15 Interlude: Aiko Hasson

Sitting here, surrounded by so many Heroes and even Director Balvan, I can't help but feel out of place.

Because Despite what Ethan and Luke would say, I really don't think I'm fit to be Heroes like they are.

I mean, look at Ethan, he is compared to 𝘓𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥 himself and even if Luke isn't that good with his powers as Lost, he still manages to make the people around him feel safe and happy.

Then there's me.

Too nervous to even act like a hero and too weak to fight villains.

It's supposed to be me giving the report on our encounter with the new vigilante Tear and the fight that followed, but instead here I am, head bowed and silent as Emma gives the report for me.

Just like how when we actually met the odd vigilante, she had to do all the talking as I just stood there like an 𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵 that just can't ever figure out 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰!

But that does make me think about our meeting.

The new vigilante is... weird.

At the start, she seemed super nice and friendly and honestly I really liked how bubbly she was.

She just seemed so.. 𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 and she has a confidence that I could only silently admire, too shy to speak up and leaving Emma to do all the talking for me.

I should find the time to apologise to her. I know she's technically been a Hero longer than I have, but I am still older than her, I should be the responsible one, not the one acting childish.

But I did manage to give the recruitment speech we're supposed to give if we meet an unaffiliated cape!

Even if I did kind of bumble the words a little, at least Tear pretended not to mind, I appreciated that.

But she declined, something I think is completely understandable really, government work isn't for everybody, I mean I'm only really here due to circumstance in the first place.

Then things started going badly when Emma accused Tear of murder, which I didn't really want to bring up and I probably should have stopped the conversation then and there.

Maybe then...

But I didn't, and they kept arguing, well, Emma was arguing, Tear seemed to be having fun.

Then Tear really started 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, and I don't think I can ever forget what she said.

A Hero doesn't have to be 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥.

A Hero 𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴.

Those words hit me hard, because it's true, isn't it?

A Hero gives up their own lives for the sake of strangers.

But I don't want to die.

Why should I? When they have never done anything for me?

I don't think I make a very good hero.

Even with how little attention I'm paying to Emma's report, I notice how much of the conversation she omits and I can't help but think that Tear's words must be effecting her just as much as me.

Emma is, after all, a lot more emotionally invested in this whole hero business.

I remember finding it odd when we finally got to the fighting to see that Dovah was out with Dynamite instead of Matchstick, since they are supposed to be together most of the time.

It was only after the fact that we found out that Matchstick was killed by Tear before we even got there.

I felt nothing hearing about his death.

Matchstick has many cases of arson pinned to him and plenty of deaths attributed to him. If he is to kill, then no one should complain if he gets killed himself.

However, I know that I can't say these thoughts out loud, not here.

Just another reason for me to not fit in.

But we didn't really have the time to think about it before we had to fend off Morrigan and Dovah.

Not that that was particularly hard, what with my crowd control and Emma's offence. The only thing that made the fight take as long as it did was Dovah's ability to push back Emma's fire.

But with me there to delay him, the fire got closer and closer until he had to run away.

Meanwhile Morrigan just turned into a bird and flew away, there wasn't really much we could do about that.

It's only now that Emma is nearing the end of the report to I clear all these thoughts from my head and actually pay attention to the meeting.

"-and then we moved over to where Dynamite and Tear had been fighting to see both of them facing off against each other, Tear standing on a pair of tendrils and Dynamite fully metal. Seeing that Tear was covered in blood and given how we were unaware of her apparent regenerative abilities, I made the decision to join the fight, hoping to avoid needless casualties."

She says that, but I know that she didn't interfere to help Tear, but rather hoped to just take the both of them down, and that leads to the most interesting part of this whole thing.

"However, Dynamite seemed to have notice us too early for my fire to do much to him before he could escape, Tear however was engulfed completely."

Here, Emma pauses, understandably really, since what happened didn't really make much sense.

"When I dispersed my flames, we found Tear in the same spot, unharmed and only slightly singed... my flames did not hurt her."

Now 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 sends an almost visible ripple of murmuring and frowns through the room.

Rather understandably, since as far as I am aware, Emma's fire burns hotter depending on ones 'sins'. It's like literal karmic retribution and it's part of what makes Redemption such a promising up and coming hero.

Because all villains have committed 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 kind of 'sin', just imagine how effective her flames would be against the likes of the Slaughterhouse Nine.

However, even heroes have been burned by her flames, even if only slightly in most cases.

Which leads to the conclusion that maybe Tear is even less of a 'sinner' than everyone here at this table.

Of course, that really depends on how her power defines 'sin'.

Then of course, there is the 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 theory, as Carol is quick to point out.

"This just adds further proof to what I've said before about Redemption's fire. It cannot somehow judge karma, but rather it would be more accurate to say that it burns hotter the more guilt you feel."

It's a solid theory, and it actually makes more sense than something as arbitrary as karma being real, however it does bring about it's own problem if it's true.

