"I was hoping for more." Said Tokoyami, equally disappointed and annoyed.
"The location was the important part. All you need to do is scout the area and then report back. Nothing fancy or special, just straightforward recon." Said Hawks, looking over the map spread on the table.
"Terrain is good, and the weather should be in my favor tonight." Said Tokoyami, looking over the map as well.
"Probably easiest to come in via the south. No trails or roads on that side of the mountain." Hawks said tapping that area of the map.
"I was thinking the east, maybe around 2 AM, that way the shadows will be more in my favor and Dark Shadow will blend in easier." Said Tokoyami.
"Not a bad idea... Both work fine, just pick whichever you find easier." Said Hawks shrugging.
The two heroes had been going back and forth like this for the better part of an hour and a half. Working out the best options and plans for how to best scout out the mountain that Zeus had made his base of operations out of. For tonight, it would be a simple scouting op, followed by a more robust recon once they got some preliminary information about the exterior defenses. AFO had constructed one of his main research and Nomu production facilities inside of the mountain decades ago and since then it had been steadily expanded by AFO, Shigaraki, and now Zeus. Unfortunately, that was all Fenrir had been able to give them about the base itself.
Fenrir had managed to give them a few names about people Zeus had recruited into his organization since his take over, but most of them were foreigners and information was spotty. Apart from the powerful mystery man Zeus had allegedly recruited, they didn't see any of them posing serious problems.
"I think I'm ready to go." Said Tokoyami at last. He took a step back from the table, and did a mental rundown of everything he had. He wanted to be sure he wasn't forgetting anything.
"I can't think of anything else we need to do, so I'd say you're good to go as well. Good luck." Said Hawks.
"Thank you, and likewise." Said Tokoyami, hefting his gear over his shoulder and making his way out of the room.
He made his way to the lockers, where he quickly equipped his gear and then headed to the roof. When he opened to door to the roof, he was was surprised but happy to see Tsu waiting for him.
"Heading out?" she said, getting up from her seat and putting a folder down on it.
He nodded.
"All right, stay safe." She said, embracing him.
He embraced her in turn and they stayed like that for a while. He had to break it off though and took a step back.
"I'll see you tomorrow, but I'm not sure when. I might rest on the way back, so it might not be until the evening," he said.
"I'll be waiting, ribbit," she said, reaching up and giving him a quick peck on the cheek before stepping back herself.
He smiled, and before thoughts of shirking the mission came to mind, he enveloped himself in Dark Shadow and vanished into the night sky.
He flew through the darkness, the wind rushing around him as he approached the Kiso Mountains. It was positioned straight north from Musustafu and was positioned right in between several key cities including Tokyo, and a few military installations. A perfect strategic position, where Zeus could strike from and hit any of those key locations with ease. It was also away from prying eyes, covered in hiking trails, where few people ventured. There was a skying area further north, but it had been closed down during the war and had yet to reopen.
As Tokoyami approached the coordinates, he started his descent, and maybe ten minutes later he alighted atop a tree. He checked his location, then checked the coordinates of the base again then set off once more, keeping to the treetops as he got closer. When he was about a mile away, he dropped into the tree line itself and started gliding through the branches. It was slow, but it made him much harder to spot as most sentries would be looking at ground level, slightly above ground level, and above the tree line.
As he got closer, he noticed things starting to change. There were faint lights in the distance through the trees, and signs of human activity. He went even slower now, stopping every once in and while and just listening. After another ten minutes of this, he managed to carefully move past the sentry line.
At this point, the signs of human activity were not as well disguised. He saw patrols wandering through the trees, their night vision headgear making them easy to track and avoid. He took note, however, that these weren't run-of-the-mill criminals bribed or coerced into joining Zeus. These were his mercenaries and actually competent forces. They wouldn't be so easily taken down like Zeus's men were in previous fights. They had actual weapons, both regular firearms (though of much better quality) and support gear. Obviously, they knew how to use their quirks and use them well.
Tokoyami felt the area where the railgun round had punched through his body twinge. He paused a moment to take a breath and rub the spot. When the feeling faded he pressed on. When the camp itself finally came into view, Tokoyami took a moment to take it all in. Barriers stretched from tree to tree, cutting off easy access into the base. He noted two entrances from his position where guards stood watching the wilderness. The barriers were multi-layered, featuring actual barricades, barbed wire, and in front of those, maybe traps? Pitfalls, perhaps with spikes on the bottom, tripwire bombs would be a safe bet, maybe even landmines if Zeus had managed to get some from his foreign contacts.
