Season 0 - Chapter 8 - Brittle Glass

_______________________________3rd PoVLike a leaking faucet with a brittle cup, it waited for just the right drop."I see. So that line represents your attack range." Stendhall stated. The two staring each other down in a stand-off, "Needless to say, it's a steel wall. Every fiber of your being is ready to counter me at a moments notice."He jumps back, landing on the floor he crouches down, getting into a dashing position with his blade ready before bursting. "A light retreat is all I need, I assure you, I will cross it!"'My skills surpass any ordinary understanding. He couldn't possibly notice it, with seeing my dash for the first time. Because a hero, a hero is an extraordinary being. Sublime. Transcendent.'His mask seemed to gain an extra eye on his right half. His legs cracking the floor beneath him as he lunges forward. 'A hero is one who crosses boundaries beyond man.'As if listening to his inner monolog, Knuckleduster takes a step forward. Crossing the line, he lets out a grunt as he slams his first forward, Stendhalls mask shattering like glass alone impact."Whoa, uh, master? Didn't you way too not to cross the line?" The Crawler looks stupefied, having watched his teacher break his own- "Yeah, that rule doesn't apply to me though".Leaning down, he takes the shatter mask, "Guys like him really sink into the role when wearing a mask. By throwing on a mask, people him think they become immortal superheroes, thinking they're completely different people. They're the biggest pain to deal with where it comes to logical and morale thinking. But when you step up to them, you realize they're all just fragile in the end.He turns and points towards Stendhall: he's still laying down, bloodied. "He's human too. That's how it goes for those guys in the end."Hearing this, Stendhall experiences a realization, a new worldy truth he couldn't see before.Nagant, who's now standing beside Neo, puts her left hand on his shoulder, attempting to console him.Stendhall releases a couch, "... I see... I understand now," Blitzing up, he chucks a throwing knife, quickly swiping Knuckleduster, and The Crawler, getting blood from both of them.Nagant quickly smacked away the knife, a hidden second one grazing her cheek as he closed the distance, Nagant having lost some of her balance from switching to both gun and having been leaning slightly to put her arm on Neo."Shit," she goes for head bash with her rifle, but Stendhall gets closer stepping into her attack he goes to lick her bloodied cheek, having licked his other two blades Crawler and Knuckleduster collapse to the floor paralyzed.'He-he's-' Neo remembered. He knew who this was. Future Hero Killer: Stain, if he licked her cheek, they could all die. No, he was certain. He had to.... he had to move quickly.He was a tool. If he couldn't do at least that, at least help the person who was currently 'wielding him' what good was her.Throwing his hand up an unstable amount of gravity is sent out, the limiter on his body being budged due to his fearful emotions and high mental stress.A shockwave ripples throughout the air, Stendhall being thrown back into a wall, releasing a heavy grunt and spitting some saliva as he collapses instead."Neo, back, now!" Nagant loads her gun as her opponent recovers. She had a grasp on his quirk so she knew what to do... so she fired.That single bullet, a bullet fired from a gun, wielded by a person, one who shouldn't be there, to protect someone who wasn't supposed to be here.It was small, so small the world wouldn't have registered it is as a problem, but it wasn't the first, or last time something like this happened, and so, like in Omaezaki, in mere moments, the world will be shaken again.Stendhall quickly parries the bullet, and like glass chattering, the cup broke as the puddle spilled.Neo gasps and grunts, collapsing to the floor as his head starts tearing itself apart, an influx of information once again invading his mind. It was like he had achieved an awakening but only in a soul or mental level, his physical body and brain neurons staying the exact same, causing mental overload."NEO!" Nagant falters for a second. Kids were a weakness of hers, regardless of circumstance.Stendhall watched on curiously, for a moment, but decides now is the best time to attack. Getting ready to dash towards her. Crawler and Knuckleduster are only able to watch on, unable to move.But unknown to them all, that breaking glass, impercerivable to all, yet existed, would affect them all.His heart thumped, like a banging drum resonating through his entire being.Once, twice, and finally, a third. From his body, a pulse shook the world. This one, although not physical altering, would cause future untold damage.Stendhall burst forward, completely shattering the floor beneath him, Neo only barely able to see through his teary eyes watched on as Stendhall moved faster than before, a speed almost a blur to him.Nagant dodged, loading another bullet as her assailant hops up, landing on a lamp post and diving towards a nearby window, a blade meeting her bullet mid air, a small chunk grazing his leg as blood falls to the floor, Stendhall finally escaping'Those even worse than villains, those who lack determination yet still applaud themselves, Sham Heroes. My ignorance to this truth has been stripped, thank you, elder.'With that, Stendhall makes his way home, leaving them behind as Nagant is left to take care of the three injured invidiuals.Nagants eyes widen, loading a new bullet as someone approaches from the air."Koichi! You hurt?" Pop-Step, a Vigilante who is commonly found with these two, or doing street side music.Nagant lowers her weapon, releasing a sigh of relief as she checks on Neo. Turning around, she finds him collapsed, having fainted from both mental and physical shock presumably.Moving his body up right she notices his Arm-Pad going off and on, flickering a couple times as it tells her an emergency alarm went off, and EMP having been detected, odd, but tech malfunctioned all the time."Authorities will arrive shortly, you better get your friends out of here," turning she looks at the now standing trio, Soga getting tended to by Pop-Step."A hero telling Vigilantes to run? How sweet, Lady Nagant," Knuckleduster narrows his eyes at her, the older woman feeling an odd familiarity about him."Ex-Hero, I'm currently retired. Regardless, I'll stay here and let the police know about today's events." Finishing with Soga, Pop-Step hops on over, offering her a bandage."You helped my friends out a lot, so consider a thank you," giving a wink, she turns back around, the now four man party getting their bearing together and taking their leave.Propping Neo up on something nicer, she takes her own seat. What was she going to do now? She felt that she'd started to enjoy the kids' company, but she couldn't continue to see or treat him like one. She knew what he was going to go through or a general gist that is, someone like him couldn't stay innocent or a child for long.Hell, she couldn't completely call him one hundred percent a kid now, not with the reports she'd seen on him and his ability to act so 'easily', any kid would've fainted upon sight of seeing that man.'What have I gotten myself into.'