Pariah || BNHA OC

What Villains Deserve

TW: Graphic violence

Dried blood flakes stuck to the edge of his thumbnail. He scraped the rest away until the picture on the warden's ID became clear. How many people had died? Yuta had long since stopped counting the bodies they passed in the prison's corridors. There were so many injured in the infirmary. The death count had to be higher than he imagined.

Stomach acid bubbled in the back of his throat.

"Thought you'd ask me about it by now."

Hand over his mouth, Yuta looked up at Ionic. It was enough of a distraction to fight back the critical thoughts nipping at his mind.

Neither of them spoke after leaving the infirmary. What, that had to be five minutes or so? It was enough time for his attempts to rationalize what he saw to fail, and for him to come to terms that Ionic wouldn't give him a proper explanation. Idiot never did.

"As if you'd give a proper answer." His whole MO so far was seemingly to mess with him at every turn. That likely wouldn't change. Either way, it didn't matter. Whoever that blue-haired woman was, figuring out how or why there were clones of her wouldn't change a thing. They'd just have to beat her down more than once.

The distant gunfire and occasion rumbling resonating through the prison became ignorable background noises after hearing so much of it. Until the ceiling lights started flickering. Once, twice, before staying off, enveloping them both in darkness. Yuta relied on the chatter from Ionic's earpiece to keep track of him in the hallway.

"To answer the question you didn't ask, Alter would only trust a handful of people to break her out. One of them being herself. The woman in the infirmary and any others like her running about are byproducts of her Quirk. Treat them all the same."

An actual answer? No beating around the bush. No tricks. Pretty impressive. Who knew Ionic had it in him.

So they were copies of her? He wasn't too far off with his original guesses. Still didn't explain the amount of Quirks they had, but it was a start.

The dull hum of faltering power echoed from inside the walls. Emergency power by the looks of it. Only half the lights kicked back on. Yuta much preferred to stumble around in the dark. He wouldn't have to hear the voice coming through the intercom,

"Villains. Savages. Monsters. A place like this is fitting for you two." The honeyed voice coming through the speaker didn't fit the woman it belonged to. Last he remembered, Instar tried ramming a syringe through his eye. She was the last person that should be calling them those things. "Still, it'd be a shame to die here."

"Akai?" There was a pause in Ionic's step like he forgot where he was going.

"Working for the HPSC won't redeem you, Yuta. The pretender next to you can attest to that. Don't die for them." The intercom kept cutting in and out, spitting out static from the speaker on the wall. There were other people with Instar. Heard them. Begging. Screaming. Then nothing. "And Kumori, do you want Alter to see the corpse of her beloved once she's free? You've let her down enough already."

Ionic's eyes weren't visible past the glare on his visor. The hero quickened his pace enough to get in front of him. If they stayed side by side, the electricity skipping across his costume would jump to him.

"Turn back while the option remains." The speaker buzzed with the low hum of electrical interference. Then silence.

Yuta should've gotten rid of her back on the highways. Would things be different if he didn't hold back against her or Riven? If he used his Quirk? With Pariah out of the picture, no one would've died. Their deaths wouldn't be his fault.