As night once again fell upon Styx, things in the prison had returned to its normal routine, at least for a short while.
The guards did their patrols, unaware of the looming threat just outside as dawn was on the horizon. During this night, within the prison, someone was alert. Waiting for someone.
Ears and eyes were peeled as they waited.
A pair of guards walked past the cells, the two gave each other a look before stopping in front of a certain cell, unaware of being watched by an inmate behind a locked cell door.
"Oh?" thought the inmate, having a cheeky look. "They're really going in..."
Fushiko Karakuri watched as the two guards entered Koneko's cell, wondering just what was up. All she really had to do now was wait and see what happened.
Keeping herself occupied, Fushiko waited only for a couple of seconds before she heard movement. Quickly springing back into place, she saw three pairs of legs leave the cell. Only two of them were garbed in the outfit of the guards.
It was clear to Karakuri who the third pair of legs were, especially since they were wearing prisoner garbs.
It was definitely suspicious. Where were they taking her?
"..." Fushiko leaned back as the three pairs of legs walked away to wherever they were going. "...I suppose that I need to tell Ashi about this, yeah?"
It was all fun and games. A young girl belonged to a relatively normal family for a good portion of her life so far. The ten year old girl looked over to her father who was talking to somebody on the phone.
"Yes I know, I'll get you the money soon. I'll send over some of it now." the man paused, listening to whoever was on the other side. "All of it at once? Tch. I need time to get that-"
After some back and forth she didn't understand, her father slammed the phone down. "Greedy little-"
"Daddy, who was that?" the child walked over, causing her father to crouch down to her height.
A hand patted her head. "Nothing to worry your head about, Dahlia." her father gave her a smile. "How was school today?"
Dahlia Pietyr could only smile as she talked about her day.
"Now, let's go see your mother."
Yet, unbeknownst to both, the following days started to change. The phone kept ringing, again and again. Her father grew more frustrated at the people at the other end.
To the point where he himself started to cuss back.
And she had no idea why.
Until one day, someone kicked their door in. "What the-" her father's face changed from shock to anger and straight to pure fear as a hole appeared in his head, falling to the floor.
"Daddy...?"
For what felt like hours, Dahlia couldn't stop looking at her father. She would have rushed over if it weren't for her mother. That was, until the man spoke. "Let this be a lesson to the both of you, you are stuck with his burdens now," with a gun pointed at her mother and her, the man holstered and walked away, throwing a piece of paper with a large sum of money written on it. "Two years to pay that back, or else."
Before he left, another gunshot entered the fallen body of her father. "Where are the heroes?" was Dahlia's sole thought as the man had left unharmed and uncaught. They should have been here already. She looked back to her mother, wide-eyed at the piece of paper, tears running down her face.
"We can't pay this back!" her mother cried, letting poor little Dahlia to look at her father.
A few hours later, the crying girl realised.
No heroes would be coming.
Now, with her father dead and a huge sum of money required from them plus the threat from the loan shark thanks to her father, her mother stepped back out to get whatever job she could. Anything to get more money to get those fangs off their back.
The loan sharks kept in touch, barking about the money as her mother went out in search of money. Desperately. One day, she decided to follow her mother before having to get to school. She watched her go to strange buildings with the odd word 'brothel' being thrown around by some other adults who lingered around.
She had no idea what that was, but her mother was turned away at some and walked in to others with large red signs saying 'adult's only'. By the time Dahlia hurried herself to school that day, her mother didn't return until very, very late.
She held the same eyes her father had. Eyes when he was suddenly shot in the head.
They lacked life.
By the time she was eleven, she saw less and less of her mother.
It didn't seem like she had much luck either most days...
Only a year later, when she was twelve, Dahlia was forced to leave her old hometown, school and life for good. Following her mother around to different states in the UK as they searched for men that desired her mother's services. Dahlia, on the other hand, had a different job.
"In here, Dahlia," her mother huffed, dragging her daughter into that of a casino. "You know what to do." she huffed, not even sparing the little scottish girl a glance.
She watched as a poker dealer started to shuffle and deal some cards. Dahlia's young eyes watched as the man shuffled the cards very closely, squinting to ignore everything else outside of the simple action in front of them.
Dahlia possessed a quirk that helped her mother win at different casino games. She knew where the dice would fall, she knew what cards were going to be flipped next.
Of course, it wasn't perfect thanks to seeing some other possibilities, but for the most part, they were winning!
They took their winnings, either getting kicked for winning too much...or...Dahlia got caught using her quirk.
It wasn't exactly subtle that an older woman had her child be the one picking and winning, it didn't help that one time a dealer asked her if she used her quirk once in a subtle way.
Still, the mother and daughter pair weren't slick about it.
Poor child didn't even realise what they were asking as they were suddenly branded as villains due to both an illegal use of quirk AND misuse of quirk. Kicked and running from casinos, her mother suddenly turned to her after a safe distance.
"Why did you say that?!" a hand went flying and poor Dahlia fell to the cold concrete. "What kind of idiot are you?! I thought I told you not to tell anyone that you were using your quirk! We have to pay off that money because of your dumbass father!"
She would have slapped her again if Dahlia spoke, but instead, the child stayed quiet, looking around. No heroes in sight, most people that saw them gave a brief glance or outright ignored them.
"...she really changed." This was not the first time for Dahlia, who simply stood back up upon her mother's barking. Ever since her mother got that new job that included meeting men or bringing them back if she didn't go with them, Dahlia noticed that she was different from their normal family life with her dad.
For starters, she looked like a mess now when she wasn't working with those men.
Her mother never talked to her unless it was to use her quirk, she was more easily agitated and struck out against her, usually resulting in red marks over her face.
