Chapter 7
[409] Never Ends Without Blood
Paper files become her friend.
More than Tsuyu bringing her coffee, or Momo stopping by and reminding her to have lunch, or Ryukyu telling her she's not getting overtime. She actually doesn't have any issue with that last one, considering she's spent the last two nights at her desk.
Paper files become her friend.
And the stress candies Yaomomo gave her the other day are amazing. Ochako thinks they would probably be more effective if she stopped abusing them and eating them one after the other, but according to Yaomomo herself, it was just a mixture of natural remedies to help soothe your body. No risk of overdose or anything else.
Ochako swapped back and forth between them, peppermints, and black coffee as she worked her way through the initial fifteen case files. Then she requisitioned the next thirty. Momo helped her out with this set, and the two tore through them together in two days and developed a running idea of [.ku]'s list and what it's all about.
"The Hero Commission?" Ryukyu asks, one eyebrow cocked as she examines the corkboard mapping out the relations of each target to each other and the Hero Commission as a whole.
It was a conspiracy board in its totality, but it was also three nights of non-stop work pinning photos, marking notes and relations, and stringing them all together in a shoebox of a room that was the only one in Ryukyu's agency that didn't have a window, computer or TV. It truly was a storage closet, but Ochako cleaned it up, pulled the board in and she and Yaomomo made it work.
"That's what it looks like," Yaomomo mutters, reaching out and plucking one of the red strings that connected the Commission to a CFO of a local manufacturing company. "Red strings are for business. Yellow are for familial or personal connections. Blue is strictly financial," she explains, plucking a few more strings along the diorama.
Ryukyu hums, considering it for a time. Ochako moves out of the way as her boss surveys it, following a few threads back and forth across the room. Supplemental papers are stored under the board, but Ryukyu seems content to simply examine it for a time.
"So, what do you think his beef with the Commission is?"
Ochako shakes her head. "I'm not sure, but I think it's how they're running and disciplining Heroes. He thinks they need more accountability, and a policing force that keeps bad Heroes like DiamondEdge and others from polluting the reputation of the other Heroes."
Ryukyu picks up a stack of pages. It's the report from the prison that Ochako had gotten yesterday- courtesy of Detective Tsukauchi- detailing how their system got an electronic submission for an inmate transfer. Everything they got looked official. It came through official channels, with an official email and address, a real source and everything else.
Up until Stain was actually shipped out.
And then he, the transport vehicle and the driver disappeared off the edge of the Earth.
There wasn't even a security video, as the data associated with the transport was 'corrupted'. It was pointless to even look. She had tried looking, tried calling back for the hard drive, or for even the actual camera. All of it was scrubbed clean; some nasty virus had torn through the data, and only her firewall had stopped it.
[.ku]'s response to this had been instant. A cheeky grin appeared in the bottom left of her screen. It stuck its tongue out at her, and in response she slammed her laptop shut and stormed off into the closet.
Ryukyu drops the stack of papers in question, pursing her lips as she considers it. Ochako knows the feeling.
Forty-five individuals, some of them Heroes ranked in the Top 50, and politicians that clustered around or supported the Hero Commission, and all of them were guilty of something. In some cases, it was white-collar crimes like embezzling or trafficking corporate secrets. In other cases, it was falsifying evidence against people attacking the Commission, or destroying incriminating evidence. There were dozens of cases like that, but more disturbing were reports of what the Commission did to get Heroes that would do that dirty work.
Hawks' file had been bookmarked and tabbed, but [.ku] made a distinction here, along with a few other files.
Victim.
That was all the labeling the hacker had provided on those particular files. A total of seven of them sat in a stack all to themselves, various names written across the files. Some were older Heroes, a few names unfamiliar or underknown altogether.
Lady Nagant, whom they could find a school record for but nothing tying her to the association. Locked away in Tartarus for a crime [.ku] called 'Bogus'.
Crossfire, who appeared briefly on the public scene in their records but disappeared shortly after on a trip to the Americas. According to [.ku]'s files he stayed in Japan and operated under a different alias for a time before disappearing again. The last page in that file was simply a location.
A cemetery, 'Commission?' written in red beside it.
They'd sent the handwriting sample off for analysis, since no one in the police could confirm if it was theirs or not.
"So what's his first target? He has Stain, which means he's not playing for small fries. He could start at the top and work his way down, or go bottom up," Ryukyu finally says, breaking the silence.
Ochako and Momo exchange a look, grimacing. They couldn't figure that out.
"He might try to go top down, for fear of those that head the organization fleeing once they realize they're being targeted," Momo offers with a shrug.
