Hello again, everyone. Well, you're all in for a wild and mind-blowing ride with this one. Not only is this the single longest chapter of anything I've ever written, but this is my attempt to essentially take three simultaneous storylines and having them culminate solidly into one. This, I like to think, is a considerable game changer as far as certain characters we've come to know are concerned.
I obviously put a ton of organization and planning into making this particular chapter work. as such, if there was ever a chapter I would like you all to give your thoughts on to let me know how you all thought I did, this would be it. I don't ask for much.
I would also like to once again give a colossal shout-out to my Beta reader Mizu Hikikomori, and thank them once again for their indisputably useful and vastly appreciated help and feedback in helping me make this story the best presented it can be.
My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters, the original events surrounding them, and the alterations of established events that occur as a direct result of their existence in this universe.
A/N: [[]] denotes that characters are contextually speaking Russian.
Chapter 24
Memory Lane
(Переулок Памяти)
The personal students of Oleg Bezpalov were all overcome with worry from the moment their teacher had gotten his surprise phone call. None of them could glean a single word from his entire Russian conversation, but those that had come to know him considerably well over the last nearly two months, knew that he only ever switched to it when personally addressing his son, and yet the intensity with which he spoke was unlike any conversation between a father and son they could have imagined.
The fact that they were able to discern Nikolays' nickname amid it only made their worry that much more tangible, as it did for Oleg himself, since the moment the call had ended, the man had pretty much stormed to his room, before just as quickly emerging decked out in his Hero suit, but still looking no less intimidating and angry.
"Sensei, what's going on? Is everything okay?" "Yeah, what's going on with Kolya-san? We heard you say his name, is he alright?" Ochako and Denki both asked as soon as Oleg had begun to make a beeline for the front door.
When he didn't immediately answer, Tooru rushed in to try and hold the door closed so he would at least look at them. "Sensei, please say something! What's going on?"
Oleg refused to take his door off the knob, and had to suck in a deep breath through his teeth, causing his bulky frame to tremble with barely restrained emotion as he looked intensely upon his students. "I'm sorry, kids. As of right now, your training is on hold. Something very serious has come up, and I need to deal with it personally."
"If this is involving Bezpalov-kun, then we should go with you." Setsuna suddenly spoke up, drawing everyone's surprised attention, before Ochako suddenly balled her fists up in similar determination.
"Yeah, if he's in trouble, then that means Mina-chan could be as well. They're both our friends, Sensei! We could probably be able to help you!" The moment that idea came out of her mouth, Oleg immediately remembered his caller, Vukodlak's final parting words, that if he were to try and bring help, the consequences for his son would be dire.
"No, absolutely not! None of you are coming with me, and that's the end of the discussion, do you understand?!" It killed him to not only have to turn down the first helping hand he could have possibly gotten, but to have to speak to his otherwise so earnest students like this, especially when he saw the looks of surprise and hurt on their faces. "I'm sorry…but I can't. My son needs me…and if I were to bring anyone with…there's no telling how much worse things could become if any of you were to end up getting caught in the crossfire. Your willingness is admirable and appreciated, but I can't put you all at unnecessary risk like this. Just please do as I'm asking you all: Go back to Yuuei, and stay there until I return, and please don't tell anyone else about what's happening. Promise me you won't!"
One by one, his students, albeit with great reluctance, nodded in understanding of what their teacher was forcing himself to ask of them. Without another word needing to be said, Oleg stepped out, and upon reaching the sidewalk, practically launched himself through the air with a power-boosted jump, leaving his students to watch on helplessly as he left, driven by something they could not begin to guess, but which they could all universally agree was anything but good.
"Well, it's not like there's much we can here. Let's go." Minoru suddenly suggested, already eagerly making his way back for the school alongside Tooru, while Ochako, Denki and Setsuna both looked at the two with disbelief.
"Well, what do you guys think we could really be able to do? It's not like we don't want to help any less than you guys do! But if Tunguska-sensei is worried we'd get in the way if we went with, then really, what chance do you think we would really have if things got that bad?" Toorus' explanation made perfect sense to all of them, they couldn't deny that. But she and Minoru could clearly see the frustration on their fellow trainees' faces, especially Ochakos'.
"Man, this really sucks! We're supposed to be learning how to be real Heroes, this week especially! What good is any of this training if we aren't even willing to try and use it?" Denki expressed in his frustration, while Setsuna simply looked to be thinking hard.
"Sensei is right that we can't just go rushing into a situation we don't know anything about, and if we were to just act on our own, we really would just be getting in the way." As she said this, Ochakos' posture seemed to straighten and become more rigid with realization, before she suddenly turned to address her fellow pseudo-interns, a veritable light in her eyes.
"Sensei said that learning how to work together, knowing what we can each do in tandem, is one of the most important parts of being real and affective Heroes, right? This sounds like just the situation for that. It's not like we'll even have to follow Sensei the whole way, either. When we all picked our Agencies to intern for; everyone shared where they were going, Kolya-san and Mina-chan included. They said they were interning for a place called the Kamuron Hero Agency in Erubi City."
As soon as she mentioned this, Setsunas' eyes widened with likewise realization. "I get it. We could follow after Sensei, and from there talk to the Heroes they were interning under, see if they would be willing to share with us exactly what's going on." At this, Ochako eagerly nodded; grateful the lizard-like girl was on the same page.
"Exactly; surely if they knew we were personal friends and classmates of theirs, they'd be willing to let us know what's going on with two of our own." Despite Ochakos' confidence in this stage of their impromptu, foolhardy plan, Setsuna once again fell into that deeply inquisitive, doubtful look they had all come to learn she had when forming a strategy.
"That just leaves the question of how we get to Erubi City. If we were to follow Sensei to the train station, there's no doubt he'd spot us and send us packing back to Yuuei himself. So we're going to have to get there in a less…conventional way, so to speak. Perhaps using a way to follow the train in a way where we won't get noticed."
She and Denki instinctively looked to Ochako, who likewise was deep in thought, only for her brow to furrow in defeated realization. "Tokage-sans' right, but I couldn't be able to do it. I can take the gravity from two people at once no problem, but doing it for both of us and Kaminari-san is pushing it already. Plus the amount of time it would take is out of the question. I get completely nauseous if I maintain zero gravity for up to an hour at once, and it would take way more than that without going by train."
That was when Setsuna suddenly stepped forward, her dark green eyes focused on the direction they all knew the train station to be at. "I might have a solution. We all know I can only send my pieces a certain distance, but I can also keep my whole mass mobile by moving my center mass along with those pieces with a telepathic tethering, so to speak. Weight doesn't become a problem for me, so I could easily carry you and Kaminari-kun the whole way as well. Since Mineta-san and Hagakure-chan don't want to go, that just makes the toll on me that much lighter."
Realizing that time was of the essence, Setsuna already was in the process of detaching her hands, sending them to grab onto Ochakos' and Denkis' in kind, while the two were respectively looking back to Minoru and Tooru, who both were visibly conflicted, before the grape-haired boy instinctively spoke up: "You three are crazy, and you know it! There's no telling what you could all be walking into out there!"
"Yeah, don't you think we should at least think about this a bit more? Sensei wouldn't have said no so intensely if he didn't think this was way too dangerous for us!" Despite Tooru and Minorus' respective expressions of caution, Denki and Ochakos' resultant smiles of confidence didn't waver, as Setsuna detached several chunks of herself and began to lift the whole trio off the ground along with them, forcing her two companions to hang onto her hands with both of their own.
"We understand, Hagakure-san…but we couldn't call ourselves Heroes if we weren't willing to try, right?" Before Denki could pipe in likewise, they and Setsuna finally began to take off through the air, leaving the still conflicted Minoru and Tooru behind to wallow in their own respective indecision between a sense of duty, and their own common sense, watching their friends and classmates shrink into the distance towards god-only-knew-what in Erubi City in pursuit of their teacher.
Erubi City
To say that things within the Kamuron Hero Agency were tense would have been considered the mother of all understatements. Ever since Willow Light and Mina had been found by all the other Pro Heroes, but with no sign of Nikolay to be found, they had been consigned to the Agency itself, while the Erubi City police had set up a veritable blockade around the building itself.
Willow Light was managing to recuperate from the considerable thrashing she had taken in the span of only a few moments, but she was still managing better than her pink intern was, and it wasn't for any physical injuries, anyone could have seen that.
No, from the moment it had been made clear that Nikolay had been abducted by the black-clad Villain that had attacked them in the storm drain tunnels, Mina had been nothing short of despondent, barely able to stifle her tears enough to string two words together. Ever since they had returned to the Agency, however, her tears had given way to a silent state similar to catatonia, but she still seemed instinctively responsive to everything around her. It was as though she were simply in a very, very deep state of thought.
Willow Light had refused to leave Minas' side for a moment, and she could glean quite easily what had to be going through the girls' head, because she was finding herself thinking the same thing: frustration, and the despair that ultimately came with it. Nevertheless, she couldn't let her one remaining intern suffocate in her anguish any longer than she already had. Willow Light still had a responsibility to uphold at the end of the day, and she was willing to do anything to maintain that, no matter how bad things were for all of them right now.
"Ashido-chan, please try not to despair. I know it doesn't look like it, but we are not abandoning Bezpalov-kun. I promise you, we are going to find him and bring him back safe and sound. You have my word on that." However, despite the confidence she tried to convey with that promise, she could see it was doing little to nothing for Mina, who simply kept wringing her hands together, staring forlornly at the floor.
"Kolya-kun and I…we promised we would always be there for each other, no matter what. But the moment a Villain comes in…I couldn't do a damn thing to help him. I swore to myself I wasn't going to be stuck on the sidelines and unable to help anyone ever again…and look where we are now! Kolya-kun is missing…if not worse, and I'm stuck here, unable to do anything to help him! What kind of Hero am I if I can't even protect my friends?"
Minas' tears began to run anew down her distraught pink face, while Willow Light could only momentarily hang her head in painful relation. Truth be told, her sadness was very comparable to her students'. She had given her word to her compatriots, these kids and herself that she wouldn't let anything happen to them, and just as Mina said, now one of them was gone, and she had failed to uphold her duty as a Pro Hero. Truly, to bear such considerable failure to protect another was the worst kind of feeling one could experience.
While trying to fight the tears, Mina instinctively reached to grab her cell phone, but was visibly struggling to will herself to start dialing the numbers. In the time since they had returned, she had instinctively tried calling Nikolays' number in the blind hope she would somehow get through, and he would be able to give them some kind of idea where he was, and they could actually do something. Alas, they had experienced no such luck, and every failure just made the weight of their anguish that much heavier.
What was worse was that they had even considered the idea of the Agency-specific app designed to help the assigned Heroes keep tabs on each other and regroup with one another when the situations called for it. Unfortunately, the fact that the latter mechanic only really worked when the person looking to be regrouped upon activated the signal themselves, prevented them from being able to trace Nikolays' location. The realization of that flaw in design hit their fellow Hero Master Mesh particularly hard.
The one kernel of even semi-optimism they could take away from this entire mess was that the police and their fellow Heroes hadn't found Nikolays' phone anywhere near the premises where the attack had taken place, which meant he still had it with him. It was just about the only thing they could hold onto.
"I hate just staying here and not doing something to at least try and help, Sensei. We should be out there looking for him!" Mina finally stated, for once sounding genuinely frustrated rather than mournful; a sentiment that even she could see Willow Light was clearly feeling as well.
"I'm afraid such an idea is out of the question, Ashido-chan," the voice of Reflector suddenly spoke up, drawing Mina and Willow Lights' attention to find him, the rest of his fellow Pro Heroes, and several police officers just returning to the office they had been confined to. "I understand both of your desires' to try and help find Bezpalov-kun; believe me, I do. However, we can't in good conscience risk sending either of you out there while this Villain that attacked you is still out there."
While Reflector could clearly see the frustration on both their faces, he could also glean the trace of worry in Willow Lights' eyes, immediately knowing just what else was on her mind. "We found Power Press just where you said you saw him. We just got back from getting him to the hospital. It was touch and go, I won't lie; his condition was very serious, but the doctors have managed to stabilize him. It'll be a while before he's fully back on his feet, but the important thing is that he will recover. They said if you hadn't given us your location and told us where he was when you did, there was a good possibility he wouldn't have made it, so please try and take that for what it's worth, Willow Light."
While the pain from losing Nikolay was still fresh and heavy on her heart, it did do Willow Light a measure of good to know that she had managed to save her oldest friend among the Heroes of this Agency. That still didn't stop her fellow Pro, Big Trouble, from suddenly stepping forward and speaking up: "It wasn't like anything we'd ever seen before when we found him, though. Power Press is not built like any pushover, but he looked like he'd been mauled by a wild animal when we found him. Just what the hell kind of a Villain were you guys fighting that could do something like that?"
"We already told you everything we could. The guy was dressed all in black, and he was so fast. It was like he could just tell every move we tried to throw at him, but we weren't able to get a good look at him in that darkness. I wish we could tell you more, but that's all either of us know." Willow Light explained, clearly exasperated, since this had been far from the first time she and Mina had been asked to describe their mysterious assailant.
"Well, given all the evidence you'd been able to collect from your search for Power Press, especially the CCTV footage from when he was last seen, we at least have a basic idea of what the potential assailant looks like through that sunglasses-wearing foreigner he was seen with. Whether it's the same person or an accomplice remains to be seen, but it's something."
While the police officer clearly in charge among his peers sounded relatively confident in that, Mina personally didn't share in it, as she suddenly and impulsively stood up with her fists at her sides. "What good is that going to do in finding Kolya-kun, though? He's still out there with nobody around to try and help him! We've already told you everything we know multiple times; we don't know who this Villain is or why he took Kolya-kun, but asking the same questions over and over again is wasting what time we might still have; if we haven't lost it all already!"
It was clear to everyone that this was born of a mixture of both sadness, anger and desperation, from the anguished look on Minas' face, hence why the other Pro, Ninja of Valor, was quick to try and step in. "We understand your frustration, Ashido-chan, but you must understand we're trying to get all the information we can work with so this villain doesn't try to attack any other Heroes before we manage to find him. Rest assured, we're using all the resources we have available to try and find Bezpalov-kun-!"
"If you were, you'd have me and Sensei out there looking right alongside you all! Kolya-kun is my friend; I promised I'd be there for him, and yet I'm just stuck here while he could be alone and scared, hurt or even worse, and I can't do anything to help!" As Minas' voice began to rise, nearly to the level of screaming, Willow Light finally intervened with a relaxing pair of hands on her trembling shoulders, guiding the pink girl back down onto the couch, where she once more buried her weeping face into her hands, wrenching at the hearts of all those bearing witness.
"Well, it may not seem like much right now, but I have my officers watching every CCTV feed in the city like clockwork from the moment you were all attacked, to see if we can't find some kind of clue to help us track down this Villain and get Bezpalov-kun back. The moment anything, no matter how small, crops up, you'll all be the first to know." With that, the head police officer signaled for his fellow officers to exit while he followed after, while Reflector looked back to their official backup.
"We'll continue keeping a vigilant eye ourselves, officer. You can't have too many eyes on the street in a crisis like this." As soon as the police had taken their leave, he and his other three compatriots looked back to Mina and Willow Light. "The police have a detachment set up outside the building, Púca-chan, so you'll have some pre-emptive security, just in case. Are you okay to keep watching after Ashido-chan…make sure she doesn't try anything reckless?"
Willow Light momentarily looked to Reflector with a disapproving glare for him saying something so blatant while Mina could hear him, but it soon became apparent that the girl was so wrapped up in her sobbing, she probably couldn't hear anything anyway. She finally just gave a resigned nod. As Reflector and his other Pro Heroes began to likewise take their leave, Master Mesh looked back to the Irish-Japanese Hero and her pink student respectively.
"Have faith, Ashido-chan. I know it must look like we're dragging our feet, but nothing is further from the truth. We want to get Bezpalov-kun back just as much as you do. But we're clearly dealing with a Villain who knows how to handle themselves against Heroes, and with Bezpalov-kun in their grasp, they currently have more leverage than we do. We need to make sure we have all the pieces of information we need before we can risk doing anything, for his sake."
With that, he and the rest of the Pro Heroes finally took their leave, and Willow Light found herself alone beside Mina, who by now was crying so hard, she was starting to break into hiccups. To see the otherwise bright and chipper girl broken down like this was utterly heartbreaking to her mentor. That was why she said what she did next: "I don't know if you'll believe me or not, Ashido-chan…but I do actually know exactly how you're feeling right now. I know what it feels like to lose someone important to you. That's why I swear I'm not going to allow either you or Bezpalov-kun to know that kind of pain, by getting him back to you safe and sound."
This admittance on her part thankfully got Minas' attention, as she slowly lifted her head to look her mentor in the eye, her tears thankfully seeming to have stopped for now. As painful as she knew this was going to be, Willow Light knew she couldn't just stop there, for Minas' sake.
"Remember when I said I used to be part of another Hero team, back in Ireland? Well, back then, me and my older brother, Connor, we were essentially part of our own duo within the team. My Quirk revolves around light, while his Quirk revolved around taking peoples' eyesight temporarily by blinking while they were in his line of sight. Together, we were two of the strongest Heroes in our whole team. It was all so exciting, we were hailed by the people in our hometown as real Heroes, and I already knew I wanted more.
"One day, a Villain ended up separating me and Connor from each other…all because I was too eager to prove myself and become an even more renowned Hero. Connor ended up getting abducted, and I…" Willow Light had to take a moment to suck in an especially shaky breath to try and recollect herself. "…I was too impatient, too driven solely by my emotions, to wait until all my partners had everything they needed so that we could rescue him efficiently. I know we could have been able to do it if I had just taken that time to collect myself and wait…but I didn't, and…and Connor ended up dying, because of it."
Willow Light, by now, was likewise bowing her head in regret, while Mina simply looked at her wide-eyed. Now her mentors' reluctance to talk about that one photo at her apartment, her reluctance to talk about her old team, made so much more sense. She could even tell her mentors' lip was trembling, fighting with all her might not to start shedding tears of her own.
"I've been living with that pain ever since. I couldn't look the rest of my teammates in the eye after that, because no matter what they said, I knew in my heart of hearts, that Connors' death was my fault. That was why I left Ireland, and ultimately decided to replant myself here, with this Agency. I'm already half-Japanese, I knew the language, and I had nowhere else to go. The Kamuron Agency was simply the first place that decided to give me a chance, and I've been here ever since, trying to do better."
Willow Light finally lifted her head back up, taking another deep breath, but her face now reflected a much more peaceful air, as she looked a clearly attentive Mina in the eyes. "This is why I've been so insistent on you and Bezpalov-kun understanding how important it is to humble yourselves while you're both starting out; and Ashido-chan, right now I am insisting that you please, please, with all your strength and will, be patient and have faith that we will save Bezpalov-kun once we have everything we need to do it right, and that is a promise from all of us to you. I would rather die than have either one of you suffer the pain of losing someone like I have."
To her silent relief, her words really seemed to hit Mina right at home, as she thought about what her mentor was asking, and admitting to her in good faith. She knew Willow Light was right, that all of the Pro Heroes and the police were right. She knew all this deep down, but that still didn't make the pain of Nikolay being in danger and her not being there to help him, any less painful. All Mina Ashido could do now, as she sat beside Willow Light alone in that office, was to silently ask whatever force in the universe was listening, that her partner and best friend was okay, wherever he was.
The train ride from Musutafu to Erubi City had been tense and long, but Tunguska knew that his anxiety over his sons' condition, and just who it was that was waiting for him on the other side, was what made the trip feel so much longer than it actually was. However, none of that mattered now. The important thing was that the train had finally reached its destination, and as soon as Tunguska departed from the train station onto the street below, his cell phone began to ring, and he practically predicted it would be Nikolays' number on the other end, as he immediately answered and brought it to his ear without even looking.
[[You're making excellent time by already getting here, Tunguska. That's the kind of initiative I was hoping for.]] The instant he heard Vukodlak's taunting voice on the other end, Tunguska found himself instinctively scanning every last inch of the area around him, while the Villain on the other end began chuckling. [[I've come to know how your mind works far too well. Don't even bother trying to find me, because I'm not there. However, I'll always know where you are, and where you're not. You can believe that with utmost certainty.]]
Tunguska had to exercise every bit of restraint he had not to start yelling and risk making a spectacle of himself, already having to ignore the curious stares from passersby at the unfamiliar foreign Hero in their midst. [[I did what you asked, Vukodlak; I came here. Just tell me what it is you want.]]
Again, he was initially answered with more bemused chuckling. [[Calm yourself, O Sun of Justice. We have plenty of time to get to that. Right now, I just want you to go on a little trip down Memory Lane with me. It's been far, far too long since we last saw each other face to face, and I want those memories just as fresh for you, as they have been for me, when we finally reunite.]]
Tunguska began grinding his teeth, tightening the grip on his phone, before Vukodlak began speaking up again, forcing the Hero to restrain himself. [[Now, there's a coin locker room just a block south of the train station. There will be a key to a certain locker waiting for you. Once you open that locker and take out what's inside, you'll hear from me again. Talk to you again soon, Tunguska.]]
Click
Tunguska had to fight the instinctive infuriated growl creeping up his throat, before practically kicking himself off the ground and rushing in the direction he had been told to go, his mind an utter frenzy of panicked thoughts.
What he never knew, however, was that less than a minute after he had left, Setsuna, Ochako, and Denki, had come descending from the sky, the latter two still clinging onto the formers' disembodied hands, before their feet finally touched the ground, and the green-haired girl could finally recall all her pieces back to herself, making her whole again.
"Thank you so much, Tokage-san! Are you sure you're okay?" Ochako immediately thanked her fellow student, unable to hide her worry when she saw how tired the lizard-like girl was as she tried to catch her breath.
"Yeah…yeah, I'll be okay; I just need to catch my breath for a minute. I've never had to move separate pieces of myself that far and for that long before…never mind while carrying two people." Ochako immediately ran for the nearest vending machine, handing Setsuna a bottle of water, while Denki was already perusing through his cellphone, looking up the Kamuron Hero Agency.
"Well, according to the local map, Kolya-san and Ashido-sans' intern agency is only a couple blocks into the city from here." As soon as he confirmed this, Ochako and Setsuna looked more determined than ever.
"Okay, if this whole situation involves them, then the Pros that work there surely must know what's going on." Ochako and her peers began making a beeline in the direction Denkis' phone was telling them to go, but the blonde-sparkplug couldn't help but think out loud.
"Regardless whether we tell them we came here for a reason or not, though, how do we know they'll even tell us what's going on, and not simply send us back to Yuuei? We're still just students to them, after all." The two girls came to a stop, but the looks on their faces remained no less driven and filled with intent.
"We're dealing with a situation that involves one or two of our friends, and now one of our teachers, and we're trying to offer help. Surely even a Pro wouldn't be willing to turn down all the help they could get." Setsuna stated with surprising confidence. Yes, she knew it was still a long shot, but it was the only realistic shot they had. And so with that, the trio continued on their way, silently hoping between themselves every step of the way that they wouldn't get turned away at the door, and most importantly, actually be able to help in some way.
