[ap]

      chapped lips parted to release a choked cry, cathal nudging the back of his head against the table as he writhed in pain. his movements only heightened the sensations traveling through his veins on both arms, spiking his heartbeat for several moments. somewhere in the muddled brain, cathal was able to have the rudimentary thought that now he’d have to purchase a new set of gloves thanks to the hole aradia just put in the ones he was currently wearing.           it took a good minute or two for the ginger to coax his body to relax despite the trauma being inflicted upon it. emerald hues blinked open, stinging from the sensation of having shut them so tightly in reaction to the nails. god, shit, this damned woman! she sure could play nasty when she wanted to.                         “hope th-those…. nails aren’t rusty. it’ll b…                            be your f… f-fault if i die from a mere infection.”               fuck, it hurt to even talk with the strain. the trembling returned to cathal’s hands, even the one currently pinned to the table. maybe for that snarky remark she would surely put the heretic’s fork against his throat now. cathal’s head titled to the side so that he could look at the woman next to him. his gaze moved up and down her frame before settling back on her face, which was contorted in irritation.             “caoimhe w-would be so dis….appointed to f-find out that you exhibit such a level of kink w-with her son. or did you do this with my m-mother as w-well?”                  ah, the stuttering was becoming heavier… though that notion was lost to cathal when aradia suddenly dropped the hammer on the trolley with a loud clang. she disappeared from his vision, the sound of a door opening creaking out. seems like he really hit a hard nerve on her with that. silence filled the room as the ginger waited, wondering where she had gone, what she was doing.                 now that the presence of darkness was gone from his immediate vicinity, cathal could feel his natural powers start to slowly mend around the nails. shit that wasn’t good. it was going to pose a problem later no doubt. eyes closed in a moment of rest until he felt a bag start being shoved around his head. she returned? quiet as always. a sense of panic arose when he realized the bag was quite heavy in weave and he knew then what was about to happen. his least favourite torture method.                       “w-wait—”

          labored breathing echoed into the air as cathal brushed the back of his hand against his mouth, smearing blood unintentionally. the beatings he took made it difficult to breathe, making him wonder just how much internal damage he had taken despite most of the punches being targeted at his face. his own body continued to create the green mist that signified the suppression. unfortunately, while aradia’s own quirks were now useless to her, cathal’s copied light quirk was about to become the same since the suppression also cut it off.               he wasn’t as physically strong as the older woman, but at least they were now both seemingly quirkless, leaving them to duke it out hand-to-hand. or so he thought. four daggers flew towards him, leaving cathal little time to adequately dodge. two of them dug into his arm, causing him to yelp in pain.           the blades were yanked out without hesitation and flung back at the woman, though they missed their target. when she darted forward, so did he, closing the gap between them. at the last moment, cathal dipped low to the ground, bending at the knees. as her fist flew above his head, the teen brought his right shoulder forward and slammed against the woman in a tackle, bringing both of them down.            he felt himself being harshly kneed in the stomach, his body flipping in a toss as aradia kicked him away. cathal rolled and tumbled before coming to a stop, struggling to get to his knees at the very least. one of the daggers caught his eye, lying just a few inches to the left. he snatched it just as aradia appeared, flinging the blade up and towards the woman in an attack. if she didn’t want to play fair, then he would do the same thing, using her own weapons against her.

           before he could get the chance to react, cathal found himself being thrown down, the grip on his face tightening. his head met the ground so hard that it caused a momentary of blindness, followed by stars and swirls. pain shot through the back of his skull to the rest of his body, igniting his nerves. a warmth flooded cathal’s face as a new timer set off for recopying the woman’s quirk, much to his relief. one hand moved to grip aradia’s wrist, heating up his hand with the white flame.               a strangled noise escaped her as she pulled back her burned wrist, managing to keep steady as she straddled the boy. a fist collided with cathal’s cheek, and then again, and again, the movements too fast for him to try and shield his face properly. blood pooled in his mouth, spurting out to the grass with each hit. cathal nudged his right elbow against the woman’s right knee, then bucked his lower body suddenly, throwing her slightly forward, feeling the dirt fly as her fist came in contact with the ground instead of his face.           he turned on his side, sticking his leg out to push aradia’s own leg away from his body. cathal threw his other leg over to trap her foot, scooping her leg between his, elbowing her knee again as he slid his body away. his hand moved to an under hook, then he locked his feet in a half-guard and pushed his body against hers, hand slinging to her back to aid the push. as aradia toppled to the side, cathal released his hold on her and moved backwards, away from the other.            disorientation hit him in a nauseating wave, forcing the teen to fall back as he attempted to stand. he lit both of his arms with the white flame, then hardened it into the armor he had done earlier, bringing them up to protect his face as the woman pounced on him again with a snarl.

