#Dadgum | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

aspenforest732 · 5 months

Text

Mortem ad Wrens Chapter 29: Kamino Ward

Summary:

tw: presence of past abusers

Notes:

‘text’ JSL text thoughts

Carefully keeping out of the heroes' line of sight, Akira padded in the shadows behind All for One as he stalked forward. Tiger gently scooped up Ragdoll, carrying her bridal style as he turned to Best Jeanist. Akira shuddered, forcing themself to keep moving. If they could just slip away…

Akira flinched as a loud boom shook the ground and threw the heroes back. Hair-like strands gleamed in the dim moonlight and pulled most of the heroes away from the main blast. With a flick of his finger, a shockwave rippled out from All for One’s finger, ripping a hole through the hero’s torso.

There! A low alley wall caught Akira’s eye, and they slowly shifted their trajectory while keeping rubble between them and the fight. Their left knee buckled with a sharp twinge, barely remaining upright as the sharp concrete ridges dug into their hands. Come on, just a little farther.

Akira’s eyes grew wide as they peeked over the rubble to find the League forming behind Katsuki out of black goop. Their breath caught at Dabi’s prone form, barely holding back from rushing to his side. They tried to catch Katsuki’s eyes, but he was solely focused on All for One, eyes wide in confusion and anger.

“Do it over as many times as you need to. That is why I am here. It’s all for you,” All for One encouraged Shigaraki, reaching out a hand to the shaking man. Shigaraki’s shaking frame relaxed slightly and took the hand with a hopeful look.

Akira slowly edged closer to the group, trying to get in Katsuki’s line of sight as a flicker of movement drew their eye to the opposite wall. Shit, whose backup is that? They finally caught his eyes as All Might landed into All for One and the concussive blast from the impact threw everyone back. Akira warped just before a piece of rubble would've hit them to land next to Katsuki, wincing at the albeit smaller impact and at the timer they were on accelerating.

“He held All Might back with his bare hands! This guy’s the villains’ boss!” Katsuki muttered, keeping himself low to the ground.

‘We need to go. Now.’ Akira signed, motioning towards the east wall. ‘We should avoid being behind either of them,’ they added as All for One blasted All Might through several buildings.

“All Mi-”

Akira slapped a hand over Katsuki’s mouth with a glare even as the dust settled. Akira leaned slightly on Katsuki as they rose with the villains' gazes. Damnit, Katsuki.

“Run away from here, Tomura, and take the children with you,” All for One said. Black and red spikes shot out of his fingertips and into Kurogiri, forcing a warp gate open.

Twice surged forward, shooting his sharpened measuring tape out as Dynamight and Mortis dodged in unison. Mortis unraveled their capture weapon from their arms, wincing as they dropped to their sides. Dynamight focused on Toga and Twice as Mortis kept Spinner and Magne occupied, blasting and pulling themselves away, respectively, from Mr. Compress when they had to. Mortis slipped under Magne’s weapon, snapping out their capture weapon to trip Spinner as he tried to slip into their reach. Mr. Compress marbled Dabi before leaping back, nearly tagging Mortis as they wrapped their capture weapon around a piece of rubble and pulled themself away from his landing.

They almost warped out of his reach before remembering the compressed clones, instead sweeping his legs and narrowly contorting out of his fall path as Dynamight let off a large enough explosion to put himself just behind and above All for One for a moment. They winced at the sharp spikes of pain but darted back towards the undamaged section of building. Mortis wrapped their capture weapon around Dynamight's ankle and pulled him harshly to the side.

Just as they dodged swipes from Toga and Dynamight landed, Midoriya, Ida, Kirishima, and Fumikage burst through the wall and up an ice ramp. Glancing at Dynamight, Mortis charged towards the squad as Dark Shadow emerged at full strength and Kirishima reached out for Dynamight. “Come!”

Mortis snapped their capture scarf around Dynamight’s waist and closed their eyes tight against the massive explosion that rocketed them into the air. Gritting through the burns sharply tingling against their skin, Mortis sling-shot Katsuki into Kirishima and warped the last ten meters into Dark Shadow’s reach, snapping out their capture scarf to dispel the clone. The ringing slowly faded as they soared through the air, Dynamight begrudgingly following Deku’s calls for trajectories. After a few minutes, they roughly landed on a side street, narrowly avoiding grinding into the asphalt. Fumikage immediately shoved a straw to Mortis, who focused on drinking the familiar smoothie from their oversized tumbler.