To Tunguskas' silent relief, the coin lockers had been just where he'd been told they would be. Better yet, thanks to his abnormal height over everyone else around him, he was able to spot the aforementioned key sitting on top of one of the locker blocks, hidden well above the line of sight of anybody else.
Quickly figuring out the locker it went to and unlocking it, Tunguska was confused to find a single box sitting inside. However, he knew this was likewise a part of Vukodlak's sick little game, and he still had to keep going along with it for his sons' sake. When he opened it, there was a momentary snapping sound, and while he instinctively flinched, half-expecting it to be some kind of explosive he had just foolishly set off, he was instead met with silence.
Looking inside, he found that stuck to the inside of the boxes' lid was a single tiny electronic transmitter, its one red light blinking rapidly, as a single cord connecting it to the bottom of the box had been snapped by his opening it. However, this detail was nonexistent next to what he actually found inside.
Stacked inside was a whole number of disparate Russian newspaper articles, all with headlines of murders across Siberia, an event the Russian Hero was all too familiar with, as he immediately recognized the dates upon each and every one. He could already feel his blood beginning to boil with angered realization as every single headline flashed before his eyes, of every high-profile politician and businessman these murders claimed.
Like clockwork, his cell phone began to ring, and the man was like a cobra, he snatched the device so quickly and answered it, a vein beginning to pulse upon his furrowed brow. [[Congratulations, Tunguska, you found my first little present for you. Doesn't it just bring you back?]]
[[What is your real endgame with this, you bastard? Stop toying with me!]] Tunguskas' momentary loss of patience drew a few confused eyes from passersby, but he couldn't have cared less. It was frankly a miracle he wasn't seeing red right now.
[[Oh, rest assured that the last thing I want is to toy with you, Tunguska. Like I said, I just want you to revisit all our most precious memories together. I want you in the right headspace for when we finally meet again.]] Tunguska could only imagine the self-satisfied smile on the Villains' face on the other end, and just the thought brought his blood to a boil anew.
[[Let me speak to Kolya. I want to know you even have him with you and that he's all right.]] For a moment, Vukodlak said nothing, and for that moment, Tunguska feared he had overstepped and effectively put his son in even further danger.
Then, there was the sound of a sudden electric click, and the next thing Tunguska could hear, both to his immense relief and worry, was the muffled sound of Nikolays' voice, mixed in with some pronounced ruffling static, like something was moving around near the phone itself. The signal was too garbled for him to make out anything his son was saying, as if there was something blocking the boys' words from the speaker for the phone, but there was still no mistaking it.
Just as quickly did the sound of Nikolays' voice disappear, and Tunguska was once again met with the sound of Vukodlak's breathing. Having gotten so close to knowing his son was at least alive, and yet still being so far, momentarily brought Tunguska to his lowest point, as his anger was briefly replaced with grief. [[Please…please don't hurt him.]]
Once more, silence, save for the sound of what could only have been described as a deep breath of pure euphoria. [[Rest assured, Tunguska, as long as you keep doing what I tell you, no harm will come to your boy. Remember, I came all this way for you, not him. Now, I'm sending you the address for a convenience store a good number of blocks from where you currently are. There was a robbery attempted there just yesterday, but the police will have no doubt left that scene by now. There's another little package waiting for you under the bench out front. You'll hear from me again once you've gotten it.]]
Tunguska took a deep, anxiety-riddled breath of his own, despising the fact he was essentially nothing more than a puppet dancing to his old enemies' tune on his strings. As his mind was awhirl with numerous raging feelings, Vukodlak began to speak up again, this time in a much more lighthearted tone: [[Once upon a time, there was a Wolf who had lost his home and pack to a trio of hunters, and the villagers they hunted for, who built their township upon the Wolfs' land. The Wolf became angry, and grew up to become big and strong; strong enough to hunt and eat the people who had taken what was his and his packs'. However, one day, that Wolf was visited by the Sun, who asked the Wolf why he was hunting and eating so many people…]]
Click
Tunguska could no longer bear to hear the man speak so mockingly, no matter what he was saying. For that moment, all he could do was stand there alone in that coin locker room, staring down once more upon those old newspaper articles in that box, feeling his mind begin to think back to the days when those articles were the top news story across all of the Soviet Union.
Krasnoyarsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia, 22 years ago
The nights were always frigid cold, no matter where in Siberia one went this time of year. However, that didn't register to a single 19 year-old boy in a crude black hooded jacket, sprinting his way through the cavalcade of winding back alleys and side streets, desperately trying to make his way out of the city before it was too late. With every desperate step he took, he was trying to fight away not only the biting cold of the winter snows peppering his skin, but also the overwhelming sensation of euphoria filling every last one of his senses, from the scent of the blood currently spattered across his clothes and his face and in his mouth. He couldn't allow himself to get caught up in it until he was sure he'd gotten away.
Just as he'd made his way across the rail yard, one final stretch away from making it into the wilderness, a blinding beam of pure light suddenly shot down from the skies above, cutting a swath through the snow right in the boys' path, affectively stopping him dead in his tracks. Just as quickly, then, did an overwhelming gust of wind suddenly come billowing in from behind him, putting the fire from the beam out, and sending enough powdery snow into the boys' face to keep him from getting his bearings.
Just as he could open his eyes again, however, the boy found himself suddenly surrounded by a handful of very familiar adult figures in a myriad of extravagant costumes; a sight he could barely take the time to register before he found himself getting pinned down to the ground by a veritable bulldozer of a man who looked to have stone skin, and he certainly weighed as much as a small mountain, as the boy could barely manage to move under the weight of one of his hands.
Before he could scream in protest, or anything else for that matter, the darkness of the night suddenly began to give way to an almost awe-inspiring glow in the sky, that seemed to only grow in its radiance, before the figure of a single powerfully built man with a chiseled jaw, short light-brown hair, and the most piercing blue eyes the boy had ever seen, seemed to originate from out of the light, as he descended until his feet finally touched the ground, and the light dissipated until it was nothing more than a single glowing disk levitating behind his head.
The boy knew this man's face in an instant, just as he knew all of these people's faces. They were only plastered all over nearly every single wall in the Soviet Union, and paraded and trumpeted on every TV and radio station. These people were that oh-so celebrated band of Heroes, The New Bogatyrs; and this glowing god of a man that now slowly approached the prone boy, never once breaking eye contact with him, was their leader, the Soviet Union's Number One Top Pro Hero, Tunguska, the Sun of Justice.
However, despite such a lofty title and reputation as he had, this practical god among men didn't radiate the kind of arrogance such a position would have given anyone. In fact, as the boy looked into his blue eyes in kind, all he could see on the man's face was…surprise, disbelief, even. [[I can't believe it. We've been trying to find the person responsible for all these murders for nearly half a year now…I never would have expected it would be just a kid.]]
Despite the softness with which he spoke, it did nothing to lessen his comrades' intensity, as the stone man holding the boy down refused to let up, no matter how much harder the boy began genuinely fighting against his firmness and weight. [[He can't just be called a kid at this point, Tunguska. We've all seen the bodies he's left behind, he's practically a monster. That aside, I'm actually genuinely trying to hold him down right now. This boy's a lot stronger than he looks.]]
At that moment, the boy below let out an utterly inhuman combination of a beastly roar and shriek, nearly sending every other of the New Bogatyrs a step back in surprise; a surprise that soon turned into genuine unease when they saw the downright monstrous look of rage upon his otherwise youthful face. [[If you monsters are going to kill me, why don't you just get it over with?! Your kind have already condemned me and my people to death as it is! What's one more tally on your body count?!]]
While he was completely blinded by his rage, among the Heroes, Tunguska and the ever-loyal Gamayun at his side exchanged notably surprised and confused glances with one another at the boys' words. Steeling himself, Tunguska finally approached the boy, even going as far as to kneel down closer to his level, locking eyes intently. [[What do you mean, young man? How have we condemned you and yours, as you say?]]
In an instant, the boy lashed his head in Tunguskas' direction, meeting him with a spiteful mouthful of spit in his face, spurring the stone man, Svyatogor, to press down on him even further. However, the boy simply laughed with pure venom. [[Don't you talk down to me, acting like you don't know!]]
Despite the heinously insulting action he had just taken, however, Tunguska didn't look the least bit perturbed. [[I can assure you; I'm not talking down to you, or lying to you. What exactly is it you say that my kind has done?]]
Despite the anger still evident on his face, it was clear some of Tunguskas' sincerity was getting through to the boy, as he was visibly trying to think back, no matter how much it clearly pained him to do so. As soon as Tunguska motioned for Svyatogor to ease up on him, the boy finally opened his now mournful eyes and began to speak:
[[When I was just a boy…I was a member of a settlement of Evens, back in a remote part of Magadan Oblast. Our lives were simple, we didn't have much, but we had enough. In the centuries since we had helped your government during the war, we had been left to ourselves, and that was all we needed.
[[But one day, a trio of you so-called Heroes came to our village, claiming they were looking for a Villain who had killed some hunters and lumber workers in the area. My parents and the rest of the villagers insisted we had no such person there, but they would not leave. Finally…one man among the villagers stepped out, claiming responsibility, and that he had only done so because those men were infringing on our ancestral lands, and killing animals we deemed sacred. He said we had every right to protect what was ours in that way; that we were promised that land and that we would be left alone!
[[All the village agreed with him, and therefore refused to turn him over when those Heroes requested he be brought to their authorities to answer for his actions. The villagers even tried to force them out. In the end, those Heroes decided they were done playing nice…and when it was all over, they had not only killed the man they wanted, but they had destroyed our whole village in the process.
[[It was honestly a miracle no one else had gotten killed in the madness of it all…but that didn't matter. Our homes had been destroyed, and those three bastards left when it was all over, like nothing worthwhile had even happened. I never found out what those animals names were, but to this day, I'll never forget what they looked like: a man with a bearded face made of gold, another with three scars on his face, like the rakings of a tigers' claws, with a single small hole going through both his hands, that he could somehow shoot shafts of concentrated air through, and a third man…dressed all in red, with a red helmet that obscured half his face.]]
As the kid tried to fight through the sting of infuriated tears of remembrance, he could still see the looks of worry exchanged between all the gathered Heroes above him. [[Yes…you all must know who I'm talking about. You hypocrites all know each other, you're all connected. It doesn't matter anymore, though. Shortly after that incident, the government came rolling in, and told us we had to leave, that it was punishment for us harboring a known Villain. They wouldn't even give us a chance to explain ourselves, they simply gave us the boot and scattered us to the winds, away from the last pocket of our homeland we had left and into a state of diaspora.
[[Ever since that day, I swore I was going to find those so-called Heroes that took everything we had from us…and make them pay.]] By this point, the boys' anger had turned to sadness, and had now turned to a stoic form of resignation. All the while, Tunguska never rose from where he knelt at the boys' side; his head bowed and his brow furrowed with deep contemplation. However, when it was clear the boy had said everything there was to say, the sun of Justice finally rose back to his feet.
[[Svyatogor…get off him. Let him stand on his own two feet.]] While his gaze never left the boys', the rest of his fellow Heroes couldn't help but look at the man like he had lost his mind, and he could sense it, too. [[He's tired himself out trying to fight against you as it is. I don't think there's any more fight left in him right now. Trust me on this.]]
While everyone else was visibly getting into a stance to intervene if their comrade turned out to be wrong, Svyatogor reluctantly lifted his hand from the boys' chest. As soon as he realized he was no longer being pinned down, he slowly and tiredly got back to his own feet, looking intensely into Tunguskas' eyes. He couldn't tell if the Hero was simply looking at him to try and read him, or if he was simply bracing himself for a last minute attack. All the boy knew was that one way or another, he was ready for whatever was going to happen next. [[I said it once before…and I'll say it again: if you're all going to kill me, then just do it.]]
As the boy took what he felt for certain was going to be his final breath and closed his eyes in preparation, he was shocked to feel, instead, the sensation of Tunguska gently holding his shoulder and lightly brushing some of the snow from his outfit in an unexpected show of kindness. [[To tell you the truth, young man, I already knew you were at the very least descended from the Evens people. Those artifacts you'd left behind at your previous crime scenes made it pretty clear.]]
The young man instinctively thought back to all the old trinkets he had left behind, another nostalgic tear beginning to well in one of his eyes. [[Yes. I left them…because I wanted at least one little piece of us to be remembered…even if it had to be through fear.]]
Tunguska instinctively nodded in yet another surprising show of understanding, still keeping his hand firmly on the young man's shoulder. [[When I realized your heritage, I actually decided to do a little investigating of my own, and I found out about the incident involving your village. Until now, I wasn't 100 percent certain you were directly involved in it, but your story has officially confirmed it for me. I don't blame you if you don't believe me, but I genuinely feel for the anger you've no doubt led so much of your life feeling, to be able to drive you in this direction.]]
By now, the young man's physical hostility was actually beginning to wane, to the surprise of the rest of the New Bogatyrs, who still weren't visibly backing down, even as Tunguska continued trying to simply talk him down. Finally, the young man spoke up, still tense, but at the same time less threatening: [[If you're really the Number One Hero in the entire Soviet Union…then you surely must know who the three Heroes that destroyed my village are…don't you?]]
At this, Tunguska nodded, albeit with a look of regret upon his young, chiseled face. [[I do: Scarlet Cossack, Midas, and Brother Vortex. I know you may not want to hear this, but Scarlet Cossack died in battle a few years ago, though the reason you wouldn't have heard about that…was simply because nobody else in the general public was informed about it. They were simply told he had vanished into retirement, so that they wouldn't let fear consume them, knowing one of their Heroes was gone forever. As for Midas and Brother Vortex, however…I'm afraid they went rogue, and have since disappeared from the map. We've been trying to track them down for the last several years, but I'm afraid the trail has since gone cold. I'm sorry.]]
He could see the look of deep-seeded disappointment on the young man's face, which only drove Tunguska that much further as he finally removed his hand from his shoulder and stood tall before him, driving the young man to once more look into his eyes.
[[I understand what exactly it is that has been driving you, young man. I took the liberty of really looking up the men you've killed. They weren't Heroes, not even people possessing Quirks. No, they were all businessmen and politicians, and they all had direct ties, not only to each other, but to the development that's taken place on your people's land, specifically in the construction of numerous oil refineries and pipelines.]]
At this mention, the young man's face began twisting in seething anger once again. [[After all of that…to see the land we called home for centuries get perverted and desecrated like that…it's unforgivable! I'm not enough of a fool to think I could ever take that land back for us…since there's nobody left to get that land back for. But I knew those men, at least some of them, had ties to the overall Hero infrastructure in the Union, so I thought…or perhaps I had simply hoped, that one of them would be able to point me in the direction of those three Heroes. If nothing else, to simply get revenge on them would have been enough. However, so far, not a single one of them has spoken up.]]
With this personal defeat still hanging heavy on his heart, the young man finally lifted his head, this time with much more visible defiance, trying to stare the otherwise unshakeable Tunguska down. [[I've had enough of you wasting my time with your paltry talk and false sympathy! If you're all here to arrest or kill me, then just do it, instead of mocking me by prolonging the inevitable!]]
He could see all the other Heroes around him tensing up, just waiting for the very first hint of a go-ahead from Tunguska, or simply from their own gut instinct. However, at the moment when it seemed like battle was inevitable…Tunguska instead extended a single open hand to him, in an unmistakable handshake gesture. He immediately looked into his blue eyes as if the man was insane, but there wasn't a single hint of deception in his eyes, or the rest of his body language, that he could sense. The Hero was actually being absolutely genuine without having to say a word.
[[You're not a Villain, young man. Villains do what they do simply for the fun of it. You, on the other hand…you're driven by your own personal sense of justice. Any Hero can respect that, if not appreciate it. Where you've stumbled is that you've let your anger shape what that idea of justice is, and do the decision-making for you, and it's led you down this ugly path. However, contrary to what anyone else would have you believe, it's not too late for you to make a change.
[[I want to help you, young man. I can help steer you down a better path, one where you can learn to utilize your Quirk and your skills in a way that can help you deliver the men responsible to justice in the most meaningful of ways: one where they and their crimes are brought into the light of the public eye, and are rightfully punished for their deeds…and where you and your reasons aren't senselessly brushed aside and you're labeled as nothing more than a savage killer. For what you've gone through that's driven you to this, you deserve better than that…your people deserve better than that. Let me, let all of us, help you to make that possible.]]
The young man, of course, looked nothing short of disbelieving, skeptical, almost insulted by such an offer. However, he still couldn't take his eyes away from Tunguskas'. As he never retracted his offering hand, Tunguska himself, never broke contact from the young mans' eyes. They were a piercing shade of grey, and yet still had a depth to them that conveyed so much more emotion than most people.
Finally, to the astonishment of every single other Hero gathered around, simply waiting for the first sign of hostility in order to intervene, the young man finally, with a hissing breath through his teeth as his shoulders trembled, stepped forward and met Tunguskas' open hand with his own; the two firmly shaking hands in unison, and spurring a collective sigh of relief from everyone. [[I know this is the right choice, and with time, you will as well. Now, please tell me, do you have a name, young man?]]
The young man before him was clearly shaken by such a question, as he closed his eyes as he inhaled, trying to keep his emotions in check. [[No…my name died with my village and my people. Now…I'm only known by the name the public have labeled me with for what I've done…'Vukodlak'.]]
A deeply troubled trembling nearly started in the pit of Tunguskas' gut at the mention, having grown up with all sorts of fables of the dreaded werewolf-like creature found in nearly all Slavic folklore. [[And may I ask what exactly your Quirk is?]]
To this, the young man was surprisingly much more ready to answer. [[My Quirk…I call it Apex Predator. It heightens all of my senses, save for touch. I can see and hear farther and better than anyone, respectively, and my sense of taste and smell are sharper and implant in my memory better than any creature on this planet. When I get a trace of someone or something's blood in my mouth, I can track the specific one it belongs to indefinitely…although too much risks overwhelming the rest of my senses. I guess you could compare it to a high.]]
Tunguska was visibly in deep contemplation again, taking this all to heart. Such a Quirk hardly sounded like something a Hero would use…but in his years of experience, he had already been pleasantly surprised by things like this before, and he wasn't about to turn his nose up at the possibility of it happening again. [[Well, I'm confident that with enough time and cooperation, we'll be able to help you come up with a more appropriate name for yourself, one that will inspire peoples' faith in justice, rather than fear. Trust me, Vukodlak, this is the beginning of a brand new chapter of your life; I swear it.]]
While the young man, Vukodlak, was clearly taking Tunguskas' confidence to heart, the Sun of Justice realized his comrades, Svyatogor and Wisp, were silently beckoning him to join them. As soon as he was sure Vukodlak would be alright, he hurried over to join their sides, only to immediately see the serious looks of doubt upon their faces. [[Tunguska, are you really sure this is a good idea?]] [[Yeah, don't forget, we were sent out here specifically to apprehend or…at worst…take care of him; not recruit him.]]
Tunguskas' pleasant demeanor briefly darkened as he brought his two comrades into a huddle, speaking in as silent a whisper as he could, now knowing what he knew of Vukodlak's Quirk. [[I understand all that, but I'm confident it's not too late for that young man to turn around and make a positive change. He's not too far gone…he just can't be.]]
Looking back over his shoulder, he felt pleasantly confident in that sentiment, as he saw what looked like a glimmer of actual hope in Vukodlak's grey eyes reflected in the rail yard lights. No, it wasn't possible. He simply had to still have a smidgeon of honest-to-goodness justice in him at this moment. Tunguska simply had to believe that.
Erubi City, Present Day
Inside the Kamuron Hero Agency, the rest of the Pro Heroes had since returned from yet another patrol to aid the police, only to find that despite Willow Lights' reassuring words, Mina Ashido had since been brought to the point of pacing the office anxiously. It was bad enough for her to not be out there trying to help in whatever way she could, but to simply stay still in this tiny office was a whole other kind of torture.
To all of them, though, this was pretty much to be expected. Her mentors' attempted words at reassurance could have only pacified anyone for so long in a situation like this.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before the police had returned with a considerable positive air about them that got everyone's attention. "I think you'll be pleased to hear we may have gotten our first solid lead on where to go in the search." As Mina, Willow Light and the rest of the Pro Heroes rushed in, the officer in charge pulled out a tablet displaying clear CCTV footage, which he began to play for them, displaying what looked like a rather remote industrial parking lot, with a single box truck inside, with its trailer door still wide open.
"This footage came from a CCTV camera almost directly above where you found Willow Light and Ashido-san, just shortly after the time they were attacked." As the footage played, a single solitary figure in black, wearing a black face mask with white fangs painted on it, suddenly emerged from around a distant corner, hoisting a single human-sized case over his shoulder in a clearly superhuman show of strength.
"That's him! I know that's him, that's the Villain that attacked us!" Willow Light immediately exclaimed as soon as the figure stepped out into the open, making a beeline for the truck. As soon as he reached the vehicle, he slid the case into the trailer, and then just as quickly fled the scene, just before a man in an industrial jumpsuit entered the lot from another angle, slid an identical couple of cases from a nearby pallet on the lot into the trailer as well, slid the door closed, and just as quickly took off driving.
"Do you think he had Kolya-kun inside that case?" Mina immediately asked, while the police clearly weren't about to say yes or no just yet.
"It is a distinct possibility, given the circumstances, timing, and the fact we didn't find him anywhere near the incident area, but we can't confirm as of yet. What we can confirm is that the specific business that the truck is labeled with, is directly above where the attack took place, so the Villain must have planned this stage ahead of time, taking one of their cases and potentially stashing Bezpalov-san inside and hiding it inside the truck, where an employee wouldn't think twice about seeing it before driving off with it. Unfortunately, the upkeep of the vehicle isn't up to code, as we haven't been able to properly identify the license plate just yet, but we're currently hoping we'll eventually be able to get an angle where we can do so."
Contrary to the officer in charge's perceived confidence, Mina took all this information, and only seemed to grow that much more despondent. "So this means that for all we know, Kolya-kun could be anywhere, and we have no idea where to even start looking!"
Despite this, however, Willow Light actually seemed to perk up considerably more. "Let's not fret, Ashido-chan. The police never found Bezpalov-kun anywhere near the area, which leads me to believe he has to be in that case, and we both saw he never got into the truck with him, which means that for all intents and purposes, he isn't in immediate danger."
Once more, the police officer in charge stepped in once Willow Light had reached the best point for him to do so. "Now, the main issue is keeping track of the truck and seeing where it will stop so that we can send in reinforcements to intercept and hopefully extract Bezpalov-san. My officers are keeping us all informed of its current whereabouts in real time, so unless it ends up driving through any areas where the CCTV's are currently inoperable, we'll have eyes on it the entire time."
However, this was when Master Mesh suddenly stepped in, a visibly alert look in his eyes. "Officer, given the sheer level of preparation the Villain has shown in his actions thus far, wouldn't you say it's possible he may have taken our actions into account, yours included, and potentially booby-trapped the case holding Bezpalov-kun, assuming it isn't an outright decoy to begin with?"
