Hello again, everyone. Well, last weeks' offering was quite the lengthy experience, as well as quite an eye-opener in terms of Tunguskas' history, and how it's now coming back to haunt him and those he cares about. Everything has certainly gotten more than real, and it's just going to keep going that way from here. don't worry, you're not going to be looking at any chapters as epically long as last week. If that ever comes to happen again, you'll be forewarned by me, trust me, so you can make sure to free up some time.
Anyway, we won't be dealing with any more flashbacks, so now it's time to see how our young Heroes-in-training and their unwitting new guardians are going to deal with the recent retrieval of Kolya, and the battle between Tunguska and Vukodlak. I hope you all enjoy what you see here today. If so, feel free to leave an honest and constructive review, letting me know what you think.
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.
I'd also like to once again give a big shoutout to Mizu Hikikomoroi, my beta reader and consultant for any future plot ideas I haven't figured the details out for yet. They have been a tremendous help, even when real life has been leering its ugly head throughout the weeks. Stay strong and take care of yourself, my friend!
A/N: [[]] denotes that characters are contextually speaking Russian.
Chapter 25
Night of the Hunter*
(Ночь Охотника)
Nikolays' head was pounding with pain when he had finally stirred back to consciousness. There was a myriad of muddled voices all around him at first, with a pair of hands clearly trying to keep him from moving at first; the reason becoming immediately apparent when a flare of pain shot across his body from his left shoulder.
It took a good couple of minutes for the aching in Nikolays' head to finally dissipate enough to where he could actually open his eyes again, with the light shining overhead thankfully being blocked by one of the people standing over him, as his eyes tried to readjust. Thankfully, it didn't take too long before he could finally see clearly again, and found himself surrounded by Mina, Ochako, Denki, Setsuna, Tooru, Minoru, and all of the Kamuron Agencies' Pro Heroes, in the now all-too familiar and welcome interior of the office itself.
"Try to take it easy, Bezpalov-kun. You've been through quite a lot, physically and emotionally, I can imagine." Master Mesh immediately spoke up, easily able to see the anxiety immediately return to the Russian boys' eyes, as well as the confusion.
"He's right, Kolya-kun, please try to just stay lying down for now." Mina chimed in total agreement, clearly trying to keep herself calm and composed, instead of clinging onto Nikolay like she clearly wanted to, just from the immensely relieved shimmering in her black-gold eyes. He could easily see the similar looks of relief on everyone elses' faces as well from seeing him awake again.
However, the immediate memories of Vukodlak, Tunguska and the battle at the observation tower flashed before his eyes, and his whole body tensed up where he lay down, as Mina was once again placing her hands on him to keep him from trying to force himself up. "My Dad! Please, tell me, what happened? What happened at the tower? Is he alright? Did he beat Vukodlak?"
To his silent but visible despair, he wasn't immediately answered, but instead was treated to a moment of silence, made worse by looks of clear worry on everyones' faces, especially those of his classmates and friends. Finally, Reflector broke the silence with a regretful sigh. "I'm sorry, Bezpalov-kun…but we can't say for sure. We all headed straight back to the office after those two took the fight out of the clearing. We needed to get you to safety first and foremost.
"Unfortunately, in the time since then, Tunguska-san never showed up with the police to say he had apprehended that Villain…which, I'm afraid, means that right now, we can only assume the worst, if not just keep speculating that the fight may still be going. The police have been investigating the scene since then and they've been keeping us informed of anything they find, which so far hasn't been much, unfortunately. Their fight went into the glassworks up in the hills, but all the police were able to find there, aside from some blood, was a partially singed black and white-painted face mask, and another partially singed detachable hood. They also recovered Tunguska-sans' cell phone from the tower clearing and have taken all those things into evidence, but so far, that's all they've been able to find. Since then, and until further notice, the police have placed a detachment outside of this building to serve as extra security, just in case."
Nikolay felt his heart weigh down in his chest like a rock as he rested his head back in disbelief, before instinctively looking back to the window behind him, only to see just how bright it now was outside, a far cry from what he knew morning to be. "How long have I been out, exactly?"
"You've been unconscious for a good while, Kolya-san. We didn't want to risk extensive travelling with the condition you were in, so we had to patch you up here instead of the hospital. The Pros said it would be better for security purposes, too." Ochako explained, since she could clearly see the momentary confusion in Nikolays' eyes why they didn't take him there like anyone else would have.
"You got pretty busted up, trying to fight that Villain last night, but they said you still got off pretty damn lucky. All they had to do was set that shoulder and that broken finger of yours back in place." Denki added, forcing Nikolay to bring his right arm up to find his pointing and middle fingers had been casted up against each other in order to help it heal properly. Setsuna than cleared her throat to speak up when she could see nobody had the heart to bring up what had come after.
"Yeah, but the hard part was dealing with your shoulder injury. We all pretty much had to hold you down to keep you from thrashing around when they popped your shoulder back into place. That jolted you back to consciousness for a second, but obviously the pain was too much, since you were out like a light pretty much immediately afterward. From there, they managed to stitch up those puncture wounds on the back of it, too. So long as you try not to move those parts around too much and risk re-opening them, the pain from the dislocation should dissipate in the next couple of days."
"Let's just be grateful you're back with us safe and sound, Kolya-kun! All day yesterday, we weren't sure what we could do, but thank goodness you're back with us now." Tooru exclaimed, trying to keep the mood from getting too down; a sentiment Mina was clearly more than happy to share, as she looked at Nikolay with one of the most deeply emotional and grateful smiles, holding his right hand as gently yet supportively as she could, trying not to let herself start crying again.
However, Nikolays' look was far more distant and worried than everyone had been expecting, although given what they were still looking at, it was hardly unexpected. "While it is an immense relief that we have Bezpalov-kun back with us, we still have a very dangerous Villain unaccounted for, and we still don't know what happened to Tunguska-san, and with no means of actually getting in contact with him."
Reflectors' summarization of their general situation was as blunt yet serious as could be, but simply voicing it spurred Nikolay to lift his head back up so he could look everyone in the eyes. "It's not as simple as that, either. That's not just any Villain he's dealing with, either. His name is Vukodlak…he's one of my Dads' old enemies from back in Russia…and he went through all of this, solely for the sake of fighting and killing him. He was using me as bait the whole time."
The idea that Tunguska had been the target the entire time, on top of the fact that he still hadn't returned, and the police hadn't found any sign of him, put a whole new air of anxiety among the students, now more worried for their teacher than ever before. However, they could all see, by the deeply troubled look in his green eyes, that Nikolay still wasn't finished. "There's more to it than that, though. The entire time he was keeping me prisoner…Vukodlak told me a lot of things…about him and my Dad…and my family. Things that I thought were lies, given all the stories my Dad had told me about him years ago. But when he finally showed up…he admitted that everything Vukodlak had told me about all of it was true.
"He used to be my Dads' sidekick…my grandfather helped destroy his village when he was just a kid…and he killed him for it when he found out my Dad had lied about him dying years later." From there, Nikolay proceeded to share with everyone, every last detail Vukodlak had subjected him to all throughout yesterday, every single step of the story between the Villain and Tunguska, from the reasons his village was ultimately destroyed among many others, to the attempt at turning him and Tunguska into glorified assassins in order to cover a false Heroes' criminal tracks, and the complete dissolution of the bond between Vukodlak and Tunguska, and the complete homicidal desire that had consumed the Villain ever since then, with his father dead center in his sights.
By the time it was all out in the open, Nikolay could see the deeply disturbed looks on everyones' faces, not just his classmates. They had just learned so much more about their teacher and guardian than they could have imagined was possible, and for him to be connected to something else just as personally awful as the Siberian Flash, on top of that, just left an overall heartbroken state in every one of them. To think that Heroes in general were able to be taken advantage of and deceived into doing something so awful also left them considerably shaken.
As for the Pros, the look on their faces was that of a very regretful understanding, as though they understood the overall message of caution to be taken from the whole story, primarily in caution as to who or what Heroes chose to fight for. Big Trouble was the one to ultimately break the heavy silence with a morose sigh. "Yeah…getting taken advantage of by people who claim they're aiming for a greater good is an inherent risk in Hero business not nearly enough people talk about. And sadly, deciding in your heart what is ultimately the truly right thing to do, is rarely ever that simple."
However, despite the now solemn atmosphere hanging over their heads, Nikolay began to sit up from the office couch, gritting his teeth to try and ignore the pain in his right fingers and his left shoulder. "Look, we all know my Dad made a lot of mistakes, but I'm not going to let that stop me. He's still in danger, and he still needs our help."
However, Mina was quick to put her hands on him to try and stop him from going any further, able to see how much it was still hurting him to move his recovering parts. "Just slow down, Kolya-kun, please! You're in no condition to be fighting a Villain like that again! Listen, I get you're worried about Tunguska-sensei; believe me, I am, too! We all are! But I'm not going to let you go out there and risk getting yourself hurt even further, if not worse! We just got you back, please don't waste that!"
"Ashido-san is right, Kolya-san. Just because Tunguska-sensei hasn't come back from the fight doesn't technically mean he's lost." Denki suddenly chimed in, and to Nikolays' surprise, Minoru and Tooru stepped in alongside him to chime in likewise.
"Yeah, we've all seen how tough Sensei is. For all we know, that fight could still be ongoing somewhere far from here." "Yeah; I'll bet Sensei is wiping the floor with him right now! I'm sure he's gonna come out on top just like at USJ!" Nikolay had half a mind to remind the short boy and the invisible girl of how exactly USJ had ended, but his incentive to speak up died when he saw the visibly doubtful and concerned looks on Ochako and Setsunas' faces, in contrast to the attempts at faith the rest of his classmates had.
"You guys are making way too big an assumption, yourselves, though. No matter how strong he is, the fact is that Sensei still isn't as young as he used to be, and that dulls skill and power, no matter how great a Hero he is. And we all saw just how much faster that Villain was by comparison. Hell, Bezpalov-kun and Mina-chan have experienced it firsthand." Setsuna clearly hated the fact she had to be the one to add the bitterness of reality to this whole conversation, especially when she saw even the false hope on everyones' faces dim, while Ochako just looked utterly sad in general.
"This just isn't right. Sensei could be in serious trouble, and as if it weren't bad enough, we have no idea where to look for him. What would we even be able to do if we did? Tokage-san is right, that Villain is way stronger than we thought." It clearly killed the brown-haired girl to have to say as much out loud. Soon, all the students bowed their heads in sorrowful regret; with Mina and Nikolay looking especially pained by the weight of it all, once again feeling well and truly powerless, even when someone so important to all of them was in danger.
Mina silently clutched her hands into emotionally driven fists, not wanting to say so out loud now that he was finally here again, but she still couldn't help but consider the fact they had managed to get Nikolay back a full-blown miracle, so the fact they now once again found themselves in virtually the same situation as before, felt especially cruel of the world as a whole at this moment.
It was with notable regret that Reflector cleared his throat to gain all of the teens' attention, trying to put on as stern and authoritative a stance as he could at this moment. "I hate to have to say this, considering the circumstances, but the fact of the matter is that it has simply become too dangerous for all you kids to stay in this city while that Villain is still out there. While the others were treating your wounds, Bezpalov-kun, I took the liberty of contacting the Headmaster at Yuuei, informing him that we will be sending all you children back for your own safety, while we resolve the situation with Tunguska-san and this…as you say, 'Vukodlak', ourselves."
Nikolay couldn't believe what he was hearing, but when he saw the deeply saddened looks on his classmates' faces, it became clear that Reflector wasn't lying, and that this decision had been made long before he'd woken up. Willow Light was quick to approach the distraught Russian boy. "I'm sorry that this all has to end this way, Bezpalov-kun, but you must understand, this is for the good of you, Ashido-chan and all your friends. Surely you wouldn't want them to be put in danger as well, would you?"
