Their Hero Academia – Interlude 2: Heroes and Villains Part 2: Villains
It was only when she was face to face with the brick wall at the end of the dead end alley that she stopped running and turned to face her pursuers. There were three of them, all of them carrying guns. One of them had a head like a cat, the other appeared normal, and the third, the only woman, had bright pink hair. There was no way around this. She was going to have to fight.
"Got you now," the cat-headed man said. "Guess you weren't so smart after all."
"Make this easy on yourself," the woman said. "Don't resist."
"Or do," the normal man said. "After what you did to Yao…"
She took a deep breath. She wasn't an intimidating woman, of average height and an athletic build. Granted, she was a flashy dresser, though her style could also be called eccentric, with thick black boots, fishnets, black booty shorts, a white crop top, and leather jacket the color of blood. The only truly notable thing about her was her hair, which was white as snow, flecked with red, and done up in a pair of girlish pigtails.
Oh, and of course, there were the two very large knives she was carrying. Considering they were still wet with blood, they might have been concerning.
"Drop the knives!" the woman ordered.
She didn't feel like doing that. Instead, she tossed the knives into air above their heads. Then, as their eyes followed the knives, the jumped against the wall, pushing off and into the air. As she sailed over their heads, she grabbed her knives, slashing as she came down.
SLISH! She got two of them, the normal man and the cat-headed man, slicing deep cuts in their arms, causing both to cry out and curse. She landed behind them and rolled, quickly getting to her feet.
There was blood in the air now. She could smell it. It was practically intoxicating. "Well," she said, "I do hate to cut and run…but I guess I've got time to burn."
At that last word, she activated her Quirk. Instantly, flames erupted where she had cut them, as the oxygenated blood began to ignite. The cut to the cat-headed man was deeper and his fires burned hotter and brighter, almost instantly engulfing the rest of his arm. The flames spread less quickly on the normal man, but burned hot at all the same. Both fell to the ground, trying to extinguish their burning extremities. Bloodburn was such a useful Quirk! A little cut, expose the blood to oxygen, and she could make it ignite.
She gave the knife in her left hand a little spin, fixing the woman with her stare. People always did say there was something about her eyes. "Crazy eyes," they usually called them. She never understood why.
"How about you?" she asked. "You wanna go?"
The woman was shaking now, but fired off a shot from her gun, even as she charged her, knives flashing. The shot went wild and missed, but she didn't. One slash across her arm, forcing the woman to drop the gun, the other burying itself in her gut. She let the woman fall to the ground with a wet sound. There was so much blood; it smelled so sweet…
She gave the normal looking one a good kick and he grunted in pain. His flames hadn't spread as fast. He might live. But the other two probably wouldn't, not unless someone found them quickly. She didn't especially care one way or the other. The alley was filled with the smell of blood and burnt hair and flesh, and they probably had radioed for back-up or, worse, Heroes. She needed to get out of here.
She spun the knife in her right hand a few times, absently whistling as she walked back to the street. As she did, a car materialized out of nowhere, as though decelerating from a tremendous speed. The passenger door opened and she stepped inside. Her ride had finally gotten here.
Good. Rei Toga had places to be.
It was a location known only to a select few. The police and Heroes of the world would have given anything to know it. As it was, Rei herself did not actually know where it was. Maximum Overdrive, her ride, acted as transport and courier for the New League of Villains, using her Quirk to drive any vehicle through some kind of super-liminal warp zone to bring them there when meetings were called.
She couldn't read Overdrive at all, hidden as she was, in head-to-toe black leather, her face obscured by a race car driver's helmet with a mirrored visor. If she could talk, Rei had never heard her.
The meeting room looked like it belonged to a particularly well furnished office. If it belonged to their illustrious leader, or if they were simply using it after-hours, she didn't know. And she didn't particularly care.
Both took a seat at the long conference table, where the other members of the League were already waiting for them.
"Sorry it took so long," she said. "Someone was late in picking me up. You run into too much traffic, Drivey?"
Overdrive didn't respond, other than to turn her head slightly to look at her. Rei settled for making faces in her reflective faceplate. She considered it a win when Overdrive turned away.
"Indulging your tastes for violence, Toga?" the large bear wearing a lab coat seated across from them asked.
"Not on purpose, Ursa," she replied. "But apparently when you're a wanted criminal, you just can't go out and buy the newest K-Pop CD's without somebody calling the cops. You go to a store and they all just start screaming and it's "Villain" this and "please don't kill me" that. Sheesh. Like I don't get a day off every now and then? And before you know it, you're stabbing cops and running and then stabbing some more!"
The League's science expert peered at her over his tiny glasses. "Quite understandable," he said, after a moment. "And it's Doctor Ursa. We've talked about this."
"Whatever you say, Ursa!"
He just shook his head and sighed.
The others around the table—the beetle-like Kabuto, Miss Compress, Metallix in his armor, and the green-haired Amp—reacted with a mixture of boredom and laughter. Pretty typical, really.
