Alexios gave a look to the fallen kaiju in front of Styx. "I wonder if he'll stay like this?" as the shocking barrier man mused to himself, a low rumble coursed through the ground. "Hm?"
It didn't take long to realise where the rumbling was coming from as Iggy's eyes shot open. Without hesitation, eyes glued themselves to the guard that knocked him down as the titan immediately rose.
And out of the blue, the dinosaur spun in place. Iggy's large tail slammed into the guard, who managed to raise his arms into the air just in time, but it didn't stop the attack nor the pain when Alexios was sent flying into Styx's wall.
Letting out a grunt, Alexios looked up to see Iggy charging head first right at him and the wall. He didn't have much time to act, so he quickly got to work.
As soon as he saw the dinosaur, another one of Alexios' shock barriers came to life in front of Iggy's warpath. Though, the kaiju slid to a stop. He just stood there now, watching as Alexios' barrier stood in the way, doing effectively nothing.
"Clever boy," came the smile from the guard who stepped away from the wall.
With a large roar, the giant kaiju began to stomp down on the ground hard, causing a rumble. The more he stomped, faster and harder than the last, Alexios quickly ran towards the kaiju Iggy as best he could on the now shaky ground.
A glint appeared in that rumbling kaiju-dinosaur's eyes and without warning, Alexios found himself staring down a giant row of teeth. Suddenly being scooped up, Tatopoulos now fought against the giant rows of teeth that threatened to either shred him up or possibly be eaten by Iggy.
After managing to avoid being impaled by sharp teeth, Iggy's maw closed shut, tightly so as Alexios noticed. "Trying to eat me? Interesting method I suppose." he soon rolled up his sleeves, showing off his three fates tattoo. "I don't know if you hear me, but you do remember by quirk, right?"
A couple of sparks zapped around the muscular man as a dome of electricity surrounded the electric blue eyed man, the silver sparks in his eyes seemingly more wild and alive than before.
From the outside as Iggy walked over to Styx, doing his best to swallow his prey, he heard the voice. And then, all he felt was pain.
Moving every which way, the dinosaur tried to open its mouth, but the pain of the electricity was too great.
Twitching all over, Iggy stumbled around as his claws scratched at his mouth, forcing himself to open. He finally managed to do so as he spat out the annoying zapping guard, though he did fall to his knees in the process, head resting against the ground.
Alexios on the other hand just opened the dinosaur's mouth without much effort and out he jumped before a claw grabbed him. "Still got more in you?" blue eyes looked down, seeing the wobbling of the lizard's legs. "One more shock to the system should do it."
The grip started to tighten as best as the huffing dinosaur could muster. He had to do it quickly before it all went dark with how hard he was being crushed, even when pushing back proved easier now that Iggy took considerable damage. "I told you, didn't I?"
Once more, Iggy was hit by the shock, dropping Alexios in the process.
Grabbing hold of one of the claws, Alexios pulled himself up, letting his electrical barrier do the work of keeping Iggy occupied. Repositioning himself as the shock barrier wore off with Iggy twitching here and there, Alexios sent out a larger barrier than before, shocking Iggy for one, final time.
What looked like smoke flowed off the kaiju's body as the dinosaur's eyes rolled up inside their own skull.
And down Iggy came.
The titan that was Iggy fell to the ground once more with a loud thud as Alexios landed gracefully on the ground nearby. Giving a single look over his shoulder, Iggy was down for a second time and what it seemed, down for good this time.
Niwa watched the grinning guard cautiously.
A quirk like his was quite dangerous to what she attached to herself. "Bariki is probably entering Styx right at this moment, so-" she 'punched' with her right arm, firing multiple outstretched robotic hooves at the guard who stood before her.
She watched as Tai dropped and dodged her first wave of projectiles, right before throwing another sun at her arms.
As she fired yet another robotic horse head to intercept the guard's sun, a portion of the motorhorses shifted in place. The arms seemed longer and more organized in rows than the overcrowded form it once was. Now some of the motorhorse parts seemed to coat around her legs.
"Gallop," the tone sounded more like an order as she travelled at great speeds. The sound of hooves hitting the ground like another stampede.
Red eyes watched as Niwa circled him before he was faced with the stampede before him. Jumping out of the way, Tai spat, "come on. You gotta do better than that-"
Spoke too soon as another horse head shot out like a rocket, hitting him in the gut. Kicking the head away now, Niwa was already on him again, firing another robotic horse head.
Raising a hand to create another sun, Tai's eyes widened at what he witnessed.
The motorhorse head opened its mouth! Forcing itself to create a mouth, the now jagged and sharp looking mouth (still connected to Niwa) bit down on his arm, cancelling the growing sun. The fact that it ripped open a mouth to use definitely left quite the impression.
"I think you already know what this is called. However I call it: Flesh Eating Mare."
"Heh, Mares of Diomedes...clever..." grunted Tai, not even looking at the biting mare on his arm. "Shit stings."
Popping her lollipop out for a second, she returned the sentiment from early. "That good enough for you then? It looks like you wanna hiss from the horse bite."
"Nah. I'm good." he waved his bitten arm around, but the mare's head kept its tight hold.
Niwa didn't say a word as more horse heads forced open their mouths, creating multiple sharp, broken mouths. Pointing her lollipop forward, the other heads lunged forward.
The first head that approached was kicked away by Tai. Thanks to the one biting down, he couldn't break away freely, seeing as when he did he was yanked right back. It gave enough time for another head to bite down on his leg.
Then another bit him in the side, but it was a lot less painful than the others while more surrounded him, ready to chow down on flesh. "If you surrender now, I'll let you spend a few more moments before blood loss kicks in."
Another mare bit down on his shoulder of the unbitten arm.
"I gotta give you credit. Shit stings. Stings real bad." he admitted, ignoring the blood he shed and the growing pain. Not to mention the one biting his side slowly began to dig in.
"Are you acting tough?"
"Heh...but you know something?" he asked, red eyes staring into her dark green eyes. "I can still create a hot sun, despite all this. Restrictions mean nothing."
From his hand, the temperature began to rise. The source of this heat was that of a sphere of flames. Tai's Miniature Sun.
The robotic horses bit down harder, trying to dispel the quirk, but Tai's sudden grin sent a clear message.
