Chapter 28 : Sprained muscle.
"Here is Japan News! The most amazing information channel in all of Japan! We are currently looking from afar at the intense fight happening below. The heat is scorching, even from there and the once mighty Triceps Corporation seems to be lying in ruins! The presence of Mr. Compress has been confirmed, though no one knows where he is currently! More later!"
Izuku and Inko watched each other, as the news continued to pan out the consequences of what Atsuhiro had promised to be a peaceful and uneventful trip earlier.
————
The raid had begun fairly normally. Sophie carried the team in marbles, which were then used as a necklace by the young woman.
She had changed her appearance, using some uncanny make-up skill to appear like a woman double her age, though still beautiful, and wearing an alluring dress. After all, she would have to pickpocket a few security cards for her team.
Their occasion was a gala, in the company, to attract investors and showcase the recent discoveries the company made.
After all, Triceps Corp. was one of the top Japanese companies in the pharmaceutical industry specialized in developing bodies and musculature. In short, biology, genetics, and prosthetics leaders.
The issue Compress had with them was the rumors he got from his sources showing that Triceps results were maybe because science goes faster when the moral couldn't catch up.
The aim of the day was fairly simple: the Levellers had to find their lab or the human experiments.
Sophie, under her alias "Aiko Hiryuga" managed to infiltrate all of them in the place. She also had her target on sight, discussing it with Deputy Kenchaki, the owner. Target: Emilia Von Harten. A European researcher that got hired a few years ago by the Triceps Corporation as their new head research department. She had a solid background, having studied under a quirk and biologist of renown, like Dr. Garaki, and was highly competent.
It also meant her morals were equivalent to the Deputy she worked for.
It was quite the sight to see the piggy deputy, who could only really be described as such, as to be fair, he had a minor pig mutation quirk. Meanwhile, the blonde researcher seemed delighted with their result and was discussing them happily.
Sophie, a cup of champagne in hand, joined the discussion, while La Brava gave her signs on the fly, thanks to micro in her ear. She just had to stay long enough near them for La Brava's new app to clone the security card the researcher had and possibly her phone.
"As a result, we are pretty sure we will create artificial skin from elemental quirk users before the end of the year! Imagine the application, be they medical or for work? Suddenly, we will be able to custom-tailor people for their work!"
Oh, so they were a lot in genetic and quirk experiments? That was expected to be fair, and the deputy seemed proud, but also calculating: many families had one or two kids who didn't have the good requirements for their quirk. If he could streamline such a treatment, he could cut under their feet the support the "Hearts and Mind" party was currently garnering.
"Not to mention we are getting a breakthrough on cancer treatment! Our team is working on the old shark/human theory, but this time, thanks to quirk, we think we have a good chance to work something out!"
Suddenly, it garnered even more attention from everyone in the room, allowing Sophie to quietly eclipse herself to the bathroom.
First rule of infiltration: Move like you own the place. It worked way better than if you were trying to be discreet. Besides, she was technically a guest, and the little hands didn't have their say in whether or not she had to refresh herself somewhere.
Once she was there, she quickly changed herself by activating one of the marbles in her hand to get a scientist's suit and the needed make-up to look like Emilia's right hand. Hey, when you were the best vigilante for infiltration, you needed to know a lot about make-up and wigs.
She was also sure the right hand wouldn't interfere because Gentle had kidnapped her earlier during the day. Once again, groundwork made the mission go easier.
Now, she just had to go to the labs, under the pretext of working on a project, and everything would be fine. After all, they already passed the hard part of the mission: being near Kenchaki, Emilia and of course the security.
Sophie, who was smiling as everything was going according to plan, made a crucial mistake.
"Nothing can go wrong."
————
Everything went wrong when she opened the lab, the secret lab they spotted by comparing the official building blueprint and the one they got at the architect's office.
So, when Sophie opened the panel and entered the secret plant, she didn't expect what she saw.
Lots and lots of people were in tubes, while machines were harvesting their skin. They couldn't scream because of the apparatus allowing them to breathe while in a strange green goo.
Sophie quickly threw Mr. Compress and Gentle Criminal's marble on the ground, freeing them. Mr. Compress had already changed his mask to the angry one and Gentle's rage was barely contained.
"ATTENTION ALL BITCHES! AS OF NOW, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!"
