Monster King - Thanks :D
TheGreatBubbaJ - He's getting there :V
Naruto30 - Aye.
Detrametal - Yes, they have an... interesting dynamic, ngl.
InfinityMask - Indeed it is.
(***)
Quick warning - the chapter includes some threats of rape, including at least one that's quite graphic. Don't worry, the guy's on the chipping block either way.
Sorry for being late with publishing but I just had the way of handling chapters beyond your imagination, and I just couldn't look at it for a while without risking retching.
(***)
"Oh for fuck's sake." Grimdark Hero groans when he finally gets to the window in question. Right in time to see the conclusion of the fight between Yoshihiro Maki and AN S-RANK VILLAIN. With no Miruko in sight.
He is fast, but not superhumanly fast. He couldn't measure up to Miruko doing a triple jump over the minefield while shouting something in visible joy. He couldn't even measure up to Crusader who simply ran through the minefield with full speed, trusting his physical enhancement to shield him if he actually walked into an anti-personnel mine accidentally.
Hence, he was late.
Late enough to participate in the fight, but not late enough to miss Yoshihiro Maki performing a jumping pile driver and slamming Bearhead's head into the floor with enough strength for the wooden boards underneath his head to crack.
"Crusader, you do realize that this move is basically banned in wrestling because it's very easy to break someone's neck?" Bloodblade channels his inner teacher. He had no idea he had it inside of him, but wow. It's there.
Bearhead is allowed to fall onto the floor, Crusader letting him go. The bear man had clearly gone unconscious but was still breathing. Despite looking like someone just threw him into a woodchipper. That was some intense combat that Akaguro Chizome missed out on.
"Uhm, yeah?" Maki blinks at him a few times. He looks barely better than the villain. Long scratches, his robe tattered, a nasty gash on the side of his head with Bearhead clearly missing the ear by a few centimeters. "But I was alone, had an S-Rank villain in front of me, and… well, he is a part bear. So he is way tougher than baseline humans, yeah?"
"You aren't wrong." Akaguro concedes the point. "But I'm still going to have a serious talk with Miruko about her approach to her goddamn interns. She seriously just left you here with him?"
Maki nods. Akaguro groans.
"Apparently Shishido was having his ass handed to him by Beast, and she was needed elsewhere." Crusader shrugs. He looks tired and beaten up but also seriously pumped-up about the fight he just won. He is giving off a serious Miruko vibe right now and this is somehow pissing Bloodblade off. "She told me that I have all that I need to beat Bearhead and left."
"By the time I'm done with her, she's going to die of old age before she is allowed to take anyone as an intern." Akaguro groans again. It's really a recurring theme when Miruko is involved. "Let me bind that guy up properly and notify the police officers where to find him. Then we'll go look for your sorry excuse of a maternal figure."
They have several GSDF sappers cleaning up a route through the minefield, and a handful of police officers following through the clearing. They'll evacuate the captives, while letting the heroes focus on the fighting.
(***)
"Did you seriously think that you could defeat me?" Curator, a massive whale-shaped human, and another S-Rank member of the Inhuman Supremacy Party, yells. "Me, a whale?!"
"I'll let you know…" Gang Orca replies. "... that orcas hunt other whales. Even blue whales like you."
They finished a brief physical brawl and an exchange of sonic attacks against each other. They pulled back a bit, both sides thinking on what to do next while engaging in mutual wordjabs.
They both have a handful of scratches and bruises, but nothing serious. Around them the fighting has mostly calmed down - the ISP rabble was mostly defeated, and the lower ranked heroes were told to avoid the area to let the big ones fight in peace.
It's some storehouse. Now half-ruined. A part of it, on the far side of the room, seems to have just caught fire (they don't know it, but the reason for that is a burning fragment of a rocket that almost knocked Glassmaker out).
"Calves, yes." Curator grins. "I'm an adult."
"COULD YOU PLEASE STOP EXCHANGING SEALIFE TRIVIA?!" Shishido yells from the background. "HURRY UP AND BEAT HIM ORCA, I'M NOT DOING AWFULLY WELL OVER HERE AND…"
He is about to finish, but Beast moves faster. The punch connects and the Lion Hero is thrown through a pile of wooden crates.
"You know, for a king of the savannah, you're very disappointing." Beast grins, his fangs laid bare before the hero in front of him.