"At the same time, he might also eliminate the small fry to verify Stain's loyalty, or to put pressure on the higher-ups. He seems to be a man that likes the chase."
"So, you don't have a lead?" Ryukyu concludes, and both sidekicks grimace and shrug. "We'll keep an eye on it. Do we have anything on the Death's Hands Gang?"
".ku is still communicating with us on that, but his last update was simply a roster of names. We're pulling case files and records from it, working with police on that. They've put out BOLO's and warrants. They're going to search their residences, but he hasn't been able to narrow down a new base, nor have we been able to spot anything on our patrols."
Ryukyu curses. "Alert a few of the other agencies, and let Miruko know about it. She might be able to pick something up since she's mobile."
"Nejire-chan already has."
There's the soft squeak of wet shoes on the floor before Froppy passes by her tongue whipping out of her mouth and coiling around Ochako's wrist and pulling her out of the room.
"Hey!" Ochako protests, even as Momo continues to brief Ryukyu on their findings and progress. There's a lot of it, and Ochako has memorized almost as much as she has, if not more; but the main bits they discussed together.
"Patrol. Ryukyu told me to take you next time I go out. You've been in the office for three days straight-kero," Tsuyu explains with a shrug. "Whatcha talking about-kero?"
".ku" Ochako mumbles back, pursing her lips as Froppy uncoils her tongue and they swing by Ochako's desk so she can pick up her helmet.
"Momo mentioned something about him and Stain?" Tsuyu frowns as they walk out the door.
It's not raining- as it has been the majority of the week- but the clouds are still gray and the puddles on the asphalt still splash dirty water onto the sheen of Ochako's boots. They move from the sidewalk to the rooftops, and as they move about their route Ochako fills Tsuyu in on the investigation. It hadn't even occurred to her to include her on the [.ku]/Stain issue. Momo had simply volunteered to help once Ochako brought in the stack of files.
She doesn't recall informing Momo of the breakout, but then again, Ochako was in such a tizzy and such a mad rush for any form of lead to find and track Stain or [.ku], she probably could have told Momo her whole life story and she wouldn't have recalled any of it. Hell, she probably took one look at the files and just put it together.
"Soooo what are we doing about him?" Tsuyu asks, landing in a crouch at the edge of their current building.
It's a high-rise apartment complex and the height of the building affords them a good view of the surrounding area. Ochako lingers, pacing back and forth across the roof as Tsuyu scans the street.
"I don't have a clue." Ochako fumes, curling her hands into fists. She swats her thigh with them to try and release some of the pent-up energy and frustration. "He's connected to everything, and as soon as I make a move he's blocking it!"
"What's his first target?" Tsuyu asks, peeking back at her.
She probably thinks Ochako looks crazy. Which, she might be right at this point, considering how all of her waking hours had been spent going through the case files and trying to deduce who [.ku] would go after first. She's running on coffee and rage at this point, and while neither are in short supply, she suspects that her body is going to go on strike if she doesn't acquire some sleep and rest.
"Me and Momo can't tell. .ku isn't exactly forthcoming with details either." Ochako pats her side, but then grimaces and keeps pacing when she realizes where her phone is.
Shattered on the floor of her apartment.
She's not looking forward to telling her parents about that…
Maybe she could ask Ryukyu about a company phone? Ochako feels her stomach flip on that thought. She already got a job; she didn't need to ask for anything else. Especially considering that job came with a laptop, insurance, and a lovely salary that she could actually use to start paying her parents back for everything.
"What about finances?" Tsuyu asks suddenly, and when Ochako turns back to her the frog girl is perusing her phone.
"Finances?" Ochako cocks an eyebrow.
Tsuyu shrugs. "Yeah. If .ku is trying to cripple the Hero Commission, wouldn't he hit them where it hurts? People are important, but money covers a lot of things. So who donates, or generates the most income for them?"
Ochako doesn't know off the top of her head.
But she knows Momo does.
"Call Mo-" Ochako hesitates, and Tsuyu pauses as her phone dials- having shared the same thought Ochako did.
But apparently not the consequences of using a digital device.
"Yes?" Momo asks through the phone. "You alright Tsu?"
"Sort your files by finances." Tsuyu says, locking eyes with Ochako. She ends the call abruptly, before Momo can reply or confirm. "We have to assume that .ku won't change his plans just because we've caught on. If he does, he risks letting the others go, or having to capture and track everyone that runs."
It's logical, but it's also logic that makes Ochako uneasy.
