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Rena went pale. She squeezed the feather even harder before she let it go. How? How could he possibly know? She hadn't even met this man before. Did he have x-ray vision or something?
“Um. What do you mean?” Rena gave a nervous chuckle. Keep your cool Rena.
“I think you know what I mean. Your readings are… different,” he said, glancing at a chart on the desk in front of him.
“Readings? What are you talking about?” Rena snapped.
The man let out a sigh. “Everyone has a certain base code to their existence. That code ties them to their ‘home’ world. For example, everyone in this world has the same code, whether they have a quirk or not they all have the same base code. Yours is different. So that means you are not from this world.”
Rena just blinked at him. Could she play this off like she didn't know? Maybe I could just say I have no idea. Throw a theory that I just woke up here one day. I could just say I had amnesia and forgot my past.
Rena was lost in thought, she didn't notice he had stood up and walked over to her. She snapped herself out when she felt a hand grab her arm and a needle pierced her skin.
“Ow! What the! What are you doing??” she yelped as he drew some of her blood.
“Drawing some blood. I'm going to do some tests. I'm a scientist so I need answers and you… Are a mystery I want to solve.” he said looking up at her.
Rena had enough of this already. She was getting pissed. Rolling her eyes she scoffed “You could at least introduce yourself before you go and take someone's blood. That's kind of rude, you know.”
The man just looked at her, holding the vial of her blood, with such a blank face. Seriously, does he make any expressions?
“Kage,” he said plainly. “Figured you'd caught that when Dabi said it.” He turned around and walked to the lab counter. He took out a petri dish and dropped a pinch of her blood on the glass. He moved it under the microscope and began to examine her blood.
Rena was just dumbfounded. She didn't know what she could do. One wrong move and she'd be in deep trouble. “Well.. It's not like I trust anything that guy says. It's better to hear it straight from the source. Besides, half the time he calls people by random nicknames.”
Kage was silent for a moment as he looked through the microscope. He leaned back and wrote something down on a piece of paper. “You followed him here.”
“Huh?” Rena let her arms fall to her side.
Kage continued to write on the paper as he spoke. “You say you can't trust anything he says, yet you followed him here.”
Oh. Good point. “True, but that doesn't mean I let my guard down.”
“You let your guard down just now,” he said, turning around, still with no expression. “Why?”
Well despite your expressionless face, I don't feel like you'd kill me on the spot. “I…I don't know. I guess your question just surprised me. I mean another world?” She chuckled lightly.
The expressionless man's face finally curved into something, that something was annoyed. “Miss, I'm not stupid. I trust my research and I've done enough to know there are in fact other worlds. To solidify my theory…. I, myself, am from another world.”
Rena felt her stomach drop. Man, it was sure making its rounds, this should be an Olympic sport at this rate.
“You… You're from another world?!” Rena yelped in shock.
“Don't act surprised. I'm not the only one either. I just happened to come here by mistake. The other 3 I'm not so sure.” he deadpanned.
THE OTHER 3? Who is he talking about? Odysseus? A guardian? The longer this went on the more Rena felt something was extremely wrong. I need to get out of here but I need answers.
“There are others? Who else is here?” she asked.
For a moment, his eyes flickered to the large chamber before moving back to her. Kage remained silent as he stared at her. She felt as though he was staring through her soul, her very being. The chamber? Is someone there?
Rena tensed up as she rolled her eyes at his silence, “What do you want from me?”
Kage sat back down in his chair. He opened another file and his eyes moved across the pages as if he was searching for something.
“For now, I just wanted to confirm my suspensions. So tell me, did you come here by mistake or did you come for a reason?” He asked, not looking up from his file. One would think he really wasn't interested in her answer at all.
Rena wasn't sure what she should say. She just stood there quietly, wishing Hawks would show up. Surely Sy was watching and would let him know what was up. She didn't realize how long she had been silent until the flap of the file snapping shut brought her back to reality.
“Well? Can you answer that simple question or not?” he asked, showing slight signs of anger building. So he can show emotion.
“Why would I tell you that? You're working for the League of Villains.” She retorted.
“Didn't you want to join them? You should tell me rather than have them questioning your motives,” he said dryly.
Rena blinked.. Wait what? “Wouldn't you tell them though? Everyone has their secrets so why can’t I keep mine? Did you tell them you’refrom another world? Besides, would where I'm from be a reason for me not to join?”
Kage was silent for a moment, contemplating what to say next. “No. It wouldn't have any factor in your recruitment unless you are here to stop them.”
“I want to join them, not stop them,” she growled.
“Why?”
“Does it matter why?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows, and putting her hands back in her pockets.
Kage stood up slowly looking Rena in the eyes with a dead expression. “Yes, it does. Now answer the question before I lose my patience. Why are you here and why do you want to join the league?”
There’s no getting out of this is there? “I… I’m…looking for someone.” she finally replied with a defeated sigh. That's honestly the truth, but it's also very vague. Maybe he'll buy it and move on.
A flash of somethingshowed on Kage's face. It was so quick Rena almost didn't notice it but only one thing came to mind; relief. Why would he look relieved at my answer?
Suddenly a voice spoke from behind Rena and Kage's face was back to emotionless.
“Well, this is a surprise. Fancy meeting you here. You seem to be a long way from home, Mystic.” the man said as he crept out from the shadows.
That voice… Rena’s eyes went wide and she flinched, giving the feather another squeeze before releasing it to grab her weapon. She started to reach for her baton as she turned around only to be met with a board to the head. Knocking her unconscious. She fell to the floor as a shadow stood over her.
“Let’s have some fun, shall we? Kage put her on the table. I have some questions I want to ask her.” the man let out a cackling laugh.
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