It didn't help that they were threatened with two years to pay back the money.
Rubbing her cheek, the young girl followed her mother back to some random motel room. Only one thought echoed through her as she felt like trash, "...i'm just useless luggage. This is all my fault..."
Her family was a risk and she could do nothing to help, not anymore after that incident with the casino bans. Wiping her wet eyes, Dahlia returned to the motel for the night.
Normally, they would rent out two different motel rooms while her mother was busy with her clients, but they had to be tight with money, making things more difficult.
Some long nights, she was forced to sleep out in the cold.
As Dahlia sat far away from her mother's rage, she watched her pack away all her belongings that they hadn't sold. Dahlia tried to ask if it was time to go, but all she got in return was a glare and a hiss, "you aren't going anywhere. Stay. Put."
There was this man her mother met a few days ago, Dahlia didn't like him, but it was rare to see her mother smile. He was just a client, but... "I'm finally getting out of this hellhole."
Not wanting to invoke more rage, the young girl just stayed quiet, watching her mother pack as a knock on the door made them freeze.
Silence as they knocked again. "I know you're in there," a man's voice made itself known. "I'm interested in your...services."
As her mother approached the door, Dahlia's eyes saw something different. "Mum-"
"Shut it!" The motel's alarm clock was thrown at the poor girl who only barely dodged it thanks to her quirk. Her mother, on the other hand, opened the door. "Come on in-"
Only for her to be kicked in the stomach. Hard.
To Dahlia, it was like a repeat of the horrible day two years ago. A man had walked in, holding a gun in his hands, but his eyes paused briefly over her.
Dahlia gulped.
This man, a bounty hunter, kept the gun on her mother.
But his expression softened for a split second before he approached the downed woman who did her best to back away as quickly as she could. "Spare me. Please! I'm working on the money-"
The bounty hunter didn't say a word, only making the connection that the two were indeed mother and daughter. When he finally spoke, his tone was colder than ice.
"If you're willing to sell your daughter to me, I will let you live." The ice cold tone was betrayed by the look in his eyes.
The sitting woman immediately crashed to the ground. "Yes, please, take her! I don't want her anymore, I just want to live!" her mother cried out. "Use her, sell her, kill her, anything! Just let me live! I don't care what you want to do to her! Please, please, please!"
A nervous little smile of denial appeared on the freckled child's face as she thought, "...that's a new joke. Just a joke." When the young girl looked over to her mother...she saw her mother sprawled out on the ground, begging for her life and to take her.
Any sort of joke was thrown out the window.
The bounty hunter coughed, getting both of their attention. "Sorry, but I don't deal with parents who throw their children under the bus to save their own skin."
Her crying mother didn't even have a chance as a bang followed right behind his words.
Just like her father, her mother was granted a bullet in her head. Watching her fall backwards, young Dahlia could only stare. Not once did she shed a tear for her mother.
She was in complete and utter shock.
Then the man's voice whispered into her ear, "the world isn't fair. It either goes your way or it doesn't. The moment everything spirals downwards, the morals that these people stand for will then equal nothing. They will show you who they truly are. What you do at that moment is what shapes you the most. So, what will you do now?"
The question bounced around Dahlia's mind for what felt like ages until she suddenly bowed in a more dignified way than her mother. "Please!" she started, already coming to her answer as she gave the man a serious look of determination.
"Take me as your apprentice!"
The man however, moved his gun over. "...you serious? Or are you just like your mother here?" he mused, seeing the look in her eyes. Different from when she watched her mother drop like a swatted fly.
"Yes!"
The two stared each other down, though the scottish girl was definitely sweating now. The gun pointed at her face didn't help in the slightest.
"...just call me Proxy." the man holstered his gun, "the young daughter of the Pietyr's are dead and the debt is no longer a thing to worry about. Now hurry up, if you really want to be my apprentice, you can't be trailing behind. Don't make me regret this."
Rushing after the man who coldly killed her mother, who just rotted away in the motel room, the scottish girl would now learn the trade from the bounty hunter known as Proxy as they slowly made their way to London.
Proxy glanced over his shoulder after a quick inspection of his hand cannon. "So, what's your name, brat."
As the new apprentice gave the man a look, who already knew, she responded anyway. "Dahlia."
"Dahlia," he called out, eyes staring right into her soul. "Dahlia..." he oddly repeated as a weight was suddenly on her shoulders while a bright shining light soon began to cover everything.
Someone was calling out, the voice didn't match Proxy in the slightest.
"Dahlia...Dahlia..."
A pair of eyes slowly opened at the mention of her name and it wasn't long before the short freckled woman saw the female warden of the prison looking down at her. "We're back at Styx, we're just pulling in."
The young guard with old cuts on her hands glanced to the bus' windows, spying the dark night sky filled with hundreds of stars.
A common sight back at Styx thanks to the lack of the city's lights.
But Dahlia's mind was on something else as she got up from the surprisingly comfortable bus seat. "Alright," was all she uttered as the warden walked to the front of the bus, leaving the young woman alone with her thoughts. "It's been a while since I even thought about that. Why now though?"
Crossing her arms into a more comfortable position as she slowly became more and more awake, she kept her huff to herself as she soon picked at the undone buttons on the top half of her guard uniform for a little while.
"It makes no sense."
Narrowing her eyes, she never really thought about it again after it happened. It was the past and she simply moved on. Just another page in the book of her life. Glancing up to the front of the bus, she had a thought. "Maybe it was Akita. Yeah, that could be it. Tch."
Maybe something in what Akita did sparked a memory. Akita had a purpose for what she did, sleeping with any guard she managed to seduce in order to get her way as the top dog in the female ward.
