Five minutes later the team was climbing the stairs and just turning the last landing to breach the fourth floor. Squatting there, on the ground beside the door, was Toga with a knife twirling through the air before her. The girl perked up at the sight of them and jumped to her feet, just as quickly snatching the knife from the air and pocketing it.
"Hey! You guys made it up alive!"
"Yeah…" Chisaki said, her eyes straying back to the floor in confusion. An unconscious man was propped against the wall beside where Toga had been sitting. The man didn't appear injured, thankfully, but there was something worrying about his sudden appearance and his palor in the dim staircase. She nodded her chin at him in suspicion. "Who's he and what's he doing here?"
"Oh, him?" Toga grinned in excitement. "That's the guy from before, the one that I ran into and knocked out. I got kinda bored waiting for you guys and decided to bring him up here to keep me company. I was thinking of giving him a haircut. What do you think about a mullet? He strikes me as the type to wear a mullet-"
A mullet?
Chisaki shuddered in horror. "I think that we got here just in time."
A rather feminine titter sounded from just behind her, and she looked back to see Medusa shielding her mouth and looking away, her flushed cheeks rather telling.
Well at least someone was taking some harmless enjoyment from tonight.
"What? You don't think that he would look good with a mullet? But it would make him so manly." Toga pouted.
Shotgun cleared his throat, hiding a smile of his own. "Let's just focus on staying on track."
"Exactly. Thank you." Chisaki sighed in exasperation. "Toga, where are the guards posted?"
Toga seemed to reflate with pep, pointing over her shoulder at the door. "Just down the hall and around the corner. Here, I'll show you."
She led them out of the door and into a bare stretch of hallway. However, after a moment she stopped, suddenly sniffing the air.
"Hey. Does anyone smell that? I thought that it was just imagination at first, but it's just getting stronger."
"That's… smoke." Shotgun said, his eyes wide and voice catching in alarm. "Something's burning!"
Chisaki didn't smell anything out of the ordinary, but then remembered that her mask had air filtration, so she wouldn't be smelling much of anything at all.
"Oh God. Why is something burning?" Shotgun hissed, his voice catching in uncharacteristic panic.
"Oh come on." Cricket growled. "Be realistic. Why would anything be burning? Plus if something were, wouldn't the smoke alarms have gone off by now-"
A sharp clatter around the corner simultaneously cut Cricket short and made them all jump.
"Who the hell's smoking up here?" A nasally voice growled obnoxiously. "I swear if I catch this son of a bitch I'll tear him limb from limb!"
"Sit back down you dumbass!" Another voice exclaimed in irritation. "You'll upset the Boss with all your noise!"
"You trying to start something you shit?"
"You tell me, asshole-"
"Oh shut it you two." A third voice snarked with a sniffle. "Just play your damned hands. I've got my extra dose riding on this round. I'm not going to let you two fucking morons ruin this for me."
"Your dose? Your dose?" The first voice howled back. "This was our reserve dose you liptard!"
"Well it won't be when I win, now will it? So sit your ass down and let me see your cards."
There was a snarl of distaste and a clink of metal as the first speaker set his chair upright and took his seat.
"What the hell?" Cricket hissed. "That rat was just playing us. These guys are just a bunch of fucking idiots."
"Right…" Chisaki said slowly, thoughts swirling. "Still. Lets just camp here for now and listen. Now that we have ears on the target's suite I'm not so worried about speed. We no longer run the risk of the other team getting to the target before us and taking charge of him."
"But shouldn't we still go in." Toga whispered back. "I mean, we have the opportunity to finish this now, right? So, shouldn't we just do it?"
"I…"
She didn't know.
Toga was right, the objective was right there, but there were so many variables, so much danger; and did the reward really warrant the risk of waiting here? Chisaki took a look around her group, attempting to gage their feelings on the matter. Toga was watching her hopefully. Medusa in tight lipped expectation and Shotgun, at her side, was unusually pale and silent with his trembling eyes set on the carpet at their feet. Cricket meanwhile was watching her with a frown, his eyes pinning her in persisting suspicion.
Great, so they weren't much help.
Well it wasn't like they had the answer- hell there was no right answer to begin with. This was in her hands.
She couldn't send any of these people into a dangerous situation without a plan. She needed to come up with something fast, before the opportunity slipped away.
If the bartender's mention of Shigaraki's team was anything to go on, they were due to arrive at the objective any minute now.
Wait. If Shigaraki and co were bound to pass through anyways, maybe they could deal with the guards in her team's stead? Whatever was up with these guards, they could be the first ones to encounter it.
Even if this possibly gave them easy access to the target, it was a risk that she was willing to take.
"We'll wait here." Chisaki said calmly. "I don't like the sound of these guards. I'd rather not take the risk of that kind of unknown, even if Jerry was just exaggerating."
"What! But we can take these jackasses!" Cricket growled, his face red.
"It may look that way, but I don't think we can. Look, as much as I hate to say it, our team isn't built for head on confrontations. Not only are we dealing with a massive handicap, but only two out of five of us have actual destructive power, and even then we're pretty short on range-"
Cricket's expression immediately soured in frustration.
