Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia
Chapter 207:
DismemberMen walked down a bright tunnel two miles below the surface of Japan. The Radian member waited a moment at an intersection with a smaller tunnel breaking off to the right, and he waited for the shorter version of himself to walk out and back into him. He grew another foot back to six foot three as he was now only lacking one of himself. The muscular man was dark red-skinned and his high-tech costume stretched to stay wrapped tight to his body even as he grew a foot and bulged all over his body. As the villain was about to continue walking down the path he was on, he paused for a moment to stare down the tunnel his fraction just emerged from where the lights on the ceiling dimmed before getting brighter again, only to dim a couple seconds later to a lower brightness as the main tunnel he was in.
The villain grunted and continued walking forward again. He walked to the end of the tunnel where the exit was black and had no door. Through that empty darkness at the end of the tunnel where the light inside it did not seem to spill out, a flash of yellow appeared in the distance and around a corner. DismemberMen marched out of the light and into the dark tunnel that had walls impossible to discern between where they started and where the open air ended. He knew the path though, not that it was necessary as another flash of yellow made it into even the dark tunnel before the open hangar.
Agara turned a dark corner, putting his hands out to maneuver his way without bumping into the walls. He got through the trap area keeping everyone inside the hangar from getting into the main halls of the base where many of them were not allowed. Then the fifty-two year old villain marched through the dim hangar that kept him fully in the shadows as he was far from any large light source. The only thing that lit him up was the occasional bright flash of yellow coming from fifty meters ahead of him in the middle of the massive dark room. The flashes barely illuminated the ceiling up above that DismemberMen glanced towards again, reminding himself how deep underground he was and making him frown as he felt the ground shake below his feet.
DismemberMen glared to his right as he started towards the flashes where he saw who he was coming to see. He looked down the long room where he heard the clanks of steel slamming into steel. Sparks flew from dark areas and illuminated workers wearing steel masks that had night-vision visors on them considering all the lights above were either dim or off. A few of the lights closer to him were still on up on the ceiling but did not illuminate too far to the ground, flickering occasionally but staying dim enough that they kept the main floor hidden in shadows.
"AAahhh-" a scream rang out through the hangar and cut off a couple of the clanking noises for a second or two, then those noises started back up again and almost covered up the sound of the next scream. "AAHHH! FUCK!"
"You did this to yourself."
Another flash of yellow came from in front of DismemberMen that he just glanced to once in an uncaring way. He was not here to watch Raijin zap Duke Dread with 10,000 volts at short intervals that each on their own were not long enough to fully electrocute him. DismemberMen walked towards the man watching who wore a black and red long-sleeved shirt, with dark tan skin and big spikes of black hair over his head. "Intanzo," DismemberMen growled as he saw the Radian leader who had finally made it to this base with the other new arrivals.
Furuki Keymar and Manika Esiri both glanced over towards Intanzo themselves, but their boss made a motion of his head for the two to relax despite DismemberMen's clearly pissed-off voice. Splodo and Bitchess 'n Cream eased up and refocused on Raijin as he yelled out, "Restrain yourself!" The blond teen smirked as he held up both hands with sparks coming out of his fingers, lightning trailing down his arms as he prepared another attack on a man whose clothes were getting more ripped up, skin getting more burnt, and who had a flute attached to his right side that his hand was twitching near. Raijin laughed and he slammed his hands down in front of him, making Duke Dread's eyes dart to the lightning shooting across the gap between them quickly but slow enough that he had to watch it coming before it hit him.
"RA- FUUUuuu-" Duke Dread slammed his mouth shut again, his hands that curled into fists at the pain opening back up and twitching over and over. His eyes squinted open and rose back to Raijin again, dark and full of murderous intent. "I'm telling you," Dread snarled. "It's your own damn fault- FUCK!" He screamed it as a thin bolt of lightning hit him in the left achilles tendon, dropping him down to a knee again in the agony that pierced his body.
"There are a lot of nerve endings in your body, and I know where they all are," Raijin warned his comrade. "Your mistake by not keeping your Jazz in line is costing us already. Endeavor knows, that we're all working together. We had to move more operations underground," Raijin stepped forward, smiling but with his own fingers twitching as Duke Dread could see with his head partially lifted while down on one knee. Raijin cocked his head to the side and continued, "And bring more people into the fold this early, with too much time on the timetable."
A man standing opposite Dread as Kaminari Denki took a step forward. Raijin rose his head a bit and looked back to the man hidden mostly in the shadows now that there was no electricity flashing around them. "There's not much time left anyway."
"I have things planned specifically," Raijin countered to Dabi who just closed his mouth as Raijin looked back down at their fellow villain and zapped him again. "And keeping my timetable the same while bringing in more people early puts a strain on my operations, due to the risk of exposure…"
Despite the flash from Raijin's attack, and the scream Duke Dread made rising over Raijin's angered voice, Dabi's focus was drawn more to his right side and above. He stared at a thick shadow in the darkness past the Radian members who seemed in an argument, and he rose his head up that dark shape and the scaffolding silhouette next to it. He stared up and listened to the clank, clank, chhh- BRrrrrRRrrRRRRrrSShSSH ssss…The hammering noises were replaced by saws and then the sound of steel sizzling and welding together as he could further tell by the sparks coming from a hundred feet above him.
"Yeah, Carlos should have been more careful, but he's still our boy," DismemberMen retorted at his leader who he was right up in the face of. The man older than Intanzo was more muscular and did not look his age despite having spent almost half his life inside a cell. "He kept to the plan and went forward because to deny the trade would have seemed strange, and he got caught because of that fuck's sloppiness," DismemberMen referenced the man getting tortured to their side without even giving Duke Dread a look. "But we look out for our own," he continued in a sterner voice getting angrier with Intanzo who he glared at without looking afraid. "And if we don't go after Carlos who's always been here. One of us, a Radian, since the Nara Raid! All the others will think they're not protected either. All the crazy people we've united under our name."
Intanzo nodded in agreement with his comrade before him standing an inch shorter but a hundred pounds heavier with his muscle, and yet still not his maximum size from what Intanzo knew. He's got a piece of him around here somewhere, Intanzo noted, something he had already noticed but had yet to discern where that extra piece was. He's right too. Carlos had to keep up his previous deals so as not to draw attention from anyone. Even just tipping off the villains we had not let in on the plan yet, which included Miss Management and her insane BOSS guys that we couldn't trust to keep a secret. Backfired though, in this case. "Don't worry about it," Intanzo assured with a smile formed on his face to give his comrade.