A false delusion of being free and to do whatever she wanted.
But was that really enough to spark a memory where the only real connection was a brothel? Akita was the leader of a gang, after all and from what they've learned today, she was definitely seducing guards to get her way, such as that time she got into the co-ed ward that one time.
Then she had to ask herself, "is there even a connection in the first place?"
She then shrugged it off, if there was a connection that sparked such an old memory, it wasn't worth trying to figure out why.
Once again, the brunette haired woman with an auburn glow to it looked back out the window of the prison bus.
Then the beautiful, cloudless night sky was soon replaced.
"We've arrived at Styx."
As the bus pulled into the prison, they were all unaware of the growing, lingering threat watching them for a good while as the sun eventually rose over Styx.
Back when the sun slowly began to rise, signalling the start of a new day for Styx, that's when they charged.
A big wave of silver metallic, robotic horses ran down from their campsite down towards the prison Styx.
After a good (yet short) rest, the Mares of Diomedes began their assault. "Make sure not to be too close together!" the older gentleman of the group called out.
This older member of the group, especially compared to many within the posse, wore a western gambler's outfit that looked straight out of the wild west. He checked his pocket watch with those old blue eyes of his with a magnificent thick grey moustache, his neatly combed back grey hair hidden under his fitting cowboy hat that matched the cowboy gambler attire he wore.
This member of the group, was one of the high ranking members of the Mares of Diomedes. One of the founders too and of course, not to mention the oldest.
This man was called Mortimer.
Riding alongside him was actually the current leader of the Mares of Diomedes. Bariki.
She rode just in front of the older man. Bariki, the current leader of the Mares, had short brown hair reaching down the back of her neck as her focused, yellow-green eyes were locked on target.
Styx.
Some more notable features she possessed were the horse ears that she had on her head and the same hair coloured horse tail she possessed. Her legs also had some muscle to them.
She wore the outfit closest to the whole posse's attire. A pair of jeans, boots and a long sleeved button-up shirt with a nice vest and belt. Probably the most basic attire shared by the grunt members save for the lack of a bandana to conceal herself.
Behind these two were three individuals and behind them were the rest of the Mares.
The first of these three before the waves of grunts that followed them blindly into hell was one of the most noticeable additions to the posse.
Similar to Bariki, this man sported some features of an animal. In his case, it was that of a reptile, a lizard. Slitted orange eyes and the scales on his body, mainly his back, being some shade of darker green. He even sported quite sharp teeth.
His outfit was like many of the grunt members of the Mares, sporting the traditional cowboy attire. For him specifically, it was the jeans and boots but he alone wore a poncho you would see in old westerns.
This man was called Iggy.
The next one just yawned as they moved closer to the prison, having a lollipop stick hanging out of her mouth, her shoulder-length pink hair flowed in the breeze.
Her dark green eyes stared at the distant prison growing ever closer. She too wore the standard uniform that was pretty much shared among most of the Mares (other high ranking members mostly excluded). The only real difference between her outfit and the other Mares was that instead of the long sleeved button up shirt that was common with the attire, she herself wore a pair of thick gloves and tank top with a bandolier, filled with not only ammo, but tools.
This person was Niwa.
The last high ranking member of the Mares of Diomedes was the one who had revolver chambers in their wrists.
He wore the same attire as the other Mares. Jeans, boots, the bandana that he wore around his mouth to conceal his identity to a degree and finally, unlike the grunts, he wore an open brown duster.
He rode diligently on the motorhorse as his short, light brown hair swept back in the wind while pale green eyes glanced at the group's leader as they got closer to Styx and their target.
This was Colt.
As they got closer and closer to Styx, Bariki shouted out, "begin the assault!"
Orders then followed.
"So...what did you want to talk about?" Osamu asked, giving a worried look to his younger sister. He had no idea what to expect this early in the morning. "I heard that Seimei wanted to talk to you about something, hopefully it's nothing serious. Better apologize to the wardens too..."
Muika on the other hand, watching him ramble on to himself with once more going to apologize to the wardens on her behalf.
Again.
A troublesome feeling started to grow as she listened to him, wanting to apologize for her actions, even though she did nothing most of the time and laughing, joking that she messed up somewhere.
It was starting to annoy her.
"So, what happened, Muika?"
She withheld a sigh, telling herself that it wasn't a big deal. "When Dion and the others came back to Styx last night, Seimei came and took me to his office to talk about my work..."
Osamu's eyes lit up. "Oh! Is he recognizing your hard work! You really put the effort in. Perhaps you're getting a raise?! I'm so proud-"
"Actually, it's for the lack of it."
Osamu's mood shifted entirely, leaning forward with a concerned look on his face. Even more so than before.
The fact that he didn't say anything made her a bit unsure. But, she continued. "You remember how you took some of those files away from me? To keep me safe?"
Her brother nodded, "of course. Some of them were way too dangerous."
"Even though a guard or two would be posted with me during the session?"
"Mhm." he hummed with a nod.
Red eyes stared into another pair of red eyes.
For Muika, it was now or never. "You see, I talked with the wardens about those files after acquiring them and was given the okay to have said sessions, even ones that you deemed dangerous that I worked with before. With guards on scene thanks to you."
The elder sibling shot up. "What?! That's way too dang-"
"Please, let me finish..." she pleaded. Feeling a bit rude, Osamu sat back down. "Since it's my job, it got to the point where I was not doing my job. I know you mean the best for me, but I was brought into Seimei's office because you took away the files needed for my job and...it was brought up..."
Waiting for her brother's reaction, the timid young woman with ultra-violet hair leaned forward, keeping an eye on his expression.
