His reflection in the toilet mirror proved that using hormones repeatedly and in large quantities in a very short period fried his brain. However, he didn't suffer any harmful side effects, which didn't stop him from feeling tired. He had a migraine, and it was intensifying from second to second as if every heartbeat was inflating his head.
Felix washed his face with cold water before doing the same with his neck and then looked at his collarbone. Despite Recovery Girl's healing, a scar was still there—something from the past.
Next to it, another scar was still lightly visible. The heroine had hit him hard enough to break his shoulder bone and part of his shoulder blade into pieces: a compound fracture. His collarbone would still protrude from his flesh if no one had treated it properly. Not to mention his broken ribs, which were crushing one of his lungs, and two of his vertebrae damaged badly by the impact of his fall. His bones were sturdy enough not to break from being hit with steel pipes but sturdy enough to withstand almost half a ton of pressure on a small impact surface being thrown his way at 90 km/h. At least he knew what he had to focus on if he wanted to be more resilient.
As for Mirko, she had nothing serious besides a broken nose and a dislocated knee. Well... she also passed out after her orgasm, and Felix had to take her to the medic.
That said, he had to explain what had happened to several people. Of course, he lied, and of course, not everybody believed him. Nevertheless, he decided to keep the heroine's particularity a secret.
—The real question is what happens now... I won, so what?
His thoughts had already been wandering for a while now. The commission promised to buy him whatever he wanted as long as he won, but he had trouble believing them. He didn't know what they had in store for him next, but he didn't plan to follow their ploy for all eternity. But at least now, he would have proper clothes, supplies for his flat, medical and research equipment, and other more fun things.
This was the only reason he could tolerate the way he was treated.
He stared at himself in the mirror before sighing and closing his eyelids, concentrating more and more on his mind.
—There's something more important I need to think about...
He focused his attention, uttering the same mantras he used as a child to catch a glimpse of his quirk; the time of his life when he believed that his existence worked like a video game. His quirk was a quirk that was born from the union between his mother's one, capable of controlling specific cells produced by the human body, and his father's one, which was a system similar to that of an RPG and which, moreover, allowed him to become a hero.
After a minute, his system began to appear in his mind more precisely than ever before. However, it was such a tedious task for him to do—because it required him to meditate while walking or fighting, plus the headache—that he couldn't focus entirely on it.
In most cases, as in the fight against Mirko, his system was of little use, acting as a catalyst to use his abilities more precisely, but what if it could be more—
[REBOOTING — ■■■■■■■□□□]
[Body & Quirk adaptation in progress.]
[Cause of the reboot — Body having undergone too many abnormal alterations.]
[REBOOTING — ■■■■■■■■■■]
In addition to his already existing headache, severe pain made him feel like he was going to explode, making him fall to the ground. This pain not only stopped at his head but went down the back of his neck, then snaked towards his arms and his fingers; a burning heat that accompanied this wave of pain made him see blurry as he tried to remain conscious. His abdomen and legs, up to his fifth limb, endured this pain for several minutes as he lay on the ground, trying somehow to get up, hoping that no one would get into the toilet.
The pain slowly subsided, and he could finally stand up using the sink. His headache was gone, and his eyes were no longer red and swollen. It's as if everything was fine now-
[▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲]
[Level 1 — {0/50} — Gain EXP through sex & fighting.]
[STR ▪ 70]
[DEX ▪ 50] — [AGI ▪ 50]
[END ▪ 400] — [RES ▪ 100]
[Choose your perk — STR / AGI / END.]
[▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲]
[Super-Hormones Modifier — None.]
[Exceeding Body's Capacities: 0%.]
[Stored Hormones & Pheromones: 3%.]
[Perks Analyser — None.]
[▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲]
[Hormonal Skill]
[▪Adrenaline ▪Cortisol ▪Insulin ▪Melatonin ▪Norepinephrine ▪Prostaglandins ▪Thyroxine ▪Testosterone ▪Estrogen ▪GH ▪Oxytocin ▪Dopamine ▪Endorphine ▪Serotonine ▪Prolactine.][+]
[Pheromonal Skill]
[▪Aggregation ▪Alarm ▪Releaser ▪Territorial ▪Trail.][+]
[▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲]
—The fuck's all this…? At least I feel that the hormones I produce have not lost their potency...
Felix focused a little more on analyzing the mental image that displayed utterly different things than before. There was so much information all at once that he didn't know what to look at at first, but he might as well choose his perk as soon as possible. At least if he will need it in a short while, it will be done—
"Hey!" began a voice after the toilet door opened. "We've been waiting for you for a while now, and Mirko is awake. So get a move on."
"Chameleon-man... huh. Sorry, I'm late. I had some complications."
"What? Are you on your period?"
"You've been making the same jokes since I met you. You're gonna have to come up with something new," Felix replied, striking his former jailer in the shoulder.
The commission's HQ was a complex of skyscrapers and underground corridors that stretched under people's homes between sewers and pipes. He had to cross many of these smelly corridors to get here. The obscure meeting place he needed to reach was a clinic, secretly located about three kilometers from the main building and known to the general public. The former medical center of Recovery Girl is located not far from the highly rated UA Academy.
