Chapter 24 - Change in plans

A/N: I've returned, and hopefully will be able to upload as normal this week. Once again, I can't promise anything cause I'll have tests next week, which means studying.

Yay…

Notify me of any mistakes and donate any amount of power stones you can to support the story.

Anyway, hope you guys have a nice day, and as always, thanks for reading and for the support you've given!

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Half an hour after Karasuma began his interrogation, he exited the room with a deeper frown than the one he had before.

'The man knew *something*, but all that came out of his mouth was an incoherent mess,' Karasuma thought. 'Whatever the assassin did to him completely ruined his ability to communicate and instilled deep fear. At least, that's what I could tell from my observation.'

Karasuma remembered how Hikaru's bloodshot eyes shifted in every direction and how he would turn his head behind him. It looked like he expected someone to just pop out of nowhere, despite them being the only two people in the room. And when he tried to offer a comforting pat on the shoulder, the man recoiled, jumping back and curling into himself while saying, "P-please! No more!"

'For now, I'll have to see if we can have someone try to treat him and try again next time.'

"Didn't go well, huh?" his subordinate asked.

Karasuma shook his head in confirmation. "No. He's too mentally unstable to communicate with. How'd it go with the stalker?"

The officer sat on a nearby chair and Karasuma leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

"He just arrived and they should bring him here in a few minutes. I wouldn't hold high hopes, though. He was asked questions based on the audio file inside the hard drive that was attached to him, and he answered each one truthfully. Strange thing is, whoever caught him somehow got him to confess his crimes, record and transfer that confession onto a hard drive, and made him forget that he confessed in the first place. He said he can't even remember who tied him up and made him confess, and that he only remembered watching some videos on his computer after stabbing the idol. He confessed to an attempted murder and a murder of a doctor who we now know to have supposedly went missing years ago, and we're still looking for the doctor's body in the mountains. And all we got from the voice recording were his confessions and a description of the person who gave him Ai's private information."

Karasuma hummed in interest as he digested that information. There was no connection between the idol's case and the one he was investigating, but his gut told him that they were missing something.

'Wait, that's it.'

Karasuma returned his gaze to the officer, his eyes gleaming. "You said there was a hard drive attached to the man?"

The officer nodded, slightly confused by the question. "Yeah… It was labelled 'Murder Evidence'. Did you figure something out?"

"The assassin had a specific pattern. When he first appeared, he left a calling card and, most importantly, a hard drive containing evidence about the operations of the two criminals he killed. He had done it a few more times after that. Same thing with the idol's case. Despite not leaving a calling card behind, there was a conveniently placed hard drive filled with evidence. This fits his modus operandi."

"You think it's the assassin who got the stalker?" asked the officer, and Karasuma nodded slightly. "Why would he, though? Based on what you said, there's no reason for him to target the stalker unless he somehow knew about the stalker stabbing Ai Hoshino. But no one knew about it until later."

"That's what we'll try to figure out."

As the officer held his chin and began contemplating, Karasuma returned to the observation room. He continued to observe Hikaru and as he was watching him; the door opened, and the officer peeked his head.

"The stalker, Ryousuke-kun, is here."

The officer fully opened the door, revealing the stalker that was being escorted by two different officers on each side. He wore a plain green prisoner uniform, and his hands were tightly bound by handcuffs.

One of the escorting officers pushed the stalker inside and tilted his cap towards Karasuma.

"He's all yours."

The two closed the door and stayed outside, leaving the three of them inside the room.

"So, uh, you guys asked for me?" Ryousuke asked, only glancing momentarily between the officer behind him and the intimating guy in the front. He could hear some strange muttering from the speakers and he wanted to see who was making those sounds, but he could only see part of the other room from his position.

Karasuma crossed his arms as the officer spoke. "According to the voice tape recorded within the hard drive that was attached to you, the one who leaked Ai's address and her hospital details was a strange, heavily covered man with blonde hair, correct?"

"Y-yeah. Why'd you ask?" Ryousuke nervously answered.

"We want you to confirm if you think this is the right person," said Karasuma as he turned towards the one-way mirror. "Step forward and take a look."

Ryousuke hesitantly walked forward and turned towards the mirror. When he saw the blonde-haired man in the interrogation room muttering to himself, his eyes lit up with recognition instantly. Not because the man would fit who he remembered giving him the letters, but because of his face.

Even though he had tried to reconcile for his crimes by not revealing anything about Ai having children or a husband, the face of her son was burned into his mind. It was burned into his mind just as much as the guilt he felt after stabbing Ai stirred his conscience.

If he tried imagining what Ai's son would look like when he grew up, he was sure that he would have a close resemblance to the man in the interrogation room.

'So this is the man Ai hooked up with...'

Ryousuke gulped before nodding his head. "Yeah. That's the guy."

Karasuma narrowed his eyes as he turned to Ryousuke.

"Are you *sure* it's him? Be honest. Any attempt at lying will come with severe consequences."

"I really *am* sure! But… What happened to him? If you don't mind me asking."

"There's no need for you to know," Karasuma replied. He was experienced in reading people, and it didn't look like Ryousuke was lying. "Thank you for answering our questions, Ryousuke-san. Take him back to his cell."

The officer nodded and took Ryousuke outside, letting the two officers escort him back. When he returned, he gave Karasuma a confused look.

"Why'd you only ask if he knew Kamiki-kun?"