Only for him to laugh it off. "Oh, that's all? I did say nothing to the wardens about it, I'll talk to them later about this misunderstanding and shortening your inmate-"
"Then what's the point?!" she shot out and as she did, it even took HER by surprise. Getting an odd look from her older sibling, she stuttered around for a while. "I mean, it's my job to help right? I know...I know you're keeping me safe but...it- it's interfering with my work..."
Osamu's expression softened a little. "Muika...I'm glad to hear that you're taking your job seriously and it makes me proud that you really want to help...but, it's just too dangerous. Even with guards. I can't be there all the time-"
"Then what's the purpose of me working here?" she asked, grabbing a hold of him. "If you don't want me getting hurt, why am I here? I can work with other guards, but why? Why?"
Osamu had nothing to say as he watched his sister crumble before him as a pain erupted deep inside. Though, he wondered what brought it up. Did someone talk to her about this?
"Muika-"
Ringing soon deafened the both of them as they were assaulted by the intercom blaring, "VILLAIN ATTACK ON STYX!"
Muika watched as her older brother darted towards his repaired suit of armour in that of mere seconds. Armour that he had to wear against any threat shown in (and out) of the prison due to the sole fact that he lacked a quirk.
"We'll talk about this later, Muika!" he managed to get out as he darted towards the entrance of Styx, following the message of the guard intercom.
That left her all alone.
Yet, not once did she look up when he left. "What is there to talk about?" she silently mumbled to herself, unaware of the fist she made. "What's the point of me working here if you keep doing this?"
As her head went back to what Tai and the others talked about during their night out, she shook her head. "He's...just making sure I'm safe..." she repeated to herself with a sniffle. "It's better than being back home..." As she rubbed one of her eyes, she heard a familiar voice.
"Are you sure that's it?"
Turning around, she saw that janitor from the other day that helped her when Vito was unleashed. Penthus.
"...wha..what do you mean?" she slowly croaked out as the janitor walked into the safety of the guard's break room.
The janitor shrugged at her. "Can't really say. I don't really know him after all. Just what me and some others see when he does this."
She gulped, her reddish coloured eyes stared at the man with hair covering their eyes. Well, her eyes were more wavering than anything. "Does this? I mean, can- er, what do you mean?"
"We humans might be a gossiping bunch, but don't you think-"
"I'm sorry. But, I need to know..." she rudely interrupted before bowing her head up and down in an apologetic manner.
Penthus hummed as he leaned against the wall. "I see, you're having doubts about him." he sighed, removing himself from said wall. "I have no idea what you've been through if anything, but if you really want to know what we see when he does this, even the positive talking about his precious little sister, it's not going to be easier to hear."
Penthus immediately took Osamu's spot as she wondered if she really wanted to hear this, but then her mind went back to how she got questioned by the warden due to the lack of her actually doing her job...
If this kept going...who knows where she'd end up in terms of work...
She only gave a nod, "well, to repeat what the angry sun guy says, siscon." he blurted out without hesitation. "From what I've heard from the guards, and just now, he seems...way too overprotective of you. Like way too overprotective."
Muika however, immediately shook her head. "N..No! It's just because we had a rough-"
"Not to mention that he stopped your work. I saw you head into the warden's office and come out looking miserable. It's easy to tell what happened when you walked out." the janitor sighed, "also being dragged around and being told what to do and what not to do, it must be tough for you in that sort of family relationship."
"Stop..." Muika's watery and droopy eyes stared down at her own hands as droplets fell onto her hands. "Osamu would never-"
"Just ask almost any guard and you'll get a similar response. More or less. I told you it wasn't going to be easy to hear and you still went through with wanting to hear it, didn't you?"
Silence from the younger Yomaura sibling for a good while. When she did want to say something back, it never left her throat. When she shared a look with the janitor, he added more.
"Who knows what he's doing behind the scenes, if anything."
Wiping both her eyes now, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Comforting in a way despite what they said.
"I did hear the end of your conversation and I just gotta tell you, if he won't let you do work in the prison, just move to another one. There are a lot of prisons out there to work in, hell even I'm thinking about moving from this hellhole, but I can't right now." The gel producing man leaned forward where he sat. "Think about it, this prison might be good but it isn't the best. Why don't you try giving Tartarus a shot? From the short time I've worked here, that place sounds a lot better. No riots, no deaths, no escape attempts or successful prison breaks. In such a short amount of time, Styx isn't really safe is it."
As silence filled the room for a few seconds, the janitor stood. "Well, I shouldn't be talking like this anyway, but give it a think. About your brother's intentions and about going to a new prison, like Tartarus."
She didn't realise Penthus had left when she looked back up to ask something else. Now alone once more in the break room, the long haired guard was left confused and twisted. Thinking about what he said, only one name she could think of popped into her head as her eyes started to glow.
Many rampant emotions ran through her as a flash of some event erupted in front of her, but before that she uttered...
"...what do I do?"
A white flash then showed her of a distant event.
"What's happening?" It took a short amount of time for a group of guards to assemble at the entrance of Styx, right as a wave of robotic horses charged. The suited up Osamu glanced at the others that were on the scene.
"Watchtower One mentioned that they saw a group of people on motorhorses rushing Styx." Tai huffed, cracking his knuckles. "It's just one thing after the other. At least it gives us something to do."
The other person present, Alexios, added, "then it must be that villain group: Mares of Diomedes."
A growl from a jackal came next. "It doesn't matter who they are, they're going down."
"Great. Just great." thought the recently returned guard, Dahlia. "These guys are insane, these villains are insane." as her mind raced a mile per minute, some other guards stood in the back.