“Can you walk?” Midoriya asked, glancing between the two of them.

“Of course I can, nerd!” Katsuki ground out while leaning slightly against Kirishima.

‘I shouldn’t,’ Mortis wearily shook their head. ‘Technically, I shouldn’t have used my quirk back there.’

A red feather sped up to them and, after a brief moment of hesitation, darted towards Mortis’ collar. Eyes wide, they threw themself to the side. Dark Shadow ducked to support them while Fumikage rapidly shook his head at the feather. “Just show us to the First Aid station.”

Two more feathers joined the first, and Fumikage scowled. “Hawks, that’s not what my classmate needs. Show us the station, or we’ll find it ourselves.”

After a moment, the feather zipped ahead, weaving the group through more side streets to avoid the main fight. Kirishima moved Katsuki to his back as the group trudged forward, and Midoriya stayed half a block ahead to make sure they weren’t about to run into rubble or villains. Explosions, screams, and sirens filled the air as they followed the feather, and the smell of sulfur, blood, and sweat hung thick. Soon, they arrived at a station with a number of civilians, a few heroes, and two ambulances at the ready. Fumikage quickly explained their history to the EMT and that they needed to stay out of the hospital if possible while Katsuki was checked over at the other ambulance.

“Kid, your friend needs fluids and antibiotics stat. They can’t stay around here, and we’re not going out to Musutafu.”

Akira reluctantly nodded, not wanting to waste their time. Besides, like All for One said, I’ll be found out soon enough from what that reporter said.

“Who’s riding with you? If you lot didn’t bring a guardian, I can let one of you ride,” he gestured to the rescue group.

“I’ll go,” Fumikage said with a nod from Akira.

Akira tensed as they noticed a red feather slip in right before the ambulance door closed but decided not to fight the intrusion. Not that they were in a state to do so anyway…

“Alright kid, I’m going to take your braces and scarf off so we can get a good look at what’s going on, okay? Do you have any injuries under them?”

Akira shook their head, directing their scarf to unwrap their torso and rest on Fumikage’s lap. He let out a quiet squeak before petting the material with a soft smile and wide eyes. The EMT sucked in a breath at their numerous scars and emaciated frame. What progress they’d made over the term was gone, their skin stretched over their protruding rib cage and sunken stomach.

“Damn, kid, how are you awake right now,” he muttered while hooking up an IV and monitors.

Akira smirked slightly and weakly joked, ‘Spite.’

Fumikage snorted and Dark Shadow did their odd little buzzing laugh as the EMT looked exasperated at them. The few cars on the road shimmied to make room for the ambulance, and soon, they arrived at Kamino General.

“Fat Gum is already here, I texted him on the way,” Fumikage said as they wheeled into the hospital. Akira nodded gratefully although torn on how their family might react to his presence.

The EMT passed them off to a couple nurses, who frowned at the paperwork. “There’s no Akira Mori in the system. Is there another name you go by?”

‘Wait,’ Akira weakly signed, limbs sluggish as the adrenaline started to wear off.

“Wait for Fat Gum?” Fumikage asked, head cocked slightly. At Akira’s nod, he explained, “Pro Hero Fat Gum should be with us shortly. He has their legal name if I’m not mistaken?” Akira nodded again. “They’re mildly allergic to methamphetamine and citrus. The emaciation is from their quirk’s drawback.”

Taishiro caught up to them as they were approaching an empty room, and Akira let themself relax into the gurney as they caught sight of him. “Mori! How are you feeling, kiddo?”

“Sir, we were told you know their legal name? We need it for records,” one of the nurses clipped.

With a worried glance at Akira, Taishiro said, “Daitan Inoue. Their family is the subject of an ongoing investigation, so they are not to be notified or let near their room.”

The nurses looked skeptical but nodded, one peeling off to presumably update the system. Fumikage squawked at the name and stared at Akira. “Inoue. As in the Wrens?” he whispered.

