A/n: Hello escapees! Psychojack is here with the next chapter of Mineta the Mayhem. Last chapter we've seen some of the fighting prowess of the living wolfman Legion Lycant. Although Monika, Moe, All Might and Warlow were able to survive so far, the entirety of Hydra Prison is under attack as prisoners swarm the once secure halls. With the chaos set before our heroes what will become of them along the way as they fight their way to rescue or at least to freedom. Only one way to find that out! Let's get to it!
Fear enveloped the group as they attempted to go upwards the flight of steps that led them to floor 19. Hall Monika, All Might as well as Warlow were desperately trying to find their way off the flight of steps as quickly as they could whilst being pursued by the ravenous pack of hounds that chased them up the steps.
The hounds were very dexterous, enabling them to go up the flights of steps rather quickly in comparison to the two-legged humans that were literally weighed down by their armor and weapons. The fact that some of them were wounded from the last excursion with Legion Lycant was also a defining factor behind their group speed being hindered so drastically.
Warlow immediately turned to his men, years of training enabling him to react responsibly to an ever-changing environment such as this one. As a combat veteran he knew what to do and when to put himself on the line in order to preserve the longevity and safety of those in his care.
"Men get behind me. I'll be sure to keep those damn dogs off our tail!" The warden commanded his men whilst shifting himself to the back of the group with shield displayed ever ready to protect against any threat as he positioned himself to the bottom of the stairwell they were currently residing on.
Two of Warlow's men from the group made their way upwards as one of them had been injured in the fight by Lycant's claws, thus requiring them to move onwards to avoid the pursuing hounds. The rest stood behind and enabled All Might and Moe to pull through before they themselves began heading upwards. This current formation enabled the wounded to flee whilst the strongest of the team were uninhibited by the need to defend the wounded and focus on the immediate combat that encroached on their position.
One hound who was at the front of the other three leapt upwards past the flight of stairs intending to make immediate contact with its intended target. Strange enough it was aiming at All Might before he could vacate the area. The legendary hero was not expecting it to make such a large jump with its canines bared at his direction, especially when you consider the fact that there were many other members of their party that were much more of a threat than he was. It would seem that Legion Lycant was targeting him above all others.
With a battlecry Warlow cut off the hound from reaching All Might, shocking it into ash with the electrifying power of his retaliatory quirk. The blast from the shield served as a large enough taser to the beast and charred it into oblivion, leaving only stray bits of ash-textured fur behind. As he was busy tending to the apparent lead hound, another hound leapt over the shield once the electrical charge was gone, and found itself ramming head first into Hall Monika. The burgundy cladded officer found herself tumbling down a few steps where two other hounds were already looking to make her a noteworthy kill.
Hall Monika was almost chomped by the overreaching maw of the sentient monstrosity before her as it revealed a multitude of rows of flesh tearing denters in front of her before making an attempt at her face. Using a baton Monika held in her right hand, she intercepted the bite with the improvised guard. This resulted in the large fur mutts' teeth sinking its razor sharp fangs against Monika's baton, trying to force its teeth through the metallic weapon. Being that this baton was one designed for the security of Hydra Prison, the baton remained firm, though notably creaking as it began to bend and chip millimeter by millimeter due to the increasing animalistic pressure applied by the hounds' limb breaking mouth.
With her left hand, Monika bashed her other baton against the eyes of the hound repeatedly, eliciting high pitched whines from the mongrel, yet it remained steadfast. It used its paws to claw against Monika's top. Due to the fact that she had switched from her usual costume top to that of a prison security jacket, the claws of the beast merely scraped against the uniform without carving through her skin, though it did leave three prominent claw marks on her uniform.
Looking over its shoulder, Monika noticed the other two remaining hounds heading straight for her. These quirk based machinations seemed to behave much akin to wolves in that they worked in coordinated efforts to wear and tear down a much larger being that would serve as their prey. They intended to take advantage of Monika's apparent vulnerability and finish her off whilst she was still down.
'Dammit! These things are trying to pick us off one by one in a coordinated attack!' Monika thought to herself.
