap her out of the sputtering mess she had briefly become. Stanley unwound his arm, before slipping a hand into his pants pocket, yawning. “Jeez, is anyone else tired?”
“Nah, I think I speak for everyone by saying that we’re all fine,” Ronny said, followed up by a couple of nods and “yes’s” from the others. Stanley shrugged, ruffling the back of his hair before sighing.
“Well, I’m gonna go to sleep. I can’t keep my eyes open for much longer. Peace out, ya’ll.” And with that, Stanley retired to one of the cabins for the night. When he fully disappeared, Luz turned to face everyone else. She looked at the remaining group of eight—not including Julia—and she frowned. She genuinely didn’t know what to make of everyone else.
Stanley, Judy, and Arla were perfect for being scouts. Someone with advanced movement, someone who could act as a defensive wall, and someone to heal others in case of injuries. The two lookouts were perfect seeing as they seemed to know the most about survival. Although, maybe she could throw Johnny on the scout team…
But, what if someone came to attack the base? She didn’t doubt Ronny or Carla, nor did she doubt Julia, but what if that fire guy showed up? Suddenly, things changed, so having Johnny there to vibrate the ground out from underneath the pyro-guy was a good move.
“What about the rest of us?” Jean asked, curiosity sparkling in his eyes.
“Hold down the fort, basically. The less people who wander out from the base, the better. Especially because then we can watch our backs far easier when we’re all grouped up. For all we know, they could have people out there scouting, looking for people to pick off. We have no idea what their mentality is, and the last thing I want to do is to go assuming things, even if I would like it for them to be against killing, that fire-user seemed to be indifferent to it,” Luz said as Jean nodded.
“Makes sense to me,” Carla added, getting up from her sitting position in favour of crouching. As she did, rubbed at the back of her left car ear with the back of her hand, kind of like a cat wound when grooming itself. Arla shot her a glance, which was met by a frown and a raised eyebrow. “What’re you looking at? It’s instinct, alright?”
Arla let out a tiny little “eek” before muttering an “I’m sorry.” Carla didn’t seem to care and went back to her self-grooming. Luz turned around, not caring much for it. She was about to wander around, silently declaring the meeting over, but before glancing at Julia, who stared at her with a look that said “You’re not done yet”. Luz honestly, dreaded this part of the conversation, especially because she didn’t know how anyone else would’ve reacted.
“Oh, uh, one more thing… STANLEY, GET OVER HERE, THIS IS IMPORTANT!” Luz shouted in the direction of the Cabin, as Stanley walked out, an annoyed look on his face. Thankfully, he didn’t seem drowsy yet, meaning he hadn’t tried falling asleep. Although, he was shirtless now, and it was more than a little attention-grabbing.
She had figured that he was muscular back on the bus, not being able to see much of anything. But now? Now she could. And while she had more of an attraction to girls than guys, to say that he wasn’t attractive would’ve been her lying to herself. Again, not that she personally cared, she was just stating an objective fact.
The saying “a body chiselled to perfection as if it was were a statue” rang true for the 18-year-old. Be it because of his power having made it that way, or if it had been from years of working out, Luz couldn’t tell. He had an extremely well-defined chest and abs, broad shoulders, and a neck as thick as a log. His arms were as wide as tree trunks, too. He honestly looked like he could deadlift a whole car without so much as batting an eye.
“What?” Stanley asked as Luz waved him over. She could faintly see him rolling his eyes, before lazily walking back over to the campfire. She glanced over at Judy, who had been biting her lip, looking him up and down, obviously interested in him. Stanley noticed that, too, scoffing. “What’re you looking at?”
“Mama likes what she sees,” Judy commented, causing Luz to cringe. If they started this crap now… “Wanna go take a walk later?”
“I don’t wanna get shot in the back of the head for breaking the rules. Remember?” Stanley noted, crossing his arms. “Also, watch it, there’re little kids here, remember?”
“Hmph, you’re not fun,” Judy quipped, before smirking. “But, if I survive this, and if you do too, you’re mine.”
Stanley seemed to shiver at that, though Luz couldn’t tell if it was one of fear or one of something else. What? She wasn’t exactly all tuned into that kind of thing, she was a kid! Not a horndog! “Anyways!” Luz said loud enough to break the two out of their little weird conversation, earning everyone’s attention. “I finally figured out what my power is. I had… some help. Not of the physical kind but of the mental kind. It… came to me in my sleep, ya know, like a vision?”
“So, what is it?” Theodore asked, hunching over slightly, like a cowboy would. Luz swallowed down the fear that was building up in her throat. This was it, if she was going to back out now, she should. But… she didn’t. She wasn’t going to lie to her teammates. To the people, she was supposed to lead. Unlike Maxwell, she was going to be a good leader, damnit.
And so, with a relaxing exhale, Luz spoke. “My power, which I’m now calling All For One, when I come into physical contact with someone, gives me the ability to steal away other people's powers. Permanently. O-Oh, and if I have a stockpile of powers already, I can also give them to people,” Luz explained, biting her tongue with an anxious look in her eyes after she stopped speaking.
For a full minute, there was nothing but silence. Luz felt as if a million people were watching her. She didn’t like it, not one bit. All she wanted to do was to hide. Hide away from everyone and everything. And that was exactly what she was about to do, until….
“That’s incredibly useful, actually….” Johnny’s voice snapped her out of her near-panic attack, as Luz looked up at him, a wide smirk on his face. “Think about it, Luz. You’re our secret weapon! If we ever get into a fight, for any reason, with anyone from the opposing team, you can de-power them and we can beat the snot out of them!”
“He’s got a point,” Stanley said, his smirk matching Johnny’s. “I’ll be honest, at first, I was a little iffy about joining your team instead of Kennedy’s. But something told me that choosing you would let me survive this thing. Not only do you have guts, but you also have the power to back it up! We might actually win this thing, and it’ll be because of you!”
Luz was confused. They… weren’t afraid of her? But why? And more to the point…. “But, I don’t want to win. Winning implies that we have to kill everyone else! I don’t want to kill anyone!” Luz said as Judy shook her head, crossing her arms.
“You don’t get it then,” Judy stated as Luz looked over at her, eyes slightly narrowed.
“What don’t I get?”
“That we don’t have a choice,” Judy responded, her tone leaving no room for argument. The sharpness and decisiveness in her voice borderline matched Shigaraki’s, as did the coldness. It almost made Luz flinch, but she resisted it. She wasn’t going to be intimidated by her. She couldn’t be. Not when she was the leader. Leaders weren’t intimidated by anyone. That was the point.
“We do have a choice,” Luz argued, as Judy sighed.
“Then I guess you’ll have to learn the hard way. Don’t complain to me when someone’s fist is elbow-deep in your guts, all because you hesitated,” Judy spat, tilting her head in such a way to show the disdainful look in her eyes. One that made Luz shiver. “Just remember, leader or not, none of us here are loyal. We’re here to survive. And if, for whatever reason, I believe you’re sabotaging us all because of your own moral beliefs?” She drew a line across her throat with her thumb, before a black spot appeared in front of her, as she leapt through it, but not before announcing what she was doing. “I’m going on a walk. Catch you losers later.”
And then, just like that, Judy was gone. Ronny sneered at where Judy had been standing, shaking his head disapprovingly. “Don’t listen to her, Luz. She doesn’t know what she’s saying. It’s nothing but a bunch of empty threats.” After Ronny finished speaking, a yawn followed soon after, his eyes reflecting tiredness. “Well, I’m gonna go crash.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Same.”
“My eyes are way too heavy now…”
“Y-Yeah…”
And just like that, one by one, everyone, aside from Luz and Julia, began to walk back to the cabins. Luz was left staring at where Judy had teleported away using her spot power and frowned. She was just, gone. Did that mean that she could leave the camp whenever? Or, did it have a range? If so, how small and or large was the range?
She kind of wanted to try it out. You know, just to see what it would be like. And considering what she knew about her power….
“No, don’t be stupid, Luz. She’d probably kill you if you tried,” Luz thought, her frown turning into a near-scowl, only stopped by Julia poking her in her cheek, making Luz snap out of her little funk.
“If looks could kill, that wall would be hacked to bits,” Julia quipped as Luz looked away.
“Well, can you blame me? Did you hear what that… what that bitch said?!” Luz spat, acutely aware of what word she used. But she didn’t care. Her Mama wasn’t here to scold her, and even then, why would she care what she had to say? Especially after their last conversation.
“She’s just stressed. Everyone here is, and stress causes people to say and do stupid things. Especially in tense situations like this one,” Julia reasoned, causing Luz’s shoulders to sag. She hated to admit it but Julia was right.
“Right…” Luz muttered, glancing in the tree line. And when she did, Luz practically paled. Why? Because standing in one of the trees was something that didn’t look right. For a second, she thought she had been hallucinating. Because what she had seen wasn’t human. And while it was covered in shadow due to the sun having gone down, she could make out a slug-like body.
It was hanging in the tree, strange blue eyes staring her down, before quickly slinking away faster than she could blink. “Luz?” Julia, for what felt like the fifth time today, snapped Luz out of a daze of some kind, as the colour in her face refreshed. Whatever that was, Luz didn’t know. All she knew was that it was in the forest, and it wasn’t human. It wasn’t any animal that she had recognized. And it saw her face.
What it was going to do with that information, she didn’t know. And it worried her.
“Sorry, I just thought I saw something,” Luz drawled as Julia yawned.
“I’m going to get some rest. I take it you’re staying up?”
“Yup,” Luz replied, sticking her right thumb up with a smile on her face. “I’m all energized from my nap. You can all count on me!”
“Good, because I’m about to pass out,” Julia said, stretching as she did. Then, out of nowhere, Julia wrapped her arms around Luz’s torso, pulling her in, and then rested her head on Luz’s shoulder. “G’night, see you in the morning.” And then, she pulled away, before turning to the cabins, disappearing into the doorway, leaving a confused, flustered, and blushing red Luz.
Luz was never good with physical affection. Not even from her mother. So, after being willingly hugged by an admittedly extremely cute girl it was no wonder why Luz’s cheeks flared red. All Luz could do was shake her head, push down the strange feeling fluttering in her chest and ignore her fast-beating heart.
She had never had a crush before. Not on anyone. But, she was fairly certain that she had a crush on Julia.
A hopeful thought filled Luz’s mind, that maybe, just maybe, if things all worked out. If everyone survived, and if they were able to escape this hellish nightmare, Luz could finally have someone to spend time with.
Maybe, just maybe, something good could come from this hell.
-To Be Continued in – Search and Steal – Part 1-
[Ending Song: Life – By: Rude-a]
Chapter 7: Season 1 - Episode 7: Search And Steal - Part 1
Chapter Text
[Opening Song – Kyouran Hey Kids!! – By: The Oral Cigarettes]
[Search And Steal – Part 1]
Four days had passed since this whole game began, and if Maxwell would be honest with himself, he had half expected something to have happened by now. No one had ventured out from their bases, aside from that Judy Valetina girl, and even then, she didn’t venture that far past The Alpha Squadron’s headquarters.
Maxwell sighed, watching over the entire forest with his elaborate setup of hidden cameras and drones, boredom coating his features as his right fist rested on his cheek, slumping to the side as he glanced at one of the blank screens.
Everyone seemed peaceful. Too peaceful. Sure, there was interior drama within the teams, moreso with Foxtrot between Emelia Warstoch and another member, Hilbert. Kennedy was trying to rope in Cody and stop him from blowing a fuse. That Luz girl and Judy seemed to bump heads more often than not, with Stanley having to force Judy to “cool off” so to speak.
Oh, and Stanley and Judy were breaking one of the rules that he had set up. The whole “no diddling allowed” rule. They thought they were clever, but they weren’t. Not that he cared. They were adults, basically. It was only a problem when the younger ones decided to try and get frisky—which none of them had, thank God. He did *not* want to see that. He knew he was a piece of sh*t, but he wasn’t that much of a piece of sh*t to watch kids f*ck each other's brains out and get off to it.
He wasn’t like Tyler, who was a walking blackhole for morality. Don’t get him wrong, Tyler was his friend, that was true, but Tyler was also a f*cking creep. Hell, he had tried to marry his daughter off to an older man! Like, 20 years older! Honestly, maybe her dying here was better than going back to that f*cking nutcase.
Not that he was going to spare any of them. This place would get carpet-bombed regardless of what the result of this little game was. Though, how he’d explain that to the public, he didn’t know. Texas was smart by having theirs by their border, so they could get away with it being a defensive maneuver against Mexican invaders.
And even then, Greg was dragged out from his house and lynched for doing that and was replaced by some other shmuck that he hadn’t bothered to remember the name of. Besides, he only cared about the part where Greg was brutally killed like Ceaser. He watched the whole thing live on TV, smiling the whole time.
That bastard deserved it. Stole 100,000 from him and called it “claiming what he owed from a bet” which was bullsh*t because he had already paid that asshole, but he digressed.
He wanted something to happen, damnit. Staring at the screens, watching basically nothing happened over the course of the last 120 hours was really killing the mood. The first time he and his benefactor set this whole thing up, said benefactor being Tyler, everyone went straight for each other's throats. The winner of the ordeal was a special case, too.
They had tried to end him via a carpet bomb, but the bastard lived. When that didn’t work, they tried shooting him with a firing squad, and the bastard responded by turning into some funky purple smoke. Then, instead of trying to do what he suggested next, that being containing him in a gas canister and dumping him in a lake, Tyler decided to hire him as a personal assassin. Then he got the idea to make an entire special forces unit out of any super freak he could get his hands on that wasn’t a child or inexperienced in killing.
Tyler kept mentioning how useful those with powers were. How they made detractors disappear quickly when paid enough to do it. Personally, Maxwell didn’t think that way. He found them to be nothing by eyesores and blights. But, if Tyler said they were useful, then he wasn’t going to knock him for his opinion.
Though now, it made him wonder why Tyler would want to team up with him for a second time after what he had said. If he had seen the usefulness in them, or the lack thereof in his opinion, then why would he want to exterminate a new generation with him? Maybe there was something else to it that he wasn’t understanding, but it wasn’t like he cared.
The only thing that Maxwell cared about was making sure that his state was safe from the heathens that were invading it. The only problem was that, unlike last time, well over 10,000 of them showed up. He had only thought a handful would crop up like last time, but that turned out to be a lie. What was worse was that, if he didn’t get this over with soon, he knew that The Federal Government would be on his ass.
It was only a matter of time before someone noticed a whole sect of the Military was taken away from their posted position. If he was found out, then his political career would be in shambles. Scratch that, it would be done for, and he’d probably spend the rest of his waking life confided in a cell. And that was assuming Tyler didn’t just outright kill him after it was all said and done.
The true mastermind behind this, the one who planned for and gathered everything that they needed to start this game again was Tyler. It made sense. After all, he was the head of the Witch Hunter Association. And while it had been limited to only him and his assassins, seeing as everyone was coming out of the woodworks with superpowers now, it was only a matter of time before the number of people who joined the WHA exploded.
Although, that made him wonder what would happen to those whom he cared about who woke up with superpowers. Which was hypocritical, he knew. But still, it was a genuine concern of his.
Hell, even his three-year-old son, according to his wife, woke up with the ability to sprout claws from his knuckles, like Wolverine. Oh, and his niece in New York, who had the ability to fire lasers from her eyes. She was just six years old. If something bad happened to her…
“Damnit, don’t get cold feet now,” Maxwell thought, setting his jaw as he sat up straight. He had already sunk time and money into this. To pull out of the operation now would surely get him killed. Regardless of what he said to Tyler. And that was assuming Tyler would be the one who did it.
Times were changing, he knew that. But he didn’t like those changes. Humanity wasn’t meant to sprout wings from their backs. They weren’t meant to blast fire from their palms. They weren’t meant to turn into smoke and slip through doors and cracks in walls.
“What the hell is happening to the world…” Maxwell thought, slumping in his chair. If someone were to have told him 20ish years ago that those with superpowers would become commonplace, past him would tell you that he had already wiped out the “super freaks” with his first run of this death game he created.
And while there were some exceptions he made, that smoke guy being one of them, and that one girl who he only remembered as “Thatcher” it wasn’t like he was going to see them again. One was with Tyler, and the other was in some backwater town in his state, probably smoking crack or something. Well, when she wasn’t harassing him with emails.
He never read them, so he had never really planned to interact with that slu*t. Although, a week ago, when he saw the name “Thatcher” he nearly spat out his drink, because that was just a bit too much of a coincidence. Namely because last week he made a joke about how he would’ve found it funny if he ruined the life of another person in the c*nts life.
At first, he thought it was just a fluke, but then he saw her and realized that she was related to the same Thatcher that he had almost killed all those years ago. He had only spared her because she was pregnant back then. But now, he had the offspring of that woman in the palm of his hands, and he couldn’t help but smile.
Oh, how irony was bittersweet sometimes. Like mother like daughter, he supposed. Though, maybe he wouldn’t copy the whole rigamarol. He was already doing the most with the whole death game thing. So he saw it as enough.
And hey! Maybe it would finally get that bitch of a woman to shut up if her daughter was dead. The child wasn’t his daughter anyhow. No matter how much that bitch whined and cried about it. It wasn’t his fault he was tempted by her outfit. She shouldn’t have been wearing those booty shorts at the time. If she didn’t want to be treated like a slu*t and f*cked like one then she shouldn’t have dressed like it back then.
Besides, what was the term again? When you’re a prisoner, you’re at the whims of the prison master. Yeah, that was the saying. And she was his prisoner. So it stood to reason that he could do whatever he wanted back then.
Though, looking back at it, he kind of regretted it. That was a little much, even for him.
Oh well, he would be able to rid of her and forget about that stupid thing he did. Though, speaking of stupid things….
Maxwell looked down at the stack of papers on his desk, a small smile taking up his visage. It was a court summons, and frankly, he found it laughable. The fact that they would try and sue him was funny. At least, it was, until he realized that they were planning to sue him in Washington, and he had no control over there.
He, and Tyler, to be exact.
At least, it was a problem, until he told Tyler. Tyler said he’d deal with it personally, which was good. The less detractors, the better. Although, it was kind of funny. Out of all of the signatures on the piece of paper, he would’ve expected to see all of the parents have signed on to it. But after double and triple-checking, there was one missing.
That one, the one who didn’t sign, was smart. That one most likely understood that it was a bad idea to go directly after them. If he ever got to meet her in person, he would probably give her props. After all, it takes a lot to push one's own feelings regarding their children to not sue the people who kidnapped them.
Either that, or she didn’t believe that nosey pastor. Or, the more nefarious idea, which was that she just didn’t care. And if that was the case, that meant he was doing her a favour. And that would be oh-so-funny.
“All’s well that ends well,” Maxwell thought as he leaned back in his chair, kicking up his feet on the desk he sat in front of, before reaching over to press a big red button labelled “Launch”. It was the button that launched the drone that sent down the care package for the week. A smirk took up his visage as he watched the drone fly into one of the screens holding a massive package with military-grade rope. “That’ll surely get something going… and if it doesn’t, then I’ll have to do something of my own.”
As he thought that, he glanced over at the monitor that was focused on Luz Noceda and frowned. The information he had overheard regarding her was troubling. The fact of the matter was that she was the most dangerous one there, despite appearances. She needed to die, and soon. She was probably the only one that, if pushed too far, would have the chance to actually do something.
After all, he had looked into every one of the people who he had decided to capture. And Luz? She was terrifying. If her criminal record was to be believed, she was the only one here who truly had the spine to kill, aside from Judy. While most people here had petty theft somewhere on there, and while some had mental health issues like Emelia and her psychopathy, and Kennedy with his Bipolar disorder, Luz was the only one that he genuinely believed was a true threat to everyone who agreed to chip in with the Death Game idea.
After all, you don’t just walk away unconvicted from an attempted murder charge and not be a little f*cked in the head.
If he was remembering correctly, the victim of the attack was a girl by the name of Amber Stirwell. He didn’t know the exact details, but it was three months ago, and the judge had given her a warning, and sentenced her to a month of house arrest. On top of that, the judge fined the mother $50,000 for negligence. It almost got her thrown out of her school, too. Fortunately, The Principal of that school, Mr. Walkers, had come up with a way to keep her in the school.
And that was, for some reason or another, sending her to Reality Check Summer Camp. How a number-crunching camp would fix that was something even he couldn’t put together. Either way, because of that, she was his problem now, and he had the responsibility to do away with her.
And after hearing about the power that she had, this “All For One” or whatever, from the security cameras, and after overhearing what it did, Maxwell knew that something needed to be done about it. If she was allowed to start acquiring power, and too much of it, then they would all be in big sh*t. Especially if she snapped.
Especially if she snapped.
It was appropriate to say that she was like a walking, talking, living, breathing, ticking time bomb that could blow at even a single hint of pressure. And if she was allowed to blow up, then it would cause nothing but trouble for not only him but all of Gravesfield.
Call it a gut feeling, but he believed that if Luz Noceda was allowed to live any longer, then all of Gravesfield would pay for it.
The only question was, how? How to kill her without making it look personal? He glanced over to a monitor, where a red-haired boy dressed in a red shirt and brown cargo shorts was practicing doing something. If he had remembered his name, he was Cody Johnson. He was shadow-boxing over in the corner of The Heaven’s Devil's base, and was using his, uh, what was it, Pyrokensis powers? He was doing kickflips, strong jabs and punches, all of which ended in trails of flame….
Flame….
Burning flesh….
Fire burns the flesh, and leaves nothing behind….
Maxwell smiled. Yeah, that would work. He deployed a drone, and activated its microphone and camera, before flying it over to the base of The Heaven’s Devils. It didn’t take long to make it to the specific area where Cody was training, and as soon as it got close, Maxwell turned on his microphone and cleared his throat. Once he got Cody’s attention, Maxwell spoke.
“Cody Johnson, I have a job for you. If you complete it, I’ll give you and a person of your choosing immunity to the rest of the game, and let you go home early.”
[XXXX]
Luz couldn’t sleep.
Well, it wasn’t that she couldn’t sleep, but it was more like she didn’t want to sleep. If she slept, it would mean she’d have to talk to him again. And yes, she was aware that she looked like a zombie, and had passed out a few times standing up, but the last thing she wanted to do was see him again.
To put it simply, Shigaraki terrified her. The more she thought about what he said, she couldn’t help but realize that he was right. Not only was he right, but he was hauntingly, and horrifyingly correct. Thinking about his words made her realize that she wanted to strip power from those she believed didn’t deserve it.
She truly wanted to make those who wronged her suffer. After all, anyone would want that, right? She wasn’t crazy for thinking that way, was she? A little revenge never hurt anyone, right? But, then again, that wasn’t how her mother raised her.
Her mother didn’t raise a monster.
She didn’t.
She didn’t.
But then, if that was the case, then why did she do that one thing a few months ago?
She and Mama never talked about it. It was what had caused them to be extremely strapped for cash. The fine for it came out of her college fund, and that was when Mama’s drinking problem got even worse than it had been. It had been that one incident that caused all of this. Of course, there was the trouble she was causing at the school with her antics, but it was that incident that put Amber in the hospital for weeks and caused her Mama to send her here.
Well, not here per se, but to Reality Check Summer Camp.
Maybe the lack of sleep was causing her to think irrationally. Which was why she had been lying down in her bed in the cabin, staring up at the bottom of the mattress above her. She was wearing a different set of clothing, that being a purple shirt with a wide collar and a pair of black baggy pants. Oh, and a pair of rainbow-themed socks, for added measure.
She wanted to sleep, but she couldn’t bring herself to close her eyes. She was tired, but not really. And every time she closed her eyes, she could see his face. It had gotten to the point that she had been genuinely afraid to fall asleep. Because if she did, she’d run into him.
There was no doubting the fact that he was evil, vile, and manipulative. To say he wasn’t was to say that Kim Jong Un wasn’t a dictator, which was a blatant and obvious lie. And what made this whole thing worse was that he was in her head, or, better put, in her dreams—like Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street.
Luz sat up, resting a hand on her forehead, frowning as she did. Her eyes were heavier than a bag of bricks, but there was nothing she could do to sleep. Counting sheep? Nuh uh, wouldn’t work. Singing a lullaby in her head? It just got her excited and made her think of a different song. Nothing worked, so, instead of continuing to do the impossible, she turned to face the wall of the cabin, and the other beds.
It was nighttime, and most of, if not everyone else who was a part of The Alpha Squadron, was asleep, split up between the two cabins. She shared a cabin with the girls, the sole exception being Stanely. He slept at the back, though, so it didn’t matter. And besides, he didn’t snore, so that was good. If he did, she would’ve preferred to sleep outside. But, that was irrelevant to right now.
Right now, she was staring down the empty bed that Julia usually slept in. Luz had caught what she looked like sleeping before, and she didn’t know how to describe it. The best she could do was as if she was staring down an angel peacefully resting.
But right now, she wasn’t there. Maybe she was out on a walk? That was possible.
Luz looked down at her hands, and frowned, staring at the holes in her palms yet again. She regarded them with disdain. She hated her power, now more than ever. Each passing day, now that she had been made aware of it, she resented looking down at her hands. It was a reminder that she was cursed with a power that wasn’t a true match for her.
No matter what the old fart living in her head told her, All For One did not, nor would it ever match her.
“Or does it?” Luz thought, cringing slightly. The fact that there was any doubt in her mind at all regarding All For One upset her greatly. Because while what Shigaraki said struck a chord with her, it wasn’t enough for her to fully agree with him.
She wanted to make those who wronged her pay. She wanted those with power who didn’t deserve it to suffer. All of that was true, and anyone who said that she wouldn’t hurt a fly either didn’t truly know her or had a wishy-washy basic understanding of her. The only thing that she didn’t do was that she didn’t act out her fantasies.
At least, most of the time, she hadn’t. The only time she had… she nearly killed the person who had been her target. The person who had made her snap.
Luz remembered it clearly. As if it had happened the other day. She remembered every detail, every word said, every action committed. Burned into her mind for her to forever remember until she died. To remind her what would happen if she had ever let herself get out of control.
It was a Friday afternoon. She had been walking home from school that day, and the rumours that something was between herself and Mr. Jones began at the beginning of that week. She had been non-stop harassed, despite the staff's best efforts. The worst part was that she had known that it was because she and Mr. Jones had been caught hanging out at lunch.
And by whom?
Amber Stirwell. The same girl who had insulted her dead dad. The same girl who had been relentlessly teasing her and bullying her for the last few months, borderlining on a year. The same girl that hated her for no reason other than “just because.”
And Luz had started to have had enough of it. But it hadn’t gotten to the point where she felt like she had to do something about it. Besides, while the rumour was awful, it wasn’t something she couldn’t disprove. It was very simple—if she had done what the rumours had said, then why hadn’t he been arrested?
For as much as she had iffy opinions of her mother, she would’ve known almost immediately if something like that was happening. So, if something like that had truly been happening, her mother would’ve called the cops so quickly, that it wasn’t even funny.
No. It wasn’t that that had set her off. Nor was it the comment she had made about her Dad months prior.
It was what she had tried to pull earlier in the morning. Or, more like, what she did do. You see, Luz had recently gotten herself the first installment of the sequel series of The Good Witch Azura, that being Azura and The Foul Moon. It was supposed to take twenty years after the events of the first series, and she had been excited for it to come out.
It was a birthday present from her mother. Something that she had jumped for joy about. If her father was still around, he would’ve been all over that book and then some. After all, it was he who had gotten her into the series, and her mother did say that he was really into the series.
So, when she got it, she brought it to school to read at lunch. And then along came Amber. She took one good look at what Luz was doing, she decided to do something that had broken the proverbial camel's back.
She took the book and used a lighter that she used to smoke to burn it at the back of the school, with her other lackies holding her down while she did. But, instead of crying or sobbing about it, she simply got angry. And not the explosive kind of anger, but the silent kind of anger. The kind of anger one would have when something had pissed them off so badly that they couldn’t vocalize it.
So, the next day, she did something that she grew to regret. Not because of what she had done to Amber, but because of everything else regarding the situation. She had brought the butcher knife to school again. This time, however, she had done so on purpose. She waited until the end of the day, till school broke out, knowing that Amber had cheerleader practice.
She followed Amber, making sure not to be seen. Prior to coming to school that day, she had stayed up a little bit past her bedtime, and when her mother was asleep, she had sharpened the butcher knife, that way it was extra sharp. She had doubts of her own when she had prepared to do it. Thinking if it was worth it.
She decided that it was.
When Amber got to the changing rooms, Luz followed her in. She remembered the look of disgust on Amber’s face.
And how quickly it went from one of admonishment to one of fear as she lunged at her with the knife.
She still remembered, with full clarity, just how loud Amber’s screams were when she plunged the knife into her stomach and repeatedly stabbed her multiple times. She still remembered the coldness she felt as she made direct eye contact with her the whole time, not saying a single word to her. She still remembered how the clawing at her wrists felt, not that it mattered.
She remembered the smell of her blood. How sickly sweet it was. Some had splashed on her clothes, which annoyed her. She had heard how hard it had been to clean blood out of clothing.
The final thing that she had remembered about the confrontation she had with Amber was how she went slack after a while. She was fairly certain she had been there for a whole minute, plunging the blade into her.
80 times. She had stabbed Amber 80 times.
It was a miracle that she had survived. And extremely unfortunate.
To say that Luz had been fully committed to killing her when she had attacked was an understatement. The only thing that stopped her merciless attack was when the Janitor pulled her off of Amber and restrained her after calling the police and an ambulance. Had it not been for him, Amber would’ve been dead, and Luz would’ve been in a prison cell for the rest of her life.
The only reason why she hadn’t gone to jail was for a few reasons.
- The attack, while premeditated, was able to be twisted into a self-defence attack because not only were the cameras off for repairs in the changing rooms where the attack happened, making it ambiguous on who struck first. Furthermore, Amber had been provoking her and tempting fate for nearly a year, so even if Luz had been the one who attacked Amber, then it was after months and months of constant abuse, meaning that her state-appointed lawyer had been able to twist it in Luz’s favour.
- While the attack wounds on Amber were still proof of the attack happening, no one had said they had seen Luz enter the changing rooms with Amber, and while the Janitor did testify, he was drunk, having been drinking on the job when he had both made the call to the police and said that he had seen Luz being the one who had attacked Amber, so that meant that his testimony could be shaky at best. Something the Jury agreed with, having thrown it out.
- Her age. Luz was still a minor, and couldn’t be tried as an adult until she turned 16 years old. So that came in clutch to avoid what would’ve been a surefire life sentence in prison. Furthermore, it was argued that due to her young age, the constant stress and abuse put on her by Amber, and the lack of help the staff provided in order to prevent this tragedy from happening, by technicality, the real people who were to blame would be the school itself.
And finally, 4. Amber was still alive. She didn’t die, meaning that, while her appointed Defence attorney said that Attempted Murder was good enough, combined with everything that he had provided to the judge and jury, he believed that Luz was, for the most part, innocent in what she had supposedly done.
The prosecutor, on the other hand, felt the opposite. Deeming her a danger to society due to her willingness to jump to violence. The prosecutor did everything in his power to tear down the defence attorney’s arguments, but the DA had a solid case, built on evidence. All the prosecutor had was conjecture and flimsy alibis and testimonies.
But, by the time it was all said and done, Luz was still found guilty of attempted murder. Although, luckily for Luz, the judge was surprisingly lenient, and let her off with a warning, her mother a fine for negligence. Furthermore, he also made it so that, rather than having to spend any time in a cell, she was put on a house arrest order for a month, the only time she was allowed to exit the house was when she went to school.
The final thing he forced to happen, which had been much to her annoyance and something that she had completely forgotten about, was for her to be sent somewhere to deal with her problems, and recommended a strict summer camp. He never specified, what camp she was to be sent to, hence why she was sent to Reality Check and not somewhere else. Why he didn’t recommend a therapist, Luz would never understand, but at the end of the day, it didn’t matter. It was the judge’s choice, not hers.
Her house arrest period had been up for two months now, though it made no difference to how she lived her life. It was kind of ironic, really. It was supposed to be a punishment, but it turned out to be just more of the same. And while she was imprisoned here, she was technically a free woman, despite her horrible crime.
Sure, she probably wouldn’t be able to get a traditional job, but she didn’t care. She had well over 10,000 subscribers on YouTube and had gotten onto the payment program. Her AMVs constantly got around 53k views and made well over $500 a video. And while she didn’t upload frequently, any money was good money.
One would expect her to feel guilt for what she did. After all, she had almost ended the life of another living, breathing person. And if not for that, then for how it financially ruined them. But, she didn’t. She felt zero remorse for what she had done. Amber deserved worse in her opinion. But, what was done was done. There was nothing that could be done about it. There was a restraining order placed on her, and Amber had skipped town after what came out had come out about her.
Ironically, she had been the one sleeping with a teacher. Mr. Morgan, if she had remembered correctly. So, it was a little bit of self-projection in the end, wasn’t it? On the bright side, at least she would never have to see her repugnant face again.
So, frankly, at the end of the day, it didn’t matter. It was a win-win in her books as far as she was concerned. Her mother? Not so much, but then again, as of late, she hadn’t really cared about what her mother thought. Or what she would think. Or anything she did, really.
That being said, while she didn’t feel guilty about what she had done to Amber, she had felt guilty about the whole situation surrounding it. Despite her current feelings on the woman, she felt guilty for dragging her mother into the mess and making her alcohol problem worse. And while that didn’t excuse what she had said before she left for camp, she could only imagine how much worse of a time her Mama was having right about now.
That aside, she wondered if that moment—that crime she had committed—contributed to awakening the power that she had now. To awaken All For One. Objectively speaking, she had committed an evil act. Evil begets evil, so to speak. So, the fact that she was willing to do horrible things like that could have been one of the key factors to awakening it.
Luz sighed, standing up from her bed as she did. She knew that, for the longest time, she needed to be checked into a therapist for all of the bullsh*t stirring around in her mind, but after recalling all of that nonsense, she knew now more than ever that it was needed. Maybe, if she survived, and after she distanced herself from her mother, she’d do that.
After all, this was partially her mother's fault. If she hadn’t been so hellbent to send her to this place, she wouldn’t be in this situation, now would she? If she had just let her stay home, then she wouldn’t have been in danger of dying.
She looked over to the others, peacefully sleeping, or, as peacefully as they could. Her eyes landed on Arla, who had been curled up into a ball. Earlier, she had been crying, most likely because she was scared. Not that Luz blamed her, but right now, she was too tired to emote.
Her eyes lingered on Arla, and for a brief second, she thought about using All For One. While she had said that it was an awful power, her curiosity was palpable, to say the very least. And while she found the whole concept of ripping away something so personal from someone to be disgusting, for all she knew, it might not have been as bad as she had imagined.
However, again, there was the problem of figuring out how to use it. How was she going to use it without coming across as a horrible person? She couldn’t just walk up to someone, place her hand on their head, and drain them of their power because she was “testing it out” and then not expect to get beat up.
It was wrong.
It was gross.
It might as well have been a form of rape.
And yet, for some strange reason, the urge she had to do it was almost unbearable. It had been mounting up for the last few days—and maybe it was because she hadn’t slept, but she felt like a damn about to burst. The sweat trailing down the side of her face was a testament to that.
But even so… it was wrong. And while she had done a bad thing before, that didn’t mean she wanted to do another, equally as bad thing again. Looking away from Arla, Luz frowned. “All For One….” Luz murmured, looking down at her hands again, for the second time in the hour, before frowning. “A power of The Chosen One…” Her frown transformed into a scowl before she scoffed. “Yeah, if they’re a villain….” Luz grumbled. And with that, she stepped outside of the cabin, stopped just before the campfire pit, and looked up into the night sky.
When she first saw the stars in the sky, she thought them to be beautiful, majestic even. But now? She didn’t really care. Probably because she was tired. They lost their spectacle and became just another thing for her tired eyes to distract herself with. She walked over to the put-out campfire, and sat down on one of the logs, draping her arms over her legs as she leaned forward.
A wave of various emotions came over her. Anger, sadness, frustration, and worst of all, stress. Nothing had happened in the last four days, which was weirding her out. No contact had been made with the other two teams, no one wanted to leave the confines of the base, and no one had mentioned anything about seeing anyone nearby. All of it was causing her paranoia to skyrocket.
What were they planning? Were they planning to invade one another? Wipe each other out? Were they planning to team up and attack them? She didn’t know, and it was freaking her out. Moreso due to the fact that, again, she wasn’t thinking straight, which she knew.
Luz groaned, looking down at the ground with a frown on her face. How was she supposed to be a leader while she was sleep-deprived and unable to function properly without bugging out? She had hardly any confidence in herself from the get-go, and to make matters worse, she couldn’t keep a coherent thought together for longer than a few seconds before her brain began to shut down from tiredness.
Luz was annoyed. That much was obvious. Everyone here was, but there was something else boiling within her that had been allowed to seep out ever-so-slightly.
Her anger.
The last time her anger exploded was when the thing with Amber happened. And now, she could feel it happen again. There was one person whose fault this really was. Her stress, her lack of sleep, the fact that she was here now instead of at the place she was supposed to be at.
Governor Rodger Maxwell.
For some, unknown, stupid reason, a smile began to take up her face. It spread from one side of her face to the other, the corners of her mouth upturned in a predatory, downright manic smile. Her eyes gleamed with the same calm, cold rage that a serial killer would inhabit.
And there was only one thought bouncing around in her head.
One of revenge.
“Once this is over… Maxwell is going to pay for this with his life.”
“Luz?” And just then, she was broken out of her thoughts, causing her to look in the direction of where the voice had come from, and it was none other than….
[XXXX]
The Wittebane family. A family that was known for two things: The founding of Gravesfield, and owning the largest Mega Church in all of America. It was more right to call it a castle, because not only did the Wittebane family live in it, it also acted as a Church.
Julia Scotsman Wittebane, until recently, was the youngest member of the family, and compared to her father, she was a saint. She treated everyone as if they were a person, even the “dirty poor’s” as her father would say. She cared not for how a person looked. As long as they didn’t commit horrible crimes, she viewed everyone as a person.
That was the major difference between her and Tyler Kirkman Wittebane. Whereas he viewed anyone who wasn’t him, his wife, and his lineage as nothing but dirty, pathetic, wastes of air, Julia saw them as the opposite.
Julia was embarrassed by her family’s past. After all, in the 1600s through the 1800s they hunted anything that wasn’t white, believed in the Christian God, and God-Forbid you happened to be a former slave…. From the 1850s to the early 1900s, they were staunch believers in segregation and even went as far as to believe the Nazis were good, even after the reveal of the Genocide they committed.
Of course, there were a few good apples sprinkled about. There was Gary Wittebane, who lived from 1670 to 1720 and donated most of his wealth to orphanages across the country. There was Jackie Wittebane, who lived from 1844 to 1901 and opened several soup kitchens across southern America for the homeless. Then there was Stan Wittebane, who was the shortest-lived and happened to be Tyler's Grandfather, who lived from 1922 to 1943 and was one of the people who discovered and reported back about the Jewish Concentration Camps. He died shortly after that, being killed on the D-Day Siege.
But, out of very few descendants that had been good people, most of them were not. And no matter how much good those few people did, it did not wash away the stains that had been left on their family name. She never viewed her family as the heroes they proclaimed themselves to be. Some days, she was ashamed of being a Wittebane, but even then, she had to try.
She was going to be the good one, she decided. She wasn’t going to be like what her father wanted, even if it got her kicked from their family home. Though, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t do as he asked. After all, just because she wanted to be better, it didn’t mean she had to forgo her religion. It wasn’t the religion that made her father as bad as he was. She simply believed that he was born evil, and used God to justify his cruelty.
So, every Sunday she went to Church. When she was asked to, she knocked on doors to spread the word of her God and the Lord Jesus Christ. She always donated when asked, and it wasn’t small amounts. It was large sums, and it was entirely to Children's hospitals and smaller churches. She even often chipped in around the town, constantly going out and protesting bills that were seen as awful by the wider public, like that one bill that mentioned something about trying to ban Abortions for the eighth time that decade.
But, aside from that, Julia lived a rather sheltered life. Her family had a few rules: no Television, for it was sinful. No non-Christian Media, especially books related to magic and witchcraft, and absolutely no LGBTQ discussions, for it was “disgusting” and “immoral.” Which proved to be a problem when Julia discovered that she found girls attractive.
Like, a massive problem.
Like, to the point where, when she was found out by her father, it was when she was caught kissing a girl at her Girls only school. Stacy was her name. They had a secret relationship, and one day, at the back of the school, when they thought they were alone one thing led to another, and they had begun making out.
And then, she guessed her father was looking for her, and Tyler found her doing “ungodly things” with Stacy. And when they were found out, Stacy’s parents also found out. Julia was removed from the school, and the last she had heard, Stacy had committed suicide after being verbally and physically abused by her father.
And it wasn’t much better for her, either. She was locked in her room and was forced to be home-schooled. Her mother tried to fight it, but Tyler was a far more dominant man. And, well… she suddenly listened to everything that Tyler said. Leaving Julia with no one. Well, no one but the butlers. They were still nice.
There were days when Tyler would read bible passages to her about how it was wrong to be with the same sex. Beat her whenever he felt like she is “giving into her sinful ways” and when he found her secret stash of comics and books consisting of the X-Men, Harry Potter, and The Dresden Files, she was forced to burn them.
It devastated her. Especially when she had to burn the X-Men comics. Those were the last things that she had to remember Stacy by since she had been the one to have purchased them. She had cried herself to sleep that night, but at least, she had thought, that her life couldn’t have gotten any worse.
Until last week.
The final straw was her Super Power awakening. Her vines. She hated them with a burning passion. Because of them, her mother and father disowned her completely and kicked her out of the house the day before she was sent to this place. All of her friends, including the ones that she had thought would have never abandoned her, did just that.
The only place she had left to go was St Peter’s Liturgical Church, and even then, she felt wrong for being there. Not because of any unjust looks or glances, but because it just felt wrong. It felt wrong to be in a house of God when those who had been so intrinsically tied to it left her to die. At first, she thought it was figurative, but now, it had become literal.
It was funny. She found herself in a similar situation to all those people that her father laughed at, calling them beneath her and her family. She was without a home, with only a suitcase, a few changes of clothes, a couple of snacks, and her phone with a charger. Sure, it was more than what some people could claim to have, but going from living in luxury to living on the streets with nothing but a handful of things to her name was a shock to the system.
Her only saving grace was a nun at St Peter’s letting her inside to sleep in one of the backrooms so that she didn’t get soaked by the rain that had been projected to come down that night. It would’ve been awful otherwise. But, in a sea of nothing but despair, one splash of hope meant a whole lot of nothing. Especially when she was still homeless.
At least she had RCSC to look forward to, which she was originally opposed to going to. But now, considering she was homeless and without proper shelter or people to rely on, she had been excited. At least, all until she had been hit in the back of the head with the butt of a gun.
And now, it turned into some stupid death game. A death game that, should they not comply by the end of the summer and do what the Governor wanted, i.e. kill each other, they would’ve been carpet-bombed and killed anyway. It was a lose-lose situation, and it had left her drained.
And when all hope seemed lost, when she was left with nothing, there was one beacon of light left in her life. And it came in the form of a brown-skinned angel with a name that quite literally translated into the word “Light”.
Luz Noceda was, by far, one of the only good things to come from this nightmare scenario. She was kind, if not a little rough around the edges due to random mood shifts that caused her to do silly things. She was excitable, and she was as cute as a button. In a lot of ways, she remembered Julia of Stacy, just without the obvious ADHD.
But, it wasn’t like that had detracted from anything. If anything, it made her even more adorable. But, that was a conversation for another time. Her crush on her leader had nothing to do with this conversation. Because while that was one of the many upsides of knowing Luz, there was another upside.
An upside that could possibly save her.
Originally, from what Luz had told Julia, was that she could see who had powers, and she had tiny holes in the palms of her hands, and people with powers had strings attached to their heads. She didn’t know what that meant, and neither did Luz. But, power-wise, Julia had completely disregarded Luz. Not that she needed power, mind you. All she needed was to be nice and lead them to victory.
Sure, there were a few bumps in the road, one of these bumps being named Judy. But, aside from that, things had been moving pretty smoothly.
But then, Luz explained what her power was. All For One. The power to take other’s powers from them and make them hers.
A power perfect for curing Julia of her curse.
If Luz could take away her stupid vines, and while she had no intention of returning to her family, at least then, she could go back to being the person she was. Maybe, at the very least, her old friends would take her back. Would be with her again.
Maybe, just maybe, if she survived this, she could take over The Mega Church from her father, remove him from the family, completely and utterly, and free her mother and potential sibling from him and his manipulative ways.
And maybe, just maybe, she didn’t have to be alone either.
Of course, she knew things probably wouldn’t have been that simple, but at least she could try! At least then she could have a chance.