People could die before they get to them, and even people like those on [.ku]'s list deserve justice and to serve time for their crimes. Even with all they've done, Ochako doesn't want to see them dead. Prison existed for a reason, and they needed to see their day in court.
"Go back. Check in with Momo," Tsuyu advises, suddenly swinging off the building down to the street. "I'll cover patrol!" She shouts back.
Ochako takes off for the agency, adrenaline pumping through her veins as she vaults over rooftop gaps and leaps off the corner of the last building. A quick brush of her fingers against her thigh ensures she glides through space instead of splats on concrete. She keeps it up as she goes across the street, touching the side of the next building and pushing off towards the ground. Once she lands, she's running, doing her best not to shove people out of the way.
Her gear is heavier than she remembers it being, her boots thick and clunky as she runs. Maybe she should replace the spacy boot with some combat boots? Might be more practical.
Definitely would be lighter.
She's huffing and puffing by the time she gets to the door, but she feels like she should be in better shape than this. Correction; she knows she's in better shape than this. She's an active working hero, and even though takeout food isn't the healthiest, she's running, lifting, working the entirety of her day. And the fact that her hero costume has remained the same size since graduating proves to some degree that she is not out of shape.
She's probably just stressed.
Ochako pulls the door open, rushing through the lobby to find Momo poring over a spreadsheet, tabbing through it rapidly as she sorted and resorted the columns.
"What do you have?"
A chat box appears on the bottom of Momo's computer.
Creati. Stop.
Momo flicks through a dozen more tabs, onyx eyes flicking back and forth over the columns before suddenly she grinds to a halt, fingers flexing over the keys. Like she's realized something. A pen point pops out of her index finger, and she grabs a sticky note, jots down a name and hands it to Ochako. The tab has already changed off the name, but Ochako recognizes it. One of the CFO's of a manufacturing company that handled the mass majority of steel and drywall production. Ochako was actually familiar with the name due to her parents having a few contracts with the company.
"Highest grossing salary, bank statements include regular and frequent donations to Hero Commission, on and off the books. He's [.ku]'s most likely target." Momo whispers.
The chat box updates with a high-pitched whine.
Uravity. Stop. You don't need to do this.
Ochako glanced at the chat, then rushed to the supply room. The name wasn't hard to find; there were only forty-five files, and his was closer to the top than the bottom. She combed through it briefly before finding his address.
"I'm calling his security detail!" Momo shouts from the next room as Ochako rushes back out.
"House call!" She replies, tossing his file down next to the Creation Hero before she's running again.
Air comes both too slow and too fast in her lungs. Her rhythm is off, and it's hard to force herself to run when she feels like there's a rock sitting in her stomach. Her boots click on the sidewalk, just long enough for her to attempt to catch her breath, before she jumps. Gravity is a fleeting inconvenience for her, though replacing it with nausea isn't exactly a trade off she would have picked if she had a choice.
She flicks both wrists out, and the grappling hooks hidden in her cuffs shoot out with a kssssss before imbedding in the brick of a building. She pulls herself forward, retracting them and firing them off again as she builds momentum and speed. The air whips by her, nipping at the tips of her hair as she holds onto the wire, slinging herself around a street corner meters above the traffic.
Her nausea builds as she crosses city blocks, and her speed only increases as gravity fails to slow her down, and air friction does little to deter her wild swings and the constant build of her momentum. It feels like it takes forever to cross the city. It feels like it takes only seconds.
Her heart is hammering in her chest as she finally sees the house compound, separating itself from the city with a short little wall and a patch of grass and an attempt at a garden. She whizzes right over the wall, canceling her Quirk as she crests it. It's not a stellar idea, momentum being a thing, and gravity greedily taking hold of her once again. She hits the ground and rolls, tumbling head over heels across the grass before hitting a bush and finally coming to a halt.
"Need to remember the brakes next time," Ochako grumbles, wincing as she pulls herself out of the little branches and stumbles to her feet.
She's expecting there to be some alarm and for her to have to flash her creds and her Hero license and explain her case. Instead, she's met by a peculiar silence. There is a weight to it as well, and her footsteps crunching on the grass break the strangely heavy quiet.
It's a strange feeling.
She creeps out of the bushes, surveying the grounds as she goes. Nothing is particularly out of place, and it's still daylight, which makes her wonder what's going on. There should be someone here at all times… right?
She turns towards the house and nearly misses it.
A flicker of a shadow passing one of the windows.
"Hello?" She shouts.
There's no response, and so she rushes to the door.