This, unfortunately, seemed to only just then register with the police, as they all exchanged worrisome glances with each other. "It is possible the Villain chose that specific truck for a reason. It is possible there's a grander scheme he's concocting alongside this one, and he could have that as a failsafe to keep anyone from interrupting any part of it prematurely. For now, as much as I hate to say it, unless we were to somehow find and apprehend this Villain, it seems our only real course of action is to keep vigilant watch on that truck, see where it ends up stopping, and work our way from there."
This, of course, did absolutely nothing but aggravate and devastate Willow Light and Mina respectively, especially the idea that if that truck were to go through any blind spots in town, they'd run the risk of losing their one potential trail on Nikolay altogether.
Before anything else could be said, the officer in charge's radio suddenly began to go off, prompting him to hurriedly pick it up. "Say again, what's going on down there?" The chatter on the other end was too muddled for any of the Heroes to make out, but they could easily see the confused look on his face that quickly followed as he looked to them for some kind of clarification.
"One of my officers in the cordon downstairs, he's saying three teenagers are asking to be let in. They mentioned Ashido-san and Bezpalov-san by name. They're describing them as a brown-haired girl with blushing cheeks, a blonde boy with a black lightning bolt streak, and another girl with fangs and green hair."
None of the Pro Heroes could even begin to say anything before Minas' entire body jolted with surprise; her pink hair standing on end and her black-gold eyes wide behind her eye mask. "That's Urara-chan, Kaminari-kun and Setsuna-chan! They're friends of me and Kolya-kun from Yuuei! But why would they be all the way out here? I never said anything about this to anyone who isn't already here."
At a loss of what else to possibly say, Reflector gave the officer in charge an approving nod, to which he, with obvious reluctance, brought his radio back up. "Alright, let them through."
The instant the three teenagers came through the office doorway, Mina nearly bolted into the three, catching them in a large emotional hug they barely had time to react to. However, instead of the normally beaming and cheerful sight of Mina they had been hoping would have been waiting for them, they instead saw the pink girl with obvious tear tracks down her face, and a look of true anguish in her eyes.
"Mina-chan, we came as soon as we could. What's going on? Is Kolya-san okay?" Ochako asked as soon as Mina finally took a step back to give her friends some space before offering them to come further inside.
From there, she and Willow Light, after introductions had been properly made between the youths and the rest of the Pro Heroes, proceeded to fill them in on everything that had happened; the trios' faces reflecting almost identical shock and sadness at the realization of Nikolays' kidnapping, and just how serious this situation really was.
"Now that brings up the subject of you three. Ashido-san confirmed with us she hadn't told you or anyone outside this room of what's happening, and yet you say you had received word of something serious happening here. How?" The police were very clear about how serious it was they know everything, and thus the three new arrivals took turns explaining everything they had seen and heard, from Tunguskas' surprise phone call, his emergency departure, and their attempt to follow after him to try and help.
Of course, once it had become clear that the Russian Hero had never come to the Kamuron Hero Agency; that set a whole new air of tension over everyones' heads. This whole mess had just gotten considerably more complicated.
"So we have one Hero intern missing, an unidentified Villain hiding god-only-knows-where in this city, and now we have a third party in the missing interns' father, going out to investigate on his own. And what exactly was it the three of you were hoping to accomplish by coming here again?" Reflector asked as he ran through everything that had been heaped upon their shoulders once more.
"Kolya-san is our friend, and Tunguska-sensei is our teacher. We don't know everything that's going on, but we still want to try and help them both, whatever way we can." Denki stated with surprising firmness, while Ochako had her hands balled into fists, clutching her pants legs where she sat between her two compatriots.
"That's right! Tunguska-sensei obviously didn't get called here by you, so for all we know he could be walking into a trap! We need to do something to keep either of them from getting hurt!" It was crystal clear to all the police and the Pros alike, that between all these students together, there was a serious fire in their eyes that easily betrayed their reckless youthful spirits.
However, that did little to dissuade Reflector from stepping in, shaking his head in firm denial. "I'm sorry kids, but that is out of the question. We're dealing with a legitimate Villain who was able to best one of our own and take your friend as a hostage. This situation is way too dangerous for students like yourselves."
With that statement having been made beyond a shadow of a doubt, he soon turned his eyes to Willow Light. "Willow, this situation is getting simply out of hand. I want you and Master Mesh to take Ashido-san and these kids back to the train station, and send them back to Musutafu where they'll be safe. Afterwards, we'll be able to focus all our resources on finding Bezpalov-kun, apprehending this Villain, and getting this Tunguska to safety as well. That's the only way we can fix this situation before it gets any worse."
Ochako, Setsuna and Denki looked in disbelief that they were being sent packing right out the gate, but Minas' expression was the most painful of all. She looked like she'd been legitimately stabbed in the back, being sent home while her partner and friend was still in danger. However, as much as she personally disagreed with Reflectors' decision, Willow Light, herself, knew that in the end, getting these children out of harm's way was for the best. And so, with a firm but understanding hand, she ushered Mina and her friends to accompany her and the steel rod-clad Hero out the door for the train station, while the police and the rest of the Agency Heroes were left to try and figure out how to work with all the pieces now in play.
"Sensei, you know this isn't right! You can't just tell us to turn our backs on a friend in need! That's not what Heroes do!" Mina tried once more to protest to Willow Light as soon as the entrance to the train station came into sight, while the Illuminating Hero and Master Mesh continued taking her and her friends along against their will.
"That's right, Ashido-san, Heroes don't abandon their friends, but neither do they go rushing headlong into a situation they know is dangerous, and they especially don't bring people who aren't ready to handle themselves into that kind of situation. We should've sent you to the safety of Yuuei first thing when this happened, but we're not making that mistake again. This is for all your own good, and surely deep down, you all know it as much as we do. Now please, don't make this any harder than it already is."
Master Mesh tried to play the reasonable one when he could see the clearly conflicted look on Willow Lights' face. Of course she would have a problem with Reflector forcing her intern and her friends away when they were clearly looking to help, and they needed whatever help they could get. But she also understood the risks of rushing into things, probably better than any of them.
As they further approached the train station, the lot were caught by surprise by the distant calling out of Minas' name from across the street. To all their collective (and in the case of the kids themselves, pleasant) surprise, they were being greeted by what looked like a floating set of feminine clothes waving to them, and a very nervous-looking, diminutive boy with grape-like hair. Of course, the immediate realization that the clearly female invisible one had called Mina by name, made it all click for the two Pros.
"Am I to assume these are yet more classmates of yours, Ashido-chan?" Willow Light asked rhetorically, as the two hurriedly made their way for the group.
"Yeah, they are. Tooru-chan, Mineta-san, what are you guys doing here?" "Yeah, I thought you guys decided to stay at Yuuei like Tunguska-sensei had said." Ochako chimed in as well, clearly having not expected the two to have actually come all this way after everything this morning.
"Well, it took a lot of convincing to get Mineta-kun to come along, but I realized you guys were right. We all need to stick together and help each other out, especially if one of our friends is in danger." While Tooru was clearly fully driven by this decision, Minoru didn't look nearly as much so.
"There was no way I was staying at school alone…but I still think you guys are all crazy. Do you have any idea what might happen if the teachers find out about all this?" Master Mesh, personally, couldn't have been more grateful for the boy who was clearly Mineta from his understanding, having said so, as he began heading for the train station again.
"Thankfully, none of you will have to worry about that, because you're all heading back to Musutafu and Yuuei where it'll be safe. Now come on, we've wasted enough time as it is." However, as he began to continue on his way, he realized nobody else was following him, not even Willow Light.
Instead, when he looked back, he could see that not only were all the kids discussing among themselves and filling their two new arrivals in on all the details they had of what was going on, but he could also see the deeply introspective look in Willow Lights' eyes when she saw them carry on like this with each other.
There was a truly wordless air of friendship, partnership and solidarity shared between most if not all of them, some kind of unspoken connection that she could see clear as day, perhaps not on the same specific level, but no less strong than the connection she clearly sensed between Mina and Nikolay. Truly, all of these kids had already formed bonds of trust and friendship between each other that could scarcely hope to be broken, and the fact that they had all come here for the same admirable purpose: to try and give every last ounce of themselves that they could to try and help save the people they all cared about, was only making that bond stronger by the second.
For a few brief yet precious moments, Willow Light could see herself and her brother and their old team together again, ready and eager to take on all the evils the world could throw at them, for the sake of delivering justice, and protecting everything they held dear. It was like her pink intern and all her schoolmates and friends here were the reincarnation of the hopes and dedication that those old memories held for the Illuminating Hero.
Willow Light felt a wholly reinvigorated sense of drive flare up inside her, and better yet, Master Mesh could see it in her as well; and in all the years they'd come to know each other, he knew there was no diverting her from whatever course she had set for herself when she got like this. Thusly, he braced himself for the doubtless insane request she was about to make as soon as they made eye contact, and the teens among them had noticed the distinct change in the air.
"Master Mesh…let me take responsibility for the kids. They came all this way, because they followed their calling as true Heroes-in-the-making, in order to save the people they care about. What kind of Pro Heroes would we be if we took that calling away from them? You and I both know we need all the help we can get, and for all we know, this is as much of that help as we're going to get, and we should give them that chance. They clearly have the trust and confidence in themselves and each other to be able to pull their weight where and when they need to. I'll stay with them and keep them protected every step of the way, and we're going to try and get a bead on Bezpalov-kun whichever way we rightly can. We find him, we take away that Villains' leverage, and we can finally bring him the justice he deserves."
She never took her eyes off her fellow Pro, even as Mina and the rest of her fellow students looked at her like a veritable god of mercy; Mina specifically having to fight the urge to hug her mentor out of gratitude for finally giving them the chance they so desperately craved to get their friend back.
To Willow Lights' silent yet easily readable gratitude, Master Mesh simply broke into a faint smile of defeat, clearly knowing when he was verbally outmatched. "You know Reflector and the others are going to ask where we are when we don't come back to the Agency together. What do you think I should tell them?"
Willow Light finally adopted a confident yet cheeky grin as she slowly turned on her heels to take her and her new young allies' leave. "You can return to the Agency, of course. Just tell them I decided to conduct a personal patrol of the nearby area on my own. Think about it: if that Villain was simply looking to kill any Heroes he found at random, there's no reason why he would have let either me or Ashido-chan live.
"Given everything we now know, especially thanks to our handful of new arrivals here, I'm willing to bet he's specifically aiming for this Tunguska character, especially since he's Bezpalov-kuns' father. What better way to get him to come here from Yuuei than abducting his son? Going by that information, I think it might be safe to say we're currently in the clear, but we still aren't going to travel too far, so don't worry."
With that and a reassuring wink, Willow Light began making a determined beeline down the sidewalk further into the city; Mina and all her friends eagerly following after her, while Master Mesh once more let out a remorseful yet bemused chuckle before simply watching her walk away, only able to ask himself: "Just what in the hell have we all gotten ourselves into here?"
It had thankfully not taken long since the coin lockers for Tunguska to eventually find the specific convenience store he had been directed to. To his credit (what scant fragments of that there could even be), Vukodlak had been telling the truth, as even from a distance, Tunguska could spot another small box just like before, nestled comfortable underneath the only bench sitting in front of the store itself.
To his relief, there didn't look to be anyone nearby eyeballing the box, so with a little less urgency in his step, he sat himself straight up on the bench and pulled the box out from between his legs, momentarily checking to make sure he wasn't in fact being watched, before sucking in another breath and opening it.
Just like before, there was another momentary snapping sound, and he found a tiny electric transmitter stuck to the inside of the lid. However, this time, what he saw waiting to greet him inside made his blood run colder than those newspaper articles from before ever could have.
Sitting inside, neatly folded, was a white and silver Hero suit, almost identical to his old one, and a single white designers' hood in the shape of a wolf head and snout, with an attached silver eye mask resting inside of it.
At that moment, the cell phone in his pocket began to ring once more, and Tunguska immediately snatched it up and answered, still struggling to find the awareness to even speak. However, he knew the man on the other end didn't even need a greeting to do so. [[I'm glad to see you're still cooperating, Tunguska.]]
This time, however, the sound of Vukodlak's voice didn't send Tunguska into a seething rage. No, because this time, he was finally giving himself the luxury of thinking of everything he was being presented. [[These little transmitters…they're how you're figuring out where I am in this city, aren't they? They must be; you would never be so reckless as to actually be anywhere nearby, lest I found you.]]
He was immediately met with the sound of what had to be mock applauding on the other end. [[Well, I'm glad to see the last twenty-plus years haven't dulled your deductive skills, Tunguska. As for the governments' fancy little toys, they serve their purposes in making my job a little easier. Granted, I would have preferred not to have to weigh myself down with too much of their hardware for my most anticipated hunt of all…but I'm willing to make exceptions in order to make things go the way they need to.]]
Tunguska found himself instinctively grinding his teeth once more, unable to help but feel that the Villain was actively mocking him with such a long-winded speech, while also uncertain just how much of what he was saying was true, and as such, just what kind of tricks he had to worry Vukodlak had up his sleeve.
[[Now let's not get hung up on unimportant little details. I'm sending you the street address of an intersection in the downtown area of this city. Once you get there, there will be a sign waiting for you that only you and I will be able to recognize. That's where my next little present for you will be waiting.]] Just as before, Tunguska found himself mentally cursing the fact he had to continue this damned charade, while Vukodlak had already continued to speak.
[[The Wolf accepted the Suns' offer to guide him so that he could find the hunters most responsible for costing him his pack. For the first time ever, the Wolf had emerged from the darkness of the forest and out into the daylight, where his once coal-black coat became as white as the freshly driven winter snow. For once, the farmers and villagers weren't scared of the Wolf, because he kept all the other predators and hardships away from their homes and crops…and the Wolf felt like he had found a new home under the guidance of the Sun.]]
Click
As if the literal relics he kept finding in these boxes weren't bad enough, for the man to be continuously taunting him with these damned fairytale ramblings, got under Tunguskas' skin like he simply couldn't believe.
As he stayed seated on that bench, however, looking back down upon the abandoned costume inside that box, Tunguska found his anger quickly turn into an indescribable feeling of ancient sadness.
Moscow, Russia, 21 years ago
Tunguska felt an indescribable sensation of pride swelling in his chest as he and the rest of the New Bogatyrs stood upon that stage, looking upon the young man that stood front and center, awash in spotlights and being applauded by the deafening cacophonous cheers of the massive crowd lining the streets that stood before the Soviet Heroes Bureau in the Red Square.
Adorned in a newly unveiled and pristine costume of white and silver, all topped with a perfectly fitting white hood that resembled a wolfs' head, the young man once known as Vukodlak looked borderline unrecognizable as he took in the applause.
The amount of change Tunguska and his whole teams' efforts had instilled in their young progeny over the course of the previous year was downright miraculous, and they all could unanimously agree on that. Teaching him to subvert his seemingly instinctive proclivities for violence when faced with confrontation or the need to gather information or pacify a situation had proven considerably difficult in the beginning, but given the kind of righteous anger that had driven the young man for so much of his life up until then, Tunguska had come to expect that.
He was simply thankful he hadn't needed to go about conducting Vukodlak's training alone, as with time, one by one, each of his comrades began to share in his point of view and his faith in the young man, and soon he was being given training, education in Heroics, and general guidance from every one of the New Bogatyrs, even though some, even to this point, had occasionally expressed concern on whether this would truly play out the way the Sun of Justice had hoped it would.
It was a long and arduous journey for every last one of them, but to see it all finally culminate in this indescribable moment, Tunguska would have gladly done it all again. Even now, as he watched his personal student stand proud in his new personally designed Hero costume, Tunguska could still feel how immensely proud he was when the day had come that Vukodlak had finally presented the design itself and announced his official Hero name: White Wolf.
And now, the moment all that effort had been building toward had come, and White Wolf was officially being introduced to the entirety of the Soviet Union, and officially inducted as the newest member of the New Bogatyrs, even being granted his new role by one of the most influential and prominent figures in the government today: Yuri Bogdanovich, an aging yet powerfully built man who was, for all intents and purposes, the man in charge of maintaining and running the entirety of the USSR's Hero infrastructure. None of the general public knew of this, but he was also essentially the man who kept the New Bogatyrs informed of any and all situations and crises that required their personal attention.
[[Comrades, his trials and tribulations to rise up to the occasion and join the esteemed ranks of our beloved New Bogatyrs have been nothing short of admirable, especially for one so young. And I feel I speak for all of us when I say I am resolute in the belief that he will continue to uphold the standard of justice that all our glorious Unions' Heroes represent for us, the people. So let us all give a proud and welcoming hand to The Lupine Hero, White Wolf!]]
With Bogdanovichs' official statement of induction, the entire crowd, not only in person, but watching and listening in from all nations of the Union, erupted into nearly fanatical applause, as White Wolf basked in all that universal adoration and acceptance, an incomprehensible sensation of pure emotion building up in the pit of his chest as he had to fight the urge to look back to his most loyal mentor for approval. He honestly felt like a small child looking for the silent approval of his father.
He hadn't thought it would be possible to change the course of his life this far in, but Tunguska and his comrades had never given up on him, even in the numerous points when he felt like he had given them every reason to. And now, after all of that struggling, here he now stood, and he honestly couldn't have found the words to describe his gratitude for their stubbornness in maintaining his training and rehabilitation if he tried, especially when the time had finally come for him to stand tall and proud among the rest of his comrades and mentors for their official group photograph, that was to be placed on their commemoration wall at their personal headquarters, and in every newspaper and website in the Soviet Union.
The passage of time seemed to have lost all meaning in the ensuing celebration, but eventually, White Wolf and the rest of his now official comrades had decided to call it a night and return to their official headquarters on the outskirts of Moscow, their true home-away-from-home, so to speak.
The festivities had left many feeling drained, as they had all given their youngest now-teammate and comrade one final show of congratulations before retiring for the night. However, before long, it had been only White Wolf and Tunguska left, the young Heroes' most persistent and unshakeable teacher still having that same smile of unflappable pride upon his face as he simply looked at him in his official Hero costume one last time.
[[It still feels unreal, even after all has been said and done, doesn't it? I know; I felt the exact same way on the day I was officially named leader of this team, even after I'd been at this kind of work for a number of years already. There are just some things you can never fully prepare yourself for, for better and for worse.]]
White Wolf looked down upon the costume he was wearing, instinctively chuckling in what remaining sense of disbelief he still had, to have seen the very outfit he himself had designed, actually brought to life, somehow making his overall transition feel so much more official than his own induction had.
[[Yeah, I can still scarcely believe it, but…all the same, it…it feels good. Really good, in fact. Not just the suit, but just the whole day today, especially after everything you all had put me through in order to prepare me for it over this past year. To actually stand out there in front of all those people and actually be cheered and loved, even though none of them knew me…I didn't know it would actually feel that nice. I suppose practically all of them having no idea who I used to be does help, somewhat, but it still felt a lot nicer than I thought it would.]]
The deeply emotional smile on his face was almost like that of a completely joyous child; a sight that warmed Tunguskas' heart to see at the end of this long and arduous road. To convey as such, he proudly approached his once protégé-now-comrade, and placed an assuring hand upon his shoulder, that confident smile still on his square-jawed face.
[[That feeling you're going through right now: that's what it feels like to finally be a real Hero, White Wolf; a Hero that fights to protect the innocent and do what they know from the bottoms of their hearts is the right thing to do, in the name of true justice. You've come such an incredibly long way since the night we found you…and I for one couldn't be prouder of you for pushing yourself along through all of it. You have met and exceeded my hopes and expectations for you; more than I ever thought possible.
[[The men you've been seeking out…the ones that set you down your original path; it doesn't matter what the Union labels them as. As far as we are concerned, they are as far from representing all Heroes in this Union as they could ever possibly be. Hell, after the things they did, they could never hope to stand as icons of real Heroes in this world. Heroes like us need to be able to stand up and serve as true examples of what justice in this world truly looks like, what it truly means, so men like that don't tarnish everything we've been trying to accomplish for the good of the people that look up to us.]]
Tunguska simply thought he was stating a normal belief for any decent Hero to have. What he failed to notice in that moment, however, was the glimmer of deep affectation in White Wolf's eyes as he listened to every word the Sun of Justice said in that moment. After everything they had gone through, he no longer found himself with a reason to doubt the Sun of Justice's words; they had managed to carry him this far in the right direction, after all.
While he never said anything before Tunguska had finally decided to retire for that night, White Wolf felt his heart open up with a much deeper-rooted understanding of just what their responsibilities as Heroes entailed that night. They were effectively symbols of hope for the world and its people, and thus they had that responsibility to uphold, and that responsibility brought with it a whole newfound sense of purpose for him, and that was perhaps what he was most grateful for above all else.
Erubi City, Present Day
In the time since they had effectively disobeyed Reflectors' direct orders, Willow Light had taken the chance to get to better know Minas' handful of tag-along classmates, and more importantly, what their Quirks were, so she could hopefully figure out a way to utilize them if this situation ended up asking for it.
After a short while of making their way deeper into the city, the green-haired girl she had come to know as Setsuna Tokage had suddenly come to a stop, a glimmer of realization in her eyes that got all of her fellow students' attention. "Setsuna-chan, what's wrong?" Mina asked, while silently unsure if she could even take any more bad news right now.
However, Setsuna instead formed that always-confident fanged smirk of hers whenever she had an idea. "We're trying to find out where Bezpalov-kun could possibly be, right? The police never found his phone, and the whole reason Tunguska-sensei got the phone call that brought him out here in the first place, was because it was his number on the Caller ID. If we were to somehow access Bezpalov-kun's phone and communicate with him, we could either get an idea where he might be, or an idea what the Villain is up to so we could be able to plan around it."
Her brain was almost immediately firing on all cylinders as she suddenly snapped her head in Denki's direction, looking at him with an intent that made the blonde boy instinctively flinch in surprise. "Kaminari-kun, when Tunguska-sensei had us write down our Quirks and their properties, you said you could use your electricity to listen and even communicate with people, right?"
However, Denki didn't give her the look of likewise realization she had been hoping for, as he motioned to a tiny earpiece settled in his right ear. "It's not that simple, Tokage-san. This earpiece is the only way I can do that, and even then, it's very specific. If we don't know what direction Kolya-san even is, there's no way I'd be able to do it even a little effectively, because I'd have no idea what frequency to try and set it to. On top of that, the amount of electricity I need to use in order to do that would fry my brain, easily. I'm not about to incapacitate myself on a total long shot like that. Even if all those things weren't in consideration, we're still in a part of town with a lot of electrical interference in the air, so any attempt at communication I'd make would be getting nothing but static."
As if to further compound just how ill-prepared they were, Willow Light even then proceeded to step in. "Plus, we still don't know if Bezpalov-kun even has his phone with him. If it was the Villain calling Tunguska-san here, then that obviously means he has the boys' phone, and we need to find Bezpalov-kun first before we run the risk of dealing with the Villain himself."
Despite their impromptu guardians' confirmation of just how truly stacked against them the odds were, Ochako surprisingly stepped forward with no less determination. "What if I were to use my Zero Gravity; serve as our eye in the sky? I could be able to keep an eye out for that truck the police are looking for, or Tunguska-sensei if need be."
