The sunglasses wearing Touya watched the scene before him as he stayed back. He shrugged at the scene as he suddenly laid on his back, right on the nice concrete.
He gave a short peace sign as he decided to see where this battle would go. It wasn't his concern anyway, if anything it was more interesting and dangerous this way. He had to chuckle.
"So many obvious signs," he laughed on the inside joke only he seemed to know.
Silently, Johnny was thankful for the sign the fourth escapist gave him. No intention of attacking along with the other three, it wasn't much but it was something.
Johnny raised the cards in his hand, ready to go.
He was given this opportunity, this chance to prove himself. He wasn't going to let it go to waste.
The criminals that wanted to escape however were ready to go, whether they were ready or not.
"How the hell did you get here, anyway?" that cheater Zuko asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That's none of your business," the vigilante who went by Ace of Spades huffed, causing a laugh from Kotaki.
"Who cares! Let's just crush this fucker!" Li soon charged forward, not waiting around despite the sustained injuries piling up on him.
It was clear that when Zuko stepped back, he wasn't a fighter nor was he going to waste energy to try, but unlike Touya...Johnny knew that he would take any opening to land a hit on him.
So Johnny threw the cards held between his fingers. They shot out like darts as he proved himself to be skilled at the art of card throwing.
Surprisingly, to all those involved, the cards thrown at Li had easily stabbed into the quirkless neon coloured man. "Wha-argh?"
They pierced him like throwing knives!
Blackjack: By using a motion similar to a magician's card fanning from one hand to the other, Johnny can create a single deck of card-like objects from whatever is held in his hands. They can also have slight modifications from what was used to create the 'deck', but these are usually minor.
Zuko groaned at the sight. "I see now...you must have eavesdropped on us when we planned our little expedition!"
The prison garb wearing vigilante shrugged. "And what of it? It doesn't matter now, does it."
Under his breath, the con-artist uttered, "the real question is how you got out here in the first place..."
"It doesn't matter," shouted the escape party leader. "We just got to beat his ass and then we can question how when we get out of here!"
A cocky laugh came from Johnny as the staggered on their knees Li pulled the impaled cards out of his body. "Trust me. None of you are getting out of here," Johnny picked up what looked to be a small part of pipe from a nearby pile of rubble and junk that just seemed to lie there out of place. "None of you will get out no matter if I fall here."
Fanning the object, it bended and shifted as multiple card-like objects landed in the receiving hand.
As Li stood back up, two more cards lodged themselves into his legs. "Fuck!"
Remko took this as a chance to fire at the wannabe hero, joining in the fight. Johnny narrowly dodged the first shot, getting grazed on the side by the makeshift bullet thing as he hissed on the slightest contact.
As the cards landed in the metallic arm, the arm moved a little, shooting the cards back at the card thrower.
Grabbing more cards, he rolled out of the way but Remko was already above him, giant silver fist at the ready. Quickly dividing the deck, Johnny made a pair of fans from the cards with the way he held them out.
It was time to go close range.
The first swing cut off a couple of metallic fingers.
"Those aren't normal playing cards..." noted the standing fighter as he in turn was grazed by the other hand of cards that lightly ran across his chest.
But Johnny didn't stop there, two cards from the makeshift fan formation flew through the air only to hit the person actively trying to sneak around. "AGH!" Zuko got hit by the two cards and was sent tumbling back.
With a hiss, the scarred eyed inmate pulled the cards out of his leg and arm and gave a look at the cards that found themselves stuck in the walls. Then, he smirked as he sat back, holding the wound in his leg.
As Remko and Johnny were deep in battle, Li tried to stand, only to fall back onto one knee. "After all of my enhancements. All the work I put into those drugs, is this the farthest I can go?" he gave a nasty glare to the card-fan battler as he left gashes in Remko's metallic arm which didn't stay too long as the arm fixed itself as it morphed into objects like a sledgehammer. "Fucking heroes. Always high and mighty because they have a strong quirk. Bullshit!"
When he got out of this shithole, he was going to kill the first hero he came across. Fuck it. A heroic student would do if he couldn't find one right away. Maybe, he'll target that shitty hero that tossed him aside.
He then saw from the corner of his eye, the signal Zuko gave him. "Tch." Despite the wounds that were meant to prevent him from walking, the neon blonde haired enhanced man charged the vigilante as soon as he could.
Meanwhile back to the battle, using the cards like fans, the vigilante occasionally fired some cards every now and then at Remko who was just a tad too slow with his sledgehammer arm.
"Stand still!" he shouted, immediately blocking another barrage of flung cards. Sadly for Ace of Spades, his hands were running low on the current deck. "You're almost out of that hand!"
So Akko started blasting, his brown and silver eyes locked onto the pile of junk that this Spade bastard must have gotten for ammo. "That's the win condition right there!"
As soon as Johnny dipped to the side, that's when Remko fired, right as Li entered the picture, cutting the vigilante off from the junk pile. "Stop relying on useless junk, you fucking hero wannabe."
Firing the remaining cards in his left hand at the muscular man before him, Li took the entire attack like a goddamn pincushion. In pain, he endured.