DismemberMen's face twitched and scrunched up in anger and frustration. He seems to be talking more about himself than the "others" as he claims, Intanzo thought, though DismemberMen's aura alone gave that away when he had approached. Intanzo did not get mad at his comrade's attitude or the tone he was taking with him. He was not Overlord, and they were not the Subspace Devils. The Radians were a smaller villain organization. Smaller than all the other big ones, yet more powerful, more insane, and more closely knit than the other villain groups in the country due to their small but elite status. The majority of the Tartaros escapees who had yet to be recaptured by heroes had remained with the League of Villains and patiently awaited their epic return under Shigaraki. The others who remained free from that prison though, who were too impatient to just wait around, were almost exclusively members of the Radians who had actively approached and recruited those insane villains unable to bide their time because of their bloodlust and insanity.
Intanzo's calm expression and understanding look was one of the few things that held together a group full of so many insane and powerful figures. Those traits, along with his strength that made it so he was able to accept their outbursts and attacks and still forgive his comrades, made him the perfect choice to lead the Radians. He continued to the villain in front of him who was huffing and puffing at the calm response Intanzo gave to his serious concerns. Intanzo reached forward and pat Agara on the left shoulder though then gave it an encouraging squeeze. "We'll get Carlos out as soon as Tartaros is under my command."
DismemberMen rose his eyebrows and lost his angry expression to just look into Intanzo's eyes curiously. "As has been promised to me," Intanzo assured him. "Tartaros will be the prison to put all the dissenters and heroes in for torture, as death would be too easy for them and wouldn't squash rebellion as easily in our new world." DismemberMen started nodding in agreement with a look showing he felt encouraged to hear all that. "Those heroes and cops who put you down there will see what it is like to feel so desperately that they are right, and yet be stuck in tiny cells for the rest of their lives. At my mercy. Toys for us to play with, haha," Intanzo chuckled at the end and finished his shoulder squeeze to pat DismemberMen on the shoulder again.
"Now go make sure everyone's working hard back there," Intanzo finished with a nod of his head to the far end of the hangar away from where DismemerMen entered.
DismemberMen looked down that way, then he frowned and looked towards Raijin. He hesitated though as he watched Raijin fry Duke Dread to another scream, and he looked back at Intanzo instead of yelling at the boy who seemed like he would be much less forgiving if one were to shout something at him. "It's dark in here. I don't have night vision goggles on me."
"I'll get the lights on," Intanzo replied with a nod at his comrade who just nodded back in response to hearing that. Intanzo watched as the villain turned and headed away in the direction he ordered him to go, and his lips stayed in a smile but lowered down a bit so they were just risen at the corners. Agara Inorgami. One of our most important pieces now, or so the Doc says. He's always been though. One of the first I looked for.
I still remember watching the news as a child. Seeing what happened to him in real time. The "hero," the irresponsible killer, the tragedy, and finally the traitor, and the villain. "Look closely at this- ERRRR," The deep voice Intanzo heard in his head got fuzzy for a second as a blaring buzzing noise filled his mind and made the memory shake. "…'What's happening to him?' Simple. What this society does to everyone, at some time or another. Agara Inorgami was considered a hero of the Police Force only a few days ago. He saved civilians, stopped a villain on his own after a hero had been defeated… but he is but a lowly police officer. The prosecutors see an easy target. Heroes see someone trying to upstage them. Higher ups in the Police Force do not need 'heroes' in their ranks, but tools for them to use and discard as Agara has been… Remember ERRRRR, this is the way of this world."
Sensei, Intanzo's eyes narrowed into the distance towards the old man he had always thought of as a tragedy. Agara became nothing but a shadow in the distance until he got illuminated by another flash of electricity from Raijin at his side. I have recruited this man to make right the wrongs done to him.
Agara Inorgami was a name few people in the present knew. The news kept talk of him short, as Intanzo believed to be a conspiracy between the media and the Police Force and heroes who wanted to leave that stain on their reputations behind. Decades earlier, when Intanzo was a child, he had seen the news on Agara that went on for a week alone and was over as soon as it started. He had never forgotten about the officer labeled as 'DismemberMen' however.
Agara had stood in the way of a villain at a crime scene, after the responding hero had fallen to injury and his fellow officers were taken down defending civilians like he was attempting to do as well but failing without the ability to use his Quirk. So he used his Quirk. Agara was praised for a short time due to the videos taken showing how he had not rashly chosen to use his Quirk, but how he had fought first like his fellow officers and only used it when it was absolutely necessary. However, they still found ways to prosecute him. Calling his behavior uncalled for. Claiming that All Might would have arrived if he had just stalled for a short amount of time more, instead of attacking in a way that left the rampaging villain dead.
Agara was arrested publicly before public view of him had started to shift, and then the talking heads turned on him and gave the point of view of the prosecutors' office and that of the nearby heroes who claimed they could have done a better job at arresting the villain without fatality should Agara have waited. Despite the injuries many sustained during the fight, the villain was the sole fatality, and so the arrest of Agara was made despite widespread disapproval. Agara felt his defense was strong, others in his Police Force stood behind him and defended him publicly, and yet it was the members of his same squad who had been the ones made to arrest him outside of their precinct in front of cameras as he arrived for work only days after the incident.
Then, during Agara's second day in confinement, before any hearing was called to determine bail or if the trial would even go forward, Agara Hiroomi was mugged and killed in an alley on her way home from work. Inorgami was informed of this on the same day he was to be released. He was acquitted of any wrongdoing due to overwhelming public support of his actions, despite what the media and the nation's leaders and heroes were saying. Even after Agara was arrested by the very same comrades he had defended from a villain days before, he still believed that justice would prevail and he would be released. When he came out however, he found his wife murdered despite her powerful Quirk that should have been able to protect her from almost any villain. The autopsy report showed she had never activated her Quirk though despite the signs of a struggle shown on her neck and under her fingernails.
