Over the past week, I had been talking with Melissa quite often. We discussed some of the problems I ran into while designing and building my equipment. I had many questions about her father, but I figured she wouldn't want to answer them. People probably asked her about him all the time.
It was a shame she and her father had to leave North Carolina a week after we met. I really enjoyed talking to her in person.
That time was enough for me to finish building the gear I needed in a rented workshop. Renting workshops was fairly common among local students, since their time in the school labs was limited. I also studied the city, the local heroes, and their patrol schedules. And I found my father's new family.
Alice Scott, formerly Austin. Four year old Agnes. And my father, now Kaneki Scott.
Questions kept spinning through my head. Why did he change his name? Why did he suddenly move to America? What was he doing now as a hero? I couldn't get within a hundred meters of their house when my father was there. And not just because it was hard to hold back my desire to meet him and talk.
I remembered his training at the hero agency from when I was a child. At least a dozen rubber balls would fly at him from different directions at incredible speed, and he would dodge them with his eyes closed. When I looked at him with delighted, questioning eyes, he said:
"I just sense my surroundings."
Back then, I thought he had achieved that through physical training. But later I noticed something strange. In the few videos of his battles that witnesses had managed to record, he could move toward villains inside buildings. Buildings he had never been in. Villains he had not seen. It couldn't be explained by luck or quick thinking. So I started to suspect that he could sense his surroundings through his Quirk over a very long distance. But how far? I had no idea.
His new wife was nothing special. She worked as a manager. Her Quirk was a small spatial pocket. His daughter had recently awakened her Quirk, similar to her father's, and went to kindergarten.
After memorizing their daily schedules, I started searching for the building where my father worked. An unremarkable two story building with a decent security system caught my attention. I had seen my father enter it several times. With my abilities, sneaking in unnoticed was easy when he wasn't there. Looping the security cameras and hacking the computer was made easier by some skills I had picked up and a flash drive with a couple of programs I had gotten from some mercenary acquaintances.
Reports on police work against one of the drug cartels. The capture of several villains. A couple of photos and videos for reporting purposes. Receipts for large transfers to what appeared to be an anonymous account.
I stopped. That was interesting.
Further documents revealed ownership of shares in several large American companies and investment deposits in various projects. It seemed he had decided to become a businessman.
Tracking my father himself was quite difficult. How could it not be? He would disappear with a couple of teleports and that was it. But thanks to access to his computer, I roughly knew where he would be for his work. And I was able to watch his fights.
All that remained was to prepare a plan for our future conversation.
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[Kaneki Scott's Pov "Omnipresent"]
Kaneki was satisfied with the work he had done. Several years of effort had not been wasted. New connections. Money obtained both legally and through less legal means. And an heiress, his daughter, who had fully inherited his Quirk and even more: her mother's Quirk. The legacy of the Quirk that ran in their family would not be broken. In the future, his daughter might fully unlock its potential. All that remained was to properly train her and support her.
The ringing of his phone interrupted his pleasant thoughts. It was Alice's number. She had probably forgotten to buy something and would ask him to buy it himself.
Sighing, he answered the call.
"Hello, Omnipresent. Your wife and daughter are currently visiting me. Would you like to join us? Without your help, they won't be able to get home. I'm waiting for you at the address I'll send you. I suggest you arrive within ten minutes, and don't bring any outsiders. That wouldn't be polite to such a hospitable host as me. I'm waiting."
The kidnapper hung up, his voice strange and metallic. The phone creaked in Kaneki's grip. The calm, stone faced black haired man stared at his screen. A few seconds later, he was gone.
[End Pov Kaneki Scott, "Omnipresent"]
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I waited for him eagerly. I wanted answers to my questions. After so many years, son and father would finally meet again. Hahaha.
How I wanted to squeeze his neck. But maybe he could change my opinion of him? I just had to wait a few more minutes, just a little while. Then everything would become clear. Or maybe not everything. Why was he taking so long? I wanted to see him so badly. I wanted to absorb him.
A man with spiky hair walked casually through the entrance of the warehouse. He was wearing a dark jacket, a burgundy shirt with a V neck, leather pants, and dress shoes. He smiled at me.
"Here I am. But your hospitality isn't great. There's dust and dirt everywhere, and I don't see the other guests. You're not much of a host."
When he appeared, an unexpected calm flooded my mind. I smiled coldly, took off my mask, and said:
"And you're not much of a father. Long time no see, Daddy."