Though, the prison break magician had fired a larger shot which was intercepted by the remaining cards from the right hand.
It didn't do a damn thing to halt the attack and Johnny Spade found himself smashed into the wall as he silently let out the pain, he couldn't even scream.
Li was down on the ground from the pain. Touya was just sitting at the back, watching it all. Zuko smirked as he stayed on the ground like the hero killing inmate and Remko kept the assault up, closing the distance as Johnny unlodged himself from the wall, unarmed.
He was forced to use his own fisticuffs now.
The battle became a one on one brawl thanks to the others sitting out the confrontation, whether they wanted to or not. Yet the one with the advantage, was Remko.
His right arm gained from the experiments of some out there mad scientist really packed a punch.
It was only a matter of time that the androgynous inmate would land a dangerous blow.
Getting hit again and again by the vigilante criminal, the last one standing had already taken a beating beforehand and he wasn't looking forward to that.
But then it happened.
He started to land more and more hits.
Johnny was being repelled.
"What's wrong you vigilante?" taunted the jailbreaker. "You did all those illegal acts of heroism and you can't keep up with the stamina of someone who breaks out of jail?!"
In this moment, hit after hit, Johnny finally found an opening to get away. Already sustained with more damage than he never wanted in this scenario.
Ace of Spades jumped out of the way, only to be face to face with one of the escapees that he thought was out of commission.
The wounded Zuko who suddenly made himself known to the battle suddenly revealed his hand! With a few stack of cards, he threw them in the same manner that the vigilante criminal did.
Taken by surprise, the cards jabbed into the young man's body. The same result that occurred earlier into the fight with Li.
"...my own cards..." he managed to sputter out as Remko's non metallic fist crashed itself into their obstacle, sending the poor wannabe hero back, though he somehow managed to keep himself standing.
Johnny stood tall despite his own cards, few as they were, were thrown back into his legs, arm and side. Defeated by his own quirk, how ironic.
Yet, he didn't fall. Johnny, no, Arthur refused.
He refused to fall.
The vigilante, Ace of Spades, with the last of his strength against these wannabe escapists.
He stood in their way.
The youngest inmate in the sewers out of this group could only smile melancholic. No matter what, at least he stayed true to his ideals and more importantly, he was proud to be a vigilante, even if he was condemned to be a criminal for the rest of his life.
"...Sorry...you gave me one last chance to be a vigilante...and I failed..."
The card throwing vigilante fell backwards as the memories of his young life played out in his head.
Back in America, Cleveland to be specific, there was a vigilante named Ace of Hearts. The true identity of this man was actually Arthur Micah.
With a handful of cards from his quirk, Arthur lept into action, his location being a bit more relaxed about vigilantes compared to other parts of the country.
In America, laws about vigilantism in the day and age of quirks were a little bit skewed compared to many other places like Japan who strictly forbade vigilante activity.
In short, America was far more relaxed about vigilantes, but that didn't mean they treated them as heroes however. With the rise of hero schools, media attention and of course money, vigilantes were a slowly dying breed that still popped up every now and then. They were practically extinct.
Due to the history of quirked humans appearing in the world, the story of the Home of Heroes.
Quirks appeared and many vigilantes rose along with many villains. There was no organization and soon in Rhode Island, the Rhode Island New State Stature was put into place, creating the first ever pro heroes.
One hundred and eighty-nine vigilantes were affected by the stature and only seven of those vigilantes were accepted as official heroes and since then, vigilantes vanished and only a small few existed.
Due to this history of heroes forming from vigilantes, each state had its own laws when it came to vigilantes, but one thing was clear. As times moved on, they all started to go anti-vigilante. Some places were strictly no vigilantes, others were more relaxed about it.
But, vigilantes were still villains. Heroes and cops wouldn't hesitate to arrest you if you were a vigilante.
If a vigilante left the scene of the crime, the police would let them go, but if the vigilante was dumb enough to hang around? BAM! Arrested on the spot. Sadly, in this day and age, more and more vigilantes were frowned upon.
And if you were a vigilante? You get nothing.
You wouldn't be paid of course, but there were other ways vigilantes lost.
The major thing was their existence. Media coverage would be non-existent. You wouldn't see yourself as a hero on the news or the newspaper, any and all accomplishments of defeating villains were transferred to another hero or police officer.
Defeat a villain that caused problems? Congratulations! A pro hero in the local neighbourhood gained the credit.
The only time you'd see a vigilante on the news or in the newspaper, they were treated as villains. 'Vigilante caught' or 'murderous villain caught' and other such titles.
As a vigilante, you didn't exist.
Until you were caught like the criminal you are.
You could say that the only reason some states in America still allowed vigilantes was because of their history of vigilantes forming the very first heroes.
But even in the Home of Heroes, more and more anti-vigilante laws got more and more strict.
In fact, only a few areas were still relaxed about vigilantes and it was only a matter of time before the whole place became anti-vigilante.
Vigilantes were a produce of a bygone era, after all.
Arthur Micah soon found himself in a horrible situation. Wide eyed as he smashed a window, a loud scream came from a person who held the door open with a person by their side and shortly a flood of people came piling in.