It would dawn on Agara that his wife had had the chance to use her Quirk either to defend herself or fight off her attacker, but she chose not to. He did not know whether it was in fear of being prosecuted like her husband currently was, or because she did not want his name to become even more associated with illegal use of Quirks that she refused to use it even as she was about to die. The worst part of it though, was that Agara Inorgami got off of work thirty minutes before his wife every day. He would walk to her office which was twenty-five minutes from his precinct, and by the time he arrived she was usually walking out the doors so the two of them could head back to their apartment together. It was a walk they had done more than a thousand times before together, but he was not there that day to protect her. The hero who arrived on the scene showed up late to stop the mugger, arresting him and sending him to the closest precinct that was Agara's. When Agara heard this he barged into his own station and right into the interrogation room where he attacked the villain and punched him in the face before being pulled out of the room by his colleagues.
Then, as Agara was suspended from duty and shunned by the media and leaders who claimed his actions were symbolic that they had been right in the first place, the final straw broke. The villain he had attacked in the interrogation room was released due to his actions. Police misconduct freed the man from his crime, and the mugger, and murderer, walked free.
He would not be free for long.
Over the course of the twenty-four hours after the murderer's release from jail, horrifying incident after horrifying incident would take place across that city. First came the discovery of various body parts of the mugger's corpse littered around the streets. His arms and legs had been torn from his body, as discovered by forensics who found that no sharp blade was used but rather it was force that tore the man's body apart. There was only one suspect. Agara had not even worn gloves, and the motive was clear.
The captain of Agara's precinct and three of Agara's unit were found in pieces next. The arresting team who came after Agara did not expect that their friend's revenge was not solely directed towards the one who murdered his wife. His revenge became clear, as his own partner was next, with his partner's arm located nailed to a picture of Agara's wife on the far side of the city as his precinct. The scene Agara made there under the cover of night drew a huge crowd in the morning and brought heroes in who were looking for the rest of Agara's partner's corpse before the civilians could find it.
Then Agara's partner wandered into his precinct that had but a skeleton crew due to their losses over the past days. The remaining officers in the building rushed to his side, as his right sleeve dangled empty on his right side and waved around as if his arm had been ripped off. His fellow officers soon realized that the blood on his face was strange, and upon a closer look they realized that the face they were looking at did not belong to the body of the man who had shrunk down in size to better match his own partner's physique. Agara fired his gun from the hand hidden under his partner's bloody uniform, and he slaughtered the rest of the officers he once called friends.
The killing spree ended as heroes arrived on the scene to arrest him. They took Agara down, but Agara had one last kill as he spoke to the hero who had failed to save his wife in time, the very same hero he had saved himself during the villain attack only days before that when the hero had fallen first. He blamed the hero for all the deaths in the rampage. That it was his fault for not standing behind him when he knew they would have all died if not for Agara's illegal Quirk use. Agara claimed that he saved the hero's life, but he demanded it back. He believed he was wrong to save that hero, and it turned out the hero felt the same way as Agara would learn at his sentencing. The judge told him in search for some sign of guilt from a man who only days earlier he had called a "hero" who clearly took his duty seriously to protect and serve. Yet the sentencing for life in prison came down quickly as Agara only smiled at the news of that hero's demise by his own hands.
Dabi had focused on Intanzo for a minute there as the leader of the Radians watched their powerful comrade walk away, though Dabi was thinking less on Agara and more on what Intanzo said about Tartaros. Behind him, sitting on top of a ten foot tall wooden crate with the left side opened for villains to grab materials out of, Toga smiled and twirled a knife back and forth between her fingers. The girl still with some bandages wrapped around her body from Fantasma's attack smiled to herself in a giddy way. "It's too bad Shooty's dead, but I can't wait to see Twice! You think he'll be surprised? I think he'll go, Toga-chwannn!" Toga leaned forward off the box and mimicked him to Dabi who just glanced back over his shoulder once at the crazy girl.
You still think it's the same as the old days, Dabi thought as he turned back forward, a small feeling of pity forming that pushed away just as fast as he shook his head and started forward up to Raijin. Intanzo was also walking that way, and Raijin had stopped zapping the man down on both knees now who was wheezing and barely looking to hold himself together anymore. As Dabi approached, he saw past Duke Dread, Raijin, and Intanzo. He looked beyond where Splodo and Bitchess were watching from, to where he saw a group of three others staring his way. He at least thought Mr. Compress was staring at him through that mask, the same way that Kurogiri and Spinner were. All three of them fell forward though, lifeless, and Dabi saw a terrifying dark figure behind them with red eyes that flared as he looked into them.
"You killed her Dabi! You think I'd feel sorry for you? You think I could ever stop hating you?!" Dabi shook his head and the figure past the other villains vanished so he could focus on what was happening right before him.
Dabi focused on Intanzo who nodded at Raijin when the teen looked back to see what the leader of the Radians wanted. Raijin tsked and rolled his eyes as he turned back to Duke Dread, but he did not continue his zapping as he already seemed like he might have stopped doing. Dabi kept watching Raijin now as he stepped right up in front of the knelt leader of the Jazz, but his thoughts did stray onto the tanner-skinned man to his right. Only two people Raijin really considers on his level. Intanzo and Shigaraki. Intanzo though, I don't get why we aren't following him. Only a few of us know, that he got his Quirk from All For One as a kid. Kurogiri told us that AFO chose him first, but he wouldn't say why that guy switched to Shigaraki for whatever reason. I've seen Shigaraki do some crazy things, but if I had to pick the strongest in the country, I'd agree with the heroes' top 10 villain leaderboard for who's in first.
"That's about enough, I think," Raijin said to the man on his knees before him. The Duke's eyes were aimed at the floor between Raijin's feet as his head was bowed before the teenager. The blond teen continued to the older man in shredded epaulettes and a costume that needed as much repair as his own body. "How about you start thinking for a change though, and not just do nothing because you weren't allowed to tell Miss Management the plan?"
Raijin scolded him like what he was saying was obvious. "Just be smart," Raijin ordered. "And keep your guys from doing anything stupid or that'll draw attention. You are in charge of them, right? They'll do what you say?" Kaminari asked it sarcastically, but his tone had a serious pitch in it too with his smirk getting deadlier and his eyes narrowing on the man below him. "Because if not, then I'm wondering if Shigaraki was right to include you at all and not just take all your-"
Duke Dread brought his head up. His chin rose, and his fists pushed down at his sides. He got up to his right foot, then off his left knee too. "I understand," Duke Dread growled as he stood up, cutting off the teenager who he gave a very, very dark look.
