28: Double-Unknown Equation.

Double-Unknown Equation.

Her parents had been slaving away for a while and hadn't even come back—well, to be more honest, they didn't come home when she was here—. The teenager always knew the love of her mother, as a kind of overprotective vault, so not to see her somewhat disturbed her, mainly at mealtime cause she talked a lot. There she was as alone at home as at school, where her classmates did nothing but ignore or answer her as if she was retarded. She knew that she was far from smart, but still…0

On top of that, she usually waited for her father to "tutor" her in math and science and with her mother, English, modern literature, and social studies. With all the homework she had to hand to her teachers, she didn't even know where to start, especially because her father asked her to take care of something peculiar, and she knew that something wasn't right about it.

"Algebra, art history, development of the heroes society…" she muttered with a pout before burying her head between her crossed arms, her tawny hair covering the white sheet in front of her. "Already 8 PM… Nothing's done, once more…"

She stopped working and took the time to look at her phone to send a message to a friend, at least to what she thought was a friend. Even though a small voice inside was shrieking at her that some people were just taking advantage of her, she decided not to listen to them in a vain effort to counter loneliness that shouldn't be able to reach her. If only her family weren't linked to a strange network, she probably wouldn't have this kind of worries, but the invisible pressure that she never saw the threat of had become even stronger since three days, since she had to take care of this infamous "something" without being explained why. She was ordered to do so. Nothing more, nothing less.

If she didn't, she knew something terrible would happen, either to her or her mother. "What about the bee?" would he say…

At this point, her father was more frightening to her than anything else. Although he seemed cool and had never laid a hand on her, this wasn't the case for her mother, so inwardly, she knew that he was taking advantage of the love that she and her mother shared between them to manipulate them more easily. But why do this?

She didn't even want to try to comprehend, she just wanted to be congratulated by her father at least once, but that was just another dream that a dumb girl couldn't achieve. No man would love or be proud of someone like her, she was just like this, and she got no charm because of that... At least that's what she thought.

—Gotta hurry, need to grub soon, or I'll never finish any homework…

She started to cook what she had been planning for a few days, but she had to prepare for two. Solitude doesn't mean being alone. Well, the one she had to feed and look after wasn't very talkative anyway, so it didn't matter much. After leaving the pancetta cooking on the stove, she turned on the TV without really knowing what to watch; the TV broadcast she came across was the one her father always watched. Yet, this time they weren't talking about the environment, whether it was political or climatic. She sat on the couch, interested in the news she just heard and listened carefully.

{—most likely, it was a secret service operation. In any case, the results of the actions organized during the last years and especially months by the government have fanned the flames of long-dormant organizations.}

{What do you mean exactly, Kizuki-san? Our viewers already realize that the secret network exists; it's not just an urban legend; everyone knows it. Just look at the internet from time to time to see illegal practices done behind closed doors; the government must do the same to safeguard the citizens.} conveyed the horned reporter. {If nothing is done, either by the police or by heroes like the heroine you incriminate, nobody would be able to do it.}

{Yes, indeed. Unfortunately, the evidence gathered against Mirko by our detective team and by the internauts are too numerous to be overlooked here. Her presence in various incidents about ten years ago and now in the government's criminal activities urges us to intervene. I would have stuck to our book publication talking about it if all 'this' hadn't come to light a month ago.} said the pale blue-skinned woman with dark sclera; Camie remembered her as an editor and author with a passion for journalism; she never deceived her readers... unlike some.

{So, you claim that she was actually the one inside the underground 'masquerade'? The illegal MMA tournament?}

{Yeah, and she has throughout her early adult life and adolescence participated in illegal fights too, voluntarily injuring people. Not the exemplary behavior of a heroine promised to reach great peaks.}

{And what can you tell us about her since her arrest?}

{We know that she attempted to single-handedly assault an old building at night in which innocent people were attending a non-profit festival organized in favor of an organization dedicated to raising funds to fight breast cancer and super-hormones poisoning. The building was already damaged a few previous days after that a fight ended badly. She allegedly smashed the front door, leaving a large hole in the structure, and continued to run in a steady line, through wall after wall as if looking for something. All the people who got in her way ended up on the mat, and one of them is still between life and death. In her frantic run, she caused two floors of the north aisle of the building, which had already been damaged in the fight almost a week before, to collapse. We know that over twenty people were injured in this incident, four of them severely so. Although she was greatly disguised, her hair tied up in a bun and her skin covered, her DNA was found in several spots by private detectives.}

{W-Well, it's surprising and grim, to say the least…} the reporter stammered by pushing the glasses up on his nose. {Did we know why she did this?}

