Hello again, everyone. Ever we proceed onward into the original Hokkaido Arc. Planning this out as far ahead as I have has been an ongoing challenge, especially when taking into consideration the whole parallel Villain arc I'm planning alongside it. Uploading these chapters for the foreseeable future is certainly going to be an interesting experience, and I can only hope it'll be a worthwhile read for all of you out there.
It'd be much more reassuring if I were to receive some feedback letting me know what you all think of this original story arc altogether thus far. There's virtually no boundaries from the manga for me to work within other than canon time progression, so there's much more for me to spread my wings with, and I want to know that it's working out well and is interesting and entertaining for all of you.
Anyway, I'd like to give another grateful shout out to my two beta readers and friends, Mizu and Johnny for their continued hard work and support in helping me make each new chapter the best it can possibly be as of right now.
I'd also like to announce that there's a handful of brand new chapter cover artworks for the story now available on my DA account, 'ubasnaga' if you'd all like to check those out. The artists I work with are all incredibly awesome, and if by any chance you wanted to try your hand at making some fanart of your own for this story, then by all means, message me and I'd be happy to put it up as well.
My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. All I own is my original characters, the original story events surrounding them, and the alterations of established events that occur from their existence in this universe.
A/N: [[]] indicates that characters are contextually speaking Russian.
Chapter 66
Hero Interns
(Герои-Стажеры)
Monday, September 8th
Due to having taken the initiative to pursue their respective internship introductions on their day off yesterday, Nikolay and Mina now found themselves with the distinct advantage of being able to have the following Monday be one of the approved absence days that their Agency's head, Chiaroscuro, had mentioned discussing with Aizawa before. Granted, the moment either of them had woken up and were ready to head out, they both found themselves saddled with the same bundles of homework from all the classes their internships would force them to miss throughout the week; but even when discussing it on their ways to the Musutafu train station, they were both of the same mind that it was a far cry better than having to come back to Yuuei after a full day of Hero work, only to get thrown into a make-up class with their teacher into all hours of the night.
Upon reaching the station, the plucky duo was pleasantly surprised to not only find Izuku alongside Mirio Togata again, but also Tenya, Momo and Kyouka as well, all of them clearly in the middle of talking before realizing their two classmates' sudden arrival.
"Good morning, Bezpalov-san, Ashido-san. It's good to see you're both already taking the initiative to actually head out for your internships on time. Our train is just about to leave." Tenya announced once the Russian boy and pink girl had likewise finished greeting their friends; catching the two by surprise. "What do you mean our train, Iida-san?"
"Well, once we had heard that you were actually looking towards interning with Heroes outside the Japanese mainland, Iida-san and I realized that such distance and disconnect could make it easy for students to neglect looking to such Heroes for guidance as well. As our classes' representatives, we were in agreement that we ought to lead by example by branching out and looking outwards for Hero Internships as well, in the hopes it would convince more of the class to think outside the box as well, while still meeting Aizawa-sensei's requirements of good internship track records, of course." Momo proceeded to explain, with Tenya reflecting equal shares of his natural intensity and enthusiasm for the idea.
"That's right, in order for us to meet our fullest potential as Heroes, we must be willing to take the experience and wisdom we can from whatever source is available, no matter the hurdles we have to cross in order to obtain it! I should thank you both for going about your internships as you did, in order to help us come to this realization!"
Nikolay, Mina, Kyouka and Izuku alike couldn't help but chuckle in embarrassment at their president's over-the-top bowing of gratitude to his classmates, before all eyes were now on Kyouka, who still was trying to play it as cool as she could: "I was mainly trying to look for any Heroes with sound or music-based Quirks I could train under. I'm hoping I could be able to find a way to expand the uses of my own that way as well. Some Hero called Blast Beat at a place called the Kapenta Agency was the first match I found, so I figured I'd give it an honest shot."
The stoic purple-haired girl nearly jumped back at just how brightly Nikolay and Mina lit up: "Oh my God, Blast Beat-sensei was even talking about getting an internship request from another Yuuei student yesterday! Kyouka-chan, that means we're all three gonna be interning together! Yay!" Mina cheered as she nearly started bouncing up and down and grabbing the visibly shocked Kyouka by the shoulders to pull her along. All the while, Momo and Tenya couldn't help but smile approvingly at this surprise development, knowing just how well Mina, Kyouka and Nikolay all got along with each other as a whole.