Nikolay instinctively shook his head in answer, but the Irish-Japanese Hero could clearly see just how truly conflicted he was; a sensation she recognized all too well. "Bezpalov-kun, you need to be reasonable right now. It was far too close a call that we were able to get you back at all, and I'm not about to let you or any of your friends risk getting killed because you're letting yourself be dominated by emotion, rather than taking the time to think this whole thing through. Take my word for it, I know what happens when you make rash decisions like this solely out of emotional impulse, and I'll tell you right now, you do not want the consequences of such actions on your hands! None of you do! That's why it's for the best that you all go back to Yuuei and let us handle this situation and get your father back."
As much as Nikolay wanted to say 'no', to beg and plead for the Heroes to let him try and help get his father back if need be, he couldn't bring himself to do so when hearing the unnaturally serious edge with which Willow Light spoke, and the deeply emotional shimmering in her luminescent green eyes when she did. She was clearly speaking from a very personal place when mentioning this past experience of hers, and that, above anything else, was what was driving her to try and convince him to just swallow it down and let them take care of things.
Looking from her to the other Pros, to Mina and the rest of his classmates and friends, Nikolay felt the full weight of the truth hit him hard: they were all right, he wasn't in any condition, physically or emotionally, to handle this the way it needed to be, and if he just ran off out there half-cocked and reckless, he would be putting all their lives at risk on top of Tunguskas', and he knew, even then, that he wouldn't be able to handle the guilt such irresponsible actions and consequences would bring.
In the end, despite all the personal devotion and work he had been putting in towards becoming the Hero he wanted to be, he felt just as powerless and devoid of options as anybody else, and it was one of the most suffocating feelings he could have imagined, having to accept such defeat, while the rest of his peers were all likewise feeling the same kind of anguish as him.
[Johann Johannsson - Escape]
When Tunguska eventually regained consciousness, the first thing he felt was an intense flaring of pain deep in his ribs, across his chest and on his left side. The rest of his body was likewise pulsating with aches and soreness, able to feel every bruise adorning his body. Even after all these years, Vukodlak had managed to somehow put up an even better fight, much to his despair.
It was only after his mind had managed to process all the pain he was in, that he finally realized that he was not only thoroughly restrained with his hands bound behind his back, but that wherever he was, was completely pitch black, devoid of any and all light, and the air was musty and wet, heavy with a stench of mildew. If he had to make a guess, he had to imagine that wherever they were was somewhere underground. He unfortunately couldn't try forming the disk of light behind his head to try and illuminate this place. He could already tell he was far too physically drained to be able to use any of his energy to power up his Quirk.
[[I'm glad to see you're finally awake, Tunguska. You were out for a quite a while. I was afraid you might have bled out already.]] The voice of Vukodlak was up close and personal, even in this impenetrable darkness. It was as though the Villain were leaning in right up to the Russian Heroes' ear, whispering with such a chill in his voice, it made his skin rise.
Tunguska tried to fight against his restraints the moment he heard Vukodlak's voice, but his weakened state and restraints quickly proved how futile that was, even with his still considerably muscular physique. Vukodlak placed an exaggerated hand on his shoulder, as though putting on a mocking act of trying to calm the Hero down. [[Please, try not to move so much, or you'll risk reopening your wounds. You'd already lost quite a bit of blood by the time we got here, and I went through quite a bit of effort to get them patched up, so don't make that all be for nothing.]]
Tunguska had to begrudgingly accept the reality of his situation, and thus stopped struggling, while silently vowing that one way or another, he was going to try and find a way out of here. However, unable to bear this suffocating silence while being stuck with his old enemy, Tunguska asked the first thing that naturally came to mind: [[You obviously had to drag me away quite a ways if you're not behind bars right now after what a scene we made with our fight. So where exactly are we?]]
Unfortunately, Vukodlak immediately got to his feet, chuckling in amusement. [[That's cute, that you think I would be gullible enough to just give you a straight answer right off the bat. Even if I were to tell you, it wouldn't make a difference. Nobody knows you're here, and I intend to keep it that way for now.]]
The Villain began eagerly pacing the room in the pitch blackness; the place clearly not being that big as Tunguska could hear his footsteps approaching him more often than he would have expected. Soon, Vukodlak began chuckling again. [[You know, I've never very much been a fan of irony, but this really is the kind that just can't help but bring a smile to my face. I came all this way in the hopes of using little Kolya as bait to lure you out…and now I find myself actually facing a complete role reversal situation.]]
Hearing the sound of his sons' name on Vukodlak's lips sent Tunguska into an all new rage, blind to the pain as he began thrashing angrily against his bonds. [[What the hell have you done with my son, you blood-sucking son of a bitch?! Where is he?!]]
Despite the vitriol on display, Vukodlak remained steadfast, simply waiting for Tunguska to tire himself out, which obviously didn't take long. [[For the record, if you reopened any of your wounds just now, I'm not going to bother patching it back up. As for your boy, you can rest easy for now. He, the rest of his little friends and those Pro Heroes that were with them, all left while we were in the middle of our fight last night. But don't worry, I have his scent fresh on my tongue, so I'll find him anywhere he goes. I'm just waiting for the time to be right, is all.]]
The trace of lighthearted humor in his voice, only served to flare Tunguskas' temper that much further as he opened with a deeply frustrated growl. [[Why are you doing things like this? You went on and on about how you went to all this trouble and spent all this time waiting to fight and defeat me…only for you to go and let me live in the end. Why?]]
For a moment, Vukodlak was actually speechless. Had it not been for the dark, Tunguska would have been surprised to see a genuinely contemplative look on the man's face. [[You know, if I'm being completely honest, I really hadn't expected things to turn out like this, myself. I had really been hoping, especially after I found out you had a son, to break both of your spirits before finally beating you, my ultimate prey. No matter what were to happen to me afterward, at least I would be able to go out knowing I had finally stood victorious over you.]]
From here, Vukodlak suddenly hurried to where Tunguska was, nearly squatting down so that the two were at the same eye level, even in the dark. [[Yet, after the impressive display your son put on during our fight, I haven't been able to stop thinking about him. Not only was he still finding the spirit to actually fight me for your sake, even after everything he had learned about us…but he even fought his way through the pain I inflicted on him, and managed to actually land a legitimate blow on me. For the record, no one has been able to do that since the last time we fought.]]
Vukodlak instinctively brought a hand up to the left side of his face, only slightly wincing from the still evident pain on the bruise that had begun forming, a mark dedicated to the Russian boys' deep-rooted potential. [[It's gotten me to start thinking that perhaps you aren't the ultimate prey I was looking for, at least, not anymore. Your raw fighting talent hasn't lost its edge, no matter how old and slow you've gotten, but the sheer possibilities of what your boy could be able to do; perhaps that's what makes him the prize I've been dreaming of for all these years. At the very least, what he represents to you, especially, makes him more valuable than anyone or anything else.
[[That child represents the last remaining ounce of hope you still carry for the world of Heroes, especially in the wake of what you did, both to me and the rest of the USSR in your hubris. That's the only reason you're still breathing right now, Tunguska. What could possibly be a greater victory than to snuff out that last piece of hope you have? To be the one to have eliminated both your past and your future…such an honor would never hope to be matched by anyone.]]
For a few tense moments, Vukodlak's bloodlust was thick in the air, virtually palpable where Tunguska was seated. However, after a few moments, that air seemed to diffuse, and Vukodlak's intimidating and murderous aura vanished. With a heavy sigh, the Villain lifted himself up from in front of Tunguskas' face, and proceeded to seat himself on the other side of the support beam the Hero was bound to, where they were now effectively back to back.
[[Like I said last night: that first handful of years I was in that gulag, all I could think about and focus on was perfecting every asset of my physical body and my Quirk so that I could one day face you again. But then, when the Siberian Flash happened, we all got the news just like everybody else did. Hell, we felt it in the earth. When it happened, for a moment I thought that was whatever power runs the universe, giving me my chance to get out and finally track you down. However, it wasn't long after that they then started talking about how all the New Bogatyrs had been killed, and they couldn't find you among the remains. When that news came about, I was heartbroken. Just when it seemed like I would finally have my chance, I thought that now I would never be able to avenge myself; neither for my defeat or your betrayal.]]
Vukodlak fell silent for a moment, as though he were expecting Tunguska to try and speak up, try to defend himself once again from the man's accusations. However, to his surprise, Tunguska remained silent.
The Sun of Justice didn't say anything, but to Vukodlak, he didn't have to. His silence was as much a confession of his own guilt for his actions as anything else. The realization of that brought the slightest smirk of satisfaction to the Villains' face. Perhaps all those years of compounded guilt had changed the former Number One Hero in the USSR, after all.
And as for Tunguska, he had long since given up trying to defend his actions with Vukodlak in the past. The truth was that, for all the awful things he did after the fact, Vukodlak had every right to be angry. The man had essentially lied to him about his entire life's purpose, who wouldn't be irreparably broken after something like that? Hell, his own son had practically been broken for the majority of his life so far from such a feeling.
[[In the beginning of that time, when every one of us were convinced you were dead, all I wanted then was to die, just in the hopes that I would find you in the afterlife, and we could finally have our rematch there. But then, when it finally became clear that you weren't dead, and the authorities simply couldn't find you; that was when my hope came back to me with a vengeance…and so did the new government, as well.]]
By now, the reminiscent tone in Vukodlak's voice had vanished, and he was back on his feet and pacing anxiously once more. [[At first, I thought they had decided to expedite my sentence and simply take me to the hangman or the firing squad to save themselves precious time and taxpayers' money. Instead, they came to me with a most interesting proposal. Over the years I was stagnating in that cell, I had actually lost virtually all of your scent. I guess the fact that I had gone ahead and killed everyone else whose scent I had made a point of collecting, didn't give me any reason to think that aspect of my Quirk was temporary, albeit very prolonged before getting to that point.
[[I had made it no secret the few times I ever spoke to anyone since our fight, that I wanted you more than anything, so this was the new governments' proposal: they would look for you and provide me with any information and resources I needed for when the time would eventually come for our little reunion. Until then, they would direct me to track down any other fleeing Quirk-possessors across the USSR's former territory and…erase them, so as to avoid any potential uprisings in the future. Well, they used the word 'erase', but I think we both know what they really meant. That part wasn't so hard. Even without the scent-tracking property of my Quirk, I'm still one of the best damn hunters anyone on this earth will ever come across, eyes or no eyes.]]
To his momentary surprise, Tunguska didn't make a sound, but when he caught the slightest trace of a hitch in the Heroes' breath, it spelled his reaction loud and clear. The idea that virtually every potential Hero the entirety of the Union could have still hoped to have was well and truly gone, and the man he was being forced to share this prison with was the one responsible. The stinging tears in his blue eyes; he couldn't tell if they were born from sadness or seething anger.
However, after swallowing the choking tears, Tunguska seemed to steady himself, a far more intense, stoic light to his eyes, even if his enemy couldn't see it. [[And how exactly do you think this is all going to end? If you do end up killing me and Kolya, what do you think is going to happen next?]]
To his displeasure, he was immediately answered by yet another bitterly amused chuckle from the blind Villain; his pacing having not even lost a step in the face of such a heavy question. [[Make no mistake, Tunguska; I'm not naïve enough to think those animals now sitting in Red Square won't simply put a bullet in the back of my head once the last of Russia's Quirk-possessors has been taken care of. They've made no secret just how much they despise those with Quirks, you know that as well as I do. Just because they've been willing to use me to do their dirty work, doesn't mean they're simply going to allow me to continue to exist once there's no more witches for their glorified little crusade to burn.]]
For a moment, he came to a stop, and Tunguska could swear he heard Vukodlak actually suck in a sharp breath of what sounded like giddiness through his teeth. [[To be honest, at first, my plan had been to simply end myself as soon as I took care of you. You had been the one thing on my mind for so long, I couldn't imagine continuing on once I knew I had finally bested you once and for all.
[[But looking at the way things are now, I have to say that you actually fleeing the country for this place, and forcing me to step outside the borders after you, has been a true godsend. This country is filled to the brim with other Quirk-possessors, potential new targets for me to further test, hone and ultimately perfect my skills against. I haven't changed my mind from where I was the last time we fought, Tunguska: all Heroes and those-to-be are simply puppets and attack dogs in the making for any government and two-faced crook looking to hire their services for their own selfish idea of a greater good, and removing them from the occasion would, frankly, be doing the world a favor in the long run. That has not changed, nor will it ever. However, I simply want to put an end to this personal business of ours before anything else.]]