He is a towering giant of a man, with a muscular physique that's almost superhumanly muscular. He is approaching the size and shape that All Might once sported. Other than that, they couldn't be more different. And that's even if you don't delve into their day to day behavior.
Oddly enough for the High Warlord of the Inhuman Supremacy Party, his animalistic traits were fairly subdued. It was just a tail, claws, fur on the back, expansive fangs and a pair of wolf-like ears.
His entire villain uniform was baggy trousers and a belt with some occasionally useful stuff. Plus, of course, his massive claw-like pair of knuckle dusters. He actually took one of them off to punch Shishido non-lethally.
He could kill him. But he simply didn't feel like it. Yet.
"Fuck off, Beast." Shishido growls back, standing back from the mess that the stack of crates used to be. "This is your last day as a High Warlord, get used to that."
"Ehh, at least you have guts." The manic look in Beast's eyes. Beside them, Gang Orca and Curator clash again. Beast pays them no mind. He is focused on the Lion Hero in front of him. "Shame that you choose to be a government dog. Such a potent mutation and that's where it brought you?"
"Sorry for not being a murderous rapist like you, fucktard." Shishido growls back. "Now come at me for real. I'm going to show you why lions are kings of the animal world."
Beast almost lunges at him. But that's when he is attacked from the side. Except, his reflexes are as superhuman as ever. Miruko's leg is grabbed mid-flight, and then the Rabbit Hero is slammed into the floor. She manages to escape the grip before he actually uses his claws on her.
What's the point of having them if you keep not using them? Oh, right. He is enjoying the fight too much to just abruptly finish it off.
"Miruko! It's been a while." Beast glances at her, on his face a look that makes Miruko desire murder. "You must have been… longing for our reunion, huh? The last time I didn't manage to act on that promise, but this time I'm really going to chop your legs off and keep you around as a conveniently sized set of holes. I mean, you're practically asking for it if you're showing up in front of me again!"
Miruko isn't sure what pisses her off more. The threat of rape, the fact that he made it sound like she was small (SHE ISN'T TALL BUT IT DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER TO HER, ALRIGHT?!), or the fact that she has to see his face. Again.
"Let's see you try, bastard." Miruko grins at him. "Oh, before I forget. If you somehow manage to defeat me, please tell me when you're starting the whole rape thing. Because I sure as hell won't notice it."
Oh, that hit the spot. Beast's clearly livid with her retaliation (small size accusation versus small size accusation, asshat), and this always makes him fight less skillfully. She loses to him in strength and they are pretty equal in speed, she only has the technique to carry her. And for as much as she hates him, he has a lot of that as well.
Oh, and she also has Shishido in her corner. Though he looks like he's in an urgent need for a nap. And probably some medical attention.
(***)
In all honesty, finding it wasn't THAT hard. The ISP people were really simpleminded. All you had to do was voice the question properly, and they were all haughty enough to answer it, thinking that it didn't matter.
Then they just had to beat the shit out of them and be on their way.
It worked well. Eventually they arrived at the room in question. Eraserhead was about to tell him to stay back, but naturally, he didn't give him the time for that. Was being like that goddamn infec… of course it was.
"Suto, I'm here!" Tenko shouts while disintegrating the wall in front of them. Eraserhead finds himself standing in front of a surprisingly girly room (last thing he expected to see in an ISP base).
And a very shocked wolfgirl, half-hidden behind her bed. From where she was busy looking at Tenko with her eyes wide open.
She is fairly pretty. Brown hair, painfully reminiscent of Beast. Wearing some plain white short dress. Very, very confused, but that's nothing new in Eraserhead's life nowadays if he was to be honest.
"T-Tenko?!" She blinks at him a few times. And then (honestly, just how stereotypical was it supposed to be), she actually pinches herself. "T-That's really you?"
"Yes!" Tenko Shimura, the emotionless dweeb utterly uninterested in matters of 3D universe, looks so utterly lovestruck that Eraserhead unintentionally shares a sudden desire to punch someone in the face. He isn't the only one, it seems to be endemic during this operation. "I'm sorry that it took me so long, but I told you that I was going to find you!"
Why? Why did Eraserhead let himself be talked into assisting Shimura and Midoriya in a process of kidnapping/liberating the supposed daughter of Beast himself, from the very center of the heavily fortified compound filled to the brim with murderous maniacs?
