#my highest level is 177 at the moment ..... | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

saikostories · 4 years

Text

Nanbaka - The Peculiar Guard pt1

Nanba Prison…

Ever heard of it?

It’s one of the most classified, if not the only, secretive prison in the world. It is the hardest prison that anybody in the world could break out of. It is built on an isolated island, floating on sea.

No one can get in or out of it.

Equipped with the latest technology and guards recruited around the world give it Japan’s largest, and the world’s highest-level, security network. Even the famous Alcatraz Island is full of holes and opportunities to escape when compared to this place.

The full truth of this place will never be revealed to the world. That is because this is Nanba Prison. No one has ever escaped successfully from this prison.

Except one…

The Warden of Nanba Prison is known as Momoko Hyakushiki. She is in charge of it all. The main tower, you could say. And, being a Warden of Nanba Prison, she usually handles large piles of paperwork daily. Those papers vary from inmates, to paychecks, to ministrations in the prison, and guards. At this moment, she was going through papers of guard requests.

There is technically an academy for training to get into the Nanba Prison as a guard, but sometimes the warden herself will gain administrations or requests from people. Going through each paper, one caught her eye.

“Hm…” She picked it up and eyed the paper. ‘I recognize this name…’

Name: Theodora Nicci

Sex: Female

Age: 20

Ethnicity: Italian

Nationality: American

Height: 177 cm (5'10")

Weight: 65 kg (156 lbs)

Blood Type: AB negative

Background:

Has a family of both parents and three younger siblings. Lives in America. Has a criminal record of multiple misdemeanors; vandalism, resisting arrest, petty theft, and Grievous Bodily Harm. She began at age 10, admitting to knowing what she was doing and “simply not caring for the consequences.” She has done her multiple years in different prisons, but has escaped a few because she couldn’t stand their health treatments, or because she got “bad vibes” from them. She was sent to Nanba Prison at age 12, but has been passed through multiple buildings and wardens from her supposed wide “variety” of talents.

Health History:

Has been diagnosed with Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy (HSAN). States that she cannot feel or sense things like the normal human can. She has the inability to sense pain unless it’s severe, like slicing her hand open, all the way through the muscle. Even with this handicap, she she has strong senses of sight, taste, and hearing. She tends to be unaware of injuries on herself, but is usually sharp at catching them.

Request:

“I wish to be apart of the jail guards in Nanba Prison. Finding jobs are hard and sustaining a house, much less an apartment, is practically impossible. From being in Nanba, I have found a way to clean up my act, and have sworn to myself and others to make a new beginning for myself. I know that I can be of service to this prison. If I am given the chance, that is. All I ask for is to be a guard. I am willing to go through the academy if I must. All that I ask for is a chance to prove my worth. ~ T.N

The blue haired warden gazed through the paper again. Placing it down, the woman stood from her desk and began opening files until she found the one she wanted. Once found, she went back to her desk to sit down while reading the inside of the envelope. She compared both files before placing them down. She put her finger against her lip as she thought about this file.

"How strange…” Muttered the Warden.

Knock knock. A knock could be heard from the door. Snapped out of thought, the woman raised her head up and gazed at the door.

“Come in.” She instructed.

Opening the door and peeking their head in was none other than Building 5’s Supervisor, Samon Gokuu. He stepped into the room and greeted the Warden with respect. The last thing he wished to do was anger her, especially so early in the morning…

“Hello, ma'am. I came back here with those papers of the new inmates you wanted.” Said Samon.

“Bring them here, then.” Momoko said with her hand raised out for the papers.

Samon quickly walked to her desk and handed her the papers. She took them carefully and gazed through a few while Samon talked.

“Each new inmate in alphabetical order, just like you asked for, ma'am.” He said. “I made sure that each one was accounted for as well.”

“Good.” Momoko looked away from the papers and to Samon. “May I ask you a question, Samon?”

“O-of course, ma'am!” Samon nervously replied, trying to act calm.

“Tell me what you recall from this past inmate.” Said Momoko as she twisted the file on her desk so it faced Samon. “Inmate No. 7, Theodora Nicci.”

“Ooh, her. I had almost forgotten about her…” Muttered Samon as he glared at the file. “Everyone, including her past prisons, thought she was really a he. She was taller than the average woman and stronger than most men. She got away with being a male for a long time. That is, until she came to Nanba.”

“She became our very first female inmate, correct?” Asked the warden.

“Yes, but nobody but us knew of her true gender.” Samon said before gazing back to the Warden. “She… wasn’t always the calmest person at times… Got into fights pretty easily and lost her temper a lot… but nonetheless, she did a damn good job at keeping who she was hidden. She continuously hopped from building to building until she was finally placed into Building 5. Her ability to watch someone and copy them is unique in itself, but she couldn’t master it completely. If anything she just found her own in making it look professional when in reality she was pulling at straws. But her acting saved herself plenty of times. Trained with me pretty much all the time since it took her mind of things and she thought it was fun. Like to think it was a successful rehabilitation.”

"Is there anything else about her?” Asked the warden. “Did she have any grudges with any of the inmates?”

“Actually, no. Though I can’t say she liked everyone. There were some that annoyed the crap out of her.” Samon answered as he thought carefully. “She actually got along with many people. Once placed in 5, she kept to herself and fights stopped. She respected us guards and in turn earned respect from her fellow inmates. It was pretty weird, how she could make almost anybody her ally by just talking to them.”

"I see…” Muttered the warden as she gazed at the picture in the file.

“If I can ask, why did you ask me about her?” Samon questioned his superior. “She’s been gone for at least 2 or 3 years by now. Don’t tell me she’s being brought back here…”

The warden’s mouth twitched upwards at Samon’s concern. She gazed up at him as a smirk graced her lips.

“Not quite the way you would imagine it…” She replied. She then closed the request paper and handed it to Samon. “Please give this to the Supervisor of Building 4, Kenshirou. Tell him that I ask for this request to be given, and to bring the person here to my office immediately.”

“Uh, alright.” Samon took the file from her hands. “I’ll head over there right away.”

“Thank you. That will be all.” Replied the Warden before turning around in her chair.

Samon eyed her for a moment, wondering if she would ask him anything else. When a response wasn’t given, he turned and walked out of her office. Once he was out, he was very curious about why the sudden mention of one of his past inmates. When the door closed behind him, he took a peek at the request file. As soon as he saw the picture he couldn’t help but exclaim in shock.

“NO WAAAAY!”

***

Theodora Nicci.

The female warden gazed at her desk in deep thought. Ever since the request paper she was given, she couldn’t help but think about the person. Momoko remembered this prisoner well because of the strange occurrences that happened with her.

’…Why would a request come from you of all people…?’

Knock knock.

“Come in.” Instructed the warden as she lifted her head up.

The doors opened to reveal the intruders. The Supervisor of Building 4, Kenshirou Yozukura, was standing there with his hand firmly placed on the person in front of him.

“Excuse the intrusion, ma'am. I retrieved the person you asked for.” Kenshirou said.

Momoko gazed at the person standing in front of Kenshirou. They looked very uncomfortable and never took their eyes off of his hand.

“…Could you… ease up on the grip…?” They asked softly.

“No.” Instantly stated Kenshirou as he gazed down at them harshly.

“Good to know you’re the same as always…” Mumbled the civilian.

The Warden couldn’t help but examine the person she asked be brought in. Standing under Kenshirou’s firm grip on their shoulder was a female. She wasn’t that short compared to him. I’m fact she was almost just as tall. Her skin seemed pale. She wore a white shirt that had the sleeves hang just past her wrists. She wore black skinny jeans that were tucked in to what seemed like black riding boots.

Compared to how she used to look, she seemed a lot more different. If she had to pick her in a crowd, then she would hardly recognise her. Her cheekbones stood out more, as if she had lost weight on her face. Her silver hair was definitely shorter than last time, and more boy-ish too as it stopped just after her ears. Her ocean blue eyes were looking as calm as they always do. She was a lot thinner than before too… yet the way she stood, anybody could tell she was strong. But Momoko frowned when she noticed that her hands were cuffed in front of her, making her look like an inmate. But, with a record like hers, it was to be expected.

“She isn’t an inmate anymore, Kenshirou. The least you can do is release her shoulder.” Momoko said, sharply eyeing the man.

Without argument, he took his hand off of the woman’s shoulder. She seemed to relax as her eyes now gazed at the Warden. Momoko gestured for her to come forwards.

“Please come closer.” Momoko asked her.

With her head slightly down, the woman walked over so she stood in front of Momoko’s desk. Kenshirou, who kept his eye sharp on the woman’s back, eyed her carefully in case she tries something. Momoko held a slight smirk as she recalled the woman’s familiar face.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve seen your face.” Spoke the warden. “You haven’t been causing any problems, have you?”

“I can’t necessarily answer that…” Mumbled the woman.

The warden chuckled slightly, knowing quite well of what the answer is. Her eyes examined her again and stopped at her hands. The skin looked rough and had her white sleeves had traces of dirt. “…Where did all that dirt get on you?”

“Oh, that…” The woman gazed down on the ground, wondering if she was leaving a mess. “I’ve been working on a local farm. Helping with all the heavy duty appliances and all. If it pays, it pays, I guess…”

“I see…” The warden’s eyes stuck to her hands. “Did you get those scars from the farm as well?”

The woman looked down and rolled her sleeves up slowly. Scars littered her skin. She frowned slightly and gazed intently at her hands and arms.

“…Maybe.” She replied with a shrug. “Some of them came from fights, others from mishaps. I probably caused a few of them by accident…”

“I see…” Muttered the warden before looking towards her face. “It’s been awhile since you’ve seen Nanba Prison, correct?”

“Not really…” Replied the woman as she gazed around the office. “I mean, from when I was around, things have definitely changed. I’ve noticed you created a few new centers as well…”

“Nanba Prison is always improving, after all.” Replied the warden.

“When isn’t it?” Said the woman as her eyes came back to the warden.

Momoko’s lip twitched in amusement. “I see your emotionless sarcasm still remains.”

“I…” The woman flinched, probably not expecting to hear that. “…didn’t mean anything behind it, ma'am…”

“I know you didn’t.” Momoko said. She put her arms on her desk before placing her lips against her entwined fingers. “Now, let’s get down to business… You sent in a job request to work here in Nanba Prison. Specifically, to be a guard… Why’s that?”

“Nanba Prison is honestly a lot nicer than the outside.” Replied the woman without hesitation. “The food is nice, making friends isn’t that hard, the place is super clean compared to other prisons, and comparing my pay to here, this place is like a sanctuary. With the jobs I have now, I’m barely making enough to sustain a roof over my head, much less covering for my health insurance and having left over money for food. Nobody in a business industry wants some woman with a criminal record, especially when she has a genetic disorder…”

“Then why do you believe that we would take you in?” Sharply spoke Kenshirou. “You were our prisoner, after all. Why come back?”

“Because…” She turned and looked him in the eye. “This place is full of a variety of strange and unique individuals. Why pass down an opportunity of working in a place full of misfits when you’re a misfit yourself…?”

“Why you…” Kenshirou growled at her before Momoko gave him a sharp glare.

“She means no harm, Kenshirou. There’s no need to be on the offensive.” Said Momoko.

“…Yes, ma'am.” He muttered and stepped back, showing he was backing down.

“Now, why specifically a guard?” Asked Momoko as she looked back to the woman. “Why would you want that instead of an easier and safer job? Like working at the mall or even the theater?”

“Because… I know I can be of use as a guard.” Replied the woman. “As a guard, I can gain the trust of the inmates easier. By doing that, I can gain information other guards usually can’t. Plus, when it comes to stopping fights and taking down runners, I’m one of your best options. Even as an inmate here, I still did all those necessities for you guys, so…”

“You believe you can do it again…?” Finished Momoko.

The woman gave a curt now. Momoko held her gaze for a while, seeing a determined expression in her eyes. It was clear that this woman wants nothing more than to help. Momoko couldn’t help but smirk at her.

“You honestly haven’t changed a bit, huh?” Asked the warden.

The woman gazed to the side, almost in an embarrassed manner. “I… wouldn’t exactly say that.”

“Let me ask you this, Theodora.” Momoko spoke sternly, grabbing the woman’s attention. “From your time here in Nanba Prison we had to specifically be careful of your identity of being a woman. Even though no one but us faculty found out about your gender, I can’t accept you. You are a female after all, and with a criminal record. Yes, you have helped in multiple cases with befriending the inmates and handing us the intel, and you have stopped multiple fights, but I still can’t accept you…”

The woman tilted her head down, gazing at the ground. A mix of emotions flooded her eyes as her face still remained calm.

“But…”

Hearing Momoko drag out the word, the woman picked her head up and gazed at the warden in curiousity.

“…The only thing stopping you is your gender.” Said the guard as her lip twitched upwards. “But, you know how to manage with that well.”

“So, does that mean…?” The woman’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You can’t be serious…?!” Exclaimed Kenshirou.

“You can be a guard of Nanba Prison, as long as you remain male.” Stated Momoko as she smirked. “…Of course, with you being a former inmate, you have your own restrictions as well. You aren’t an inmate here, but you aren’t exactly a free citizen guarding the place. Do you understand where I’m getting at…?”

“Yes, ma'am…!” Nodded Theodora.

Momoko kept her smirk as her eyes narrowed at her. “Welcome back to Nanba Prison, No. 7. I hope you get along with everyone…”

***

“To think you of all people would come back…”

“And as a guard, too…”

“You look so different!”

“I hardly recognised you…”

“This is gonna be good!”

The Supervisors of all buildings were talking with each other in the meeting room, gazing at the person before them. They couldn’t help but feel uneasy with the Warden’s sudden decision. But nobody would question her decision, especially when she was sitting right before them.

Standing before multiple supervisors was Theodora. She had cleaned herself up and put on the given uniform of the Nanba Guards. She didn’t have to do much. Since working on the farm, she had built up enough muscle, yet she was as skinny as a rake. Her robust chest from three years ago had gone and instead had just a much smaller chest. Once every button was in place, she then placed the black officer hat over her hair, securing it carefully on her head. Since her hair was so short, she didn’t need to hide it. Gazing in the mirror, she looked anything but female.

She looked like an ordinary, American man.

“Whoa, she changed so quickly too, I’m impressed.”

“Wait, that’s a 'she’?!”

“Weren’t you listening?”

“My, my~” Sang the Supervisor of Building 3, Kiji Mitsuba. “I’m impressed. She didn’t even have to use cosmetics to look manly. But, she still has that girlish look to her. But, she does make for a handsome fellow!”

“Hi, Kiji.” Greeted the girl in a casual but monotone manner.

“That’s Mitsuba to you.” He quickly said, his eye twitching slightly.

“Oh, right…” She mumbled to herself in thought. “A lot of you guys are Japanese, and this prison is Japanese themed, so I have to use everyone’s last name from now on… Very different from America…”

“Ah, who cares about that.” Samon spoke up, waving his hand as if to shoo the thought away. “He knows all the guard routines anyways, so he’s not exactly a newbie at this.”

“But, isn’t polite to respect someone’s wishes?” Theodora turned to him and asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Eh… I forgot about that polite side of you…” Samon muttered, recalling his past encounters with her. “Just, don’t do everything someone asks you to do, alright? You’re not an inmate anymore, you’re a guard. Remember that.”

“Okay…” She nodded to him in understanding.

“You’re never going to fool anyone if you keep talking like that.” Kenshirou intervene, grabbing their attention. “If you speak so softly and in that high of a pitch then you might as well be saying goodbye to your job.”

