In the alleyway, John carried Kaina, Ai, Rover, and the shopping bags. He sighed in relief that the people couldn't find them.
He couldn't stand public attention not even in his past life, after winning a $20 million lottery and a month later he was killed.
That was how he ended up in MHA. He still didn't know if winning the lottery was both a blessing and a curse.
But at least he got powers here that broke the rules of MHA.
"Um, you didn't need to do that."
Kaina stood as John let her down.
"Nah, I had to. Otherwise, things would get chaotic for you."
John said as he set Rover and Ai down and adjusted the groceries he was carrying
Kaina, out of curiosity something she never bothered to ask the commissioner spoke up.
"What's your name? I know Ai's name from you, but I never caught yours. At least I want to thank you properly."
John looked at her for a few seconds, then replied.
"John. My name is John Hunter. Yours? Your actual name?"
"Kaina Tsutsumi, and thank you John Hunter."
They looked into each other's eyes. John turned away as Ai waved goodbye. Rover barked happily.
Kaina smiled and waved back.
The three of them went through different alleyways, putting beanies on Ai and himself to hide their faces. They avoided hero-stopped villains along the way.
They finally reached home. John sighed, finally out of sight of the people.
"Onii-chan, you said I could get another ice cream."
He looked down at Ai, who was holding his fingers.
"Sorry, Ai. Not today. If we go out now, people will spot us and ask unnecessary questions."
She pouted at her Onii-chan for delaying his promise, but she understood his reasoning.
John knew she was unhappy, but he couldn't always spoil her. Otherwise, her attitude would become bad and she'd whine a lot, thinking she owned everything.
He patted her head.
"Tell you what. I'll make some chocolate peanut butter sandwiches for snacks and pork katsu for tonight's dinner."
She smiled and hugged his leg.
"Thank you, Onii-chan."
"WOOF!"
Rover barked at John.
"And you get some steak sandwiches and pork katsu for dinner too, Rover."
John opened the door as they happily got inside the house.
.....
Hours passed. John carried both sleeping Ai and Rover to the bedroom after their dinner together, like a family with no trauma.
He gently laid them down, then proceeded to put furniture against the doors and windows of the house. He didn't want to take any chances or feel safe after All Might's damn words, mistaking them for Lady Nagant's family in front of the public.
He remembered what happened to heroes with families in this world.
After barricading the doors and windows, he sighed.
"Now, time for me to get some sleep."
He headed to his room, lay down and slowly closed his eyes body relaxed.
As John fell asleep, a mass of about darkness slowly emerged from his body. A demonic wolf head with jagged teeth and red eyes pushed out, growing in size.
"Still can't understand why my astral form looks like this."
The demonic wolf who was John, is using the Sheep talisman's power to astral project looked down at his hands.
Well, claws actually.
He didn't know why his astral form wasn't human. He'd been using this power to wander Japan for the past year like this.
He thought maybe it had something to do with his wish for Guts' body, or maybe taking so many lives had made his soul turn dark.
John stopped thinking about it and floated upward, phasing through the roof. He flew toward the city, searching for suspicious people he could track.
------------------------------
(Scene Change)
A man in his twenties, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and ragged jeans, cycled through alleyways, stopping at posts and handing papers from his bag to thugs. The papers were advertisements for a pleasure hut.
After finishing his rounds, he entered a building glowing with neon lights. Inside, a fat man in a suit smiled and handed him a stack of cash.
"Great job on the delivery, buddy. Keep this up, and you'll be living in a good house."
The fat man patted him on the back. The man shrugged.
"Whatever."
As he turned to leave, he saw a girl in the room looking at him. He hesitated, trying to decide if he should help her.
"Don't even think about it," the fat man said.
"That girl's father owed the boss five million yen. Even after selling his organs, it wasn't enough. The guy was an alcoholic who barely paid off half. Best to ignore it, kid."
The man listened. He closed his eyes and walked out as a "customer" entered the room.
The man cycled his way to the rundown apartment building. He entered with his bike and went to one of the rooms. He put his bike aside, grabbed a beer from the fridge, and sat on a worn sofa.
He switched on the TV and saw news of All Might saving people from a plane crash.
"Dammit. I should have helped her. And the others."
He muttered, took a sip, and palmed his head. Then he looked back at the TV, at All Might smiling.
"What am I kidding? I don't even have a quirk to protect myself from them or get anyone to safety. The police won't see me as a civilian trying to help only scum in this society."
He turned his gaze to a photo of himself when he was younger with a woman older than him by about seven years.
He thought back to before all of this. His sister had looked after him when their parents died in a villain attack. She worked hard and he did his best to help by taking on many part-time jobs, which worked for a while.
Everything was going well until his sister got cancer. It left her weak.
He used what money he had for good medication, but he knew it wasn't enough. Out of desperation, he started working with yakuza to earn fast money to help his sister.
His sister appreciate the help ask questions how he gets this fast. He lied he got job from a factory that pays well not her knowing what the job really is.
The man smiled sadly, taking a sip of his beer.
"Don't you worry, sis. Once you're better and I've saved up enough money for happy life you deserve. I'll disappear so you won't have to face the burden of me working as a criminal."
He said it with some confidence. The apartment he was in was dirt cheap, so it help him save money.
However, the man never realized that John in his demonic wolf astral form was floating right in front of him, listening to everything he said.
'I followed this guy so I could get the location to murder those fuckers and help the girls. But after seeing his reaction wanting to help that girl and hearing everything he said, now I don't know what to do with him.'
Don't get it wrong. John wasn't the type to instantly judge people by how they looked, but he couldn't forgive their actions either. After hearing the side of his story, he thought about helping this guy.
But not without making him work for it using him to sniff out other criminal operations for John to raid.
John's astral face stretched into a deranged, creepy smile as the idea came to mind.
