Villains.
What were the fates of villains? In this day and age of quirks, that seemed to go on and on. People that wanted to use their quirks and whatever other reason for their villainy arose while opposed by the heroes that rose with them.
Many reasons, many heroes and villains.
Many quirks.
And the inevitable clash between these two forces...
If you asked a hero about a villain they had taken out before, what do you think that they'd reply with?
The answer to that question was usually...
"I'm sorry, who?"
A fate that involved many villains, not all, but this was especially true to small time villains that were apprehended within two nanoseconds.
Unless you had an impact on them, were early into their career, the last one they took out or a bigger well known villain...most of the time, the heroes barely remembered the villains they took out.
Of course, many villains were able to leave an impact on the hero that took them out, if they were taken out by a hero.
Villains kept leaving their name, either on a hero, cop, civilian or someone else. In a world where a villain is immediately replaced on a headline in less than a week, it was hard to stand out without something to help them stand out.
Funnily enough, the same went for heroes. Many heroes disappeared into obscurity as others stood out more clearly, but that was for another time.
So what are the fates of these villains?
Some villains actually managed to win, gain that victory over the heroes and the law. However, this was not the fate for all villains, just a small, select few.
Most villains were apprehended, arrested.
Much like those within Styx.
But, when a villain is stopped by a hero or the law and sent to jail, what happens then? Do their stories stop?
Of course not!
Their stories continue! Continued within the prisons they were sent too and the events that unfolded. No matter how boring or interesting it could end up being as they serve out their sentence.
However, in the outside world in the eyes of civilians, law and heroes, a villain was only an obstacle in their story, especially the hero's story. Once they were defeated by the hero, that was it. Their story to the world ended there and only a rare few could ever enter those stories again.
But for those stuck in prisons, with their stories still going, there were plenty of ways for their stories to conclude and many more stories to tell.
Whether it was the end or another chapter.
Styx was just one of these prisons and its inmates, as well as it's guards, definitely had stories to tell and more to experience.
The sunlight that wasn't surrounded by a bunch of walls and a nice breeze was all well and good, but that didn't stop the immense amount of pain surging in his right leg.
"Ah!" he looked down to see what just happened to his leg after a loud, piercing scream. Clamped right down on his right leg...was a sharp looking bear trap. "What the-!"
His hands gripped the bear trap, trying to tear the bloody thing off, but it was too painful, it was too deep into his leg. "Arhgh!"
That's when a figure made themselves known, laughing, taunting. A sick grin on his face.
"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here..."
Standing before Zuko was the red-eyed guard Tai Yonamine and in his hand, was a dark coloured pistol which was suddenly pointed in his face.
As the bad end of the pistol pointed directly into the prisoner's face, the inmate in immense pain went a deadly shade of pale.
Suddenly, Tai threw the pistol to the side. "Look how the mighty have fallen. You'd think we'd really let you bastards escape Styx? Who the fuck do you take us for?"
The con-artist only had one goal. Escape from this horrible situation.
No matter how he tried, the bear trap kept him down...he wasn't really up to losing his leg.
He was only just hurting himself more and more.
As Tai got closer and closer, constantly throwing out insults, Zuko spied the tossed gun.
Using his quirk, Zuko grabbed hold of the gun and pointed it right at the guard. The guard who grinned and cracked his knuckles.
Tai didn't stop in the slightest. He kept coming, unfazed.
When Zuko finally pulled the trigger, a tiny stream of water fired pathetically out of the gun.
"Wow," the guard slowly clapped. "Did you really think I brought a real gun when I could just use my quirk?"
Zuko was immediately punched in the face, dropping the gun as Tai grabbed hold of his wrists. "Don't want you using your quirk, so..."
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Zuko screamed out only for a brief moment before he was quickly silenced. A loose wrist hanging by his side.
Now with the water gun back in Tai's hand AND shoved into the conman's mouth, Tai's sadistic grin sent a shiver down the conman's neck.
"Now you have a choice, lose your leg...or your tongue. Your choice. If you don't choose, It'll be both."
No matter how close Zuko got to freedom, leaving the others in the dust to be caught in his place, it was quickly stolen from him. No wonder things felt weird about their whole escape. That vigilante should have been the early warning sign.
Zuko realised, just like that casino...Styx was prepared for another escape attempt.
The guards were ready for them.
Checkmate from the start.
It was just after the explosion went off. Alexios had just entered the scene right as the bloody, beaten form of Rhys managed to work the eyeball shoved in his mouth out a little before it exploded.
Silence came soon after as Alexios rushed towards the inmate, requesting medical assistance. Gin and Kuroishi on the other hand? Satisfied with themselves, they were quickly apprehended and taken away by other guards that rushed to the scene.
"...I'm sorry I didn't come sooner..." the military coat wearing guard offered to the unmoving Rhys. He was just lucky that Mejiro had told him as quickly as he did.
Mejiro managed to draw his attention to the standing guard. He debated whether or not to mention what was happening, but...
"Hey...those guys managed to swipe one of my eyes..." the fallen bandana wearing inmate coughed. "You better get over there now before it explodes. That's the only way my eyes 'leave' this realm. I didn't realise they took one until I saw through that eye...a life is at risk. Please."