"So what you're saying is that you're a coward? That you'd rather hide here, sit on your ass, and waste time, while our competition is charging this way? I'm calling bullshit! You don't have any kind of plan, do you? You're running this blind- just wasting time and waiting for a goddamned hail-mary, or whatever! —And, you know, I've been thinking this since earlier, but you haven't got any fucking backbone, Malice. You flinch when your mark is in pain in the middle of fucking torture! Then you fucking sympathize with them like a child! Not to mention your bullshit restrictions on killing people! Now you don't want to move because things might get a little 'dangerous'? You're not fit to lead any sort of raid, much less this squad! I'm going out there, and I'm finishing this on my own!"
"Cricket!" Shotgun hissed after him, his eyes wide and face pale, as the other man began shouldering his way past the group and towards the twist in the hall. "Don't be an idiot!"
Cricket spun on his heel, spitting venom. "Fuck you. Even if you guys are ready to risk your paychecks, I'm not sticking around for this crap-"
A hand suddenly latched onto his wrist and swung him around, slamming him into the wall; Chisaki immediately covered his mouth, muffling his cry of surprise.
"You're right." She leaned in close, her eyes piercing and tone chilling, simmering rage hissing from between her lips. "I may be a coward! I may be ridiculous in my methods! But if it saves lives I don't really fucking care! On an ordinary day I honestly don't think that I'd mind if an idiot like you walked out there and got yourself killed, but today your death spells failure for the rest of us. That means that we have to put up with each other's shit and complete this mission. So I implore you to sit still and wait, because I do have a plan and I'm not letting you fuck this up!" She paused and his eyes flicked around her mask in startled apprehension. "Now, can I get some confirmation that you'll cooperate?" He nodded slowly. "Good." She tore her gloved hand from his face with a scowl.
Cricket began massaging his jaw sorely, his eyes lingering on Chisaki while he slowly backed towards his spot in their line up. Medusa eyed him viciously and Shotgun frowned at him weakly in thorough disapproval. Toga however had a giddy smile on her lips.
"Oooh. Someone got snapped at… " She teased playfully.
"I don't want to hear it." Cricket grumbled, raising his shoulders defensively.
"Shhhh. You two." Chisaki hissed over her shoulder. "I think something's happening down the hall."
"Fuck Ya! It's mine you pieces of shit! It's all mine!"
"No! No, you had to have cheated. You filthy liar-"
A pervading grumble cut the nasally voice short.
"Ha! Look at this dumbass! He's so hungry that his own stomach shut him up!
"Fuck off!" The other man squealed defensively. "It's just that smell in the air! Is someone grilling a steak somewhere?"
"Ha. Ha. Yeah right, it smells like shit." One of them said.
"No, for real." The third puzzled. "Did that bitch from earlier start smoking a sausage instead of a blunt or something?"
There was a distant whirr and then a ding.
"The fuck-" A junkie said, clamoring to his feet.
"What was that you said?" A new voice trilled. "Did someone order a charbroiled bitch? Oh look, I just so happen to have one right here." There was a thump as something was thrown onto the floor.
"H- hey. Isn't that one of the guys that the boss sent upstairs?" A junkie said more quietly.
"Who are you punks? Where'd you come from?" Another pressed with a snarl.
"Hmmmmm." The same voice crowed. "Well from upstairs of course. Where'd you think that we picked up this lovely souvenir?"
"Stop playing around Skullface." A new voice grumbled, as if they were too thoroughly bored by the whole encounter to do much more than roll their eyes. "Does this look like the right floor to you, Boss?"
"Unfortunately." A more familiar voice said dryly. "Let's just get these morons out of the way."
Shigaraki.
Before Chisaki could even properly process her rival's appearance, there was a deafening crash and a heavy thump that shook the floor. Someone had broken in through a window and tackled one of the guards.
"Piece of shit! Get off of me!" One of them exclaimed desperately.
"You'll have to throw me off first, but hey, good luck with that. I'm pretty hard to get ahold of-" A new voice taunted, Chisaki presumed whatever member of Shigaraki's faceless squad had crashed in through the window.
"Well if I smash you to bits I'm sure that you'll come right off-"
"Ugh, meatheads. So slow on the uptake." Shigaraki groaned. "You two help that stretching moron subdue the thugs. I'm going to go have a talk with their boss."
"Oh no. You're not going anywhere." Another junkie cackled, which was quickly followed by a grunt and a slam. There was an exclamation and a rush of movement, and from then on the sounds of battle devolved into an unintelligible series of grunts, clashes, and whips of movement. So she shuffled closer to the corner and her team pressed in behind her, straining similarly, while she peered over the edge and into the room beyond.
"Holy shit! Is that Tomura Shigaraki?" Toga squealed, peeking around Chisaki's shoulder to get a glance at the battle. "Why didn't you mention that he was here?"
"Because he's leading the other team. Use your eyes for fuck's sake." Cricket growled before groaning in defeat. "Well say goodbye to your bonus everyone, team Malice is definitely going to lose."
Chisaki just eyed them for a moment, confused.
How did they know who Shigaraki was? As far as she was aware he was a relative secret and not even the most popular heroes had heard of him. But then again, she supposed that since her team was working in affiliation with the league, that it wasn't impossible for them to have heard about their boss' protege. She sighed in resignation and tossed her words over her shoulder while she sized up the enemies that the other party had to contend with.
