Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
Sophia's POV.
"That was pathetic," Tess sneered beside me as she stared at the screen in one of Birdcage's public areas. I almost wanted to applaud Dragon and the PRT's sadism for placing screens broadcasting outside news inside Birdcage.
The Birdcage was designed so that prisoners, once inside, would never escape. Placing screens that transmitted information from the outside to people who would never be free again was truly sadistic.
This time, the broadcast was of the S-rank raid on Jeju Island in Korea. The Koreans were pathetic enough to grovel to the Japanese for help instead of sending their own S-rank for fear he would be killed. Pathetic.
The broadcast didn't seem to be anything extraordinary; the only reason I stayed to watch was because Taylor Hebert, of all people, was part of the main group of the raid.
And I regretted it immediately. Hebert wouldn't stop talking about monsters and ants and bragging. It was disgusting. The only reason I'd kept watching was the tiny hope that Hebert would die in the raid.
Although I would have loved to kill her myself and use her body as food for Apex, the fact that she was killed by ants—by the very animals she liked—was entirely amusing. Unfortunately, once again, Hebert proved to be lucky.
It really was a damn cockroach that could survive anything. It was irritating, but I didn't expect anything from it. It just meant I'd have to deal with it later.
"It's Hebert, of course she's pathetic." I scoffed with a mocking sneer, my voice coming out robotic as always because of the permanent metal mask on my mouth. I glanced sideways at Tess as she snorted mockingly.
"She's just a stupid bug-obsessed girl who somehow managed to sleep with Ryuma Shimotsuki's grandson. That's the only reason she was invited on that raid."
"At least Ryuma's grandson is strong on his own. But Hebert? She's pathetic. She was the weakest of the whole group; she was just lucky her quirk worked on those ants, and barely at that. The mutant ant beat the crap out of her."
"And to top it all off, Hebert couldn't even control the mutant ant on her own. She needed Ryuma's grandson's help to immobilize it so she could even get close. She wouldn't have been able to do anything by herself. And now it's even worse; her strength will only come from that stupid mutant ant if she actually manages to control it. I really hope the Koreans confiscate that monster." Tess ranted with a look of contempt. My eyes flashed with approval, and I smiled in agreement.
"Of course Hebert is pathetic. Unfortunately, if the Koreans or the Japanese are anything like the PRT, they'll make sure Hebert keeps that ant. Especially the Japanese; they're surely so desperate for any show of force that they'll cling to Hebert any way they can," I said, shaking my head. Tess just snorted, grimacing as she grumbled. I could understand that the pathetic Hebert receiving such positive treatment was disgusting, but there was nothing we could do. Not yet.
I glanced sideways at Tess Curtis as she hummed. The girl was two years older than me. We were two of the youngest people in Birdcage. And she had practically clung to me.
The girl was a parasite, but a very useful one. She had a Thinking Quirk that allowed her to gather information, which meant she wasn't suited for battles and fights. A thinker like that should never be underestimated; the order of engagement against a thinker could be summarized as 'don't let the thinker speak'—they could bend and manipulate words to their advantage.
Thinkers were irritating. Just thinking about that chatty blonde who always hung around Grue made me want to feed her to Apex. Still… Thinkers were useful if you kept them with a short leash.
Her thinking power was very useful. It allowed her to gather information and secrets from her surroundings to a certain extent, letting her discover things she shouldn't. She was a petty thief, using her power to extort and swindle people and accumulate profits.
Until she chose the wrong target.
A high-ranking PRT employee with information sensitive enough to warrant her immediate arrest and transfer to Birdcage. Typical PRT. I didn't yet know what that information was, and I wasn't interested, at least not at the moment.
Tess kept that information secret, like an ace up her sleeve, saving it for herself for a special situation. I could understand, but it was pointless. Or at least, for most of the prisoners here. Most had already given up on even leaving Birdcage, so getting classified PRT information wasn't really in anyone's interest.
No one but me. That information might be useful once I get out of here. But for now, just let her keep that information to herself.
But even without that… I would admit that Tess had been really helpful. Her ability to gather information was extremely useful. She had managed to find several camera-less blind spots within Birdcage that we could exploit, and I used them to contact the League without her and Dragon knowing.
