Copperhead
Present
I've known Mei since I escaped my first home. Home prolly isn't the right word. Guess I've known Mei since I escaped my first prison. To her, that word means a cell, inmates wearing the same color, some months till she's back on the street.
My first prison was a torture chamber. It makes me laugh to think about it. When I was a kid, they'd strap me to a table, take off some skin here and there. I never laughed at first. I screamed. I screamed when they tore my fangs out and kept me under observation to see how long it would take for them to grow back. Pain became so constant that it became a joke.
The nice thing about my first prison was they didn't let me grow too big. They broke my bones so I'd stay small. It was essential I stay small. Snakes that grow too big can choke you in your sleep. I was never meant to be a constrictor like Sora or Kaido.
I was their viper. Vipers strike once. Because that's all it takes. A drop of my venom in your veins and you die within a minute. The first man to ever take my fangs found out the hard way. Those jailors had their fun with me. They made me into a perfect replica. A snake with the power to be obedient. Hehe. Guess they had a little trouble with the obedient bit.
Anyway, prisons are hard to break out of. They're even harder to break into. But not when you were built for it.
I gave Mei a phone call from that silly little burner thingy explosion bitch gave Sora. She's in the same prison as that woman wearing the same mask as the bastards who killed Seesa. Mac Hikagai. The earthquake quirk masked woman.
Explosion Bitch's got a good plan. Little code words here and there and now Mei's up for the game.
It's midnight, when the guards change shifts. Perfect time to start a riot. If she incites it her sentence will be extended. Much better to put the blame on someone else. She knows how to do that. I taught her. It's how I escaped with my life all those years ago.
Sneaking in was easy too. It's what I was designed for. When the alarms blare and the sound of fighting inmates rings, the guards don't even think of intruders.
Thanks to them and Explosion bitch, I find that woman quick. Wearing Sora's hood in case any cameras get me, I flip through the air vent, knocking the cover open and dropping into her cell. Her quirk's high-level, a collar around her neck suppressing it.
Fear settles in her eyes the second she sees me, the lower half of my face hidden behind a mask. Funny. Thought her and her murdering coworkers were fond of those. Instead of cowering, the woman stands her ground, taking a razor blade from her back pocket and swiping it at me.
"Ey, look at you," I chuckle, dodging the strikes then pinning her wrist against the wall. She groans in pain, a bruise forming beneath my hand. I catch the falling blade, hitting her in the throat. I laugh as she struggles to breathe. Flaunting the razor, I grab her round the neck. "These things are hard to come by in here ya know."
I may be small. But they also designed me to hold down prey.
"I'm not gonna kill you, so quit your whining and listen to me." I bite. "You're gonna tell me who hired you and put you up to confessing. I don't care how much they paid you to keep quiet. Unless you want my friends in here to make your sentence hell, you'll talk."
"I can't–"
"Aw, sure ya can," I laugh at how broken her voice sounds, how pliable her windpipe feels beneath my palm.
Do you think she's the one who put a bullet through my brother's brain? The thought makes that ticklish part of my mind squirm. It makes it feel so easy to kill her. But whether she's the one who pulled the trigger or not, I don't need the hired gun on my executioner's block. I need the order behind it.