That was when, to Vukodlak's surprise, Tunguska actually began chuckling to himself. It was low and quiet at first, but it quickly grew to the point where the Sun of Justice seemed like he was borderline hysterical, the booming power of his voice almost making the air resonate with his laughter. [[You're still just as prone to getting lost in your own theatrics as ever, Vukodlak! If you really wanted to get your hands on Kolya, you shouldn't have wasted your time patching up my wounds and humoring me with idle chit-chat. Given everything that's been going on, I have no doubt in my mind that even as we speak, Kolya and his friends are heading back to Yuuei; back to safety! Once they get back there, you won't have a prayer of getting to him!]]
[[Oh, I'm well aware of that.]] Vukodlak's sudden admittance killed all of Tunguskas' laughter, as he instinctively looked in the direction of the man's voice in silent surprise. [[I've been in this country for a week-and-a-half now. Did you really think I spent all that time simply watching you and your boy? I'm insulted; I thought you knew me to be more thorough than that.
[[I've spent a good portion of that time getting the lay of the land, as far as this city is concerned, memorizing everything I could about its infrastructure…and exactly what places to act upon in order to keep all the pieces of this game exactly where I need them to be. You'd be amazed just how openly people in this country will tell you every possible thing you could ever need to know about a city, when all they see is a simple blind foreigner walking the streets, sticking out like the sore thumb of a tourist he wants them to think he is. Truth be told, the way my brain processes sound waves bouncing off all the surfaces around me, it's almost like I never lost my eyesight at all. Think of it as something akin to the way bats navigate.]]
Before proceeding any further, Vukodlak snapped his fingers in realization and hurried across the room, out a door and further down a tunnel, all from what Tunguska was able to make out. Within seconds, the blind Villain had returned, his voice expressing clear strain, as though he were carrying something quite heavy, confirmed by the large sound of impact when he placed it at Tunguskas' feet.
The sound of two buckles being unlocked suddenly sounded, and Tunguska soon found his eyes instinctively wincing at the intrusion of the first light he'd seen since waking up. What he was looking at, he could quickly tell even from the sparse number of lights, was a suitcase filled with an assortment of what looked like detachable handheld detonation devices, judging from their familiar shape. They looked to all be resting in one large assortment of deposits built into the suitcase itself, almost in a manner resembling a honeycomb.
[[Those are the same kind of explosive detonator arrays the military and controlled demolition crews use…even from a greater distance, numerous explosions on command.]] Tunguska muttered in unsettled realization, to which Vukodlak gave a single clap of his hands in congratulation.
[[Exactly! As much as I hate both the governments we've had to suffer through in our time for everything they've done to people like me, and now even people like you…I do have to admit, their fancier toys have made certain aspects of my job a lot easier. Although, it's not like I'm unfamiliar with the core concept of a device like this. Don't forget, my people have had quite a history with learning and evolving the art of explosives in Russian military use. Why else did the Russian government come to us for help during all the wars over the last nearly 400 years?
[[Now, I've simply put all that collective knowledge to good enough use, where after over a week of meticulous planning, strategizing and preparation, I now have virtually the entirety of Erubi City in my hand, and I'm going to make damn sure that little Kolya not only doesn't go anywhere I don't want him to, but that he'll have the incentive to come at me with absolutely everything he's got.]]
The atmosphere in the Kamuron Hero Agency was nothing short of tense and morose, as Nikolay and Mina had to reluctantly change back into their school uniforms (Nikolay needing Denkis' help with how painful and stiff his finger and shoulder still were), while the rest of their classmates had to stick to their Hero costumes, given the circumstances with which they had left Musutafu to begin with.
The fact that they were essentially admitting their own powerlessness was nigh unbearable, and the fact that the whole lot of them were clearly in the same mood did not help. The two now-former interns could especially see the pain on Ochakos' face. Out of all of them, her concern over leaving Tunguska behind was the closest to Nikolays', which was still saying something, when considering how close the rest of the students had gotten to the man up to this point.
However, the mutual anguish in Nikolay, Mina and Ochakos' eyes did not go unnoticed by Setsuna and Minoru, who were both clearly able to tell what the three were thinking. "Guys, please, we've been over this more than once. We all know what we witnessed. What do you really think we would be able to do against a Villain like that?" "Yeah, Tunguska-sensei is more powerful than all of us put together, and we don't even know if he won."
This time, however, Ochako was quick to answer Setsuna and Minoru in kind: "We could have tried calling Yuuei, and asking the teachers to come and help out the Pros here, at the very least! I mean, that's what Iida-san did back at USJ! Tokage-san, you and Mineta-san are constantly talking about how outmatched we are, so why aren't we at least trying to even our odds? Isn't that the kind of thing Tunguska-sensei has been stressing: using everything we have available to us to our advantage? But instead we're just…*sniffle* we're just leaving Sensei behind and running off with our tails between our legs, when we're supposed to be learning how to become Heroes that can handle things like this and save people!"
The normally timid gravity girls' emotional outpouring caught almost all her fellow students by surprise, and when she realized this, for once hers wasn't an expression of embarrassment, but full-blown honesty. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't be lashing out at you guys. It's just that…after I lost my fight with Bakugo back in the tournament…Tunguska-sensei went out of his way to get me back in the spirit when I felt my lowest. He said that he saw the heart of a truly great potential Hero in me, and ever since then, I've wanted to try my best and not give up and prove him right, for both of us. But now that he's in danger, and we're actually here and at least capable of trying something…it feels like I'm throwing that faith we had right back in his face."
Ochako was by now clearly trying not to start crying, but that was when an involuntary choking sob from Nikolay took everyones' attention off of her and onto him in kind. His one uninjured hand was clenching into a white-knuckled fist as he had his eyes glued to the floor in shame. "This is such bullshit. I wanted to become a Hero so I could honor the belief I actually had the potential to be one, for both myself and my parents. And now, the moment the only family I have left is in danger, I'm being forced to run and not do anything about it? How could I ever call myself a Hero, doing something like that? How can anyone call that fair?"
Nikolay and Ochakos' emotions were likewise running high, but before they or anyone else could say or do anything, Mina was the one to suddenly step in, placing firm yet compassionate hands on both her friends' shoulders, making them both look in her likewise emotional eyes. "Nobody is saying you're wrong for being upset, you two. We all are; you should know that by now. But, as much as I hate having to say this, we won't even have a chance to be Heroes if we just go off on nothing but emotion and get ourselves killed.
"I know I sound like a total hypocrite saying that. Hell, Kolya-kun, almost the entire time you were gone, everyone had to keep talking me down from just turning the whole city upside down to find you. But…Willow Light-sensei told me some really…well, really personal things about what happens when you go off without a plan, and it's been forcing me to think a lot about this kind of stuff. It's only really dawned on me recently, but I think situations like this are what all those lectures Tunguska-sensei and All Might were giving us about balance and stuff like that, were all about.
"They both kept saying how important it is for Heroes to think with both their heart and their head, and…well, right now, this is one of the times we need to use our heads, Kolya-kun. Right now, no matter how much I wish it were different, the smart thing is for us to do as sensei and the Pros are telling us, and go back to Yuuei so they can take care of this. It's what's best for all of us, including Tunguska-sensei…and I think you know that, too; you and Urara-chan."
Anyone could agree that, for as emotional as she clearly was by her tone, Mina was being completely reasonable. Even Ochako and Nikolay wouldn't have argued that point. However, that still did nothing to quell the pained tears in Nikolays' eyes as he bit his lower lip in frustration. "I get all of that, Mina, I really do. But that doesn't change the fact that it's not just our teacher out there, it's my Dad. He needs our help right now, and we can't give that to him, and I hate that feeling. I hate feeling so powerless, even after everything we've been through up till now."
The Russian boy couldn't form any more words as the last reserve of restraint he had fell, and he began to openly weep at the overall helplessness of their situation. Sadly, none of his classmates could think of anything to say that would have lifted his spirits, for they were beginning to feel that crushing weight, themselves.
Ultimately, Mina did the one thing she could think of in the moment, and pulled Nikolay into a soft, sympathetic hug, letting him pour his emotions out into her shoulder as much as he needed, while beginning to let saddened tears of her own start running down her pink cheeks, before Ochako and soon the rest of the students began to join in as well.
The students all remained in this silent group embrace for a good minute, before a soft wrapping at the office doorframe drew their attention, to find Willow Light and the rest of the Agency Heroes standing in wait, all likewise looking regretful at this turn of events. "Bezpalov-kun, Ashido-chan, if you and your friends will come with me, I'll take you both to the train station."
Finally resigning themselves to the inevitable, the teens all began following Willow Light to the stairs, but not before Reflector stepped in and placed a reassuring hand on Nikolay and Minas' shoulders. "I'm sorry your time with us had to turn out like this, you two. Don't you worry, though; we're going to get Tunguska-san back to you safe and sound, no matter what. If your teachers at Yuuei will permit, perhaps we can have you both intern with us again when the second period comes around, and we can give you the experience and training you two really deserve. Perhaps even for all of you."
His offer, while definitely a long shot, was at least enough to bring the trace of a grateful smile to all the students' faces, before they continued on their way down the stairs on Willow Lights' tail.
Once they were halfway down the steps, the ground beneath their feet suddenly began to shake, forcing them all to an instinctive stop and huddle, before the rumbling came to a just as sudden stop. They all looked to one another with confusion once they were certain it was over. "Was that an earthquake? But nobodies' phone went off with the seismic alert." Minoru asked nervously, especially when bringing up the latter detail that everyone then realized with grim surprise as well.
Hurrying their way down the rest of the stairs, they were met with a surprising sight upon reaching the lobby: the sight of the entire police detachment set up in front of the Agency building, filing into their cars and mobilizing for elsewhere. Willow Lights' likewise surprise didn't stop her from getting serious as she rushed for the nearest police officer before he could get into his car. "Officer, I thought you were set up here for added security. Where are you going? What's going on?"
The panicked look on the officers' face set the precedent for what they were all about to hear: "There's just been a series of explosions across the city boundaries! The rail lines leading in and out of Erubi City have just been blown up, the mountain roads have just been buried by a series of landslides, the one bridge leading in and out has just been destroyed, and we've just been told all the long-range cell arrays up in the hills have been damaged as well! Every way in and out of Erubi City has just been cut off, and our only means of communicating with Yuuei or any other outside cities or Hero Agencies have just been silenced! We need to head out and make sure nobody is hurt and try to control the situation! I'm sorry, but we need to move now!"
Just as he began to get into the car, the radio inside suddenly crackled to life; forcing him to hurriedly grab it. From inside the lobby, the students couldn't make out what was being said on the other end, but they could see the horrified shock spread across the officers' face. He nearly slammed the walkie-talkie back into the cradle before climbing back out to address Willow Light and the rest of the Pros. "It's even worse than we thought; there's just been an explosion down at the police station, right where the evidence lock-up is! Every officer in the city is being called to deal with managing the public and evacuating the citizens from the sites!"
Willow Light gave a deeply troubled glance to her fellows, who all looked to be coming to the same conclusion, with Reflector once again taking charge. "With the rail lines and all exiting roads destroyed, getting these kids out of the city isn't possible. Nevertheless, we need to give help where we can. Willow Light, I know you won't want to hear this, but I want you to stay here with the kids while we take care of evacuating any civilians from the blast sites. We can't risk taking them out onto the streets with us, it could prove too easy to either lose track, or for our Villain to pick them off."
"I understand, Reflector-san. I won't let them out of my sight, I promise." Willow Light stood steadfast and tall in her intention, earning grateful nods from her fellow Pros, before they all took off in different directions along with the police cruisers to try and give aid where they could.
Everything was happening so suddenly, it was hard not to become utterly overwhelmed and confused with just what the hell was happening. However, it didn't take long for the pieces of just what they were looking at to start falling into place in their heads, especially the almost cosmically convenient timing of it all.
