The Trials Of Himiko Toga
Chapter Two: Three And A Half Inches/Hero
As much Toga hated school sometimes, during her time spent at the police station, it occurred to her that the station wasn't much of an improvement.
Cuffed to a table, in a room with grey walls, and a stiff metal chair. She had absolutely nowhere to run and was starting to get anxious.
It was quite obvious why she was there after all. She had crippled, and stabbed a man; not saying he didn't deserve it, besides, it seemed as though he had some very unsavory plans for her had she inhaled the Chloroform on that rag.
However that didn't reassure her of her 'innocent' status.
She wasn't quite sure how this would go. The man in question did after all assault her; but she did take it to far, even she could recognize that; especially when she used her disappearance technique.
So instead of overthinking her situation, she just sat there waiting for someone to either come set her free or, attempt to put her away.
Nearly an hour had passed before Vlad King himself entered the room holding a fat tan folder, filled with papers.
"May I?" He asked, motioning towards the chair in front of her, on the other side of the table.
Toga nodded eccentricity.
And so he sat, and began splaying out the papers in the folder for toga to see.
"This is Gregu Danvi." Vlad said, pushing forward the mugshot of the man who had attacked toga.
"He's the perpetrator in a series of murders where all the victims were raped, and then burned alive."
Togas eyes widened with disbelief at what she was reading from the file, thirty two victims in the last two years.
"How come he hasn't been on the news?" Toga asked, seeing as how she listens to it every morning.
"Most of these have taken place in other countries; so far only two have been committed here in Japan. And in an an effort to make the murderer think we'd lost him we kept his name out of the news" He answered, in his gruff voice.
"Huh! And I was set to be his third?" Toga asked.
"It appears that way."
There was a moment of silence before Vlad continued.
"Now... Under normal circumstances you would be arrested for what in this case could be viewed as attempted murder, as well as assault and battery" Vlad began.
And even though it seemed as though there was a "but" coming, Toga's stomach still lurched with regret. This was her idol after all, telling her off for nearly killing the man.
"However given the nature of this man, how he grabbed you first, and not to mention your blades all measuring out to exactly three and a half inches... We're going to let you off with a warning and we'll be confiscating those weapons of yours. Which by the way kid, you didn't hear it from me, but nice craftsmanship!"
Toga nodded, happiness practically radiating off of her. Not only was she getting off with a warning, but her idol was admiring and complimenting her handy work.
"Hey kid? Whaddya wanna do with your life?" Vlad asked in that confusing accent of his.
Toga hesitated before answering. Not only was it out of the blue, but, to give her idol the answer to such a personal question... It was an odd sensation to say the least.
She decided to answer honestly.
"A hero... Not one on the front lines though, I want to be a infiltrator, someone resourceful! Someone who pools and collects data so that the other frontline heros such as yourself, can swoop in and save the day without too much injury to anyone else! I wanna be the butterfly that causes the tornado, the tectonic plate that invokes a tsunami... That's the kind of hero I desire to become!"
Vlad gave toga a look of approval, and stood up. "So a stealth hero eh? You'd be surprised at how much those are in demand these days."
"Yes, a stealth hero! And I've seen the statistics, 8 out of 10 agencies In any part of the world are missing a hero who specializes in stealth!" Toga exclaimed, wishing to prove to her idol that she had researched this path before.
"Right you are lass, I'll be back in a few minutes, sit tight."
Vlad left toga alone in the room; the case file still splayed out in front of her.
Curiosity getting the better of her, she began looking through the various cases and decided the man 'Gregu Danvi' was probably going to die alone and crippled; but the heavens know he deserves it!
Searching further through the files she saw that most women were corner workers, and strippers; the kind of people most lowlife criminals would be in contact with.
However, one victim caught her eye.
The photo of the victim said many things. For one she was probably a single mom judging by how the tired look in her eye seemed refined almost to the point of acceptance. Not to mention her messy green hair, tied back in a single bun, with two uneven strands framing her face. I was a hairstyle similar to that of Toga's yet more refined, more responsible.
Further examination of the photo showed an undying kindness in her eyes, toga decided she most likely had a child.
And if so, it certainly was a great pity that this woman's life had been cut short.
Toga examined this case further more discovering her name was in fact...
"Inko Midoriya?" Toga said aloud, just as the door opened.
"Yes, that was an especially tragic case." Vlad said walking back in holding a folder, and a computer.
"She had a child, probably around you're age in fact. He was devastated at the loss! However Inko had already trusted him to one of her friends were something awful ever happened to her. I suppose her planning worked out well..." Vlad hesitated before sitting down.
Toga felt sick to her stomach knowing that man had done all those unspeakable things to so many women.
"Where is he going? The man who attacked me, and killed these women."
Vlad looked up from his computer.
"Currently he's under strict guard at a local hospital, having his wounds treated and figuring out how serious his paralysis is. Afterwards my guess would be Tartarus, though, in my opinion, he deserves far worse."
Toga sunk back into her chair, waiting for anything further from Vlad before asking...
"You were on vacation in Europe recently?" Toga asked.
"Yes indeed."
"You weren't vacationing at all were you? You've been tracking him!"
"Clever girl! It is true I was tracking him through Europe. However he made an unexpected journey here and so I followed." Vlad said, cracking a small smile, flashing those fangs of his.
Toga returned a fanged smile with greater vigor.
"So, girl? Toga, right?" Vlad asked.
"Yes sir!"
"Your file reads that your quirk is called 'Transformation'. You ingest the blood of another person, and depending on the volume of blood consumed; can become them for selective amounts of time?"
"Yes!" Toga answered eagerly.
"That's definitely an interesting Power and an especially good one for the field you wanna pursue! But what interests me most lass... Is how you never even used it against this man and still won!"
Vlad turned his computer around so that toga could see the screen.
It was footage from this morning! During the fight Toga hadn't even noticed the security camera.
"I watched this footage a good seven times and I still find it shocking, scary, and intriguing how a school girl like yourself is so well versed in combat." Vlad gushed.
"You started only after he had engaged you; making sure that you were only attacking in self defense! Not to mention you hit him in an area that would have caused some serious pain, alas he 'healed' those wounds. However before he attacked again you still gave him ample warnings not to continue his assault!" Vlad critiqued her further.
"But then after that you disappear... And then reappear only a few feet behind him and managed to throw a blade at his spine with such precision it crippled him!" Vlad looked as though he couldn't believe the very words leaving his mouth.
"And then you called the police once you were sure he was subdued, all without using your quirk! Not to mention you were cooperative to every officer who questioned you!" Vlad exclaimed. He took a deep breath and held up a slip of paper.
"Himiko Toga?" He asked.
"Yes sir?" Toga answered.
"How would you like to become my apprentice?"
Toga felt as though she knew that question was coming. What, with him gushing and smiling like he had found his lost puppy. However, it still took her by surprise.
She knew that this was far beyond anything she had ever hoped to her from her idol, and that this was a once in a lifetime chance, and so without further hesitation screamed...
"Yes! Yes of course!"
In that moment Toga felt a sense of euphoria so powerful, that when she jumped up to hug Vlad, her cuffs and the table broke.
It was definitely a happy moment for our soon to be hero!
But alas with every good action, there is an equal opposite reaction.
And as Vlad and toga discussed a plan for getting her into UA high, dark forces were at play, germinating a seed of destruction, one that if nurtured with care... would bring about the fall of the most esteemed school in all of Japan.
And that seedlings most prominent feature was a streak of black slicing it's way through his shoulder length golden hair.
