Chapter 8: Chapter 8
The cafeteria was its usual dreary self, but the atmosphere at the table felt lighter. Aleksandr, Ivan, Anya, Yulia, and Gervasii sat together, trays of bland food in front of them. The tension from the day's combat test seemed to ease, replaced by a rare sense of camaraderie.
Yulia leaned back in her chair, her legs crossed, a smirk plastered across her face. "So, I assume you all survived out there," she started, her voice tinged with mock arrogance. "Gervasii and I didn't just survive. We dominated. And, of course, my genius planning was the key to our success all along."
Gervasii rolled his eyes so hard it was a miracle they didn't fall out of his head. "Here we go," he muttered. "You have to twist the story to make it sound like I didn't do anything."
"Oh no, I didn't diminish your contribution at all," Yulia said, her smirk widening. "You ran and jumped around like a headless chicken, getting chased by robots while I did the real work."
Gervasii slammed his fork down, though his grin betrayed his fake anger. "You mean the 'real work' of almost blowing us up with your sewer explosion plan?!"
"It worked, didn't it?" Yulia shot back, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "If it weren't for me, you'd still be sprinting around like an idiot, trying to punch robots with your bare hands."
Gervasii jabbed a finger in her direction. "I was the bait! Without me, your plan would've been useless!"
"You're always the bait because that's all you're good for!"
The table erupted with laughter, led by Ivan and Yulia. Ivan shook his head, a grin splitting his face as he leaned forward, propping his elbows on the table. "You two argue like a pair of babushkas fighting over the last loaf of bread in a snowstorm. Honestly, I'm starting to think the robots weren't the real test—getting you two to work together without killing each other was."
(*Note: babushka: old lady, grandma in Russian *).
Yulia arched a brow, feigning offense. "Excuse me? I think I deserve credit for tolerating him."
Gervasii smirked, leaning back in his chair with practiced ease. "Tolerating me? You act like you're some kind of saint to humanity. If anything, I deserve a medal for surviving your constant nagging."
"Oh, really?" Yulia retorted, her eyes gleaming with playful menace. "Wanna see this saint hand-deliver you to the afterlife, you cheap ass bait?"
"Bring it on, molten face saint. I'm a proud, natural-born atheist!" Gervasii fired back without missing a beat.
Ivan doubled over in laughter, clutching his stomach. "Hahaha! My goodness, just a month ago, you two were ready to tear each other apart. Now I'm wondering what miracle brought us to this point."
Yulia narrowed her eyes at him, though the smirk on her lips betrayed her amusement. "Better to argue than sit there grinning like some old drunk uncle."
Ivan shrugged, his smile unfaltering. "Watching you two is like watching a circus—chaotic but ridiculously entertaining. Perhaps this was the first time I felt this much joy in this place."
Gervasii smirked, shifting the topic with a mischievous glint in his eye. "And what about you and the quiet little girl?" He gestured toward Anya, who had been sitting a bit apart from the group, startled by the sudden mention of her name.
Ivan glanced over with a raised eyebrow. "Her name's Anya," he corrected, much to the surprise of both Yulia and Gervasii.
"Whoops, my bad, "big boss". I'll call her by her name from now on.", Gervasii replied with exaggerated sarcasm.
Ivan's expression grew serious as he continued. "No, I mean it. Anya saved me during the test. Her healing made all the difference. If not for her, I'd definitely be toast by now."
"Speaking of which…" Ivan turned to Anya with a friendly smile. "Hey, Anya, you wanna join us?"
Anya hesitated for a moment, but eventually nodded, moving to sit with the group.
Ivan grinned. "Haha, my "great savior" here is a little shy, but once you get to know her, you'll see she's really nice."
Anya's bashfulness began to fade as she smiled, her usual shyness giving way to warmth. "Ivan was amazing too. He kept the robots distracted while I used my healing quirk to patch him up. It was intense, but we made it work."
"You're too modest," Ivan said, nudging her gently. "You saved my neck more times than I can count. Without you, I'd be nothing but scrap metal by now."
Yulia couldn't resist. "Aaaw, sounds like you two had a cute little adventure together. Like a fairy tale where the main loving pair live happily ever after."
Anya blushed, her eyes dropping to her tray, but Ivan chuckled as he backed up at her joke: "Better than a dysfunctional disaster duo like you and Gervasii."