Lying on the floor was Arthur's target, a villainous piece of shit who had their crimes go unpunished. The most shocking thing was that the man...was dead.
A dead politician wasn't a good look...and a playing card was dyed in blood in the man's sliced neck.
"Ace of Hearts! You...you killed that man!" the man who was already on the scene first shouted as the other person fell to her knees.
"You murderer!"
Shortly, the new arrivals started to swarm. "Call the police!"
"Hold this murderer down!"
But for Arthur, "I didn't do it! I swear I didn't do it! I was framed!"
His pleas fell on deaf ears and he was left with only one choice.
Run away.
Run far, far away.
News quickly spread of his murder, the only time Ace of Hearts appeared in the media. Not as a vigilante, but a serial murderer.
Branded a villain, he was forced to flee wherever he could, always in hiding. No longer able to help people or take out villains unless he wanted to be taken out as well.
He was just a scapegoat, a framed scapegoat that was constantly on the run, unable to help and branded a killer.
There was only one thing left for him to do.
Get out of the country.
Arthur had no idea what to do, no idea where to go. The first idea was far away, flee to another country and continue where he left off. Though in the end, the choice he fled to was rather random.
Or perhaps it was the only place he could get to with some help or by himself. In the end, he escaped.
The young man had fled to Japan of all places, changing his name in the process. Gaining the alias, Johnny Spade and renamed his vigilante name, Ace of Spades.
Now going by the name Johnny, the Ace of Spades took to Japan's streets, taking out any villains that some heroes were unable to do, but Arthur learned a cold truth about Japan's views on vigilante justice.
Unlike the changing laws in the small few parts of America that were still relaxed, Japan was strictly anti-vigilante.
Something Arthur had no clue about when he was approached by a civilian after he slammed a thief into the ground. "Excuse me, are you a hero?" the man asked with a smile. "I don't recall any heroes like you..."
Of course, due to his own home and having some cops who let him go, probably due to his age at the time, he blurted. "No, I'm a vigi-"
That's what the man needed to hear. To Arthur, or Johnny, it was just a slip up and he learned then and there about Japan's vigilante laws.
Being spun around by the man and slammed into the wall, he felt something snap around his wrists. "You're under arrest for vigilantism."
"What?!"
It didn't take long for his frame for murder came 'clean' as he was being charged in court.
The person who framed him for murder and the American government requested that the fleeing vigilante be returned to Cleveland where he would be charged, but of course, some other people took to the stand.
"If he did indeed kill a politician, he has also broken laws here in Japan."
"He should return to his country and be punished accordingly."
A sudden third voice made themselves known. "Seeing as he has broken two laws in two different countries," the voice walked forward, revealing themselves to those at the trial, "so how about we send this young man to a prison that is treated as an international penitentiary?"
With the arrival of this new figure, a smile on their face as the judge slowly gave a nod to the figure standing before them. One of the three names associated with Styx, Tartarus and many others under the same label.
When the trial came to an end, Arthur Micah or Johnny Spade, was sent to Styx.
As Johnny fell to the ground, the one to approach the fallen vigilante was the hero killing inmate, Li.
"Fucking wannabe hero," the still injured prisoner huffed, slowly heading over. By the time he got there, he raised his foot, ready to smash that skull wide open with whatever energy he had left.
But he never had a chance.
Falling from the roof, a pair of sharp fangs dug into the shoulder of the neon-haired inmate. He screamed from pain for a while.
Shi Banken arrived on the scene.
This caused a few reactions from the inmates. A reaction that caused Remko to say, "RUN!"
"Were they waiting? Where did they come from? Was this all a trap?!"
The only ones that ran were Remko Akko and Zuko Yamamoto. They did not even spare a glance at the pinned Li or the waiting Touya.
"Help..." Li called out, reaching out for the fleeing Remko and Zuko who disappeared into the sewers.
Li was abandoned...
Again.
Li Kagayami, a quirkless child that grew up to be a killer of heroes. You see, Li was actually the son of a mid-tier pro-hero, somewhere within the five hundred rankings if you go by the national hero rankings.
However, at the young age of five, his parents found out he was quirkless. This resulted in only one course of action.
Li was given up for adoption.
The last thing Li could ever recall from his parents was his father on the day they found out he was quirkless and said, "I don't need a useless child that doesn't even have a quirk! What was the point in having him?"
Discarded by his parents, by his pro-hero father and placed into the care system as a result, Li's early childhood was filled with pain.
"What can you do without a quirk? Get real, loser!" one of the kids pushed Li back.
"I can see why your parents gave up on you!" another laughed, kicking him down. "If I was them, I'd throw you away too!"
A girl laughed. "Stop lying about your dad being a pro-hero, that's pathetic!"
As the first kid came to push him again, Li punched him as hard as he could. If there was one thing Li had learned, it was if he was bullied, he'd fight back until they dropped.
The bullying and victimization didn't stop, even when he proved himself to be a really smart kid with lots of creativity, he was still shunned. Now that didn't mean that everyone bullied him, but most of the time his lack of a quirk caused a lot of problems for him.