Akira nodded, eyeing the nurse as he set up an IV and explained the call buttons. He drew some blood for standard tests and said a doctor should come by eventually, but they weren’t considered a critical patient other than monitoring and getting their weight back with the IV cocktail.

“Feel free to sleep, kiddo, we’ve got you,” Taishiro murmured, settling on the floor next to the bed while Fumikage took the chair. “Shouta and Nezu are on their way, but traffic is horrific around the city right now.”

Akira shook their head and signed, ‘Sorry for not warning you.’

Taishiro chuckled, “You have no reason to apologize, but what do you mean warn?”

‘They had Murder God and Raven. Threatened them. Let myself be taken instead.’

“Akira, wasn’t that after you had a dozen clones up?” Fumikage asked, feathers ruffling as he gaped at them.

“You what?” Taishiro shot up, startling Akira halfway off the bed. “Sorry, but kid, that’s way more than we talked about. Is that why you’re so underweight?”

Shifting back, Akira nodded. ‘Had to try something. Stopped when he released.’

“Of course, right this way, sir.”

Akira tensed as the door opened, relaxing minutely when they recognized the Detective. Fumikage froze, feathers poofing as he looked between them and the cop before attempting to smooth his features.

“Tokoyami, I want to first say that what you did was incredibly reckless and nearly crossed the line into illegal,” the Detective said evenly. “That being said, since no one was hurt, none of your group will be facing vigilante charges. Mori, you and Bakugo were still acting under the permission given at the training camp as well as in self-defense, so both of you are also in the clear. If either of you have questions about those rulings, Aizawa is already planning a refresher on vigilante laws and would gladly go into more depth.”

‘Thank you, Detective,’ Akira signed before letting out a resigned sigh. ‘I take it you’re not just here for my statement on being kidnapped.’

“I’m afraid not. Your previous statements about your home life were lies, correct?”

‘About half were, the other half were half-truths or lies by omission,’ Akira shrugged.

“And why was that?” the Detective asked gently.

Akira scowled and drew themself up the small amount they could in their weakened state. ‘What’s your relation to the Wrens?’

He blinked, looking to Taishiro who simply motioned for him to go on. “I occasionally work on cases with them, but they don’t often come to my jurisdiction. Why?”

‘Once they arrive in the next 24 to 48 hours, I’ll assess and then decide whether to give a statement,’ Akira decided.

“If they hurt you, we can-”

‘Protect me?’ Akira scoffed. ‘I don’t trust heroes, cops, or the Hero Commission. Good luck finding someone who can work with that, can’t be bought out or blackmailed, and is still capable of holding off the Wrens.’

The Detective looked to Taishiro, who simply added, “Mori has their reasons. You up for a statement on the kidnapping while he’s here, kiddo? I can interpret for you for the record.”

At their nod, the Detective set up the recording. Akira described the night of their capture, excluding the tip from Dabi. They kept their discussion with the League vague but included that the League was one of the bidders during the sting. As they got to All for One, Akira started slowing down, more hesitant.

“Preliminary reports say you weren’t at the bar with Bakugo. Were you kept at a secondary location?” the Detective gently asked.

Akira nodded, ‘The Kamino warehouse.’ They took a steadying breath before adding, ‘All for One wanted to meet me.’

“Did he tell you why?”

Akira hesitated, glancing at the red feather tucked between Fumikage’s chair and the wall. ‘They wanted to recruit us, but I was nearing the point of organ failure because of my quirk. All for One gave me enough for my baseline, but…’

“It’s enough for them to gain a few pounds on a normal day without actively using their quirk,” Taishiro supplied. “I helped Mori refine a nutrition plan during their internship, so I’m well-versed on the side effects.”

After a few more questions, the Detective left to take other statements. Fumikage spoke up after a moment, “He offered something, didn’t he?”

Akira nodded, not bothering to contest his intuition. ‘Not now. Hawks listening.’

“What?” he squawked. Akira motioned behind his chair, and he grabbed the feather. “Why didn’t you say anything before?”

‘I would’ve stopped you if there was going to be an issue. We’ll find out soon enough if he’s still with the family.’

