Gilded Green

-Gilded Green-

-Welcome to Midoriya Industries: Ch4-

Muffled thunder echoed in the distance, through the walls of a large traditional Japanese home. It was very well furnished, with expensive vases, beautifully painted screen doors, and even a lush interior garden.

At the very center of the building a young girl yawned as she curled up in her father’s lap. “Who are you meeting with Papa?” She asked drowsily, the distant rain making her sleepy. “And why do you want me here for it?”

The old man wore an expensive kimono, sat at the head of a large table, and had a fierce expression that demanded respect. But all that melted away as he looked at his granddaughter.

“Someone who can help cure you.” He smiled gently and ran his fingers through her hair. “My little flower.”

The door creaked open and the girl propped herself up to look over the table.

A dozen of her father’s men marched through, escorting a man at gunpoint unlike anyone she’d ever seen.

He was wearing the strange “western” clothes her father complained about people outside the family wearing, but they were odd even by those standards. He had a scary mask on his face that looked kind of like a bird, and connected to a black bag that covered the rest of his head, which was made less obvious by the flared hat he wore. And between his long black coat, dark leather gloves, and pants, there wasn’t an inch of skin exposed.

In the world of Japanese color that her father had made his family’s home into, the man was a void of black and dark red.

Her father cleared his throat and all of the guards bowed. The stranger did not.

“I am Shie, head of the Hassaikai family. Doctor, do you know why I have summoned you here?”

“I would assume it’s because you want someone cured.” The doctor folded his arms. “And I’m the only one who can do that.”

“You will NOT be using the ‘cures’ you have used before, or you will find yourself at the bottom of Tokyo bay.” Hassaikai growled. “I have seen the disgusting surgeries you have performed. You saw off horns, cut out organs, and even skinned a woman alive and sewed graphs of normal skin to replace her pink coloring. That is not a cure, it is torture.”

“It is a cure if they can walk around and be treated like humans afterwards.”

“All you have done is cover up their symptoms, not cure them of the cause. I will not accept anything less than a true cure.” Shie turned his attention to his granddaughter, hiding in his lap. “Eri, stand.”

Eri swallowed nervously but didn’t hesitate to push herself to her feet with the grace and posture that had been drilled into her from a young age.

“Greetings. I am Eri Hassaikai. Heir of the family.” She tucked her arms into the sleeves of her flowery pink kimono, and nodded her head in respect to the doctor, but she did not bow. A lady of her standing was not supposed to bow, no matter how sick she was.

“This is my heir, the last of my line. She is very important to me, and she is terribly ill.”

“This is the one you want me to fix?” The doctor asked, his emotionless mask examining her like a piece of meat. “I’m guessing so that she can take over for you without any scandal, or anyone using her sickness as an excuse to usurp her?”

“There is nothing about her to Fix.” Shie narrowed his eyes in a very dangerous expression. “I want you to cure her. And I believe her own illness may be the key to developing such a thing.”

He lifted his tea glass and shattered it on the edge of the table, then he held it up to Eri.

“Show him.”

Eri clasped her hands around the broken cup and closed her eyes in concentration. A small flicker of blue light flashed from behind her fingers, and she stumbled back exhausted.

The doctor perked up, his surprise obvious even through his mask.

“This is her ability.” Shie said as he set the perfectly unbroken cup on the table. “She can rewind things, only a few seconds, but she can fix something no matter how much damage it takes. I can give you her blood, and all the funding you need, to turn your actual medical expertise into a genuine cure.”

He paused and leaned forward, staring into the doctor’s soul through his mask.

“But if you accept this, you will produce a workable result for me.”

“Of course!” The doctor bowed with a sweep of his arm. “I wouldn’t dare disappoint.”

“You’d better not, if you value your life.” Eri’s father nodded in satisfaction at the bow, and gestured her forward.

“Hello little one.” The doctor kneeled to her eye level, and extended a hand as she approached. “My name is Kai Chisakai, and I look forward to working with you.”

-Gilded Green-

Eri was dizzy. She was so terribly dizzy and lightheaded all the time. They took blood from her constantly, every day, until her skin was pale and she struggled to move more than a few rooms in one walk.

Two years had passed since the doctor had started working for her father. Two years since the basement had been renovated into a state of the art research facility.

Chisakai had proved that he knew his stuff, and that his medical degrees weren’t for nothing. He had developed the start of a cure, something no one had ever thought possible. But it was only the start, and while his funding may have been more or less infinite, her father’s patience was not.

“I am growing old Chisakai, and these prototypes of yours are unacceptable!” Shie roared, cowering everyone in the room.

But the doctor just stood there impassively, as unbothered as ever.

“My work is groundbreaking, you’re just shortsighted.” Chisakai huffed and tossed a stack of newspapers on the table. “Everyone else is in awe of what I’ve done. I’be been offered research grants from all over the world!”

The papers slid towards Shie and Eri.

[MAD GENIUS LEADS THE FIGHT!]