Raijin hummed in satisfaction, more convinced by that response than if Duke Dread had groveled right there at his feet. The leader of the Jazz just turned away after replying like that, then he rose up his right arm that twitched a bit as he lifted it, but rose nonetheless. He snapped his fingers and motioned with his hand away, and a few Jazz members turned and jogged over to his side to follow him off. Varrenzo darted a glare back after running right up to Duke Dread's right side, and the red spikes under his baggy green costume were still glowing as he bared his teeth in rage back there.
"Letting them treat you like that," Ramurai began from behind his leader. "That's not the Duke Dread I know," he said it in a dark voice that got the others glaring at him, though the Duke just kept marching off.
"Careful-" Varrenzo started to his comrade.
FFwweEE! Ramurai's eyes started to widen, but his hands did not raise fast enough. Duke Dread had his head turned to the side with his flute up in his hands that he just blew a sharp note into and cut Ramurai's throat to the bone. The other Jazz members backed off, while Ramurai dropped to the ground gargling on his blood and trying to hold his neck together but failing over the next ten seconds it took him to die. He fell on his side with his eyes partially open, watching as Duke Dread continued walking away and put his flute back down on his side like what just happened was inconsequential to him. Ramurai was one of his comrades who had been there the longest with him, and he died watching his comrades follow after Duke Dread without saying a word to him.
Raijin completely ignored the quick internal strife that just went on right there, more focused in a semi-impressed way at how Duke Dread was moving fine like he was. Not many could do it, Raijin admitted to himself, as Duke Dread surviving that torture was purely due to the man's own fortitude rather than Raijin trying to let him live.
"What do we think the heroes know?" Intanzo wondered to Raijin which finally made the blond look back. He noticed Dabi looking up towards the ceiling again, at a flickering light that was the only one still somewhat bright at all on the ceiling.
Raijin hummed as he looked back at Intanzo, and he replied with a shrug, "A good amount. Endeavor and Hawks are quick, and they were with Gran Torino when they found the tunnel at El Toro's factory. Your man Carlos really fucked us-"
"He did his job," Intanzo replied. "And the death of Sugarman may have helped us more than that defeat hurts us. It is how you use it," Intanzo said, putting it on Raijin to make it a victory and making the teen chuckle as he shrugged in agreement there. "So they surely suspect some sort of agreement between villain groups. They wouldn't jump to the assumption of us all working together. Not with Carlos selling the weapons to Jazz members."
"It does put the thought in their heads though," Dabi replied. The others looked to the man covered in discolored skin and a patchy appearance. "Hawks won't take long to find something."
"A one-armed man clearly too worried about Zach," Raijin scoffed at the worry for what Hawks could do. Dabi frowned at him as that remark sounded like Raijin was underestimating him solely because it was Dabi himself who had taken Hawks' arm a long time ago. The blond villain continued though with one palm held up in front of him, "He'd accept the limbs Zach's giving out like candy if he wasn't so nervous, which means he's still focusing on Death despite what's happening right underneath him." Literally, Raijin could not help but smirk big at the thought of where they were right now.
One of the lights cut off above them and made it darker between the group of three standing in a room full of people who started voicing complaints that could be heard as fewer clanking and construction noises could be heard. Dabi looked up again and then back down at Raijin who had looked up himself that time. Raijin looked back down and shrugged his shoulders at the other two giving him an expectant look. "Hope you didn't waste too much right there," Intanzo began as the three of them started walking forward down the center of the room. "There are other ways to torture a man."
Other villains who had been around them followed after the group of three, though Toga just leaned back on top of the box and closed her eyes with a sigh, rubbing her hands on her bruised ribs and wincing but smiling nonetheless. Raijin laughed at Intanzo's worry and said, "That's not a problem."
"We're using up the power quicker with every expansion," Dabi added to the younger villain. "It's a lot-"
"Don't worry," Raijin repeated with a chuckle and then a smug smirk as they neared some dark rectangles on the floor that had some low humming noises coming out of them. There was a line of these boxes going out in front of him, black wires connecting them and curving out to all sides towards the walls and down into the ground below. Raijin stopped between a couple of the generators, and he continued, "I've been siphoning from around the country for a few days now." The back of his costume near his shoulderblades started to glow first, then up over the metal strap behind his neck to the headset over his ears that sparked out to the sides and made his eyes start to glow bright yellow.
"Might want to back up, Dabi," Intanzo warned the man on his left, not that he took a step back himself.
Dabi took the warning to heart though considering who it was coming from, and he took several steps back so he was where Splodo stood, the next closest behind them. Splodo glanced at Dabi once in confusion, then ahead to one of their leaders who he had never seen in action before, and who he had never met until today. "What is he-" Splodo winced and pulled backwards as sparks hit him. Then he opened his eyes that he squinted shut in the pain but had to keep squinted almost closed considering how bright the room just became.
VvvrrRRROOOOO- HMMMM… The sound of all the dozens of generators filling with power roared through the room. Lightning raced down metal tubes and leapt across black wires covered in insulation, zapping other generators connected to different power sources across the underground base that was almost out. The entire hangar ignited as the lights on the ceiling blared with light and flashed down on everyone. Power tools people were using sped up, and everyone stopped what they were doing as they could feel their hair standing on end no matter where they were in the room as there was too much metal everywhere for this big of a blast. Lightning flashed over and over as a huge pulsing light came from near the middle of the room still far on one side closer to the main area of the base.
When the hangar lit up like that, Dabi was able to see just how far back the expansions actually went. He could see the entire hangar at once, and Dabi stared miles down in front of him in amazement he kept from showing on his face. We're only able to stay off the grid despite using so much power, because this kid could power a whole country on his own. Dabi's focus was still just hardly focused on Raijin though, as he saw something on his left he turned to and looked up at. No scaffolds. No ladders. Considering the paint job, it looks like this is the finished work… His eyes rose from the ground level all the way to the top of it, then back down at the long legs. He turned back to the right and past Raijin and Intanzo and the line of generators before looking to the top of another one in the middle of construction. Then he turned back forward and stared down the gap between the two rows going all the way for over two miles down the hangar full of hundreds of villains.