“So, biggest hero family in Japan,” Fumikage said after a while. Akira chuckled and motioned for him to continue. “Do you have any siblings?”

Akira was caught between a shudder and smile at the flashes of their siblings. ‘Unfortunately, yes.’

Taking the hint, Fumikage shifted to catching them up on what had happened over the past two days. Hitoshi had been held hostage by Yamada and Aizawa at their house, only letting him video call those in the hospital. The rescue team also included Ida and Shota making sure they didn’t fight and running support, respectively. Koji thought it was a terrible idea, especially without a plan, since surely the heroes already had a plan in place.

Akira glanced to Taishiro at that, whose expression was dark but slightly amused. ‘Were you part of the bar team? I didn’t see you at the warehouse, but we were a little busy.’

That drew a small laugh out of the hero, albeit less enthusiastically than normal. “Yeah, kiddo, I was a little too recognizable to be with the warehouse team. Tamaki offered to do the paperwork once Tokoyami messaged me you were on your way here. He might stop by later depending on when you get discharged.”

A few hours and several micronaps later, Akira shot up in bed, hairs on the back of their neck rising. Dread pooled in their gut, although nothing in the room itself seemed different. They quickly made a shushing motion to Taishiro and Fumikage and slipped off the bed, bringing the IV with them towards the door. Ear to the wall next to it, Akira just barely made out a few voices.

“…really, sir, I’m afraid you can’t go back there right now. We’re limiting visitors per the…” the voice trailed off, and Akira froze. “Of course, right this way. My apologies for the confusion.”

“It’s no trouble at all, thank you.”

Akira stumbled back and quickly signed to the pair, ‘Don’t let them touch you!’ They hobbled back to the bed with Dark Shadow steadying them and settled just as the door opened. Beyond was a slightly dazed nurse, a tall man with dark, gravity-defying hair in a suit with the mandatory Legacy Holder red gloves and ring, and…

Asami?

Notes:

normally with starvation, you don’t want the person to eat too much too quickly, especially since their stomach will have shrunk. Akira’s starvation mode from their quirk works a little differently since it’s a lot faster and their body is designed to recoup faster. Akira wasn’t this bad during USJ because they were pretty quickly dispelling their clones, only leaving at most one or two active when they needed invisibility. They also had time to chug jelly pouches and assess the situation before acting.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

2 notes · View notes

aspenforest732 · 6 months

Text

Mortem ad Wrens Chapter 14: To Break the Chains

Summary:

tw: calorie tracking, ed behaviors, food insecurity, intrusive thoughts, body flashback Internship starts

Notes:

DISCLAIMER: I’m not a nutritionist and am just trying to not throw complete nonsense in here. Please don’t take any of the nutrition plan stuff as advice, especially since I’m trying to adjust things to loosely make sense with Akira’s quirk. 'text' JSL text thoughts

“Amajiki!” Fat Gum called out, grinning widely as he made his way to the pair. “Good to see you again, and you must be Akira Mori. Let’s get you settled and then we can grab lunch!”

Akira grinned, bowing at the introduction. ‘I look forward to working with you, Fat Gum. Thank you for the opportunity.’

“No need to be so formal with us, Mori. You have quite the quirk, and I have some preliminary ideas to help with your drawback. Our patrol will start at six, so we’ll be showing you the ropes of paperwork.”

As Fat Gum talked about Esuha City and his community programs, Akira felt eyes on them. Without missing a beat, they started looking around more at the shops and sights Fat Gum described while flashing a quick ‘watching us’ to Amajiki. As the trio were stopped by a sweet bun shop owner for samples, Akira casually positioned themselves to look back on the street and spotted Mouse, one of Fat Gum’s sidekicks, in the crowd. They took an offered sweet bun, biting in before signing ‘clear.’

Fat Gum chuckled, “You’ve got good instincts, kid.” He signaled Mouse to move on, who to Akira’s pleasure looked surprised. “You want to be an underground hero, right?”

Akira nodded, ‘It’ll give the cover and flexibility I need to operate. I did briefly consider Twilight, but I need to avoid the media.’

“I’ll keep that in mind as we work on a nutrition plan for your quirk. We’ll be logging what you eat so we have a baseline to work with.”