"Hey!" Yulia and Gervasii exclaimed in unison, causing the table to burst into laughter once again.
Meanwhile, Aleksandr sat silently, his gaze distant as he toyed with a piece of bread. Yulia noticed, her playful expression fading into curiosity.
"Hey magnetic head. You've been quiet the whole time, don't you notice what we are doing?", Yulia asked.
"You really need to stop with the nicknames and yes, I'm well aware that you guys turned into a bantering party after your successful tests. It's hard to miss when you all sound like toddlers after their first sugar rush.", Aleksandr replied.
"Well, there's a spot left for you to join and spill out your story today, you walking EMP bomb.", Yulia shot back with a "better nickname" for Aleksandr.
Aleksandr glanced up, his tone dry, "Thanks, but I'm not interested."
"In joining us or the new nickname she gave you?", Gervasii asked jokingly.
"Both.", Aleksandr replied curtly.
Yulia crossed her arms and leaned back. "Something's clearly eating at you. At your default mode, you do already sound like an asshole but you can't possibly be this insufferable for no reason."
Aleksandr blinked, startled out of his thoughts. "No, there's none." he said, his tone clipped.
Yulia raised an eyebrow. "That's a terrible lie. Even Ivan could do better, and he's about as subtle as a bear in a berry patch."
Ivan smirked. "I'm taking that as a compliment. But she's right, Aleksandr—you've been sitting there like a stone statue. What's going on?"
Anya looked over, her soft voice tentative. "Did something happen in your test? You were alone, after all."
Aleksandr's jaw tightened as he kept his eyes fixed on his tray. "It was fine. Nothing worth talking about."
Yulia wasn't convinced. She leaned closer, her tone sharp but not unkind. "Oh, come on. You're not fooling anyone. What kind of horrorshow did they throw at you?"
Ivan nodded, leaning on his elbow. "We're all here swapping "war stories", and you're sitting there like you didn't go through the same hell. Spill it, Aleksandr."
"I said it's nothing," Aleksandr snapped, his voice firmer this time. The table fell silent for a moment.
Yulia's eyes narrowed, her curiosity only deepening. "You're always like this—so secretive. What's the big deal? We're all stuck in the same nightmare. You don't have to carry it all alone."
Ivan tilted his head, watching Aleksandr carefully. "Unless… it's not about the test itself. Did you learn something? About your quirk?"
Aleksandr tensed, curled up his fingers into fists tightly as his knuckles turned white. He took a slight glare at the guards who were supervising them. After a moment, he believed there might be a chance the guards would report to the scientists after observing his behavior suddenly changed to become "less friendly" towards the other 4 kids which would highly raise unnecessary suspicions about him.
He calmed himself down, temporarily stopped thinking about that "phenomenon" and came up with a lie for the group.
"Fine," Aleksandr said, his tone clipped but deliberate. "If you're so insistent, I'll tell you what happened during my test."
The group leaned in slightly, curiosity etched on their faces.
"They tested me against an imprisoned criminal," Aleksandr confessed.
"What?!" Yulia, Ivan, and Gervasii exclaimed in unison, their shock palpable. Even Anya, though silent, widened her eyes in disbelief.
Aleksandr explained briefly about the Russian government's plan of transporting dangerous criminals to this facility as "investments" for scientists to use them as practice fodders for the test subjects.
Then he continued, his voice steady but carrying an edge of bitterness. "According to the scientist, he was a seasoned killer. A man who'd taken countless lives-innocents, rivals, anyone in his way. His quirk allowed him to turn his own blood into weapons, and he spent years mastering it. He was experienced, battle-hardened, and deadly."
He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in. "All that skill, all that effort, everything he built himself into... in the end, he died."
The room fell silent as the gravity of his statement hit them. Aleksandr's expression didn't waver as he finished: "I killed him. A single swing of a metal sword I created, and I took his head off."
Yulia was the first to break the silence.
"You're telling me they made you... fight a murderer? And you... decapitated him? Just like that?" Her tone was laced with disbelief, though not entirely lacking in sympathy.