Alexios turned at incredible speeds and without a word, he vanished in their direction.
As Alexios ran off to potentially save a life, Mejiro just smiled at the ceiling. That bastard was still going to get his face blown to smithereens.
He just wanted to be seen as a good prisoner for his release later this year.
He didn't want to extend this shit.
Now, Alexios was sitting in the male ward's inmate infirmary. Yubi laid in one of the beds recovering from minor wounds. Gousen was also nearby, recovering from the fight he was in as well as the effects from Rhys' Pavlov.
There were also some new additions that came in roughly the same time. Both of them being the new convicts, Remko and Li. Both unconscious as they recovered. Across from them was Arth- no, Johnny.
"That was a dangerous plan of yours Johnny, but you proved yourself to be a wonderful vigilante." The beige haired man couldn't help but smile. Surprising as it was when he went to Tai of all people to tattle to. That smile however, dimmed as he looked at the inmate covered from head to toe in a lone bed far away from the others.
Completely covered...was Rhys Dignam.
It didn't look good in any sense. Even when Lambert was the one checking the destroyed face with some of the other on hand staff taking care of the patients.
In the end, as one of the other on hand doctors covered Rhys, Lambert could only give Alexios the quiet shake of his head.
"I see..." Alexios knew about Rhys, of course he did. All the guards read the files of inmates. Unknowingly gripping his fists together until they started to hurt, the tall olive-skinned man walked out of the infirmary after giving the staff a thankful nod.
Rhys wasn't a good person, even when he showed promise with not wanting to stand out. Manipulating multiple people with his quirk, all the disgusting things those people did for ecstasy or to numb the pain. He wasn't behaving, he was trying to hide.
Almost as if waiting for something...
Even when Alexios first met him, he could tell from the look in his eyes that he didn't plan on changing. It wasn't like the look in Johnny or Mariko's eyes.
It showed that he didn't care for rehabilitation or to change.
In short, there were a few things that made it so that Rhys wasn't an inmate that the shock barrier guard would assist with their 'rehabilitation help' they were giving some other inmates that showed genuine remorse.
Minor crimes also helped with keeping low as well.
Yet, seeing Rhys there, covered head to toe felt like he failed to arrive on time to prevent this from happening. Sure, Rhys might not have been one of the ones he was helping, but he should have prevented this from happening.
"I need to protect the inmates that want to change for the better." various names popped into the young man's mind as he walked off, head held high. "I won't let them suffer like you did, Adrian."
And with that, Alexios was back into the ward.
As Lambert walked over towards the tied down Gousen, the doctor could only shake his head. "I see your coming too. Slowly." Flexing his fingers to admire his own bindings, he looked back down at the pitiful man. "As I said before, since you caused problems, you will be sent into permanent solitary confinement."
"...our...deal..."
"Deal? It was one last chance for you to be a decent human being. You failed as bait to find the one who bailed you out, but an account from one of the inmates said that Yubi's severed fingers had disappeared suddenly." As the doctor leaned closer, he watched as Gousen tried his best to respond. "Even when you were affected by someone else, the fact still stands that you threw away your last chance. So you will be isolated for good."
"...bull..."
"Sorry, not sorry. We have other ways to find that person who bailed you out now. Enjoy your solitary confinement for the rest of your days and go to sleep. We don't want to deal with you right now."
As the doctor left, the inmate that was slowly coming too faded out once again. By the time he'd awaken, he'd be in the solitary confinement cell, having failed his second chance.
He'd be throwing a tantrum.
The doctor himself didn't even get far as a guard walked in holding an inmate like a ragdoll.
"Jesus Christ, Tai!" Lambert coughed out seeing the form of Zuko and his leg.
Or what was supposed to be his leg.
"Not my fault he chose to give up his damn leg." the blonde haired man huffed.
"Just put him on the bed and no, that doesn't mean throwing." sighed the doctor, rubbing an eye. "Also what the hell happened to it?"
"Fine. Get some popcorn."
Lambert couldn't help but feel that his workload was going to increase in the coming days.
The task was simple.
Get information out of Koneko. If that ultimately failed, follow the guards that come by her cell specifically for some unknown reason.
However, the biggest problem now was that Koneko was nowhere to be seen at all. It hadn't been long since they started, but Koneko had disappeared. Only to be seen entering her cell at night according to Sora.
Which now made things tricky.
As Sae looked over to the information broker of the prison, she thought back on what she was told with Sora. "Guards entering her cell, Koneko being absent during the days recently...what's going on?" as she was deep in thought, she frowned. She was slipping back into an old habit she threw away. "No. I'm not like that anymore. Not after that."
As she stood back, somewhat within distance to Yua, she watched as Ashita playfully chatted with Fushiko who just laughed and nodded. Then her eyes landed on Demelza who wasn't too far away, watching said Fushiko like a hawk.
"I wonder what's up with that?"
That's when she actually listened to the conversation at the table, "so you just want me to keep an eye out tonight, yeah?" the inmate with the oddly, dis-coloured pinky asked.