The first was Bunri with a line of clones behind him.
The second was Suimin with her wings held out. All the while a smile on her face.
The third was the camera-lens eyed Yukiko.
The last additions to the group were the Sarugaku trio. Mizaru, Iwazaru and Kikazaru.
A small group if you didn't count the amount of clones behind Bunri of course.
"This should definitely be enough to handle this lot." Bunri mentioned, looking back at his amount of clones in attendance.
"Of course a villain raid would take place now of all days," huffed the guard clad in the white-coloured uniform. "I suppose it's a bit more exciting than picking up new inmates."
Osamu gave Yukiko a look, "seriously? We have more inmates coming today?"
"...yeah, it was out of the blue though."
Suimin then laughed. "Oh! Dion went to go pick them up right?" The harpy woman jumped on top of Kika's shoulders as she waved her wings around like some bizarre balancing act. "Oh hey, what's the event he asked you about? Is it the same as those sports matches the others talked about?"
Yukiko's lens-like eyes glanced back at the shortest member of the group. "...I got tickets to see Daedalus." she revealed. "He asked about how it went, but it's not until tonight."
"Daedalus?"
"Also known as the Garbage Musician, and before you ask, no. Not real garbage." Yukiko gave the others a stern look that froze them in place. Funnily enough, she hadn't used her quirk. "He makes music and instruments from different objects like how some people play the shovel like a guitar, stuff like that."
"Sounds fun!" the harpy laughed, jumping back down.
"Enough talk, we have pests to take care of," Tai growled, snapping his fingers as the shocking barrier guard stared at their attackers.
Alexios gazed out towards the rushing group, spying the poncho wearing member of the Mares taking the lead...and quite the distance too. "Looks like they're sending in the vanguard." he said, stepping forward. "If it's a direct assault, I'll make sure none slip through."
As the military coat wearing man walked forward, out towards the rushing poncho wearing man that took the lead in the assault, Alexios and the guards watched as Iggy suddenly jumped high into the air.
Leaping high into the air, throwing their poncho off to the side. Iggy started to change. His body started changing and growing. More scales appeared all around his body as a tail started to grow while he grew in size.
His legs had changed and so did his arms, having them turned into claws. Teeth sharpened much more. At this point, the now giant Iggy was no longer human.
As Iggy landed, something had replaced the poncho wearing cowboy.
Standing in front of the prison was a giant, kaiju-sized lizard. It's stance was similar to a tyrannosaurus rex but with longer arms than what you'd associate with the common depiction. The arms were sorta like arms of a raptor in that regard. Sporting a big underbite with an equally big chin, the dinosaur's teeth also showed even when it's mouth was closed as it's tail stretched pretty long.
It was definitely a giant threat.
As soon as he landed, a loud roar echoed through the sky.
Kaijusaur: Iggy can transform himself into a giant dinosaur-like creature. He's pretty much a kaiju at this point!
Alexios then felt a hand on his shoulder followed by a whistle and a teasing tone, "how are you going to deal with this? A lot of fish?" Tai removed his hand with a smirk.
As Iggy, in this new transformed form bent down, ready to attack, Dahlia noted, "hey, those other members are circling the prison..."
"Seems they're following leaders of the posse," Osamu also noted.
Mizaru sighed. "Well, let's just get around to taking care of them before they break into Styx."
"Like that will ever happen," Shi huffed as the guards went to intercept the other Mares, leaving Alexios behind with some clones on standby for any other member of the villain gang should they pass.
Alexios on the other hand...
He marched forward, military coat hanging on his shoulders flowing in the breeze.
"Sorry, but a lot of the inmates I'm working with are doing very well, I can't have you ruining their hard work."
Iggy's only response was that of a roar as sparks sparked around the guard with the three fates tattoo.
Then, Iggy charged. Rushing right at the guard blocking his path.
"I see, very well."
And then a wall of sparks arose.
It was time to deal with the attackers.
At the same time Alexios took on the giant kaiju dinosaur head on, the other guards headed out to take care of the other leaders leading the pack.
The clones had leapt into action with the Mares' grunts while Suimin, Yukiko and the Sarugaku trio took care of them as well.
Of course, this left a few other guards to intercept some higher profile villains in the mix.
Four other guards intercepted the four other members of the Mares of Diomedes. The higher profile targets and of course, it's leader. This was just one of these interceptions.
The suited up Osamu had intercepted one of the high ranking leaders.
Mortimer.
The older gentleman with a majestically grey moustache stepped off of the motorhorse with a quick look at the silver pocket watch he held onto. "I apologise sir, but we're in a hurry. Would you kindly step aside?"
The more aged man calmly approached, hand on the pocket watch. The only thing Osamu could do in this situation was approach the approaching gentleman. "No can do, sir."
A disappointed look flashed across the older man's face. Disappointment that a parent would give their child.
Something Osamu flinched at.
"My boy, you seem like a reasonable, armoured fellow," Mortimer began, the two getting ever so closer to each other while fighting surrounded them. "If you don't get out of the way, it seems I'll have to resort to some...more forceful methods."
The armoured Osamu raised his gauntlets. "Sorry, but something came up earlier and I really need to take care of it. Please surrender."
As Mortimer gave a final look at his pocket watch, he simply sighed. "It seems we've come to a standstill."
He might have been quirkless, but that wouldn't stop him from tying his best to prevent another incident. So he rushed in, closing the distance between him and the older outlaw, or what was left of the distance anyway.
"My, my. The young are always rushing in. A terrible habit."
Osamu's rush of a punch was easily dodged. Not even the emitted blast of the gauntlets he wore even came close to hitting the old man and presumably second in command of the Mares of Diomedes.