The huge surging yellow light with lightning shooting out of it mostly focused straight up above Raijin started to settle. He took in a deep breath and stood up straight with his fingers still sparking but the support tools on his back losing their golden glows and dimming down again. Then, the blond boy who smiled calmly after standing straight opened back up his closed eyes and stared down the middle of the room. Villains all the way down the hangar and other people working on the vehicles had all stopped and stared his way, but that single glare he gave down the middle of the room had them all hammering away faster and filling the room with the sounds of construction once more. That's better, the teenager standing in a bright underground hangar thought to himself.
Then he turned around and nodded away in the direction of the main base for the others to walk with him towards. He had only come to the hangar as it was where Duke Dread came to meet him upon his arrival, but he had other business to attend to here that he was ready to get started with. The group headed into the base, and Toga turned onto her side from on top of the box and just watched as the boys went by. She stared at Raijin's back as he slipped into the dark trap first, and her eyes narrowed once the blond boy was out of her sight. I think I'll kill him. Toga turned back and lay flat on her back with a look straight up towards the ceiling. She smiled so wide the corners of her lips were nearly at her ears, and she giggled to herself while holding her hands up locked together in front of her chest. Tomura-kun said not to yet, but I don't know if I can stop myself! I want to see him bleed!
"How did it feel, by the way?" Intanzo wondered, walking side by side with Raijin down a brightly lit white hallway in their base. Raijin glanced to his side and rose his blond eyebrows at the man who smirked a little more as he continued to stare straight ahead. "When you watched the light fade from Fantasma's eyes? She was strong, wasn't she." The last part came out as less of a question as it was worded, with Intanzo just sounding hungry, and jealous even. His eyes darted to the right corners and stared at Raijin who he asked this to and wanted to hear an answer from. He watched the boy's reaction closely, and he saw the teenager's own smile rise casually but falter even as he tried to gain a look like Intanzo's.
"Empty," Raijin said. He kept his smile up, and he just continued casually despite the others all looking at him oddly for the response with the exception of a purely interested Intanzo. "All of you saying it's such a victory. That she was my natural enemy. It's nothing to me. She was a bump in my path, nothing more. Nothing ended and nothing began." Raijin sighed and rolled his eyes as he continued down the hall. "She's not the one I'm after."
"Only Lifebringer then?" Intanzo wondered to the boy.
"If it weren't for Zach," Raijin replied with a chuckle. He shook his head and stopped laughing, saying in a lower voice, "Never mind."
Splodo stopped walking behind the pair whose conversation he was quietly listening to. Sweat formed on both sides of his face as Intanzo tilted his head back and let out a loud laugh before smirking insanely and in an incredibly amused way. I'm right, Keymar realized from Intanzo's reaction to what Raijin just said. Holy shit. Oh fuck! It's really that close?!
If it weren't for Lifebringer, Raijin thinks this would be too easy.
A couple kids are determining the fate of this country, Dabi thought while following the spiky-haired teen whose long blond hair fell past his shoulderblades. And I know better than anyone, all this one cares about is killing Sazaki. I saw you in those days after as we ran without Kurogiri to help us. Barely avoiding Endeavor and Hawks. Cornered and without a play. I knew back then, that whatever came next this was your ultimate destination. One last rematch with the kid…
Dabi kept staring forward even as Raijin's head turned to the side with his eyes glaring back into Dabi's. "You don't think I can do it?" Raijin asked.
Dabi tilted his head back in surprise, which annoyed Raijin more as he realized he was wrong in what he just assumed based on Dabi's reaction. "I'll hold my bets," Dabi replied, not denying that he was thinking about it, though he was not picking a winner in his head yet. "You better win though."
"Hmph," Raijin looked back straight ahead and grinned again to himself. "That's not going to be a problem. I mean, it would be tougher, if I had to face him myself." Others behind Raijin who were thinking he was being too cocky got confused at his continuation. "Even then, I'd still win. But if all goes well it'll never come to that. After all, Zach making it until the day of is seeming less likely by the hour."
Raijin flicked his index finger in front of him and sent a bolt of electricity down the hall into a keypad that activated to open a round steel door out to either side. "Zach's worst enemy is himself. We can get rid of him before the plan starts. That's the goal. That's always been the plan," Raijin added with a smirk and look back to show he had not changed this just because of scary things Lifebringer had been doing recently. Then he turned back forward and headed into the next room that was not as large as the hangar but still a massive area for the underground laboratory.
There was a flight of metal stairs just inside of the door, and Raijin headed down them without looking around at all the machinery around the room people were working at or plugged into themselves. He moved around to the right side of the room and towards a line of hospital-like beds that were all attached to huge metal machines, with men and women alike strapped to the beds and sedated into unconsciousness. "This place is even more massive than the last one," Splodo muttered in reference to the entire base while looking around another huge room full of expensive machines and dozens of more people he had never seen before.
"It was worth renting him out from King before Death took him down," Intanzo remarked. Splodo looked to Intanzo confusedly, and the leader of the Radians continued with a look to the younger villain, "We've got his Digger working solely for us, and Raijin's plans are all based around the Digger now."
"Dice!" Raijin yelled out.
"Haven't seen this Digger," Splodo muttered under his breath. He wondered where the guy who could make places like this was, and just who he was though he kept quiet about that since everyone else seemed in the loop already.
"Ah, Raijin-san! Intanzo-san!" A loud but shrill male's voice called out, and clanking noises came out from between a couple of machines down the line of hospital beds where a tall, bald man in a white lab coat just poked his head out from behind. He ran out from behind the machines and tossed a wrench onto a metal table next to him before running down their way, blood dripping off the rubber yellow gloves he had on though the scientist did not even seem to notice it. "Come now, doctor," the scientist snapped to his right at an older Indian-Japanese man who was sitting on a chair behind a curved desk where he was forced to watch over these patients. "It is rude to keep them waiting!"
The two were taking too long to get over to them, and Dabi figured they had a minute so he asked what was on his mind due to the conversation about Digger. "How's it going on Shigaraki and Rikiya's end?" Intanzo glanced bad at the lean man with similarly spiky black hair though more evenly spiked and not as high up over Dabi's head as his random large spikes were.
"Fine," Intanzo replied curtly.