Ridiculed, overlooked and stamped on by his peers...and occasionally his teachers.
"See me after class, Li. If you copy his homework again, you'll be in more than detention."
"But I didn't copy or cheat! He copied off me-"
"Enough, Kagayami!" the teacher shouted, raising their hand but not going any further and then turned to the cheat themselves, congratulating them on their hard work. "You'll be a hero yet."
It didn't help that he was the one who got chastised and detention for self defence either. Li hated it.
The only thing he learnt from it though was: those with flashy quirks were endlessly praised.
Armed with the knowledge that his father was indeed a pro-hero and that him being quirkless was the reason for why he was tossed aside unloved, Li began to fume.
"I hate heroes!" he screamed loudly one day, his screams went unheard as he ran, looking at all the people around him with a bunch of quirks. Mutant, Emitter and Transformation. Not even including any of the sub-types.
"Why is it that only those born with strong quirks are valued? Why are the rest of us worthless?" as he got older, his burning ambition grew and grew as he made his own goal to become stronger and stronger.
So, when he was old enough to enter high school, Li signed up for one of the biggest schools in Japan, one that made the students odd hats representing the school, but he didn't care.
He enrolled in their Support Course and then, he striked!
The school was dark, the support course workshop was empty, not a soul was sighted. Then something moved. Sneaking around the workshop, many tools and parts were swiped off the benches, off the shelves into some lofty bag. The equipment and materials were stolen as the thief shot out of the school with a sick grin.
The thief was none other than Li Kagayami.
This wasn't his first time he stole parts from the support course during the night. It became something of a routine every now and then.
This was all for his own personal project of self-enhancement!
Learning the ways and teachings of the support course teachers, he did not care whether or not the people around him were the same kind of bullies or were nicer, he only cared about making his project grow.
In his own little workshop, at least that's what he called it at least, Li was hard at work on his own project. It took a lot of time, but somehow he was able to make due.
Looking down at the biochemical concoction he created, he downed it immediately. Side effects be damned.
"Argh!" Li fell to the ground, clawing at his throat. Rolling and rolling, the burning sensation he felt never stopped as his eyes widened. When he managed to stand, the bench he was looking down at got smaller and smaller...no, he got taller.
His concoction triggered a growth spurt, his muscles expanded. A quick test showed that he was faster, stronger. "Wow," he mentioned as he easily picked up a heavy dumbbell he previously struggled with before. "Huh?" it was then Li realised, he changed completely.
His skin changed colour, his hair changed to match it and his veins got more and more visible. But he knew. "This isn't enough…"
The next day was one much harder for him.
"What the fuck? What did you do, you freak!" they screamed, looking at his changed appearance.
"Kagayami!" one of the teacher's cried. "What the-"
Due to the unnatural change in his appearance and a quick background check...they found out about Li's now empty, discarded drug.
Li was then expelled for substance abuse.
He didn't care though, he only got what he was after. Soon finding himself on the streets with no support or prospects, only rage in the society of quirks and heroes, Li easily took to villainy like a duck to water.
"If I have no quirk I'm a freak. If I boost myself with technology and medicine, I'm a freak. If I give myself something like a quirk or something that gives the same results, I'm a freak of nature." he kicked some nearby garbage can only to then pull out a knife, stabbing it into the tyre of some fancy looking car that was more than likely his 'teacher's'.
All of Li's crimes were pretty petty. Vandalism, destruction of property, but then he heard of 'him'. Someone going around and killing heroes for a reason he didn't really care for at first, but then it became clear. Their intentions were similar and then it hit him.
"I'll be like him!"
Though, if you really asked him, it was just a coincidence and a perfect excuse to actually lash out in the way he wanted to.
"I'm gonna make this corrupt super-powered society beg for its life! The strong's stranglehold will break and the shackles on the weak will be lifted!"
No matter how many deaths it took.
Since that day, Li became a serial killer that targeted different heroes. He even built an exoskeleton during his support course years that helped with this newfound goal of his.
But it all started and ended, with heroes.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!" a civilian screamed as a hero dropped to the floor. A hero that barely had a year outside of graduation.
During some patrol, a hero sidekick suddenly flew from the sidewalk into the middle of the street! Blood pouring out of their skull thanks to the large hole found within it.
He was sniped.
Another hero smirked as she took down a villain, but as soon as she took to the air, continuing her patrol, looking for the next villain...
"Hm, no trouble in the distric-" she was shot out of the air like some game fowl, falling to the earth below, already gaining the attention of those around them.
Yet another sidekick was sniped out of the air, with a large bullet hole between the eyes as the body landed right in front of a mother and child pair.
A third sidekick, experienced in the art of heroism soon found himself in a tough close quarters battle.
"Why are you doing this?" the hero's question landed on deaf ears as Li charged forward once more. They were already a good ten minutes into their fight that Li had started.
"Shut up and die you piece of shit!" Li screamed, throwing every punch which way.
He had no formal training, he relied on his own drugged up and mechanical strength that he used to aid him. His brawler style was sloppier than any other thug.
But after getting a few good hits in, the crazed maniac sprung into action. Taking any advantage he could from the piece of shit hero in front of him.