Niwa's hand shot forward as a bigger horse head shot out, biting down on the sun...but, as time went on, the larger robotic horse head started to melt.
The surrounding horses head honed in on the sun, releasing a cloud of mist from their robotic noses.
"Is that supposed to be coolant or something?" he teased, watching the twitch from Niwa. "Something like that can't extinguish my sun."
"If my coolant can't stop it, beating you until you black out will do."
As a barrage of different attacks occurred such as horse heads biting down and the previous hoof barrage starting to rain down once more, Tai couldn't help but grin from the pain as the heat slowly began to weaken the robotic parts around him.
"For a goddamn villain, you're not that bad compared to all the dumb ugly mugs that keep thinking their hot shit!"
Niwa watched as the miniature sun in Tai's hand started to glow, the waves of heat growing more and more hot and intense. The robotic parts around Tai began to melt faster and faster as he shrugged off the loosened horse heads off his body.
Even the ground below was starting to become hot to stand on like beach sand on a hot day!
It was then that Tai's sun changed. No longer was it the usual red, but...
The miniature sun was now white!
"Catch." Tai threw the sun like a baseball, hurling towards the mecha-armed woman.
Now with the white sun close to her, Niwa shifted the attached motorhorses into a new form, but sadly...she saw signs of them starting to melt already. "Damn…" there was no choice now for her.
She started to eject herself from the mechanized form she created.
Landing on a pair of robotic horse hooves, they kicked her into the air away from the sight she witnessed. The melting pot created by the white sun. Landing as quickly as she did, with a roll, she made a dash for the spare mares.
"Leaving so soon?" She was cut off by the ash blonde man. "We even got you reservations for your own cell!"
There was only one option left now when she saw the defeated form of the grunts around her.
A sigh came from the pink haired woman as she tossed the now empty lollipop stick to the ground.
"...I give."
"Cheeky brat."
As soon as Osamu heard that he was immediately kicked like a down dog. Kicked hard enough multiple times until he was forced to relinquish his hold on the villain's leg.
At least the slowdown had stopped...
"Did you enjoy the show, boy?" Mortimer kneeled next to the flipped over guard. "Now, if you don't mind me, I got a place I need to be soon."
Taken by surprise at how Mortimer grabbed his wrist, pulling him up, Osamu saw the sudden smirk on the villain.
"You seem to be having a good time, so have a bit more fun in slow motion."
Being tossed aside, Osamu could barely control his movements to correct himself! "Damn it. I can't move in time-"
A hand grabbing the back of his head, the helmet was slammed into the ground multiple times.
For now, he was a sitting duck. The only time he got a hold on the man was already wasted.
Hearing the footsteps put space between the two, the slowly moving armoured Osamu did his best to move as quickly as he could.
"Think, Osamu, think! How can I deal with someone who can slow people down? He's clearly not slowing time itself down..." Osamu's concealed eyes under the helmet looked around everywhere, watching the battles all around the two and how Mortimer checked his watch before kicking him away. "Argh."
As he slowly floated backwards, Osamu glanced back at the moustache man. "...Wait...he's very focused on that pocket watch...but how can I fight back? I'm just a sitting duck whenever this happens. It's only a matter of time before he ditches me for good."
Holding on for the time when he was able to move back to normal, Mortimer was already about to continue if it weren't for the sudden blast from the non-smashed gauntlet, blasting the cowboy away suddenly.
"Ah..." Osamu worked hard to get himself back on his feet. "Ah...ah...I see..."
When the quirkless guard looked up, he noticed that Mortimer was just...dusting himself off. Like what Osamu did was just get his attire dirty and nothing more. Once more he checked the pocket watch.
Though when Mortimer took a step forward, Osamu raised his hand. Pointing right at the Mares of Diomedes second-in-command. "...I think I got your quirk all figured out." a bold proclamation.
"Hm?"
"I noticed something." the elder Yomaura began. "You keep looking at your pocket watch. At first I thought it was a personality quirk, but after experiencing your quirk first hand, you need that watch, right?"
Shakily stepping forward, the slowed down moves of Osamu had reverted. "Only those close to you are affected and it doesn't seem like it lasts too long." clicking his covered fingers together, he ended up pointing at the elderly gentleman again. "So that watch is an indicator of when your quirk runs out or the cooldown before it can be used again!"
As Osamu pointed at the man who looked away from his watch, the two entered a silent staring contest as the clashes of battle echoed around them. They stared at one another for quite some time as a gust of wind brought in a tumbleweed out of nowhere.
Osamu, feeling kinda silly, was too late to act.
"Oh no..."
He dropped his guard.
"Wrong," Mortimer chided as Osamu found himself slowing down once more. "I just hate wasting time."
Back into the ground he went, this time the elder of the Mares began to stomp the guard into the ground, again and again. "Stay down this time, boy. You'll leave me no choice if you stand up again."
In the slow moving space, Osamu fired off another hopeless blast into the ground below. "Really hope this works..."
"What the-" now coughing and spitting, Mortimer crossed his arms as a cloud of dirt exploded into the air before he himself was hit in the gut by an unseen force. "Egh?!"
"Finally, I managed to get some hits in." Osamu huffed, quickly using this time to rush in, now that he could move normally once more. "Better not let you follow up."
Firing another blast as he ran, the unseen blast burst through the cloud of dirt, slamming into Mortimer once more.
Making sure to keep his distance, Osamu blasted away with his remaining working weapon gauntlet. "What an annoying brat you are. First, shooting a man in the back like a coward, now..."
Osamu noticed the change in the atmosphere. Like reading the tension of a room where two people had an argument.
Mortimer's movements seemed more fluid, or perhaps the elder sibling was more focused on it more than before.
"You leave me no choice now." Almost immediately, Mortimer's hand went inside of his jacket, revealing a gun holster. Quickly drawing the pistol within the holster, he gave it a quick spin.
After the display, the gun was on full display.
A revolver.
"He...he never was taking our fight seriously..."
While Osamu wasn't entirely worried at first thanks to the armour he wore having been tested along with the other armour suits against a multiple range of things, like guns, seeing the gun now pointed at him made him question it.
And Mortimer was moving faster than he could. "One." he slowly called out, firing the first bullet, but instead of expecting a quick shot to the body, the bullet never came. "Two." another shot as he moved around as Osamu witnessed what was going on.
The fired bullets moved ever so slowly...like him.