"I'm well aware that Shigaraki is our opponent in this bet, and I've accounted for him; my plan still stands. Those guards, however… "
Now that they were standing and she could properly see them and how they moved, there was something horribly unnatural and wrong about them, as if they had all been horribly disfigured by some vile mutation. To begin with, they dwarfed the other team and towered over the lobby space; each at least seven feet tall.
One of the men had whole rocks the size of Chisaki's fist protruding from holes in his clothes and across the back of his neck. He was hunched particularly painfully as he swiped at his prey, leaving little craters in the carpeted floor and shaking the room with every pound. This hulking beast of a man seemed to be guarding the large pair of metal doors that Toga had mentioned and Shigaraki was locked in combat at the man's midsection, dodging hits and using his quirk to slash at exposed skin in an attempt to wear down the massive guard.
Across the room, another one of the giants had scales growing in bunches across his skin, and when he turned partially to swat at one of his two attackers Chisaki saw that a whole half of his face was overcome by those same scales, such that his left eye was completely blocked behind them. He was currently being partially bound by one of Shigaraki's villains, a man in a black bodysuit who was stretched around his target like a rubberized, humanoid, slinky. A skull faced villain was assisting him in shooting at the restrained limbs, though they seemed to be having little success with cutting very deep.
In the center of the room, the third of the deformed junkies had an unsettling snout stretching below his buggy eyes and tufts of grey fur peppered across his bare arms; and then, when he turned his back to pursue his sprinting attacker, Chisaki could have sworn that she saw a pale, hairless, tail snaking out from the top of his trousers. A man, with some concerningly severe scars and morbid staples plastered across his skin, was wielding blue fire against the ratman and attempting to light the frenzied guard on fire. However, with every moment of success he had, the ratman seemed to just as quickly slam him to the ground and brush off the flaming patches of fur and bits of fabric. Some of these bits were still smoldering and in the scuffle they were launched onto the carpet and wall, where most of them sputtered out or the fire was transferred and curled across the surfaces in growing blots of smoking brown.
Odd. She only counted four team members. Shigaraki's team was missing someone. Before she could further pursue the thought, Chisaki heard Shotgun's breath catch dramatically at the sight of the fire.
"Stop him. Stop him. He- He's going to burn the whole building down!"
"I think we might be too late for that one." Cricket growled, pointing up to where a thick haze of smoke had begun to gather across the ceiling.
"Did they set the higher floors on fire?" Toga admired with a tilt of her head. "Smart."
"Smart? The building's on fire!" Shotgun hissed in panic. "We need to get out now!"
"No. We're not leaving until we've completed our objective." Chisaki said, scanning the room before them, puzzled. "However this does complicate things..."
Well fuck. The building was on fire. Ok. She couldn't afford to panic, she reminded herself- Wait. So if the other floors were on fire, as Toga had suggested, why hadn't the fire alarms or the sprinklers gone off? Chisaki could see a sprinkler just above them, and it was sealed tight. Had she done something? How had she managed to fuck things up this time? But she hadn't touched the sprinklers. She must have done something else-
The outage!
Fuck.
Turning off the power for their stunt downstairs must have screwed with the safety systems. But wouldn't any good safety system have come back with the power?
Well, whatever, she didn't have time to deal with this. Whether this mess was a fault of some shoddy construction or simply bad luck, they were here in a burning building with a mission to complete, another team to thwart, and three deformed junkies standing guard.
"Ok. Let's assume that those maniacs did set the building on fire, that just means that we'll have to move faster. Now that Shigaraki's team is here, the guards should be preoccupied enough for us to move with some freedom. I'm going to slip into the office space and find the boss. Once I've got him Kurogiri will teleport us out. Until I've done so, I need you four to keep our enemies busy. Try to stall Shigaraki if you can, he'll want to get into that office to stop me."
"Ugh finally!" Cricket groaned.
"Yay. Can I cut someone?"
"No. The rules from earlier still apply." Chisaki said pointedly, already beginning to dissolve her left side.
"Lets just make this quick, I want out of here before the roof comes down on us and we burn to death." Shotgun said with a shudder, his eyes on the thickening haze of smoke.
She had to agree. All the more reason to split ways and complete the objective.
"Ok. Stay safe team-"
A tendril of violet hair tugged at her remaining wrist steadily. She looked up to Medusa in confusion.
"What is it?"
"Malice, look." The woman said, pointing over Chisaki's shoulder with a grave frown.
She turned around to look for what could have caused the woman to break her silence. The fighting was still rolling as it had been a few seconds prior and so it took Chisaki a moment to place exactly what had caught Medusa's attention. Then she saw it.
In the center of the lobby space the scarred, fire wielding, villain had been thrown aside. The junky that he had been fighting was now standing over the card table that he and his friends had occupied earlier. The ratman was now reaching for the syringe from the tabletop. His other arm was already extended, waiting for the needle.
What was he doing? Was this idiot really trying to shoot up in the middle of a fight? -Wait. Jerry had mentioned that taking this drug had put them like this in the first place.
Shit. This couldn't be good.
She watched on in dread, as the man j plunged the contents of that syringe into the crook of his outstretched arm.