When Nikolay looked to Mina and all his fellow friends, he could see the very same light bulb of realization strike them especially hard when their eyes met his own. There was no other logical explanation for it: someway, somehow, this had to be Vukodlak's doing. How and why, astoundingly, didn't matter. What mattered was that this was essentially his declaration of intent. Even after getting his desired fight with Tunguska, the Villain still wasn't through with them, and without even having to show himself, he had just reduced their forces exponentially in a wide-spread divide-and-conquer maneuver.
BRRRRNG!
As if the universe were showing it had the most sadistic sense of timing, Nikolays' cellphone suddenly began to ring from within his uniform pocket. He could see all his classmates were feeling the exact same foreboding chill go up their spines as he did, when he found and revealed to them all that it was Tunguskas' number on the other end, given what the police had told the Pro Heroes before. When he looked to an apprehensive Willow Light, she bit her lower lip before looking him squarely in the eye and nodding for him to go ahead and answer, while ushering him and the rest of the students back into the security of the building.
As soon as he hit the button to accept the call, he felt his blood turn to ice when he heard the dreaded voice that answered: [[I'm glad to see you're so vigilant as to answer so quickly, Kolya. I just went to so much trouble, not only to spread out the police so I could get my things and Tunguskas' phone back from the police station, but also to get those pesky Pro Heroes out of the way. It would've felt like a waste if you'd just let me go to voicemail.]]
Just like that, Nikolay and everyone elses' dreaded theory was proven fact, as he had taken the measure of putting the call to speaker so everyone else could hear, even if they wouldn't be able to understand what was being said. Hence, this was why he immediately took to scribbling out the gist of what Vukodlak was saying onto a nearby whiteboard so everyone else could be on the same page as him.
[[I've been doing quite a bit of thinking since you decided to interfere in my fight with your father last night, Kolya. I had hoped that giving you the whole truth of our history and what Tunguska and your grandfather had done would officially break your spirit, if the Siberian Flash hadn't done so already. And yet, even after all of that, you not only continued to fight, but you powered through and managed to land a hit. No wannabe Hero has been able to do that to me in over twenty years. That tells me you're truly something special, and I want to see if I'm right.
[[That's why you're to officially be my new target in this splendid hunt, little Kolya. I don't want any paltry so-called Heroes to get in between us, hence my explosive little distraction. Now I can imagine you must have so many questions running through your head right now, so I'll take one off your mind right now: rest assured that your father is still alive. He's right here with me, still in one piece…well, depending on how you decide to act going forward.
[[If you want to save Tunguska, then there's only one way you're going to be able to do that: I want you and I to have a fight of our own, and I want you to come at me with absolutely everything you have. However, I'm not foolish enough to go and tell you where we are. No, right now, I just want you to prepare for my arrival. I will come at nightfall, and you had best be ready for me by then. And don't even think of trying to run away. Not only would that be a complete waste of both our time, since I have your scent locked on, but there will also be serious consequences if you try it. Your companions already tried to get in the way of our destiny once, and I've seen to it your father paid the appropriate price in their place, so if you don't want him to pay further, you'll face me head on.
[[Nightfall, I'll be there for you, little Kolya. Do your father and myself a favor and don't disappoint me.]]
Click
With that, Vukodlak hung up, leaving Nikolay and all his comrades silent and chilled with his ultimatum now out in the open. The idea that he was essentially holding Tunguska at figurative gunpoint, and apparently had already done something to him for their rescuing Nikolay in the first place, left all the students visibly shaken, with many already on the verge of fearful tears.
However, before any of them could begin to once again reiterate the overwhelming nature of their situation, Willow Light shot back up to her feet, her luminescent eyes almost brightening with determination. "Alright, we have some idea what to expect, so now we can act." With that, she suddenly hurried over to a nearby bookcase, and before anyone could ask what she was doing, she suddenly pulled one of the books out halfway before pushing it back in, triggering a metallic snapping noise.
Before everyones' shocked eyes, the bookcase suddenly swung forward like a door, revealing a compartment-like room big enough to fit all the students inside with just enough room to spare. Willow Lights' childlike nature made her almost want to smile at the kids with pride in such innovation, but her serious nature wouldn't allow it now. "I know it's really old school to have a bug-out room like this, but you never know what you might be dealing with one day, case in point. Now I want all you kids to step in here, and remain in there until I give you further notice, alright? Knowing you're all safe in there will give me the peace of mind needed so I can call the others and let them know what's going on."
It was almost before she had even finished speaking that Nikolay stepped forward, his face wrought with tension. "What? No, Sensei, didn't you read my translation? I'm the one Vukodlak wants! Anybody else who gets in the way is going to get themselves killed! It's bad enough he practically has my Dad prisoner, but I can't have any of you put yourselves in this kind of danger for my sake!"
Just as the rest of his peers were all beginning to once again try and speak out to try and make the young Russian see reason, Willow Light swooped in with a firm grip on his jaw, forcing him and all the other kids to look her in the eye. "Bezpalov-kun, we all know you're still in no condition to fight. Now, I want you to please trust me on this. I understand the risk, we all do. Yet we stepped up to become Pro Heroes anyway. Let this be a lesson for all of you to take to heart when you get through this: protecting people, whether they be the people you love, or complete strangers, and potentially putting your lives on the line for them is part and parcel of being a Hero. However, just because you fight with that selfless nature in your heart, that doesn't mean you don't also have the right to plan ahead with your head so that you don't go needlessly putting yourself in mortal danger. Take that to heart, all of you, and please go in there, and don't come out until I give you the word that it's safe. Understand?"
Nikolay still wanted to try and argue against it, but the plain-as-day realization of just how true Willow Lights' words were, made any kind of argument he had, die in his throat, same for all his friends. Hell, the sheer weight of her imparting lesson was still hitting his head hard, as it had given him a kind of perspective he'd only just fully realized how badly he needed.
With no further argument to be summoned between them, the kids all reluctantly filed into the bug-out room, before Willow Light gave them one last parting glance of confidence, before shutting the reinforced vault-like door on them, leaving the students to themselves in the moderate-sized room.
Among them, Minoru kept anxiously looking at the time on his cellphone. If Nikolays' translated transcript on the white board was to be believed, then that monster, Vukodlak, was going to be here at nightfall, and they were quickly approaching sundown. He began mentally cursing to himself that Nikolay hadn't stirred from unconsciousness earlier. "Oh, my god, this sucks! This really sucks! That psychopath is gonna be here before we know it! Those Pros out there can't handle that monster! We're all going to die in here!"
Ochako, Setsuna and Denki all instinctively gave Minoru harsh glares of their own for him saying something so awful when they were all scared enough as it was, but Tooru was the one to grab the tiny boy firmly by the shoulder with an invisible hand, and even if he couldn't see her face, the severity in her grip, and the seriousness in her usually bubbly voice made him shut up instantly: "Get a hold of yourself, Mineta-kun! Panicking isn't going to help anybody! Yeah, you're scared, but so are the rest of us! We were all scared at USJ, too, but we still did what we had to do in order to get through that, right? How is this any different? Tsu-chan told me that even you were able to fight back when you needed to, so how about you try holding onto that? Now try to breathe and calm down, alright? I'm sure Willow Light-san and the others will be able to do something."
While Tooru, and now even Denki, were trying to re-instill confidence in their friends, Nikolay and Mina alike were still in the middle of truly processing the essence of what their mentor had just told them in those last moments. It ultimately sounded so simple, and yet it had eluded the both of them for so long throughout this entire period: being a Hero was not only about selfless courage and potential self-sacrifice, but also knowing how to strategize around such risks when in the heat of the moment.
To be a true Hero, one had to fight with the instinct to protect and survive in mind, but also with the willingness to sacrifice oneself for the well-being of others if need be in heart.
In that moment, the speeches Tunguska and All Might had given near the end of the tournament about balance in heart and mind being the key to true Heroics finally clicked in a way that Nikolay and Mina both were left with nary a shadow of a doubt. That elusive balance was finally defined and understood in both their hearts and minds. That's what made Heroes like them and the Kamuron Agency Pros go rushing into danger so readily, even when it seemed like the odds were completely against them.
To put it bluntly; the two of them, in that moment, felt as close to 'enlightened' as they could get as interns.
For Nikolay, especially, it suddenly answered that most aching of questions he had been trying to figure out for the last several days: how to make the foot extension of his Quirk function. He immediately found himself thinking back to the fight last night, how both times he had managed to actually fire it off without even having to try and focus on it. In the times when it had happened, he could feel every single fiber of his being, driven by the sole desire to protect and save his father. There was literally nothing else in those moments, his mind and heart were one in shared desire.
In fact, even thinking back to when he had managed to use it during the tournament, he realized now that in those moments, all it had taken was that instinctive panic when faced with certain defeat to make every fiber of his being urge him to do the one thing he could in order to keep going.
All along, all it had ever required was a full realization and acceptance of one singular goal in both mind and heart for him to be able to trigger this new part of his Quirk, a full acceptance in mind, body and soul of exactly what he knew needed to be done in order to fulfill his responsibility as a Hero; pure emotional conviction.
As awful as the rest of their situation was; this silent realization and understanding of the newest extent of his power, his new role as a Hero, and himself as a whole, took a particular weight off of Nikolays' shoulders. It was simply too bad that he had only come to this discovery now, when he and his friends were already sequestered from the threat he still knew he himself needed to face.
Nightfall had followed not long after Willow Light had finally made the call to the rest of her fellow Pros, giving them the quick yet thorough rundown of Vukodlak's cellphone threat. Nearly straight on from the moment the sun had vanished behind the hills, the Illuminating Hero had thankfully found herself rejoined by Reflector, Master Mesh, Big Trouble and ninja of Valor; none of them looking any worse for wear, surprisingly. Big Trouble had been the one to give the rundown of how things were looking across the city:
"There must be some kind of god out there smiling down on all of us today; because I'm still convinced it was some kind of miracle. Not only had the train station controllers managed to reach any trains leaving or coming to Erubi City in time to stop them from derailing from the explosion damage, but even all the landslides and the destroyed bridge as well. Nobody was seriously hurt in any case, so that's why we were able to get back this quickly. The police have managed to quell the peoples' panic, and the fires from the explosions have been put out, so now all we have to do is wait for the emergency repair crews to show up to start patching up the damage and getting us reconnected with the outside world. From the sounds of it, we could be looking at having the cell arrays back up and running by sun-up."
Despite Big Troubles' cautiously optimistic closing, Reflector looked no less perturbed than the rest of his peers. "With that all being said, however, I believe we've all virtually come to the same conclusion. The precision and timing of these sudden attacks can't possibly be a coincidence."
"I know, Kagami-kun; the kids and I have come to the same conclusion as well. There's no way that Vukodlak isn't the one behind this, he pretty much admitted it himself. He set off the bomb at the police station so he could take Tunguska-sans' cellphone in order to contact Bezpalov-kun. He said that he's going to come for the boy at nightfall. I have the kids all secured in the bug-out room until we can figure out what to do about him and getting Tunguska-san back safely."
At this, Master Mesh and Ninja of Valor exchanged glances of clear disappointment. "If only it were that easy. We've all been investigating the scene around the glassworks, but neither we nor the police have been able to find any telltale signs of where they could have gone from there. That Vukodlak clearly knows how to thoroughly cover his tracks; it's frankly unbelievable."
While Ninja of Valor regretfully explained their lack of any leads, Reflector's head suddenly fidgeted in a moment of realization. "What if Vukodlak's hiding spot isn't even anywhere in the city itself at all? We have no idea how long he must have been scouting out this whole area to be able to do what he did. He may have even been looking in the more rural areas up in the hills. There are plenty of abandoned houses and mines up in that area, it'd be perfect for a Villain who didn't want to get found." His theory seemed to resonate with the rest of his peers, as their conviction only seemed to grow that much stronger. It really was as good a lead as any.
BZZZT!
At that instant, all the lights inside the building simultaneously went out, enshrouding all the Heroes in complete darkness. Ninja of Valor hurried his way up the stairs to the second floor to get a better view through the windows. "Guys, it's not just here. The entire city just lost power. It looks like the backup generators for the hospital and the police station have kicked in, though, but that's it."
