1%, 1 Second.
After unsuccessfully trying to open the door of Haruo's office with the lock-picking methods he learned in jail, he decided to go through the window of the room by climbing from the outside thanks to a gutter, luckily no one was passing by in the street at that moment; otherwise, he would have been taken for a burglar.
Even if he was prone to vertigo, the fear of heights didn't prevent him from advancing towards the window he was looking for. The grips to cling to the pavilion wall could be numbered on one hand, but he managed to hold on and arrive where he wanted to be. The tinted glasses prevented him from seeing anything from outside. After attaching himself to an iron ledge that served to block the shutters with Camie's still wet shirt, he took the screwdriver out of his pocket and crushed it between the glass and the black paste that held it in place. It was much more stuck than he thought, but it didn't resist very long and ended up slightly moving as Felix finished the job.
Fortunately for him, the house's windows were manufactured this way; otherwise, he would have had to break it. After putting on the plastic gloves he had found in the lab, he gently pushed the window, which opened like a door before he decided to altogether remove it and put it on the floor, leaving a large hole in the wall through which fresh air flowed.
The office was relatively small for a room that was supposed to be secure; no cameras were visible, but anyway, even if they were, the HPSC told him that they would help him if he ever screwed up, so he had an acceptable margin of error. Various files were carefully arranged and sorted around the room, the same way a lawyer would handle his business. Felix read many of the records, deciding to pull an all-nighter to get as much information as possible about the man he was trying to send to trial. Haruo seemed to have many connections with various hospitals, even clinics, although most of them were innocuous, for some of them, the ex-inmate saw problems arising, such as the name of some patients being modified from one page to another, or some of the writings scratched or erased.
So much so that most of the files dating back several months seemed to have been destroyed, but with all this, he had plenty of evidence of his involvement in shady cases. Cases of disappearance that the media, strangely enough, called Jouhatsu—a person who decided to flee society and leave everything behind, never to return—as if they were asked not to talk about it.
He analyzed some more files, took pictures of the most essential things with Camie's phone, and sat down in front of the computer to access even more secret things. However, the code he had to enter was a problem.
—What can it be? I have to remember that maybe the code is the same as the one I saw last time... 0804CA161ILLU…?
Easy.
He has seen this code only once in Victoria office, but his quirk helps a lot with eidetic memory processing. It was even better since he focused during the last week on rearranging some of his cells, mainly neurons, it was something hard to pull out, but he believed that he could memorize things in one shot with practice.
If the code was the same for both Victoria and Haruo, the teams that would come to help him and Camie could finally go on two different areas and finish the investigation for good. After sighing, Felix went through all the mails that passed before his eyes; the fact that the father didn't even log out of his account proved that being a boomer could be a real pain in the ass.
Dr. Daruma. Lady Bee. Lady Curious.
Three names that stood out.
Daruma, the so-called scientist who apparently succeeded in creating genetically modified, zombified humans, developed the Quirk Singularity hypothesis simultaneously. Nobody knew if he really existed, but now that Felix thinks about it, Haruo asked him what his point of view concerning this particular urban legend was. Maybe it's not an urban legend anymore; the question he inquired to himself was about his safety and whether it was really wise to plunge his hands into this kind of bullshit affair.
The discussions between Camie's father and Daruma were, however, alarming. Although neither of them seemed to know their true identity, Felix had the opportunity to read messages before they were encoded by some illegal software. The "gifts" Haruo was talking about in his mails seemed to be the bodies of patients, at least, from the way he was talking about it. Still unsure, Felix understood that Haruo was probably taking people with potential good quirks from hospitals or clinics and then sent them to this mysterious "Daruma."
After examining and putting them in "stasis," he apparently sent them through a "portal" to be delivered directly without being seen by anyone. Felix couldn't really see how much mails had been exchanged between them since some of it had been deleted, and only the one from less than a month ago still appeared.
What was certain was that many bodies, whether exhumed or still alive, were used for undeclared scientific tests and research. It was impossible to know how long this had been going on, but even if they arrested Camie's father, it would continue. Undoubtedly, the underground MMA tournament was another means to that end.
—If I assume that each "special place" is controlled by a Lady and that each one is part of the network, I'm still missing something. It means that the Utsushimi martial arts training facility is only for Haruo and his schemes, while the festival was for Victoria, the MMA tournament for Lady Bee or Curious… and so… The last goddamn thing is yet to be found. And "stasis," I may be wrong, but it's probably his quirk he's talking about.
The two others were, of course, the two he was the most interested in for the moment. The Ladies were significant issues here since they might want to target him to avoid being caught, or precisely, to avoid being caught, they will act as if nothing had happened... After all, none of them seemed to be attached to the festivals or to Victoria since she had just replaced someone who was managing the whole thing before. Even after searching for the name "Tsukauchi," the name he heard during his fight, he couldn't find anything related to it in the mailbox, which proved that it had been at least a month since Victoria had attended the festival... She will indeed have to go to court even if she's also a victim; her involvement in more than a month must be too much to be ignored.