The second that the syringe was empty the man's eyes began to bulge. The flesh under his skin began to ripple, bubble, and shift as bone snapped and skin stretched. His face narrowed and elongated, his muscles quivered and grew, fur spread across his skin, and his clothes ripped as he straightened to his growing height. The now "much more monster-rat than man" blinked his massively dilated eyes and craned his head down from where it now scraped the ceiling to glare at the dazed fire wielding villain, who was still struggling to pick himself up from where he'd been thrown into a cement column. The massive ratman raised his lips to reveal his sharp, yellow, teeth in a deep snarl, before hunching onto all fours. He was readying himself to charge. Chisaki feet were frozen in place as the world slowed.
The stapled villain's eyes flew wide in surprise.
Around the room, all parties seemed to have taken sudden notice of the changes and paused to look on in various states of apprehension.
Shigaraki seemed to be the only one moving, shrieking out orders.
Then the moment passed and reality slammed back into motion.
The ratman launched himself across the floor in a flash of speed, no less than a streak for his split second of flight, before a heavy crack filled the screaming air and the building gave a heavy shudder as the pillar he'd collided against buckled under the slamming force and crumbled in a shower of chunks and dust. His contorted silhouette crouched in the drifting haze, his tail whipping above the raised flank that faced them, and his pitched voice let loose a howl of anger at the sight of the unstained floor and his empty hands.
"You little pest! You escaped?" His eyes darted to scan the frozen room to find his would-be-victim off to the side, wide eyed but clutched safely in his teammates arms; having been pulled out of the line of fire by the villain with the stretching quirk. "You cockroach! You less than dog shit! How dare you?"
The ratman coiled to spring again in his rage, but before he could leap towards his prey a scaly fist came flying through the dust to collide with the man's snout. His head whipped aside and the ratman blinked dumbly, stunned.
"How dare you!" The scaly one of the junkies roared, standing over the other in outrage. "Who the fuck do you think you are to steal our dose-"
A clawed hand flew up and smacked the man on the underside of the jaw with such force that it sent him flying through the air before he could finish his sentence. The junkie fell with a clatter through a nearby chair and collapsed onto the floor under the growing shadow of the rising ratman.
He towered over the now wide eyed scaly man and admired his furry hands and their newfound strength, cackling in surprise.
"Look at that. You assholes can't even stand up to me anymore. No more dumb jokes. No more cheating at cards." His massive dilated eyes lit up at the sight of his terrified cohort, and he bent over to pick him up by the throat. The scaly man squirmed in a strangled cry as the ratman's smile grew on his warped, elongated, face. "Hahaha. See? You and I aren't on the same level anymore. I'm better. Stronger." He stared intently into his captive's quivering eyes and some exchange of understanding seemed to pass between them, then the ratman grinned in anticipation and the scaly man began gargling and thrashing and scratching in a panic.
"Which means that I don't need you anymore."
Then the hands around his throat tightened— squeezing until the man's neck gave a wet, stomach churning, crunch. His eyes rolled back into his head and his hands fell limply to his sides, before the grip on his shattered neck loosened and his corpse slumped dejectedly onto the floor; eyes unseeing and blood leaking onto the carpet from the places where shards of bone had pierced the wilted skin of his neck.
Chisaki watched from her hiding place in abject horror. Her ears rang, her heart lurched, and her stomach heaved as acid rose in her throat. But she couldn't be sick, not here. Not now. Nor could she launch in and interfere. Once she revealed herself, what then? She didn't have the raw power to stop that monster.
At the sound of the ratman's ringing laugh, she forced herself to swallow it all back down.
He'd turned now to his other compatriot, the one with the rocks protruding through his skin, with narrowed eyes and a wicked grin; inviting him. The last junkie was pale, his eyes like saucers as he looked between the corpse and the ratman. She watched the fight or flight war in his head for a beat, before he backed away slowly with his hands raised in supplication.
"L-look you can keep the dose. You know, I- I think that you should have been the one to win it anyways. It's yours. No- No hard feelings, right man?"
"Yeah." The ratman hissed with a swipe of his tongue. "No hard feelings."
Already halfway turned to flee, the last junkie made a dash towards the hallway at these words; straight towards their hiding place. For one paralyzing beat he and Chisaki locked eyes. His relief was momentarily clouded by surprise, before something whipped through the air behind him and he gave a lurch. His surprise turned to pained shock. They both looked down in unison to find the bloodied end of the ratman's tail piercing cleanly through his stomach.
Before Chisaki could react, the stone covered man was yanked back through the air and into the center of the lobby space, to the ratman's side.
With a thorough thrash, the tail deposited the man harshly onto the floor. Blood immediately began to pool and spill from the now gaping hole in the man's chest. He gave a panicked cry and scrambled to staunch the bleeding. The ratman meanwhile leaned over him with a display of sharp yellowed teeth.
"When did I say that you could run?"
"N-never." The other junkie squeaked in panic, eyes darting between the ratman and the blood that was leaking from between his fingers.
"Exactly, never." The ratman raised one warped foot into the air, his leather shoe was pierced and half shredded by the claws that protruded from it, before pressing it carefully onto the other man's hands and the bleeding torso underneath. A howl of pain launched itself from the man's throat and his tormentor grinned. "You've done something bad. A sin, I'd say. So why don't you take a trip down to hell."