It's a traditionally styled Japanese home, with wooden floors and doors. She slams the front door open, almost amused to find that the style does not carry past the outside of the house. The floor is a neat marble tile, and in the first two steps she passes a glass end table by the door, an intricate glass coat rack, and a random oversized marble-looking-chair.
There's a thunder of feet above her, followed by a yell and a sticky sounding thud. The noise breaks the silence, and it sends Ochako's heart into overdrive.
Someone was here.
Someone was here and it was probably Stain.
Oh fuck. She should have called for backup.
She clicks her headset, but all she gets in response is a static hum on the line. A jammer.
Damn it!
But someone's life was on the line!
She charges into the home, her boots tracking dirt and mud onto the clean tile floors. It takes her a moment to find the stairs- hidden behind a bend of the hallway- and a moment longer for her to ascend.
The silence from the courtyard does not exist in the home anymore. Instead, there is screaming and shouting, and as Ochako crests the landing, gunfire.
The bark of a handgun is surprising, but not as terrifying as the ripple of air when a bullet passes by her hand and buries itself in the wall behind her. She immediately ducks behind cover.
"Hero Uravity!" She shouts around the corner. "Do not fire!"
"A hero?" Someone responds, but there is a twisted tune to the man's voice that sends a shiver down Ochako's spine.
The gunfire stops at the same time a wet rip and a heavy thud echoes back from the end of the hall. Ochako peeks around the corner, unsure if she even should.
Blood pools in the hallway, following the grooves in the wooden flooring as it tracks away from the owner's body. Owners' bodies. Ochako peels her gaze from the floor to the man standing over them.
A jagged katana in his hand.
In the original news clipping she'd seen, his uniform had been practical, but cobbled together. This time around it seems that [.ku] provided him with Hero-grade gear. His pants are form fitting, cargo pockets bungling with equipment, and the thick belt he has on doesn't sag with the weight of his weapons. The tanktop had been replaced by a tactical vest, knives strapped across the front of it. The bandages around his arms were still present, as was his mask, but it was clear he had gotten an upgrade.
There was a pause as Stain examined her, head cocking to one side.
"You're the one he talked about," the Hero Killer finally says.
He straightens up, pulling himself up to his full height as he steps off the last guard he'd fought, or more likely killed. "The one the hacker told me about."
Ochako swallows, slowly stepping out into the hallway. Fear is not an uncommon feeling in her profession. She's felt fear before. The bomb had been terrifying, but this… this was a different type of fear.
Still, she takes a deep breath to calm herself as she squares up with the man. He was only a man after all, and she was a Hero. She was the person that was supposed to protect the rest of the world and keep men like him locked away.
Stain squints at her, humming softly as he considers her. "You came to stop me," he finally says. "Another Hero caught in the honeytrap of gold and paper? Or are you here because of something else…?" The katana in his hand whips up, blood clinging to the jagged edge of it, before he snaps it down.
Blood spatters the wood between them.
"I'm here because you're here to kill someone." Ochako finds her voice, and today at least it's strong and firm. She feels like it isn't. She feels like it shakes and trembles in her throat, but her declaration rolls off her tongue smooth and steadfast. "And that's not something any Hero should allow."
There's a twisted smile that marks Stain's lips as he considers her. "Even if that person is killing others?"
"Justice doesn't mean execution," Ochako reasons, and despite her apprehension, she edges forward a step.
Stain's gaze doesn't waver, and she's unsure if he even blinks as she edges closer, guarding in case he charges forward. The hallway is long, five or so meters long, but she knows he can cross that distance in an instant.
"Are you serving those that claim to protect but truly only pad their pockets?" Stain finally asks, and the question makes Ochako stop. "What do you fight for? What does the Hero Uravity claim to be? A protector? A defender? Is she truly what she claims?" His grip tightens on the weapon, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, dangling down past his chin.
Ochako makes a face. She knows his Quirk, and that the tongue is a part of it, but it's still creepy.
He slurps his tongue back into his mouth a moment later, gritting his teeth as he glares at her. The expression change is sudden, and he digs his finger into his ear and flicks out something there. An earbud, small and barely noticeable, clatters to the floor.
"He won't be pleased, but I don't listen to him," Stain declares, tightening his grip on his katana. He shifts, taking one step forward, before a small grin appears on his lips. "But if you're a true Hero…" He takes a step back. "Then you should be able to stop me from killing my target."
Ochako hesitates for only a moment.
But a moment is all that Stain needs.
He dashes down the hallway, escaping from her as he prowls for his prey. Ochako gives chase, running after him. She's slower than him, and that becomes obvious when she throws open the next room's door and finds him cutting down the last of four bodyguards. The man drops to the floor clutching his stomach, trying to keep himself together as crimson stains his white button-up.