“Always so strict…” Murmured Theodora as she deepened her voice slightly. She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t underestimate my acting abilities, Kenshirou. I was able to fool your eyes and ears, or have you forgotten…?”

“That’s Yozakura to you,” growled the man.

“Sorry…” She instantly mumbled, dropping her act and apologizing.

“Don’t apologize!” Samon exclaimed at her. “You don’t always have to apologize for something you did, Nicci! Don’t let everyone step on you so much!”

“Okay…” She mumbled and nodded to him.

Samon could only sigh and put his hand on his forehead. 'She really hasn’t changed…’

“That’s right,” Mumbled Kiji as he looked at Samon. “After her multiple Cell Hopping from building to building, she was originally placed under your building, correct? So you know her better than any of us here.”

“Yeah, so where are you getting at here?” Samon asked.

“She, or shall I say 'he’, is a new guards after all.” Kiji smiled at him. “He should be placed under your care, shouldn’t he?”

“No.” Quickly spoke the Warden.

Everyone stiffened and looked towards her. She was so quiet the entire time they accidentally forgotten she was still in the room. Silenced, Momoko spoke up again.

“These are the guidelines you will be instructed under, Theodora.” Momoko said sternly. “Because of your past record, you will not be authorized into certain places. You will stay in one building unless given permission from your building Supervisor, understood?”

Theodora nodded.

“This is the male ward, so you have to be careful.” Momoko instructed her. “I could send you to the Nanba Female Prison, but from your past complaints, you just wouldn’t 'fit in’, correct?”

Theodora nodded again.

“We can’t have you get caught…” Muttered Momoko. “If somehow an inmate does find out, then we might just have to let you go. You know very well of how dangerous this prison is. Once a month, you will report to my office and give me a report on how you’re doing. And don’t make up any lies. I’ll be talking with your Supervisor as well for a behavior check. Step out of line in any way and I won’t hesitate taking your job away and kicking you right back into those cells. Your pay will be just like anybody else’s, but I will be giving it to you by hand.”

“My, my! That’s a lot of guidelines for a newbie!” Exclaimed the prison’s broadcaster, Mitsuru Hitokoe. He frantically patted her shoulder. “Shouldn’t you be a little bit easier on 'im? He just got here, after all! Plus, look at this face!” He grabbed Theodora’s head and began smushing her cheeks. “Ain’t she adorable, whether it be boy or girl!?”

“Hey, stop messing with that handsome face of his!” Kiji yelled and kicked Mitsuru away from the girl, only to hug her in a protective manner. “You might just ruin his adorable face with your disgusting hands!”

Theodora whined softly, not enjoying the tight space in Kiji’s arms. She may not feel many things, but she definitely didn’t enjoy the sensation of being restricted. Momoko slammed her hand on the table, silencing everyone quickly. She eyed Kiji, signalling him to step away from Theodora. Frightened, he complied and stepped a good few feet away from her.

“She isn’t someone we can just shrug and take for granted.” Momoko said sternly. “There’s a reason for why she was directly placed into Building 5, or have you all forgotten that? She may have stopped her criminal doings, but she still has that record. She is to be watched, not adored like a doll. Theodora will work as a guard, but only with this restraint on…”

Momoko lifted something from under the table. She firmly placed the box on top of it, looking straight at Theodora. She then pushed the box, causing it to slide across the table top, right towards the girl. She grabbed it as soon as it came to her, not wanting for it to fall off. She opened the box and picked the item up, trying to understand what it was.

“Is that one of those weird ninja movie masks…?” Samon questioned.

“It’s a human muzzle.” Momoko answered, surprising the group. “This mask is a sort of… restriction. It will hide your lower face well, concealing you feminine features. Not only that, but it will react if you try to yank it off. The parts that wrap around your ears will dig themselves through your ears if you try pulling it off. If you try punching, scratching, or ripping of the mask without properly taking it off, it will cause you harm.”

“Isn’t that a bit brutal?!” Asked Mitsuru.

“She can handle it.” Momoko said. “If not, then she can just give up her job…”

“You purposely planned this, huh…?” Theodora questioned her, gazing up from the mask. “You want to make sure I’ll be taking my job seriously, right? So you loaded a bunch of guidelines and gave me multiple restrictions to see if I can really handle this job…”

“Perceptive as always…” Momoko smirked.

“But wouldn’t that be dangerous?” Questioned Kiji. “What if a prisoner were to act out and punch her mask? It would cause her double the pain. Is it truly necessary?”

“I-I’ve got to agree on this!” Samon spoke up himself. “I understand where you’re coming from, ma'am, but isn’t that a bit too cruel for him?”

“It’s alright…” Muttered Theodora. She placed the mask on and wrapped the hooks around her ears, hearing a clicking sound to signal it’s in place. She lifted her head up towards the Warden.

Being muffled, she still spoke clearly through the mask.“…What else is there?”

Everyone couldn’t help but stare at her. She was very much serious about this job. Samon couldn’t help but sigh again and rub his head. Just her being there was giving him a headache…

“Is there anything we should know about that isn’t on your record?” Asked the Warden.

“…I don’t believe so.” Theodora answered, putting to where her lips are and tilted her head. “Besides the HSAN, I’m just a normal human being…”

“Bullcrap!” Samon instantly shouted, clearly surprising Theodora as her eyes widen. “Don’t tell me you lost that ability because I know you didn’t! You’re still freakishly strong, aren’t you?! No wonder you worked the heavy lifting on that farm you were working at before!”

“Oh, yeah… that…” Muttered Theodora as she had a deadpan expression. “I thought that would be in the files, though…”

“Do you know how hard it is to write down your freakish strength on paper?!” Samon stomped his foot on the ground. “Don’t even get me started on how you almost destroyed one of your buildings because of two inmates fighting!”

“I thought we agreed to never mention that again.” Theodora said quickly, sweat beginning to form on her neck.

“Like hell I wouldn’t!” Samon said, pointing his finger at her. “I know you better than anybody here, so if I get any complaints from the Supervisors then I’m going to have to punish you myself, got it?!”

She gave him a harsh look, annoyed that he was now pressuring her as well. Samon wasn’t affected by it since he knew she was just annoyed. The warden gave out a sigh, causing everyone to look at her.

“You can’t go by your full name.” Momoko stated, getting everyone back on track. “For now on, you’re Theo Nicci. You will remain under this Supervisor unless I say so. Please get along with them him…”

The room became silent. Everyone kept shifting glances, wondering who will get the extra work of a new guard. Theodora just remained stoic, wondering who she will be put with. 'I hope it’s Samon… Over half of them hate me, and the others just want me for looks and what I’m capable of… Only Samon really knows me…’

“Your Supervisor is… Hajime Sugoroku.”

“Huh…?”

Everyone’s head turned towards the man named Hajime Sugoroku. Theodora knew who he was since Samon always ranted and raved about him before. She recalled seeing him in action before. It actually made her nervous. She tried to conceal her shock as she gazed at the older man. He looked at the Warden in surprise.

“Wait, why me?” He asked her.

“Because, Theo has a thing for troublemakers…” Replied the Warden. “I’m sure he’ll be of great use for you. It’s only been two years. I have faith that you can handle him on your own.”

Hajime could only shift his attention onto Theodora as she stood there. She held his gaze, neither backing down for a solid minute. Theodora backed down, gazing at the table, and shifting the hat’s visor to hopefully hide her eyes. Hajime could only sigh.

This was going to be rather troubling…

***

How annoying…’

Hajime Sugoroku, Superviser of Building 13, could only sigh in annoyance. He glanced at the woman, now man, standing beside him. They were on the Nanba Loop Line, trying to get back to building 13. After being dismissed by the Warden, Theodora, or Theo, had been following him like a shadow. It honestly creeped him out from how silent he was. He really was a shadow…

'The guy doesn’t talk at all… You would think she would at least say something, or ask a question…’

It took an hour before getting off of the transportation. The walked through the building, passing a few cells, and traveling through the long hallways. Theodora kept gazing around, amazed with how much the place had actually changed.

“…Got any questions?” Hajime asked her.

“…Not really.” She said. “But… Do you know anything else about this muzzle? The Warden said no harm will come to me if this thing isn’t harmed…”

“Well, you won’t be able to take it off yourself.” Hajime said. “The thing’s thumb printed, so only your Superiors can take them off. That would be me…”

“Wow, I’m impressed.” She said and gently touched the mask. “This place is always advancing… It’s actually startling…”

“I know I’m not supposed to, but…” Hajime looked over his shoulder and at her. “When night time comes, and when you leave the island, I’ll take that mask off of you. It’s bad enough they’re pressuring you because of your past record, but that mask? I can’t have my newbie unable to fight simply because of pain.”

Theodora smiled at him, not like he could see, but she was pleased. “Thank you. But, don’t worry. Pain will be the last thing to stop me from fighting…”

“Uh, right, that HS… whatever you have.” Muttered Hajime. “What exactly does that do? Do you need prescriptions and stuff?”

“No, not really.” She replied. “HSAN prevents me from feeling things. I can’t tell the difference from hot or cold unless it’s extreme. Pain is a thing I can hardly feel. In order for me to actually feel pain, I would would either have to be punched so hard my organs are crushed, or I would have to be stabbed.”

“That bad, eh?…” Hajime looked at her in surprise.

“Yeah, but, it’s not totally bad.” She shrugged casually. “If I could feel pain, I wouldn’t quite be able to have the abilities I have now… My hearing’s sharp, as well as my eyes, and I can taste poison if somebody tries anything. It’s neat…”

“What about smell?” Hajime asked.

“Actually, my sense of smell is quite terrible…” Theodora admitted. “I believe it’s because of my condition…”

“But yet you can taste and hear?” Hajime raised a brow at her.

“Well… My sense of taste is good, but not extremely great.” The woman tried explaining. “I’ve trained myself to recognize poison when I eat it. But, it’s still tough compared to other people. My hearing… It’s very possible that I may lose my hearing because of HSAN. So, I’ve trained myself so it’s sharp, so that hopefully it won’t completely disappear on me… That’s just how it works…”

“That is pretty bad.” Hajime nodded to her in sympathy. “…Will it affect your ability to run and fight if you must?”

“Not at all.” She said, her voice becoming light as if enjoyed. “Fighting is all that I’m good for. I remember being in one of these cells… Some guys tried escaping but I broke my door down and stopped them. I remembered you got angry with me and hit me, heh. You guys didn’t know about my identity then.”

“Yeah, I remember that…” Hajime sighed deeply. “You gave me a heart attack…”

“Sorry.” She said, her eyes showing amusement.

They kept advancing through the building. Once they got to the headquarters, or faculty office, Hajime opened the door and entered. Alloisia followed him, gazing around the room carefully. But her eyes stopped and landed on a blue haired boy that was sitting at a desk. He turned and greeted them with a smile.

“Oh, hello Supervisor! Was the meeting well?” He asked in a childish way.

“I guess you could say that…” Grumbled Hajime. He then jutted his finger at Theodora. “This is a new guard that’ll be working with us in the building. But they’re on heavy restrictions, so don’t allow them to access high status papers and files.”

“Oh, okay…” Muttered the boy as his smile fell. He stood up and put he hand out to her. “I’m Seitarou Tanabata. Nice to meet you.”

“Uh, you too.” Theodora said, her voice sounding very boyish, and shook his hand carefully. “Theo Nicci.

"Just let me know if you have any questions.” Seitarou said and smiled again. “I hope we get along.”

“…Yeah.” Theo nodded to him since she couldn’t show a smile.

They released hands and Seitarou turned to get back to work. Hajime had already taken a seat at his desk and began to light himself a cigarette. He puffed out a bit of smoke before pointing to a very unoccupied desk.

“This’ll be your desk.” He told her. “Take a seat and begin going through those stacks of paper. Divide them into three piles. One for guards, another for inmates, and the last one for garbage. You can do that much, right?”

“Understood.” Theo nodded his head.

He walked over and took a seat. He grabbed a packet of clipped paper, his eyes skimming and scanning the pages. As he did that, Seitarou couldn’t help but eye him. There was just something… unsettling about the newbie. He figured it was the mask, but it didn’t help him calm down. Seitarou went over to Hajime and decided to ask a few questions about the new guy.

“Excuse me, sir, but…” Seitarou grabbed his attention, trying not to grab the guy’s attention. “What’s with that mask on Theo’s face? It’s kind of… scary looking.”

“What? It’s just a black mask.” Hajime said, looking at Theo.

“Yeah, but… isn’t it a bit strange?” Seitarou asked.

“It was given to him by the warden.” Hajime stated. “That mask restricts him from doing things he’s not supposed to. He has a criminal record, but was allowed to become a guard anyways. He can’t take that mask off. If he even tries, the mask will activate and harm him. Only the Supervisors of Nanba can take it off.”

“S-seriously?!” Exclaimed Seitarou. “I-is he s-safe…?!”

“Of course he is.” Hajime said calmly. “He willingly asked for the job and proved himself to the Warden. He’s got a lot of pressure on him because of his criminal record, but he can be relied on.”

“O-oh… I see…” Seitarou relaxed.

Suddenly, a small beeping could be heard. Theo turned around, confused to what the noise was. Seitarou walked to his desk and picked up his phone and stopped the beeping.

“Sorry about that,” he apologized to them. “Looks like I have to do my rounds.”

“Actually…” Hajime placed his pencil down. “Seitarou, wait. Take Theo with you. Show him around the place and warn him about a few of the inmates. He needs to see the rest of the building, after all.”

“A-are you sure, sir?” Seitarou asked, nervous about being alone with a criminal.

“Yes I’m sure.” Hajime stated bluntly before looking at Theo, who was staring at him. “Theo, follow Seitarou around. You need to be shown around the place.”

“Alright…” Mumbled Theo as he stood from his seat.

“J-j-j-just f-f-follow me…!” Stuttered Seitarou as he stiffly walked out of the office.

'Is he okay…?’ Wondered Theodora.

Either way, he followed behind Seitarou. As he followed him through the building, he noticed how nervous and jumpy Seitarou was. He was literally shaking as he walked. Theo wondered if her was okay, concerned if he should call for Hajime. He easily caught up with Seitarou and placed his hand on his shoulder. Seitarou yelped and jumped away from him, clearly startles, as he was still shaking in his place. Theo was surprised by this and was confused for his fearful expression. Isn’t he a police officer?…

“U-uh, you okay, Seitarou…?” Theo asked him.

“U-u-um, y-y-yeah, I-I-I’m f-f-fine…!” Seitarou stuttered.

'He’s anything from fine.’ Theo deducted. He sighed softly at him. “Calm down. I don’t know why you’re so jumpy, but you should take a breather. None of the inmates are going to respect you if you show them fear. You should calm down before we continue on.’”

“N-no, that’s okay…” Seitarou said as he appeared to relax.

“Do some of the inmates make you nervous?” Theo asked.

“W-well, sorta, but that’s normal for me…” Seitarou admitted, not gazing at his eyes.

“Then why are you so nervous?” Theo asked with a raised brow.

“I-it’s just…” Seitarou fidgeting with his hands, not locking eyes with the new guard. “Y-you make me nervous… having a criminal record and all…”

Theo sighed softly. 'I knew it…’ Pushing away the sad little feeling in his chest, he lifted his hand up and gently patted Seitarous shoulder in a slow manner. Seitarou hesitantly looked up at him in confusion of the gesture.