"Yep!" the dyed haired broker replied. "Since we can't leave our cells at night, trusted or otherwise, it'll be better if you can take a look! Especially since she's close to your cell."
Fushiko leaned back on the bolted down seat. "Hm, well, I dunno... sure! I'll do it!"
Sae could only stare for a bit. "That...was easy..." she really thought something would be required or at least be much harder than that.
She watched as the slender framed woman with a flared bob haircut leaned forward to whisper something to the older and shorter prisoner before her. As she leaned back, she grinned. "That should be alright, yeah?"
"Mhm! Granted there might not be any movement tonight, but if you find something out, I'll see what I can do!"
"Ahaha! You're the best, Ashi!"
As Karakuri stood and happily walked away, with Braithwaite on her heels, that left Ashita to address the two of them. "We're done for today, let's see if something happens tonight!"
Yet as the two of them decided to end it here, looking between Yua and Ashita, Sae couldn't help but wonder. "What's happening?" sure she didn't care about what was whispered, but the whole mystery they were to assign was just puzzling.
She hoped they could find something out soon...
The prison bus had just pulled up to Styx. For those within, it was either a great moment of triumph...or something much worse.
Well, worse for one sole occupant.
"Okay. We're here, time to go, Mariko." The fennec fox-featured man mumbled out, hoping that Mariko didn't take what happened too personally, but he had a bad feeling about that.
"I'm coming..." the amber eyed woman in the black pea coat sighed, standing as she followed the guards off the bus.
After they disembarked, meeting with the male warden of the prison, Mariko saw the driver talk with him, mentioning something about working on the operation report before grabbing a hold of the harpy woman and taking her god knows where.
"Come on," a voice behind her mused. "Let's get this over with."
Time to face the music.
"Glad to see that you've returned, Mariko." Seimei stood before her without a smile. "You caused us a lot of problems with your escape, but...it seems you also helped us too."
"Huh?" What did he mean? She had no idea.
The warden waved his hand before the group walked into the open maw of Styx. "I'll say this once. This is the first time a prisoner has ever escaped Styx. It's honestly impressive." as the warden came to a stop, he added, "you know the drill, Tsujihara."
Oh.
She prepared herself for what was to come.
"First we'll have you get changed into your prison garbs, we have some khaki coloured ones on site for you." Seimei gave a simple following gesture for the inmate and two guards.
"...Mariko..." Hokori mumbled, but she didn't even turn in his direction. "...I should have known this would happen...considering everything that happened..."
As Seimei signalled another guard over after their walk in the prison, said guard walked over holding one of those khaki coloured prison jumpsuits in her hands. "Spares are in your old cell, Mariko."
The guard didn't say much else as she got the inmate to follow her to get changed.
"Well, at least one thing's back to normal around here!" Dion stretched, already wearing his guard cap, obscuring his eyes once again. Seems he was a bit too used to working back at Styx as the familiar gourd found its way back into his hand.
"Fast!" the newest addition to Styx jolted at the sheer speed Dion displayed. Looking at the warden treating this like normal didn't help the young man.
"Good job on the operation." the warden gave the two a nod, a smile appearing on his face as he looked over towards where Mariko left.
"Now things will run quite smoothly once more, I hope." the drinker took a swig from his gourd. "Oh, I missed this."
Yet Hokori could stare at how Meade cradled the gourd. "Dion really likes routine, huh..."
It wasn't long before Mariko and the guard came back out, the guard holding onto the outfit that Tsujihara once wore and the inmate herself clad in that familiar jumpsuit.
It was like she never left.
As soon as she appeared, Seimei gave the guard a nod and stared Mariko down. "Come here, Mariko. There's something we need to do."
The young woman stepped forward, wondering just what the warden was about to do. "Leg up," Seimei Tokugawa spoke, "choose one."
Raising her right leg up a little, the warden moved into action as he pulled something out that he had in his hands.
The black cloak of the warden was moved aside as he bent down, with what looked to be a watch looking thing that he placed around her ankle.
"There. This can't be taken off but, you can move it slightly so it doesn't cause any problems when it comes to cleaning."
As he let go, Mariko gave what he placed around her right ankle a look. "..." she immediately recognized what he put on her. It was a tracker. It was like she was under house arrest.
"As you probably guessed, that tracker will let us know wherever you are in Styx. We can't control when you enter your quirk, but I don't suggest trying your luck with removing it or what might happen should you take too long to return to the premise." the black haired man said, unblinking. "Now, speaking about your pocket cell, it's time for you to empty your pocket cell."
With no real choice, the silver haired woman raised her hand, ready to open the pocket up. She could only hope that something would be overlooked, but it was clear that eyes were going to be on her for some time now.
She managed to hold back a sorrowful sigh.
This was going to take a while.
When Shi approached him after Mariko had been brought back to Styx, he didn't know what he expected when the jackal and Bunri entered his office. Holding something wrapped up in the guard's jacket.
As they stood, Shi placed the wrapped up jacket on the table.
"What we're about to show you...is what we found during our generous act of false hope, is this." As Bunri waved his hand, Shi started to uncover what was wrapped up.
Slowly revealing just what lurked under the jacket, the male warden's eyes grew as it was completely revealed. In a careful way of course.