"Focus on getting the arsenal deployed," Raijin remarked too while stepping forward away from a further annoyed Dabi who just grunted in acknowledgement. "Discreetly," Raijin added, pausing for a second and saying it to the man behind him without turning around. "There's no doubt in my mind Zach's already on the lookout for our movements, and there's the possibility he already knows we have the Digger, though I doubt it. Zach is looking for us though, and underground is not beyond his scope of search. He showed up in Mythril's old base underneath Rasheed Corp."
"Wait, what?" Bitchess wondered in confusion.
The mad scientist and the reluctant surgeon Dice pulled with him by the sleeve slowed down and listened in too as Raijin turned and spoke to those behind him with mild annoyance at the need to explain himself. "The cameras I left in an old anti-hero lair were instantly spotted by Zach, and he went around smashing apart everything in the base. He deactivated the bombs he found that I didn't set off. I noticed that Zach noted that I didn't do that either."
As much as it sounded like Raijin was ten steps ahead here, Dabi felt differently about it. "You think Zach knows that we're using Rasheed now?" Kaminari turned to him and lowered his lips into more of a frown as Dabi continued, "If so, we have to make sure that Rasheed and Nikko are not seen together."
The 'doctor' who Dice had dragged over felt his skin cover in sweat. The elderly man of Indian descent felt unnerved at the thought of the Prime Minister's name just being mentioned, but the villains in front of him ignored the fact that he was there as they discussed it, which scared him much more. Do they ever plan on letting me leave here alive? They said I wouldn't be killed if I… They'd never let me live now-
"It's no issue," Raijin replied to Dabi with a single shake of his head at the concern. "It looked more to me like Zach believes the League of Villains really had lost lots of power. He arrived there before the show of Best Jeanist, Miruko, Fantasma and the others' executions, back when the League was still off the radar…" Raijin turned a bit and smirked at the surgeon who had been missing from the surface for a few weeks now. He just gave the shocked man an evil and menacing look showing that what he just said about the heroes was truth which terrified the doctor all the more. "I suspect Zach thinks that when I first went on my purge of the anti-heroes, I left the cameras there for anyone who came by afterwards looking for Ganji, and I left the bombs to detonate and kill them if anyone showed… Which was true."
"But after so long," Raijin continued. "Despite the cameras and bombs still working, Zach saw the dust that had accumulated and figured no one was watching the feeds constantly. And he probably confirmed that to himself when he was able to deactivate everything without incident."
"After the recent attack, Zach might think differently-" Dabi started to suggest.
"I spoke directly to Zach for that reason though," Raijin countered right back with a bigger grin as he had pre-empted these concerns far in advance. Dabi's eyes widened more this time, and Raijin explained in a way that made even Intanzo raise his eyebrows in surprise at him, "Without even mentioning seeing Zach down there. As if it were the first time I had seen him or that we were interacting in a private sense since his return. As if I had no idea that he is searching for me. Dabi, I know how Zach thinks better than anyone, so you shouldn't worry." He rose his pitch in a cheerful tone suggesting it was the end of the conversation and there was no need to continue it.
You were fooled before, Dabi thought, yet he knew much better than to say that aloud to the younger man.
The villains turned their focus onto Dice, otherwise known across most of their forces as just "Doc." Even "Dice" was more of nickname than anything, and while some people called him "Doc" due to the work he was doing, others called him by that shortened name of his. As "Dice," was just them shortening the name the doctor had picked for himself: Dissector. Dice gave a concise progress report to the leaders of their organization who followed him around the room and listened to him show off his experiments.
In the middle of the scientist's explanation on one of the biotech implants they were working on adjusting certain limb-less villains with, Raijin cut him off, "I need those adjustments finished within the month. You said you had this covered, Doc. I even brought in the help you said you needed," he continued with a motion at Dr. Suresh who he had kidnapped himself and who just gulped and stayed quiet when the teen looked his way.
"It is not… It's not as simple as I thought, to recreate the materials I need just based off blueprints," Dice paused and he grit his teeth in more frustration than fear of Raijin's anger. He looked mad at his own failures more than Raijin was angry at him, and the mad scientist put his hands up onto his bald head that he scratched over and over in a gross way that made flakes fall from his scalp. The digging into his own skin reminded a few of them of someone when he got angry, and Dabi rose his eyebrows as he wondered if Dice was mocking Shigaraki or if this was something the doc actually felt the need to do too. Dice continued in annoyance, "Virtucorp's designs don't work- it's not a matter of going around their patents. It's like a secret recipe!"
"As in," Intanzo began as he put it together himself. "They're afraid of us doing this exact thing, and so they've kept certain aspects of their work in total secrecy."
"Can you make as good of limbs as what Zach has?" Raijin asked, his eyes narrowing at his scientist who rose his gaze and met the boy's.
"Without insider information on how they were made?" Dice paused and then shook his head, "Not in the time span we have."
"We could heist Virtucorp," Splodo suggested, catching up with what was going on and bringing it up to his superiors who looked back to the man who had been following them around as no one told him he couldn't. "Steal-"
"And incur the wrath of the Army of Death?" Intanzo wondered back at the younger villain who hesitated at the question. "What we know of Virtucorp, is that their main headquarters is somewhere unknown. There are great doctors on their website whose addresses have changed to locations where those people do not live, addresses in the middle of nowhere. Their families are missing, they've been missing, and they randomly show up in civilization once in a while like it's completely normal."
"Wait… what are you-"
"The Army of Death is behind Virtucorp," Raijin said in simpler terms for Splodo. "And we don't directly piss them off. They stay out of Japan, but they won't wait until after our rise if we move internationally this early. Zach, Endeavor, Deku, the ADTF, and the Army of Death. We can take on half of them at a time, or we can take all five of those forces at once. The second we bring the Army of Death here, they'll bring the ADTF after them. As much planning as I've put into this, as powerful as we are, that would be a difficult adjustment to face them all at the same time. So we deal with not having the kind of prosthetics Zach is supplying heroes with. It's one area he's ahead of us, and I guess I'll just have to accept that."
Raijin finished with a half-shrug, but as he was turning away he did look back at Dice and the other doctor. "Though I would be very pleased if you could change this report, soon." He gave the two an encouraging smile then turned the rest of the way and headed back towards the stairs where he had noticed some people at the door of the lab.