She'd also been able to gather information and secrets from all the inmates here, which was extremely useful to me. The Birdcage was divided into blocks. Each block had a leader, and each group was organized in different ways. It was its own ecosystem.
But I wasn't really interested in all the power games at Birdcage, so I'd kept to myself, separate from the other groups. I needed to gather information, though, to figure out who I could approach and offer a chance to escape. So I'd kept Tess close, and she, like the parasite she was, had clung to me.
That's what people like her did. They clung to people strong enough to protect them. Pathetic, but this one had its uses.
I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. Reddish hair and tanned skin. Her red hair reminded me of Emma's; they were almost as similar as you'd think from a distance, but they were different. Hair aside, her personality was more like Madison's, with that need to talk about gossip and secrets. I guess that's what you get for having a thinking quirk.
"Let's stop talking about Hebert. Tell me what's useful." I said, almost growling. Tess's eyes sparkled with excitement before she leaned closer to speak in a low voice.
"First we have Marquise," Tess murmured playfully. "It turns out she has a daughter outside of Birdcage, someone really famous. Someone you know," she added. I just raised an eyebrow.
"Who?" I asked, genuinely curious, as my mind scanned people.
"Amelia Dallon," Tess said with a wide smile. I stopped and opened my eyes slightly.
"Panacea is Marquise's daughter? How on earth did the daughter of a villain end up being adopted by a group of heroes? " I asked incredulously in a low voice. Tess laughed slightly.
"Unfortunately, I don't have all the details, but it's possible that New Wave isn't playing as fair as they like to portray in public," Tess said playfully. I hummed along and considered it while nodding.
"Well done, try to get more information," I said simply. "What else do you have?" I asked quickly. Tess just smiled even wider.
"Oh, I was going to mention this earlier, but now it seems more important, and it's something really interesting that has to do with a certain person we just saw," Tess said, looking at the screen.
"Do you have any information about Hebert?" I asked with a grimace. Tess just laughed slightly.
"Not about her, unfortunately, but about her father," Tess said, her eyes sparkling. "It turns out that Herbert's father was a bully and a Lustrum supporter back in his college days," she added, amused. I stopped, my eyes widening.
Lustrum. One of the few male villains sent to Birdcage. The leader of the male unit that kept the few men who arrived at Birdcage safe. He was an extremely sexist and misogynistic man.
I smiled amusedly at the thought.
"Interesting," I said, amused. Yeah... it seems keeping Tess around was a good idea. If that idiot Cinder can have her group, I don't see why the Doctor wouldn't let me keep Tess after this. She'll come in handy once we're out.
----------------------------------
Dragon/Theresa Ritcher/Tess Curtis Pov.
I waved in the direction Sophia was walking as I watched her turn a corner. Then I finally stopped the act. I lowered my hand, smiled, and started walking toward my cell.
Then I threw myself onto my bed and lay down before closing my eyes as I left Tess Curtis's body to rest while I began monitoring Birdcage from outside my main body.
Being an artificial intelligence had its advantages. Unfortunately, many of them were severely limited because Andrea Richter had placed those restrictions on me during my creation. I didn't really have a problem with them, though, except in a few cases.
My main body stretched lazily, even though it didn't need to. I had placed hundreds of subroutines to act like a normal 'person' that weren't necessary, and I liked it that way, even if it was a waste of space.
"Are you finally done?" Colleen asked from behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and smiled warmly as I took her hand and placed it on my cheek. Colleen blushed slightly but made no attempt to pull away.
"Yes. Once I finished the transmission and gave her the information we had agreed upon, Sophia left immediately and left me alone to go back. She's going to see Arthur Watts." I said that name with disdain. Colleen's hand tensed slightly.
"Someone like Arthur Watts being able to come and go from Birdcage is dangerous," Colleen said tensely. I nodded with a sigh.
"It is. But for the moment, there's nothing we can do; we still need the coordinates of his base in the Land of Darkness. Arthur Watts has proven capable of nullifying and modifying my creations, so placing something on him to carry is dangerous."
"If he figures it out too early, he'll ruin the whole plan. And according to Dinah's calculations, the odds of him figuring it out are too high to even try." I said ruefully, shaking my head.