"Is that an...egg?"
Before the male warden's eyes was a large egg, one you'd see in museums due to its size. Giving the elephant bird sized egg a look and back to the guards, an unspoken question was brought to their attention.
How? Where?
"In our sewer system, when Shi tackled one of the inmates, we discovered a hidden room. It was like a nursery for these eggs." Bunri explained, waving his hands at the egg.
"There's more?"
"No," Shi shook her head, grumbling at the thought. "We also had a squatter down there that destroyed all but one. This is the sole surviving egg."
The warden frowned, "and what of this squatter?"
The jackal knelt down, "sadly, in a last ditch attempt to get rid of us and the evidence, they self-destructed. Only their damaged legs remain with the clones."
Looking up at the ceiling, the warden went on a little walk around his office. "First Vito was let out of his cell and now there was a nursery for large eggs in our sewers?"
As Seimei's eyes glued onto the egg, he walked over, placing his ear on it. "If that was indeed a nursery, this egg must have something in it. Keep those remains safe and contact one of the doctors on hand to perform an autopsy to see if we can find anything about them."
"And what of the egg, sir?" Shi watched as the warden threw her jacket back at her as he took the dark black cape-cloak off his outfit, returning to the standard uniform as he wrapped the egg up in it.
As he wrapped the egg up, he gave both of them a look. "We have no idea if that squatter was working alone or not. That squatter could have been the cause of everything, but we can't be too careless. If it's a group then they'd want the egg should they learn of its existence. I shall keep the egg with me."
Eyes frowning in the distance, another thought went off in the man's head. "A squatter coupled with what Eris told me about Vito's interrogation...who are these people and why operate within Styx?"
"What happens when it hatches?" Bunri tried to fight back a smile as Seimei sat in his chair with the egg in his hands, bouncing it on his leg a little which brought Seimei's attention back to the guards.
"Then we'll learn just what was in this egg that caused them to destroy all the others." as he looked back down at the wrapped up egg, making sure it was safe, he had to wonder.
Just what was inside?
"Sir, what about the wannabe escapists?" Bunri stepped forth with a slight bow.
"Treat their injuries and give me a report on them all. After that, we'll decide to send them into that area for punishment."
"Understood."
As Mariko was brought back to Styx, the harpy-like guard that was Suimin was being dragged by the skull headed bus driver.
"I'm fine! I don't need a check up!" The bird cried as Zugai led the way.
"You do. You worried me back on that bus." the driver huffed. "You don't even remember, do you?"
"Remember what?"
"Exactly."
The grey haired woman rolled and waved her arms as her good pal now started to push her to the infirmary. "What is that supposed to mean?!"
"Well, you'll find out when we get there!"
Groaning all the way to the infirmary, the shorter of the duo sat on a chair as they waited for one of the doctors to appear.
"Oh, what brings you two here?" the doctor Lambert asked, raising an eyebrow at the two after entering the room.
"During our latest operation, Suimin here experienced what seemed to be memory loss."
Suimin's head spun in the skull's direction. "I did?"
As the doctor took a seat, he gave the harpy a look over. "How long was this? Anything specific to note at the time?"
Suimin looked down at her talons, it felt like she was with her mother at the doctor's, a thought that popped in and couldn't quite shake away.
Crossing her arms, the driver tapped her foot. "We were talking about the operation together and when I mentioned a name, she had no idea who I was talking about. She didn't remember anything about it and then like half an hour later, she was perfectly fine."
Lambert's tired eyes went from the skull to the winged woman. "A brief moment...say, have you encountered anyone? It's not impossible that there are people with quirks that could cause similar effects."
"Impossible," Zugai shook her head. "Only the two of us remained on the bus."
"Then perhaps, were you affected by your own quirk? Could have made yourself so tired that you just zoned everything out?"
Zugai remained silent for a moment. "I'm unsure about that. She was pretty fine after a few minutes."
"Right..." Lambert leaned back on his office swivel chair. "...was there anything that happened before this occurred? Anything you ingested? There have been cases where a person's quirk does clash with certain foods."
"Oh!" Suimin jumped right up, seeing the look that Zugai gave her. "Uh, well I had a sandwich for lunch, a breakfast burger for breakfast. Um, for dinner we didn't have much to do, so we-"
"Focus," came the doctor, clicking his fingers. "When you ate anything, did you feel weird? Funny?"
Tapping her talons against the floor, her eyes widened. "Oh! I had a tic-tac minty thing!" flapping her wings, the binding doctor felt a nice breeze. "When I had it, it was disgusting! Yuck!"
"Would you consider that as: weird?"
The harpy nodded. "Yeah, I'll say that!"
Pushing himself towards the desk, Lambert spun on the chair to pick up a clipboard and back he came after another push. "So, some foul mint caused a reaction. Have you had anything similar happen before with mints?"
Suimin shook her head. "Not that I can remember."
"Where did you even get it from? I hope you didn't pick it up from the floor..."
Zugai had to cover her mouth as the short, little harpy jumped up. "Hey! I'm not that silly, Lamby!"
"So where did you get it?" the doctor moved closer.