The only thing that had stopped her on the first day of finding out that Luz had the power to strip powers from others was a nagging voice in the back of her head telling her that it was a stupid idea. After all, she was in a Death Game surrounded by others with superpowers. She would become fodder rather easily and god-forbid that she was caught by anyone outside of her team. She would be killed faster than she could defend herself.
And besides, there were times when her power had come in handy. Such as when that tree had nearly fallen on the cabin that Luz was sleeping in. But, at what point did the positives outweigh the negatives?
Sure, it came in handy, but when it was one of the reasons that she was now homeless, at what point did one keep to that power? She had a way to get rid of it, so why not? All she had to do was approach Luz and ask. It was just that simple, right?
So then why, oh why, was she so nervous about it?
Sitting atop the rear wall of The Alpha Squadron base wall, staring out into the wilderness, as the wind blew back her hair, Julia couldn’t help but feel more than a little nervous about what Luz would say. What if she said no? Would she just continuously beg her?
Then came the fact that Luz was incredibly sleep-deprived, and hadn’t slept in days. What if she said the wrong thing and upset her? After all, people who haven’t slept in a while are prone to snapping more easily.
But even so, she needed to try.
If Luz could cure her of her suffering, then she would get on her hands and knees if she had to. She didn’t care if it embarrassed her, she would do it anyway. And so, getting down from the wall, she began to walk back to the cabins to see if Luz was still in there, because she had been trying to get some sleep, no less thanks to her chewing her out for it.
As she walked around to the front of the base, she couldn’t help but get flustered. What if she said yes right off the bat? What if she was all for it and she was just worried? Or, what if the opposite was true? What if she got mad at her for even suggesting the idea? What if her worrying was justified? Julia didn’t know what to think, but whatever the outcome was, she just hoped that it didn’t hinder their friendship.
Once she reached the front of the base, she spotted Luz sitting at the campfire, slouched and looking at the floor. Had she passed out sitting at the campfire? Or was she still awake? Nervously, Julia called out to her, keeping her voice down so that she didn’t wake the others. “Luz?”
As soon as she had spoken out her name, Luz perked up immediately, before looking over her shoulder. When their eyes met, Julia could tell that hers were bloodshot and red from the lack of sleep. She looked like someone who had just smoked a half-a-pound of crack, at least, when it came to the bloodshotness in her eyes.
She really needed to sleep.
“Julia?” Luz asked, standing up as she did. “I was wondering where you were.”
“I was sitting on the edge of the southern wall, watching the forest. I’m sorry if I worried you,” Julia began as Luz smiled softly, as if relaxed.
“It’s alright, I’m just glad you’re okay,” Luz responded as Julia nodded. She approached Luz, stopping just a few feet in front of her. This was the moment of truth. If she was going to ask, she would do so now.
“Luz… I know this is going to sound weird. But… can you take away my Vines?”
As if erased by a chalkboard eraser, Luz lost all emotion on her face, her expression becoming blank, and her eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly. As if she was insulted by the very notion of her suggestion. It caused Julia to flinch at the sudden shift. “I’m sorry, what was that?”
“I-I-I wanted to know if you—”
“No, I heard you,” Luz replied, crossing her arms, frowning. “Why? You do realize that you could get killed easily if I do this, right?”
Julia blinked. That was true, but she thought that she was mad because of the idea as a whole. Not for her safety…. “I thought you were mad at the whole idea…. Is that all you’re worried about?”
“Is that all I’m worried about? Are you seriously asking that?” Luz asked, incredulously with a raised eyebrow. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m curious to see what would happen. It would be my first time doing it. But that’s not the issue. The issue is the situation we’re in. Did you even think of that?”
“Yes, I did. I know the risks. I understand that it could get me in trouble. But…” Julia paused, looking away from Luz’s gaze for a moment. Luz shifted her weight to one leg, tilting her head to the side in a questioning gaze as if she were trying to analyze her.
“But what?”
“My power is the sole reason for ruining my life,” Julia said, as Luz’s expression softened.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean exactly that. My family hates me because of it, my friends abandoned me, and my Church kicked me out. The only place I felt safe after that was St Peter’s, and even then I felt so far out of place there, it wasn’t even funny,” Julia explained as Luz uncrossed her arms, and stood straight, her frown shifting from annoyance to sadness.
But Julia wasn’t finished. “Luz, I beg of you, please… please remove this curse from me. It’s done me nothing but harm to myself. I know it’s a lot to ask for, but please, I beg of you!” Julia all but exclaimed, even getting down on her knees in the process. She was begging, and it looked ridiculous. Her hands were clasped together as she looked up at Luz, a sprinkle of hope in her eyes.
For a moment, Luz’s hand twitched, as if tempted. And for just a moment, Julia could’ve sworn that her left eye flashed red. Maybe it was a trick of the eye, or maybe it was because of the angle, but her whole pupil turned from a shade of golden brown to a deep, crimson red, before returning to normal.
There was a long, agonizing, drawn-out silence that caused Julia to lose hope. Of course, she wouldn’t do it. It was stupid of her to ask, she should’ve just—
“Fine.”
And then, without any hesitation, Luz placed her hand on Julia’s forehead. Her fingers grasped against the top of her head, her palm lying flat against her forehead, as Luz took in a deep breath, exhaling, and then speaking. “I don’t know what will happen when I do this. For all I know, this could be the most painful thing in the whole world. But just know, you asked for this. If you get hurt because of this, this will not be my fault, do you understand?”
Julia hummed in affirmation. And as soon as she did, Luz’s arm began to spark red. Red, crackling electricity began to bounce up and down her arm, as if she was amping herself up. She inhaled, then exhaled, and as soon as she did, the red sparks of electricity began to surge, and travel toward the palm of her hand, which was directly touching Julia’s forehead.
And as soon as the two connected, Luz’s grip on her head increased, her eyes narrowed, as if focusing, and then, a moment later, a surge-like feeling washed over Julia, causing her pupils to dilate, and for her body to feel like it was on fire.
Her muscles locked in place, her bones ground to a halt, and all she could do was sit there and take it. In the darkness, there was only Luz, the red light given off by All For One working its magic, and the light of the moon, casting a shadow over them.
The way the shadows washed over Luz, it completely covered her eyes, and slowly, a smile spread across her face. One that intimidated rather than relaxed. That, mixed with the pain that she was feeling, only one thing came from it.
Fear.
And when someone was afraid, and in pain, what was something that they did?
They screamed.
Julia screamed, and it was shrill and filled with pain and fear. But not once did Luz flinch. Not once did she stop or pull away, she kept going, and it got worse. It was agonizing as if she was being ripped open and splayed apart of the world to see. Like someone was taking a knife to her and carving her open. It was horrible, and it only got worse with every passing micro-second.
Time seemed to slow, and it got to the point where Julia was starting to drool from her body being essentially fried. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, and just as it came to a crescendo, it stopped.
Julia crumpled to the ground, her breathing heavy as sweat and tears fell from her face as she looked up at Luz, who now had vines growing from her fingertips, her arm still sparking with red electricity. Her face had a smile on it, staring at the vines, before glancing down at Julia. The smile disappeared, as did the vines, as she got down to Julia’s level, reaching out to her.
For some reason, Julia flinched, inching away, afraid. Luz stopped, backing away slightly. “Julia? Are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah… I-I…” She paused, her eyes still stinging with tears. “I-I… that hurt… it hurt a lot….”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know it would hurt that badly,” Luz said, before reaching out to her again. This time, Julia accepted the hand, as Luz helped her stand up. She glanced back at the cabins, but no one had come outside.
Had they even woken up? Were they still asleep? If so, then that was—
Suddenly, a weight was put on Julia, and when she looked back, Luz had practically fallen into her chest, eyes closed and breathing softly. She had passed out. Julia quickly corrected how Luz had fallen, lifting her up before scooping her up into her arms, holding her bridal style. She was a little heavier than Julia had expected, but that didn’t matter.
All that mattered was that now, finally, Luz was asleep. And more than that, she had done what she had asked. She had stripped her from the curse that she had been burdened with. She walked her back into the cabin, before slowly laying her down on her bed. The way she curled into herself made her look far too vulnerable.
Julia brushed her hand across the side of Luz’s face, before turning away and walking over to her bed. As she sat down, just for good measure, she tried to bring forth her vines, only for nothing to happen. Good. That meant that they were gone for good.
And so, with nothing else to do, Julia laid down on her side, closed her eyes, then went to sleep. Now, she could finally be happy, and maybe, just maybe, things would start to get better for her.
Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, however. The next two days were going to be a living hell. And there was nothing that anyone could’ve done to stop it. No amount of planning, no amount of foresight, and certainly no amount of power could’ve stopped what would happen in the coming days.
An event so tragic.
An event so twisted.
An event so horrible.
An event so barbaric, that it would plunge the small town of Gravesfield into darkness.
And that event would later be written down in history as….
The Massacre Of Fools.
[-To Be Continued-]
[Ending Song: Life – By: Rude-a]
Chapter 8: Season 1 - Episode 8: Search And Steal - Part 2
Chapter Text
[Opening Song: Kyouran Hey Kids!! – By: The Oral Cigarettes]
[Search and Steal – Part 2]
Masha Jackson was what some might call a misfit. That was entirely reasonable, of course, given how they were one of the “lucky” people to receive superpowers. Though, theirs was a little on the strange side, to say the very least. Then again, when one considered that they, quite literally, saw a person walking who looked as if they had turned into stars damned co*ckroaches, just with human appendages, then maybe their power wasn’t all that weird after all?
Masha’s power was simple. They gained the ability to summon Tarot Cards out from their wrists. Quite an interesting ability, right? Well, it got weirder. While the cards acted as regular cards, if they so choose, they could tap them and activate a special ability.
For example, The World Tarot card could do two things. If it came out upright, they could teleport to any part of the world they chose. If it came out upside down, for a maximum of 5 seconds, time would stand still. Though, it would cause them to vomit afterward.
They came out randomly unless they did a Tarot reading. Then they came out as fate deemed it. And this wasn’t a fate that they could interact with. It was predestined. So much so that if they so much as tried to change the positions the card came up then they would experience a heart attack. This actually happened last week when they first found out they had this power. The only reason why they didn’t die was that they had been rushed to the hospital immediately.
So, seeing as they now had access to an infinite number of Tarot Cards, they decided to become a Tarot reader and set themselves up in a comic book shop. And today had been an interesting day. They had just finished doing a Tarot reading for someone, and were paid well over $1,500 for it—so, that was neat. And now, they sat in front of another customer. One that wasn’t offering a big payment, but a good payment nonetheless. $50, to be exact.
The customer in question was a woman with thick green glasses, brown skin, and curly brown hair with some white hairs mixed in. She looked as if she were about to fall over from exhaustion, and the sombre expression didn’t help things either. She was dressed in a green cardigan, and black, no pocket pants, with a purse over her shoulder.
Masha, on the other hand, had short black hair done up in a pixie bob and was dressed in a black and purple long-sleeved dress that went down to their ankles, completed by a small white ribbon that sat just below their sternum. They had blacker-than-night eyes, and a medium-tan complexion, much like their father.
“So, Camila, was it?” Masha asked, their eyebrow quirked as Camila nodded silently. “Well, for $50 I can give you a basic reading on a close family member. But just know, anything that I draw from my power is guaranteed to happen.”
“You’re bluffing, right?” Camila asked, her voice deadpan.
“Nope,” Masha replied, leaning back in their seat. “Had a heart attack when I tried to change the fate of a customer. Her fate was to die, by the way.”
Camila blinked, staring at Masha with a blank expression. “And, who was that person?”
“Some girl named Julia something or another,” Masha answered nonchalantly, Camila breathing out a sigh of relief. Did she think that maybe it was the person who she had come to do the reading of today? If so, that probably would’ve sucked. “So, who do you want me to read the fate of?”
“My daughter, Luz Noceda. I… Fear she’s in danger, she was one of the kids who had been kidnapped… I would know, I… I received news of it, and I want to know if she’ll be okay. If your power really does do as it says, then… maybe I can sleep better at night knowing about a decision I made recently….” Camila said as Masha nodded.
It was clear that this Camila woman harboured a lot of guilt for some action she had committed. Hopefully, the cards would be nice to her. And so, Masha breathed in deep and laid their right hand against the table, their wrist exposed.
And then, the cards came out. First, there was The Magician, in the reverse, which didn’t spell out anything good. That symbolized manipulation and illusion, and typically it was the person in question who the reading was about that did the manipulating. Only on rare occasions would it be they were the ones being manipulated, and it all depended on context. Context that Masha didn’t have.
The second card was The Hierophant, also in the reverse. Unlike The Magician, The Hierophant was a card that, when in reverse, was a good thing. It represented rebellion and subversiveness. It also represented freedom and personal beliefs.
But, when mixed with The Magician in reverse, it could mean a variety of things. And if that was where it ended, then it already painted a bad picture in Masha’s mind about this Luz Noceda individual's fate. But, that wasn’t the end. The cards kept coming. And the next one changed a lot about Luz’s fate.
The Chariot, in the upright position, was the third card. It symbolizes direction, willpower, determination, success, action, and security. All good things, but in combination with the Reversed Magician and Hierophant, it didn’t spell out good tidings.
The next card didn’t make things any better. It was The Reversed Devil. It represented good things, naturally. Overcoming addiction, independence, and, reclaiming power, detachment, and freedom. Two times, freedom has shown itself. Freedom of what? Well, considering Luz was one of the captured kids, that must’ve meant that Luz was going to go free from being imprisoned.
That was good, obviously. But then came everything else. Reclamation of power? What power, and whose? Luz’s power? But what power did she have? Was it symbolic or literal? Masha didn’t know, and it was also concerning.
Then came the one thing that caught Masha completely off guard. The Tower, upright. That… didn’t spell out anything good. Intense and sudden change, release, painful loss, tragedy, and revelation. It was sending mixed signals now, and they felt deep inside that The Devil and The Tower were fighting for dominance in the situation. Like two bickering siblings.
In the end, The Tower wound up winning, and it once again made Masha feel extremely nervous about what would happen to Luz. So much so it showed on her face, which didn’t seem to put any security in Camila’s expression either.
Upright Judgment was next. Reflection, inner calling, reckoning, awakening, rebirth, and absolution. That could mean plenty of different things. It seemed as if, following along with the rest of the reading, Luz was going to either go on a spiritual journey to lead to a rebirth of sorts or a literal rebirth. And with how the cards were playing out, Masha believed it was more toward the literal side.
And finally, the final card, The World, in the upright position. Fulfillment, harmony, completion, integration, travel, and unity. If that didn’t spell out to Masha that they were right, then they didn’t know what did. A sigh effortlessly passed under Masha’s breath, and they turned to look at Camila. They could feel Fate weave itself into the cards, locking them in.
And then, they were granted a glimpse into the near future. Their eyes turned fully black, pupil, iris, and sclera whole.
And it was horrible.
In a vision, it became clear, and it played out in their mind like a movie.
A lake of fire, ash, corpses and charred blood. Fallen trees, pluming smoke, and all of it caused by a lone figure. Hateful, vengeful, anger-filled crimson eyes bore into the person whom they were viewing this future through. They reached their hand out toward the figure in an attempt to beg them to stay away.
And in a flash, the figure rushed toward the person whom Masha was viewing the future through, and for a brief second, they saw a psychotic, malicious, hate-filled smile. A smile that said it all. Behind that smile lurked nothing but death, destruction, and damnation. Anywhere that the figure went, death and despair would follow.
The figure’s fist was co*cked back to hit the person, and then…!
Nothing.
There was nothing.
The vision skipped to another scene. This time, it was of Gravesfield. Buildings were collapsed, bodies lined the streets and slumped against walls. Two figures fought, one with a sword and a pair of wings, and another with the same crimson-red eyes as before. Masha viewed the vision through the eyes of someone watching on the roof of a building.
All they could do was stare in horror at the death and destruction that was wrought. The ruins of homes once filled with families, the destroyed library, the cut-in-half statue, and the upturned streets with cars and bloody smears lacing the ground.
What they witnessed…. It was nothing but destruction and chaos. Loud explosions and shockwaves filled the air, leaving no room to dispute that the two combatants were to blame, and one of them, Masha knew, had to have been this Luz Noceda individual. Otherwise, their power wouldn’t show it to them.
It all came to an end when a lone chunk of rubble flung into their line of sight.
Masha was taken out of the vision with sweat pouring off of their face in the bucket loads, followed by tears and shivers. Camila looked horrified, and as Masha looked up at her, all they could say was the first thing to come to mind.
“Ms. Noceda?” Masha began, their voice trembling and their heart pounding against their chest as fear shined in their eyes. “You’re daughter… she is The Devil reborn…. A monster given human flesh. I tell you this, knowing of the future to come, but please, for your own sake, abandon her. Leave her. You will be safer if you do.”
“What?!” Camila shouted, anger in her voice as Masha shook their head, ignoring the irate woman. Masha knew, instinctively, that they needed to skip town. Convince their parents to move. Do anything but stay in this place.
“I am deeply sorry for what’s to come. I should have turned you down, take your money, and go. I’m leaving this doomed town before it’s too late,” Masha said, throwing the money that Camila gave them back to her, before booking it as they collected themselves.
They didn’t know how long this place had left, but due to how visceral and detailed the vision was, chances were that it would not be long until everything went tit* up. And as far as Masha was concerned, they would not be sticking around to find out.
They couldn’t get that awful, hate-filled stare out of their head. It was nothing but cruelty and anger. There was nothing human about those eyes. Was it wrong to tell that to a grieving mother? Maybe, but Masha didn’t care. All that they knew was that they needed to leave. Because they knew, deep down, that in the coming months…
Gravesfield would be no more.
[XXXX]
Luz felt a pit grow in her stomach as she stared down the very man that she had no wish to see again. The pit in her stomach was quickly followed by annoyance. She had fallen asleep, most likely after having taken Julia’s power. Her Vines. They now belonged to her.
Now that she thought about it, it was definitely because she hadn’t taken anyone’s power that she hadn’t been able to fall asleep. She remembered that once she had finished sapping away Julia’s power, and after she had comforted Julia due to the pain that she had inflicted upon her, she felt a wave of drowsiness, and immediately blacked out.
And now, here she was, within The Vestiage Realm, staring down the man she had grown to loathe, who was sitting down on his throne across from her, with an impressed look on his face. Rikitasu Shigaraki was still dressed in that same, matte black and white-stripped suit that he had worn the day they had met. He had one hand resting on his cheek, as he leaned on his elbow with his other arm draped across his lap.
“You…” Luz practically hissed, disdain in her voice as Shigaraki smirked.
“Well, it took you long enough. But now, here you stand. And, you’ve done the one thing I have been waiting for you to do. Congratulations, Luz Noceda. You have stolen your very first Quirk. And, frankly, I think you made the correct choice.”
“I didn’t steal it. I was given it. Julia wanted it gone, so I took it. There was no stealing involved,” Luz rebutted as Shigaraki waved her objection away, sitting up straight on his throne, his arms resting flat against the armrests, just like a king would, staring down Luz with a neutral expression.
“Semantics, my dear successor. That is all that is. What matters, is that you’ve taken your first step toward success. Though, now, I feel the need to warn you, now that you’ve taken your first Quirk, I’m afraid you won’t be able to stop now,” Shigaraki said as Luz crossed her arms, staring him down with narrowed eyes.
“Oh, really? Says who? What if I decide to stop today, and have Julia’s be the only “Quirk” I take, huh?” Luz spat as Shigaraki shook his head.
“You know, Luz, you should take my word at face value. I am the first wielder of All For One. I know it more than you do, so when I say once you’ve taken your first, it only spirals further from there, you should believe it,” Shigaraki noted, staring Luz down as he spoke. “I never had a reason to mention it in our first meeting. But, you see, All For One comes with two downsides, and it is the reason why I had as many Quirks as I did.”
Luz rolled her eyes. “You mean aside from the fact you were a tyrannical supervillain?”
“Yes, aside from that,” Shigaraki replied honestly as he steepled his fingers together. “Technically, there are three downsides, though I do not count them as separate. For starters, I’m sure you’ve noticed it by now, but All For One warps one's perception of reality. For example, let’s say that you don’t believe one thing the day before the Quirk appears, but then suddenly, you have a different opinion of it that is polar to the original. That has happened, yes?” Shigaraki asked as Luz nodded, if not reluctantly.
That had happened, at least, she thought so anyway. If she strained herself to think about it, before she awoke her power, she felt less inclined to agree with her more “repugnant” actions. As a matter of fact, she had felt… remorse for what she had done to Amber.
But, that didn’t feel right.
Why hadn’t that felt right?
“I can see it in your eyes. Now that I’ve brought it to your attention, you notice it, do you not?” Shigaraki asked as Luz, once again, nodded.
“Yeah….” As Luz said that, her eyes widened. Was this power… changing her? “What’s happening?” Luz asked, slight panic in her voice as Shigaraki waved her question away.
“Nothing. All For One, as I said, is alive. Most Quirks are, and they have their own, unique personalities. And when two clashing personalities meet, they change each other over time. This is what is to be expected. You are changing, that much is true. But, what is also true, is that change is needed. You see, you’re body has evolved. It’s not that you have spontaneously gained a new power. You’re body, and as a result, your brain has evolved to fit the Quirk,” Shigaraki began as he stood up, snapping his fingers as suddenly, a whiteboard appeared.
On that whiteboard, there was a very detailed drawing of Luz, with an x-ray of a brain over her forehead and next to it was a drawing of a computer with an equal sign drawn between them. Luz stared, confused, as Shigaraki spoke.
“Think of it like this: Your brain is a computer, and All For One is a software update. However, because the hardware isn’t strong enough to handle the software, the hardware must be updated as well. Thankfully, nature can handle most of this process, and so, to fit the software, the hardware—in this case, your body and brain—gradually begins to evolve. I’m sure you’ve felt it, but if you haven’t, I’m sure you will in the future,” Shigaraki continued, before flipping the whiteboard, revealing another drawing.
It was of Luz, once again, extremely detailed, putting a hand on someone’s head, and activating All For One on them. “However, All For One is the type of software that needs constant updates to maintain functionality. This leads to the main topic, for the time being, that is that All For One enforces an addiction on its user. An addiction to sapping away power from those around the user.”
With a snap of his fingers, the whiteboard disappeared, as Luz stared at Shigaraki with a confused expression on her face. An addiction? To take away other people’s powers? “That’s the most made-up thing I’ve ever heard in my life. And I get told I think anime is real,” Luz snarked as Shigaraki frowned.
“Do you think I’m lying, Luz?” Shigaraki said, his tone ebbing with seriousness the likes of which only a judge could carry. And for a split second, she could’ve sworn that he had an honest look of concern in his eyes. Not that Luz believed it to be real. He had already said in their last meeting he was a manipulator and a villain, so therefore, she refused to fall for the same thing that he most likely employed on those whom he victimized.
“Well, yeah, duh! You said it yourself, you’re a manipulator. Why the hell should I believe you?” Luz replied as Shigaraki chuckled to himself, putting his hands behind his back as he did.
“Touche, Luz. Touche,” he quipped, before clearing his throat. “But, then, if I was lying, then why were you restless for the last few days?”
“Because I was restless, duh? Ever heard of stress?”
“Yes, that’s true,” Shigaraki agreed, putting his hands to his sides before sitting back down on his throne. “Stress is a key factor in remaining restless and being unable to sleep. But, did you know that another sign of someone experiencing withdrawal is not being able to sleep? Or, perhaps paranoia, as well? Things you’ve become familiar with in the last four days, have you not? Only allievated when you stole Julia’s power, did they not?”
Luz blinked, her expression taut in the realization that once again, she found herself agreeing with Shigaraki. For the fourth time since they first met, Luz found herself agreeing with the man before her. And it was infuriating. The worst part was that she couldn’t rebut him.
Once again, she was reminded that Shigaraki, the man before her, was a manipulator. But more than that, he was someone who had decades of experience talking to others. No, not decades, perhaps centuries of talking to others. Manipulating others. But more importantly, studying others. Further increased by the fact that he was the first person to have All For One.
And because he was the first person to have All For One, of course, he would know the inside-outs of the power. Of course, he would know full well the drawbacks of it. And while she always had to take what he said with a pinch of salt, she didn’t see why he had any need to lie. And so, because of that… “You’re not lying to me, are you?”
“I wish I was,” Shigaraki replied, frowning. “Believe me, the addiction that this Quirk comes with, while useful at times, can cause problems. For example, because of my addiction to stealing powers, I would find myself sapping powers from those whom I cared about. While that list was a short one, and that wouldn’t have been so bad, had it not been for another thing I found out regarding All For One.”
As Shigaraki spoke, there was a hint of regret in his tone. How his eyes narrowed and his eyebrows knitted together to create an expression of both anger and annoyance, once again directed at himself. She couldn’t tell if it was an act, but what she could tell was that, if it wasn’t, he seemed to harbour regret over something.
But, more importantly… “What are you talking about? I thought you said there were only two drawbacks?” Luz said incredulously, as Shigaraki smirked, looking back up at Luz.
“Well, I did say that I counted the first one and the second one as a singular drawback. Mostly because they function the same way. But this one is more serious than the other,” Shigaraki continued before tapping the side of his head. “You see, remember when I said that the brain is the representative of hardware, and a Quirk therefore would be the software?” Shigaraki asked as Luz nodded, not quite following along as his smirk turned into a smile. “Now, tell me, what do you think would happen if the software was suddenly removed without any warning?”
“The hardware breaks,” Luz replied curtly, and as soon as those words left her mouth, her eyes widened. “And if the hardware breaks, then that means the rest of the machine—”
“Dies,” Shigaraki finished Luz’s sentence, crossing his arms. “All For One’s more dangerous side effect is that, when taking someone’s Quirk, there is a chance that the person might become brain dead, and therefore, die.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me that before I used All For One on Julia?!” Luz snapped, her voice increasing in volume as Shigaraki shrugged.
“Well, considering you were so hellbent on not using All For One, I didn’t think it was necessary. But now you have, and therefore, I feel obligated to tell you. It’s just that simple, there’s no harm in it, is there? Besides, Julia’s alive, is she not?” Shigaraki said his voice calm as was his tone. Although, Luz could tell he was enjoying her frustration.
"You...!"
"Oh, please, you don’t need to be mad. I mean, for all I knew, you were going to keep to your word, but now you’ve taken your first step—your first, proper step, into becoming a true user of All For One. You can never truly forget your first. Such as mine, having been my mother's Quirk. Bone-like Spears. If I could show you it, I would. I take great pride in it. It was the first and last thing I had to remember my mother by,” Shigaraki continued, his voice gaining a sentimental tinge to it.
As he looked up toward the endless ceiling, Luz felt her annoyance and anger begin to fade away. There was no point in wasting her energy on him. He was just trying to get a rise out of her, that much she knew. And so, rather than try to argue with him, she exhaled. “Alright, fine, I get it. Can I go now?”
“No,” Shigaraki said curtly, before gesturing for her to sit down on the throne next to him. “I would like you to take a seat. There is still much we need to discuss. And seeing as you are sound asleep at the moment, now is the best time to have a thorough conversation.”
Without another word, Luz walked over to the throne next to Shigaraki and sat down. When she did, she couldn’t help but immediately relax. It was comfortable. Extremely so. “Whoa…” Luz muttered as Shigaraki smirked.
“Comfortable, isn’t it? A throne is a throne, after all. They are meant for those who are royalty, and as such, they ought to be comfortable,” Shigaraki stated as Luz glanced over at him, before sighing and sitting up straight, clasping her hands in her lap.
“So, now what?”
“Well, may I point your attention in that direction,” Shigaraki began as he pointed toward a dark corner of The Vestige Realm. When her eyes followed to where he was pointing, Luz paled. Standing there, idly, was a black, human-like shape of nothingness bobbing back and forth like one of those wacky-wavey-inflatable-arm-waving-tube men. Luz recoiled at the faceless, shapeless humanoid. It had white, oval eyes, and was ungulating like the black blob that it was.
“W-What the heck is that?!” Luz asked, disgust in her voice as Shigaraki huffed.
“That, Luz, is the imprint that is left behind when you take a Quirk from someone. Much like myself, it is a vestige, but an incomplete one, seeing as the person who you stole the Quirk from is still alive. A vestige of someone cannot fully become their own entity if the original is left alive. As such, I’ve dubbed them “incomplete vestiges.” They are quite disturbing,” Shigaraki explained as Luz turned to glare at him, eyes narrowed as she did.
“You better not be telling me that I should kill Julia because if that is what you’re telling me to do, I swear—”
“Oh, heavens no!” Shigaraki quickly interrupted, putting his hands up defensively, prompting Luz to relax a little. “In fact, if this Julia person were to die, it would only make your quality of life worse,” Shigaraki continued with a distant look on his face. “You see, the more people you take the powers of, the more this place becomes full of other vestiges. Now, granted, they do not have power over you, nor can they do much of anything against you. However, depending on how you took the Quirk, be it forcefully or otherwise, a vestige of them will appear here,” Shigaraki explained, his expression twisted slightly into one of annoyance as he stared at the incomplete vestige.
“Now, some are silent, much like that one over there, but some are more vocal, and can even be nasty. especially if you killed them after taking their Quirk. It would be better for yourself if you didn’t kill anyone you took the Quirk of, or kill them first, then take their Quirk. Otherwise, you will be bombarded by the voices of those whom you’ve stolen the Quirks of. Believe me, this happened to me on multiple occasions, so much so that I eventually found and stole a Quirk that made it so I didn’t have to sleep.”
As Shigaraki spoke, he cringed at the last part. “Trust me when I say that, if you kill someone after taking their Quirk, it will bring down your quality of life, I mean it. Hence why I recommend doing it the other way around. Now, if they were to die outside of you being the reason for it, the vestiges will never fully form, remaining shapeless blobs like that one over there,” Shigaraki said, pointing toward the incomplete vestige in the corner. Luz felt a shiver run down her spine when she looked at it, her shoulders tensing as she pushed deeper into her throne.
“It’s creepy…” Luz murmured as Shigaraki nodded.
“My point exactly,” Shigaraki quipped, clasping his hands together. “Now, moving on. There is one more thing I must tell you about All For One that is crucial once you acquire more Quirks,” Shigaraki said as Luz placed a hand on her cheek, a disinterested gleam in her eye at the mention of “acquiring more Quirks.”
Don’t get her wrong, she wasn’t exactly against taking Quirks from others. But she knew what it was that he meant. He was implying that she went on a rampage and stole from everyone. And that was something that she couldn’t stomach doing. Taking a Quirk every now and then? Fine, she didn’t mind. Even if it did leave her with a sour taste in her mouth.
But going on a rampage? Absolutely not.
Shigaraki caught her change in demeanour, his face morphing from a slightly jovial expression to a frown. “Luz. Let me ask you a question, and I want to hear your honest response. Why is it that you seem so annoyed when I mention stealing other people’s powers? There is clearly a reason behind it, and in order for this to work, you have to come forward about it.”
Luz scoffed. “Do you really want to know, or are you just trying to pick my brain super villain style so that you can turn around and say “I kNoW yOuR gReAtEsT wEaKnEsS” later down the line.”
Shigaraki frowned. “Luz. I’m serious about this. Whether you like it or not, your Quirk is designed to steal other people’s Quirks. And yes, I truly do want to know your reasoning. Because if it is what I think it is, then perhaps I can make this easier for you. In our first meeting, you mentioned that you didn’t want to take people’s powers because you saw it as wrong. Care to explain that a little bit more?” Shigaraki questioned as Luz sighed, sitting up straight and looking the man dead in the eyes.
Maybe it was because of how he phrased that question. Maybe it was because he implied that he already knew her reasoning, or maybe it was because she was just starting to get fed up with what he was saying. But she could feel herself starting to get angry again.
And so, because of that, she went off on him.
“Why do I have to explain it!? Shouldn’t it be obvious? Look, don’t get me wrong, I’m fine with taking a Quirk, superpower, whatever the hell you want to call it, every now and then. But I know what you’re implying. I’m not stupid. You want me to go around and strip power from everyone. That. That’s my problem!”
Shigaraki went to say something, opening his mouth to talk, only for Luz to keep talking, her eyes narrowing as she jabbed a finger into his chest, making him recoil, if only because he was shocked that she had the guts to touch him.
“Taking other people’s powers for the sake of taking them is evil. Period. And while I might be a little screwed up in the head, I’m not evil. Besides, why should I be the one to decide who gets to be special, and who doesn’t?” Luz spat, before reclining back in her throne, pulling back her finger and cupping her forehead as she looked down at the ground.
“All of my life, since the first day I went to school, I’ve been seen as “the weird one,” or “the kid who can’t separate reality from fiction.” And now people will finally get to see the world how they say I saw it. They can finally live whatever fantasy they want, be it good or bad. It’s not any of my business,” Luz continued, before lowering her hand and looking back to Shigaraki, her eyes narrowed even further than they were before.
“And now, you’re telling me that I should strip them of that?!” Her voice raised, her fury evident, as Shigaraki straightened himself out, his expression one of utter calm. It was like he wasn’t even phased by what she was saying. As if it was going through one ear out the other, and it only served to make her more angry. “Here’s a question for you, what gave you the right to do what you did in your world? ‘Cause I’ll be honest, you strike me as the kind of person who takes over countries and steps on babies for fun!” Luz ranted, glaring at Shigaraki, who gave off a calm aura. “Go ahead, tell me I’m wrong because I’ll call you a liar if you do.”
Shigaraki reclined in his throne, looking up at the infinite expanse above them. He remained like this for what seemed like hours when in reality it was only a few seconds. Finally, he came back with an answer, glancing at Luz with the kind of gaze only someone who had seen horrible, awful things could claim to have.
The kind of look a war veteran would give to someone who knew nothing. And it was because of that, that Luz suddenly felt bad for what she had said. She knew she shouldn’t. But she did. And it was strange. And then, he spoke.
“For starters, Luz, let me paint you a picture. The worlds we inhabit, or in my case inhabited, were far from the same. For you, Quirks are just awakening en masse, and while they have appeared before, they were able to be wiped out easily. But now? Not so much. A large portion of Quirk Users have come out of nowhere, and your government and many other governments across the world are freaking out. But, they had time to prepare a measured response. My world? Not so much.
“In my world, much like yours, humanity began to evolve. It started in my mother's generation in the 1950s--the silent Quirk boom. Only 0.1% of the population had superpowers at the time, the Government being unaware. Then, I was born in 1969, and my mother died. Left to rot. I, unaware of myself and my actions, took her Quirk. I was a second Generation Quirk User. But, I was undocumented. Left unaccounted for. And I wasn’t alone. Hundreds of children like me were born in such a way. We were street rats. I was their leader. Myself, along with my brother, who I will refrain from talking about unless needed.” Shigaraki began, glancing over to Luz, who began to pay attention.
“I saw horrors on those streets. Rape, murder, overdoses, drug dealings, all the kinds of things that a child my age should not have seen. It shaped me into the man I am now, or, well, was. But, back then, all I wanted was to see my kind. Those with powers, dubbed Meta-humans back then, succeed. But not in the same way most would think. I wanted to own the world. I wanted it to be mine. Because I took excellent care of those I claimed to be my possessions. At the ripe young age of 13, I made my first step in this journey. One of many.”
The vestige realm began to turn into an old-timey cityscape, with a much younger-looking Shigaraki dressed in rags standing in front of a crowd of children who had seemingly gathered in some kind of field. The vestige of the young Shigaraki was giving some kind of speech, but Luz couldn’t hear it. He looked emboldened by something, and there was a certain fire in his eyes that reminded Luz of her own firey passion for things that she cared about.
It was very, very eerie, to say the least. “That was the day I first began to plant the seeds of rebellion. Children, teens, and adults of various ages, all wanted change in such a way that those with power were those that ruled. I was the one who started the criminal underground the way that it now looks back in my home. Interlocked and with very little infighting. All the while, to the surface, I was just an orphan with aspirations to become a police officer, much like my brother, who dreamed of becoming a lawyer.”
The vestige realm shifted once more, returning to what it was before, as Shigaraki continued. “The years would go on, and I would work steadily toward my goal. Until finally, in 1991, at 24 years old, I began my war against my country of Japan, and in a matter of two years, I took over the country with brute force. I ushered in a new era. An era of fear. An era of loss. An era of strength. For fear begets loss, and loss begets strength, and with strength comes power.”
Once more, the vestige realm changed in appearance to an overhead view of a major city wreathed in fire, explosions going off in the background, a true war zone. Luz had a look of utter horror wash over her face. The amount of death that no doubt came about because of Shigaraki’s war…. “It’s a blood bath…” Luz muttered as Shigaraki nodded grimly.
“Would you believe me if I said I disliked the amount of death that occurred during the war?” Shigaraki asked as Luz glanced at him. For a moment, she went to call him a liar, but the genuine look of remorse in his eyes made her hesitate. Was he being serious? Or was he playing it up to make her think that he wasn’t a complete monster?
She didn’t know, and that was the scary part about this whole conversation so far. “A part of me says you’re lying. But… another part of me believes you, and I don’t know what to think…” Luz said, a sternness in her voice that earned her a nod.
“Believe what you will. Anyway, after the war, I made two discoveries. One that led me down the path of realizing the Multiverse was real, and another path that led me to discover that there had been an insurgency growing. The former isn’t important for the time being, so let’s focus on the latter. I’m sure I mentioned my brother, correct?” Shigaraki asked, looking over at Luz, who nodded.
“Well, you see, my brother was sick. He had been since birth. This was due to something that happened while my brother and I were in the womb. You see, there is the chance that, during the gestation period, if the mother has twins developing, one might siphon the nutrients required for the other to grow. This is what happened to myself and my brother. I stole the nutrients needed for him to grow healthy and strong, and as such, it was my job to watch over him. To care for him in the best way I knew how. And so, that was what I did,” as he spoke, once again, that same sombre tone leaked into his voice.
This time, Luz knew, that it wasn’t a trick. It was real. True, honest emotion. Why he was opening up to her, she didn’t know, but it seemed like something he had kept pent up for a while. She said nothing, only listening intently as he spoke.
“I took care of him. Did what I needed to do. I fed him, bathed him, bought him clothes, healed him when I could. I protected him from the world, and he kept me stable. He tried to keep me on the right track. But, sometimes, nature overcomes nurture, and I did something that I heavily regret to this day. It was both the beginning of my downfall and the beginning of my fall from grace.”
Slowly, as those words left his mouth, the vestige realm began to change into an empty, blank room with a vault door, and within it stood an identical vestige of Shigaraki looming over a sickly, frail young man with long white hair dressed in a blue shirt and black jeans. The top half of his face, along with Shigaraki’s, was covered by a cloud of black smoke, not revealing their eyes, only their mouths, as the younger brother spoke.
“Brother! For the last time, I will not aid you in this… in this massacre!”
“It is not a massacre. It is what needs to be done. We are at the final stretches of the war. We can rule side by side once this is over, and my doctors will be able to cure you of your illness! Please, Yoichi. Join me. I won’t ask you again.”
“Forget it!”
“Fine then. You leave me with no choice.”
The vestige of Shigaraki reached out to this “Yoichi” individual, forced his hand on his brother’s head, and activated All For One. Familiar black and red sparks jumped from his arm to his brother. His brother screamed in pain, and all Shigaraki’s vestige did was stare, either forcing or taking something onto or from him.
The scene abruptly ended, as Luz stared in horror while the vestige realm returned to normal. The idea of forcing anything on anyone made her want to puke. As far as she was concerned, forcing anything on anyone was akin to a form of rape, just like forcibly taking something from someone was. It was a non-consensual act, be it forcing a drug on someone or something similar, it was wrong and disgusting.
A new form of anger filled her body as she glanced over to Shigaraki. Oh, sure, there was regret painted all over his face, but that didn’t change the fact that what happened had happened. “You… what the f*ck is wrong with you?!”
“Many things, Luz Noceda,” Shigaraki replied calmly, breathing in as he looked straight ahead. “I will freely admit that what I did back there was both stupid and also heavily wrong. But, what you must understand is that I wanted my brother to survive past his thirties. And so, I forced upon him a Power Stockpiling Quirk. This was in a vain attempt to make his body gain the strength so that he could support himself. Because, back then, I was under the impression that my brother was Quirkless. And I believed that if I gave him a Quirk, he would start his journey of healing. So that he could rule by my side till the day he died.”
Shigaraki’s expression became one of anger, narrowed eyes, and a scowl. “But that was not what happened. Not only was my brother not quirkless, but he was born with the ability to divest himself of his Quirk and give it to others. And whatever that Quirk that person had became attached to it and passed down to the next person. However, that wasn’t all. A mutation occurred, merging both his Quirk Transfer ability, which I later dubbed Transfer, and the power stockpiling Quirk. When they merged, they created a new power. A power my brother called One For All in his dying breathes.”
“Dying breathes?” Luz asked incredulously as Shigaraki inhaled sharply.
“I don’t want to talk about my brother’s death. All I will say is that his death is what caused a lot of horrible things to transpire. My descent into utter madness, and my obsession with his power. It ruined my empire, destroyed countless cities, and plunged the country I once loved into an era of darkness. I pray you never experience something as horrific as that because the last thing any world needs is another me running around. That much I am more than willing to admit,” Shigaraki spat, anger coating his words as he spoke.
Luz kept silent, looking at the ground. The fact that she felt bad for the monster next to her… it shouldn’t have been possible. And yet, here she sat, feeling bad for Shigaraki Rikitasu. Maybe that spoke to her inner selflessness and the fact that she could see the good in most people. The fact that she could see the glimmer of goodness in someone as monstrous as Shigaraki, who admitted that he was a monster, proved her right in that regard.
The only thing that she wondered now was…. “Do you… regret what you did?” Luz asked as Shigaraki raised an eyebrow.
“Do I regret my actions?” Shigaraki asked back, huffing out hot air. “The only thing I regret is putting my brother in the position he was in. Everything else? Not even remotely. You know why I did what I did. The only thing I probably wouldn’t have done was kidnap that strange dog-like creature that allowed me access to The Multiverse, or at least an aspect of it. And maybe I wouldn’t have destroyed Asakusa… but that would be just about it. Everything else I would keep the same.”
Luz frowned, disappointment on her face. “So, you’re saying that you’d still become a tyrannical monster on purpose?” Luz asked, furrowing her eyebrows at the man, who shrugged.
“Who knows? For all I know, if what I said I’d change does end up getting changed should I have the chance to redo it all over again, perhaps I wouldn’t become a tyrant. We will never know what that future holds, or what it would turn out to be. But, what I do know Luz, is that we’re getting off-topic,” Shigaraki said, smirking.
Luz cringed at the hideous smirk on his face, avoiding eye contact. Shigaraki’s smirk faded back into a neutral line, as he adopted a more thoughtful expression. “Let’s get back on track, shall we? I think I finally know why you’re hesitant to strip power from others en masse. And it all has to do with your view of morality. Let me take a guess and say that you find it abhorrent to steal from others because you equate it to something even worse. Like, for example, rape, right?”
“Because it might as well be, I—”
“Incorrect,” Shigaraki shot down, making Luz recoil, annoyance painting her features. Before she could explain herself, he continued. “Rape is taking away something sacred that can never be returned. Denying someone intimacy with another is not, nor will it ever be, the same as removing a superpower from another. The notion you would compare the two is, frankly, disgusting in my opinion, and takes away from the seriousness of rape in general.”
“That’s not—”
“That’s not what you mean, yes, I am aware. But, you are implying it, and because you’re implying it, you are therefore meaning it. Moving on, I can also pinpoint why you refuse the idea of taking powers en masse. And that, my dear successor, is that you were merely looking for an excuse not to. Because you know, deep down, you would just love to go on a stealing spree. To accrued power and strength. Because you, by yourself, could end this game right here, and right now, and all you’d have to do is run the risk of causing a few to become brain-dead.”
Luz practically snarled at Shigaraki the more he spoke, “I— No! I wouldn’t! You don’t know me at all if you think that—”
“Oh, but that’s just the thing, Luz. I do know you.” The way that Shigaraki said that. The way his voice gained a heaping tonne of confidence, and the way that his neutral expression turned into a smile that trumped most villains she had seen on TV caused her skin to break out in goosebumps. “It seems you’ve forgotten, but I’m in your head. I know your thoughts, your wishes, your dreams, and desires, your fantasies both light and dark. I can even read your memories like a book if I so choose. The point I’m trying to make here Luz, is that you cannot lie to me. I know all that there is to know about you.”
“I know you enjoyed brutalizing that Amber Stirwell girl. I know you’d love nothing more than to inflict grievous harm on anyone who slights you. Yet, because of your adherence to the morality you’re mother set into you, the same mother who has now practically abandoned you and told you to die, you have stopped yourself from indulging in your darker, baser instincts.”