While this was going on, Nikolay turned his attention back to Izuku and Mirio. "I'm happy that you got your internship with Sir Nighteye, Midoriya-san. If he's the Hero responsible for making Togata-senpai as strong as he is, I'll bet it must've been really hard for you to get his okay."
Izuku already had an especially nostalgic look in his eyes as he chuckled dryly. "It really was; although in the end he said he was going to approve my internship from the start, anyway. I don't know exactly what to expect, interning under him, but if anyone can push me far enough ahead so that I can get that much closer to All Might's level, then it'll all be worth it."
"Well, you've already made a good enough impression with your conduct during his test, Midoriya-kun, so that's already one of the biggest challenges under your belt when it comes to working under Sir. Just don't lose focus on the attitude you present around him and really take whatever he tells you to heart and work yourself to the limit, and I know you'll do great. All you 1-A kids will do great, I'm just sure of it." Mirio stated with the utmost confidence and an inspiring wink to go along with his illuminating smile.
At that moment, the intercom for the station announced the departure of their trains. With that, Nikolay, Mina, Kyouka, Tenya and Momo all gave Izuku and Mirio parting bows and wishes of good luck, with their classmate and upperclassman happily doing the same, before both parties ultimately went their separate ways. Finally, their respective trains began to depart, and they were once again off to fulfill their first days as officially approved Hero interns, and pursuing their introductions and hopeful acceptances respectively.
Throughout the longest stretch of their trip, from Musutafu into Hokkaido proper, the five 1-A students proceeded to inform each other of everything there was to know behind their respective trips. Nikolay and Mina were practically bouncing off of each other with excitement when describing the personalities and Quirks of the Heroes at the Kapenta Agency, with their description of Blast Beat visibly getting Kyouka that much more excited; Mina gushing over High Noon's practical yet exquisite fashion sense for her Hero costume, as well as her firm belief of how well her Quirk and Momo's could complement one another; and Nikolay expressing deep impression with Chiaroscuro's natural air of authority and The Giver's Quirk especially, which left their three classmates visibly impressed at the possibilities a Hero could have with such a sidekick.
When it finally came time for Tenya and Momo to admit what exactly it was they were looking for, they came to learn that Tenya's intended Hero Agency was one called the Kowakusei Hero Agency in Sapporo, headed by the Asteroid Hero, Knightfall; and Momo's destination was known as the Fubuki Agency in the city of Asahikawa, headed by the Blizzard Hero, Whiteout.
After quick searches on their phones for such names, it quickly became all too clear why their class representatives were looking to these two places, when they could have still easily just gone for any of the higher tier Agencies on the main island. "Wow, the Number 67 and 71 Heroes on the Ranking Boards are set up out there? I never would have guessed." Nikolay mused, clearly impressed and all the more hopeful for both their chances, especially when looking at a photo of the aforementioned Knightfall: a hulking example of a Hero who almost looked like he could stand equal alongside Endeavor and Tunguska, dressed in what looked like a Medieval European-style knight's armor, only made out of solid rock.
"No kidding; how have I never heard of either of these Heroes before? That Whiteout has such a pretty costume, too! I'll bet you could make such a cute-looking matching outfit for yourself if you got to be her sidekick, Yaomomo! This would look so good on you!" Mina excitedly agreed while pulling up a photo of the Blizzard Hero: a young adult woman with long white hair dressed in a thick but still ornately designed white costume that looked like a cross between a winter jacket and a kimono. All of these, combined with an almost snow white complexion and the naturally micro snow flurries orbiting around her extended hands, gave her the look of a genuine Yuki Onna.
Despite Nikolay and Mina's support for them, neither Tenya nor Momo were about to just go and make the assumption they had the internships just yet, with the black-haired girl politely trying to wave off their claims. "Thank you both, really, but we don't know anything for sure, and I'm afraid you won't be able to know for certain until we return to Yuuei, since I'll have to get off at Sapporo station with Iida-san in order to get on my own train. Regardless, you'll all at least know by tonight."