"W-why do you look so young?" Suto Sakai asks, still clearly disbelieving the sight in front of her. Tenko freaks out and tries to silence her with a gesture, but that's when Eraserhead clears his throat.
Tenko Shimura looks back at his homeroom teacher.
"How old are you exactly?" Aizawa asks. Calmly. "Tell me the truth, I promise that I won't be angry." Suto was apparently pretty much his girlfriend (or, at the very least, love interest). But she looked at least twenty years old, and unless Tenko was into older girls…
"U-uhm, t-twenty one?" Tenko confirms his suspicions. "But Izuku said that I'm mentally eleven years old, so it's as if I was sixteen years old to begin with."
"That's NOT how age works." Eraserhead announces. "Do you see what I have to deal with on a daily basis, Emi?" Ms. Joke continues strangling some mutant in the background (he is still too busy laughing from her joke to resist, and everyone else in the area has been dealt with). "Midoriya reversed a goddamn aging process just to be in the same class with his unofficial cousin."
"Could you, like…" Ms. Joke glares at him. "... focus a tiny bit?"
Right. He probably should have done that.
"Suto." Tenko decides to ignore that issue entirely. "I told you, years ago, that I'm going to get you out of here. It took me a while, much longer than I thought, but I've finally found you."
Eraserhead was given an abbreviated story. Pretty much childhood friends, because All for One decided to let his ward interact with some select other kids (in this case, a child of a fellow supervillain).
The contact was severed when All for One died, but somehow they managed to reestablish contact through the Villain Network. They stayed internet friends, with Beast growing increasingly controlling. It was untraceable, and she was never told where exactly they were, so they couldn't simply unleash the heroes on the supervillain.
And then, less than one and a half years ago, Suto Sakai vanished from the internet entirely, being (clearly) confined to that very room the whole time.
Does Eraserhead even want to know why Beast - a man of legendarily voracious appetites that didn't take no for an answer - kept one of his numerous children (and a girl at that), locked in a gilded cage like that? While clearly scaring everyone (especially boys) away from her?
He has some theories on where it was heading to. Extremely, extremely nasty theories that he doesn't want to name even in his head, and that make him want to commit a brutal murder of someone. But it seems that they've shown up fast enough to prevent anything from happening.
"It's… errr… like a fairy tale?" Tenko is clearly emotionally freaking out over the reunion, so naturally, he starts blabbering out something stupid. All while Suto is still staring at him in shock. "You're the princess, and I'm the knight on the white horse. Except, I'm kind of a rogue more than a knight, the dragon is on our side, the king is busy being beaten up by the Rabbit of Caerbannog and also is a total asshole, and I don't really have a white horse. Unless…" He actually has the audacity to glance at Aizawa.
"Don't." His teacher deadpans. "Or I swear to god I'm going to expel you."
"I mean, you and Ms. Joke DID technically carry us all the way here, just metaphorically and…" Decay tries to say something, but the death glare makes him stop. Instead, he once again turns towards the frozen young woman in front of him.
"Right, so I know that more than a year has passed, but I have never forgotten about the promise." Tenko says. "I told you that I was going to get you out of here, and I'm here to do as I promised. Yes, with the heroes, which is probably not how you expected that to happen, but… they are pretty cool, actually, when you get to know them cl…"
The girl finally has enough of being shocked. So she promptly runs towards Tenko… and then practically jumps at him. Hugging him while crying profusely. Despite that, judging from the motion of her tail, she is extremely, EXTREMELY happy.
Tenko Shimura promptly starts freaking out because he has no idea how to emotionally deal with that. So, he ends up crying with her, while hugging her back (which, thanks to wearing artist gloves, is actually safe for everyone involved).
"Awwww." Ms. Joke lets out, the mutant in her grasp finally losing consciousness. "This is so cute."
"Could you, like, focus a bit?" Eraserhead decides to throw her words back at her. She gives him an almost insulted look.
(***)
"Message from Eraserhead!" Midoriya announces. Sir Nighteye believes that he knows the words-to-come. Midoriya's wide smile tells him everything, except for some details. "Informant secured, and in the process of being escorted outside."
They have a temporary field hospital slash evacuation site three clicks to the southwest from the command center. Eraserhead is probably heading there as fast as possible. It's also where the captives are sent.
Like the command center, it's pretty much a bunch of furniture elements under a camouflage net, with a handful of heroes as a garrison. But it's outside of the warp coordinate scrambler range (while also outside of the enemy observation range, so that they don't risk Kurogiri waltzing in).