“Don’t worry, I’m on your side.” Theo said softly as his eyes seemed to smile. “I’ve done my time and I’ve corrected the error of my ways. You might not trust me, and I understand why, but… please trust me enough to have your back. My goal is to be a guard, not an enemy. Please believe that…”

Seitarou stared at him for a moment. He smiled again and nodded. “Alright. I apologize if I caused any offense to you.”

“Not at all.” Theo lifted his hand and waved, as if to shoo the thought away. “I understand where you’re coming from…”

“Now, let’s go back to looking around the prison.” Seitarou said. “There’s still a lot for you to learn here. Just ask me if you have any questions, okay?”

Theo nodded to him.

Seitarou continued to lead the way around. Theo stayed behind him, just like he did with Hajime, and basically followed him like a shadow. His eyes kept looking at the cells, sometimes seeing the inmates. It made him recall his time here in Building 13 when he was a prisoner. 'It’s changed, but at the same time it hasn't…’

A loud sound of banged metal snapped Theo out of his thoughts. He also heard Seitarou yelp right after. Theo looked at him, startled from his scream, confused to why he screamed. He looked to his right to see four inmates at the bars, making scary faces, hissing and glaring at him. Already understanding the situation, Theo narrowed his eyes at the group.

“P-please… stay back…!” Seitarou said, his voice soft and full of fear.

The four inmates dropped their scary expressions and began snickering like a bunch of school girls. Theo crossed his arms, wondering why they had bones to pick with Seitarou.

“ 'Please… stay back!’ Haha!” Mocked one of the inmates.

“Five bucks he peed his pants!” Betted another.

“Layoff, would ya?” Theo spoke up, glaring at the bunch.

“Y-yeah!” Seitarou said as he tried to collect his confidence. “I don’t have to take this!”

In a blink of an eye, the tallest inmate hit the bars and began yelling at Seitarou in an attempt to scare him. Needless to say, the poor guard fell backwards in fear. Theo could only sigh, wondering how on earth he became a guard.

“Knock it off!” Theo turned his head and yelled at the four, his voice being loud and deep, despite his mask.

“Who the hell’re you?” Asked on of them, specifically the one with blond and pink hair.

“I’m on of the new guards here. Mind giving me your names?” Theo asked, eyeing each of them carefully.

“A newbie, eh?” Said the same inmate while smirking. “How about we play a round of poker and we can tell ya all you wanna kn—”

“No thanks.” Theo instantly shot down without hesitation.

“You didn’t even let me finish my sentence!” Yelled the inmate.

“I’ll just ask Hajime for you files when I get back to the room.” Theo said and gazed up at the plate above the cell door. “Cell 13, eh? I’ll make sure that it’s memorized…”

“What’re you even doing following that wimp?” Asked an inmate with black hair, pointing at Seitarou.

“You insult him one more time and I won’t hesitate to shut your mouth.” Theo threatened, not at all liking their attitudes.

“I-it’s fine, really!” Seitarou jumped his his feet and began to frantically wave his arms in front of Theo to distract him. “L-look, let’s just ignore them and continue on, okay? There’s still a lot for you to see…”

Theogazed over his head and locked eyes with each inmate. He gave them one last glare before asking Seitarou to lead the way. The blue haired male turned and briskly began walking in a very stiff manner. Theo, dropping his glare and watching Seitarou, could only sigh at his figure. He could only stuff his hands into his pockets and begin following him while in thought. 'He’s a complete scaredy cat… I wonder how long he’ll last in this Prison…’

“You need some confidence.” Theo stated as they were in a different hall than before.

“I know…” Seitarou muttered. “I can’t help it, though. Those four are the most troublesome inmates we have here in the building…”

“Why’s that…?” Theo asked, raising a brow at him.

“They try escaping whenever they can.” Explained the guard. “The big guy is No. 69, the short one is No. 25, the guy with the hat is No. 11, and then there’s No. 15. Each of those guys are known for escaping their cells and past prisons. It’s the very reason for why each of them are here. They’re nothing but trouble…”

“Each of them are known for escaping, huh…?” Mumbled Theo before speaking towards Seitarou. “So, have they tried escaping from their cells?”

“Plenty of times.” Admitted Seitarou. “They escape and try escaping the building constantly. But they’ve never been able to get past Supervisor Sugoroku. We never tell the Warden, though. If we did it would be our paychecks on the line if we did that. So, it’s best if you don’t either. Our Supervisor might punish you for it.”

'Sounds like Hajime…’ Sighed Theo. 'This might be bad… The warden threatened to strip me of my job if I lied to her. But, since Hajime will be asked the same, he would be lying as well. But still…’

“I’m sure you’ll do fine here.” Seitarou said, catching Theo off guard. “You seem to know what you’re doing. Sugoroku has a lot of confidence in you, so I believe I should as well. You faced against those four when they were mocking me, so I know you will do fine. Like you said, you just need confidence…”

Theo felt his eyes soften, feeling rather sympathetic towards Seitarou. He reached his hand out and gently wrapped his arm around his shoulders to hopefully cheer him up.

“Yeah, well…” Muttered Theo. “You’re still pretty cool, Seitarou. You’re technically my superior, and you’ve been around longer than me. Yet, even though you’re scared, you still stay and do your job. That’s an impressive right in itself. Don’t let those guys get to your head, alright? They’ve got nothing that you have. Just believe in yourself sometimes, alright…?”

“…Yeah, thanks.” Seitarou smiled up at him.

Theo smiled, not like he could see, but laughed lightly to hopefully cheer Seitarou up. They continued down the hall as the mood seemed to lift. 'All you need is to believe…’ Theo thought to himself while frowning. His fist tightened without Seitarou knowing. 'Believe… Yeah, right…’

***

Poke. Poke.

Poke. Poke. Poke.

'Huh…?’

Theo, who has been peacefully asleep, woke up to his forehead being poked. He opened his eyes to see Seitarou squatting down before him since Theo was sleeping on the couch. Theo grunted softly and sat up, now realizing that he passed out without taking any of his clothes off.

He placed his hands on his face to rub his eyes. But he noticed the absence of a certain object. He touched his lower face, only to realize the mask was gone. He doesn’t remember taking it off, so he wondered if Hajime did it when he was asleep?

“Hey, did you stay here all night?” Seitarou asked.

“I… guess I did. Sorry.” Apologized Theo. He glanced around the room. “Where’s uh… Hajime?”

“He called in sick.” Seitarou said.

“Sick?” Theo questioned in surprise. 'I hope he doesn’t have the mask… The Warden might screw me over if I’m seen without it…’

Looking back and forth, he spotted it right on the table in front of him. He grabbed the mask as Seitarou walked away and towards his desk. Carefully placing the strange yet cool material against his mouth, he carefully wrapped the hooks behind his ears, stopping when he heard the loud click. He sighed softly before look to Seitarou.

“So, if Hajime isn’t here, who’s taking his place?” Theo asked.

“Oh, that would be Yamato.” Answered Seitarou. “Do you know him?”

“Yamato…?” Theo questioned as he thought. “That… sorta sounds familiar…”

Suddenly the door was kicked open, startling both men. They looked towards the door to see a very tall man in it’s place. He stepped right into the room and began laughing. Both younger men sweatdropped at the very sight of the guard.

“Ha ha ha ha! My apologizes!” Bellowed the man in a friendly tone. “I tend to forget how strong I am once in awhile!”

“W-who…?” Theo could only stare at the man in shock.

“Yamato, this is our newest recruit, Theo.” Seitarou said and then looked at him. “Theo, this is Yamato. He’s our superior, and is temporarily replacing Hajime for today.”

“Greetings! It is a pleasure to meet you!” Exclaimed Yamoto and jutted his hand out to him, grinning widely.

“U-uh, yeah, you too…�� Mumbled Theo.

He grabbed his hand, a bit overwhelmed by his enthusiastic energy so early in the morning. Yamoto roughly shook his hand up and down, causing Seitarou to fear he might rip Theo’s arm off.

“I’m glad we have a new pair of hands on deck!” Yamato exclaimed before finally releasing his hand. “Could you do me a favor?”

“U-uh, sure…” Theo muttered, staring at his hand. 'My hand feels weird…’

“Could you go around the first section of cells and wake everyone up, please? It is almost time for breakfast!” Yamoto exclaimed.

“…Okay.” Theo nodded.

“Here!” Yamoto grabbed a clipboard and jutted it out to him. “These are the names and cell numbers of each inmate! Please make sure they’re all accounted for!”

Theo nodded again, carefully taking the clipboard. 'I guess I have no choice now…’

Just as he heard Yamoto say something else towards Seitarou, Theo quickly escaped the office and stepped outside. He looked at the clipboard and sighed, feeling his breath bounce back at him thanks to the close contact of the mask.

Doing as Yamoto asked, Theo walked to each cell and made rollcall to each inmate. He made sure each one was accountable for before moving to the next cell. Most of the inmates didn’t seem to care about him, but a few cursed at him. Theo wondered if they were doing it because they knew Hajime wasn’t here. Not being affected by their crude language, he continued on. When he soon got to Cell 13, he couldn’t help but eye it carefully.

'These are the jerks who mocked Seitarou…’ He recalled as his eyes narrowed. 'I’m sure they won’t hesitate to try and irritate me. I have to remain calm, no matter what…’

Taking in a deep breath, he stepped towards the cell. Using his outer fist, he banged against the door to grab the inmate’s attention and, hopefully, wake a few stragglers.

“Rise and shine, boys.” Theo called through the bars. “Roll call time!”

He heard a few groans, but continued on.

“No. 69!” He called.

“Here…” Groaned the big guy with the mohawk.

“No. 25!”

“Hehehe…” Giggled the smallest one, who still appeared to be sleeping.

“Please wake him up. It is close to breakfast after all. No. 11!”

“I’m here!” Yawned the guy with a gigantic braid. “No need for shouting…!”

“No. 15!”

No response came. Theo raised his brow in alarm.

“No. 15!” He called again, this time using more aggression.

A soft groan came from inside as his head popped up into Theo’s sights. “Too loud… What’s your deal Haji—”

The inmate’s eyes shot open when he realized what guard was waking them up. The others, seeming to now realize this themselves, all gazed at her wearing the same expression of shock. Only No.15 snapped out of it quickly.

“Well well, looks like the newbie’s back.” He said and crossed his arms. “Is Hajime sending you out to do his dirty work?”

“First off, as a 'newbie’, it is required of me to do morning roll call every now and then.” Theo stated and he switched the papers. “Second off, Hajime is absent today. He’s sick.”

“Seriously…?” No.15 groaned and flopped back into bed.

“Aw, man. It’s no fun when Hajime’s not around…” Muttered No.11.

“Oh, don’t worry.” Theo said as he turned to the next cell. “We got a guy filling in for Hajime who’d be happy to pummel you guys if you do anything naughty.”

“And who might that be?” Asked No.69 who seemed to almost sneer at him.

“His name is Yamoto, or something…” Muttered Theo while simultaneously reading the paper in his hand. “He’s basically my higher up, but is ranked under Hajime. He’s in charge for today.”

“Oh god, not him!” Groaned No.11. “I swear if he makes us do morning training again I swear I will beat him myself! My arms can’t take his hardcore training!”

“…Training…?” Theo questioned, gazing at No.11.

“Yeah, he’s really serious when it comes to training.” Spoke No.25, who now looked awake.

“He makes us do one thousand push ups, then one thousand sit ups, and then he makes us run around the track until we hit one thousand km…” Grumbled No.69

Theo stiffened in shock as chills went up his spine. 'I recall him now… No wonder he was so familiar…’

“It’s terrible, am I right?!” Exclaimed No.11 who noticed Theo’s expression.

“Yeah… It sounds it…” Theo agreed, secretly knowing first hand of his harsh training. 'That man made me do fifty times the amount that he regularly does because he figured out my ability… Needless to say, he made me experience a new type of pain…’

“So, you gonna tell us your name or what?” Suddenly asked No.15.

“Huh…?” Theo looked at him in confusion since he snapped him out of thought.

“You said you were going to go into our files and figure out our names, right?” No.15 spoke again, looking almost annoyed. “You figure out our names. Mind giving us yours?”

Theo’s lips pressed together in a flatline. As he thought about answering, he sighed softly and got himself to relax.

“Theodore Nicci. But, you can call me Theo if you want…” Theo said, holding their gaze.

“Knee-sea?” No.15 tried pronouncing his lastname. “The hell is that from?”

“It’s Italian…” Theo stated.

“Sounds like a type of bread…” Muttered No.69.

“…Heh.” Theo smiled lightly in amusement. “Yeah. I actually get that a lot…”

“Wait, you’re Italian?” Exclaimed No.25 as he came up to the bars, grinning. “That’s pretty cool! I didn’t know the name Theo was Italian!”

“It’s not, actually.” Theo corrected him in clear amusement. “Theo is more or less an early British or Celtic name. But, Nicci is totally Italian. I’m actually American like my father while my mother is Italian.”

“Now that’s a pair of genetics!” Exclaimed No.11.

“Tell me about it,” Theo said and laughed lightly. “I basically know every Italian curse word thanks to them. Holidays are great. A gigantic Italian dinner while we drink until we’ve emptied the bars. But, that is until you start a bar fight. So many angry Irish guys, ugh…”

“That sounds awesome!” Exclaimed No.69.

“Sometimes it is…” Theo shrugged. “It humorous, actually. My dad gets drunk every holiday, and he’s gotten drunk so much, that all of the local police stations know his name to heart. Not the greatest way to get the Police to know your family, but it’s pretty hilarious sometimes.”

“So your dad’s a bit of a criminal while his son’s a cop?” No.11 questioned before letting out a laugh. “Now that’s hilarious!”

Theo nodded his head as he thought about it. “Not only that, but he was a cop himself, so it’s double the hilarity.”

“Seriously?” Asked No.15. “That's… pretty ironic.”

“Yeah, my siblings get a good kick out of it.” Theo smiled as he thought about his family. “We’re not the greatest family in the world, and we’re pretty big nutjobs, but we make it through just fine…” Theo then put on a poker face and hit his clipboard lightly. “Now, that’s enough talk about myself. I need to finish up rollcall. You four wait here and we’ll get out when breakfast is ready.”

“Okay!” Happily exclaimed No.25.

Theo turned and went to the next cells. He smirked to himself as he walked. 'Even though they aren’t exactly fond of me, I at least got them to enjoy a bit of my story. Slowly I’ll gain every ounce of their trust. Until then… I have to do my job.’

***

“Wow, he’s really making them go at it.”

“Yeah, he is…”

Theo shivered at the sight of Yamoto forcing the inmates to do an extraneous amount of exercising that’s practically inhuman. Seitarou and Theo was outside in the training area with them since they had to keep an eye on the other inmates. From what Theo understood, the four from cell 13 tried to escape but Yamoto caught them since he was literally in front of the door.

'At least it explains the bumps on their heads…’ Theo though as he watched them.

“Hey, Theo, are you okay?” Seitarou asked him. “Your face looks pretty pale, are you alright?”

“U-uh, yeah…” Theo nodded before glancing back at Yamoto. “Yamoto’s training looks pretty terrible… I wouldn’t want to be victim to that…”

“Yeah, I can agree with you there…” Seitarou nodded as he looked at the inmates. “But, those four deserve it for being naughty like usual. They should just stay in their cells…”

“Hm…” Theo was now staring at Seitarou. “Have you guys figured out how those guys continuously keep escaping?”