Before anyone else could think of what to do next, Reflector suddenly noticed something out the corner of his eye when he looked out the entrance to the Agency, something that sent him rigid for but a moment. "Guys…look."
Following his gaze, Willow Light, big Trouble and Master Mesh likewise felt an unsettled chill when they noticed a tiny little box sitting unsuspectingly on the sidewalk outside their entrance; something they all knew for a fact hadn't been there a minute ago. It was almost as if it had been placed there like magic the moment the power had gone out.
"There's no way that's not some kind of trap. It's almost exactly like what Vukodlak did with Houdou-sans' phone back in the storm drain tunnel yesterday." Willow Light mentioned in a hushed whisper, suddenly feeling fearful that they were either being watched or listened upon.
Sensing her apprehension and his fellow Heroes' shared anxiety, however, Master Mesh proceeded to step forward, the steel cables wrapped around the entirety of his body seeming to completely solidify like his own personal suit of armor. "All of you head upstairs. I'll check it out and let you know if it's safe." His three compatriots thankfully did as he suggested, as his steel cables began to coil around his head, save for his eyes, for further protection, and then one cable began to extend from around his arm and straighten out, until he pulled it away, holding the resultant length of rebar as though it were any other, and not a piece of himself.
Master Mesh carefully prodded the door open with it, and as soon as he grounded himself for better control of the lengthy piece of metal, he proceeded to maneuver so that he could remove the lid from the box with it, keeping himself at a safe distance and fully-armored, just in case the thing were in fact booby trapped with an explosive like Willow Light had feared.
To his silent relief, and that of his comrades upstairs who didn't hear the resultant explosion, that didn't seem to be the case, as the lid fell off harmlessly. However, Master Mesh refused to let his guard down, keeping his rebar at hand as he carefully made his way outside, checking everywhere around the entrance for some sign of an ambush. When he couldn't see anything distinctly out of the ordinary he slowly made his way out so he could finally look inside.
What he found made his stomach momentarily twist as he pulled out his cellphone and hurriedly dialed Reflectors' number, being answered before it could even finish ringing halfway. "What's going on, Master Mesh? What is it?"
The steel coil-wrapped Hero had to swallow the disgusted lump in his throat when he answered: "It's not a trap…it's some kind of a message. There's…oh god…there's two…severed fingers inside…they look considerably big, too. I think…I think they might be Tunguska-sans'."
Master Mesh never even heard the flapping of cloth in the air, as a figure entirely in black suddenly descended from directly above, having dove right off the roof of the Kamuron Hero Agency for where he stood. The Hero never even realized it, until he felt an inhuman weight drive right into the back of his still reinforced head, slamming him face first directly into the box and the concrete below, leaving a sizeable indentation in the surface.
SMASH!
Master Mesh's body went completely slack from a nearly instantaneous loss of consciousness from the surprise blow to his head, and his assailant just as quickly stepped off before making his way through the entrance, easily able to hear the collective anxious breathing on the floor above. [[Kolya…it's time.]]
When Vukodlak was met with no answer, he simply bent his head left and right, popping the joints in his neck with a deeply satisfied sigh as he began slowly crossing the lobby. [[There's something just inherently satisfying about seeing all your hard work pay off, isn't there? I had originally meant to get those pesky Heroes out of the way so we could have our little fight uninterrupted, but clearly you and your friends were more on the ball than I expected. Oh well, it doesn't matter. With the power station now knocked out, I'm right back in my element. I hope you're ready for me.]]
While still being met with that apprehensive silence, Vukodlak could only feel a gleeful smile spread across his face. The whole atmosphere his little scheme had inadvertently made felt too perfect, he felt himself being overcome with the desire to strike fear into the heart of his intended prey, a devious little tune taking hold in his heart, as he began approaching the stairs.
"Tili-tili bom (Tili-tili bom)
Zakroy glaza skoree (Close your eyes now)
Kto-to hodit za oknom (Someone's walking outside the house)
I stuchitsya v dveri (And knocks on the door)"
His little song, he could hear, was getting a reaction out of whoever he was hearing upstairs, as they were clearly squirming in anxiety at the sound of his voice approaching ever closer. With that, he decided to speak up in Japanese: "I know the rest of you Pros are hiding up there. You don't matter none to me right now. If you value your lives, have little Kolya come out and face me himself." His anticipation to hear them practically drag the boy by the hair out into the open was palpable for those first few seconds. Such selfishness, for him at least, had pretty much come to be what he immediately expected from so-called Heroes.
However, when he was met only with that same silence, he couldn't help but feel only the slightest bit impressed that they were exercising such restraint. Well, he would at least have fun seeing how long that fake selflessness would last.
Upstairs, the rest of the Kamuron Heroes could feel their hearts catching in their throats with every steadily approaching footstep downstairs. Finally, Ninja of Valor was the one to speak up, trying to keep his voice as quiet as he possibly could, nearly to the point of simply mouthing his words even from underneath his mask. "That bastard is toying with us, trying to see if we crack. Well, I'm not going to stand for it. He doesn't even realize he's put me right into my natural element. I'll take care of this. You guys just stay here and don't let him get to the bug-out room, just in case."
With a solemn and understanding nod from his fellows, Ninja of Valor focused, and proceeded to let his body phase right into the myriad of shadows, now able to drift through all of them seemingly at once, like a gust of unnoticeable wind. It wasn't long before he was able to find the black-clad figure downstairs, still watching the steps intently, as though just waiting for the first sign of movement. That kind of expectation, on his end, would ultimately prove to be his undoing.
As Ninja of Valor began to phase from the shadows right behind Vukodlak, he never realized how the faintest sound of his physical form emerging from the darkness, while unnoticeable to anyone else, was clear as day to Vukodlak's superhuman ears, while still keeping his back turned, that elated smile still never leaving his face.
"Tili-tili bom (Tili-tili bom)
Krichit nochnaya ptitsa (The nightbirds are chirping)
On uzhe probralsya v dom (He is inside the house)
K tem, komu ne spitsya (To visit those who can't sleep)"
Before the last sung words could leave his mouth fully, Ninja of Valor took that chance to hit Vukodlak with a sneak attack. However, just as his extended jabbing arm was about to reach the base of the Villains' neck, the black-clad assailant suddenly ducked, giving Ninja of Valor nothing but air for his trouble. Vukodlak immediately followed up with an inhumanly fast sweeping kick, knocking the Heroes' feet out from under him, before bringing his right foot up high, and swinging it right down into the Heroes' stomach, driving him hard into the ground, and knocking every ounce of air right out of him, even making him cough up blood from the crushing weight to his abdomen.
However, Ninja of Valor still managed to phase his body into the shadows on the floor, and out from underneath Vukodlak's pin. Knowing that his element of surprise naturally resultant from his Quirk had now been lost, he decided to go on the full offensive, now phasing out from the shadows directly above Vukodlak's head in a diving kick of his own. Vukodlak's racing heart had managed to dull his hearing just enough to where his resultant dodge came just half a second late, and he could feel the power behind the stealthy Heroes' desperate attack, as he managed to graze his right shoulder, tearing through the fabric of his suit, and leaving a considerably painful graze down the right side of his chest.
However, momentum was everything, as Vukodlak stopped his backwards dodge on the heels of his feet, and immediately followed up with kicking himself forward off the ground, driving his entire body mass into the recently landed Ninja of Valor, plowing him straight into the opposite wall, and meeting that sudden stopping impact with the claws on his left hand, using his suddenly stopped momentum to drive them down to his knuckles, straight into Ninja of Valor's ribs. He could feel and smell the unmistakable blood running down his impromptu opponent's stomach, and down his own hand, as the Hero was clearly struggling to try and breathe. However, even from under his mask, all Vukodlak would give him was a humorless sneer. "You should've just given me the boy."
Vukodlak yanked his claws out of the fresh new holes in the Stealth Heroes' midsection, reeling his arm back to gouge out his throat with a single swipe.
But that was when the faintest disruption rushing through the air caught his ear, and momentarily drew Vukodlak's attention elsewhere, hearing a sound akin to a bullet tearing through the air right for him, yet without the expectant popping of a gunshot.
WHAM!
For such a tiny sound, the resultant impact rammed into Vukodlak's side like a hit from a heavyweight boxer, causing him to nearly fold, as he was sent tumbling over the lobby desk and to the floor; his veins running with adrenaline at both the pain in his ribs, and total surprise.
Standing on the floor on the other side, now at barely the size of a cockroach, was Big Trouble, standing quite proud at having managed to catch the Villain off guard, and showcasing his Quirk in a way the bastard wouldn't soon forget. However, his pride at his own ability and effectiveness dissipated when he saw Ninja of Valor now slumped against the wall, clearly struggling to move while bleeding profusely.
The now shrunken Hero couldn't act, though, as he soon saw Vukodlak getting back to his feet, clearly wheezing from the power of the hit he just took. Torn between tending to his ally and dealing further with his enemy, Big Trouble grunted in frustration before rushing for the opposite wall, kicking himself up off the ground, and then kicking himself off the wall like a ricocheting bullet, bouncing all across the lobby and never letting up to keep Vukodlak from zeroing in on his location.
'My Quirk allows my strength to grow while my body shrinks in size. If I can just keep him from locking in on me and keep the hits coming, he's bound to go down sooner or later. This is what you get for trying to hit us at home, you monster!'
Big Trouble kicked himself off another wall to Vukodlak's right at breakneck speed, thankfully connecting with the Villains' face, sending him twirling on his feet like an overly dramatic boxer, but still only managing to just stay on his feet while his head was starting to ring.
Big Trouble followed that up by bouncing off the opposite wall for the floor, and with a boosted springing jump, met the almost slouching Vukodlak with a devastating uppercut, connecting with his jaw and sending his whole upper half of his body reeling back, while the shrunken Hero ricocheted off the ceiling and re-connected with his masked head, finishing his intended series of attacks by driving him the rest of the way down through the lobby table, and into the unforgiving floor below, for once managing to get Vukodlak flat on his back as he could feel blood starting to run from his mouth and nose.
Big Trouble finally brought himself to a stop in the middle of the lobby once he saw he had the Villain down on the ground. However, he was still managing to move, already starting to try and pick himself back up, getting onto his hands and knees while breathing raggedly. The sight of such resilience would've normally left Big Trouble impressed, but right now he was angrier than anything else, after what he'd seen the bastard do to his friend.
"Fine, then. You really want to go down for the count? Then take this," he furiously declared as he kicked himself up off the ground backwards, meeting the wall behind him with his feet, and then launching himself forward with the power of a bullet, readying to drive his whole shrunken mass directly into Vukodlak's head and putting his lights out. He was still on his hands and knees, there was no feasible way for him to dodge or block this.
However, even as he fought his way through the pain encapsulating his head and side, Vukodlak could still easily make out the directly approaching little Hero flying through the air right for him. There was no means for him to dodge what was coming.
That was when, while using his hands as a means to keep himself anchored to the floor, Vukodlak suddenly sprung his legs back, and proceeded to swing the rest of his body forward on his hands like a pendulum, before extending his right leg mid-swing, and drove it straight into Big Troubles' entire shrunken mass, full contact; the force behind his kick sending the shrunken Hero directly into the ceiling without any time to block or prepare, practically laying him out flat in an instant.
Vukodlak practically sprung back onto his feet with a heavy sigh; the pain finally beginning to subside, just as Big Troubles' body loosened up from out of the ceiling, free falling to the floor below. Hearing the sound of his freefall through the air, Vukodlak immediately brought his right leg right back up high above his head, and brought it back down in that same devastating sweeping downward kick, driving the full force of his heel straight into Big Troubles' back, and nearly crushing him against the floor, with Vukodlak's foot just one carefully aimed centimeter off the ground to keep from crushing Big Trouble like a literal insect.