However, that last idea immediately got a jolt out of Tooru. "Uraraka-chan, did you seriously forget? He told us to stay at Yuuei when he left! No matter if we came here to help him and Kolya-kun, in his eyes, we'd still just be disobeying his orders and getting in the way!"
"Yeah, and for all we know, that Villain behind all this could be using the rooftops to keep an eye on everything. If he were to see you, who's to say he wouldn't assume Sensei brought help along with him? If he were to think that, what would stop him from hurting Bezpalov-san, if not worse, as punishment?" Minorus' last minute assumption put a chill up everyone's spines. That was when Willow Light knew she needed to lay down the last of the details the kids were still overlooking.
"We also still need to take into consideration the possibility that the Villain may have eyes on that truck as well, and could have potentially booby-trapped the case Bezpalov-kun is being held in, so nobody could interfere with whatever he's planning prematurely, if at all. Ultimately, we still need to go about doing this as discreetly as we can." This last bitter little fact left a morose air over everyone, but none more so than Mina, whom Ochako noticed was already beginning to start pacing anxiously again, clutching her own arms tight to try and keep herself calm.
"Mina-chan, please, try not to worry. We're all here now, and no matter what, we're going to get Kolya-san back. I know we will, and I'm sure that you do, as well." Mina could barely even crack the faintest smile in gratitude for what Ochako was trying to do, but the brown-haired girl wasn't done yet. "Plus, I have no doubt that if it was you that were missing right now, he'd be no less scared. In fact, I'm almost certain he'd be even more so."
By this point, Ochako and the others had since lost the point of what she was ultimately trying to say, but to their surprise, Mina didn't. In fact, it actually looked as though that clumsily put together attempt at reassurance had actually gotten the pink girl to really start thinking.
"Shortly before this all happened…Kolya-kun and I promised each other we'd be more careful with Hero work from now on, and that we wouldn't go rushing into things without some kind of plan anymore. Sensei made sure we both know how important that is…and here I am letting myself actually forget that, and just staying stuck in this constant fear."
With that having been said, Mina took a very deep, almost cathartic breath as her shoulders trembled with emotion, before her whole body finally seemed to go still with a resolved sense of calm. "You're right, Urara-chan. If it were me, I have no doubt Kolya-kun would just as scared as I am for him…but I'm sure he'd still be trying to think of a plan, instead of constantly trying to avoid panicking and going off all reckless. I can't afford to do any less than he would." Finally, she turned to look a visibly surprised, yet moved, Willow Light in the eye. "I'm okay now, Sensei, really. I'm going to be smart about this, just like you said I should."
There was obviously a good amount of context the rest of the Yuuei students knew they were missing out on, but that didn't make the gravity of this surprisingly mature moment for Mina any less potent for them, especially when they could glimpse a light of understanding between her and Willow Light.
Suddenly, a distinctive electronic chirping noise pierced the air, nearly making Mina, Ochako and Tooru jump in surprise, while Willow Light had a brightened expression of realization, especially once it became apparent the sound was emanating from both hers and Minas' cell phones.
"Oh my god, that's it! That's the signal," she exclaimed, completely ignorant of the confused looks on everyone elses' faces as she dug out her phone and pulled Minas' out from her vest. Holding them out for all the kids to see, they could see an identical notification on both their screens, displaying a map of the city with a signal emblem sending out a wave from it.
Within a moment, Minas' expression went from confused to almost borderline hopeful as she looked at her phone, Willow Light, and back to the screen again. "Sensei…a-are you actually saying-?"
"Yes, Ashido-chan. If we're getting this notification, then that means Bezpalov-kun has managed to activate the regrouping signal on his phone. If the Villain had the phone and only wanted Tunguska-san, there's no logical reason he would activate this and bring everyone from the Agency down on top of him, so that must mean Bezpalov-kun has it, and now we finally know where to look!"
Mina looked like she was about ready to start weeping tears of joy, as did Ochako and Tooru, but Setsuna was silently contemplating something at the same time: 'If Bezpalov-kun does actually have his phone with him, but the Villain isn't actively at his side…then how was he able to get through to Tunguska-sensei in the first place?"
"Wait a minute, look. Is that symbol actually moving?" Denki suddenly pointed out, redrawing everyone's attention to the phones. Just as he'd said, the signal symbol was actually moving down the streets, and far faster than anyone could move on foot.
"Did that Villain that attacked you happen to have a Speed Quirk?" Ochako asked instinctively, only for Mina and Willow Light alike to firmly shake their heads.
"His reflexes were crazy fast, but it wasn't anything like what Iida-san could do, so I want to say 'no.'" Mina admitted, causing her to smile in further realization. Given what she had seen in that CCTV footage before, then this had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nikolay had the phone, and he was indeed on that truck. That was essentially half of their ultimate problem finally resolved.
"Hang on, am I really the only one considering the possibility of this Villain maybe not working alone? How do you all know this isn't just some way for him to get us off the trail, or worse, into a trap?" Minoru suddenly exclaimed with more than a healthy dose of skepticism alongside his seemingly permanent state of trembling fear, still unable to take his eyes off the rooftops ever since he had brought up the possibility from before.
"I don't think we have to worry about that, Mineta-kun." Willow Light suddenly said with a frankly unbelievable air of confidence that nearly left the small boy slack-jawed with disbelief, Pro or not. "Think about it: if he had allies, he could have sent them to attack everyone at the Agency right out the gate, or sent them after all of you as soon as you got off the train, in order to keep you from getting to us. Or better yet, sent them to attack Bezpalov-kun and Tunguska-san all at once. Instead, he's drawing things out more than it would benefit him through this whole divide-and-conquer routine he's clearly going for. That tells me that he may be skilled and well-equipped, but he's still ultimately working alone, which inherently gives us an advantage as long as we use our heads."
"Look, while we waste time talking about all this, that signal is still moving, and if we don't do something quick, we could end up losing it, so we need to get moving." Denki suddenly announced with considerably seriousness, to which Setsuna stood tall and ready.
"Taking everything into consideration, I have an idea. None of us are fast enough to keep up with a vehicle, especially in a setting filled with other cars, multiple turns, and people. However, I could be able to keep us all posted on where that truck goes, without having to risk getting close enough that if the Villain were keeping an eye on it, he would spot me."
With this, Setsuna hurriedly turned to an equally alert Ochako. "Uraraka-chan, if you remove my gravity, I can go up, remove one of my eyes, and send it out to keep a close eye on the truck, and I can keep pace with it through the telepathic tether I'd have with it. All the while, I can keep you guys informed through my phone where it's going, and you can all give chase at street level without running the risk of losing it."
Nobody could feasibly come up with an argument as to why such a plan couldn't possibly work, not even Willow Light when they looked to her. "I'd try sending my orbs of light to pursue that truck, but there's no telling how far it's aiming to go, and I can't actually send my orbs out indefinitely. Tokage-chans' idea is honestly the best bet we have."
Setsuna instinctively smiled with victorious satisfaction before once again turning to address Ochako. "That's right, and my telepathic tether automatically gives me a speed boost, but Zero Gravity would even add onto that as well."
Everyone seemed to be of unanimous decision with this impromptu strategy of hers, and so with nothing more needing to be said, Ochako put her hand to Setsunas' arm, and just like that, the fanged green-haired girl was soon levitating higher and higher until she was finally above the rooftops, all the while keeping an eye out for a truck that matched the description Mina and Willow Light had given them on their way here.
Soon enough, she was able to spot just the one, since there were no others like it on the streets below. With determination burning in her veins, she hurriedly removed her right eye from its socket, and soon sent it descending down until it was just about ten feet above and behind the vehicle itself, and she kept it square in her sight, while still managing to focus enough to keep the rest of her weightless body telepathically connected to it.
As soon as she had done so, she hurriedly pulled out her phone and speed-dialed Minas' number, giving her the one solid means of keeping everyone down below in the loop. "Okay guys, I've got the truck in my sights, and I'm sending my eye to follow it, and me along for the ride. I can keep an eye on the street signs to let you know where it turns. Willow Light-sensei, you know this town better than any of us, so I trust you to keep everyone in tandem with me."
Soon enough, the truck finally began to move again once the street lights turned green, and soon Setsuna, Willow Light, Mina, and the whole bunch were finally well and on the move, all silently hoping with every step that this would be their means of finally getting Nikolay back.
Erubi City was far from difficult to navigate, especially compared to a city like Musutafu or even Vladivostok, but when he had finally reached the downtown intersection Vukodlak had told him to, Tunguska was finding himself having a devil of a time trying to find the proof of the Villains' little hint: a symbol that only they would recognize.
Just like Musutafu, this part of Erubi was adorned with myriad screens, advertisements and signs that made it virtually impossible to glean even a minor detail that would have been considered out of place.
The Russian Hero had begun to feel the faint beginnings of hopelessness begin to creep into his brain when he realized he had long since given up trying to keep track of how much time he had spent trying to find this damned symbol amid everything else. However, it was only through the briefest of peripheral glances, that he caught a hint of something: reflected in the mirror-like windows of one of the tallest buildings in this part of the city, Tunguska could barely make out a splotch of brilliant red on the side of an otherwise plain cream-colored wall.
Tunguska took off at a speed that seemed downright unnatural for a man his size, before he finally reached an angle down one of the other streets, where he could finally confirm what he had seen from street level. Just barely visible for anyone else, but visible enough for his height, on the side of a rooftop-access stairway, was a red star on the light-colored wall. If Tunguskas' hunch was right, and he could only hope beyond hope that it was, this was the hint he was looking for.
He hurried down the alley this building was adjacent to, and as soon as he was sure nobody else out on the streets was paying him any mind, he launched himself up with another power-aided jump, nearly clearing the entire building, but only stopping his momentum enough to where he still landed on the roof. With that, he hurried to the stairway, and as soon as he rounded the corner, he felt a wave of relief, and also that same awful nostalgia, wash over him.
Painted on the wall was a brilliant red star with a pair of open, perhaps even offering, hands rested below it. And just below that symbol was yet another box. Given what the last two had held, this symbol was pretty much doing the bracing for Tunguska, as he could all but guess what was laying in wait for him inside.
Just as the last two times, there was that same snapping sound, and the transmitter inside began blinking as soon as Tunguska opened the box, feeling his mouth go bone dry at the sight of one single photograph resting inside, displaying a frail, middle-aged man with thinning black hair, and three scars running parallel along the side of his face; a man who looked as though he had seen more than a lifetime's worth, and it had visibly aged him.
Tunguska by now had already brought his phone to his ear before it even started ringing; answering the instant he heard the first ringing note. [[I suppose I should be fretting that I'm already becoming predictable…but as long as it's bringing us closer to our long-awaited reunion, I'm okay with that, Tunguska. I'm glad to see you're still choosing to cooperate, too. If you head for the northern edge of the city, you'll find a dried out canal. Follow that, and you'll come across a large storm drain tunnel. Go into that tunnel, and you'll find the next piece at the first intersection.]]
For a few scant moments, Tunguska couldn't say anything. It had long since become clear exactly what Vukodlak was going for, he had even explained as much from the beginning. That still didn't make having to see these painful relics any less torturous for him.
Unfortunately for him, the Villain on the other end could only take his defeated silence as a sign of his own victory, as he didn't even waste any further time with idle chit-chat. [[One day, the village priest approached the White Wolf and the Sun, saying that one of the hunters responsible for the loss of the Wolf's pack, had been spotted in a faraway forest, and was planning to bring further pain and torment not only to the people and creatures that lived there, but to those beyond as well. The White Wolf and the Sun ventured forth to find the hunter and stop his awful schemes. However, for as much as the Sun had made the White Wolf learn what it was to be loved and cheered for doing the right thing, the Wolf still could not forget what the hunter had done to his old home and his pack.]]
Click
Tunguska could scarcely imagine how anyone, even his old enemy, could enjoy treading the grounds of these awful memories so mockingly. He would have thought that, even for as twisted as his mind had become, even Vukodlak would still hold the pain these memories in particular had for both of them, very closely.
Targovishte, Bulgaria, 21 years ago
It had been more than eight months since White Wolf had officially been inducted into the New Bogatyrs. The whole team had been kept plenty busy in the time since then, since crime and Villains rarely ever slept anywhere, but especially not in a jurisdiction as wide as theirs; essentially encompassing all the USSR.
In that time, White Wolf had continuously been improving in his combat effectiveness and decision-making, but also in his public image. He had already been proving to increasingly popular with the general public, which of course had spawned more than a few joking ribs of jealousy at an amused Tunguskas' expense.
However, all of that was soon to change, as after eight months of this, Tunguska and White Wolf had been approached by none other than Yuri Bogdanovich, bearing news that neither of the Pro Heroes had expected: the identity and whereabouts of one of the former Heroes responsible for the destruction of White Wolf's village.
That information had ultimately brought the two all the way out to a relatively small city in Bulgaria, where their target was reportedly located. The rest of the New Bogatyrs had, unfortunately, been preoccupied with situations of their own needing to be dealt with, so it was no more than Tunguska, White Wolf, and the pre-informed local authorities that were going to deal with this heavy matter personally.
This particular night was cold and dark, as the moon was in its new phase without a cloud in the sky. All the better, even if their costumes were both primarily white, this kind of darkness could have obscured the both of them from any prying eyes, helped by the fact that Tunguska had focused enough to completely extinguish the disk of light that always hung behind his head.
As the two stood on the rooftop that gazed over the building they had been brief would be holding the man they were looking for, Tunguska could notice the instinctive trembling in White Wolf's hand. [[Are you alright, my friend? I understand this carries more weight for you than anything else we've faced together before.]]
White Wolf had to rhythmically close and open his hand before he could finally bring the trembling to an end, letting out a heavy yet contented sigh. [[I'll be all right, Tunguska. I haven't felt that urge in over a year now. I want this man to pay for what he's done…but I want to do it the right way, like you'd said. He deserves to wallow in the punishment waiting for him. Simply ending it like I used to…it would be too quick. Better than what he deserves.]]
Tunguska couldn't help but look on at his young compatriot with a hint of worry. He was saying all the right things, but he couldn't rightly decide if he was saying it from his heart like everything he had said before.
He soon turned his eyes to the street below, waiting for the unit of special police officers they were to be working with to get into position. The silence and the slight breeze of the chilling autumn wind hung heavy.
[[Ilya Buzharkov. Did you know that was Brother Vortex's real name Tunguska?]] White Wolf suddenly asked, momentarily catching the Sun of Justice by surprise.
[[No. Those three so-called Heroes, they came from a generation before we started realizing how important it was for the sake of teamwork that we actually really know each other. Trust me, if that hadn't been the case, I would've helped you find them a lot sooner than this.]] White Wolf glanced back to his mentor and friend with an air of curiosity, once again unable to detect a trace of hesitation or falsehood in Tunguskas' body language or his way of speaking. After knowing the man for almost two whole years, that was good enough for him.
[[It still just baffles me, though. How does one go from being hailed as a Hero, to dropping off the face of the earth, to then suddenly popping back up, collecting an army of Quirk-users and normal terrorists, in order to try and take control of an entire town like this one? I've looked through the Soviet Hero history records, nothing like this has happened before.]]
To this, Tunguska could only give a regretful sigh. I've been asking myself the same question since we were given this mission, White Wolf. I've always been raised to believe that Heroes had an inherent understanding of right and wrong, and with it, the inherent desire to do what they know is right. But after what those three did to your village, and now this…now, I'm not so sure about that anymore.]]
Before anything further could be said, the earpieces both Heroes had been outfitted with suddenly gave a singular chirp. That was the signal they had been waiting for; the police were now officially in position. [[All right, men, stay in position until we can confirm all the threats have been neutralized, before you come in to make the arrests. We want this situation to be resolved as smoothly and peacefully as possible.]]
Once the police down below had given the signal for their understanding, Tunguska and White Wolf began to limber up, preparing to make their move into the building up ahead. [[How many did the reports say Buzharkov had rallied in there?]]
Tunguska had to take the moment to recall. [[Somewhere between 20 and 30, I believe, at least as far as those with Quirks is concerned; might be an extra 20 when it comes to the regulars. Nothing the two of us can't handle as long as we play it smart.]]
Tunguska almost wanted to chuckle at how youthfully confident he sounded, only to stop himself when he realized White Wolf wasn't chuckling along with him, but was instead continuing to limber up, while still never taking his eyes off the building. [[Tunguska…do you think I could go after Buzharkov myself?]]
Tunguska momentarily froze, enough to where even White Wolf noticed; that along with the clearly worried look in his blue eyes behind his red eye mask. [[I swear, I'm all right. I'm not going to do anything…but you know what this means to me. You, the rest of the Bogatyrs, Secretary Bogdanovich, you've all come through for me in your own ways, and I…I just want Buzharkov to know who I am, before I send him to face the justice he deserves. That's all.]]
No matter how hard he tried to find even the slightest sign of duplicity in what his young partner was saying, Tunguska could not sense it. The man was being completely genuine. The sun of Justice couldn't have asked for better proof of how thoroughly his heart and mind had been rehabilitated in the time they had known each other. That was the only reason he ultimately relented with an understanding nod.
[[I understand, White Wolf. Okay. I'll take care of the boots on the ground for you. Should prove considerably more exciting, anyway.]] That was what finally got an amused chuckle out of White wolf at last, and with that, the two Heroes finally launched themselves from the rooftop, with Tunguska soaring through the air, and White Wolf expertly landing on his feet before running silently across the street with excellent swiftness, even for one not gifted with a speed-related Quirk.
From everything that White Wolf could hear, their mission was starting off splendidly. There hadn't been any sounds of combat of any kind. He knew he shouldn't have been surprised, Tunguska always wanted to try and fix situations like these as swiftly and with as little actual fighting as possible, especially when non-Quirk wielders were involved.
That sat just fine with the young Hero, though. As long as things were quiet, that meant he could still get the drop on Buzharkov himself, and likewise hopefully be able to avoid a prolonged fight, if a fight at all.
Having since memorized the layout of the building thanks to what the police and Bogdanovich had provided them, White Wolf was able to scale the building and make his way inside through the roof, knowing exactly which floor and room Buzharkov had been most regularly seen inhabiting, even through the slightest openings in the windows.
Before long, White Wolf finally found himself standing before the doors to the room wherein he would finally be face-to-face with one of the men that had uprooted his life for the first time. The trembling in his hand had started once more, but just like before, he sucked the air in through his teeth in preparation, holding his wrist steady until the shaking would stop, and with a determined glare in his grey eyes, he finally made his move, throwing the (surprisingly) unlocked doors wide open, and immediately spotting the scrawny, thin-haired and scarred man inside.
To his momentary surprise, Ilya Buzharkov didn't even flinch with surprise, as though he had been silently waiting for this very moment. He simply stood tall on the other side of the room, meeting the young Heroes' eyes. It hadn't been the reaction White Wolf had been expecting, and as such he found himself at a momentary loss for words; a silence that the former Hero before him was clearly ready to fill.
[[I had heard the rumors about you, even before you had been inducted into the New Bogatyrs eight months ago. Rumors of one of the last remaining Evens people being found, rehabilitated, and ultimately transformed by the most beloved team of Heroes the USSR has ever known. At first I didn't want to believe them…but that costume of yours…and those eyes…I remember those eyes, even from so long ago. I didn't think it would be you, specifically. What cruel roads the power of fate leads us down.]]
The man spoke with no condescension, fear or mockery. Instead, he moved and spoke with an air of pure resignation, as though he knew exactly what was to come of this meeting, even if White Wolf himself did not.
Ilya Buzharkov finally made way for the nearby desk in the corner of his modest room, planting himself firmly in the chair behind it, never once taking his eyes from his young intruders'. [[I had been convinced I had covered my tracks quite thoroughly…but given the resources you and your comrades have, I suppose that was a naïve assumption for me to make. Our country, our governments, have always been good at ultimately finding those that don't wish to be found. So…am I to assume that Bogdanovich sent you and any number of your comrades to kill me?]]
The outright bluntness of such an extreme question hit White Wolf on a nearly physical level, as he finally found it within himself to speak. [[No…no, we were sent out here to apprehend you, before you and your forces could take this city for your own.]]
The young Hero was immediately met with one of the driest, cynical laughs he had ever heard. [[Of course…of course he would spin such a story for you and the rest of them. He always was one to do what he could to avoid rousing suspicion on himself. Knowing him, and the position he's now in…and his connections, he's probably going to have those authorities you have waiting outside come in and kill everyone here as soon as you and your comrades have confirmed everything's been taken care of and the 'criminals' have been apprehended. Probably wheel them off and kill them just across the border.]]
By this point, White Wolf's surprise had flared into sudden anger as he finally began to close the distance between them. [[Stop talking in circles and give me an answer! What the hell are you talking about?!]]
In kind, Buzharkov immediately rose up from his seat, meeting White Wolf's intense stare with one of his own. [[What I'm trying to tell you, boy, is that Yuri Bogdanovich is not who any of you think he is! He's been pulling strings to bits and pieces across the USSR you don't even know about yet! That bastard has been deceiving the whole lot of you, ever since you went out and started your little killing spree way back when! Haven't you figured out why it was that Heroes never gave each other, or anyone else, their real names until only just recently, when the New Bogatyrs were officiated? It was for situations just like the one you find yourself in even now! It was so people like him could walk away from the things they did under their old mantles, and still be able to come out on top and play everyone else like a puppet, with no one else ever being able to find out just who they used to be or what they did; and he's taken that concept and used it to its fullest advantage!]]
Tunguska found himself still as stone as he gazed upon the scene before him in the buildings' sub-level. From the moment he had made his way into the perimeter, there hadn't been a single armed guard, Quirk-using or otherwise. Instead, what he now found was a basement full of visibly terrified-looking people in a myriad of different indigenous wear, all huddled together at the sight of him.
Through his years of researching all the peoples that held the mantle of indigenous Siberians, he had come to recognize the traditional wears of all these people, and most importantly, where they all traditionally came from: all lands that, over the last twenty years, had been bought up by the government and sold to numerous companies for various developments and oil pipelines, effectively displacing every single one of the different indigenous peoples that lived there.
What compounded onto the confusion and painful realization Tunguska was feeling in that moment, was that from corner to corner of every part of the building he had searched, all the way down to here, he hadn't even found so much as a single handgun. Instead, all he had found were pamphlets, fliers, posters, underground newspapers and homemade printing presses, detailing the various human rights violations that had been inflicted on these people to begin with.
As these people all stared up in silent fear at Tunguska, as though he were their appointed executioner, Tunguska had found the ultimate truth just too late: Ilya Buzharkov wasn't raising an army of Villains and terrorists…he was sheltering and organizing these people.
White Wolf's head was awhirl with confusion, atop countless other emotions in an uncontrollable flurry, as Buzharkov continued to open up everything he knew to the young Hero.
[[Over a handful of years, me and my partners, Midas and Scarlet Cossack, we had been instructed to go to numerous indigenous settlements across Siberia, and clear the people out. They told us it was because the land had either been proven to be unstable, or contaminated from some kind of natural gas leak or chemical spill…or in the case of your village, for harboring Villains. The politicians in charge of managing the Hero infrastructure back then, they never told any of us what we were really doing any of it for, and we never knew…until we eventually saw what had been done with the lands we had effectively driven those people from.
