Trigger Warning: Mentions of rape, gore, castration
It took several tries before Nell was finally put in a room close enough she could get to Maria at the hospital. Her best friend broke down sobbing the moment she saw her and told her a horrifying story. Damien had taken her out to a concert, like normal, and everything was going great until he said they were going to an afterparty. Maria told him she didn't want to go since it was a school night.
He'd taken her to one of his friends' house, given her some kind of drug and they'd all taken turns raping her. She'd tried to go to her parents but they did nothing because Damien's Dad was a popular hero.
Maria killed herself once she was released from the hospital and Nell felt like her entire world had been destroyed. Maria was the only thing that had ever mattered. She'd tried to get her father to do something about what had happened, since he was a politician he could do something. He met with Damien's father; they both had a good laugh and decided to support one another. Damien's father agreed to endorse her father and vice versa. As soon as the words 'boys will be boys' had left their mouths Nell knew politicians and heroes were all corrupt pieces of shit and the only way for Maria to get any kind of justice was for her to take the law into her own hands.
Seventeen year old Nell sat atop the hood of Damien's brand new Porsche, a present from his Daddy, no doubt. All the other cars were gone which meant Damien and his posse of dumbasses were probably up to no good, destroying school property harassing the janitorial staff or graffiting something. She was surprisingly calm. She'd tried all the legal channels to get justice for her best friend, she'd gone to her father, that backfired, she called the police, they just laughed at her and said they wouldn't dare go after the son of such a popular hero and 'boys will be boys'. Everyone else had failed Maria, the hospital staff failed when they'd brushed off everything she'd told them, the police failed, the government failed, the heroes failed but Nell wouldn't fail her.
"Oh, if it isn't little Loony Nelly." Damien's voice sounded from the edge of the parking lot, "careful you don't scratch the paint babe, it's new."
"I'm gonna do a whole lot more than scratch it." Nell said quietly as she calmly waited for them to approach.
"Did you hear me? Get off my car, or did you want what Maria got?" Damien smirked and made a lewd gesture. "So good you'll die."
"When I'm through with all of you, you'll wish you were dead." Nell hissed as Damien got within reach and put his hand around her neck.
"What was tha-?" His voice started out cocky but began to raise in a panic as black thorny vines ripped from Nells throat, piercing through his hand and winding and tearing up and through his arm. He let out a terrified shriek.
More black thorn covered vines tore from the ground all around them, several began to encircle his car and tighten like a boa constrictor. The car let out a groan as it began to crunch inward. The other vines leapt up and wound around the legs of all of them, every last one of those bastards who'd raped her best friend.
The boys began to scream in terror as the thorn covered vines continued trailing up their legs, through their pants, digging into their skin burrowing toward their privates. "You'll never do what you did to Maria to anyone else, ever again." Nell's expression was cold and unfeeling as they all let out high pitched screams of agony and horror as her vines mutilated them. Most of them passed out right away and dropped to the ground, but Nells vines supported Damien keeping him upright.
He was shaking in terror, "m-my father is a hero, you don't want to do this." He cried as he realized what had happened to his friends and what was about to happen to him.
"Your father is a piece of shit, and he can try whatever he wants." Nell reached forward and unzipped his pants. "You're special Damien, I wanted this to be a bit more personal." Vines shot from her wrist and began to form a thorn covered dagger. "They won't even be able to reattach it when I'm through." She smiled an eerily calm smile as she grabbed him.
"N-No! P-please! Anything but that! D-Don't!" He sobbed.
"Did you stop when Maria begged you?" Nell breathed in his ear before slicing off his manhood.
Damien let out a horrific shriek as blood sprayed everywhere. Nell's vines destroyed the parts of them that had been cut away so there was no hope to reattach them before slowly getting to her feet. She picked up her cell phone and called 911.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"I castrated a bunch of rapists, you should probably send a few ambulances before they bleed to death." Nell said before giving them the location and hanging up.
"How fancy is dinner exactly? Do I need to wear a dress?" Nell asked Natsuo curiously from the giant walk-in closet in her bedroom as Natsuo sat on the edge of her bed looking around her room in awe. There were even more roses in her bedroom than the rest of the apartment, thorn covered vines with black roses had wound all around the four wooden posts atop her bed and entangled in the expensive black velvet canopy.
"You don't have to change, you can just wear what you're wearing now." Natsuo pointed. "We can go to the batting cages afterward if you need to blow off steam."
"I'm not wearing this, it's covered in coffee!" Nell snapped before calming down, "I found a rage room, we can go there." She smiled.
"Okay, well then wear whatever you want to wear." Natsuo chuckled before moving from the bed. He paused as he spotted what looked like a shrine in her giant walk-in closet, there were a few lit candles on it and a large picture of Maria, the whole shrine was covered in vines and roses. "Nell?"
"Hm?" She struggled to slip a grungy band tee over her head.
Natsuo took another step closer and felt his face flush scarlet as he spotted Nell shirtless, pulling a grungy top over her head. His gaze fell on blood stained bandages wrapped around her middle. "What the hell happened?!" He panicked, completely forgetting to be embarrassed that he'd accidentally seen her topless.