A frontal assault, Tokoyami reasoned would be a bad idea. Another attack from the sky would be ideal, but some instinct told him that wouldn't work either. He couldn't say what, but something was strange about the layout and design of the base. Tree's were scattered throughout the camp at regular intervals, possibly done because it was the ideal setup for hiding their operations from eyes looking down on them. Possibly some other reason, but he couldn't be sure. Either way, it was unusual and it bore taking note of.
He started moving carefully around the perimeter of the camp, taking in everything from multiple angles. It didn't really help, the structures lining the perimeter did a good job at obscuring most of the base. He could see closer to the center where a single larger building stood.
He thought about it for a couple of minutes. He could get closer without issue, there was a relatively easy path for him to take that would let him get atop one of the perimeter buildings. Each building in the compound had poles that held up the camouflage mesh netting that covered the entire compound and prevented any of the lights from shining through. By crouching by one of the large poles, he could use the shadows from the lights to obscure himself. Not to mention that most of the lights shone downward, which would ruin the night vision of people looking upward.
Deciding to get a closer look, he slipped from shadow to shadow, barely making leaves rustle as he passed. He set himself down slowly next to one of the large poles affixed to the top of the building and took in the camp proper with his better position.
He first noticed the training ground, where squads were sparring with each other in every form of combat possible. From hand to hand, to weapons, to quirks, it was impressive and Tokoyami had to admit that he had underestimated Zeus. He was the leader of a hardened mercenary corp, and the training showed how seriously both Zeus and his soldiers were. Until now he hadn't taken Zeus as seriously as he probably should have. He wasn't comparable to Shigaraki, but in many ways, he was far more dangerous.
He switched focus away from the training grounds to the building in the center. Which was clearly the main hub of activity. People, not all of them mercenaries walked in and out of regularly. What was strange though was the strange building attached to the main structure. The best way to describe it would be some sort of derivate of medieval stable buried partially into the ground. He just sat and watched the building for a while but it became clear he wouldn't be able to glean anything from here.
He got up from his crouch, taking another sweeping view of the place before being satisfied with what he had seen.
"Found you..." Came the whispered voice from behind him.
He didn't jump, simply reacted, he prepared to send Dark Shadow slicing outward around him in a circle and above him to cut through the camouflage mesh netting above him to make his escape. But as Dark Shadow started to burst outward, a blade sliced across his back. He staggered forward, spun around, and prepared to send shadow claws through his assailant when his entire body just went limp. He crashed backward, his entire body unresponsive except his face. He could only look upward and he saw a tall figure, almost seven feet tall towering over him. He realized with a jolt of fear and hate that it was Stain.
He immediately sent a mental command to Dark Shadow to go wild, but nothing happened. More fear flooded him as he realized with dawning horror that he could no longer feel Dark Shadows' presence.
"What... What have you done to me?!" He demanded of Stain.
The Hero Killer stood above him, a neutral expression on his face as he got down on one knee to get a closer look.
"The Jet-Black Hero: Tsukuyomi. I was expecting that bastard Hawks, but you would have been my second guess..." Stain said trailing off. He twirled a knife in one hand idly as he considered the hero paralyzed in front of him.
"You represent a problem to me, your quirk is autonomous from you. So before you apprehended Overhaul I took some of his quirk suppression drugs. Given how few heroes there are with autonomous quirks, I've not had to use it often." Said Stain.
Tokoyami's eyes widened, he remembered that event. Several cases of the quirk suppression drug had vanished during the fight to subdue Overhaul. But they'd never resurfaced, not in the black market or used against them as far as they knew. It was rather funny though, of all their enemies to have access to the drug, Stain would have been the most preferable.
"Now I'd have killed Hawks without issue. But you... you and your class were trained by All Might, the only true hero. You and your friends have impressed me, you aren't All Might's equal, but you fresh-faced heroes are the closest I've seen." He said quietly, his eyes boring into Tokoyami as if he could see his very soul and was judging it.
"You are worth letting live." He said finally.
"Before we move on, answer a few questions for me. I assume you've run into my apprentice by this point, is he still wasting his time on those villains?" He asked, crouching down next to Tokoyami fully.
"He's as mad as you are." Tokoyami spat.
Stain grinned, "I do what must be done to restore meaning to the word "hero". Society has all but forgotten it, but the war did some good in that regard. Heroes have fallen in the eyes of the people. They no longer see the facade, they see heroes for what they have truly been since quirks emerged. You "heroes" can no longer abuse your power and wealth as you once could." Said Stain.
Tokoyami bit his tongue, he wouldn't let Stain bait him into talking. But he needed to buy time until Stains quirk wore off.
"Your apprentice has been crippling and maiming villains. More recently he's been fighting Zeus's forces." Said Tokoyami, answering Stain's previous question.
Stain's eyes narrowed and a corner of his mouth turned down in disgust.