The battle was hard fought, but the result ended in the hero having their scalp caved in by the relentless blows of the madman, endless punching with both drug enhanced blows with the addition of the exoskeleton's metal.
Three completely different hero agencies had their sidekicks killed for seemingly no reason. Whether they were still young, a child or an experienced adult. If they were heroes or played heroes, he'd kill them, but...
"Killing these low ranked fools isn't going to achieve anything!" the man stomped on the ground. "Fuck it! I'm aiming higher!" He did just that.
Though that was the last thing he ever did as a free man.
He was utterly trounced.
Not by the high ranking hero that looked like a washing machine, but by other powerful heroes.
It was an utter disgrace for Li.
While he was able to deal life-threatening injuries to eight of those heroes, he was completely swarmed and outnumbered by the more powerful sidekicks...even the eight he was able to injure as well.
He was not ready for that kind of level in power, he never got the chance to even hurt the high ranking hero. Pathetic really.
In the end, Li was apprehended and then sent to Styx for his crimes for all the murders and other crimes he committed.
The quirkless inmate was slammed into the ground by Shi as she took off after the fleeing inmates.
Only two more guards fell from the roof, the first was Bunri as he quickly began to swarm the prison's sewer systems and Osamu who quickly headed over to Li, inspecting the wounds from the battle as well as wounds from Shi's bite.
"Are you okay?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
Yet, the inmate remained silent for the longest time. "You don't know what this is like, you quirked piece of shit."
Osamu decided to share a little secret, he had read the entire file that belonged to the quirkless inmate. He wanted to have a chat with Li earlier, but he never found the time with everything going on. "I know how you feel," he began.
"Like hell you do..."
Gaining a sharp yet melancholic look in his eye, the older Yomaura sibling continued. "You see, I was disowned by my own family...because I... was quirkless."
As he told the young muscular man, he lifted him up. Yet Li could only watch with wide eyes in silence.
He never expected another quirkless person to be present in Styx, especially not a guard of any sort.
For the first time in a while, Li stayed silent without a fuss. He didn't question the guard, perhaps because being disowned brought back terrible memories, but for now, he stayed silent.
There was a lot to process.
Meanwhile with Bunri, Touya just had his arms up high into the air with a smile. "Ah, guess we were caught. Should have seen it coming with the empty hallways and bots." there was a little tease on that tongue of his.
"..." Bunri was just happy that Touya just willingly gave himself up. "Osamu, I'm going to take Touya back." he said as his clones either followed Shi or they assisted the downed vigilante.
"Oh. I'll bring Li to the infirmary then."
As the two brought the prisoners back to the ward and infirmary respectively, Osamu thought back to what he talked with about Muika...
"I told her she shouldn't counsel those inmates...but right now with everything going on, at least she's safe."
Meanwhile, Shi was chasing down the fleeing inmates. It had been a while since she stretched her legs in this fashion. "Time to do my job." She was getting closer and closer, they wouldn't get away from Cerberus!
Shi was born into a family of guards, her father is a prison guard, her grandfather was a guard too, her great grandfather was also a guard and so forth.
With a rich history of prison guards in her family, it was only natural for the jackal that she wanted to follow the footsteps of her family and especially, the footsteps of two of her biggest role models.
The first major role model was her father and the other, was her older brother. Both of which were guards who were stationed in different penitentiaries.
So after excelling in her academic training, she was able to start her job at one of the best prisons in the country. The jackal entered Styx.
"Oh god..." one of the inmates ran through the prison, looking over their shoulder. "Oh god..."
This inmate had just caused a problem and now she was being chased by one of those rookie guards. "I thought all rookies guards were just...ah!"
Something was closing in and by the time she noticed, was taken down within a second. "Stand down!" the jackal growled, keeping the inmate pinned to the ground.
"Get off-argh."
The woman lifted the inmate off the ground and started to drag the poor inmate back to their cell.
This was only the twelfth inmate that she chased after today. The jackal headed guard took her job seriously, dragging all the inmates back to their cells as soon as they proved to be of some trouble.
Her intimidation and skill at capturing runaway inmates, or at least inmates that tried to run away. She quickly gained the nickname...
Cerberus.
Cerberus, the Guard Dog of Styx.
It was something she took pride in, it was just fitting for the young Jackal. She was even given her own collar with its tag that had 'Cerberus' written on it.
"Oi, Shi. Catch!" one of her coworkers suddenly threw something her way.
With quick reflexes, the dog caught the thrown object out of the air, only to look down to see a...collar?
A quick inspection of the collar revealed that it had her nickname Cerberus on it.
As her senior coworker gave her an odd look as she willingly put on the accessory, she shrugged. "How does it look?"
One of her other coworkers spoke up, "you know...it actually fits you very well. Like damn."
As Shi gave him a look, she returned to the first coworker that gave her the collar. "Thank you."
The coworker waved her hand.
"Please...don't thank me, it ruins the...ah whatever."
Shi's break ended as she returned to the wards, ready to keep the convicts in their place. As she walked out of the break room, a smile adorned her face before business mode kicked in.