[[At least, I thought that all three of us hadn't known about it. But then…I came to realize that the businessmen and politicians that profited the most from these developments, they had similar connections with Midas, and that he had been in on the real reasons for why we were driving those people away the entire time. He had connections and investments with those same men, and he was profiting off of those people losing their homes just as much as those men were.
[[They wanted those lands for the oil reserves beneath them, and they simply asked Midas and us to free up that land for them, so their friends in the government could buy it up on the cheap, and sell it to them and reap the benefits. Even despite the very economic foundation our Union was originally founded on, those vultures wanted all the wealth they could grab up, and had no qualms asking us to damn the people unfortunate enough to stand in their way. Midas and the men put in charge of our entire Hero societal structure, lied to us and made us their unwitting attack dogs and land grabbers.]]
White Wolf couldn't fully comprehend everything that was being spelled out for him. It wasn't even the surface level of it, he knew full well what had befallen his home, that was what had driven him down his original path. He hadn't even been fool enough to think that anybody else in the old native lands across the sub-continent wouldn't have suffered the same fate at some point.
No, what he was struggling to wrap his head around, was the idea that one of the people he and his only allies trusted, had been one of the ones most directly responsible, and if that was the truth, then what was his goal in sending him and Tunguska after one of the men he himself once called a comrade?
His desire for answers overcame his sense of reason, and he was determined to Buzharkov to tell him everything he wanted to know, no matter what.
SPAK!
A sudden pronounced crack of glass and the sound of a terminal velocity-speed projectile planting itself through Buzharkov's back and out his chest, pierced the once heavy silence. White Wolf found his feet grow heavy as lead as he watched a momentarily surprised Buzharkov try to casually make his way around his desk, only to ultimately crumple to the floor, finally spurring the young Hero to his side, only momentarily looking up to see a single hole through the wooden blinds of the one window the man had his back turned to.
When he looked back down to try and attend to the man beneath him, he felt a twisting in his gut to see the sheer damage that had been wrought on the frail mans' body from a single powerful bullet. He didn't even need to guess to be able to tell the man wouldn't even survive being picked up to be brought to help. Ilya Buzharkov was dying.
However, there wasn't fear on the man's scarred face. There was instead a glimmer of resignation, and acceptance, as though he had simply been waiting for when this exact kind of moment would come. With that, he used the last bit of physical strength he had to grab onto White Wolf's costume, dirtying it with his blood, as he pulled himself up to get the very last words he could summon out into the ears of the one person who was here that needed to hear it.
[[To get the truth…remember my words…and go to…Bogdanovi-.]]
The last syllable turned to silence in his throat, and White Wolf could feel every last ounce of strength in Buzharkov's' grip on his costume fade, as he lay back down, lifeless, to the floor; his final words echoing in his conflicted mind like a cacophony of earth-shattering artillery fire.
It was only when his ear piece started going off in his ear that the young Hero was finally able to fully register what had just happened, and have the awareness to answer Tunguskas' considerably serious tone.
[[I'm here, Tunguska. I found Buzharkov. He…he's dead. Someone shot him before I could get all my answers from him.]] It sounded like the words coming out of his mouth were those of somebody else, as though he were watching his own body act from the outside. [[He was able to tell me some things before it happened…things you need to know as well.]]
[[Understood, White Wolf. I found something interesting as well. There were never any terrorists here…only refugees and pamphlets. Let's meet out front, have the authorities extract them…and we can discuss all of this on our way home.]] He could easily detect the deeply troubled edge in Tunguskas' voice as well. Just the fact that, much like what Buzharkov had suggested, everything they had been told about this mission was a falsehood, left White Wolf shaken to his core. He could only hope that sharing what had been imparted unto him with his most trusted ally would be able to make bearing the weight even a little easier…and that from there, they could be able to come up with a plan on how to prove anything he said about Bogdanovich was true or false.
Erubi City, Present Day
Ever since Setsuna had taken to the sky to serve as her groups' eye in the sky on the truck Nikolays' signal was still coming from, everyone elses' journey had been steady, if not still too slow for all their liking, as it was beginning to take them to the thinner outskirts of the city by now. However, knowing the risks they wanted to avoid, and their own limitations, it was the best they could possibly hope for. They were all simply grateful that not once did they ever lose their connection with Setsuna up above, nor did she ever lose sight of their target.
Of course, the further their makeshift journey went, the more worried the likes of Minoru and Tooru began to feel. After nearly a half hour of this never-ending routine, the grape-haired boy finally couldn't help but speak up, even after going over every reassurance their Pro Hero leader had given them before. "Hey, am I the only one here thinking how possible it could be the Villain is just gonna be waiting for us when that truck finally reaches wherever it's going? How do any of you guys think we're gonna handle some kind of thoroughly planned out ambush? I mean, he wiped the floor with you two and Bezpalov-san; being outnumbered didn't count for anything!"
The fact that he was bringing up exactly how they had lost Nikolay to begin with, and turning that into an excuse for his continuing cowardly attitude, nearly made Mina want to come to a stop and tell him to go back to Yuuei if he was too scared to keep going. However, not only could she never bring herself to snap at anyone like that, but she also couldn't allow herself to let fear or anything else weigh her down any further. The glimmer of hope that Setsunas' plan was giving them was the one thing they had to hold onto, and she was going to keep holding on for everything it was worth.
Besides, Willow Light and Ochako had decided to step in to address Minorus' concerns themselves: "I get that you're scared, Mineta-san, we all are; but we're not going to rush into this headlong. Think about what all of Tunguska-sensei's training has been for. We know how each others' Quirks work off of each other. We know how important putting together a plan is. We'll come up with something, and as long as we keep working together and strategizing and know who we work best with, we can manage this…I know we can."
"Uraraka-san is right. Teamwork, heart and a solid plan are the foundations of every great team of Heroes. Don't discount what you're all capable of just because you're feeling scared now. Besides, when we eventually get there, it's not going to be just us." Willow Lights' admittance drew all her young charges' eyes to her in curiosity as she once more pulled out her phone. "When that truck reaches its destination…I'm going to call the rest of the Agency Heroes to our location. With them on our side, I know we can get Bezpalov-kun back and beat that Villain for good."
Despite the confidence evident on her face, the students themselves were all thinking the same unfortunate thing, which Mina was the only one brave enough to speak up about: "But…Sensei, Reflector-san specifically told you to get us out of town and back to Yuuei. If you call them, not only will we get in trouble for not doing as he told us, but isn't this entire thing still technically you putting us in harm's way? I mean, you know we wanted to help, but when it's all over, won't this whole thing end up costing you your Hero License?"
A jolt passed through all the other students now that Mina had brought up the one detail none of them had even stopped to think about. The very real, near inevitable fact of just how much trouble they would get in once they were found out was bad enough, they hadn't even stopped to think about what Willow Light was sacrificing by allowing them to do this. They were all still training and studying to one day be in the very position Willow Light herself was in, but to just imagine what it would feel like for a Pro who put in all that kind of effort, only to have their title be stripped away from them, it sounded so much more painful than they could comprehend.
And yet, despite the gravity of that possibility, Willow Light, despite the dimming of her eyes, never lost her smile. "You're right about that, Ashido-chan. Chances are almost certain I'll have my License taken away when this is all over…but as for you kids? That's why I told Master Mesh I would take full responsibility for this. The admittance of that can make a world of difference. I just know and see how much Bezpalov-kun and Tunguska-san mean to you all, and the fact that even knowing the risks of what you were walking into, you all came here to help save them, because you all have the spirits of true Heroes, is monumental. You're all learning how to become the kinds of people that represent justice and hope for the people around you, and as sad as it may be, having to learn how to recognize and utilize your strengths in preparation to deal with serious and dangerous situations like this, is one of the most effective ways you'll be able to become the Heroes you all need to be.
"Just know that no matter what happens by the end of today, I and my friends will make sure none of you get into a situation you can't get out of. That's my promise as a Hero to all of you. Do you all understand?" To her relief, the dedication behind her oath seemed to visibly resonate with every one of them, even Minoru, who seemed to be forcing himself with every fiber of his being to try and swallow his fear, while everyone else looked downright inspired.
"Good. This experience is going to be one that shapes you all for the rest of your lives as Heroes, I just know it. And if I have to sacrifice my Hero License in order to get Bezpalov-kun back to you all, and help get your sensei out of danger…it will be well worth it."
"Hey, heads up, guys! That truck is finally turning off the main road. It doesn't look like it goes much further, it's heading a little way into the hills." Setsunas' suddenly announcement through the phone snapped everyone to attention as they instinctively huddled together to hear. Ochako even looked up to the sky, still able to make out her distant form high up in the sky over the distant trees of the hills just past the last of the organized neighborhood houses.
"Talk to us, Tokage-chan, where's it going? What can you see?" Willow Light asked sternly, before a gasp of surprise from Ochako drew everyone's attention to see the floating lizard-like girl had finally come to a stop, an almost indiscernible speck floating up from beyond the trees and reconnecting with the girl herself.
"The truck finally came to a stop. It's stopped at some kind of small textile factory, or maybe an industrial glassworks. It doesn't look like there's anybody else here, though. I can see what looks like some kind of observatory tower protruding from the trees on the next hill over. I'm going to keep an eye on things here from the roof, so can you turn off your Zero Gravity, Uraraka-chan?"
With a steadying breath, with all of her friends and allies likewise feeling they were that much closer to the end, Ochako brought her hands together, and instantly Setsuna disappeared behind the tree line, with only the sound of a more controlled impact sounding through the phone.
"I know exactly the place she's talking about, the Erubi City observatory. It's closed right now for renovations and repairs. There would be no bystanders anywhere near that place, and the official work hasn't commenced yet. And that glassworks gets material deliveries from the trucks like what we've been following every week." Willow Light explained, an undeniable certainty becoming evident in her voice; one that for once didn't leave the teenagers around her feeling like they were out of options, but instead hopeful.
"So…if that Villain is using the observatory as a hiding spot…you think he might have actually checked around, found that glassworks, and used its delivery schedule as a means to get Kolya-kun, and Tunguska-sensei, in the same place without drawing attention beyond us?" Mina knew this kind of guesswork was astronomical to get right, but with what info they had, it genuinely sounded like the sanest possibility. And even then, what did it matter? What was important was that they were as close to saving Nikolay as they had been yet.
"Perhaps that's not the attention you should be concerning yourself with right now; any one of you." The authoritative voice of Reflector suddenly spoke up from practically out of nowhere, making all but Willow Light jump with surprise to find him and the rest of the Kamuron Pro Heroes at his side, as he stormed up to them with all the disciplinarian air he could muster.
"Master Mesh had told us you had decided to conduct a personal patrol after sending the kids back to Musutafu…I should've realized something was fishy from the moment you didn't come back with him immediately, given what nearly happened to you, Willow Light. For god's sake, what were you thinking? You actually thought it was a good idea to potentially pursue the same Villain that easily could have killed you and Ashido-chan, and had already abducted Bezpalov-kun, and take along a bunch of Hero students who aren't nearly prepared enough to face such a threat? How could you, of all people, be so damned irresponsible, let alone reckless?!"
Reflector looked like he was just about ready to take the students by the hand by himself and take them back to the train station without another word, but just as he, Ninja of Valor and Big Trouble all began to step in to intervene, Mina suddenly made her way through her friends and stood with an air of emotionally-driven defiance in her posture, visibly catching the Pros momentarily off guard.
"I'm sorry, Reflector-sensei, but you're wrong! We have dealt with Villains before, and we're still here. Not only that, but we've even managed to track down Kolya-kun! He activated his signal, and we followed it. One of us is still up there, keeping us posted, and telling us where that truck is that the police are looking for. We can still save him, don't you see? If you were to call the police, and we all went up there together, with a plan, and all worked together, we could save him and Tunguska-sensei from any more danger, and we could beat that Villain and put a stop to all of this! I'm sure you know we could, too. You saw us all at the Festival; you saw what we all can do. You must know we're willing to face down whatever's waiting for us up there! That's why we all decided to learn how to become Heroes. And right now, saving Kolya-kun and Tunguska-sensei is the only way we can ever even hope to one day call ourselves that."
Surprisingly, it looked as though the pink girls' impassioned words were actually inspiring some serious thought in Master Mesh, Ninja of Valor and Big Trouble alike, but Reflector still looked plainly driven in his decision to get the kids out of this situation now. When Willow Light finally stepped in, however, that was when his resolve seemed to begin to shake.
"You guys…you all know full well what it was that drove me away from all my old allies and my home…what it was that ultimately drove me into all your accepting arms. I lost someone dear to me because I was young and reckless and never took the time to think. I'm not that same stupid girl anymore, and you all know it. I know what it was I did wrong then, and I'm telling you now, that I don't see any of that in any of these kids here right now. They came here, well aware of the risks they were facing, because they have the heart and spirit of true Heroes. They want to save the people they care about, just like any one of us would. How could I possibly spit in the face of that kind of determination and sentiment?
"Right now, we're looking at the exact same situation I found myself in, and whether you agree to help us or not, I'm not going to just stand by and let anyone else suffer the same kind of loss I did, and especially not the same way. I'm going to be watching, guiding and protecting these kids every step of the way, and we are going to get Bezpalov-kun back safe and sound, and give that Villain the justice he deserves.
"It's like Ashido-chan said: we stand the best chance of putting an end to this nightmare together. If any of you want to help us make that happen, great. If not, then please, I only ask that you give us the chance we need to save that boy and his father from whatever's waiting up there. And when all is said and done, if you want to send them all back to Musutafu and strip away my Hero License for disobeying orders and putting them at risk…then I give you my word, from one Hero to another…I won't fight you over it."
At first, it seemed like all of the Irish-Japanese Heroes' words had fallen upon deaf ears, as Reflector gave no visible sign that he had even taken her words in. However, just when it seemed like all was well and truly for naught…he gave the most silent of sighs, and turned to Master Mesh. "Inform the police we have the final location of the truck, and we're moving in through the woods to the glassworks, slowly and carefully, so that they can regroup with us while we put together a plan."
Willow Light and all the students looked stricken with indescribable amounts of gratitude, while Reflector simply gave another heavy sigh. "It's times like these that make me realize how obvious it is why we'll never be able to move up in the Pro Hero ranks, getting strong-armed by each other into ridiculous decisions like this." Of course, his embittered sentiment wasn't nearly reflected by the silently approving looks on his fellow Pros' faces at his last second showing of compassion.
It had not taken long for Tunguska to find the canal and storm drain tunnel Vukodlak had told him to go to. The sun was beginning to se behind the hills, but the glow of the disk behind his head, as well as that of his eyes, fixed his light problem immediately. His natural sense of alertness had him considering the possibility of an ambush, but something about everything up to this point didn't click with that possibility. Vukodlak was going for something truly meaningful with this; he knew the man enough to know that an ambush betrayed that sentiment for him.
Before he could think on it any further, he quickly spotted the out-of-place white box sitting in the center of the intersection chamber. Tunguska couldn't even try to pretend to exercise caution anymore, the entire days' worth of anxiety and fear finally building to a boiling point inside him.
With that same snap, the transmitter inside immediately began blinking, but Tunguska couldn't keep up his impatient rushing once he saw what was inside this one: an unmistakable bearded golden face mask, with what looked like very old dried blood spattered across it. There was even less question in the old Russian Heroes' mind what this was, even moreso than the already unmistakable relics he'd been forced to revisit before. No, this mask and everything it had come to represent to him, he could never, ever forget.
The phone once again began to ring, and Tunguska had to forcefully shake his head out of the state of shellshock that mask instilled in him in order to bring the device up to finally answer.
[[Yes…yes, I had a feeling that one in particular would hit you quite hard…not as hard as it did for me, seeing it again for the first time in years when they actually let me out. Those government dogs…say what you will about them for literally everything else, but they can be quite generous and capable of getting you the things you ask for when you agree to cooperate with them.]]
Tunguska instinctively bit his lip in an attempt to stifle his nearly erupting emotions, alone in the cold silence of that underground room.
[[I truly am grateful that you've been cooperating with me for this long, Tunguska, and I know little Kolya is, as well. You can breathe easy, though; you're just at the finish line. Our game is surely coming to an end. If you come to the surface just above where you are, you'll find an observatory tower just poking out from the trees on the hills a good ways northeast of where you are. The final piece, myself, and Kolya…we'll all be waiting for you there. Don't let us down now when you've come so far.]]
The idea that this long and torturous walk through so many memories Tunguska would have rather forgotten was finally nearing its conclusion, and he could finally get to a point of finally being able to save Nikolay, nearly made Tunguska want to weep soft tears of relief. However, the bitter fact that the confrontation Vukodlak so desperately wanted was also waiting at the end of this road, instilled him with an indescribable anger and tension, like his entire body was now simply itching to drive its fists into Vukodlak's face with every ounce of strength he could physically contain.
[[The White Wolf could not sleep when he and the Sun had returned to their home. He wanted answers, and so he went to the village priest, hoping he would give him the truth, just like the dead hunter said he would. However, he knew the Sun would try and talk him out of it, in fear it would lead the White Wolf back into the dark forest where he had found him. And so, in the dead of night, the White Wolf left its den, and went to the priest alone.]]
Click
Tunguska looked upon the old golden mask inside the box once more, but this time he could not feel the regret the last several box artifacts had given him. This time, as he looked upon it, all he could feel was a long dormant but no less potent disdain for what it meant to him now.
Moscow, New Bogatyrs HQ, 21 years ago
To say that things in the New Bogatyrs' headquarters, and especially between Tunguska, White Wolf and Yuri Bogdanovich had been more than a little tense, would have been considered an insulting understatement.
Ever since they had returned from their assignment in Bulgaria, White Wolf had been overcome with an anxiety and intensity none of his comrades had seen since the earliest days after Tunguska had invited him to join their ranks. It actually had left quite a few of the Pro Heroes quite uneasy.
What had only made things worse was that whenever he and Tunguska had been lucky enough to even get through to the Secretary of the Soviet Heroes Bureau, all of their questions had been met with what could have at best been described as half-truths and empty platitudes, ranging from the refugees Tunguska had found simply being a fresh batch of potential recruits for Ilya Buzharkov to manipulate to his cause, or the fact that he had been shot dead right in front of White Wolf simply being credited to a brave anonymous police officer who clearly had understood the threat better than the Heroes had, and did what needed to be done.
Every single time this happened, White Wolf and Tunguskas' respective patience grew shorter and shorter their mutual sense of trust in the man quickly shrinking to the near point of nonexistence. Any one of the Heroes could see that something about this entire situation stank to high heaven, and there were a great number of things Bogdanovich wasn't telling them.
What had officially ended up breaking things past the point of fixing, was when one day, a Bulgarian news network revealed the discovery of a recently made mass grave right on the Bulgarian/Romanian border, and the bodies found within it all bore the same numerous indigenous clothes that Tunguska had described seeing in the basement, the night they had returned to Moscow.
When he and White Wolf had personally confronted Bogdanovich about it, especially when Tunguska had recalled specifically informing the local authorities of who those people were, the only answer the man had given them was that it had to be the work of particularly overzealous border patrol personnel on the Romanian side, and nothing more.
Even a blind man could have seen that this non-answer had finally proven the final straw for Tunguska and White Wolf alike. Only whereas the Sun of Justice had spent the last several days since then trying to uncover what little information he actually could about Yuri Bogdanovich, only to come out just barely better than bone dry; White Wolf, on the other hand, had left a great air of worry over the heads of his fellow Heroes, for he had disappeared without a single trace the very next day, and no matter how high or low any of the New Bogatyrs had searched all across Moscow and the surrounding countryside, they could not find him again.
Everyone on the team knew the connection with White Wolf was strongest with Tunguska, and for the young Hero he still felt was technically his responsibility to go missing in light of all this madness, had the Sun of Justice pacing from one end of their HQ to the other with worry.
[[Oleg, White Wolf adores you, you know that. You're practically the sole reason he was able to make the breakthrough in his rehabilitation like he did. No matter how intense he's been, I still don't think he's going to go back to the way he was and betray your trust like that.]] Gamayun had finally decided to step forward and speak up after this had been going on for the last hour.
At first, Tunguska had finally come to a stop, and she and the others could only hope that her finally speaking up had gotten through to him, and convince him to at least think things through. [[Gamayun is right, Tunguska. And besides, hope is not yet lost. Volga hasn't returned from his own search. Until he does, we can't give up on finding the boy.]] Volos stated in agreement, with many spoken utterances of agreement from everyone else.
[[I want to agree with all of you, really, I do. I just have this feeling in my gut that won't go away, no matter how much I try to tell myself I'm worrying for nothing. As soon as Volga comes back, depending what he finds or doesn't find, I'm going out there myself to look again. There must be some kind of trail he could have left behind for me to-!]]
Just as Tunguska began to utter the last syllable, the door to their meeting hall suddenly opened with exceptional urgency, and everyone looked to find the form of Volga rushing to rejoin them all, a concerned look on his face from underneath his water-filled mask, and with a nondescript box clutched tightly in his hands.
[[Volga, were you able to find any sign of White Wolf? What is that box?]] Tunguska asked with all the authority he could muster as their leader, while visibly perturbed by the look in Volga's eyes. He had continuously proven to be one of the New Bogatyrs it was hardest to get to, so to see him looking like this was an immediate sign of something very serious.
[[I couldn't find any trace of him, from one end of the Moskva to the other…there was nothing. But when I returned, this was just sitting there right outside the HQ perimeter. It's addressed…to you, specifically, Tunguska. It's his handwriting.]]
Tunguskas' eyes grew wide as Volga placed the foreboding box on their meeting table. The disk of pure light behind his head began to grow in intensity alongside his sense of worry as he hurriedly opened the box, and felt his blood go cold.
Inside was a single USB drive, a large manila envelope, and on top of those two things, a single bearded face mask made of pure gold, spattered in what was unmistakably blood, a day old at the very most from the looks of it.
As soon as he removed the mask, earning nearly silent gasps of shock from every single one of the New Bogatyrs gathered around, Tunguska realized the USB had his name stenciled on its side. The mask dropped from his grasp, clanging against the table with particular harshness, as he pulled the small device out and hurried over to the nearest computer, immediately plugging it in, and finding only a single audio file on it.
The rest of his comrades gathered behind him, now overcome with their own senses of anxiety and worry, as Tunguska immediately began to play the file.
What they were met with right out the gate was the kind of audible scratchiness that could only come when someone was recording from inside their clothes, rubbing up against the fabric. However, after a few seconds of this, the sound thankfully cleared up, just in time to hear the sound of a door opening, and a distant voice exclaiming in what was clearly surprise.
The muffled sound of only a couple footsteps followed, before the surprised voice spoke up; now clear enough to reveal it was unmistakably Yuri Bogdanovich. [[White Wolf? What are you doing here? How the hell did you manage to find me? I never take the same route home twice, for security purposes.]]
White Wolf immediately answered, but everyone listening felt a collective chill run up their spines when they heard the wholly new intensity in his once youthful voice. He almost sounded like an entirely different person…like the natural evolution of the beast he once was. However, none of them felt their hearts twist at the sound more than Tunguska did.
