Alley Cat (Ch 4) (Patreon)

Yes, the style of writing will persist throughout the entire story. Though it is difficult to get up to a proper word count like this...

Eyes open, sees ceiling. Not ceiling of Room. Wake up in Lab? New, not same. Close eyes, but new sound! Beep…Beep…

New sound, not Lab sound. Shiver. New… sometimes good. Dark new, good. Liquid new, bad.

No like bad. But sound not hurt? So, good?

Eyes open, slowly. Peek, no turn head. But no see, need turn head. Head turn, slowly. Eyes almost closed, try not let person in new place see awake. No like hurt, no hurt when sleep. Head turn, see new thing make new noise. Not know.

Try move head, see person. Too far, other side of head. Look, know I awake. But… Not Lab. Not Room. Not Hall. New place. No hurt place?

Worry inside, much worry. But… new place, new person? Person no hurt? Maybe. Maybe hurt more. Not know. Much worry. Scared.

New sound not slow now. Not fast, not slow. Hear person move, eyes close. Not want person know I awake. Not want person to hurt.

Person walk, stand beside me. Chest pounds, new noise fast now. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Person speaks, new person. “I know you’re awake. Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Eyes stay close. No know how new person knows I awake. New noise tell? Say not hurt, but maybe not true? Not know. Open eyes, see new person. New person has much hair, like me! Like Doctor. I shiver. New person looks at me, sad eyes.

“Don’t worry, you’re safe now. Nobody is going to hurt you while I’m here.”

New person has hair on face, not like lot of hair on head. Strange. Why hair on face? Hair goes on head! New person raises eyebrow. I ask. “Why face hair?”

Eyebrow twitches, hand goes to face hair. “...Are you asking me why I didn’t shave?”

Head tilts. “What shave?”

Eyebrows go down. “You… don’t know what it means to shave?”

Head shakes. “No.”

Realize new person maybe knows new place. “Where here?”

New person frowns, I flinch. New person not frowning now. Expression not tell what new person feels. “You’re in the hospital. Do you remember what happened?”

I think. Try to remember. New thing! Not try remember often. All things same, so why remember? But many new things, so remember important now!

Face scrunchies, ears and tail flick. Try to remember. Room. Loud noise. Doctor. New place. Much loud. Doctor use hurt words. Dark talks. Much panic. Doctor no use hurt quirk. Sleep.

I nod to new person and smile. “Remember!”

New person not say anything. Looks at me. Waits. “...What do you remember?”

Oh! New person want know! “Loud noises. Doctor bring to new place. Very loud noise by new person. Doctor say hurt words. Very loud person not loud. Doctor try use hurt words. Panic. Doctor no hurt. I sleep.”

New person eyebrows go down, not speak long time. I look at new place. Like Lab, but different. Bed not soft like Room bed, but not table like Lab. Door to new new place, or Hall. Other things not in Room or Lab! Maybe soft thing behind new person. Maybe not soft things next to door.

But other wall! Hole in wall, thing in it. But clear, see new place outside hole in wall! Blue with white things! White things moving across blue thing! But slow. If white things want go, why slow? Maybe not want go, but need go? Sad. Cloth things on sides of hole in wall. What do?

New person finally speaks. “So you heard a loud noise, and the ‘doctor’ showed up and grabbed you. Then she dragged you to the parking garage, where Present Mic confronted her. After she…insulted?...and trapped him, she insulted you? But you used your quirk to protect yourself. Then you fell unconscious. Did I get that right?”

Head tilts, ears flick while think. New person words sound right. Not know all words new person says, but sounds right. But…

“What quirk?” Doctor talks about quirk also, but just says quirk make me strong.

New person face goes weird. “Your quirk?” New person asks, but I ask first!

“What quirk?” I repeat question.

“...Did you not know you have a quirk?”

I frown. I ask same question, but move words. “Quirk, what?”

New person blinks. “Hold on, are you saying you don’t know what a quirk is?”

New person correct! I nod, try to clap. Feeze, familiar sound and arms don’t move. I look down. See new things on wrists, attached to side of bed. Try move hands, new things make noise on side of bed. Hands no move far.

Breathing now faster, new noise faster, new person speaks faster. Chest moves faster. Everything faster, louder. Not listen to new person, eyes only see new things not let hands move. Like Lab. Like Doctor.

Try move feet, feet move. Not trapped. Breathe relief, chest slows. Hear new person now. “-safe. We’re not going to hurt you, you’re safe.” Words repeat, maybe new person head not right? Or ears not right? New person sees I look at new person. Breathes out. “Good. You had me worried for a moment there, kid.”

Kid.

I flinch. Doctor says kid, Doctor hurts. Dark says child, Dark not hurts. New person hurts?

New person look confused. So no hurt? Make body not move. Not try run. Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Chest not fast again, new noise not fast. Noises not loud. Look at new person. “Not hurt? Promise?”

New person look at eyes. “I promise, no one here wants to hurt you.”

I want frown, but don’t. Doctor say not want hurt either, but still hurt. Careful. Run when new person acts like Doctor. Until then…

I nod. “Ok.”

New person breathes out, relief. Stands, I press body into bed. New person sees, not mentions. “I’m going to go ahead and let the d-medical staff know you’re awake. Will you be fine by yourself for a bit?”

I tilt head. “What medical staff?”