To his surprise, the instantaneous loss of consciousness from such a devastating series of blows caused Big Troubles' once tiny body to return to normal size, as he lay at Vukodlak's feet, bloodied and motionless. Feeling the sudden presence of a much bigger body now, it all seemed to now click for Vukodlak, as he couldn't help but smile. "Well, well, well, a size-alteration Quirk that also disproportionately affects your strength. Can't say I've come across one of those before. How exciting…and yet, ultimately, disappointing."
As he began to continue for the stairs, Vukodlak groaned at the still radiating pain across his whole head and the left and right sides of his chest. 'Two insignificant Heroes…and they actually managed to score some decent hits. Two nights in a row now, this has happened. Am I simply losing my edge? Or perhaps this country is giving their Heroes better training than I expected. Doesn't matter. Once I'm finally done with Tunguska and Kolya together, they'll all become my trophies in time.'
"Tili-tili bom (Tili-tili bom)
Ty slyshish', kto-to ryadom? (Can you hear him closing in?)
Pritailsya za uglom (Lurking around the corner)
I pronzaet vzglyadom (Staring right at you)"
Just as he began to take the first step up the stairs, his ears caught the sound of something once again flying right through the air, but much bigger this time. With that, Vukodlak ducked his head backwards, just in time to avoid a lengthy piece of rebar flying and embedding itself in the wall, before quickly being followed by numerous others stabbing into the wall where Vukodlak had just stood, akin to a barrage of arrows, effectively cutting him off from the stairway.
When the Villain looked back in visible surprise, he could hear the sound of metal coiling itself around, as Master Mesh stood in the entryway, his left arm extended as though he had just sent all those metal rods from around his arm, and more was now coiling itself around to make up for it. The severe blow to his head had left his ears ringing something fierce, but the metal protection around his head and body had kept the damage from being too severe, as he was still able to stand upright and stare Vukodlak down.
"If you want the boy…you'd best make sure you finish what you start, first." This declaration of intent brought an immensely entertained smile to Vukodlak's face from under his mask. Perhaps the Heroes in these parts weren't the same kind of selfish oafs he had taken them for. In a way, he was glad, for it gave them more of a reason to fight with everything they had, which only made it all the more fun for him.
As soon as Vukodlak got into a stance that could have been construed as aggressive, Master Mesh was immediately on the offensive, loosening and reinforcing the metal coiling around his arms and legs in rapid succession with each attack he threw, with Vukodlak miraculously managing to swerve, duck and jump his way out of the trajectory of each one.
However, as soon as the Villain had gotten near a corner, that's when Master Mesh proceeded to attack with even greater ferocity, as he suddenly sent several of the metal rods from around his stomach directly into the wall like vines, with the other ends quickly bursting out further down the walls, catching Vukodlak visibly off guard, and gouging his right arm in the process.
The metal-manipulating Hero recalled his almost tentacle-esque metal rods out from the wall and back around his stomach, as Vukodlak felt at the three slash-like wounds on his arm, feeling the warmth of his own blood, and smiling in excitement. "You Heroes…really do come in all shapes and sizes out here, don't you?"
However, Master Mesh refused to humor the Villain with idle talk, as he once again began throwing a barrage of melee attacks in his direction. Vukodlak continued to dodge as many as he could, but the pain and his excitement together began making his movements considerably more sloppy, as Master Mesh's fists managed to connect with his ribs and gut a couple of times throughout, only for Vukodlak to counter each time, violently kicking him away and providing more distance between them.
The Hero tried again to catch him with his wall-surprise attack, but this time Vukodlak could hear it coming, barely managing to jump out of the way before the vine-like rebar rods burst out where he previously stood. Master Mesh refused to let that deter him, as he continued focusing on loosening his armor enough to allow for his more fluid punches and kicks, and reinforcing them fast enough so to avoid getting hurt by any attacks Vukodlak could throw back at him.
The fight continued on like this for a good minute, until Vukodlak found himself getting backed into another corner, which was exactly what Master Mesh had been counting on. Without a moment's hesitation, he shot several rebar rods into the walls around him, and had them immediately burst out of the walls surrounding Vukodlak in his corner, effectively sealing him in, and immobilizing his right leg.
As unpleasant a tactic as he knew this was, Master Mesh knew he needed to take the Villain out of this fight fast, for the sake of everyone else. And so, once he knew he had Vukodlak's primary attacking leg ensnared, he brought a reeled back leg up, and stomped down into his kneecap with as much force as he could muster, hoping and praying this would be enough to finally take Vukodlak down.
CLANG!
Instead of the awful sound of breaking bones and pained screaming, all Master Mesh was met with, was the sound akin to one kicking against a solid steel drum, with absolutely no give in Vukodlak's leg in the face of his stomping attack. All at once, the focus and confidence the Hero had felt, vanished, and he could practically feel the self-satisfied smile on Vukodlak's face.
SLASH!
The Villain instantly jabbed a flat hand in Master Mesh's direction; his steel-tipped claws managing to slice through the momentarily softened steel mesh protecting his head, and gouging through his cheek and ear, forcing the Hero to reel back and instinctively recall his rebar rods from the wall as he felt the large slash across his face.
He looked up to gaze upon the Villain before him in momentary disbelief, while Vukodlak let out a momentary groan of pain, clearly feeling the multitude of blows the Hero had been lucky enough to deliver to his midsection. He even sucked in a sharp breath through his mask when he felt a new kind of pain in his left shoulder and reached up to feel, only to feel a small hole in his shoulder. "Well…how about that? That little corner trap of yours must've skewered me without me even realizing it. Adrenaline sure is a funny thing, isn't it?"
Despite the oddly good-humored tone in his mocking voice, Vukodlak wasn't about to actually let Master Mesh speak, as he immediately lunged forward and now found himself on the offensive, throwing one jab and kick after another at the Hero, who was barely managing to keep his own defenses up, feeling more and more attacks start overpowering his protective full-body coil. It was getting harder to focus on maintaining its stability, and before long, the Villain was going to realize it.
As the fight progressed, Vukodlak's ears began to pick up the distinct ringing steel sound as his opponents' steel rods would reinforce themselves around his arms, and then loosen up for his attempted attacks. The reinforcing, from his observations in the moment, seemed to follow most often right after he had finish throwing an attack. There was only one truly effective way he could think to test it out.
Vukodlak threw another stabbing jab for Master Mesh's face, but managed to make it slow enough to where the Hero would be able to duck and try throwing an attack of his own to try and shift the balance.
As soon as he heard the sound of the steel coils loosening around the Heroes' arm for his attack to be its most effective, Vukodlak swiftly side-stepped around it, causing Master Mesh to drive his fist straight into the wall where his head had just been.
The instant the impact had been made, the Villain heard the almost musical ringing metal sound of Master Mesh's coil instinctively reinforcing around his arm again, and that was the cue he was waiting for. With his opponent's arm currently locked in place after embedding itself in the wall, Vukodlak swung his right leg straight up into the center of his arm, directly into the elbow, and with more force than a man even of his considerable size and build seemed capable of wielding. The sound of Master Mesh's arm snapping in half within its own metal protective covering upon impact was like the sweetest music to his ears.
All the metal coiled around his body went as slack as cloth as Master Mesh could only let out the most agonizing of wheezed attempts at a scream from the utter shock of having his arm broken so completely. However, Vukodlak could likewise hear the rest of the Heroes' armor fall, and thus capitalized with a similarly swift sweeping kick directly into his right kneecap, bending his leg in the opposite direction at a nearly 90 degree angle, once more relishing in the sound of bone snapping and fracturing on impact.
With bloodlust coursing through his veins to an animalistic level, Vukodlak swooped in, planted his foot directly on top of Master Mesh's, wrapped his left arm around his neck, and proceeded to force his whole body down like he was delivering a choke slam, while at the same time driving his knee straight into his lower back with both men's entire weight meeting the point of impact in both directions.
SNAP!
One could practically feel the snapping of Master Mesh's spine through the air itself, as Vukodlak let out a deeply satisfied sigh, and let the now motionless and speechless Hero fall slack from his grip like a sack of rocks. Master Mesh was somewhere between the realms of consciousness, his own mind barely able to process the indescribable agony his body was in at this moment. The only thing he knew for certain was that he could not bring himself to move, no matter how much he tried to will himself to do so.
Vukodlak let out another deeply satisfied sigh, with a notable twinge of pain as well, as he once again took in his surprisingly growing number of blows and injuries he had sustained. "Today really is proving to be quite fun. If I weren't so focused on putting little Kolya to the test, I'd want to thank you, especially, for a thrilling fight."
Master Mesh still couldn't manage his way through the pain to try and speak; only able to watch through burning tears of agony as Vukodlak approached his makeshift barrier blocking the stairway, and swiftly sliced right through the rebar with those damned steel claws of his, finally beginning to ascend with that damned song on his lips again.
"Tili-tili bom (Tili-tili bom)
Vse skroet noch' nemaya (The silent night hides everything)
Za toboy kradyotsya on (He sneaks up behind you)
I vot-vot poymaet (And he is going to get you)"
Up on the second floor, Reflector and Willow Light alike had heard the entirety of the battle downstairs, and the foreboding chill they felt go up their spines when the sound of steel cutting through steel echoed up to them, followed by very heavy, threatening footsteps.
Without a doubt in mind of just what was coming their way, Reflector turned to the young Hero at his side. "Púca-chan, listen to me; I want you to get the kids out of here. I'll try and hold him off for as long as I can." The Illuminating Hero looked at him with outright fear in her eyes, looking like she was actually about to try and talk him out of it, but an assuring yet firm hand on her shoulder forced her to look him in his eyes through his reflective mask. "fighting to protect people, even if it means laying your life on the line, is part of what being a Hero entails. You told those kids that yourself. Don't go forgetting that now. They need you now more than ever. Now please, go."
Willow Light bit her lower lip in anxiety, before finally shutting her eyes tight and making her way for the bookcase behind them, while Reflector stood as tall and strong as he could in the middle of the office, waiting for the sound of the bug-out room door closing again, before he slowly brought his hands up in front of him, focused, and began to form a room-spanning reflective illusion before him. From the outside looking in, their intruder would think he was simply looking at one gigantic mirror and nothing more. He could only hope it would be enough.
The moment all the teens had seen Willow Light step in before just as quickly closing the door behind her, resealing them inside, their momentary hope had quickly turned to petrified realization. "They really haven't been able to stop him…have they?" Nikolay finally asked, but his tone clearly revealing that he already knew the answer, while in the back, Minoru was on the verge of grinding his teeth from trembling with such intense fear.
"Kagami-kun is going to try and hold him off as long as he can. He knows what he's doing. Right now, we need to focus on getting all you kids out of here and to safety. I can get you all to my apartment across the river near here. At least that can buy us some time to come up with a new plan." Willow Light clearly didn't sound as confident in her last-second idea as her words would have led them to believe, but they all knew it was the only thing close to a plan they had.
"But, Sensei, remember what he said on the phone? He has Kolya-kuns' scent! He said he could find him anywhere he goes! That means he'll find all of us no matter what!" Mina protested, the fact she didn't miss a beat in that reasoning telling everyone in so many words that she wasn't going to just leave the Russian boy at her side to save herself. As Nikolay looked upon all his classmates, he could tell from the similarly determined looks on most of their faces, that they were of the same sentiment as her.
"And besides, how are we supposed to get out of here? There's no emergency exit tunnel you mentioned before, we're like rats in a trap!" Minoru exclaimed on the verge of a complete panic attack, while Willow Light looked to be thinking, before her luminescent eyes widened with realization.
"There isn't solid ground beneath us. We could be able to make our own exit out of here and go from there. If trying to just escape from him won't work, we can at least try to give him the runaround and lead him out into the open where we can stand a better chance in a fight." As soon as she had even brought up their one option for a feasible escape, Mina had likewise suddenly perked up, stepping forward eagerly before getting on her knees and planting her hands against the floor.
"Step back, you guys. I'll try not to burn too big a hole," she instructed with, surprisingly, not a trace of fear left in her voice, before she began secreting large slimy globs of acid from her palms, instantly dissolving the floor beneath her. Within seconds, the floor had melted away, leading straight down to another hallway on the floor below, through which they could all see a clear fire exit door just a few feet away.
