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|An unknown amount of time later, Suzaku's POV:|
...
I opened my eyes in an unknown place.
"... Where—Ugh?"
When I noticed the oddness of my current circumstances, I tried to let out some words out of confusion. However, I was rapidly forced to stop when a mild headache that made me feel nauseous for a second assaulted my head.
"... Urgh... Shit"
Cursing under my breath as I did my best to not vomit, I glanced around ignoring the small tears that were coming out of my eyes, before I recognized that this place was some kind of laboratory.
And I, specifically, was trapped inside some kind of iron cell without exit.
"What the fuck?"
Noticing how fucked up my situation seemed to be, I let out a curse out of sheer confusion.
However, not wanting to get discouraged so soon, I rapidly tried to remember clearly what happened before I woke up in this place. Needing more information about why I was here, and what this place was.
Then, it came to me.
'I was kidnapped... Shit'
Widening my eyes at the realization, I couldn't help but let out another curse as I glanced at my own hands in confusion.
'Why me? Did I do something to make them kidnap me specifically, or was I just the first unlucky bastard that they came across?'
Frowning as the situation was too unbelievable for me to process properly, I glanced around me to look for clues, before I stopped when I suddenly noticed a certain fact that seemed a little strange in this whole mess.
"...?"
And that was the appearance of this place.
As I said before, this place looked like some kind of laboratory. Which, now that I noticed it, did not go much in accord with the usual hideouts that kidnappers used.
I mean, I have never experienced being kidnapped (Except for this time), and neither am I an expert on the topic. However, isn't it a little bit strange that I was brought into some kind of lab by presumptuous kidnappers?
Couldn't it have been easier for them to just leave me in an abandoned building or something?
If they were just people who wanted to extort money from my parents, then why and how the heck had they brought me into a place like this?
The more I thought about it, the more I felt that there was something else happening behind my current predicament.
"Why do I have to go through this shit...?"
-Sha!-
"...!"
However, before I was even able to delve further into whatever was happening there, a door suddenly opened from the other end of the room and startled me. Immediately making me turn around to see what was happening.
Then, I saw someone emerging from behind the door. A dark figure enveloped in darkness was looking straight at me from the distance through what seemed to be some big glasses that shone brightly after reflecting the little light that was coming from outside the room.
"...Who...?"
Seeing that person, I couldn't help but frown. Knowing that probably the one who was behind my current predicament had appeared.
"..."
However, I didn't have the time to ponder about his identity, as soon, after looking at me for a few seconds, he passed through the door and began walking towards me at a steady pace.
-Tap, tap, tap-
With the light coming from outside the door it was a bit hard to discern the appearance of the person approaching, as the light illuminated brightly its back while leaving the person's front completely darkened.
There was also the fact that the room I was in had been pretty dark before the door opened. Which made me slightly dizzy when so much light burst into the room all of a sudden.
However, eventually, as he continued to approach, my eyes grew somewhat accustomed to the amount of light, and I eventually managed to see more clearly his appearance. Making me widen my eyes in surprise once his appearance was revealed.
'A doctor?'
To my surprise, the person who had kidnapped me, rather than looking like some weird drug addict or thug, looked instead like a random doctor you would find in any hospital.
A bald head, a bushy mustache, big eyeglasses that covered his eyes, and a long white lab coat.
He looked completely like a normal doctor.
However, when I saw him, I couldn't help but have a bad feeling all of a sudden.
After all, if I had been kidnapped for either human trafficking or for some bad guy to extort money from my family, his appearance couldn't have been very surprising. Maybe at most, the typical appearance of a thug.
However, when I saw that the person who had probably kidnapped me and imprisoned me in an iron cell was a doctor, I rapidly had the feeling that something even worse was happening here.
Something that was even more macabre than the previously mentioned options.
'It's human experimentation... Isn't it?'
Reaching that conclusion, it wasn't long before I let out a curse inside my mind as I continued to glance with caution at the presumptuous doctor's approach.
I had only lived in this world for eight years by now. However, as a person that once lived in a world without superpowers, I couldn't help but wonder at some point if some shit like this happened somewhere in this world.
After all, in my previous world, it was almost certain that it happened. Even if it was not known, or divulged.
We were constantly advancing as a race. There was no way there couldn't be at least a few human experiments going on in my world for the sake of science.
However, in this world, besides science... There was quirks.
A thing such as superpowers that vary from person to person, how could it make sense for there to not be a place that experiments with them?
I might not be the brightest. But that doesn't mean I'm clueless.
Quirks seem to have endless ways of developing, unlike the people from my old world, who were bound to human limits.
There's no way that no one in the entire globe has been interested in investigating quirks until now.
Surely, there were at least a few weird mad scientists who were interested in this fact and had decided to try and experiment with them. Maybe to do some weird thing like modifying quirks, or taking them away from the body.
And considering my current circumstances, it wasn't crazy to assume that I seemed to have gotten involved directly with one of those nutjobs.
'But why?'
However, I couldn't pinpoint a reason to pick me instead of all the other kids around the city, or the country.
I was just a random kid with a lame quirk who was learning martial arts.
What the hell would be so interesting about me that they would go all the way to kidnap me specifically?
No matter how I thought about it at that moment, I couldn't think of anything. Though, maybe that was because my heart was in turmoil currently. Making me unable to think clearly.
Being kidnapped usually doesn't mean anything good after all. And, I must admit, I was scared shitless.
The only reason I wasn't peeing my pants right now was due to the training that I had carried out for two years by now. The constant pain and thrill made me more resistant and coolheaded. Though, not entirely. Which was exactly why I was still feeling scared shitless.
