Eraserhead and Scribe III

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

If her brother had announced he wanted her to come home for Thanksgiving, Scribe might have laughed. If he'd challenged her to battle, she would have been saddened. But nothing had prepared her for this level of shock and betrayal. She almost forgot to place a restraining hand on Shota's, but she sensed he would have launched himself at her brother and managed to stop him just in time. Then she shook her head and stood. She walked to the edge of the sea, kicking off her shoes and letting her feet sink into the damp sand.

Aizawa followed her. He put a hand on her shoulder. He doesn't know anything. He can't really understand what he's asking.

She glanced at him but didn't answer. Her heart was too full, her treacherous mind summoning memories she'd long since buried in her subconscious. Tiny hands reaching up from a cradle, grasping her fingers. That's your new brother... Her mother's voice saying her name, a name she'd forced from her identity. His name is Cameron. You're a big sister now. The wonder of those tiny hands as they grew, holding her hands as he took his first step, as she led him confidently across the street, holding tight to her hand as they walked to school or through the streets of their small town to get a gallon of milk.

And waving goodbye when she left to go to UA for a year...

The pain of it crashed over her as if the gentle waves at her feet had suddenly, inexplicably, become a tsunami crashing over her head. She doubled over and fell to her knees, feeling the sand give way beneath her as if in welcome. She covered her face and sobbed and then Aizawa knelt beside her, pulling her into his arms. She clung to him, ashamed but helpless in the grip of her weakness. She bowed her head into his shoulder, feeling his strength supporting her.

None of this was supposed to happen. She was never going to think of her family again. They'd been happy when she left...at least she'd believed that. They'd certainly never tried to find her. She knew that because she hadn't been all that difficult to locate, even when she stopped using her real name. No doubt that was how Cameron had traced her. Using the breadcrumbs she'd halfheartedly tossed out in the blind hope that someone would care.

And now, here he was and he wanted her to contact Shigaraki for him.

What the hell does he want with Shigaraki, anyway? The sobs had run their course and she swiped the tears from her eyes with the angry back of her hand. She stood, letting go of Aizawa and faced the brother she no longer knew. "Why do you want me to contact Shigaraki?"

Cameron was standing patiently watching them, his face impassive. He nodded. "Fair question, but it's a long answer." At her unwavering look, he sighed. "Fine. I work for the government now. Not as a hero. I'm a federal agent. Tomura Shigaraki has been on our radar for a while now. He's a person of interest in a number of crimes having to do with drugs and...other things."

"Other things?" Aizawa stood next to Scribe. "What are we talking about? Prostitution, murder, slavery?"

"Actually, it's pretty cut-and-dried drugs and murder. Shigaraki doesn't seem to have a taste for anything really perverted." Cameron produced a small notebook from his inside pocket. He flipped through the pages. "In fact, except for a few scattered crimes that had to do with quirks, he has concentrated his efforts almost completely on the drug trade. The murders were incidental to that. But they were...remarkable in their brutality."

"Surely you have drug dealers in America?" Aizawa raised his eyebrows. "I think America is not unknown for its drug trade."

"True." Cameron closed the notebook. "But it's the way the crimes have been committed that has raised interest here. The quirks used are very similar to your League of Villains, the most notable ones being decay and fire. As you know, decay is a very unusual quirk. Shigaraki is the only one known to have used it...the way he has and to the extent he has. Is there any reason to believe he might have relocated?"