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Twice awoke. His brain hurt. His arms hurt and his legs hurt.
He soon hurt more as his last memories flooded back to him.
Toga was dead.
He had killed her. Or his clones had killed her. His brain was fuzzy, but he remembered his face on the bodies who twisted her neck.
He couldn’t feel his mask on his face.
He had failed his friends. Again.
He was yanked out of his thoughts as he heard a door slam open. A man with a big nose.. Pah, he’s bald. He knew this guy was at least partially responsible for his capture and Toga’s- don’t think about it don’t think about it don’t think about it.
“Well, Well, Well. It’s the man himself. Jin Bubbagaiwara, how would you fancy yourself to join my little army? Liberate quirks, and help those in need.” He said, walking closer to Twice. Twice tried to speak, but his mouth was dry. He had just noticed that he had an IV drip. How long was it since… the thing?
“...I’m guessing you want to know what happened to your friends, eh?” The man said, his smile somehow real and genuine yet forced at the same time. Twice did, in fact, want to know what happened to his league.
“That’s for us to know, and you to find out, my dear friend. We want you to cooperate beforehand.” He said, walking closer and sitting next to his hospital bed. He rustled the blankets near Twice’s legs. Twice managed to let out a scream of pain. “WHAT THE FUC-”
The man nudged his mouth shut, waggling his finger. “No swearing, my new Liberation compatriot.” His smile fell the slightest bit. That did not make Twice feel better. “Now, let’s talk about what you want. You can talk again, ri-”
Just as he said that, the door slammed open and a man with long, geometrical hair with long bangs shaped like squares. He had a laptop in his hand.
“Sir, sorry to bother you, but you shouldn’t be talking to him yet! Our doctors say his mind is not in the right shape for the procedure-” He said, as he furiously typed at his computer. “And he could be dangerous! We don’t want you to get hurt-”
The big-nosed man laughed. “Ah, no need to worry, Skeptic! He wouldn’t hurt me, not when he knows that I have to four-” Skeptic interrupted, “Three, sIr. Curious is dead.” Big-Nosed man sighed. “Thank you for reminding me, Skeptic. The three of you guys out there protecting me. Plus, if the procedure goes correctly, he’ll be just like you! He should more than make up for the loss of Curious.”
“...whaddya mean..? I.. don’t wanna be with the people.. Who..” He didn’t wanna say it out loud. That would make it seem more real. Maybe he would wake up and he would make pancakes for the league. But a part of him, the bad part who wants him to fail, tells him No, that won’t happen. They’re dead. Twice shakes his head. “...with you guys. You.. broken my arms and legs.. Ya hurt Giran…”
“Oh! You’re broker? He’s fine. He got to watch the whole show. He was asking to come and see you. Speaking of which..” He paused, and looked back up at the black-haired man, “Bring him in, Please.”
The man by the door hugged his laptop tighter, before leaving the room. When he came back in, a familiar face with familiar gray hair, gold rimmed glasses, and missing tooth followed.
“..Giran..?” Twice croaked. The broker smiled. “Jin. I see you’re doing well.” His tone had a sarcastic tinge. “Hope Chrome-Dome told ya what happened. Cause it’s.. Not good for anyone.” He seemed to cringe.
“Broker, you wouldn’t-” Chrome-Dome (Twice likes that nickname better) said, a dark purple spot on his forehead appearing.
“The League’s dead, Twice.” Giran said, stepping closer. “And these idiots wanna make you into one of them with some freaky procedure.” As he said that, the Dark Spot of the Man’s forehead grew.
“Kagero Okuta.” The man boomed. Giran seemed to shrink. Skeptic scoffed. “Boss, you gotta calm down.” He said, handing him a stress ball. “Don’t worry we’ll take care of this. I mean, the procedure’s gonna take care of it regardless.” Black-Haired man- Skeptic, maybe- ushered Giran out of the room. Twice could feel the glare through his thick, square bangs.
Chrome-Dome seemed to deflate as he squished the stress toy. Twice was violently confused. His head hurt, and they kept talking about a procedure. So he decided to ask the obvious.
“What’s the procedure?” He asked. “Also- can you please introduce yourself? I’ve been callin’ ya Chrome-Dome in my head forever.”
“Re-Destro. Or, soon enough after the procedure, Commander, to you. And the procedure.. Well, It’s complicated. It is like a mixture of a mind wipe and brainwashing, and Destro knows your mind needs it. In all of the brain scans we have done with our multitude of different quirks, we have only seen complete disarray and chaos in there. So I hope you’re okay with it, because despite how much I respect people’s opinion, we need you to be on our side. And you will not do it willingly, I suppose.”
Twice was worried. He didn’t know what to say. But other him did. “ .. but like- what percent of it’s brainwashing and what percent of it’s memory wipe?”
Re-Destro blinked, before giving a few, small laughs. “Well, to put it in simple terms, we will be removing all of the unsanitary memories that would make you think bad of us, and the ones that make the league out to be good people. After that, we will be brainwashing you into believing in all of our ideals and educating you on the history of our Army.”
