CH. 2: Immediate Escape
Alex felt like his brain was going to explode at any moment. In the memories he watched, a small, thin 9-year-old boy with messy black hair worked in the streets, polishing shoes for spare change. The boy's clothes were tattered and his face was smudged with dirt.
One day, a policeman came by to get his shoes polished. The boy did his work diligently and asked for payment when he was done. However, the policeman glared at him scornfully.
"How dare you ask me for money, you filthy street rat!" The policeman yelled. He slapped the shoe polishing box out of the boy's hands, sending it clattering across the pavement. The boy begged and pleaded, but the policeman showed no mercy. He said that the boy's work station was in an illegal setup and confiscated all his working items.
With no way to make money, the boy resorted to begging on the streets just to get money enough to eat. But begging earned little, so in desperation, he turned to stealing. Being weak and malnourished, he was often caught during these petty crimes. And getting caught meant a harsh beating from the locals.
As this cycle of misery continued, a deep resentment began growing in the boy's heart. He hated the police officer who took away his work. He hated the people who ignored his desperate poverty. By the time he was 10 years old, his hatred had fully consumed him.
That's when his Quirk manifested. He discovered he could control the weather and manipulate it however he wantts.
All this years, he wanted such power since all he thought was power and strength can do anything in this world. But nothing changed, and people did not fear him but only looked at him like petty thief. He was confused, he can kill all those people if he wanted, then shouldn't he be the leader?
But he soon found out that was not the case. Nine wanted to make a world where he can be feared. With this god-like power, he would reshape the world to fit his vision. A world where the strongest stand on top and the weak grovel below them.
The boy grow up and sought out others who had been rejected by society. With his strong Quirk, he can easily drew them in.
He find his comrades. Slice, Mummy, Chimera - together they would rebuild the corrupt society that had failed them.
However, his powerful Quirk came at a terrible price. After each use, his body was wracked with searing pain. He realized his physical body could not contain the sheer power of his abilities. At this rate, his own Quirk would destroy him.
In the search for a cure, he was introduced to the League of Villains' doctor - Kyudai Garaki. He volunteered as a test subject, hoping the doctor could find a way to stabilize his failing body.
Garaki was astounded by his Quirk and tenacity. The doctor questioned why he would participate in such dangerous experimentation.
And Nine explained his past and his vision to reshape society's unjust hierarchy.
Intrigued, Garaki agreed that Nine was an ideal subject. He placed the young man into a capsule to begin the agonizing process of transferring All For One's Quirk into him. Nine was warned it could take some time for the procedure to complete.
Unknown to Nine, this risky experiment would only increase his problems. But he saw himself as a mere guinea pig, focused only on the potential rewards. And so, he steeled himself as the capsule closed around him, leaving him isolated and restrained.
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Without warning, Alex was wracked by a splitting headache, as if his skull was being crushed. He pounded against the capsule walls in panic, but suddenly rationality returned to his head.
He started to understand what was happenkng. He was in an anime world now, trapped in the body of a villain. A villain with hyper-powerful Quirks running rampant in his body, just surviving day to day would be a challenge for someone like him.
Alex contemplated his situation. In his old life, he had one driving goal - to protect his older sister. But he lost her, he had failed her, and the painful scars of his failure lingered even now.
Afterwards, simply existing from one day to the next had become his purpose, just for the sole reason that he promised his sister that he could live. But now things were different. Death was no longer the end. Which meant maybe, just maybe, he could find her again.
A ridiculous, impossible goal. Yet it gave him something worth fighting for. He would endure, grow stronger, and find a way back to her.
Alex knew he had to escape quickly. Nine had allowed these experiments in pursuit of power, not realizing it jeopardized his life.
Gaining All For One's Quirk interested Alex, but he refused to stay as a prisoner and be further mutated. His best chance of survival was getting as far away from this lab as possible.
Just as he was pondering his next move, a heavy sleepiness hit him suddenly making his body slow. His eyelids drooped as he slipped into unconsciousness.
Some time later, Alex woke up to bright lights stinging his eyes. He was no longer in the capsule! But he did not make any movements, feigning unconsciousness.
Alex stayed motionless on the operating table, keeping his breathing steady and eyes closed. But suddenly, he heard a keyboard clicking sound, which was followed by the voice of doctor kyudai, he seems be having conversation with someone.
He tuned his focus towards the conversation happening on the side of the bed.
"The transplant of All For One duplicate Quirk ability was a success. " Dr. Kyudai Garaki reported to the voice coming through his computer speaker. "We've already conducted tests granting the subject additional Quirks. With his original weather manipulation Quirk, he now has capacity for eight more quirks."
"Impressive. What Quirks have you given him so far?" the mysterious voice asked.
"Let's see...so far we've transferred All For One, Air Wall, Laser Beam, and Quirk Detection." Dr. Garaki replied, shuffling through notes on his clipboard. "Four of his eight slots are filled."
"And what of the physical condition, did his body take any damage? How well is his body adapting to these additional Quirks?"
Dr. Garaki hesitated before answering. "There has already been significant strain put on the subject's body from overuse of his original Quirk. Integrating new ones will certainly increase the damage. However, this is precisely why he makes an ideal test subject. The data we can collect from his deterioration will be invaluable in completing your transfer to Shigaraki's body."
Alex's blood ran cold. So Nine was nothing but a lab rat to them, who escaped because of the pro heros attack in the movie, a sacrificial lamb for their human experiments.