"Is our leader planning on showing up, dahlings?" Compress asked. She was dressed much like her mentor, the master criminal called Mister Compress. Her mask and hat rested on the table, exposing her pointed features and purple-black hair. "Because some of us do have other places to be."
It was simply the nature of the League. They were left to their own devices, free to pursue their own agendas, until their leader called upon them for their mutual goal in the destruction of Hero society. Society that had produced scum like her grandfather, who had abused her father and grandmother to the breaking point. The Heroes of that generation were mostly retired, with a new crop having arisen to take their place, but the flawed society still remained.
The original League, the one her parents had been a part of, had had vision and goals, to break the back of Hero society and show the world how flawed it was. It had ultimately failed, defeated by Izuku Midoriya and his friends. And though society had evolved and more Quirks were in the open than ever before… it was still a society that uplifted its Heroes far too much, still relied upon them to solve all its problems.
The second League, from ten years ago, hadn't been worthy of the name. They'd taken it for shock value and were only interested in money and other material goods. Sure, they'd hurt a few heroes, but they were nothing but pretenders.
Rei was the newest member of this League. She'd been on the run when they'd approached her, in-between killing a few people who had definitely deserved it. Probably deserved it, anyway. Either way, Mom would have been proud.
This League was going to finish what the old one started.
As if in response to Compress's question, the television on the wall clicked on. "Good," their leader said, his voice a slow, painful hiss. "You're all here."
Cruel, dark eyes settled on Doctor Ursa. "Your Quirk Virus isn't doing its job, Ursa! People aren't afraid of it! They're still using their Quirks! The Hero schools are still open! They're still planning the damn Sports Festival! Why aren't you infecting any Heroes?! Why aren't things worse?"
Doctor Ursa remained unflappable in the face of their leader's rage. A master planner he may have been, he was still prone to ranting when things went poorly. Good to get things out in the open, Rei thought.
Ursa pushed his glasses up slightly on his snout. "As I have explained, I am working under the parameters you gave me. Combining the Trigger drug you supplied with the blood extracted from our "guest" has been enough to cause one-time flare-ups of Quirks… but neither is strong enough nor long lasting enough to cause the chaos you're looking for, especially in a person as healthy as a Hero. With our distribution method being rather limited, we're simply doing the best we can. We're still seeing global spikes, even if science is rapidly marching against us."
Their leader glowered, his scarred face looking even more intimidating with the expression. But Ursa did not flinch under it.
"Fine," he said. "Your explanation is… acceptable. But I want the potency and time table sped up."
"As you wish. I may need a new test subject."
"When you find who you need, the League will retrieve them," their leader said. He steepled his fingers. "As for the rest of you… I have a mission."
Miss Compress pulled the binoculars away from her eyes. "Our target will be here in two minutes, dahlings. Let's make a show of it. Just because there aren't any cameras doesn't mean we can't be fabulous!"
"You talk too much, Compress," Metallix said. He was a big man, tall and broad. He wore heavy metal gauntlets, a metallic breastplate and shoulder guards, tall metal boots, and a metal, bullet-shaped helmet over a black bodysuit. "And stop doin' that sing-song thing. It's makin' my head hurt."
He stepped into the road, right in the path of the semi-truck that had rounded the curve of the road. Bringing up both hands, the metal of his gauntlets began to shift and flow, like liquid, until a spear of solid metal extended from both, slamming into the semi's engine. The driver hit the brakes hard and the vehicle skidded to a stop.
Amp, her green hair done up in a mohawk and dressed in punk-style, was next. She Quirk let her amplify the emotions of others, and she turned it on the driver of the semi. Already afraid, his fear was amplified a hundred fold. He bolted from the cab and turned to run. She rolled her eyes. "Oh, wow. Running. How original."
Which was when Rei clotheslined him. People always underestimated just how much of a punch she could throw. Not that the guy was coherent enough to have been expecting it or have formed an opinion on her punching abilities. But people often did. What was she going on about again?
He hit the ground hard, smacking his head on the road. "Ooooh," Rei said. "He's gonna be sore in the morning. No, no, wait, he's bleeding an awful lot. He's probably gonna be dead."
"Kabuto," Miss Compress said, walking around the truck with the others. "Open it, if you please?"
"On it," Kabuto said. His entire body was covered with a hard, crimso beetle-shell, and a massive horn extended from his head. He jammed that into the door of the trailer then jerked his neck, tearing it off. "Gimme a hard one next time!"
Inside the trailer was what looked like a metal coffin, a shiny tube with a glass top. But if what their leader had said was true (and he had yet to lead them astray), then what was inside it was extremely important to their goals.
"…I thought it'd be bigger," Rei said after a moment. "Guess it's true what they say about size not mattering, eh? Eh?" She nudged Amp with her elbow.
Amp gave her a disgusted look. "You really don't have an off switch, do you?"
"Nope!"
Kabuto flared his wings once and hopped into the trailer, retrieving the tube and bringing it outside. "Heavy enough," he said. He looked through the glass at what was inside. "Ugly son of a gun, though."