"Alright, all you kids stay close to me and do exactly as I say and when, understand? Now let's go." With her instructions loud and clear, Willow Light ushered Nikolay, Mina and the rest of the students through the melted hole in the floor, before finally descending down after them, silently hoping this would pan out in their favor.
Out in the office, Reflector continued to focus as much as he could to maintain his large reflection illusion. However, even through that, he could still make out the ever approaching sound of footsteps plodding up the stairs. However, before long, he realized the footsteps had come to a stop, leaving him in only the most suffocating silence he had ever experienced, to the point he could swear he felt the air go deathly cold.
Finally, when he dared to look, he found himself staring into the pitch blackness of the doorway, and yet even through the shadows, he could simply feel that there was an evil presence filling the doorframe, staring through his soul where he stood. In that silence, he couldn't even tell if his illusion was holding out and having any affect on the man that now stood before him.
Before his mind could begin to ruminate further, he heard the distinct sound of the Villain taking a deep breath where he stood, taking in a full whiff of the air. As soon as the sound had ceased, Reflector could practically feel the increase of malice in the air.
"On idyot (He walks)
On uzhe (He is coming…)
Blizko (…Closer)."
The sing-song means with which the Villain suddenly broke the silence made Reflector break into an icy sweat, and that was before he saw the intruder suddenly start making his way across the office for the bookcase across from him. The pace with which he walked made it clear that Reflectors' mirror wall wasn't fooling him at all.
With no other choice and desperation rushing through his head, Reflector recalled his illusion and went for the one tactic he knew would work. Staring directly at the spot he knew the Villain to be, Reflector put forward as much focus as he could, even with the dark obstructing his vision, and felt his entire body take on the form of the man he knew to be there. And with it, he could also feel his mind take on every last bit of his fighting ability as well. This was The Mirror Heroes' ace in the hole, the one thing he knew would be able to protect Willow Light and the kids.
With a furious battle cry, Reflector, in the reflected guise of Vukodlak, lunged forward, preparing to meet the Villain with a high roundhouse kick to the face, but even as Vukodlak ducked down, Reflector felt his body practically go on autopilot, as he suddenly sprung himself forward off his one foot still on the ground, sending his body spinning so that his once assaulting foot would meet back with the ground, and his forward momentum would allow the heel of his other foot to connect with Vukodlak's ducking head.
The sound of full impact resonated through the office, as Vukodlak was sent flying back into the wall behind him, only for Reflector to follow up with a similar stabbing jab as the Villain himself had used before, but Vukodlak was quick to tilt his head just out of the way in time so that Reflectors' hand would go through the wall, inadvertently severing a pipe inside that began spewing a hissing gassy haze into the office.
Wasting no time, Vukodlak brought both his arms around Reflectors', ready to put just the right amount of leverage and pressure to snap it in half, but Reflector was one step ahead, hopping off the ground, planting his feet to the wall, and launching himself back from the wall with his feet, sending both himself and Vukodlak tumbling across the floor; both men ignorant to the gas now flowing out from the hole in the wall, slowly filling the office.
Reflector couldn't see it through the Villains' mask, but Vukodlak was looking particularly giddy; an emotion that only grew when he suddenly he suddenly threw an upward sweeping kick with the kind of force that would have broken the Mirror Heroes' neck, had his body not taken the reins again, and thus leaned back out of the arc, and instead retaliated in kind with a low sweeping kick to try and trip Vukodlak up. The Villain easily hopped up and out of the way, and by now both men's bodies were in mid-swing before they both touched back down to the ground, and immediately followed up with some especially powerful punches, easily connecting knuckle-to-knuckle in a perfect dual deflection on both their parts.
Undeterred, Reflector and Vukodlak alike immediately followed up with an identical punch from their opposite arms, once again deflecting each other in a full connection at the knuckles, forcing both men to hop back to try and gauge each other, both completely blind to the pain in their hands from the sheer force of both punches meeting head-on.
"Your reflexes…the specific moves with which you react to mine…they're exactly the same as I would've done had I been in your shoes. It's almost as though I'm fighting my own reflection. This is very interesting. I can't say I've actually encountered a Quirk like yours before. This night just keeps getting better, and you're not even my real target! Speaking of which…you and the others down there…you're just trying to distract me, aren't you? Buying little Kolya and his friends time to flee, perhaps?"
Reflector didn't even hesitate, lest that give it away. Instead, he lunged forward and kicked himself off a nearby desk, flying for Vukodlak with a clawed hand reeled back, ready to strike. At just the moment before impact, Vukodlak himself suddenly kicked himself up off the ground likewise, hooking his arm around Reflectors' neck, and using his downward momentum to practically clothesline him back down into the floor and through the desk below with a devastating crash.
Reflector hurriedly rolled himself back, propelling himself further with his hands off the floor, just in time to dodge Vukodlak's following stab into the floor where his head had just been. Just as the Villain began to pull his hand free, Reflector lunged forward again like the wild animal he was taking the form of, with Vukodlak flipping himself to the side out of the way just in time to avoid the full blow, but still close enough that Reflectors' hand was still able to slice through Vukodlak's mask, leaving the thinnest of bleeding cuts across his grizzled cheek.
Reflector brought himself to a skidding halt on his feet, and just as he began to turn on his heels to meet Vukodlak with another attack, he was caught off guard to find the Villain was already one step ahead of him, meeting him with a devastating uppercut that not only connected with the Mirror Heroes' jaw, but was strong enough to knock his reflective mask right off his head, ricocheting off the ceiling with such force. The loss of his mask effectively destroyed the rest of his reflective disguise, leaving the man in his regular unmasked form before the Villain that now towered over his prone form, feeling at the cut along his face.
"Alas, as skilled as you clearly are, a reflection is nothing more than a glorified imitation…and imitations never match the original. I will commend you for keeping me genuinely occupied for a minute, though. But I have more personally important things to take care of, and I can't allow you to keep getting in my way."
As soon as he said this, Vukodlak took another deep breath, this time taking notice of the distinctive smell of gas that was now filling the office. Reflector soon noticed it as well, and even through the mask, he could see the gears turning in Vukodlak's head, as he began fidgeting with his steel-tipped claws; a deeply unsettling chuckle rising in his throat.
Vukodlak suddenly began backing up towards the second story windows, while Reflector slowly struggled to get up to his knees. By the time he was back on his feet, though, his yellow eyes widened with horrified realization when he saw Vukodlak already had two of his steel-tipped claws poised to strike in a snap of his fingers, no doubt looking to produce a spark.
Knowing he was too far away to try intercepting the Villain, and knowing he had no other choice if he was going to live through this, Reflector dove for the nearest desk, practically flipping it over from the sheer force with which he moved; hurrying to get behind it as cover, just as Vukodlak kicked himself off the floor and back through the windows, just as his snapping fingers produced that one fateful spark.
BOOOOM!
As Vukodlak flew through the air gracefully as he jumped back through the window, the whole building practically shook with the deafening explosion that followed, consuming the entirety of the second floor in flames, raining debris and broken glass down on the street below as the resultant fire raged up above.
Vukodlak met the ground on his feet in an almost cat-like fashion, nonchalantly brushing the inevitable debris, glass and ash from the shoulders of his outfit, while taking in the sound of roaring flames and the heavy stench of thick smoke as the second floor of the Kamuron Hero Agency burned.
However, it wasn't a few seconds after that Vukodlak suddenly picked up the scent he had been hoping for, still as fresh as ever in the air outside, and leading away from the building, contrary to what he had been expecting. [[Oh, Kolya…are you really trying to run away, even after what I said would happen if you did? Tunguskas' going to be so disappointed in you.]]
After their escape from the bug-out room, Willow Light and the kids had only gotten momentarily sidetracked when trying to drag Ninja of Valor, Big Trouble and Master Mesh out of the building and to a safe hiding place nearby, before continuing in their rush for the river. She and the likes of Mina and Ochako were desperately trying to fight the onset of deeply fearful tears, while Minoru had of course taken to letting his own waterworks flow.
When the shaking and deafening blast from behind them had sounded; not a doubt in any of their minds where it had come from, nobody dared spare the time to look back, all of them either too fearful they would find Vukodlak hot on their tail, or simply just too desperate to get wherever they were going to think about anything else.
It thankfully took no more than a minute before they all found themselves facing a empty bridge crossing the river, still intact. Willow Light quickly took the lead as she pointed across. "Alright, kids, from here, it's a straight shot until we reach the end of the street, and from there we take a left, and we'll soon reach my apartment. We should have enough of a head start to where we can at least come up with some kind of strategy when Vukodlak shows up."
"Willow Light-san, we still don't even really know how his Quirk works! How are we supposed to plan around something we don't know?" Setsuna pointed out skeptically.
"Yeah, all he kept saying was that he had Kolya-kuns' scent, so maybe it has something to do with smell. How do we work around that? None of us have Quirks that can affect smell. Maybe the corrosive fumes from Mina-chans' acid, but there's no way he's going to get close enough for that to have any affect." Tooru stated in fearful agreement, while Nikolay, Mina and Willow Light had now gone deep into thought.
"You're both correct about that. It just doesn't make sense. My Will o' the Wisp Quirk has never failed at pacifying or stunning Villains and criminals, but twice I've tried using it on Vukodlak, and he just brushed it off like it was nothing. Even Ninja of Valors' Shadow Phasing Quirk didn't work on him. I mean, the man put himself at a disadvantage by killing all the lights, and yet he just fought his way through everyone like it didn't even make a difference.
"It just doesn't seem possible for him to be that capable in complete darkness, and be completely immune to my lights…unless…" Willow Lights' stern and stoic posture visibly slackened when she lifted her head in sudden realization, with Nikolay quickly following suit.
"Unless he doesn't even need to be able to see in order to fight. Every time he's shown up, it's been in total darkness, he fights as well in it as any of us would in the daylight, and there's no reason he would so insistently fight in such conditions unless it gave him the distinct advantage over the rest of us. The fact your lights don't work on him, Sensei…and the fact he's only ever emphasized his sense of smell above any of his other senses when it comes to tracking people. You guys…what if Vukodlak is actually-?"
BOOOM!
Everyone felt their ears ringing intensely, on top of the sweltering heat from the explosion that had just gone off, splitting their only remaining bridge in half, once they had all stopped reflexively curling into the fetal position in response to the sudden flash and deafening burst of sound.
Once they could all see through the stinging of the smoke to see the twisted metal inferno that had been their one means of escape, they all felt their hearts plummet into their guts. Even then, that paled in comparison to the twisting sensation they all felt inside, when they could hear the laughter of a single man coming from where they had just fled from, with only a single pair of approaching footsteps to accompany them. "I can't even lie; I had just set that one up on my way here earlier. I didn't even think I would need to use it. I suppose I should thank your little show of cowardice for making me not have to waste a perfectly good plastic explosive after all."
Nikolay, Mina, Willow Light and the rest of the teens all instinctively swallowed the frightened lumps in their throats as they slowly turned back to find the singular black-clad, yet bloodied and frayed, figure of Vukodlak swaggering down the empty street toward them, still keeping his heavily damaged mask over his face.
It was almost as though the blind Villain could still somehow feel every one of their eyes on him, as he just as suddenly came to a stop, a good couple of sprinting strides away from them, still basking in the glow of the fire. With another heavy breath to take in all the scents in the air, his senses all honed in on Nikolay, as his masked face managed to stare right in his specific direction, even among all his allies. It was only because of all their presence that the Villain continued to speak to Nikolay in Japanese.
"You know, I must admit, I did not expect tonight to be this much fun. Those so-called 'paltry' Heroes you had protecting you…I officially take back what I said. They were much more fun than I thought they would be. However, it's still you I want more than anything right now, Kolya."
The sound of the fires bounced off the faces of the buildings from all around, resonating in Vukodlak's ears and helping paint him a full picture of their surroundings in his head and just who was where. A contemplative hum resonated from his throat, as though something was now occurring to him.