One scientist pressed a red button on the wall, and the alarm blared.
—————
Kenchaki received the alarm notification. So, rats entered the plant? Nothing he didn't have a contingency for. He stopped the demand for heroes on site by saying Gust Duster would be on site quickly enough. Besides, he had transferred pretty much every product of his in a warehouse, waiting for his client to pick them up.
Oh, and of course, he also sent an alarm to his real security.
After all, Gust Duster was useful at grabbing unsuspecting people, but he couldn't have him dirtying his hand when someone like Mr. Compress was on site. He needed to purge his trace and make it like it was a villain attack.
That was why he had people like Muscular under his order.
—————
Muscular smiled, as his tube opened and he flexed his muscle a bit and appreciated his new eyes. Apparently, the procedure was a success. He clearly had to thank that doc for her help! He had been right to accept the offer.
Besides, his current boss was nice enough to have sent him an order he actually liked.
"Protocole Wasteland".
"Sir, do you need anything?" A trembling scientist looked at Muscular who was going into battle mode, his skin darker than ever.
The scientist didn't feel pain for too long, as a simple slap was enough to turn him into paste against the wall.
"You can die."
Now it was time for him to have his fun. He then used one of his new quirks to activate what he called his minions.
Who knew that quirked animal made such wonderful and easier to make Noumus? Garaki himself had been impressed by his former student who had developed the idea to the best of her capabilities and the man simply wanted to stabilize the product to call it perfect.
—————
Mr. Compress was often a kind man, and he disliked killing and torturing. However, the scene was enough to almost blind him in rage and he actually admired Gentle Criminal self-control, despite the ex-solider clearly seething.
"We turn that into a rescue mission. Sophie, you and La Brava are to free the people. Gentle and I have people to round up."
The scientists were suddenly scared as none of them were true fighters and the security from the real labs couldn't help them while the lockdown was activated.
"Ah! Fat chance for you! I am sure the boss already called his super soldier to deal with you!"
"His what now?"
Mr. Compress wasn't impressed, as he thought he could handle the security bought by Kenchaki.
He would have died if Gentle didn't create by reflex a few barriers to reflect the wind pressure and the exploded part of the wall that flew to them.
"Sophie? WARN OUR REINFORCEMENT NOW!"
The sight of a dark-skinned Muscular, strangely thinner than he should be and of a few people looking like him, with the same demeanor was worrying and made Compress' blood freeze. The situation went just from bad to Oh Shit. It could hardly go worse. Maybe he had forgotten their last encounter?
"WELL! IF IT ISN'T COMPRESS! I ALWAYS WANTED TO SMACK YOU DOWN FOR THAT TIME YOU CAUGHT ME AND LEFT ME TO THE POLICE!"
Well fuck. Compress adjusted his mask and readied himself for the fight, trusting his ally to have his back.
"ALSO LET ME PRESENT MY LITTLE FRIENDS!"
Namely many, many beasts with skin as dark as his, clearly mutated and heavily experimented on, ready to hunt everyone.
"Gentle… Can you handle the rest?"
Gentle Criminal nodded, before revealing a sword in his dandy cane. He wasn't a violent man, but as he learned in the army, better to have a weapon than not have one when it was needed.
Meanwhile, Sophie pulled an electric stick, and beat any scientist trying to stop her, while she pulled a black marble.
See, Mr. Compress could compress things and space into his marble. When he compressed space, what happened in that space was frozen in time until the marble broke.
That black marble? It contained around 10kg of C4 ready to explode instantly.
Sophie threw without hesitation against the roof.
Now, she was looking at the scientists, who were readying whatever they had to stop her, while her friends were engaging the dark beasts. Saving the innocent was going to be a hurdle, right?
It was at that moment something poked the tube behind her and she saw something that made her smile and activated in a swift movement the button, before readying herself for the fight, as the procedure began.
—————
One of the things that were horrible when you had to fight Muscular was his speed. The man had pretty much everything: an intense defense (coupled with a dulled pain sensibility), strength and speed. His only real weaknesses were his lack of formal combat training and the fact he was a close combat fighter.
Seeing his strange form, and his new eyes, Mr. Compress quickly assumed the worst, and that Muscular reached an awakening.
Also, Muscular wasn't the guy you fought while hoping to catch him alive. If you caught him alive, it was because he dropped his guard, like Compress did the first time.