      he should’ve known that aradia would resort to the cheap tactic of talking about his family. she had laughed at him, just as he suspected, though was surprising that she appeased his request. only to throw shade in his direction. cathal made sure he moved and paused whenever she did, trying to keep the distance between her and his classmates. isn’t it about time one of them woke up, just like owhi?? having to keep an eye on their well-being and aradia at the same time was stressing him out.               then again, pro heroes had to do much more than that. if cathal couldn’t even manage to protect his own classmates while staving off a villain, then what right did he have to try and become a hero?          aradia’s remark about siblings he didn’t know about caught cathal off guard for a moment, dark hues shifting to the side. the sad part was that he totally believed her. his parents were the type of people to kill their own children… he knew that so intimately himself, as he almost died to them as well. regardless, he had escaped that life, and he worked so hard to deserve this second chance. even if his classmates found out about him, he would still protect them. even if the pro heroes found out…                     “i… am n-nothing like my parents. i’ll never be like them.”            did he believe his own words? part of him did, but just how much of genetics really played in developing a person? would he some day fall into the wrong path and become like them? so long as he was alive, they would keep coming after him, and that could work to his advantage if he managed to become a hero. cathal looked back up towards the woman across from him, fingers curling.            “they made one m-mistake. they didn’t kill me when they sh-should have. now i will work to m-make them regret th-that by becoming what they d-detest the most.                                                                      a hero.”

       brows knitted as aradia went wild at the ground, evidently more fired up than usual. he hadn’t expected for her to start digging a hole so she could get better access to destroying the shield. it seemed he was always one step behind her. cathal lowered his hands, allowing the shield to shimmer away into nothing, freeing the woman from the faulty prison. he knew that she was well aware of the fact that he didn’t know how to use the light quirk to its full potential. and that was going to be a handicap.            as she rose to face him, ready to keep their fight going, cathal swept one hand to form a barrier around his unconscious classmates to keep them safe. ah, well safe for as long as it would hold. he really didn’t want to fight, but he had no choice. perhaps he could use his suppress ability to slow her down when she came for him. that would at least put them on a slightly even playing field.           maybe… maybe he could keep her talking long enough until owhi came back with any of the faculty members. it confused him as to why they weren’t here in the first place, knowing aradia had busted into a training session. had she conveniently taken care of the teachers before showing face here?? if so, then they wouldn’t be able to come, and owhi would have to find a way to contact the pro heroes of the city.            cathal wasn’t sure he had the ability to keep aradia distracted for owhi to do that. it would take him approximately six to seven minutes to scour the school to realize the faculty members couldn’t help. then even longer to get a pro hero or two. and he was already two minutes in on the ten minute limit before the light quirk stopped, rendering him unable to fight once again.                     “how about w-we… talk… this out?”          okay, yeah that was more pathetic sounding than he expected. it even made the teen wince, knowing the woman was going to laugh at him.

