Ingenium was the first to come.
Their raid was scheduled for 11:20, ten minutes after the bar generally emptied, and thirty before it began to get busy again, but the pro-hero was at their rendezvous point hours early, his body buzzing with energy and worry that refused to show on his face.
Naomasa arrived an hour after he did, he was told, but two hours early himself. He did, after all, need to prep everything.
Ingenium wasn't a surprise, really, Naomasa reasoned. But he was a distraction, so he set him on Cyber, who had followed them to Yokohama, acting as the lookout. Cyber did send him a dark look, but the detective breezed over it and went about his work.
When an hour was left, everyone was there, and there was a damning silence in the air that Naomasa could feel down in his bones.
Silently, he led them through the scenario, scenarios, really, and prepped them once, twice, three times.
All Might stood grimly at the side, the last one there, and still untransformed – he would change the moment they were to leave, maximize his transformation, his power, his-
At his side was Ingenium, and beside him was the rescue hero Night Bell, grimmer than all of them combined, more silent than any other. She wasn't the only one Naomasa had been able to contact for this operation, but she was the most useful in this situation, with her Umbrakinesis making her nearly irreplaceable.
Naomasa shook his head, rove his eyes over the last member of his team – Air King, who hardened the wind to form the strongest of barriers – and breathed in deeply. There was offence, there was defense, and there was a rescue hero.
This was the best he could do, and he was going to have to win with it.
And finally- finally, they were ready.
"Ready?" Cyber asked, and at Naomasa's nod, a crackle filled the room, the sound of multiple mics whirring to life. "Keep it fastened, and your earbuds in your ears," he instructed. "I'll keep a watch on everyone using thermal imaging, so I'll let you know if you're in danger."
Naomasa sent him a silent nod, then turned to look at his longtime friend and partner.
Toshinori grinned, his Toshinori grin, not his All Might grin, and Naomasa smiled weakly back. It was time.
Naomasa stayed behind the professionals as they lined up outside the bar. He had a gun, and he knew how to protect himself, but his quirk was not suitable for combat, so in the face of villains with possibly destructive quirks, he positioned himself near the back – ready to jump in when his role became needed, but far enough away that he did not hinder the heroes when they decided to attack.
They stormed in to the sight of three surprised people – the villain with a warp quirk behind the counter, a hooded woman sitting by the corner, a pink margarita in hand, and one very young looking, very wild seeming boy (because what else could he be, if not a boy?) sitting right in front of him, grumbling at something they couldn't understand. Mostly because he stopped the moment they entered.
"Heroes," The boy hissed, the severed hands on his body spasming with the strength of his fury.
The warp villain stilled; eyes stuck on the raid none of them had expected.
That moment was all the heroes needed because Naomasa could taste the victory in the air when they attacked.
The female in the corner had jumped up the second she gained her bearings. The detective couldn't recognize her, but there would be time to do that later. At least her veritable lack of notoriety meant she was not one of the bigger fish stewing in the metaphorical pot. She yanked herself to the window and flung it open but met with the resistance of an invisible wall made of cement.
Air King, Naomasa realized, then pulled quirk suppressant cuffs out of his pocket and rushed forward to snap them on her and the table next to her. "We don't need you to interfere," He told her quietly and quietly squeezed on the pressure points.
Thump.
She was out. He had no idea for how long, but she would not be a problem.
Behind him, the bartender, the kidnapper, their closest lead yet to ayoung, kidnapped boy, hissed, spinning into action even as All Might and Ingenium rushed to face him.
"Kurogiri!" The boy in front of him demanded, and there it was – a name.
Kurogiri seemed to realize at the exact same time, for he flinched. Otherwise, though he showed no reaction. He threw out his hand and two portals appeared, directly in the paths of the running heroes. All Might crashed right through, falling out from the ceiling, and managed to land on his feet. His break in momentum gave Kurogiri the time he needed, even as Ingenium swerved, dodging the warp gate by millimeters.