"What the? No, he can't be!"
"Three."
Mortimer was now behind him.
"He's circling me!"
"Four...five..."
"Moving will do nothing! I'm surrounded by bullets!"
"Six," the final shot as Mortimer came back around to face the slowed guard. He even gave a nice bow for his performance. "Enjoy the fireworks, my good fellow. At least die knowing you died as a spectacle, instead of being another smear on the ground."
"I...won't die. Not here."
There were still things he had to do, someone he needed to talk with. Yet, in this situation...what could he do?
"...is this the uselessness of people who lack quirks?" he couldn't help but think of his parent's faces as that thought entered his head. The bullets were slowly circling him as Mortimer refused to turn his back on him, though he did walk slowly back to the entrance of Styx.
The only thing he could do was hope that all six bullets only hit the armour and he'd survive.
When he looked around, he saw the large prison tower over all of them.
"...I can't think of anything..."
He was stuck. Six bullets circled him, getting ever so closer in slowed down time. He couldn't escape.
The only thing he could do...was put trust in the armourers. His suit saved him from Vito after all.
Then, things sped up.
Six different bullets slammed faster than he expected into the armour. Falling to the ground at the sudden force of the bullets, Osamu was eventually thrown to the side. Tossed around like a plaything.
"...finally down for good, brat?" Mortimer kept his eyes on the fallen armoured man. "...if that armour is bulletproof, it should be weakened. Technology really advanced so much as soon as our quirks became commonplace."
Holding up his revolver, he popped the chamber out. "Six more shots should be enough to confirm if he's dead."
"Argh...I'm alive?" were Osamu's first thoughts as he hit the ground. "But, the impact really hurts...wait...he's reloading! I won't survive another round."
He only had one chance as Mortimer walked forward, putting the last bullet into the chamber. "Goodbye," the gun pointed down as it fired, recoiling up high into the air.
Extremely high as Mortimer's eyes glanced up at his gun.
The gun high in the air.
The quick glance down at the guard resulted in the emitted blast crashing into the cowboy's face. Osamu fired again and again as his free hand started to pull the smashed bullets in his armour out.
Huffing and puffing, the quirkless man watched as Mortimer fell to the ground. Rolling over, Osamu watched the clear blue sky for what felt like hours before realising the threat nearby.
Still on the ground himself, Osamu rolled himself over to look over at Mortimer. The elderly gentleman finally went down for good, he had yet to get back up. Rolling back over, Osamu huffed.
"I'm exhausted..."
Shi had only barely dodged the sudden kick from the motorhorse gang leader. She even witnessed Bariki give a good whack to the ground where her head would be if she didn't move.
Her only response was to growl like the dog she was.
The battle of the jackal and horse was already underway with both of them rushing each other so suddenly. The black-backed jackal woman was the first to make a move, opting to go for a pin.
Now, jackals have a physique that is well-suited for long-distance running. The black-backed jackal is also the most lightly built jackal as well as the most aggressive of the jackals, being known to attack prey many times its own weight.
Something Shi, unaware of it or not, reflected to a degree.
However, the woman before her with slight horse features also carried the boon common with horses. Things common in Bariki's Horsepower. Strength, endurance, speed, the works. Horses used for racing, horses used for labour like pulling carts or ploughs, etc.
There were even some horses known for their speed, like how the quarter horse is known for great speeds over short distances. Then there was a horse like Secretariat that ran each quarter-mile faster than the one before it, still being able to accelerate in a race.
Both of them weren't exact replicas of their quirk-themed animal. They were human, after all. Like with any quirk that grants humans the abilities of animals, it was to be expected that some things could be different.
Like being able to breath on land despite having the features and gills of a fish.
However, in the charge of these two animal quirk users, the one who connected first was undoubtedly, Bariki.
Unlike the growling jackal, she went with a strong kick, sending the jackal head first to the ground. "Don't expect me to be a prey animal, scavenger."
As she landed a second kick to the downed dog, a hand gripped hard on her other leg and with a quick yank, the horse fell.
Quickly following up with a punch as she quickly got up, Shi Banken tried to restrain the leader of the Mares beneath her.
But Bariki's kicks packed quite the punch.
Shi gritted her curved canine teeth as the pain swelled up within her. Releasing a hand to grab at least one of the legs, the match soon turned into that of a wrestling match. Bariki kicked as Shi began trying to stomp the horse, and while both were hitting each other...
"Agh-" Shi grunted at the pain. She was falling behind.
The horse's kick was superior in this fight.
With a roar, Shi lifted the outlaw leader as fast as she could before chucking her up in the air. The time she came down (pretty quickly) Shi swiped at the mid-air Bariki before falling to her own knees.
Her opponent crashed into the ground, thankfully for Shi it was on some bad ground with some uncomfortable, albeit small, rocks. It made things awkward and painful for a landing, but not much else as she slowly got herself up.
Down on her knees, Shi watched as Bariki was getting a couple of good breaths in herself. Shi quickly launched herself over as she tackled the horse woman, engaging in another round of real close fisticuffs.
After a long brawl, Shi bared her fangs. Fangs of a predator, of a hunter.
Seeing what she was doing, Bariki's hands were now occupied keeping the snapping jaws of Shi away from her body at any cost but after a long struggle with the two also still kicking each other, Shi eventually bit down onto the posse leader's shoulder.
"AAAARGH!" Bariki released a guttural scream, yet Shi didn't stop her attack. The sounds of the leader's screams continued even when Shi eventually released her bite, choosing now to apprehend the criminal, despite the blood and pain.
It didn't help that she was still kicking, wildly from the pain.
"Stay still!" the collar wearing guard known as Cerberus grunted out, getting kicked all over, to the point of wheezing. "This isn't good..."
With multiple powerful and strong kicks that didn't hold back to her own gut, chest and wherever else they could kick, Shi was in danger if it kept up. "I...gotta end this now..."
During fights with inmates, Shi rushed in and dealt with them before things got bad. Though, there were a small handful of inmates in the prison that could give her a run for her money if they decided they wanted to fight or decided to fight seriously.
Low as those numbers were, it was a possibility. A list that she could count out if given the time. It wasn't an easy count, but you get the picture.
But that's why she trained so diligently, pushed herself despite it all. It's why she gained the title of Cerberus.