[[I've been tracking you for the last few days since we last spoke, observing your schedule. You always eat at one of four restaurants around Moscow across the week. All I did was plant some strategically placed flimsy wine glasses, and you would inevitably end up breaking it and cutting yourself. You read up about how my Quirk works. Once I could get access to even a single drop of your blood, you were officially in my sights with no means of escape. Creatures of habit like you really do make the easiest prey.]]
For a few precious moments, there was a chilling silence, before Bogdanovich actually began to chuckle wryly to himself. [[I should have figured someone that had been taken under the wing of Tunguska, of all people, would have been brought up to be too smart to fall for that bullshit story of mine. I could tell he certainly didn't. I suppose it was just a matter of time that this would happen. So tell me, are the rest of the New Bogatyrs out there, waiting on your signal to come bursting in here, like something ripped from the clichéd pages of American comic books?]]
[[No. No, it's just me…me and you.]]
Once again, White Wolf was immediately answered with another cynical chuckling out of Bogdanovich, who from the clarity of his voice throughout, sounded as though he were moving across the room as he spoke, but never getting any closer, though. [[I should have known that killer instinct of yours hadn't really gone away. You've just been keeping it hidden, letting it lie in wait; just waiting for the right thing to come along that would finally bring it out again.]]
This time, the sound of footsteps came from White wolf himself, slowly but steadily closing the distance between the two men, each one raising the hairs on the back of everyones' neck. [[No more stories, no more lies. I came to you alone, because I want the truth, now. Buzharkov asked me if you had sent Tunguska and I to kill him, shortly before he was shot and killed right in front of me. Why did you want him dead?]]
[[Ah, yes. That whole thing about the overzealous-yet-wise Bulgarian officer with a rifle. I'll admit, even I didn't fully buy that line. I suppose spending so many years thinking I had myself completely secured from all outside threats has ultimately made me complacent. I admit I have no one but myself to blame for that. I had that shooter set up as a failsafe, just in case it would become clear you weren't going to let your anger take the reins and kill him yourself. I must say, for once, in that specific regard, I'm disappointed in you.]]
[[What is all of this duplicity for, Bogdanovich?! What did that man have to die for? Why did any of this have to happen? You know exactly what I mean by that, so don't act like you don't! You know something about why my village had to be destroyed, why my people had to be scattered to the winds, and I want to know why! Tell me!]]
It was hard to tell where the fury and the raw emotional tears ended and started respectively, as it sounded like White Wolf was going through genuine physical anguish with all the questions and no answers he had. Needless to say, the silence that followed brought Tunguska and the rest of the Bogatyrs' anxious anticipation to new levels.
Finally, Bogdanovich gave an aggravated sigh and spoke up with no hesitation: [[Even before I became the General Secretary for the Soviet Heroes' Bureau, I had relations and connections with a great number of very wealthy, influential men across the Union. They had recently discovered some long-hidden oil fields deep beneath the lands across Siberia officially relegated to the indigenous tribes and small villages that had already been built there. Those men wanted those fields, and they didn't want to go through the lengthy public relations and legal nightmares of trying to purchase the land from the locals themselves.
[[So, they convinced their friends across numerous branches of the government to cook up some bullshit stories about radioactive or chemical contaminations of the land on a wide scale, or tectonic instability, or in the case of your Village, for harboring Villains. Those kind of stories made it easy to clear people out and buy up that land cheap so they could get the pipelines built there that they needed, and the refineries to get the stuff into the state they needed it in to sell.]]
White Wolf was deathly silent for a few tense moments, but Tunguska could hear the sound of his gloves as his fists clenched to the point of nearly drawing blood. [[We…we never sheltered Villains. Not once!]]
[[Oh, I know you weren't. All the officials knew; you people never bothered anyone, and no one ever bothered you. That's why they convinced the wardens of some nearby gulags to give some career felons early releases with new names, in exchange for conducting some hunting and lumber work behind the boundaries of your land. They didn't need to know they were essentially being offered up as targets for your peoples' indignant wrath. We just knew there would be at least one Quirk-possessor among your people that would answer that self-righteous call. Thankfully, your people didn't disappoint, even if it was ultimately just one person.
[[From there, it was easy to just spin the incident as innocent men being killed by a Villain being sheltered by an indigenous settlement; some showing of solidarity against the Russian government over some historical trifle of some sort. That made it much easier, not only to convince the more straight-laced higher-ups in the government to come on board with getting you people cleared out, but my old partners as well.]]
White Wolf's incensed reaction came with the swiftness of a cracking whip as a sudden heavy impact broke the silence, as though the Hero had instinctively driven his fist into a wall. [[Your partners?! What do you mean?!]]
There was then the faint sound of what Tunguska had to guess was a drawer being unlocked and opened, before a sudden heavy metallic thud pierced the air; causing him to instinctively look back to the bloody golden mask sitting on their table right now. For a moment, they could even hear the sharp intake of air White Wolf instinctively had; an unmistakable shakiness from shock evident in it. [[That mask. It…it was you. You're Midas.]]
[[Honestly, your village was the last one they had us clear out, the last one they needed. After that was all done, I was practically certain we were all in the clear. Nobody would ask questions, and everything would carry on as it normally did…and my associates and I would make a nice little extra chunk of profit along the way. Everybody wins. But my old partners, Brother Vortex and Scarlet Cossack…when they eventually found out just what had happened to those places, just what it was we had ultimately been working towards…damn them, they were both too naïve, too idealistic, to see the big picture. They couldn't reconcile themselves with it.
[[Scarlet Cossack ended up dropping off the face of the earth after that…Brother Vortex, too. I foolishly thought they would both stay buried in obscurity after that, too ashamed of their own involvement to make a big fuss about it for the public. I probably should've taken out Scarlet Cossack right from the start after that, but after he had discarded the costume and name, finding him became virtually impossible. The bastard had never removed his mask or given me his real name in the years we'd known each other, and neither did I back then, because we were all dumb enough to think that kind of anonymity was best for everyone. Thank god you stupid youngsters discarded that dated notion when you did.
[[Brother Vortex, though…he had to be stupid and poke his head back out of the shadows, giving his real name, and gathering and mobilizing all the people our work had displaced to make some kind of political movement and air out all the dirty laundry me and my associates had, tied to all that displacement work. If only he'd been smart and worn a mask back in his Hero days like we did, he probably would still be alive today…good thing he didn't, though.
[[Had he been allowed to organize those people and march on the streets of Russia with all the information he had, all those men responsible would've been strung up from the lampposts…myself, included. I'd worked too hard to get to where I am now, so I obviously couldn't allow that to happen.
[[That's why I cooked up that whole terrorist story and sent you, Tunguska and the local authorities to take care of it. I had felt so confident that you would still be so angry that you would just lose yourself and kill him for me, and that Tunguska, being the glorified meathead that he is, would simply obliterate everything that moved in front of him without asking questions. Being continuously hailed as the Number One Hero in the entire USSR would typically give one that impression that they can inherently do no wrong and therefore have no need to ask questions. Obviously, Heroes these days are a bit smarter than they were in my day. So since the two of you unfortunately failed to meet my expectations, that's why I had the authorities informed ahead of time to tie up all the loose ends if you two didn't.]]
Every single Hero gathered at that computer felt their hearts collapse into their stomachs, their very perception of everything they thought they had understood of their profession, shattered. However, if all of this information had been hard enough to process for them, none could scarcely imagine what had to be going through the minds of Tunguska and White Wolf at that moment.
[[Well? You said you wanted the full truth, and now you have it. The least you could do is say something.]] Bogdanovich by now was speaking with the arrogant authoritarian air of a high-class old man talking down to a disobedient child. And White Wolf's breathing only seemed to grow shakier and shakier; his emotions long since having reached beyond the boiling point.
[[You…you…you are a disgrace. A disgrace to the very concept of what it means to be a real Hero!]] At this, to everyone's collective shock and outrage, Bogdanovich exploded into the first bit of genuinely hysterical laughter any of them had ever heard from the man over all these years.
[['Real Heroes'? You and Tunguska need to get your heads out of those stupid comic books and fairytales, boy! There's no such thing as 'real' Heroes, not in this world, not in this day and age! Being a true Hero does nothing but get you killed from starvation once the world gets over you in exchange for the next big name! If you want to survive and thrive as a Hero and beyond, you need to be willing to play by the rules of the real world; that's what I did, and I did it well!
[[And understand this, too: if you really believe that there are any Heroes in this world, let alone in the Union, whose hands are well and truly clean, then you're even more stupid and naïve than I ever would have thought possible!]] Tunguska could feel the edges of the table the computer sat upon, bending and warping within his grip, as he could feel that very same flame of indignation ignite in his chest; his blue eyes beginning to glow gold with simmering anger flowing through his veins.
[[However, I suppose I'm wasting my breath, telling you to take anything to heart right now, since by coming here alone and knowing what you now know, I obviously can't let you leave this place alive anymore. That was obviously a very stupid decision for you to make. And as for the New Bogatyrs, that'll be simple enough to weave. I know there are some among them that have never truly been able to get past their initial suspicions of you. All I have to tell them is that it turned out you never truly got past your murderous tendencies, and thus gave me no choice but to kill you in self defense. They'll gladly fall in line with that reasoning just to avoid forming any kind of schism in their team dynamic. You'll just go on to be a bitter memory of their failure in rehabilitating a Villain. Nobody will bat an eye at that.]]
Just the sound of someone threatening violence nearly made Tunguska rise from his seat, ready to take off through the roof to intervene if need be, but Gamayun was quick to restrain him, forcing him to look back to the box and remember that they weren't listening to this in real time. Whatever was on this drive had already happened, and they were all forced to hear how it had gone under their noses, and they were effectively powerless to stop it.
[[I suppose I must agree with you about one thing, Secretary Bogdanovich…Midas: sometimes, if one wants to get the real results necessary to make a positive change in this world…one needs to be willing to bend the rules. Case in point…]] Suddenly, the air was filled with that scratchy static sound again, before coming right back to being even clearer than ever; evidenced by a shocked gasp from Bogdanovich.
[[You little worm…you've been recording this whole time?!]] What happened next came with the immediacy of a switch being flipped, as the recording device clearly fell to the floor, as the sound of an unbelievably intense fight filled the air, with furniture being smashed, walls being nearly caved in, and people being thrown one way across the room, then another. It was impossible to even keep track of how long the struggle went on, before it all came to an end with a devastating snap, followed by Bogdanovich screaming in agony, before being followed by another stomach-churning snap and even further screams that turned into pained wailing.
The sound of a body crumpling to the floor rumbled across the air, before a few methodical footsteps followed, with Bogdanovich whimpering like an injured mewling kitten the entire time after. [[You really have lost your edge, Midas. You forget just who it was that trained me, and helped me perfect my combat skills, on top of everything else. My home and people may be gone, but at the very least I can start to rest easy, knowing the last of the so-called Heroes responsible will be put away for good, along with the rest of his corrupt little friends who destroyed countless lives for money! Once I give this recording to the New Bogatyrs, it's over for all of you. There's no way they'll sit on this.]]
As White Wolf began to approach the wayward recorder, the sound of pained yet amused chuckling began to sound out from behind, forcing the Hero to stop and look back, from the sound of his heels turning. [[Oh…you little fool. You really…you really think you've gotten all of them?]]
[[Enough lies, Midas! Tunguska told me the very first night we met: Scarlet Cossack died in battle several years ago, and the public was told he had simply retired. You going around and saying that he disappeared like Brother Vortex did, you were just trying to get in my head, like the Villain you really are.]] Bogdanovich suddenly broke out into choking coughs, clearly hacking up blood from the sounds of it, as a result of whatever vicious beating White Wolf had given him. However, even that didn't stop him from immediately breaking out into yet more hysterical laughter.
[[Oh my god; no matter how many years pass by, there are still such gullible fools among Heroes! You actually believed him when he told you that? Why don't you go perusing through the sealed off sections of the records hall at the Soviet Heroes bureau, boy?! Who the hell do you think Tunguska is even the son of?!]]
Bogdanovich couldn't stop laughing anymore, while at the computer, Tunguska felt his hair stand on end and his blood and sweat alike turn to ice, as his heart came to a stop in his chest. He began to silently beg that he was hearing things, that White Wolf wasn't learning the one thing he had feared would be discovered most. But that infuriating laughter only served to drive the awful truth home more and more with each passing second. [[You lost everything, because I played other Heroes like puppets…and yet you've been the best-performing puppet of them all, just like the rest of them! You're no better! You're no real Hero! None of you are; there's no such thing! We're all just a bunch of dancing little puppets in fancy costumes!]]
SMACK!
Bogdanovich's laughter was swiftly interrupted by an especially vicious sound of something heavy and metallic smashing into his face, but even as he hacked up yet more blood and broken teeth from the sounds of it, he would not stop laughing. He was only silenced at last when another metallic impact rang out, followed by another…then another…and another…and another.
Each one was followed by an especially grotesque crunching and squishing sound, until it sounded like there was nothing left, and all there was, was the same metallic smashing sound against wood, pronounced by an increasingly infuriated shout from White Wolf with each one, until he somehow found the wherewithal to finally stop and try to catch his ever shaky breath, with none of the Heroes listening able to even guess if he was even doing so out of horrified realization of what he had just done, or if it was simply out of exhilaration.
After several unbearable moments of simply hearing nothing more than his struggling breathing, it sounded like White Wolf had finally gotten back up, approached the recording device, picked it back up, and that was when the file finally, finally came to an end.
It was pointless to say that every single one of the Heroes was horrified and disgusted by what they had just heard, every single part of it. However, in its own way, to know that one of their own had just committed cold-blooded murder hit much harder than everything else.
[[Secretary Bogdanovich…I'd been checking the news today in regards to any sign of White Wolf, but even then, nobody had even mentioned a word about his death. That tells me that this must have happened just very recently. The authorities probably haven't even found his body at home yet.]] Wisp finally broke the silence, trying to get everyone back into a state of serious activeness, while also trying to work with what they now knew.
[[But his Midas mask came with all this paperwork. It's all stamped with the seal from the Heroes Bureau hall of records. Bogdanovich's residence was a few hours away from there, just like our HQ is. That means White Wolf still had the time to gather all this stuff, even after killing him, and get it sent out to us.]] Madame Fortress chimed in as well, attempting to try and bridge the time gap, in the hopes it would give them some idea how and where to find White Wolf.
BZZZT!
The entire meeting hall of the HQ suddenly broke out into an automated alarm, spurring Tunguska to snap out of his borderline numb mental state and answer through the computer, for the entire team to be met by a strongly built, middle-aged man they knew to be the chief of the Central Moscow Fire Brigade.
[[New Bogatyrs, thank god I reached you, we've got a serious situation and need your help! The records hall of the Heroes Bureau just went up in a blazing inferno less than ten minutes ago!]]
Every one of the New Bogatyrs went still with mutual realization as they all instinctively looked to the box on their table, and that was when all the pieces finally came together between them, as Volos finally went on to explain: [[If White Wolf went to the Heroes Bureau after what happened at Bogdanovich's residence…and if he was the one who brought this package of papers from the records hall here, then that means he must have somehow remotely started the fire right around the time he had left it here. It's still a good couple of hours between the Bureau and here, if we were to spread out right now, we might still have a good chance of finding him!]]
[[Yes…unless he had that box sent here through the postal service, set for a certain time…then he wouldn't have to come anywhere near here, and we would therefore have no means of finding him any time soon, especially if Volos' theory of him somehow starting the fire remotely is indeed accurate.]] Gamayun lamented, to which many of the other Heroes clearly looked like they wanted to do the same, but were still aware of the emergency that right now required their help.
However, that paled in comparison to the sudden realization that struck them moments later, when Tunguska alone shot up from his chair, a horrified look of realization in his eyes when he hurried back and snatched up the manila envelope from the box, opening it and pouring out its contents. Everyone had come to the same question that was left: if White Wolf hadn't come here to deliver them all these things, then where was he actually going?
Splayed out all across the table, and nearly making Tunguska swallow his own tongue in horrified realization, was a myriad of papers detailing everything about the missing former Hero Scarlet Cossack, from the public news reports about his supposed retirement, his Pro Hero records and such. However, the majority of it was also the much more personal records that had been redacted or outright kept from the general public, down to his real name, family history, confirmations of retirement, and worst of all, the birth record of Oleg himself, and his officiating files wherein he was finally inducted as a Pro Hero named 'Tunguska'. And on top of that, the one crucial piece of evidence that spelled everything out: the absence of a death certificate, redacted or not.
'No, no, no, no, this can't be happening! Please tell me this isn't happening!' Inside his head, this was all Tunguska was practically screaming as he instinctively reached for the envelope again and this time found one final piece of paper still inside. When he pulled it out, he felt the entire world come to an end. He knew this last little piece:
It was a letter he had been writing to his father just yesterday in the privacy of his own personal home, away from any and all prying eyes outside their headquarters; wherein he had detailed his suspicions about Bogdanovich, and his worry about White Wolf.
However, all those details didn't matter, for the one thing everyone immediately noticed on that tiny piece of paper gripped in Tunguskas' trembling hands, was that his fathers' real name had been circled (no doubt in some kind of show of confirmation on White Wolf's part, between the recipient of the letter, and the real name of Scarlet Cossack in those redacted papers), and the word 'LZHETS' (LIAR) scrawled upon the face of the letter in red, while also connected by a line to Tunguskas' real name at the bottom, likewise circled.
None of the other Bogatyrs could even open their mouths to speak, before Tunguska had practically split the entire conference table in half, kicking himself up from his now exploded chair and through it, and through the door as well, leaving the rest of his comrades behind as he repeatedly kicked himself forward with every last ounce of power he could spare. The man flew across the ground like a human cannonball going at mach five, as all he could think as he never took his eyes off the land ahead, was that he could only hope he wouldn't be too late.
The sheer gravity of his selfishness had finally come to light, and now his once trusted protégé and friend was once more on that same ugly warpath he had found him on. Only now, the potential loss of life would be far worse.
Just outside Erubi City, Present Day
Traversing through the hilly woods outside of Erubi City was proving more taxing than any of the students had expected, but they weren't about to let the physical demand of it stop them, not when they were so close to finally bringing this entire situation to a close. Thankfully, it hadn't taken long after being notified for the police to show up.
True to his word, Reflector had informed them of everything they themselves now knew, and while with immense reluctance as far as the kids were concerned, they had ultimately decided to cooperate with their plan of trying to get the drop on the Villain from the safety of cover, while Setsuna was still on the roof of the glassworks, never once breaking the connection in order to keep them informed of anything and everything she observed.
Thankfully, the police had likewise been more than understanding when Reflector instructed their vehicle reinforcements not to activate their sirens. They still didn't know exactly what was waiting for them once they got there, and any premature action could have potentially spurred a very fatal reaction from the Villain, with Nikolay on the receiving end of it.
Night was officially beginning to fall, but thankfully it was a full moon tonight, so everyone had no trouble navigating their way past all the rocks and tree vines lining the hilly landscape.
Suddenly, a faint buzzing sound suddenly emanated from Minas' phone, spurring her friends, and everyone else in kind, to stop as she checked to see, to her surprise, that Setsuna had just sent her a text message, quickly followed by another:
'Texting you, don't want to risk getting overheard.'
'Someone just came out of the woods heading away from the observation tower. He looks just like what you and Willow Light-sensei described. This has to be the guy.'
'He just opened up the back of the truck and is pulling one case out. It sounds heavy, but he's hoisting it on one shoulder like it's nothing. That has to be the case with Bezpalov-kun in it.'
'He's heading back into the woods towards the observation tower. That's gotta be where he's gonna have Tunguska-sensei come.'
As soon as everyone had read it, Mina hurriedly typed in for Setsuna to come back to them. Now that everything was finally in motion, all the Pro Heroes and the police exchanged silent yet knowing glances, as did the students among themselves. They were approaching the end at last. That observation tower was not far from where they were, and the terrain was known to be just easier enough that they could make good time getting there before things could potentially get too bad.
That tower was where they were finally going to get Nikolay back; where they were going to save Tunguska from getting himself into something he possibly couldn't get himself out of, and where they were finally going to take that Villain down for what he'd done.
The wind friction was biting at Tunguskas' weathered face, he had launched himself with such power the moment he spotted the distant tower Vukodlak had described from ground level. The last rays of the sun had finally disappeared beneath the horizon, as he finally touched foot upon the cusp of the wooded road leading up to the clearing the tower stood over.
Every paternal instinct he had was screaming for him to search every inch of the land and the tower for Nikolay, but he also knew he couldn't afford to let himself slip up now.
After all, the last box was sitting right there in the open, at the very edge of the concrete tiling leading up to the stairs ascending the whole thing.
The only problem now was that after every other clue reassembling the pieces of Tunguska and Vukodlak's personal puzzle, he knew there was only one possible answer of just what was going to be in that box and it was going to be more painful than anything that had come before it.
After everything else he had been putting himself through today, though, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Vukodlak was here, watching him without question, and if he was going to get his son back, he needed to see this through, no matter what…no matter how much it would tear him apart to do so.
He approached the final box, one lead-heavy footstep at a time, and nearly collapsed to his knees when he finally reached it, grinding his teeth to try and force himself to just tear the lid away and get it over with. And in the end, that was exactly what he did, and just as he had feared, the sight of what was inside felt like he was being stabbed directly in his heart all over again: an aged red helmet with an attached half-face mask; the mantle of the Scarlet Cossack.
Without fail, the phone rang again, and Tunguska answered on pure muscle memory at this point, like he no longer had any conscious control, feeling himself sink into a state of complete numbness again. [[Congratulations, Tunguska. This is it: the end of the game, and the end of the road. I'm grateful that you chose to participate in this little game of reminiscing, and little Kolya is, as well. Your willingness to play by my rules has effectively saved the boys' life. It seems that's the only one of your family, let alone your allies, whose life you've actually managed to save in your entire career, isn't it? Not such a glamorous track record for the so-called Sun of Justice, is it?]]
Tunguska had no answer…how could he? He knew the Villain was absolutely right, and the memories of the last nearly thirteen years, and this helmet, were the two strongest testaments to his failures; his overblown Hero title be damned. That was why, even as he held the phone and never even approached the disconnect button as Vukodlak began his accursed fairytale spiel again, all Tunguska could do in the gravity of that moment was weep the kind of tears he felt certain he didn't have it in himself to shed anymore.
[[The Sun raced across the sky to find the White Wolf, eager to stop him from reaching the red mountain from which the Sun had been born at the beginning of time. However, when he eventually got there, he had come to learn that in that time since the White Wolf had fled, it had shed its once snow white coat, and had become something unlike the black beast it had been when the Sun had found it in those old dark woods.]]
Somewhere near the Vasyugan River, Siberia, 21 years ago
It had taken nearly a day since he had taken off from the New Bogatyrs headquarters, but Tunguska had finally found himself where he needed to be, standing in the middle of a tiny clearing in the vast forests of southwestern Siberia…and the first sign he had found had been a grim portent.
