Paradosi
patreon
The Abyss (chapter 7)
🕑 Added 2024-09-26 21:07:29 +0000 UTCThe sound of an alarm interrupted his typing, the clock striking 7:30.
Tapping the screen to quiet the alarm, Nobuto eyed the maybe twenty missed calls from his sister with some exasperation. His other two problems currently experiencing a drought of ideas, he had decided to tackle the essay first. He'd given himself the idea for what to write about a few nights back while staring at the moon.
Cementoss should at least find his complaining about the sorry state of affairs that was Japan's space program amusing.
He would have to write the conclusion later, however. Nemuri would come to drag him there herself if she had to.
Fixing up his hair and grabbing a pack of gum, he took a cab on her dime, not particularly in the mood to deal with public transport right now. The bull-headed driver even offered some conversation, and Nobuto listened to his worries about All Might retiring.
He couldn't predict where all the chips would land even if he tried.
Stepping out of the cab with a friendly wave to the driver, he looked up at the garishly neon pink sign for COX Studios as he approached the doors. It looked even more out of place considering they had left Musutafu proper.
Also, they had to know what that sounded like in English, right?
Walking inside, he was met by a tall receptionist with glittering golden skin. She pointed a dainty finger at the elevator with a pleasant smile. "They're waiting for you on the third floor, Algernon."
He returned her smile, taking the elevator as directed.
Exiting on the third floor, he walked into an altogether chaotic scene as about a dozen people ran around the place without much rhyme or rhythm. He didn't get the chance to look around too much as Nemuri immediately accosted him.
He quickly noticed that she wasn't in her usual costume, and even her hair was styled differently. It ran down her back smooth as silk instead of her usual wild mane, and there were even flowers decorating it.
"You're early," his sister commented with some surprise. Hugging him tightly, she hopped back and did a spin. "What do you think?"
If he wasn't mistaken, she was feeling the slightest bit self-conscious. He would be a good brother then and not tease her too much, even if that wasn't like her at all.
He hummed as he looked her over. Her new costume had a similar color profile as her normal costume, reds and blacks and whites, just instead of a dominatrix she looked like a cross between a Japanese princess and a sorceress. Maybe some shrine maiden thrown into the mix as well.
Of course, it wouldn't be Nemuri if she didn't show plenty of skin, so there was also that.
"You look incredible," he finally told her. "But what's the occasion? Thinking of making a change?"
She beamed at him. "You're looking at Mistress Night, the most beautiful and breathtaking leader of the Court of Villains!"
He raised a brow as she snapped her fingers, one of her boy band four running over with a few sheets of paper. He handed them to her and she handed them to him.
Nobuto looked it over, ignoring how her sidekick was giving him a sour look when he thought Nemuri wasn't looking. "This isn't a script for a commercial segment at all," he accused.
"I was inspired, Nobuto!" She gave him a pitiful look after. "You don't want all of this to have been for nothing, right? It's all for you."
The glare from her boy toy only intensified, and his Quirk picked up on enough jealousy that even Nobuto was impressed. It made him want to agree just to annoy them, but no, there was a better reason to do so. He could tell this meant the world to her.
"It's kind of barebones for a script?" he mentioned. It was just another way of saying yes, and she took it as such, leaving his cheeks with two bright red lipstick marks.
"I trust you to improvise, baby brother," she told him. "I had also taken the liberty of picking out a costume for you that isn't so…" She motioned over him like it was obvious.
He looked at her doubtfully. "Don't think I hadn't noticed how much this script lines up with the comment you made a few days back." She just looked at him innocently. "And I meant when I said it was that bad. It made me look like a vampire pimp fresh out of the cover of a bad romance novel."
"Not that one! I factored in your bad taste, so it should be more palatable to you."