This time, both of them knew the other and how his quirk worked.
Thankfully, Mr. Compress was good enough to dodge the attack and marble Muscular's left arm in an instant, causing him to bleed from it, and making the criminal groan.
"Hey! That's my smashing hand!"
Compress kept the marble in a pouch, taking a marble with Endeavor's fire in it and threw it against Muscular, engulfing the villain in flame…
Except that the villain walked through the flame, his muscles bulging and darkening even more. It was as if the flame didn't burn him well. Shit, that was expected but still.
All that was messing to turn the situation truly into shit was…
"Hey, want to see something cool?"
"… No?"
"I WILL STILL SHOW YOU!"
And of course, Muscular regenerated his arm. The meat seemed to grow and reconstitute the muscle and the bones in a few seconds, to Compress' disgust.
"How?!"
"Well, this corporation proposed to me a deal. They studied my quirk and they would make me better, stronger, faster…"
"And a Daft Punk fan?"
Humour was a defense and coping mechanism at this point. Muscular smiled at the joke and approved.
"So… How about you die now?"
Mr. Compress took a battle stance, as it was going to be one of his hardest fights.
—————
Meanwhile, Gentle Criminal was bouncing from one beast to another. Thankfully, unlike Muscular, the three dark beasts with their exposed brains were considerably dumber than Muscular and seemed to move pretty much only by instinct.
The other thing that made the battle easier was the fact they seemed to attack everyone in the giant room indiscriminately. Well, when he said it was easier… He meant only one of the creatures tried actively to kill him. The others were smashing tubes and killing scientists, making the ex-soldier realize that the whole operation was a cleaning operation.
"If anyone wants to live, they must stay away! I think your boss decided to cut his losses!"
"What?!"
"But… Deputy Kenchaki needs us!"
"Well, apparently not that much if his beasts are killing everyone!"
While Gentle Criminal didn't like the evil scientists they were, he had no intentions to use them as bait. However, if they were dumb enough to pass the noumus to escape, it was their issue.
"I will try to protect everyone that is freeing the people in the tubes!"
Gentle Criminal screamed his proposition, as his barrier just threw against a wall a leopard-like noumus. Did they use an animal with a quirk as a baseline for these biological weapons? Well, stupid question, but the funds needed to buy them would cost quite a hefty penny… And it didn't explain everything about the whole human trafficking too, except they bought people with interesting mutation quirks to reverse-engineer them.
Noumus' exposed brains didn't make the things less creepy. Oh well. As long as there are only three of them…
"GROOOAAAAR!"
Gentle noticed, only it was too late to act, the two beasts, making them five… And apparently, a few others appeared from another entrance, near Sophie.
"SOPHIE! RUN!"
————
Sophie was in a pinch. She had managed to fend off the scientist by using pepper spray and her electric stick to make them back away but the issue now was the bear like noumus and what was probably a fox, except it was nine tailed and each tail had a breathing fire head. Someone clearly had a youkai fetish.
"Oh, fuck me!"
"Sorry, I am already taken."
The next thing she heard was the tube cracking and the fox noumu was promptly smashed against the wall before the bear noumu was stopped by her new ally.
"YO, BITCHES! MIZUNAKA IS BACK!"
The Mako Shark mutant was clearly unhappy about his situation, especially as scars all on his body showed they took a lot of samples from him. That may explain the recent success against cancer by the Triceps Corporation.
He looked briefly at his liberator.
"Try to find if there is a moray girl!"
Mizunaka had his priority, and his main priority was Utsubi, his wife. She was taken with him by AfO's men and he was pretty sure she was there, too. Sophie, not one who was going to question the giant shark battling the beasts and protecting her, looked at the scientists.
"Anyone knows who he is talking about?"
A hand was raised by one of the smarter scientists, clearly wanting to live.
"I think he is speaking about the girl there!"
"Traitors!"
"Dude, they are trying to save us! And I prefer to be on the good side of the giant shark dude!"
"I still remember all those that poked me when I was in the tube!"
Mizunaka warned, before biting the throat of the bear noumu who answered by biting him in the shoulder, beast against beast.
More scientists felt like they should have picked another career.
—————
Emilia received an update from the inside of the labs as she was conducted to their extraction point. As per protocol, as soon as the alarm was given, she and the deputy were transferred to a safe house. They weren't supposed to go there yet, as it was supposed to be the big transfer to their main client, but it was safer that way.