Aleksandr's lips twitched into something between a smirk and a grimace. "Trust me, I was just as surprised. From a seasoned, quirk-using killer to a headless corpse in minutes by me, a six-year-old. Honestly it wasn't even a fight for me—it was slaughter." He exhaled, his gaze darkening. "If I'm already capable of overwhelming someone like him now, how long do you think before this place decides we're ready to kill Pro Heroes efficiently?"
"Hold on a second, why did they only choose you for this ridiculously dangerous test while still making the rest of us fight robots?–-", Gervasii stopped for a second and realization dawned on him.
"Unless…. they had concluded that your electromagnetism quirk developed rapidly enough to make the robots no longer suitable testing materials.", Gervasii pointed out.
"Spot on.", Aleksandr confirmed. "And their decision was to push me much faster than all of you. I reckon that training program against real life opponents would yet to start until we grow older, should be at least until we reach teenage hood. But unfortunately for me, our "dear doctor" Orlov claimed me as "the most remarkable creation ever" of this cursed shithole, so I got special treatment unlike you guys, though not the kind that anyone would envy, I can assure you that."
"And they really forced you to take that man's life to finish the test?!", Yulia jumped in.
"Yes. And sooner or later, it will be your turn as well."
"So the so-called "government" are risking the life of a bunch of orphans while also abusing their fake hypocrite law system to throw criminals into fighting cages with us so that we can have killing practice??!. These pathetic mad cowards, if they want a war with Western Heroes so badly, why don't they just do it themselves already? Turn themselves, their army into weapons instead of us?!", Gervasii cursed.
Aleksandr said, his voice edged with bitterness. "Because, like you said, they're the definition of cowards. From what we've studied—not just about Russia, but every other nation in history—there's one unspoken rule that stands out for leaders and politicians: It's always 'beneficial' to sacrifice human lives to achieve their goals... as long as it isn't their own life on the line."
His words hung in the air, heavy and unrelenting.
Ivan frowned, his usual levity replaced by a grim expression, muttered through gritted teeth "Blyat. Those shit bag devils wearing human's skins! You're just a kid….none of us should have to do something like that."
"Surprised huh? It's what they want from us," Aleksandr replied, his voice cold. "Or did you guys forget that in their eyes we are not children but a bunch of future mass murder machines?".
Ivan leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed. "No, we did not. We are still aware to face the reality that we did turn into what those assholes want. But it was totally unexpected for them to start with you first…at this young age! ".
Aleksandr's gaze hardened. "What choice do I have? Complain? Refuse? If I spared him, I probably wouldn't be sitting here talking with you guys. They will find some new ways to torture me until my obedience to their orders got "fixed"."
The group fell silent again, the tension in the air thick and suffocating. After a moment, Yulia shook her head, her tone softer, almost tentative. "Look, I don't know what's worse: the fact that they put you through that, or that you think you have to keep it bottled up like this."
Aleksandr crossed his arms, his voice steady but edged with weariness. "I also need to remind you all that this isn't the first time I've killed someone, right? I'll get over it eventually."
"But this is different," Yulia argued, her brow furrowing. "Those two guards—that was an accident. You lost control. But this… they left you with no choice. It's not the same."
"By accident, by force… it doesn't matter," Aleksandr interrupted curtly, his gaze hard and unyielding. "What's done is done."
Anya, who had been quiet until now, finally spoke up. "It does matter," she said gently, her voice calm but firm. "We're all stuck here together. You don't have to carry every incoming terrible thing alone."
"Appreciate the sentiment," he said, his voice softening slightly. "But trust me, this isn't something you want to carry with me."
Anya was about to argue back but then, something had made her change her mind and returned to her usual silence. She decided that it wasn't the right time.
The group exchanged uneasy glances, unsure of how to respond. Yulia finally broke the silence, her tone determined. "Fine, Aleksandr. We won't interfere with your decision. But don't think for a second that we're just going to sit here and let you push us away. Whether you like it or not, you're part of this mess with us."
Aleksandr gave a faint, almost imperceptible nod. "Noted."
In the end, Aleksandr's lie did its job along with his "acting" of pretending to be traumatized by his action of murder. Though not entirely false, it was carefully constructed to conceal the truth. He had shared the events of his test, but the part he twisted was how it affected him. The group believed he was haunted by taking a life, but in reality, it wasn't the act of killing that unsettled him—it was the "weird phenomenon" that lingered in his mind.