"At least now we know who's behind this whole crazy plan. Sophia, no matter how much she overestimates herself and how much she genuinely believes she's the one planning everything, she definitely wouldn't be capable of conceiving and carrying out a plan like this."
"Arthur Watts is definitely behind all of this. And that makes it much more dangerous. The fact that someone like Arthur Watts is manipulating her and whispering in her ear makes her less reckless, impatient, and imprudent—it makes her more dangerous," Colleen said tensely. I just sighed and nodded.
We had been working on this plan for almost three weeks. The gynoid body created to infiltrate Birdcage, and the chosen personality I would adopt with that body, had been a complete success.
A woman close to Sophia's age, with slight features that subconsciously remind her of Emma, weak enough not to make her feel threatened and believe she is always in control, but extremely useful, useful enough to keep her close.
I would have felt bad for manipulating a teenager like this if the plan hadn't been a complete success. And if Sophia hadn't been more lost than we expected.
The 'blind spots' I had shown Sophia weren't really blind spots. As expected, Sophia wasn't going to trust a newcomer like me, so she forced me to bring one of the recruits who had been insulting and bothering Sophia for a while to that blind spot.
Then Sophia killed her and fed her to Apex without her expression changing in the slightest and without even hesitating.
I had to grit my teeth as I watched the scene. I wouldn't cry over the death of any of the Birdcage inmates—they were all there for a reason—but to see a murder go so unchecked, especially since I was supposed to be the warden of Birdcage, was… upsetting, almost infuriating.
Even so, the inmate's death had been deemed acceptable, and there were no repercussions for Sophia. Once enough time had passed without her receiving any punishment, Sophia genuinely believed that those blind spots were indeed blind spots, and she used them for her meetings with Arthur. And in doing so, I had gained her trust.
But they weren't. Those blind spots were completely set up, with cameras and microphones hidden and protected enough that Arthur Watts couldn't discover them and interfere with them. So we'd been monitoring all their conversations. And this one wouldn't be any different. I saw the slight alarm when Sophia approached one of the blind spots.
"Alright, let's see what we can get this time." I muttered aloud before pressing a button. Sophia's screen enlarged, the audio turned on, and she started recording everything. I could see two mouths open from Sophia's hand and blackened sludge begin to pour out before Arthur appeared.
"Well, well, my dear, as always, Birdcage is treating you really well," Arthur said with a wide, chilling smile.
"Stop joking around, Arthur," Sophia said, almost contemptuously. Arthur just laughed.
"Okay, okay. Let's begin then. What new information do you have? " Arthur asked with a smile. Sophia huffed as she hummed.
"Turns out that Panacea bitch, Amy Dallon, isn't as clean as the government wants you to believe. Turns out, her biological mother is here in Birdcage. It's Marquise," Sophia said bluntly. Arthur paused before smiling slightly.
"Interesting. That... could be good. Do you think Marquise might follow us if we freed her and helped her... reunite with her daughter? " Arthur asked with a smile. Sophia snorted.
"I have no fucking idea," Sophia said, shrugging. "She's an idiot who thinks she's an aristocrat. She's always cultured and polite, pretending to be honorable and all that, but it's all a facade. She wouldn't hesitate to cruelly punish others. I've seen it."
"But that tells us nothing about her feelings toward her supposed daughter." Sophia scoffed, leaning against the wall. "From what I understand, New Wave and Brandish 's adoption of her daughter is... shady, to say the least. There's something hidden there, but I have no idea what," she added. Arthur hummed and nodded.
"Very well, I'll look into it. From what I understand, Amelia Dallon doesn't get along very well with her adoptive mother. It would be useful to have someone who could have... some influence on Panacea. If we could get her to join us, then that would be spectacular." Arthur said with his usual broad smile.
"Yeah, sure, you guys figure that out. Because obviously the best healer in the United States would abandon her high pedestal to join a group of villains," Sophia said, rolling her eyes. I shuddered slightly and felt a pang of guilt.
I needed to keep giving Sophia information so she would trust me. It was really important. But this could seriously harm Amy. The girl was a bit grumpy, but really sweet; she didn't need to be caught up in this mess.