"No. NO. NO. NO. DON'T- AHHHG!"
Blood erupted from his lips as the ratman leaned further onto his chest. His cries of pain pitched higher and twisted into wails under the mounting pressure, and within moments the floor began to crack under the compounded weight.
"Bye bye now." The ratman grinned, his eyes wide and manic.
Desperation struck the man underfoot as his wide, tearing, eyes squeezed and he thrashed for his life; blood gurgling from his lips. The rat man pounced all of his frightening weight into one last solid stomp, before leaping back, and all at once the cracks widened, the floor shattered, and the guard tumbled into the dark void below. His cry was quickly buried under the thunder of rubble crashing into the floor below.
The creature peered down after him with a grin, savoring his victory.
Holy shit! How had things gone so bad so fast? Just what was this drug? A man had been turned into this absolute monster. One dose had done this. One out of who knows how many. Fuck!
Forget winning, surviving was already looking like a stretch. This monster wasn't something that her team could fight… the idea was completely absurd!
Surely Shigaraki had to have some ideas- He stood alone by the door, his face pale, and lips pressed as his fingers ground his nails on his neck, rubbing the skin raw. He was stalled, no longer barking orders or moving with purpose. He was lost, just as much as she was.
Were they officially fucked? Was this the end? It couldn't be. She wouldn't let it be. One of them had to succeed, even if it meant crossing some lines.
No one else can die tonight, she thought; staring gravely at the crushed corpse of the first guard and the hole that the other had vanished down, no doubt already bleeding out if he hadn't been killed on impact.
In the lobby the ratman had begun to speak, settling in for some power hungry monologue that Chisaki couldn't bear to listen to.
She turned to her team instead, speaking with measured urgency.
"Change of plans. We're aiding Shigaraki's team."
"Excuse me. What?" Cricket hissed in disbelief. "Are your eyes working right now? We need to get out of here. There's no way we're staying and helping them?
"Yes. I know- I know it's absurd, but just look at that monster. He has a raw strength that not even Shigaraki and his three teammates are going to last long against; and we certainly can't risk running and letting Shigaraki get killed!" She hissed. "Even if his life itself means nothing to you, we'll be hunted for leaving All For One's successor to die." Cricket blanched and swallowed hard. She powered on. "Now, this situation is delicate. I'm going to need you four to buy me some time, just ten —No, eight minutes. Ensure that no one from either team dies, and try not to get hurt- but don't give them too much aid. If possible I want to keep Shigaraki from slipping out of the fight."
"But you want us to go out there, fight that thing, stall the other team, and save them if they're about to get killed?" Toga said.
Chisaki pursed her lips and nodded gravely. It was a lot to ask for.
At Toga's side Shotgun bit his lip nervously and shook his head.
"This doesn't sound doable. As soon as we go out there, that monster is going to be gunning for us, and those other guys aren't going to be much different. They're not restricted by the same rules we are and we're competition; they'd probably sooner stab us in the back or use us as a shield than let us keep them entertained."
"That's why this is so precarious. Keep them from getting killed while staying safe, but ensure the stalemate long enough for me to secure the target, and then you'll all be teleported to safety. Can you guys hold out like that for eight minutes?"
Cricket glared at her incredulously. "No! There's no way-"
"Yes." Medusa broke her silence in determination. "We'll do it. Trust us Malice."
Cricket looked at her in disbelief, only to be met with her sharp eyes and he deflated in defeat.
"Fine!" He growled after a second. "But you better win this Malice!"
"Of course!" Chisaki said with a somber nod. "Ok. Shotgun, you're in charge while I'm gone. Medusa, you're his second. Cricket, don't be too reckless and stay to the edges of the fight; you should focus on attempting to disorient the enemy, don't face them head on. And Toga, you can slice up the monster man as much as you want to; with how dosed he is, I don't think he'll keel over no matter how much you cut him. Try to get rid of the tail if you can brave it. Otherwise the tendons on the backs of the legs are a good bet for debilitating him-"
"I know." Toga snorted playfully, jabbing Chisaki in the arm. "We're on the clock, remember?"
"Right. Right." She broke into a heavy smile and squared her shoulders. They were ready. "Okay team, that's it. Let's move quickly!"
"Understood!" Shotgun said, some color finally returning to his face as he waved Medusa forwards and they both charged around the corner.
"See you on the other side, boss!" Toga gave Chisaki a mock salute before dashing off after them. Cricket followed after her with a wave over his shoulder.
Chisaki watched them as they jumped into the battle, interrupting the already tense room and leaping towards the warped ratman with their weapons drawn. The other team was only stunned for a moment before they too snapped into action.
Watching the fight from the safety of her hiding place, Chisaki dug a second burner phone from her bag and flipped it open. She dialed the only number it had saved and listened to the line ring.
"H-hello?" A shaky voice sounded from the other side.
She grinned. "Hello Jerry. This is Malice. It's time to make that very special call of yours."
"O-ok. And if I do, you'll make sure that the boss doesn't come after me, right?"
"Yes. Just as I promised, nothing from tonight will follow you— Ah. And be sure to mention to our friends that the building has a fire. It looks quite severe." She said, eyeing the blackening ceiling and the thickening air.