She pulled him over to another part of the overly large room, showing him a suit hanging on a mannequin. It was all blacks and whites, with a subtle gold trim around the cuffs. Surprisingly, it didn't bare his chest in some gaudy display of masculinity. While he could tell it would hug his form more, it wasn't that bad. He could admit that much.
"I'm keeping the trench coat," he said.
She let out a small sigh from pouty lips. "When I left it back home, I didn't mean for you to get so attached to it." Her eyes were soft, he noticed.
Worried she was about to get all sappy with him, Nobuto tried to dial it back. "Who says I didn't do it just to poke at a certain someone's massive ego?"
"Because I know you," she told him all matter of fact. "Seeing you drag it to U.A. with you, and then you giving me this earnest smile, it was maybe my best day ever."
She took his hand into hers, squeezing it.
Sometimes Nobuto hated his Quirk, he thought for the umpteenth time. Just the sheer love he could feel from Nemuri was making him feel like a little kid trying to impress her again whenever she visited home.
"I guess I should get to it then," he commented. He leaned down to kiss her cheek this time, smudging her make-up a little and getting a small glare from her as he took the suit off the mannequin.
"Make sure you still read the notes I left you!" she called after his back.
Entering the very empty male dressing room, he picked a stall and carefully put on the new suit, feeling it shift around his muscles as he moved. He moved in front of the mirror to get a better look.
He could see why she picked those colors now; they went well with his hair and sunglasses. He could get used to this.
He left the dressing room to find a dark-skinned woman waiting for him, her hair a living cloud as she looked him over a little longer than she maybe needed to. "It turned out very well, I see. You can call me, Jez."
"Better than I feared," he admitted.
"I can see a few finishing touches that would make it look even better. You're not one of those stubborn fools to turn down a little help, are you? You don't need that much."
"Whatever you feel you need to do," he told her with a smile. She looked overworked enough already without him adding to it by arguing.
It also let him look over the script as she worked. It seemed this Court of Villains numbered four villains that he would be facing in overly dramatic fashion. He didn't know who they were either, save that they were all Pro Heroes.
His sister did give him some direction at least in the notes she left, but it wasn't much.
He would do his best to put on a good show, he was a perfectionist that way, but he couldn't help feeling like he was procrastinating. While Shigaraki seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth, and he still had no idea how he was going to break the encryption, there were other things he could do. Like sticking his nose into why someone like Sir Nighteye would be investigating a Yakuza group.
The cloud-haired woman eventually nodded, leaning back to take him in. "That will do. It should hold even if you work up a sweat. I even insist you do; it will make you look that much more handsome."
"I'll keep that in mind," he promised, standing back up.
He followed her back into the main room, finding it much changed already, gargantuan red and purple drapes hung up all across it. His sister was nowhere to be seen, and there was a very tall peacock-headed man at the center of it, coordinating everything.
The director looked Nobuto over critically, nodding his head. "Fifteen minutes until we begin recording, Algernon. You'll be starting on the roof, working your way down the floors until you reach the third again. Did you give him the earpiece, Jez?" he asked, his voice rich and very human despite the long beak.
"I did," she confirmed, pulling at the clouds that were her hair and waving him a little goodbye as she left the room to parts unknown.
"The idea is a simple feel good story to take the edge off All Might's retirement," the director continued, turning back to him, "so have a little fun with it."
Nobuto felt someone linking a dainty arm with his as he nodded. It was Uwabami in a vaguely Greek or Roman outfit, a stola, maybe, and looking up at him with a funny smile. His Latin wasn't the best, admittedly.
The three snakes merged with her hair, one purple, one yellow, and one green, bobbing their heads in recognition. He nodded his head in kind before lowering his eyes to Uwabami's. They were the same color as her hair, a beaten gold.
"I'll be your sidekick for the evening," she told him. "The Gorgon Hero: Medusa. It fits, doesn't it?"
He agreed easily. "I don't imagine my sister was able to hide who the other Pros are from you," he commented. "She's not the best liar."