{No, the reasons are still unclear. That said, our team is on it, trying to find more clues about this affair. We suspect that a masked person, ostensibly a woman if we trust the surveillance cameras in the vicinity, is also involved; we aren't allowed to disclose the footage. Still, she was rushing in the opposite direction of the building with an unknown quirk and was wounded; luckily for her, not a drop of her drop fell to the ground, and if it ever happened, the rain from the past days suppressed these clues.}

A lot has been happening lately, even outside her family… Like many aspiring heroines like Camie, Mirko was like a role model proving that female and heroic youth had a meaning and wasn't just a myth, just like Ryukyu proved it too. Hearing about this would be a spirit-killer for many people who saw the rising star as an example to follow.

Camie sighed before staring at the floor; the carpet and coffee table in front of her reminded her of her life, dull and based on a shaky floor. How many times did she have to repeat the same actions between each small or big earthquake?

Everything seemed identical, and yet for the past three days, something other than routine was keeping her going, and a hint of fear mixed with the desire to explore the unknown was born in her. But what part of the unknown? And why was he brought here?

—I'm not brainy enough to guess any of this-

The smell of burnt meat tickled her nostrils; she got up as fast as she could, remembering what she started to cook; her reaction was quick enough to "save" the dish, but at this point, the meat was 50% carbon, 50% bacon.

The TV still on in the background, she could hear that the book that Kizuki-san would be sold soon will make big bucks, complicated for the population to miss the many facts related to this affair; anyway, each of her books was sold like hotcakes. Even if Rumi and the HSPC had done everything to hide their actions, it was time for a semblance of truth, however fleeting and futile it might be. Everything for more money, media are media. A relics of old and true journalism.

That said, as usual, people would grumble for a while, but since Mirko is sexy and popular, it would be quickly forgotten, whether by women or men. Appearance sometimes works miracles. That's why the teenager, since she graduated from middle school, had done everything to lose her overweight status and become gorgeous and sexy, like the role model she admired. But she soon understands that she wasn't smart enough and just focused on her beauty.

Camie ate first, knowing what she will have to do, then headed towards the staircase that led to the second floor; underneath it was a cubbyhole, hidden behind some clothes was a 10-digit touch panel of the same color as the wall, almost undetectable even for her despite knowing its location. She had to type in the proper code repeatedly and nearly knocked over the plate in the process.

A concrete door that the girl had thought all her childhood was just a wall opened with a rocky, guttural sound, like the geared doors seen in old movies. A steep staircase leading down into the earth's bowels reached what she called the "horror lab," she didn't know what exactly her father was doing here, but she didn't want to know. She made it down the stairs with the different plate in hand, her experience as a cafeteria waitress paying off; she walked past the surgery table and the many utensils and objects on the rolling stainless steel tables. The door on the left was also hidden, but this time only behind a thick black curtain; she opened it with the key she left on one of the tables and entered the small gloomy room whose brightness she increased by clapping her hands.

Black walls and floor, the old wooden tables on each side of the room had traces of claws like those of a werewolf, and the paint on some parts of the steel wall seemed to have been burned, torn off, by previous events, from previous "guests."

In front of her sat on a chair, also made of stainless steel, a man she had met only once before: Felix, some dry blood still on his face and shirt, tied feet and fists to it, a bandana firmly wrapped around his head to prevent him from seeing. However, despite his precarious condition, since he arrived here, he displayed no stress or behavioral disorder; his calmness was almost uncanny as if he had been through far worse. And the fact that he didn't react was probably what upset her father the most.

—I can at least turn on the radio for him tonight… No one will know.

The moment the frequency scan reverberated in the room, Felix raised his head slightly, although he was already aware that someone was there without knowing who, and smiled warmly. Though he couldn't see her, his hearing allowed him to locate her in the area, especially after almost a week in the "dark," his other senses became much more helpful. So he focused on it, mostly hearing, smell, proprioception. He had only this to do while waiting for the right moment, and it would be only one more training, so soon enough, Camie's perfume reminded him vaguely of something, but he was unable to determine who or what it was attache to.

After taking the cutlery and preparing everything the girl had to do, she closed her long eyelid, ready to put the product that her father had asked her to integrate into the dishes that Felix was eating, every time she did it, she felt terrible; she wanted to vomit, she who wanted to become a heroine was hurting someone innocent because of mere fear.

"...Worrying about the thing you put in the food?"

Felix's question startled her, they were the first words that came out of his mouth since he was there, but unfortunately, her father had made her promise that she wouldn't say anything... well, promises made out of fear are rarely kept if the person finds hope.