“You and I, Luz. We are the same. The only difference between you and I is that I did not have a parent to keep me in line. But now, you might not even have that. The only people you have are the people in this camp, and even then, some of them hate you, others tolerate you, and only two of them actually care about you, those being Stanley Richardson and Julia Wittebane. Then, there’s me. And all I wish to do is guide you. To mould you into someone who can not only look after themselves but do so without the fear of having to kowtow to anyone else. To not bend your own self-appointed rules for others' appeasem*nt. After all, why would The Chosen One bow to anyone else, when they should all bow to you?”
Luz stared at Shigaraki, her jaw slack and her eyes wide. Her hands shook as she looked slowly down at the ground. She didn’t know whether to call him a liar, or to yell at him, or to just… accept it. Because she knew—and she hated that she knew—that he was right.
Every word that came out of his mouth was correct. He wasn’t lying, nor was he trying to lie to her. He was right. There was no ifs ands or buts about it. If he didn’t know everything like he claimed, then how could he have known about her conversation with her mother? How could he know about what happened to Amber?
It had to have been the fact that he knew. And if he knew, then… what was the point of lying? What was the point of trying to call him out when he was telling the truth? What was the point in trying to tell him he was wrong when he knew he was right?
Why hide the fact that she wanted to end this right here, and right now?
Simple. Her morality.
“You’re right. I hate to admit it, but you’re right. There’s just one thing you either don’t understand or refuse to understand…” Luz said, looking back up at Shigaraki, steely determination in her eyes. He met her gaze with a neutral gaze of his own, his expression unreadable, like a brick wall. “We might have similar ideas of what’s right and wrong. We might have similar ideals, too. Hell, I’ll even throw you a bone and say you’re probably right about my mother. But, there’s one thing that you are wrong about.”
“Oh? Do tell?” Shigaraki asked, his tone indicating nothing. Luz sighed, standing up from the throne she sat on as she walked toward the front of The Vestige Realm, back turned to Shigaraki, and only glancing over her shoulder to speak.
“You’re wrong about what I want. Would I like to end this now? Yeah, I would. And the scary part is that I know I could. I could steal everyone’s powers right here, and right now, and nobody would be able to stop me. But that’s not right. I don’t care how you twist it, how you word it, or anything like that. I’d rather work with the people around me. I’m not a one-woman army, even though I could probably be one. That’s not how someone with a functioning brain thinks. That’s how someone who is a sociopathic narcissist thinks. And last I checked, I’m neither of those.”
Luz looked away from Shigaraki, sighing as she glanced at the carpet, glaring down at her feet as she continued. “I might not have a clean bill of mental health, and I have urges and tendencies others might frown upon. And for what it’s worth, anyone who says I’m a bad person for what I did can shove it. I could care less about what their opinion is, because they don’t know a single thing that I went through for me to get to that point. And while I’ll agree that maybe, just maybe, we might have the same mindset, there is one thing you need to get through your thick skull right here, and right now.”
“And what might that be, Luz?” Shigaraki asked and, as he did, a white doorway appeared before Luz. Its light cast a shadow over Shigaraki as Luz once more turned to look over her shoulder. However, unlike before, when her eyes had been a shade of golden brown, now, they glowed with a hideous crimson red. Her expression was taut in a snarl, and her eyebrows furled with nothing but anger coating her features.
“I am not, nor will I ever be, anything like you.”
And then, Luz proceeded to walk through the white door, leaving Shigaraki all by himself. He sat there, his expression neutral as he watched his successor walk through the door to return to the waking world. After a few seconds, his mouth twitched and formed into a smile. Not an angered snarl or a frown of disappointment. But a true, honest smile.
“Good.” And as he said that, he reclined in his throne, and looked over to the incomplete vestige of Julia Wittebane. “It wouldn’t be nearly as fun if you were.”
It had been a long, long time since he had met anyone who was bold enough to argue with him, let alone confront him on his ideals and mindset. He had grown so bored of the people he had surrounded himself with.
But now? Now he had something to look forward to whenever Luz Noceda decided to show up in The Vestige Realm.
He had entertainment.
-To Be Continued-
[Ending Song: Life – By: Rude-a]
Chapter 9: Season 1 - Episode 9: Search And Steal - Part 3
Chapter Text
[Opening Song: Kyouran Hey Kids!! – By: The Oral Cigarettes]
[Search and Steal – Part 3]
When Luz awoke, she did so with a headache. She could see the rays of sunlight peaking in through the entrance of the cabin, which alerted her that it was early morning, and after having woken up, she felt amazing. Both because she was able to give that jerkass in her head a piece of her mind, and, she also no longer felt like clawing her hair out due to tiredness.
Although, there was one thing that she wasn’t exactly fond of. And that was what she had done last night. As she sat up in bed, she looked down at her hands and frowned. A sight more common than not, but this time, there was a twist. Instead of staring at her palms, she looked at her fingers, which were covered in plant-like growths that began to twirl and twist, until they rose to three inches above where her fingers typically ended.
Vines. The name and ability of Julia Wittebane’s Quirk. It was within her possession, and it both felt wrong and right to have. Wrong, because she had taken it from Julia—albeit willingly on Julia’s part—and right because, well, she no longer had that empty feeling inside of her. She now had something to fill the void that had made her feel empty.
Well, when she awoke All For One, of course. She couldn’t remember feeling like that before she had the power she now had. Though, she guessed it made sense. She was never depressed, just perpetually annoyed and filled with contempt for those who went out of their way to slight her. Oh, and of course joy and all that stuff when she was actually doing what she liked. But that was semantics.
She undid the ability, the plant-like growths disappearing back into her skin as she glanced over to her immediate right. Julia was not in bed, though Arla, who had bunked above her, was still curled up, snoring away as one would. Off in the rear of the cabin, Stanley was just waking up, and across from him was Judy, who was sprawled out on her mattress.
Above her, she could hear Carla purring like a cat would whilst she slept. It was a little surreal, but, then again, who was she to judge? The rest of the beds were empty, so that didn’t matter. Stanley glanced over at her, nodding in her direction. He fished out something from his suitcase at the back—most likely his pack of cigarettes. From what she knew, he was on his last few.
He stood up, and walked over to Luz, before gesturing for her to follow him. She followed his lead, and walked out of the cabin, at the same time as the other guys from the other cabin. When she stepped out, he glanced over at her, before taking his lighter, opening his pack of cigarettes, and putting it in his mouth, before lighting it.
Luz pinched her nose, not wanting it to get into her system, something he cracked a smirk at. As he took of puff from the cancer stick, he breathed it out into the sky, before taking the cigarette out of his mouth and letting it linger next to him in his hand away from Luz. “So, you wanna explain what I heard last night?”
That actually caught Luz off guard. He had heard that? If he did, then… why didn’t he say anything last night? “Oh…. Yeah, you can get Julia to explain that. She could do it b-better than me,” Luz said, a hint of nervousness in her voice as Stanley shrugged.
“As long as I get an explanation before we go on that expedition, then so be it,” Stanley replied as Luz blinked. Right, she had forgotten about that. She had planned with the rest of the scouting group that they, her included, would go explore the forest to see if they could pre-determine where the center of the forest was so that they could get the cache of goods before anyone else.
Of course, that was before they found out the cache had already been planned to be dropped on the day they were going to head out. So, instead, they scrapped the idea and decided to just go out like everyone else was going to. Or, at least, she thought that anyway. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe everyone else was already dead and they were the only team standing.
But, if that was the case, they would’ve been told that. Assuming Maxwell kept his word, which she highly doubted. Given how shady that guy was, she wouldn’t be surprised if this whole thing was a big sham and was just meant to get them all rounded up and bombed by the end of the summer, assuming they didn’t kill each other by the time that point came around.
Was that a little pessimistic? Maybe, but frankly, this whole situation reeked of lies, cheating, and manipulation. She wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if that was the case. If it wasn’t, then she’d genuinely be shocked. And also happy. Because she kind of liked living, that was always a good thing.
Luz looked over to the unlit campfire, where Julia sat on the closest log to the cabins, she had been staring at the two, a smile on her face. “Morning, Stanley, Luz. How was your two’s sleep?”
“Could be better,” Stanley quipped, before sitting down on the opposite log across from Julia, whereas Luz sat next to her. Her stomach grumbled, which prompted Julia to hand her a wrapped-up moon pie from her suitcase. She also underhanded tossed one to Stanley, who caught it and ripped it open, sticking a thumbs up at Julia as a way of thanks.
“And you, Luz?” Julia asked as Luz ripped into the plastic wrapping on the chocolate treat, sparing Julia a quick glance, shrugging as she did.
“Good enough,” as she said that, she finally got the wrapping off, and stuffed it into her pants pocket. Taking a large bite out of her sugary breakfast, Luz glanced up at Stanley who, and she wished she was kidding, ate the whole moon pie in a single bite. He didn’t even have a hard time chewing it. He just opened his mouth, plopped the moon pie in, closed his mouth, and chewed a handful of times, before he swallowed, as if nothing had even been there at all. And then, immediately afterward, he took a few drags out of his cigarette, before putting it out and grinding it underneath his boot.
“There is no way I saw you eat that whole moon pie in one go,” Julia said, disbelief painted on her face as Stanley smirked.
“I used to eat competitively. It’s how I gained as much muscle as I did. Protein from Hotdog competitions. I have no gag reflex, and I’m pretty sure I’m immune to choking when eating something,” Stanley said as Julia blinked a few times before shrugging. Luz believed it. Why wouldn’t she? It made sense, and besides, competitive eating was considered a sport, and it was very popular in Connecticut. Maybe not in Gravesfield, but in other parts it was.
As the other boys sat around the unlit campfire, and as the rest of the girls came out of the cabin, some more groggy than others, doing the same thing as the boys, Luz was prepared to start the conversation off with an explanation of what last night’s scream was about when Stanley spoke up. “Alright, so, Luz. Mind telling us what that scream was from yesterday?”
Chatter immediately began to stir up from the rest of The Alpha Squadron, putting Luz on the spot, which made her clam up, sweat beginning to form on her face as she tried to form together a sentence. “I-I—”
“It was from me,” Julia interrupted, gaining stares from the others at the unlit campfire. Though, unlike Luz, Julia seemed to be perfectly fine with all the staring. Something that Luz was beginning to envy. “And, it was because I asked Luz to take away my power from me. Neither of us knew that it would have caused me pain, but, if I had known, I probably would not have asked.”
“So, wait, you wanted Luz to take your power away from you?” Judy asked incredulously, balking at the notion. “Are you retarded?”
“Hey now, Judy. Enough of that,” Stanley admonished, glowering at her as Judy frowned, narrowing her eyes.
“Well, am I wrong? Think of the situation we’re in! What if we’re attacked?! She suddenly can’t defend herself! All because of what, exactly?” Judy asked, shooting a glare at Julia, who crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes back at Judy.
“None of your business. What I do with myself is what I do. I don’t expect you to explain where you’ve been when you pop out from those little spot holes of yours, now do I? So butt out,” Julia retorted as Judy went to say something, only to stop when Stanley levelled a look in her direction, causing her to keep her mouth shut.
“Well, Judy does have a point,” Johnny noted as he brushed a hand through his semi-dyed hair. “Without a power, how is she going to defend herself if the worst happens? I mean, three of our heavy hitters are going out along with our healer, and the last thing we need is a weak link. No offence to you, Julia.”
“None taken,” Julia said, before glancing over at Luz, who sighed. She was being put on the spot, but unlike when Stanley did it, she had a chance to calm herself. Everyone was looking at her, waiting for an answer. A reasonable answer. And out of all the stares, Judy’s was the worst. There was anger in her eyes and annoyance as well.
“If I feel like you’re going to sabotage us….” Luz internally shuttered at the words Judy had told her before. Her threat was very real, but, if she tried something, they would be fine. She had a way to defend herself now, so it wasn’t like she was in as much danger as before. And so, with that in mind, she levelled a glare at Judy as she spoke.
“I took Julia’s power because she asked. End of story. She doesn’t want it, and it’s for personal reasons If you don’t like it, then cry me a river. It was her power, she chose what to do with it. And she chose to give it to me,” Luz responded, as Judy full-on scowled at her, anger painted on her face as Luz crossed her arms. “Does anyone have a problem with that?”
“Uh, f*ck yeah I do!” Judy spat, standing up from her seat in the blink of an eye, anger coating her face as she towered over Luz, who glared up at her. “Who do you think you are? What kind of bullsh*t did you feed her to make her “willingly” fork over her power? That’ll get us killed!” As she said that, her scowl turned into a sneer.
“You remember what I said? This is what I’m talking about,” Judy continued, as she reached for one of her spots. Stanley jumped to his feet, but it didn’t matter. In the blink of an eye, vines found themselves wrapped around Judy’s neck, lifting her off of the ground as Luz stood up.
Judy scratched at the vines, trying to break free from them, only for them to squeeze tighter, all the while Luz spoke. “Who do you think you are?” As she spoke, her eyes narrowed as sweat built up on Judy’s forehead. “I’m the leader. Not you. I’m your boss. Not the other way around.” The vines surged forward, slamming Judy against the furthest wall away from the unlit campfire, which was the right one.
The wall shook, as Judy hissed through her teeth. She kept trying to remove the vines from her neck, but it was to no avail. Everyone simply stared in sheer shock, awe, and horror at the scene going on before them. Judy had a panicked look in her eyes, emotions running through her like a freight train, all the while Luz began to walk toward Judy, who was being crushed up against the wall she was slammed into.
As Luz walked over in the direction where she had slammed Judy, whose face was starting to turn a shade of red, tears building up in her eyes, a sneer began to worm its way onto Luz’s face. “I thought you were joking when you threatened me before because I honestly couldn’t believe the audacity that you had when you said that to my face. But, apparently, I was wrong.” As she closed the distance between herself and Judy, the vines beginning to coil around the rest of her body like that of a snake, slowly crushing her, Luz’s eyes flashed red.
“So, let’s make one thing clear, from here on out. And this applies to everyone, so pay attention,” Luz began, her voice gaining an annoyed edge to it. “What I say, goes. If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to walk, you walk. If I tell you to smash your head against a wall, you do it. And If you have a problem with that, then you can bring it up to me. And if I think it’s reasonable, I’ll consider it.” As she continued, Judy was slammed into the ground, the force of which caused the ground around her to shake, as Luz’s vines retracted back into her fingers.
Before Judy could get up, her chest heaving up and down as she tried to catch her breath, Luz stomped down on Judy’s stomach, forcing whatever air she had regained out of her body, causing her to cough. And when she spoke, it sounded as if two voices were speaking at the same time. Luz’s, and someone, or something else’s. “But if you threaten me, or try to touch me, hurt me, or even attempt to kill me, I will not hesitate to do the same to you in return. Does everyone understand?”
She was met with silence, but she could tell that there was a clear understanding, given how everyone was staring at her, acknowledgement written in their eyes. As for Judy, she stared up at her in horror. It was obvious she hadn’t expected what she had done, but that was the point. Judy nodded, albeit slowly, as Luz stepped off of her, her eyes returning to their normal hue.
“Good,” Luz turned back to everyone else, before pointing to Arla. “Heal her, then get something to eat. We’re leaving in an hour from now. Stanley, you too. Get something to eat that isn’t a moon pie. Judy, when you’re healed, do some recon. See if you can find out anything about the other two teams and what their plans are.” As she said that, she walked past everyone, Julia flashing her a concerned look, one that Luz met with an unreadable glance.
Regardless of that, Julia followed after her, as Luz stopped by the back of the girl’s cabin, slumping down against the wall. Julia sat next to her, as Luz curled into a ball, her arms wrapped around her legs, her knees pressing up against her body while she lowered her head. Julia put a comforting hand on her shoulder, worry in her eyes as she spoke.
“Luz… What was that?”
“I dunno…” Luz muttered. “I just… got really angry. And I was scared… I thought Judy was actually going to…” Luz always had an explosive way of defending herself. Well, “always” was in quotation marks, because she never usually did defend herself. Again, the only time she acted on something was when she carved up Amber, and calling that “self-defence” wasn’t even remotely true. It was more like an attempted assassination that only failed because someone stepped in.
“You know everyone would’ve pounced on her if she tried something like that,” Julia said as Luz shot her a look. One that spoke of unsureness. Julia pursed her lips in thought, before sighing. “Luz, I know that we hardly know each other, but… you are our leader for a reason. Even if that soldier was the one who appointed you, you’ve made it clear that you’re the boss. Even before that display. Remember when you broke up that argument between Johnny and Ronny?”
“That stupid thing?” Luz scoffed, rolling her eyes as she looked away. “It was over something dumb anyway. Who cares about a game of rock-paper-scissors that passionately anyway….” A small smile took up her visage. They were probably only looking for a way to distract themselves from the horribleness of the situation they found themselves in.
Still, the negativity wasn’t what they needed. They needed positivity and less in-fighting. And besides, at least she was able to disable the argument quickly. It could’ve ended far, far worse. If she hadn’t stepped in, chances were they would’ve gotten into a fight, and that wasn’t anything anyone needed.
“Say, Luz… I have a question,” Julia asked as Luz shot her another glance.
“Yeah? What is it?”
“If we get out of this mess… do you, perhaps… want to go see a movie?” Julia asked as Luz raised an eyebrow.
“Depends. What kind of movie?” Luz asked as Julia shrugged.
“Well, I heard they were making a Dresden Files Movie. It was supposed to come out last year but due to an accident with the main actor, they couldn’t do it. But, they announced it to come out in September, around the end of summer. And seeing as I have no place to return to… I kind of figured we could…” Julia stopped herself, her cheeks changing to a shade of red.
It was only then that Luz picked up what she was putting down, confusing her. “Are you… asking me out?”
“M-Maybe…” Julia stammered as Luz smiled, leaning her head against the back of the cabin.
“Yeah… sure, why not?” Luz replied, though there was the underlying “if we survive this” put in there somewhere. Just not said aloud. A common understanding, but important to bring it up nonetheless. Not that Luz wanted to ruin the mood.
Still, the idea of someone asking her out…. It was strange. She didn’t feel any kind of excitement, mostly because it was a major 50/50 considering the situation they’re currently in. But, if Julia did survive… “I’d like that… I’d like that a lot, actually…” Luz said, a flush of pink decorating her cheeks as she lowered her head, unfurling herself as she outstretched her right leg, keeping her left arm draped over her left leg as she let her left arm rest against the grassy floor.
For the next hour, they sat in silence, just enjoying the sounds of nature. Halfway into their silent “staring off into the sky” session, Julia leaned up against Luz’s right shoulder, resting her head against it. Luz snaked an arm around her back as they stared up into the clouds. It was a peaceful day, the skies were clear, and the sun was out and nearing the center of the sky, meaning it was just about the afternoon.
A part of her was worried that something bad was going to happen. She didn’t know why. Maybe it was because of paranoia, or maybe it was because she was just genuinely worried. But, the point was that she felt a disturbance in the air. One that she wasn’t exactly quite fond of. One that spelled out doom, and she wasn’t there for it.
Her eyes narrowed, staring up at the sky, avoiding the sun like the plague so she didn’t make herself go blind. Maybe it was because things had been too quiet from the other two sides, but she couldn’t help but feel something big was coming.
“The only question now is, what?” Luz thought as Stanley came into her peripheral vision. He stared down at the two, a sly smirk on his face, one on his hip and the other stuffed in his pocket. “Oh, I see what’s going on here. You two lovebirds enjoying the sky?”
“H-Huh!?” Julia stammered as Luz snaked her hand out from behind Julia, sitting up as she did, giggling to herself. Julia looked back to Luz who smiled back at her, easing whatever daze she had felt when Stanley said it like it was.
“Yeah, until you showed up,” Luz joked as Stanley feigned being hurt, putting his free hand to his chest with a faux-offended look on his face.
“Oh, you’re words wound me!”
Julia stood up, puffing out her cheeks as she looked away from the pair. “You two are rude,” Julia grumbled as Stanley ruffled her hair, flustering her more. Luz tried to hold back a laugh but failed. What could she say? The whole conversation was hilarious! It got to the point where all three of them found themselves laughing, although it didn’t last very long. Once Stanley sobered himself, he exhaled, an air of seriousness surrounding him.
“Come to the front, Arla’s got everything prepared for our trip, and Judy’s got the information you wanted,” as Stanley said that, he frowned, crossing his arms. “Also, I want to apologize on behalf of Judy. She—”
“If she wants to apologize, she can say it to my face,” Luz interrupted, walking past Stanley, who turned to watch her walk away. He looked a little dejected, but then again, it made sense. From what Luz knew, the two were getting close. A bit too close if one were to ask her, but, then again, she understood why. They just seemed to click. She didn’t have any problems with it, not that it was any of her business.
When Luz finally made it toward the front of the camp, everyone who wasn’t going out with the recon team, that being everyone outside of Luz, Stanley, Arla, and Judy, were all standing front and center just by the unlit campfire, with Arla and Judy standing backs turned to the draw bridge. The only two missing from the lineup were the two watchmen, both of whom were Giovanni and Johnny.
Luz walked up to Arla and Judy, with Stanley by her side. She cast a glance at Judy, who stiffened at her gaze. Arla on the other hand, was simply nervous. She understood why. They were about to walk into uncharted territory. Luz couldn’t help but be nervous herself. Especially considering what she might see out there.
A part of her was still worried about that weird slug thing she saw in the woods a couple of days back. Was it still in the woods? What even was that thing? Frankly, she didn’t know, and it weirded her out a bit. Though, strangely enough, she believed it to be friendly. If it was hostile, wouldn’t have it tried to breach the wall?
“None of that now, focus on what’s in front of you,” Luz thought, closing her eyes briefly before speaking. “Alright, Whaddya got, Judy?”
“Foxtrot and Heavens Devils are sending out two people each to get the care package. One of them was that fire dude you mentioned being a potential threat, and the other was some guy with glasses and a pullover. I wasn’t able to get much information about either of them. And for Foxtrot, I’m fairly certain one of the people who’ll be there is Hilbert. He’s got silver hair, hard to miss. He’s also a pain in the ass. As for the other girl he was with, I don’t know other than that she has orange hair,” Judy explained as Luz’s eyes widened.
“Orange hair…” “What else was there about her,” Luz demanded as Judy shrugged.
“Aside from the fact that she’s black? Dunno. But, she was wearing some kind of crop top, and she had a lot of scars on her stomach, so—”
“Amber…” Luz hissed, causing Judy to flinch.
“You… know her?”
“Do I ever. If we run into her, leave her to me, please,” Luz spat, a small smile taking up her visage. “I have some unfinished business with her. I’d like to continue where we had left off…”
“Right…” Judy muttered, before clearing her throat. “Anyway, we have the number advantage. If we come to blows, I take it it’s a “do unto others” policy?” Judy snarked as Luz nodded. She wasn’t paying attention. She couldn’t believe that Amber was here! It was almost too perfect. Yes, she was still bitter for what she did. And now, she had an excuse to finish her off once and for all.
The question was, though… What was her power? Was it even worth taking? She wouldn’t know until she figured it out. Because she planned to kill her. There was no ifs, ands, or buts about it. This time, no one would stop her.
Besides, it was more than deserved.
“So, we heading out, then?” Stanley asked as Luz nodded. She looked over to Julia, who nodded. As she walked over to what appeared to be a lever. And as soon as she pulled it, the drawbridge slowly began to come down. As it lowered, Julia walked over to Luz, and, without warning, kissed her on the cheek. Luz, startled, went to say something, but didn’t after looking at Julia.
She was happy. A smile was plastered across her face. A full, real smile. It caused Luz to smile, before nodding. She guessed it was official, then. “Be safe,” Julia said, as Luz stuck up a thumbs up, before turning to face the now wide open door to their base. They were met with wilderness, bushes, and trees.
This was it. Finally, after four and a half days, they were finally going to leave the base. With newfound hope fluttering in her chest, and with at least one power at her disposal, Luz, along with the rest of the recon team, stepped out of The Alpha Squadron base, and began their journey to the care package.
[XXXX]
Maxwell frowned, watching the cameras with an unamused expression on his face. Finally, something was going to happen, but why did it have to take so bloody long? Frankly, it was insulting that he had to wait this long, but, at least they were going to meet. And considering what Cody was offered, there was bound to be at least one death.
Although, he had made note of the recent development regarding Luz’s power. Well, should he say, powers. She now had a power under her belt. Julia Wittebane’s Vines. He had to admit, it wasn’t what his first choice would’ve been. He probably would’ve taken Johnny’s Vibration Control power, but then again, it wasn’t as if Luz took the power without having to be begged to do it first.
Still, the fact of the matter was that it happened. And now that it did, it opened an interesting possibility. But one that, after he had done some thinking on the issue, he realized was rather stupid. Originally, his idea was to give her a deal to set her free, so long as she stole everyone’s power inside the camp, and killed them afterward.
That would’ve worked, had he not remembered that Luz was seemingly the type of person who was not only selfless but the annoying kind of goody-two-shoes that made her the absolute worst kind of goody-two-shoes. The staunch moralist. But, even a staunch moralist had points of contention. Had ways to be broken down and moulded into a fitting pawn.
But even then, given just how powerful someone like Luz Noceda could become if exposed to the correct environment, it didn’t matter what you tried to stop them with. You could nuke the surrounding area, and all that would do would make things worse. Some people, once they get going, simply cannot be stopped.
And that was the trouble that Governor Rodger J. Maxwell found himself in. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He wanted Luz Noceda dead, especially because of her power. But, she could also later prove to be a potent tool. He was at a loss for what to do, and so as he sat there, staring down the monitors, lost in thought at what he needed to do, he felt a buzz in his back pocket.
“Huh? Who the f*ck…” Maxwell muttered, reaching for his cellphone. As he pulled the iPhone 11 out of his back pocket, he stared at the screen, confusion taking over his visage. “Tyler?” As soon as he said his name, he answered the phone. “Mr. Wittebane, what can I do for you?”
“Wipe them out.” His calm, soothing, yet also commanding voice came out from the other side of the phone, causing Maxwell to blink.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Our benefactor, he wants you to wipe them out. Effective immediately. You know how he is about these types of things. I had objected to his suggestion, and he threatened to pull back our two greatest wildcards if we didn’t. Apparently, he has encountered a person like Luz Noceda before, and knows that it would be best to kill her and the rest of those lowly, pathetic, worthless heaps of flesh sooner rather than later.”
Maxwell hummed, stroking his beard as he did. That was… unfortunate. He wanted this to last a little while longer. Just to see how far he could go without interfering too much. But, if the higher-ups wanted results… “Are you sure you can’t convince him to wait a week?”
“If I could, Rodger, I would. Unfortunately, he’s getting testy. And the last thing I need is for his golden boy to start chopping heads because their boss is starting to get antsy. We need his support, otherwise, we can’t properly cover this up. You know what will happen if we don’t.”
“Fine, alright…” And with that, Maxwell hung up the phone. “Stupid interdimensional dictator. Interfering with my fun…” Maxwell grumbled as he stuffed his phone back into his pocket. His hand hovered over the button that would release the bomb drones, when he stopped, a smirk spreading across his face. “Actually… I have a better idea…!”
Maxwell decided to deploy two camera drones and led them to Foxtrots and the Heavens Devil’s base of operations. As they flew, he prepared his microphone. If he couldn’t continue his fun the way he wanted it, then he could at least cause a little chaos before he decided to drop the bombs. After all, what fun would there be if he didn’t?
He knew it would take a while for the drones to show up there. He had purposely set them on low speeds so that he could call the Privates that he still had under his command. As his phone rang, he couldn’t help but smile. This was going to go great. He just knew it. After all, it was his idea. And all of his ideas were amazing.
“Private Holden, what can I do for you, Boss?”
“You remember how we’re getting sued by those parents?” Maxwell asked as Holden scoffed.
“Yeah, what about it?”
“They’re all planning on meeting in Gravesfield at the town hall. I want you and your boys to dress up like thugs and kidnap all of them, and hold them for ransom. A ransom I’ll pay only when all of Alpha Squadron’s been wiped out. Then, all of Wittebane’s assassins can kill them for all I care. The only one you cannot kidnap is that Noceda woman. She didn’t sign the paper, so we can’t target her. Nor can we target the priest. Alright? We’ll let Tyler deal with him.”
“You got it, boss! Should only take us a day or two to get there. Does That sound good to you?”
“They just have to believe it, and kids are gullible. Just make sure it’s done, capiche?” Maxwell said as Holden grunted in the affirmative, cueing Maxwell to hang up. Once he did, he looked back over to the screen and watched as the drones began to fly in close to the bases surrounding “air space.”
As the drones flew into the bases, eyes were immediately on them, and the leader of each team, both of which were standing around doing nothing, looked toward the drone. Both had sneers on their faces, and both seemingly were more annoyed to see it than grateful. Before either of them could speak, Maxwell spoke through his microphone.
“Hello, brats. I hope you’re all hearing this because this is important. If you at all value your parents and or loved one’s lives, then listen up, because I have a job for you.”
[XXXX]
The sun shone down on the group of four, beating down on them with 45 degrees of pure UV rays. Sweat trickled down everyone’s foreheads, sweat stains evident on their clothing. Although out of everyone there, Judy seemed to have it the worst, what with the cloak and long-sleeved shirt underneath not doing her any good.
“Ugh, how long are we going to be out here….!” Stanley grumbled, wiping the back of his neck as sweat drenched it. “I know it’s summer, but for f*cksake!” He grumbled, slumping as he strode forward. Judy shot him a glare, narrowing her eyes, the hood of her cloak down, revealing her long black hair tied up in a braided ponytail.
“If you don’t stop complaining, I’m going to hurt you,” Judy snarked. Stanley, for his part, waved her off. Luz watched the bickering pair, or was it more right to call them a couple? Either way, it didn’t really matter, did it? They were bickering, and it was annoying. Surprisingly, the heat didn’t bother her. Her house had no A/C, and she was what one would call a “warm-blooded person” having been born in the summer months, specifically leaning toward July more so than June.
“C’mon, we don’t need to fight,” Luz said, earning both of their attention. “If you guys need it, we can take a break. We’ve been walking for hours anyway, and the sun is an hour away from setting,” Luz said, looking back over to Arla, who didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. “What about you, are you okay?”
“Huh, me? I go hiking with my mother all the time. I’m used to this,” Arla said a wide smile on her face. That was probably the first time that Luz had heard her speak and not stutter even once. That must’ve meant she was in her element. That was good.
“You didn’t stutter, that’s new,” Stanley noted as Arla blinked, looking over to him and shrugging.
“I’m comfortable, and I’m not around a crowd. I can’t handle large amounts of people. Makes me feel anxious and watched,” Arla replied as sat down on the nearest rock. Stanely took to leaning against the nearest tree, whereas Judy used her Spot power to climb up to a branch in a tree. Luz used Vines to do something similar, balancing herself on a thicker branch before sighing.
The hike was nice, but she felt as if they had a lot more ground to cover. How much more ground, Luz didn’t know. All she knew was that it wasn’t going to be a quick back and forth. They didn’t have a map, which made things even worse. They were just guessing where to go, though, the same could be said for Foxtrot and The Heavens Devil’s group. So, at least there was that. And considering they were out for a similar amount of time, there was no way they could’ve covered more ground than them.
Though, she could have guessed that they had more mobile-related powers. So, maybe she was wrong. Maybe they were closer? For all she knew, this could’ve been worthless, and one of the teams already claimed the care package.
“Yo, Boss!” Stanley’s voice snapped Luz out of her thoughts as she looked down at him. He was now sitting against the tree, smoking another cigarette.
“Smoking’s bad for you, you know,” Luz pointed out as Stanley shrugged.
“Eh, doesn’t matter. I’ll be fine, and if I get cancer from it, I don’t really care either. You only live life once, so live it the way you want. That’s what my old friend Jamol said. Then he got adopted and I haven’t seen him since,” Stanley said as Luz frowned. Both at the fact that he lost a friend, and to the fact that he didn’t care about potentially dying one of the worst kinds of deaths imaginable.
To each their own, she supposed.
“Anyway, what is it, Stanley?” Luz asked as Stanley finished taking another drag out of his cigarette, blowing the smoke out from his mouth before tapping the cancer stick, getting rid of the build-up of ash before speaking.
“So, just a thought, but, wouldn’t removing someone’s powers have some kind of downside to them? Like, these didn’t just appear, did they? They kind of had to have some form of evolution with them. So, when you steal someone’s power, is there like, a chance that they’ll die or something?” Stanley asked as Judy glanced over to Luz.
“Yeah, actually. I was wondering that. Considering you did it to one of our teammates. If what Stanley says is true, you could’ve possibly killed one of our own,” Judy said as Luz flinched. They weren’t wrong. It was deadly to remove someone’s power. But, at the same time, she didn’t know it till she spoke with Shigaraki.
“Well, I don’t know,” Luz lied, shrugging to play into the lie. “If there is a downside like that, I’ll let you know when I figure it out,” Luz continued as Stanley, content with the answer, leaned his head back against the tree. Judy, on the other hand, stared at her, frowning as she did.
Oh well, it didn’t matter. As long as she wasn’t called out, she was fine. “So, guys, how much longer do you guys think it’ll take to get to the care package?” Luz asked, as Arla spoke up.
“My guess? Probably a few more hours. We could probably make it by sunset if we start now,” Arla suggested as Luz went to say something. But, just as she did, as she blinked once her vision was obstructed by a fist flying toward her face. It was coated with bright, orange flames, and it belonged to an orange-haired, blue-eyed boy.
Luz had no time to react, as the fist made contact with her face, the fire blooming around the impact area, as she was sent rocketing in the opposite direction of where she was facing.
Judy, the moment she saw Luz begin to fly off in the opposite direction whilst being pursued by that orange blur that appeared a moment ago, immediately got up from her spot on the tree. Just before she could open one of the spots on her body to retrieve the gun she had stolen from that soldier she had killed days ago, a string wrapped around her neck, with two more wrapping around her wrists, hands, fingers, and arms.
“Huh—”
Before she could say a single sentence, the string was pulled backward, and she was decapitated, and her arms, fingers, and hands were also removed cleanly. As her body began to fall to the ground, a teen in a gray pullover hoodie, a pair of dark blue framed glasses, and black jeans landed where her body once was, standing on the edge of the branch.
Blood began to shower down to the ground below, as the boy in the gray pullover jutted his fingers in the direction of the body, a glimmer of something moving in the air moving with the motion, as the remnants of Judy’s body were diced and turned into mince meat, leaving barely pick-up-able chunks.
“JUDY! LUZ!” Stanley all but roared, as the boy in the pullover smirked, watching as the boy with the flame power chased down Luz’s disappearing form.
“What’s the matter? Gonna cry about the death of that goth chick? How sad,” the boy in the pullover taunted, as Stanley practically growled.
Before Stanley could do anything, however, he was flung against one of the trees by an invisible force. The sudden pressure caused Stanley to gasp, though due to his Shock Absorption, any force that would’ve caused bones to break did basically nothing, only making him wince at the suddenness of the change.
As he reorientated himself, an orange-haired girl came out of the brush, her hand outstretched in his direction as he struggled against the force that was holding him down. The girl was dressed in a black crop top and a pair of gray baggy pants. She had black skin, and dark brown eyes, but that wasn’t what had been the most defining feature about her. No. that belonged to her exposed lower torso. Specifically, her stomach region. It was riddled with scars of various shapes and sizes, almost like penetration wounds.
“Heh, that was easy. Who knew that the big dumb meathead was just that, big and dumb!” The girl taunted, as Stanley gnashed his teeth together, trying and failing to break out from what was keeping him down.
“That is to be expected, Amber. After all, we did catch them by surprise. If not for our momentary team-up, I’m sure the other two would’ve killed us by now,” a voice spoke out as Stanley stared in the direction where the voice came from.
Another person came out from the same brush that the girl had, though he looked far from what he looked far younger than his voice would’ve led on. The person in question was a silver-haired boy, with golden yellow eyes, and flawless skin, dressed in an open-faced light blue parka with a feathered collar, a white shirt, black shorts and a pair of black hiking boots.
Stanley’s blood boiled at the words that the boy said. “You pieces of sh*t…! When I get out of this, I’ll—”
“Silence, monkey,” the silver-haired teen spat as Stanley’s nostrils flared. “Good. You mongrels do learn, after all. Well then, I think that means we’re making progress. And, by the looks of things, it would seem as if Operation Divide and Conquer is working just as planned. Cody really is a tactical genius,” the silver-haired boy said, as Stanley glared at him. “Oh, but where are my manners? I’m Hilbert, and this is my partner Amber. Above you is Lucas, a temporary ally along with Cody. I’m sorry it has to come to this, but, you’re going to have to die. I would feel ashamed, but, then again, why would I?”
“You… you bastard!” Stanley growled, trying to push past whatever was holding him down, but it wasn’t working. Amber scoffed, placing her non-extended hand on her hip.
“That ain’t gonna work, dickweed. Force Push can’t be moved. Believe me, many have tried,” Amber goaded as Stanley growled.
Arla, for her part, was shaking in her boots. Never in her life had something gone from zero to one hundred so quickly. And even worse… their trump card was gone, having been launched elsewhere. And with Judy dead and in pieces, there wasn’t anything that could be done. Hilbert glanced over at Arla, a frown on her face. “Are you the healer?”
“H-Huh—”
The moment that word slipped out of her mouth, Hilbert waved his hand as if someone were to shoo away someone or something. And as soon as he did, Arla had enough time to blink, before she became rigid. Her mouth was slightly opened, and as she stood still, Stanley went to say something, only for blood to start spewing from the center of her body, lengthwise.
Arla fell apart, quite literally, both halves collapsing at different angles. Stanley could only stare in horror at the events unfolding before him. And the worst part? He was stuck against the tree. There was nothing he could’ve done to stop it.
“Arla…”
“Cleave.” Hilbert began, as Stanley inhaled sharply, looking over to him with rage in his eyes. Hilbert, on the other hand, seemed bored. As if what he had just done meant nothing to him. “And yes, if you’ve read Jujutsu Kaisen, I did name my power off of a part of Sukuna’s Cursed Technique, though, to someone like you, I doubt you understand the words coming out of my mouth. After all, you’re just a filthy monkey.”
With that, he turned to face Stanley, a bored expression on his face. “And now, you’re next. Then, once this is over, myself, Amber, and Lucas, will follow after Cody. Then, we’ll kill your precious leader, and after that, we’ll decide what happens next.”
Stanley blinked, and when he did, felt something wash over him. Like a wave of something. All the while Hilbert swiped the back of his hand at him. Something hit him, but it didn’t do anything. Sure, it felt like a pinch, but, it didn’t break his skin. Something that caused Hilbert confusion. Stanley smirked, knowing full well what just transpired. “Oh… you use Kinetic force to do your little swish thing, yeah? Well, guess what…” And with all of his might, Stanley broke out from whatever was holding him down, confusing Amber.
“WHAT?! HOW THE f*ck DID YOU DO THAT?!” Amber screamed, taking a step back as Stanley crouched down into a fighting stance. Both of his fists covered his face, and as Amber tried to apply her power again, Stanley side-stepped it. How? Because he saw the dent in the air that was made when Amber used her power.
“YOU’RE GONNA HAVE TO TRY A LITTLE BIT HARDER THAN THAT, BECAUSE THAT sh*t DOESN’T WORK ON ME!” Stanley roared, as Hilbert smirked.
Maybe this would be interesting after all.
Meanwhile, Luz crashed through several trees, using Vines to soften the impacts, before she finally stopped after hitting what felt like the fifth tree, watching as several trees fell left to right. Blood trailed from her nose and her busted upper lip, a stinging sensation burning her skin as she fell to the ground, Vines stopping her an inch off the ground, allowing her to land softly.
When she did, and as the headache caused by being punched square in the face subsided, Luz slowly stood up, groaning in pain as she did. She could barely keep up with what was going on. The only thing that she knew was that she just got sucker punched in the face, and was sent flying for what felt like two straight minutes.
“Ow…” Luz grumbled, wiping the blood from her nose as the orange-haired boy who had sent her flying landed a few feet away from her, flames covering the back of his arms, legs, feet, and neck. They rose off his body in such a way that it made him appear as if he was walking out of a portal from hell. He was dressed in an orange and white striped shirt, light blue jeans, and black lace-up ankle boots.
Luz immediately got into a defensive stance—the same stance that one would take when they’re being threatened, and one that she had learned after copying it from TV. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough. She stared down the mystery boy,
“Luz Noceda, right? Leader of The Alpha Squadron?” The boy said, his voice containing an almost psychotic tinge to it.
“Who’re you…” Luz spat, clenching her fists as she rose them to sit in front of her face, all the while the boy chuckled. He was definitely giving off deranged psychopath vibes. And that didn’t bode well.
“Cody Johnson! Second in command of The Heavens Devil’s. And I’m your assassin,” Cody said, raising his hand as fire coated it. “I’ve heard you can take other people’s powers, yeah?”
“How did he know that…?” Luz thought as Cody smiled ear to ear.
“I bet you’re wondering how I know that. Well, let’s just say that a little birdie told me. And because that little birdie told me and offered me such a wonderful reward, I’m going to bring them you’re charred, burned, and dismembered head to them!” The fire around his body burst off his body like an erupting volcano, causing Luz to take a step back.
And it was only then that she realized the supreme disadvantage she now had to contend with. Not only was the only thing she had to beat him made of very flammable material, and considering the fact that he was on fire, that meant that touching him was essentially a no-go unless she wanted to get cooked alive.
And because of that, one single, solitary thought formed in her head.
“I’m so, unbelievably screwed, aren’t I?” And as she thought that, and as she stared down Cody, fear drenched her very soul, as the crazy flame user roared.
“LET’S TURN UP THE HEAT! BECAUSE I’M READY TO HAVE ME MYSELF A MEXICAN BARBAQUE!”
And with that, the battle began.
-To Be Continued in – The Raging Flame of Battle-
[Ending Song: Life – By: Rude-a]
Chapter 10: Season 1 - Episode 10: The Raging Flame Of Battle.
Chapter Text
[Opening Song: Kyouran Hey Kids!! – By: The Oral Cigarettes]
[The Raging Flame of Battle]
Luz had no time at all to avoid the flaming helicopter kick that was aimed directly at the right side of her head. The best she was able to do was quickly move her arms up to block it. As the side of Cody’s foot made contact with the two forearms that made the block, a burning sensation coated her arms as she bit back the pained howl that was building up in her throat, all the while she was launched to the side, slamming into the side of the tree closest to her.
Her arms slumped to her side, the flames coating her hands as Vines sprouted in an attempt to smother the fire—which barely worked, mind you. Luz had no idea what she was supposed to do in this situation, further compounded by the fact that Cody did not let up. As a matter of fact, he pressed forward, grabbed her by the throat, picked her up, and launched her into the air with a throw that no human should have been able to pull off without some form of super strength. Yet, Cody managed it.
For what felt like an eternity, Luz found herself floating in the air. For the split second that gravity did not permit her existence on solid ground, she was able to catch the bloodlust in Cody’s eyes. It was ravenous, like a predator looking for food, and that now it had found its prey, it decided to wear it out. Play with it for a while until it was ready to eat.
And that terrified her.
Instead of floating there and doing nothing, in the split second that it took for Cody to seemingly begin to crouch down to propel himself up to her, Luz, despite her badly burned hands, flexed her charred fingers, biting down on her tongue to prevent her scream from slipping out. Cody stared up at her, incredulously, almost as if to tell her that what she was doing was stupid.
She knew that, but, she had to try something. As the vines extended, rather than go for Cody himself, they diverted to the two trees surrounding him. With relative and shocking ease, her vines ripped the trees out from the ground, shocking Cody, as they were thrown in his direction, all the while Luz was able to land on her feet, if only for a moment, before quickly falling to a knee as her chest burned with pain.
The two trees came dangerously close to Cody, and in response, he crouched into a ball, and second later, he sprung out from his balled-up form, as a burst of flame exploded out from his body like a bomb, blowing the trees up into shrapnel. Some of the scattered pieces of bark and wood stabbed into his shoulders and back, though they immediately caught on fire and turned to ash, the shallow puncture wounds being cauterized immediately afterward.
Luz, however, did not let that stop her from immediately acting while he was momentarily distracted, shooting out her vines toward the nearest large rock, wrapping her vines around it, pulling it out of the ground, and throwing it Cody’s way in an attempt to smack him upside the head. Cody, in response, stuck his hand out toward the rock, blasted one ball of fire at it, and destroyed it into pieces.
Before Luz could follow it up with something, Cody cleared the distance between himself and Luz and threw an uppercut, hitting her directly in the jaw, and sending her off the ground. Before she could try and reorientate herself, Cody blasted her with a short-range burst of flame, the propulsion of which sent her back down to the ground, before being immediately stomped on by Cody smack in the center of her torso.
The force of the stomp caused her to spit up a few specks of saliva, mixed with blood. Her vision immediately blurred, only catching the rye smirk on Cody’s face. “Is this all you’ve got?” Cody mocked, drilling the heel of his shoe into her, which let the pained wail escape her lungs, prompting Cody’s smile to grow wider.