Every time she went in to work, she always wore that collar. No matter what kind of joke it was intended as, it was one of her most valuable possessions.
"Get back here!" Shi called out, chasing after the fleeing, silver armed Remko.
As the silver armed inmate and the scarred face convict made a run for it, despite all their injuries from either the Styx Droids or the vigilante that was Johnny, the duo came to a conclusion.
"Split up!" Remko commanded as he took a left while Zuko took a right.
To both of these wannabe escapists, they had one shared thought. "I hope that they go after the other guy."
It was quite the run in the sewers, but the escape artist didn't mind. In fact, this was just like some of the prisons he escaped from. Sometimes a great escape chase was just what he needed to really get the blood pumping.
As he ran and weaved, he heard it closing in.
Growling of a dog, a guard dog named Shi.
"Oh what the fuck!" Just Remko's luck really. "Fucking hell..."
When he finally had a look at Shi, he witnessed the jackal headed woman charge him as fast as she could and she could run really fast.
Jackal: Shi can do basically everything a jackal can do while also giving her jackal-like features.
Compared to other guards of Styx, Shi's quirk wasn't as grand or flashy as others, but Shi wasn't known for her quirk. She was known for her skills.
All of Shi's strength came from training and experience, though the physical attributes of her quirk did help a lot, but there were many times that if she wasn't careful, she could sustain multiple serious injuries. Just like other guards within Styx.
Sometimes, inmates didn't fight at their full potential or they didn't even have the intention of killing or serious harming, but that wasn't something she was concerned with right now.
First she'd take out this inmate and his mutated arm, then she could go deal with that other runner once she was done, unless one of her coworkers dealt with it.
Osamu, Tai or Bunri and his many clones. One of them would do it. A shame that Alexios couldn't join them due to some more prison 'arguments' occurring the same time as the operation.
Closing his brown and silver arms, Remko only had one chance before the distant footsteps caught up with both of them. He didn't want more guards to join in. The guard dog was already close enough, in arms reach.
It was better to fight now.
"Eat this!" he called out, swinging his already shifting silver arm right at the muscular jackal headed woman.
While he swung the silverish grey arm, the prison guard had ducked down. Cursing her reaction time, he redirected the swing into the ground. A loud thud, but no hit.
"Stand down, inmate!" Cerberus snarled as she threw herself at the silver armed inmate.
"Giant robots, a vigilante and now a prison officer? Fucking hell, I can't catch a break in this place." Remko Akko had taken too much damage from the previous fights and only got a small break. He couldn't risk being caught again, not after the effort he put into it, but unlike the other jailbreaks he pulled off.
This break out was making him eat shit.
Firing some small bullet-like objects from his arm, he retreated deeper into the sewer system, forever chased by the dog who dodged most of the shots due to the twists and turns they had to take.
The chase continued for what felt like an hour to Remko, constantly switching between fight and flight. He did manage to get a nice hit in, punching as hard as he could with his silver fist as Shi staggered back, falling to a knee in pain.
There wasn't much time to waste as he leapt into action. An upward kick into the mutt's chin, he launched his quirked arm once more, splitting itself in two, the jackal's neck was clenched between the metallic surface before he put the rest of his rested strength into both slamming the guard into the walls and then throwing her back where they came!
As Shi crashed into the wall, letting loose the pain she felt from the force around her neck and the sturdy wall itself, Remko took this opportunity to run for the hills.
He was so close to escaping, he could feel it! He was going to break out yet again! This time, not from a minor prison, but a major one! Sure the title of Prison Break Magician was one that was handed out to skilled jailbreakers in the past, but this would cement him as the best one!
He wasn't the first nor the last, but he would be the most famed soon enough. The first was quirkless many, many years ago where quirks weren't a thing. The second was someone in the early days of quirks who kept escaping normal prisons with her quirk, only to then succumb to her own teleport-type quirk. There were many other jailbreakers of course, but only a few stood out to gain that title and Remko was one of them.
So he kept running. His heart pumping as he turned, unaware of the dog woman that got back up again.
Remko must have taken a wrong turn as he came face-to-face with what looked to be a...dead end.
"Huh?"
His short lived state of confusion opened up an ugly truth. He left himself open and vulnerable.
The jackal caught up.
Gripped by his now silverish, metallic arm, Akko found himself being spun around in circles by the muscular jackal. Only to then be flung into yet another wall deeper and deeper into the prison's sewer system.
As he landed against this new wall, something happened. "Huh?" The first thing the silver haired prisoner noticed was that the wall felt off.
It wasn't like the others.
It was almost as if the wall was more hollow than the others.
"Huh?" a gleam of hope popped into his heterochromia coloured eyes. "A secret passage?"
This could be his way out of here! Seems like Zuko would just have to eat shit.
In the short time that a plan hatched in the prison escapist's head, he was immediately tackled by the guard dog, baring their fangs and threatening to bite his face off. Actually, she tried to get a good bite down on the inmate.
More and more footsteps got louder and louder within the sewer system, but as Remko got ready to slice the jackal in front of him, they both fell into that hollow wall.
