One Punch Man: Attitude Adjustment
Chapter 22: Division
"Fifteen minutes until final stage is complete." A member of Spade's lab crew said after analyzing the charts on his monitor.
"Wonderful." Dr. Nova replied, beaming with pride. "Make sure we have all available data on Heroes ready for presentation, I'm not letting anyone him catch off guard."
"Right away Doctor." The lab worker said.
"Soon my dear." Dr. Nova whispered, looking at the door to education chamber. "Your glorious moment has arrived."
Rose stayed behind Spade while they went to the elevator, his mood made idle conversation a bad idea. They were both ready to walk through the door, but an alert on the tablet Rose carried stopped her at the last second.
"Oh...well this is interesting." Rose said, adjusting her glasses.
"What? Did the other monsters already get trashed?" Spade asked, hardly caring.
"No, the second wave is actually giving the Heroes much more trouble." Rose said before switching from one camera feed to another. "But I'm guessing that's because some of them have decided to come inside, and you'll never guess who it is."
Rose turned the tablet around to see Randal and his group of friends walking down a hallway. He knew that they were heading straight for the way down to his compound. A big smile crept onto Spade's face, his disposition lifting as he remembered something that installed up a long time ago.
"Do we still have it set up?" Spade asked with childlike excitement.
"Yes..." Rose answered reluctantly.
"Fantastic, hit the switch exactly when I say." Spade said, looking over Rose's shoulder.
Spade observed the team of Class B Heroes who carefully made their way through the building. The first thing they noticed was that all the doors were locked, making them have to approach the elevators at the end of a rather long hallway. Around them were four open sections without doors, two on each wall twelve feet apart from each other. Each opening lead to it's own narrow, metal staircase that went down far enough to cover the bottom in darkness. Each floor it descended had a pair of reinforced metal doors with a dim red light above it.
"Great...elevators out." Kathy said after trying to open the doors.
"Looks like were taking the long way." Mia remarked
"Yeah, but are we going up or down?" Jeremy asked.
"Down." Randal said, peaking his head into one of the openings.
As the others turned their attention to Randal, Spade eagerly leaned in to the screen. He was almost shaking with anticipation as he waited to see if they would walk into his trap. Rose noticed the childlike expression on his face and could not help snickering.
"How far does it go?" Kathy asked.
"Can't say, either too dark or just too deep." Randal answered.
After a moment of contemplation, Kathy decided to check one of the other openings to see if there would be any difference. Mia and Jeremy did the same, each checking their own staircase.
"Hmm...guess we just pick one and make our way down." Kathy said.
"Now!" Spade ordered while pointing at the screen.
Rose nonchalantly tapped a button on the corner of the screen. Before the others could walk over to Kathy, the roof opened up and a thick metal wall came down. The wall was shaped in a cross, dividing the area around the elevators and stairs into four perfect squares. Another wall slid horizontally to block the rest of the hallway, leaving the Heroes trapped in their own individual sections with the stairs as their only way out.
"Damn right! That's what I'm talking about!" Spade shouted triumphantly while pumping his fist. "Now...what was that about the trap being a giant waste of money?" He asked while holding his ear to Rose.
"How silly of me..." Rose replied after sighing.
"And you can set the locks however you want, right?" Spade asked, rubbing his hands together.
"Yes, just tell me what you want the matchups to be." Rose said, pushing the button that opened the elevator doors. "May we go now?"
"But of course, after you." Spade said, stepping aside like a gentlemen.
The Heroes all checked how sturdy the metal separating them was. Randal pounded his fist against the wall but only made a a few small dents in what he guessed was a very thick structure. Jeremy kicked the wall, which made him gasp in pain and hop on one foot for a few seconds after stubbing his toe.
"Guys, can you hear me?!" Kathy called out.
"Barely!" Randal bellowed, her words sounding faint and muffled.
"Is everyone okay?!" Mia shouted with concern.
"Sore foot...besides that I'm good!" Jeremy yelled as he rubbed his stubbed toe.
"Any ideas guys? We could wait for the others and see if they can bust us out!" Randal loudly suggested.
"Makes sense, but I don't like it. Spade could doing anything while we sit here and wait." Kathy yelled before walking back to the staircase to look down again. "I say we keep moving and hope these steps will let us meet up further down."
"But...what if we don't meet up?" Mia asked.
"In that case, we can only do our job." Kathy said seriously "Be careful guys, I don't feel like dragging anyone back up here." She said to lighten the mood one more time.