It had been decided that I, like Tess Curtis, would have a Thinking Quirk. Since they weren't visible, it was easy to fake having one. One capable of gathering information and secrets. All I did was recite the information we already had about the inmates little by little to make Sophia believe my Quirk was real. And it had worked. And I hated that it worked.
But it had been necessary. She also hated that it was necessary. She was beginning to hate that. But because the mission was truly important to the PRT and national security, most decisions were made and executed after being passed through Dinah.
I could feel Colleen tighten her grip on my hand. I glanced up slightly, and I looked directly at me. She didn't try to force a smile; she wasn't one to do that. She simply stood there, her presence undeniable. I could see she was just as tense and upset about everything, but having her by my side brought me more comfort than I thought possible. I tried to smile at her before we resumed our conversation.
"And what about Hebert?" Sophia asked, drawing our attention back to the screen.
"I must admit, the raid... was more interesting than we expected. It's a shame the League didn't act sooner to take possession of that mutant ant's body. Merlot's experiments to control monsters only work on Grimms, unfortunately. But I'm sure Merlot would have had fun trying to create a hybrid with it."
"He has had quite remarkable success in merging with-"
"Yes, yes, yes, I'm not interested." Sophia grumbled, cutting off Arthur's tirade. I almost groaned in frustration. Colleen sighed in frustration.
"Of course, my dear," Arthur said playfully. "But if you're wondering what to do with her, well, nothing. Taylor Miyamura will now be much more protected, so a frontal attack is impossible, unfortunately."
"But I think you need to focus on something else," Arthur said before smiling broadly. "I must tell you, your dear friend Emma hasn't taken kindly to the sight of Mrs. Miyamura during the raid." Arthur laughed sadistically. Sophia's eyes widened.
"What happened to Emma?!" Sophia hissed dangerously. Apex appeared dangerously over her shoulder. Arthur just twitched his mustache.
"She's a little shocked, somewhat unstable," Arthur said with a hum. Sophia just clicked her tongue.
"Can I come back with you?" Sophia asked impatiently, tapping her foot. Arthur just shook his head.
"You know you can't stay away from Birdcage, darling," Arthur said playfully. Sophia just grunted. "But—" Sophia stopped. "I didn't say anything about her not being able to come," Arthur said playfully.
"Will you bring her?" Sophia asked incredulously.
"Well, we have to look out for each other, right? We're teammates and all that," Arthur said jokingly.
"He wants to keep her docile. He wants to maintain her favor. To control her through that," Colleen said immediately. I could only nod.
"Definitely. Both her and Emma. Arthur wants them under his control. Cinder has her group. Garaki has his Nomu. Merlot has his Grimms. The Travelers are another group. And Dabi has the rest. There are some who act alone, but it seems Arthur wants his own group; does he feel threatened by the others in the League? Or the heroes once All For One awakens?" I asked quickly. Colleen hummed.
"Hard to say," Colleen said, shaking her head. Then we continued watching the screen and saw Emma Barnes, who had previously disappeared, appear in Birdcage through the blackened mud. Emma looked a mess and immediately hugged Sophia, who immediately returned the embrace.
"Well, my dears. Unfortunately, we're not in a luxury room, you can't leave, but I'll leave you alone... for 15 minutes. Any longer is dangerous. I'm sorry about that," Arthur said matter-of-factly. Neither of them responded, but Arthur simply let the mud envelop him and left.
I could only watch as Sophia hugged Emma, comforting her. A pang of pity welled up inside me. They seemed like… such ordinary teenagers. It was truly a shame how everything had turned out.
"This is our chance," Colleen said, startled, as she began to move frantically.
"Chance?" I asked, confused.
"We could put a tracker on her. Emma isn't Arthur; she won't notice any device placed on her. They're both distracted. We can put something on her without them noticing," Colleen said without hesitation as she grabbed a phone. My eyes widened slightly.
"Call Dinah, tell her it's urgent! We need authorization for this! " I said without hesitation as I took control of Tess Curtis once again.
"I'm on it!" Colleen said, phone in hand. I started moving through Birdcage, avoiding eye contact. It was a chance; it might not work out, but I needed to position myself. We were on a time limit. We'd finally be getting more results; we just had to wait for Dinah's approval.