As the jackal and the test subject fell into the wall, both disorientated from the sudden fall, the first thing they saw were in the walls, the walls sculptured like shelves with dim lights and had what looked to be see-through containers.
But the true object that the inmate and guard sighted was a large...
Egg...
"An egg?" A pair of eyes blinked as they stared at a rather large egg. It was the size of an elephant bird egg and had roughly the same colour as well.
Plus, it wasn't even the only one.
On many of those inbuilt wall shelves, in those see-through containers were dozens of elephant bird sized eggs.
Remko didn't even have time to register the room as much as he wanted to as his face kissed the pavement. Shi on the other hand, decided to file away this room for later, apprehending the escapee was the main concern.
"A hidden room filled with eggs?" It was definitely concerning.
But, there was one last addition to the room that really got their attention.
On the opposite side of the hidden room was what looked like some chamber or pod, silver in colour with a little glass panel to see just what was inside. Something was inside, but what?
Neither Shi or Remko expected for the chamber to suddenly open. Slowly but surely, mist released from the opening chamber as the figure within was revealed.
"Who are-" Shi's bark barely got the figure's attention as they took a step forward, opening their eyes immediately.
Remko began to squirm, using his shifting silver arm to stand only to be tossed aside from the quick reflexes of the guard. Styx's Cerberus could only hope that Bunri was already on his way.
The unidentified person who stood on the opposite side of the egg room stared at the guard and convict.
This person had a slight tan, short maroon hair swept to the side as their darkened brownish coloured eyes didn't even blink. They wore what seemed to be a pair of dark leather pants and that seemed to be it.
But, whoever this was had what looked to be hostile.
A quick look back to the now open chamber didn't share much details either, at least from the distance the two were at.
Suddenly, the unidentified suspicious person's eyes glowed orange.
From their perspective, the two that entered this forbidden room shined in two different colours.
The dog woman was fully in red while the silver armed Remko was in yellow.
"Eliminate. Gather."
It was then that the person moved. They didn't step forward, they didn't say a word. They launched right at the two with the full intention of attacking!
The first attack was dodged, making it clear to the two.
No matter who they were, this mysterious person was an enemy.
The two different coloured enemies of this mysterious figure reverted to normal as the eyes stopped glowing, returning to their normal darkened hue.
"Hey, at least just take the guard out-" the figure kicked the inmate mid-sentence away before ducking under the swipe from Shi.
"Who are you?" Shi's demand went unanswered by the figure from that pod.
A mysterious entity within the prison unleashed from a chamber, presumably a cold one, in a hidden room full of elephant bird sized eggs.
Truly an enigma.
A dangerous one.
This mystery person was quite agile as they easily dodged the pretty fast swings from the guard dog, to the point it easily kicked the dog way over to the chamber they came out of.
So who was this person? What were they doing in a hidden egg room within Styx?
Shi glanced up as her head immediately made contact with the chamber. A closer look would have shown faded, barely illegible words on the chamber as if they were scratched on by someone.
The only words, numbers and letters that could barely be seen were the following: the letter M, Proto and some number being with zero.
To Shi, she'd let the others deal with this mystery. The inmate and hostile bogey were her main targets and concerns right now.
Proto, Enigma, Bogey.
All potential names for this mysterious person.
It sent a glance to the eggs on the shelves for a second as it intercepted Remko who used this opportunity to escape.
"You got to be kidd-" into the ground he went.
Narrowing her eyes, the jackal really hoped that Bunri would find them. "Are they...guarding the eggs?" so she charged, she needed to take him down.
Bouncing off the fallen prisoner, the guardian of the eggs jumped over their attacker with ease.
Yet as they landed, they narrowly dodged Shi's claws, a slight graze that drew blood appeared on their cheek.
They bent down, dashing to the downed inmate who tried to stand back up, kicking them into the wall and focused back on Shi. Suddenly on the defensive from sudden hit and run tactics of the dashing by Enigma, Shi could only hold on for now.
"Shi, are you alr-" one of Bunri's clones walked in after spying the hidden room. His eyes grew wide as Proto's leg kicked the clone into oblivion. It was gone.
"Good..." Shi huffed. More clones started to appear only to be thwarted, yet only a few managed to survive being in the room which caused the mysterious entity to pause and assess the situation.
Without warning, Proto's forearms began to swell, like a balloon. The swelling of their forearms was way too much, it looked like it was going to burst!
"Erase evidence."
The Bogey's arms bursted with a loud pop without hesitation, releasing a sea of what looked to be blood into the hidden room at rapid rates. It did not feel a thing, still having that stoic look on its face.
Yet, the wild waves of blood that resembled more like red dyed water than actual blood began to twist and turn as the enigma lost their forearms, all the while staring right at the other occupants in the room with a few of the clones being swept away.
The waves hit the shelves, the eggs. The jackal rushed forward as something within the waves hit her and the inmate behind her.
It was clear to her.
It wasn't over yet.
While Remko found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place, Zuko swiftly passed through the sewer system.
He was being chased, but he didn't hear the growls of that dog. Perhaps because he wasn't a big of a threat quirk wise? It didn't matter.