“I’ve always loved the screams of the dying. Call it a f*cked up thing about me, but, I mean, it’s like a final message, you know?” Cody said, before stomping down on her torso yet again. This time, a crack followed the sound of him stomping down, which implied that either one or multiple of her ribs cracked or broke. Neither of which was a good thing. “I could so easily kill you right here, right now. But, that would just be disappointing…” Cody drawled, a sinister twinkle in his right eye. “But I want to play some more~!”
And then, the onslaught began.
With the tip of his foot, he ripped her from the ground, all 100 pounds of her body without so much as breaking a sweat, and as she hovered in the air, Cody palmed her square in the chest. Where his hand met the impact zone, a faint orange glow emitted from underneath his palm, as the air distorted around the area.
A burst of flame, bright, orange, and red hot, launched Luz back even further through gaps in the trees. But, that wasn’t all. Cody kept up with her propulsion, landing blow after blow. Jab, punch, kick, followed by another punch, ended with a swift uppercut sending her into the sky. Blood trailed from her mouth and nose, a distorted look of pain coating her whole expression.
But Cody was not done. He stopped, just underneath her, and with that monstrous glare in his eye, and his all too predatory smile, his entire arm transformed into pure fire. Using his normal hand, he shaped the fire into the shape of a bow, his hand being the arrow. All of this was done in less than a second, her eyes having a hard time keeping track of his movements.
Cody got down on one knee, before loudly declaring what it was he was going to do. The name of his attack. And it sounded just as devastating as it was going to be.
“Armageddon Arrow!”
The moment those words left his mouth, the flaming arrow shot up at Luz, striking her in the stomach. The force of the attack was enough to cause her eyes to roll back, but that wasn’t where it ended. The arrow exploded into a pillar of flames, that congealed into a ball and imploded within. A shockwave loud enough to be heard across the forest echoed out, blasting away all of the nearby trees’s leaves, and even knocking a few smaller trees down in the process.
Cody stared up at the marvel of his handiwork, his chest heaving up and down as sweat trickled down his face. Despite the spectacle, all he cared about was seeing the results. And once the flames were gone, there was nothing but burning embers remaining.
Cody smirked, turning his arm back to normal, dropping it to his side as he stood up straight. But as a few seconds passed, a frown took up his visage. “That was almost too easy,” Cody commented, narrowing his eyes. For some reason, he refused to believe that this was the end. After what he had heard from Kennedy, he was supposed to worry about Luz Noceda.
But why? She was so weak. So unbelievably pathetic. He wanted to be proven wrong, especially because of the way that Kennedy spoke of her. As if she was a dangerous threat. And here he was being proven right about his previous assumption of her being nothing more than an ant to be stepped on. She was dead with nothing to show for it. Not even a single piece of clothing remained. That should have been the end of it.
So why, oh why, did he believe that it wasn’t over?
Simple…
He had watched one too many anime to know that someone with such a power would die that easily.
And he was right.
Out of the corner of his eye, vines shot out toward him as they went to wrap around his neck. He burnt them to a crisp with the wave of a hand, before turning on his heel and blocking a punch by grabbing the fist that it belonged to. He stared down the person whom he was assigned to kill, the entire right half of her face practically burned to a crisp, and yet despite that, here she stood.
But that wasn’t all that was burned. The entire right side of her body, save for anything past her mid-torso, was burned heavily. To the point where the skin was molten, or what was left of it anyway. She was even missing an eye, and the skin around the right side of her mouth was gone, only showing burnt muscle and charred teeth. And yet, despite the life-ending damage to her body, she stared him down, him holding back the fist that she had swung at him.
Only one question bounced around in Cody’s mind, and it was a rather important question at that. “How are you alive?” Cody asked though he received no response. Just a simple grunt, and the flare of a single crimson eye. That caught Cody off guard, and not because there was only one eye, but because of the colour of it. “Crimson? Weren’t her eyes a golden brown?” And just as he thought that he was met with a strong enough force to push him back. He skidded back a few feet before being met with a whip across the face by five vines. They didn’t hurt, but they did sting.
“Enough of this!” Cody spat, before flinging another fireball her way. In response, she created a shield of vines just as tall as her, and when they burned away, Cody had to brace himself. Why? Because a giant fist made of vines was coming his way. It slammed into his stomach, causing him to go flying backward into a tree, only stopping from taking most of the impact by propelling flames from his back.
More sweat began to drip from his forehead as his breathing hastened. He was beginning to overheat. Pyrokensis was a strong power, he knew that from the day he awakened it six months ago. But, it came with a heavy drawback. The more he used his flames, the more hot his internals would get, to the point where his body would begin to melt from the inside out.
Right now, if he were to put a thermometer up to his mouth, the mercury inside would skyrocket to the point where it would explode out of the other end. That was how hot he was right now. If he used his Pyrokensis any longer, he would run the risk of overheating. And if he overheated, then he would most likely die from heat stroke or worse.
But, even so, he had to kill Luz Noceda. Both because he wanted to, and because the lives of his parents were being held over his head. Not to mention his freedom. And he would do anything to be free. Even if it meant killing everyone else, he wouldn’t care. Besides, it wasn’t like he gave a rat's ass about anyone else here.
Just as he was about to outstretch his hand to blast Luz with a wave of fire, his vision was blocked by a charred hand. In the center of that hand, smack in the middle of its palm, there was a hole. It wasn’t even the size of a dime, and now, he was staring it down.
Time began to slow down around him, as he could make out every detail of the charred palm. It was so close to his face, and it was nearly touching him. Through the fingers, he could see Luz’s sole remaining eye, and deep within it bore a hatred and rage unlike anything that had seen before.
It even rivalled his fathers at times.
At that moment, Cody knew he was going to die. There was nothing he could do about it. He had no time to react, and the worst part was that he knew that not only was he going to die, but he was also going to lose his power. The hole began to glow a deep red as the charred hand made contact with the center of his face. He felt the searing agony of the charred skin burn his flesh, as Luz’s fingers wrapped around the top of his forehead, and squeezed as if her life depended on it.
And finally, after all of that was done, only a single word left his opponent's face. One so chilling, so haunting, that it would be left engrained into his soul for the rest of his life. It wasn’t just a word. It was a command. An order. From a higher being to another lower lifeform.
“Die.”
And then, as that word entered his ears and filled his mind, he was met with a pain that he could not describe. Black and red lightning danced over the charged hand, as he felt the excruciating pain of what he imagined being torn apart felt like. A howling scream escaped his lungs, but it didn’t last for long as he grabbed onto Luz’s wrist, clawing at the charred skin.
But it was all for naught. His hands slumped, along with the rest of his limp body. The moment that he did, flames began to coat Luz’s arm, travelling up it like a spiral as they burst to life, covering it from fingertip to shoulder. Before anything else could happen, the flames erupted from her arm in a thick collum, reducing Cody and the center of every tree spanning for at least twenty feet into nothing but ashes in the wind.
When the fires died, Luz lowered her charred arm, narrowing her lone eye. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, and she knew the moment it ended, she’d collapse and more than likely die. As much as she disliked the idea, she needed to either force Arla to use her power, or, straight up steal it from her unprompted if she didn’t.
It was a gross idea and one that made her feel sick. But, at this point, she didn’t care. She just needed to be healed. That, and she needed to regroup with everyone else. And so, she reached inside of herself and pulled at the string connected to Pyrokensis.
It was strange, how she immediately knew which one was which. And it was also strange how her stolen powers were categorized by strings. But, it made sense. After all, if powers looked like strings to her when they were still attached to their original hosts, it made sense if it remained the same way once she stole them. Either way, it was something she’d have to ask the nuisance in her head at a later date.
The fire began to build at the bottoms of her feet, and as she got into a sprinting stance, the flames began to build and build. “The others. Must make it to the others.” And with that, a loud boom resounded from the forest, as an explosion of flame propelled her forward kicked up dust and left a small crater in her wake.
She would not let them die.
She could not let them die.
No matter what it would cost her.
And if they were already dead?
She would kill whoever killed them, and then, the rest of the sorry f*cks who called them allies or friends.
Meanwhile, back where Stanley and the other attackers had been, Stanley swung a swift right hook for Amber’s face, the strength of which was enough to leave a lasting dent in the side of her face. Saliva rocketed out of her mouth as she was sent colliding into a tree, before being promptly kicked in the torso immediately afterward, rendering her unconscious.
Hilbert jumped backward, narrowing his eyes as swiped at Stanley’s direction multiple times, sending several air-slashes his way, all of which washed over him, doing basically nothing other than making him flinch. Lucas followed it up by wrapping his right arm with string, pulling it up in the air. Lucas tugged, trying to cut into his skin… only for the strings to snap.
“WHAT?!” Both Lucas and Hilbert thought simultaneously, as Stanley smiled wide, a burning fury in his eyes as he launched toward Hilbert next. His golden eyes widened, as a fist came dangerously close to his face.
Luckily for Hilbert, he was able to hop over it using a precisely aimed cleave at the ground, leaving a deep trench in the ground as he hopped over Stanley, before twisting around in the air and firing a cross cleave in his direction, hitting him square in the back.
This, like the last time, did nothing. All Stanley did was turn around, pick up a rock and chuck it at Hilbert, who dismissed it with another cleave, which split the rock in half, the two halves flying past Hilbert's head. Lucas then fired more string at Stanley, keeping his high ground in the trees, the strings wrapping around his body to keep him still, even if it was only for a few seconds, as Hilbert narrowed his eyes.
“So, the gorilla’s skin is more durable than a rock? That means I have to put more power into my Cleave then. But, doing so will cost me greatly. I have to time it just right…” As that thought ended, Stanley broke free from the strings, but before Lucas to fully retract them back to his person, Stanley grabbed onto the strings that had still been attached to Lucas, pulling him down from his high ground.
Hilbert’s eyes widened, as Stanley wound up a punch aimed directly at Lucas’s head. In response, Lucas created a string barrier around his face, the string coming out of his back. The fist made impact with the strings as they tightened. No matter how taut they became, Stanley’s skin did not break. But why? How?
From what Hilbert understood, Stanley’s power was something called Shock Absorption. It absorbed the shock of the attack. Not the damage. Unless his body was just that strong. But, then, if that was then how did that make sense? If his skin was more durable than a rock, then surely the string that Lucas was using would cut through his skin.
Regardless, Stanley powered through the barrier, snapping the string in twain, before his fist caved in Lucas’s face, sending him flying into the tree across from Stanley. The power of the blow was so strong that it caused slight wind pressure to build up around the impact zone, and when Lucas hit the tree, he bounced off of the trunk, his eyes rolling back as he crumbled to the floor.
Now, it was just Hilbert and Stanley, who glared over his shoulder at him. Hilbert fired another Cleave in his direction, only for it to brush over him as if nothing happened. Sweat began to build up on Hilbert’s forehead, trailing down the side of his face all the while. In a panic, he sent three more Cleaves in his direction, only for them to do basically nothing. All they did was stagger him.
“YOU f*ckING MONKEY! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!” Hilbert all but screamed, casting his arms wide, as if to do a cross-slash using his power. But, it wasn’t just a cross-slash. This was a hyper-powered version of Cleave. The kind where it not just distorted the air around where Hilbert shot out of the attack, but bent it in such a way that its edge was sharper than a razorblade strong enough to cut through steel.
It had to work.
It had to kill the damn gorilla.
This lowly scum, who dared live through his Cleaves.
Stanley got into a stance to brace for the impact, confident that he could not only survive the attack, but push through it, smash the bastard's face into the ground, and reduce it into paste for killing Arla. And so, just as Hilbert was about to launch his penultimate attack, and just as Stanley was about to get ready to block it…
…a flaming foot came crashing into Hilbert’s vapid face, shocking Stanley, and confusing Hilbert who, upon glancing in the direction of where it came from, was met with the lone, glowing red eye of Luz Noceda.
“But… wasn’t her power… just holes in her hands…?” As soon Hilbert's thought ended, and as soon as the firey kick made contact, a large flaming explosion reverberated from the center of impact, knocking off Hilbert’s now charred and burnt head as it tumbled to the ground along with the rest of his body. The small explosion kicked up enough wind to blow some bushes out of the ground and blow some leaves off of smaller trees.
Stanley could only stare at Luz, eyes wide and pupils small. Her body was burned beyond belief, and yet, she was still alive. Luz landed, crushing Hilbert’s charred head like a grape as she turned to face him and looked at the chaos surrounding him. Her sole eye glanced down to Arla’s split-in-half body, and without saying a word, she walked over to the body, crouched down on her haunches, touched the left side of her split-in-half head, and activated her power.
Stanley dared not move from where he stood, only watching as Luz’s charred and burnt arm sparked red with electricity. After a few seconds passed, Luz stood up to her full height, breathed in, and as she did, she placed her left hand on the right side of her face. A green aura began to glow around her hand, and as soon as it did, the burnt skin began to peel away and become replaced with fresh, non-burned skin.
A new eyeball began to form out of nothingness, filling the empty socket, and the rest of her face began to repair itself. The healing spread from her face down her neck to the rest of her body. Stanley was quick to look away, especially given how the right side of Luz's shirt was burned away. “Uh, Boss, I—”
“Not right now, Stanley,” Luz interrupted as she breathed in deep. Her body was no longer aching, and any damage had been repaired using Arla’s power, Repair. “Your shirt, please.” Without another word, Stanley took off his tank top and handed it to Luz, who took it from him. When she did, she took off her damaged shirt and replaced it with Stanley’s tanktop, which was two sizes too big for her. Not that she cared. As long as it did its job to cover her body, that was all that mattered.
Stanley turned around, looking back at Luz. When he did, he was met with a frown. Before he could open his mouth, she spoke. “What happened.” It wasn’t a question, it was a demand. Stanley gestured to the scene around them as if that explained anything. It earned him a scowl, prompting him to speak.
“We got ambushed. Simple as. Once you were launched off who-knows-where the rest of that guy’s buddies jumped us. We didn’t have a chance to defend ourselves. I was only able to fend them off because of my Shock Absorption. Though, I’m pretty sure most of it was thanks to the other part of it.”
“The other part of it?” Luz asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, the other part of it. It is Absorption after all. It’s a double meaning. It absorbs the shock and converts it into kinetic energy that I can use in both strength and defence. Meaning that the more that I get hit, the more I can dish out. It’s why I asked Ronny to punch me back at base. Not just to show off, but to build up my tanks, so to speak,” Stanley explained as Luz nodded.
“I see…” Luz muttered, before letting out a shaky sigh. She was too late. Judy and Arla were dead. But, in return, so was Cody and whoever that silver-haired guy was. Probably Hilbert, as Judy had mentioned back at base.
“Should we ret—”
“No,” Luz once again interrupted, before walking over to Amber. There was a searing hatred in her eyes, unlike anything that Stanley had the displeasure of seeing before in his life. “We’ll ask her what happened and why they decided to attack us. I don’t care what you do with the other guy. Though, we should probably get rid of him before he wakes up.”
“Why don’t you take his power? Wouldn’t it be useful for later?” Stanley asked as Luz shook her head.
“Vines is the same thing but better. Don’t need it. It would be redundant to have basically the same power but in a different format. Now c’mon, help me restrain her before she tries anything funny.” Without another word, Luz created vines that wrapped around Amber’s unconscious form, and Stanley looked over at Lucas.
A part of him considered just killing him, but, then again, it would be more fitting if he was left to be killed by someone else. At the same time, though, if he tried to follow them…. “Damnit…” Stanley walked over to Lucas's unconscious form. He lifted him to his feet, and then, once he got both of his arms wrapped around the top half of his head, and the lower part of his jaw, in one fell movement, Stanley broke Lucas's neck, as his body crumpled to the ground.
Luz watched the whole thing, and just as she was about to move on, Lucas’s body turned into string and disappeared. Stanley and Luz stared at the body, eyes wide in realization, though, it was Luz who vocalized it. “That wasn’t the real one, was it?”
[XXXX]
“Cody and Hilbert are dead, sir, my string clone is destroyed, and Amber is captured. On the bright side, Judy Valentina and Arla Thatcher are deceased,” Lucas’s annoyed tone of voice was all that really needed to be heard to understand the severity of the situation. Frankly, Kennedy had hoped that Cody would’ve done the smart thing and just assassinated the major player at the scene, but no, he should’ve figured that hothead was going to try and make it a spectacle. Hilbert, on the other hand, Kennedy expected more from him.
“Well, that was our only shot at a weakened Luz. Now, not only does she have Cody’s power, but she also can heal herself,” Kennedy noted, before shooting a glance at Emelia. “I should’ve asked for someone other than Amber. Tyrone would’ve been better than that useless sack of flesh.”
“Don’t look at me like that. Hilbert’s smart, he could’ve been hard-countered. We know basically nothing of The Alpha Squadron. That, and Amber was our best bet against Stanley. His Kinetic Absorption power was something we weren’t expecting. He said he had Shock Absorption when we first met on that bus, not what he just admitted to having” Emelia spoke up, crossing her arms as Kennedy frowned.
She had a point, which wasn’t exactly something that he was fond of. “Yeah, ya know what? Fine. Then I guess we don’t really have a choice anymore, now do we?” Kennedy said, defeat in his voice.
He really didn’t want to do this. But, The Governor wasn’t exactly giving them any other options. “Well, that’s not entirely true,” Another voice spoke up, as Kennedy turned to face its direction. Another redhead, though this time with slightly tan skin had been the one to speak up. She was dressed in an open-faced white leather sleeveless vest, a black shirt underneath the vest a pair of brown slacks and red runners.
Her hair went down her shoulders, she had a slight scar above her upper lip, and her vibrant emerald eyes shone like the gems they shared the colour of. Kennedy knew who it was, though mostly because they had been more than a little friendly in the past, namely before this whole death camp ordeal. She was two years younger than him, her being 16 and him being 18.
“Then what do you suggest, Darlene?” Kennedy asked as Darlene smirked.
“We could always wait a few days. Let them collect the cargo, and while they’re distracted, let's say, by tomorrow, we should head out and take advantage of their strongest not being in the area. We’ll ambush them, and kill every single last one of them. Leave none of them standing. And then, we draw out the last two, and then it’s over,” Darlene explained as Kennedy raised an eyebrow.
“But why? Why not go now?” Kennedy asked as Darlene’s smirk turned into a frown, crossing her arms just below her chest. Kennedy had a hard time looking away from it. He blamed his oversexual brain for not being able to look away. That, and she was surprisingly, uh, big for her age, to put it lightly. Looking past that, Darlene spoke.
“If we go now, then those two lugnuts would be expecting something. But, if we wait them out for a little while, we should be good to go. Besides, if I were a pair of people who were recently attacked, I would be expecting a follow-up immediately after the assault. Think as if this was a war, Ken. Because it is,” Darlene noted as Kennedy nodded.
He understood what Darlene was getting at. But still, it was a little strange to have to wait. The violent part of his brain just wanted to go now and have it be done with. But the more rational side of his brain—the side that allowed him to think properly, and the side that had been slowly beginning to drown out due to the lack of his bipolar meds—told him to listen to Darlene.
“Alright, we’ll wait. But only for two days. The distance between bases is already a day apart, but as a group, we can make it in less than a day. The center of the forest is 12 hours away with directions, but because this forest is a maze, they should be at the search for a little while longer,” Kennedy said, before turning to Lucas. “Do me a favour, and clean up the loose end, if that’s okay with you, Emelia. Amber is from your team.”
“She’s a bratty c*nt, I don’t care what happens to her, the sooner she’s dead, the better,” Emelia said as Kennedy nodded. Lucas snapped his fingers, and as he did, a string clone that came out of his leg began to form into an exact replica of himself, clothes and all. He waved it away, seemingly giving it a mental command.
Kennedy smirked. This was going to be fun.
[XXXX]
Night had coated the forest in an eerie silence as Luz sat across from a tied-up, unconscious Amber. Luz had elected to tie her up using vines she had ripped off from her fingers. Surprisingly, it hadn’t been a painful endeavour. She had thought it would be, what with the vines coming from her fingers, but she guessed it was separate enough from her actual body that wouldn’t hurt. Kind of like cutting one's hair.
Luz had created a small campfire with Stanley’s help. Earlier, they had caught and killed a rabbit. Stanley had done the skinning part and Luz cooked it—obviously, seeing as she was the one with the literal fire superpower.
The pair sat in silence, quietly eating rabbit that they had caught, de-furred, and cooked. Amber was still unconscious, which was starting to annoy Luz. Stanley looked uncomfortable with Luz’s silence and lack of emotion regarding their teammate's deaths. Though, to be fair to Luz, she didn’t really know how to emotionally handle it.
Just a few hours ago, they were alive. And while she and Judy weren’t exactly on the best of standings, seeing her body in literal chunks was something that Luz had never expected to see. And as for Arla…. She was only twelve years old. Whatever she did, which she highly doubted she did anything, she didn’t deserve what happened to her.
Neither of them did.
And yet, heedless of that, they were killed. Brutally.
A subtle rage burned in Luz’s eyes, which had now turned back from crimson red to golden brown. She had no idea who was on who’s team, but frankly, Luz didn’t care. Whoever ordered this to happen, whichever of the other two leaders out of Emelia and Kennedy ordered whatever the hell that was, they were going to pay dearly for their choices.
“Luz…” Stanley tried to start a conversation, but Luz ignored him, only shooting him a glance that made him flinch. She had no idea what the expression on her face was, though she knew it was probably blank. Emotionless.
After a few more seconds of silence, she finally spoke. “Yes, Stanley?”
“What happened back there… I’m sorry I couldn’t save them….” Stanley said as Luz sighed, her shoulders drooping as she turned to fully look at Stanley.
“It wasn’t your fault. You had no idea that we were going to be jumped by those guys. It’s not you who I’m angry at. It’s Kennedy and Emelia because I have a sneaking suspicion that they had something to do with this,” Luz said as Stanley nodded, pursing his lips in such a way that it looked as if he was trying to stop himself from saying something.
Luz wasn’t going to poke for answers. She turned away from Stanley and took a large bite out of the rabbit's leg in her hand. The meat was bland, but that was to be expected. They didn’t have anything to cook it with. It was just meat. And frankly, Luz was too hungry to care about what was used to make what. All she cared about was getting something in her stomach here and now.
An hour passed in silence, and Luz had finished the rabbit leg that she had ripped off of the cooked carcass. Stanley was leaning up against a tree, eyes closed and arms crossed. He was trying to get some kind of sleep. Luz was tired, too. But she needed to be awake in case Amber woke up. That way, she could question her the moment she woke up.
Her eyes narrowed at her unconscious form. Alternatively, she could just kill her. And while she really wanted to, especially because of how much she had put her through and yes, she would never forgive her for that, not even remotely, she was going to wait. Wait until she outlived her usefulness.
Finally, after another hour of waiting, Amber began to stir. Her eyes squinting as Luz sat up straight, having taken a page out of Stanley’s book. When Amber’s eyes fully opened, and when they spotted Luz, her eyes widened as she tried desperately to get up from where she was tied up, only to fail and realize that she had been tied up.
“Y-You!”
“Me,” Luz all but growled, walking over to Amber before crouching just a few feet away from her. “And I’ve got questions for you that you’re going to answer. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll let you live.”
“f*ck you!” Amber spat, literally, at Luz, making her recoil in disgust. “I’m not telling you sh*t! Go f*ck yourself! You ruined my l—”
Luz was not going to sit here and listen to her complain. And so, rather than let her finish her sentence, Luz simply grabbed her face, and rather than use All For One, she simply set Amber ablaze, and watched as she was engulfed in crimson red flames. She screamed, which caused Stanley to wake up, jolting from the spot where he had been resting.
“Luz! What the—”
“She refused to talk, “ Luz interrupted curtly, “and we don’t have the time to waste trying to pull teeth and get answers. We need to get to that care package, and soon. Sleep, and when you wake up, we’ll leave for the care package. Everyone else is relying on us.”
As those words left her mouth, Stanley stared incredulously, before looking back at the burning, now slumped form of their prisoner. A part of him wondered if he was even talking to Luz anymore, or someone else entirely. The way she was acting, was so unbelievably out of character for her. Like a robot going through the motions.
Then again, if he had to guess, the reason for it probably had something to do with almost dying. She was more than likely still grieving for Arla and Judy. Some people grieved differently than others. Stanley couldn’t judge.
Resting his head against the tree trunk behind him, he breathed out, closed his eyes, and fell asleep. As for Luz, she sat down across from the campfire and left it be. It would burn out on its own. She closed her eyes as well. She was too tired to care about anything else other than rest. Tomorrow was going to be hectic, that much she knew.
Little did she know just how hectic it would be.
[XXXX]
[The Next Day]
It was peaceful. Too peaceful as far as Julia was concerned. And it was in that peacefulness that she felt a wave of paranoia wash over her. It had been a day since the scouting party had left the base. A day since that loud explosion echoed throughout the forest. A day before Luz and the others were safe with them.
Obviously, a fight had broken out. She knew that Luz would be fine—after all, why would she need to worry about someone like Luz? She had the power to take someone else’s powers. That explosion was probably caused by Luz taking someone’s power and using it. Right?
Even so, that didn’t change the fact that she was still extremely nervous about what was potentially happening out there. What if that wasn’t the case? What if Luz was gravelly injured? Or worse? What if she was—
“No… don’t think like that. Luz will be okay. She has to be…” Julia thought, frowning. She would be fine. After all, she put her faith in Luz. And when she put her faith in someone, only good could come from it. That being said, she couldn’t wait for Luz to come back. Everyone was getting a little restless. They all heard the explosion too, and Johnny along with Theodore were worried sick about Arla.
Ronny was also concerned about Judy and Stanley, but most of everyone there was worried about Arla. She was the youngest, after all. Everyone had faith in Luz to be alright. Which, honestly? Made sense. That still didn’t mean that she couldn’t be worried.
That anger she displayed against Judy… she could tell it was only a fraction of a pent-up rage that had been building up inside of her for the longest time. This whole situation was bringing out the worst in everyone, and the last thing she wanted to happen was for that damn to be breached. She could tell nothing good could come from it.
Still, even with that in mind, there was something that was bothering Julia. Call it a sixth sense, but she felt as if something bad was going to happen. No, worse than bad. Something downright horrible. She didn’t know why she felt that way. She just did. Like an oncoming calamity was going to rock them like nothing ever before.
Now, granted, it wasn’t like she had some sort of sixth sense, but there was just something about the air that set Julia on edge a little more than the days prior. She was always known for having potent gut instincts. Back when she was still going to school, that same gut instinct got her out of a lot of trouble. And now, it was telling her to start running.
A part of her wanted to ignore that gut instinct, but she knew, deep down, that listening to it was the correct choice. Julia looked up at the sky, the sun beginning to rise off in the distance. Everyone else had gotten up earlier than normal. Stress was starting to get to everyone, and the rations that their kidnappers had given them from the beginning of the week were starting to disappear.
They needed that care package, and they needed it sooner rather than later.
Leaning against the wall of the girl’s cabin, Julia looked out across the front of the base. Carla was grooming herself, Ronny and Theodore were boxing, Johnny and Marcone were looking through towers, and Jean was sitting at the campfire, seemingly lost in thought.
Which left Julia, who was pretty much acting as a supervisor. Now, it wasn’t that Julia didn’t mind being a supervisor, but it did make her feel useless. Then again, it wasn’t like she felt useless, it was just that she was bored. She had nothing to do, especially considering she had wiped down both cabins with a spare cloth that was found in the rations crate that they started with, along with a bottle of spray cleaner.
Needless to say, it wasn’t a fun five hours yesterday. But, at least everything was clean. The less she talked about the putrid smell in the boy’s cabin, the better. But, at least it was no longer putrid. It was still a bit stinky, but that was just a natural man smell. Body Order and the like. There was nothing she could do about that.
Overall, things had been going pretty well. And while she was bored and people were more than a little antsy, at least things couldn’t get any worse, right?
Oh, who was she kidding?
“Huh, what’s that?” Johnny said, catching Julia’s attention. She looked over to where he was standing. He was leaning forward, a hand raised over his forehead to block out the daylight to look at what was in front of him.
In a world full of superpowers, and those who would seek to use them as weapons…
“Johnny? What’s going—” Julia wasn’t able to finish her sentence, when, without warning, an icicle burst through the center of Johnny’s chest, leaving a large, gaping hole in its stead as the icicle exploded into fragments.
Things could always get worse.
Julia stared with horror painted over her expression. Johnny’s body fell from the spot on the wall, before hitting the ground with a sick thud. Carla lunged over to Johnny’s body, horror on her face as the realization that they were being attacked, in their own base, dawned on everyone.
“sh*t!” Marcone spat, going to pull something out of his pocket, but not before he found himself blasted by a beam of what looked like plasma. When he fell, his body seemingly disintegrated, as if what had hit him was unwinding his cellular structure. Not even his clothes were safe when he touched the ground.
Ronny stood up, as did Jean, and they got in front of Julia faster than she could blink. Carla scratched herself, transforming into a panther, feline eyes narrowed as Julia took a step back. In the next moment, a tapping sound echoed from the draw bridge. And when it did, the whole thing blew apart into tiny fragments.
Carla, in her panther form, lunged toward whoever first walked through the door, and Julia was the first to recognize Kennedy. Her eyes widened, betrayal written all over her face as Carla went to swipe at him. Kennedy, without so much as a care in the world, tapped Carla on the snout. And when he did that, her face blew up in a splatter of blood, gore, bones and grey matter.
Ronny was the next one to die. He charged forward, co*cking his fist back to punch Kennedy in the face. Julia knew that he was going to die based on how Kennedy smirked. But, it wasn’t him to did the finished blow. He was wrapped up in string, and cut into tiny pieces, falling apart at the seams.
The person responsible for that was a boy with grey hair and green thick-framed glasses, steely cold blue eyes filled with zero emotion was the expression on his face, and it looked like something only a horror movie villain would have. The lack of emotion after murdering another fellow human being.
“You piece of sh*t!” Theodore roared, charging toward the boy who manipulated string, his arms transforming into two broadswords. Before he could make the distance between himself and his target, a redhaired, pale-skinned girl jumped out from behind Kennedy and String Boy, and extended her hand toward Theodore, before large, thin, jutting blades came out of her fingers and impaled him through his neck, chest, and between his eyes.
It stopped Theodore in his tracks, killing him instantly as he crumpled to the ground. That just left Jean and her, and the last thing that she wanted to do was die. So, in an act that she would grow to regret, she shoved Jean forward, pushing him toward the now crowd of 18 pouring into the base, Julia ran, hot-footing it away from the building group….
Only to be stopped when she felt someone grab the back of her neck. “Nuh, uh, uh! You’re not going anywhere!” The voice belonged to someone who was enjoying what they were doing. “Uh? Oh, you don’t have a power? I take it the parasite took it from you? How unlucky.” When she looked over her shoulder, she was met with a pair of brown eyes, short black hair, and pale skin.
“L-Let me go!” Julia begged as she saw in the distance that someone leapt over the wall, landing on Jean, who had been fighting the girl with extending fingers. When they landed on him, he was flattened, his head crushed under what looked like a boot.
“Aw? Now why would I do that? The parties just getting started. You know what they say, they can’t have a party without something to eat,” the boy said, as Julia’s eyes widened. Was he saying he was going to eat her?
“H-Huh—”
She wasn’t allowed to finish her sentence before she was forced to the ground. She had no idea what was going to happen, but it didn’t look good. Maybe she was a bit naïve to assume she could’ve escaped, but she had to try, damnit. She kicked him in the chest, but it seemingly did nothing.
When he licked his lips, dread sunk in. “Oh no…! I’m going to die!” As she thought that, he opened his mouth to say something. “I’m gonna enjoy—”
“The f*ck do you think you’re doing?” Kennedy’s voice was the last thing she wanted to be hearing right now. The boy scowled, looking up at Kennedy, who loomed over them both.
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m trying to have some fun here! Give me a break, Boss,” the boy said as Kennedy narrowed his eyes.
“Fun, huh? And what exactly was your idea of fun?” Kennedy demanded. Julia remained silent. Maybe, if she just faked being dead, she’d be left alone. That was her only shot at surviving this, at least, she thought so anyway.
“What do you think? I was going to—”
The boy didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence before having his head popped like a zit, his body slumping to the ground as Julia felt the boy’s blood splash all over her white summer dress. “Disgusting. I can’t believe I didn’t kill him sooner.”
Julia had no idea what either the boy or Kennedy had been talking about, but it was enough to disgust Kennedy. Frankly, Julia didn’t care about that. She cared about surviving this, and so, she feigned being dead.
At least, she tried to.
“I know you’re alive, Julia. Turn and face me,” Kennedy said as Julia froze in her place on the ground. Slowly, she turned to face Kennedy, who was flanked by the girl with spear fingers and the string boy. “You seem to be having a bad day.”
“f*ck you,” Julia spat, glaring up at him as Kennedy sighed.
“Aw, that’s cute. I just saved you from being raped and that’s how you thank me? How lovely,” Kennedy said as Julia flinched. Was that what the boy had meant when he was going to…. The realization twisted her expression into one of fear and disgust. “See? Now she gets it!”
“Tell us where Luz Noceda is. The Governor wants her dead,” the boy with the string power demanded as Julia shook her head, sneering at them. Saved her from that or not, she didn’t owe them anything. Besides, it wasn’t like she actually knew where Luz went. She just knew that she went to get the care package.
“Even if I knew where she was, I would never tell you!” Julia spat back, glaring up at the three. Kennedy shook his head, disappointed.
“Well then, I guess you’re going to have to die. Sorry, not sorry. You should’ve seen this coming, Wittebane.”
Without a second of delay, as soon as those words left his mouth, Kennedy acted. The last thing that she saw was Kennedy reaching down to touch her face. And then, everything went dark.
-To Be Continued in – The Hunt Begins – Part 1-
[Ending Song: Life – By: Rude-a]
Chapter 11: Season 1 - Episode 11: The Hunt Begins - Part 1
Chapter Text
[Opening Song: Kyouran Hey Kids!! – By: The Oral Cigarettes]
[The Hunt Begins – Part 1]
There were only a scarce few things that Luz, quite frankly, detested. The first of those things, and the most prominent one applicable to this situation, would be being woken up. It was never for something good, and the few times it was, those were on her birthday. And even then, it was promptly ruined when her Mama would open a wine bottle after they ate dinner.
Regardless of that, someone was shaking her awake, and she could tell there was urgency behind it. How? Well, usually when someone tried to wake her up, it was usually whispering her name or asking her to wake up. Being shaken awake usually meant that it was urgent. Still, that didn’t mean she had to like it. Her eyes slowly peeled open, with the first thing she was met with sight-wise was Stanley, who knelt in front of her, hands on her shoulders as he shook her in such a way that wouldn’t cause her to hit her head against the tree, but enough to where it would get her to stir awake.
Behind him was the care package. It was closed, and it was a big large black box of sorts with the American flag plastered on the top lid. Two clips kept it shut, and strangely there was no lock on it. Though, she guessed it made sense, considering it was a care package. They had finally come across last night when they stumbled through the woods. She thought about opening it last night, but Stanley advised against it. Saying that they’d open it when they got back to the base.
She wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea, but it was a little annoying. Whatever the case was, she didn’t complain too much about it. Besides, they had found it first, meaning that it was theirs to claim. Although, a weird thing she noted was that the rest of that day she had not caught even the slightest sight of anyone else on either team.
It was almost as if they had just, vanished. They left the care package completely uncontested, which had set off alarm bells in her head. But, they weren’t important enough to pay attention to. All she cared about was cracking the case open, and getting at whatever was there. Preferably a shirt that would actually fit her. And maybe a fresh change of underwear, too. That would be nice. Her current clothes were starting to stink, and it was bugging her.
But, even though that was annoying her, she was going to keep to her word. She wasn’t going to touch it until they got back to the base. Besides, it would’ve been an all-day hike to get back from where they were now, to the base. Unless, of course, she figured out how to fly using Pyrokinesis. Then all bets would be off.
“What is it… What do you want?” Luz grumbled, slowly sitting up as Stanley took a few steps back. He looked… panicked. Why? That caused Luz to stand up, narrowing her eyes all the while. “Stanley, what’s with the face, I—”
That’s when she smelt it. Her eyes widened, and when she looked over in the distance, she saw a giant bellow of smoke rising from the direction of their base. They were being attacked, and she wasn’t there to help drive whoever was attacking them. “We have to go,” Luz said curtly, looking back to Stanley, who looked hesitant. “Stanley, we have to—”
“I know, but I don’t think you’ll make it in time if I come with you,” Stanley interrupted as Luz raised an eyebrow. What was he going on about? She frowned, crossing her arms.
“What are you talking about?”
“Luz, you have that fire ability, right? You can get there faster than I can run. Besides, I can stay here with the supplies. Everyone else over there needs you, right? And, if the worst comes to pass…” Stanley said, frowning. Luz immediately knew what he was implying. She understood what he was getting at, but that still didn’t make any of this better.
She also knew that he was right. Even with just having Pyrokinesis for a short amount of time, she knew that she could run really fast with it. Faster than even a speeding train if she put enough effort into it. Luz stared at Stanley. If she wanted to, she could just drag him, even use Vines to tie him to her back and sprint off using Pyrokinesis. And if he got injured, Repair could heal him just fine.
“I can take you there, then. My Vines can—”
“No, Luz. Just leave me here. Besides, we’re being watched,” Stanley said as Luz looked around. There was no one where. So what was he talking about? Did he know something that she didn’t?
“What are you hiding?” Luz demanded, only for him to shake his head.
“No, Luz. It’ll be alright. Oh, but, one more thing, before you go…” He reached out to her hand and made sure to grip her wrist tight enough to where she couldn’t force him to let go. He then placed her hand on his forehead and smirked. “Take it. I’m not going to need it.”
Luz stared at him with an incredulous, confused glare. “What are you doing?”
“I’m gonna try and escape this place. And if I fail, I’d rather die,” Stanley said as Luz tried to take her hand away from his forehead, but he didn’t let go. He kept it there and narrowed his eyes. “Take it. I don’t need it.”
“You’ll die!” Luz spat, as Stanley nodded.
“I’m aware. I don’t care, though. Besides, my only family is responsible for that attack. This is something Kennedy would do, and I don’t want to live in a world where my family and my friends fight to the death. Besides, I want to be with my sister again.” As those words left Stanley’s mouth, Luz couldn’t help but feel bad for him.
From what she knew, Stanley, like Kennedy, was an orphan. But he was made an orphan, rather than being born an orphan. But that was all she had known. Though, considering what he had just said, it was clear that he harboured some kind of lasting want to be with his family again.
To put it bluntly, he wanted to die.
Luz was always one to respect one’s wishes. No matter how stupid they might’ve been, and no matter how redundant they wound up being, Luz was the type of person to care about others and to ensure that they got what they wanted.
It was a shame that no one wanted to have been her friend back in Gravesfield. It took a tragedy like this game for her to obtain any kind of comradery with anyone else. And two of those people were killed brutally while she was off fighting for her life.
And now, another one of her friends was begging for her to strip him of the only thing that he had that could possibly keep him alive whilst he ran to make a foolish escape. The way his eyes shone with desperation. The way he looked at her, broken completely and utterly, almost made her pity him. It almost made her want to comply.
If he was that desperate, why not give him the escape he wanted? Who was she to deny him what he wanted? Who was she to stop him from what was, essentially, committing suicide? She hardly knew him. He wasn’t her responsibility. Sure, she was his leader, but who was he to her? What was the point of wasting her time caring for an admitted dead man?
“Luz. Do you remember what I told you?” The voice of her father echoed throughout her mind, causing Luz to flinch. Why now? Why was she now hearing her father's voice? He was dead. What good could possibly come from—
“Yeah, I did, papa!”
“And what was that?”
“Be the… uh… change you want in the world?”
“Exactly. And how do you go about making that change?”
“By being kind and selfless! Just like Azura!”
“Exactly. Just like Azura. Don’t forget it, okay? If you’re ever in a tough situation, just ask yourself. What would Azura do? And I promise you it will never lead you astray.”
Luz felt the corners of her eyes burn. Her father was right. Back then, she didn’t understand why he wanted her to remember that. Now, she understood.
“No. I’m not doing it,” She said, shaking her head as she glanced at the ground. She refused to let another one of her friends die. She already lost Judy, who while not a friend, was still someone who didn’t deserve to die, and Arla who was far too young.
Stanley stared up at her, a borderline scowl on his face. “Luz, just do it, please!” Stanley practically begged, to the point where he was growling. Luz was taken aback. Why was he being like this? Why didn’t he want to live? What was the point in any of this?! He was being overdramatic for no reason.
“You can’t make me, now let go of me,” Luz said, narrowing her eyes as Stanley slumped. But he didn’t let go. What was he doing? Why was he so adamant that she do this? Why did he want to die so badly? What was his angle here? “Why do you want this so badly?”
“Because this is probably all my fault…” Stanley said as Luz raised an eyebrow. What was he going on about? How would their base burning be all his fault? He was here with her the whole time, so it wasn’t like he could’ve run off and told anyone where anything was. Besides, she had no reason to suspect that he had betrayed her.
So, that left only one possibility.
“Are you seriously trying to tell me that because you were friends with Kennedy the base being attacked is your fault?” Luz asked as Stanley narrowed his eyes. That was when she realized that he did, really, truly, honestly think that way. He actually did think that because he was friends with Kennedy he was at fault.
But why? That made zero sense. How could his being associated with someone therefore make it his fault that something bad was happening? It was stupid—no, it was foolish to think that way. “Are you serious? Are you seriously saying that you’re at fault for this because you were friends with him?” Luz said, dumbfounded as he nodded. “You’re stupid. You’re not at fault for anything that’s happening. Now let me go! We have to leave, now!”
“I’m not going with you. I’ll just slow you down, take my power and leave me here. Just do it! I’m not letting you go until you do!” Stanley demanded back, glaring at Luz, who flinched. She couldn’t believe this… this moron would do that! She gritted her teeth, closing her eyes. Why? Why did everything have to go to sh*t!
She bit back the building tears in her eyes. And as she did, she thought back to that conversation with her father.
“But, papa… what happens if I can’t be… uh, whatever you said?”
“Then, if there’s no way forward, do what you believe is right. Do what you think will help the most. Even if it doesn’t seem like it would help.”
“Okay, papa!”
“Fine!” And without saying another word, she activated All For One, and as the red sparks began to travel up her arm, past her hand, and onto his body, and as he screamed in pain, and as she felt the power transfer to her, she couldn’t help but get angry. Angry at his selfishness for all but forcing her to take his power.
She didn’t want this.
She didn’t ask for this.
And yet, here she was.
When it was all said and done, only when the transfer was complete did Stanley let go of her hand. Only then was Luz able to stumble back and stare at the now slumped-over Stanley, who had fallen to his knees, his head low and his chest slowly moving up and down, signifying that he was breathing. That was the only silver lining in this whole scenario. Him still alive, and her not accidentally killing him.
“You idiot…” Luz said, her voice hollow, devoid of emotion. The only thing that lingered in her voice was shame directed toward Stanley, who cracked a grin.
“No… I’m not stupid. I’m ensuring your survival. Besides, I don’t need it anymore. I’m a dead man walking…” Stanley said, slowly standing up as he pulled out his pack of cigarettes. She couldn’t believe he still had it on him. Once he pulled it out, he opened it, and put the last cigarette in his mouth, before grabbing the lighter in his pocket.
He flicked the piece of plastic once, but nothing came. He hit it again, but there was still nothing. He glanced at Luz, and she knew exactly what he wanted. She chewed on the interior of her lower lip, before sighing. Walking up to him, she ignited the tip of her finger, and pressed it to his cigarette, making sure it caught on fire. Once it was lit, and once she had pulled her finger away, he took a long drag from it.
After he was done, he took the cigarette out, before tapping the ash to the ground. “Thanks, Luz. If I don’t find my way out of this place, then it was nice getting to meet and know you.”
Luz didn’t say anything in response, but Stanley knew from the look in her eyes that she felt the same way. She turned to the chest, and looked it over for a moment, before turning away. She would be fine with what she was wearing right now. There was no need to change. She could change once she got back—because she was going to be back. She wouldn’t leave him alone. She refused to.
And so, after getting into a crouching stance, Luz activated Pyrokinesis as flames began to build on the edge of her feet. They rose and rose till they reached up to behind her knees, and then, she kicked off and burst forward, leaving a small burn mark in the ground as wind and dirt kicked up where she launched off.
Stanley stood, watching her form shrink and shrink. He looked back at the chest, walked over to it, and opened it. There was a reason why he had gotten her to take his power. For what was inside the chest was something else.
It wasn’t food, clothing, or anything of the sort. He had already opened the thing when Luz was asleep last night. He had already discovered the truth of the care package.
It wasn’t a care package.