It wasn't too much longer after that, and after crossing the undersea rail tunnel, that the train finally ended up coming to a stop in Sapporo, thus beckoning Tenya and Momo to disembark, with the 1-A vice president and president respectively taking that chance to once more extend their well wishes and confidence to their peers: "We have every confidence in you, Bezpalov-san, Ashido-san, Jirou-san." "That's right! As long as you dedicate yourselves to everything your mentors tell you and follow your Heroic instincts, you'll do Yuuei proud!"
Nikolay, Mina and Kyouka were all eagerly waving their representatives goodbye once their train began to roll onward again, now leaving Tenya and Momo alone, with the ponytail-wearing girl busily looking the directions she'd been given over on her phone. "Well, I'm afraid I'll need to hurry if I'm to catch my train on time, Iida-san."
Standing tall and proud, Tenya gave his vice president a respectful bow, with a determined gleam in his eyes behind his glasses. "Of course. My Agency isn't too far from here, either, but I shouldn't keep them waiting. Best of luck, Yaoyorozu-san. I look forward to hearing of your—"WELL, WELL, WELL! WOULD YOU LOOK AT THIS?! FATE REALLY IS ON OUR SIDE AT LAST, ISN'T IT?!"
The echoing yet unmistakable voice that called out and broke the mood of their farewells, had Tenya and Momo instantly turning their heads on a swivel, expressions of shock on both their faces, when they saw and confirmed that they were currently being stared down by the snarky grin of Class 1-B's Neito Monoma; accompanied by the silver-haired and sharp-toothed Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, the black-haired and borderline indifferent-looking Yui Kodai, an exceptionally cold-looking girl with short silver hair obscuring one of her blue eyes, whom Momo recognized from Itsuka Kendo's stories as Reiko Yanagi; and finally the abundantly happy smile of the big-eyed, blonde and horned foreign girl, Pony Tsunotori, who looked just as excited as Monoma and Tetsutetsu, but with very different intent from the grinning blonde boy specifically: "HEY THERE, 1-A! FANCY MEETIN' YA ALL DA WAY OUT HERE!"
Despite her friendly excitement, however, Monoma hurriedly tried to close the distance so his two self-projected opponents could see the ill-meaning emotion behind his staring blue eyes. "Finally, Class B gets to stand in greater numbers against you Class A punks! What happened?! Are the rest of Class A really so close-minded, that you two were the only ones to think of looking outside the main island for internships? What a bunch of fools!"
Monoma was already halfway to throwing his whole upper body back to laugh victoriously, only for Tenya to simply straighten his glasses when answering bluntly: "Actually, Monoma-san, three more of our classmates are still on the train that just departed. They're simply interning in another city. Am I to understand yet more of your class may be coming up this way to intern as well?"
There was no mockery or maliciousness in the bespectacled boy's question, but it still managed to visibly deflate the spark in Monoma's eyes, now knowing that Class 1-A and Class 1-B both had five students interning all the way up in Hokkaido. The truth was that the majority of his class had decided to go for the more popular options of either the main island, or down south. This handful was all there was, but there was no way in hell he could bring himself to admit that they were once again on an even playing field.
At the same time, now knowing there were more Class A students up this way, Tetsutetsu finally edged his way in, grinning excitedly. "Awesome, who else should we be expecting to see around these parts from now on? Is Kirishima trying his luck up here, too? I've always been told that toughing out the cold is a great way to get stronger! I'll bet he heard the same and came running!"
"Actually, Tetsutetsu-san, Kirishima-san hasn't officially been accepted by an Agency as of yet, and I'm more than certain he will be looking to intern under Tunguska-sensei when given the chance…which would be down in Kansai, I'm sorry to say." Momo quickly explained.
It was clear to everyone watching that this news visibly disappointed Tetsutetsu, but the quickness with which he was able to pick himself right back up would've made his rival/best friend incredibly proud. "Oh well; I came all this way, what point is there in backing out?! We'll see which one of us gets the toughest from this training in the end!"