Lady Bee, a person who is also unknown, just like Curious, no clue was left in the mails. That said, they were both talking about having a partnership with Haruo and with the "Doctor." Bee talked mainly about finding a suitable "host" whom she could then help the one she called AFO, who seemed to be an inspiration to her, a name that Felix had barely heard of until then; she also talked about being able to restart the production of her drug since the current version is ridiculously weak, and for that, she needed a helping hand.
For Curious, she talked about doing an interview with Haruo and "Daruma," even if it had to be filmed without their faces and with a modified voice. She was willing to pay more than ten million yen for a simple half-hour interview, and even after Haruo refused, she came back several times with more arguments, such as the possibility of protecting them from Bee, while asking her cronies to create support items for his family's quirks, using his daughter's failure to go to U.A. as a crushing argument to force his hand and hope to make him change his mind.
But even so, Haruo didn't seem enthusiastic about the proposals and simply ignored Curious' messages, the last of which was a few days ago. Felix hesitated to send a message to trap her, but someone like her wouldn't jump into the lion's den, so it would be childish to think that he could do anything concerning this. The lack of concern he had for his alleged family suggested that something had changed him in the last few years of his life.
Logging out of the father's account to connect to his email address, he sent all the files he had photographed and summarized what he had witnessed, analyzed, and heard during the last few days. He gave the approximate hours that the father and some of his cronies would return to do test shots on Felix. He talked about the fact that they seemed to want to drug him but that his antibodies were thwarting their plans and that he would soon develop another solution to their problems. He still doubted, but the main reason why Felix hadn't been shipped to "Daruma" yet was because of his metabolism's ability to resist the attack. They couldn't do what they wanted with someone who was fully conscious. They had tried to zap him, but that didn't work either; his recovery rate was too fast. As for knocking him out, they didn't even attempt it, probably because they had to keep Felix "intact." Although he's not a priority target, it's likely that, as Felix read in the emails, they must give a body quota to continue the partnership.
—I'm done for tonight. If they follow what I have planned, everything should go smoothly. It's a lot to think about, but with this, everything will be settled… And at least I got to clap some cheek at the same time. This reminds me that after getting her virginity bonus, I didn't check my system.
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[Level 16 — 2000/3250} — ]
[Level 15 attained. Choose your perk: {+25 and increases by 1% for each EXP gained.}]
[STR :black_small_square: 110]
[DEX :black_small_square: 80] — [AGI :black_small_square: 80]
[END :black_small_square: 135] — [RES :black_small_square: 100]
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[You are Level 16 — {1250 EXP needed for next level-up.}]
[Perk Obtained] — [Passive]
[Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, Power? — {+20 STR | +10 STR}]
[Very Stubborn Lad — {+20 END | +20 RES}]
[Cherry Popper {x3} — {Hormone & Pheromone storage 50% up.}]
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[Skills:]
►{Metabolism Hyperdrive}—{Increases metabolism to over 500% of its normal potential, allowing to safely use multiple quirks and to produce hormones and pheromones without backlash for a short duration.}
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—What the fuck…? First time I've seen this in my entire life… It's creating skills without me doing anything. I'm still corrupt by Rumi's quirk, or is it evolving on its own? And… 1% for every EXP point? That's…. actually crazy. Freaky but handy at the same time. If it works, with just 1000 EXP, minimum EXP I gain with a virginity bonus, it would win 10 stats points… 7000, 70 points, etc. Well, shit. I choose [DEX]; using my quirk to perfection and those of others is too important. Not to mention the use of tools. So… it's now [DEX :black_small_square: 105 (+1%)].
After going back down to the lab, taking care to put back the window and "erase" all clues about him doing what he wanted inside the house, the slightest error could be worth his plan. Therefore he replaced even the joints of the windows with some glue that he found in Camie's high school kit.
He returned to sit on his chair, which was now used more for meditation than anything else, and tied his feet and hands again, leaving some slack so that he could free himself without difficulty. It remained only to wait for the opportune moment.
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The lock of his cell opened with a raucous sound reverberating through the room, the steel walls amplifying the sound. Felix woke up instantly, realizing who would walk into the room and say good morning to him so promptly. He had managed to sleep a little over two hours after putting all the tools back in place to avoid even his team guessing what had happened here; if they ever learned through some correlation what had happened the night before, he would be criticized again, and he wanted to avoid that.
The door opened slowly, letting Haruo appear, his face worn out and accompanied by another man. He was dragging Camie by the arm, who didn't dare resist or look anyone in the eye; she didn't seem to have been hit again, but what was sure was that she would be absent from class today.
He placed the newspaper on the wooden table and turned to Felix, taking out a sharp karambit and playing with it.