Seeing the noumus and Muscular weren't doing enough damage, she resorted to unleashing all the prototypes. All of them were in various stages of development, but they were still highly dangerous and well… They were going to die, anyway.
Both she and the deputy missed the grin of their driver and the fact his eyes shined like a fox for a second.
—————
Compress was on his last breath and on his last marbles. Muscular was clearly stronger than during their last meeting and honestly, he didn't see how he could beat him. He regenerated promptly every time Compress managed to destroy one of his limbs and honestly, the magician could only thank the fact that Muscular was fast in line, making him predictable.
Besides, Compress still had his own grappling hook to do an emergency dodge, but honestly, between that, and the beasts that keep popping up, he was quite in a pickle. Alone, he could have escaped easily. With Gentle? Easy too, the man was quite competent, as the three beastly noumus on the ground, dead, proved. However, he had even more of them to take care of, and they were overwhelming him as even the scientists were forced to defend themselves.
Thankfully, they also had Mizunaka on their side, ripping apart his opponent, but Compress doubted they truly had the firepower to deal with Muscular right now.
Suddenly, he also noticed the air becoming hotter and hotter… And it wasn't him this time.
Muscular noticed it too and stretched a bit.
"Ah, shit, that's right. Scorched earth protocol. I don't think this building will last long. Anyway… BOYS! Stop playing around and let's kill them before escaping!"
As all the survivors (including the still unconscious civilians and Utsubi, now free) regrouped together, Compress wondered how many could he marble before escaping when suddenly, a tiger noumu jumped toward him…
And fell, sliced apart, all parts of his body cut by fire link.
"See, Shouto? This is why control is as important as the firepower to make a strong attack."
Everyone looked at the hole previously made by Sophie, and they saw the number two hero descending with his son on his heel and a woman with white hair but who wasn't in a hero suit.
"Shouto, Rei, defend the people against the beasts. I will apprehend the criminals."
Shouto almost wanted to yell that he had to fight too, but he had to admit that the decision was tactically sound. Shouto didn't know how to use his fire carefully enough to not damage the building even more.
Muscular smiled madly at Endeavor and jumped with enough strength at him that it caused a shock wave. Gentle's barrier briefly slowed the human missile, but it was enough so Endeavor grabbed Muscular's head and heated his hand as much as possible before slamming him into the ground. Compress relaxed for a second, as the two others used their ice to protect people. As long as Endeavor distracted Muscular, it was now easier to deal with the civilians.
"Gentle! Assist Endeavor!"
Gentle nodded, before propelling himself in the air and creating more barriers to protect the number two from the dangerous serial killer.
"Now, people, for my next trick, I will make everyone disappear with me!"
The joyful magician was back and started to marble everyone in his sight. Thank gods the mission was back on track.
That was, of course, the moment Gentle spotted a porcupine noumu, readying an attack against Mizunaka and Utsubi, finally reunited. Too late for them to react, but not for him. He redirected himself in front of them, hoping that his barrier could stop the attack… And asking mentally to La Brava to forget his dumbassery heroism.
The shark and the moray girl were splashed by blood, as someone else took the attack for them and that Gentle's suit got bloodied.
"Oh fuck. That hurt."
All of Compress' group, including La Brava monitoring their vitals, screamed…
Gentle looked haggard, as in front of him stood someone else, with three big spikes in them. Sophie coughed some blood on him before falling to the ground.
"Sophie, why?!"
"Hey, I told you… No teammate dies in front of me if I can."
Compress landed quickly next to them, and both of them nodded to each other.
"Hoy, Boss. You will do… As we said, right?"
As life faded from Sophie's eyes, she didn't see the magician nodding, before Compress used his quirk on her corpse.
"Gentle, we must continue the evacuation."
The tone of the magician, devoid of emotion and pain surprised the villain, but he nodded, as he remembered that Sophie was a professional and knew the risks. Still, he would have word with his boss about the fact he missed the fucking biological weapons and Muscular during the recon.
Meanwhile, as the #2 and the S-Rank Villain kept fighting, Muscular laughed like a child would in a candy shop, as the flames finally reached their battle room, heating the room as he and the hero exchanged blows, making small explosions that didn't help to stop fire in the room.