    his attention was on her, watching her every move. he knew one of his classmates was now awake, and therefor that meant they were going to be in more danger. however, if it hadn’t been for them distracting her, cathal knew he would’ve died. he had one of her quirks, something based on light. could he form barriers? could he shoot bolts? there was definitely a blinding effect to it, which was useful…         the woman stood, and though she had been tossed back pretty hard, it appeared as though the attack barely did anything to her, much to cathal’s frustration. with his left hand, the brunette curled his fingers, producing the white flame again. he noted the sudden shift in aradia’s attitude when she noticed the flame. her words rang out before her figure moved towards him. what exactly was this quirk that caused her to become so angry at cathal using it?? a thought for another time.           the teenager took a step back, then to the side, flinging his left arm out and up in a diagonal motion. light appeared, shimmering as it formed into a shield. unfortunately, it had been done too slowly to gain any real structure as the woman pierced through it with a simple punch, shattering it into a million glinting shards. cathal dodged to the side as she swung her other fist at him.             it concerned him that she moved so ridiculously fast, concluding that she had perhaps stolen a speed quirk of some kind. he wasn’t equipped to deal with that sort of thing, even with all the torturous training his parents put him through. he had to think fast, otherwise he’d end up with a hole in his face.              he lit up his entire left arm with the white flame before solidifying it as a sort of protective armor. aradia lashed out at him again just as he brought his arm up to shield himself from her attack. as her fist hit the armor, cathal snatched her wrist with his other hand before tugging and turning his body. with all the strength he had, the teenager moved forward and flung the woman as hard as he could.             the moment her wrist left his hand, cathal stumbled back and raised both of his hands, the armor disappearing. when aradia landed, he formed a prison-like bubble around her, light gleaming in small circles along the shield. though his gaze didn’t leave the woman, he acknowledged the classmate who was now awake. thankfully it was his adoptive brother, and he knew the other teen would listen to him.                 “owhi… i n-need you to go get any and every f-faculty member. i’ll p-protect everyone else wh-who’re still unconscious. go!”

      it wasn’t expected. none of this was. he’d tried so hard to hide, to remain keep a very very low profile on his actions and whereabouts. yet somehow this woman had managed to find him. did this mean his parents also knew where he was? that notion elicited fear deep within his soul, but it was one that would have to be dwelt on at another time. right now he was in grave danger. not only him, but also his classmates who were currently unconscious.          the hands around his throat were tight, cutting off his oxygen supply at an alarming rate. the quirk he had copied off a while ago had long run out, leaving him without a proper means to defend or attack. not to mention his hands were pinned to his side, preventing him from copying the woman’s quirks, whatever they were at the moment. she was smarter than him, which is why she also wore gloves and clothes that covered almost every area of her skin, leaving him without the chance to use his quirk on her.             was this how he was going to die? at the hands of this monster?? well, it was certainly better than his parents, right? the lesser evil… though to say aradia was less evil than his parents would cause extreme misunderstanding. cathal attempted to move his body in a flailing motion, though found it quite difficult to do, as the woman was using all of her strength to keep him against the ground.           he could see her lips moving, though his senses were being clouded over from the lack of air in his lungs rendering him unable to hear what she was saying. just as he thought he was going to pass out, there was a shift in her weight and a flick of her attention momentarily distracted. using that opportunity, cathal pulled one arm free and slapped his hand across her face. a pulse warmed his palm, letting him know he had successfully copied one of her quirks.           without hesitation, the young teen moved his hand to her shoulder and released the power that had been brewing. a blinding flash of light surrounded them before the woman’s entire body flung back from the attack. cathal let out a loud gasp, desperately sucking in air as relief washed over him. it hurt to move, but he forced himself to do so anyway, leaning up on one arm as he produced a white flame in the palm of his other hand, trying to assess the quirk he had copied.            one that appeared to have to do with light, not fire. first it had been a beam, now a flame. he hadn’t ever copied a quirk like this before, nor had he seen one like it. where had she stolen this one from? cathal struggled to get to his feet, fingers curling to get rid of the bright flame which had been conjured. already his mind was sifting through what he would be able to do with it and how he could use it to his advantage.