Mieko Eto wasn't actually sitting it out entirely. Principal Nedzu decided to share his school grounds with the forces participating in the operation. Within fifteen minutes top, the first of the captives (including Bearhead) were going to be moved to UA - and from there, under heavy police escort, towards the nearest villain prison, set as a temporary holding area before moving to Tartarus.
"Any valuable intel?" Sir Nighteye asks back.
"She wasn't allowed to wander on the premises." Midoriya replies. "But she confirmed that the attack was a total surprise to the ISP. Even if that was a trap for us, Beast would have evacuated her elsewhere beforehand."
"The only question left for now…" Mirai Sasaki replies. "... is whether Beast wasn't informed that he and the rest of the ISP were used as bait… or whether we've genuinely managed to catch our enemies with their metaphorical pants down."
It would make things much easier. But after Kamino and the country weakened so much by both Hosu and the downfall of the HPSC… they just aren't willing to rush into what might be a trap.
"I-I'm not sure." Midoriya is good enough when the job is involved to actually admit that. "What's your opinion?"
"I tend towards the 'no trap' option." Sir Nighteye replies. "The Paranormal Liberation Front suffered heavy casualties during the Kamino Ward battle. Revenant, Purity, Deathmonger, Muscular, Liberator, Dabi… and let's not forget losing Eclipse in Hosu. In comparison, they've only succeeded in forcing All Might to retire. Thunderbolt, Hawks, Yoroi Muusha, Scream, pretty much all recent Top Hero 'casualties' weren't inflicted by them."
"Ah." Midoriya realizes it now. He is primarily a tactician, but it's increasingly clear that strategy is going to be his second main focus. And in that… yes, in that Sir Nighteye can help him immensely. "If they lose Beast, Bearhead and Curator, they'll lose the entire Inhuman Supremacy Party. They might simply not survive another blow to their image."
"Precisely." Sir Nighteye nods. "That's why I'm leaning towards Beast not being used as an unwilling bait. If they tried to reenact Kamino, except better, they'd at the very least inform him. Tell him what to do to minimize the chance of losing him and his core lieutenants."
Thus far all reports suggested that the enemy was completely disorganized. The only major on-going fight on the surface was the one involving Beast. The resistance from the rest of the ISP garrison has practically collapsed.
And they almost eliminated Glassmaker. A major supplier for the PLF as a whole. Who clearly wasn't informed that there was going to be a battle, because otherwise she would simply not show up at all.
"But you still seem… uhm… not fully convinced?" Midoriya asks him the correct question. He read the look on his face perfectly.
"No, I'm not." Sir Nighteye replies. "I told you that Nedzu and I suspect that the PLF has someone playing in the same intellectual league as us. But we know nothing about them, let alone their exact goals. It's extremely easy to commit a major blunder by assuming something about your enemy that turns out to be incorrect."
Midoriya looks confused at that. Time to clear it up a little. While also teaching him something important.
"We don't even know what suborganization they are from." Sir Nighteye replies. "If they are even from one of them and not, for example, a mercenary. If the enemy strategist is from the Creature Rejection Clan, he might have allowed himself to act illogical and use the Inhuman Supremacy Party as bait despite losing it being too costly for the organization in the long run."
And now, Midoriya Izuku understands.
"If their personal feelings influenced their planning, they might have taken the risk of the PLF fracturing in the aftermath over having to share it with the Inhuman Supremacy Party." Midoriya says. Sir Nighteye nods back. "Especially as they might not be interested in having Beast rampage around without Purity there to counter his influence."
Not only did he understand it almost immediately, but he also expanded upon the idea almost as fast. Sir Nighteye is proud.
"And that's why I'm still on the fence." Sir Nighteye admits. "Especially as Overhaul is yet to make a move. For now, let's move the secondary assault group closer to the compound and focus on cleaning up what's left of the ISP."
(***)
"Oh, my." Re-Destro smiles faintly. "So they already figured out that I exist, just without any details. Putting that listening device in his command post was truly a wonderful idea. Slidin'Go pulled it off flawlessly."
Especially as he correctly foresaw where the two main People of Interest would be during the attack. The listening device had to be small, which limited its range, especially as it also had to be a wireless transmitter. And there had to be another device to pick it up and then send it all the way to Deika without anyone noticing that there was a background transmission.