***8 days laterHe hadn't left his room. From the report Nagant had left her, the Director didn't seem to be fazed about this outcome, so he was left alone by others. Hell, Goda hadn't even entered the room, only food being left there, or on a desk for him.Unlike what anyone had expected thought, he wasn't cowering in his bed or anything. Instead, he was confused.Sitting at his desktop, he looks through old footage he'd seen a couple of years ago, heroes fighting and taking down villains. But something was odd about the footage.'Why are they stronger? Why is the footage showing more destruction than what happened?" He'd guessed it was altered, a re-upload under the same URL. But it wasn't. Every copy of a fight between All-Might and a random villain showed the exact same no-name villain.Plus, when he'd woken up, he had new 'info'. Somehow, someway, the world had changed, 'again' he'd presumed. Connecting this incident to the first change that occurred to this world.The Omaezaki Incident, somehow they were connected, but what was it?But that's not the biggest looming fear he had. While everyone had gotten stronger, he stayed the same, his output remained unchanged, why?He couldn't seem to find the answers, and now, no longer had the will to find the answers, being exhausted from his nightmares, the incident, and the unanswered questions.Glancing to his left, a briefcase rest on the counter, his desktop also on it. They'd left half the samples in his room while he'd slept. He was kind of glad they did. It helped him to just work and kept his mind busy.The potency of the trigger was useful, but what interested him more currently was a small freezer bag containing bees inside it.From what he gathered, the bee's where connected to the female that was with Stend- Stain, with Stain. They were actually made from a quirk they seemed to share a hive mind, so named the quirk Hive Mind.It might prove useful in several ideas he had.They always helped, the ideas, the science, the working, it eased him.A light knock comes from the door, a soft feminine voice asking if they can come in. The door clicking as it seemingly opens itself. Nagant stepping through."you're awake," her voice was loud enough to be heard, but quite enough that one might think she was approaching an injured puppy."I have been for a while. Sleep is getting harder to do," it had. The nightmare creatures got stronger as well, anyone but him he'd supposed.Nodding, she takes out a chair at the certain workstation, keeping distance. Neo still working as he looked through different emails and tests he'd done.Nagant quietly watched as he shuffled around, occasionally standing up and grabbing something before returning...."Would you like to talk about it?""Not really.""...then do you mind if I talk?""You're the adult,"She wasn't doing very well at this. She was good generally with kids, but consoling was still a skill she'd needed to learn. No, she could do that, too. So what was stopping her? Maybe it was because she thought she'd have to kill him one day."I joined the committee when I was fourteen, having caught the eyes of a teacher who had a family member in the HPSC. I thought it the coolest, and at the time, I truly believed it." She stopped for a moment, trying to recall her memory."Not even a couple months later, they brought me in, training me lightly, a 'physical test' they'd called it, but a test should only be taken once every xouple months, not days. Showing me around the facilities, I was shown a light, one of becoming a hero. It wasn't until I was fifteen that they made me take my first life. It hurt inside. It hurt a lot. I suppose I felt betrayed mainly, but also grief, unlike what some people said, it didn't become easier. The grief and emotional damage never changed, sure I could pull the trigger easier, but just because you can swing a knife doesn't mean you can cook, carve, or anything like that. It was around nine years ago that it just became enough, and I broke. I killed the last Director, and I was given this position, to guide the 'new generation' if you will." She pauses for a moment, giving both of them a moment to think."What did they do wrong?" Neo glanced at her. Nagant now stopped in place."What?""You killed the last Director right? What did they do wrong?""They forced me to kill, removed the lives of dozens from this world, and are corrupt, that's what they did." She was sure of it, it was almost second nature to her, for her to believe her own words. She was right, in her own views at least."...so they're corrupt because they stopped dozens of possible murders, got rid of corrupt heroes, and made sure to keep the every day person ignorant so the world can be happier at the cost of one person's mental fortitude and lives which were hurting others?"Time almost stopped in place, to him it was a genuine question. To her, it questioned her entire belief.The two sat staring at each other, the next words changing the future of their relationship possibly forever._______________________________Boom, done, wrote this in one day, looked it over, thought about it, and was pretty content with it for what it was. The glass thing was in reference too his old Existance Ranking and Rippling Time quest he used to a have, though they were both plot points so I had a lot to work with.Question of the Chapter: Best juice growing up, like the old Hugs drinks or something. Mine would be well hugs, maybe yoohoo's?Currently Working On: Living Singularity Chapter 9, The World Traveler Chapter 4, or Curses Guide to Living Chapter 32199 Words