Pony perfectly matched her classmate's enthusiasm as she too stepped forward, all smiles. "So who else from yer class is here?! I really wanna work wit' dem while we're up here! Can ya tell us, please?!"
However, the station intercom picked that moment to suddenly announce the departure of all currently stationed trains, and thus Momo had to start making her way, bowing apologetically to the two especially eager Class B students along the way. "I'm sorry, but if we'll indeed be interning up here together from now on, you'll know for sure on our next trip up here, Tsunotori-san! Best of luck, Iida-san, everyone!"
As soon as his fellow representative was rounding the next corner and officially out of sight, with the Class B students starting to chatter anxiously among themselves amid the rush, Tenya hurriedly began making his way down to street level, studiously looking over the map of Sapporo to see where exactly it was he needed to go; both excited and put-off by effectively being on his own in such an unfamiliar city.
"Yay, looks like we'll get to know each other better after all!" Pony's voice suddenly exclaimed from right behind Tenya's back, nearly making the rigid boy jump as he looked back to find her hurriedly catching up with him, alongside Yui and Tetsutetsu; the iron boy now looking especially excited.
"So, you're looking to intern at Kowakusei too, huh, Iida-san? Nice! Knightfall's a total badass; I can't wait!" True to his words, Tetsutetsu was all but leading his two classmates by a great stride as he was already running for the address for their shared Hero Agency, hurriedly spurring the momentarily shocked, but increasingly expectant Tenya to rush right alongside them, ready to take this opportunity by the horns.
At the same time, aboard her train to Asahikawa City, Momo was already preparing herself by practicing her introductory line for when she would finally get to the Fubuki Agency. However, no matter how much she tried to focus, she could never shake the distinct feeling that she was deliberately being watched. It eventually got to the point where she simply had to look to make sure, and lo and behold, practically staring at her from the other end of the train car was Monoma and Reiko, although the latter was simply perusing through her phone in complete disinterest.
The look on Monoma's face all but shouted exactly what he was trying to convey: 'You're all on your own now, 1-A! Alone and outnumbered!'
However, while Momo was simply trying to be the polite young lady she was at heart by simply giving the boisterous 1-B boy a friendly nod and smile of acknowledgment, she never realized the fact that, despite his snarky grin, Monoma actually felt a great deal intimidated, knowing he now only had one classmate at his side from here on, and he had to be potentially sharing an Agency with a student who not only had possibly the best grades in all of Yuuei this year, but also one who was proven to be skilled and promising enough to actually be voted a representative of her class at all; a distinction he lacked. However, no matter how much higher she may have supposedly believed herself to be in comparison to him, Neito Monoma wasn't about to let that stop him from charging into the challenge of a Hero Internship headfirst, if not just for the opportunity to rub his own personal ascension towards becoming a Hero in Class A's face one day.
Once Nikolay, Mina and Kyouka had finally reached Arakisu City, and from there the Kapenta Hero Agency, it was almost like a perfect replay of the very same introductory routine they themselves had gone through just yesterday, with every Pro Hero expressing particular enthusiasm for their third intern's arrival, especially on the part of Blast Beat himself, followed by a brief display of Kyouka's Quirk and her capabilities in the underground training room.
If Nikolay and Mina had worried they'd nearly destroyed the place after their display yesterday; this time, Kyouka ended up putting that fear to bed. After several impressive instances of using her Earphone Jacks to deflect several projectiles in midair, followed by several precise and carefully timed Pulses sent directly into and destroying several robots, a somehow subdued version of her Earphone Jacks Strike to disorient the other remaining robots' hearing, immediately followed by her Heartbeat Distortion to send them all flying, the whole training room had been left a complete ruin, much to Kyouka's similar embarrassment and regret.
"You've got absolutely nothing to apologize for, Jirou-kun; are you kidding me? With a Quirk like yours, I couldn't ask for a better candidate for an intern, or fate-permitting, a full-on sidekick!" Blast Beat immediately answered once the dust had settled and Kyouka had apologized for the damage. While the purple-haired girl was visibly stunned, and Nikolay and Mina were aglow with hope; the metalhead-looking Hero immediately turned to his colleagues, this time already joined by Sakakibara Chizuru a.k.a. Chiaroscuro, who looked similarly impressed by the newest internship candidate's potential. "You guys, please let me take this one as my intern! I swear I'll flat-out go on strike if you say no; our Quirks would be perfectly matched!"