It was complicated to pull off. But it was clearly paying off with valuable intel. The real problem was making sure that they weren't traced back - of course, unless Slidin'Go manages to return to the command post to retrieve the listening device before the post gets dismantled.
Or before everyone inside dies. But it was still a bit too early for that.
(***)
Beast is clearly exhausted and badly beaten up. However, Shishido is unconscious. The battle in the background seems to be ongoing, but at this point it's mostly Gang Orca versus Curator.
Miruko is in a pinch. Because while she 'only' has a broken arm, some cracked ribs (that was a mean kick, even by her standards) and a lot of nasty gashes from his claws, she's now the only thing between him and Shishido.
And, judging from the smile on Beast's face, he knows it.
"So, that would be the end of it." He announces, looking down on her. Bastard. "It was a fun run, but now I really need to focus on getting myself and my daughter out of this predicament. So, what is it going to be? Are you going to follow me willingly in exchange for me sparing Shishido, or…?"
He is clearly banking on the second, unspoken option.
That absolute son of a bitch.
"I'm going to stick my foot so deep into your mouth that you're going to feel my toes in your fucking rectum." Miruko replies. If she has to go down, she'll go down fighting. She has something of an idea - more like a vague aesthetic, maybe a faint vibe, but she's getting there - on how to turn it around, but…
"Now that's kinky, Miruko." Beast's smile is almost sleazy right now. "But if you're asking for it so much, then…"
They were both very, very exhausted and beaten up. Miruko is fairly certain that if they were both themselves from before the fight started, they would notice what was happening. Before Bloodblade appeared out of nowhere behind Beast, moving fast enough to lick the blood off his skin right beneath one of the cuts that Shishido gave him.
Beast fell to the ground, his body suddenly paralyzed. Naturally, he roared in fury. Mostly impotent one.
"Okay, first of all, I'm fucking pissed right now and it's your fault." Bloodblade announces, completely ignoring the supervillain. "Why the fuck did you think that leaving a SIXTEEN YEARS OLD KID to fight off against a LITERAL SUPERVILLAIN was a good idea?!"
"Uhm." Miruko really wishes that she knew what to say right now, but she clearly has no idea what. Her eyes drift to the side, just in time to see Crusader punch Curator in the side.
"This doesn't count." Akaguro replies to the unspoken question. "He is supervised. By Gang Orca." It was more a mutual contest in 'who beats the blue whale-man more' than an adult supervision, at least to Miruko, but…
"Second of all, realize that being an ambush predator is a PERFECTLY VALID choice of tactics." Bloodblade then announces, while looking at her in a way that can only be summarized with the word 'smug'. "Get off your high horse, direct combat isn't intrinsically superior to that."
"... YOU'VE DONE TO ME, YOU…" Beast suddenly raises his voice.
"THIRD OF ALL, SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU GODDAMN SON OF A BITCH BECAUSE I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU RIGHT NOW!" Bloodblade shouts back and kicks the paralyzed supervillain in the side. His boots are reinforced with metal. Judging from the pained yelp from Beast, he felt that even with his increased physical resistance. Although his muscles going limp over the paralysis has probably contributed.
Okay, it's mostly against herself, but Miruko has to agree that this sight was actually quite hot.
Of course, she has something else on her mind.
"You goddamn kill-stealer!" She yells back at him. "BEAST WAS MINE TO TAKE DOWN!"
"TAKE THE FUCKING LAURELS FOR THAT IF YOU WANT, SEE IF I FUCKING CARE!" Bloodblade shouts back. "I came here not to take him down but to yell at you for leaving Crusader behind! Beast was in the way. Also, care to check on Shishido? I don't think he's doing very well."
Right, they have to deal with that. And some additional captives, especially as it seems that Curator has been taken down as well.
(***)
Stain absolutely can't sit the f_k down and always goes super serious about everything. The fact that he's clearly the sane and reasonable one in here is the top level of irony imaginable. Also Crusader is heading straight for the Top Hero Ranking after graduation (not like there will be any after the reforms, but he's still going to be near the top because that's just so many jailed hate supervillains like omg).
Stain and Miruko are going to be there as well, very confused.
Also, yeah. It's the return of the Jedi. Errr, I mean, return of the unsinkable Tenko x Awoo ship. Took them a while, but they're finally here.
Also, and I can't stress that enough, F_k Beast.