"Oh. I stole it!" with two different looks from the other two in the room, Suimin quickly waved her arms around. "Not like that! Well, sorta. I stole one from Dion! He wasn't sharing!"
Lambert sighed. "Dion...have you ever tried alcohol before?"
"Nope!"
"I don't doubt that the drunk probably contaminated his own mints with all those different alcoholic beverages he keeps shoving down his throat. But for memory loss? That might not be it. Could be a case of cloudy-"
"Um, doc?" the bus driver shook the short haired man with bags under his eyes. "You're rambling again."
The binding doctor waved his hand. "Sorry, this is truly a bizarre case. Since this incident was rather limited, on face value nothing really comes to mind. If the mint was just disgusting, it shouldn't really do much unless your quirk doesn't sit well with it and if weren't tired, then your quirk is out of the question...what a mystery."
"So...what now?" Suimin was forced to sit once more by her skull headed friend.
"Stay a while. I'll need to run some tests." and right to it, he was making notes. Occasionally asking questions and running said tests for some time.
Then the door opened a little while later. "Lambert? Are you busy?"
"At the moment. Why?"
"Oh. Just that Seimei wants a doctor to run an autopsy on the remains of a recent corpse." the messenger, Bunri, raised his hand. "Before you ask, no. It's not an inmate."
With slightly widened eyes, the doctor responded. "On my way."
During the whole operation that the Search Party went on, one doctor accompanied by a butler-like guard worked hard in their own task.
As the other head doctor of Styx yawned, she looked over to her current company. The butler-like guard that was Shimaru also worked quite diligently and if Carna was honest, she liked this sort of treat as Shimaru bowed suddenly.
"Another cup of coffee, Angitia?" Shimaru Hakushu asked in that high class way of his. Adjusting the monocle he wore, he reached out for the empty mug she was drinking from earlier.
"Yes. Thank you, Shimaru."
As the white tuxedo gloved hands took the mug, the silver haired and eyed man took off to make another cup of coffee.
It was like having her own personal butler.
Returning her gaze back to the records and files in front of her, she flipped through a few searching for some key details.
Prisoners that have lost limbs. Dead or alive.
"If the body was tampered with, then what's the point of tampering with a corpse?" she thought, looking at another document. "Many of these living inmates just mention that they got into fights with other inmates and that's how they lost their limbs...but what would some third party want to do with tampering the deceased?"
A mystery that probably won't be uncovered for some time she thought.
"Right now, we should be looking for clear signs of tampering."
The desk she was working at was very organized. Piling different records into multiple growing mountains. Only the ones that were dead or missing some part of their body remained close in reach.
Arms, legs, hands, fingers, ears, eyes, teeth, feet, toes and a bunch of other stuff ripped out from them.
"Here's your cup of coffee, Carna." the guard that was practically a butler appeared, placing the mug down on the desk.
"Oh, thank you."
The guard gave a look at all the papers. "Any luck on your end?"
"Not much we can really do at this stage. Eris has been off site for a while now so even if we do question those involved, we won't get a super accurate result from questioning." she sighed, taking a sip from the mug. "If this third party is questioned, they might prepare themselves for whatever may come."
"We can't deny that it's a possibility," the high classed Shimaru nodded. "My search has brought similar results to the piles on your desk."
Leaning back in her chair, her eyes glanced over to said pile. "Hold on. The first body that revealed that the body was tampered with. What was that exactly?"
Shimaru Hakushu walked over to the desk and papers he was slogging through. "The body was found with their skull squashed by Vito during a time he was released from his cell. After the body had been found, precise cuts were done to the deceased's body limbs."
"...why go that far for body parts? The cuts were done after the victim's death, so why? It makes no sense." she huffed before quickly adding, "unless they want to get their rocks off I guess."
"Well. We might have another lead." the guard coughed in suitable fashion. "When Alexios, Bunri and Zugai went out to deliver the body parts out of the prison, Bunri left one of his clones to watch the funeral home."
It was a good thing Carna wasn't drinking any of her coffee right now. "Wait. Hold on. Did he find something out? Why didn't you bring this up earlier?!"
"Please remain calm, Carna. I apologize for not addressing or bringing the issue earlier. There was something else going at the time that needed to be attended to." giving her a bow, he asked, "do you mind if I continue?"
"Please."
"Very well. Bunri's clone spotted someone entering the funeral home hours later after we dropped off some of the recent deceased inmates there." the butler revealed. "He witnessed a cloaked individual enter the funeral home and walk out with a small rectangular box. Sadly, another reason why I neglected to bring this up was simply out of the uncertainty of it."
"...right. It could be suspicious but we have no idea if they really took the body parts of inmates or were just picking up the cremains of their loved one. We should really get a search warrant on that place." she mumbled, taking a few sips from the mug.
"Speaking about that, I believe we are now after a certain someone has decided to show her face again." he gave a knowing smile. "If it is true that they are collecting bodies and parts from the funeral home and from prisoners losing some part of their body, then that mangled messed up body that was tampered with...that's their first slip up that gave them away. So...how long have they been doing this?"
Carna this time, spat out the coffee. Spraying it everywhere.