Maxwell never planned for any of them to live past this week. Because what was inside the care package was nothing tangible. It was a timer, and it was counting down to the very second. And only thirty seconds were remaining on the bomb. Stanley stood in front of it and smiled. He took one last drag of his cigarette, as the timer continued to tick down.
He closed his eyes and smiled. He gave what he could to his leader. He ensured that she would live through what was going to come next. So now, he could rest easy, knowing damn well that his friend would live to see another day. “Rachael… I’ll be home soon. Don’t you worry, your big brother is coming soon.”
Five seconds remained on the bomb. Stanley stood as still as he could. He paused his breathing, lifted his head high, and as the final second ticked down, he opened his eyes. He took in the surrounding forest one last time, his smile turning sombre, and without even a fraction of a second of delay…
The bomb exploded.
The explosion tore through trees, uplifted the ground, and sent natural debris flying in every direction. As Luz sped through the forest, she heard the resounding bang of the bomb going off in the far distance, and it forced her to stop dead in her tracks, slowing down immediately as she looked back from where she came.
“No…” Luz thought, her shoulders slumping as she stared with her jaw wide open. The shockwave of the bomb hit her like an oncoming truck, but the force didn’t make her budge even in the slightest. “Stanley…” She closed her eyes, blocking the tears from building up. She had to focus. No wonder he was rushing her to take his power and leave. The care package was a bomb, and he must’ve found out earlier.
“Damnit!” And without another thought, Luz bolted back toward the base. She could smell the smoke getting closer and closer, her heart pounding against her chest getting louder and louder.
Only a few questions were bouncing around in her mind right about now, all of which related to whether anyone who remained in the base was okay. Her mind flashed to Julia, and the smile she had on her face when they departed yesterday. The promise she had made to her, and that kiss on the cheek. Even if it was brief, it signified something more than just a simple smile and wave goodbye.
With a determined gleam in her eyes, she put everything she had into the next burst of flame, causing a sonic boom to erupt from the bottoms of her feet, sending her flying in the direction of her base. Her eyes narrowed the closer she got to the base, to the point where she could see it in the distance, and once she got within a kilometre of the base, she slowed down drastically to avoid slamming into the wall.
When she came to a full stop, she just was a few feet away from the entrance. The door was gone, destroyed, and she could see just a small amount within the base. And when she entered the base through the destroyed entrance, her mind ground to a halt. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, and once again, her jaw hung low.
Blood….
There was so… much… blood.
It decorated parts of the ground like a fine carpet, some of the buildings had giant splatters of it against the walls, while most of it was haphazardly thrown around as if it meant nothing. She looked to her right and saw Johnny, lying on the floor with a giant hole blasted through his torso as a look of shock and horror marred his face. In the distance, she could see Carla’s panther form without a head, blood oozing from the stump that used to be her neck.
Ronny’s body was in tiny little chunks. The chunks were so small that she knew the culprit behind it was the person who had that string power. There was no other person who could’ve possibly done that. Theodore had several puncture wounds going through his neck, chest, and forehead. She couldn’t find Giovanni’s body anywhere, but maybe that was for the better.
And then, off in the distance, tucked away by the main cabin, was the headless body of Julia. And that… that was something that finally caused something in her snap. All mental facilities ground to a hideous halt.
Luz’s eyes narrowed, and a small sneer made itself present on her face. She told herself that she wasn’t going to cry repeatedly, over and over again. But… it didn’t work. She fell to her knees, hands lying limply on her legs as she sobbed. Ugly, loud sobs fell from her face as her head hung low.
She failed them.
She failed them all.
If she had just been there, none of this would’ve happened. Or, maybe, the death toll would’ve been lessened, or something! If she had been here, then maybe she could’ve saved them! Maybe, just maybe if she—
“No. You wouldn’t have.”
Shigaraki’s voice pounded against her head like a rumbling earthquake. Luz screamed in agony, as she clasped her hands around her face, her fingers digging into her forehead and scalp as she looked up to the sky, letting out a bloodcurdling scream the likes of which would be heard for miles. Black and red sparks of lightning jumped off her body as they struck the ground, singing parts of the terrain as pure, unadulterated anger rolled off of her body like a heatwave.
Something in the back of her mind snapped. A damn of pent-up aggression cracked, then exploded, allowing a tidal wave of rage to overcome her. A deep, dark realization found itself in her mind as she began to hysterically laugh to herself.
It all made sense! Of course, this is the world’s final shove for her to let loose! Finally, she had an answer for it. Everyone had their breaking point, and Luz had hers. And now, it had pushed her too far.
Thanks to all of the years of being bullied. Of all the years of being called a loser. Of all the years of being treated as an outcast. Of all the years of being told to be “normal” by everyone around her, including her mom. All of it came to a boiling point. And it was all because of this… bloodbath.
Her tears were no longer of sadness but of rage. Pure, unadulterated, rage. She had kept it boxed up and refused to let it come out. Every time it had, someone had gotten seriously hurt. Even if they deserved it. But now?
No.
She refused to keep it in a box.
She refused to keep it buried deep within her soul. She refused to let everyone walk all over her. She refused. She would take it no longer.
And as her laughter ended, she slumped forward, the last few tears hitting the ground, as she balled a hand into a fist. And while she stopped laughing, Shigaraki did not. And while he laughed, she knew it was not out of mockery. No…. His laughter was of joy. Almost as if he had been waiting for something like this to happen, almost as if he knew something that she didn’t. But even then, not a single part of her cared as he spoke.
“Yes, Luz! Show them the real you. The one that you had buried for so long! You allowed them to control you for years, allowed them to tell you what you cannot be, or who you want to be! Let that anger boil to the top and flow over! Let it be one with you, let it become you. Unleash it! Unleash your true self upon those that took, and took, and took from you! You are above them all, and will forever be!
They toyed with you, made you their plaything, and when they were done playing with you they discarded you and threw you into this camp and left you to rot! This is all their fault! It was their hubris and their desire that brought you here. Their desire to control the uncontrollable!
Let the anger you’ve let sit for years rise. Here, in this domain, you are free to do whatever you please! Do unto them what they did to you! Show them how they messed up! Show them what happens when you toy with God! Luz Noceda, do what you know you have to, and KILL THEM ALL!”
For a moment, for just a brief moment, the rational side of her tried to play reason. Tried to play devil’s advocate; but the more ferocious, angry, vengeful side of her—the one that wanted repentance—ignored that side and pushed it away into a corner that it could not be heard from. Slowly, she stood up, her bangs covering her eyes, and allowing for a shadow to cover them.
A small, malice-filled grin made itself appear on her face. It looked… inhuman, devilish, and filled with nothing but contempt. She walked over to the nearest intact body, that being Ronny’s body. When she touched the piece that she knew belonged to his head thanks to the piece of string, she activated All For One. Red and black sparks jumped off of her body and onto what remained of Ronny.
And then… power. Power surged through her, just like the last time when she stole Julia’s, Cody’s, Arla’s and Stanley’s powers, she felt the transfer to herself, and it made her feel excellent. When she looked over at Carla’s body, she frowned. There was no string, meaning that her power had been destroyed by whatever had blown off her head.
She looked at Theodore’s body, saw the string, walked over to his corpse, and took his power. She did the same to Jean, and once that was done, every power that she could collect here was taken. It was upsetting that she gained so little, but it was better than nothing, she supposed.
Vines, Pyrokinesis, Repair, Kinetic Absorption, Strength Enhancer, Blade Arms, and Sword. She had even powers nestled within her, and just by looking at her arms, slight muscles forming when she clenched her fists, showed her that at least Strength Enhancer was passively working as it should. She assumed the same as Kinetic Absorption. The others she had to “pull” the “strings” of to work, and she felt them thrumming with power.
She could tell each power apart, and she knew just how to use them. Maybe not perfectly, but she knew how to use them enough to know what each power did separately. A part of her wondered what would happen if she combined some of the powers, but right now, that didn’t matter. What mattered was getting revenge for the dead.
She was the only one left in The Alpha Squadron.
She would make them regret making her the sole survivor.
A sinister smile made its way onto her face, as a gleam made itself known. It carried no real emotion other than madness, wrath, and a desire for revenge. Her eyes had changed colour from golden brown to crimson red.
All she desired, as of now, was vengeance. And vengeance was exactly what she was going to get. For Julia, for Stanley, for Arla, for Judy and for everyone who died at the hands of Kennedy and those who followed him. And then, after that, once it was all said and done, and the dust was settled…
She would kill that pathetic excuse of a Governor!
But, she wasn’t going to hunt them. No. That would be a waste of her precious energy and time. Heathens like them didn’t deserve to be hunted. She would wait for them. All criminals, no matter how smart they believed themselves to be, would come back to the scene of the crime.
And thus… she waited.
And waited…
And waited….
The fires from whatever caused the blaze around her began to die down once it couldn’t spread to anything else. Charred walls and piles of ash surrounded her, as flies began to swarm the bodies of the deceased. She kept her head lowered, and her breathing slow to conserve whatever energy she had left in her system. Occasionally, she found herself drifting to sleep a few times but woke up at any noise that echoed throughout the base.
Unfortunately, none of them were footsteps.
There was a part of her that considered the idea that maybe they wouldn’t come back here. After all, if their goal was to rid of her team, then it would only stand to reason that they had no reason to come back to their base. Especially after razing it to the ground.
But, if they were actually trying to wipe her team out, and if they couldn’t find her, then they’d come back here looking for her. That was how any group of hunters worked. If they couldn’t find their target, they’d come back to where they “set their trap” so to speak.
Except, she had flipped this whole endeavour on their heads. She was not the prey and they were the hunters. It was the other way around. They were the prey, and she was the hunter.
After all, the best hunters were the patient ones. The ones that halted their movements and waited for the prey to be stupid enough to backtrack to their “home.”
Eventually, one day passed. She was hungry, and thirsty, but never really let it get to her. She was probably dehydrated, but even then she didn’t quite care all too much about that. The only thing that was on her mind was wanting revenge. And if worse came to worse, and they didn’t come back and had truly decided to move on, then she would just track them down like the rodents they were.
It wouldn’t be that hard. While the forest was large, it wasn’t large enough to where she couldn’t clear it in a few days. And by that time, they would’ve more than likely been starved and weak.
In her stasis, whilst she waited for her prey to come back around, she found out that Repair could somehow make it so her stomach didn’t think itself hungry. Maybe it was because of how Repair worked, but it seemed to shut that feature down.
It was strange. Arla had said that Repair didn’t work on her. Maybe she never used it on herself before and believed it was unable to work on herself. If so, that was foolish. Or, maybe she just didn’t want to test it and assumed that it didn’t work on herself.
Oh well, at least she was able to correct that mistake.
Another day passed, and nothing happened. Her eyes opened, and she was met with the darkness of night. She was about to call it quits and begin to walk through the forest when she saw something in the distance. Specifically, man-made DIY torches.
Standing up, she got into a balanced stance between defence and offence, and narrowed her eyes, while keeping her head low. Footsteps filled her ears, and then, a laugh. She glanced at who was in front of her, and lo-and-behold, her hypothesis was right. Standing in front of her was a Kennedy, with a white pullover, black jeans, and black runners.
Next to him, on his left and right respectively, was the boy who had the string powers, and a girl with orange hair, but unlike Amber, she had pale skin and vibrant emerald eyes. She was wearing an open-faced white leather sleeveless vest, a black shirt underneath the vest, a pair of brown slacks and red runners.
“Well, guess my hypothesis was right! We couldn’t find you in the forest, so we came here, and lo and behold, here you are!” Kennedy said as Luz stared at him, eyes still narrowed, but she did not move. She wasn’t going to move unless she had to.
She had to lure them in. Or, one of them.
Behind the group of three was, at her count, 15 other individuals. All of them, like she had predicted, had strings attached to them—why wouldn’t they? They were all super-powered here. It made sense if they also had superpowers.
“You’re rather silent. Still in shock then, I suppose? I don’t blame you, after all seeing everyone care about, dead and wasted… it’s gotta be horrible, right?” Kennedy continued as Luz kept her expression neutral, save for the narrowed eyes. “But, you have to understand, Luz. I did this because I am trying to protect the ones I care about. And for that to happen, The Alpha Squadron, which includes you, has to die.”
As Kennedy continued, he gestured for someone to walk up to the front with himself and the two that flanked his left and right. He was tall and had a similar complexion to Ronny’s diced-up corpse. He was dressed in an orange and white striped shirt, blue shorts, and black sandals. “This, Luz, is Thomas. He was Ronny Armstrong’s Cousin. He still participated in his cousin’s death, because he too shared in my ideals. We are all victims here. But, we decided to do what we needed to do, over our morals. If you were in the same situation as we were put in, you’d do the same, would you not?”
Luz did not say anything. She simply stared. Kennedy’s right eye twitched, sighing. “Are you going to say anything? Or are you just going to, ugh, you know what? f*ck it. Thomas, kill her already. I’m not going to waste my time on this anymore.”
And so, without so much as saying a single word, Thomas walked up to Luz. As he closed the distance between himself and Luz, she could see the look of contemplation clear as day on his face. It was clear that he wasn’t exactly too fond of this, either.
Unfortunately for him, he was on the wrong side of history.
As he got within striking distance of Luz, he stopped dead in his tracks. She watched his chest heave up and down, taking what she knew to be his last breath. Then, he reared his arm back and threw it toward her as his hand balled into a fist mid-swing. She did not intervene, she let it get thrown, and she let it connect.
The result of the impact was a loud booming shockwave that, not unlike the strike that Ronny had thrown at Stanley, caused the grass to be uplifted from the ground, but unlike Ronny’s strike, the force of the shockwave was strong enough to not only crack the walls of the cabins behind Luz, it was also strong enough to rip the top half of the buildings and send them flying.
Luz, frankly, was astonished by just how much strength was thrown into that attack. But, just like what happened between Ronny and Stanley, Luz did not so much as move an inch. Kennedy and the rest of his goons couldn’t help but stare in disbelief, because frankly, what they were witnessing did not make any sense. Especially to Kennedy.
“I thought she only had Cody’s power. Since when did she get Stanley’s? Did she kill him? There was an explosion earlier in the week on Sunday, but last I checked Cody’s power was raw fire. Sure it could help him travel stupidly fast, but not cause massive explosions like that. And even then, Thomas’s power was strong enough to knock down whole groupings of trees just with the air it produced! She should at least have stumbled!” Kennedy thought, narrowing his eyes.
“How the hell…?” Kennedy muttered, as, just before he was about to say something to Thomas, finally, Luz spoke up.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Luz asked, as, without warning, Luz coiled back her arm, and when she thrust it forward, it went right through Thomas’s chest. Her small, mostly twig-like arm, rammed through the bulky body of Thomas Oakson with ease, pulling out his heart, and throwing it to the ground like disposable trash. And then, immediately afterward, she grabbed Thomas’s collapsing form, as red and black sparks jumped off from her body onto his.
Kennedy never wanted to see her power in action, but now that he was looking at it, he couldn’t help but take a step back. It was an instinct, like a prey animal wanting to flee from a potential predatory. It was clear to him now that he had underestimated Luz Noceda. Whatever it was that she had done in the last two days more than likely preparing for their arrival worked out for her. Because Thomas was supposed to be the one to have killed her.
But now? Now that he was dead and his power taken? He had to come up with something on the fly. But, before he could do that, Luz threw Thomas’s body to the wayside, before outstretching her hand in its direction and dousing it in flames. All the while she stared at him and his group, her eyes flaming a crimson red filled with nothing but contempt and disgust.
Her expression remained neutral, all before she pulled her hand back from where she was dousing Thomas’s body in flames, deactivating Cody’s power, before a small smile crept up onto her face. And all he could do in response to that was utter a shocked, and horrified “What…?”
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” Luz began, a small, mirthless chuckle escaping her lips as she tilted her head in such a way that it made it seem as if she was judging them. Like an aristocrat sneering at commoners. “Coming here, killing my friends, and then turning around and saying that you’re the ones who are the victims in all of this?”
With each word that fell out of her mouth, more and more venom tinged her speech. Her eyes narrowed in disgust, as the smile on her face quickly turned sour, morphing into a sneer. And then, the mirthless chuckle came back, only this time, it devolved into a full-on psychotic fit of laughter.
The kind of laughter someone like The Joker would dole out. Even someone as cold-faced as Lucas had a drop of sweat sliding down the side of his face, and Darlene was positioned to book it. He could feel the tension in the air building for every second Luz laughed, one of her hands, her right one to be exact, resting on her forehead as her fingers combed through her hair.
She looked utterly insane.
And then, her laughter suddenly halted. No warning, no wind-down, just an immediate halt. Like someone slamming on the breaks. She let her hand fall to the wayside, and for her angry, hate-filled stare to go back to being glued on them. Her left hand curled into a fist, red and black sparks flashing, ebbing and flowing, as Luz’s eyes narrowed.
“No. You… All of you… None of you are victims here,” as she spat that out, a considerable wave of what Kennedy could only describe as killing intent shot throughout the air as Kennedy’s breath stilled as if sapped from his very lungs by her sheer presence. “If anything, you’ve become nothing more than his weapons.”
More red and black sparks began to jolt and jump off of Luz’s body, as tiny embers began to form on the back of her palms, Vines crept out from her fingertips, and blades began to slowly poke out from her knuckles. It was only then that Kennedy realized that Luz had taken the powers of those who had been murdered.
That was what she had been doing all this time. And, if he were to guess, that wasn’t all of the powers she had stolen. It caused a chill to claw down Kennedy’s spine, as his fight of flight instinct began to set in. But, instead of doing either, he just stared, like a deer trapped in headlights. He couldn’t move from the spot he was standing in.
All he could do was watch as Luz grew more and more furious with each passing second, and the bloodlust in her eyes doubled over time, reaching a crescendo that announced her intentions to any living being in the forest. If he could see them now, he’d half bet that even the animals, predators or not, were all looking in the direction of where this whole scene was taking place.
If The Alpha Squadron had been the prey, and Kennedy and his band of men and women were the predators. Then Luz Noceda was the apex predator there to hunt those who considered themselves top dogs.
“When I am through with all of you, there won’t be enough left to cremate you. All of you… Every single last one of you…! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU ALL!”
-To Be Continued-
[Ending Song: Life – By: Rude-a]
Chapter 12: Season 1 - Episode 12: The Hunt Begins - Part 2
Chapter Text
[Opening Song: Kyouran Hey Kids!! – By: The Oral Cigarettes]
[The Hunt Begins – Part 2]
Out of all the things to have happened today, this was something that Kennedy wasn’t expecting. After hearing those words. With those ugly, downright vile words that flung out of Luz’s mouth, Kennedy couldn’t help but snarl.
Who did she think she was? They were all victims in this situation! They weren’t his tools. They doing what needed to be done to protect their families. However, he doubted Luz would’ve cared. No matter what they said, he could tell she had gone insane.
This was what he was worried about. That something like this would’ve happened. Where she would be impossible to reason with. Obviously, they had tried to kill her, and maybe it was impossible to reason with her. But still, the audacity she had to say that they weren’t victims because they decided to do something regarding protecting their parents and guardians was ridiculous.
Whatever, it wasn’t like it mattered. Naturally, Kennedy was calm in this situation. Yes, it was a little unnerving that their opponent was someone like Luz, but they would be fine. They just needed to cut off her way of attack. If she couldn’t get started on stealing powers and gaining strength, they’d be fine.
Yes, she already had Super Strength, and yes she already had Pyrokinesis, and whatever else she had picked up along the way. But they still had a chance. And Kennedy was going to use that chance. No matter how hopeless the current situation was. “ATTACK! DON’T GIVE HER A CHANCE TO GRAB YOU! IF YOU DO, SHE’LL TAKE YOUR POWER!” Kennedy shouted, and like stupid worker drones, both teams charged at Luz, whose manic smile never wavered.
Maybe that should’ve been his first sign to abort the mission, but as far as Kennedy was concerned, the lives of those outside of this camp were more worth protecting than the ones inside this camp. After all, all of their parents were innocent in this situation. As for him and his cohorts? They had blood on their hands. If they died here today, then while he would’ve been panicked and scared witless, at least it would rid the world of future criminals.
Of course, Kennedy didn’t view himself as a criminal. His arm was being twisted and he was forced into this situation. But he would like to think he wouldn’t fall down the path of depravity. While others were border lining on that path, he wouldn’t—no, scratch that, he would never. Sure, he was a little disturbed, and he had strange ideas—he blamed his Bipolar for that, but oh well.
He looked over to Emelia, who was standing behind him. She looked horrified. He raised an eyebrow, but when he saw that her right eye was glowing a bright purple, that was when he realized she was using Foresight.
Kennedy didn’t know much about that power. All he knew was that it allowed her to glimpse into the near future. About three hours into the future, at the cost that she would go blind in that eye for 24 hours, and then she could use it again afterward. She had used it when they went to attack The Alpha Squadron to see if there would be any immediate retaliation. There wasn’t, so he okayed the plan.
She was against the whole thing. But he was able to convince her that it would be worth it in the end. But now that he was looking at her, and witnessing the horror on her face, he knew that something was up.
“Emelia?” Kennedy asked, before getting her attention. She took a step back, silently, before full-on running away, screaming in terror. What did she see? Was it bad? How bad would this turn out for them?
That was when he turned around, and what he saw made his eyes wide and his jaw drop. He had only looked away for a few seconds, and yet, what he was greeted by was nothing but chaos and death.
The first to find themselves on the opposite end of Luz’s hand was a girl by the name of Lucy, one of Kennedy’s own. She had no real power to call her own, with her only power being to regenerate from any wound. Kennedy had found that out when she broke her arm trying to lift something too heavy for her, and rather than try and do something himself, he watched as her arm fixed itself and moved back into place.
Lucy wound a punch to hit Luz in square in the jaw, but she never made it very far. She was wrapped up by vines, slammed into the ground hard enough for a small hole to be made out of her impact, and then dragged toward Luz. Lucy was limp, meaning she was unconscious. Not that it mattered, because her fate was already decided for her. She was the first of them to have their power taken. The black and red sparks flashed for a second or two before Lucy’s body was thrown to the wayside, a sickening crunch echoing out when her body hit the eastern wall of the Alpha Squadron’s base.
More than likely, she was dead. One didn’t just have their neck snapped in two with bits of their spine sticking out and survive that. That was Kennedy’s second sign to abort the mission, but he didn’t take it. It was just one death.
There was no way it could’ve gotten worse, right?
Wrong.
The next person to find themselves a victim of the power vacuum that was Luz Noceda was a boy named Gregory. He kept at a distance near the back of the horde, which was smart given what his power was. Gregory was a member of Foxtrot and was considered their strongest. Why? Well, it had to do with the fact that he could summon two, very large, tree-sized purple dragon-like ethereal beings from his upper shoulders.
Needless to say, when he summoned them toward Luz, Kennedy was under the belief that it would’ve been over like that. Sure, she had stolen Lucy’s regeneration power, but it wouldn’t be enough. At least, that was what Kennedy thought. Instead, the first tree-length blue dragon was grabbed by vines before they even so much as came into grabbing distance of Luz and thrown into the oncoming horde of teenagers. Afterward, Luz blasted past the rest of them, and grabbed Gregory’s face, red and black sparks covering both his and Luz’s bodies, signifying that he had his power sapped from him.
His head was then crushed like a grape between Luz’s fingers, and once he was dead, she put the dragons to work. They roared out from her shoulders, growing taller and taller until they loomed over the walls of the base. They were a deep purple rather than a deep blue and had glowing yellow eyes.
The moment they were summoned, they dove into the ground, uplifting it and throwing chunks of dirt and rock all over the place. That, mixed with the vines and the flames to play keep away made her basically impossible to approach. And anyone who was unlucky to get close to her was essentially already dead.
No matter what was thrown at her, it either got deflected because of the ethereal Dragons or was outright dodged by Luz herself. She was agile and quick, and because of that agileness and quickness not much was able to phase her.
Kennedy should’ve taken that as his third and final warning. But, once again, he didn’t take it. He believed that he had this entire situation under control. At least, until one, single thing happened that changed the course of the battle.
And it was not in their favour.
At one point, amidst the chaos of the energy beams, the chucking of rocks, and everything else, Daniel, a close friend of Kennedy, tried to rush Luz and hit him with his Impact power. A power that increased the output of power based on how much he moved in that direction. He had been increasing his power before the raid, and a little more after that. He was strong enough to easily knock down trees, which was a good metric to judge things by.
Theoretically, it should’ve been enough to overpower Luz’s Kinetic Absorption. After all, the last time he had checked, Stanley had only barely survived being hit by that car. Even if it did flip over him, he still felt the burden of the hit. So, again, theoretically, she should’ve gotten killed by that one attack.
Daniel dodged and weaved between the Energy Dragons and the Vines, along with the claws that Luz now sported above her knuckles, all to get in close, reel back his fist, and strike her in the head. All the while he was provided backup support by Darlene who fired her Spear Fingers in Luz’s direction, and Lucas who was struck from behind with his Puppeteer power.
At the same time the punch connected, Luz’s arms were raised high by the strings, and she was impaled in various locations, specifically right in the center of her chest where her heart should’ve been, the neck and throat, along with her upper thighs, hitting vital places where intense bleeding out would occur.
All of that should’ve killed Luz, and it seemed like it worked. Her eyes rolled back in what seemed like pain to the average onlooker, blood exploded out of her mouth, and even though her regeneration was going overtime, it wasn’t nor should it have been enough.
The impact of the blow was strong enough to cause something to break, most likely her neck, and if nothing else that should’ve been the thing that killed her. It should have killed her. She should have died right then and right there.
But then, it regenerated.
Her head fixed itself, her expression one of complete disinterest, and some confusion. But then, she went right back to smiling. As if what had happened had been a delightful surprise.
And then all hell broke loose.
Daniel kept landing blow after blow on the crazed teen, trying to kill her, but it never worked. It got to the point where, with each hit, Daniel’s blows were getting weaker, and it was all due to Impact’s side effect, that being that the more force was used, the less power each blow had behind it.
In other words, his usefulness was slowly becoming less and less. And no matter what Daniel did, he would never do the same damage again to her. But in case that wasn’t obvious, and in case Daniel hadn’t realized just how f*cked he was, Luz activated Pyrokinesis.
The moment that flames began to appear around her body was their cue to bounce. But they didn’t take that cue. They kept trying to kill her. It resulted in them being caught up in a massive blooming flame that burst out from her body like that of an explosion, as it expanded outward and blew away the strings and Spear Fingers that kept her in place.
Daniel took the explosion of fire head-on, and his reward was being burnt to a crisp, the waves of heat burning away his first and second layers of skin. What remained was bubbling and boiling, with some of his veins being exposed and burst, blood trailing down every split wound.
It was disgusting.
It was revolting.
And it horrified Kennedy. But that wasn’t the end of his torment. As if it was one last “f*ck you” Luz grabbed his head, activated her power, and as the red and black sparks washed over the burnt corpse of his former friend, Kennedy already knew that his power was taken.
Next came Darlene, whose fingers were broken off entirely, blood falling down in cascading waterfalls from the stumps she fell to her knees in tears. She was fine, for the time being, because she wasn’t Luz’s first target. That pleasure belonged to Lucas, who had been the least damaged of the trio who had attacked Luz. Well, he was fine, until one of the ethereal dragons grabbed him by the waist and drove him through several feet of the ground, upturning the ground for every inch he was dragged.
Rocks dug through and split apart his skin like a paring knife to freshly baked cake, and as he was thrown up into the air once the dragging reached a certain point—just about a foot or two away from the western wall, he was tossed into the air, and as he hovered there for a few seconds, his eyes wide with pain as he screamed in unimaginable horror, he was unceremoniously slammed back down to the earth by the other dragon. Lucas hit the ground with a sickening crack and an explosion of blood, leaving him a crumpled pile of jagged bones in the ground, mostly dead.
Luz calmly walked over to the crippled Lucas, her wounds regenerating in the time it took for one to blink their eyes, and as she finally approached him, she placed a hand on his head and stole his power. Now she had Puppeteer, but she wasn’t finished with Lucas, whom she left to die in the hole that she had made for him.
She walked over to Darlene, who was still in shock at the loss of her fingers, not even noticing Luz’s approach, who had been holding back everyone else with her vines and dragons, knocking them away as if they were nothing more than flies and maggots. By the time Luz was looming over her, Darlene looked up at her, fear and panic in her eyes as she fell to her rear, scuttling backward.
From Darlene’s perspective, Luz looked as if she was a Demon-given flesh who was staring her down. The way the night’s shadow cast over Luz, and the way that her eyes glowed… all of it made it seem like death itself was given manifest and was there to take her away.
Darlene screamed as Luz’s hand outstretched toward her, the hole in her palm glowing a violent crimson. Kennedy didn’t have to look to know that Darlene was already dead, as he heard her pained-filled cries for mercy. The sound of an electrical buzz filled his ears, then a sickening crunch.
He hadn’t realized it, but his body was shaking, all the while a million thoughts ran through his head. How could someone get that powerful that quickly? The power to take away others' abilities and make them their own…. That power did not belong to a mortal being. There was no way that was the case. It was more correct to assume that Luz Noceda was a divine being, here to send them into the abyss for committing sins that they would not repent for.
Everyone else seemed to agree with that notion, as they no longer tried to press an attack against what seemed to be an unkillable opponent. Luz held Darlene’s corpse, before throwing it to the wayside. She looked over her shoulder, her crimson red eyes glaring at the now huddled group of thirteen teenagers, terrified out of their minds.
There was only one option left.
They had to leave. Now.
f*ck their parents.
f*ck their guardians.
And more importantly, f*ck the Governor.
“RETREAT!” Kennedy shouted at the top of his lungs. And that was exactly what they did. One by one, they began to evacuate the scene, fleeing through the sole entrance of the base and into the woods. Kennedy led the charge, running the fastest out of everyone there, second to Darwin, who used his Spring-like Limbs to bounce and hop away.
They had made a wise choice, fleeing when they did. If they didn’t, they would’ve all been killed right then and there. Now, they had a chance to flee. To run away until they lost the monster that was behind them—because there was no way that she was human. To even think that Luz Noceda was a human did a disservice to the term “human”.
And so they ran. They ran and they ran, refusing to let themselves stop, knowing full well that if they stopped running, they would be next on Luz Noceda’s hit list.
Unfortunately for them, it did not matter how far they ran, or where they ran too.
Because now, they were being hunted.
As they began to flee, Luz retracted all of her powers. The dragons slinked back into her shoulders. Her vines and claws slunk back into her hands, and the fire that coated the back of her neck like a mane no longer bloomed. She just stared down the entranceway with a sly, demonic smile on her face. She radiated killing intent.
She would not be satisfied with such a meagre display.
She would not be satisfied with only some of their deaths.
All of them would pay with their lives.
After all, that was the point, was it not? To kill the competition?
“Where do you think you’re going?” Luz taunted, before flashing their retreating forms with a sinister grin that spread from ear to ear. “None of you are escaping this. You all die here, and now. Just as planned,” Luz shouted as flames began to build and expand on her back. For a moment, they looked as if they would stay that way. But, Luz came to realize something about how her Pyrokinesis worked. It wasn’t just flame creation and transformation. It was also manipulation.
And so, she did what any sane person with the ability to control, transform into, and manipulate flames would do.
She created wings.
The flames fanned out for twelve feet on both sides, fiery feathers created out of thin air as they blazed with heat so intense that nearby grass began to catch flame, the fire not even having to come into contact with it. The flames were so unbelievably hot that the flames gained a purple tint to them, border lining on blue as they flapped just as wings would. They generated a fiery wind so strong that it picked her up off the ground.
It was like second nature to her, how Pyrokinesis functioned. In a matter of a few days, she had felt as if she had mastered the power. Obviously, though, she hadn’t. If she had, this would’ve been the first thing she ever did. Her imagination was what fueled this creation. Not that it really mattered.
As the artificial wings flapped in the air, now, more than ever, did she truly look like a Demon. Her crimson red eyes, her demonic smile, and her fiery wings. But that wasn’t all. She decided to try something. Out from her fingers, strings began to form. But it wasn’t just regular string. It was steel wire.
But how?
Simple.
She combined Sword and Puppeteer. She intertwined the internal strings within her body and formed them to make a singular power. The steel wire began to shift and transform until they wove together to form a single steel blade. And as the gleam in her eyes shone brighter than before, and with another flap of her new fiery wings, Luz charged forward at unparalleled speeds, with the first victim of her charged assault being a blue-haired girl.
Poor Jade.
She never stood a chance.
Jade didn’t even get a chance to turn around before being impaled by her blade. Once she was dead, Luz grabbed the back of her head, used All For One, and stole her power, before throwing her to the wayside. She didn’t feel an instant gain of strength, but what she did gain was seemingly something that increased her lifespan. Just by interacting with the string inside of her, she realized that the new power was a passive one, like Strength Enhancer, Super Strength, and Kinetic Absorption.
Longevity would be its name.
The next victim was a boy who looked no older than eleven years old. She grabbed him, slammed him into a tree, took his power, and then flattened the top half of his body with a kick that sent her off in another direction. This power was different. This power was interesting. Plasma began to charge at the base of her free palm, and when she fired it out toward a larger boy, she watched with glee as he vaporized into thin air.
Plasma Beam. A fun power, but not one that would be used often. It was far too complicated to use and time-consuming to properly use.
Someone turned around, a brown kid to be exact, whose arm seemed to coil like a spring. He had a determined look in his eyes, and it caused Kennedy to stop dead in his tracks. He immediately recognized the last victim she killed as Carlos, and then Darwin, which to him, had been the final straw. He watched as the boy lunged at her and tried to punch her in the face.
It backfired when she impaled him on her blade. She landed, skidding to a halt as she ripped the steel wire sword out from his abdomen, and as his body fell to the ground, Luz stopped the corpse's fall by grabbing his head, activating All For One, and stole his power. Spring-like Limbs, to be exact. Another one she’d probably not use often.
“Three down, twelve to go,” Luz noted, narrowing her eyes as the rest of the group ground to a halt. She flapped her wings once again, embers flying everywhere as they caught onto trees, which began to blaze the second the embers landed. The fires spread in a circular motion, like a ring to trap cattle.
“You…” Kennedy growled, his hand balling into a fist. Luz turned to face him, her smile wider than ever before. The others grouped behind him, huddled and scared. “You’re enjoying this…. What the hell happened to you!? You didn’t come off as a psycho when we first met!”
“You’re assuming I care. You did this to yourself. Perish.” As those words left her mouth, the two dragons reappeared again.
But this time, Kennedy wasn’t going to stand around and do nothing.
He couldn’t save his old comrades. He didn’t have the time to do so. But what he could do was fight back. Even if it was only on the defensive. And so, he slammed his hand down on the ground. The action seemed stupid at first, but that changed when the ground broke apart and exploded. He strained his fingers, gripping them into the soil and earth below before they transformed into a twelve-foot wall.
The dragons slammed into the dirt wall, making it crack and crumble. But that wasn’t where Kennedy was done. Once the dragons slammed into it, he touched the dirt wall and formed it into a sphere, caging the dragons inside the dirt ball. It only lasted for a few seconds, but that was all the time that he needed.
“RUN!” Kennedy ordered, turning to look over his shoulder.
But, there was no one there to tell to run.
They were already dead.
He was too focused on the dragons, that he had completely forgotten that Luz could move freely with them being out. She had already taken away the powers of all of his now-dead friends, a pile of corpses behind him. The only one that hadn’t died had been Emelia, who was god knows where within the forest.
“Let’s see here. I now have Vines, Pyrokinesis, Repair, Kinetic Absorption, Strength Enhancer, Blade Arms, Sword, Super Strength, Super Regeneration, Energy Dragons, Puppeteer, Spear-like Fingers, Longevity, Plasma Beam, Spring-like Limbs, Forcefield Projector, Pain Nullification, Stamina Negation, Heat Vision, Bone-like Whips, Projectile Blood, Sound Suppression, Rapid Growth, Ice, and the last one I took, which I believed belonged to that Tyrone friend of yours, was WindBlast. Almost a full collection of everyone’s powers, but I missed seven. Either because they were destroyed by yours, or their bodies were so horrendously broken that I could not salvage their power.”
Luz sneered at that, staring at the palm of her hand as if disgusted by the prospect. “What a waste. Oh well, it’s not an issue anymore, now is it?” Luz continued as she glanced over at Kennedy. “I’m not entirely surprised that this ended this way. From how everything had been going, I had actually expected this to come a lot sooner. But, I suppose the prisoner’s dilemma is now in full effect, is it not? I always loved those kinds of situations. It’s a shame that it is what will cause your demise.”
All Kennedy could do was stare. What was going on here? Something didn’t seem right. He might not have known Luz for very long, but the way she was speaking…. Robotic and completely uninterested in the situation as she had been before… something changed.
It was almost as if he wasn’t talking to Luz anymore.
It was like he was talking to someone else entirely.
And as he stared, bewildered at the situation before him, he forgot about the dragons he was keeping at bay. The dragons broke free from the dirt ball, roaring as they charged him.
Kennedy knew what he had to do, though. He wasn’t worried about dying to the dragons. Nor was he worried about dying to Luz, or whatever had now decided to start controlling Luz, or whatever the hell was going on with her. All he cared about was surviving long enough to tire her out—if that was even possible given how she had mentioned Stamina Negation, whatever that meant. And so, he slammed his hand down on the ground, as a pillar of dirt and rock rose out of the ground and lifted him to the tree line.
“Luz”, in response, flapped her fiery wings and flew up to meet him, with the dragons coiling around the pillar like serpents. Her eyes narrowed, rage on her face as she hovered briefly in front of him. She went to swing her steel wire sword at him, only for something unprecedented to happen. A crack began to form across her face, and an explosion of blood followed suit.
At that moment, when she flinched, so too did the dragons, and they unwittingly crushed the dirt pillar Kennedy was on. Kennedy, for his part, wasn’t experienced in using his Cellular Manipulation ability. But, he did have a basic understanding of how it worked. So long as he was touching something, he could manipulate its molecules.
And so, when he pressed his hand down on the largest pile of dirt, turning it into a jutting spear-like appendage to impale “Luz” it worked just like that. He stood atop the floating piece of dirt as it began to crumble apart, gravity slowly taking advantage of it. “Luz” was stunned for a moment, red eyes glowing as she sneered.
“Tch. This body is still too weak, it would seem. Oh well, I’ll just have to make due, then. I’m on borrowed time. The fool exhausted herself and I had to take control. It would seem she went a little overboard. Whatever. It’s not my problem. So long as I stick to her wish to kill you, then there won’t be a problem.”
“This body?”
Before Kennedy could question any further, the bone-like whips. A smile warped “Luz’s” face, as Kennedy ducked out of the way, jumped into the air, and grabbed a branch. He chose not to activate his power, and instead, he used the branch to hop to a lower part of the tree. “Luz”, smile ever present, sent out more of those bone-like whips in his direction.
He was just barely able to avoid them, with one snagging his shoulder. When he got close to the ground, he slapped the tree next to him, blowing it to bits and creating a slide smooth enough to not have him get splinters. A collum of fire just barely missed him, and when he looked up at “Luz” she was covered in cracks with blood leaking out of her body.
Then, “Luz” did something strange. She dived toward him, faster than he could avoid her. She grabbed him by the throat and dragged him through the dirt.
He had no choice.
He had to do something.
He was being torn up by the ground around him. So he had to do something risky. He touched himself and activated Cellular Manipulation. It took everything in his power to avoid the pain, as he blew himself apart and in a split second, he reformed behind her. His body ached. He hated doing that. He had done it on accident when he first activated his power. It was a painful experience.
“Luz” was dripping in blood, panting heavily, and covered in cracks as blood seeped from them. That was when he had an idea. “I can help you, you know…” Kennedy said as “Luz” looked over at him.
“I’m listening…”
“I have Cellular Manipulation. I can use it on you and fix your body. If you spare me, I’ll do it…” Kennedy said as “Luz” hummed. Another crack formed on her neck. That seemed to make her choice for her.
“Very well. I’ll trust you. But, I’m adding another request on top of it. You must bring back Julia Wittebane. Can you do that? The last thing that this body needs is a horde of angry vestiges pestering it.”
“What are you?” Kennedy bluttered out as “Luz” sighed.
“I am All For One. The Quirk. My… user is unconscious. I am acting in her best interest. Now hurry up and heal this vessel.” “Luz” or, All For One, whatever the hell it was, demanded as Kennedy walked over to All For One, and did exactly as he said he would do. He didn’t question what a “Quirk” was, but he assumed that was what Luz’s power called itself. Whatever the case was, he didn’t want to tempt fate by insulting it. He repaired Luz’s body, and when he did, All For One looked down at its hands and nodded, then looked back at Kennedy with a neutral expression. “Good. Now, let us resurrect a corpse.”
And that was exactly what they did. They walked back to The Alpha Squadron base, and it was a silent walk at that. It left him alone with his thoughts. Maybe, just maybe, he would survive this! Maybe he could go home… if there was even a home to begin with.
When they got there, Kennedy found himself kneeling down at Julia’s now slightly rotted body. He plugged his nose and activated Cellular Manipulation. When he did, the dried blood began to tremble, and in the blink of an eye, it pooled back around the base of Julia’s neck.
A few more seconds passed, and the cells began to regrow and form, and after another second, her head fitted back onto her body. The rest of her body was next, and when he reconstructed it in the blink of an eye, he was breathing heavily. Using his power constantly tired him out. All the whole “All For One” watched over his shoulder.
Once it was all said and done, Julia Wittebane’s body was healed. Kennedy placed two fingers on Julia’s neck and felt for a pulse. There was one, but it was faint. He looked back to “All For One” who stared, a smirk on his face.
“Very good. You’ve outlived your usefulness. Goodbye.”
Before Kennedy could say anything, and as he reached out to stop whatever was about to happen, he was met with a devilish smile, bright crimson red eyes, and a fist flying in his direction faster than he could have blocked it.
The force of the punch was strong enough to splatter his entire upper body, leaving nothing but his lower half, which crumbled and fell to the ground with an unceremonious thud.
Kennedy Jennkins was dead.
Which left “All For One” and the now resurrected Julia. “All For One” placed a hand on her head, and used Repair to fix what Cellular Manipulation could not. A crack formed across Luz’s chest. Another Quirk activation and it would cause unrepairable damage.
This was another drawback of the All For One quirk. If the body was not strong enough to handle to blowback of extra powers that the body could not physically contain, then it would damage the body. Luz’s body was far from perfect. It needed to get stronger.
Luz needed to get stronger.
That would be a task All For One put her to before long.
Once she awoke, of course.
That was another thing that All For One—no. That Shigaraki was not expecting. When Luz passed out from exhaustion, he was able to take over her body. And it wasn’t as if it was a planned thing, either. It simply happened. One moment, he’s relaxing in the vestige realm, watching the chaos unfold through her eyes, and then a moment later, he’s actively being overwhelmed by multiple people all at once, and his response is to blow away everyone using a fire blast.
It was surreal. Breathing in the air again. Feeling his power out yet again. It was strange. It all felt so bizarre. He had been so used to being dead that he hadn’t thought that he could hijack Luz Noceda’s body. Even if it was only for a brief amount of time.
By his guess, he only had ten, maybe fifteen minutes until he had to call it quits and hand the body back over to Luz. And that was assuming he could even wrestle for control over the body. He was already running out of time, and he wasn’t the dominant soul in this scenario. He did not hold the power.
Luz did.
And if Luz was the dominant one, and if he wanted to live once again—which was now a possibility—he would have to work on breaking her down even more.
The prospect of living once again. It was a wonderful idea.
Suddenly, he had an idea. But, for the time being, he’d have to hold off. Until he knew more information about the delicate balance between himself and Luz, he couldn’t make any progress on his new, sudden idea.
“Still, I was not expecting this. This has opened up multiple possibilities that I did not foresee. Perhaps my threat to that oaf Yagi will pan out? That I will return, in a new form. Oh, the irony~! The look on his face when he finds out that I’m still very much alive, in a different place, in a different time, in a new form. The utter despair that will wash over him! It shall be glorious!”
As that thought ended. A new one came into being. What was going on in his old world? How much time had passed since his death? After all, ten years in That Place was more like 30 years in his world. Was the time flow between this place and his world even worse?
“Only time will tell, I suppose…” Shigaraki thought, looking down at Kennedy’s torso. He felt slightly disappointed. Such a waste of a wonderful power. But, then again, it might have been for the best. This body was already falling apart at the seams. The last thing it needed was more pressure.
He was going to need to offload a bunch of Quirks, and soon. Or, convince Luz to do so when she took back control over the body. Either way, it needed to happen.
“STOP RIGHT THERE!” A loud booming voice stirred Shigaraki from his thoughts as he looked over his shoulder. The Military, although, they did not seem to be wearing the same uniforms as the ones that had escorted Luz and her friends here. The man in the middle seemed to be the one in charge. He had the most badges on his uniform. “ARE YOU A PRISONER HERE?”
