Want to read five chapters ahead? Don't feel like waiting for me to post the next chapter?
Then come over to my Patreon and support me.
Link: patreon.com/Neo_Acer
Now with that said please enjoy the chapter
Chapter 5: Shadows and Schemes
[****]
Alex POV
Location: Alex Apartment, Musutafu, Japan.
Date: March 20, 2214
Time: 8:11 A.M.
With a groan, I opened my eyes and then immediately closed them with a groan as beams of sunlight were coming through my window.
I better get up and start getting breakfast ready before she wakes up. Looking down at my chest, I saw the messy, ash blonde hair that was strewn across my chest.
I couldn't help but smirk as I remembered how I turned Toga into putty as I had my way with her body.
Carefully, I unwrapped Toga's arms that were around my torso and laid her on the bed before climbing off the bed myself.
Stretching my body left and right, my body let out satisfying pops as I groaned in pleasure. Reaching down to the ground, I picked up my boxers and put them on before heading to my bathroom, where I grabbed a roll of bandages.
I used my talents as the ultimate nurse and doctor to wash my body down and then wrap the bandages around my body. Oh yeah, I'm going to need to wash my sheets with how much blood is on them now. With the bandages secured, I stood up and walked out of the bathroom and to the kitchen.
Opening the fridge and freezer, I looked into them both and began going over what I had. Bacon, sausage, eggs, milk—I have half a loaf of bread in the bread box, and I also have some sugar and cornstarch too, so I can make some powdered sugar. Guess I'm going with an English breakfast today.
Taking out all the stuff I needed, I began cooking, starting with the sausage and bacon. Taking out two pans, I placed them on the stove and sparyed them down with no-stick before turning on the stove.
While those were heating up, I walked over to the sink, washed my hands, and dried them off quickly. Knowing that the pan wasn't hot enough, I reached into my cabinet and pulled out the sugar and cornstarch, along with a large bowl, a whisk, and a cup and tablespoon.
Placing the bowl down, I poured a cup of sugar into the bowl and then a teaspoon of cornstarch into the bowl. Picking up the whisk, I began mixing the mixture of sugar and cornstarch until it was powdery.
With the powdered sugar done, I walked back to the stove and saw that it was ready. Placing the bacon and sausage on separate pans, I waited for them to be fully cooked, and once they were done, I placed them both on plates.
With that done, I grabbed a bowl and poured the milk into it. I then cracked an egg and mixed the egg and milk together. I then grabbed a slice of bread and dipped both sides in the mixture before placing it on the third pan I took out.
With a spatula, I checked the bread every couple of seconds until that side was golden brown and flipped it over to the other side until that was golden brown too.
I continued until I had four pieces of French toast on a plate. All that's left now are the eggs.
Cracking two more eggs I made some scrambled eggs and placed them on a plate.
"Alright, all done." With a smile, I picked up the plates two at a time and began placing them on the table. "Also Toga I know you're awake, so get up before your food gets cold."
Toga let out a grunt as she sat up, letting the blanket fall from her shoulder and letting me see her naked body. She then swung her legs off the side and tried to stand up, but she fell back down on the bed without even taking a step.
"Ow, you went too hard last night, bastard." She grumbled while massaging her hips. "Also, what did you do to me last night? Was it your quirk?"
"What are you talking about?" I feigned ignorance as I set the last of the food on the table.
"I know you did something! I know my body better than anyone."
"I don't know; I think I can compete in that." I said with a smirk.
She clearly didn't think my joke was funny, as she threw a pillow at me that I caught with ease.
"But for real, I did nothing to you last night, as my quirk is water infusion." Giving her a demonstration, I walked over to the sink, turned on the water, and infused the water into my hand before letting it go and walking back toward her. "So everything that happened last night was all…on… you."
"No, you had to have done something to me." Toga said with a strained expression while looking away from me.
With a smirk, I gently grabbed her by the chin and turned her face so I could look right into her eyes. "Don't worry, I won't judge you, Toga; after all, you've been running for a long time, right? It must have been frustrating. Besides, I had a great time last night."
"Shut up!" Toga said while pushing me away, a blush on her cheeks.
"Haha, alright, alright, I'll stop teasing you... for now at least." I said as I walked over to the table and made a plate for Toga. "You want powdered sugar on your French toast?"
Toga glared at me before turning her head to the side. "Yes please." She whispered under her breath, though I heard her anyway, so I shook some on her toast and handed the plate to her. "Don't spill anything on my bed."
As we began eating our food, I opened my phone and pulled up my notes.
"Anyway Toga let me tell you what I plan to do. You know how UA will have its entrance exam in February, right?"
"Who doesn't? Wait, you're not going to make me go there, are you?" Toga said with a grimace.
"Of course not; you would probably kill someone there and ruin my plans. What I plan to do is go to UA myself in the hero course."
"Really? You don't seem like the heroic type."
"I'm not; frankly, I think the entire concept is stupid. And that is why I plan to change this society. Anyway, I'll use my position as a student to keep a close eye on the future heroes. You, on the other hand, will continue as you have, but you'll fulfill the missions I give you."
"And after that?" Toga asked.
"Well, my plans will change as you and I gather information, but I have a pretty clear end goal: to reshape this world as I see fit as it's one ruler!"
"What!? That's crazy!" Toga said with wide eyes.
"And that's exactly why it's my dream! To overcome those odds, which are almost impossible to even fathom, is exactly why I love it." I said with a smirk, using the full power of my inherited charisma.
Hah, of course I don't give a damn about something so stupid; I just want to survive, but she doesn't need to know that. I thought in contempt as I stared at Toga, who had a shocked look on her face.