“..that’s.. A lotta words.. I thought you were all like… morally correct n’ stuff. That’s kinda a jerk move.” Twice said, his smile shifting into a frown. “..when’re you gonna pull that crap on me?”
“..Hm. I don’t see why we can’t do it now.”
“Wait wha-” Twice said, before He felt a syringe in his upper arm. He felt woozy. He closed his eyes and welcomed the sweet embrace of sleep.
When he awoke once more, he noticed he was strapped to an operating table. Tightly. The straps were made of something like leather. Hr tried to use his quirk, just to help him, help his friends. You mean avenge. You know they’re Don’t say it. It didn’t work.
Doctors came in. They examined him. Twice was frozen, either in fear or some kind of medical paralysis. The doctors and nurses poked him with their fingers, or with needles, or with stethoscopes, tweezers, the backs of pens and pencils, and maybe a rubber duck. But Twice was sure that that was just him.
After they were done writing down a million things about him down in sucky handwriting, they left. Twice had hated them being there, but no he wanted them back. He didn’t like being alone. Even if the only alternative was the people- Stop.
It might;ve been a few hours or a few minutes before Skeptic waltzed into the room. He held himself much more relaxed when Re-Destro wasn't there. Instead of a blank face, he had a scowl. He walked up closer Twice’s operating table.
That motherfucker grinned.
“Well, glad to see my plan went well. Y’hear that, Bubbagaiwara scum? I didn’t fail,” he says, as he jabs a finger into Twice’s head scar. If Twice wasn’t currently frozen, he would’ve screamed.
“It’s gonna start in a few minutes. Hope you’re gonna be a good boy and play nice after the procedure.” Skeptic said, smirking as he stood back up.
Once he left, more doctors came in. They started to hook up wires to Twice’s head, as if he was the back of a TV. All of this was happening so fast. Twice was scared. This was all overwhelming him. He felt like he had failed his friends again. Falling and failing. That was Twice’s schtick, wasn’t it?
For some reason, Creep by RadioHead was playing in the back of his mind. Dabi used to listen to their music. Roped Twice into it too. But he only knew the one song. It made him sad. He didn’t think Chrome-Dome would let him listen to it.
But that’s the thing.
Twice wasn’t going to be himself anymore.
He was going to be Jin, the 4th lieutenant of the Meta Liberation Army.
That scared him, even though he was already Jin. He didn’t like being Jin. Jin was sad, scared, and alone. Twice had friends that helped him. And this is how he repaid them? What a jerk.
Skeptic came back in and hooked his computer up to the wires that were attached to Twice’s brain. Twice only managed the slightest eyebrow raise before a searing pain shot through his head. His mind went blank.
Twice was gone.
Re-Destro smiled at the man who was sleeping so peacefully on the bed before him. It was hard to believe the man in front of him used to be the criminal Twice. He enjoyed the fact that the procedure worked successfully. How could he tell, you may ask. He saw how the man had curled up like a baby. He wasn’t twitching in his sleep like he had before.
Jin slowly opened his eyes. His head hurt. He felt like something was missing. The first thing he saw was the bottom of a striped suit. He looked up, his eyes trailing up to the man’s face. He had a big nose. Jin did not laugh. He had a green tie and undershirt on. It was silly. Wasn’t this the..
“Commander!” Jin says, bolting upright. His spine straightened. Re-Destro laughed, his big hand patting Jin on the head.
“At ease, Jin. We wouldn’t want you to get hurt, would we? Now, how do your arms feel?” He said, gently putting his hand around Jin’s arm.
Jin smiled. “They’re fine, sir. They feel okay, but I don’t think I should use them a lot for a little while.” He flexed his arms under the thin bandages. He felt… good, for the most part. He couldn’t exactly remember what the last thing he was doing- or his current goal was, but he did know that he wanted- no, needed to help Re-Destro.
“...How’d I get this scar on my forehead?” Jin asked, gesturing vaguely to his head. It was better to get all the questions out of the way now so he didn’t have to bother the Commander with them later. He knew that one should never annoy the Commander.
“Ah… well, ahem. You got it while fighting an evil hero, yes. And he cut you on the forehead, like the rotten hero he is, and many others are.” Destro said, retracting his arms from Jin’s arm.
“Oh. Okay.” Jin said. He believed it. Heroes were bad. “Can we go meet up with the others? I wanna see them again. I think I’ve been asleep for a while.”
“Of course, Jin. I believe they’ll be happy to see you.” He said, glancing up at a little black dot in the corner of the room. Jin remembered that it was one of Skeptic’s cameras. He didn’t think Skeptic liked him. But who knows, something might’ve changed.
Re-Destro helped him up from his bed. Twice Jin stood up and skipped down the hallway, as if he knew the place. And he did, right? Cause he’s been working with Re-Destro forever.
Re-Destro followed behind him, grinning in his usual happy manner.
He had a new lieutenant that could bring a new, naive energy that none of his others had. Like an emotional support animal , he mused.
How could it be wrong, if he was just moving the formerly broken man from one villain organization (which was a lot worse than his own, if he was being entirely truthful), to a much better situation and organization. And Jin was happy here.
Re-Destro walked calmly beside his new, energetic lieutenant.
This was going to be fun, wasn’t it?