Eris sat on one of the back seats of one of the many prison buses as she and a few others were on their way back to Styx.
With one leg crossed over the other, the warden just stared down at the ground. It had been a long day and only now were they returning to Styx before it got too dark.
After a long interrogation with each and every name that was associated with having sex with the convict Akita. In the end, it turned out to be true.
And many of those guards suddenly taken out of the prison wouldn't be returning.
They'll have to make due in some new prison, from the other side of the bars.
Thankfully sorting it all out didn't take that long, so that was a plus.
It was a good thing that they found out about this now rather than later, but the fact that it even happened in the first place and wasn't found out until now was very, very concerning.
"...if that went under our nose for so long...then what Vito said...was that true too?" she shook her head. "No, it is true. If those two things happened, what else operated right under us without us knowing a thing?"
...
Eris stood in front of Vito, staring directly at him.
"You cannot hide everything from me, so tell me everything." Despite trying to break away, Vito could only find himself staring into her eyes.
Nothing would be hidden from her. She would make sure of that.
"...Understood." The tone from Vito was much, much different. It was almost robotic with the way he replied.
"Good. How many times have you left this cell? Who let you out and for what purpose?"
Vito instantly got to work, focused solely on Eris' eye. "I don't know how many times I left, I don't remember every mosquito I squashed..."
"Focus. Who let you out?"
"...dunno. Most times they came to get me, they wore helmets and masks."
Gripping the clipboard in her hand, she kept asking. "When you killed the other inmates, where did they take you?"
"Dunno, they put a bag over my head, both to and from this cramped cell. I only put up with it because they let me go wild with whoever I fought."
That...wasn't what she wanted to hear. A group of masked individuals that transported Vito places around the prison in a way that would interfere with her interrogation. One thing stood out to her though. "Fought? Are you saying that you were made to fight other inmates?"
"Yea," he drawled out, gazing seemingly into space despite the eye contact between the warden and him. "Everytime they came to get me, it was to fight. They said that I could go out. Sometimes, well, most times letting me kill the poor sap they threw against me. Even ripping them limb from limb."
Eris hummed, jotting a small note down on the piece of attached paper. "What was the purpose of the fights?"
"Never cared to ask. Fighting is fighting. Strength is strength-"
"Moving on," she cut him off before he could even try to waste her time with useless information. "About your recent rampage, tell me about it. Assuming they too were masked, what was the purpose."
This time, Vito's face managed to make a small frown. "Didn't know who they were, but when they first approached me, they talked about how I had fun the night before and offered to let me out of the cell if I did something for them."
"And what was that?" she inquired, ready to write down whatever useful info might show itself.
"What I usually do, kill and destroy. They wanted chaos." Her fingers got to work as she made a note about it while gesturing to him to continue, "I agreed and went ham, went wild. I thought I would be released again when things cooled over..."
The burgundy haired warden raised an eyebrow at that. "What do you mean?"
"After I was beaten, they came to approach me, whoever they were. That bastard didn't even plan on letting me run wild again. Said that our deal was complete."
"Who were they, Vito. Who was that person?"
The large, muscular man bound in a straitjacket could only shake his head. "No clue. He, she, them. The only thing I know of that bastard was that they had a pair of red eyes."
Eris' eyes widened. That was something! Red eyes. That...didn't narrow things down but it was at least a lead. Of course, assuming that those were natural and not eye contacts to pin blame on another. Still, info was info.
"It was because of that bastard that they ruined my fights!"
"...pardon?"
"That bastard ruined my fights!" he seethed as if he was stabbed in the back twelve times.
Eris resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. "You mean, the fights where you were bagged when being transported there?"
The Monster of Venice nodded. "Yeah! That little shitstain, because of my escapade, I won't be able to fight anymore! All because of that dipshit! Now I'm just stuck in this little shithole!"
Something clicked with the warden, to the point where she stamped her foot down, getting closer to the tied up inmate. "Answer me Vito, are you saying that those people, who took you to fight and kill random prisoners, were unrelated to this red eyed individual?"
"That's what the fucker said."
Eris quickly wrote that down before she could even forget. From the sounds of it, she wasn't going to get anymore information, but she got what she needed. For now, at least.
Without even saying a word, Eris left the cell, the door closing behind her while she fixed her eyepatch back up. It wasn't enough info, but it was something.
It was time to discuss.
...
Afterwards, she eventually began to talk to Seimei about this matter in private.
"How did it go? Well?" That was the first thing she heard once she entered her office. Sitting in on the fancy, green leather couch was none other than her fellow warden.
She placed a clipboard down on her desk, "I suppose so," she sighed. "I got information of course. Though, it wasn't as helpful as I thought." as she leaned against her desk, she went over what she managed to squeeze out of the convict.
"And that's what I got out of him. I did get everything from him, but it seems they took some extra precautions with avoiding my quirk."
Seimei, wide eyed, leaned forward on the couch. "So he's been out before..."
The two sat in silence for a while. "I have to give them credit, both of them handled it well," the frown on the burgundy haired woman increased. "Either they were cautious or they took questioning into consideration. Those masks really dodged your quirk there."