"This place is quite open, with barely any other means for you to flee to, as well. Oh, Kolya…is it possible that you actually came this way, hoping to draw me out somewhere you could have a better fighting chance? I certainly hope so. I won't have to take any more of Tunguskas' fingers, if that's the case."
Every single one of the teens could feel their heart rates skyrocket with shock and anger; it didn't even matter if Vukodlak was telling the truth, or simply trying to get under Nikolays' skin. He couldn't even figure out how it was he was managing to keep from firing himself forward like a cannonball to drive his fist into that snickering animals' face. Even outside of him, Mina and Ochako were the ones who looked the most ready to drive the Villain right into the asphalt for those words.
After half a minute without the boy flying off the handle and coming for him like a kamikaze pilot, Vukodlak once again let out a whistle of clear impression. "Well, well, you've done quite a bit of growing up since last night, haven't you? Maybe that'll give you the edge you need."
Nikolays' teeth began to grind, his fists clenching in a white knuckle grip. He could feel his entire body tense up, one muscle spasm away from firing himself off into the fray of an insane rage-induced battle. However, Willow Light swiftly stepped forward before all the visibly surprised teens, removing the hood from her head as she stared the single Villain down; her luminescent green eyes growing brighter with each passing second. "You may have come all this way for Bezpalov-kun…but I'm not going to let you have your way."
At this, Vukodlak let out a short, instinctive burst of laughter. "Judging by the Quirks I've come across so far tonight, you must be the one that's tried hitting me with whatever those fancy little projectiles of yours are. Have you really not learned anything from the last two times? Your little tricks don't work on me. Do yourself a favor, take the rest of those little brats with you, and leave me and Kolya be. It's the only way I can guarantee all your lives."
This time, there was no trace of exaggeration in his words, they could all hear it clear as day. If they didn't run now, their lives were going to be forfeit. Despite that, however, Willow Light simply cracked her knuckles before taking a deep, steadying breath. "True, my Quirk so far hasn't worked on you…but that's just because I haven't shown you all my tricks yet."
In an instant, her entire body became encapsulated in a blinding light, and before all the youngsters' eyes, there was only a single small orb of light floating where she had once stood, and like a shot, it zipped through the air right for Vukodlak, who was already getting himself into a defensive stance; right before the orb suddenly snapped right around him, and the instant it came around, the light suddenly burst, revealing Willow Light in the air, right in the middle of delivering a flying high kick, connecting square with the back of Vukodlak's head before he could even react, sending him skidding face first into the asphalt.
He immediately launched himself up from the ground with his hands, flipping backwards to drive his heel straight down into her head, but the Illuminating Hero immediately absorbed herself into a light orb again, zipping right out of the trajectory of his attack. His ears followed the whisking sound she made through the air, immediately bringing his left foot up and around in a roundhouse kick directly in her path.
However, that was when the orb suddenly split into a total of three, all flying around Vukodlak in multiple directions, their collective noises keeping him on his toes as to which one was going to try and attack.
Nikolay and his friends couldn't help but feel amazed as Vukodlak actually swung for the lowest orb, only to be met with nothing but air upon impact. That momentary distraction was when the orb in the middle suddenly erupted into light, and with her built up momentum propelling her, Willow Light ducked down and drove her knee straight into Vukodlak's gut, nearly hunching him over from the force of the impact as he got the wind knocked out of him. And just as before, she immediately transitioned back into the elusive orb as he brought his right leg up in a backwards sweeping kick to try and connecting with her face; thankfully missing his mark once again.
The whole sight of their one remaining guardian and mentor finally managing to put up a real fight against the Villain she had seemed so powerless against sparked an immense sensation of inspiration within all the students, to the point that for the first time this entire day, they actually felt capable, rather than fearful.
"C'mon, you guys! With Sensei keeping him distracted, we might actually have a shot at this!" Mina declared with the kind of enthusiasm and confidence that brightened everyones' spirits around her, especially as Ochako and Setsuna nodded in agreement, already getting themselves at the ready, with Ochako removing the gravity from several sizeable pieces of debris from the explosion, already sending them flying at the Villain, while Setsuna had both her fists and several other sizeable pieces of herself detach and fire off in Vukodlak's direction for a potential bombardment. Even Minoru, while still visibly trembling, began throwing one handful after another of his hair, just hoping he'd actually hit his mark. All the while, Denki and Tooru were simply waiting for the initial barrage of attacks to hit so they could swoop in and deliver the finishing blows.
And among them all, Nikolay had two of his trusty tuning forks clutched tightly in his hands, having removed them from the bandolier of his costume earlier, just in case, and now was just thanking the stars that he had thought to do so as he waited to go charging in alongside the others.
However, what none of them realized at that moment, was that the sound of all their projectiles flying right for him registered in Vukodlak's ears, and the fact his focus had been taken off of Willow Lights' diversionary tactic, led her into thinking she had her opening, thus dissipating her light orbs, and coming in for another momentum-boosted roundhouse kick to his head.
And the sound of her coming back out into the open while his attention had been drawn away from her distraction, allowed Vukodlak to single the sound of her arrival out, and immediately duck down out of the way of her attack.
As soon as Willow Light realized her attack had met nothing but air, it was already too late. Vukodlak immediately lunged in once her momentum had carried her forward, and swiftly dug his claws deep into her sides, effectively immobilizing the Illuminating Hero, and holding her up in front of himself like a human shield.
The timing, for her, was miraculous, as all the students immediately realized what had just happened, and barely had the time to recall their attacks; with Ochako touching her fingers together and bringing the once flying debris harmlessly clattering back to the ground, and Setsuna immediately recalled all her detached pieces back. Even Mina managed to rush in and throw several handfuls of her acid with enough aided momentum and precision for it to intercept and melt Minorus' hairballs before they could meet Willow Light by accident.
As soon as the barrage of attacks had been intercepted, Willow Light tried to fight through the puncturing pain in her sides, getting ready to throw the back of her head straight into Vukodlak's face if need be. However, the Villain could feel her struggling and was therefore able to figure what she was trying to do. Hence, he removed his claws, only to immediately clutch the Illuminating Hero by the throat with one hand, lifting her up off her feet, and poising one metal claw right up to the side of her neck, able to feel her pulse go down his arm.
At the same time, he could barely pick up the sound of all the teens beginning to rush on his location, so he reached his other hand into the pocket of his sleeveless coat, before pulling out a single small remote-like device, holding it up high in the air for them all to see. The fact he wasn't hearing any of the kids' footsteps trying to rush him anymore, told him he had their attention.
"Don't any of you kids try anything stupid! I'm not so cliché as to threaten blowing myself up! No, this device here, if I push the button, it'll set off the series of explosives I have set up where I'm holding Tunguska! If you all want to have any hope of seeing him in one piece, you'll stay right where you are!"
Nikolay, Mina and the rest of their friends all exchanged silent, horrified glances with each other before looking back to the Villain and his newest hostage. There wasn't a doubt in any of their minds he was absolutely serious. What was worse, even with their ranged attack capabilities, they could already tell they were still too far away to do anything to keep him from pushing that button if they approached again.
There was no way for any of them to deny it, no matter how much they all hated having to admit it to themselves: they were at a true stalemate.
Vukodlak began to smile when he realized they were doing as he said, but soon a new flaring of pain began making itself known all over his body, to the point he almost coughed up the tiniest bit of blood from underneath his mask. As much as it infuriated him, he had to admit that he wasn't in the shape he was hoping he would be when it finally came time for him and Nikolay to face off.
"Well…this is more than a little disappointing. It looks like those pesky Pro Hero friends of yours did more of a number on me than I realized. I want this fight between us to be perfect, Kolya, so I'll make you a deal: twenty-four hours from now, I'll have gotten myself all patched up, and then I'm coming for you, no questions asked this time. Thankfully, those Pros are going to be out of commission for quite some time, if not indefinitely.
"One day, Kolya, and by then, you'd best have come to a decision exactly what kind of Hero it is you want to be; the kind that lets others do his fighting for him, or the kind that puts his all into fighting for himself. Best use the time you've got and make that decision wisely; your answer could very well save the lives of you and everyone you have left to care about. If you manage to beat me, I'll tell you where Tunguska is. If I beat you…well, the results are pretty self-explanatory."
Nikolay felt his blood boil; his vision almost starting to turn red, as Vukodlak began slowly inching his way back, keeping his claw poised right at Willow Lights' carotid artery, while her bleeding wounds in her sides kept her from working up the strength to try and put up a reasonable defense.
"I'll be taking your light-footed little sensei with me, just to make sure you don't try anything foolish. I can't imagine you want anyone elses' blood on your hands after what I've already had to do to Tunguska so far. Play it smart, and neither of them will have to get hurt any more than they already are. Like I said, these Pros were never my real targets; just you and Tunguska."
With that, Vukodlak suddenly removed his claws from Willow Lights' neck, only to instantly pull her right back into a devastating headlock, squeezing with just enough pressure to start making her black out. However, while Vukodlak was focused on taking the last of the fight out of her, she used the last bit of strength and consciousness she had, to reach her hand into her pocket, and do something neither the Villain nor her students or the rest of the kids could make out, before her body went entirely listless at last.
As soon as he felt her body go limp, Vukodlak expertly slung Willow Light over his shoulder, while still keeping his free hand on the detonator, simply to keep serving as his main deterrent to the agonizingly frustrated young Heroes-in-training. "Let me give one final warning to the rest of you runts, as well: if you all know what's best for you already, then just walk away. This isn't your fight…not yet, at least. Kolya's the only one I want right now, so get out of here and keep improving yourselves so I can claim you as the prey I rightfully deserve one day."
He could practically feel the fear of god get stricken into all the kids as he said this; a delighted feeling growing in his chest, before finally following that wonderful scent to look at the fuming Nikolay one last time. "Don't worry about where to go or what to do when the time comes, Kolya. As I said before, I have your scent fresh in my head, so I'll find you, no matter what. Just make sure you're good and ready when the time comes, for both your sakes."
Once again, that same goddamned cryptic remark. By now, it was sending Nikolay into a silent frenzy of confusion and frustration.
With a bone-chilling chuckle, Vukodlak, while keeping Willow Light stable over his shoulder, suddenly let go and dug his right hand underneath his coat, before pulling free a single cord.
FWOOOSH!
His entire body and Willow Lights' alike, were suddenly consumed in an instantaneously expanding cloud of white smoke, effectively cutting himself off from Nikolay and the rest of his friends.
Acting out of pure reflexive instinct, he and his classmates hurried for the cloud, driven by nothing but raw emotion, only to find absolutely nothing as the haze began to clear. Like total magic, Vukodlak had taken Willow Light and disappeared within seconds, not even leaving so much as a trail of blood drops to follow. He had effectively vanished into thin air, with Nikolay and Minas' mentor, and the kids' only remaining guardian, helplessly in tow.
With the sheer weight of just how thoroughly they had truly lost on this night registering at last; Nikolay, Mina, and soon all of their friends had fallen to their knees, completely overcome with a despair and fear that somehow made everything else they had gone through these past two days pale in comparison.
And there is the new chapter for this week. Now, Kolya and company have no more Pros to aid them. They are well and truly on their own against Vukodlak, who just seems to keep proving to have more and more aces up his sleeves.
If you liked what you read here today, please be sure to leave a review letting me know what you thought.
So I will see you all again with the next chapter on 06/05! Until then, all of you stay safe and have a great rest of your week, wherever you may be.
* I decided to name this chapter specifically after the 1955 thriller, 'The Night of the Hunter' by Charles Laughton. Fantastic piece of work for the only time such a legendary actor ever sat in the directors' chair. And if you've ever wondered where that trope of a character having the words 'love' and 'hate' tattooed on their knuckles comes from, there's your answer.
*The Russian song that Vukodlak sings throughout his attack on the Kamuron Agency Heroes, 'Tili Tili Bom', is often mistaken for a traditional Russian lullaby, but from what little information I've been able to find regarding its origins, it supposedly comes from a 2007 Russian horror film called 'Trackman' (Putevoy Obhodchik/Путевой обходчик), but I haven't been able to confirm whether that's true or not. Given the translation of the lyrics and tone, however, I thought it was quite appropriate to use here.