Kathy kept her assault rifle ready as she descended down her staircase, the others did the same shortly after and each of them took their time with descending into Spade's compound. The first door on the way down was locked to all of them, Kathy could tell it was to reinforced to blast open and Randal did not want to waste time trying to pull his off the hinges. The second floor was the same, but one by one the Heroes would find a door that was unlocked. Each one let them out on a different floor, after a moment of hoping their friends would appear they all realized it was probably best to move on alone.
"That only leaves Tagger." Rose said, stepping into the lab facility with Spade.
"What's holding him up? The armory should only be four floors down." Spade wondered.
"He's been tapping on the doors and walls, likely hoping to find a secret switch." Rose answered with an amused smirk. "That might explain why our estimates gave him the lowest mental score."
"Come on now, don't been hard on the lab. Huffing paint fumes all day can do that to you." Spade said, making Rose chuckle for a moment.
"E.T.A is twelve minutes!" A lab worker called out from across the facility.
"Perfect...it's all perfect!" Dr. Nova said gleefully, mesmerized by the data she was overlooking.
"Sounds like someone's in a good mood." Spade said as he and Rose approached. "Just what I was hoping to..."
"There you are!" Dr. Nova said, pointing at Spade with frustrated scowl. "I've been waiting to hear an explanation. There is no need for thugs in my lab during the most important scientific achievement in history!"
Dr. Nova was referring to the twenty-five men and women standing at the ready all over the lab. They had body armor and military grade firepower that was similar to Jackson's mercenaries, but they also had a white skull and crossbones painted on their chests to show that they part of Spade's personnel security team. They stood almost completely still, with S.W.A.T helmets and masks covering everything on the face but their eyes.
"I figured the biggest investment deserved my best to keep it safe. It's also a last line of defense for the Heroes your little project wasn't ready in time." Spade explained.
"Is that going to be necessary? I've only heard the initial warning about Heroes finding the base." Dr. Nova said.
"It's under control for now, only a handful managed to get through the monsters and the rest are currently fighting for their lives outside." Rose explained as she checked her tablet again. "Oh, looks like they're getting into position."
Once the words left her lips, Spade was leaning in to watch the tablet again. Dr. Nova was curious about what Rose meant, and decided to watch from the assistants other shoulder. The screen was split into four camera feeds, each one tracing a different Hero as they made their way into the underground base.
Kathy was the first to find an unlocked door after a quick and efficient sweep of the staircase. She found thick electrical cables halfway into the roof and on top of the walls, all of them leading to a massive room. Kathy was no tech expert, but she could at least assume the massive structure in front of her was some kind of highly advanced generator. The block shaped device took up most of the wall it was built into, with wires from all over the rooms walls and ceiling protruding out of it.
"My god..." Kathy said in awe as she looked at the generator. "Bet this could power a few blocks..."
"Three hundred and seventy-two to be exact." The familiar voice of Bella Zerra said over an intercom.
The door across the entrance Kathy took opened with cold mist spilling out. The mad scientist stepped out with a playful smile her freeze ray hanging from her left hand. Kathy's rifle was already pointed at the open door, but seeing Bella is what made her finger move on top on the trigger.
"Do you like it? It was my way of siphoning all the plants energy down here and giving it a little more oomph, it also makes keeping my lab the right temperature very easy." Bella said, not fazed by the gun barrel facing her. "How's the arm by the way?"
"Better then you're gonna be." Kathy said before opening fire, trying to hit her shoulder. Bella saw this primal reaction coming and was able to swing the freeze ray up while it was activated. This created a jagged and crescent-shaped shield of ice that blocked the shots just milliseconds before the gun was fired.
"I understand the frosty reception." Bella said with a smirk, peaking her head out from the side of her ice. "But I can play that game to." She said with sinister hush in the tone.
With a quick switch of the setting, Bella Zerra changed her weapon to a machine gun that launched icicles. Kathy was able to dive out-of-the-way, but as she glanced at the icicles penetrating the metal wall she realized this was going to be a very unique firefight.
Mia was next, using her training to keep each footstep quiet in case there were more guards or monsters around. She searched multiple rooms and found herself more and more disgusted with each door that was opened. The first room seemed to be dedicated to stocking liquor and beer of all kinds, with fridges and wine racks that made it look like storage for a week-long beer festival. Next, she found what appeared to be Spade's personnel drug den. There was bags full of cannibas along with a large amount of various powders and pills. The last room was the biggest, half of it was taken up by tables that seemed to be used for packaging drugs and the other had a single row of tables along the wall with dozens of duffel bags full of money.