"Excellent. Proceed with the next Quirk implantation." The voice commanded. "Which one will you use?"
"I believe Hydra quirk will be useful for our purposes and provide copious data. However, integrating it will surely wreak havoc on the subject's body. Permanent cripling is likely. Well, we will go through it immediately. But today I will have to make a surgery and remove one of his organs for my new type of nomu." Dr. Garaki sounded pleased by the prospect.
Alex's mind raced. He couldn't allow them to inflict further harm! But escape still seemed impossible. He would have to bid his time and hope an opportunity presented itself.
Alex knew he had to escape immediately. He didn't need any more Quirks - the ones he had were sufficient for surviving outside. He watched Dr. Garaki exit the room after ending his video call. With the doctor gone, he surveyed the area, verifying there were no security cameras in sight.
Gritting his teeth, he ripped the monitoring devices off his body, bloodying himself in the process. But the pain barely registered - he was going to focus on getting out.
In most action movies and animes, the ventilation system was the best escape route. Alex eyed the vent on the wall consideringly. Even if he made a run for the door, there was no way he'd make it out of this lab without being caught. The vent was his best bet.
He activated his weather manipulation, since he already have the muscle memorie, it was quite easy for him. Using the wind currents, he propel himself upwards. But as he reached for the vent, fiery pain shot through his muscles. He barely stifled a scream, clenching his jaw tightly. The doctor wasn't lying about his body deteriorating. But Alex couldn't dwell on that now.
Ignoring the agony coursing through him, he cought one of the bars of vent, then by extending his other hand towards the vent, he tried using his laser Quirk on it since it was glued with screws. To his relief, a small but concentrated beam emerged from his fingertip, allowing him to slice through the vent cover. But just as the metal came off and fell into his hand, Alex heard the distinct sound of the lab door opening again.
"Fuck." Alex muttered under his breath while twisting his body around to see who it was.
He was shocked and also felt a bit relief when he saw who had entered the lab. It was one of Garaki's small Nomus (the Nomus that look small as dogs) - it was probably acting as his assistant. Alex didn't hesitate - as soon as the Nomu looked at the operating table, he activated his weather manipulation Quirk and propelled himself upward into the open vent shaft.
Gritting his teeth against the agonizing strain on his muscles, Alex crawled rapidly through the ventilation system. He had to get as far away as possible before the alarm was raised.
The diminutive Nomu assistant waddled into the lab, following Dr. Garaki's instructions to check on the patient. Coming near the bed, it propelled itself up using its legs. Its large eyes widened in surprise when it saw the messy but vacant bed. Realizing the subject had gone missing, panic flashed across the Nomu's grotesque face.
It scurried on stubby legs toward the lab's exit, leaping upward to slap a red button next to the doorframe. Lights flashed and sirens blared as the entire facility went into high alert.
Alex pushed forward through the vent shaft despite the pain wracking his body. Alarms meant they had discovered his escape - he didn't have much time before they will start searching for him.
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On the other side, Dr. Garaki was in the midst of preparing for Nine's operation when the alarms went off. The clatter of surgical tools hitting the floor rang out as the doctor rushed from the room. In the hallway, he stumbled upon the small Nomu assistant flailing in panic. It didn't take long for Garaki to piece together that the test subject Nine had somehow escaped.
"Impossible!" Garaki exclaimed, gripping his head in agitation. "Why would subject Nine flee when he willingly volunteered for this? No, no, we cannot lose him! The data he provides is too important!"
Regaining some composure, the doctor swiftly took out a remote control from his lab coat pocket. Pressing a sequence of buttons, he activated the Nomu guards stationed throughout the facility. On his command, the hulking beasts began moving to hunt down the missing subject.
With the search underway, Garaki proceeded down the hallway toward the security control room. While the Nomus used brute force, the doctor knew checking surveillance footage would be the most useful thing to find Nine's location and his route of escape.
Upon entering the dark room, Garaki briskly approached the large monitor-covered wall, he started scanning for any sign of his test subject. He rewound and reviewed multiple camera feeds but got nothing.
However, without giving up, he stepped back and connected a few wires to the computer and started scanning again.
This time, he used the heat sensing cameras so he can look through the walls. But unexpectedly he found someone crawling in the ventilation system.
There! I found him.
Switching camera views, Garaki tracked Nine's progress through the maze-like air ducts as he quickly give the instruction to the nomu's through the remote. He kept giving the instructions until the Nomus reached Nine's location.
Alex crawled rapidly through the ventilation shaft, his limbs burning with exertion. He had to get as far away from the lab as possible before Garaki found out his location.
Suddenly, a crashing noise erupted just inches behind Alex. He glanced back only to see - one of the Nomu had thrust a massive blade into the ceiling, shredding the metal while narrowly missing him.
As he watched in shock, the Nomu began dragging its transformed arm forward, the makeshift knife scraping along the ventilation shaft, sparking against the walls as it closed in on him.
"Shit, it's trying to skewer me!" He realized. He thought he was a valuable test subject, so why were they trying to kill him? Had Garaki decided recapturing him wasn't worth the risk?
Adrenaline flooding his system as he crawled faster, his limbs burning with the effort. But the Nomu was steadily gaining speed, its huge blade filling the cramped air duct. Alex had to think of something fast or be sliced into two parts.