He stood before his father's dacha, the place he had sequestered himself to after letting the rest of the USSR believe he had simply retired…and the front door was open. His father was never the kind of man careless enough to simply leave his doors open all the way out here. Tunguska could only repeatedly think to himself that what he was going to find somehow wasn't going to be what he feared the most. Every fiber of his being wanted to believe that as he forced himself to approach the front door, all while trying to ignore the insane hammering of his racing heart against his ribs.
When he finally pushed the door open the rest of the way, he saw something he could physically feel burning its way into his brain, never to leave his eyes for as long as he would live.
Slumped at the head of his modest dinner table, was a powerfully built-yet clearly withered old man, sitting motionless, face down in a pool of his own blood that had likewise spread into a veritable tiny lake across the floor. Tunguska was gazing upon the lifeless body of his own father, Boris Konstantinovich Bezpalov; his once oak tree-like neck split open from ear to ear.
And sitting listlessly in another chair on the other side of the room, visible in the light of a nearby lamp, and with his white, now un-hooded costume spattered from head to toe in the blood of two once powerful men, was White Wolf, just barely glancing to give Tunguska the courtesy of his attention.
The Sun of Justice felt his life leave his body, not from looking into the icy coldness of his former protégé's grey eyes, but simply from the overall picture of what someone he once called his friend had done. He ultimately collapsed to his knees, the tears coming entirely on their own as he still struggled to form words.
[[You know…it's kind of funny. You, Brother Vortex, Midas, Scarlet Cossack, I never officially needed to introduce myself to any of you. You all instinctively knew exactly who…exactly what I was. Even better, I didn't even need to explain why I came here when your father saw me. It was as though he had already known for years, that I would one day come to him.
[[He of course gave the same explanation that Brother Vortex did, how guilty he felt when he found out what all their work had ultimately been for, why it drove him out of the public eye and out of the world of Heroes for good. Yet, despite all of that, despite knowing without a doubt what was going to happen between us in the end, he never once tried to beg for his life. He told me, to my face, that he wouldn't fight the fate that the universes' justice had chosen for him. There was something in that, that I couldn't help but find admirable.
[[In the end, the last thing he said to me was that, knowing everything he had done, both before and up to all those villages and settlements…all he had hope for was that he had somehow managed to raise you to be a far better Hero than he ever was. After that, he was simply ready. I didn't keep him waiting.]]
Tunguska still had nothing to say, which only served to incense the blood-covered Hero further, as he slowly rose up from his chair, now looking down upon his mentor and comrade with an inhuman intensity. [[From the day we first met, you told me your father had died. You knew I had come from that village, you knew his role in all of it the entire time. Did you know Bogdanovich was Midas, too? How much of the truth did you already know? Did you just happily let yourself and your comrades get pulled along and made to dance like puppets, knowing what that man and every other Hero like him and you have done? Why did you keep it all from me, and let me get pulled on a string by the same man most directly responsible for destroying my home?!]]
Tunguska finally found it in himself to stand back up, looking the frustrated young man before him squarely in the eye, fighting with every ounce of willpower he had not to obliterate him for what he had done. [[Yes…I knew about my fathers' role. No, I didn't know about Bogdanovich being Midas. I should have suspected it, though, from the beginning. When you had first started your killing spree, he seemed to know so much about you, even before I had done my research into your background and what had happened to your people. In fact, when he first sent us out to apprehend you, he had been very specific that we were allowed to use lethal force if need be, simply because removing you would have helped maintain the public's belief that Heroes were not only untouchable, but capable of dealing with any and all potential threats.
[[But I didn't want to do that if it could be avoided. You were barely more than a child; one who had everything he loved and understood unfairly ripped away from him. Your anger for a lifetime like that was understandable, and I didn't want it to end like he wanted. I didn't want to believe you were too far gone, that you were nothing more than just a mindless, savage killer. I wanted to believe you could be led down the right path, just like my father had tried to raise me to be the kind of Hero capable of thinking and making decisions with his heart, instead of just following orders like he did.
[[He wanted to believe that real, true Heroes could indeed exist, just like I want to believe it…just like I'm sure you still want to believe it, too.]] Tunguska was miraculously managing to maintain the same air of patience, understanding and compassion that he always had, even as he felt the claws of his anger scratching away at the inside of his skull, begging to be let out on the man he knew for a fact had murdered his father.
But he knew that if he did, if he let himself fall to that impulse, there would be no going back for any of them. His faith in his own ideal would have been forever shattered, and he would simply be proving those awful taunting words that Midas had poisoned White Wolf with, to be true.
[Septicflesh – The Undead Keep Dreaming – Orchestral Version]
However, as peaceful as he was trying to present himself, his words had only served to torment White Wolf that much further, as stinging tears of anger began running down his blood-streaked face; his now ungloved, claw-ended hands, clenching into white-knuckled fists, with rivulets of his own blood beginning to drip from between his fingers.
[[Everything you taught me…everything I thought I finally understood about the world of Heroes…it really is all a lie. Midas was right, that piece of shit…there are no real Heroes in this world. In some way, shape or form, every one of them is simply lying to and using someone else to further their own ends, protect their own interests…just like you, Tunguska.
[[You lied to yourself about real Heroes being able to exist, by lying to yourself about the gravity of what your own father had done. You lied to your comrades about it, too. You lied to me about your father, to convince me to join you, all so that others could lie to me further, and ultimately convince me to lie to myself about the ways of the world, and my place in it. In a way, you're the biggest liar of them all, because you just inspire everyone else to lie to themselves and each other, until the kind of truth and justice that you claim to fight for and represent becomes an unrecognizable black husk of itself!]]
Tunguska could practically see the anger-fueled bloodlust in White Wolf's eyes, as his shoulders began to hunch up, and his clawed hands opened up into a much more aggressive open palm, fingers spread to attack. When Tunguska looked into those grey eyes, all he could see was pure aggression. The sight of it all both terrified the Sun of Justice, and broke his heart. [[White Wolf…please, don't do this. We can still figure this all out. Midas is gone, and we have the evidence to put the corrupt people he helped behind bars. We can still prove that real Heroes can exist, that it's not just a fairytale!]]
Like a cobra, White Wolf suddenly swung his arm, slamming the nearby table lamp against the wall, shattering it and producing sparks that just as quickly ignited small flames against the paperback books in a nearby shelf; flames that very quickly began to grow and consume, illuminating the now unrecognizable White Wolf from behind, obscuring the white barely still visible on his costume, and rendering his entire form in black shadow.
[[There is no White Wolf, Tunguska! There never was! Just a foolish child in a stupid costume, dancing by a deceptive worlds' strings! All there is now…all there ever truly was…is the Vukodlak!]]
Tunguska felt his entire body go cold with defeated anguish, as to solidify the absolute gravity of his declaration, the man once known as White Wolf, clutched tight onto the chest of his now sullied costume, and ruthlessly tore it away, revealing the barest of his old black clothing underneath; remnants of his old self he had never managed to bring himself to burn along with everything else before.
[[And I've finally realized what my true purpose in life is, Tunguska. Heroes are essentially nothing more than glorified attack dogs. Attack dogs are nothing more than semi-trained wild animals. Wild animals are a danger to people…and hunters exist to kill those wild animals, and keep people safe. So, it falls to me to take up the mantle…as the one person capable of hunting the most dangerous animals of all, the ones that threaten everyone. Let my taking your head, serve as the beginning…of The Hunter of Heroes!]]
The tears had, by now, stopped running down Tunguskas' face. His sadness and heartbreak had since vanished. Now, as he gazed upon the figure before him awash in what might as well have been the fires of Hell itself, he could no longer see the young Hero he had taken in as his student, his comrade, his friend, the closest possible thing he had to a son. Now, all there was, was the physical manifestation of the very monster he had been told the boy was from the very beginning.
White Wolf no longer existed in this moment. Now, there was well and truly, only the Vukodlak.
The black-clad killer felt an immensely satisfied smile spread on his face, when he saw Tunguska finally take on the all-too familiar fighting stance that showed he was absolutely serious. He couldn't even feel the heat of the now-uncontrollable inferno behind him. All he felt now was adrenaline, and the sensation of it finally being let loose as he started their fated battle with a single word: [[Good.]]
In a matter of seconds, the entire dacha had gone up in roaring flames, and Vukodlak and Tunguska now stood at opposing ends of the clearing. Both men had already been reduced to tattered, bloody messes of themselves, with Tunguskas' arms and his entire torso now a maze of heavily bleeding slashes, with his nose severely broken. At the same time, Vukodlak could feel himself internally bleeding, as his ribs had nearly been reduced to dust from suffering a number of Tunguskas' punches. His entire torso was already a grotesque mish mash of bruises, as was his face, as blood simply would not stop gushing from his likewise broken nose, and shattered teeth.
However, the adrenaline burning in both men would not be satisfied. One of them was going to still be standing before this was over, and they both knew it, and were ready to make it happen with the next move.
Vukodlak could only see red, and not simply from the ruptured blood vessels running into his eyes, as he launched himself with nothing but animalistic murderous intent the moment he saw Tunguska suddenly close his eyes, as though resigning himself to his own fate.
FWOOOSH!
At the last moment before the killing blow could be struck, Tunguska opened his eyes, and met Vukodlak with the most powerful flash of pure light the man had ever been able to humanly conceive. It was like being present for the very birth of the sun itself. The light burned through Vukodlak's eyes, washing every last ounce of adrenaline, tension and intent he had away like a tsunami, as his body instinctively curled in surprise and pain, as he could feel his retinas burning away inside his own head.
As soon as the light dissipated, Tunguska was met with the sight of Vukodlak curled up and squirming on the ground, screaming in anguish at the sheer blinding light he had just delivered straight into his face at point blank range.
At the last moment, however, Vukodlak suddenly threw himself up from the ground with another savage roar, ignoring his now state of blindness to try and rake Tunguskas' throat with another slash of his claws.
The thought that even when he met him with the one last move he had hoped would be able to pacify his enemy, he still would not stop, filled Tunguska with a rage he hadn't ever felt before, ignited without question from the inescapable image of his father's corpse flashing before his eyes with every waking second.
It was with that image, and that anger it inspired momentarily taking control away from him, that Tunguska stepped back out of Vukodlak's swiping range, immediately grabbed onto the wrist of his attacking arm, and without a moment of hesitation or loosening his grip, brought his massive foot straight down into Vukodlak's right leg, producing a series of ear-piercing snaps and cracks at once, as the sheer power behind his stomp practically shattered Vukodlak's entire right leg from the inside out.
The screams of pain from his having been blinded, paled in comparison to the anguished wails he let out now, almost identical to what Tunguska had heard Midas let out yesterday. The hostility he still felt alongside his anger, almost made him want to consider the similarity humorously ironic.
But that didn't matter, nothing mattered. The only thing Tunguska considered to be important in that moment, was ending this monster, before he could kill anyone else that the Sun of Justice held dear. With that in mind, he forced Vukodlak's listless body up by his arm, and immediately brought his own massive arm around his neck, readying himself to snap it in half with just the slightest amount of pressure applied at just the right place. It was all he could find himself wanting in that moment. More than anything, he wanted this man dead.
Vukodlak could tell just as much as well, even through the indescribable pain ravaging his entire body, still unable to open his eyes. [[Go on…do it. Do it like you should have that first night. You know you want to. I know you want to. I want you to do it.]]
However, even as he stood there, with a murderous villains' life literally in his hands; even as his anger and desire for revenge burned white hot in his veins…for a moment, Tunguska thought about what Midas had told Vukodlak about Heroes…and what his own father had always tried to instill within him, what a Hero, a real Hero, was supposed to be.
The anguish of seeing his father lifeless at that table was still just as fresh as it was always going to be, but Tunguska likewise couldn't help but think of the old man's words of wisdom, the words and ideals he had taken to heart ever since he was a child.
If he killed this man now, no matter what he had done, not only would he ultimately be proving Vukodlak and Midas right, but he would be betraying everything his father wanted him to stand for. And if he couldn't even maintain that ideal in the wake of the man's death…then not only did he have no right to call himself a Hero, but then the very ideal he wanted to build his life around would truly never exist. And what kind of world would this be without it? For anyone?
Vukodlak, instead of feeling the sweet embrace of death to come with the sensation of his neck snapping like a twig in Tunguskas' massive arms, instead felt the large Hero release his grip on his neck, and let him crumple to the floor like a pile of rags. At first, his mind couldn't even comprehend what had just happened, but soon after came a wholly new kind of rage that left him an almost incomprehensible, roaring mess upon the ground at his feet: [[You goddamn coward! You think you're proving yourself a real Hero?! You're not! You're only proving yourself the biggest fool of all! I swear to you, it doesn't matter where you end up locking me away, I will get out, and I'll find you, and I'll destroy you and everything you and Hero-kind holds dear! This world will only be able to truly flourish when you're all dead, stinking and rotting in the earth, and I'll see myself send every last one of you down there, it doesn't matter where I have to go to do it! That is my promise to you, Tunguska! That is my promise!]]
No matter how much he screamed, or the threats he gave, not one of Vukodlak's words reached Tunguska in that moment. Standing there amid the blood and fire, all he felt in that moment was the kind of shame that destroyed normal men…just as it practically destroyed him. In every conceivable way, as the Number One Hero of his land, he had failed. As the Hero his family had raised him to be, he had failed. As the Hero who inspired others to take up the mantle as beacons of hope and justice, he had failed.
On this terrible, unforgettable day, Tunguska, the Sun of Justice, had known what it was to be well and truly defeated.
Erubi City Observation Tower, Present Day
[[…The Vukodlak had been driven back into the depths of those cold and familiar dark woods, while the Sun set as it usually did. However, from that fateful day forward, all the villagers would come to find that the Sun had permanently grown just the slightest bit dimmer whenever it hung high up in the sky, always watching those dark woods, for the day when the Vukodlak would inevitably re-emerge, eager to take its vengeance for the Suns' deceit. The End.]]
When the last of those memories had finally stopped playing in Tunguskas' mind, his ears had picked up that he had long since dropped his phone, and was now hearing the unmistakable sound of Vukodlak's voice, in the flesh.
As he lifted his tear-streaked head, he felt his heart catch in his throat to see the unmistakable tall, now more muscular black-clad figure of Vukodlak, just barely obscured by the shadows underneath the observation tower. However, he could still just feel in his gut that the Villain was meeting his eyes, before he finally stepped forward just enough to where he could finally be illuminated by the full moon.
There stood a man in heavy-looking black boots, tight black pants, a black long-sleeved shirt underneath a sleeveless black vest with numerous pockets, a detachable black hood draped over his head, and his face enshrouded in a full-headed black mask, with what looked like white wolf fangs painted on it where his mouth was.
For a few precious moments, neither of the two men said anything. The only sound that could be heard as Tunguska laid eyes on one of his worst enemies for the first time in over twenty years was the apathetic breeze of the wind.
[[It's good to finally see you again, Tunguska.]]
The Sun of Justice said nothing, only meeting Vukodlak's greeting by finally rising back up to his feet. Vukodlak didn't move, but he did give a very faint chuckle of amusement. [[God, you've gotten old fast. But your blood still smells and tastes just as potent as it did all those years ago. How else do you think I was able to finally find you when they gave me the go-ahead?]]
Again, Tunguska refused to grace Vukodlak with an answer. It quickly became apparent to the villain exactly why, though. [[Of course, I've been giving you the run around for this long; you want to see your boy.]]
With no hesitation, Vukodlak brought his right arm out from the shadows, pulling out a still bound-up and thankfully conscious Nikolay into the moonlight, and this was what finally spurred an instinctive reaction out of Tunguska, and same from Nikolay when he finally saw his father before him.
[[Your son has been such a pleasure to talk to while waiting for you, Tunguska. I have to admit, I was disappointed with just how little you really told him about me. But that doesn't matter anymore. The fact is that you're here, you followed my instructions, and I'm nothing if not a man of my word. But before I give him back…Kolya, is there anything you'd like to ask your father before I send you over to him?]]
Just as Tunguska was about to open his mouth and ask what the hell Vukodlak was playing at, he realized there was something about the glimmer in Nikolays' green eyes, as he never took them away from Tunguska. There was of course a gratitude for the man having made it, of course. But there was also…confusion? [[Dad…is…is everything about that story true?]]
That was when Tunguska suddenly caught the light of the moon reflecting off of something on Nikolays' ear. From this distance, he could instantly realize it was an earpiece, and with a momentary glance, he realized that not only was Vukodlak wearing an identical one, but that it even had a microphone attachment to it.
As though he could tell through his mask that Tunguska was putting the pieces together, Vukodlak suddenly dug his hand into the pocket of Nikolays' costume, and pulled out his cellphone, revealing what looked like a tiny USB-attached speaker to the side of the phone, and as Vukodlak spoke, Tunguska could hear the faint trace of his words echoing not only through the speaker on the phone, but through the earpiece in Nikolays' ear as well.
[[Technology these days has so many wonderful uses, doesn't it?]]
All at once did everything the man had been doing through the phone today suddenly click together, and Tunguska felt his entire world and being turn to sand in that cold and empty clearing. Those insufferable fairytale verses he thought the man had been taunting him with; they weren't meant for Tunguska at all. While Vukodlak was forcing Tunguska to revisit some of their worst memories together, he had essentially been telling Nikolay the entirety of their true story that he could never bring himself to tell his son himself. Everything he had told the boy over the years had been swiftly and decisively revealed as a lie, and the boy had been given the entire ugly truth of not only one of Tunguskas' greatest failures, but perhaps one of the greatest failures of the entire Soviet Hero world, without the foolish Russian Hero ever having realized it until it was all too late.
What made it all so much worse as well, was that he could see by the look on Nikolays' face itself, that he already knew the answer to his own question. He could see it through the defeated look in Tunguskas' watery blue eyes.
Realizing Vukodlak had driven him into the most inescapable corner there was, without even having to touch him; Tunguska bowed his head in full defeat. [[Yes, Kolya…it's all true.]]
Neither father nor son could say anything for a moment, but Vukodlak found himself relishing in this most crushing victory over his old foe far more than any cathartic physical victory.
[[Please, you need to understand, Kolya, I only told you the stories I did, because…after everything else that had happened, I didn't want to risk shattering your faith in the world of Heroes any more than it already had been. Had I known then what I do now about how you felt during all those years, I would've told you the truth, and I'm sorry. I never should have lied to you.]]
Tunguska and Nikolay alike bowed their heads at the sheer weight of the truth that was now in the air between them, but all the while, Vukodlak found himself beginning to laugh at the absurdity of what he was seeing. [[You really haven't changed a bit after all these years, Tunguska. For such a legendary and once-lauded Hero, you really seem to fall towards lying to people you care about in order to avoid your problems, don't you? I mean, even to your own son, and after you had already irreparably destroyed the nation and system you had sworn to fight for and uphold to boot? You really have no shame.
[[But I suppose I should be grateful that, even without any involvement from me, you've effectively gone to prove the point I've been wanting to make for years all on your own, like some sick self-fulfilling prophecy. You've simply proven that no matter where you go or where you look, Heroes are all ultimately nothing more than liars or puppets, just waiting to be manipulated by everyone around them, whether it be duplicitous governments, sociopathic businessmen looking to hire their services, or even their own loved ones. Kolya here is ultimately going to be no different, and neither are any of his little friends back at that precious school of his.]]
With that, he suddenly stepped behind Nikolay, and just when Tunguska was half-ready to scream for the Villain to stop, Vukodlak instead ran one of his clawed finger up, severing the binds around Nikolays' legs, allowing him to walk on his own again. He was smiling with immense amusement underneath his mask when he could hear the raggedy breathing Tunguska was giving.
[[You know, I have to admit, at first, I was actually considering having this be a repeat of our previous fight, where you come and find I've already killed your son and was simply stringing you along. I quite liked the idea of seeing your spirit completely break, knowing that both your Hero past and future had been snuffed out, and you'd realize you were now well and truly all alone in this world.
[[But then I realized, in its own way, this would be even better, getting to effectively break the world and spirits of two Heroes at once…right before I finally get to fight you again…and kill you. I'd had over twenty years of nights dreaming of this moment…and I want it to be perfect.]]
With that, Vukodlak suddenly shoved Nikolay forward, the Russian boy barely managing to keep his footing as he looked from his father to Vukodlak and back. [[Go ahead, Kolya. You've already served your purpose. You see, Tunguska? I'll even give the boy over to you so you don't have to worry about him becoming a human shield. I want you to come at me with every bit of anger you had back in that dacha. I've spent all these years training and honing my senses to a level I once didn't think was possible. There's nothing you can do to catch me by surprise this time, so come at me with everything you've got, and help me prove that lifetime of waiting was worth it!]]
Tunguska finally lifted his head to meet the Villains' proposal, a whole new flare of anger and determination beginning to tense every muscle in his being. Keeping his son out of danger was paramount, but he wasn't about to let Vukodlak off easy, either. He went after his flesh and blood, used him as bait, and he was going to pay for that, and this time, Tunguska would see to it he wouldn't be able to escape the imprisonment that was to follow.
Both men squared up, getting themselves into the stances that would show the other they were ready when the other was. Tunguska could only hear the racing of his own heart against his eardrums as he kept a vigilant eye on Vukodlak, watching for even the slightest sign that he was finally beginning to attack. The man was always the aggressive type in the time he'd seen him fight, he never started out on the defensive. That was first and foremost to keep in mind.
Suddenly, there was a notable flinch in Vukodlak's posture, one that conveyed unexpected surprise on his part. For a moment, Tunguska couldn't understand what was happening, but then he began to pick up the faintest sound of a rapid beeping emanating from the earpiece Vukodlak was wearing.
Suddenly, his fighting posture slackened, and the Villain resettled himself to that almost casual straight stance, leaving Tunguska at a loss as what to expect.
[[I had the same kind of transmitters you saw in those boxes today, set up in the woods around this area, just in case you tried to come here by foot. You're already here, but one of them just got tripped and went off. No ordinary hikers would be dumb enough to come traversing out here in the middle of the night, and I don't hear any police sirens either…which tells me…you've got help coming here, don't you, Tunguska? You thought you could catch me off guard by initially coming here alone, and then have your friends from that Yuuei Academy come get the drop on me. How disappointing. I told you what would happen if you tried pulling that shit with me!]]
Time seemed to slow to a crawl for Tunguska, as he saw Vukodlak ready one of his hands, and almost immediately kick himself forward at an inhuman speed for the still approaching Nikolay, ready to cut the boy down from behind right before his eyes. Nikolay didn't even seem to be registering the death that was descending upon him at that very moment.
The fire in Tunguskas' heart erupted with the power of a supernova as he practically teleported himself forward from where he stood, moving faster than the human eye could physically perceive, as he flew right past the still shell-shocked Nikolay, and met the approaching Vukodlak with every last ounce of his massive rock-like body plowing at sound barrier-breaking speed, straight into his midsection.
Vukodlak could feel the wind getting forced out of him; his ribs rattling inside him from the sheer force behind that impact, even through the armor he had been wearing underneath his clothing. The pain was indescribable….as was his elation at Tunguskas' furious initiative and drive. 'Yes! YES! This is IT! THIS IS WHAT I WANTED FROM YOU, TUNGUSKA!'