Simian was standing next to the money, once again not bothering with shoes or a shirt. he opened a bag was in the middle of counting a rather large stack of bills as Mia walked in. He did not stop counting and seemed oblivious to Mia's prescience. She prepped herself for a sneak attack but only made it a few steps.
"It's rude to walk in without saying Hi." Simian said, smiling as he put the money away and turned to face Mia. "For example...Hi there, I'm Sergei. But everyone here just calls me Simian...or Monkey Boy...or "for the love of god, please stop talking." Been hearing that one a lot lately, still not sure why." He said with animated personality and confidence. "And you're Lady Crane, Master Wing's kid; am I right?"
"Yes, I am." Mia answered cautiously, not letting Simian's strange appearance throw her off.
"Thought so, gonna have to thank Spade later for this one." Simian said before squatting down to stretch his legs. "After seeing what you're old man can do at home, I didn't think fighting him was a good idea until I knew what he could do. But once I'm done here with you, I'll know enough about his style to come up with a good way around it."
"So that means...you broke into my house." Mia said, her voice becoming stiff from resentment.
"Actually, I did not take a single step onto your property. My friends on the other hand...that's a different story." Simian said with a playful smirk.
"I don't care about technicalities. You showed my family and home true disrespect, that is not something I cannot take lightly." Mia said, stepping forward before moving into her Graceful Dancing Crane Fist stance.
"Ooohh...I like that passion." Simian remark, standing up and lightly smacking himself in the face a few times to feel wide awake. "But if we're gonna do this..."
Simian's posture shifted from relaxed to ready in the blink of an eye. Mia's training and honed reflexes allowed her to jump back in time to avoid Simian's impressive looking double front flip that lead to him slamming his ankle the metal floor with enough force to sink into it. His stance was very low, with his legs bent down and spread wide apart. His arms were up, but the lands look lie they hanging limp from his wrists.
"Monkey style..." Mia thought to herself, recognizing the stance from one of her fathers books.
"Try to make it interesting." Simian said with an impish grin.
Mia took up her stance again, both fighters waiting for the other to strike first. Her breathing was calm, but Mia's body was tense from anticipation and the need to bring her fathers assailant to justice.
"You've got these recording, right?" Spade asked.
"Just like you asked." Rose replied bluntly.
"Good, it's not everyday you get to watch a real life Kung-Fu flick.' Spade said with a smirk.
"I'm glad your mind is on what's important." Dr. Nova commented as she stepped away, having no interest in watching others fight.
Jeremy was unsure about what to expect in Spade's compound. He moved slowly at first, but not seeing or hearing anyone else made him slightly less anxious. He seemed to be on the floor meant for general storage. He found rooms full of extra equipment and clothing for Spade's workers. He also found a very large cooler that had enough food inside to feed thousands of hundreds of people. A loud growl came from Jeremy's stomach, but he knew that dealing with Spade was more important than finding a bite to eat. After a bit more exploring, Jeremy found another door that was marked with something odd.
"Failed Experiments?" Jeremy said as he read the words on the door that were painted right above "Approach With Caution."
Curiosity made Jeremy open the door, and he would immediately regret this decision. He saw multiple large, glass cylinders lined up into three rows. Each one contained a horrific, terribly mutated lump of flesh and limbs. All of them were twisted and deformed in their own unique, equally disgusting ways. Some of them seem to be floating lifeless in their tank, others twitched and moved unnaturally in response to the door opening. The worst one seemed to be conscious enough to look at Jeremy, some with eyes covering their entire body. Even if they did not have a proper face, Jeremy could still notice their agonized expressions from simply existing.
"Ok...not there...moving on..." Jeremy said sheepishly after closing the door, eyes still wide and his face was white as a sheet.
After trying hard to forget about what was just seen, his mind was occupied by walking into a massive storage room for guns. There were multiple shelves that went up to the roof, Jeremy was pretty sure he was looking at enough firepower and ammunition to supply a small country.
"That...is a lot of guns." Jeremy whispered to himself. "Might even make Kathy jealous."
A sudden, monstrous roar made Jeremy jump back from shock. From the corner of the room, a blue furred tiger woke up and sauntered into the middle of the armory. It was somewhat bigger and more muscular than the average jungle cat, with two shining eyes that were blue like sapphires. It's ears were also longer then usual, looking somewhat elvish as they pointed straight up. Jeremy was focused on carefully backing away at first, but then stopped for a moment when he noticed a control collar around the Sapphire Tiger's neck.