‘I have been keeping track of that in a notebook since I started at UA,’ Akira signed and fished it out of their pack at Fat Gum’s excitement. ‘The first page has a breakdown of my current nutrition plan, and the rest is a daily log of calories, quirk use, and weight at the beginning and end of each day.’ Knowing how valuable his input could be, Akira had already adjusted the plan to what they actually ate for lunch and dinner instead of what the school knew.

Fat Gum spent the rest of their walk flipping through the notebook, grin falling slightly over some of the pages. “This is great, kid, but I take it you like jelly pouches?” he asked, grin a little more forced.

Akira ducked their head, ears flushing. ‘Eraser insisted on keeping my backup stash stocked with them. I was using pocky sticks before.’

Amajiki peeked up in surprise before tucking back into himself. Fat Gum laughed, “I’ve heard stories about that man and his jelly pouches. I’m glad you caught his eye; I see he also let you put him down as an emergency contact. Any relation?”

Akira shook their head as they slipped into the agency with the pair, ‘I didn’t make a good first impression, and by the end of the first day, Eraser just started helping me outside schoolwork for some reason. He offered to be my second contact since it was required for the internship.’

Akira’s head was on a swivel as Fat Gum gave them a tour of the agency. They met a few of his sidekicks, confirming their observations of brutes and changers comprising most of the hero’s agency. Akira also recognized a few former vigilantes who now lived at the agency full-time while working towards their license. Some were kids but others were in their late teens or early twenties.

After setting their duffle in their room, Akira sat on the bed, letting themself soak in the comforts while they could. I could get used to this, Akira thought bittersweetly. Come on, just let yourself enjoy while you can. You can have three years of this if you don’t ruin it.

Akira pulled their hair into a messy bun and made a couple adjustments to their braces, testing the give since the support company’s execution of Hatsume’s designs had only arrived the previous day. Akira put on their hero costume and restocked their snack pouches, including a protein drink in case patrol was particularly busy. Finally, they clipped their retractable forearm crutches into their utility belt. The aids would put less stress on their shoulders and enable them to lessen the pressure on both legs instead of just their worse one.

Before heading out, Akira texted the Mad Banquet chat that they made it to the agency. Other than Tokoyami, the others had long since arrived, train rides much shorter than their own. Tucking their phone away, Akira made their way to the cafeteria, drawing a few odd looks from the brightly colored heroes at their monochrome palette, yellow contacts providing the only splash of color.

They started heading to the self-serve feast laid out over a few counters and dispensers when Fat Gum waved them over to a table. “Based on your notes, we need to double your current base intake.” Akira startled, eyebrows shooting up. “Your quirk’s drawback isn’t as separate as your paperwork implied. My quirk has the physical limit of the fat stored in my body; my muscles alone won’t absorb hits. Your quirk doesn’t recognize the difference between fat and muscle, which is what causes the atrophy. Your idea of having a buffer is more accurate than you think. Your quirk should never have the choice between muscle and fat because which it chooses is variable.”

‘I can’t develop muscle? I need the strength and flexibility,’ Akira signed desperately.

“You can still work on muscle development,” Fat Gum clarified gently. “But we’re not talking about being a couple kilos over the average. To reliably use your quirk without the risk of starvation, you should be 45-50% body fat. It’ll take time, but your current eating structure of two main meals with snacks throughout the day is a good framework to start with.”

Fat Gum ran through the changes they’d be making and pushed over a written-out plan. Akira tried to focus, but they were reeling with how they’d maintain the plan once they were paying for it. The recipes Fat Gum gave them all required a kitchen to varying degrees, but their security deposit fund would be gone in the first week of this plan. Akira followed the hero to the feast, nodding as he pointed out everything he put on the nutrition plan and encouraged them to try what they could while here so they knew the options. Before starting to eat, Akira quickly jot down their meal and the sweet bun they had earlier, trying to ignore the twist in their gut at the amount of food.

“Are you alright?” Akira turned at Amajiki’s soft, concerned voice. Their eyes flitted to Fat Gum, who was talking with one of his ex-vigilantes off to the side.

