A camera noise echoed through the white, square room in which a jaded-looking young man stood, his inmate number written on a wooden plate he held with both hands.

He could hear the people on the other side of the tinted glass, proving that the place wasn't explicitly designed for interrogation. The Japanese photographer left the room in a hurry, probably not wanting to stay longer in the same room as him. After all, not knowing about the young man's misdeeds only fueled the photographer's xenophobia.

The prisoner sighed and closed his eyelids before putting the wooden plate on the ground. A woman's voice came to his ears from the tinted glass; he looked at it as if he could see people through it just to make them uncomfortable.

"So… The fucker can see us through the glass?"

"Stop being that credulous… He's faking it. As a matter of fact, faking is probably the only thing he excels at. That's why we need him." The ash-blonde woman sighed, correcting the guy next to her. "The Canadian government warned us he was provocative and sarcastic. So keep your wits in check this time. Also, they taught him Japanese, so you don't need to use your horrible English. Thankfully." replied the same woman with a grunt.

"…No need to be snippy. It's not my fault your daughter's a handful." The guys snapped back before sighing. "So, can you confirm his background for me, please?"

"No problem..." she said as she pulled out her file. "Felix Fortier, 6 foot tall, 170 lbs, white-grey hair, yellow eyes, and all that with a slightly muscular body, apparently he didn't eat that much in prison since he believed other convict tried to poison him." she paused and analyzed the more judicial part of the problem. "A 21-year-old Canadian who was sentenced to 5 years in jail and 2 years probation for endangering others, unauthorized use of his quirk outside a legal framework, corruption, and since he was a repeat offender... This young man already spent 3 years of his life in jail, but thanks to his exemplary behavior and his willingness to change, the Canadians gave him a chance to get out early."

"Naturally, we won't miss this golden opportunity, huh?" The man shrugged, putting his hands on the table. "I guess Hawks will be the only hero to know about this whole mess?"

The woman gazed with annoyance at her colleague but didn't answer him. It's not as if she, the Hero Public Safety Commission's Chairwoman, wanted the n°3 Hero to know all this. He just happened to know things that no one else should know.

"Hawks has nothing to do with any of this… If you want to discuss why he knows about everything we do, discuss it with him, not with me!"

The guy clucked his tongue but refrained from arguing with his superior. They both left the room soon after their quarrel, continuing to argue. Felix was alone once again. He, who had signed up to "help" a country in "need" in exchange for parole, had been treated since his arrival in Japan as a terrorist or some war criminal. It's not like his past actions killed anyone. There are fates worse than death, after all.

The place where he had been sent provisionally was called Tartarus.

—So, they really see me as a huge threat… Sound alright… I know what I'm up against. Better lock me up, then.

At least he knows what to expect.

On the other hand, he didn't know what he was hoping for in the first place. After all, the Canadian government traded him for a non-aggression treaty because of the current threat Japan represents to most countries. All their heroes and new weapons are just seen as threats. Since the U.S. military failures in the United States of Africa, followed by the dollar collapse and Mr. Celebrity's retirement, nothing could stand up to Japanese nationalism except China. Still, they had other things to do, such as supporting Africa in exchange for raw materials. Only Star and Stripe could still be a deterrent to the other world powers. Besides that, Europe had fallen. For Felix, even if the European Union didn't exist today, all these countries were still in the embryonic stage of recovery. The future was in Asia, which is one of the reasons he accepted this whole procedure to take place.

Plus, he had been "re-trained" to use his quirk because inmates using their quirks in prison had their sentences extended. Well, of course, he didn't stop using it. He stopped using it on others and only used it on himself—especially since he had to prepare for the caged fights he had to participate in to entertain the wardens so they could post the fight on the dark net. However, here, in Tartarus, they used some drugs on inmates to keep them in check. That's why he'd been sent here, and right now...

Right now, he was sure of one thing, he was tired, and it wasn't with this white light and the tatami in the corner of the room that his sleep was going to be restful. The detainee still wondered how long he would stay in this room eating white rice at every meal. This kind of thing could be seen as psychological torture. Fortunately for him, he had only been there for 3 days, and he could always force himself to sleep by secreting a maximum of melatonin to avoid going crazy.

Fortunately, a photograph finally came in.

That said, one thing soon disturbed him. He felt as if he was being watched. Faint noises and breathing could be heard. He couldn't figure out exactly where it was coming from, but...