"Anyway, I'm going to head out in a couple minutes." I said as I finished my food. "Keep yourself in here for now so you can recover."
Before she could say anything, I quickly put on some clothes, grabbed my phone, and headed out.
As I walked down the street, I began thinking about the future.
For my plans to succeed, I needed to keep everyone in this world constantly on their toes, guessing who was behind what.
To do that, I need to employ multiple strategies that multiple factions would use.
My first strategy is chemical warfare. More specifically, I'll recreate Scarecrow's fear toxin. Really, if one thought about it, the mixture was quite easy to make with the criteria in place.
For one, the fear toxin had to be able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and affect the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for fear and emotional responses.
Next, the fear toxin had to be able to stimulate the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, which can alter the perception of reality and induce hallucinations, paranoia, and anxiety.
Finally, the fear toxin had to be able to interact with the D2 receptor, which is involved in the modulation of fear and aversion, as well as the 5-HT2A receptor, which is involved in the mediation of psychedelic effects.
With all that in mind, the most likely chemicals Scarecrow used in the creation of his fear toxin was dimethyltryptamine, scopolamine, and capsaicin.
Capsaicin was easy to acquire as it could be extracted from chili peppers, but dimethyltryptamine and scopolamine would be much harder to acquire.
Dimethyltryptamine could be found in Psychotria viridis, an herb that could be found in the Amazon rainforest and had hallucinogenic properties.
And scopolamine could be found in datura, a flower that grew natively in southern California. They are both poisonous and psychoactive, especially their seeds and flowers, which can cause respiratory depression, arrhythmias, fever, delirium, hallucinations, anticholinergic syndrome, psychosis, and death if taken internally.
So glad I had Giran get that stuff for me, and I should be able to grow them here rather easily thanks to my ultimate farmer talent. With a smirk, I continued on my way until I arrived at my destination, the train station.
Walking down the stairs, I followed the crowd, using my ultimate assassin talent to sneak past the gates until I arrived at the train line.
I stood there for several minutes until the train arrived and left the station.
Alright, the next train should only come around in about ten minutes, so I should have plenty of time to get to where I need to go.
Without hesitation, I jumped down onto the tracks and began running down the dark tunnel.
From what I read online, there used to be another station near here that was discontinued some years ago. It would make the perfect base for my future experiments.
After running for ten minutes at full speed and making twists and turns, I arrived at my destination.
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my phone and turned on my flashlight. With the light, I was greeted by the abandoned subway, with various abandoned train cars, trash, and graffiti sprayed onto the walls.
"Alright, let's get started." Putting my arm forward, a blue light came out of my camera, and I began scanning the place.
"I have got to admit holographic tech is great, and it's so readily accessible to." I couldn't help but chuckle in amusement as this world gave away this revolutionary technology to a bunch of people with no regard to how it could be used. "At least it helped me design this scanner."
I continued scanning the station for several minutes, walking around to get every nook and cranny, until I was done.
"Now I just need to put this all together and render the model… and done." From out of my phone came a 3D model of the entire room. Alright, I'll head back now that I have this and start designing the base.
[****]
Alex POV
Location: Hosu City, Tokyo, Japan.
Date: March 27, 2214
Time: 6:23 P.M.
"So, mister, ultimate hope, what do you think?" Giran said with a smirk as he took a puff of cigarette.
"Well, I have to say, whoever your dealer is, they make some good threads." I said while admiring my appearance in the mirror.
I was now wearing a blue and white hooded jacket, with a gray utility belt around my waist holding up blue tactical pants and black boots on my feet.
"Well, I do have some good connections. Also, I see why you had me get some women's clothes made." Giran said while pointing to the other side of the room.
Turning around, I saw Toga standing in front of a mirror wearing a new school uniform, a utility belt on her waist that held various blades, and around her neck was a black mask.
"Anyway, I'll check the rest of my stuff." I said while walking over to the box on the table and opening it, revealing two SIG P226. "You got the other stuff right." I said while closing the box.
"Of course." Giran said with a nod.
"Well, I got my car out back, so I'll start moving this stuff." I said as I started moving stuff out to my car.
Twenty minutes later, I had moved all the stuff into my car and was once again back in some regular clothes.
"Thanks again, Giran." I said as I shook his hand. "Hopefully we do business again."
"Yes, let's." Giran said with a smirk as he headed back into the bar.
Turning around, I climbed into the car and drove off. "So you've been quiet for a while now, what's up?" I asked Toga, who had been silent since she got her new outfit.
"It's nothing." She said as she turned her head to look out the window.
With a shrug, I continued driving until we arrived near an abandoned part of the city near my apartment.
In the week since I was in the subway, I was able to find the abandoned entrance to the subway at the bottom of an abandoned building.
Stepping out of the car, I pulled out my phone and began looping the footage in the area before we began moving the stuff inside and down to the station.
I wasn't able to procure any building materials yet, but I was able to retrofit a couple train cars with some LED lights and tables down the middle after pulling out most of the chairs to make room.
Once we were done, my tables were filled with various tools, such as pipettes, centrifuges, thermocyclers, electrophoresis units, incubators, and many other pieces of technology and tools.
"Hey Toga, you can head back; just fill up this syringe with your blood." I said while throwing her a syringe.
"What for?" Toga asked after catching the syringe.
"I need to understand quirks more if I'm going to succeed, so I'm going to study both your and my own DNA."
"I see." Toga said before drawing her blood and handing me back the syringe, now filled with her blood. "Well, see you, Alex-kun." She said before leaving.
"Heh, she really is too easy." I couldn't help but chuckle at how easy it was to gain Toga's trust. "Now let's learn about these quirks."