....
Hours passed. The man slept. He dreamed of visiting his sister's hospital bed, wearing a suit and holding flowers.
"Sora, you didn't have to bring me flowers."
"Come on, sis. It's a celebration for you beating cancer. I'd be a bad brother if I didn't get you a gift."
The man—Sora—handed the flowers to his sister, Suki. She smiled and smelled them, happy to have something fresh after so long in a hospital bed.
"I see you have a new job. Nice clothes."
Sora nodded and adjusted his tie like a businessman.
"Yeah, winning 50 million yen from the lottery was amazing. I used some for investments to help build a business. It's going great. Better than my old job though that old job helped me support you."
"Oh, you mean the job that left you dirty while those girls suffered?"
Sora stiffened the words were sharp. Aggressive and how did she know about the girls?
He turned to look at her, but his pupils shrank.
Suki's eyes that were hollow. Her cheeks began to fall apart, exposing teeth and bleeding gums. The flowers in her hands withered, then morphed into tiny skulls that stared back at him.
Sora stumbled back, horrified.
Suki's limbs stretched unnaturally. The room began to tremble, like an earthquake was tearing it apart.
"Why did you spend money those girls suffered for? Why did fucking you lie to me about your job?"
Her mouth stretched wide as she spoke. Her neck grew long, snaking toward him.
Sora couldn't handle what was happening. He rushed to the door, thinking of existing outside.
but everything was very wrong.
The sun was black as a void. Withered faces filled the ground, full of despair. Rivers of blood flowed through the landscape, carrying more faces.
Sora's blood ran cold. He couldn't understand what was happening. Before he could even think it was a dream, something kicked him from behind. He stumbled forward, falling into the blood. His suit soaked through.
"WHY COULDN'T YOU HELP THAT GIRL! SHE WAS A VICTIM OF HER FATHER'S FOOLISHNESS, BUT YOU LEFT HER! WHYY!!"
Her screams were shrieked and distorted. More limbs burst from her body as she slammed them into the ground.
Sora shook in fear at his sister's monstrous appearance. Finally, he replied.
"I did it because I was desperate! The medication for you was getting too expensive. I had to do this so you could live happily! I never did this for myself. Only for your survival."
Just as the abomination lunged toward him, a rough, distorted voice called out.
"Enough."
She froze like a statue at the command. A dark cloud poured out of her eye sockets, taking the form of a demonic wolf. Its red eyes burned like embers as it looked down at Sora.
'Heh. Bet he pissed himself right now.'
--------------------------
The Sheep Talisman's power wasn't only for astral projection. It had two other abilities.
One was to possess a person's body, having full control over it as long as the soul was removed first.
The second was to enter a person's dream and make contact with them. John had practiced controlling his own dreams, which gave him the ability to enter and manipulate the dreams of others.
This level of ability didn't exist in the Jackie Chan Adventures series. But John was smart enough to ensured the talismans had growth potential, allowing their abilities to extend over time.
Enough with the small explanation. Back to more important things.
John menacingly approached Sora, who was trembling at the sight of his monstrous form.
"Don't worry. This world is a dream. Constructed by me of course."
Sora was batshit scared and confused by what the creature meant.
"So if you made this... you must be a Quirk user."
The Beast let out a distorted cackle at the claim.
"No, Sora. I am far more dangerous than any person with those flashy powers. And as for why I'm here... I need you to work for me."
Sora taken aback about this but his eyes narrowed since he can't instantly believe it.
"This has to be a nightmare. I need to wake up."
"Then do it."
Sora squeezed his eyes shut, trying to wake up. When he opened them again, he was still in this hellish place.
The Beast pinned him down with a single claw on his chest.
"Listen to me very carefully. I will support you by giving you money, as long as you give me information on Yakuza and villain hideouts."
Sora groaned in pain from the claw but managed to force out the words.
"How do I know you're telling the truth?"
The Beast grinned and applied more pressure to his claw.
"There will be a briefcase under your bed full of money. Plenty enough for your sister to get the best treatment. As for how you'll know I'm not just some imaginary demon in your head... check the news. You'll see the illegal pleasure hut devastation."
The Beast unhinged its jaw and bit down on Sora's head.
--------------------
Sora woke up screaming.
He was breathing heavily, drenched in sweat from the nightmare. He stumbled to the small sink and splashed water on his face.
He looked at himself in the cracked mirror he didn't bothered to buy.
The Beast's words echoed in his head.
He knelt down beside his bed and looked underneath.
A briefcase.
He pulled it out and opened it. His eyes bulged.
Twenty million yen. More than he'd ever made at his shitty job. Sitting on top of the money was a letter, out of curiosity he unfold it and reads it.
"If you're going to give me information, write it on paper so no one can track you through your phone. Or I could just visit your dreams again when you sleep.
P.S. Check the news."
Sora turned on the TV. His heart skipped a beat.
The news was showing the location of the secret pleasure hut the one he worked for the boss of it It was in ruins.
The news bring out the death of gangs, villains and some yakuza members names. Cameras couldn't show the people how they died is too horrific for everyone to see.
The girls who had been trapped inside were in a hospital telling reporters about a mask man in black armor kill their captors and take them to the hospital after getting into a rundown bus that he made it fly as to travel.
"Shit... it wasn't in my head but true."
Sora hold his completely shaken by this and now he has to work with god knows who or he be next.
In another location John astral form goes to his unconscious body laying on the couch.
Just as he open his eyes and thought of the successful way getting a mole for him, Ai tap his lap with a cereal bowl points at the box of cereal on top of the fridge.
"Okay Ai, I'll get breakfast ready."
John stands up and head to the kitchen getting her cereal while planning his next course of actions should be.
End
[Author note: late chapter i know, but life comes first for me and my family.]