“Well, we know who, but we’re not quite sure how.” Admitted Seitarou. “No.15 has the ability to unlock any sort of lock possible. Shackles, chains—he can unlock them all. It’s impressive if he only used it other than breaking out…”

“Really…?” Asked Theo in surprised. “That’s impressive… I want to see hat for myself, but maybe another time. I’ve read his file and all, but I had no idea that could be a talent of all things…”

“Yeah, it really surprised us the day he first tried to escape.” Seitarou said. “Ever since then we’ve never really had a break with their jail escapes…”

“Have they ever tried releasing other inmates?” Theo asked him.

“No, never.” Seitarou shook his head. “But, they do sometimes escape into other cells to play with them or just be social. Supervisor Sugoroku always gets angry whenever they get out of their cells without permission…”

'Yeah, I figured as much…’ Thought Theo. “…Guess we should be more alert for today with them. But, with Yamoto’s exercises, I doubt they’ll have enough energy left to even try and run…”

“True.” Seitarou nodded in agreement.

'Those guys are real troublemakers, huh? What else is there to expect when it comes to Building 13…’

***

“Ow ow ow ow ow…!”

“My everything hurts…”

“Yamoto’s so cruel…!”

'I can literally empathize with them even with my HSAN…’

As soon as lunch came around Yamoto ended their exercising. Now it was Theo’s job to get these four to the cafeteria without any trouble. And through the entire time, they did nothing but complain. But Theo wasn’t annoyed, though. He honestly knew where they were coming from, and even he complained when he spent his time here.

“Yo, Theo,” called the familiar voice of No.11.

“Huh…?” He looked over his shoulder to him.

“Have you ever done training that extraneous before…?” The long haired male asked.

“Oh yeah, totally…” Theo nodded and paled, sweat dropping as he recalled the memory. “Yamoto is a very brutal, brutal man…”

“Wait, how would you know that?” Asked No.15. “You’ve only been here for a day, right? You make it sound like you been through it before.”

“That’s because I have.” Theo stated bluntly. 'The Warden said that they couldn’t know I was a woman. Never said anything about being a criminal…’

“Really? When did you do that?” Asked No.25.

“Well…” Theo looked over his shoulder as his eyes shined in mischief. “Let’s just say I’m not your average jail guard…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” No.15 asked, looking unimpressed by him.

“It means…” Theo looked in front of him. “I was a prisoner of Nanba Prison myself.”

“SAY WHAT?!” All of them exclaimed.

“Ha ha, funny joke, dude.” No.15 said, clearly doubting Theo’s claim.

“Yeah, that’s hilarious!” No.11 began laughing a fake laugh. “I mean, having their own prisoner become a guard? Isn’t that illegal, hehe…?”

“Why do you think this thing’s on me?” Theo turned his head towards them, gesturing to his mask. “This isn’t a regular mask. It’s 'special’…! Punishes me if I break any of the harsh guidelines given to me.”

“What you’d do to get placed in Nanba?” Asked No.69.

“Plenty of shit, to be honest.” Theo stated and shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ve stolen stuff, vandalized some stuff, fought the officers when being arrested, Seriously harmed a few people—there’s plenty of stuff I’ve done. But the main reason I got kicked into Nanba was that I broke out of jail…”

“How’d ya do it?” No.25 asked. “Did you pick the locks?”

“No…” Theo replied as he thought back to it. “After a day of being there, when the clock hit lunch, I knocked the guards out and stole their keys… But, I had to break the doors down because the surveillance cameras caught me, putting the security bars down to prevent my escape. I eventually made it out and ended up on the run…”

“But you got caught.” No.15 stated bluntly, causing Theo to nod.

“Yeah. Damn hounds got me, heh.” Theo let out an amused huff. “I was… In a really dark place back then. I was twelve then. Once I was recaptured, they put harsh restrains on me and sent me to Nanba. But… I was more trouble than I was worth…”

“What happened?” No.11 asked.

“Sorry, that’s for another time!” Theo turned to them, appearing to smile, as his emotionless tone became light hearted. “I can’t let the readers learn about me on the fifth chapter only! That’s poor writing. Gotta keep them wanting more, after all!”

“C'mon, man!” Whined No.11. “It was just getting gooood!”

“Yeah, well, we’re already at the cafeteria.” Theo stated as he went back to his usual monotone self. “You guys are still on a bit of a timer, right? Back when I was here they only allowed us an hour to eat before kicking us out.”

“Only an hour?!” Exclaimed No.69 in shock. “That’s horrible! It takes that long to just get our food!”

“Wait, they extended the times…?” Theo asked, looking surprised. “Wow, this place changed a lot…”

“I’ll say!” No.69 said and held his fingers up. “We’re only allowed a maximum of three hours if we wanted. But there’s so many inmates here that it’s more like one and a half.”

“Are you serious?” Theo’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wow… That’s a lot more than my time here. Wonder if the chief’s turned soft…”

“You’re a guard here yet you don’t know that much?” No.11 said, causing Theo to frown at him.

“I’m a guard with high restrictions. Plus, Seitarou trusts me a little bit, but he’s still pretty fearful of me.” Theo explained. “I would ask Hajime, but he’s sick still. And Yamoto's… eh… Yamoto. He’s not a bad guy, but he’s got way too much energy for me to handle…”

“My condolences.” No.11 put his hand on Theo’s shoulder as if he understood.

“Anyways,” No.15 walked by them, hands behind his head, as he looked bored still. “We only have so much time in the cafeteria. Let’s eat something, I’m starving…”

“Oh yeah, I think we’re having ramen today!” Excitedly exclaimed No.69 and quickly followed him in.

“Yay! Japanese ramen!” Cheered No.25 as he skipped on in.

“Hey, Rock, if I can beat you in a round of poker I get your bowl of ramen.” No.11 called and followed them in.

“Like hell I’d agree to that!” Yelled inmate No.69. “I’ll never bet my food on ramen day!”

’…What a strange bunch…’ Theo thought and watched them walk in.

Theo stepped into the cafeteria and stayed against the wall, watching the inmates carefully. The staff of officers was very minimum, which was very surprising. Before there used to be guards all over the walls, sometimes even walking in between the aisles to make sure no funny business was going on. Now there was only a maximum of four, and that included himself.

'What’s with this prison…?’ Theo asked himself. 'Giving more lunch hours, having fewer guards around—seriously, what the hell. Is Nanba becoming soft…?’

A loud bang caught his attention.

His head whirled around, startled out of his thoughts from the sound. Standing at one of the tables was a very, very, large man. He had slammed something down on the table before looking down at the inmates and nodded to them.

The man walked away, revealing he had placed a large bowl of icecream in front of one of the inmates. Even the inmate’s eyes were wide in shock. He then called out to the guy, who apparently looked like a chief, and thanked him for the desert.

'So that would explain why…’ Theo realized until he caught sight of the guy’s face. 'Hold up. Is that…?’

A smile took place on his face in realization. He quickly left his post and rushed towards the man who was multiple times his height and size. He stopped once he got into his view, standing in the man’s way. He gazed down at him, his looming form rather intimidating, as he looked almost pissed off. Theo took his hat off, revealing his short silver hair, and greeted the man.

“Sorry for stopping you when you probably have plenty of work on your hands.” Theo said to the man. “But I just had to see that familiar face of yours. Would the lastname Nicci ring any bells, Shiro…?”

The large man’s eyes widened, breaking his normal stoic expression. He lifted his hand up and patted Theo’s head, causing the guard to laugh.

“I look completely different to before don’t I?Man, I forgot how huge your hands are!” Theo exclaimed when he drew away. “Never thought I’d see you back here. Let me guess, you came here because of Old Man Chief, right?”

Shiro nodded his head, huffing in contentment.

“That’s awesome, man!” Theo said, sounding like an excited little kid. “I never thought a fellow prisoner would come back here. Guess I was wrong. If it isn’t obvious, I’m here for being a guard, too. Give the Old Man my regards, 'kay? I bet with your help around here the foods been turned up a notch, eh?”

Shiro nodded to him again. Theo stepped out of the way, allowing the older man to get back to his job. He watched him walked back into the kitchen and quietly snickered to himself.

'I’m glad he got the job! Good for him!’ Theo thought before calmly placing his hat back on his head.

Turning around, he began walking back to his post, unaware of all the burning gazes of the inmates. They all seemed a bit surprised and curious by that 'friendly chat’ the new guard had with Shiro. But the inmates of cell 13 couldn’t help but stare at him in shock.

“Did… Did Shiro just show that guy affections…?” Questioned No.15, who’s known as Jyugo.

“Y-yeah, he did!” Softly exclaimed No.11, also known as Uno.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Shiro look so surprised before!” Said No.15, or Nico.

“He sure seemed happy about that guy.” No.69 added with a grin. He was called Rock. “Shiro never really touches anybody. It’s rare to see him touch anybody else they’re causing trouble. He must really like that guy.”

“If Shiro knows him, then I guess he wasn’t lying about being an inmate here…” Murmured Jyugo, looking over his shoulder at Alan. “What’s up with that guy? I guess I can understand Shiro’s reason, but what’s his?”

“I’m wondering that myself.” Uno said before grinning. “Guess we just have to find out. That guy’s pretty talkative for being so soft spoken. Shouldn’t he be more defensive about giving his personal life to the inmates?”

“Yeah, that is kinda weird.” Rock agreed. “Think he’s up to somethin’?”

“I like him!” Nico said with his usual grin. “He’s a lot nicer than Hajime, and he isn’t easy to scare like Seitarou. Plus, from what he told us he sounds kinda like us, don’t you think?”

“What? As if.” Jyugo said before giving the group a mischief smirk. “Say… He’s new, right? So he shouldn’t have a well enough knowledge of the place. Why don’t we have another breakout and see what this guy can do.”

“But Hajime isn’t back.” Uno stated. “It’s not fun without him around, though. Plus, thanks to Yamoto’s training I can barely feel my legs…”

“Yeah, my arms are still throbbing.” Nico added, looking at his arms.

“Aw, come on!” Groaned Jyugo as he place his head on the table.

“How 'bout tomorrow?” Rock suggested. “Hajime will be back and we won’t be so sore by then. I hope this new guy knows how to take a punch.”

“Let’s see if he can get past my gambles,” smirked Uno.

“He read our files, but I bet he doesn’t know enough about my diseases!” Nico added, grinning with everyone else.

“Let’s see what this newbie can do…” Jyugo lifted his head, his smirk now on his face, as he gazed back at the unsuspecting man.

’…Hey, I still have that new chief’s clever!’ Theo thought to himself silently. 'I can give it to Shiro as a present! Man, this day just keeps getting better and better…!’

***

“Oh, good morning Hajime. How’re you feeling?…”

“Better than yesterday, I’ll say that…”

“That’s good…”

The Supervisor of Building 13 of Nanba Prison had finally returned from his day away because of a cold. Seitarou already greeted him, and Theo just spoke up. Yamoto, well… He has yet to be seen, but Hajime could honestly care less. When he put his bag down he looked back at Theo, seeing the mask still tightly on his face.

“Did you just put that on?” Hajime asked.

“No. I placed it back on yesterday as soon as I woke up.” Theo answered before turning in his chair to look up at Hajime. “I apologize for falling asleep here then. I should’ve just went home but I didn’t because of my first day…”

“It hasn’t been hurting you, has it?” Hajime asked.

“Not in the slightest.” Theo shook his head. “I kinda forget it’s there…”

Hajime hummed and nodded. But his eyes didn’t leave the mask. Sighing to himself he walked over to Theo. He just gazed at him, wondering what he’s doing. Hajime bent down, being as tall as he was, and put his hands carefully on the mask.

How the mask was is that it is made from a special type of metal that was flexible, but was hard to pierce. It resembled a type of 'ninja mask’ as Samon had questioned at the meeting. But, at the very end of the sides of the mask was a circular contraption that was located just before the tragus of the ear. The circular contraption was technically the main core of the machinery and had an electronic blue outline that glowed a bit. From the circular piece had the hook attached to it. When taken off, the hook curls into the thick circular piece.

Hajime pressed his hands against the circular piece, waiting until he heard a loud clicking sound. He watched as the hooks lifted off of the back of Theo’s earlobes. He took the mask off of Theo and saw his surprised expression.

“You had this thing on all day and night, yeah?” Hajime placed the mask down on his desk. “Figured you could take a break. Put it back on when you have to leave the office, alright? Both of us will get in trouble if it’s seen off of you.”

“Right… Thank you…” He thanked Hajime and nodded his head in gratitude.

Hajime sat back down at his desk without another word to him. He gazed at a few of the papers, wondering how much he had missed. He looked up at Seitarou, who was basically right across from him, and spoke up to him.

“Did anything happen while I was gone?” Hajime asked.

“Well, not anything bad.” Seitarou answered. “The inmates from Cell 13 tried to escape, but Yamoto caught them and punished them like you do. They trained for five hours before Theo took them to lunch. After that he brought them back and they stayed in their cells. Other than that, they behaved well for once.”

“At least they didn’t escaped any farther than their cells…” Hajime sighed deeply. “Even when I’m away they cause nothin’ but trouble…”

“I can at least say I think they kinda have a liking to me.” Theo spoke up as he walked by Hajime with a bunch of papers in his hands. “They definitely don’t trust me yet, but I’m slowly gaining their trust…”

“I’m unsure if that’s a good or bad thing…” Hajime muttered.

“When have I ever betrayed you, Hajime?” Theo asked in a joking manner, but it sounded like he was serious.

“Ever since you broke a door down in rage and tried to hit me with it.” Hajime stated with an agitated undertone.

Theo flinched at his statement, recalling the memory. He felt embarrassed at the thought of it. He looked back at Hajime, pouting slightly, as he looked rather guilty.

“T-that was a dark time for me back then, alright…?” Theo softly mumbled.

“Yeah, yeah, I know your story.” Hajime waved at him to signal to leave it alone. “You forget that I was the one to actually figure your background out back when you were in my cells.”

Theo was silent after that. Hajime did have a point. But he wasn’t too fond of the memories. He placed the papers down before grabbing a new stack and returning to his desk. Once he sat back down he wiped his lower face with the upper sleeve of his jacket. Have that mask on for more than 24 hours left his face with sweaty residue from breathing, talking, and almost caused him to drool a few times. It was like having foggy water goggles on for too long. To be honest, it was pretty gross.

Taking in a deep breath, finally being able to breathe properly, he began his new stack of paperwork. He was like that for a while until he heard the sound of the door opening and closing. Gazing over his shoulder he could see it was Yamoto who entered, not wearing his usual uniform, and looking very sweaty.

“Good morning, sir!” Greeted Yamoto to Hajime. “Good to see you back to your usual healthy self!”

“Same to you, Yamoto…” Murmured Hajime as he lit up a cigarette.

“I just finished my morning exercises, so I will take a quick shower and get back to work!” Promised Yamoto as he marked merrily towards his lock.

Once he gathered his needed items, he marched out of the room. When he opened the door he stopped and greeted someone at the door.

“Oh! Why hello there, No.15! If you will excuse me, I must take a shower!” Yamoto said.

“Yeah, okay.” Replied a familiar bored tone.

Instantly the other three guards became alarmed by what Yamoto said. Theo whirled around in his seat, quickly becoming on guard. As Yamoto walked out, walking into the office was inmate No.15. He had his signature hands behind his head, looking bored as ever, before turning to a shocked Hajime.

“Good to see you back, Hajime. It’s boring without you around.” Spoke the inmate.

“WHAT’RE YOU DOING OUT OF YOUR CELL?!” Screeched Hajime in anger.