       the flinch from the stab couldn’t be helped. neither could the strained noise that escaped from his lungs, allowing the woman to know he had most certainly felt both penetrations to his arm. she had acted pretty fast after her comment in regards to his mother, not allowing him a chance for a retort. cheeky bitch.           a slight tremble had begun to take over the man’s arm, though it wasn’t enough to warrant any immediate concern. his tolerance for pain was pretty high thanks to all he had endured in the past. though it certainly hurt, it was a fleeting sensation, his heartbeat remaining steady and calm. no doubt the woman was going to rip open his arm and poke about every vein and muscle there was to see.          unfortunately, death of blood loss was not high on the list of ways to kill the ginger. he could spill copious amounts of blood and still be pretty ok, thanks to his rapid regenerative power. natural self-healing was a reason aradia bothered to torture him in the first place. a perfect specimen for her deranged play time. cathal’s fingers stiffened and curled slightly as he repeated a silent mantra in attempts to relax.               “i could use a p-pillow. really… after all this time… you still haven’t r-realized that your guests could… b-benefit from one? a terrible hostess. what would my m-mother say if she saw you now?”           that remark earned him two more stabs to the arm, clearly having ticked the woman off in some manner. a clanking sound against metal alerted cathal that aradia had decided to switch toys, and it was felt almost immediately. a searing pain shot across his skin as the warmth of blood pooled along the lengthy incisions that connected to each hole left by the pick.                okay, that he most definitely felt.

        a raspy voice echoed through the speakers all across the establishment, alerting the mercenaries of the latest point capture update. gold reflected against the sunlight, the small ticker moving slowly around the numbers. screams of war filled the air, the usual noise that drowned out just about everything else out, including the ability to hear one’s own thoughts. day in and day out it was the same, repetition playing kin to a record on repeat, or groundhog day. whichever one thought of first.           today was a particularly slow, sweaty mission, seemingly as though neither team wanted to work. would it kill the industries to give them a day off here or there? a deep sigh bubbled, sweat causing the man’s neck to itch. gloved fingers pulled at the collar of the blue suit, attempting to fan himself whilst he waited.           for what? who really knew… anything. perhaps nothing. chattering filtered through the communicator piece nuzzled comfortably in the merc’s ear, allowing him to listen in to the conversations amidst his teammates. it ranged from the usual plan ideas, positioning, uber calls, etc. most of the time he played off of the calls, popping in and out whenever the team absolutely needed him.           however, it seemed as though there wasn’t a need for him quite yet. until static interrupted the rest of the voices. static accompanied by bits and pieces of someone’s desperate pleas for assistance. the signal was so terrible that he was barely able to make out the location the individual was stammering out. it was a voice that the mercenary instantly recognized even with the constant cutting out. admittedly, the person was one of his favourites, and it looked like duty was calling.             with haste, cathal made his way through the map, though he knew it wouldn’t take long to reach his fellow teammate in need. luckily when the distress call came in, he was somewhat near their location. well, closer than any other blu members anyway. in a matter of minutes (three minutes and sixteen seconds to be exact), he finally reached the location where his teammate was, or rather should be. oh, and would you look at that– he was here. being cornered by an enemy no less.              a red medic? daring to fight blu one? well, sad to say, lenny wasn’t exactly the most aggressive medic around, and he failed often in properly defending himself. too much of a passive individual to be working for the industries, so why he even playing war?? a story for another time maybe. right now, lenny needed the spy’s help, and he wasn’t about to let an enemy bring harm to his medic.               sneaking up, cathal twirled his knife between his fingers before gripping the handle and raising it. green hues flicked to lenny’s face, which contorted in surprise as the medic’s gaze rested on him, giving him away. just before the knife could fall into the neck of the enemy, they swirled around, a glint of silver flashing in cathal’s peripheral until he found the blade of an ubersaw pressing against his neck. the only thing that truly stopped him from stabbing away was the visage of the red medic.              an all-too familiar face.

          grin split pale lips, hands raising in surrender. ah yes, the very familiar face of yet another mercenary he had come to like over the years. normally the woman donned a blue uniform, not the ghastly red that clothed her now.             “miss gallienne.” her name played on his tongue with a hint of affection and humor. “i th-thought you were stationed at borneo.”