While De-Condenser and High Noon couldn't help but to laugh at their fellow Hero's childish display, Chiaroscuro was already making a beeline for Kyouka with hand extended. "No need for the melodrama, Kazuki-kun. I happen to agree wholeheartedly."
The instant those words left the older female Hero's mouth, Kyouka was all but tearing her backpack inside out to try and get her internship contract out, which Chiaroscuro readily stamped. "Congratulations, and welcome to the Kapenta Hero Agency, Earphone Jack. I look forward to seeing the kind of Hero Blast Beat can help you turn into."
Kyouka found herself getting pulled into an overjoyed group hug by Mina and Nikolay together; both of them laughing and cheering for her successful introduction, before she could even express her thanks for Chiaroscuro and Blast Beat's consideration of her. When they finally let her go, she was already bowing deeply, trying to not look so embarrassed as she smiled. "Thank you all so much, I promise I'll do my best. So where exactly are we supposed to start?"
Blast Beat had his arms crossed, grinning from ear to ear. "Wow, the stamp ink hasn't even dried yet, and already so eager to hit the pavement and get to work. Yeah, you're definitely gonna fit right in here. Just go ahead to the restroom to change into your costume, and you can join me for my daily patrol route. You'll find you won't be lacking for anything to do around here."
Kyouka grabbed her costume suitcase and bolted for the nearest bathroom door; her enthusiasm perfectly matching that of her classmates. Following Blast Beat's lead, De-Condenser and The Giver just as quickly brought their attention to the other two interns under them. "Well, then, that just about sounds like our cue to get to work as well, Solovei-kun, Pinky-kun. Go ahead and get changed, and let's make this round of Gagaringrad duty that much better."
Nikolay and Mina similarly did as Kyouka had; rushing into the two restrooms and getting changed into their costumes. While the Pros all waited for their three new interns to come out, High Noon momentarily turned her attention to the thoughtful-looking Chiaroscuro. "Chizuru-san, I hope you don't mind me asking, but it's not very normal for one Hero Agency to accept so many interns from the same individual Hero school class. I would've thought you'd draw the line at two. What are you thinking right now?"
Despite having her judgment questioned, Chiaroscuro only started to smile that much more. "You haven't had nearly as many years of experience as I have, Asami-san, but you eventually learn to be able to read people with time. There've been more than a few times where I've seen Hero students who think they've already got everything it takes, and go for the internships for nothing more than the credits. However, the thing I keep reading from these Yuuei kids this year is that they really have that fire in their hearts to try and improve, to help each other become the best Heroes they can be, as well as themselves, if not even more so. That kind of heart and compassion is something I want to help cultivate as much as possible, and I feel confident you all will be able to do the same as well."
All her fellow Pro Heroes could do was simply take her wisdom into consideration once Kyouka, Nikolay and Mina finally came back out in their Hero costumes, and from there proceeded outward with their respective mentors, ready to take on yet another day and all its challenges.
Gagaringrad Security Compound
Within the silence of his office, Pietro Dobrynich Granin was busily looking over the enormous manual going over every single operational detail for the very same nuclear submarine his army now had hidden under their metaphorical sleeve underneath the very waves off the nearby shores of Hokkaido. Being a man who had always lived his life as a believer of the 'better safe than sorry' philosophy, he knew this kind extensive step of preparation was a must. He didn't like the idea of having to actually use that thing offensively, not by a long shot, but the last thirteen years had really hammered in the idea of hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, if absolutely nothing else.
Pietro had become so engrossed in dedicating every one of these details to memory, and knowing he would have to force the same process on others if need be, that he didn't even realize that his dome-headed comrade, Maja, Ljubomir, Hristofor, Danila and Eliška had already knocked and entered his office mere minutes before, all of them hesitant to actually speak up when seeing how focused their leader was.