Right before the hounds could tear at her exposed lower body, right where her intestines would be, one of the prison guards had used his own riot shield and slammed it against the top of the head of this quirk infused monstrosity.
CRUNCH
With an audible fracture, the beast whined in a voluminous shriek before finding itself diminishing as it had received enough damage to destroy its otherwise deadly frame, especially considering that the blow of the guard held enough strength to completely crack the hounds' skull. As the being fell apart, it was reduced to nothing but stray furs that were flimsy and lacking the volume that Lycant himself possessed.
Warlow took the forefront again with his mighty quirk shield, sending another jolt towards the last remaining two hounds who were in mid-charge before they had backed off. They snarled with growing fury that their targets were outmaneuvering them, keeping to the stairs as it was narrow and would force the hounds to attack in an enclosed area with too many enemies preventing flanking maneuvers that would fit their usual hunting style.
Monika let out a breath she didn't know she had. Her fear was put to the side during that very up close encounter with death. Now however, with her immediate safety being assured for the moment, she couldn't deny, she was thankful for the save from the prison guard.
The guard who had saved Monika was in fact the one whom the intern had saved herself using her whistle to stop his fall. The guard looked at her for a quick second and simply said.
"You saved my life, it's only fair that I save yours. It's the right thing to do, isn't that what heroes do?" The guard said in a well meaning and grateful tone.
Monika smiled as she had not really expected to be returned the gesture at such a moment. Although without her knowing, the other guards have been feeling the same.
All Might looked on fondly, recalling how Monika wanted to serve as a symbol of morale for the guards of Hydra Prison. Despite these horrid circumstances, she seemed to have made quite an impression thus far on the men who were present, as she had protected them from a massive onslaught of prisoners with her quirk and protected the guards she could, with the bravery fitting of a hero.
Before they could relax however, a notable roar was heard from downstairs. It was Legion Lycant. His roar caused the hounds to run back downstairs.
As soon as they were out of sight, the metallic door that had enabled the group to avoid the dangerous hulking savage creaked as Lycant had begun tearing through the door as if it were made of tin foil. Steam could be seen flowing through his nostrils due to the amount of heat that built up in his lungs with the amount of boiling ferocity that had bubbled within the rioting inmate.
"He's made it through the door! Move it!" All Might warned the group. All Might started to rush with Moe, as he knew what would come next. The beast would pursue them himself now that he had made it past the security door that had originally kept him out.
They began moving from stairwell to stairwell, as each floor of the prison required walking upwards four flights of stairs due to the sheer size of the facility, as well as the number of cells that were required to contain all the prisoners in here.
This was made difficult since between All Might, Burnin and one of the seven man security squad including Monika and Warlow were injured, this made it hard to rush their movements. If that weren't enough they were put in a demanding position where they had to run upstairs in a large stairwell. This would be exhausting to most people, and was thus exacerbated from the fact they had to climb so many stairs whilst avoiding a rather peak conditioned inmate like Lycant.
Lycant carved up the stairs with reckless abandon. Each stair his claws made contact with practically tore apart the metallic reinforced structure, leaving deep and violent claws marks, separating the plating from the ground. They landed in loud clangs as they made contact down the stairs. He leapt a stairwell with his speed and the strength of his titanic muscles, leaving a large impact from his collective weight crackling the ground he jumped off of.
As he scurried and pounced on all fours, the velocity caused the pursuing hunter to crash against the wall constantly. Due to the weight and size of the felon, making sharp turns in the cramped stairwell was unlikely, causing him to smash against the wall before he could turn and leap over the next stairway. This enabled the fleeing guards to continue to move upwards, unintentionally buying them time with the delay of Lycant's weighted sprint.
They were on the last stairwell when the guards saw the steel door leading to floor 19.
Warlow held his shield tight, the ravenous Lycant leapt in front of Warlow, a chill shook the wardens' spine at the mere presence of the wild quirk user.
"There is nowhere to run, Warden…you have far too many wounded slowing you down…should've discarded them…"
One guard shot a tranquilizer dart at Lycant who caught it in midair before it could make contact. He crushed the small injection as he growled, his fur puffing in response to his feral anger.