"Oh? A sneaky ranged attack you have there," Mortimer's eyebrows rose as he shortened the gap, kicking the armoured guard back. "Do try and keep up."
Another swing resulted in a miss. "Damn it. He's fast."
Mortimer however, looked back at the pocket watch. "My apologies, but we're just wasting valuable time here. I must be off, I have a meeting with one of our own, after all."
And he was off as Osamu went to intercept...however...
"Wait a minute..." Osamu watched slowly as he tried to turn around in time. Way too slow.
He was instantly struck by his elder who passed him in a second.
"Enjoy your slow descent, boy."
Slowmo: Mortimer has the ability to slow down those in a short radius around him for a little bit while he continues to move at a normal pace!
"Stop!" A pitiful cry followed by a blast of air from a gauntlet did it's best to catch up to the second in command, but the man, instead of heading into the battle where a giant lizard was, decided to turn right around and strike the quirkless guard for a second time.
"Shooting a man in the back is quite cowardly, you know."
With a kick, Osamu couldn't help but slowly try to regain control in any sort of way, but...he was moving way too slowly for him to actually do anything...
So he braced himself.
"Think Osamu, think! If you're suddenly moving so slowly, how do you get out of this..." thinking real hard, his mind wandered as he was punched. Protected by his armour of course.
Only an image of Muika appeared in his head. "Damnit..." he muttered under his breath.
As he felt himself crash (softly) into the ground, the man named Mortimer sighed before stamping down on the air blasting gauntlets.
"Please...I don't want them stuck in the armoury again!" It took a second for a lightbulb to go off in Osamu's head right after he made his move.
As Mortimer headed over to smash the other gauntlet's mechanism, he felt something on his leg, something gripping.
Mortimer watched with wide eyes as a hand grabbed his leg. "Gotcha..." the guard seemed happy, in a slowed down way.
It was seconds later that Osamu had stopped moving dreadfully slow, right as Mortimer's expression changed at the sight. "Cheeky brat."
Five different fights with the Mares, excluding the grunts, took place at once. Well, roughly the same time.
"As soon as I get back, of course some villains try to raid the prison for some inmate who probably isn't worth it. And I had to, just had to, have a dream about back then as well for whatever reason."
With a mind running miles fast, she stopped when she found herself face to face with a man wearing a duster.
"And where do you think you're going, you western reject." her tongue hissed, receiving a glare in return.
This man, Colt, raised his hand. A hole showed before a bang rang through the air and in a second, Dahlia dropped.
Thankfully for her, her reflexes were still sharp.
"Tch." Colt began to roll his duster sleeves up, to make it easier on his own quirk, revealing the revolver cylinders in his wrists. "Seems the surprise attack missed...barely."
Standing straight once more, she wouldn't admit that if she failed to move in time, she might be another corpse to clean up. Then her eyes went down, down to his wrists.
Seeing the revolver chambers in Colt's wrists as well as a small hole on each of his palms that he pointed at her, a lopsided smirk soon appeared on the young woman's face.
"Seems I got the easy pick. Lucky me."
The only downside to her was the fighting around her. Too much visual stimuli for her quirk happening around her. So many outcomes of X going to Y or X happening to make a different Y.
It would overload her for sure if she wasn't focused solely on him and his quirk.
But that didn't matter to her right now. Right now, she was up against an opponent that was practically an easy victory for her. All she had to do was not let herself get overloaded from everything happening around her.
Simple.
The open duster wearing crook before her spun the chambers in his wrists as his open palms faced towards her.
"Out of the way." was all he said as two loud gunshots rang through the air, right towards the freckled guard.
Yet, for Dahlia, she had dodged them with ease.
A scoff from Colt resulted in another shot. "Lucky."
Revolver: Colt's wrists are replaced with revolver cylinders and he has a hole in each palm! He can shoot a total of six 'bullets' per palm before needing to reload.
After a couple of more shots, Dahlia had easily dodged the shots. After he had reached the first six shots for a single wrist, he popped the cylinder out as unwanted material fell out onto the ground, before popping back into place.
And another gunshot followed right behind immediately.
The guard on the other hand was following Colt's movements closely, her eyes glued to where the shots would go. Colt suddenly fired, ricocheting off a small nearby rock.
To add insult to injury, Dahlia had dodged it yet again.
However, each shot was a close call. Whatever Dahlia was doing, it was definitely happening in real time.
"Is it some sort of foresight-type quirk?" Colt had no idea as he reloaded, choosing now to close the distance. "Hopefully the others are having an easier time."
He rushed towards the prepared guard, firing another two shots. At least, shots he knew would be pointless. "It must be vision based, her eyes definitely glued to my palms the moment I fired."
With a new game plan, Colt smirked under the bandana.
Dahlia considered her quirk to be complex, way too complex for those around her to simply understand. Probably due to how she words it, but it wasn't entirely complex when you broke it down.
Laplace Demon: When activated, Dahlia gains the ability to know the movement and momentum of any moving object as well as the possibilities if it was altered through her eyes in real time. She has to be careful though, the human mind can only take so much lest she suffer from an overload of information.
Despite the ability to see just where the walking revolver would shoot, Dahlia's use of the quirk carried risks.
Due to the nature of her quirk, Dahlia had to use it carefully, making sure not to use her quirk for too long and/or focusing only on the main target (or targets) close to her.
She didn't want to be driven mad.
Or worse.
"Well, at least I'm not dealing with fire..." she huffed at that. She could remember how powerless she was when dealing with things like heat before (and after) she joined Styx. "At least he's moving, making it way too easy."