Of course, his natural sense of environmental awareness eventually brought Pietro to realize he was no longer alone, hurriedly turning back to address his long-time followers and allies. [[Apologies, everyone. I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long.]]
However, they were all quick to realize just what he had been looking over so intently, with Danila and Ljubomir respectively speaking up: [[I didn't think you'd be doing something like this already, sir. It looks like a total pain in the ass, too.]] [[Yeah, weren't you the one who said we should only save the submarine as an absolute last resort? Besides, I thought you knew everything there was to know about this military stuff.]]
The last several hours of nonstop reading over everything had clearly taken their toll, as Pietro's orange eyes looked positively exhausted. [[Most of you are certainly still young enough to have that misconception that just because I was in the army, somehow means I know everything there is to know about how every specific branch operates. Well, now you can see that's far from the truth. And this is only in preparation for the worst case scenario, that hasn't changed. Anyway, I trust there's a reason you've all come?]]
With this, Hristofor suddenly stepped forward: [[Yes, sir. It's only a matter of time before De-Condenser, that Giver sidekick and his two interns come poking their noses around here again today. We were curious how you wanted us to approach them this time. They seem to have a good rapport with Knot out of all of us.]]
Before the Polish girl could even reply to this, the dome-head suddenly spoke up: [[Actually, Pietro Dobrynich, I was hoping you might finally give me a chance to see these two young Heroes for myself. It only seems smart that we should all have some idea of who we could potentially find ourselves up against.]]
However, as Pietro rose from his seat, he didn't even hesitate to start shaking his head in denial. [[The truth is that we could all be bracing ourselves for nothing in the long run when it comes to those two. After the disastrous way their first day here ended, it would certainly take a real fortified spirit to come back the very next day.]]
He sounded very sure of this, but Eliška and Maja certainly weren't, as they too answered: [[But that's just it, though. They didn't come across like the typical scared, in-over-their-heads Hero students you would expect. There was a real sense of experience about them, I could feel it.]] [[Me too. They weren't the ones who made the choice to leave last night, Linguist and I were. I really don't think even having the town get angry at one of them would be enough to scare them off.]]
Pietro came to a momentary stop before finally turning to looks his comrades in the eyes. [[I honestly got the same impression from them as well, watching them showcase their Quirks on the training ground. It's true they may not bend or break easily, especially as far as kids their age go, and it's true that we may not have anything here specifically to hide, but we still can't take the risk of them getting too curious around here. We don't want to give them the impression we're trying to usher them out, so only a few of you go out and keep them busy in the town when they show up. If my assumptions are correct, we actually may not have to worry about them for too long.]]
[[What do you mean, sir?]] Maja immediately asked, with Eliška, Hristofor and Ljubomir voicing similar confusion.
[[Well, think about it: those two kids came all this way up from Yuuei Academy in Shizuoka Prefecture. That's a good near three hour journey one way, and all while still dealing with school. It doesn't matter how experienced and determined they are, they're still kids in the end, and no kid can maintain that kind of hectic and crammed schedule forever. It'll only be a matter of time before they start doing the math and decide the huge blocks of time spent on the travelling, in comparison to the actual internship work and the school, simply aren't worth the continued effort. Once that happens, we won't have to worry about them poking their noses around here anymore.]]
The dome headed man's obscured eyes watched the sheer conviction form in Pietro's eyes as he tried to convince them all of his reasoning. [[That's a really big assumption you're making, comrade.]]
Snatching up his book once more, Pietro's exhaustion seemed to completely vanish as he practically loomed over his younger soldiers. [[An assumption, yes, I admit that's all it really boils down to, but as long as we keep our heads down and do nothing to rouse suspicion, then we can maintain the façade for those Heroes as long as need be. Now, please, all of you go about your duties and try your best to keep them away from here. In time, I'll need you all to look these guides over as well, just in case.]]
With that being said, on top of the reminder that, of all his old-time followers, Alyosha wasn't present, Pietro quickly headed to a nearby intercom on the wall directly connected to the man's laboratory down below. [[Alyosha Stepanovich, are you any closer to finishing either of your works down there?]]