Splodo chuckled to himself as Raijin was walking by him, because he kept looking towards the two doctors who each gained similar looks on their faces after that single statement from Raijin that sounded way too friendly for the mass hero-murdering teenager. He turned after the blond teen and grinned as he followed right after him, now the one right behind as Intanzo and Dabi stayed farther back and were now discussing something else. Keymar watched Kaminari's back and smiled wide as he thought of all he had seen of him so far. Following this guy, I don't think anything can stop us. This arsenal's so huge already I feel like we could conquer the world, and he still has us preparing a hundred more things before we'll be ready he says.
At the top of the stairs were some people who Splodo and Bitchess did not recognize. The two Radians who had been bumped off the Top 10 villains' list were making sure to stay in the loop and not let those lost rankings mess with their status here. Each were already preparing themselves for when the Koimou Massacre villains next showed themselves around them. So many had been at that forest mansion for so long, that the two were not ready to let these villains they did not know come in and take their positions as leaders here. Splodo was new too, but he had been finding that no one said anything against him moving around with the big shots as long as he was doing so confidently and without questioning first if he should or could follow.
As Furuki Keymar came closer to the top of the stairs though, he slowed down more until Manika was at his side before he continued after Raijin. Bitchess 'n Cream did not even mention anything to him about how he seemed nervous to not stay right next to their leader anymore, as she was too focused on the man at the top of the stairs flanked by a pair of women in tight black clothes that covered everything but their stomachs and eyes. One of the women was a little shorter and had light blue skin on the exposed area of her stomach, while the other's skin was paler so she looked Caucasian, with blue irises in the slit of the black wraps around her face unlike the pitch black ones that filled the shorter's entire eyeballs and not just her irises.
"Mercenaries," Dabi mentioned to the two in front of him in a low voice. "Don't look afraid."
The warning did not warrant a response from the two. He said it quietly to them and as much like he was giving them an order so as not to embarrass the League, as he was warning them not to get themselves killed. The man in the middle of the three who Raijin walked right up in front of had a straight expression on his face. The dark-skinned man was six foot and nine inches tall, muscular but lean in his camouflage costume of different shades of green. The material was pressed tightly to his skin for his long-sleeved shirt, though his pants looked more like military fatigues and were looser on him. He had black weapons' straps over each of his shoulders and a steel belt around his waist, and when he opened his mouth to speak, everyone could see his teeth were wide from front to back and sharp at the ends. His mouth was big and looked to nearly unhinge as he talked since his lips continued all the way to the sides of his face.
"I just arrived," the man began to Raijin before Kaminari could say how he did not know the group of mercs were in this base. The teen closed his mouth and held back from frowning despite this villain knowing what he had been about to say. "Walk with me," he said, and he turned with a motion down the hall past the lab.
Raijin walked out and up to the side of the man past the two women behind him who gave the eighteen year old close looks glaring darkly at his back. Other villains were moving up behind Raijin though, and the two women moved first to stay between their comrade and the others behind them. Intanzo looked ahead and his expression was intense as he watched the trio walking with Raijin, and his look alone amazed Bitchess when she glanced back at him and saw how ready for a fight he looked despite these seeming like a talk between allies. Who the hell are these guys?! Manika spun back and stared towards the group, though she was unable to hear Raijin and the man in front speaking to each other.
Rare for him to let someone get away with using that tone with him, Dabi thought as he watched the two up ahead of him walk without interruption or a sign of animosity between them. Though it's easy to see why. Dabi slowed down himself and decided to stop following the group, turning around instead and heading away from this tense situation. Fuck this. I've got to prepare too…
Daniel O'Sullivan. Danny "The Devil." Raijin thought of the man next to him in an impressed way as they spoke in low voices about the completed mission Raijin had paid them to do for him. Acted throughout the Age of Villains as one of Eziano's freelancers. At a similar prestige as Phinx, or the Painter who he's in the middle of hunting for Eziano. Never caught by Zach. Never even seen by the Army of Death from what he claims despite being there many times when they showed up.
"Good," Raijin said after The Devil finished his brief mission report to him. "I have another mission for you, two actually. One assassination and a heist-"
Daniel held up his right palm for Raijin to stop and he turned to face the teen after they had just walked into an empty room looking almost like an office space. There were a few desks with lots of computers around them, but also a few fridges and a small kitchen area that Intanzo headed right over towards after they all entered the room follwing Raijin and O'Sullivan. "I am unable to continue working with you, for the time being," The Devil stated.
"Thought you'd accept any mission, for the right price?" Raijin asked back with his eyes narrowing at this annoyance as he had goals in place where using these mercenaries was necessary for his timetable.
"I have been called on," Daniel replied back as that explanation was all he needed to explain why he could not stay.
"Are you going after Zach?" Raijin asked, frowning still though with a less annoyed and more understanding look now, as much as it did piss him off. Can't argue with Eziano's orders-
"You would be wise to stay away from him, in the coming days," O'Sullivan warned.
Intanzo froze as he neared a fridge, and he turned around and stared towards the mercenaries who the other villains were all staring at too now with uncertain looks. Raijin shook his head a second after hearing that, and he started, "I wish you good luck in this attempt, though it's going to have the same result-"
"I do not underestimate Death," O'Sullivan said. "And you should stay cautious of him as well. More so, than you have been."
Bitchess turned to her side as she noticed the taller of the two ninja-women next to her got an uneasy look in her eyes and tensed up a bit here. She herself got more sweat on her face and looked forward to the head mercenary who said in a dark voice, "I discovered what happened to my target. The Painter is long dead," O'Sullivan stated to Raijin who knew that hitman's name and his top prestige to be getting hunted by Eziano and still operating despite that. The mercenary in green camo continued in a low voice, "Your friend took The Painter's sniper and blew his brains out with it."
Splodo's bottom lip dropped and he gulped at the same time at what he just heard. Lifebringer did that? Oh fuck- fuck me! He's targeting us?!
"Did he now?" Raijin said, wondering it aloud but not really asking a question as much as he was just pondering it to himself. I know many of the stories of Death were exaggerated out there. Zach was not as brutal as most villains believe… And yet there were also times, where he became a savage. Where I can hardly believe he's the same Zach I knew back then…
"So be wary of him," The Devil warned. He turned to the two women accompanying him and nodded, and the shorter one reached up under the tight bandages above her bellybutton to pull a USB drive out that she tossed to her boss. "One more thing," O'Sullivan continued. He held it up in front of him in between him and Raijin, "I've got something you need to see."