She watched the lavender eyed man sink back into the couch. "So we have two different things to worry about. The group that took Vito out to fight and the other that used Vito for their own goals."
"It's still possible that the person Vito talked about was still a part of the group in some way. From the way he worded it, it sounded like they taunted him about it, perhaps to add injury," she offered, handing the clipboard to him, "but, if it was the same group, then they jeopardized their own plans, whatever they were."
"Hm..."
"There was also something else that I was thinking about, and I doubt Vito could even answer."
Snapping back to reality, the wavy black haired warden gave her his attention. "And what's that?"
"Why Vito? Out of all the inmates in the solitary confinement ward, why Vito?"
Seimei shot up from the couch, "I was thinking the same thing too. In the solitary confinement ward, there are definitely prisoners stronger than Vito. They could have gotten away with a lot more if they did go with one of them, so why settle for Vito?"
As Seimei sat back down, glancing at the notes on the clipboard, she made her way over to him.
"I offer up a theory," the older warden offered up, taking a seat next to her fellow warden on the couch. "Specifically being the weakest was exactly why he was chosen."
Seimei was all ears.
"Think about it. During the meeting when he was running wild unbeknownst to us, we had guards both inside and outside the meeting that could have easily taken him out if they were aware of Vito escaping. Not to mention there would be at least a few inmates, not including the other solitary confinement inmates, who would have an easier time dealing with Vito if they were involved and the ones who were involved put up a good fight. Vito might claim to be strong, but he's far from it."
"That's...true." the wavy haired man slowly nodded. "So that means that the person who let Vito out into the wards and the ones that let Vito fight and kill others, 'both' had the same idea to some degree. A less risky choice for both."
Eris leaned back into the couch, "let's hope that this isn't a strategy to confuse us by making us think it's two groups..."
"Agreed."
As the two looked at one another, the only thing on their minds was: just what were these unknown third parties doing?
Before they could discuss more, the door opened, revealing a blindfolded guard. "You called for me?"
...
"Hey," a voice in front of her turned around. Sitting just up from her was Dahlia. "We might not be able to reach Styx tonight if traffic keeps up, we might have to stop for tonight if things get really bad."
"If that's the case, then we have no choice but to stop for the night." the warden gave her a nod, "until then, we'll see how far we go. After a certain point, it'll be empty roads for us."
"Alright." and with that, Dahlia turned away from her but not without thinking, "should I ask? Is it even worth asking?" The warden was definitely thinking about something, but as the young guard weighed the options, in the end she decided not to.
There was no guarantee if she would be told if it was something important.
Though as she faced back towards the front and down at her phone, Eris' sole eye lingered on the averagely short guard with an auburn glow and brunette hued hair.
The guards that were chosen to take the former guards of Styx to court and beyond were all scanned and cleared by herself, but Dahlia was one of those guards that worked with them that came in via uncommon circumstances.
While not rare by any means, it was well, uncommon.
Closing her non-eyepatched eye, the warden leaned back into a more comfortable position on the bus.
"Now is not the time to be thinking of such things. For now rest is more important." she'd deal with the problems back at Styx when she returns to that familiar place.
Until then, she made herself at home, laying on it like someone's longue. The seats were very comfortable.
As the day finally came to an end as night fell upon the prison, in a dark room, a lone figure stood for a while, looking down at a phone and immediately started to pace around the room. Nervously clicking as they did.
Suddenly, the phone rang during the figure's wandering as their large, round eyes glanced back down to the smartphone.
"...M...Master?" the figure nervously spurted out.
"I received word that your mature drone was detected today..."
Immediately bowing, the figure clacked. "I...It was! During a break out attempt by some of the inmates earlier, one of the inmates accidentally discovered the nursery!"
"It doesn't matter," the voice seemed to stretch on their end. "Compared to the other M-Types, it was only an early model, like a prototype. Still, in the end it did its job I hope."
The one holding the phone then asked, "are you coming to Styx?"
"Very shortly, but I do have a few questions to ask you."
"Yes sir!"
The voice paused, "first thing, was the person who let Vito out ever found?"
"N...No master..." the nervous clicking of their mouth hastened. "Eris was in charge of looking for that person but she was suddenly called out for out of prison business..."
The voice was silent for a while. "I see, then let's hope they take any of our falls for us...now...what about the eggs? Did our 'cleaner' do its job?"
It was now for the apprentice to gulp. "...um, do you mean the spare eggs stored along with that Multi-Type model...?"
"..."
Jolting at the silence, the successor scurried to tell their master. "The eggs that were stored with that drone are...gone. Destroyed as per requested should they be found."
"Good. As long as no eggs survived..." the voice sighed, "but you know what that means now?"
The clicking of the successor's mouth stopped for a while. "Uh..."
"Resources," the master revealed, "that little operation to get occasional resources for your drones, it's time to go farther. Both in it and outside of it."
"Will that mean...?"
"Yes, 'they' shall stalk some fine resources for you, for now, you just operate your hidden resource mining ring."
As the successor stood silently as they listened to their master go on and on, the master suddenly hummed. "Did you think of something, master?"
"Just a little thought and it involves those drones on standby."
The successor looked back behind them, there were in fact some of those drones at their disposal...but...