Her quirk might only give her jackal features and abilities, like enhanced smell and all that, but her physical training paid off. All those years didn't go to waste. So if a serious fight ever came before her, she'd be ready.
And right now? Shi was in one of those serious fights.
Clenching her teeth together, Shi went in again, attacking endlessly at the opponent beneath her. She did her best to ignore the pain of kicks that could have very well taken her head clean off if she wasn't careful.
Shi was uncertain of the actual numbers, but a part of her knew that if she didn't bite the woman before her: Bariki had a higher chance of winning this fight.
The jackal kept attacking and attacking until she realised that the horse had finally stopped kicking.
When she finally did, she crumbled to the ground not too long after, wheezing and panting. Doing her best to just breathe.
Quickly deactivating her quirk to avoid the painful overload, Dahlia was instantly struck by the cowboy wannabe Colt.
To Dahlia, taking the attack was better than seeing the vast space of possibilities, overloading her brain to a dangerous amount.
As Colt got a few good hits in, he quickly popped out his wrists, putting the distance between himself and the guard who stood in his way. "I should fall back now, it doesn't seem like things are going smoothly."
When his revolver cylinder wrists snapped back into place as some unused organic material fell to the ground, another 'bullet' flew through the air right as Dahlia recovered.
Only one hit connected in the side of her leg. "Ssh-" hissed the scottish woman as she made a point to keep moving, activating her quirk suddenly for the next ten shots.
Colt moved in closer, jumping into the air to get some more shots.
"You have to try better than that, western reject," moving every which way she saw coming, she was quickly back on her feet, pressing a hand against the wound in her leg. "His shots...they're getting faster. Urgh. Typical."
Blood typical indeed.
"Of course they get faster! They always get faster!"
Now the much faster shots by the outlaw, Dahlia was forced to move faster herself. She really thanked that her quirk was keeping her safe, though she was starting to get grazed. Mostly damaged to her uniform and a few 'cuts' from whatever those bullets were supposed to be.
Waiting for Colt to reload, that's when she pulled something out of her pockets. "Huh?" Colt immediately began to put distance between them once more as she opened what seemed to be a small green bag.
Another lopsided smirk appeared on the young woman's face as she quickly got to work before he realised.
Dahlia began to perform first aid, well, close enough to deal with the leg wound before the gunslinger realised what she was doing. "It's a good thing I'm the only one with a brain to carry a small first aid bag on me."
She prided herself on this little act, not many other guards even kept first aid on hand. If they got injured (rarely), or mainly when an inmate got injured, it was straight to the infirmary. Of course, most people who choose to carry one were only used on serious inmate injuries.
"Just goes to show I'm the only one here with a working brain."
Now with hastily applied bandage work around her leg, a small injection of a tiny needle and how Colt narrowed in on her with gritted teeth, Dahlia stood tall. "Heh, compared to what Proxy put me up to, your little bullets... it's quite refreshing."
A barrage of shot bullets followed a roar as her eyes witnessed first hand of where the bullets found themselves going. Quickly deactivating right after, the now closer Colt was suddenly punched.
Punched right in the face.
Dahlia wasn't trained by a bounty hunter that specialised in assassinations for nothing.
Well, despite the whole killing thing, so a part was wasted...but hey, she was still taught many tools of the trade.
She kept her quirk deactivated for now but kept her eyes on the prize. She couldn't really survey the proper damage of what those 'bullets' did to her arm or leg aside from the quick first aid work she hastily performed, but she needed to see the doctor right away after this.
Standing was a little wonky too.
"As long as his movements don't produce multiple outcomes, this will be over soon."
There was another risk to her quirk and that was: possibilities.
Even though her quirk granted her the ability to see where an object would go, that didn't mean there was only one way for an object to go. While most of the time she saw the one route an object would go, like Colt's shots, there were times where it was up in the air. Times when she saw multiple routes.
And that was really straining whenever that happened.
She followed up on her attack, not giving the cowboy a chance to reload. Using Proxy's teachings, she pinned, countered and landed good hefty punches in the places to keep the man down.
The only time she kicked him away was when she heard the closing of his revolver chambers.
A look of rage washed over Colt, holding his hand up giving the odd image of him wanting to stop the fight, yet at the same type making it look like a stick up thanks to the hole in his palm connected to his revolver-like wrists.
It was then that Colt removed his left hand, placing it near the chamber on his right wrist. "I call this: fanning the hammer, or fan for short." spinning the cylinder, he began to shoot, faster than before.
Six rapid shots.
It was like machine gun fire compared to before.
Dahlia Pietyr dropped to the ground, barely becoming another corpse like her parents.
But when the other wrist was ready to unleash another wave, that's when she was in trouble. She didn't have time to activate her quirk in time, so she leapt into action as quickly as she could.
The thought of throwing the small, green first aid bag did pop into her mind. Speaking of which, it wasn't surprising that she was able to think so quickly, thanks to her mind usually racing miles fast.
But right now, she made a decision. A quick decision.
She never once let the training from her mentor go to waste.
"Proxy taught me how to deal with you long ranged idiots."
"You're crazy!" Colt yelled, already firing his quirk as he watched the bounty hunter trained woman close the distance between them. Despite the speed and rapidness of his shots, he was only following the sliding woman whose legs wrapped around his own.
It only took a second, maybe two, for the ground to suddenly become the ceiling.
Grabbing a hold of the man's arm, she quickly twisted and pulled Colt's arm in a way that made a nice pop sound before sending him further into the dirt. "Know when to stay put, idiot."
Releasing a series of punches to his face, Dahlia eventually slowed down when she realised he was finally done for. Colt was finally defeated. "Bloody finally."
As she looked around to see what the status of the villain raid was, that's when she realised.
The battle with the Mares was over.
Giving her arm and leg a look, she thought to herself. "Better see the doctors for this, huh?" Especially before the needle wore off. "The doctors really do make some good stuff. Surprisingly."
For now, it was time to head back. "Oh right," she grabbed hold of the unconscious man's leg and started to drag him back to the gates of Styx.
It was finally over.
The Mares of Diomedes had put up a hard fought fight, but in the end, compared to the guards at Styx, it might as well be for naught.
The cowboy gang, the Mares of Diomedes, had been defeated! Another victory for Styx!