"He is still weak. You cannot reason with evil, only crush completely and utterly. Something I think you could agree with." snarled Stain.
"The Hunter is mad, but I'm rather envious of him." He said. He wasn't lying either, he and Asui had discussed the vigilante in depth. Originally brainstormed ideas on how to bring him in, but the conversation had shifted at one point.
The Hunter had a level of freedom that none of them had any more and were likely to never have again. More than once, Tokoyami had wanted to leave it all behind, to go home and abandon everything. Or like The Hunter, indulge his darker desires and go on a rampage slaughtering as many villains as he could. But All Might had trained them to better than that, and he'd rather die than dishonor the memory of All Might.
Stain stood up then, reached down, lifted Tokoyami onto one shoulder then jumped down from the building. He hit the ground, stood back up, and started making his way towards the main building, or so Tokoyami guessed as he flopped around uselessly.
They made their way through the building and down an elevator. Stain making sure to refresh the paralysis when it started to wear off. Tokoyami took note of everything he saw, as they progressed deeper into the facility the number of people who looked to be researchers increased. He also saw what he could only assume to be "Hounds" once in a while, either prowling the halls covered in protective armor, or being escorted by heavily armed and armored guards.
It was several minutes more before the journey finally ended and he was tossed onto an ornate rug. He looked around the room with his eyes and immediately noticed a man approach him from around a desk.
"Well, well, I see you found a rat wandering around the premises. Impressive work I must admit, Tsukuyomi is not an easy person to apprehend. So. Why is he still alive?" the man asked.
Tokoyami assumed this man to be Zeus. The sharp angular features, well-trimmed sideburns, goatee, and short black military-style hair with lighting bolts buzzed along the sides of his head being the biggest tells.
"He is worthy." was all the Hero Killer said in response.
Zeus raised one eyebrow but didn't say anything in response, choosing instead to look down at his prisoner.
"Well thank you for bringing him in, I'll ensure he is looked after. You have my word he will not be killed." Zeus said, a smirk forming on his face as he looked at Tokoyami.
This seemed to satisfy Stain, as he turned and left the room.
Zeus waited a minute before looking down at Tokoyami and giving him a half-smile. The sight caused goosebumps to roll over Tokoyami.
"Don't worry Tokoyami, I won't kill you, I don't break my word. See, I need you alive so I can harvest some of your spectacular blood." Said Zeus raising one hand, lighting crackling between his fingers.
"But I can't have you running amok trying to escape, so you'll need to sleep." He said, smiling fully now. "But don't worry, you'll see your friends again, or more accurately, a part of you will."
Tokoyami saw the lighting dancing between Zeus's fingers coalesce into a singular point on his index finger then it flashed and he knew no more.
Zeus looked down at the unconscious hero, secretly delighted with this turn of events. He went to his desk and paged for his assistant to come in. A moment later he entered and started at the sight of the unconscious hero.
"Have him taken down into the labs and hook him up to a harvester. Full body restraints and make sure he is properly sedated and bring floodlights into the room as well. His quirk is autonomous and could easily break him out if not properly handled. The last thing we need is this one escaping and wreaking havoc." He said, going back round to his desk and sitting in his chair.
"Yes sir." said his assistant as he slung the unconscious hero over his shoulder and made his way out of the room.
Zeus had been on the fence about asking Stain to join him. But Stain had agreed easily to his surprise. He suspected Stain had his own agenda in this conflict, he frequently left the base to go to Musustafu but he couldn't be sure what it was he was doing in the city. He didn't expect betrayal from the man, so long as Zeus remained useful to Stain, Stain wouldn't sell him out to the heroes. But he had to tread carefully, Stain was not someone he wanted to have against him.
Especially now that he knew that Stains quirk had evolved to disable quirks as well. As strong and skillful as Stain is, he couldn't believe he could bring down the hero Tsukuyomi without any sort of fight happening. Either with the hero himself or his quirk while he lay paralyzed. He would need to take Stain more seriously as a threat from now on.
Stain remained an icon to a great many people in the country. Even some of his followers and financial backers were supposed followers of Stains ideology. Not that any of those fools actually understood the mad man's beliefs. If they did they wouldn't be supporting Zeus, the irony of it all made him chuckle.
Still, even if Stain did betray him. He had made sure he had an insurance policy. His newest ally was probably the second or third most dangerous person in Japan. He wasn't sure how he would stack up against the angel Ochako Uraraka, perhaps they were even. Between his newest ally and himself, Zeus had little doubts that his plans would succeed.
The only problem was getting his new ally the item he needed, he wasn't sure why he needed it, but it had been the man's only condition.
Zeus leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling in thought. He had a lot of work to do before the heroes inevitably came breaking down his door.