“I wanted to see if you were here today, you should be grateful.” No.15, or Jyugo, answered with a smirk. “Escaping with you gone is useless, so I had to make sure you were here for today.”

In a flash Hajime shot up from his desk, dashed towards the inmate, and punched him right in the head. Jyugo groaned loudly, now lying on the ground in pain, as a clear bump quickly formed on his head. Theo was startled by the action, forgetting about Hajime’s infamous hair trigger temper.

“I DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WHAT’S BORING! YOU’RE SUPPOSE TO BE IN YOUR CELL AND STAY THERE, YOU DAMN BRAT!” Bellowed the Supervisor. “IT HASN’T EVEN BEEN AN HOUR OF ME BEING HERE AND YOU’RE ALREADY CAUSING TROUBLE! AT LEAST WAIT UNTIL THE AFTERNOON, IT’S TOO EARLY FOR YOUR TROUBLE MAKING ANTICS!”

“Yeah… Good to have you back…” Groaned Jyugo as he got back onto his feet. “I definitely didn’t miss that inhuman strength of yours, though…”

“You annoying little…!” Hajimed growled and got the inmate into a headlock. He turned to his other guards as both of them had sweatdrops on their heads. “You two stay here. Check the surveillance and see if the others are gone. I’ll be taking this little shit back to his cell…!”

“Y-yes, sir!” Replied Seitarou.

Without another word, Hajime stomped out of the room with a struggling Jyugo. Theo slowly turned back to his work, still semi in his frozen state, as he tried processing what happened. ’…Maybe I should’ve stayed on the farm…’

It was quiet in the guard’s office.

Too quiet…

Hajime was suspicious of the quietness of the place, but he tried to shrug it off and label him being paranoid. But still… It was just strangely quiet. Periodically he would get up from his desk and walk the halls, specifically keeping an ear out for Cell 13. But whenever he walked by he usually heard their usual obnoxious banter. He would keep in the cell every now and then, seeing that each inmate was accountable for. He would then proceed with his parole, only to find himself seated back at his desk while the suspicion was eating him away.

Eventually he sighed again and tried to coax himself to relax. He just got back from being sick, he told himself repeatedly. He was probably just feeling uneasy because the remanence of the bug is still there in his stomach. He just had to breath and calm down. There’s nothing to worry about…

“Greetings, everyone!” Exclaimed none other than Yamoto as he came back into the room. “I have taken care of the much needed attention to the problem with the Cell door 17! On my way back I greeted the boys from Cell 13! Ha ha! Such young men. I think I’m finally turning them into gentlemen!”

“Really? What makes you say that?” Softly asked Seitarou.

“Because the boys informed me that they were going on a wonderful walk to stretch their legs!” Informed Yamoto. “I believe my training has finally gotten ahold of them, haha!”

“WHAT!?” Shouted Hajime as the other guards stiffened at the news.

“They were out of their cell?” Theo asked as he was clearly alarmed.

“Why, yes, yes they were.” Answered Yamoto. After a moment his smile fell as if realization finally hit him. “Wait… Those boys aren’t authorized to leave their cells, are they?”

“NO!” All three of them shouted at Yamoto.

“I knew the calmness was too good to be true!” Hajime exclaimed as he began typing away at the computer. “Seitarou, get to the surveillance cameras and figure out where they are!”

“Yes sir!” Exclaimed the officer as he disappeared from the room.

“Yamoto, it’s your fault those brats escaped.” Hajime growled at him. “Go apprehend them at once!”

“Of course, sir!” Saluted Yamoto before rushing out of the room.

“Theo, get to your feet!” Hajime ordered as Theo already was standing. “Looks like you’re going to be seeing some action for today. We can’t allow those four to get outside, especially since the sun is still out! Follow me.”

“Yes, sir.” Theo nodded.

Hajime marched to the camera room where Seitarou was while Theo followed closely behind. They entered the dark room while Seitarou just finished giving instructions to the officers of Building 13. Theo’s eyes gazed at the multiple cameras as he wondered where those four were.

“Where are they?” Hajime growled.

“They’re past Block 11. I’ve already closed Block 12 and trying to get them towards Block 17 instead.” Informed Seitarou.

“They’re fast…” Theo commented as his eyes kept darting towards different screens.

“Yeah, well, we’re faster…” Hajime muttered at him as he glared at the screen. “There they are…”

They all looked towards one of the center screens. The four inmates were running through the hall, only for No.11 to stop the group. He took out a type of card and flung it, revealing the hidden electric floor. No.15 walked over to the wall, tracing his hand around it. Suddenly a control panel revealed itself and his hands flew across the keys. He looked at his accomplices and smirked, giving them a thumbs up. All four of them advanced, getting past the security.

“A-are you kidding me…?” Theo gaped in shock, stepping forwards as they appeared on another camera. “How the hell did he figure that out so quickly?”

“Beats me.” Seitarou said and he began to flip switches. “They’re entering into an open area around Block 18. Thankfully a lot of the guards are there so they should be stumbling upon them at any moment.”

“That’s your queue.” Hajime ordered and placed a hand on Theo’s shoulder. “Get in there and stop them. Knock 'em out if you have to. We can’t allow them to advance any further. Just try not to bring the building down with you…”

“Got it.” Theo nodded curtly and turned towards the door. “Leave it to me…”

As soon as he was out of the office he began running down the hallways very quickly. He was sprinting through the place, trying to get to Block 18, and hopefully in time before those four get through. Seitarou kept his eyes on the monitors, but was surprised with how fast Theo was hopping from monitor to monitor.

“W-whoa, he’s fast…!” He said in surprised.

“There’s a reason for why the Warden trusted him enough to become a guard.” Hajime said and smirked. “Looks like he hasn’t changed a bit from his time in Nanba…”

It took a while, but Theo found his way in Block 18. He entered into the room, just in time to see the last guard get knocked down by No.69 aka Rock. Theo growled softly under his breath, annoyed that they got through the guards. He walked into the room, his echoing footsteps grabbing their attention, as he began adjusting his gloves.

“Well, well, looks like they sent the newbie.” No.11, Uno, spoke up with a sly grin on his face. “Are they even trying anymore?”

“I was hoping we’d bump into him soon.” Said No.15, or Jyugo as he’s called. “It wouldn’t be as fun if they didn’t send him…”

“Looks like you wanna brawl too, eh?” Challenged Rock as he held his fists up.

“Hi Theo!” Greeted No.25, known as Nico, as he waved at him. “Could you let us go by?”

“You four have caused quite a stir tonight, don’t you think?” Theo spoke in a deadly calm voice as he advanced slowly towards them. “It’s the middle of the sun setting, you know. Don’t you think it would’ve been smarter if you waited until midnight…?”

“We got impatient.” Replied Jyugo as he shrugged. “You’re a pretty strange guy, you know. You made us so interested in you that we just had to come and see you for ourselves.”

“Yeah. It’s pretty interesting for a former criminal to become a guard, you know.” Uno said and made a face at him. “If you couldn’t stay away then why couldn’t you do more crimes, eh? Where’s that mask of yours anyways? Don’t tell me you’re 'getting serious’.”

“You boys don’t know anything, do you…” Theo scoffed at them as he began pulling his gloves off. “How sad. If you did I bet you would’ve thought twice before acting like you did.”

“You act like such a big shot after just being here for only three days.” Jyugo rolled his eyes at him. “You might’ve read our files, but that doesn’t mean you know the whole show.”

“I think I know plenty enough.” Theo stopped walking and dropped his gloves on the ground. He rotated his neck, hearing the satisfying cracks. “You’re morons for believing you can escape Nanba Prison so easily.” He lifted his hand and pointed at them. “I’m giving you one last chance. Now be good boys and go back to your cell…”

“No thank you!” Rock yelled and ran at him.

Theo put his hand down and allowed Rock to come at him. Having his arm recoiled back, Rock swung his fist at full force, his knuckle slamming right into his jaw. Theo head twisted around, the force being enough to knock Theo off of his feet. He flew back and hit the ground without a moment later. The group could only stare in slight shock.

“Oh, come on!” Rock whined. “That wasn’t even a fight!”

“All talk and no bite, eh? That’s sad.” Jyugo commented.

“Hahaha! K.O.!” Uno exclaimed while laughing. “That was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Looks like Rock was a bit too hard on him.” Commented Nico.

After a few comments here and there, they didn’t realize Theo’s twitching body. He curled his arms up, placing his hands on either side of his head. With his feet pressed together tightly, he picked himself onto his hands and pushed against his arms, pushing himself into the air. He got his feet under him quickly and was now standing back on his feet.

Hearing the echo of his feet hitting the ground, their comments stopped as they stared at him. Theo’s visor was concealing his eyes while he rotated his shoulders around, the loud cracking echoing in the room. Just him standing there quietly, allowing his shoulders to crack, was rather unsettling.

“I guess you’re tougher than you look.” Jyugo smirk returned. “I was hoping you could give us more of a show.”

“Hey, you cracked your shoulders enough. You might just break them if you keep that up.” Uno said as he was becoming uncomfortable with the noise.

“Ready for a rematch?” Rock asked in a taunting manner.

“Oh, the match never ended…” Said Theo in a deadly calm voice.

The group stopped, their smirking features falling. Something just wasn’t right with how Theo sounded. Usually his tone revealed no emotions. But now… He sounded utterly serious with a hint of something else—that something else was smugness.

Theo adjusted his hat to reveal his eyes. His irises were now smaller than normal while his eyes were wide open. But the thing that gave them chills was the sudden, large, toothy grin that was on his face. His teeth looked sharp and pointed while his eyes were trained on them. The group shivered as they felt the sudden murderous intent that could rival that of Hajime’s.

“Idiots…” Theo hissed at them as his shoulders bounced up and down like he was giggling. “Did you really believe that one puny punch could knock me out? It was like a fly landed on my cheek.”

“Puny…?” Rock growled as he was clearly insulted.

“I’ll show you why you shouldn’t mess around…” Theo brought his fist up, his smirk never faltering. “Come on, Rocky! Do you even call that a punch?”

“You asked for it, Bastard!” Rock shouted and ran at him again.

Once again, Theo allowed Rock to come to him. The inmate swung at Theo again, just like he had before. Except this time, Theo stopped his fist. The sounds of his knuckle slapping against his palm echoed, shocking the entire group. Rock could only stare at Theo in wide eyes, confused to why his fist was stopped so easily. Theo’s giggle filled the air as he glared sharply at Rock, causing the younger male to begin to sweat nervously.

“Pa-the-tic~!” Sang Theo. His voice suddenly got deeper when he spoke his next sentence. “I’ll show you a real punch.”

Without even a moment’s hesitation, Theo punched Rock in the chest with his free hand. Rock was shot off of his feet, fly back until his back hit the wall. His friends could only gaze at Rock in shock. They watched as their friend bounced off of the wall and onto his knees, only to fall onto the ground as he became unconscious. The group turned their heads to see Theo walking towards them.

“Wow, he didn’t last very long.” Theo laughed. “You boys could escape all those traps, knock all of these guards out, but you’re not strong enough to at least slow me down? That’s pretty pathetic… Oh, come on. Where’s all that big talk you were all saying before? Cat got your tongue~”

“You bastard…!” Uno growled at him.

“H-how did you…?” Jyugo could only mumble in shock.

“G-g-guys…!” Squeaked Nico. “W-w-w-what should we d-d-do…?!”

“I have an idea!” Theo quickly stood before Nico, towering over him with ease, as his smile never left his face. “…How about you go to sleep~”

Nico squeaked again before fainting on the ground from fear. Theo looked at the other boys. Clearly enraged Uno ran at him with a war cry, his fists in the air, prepared to punch Theo’s face in.

As he got close and swung, Theo dodged his attack and moved behind his back in a flash, karate chopping the back of his neck. Uno released a choke sound before passing out on the ground. Theo looked at the last one standing, seeing Jyugo’s shaken form. He walked towards him in a rather taunting manner.

With each step taken, Jyugo stepped back. Step by step, Theo backed Jyugo into a wall. The inmate because to break out in a cold sweat, trying to think of a way to either attack or run. But he was unable to come up with anything as Theo stood right in front of him, inches away from his body. Jyugo could only stare up at him as his hands were secretly shaking.

“You’re pretty impressive, you know…” Theo spoke softly, his voice not sounding demonic anymore. “Unlocking all those traps… Leading the way for your friends. It’s remarkable, actually. But…” Theo’s smirk grew, as if that was possible, and glared down at his shaking form. “…I’d like to see you get out of this trap…”

Not even allowing Jyugo to open his mouth, Theo brought his head down and slammed his head against Jyugo’s forehead. Jyugo cried out in pain, only to fall to the side. Before he could hit the ground, Theo caught him with one arm. Theo giggled softly at his unconscious form.

“I win~” He sang.

Of course, no one could respond.

As the room got quiet, Theo’s smile fell and the deadly look in his eyes fled. His face was emotionless, stoic as ever, as if a switch had been flipped off. He carefully put Jyugo on his shoulder and went over to Nico. One by one, he picked up each fallen inmate. Step by step, he back making his way back to Cell 13. Nico and Jyugo were on his right shoulder while Uno was under Theo’s left arm while his left hand was latched onto the back of Rock’s jumpsuit as he dragged him.

The camera room was quiet. Seitarou was shaking in his seat, horrified by the scene he just saw. Tears pricked the corner of his eyes as he couldn’t believe what he just witness. He looked up at Hajime to see the man smirking calmly.

“He really hasn’t changed, eh?” Hajime turned and began to exit the room. “I’m surprised he held back.”

With that said, he exited the room, closing the door on his way out. Seitarou released a shaky breath as he looked back to the monitors in horror.

“…H-held b-b-back…?”

***

“Seitarou, how’re the inmates in cell 13?”

“Well, they’re behaving, sir…”

Three days has passed since the recapture of cell 13. They have been rather quiet, staying in their cells, and they haven’t tried escaping once. Theo hadn’t visited them since Hajime gave him a rather unhealthy pile of paperwork to keep him away from the inmates. After seeing Seitarou’s terrified expression of being around Theo from that day he decided that he might’ve gone a little too far.

Theo began the paperwork and was just one paper away from finishing it. As soon as he had finished that one page his head hit his desk in exhaustion. He hadn’t moved from his desk since then and was powering through it. Seitarou had been startled by the loud noise and asked Hajime what was wrong with him.

“Oh, him?” Hajime looked at Theo before sighing. “He probably went down from exhaustion. I haven’t seen him move from that spot since I’ve given him those papers, so he probably stayed there and powered through the work. The idiot probably ran out of batteries…”

“W-what do you mean by that…?” Seitarou asked softly.

“Theo isn’t 'normal,’” replied Hajime. “He’s got this type of handicap that doesn’t allow him to feel things. Whether he touches ice from antarctica or places his hand in a roaring fire—he can’t feel it. It’s like his nerves aren’t there. It’s the reason for why he can jumped back onto his feet so quickly in a fight. He can’t feel any pain. But because he can hardly feel anything he tends to forget to eat, gets himself injured a lot, sometimes forgets his own strength, and is his own natural problem.”

“W-will he be okay?” Seitarou asked in concern.

“Yeah, he’ll be fine.” Hajime said calmly. “Let 'im rest and give him breakfast or something. He was like that when he was an inmate. He’ll be fine.”

“Sir…” Seitarou spoke quietly, looking rather nervous. “Just… why was he sent to Nanba prison?”

“Why? There’s plenty of reasons why.” Hajime popped a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. “He’s the most human and inhuman being you’ll ever meet.”