"Excuse me; a what-"
She snapped the phone shut before he could finish. An explanation would have taken longer than she could afford.
There were only seven and a half minutes left on the clock. It was time to face the target.
Even after the night had gone horribly awry, she was lucky that she could still salvage some part of her original plan. She checked her belt and its contents. Everything was there. Even her explosive.
When she looked up, ready to head off to confront her target, it was only to find a pair of eyes meeting hers across the room. Standing just at the edge of the fight, Shigaraki's gaze was locked onto her in astonishment. His chest was heaving with exertion and his expression quickly turned venomous as she stepped out from her cover to run towards the large office doors.
"Oh! You scheming, two faced, snake!" He spat across the room.
"Sorry boss-man!" She grinned behind her mask and shot him a peace sign. "Make sure not to die, ok?"
He spewed a stream of expletives, but she didn't have time to respond before activating Ghost to float herself across the last few feet, under the door, and into the office.
No sooner than she had gotten a visual on the room, that a bang resounded in front of her and a crack echoed against the door behind her.
Oh for fucks sake! She was already being fired at? Why? From where?
There was another shot, then another. They all fazed through her harmlessly and collided against the steel door.
The room was mostly bare- it was an office space with bookcases and a cluttered desk at the center. It took Chisaki's disoriented mind a moment to focus squarely on the figure who stood behind the desk with a gun cocked in his hand.
Standing in the center of the office was a tall middle aged man with a head of greying brown hair and a suit that was a size too small in the waist, squinting in confusion at the cloud of black smoke still rising from under the door.
"What the fuck is that thing…—Shit!" A realization struck the man and he suddenly discarded the gun onto his desk, reaching instead for the collar of his shirt and pulling it over his mouth. "Poison gas?"
No, but that misunderstanding worked just as well for Chisaki. She could already tell that her lungs weren't going to hold for a proper firefight.
So she took the opportunity before her and the black cloud surged forth. When it passed just over the desk, past the stunned man, she materialized herself mid leap to pluck the gun off the desk, and landed hard onto the floor; rolling across the ground beyond until her shoulder slammed painfully into the far wall, or rather —as she found as she blinked back a bout of dizziness— a set of massive floor to ceiling windows that looked down at the street below them. Just as the schematics had reported.
"What the fucking hell!" The man exclaimed. By the time Chisaki had collected herself, straightened, and turned to look back at him, he was stumbling away in shock. His back hit the shelf of books against the wall and he pressed against it, watching her with narrowed eyes. "Who are you? How'd you get in here?"
Chisaki rolled to her feet with a grunt, leveling her gaze and raising the gun to train squarely on him. "That depends on who I'm talking to. I've come to negotiate with the leader of the Lost Boys. If that's you then..."
"Yes. That's me." He snapped impatiently, glowering at her. "Now, who's asking? What's your business with me?"
Chisaki looked him over and stepped towards him calmly. "You can call me Malice, and as far as I've heard, you've been stepping on the wrong toes. I've simply been sent to collect on the damages."
The man snarled, eyeing the gun. "That's bullshit. You can't expect me to remember every person I've so much as stepped on, much less pay for them. I have no interest in hearing whatever bullshit you have to give. Now get out or I'll call in my guards!"
"Your guards?" She raised an eyebrow. "I don't expect most of them are still breathing, and the only one who is… well, he doesn't seem too keen on taking orders."
"What are you-"
A heavy thud echoed through the walls, shaking the floor, as if a great weight had been thrown against the core of the building; rattling the bookshelves and forcing the man to stumble forwards a step while books rained down around him. His eyes flashed desperately up to her in panic. "Who exactly sent you? What's happening?"
"As I said, I've been sent for retribution. All for One has judged that you've been given too much freedom, and he wants an example made."
The man went pale in fear. "A-all for One?" He swallowed hard, pressing himself against the bookshelf with renewed desperation. "I- I didn't— I haven't… No! I just wanted— I didn't mean to! It was an accident! My men just strayed a little too far! The League's goons just happened to be there! Look, I-I'm sorry! I-I'll stay out of his way from here on out. Tell him that-"
Chisaki could only shake her head as she approached, her chest heavy. "I hate to say it, but I'm afraid that an 'I'm sorry' isn't going to call him off this. He's intent on getting his message across to anyone else who might… make similar "mistakes", as you've put it." The man swallowed thickly, skin glistening with sweat, and his lips sputtered as she leaned in.
"What- Whatever he's paying you, I'll pay double- I'll do anything-"
"Counter to my assignment, I would like to offer you a solution that doesn't end with your brains splattered across the floor of this room." Her target blinked. "Why kill a man when you can learn so much from them, right? And seeing as we have a whole… Oh, five minutes to kill or so, why don't we start with some questions?"
"Questions?" He swallowed thickly, eyeing her as she crept closer. "And you're from the League? Are those your friends out there causing all that noise?"
"Haha, slow down there Mr… um, what is it?"
"Auburn."