Warlow tossed a clearance card to All Might who caught it.
"Use that to open the door and get Burnin out of this deathtrap!" Warlow commanded.
As All Might carried Moe towards the door Lycant took a step forward.
"Give me All Might…the prison is lost. Even if you get past me, you'll have to get past the others…" Lycant grumbled as his snout arched, baring his fangs as he snarled towards the prison guards.
One guard stuck a middle finger in a swiftly stilted manner, causing Lycant to narrow his hauntingly yellow eyes.
All Might reached the door, a small pad indicating the card swipe that was needed in order to activate it.
All Might attempted to use the card, only to notice an air vent. With widened eyes, an instinctual reaction caused All Might to shield Moe with his own body, as a black protrusion shot through the vent, scratching the side of his right arm.
All Might grunted as it would seem Harukaze had utilized the vent as another trap.
"Another air vent!" Moe called out to the guards, letting them know about the improvised trap made possible by Harukaze's use of the ventilation system.
Moe responded by reversing the hold so that she would protect All Might. Taking another wound against her side. A tiny bit of blood sprayed outward as she reciprocated the protective sacrifice of the older hero. All Might moved and guided Moe away from the area.
One guard ran upwards and used his foot to smash the fist sized air vent with the strength of his heel. His boot was sliced a few times by the residue smoke that had shaped into blades and began trying to make its assault before the vent was sealed shut. Despite the horrid odds that these guards faced, they weren't ones to quit when things got tough, they were used to struggle due to their intense training and the harsh conditions of Hydra.
Monika turned towards them due to the commotion, however, this prompted Lycant to pounce and make his attempt on the group, as she was literally the main threat that could keep him at bay with her whistles. With her distracted he hoped to capitalize on any weakness, a testament to his bloodthirsty instincts.
As the wolfman attempted to leap towards All Might, over Warlow, Monika threw her officer's hat like a frisbee. Her long jet black ponytail swayed like an ebony colored flame as she tossed her burgundy colored headpiece to her target. As it swerved through the air, the accessory collided against Lycant.
GONG
The beast was struck in the eyes with a prominent metallic reverb of the headpiece, indicating the heavy and dense weight that it carried despite its otherwise flimsy appearance.
The inmate found himself crashing gainst the rails of the stairwell, denting it with the weight of his gargantuan frame. He appeared to shake off the pain, though stunned by the metallic plating that had knocked him out of his senses.
"Ugh…" Lycant moaned from the impact.
The guards took advantage of his vulnerable position. They used their shock batons to bash his face in repeatedly, causing the inmate to be disoriented due to the sheer amount of blows to his sensitive and unprotected face. He responded by clawing towards the group, where a guard with a riot shield intercepted the claws. The extended feral claws were able to tear through the riot shield before being lodged in between the layers of protective polycarbonate, keeping his arm immobile. With his other hand he swiped and clawed the rail by accident, as his eyesight was blocked by the battalion of strikes. He was overwhelmed and couldn't get up with the lack of support by the swerving unstable stair rails that kept him upright.
Monika's densely weighted hat returned to her like a boomerang. With it in her right hand she stepped forward past the guards who swarmed him and proceeded to smash her officers hat and smacked his face to the side in a rapid flurry of impassioned blows, metallic gongs echoed in the ears of all present before blowing on her number one whistle. The flame decal of her whistle glowed a burning red as she puffed.
PWEEEEEEEE
With a sharp release, the rails were dented further by the quirk infused blast that disconnected the rail from its hinges. Monika followed through by stomping Legion in the torso with her left booted heel.
BOOM
CRACKLE
This caused his weight to smash through the structure, causing the inmate to fall down a few flights as it rained debris against his person. The wolfman was coated in dust and residue from the destroyed stair rails.
Warlow looked back at his squad, specifically at Monika, as he did not know that her hat was literally a heavy weapon in itself. That and her brutal strikes were something that impressed the battle hardened warden "Nice hat…"
The intern saluted, as her icy blue eyes beamed. Without her hat her face was revealed as well as her luscious black ponytail with a scar on the right side of her forehead.
