Chapter 44 - A Bit Too Late

In the end, Johnny was the person to have the honor of driving, simply because he called Victor to plead on his behalf…

And since the van belonged to Victor, nobody had any more say in the matter…

Even Sue, who was especially not in Victor's favor at the moment, was ordered to allow Johnny to drive whatever he liked…

The moment Mirio saw Johnny getting behind the wheel of the van, he was tempted to find another way through the mountain terrain…

After all, Johnny didn't exactly inspire confidence…

"Relax…" Johnny urged, glancing at Mirio, Reed, and Ben in the backseat "Remember I piloted the shuttle that took us into space…"

"Yeah…" Ben agreed, growling a bit "And we got hit by a freaking cosmic storm…"

"The important thing is the fact we came back alive…" Johnny beamed, signaling Sue to put her seatbelt on "Don't be reckless little sister…"

Mirio and the others were also paying attention, managing to get their seatbelts on just as Johnny revved the car into action…

The wind in everyone's stomachs was sent to the back of their heads, and Reed was a split second away from barfing…

Luckily, Sue was able to lean her chair a bit to the back, steading Reed before he could puke all over Mirio…

Though, Mirio was just as likely to permeate through the puke, and send everything towards a frightened Ben…

As for why Ben was frightened, it was because he knew Johnny better than even Sue…

And when Ben saw that familiar glint of recklessness in Johnny's eyes, he knew that this wasn't going to be just another drive, it was about to become a circus…

And what did performers do at a circus?

Easy, they performed tricks!

The van went from zero to seventy in ten seconds, and the speed just kept increasing…

Mirio felt like he was back in the Multiversal Currents, trashing about as the Multiverse passed him by…

The feeling was not that dissimilar to riding on All Might's shoulders…

As if comforted by the memory of All Might, Mirio leaned back into his seat, and closed his eyes, sorting through the complex memories in his mind…

The memories of his future self - the being he had come to call 'No-Million' had started to fade from his mind, and honestly, Mirio was grateful…

No-Million may have been the future version of Mirio who never gets sent to another Universe, but now that he was in another Universe, Mirio knew his destiny had changed…

So, the only memories Mirio wanted were those he forged himself…

Along with the people he had met so far, Mirio knew he would live an eventful life no matter the Universe, and with friends like Tony Stark, who could hack Brian's watch in seconds during an intense battle, there was no doubt in Mirio's mind that he would someday find a way home…

Johnny suddenly swerved on a sharp turn, skidding on the thin layer of ice that covered the road…

This snapped Mirio out of his contemplative state…

"Be careful!" Sue placed a hand on Johnny's shoulder, a warning of endless hurt lingering in her eyes…

Reed was busy tampering with the tablet in his hands, but he was gifted at multitasking…

"No need to worry…" Reed explained, swaying from side to side with Johnny's twist and turns "Victor is paranoid and has sensors lining the mountain road… even if Johnny wanted to drive us off the road, he wouldn't be able to… the van could drive itself…"

"There are endless ways to waste money as a Billionaire…" Ben commented, a hint of pity in his voice instead of jealousy…

He knew what money did to people because it did so to Reed's parents...

"I think it's money well spent…" Reed interjected, and Mirio agreed…

"This was a site used for Ancient Pilgrimages…" Mirio stated, and Reed looked at him surprised…

Of course, Reed was surprised because he only now saw that information on the tablet, while Mirio knew without accessing the database...

"How did you know?" The Genius Scientist inquired…

"Easy…" Mirio said, pointing to the engravings appearing at intervals on the mountain wall to their left "Also… I found it strange Victor would line the entire thing with sensors…"

"I didn't think you'd know much about technology…" Sue admitted, an apologetic smile on her face to show Mirio she was sorry for underestimating him…

"In my Universe… we train to be heroes, and like all good heroes, sometimes we have to rely on instruments to control our power…" Mirio explained, "That's where my personal heroes come into play - the researchers and scientists… they don't have quirks most of the time, but they build instruments to help us do our work..."

"What type of instruments?" Reed inquired, finally removing his eyes from the tablet…

"Every quirk is unique, so it has to be something that matches the individual…" Mirio stated, permeating his hand through the front seat, and through Sue's shoulder "For me... it was a suit lined with my hair fibers to allow permeation while wearing clothing..."

"Oh my Gosh!" Sue jumped from her seat to the dashboard, and Johnny laughed at her expense, just as she did when Mirio did the same thing to him at the cafeteria…

"It's strange, I know…" Mirio admitted…

"It's not strange… it's amazing…" Reed complimented...