“What does it look like?” Shigaraki responded, narrowing his eyes. He didn’t like the tone this man was using. If it wasn’t for the mounting pressure and stress being put on this body, he would’ve blasted the man with a beam of fire. The man nodded, gesturing for his men to lower their firearms. Good. They were smart.
“We’re here to escort you to safety. Come on, we don’t have all day!” The man shouted as Shigaraki took a step forward in Luz’s body.
Only, there was one small issue. Something that Shigaraki hadn’t thought of.
He had been so used to his own body, that he had completely forgotten that it really didn’t matter if one was not using a Quirk to experience Quirk Overload.
It could be something as simple as moving that could cause an intense blowback.
The crack opened and exploded, tearing through skin, bone, and soft tissue in an array that looked like a jet hose. The utter pain that he experienced at that moment was unbelievable. He hadn’t felt such pain like that in a long time.
It didn’t matter if this body had Pain Nullification. The blowback ignored it. It was the only downside to having such a weak body. Blood spewed everywhere as he was hit with a wave of pain he had not been expecting. The last thing he saw before he faded back into the vestige world was being surrounded by the soldiers and picked up.
Luz was going to be mad. Scars were not her strong suit. But, oh well.
But, hey at least he was able to resurrect his friend by using that Kennedy boy to his advantage. That was all that mattered to him. After all, a happy successor and future vessel was an obedient successor and vessel.
But, just before he fell unconscious, he decided to do something to Julia’s body. He decided to slip one of the Quirks that had been in Luz’s system. He needed to offload some, anyway. After all, considering what he knew about her family, it made sense for her to have it.
He gave her Puppeteer.
And then, once the transfer was complete, he was met with the familiar darkness of the vestige realm, where an unconscious Luz had been. She was curled up in a ball on the red carpet. Rather than let her stay there, Shigaraki, now in his body, picked her up, placed her on the throne next to his own, and sat her up.
He walked back to his throne, sat down, and sighed, looking off into the distance as the sea of caged incomplete vestiges greeted him. He was a little disappointed that Luz had a limit like his failed experiments had. But that was something that, unlike those, could be easily fixed.
But that would have to wait. For now, he snapped his fingers and manifested the latest issue of Shonen Jump—at least, from his world that he remembered being out—and began to read, all the while he waited for Luz to wake up.
[XXXX]
Julia didn’t know what was happening. One moment, she couldn’t feel or see anything. An immediate nothingness that had shocked her. She couldn’t hear, nor could she do anything. She felt… incomplete. And then, suddenly, she heard things. Shouts. A cold voice. And then… she felt movement.
She was being moved.
But to where? What was going on? What had happened? It felt like she had blinked, and now she was being taken somewhere. By the time she regained any form and or semblance of consciousness, even if it was only brief, she was greeted with a bright white roof, and several doctors surrounding her. A medical mask was put over her mouth, and then, she was unconscious again.
When she reawoke for a second time, she groaned, slowly sitting up. A massive headache washed over her and it made her recoil in pain. The bright light… she hated it. The sound of beeping and pumping caused her to panic slightly. And when she fully came to, she found herself in a hospital room.
“Good morning, Ms. Delmisso. How are you feeling?” A heavy Spanish-accented voice asked her as Julia looked over to her immediate right. Standing there was a tall, light brown-skinned man. He had slicked-back black hair and the makings of a beard on his face. He was dressed in a white doctor's coat, with blue scrubs underneath.
Julia blinked, looking down at herself. This wasn’t right. She knew, for a fact that she had died. So, how was she alive? “I… I was dead… how can I be alive?”
“Dunno. Ask your friend when she wakes up. She’s just as clueless as you are. But, according to the security footage we were able to take from the crime scene to understand what happened, it seemed that said friend of yours forced your killer to bring you back to life, then promptly killed him afterward. I don’t know why she didn’t bring back everyone else, but she doesn’t seem to remember a damn thing from the event. All she remembers was almost dying herself, and then waking up here.” As the man said that, he seemed to remember something, before smiling. “Oh, yeah, and I’m Dr. Rodriquez. A pleasure to meet you.”
“You, too… but, I couldn’t help but notice, you said… Delmisso. That’s my mother's maiden name,” Julia said as Rodriquez nodded, a disappointed look on his face.
“Si, I’m aware of that. We called your, uh, former parents. And they said they wanted nothing to do with you. I had to default you on my clipboard here as Delmisso. I’m sorry if you’re just finding this out,” Dr. Rodriquez said as Julia breathed in sharply.
Of course. That was just her luck.
She dies, comes back to life, and now she finds out her parents have officially disowned her. She scoffed. Good riddance. But now, she had nowhere to go. A saddened look took up her visage, but it was quickly dashed when Dr. Rodriquez cleared his throat, catching her attention as he spoke. “But, there is some good news. I don’t know why she decided to do this, but I’ve known her for a while now. And while she’s got a few rough edges about her, I know she’ll take care of you. Luz Noceda’s mother is willing to take you in. If you don’t—”
“Really?” Julia asked, hope in her eyes, which caused Rodriquez to laugh.
“Yeah, so I take it you don’t mind?” Rodriquez asked as Julia nodded. “Well, that’s good. I was a little worried. I’ll let her know you accepted once she’s done visiting Luz. She’s currently asleep, but Camilia doesn’t want to leave her side. And I don’t blame her. After everything that happened, I’d be a little surprised if she did. I’ll let you know when she comes around. Get some rest, okay?”
With that, Dr. Rodriquez left the room. And when she did, Julia smiled. It seemed that now she had a new lease on life, she was going to make the most of it. When she looked down at the palm of her hands, though, she felt something strange about them.
She didn’t know why, but she felt different. She felt strange.
“It’s probably nothing…” Julia thought, before laying back on her hospital bed’s pillow, closing her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.
[XXXX]
“Who the hell do you think you are, locking me up in here?! I’m your Governor! Do you hear me?! You pieces of sh*t! When I get out of here, I’ll cut all of your funding!” Maxwell screamed from his holding cell in the county jail, grabbing onto the bars with rabid rage as he shook the cell door with all of his might, only for nothing to come of it. When his screams fell on deaf ears, his hand slid down the bars, dropping to his sides as he let out a sigh.
This was not how this was supposed to go! He was supposed to have gotten away with the whole thing! How did this even happen?! Was it because he took it a step too far by kidnapping the parents? Did the parents even get kidnapped or were they found out when the attempt was made?
That’s what had to have done it. After all, he never did get a response back from Holden. He probably got shot and killed. And considering Mathers wasn’t responding when he was arrested, that was probably what had happened to him too. He and the rest of the soldiers.
The rest of the military caught on to what had happened. Those FBI agents were also probably killed, too. Tyler was smart to not put his name down on anything and to use a burner phone.
Oh well, as long as Tyler was safe, that’s all that mattered.
“Well, ya done goofed, Maxwell. Look where you got yourself?” He muttered to himself. He walked over to the slab of metal and cushion that was supposed to be his bed and sat down, leaning against the brick wall as he did.
Not that he’d be here for long. He’d be acquitted. His party could swoop in, and save him. They had to. He had a major donor on his side. If he was allowed to rot in prison, then Tyler would pull his funding. That was the agreement he had made with him.
Tyler was a man of his word. He always had been and would continue that track record.
Right?
Just then, from the ventilation system in front of him, a thick, purple smog flowed into the room. Maxwell recognized it immediately, and his heart began to race. No… there was no way. Tyler wouldn’t do this to him. He wouldn’t send him would he? Why?!
“No…! Is he serious?! Is he actually going to kill me!?” Maxwell thought as more of the smoke began to collect and gather in the room. After a few seconds, the smoke began to form into a man, swirling around like a small tornado, before he fully formed into the man that now stood before him. He was tall, easily ten feet tall. He wore a gas mask that only covered his nose and mouth, with two valves on the front. The mask was connected to a gas tank on his back, and he was dressed in what a traditional cowboy would wear.
A brown leather vest with tassels on the edge of his vest, a white short-sleeved button-down shirt, two brown fingerless leather gloves, dark brown jeans and a pair of black chaps overtop those jeans. The outfit was completed by his cowboy boots and traditional cowboy hat.
He had long, black hair that framed his face and went down to his shoulders, and his dark purple eyes drilled nothing but hatred and loathing into Maxwell. If he could see what was underneath his mask, he’d guess there was a snarl underneath his mask.
“J-Jonah! I-I—”
“Save it, sh*ts-for-brains. You 'ave no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this day,” Jonah Smith spat, before reaching out for Maxwell and grabbing him by the throat. The inhuman strength that Jonah had instantly forced all the air out of Maxwell’s lungs, and it was quickly replaced by the purple, poisonous smog that began to fill his lungs.
As Maxwell choked, the way Jonah’s face shifted proved to Maxwell that he was smiling. “Oh, Governor, don’t be so shocked. When Tyler said he was goin’ to clean up all loose ends once this was over, he wasn’t kiddin’. That included you. And to make things even better you failed him. Which is why he sent me. And I couldn’t ‘ave been happier for it!”
As his vision began to go dark, he was dropped to the ground, blood trailing out of his nose, eyes, ears, and mouth as he gasped for breath. He couldn’t feel his body, and as a last “f*ck you”, Maxwell watched as Jonah’s boot raised over his head.
And then, there was nothing.
-To Be Continued in – Betrayed and Alone-
[Ending Song: Life – By: Rude-a]
Chapter 13: Season 1 - Episode 13: Betrayed And Alone. [Season 1 Finale]
Chapter Text
[Opening Song: Kyouran Hey Kids – By: The Oral Cigarettes]
[Season One Finale: Betrayed And Alone]
They were confused. What they had witnessed… it was strange. Bizarre even. They had staked out the forest for some time, knowing full well that it would give them the chance to be caught. But they didn’t care.
All they cared about was freedom. They had practiced the route to their freedom time and time again. It didn’t help that their training to be a warrior to defend their home from The Interloper had helped in that procedure. While the rest of their siblings had been languishing in suffering and slavery, they were special.
They knew they were special. Of course, they would be. While they weren’t the first, they were the most perfect. They had complete control over their body and faculties. The same couldn’t be said for their siblings. They were slow and only listened to orders. Something they would have to change when they came back to their home.
Some might question their choice to only free themselves. But, the answer to that was simple. They couldn’t carry everyone else on their back. They had to do what needed to be done. They had to go it alone. At least, until they had help.
They had two vile's of Titan’s blood on their person, one they had stolen off him when he had gone to torture them for answers, which had led them to their escape. Answers to what, exactly, they didn’t know. Maybe he thought they had done something, but they honestly had no idea what it was he was going on about.
Regardless, they got what they needed, and it was enough for one trip to the human realm, which they used, and one trip back. They would save that for when they found who it was who could help them. They and their siblings. For the time being, however, they needed a place to live. They had no home at the moment, and while the rain here was not acidic, it was not good for their body.
Vee, in all reality, was not safe in this new realm. She knew that much. It was foreign, and while there was magic here—which was weird, because it was said humans didn’t have magic—She couldn’t eat it. Sure, She could eat other foods, and it satiated her, but it had nothing on magic. That, and eating street rats was not what she had expected to be doing to survive.
It had been a week since she escaped that place and fled to the forest in The Human Realm—which she promptly left. Vee, quite frankly, was glad that she had. What she heard on the “radio” as it was called was that the forest had burned down not too long after she had left that place, and the fires that were raging were only contained when it was too late. Most of the forest was destroyed, and the person who had been running the camp, Governor Rodger Maxwell, was found dead in his prison cell, subject to some kind of poison that had been unidentified.
Vee was more than a little worried about what had happened. She had gone from one place in strife and conflict to another. But at least here, she wasn’t a slave. That was probably the only upside to this whole thing. Better to be free than a slave, as the saying noted.
But, what was Vee? Well, Vee was a Basilisk. She could shift into whatever she wanted, so long as she had the energy to do so. Right now, she was shifted into a human. This specific human was one of the dead at that camp. Someone by the name of “Hilbert.” Though, due to her gender, she looked like a female. So, “Hilda” would be more appropriate for a name.
It was a little strange. She was so used to slithering around on her massive tail, seeing as she was never allowed to transform, lest she was beaten. She had been practicing in secret, and now she was here because of that practice. The clothes she was wearing were stolen from a dumpster—a basic yellow shirt and blue pants—but it would do for now. Her travel from the forest to Gravesfield was a lengthy one, and also tiring.
But, it was worth it.
Currently, she is held up in an orphanage and has been employed as a janitor. She was fed, housed, and paid decently. She had only had the job for a week. Her boss, Ms. Bramble, was a nice lady. She knew of her secret, but she wasn’t bothered by it. She found it cool, if anything. The only thing she didn’t know was that she was from a different realm.
The only thing she didn’t like about her job was that she was being paid $15 an hour. But, then again, she didn’t know the value of this Realm’s currency. Back in the Boiling Isles, that would be basically nothing. Here, though? Well, considering she could buy a snack bar for $3 then maybe it wasn’t that bad. A snack bar in The Boiling Isles would be 20 Snails.
Considering it was an hour, too, and not just a single payment…. Maybe she was being a bit too pessimistic. Regardless of that fact, she had a job, and she was allowed to sleep in the orphanage due to her age.
Right now, though, Vee had just finished for the day and was relaxing on the edge of the bed that she was given. She was chewing on a “Hershey Chocolate Bar” and had a cup of juice to wet her throat. The worst thing to happen today was having her hair pulled by one of the kids. Mopping up stains and sweeping whole rooms wasn’t nearly as tiring as she had thought it would be.
The previous Janitor complained about how difficult the job was. She didn’t see what the problem was. Though he did look old, so maybe he was just being grouchy. She found it fine, even if it was tiring to keep the human disguise up constantly. She couldn’t spend less than a few seconds outside of it and quickly regain some of her energy.
It was incredibly taxing to constantly be in disguise. She honestly wished she was given more downtime, but the time she had already was better than nothing, she supposed. Though, now that she was alone, and the rest of the staff and other children were asleep, she could shift back into her basilisk form if she so chose.
Vee frowned, looking down at her hands. Wearing a dead person’s skin felt wrong. But, it wasn’t like she had much of a choice.
Oh well, it could’ve been worse.
Although, there was one thing that was bugging her. It all had to do with that girl who she briefly made eye contact with in the forest. There was something about her that was calling to her. Like she had met her before. But, for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why.
Maybe it was the blank expression she had on her face.
Maybe it was the twinkle of her eyes.
But for some reason, she couldn’t stop seeing The Interloper whenever she saw her.
“Whatever, it’s probably nothing…” Vee thought, slumping forward and undoing the transformation, sliding forward and turning into her true form. Vee’s Basilisk form was similar to what humans called “Snakes”. She had personally seen one, and she had to agree. They did look similar. However, personally, Vee was more colourful than a standard snake, and she had slightly more in common with The Human Realms sea life.
Vee had a small, chubby, serpentine body. Her arms were short, not that she really needed them in this form. In the place where a human’s legs were, she had a large, fishlike tail. She had abnormally large eyes, or at least, abnormally large compared to Witches and Humans, anyway. Her nose was upturned, and her mouth was in the shape of a W, with some sharp teeth poking out from her lower lip.
Her tale had swamp-green scales and cream-coloured spots dotting around it, sharing the same colour as her underbelly, along with on her head and the bottom half of her face. She also had tufts of navy blue hair on her head, back, and ears. Back to her eyes, they were a golden yellow, with aqua sclera. Finally, to finish it off, she had off-white fins on the sides and tip of her tail, perfect for swimming in a pinch.
Not that she had ever swam before, but it was ingrained in her DNA. She knew she could, if push came to shove. Not that she wanted to, since water was overall bad for her skin. Ironically, it dried her out. She hated being dry. It made her feel crusty and gross.
All of that aside, she took in a deep breath and sighed. Slithering over to her room window, Vee looked out toward the town of Gravesfield and frowned. Something awful was going to happen here. What that was, she didn’t know. All she knew was that, in the coming months, something big was going to happen here.
And a part of her believed that she was going to play a major role.
[XXXX]
Pain.
Excoriating, horrendous pain.
The pain that Luz felt was unmatched by any she had felt before.
And just as quickly as it had washed over her, it was gone. In the blink of an eye, her pain was gone, replaced by confusion as her eyes opened to the void that she had seen not once, not twice or thrice, or even four times now. But five.
She had now been here a total of five times. Once for each day of the week. Not that they had happened with each passing for a day. But she was here, and she was confused. More than that, she was furious.
Those… monsters killed her friends. They weren’t people anymore. They were monsters. All of them. Every single last one of them.
She thought that, with her powers, she could’ve won. But then that one guy who punched her in the face did something to her—which she assumed was her neck breaking. Then she blacked out and woke up here.
Was she… dead?
“Ah, Luz. You’re awake. Good,” Shigaraki’s voice broke her from her thoughts, which caused her to recoil, only now noticing that she was sitting on the throne next to him. “I was wondering when you would awaken. For a moment, I was a little worried.”
“What happened? Am I Dead?”
“No, you’re alive. All thanks to me, of course,” Shigaraki said, smirking as he sighed. “It was nice. To live again. Even if it was only for a few minutes.” As Shigaraki said that, Luz was left scratching her head. What did he mean by that? Unless…
“Did you… possess my body?”
“Briefly,” Shigaraki admitted, folding his hands together as he frowned. “After all, had I not done anything, they would’ve killed you. So, I decided to tag in. I was only able to do it for a handful of minutes. But in that time, I was able to make some interesting discoveries.”
“You possessed my body! What the hell!?” Luz exclaimed as Shigaraki sighed, shaking his head.
“You’re missing the point, Luz. And besides, I can only do it when you’re unconscious as it would seem. Not when you’re asleep, but when you are, essentially “not around.” You understand what I mean, yes?” Shigaraki said as Luz narrowed her eyes.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I’m not stupid,” Luz spat, running a hand through her hair as she slumped back on the throne she was seated on, staring up at the ceiling. “Please tell me you didn’t do anything stupid?”
“Well, I finished off the rest of the two teams that were attempting to end you. However, before that, I was able to convince one of them, Kennedy, to do something for you. But that can wait until after you wake up.”
Luz hated vagueness. It was one of the things that made her brain itch, and this was one of those prime examples. It was why she also hated surprises. They always messed with her, and there was nothing she could really do about it. “Alright, and the other thing you mentioned?”
“The discoveries? Well, while they are important, I want you to pay attention to what’s in front of you,” Shigaraki began as he pointed beyond the thrones. When Luz turned to look, she was met with an eye-widening scene.
In front of her were what appeared to be an army of cages, all of which had a shadow blob creature resting within. They all stared at her, vapid, blank stares to match their expressionless faces. Each of them carried a hint of power, and all of them wafted off hatred all aimed toward the pair of them. If they could talk, there would be no short of insults and vitriol hurled at her and Shigaraki.
“As you can see, you’ve taken in a lot of power all at once. If I had counted right, within your body, you have well over 22 different powers dancing within you. Of course, there are some that you couldn’t have stolen due to their bodies being destroyed, leaving no Quirk factor behind to be stolen. That aside, as I tried to fight in your body just as I would’ve in my time alive…”
Shigaraki snapped his fingers, and as soon as he did, cracks began to appear all over Luz’s body. They didn’t hurt, mostly because they were an illusion. They all seeped blood, and they covered every inch of her person. “Your body began to break apart.” The way Shigaraki spoke was filled with an ominous undertone. It made her shiver, and as the cracks disappeared, she looked back at Shigaraki, who grimaced.
“Your body cannot hold this amount of power. Not without physical strain. You’ll need to offload a bunch of these powers for the time being. Although, as time goes on, you’ll be able to fit more. Of course, it will take time, and it will be exhausting, but if you can physically train your body, you’ll be able to hold more Quirks.”
“What… exactly is my current limit?” Luz asked as Shigaraki raised an eyebrow.
“Only ten. Which is a shame, because the powers in your body right now are extremely useful,” Shigaraki replied as Luz stared at him, eyes wide with disbelief.
“Only ten?! You sound disappointed! 10 is a lot, isn’t it?” Luz asked as Shigaraki deadpanned.
“Luz… In my prime, before my nemesis killed me, I had over 1,000 Quirks flowing through my body, with another 1,000 deposited in a mountain of corpses that I could pull from at any moment and time. Ten in comparison is a drop in an ocean of uselessness,” Shigaraki stated, crossing his arms as he waved the notion away.
“That being said, for you, having access to ten Quirks is a lot. You can do a lot with Ten Quirks. It depends on which Quirks you have. If I were to recommend 10 to keep, I’d say Longevity and Super Regeneration are a must-have. Those Quirks are rare, and it might be a long, long time before someone shows up with those Quirks,” Shigaraki explained.
Luz raised an eyebrow, looking toward the cages and frowned, looking at each glob of black muck with a frown. “Rare? There’s such a thing as Rare Powers?” Luz asked Shigaraki, who smirked.
“Yes. All For One is considered a rare Quirk. No… beyond that. It’s the kind of Quirk that exists as a failsafe for the universe. Wherever Quirks are birthed, an All For One is there for a safety measure. Although….” A frown filled the old man’s expression. “It is never alone.”
Luz felt a chill run down her spine as he said that, instinctively looking over her shoulder. She didn’t know why, but she did. “Uh… what does that mean?” Luz asked as Shigaraki’s frown deepened.
“Follow me,” as Shigaraki said that, he stood up, gesturing for Luz to follow him. As she followed him to wherever he was going, she couldn’t help but focus on one thing in particular about the man.
Shigaraki was tall, easily 6 feet tall, and cut an imposing figure. Luz felt like a dwarf in his presence, and maybe that was the point, but she couldn’t see why. To make her feel small? No… that made no sense. From what she gathered of Shigaraki was that, while he seemed to love being in control, he wasn’t one for intimidation. Or maybe she just looking too deep into this.
Either way, he was huge. That was more than likely the reason why he was extremely good at being what he was. His appearance, and his stature… he was truly a villain.
Then there was her. His supposed “successor”. That implied that she’d become a villain, just like him. But… she didn’t want to be a villain. Despite her various problems, her ability to be quick to temper, and the blood on her hands, she wasn’t a bad person. She had said as much before.
Or… was she?
She didn’t know, and it was tearing her apart internally.
Pushing the thought aside, as the two walked through the void-like expanse for what seemed like hours, Shigaraki stopped in front of what appeared to be a pedestal. It looked like one designed by the Greeks, chiseled out of marble and polished so well that Luz could see her reflection in it. There was a golden plaque on the pedestal, and it was engraved with large, black letters that read: One For All
Luz blinked, staring at the pedestal with a confused expression. “What… is this?” Luz asked as Shigaraki sighed.
“This is where One For All would be…. If I had it….” Shigaraki said, growling the last part through a clenched jaw. The walls and floor around them rippled, almost as if The Vestige Realm was reacting to Shigaraki’s anger. It made Luz tense for a second, but only a second, as it calmed down as fast as it happened. Luz was ready to move on, but Shigaraki, on the other hand, continued after the fact about the same topic.
“I found it peculiar that it wasn’t here when I died, but I supposed it makes sense. One For All is back in my universe. However…. All For One still hungers for it, as do I, which means that the Quirk itself is aware that One For All exists, and it can be reached. Otherwise, this unending hunger for the Quirk would’ve ended when I died, and it passed on to you, Luz. Unfortunately, there is no real way to get there….”
Shigaraki said, before pausing, cupping his chin as a small smile appeared on his face. It was as if several lights went off in his head as a small, haunting chuckle escaped his lips. “Well, not totally. There is one way, but that all depends on whether we can find more of it,” Shigaraki mused as Luz tilted her head with a confused gleam in her eyes.
“What… are you talking about?” Luz asked as Shigaraki’s eyes widened for a second, before turning to Luz.
“Ah, I was thinking out loud. Oh well… I might as well explain.” Shigaraki stated as he cleared his throat. “Do you remember when I mentioned in our last discussion that I had found out that The Multiverse exists?” Shigaraki asked as Luz slowly nodded.
“Yeah, you said that. I thought you were joking. Are… are you serious? The Multiverse is real?!” Luz asked, a hint of excitement in her voice as Shigaraki chuckled.
“Yes, Luz. The Multiverse is a real thing. And it’s all thanks to a certain liquid that I had found back in my world. My doctor, who is the one who found out about its properties, referred to it as Transfer Liquid. Although, I later found out that it was called Titans Blood.” As soon as those words left his face, he snapped his fingers, as an ethereal vile of blueish-green liquid appeared in his hand.
“This substance is just as it sounds. The blood from a mighty beast. A creature that was once thought to be a legend. By smearing it against a surface, you can create a temporary, one-way portal to another dimension. In that dimension… Luz, when I tell you that what I saw there is something beyond my wildest dreams, I truly mean it. Creatures from myth, magic—true, real magic… I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. To think had discovered it by complete accident, too….” As Shigaraki spoke, he seemed to slowly drift off into some kind of trance, before snapping himself out of it.
“That being said, there is no way to obtain this substance. Not normally, anyway. But, considering that the person who handles said substance seems to be a little on the careless side, perhaps we can find one of their caches of it before they can get to it,” Shigaraki scowled, his teeth barring in frustration. “I’ve always hated them. Tricky little vixen. But, I put an end to them when they thought to fight me. Tore their heart from their chest and crushed it between my fingers…”
Luz stared at him, and where she should’ve been horrified, she couldn’t help but not react. She wasn’t really surprised given who he was, but still… “you really didn’t need to go into detail there…” Luz muttered as Shigaraki cleared his throat.
“Right, my bad. My point is that, if we can find that, I’m more than certain that you’ll be able to find One For All. There are two potential ways to get it, assuming the second way worked the way I had intended it to…” Shigaraki said, before turning to walk back to the throne area. For a split second, Luz could’ve sworn that she saw someone looming over the pedestal, but ultimately brushed the thought away.
It was just her and Shigaraki in this void. Along with the blobs, they weren’t people. Just remnants of them. As they walked, and as they passed the blobs, some of the blobs reached out to her, almost like they were begging her to free them. The more she stared, the more guilt she felt. And then, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Shigaraki, who was looking at them as well.
“You shouldn’t feel bad about what you did,” Shigaraki said as they sat down on their respective thrones. She glanced at the floor as Shigaraki continued. “You were not in the wrong. You did what had to be done, no matter what anybody tells you. Those who wronged you deserved their fate, as does anyone else who has wronged you in the past. Keep this in mind as you continue your journey. The world is yours, Luz Noceda. You are the chosen one, after all. While I needed to step in, I don’t think I’ll have to again, but even then, what’s a Chosen One without a mentor and helper? Besides, the universe blessed you with All For One, and as such, you should use it for its intended purpose,” Shigaraki said, as Luz looked away from him.
“And what exactly is that purpose…?” Luz asked as Shigaraki smirked.
“Its purpose, Luz, depends on what you think it is. For me, it was World Domination that ultimately failed thanks to my brother and his cohorts. But you? It could be whatever you desire. What does your heart tell you, Luz? I cannot tell you what you want. I can only suggest things that you should do. It is up to you to take up those suggestions or ignore them. After all, I am not in control here. I am merely a passenger,” Shigaraki said as a white gate appeared in front of them.
“Ah, it would seem as if you’re stirring from unconsciousness. Then it’s time to go, Luz. Take some time to be with your loved ones, Luz,” Shigaraki said as Luz stood up, staring at the white gate. A part of her didn’t want to leave, but after looking back at Shigaraki, she resolved herself to leave.
It was better to face the consequences of her actions sooner rather than later.
And with that, Luz walked into the light, and as soon as she did, she began to hear a small, tiny little voice in the back of her head, calling out her name. When her eyes opened again, she saw several doctors and surgeons, as well as her mother, holding her hand with wide and concerned eyes.
For a split second, the only thing that she could feel was contempt. Contempt for the woman before her. For what she had said. For putting her on that bus. For putting her in that horrible situation.
It was all her fault that she was even there, to begin with.
And now, here she was, staring at her with concern. The utter gall she had to do that… it made her furious.
But then, she calmed down. For as mad as she was at her mother, and while she had ample reason to hate her, she was still her mother. She was still human. She made mistakes—they both did. While she wouldn’t forgive her for what she had said that day, she also couldn’t bring herself to curse her out.
At least, not in public. She didn’t deserve that embarrassment. But they would have a talk about it.
“Oh my god, Mija, are you alright?! I-I saw them bring you in on a stretcher, a-and, and! Y-You were covered in blood, and I—”
“M-Mom…” Luz rasped, coughing as she lurched, pain shooting throughout her body as she reclined back into the bed. Right. Shigaraki had said that her body was breaking apart because of the influx of power she had in her system. An idea came to her, and seeing as her mother was holding onto her hand, she acted upon it.
Luz gripped her mother's hand, squeezing it tight, and found the string that linked to her mother's brain. It was a little confusing, and it took her a moment to focus, but she was able to do it. Then, she selected one of the powers in her—Repair. There were two reasons for giving her mom that power. For one, it would allow her to do her job better, and Luz already had Super Regeneration.
Red sparks jumped from Luz’s hand to her mother, and for a brief second, Camila flinched, recoiling her hand back as she shook it. Luz had already felt Repair leave her body and enter into her mother. The transfer was nearly instantaneous, and since it was gone, it more than likely was now with her mother.
“Hope you like it….” Luz muttered, sitting up in the medical bed as she sighed.
For Camila’s part, she was both confused and also worried. She hadn’t seen her daughter in a week, and the state she had showed up in… she was covered in blood, and had cracks all over her body. As if she had been breaking like a porcelain doll.
But now, she was fine. While she had faint scars all over her body, they would fade away with time. She looked as if she was thrown into a blender, and there was one major scar over her right eye and a massive burn scar on her neck.
Whatever had happened to her, Camila couldn’t even begin to imagine. Then there was what she had just done, which had left her confused. “Mija… what did you do?”
Luz smiled, before speaking in Spanish, so that only her mother would understand what it was that she had said. “Te di poder, mama,” Luz said as her mother’s eyes widened. “That’s what I can do, mama. That’s what my power is….” Luz coughed, specks of blood splattering on the blankets of the hospital bed. “Mierda… Ow, eso dolio…”
“You’re awake, good.”
Luz looked to the front of the hospital bed and was met with one of the doctors. He was dressed in typical doctor attire, i.e. blue scrubs, a mask, and a blue hair cap. He also wore bright yellow gloves that covered up to his elbows, along with an apron, indicating that he had just finished some kind of surgery.
“My name’s Doctor Julius Rodriquez. I’ve got to say, Luz, you’re quite lucky to be alive. Considering you’ve just endured a full day's worth of surgery,” Dr. Rodriquez said as Luz raised an eyebrow. “Don’t say anything, I can tell you’re confused. Let me explain why first because it’s important.”
And so, for the next half an hour, Dr. Rodriquez told Luz essentially what she already knew, minus the fact that she knew why it was happening. Her body was breaking down, literally. Despite her healing factor, her body was breaking apart and it wasn’t stopping. Luz already knew why, and she knew how to get rid of the problem.
The issue was that she didn’t want to expose what her power was. The last thing she wanted was for the Federal Government to find out. Though, she reasoned that they more than likely already knew, given the security footage having been apparently leaked online.
That… was going to cause problems in the future.
“Dios mío! Y-you mean—”
“In the next few days, there’s a chance that your daughter will die. I’m sorry, Ms. Noceda, there’s not much we can do,” Dr. Rodriquez finished explaining as Luz sighed, before flipping the covers off of her body and hopping off the bed. “Luz, what are you—”
“Do you have a corpse lying around?” Luz asked, interrupting Rodriquez, and making him flinch. Before he could say anything, Camila stood up, confused as she spoke.
“Mija! That’s—”
“Be quiet,” Luz hissed, glaring at Camila, who flinched, taking a step back as she looked back toward Rodriquez. “Well?”
“W-We have an onsight morgue, but I don’t know how that’ll help…” Rodriquez said as Luz gestured for the door.
“Well, how about I show you?” As Luz said that, Dr. Rodriquez opened the door, and led Luz to the onsite morgue. Frankly, Luz expected them to not listen, but she was surprised. She had gotten this idea from Shigaraki. After all, he mentioned that he stored his spare powers in a literal mountain of Corpses. If she could just leave these here, then so be it. Not that she’d come back for them. She didn’t expect the hospital to keep corpses around.
The entire walk was tense, and along the way, small cracks began to form on her arms. How the doctors were able to keep the cracks from forming eluded her. Though, if she had to guess, it must’ve had to do with Super Regeneration kicking in. Seeing as the crack that had just formed was healing over, it proved her right.
After what felt like an hour of walking, they made it to the morgue. It was a small room, with several drawers that more than likely held bodies. Wordlessly, she pointed to one of the drawers, and Dr. Rodriquez opened it. Inside was the body of a small child. Luz winced, before pushing the image out of her mind.
She walked up to the body and placed a hand on the corpse's hand. Dr. Rodriquez went to say something, only to be interrupted by the black and red sparks of lightning of All For One. Now, she understood why Shigaraki used corpses to store his powers. They were essentially bottomless holes. Because their brains were not active, she could stuff as many powers into them without so much as having to care.
And so, that was exactly what she did. She got rid of Blade Arms, Sword, Impact, Plasma Beam, Heat Vision, Bone-Like Whips, Projectile Blood, Sound Suppression, Rapid Growth, Ice, Strength Enhancer, Vines and Wind Blast. She already gave Repair to her mother, and Puppeteer was missing, which was confusing. Either way, she now had ten powers. Those being Pyrokinesis, Kinetic Absorption, Super Regeneration, Pain Nullification, Stamina Negation, Longevity, Energy Dragons, Forcefield Projection, Spear-like Fingers, and Super Strength.
Now that she thought about it, the fact that she hadn’t felt even an ounce of pain from her body cracking apart was probably thanks to Pain Nullification. It was kind of a cheat code, which was good. She hated feeling pain. Then again, she assumed that was the common consensus.
“Luz… what did you do?” Camila asked as Luz looked over at her with a deadpan stare.
“I offloaded a bunch of the powers I stole from the camp into this body. It’s what was causing my body to break apart,” Luz explained as she took a step back from the child's body. Nothing changed, aside from the fact that it sparked with red and black electricity. Dr. Rodriquez stared at Luz with wide eyes, blinking once or twice, before shaking his head.
“You… can stockpile superpowers?”
“Yes,” Luz replied, breathing out as she looked at her hands. “That’s what the holes in my hands let me do. I can steal powers from others, and make them mine. I’ve decided to call my power All For One. It’s thanks to this power that I survived that place.”
“B-but… that would mean you…” Camila didn’t finish her sentence, covering her mouth in shock. Luz assumed that it was common knowledge of what the camp was about. Her mother's reaction proved that.
“Yes. I did. I had no choice. I did what I had to do,” Luz replied before walking away from the body. Although she didn’t make it far when she suddenly became lightheaded and fell to the ground, the last thing she heard before entering the realm of unconsciousness once again was her mother's screams of shock and Dr. Rodriquez swearing in Spanish.
[XXXX]
Adrian Rogers was not prepared to take up the position of Governor of Connecticut, but as the opposite head of the Democratic Party in Connecticut, he had no real choice in the matter. Maxwell never appointed someone to take up after him, and his constituents saw this as a power play that they needed to make.
Nevertheless, Adrian did what he needed to do. He took up the position and as soon as he looked into the plans Maxwell had for the state, he scrapped them. It was all White supremacist nonsense that he didn’t even feel deserved to be read in his head let alone aloud. How the Republican Party had fallen this far in this direction, he’d never know, but that wasn’t for him to assume.
He had until the next election to make right what Maxwell failed to do. He had read all of the articles and viewed every perspective of what happened over the last week, and what happened to everyone involved.
The children of the parents that had been kidnapped were majority dead, with only three living survivors. There was Emelia Worstoch, who was currently in a mental hospital. Julia Scotsman Delmisso, formally Wittebane, who was currently recovering from apparently being dead if the security footage he witnessed was correct. Finally, there was Luz Noceda, the one who did most of the killing.
Under normal circ*mstances, he would’ve sent a hunting party to go after Luz for all of the deaths she caused, but looking at the circ*mstances and potential reasonings behind what happened, he believed that all that would do would cause mass panic even more than there already was. Not to mention the fact that it wasn’t fair for Luz because she was only responding to the environment around her.
So many people were killing one another. It was a kill-or-be-killed environment, much like a battlefield. If he judged her, it would be no different than judging a war veteran on their actions in Iraq, Iran, or anywhere in the Middle East. The less they talked about Vietnam the better, and the less they talked about the Korean War, even better.
Then, there were the parents of those who had been kidnapped. Luckily, nothing happened to them. Sergeant Holden and his troops were intervened by the FBI, CIA, and the branch of the military who came and rescued the survivors of the camp. They all went down fighting, which frankly was for the better.
As for everyone else, they all mysteriously died from some kind of poison. It was obviously a cover-up, but to what extent and by whom, Adrian didn’t know. All Adrian had to go off of was what was sitting in front of him, and frankly, what Maxwell had planned was disgusting. He was essentially calling for the genocide of a group of people who had yet to exist for even a week.
However, given the fact that there were records of those with powers going back a year ago, there was a large chance that Maxwell and this Witch Hunter Association had been doing this for years and that those with superpowers were routinely killed whenever they showed up.
And if that were all, then he would’ve called for the head of The Witch Hunter Association to be arrested, that being Tyler Kirkman Wittebane. However, apparently, The Witch Hunter Association had recently parted ways with the Governorship, and even so much as said that they had no involvement with the events that happened over the last week. Upon investigation into the matter, the FBI found that they were right.
Either that, or they burned all documents of them helping Governor Rodger Maxwell. In which case, either way, it hardly mattered. If they had no proof of their involvement, then they couldn’t press charges. Even looking through Maxwell’s phone records and calls with Tyler, they were mostly talking about current politics rather than what happened at the camp.
The last call addressed to Maxwell was a scathing denouncement of what happened at the camp. Whether it was truthful, he doubted it severely. Regardless, Adrian couldn’t do anything legally against Tyler.
Moving on, Adrian looked down at the three pieces of paper in front of him regarding the three survivors. Obviously, all of them were Super Humans. For as much as he felt bad for them, he couldn’t just let them run rampant. Instead, he had an idea. Whether it would work, he didn’t know. But, regardless, he had to try.
Which brings him to where he was right now. Currently, Adrian was sitting in the waiting room for one Luz Noceda. She was the first person that he wanted to tackle due to the power she had. The ability to steal and give powers was the perfect power to control those with powers. Not that he was going to use it that way. Rather, he had a better idea.
Next to him was a portly woman with curly brown hair with a few gray hairs sticking out from place to place. She wore a pair of thick-framed black glasses and was dressed in a long-sleeved sweater black pants and white shoes. She had been there before he had shown up, which led him to believe she was the parent of Luz Noceda.
Adrian, for his part, was wearing a basic dress button-up long-sleeve white dress shirt with a blue tie, and a pair of orange snakeskin pants held up by a black leather belt with a silver buckle. For footwear, he had on a pair of black ankle socks and black dress shoes.
The unintroduced pair of adults sat in silence, until finally, the woman next to him seemed to realize that he was there, and turned to face him. “Um, who are you? Why are you waiting outside of my daughter’s hospital room?”
“Ah!” Adrian blinked, looking over to the woman with a smile. “My bad. I assumed you were thinking about something, so I didn’t want to interrupt anything. My name is Adrian Rogers, the recently appointed Governor of Connecticut of the Democratic Party of America.”
“Governor, huh?” The woman began, a frown taking up her visage. “Do you know someone by Rodger Maxwell?”
“Him? Oh, yeah, of course. We were political enemies, why?” Adrian asked as the woman sighed, looking straight ahead, her frown still present.
“That man ruined my daughters’ life, and was the Governor of this state beforehand. Excuse me for being a little rude, but I don’t trust you,” the woman said as Adrian nodded, pursing his lips as he slumped forward.
“Yes, I understand that. I would like to apologize on behalf of the Federal Government for not realizing what was happening sooner. Had it not been for our mole in his group having been killed, we more than likely would’ve never found out. Sergeant Dempsey was a good man, despite everything. His death was what tipped us off that something wasn’t right. But, because of his death, we didn’t know the full details,” Adrian explained as the woman’s frown didn’t waver, but she did look a little less tense.
“Then why are you here?” The woman asked as Adrian smirked.
“To change the world for the better, and I believe your daughter can have a hand in it,” Adrian said as the woman blinked, before looking back at Adrian. Before she could say anything, a doctor came around the corner of the hallway, with a blonde-haired girl walking next to him. The woman’s eyes widened as the doctor stopped a few feet away, with the blonde-haired girl by his side.
“Ah! Ms. Noceda! There you are. Here’s Julia, just as you asked,” the doctor said as Julia smiled, waving at Ms. Noceda, which confirmed Adrian’s theory from before. The blonde, Julia, approached Camila, and rather than Camila shaking her hand as Julia had outstretched hers, Camila hugged her, which seemingly shocked Julia.
“You poor, poor girl. You and Luz both, I’m so sorry that this happened to you!” Camila said, borderline crying as Julia hugged back. Adrian watched awkwardly, adjusting his tie. The two separated, which was where Adrian saw his chance to talk, which he took.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Delmisso. I’m—”
“I already know. I overheard on my way here,” Julia interrupted, bowing in his direction. “A pleasure to meet you. I hope you and yours can make what happened with the last Governor appear to be an accident. After all, I’m assuming that what you said was correct with the Governor going behind the Federal Government’s back to do what he did.”
“A-Ah, yes,” Adrian replied, adjusting his tie again. There was something about Julia that unnerved him. The way she looked at him was very professional. Something he didn’t expect from a young girl. Though, given who her family was, it made sense. They were often summoned to investor meetings, so it would make sense if it rubbed off on Julia as well.
“That being said,” Adrian began, as he looked toward the doctor. “Can Luz see visitors? This is important.”
For his part, the doctor shrugged. “Sure. It’s been a few hours since she passed out from exhaustion. Though, I should warn you, she’s more than a little… uh, snippy. I don’t blame her, mind you. But, still…”
Adrian nodded, looking to Camila and Julia, who both nodded. Exhaling, Adrian opened the door as the rest of them followed suit. When he walked inside, Adrian saw Luz sitting up and reading something. He got a glimpse of the cover, the book in question being The Good Witch Azura. He remembered giving the same book to his five-year-old daughter for her birthday two weeks ago.
“Luz Noceda? Am I bothering you right now?” Adrian spoke up, standing in the doorway with Camila and Julia behind him. Luz looked up from her book and stared at Adrian. There was a bout of silence for a few seconds, before finally, Luz spoke up.
“Who’re you?”
“My name is Adrian Rogers. I’m Maxwell’s replacement until the next election. I wished to speak to you if that’s alright?”
“Am I in trouble?” Luz asked as Adrian shook his head.
“No, you’re not. As far as both the local and federal Government is concerned, what happened at that death camp was a horrible accident. While tremendous life was lost, the only person who we can blame is Maxwell, who is deceased.”
Luz blinked, shock written all over her face as she stared at Adrian. “He’s dead?”
“Yes. He was found dead this morning in his prison cell by a pair of guards. Somehow, he was poisoned, despite no one being able to access his cell aside from the guards, who were already at home by the time he was killed,” Adrian answered as Luz cursed her breath, her shoulders slumped and eyebrows knit.
“I wanted him to be punished for what he did, not killed…” Luz grumbled as Adrian nodded.
“As did we, but that’s in the past, and there’s nothing we can do about it now,” Adrian said, clearing his throat. “Luz. I wish to give a formal apology for what happened at that camp. What happened to you and your peers there… it was a violation of human rights, and the fact that it was allowed to happen at all is stomach-churning. I offer my sincerest apologies.”
“Alright. What else? You have that look in your eye that tells me there’s more here,” Luz said, closing her book and putting it in her lap as she leaned against the bedrest, arms crossed.
“You’d be correct. You see, Luz. While we’d know how much you’d more than likely love to get back to your normal everyday life, as you’d assume, that’s not possible,” Adrian answered as Luz raised an eyebrow.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that, for you, returning to your life as normal is impossible. Both because, let’s face it, you’re not what the public would deem “normal” anymore, and second all, because of what you did. While you’re exempt from any legal punishment, that doesn’t mean you can walk away completely unscathed from what you’ve done,” Adrian explained as Luz narrowed her eyes.
Before she could say anything, behind Adrian, Camila gasped, which caught Luz’s attention. “Is my mother behind you?”
“Yes, she is. But they can wait,” Adrian answered as Luz sighed.
“Excuse you?!” Camila shouted before Adrian looked over his shoulder. “What do you think you’re—”
“Ma’am, I’d ask you to be quiet for a few moments. I am not finished explaining. Before either of you freak out, please listen to me,” Adrian said, his tone of voice reassuring, before turning back to Luz. “Can I continue?”