"…Who's there?" Felix drawled, lying on his tatami. "Stop being a creep. I know you're here."

No answer. But nah. Someone was indeed there. Heaving a sigh, he closed his eyelids and tried getting some sleep. The voyeur was probably going to be less patient than him. After all, he had just gotten out of three years in prison.

After more than an hour of dozing, Felix looked up at a noise coming from the ceiling.

"Dammit…" began a male voice, between growling and sighing. "Talk about a shitty job… You're cleared. They had nothing to worry about," concluded a man who until then had been hanging from the ceiling with his big, scaly fingers. His hanging tongue and color-changing skin were reminiscent of a chameleon or frog.

"You came in here at the same time as the photographer, right?" Felix yawned.

"Yeah. It's quite rare for people to detect m—" Stopping mid-sentence, the man sighed as he dropped to the ground. "Now… Follow me. Those three days here were your final test. To know whether you were worth it or not."

"What if I wasn't worth it?"

"…You would have stayed here indefinitely." The man shrugged. "It may be overkill, but… we must enforce the law, that's all. Today, more than ever."

—I'm gonna enforce something in your stupid face, moron… If I weren't six feet deep in this fucking mess, I would have given all these bastards Grave's disease by now… Fuck's sake…

Now that he was coming out of that shit-hole, keeping his disdain bottled up… for now was better. This guy seemed to be just another of their agents, so there was no need to go for his head this soon. The chameleon-frog man handcuffed him and took him out of his cell. Hundreds of cells followed each other in an endless corridor.

A prison for the most dangerous supervillains. Villains for whom even the death penalty is not enough. Given the security set-up here, getting out of there would be a feat. Like any prison, it has different levels for traitors, enemies of the state, prisoners of war, etc. And he was in the "enemies of the state" aisle. His prisoner number was: #656699.

Stopping his thought flow, he focused on stopping his quirk, in case they had someone that could analyze his body. Soon after, they finally arrived in large room. A group of people was waiting around a large table, some already sitting around it, looking at both Felix and the chameleon-frog man. In just a second, everyone sat on their chair, leaving only one seat available. One of them invited him to join them with a hand movement. Slumping down on the chair, Felix stretched using the backrest.

"I am deeply sorry for the treatment you've been subjected to, Mr. Fortier," began the woman he had heard from his cell. "But we have to take precautions. We strongly suspect foreign countries of criminal activities against Japan. The fact your government agreed to send you to us was very much… suspicious," she paused, but seeing that Felix was content to look her straight in the eye as she swung into her chair, she continued. "For all your health problems due to your life in jail, like your battered back, we contacted Recovery Girl to help. She has agreed to heal you."

"Oh?" Felix said, raising his eyebrows. "The woman who can repair bones in seconds?"

"Indeed."

"Hmm... That would be nice," he said with a sympathetic smile. "But I'm not an idiot. What do you want in return? I'm pretty good at pastry if you need a cook-"

"We didn't recruit you to be a stupid maid." replied the woman, making it clear to Felix that his humor would have no effect on her.

The group around the table became tenser, so the woman tried to ease the tension by asking for an agent of hers to make some coffee and give some to Felix. She also requested that he be unhandcuffed. During this time, several people around the table took out their files, aware that they would have to give him at least a minimum amount of information.

"Our request is brief. But before we get to that, I'd like to talk about your quirk," began an elderly man, his white hair backward. "We are aware that you can manipulate your own body's hormones as you please, so for example, if you are in a dangerous situation, you can force your body to secrete a lot of adrenaline, which gives you increased strength, endurance, and greater awareness. It allows you to outperform many people, even with more powerful quirks. Is that right?"

"Yeah. But I'm limited to what my body can handle. I can go over that limit for several days depending on the hormones before I feel the effects, but if I stay too long like this, it ruins my health."

"Very good. Your medical studies will make it easier for us because you already know most of the hormones and their uses," sighed the man, almost relieved. "That said, it's also possible that you can make sure that the people you touch receive these various boosts, adrenaline, insulin, norepinephrine, etc. We know that you can irreversibly alter someone by heightening these hormones, giving a physical, mental and quirk boost to someone. A kind of quirk doping while avoiding "ruining" their health. That's what you were sent in jail for after all."