"I fucking love a good fire!"
Endeavor's handprint on his face was already disappearing, and Endeavor quickly understood that unless he unleashed another hellfire spider or even a prominence burst, it would not be enough to put down the monster… On the other hand, as he stayed in the air, he had a mobility that surpassed Muscular.
It was literally the only reason he managed to dodge as well as he did, while Shouto and Rei did a good job from what he could see, freezing the monsters where they stood.
Maybe he wasn't used yet to his awakening? Then it meant only one thing. If Muscular got out of this building alive, he would become a threat big enough to society to justify asking for help from other countries… Because it would be a mini All-Might.
"COMPRESS, YOU TAKE EVERYONE! REI, WITH ME!"
Compress happily marbled Shouto and Rei, before launching Rei's marble to Endeavor who caught her flying with her. Way faster than waiting for her to create a structure to join her husband.
Gentle and Compress, feeling that something was up, quickly bolted from there, and escaped by the hole.
"Oh? You think this bitch will make you strong enough to beat my reinforced body? I AM AS STRONG AS ALL-MIGHT, YOU MEAT BAG!" Muscular screamed, as he summoned another layer on his body, to increase his strength and speed.
"No, you are simply a monster with a kill order on your head."
Endeavor didn't like to kill. Most of the heroes with enough years in their belt had a few, and he was no exception.
Every time, it had been to put an end to a monster, and it wasn't different from before.
"I pray that you will be better in your next incarnation." Endeavor sincerely hoped that the afterlife gave people an opportunity to be better…
Then he felt Rei's warmth cold on his shoulder as she gathered as much strength as she could. His wife was smart, and she knew that if Endeavor was asking for help, the situation was even more fucked up than what they thought.
She also knew what attack Endeavor had in mind, as they had practiced a bit beforehand.
Endeavor felt Rei's Coldness, as their hands joined, and their quirks combined, with Muscular readying his most powerful jump to smash them to a pulp, the ground cracking with the sheer pressure of his feet on the ground.
"MUSCULAR SMASH!"
He jumped and someone would have seen the jump creating a small bang as he became invisible to the naked human eye, targeting the couple who aimed at him.
"Thermodynamic Ray." The heroes answered, as flame and ice danced together, in a waltz of elements, heat and cold in rapid succession, and their power complementing each other.
While Shouto was strong, he was still a child who had to exercise his fire side. Meanwhile, his parents were among the strongest elemental quirks in their generation, and trained them for years.
Muscular, when he felt the law of physics ripped apart in front of him had one last thought.
"That one is going to hurt."
Shouto, from his marble, saw the whole building exploding in an explosion of whiteness. Then, the rock flew all around them, and the only reason they didn't get blasted away was thanks to Gentle who created layers of barriers to stop the blast, if only barely.
"MOM! DAD!"
————
Kenchaki was drinking one of his Chardonnay as the news revealed the shit storm that became his main corporation. Oh well, time to bolt the fuck out with the ship and the shipment. All for One had an excellent extraction network and honestly, he could totally afford his service.
"Asuko, can you please refill my glass?"
"Sorry sir, but Asuko is unavailable!"
The cheerful, joyful girly voice was clearly not the one his driver/butler had, and the deputy quickly rose up from his chair before a knife sliced his throat.
His last vision of the living world was of a blonde girl, in a black skinsuit, who kneeled to drink his flowing blood.
————
"Here is Supervisor K, Ma'am. The team succeeded in their infiltration with great success, they didn't break character or silence radio unless radioed first."
"What about All For One's shipment in the warehouse?"
"Foxtail confirmed its presence and doused the artificial beings in gasoline. Deputy Kenchaki and his staff are pretty much confirmed dead, except the head scientist Emilia and the hero Gust Duster. Emilia is in the compound and should be burned to death, thanks to the triple Amaterasu's fire currently burning the building at his speed.
Should I organize a recon and destroy operation on Gust Duster?"
"Negative. He was caught a few minutes ago by the heroine Ryukyu and with the help of a third party. Good job, Agent K. As for your next mission, if you succeed… Let's say it would mean that one day, you would be head of the HPSC, with such success."
"Oh? What will be the operation, ma'am?"
Behind her desk, drinking a glass of whisky, the HPSC director looked at the rest of Tokyo.
"Infiltrating All For One's new organization, of course."