"She made me promise not to," she admitted. "Haa, she's such a control freak sometimes."
His Quirk always had a hard time pinning down what Uwabami was feeling the times he'd talked to her, whether because of her snakes or because she was just a consummate actor.
Nobuto fought the instinct to run a hand through his hair, not wanting to mess it up. "She's putting a lot of faith in me here," he complained.
"You have a natural charisma men and women would kill for," Uwabami told him. "You're also not nearly as humble or innocent as you pretend to be either, Algernon. Your sister just happily chooses to ignore it because she's built up this idea of you that she's reluctant to part with."
He ignored the sudden, and annoying, doubts that popped into his head about how natural his charisma really was. He'd found out a long time ago how meaningless and even self-destructive it was trying to pinpoint where the old Nobuto Kayama ended and the new began.
It wasn't until he was a teenager that he even figured out how to stop his Quirk from rewriting parts of him at the barest prompt.
"You spend a lot of time thinking about me, hm?" he teased, switching tracks.
"I do have eight eyes, you could say," she said as she led him toward the elevator. That would have at least flustered most girls, but she easily kept her cool despite enjoying hanging off his arm.
The roof was a little windy, but it was still summer so it wasn't unpleasant.
There were a number of lights around the edges, most of them centered on them, but a few seemed to be pointing up at the night sky for some reason. Uwabami separated herself from him as well, finally giving him a good look at her.
Her costume, whatever it was based on, was made of a thin though not translucent fabric, and it hugged her curves nicely, he could admit.
"I can see you like it. Always nice to feel appreciated as you get on in years. Not that your sister would even hear of it; she still likes to pretend she's still fresh out of U.A. at heart," she confessed to him with a chuckle.
"I'd learned a long time ago not to mention her age to her, especially at birthdays."
Nobuto's eyes had adjusted, and he could make out some of the cameras. It was almost showtime.
Each of the Court of Villains he would be facing had a weakness of the heart that he was supposed to use to make them fall for him and give up their villainous ways. He could see how people might eat that up and ask for seconds, he supposed.
The first villain was something of a ditz who couldn't find a man her Quirk and carelessness didn't scare off.
"It's time," the director's rich voice said into his ear.
"We're here, Algernon," Uwabami said at his side, another sign that the cameras had started rolling. "The Court of Villains must dwell in the bowels of this building. My ladies can sense their movements."
"Thank you, Medusa," he replied, marshaling himself.
He also hadn't known Uwabami's snakes were all female, but it made sense.
The next moment there was something else towering over even them on the roof, vaguely human in shape amidst the darkness. And then she stepped into the both literal and proverbial spotlight, the building beneath them rumbling slightly.
Nobuto had seen Mt. Lady in the flesh not that long ago, but she was even more intimidating staring down at him. "STOP RIGHT THERE, HEROES!" her voice boomed. "I, LADY MOUNTAIN, HAVE BEEN TASKED BY MISTRESS NIGHT HERSELF TO STOP YOU!"
Not a very original name, that. Her costume was slightly altered as well, he noticed, still the same skintight bodysuit but the colors were different, and the horns on her head had multiplied, mimicking a crown.
Mt. Lady reached for them, but she was choreographing it as much as possible so they could get out of the way, which they did. Well, if his sister wanted a show, she would get one.
He'd just have to make sure he didn't fall.
"Cover me, Medusa. I'm climbing that mountain." It was exactly the kind of one-liner people loved.
As Mt. Lady swiped at them again, he leaped from the edge of the roof to her wrist, sticking the landing. He was awesome like that, but it didn't hurt that she was keeping her arm steady.
"Are you so eager to fall to your death, Hero?" The Pro had lowered her voice so as to not render him deaf, he assumed.
"You are not so heartless, Lady Mountain. In fact, you have the biggest heart in all the whole wide world!"
He could tell that her blush was more than her acting chops, but then he had literally climbed her while whispering sweet nothings into her ear.