He and everyone else could hear Alyosha being caught by surprise and rushing across his lab to answer through the background noise, before his voice came in loud and clear: [[I'm sorry, Pietro Dobrynich. I've been dedicating most of my time to trying to crack the code on the blood/chemical mixture in that bullet, but with a little time dividing, I can have Backtrack's blood work all finished by tonight. From there, the bullet research shouldn't be too far behind.]]
VRRM!
With perfect timing after their scientist's speech, the earpiece in Pietro's pocket went off, and he didn't even need to ask what was going on once he hit the reply button, only for Gust's voice to come in: [[Sir, De-Condenser and his comrades, they're back, right on time.]]
[[Good work, Gust. Report back here and stay with the others.]] With that, Pietro once again turned to address Maja and Eliška specifically: [[All right, everyone, it's time to get back into the role. Knot, Petto, since you two have the best rapport with them, you go out and do what you can to keep them in town.]]
With another resounding [[YES, SIR]], all of the younger soldiers took their leave, and just as soon as they did, the dome-headed Ocean Master immediately saw how Pietro's once composed face winced and twisted with an intense pain, spurring him to rush in and get the man back in his seat and offering him a nearby glass of water.
Despite his eyes still reflecting a deep pain, Pietro's expression seemed to be slowly but surely softening. [[Thank you, comrade. This pain has gradually been getting worse.]]
While Pietro was trying to ignore the throbbing sensation in his skull, Ocean Master's focused gaze was upon the pronounced scar running along the side of his scalp. [[It's so strange. These attacks were so much more frequent when you first got that scar, then they quiet down for years, and only start acting up once you started recruiting and training everyone for this campaign several months ago. I just can't make sense of it.]]
After downing the rest of his water, Pietro let out a truly drained sigh as he collapsed back into his chair. [[I know…I've been trying so hard to keep it hidden from the others, but it's gotten to a point that it takes everything for me to do so. It's as though my desire for putting this plan into action is conflicting with my desire to watch out for all their well-being, and the conflict is physically clawing away at my brain. If I can tell you the full truth…I more often than not find myself questioning what the actual right thing for me to do is amid all of this.]]
Ocean Master could never stand to hear his comrade speak so doubtfully of himself, and thus swiftly spun his chair so that Pietro had no choice but to look into the mirror-like surface of his dome helmet. [[Pietro Dobrynich, I want you to listen to everything I'm about to say: it is only natural for you to express doubt, especially in a circumstance like this. However, you cannot let that stop you from taking action; that's what these people all look to you for. You promised them the opportunity and ability to strike back against those tyrants that drove us from our homes, and even if it has to go against your better judgment, you need to be able to deliver on that.
[[There's no way of truly knowing how this will all ultimately end, and I know you don't want to needlessly risk their lives, but you're an army man for God's sakes; you of all people know it's impossible to get through an entire campaign without losing people. Yes, it may end up leaving you feeling as though the decisions you thought were correct were actually wrong, but they're still decisions that need to be made. If there's even a remote chance that the riskiest decisions can ultimately play out and lead us to the greater good, then they're absolutely worth taking. You said so yourself when we started this, remember?]]
Just as Ocean Master had hoped, this tough-yet-empathetic outreach really seemed to get through this haze of self-doubt Pietro was going through, as the pain visible in his eyes finally seemed to recede, and that internal glow of self-affirmation and devotion to his goals came right back in its place. Encouraged by this sign, Ocean Master finished: [[That's right. Besides, it was that very same sentiment that helped me to rediscover a purpose to my life when I was at my absolute lowest. I will never forget you doing that for me, and that's why, no matter how bad things may potentially get, I won't abandon you, my comrade…my friend.]]
With not another word needing to be said, the two men clasped their hands together in an all-reinforcing handshake, an unspoken vow they had made time and again over the years; that they would face whatever oblivion would come their way without hesitation, side by side.
Upon their return to the town of Gagaringrad, it thankfully didn't seem as though the animosity townspeople had persisted for long after they had left. Nobody was actively shouting or throwing things at Nikolay on sight, but he and his companions could all certainly feel the shift in the air, and the number of eyes drilling into his back specifically.