Nell righted her shirt and her bright green eyes grew wide as she realized Natsuo was now in her massive closet, "if you wanted a peek, you could have asked." She frowned.
"Th-That's not what I was doing!" His face exploded with heat, "wait, that's not the issue-."
"You peeping isn't an issue?" Nell pondered amused as he became increasingly flustered.
"Well, yes it is- No! I wasn't peeping!"
"I'm confused." Nell held back a laugh.
"The issue is you! You're bleeding! A lot!" Natsuo snapped.
"I'm fine, it's bandaged." Nell reassured him as she reached back and pulled her long violet hair free from her shirt and let it fall around her in loose waves. "Ready?"
"N-no! What the hell happened?"
"I got shot." Nell replied calmly.
"WHAT?!"
"You sound like you're way overdue for a date with a rage room, it will take your anxiety from here." She held her hand up above her head, "to here." She lowered it around her hip.
"When and where did you get shot?!" Natsuo looked like he was about to start hyperventilating.
Nell sighed and sat him down at the vanity that was now Maria's shrine. "You need to take some deep breaths. I got shot last night, and obviously it was in the abdomen, I thought you saw the bandages."
"Nell!"
"Natsuo!" Nell yelled back at him with a smile. "Did that make you feel better?"
"No. Where were you when you got shot?" He groaned.
"No idea, still don't know my way around yet." Nell smiled, "I'm fine."
Natsuo didn't believe her, she was still much paler than she was yesterday and all of her movements were slower and more cautious like it hurt for her to move. He looked at the shrine before him, "...how did Maria die?"
Nell's entire body tensed. "Which version of the story do you want?"
Natsuo threw her a curious look. "Yours."
"A group of assholes gangraped and killed her." Nell clenched her fists and Natsuo looked up in concern as the light overhead began to flicker. No it wasn't flickering, it was just getting choked by thorn covered vines.
"That's horrible." Natsuo looked back down at the picture of the beautiful girl with the big dark curly hair, beautiful bronze skin and carribean blue eyes. "What's the other version of the story?"
"She fell in with the wrong crowd, started seeking attention, and killed herself." Nell's nails dug into her palms. That was what everyone said, they'd all said Maria had become a delinquent, a bad influence, a party girl and she just wanted attention from everyone and finally she killed herself to get attention even in death. People were sick and twisted.
Natsuo's hand slipped in hers and she was finally able to take a deep breath. She realized her quirk had been spiraling out of control as the entire closet was now filled with roses.
"Sorry." Nell apologized.
Natsuo gave her hand a squeeze, "I'm sorry." His deep grey puppy dog eyes were filled with so much warmth and sincerity she thought she might break.
Nell offered him a nod of acknowledgement and squeezed his hand back.
"Why did no one believe her?" Natsuo asked.
"The ringleader, Damien...his father was a very popular hero who always bailed him out of trouble..." Nell's voice darkened.
"That's messed up. Whatever happened to the assholes?" Natsuo asked.
"The world may have failed my best friend and denied her justice, but I made them pay. They no longer have the ability to force anything but their annoying presence on anyone ever again." Nell said with a wicked smile.
Natsuo paled as he caught what she meant, "...so... you're like a vigilante?"
Nell shrugged, "I don't really want to be..but sometimes it just happens..."
"Last night?" Natsuo frowned.
"Remember the two idiots, one brain cell, from our lecture yesterday?" Nell asked.
Natsuo nodded.
"They were apparently part of some kind of gang and they all thought they'd be cool and rob a jewelry store and were going to kill someone they found inside... I personally think life is sacred and everyone out there has someone who loves them, someone who would be absolutely destroyed if they died...I wasn't about to let them take away someone else's Maria..." A single tear slipped from her hold.
Natsuo gently wiped it away before wrapping his big strong arms around her. "I guess that's a good reason, but I personally think you're insane, that's also one of the many things I like about you, and I'd be very upset if anything happened to you, so could you avoid getting shot or killed, please."
Nell felt her heart skip a beat in her chest. "I'll try."
Natsuo felt a little better now that he had a better understanding of Nell. He hugged her for a long moment before releasing her from his hold. "We should definitely steer clear of that topic at dinner."
"Yeah...it's kinda illegal...and also heroes really hate us...you know, since we usually do their job better but don't want the fame, glory or riches." Nell smirked.
"Right." Natsuo nodded.
"Since you're going to be keeping my illegal secret, I feel like that can make us even on the whole being a buffer for your family thing." Nell pointed.
"You haven't met my father." Natsuo grimaced, "I'll throw the keeping your illegal secret in for free."
"Well now I feel like I should demand more Overcooked hours..." Nell teased him with a smile.
"At least double...but it's too late, a deal's a deal." Natsuo still hadn't released her hand and didn't realize it until they were halfway out the door. Once he realized it, his cheeks reddened but he didn't let go.
Video- "Popular Monster" By Falling In Reverse