Raijin stared at the drive and then behind it into O'Sullivan's eyes. "How much?"
"10 billion yen and it's yours," Danny The Devil offered.
Intanzo glared towards O'Sullivan's back and his expression got much darker, his dark-green eyes slowly brightening with a glow. Raijin just stared into O'Sullivan's eyes though and mulled it over in his head for a moment. We lost too much in El Toro's factory. Ten billion is a lot. Despite how expensive having all these underground lairs would seem to be, we created and maintain them at minimal cost to us. The arsenal was not cheap though. Feeding everyone. Weapons. Forty two minus thirteen, times ten based on weekly…
"That's a lot of money," Raijin said as he continued to determine if he would pay it.
"It's something I just grabbed off the black market from a merchant in Egypt," Danny continued with a smirk slowly spreading to cover the entire bottom of his face. "Got to it right before the AoD showed up to shut down the market that only existed through word-of-mouth, as it's not safe to do any business on the web that Death controls." O'Sullivan opened up his palm and left the USB flat on top of it as he held it in front of Raijin, "Trust me that when I say ten billion, that this is worth every cent."
Danny's smirk rose more and Raijin's eyes started to grow and then darted down to the hardware his ally was showing off. "I promise, it's exactly what you've been looking for," O'Sullivan finished.
The biggest, most excited smile crossed over Kaminari Denki's face. His eyes rose from the drive to the eyes of the mercenary who nodded once with a grin of his own. "I'll take it," Raijin said without a second's more hesitation.
Won't even be necessary in a few days, but he'll buy it for the contingency either way, Danny thought as he nodded and tossed the drive in front of him. "Wire the money to my usual account. Enjoy that," he added, before turning and heading away to leave this base with his comrades. His smile lowered a little as he heard Raijin's low laughter coming from behind him, almost seeming like it was directed at what he had just been thinking about. He is right to have every contingency…
Sazaki is much more deserving of the nickname they gave me.
A/N Thanks for reading! Hope you all enjoyed the villain chapter, the first one in a while where we're actually seeing a lot of these villains and some issues they're having, some of their plans, though I kept a lot in the dark too... Introduced a couple new villains, and I hope you guys like DismemberMen's background as I initially just had 'one of the Radians complains to Intanzo about Carlos' as my plans near the start of the chapter, but as I got ready to actually write the chapter and went through my summary I kept coming up with cool ideas first for DismemberMen's name, then his Quirk, then his backstory. We get a little about Intanzo too, some scientists/doctors, mercenaries, and the League's plans. What are the assassins planning now that Danny "The Devil" has to back off from helping Raijin? What did he give Raijin first before leaving? Can Zach and the heroes really fend off Raijin and his growing army and arsenal meant to destroy them?! XD Almost done with the next chapter and I've got a couple days off work, so I'll try to get the next one up tomorrow! Review responses:
BobRossButExplosive chapter 205 . Dec 10
First off this story is actually amazing, and I have no idea what you'll do next since every time I try to guess what comes next the complete opposite happens.
Second off, have you ever considered opening a discord to talk to everyone who follows the story? It can even help people post artwork of the story and it'll be a great way to connect and keep everyone updated.
Third, it's still way early but happy early Christmas!
Thanks! Really glad you think the story's great! Seems some people agreed with your second point too, and for everyone who wants to do a discord server thing I'd gladly hold one... but after I finish the story. Admittedly I just know as good as I am at holding back spoilers down here in the Author's Notes (A/N) I might not be able to censor myself while talking to you guys. I'd have to keep in mind what I have and have not posted yet despite knowing how the story (and most of the next chapters) are going to go. Anyway I don't really know what I'm rambling with here, but after I finish the story I'll def do a Discord thing where I can answer questions, talk to you guys about Death, and let you know what I'm thinking for afterwards/ epilogues, stuff like that. If y'all want to send me artwork for Death, the cover photo could really use an update so you could always PM me here on Fanfiction with a link and I'd check anything out through that. And thirdly... Merry Christmas to you too! Though, hopefully I'll be getting a few more chapters posted before that! It'll be my Christmas present to you guys, since Christmas week is the busiest week for my work all year and I'll be swamped from Christmas til past New Year's. For now though, hope you guys enjoyed the quick update! And thanks for the review!
GrayReader chapter 206 . Dec 11
Holy shit, I'm used to trying to sleep during a school presentation, I never thought one would have me gripping the edge of my seat in anticipation. I damn near had to stop myself from going out to call for better quirk education in real life because I was so immersed in your writing. We can all easily tell you put days into each of Zach's points. Impeccable writing as always, I'll be eagerly awaiting the next chapter. Thanks so much, have a nice night.
Haha glad you liked it! Always have fun with these reports I've written in here. Really gets me into the world-building aspect of BNHA more, and I think there was a lot to work with especially for Zach who's seen so much of their world that he's got such a unique outlook on it all. I'm glad you liked the chapter and the effort I put in it, and here's another chapter for you! XD
Guest chapter 206 . Dec 11
Jeez...it's ridiculous how much better an explanation that is for quirks than Hori's "It was a rat virus lol" explanation.
I never thought of Kaminari like that either. He's just a mistake made by a child who watched the movie Limitless one too many times.
Glad you enjoyed that! The more I was writing this chapter, the more I started to go: "If Quirks ever did pop up randomly, I'd totally believe this rather than they just started happening too..." And yeah, Kaminari's story's pretty rough when you think of it like that... though then you see him again in this chapter straight up torturing people as he plans the end of the world... Zach knows this could have been prevented, but he also knows it's too late for many and they have to break through this transition first, beating the current villains before there can be change. Hope this chapter shows that doing that isn't going to be easy though. Thanks for the review!
yes chapter 206 . Dec 12
And here we have the Shiketsu faculty being destroyed by facts and logic. and Zach being a cool motherfucker
btw how tf did you just write a 20k word legitimate thesis.
Zach crushes it as always ;), as for me, well... I've written them before. At this point I'm not even surprised at myself when I pop out a 20k chapter in an afternoon. It's just a lot of fun, and I enjoy that you guys seem to like it! XD So here's hoping y'all enjoyed this chapter too, and thanks again for all the reviews!