New person frowns. They’re the people who are going to make sure you get better.”

I tilt head other way, holding back running urge. “Better?”

New person nods. “We have no idea what that woman did to you, so they’re going to make sure there’s nothing wrong with you.” Meets my eyes with own. “I’ll be in the room with you the entire time they are.”

I stare at new person. Think. Not know new person, but Dark say new people help. New people called…

“You… hero?”

New person look surprised. Nods. “That’s right, I’m a hero. You can call me Eraserhead.”

I hesitate, then nod. “Dark say heroes good. Dark good, safe. Eraserhead, I trust.”

New person, Eraserhead, now not new, hesitates. Nods. “Thank you.” Eraserhead leaves. I wiggle on bed, stare at new things on wrists. I frown. Dark taught control dark. I use dark to break new things, free hands. I rub wrists, smile. Dark leaks into voice. Speak. Voice different.

“I will not be restrained again.”

`~`

Eraserhead sighs as he rubs tiredly at his eyes. “Everything going ok?” He glances over at the hero stationed outside the door, Midnight. It was decided that the two of them would remain with the kid since they had no idea how he would react when he woke up. And given the state the villain was in when they got there…

He shrugs. “Better than it could have been, though there’s clearly going to be lasting damage from whatever he went through.”

Midnight frowns, sending a glance to the door. “They’re still trying to recover any records they can from the computers, but it’s not looking good. Apparently she uploaded a virus to wipe the hard drive before she physically destroyed them.”

Eraserhead groans. “And with her dead and the henchmen not knowing anything, that only leaves the kid. The kid who’s knowledge of the world is less than a child’s.”

She chuckles, waving his complaint off. “Oh, come on. It can’t be that bad.”

He meets her eyes. “He doesn’t know what a quirk is.”

She stops, staring at him with wide eyes. “From anyone else, I’d tell them to stop joking around. But since you don’t have a sense of humor-”

“Oi.”

She continues over his objection. “-does that mean he’s lived his whole life with that woman? But then why kill her?”

Eraserhead sighs. “He calls her ‘Doctor’. No name.” He grimaces. “Couple that with the obvious distrust and how he nearly had a panic attack when he saw he was handcuffed to the bed…”

Midnight breathes in a sharp breath. “Child experimentation.”

He nods. “Child experimentation.”

They share a sigh before Eraserhead signals a passing nurse, asking her to let the doctors know that the kid’s awake. Midnight eyes her long-time friend. “This is going to be a very delicate process, you know that, right?”

“Of course I do.” He pulls out a bottle of eyedrops that he immediately applies, just in case. “He doesn’t know the term ‘medical staff’, so I’ll make sure that they know to use that instead of ‘doctors’. And I’m going to be in the room to make sure nothing gets out of hand.”

She eyes him appraisingly. “Did you take off the handcuffs?”

He rolls his eyes. “Of course not. No matter how much I feel for the kid, the fact of the matter is that he’s still dangerous. You saw what he did to the villain.”

Midnight grimaces at the reminder of how the ‘Doctor’ looked like she was torn apart and pieces of her were missing. They didn’t see what happened, only coming upon the aftermath. At the time they were more concerned with securing the kid and getting him to the hospital since he was unconscious. Not to mention…

“Speaking of, have you gotten any word on Mic?”

Midnight nods at Eraserhead’s question. “Thankfully they managed to peel all of the cement off of him. His skin will be a bit sensitive for a few days, and he’ll have to regrow his ‘mustache’, but he’ll make a full recovery.”

Eraserhead snorts in amusement, then again when his mind goes to what the kid called his stubble. “How’d he react to finding out his ‘face hair’ is gone?” Midnight gives him a confused look so he nods to the door between them, touching his own stubble beard. “It’s what the kid calls facial hair.”

The two share a chuckle before Eraserhead frowns. “Actually… he didn’t seem to know what facial hair was either. Or what shaving meant.”

Midnight blinks, looking at the door with a frown. “That’s… odd.”

Eraserhead nods in agreement before she continues. “There were at least two people in that complex who had beards, so at the least he should have known about facial hair. Did they keep him isolated?”

He frowns, working out his thoughts as he tries to parse through the odd way the kid speaks. “Probably. When I asked him what happened earlier, he didn’t name anything except for ‘Doctor’, used it like it was her name or title. Otherwise he said ‘new place’ and ‘new person’.” His mind recalls something odd, then, and his frown deepens.

“He also told me that ‘the dark said heroes are good’, and that the ‘dark is good’. Like somehow shadows are people.”

Midnight frowns. “That is odd. But maybe his quirk is multifaceted? You know that sometimes there are quirks that cause odd mutations. Maybe he can communicate with shadows, and for some reason his quirk gave him cat ears?”

Eraserhead deadpans at her, causing her to raise her hands in surrender. “Hey, don’t look at me! It’s his quirk.”

He sighs, actually giving it a moment’s thought before shaking his head. “Doubtful. The only shadows he would be able to talk to would be the people there, and only if they were in the same room. None of the people we arrested had a quirk to detach their shadows. And even if they did, why would they tell him that heroes are good?”

He shakes his head as he crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe. “No, his quirk may be multifaceted, but I doubt we’ll figure out what it can do without his cooperation. We just have to help him realize that we’re here to help him.”