You could see the school's roof through it, and even though Felix couldn't see if there was any activity in it, he knew that the school year had started some time ago for the new students. Maybe if he had tried to become something other than rich—and tried to forget about his family and heal...—like these young people, he would have been able to enjoy his old life.
—I'm a few years too old for this shit now... Fuck... What am I thinking about... This country is trying to corrupt me to the bright side of the force. Fuck off.
He sighed, throwing the melancholy and good thoughts out of his mind, and walked to the room where he had dropped off Mirko half an hour ago. On the other side of the door were the President, three men, and Mirko sitting upright with a frown and pursed lips.
—Post-nut clarity, I guess.
Felix went to sit directly next to Rumi, who moved her chair away from him, avoiding eye contact.
He stared at the chairwoman, making it clear to him that they owed him a clear explanation now that he had beaten the person they needed.
"No need to look at me like that, Mr. Fortier," sighed the president as she put her glasses on the table. "We've already taken care of purchasing your rewards—"
"Ya bastards totally prepared everythin' so I could be defeated, and now, that son of a bitch get some fuckin' rewards?!" Rumi shouted, crossing her arms. "Seriously?!"
"Yes, seriously," one of the men replied. "We need you for this mission. We know you've participated in this MMA tournament before. So even if people recognized you, they might think you returned to your old habit. We can find an excuse for that, especially since the people like you. It wouldn't be possible to do all of this with other heroes."
"Huh...?"
"Don't play dumb. You participated secretly when you were still in high school during the Vigilante era, under the name Tiger Bunny," the president continued, giving the heroine a gloomy stare. "Heroine or not, you're far from being the perfect embodiment of justice."
Mirko squinted her eyes and tilted her head slightly to the side; even though her arms were crossed, Felix could see very well that she clenched each knuckle as tightly as she could until they turned whiter.
"Ya're not the embodiment of justice either. All yer shenanigans to achieve this well-organized, structured peace that anyone with enough money can manipulate is far from perfect. Enough of yer nepotism... I have proof of that sitting right next to me, for fuck's sake!"
"At least we have reason to do so. We're not acting hero-like when, in the end, our only goal is to smash people like you," lamented the chairwoman as she laid a folder on the table. "Nobody is perfect. Some are just worse, just like Mr. Fortier."
—This bitch... She's in for a real treat.
"You've got a loudmouth, huh." sneered Mirko, answering the chairwoman.
No one decided to answer her, though. Felix realized how she was. A person who always thought she was right, just like the chairwoman. So, none of them would even try to listen and understand someone they thought was wrong. No one was trying to argue with any of them, which was a waste of time and would have made the situation worse for both sides. However, in the end, both of them were probably more or less alone because of this attitude.
The president went through her belongings and pulled out two copies of a report on the mission they would have to carry out. The report stated that there would be only the two of them to accomplish this mission, which was more than strange, given that the team Mirko was initially supposed to join consisted of 9 people.
"Teaming up with a guy like him? Living with him for a month? To train and win the competition?" mumbled Rumi, putting a hand before her eyes. "Ya have no idea what kind of guys are in there. I've seen some pretty fucked up stuff going on."
"That's why you're on the team, and Felix will help you get even stronger."
"Stronger? Ah! He didn't even beat me. He just took advantage of a weak spot—"
"To take advantage or not to take advantage of a weak point to beat someone is to beat someone. If a villain had done what Felix did, this same villain could have simply shot you in the head. Who cares how someone wins? We've already told you that," the president grunted as she massaged her temples. "You had signed a contract where if you lost, you followed our orders for a month. So stop crying."
Mirko slammed one of her feet to the ground, creating a shockwave that shook the entire building. Her eyes, body language, and everything showed that she was in total disagreement, but visibly, she was now accepting her fate by clenching her teeth and fists.
Felix was later explained the process and the guidelines for this mission. He would have to fight and boost Mirko; the place where they would both have to fight included tag-team fights, and all this would end up being posted on the dark side of the net in one way or another... In fact, he already knew the world of amateur fighting like this one. The prison he was in Canada regularly sent prisoners to fight in a cage with the wardens' authorization who made money from the videos.
Therefore, it was an investigation into the schemes of this hidden part of society while removing any possible threat to civil society; to gather as much information as possible while remaining as discreet as possible to come later and destroy this place, or at least that is what he grasped.
In other words, Rumi was going to need a new costume.
After they finished reading and discussing the contract terms, they were forced to shake hands again, which made Mirko growl.
He had little time to start boosting her, and the tournament was starting in two weeks. Nobody knows how much time it will last, so he would have to find a solution as soon as possible, especially since, because of the reboot of his system, he had no idea to which extent any of his abilities was affected, but everything was still there... Back then, his father talked about a "prestige" grind. Upgrade his own system... Maybe it was what it was.
What was sure, at least, was that his body was still the same. He didn't feel like he had lost the boosts he had used on himself for more than 10 years.
"Don't think we're going to be pals," Mirko snarled as she walked through the corridors of the clinic.
"I'm not sure that's what your body thinks," he replied with an amused smile as he used the last 3 percent of the stolen hormones to create an aphrodisiac bubble and send it to her.
"H-Hey! Gh...! You son of a-"