Yet, in this moment of dodging Colt's shots, she was operating in real time. Any second, if she wasn't fast enough...she'd be out for the count. She could see, but she couldn't stop everything. For now, until he got close, she was stuck dodging.
"Hurry up and close the distance already!" she stepped forward herself, the gap between the two was still pretty big...
Of course, she knew she couldn't get too close, but as she dodged shot after shot, she made it a point to get closer. Waiting for the perfect time to strike.
More and more shots flew through the air as Dahlia suddenly got her chance. Rushing forward after the last shot, Colt's wrist chambers popped out.
The moment she was waiting for.
She grabbed a hold of the cowboy wannabe and positioning herself in a certain way, she was able to send the taller figure into the ground with a quick spin as a click went off, the chambers popping back in thanks to Dahlia's quick reflexes.
"Closing the distance like that," Colt's cold tone seemed quite impressed by it. "Sorry though, but you can't forcefully jam me like that."
Wriggling his hand around, his palm now faced her. "Should have pinned the hands."
Another gunshot followed a laugh. "Should have kept count, you know. One was still loaded...thanks for closing the distance though."
"...shit."
If she never had her quirk activated, she would have gained a nice, deadly bullet hole. The Laplace quirked woman managed to at least avoid any major damage. Major in this sense being death.
Sadly, she did get hit thanks to the close quarters of her situation.
She had no idea what the bullets were made out of, but it did get her in the arm.
This allowed him to free himself as the two engaged in a closer ranged fight, Colt trying to free himself as Dahlia dodged and weaved, making sure the outlaw stayed down despite managing to get on his feet.
Unfortunately for Dahlia...she saw past the man she was fighting.
A small group of grunts fighting against (and losing) against a bunch of clones as one of the other back up guards took down multiple at a time with their own quirks. Flashes that froze them all in place, forcefully having their eyes closed, speaking gibberish, being put to sleep with feathers, the world around them going silent...
Dahlia saw it all.
Her mind was racing faster than ever, she had to stop. Now.
It was already digging straight into her mind and so, she had no choice but to cancel her quirk. Dahlia was normally good at her selective usage of her own quirk, she spent eight years before joining Styx with a man named Proxy working with her quirk after all.
But right now, it wasn't the best situation. So, with a blink, she deactivated her quirk.
And the man who had yet to reload again, attacked.
Tai grinned as he happened to find himself face to face with one of the higher ranked members of the Mares.
His opponent, Niwa, stood in front of many motorhorses. Some motorhorses were all stationed far back, untouched by the battles, but the ones ditched with Niwa? All in close proximity.
Cracking his knuckles, Tai shot her a sadistic grin. "So you're my opponent, huh?"
"Seems that way," came a rather lazy tone.
At this moment, these two knew. One had to fight in order to progress and the other couldn't wait to get started.
It was time to act!
It was then that the normally piloted robotic horses started to attach themselves to the posse's mechanic. It was like some gravitational pull that brought them to Niwa as something new emerged, mostly around her arms.
Technomerge: Niwa can merge herself with technology and other devices onto her body! Niwa uses this to assume different forms!
"Oh?" Tai stepped back as he witnessed the new form of Niwa. While she herself still remained, the motorhorses that attached themselves to her gave her a new appearance. For instance, while some parts of the motorhorses were attached to her like armour, the main focus was on her arms and what seemed like hundreds of legs and hooves.
This was just one of Niwa's forms she could take with the multiple robotic horses of the posse.
"I call this, Hoofed Hecatoncheires."
It definitely lived up to its name. With multiple hooves for arms, it was what she called it to be.
A scoff was all she got from the blonde guard. "A super-move? What are you, a shitty hero?"
Niwa scoffed, "more like a shitty mockery of them."
A laugh echoed from the place where the both of them stood. "Really now? I like your style. You might not be so bad, after all."
Tai raised his arm, ready to lob his quirk through the air.
As he created his miniature sun, allowing the heat to radiate off the flaming sphere, he suddenly sent it flying at the hundred hoofed Niwa.
Suddenly a shift in the robotic form shot out a motorhorse, a smaller one. It flew through the air, colliding with Tai's mini-sun.
Niwa called this one: "Bucking Bronco."
As the little robotic horse crumbled to pieces, Tai's focus was now on something else as he let the sun disappear.
Niwa already began her attack. This time, with the seemingly hundreds of hooves and legs ready to kick him, he was soon hit with a barrage.
"Hoofed Hecatoncheires: Stampede!"
Each word from Niwa's mouth on her own 'super-moves' carried a venomous tone, as if mocking the very thing she was using.
Tai on the other hand, was caught in a barrage of robotic horse legs.
Due to the sheer number of stamping legs acting as arms, avoiding all of them from an incredibly short range was almost impossible.
He couldn't get away unscathed this time. Stuck on the defensive as he was struck by the sudden stampede, his red eyes caught sight of one of those robotic horses heads. Launching right at him.
Thankfully for Tai, his leg blocked the strike while Niwa yawned.
As she did, she adjusted the lollipop in her mouth, watching the robotic legs trample the guard underneath as waves of steam came from the gaps. "Hm?" eyes narrowed at the sight of heat bending every which way.
By the time she jumped back, she already lost a few legs. Standing in place was the guard and a miniature sun that disappeared at a moment's notice.
"Seems I couldn't stamp you out for good." she popped the lollipop out, keeping her eyes on the guard.
"You got to try better than that!" a laugh from the guard. He gave a look to the other 'parked' motorhorses in the background.