Seitarou didn’t feel comforted by that response.

The guards left Theo alone until he woke up on his own. Two hours passed with him sleeping and he woke up to find his mask gone. Hajime felt it was best to take it off of him since he didn’t want him to stupidly hurt himself by accident. Being slightly groggy he got to his feet, went to his locker, and went for a shower.

Of course he was as fast as he could. He is not legitimately a 'he’ after all. Once he cleaned himself he got all his layers back on and went to the cafeteria. He hadn’t had a bite to eat for over three days, after all. After his stomach was filled he went back to the office.

Through the day he kept rubbing the back of his neck, his hands going up and down and left and right. It was a nervous habit he did when he had something eating away at him. And it didn’t go unnoticed.

“Is… Is everything okay, Theo?” Seitarou had asked him. “You keep rubbing your neck like you’re in pain…”

“Oh, that…” Theo muttered and retracted his hand. “It’s just a habit of mine… It’s nothing, I promise. I’m completely fine…”

“O-okay…” Seitarou nodded and went back to work.

After another hour of work, Hajime said he had to go and meet with the Warden. After he left, Yamoto hadn’t came back from yesterday. Theo kept doing his work with his mask off and stayed cooped up into the office. Eventually Seitarou got up and grabbed his attention.

“Hey, Theo.”

“Hm…?”

“I’m going to go get lunch.” Seitarou informed him. “I’ll be as fast as I can and I’ll get back here. Do you think you can hold the office being alone?”

“Yeah, of course…” Theo nodded to him. “I’ll stay in the office until you return.”

“Alright.” Seitarou nodded and stopped at the door. “I suggest you keep an eye on the surveillance cameras just in case. Oh, and if any of the inmates escape, contact the Supervisor on the radio. But, with your ability, I bet you can catch them without help…”

Theo’s lips pressed hard together, sensing Seitarou’s nervousness. Theo scared him. That he knew well enough. Not pointing it out, Theo just nodded softly before gazing back at his desk. With nothing else said, Seitarou left the room.

Once the door was firmly closed, Theo could only sigh and hang his head. His hands found their way onto the back of his neck as he began to rub all around the area. The feeling he felt was something he was used to feeling. Guilt. Shame. If anything it was probably the only emotions he could 'feel’. With a history like his, it was understandable why that is.

“Huh, so I guess you weren’t lying about being an inmate.” A sudden voice spoke behind Theo.

Instantly becoming alarmed, Theo shot to his feet and whirled around. Standing in the room was Jyugo, who had backed up quickly before Theo could hit him or something. The officer semi relaxed, but his guard never went down.

“What’re you doing here…?” Theo asked him.

“Being locked up in that cell for three days without escaping was becoming a bore.” Jyugo said and shrugged in an innocent manner. “I figured I might as well visit the guy who basically gave us all concussions…”

“You’re not supposed to be here.” Theo stated sternly.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Jyugo rolled his eyes. “I’ve heard it all from Hajime before. But you wanna know what isn’t a bore?” He smirked and pointed right at Theo. “That number on your neck.”

Theo eyes narrowed at the inmate while his hand grabbed the back of his own neck.

“So you’re No.7, eh?” Jyugo asked looking rather smug. “That’s pretty interesting. Which building were you sent to?”

“…I’ve been thrown in every building in Nanba.” Theo stated coldly. “I gave them hell trying to figure out which building I should go to. Each Supervisor got pretty fed up with my shenanigans, and eventually threw me into Building 5… The first building I got sent to was Building 3…”

“You’ve been thrown into every building?” Jyugo repeated as he looked surprised. “The hell did they do that?”

“Acting…” Theo replied. “By acting and causing a lot of mayhem, I was basically thrown around like hopscotch. But, after an accident, I was eventually thrown into Building 5.”

“Does that mean you have different numbers all over you?” Jyugo asked.

“No, actually…” Theo shook his head. “The only number I have is on my neck… The Supervisors all knew me as 'Trouble Theo’ since I was nothing but a nuisance to them. It was fun… Pissing each of them off, causing over half of them to hate me… Got a real good kick out of it…”

“It’s funny to hear that come from a freak who can’t feel.“ Jyugo said.

Theo frowned at his statement. Jyugo’s face held nothing but smugness. Looks like he was the one having a real good kick out of this conversation.

”…How long have you been hiding in here?“ Theo demanded.

"Who’s to say? All I know is that it’s been a good amount of time…” Jyugo shrugged and sat in Hajime’s seat. “I bet the others have figured out I escaped by now…”

“You didn’t release your friends?…” Theo asked, raising a brow at him.

“Nah, they didn’t want to leave.” Jyguo replied as he begun to spin in the chair like a child. “Nico’s to terrified, Uno doesn’t want to even think about you, and Rock is still sore from you punching him. Hell, there’s still a bump on my forehead from you headbutting me.”

“Hm…” Theo’s eyes hit the ground, feeling a bit guilty to hear that.

“You’re more of a freak than us, huh?” Jyugo said and laughed. “You were an inmate, but now you’re a guard! You can’t feel anything and you’re an utter freak thanks to your strength! I guess you do belong here in Nanba, hahaha!”

Theo flinched at the words thrown at him. A pinching sensation was in his chest as he listened to Jyugo’s laughing. 'I haven’t been called that for a long time…’

“Are you done?” Theo asked him, cutting off Jyugo’s laughter. “If you want to talk we can do it in your cell. Don’t make me drag you by force…”

“Well now, did I hit a nerve?” Jyugo taunted him. Theo only now just noticed how he seemed angry at him. “So what, you’re freakishly strong. I rather not have my skull beaten in, thank you very much. Plus, that’s Hajime’s job.”

“…You just looove talking.” Theo mumbled and crossed his arms. “I still don’t understand why you’re over here. Are you pissed because I harmed you and your friends? Is there something you’re after?…”

Jyugo’s expression became rather stoic very quickly. Something flashed in his eyes, but Theo didn’t know what. Not even a moment later, Jyugo’s smirked twitched up as his eyes held a hint of anger.

“It’s nothing… I just enjoy escaping. It’s fun…” Jyugo stated. “Getting past traps and puzzles are a hobby of mine. You could say that I’m the key to the world~”

“How egotistic of you…” Replied Theo as he began walking towards him. “Enough of your joking. Get back to your cell now, otherwise I will throw you in myself and tell Hajime what you did. He’ll be the one to punish you once he gets back.”

“Oh, sounds like fun.” Jyugo said, grinning up at Alan as he towered over him. “I rather stay here for a while. Those cells are pretty boring.”

'He’s like a leach…’ Theo immediately thought. 'Or maybe he’s more of a mosquito… Either way, he’s annoying as hell. I don’t want to knock him out again, who knows if Hajime will punish me for it. The infirmary will surely whack me a good amount of times if I harm him. I wonder…’

Theo huffed out through his nose. Jyugo just kept gazing up at him, looking rather smug, as if he was daring Theo to harm him. The guard began to bent down towards Jyugo since he was sitting down. Jyugo’s smirk fell instantly as Theo got really close to his face. Without even able to act, Theo placed his lips against Jyugo’s. The inmate sat there, his head trying to process what the hell was happening. He suddenly felt Theo’s tongue lick his lips.

Only then did reality hit Jyugo like a train as his entire body shivered. Jyugo fell out of the spinny chair, scrambling to his feet, and went to the farthest wall in the room to get away from Theo. Jyugo’s face was pale as he looked utterly horrified, his hand over his mouth, as he began screaming at Theo. Theo just stood there, his face blank, as if nothing ever happened as his eyes stayed on the inmate.

“WHAT THE HELL!” He had screamed. “WHO THE FUCK DOES THAT! YOU FUCKING CREEP!”

Theo said nothing. Theo only maneuvered around Hajime’s desk and stepped towards Jyugo. The inmate yelped in horror.

“S-STAY OVER THERE! DON’T COME ANY CLOSER!” Jyugo yelled.

“…Get back to your cell.” Theo ordered, taking another step towards him.

Jyugo yelped and bolted out of the room. He screamed while running down the hallway. Theo looked out of the room to see Jyugo open the door to his cell and run right it, slamming it shut behind him. Theo just watched before turning back around into the room.

“That worked a lot more effectively than I thought…” Theo said and closed the door softly.

***

When Hajime came back he did not expect to hear inmates yelling at each other.

He instantly recognized the voices of those from cell 13. Hajime’s eye began to twitch in annoyance. He only just got back from meeting the warden and he hadn’t even had the time to sit down. With a deep sigh he decided to see why they were causing such a ruckus. As soon as he was in front of the door he slammed his fist against it to grab the inmate’s attention.

“Shut up! You’re all noisier than usual!” Hajime yelled at them. “What the hell’s the problem?”

“YOUR GUARD IS THE PROBLEM!” Jyugo shouted at him instantly, looking almost flustered.

“What’re you goin’ on about?” Hajime grumbled, raising a brow at is strange behavior.

“Jyugo says that your newest guard kissed him.” Uno stated bluntly. “He’s been like this for hours.”

Once Hajime heard that he sighed deeply. Hajime pinched the bridge of his nose, trying hard not to allow his annoyance to high any higher.

“I can’t believe that brat did it again…” Hajime grumbled.

“What?” Uno said, catching what Hajime said. “He’s done this before?!”

“Look, if you knew his circumstance you would understand.” Hajime stated as he thought about Theo. “Yeah, it’s not necessarily right for him to do that shit, but stop freaking out about it. Theo’s a good kid but he's… 'special’. You wouldn’t understand even if I explained it to you.”

“THAT STILL DOESN’T ALLOW HIM THE RIGHT TO DO THAT SHIT!” Jyugo shouted.

“Calm down and get over it.” Hajime growled at him. “You’re causing more of a ruckus with all that shouting and it’s giving me a headache. Shut up, do as you’re told, and let me handle this. Theo has no intentions of harming anybody.”

“Yeah, right. My stomach still hurts from being punched from that guy…” Groaned Rock.

“H-h-h-he’s s-s-scary…!” Nico added, looking ready to cry.

“'No intentions’ my ass!” Uno said, clearly pissed. “He hurt all of us more than you’ve ever done. That guy’s psychotic! He shouldn’t even be a guard!”

“Especially when he freaking sexually assaults us!” Jyugo shouted.

“Enough!” Bellowed Hajime as he punched the door again, silencing the inmates. “That’s enough out of you. You four know nothing about that kid. Yeah, I get that he freaks you out, but it’s not like he asked for it. I’m not tellin’ you to like him, but I’m telling you to not hate him. If anything he actually cares about you little shits more than anybody here.”

“Then why the hell did he do all that shit to us?” Asked Uno through grinding teeth.

“Because I told him to.” Hajime stated. “I ordered him to go and capture you all, explicitly stating for him to knock you guys out. The kissing thing was something he did even as an inmate because of his genetic disorder. He calls it a 'habit,’ or an 'instinct’. Plus, he doesn’t just do it to anybody. He almost always has some sort of intention behind his actions. Now if it’ll shut you up, I’ll punish him since he knows that he shouldn’t do that shit. Is there anything else you’d like to complain to me about before I beat your heads in?”

“…No.” Uno muttered, speaking on the behalf of the group.

“Good.” Hajime growled and stepped back. “Now stop causing a ruckus and behave. Today’s a busy day, you know.”

With that said, Hajime turned and walked off. He went back into the guard’s office and spotted Seitarou, Yamoto, and Theo inside. Seitarou was at his desk while Theo and Yamoto was playing some type of chest game on the table. They all looked towards Hajime since they heard the door open.

“Hello there, sir. How was the meeting?” Seitarou asked cheerfully.

“Fine.” Hajime answered and walked towards Theo.

“…Checkmate.” Theo stated and knocked down Yamoto’s king.

“Beaten again! My, you have quite an eye there, Al! Ha ha ha ha!” Laughed Yamoto.

Hajime’s shadow casted over Theo, causing the guard to gaze up at him. Without a moment’s hesitation Hajime punched Theo’s head, knocking the boy off of the couch and onto the ground. Seitarou yelped while Yamoto was surprised to witness the action himself.

“Uunn… That made me dizzy…” Mumbled Theo as he sat up and rubbed his head.

“That’s for being stupid.” Hajime growled at him. “What the hell did you do to No.15 today, huh? Did you really think it was such a bright idea to freaking liplock with him?”

“…Oh. That.” Theo mumbled and got back onto his feet. “No.15 apparent escaped his cell earlier this afternoon without any of us realizing it. I checked the monitors a little later and figured out he’s been hiding in the night room here the entire time. Once you were with the Warden and Seitarou went to lunch he revealed himself to me and we talked… He refused to go back to his cell and I knew that I shouldn’t knock him out. I didn’t want to harm him since he was taunting me. I didn’t want him to think I acted out because of that…”

“So you kissed the brat to make him leave?!” Hajime questioned, shocked by his explanation.

“…Yeah, basically.” Theo confirmed. “He screamed and ran back to his cell… Worked better than I thought… I guess that he’s traumatized and yelled to you about it?”

“Yes.” Hajime said and hit Theo in the head again. “You dumbass. Was that really necessary? You know better than to do that, especially with all the trouble it got you in from the past! Think before you act!”

“I couldn’t help it…” Mumbled Theo as he held his head, his eyes looking dull. “It was just… instinct��”

“Urgh…” Hajime groaned and rubbed his head. “You’re just as troublesome as those four… Put that damn mask on and keep it on. I bet that was probably the reason for why the Warden even gave it to you.”

“…Yes, sir…” Whispered Theo as he went to his desk.

“Wait, why did he… kiss an inmate…?!” Seitarou asked, looking very bewildered.

“Remember when I told you about that freakish genetics he’s got?” Hajime spoke to him. “The only nerves he’s got are the ones in his tongue. Back in his days as an inmate he had kissed one of his fellow inmates. That got him kicked out of the cell, and restrained for sexual harassment. His excuse back then was it allowed him to 'connect’ with people. But, we later figured out he meant nothing behind it, and it was just a habit of him growing up.”

“From growing up…?” Seitarou questioned.

“Tasting was the only way I could feel things…” Theo spoke up after placing his mask on. “My mom thought it was just from how she taught me growing up, trying to teach me and all. I was diagnosed with HSAN as a kid… My dad knew what to do since he had other relatives who had the disease. So whenever I kissed them or even licked stuff he knew I meant nothing behind it… It was the only way I could feel. But of course, society didn’t see it that way…”

“W-well, kissing people isn’t quite a normal thing…” Muttered Seitarou.

“I know…” Theo replied while staring at the ground. His hands tightly clenched into fists at his sides. “I just… Didn’t mean to hurt anybody…”

The room got quiet real fast. Hajime, sensing the dense atmosphere, sighed deeply and walked towards Theo. He awkwardly patted his shoulder roughly, trying to show some sort of comfort. Theo just nodded his head in response and turned back to his desk. Today was already turning into a long day…

***

“I hate that guy so fucking much…!”

“You’re still going on about that? It’s been three days, Jyugo.”

“You’d be just as traumatized if it happened to you!”

The inmates of cell 13 have had a gloomy/annoyed atmosphere around the cell ever since Theo came to the Nanba Prison. They finally healed of their physical wounds, but have yet to really heal of the mental and emotional ones. It’s not like the events were super traumatizing that it caused the group to not want to talk about it. It just made them cautious of Theo.