"Who are you?" Naomasa asked loudly, employing the years of training he had received, and the years of experience he had cultivated. Distraction… well, distraction was always the key.
Kurogiri paid him no mind, but the boy, oh the boy did. He turned to look at Naomasa straight in the eyes and laughed, his smirk sending a shiver through the policeman. He'd never known children to have that gleam, but here, in front of his eyes, was proof. Evil. Chaos. "We are your doom!" The child announced, practically cackling, and then he fell back, the warp closing in around him.
Ingenium reached out, his hand closing around—
And no. Kurogiri was gone.
"Fuck," Ingenium said.
All Might grimaced.
Night Bell sighed and walked towards the one door standing behind the line of beer and wine, holding tightly locked and wedged.
"Let's go," Naomasa said. "Cyber?"
"No one's there," The man replied.
"I'll do it." All Might walked to the door and pulled it clean off his hinges, his eyes hardened with a feral flavor Naomasa hated to see. It made his friend foreign, different. Dangerous.
"I'll go first," Air King volunteered, then slipped inside, Night Bell coming up behind him and melting into the shadows.
The hallway opened up some ten, fifteen feet under the bar, and the stairs that descended into it were roughly made out of pieces of wood that, if Naomasa had to guess, no one used regularly. In all probability, Kurogiri would warp wherever he wanted so the stairs were kind of pointless.
In any case, the hallway broke off into two near towards on end of the place, and Naomasa grimaced, because his work had just multiplied. "Cyber?" He asked.
"Looking," The man replied. "There's a little bit of interference…"
Naomasa glanced both ways. They petered off into the darkness in the same way, with only one door visible on either side. On the right, however, there seemed to be a small, flickering light at the end, barely visible, while the left was completely shrouded in darkness.
"Damn it, there are heat signatures on both ends," Cyber complained. "Can't tell you who, so you'll have to check out both. There are less on the right, though."
Naomasa nodded. "Thanks." He exchanged a look with All Might, who nodded. Naomasa's shoulders lost one percent of their tenseness.
"Do we split up?" Air King asked, and the Detective broke out of his musings to nod. His instinct said right, though Cyber was correct in that they had to check both. "Offense and defense both," He said. "Air King, Ingenium, go left. Ping us if you find anything. We'll go right and do the same."
Ingenium nodded tightly, Air King already walking away.
A deep breath later, Naomasa did the same, falling into step behind All Might and a shadowy memory of Night Bell.
On the left, it took a number of doors in that left corridor until Tensei reached one that reeked of trouble. There was no obvious indication, just a lingering smell, a frightening cry.
He pushed it, and the door creaked open to a room barely the size of a bathroom. In the center was a chair, bound to the floor with rusting chains and bloodied cuffs.
A rage rose inside the pro-hero. A rage that threatened to consume everything that even resembled sanity. A rage that promised vengeance.
Tensei breathed out, letting go of the stale air, the unbreathable terror, the senseless anger.
There would be time for revenge, he told himself. Time after they rescued Daisuke.
But only after.
"Ingenium!" Air King hissed, and Tensei slid instantly to the other side of the corridor, where a meter or so away, Air King was peering through another doorway.
"This one has a lot of heat signatures," Cyber warned, and his voice sounded worried.
Tensei clenched his fists, readied for combat, and followed Air King inside.
The inside of the room was darkened, and it took a moment for Tensei's eyes to adjust. His throat constricted.
The room was lined with more than twenty beds, and belted down in them(belted, the bastards!) were deformed, whimpering... people? Monsters?
At this point, Tensei couldn't even tell. All he knew was they were in obvious distress and pain, and he realized as he rushed to the side of the closest one and stared into startling brown eyes, they couldn't speak. The person in the bed whined sadly and caused a chain reaction as a low growl made its way through the twenty such patients before petering off.
"Fuck," Air King muttered. "What the hell have they done?"