[CHISAKI A FAVORITE FOR THE NOBEL PRIZE!]

[SCIENCE CHALLENGES THE DEVIL!]

[THE HERO MUTS NEVER DESERVED!]

Eri reached forward with a shaky hand and pulled the nearest one closer.

[UNPRECEDENTED PROGRESS!] The title read. [New miracle cure from Chisaki has a 5% success rate, and only 76% mortality rate, down from 80% in previous trials.] She reached a hand up to her horn as her stomach turned. [Fatality rates for mutants remain stubbornly high at 99.99%]

Eri whimpered.

The head of the Yakusa family watched his granddaughter with a mournful expression, guilt ridden at how unhealthy she looked. He had violently shot down each and every one of Chisakai’s suggestions on how to “improve research speed”, but it was clear that even the bare minimum of blood extraction was taxing heavily on Eri.

“I don’t care about your progress, or your prestige.” He growled. “I care about results. I have drained my family’s funds for you. I want a cure for my granddaughter that won’t kill her, and I want it now.”

“With all do respect, I’m working in uncharted scientific territory, these things take time, it could be years until-”

“I don’t have years Chisakai!” Shie stood to his feet and his guards drew their guns, ready to put down the doctor with a single word. “You have until the end of the month, if you don’t have it by then, there will be nowhere in Japan that is safe for you. And before you think about it, I have all the airports in my pocket, so don’t even try.”

The doctor was silent, mulling his options.

“...If you truly want a cure that soon, and one that won’t have any chance of fatality, there’s a device I would need. It’s not public knowledge and I only know about it because of some big wigs that I’ve rubbed shoulders with since I became cover material.”

“Price is of no concern, there is no amount of money worth my daughter’s life.”

“That’s the problem. Shield only made one, and it’s not exactly for sale.”

Shie stood straighter, a regal air of dignity to him despite his old age.

“You are employed by the Hassaikai family, the greatest of the Yakuza. Nothing is beyond our grasp.”

-Gilded Green-

Three days later, the doctor left, along with three dozen of her father’s best men.

Two days after that they cut off all contact, for absolute secrecy.

Two weeks later, no one returned on the planned day.

Eri sat at her father’s bedside, reading a book as he stroked her hair.

He never directed any of it at her, and tried to hide it, but she could tell he was angry, infuriated even.

“Is the doctor not coming back?” She asked. “Did they get caught stealing?”

“They did not get caught.” Shie grumbled. “The men I sent with him have served the family for decades. They are the best we have. The only reason they wouldn’t be back yet is because Chisakai fumbled the ball, and slowed them down.”

Eri paused as she flipped a page, and looked up at him with worried eyes.

“Does that mean I won’t be cured?”

Shie’s anger melted like butter as he scooped up his granddaughter into his arms, even if she was getting a bit too old for it.

“Of course not, my little flower.” He cooed as he hugged her close. “I promised, didn’t I? And a Hassaikai never breaks their word.”

Eri sighed, her worry leaving her as she hugged him back.

“Thank you Papa. I love yo-”

The world went white.

-Gilded Green-

Pain. Terrible. Horrible. Pain.

Eri opened her eyes to find she could only see out of one. Her whole body hurt. Everything hurt so bad. She opened her mouth to scream for her father, but all that came out was a gurgling spew of blood.

Her home was in ruins, the building was almost entirely rubble, and everything was on fire. In the distance she could hear people screaming over the sound of gunshots.

“Well this is overkill.”

Eri’s breath hitched at the familiar voice.

“I thought you were going to raid the place with the Japanese Defense Force?” Chisakai said as he walked over a mound of rubble, his suit and mask completely untouched.

“We were cooperating with the JDF and an American base nearby, the documents you shared with us showed the Yakuza had been trading with underground Destro cells. Everyone knows the Americans’ history with Destrovites.” A huge man in a suit of terrifying black armor boomed in a mechanical voice, as he followed the doctor. “Too much blood on both sides for either to hold themselves back.”

“Well I’m not the one who has to deal with the diplomatic fallout, so they can do whatever they want. Now where is… Ah! Here we are.” Chisakai practically preened as he strutted over and flipped over a lump of charred debris with his foot. “Not so high and mighty now, are you, Boss?”

Eri let out a gurgling scream in horror at the sight of her grandfather’s mangled corpse.

Chisaki’s head perked up in her direction. “Oh, the diseased brat survived. Well… some of her at least.”

“A child?”

“Hassaikai’s granddaughter, groomed to be his successor after her parents died. She’s been taught to run a Yakuza family by example, she’s not innocent by any means. She did have an interesting meta ability.” He turned around and walked off, dismissing her like a piece of litter. “But I have everything I need from her.”

Eri choked a sob as the situation finally set in. They had been betrayed, her father was dead, her family was being destroyed around her, everything she had ever known was burning, and she was going to bleed out on the ground in agony.