"Y-You don't know what you're saying, Algernon." Even her whispering was loud. "I destroy everything I love with my carelessness."
"Mistress Night fills your head with those cruel words to keep you obedient!" Nobuto moved some of her creamy blonde hair behind her ear with great difficulty, already out of breath. At least her shoulder had more room for him to leverage himself. "I do not fear you."
"Truly?" she whisper-boomed again. There was a nervous smile on her lips.
"Truly. Seeing that smile now, I do not see a shred of true evil in it. Only someone hurting." He tried to ignore how small he felt as he gave her a charming smile and his hand. "You deserve better, Lady Mountain."
She furrowed her brows like she was thinking, but eventually nodded, bending over so he could hop off her shoulder. He was still a man, so he couldn't help noticing how her rear rivaled a house just by itself.
Mt. Lady remained at eye level as he stood on the roof again, and she pointed at her cheek. "I would like a kiss, Hero." There was a funny tilt to her lips he didn't miss.
Still, he obliged her, even if it felt like he was pressing his lips to a wall that was particularly soft and warm.
"Good luck, Algernon!" she boomed as she stood again. "Teach that mean old hag a lesson!"
Something told him Nemuri would be insisting that comment be cut from the final production.
"Was it really necessary to indulge her?" Uwabami asked, something jealous coloring her tone. He assumed it was just a part of her character; it would be just like his sister to insist his sidekick had a crush on him.
"It was a harmless request when your life is at stake, Medusa."
He liked to think his charming delivery had stunned her into silence as he opened the door, allowing them to take a flight of stairs down to a lower floor. There they found a pile of glittering treasure, and seated upon it like a throne was Ryukyu.
Now he knew for certain that Nejire would be tuning in to watch.
"Lady Mountain has failed then?" she asked rhetorically. "Pity."
Ryukyu had really taken to her role, running her tongue over her sharp teeth as she glared down at them both, her bright yellow hair windswept. She had donned something like samurai armor painted a vivid red.
"You face Orochi now. Decorate my hoard with another treasure and I will let you leave in peace," she continued. "Do not and your bones will decorate it instead."
…Well, she certainly had the right amount of menace. And was still strikingly beautiful, he had to admit.
"Your hoard is impressive, Orochi, but I think it is missing something." He was getting better at making his voice sound butter-smooth. "Companionship. Love. Mistress Night deprives you of that most precious treasure, treating you as nothing more than her pet dragon."
Ryukyu stood, circling them as her nails lengthened into claws. "Be careful with your next words, Hero."
"Would you not rather be free?" he asked her. "Would you not rather be loved?"
"I am not a little girl to fear loneliness," she grumbled. "Solitary is the path I walk by choice."
"Is it by choice? How many thousands would give you gifts if you but used your strength to help them instead?" He was pulling out all the stops, heavily borrowing from the dramas his sister had made him watch with her. "And with a beauty like yours, I find it hard to believe you could not find a man to give you his heart and soul."
"Are you volunteering, Algernon?" Ryukyu shot back, growing visibly flustered. Unlike with Uwabami, he could tell some of it was very real, amusing some part of him greatly.
Nobuto would be lying if he said he hadn't imagined Nejire and her together in his bed.
"You know Mistress Night would not let you keep me," he told her earnestly. "She would take me for herself and leave you with nothing to show for your loyalty."
She grit her teeth. "You speak truly. Pass then. Let her fight her own battles for once."
Uwabami's snakes hissed. "We should not leave her to our rear, Algernon. You can't trust her."
The two glared at one another until he butted in. "I can and have. Come on, Medusa."
She followed him after a moment down the next flight of stairs. Two villains left.
The first thing that stood out to him was how shiny the room they walked into was, like every inch of it had been painted silver.
The next thing was someone suddenly kicking him with enough force to send him back a few steps. "You know how to take a hit," a familiar voice cheerfully commented.