Nico wasn’t shivering in place at his name anymore, but a fearful expression did take place every time. Rock more or less was probably the calmest about it. Yeah, the guy hurt him, but when Rock thought about the guy impressed him. Shiro from the cafeteria seemed to enjoy him, and he proved to be a tough opponent like he hoped. Jyugo was clearly angry and flustered since he couldn’t get over the kiss incident. Then there’s Uno, who was more or less annoyed only because Jyugo kept bringing it up and wouldn’t let it go.

“Look, we haven’t seen that guy for six days, alright?” Uno spoke up again, trying to calm Jyugo down, as he himself was just down right annoyed. “The only times we have seen him was when he’s been doing patrol through the halls. But even then he doesn’t stop by our cells or anything. I’m still mad that he knocked us out too, but like Hajime said, he only did as he was ordered. It’s their job.”

“It still doesn’t clear up the excuse for him to kiss me, damnit!” Jyugo exclaimed, waving his fist around. “I don’t give a damn if he can’t feel a thing, it’s not a fucking excuse! Even then it doesn’t make any sort of sense!”

“Wait, what did you say?” Rock spoke up, finding interest in one of the things he said. “He can’t feel anything…?”

“Yeah, something like that…” Jyugo grumbled as he was still angry. “I overheard Hajime talk about it. It’s some genetic thing he has or whatever. Apparently he can’t feel anything.”

“How can someone not be able to feel anything?” Rock questioned in disbelief.

“I think I might’ve heard of something like that.” Uno spoke up as he tried to remember. “It’s a disease I think. Something about not letting your nerves work or whatever…”

“S-so, he can’t feel anything…?” Softly asked Nico.

“Yeah, something like that…” Jyugo muttered and scratched his head. “From how Hajime talked about it he said that he was troublesome because of it…”

“Hey, I just got an idea!” Uno exclaimed and hit his fist into the palm of his hand. “Let’s play a game, yeah?”

“A game? What type of game?” Nico immediately asked, turning back to his bubbly self.

“That Theo guy can’t feel a thing, right?” Uno grinned mischievously. “Let’s see with how much stuff we can get without him realizing it.”

“What do you mean…?” Jyugo asked, eyeing him carefully.

“Just hear me out.” Uno wrapped his arm around Jyugo’s neck. “Let’s mess with this guy, yeah? Poke him, throw stuff at him, stick things to him—anything that might get his attention. If he can’t feel anything then he shouldn’t be able to feel us putting stuff on him.”

“So, we’re basically messin’ with the guy.” Rock summed up.

“Yeah, but it’ll be fun.” Uno said. “We’ve messed with everybody else. Why not try this guy, yeah? I have a hunch that we’ll get away with a lot of stuff.”

“I wanna try!” Nico exclaimed, having his hand raised in the air.

“But what happens if he does feel it and question us?” Jyugo questioned, looking unamused by the idea. “This guy was able to knock us all unconscious. He could seriously pound us if we’re not careful.”

“Then why the hell did you escape the cell three days ago saying 'I’m gonna mess with him!’ only to come back by getting kissed.” Uno stated bluntly.

“S-SHUT UP!” Jyugo yelled at him, starting to fume again.

“Come on, it’ll be fun!” Uno said and punched his shoulder lightly. “He’s going to be making his patrol in fifteen minutes. Sooo…”

Uno turned and grabbed one of Nico’s crayons and a piece of paper. Uno drew on it and the guys all surrounded him, wondering what he was doing. Uno held up the paper and chuckled.

“This’ll do…” He said and gazed around the place.

“Isn’t that kinda immature?” Jyugo said unimpressed.

“Oh, I get it now.” Rock said as he began grinning.

“Haha! I get it! Just like those drama animes I’ve seen!” Nico laughed while clapping.

“Now, all I need is tape.” Uno muttered and began looking around the room.

“Found some!” Nico said and handed it to Uno.

“Perfect.” Uno grinned. “Now we wait…”

Uno stood by the door, eyeing the hall for Theo to walk through. And, just like he stated, Theo came just on time. Just as he passed cell 13 without even glancing at it, Uno called for him. Theo immediately stopped and looked at him, looking slightly curious. Uno had to tell by his eyes since his black mask was on this time.

“Yo, Theo!” Uno has called. “Mind comin’ here for a moment?”

“Huh…?” Theo blinked owlishly, clearly surprised.

But, Theo complied either way. He stepped forwards and stood in front of the door, wondering what Uno wanted.

“Is… something wrong?” Theo asked softly.

“I just wanted to talk to ya.” Uno said in an innocent manner. “I may be a criminal but I ain’t all that cold hearted. I just wanted to talk is all.”

Theo’s eyes narrowed at him. “…Talk about what?”

“Let’s talk about your job.” Uno said smirking. “You said you were a criminal, right? Well, why would you want to come back to the place you were imprisoned? I just don’t get it.”

“Well…” Theo mumbled and looked almost thoughtful. “When you have any sort of criminal record, especially mine, then finding a job in society is hard. Yeah, there’ll be people who will take you in, but the pay is low compared to others… I eventually began working on a local farm because the guy knew my family well and took pity on me…”

“So you became a guard?” Uno questioned with a raised brow.

“Yeah.” Theo nodded. “I sent a request to the Warden. She then brought me in, gave me a uniform and mask, and gave me the job. I know how the officers work and I get the jist of their protocol. The pay is a lot higher and allows me to keep a roof over my head…”

“Sounds tough.” Uno commented. “But why Nanba…? Couldn’t you gone to other police stations?”

“You do realize what you’re asking, right?” Theo gave him a flat look. “My criminal record has vandalism, theft, has a violent history, fought against officer arrest, and even broke out of prison every now and then. Who the hell in their right minds would give someone like that a job, especially at a police station.”

“True, true.” Uno nodded. “But that still doesn’t answer why Nanba allowed you here.”

Theo sighed softly and gazed away from him. “After a year of being in Nanba Prison I stopped being a troublemaker. That was when I was officially put into Building 5. At the time there was rumors that people had been handing out drugs through the inmates because they stole them from the infirmary. A lot of inmates knew who I was because I ended up becoming close to them… The officers knew that… So, I ended up becoming their information dealer, you could say…”

“Seriously? Why’d you rat them out?” Uno asked.

“Because those drugs were dangerous.” Theo stated, now looking very serious. “They were hardcore drugs that the inmates stole and mixed them together carefully. Inmates were actually dying because of it. They’re brains were being fried and they weren’t acting like yourselves. Plus, the bastard had been injecting the drugs into unsuspecting prisoners, testing his work out. Twenty-Two people died.”

“Holy shit…” Uno whispered as his eyes were wide.

“That many people?” Rock ask, now standing behind Uno.

“That’s fucked up…” Muttered Jyugo.

“Who would do that? Messing with other people’s medicine and handing it to others isn’t right!” Nico exclaimed, looking slightly fired up. “Some people really need those drugs to survive.”

“That’s why they came to me.” Theo said calmly and crossed his arms as he recalled the memories. “I began investigating before they even asked me to. After narrowing the search and speaking to the right guys, I ended up finding the bastard. Once I found his little drug exhibit I pounded his face in… He killed a lot of good people… I wasn’t going to forgive him, and I still won't… Nobody deserves to die…”

“What else happened?” Rock asked.

“…After I found him I dragged him off to the police.” Theo continued. “The guards took him to the deeper parts of the prison, away from everybody else, and extended his sentence. Not even a week being in there, the guy went mental… He ended up killing himself by choking on his own chains… According to a few guards, it was a pretty fucked up scene. I could only imagine how bad it was…”

“Whoa…” Rock muttered in shock.

“That was wild from start to finish!” Uno exclaimed.

“You asked.” Theo said. “…But, I still feel bad… Those guys passed without even realizing what happened. I knew them all. One of the guy’s had a kid and wife waiting for him back home… He ended up dying because of a psychotic druggy…”

“That’s so sad…” Muttered Nico.

“…It was my first participation with the guards.” Theo added as he placed his back against their cell door. “From then on, I made a promise to those men. I would help the guards prevent an incident like that ever happening again. That’s when I officially became the guard’s information broker on inmates whenever something got fishy…”

“What a noble guy you are.” Uno commented with a light smirk. “I bet a lot of inmates didn’t trust you from then on out.”

“You’d be surprised, heh…” Theo smirked, not like they could see, but he did catch them off guard. “Thanks to my outgoing nature, almost everybody trusted me. They talked to me because I was the only one who would listen. I listened because I knew it would help. Didn’t even realize doing something as simple as that would lead towards everyone liking me… Because of my vital intel I collected, I ended up becoming a type of bigshot in Nanba. I guess that’s why the Warden took a risk in me and gave me the job…”

“Are you okay with that, though?” Jyugo asked in a slightly harsh tone. “Being used only for intel like that? Is it even worth it?”

“Kinda, yeah.” Theo nodded before pushing himself off of the door to face them. “As long as I can be of worth of some kind, it’s worth it…”

“…You’re weird.” Jyugo said before turning around and went deeper into the cell.

“Fair enough.” Theo shrugged, finding what he said amusing. “But I enjoy my job. It’s worth it…”

“I don’t think I could ever change my ways like that and become a guard in the prison I was held in.” Rock muttered and scratched his head.

“Fair enough.” Theo said as his eyes seemed to smile. “Is that all you wanted to ask?”

“U-uh, yeah.“ Uno said and rubbed the back of his neck. ”…Now that I think about it, you really are easy to talk to. That’s freaking creepy, man.“

Theo released a short laugh, which sounded a lot like huffs, as he found what Uno said amusing. He was surprised that their hate towards him from a few days ago had apparently subsided.

"I get that a lot…” Theo said softly. “If that’s all, I need to get back to my job.” He turned towards the hall, but gave the three by the door a pointed look. “You better not escape again otherwise I’m gonna have to chase you guys again. I honestly don’t enjoy beating you guys to death, so please don’t make me.”

“Fine, fine.” Uno waved at him. “But we make no promises for tomorrow!”

Theo sighed softly and shook his head. “I’ll act like I heard nothing…”

WIth that said, he began walking down the hall. Uno, Nico, and Rock watched from the barred window until he was out of sight. Once he was gone, Rock looked to Uno.

“After hearing that story, you still put that paper on his back.” Rock muttered.

“What? I had to do something!” Uno said and began to laugh. “Still, I placed that thing right on his neck! He really didn’t notice, ahaha!”

“Theo’s not that bad of a guy, huh?” Nico said and looked at the others. “Hajime was right when he said we had to know him better.”

“But we never did figure out his full story…” Muttered Rock.

“Who cares?” Grumbled Jyugo as he was laying on the ground. “He could have the most saddest backstory in the world and I still wouldn’t care.”

“Are you still holding a grudge because of some dumb kiss?” Uno asked him.

“Of course I am!” Jyugo yelled at him, now sitting up and shaking a fist. “I don’t care who he is! There’s no excuse for him to kiss someone, especially an inmate he’s in charge of!”

“Yeah, Jyugo does have a fair point in that.” Nico said before looking at Rock and Uno. “Do you think Theo likes boys instead?”

“Don’t ask me, I don’t know the guy!” Uno exclaimed and walked away from the door.

“If he’s as open as he says he is, then maybe you can ask him next time…” Rock suggested, honestly just wanting to change the conversation.

“Okay!” Nico said innocently and went towards the TV.

***

“Oi, Theo. There’s something on your neck.”

“Huh? Really…? I didn’t even know it was there.”

LOSER! ;P HAHA!

'I recognize that penmanship anywhere! Those bastards from cell 13 are screwin’ with him! And he can’t suspect a thing because he can’t feel the goddamn paper! Those little shits…!’

5 notes · View notes

thejakeformerlyknownasprince · 7 years

Note

What do you think would happen if the Animorphs were caught during their first mission?

“You know that old joke,” Temrash 114 says, pacing up and down in front of them, “about how the babysitter keeps getting calls from some asshole who wants to kill her, and eventually she figures out that, all along, the calls were coming from inside the goddamn house?” Tom’s face twists, expression cold with anger. “That’s what my life feels like right about now.”

“It wasn’t a joke, you dumbass,” Rachel mutters, “it was a horror story.”

Temrash 114 shrugs. “Depends on your point of view, I guess.”

“Won’t you get in trouble, then?” Marco asks, expression still sharp despite the blood painting a line from his scalp to his chin. “If Jake was here the whole time and you didn’t even know it? Doesn’t that make you a raging moron?”

“Jury’s still out as to whether we should infest your dad,” Temrash 114 says calmly. “I could just shoot him in the head, save Visser One a lot of trouble with her host.”

Marco clearly doesn’t know what Visser One has to do with anything, but he snaps his mouth shut all the same, face very white.

Jake tunes out everything they’re saying, because it’s not important. What’s important—so important that he can’t even think around it—is that this is all his fault. He can’t believe he was stupid enough, when Marco said that Tom was a controller, to insist on making sure. To refuse to believe what he was hearing in the middle of that Sharing meeting, to have to get closer…

No one looks twice at a dog, he’d said. Unless, of course, the someone was Tom, and the dog was Homer. Unless Jake was stupid enough to wander straight into the loose gathering of controllers on the edge of the beach in the hope that the words he was hearing from his brother’s mouth would somehow prove illusion up close.

Jake was the first one caught, but the roundup after that was brutally fast: they found Marco and Cassie because Tom knew to look for them, whereas Rachel had tried to morph and fight back and Tobias had dived from the sky in an effort to save her. They’re all tied up for the moment while over a dozen controllers point various weapons at them and two people in the next room (the andalite-controller and a human whose voice sounds familiar for some reason Jake can’t place) shout at each other over what to do next.

Jake’s lying the closest to the door, a short ways away from the others—the yeerk inside Tom kicked him over there in disgust—so he can see as hork-bajir-controllers lead his parents, Rachel’s sisters, even Tobias’s uncle toward the stairs that lead down to the yeerk pool. He’s vaguely aware that there are tears running down his face, but he tries his hardest to tune out everything except some possible way to get them all out of this.

Rachel is lying a few feet away from Jake, twisting constantly against the duct tape around her wrists. The only morph she has so far is a horse from Cassie’s barn, but horses can kill people. She could take a few of them down before they managed to catch her…

She feels a cool hand rest on her ankle, and discovers that Tobias is watching her through wide grey eyes. He can speak volumes with a tiny shift of expression, wearing his emotions on his sleeve in a way that makes some part of her desperate to draw him close and protect him. Right now it’s not hard to tell what he’s thinking: that he knows what she’s planning.

Glancing upward at Chapman—or more specifically at the dracon beam in Chapman’s hand—he shakes his head just a tiny bit.

Rachel jerks her ankle out from under his hand. Wasn’t he the one who was going on yesterday about how they have to avenge the andalite who died for them?

“We live,” Tobias hisses, voice drowned out by the shouting in the next room and by Marco, who has started loudly asking questions about one of the voices they can all hear. “We live and fight another day. We’ll have another chance, okay?”

Gritting her teeth, Rachel nods.

It’s a decision they all live to regret. Their bodies rapidly become hosts for high-ranking vissers and sub-vissers, their faces and their voices used in the most horrific possible way.

Essak 1275, who gets Jake’s body, acquires every Earth morph that catches his eye and a few dozen from other planets as well. He gets reprimanded a couple of times, since it’s getting harder and harder to contain Jake during feedings (still not as difficult as Alloran, but no one tells Visser Three to stop), but the yeerk also gets results. The complaints stop around the time he uses Jake to kill and eat over forty leerans while in the shape of a lerdethak.