Aleksandr sat in his cell after dinner, the hum of the facility's fluorescent lights the only noise accompanying his thoughts. His expression remained calm, but his mind raced, dissecting the anomaly that had occurred during his fight with Oleg.
'How did he hear what I just thought in my head?'
Aleksandr hadn't spoken—he was certain of that. His lips had remained sealed, his thoughts carefully contained. And yet, Oleg had reacted to a specific internal observation about his family. The criminal's shocked reaction and desperate words tied directly to the thoughts Aleksandr had at that precise moment.
This wasn't random. It wasn't a coincidence. The precision of Oleg's response suggested something deliberate, even if Aleksandr hadn't consciously triggered it.
He replayed the fight in his mind, noting every detail. He had been calm and detached, focused solely on extracting information and neutralizing the threat. There were no emotional spikes, no panic or frustration to cloud his judgment. His mental state had been sharp, disciplined, and entirely in control—yet something had slipped through the cracks.
Aleksandr considered whether Oleg's blood-based quirk might have played a role. The man's ability to create weapons from his own blood was versatile, but nothing about it suggested psychic elements.
'Could his quirk have amplified mine somehow? Perhaps his blood manipulation created a resonance with my telepathy? Or… did he try to manipulate my blood flow, indirectly affecting my ability?'
The idea had potential, but Aleksandr dismissed it after further thought. Blood manipulation was a physical quirk, and the scientist had stated that Oleg could only control his own blood, not others'. There was no evidence to suggest his quirk could influence mental or psychic phenomena.
That left one unsettling possibility: it was his telepathy after all.
For months, Aleksandr had understood the intricacies of his quirk better than anyone else. It had always been one-way—a tool for extracting thoughts and memories from others. But now, it seemed the rules had changed.
'If I can pull thoughts from other minds… what's stopping me from pushing my thoughts into theirs?'
The realization made his chest tighten. If his telepathy had evolved into a two-way ability, it meant he was no longer just a passive observer. He had unintentionally projected his thoughts into Oleg's mind—and the consequences of that were terrifying.
If he couldn't control this new facet of his ability, it could betray him. A stray thought projected into the wrong person—the scientists, the guards, or another test subject—would expose the full extent of his powers. The facility would exploit this new ability, pushing him even further into the role of their weapon. Or worse.
Aleksandr forced himself to approach the phenomenon methodically, breaking it into its core components:
Observation: Oleg had reacted specifically to Aleksandr's internal thoughts, not to random noise or fragmented ideas. The reaction was deliberate and precise, suggesting a controlled phenomenon.
Mental State: Aleksandr had been calm and focused, actively reading Oleg's mind at the time. His concentration had been intense, yet disciplined—conditions that might have triggered the projection.
Proximity and Connection: Aleksandr had been close to Oleg during the encounter, and their minds had been linked through his telepathy. It was possible that proximity strengthened the connection enough to allow thoughts to transfer.
To organize his thoughts, Aleksandr formulated four key hypotheses:
Dual Pathway Activation:
His telepathy might operate on a two-way channel—one for receiving thoughts and another for projecting them. Until now, he had only utilized the receiving channel, but the projection pathway could have activated inadvertently.
Concentration as a Trigger:
The intensity of his mental focus could be a critical factor. Aleksandr had been delving deeply into Oleg's memories, concentrating harder than usual, which might have triggered the projection.
Proximity and Connection:
The closer he was to someone, the stronger their mental connection might become. Aleksandr's telepathy had always worked more effectively at close range, making this a plausible explanation.
Unconscious Activation:
If projection required deliberate effort, then it was possible his subconscious mind had acted without his awareness, accidentally pushing the thought into Oleg's mind.
After hours of silent contemplation, Aleksandr reached two critical decisions.
First, he couldn't afford to experiment with his telepathy inside his cell anymore. The guards monitored his every move through cameras, and any slip-up could expose him. For now, he had to suppress the use of his telepathy except for necessary situations.
Second, the only place he could safely test and refine this ability was during the monthly combat trials. These battles offered a rare opportunity to experiment under controlled chaos, where his actions would be dismissed as part of the fight.
'I need to understand the conditions that trigger this ability and learn to control it. If I can't, it will only lead to my demise.'