Mirko?
"How dare you touch him, Moon Bunny," Uwabami growled at his side.
The rabbit hero's costume hadn't changed that much, but all the color had been taken out of it, leaving it matching her white hair. Both glittered like the stars beneath the bright lights.
"Hush, Medusa. Always yap, yap, yap with you. Come on, Hero. Show me what you got."
Mirko came at him again at blinding speeds, and he had to use his Quirk just to not get run over. Did she not get the memo?
Her big rabbit ears twitched, and she charged at the real him, at least until he twisted his Quirk again. What a frustrating woman.
He would have preferred not to use his Quirk at all once the cameras started rolling.
"You can't hide from me!" she boasted, stomping her powerful legs. The Pro proceeded to tear through the room three times as quickly as Mirio in a frightening display of physicality.
"Even if you beat me to a pulp, Moon Bunny, it doesn't change anything," he called out. His ribs still ached after that first blow. "Mistress Night wants a world where everyone is her slave. You will have no one to fight, no one to give you a challenge and make your blood run hot."
Mirko paused dramatically. "Tsk. Maybe you're right." Nobuto let his Quirk fall away, and she smiled at him as she got up in his personal space. "Neat Quirk," she commented. "I'll be waiting for you to make my blood run hot again, Algernon."
She hopped away, leaving Uwabami frowning. "This feels like a trap."
Nobuto shrugged. That was his first time meeting Mirko, and she certainly left an impression.
Back down to the third floor, it was time for the final act of the show. The towering room had been cleared of all equipment, just leaving the drapes and a very Japanese aesthetic. His sister calmly sat on a throne in the middle, crossing her legs.
"Well, well, well. What took you so long, Algernon?"
He stood tall, as a hero should in the face of villainy. "All of them have abandoned you, Mistress Night. You are alone."
"Ho, ho, ho." She pointed her fan at Uwabami. "Am I alone, my dear?"
He might have actually been a little surprised when she walked over to his sister's side, a most villainous smile on her lips.
"After all we've been through, Medusa?" He put a tremble in his voice to really sell it.
"You're cute, but you can't see past a pretty smile," Uwabami told him cruelly.
"No, you're better than that. I saw how sad you became when you thought nobody was looking." Nemuri did tell him to improvise. "It wasn't heroes who took your husband from you."
"Shut up!" she snarled at him, her snakes hissing again.
"Ho, ho, ho," his sister haughtily laughed again. "Medusa is my most loyal, Algernon. Indeed, you would never be here at all if we didn't want you here." She stood up, her silky outfit swaying in a breeze that wasn't there. "And now you will be forever mine."
The way she said it had him coughing slightly. Too much.
He stepped back anyway as he covered his nose with his arm, figuring the breeze was meant to signal her using her Quirk. It wasn't easy to see the slightly violet mist she exuded.
"What is all this for Mistress Night!" he shouted out. "Why do you need to make the world your slaves? You're already beautiful. How many men would give anything to be with you?"
Nemuri whipped her fan to the side. "Yes, until someone younger and prettier catches their eye. The loyalty of a particularly clever dung beetle!" She sniffed. "But the solution is simple. This city will only have eyes for me after all is said and done, Algernon, and only me."
Play to her ego, huh? Of course his sister would want that.
"Not all men, Mistress Night." He fell to a knee before her, like a knight before his lady. "Put an end to your mad plans and I make a solemn vow to be yours until the end of time. You will want for nothing."
"You offer me nothing I wouldn't already have," she shot back at him.
"I offer it willingly. Do you want an empty-eyed doll? Or do you want a man?"
The breeze that had her costume swaying ceased, and she stared down at him. "Men are all liars," she insisted. "How can I trust you?"
"You know me better than most, Mistress Night. I have never told a lie." He ignored how much of a lie that was. He was acting!
"Until the end of time?" she repeated. "You promise?"