"Maybe don't go around showing everyone though…" Ben advised…

Mirio sighed "I am not supposed to use my quirk unless absolutely necessary, but recently, it has developed in unexpected ways, so I am forced to use it as much as possible to re-familiarize myself with all it is now capable of…"

Reed frowned "You think the Cosmic Storm affected you too?"

"I know it did…" Mirio admitted, feeling no empty slots available in his body "But even before that, I have been exposed to so many things, I don't even know what's what anymore…"

Johnny swerved unexpectedly once more, but this time, the turn was sharper, and everyone felt a brief moment of weightlessness…

"Maybe we should slow down…" Mirio warned, concerned more about the life of his companions than himself…

After all, in an accident, he could simply permeate through the bottom of the van, but Reed, Ben, and the others had no such ability…

And honestly, Mirio doubts he could permeate the entire car, at least, not without some intense stimulus…

When he permeated the Quinjet in the Battle of New York, it was in a moment of absolute danger, but now, he didn't have the same drive…

As far as he knew, All Above One was a quirk that worked with heroism, so it should only activate to its fullest when acts of heroism were being performed…

There would be nothing heroic about saving Johnny from himself, especially after Mirio didn't stop him from driving in the first place…

Another swerve…

More abrupt and sharper…

"Johnny!" Sue yelled…

The terror on her face was finally mirroring that of Reed's, Mirio's, and Ben's…

"I – I… don't think I am driving…" Johnny stuttered "I don't think I ever was…"

Mirio's eyes turned sharp… he understood in a split second, and already moved to place his hands on the floor of the van, but he was a split second too late…

-----------------------

TWENTY MINUTES AGO

"Yeah…"

It should be clean…

"Uhuh…"

We can't afford to fuck this one up… make sure they are separated…

"I got it!"

Everything should look like an accident…

"Should we go for a full-on collision or just a graze?"

Go for collision, since we don't expect one to happen… and take something extra

The assassin, alias Amar, paused for a second, inspecting everyone in the store before he answered "Would kids do the trick?"

Perfectly…

---CLICK---

The call ended, and Amar walked over to the freezer, opening a bucket of ice cream and sticking his phone inside with practiced ease…

He had obviously done this before...

He walked around the store two more times, always remaining out of sight of the cameras…

Then, Amar found the perfect moment…

"Hey, kid…" Amar knelt next to the kid, Summer, debating if he should choose Hershey or White chocolate "Trust me when I say, Hershey is better…"

Summer pouted, already prepared to choose White chocolate before Amar interrupted his concentration...

"Come on…" He urged, grabbing Summer forcefully by the hand "Let's take you to your mother…"

Of course, Amar already knew where the mother was, but that didn't stop him from exiting the store, and standing outside, yelling for the mother like he didn't already know she was in the store…

Each time he yelled, Amar made sure it was loud enough for everyone inside the store to hear, while he simultaneously moved further away from the store, just out of sight of the cameras…

When the store's door opened from behind, and the sound of rushing footsteps made its way to Amar's ear, he knew he had succeeded…

"That's my son… my son…" The Woman, Donna, yelled, waving her hand in the air as she made her way over "I've been looking for him inside…"

Along with Donna came another child, this time a daughter, Ava, and whom Amar judged as either the father or step-father, Cliff…

Amar spun around, gesturing for Summer to make his way to Donna "I found him wandering about inside and thought his parents left since he kept pointing at the door… I wanted to see if I could catch you guys, but as it turned out, you stayed inside the store…"

"It's okay…" Cliff replied, extending his hand for a shake as he apologized "We should be more careful… he's always been a child who likes to explore…"

Amar smiled genuinely "Come here…" he said, pulling Cliff into his embrace for a more intimate hug…

"Okay?" Cliff laughed and patted Amar on the back, but his laughter ended abruptly when he felt something cold pressed against his stomach…

Amar's voice whispered into his ear like the devil "You twitch, signal anyone, or try anything… I will shoot you in the stomach, and at the angle I am holding this gun, it will tear through you and hit one of your children… I won't tell you which since I want it to be a surprise… do we have an understanding?"

Cliff nodded very stiffly, previously ready to retaliate at the cost of his life until he heard that the bullet would also injure his children…

Amar nodded in appreciation "Okay… now tell the wife and kids that we're going on a little trip up the mountain…"

A couple of minutes later, a red Ferrari raced onto the frost-covered streets, heading up the private mountain of Victor…