With a smile in place and her hat placed safely atop her head she spoke with confidence. "Just doing my job sir!"
One guard clapped her on the back with pride in his fellow guard who literally brought down the overgrown dog. Another guard had let out a "hell yeah!" to the badass finisher Monika displayed. The ravenette blushed as she wasn't expecting the praise, she shyly gulped, as her voice shifted to her real, more youthful one.
"We should get a move on now right?" The heroine in training said, her cheeks red from the praise she received, feeling exposed and yet also admittedly happy.
All Might opened the security door, hearing the grunting of Lycant who was bruised from the large fall.
"Damn…whistle…" Lycant grumbled as he struggled to stand, using his hind legs before being forced to use all fours in order to keep his weight upright. The beast attempted to shake off the extreme fatigue that weighed his body as well as the haze of unconsciousness that sought to claim him. He panted as he failed to fully ignore the damage he had sustained from the fall, his own weight working against him with the fall. His body, though mighty, pulsed in pain.
"The doors open! C'mon!" All Might called out to the others. The squad began moving. As they finally made it to floor 19, Moe whined.
"Dammit! Too many stairs!" The flame headed sidekick noted, sweat dripping down her forehead with all the hell they endured just to get up here.
The door had shut behind them before the inmate could reach them.
"It's intentional. During a breach, all security elevators are shut down unless you have a clearance card by a high ranking officer or myself. For prisoners who want to escape they're gonna need a lot of stamina to get out. By the time they make it out, they'll be too tired for a drawn out fight, it's part hostile design for prisoners and part necessity for the structure." Warlow mentioned while he stayed at the rear.
"Yeah, but now that same design is being used against us…" Moe noted, prompting Warlow to nod in agreement.
"True, but even if they made it to the top, without their quirks they're gonna be shot down by sentries. And the guys posted by the entrance are no slouches either. Most of them are marksmen of the highest caliber." Warlow mentioned as they entered the floor.
With the squad entering the floor, Warlow made sure to lock the security door, the last thing he would want is for Lycant to come back the moment they were granted a few seconds to breathe.
"That should hold him for a bit, but we best keep moving before he smashes his way through, I'd give him at most ten minutes to break through if he recovers enough to do so." Warlow noted, as the narrow stairwell prevented Lycant from making a proper charge on this door as he did with the security door on the bottom level. That and after sustaining all those wounds, he must be weighed down a tad from fatigue, though he is most likely to recover soon.
Warlow looked upwards as he heard an explosion. It rung in hos eardrums.
His walkie radioed in. "*static* Floor 7 and 8 are clear, many of the guards upstairs have helped us maintain these floors but it looks like the prisoners are heading downstairs as we speak." The guard notified Warlow.
Warlow raised an eyebrow. Turning to his men he warned them. "Shit, they're heading here, we need to get to the security elevator quickly or we'll get swarmed."
All Might aided Moe in standing up. "They seem to be all in on it…this has been planned for a while." The blonde said.
Moe added. "Harukaze has been here for seventeen years after all. It's no wonder they seem organized enough to make a coordinated attack."
Hall Monika shook her head in the negative. "It doesn't matter, we're here now, anyone who gets in our way is gonna regret doing so."
As the squad walked they noticed that the halls of floor 19 were filled with many bloodied bodies, consisting of security guards who had met an unfortunate fate. By the looks of their wounds, these particular peacekeepers were slain via a large blade of sorts. Warlow gritted his teeth as they wandered the completely dead silent floor.
"Keep your guard up, they're here…" Warlow whispered to his men. As they went, his squadmates all took abandoned riot shields to serve as a means of defense against whatever weapon killed these men.
All Might felt one body spasm at his left foot, causing the hero to look at the body. He was coughing.
"W-Warlow *cough*" The near dying guard called out, almost pleadingly.
Warlow went towards the soldier. "Hey, it's okay, you're gonna be fine."
"No…no…watch out for *coughs* re…flec…" the guard called out as he dropped in his own blood, dead.