"I do."
She took her sweet time as he knelt there. "Medusa, get the others." He heard their footsteps, and then he felt his sister's fingers turn his chin up to face her, her electric blue eyes sparkling in a way that was very her. He could tell she was having fun.
"Rise, Algernon. Or should I say husband?" She turned her head as if arguing with herself. "No, no, we aren't wedded yet. But we soon will be."
Definitely too much.
He stood behind her as she fanned herself, waiting for the others to arrive. "You will not just take me as a wife, Algernon, but all the Court of Villains. You will… how do they say it, domesticate us? But I will ever be first among them. Remember that."
"Right," he coughed out. He forced his voice back into smoothness after. "I have always thought you beautiful, Mistress Night. It always saddened me to see you do evil."
She whipped around, smiling at him. "Then you'll just have to keep me in line, won't you?"
He was going to have to have words with her after this.
The rest of the Pros returned with Uwabami then, still in villainous ensembles, though Mt. Lady had returned to a less property-destroying size.
"It seems our plans will slightly change, ladies. Algernon here has agreed to marry us all of his own free will, to love and cherish us until our dying days. Ah, it was so very romantic!"
Mirko threw an arm around Ryukyu. "Looks like we won't be ending up as spinsters, Ryu- er, Orochi." Ryukyu blushed deeply at her words, refusing to meet Nobuto's eyes.
"I hope you will live up to my late husband," Uwabami said with utmost seriousness.
"I still have first dibs on a date," Mt. Lady insisted.
Nemuri turned around to stare her down. "You do not get 'first dibs' on anything, Lady Mountain."
He decided to interrupt them before they broke character. "My heart is big enough for all of you. There's no need to fight."
Nemuri sighed dramatically. "See. So romantic."
Mirko was upon him within the span of a moment. "Alright, hot shot. Make me a wife."
His sister bonked her on the head with her fan for it. "There's a process to these things!"
Rubbing her head with a frown, Mirko pouted.
"As your most beautiful leader," Nemuri continued, "I will officiate. Take your wife-to-be's hands, Algernon."
Mirko gave him an earnest look as he took her hands. "Do you promise to love and adore her until your dying days?"
He bit back a sigh. That wouldn't be very cinematic. "I do."
"And do you promise the same, Moon Bunny?"
"Heck yeah."
"Then I pronounce—"
Mirko didn't even wait for that much, pulling him down and kissing him deeply. Well, two can play that game, he thought.
Lowering his hands, he gave her muscled though still surprisingly soft rear a pinch, making her give a funny squeak as he retreated. "If I'm to domesticate you, I'll have to teach you to take your time," he told her.
She laughed at that, and didn't even complain when he gave her ass a swat for good measure.
Ryukyu was next, her face as red as her armor. She let him take the lead completely, her eyes still closed when he retreated. He was beginning to enjoy this.
Mt. Lady had a smirk on her lips the whole time Nemuri repeated the words for a third time, though he could tell she wasn't happy to. Mt. Lady proceeded to kiss him with plenty of tongue as she stood on her tiptoes, even groaning into his mouth.
He pulled back before Nemuri got the urge to smack them both with her fan.
Uwabami just smiled at him pleasantly, allowing him to kiss her as long as he liked. He did have a small crush on her when his sister first introduced them, so he was only too happy to take advantage.
Finally, his sister stood before him. It was funny to listen to her supposedly officiate her own wedding. Then she closed her eyes and dutifully waited for a kiss.
Nobuto gave her a chaste kiss on the lips, drawing a pout from her.
"This is going to be our best show yet," a peacock whispered in his ear. "We'll be changing the drapes in a few seconds. Say a few words!"
It didn't take him too long to find the right words, motioning with his hands grandly. "From now on, this shall be the Court of Heroes. And a lesson to you all," he said to one of the cameras in the room as the drapes fell away, "for heroes will always prevail!"