"So what do we do with these guys?" Tai asked, carrying over the defeated Niwa to the entrance of Styx. Her hands cuffed behind her as she was over his shoulder. "Are we going to register some of these as inmates here?"
"I suppose so," Alexios wondered aloud as he glanced towards the unconscious Iggy, still in his giant transformed state.
Shi huffed as she walked on over and put the knocked out leader of the posse down. "Sending them elsewhere will be pointless..." she took a good second to breathe.
As Dahlia dragged Colt over while Osamu carried the unconscious Mortimer over like he was bringing a drunk buddy home, Yukiko made herself known. "I've already called the wardens. All high profile targets are to be registered as inmates of Styx, the grunt members are to be sent to other minor prisons."
"This would have taken like a minute with your quirk," Dahlia huffed as the lens-eyed guard shrugged.
"I have to leave some work for you guys," the white cladded guard smirked. "Don't want to extend my own hours."
Osamu, at this point, coughed. "So...what about their motorhorses?" He gave a look to two different groups of robotic horse mounts. The first group being well kept and untouched by battle, the others were destroyed beyond repair.
"You bring me to the next point," Yukiko continued. "All working Motorhorses are to be stored along with the buses or the droids. The destroyed ones are to be sent to the workshop to supply the armourers."
"The spoils of war," grinned Tai as Bunri's clones got to work on the motorhorses.
"Seems the wardens have it all figured out," mumbled the blindfolded guard as his mute brother gained a look in his eyes at the robotic horses.
"Hm. Really hope this guy reverts soon," Alexios mused, watching the giant with Kika. "We might be here a while if he stays like this."
The cloner sighed. "Well let's just bring the inmates inside for now. Get the high ranking ones registered." and without missing a beat, Bunri headed inside as he let the clones do all the hard work.
"I'll make the call to send the grunts elsewhere." with that, Yukiko walked inside along with the Sarugaku triplets.
Osamu, who never put his villain down, walked into the prison. "Sorry, I can't stay. There's something I need to do."
"I wonder what happened?" was the mostly shared thought of the remaining guards with their newly acquired inmates.
Alexios shrugged, "now then, I guess I better make myself comfortable out here."
"After I drop her off, I'll head back over to wait with you." Shi mumbled, carrying Bariki inside after the military coat wearing guard gave her a nod.
Dahlia didn't spare a word. All she did was give the kaiju lizard a look and headed inside with Colt not getting the best treatment with the ground.
"Anyways, it seems like you did well. Caught yourself a big one huh?" Tai gave a small laugh. Shifting the outlaw he carried, deciding now to enter Styx.
"I suppose I did." as always, Alexios gave a smile. "Speaking of catches, it's been a long while since I've seen you interested in an inmate again."
With a pause in his step, Tai looked back. "Interested? What are you talking about? Those inmates are nothing more than the unwanted trash of society."
"Oh? My apologies. It's just that when you brought that when you asked about registering this posse here, it reminded me of back then. You did seem interested-"
Tai huffed loudly, "this one was just entertaining is all. Nothing more than a rare spectacle compared to all the other trash."
As he watched Tai enter Styx, Alexios couldn't help but smile to himself. "It's been a long time, indeed." turning back around to the giant lizard, he stretched. "I'm glad...Heh, it's a good start. She's not even unconscious, Tai."
Sitting in the counsellor's office, Muika looked down at all the work she had to catch up on.
It really didn't help that her older brother took so much of the files she needed for her own job that one day. Now she had a lot to catch up on.
Well, at least she still got some done, but...
"Is there something wrong, sir?" a nervous Muika eventually spat out after three minutes of sitting in the warden's office.
"We've noticed there was a significant drop in your work performance." Seimei began, "a lot of inmates that were scheduled for counselling never got it. Is there something wrong?"
She paused for a long time. "N...No. No sir, nothing's wrong..."
The warden just looked at her for quite some time. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure sir..."
That resulted in yet another staring contest with the two, of course Muika looked back down at the ground immediately right as it began.
This time, the warden leaned back. "If you're certain nothing is wrong, then I'm sorry."
She blinked at that. It wasn't starting off good. As she looked back up, the warden continued.
"Since you were able to do some inmates, we'll have to lower your pay a bit. But that's not important." he huffed. "If nothing continues to happen and you start doing your job less and less...you'll have to find work elsewhere, Muika."
Muika couldn't even find the right words.
Fired?
If this continued...she was going to be fired?
The talk soon came to an end, but Muika couldn't help but think back to one person. "Osamu..."
The looming idea that she would be fired one day because of her brother's own protective nature. It didn't help that he apologised to everyone over things she hadn't even done...
Trying to get her mind back to work, she instead thought of something else that happened today of all days.
She thought back to the vision she had earlier that morning.
An armoured guard stood in front of a tall figure. A figure no one knew. They were tall, lacking eyes but containing visible eye sockets. The right arm had what looked like a drill-like three pointed claw while the left arm was that of a large tendril.
Clad in a dark ruined uniform with multiple belts in chains, the figure then opened their mouth as blood covered the floor of the ward. Without eyes, it was staring right at the armoured man. "Trash."
Then they lunged.
The younger Yomaura sibling shivered at the vision. She had no idea who that was or when that was.
Though, with her quirk's random activation of random events in the future, she was prepared for the whole 'I don't know when this takes place' moments of her quirk. It was something she got used to when it did happen, but the main point was who.
A real mysterious figure.
She didn't have much time to think about it when there was a knock on the door to her office. "Muika? Are you in there? The door's locked."
She went to say something, but...she didn't. Instead, she just closed her mouth, keeping her eyes on the locked door as the doorknob rattled around.
"Muika if you're in there, please open it up. I already checked the barracks." the voice, clearly belonging to Osamu, continued to knock.
Then it went silent...before a tune went off on her desk.
"Ah!" Muika jumped at her own ringtone, causing Osamu to start up once again.
"Muika. Please open up." the red eyed man sighed. "Let's talk."
"Osamu," she croaked out. "Please. Leave me alone."
"Muika-"
"I'm busy with paperwork." she insisted, hoping that he'd walk away and continue a patrol or something.
A laugh from the other side. "I'll help! I just dropped off a new inmate actually, so open-"
"Sorry, but this is something only I can do. Please," she started to plead. "Please go so I can do my job...I need to do my job...please."