Felix grinned. He couldn't stay serious. The Japanese government wants him for what had cost him three years of his life. He had done this for money at the time, to pay for his studies and then to have fun, but now it was something else entirely.

However, the people around this table had no idea how he managed to do that. And that was their problem to solve. Doping your heroes isn't something most people would see as lawful.

"I can actually do it. It's usually easier for men, though, but it takes some time. For a woman, it's even longer and requires more... investment."

"Which is?"

"I have to equalize the hormone level in the person's body. In other words, if I want it to create an irreversible boost that causes no damage, then I have to 'upgrade' all the other hormones to the same level... So, if I do this for adrenaline, I need to do the same for every hormone one after another." He explained by putting his hand on his chin. "For men, it's fairly easy. I just have to touch the dude's head, preferably the back of it, cause, you know, the pituitary and pineal gland are in there, same for the hypothalamus. No need to affect other areas to bring significant long-term results, but..."

"But?"

"For women, it's different. The menstrual cycle constantly changes the hormones' level ladies have in them, so to boost them, I need to stabilize this aspect of theirs metabolism. To do this, I have to approach the few glands responsible for this as closely as possible."

"So... the ovaries..." replied the only woman in the room in a weak voice.

"And how can you do that?" tactlessly asked the man, which bothered the chairwoman of the Hero Public Safety Commission—HPSC.

"I can do the first treatment with my hand through the skin, so just by touching the area around the pelvis, but usually it has almost no effect. So, I have to go directly to it and get a... closer look... I can do it with my hand, but well, it's better for everyone if I do this with my 5th member."

The chairwoman seemed to regret coming all the way here to meet Felix, but she managed to keep her sigh silent and put her purse to the ground before placing an elbow on the table to hold her head.

"One thing is confusing me about the file the Canadians gave us. Something isn't very well explained," she mumbled. "It says that there's a high probability that you can absorb people's hormones." Seeing that Felix once again did not respond, she sighed and continued her monologue. "The hormones that feed the quirks are mainly produced by the pinky toe; it says that they think you can absorb these hormones and steal the person's ability for a while."

An uneasy silence dwelled in the room, forcing everyone to find a way out of the situation. Some knew the capabilities of the hormones it would need to boost, which wasn't very heroic. Otherwise, if Felix accepted this plan, they would have to trust him fully with no other alternative.

"...Don't know how they got this information, but... Yeah, I can do that indeed, but only with powers that don't alter my body."

"Why?" she asked with a sharp glance.

"Well... I don't know how my body will react if I alter it with All Might hormone, for example... I think I would just explode..."

"Yeah... Understandable. I'm sorry to ask about this since it's the main reason you have taken the wrong path, but how can you "steal" a quirk exactly?"

"I need to extract this special hormone that is unique to every human possessing a quirk, and I "ingest" it, but it dilutes very quickly in my blood. So let's say I steal the hormones from someone who is able to create fire; if I do that, I could only create fire for a short time... I don't know if the quirk can be of the same strength as the original... I have almost no experience with that..."

"Don't worry about experience. We gonna get you trained."

"Mhm... May I at least know why you want all this from me?" the former inmate asked, placing both hands on the table. "I'd also like to know if I'm getting paid or... what did I gain thanks to this."

"Well, we suspect a quirk-boosting drug has already begun to be produced here in Japan. Our country seems to be the new El Dorado, which might attract more attention than we need or want. We don't know by whom or where it started, but two villains have already been arrested with even more powerful powers than before, but only for a limited time. We want to make sure that we have our own drug to counter them if this boost ever becomes real," the woman sighed. "And yes, you'll be paid, but according to your results, at least at first. You will get free food and state financial aid. We have already booked a flat for you. A cab will show you the way."

"How gentle of you, I could fall in love." he sneered. "It's not like I can protest anyway."

"Just know that we will need you soon to push a heroine who is unwilling to work in a team, to work in a team. She promised that if she lost her match against the person we selected, she would agree to follow our orders for a month."

"Uh…? I'm not really a fighter, you know."

"Said the one who almost killed an entire gang in jail to protect a warden."

Again... How did she know this? The Canadian penitentiary had tried to hide it because it would have shown that security wasn't up to par... Anyway, the only reason he defended the warden was to get praise from the staff and to get a reduced sentence if he continued his exemplary behavior, not to defend someone who was exploiting him to gain money. Well, of course, he let his former wardens a little spicy "gift" before leaving. But, yes, sometimes you have to put your pride aside to get by.