"Heh. I see, I heard that the Mares of Diomedes were a travelling group. So you're the person that helped them get around." stretching his arms, the sun guard smiled a different kind of smile. One that was different from the one he gave a larger majority of inmates. "Now. Entertain me some more."
Back to the main entrance of Styx, Alexios found himself against quite the foe.
A kaiju sized lizard. Practically a dinosaur all things considered.
One that was trying to kill him at that.
Alexios had jumped back as the now giant dinosaur that was Iggy stomped his foot on the ground. The guard even dodged the swipe of his now added tail. Despite all the attacks Iggy tried to land and how Alexios kept dodging the mindless swings, the coat hanging off Tatopoulos' shoulders refused to fall off.
"Not once since he transformed did he utter any words. All he does is roar," Alexios noted, jumping to the side as the open maw of the dinosaur snapped shut as it crashed into the ground.
After a while, raising his head high, Iggy let out a roar. A really, really, loud roar.
It was enough to cause many in close proximity to halt in place.
By the time Alexios himself recovered, he watched as the Mare of Diomedes charged head first towards the gates of Styx.
There was no time to lose now.
Alexios left the ground running, breaking out into a full sprint after the charging Iggy. Iggysaur? Anyway, as he followed the person in question in hot pursuit.
The clones stationed in front of the prison threw themselves into the line of fire, anything to slow down the enormous titan that tried to breach its walls.
Giving any second that allowed Alexios to catch up.
And caught up he did.
Thanks to the clones, Iggy was slowed down just enough for Alexios to catch up just a smidgen. Styx's walls were sturdy and this wasn't the first time someone had tried to break into Styx and it probably won't be the last.
Alexios knew that his opponent would be busy headbutting it, or transforming to go in directly, but he wasn't about to let that happen as he managed to get up on the kaiju's tail.
Proceeding up the tail and onto the back, it seemed that the not-so-friendly giant lizard noticed the pesky fly on its back. Turning from their objective, it suddenly turned into one gigantic rodeo!
Bucking and twisting, Alexios managed to stand his shaky ground, all the while proceeding further and further up. Without a second's notice, Iggy launched himself, jumping high as he could into the air, again and again to shake the man off his back.
And it was working.
The electric blue eyed guard grabbed hold of whatever he could on the outlaw's back to the best of his abilities. It didn't help that Iggy resumed the charge, but instead of doing it head first like he planned.
He slammed his side into the wall of Styx, a bit away from the entrance thanks to the rodeo show on his back.
With a huff, Alexios had managed to keep himself on, making his way very slowly to Iggy's head.
And in turn, Iggy became more wild in his attempts as Alexios climbed.
Sadly for Iggy, Alexios already reached the neck!
In a last ditch attempt to remove the flea from his neck, Iggy slammed into the ground, rolling like a pig in the mud. In turn taking out a few members of his own group in the process.
Standing back up with a roar, the dinosaur froze.
Someone was staring straight into his eyes. Someone managed to get to his face.
Looking into the giant's eye, Alexios smiled. "Going all this way to save someone you care about. I admired that." he told the kaiju, "but, I can't let you do this. Not when their rehab is going well. I'm sorry."
Iggy's eyes widened as he suddenly felt a shock going through his system, mostly his face.
Mere moments passed as Iggy froze in place and eventually fell to the ground with a loud thud as Alexios gracefully touched the ground.
Giving the fallen kaiju a look, Alexios wondered. Will the dinosaur get back up?
He really hoped they didn't, for everyone's sake.
Out of all the guards, the one to jump right into action right away after the other members of the posse was the prison's guard dog, Shi or known to others as Cerberus.
It seemed her haste in apprehending these criminals got her the best of the bunch. Bariki. The leader of this posse.
"So they're here for Mulhall..." the jackal narrowed her eyes even further than what they usually were. "Just try it." she growled out, letting the horse know just what was up.
Bariki didn't say a word, just waved her hand as the grunts got to work. Most of the grunts began battling the others, but a small few threw themselves at the jackal.
Sadly for them, these grunts were whacked away quite easily. "Stand. Down." growled Shi.
That was her first and final warning.
"Hmph." seeing the fallen grunts, the leader approached. "We will get Mulhall back. You should be the one standing down."
All that she got was a growl as Shi charged head first. Showing off her sharp fangs, the jackal headed woman lunged!
"So simple." Bariki stood her ground despite the muscular woman homing in on her. All she had to do was raise her leg at the right moment, a second away from the dog's grasp.
And then...
A powerful kick right in the gut sent Shi to the ground within seconds!
Horsepower: Bariki has the traits of a horse and the power to back that up! Not only does she sport horse-like features, she also sports high speed, stamina, strength and endurance you'd expect from a horse! Not to mention powerful legs that can give a really mean kick!
Shi cursed herself as she managed to get back up. It was not even a day since the fight with that intruder in the sewers of Styx...she had to be careful. She had to be quick about this fight.
Sadly for her, Bariki had no plans of going down that easily.
The Mare of Diomedes was already upon her. A fierce look was in the leader's eyes as she prepared to kick Shi again, but this time, aiming for the head. It was then that Shi realised.
The rodeo had only just begun.
As the alarms rang early in the morning, the shirtless cowboy that was Mulhall leaned against the wall for a while in the safety away from the ward. Quite far in fact, sure there were still guards around, but it was much more comfortable for him and a few others.
Whatever the hell was happening out there? He didn't care, it didn't really affect him at all right now. He had something else to do.
A red light turned green as he was given access to step forward. Stepping into the room full of lights and watching eyes, he gave the inmate across from him a look.
Shaking his head, he couldn't believe they'd put up someone so weak against him. Still, it killed time he was willing to share.
"It's time to enter Limbo yet again."