Red eyes shifted behind the door. "Muika. I just want you to be safe, no matter what. I'd do anything to keep you safe. You know that-"
"That's exactly the problem!" she snapped with a tone that was foreign to the both of them.
Yet...it felt...good.
"I understand that you want to protect me, but why did you bring me here?!" she stood, not that Osamu would know. "You brought me to Styx, you got me a job! You begged the wardens to get me this job and yet you don't want me to do anything! I'm barely doing my job because of you! I might be fired if this keeps up! Anything that's too dangerous I immediately get pulled away like I'm too helpless or stupid." she croaked, legs shaking as she held the table for dear life lest she crumbled to the floor.
"All the apologies to the wardens after every screw up. All the apologies even when nothing happened, even when you just jump to conclusions when I bring something up! Always laughing at it too! Not taking me or my feelings seriously. I hate it!"
As Muika continued to let everything off her chest, the man with similar red eyes on the other side of the door just remained silent.
Just listening.
"Just leave me alone! This is like being back home!"
Osamu froze in place, it was like the entire world started to crumble around him. Staring down at his hands, it was like his entire body went numb.
"It's like I never left mum and dad! Please, just go away!"
As his sister finally finished, all she heard from the door was the shuffling as he walked away. It was only a few minutes later that she realised that Osamu was really gone.
"Something to report?" Eris asked as she and Seimei sat in a room while the doctor Carna and her latest (temporary) assistant Shimaru stood before them.
"Yes, we do." The doctor was the one who responded first. "We've checked all the files of the inmates that have either suffered injuries that resulted in the loss of a body part and those that have died."
"And what have the two of you found out?" Seimei asked, causing the butler-guard to bow.
"The first notable thing in our research was the pinpoint date of the main deceased that caused this investigation to begin with," the monocle wearing man stood straight back up. "Ever since the body was found, there has been a noticeable decrease of deaths in the prison."
This caused both wardens to give each other a brief look. "Decrease?"
"Yes," Carna nodded as she took over. "Of course, there are still deaths and we believe not all are connected, there has been a general decrease in deaths compared to before we noticed the tampered body."
"In its place, it seems the loss of body parts has barely changed. It too had decreased, but nowhere near the amount as the change in the recently deceased."
A smirk appeared on Eris' face. "I see. So this means that whoever tampered with the body slipped up in fear of being caught. Decreasing deaths only made them suspicious."
Shimaru bowed, "exactly."
It was then that her smirk turned into a frown. "That alarms me though. A decrease in deaths after the body was found is definitely pointing in their direction...but, that means they were behind some deaths as well. Even body part loss and removal too."
The other warden sighed. "So the tamperer is also behind some killings? But, if we go by Vito's murder and account you shared, they're getting other inmates to kill each other?"
Carna nodded. "A large number of the deceased and dismembered in our search showed that only inmates were responsible for the murders."
"However, despite the decrease of both murderer and dismemberment, these numbers are still rather low even before this mystery came into question." the butler butted in. "However, the change is still noticeable, even with the usual numbers we get."
Crossing his arms, Seimei Tokugawa sighed. "...then it might be true. It's either they're getting other inmates to do the killing...or they're like a vulture, going in after someone else does the deed."
"But why? What's the purpose?" Eris asked mostly to herself. "If it's a cannibal, we already scanned them when the issue came up and they're mostly locked away from the others to begin with."
"Man, there's a lot going on here. First this, then lurkers and eggs..."
Eris just stared at her co-warden. "...what the hell are you saying? Have you finally lost it?"
"I wish."
"There is something else we noticed." Carna coughed, getting their attention. "As we were going over the files, we noticed the following over multiple inmates whether they are connected or not to the case ranged in many quirks."
Taking some pieces of paper and placing them on the small coffee table located off to the side of the office (where they were), the doctor began. "The deceased had the quirk that allowed them to summon tendrils of their blood from their body whenever they have a bleeding cut on their body. Another inmate had the ability to change their hands into steel-like gauntlets. There are inmates like Kamakiri and the recent Zuko who have lost their limbs due to guards or other scenarios and we have no idea if they were stolen as well."
Eris frowned, "as Seimei said. We're either dealing with a vulture or a mastermind. Either way, the body or body parts of inmates are the main focus for them..."
"Can you tell us more quirks, you seem to notice something." the other warden leaned forward, glancing back to the desk at the other part of the room every so often.
Shimaru nodded, hesitantly. "Now, even though we said that we might have found a connection, it might still be random. As we said, we got a blood tendril and steel gauntlet quirk as well as finger whips, eyelashes, fake gold coating, marked pulling, ink, etc. As you can see, it's all varied quirks with different uses, even if some are useless at first glance."
Carna joined in saying. "This could just be something we're looking into a bit too deep..."
Eris shook her head. "It's fine. It could show us something that might be there if something else comes up to shed a light on it."
"But for now," Shimaru coughed. "It's all looking too deep into something that's not there."
"Might be nothing after all." the doctor sighed, taking a seat next to the wardens. "Man I'm beat from all the research!"
"Well, you two did great. Enjoy your well-deserved breaks." the male warden smiled, causing the butler to cough.
"Excuse me. If you don't mind me asking, sir," Shimaru trailed off, "where has your cloak gone?"
"Oh yeah, you guys don't know yet huh." All three blinked as Seimei walked over to the desk. "There's a reason why I wanted this talk in my office instead."
As he walked over to his desk, he pulled out his cloak covering what he soon revealed to be an egg.
"What the shit?" Carna muttered as she, Eris and Shimaru all stared at the suddenly revealed large egg.
"This is an egg Shi and Bunri found in a hidden nursery in the sewers of Styx." Seimei carried it over to the couch. "It's the sole surviving egg in the whole place which is now destroyed. It wasn't alone though, a guardian was on the scene and died in an attempt to erase all evidence."
"Great. More mysteries to add to the pile." Eris sighed. "Does anyone else know about the egg?"
"Only our trusted staff. Everyone in this room, Lambert, Shi and Bunri. Alexios when he delivered some news. Tai when he delivered a report on Zuko. Not many else."
"It might be the best idea to keep it on the down low, in case the people connected learn about it."
"Naturally," came the reply.
Shimaru and Carna took this time to give each other a look. The egg was quite the shock. Especially how Seimei bounced it on his leg.