"Right, Mr. Auburn. I'm the one running the interrogation here, remember." She brandished the gun loosely in her hand and leaned towards him. "You're going to be the one answering the questions. So why don't we start with-"
There was a flash through the air and suddenly a cold prick of pain seared at her throat. Mr. Auburn held a knife pressed to her skin —her knife— gently cutting and drawing blood. He'd drawn it from her belt when she'd gotten too close. Well fuck. She'd have to remember that sort of risk in the future.
"No. I think that you'll be the one answering my questions." He hissed sharply as he stepped forwards, forcing her back a step.
Her eyes followed him carefully.
She could die if he so much as moved too quickly, and that was certainly an unfavorable outcome.
Chisaki steeled herself and kept her voice even. "Now now, Mr. Auburn, think about this logically-"
His face was twisted in indignation, his tone pitching in guttural rage. "No! You walk in here and act all high and mighty, and even start demanding things of me? Who the hell do you think I am? I'm the boss of the Lost Boys! The Yakuza of the West End! I'm not going down without a fight!"
He was getting dangerously emotional. One jerk and she was dead.
The gun in her hand had never felt more heavy and useless. The dumb thing only knew how to kill. She could use her quirk to get away, but… The man was raw, emotional; absolutely terrified for his life. Perhaps this was an opportunity.
"Oh, I don't doubt that Mr. Auburn." She said, keeping her voice level. "But I implore you to think about exactly what it is you are doing here. Sure, you can proceed as you are and kill me; but it'll only save you about five minutes of life. There is someone else behind those doors, waiting for me to let you slip into his hands." Auburn's eyes dashed to the door in a flicker of fear.
"You… You're lying!" He protested, voice shaking in flimsy disbelief.
"Am I now? We both know that my boss follows through on his threats. If he wants you dead, he will persist until your corpse is strung to dissuade others." The color drained from Auburn's cheeks at the imagery and Chisaki pried at his fear. "Once I'm out of the way, he'll be more than free to cut you to pieces in my stead. And lets say, for the sake of discourse, that you do manage to kill him too, well then All for One will send another person to kill you, and another, and another. His resources are endless. There's no escaping the target that's been painted on your back… But, remember, I don't want you dead. I'm your last chance. Cooperate with me and I can guarantee you that you'll live to see another sunrise."
His eyes assessed her in frenzy eyed panic, before his fear overtook him and he gradually deflated, lowering the knife.
It clattered to the floor harmlessly as he drew his hand over his face in dismay. "I'm a dead man either way, aren't I?"
"Unfortunately." She nodded in sympathy. "Now, about my questions… " He sputtered for a moment, before nodding tentatively. "Good… Tell me about this strange trial drug that your guards are on. I can't imagine that you've come across something that… effective by regular means."
He sputtered for a moment, confounded, "It… It was recommended to my men by Shie Hassaikai's second boss. It was given to us for free, as a trial of sorts for his highly experimental quirk enhancing drug."
"A quirk enhancing drug?" She raised an eyebrow. As far as she knew that was impossible. But it would certainly explain the dramatic results.
The building shook again and Auburn caught himself on the bookshelf. He blanched suddenly, the reality of the situation hitting him. "When you said that the last of the guards went rogue. You meant that…"
"Yeah, he's gone on a complete rampage."
"Fuck." He groaned. "So how are we getting out of here-"
A sudden sound, like rolling sand, cut him off. Chisaki spun around to find that the door at the front of the room was crumbling to dust from its center and cascading down before her very eyes. That dust could only be the result of one quirk.
Shit.
Chisaki gripped Auburn's wrist and pulled him up beside her protectively, "I'm going to need you to trust me. You may not like what happens next, but I promise, I'll get you out of here alive."
"What are you doing? Who is it? Who's coming?"
She didn't have time to respond before the curtain of dusted door fell away and a familiar figure stood rather fiercely in what remained of the doorway, glaring at her venomously.
"Shigaraki." She said with a tense smile in greeting, forcing the panic back down her throat. "I see that you managed to wrangle yourself free from the fray."
"Malice." His lips twisted bitterly in disgust. "I must admit that you're doing better at this than I expected."
"Thank you." She eyed him cooly as he stepped into the room.
What was he playing at?
"But don't you think that you're getting a little arrogant for a novice? Are you sure that you know what you're doing?"
Oh. So that was his game.
"I'm learning quickly." She grinned.
His smile didn't waver but something dangerous glinted in his eyes, "You know, I half expected you to cower in a corner and cry for most of tonight." He pressed sharply. "That option's still on the table. Just hand over the target."
"But that would make things too easy for you." She tilted her head and laughed something hollow.
He didn't seem to find that funny.
"Don't kid yourself, Malice. You don't have the luxury of dictating the situation tonight. This isn't some game. Face it. You've been backed into a corner and you have nowhere to go. Now, have some sense and hand that man to me." A dangerous glint was clear in his eyes.
A threat. Things would get messy if she continued. And they both knew that that was something that she could not afford.
He was obviously more experienced than her, even if combat wasn't a strong suite for either of them. She needed to bide time until her exfil strategy was in place- just another minute or two.
"So I noticed that your team's missing a member and that the building's caught on fire. What's up with that, boss-man?" She tried.