A shadow fell over her, the metal titan towering above her, his cape spreading out to block any escape and suffocate her.

“The way to the basement should be around here somewhere, let’s go see how much of my stuff survived.” Chisaki said in the distance, but she barely registered it, her attention enraptured by the monster in front of her.

Krieg stared down at her, his red visor reflecting the surrounding flames hauntingly in the moonless night.

Boots crunched on rubble as a squad of Japanese soldiers approached, with an officer at the front.

“Ah, ‘Krieg’, correct? You’re the representative from Atlas Island? I understand they attacked your facilities, but there’s no need for you to be…” He trailed off as he caught sight of Eri. “The heir?” His eyes narrowed at her horn. “A Mut.”

“She’s a child.”

“She’s a danger. A mobile weapon you physically cannot disarm, and a high ranking member of a major criminal organization.”

The officer motioned to his men and they fanned out to surround the girl. One of them opened the large bag on his back and brought out an assortment of metal bindings, and sedative shots.

“Her age will be taken into account during her sentencing, but it will be weighed against her crimes, and the potential damage she could cause in the future, since she’s proven herself willing to break the law for her own gain.” He nodded to his men. “Lock her up.”

The man approached with the thick steel shackles and Eri panicked. Blue light sparkled from her horn as she began to hyperventilate.

“SHE’S USING HER META ABILITY!” The officer screamed. “PUT HER DOWN BEFORE SHE KILLS US ALL!”

Krieg looked down at the girl, hurt, alone, and terrified, and made a decision.

In one step he crossed the distance to the soldier raising his gun, grabbed it by the barrel, and snapped it in half with a clench of his hand.

Eri squeezed her eye shut, trying to block out the surprised shouts, gunshots, and screams of pain that followed. Then, with the sharp crack of a concentrated explosion, everything fell silent except for the crackling of the flames.

She hesitantly looked up at the sound of heavy footsteps approaching her.

Krieg loomed overhead, and extended a blood slicked hand down towards her.

“Come with me. More will be here soon.”

-Gilded Green-

-Many Years Later-

Eri sighed as she was finally let out of her maintenance “bed”, and climbed to her feet.

She rolled her shoulders to the sound of servos whirring, and wiggled her fingers to dissipate the staticy numbness that always happened when the synthetic skin on her arms was reconnected to her nervous system. She twisted her neck with an audible pop of bone, and blinked a few times until her vision fixed itself.

Her right eye came to life, visibly adjusting as its mechanical iris rotated to refocus.

“Checkup: completed.” A flat and artificial voice came from a maintenance drone as it settled back into its wall dock. “Systems at: 100% integrity. Maintenance required: none.”

“I could have told you that.” She grumbled in irritation. “I just undo any damage with my quirk, I don’t need you for anything short of major injury.”

“Abilities: unreliable. Checkups: mandatory.”

“Checkups are stupid.”

“Checkups: mandatory.”

Eri flipped the bot off, something she’d picked up from her mentor, as she made her way out of her room’s maintenance closet, and flopped down on her bed. The thick sheets practically swallowed her, and she savored the slightly uneven sensation of the cloud-like mattress hugging her bare skin- both organic and synthetic.

Weekly check ups were such a pain, and maintenance was always worse, but at least the checkups could be done entirely by droids. Having strangers rummage around inside her always made her uncomfortable.

But before she could doze off, a notification popped up in her vision, pinged directly into her brain. Her organic eye twitched. What did they want now? She reluctantly opened the message, fully intending to just ignore it and get in trouble for it tomorrow.

[Report to the training room tomorrow morning. I have a job for you.

-Krieg, supreme commander of all security matters.]

Eri practically leapt out of bed, a wide grin splitting her face. Commander wanted to see her! Oh, she had to clean herself up!

She rushed toward her bathroom, and flung the door open, practically dancing on her feet to the shower. But she paused before she opened the frosted glass slide to the shower.

It’d been a couple weeks since she’d last done it, hadn’t it?

Eri frowned and closed the door, then trudged her way to the sink with a frown on her face.

She turned the water on full blast and set it as hot as it could go, then she picked up a perfectly clean knife that she kept in her bathroom counter, and stuck it under the water.

She removed her metal headpiece, a thick silver band that she refused to ever take off, even during maintenance, and sat it down on the counter, revealing a horrible scar of shredded flesh on the top right side of her forehead.

And yes, shredded was the right word. The wound had scabbed over and then violently been ripped back open countless times over the years, never given time to fully heal, and only given enough treatment to keep it from getting infected.

From the middle of the bloody mess of uneven flesh, puss, scar tissue, and exposed veins, a sharp protrusion stood up. It was a horn, made of bone with a wrapping of cartilage and skin.

And despite her best efforts, it kept growing back. Despite her Papa’s promise, he’d never cured her.

Eri wadded a hand towel into a ball and shoved it roughly into her mouth. Then she pulled the knife from under the boiling water, and raised it to her forehead…

-Chapter End-