They didn't have much time to consider what was really happening as Eris continued the conversation. "So we have five main points. The first being a body being tampered with by a third party that involved the removal of limbs. The second being Vito's account and what he revealed about there being a group that made him fight other inmates and an unrelated person that let him loose to cause chaos."
"The third being what Bunri told us from his clone," Shimaru added. "An unknown individual entered the funeral home that same day that we dropped off some deceased inmates. While it's possible that they could be picking up ashes, it's odd how it was the same day, at night and how they were cloaked."
"Doesn't help that's where we usually send our deceased inmates too..." mumbled the doctor.
That's when Seimei took over, "the fourth being an unknown person and a nursery of eggs found in the sewers of Styx. Leaving a sole surviving egg after a self-destruction attempt to erase evidence." he huffed, looking down at the egg. "Finally, the fifth being slowed down recorded footage of some blur snatching a bunch of Yubi's discarded fingers."
"Yubi's fingers? Why would someone steal them?" Carna didn't bother to stand up, "we already know that the cannibal inmates aren't involved. Unless it's someone who managed to hide it or something."
"Two groups, one making Vito fight other inmates and the other letting Vito go and make a ruckus. Someone visiting the funeral home and someone stealing discarded body parts and acting like a vulture and stealing some off deceased inmates. A bunch of eggs guarded by an unknown variable in the sewers of Styx...what does it all mean?" Eris leaned forward, wondering just what was going on.
Inmate fighting, body part and presumably corpse stealing, eggs.
Red eyes, causing chaos for some unknown reason.
Two unconnected parties.
Eris crossed her arms, sometimes she wished that Vito was a bit smarter. "My quirk when used in investigations involves them giving me information but only what they know or can understand."
Seimei stood, holding the egg in his arms. "We're still lacking pieces of this puzzle. It'll be best to take things slow and careful, we can't let either of these third parties know we're onto them. Any information is to be reported to Eris or myself."
"Understood." the two revealed.
"Lambert is doing an autopsy on the remains of our uninvited sewer guest. So hopefully we'll get something from it." He paused to look down at the large egg. "Maybe this egg might be able to share some light on something seeing as they went ahead with trying to destroy it."
Giving the others in the room a look, Seimei had already put the egg back into the small spot under his desk where he kept it hidden. "Now, we should get back to work and find out just what these two people or groups are planning while going back to our regular routine for appearance sake. However, we keep an eye on all reported deaths, dismemberments, any new inmates and people who's quirk can leave 'residue' like Yubi's fingers. Seeing as they're also willing to take them as well."
"Are there any other leads we should follow up on?" asked Shimaru, holding his hands together behind his back.
This time Eris was the one to speak. "As Seimei said, Lambert is already following up on the autopsy and from what I've heard, Shi had entrusted some inmates in finding something only prisoners can find."
Suddenly Seimei's eyes widened. "They could have acted now for all we know. Shimaru, I want you to check up on any inmate that is locked away, died recently or has been injured and stuck in the infirmary and whatever else. We gotta make sure they're still not getting to the inmates even now."
And then the butler bowed. "As you wish."
"...I just hope this gets all resolved soon..." the doctor melted into the couch.
"We all do."
It was a big day for Mariko Tsujihara.
Today was the first day of her fateful return to Styx. With a gulp and a polite gesture of one of the guards, she was back in the ward.
"Don't worry, it seems most of the people who hold...contempt for you have...moved on. Well, there's bound to be one or two remaining of course, but it's nothing to be worried about. You'll be safe here."
That surely wasn't something she expected the guard to say as she brought her back into the ward.
As soon as she took a step into the ward once more, multiple eyes were already upon her.
Watching. Staring.
The rumours that must have been spread by the guards, the inmates. The prisoner that either escaped or was held in solitary confinement.
Of course, there were definitely new faces who had no clue, but the ones that did, stared completely at her with varying expressions.
"..."
It wasn't comfortable at the very least.
Giving a quick look to her surroundings, both so familiar yet so foreign, she quickly came to the conclusion. "I won't be able to break out of here again."
Her one successful attempt...ended with her being dragged back down to the pit. She had looked back right as she got out of the underworld.
In a way, she thought it was kinda fitting for a criminal like her who could only survive in this world by her only talent of crime.
"Well, well, well! If it isn't Mari!" Turning to see just who called her out so suddenly and out of the blue, she was greeted by the familiar face of the grinning convict, Chikuha. "Man, it's been a long time since we've seen you!"
It was going to be a long day.
Thanks to the multiple watching eyes, another pair seemed to set their sights on this old addition to the prison.
In the distance, she was being watched by someone who had zero clue as to who she was. This person was Demelza Braithwaite. "Who is that?" she wondered to herself, stepping forward. She had noticed a few other inmates do double takes as this one inmate in particular.
The closer she got, the masked Demelza took in the short haired woman before her expression changed. "...she doesn't seem like a cheerful individual. Not now, anyway."
It wouldn't be as filling as Fushiko was, wherever she got herself too. It was a pleasant surprise that the well of positivity showed itself in this prison, something Demelza planned on sticking to until she got her fill.
Koneko barely lasted long. And it seemed at this point this new inmate was going to be the same.
"Seems Fushiko is the one I gotta stick with for the long haul."
With that, she continued on her way to find that positivity meal ticket.
Locked deep within a cell that she couldn't get out from, no matter how she tried at first, the woman known only as Akita sat in silence.
It hadn't been that many days since she was locked up and she heard talks about sending her deeper into wherever she was.
The walk over to this cell was a new experience for the woman. She took in the sight and how desolate it became. Only guards patrolled these halls, though it was considered the solitary confinement part of the ward.
Which made her wonder just what was deeper into this supposed ward. But, her mind was occupied elsewhere.
"First Blue Sun and now my girls, I wonder how they're doing. Probably so lost and confused without me." the self-proclaimed top dog of the female ward thought to herself. It was then that a horrible thought entered her mind.
"What if some other bitch took over while I'm stuck in this isolated little cell?"
A nasty scowl fell over her face as she moved her hair back while pacing around the cell. She couldn't let someone else take her place, she needed to bring order back to her ward. She was the one who kept it all in line, after all.
What she told herself anyway.
Moving from one thing to another, the scowl deepened. Now thanks to other guards and those darn wardens, she lost a lot of freedom. So much time was spent in order to get free reign in the ward and now it was all gone.