Shigaraki raised his eyebrow at her, eyes lingering on her in evaluation; looking for her intentions just as she had him. Eventually he just shrugged and began running his fingers lazily across the gaping bookcases that lined the walls. "Well you know how things go, a stray bullet hits someone here or a spark lands on a corpse there." He kept his eyes locked on Chisaki as the wood and pages began to disintegrate under his touch, the blatant threat echoing loud and clear as he crept closer to Chisaki and their shared target. She would end up just like that bookcase if she kept pushing. "It's really nothing worth losing sleep over at the end of the day." He was practically gritting his teeth behind his tight, splitting, lips; bristling in anticipation.
Shit! He was getting too close now; talking hadn't stalled him. He'd seen her faint. Another foot or two and she'd be in range of his hands. Using Ghost would be her only option if it came down to a fight, but Auburn would be exposed to him if she did and he'd have a clear shot at the man.
Chisaki and Shigaraki glared each other down for a moment before the sudden blare of sirens interrupted their dwindling stalemate.
Thank fuck!
Shock and horror erupted across Shigaraki's face as his head snapped towards the windows in alarm, but Chisaki didn't have time to savor it. Instead she turned on her heel and fired the gun into the glass. One shot. Two. Three.
All had lodged themselves solidly in the glass.
The damned window was bullet proof. Well, fuck. Not that it was that big of an issue. She'd accounted for that in her planning but she wasn't given even a moment to reach for her solution because Shigaraki was already charging her way.
"Malice!"
Self preservation kicked in and she barreled to safety using Ghost, only for her to hear an ear splitting cry erupt from Auburn's throat at his skin being turned to ash. She flinched in sympathy but didn't have time to stop.
"The cops? The fucking COPS?" Shigaraki snarled over to her.
"Shut up!" She called back, tossing the gun aside and reaching for the solution she'd strapped to her belt. "I had to have some strategy given all of these dangerous variables!"
"Fucking fuck goodie-two-shoes! I swear, if we all get arrested because you decided to play by the damn rules-"
"With all due respect, Shigaraki: shut up and duck!" She yelled before launching the adhesive strapped grenade at a window and diving behind the desk. She didn't have time to see if either he or their target made it to safety before:
Bang!
The walls and floor shook, cement dust rained through the air and her ears rang, but Chisaki dragged herself to action; evaporating back into the air, shooting over the desk, and rematerializing where she'd last seen Mr. Auburn. He was stunned at her feet, weakly hacking up cement dust and groaning from underneath a slab of debris. As she heaved him to his feet, she could see the blood glistening on his throat from where Shigaraki had recklessly held him, but inspite of that the man was alive, free and staring up at her blearily. Shigaraki lay sprawled a pace away, having launched himself clear of the blast but leaving his target behind.
She tapped into the coms and sent out a message on a new frequency, "Kurogiri get ready to count down for secural of the target."
"Understood." His voice crackled from the other end.
Chisaki began dragging her target towards the new exit she'd made, to a freefall a whole four floors deep. She tried to shake the dizzying hight from her head as she prepared the man to jump.
"Wh-what are you doing?" He asked weakly as she started hooking his arms around her waist so that they wouldn't be separated in the fall.
"Nothing. Just hold on tight, okay."
"Okay. Okay. Hold on tight." He nodded, eyes barely focusing on her face.
"Malice! You're going to get yourself killed if you jump from here!" She heard Shigaraki roar after her. "Let me kill that poor bastard before you do something stupid!"
"No. Handing you this man's life, that would be stupid." She threw back, before hooking an arm around the man at her side.
"Wait! I-" Auburn managed to wrangle out just before she launched the both of them clean off the side of the building.
His shreek was deafening in her ears as, for all of five seconds, Chisaki felt the weightless wonder of freefall, as the wind rushed past her face and her stomach lodged itself in her throat. Then her back slammed into the predictably elastic ground- or rather the trampoline, as she quickly found herself thankful for. She blinked back the pain that slapped through her and watched, half dazed, as the night sky and buildings above flashed in the colored light around her. Half a dozen faces peered at her in shock from the edges of the trampoline, their silhouettes hallowed by the red and blue lights of the parked cars they'd semi circled around the trampoline and the side of the building.
"Good night, everyone." She grinned back at them, before the pain of the landing suddenly shot through her muscles and she let loose a hiss of air. She'd probably bruised just about half of her body. Well it was definitely better than the alternative.
The man beside her gave a groan and glared at her.
"You're insane!" Auburn hissed, clutching at his sides and his bleeding neck. "Fucking insane!"
"Probably." She said, breathing hard. They'd made it out. They were both still alive. Relief gripped her and she tapped into her coms. "Kurogiri, can you corroborate the capture?"
"Yes. I will now begin the transport home."
Around her the policemen were speaking, no doubt demanding answers, but Chisaki didn't have the energy to respond.
Instead an uncontrollable, no doubt manic, smile stretched across her face as, far above her, Shigaraki gazed down at her from the hole a good twenty feet in the sky. Above him the dark clouds gave a thunderous roar and, ever so slowly, the first spots of rain fell across her exhausted body, streaking across the glass of her mask. Some intoxicating mixture of relief and exhaustion took hold of her and Chisaki began to laugh a high, desperate, chocking thing.
It was over. She'd done it. She'd really done it.
She'd won!
A deep black ink began to creep over her vision and she relaxed into it as the portal swallowed her, carrying her away from the scene.