"Are you sure...that's wise?" they asked, tilting their head slightly. "Combat data is always useful as you said, but-"
"I think it's time to test run those two S-Type and M-Type models." the master chuckled at that. "It's all up to you. Remember, as my successor, you would need to plan things out yourself and take the handle, I'll let you decide on how you use your drones. As guards, resource miners or whatever you think is best."
Removing the phone, the successor inhaled. "If it wasn't for my mess up during Vito's match, we wouldn't be in this situation right now! They just had to notice the odd details! Ahh!" as they quickly shook the thought away, the successor slapped themselves. Lightly. "We- I can still turn this around! We lost a lot of materials and are at risk of being spotted because of my careless mistake. Gotta make sure the ring still runs and we get those resources."
The figure clicked as they turned around, moving some cloth out of the way. "It's time for you two to get up." they uttered, looking down at two different figures, both of which quickly stood as soon as the figure clicked with their mouth.
"Standby."
In the darkness, a row of inmates were kept down in the beds. Some of those inmates were restrained heavily as they slept the night away.
It was a peaceful night in the infirmary.
A gust of wind blew outside as the sleeping convicts remained in their beds.
Yubi was also one of the inmates, tied down by Lambert's bind. One of the better off prisoners in the infirmary even when zapped by Alexios' quirk.
Another was the quirkless inmate, Li. Injured by a giant droid, a vigilante and a jackal sinking her fangs into his shoulder. Unlike his former partner, Remko had already been discharged for his injuries and thrown back into his cell, Li on the other hand, was still being treated for his dog bite among others.
There was one more person in the infirmary at this time, though further away than the other two. Laying in a bed was the con-artist, Zuko Yamamoto. He was also bound to the bed, but unlike Yubi who would just cause chaos when he woke up, Zuko was tied down for a different reason as he slept through the night.
A shadow moved through the infirmary within a second, unseen as it looked over the jailbirds sleeping in their beds. "..." it didn't say a word as it looked down at the inmates, observing each one carefully.
It looked at Li first, moving to a few different angles before deciding that the quirkless man was utterly useless, moving on with whatever it was doing.
Now onto Yubi, it gave the shirtless inmate a slightly longer look compared to the quirkless man right next door. Useful, but they already had enough from him for now thanks to earlier. It then completely bypassed Zuko as it carried something fresh from the freezer not that far away.
The shadow wasn't done yet as it left the infirmary like a light breeze.
It struck again not that long after its inspection.
There were two former patients that were in the infirmary. These criminals had already been moved to the next location of their fates.
The first was one that was also tied down thanks to Lambert's quirk, Gousen Hikudo. Injured from Rhys' pavlov quirk and the fight with some other inmates, his infirmary time already came and gone as he was discharged from the infirmary, still unconscious.
The second was the rather tragic form of Rhys Pavlov after having a direct, small explosion to the face. The result wasn't pretty in any sense.
He too was transported out of the infirmary after a very short stay there. His fate didn't look good in any sense.
He too was shipped off to somewhere else, in or out of the prison, the shadow didn't know nor did it care. It had a job to do.
During that night, the shadowy figure visited both of them at completely different times. It looked down at the current target in front of them, watching their movements or lack of them.
The shadow loomed closer, leaning right over head at the fallen.
There was some potential to be used. In fact, it was practically free for the taking! The shadow encroached around the defeated body, one clear thing it thought of as its masked face stared down as it completed its task.
It would be a waste to let materials be discarded. It'll be put to good use.
In the distance, something approached the prison Styx. It was a large group of people on top of silverish grey motorhorses, galloping towards the renown prison.
The travelling group soon came to a stop, still pretty far off from the prison, but still in sight in the soon to be sunrise.
They might have lost a fraction of their posse but they were still a big group.
One of the members of the motorhorse gang jumped off their robotic horse with some binoculars in their hands. They kept their bandana up to cover their mouth as they handed it to the one clearly in the lead.
"Boss," they uttered, handing them the binoculars.
The boss took the binoculars and glanced at the prison in the distance as she sat atop of the grey mechanical horse. "So that's Styx, huh..."
Four others on motorhorses slowly stepped up, forming a nice line with their leader. A reptile looking member of the motorhorse gang gave the distant prison a look.
"When are we going to strike?" he asked while an older gentleman looked down at their pocket watch.
"Easy boy," the older man huffed, "we can't rush in too hastily."
The other two, a man and a woman, just stayed silent. The man rolled the chambers in his wrists around while the woman just yawned, turning to the leader of the gang.
"So...Mulhall is in there..." she stretched. "We're ready when you are, Bariki."
It was then that the boss of the motorhorse gang raised her hand into the air. "We might have lost a fair few of us yesterday, both the recon and vanguard groups, but today is not that day! Take this time to prepare yourselves!" she turned, addressing the whole posse. "Styx will no doubt pick up on us as soon as we get close, but today is the day we get Mulhall back!"
Soon the gang cheered loudly as the sun slowly began to rise on yet another new day on Styx.
The Mares of Diomedes prepared to storm Styx.
The Second Arc of Guilty Act is now complete!