Yoshi Miura POV
The research was not going very successfully, in Miura's opinion. Although some of the new data was quite interesting and could be useful in other research, the ultimate goal of these studies was still far off and required new resources.
In general, when he was informed of the samples and the purpose of the research upon receiving level two clearance, Miura's first reactions were fear and silent panic, although he carefully hid this behind an expressionless face. And then he thought over the situation, possible prospects, and ways to get out of this business. The fact that the test subjects would be people worried him mostly because of the possible risks to his freedom and health from both hero society and the employers. Yoshi understood that in such matters, they try not to leave witnesses, and the Contract on him was no guarantee of safety. There are different Quirks; the possibility of bypassing the Contract was by no means zero. But there is a risk in any case, and judging by the funds allocated for these studies and the equipment that is not available to all citizens, people from the government are involved. But in any case, there is a risk, and judging by the funds allocated for this research and the equipment available to by no means all citizens, people from the government are involved here. And hope remains that they won't get rid of useful and promising employees here.
The project's goal itself is to enhance people's physical properties and also to test the possibility of changing a Quirk for the sake of this enhancement. As it turned out, such research had already taken place elsewhere, but the resulting specimens were not capable of independent thought or were excessively aggressive. To solve this problem, a variant was proposed to prepare bodies for such a sharp enhancement and to attempt to change the subject's Quirk for this purpose. If before Miura would not have believed in the possibility of carrying this out, since the phenomenon of Quirks itself is deplorably understudied, then after talking with Takahashi and other scientific workers, as well as having access to some of David Shield's research, he was now not so categorical. What Shield created, if the little information about a "Quirk Enhancer" was to be believed, could change a lot. The very possibility of strengthening a person's Quirk to a level exceeding that of professional heroes would sharply change the balance of power in the world. Therefore, it's not surprising that the project was closed and classified; fortunately, Miura's bosses managed to obtain some data. Further thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an alarm.
"Code 3. Code 3. All personnel must report to the nearest rooms equipped with a locking system."
The code itself meant the escape of one of the test subjects from their cell. The nearest room to Yoshi, who was carrying analytical results, was the observation room, which was also the location of the control terminal for all systems in the level one and level two clearance areas, which included the above-ground floors and three underground floors. Quickly running into the hall that had not yet been blocked, he wanted to ask about who had escaped, but froze in fascination. The hall itself had several workstations with computers, but currently, all the scientists and lab assistants were silently staring at the main monitor with an enlarged image of the corridor near the test subjects' cells.
Two figures hung in the middle of the corridor. A lab assistant, dressed in a work uniform with a mask on his face, was desperately kicking in the hands of a dark creature that held him firmly by the head. Its entire silhouette was covered with a dark substance with slight purple tints that poured out of it like steam and disappeared into the air, making it impossible to distinguish its appearance. But at that moment, the most attention was drawn by the multi-colored streams of energy that came out of the increasingly slowly kicking figure of the lab assistant and entered this creature. This process was fascinating in its otherworldly beauty and instinctively caused a quiet horror. Miura came to his senses the moment the body fell with a dull sound, and the small silhouette of the creature, having descended to the floor, headed for a door blocked by iron shutters.
The next ten minutes turned into a nightmare for the research complex personnel. The creature or, as Miura had already found out, Subject No. 23, passed through objects and killed with a touch with a decreasing interval between this absorption process. The guard's bullets passed right through its body, and the head of security didn't even have time to use his Quirk before the creature was quickly beside him, grabbing him by the throat. But at the moment when the creature, having killed everyone on the second underground floor, headed for the next one, the steam of the unknown substance began to come out of it intermittently, such that even some body parts were visible. It began to shake and quickly turn its head. It took several steps toward the wall and disappeared into it in a familiar way, only without appearing elsewhere. At that moment, Miura was sincerely glad that he was not on that specific floor at that specific time.
End POV Yoshi Miura
I hadn't been able to sleep well for a long time, not since Papa left. The best thing back then was just to black out without dreams, as they were restless. It was sad, because I remember good and peaceful dreams in the past. I hadn't had any good dreams until today.
Although it didn't start very well, because at first, I felt a terrible hunger. It was driving me crazy until I felt something very tasty and appetizing. The whole world for me was like different shades of black and obstacles, but not obstacles for me, as it became clear later. But that didn't matter to me, because I saw this tasty and appetizing bright cluster in the form of a person. I grabbed it, but didn't immediately figure out how to eat it properly. I stretched out the process of eating it for as long as possible, feeling this indescribable saturation and unusual taste. After finishing the meal, I felt a slight sadness until I realized there were several of these clusters, but they were not in one place. Then I finally understood—they were playing hide and seek. And I was "it." But they apparently didn't know that I could see them. Although it doesn't matter; I hadn't played hide and seek for a long time. It was fun; it was like I was opening a gift wrap, passing through obstacles to get to them, and a tasty treat awaited me, almost always having a different taste. True, I came across clusters that thought they were "it"; I quickly showed them that only one person was "it" here, and it wasn't one of them. One of them was especially good; he stood out from the others with his intensity of light. Not being able to help myself, I grabbed him first. After that, it was decided to finish with the nearby clusters and head for those that were higher up.
Walking along the black corridor with different shades of blackness, I enjoyed this feeling of saturation. "How good this is; the main thing is not to remember that this is a dream, and my little body is lying in my cell with walls of that disgusting sterile white color, just like in this corri...dor." All the walls unnoticed by me changed the black color to this disgusting one. The sounds of an alarm began to reach my ears. This is returning to my usual nightmare; soon I will be strapped to the operating table again.
No, no, no, no.
"This is my dream; I don't want it to end like that. I'll just leave here. Yes, yes, yes, yes. This is my dream. I can do what I want, so I'll pass through this wall and they won't find me. Hahaha."
I walked through the darkness. Sometimes it seemed to me that I was walking through some pipes. It wasn't clear to me how much time had passed or where to move at all. But for some reason, I started feeling tired. But for some reason, I began to feel tired. And so I decided to head upward. Next, I found myself in an alley near some pile of trash, but that didn't bother me. All my body's senses let me know that this was not a dream. All my attention was focused on one thing—the sky. On the night cloudless sky with stars barely visible because of the city lights. At that moment, it was more beautiful than ever to me and filled me with a sense of freedom.