Tensei didn't reply.
He heard some shuffling, and as he turned back, he saw his fellow hero was ducking behind a desk in the back corner. Air King pulled out the drawers and started fumbling inside, going so far as to explode open those which were locked. A pile of papers fluttered out, strikingly white inside the dim lights. he grabbed them all, bending to catch one that had almost fallen to the floor, then placed them on top of the table, his hands trembling.
Tensei winced, but walked over, his own fists clenching. "What does it say?" He asked in a low voice.
Air King pursed his lips. "Nothing about the hostage," He replied back, a rush of relief sparked through Tensei.
Thank bloody god Daisuke had not been made into one of- of-these.
"But..." Air King narrowed his eyes and picked up the papers. "These may be heavily redacted, but from what I can gauge, this place has been conducting illegal quirk experiments."
Tensei's blood ran cold. "Like the facility that was shut down three years ago?"
His fellow hero nodded. "Yes. They're trying to transmute multiple quirks. That's why they-" He swallowed. "That's why they look like that. Ordinary human bodies aren't capable of hosting and utilizing multiple quirks so easily, especially not incompatible ones. Strength quirks require a strong body to pull off, same with intelligence quirks. Our cells physically rewrite themselves to assimilate new quirks, but it's not a quick process." He shook his head. "Other than special cases, multiple quirks aren't meant to survive in a single body, not without compromise."
A sick feeling started building up in Tensei's stomach. "... Compromise," He repeated dumbly.Like their ability to speak.
Air King nodded. "They've had their appearance and humanity taken away," He confirmed, nearly growling. then he closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. "I'll bring the information. Cyber!" He barked, and their earpieces crackled. "Inform the other team that there is no sign of Takahashi at this side and to be ready for rescue. We're coming to back them up."
"Got it,"
The back of Tensei's neck bristled. "What about these guys?"
Air King, a senior pro by more than ten years, grimaced. "I'll set up a barrier, but our first priority is rescue." His eyes hardened. "We can't-" He sighed.
Tensei flinched. He knew. Of course Daisuke was more important. They didn't even know if these people were beyond saving or not! Whether their- their experimentation could be reversed or not.
Whether they even wanted a hero in the first place.
But...
Daisuke.
Before he could rethink and doubt himself, Tensei lightly slapped himself on the cheeks. It was loud enough to draw Air King's attention, but the sharp, asking look did nothing.
"Let's go," He said. "We've got a kid to save."
Naomasa, Toshinori, and Night Bell didn't stop, even when Cyber told them the left corridor had been a bust and that the other two were on their way.
No, they had already taken too much time already. The warp villain had been gone a while, and who knew when he would pop up and take Takahashi away (If he were here in the first place, a small, hopeless part of Naomasa's mind whispered). The heat signature at their end of the hall ("I don't know how many. Something weird is interfering with the technology," Cyber had told them. "But however many they are, they're in that last room. The others are empty.")
And there it was. The last room.
Naomasa swallowed and exchanged a look with All Might.
The hero grimaced in reply, and Naomasa wondered if that was because of his injury, or the foreboding feeling he was sure even Night Bell could feel.
He motioned one finger and nodded.
The two heroes in front of him nodded back. Night Bell slipped into the shadows, no doubt entering the room quicker than they could open the door. She would be the rescue.
All Might flexed his biceps and pulled on the door. "SMASH!"He shouted loudly, and the door flung back, broken in All Might's have. "I am here!" The man said smiling grimly as he let the door fall and walked into the room.
And then he froze.
Fuck,Naomasa thought, and it wasn't because the room as filled to the brim with dangerous villains. No, it was because right in the middle, a wide-eyed Takahashi Daisuke was tied to a chair, and All for One stood in front of him, an oxygen mask on his face and Night Bell dangling from his hand.
The centuries-old supervillain smiled. "Hello, All Might. Can't say I was expecting you, but what a pleasure."