“Yeah, whatever. What’s my punishment, then? If it isn’t prison time, then what else can the government come up with? They’ve already screwed me over with this, so how much worse can it get?” Luz snarked as Adrian sighed, a disappointed look on his face.
“We’re not screwing you over, Luz. As a matter of fact, we’re trying to right our wrongs. What I’m about to offer you is a once-in-a-lifetime deal, so I want you to pay attention, alright?” Adrian cleared his throat, adjusting his tie as he gained a serious expression, dropping the informal one he had on before. “Luz Noceda. How would you like to become America’s very first superhero?”
If Luz could spittake, she would’ve. As would Camila, while Julia balked at the notion. It was probably the most insane thing that she had heard that day. “You… want me to what?”
“Do you want to become America’s very first superhero? Of course, payment will be discussed should you agree, starting at $10,000 an hour. We also have plans to ask the other two survivors this same question. The idea is to put you three on a team, and—”
“Wait a minute, survivors? But… everyone’s dead?” Luz said as Adrian stepped to the right, unblocking the entrance to the room. As soon as he did, Both Camila and Julia entered the room. Camila was smiling, happy to see Luz again, but she wasn’t focused on her mother. She was focused on Julia, who, without warning, smothered her in a hug faster than she could say or do anything.
Luz didn’t know what to do. She was too shocked to do anything. Julia was dead. She had been killed. So why was she here? How was she here? It made no sense. Yet, here she was, in the flesh. The only thing she could do was accept it, and frankly? She wasn’t going to complain even remotely. Wordlessly, she embraced Julia, confusion turning into pain as she held back tears. But, when Julia began to sniffle, and when she started to cry, the dam broke, and Luz began to bawl.
For everything that had happened, for what could’ve been, and for what was to come in the future. All the pain that they had endured and somehow survived.
Neither of them should’ve been put into the situation that they had. Hell, one of them died because of it, and yet somehow Julia was alive—how, was an entirely different story, though Luz had to guess that Shigaraki was somehow behind it.
Not that Luz cared.
Julia was alive. That’s all that mattered to her, was that the person who she grew to care about the most was alive.
Camila, for her part, stared at the two as Adrian cleared his throat, sparing her a glance. “I think we should leave them be for a while. We can discuss the specifics of my offer if you wish?” Adrian suggested as Camila silently nodded, the pair stepping out of the room. Besides, they had much to discuss anyway. There was no need to get between those two, especially with what had recently happened.
All Governor Rogers hoped for was that they would accept. After all, crime had taken a massive uptick in recent days, and regular police couldn’t do much about it due to the ones perpetrating it. Now, more than ever, people like Luz were needed to fight back against the ensuing number of attacks of superhuman criminals, which the public was now starting to call “Super Villains” as cheesy as that was.
But, if Luz, Julia, and Emelia agreed to become America’s first superhero team, then maybe things would go back to normal, if only slightly. Obviously, superpowers were going to be a regular thing from there on out, but at least things could only go up from here.
Right?
[XXXX]
“Thank you all for coming to service today, have a wonderful weekend!” Pastor Domenico called out as people began to leave the church. He had heard the good news that the corrupt sect of the military had been detained and or killed and that Governor Rodger Maxwell had been found dead in his prison cell. Although, there was also a heap of bad news.
For starters, most of the children who went to the camp were killed in some horrific accident. Any information regarding what happened was being scrubbed off every site, every news source, and everything you could think of spreading the news of a situation. The only people who were told were the parents, and even then, the perpetrator behind the deaths was kept heavily under wraps, which made him think it was one of the children.
It was a shame if that had been the case, but it was the most obvious outcome. After all, given the situation and the emotions in that area, if one of the kids snapped and went on a killing spree, he would not be surprised. Upset, but not surprised.
The only survivors from the event were Julia Scotsman Delmisso, which proved to Domenico that Tyler finally did the only good thing in his life and gave his daughter away to someone who would actually care for her, Luz Noceda, and Emelia Worstoch. The rest perished in the onslaught.
He found out due to his involvement in suing Maxwell, who as mentioned was dead, and even he wasn’t given all the information.
Domenico stood at the lectern of his church, watching the final person leave the church, only for someone to brush past them. They were fairly tall, easily three to four heads taller than him. They were a woman which was easy to tell due to their chest being pronounced, even under the black hoodie that they were wearing. They were also wearing a pair of black pants and black boots and their hands in their pockets.
Underneath the hood, Domenico could see that they were darker skinned and that they had a black eyepatch covering their right eye. Tufts of orange hair stuck out from the edge of the hood, and the one eye that wasn’t covered by an eyepatch was an almost soulless black eye, paired with the scowl on her face….
“Can I help you, ma’am?” Domenico questioned, raising an eyebrow as he stepped aside from the lectern. The woman didn’t answer and instead continued walking forward. Domenico began to sweat, taking a step back. The air became tight with trepidation, as finally, the woman was standing next to him, shoulder to shoulder.
“I—”
“Tyler sends his regards.”
Before Domenico could say anything, the woman placed a gloved hand on his shoulder, and before he could scream, orange-glowing cracks appeared all over his body. Fire spewed out of his mouth, along with blood pouring out from the corners of his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears, before he fell to the ground, dead.
The woman stared down at the corpse of the old man, frowning. His body smouldered, and as the glowing cracks faded and became regular cracks the seeped blood. The woman pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her hoodie pocket along with a lighter, pulled it out, and lit the cigarette. This job was almost too easy. There was no resistance, no nothing.
It felt hollow and empty. But, a million dollars was a million dollars. She wasn’t going to complain about it. Just one more body to add to the list of dead people racked up in her time as an assassin for The Witch Hunters Association.
“Oi, Bombardier! Is the job done or what? Please tell me it isn’t, ‘cause I’on wanted to smack that old man around for a little bit for inconveniencing the boss.”
“Oh, shut up, Phosphorous. You knew that it would’ve been over the moment I touched him. Tell the boss the old man is dead, and that we won’t have to worry about him saying anything,” Bombardier said, before looking down at Domenico’s corpse again, her frown turning into a scowl. “It’s a shame. He was one of the only good men left in this backwater sh*t town.”
“Bah! Who cares! This whole world’s going down the sh*tter. Might as well drag the old folks to their final resting place, right?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Bombardier muttered, taking a drag out of her cigarette before taping the ash off onto Domenico’s corpse. “At least the police are in Tyler’s pocket. Should I blow up the rest of the church, too?”
“Nah, keep it up. As the boss would say “It’s a place of worship, so it’s sacred. We can’t destroy what’s sacred if we’re meant to uphold it” or some other bullsh*t like that.”
Bombardier grunted, before going over to the back door to leave the scene of the crime. When she did, she was met with a massive black bear staring her down. She frowned, patting it on the head as it grumbled, huffing. “Sure, whatever Baba Yaga.”
The black bear, Baba Yaga, lowered its head to the ground, allowing Bombardier to climb atop its back. Baba Yaga huffed, licking its lips together as Bombardier giggled. “Yes, I know you like my baking. You’ll have more brownies when we get home.”
With that, Baba Yaga roared and rushed off through the woods. Phosphorous chuckled through the earpiece. “You two always crack me up. Transporter still thinks yer dating the interdimensional freakazoid.”
“And so what if we are?”
“Doesn’t she look like a kid?”
“She’s short, Phosphorus. She’s not a kid. She’s got the eye bags and the chin to prove it,” Bombardier retorted, earning a huff from Phosphorous cackled again. Baba Yaga growled as she ducked through tree after tree. “I know, I think he’s a dickhe*d, too.”
“What?!”
After a few seconds of silence, Bombardier and Phosphorous laughed while Baba Yaga chuffed in an attempt to laugh.
A man was dead, and they were laughing.
Then again, what was there to expect from Villains?
Nothing. One would expect nothing.
And in this twisted, disturbing world full of malice, hate, and death, what else was there to be had but misery and suffering? To be betrayed by the community around you, and to die alone without anyone to comfort you in your final moments?
But, there is always a silver lining.
That silver lining, however, would have to wait. For now, this story; the story about a summer camp turned living nightmare is over, and a new chapter would begin.
This is my story. A story of a broken human given a broken power, and the fallout of that.
Stay tuned for more.
-Season One – Complete-
[Ending Song: Life – By: Rude-a]
Chapter 14: Season 2 - Episode 1: All For You? Or, All For Me?
Notes:
Welcome to “Season 2” of All For Luz – Redux. For all of you old readers, if any of you remember the original “Season 2”, which I would be shocked if you had, then you’ll recall that it only had ten “episodes.” This, however, will have more than ten “episodes.” Especially given how much I want to cover in it.
At the minimum, we’ll have three full-length arcs, each with five or more parts to them. This is technically the prologue to “Season 2,” so it’s kind of its own stand-alone story arc in one chapter. Just like how Season 1’s first “episode” was. I know a few people weren’t happy with how I ended the last “episode” of “Season 1.” It’s a massive change from the original, but it lets me be more creative with how “Season 2” progresses and develops.
Just to put this out of the way for all of you old readers. Put everything you remember about All For Luz’s original “Season 2” into a cupboard somewhere. It is entirely irrelevant to the remake’s “Season 2.”
With that being said, let’s get right into it!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
[Opening Song: Bokurano – By: Eve]
[All For You? Or, All For Me?]
“C’mon, step on it!” A loud, rough voice echoed from one of the streets of Gravesfield closest to the town’s bank. There was a clear sense of urgency in the tone of the voice, which, given what the voice’s originator had been up to made a lot of sense.
The person who had just shouted moments ago was a large man dressed in all black with a ski mask. The man shoved a blue-dyed-haired girl into the back of the car, which had been the escape vehicle for the man. He had a gun in his hand, though notably, it wasn’t pointed at the girl. The girl in question was dressed in a white sweater and black jeans with a pair of runners on her feet, her face completely uncovered.
While most people in this situation would be sweating bullets and scared out of their minds, the girl was strangely calm. She was not concerned for her well-being, nor was she at all afraid that the man with the gun would hurt her.
A few seconds later, a far larger man than the previous one, the same one who had shoved the girl into the car, hopped into the driver's seat of the vehicle, which was a black 1997 Ford Sudan. He, much like his accomplice, was dressed in all black with a ski mask. “Then get the f*ck in, you dolt!” The other man said, his voice notably more aged than the first man, who narrowed his eyes at the other man.
“I’m already in the car, idiot! So, step on it, f*cktard! Before the coppers show up!” The younger of the two robbers shouted back as the girl sighed.
“Both of you are idiots,” the girl mumbled as the younger robber scoffed.
“Oh, sure, look who’s talking! You’re the one who tripped the security system, Jackie!”
“f*ck off, Jake!”
“Both of you be quiet!” The driver growled, stepping on the gas pedal as the car’s engine revved. Smoke plummed out of the exhaust, and in a burst of speed, the car took off. Jackie gripped onto the side's pull-down support, as did Jake, who was cackling.
“f*ck yeah! That was probably the most money we’ve ever made in a day! f*ck Monty’s Construction Company! We just made off with $20,000,000!” Jake boasted as the driver glanced in the rearview mirror.
“We haven’t made it out of the clear just yet! We’ve got coppers on our asses!” The driver said as Jake cursed under his breath.
“Already!? sh*t! Jackie, it’s your turn!”
“On it!” Jackie said, rolling down the window, sticking her head and arm out. Narrowing her auburn eyes, which promptly began to glow green. As soon as that happened, a green aura formed over the centermost squad car in the group of three that was chasing after them, sirens blaring and echoing out in the streets of the usually quiet and sleepy town.
The officers in the car tried to wrestle for control of the vehicle, but as it began to levitate off the ground, they had already lost the battle. Sweat began to pour off the sides of Jackie’s head, as, with the wave of a hand, she threw the squad car into the one on the right, the two colliding instantly as Jackie gave out, her eyes returning to normal as she slinked back into the car, turning away from the police vehicles.
A massive explosion erupted from the two cars colliding, which caused the one on the right to swerve into a fire hydrant, indenting the hood and forcing it to come to a sudden stop, giving the group of three a chance to get further away before back-up arrived. Jake whooped and hollered, as Jackie smiled, wiping the sweat off her forehead. “HELL YEAH! THAT WAS AWESOME!” Jake exclaimed, causing Jackie to blush with embarrassment.
“C’mon, Jake, it wasn’t that cool,” Jackie muttered as Jake ruffled her hair.
“Hell yeah, it was! Thanks to you, we’ve made it off like millionaires! You’re the best little sister ever!” Jake proclaimed as Jackie’s smile widened. Ever since she awoke her power, Psychokinesis, she had been trying to think of ways to support her family. Now, she found a way, and while it wasn’t exactly the most legal way, everyone was doing crime nowadays. Be it petty theft, or something more.
In the two short months that superpowers became a widespread thing, life had spiralled out of control. Widespread crime had begun to pop up across the country, and the police forces country-wide had been unable to stop most of it. Most of her friends had turned to a life of crime, and none of them had been caught.
It had become clear to everyone. Those with powers were superior to those without, and it caused riots in the streets. Some of them were even joined by the police and other members of law enforcement.
It was a scary thing to see, with the current President backing these protests. Every day, it became more and more dangerous to be someone with a superpower. But, because her people, who had been labelled as Super Humans, had superpowers, any protest was met with a counter-protest that was not only twice as large but twice as fearsome.
More and more children were being born with superpowers. Conspiracy theories popped up, and tons of hate began piling onto her people. Be it the religious folk calling them demon spawn, or the Neo-Nazis calling them freaks that should be purged, every and all group of extremists viewed her people as a threat.
On the other side of things, extremists on the side of the superhumans believed the opposite. It was all “might makes right” and “powerless people should be powerless, period” or “we’ve evolved, so everyone else should get with the program” or something along those lines.
Personally, Jackie was on neither side. She just wanted to live her life the way she wanted, and if it meant robbing banks to support her family, so be it. This had been their biggest haul yet, which wasn’t saying much seeing as this was only their second. They just needed to get to their drop-off spot, and they’d be home-free!
As their car zoomed past, however, a security camera hooked up to a powerline turned and honed in on the car, the lens zooming in as the camera’s lens glinted in the sunlight. In a dark room, surrounded by over a dozen monitors, a pale blonde-haired woman sat in a custom hot-pink gamer chair. She was dressed in a zip-up black body suit that accentuated every curve of her body, which had been the point behind it. After all, she had been the one to design the suit.
As the only adult a part of the makeshift team that she was all but forced to join, she wanted to take advantage of the whole thing. Over her eyes was an Augmented Reality Headset, which was connected to every camera in Connecticut. While only twelve could be active at a time, it was the best they could do. Until the technology developed, that was.
“I’ve got a lock on the perpetrators!” The woman said into a microphone with a German accent, as, atop an ice cream parlour, a fair-skinned golden blonde-haired teen crouched atop the ledge of the roof. She was dressed in a white jacket with a pink feather coat resting atop its shoulders, along with a black corset underneath the outfit with another thin layer of white clothing underneath the corset to cover any potential cleavage that others could see. The outfit was completed with a pair of leopard print pants and black and red slip-on runners.
Overtop her eyes was a pair of bright red pilot goggles with bronze frames, and she wore a scowl on her face. It was far too early to deal with things like this. She had only just woken up about an hour ago, and this was the first thing she had to deal with. A couple of thugs robbing a bank?
Regardless of her thoughts on the matter, she had no real choice but to roll with it. She was getting paid to do this, not that they needed the money, but still. With a sigh, the teen stood up to her full height, putting a finger on her earpiece. “Where at, Beholder?”
“They're a block away from your location, Flamingo! You ready to get them?”
“As long as Luzura is ready to deal with the actual criminals. You know I suck in a fight,” Flamingo replied as another voice crackled through the comm link.
“Don’t you worry about it! I’m tailing them from the shadows right now. They haven’t spotted me yet. Just get the trap ready before they make it to where you’re at!”
“Roger that, Captain!” Flamingo said, before putting all ten fingers together in a pyramid. Narrowing her eyes underneath her goggles, she waited for just the right moment. She could do this. They were counting on her to spring this trap. She had done it time and time again. She wouldn’t fail. She couldn’t fail.
Her breathing began to pick up pace, but she was able to keep calm. A few seconds later, a black Sudan going well over the speed limit turned the corner. From a distance, she could spot a man in a ski mask driving the car, which gave it away that they were the perpetrators. As soon as she spotted them, she split her fingers apart from one another as a hexagonal net formed out of heavily condensed string formed out of her fingers.
One second, the black car was speeding down the straight away, with nothing blocking their path. In the next, Flamingo shot out the small net from her fingers and made it cover the whole straight away on both sides of the street.
“sh*t!” The driver exclaimed as Jake and Jackie stared in disbelief at the massive net cast in front of them.
“What the hell is that?!” Jake exclaimed as the driver slammed on the brakes, turning the vehicle sharply left to pull off a u-turn, knocking around Jackie and Jake in the back of the car, neither of which were wearing their seat belts. The car came to a sudden stop, tipping over slightly, before slamming into the ground.
“Is it true? The rumours?” Jackie thought, sweat falling down the side of her face as Jake threw the car's rear passenger door open, gun in hand as he pointed it every which way to try and find who created the net. In the blink of an eye, the gun was snatched out of his hands by a small glob of string, which scooped it up and pulled it toward the roof of the ice cream parlour nearby.
“What the—” Before Jake could finish that sentence, a massive tree-trunk-sized blue dragon made entirely out of energy slammed into Jake’s stomach and shoved him into the wall of string, causing him to bounce off of it and into the ground, convulsing in pain. The energy dragon then turned around and wrapped around the Black Sudan tight enough to keep it in place and lift it off the ground.
“JACKIE! DO SOMETHING!” The driver exclaimed as Jackie panicked, her heart pounding against her chest as she looked out the windshield of the car. On the ground in front of the car was a tan-skinned girl just about her age, maybe a year older, dressed in a white slightly baggy body suit with black gloves that covered up to her elbows, and boots that went past her ankles.
Around the neck of the suit was a purple angular heart-shaped design that stopped just above the teen’s chest with a golden jewel just above the sternum. On her shoulders was a clip-on red cape that stopped just behind her knees.
The teen had purplish black hair with spots of white dotted about the place, and yellowish brown eyes. She had a large thunderbolt-like scar going over her right eye, and on her forehead was a golden headband that read Luzura engraved in the center. The teen, who was apparently named Luzura, had a wide toothy smile on her face that oozed both menace and, oddly enough, safety.
“You gonna give up?” Luzura asked as Jackie swallowed. The driver turned to face her, eyes wide. Frankly, Jackie wasn’t stupid enough to try and tussle with the likes of the girl in front of the car. Especially if the girl was what she thought she was.
“Jackie?! What the f*ck’s going on?!” The driver exclaimed as Jackie began to shake, fear coating her features as she shrunk into herself.
“T-The rumours…! T-Their true! D-Dad, she’s a Hero! W-We’re screwed!” Jackie stuttered as the driver looked out the windshield, sighing as he raised his hands. With that, the car was lowered back to the ground, the energy dragon slinking away back into Luzura’s shoulders as several police cars came around the corner.
Luzura, otherwise known to those close to her as Luz Noceda, stood in front of the car as Flamingo, otherwise known as Julia Scotsman Delmisso, or Julie for short, came down from the ice cream parlour rooftop. At the same time, one of the police cars pulled up next to the pair, who high-fived one another. Luz turned to look at the window as it pulled down.
A man in his late 40s and balding with chocolate brown eyes stared at her with narrowed eyes, a frown on his face as he slung an arm out of the window and over the rim of the window sill. “Still playing dress up, Noceda?” The man grumbled as Luz shrugged.
“It pays good, and besides, if we didn’t show up these guys would’ve gotten away. Again,” Luz pointed out as the man’s frown turned to a scowl.
“We had it handled. We didn’t need the likes of you to show up,” the man continued as Luz crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. Just as she was about to say something, Julia put a hand on Luz’s shoulder and shook her head, signalling her to back off, before speaking up herself.
“With all due respect, Sheriff Johnson, Jackie Wilson, the girl in the back of the car, had a Psychokinesis ability. We saw what it was able to do, and from the looks of things, they were going to get away before you caught up to them. The least you can do is agree with that,” Julia noted as Sheriff Johnson rolled his eyes, but grumbled in agreement.
“Fine, fine. You got me there,” he said, glancing up at the camera. “What about your German friend there? What the hell did she do? We pay our hard-earned tax-payer money for you twerps and yet one of ya ain’t even out in the field!”
“For your information, Sheriff,” Luz began, getting his attention as she spoke. “Her power isn’t a combative one. She plays the support role of helping us locate where the criminals will be ahead of time. Without Beholder, we wouldn’t be able to catch nearly as many criminals as we do in a day.”
“Fine! Whatever! Just get rid of that string blockade already!” The Sheriff spat, rolling up his window as Julia waved her hand away at the string, causing it all to fall away and dissolve to the ground. The Sheriff’s car sped off a few moments after, blowing exhaust in Luz’s face as she coughed.
“Jerk!” Luz called out as Julia sighed in disappointment. As the Sheriff drove off, another police officer walked up to the pair, a frown on his face.
“I’m sorry for the Sheriff,” the officer said, rubbing the back of his neck. “He’s been stressed out of his mind. Especially after he lost his nephew at that camp…”
Luz fidgeted. That was her fault, wasn’t it? “Oh well, he shouldn’t have tried to kill me, then…” Luz thought, pushing the thought away before nodding. “Yeah, I know. I was there. I saw it happen. We might not’ve been friends, but he didn’t deserve to die.”
Julia eyed her with a raised eyebrow, which Luz met with a glance that all but told her to be quiet. The last thing Luz wanted was for her public image to be marred. There were already tons of theories about how she had as many powers as she had, coupled with the fact that she was one of the survivors of that awful camp. The last thing she needed was someone telling the whole truth.
As far as the public was concerned, the reason for her extraordinary power was that her power allowed her to absorb the souls of those who had died around her, and use their abilities as if they were her own. They even changed the name of her power from All For One to Power Vacuum to keep up the public image—even if Shigaraki had complained about it.
“I know you probably hate being reminded of that, so let’s switch topics,” the officer said as Luz and Julia turned to fully face the man. He looked to be around his early 20s. He was dressed in what one would assume a police officer would be dressed in—the blue uniform that most police were known for. The only thing he was missing was the hat, which revealed slicked-back black hair. “God. To think that there are real, honest-to-the-lord superheroes now…. Seriously, thank you for your help today. We might not have caught these guys if it wasn’t for you two.”
“It’s not a problem,” Julia said, smiling. “It’s our job to do this. Although, if we can make a suggestion, point that girl you just arrested in the Governor’s direction. Her power, if trained well, could be a perfect addition to the team we’re building.”
“I’ll make sure to do that,” the officer replied, grabbing the walkie-talkie on his shoulder and speaking into it. Luz tuned out what he said as Beholder, otherwise known as Emelia Worstoch, spoke in her ear.
“Guys, I’ve gone blind. Head back to base. I overused my power, again. Luz, can you get your mom to heal me?”
“Roger that,” Luz replied, a tad bit annoyed. It could’ve been worse, she supposed. However, thanks to the two months' worth of training that they received thanks to the Governor, Emelia could use her power three times in both eyes before going completely blind. Similarly, Julia could create bigger and bigger string structures without having to devour half a fridge after the fact.
As for Luz, she was fairly certain her limit had increased from ten powers to fifteen. She had considered heading back to grab some of the powers from that corpse she had dumped her old powers into, but chances were that it was long gone. Which sucked, because Julia’s original power was in there. She’d contact the hospital just in case, though she doubted it was still there.
“Well, that should be all, yeah?” Luz asked the officer as he nodded.
“Yup. We can handle it from here. Thanks for your help, uh… Luzura and Flamingo, right?” The officer asked as the pair nodded. The officer chuckled, glancing over at the camera. “Oh, and, uh, Beholder, right? I know they aren’t here, but tell them that the police station sends their thanks.”
“We will do that, officer. Thank you for your service to our town,” Julia thanked, outstretching her hand for a handshake, which the officer quickly accepted. Afterward, they went their separate ways. Julia yawned, stretching her arms behind the back of her head before slumping forward. “I would use those string clones if it wasn’t for the fact that they disappeared after ten minutes. That way I could get some more sleep…”
“Well, I don’t need to sleep thanks to Stamina Negation, so I guess I can’t relate,” Luz replied as Julia frowned, giving her a noogie, making Luz giggle. “Okay! okay! I’m sorry!”
“Don’t rub in your anti-sleep power, jerk…” Julia mumbled. “You owe me extra cuddles today just for that…”
“Whatever you say, Jules,” Luz said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as she smiled. Both Luz and Julia had been dating ever since that proposed movie date, and Luz had to admit that it was probably the best thing that had happened to her. The second best thing to have happened to her was probably this whole hero gig. The last best thing to happen to her was her mother finally stopping drinking.
That didn’t mean everything was good, though. While her mother had apologized for what she had said to her the day before the event that almost cost her her life, while Luz wasn’t awkward around her mother anymore, things had gotten a lot more tense lately.
Not that it was her mother’s fault, mind you. Her mother had done nothing wrong since that day. As a matter of fact, she had been doing a bit too much to make amends—which, as far as Luz was concerned, she had already done and then some.
For starters, thanks to the handout they were given by the Government of $3,000,000, her mother had quit her old place of work and opened her own clinic in Waterbury, which was where they now lived for both convenience sake for work, and while Gravesfield had a special place in her heart, far too many horrible things had happened to her there to make her want to stay there.
The second thing that happened was that her mother had hired someone to be their, uh… butler? Maid? Servicer? Luz didn’t know what to call them, but they were someone she didn’t know, and maybe it was because of her paranoia thanks to that god-awful death trap, but she didn’t trust them. Not even in the slightest.
She believed their name was Vee or something like that. She had recently been fired from her job at an orphanage as a janitor for some reason or another that Vee wouldn’t elaborate on. If Luz had to guess, it more than likely had to do with their shapeshifting power and that her true form made her look like a weird cross of a fish, a slug, and a snake.
That was already weird, but then again, she guessed that some superpowers came with heavy alterations to one's appearance. She had seen a man with winds in between his arms recently, so it wasn’t a stretch to say that it was possible. But, what was weirder was that there was no string attached to Vee’s head, which would indicate that she had a power.
That was the main reason why she was suspicious of Vee. She hadn’t said anything about it, mind you, but it was something that she kept in mind. It was obvious that they were hiding something, and the last thing that Luz wanted was someone hiding something from her. The only reason Luz was referring to Vee as “they” instead of “he” or “she” was because they often switched between male and female appearances. Something about “testing the waters,” was what Vee had said when she had asked.
Not that it was a problem, mind you. It was just something that she often found herself correcting in her mind when it came to Vee as a person.
Then came what her mother’s explanation was for what she had said to her months ago. As was expected, she blamed the booze, which was stupid. There was a part of her who wanted to say those things, and it wasn’t just the booze—at least, Luz thought so anyway. Why she would whole-heartedly blame that was beyond her, but if that was the excuse she was running with, then so be it.
If this had been over a month ago, then she would’ve put her on blast about the issue. But, she had learned to forgive, but not necessarily forget. It would be a permanent stain on her reputation to Luz. The only time it would be a problem is if she suddenly decided to pick up the bottle again. Then she’d get angry at her.
In other news, Pastor Domenico Jacobson had been murdered in his Church around the same time that they had escaped the death camp that the previous Governor had set up. Both she and Julia were still in the hospital when his funeral happened, but needless to say, when the news got to Julia, it had thrown her into a depressive pit.
Thankfully, watching movies, snuggling, and overall doing things to distract her from what had happened had somewhat relieved that. But now, Julia was hellbent on figuring out who killed the Pastor. Luz couldn’t blame her, especially given the fact that he was like a surrogate father for her.
Or was it more appropriate to call him a surrogate grandfather?
Honestly, Luz didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. Not anymore. Not that he was dead and buried.
It was a shame because from what Luz had remembered about the man when her mother used to take her to Church, he had been a close friend to her father.
That was another thing. Her father.
Due to having moved away from where both herself and her mother would go to celebrate his death, they instead decided to start a new tradition. On the roof of the building they now lived in they had planted a small garden which they took care of, filled to the brim with all of his favourite flowers, vegetables, and fruits.
It wasn’t what they used to do, but it was better than nothing. That, and it was something that they could do all year round. Besides, Luz still planned to swing by Gravesfield to clean up his grave now and then. It would be disrespectful to let it rot. Dead or not, that grave was still a part of her family, and she wasn’t going to let it go by the wayside.
“I wonder what he’d think of me now?” Luz thought, before shoving the thought aside and looking over to Julia. “Alright, we should probably get going,” Luz said, reaching out to Julia, who took her hand. Crouching, Luz got down just low enough for Julia to climb atop her back and sit down with both of her legs draped over her shoulders.
Once Luz stood to full height, she activated Pyrokinesis and created a pair of flame wings out from below where Julia sat, making sure the fire was as cold as possible to ensure that Julia didn’t get burned.
With a single flap, she and Julia were airborne, blowing a cloud of dust and embers in her wake, and with a couple more flaps, they were high above the clouds, right in the sweet spot where the oxygen levels weren’t low to cause suffocation, but that they were still high enough in the sky to avoid jets and airplanes.
It had taken Luz a long time to practice flight with Pyrokinesis, but it was worth it. That, mixed with making sure the actual heat of the fire was low enough to where it didn’t burn anything too badly was another thing that she had taken a long time to practice with. It had been only recently that she had gotten it to this level of control to where Julia was freely able to sit on her back piggyback style without fear of getting burned.
Before that, she had taken a page out of Doflamingo’s book—which had been what her hero costume was based on—and swung from cloud to cloud to get from point A to point B. If there weren’t any clouds, then she’d make sticky string and swing around like Spiderman.
That aside, the few powers that Luz had been specifically training with had been Pyrokinesis and Energy Dragons, as they were the ones that needed to be most honed so as to not cause any unneeded collateral damage like at the camp when most of the forest had burned down.
She had gotten to the point with both of them that she didn’t feel as if she needed to train with them anymore. While she wasn’t a master at either of them, she knew how to use them, how to regulate them, and how to ensure that they didn’t cause too much damage.
As for her other powers, they didn’t require any training, because they were so simple to use. For example, Spear-like Fingers just turned her fingers into spears that she could shoot out in any direction she wanted so long as she was looking in that direction.
Training with Super Strength was easy, especially controlling said strength, as it was just a regular workout routine followed by guidance to not destroy everything she grabbed or touched. The rest were passive abilities that didn’t need to be trained.
Well, there was Forcefield Projection, but Luz couldn’t find a reason to keep it around. It wasn’t like she needed a forcefield. Not when her skin was as tough as quadruple-reinforced steel thanks to Kinetic Absorption or, in the event she did wind up somehow getting injured, she could just regenerate the damage with Super Regeneration. It also wasn’t like she could feel pain, either, thanks to Pain Nullification.
The only reason why she kept it around was because it was used to protect nearby civilians from falling debris or to protect Julia on the battlefield. Other than that, she hardly ever used them. She knew she could sling them back at others to reflect the damage that they absorbed, but it was far too risky. She couldn’t regulate the damage, so it oftentimes wasn’t worth using.
She was a hero. Not a vigilante who didn’t care about their surroundings.
Then there was the last power in her arsenal, Longevity. All it did was increase her lifespan from the projected 80 years that she had to live on the mortal coil to a whopping 232 years. It also slowed her physical aging, meaning when she turned 60, she’d look like she would be in her mid-20s. Shigaraki had noted that she could increase her lifespan by taking good care of her body, which was another prospect she had intended to use and abuse.
To put it frankly, Luz was scared to death of dying. She was pretty sure anyone and everyone had that opinion. No one wanted to die. Not prematurely, anyway. Luz was going to use all 232 years of her new lifespan, and that was final. It would’ve been 246, but she had already lived 14 years of her life. While the first 14 years had sucked, she had two centuries of life to look forward to.
“Two centuries… That’s a long time to be alive…”
As Luz thought that, she looked up to see Julia smiling and waving her hand through the clouds. They were fairly high up in the sky, just above the same altitude a plane would be, and they were going about just as fast as one. Usually, for a regular person, they would’ve been torn to shreds by the wind pressure. But, as she had found out, someone without power and someone with power was more physically resistant to bodily trauma.
For example, if she were to punch a regular human with half the strength that she would punch a superhuman with, they would not only go flying, but she’d more than likely punch a hole through them. But, a superhuman was more than able to survive being punched square in the chest by a full-power punch from her, them being knocked unconscious notwithstanding.
“How much longer till we get back to the tower?” Julia asked as Luz hummed.
“Probably another hour.”
“Okay.”
The tower in question was the new home that Luz, Julia, Emelia, her mother, and Vee lived in. It was given to them by the government to act as both a base of operations and as a home. There were several floors, the top of which was the hang-out lounge and where they planned everything. The floor below their living space was a gym, and the floor below that was a training room. The floor below the training room was where everyone slept.
Below that was a library, and below that was the room where Emelia was able to gain access to every camera in Connecticut. Then, of course, there was the foyer where people who needed to send in requests for help and or to try out for the team that they were building. No one had applied to the latter, but the former was rather busy.
In between Emelia’s workroom and the foyer were twenty floors worth of offices that they had rented out for local businesses. They charged $2,000 a month per office, which earned them some extra money when they weren’t constantly busy, though that was mostly never.
Petty crimes were usually handled by Julia and Emelia. Luz was only ever sent out when something big was happening, and that hadn’t happened since the bomb threat at Wendell L Cross School. She had been able to shield the explosion, absorbing all of the damage and the kinetic energy output from the blast. It was what had made her skin as tough as it was.
Then, there was Wrecker. Her first real, honest-to-life fight with a villain. Coincidently, it had been the day of her debut, which had been kind of perfect. It took place in Stamford, and a lot of the surrounding area had been destroyed, but by the end of it, Wrecker was killed in the fight. It was thanks to Kinetic Absorption that she had survived that fight and Super Regeneration. She had remembered her body breaking on more than one occasion in that fight.
Every day she thanked Stanley for his gift.
Every day she regretted that he had to die.
Every day she regretted that any of them had to die.
Even Kennedy.
For as much as she had hated them for what they did, after having been told the full picture by what was discovered by Governor Rogers, and now that she was in the correct headspace to think about what had really happened there, it made what she did look even less justified then she had originally thought.
Yes, she had every right to be angry about what they had done to both her and her team—her friends. Yes, a lot of it was self-defence. But she didn’t have to kill any of them. All she had to do was de-power them and move on. She blamed Shigaraki for influencing her to do that.
The only person there that she was glad had died was Amber. After all of the torment she had put her through and the lies she spread, mixed with everything else in between… To her at least, it was more than deserved.
Finally, after what felt like forever, they made it to their new residence, which Luz had taken to calling Beacon based on one of Julia’s favourite shows, RWBY. Luz wasn’t exactly a fan of it, but she liked the name, so it stuck. And considering just how tall the building was, and considering it looked like a Beacon poking into the sky, it made sense.
Landing on the porch of Julia’s bedroom, Julia hopped off Luz’s shoulders, before pecking her on the cheek and disappearing into her bedroom, closing the drapes, prompting Luz to head to the roof, which had a landing pad specifically built for her.
As her flame wings folded back into her body, waiting for her on the landing pad were her mother and Emelia, who had changed out of her Sensor Suit and into a white short-sleeve shirt with torn edges and black jeans with tears in the knees and lace-up ankle boots.
As for her mother, she had lost some weight, having taken to the gym on the 25th floor. She went from 230 lbs to a slimmer 180 lbs. She had also gained some muscle, more around her lower arms and core, and she had been relearning how to fence, as it was one of the things that she used to do growing up. Currently, she looked as if she had just finished a workout, what with her being dressed in a sports bra and a pair of yoga pants. Sweat had built up on her forehead, and she looked tired.
“Welcome back, Mija!” Camila greeted as Luz wrapped her arms around her in a hug, Camila doing the same before parting. Ever since her explanation, and after about a few weeks of distancing herself from her mother, they had gradually repaired their relationship, and things were back to before her mother had picked up the bottle all those months ago.
They were back to watching movies together, though this time with Julia included. They were back to playing games and having regular conversations again. They were back to being daughter and mother again, and she couldn’t have been happier.
Even better, Luz no longer had to go to school. Not only was she far too busy for that, but before she had agreed to become a hero, she was forced to take a General Education Exam. She passed it with flying colours, as she had been given a week to study for it, essentially allowing her to graduate a whole three years early.
Turns out, she wasn’t a total idiot. Shock of all shocks, who could’ve guessed that? She’d have to rub that one into Mr. Hickson’s ugly, placid, neckbeard of a face when she got the chance.
All in all, things were looking up.
But, in the back of her mind, she knew that this was too perfect. Maybe it was her paranoia doing all the thinking, but she couldn’t help but shake the feeling that something bad was right around the corner. Her life had basically turned into that of a comic book character, and right now, she had been coasting on all of the perks that came with being a superhero.
Luz was rich, she was famous, and she had everything that she could’ve asked for. But, she knew that the universe wasn’t going to let her have it this easy. Not after all the bullsh*t it had already put her through. Things might’ve been good now, but she knew they’d get worse. It always did.
Pushing that thought away, Luz turned to face Emelia, both of whom gave one another a high five. “Great job out there. If I wasn’t such a Hühnerscheiße, I would’ve joined you guys out in the field.”
“Yeah, but you’re more useful as our eye in the sky or eye on the streets, or… bah, whatever, you know what I mean,” Luz said, a half-hearted smile on her face as Emelia patted her on the shoulder.
“Yeah, I get it. C’mon, let’s get something to eat after you get changed. Unless you have plans with Julia?” Emelia asked as Luz blushed slightly. If there was one thing that she found annoying, it was that just mentioning having plans with her girlfriend—because whoa, that was a sentence—was enough to get her red-faced.
“I kinda promised her extra cuddles for making her wake up early…”
“Ha!” Emelia barked, shaking her head as Luz shrunk into herself. “Well, we all know she’s not a morning person. Not even after her third cup of coffee. I’ll let you get to it then. Just make sure you’re earpiece is good to go in case we get called out again. Crime never sleeps.”
“Unfortunately…” Luz groaned, chuckling under her breath. Once she had a shower and got changed, she would join Julia in her room to continue their binge of a new show that had caught her attention. Something called “Baki: The Grappler.” She saw it on Netflix and wanted to check it out with her, so that would be what they would do.
She just hoped nothing else would happen today, though, knowing her luck, this was probably just the beginning.
[XXXX]
“This just in! The recently introduced hero team, Beacon, who had made their debut just two months ago, just stopped a bank robbery in Gravesfield, Connecticut! Can you believe it, folks? We live in a time where superheroes are a reality, and frankly, I couldn’t be more excited! We’ll have more details after the break. But, until then, here’s the weather forecast for today—”
The sound of a TV shutting off echoed throughout the second floor of the Wittebane Megachurch located in the backend of Gravesfield, Connecticut. A man with a head of dark brown hair, golden yellow eyes, and slightly sunkissed skin sat in a recliner staring down the TV with a scowl. He was dressed in a Victorian-styled shirt with a frilled collar and cuffs, along with a pair of black pants held up by a black leather belt with a golden buckle.
The room he was in was the second floor’s study. Within the study, the walls were lined with bookshelves, all of which were filled with various versions of holy scripture and historical books recalling events of the past from various angles and sides—all translated into English, of course. The floor was made out of polished cedar wood, as was the stand that the flatscreen TV sat on.
Underneath the man’s favourite recliner chair was a brown bear pelt carpet, something he had hunted for and skinned himself when he was still in his mid-20s, and before he had married his wife. He was quite the proud man, both in himself and his abilities and with his current standing in life.
But, today, he was rather annoyed. Both with the world around him and with the fact he had let all of this snowball into what it was now.
“This is possibly the worst, if not the worst thing, that could’ve come from any of this…” Tyler Kirkman Wittebane drawled, pinching the bridge of his nose. He thought he had spread more than enough propaganda against these demons in human skin, and yet, here they were, becoming public celebrities.
This “Beacon” team was not the only superhero group in the country, much to his chagrin. There was another in Washington called “The Children Of Hope” and another in Texas that had begun to call themselves “Heroes Of Christ” which made him physically sick to think about.
Now, more than ever, he had begun to realize that humanity was slowly falling more toward sin than it had ever before. No matter how many cleanses he tried to fund, with the Federal Government more aware of these groups and militant “terrorist” cells he had been funding using false names and fake bank accounts, the more he began to realize that a more direct approach would be needed.
Hence why he had reformed The Witch Hunters Association under the false name of Marcus Black, and then was quick to publically denounce them when they began to do “acts of terror” as the media were calling it.
Acts of terror… What a joke! He was doing the work of the Christian God, their God, the God of all humanity, and they dared to call what he did and funded as “acts of terror?!” He was doing what was supposed to happen. He was saving souls from God's judgment and cleansing them of their sins. But, of course, the world had become more sensitive and pathetic. So, his actions were seen as disgusting and reprehensible.
It was precisely why he had that false messenger Domenico Jacobson killed all those months ago. God did not need someone who lied about the word of God saying he was His messenger. It was all a cruel and sad*stic joke.
Regardless, he needed to come up with something. Out of all of the “Hero” groups that had been popping up around America to wrangle in all of the pesky riffraff, Beacon was by far the most annoying. Especially given their leader, the ever-dangerous and powerful Luzura, otherwise known to him as Luz Noceda and her true power, All For One.
His benefactor had made it very clear to him that she needed to die. She would be the biggest threat to all of them if not stopped. Why that was, his benefactor would never say. All he would say would be vague sayings and mentions of feats of strength that the previous wielder of such a power had.
According to his benefactor, in the world where he resided, a whole mountain range was obliterated by someone who had been dubbed “The Interloper.” Tyler didn’t believe it at first until his benefactor showed him. That had been his kick in the arse he needed to realize just how brutal and dangerous these superpowered freaks were.
That even Demons and Witches feared them was saying something.
That their ruler, the supposed strongest man in all of their lands, which was terrifying enough given how Tyler had already viewed him as a threat, had been weaker than this supposed Interloper individual who had the exact same power as described to his benefactor as Luz Noceda.
That had lit a fire underneath Tyler. It had told him that, now more than ever, Luz Noceda needed to die. The question, though, was how? How to kill someone who could not only regenerate from any wound, had skin as tough as steel, and was powerful enough to level buildings—which yes, had been recorded due to her fight with a particularly nasty individual having gone by the name Wrecker.
Wrecker’s power had something to do with building constant energy by moving, which was why he had been able to dish out a lot of damage. This was during Luzura’s debut, and the cost of the fight had been a deadly one. Over 20 casualties thanks to collateral of the clash between the two superhumans, along with the destruction of the Trump Parc Tower located in Stamford.
Granted, most of the destruction was thanks to Wrecker, but still. The point held firm. Someone of that calibre was not one to go against lightly.
That was why deception needed to be used.
“You called for me, Boss?” The voice of one of his most prized agents, Bombardier, filled his ears as Tyler stood up from his recliner, before turning to face her.
She was dressed in a black varsity jacket with red sleeves and the number 19 stitched into the left corner of the jacket. The jacket was unbuttoned to reveal a black and white striped shirt underneath. The outfit was complete with a pair of black yoga pants and black lace-up combat boots.
Then, of course, she wore a golden cross necklace around her neck, and she had two golden ring earrings in her ears. She also had on an eyepatch over her right eye, and her ginger hair had been done up in a ponytail, kept in place by a black scrunchy.
“Why yes, I did. I was wondering if you could do something for me,” Tyler began as he picked up a wine glass that had been sitting on a table next to his chair. It was half full of Cherry Wine, his favourite. It was seven years aged and had been sitting in a barrel in his mansion’s basem*nt in Florida. “Have you been paying attention to the news at all?”
“I’ll be honest, not really? Been too busy with training my power as you requested me to do,” Bombardier replied, brushing a hand through her hair before adjusting her eyepatch.
“Well, at least you were doing something productive and not galavanting with your girlfriend,” Tyler spat, taking a sip of his wine. “Of which, mind you, I disapprove. Especially given—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know the spiel. You don’t need to recite it, Boss,” Bombardier interrupted, earning a scowl from Tyler. It was annoying when she interrupted him, but there wasn’t anything that he could do without irking the woman. Oh, sure, he was her boss, but she was a superhuman. Making them angry was like making a caged bear panic. One wrong move and you were dead.
“Very well. That aside, you didn’t answer my question. Would you be willing to do something for me?” Tyler asked as Bombardier sighed.
“Only if you pay me. I don’t work for free, and you know that. We had this argument before, and you know my stance. If you aren’t willing to do that, then forget it,” Bombardier answered as Tyler bit back the urge to lecture her. For the sake of his sanity, he chose not to.