     ah, the mission had already started. just her damn luck, right? it seemed as though every time she was transferred to a new base, it was always either close to the starting of the mission, or in the middle of it. this left her with little to no time in acquainting herself with her temporary teammates, and that often caused some unnecessary animosity towards her. it wasn’t her fault, honestly. it wasn’t like she wanted to pop in really late. unfortunately, the administrator didn’t like her, and thus no doubt found it quite humorous subjecting her to scowling looks of new mercs.            hell, even if aradia attempted to latch on to one or two people, they always found ways to ditch her by herself. what good is a medic if they didn’t have someone to heal? well, whether it was lucky or not, aradia learned from an acquaintance, the joys of what being a battle medic was all about. these days, until she managed to befriend one or two mercenaries on her team, the woman put to use her weapons, as shitty as they were... today was no different.           none of her teammates even spared a glance in her direction, letting her know they had no intentions of helping her or allowing her to help them. all fine and dandy, she’ll just be over here minding her own business. being alone wasn’t new to her.         as the cries of war rang all across the map, the woman took to exploring it, trying to familiarize herself with the ins and outs. there was an alert on the speakers of the enemy team capturing the point, though she paid no heed to it. it didn’t matter to her whether or not the blu team won. if she came across an enemy, aradia knew how to defend herself well enough. she’d be lying if she said killing didn’t give her a rush, being able to out-play someone bigger or meaner than her. was she becoming just as blood-thirsty as rita?? god she hoped not.          careful maneuvers brought the red medic to what appeared to be a somewhat secluded area void of any life, judging by the splatters of blood along the walls and ground. that is until she heard a faint cry somewhere ahead the way. following the distressed noise, aradia found herself upon a blu mercenary being cornered by one of her own teammates, cowering in a familiar way. ( it wasn’t often that a mercenary of war cowered before an enemy, for everyone was far too proud )          leaning to the side to better catch a glimpse of the unfortunate sap, she recognized the enemy instantly. leonard o’malley. a dear dear friend of hers. as rita always told her, too many times, the best part of the industries is that they allowed team killing. this tidbit had helped aradia in the past, and it was going to help her now. plucking an arrow from her belt, the red medic snuck up on her teammate, pulling red gloves off. being shorter than this merc, she had to hurl herself upon them, digging the tip of the arrow into their exposed neck, blood spurting.             gripping either side of their head as the mercenary stumbled back, aradia used her strength to twist to the side, snapping their neck. both red members collapsed to the ground in front of the trembling blu medic, who could only stare in surprise. it took a moment before aradia heaved herself up off the lifeless body, pulling the arrow out with a nasty sounding ‘shlck’. her attention shifted to her friend, a relieved smile painting both of their faces. aradia started to close the distance between them.           “holy shit, lenny, are you ok? i didn’t know you were stationed here! does that mean talone is here with you as well? i haven’t seen you guys since coldfront.”          before her friend could respond, his eyes widening and flicking to her right shoulder, alerting the woman of an enemy sneaking upon her. the arrow in her hand was dropped, only to be replaced by the ubersaw. pivoting, aradia’s arm flung out, stopping just before the blade could slice the neck of the one behind her.

《 ᴷᴬᴮᴸᴼᴼᴵᴱ﹗》

❛ Cannae say no to an offer like that.

I thought I smelt su’hin’ sweet passin’ these halls. ❜

( Free food?  And he was in no way intended to make it himself? He couldn’t say no to that. 

Obliging her request, he pulled out a chair and took seat. )

❛ Aye, sure. Why not? What’s the occasion? Nae’b’dy cooks ‘round here without some kinda ulterior motive. ❜

《 ᴷᴬᴮᴸᴼᴼᴵᴱ﹗》

❛ Dae ken what that has to do wi’ anythin’ but am no gonnae say no ta that offer. ❜

shifting the bags she was carrying to one side, josephine managed to unlock the door to her apartment and pushed it open with her hip. “hey, sorry !!” she greeted, scanning the room for her son and the other. “i know i was supposed to be back an hour ago, but sophia had to leave early so i picked up her tables.” and the extra money was definitely needed. she dropped her keys down and placed the food containers beside them. “i brought food back for the three of us, if ya want it ?? kinda m’way of sayin’ sorry for leavin’ ya alone with tate for longer than expected.”