What were they gonna do to me? Just what kind of inhuman experience was I gonna go through?
When seeing myself trapped in this iron cell and with a psychopath in potency approaching me little by little, I couldn't help but ask myself these questions.
Which soon caused me to curse under my breath after not finding any other way of venting these swirling emotions of mine.
"Fricking hell..."
However, I didn't have any more time to try and figure more things out on my own, as soon the doctor arrived in front of me, and then began glancing at me with a curious gaze in his eyes.
One that I didn't like at all.
"I came here as soon as I heard that you had woken up... And I have to say... I really can't see anything extraordinary about you"
Saying that, the creepy doctor stroked his chin as his eyes narrowed from behind his glasses. Seemingly analyzing every single part of my body with his gaze, and making me extremely uncomfortable.
However, fortunately, that didn't last very long, and soon, he walked past me and began moving towards another part of the room.
Unfortunately, though, things didn't end there.
While he walked past me, he continued talking. And his next words made me widen my eyes when I realized what they probably implied.
"However, that mere ordinary appearance of yours is already extraordinary... How could a body like yours seem so normal, and yet have such a wide gap in abilities compared to a normal human? It's very intriguing..."
'... So that's it...'
Frowning a little, I couldn't help but glance at my body with a bewildered gaze, as the bad feeling that I had been having since earlier became worse.
However, I didn't even have the time to question what kind of business he had with my body, since soon he turned on what seemed to be the lights of this lab, and made me stare in shock at my surroundings.
-Paf!-
"Holy...shit!"
Seeing what was there, surrounding me, I involuntarily let out a curse in horror.
There, floating inside some kind of capsules, there were several huma—Or rather humanoid beings of grotesque appearance with their brains completely exposed. All of them were submerged in some kind of pale green liquid.
Their eyes lacked life, and they weren't moving a single muscle... However, they were alive.
How did I know?
Because one of them suddenly looked at me when I was staring at them in horror. Making me flinch slightly.
"...!"
"Hohoho... That's quite a nice reaction"
As soon as he saw me flinch, the doctor let out a chuckle in entertainment. Seemingly enjoying my shocked expression. However, I wasn't in the mood to mind his mockery, as I was more worried about what those beings were, and what they could mean for the future me.
And, as I was desiring, soon the doctor began giving me an explanation of what they were... Much to my dread.
"These are the Nomus. They are a project on development that I have been investigating for quite a while... A project that will revolutionize humanity as a whole...!" Spreading his arms wide as he admired his creation, the doctor smiled creepily, before he then turned to look back at me while fixing his glasses as he continued: "In short, they are human corpses that I have carefully modified through several experiments to make them able to hold more than one quirk..."
Then, clenching his fist as he looked at them with a saddened expression, the creepy doctor let out a long sigh, before he then continued explaining.
"... Since human bodies are too weak to hold more than one, I have been investigating a way to strengthen them so that multiple quirks can inhabit one body... And these creatures are the result of that... Powerful beings capable of wielding more than one Quirk in just a single body"
Then, clicking his tongue as a grim look appeared on his face, the doctor shook his head in disappointment as he spoke.
"... Though, unfortunately, while until now I have been able to make them carry more than one quirk, I have been unable to make them able to resist the damage that such powers create within the body... More specifically, within the brain. Which rapidly renders them braindead and unable to think for themselves once the Quirks settle in their body... Although, at least they do pretty well as loyal soldiers since they don't have free will."
Letting out a sigh as he passed through several capsules while touching the glass in them with his hand, the doctor then suddenly came to a stop, before his previous gloomy expression turned into a happy one all of a sudden.
His face gained a smile that went from ear to ear... And he began looking at me.
"However, as if by miracle, I have gained just the perfect subject to create a new type of Nomu... One that will surpass all the previous ones. Even Kurogiri..."
Saying that with a creepy smile on his face, the man then suddenly began walking towards my cell, before he stopped and grabbed the bars that separated him from me with a crazy expression on his face.
-Clang!-
"A body that it's almost twice as strong as a normal human body...! It is like a blessing bestowed by the heavens..."
Laughing maniacally as he glared at my body with greed, the doctor squinted his eyes as he continued speaking.
"... A blessing gifted to me... so that I could create the Ultimate Nomu. Hehehe... I am dying to see just how many quirks a body like yours will be able to bear without losing your entire mind!"
Glaring at me with a crazed smile spreading on his face, the doctor laughed maniacally for a few seconds more, before he eventually calmed down slightly, and whispered something in a gentle yet eerie voice.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how you will evolve... My new Nomu...Hohohoho..."
After that, he turned around and began walking towards the exit. Seemingly being done with talking to me.
However, just as he was about to close the door once again and leave me once again in the darkness, he glanced at me from the corner of his eyes and whispered something with a sadistic grin etching across his face.
"... I will start with your transformation in just a few minutes... I hope you are as excited as I am... Suzaku-kun"
-Bam!-
Leaving those words behind, the man then closed the door with a bang. Leaving me alone once again in the darkness watching the air with a blank look on my face. Not knowing what I was going to do.
"Shit..."
Eventually, a curse was all that left my mouth.
It was the only thing I could say after hearing all that. The only thing I could think to do.
Then, gritting my teeth as anger suddenly began coursing through my veins, I stood up, before then I ran towards the bars of the cell, and began punching and kicking them with all I had.
"Don't joke with me!"
-Clang!-
-Clang!-
-Clang!-
All in a struggle to free myself from this hellhole.
A fruitless struggle.
...
-To be continued...-
(A/N: Like last week, here's a Power Stones goal in exchange for one extra free-chapter. 100 Power Stones, take it or leave it)