"Didn't know that you liked me that much." he sneered with a smirk. "I know that I'm handsome, but if you could avoid stalking me-"

"Cut that crap out."

"Rude."

"More importantly, you aren't expected to perform heroic deeds at all, especially from someone like you. Whether you're fighting, fucking, or whatever has absolutely no importance for us. We just want results; we don't care how you get them. If you... cross the line from time to time, we can always back you up, but don't overdo it-"

The chairwoman's phone rang, cutting off their discussions; she got up and left for a corner of the room while everyone patiently waited for her to come back to end this meeting that no one but Felix enjoyed. She seemed rather distraught by what she had just learned but quickly calmed down.

She turned off her phone, went back to the table but didn't sit down.

"Gentlemen, we have to go. It seems that 2 heroes have been tricked again by this bloodsucker. The media will surely want to see us." she said firmly. "As for you, Felix, a cab is ready to take you back to your new apartment. Here's your professional phone, don't use it for anything else, understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am... Are you some kind of dictator or something?"

"Maybe I am. Just remember to keep everything secret; you know what will happen to you if not. For now, goodbye, we will meet again soon." she paused and continued to talk without looking back at him. "Consider yourself as one of our mates or comrade now, no longer as an inmate; this life is over for you," she concluded just before closing the door.

"I will keep that in mind, then."

—Just wait till I transform you into an oxytocin-serotonin-dependent bitch... You'll get fucked by dudes every fucking day of the week... God, I hate her already…

He stayed there, along with the chameleon man behind him. So, finally, he was going to be even more trained to use his quirk now.

And he had a freshly paid apartment, the dream, you can say. He who just wanted freedom was partially satisfied, all that was left to do was to get rid of the hold the Japanese government had on him, and he would be good.

He looked at his hands, capable of miracles that few people could understand. After all, he could stop himself from sleeping for two days without feeling the effects, use adrenaline to get a way better reaction time and strength, or secrete testosterone to make his muscles more robust and have a better libido. These were all invisible powers, and so most people just thought he was quirkless.

In spite of his laziness, he decided to do something he hadn't done for some time. He quickly concentrated and closed his eyelids; shapes of letters appeared in his mind, like a screen directly integrated into his brain.

—Nothing has changed since then... huh...

◉—▩▦▩▦▩▦▩▦▩▦▩▦▩—◉

[Metabolism & Libido Check → Full Throttle.]

[Exceeding Body's Capacities: 12%.]

[Stored Hormones & Pheromones: 42%.]

[Level 69 — {138/138}.]

●—{Skills}—{Leveling-Up boosts all skills.}

●{Adrenaline Rush}—{Increase physical capacity & reduce pain.}

●{Cortisol Burst}—{Boost metabolism, memory formation & reduce inflammation.}

●{Melatonin Bed}—{Cools the body, makes people less aware and sleepy.}

●{Norepinephrine, or the word impossible to pronounce aloud on the first try.}— {Increases heart rate, blood pressure, attention, and focus.}

●{Oxytocin Crush}—{Enhances bonding & jealousy, regulates emotional responses, including trust, empathy, positive memories & fidelity.}

●{Lemon Pheromone}—{Releases a cloud of releaser pheromones within a 5-meters radius.}

●{Copium lethargy}—{For those incapable to accept the harsh reality, this skill can help, but be aware of the dangerous reality check that can happen afterward.}

[+]—More skills here.

◉—▩▦▩▦▩▦▩▦▩▦▩▦▩—◉

—It's not like I don't like the idea of using my quirk, but I'm still caped at level 69... I need to find a way, like my father and his quirk, I probably can reboot this system of mine while keeping my abilities intact. But hey, all this is going to be very profitable for me... but that's not what makes me feel like it right now...

For the time being, he didn't want to think about anything; he just wanted to rest.

Still, just before getting into his cab, he thought back to his past. The heroes of his childhood, then his mistakes. Things he could no longer change. All these times, he had dreamed of having a time machine to go back to fix his errors, to change just a tiny moment of his life. But all that wasn't reality, even in a world as incredible as this one.

He had been unable to do anything good for anybody else, not even for himself. His parents were no longer there to watch him fail or succeed, but this time it was the right one. Hope is life, and a new life was waiting for him here.

—I'll find a way.

If you get a second chance, don't waste it.