"...Eris..." she hissed, glaring at the door.
Oh, she'll teach both of them a lesson. Seimei looking down at her in the co-ed ward, Eris going over and slowly ruining each and every thing she worked up to achieve.
Akita's scowl changed to a smirk as she dropped down to the bed. Thankfully these cells gave them a lot of things they required. Not as comfy as the old cells though.
"I'll just have to get back to work as soon as I get out of here. Just gotta leave everyone who stands in our way buried in dirt. It'll be mine again!"
With a game plan in mind, she closed her eyes. One day, she'll take back her control.
No matter how long she had to wait.
Likewise, in a completely different area, someone else had a similar thought and was already acting...slowly.
Within the male ward of Styx, sat a single man as some sort of faced serpent came out of the top of his back. Around him were a few different inmates. Those that were loyal to him, some being from the time he was in the same yakuza group and those that clearly joined him after being thrown into the slammer.
Yet, there were a few that joined today.
"Progress is going well," the leader of one of the biggest groups of inmates thought to himself. "I should really get that answer from Jin now. That dumbass David took a real liking to him. He'll move on when a new rookie enters these walls."
A brief smile turned blank. "Then there's the others from those other yakuza families...like Kuroishi..." just thinking of that tall bastard's name flipped his mood right around.
"Tch."
It wasn't the only one.
Kuroishi, the Tendo family that took control of everything with one of the Tendo's being right in the other ward, then there was Juro who still preferred to stay by themselves out of any sort of yakuza group despite so many talks and offers.
Not to mention the countless other inmates in the wards like Gin, Gousen, Remko, Inyoku and so many others in the same ward as him. So many that looked down at him, treated him as nothing more than a fly.
And it wasn't just the inmates too. The guards were also like that. Tai, Dahlia, Yukiko and even the wardens.
The. Wardens.
Seimei.
He never felt more insulted.
None of them took him seriously. Like he was just some other run of the mill nameless inmate!
A frown washed over his face as he ordered one of his followers to dance for him or else. "Seimei...that bastard!" someone that could shatter his trusted quirk like it was a child getting a real good swing at a pinata did nothing but- "It pisses me off!"
"I'm going for a walk. Stay put." he huffed out suddenly. As soon as he got a fair distance away from the inmates of the future Fumma Syndicate, Yoshitsune let out a growl.
"Seimei...I won't ever forget the times you humiliated me like this! Just you wait."
In the male ward at this time, a group of yakuza composed of the male ward inmates was slowly growing. "Guards, Inmates, Seimei. We'll take you all down. Mark my words."
"Hey, Ashi!" Fushiko arrived on the scene with her arms held high. "I'm back!"
As Fushiko Karakuri arrived, she immediately made herself at home next to the information broker at the table. "Got anything good for breakfast? Wanna trade?"
"I'm good, Karakuri," Ashita smiled as the person beside her swayed left and right.
"Aw, that's a shame. Oh yeah, I saw something last night! Thought I should tell you about it." the (probably, without a doubt) most cheerful inmate of Styx started to dig into her breakfast. "I saw two guards enter Koneko's cell!"
The broker's upturned light green eyes moved away from the meal in front of her. "They did?"
"Mhm! And the thing is, three people left!"
Realisation spread across Insatsushi's face. "Koneko went with the guards?"
"Yep!" the flared bob haired woman nodded before getting another mouthful of food. "No idea why though. Hey, you better eat it before it gets cold."
Meanwhile, as Ashita ate her own breakfast, she sat in silence as she processed the information. Koneko was willingly going with the guards, it matched what Sora said with the guards visiting her cell in particular.
"It's going to be more and more difficult from here and knowing Sae, she won't back down now that we got a lead. Why is everyone here crazy when they set their sights on something? Though, I at least understand why Sae would be invested." she let out a sigh that went unnoticed, thankfully as she took another bite, watching many inmates keep a good distance from the two of them. "But...the fact that Koneko is doing something with the guards...that means that there is something I don't know... Ah, I'm conflicted!"
"Hey, Ashi. Why do you think they took her with them?" The sudden question caused Ashita to snap back to reality. "Do you think she caused trouble?"
The information broker shrugged. "Koneko causing trouble? Like that can ever happen."
"Aha, yeah! It's kinda funny, huh." Fushiko paused, finished with her own meal as she turned to look Ashita in the eyes with her own, large brown eyes. "Hey, uh. About that thing I asked in return for this."
Ashita already raised her hand. "Don't worry, I'll do what I can to make it happen."
A sudden hug engulfed the dyed haired woman. "You're the best Ashi! Thanks!"
"Don't mention it."
"No wonder you're the best information broker in Styx! No! The world!"
"I suppose I should tell Sae and Yua about this," after breakfast of course.
Ever since the talk with Juro and Arai, Nozomi felt lingering eyes on her. Even before the talk, she felt like she was being watched.
And after the talk with Juro, she now knew the reason why.
It didn't make the feeling of being watched any easier.
"Really now, Nozori? You're finally sending assassins?" Nozomi thought to herself as she subtly glanced back where the watching feeling seemed to be coming from.
It was only a matter of time before they made their move.
A hand went up to the metallic eyepatch she wore. "Sometimes I wish I could take this off..." it would make things easier, that was for sure.
Standing, the sophisticated lady began walking away, somewhat hoping that her assassin would reveal themselves already. The thought of her brother going all this way to silence her after so many years. "He must be getting desperate."
She had no real destination in her aimless walk, though she did spy Demelza off in the distance walking away from a very old familiar face.
"Mariko?" her sole eye gawked at the sight. "It can't be..."
As she watched the old face making herself known once more, she could have swore she heard someone behind her. "Oh no."
Immediately turning around, the milky skinned woman was met with nothing.
But now she was more curious with Mariko and Demelza. An old familiar face made a sudden comeback and then there was that new rookie that hunted after the most cheerful inmate in the ward, Fushiko.
Sadly she couldn't do anything with them right now thanks to whoever was watching her.
She stopped once more as she saw someone, a familiar face that raised a hand.
Sora.
It seemed she also spied Mariko, after making many different gestures over to the now short haired woman before she waved her hand at the older woman that was Nozomi. As she headed over, Nozomi noticed something on the ground. Something that continued to grow.
A shadow was already above her.