‘Just trying to figure out how to make this work,’ Akira distractedly signed. They offered a small smile to the introverted teen, ‘I was hoping he’d be able to take a look at the plan, just wasn’t expecting… this.’

Nodding after a moment, Amajiki looked back to his own plate with a more normal amount of food but far more variety. After a few minutes of trying to do the math in their head, Akira flipped to the back of their nutrition notebook and started running numbers on their new budget range for each week while eating with their off hand. With the internship’s stipend, they would still be a few thousand yen short of a low-income security deposit by the end of next week even if they didn’t implement Fat Gum’s changes that week and ran deliveries for an extra two hours each night. Besides, with finals rapidly approaching, only getting two hours of sleep would spell disaster for their grades.

As Fat Gum walked back over, Akira closed and secured the notebook in its holster. The hero tried to start up conversation with Amajiki, but he seemed as anxious as Akira, mumbling and stuttering as the man energetically guided the conversation.

U̸̳̥͇̺̙͒͋͌͗̎͐͌n̴̩̯̜͔̮͍̗̲̤͓̏̃̇͜͝ͅw̷̢̭͎̦͎̼̤̯̫͍̘̔̽͊́̌̇̊͜ơ̸̢̛̲̞̯̰̭̻͚̮͈̾͋͗̏́̽͘͝r̴̢̡̘̱̙̼̗̮͙͓̬̫̀́t̶̛̛͈͕͕͇̝̫́̐̿̏̊͂̑̔̒͘̚͝͝h̵̢̧̜̠̟͕̼̣̀͐̿̅̊̅̾̀̇́̋ỹ̶͕̥̙̇̎͐̉̊̍͂̍ (Unworthy)

Damnit, not here. Akira subtly dropped their left hand into their lap to focus on the texture of their tassels and on eating as Fat Gum and Amajiki’s conversation faded into the background.

Y̶̛͉͑͊͋͐̒̿͝͝o̶̢̧͕͕̖̟̲̣̭͕̙̠͕̗͛u̶̼̱̙̣̗̜̙̅͛͌͒ ̸̢͍̰͉̖͔̤̤̣͚̾͑̔̈̆͑̀́̇͝͠͠r̵̨̧̡̟̹͙̙͔͓͉͉̬͕̋͠u̷͔̜͖̗̇͌͂͑̄̂i̸͇̮̯͙̞̣̇̍̋̐̐̇͐͆͂̎̓̚n̷̯̱̪̫̬̼̳̪̜͕̯̳̱̖̑ ̴̧̠̩̬̲̙̭̗̤̭̟̻̉̅̆͆͒̍̉̈́̊̓̓̎̕e̵̛̤͉̳̯̘̮͎̲͚̮̓̓̈́̂̌͐́͆̃̅̕͘͜v̵̯̱͉̱̩̻̤̟̰̈́̉̓͊̑̾͒̿̊͛͋̉͜͝ḛ̴̛̖͉̮̘̠͉̣̈̄̓̃̽͒r̴̙̱̥̙̗̈́͗́̽̋̓̋̿͐̄̒͝ÿ̷͇͈͍̥̟̥́̅͘t̷̡̢̗̣͕͖̲̖̙͕͉́̉͆̅͂̎̌̽̋͒̆̒ͅh̴̢̧͎̻͓͈̬̜̩̼͋͘͜į̷͓̻̩̖̺͙̯͙̍͝n̵̨̻̫̺͎̥͎̭̥͔̗̰̓͛́̈͂̇͠g̸̝̩̰͎̣͛̎͋̀̅ͅ ̵̡̖̟̤͖͇̝͕̯͇̭̈́͐̒̇y̷͈̲͙̣̭̺͐͒́ō̷̬̈̈͒̓̊̂͑̄̓̈̄ư̴̧̛̦͉͍͎̬̖̯̰͇̗̰͎̦̓̈̿͐͋̓̂̈́̈́̔͠͝ ̴̼̝̩̦͉̱̹̝̯̘͔̌̐̒̚͝͠t̸̡̧͕̳̺͎̑͊͌̄̔̎͗̆ǫ̵̡̝̰̙̙͕̘̦͂͋u̷̲̲̙̲̽c̷̙̙̞͎͕̖̽͌͒̀̿́̇͛̕͜h̸̼̞͕͇̱̦̅͗͐ (You ruin everything you touch)

Akira shivered, remembering the burns that often accompanied those words.