"If that's the case," Ben starts, bringing attention to the only thinker present, even if his power as Cousin doesn't really apply here, "then this 'Tear' must not feel any guilt, despite having literally just killed someone, and on top of this it means that she has never felt guilt in her 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, except for maybe once. That leaves only one possibility for the kind of person our new 'vigilante' is."

Nobody gets to call him out on making this more dramatic than it needs to be by pausing needlessly because Emma is already impatient and clearly just wants to leave already.

"Well? Get to the point already!" She snaps, and it shows how everybody agrees with her since no one pointed out how she should be showing more respect to her seniors.

Coughing lightly to himself, Ben does get to the point.

"She is insane." He says, immediately elaborating before anyone can ask him to this time.

"Everybody feels guilt at some point, even if it's something you forget about, you still 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 the guilt at some point, and we've already got enough evidence to suggest that Redemption's power is retroactive, meaning that even if you don't feel guilty 𝘯𝘰𝘸, her power can still burn you.

"For Tear to only be 'slightly singed', to the point that even her clothes are basically untouched, it means that she has lived her whole life without feeling guilt once, not even from small, meaningless things we feel bad about in the moment only to immediately forget. This could only be possible in someone who simply does not care about... well, anything really, ergo, she is insane."

As he finishes, nobody jumps to be the next person to speak, simply absorbing his words.

Personally, I think he's making her sound worse than she is. In my opinion, she is just not the kind of person to feel guilt, like, the 'no regrets' kind of person, who lives her life and accepts everything as it comes, focusing on the future rather than dwelling on the past.

Besides, why should she feel guilty about killing a villain? I don't think I would.

"Definitely insane," Emma agrees, "she seemed to take the whole situation as some kind of game, not to mention the way she talks and the literal clown mask, I'm pretty sure she is only a vigilante because it's what she finds amusing right now rather than any moral basis."

I think Emma's still just upset with Tear and is being petty.

"Potential insanity aside," Tiamat says, forcibly taking control of the conversation, "we should focus on the threat Tear poses should she decide the life of villainy to be more entertaining."

I'm not sure how I feel about Tiamat as a person. Don't get me wrong, as a cape she's 𝘢𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦, one of the best, there's a reason she got the name Tiamat, mother of monsters, though I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be offensive to call case 53's like her monster capes, her being the strongest 53 shouldn't change that.

Still, despite that she seems kinda petty, and rather prideful. It gets kind of annoying how she is constantly trying to one up Bungee to take his position as leader of our Protectorate branch.

Though, to be fair to her, she really does deserve the position, but people are superficial at the best of times and her freaky, it feels mean to say freaky but it really is daunting to look at, dragon head and tail means that she is unlikely to ever get a higher position.

It's pitiable really.

With the question of threat rating coming up, it's Yumiko's turn to speak because even if her 'fox fire' isn't exactly a thinker power, she is really good at coming up with accurate threat ratings.

"Changer four, Brute three, thinker one and mover one." Is all she says before going to her phone where I just 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 she is shitposting on PHO.

However, Ben frowns at her words, "Thinker one? Where did thinker come from? She seems to be a changer/brute through and through?"

Yumiko meets his uncertain words with the kind of expression you would give to a particularly dumb child, before she gives an exaggerated, put upon sigh and sits up, leaning forward slightly.

"Because," She drawls, "if you were paying attention, you would know how despite following from a good distance, Tear managed to sense the approach of Redemption and Pop Step behind her. If I had to guess, it would be some variant of danger sense that lets her know if someone is watching her or something."

Done with her bit, she flops back into her chair and goes back to ignoring us, but Ben doesn't seem satisfied.

"Why does it have to be a variant of danger sense, and not just danger sense?" He asks, making Yumiko sigh, however she doesn't look up from her phone as she answers this time.

"She was covered in her own blood, Dynamite doesn't have a mover rating, Tear's faster, you do the math dumbass if she had danger sense she wouldn't have been so messed up."

The rest of the meeting was mostly boring stuff, we briefly covered the events after Dynamite got away where Tear beat us both down, but I'm just glad that we didn't have to dwell on it, the decision being that it wasn't something we have to hold a grudge for, nor is it necessarily an indication of open hostility.

Still, it can't help but make me think about how quickly and easily me and Emma were both put down by just a low brute.

However, for once instead of simply cursing my weakness, I try to think about what I could do better.

Unfortunately, I come up with a blank for the rest of the day until I am in my room and see a little note on the desk.

It's the number from that woman that seemed oddly interested in the specifics of my power a month or so ago.

...Maybe I should finally give her a call? She might have some more ideas for my power, I mean, I never thought about the velocity thing she mentioned last time and how I might be able to stop someone from falling to their death with it.

...Yeah, I guess I'll give her a call in the morning.

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

This chapter also beat me up, because the page refreshed randomly and deleted a bunch of work :(

Made me so mad I paced around and started working out lol.

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