Marco stops walking—stops of his own accord—the first time they send Visser Twenty-Three into a meeting with Visser One. Eva’s face does something strange and unquantifiable for several seconds before Edriss wrestles it back into harsh neutrality. “Get ahold of yourself, won’t you?” she snaps. Marco’s eyes close, and Akdor 1154 nods.

Rachel screams death threats and other useless words as Visser Eight uses her face and voice to draw in their tenth victim this month. Melissa Chapman, Brittany Grant, and T.T. Malcolm are controllers already. Allison Valencia and Beth Hammond both attend Sharing meetings regularly, and they’re thinking of becoming full members. Rachel’s the most popular girl in her entire class; it’s like taking candy from a baby.

To everyone’s surprise, it’s Cassie who gets the reputation for being the rebellious host. Niss 240 aims a dracon beam at a suspicious-looking bird; Cassie jerks it to the side. Niss starts in on a recruitment pitch; Cassie causes her to collapse on the floor. There’s talk of simply killing Cassie, as reluctant as everyone is to give up on a morph-capable host (and an estreen at that), but the incidents stop happening after Cassie gets transferred to Aftran 942’s control. In fact, Aftran herself seemingly falls off the face of the Earth for a while, because no one seems to know where she is or what she’s up to a lot of the time.

Tobias morphs, one time when Odret 177 is feeding and he’s temporarily unsupervised in the cage, and nothing the controllers do can get him to turn back. He sits there calmly and watches as they fire dracon beams at him, as they throw hot acid on Rachel and Jake, as they threaten to kill his uncle and then carry out their threat. They zap him with picana, with a low-level shredder blast, finally with a nervous system manipulator, but nothing works. He screams, he fights back, he throws himself against the bars of their birdcage until he breaks his own wings, but he doesn’t demorph. Two hours and fifteen minutes into the process, the controllers admit defeat: one of them pulls out a handgun. Tobias dies free.

Essak 1275 starts being sent on hunting expeditions. He’s mostly close-mouthed about what he’s hunting, but all of the highest-ranked vissers know: there’s at least one andalite loose somewhere on Earth.

Reports are conflicting as to whether it’s just one or if the one has support—some of the rumors that trickle in from Nikto 770’s scans of the human media indicate there might be as many as three—but they all know that unless this andalite’s getting help from the humans, there’s no way he’ll blend in for long. The andalite or andalites, meanwhile, have already taken out a water supply ship and a ground-based kandrona supply.

One day Jake reaches through the bars separating the hosts’ cages and grabs Tom on the arm. “Tell the others,” he says. “There are andalites bandits here, and they’re fighting back. Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up. Not while there’s still hope.”

Tom’s eyes widen. “You mean…?”

“I mean the yeerks aren’t winning this war as cleanly as the vissers want everyone to think,” Jake says. “Tell everyone you can: the andalites are out there.”

One day Aftran strides into the yeerk pool, Cassie’s chin held high, an unfamiliar young man walking by her side. Slowly, almost casually, they make their way over to the specialized reinforced cages used to hold the morph-capable hosts. Threatening to kill one Animorph if the other makes an escape attempt seems to work fairly well, so Jake and Rachel are currently chained up across from each other and guarded by four hork-bajir-controllers apiece. Cassie’s hand drops to brush along each cage as she walks by, and as she touches first Jake and then Rachel two tiny red dots fall from her sleeve.

Jake finds himself staring in amazement at the tiny ladybug that crawls slowly across the surface of his hand. He doesn’t know about the hours Cassie and Aftran and Gafinilan spent experimenting in order to discover that ladybugs have the eyes and the wings to get around in a hurry, while also having all toxic creatures’ calm insouciance which renders them easy to carry around. He doesn’t know that the bug on his hand traveled here inside Cassie’s mouth to defeat the Gleet Biofilters, or that this is the final execution of a plan which was months in the making.

He does, however, know what to do. Concentrating hard on the feel of six tiny feet even now resting on the curve of his index finger, he feels the little beetle sag into relaxation. Across the way, a minuscule point of red falls from Rachel’s arm as she finishes acquiring her own set of DNA.

«Please be calm,» an unfamiliar voice says inside their heads. «My name is Aximili, and I am here to help. Prince Cassie is about to set off a diversion. When she does, we need both of you to morph as fast as possible and move toward the northwest exit of the yeerk pool.»

Rachel lifts her head up, shorn hair sliding away from her face, and actually grins at Jake. “Let’s do it.”

The diversion, when it comes, is brutally simple: Aximili starts the sequence that will drain the yeerk pool for cleaning.

Every controller in the vicinity immediately rushes to try and stop him, including the ones guarding Rachel and Jake. They both morph fast and morph small, shrinking out of their restraints as they become hard-shelled and six-legged. Jake takes off for the spot where Cassie is rushing the cages, tiny wings beating hard against the stale kandrona-polluted air, but Rachel goes in a different direction entirely.

Jake and the others might be focused on trying to grab a handful of the hosts and run for it, but Rachel’s here for revenge. She buzzes over the heads of two human-controller guards who never even look up, slots through a tiny crack in the door of the holding cell on the far side of the yeerk pool, and trundles through a crevasse in the two-foot-thick cinderblock walls of the holding chamber. This is where Visser Three’s loyal sycophants hold any monster whose DNA he’s planning on acquiring—and right now the chamber is full.

When she demorphs on the floor, she finds herself face-to-face with an octopus-like creature. If an octopus had a hard exoskeleton and several rows of sharp teeth, that is. If an octopus was fifteen feet tall and had claws on the ends of its tentacles. If an octopus had a gaping jaw and more clumsy limbs than it knows what to do with.

“Hello, gorgeous,” Rachel whispers, and the creature attacks.

She throws herself out of the way of its stabbing claws, dodges a snaking tentacle, and finally flings herself on top of one of its limbs. The creature immediately grabs her, but that’s exactly what she wanted; she presses her skin against its lumpy body (and has to grit her teeth—this thing feels like it’s made of acid) and the creature goes limp, dropping her to the ground.

Rachel jams herself into a far corner focuses on her brand-new set of DNA, ignoring the creature (rancor, her inner Star Wars geek decides to call it) as it continues to do its best to eat this strange invader to its territory. As she swells and hardens, she finds herself gasping in pain—the poor rancor is not adapted to Earth’s atmosphere—but doesn’t let that deter her. The real rancor makes another attempt to grab her and rip her in half, so she reaches out and, with a single delicate tentacle, enters the code on the keypad next to the door that will let them both into the hallway.

Cassie finds herself frozen in shock for several seconds as two aliens—each one the size of a semi-trailer—burst out of a side hallway and immediately start tearing apart every controller within twenty yards. «How do you like me now?» one of them shouts in a very familiar voice, and laughingly tears the roof clear off an enclosure holding a dozen hork-bajir hosts.

The hork-bajir explode outward in every direction, most of them running for the nearest exit, but several stop and begin slashing at controllers. One male hork-bajir who can’t be more than two years old takes a dracon shot to center mass and goes down, weakly crying out in pain; four adults jump on his attacker and begin tearing the man to shreds. Tom and Melissa Chapman are standing back-to-back, firing at anyone who gets too close as they guard the base of a staircase where hundreds of humans and hork-bajir are streaming toward freedom.

Jake, now in some kind of simian-reptilian morph, has broken into a weapons depot and is throwing dracon beams to newly-freed hosts left and right; every minute, the number of deadly beams lancing through the air increases exponentially. «Don’t shoot at anyone who doesn’t shoot at you first!» he keeps saying, but not everyone is listening. Friendly fire is everywhere.

Aximili is out of morph and badly hurt, hooves sliding in the growing pool of his own blood as he uses his tail to fend off two hork-bajir-controllers even as both hands continue to fly across the controls of the yeerk pool maintenance computer. A hork-bajir female Cassie doesn’t recognize is going from cage to cage and releasing ever-more hosts, while a taxxon-controller has set off some kind of alarm that is bringing hundreds of controllers running from every direction to join in the fray. Rachel is grabbing double handfuls of human-controllers and flinging them across the room to land in wet heaps; even as Cassie watches she calmly lifts a taxxon and stuffs it into her mouth as it writhes and screams and pain.

Meanwhile, the water level on the yeerk pool is slowly but steadily dropping.

Cassie hears a soft moan of pain and anguish come from the back of her own throat. She’s not sure if she or Aftran is the one making the noise.

And that’s when Visser Three bursts into the cavern, followed closely by Visser Twenty-Three in Marco’s body. «We got two more morphers!» Jake shouts.

Visser Three takes in the scene all around him, says several very bad words, and then turns two eyes toward his lieutenant. «Kill them!» he orders. «Visser Twenty-Three, kill them all!»

Marco’s head cocks to the side in thoughtful consideration. His hand goes to the dracon beam at his side, and lifts it just far enough to fire a single shot on full power that takes Visser Three’s head off at the shoulders. “Oh, did I forget to mention?” he says, grinning. “Visser Twenty-Three’s been dead for almost a week now. The Peace Movement says hi, by the way.”

Cassie considers the possibility that in freeing him she created a monster. Aftran privately agrees.

«ANYONE WHO’S NOT A CONTROLLER,» Jake bellows in a voice worthy of Visser Three. «STOP FIGHTING. LET’S BLOW THIS POPSICLE STAND!»

Rachel rips a drop shaft clear off the wall, creating a huge opening into the incline beyond. She flings the broken tunnel at a group of taxxon-controllers, laughing when four of them burst open on impact and the others go into a feeding frenzy. Humans, hork-bajir, and the occasional taxxon or gedd are fleeing in every direction now, leaving the Animorphs’ own force dramatically reduced.

Even as she watches, the real rancor grabs a man running for the exit and eats him alive. The beast has gotten in among the hosts now, and—enraged as it is from the constant pain of Earth’s excessive gravity and insufficient nitrogen—it’s killing indiscriminately. «Sorry,» Rachel says vaguely, and then she wraps one of her own tentacles around the rancor’s neck. The ensuing battle is nasty but brief, and at the end of it Rachel’s the only monster left in the cavern.

Three hundred, four hundred, maybe more hosts have already made it outside. Marco has morphed gorilla, and he’s swinging between cages ripping the locks off the few dozen full ones that remain. So far Jake, Cassie, and the handful of hosts assisting them are holding the line, but with every second that goes by the proportion of controllers to non-controllers shifts in favor of the yeerks.

«Let’s go!» Jake calls, collapsing the line steadily backward. There are still hundreds of freed hosts loose in the cavern, still hundreds in the cages, but there’s nothing else to be done to save them. He and Cassie and the others are retreating shoulder-to-shoulder, hosts dropping steadily under dracon fire but being replaced all the while by more volunteers from behind them.

Marco lopes over and joins their bubble, bellowing a challenge all around. The andalite kid who managed to drain almost half of the yeerk pool stumbles over as well, tail flashing out at opponents with blinding speed. Rachel is still halfway across the cavern, but she seems fine, and it’s not like anyone is daring to get close to her.

Jake is ten feet from the stairs, then five feet, closing the bubble all the while, when someone breaks from the line of hosts and sets off running in the wrong direction. «Get back here!» Jake shouts. «Now!»

Tom actually takes the time to pause and flip Jake off, and then turns and keeps running. He disappears from sight amid the fracas.

Jake feels like someone ripped several feet of intestine out of his stomach, but he cannot linger on it. «Cassie, get to the surface and start doing crowd control,» he says. «Ax—mind if I call you Ax?—give her cover. Rachel, get over here! Everyone else, up the stairs now. Marco and I will cover your retreat.»

Several more people run past the line, heading toward the stairs. Jake doesn’t know if they’re controllers or not, and he can’t bring himself to care at the moment, too concerned with making sure that the yeerks don’t break through to the hosts behind him. He moves steadily backward until one of his feet hits the bottom-most stair, and then he starts to demorph. It’s just him and Marco now against about forty taxxon-controllers, both of them bleeding heavily. There’s no sign of Rachel, or of Tom. Marco slips; Jake yanks him to his feet. Jake doesn’t even register the whamwhamwham of gunfire until he looks down and discovers a red hole just above his left hip. He drags himself up another stair, clinging tight to the railing. He’s not even fighting back anymore. Now he’s just a human shield for the hosts behind.

And then an enormous grey-brown tentacle sweeps away almost twenty controllers in one go. Rachel simply flings herself forward onto the enemy line, crushing people with her bulk. She’s missing three limbs, dragging herself on the other five, but she’s still moving.

Tom bursts through the hole in the line she created, carrying a human shape over his shoulder and dragging what looks like a child by the wrist. He shouts something at Rachel, who starts to demorph, still crawling toward the stairs.

Jake makes it outside—with his team more or less intact, no less—even if Marco is mostly carrying him for the last several yards. He morphs amidst a crowd of hosts who are milling around outside of the shopping mall as if looking for direction, demorphs again as the entire herd starts a mass exodus toward the government buildings at the center of town.

They make a very strange picture, this enormous procession of newly-freed slaves marching through the center of town. Many of them are bruised or bloodied. Almost all of them are dull-eyed with shock. They form an unbroken column that stretches nearly two miles in length, this collection of over a thousand humans and hork-bajir and other aliens. Whatever else happens, this is too big for the yeerks to cover up. There are too many of them for the yeerks to recapture them all. The whole block tower is about to come toppling down.

It’s as they’re standing outside while Cassie and Aftran and Ax storm the mayor’s office with news of the invasion that Jake catches Tom again. “What the hell were you thinking, going back like that?” he demands. “If you’d been killed—if you’d been taken again—”

In silent response, Tom lowers the woman he’s still carrying to the floor. Jake registers in shock that it’s their mother, currently unconscious. “I couldn’t just leave her,” Tom snaps.

“Yeah, and what if she’s still a controller, huh?” Jake says.

“Get off his case,” Rachel tells him. She’s holding onto the kid that Tom grabbed as well—it’s Sarah. In this case there’s no question about whether Sarah’s still a controller, given the bruising grip Rachel has on her wrist and the fact that Sarah’s fingernails have already left bloody scratches all over both her sister’s hands.

“Three days from now it’ll be a moot point.” Tom stands up, crossing his arms. “Are you seriously going to tell me I should have left her there? Are you telling me you’re in charge here or something?”

“Of course he’s in charge,” Rachel says, as if this is something everyone agreed upon in a committee. “That doesn’t mean he’s perfect all the time.”

“Wait, what?” Jake’s pretty sure he missed something.

Ax takes that opportunity to stick his head out the door and say, «Prince Jake, the human mayor and Prince Cassie are ready for you now. They’d like you to make a statement.»

“All right, fearless leader, guess you’re needed inside.” Marco slaps Jake playfully on the arm.

Jake turns to Tom as a last resort. “Please tell them I’m not in charge of anything,” he says.

Tom frowns, thinking it over. “You did pretty good back there, midget. I think I’d be ready to follow you to hell and back with only moderate levels of insubordination.”

Jake slowly turns in a circle, registering just how many people are looking at him. Realizing that he’s ragged and barefoot and filthy with dried taxxon guts, but that everyone from the mayor to Cassie to the huge battle-scarred andalite standing over her shoulder is looking at him expectantly.

“If I’m leading this revolution,” he says at last, “Rule number one: nobody’s calling me ‘prince.’”

«Absolutely, Prince Jake,» Ax says, utterly solemn.

#animorphs au #au #asks #answers #anonymous #character death #jake berenson #rachel berenson #tom berenson #oh look i took an unrelated ask and made it ALL ABOUT TOM #that's so unlike me #sol cares too much about the meatsuits

447 notes · View notes