22 ...I, the Author, sincerely did not see this coming

After devouring Jason, I had thought that I would be satisfied, and don't get me wrong, it was certainly satisfying.

But id didn't leave me feeling full like I had expected it to.

He was a regenerator after all. I probably ate around three Jason's worth of Jason, and he's already a pretty bit guy.

But even then, it simply isn't enough.

However, I thought I found a solution to that particular problem once I looked around the cracked and broken room.

The barrel.

The barrel that I know for a fact is filled with flesh, since it's my flesh that filled it.

Naturally, since I have no problems cannibalising other people, eating my own flesh wasn't a problem for me.

But even after all of that, I was 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺.

I suppose that all that getting ripped apart and having to repeatedly regenerate really drained me.

I had already noted that my regeneration makes me more hungry, and I had been doing a lot of regeneration, so it does make sense that I desperately need to refill my 'batteries'.

Luckily for me, the Yamori clan was considerate enough to mostly consist of brutes with at least a minor regeneration factor, which meant that as I worked my way through the facility I found myself in, I was able to gorge myself on many people who were capable of providing more flesh than their own bodyweight.

They were all weak compared to Jason too, the only one who didn't go down immediately was some woman who my tails refused to pierce, though my bare hands worked just fine.

If I had to guess, she would probably be some kind of power resistant brute, since it was only my powers direct manifestation she was resistant to.

Funnily enough, it was only as I was ripping her in half that I realised how my nails have turned black for some reason.

When I actually focused on them, I found that somehow whatever material it is that makes up my tails, some weird blood-adjacent if I had to guess, has seeped further into my body, remaking my nails out of the same material.

But it's not really that much to focus on, so I just ignored it after the fact.

However it did bring me to inspect the rest of my body which brought my attention to the other physical change I have gone through.

My hair.

I was never particularly vain about my hair, but right now, with my hair looking a sickly pale white, I can't help but hate it.

Combined with the unhealthy pallor of my skin, I look like I'm about to keel over from cancer at any moment and I really hate it.

I'm going to have to get some hair dye.

Not to mention some new clothes. I also still have the cuff parts of a pair of handcuffs on each of my legs and arms, but I will take them off once I'm home free, just in case I meet some heroes, with this I can at least have some proof that I was a prisoner and not a cultist.

But first I have to actually leave this place and figure out where exactly I am.

...Now that I think about it I should have probably asked one of the people I ripped apart.

Well, I was hungry and they could regenerate, I can hardly be blamed for indulging myself, I had a lot to catch up with after all.

At least I'm somewhat satiated now.

Still, I've walked through a bunch of corridors and up at least three flights of stairs. Surely I should be nearing the exit by now.

As I am walking down the now considerably more silent corridor, my nose catches the now familiar whiff of a parahuman and I take another detour through a door on my left.

When I walk inside I am greeted by what could only be called a thirteen workshops mixed together with at least one junkyard.

In other words, it's a complete mess with such a variety of things present that I don't think it would really be possible to figure out the specialty of whoever works here just by looking.

That is, if I didn't recognise the syringes decorating a far countertop.

Panning my eyes around the well lit room, I pause when a 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 comes into view.

Huh.

Wasn't expecting that.

He is shaking slightly, but his face is perfectly neutral.

I'd imagine that just like everyone else I've 'met' here, Jason has 'educated' this kid too.

He's probably only 8 or 9 if I had to guess, with brown hair and eyes on pale skin, though not nearly as unhealthy looking as my own. Just pale.

If not for having my fill with the others below, I probably wouldn't have bothered to observe the kid before devouring him, but I am glad that I did because I get the feeling that I know what this kid's power is.

Better to make sure though.

"Yo~ my name's Tear," I got my mask back after leaving the room, which was a pleasant surprise, "what's your name?~"

My singsong voice seems to relax him somewhat, which is odd, since that's the exact opposite reason I do it in the first place.

"M-my n-name is," here he pauses and closes his eyes, taking a deep breath to calm himself, "my name is James."

The word hits me almost like a physical blow and I can't help the startled laugh that escapes my throat.

What a laugh.

James.

𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬.

𝘈𝘩𝘩𝘩~

I bring my thumb away from my broken finger which fixes itself in the same instant as I focus back on the child, James, who seems to just be confused about why I laughed.

"Tell me James, are you the one that made those syringes over there?"

What a joke, that the first person I actually talk to after everything shares his name.

If the next person to introduce themselves to me calls himself Theo then I might just kill them, or buy them flowers or something.

I don't know, it would just be really funny, so I'd have to do 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 to show my appreciation.

Little James' voice brings me back to the room from my musings.

"U-uhm, n-no. I don't know where the syringes come from, but I did make the stuff inside?"

