CHAPTER FIFTY TWO
"Huff, huff, huff" Rio panted loudly as he struggled to catch his breath, his heart threatening to burst out of his chest.
He supported his palms on the ground as he keeled over sucking in mouthfuls of air greedily.
His bony palms could no longer support his weight, so he fell, lying down to suck in air as he stared up to the ceiling.
He had done it his fight was over they could all go home now.
That achievement did not bring him joy neither did it bring him relief. Nothing did.
He had become hollow.
Turning over he was met with the sight of Number fours corpse staring at him with empty eyes.
That image did not elicit any reaction from him; his heart was as calm as a lake.
Rio could hear footsteps approaching in the distance. He did not know if they were friend or foe.
It did not matter; he still had energy for one more fight left in him.
He hoped another battle did not await him; if he did it would be his last.
The footsteps had gotten closer and Rio could already make out some hazy features.
His vision still swam with black spots, the world spun around him but the image invoked a certain familiarity in him, he had seen this man before, the question was where?
'Ah it's him.'
At that debate nearly a year ago he had been the sponsor.
The CEO of Detenrat, Rikiya Yotsubashi himself.
The man was flanked by two individuals.
One tall man with a luxurious head of hair cascading down his back and bangs framing his face, he walked with a slouched posture a sign of years spent at a desk, yet the weight with which he carried himself suggested more.
The other was a lot shorter than the man, a woman with beautiful purple skin, dressed in a tailored suit jacket and skirt, her heels clacked behind her as she walked through the carnage and blood with the grace of a queen.
The man stopped two meters in front of Rio, his entourage stopping at that point as well.
It wasn't really a safe distance, the concept of what counted as a safe distance in a world with unpredictable variety of abilities was vague but Rio was confident he would be able to react within that distance.
That made him even more wary of the man since he had gauged it so accurately, the very limit of the distance he was comfortable with.
"I just want to talk Rio, I understand that you may be wary of me but I hope you'll hear me out.
Rio didn't say anything but him not attacking was taken as an answer from Rikiya.
Rio couldn't open his mouth to say anything, every little bit of energy saved now could be the difference between life and death.
"I've already secured the facility, all the prisoners are safe and I've dealt with any guards that had hidden away from the chaos, your work is done."
Rio was unmoved, those words could have been lies as well, his friends had not made it out of the water yet all of them had been knocked unconscious.
"I bring you a peace offering, Skeptic!"
On cue two stiff looking men came in with a body on their hands wrapped in rope struggling wildly.
They dropped her in front of Rio and it was the last person he could have expected.
Dr. Hibiki
As trapped and helpless as he had been, her eyes were blindfolded and her ears were muffed, the ropes tied around her body had restricted her movement she could only writhe around like the worm she was.
"Do with her as you see fit."
The two men that Rio doubted were even men removed the restraints binding her as well as the blindfolds and ear muffs and now the world had become clear again.
Hibiki had been abducted from her new building in Tokyo; she hadn't even had the time to bask in the realization that she had become a landlord before she was ruthlessly abducted.
She blamed it on the fact that she had just fired the personnel in charge of the building's security.
If she made it out of this predicament she would never make such a foolish decision again just to mince costs.
She groggily rubbed her eyes as she looked up about to berate and threaten her captors but she froze when she saw the one in front of her.
Her patient Rio was bony and skeletal but she would recognize his face anywhere.
Her heart sunk into her chest as she realized she may have been truly fucked.
She gave a smile that was worse than a cry as she tried to placate him.
"Rio-kun, this is all just a misunderstanding. I was forced to do it… yes I had no choice, they would have killed me if I didn't you have to be—"
SNAP
One moment Hibiki was still giving her speech and the next she was looking down at her back.
'Oh, I'm dead'
That was her last coherent thought.
She collapsed lifelessly to the floor.
Rio dropped down too in exhaustion, he hadn't wanted to do that but he was just… so angry.
He collapsed on the ground in unwillingness and fell into a deep slumber.
"He's too dangerous to leave alive, he killed someone without hesitation he may prove to be detrimental to your plans." Skeptic said as he looked down on Rio's downed figure coldly.
Curious for her part didn't say anything content to take pictures of the place and the carnage that had unfolded, the chaos being a boon for her as her channel would be the first to get a scoop. It would definitely increase their ratings.
Rikiya considered it the boy was much more dangerous than he expected he hadn't even seen when he attacked.
Still he was mind was not clouded by fear. Strength without purpose was hollow; the boy did not pose a threat to them as he was now.
He would guide him and he would give him a purpose, one that would align with their ideals.
"No get him help and the others who are downed too."
If his revolution were to succeed he needed all the power he could get on his hands. With this new addition his plans could now even go farther than japan.
He would bring change to the entire world.
The world mourned as rain poured down heavily.
The people of Tokyo followed too in her mourning.
Nearly forty people deceased, a casualty so appalling it was deemed one of the worst human trafficking incidents the country had witnessed in decades.
Ten of the deceased were children and that fact made it even more horrific.
None of those facts held meaning to Rio, the sight of Sae's coffin being lowered into the ground added an air of finality to the scene.
He would never see her again.
It was an English styled burial. Many of the deceased had no family to their names they were for all intents and purposes alone.
So it was a good thing that they weren't alone in the after-life, they would have many friends to lead them along the way.
Rio, Kenji and Hayato watched as the undertaker tossed sand on top of the coffin with his shovel.
Tears streamed down Kenji's cheeks as he clenched his one good hand tightly, his other hand still hung up in a cast.