"Stop this!" Ochako shouts, but Stain again runs off, bursting into the next room in a storm of blood and steel.
She charges after him, even as the thunder of a firearm goes off, and the door frame by her head shatters. Her helmet deflects the debris, and she keeps going into the next room, focusing on the frantic beat of her heart and catching up to the villain.
Her stomach churns as she activates her quirk, jumping up to grab the next doorframe. She heaves herself through it, kicking off as she passes and turning herself into a poorly guided human missile as she sails into the next room.
"Oh?" Stain gives her a passing glance back as he slices through the next door, the door toppling in two to reveal a study and a man ducking behind the desk. He grins, licking the blood off his katana blade. "Stop me then, Hero."
She catches herself on the nearest wall, redirecting and launching herself after him.
He vaults the deck between him and the CFO, and that's the only thing that gives her the time to catch him. She slams into him, wrapping him up. All ten of her fingers make full contact, and she feels the shift in her guts as additional weight is added to her Quirk.
Immediately Stain twists in the air, apparently unbothered by the lack of gravity, and plants the katana in the desktop to anchor himself. His free hand rips one of the many knives off his chest piece, twirling it for a brief moment before stabbing it down.
Reflex and training save her, and she catches his wrist, snapping it one way and then the other to force him to drop the weapon. She twists out of the way of the falling blade, pushing off of him. She backs into the ceiling, and for just a moment there is a stalemate as he considers her.
He's anchored to the ground by his grip on the katana, stuck with the uncertainty of what her Quirk does, and how to move with it. She is completely comfortable with weightlessness, but he is the closer of the two to the target.
"Please don't hurt me!" Said target pleads, and for the life of Ochako, she can't recall anything more than the man's last name, and Naomasa-something.
"Get to you in a moment, you money-sucking pig," Stain grumbles, pulling another wicked looking knife from his chest piece. He twirls it in his grip, glaring at her for a long moment.
"What would you do, Hero, to protect this man?" Stain asks.
"Whatever it takes!" Ochako shouts back with a conviction she does not quite feel. Her heart wavers, but she launches herself back at Stain all the same.
Close combat is not her style, but it becomes something she lives and dies by in the next second. Stain swipes at her with the knife, and the blade scratches against her helmet band before skating off. She grabs his arm, levering the joint back. Stain growls, releasing his grip on the katana to whip another blade out.
This one she doesn't manage to block, but instead of plunging it into her vulnerable side, he scratches her bicep with the tip, his tongue snaking out to greedily lick the blade clean.
Her body locks up, freezing on the spot. Stain twists out of her grasp easily, floating for only a moment before he grabs her hands and taps them together. She's too shocked to speak for only a moment, eyes wide in horror as the killer drops to the ground and she slams onto the desk.
"You risk your life even for those that aren't worth saving," Stain mutters softly, reaching up to wriggle his katana free of the desk. He pulls the blade out, the jagged edge coming dangerously close to Ochako's face. "But you are ill-suited for a fight with me, Uravity."
She's going to die.
She's going to die and there's nothing she can do about it.
She can't even move.
She can't even scream.
She couldn't even protect the person she came to save.
"But you are more of a Hero than some…" Stain trails off, something calculating in his eyes as he examines her. "Let us see if you rise to meet the challenge, or if you crash and shatter your façade of being a Hero." He walks around the desk, even as Ochako flexes and stains against the Quirk holding her captive.
The katana blade rises, and Naomasa screams as Stain pulls him out from under the desk.
There's a moment where the Hero-Killer locks eyes with her. There's a moment where her body flexes and jerks and Ochako lunges towards him before paralysis constrains her. Her stomach flips and bile rises in the back of her throat, burning her nose and threatening to overflow.
The sword doesn't so much as cut as it does rip.
And the short carpet of the study doesn't soak blood up as much as it just keeps it from spreading. Stain releases the body, considering her for a long moment before abruptly turning away.
"Keep on his tail," Stain says, and he's stepped out of her vision but Ochako thinks he says it from the door. "And you might just find out what all of this is for, Hero."
Her ability to speak is found out when a roar of anger erupts from her throat, only to be cut short by a retch and her puking onto the bloodstained carpet.
Stain does not laugh at her.
He does not kill her either.
And ten minutes later, when she finally forces her limbs to obey her commands and pulls a cellphone from one of the barely breathing bodyguards and calls an ambulance and Froppy, she's not so sure she's prepared to chase after the hacker [.ku] if all that is guaranteed is a trail of corpses.