"I should have seen the signs," he cursed under his breath. At least that damn dog wasn't on his heels.
He twisted and turned throughout the sewer system, following wherever the water flowed. Droplets of blood trickled into the water way as the conman cursed yet again. "God damn it, Johnny..."
Wounded from the fight, the younger inmate and vigilante really put up a fight with his deck of cards, maybe it was the experience he had in fighting that really helped him?
Didn't help that the other two were injured by that large droid...
Blood trail or no trail, the cloudy eyed inmate kept moving and moving, covering the larger wounds that were more likely to leave a trail for him. In all his years of being a con artist, this was one of those rare times where he was completely and utterly screwed.
Born to a family of conmen, Zuko was raised in the art of trickery from a very young age. Pretty much as soon as he could walk and talk.
His family taught him the ropes of the trade, as heinous as it was. Learning how to swindle people, how to rig the odds into your favour, using sweet honey words with a silver tongue.
As soon as his quirk manifested, that's when Zuko became a very successful con-artist when he got old enough to be put to work. Though, compared to others, it was just more of the same than unique events popping off now and then.
Ever since he awakened to his quirk, Zuko managed to rig the odds in his favour much, much easier. Stealing money and valuables after seeing their locations, swapping dice and cards to give himself the edge without much suspicion.
Multiple accounts of identity fraud, many more counts of theft. Zuko stole and ran, tricking anyone he thought he could profit off of, no matter who they were. Narcotics, smuggling, grand theft auto and of course, a few nice homicides to add to his portfolio when things really got rough. He was an outstanding con-artist that was never able to get caught...but we all know this story very well.
One day a big deal went wrong.
"So, how about you give me fifty-six percent of the profits?" Zuko tapped the table with his polite smile.
The man he was talking to smudged his cigarette into a filled ashtray. The man was all sorts of dressed up, seeing as he was the owner of the casino they were in. However, the two suited men behind him reeked of having ties to a mob.
The same ties this guy had. A deal with mobsters.
"Twenty-seven percent."
"Hm...how about we go for forty-eight percent. I have proven myself to be quite capable, you know," Zuko crossed his arms on the table. "But if we pump those numbers up to fifty percent, a fair trade, I can add more of my expertise in this casino of yours. Your customers still have a high chance of winning big, and while that's good for business and all, I can help lower that amount to a smaller few winners."
The casino owner huffed, "just because you have the experience, we can handle this casino just fine you little thieving rat."
Zuko withheld his sigh, how unmoving of them.
Suddenly, as the music of the casino rang out loudly while cheers and groans weaved in and out, the sound of spinning and the sound of chips hitting the tables, the lights dimmed and flickered briefly.
"Huh, you might have to change the lightbulbs."
The casino owner huffed, "we already changed them two days ago. And yes, we did pay the electricity bill before you ask."
As Zuko tried to get the man to budge in any sort of way, the nearby doors slammed open, the glass panels in the ceiling smashed, raining glass down below as ropes and small little canisters releasing smog and bright lights went off.
"Get down on the ground!"
"Move in!"
From the doors and the ceiling, multiple police officers geared up in SWAT gear rushed the casino.
The owner of the casino flipped the table and made a run for it as the mobster staff tried to fight back in the smoke, the ones who weren't stunned by the flashbangs that is.
Many people were slammed into the ground as Zuko made a run for it. Zipping through and over people as he kept his mouth covered, the con-artist made his way for the exit. It was right in sight!
Only to then get a riot shield straight into his face, sending him hurtling back to the ground as he was swarmed by an officer, no matter how hard he squirmed, he was hauled off by the police.
"Unhand me!" he cursed, only for the police officer to huff.
By the time Zuko was brought outside, he realised.
The building was completely surrounded as more and more members of the mob came pouring out, detained by police. Including the casino owner.
"Not only did we manage to capture our targets, it seems like we got a bonus from it too," one of the lead operators chuckled as he looked down at the cuffed Zuko.
In the end, Zuko was caught and everything he ever achieved came undone...he was sent to jail for his crimes, but what he didn't expect was the golden opportunity he joined...
The runner didn't even spare a glance behind him, they would probably wait for him to hide somewhere, but Yamamoto knew. If he stopped to hide, that was it. He would be thrown into some darker cell and keep him locked down.
Perhaps cuff his hands in some sort of mitts that restricted his quirk capabilities.
"That's something these guys would do," he had witnessed many more capable people be restricted. They'd give you freedom of course, but if you cause trouble? Restricted!
He even witnessed some inmates taken somewhere else, solitary confinement yes, but some were never re-released back into the main wards. It didn't exactly fill him with hope for when and if he was caught.
"Huh?" cloudy eyes looked forward as he quickly sped up, running faster and faster towards the light.
It was then that Zuko saw it.
Sunlight.
Reaching out with a faster pace, Zuko finally stepped outside the prison, a free man. It was a surreal feeling.
He was completely enamoured with the light, with the potential freedom. Of course, he wasn't out of the fire yet, but this was the first major step as the shadows seemed to loom closer and closer.
He had finally done it, right?
As soon as he took that first step as a free man...
Pain engulfed his entire right leg!