“Very well. We’ll start at your minimum price of $50,000. If you manage to impress me, then I’ll bump it up to the standard $1,000,000. Is that fair to you?” Tyler asked as Bombardier smirked.
“You got it, boss. So, whaddya want?” She asked, stuffing one of her hands into her jacket pocket, whilst in the other one she held a pack of cigarettes. “You don’t mind me smoking in here, do ya?”
“Not at all,” Tyler said. He’d be more than a hypocrite if he was. After all, he often smoked his pipe in here, so if he had a problem with Bombardier smoking in his study, then she would more than likely call him out for it. With his permission granted, Bombardier pulled out a lighter and a cigarette, popped the cigarette in her mouth, then lit it.
She offered him one, which he had declined with a simple motion, prompting her to put it back into her jacket pocket. “To answer your question, Bombardier, I would like you to infiltrate Beacon and kill its leader.”
Bombardier blinked, taking the cigarette out of her mouth before she could even take a puff out of it, her jaw dropped slightly, before shaking her head and narrowing her eyes. “You want me to what?” She hissed.
“You heard me. I don’t need to repeat myself,” Tyler replied, taking another sip out of his wine. Just as she was about to open her mouth, clear anger in her eyes that Tyler picked up on immediately, he spoke up. “If you don’t want to, I can always have The Honoured One or Phosphorous do it. We both know that they’ll do it in a heartbeat. Besides, I heard you and Luzura were related. Wouldn’t it be nice to see your family again?”
“Only to f*cking kill them afterward!” Bombardier spat, glaring at Tyler, vitriol coating her every word as Tyler shrugged.
“Then how about we start at $1,000,000, and if you impress me, I’ll bump the payout to $30,000,000? Will that change your mind?” Tyler said as Bombardier faltered. Tyler smirked, taking another and final sip of his wine for the night, before putting his glass down back on the table.
“You see, Riley, I know how the human mind functions. Greed is a natural part of an individual, be they man or woman. It is why there is a lot of work needed to be put into cleansing such a sin from an individual before they can make their way to Heaven. You, Riley, are a very greedy person. Living in poverty, and now suddenly coming away with enough money to make you and your future bloodline as rich as possible. Why, what other person wouldn’t want prosperity for their family in the future?” Tyler began as he approached Riley.
“I know you’ll accept because anyone would drool at the idea of getting even $1,000,000. Why, I remember when I first hired you and said that was the minimum payout, you were so flustered that you lessened your worth by two whole decimal placements. You were humble back then. Back when you were just 19. But now, you’re 21 years old, and you’ve become a lot more accustomed to getting bigger sums of money. But $30,000,000 is an amount you’d only make in a year. Not in a single payout.”
Tyler placed a hand on Riley’s shoulder, causing her to shiver. “So? Will you do it? You and I both know that Luzura will only continue to be a thorn in our side. God forbid that she finds us out. If she does, then we can kiss our futures goodbye. Besides, aren’t you still trying to treat your mother's breast cancer? I heard it’s come back a thousand times worse, and cancer treatment is only getting more and more expensive.”
Riley’s eyes widened, as Tyler slipped his hand off of her shoulder and walked past her. As he walked away, he glanced over his shoulder and smirked. There was a gleam in his eye that almost made it seem like a skull was reflective in there. “I await your response. You have 24 hours till—”
“Alright! I’ll do it, for f*cksake!” Riley shouted as Tyler’s smirk turned into a toothy smile.
“Good girl,” Tyler hummed, which further made her shiver. “Well? What are you waiting for? I’ll book you a flight to Waterbury. You, my dear Bombardier, need to start packing. You’ve got quite a lot to work with on your plate if I do say so myself.”
The sound of a door closing echoed out from behind Riley Stewardson, who stared at her half-burned cigarette, before tapping it and letting the ash fall to the wooden floor, before promptly stomping it out before it caught on fire. Taking a drag out of her cigarette, Riley blew out a puff of smoke, looking up to the ceiling.
Today had been a good day until right this second. Millie was showing signs of finally getting used to “The Human Realm” as she called it—which was strange, even though she knew that Millie was a Witch from another dimension, but still—and they had planned to go on a walk in the park and enjoy the day.
Millie Ravenclaw, despite being twenty years her senior, had been one of the only people that had truly understood her. She was a sweetheart, and her sage wisdom had helped her time and time again and stopped her from making stupid mistake after stupid mistake.
But this time, Millie wouldn’t be able to help her.
This time, Riley had already made the dumb decision.
This time, Riley had to lay in the bed she made.
Taking the cigarette out of her mouth, before throwing it on the ground and putting it out, Riley made her way out of Tyler’s study, eyes narrowed with her head filled with self-loathing.
It’s just a job.
That’s all this was and all it would ever be.
It’s just a job.
She was going to visit her family whom she hadn’t seen in well over a decade.
It’s just a job.
She was going to reunite with Luz for the first time in a decade.
It’s just a job.
And she was going to kill her.
[-To Be Continued in – Beacon's of Hope, or Despair? – Part 1]
[Ending Song: Where Our Blue Is/ 青のすみか – By: Tatsuya Kitani]
Notes:
Originally, I was going to write a few more chapters to “Season 2” before posting this. But, because I’m nice, I’m going to post this now. I hope you all enjoyed, and I’ll see you in the next “episode.” Peace out!
Chapter 15: Season 2 - Episode 2: Beacon's of Hope, or Despair? - Part 1
Notes:
Before we get into the “episode”. Someone reminded me in my other fanfic that is Owl House-based that The Owl House, Gravity Falls, and Amphibia all share a universe. Just like that one, I won’t be including those other two series, namely because it takes away from what I want to do with All For Luz. Sorry if anyone wanted to see them interact.
Also, sorry again for the late upload. I’ve been working on my own original novel, which I’ve come up with the placeholder name of “The New World.” So expect less-than-frequent uploads.
Anyway, with that being said, let’s get into the next episode of All For Luz!
Chapter Text
[Opening Song: Bokurano – By: Eve]
[Beacon’s Of Hope, or Despair? – Part 1]
“So, let me get this straight. He’s making you do what?” A husky, rough-sounding yet feminine voice spoke out from an eight-floor penthouse apartment located on the outskirts of Gravesfield. It was early in the morning, with the sun’s rays just starting to peek out from a pair of blinds within a large bedroom. There was a queen-size canopy bed sitting against the rear wall with dark purple curtains, which were pushed to the side.
The floor of the bedroom was made entirely out of wood, with a white carpet atop it. Two dressers sat on either side of the room, and there sat a mirror in between the two dressers. Large windows that would normally overlook all of Gravesfield were covered with matching curtains to the canopy bed, and the walls of the room were made of cedar wood.
Sitting on the edge of the canopy bed was a short, red-haired woman, her hair reaching down to the tops of her shoulders styled in a ponytail. She had silver eyes and black sclera. The reason for the black sclera had to do with the fact that she was half Demon, which also explained the two horns poking out of her head and the forked tail.
The woman in question stood around 4’7 and was currently wearing a bathrobe. Why? Well, that was a private matter. It was also why Riley was currently in the shower, which had been attached to the already large and kitted-out bathroom, hidden behind a door.
“He’s making me go to Waterbury! It’s a few hours away from here, and it’s for a solo mission. Otherwise, I would’ve invited you to come with!” Riley called out from the bathroom, the sound of running water nearly drowning out her voice as the woman sighed, looking down at the floor as she kicked her legs back and forth.
“Well, that sucks. How long do you think the mission will take? ‘Cause if it’s longer than a week I’m gonna head back to The Boiling Isles for… I’d say a day or so here, and a couple hours there. ‘Sides, I need to catch up with an old friend from the war. We haven’t talked since… I think a few months ago. Which is a few weeks their time,” the woman said as the bathroom door creaked open, Riley sticking her head out, a medical bandage overtop her right eye.
“Uh… It’ll probably take a month if I’m lucky. Do whatever you want, Mills. I won’t be annoyed. Just check in every so often over the phone if you can,” Riley said, slipping back into the bathroom and closing the door. The woman, affectionally called Mills, hopped off the bed and walked over to one of the drawers to get changed into some clothing.
Back in the bathroom, Riley was slipping on a pair of black jeans and already had on a tanktop with a leather vest waiting for her folded up on the sink counter. The bathroom was a standard one with a box shower, a porcelain toilet and sink, a marble counter and a mirror with drawers to put away towels underneath the sink.
Her hair was wet, allowing it to reach down to the start of her back. She had brushed it and was planning to put it up into a bun rather than a ponytail. There was also a pair of gloves waiting for her, which was mandatory to wear around the house due to her power which she had playfully dubbed Bomb Touch.
Essentially, Bomb Touch was exactly as it sounded. It allowed Riley to turn whatever she touched into a bomb. But, there was a catch. The only way the bomb could explode would be so long as she felt some kind of extreme emotion toward that object and or individual, which usually wound up being hatred.
She remembered when she first found out what her power had been. It was a dark memory and one she didn’t like to relive.
For some context, Riley’s father, Stanley Stewardson, was a piece of sh*t. He was physically and verbally abusive to her mother and her brother, both of whom she hadn’t seen in well over six years. He was the same with her, too, but he also, on multiple occasions, sexually assaulted her.
It started when she was ten years old. Slight touching but it was nothing too heinous—though, all of it was, but this was the tamest it ever got. He said it was normal for a family to behave the way theirs did. Her mother never once tried to stop it. Steve, her older brother, attempted multiple times to stop him. It got him a beating every time, and Riley never knew why.
Well, now she did. But back then, she didn’t know why.
It got worse when she was eleven. Her father would take pictures of her in swimsuits and get her to pose provocatively to sell to others. This, along with the touching, had made her feel slightly uncomfortable, but she never said anything to anyone about it.
When she turned twelve, it got even worse. Her mother and her father had begun arguing a lot. The beatings got worse, and it drove Steve to run away. Where he ended up, Riley didn’t know. But it was a month after Manny had passed away, so regardless it didn’t really matter what the circ*mstances around the event were.
What mattered was what happened as a result of her mother and father arguing. Despite the troubles, they always slept together. But, until she turned sixteen, that wasn’t the case. Her father needed an outlet, and that outlet became her.
She refused to go into detail about what happened. But it was bad. Really, really, bad. When she turned seventeen, she had enough. During one of his many… attempts she remembered grabbing her father by the throat and trying to choke him out. The amount of rage and anger she had toward him was unrelenting.
She didn’t expect anything to come from it.
But then, her father's head exploded, and the resulting explosion horribly scarred the right side of her face, destroying her eye in the process. She was taken to the hospital when she was released, she was kicked out of their home. There was no warning, no chance to collect her stuff, no nothing. So, she was forced to live on the streets across Connecticut.
She never stayed in one place longer than a week, and she did what she needed to so she could survive. Be it robbing stores, banks, or whatever she could. Her power to blow things up with a simple touch made such a thing easier. Eventually, when she turned 19, Tyler found her and took her in as a part of his assassin group, The Witch Hunters.
Ever since then, she’s worked for them. It’d been two, nearing three years, and she’d killed a lot of people. Far too many people, but that didn’t matter. They were nobodies. Sure, they had lives, but she needed the money more. She needed it to live. To pay for her mother's cancer treatment. To make sure her mother got to live.
While she hated her mother to the very core of her being for allowing what her father did to her to happen, she wasn’t completely heartless. With her brother still missing, and with her mother being the only family she had left, she had to have something to connect her to her familial roots. Even if her mother sucked.
And because of that, she made a foolish decision.
She agreed to kill her cousin and destroy Beacon. All to continue to pump medicine and chemotherapy into a woman whom she hated. She was an idiot to think that she wouldn’t be put up to a task like this. She was a paid assassin for f*cksake.
It always came back to family, didn’t it?
It would be family that made her, and it would be family that broke her.
She was put between a rock and a hard place. She didn’t know what to do, other than to follow orders. Because at least with her, she knew to make it quick. God forbid Phosphorous decided to take an interest in the job.
She knew Phosphorous’s record. He was a serial killer and a rapist, and the oldest member of The Witch Hunters Association. He didn’t lead the group, thank God. But if he did, then it would’ve been a madhouse.
Phosphorous took sexual pleasure from killing his targets. He was very open about it, and while everyone tolerated it, no one liked it. They all played buddy-buddy with him because if they didn’t, they feared they would be next. The only one who didn’t give a sh*t was the leader of The Witch Hunters Association.
Or, well, the Figurehead. Tyler was the leader, but he typically funnelled commands through the Figurehead. That was why when he asked her about this job in person, she felt a little off about it. Something about it was personal, that much Riley knew. Otherwise, The Figurehead would’ve been the one to tell her about the job.
That aside, she feared the idea of Phosphorous wanting to take the job.
The things he would do to her cousin for the sheer sake of it…
She’d seen his handiwork. She’d seen all of the horrible, disgusting things he did to his victims. There were times she had to physically knock him out to get a job done and to put the people who he would torture, rape, and torture again for the sake of hearing them scream out of their misery.
For a split second, she pictured that monster looming over Luz, before immediately dismissing the thought.
No.
She would never let that happen to her.
And it was because of the threat that Phosphorous posed that she felt forced to take the job. Tyler didn’t care either way. That was why he allowed Phosphorous to “get creative” as he had dubbed it. Tyler didn’t care about what was done, so long as his target was killed.
There was one time that she had been on a job with Phosphorous. Their target was a young woman, freshly graduated, and the daughter of a powerful company that sought a lawsuit against The Wittebane Megachurch for one of the Youth Pastors having done some less than legal things to the woman’s father's son.
She remembered seeing the state that the young lady was left in. Alive, covered in “fluid” and deep gashes, crying and begging to be killed.
Riley did the only thing she could’ve done in that situation she had been in. She did what the young lady asked and put her out of her misery as painlessly as possible by destroying her brain and leaving her there, but not before cleaning the body and re-clothing her.
It was the least she could’ve done.
For weeks she couldn’t sleep after seeing what she saw. Phosphorous was more of a devil than a human, and whatever humanity he had before was stripped from him once he joined the WHA.
Riley didn’t know his backstory, nor did she care. All she knew was that he didn’t used to be like this. Apparently, according to the people who used to know him, he was a sweet guy. He was kind and looked after people who were down in the dumps. A really nice guy.
But then, he changed. He came home from some kind of camp and was changed. He was bloodthirsty, and he stopped caring about others. In fact, he was arrested for torturing and raping his crush, a girl named Stacey.
From Riley knew, she was paralyzed from the waist down after their encounter, and she lost function in her right arm and had to breathe through a respirator without suffocating.
He would’ve gone away for a long time, had Tyler not stepped in and said that “he’d take care of him” and because of his deep ties with the state and the police force in Connecticut, Phosphorous was allowed to essentially get away with his crimes.
Phosphorous was merciless, which was why he was Tyler’s favourite.
And it was exactly because he was merciless that she was scared to death by him going anywhere near Luz.
Yes, she was being sent to Beacon to kill Luz. But at least she’d just kill her and get it over and done with. Phosphorous? He…
No.
There was no describing what Phosphorous would’ve done. Riley didn’t even want to give that thought any attention. Phosphorous had no limits. Age didn’t affect him. He’d do what he would usually do, and have his way regardless of what anyone said.
He was a psychopath. A monster in human skin—and that was doing a disservice to actual monsters.
But, outside of him and Riley, who else would Tyler send? For as disgusting and as repulsive as Phosporous was, he had a sure-kill ability that worked regardless of others' powers. Same with Riley. All she needed was a touch and wham, a corpse.
The others, while powerful, were situational at best or pure support at worst. Transporters ability was to teleport people from one place to another, so that would do nothing. Mills had magic that couldn’t nor would it ever compete with Luz’s abilities. The only other people who she even considered to have the chance to take out Luz would be The Honoured One and the “Leader” of The WHA.
The Honoured One was off the table due to her Battle Lust, and the “Leader” was too busy dealing with Tyler and his more secretive needs. Transporter was support only, and Phosphorus was the nuclear option as far as Riley was concerned.
Which left her.
Because it always came down to her.
As Riley stepped out of the bathroom, she grabbed her phone off the side of the dresser and saw that a text message had been left for her. It was from one of Tyler’s many burner phones, and it mentioned something about her partner waiting for her outside the front of the building she was in.
“Partner?” Riley thought, narrowing her eyes as she pocketed her phone. “I thought this was a solo mission? I swear if Phosphorous is downstairs waiting for me…!” She’d have a meltdown. He would never be allowed even within a mile of her family. Even if she was assigned to kill her, she could at least spare her from that f*cking psycho.
Riley was already dressed and ready to go, so all she had to do was make it to the building entrance. Exiting her bedroom with her suitcase behind her, she walked down the hall that connected her shared bedroom to the rest of the suite and made her way to the front door of her home.
Speaking of her home, it was a fairly lavish one. Well, for as lavish as a suite could get. Top-of-the-line furniture and appliances, smooth granite counters in the kitchen and stainless steel sinks. Lights that all you had to do was clap to turn off—which she did to conserve on the electricity bill—and indoor waterfalls to keep the air damp and not stuffy.
Wooden floors that were laminated so that they couldn’t be scuffed. Carpets that were easy to clean and looked good. The best electronical devices money could buy, and to top it all off, a gorgeous view that overlooked all of Gravesfield.
Usually, Riley would stay a while to admire it, but she had a flight to catch. Not to mention she was a little worried about who her partner was. She just hoped it was The Honoured One or Transporter. That was her best bet.
Exiting her suite and making her way down the stairs as fast as she could, suitcase clacking and slamming down with her, in the time it took to pour a glass of water, Riley was already at the front entrance of her building. When she made it outside and scanned the area, looking for the person who was supposed to be her partner on this mission, she looked around for any familiar faces.
But found none.
What she found instead was the face of someone who she had only ever seen in group meetings. Someone who she never thought she would get to meet in person. Someone who she knew basically f*ck-all about.
That someone having been the Figurehead, or his codename, Golden Guard.
The person in question was a boy, maybe somewhere around 16 to 17 years old. He had ear-length long ashen-blond hair that was shaved at the top with a jagged forelock, with said ears being pointed like Mills’ ears. His eyes were crimson red, with a scar just underneath his right eye. One of his ears had a notch in it, and his expression was one of both calm and frustration. The latter wasn’t directed toward her, mind you, but to something else, it seemed.
He was dressed in a white tunic and black pants held up by a belt with an owl-face-themed buckle. Despite looking to be around fifteen, to maybe sixteen, he carried a far more aged air around him. The kind of air only a war veteran would have.
What Riley saw in those eyes was a disaster. Death. Pain and suffering. Some of which he committed and others that he had bore witness to. The eyes of a remorseful killer. The eyes of someone who hated their job but did it anyway to appease their boss.
Someone like her.
His physique was the next thing that caught her attention. He appeared scrawny, at least to the untrained eye. But she could see the muscle that he had. It was impressive for his age. He had the type of build someone would underestimate in a serious brawl. He looked weak, but there was a chance that he would kick your ass. Not could. Would.
He glanced at her, his neutral expression unchanging. He didn’t say a word, he just stared. He looked her up and down, before turning away from her. “Bombardier or I guess Riley Stewardson, seeing as we’re going undercover. Good to see you. For now, you can call me Hunter. Now, let’s get going. We’re going to be late.”
“W-Wait—”
“No. We’ll talk more once we get to Waterbury. I’ve gotten no sleep, and Dimension Lag isn’t doing me any favours. Move it.” He left no room for argument. So, with a sigh of annoyance, Riley followed after him as an airport cab pulled up to the sidewalk. She loaded her luggage into the back, as did Hunter. Once that was done, the two got themselves into the cab, and once they put on their seatbelts, the cab driver spoke.
“You’re ride has already been paid for. It’ll be 30 minutes before we get to the airport.”
“Thanks,” Hunter said, yawning as he did. “I’m closing my eyes for now. Riley, if I fall asleep, wake me up once we get to the airport.” As Hunter said that, he closed his eyes. The cab driver shrugged, turning to face the road. When they started moving, Riley crossed her arms.
She hadn’t expected to be paired with Hunter of all people. But, she was glad it was him and not the others.
Hunter, or Golden Guard, as he was known, was a bit of an anomaly. He was from The Other World as Tyler called it, but Tyler also mentioned how he was like them. How he had powers. Not a power, powers. She didn’t know how that was, nor did anyone know what those powers were. But, he was often seen wielding a sword made entirely out of light and nothing else.
What other powers he had under his belt, he kept to himself. For a moment, she thought that maybe he was like Luz, but after glancing at his palms and finding that they didn’t have holes in them, she was left even more confused.
Everyone at the Headquarters knew that Luz’s power to take and give powers was done through her hands. If Hunter had multiple powers, then how did he get them? No one asked, of course. No one really cared that much about it, but still, it was something that she was interested in.
Regardless of how it didn’t matter. Hunter was considered the strongest among them. Both because of the training he had under his belt, and the fact that after fighting among one another to see who would lead, Hunter was the clear and obvious winner, having dragged them through the mud with one of his powers, of which he dubbed Lightbringer.
That was the only power that she knew of regarding his self-noted four powers. He could control, manipulate, create, and turn into light. Any wounds he had he could turn into light and reform without having, and he was easily the fastest out of everyone there.
At first, when Hunter had said he was the fastest out of all of them, no one believed him. So, they put him to the test. They had set up a large flashlight and were going to test just how fast he was.
Transportor set up the flashlight, and counted down to three. When the countdown was finished, and when the flashlight was turned on, Hunter got to the wall before the light of the flashlight had without breaking a sweat. As a matter of fact, he reached the other side of the room far before the light of the flashlight even so much as made it past the glass.
Hunter even gave them a chance to redo the test, and each time, the result was the same. Hunter was, by all metrics, faster than light.
That meant that he was travelling faster than 671 million miles per hour.
What was even crazier was that, if he had truly been travelling faster than the speed of light, then that meant he must’ve practiced it a lot, because otherwise, the planet would’ve more than likely been ripped apart by the sheer speed and force that it would require to travel that fast.
However, there was also the fact that because Hunter was a being made of pure light he could’ve just been naturally that fast, and therefore had no need to practice having to control that kind of speed.
This brought into question just how strong Luz needed to be for Tyler to bring out someone like Hunter. Did he fear her that much? Or was it more of his way of saying that “they cannot fail this mission because you have Hunter with you.”
Riley was a smart person. Or at least, she’d like to think so. A part of Riley was confident now that Hunter was with her. But, there was the lingering idea that not even Hunter would be enough.
Not that Riley wanted to kill Luz, mind you.
It was just a job to her. It had to be because if she thought about it any longer she’d abandon it, and then that meant Tyler would send someone else.
She couldn’t allow that.
As the car pulled away from the building, and as Hunter snored quietly, Riley looked out the window with a frown.
Today and the next few weeks were going to suck.
[XXXX]
The chilling, downright disgusting air of the morgue was something that Luz knew she would never get used to. One would think that after she had been here more than once she’d have gotten used to the smell. Unfortunately, it wasn’t like that.
The smell of death was a special kind of order. It was the last remnants of a person, and it burned. That was why she wore a mask over the lower portion of her face when she came down here. Not only because she didn’t want to get sick, but because she didn’t want to smell rotted and feted corpses.
The morgue had become an all too familiar location for Luz. Every other day she’d come down here, and it had to do with an investigation that Beacon had been digging their claws into at the behest of the Federal Government.
Since this was a work-related meeting, Luz was dressed in her hero costume, just without the cape. There was no need to drag that thing around constantly. Not unless she was on duty actively patrolling to keep up with the public image.
As she walked down the long hallway, passing by the several dimly glowing red lights meant to keep the underground morgue warm, Luz couldn’t help but wonder what would greet her this time around. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, though, given that this was a morgue, and given the past month or so of these visits have turned up being even more disgusting than the last, she was less than optimistic.
“You aren’t going to like this one, Luzura,” the voice of Dr. Rodriquez filled her ears as Luz looked over to him, a nonchalance in her eyes.
“I never like looking at the corpses, Doctor, but all the same; How can this one be any different?” Luz asked as they turned the corner. Dr. Rodriquez said nothing, his eyes slightly narrowing as he frowned. That worried her. Dr. Rodriqueze was usually quite the talkative person, even in the most morbid of situations. But this was different, and she didn’t like it even one bit.
Her job as one of America’s first superheroes and leader of a hero team exposed her to the dirtier side of the world. Humanity had merit, and always would. But every day that merit got chipped away as she was exposed to the type of things that the police had to deal with daily.
Criminals with no regard for human life. Serial killers who murdered for the sake of their ego. Rapists who enjoyed hurting people in some of the worst ways imaginable. The less she spoke about those who did the above to children, the better. Those got a very special, very brutal treatment from her.
In many different ways, humanity was horrible. She got to witness firsthand the dark side of humanity—experience it thanks to the actions of one Rodger Maxwell. She knew full well just how bad humanity could be. Humans were not harmless, and they were most certainly not kind, regardless of one's outlook. Humanity, for all of its worth, was not to be taken lightly.
Which made it even more unfortunate that she shared oxygen with the people who would go out of their way and harm those who didn’t deserve it.
At fifteen years old, she had seen it all.
She had seen twisted corpses. She saw and met children who would never have their innocence again and listened to their stories so that she could find the perpetrator who wronged them. She had beaten many villains to near death on several occasions, all because of the crimes they had committed, so much so that it took Julia pulling her off of them to stop her from killing them…
If she could go back in time and prevent all of this from happening, she would.
Luz desired the old days. When she was essentially a shut-in. Hell, even before the Amber Incident, despite her opinions on that. To talk herself out of going to the lengths that she did, just so that she wouldn’t put her mother through the financial hell that dragged her back into the alcoholic depression she had gone through after her father died.
But, unfortunately, no matter how much she desired or wanted to go back in time, that was not how time worked. That was not how life worked. Even if superpowers were now a thing, that didn’t mean the laws of reality could be bent so frivolously.
Oh, yeah. She was fifteen now. As sad as it was to say, she nearly forgot.
Her birthday was today, August 17th, and she had plans with her mother to go out to the movies, but this had just come in, and she was told to go down to the morgue to confirm the death. Why her, she didn’t know.
Maybe she used to know this person?
Probably not, all things considered.
Dr. Rodriquez stopped at the door to the morgue proper and pushed it open. Before he let her walk in, he spoke. “When you walk in, Luz, I want you to try and keep calm. I know the last few bodies we’ve shown you have been rough, but this one… It’s bad.”
“Got it,” Luz said as she walked in, stepping past Rodriquez, and immediately stopped dead in her tracks. For a split second, she saw nothing but red as rage flowed through her body, but with an exhale, it faded away as she tried to push down everything in her body screaming at her to lash out.
The body on the table was a five-year-old child, gender undertimed due to their lower body covered for their remaining dignity—not that Luz particularly cared.
The first and more notable thing that she saw about the body was their face. Or, she guessed, lack thereof. She could see everything, and it made her want to puke, but for the sake of remaining professional, she also pushed that feeling down.
The next thing that she noticed was that there were small stubs on their upper shoulders that like the beginning of a pair of wings, had been forcibly removed. Their skin was covered in small cuts, and what looked like bruises. The kid didn’t die peacefully, that much was obvious.
Finally, there was the last thing that pointed to the culprit of the crime. Or, rather, culprits. There was a brand was put in the center of the child’s chest. One that she had become far too familiar with for the last month or so. It was a swastika, and it was seared right where their heart would be.
“It’s The Order again,” Dr. Rodriquez said curtly, the sound of the door closing shut behind them as his tone filled with disgust. Luz clenched her right hand into a fist as she visibly sneered. Of course, it was them. Because why wouldn’t it be?
For the last month, Beacon had been trying to track them down. But at every turn, The Order seemed to be one step ahead of them. Every week, they would kill someone, and deliver the body to the hospital’s doorstep. Each of them is more gruesome than the last. All to taunt Beacon into saying “You still haven’t caught us, so when will you?”
So, as she had expected, this was from The Order. What she hadn’t expected was for them to stoop as low as to kill a child. But given that they were a neo-nazi group, then she really shouldn’t have thought of them to not do such a horrible thing.
“Have you found any leads,” Luz bit out, calming herself before looking up at Rodriquez, who shook his head in decline.
“No. What about you?”
“No…”
This was becoming a problem, though that should’ve been obvious.
For a bit of history regarding the group in question, The Order was a group of neo-nazis who, before the Mass Power Awakening, or the MPA as the Federal Government had begun calling it, were just a group of goose-stepping idiots who were now a group of super-powered goose-stepping idiots.
Because of this, they needed to be hunted down. Before, they were just a bunch of idiots running around and getting arrested by the police. But now? Now they had actual power and weight behind their words, and they chose Waterbury to be their main target. Because of that, they were now Beacon’s problem.
There was just one small, teensy little problem. They were about as illusive as Bigfoot, meaning that they had their work cut out for them. To make matters worse was that, no matter how many security cameras Emelia hacked into, they either had an EMP device to block her out or, by the time they got to the location where Emelia flagged, they were already gone.
For a month, Beacon had been going on a wild goose chase, and with no results to show of it. Just a pile of bodies and a river of blood with Nazi iconography burned into the corpses. The public was getting nervous, and with each attack, more damage was done. Mixed in with the small crime dotted all about Connecticut, and with constant dead-ends, Luz was about at her wit's end.
“I don’t know if I can keep doing this, Doctor…” Luz muttered as Dr. Rodriquez looked back at her. “This is just… awful…”
“No one ever said playing the role of the hero was an easy one, chica,” Rodriquez replied, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I wish I could say it gets better, but it doesn’t.”
“I need to find them…” Luz replied. “I don’t care how many buildings I have to upturn to do it…” Luz said, her anger flaring as her eyes flashed red, before returning to their usual colour. “I can’t go another week seeing another dead body. I can’t, and I won’t stand for it…”
“I know,” Rodriquez said, squeezing her shoulder before letting go. “You can go now. The family asked for a cremation. I don’t blame them…” As Rodriquez said that, he blinked, before chuckling. “Oh, and we got the green light for Project N, by the way. The Federal Government is interested. We’re going to get a shipment of inmates from various maximum security prisons, all of them death row inmates. Those notes you were able to get for us… uh, where’d you get them?”
“A friend,” Luz replied, sighing. Project N… The one that Shigaraki suggested. She didn’t know if she fully agreed with it, but if it was would go towards further protection of the community… “That’s good, though. Let me know when you have the first successful one.”
“Will do.”
Without another word, Luz turned and left the morgue. The reason why she was interested in Project N, as Shigaraki was calling it, had to do with what happened when she first woke up and dumped a bunch of powers into that corpse.
The body with all of the powers she had dumped into was, somehow, still there. Apparently, ever since she dumped the powers into them, the body stopped rotting. How that was, she didn’t know. A week later, Shigaraki suggested that they give Project N a try. He said it would bring a new wave of super soldiers to crack down on crime. To make her job easier.
She knew by now that trusting Shigaraki at his word was foolish. If he was saying he didn’t know what information you were seeking, the true answer was that he didn’t want to give it to you just yet. If he said he was being truthful, take that information with a heap of salt, because chances were that he was lying.
And if he said he was looking out for your best interests, assume that he wasn’t.
But even still, she was willing to give it a shot. Besides, no one innocent was getting involved. Just a bunch of criminals who were going to die anyway. This was for the benefit of mankind, as far as she was concerned. Even if it was a little twisted.
Besides, if it didn’t work, then she’d get a bunch of new powers to toy with. So it was a win-win in her eyes.
“You know, Luz. You probably could have—”
“Stuff it, Shigaraki.”
“I wasn’t going to suggest taking the child’s Quirk if that’s why you’re telling me to be quiet. Mutant-type Quirks aren’t exactly the best to take. They permanently alter your appearance, and cannot be shut off without causing immense pain.”
“You know from experience?”
“Yes.”
“Then what were you going to say?” As Luz thought that, she finally made it to the main floor of the hospital to which the morgue was connected. A few patients in the waiting section saw her and smiled, some of whom were children. A few of the little kids were wearing merchandise of the Beacon brand, like special rings that glowed the same colour as All For One’s sparks, or wearing faux goggles that Julia wore.
Some even had action figures…
Luz couldn’t help but smile, waving to them, her mood brightening almost immediately. One of the children approached her from where they were sitting. They had scales on their wrists and hands, and they had a large smile on their face. “Luzura! Can I have an autograph!?” The child asked, holding out a picture of a recent press tour that she had gone on, organized by the Governor.”
“Sure!” Luz said, looking around for a pen. She saw one on the receptionist counter, and held up a finger, turning to face the counter. “One sec just gotta get a pen,” as Luz said that, she walked over and grabbed a pen, before walking back over to the child, got down on one knee, and signed the photo. “There ya go, kiddo!”
“Thank you!” The child said, before running back to their mother. They showed the child the photo, and the mother looked over to Luz and smiled. Luz stood up and turned to walk out of the building. As she did, she caught something in the corner of her eye. Just as she was exiting the building, she rubbed shoulders with someone.
They were dressed in all black, and they had extremely pale skin. Their eyes were a deep blue, and just as she stepped out of the hospital, she saw them pull out what looked like a pipe bomb, with the back of their neck having a swastika tattoo on it.
Before anything could happen, Luz whipped around and grabbed the man by the wrist, who shouted in shock, before throwing him out of the hospital with enough force to shatter the glass doors and crack the wall of the building across the street. All of this happened in less than a second, and as the man was being thrown, she was able to take the bomb out of his hand.
But, because it was a pipe bomb, and because any sudden movements would cause an explosion, the bomb blew up in her hand. The resulting explosion sent her flying backward through the doors she had just walked through, with several pieces of shrapnel scattering all over the place and hitting a few unlucky individuals.
Luz slammed into the wall, and as the smoke cleared, her Regeneration power was working on reconstructing her face. The explosion destroyed the whole left side of her face, though it was slowly coming back. As for her left arm, which had been the one that was holding the bomb before it blew up, it was being regrown from the elbow up, bones and all.
As she healed, and as she stood up, groaning all the while, she marched her way down the hall and back into the waiting room as her wounds fully healed. She looked around the room and saw that everyone was mostly okay. Children were crying, and parents were soothing their children. “Is everyone okay?!” Luz asked, a slight ringing in her ears as she received a few nods.
She looked across the street and saw the man slowly and painfully getting up from being chucked into the side of the wall, with a gaggle of onlookers staring at him, gasping and staring at the hospital where the explosion had gone off.
Luz’s eyes flashed red, as with a single lunge, she closed the distance between the man and herself, slamming into him with her right elbow connecting with his gut. The resulting impact forced all of the air out of his lungs, as Luz stepped back and grabbed him by the collar of his black shirt, lifting him off the ground and raising him just above her to stare into his eyes.
“You’re with The Order, yeah?” Luz demanded as the man coughed, his eyes narrowing in pain. He didn’t have a power, meaning he was more than likely sent in to die with the bomb’s resulting explosion.
“L-Like I’ll—”
Luz slammed him into the building, shattering the wall behind him and sending him into the ground. The resulting impact caused a small crater to form as the man howled in pain. Luz slammed her foot into his chest, the sound of his ribs cracking filling her ears as she snarled. “You’ll tell me if you want to live.”
“F-Fine! Yes! I-I’m with The Order!” The man said through pained tears as Luz pushed her foot down even more, causing him to whimper. “P-P-Please! S-Spare me!”
“Where’s your main base of operation,” Luz replied, ignoring his plea as the man choked back tears. In response, she drove her foot a little bit deeper as a snapping sound followed by a scream of pain echoed through the area. Luz looked over her shoulder and saw that people were recording. “Great. The media’s gonna love this…” Luz thought sarcastically, not that she cared. “Clocks ticking. Answer me, or—”
“I-I don’t know!” The man replied hurriedly, coughing as he continued to whine in pain. “I-I work in one of the decoy bases! I don’t know! I s-swear!”
“Useless,” Luz spat, before driving her foot through his body, crushing his ribs and smashing his heart and lungs. A single pained gasp and scream filled the air, before it died down, the life leaving the monster's eyes as Luz’s expression twisted into that of a sneer. If this was a regular villain, she probably would’ve just handed him off to the police. But a Nazi was a Nazi. They were less than human. sh*t on the bottom of her boot who didn’t deserve to have the same rights as she did.
She took a step back, turned around, and exited the hole in the wall she created. Several of the civilians who had been recording looked mortified, their faces pale as they pointed their phones at her and recorded her.
“Y-you’re sick!” One of the recorders said, catching her attention. Without so much as a response, she grabbed that person’s phone, shocking them, and crushed it in her hand in front of them. “M-My phone!” Without another word, Luz crouched down before activating Spring-like Limbs and launching upward into the air while activating Pyrokinesis and creating her familiar flame wings.
“I take it now is not a good time to finish what I was about to say?”
“Yes.”
“Then I shall remain silent.”
Today was shaping up to be one of the worst ones she’s had this month, and on her birthday, no less. As she flew through the skies, her fiery wings generating another powerful burst of motion, she got an incoming call from her earpiece. She tapped it once, sighing. “What is it?”
“You don’t sound so happy, Mija.”
“Oh, hey Mom. You’re right, I’m not. Some prickhead from The Order attacked the hospital with a pipe bomb. I was able to prevent a disaster, but the guy didn’t have any useful information.”
“Oh… uh, you didn’t kill him, did you?”
“Yes, I did. Why wouldn’t I? He was a Nazi, mama.”
“I know, dear, but we’ve talked about this. I know this guy was incredibly evil, but we have a justice system for a reason.”
“The same justice system that can be exploited. Right, like that’s going to help anyone. Besides, one less goose-stepper off the streets, the better. Even better that it’s permanent.”
Camila sighed on the other end, before speaking again. “Alright, Mija. Look, I’m calling to let you know that we’ve got two recruits waiting at the front desk to meet with you. I think one of them will be a welcome surprise!”
Luz blinked. A welcome surprise? “Okay… ETA’s a minute from now. Be there soon unless something pops up.”
“Okay. Also, don’t forget, we’ve booked tickets for the new Avengers Movie you’ve been wanting to see at 7 pm. It’s already 5, and Julia told me to tell you that she wanted some snuggle time before you and I left.”
“MA!” Luz shouted, stopping dead in her tracks mid-glide as her face lit up beet-red, earning a chuckle from Camila and a mental snort from Shigaraki, which didn’t help in her embarrassment.
“I might not be getting grandchildren due to the nature of your relationship, Mija, which isn’t a problem mind you, but that doesn’t stop me from embarrassing you.”
“MA?!” Luz shouted again as Shigaraki full-blown laughed in her head, which only made her face go a deeper shade of red. Before she could say anything, her mother cut the line, as Luz hovered there, utterly embarrassed as Shigaraki continued to laugh in her head. “Oh, shut up!” Luz practically shrieked, before jetting off in the direction of Beacon Headquarters, which she could see in the distance.
As the embarrassment faded away, and as Shigaraki finally left her alone after another few seconds of laughing at her expense, she landed at the front doors, her flame wings folding away back into her person as she stepped through the automatic doors. She cleared her throat, and looked straight ahead and toward the receptionist desk.
And what she saw made her jaw hang open.
The first person that she saw, mostly due to his very bright appearance, was a boy who looked to be about a year or two older than her. He had ear-length long ashen-blond hair that was shaved at the top with a jagged forelock, with said ears being pointed, which she assumed had to do with his power, although All For One was pointing out to him how he had not one, but four powers. Something that raised alarms in her head, though she pushed the thought aside.
His eyes were crimson red, with a scar just underneath his right eye. One of his ears had a notch in it, and his expression was one of neutrality. Both of his hands were in his pockets as he leaned against the receptionist's desk.
He was dressed in a white short-sleeve V-neck tunic and a pair of black pants held up by a belt with a golden buckle. The exposed portion of his arms showed some muscle, giving way to the fact that he was at least somewhat combat-effective—which was good, but that wasn’t what caused her jaw to drop slightly.
No. What caused her jaw to drop was the person next to the boy.
The person in question was a woman who looked to be in her early twenties. She had shoulder-length orange hair done up in a ponytail with an eyepatch over her right eye. She was dressed in a black leather jacket with spikes on the shoulder, along with a white shirt underneath. A pair of dark blue jeans held up by a black leather belt completed the look, along with a pair of black boots.
The two stared at one another, as a small smile came to the woman’s face.
“Sup, Lulu. Been a while, hasn’t it?” Riley said as Luz smiled ear to ear.
“RILEY!” Luz exclaimed, rushing over to her and hugging her as tightly as she could, which she reciprocated, giggling in the process.
“Jeez, Luz, you’ve gotten stronger, haven’t ya? Taller, too! You used to only be up to my knee when we last saw each other, and I was shorter then, too,” Riley said as Luz skipped back, a large smile on her face.
“What brings you here, Riley?” Luz asked, rocking back and forth, excitement filling every part of her body. It had been so long since she’d seen her cousin, she had thought that she’d never see her again. Yet, here she was, standing in the foyer of Beacon.
“We’re here to join Beacon,” the blond boy spoke up, gaining Luz’s attention. The boy bowed slightly with one arm under his chest. “Hunter, at your service.”
“Nice to meet you Hunter, and good to see you again, Riley,” Luz said, taking another step back to look at the two of them. “Well, before I approve of anything, I need to know if you guys can fight.”
“I take it we’ll be fighting you, then?” Riley asked as Luz shook her head.
“No. I tend to get carried away. Uh… it’s not a good idea,” Luz replied sheepishly. “Instead, you’ll be fighting my Girlfriend. Uh… after I change, of course. Follow me, I’ll take you to the main living area so you guys can meet, first.” As Luz said that, she motioned for them to follow her toward an elevator. The three entered, and as Luz pressed the button that took them to the floor in question, the three stood in silence.
It didn’t take them long to reach the floor, and when they did, the group stepped out. The living area was huge, easily the same size as the old house that they lived in squashed onto a single floor. There was a full-sized kitchen in the back and pushed off to a corner, a large living room a few feet in front of the elevator with a large red curved couch, a glass coffee table, and an 80-inch TV strapped to the wall with several consoles plugged in ranging from Xbox to old Nintendo consoles like the Gamecube and Nintendo 64.
And just a foot or two in front of the elevator, Camila stood front and center, a large smile on her face. “Riley, it’s good to see you again,” Camila said as Riley smiled back. The two hugged, before stepping back from one another as Camila looked over to Hunter. “And it’s nice to meet you. Hunter, was it?”
“Yes. It’s nice to meet you, ma’am. I was told we have to pass some kind of initiation?”
“Ah, right. One second,” Camila said, before turning to face the kitchen where Julia stood, seemingly stirring something in a bowl with a determined look on her face. “Julia! The new recruits are here, can you stop what you’re doing for a second?”
“Huh?” Julia called back, before looking up. She saw Luz, Riley, and Hunter and smiled. She put down the mixer in her hand and walked over to them. Before she addressed Riley and Hunter, she hugged Luz, who hugged back. Julia gave Luz a quick peck on the forehead, whispering “You owe me later,” before letting go and turning around to face Riley and Hunter.
“Alright, if you two wanna join Beacon, you gotta beat me in combat,” Julia said, crossing her arms. She looked the pair up and down, humming. “What’s your powers?”
“Bomb Touch,” Riley replied, opening and closing her hand a few times. “I can turn whatever I touch into a bomb. It’s lethal, so I won’t use it fighting you.”
“Got it,” Julia said, before looking at Hunter. “And you?”
“Lightbringer. I can create, turn into, and manipulate light,” Hunter answered as Julia raised an eyebrow.
“So, discount Kizaru?”
“Who?” Hunter asked, confused as Julia huffed.
“Oh, you’re so watching One Piece if you get in. I cannot let you walk away after not getting the reference,” Julia said before looking back at Luz. “By the way, thank you for getting me into that series.”
“No problem!”
“Now,” Julia said before gesturing the two to follow her. “This is eating into my private time with Luz before she has to go out with her mom, so I want to wrap this up quickly. Try not to bore me,” Julia said as they entered the elevator.
As they disappeared, Luz rubbed the back of her neck, a nervous tick that she did when she was just a little bit worried.
She just hoped that Julia didn’t go overboard. The last time she tested potential new recruits, they were in the hospital for at least a few weeks for broken bones and twisted muscles. For as much as she said that she wasn’t good at combat, she did a pretty good job at beating people up.
“Oh well, it can’t be that bad. Besides, it’s a Wednesday. She’s usually calm on Wednesday…” Luz thought, before sighing. “Mama, tell Vee to be at the ready with stretchers in case Julia goes all out…”
“Sure thing!” Camila said, her tone chipper as she walked off elsewhere.
All things considered, today wasn’t exactly the greatest. But, things were looking up. So long as nothing bad happened in the next two hours, she’d say today would be mediocre rather than awful.
But, knowing her luck, she probably just jinxed it.
[-To Be Continued-]
[Ending Song: Where Our Blue Is/ 青のすみか – By: Tatsuya Kitani]