Heh, kid's got attitude.

I want to get a new mask at some point, one that shows my mouth.

I feel like if I am going to be smiling so damn much, people should at least be able to see it.

Eh, thoughts for later.

For now, I have to decide what to do with the brat.

Hmmmm. I know.

"Well James~, it appears that I have brutally murdered your entire 'family'~, and I will also continue to do so if there are any that I've missed until the Yamori name is nothing but a memory.~ How do you feel about that, I wonder?~"

To my unexpected delight, little James doesn't respond with anger or by cowering in fear, instead he is the most expressive I've seen him in all the five minutes that I've known him.

Jumping up and pumping both of his fists, little James shouts at the top of his tiny little lungs.

"YES!!"

I can't help it. The image is just too much.

I burst out laughing, clutching my sides as I collapse to the floor.

A mix between the unexpectedness of the reaction, and simply being deprived of joy for the past while leaves me in shambles as I struggle to breathe on the floor.

"You're weird, clown lady." Little James accuses, his face all scrunched up in a way that just makes me laugh harder.

"hahahahahahahaaaaah!"

Eventually, I come down from my high and jump to my feet.

"Well! Would you like to come with me, James?" I offer.

You see, I've been thinking.

My dream mom was right, I have been acting way too blasé about this whole cape thing.

There are two key areas that I have completely ignored.

Information and connections.

I need information and I need allies to get me out of trouble when I inevitably overestimate myself again or do something stupid.

With all of that in mind, having a tinker in my pocket would be pretty handy. Especially a trump tinker.

"What would that en- uh, enta- um, en-tal-" While he starts off confident, he starts struggling with one of his words, struggling to pronounce it.

"Entail?" I offer, making him smack one of his fists into a palm as he nods.

"Yeah! Entail. Uhm, what would that entail?" He asks.

Little James is surprisingly reasonable, then again in an environment like this, I don't think he ever really had the choice to be just another dumb kid.

Deciding to treat him as maturely as he's acting, I respond honestly.

"Eh, not much really~ I just wanna have fun, nothing more nothing less. Don't you wanna have fun too?~ Cuz I won't make you do anything if that's what you're worried about, I just want you to use your power to help me have fun, and in return I will use my power to help you have fun. Fair right?~"

He acts like he's pondering it for a moment, holding his chin in the palm of his hand.

I can't help but think that he's just copying something he saw in a movie once.

"I find the deal acceptable!" He declares as if he was ever going to say no.

I mean really, I'm like the cool aunt offering candy.

Now that I think about it, aren't I technically abducting a child?

Does it still count as abducting a child if they were in an abusive home? Or is it ok then?

Eh, whatever, pocket tinker get.

"Neat! Well in that case, let's gather up all your shit, as well as whatever you need that we can carry, then let's dip, cuz I'm pretty sure some real stick in the mud types are on their way."

What level of fucked up is this?

Is it grooming or did I just adopt a kid?

Eh, still doesn't really matter in the end.

It takes a little while, but we gather all of his finished projects in a backpack that he wears while I put on another backpack that has the equipment he wants to keep.

Ten minutes later and we are finally outside the complex.

Turns out it was just some bunker-esk basement underneath a barn.

Probably originally built as a nuclear survival thing during the cold war, only to be repurposed as a hideout of sorts.

Once we got into the barn proper, we found a few pick up trucks, all of which had the keys already in their engines.

After immediately crashing the first truck, having forgotten how to drive, since I still haven't had any lessons, we were eventually driving away through side roads in one of the other trucks, heading towards the lights of a city that I assume is Columbus.

"You really are a terrible driver." Little James comments after I accidentally hit the side of the road again.

"Yeah, well you're a small little baby boy and can't even reach the pedals, otherwise I'd be happy to let you drive."

Completely ignoring the insult, little James' eyes practically sparkle as he looks at me.

"You'd really let me drive!?" He exclaims.

Giving him I dry look, I go to respond, only to be cut of by bumping against the side of the road again.

Right, keep your eyes on the road when you're driving.

Keeping my face forward this time, I respond honestly.

"What do you expect? It's stupid to let a kid drive, but I'm 𝘧𝘶𝘯, not responsible."

He seems pretty pleased with that, enough that he doesn't even insult my driving the whole rest of the drive.

When we're nearing the city proper, I see some distant police lights heading the direction we came from, and it makes me laugh again as everything really settles in.

Honestly, the most unexpected part was how I somehow ended up adopting a kid, but hey, I 𝘸𝘢𝘴 getting bored.

Maybe this will be fun.

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

Did not expect to pick up a kid, but hey, with James gone, little James can take his place for fluff.

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