Y̴̤̎̃̿̇̋́̈́̂̑̎̿͘̕͝o̶̢͖̿̄͌̅̈͌̾̐͌̓̐̃̃͝͝ṵ̴̫̝̞̥̥͇͝’̴̡̧̙̰̲͈̘̙͈̳̳̬̮͈͇̒̐͌͋̑͝͠l̵̡̰̩̞͓̩̝͎͎̜͈̟̝̜̝͂̂͒̅͗̔͝l̴͈̬̃͌͊̄̊́̎͘̕̕ ̴͈̙̣̬͔̭̜̥͙̇̋̉̚͜͜͜ŗ̷̘͔̝̩͙̬̥̳̈́̑̄̓̅́̂̒̒̒͝ͅù̸̡̡̧̧̺̝̼͈̣̩̩̰̟̯́͒̄̕͜i̴̢̡̢̬͓͉̱͚̫̮̝̖̗͉͛̈̿̚ń̸̖̭̝̳͔̗̺̹̼̭̳̐̀͒̃̍̈́̈́̚͠ ̶̭̺̎̐͌̌͛̀̚͠t̸̡̧̘̜̝̬͚̘̻͚̬͉̻̂̾͆͝h̵̗̍̈́î̶̹͗̇̈́̏͋̏̚͘ṣ̷̰͉̖̥̲̻́̂̑̾́̎̈͜͝,̸̛̦͖͎̫̯͎͓͇̝̫̜̹͛͑͒̈̀́͗͌̚̕ ̴̢̤͍͉͇͎̮̥̝͇̠̘̇̇̈̈́͋͗̀͒̀̅̔͘t̶̘͙͚̪̭̮̑̅̔̈̉́͊̚̚͠ǫ̵͚̹͌͋̀o̷̧̹̜͕͙͎̮̮̤̘̦̾̀͜ͅ (You’ll ruin this, too)

“…quirk analysis and encoded it.” Akira looked up as they forced themself to swallow the last of their heaping plate.

“We’ll have time before patrol to start going over it and look at improving the encryption since you already have a good system for food tracking and the initial nutrition plan adjustments are done.”

Akira nodded, ‘I use the same system for practicing analysis of others, so improving it is a good idea. It only took Sun Eater fifteen minutes to decode it on the train.’

Fat Gum grinned and ruffled Amajiki’s hair despite the boy’s disgruntled look. Akira smiled as they noticed him slightly lean into the touch despite himself. “I knew you’d get it once you got out of your head!” Fat Gum praised and asked more about the process as Amajiki shrunk into his seat.

‘I think that was a compliment,’ Akira signed, briefly catching Amajiki’s downturned gaze before continuing, ‘I start with a Caesar cipher then use a Polybius square.’

“Wonderful! A two-part cipher like that would slow down would-be readers. Are you using a static or variable key? Well, the easiest way to add another layer of difficulty would be to make the Polybius key variable. It could be based on a book you like, a website or newspaper, or even a radio show. If you haven’t done so already, you’d need to start dating the pages. I’d recommend using a written material to save time looking for your daily key.”

The trio made their way to Fat Gum’s office, and Akira felt themself relax marginally at the massive window opposite the door. “When it’s just me, I do paperwork in the main area, but I thought you might enjoy the quiet more, like Tamaki.” Akira startled at the use of his first name. “While we’re patrolling, call me Fat Gum and Tamaki Suneater. When we’re off duty, I ask everyone to call me Toyomitsu or Taishiro if they’re comfortable, and my call sign is Sunny D.”

Akira nodded, ‘My call sign is Reaper if we need to communicate nonverbally off duty.’

Fat Gum pulled out a stack of forms, a few liability wavers at the top of empty reports. “Once you sign these, we can start going over what reports will look like. Tamaki and I usually don’t have to worry about property damage, but it’s good to know what that looks like in case it does occur. Even if the villain was the one causing damage, it’s important to file the report so there’s a record of what happened.”

