SSD III: Silver

76. The Eyes That Suffered Worse

I have no excuse for being late other than literally forgetting it was Friday... sorry guys!

It was a lot harder to get into the sewers than they'd hoped, and every second passing had each of them ready to punch through a wall. Eventually, the three were spreading out through the sewers beneath Musutafu, searching for Silver, an earpiece letting each of them stay connected and a torch the only way to light the slick path.

And finally, after what felt like days, Shinsou— Psyche now they were working— found something.

He turned his light off the second he thought he could see something bright ahead of him, instantly on guard and warning the two pros over the earpieces. Chaya told him to approach carefully and that she was on her way to him. So that was what he did, he moved slowly and stayed low and he did not like what he saw.

He pulled the voice modulator around his neck for now and tried to make his voice sound less like a zombie than usual. "Hey, it's ok, my name's Psyche." The metal around her wrists clanked against the pipes she was cuffed to as she tried to shuffle away from him. Both of them winced at the sound and he stopped trying to get closer to her. "I'm a hero, I'm here to help you."

The little girl, stared up at him in equal parts terror and disbelief.

She didn't know how long she'd been kept in that place, but she'd learned early on not to hope, he liked to toy with that hope. There was blood on the scraps she once called her clothes, most of it was hers. Her wrists were red raw but she was used to that pain now. Her stomach growled, her body ached, everything hurt, all she wanted to do was curl up in bed next to her mother and fall asleep holding her hand.

She wanted to go back to that stupid argument she'd been having with her friend right before that disgusting sweet smell invaded every part of her, she wanted to make it so she never stormed off like a toddler throwing a tantrum, that she never left the safety of her friend's side. Sometimes when she closed her eyes, she was back there, shopping for books like any other person, and there was no man breathing in her ear, leaning over her and enjoying every second of her fear.

Instead she was here, and this was a man, no, a boy. This was a boy who looked nothing like the man, who was staying back because stepping closer scared her, who was now sitting down and giving her some weak attempt at a smile and telling her he could save her.

She wanted it to be true. She really, really wanted it to be true.

"I think I might be able to get those cuffs off if you want," he said, purple eyes flicking between hers and the metal trapping her here.

Silver was a good teacher, a great teacher even, but she had a tendency to go 'off syllabus'. She called them survival skills, Kirishima called them unmanly, and Shinsou did his best to pick all of it up because he had no idea what skill he'd one day find himself cursing over forgetting. A crash course in lock-picking had been the first skill they never thought they'd learn. "Is it alright if I come closer?" he checked. He'd taken to incorporating each new skill into his hero self, from those first lessons, he'd chosen to always carry a set of lock picks in his costume.

"You're never fully dressed without a set of lock picks," Silver had said once.

The little girl nodded faintly, shifting so her body was as far from her hands as possible and he slowly moved closer just as Chaya stepped into the weak lantern light. She stopped when the girl fixed her eyes on the woman's form, only primal fear in her bloodshot gaze. Psyche looked to be fine, and he seemed to be handling the situation well enough, the pro didn't have to move, she could stay here and the child didn't have to be afraid of her actions.