"You like him?" Tommy Escobar said smugly, stepping into view from the other corner with a Colt AR-15 assault rifle and attached grenade launcher in his hands. "Gonna take him home after this, but something tells me he'll be needing some dinner first."
Tommy enjoyed every moment of his new monster inching towards the young Hero. Jeremy to stay calm and figure out what he could do, but a single thought was getting in the way of his strategy.
"Why me...?" Jeremy mumbled to himself right before the Sapphire Tiger's first pounce.
Randal was the last to find an opponent, mainly because he already heard people on the floor he was on and wanted to catch them by surprise. The door he opened lead to a very well funded training facility and past that was a security hub where over a dozen black tie wearing employees were observing various aspects of the facility and also other events like the on going attack of the Unicorn King. All of them were diligently at their post, except for one.
"Frank!" One of the security operators said to the sleeping coworker next to her. "Stop dozing off, we've got Heroes to watch out for."
"Damn...right...sorry..." Frank said, rubbing his face and eyes to help wake himself up. "Umm...guys..." Frank said as he noticed the footage on his screen. "If I'm seeing this right...Savage Senior is..."
"If you don't want to get hurt..." Randal yelled after entering the security hub. "Door's right here."
The security team awkwardly stared at each other before getting out of their chairs one by one. Randal carefully watched each person as they walked out of the door, which made a member of the team at the back of the line think he had a chance. While Randal kept looking at who walked by, he wouldn't notice the security worker take out his holstered pistol and switch the safety off.
"That's right...get going..." Randal said, looking casual until he heard the sound of a metal click. "And if you don't put that gun down, I'm gonna make you eat it!" He yelled while pointing at the armed worker.
The security employee was left shocked, there was still four people in front of him and he made sure to be quiet. Now caught, the only smart thing he could do was put the pistol on the des beside him before walking out the door with the others.
"Big dumb jerk..." The man mumbled, pouting lie an upset toddler.
With the room emptied, Randal was free to look over the security computers and see if he could find anything useful. But first, he decided to take the gun that was left behind and tuck it into the back of his pants. Computers were never his expertise, but after checking each of them Randal found a touch-screen monitor that seemed to control access to the elevators. After a quick tap on the corner of the screen, the elevators schematics that were highlighted in red turned green and the words 'Access granted" appeared.
"And they say these things are complicated." Randal said, smiling in satisfaction.
"Too bad you won't be going anywhere." Jackson remarked, standing at the doorway like Randal had done before.
"So...round two?" Randal said, glancing over his shoulder to look at Jackson while grabbing the top of an office chair.
"Ready when you are." Jackson said coldly, his arms crossed.
Randal sighed, he was already feeling sore from all the fighting above ground. There was also Jackson's new body and did not now the full extent of the cyborgs upgrades. That left one valid option in Randal's mind, strike first. He tossed the chair across the room, aiming for Jackson's head. The chair was meant to be a distraction while Randal jumped off one of the desks to hit Jackson's with a Superman Punch.
The plan backfired, Jackson easily deflected the chair with enough reaction to jump and grab Randal in mid air. The larger man was tossed out of the window separating the training facility from the security room. After rolling across the floor, Randal got back to his feet as Jackson casually walked out to meet him.
"Now this ought to be good." Spade said.
"Is there even any logic behind this little stunt of yours?" Dr. Nova asked. "I can't imagine forcing your best fighters into one on one conflicts being the most strategic thing you could do."
"You're probably right Doc, but that won't make it any less entertaining." Spade replied with a chuckle. "Besides, I brought these guys in to help me take on Heroes. If they can't beat just one when it really counts, I'll find someone else who can."
"E.T.A is now ten minutes!" The scientist declared.
"That goes for you to Nova." Spade said, his eyes locking with the doctor's.
"I'm well aware Spade." Dr. Nova replied with a scowl. "But if your lackeys' turn out to be inefficient, I promise that my Seraph will be more than enough to compensate."
"Good, can't wait to see it." Spade said before turning his attention to the tablet.
There was now fighting all over the Spade's base from above and below. While Kathy and her team started their own fights with the Lieutenants, the other Heroes and Master Wing were fighting with all of their strength against a horde of monsters that had the potential to overwhelm them. Despite the chaos and feeling disappointment from the turnout, the king watched his kingdom erupt into violence with an excited smile.