Hero and Villain alike went flying back through the air, narrowly missing the legs of the tower, as they smashed through nearly a dozen trees, disappearing into the thickness of the forest. Nikolay had since been brought to his knees by the sheer force of the impact his father had made with Vukodlak. The cacophonous sounds of the ensuing fight as the forest down the hill behind him seemed to be practically exploding with every impact, didn't even register to the boy. He was still in a state of utter shock from the gravity of everything Vukodlak and his father together had revealed to him, just how much a big part of what he thought he knew about the sun of Justice had been nothing but a falsehood.
Of course Tunguskas' reasoning made sense, but the fact that his own father had still made the conscious decision to lie to him for so long, on top of everything else that had already happened…no amount of self-justification could make the boy completely accept that. What he felt there wasn't the kind of long-simmering, all-consuming anger he had felt before. It was the feeling of a loss of trust…of deeply-rooted disappointment in the man he thought he had finally started to truly know.
"KOLYA-KUUUN!" The once distant but now piercing, emotionally overwhelmed voice of Mina Ashido calling out to him, accompanied by the numerous similar cries of discovery and relief emerging from the forest, miraculously managed to pull Nikolay out of his head, just in time to see the unexpected but wonderful sight of Mina Ashido, all his schoolmates he knew to be training with his father, and even Willow Light and the rest of the Kamuron Pro Heroes, and even the police, all simultaneously emerging from the woods, all rushing for him where he knelt.
"Oh my god…it wasn't just Dad. You guys…you all came this way…for me?"
He sounded utterly dumbstruck, in a state of disbelief, even when Mina hurriedly knelt at his side and ran her acid-coated index finger down the bindings around his torso, finally freeing him the rest of the way, before she just as quickly threw her arms around him, holding him in a near vice grip as she began crying uncontrollably with gratitude he was alive.
"Of course we came all this way for you, man! Sensei was frantic when that Villain called saying he had you! If our friends are in danger, we're not just going to stand back and do nothing! Just thank god you're okay!" Denki hurriedly explained, clearly not wanting to stick around any longer than they had to, as the booming echoes of the still ongoing fight in the woods drew everyones' attention, leaving him and Minoru visibly intimidated.
"Yes, thank god you're okay, Kolya-kun! I…I was so scared; I didn't want to believe it, but I thought we'd lost you! Are you sure you're okay? Are you okay to move?" Mina asked through her tears as she began instinctively checking Nikolay for any outstanding injuries, before he finally found the wherewithal to try and motion for the pink girl to stop and give him a minute.
"Yes, I'm okay, Mina, really, I promise! Look, I'm grateful to all of you, I really am! I was afraid I'd never see any of you again! But listen, we've all got to do something now! That Villain, he's not just some exceptionally smart thug; he's one of my Dads' old enemies from way back when, Vukodlak! He's a lot tougher than any of us realize! I don't know if Dad can handle him in the state he's in now! We've got to help him!"
However, Willow Light and the rest of the Pro Heroes suddenly stepped in. "That is out of the question as far as you and the kids are concerned, Bezpalov-kun! Our primary concern up to this point has been getting you back, and now we've done that, so right now our next priority is getting all of you kids out of here and back to safety!" Willow Light stated firmly, while Reflector and the other Pros found themselves drawn to the sound of the fight, as a massive cloud of debris suddenly snaked it way up the face of another hill; the rumbling that followed almost resembling that of a massive earthquake.
"She's absolutely right, just listen to that! If you kids tried to intervene in a battle like that, you'd only end up getting in the way! I know you all talked about coming here because you're learning how to become Heroes, but this is far more serious than anything you've all faced, and we're not going to let you get in that kind of danger. Now you're all coming back with us, and that's final! Besides, the police have already gotten themselves into position. The instant those two get back into their line of sight, that Villain is going to be hit with enough enhanced tranquilizers to take down a blue whale."
Just as Reflector explained, a momentary glance to the efficiently formed up wall of heavily armored police officers, revealed they were all armed with considerably serious-looking tranquilizer rifles; enough so to draw an instinctive whistle of impression out of Minoru and Denki alike.
At that moment, there was another powerful yet distant booming sound, and as soon as everyone once more instinctively looked in its direction, they caught the distant yet rapidly approaching shapes of Tunguska and Vukodlak descending through the sky. At least, they were both descending, before they bounced off one of the reinforced steel legs of the tower, bending it from the sheer force with which they flew through the air, and subsequently going through one of the trees resting below, resulting in an explosion of leaves and splinter as everyone immediately reeled back from the force of impact.
As soon as the dust finally began to clear, the repeated deafening impacts sounded out once more, and the inconceivably fast forms of both men repeatedly swinging, blocking and pounding into each other with incredible aggression, at last began to show.
"Ah, dammit. I'll try to help him!" Willow Light almost immediately announced as she began conjuring up multiple orbs of light from her hands, and as soon as she could make out who between them was who, she immediately sent them flying right for the Villain in black, the lights swarming around his head as he fought, in an attempt to distract or disorient him.
However, to hers and everyones' disbelief, Vukodlak simply kept fighting like those orbs flying in his face might as well have not even been there at all. At the same time, Tunguska was likewise ignoring them, still managing to dodge or deflect every attack the Villain threw at him, if just barely. He didn't dare take his frighteningly serious eyes off his opponent as he risked the moment to speak out to the onlookers: "Don't just stand there, you lot! Get Kolya and get yourselves out of here, NOW!"
The massive Russian Heroes' demand for them to get themselves to safety seemed to be all the incentive everyone needed to realize they were clearly out of their element here, even the students with the most hesitation to leave him to himself, like Ochako, Tooru and Setsuna. However, the more they watched him fight the black-clad maelstrom of violence, the more they themselves began to realize for the first time just how truly ill-prepared they really were to fight against such a threat, regardless how confident their training had made them.
"Don't worry. Even if the orbs themselves won't disorient him, this surely will." Willow Light reassured Nikolay and Mina, the last of the students still in the clearing, as she suddenly snapped the fingers on her right hand, and all at once, the orbs of light swirling around Vukodlak's head, ignited into one collective flash bang that forced her two reunited interns to look away for the sake of their eyes.
While they couldn't tell if it had even done anything to Vukodlak, Nikolay knew from experience that such a massive source of light would definitely give Tunguska the advantage, as just as the light began to dissipate, it immediately became crystal clear that Tunguskas' power had already grown exponentially, with his eyes and the disk behind his head glowing fiercer and brighter than ever, and his punches were now glowing and flying even faster than before, to the point he was actually putting Vukodlak visibly on the ropes in terms of maintaining his defense.
However, what happened next was fast enough that to simply blink would have caused onlookers to miss it, for at one point in the flurry, Vukodlak decided to duck under one of Vukodlak's uppercuts rather than try to brush it past him, and the opening allowed the Villain to meet Tunguska with an upward swipe, earning a pronounced exclamation of furious pain from the Sun of Justice. Nikolay heard it and felt his skin rise when he saw Tunguska step back, revealing three very nasty bleeding slashes across his chest, having torn right through the material of his costume like a hot knife through butter.
Tunguska looked at his considerably bleeding wounds with surprise, before quickly bringing his gaze back up to meet Vukodlak, noticing a particular glint on the tips of his blood-covered fingers. All at once did he suddenly realize what he was looking at. [[So…you decided to replace those old claws of yours with iron?]]
[[Like I said, I've been training and improving myself for the last twenty years for this moment. I'm not letting a complete repeat of our last fight happen, not here.]]
Vukodlak began to launch himself forward to attack the bloodied Tunguska again, but what neither he nor the Sun of Justice realized in that time capsule moment, was that the sight of his father in danger and hurt, had triggered a detonation of uncontainable raw emotion within the momentarily horrified Nikolays' heart so intense, that with the rage of a furious battle cry emanating from his throat, he launched himself forward from the ground through an immediate kinetic burst through his feet; sending him flying parallel to the ground and across the clearing at the speed of a veritable bullet, momentarily leaving Willow Light and Mina stunned at what had just happened, before quickly becoming overcome with fear that the boy was throwing himself right into the fight, both crying out for him to stop and come back.
Even in the middle of his latest attempted charge at Tunguska, Vukodlak was able to hear the sound of Nikolay dashing through the air right for him, and thus he managed to stop his momentum and jump back, just in time to avoid an extended fist from Nikolay plowing right through the air his face had been a fraction of a second ago.
The boy drove his feet into the ground to bring himself to a stop, but before Vukodlak or Tunguska could realize what was going on, Nikolay was already right back on the blinded warpath, firing himself backwards from his hands to drive his entire body into Vukodlak, who once again managed to leap back out of the way. Again, this did nothing to stop Nikolays' aggressive momentum, as he once again came to a grinding stop on his feet, and immediately pulled two of the tuning forks from his bandolier, fitting them into his grips so that the single pointed ends were extending from between his fingers.
Nikolay immediately rushed Vukodlak, throwing a punch and a jab and an uppercut one after the other, looking to drive his impromptu weapons into Vukodlak's ribs or neck, enough to disorient him enough for his father to finally take him out. He was beginning to see only red as Vukodlak kept sidestepping, deflecting and even just straight up absorbing every blow Nikolay threw at him.
Within seconds, Vukodlak had finally had enough, as he finally sidestepped, causing Nikolays' latest forward jab to meet nothing but air. The distraction took just long enough for the Villain to finally bring one arm down in a swing, directly into Nikolays' arms, forcing them to bend at the elbows, and forcing him to let go of his tuning forks, rendering him unarmed once again.
What Vukodlak hadn't counted on, however, was that Nikolay would immediately follow the Villains' counter with one of his own, as just at the moment his arms had been forced to bend, he swung his whole body leftward in Vukodlak's direction, driving an extended and charged pointing finger straight for his masked face.
'Mask or no mask, it can't possibly nullify my point blank pointing blast to the face!'
At just the last moment before Nikolay proceeded to fire straight into Vukodlak's face, the black-clad man suddenly brought a deflecting right hand up over his masked face, snatching Nikolays' pointing finger between two of his own, and immediately turning his wrist so that the vice grip he already had on it, forced Nikolays' finger in an unnatural direction, thus snapping it clean in half with a shattering SNAP!
The pain shooting up and down Nikolays' arm as Vukodlak effortlessly broke his attacking finger was unbearably, but the anger and drive he had to try and save Tunguska was even greater. With that desire being the one thing driving every fiber of his being, Nikolay felt another surge of his kinetic power rush down his left leg, and before anyone even realized what was going to happen, the Russian boy fired himself up from the ground through just his left foot, the angle, leverage and momentum causing Nikolays' whole body to turn in Vukodlak's grip like a human barrel roll, thus allowing his propelled and power-boosted left knee to drive straight into Vukodlak's face, a perfect connection that resounded almost beautifully as the Villain was nearly knocked off his feet from the last second surprise attack.
However, even as the impact left his whole head ringing, Vukodlak still wasn't about to let himself be taken down, as he used his own blows' momentum to make his whole body spin while Nikolay got both feet back on the ground. In that moment of touchdown while his back was instinctively turned to him, Vukodlak spun right back around, bringing his open right hand right up and forward with his recovering momentum, and driving his steel-tipped claws straight upwards into Nikolays' left shoulder, piercing through costume and flesh alike, and instantly getting a perfect grip on the boys' left shoulder bone.
POP!
With that grip and just the right application of pressure and the correctly aimed jerking motion, Vukodlak effortlessly forced Nikolays' left shoulder out of its natural place, dislocating it in a heartbeat.
With his right finger completely broken and his left shoulder now dislocated, it was a miracle Nikolay was still conscious, but his animalistic drive to save his father and everyone else here that he cared about was keeping Nikolay going, and he showed it in full force, as even through his pain, the boy forcibly fired from both his hands in an attempt to slam the entirety of his body into Vukodlak behind him at point blank range, like a super-powered body check.
However, Vukodlak now had the boy entirely scouted, as the instant the beginning of that booming sound reached his ears, he immediately hooked his arms under Nikolays', and used the boys' boosted momentum to aid him in a devastating suplex, driving Nikolay head first into the ground; causing him to fold like a ragdoll as the impact had rendered him utterly unconscious.
But Vukodlak wasn't done. The fact that Nikolay had managed to land a genuine physical hit on his face, had left him more incensed than he had ever expected the child to make him feel. That was why, as soon as he knew the hit had connected, and Nikolay had lost consciousness, he immediately rolled himself over so that he had Nikolay back up against him like a human shield, with one of his claws poised at just the right point to slit the boys' throat wide open with one single muscle movement.
However, at the moment he began to do exactly that…Vukodlak found his entire body hesitating as a spark of realization, an epiphany, had suddenly occurred to him. In the end, after everything he had forced the boy to hear and learn, after opening his eyes to just how much what he thought he knew about his own father and Heroes in general was a lie…Nikolay was still finding it in himself to fight him, to protect the man who had lied to him for so long.
He had thought for certain it would have been enough to destroy the boys' spirit, to make him lose all faith in the world of Heroes just like it had for him, and yet here they now were, with this child still having fought tooth and nail, driven enough to the point where he had even forced himself through the pain inflicted by Vukodlak's defenses, and managed to score a genuine hit on him.
At that moment, the Villain recalled one of the first things Tunguska had ever imparted to him all those years ago, one of the lessons he claimed to be the most important for any aspiring Hero to remember: 'the markings of a true Hero can be found in the strength of their spirit. No matter how many times they may fail or get beaten down, no matter how many times the world tries to keep them down and make them quit, they never do. A true Hero is one whose spirit never breaks, no matter how much it may seem like it will.'
If that was the case, then was this boys' insistent show of resistance against an opponent so much stronger than himself, and against the kind of knowledge that would have broken anyone elses' faith and spirit…the sign that he really had what it took to become one of Tunguskas' proposed 'true Heroes'? The thought, for just a moment, sent Vukodlak's mind into a curious frenzy.
A frenzy that distracted him just enough for Tunguska to come darting in like the human cannonball he was, and kick himself up from the ground the instant he was practically on top of Vukodlak, sending him and the Villain alike skyrocketing through the air, away from the tower clearing, and away from Nikolay and the others.
The instant they all realized Tunguska and Vukodlak's fight had taken them away from their position, Mina, Willow Light and the rest of the still-onlooking students immediately rushed over in a panic to Nikolays' motionless prone body. They all immediately voiced saddened exclamations of anguish and worry when they saw how badly Nikolays' right index finger had been broken, and especially at the four bloody puncture wounds lining the back of his left shoulder, on top of its now misshapen form from the dislocation.
"We can't help him here, not while those two are still fighting, it's too dangerous. We need to get him back to the city now!" Willow Light ordered her fellow Pros to hurry over and carry the unconscious boy, while she ushered the exceedingly worried and tearful Mina and the rest of the worried sick students along with her as they all began rushing back the way they came, while Reflector was hurriedly approached by the already mobilizing police officers.
"It looked like their fight is taking them in the direction of the glassworks on the other hill. We'll get ourselves back into formation the moment we get there, and inform you if we need your assistance. We'll tranquilize both of them to end this if we have to."
"Of course, officer. Don't hesitate to let any one of us know if you need our help. We'll be on standby and we'll be there before you know it." Reflector still managed to put on a confident air as the police finally began to roll back down the road, this time with all sirens blaring, and while the students and his compatriots were already making their way back through the woods to get back to the city and the Agency where it would be safe.
However, as he looked up to the sky in the direction Tunguska and Vukodlak had gone, he couldn't help but find himself wondering just how on earth the police, or even they themselves, could possibly aid in an unrestrained battle of sheer power like what they had just bore witness to.
CRASH!
Tunguska and Vukodlak had gone sailing through the air in a sky-bound tackle that had taken them thankfully far from the tower clearing, and unceremoniously crashing through the roof of the, also thankfully, empty glassworks on the next hill. The impact both men made with the ground immediately afterward nearly shook the whole building to its foundations, but it had at least been enough to finally make the two let go of each other, as their bodies ultimately rolled to a stop a good distance apart.
Of course, the stillness from the chaotic fight only last so long, before Hero and Villain alike hurriedly got back to their feet and instinctively charged each other with another attack, both of their reflexes running at full speed in their brains, as they both managed to not only avoid the full brunt of each others' last attacks, but even managed to just barely land them on each other all the same, with Vukodlak's claws raking Tunguskas' left side, and the Russian Heroes' glowing fast grazing the left side of Vukodlak's face, searing his mask and hood in the process.
Tunguska came stumbling to a stop as his face winced with pain at the newest clawing wounds that had dug into his side, while Vukodlak hurriedly brought himself to a likewise stop, anxiously prying off his smoldering hood and mask and tossing them both aside before they would actually catch on fire.
Both men remained rooted to where they stood, struggling to catch their breaths while finally feeling the accumulated extent of both their injuries they had inflicted on each other. Tunguska was the one, in the end, to finally turn to face his old opponent, who still kept his back turned to him.
At least being able to finally see this part of Vukodlak unmasked, Tunguska could see that he still had the same short black hair as before, although some parts were definitely starting to show some grey, much like his own.
[[Thank you, Tunguska…for not disappointing me after all these years.]] Vukodlak finally spoke up, a genuine tingling of genuine emotion evident in his voice. However, the old Hero wasn't in the mood to hear any of it, as he ignored the pain to get himself poised for the one attack he knew would finally end this fight once and for all; never once taking his eyes off the black-clad man while still focusing everything he had.
[[Don't thank me, Vukodlak. You may think this was all some kind of sick game, but I'm going to make sure you pay for what you've done. You went after my son, his friend and mentor, and you used him like bait. I can't let that go unpunished. I'm ending this fight right here, and this time I'm going to make sure they put you away somewhere you'll never be able to get out of.]]
Like so many times before, the incensed Heroes' threat only drew a bone dry chuckle out of his old Villain. [[If you really want to ensure I don't come back after this…you're going to have to do to me here, what you couldn't do to me then. You know that.]]
Suddenly, Vukodlak bowed his head and let out a truly weary sigh, before finally turning around to face Tunguska, but still keeping his face to the ground. Now, Tunguska could truly see that the once young man he knew had aged just as badly as he had over the years; the scars of their previous battle still quite evident on his likewise weathered face.
[[I know I mentioned it before, but I want you to fully understand, Tunguska. In the years I spent in that gulag before they let me out, every waking moment of every single day, all I could ever think about was facing you again, and finally killing you, proving myself the one to be able to end all Heroes, and save this world from them.
[[All I could ever focus on was coming up with ways to get around every single trick you had, so that next time, we could both be on an equal playing field, and you wouldn't be able to pull any surprises on me like you did then. I used that time to focus on training my body and my senses to the peak of superhuman perfection, so I could match you for physical strength, and be able to harness the enhanced senses my Quirk granted me to the same level that you can harness yours. It took years and so much suffering, but I eventually was able to sharpen my senses to a level I once thought unreachable.
[[And yet, even when I had improved my Quirk-enhanced senses of sight, smell, taste and hearing, to the point where I thought I had achieved the true human zenith of sensory awareness and mastery, to the point where nobody I sought out could be able to hide anything from me, least of all themselves…I still could not shake the feeling in my gut that you would always have something over me; something that you would always be able to exploit, no matter how much I trained or how much I learned. And the most infuriating part of that, was that no matter how much I tried, I could not figure out what that was. Until one day, in the dead of one winter night…something clicked…and the answer that had eluded my one remaining obstacle suddenly became so clear.]]
At that moment, both men could just feel the very air around them grow thick, as if the very universe itself was telling them to attack. With that becoming so much clearer to them now, Vukodlak suddenly kicked himself in a forward dash right for Tunguska, both arms spread open for attack, while Tunguska used that split second to open his eyes and meet Vukodlak point-blank with a fully powered flash bang that consumed the entire glassworks in a blinding white light.
'Goodbye, Vukodlak'
SHIKK!
As his eyes were filled with that blinding yet warm light, Tunguska suddenly felt a deeply penetrating pain deep inside his chest, like something was digging right beneath his ribs. As soon as the light dissipated, he looked down to see Vukodlak was still knelt down, right up against him with his head still bowed down, and his clawed fingers dug right into Tunguskas' torso, right down to his knuckles, with the sun of Justices' blood running down into his hand.
The pain of those steel claws rending at him from inside brought Tunguska down to his knees, the copper taste of blood beginning to fill his mouth, while Vukodlak took the Heroes' place, rising back up to his feet, with his claws still embedded right between his ribs. Tunguska could scarcely even find it in himself to try and breathe.
[[What I realized that night, Tunguska, was that no matter how much I worked myself to push myself beyond the threshold of physical and Quirk perfection…it always came down to that damn flash bang attack of yours. It can pierce through any kind of covering, and render anyone's attack or defense useless. It's a veritable ace in the hole…except that while it has the flash property of a flash bang, a really damn powerful one at that; it doesn't have the bang. So that attack of yours is perfect, except for one little detail: you can't stun somebody with light if they aren't even able to see it.]]
Tunguska somehow managed to find the strength, even through his increasingly worsening blood loss, to lift his head up to meet Vukodlak's gaze…and what he saw brought all his struggling and straining to speak to a dead stop.
The man now towering over him didn't have those same piercing grey eyes that had haunted his memories for so long.
No, these eyes were clouded and clawed to where they were utterly unrecognizable, proven by the numerous scars lining around his eye sockets. Vukodlak had genuinely clawed his own eyes into useless husks, rendering himself utterly blind.
[[I'd heard many times before this, how blind peoples' ears become so sharp that they essentially become like a second pair of eyes. Well, with my Apex Predator Quirk, that's pretty much literal. The movement and bouncing of sound waves, both big and small, it pretty much paints the entire world around me for my brain, to the point where I can still pretty much see everything, and no longer have to worry about anybody and their fancy light tricks.]]
Tunguska once more tried to bring himself to speak, even as blood began to pour from his mouth, but he couldn't get the breath into his lungs to do so. In response to the Heroes' audible struggling, Vukodlak simply smiled. [[don't be upset, Tunguska. If anything, you should be proud. I simply decided to honor one of the very first lessons you ever taught me all those years ago.]]
From there, the blind Villain slowly knelt down, still keeping his dug in deep, and leaned in just close enough where Tunguska could practically feel the malice in his words: [[I took what was considered a weakness…and turned it into a strength.]]
SHHLUK!
Vukodlak finally forcefully pulled his claws out of Tunguskas' chest, causing his already serious bleeding to become even worse. He could just hear from the wheezing and physical struggle, that Tunguska couldn't even summon the strength to speak, let alone move. In fact, if he were to just leave the man here, chances were he would probably bleed out in a matter of minutes.
That was why the next thing the Villain did, was meet Tunguskas' further paling face with a swift and decisive roundhouse kick, sending the massive Hero toppling over like a great old tree. At least his unconscious state would cause his pulse to drop and slow the bleeding, at least enough for Vukodlak to get him where he needed to go, as evidenced when he immediately proceeded to hoist his now unconscious foe over his shoulders.
[[Don't worry, Tunguska. This isn't the end, not yet. Not for you…and not for your boy, either.]]
And there you all have it, the newest chapter, and the single most elaborate chapter to anything I've written yet. Please be sure to give your thoughts on how you think I did putting this all together.
All of you stay safe, have a great rest of your week, and I will see you all with the next chapter on 05/29!