Warlow furrowed his eyebrows, angry at what became of these men. They were literally stabbed from the vent traps that they were subject to endure. Without this knowledge, Harukaze was fully capable of killing them with their backs turned.
"I'll take point…" Warlow stated as he raised his shield and smashed against each vent he came across. His anger clearly shadowed by his current tactics of avoiding Harukaze.
Hall Monika took a mental note of the many deaths that occurred on floor 19. It made her feel sick that she wasn't able to prevent this.
All Might spoke to her as they walked. "I know what you're thinking…don't blame yourself, you didn't cause this…"
Monika seemed saddened. "But I wasn't there to stop it…"
All Might sighed. "Had you not been on floor 20 with us, we wouldn't have made it. You did the best with what you had to work with, that's all anyone could ever ask of you. Hero or not." All Might stated, making sure her morale was kept in check.
'This was my fault…' All Might gritted his teeth from the fact that his presence was what caused this slaughter.
As they passed each cell, Warlow took note how empty each one was. It looks like the prisoners of this floor abandoned the floor. Though in all honesty, he still felt this shiver on his spine. He knew something was in these cells.
As he walked checking each emptied cell, he looked at a lone hand mirror that seemed to be balanced by its side. It was strange because no guard possesses sich a thing. And for it to be out in the open was strange. Upon looking at it for a split…
….
….
….
"Hey Warlow, is everything alright? Why did you stop?" A squadmate asked.
…
…
"Oh…nothing…we should get going. The security elevator should be close." Warlow mumbled, taking another step forward.
Hall Monika noticed that as Warlow walked his guard seemed lighter. "Hey Warlow…remember last month when I was first interviewed, did you remember what you told me? You said 'never have your guard down'…" She mentioned.
"Yes, I remember, but right now we have more important things to worry about." Warlow responded, his face facing forward.
Hall Monika's eyes widened a tad. "Yeah…the thing is you never said that…in fact you and I had that talk two weeks ago…"
"I have a lot on my mind at the moment, Monika." Warlow responded.
"Sir…Monika's only been here for a few days…there was no interview, you two sparred, I was there for the whole thing…" A guard noted. The other squadmates looked at each other, noticing the inconsistencies of their squad leader.
Another squadmate raised a portable scanner and raised it towards Warlow. The bluish scanner immediately came red after a few seconds.
"Warlow…turn around…slowly…" The guard said shakenly. The other guards began steadily raising their shock batons as they looked on confusedly, however, they were no less on guard.
All Might looked at the mirror, noticing it being balanced by its side. His eyes widened, remembering Warlow's earlier warning.
-Flashback: Chapter 27-
Warlow sighed. "If Lycant can force his quirk despite the inhibitors, then there's no telling if any of the others could too. Narcissia though…she could take over someone's body like a puppet with just a glance…"
-Flashback End-
All Might immediately called out to everyone.
"That's not Warlow!"
'Warlow' turned around, his eyes holding a deep emptiness, lacking the usual light of life held within his eyes. It appeared that his eyes were hauntingly wide. The pupils were so wide that they practically swallowed the irises. A notable tinge of red stained the edges of his sclera, as if the blood vessels were ready to burst. With his shield raised, Warlow spoke, his voice was garbled, a mixture of male and female pitches acting as one.
"Well…aren't you observant…All Might…" The possessed warden spoke, with a face devoid of expression, as neutral and lifeless as a mannequin.
As 'Warlow' turned and stiffly raised his shield, electrical arcs surged through the quirk.
Hall Monika had to swallow her pride her usual senses and judgement not wanting to do battle with the same man who had enlisted her. Even some of the security personnel could be seen having to clench their batons tightly in order to mentally psych themselves for what they had to do. They are now forced to do battle with the Warden himself.
Moe gritted her teeth. If there was anything more revolting for a villain to do it was violate ones body without them even knowing. To see Warlow moving about and speaking and yet clearly not being of sound mind made her feel repulsed.
Hall Monika raised her batons along with the security guards who were ready to fight their possessed Warden amidst the field of dead bodies.
CHAPTER END