Akira paid rapt attention as Fat Gum went over the various types of reports they might need, appreciating the extra time he took explaining ones that applied more to underground work. They were left with two hours before patrol, which they took to decide on a forum that followed Wren fights with the day of the month determining which post – sorted by recent – to pull the first five letters from. They also changed the plain text to classical Latin to add a layer of not quite encryption but difficulty… and maybe a clue for Asami to realize they were alive.

As they wrote the plain text to the side to restart encryption, Fat Gum – right, Taishiro and Amajiki read through the notes. Once Akira was primed with their keywords and square – a temporary aid to get used to the new method – Taishiro asked, “From what we’ve read so far and your talk on the train, you recently had an awakening or mutation, right?”

Akira hesitated, ‘Maybe? As you can tell from the beginning, I didn’t have enough buffer to experiment much when my quirk first manifested, so it’s possible the movement aspect of my clones didn’t have enough energy available to be noticeable.’

“The journal only dates back two years. Did you not keep track when it first manifested?” Fat Gum asked gently, curiosity shining in his eyes.

‘My quirk forcibly manifested when I was 13. With Stranger such an unknown variable in quirks, it’s possible that component was my biological quirk with an activation that would be difficult for me to encounter. The trigger fit secondary Master just as well and I have family history of it, so I originally used that classification.’

As they started re-encrypting their notebook, Akira noticed the room was completely silent and, out of the corner of their eye, they saw a paper drift back to the desk. Akira glanced up in confusion and flinched into themself at the rage in Taishiro’s eyes and horror in Amajiki’s.

“Who?” Taishiro ground out. Akira briefly glanced up, confused. “Who tortured you?”

‘Oh,’ Akira signed. ‘My family. Abuse seems to be 2 for 5 with the other kids of heroes I’ve met. Although, I don’t know if Blank counts since he was abused up until he got placed with heroes. 50/50 if he doesn’t.’

Amajiki looked sick and Taishiro’s expression softened, although his voice remained hard. “I’m going to need the name of your family and the other kid’s family, then. Preventing abuse, especially Forced Quirk Manifestation, is one of the main reasons I foster a sense of community. The kids feel safe enough to expose the underbelly groups that do it.”

Still confused, Akira flinched at the quiet fury in his voice. ‘That’s just more proof that it’s common. The other kid is Shoto Todoroki; I can guarantee his father is abusive, but I lack proof without the children’s testimonies, and their quirks point to the only potential forced manifestation being Natsuo given his weak Brute quirk. With time, Shoto could be given justice or break free, but the Commission is involved in the cover-up as usual. My family is too large and connected to reach.’

“That’s why you need to avoid the media… Just because it’s common doesn’t make it right,” Amajiki murmured.

‘I know, it’s just confusing when people are surprised by it.’

“Since they haven’t found you yet, I take it your last name isn’t Mori. So what is their name?” Taishiro pressed.

‘Like I said, it doesn’t matter. There’s nothing you can do to them, and if you refuse to work with them, that will just put more potential focus on me. I have a plan, but it’s going to take years.’ Akira huffed as they thought if I even survive that long.

“Will you at least tell me if any members of my agency are part of your family?”

Akira chuckled humorlessly, ‘Being a limelight is a requirement in the family, so none of them would dream of working under a Twilight hero.’

Something clicked in Taishiro’s eyes, and Akira straightened warily from their writing position. ‘Don’t-’

“The Wrens.”

Shit.

Notes:

Akira’s notes are in English so I could use ciphers I’m familiar with (cryptography was one of my hyperfixations) I was trying to find a call sign for Fat Gum that wouldn’t be weird when I got to Sunshine Dad, which turned into Sunny D. The D does still stand for Dad, but people are usually more comfortable shortening it to the brand name at least when they’re first taken in. Also sorry I didn't upload this yesterday; wasn't feeling well and didn't write anything for Libertias aut Mortis either 😅

Akira: panicking Amajiki: what is wrong with this child Fat Gum: I’ve got another kid! Akira: casually mentions trauma Amajiki.exe has stopped working Fat Gum: who do I need to kill

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

2 notes · View notes