His eyes widened in shock. Black sclerae with red irises stared at me.
"K-Ken. Hahaha. So you decided to have a family reunion in such a unique way? Where's Aika? I don't see her here."
"She's dead."
My smile faded. My father scratched the back of his head, looking awkward.
"Well, this conversation isn't going very well. Now tell me where my wife and daughter are."
His tone became more serious as he looked into my eyes. I calmly studied his face, a face that was rarely serious.
"They're not here. But their safety depends on your answers to my questions. First question: why did you abandon us?"
A foolish expression returned to his face.
"And would you be able to hurt your adorable little half sister?"
I kept looking at him with the same calm gaze. He slumped his shoulders.
"Well, fine. I left because of you. Your Quirk didn't awaken. My Quirk didn't awaken in you."
The calm inside me cracked.
"That's it? Just because of that? Twenty percent of the world's population lives without Quirks. Maybe not as well as people with Quirks, but they live, don't they?"
"Exactly. They live 'somehow.'"
He pointed a finger at me.
"And I want my children to inherit my Quirk and live well. You know how Quirkless people live these days. They can't find good jobs because someone else has a more suitable Quirk. In just two hundred years, ordinary people have become abnormal. Isn't that ironic? And even Quirkless people who have achieved success through truly titanic efforts, like David Shield, have their limits."
He grinned, a slightly mad grin.
"Yes, limits. Who do you think holds power in our world today? The government? Heroes? A flock of sheep that scatter when a villain appears and then watch with interest as a hero beats him?"
A guess began to form in my mind.
"Marriages of convenience based on Quirks."
At my muttering, Omnipresent's grin widened.
"I see you've already figured it out. The old families. Imagine several generations of Quirks that complement each other coming together in one person. The Rockefellers, the English Queen, the Chinese Emperor, even the recently risen Yaoyorozu family are all excellent examples. It's hard to live in Japan without at least hearing about their conglomerate. Searching for people with strong Quirks and arranging marriages of convenience with them is a common trend in the modern world. People often call it immoral, but when has morality ever stopped anyone from pursuing greater power? Any more questions?"
"Why did you change your name?"
"Well, to be honest, that's my real last name. My father was American. When he came to Japan for a certain person, he changed his name so his enemies wouldn't find him. And you've awakened your Quirk too, right? Is it related to space?"
I took out Alice's phone and tossed it aside.
"Yes. But I'm not coming back to you."
"That's a shame. So what about my family?"
Indifferent to their fate, I answered:
"They're visiting Alice's friend. I just stole her phone. But you understand that I can still threaten them, right?"
"Of course, Ken. And after our conversation, you're going to prison for a few years. Cool off a little."
"I doubt it."
My hand pressed the button on the signal transmitter. The fire sprinklers came on, spraying the whole room. Omnipresent frowned.
"Thanks to an acquaintance, I figured out that your teleportation works by swapping the space you sense with your own body. And the more objects there are and the denser they are in that space, the more energy you use."
He stared at me with wide black eyes, red coals burning where his irises should be.
"In this rain, I've got plenty of strength to kick the ass of one arrogant brat."
And he disappeared.
I stabbed behind me in a flash. His first attack was predictable. The scratch on his cheek proved it. He didn't lose his cool. He teleported again. A kick to my back sent me flying several meters. Then his kicks and punches started raining down on me from all directions. But he didn't get away unscathed either. Several bleeding wounds appeared on his arms, and he took a nasty hit to the head.
We stayed evenly matched until he twisted the knife out of my hand and tried to put me in a submission hold. But my free hand touched his stomach. He was too tired to notice. "Rejection."
He flew into the warehouse wall, almost breaking my arm in the process. I used every bit of acceleration I could get from "Choice" and the recoil from "Rejection" to launch myself at him like a rocket. He tried to get up, spitting blood. With sadistic pleasure, I kicked his teeth out with a spinning kick, using all the momentum from my launch.
I sat down on the hero's groaning body. My hands, now covered in Dark Matter, squeezed his throat. I looked at his beaten, bloodied face and said:
"Maybe my reason for killing you is just a petty childhood grudge. But I don't care. You're a real piece of trash, and I'm glad to be squeezing your neck. Don't worry, I won't kill my little half sister."
The shimmering streams of life force lit up the warehouse.