"Because it was the only question worth asking. Here's what I got so far. The assassin somehow knew about the stalker stabbing Ai and chased him down. After interrogating him and leaving evidence behind in the form of a hard drive, he called the police and let them take care of the stalker. With the information he acquired, he somehow tracked Kamiki-san down and tortured him to the point that his sanity broke, letting the police apprehend him after and leaving his calling card behind. What do you think?"

The officer furrowed his brows. "It *does* make sense when you put it that way."

"Well, unless you thought of a better one, it's the only working theory we have and it fits the assassin's motive. You've read what the calling card says. 'Let the punishment fit the crime.' He has a grudge against criminals of the worst kinds, and if what Ryousuke-san said is true, Kamiki-san is the accomplice to his crimes. The true mastermind. If we can figure out why Kamiki-san leaked Ai's address or if we can help him recover to the point that he can communicate, maybe we'll have a better lead," Karasuma said as he sent a message to his superior asking for assistance.

The officer scratched his head and sighed.

"Man, this is one difficult case."

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Inside Jason's condo, Joe and Wheatley hovered next to Jason's bed.

"Okay," Joe said as he looked at Jason's unconscious body. "So tell me if I get anything wrong. You two fought the Chaos King, the literal embodiment of the void that existed before the current Marvel multiverse's inception —"

[While he possessed a human body, yes.]

"— and lost. But then he tried turning Jason into his avatar — which he failed in doing — and rewarded Jason for his "victory" by letting him keep some of his power. And now Jason hasn't woken up for 28 hours. Did I get everything right?"

Wheatley nodded his body. [Yup! That's, uh, pretty much everything. So what do you think is wrong with Jason?]

Joe's brows tightened in concentration as he peered into Jason's soul. His eyes glowed with an ư̷̭͎͈̮̮͖̔͛͘͠n̸̢̧̝̞̫̦̱̈̀̽̈́͛̽̔̃͜k̶̨̳̫̹̹̔ņ̸̢̥̬͇̭͉̪͚̍͗o̴̡̫̖͉̲̺̬̖͇͆̆͌̈͜͝ẉ̸̨̞̣͋͋̎͂ņ̷̳͈͎͕̂̂̔͑̓̀̊̍͘͠ colour.

"He's… changing. It's slow, but he's being nourished by the Chaos King's power. I don't think the Chaos King expected Jason to have modified aspects, so he must not have anticipated this to happen. By merging his soul with the beneficial aspects of 8 other souls from some of the best human specimens in his world, Jason now has adaptability and potential growth that far surpasses all of theirs combined along with a host of other benefits. You must have noticed some of them already."

Wheatley thought back to all the time Jason went unnoticed, even when he stood in the middle of a bustling crowd of people and stood at his full height, towering over everyone.

[Well… he did find it strange that people don't notice him anymore until he does something that grabs their attention.]

Joe nodded. "That's one of the effects alright. All of the people whose souls he merged with were masters of stealth, so it might have culminated into a passive effect where a person's attention will never be on him unless he wills it, or it might be something else. I really can't tell anymore."

[Ohhh.]

Joe blinked, his eyes turning back to their normal dark brown hue.

"Oh well. It doesn't seem to be affecting him negatively, so he'll probably be fine. But I have to do something because if I let this be, it'll take 20 years for his mind, body and soul to completely adapt to the Chaos King's power."

[Oh? What are you gonna do?]

Joe smirked. "I'll be back in a jiffy."

Immediately after, Joe vanished.

[Huh. He left, just like th—]

"Boo."

[Ahh! Oh, my circuits! What?! Who said that? Is someone there? Please don't do that! I mean, it's not like I'm easily startled or anything, but that really caught me off guard! I was just minding my own business, you know, floating around, and then you pull this... Boo! Seriously, not cool!] Wheatley rattled off as he closed his eye.

"Hah! I'd say I'm sorry, but when you're as old as I am, you'd entertain yourself in any way possible."

Hearing Joe's voice, Wheatley peeked his eye open before sighing in relief.

[Oh, it's just you... you really got me there. I was all tensed up, thinking something catastrophic was happening. But it's just you, playing pranks. Very funny, Joe. Very funny, indeed. I'll have to remember this for when I have my revenge... I mean, when the time is right.]

"I'll look forward to it." Joe's grin widened as he raised a bright crimson gem floating above his palm. "Now, let me see if this works…"

He slowly lowered it until it hovered just above Jason's forehead. The gem then suddenly glowed and sank into Jason's body until it completely disappeared without leaving a scratch on him.

"I never thought Jason would come in contact with the Chaos King, but this is good. It'll accelerate his growth, but I will have to delay some of my plans."

Joe grinned in anticipation. He could sense the damaged Longinus quickly absorbing a large amount of the Chaos King's power before it became satisfied, using the energy it just absorbed to begin repairing itself and undergoing a metamorphosis.

He never thought going to that dead world would have granted him any benefits, but it seems like he was wrong.

[Is that it?] Wheatley questioned.

"Ssh," Joe shushed with his finger on his lips. "Just wait."

They waited, and moments later, a bright red glow encompassed Jason, slowly turning into a black flame with hints of crimson, completely shrouding him. However, the flames did not burn the bed. Another second passed and the flame vanished, returning to Jason's soul.

"Success!" Joe cheered.

[Why? What happened? What did you do?]

"That's a surprise you and Jason will find out after he wakes up, which will be in an hour or two, so I'm not needed here anymore. I'll be back in seven years though. That will be the time needed for Jason to completely adapt to the Chaos King's power. Can't have him go universe hopping with his soul in a state of flux, now can I? Anyways, see ya later!"

After saying his piece, Joe vanished once more.

[…I am left alone with my thoughts once again.]

Wheatley sighed.