Meanwhile Hayato watched the scene in shocked silence, even after a week his brain still refused to accept the reality before him.
For someone who had been so loud in her lifetime it was a solemn ceremony, there were no reporters to be seen, courtesy of Detenrat and Mrs. Hayami.
The irony of the situation brought no comfort. It was just a silent reminder of the tragedy.
An umbrella covered him from the rain. Rio was about to turn back and tell his mother that he didn't need it but stopped when he saw who was holding it up.
Rikiya Yotsubashi, or as he revealed himself at the hospital when he had been recovering, Re-destro, the leader of a rebel group unsatisfied by the status quo.
The man hovered beside Rio and watched as the last trace of Sae's existence was covered up in sand. The only reminder of her would be a simple tombstone.
Six children buried in one day.
The other four had families. Those families broke down crying when their babies that had gone missing for months were declared dead in an underground facility.
All of them were person's he had known even if briefly.
He had led them to fight, and they had been slaughtered like cattle.
He had not known the consequences then but the results were showing in his face.
Reality was not a superhero movie; there were no heroes who would swoop in to save the day. Neither were there any all-powerful geniuses who could outsmart all enemies and surmount hellish odds without a scratch.
Rio wished that that was a fantasy he could still hold on to.
"I know you may have heard this before but you did your best given the circumstances"
His best?
That word hung hollow, especially when he knew he had not.
He had been naïve, a foolish idealist.
If all his enemies had been annihilated at the start maybe there would have been lesser casualties on his side.
Rio would not kill.
It was a resolve he had held previously that humans should not be killing each other.
He was one of those people who had looked down on others for not being able to act in reason, those who sunk down to their baser instincts.
'How utterly foolish'
His resolve crumbled like dust when faced with unprovoked malice. It had been the same when he was younger with the bishop but this time there was no O'clock to bring him back from the brink.
Rio had succumbed to his baser instincts.
He had become a murderer.
The knowledge that he had put down Number Four would have given him more peace if the kill had given him the satisfaction of revenge.
Instead all he felt was hollow.
Immediately his quirk had thrummed back to life Number Four was no longer an adversary who had taken everything from him.
No.
He was just a bug that had pricked him when he was caught off guard.
Number four, those guards, Hibiki; he had gone from a clean slate to over a ten person kill streak in mere seconds. Those morals he had been touting all his life had been a lie.
"If you're worried about any incriminating materials you need not. My adjutant Skeptic has taken care of it."
The perfect material for blackmail, Rio could have cared more for it but all that remained on his mind was the figure of Subject H-21 and his screams of despair.
They had moved him away from the facility.
Rio did not understand how a tank of nutrients solution and a human being had disappeared silently.
Re-destro had clearly barricaded the area. All Rio knew was that he was back in the hand of his captors.
'I couldn't bring myself to kill him. He wanted to die and I selfishly let him live.'
Rio had made many foolish decisions that day. If he had known that the liberation army was on their way he would have stayed put content to sit out the commotion in his cell.
Maybe then Sae and the others who had died would be alive.
Maybe.
He had been dealing in maybes lately it couldn't be good for his mental health.
"That was the second one this year."
Rio stared down silently as the undertaker moved ahead to bury the others bodies forgetting Sae like she was an afterthought just another job.
"The last facility wasn't as well guarded, or equipped as this one."
Rio had paid out of his own pocket to have them buried here. They were slated to have been dumped in a mass cemetery were the homeless were discarded.
Rio had made sure they were properly rested in a private cemetery with a good headstone.
It would not comfort the dead but it would bring solace to those who knew them.
"There are many evils like this that lurk underneath the bright lights of hero society. The heroes won't help. The one in charge of this area was a pro hero named Uwabami. She had been at a photo shoot for a major fashion brand based in Italy when this occurred. Her PR team has been trying to salvage her image but it seems likely her approval ratings and popularity will drop this year."
"Join me Rio, with your power and my connections we can change this world and bring a stop to tragedies like these.'
"Sorry, but I'm not interested."
Just another megalomaniac who had delusions of grandeur, the world was good enough as it is, he doubted a better system would come from the mouth of a man who spouted such words.
Rikiya was remarkably patient with the boy. He was never one to give others the chance to slight him without immediate retaliation.
But he saw himself in Rio, the young Rikiya who had been lost and confused, who had been ripped away to be molded to the desires of old men who had failed their dream.
He had been as lost as Rio was until he had understood the mission that was entrusted to him.
The mission would be the only thing that could save him.
"Break-ins, robberies, assault, rape, drug trafficking. Heroes exist to combat these crimes; their existence shields the people from the horrors of these things and the harm they cause."
"Heroics cannot change human nature, All Might cannot blow away discrimination with his overwhelming power, and neither can he erase the hatred that has accumulated in the hearts of the people for a hundred years. Neither will they give them hope of a better life where everyone's talents can be expressed freely.
"I do not expect you to see eye to eye with me on something's. What I know is that you are lost... And you need something to believe in. Let me be that guiding light Rio."
"They do not understand but the people are greatly dissatisfied. They yearn for change but there is none in sight. I will go forth and bring liberation to the people."
Re-destro stretched forth his hands, not as the all-powerful leader of the world's largest rebellion, but as Rikiya Yotsubashi the one who yearned for a free world.
Rio had shaken many hands before each for different causes.
He only hoped that this time he was not shaking hands with the devil.
Author's note: In hindsight this chapter should have been the end of the first volume, it's impactful, it establishes new relationships and Rio deals with loss once again. But ehhn I'll change the volume titles... Maybe???
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