"Don't worry about me; drop the drug in; it's not like I can't take it. It's even an excellent training for me."

She looked down at the floor without understanding what he was talking about and put the flask on the table without putting a drop on top of the different dishes. Camie thought that limiting this young man to the most simple movement, to wear the same clothes, to go to the toilet here only every two days without being able to take a shower, was a way for her father to try to break his "prey." Still, here, it had no effect, and to tell the truth, he didn't even smell bad.

She sighed silently and took the chair at the other end of the room, which showed that her father had come back here for some "business" with the former inmate... Trying to forget that, she sighed and sat down to feed Felix. She began to feed him the onigiris, directing the food to his mouth, as a mother might do with an infant... As strange as it may seem, this kind of thing pleases women, especially in this country; it goes hand in hand with the influence of manga, obviously. Moreover, when she was close to him, she sometimes felt aroused or happy, a complex feeling to describe, something animal, but soft and controllable, as if it emanated from him an invisible aura. The moments she spent with him in silence made her realize that maybe she was on the wrong path... she knew nothing about him but cooperated to hurt him, and so...

"Wh—What have you done to end up here?" she asked in a cautious tone.

"Oh, that's you, Camie, is that right?" Felix said by eating the rice, immediately recognizing her. "I accepted to be trapped in order to understand, analyze and find a solution to the issue that dictates your family and everything related to it, but your father already knows this. That's why he tries to beat the shit out of me, but well, I got some hard bones, so his knuckles must hurt more than my face does."

"If you... say so. But what do you mean by our issues? You mean the bee-thing and the other Lady?"

"I guess so. I don't know much about the matter, so if you want to help me help you and your mother, you can."

"It's not that cinchy. I've seen what this… bee is capable of; she will infect Mom if I don't follow orders, so I…"

"Yeah, and they threaten your mother with the same thing; if she doesn't do what they ask, they say you will be the next host of some kind of parasite if I understood correctly."

"How do you know this…?"

"Keen hearing is a huge advantage in this kind of situation, exactly like having a microchip under your skin to pinpoint to your allies where you're locked up." he half-lied, believing it would be enough to trick her; happily, she wasn't the smartest, so why not?

To be fair, the microchip implanted in his hand got detected three days earlier, Victoria with her x-ray quirk, managed to see it after several attempts. He also knew that he got sent here because of an attack on the building he was kept in; the fights against Muscular, every day, at every moment, till the villains couldn't keep up in endurance were making too much of a ruckus, so even the people coming at night complained about it. Of course, some heroes detected this, especially combined with the signal of the microchip.

"Your allies can throw a bone for us…? ...But I can't put all my trust in nothing more than an unknown dude…" she muttered with a sad glance. "But if you're being real, then…"

"Well, you're also unknown to me, so this is a double-unknown relationship. But why do you reject my help like that?" he asked again, formulating a question that couldn't be answered by yes or now, but this time he used the super-hormones of the guard he defeated a few days ago, the truth serum quirk.

"I want your help, but I can't accept it now; they will both come back here with my father… plus, I'm too nervous when around you for some reason…"

"Hm? So, two other unknown Ladies, huh... That wasn't what I was expecting to be honest. I have the impression you're blushing, I am right?" he provoked her with a smile, now knowing that his pheromones indeed have at least a little influence on her.

"I—I don't need your help, for now, I told you."

"Well, I tried. But more importantly, are you still struggling with your math homework? Don't ask how I know this; you forgot to close the door properly yesterday, so I heard. I can help you with that, you know, just bring it to me; no need to remove the bandana. But well, I don't really understand why you must do mathematics when your future job will be sending villain to the slammer, but hey, never doubt the educational system of a country or you will get into trouble."

"You can… really solve equations without scope out them? They're double-unknown ones by the way, so..."

"Pretty much, maths was my best subject along with English back in the days."

"English too…?"

"So?"

"I'll be back in a couple of minutes!" she exclaimed by rushing toward the stairs without even giving the rest of the food to him.

"She's quite a simpleton… not in a bad way, though. A kind bimbo, I guess?" he whispered to focus on something else than the silence. "I wonder if my pheromones have reached her enough. I'm still far from being proficient with it… If only I could touch just her hand, it would be perfect. In any case, I have 5% of Nighteye super-hormones, the same for the truth serum one and Recovery girl one… I just have a little over 10% of Muscular one… Not enough to break out my handcuff. Fortunately for you, Camie, you're my only doorway, so I will give you what you want in exchange."

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