Compress nodded. "Well, let's dispose of the evidence then, dahlings" she said. She pointed at the truck and the air around it seemed to shimmer as she applied her Quick: Compaction. In an instant, the semi and its trailer were crushed into a tiny cube, no more than eight centimeters a side. She picked it up and slipped it into the pocket of her coat. Rei didn't pretend to understand how that all worked, but she was pretty sure it violated several of the laws of physics.
Of course, she never studied law.
"Not much we can do about the body," Compress said, "but we'll manage. No cameras, no GPS, just a dead body on a back road. They'll connect it eventually… but we'll be long gone by then. Let's get the hell out of here. A shame they thought this so secret so as to not assign any Heroes to guard it. I'd have enjoyed a good scuffle."
As if on cue, their ride, an all-black semi being driven by Overdrive, snapped onto the road. They loaded up. They got the hell of out there, one frozen Nomu corpse richer.
Rei put her feet up on the table, sinking lower on the sofa, as she slurped soba noodles from a bowl.
"I see you managed to get in again, Rei," a tired voice from behind her said. "How do you manage to keep getting past the security system?"
Rei looked over her shoulder at the older white haired woman in the doorway. It was late and she honestly hadn't meant to wake her. She'd just meant to stop by, make sure she was all right, and raid the fridge. "I gots mad skills, Grandma."
It actually hadn't been that hard. For all the vaunted high tech security systems the rich and famous employed, there were plenty of ways around them if you knew what you were doing. And Rei definitely knew what she was doing.
Her grandma—Rei Todoroki—just shook her head. "You can't keep doing this. Sooner or later, Shoto or Momo is going to catch you… I shouldn't even be talking to you. You… you're a murderer… up to who knows what…"
Some small pang of guilt stabbed its way through Rei's heart. She didn't want to cause her grandma any pain, but how else was she supposed to see her? She knew her namesake had had a hard life and suffered greatly at the hands of her grandfather. But she now lived a peaceful life with Rei's Uncle Shoto and Aunt Momo, on their sprawling estate.
"Missed you, Grandma."
Rei liked to drop in when she could. Her dad would have wanted that. And as far as she knew, her grandma never did tell anyone when she was here. She appreciated that, even though she knew it must have cost her something fierce.
Her grandma came around and joined her on the couch. "You look so much like him, you know," she said, gently touching Rei's face.
"You say that every time," Rei said.
"It's true," Grandma said. "You've got a lot of Toya in you in other ways too, of course. Not the least of which is your stubbornness. Or how we all failed you."
"Grandma…"
"You know your father turned on his League allies when he found out your mother was pregnant. He did that for you, Rei. He believed in their cause, hated your grandfather so much. But he wanted you to have a normal life, a life he didn't get. Fuyumi and Tensei were going to adopt you. No one expected your mother to recover from giving birth so quickly… let alone manage to escape from prison with you. We should have looked harder, but that woman was tricky like a snake."
Rei gave her grandma a smile. She'd been told by many, many people that her smile was not reassuring, but she did it anyway. "Aw, Grandma. It all worked out! I'm living my best life, big plans and everything!"
She slurped more of her noodles. "Mom says hi, by the way."
Her grandma's lips pressed into a thin line. "I'm sure she does," she said. "By all means, tell her hello from me."
Rei had always suspected Grandma didn't particularly care for Mom. She couldn't figure out why. Mom was such a happy person! Sure, there was the whole "unwed mother" thing, but she did her best! Why, even now, she was probably out murdering some poor schmuck who deserved it, all while rocking her heels and pearls!
Rei slurped up the last of her noodles, sat up, and set her bowl on the table. "Well, this has been fun, Grandma, but I gotta get going. Big plans, gonna change the world, blah blah blah, you know how it is."
She gave Grandma a little peck on the cheek.
"No chance of you turning yourself in?" Grandma asked. "I'm certain, given your upbringing, we could argue for leniency."
"What about my upbringing? The most awesomest childhood ever?" Rei said. "You're funny, Grandma!" She stood. "Don't worry. I'll go out the back way. They'll never even know I was here!"
"I suppose they won't," Grandma said.
Rei pouted as she headed for the door. "You're not gonna tell on me, are you, Grandma?"
Grandma shook her head. "I won't. Your father visited me from time to time too, when I was in the hospital. Maybe I shouldn't have kept his secret… maybe I shouldn't keep yours. I suppose I just want all my family to be safe."
"Don't worry!" Rei assured her. "I ain't been caught yet!"
"I know, dear. That's what worries me."
She just gave Grandma a little wave as she headed out the door. It was so nice to catch up with family! Maybe she ought to drop in on Mom soon, see how she was getting on… Or she could check up on her cousins, even her little zippy cousins-in-law! It really had been too long since she'd seen Izzy and she never had actually spoken to any of them…
So long as she could fit it in around the League's plans. There were plenty of things afoot, after all…