"You know, I was kinda surprised to see how you were so good at swordsmanship and everything you were doing in between. Sadly, even if I don't resent you, I have orders to follow, and I value my life more than those of others, so what is due will be due." Camie's father admitted by rubbing his eyelids. "My stasis is too weak since he gave me a copy of the original quirk, so it was hard to do anything with you, and with this stupid family, I tried to form it's even harder to do anything right… But you know what, you're a lucky one, Daruma and Bee are interested in you-"
"A comic book villain's rant. Are you also going to tell me how you wipe your ass?" sighed Felix while waiting for the sound he wanted to hear. "Daruma and Bee, I don't even know who the fuck they are; one of them is an urban legend, the other a fucking bug. Jesus."
"That's why Bee would like you, maybe Curious too. That said, I think you and Camie tried to do something behind my back, or you manipulated her. It's not hard to trick a dumbass after all."
"She's your daughter."
"As soon as she inherited her mother's intelligence, she was no longer my daughter."
"You remind me of that drunkard father of mine. He ended up in the gutter a few times. He might still be there. You could end up in a worse place than him, though."
"Yeah, right. Just shut up; I want my stupid daughter to see what happens when she goes against my will."
In the space of an instant, Felix was plunged into a sort of blue capsule, the sounds that came to him were so muffled that he thought he was underwater, and he breathed much more softly, but he didn't feel bad about it. Around him, he could see everything going by at full speed; the movements of Haruo and the other man were almost indecipherable. He felt, however, that he was sometimes scratched on the cheek or that he was slashed on the arms; he could detect that it came from the knife, the karambit before, at an average speed towards him before retracting quickly.
—He slowed down the time within a defined perimeter... or something like it. Even if I tried to free myself as planned, they would see me immediately. I should have done this before-
Without really knowing why, the stasis in which he was immersed disappeared all at once. After coming to, the first thing he saw was the steel door of the entrance being ripped off the hinges, traces of a punch embedded in it as if it were as simple as twisting copper. The door got sent to the other end of the room, crashing narrowly beside Felix as tiny pieces of concrete were propelled straight through the steel walls hitting the man accompanying Haruo in the chest. Before he could recover, a deluge of punches was bombarded in his direction, giving him no chance to fight back. Each impact created a small shock wave before the incessant movement of the fists stopped only after a few seconds.
"Look what we've here! He almost died on the spot, like the other, I hoped for a good fight, but once again…" the madman sighed before cocking his fist again toward Haruo, who stoop up and, after touching the ground, created a small blue rectangle.
This rectangle transformed into a 3-D shape in an instant and kinda slowed time inside it, making it possible to realize how fast the former MMA champion was throwing punches; even so, dodging his blows was complex. Yet, his movements were still slow, so apart from his arms, he was no longer a danger; if no one came near him, then all would be well.
"The fuck this man doing here!?" exclaimed Haruo, as he looked at his saddened and terrified daughter in disbelief. "Shit, how can I-"
"Found ya!" said a voice coming from the wall as a face just came out of it, like a ghost passing by as if it wasn't anything strange.
"Fuck-!"0
Before the odd student in the wall could attack, Haruo set up another blue cube at full power, given his apparent exhaustion. As the phantom dude ran in a straight line, he sank into the ground in one go as if there was a trap door and reappeared a second later, coming out of the floor before giving a violent blow to Haruo's head, which made Camie's father quirk power disappear. Sadly for him, the punch propelled him towards Rappa's barrage, which had just resumed to its full speed and power. He couldn't do anything against this and was thrown against the steel wall, letting his blood run down it as his head hit it.
Felix had barely managed to remove his ties when the whole situation was settled. In just one second everything was done.
"You're a fun-killer, kiddo; they were both mine," sighed Rappa with a mournful tone. "And what with that quirk of yours? If you don't let people hit you, it's not a fucking fight! ...Kids nowadays."
"I'm just a trainee, so it's better for everyone if I'm not injured, don't you think?"
"No, I don't think so. Only this rabbit girl and this thin-ass hero dared to fight me. This is saddening. They promised me good fights, for fuck sake… At least I can see 'Quirkless' again, but it's not the name you used here, huh." he concluded while looking at Felix.
The young blond man didn't answer and simply smiled as he looked at the door through which a singular face, Nighteye one, appeared. Felix greeted them quickly, not really understanding what was going on, and went to comfort Camie, who had just seen a massacre; even if the two men were still alive, without proper healing, they would have many problems. Plus, she had seen the man who had taken her first time the day before somewhat lacerated by her own father, and she was unsure of what had happened to her mother. She would definitely need a psychologist.
After walking her to the door, she was picked up by Mt. Lady, who thanked Felix by bowing and then winking at him.
Yet, Nighteye sighed with relief, and when he saw that Felix was still bleeding, he took him upstairs for treatment, where police officers and a team of paramedics were already there. Felix was still a bit lost, but he had done his part, nobody could tell him now that he was only a threat to Japanese society. After finishing all this, he wouldn't need to follow Mt. Lady anymore.
"Even though my team wasn't originally part of the plan," he began. "It was brilliant. Even if Bubble Girl is tasked with the festival raid, she was also very helpful with all this. All Might should be even more enthusiastic about meeting you now."
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