Regardless, everything seemed to be peaceful, as they once again met up with the always-pleased Leonid. [[I'm glad you all decided to come back, all things considered. I wouldn't worry, kids; now that the initial shock from last time has come and gone, I don't feel you'll experience such trouble from these people again.]]
With that, it was once again time for De-Condenser, The Giver and Mina to go through the tap on the forehead from their elderly host, once again rewriting the language centers of their brains, and leaving the two female Heroes momentarily stunned and dizzy, with Mina ultimately commenting, mainly to herself, once she could see straight again: [[Geez, I really hope that stops happening before too long.]]
[[Well, it certainly won't be by the end of this week, if that's what you're worried about, Pinky-kun. But the point is that it will eventually happen, and that should be enough.]] De-Condenser stated confidently with an assuring grin.
From there, the Heroic quartet began to once more make their way into town, only for an enthusiastic distant call of greeting from an approaching Maja and Eliška to stop them in their tracks, bringing relieved smiles to all their faces, but especially Nikolay and Mina.
[[Welcome back, you guys. I'm glad to see that whole mess last night didn't get to you enough to make you stay home, Nikolay Olegovich.]] Maja greeted them once they'd finally closed the distance; all smiles as Nikolay happily shook her hand, with Mina eagerly following suit.
[[It's nice to see you again as well. I admit I'm surprised you came too, Miss Horáčková. I was afraid you were just as mad as everyone else after what you all found out.]] Nikolay admitted before just as quickly turning to address Eliška personally.
However, the red-and-gold-haired young woman simply gave a scoff with an accompanying roll of her pink eyes. [[Ah, what difference would staying angry make? I admit it was a lot to take in all at once, but it's not like you're Tunguska himself. You seem like a way more down-to-earth kid, and Pinky there's a regular bundle, which makes you both okay by me.]]
As soon as it was clear that whatever traces of animosity from before were completely gone, Mina all but threw herself in between, nearly pulling Nikolay and the two female Slavs into a relieved group hug out of pure instinct, while her mind was already a hundred miles away: [[Yay! We can all still be besties! What a relief! So, we're here and ready to be Heroes, totally serious this time! You ladies know of any trouble around we can help with? Pinky and Nightingale are at your service!]]
Maja, Eliška, The Giver and De-Condenser were all chuckling in amusement at Mina's adorable show of gung-ho energy, especially when she and Nikolay tried to form some kind of mutual pose to emphasize her readiness, despite neither of them having even thought of practicing such a thing. It was a pure sign of the pink young Hero's style of spontaneity in its purest form.
[[You might want to pump the brakes there for a minute, you two. Don't forget that Hero work entails far more than just fighting Villains or rescuing civilians from disasters. Didn't Reflector-san and all the Kamuron Heroes teach you about the importance of community outreach, simply being a helping force for people that need it in order to make their lives even just a little better on a regular basis? Don't forget, that's ultimately what our work here in Gagaringrad is all about.]]
To De-Condenser's approval as a teacher, this reminder instantly lit up Nikolay and Mina's expressions. It was such a reassuring sight to see two such youthful and energetic young Heroes not just immediately turn their noses up at the idea of simply patrolling and being there to help people in whichever way they needed it. Humble Heroes always proved to have that much more potential to truly shine in their own right if they stuck with it that way.
At this development, Maja suddenly interjected: [[Well, since De-Condenser-san said it, why don't you all come with us? When we're not training, we like to simply keep our fingers on the pulse of town and see what, if anything, goes on each day.]]
Following her younger comrade's lead, Eliška already began marching ahead, motioning for Nikolay, Mina and their two mentors to come along. [[Yeah, and in a town like this with as rapidly growing a population like it's seen, there's no shortage of stuff to be done, and people that could use a helping hand.]]
With no reason to doubt, and in Nikolay's case: just as much eagerness to try and do something that could help brighten the townspeople's view of him as a future Hero; the four Heroes happily followed their impromptu hosts, while the two girls themselves were simply grateful for the natural veer in conversation and purpose they'd been able to give the four. Anything to keep them away from the compound and therefore away from any possibility at all of finding or overhearing something they shouldn't have from their comrades.
Unbeknownst to all the people in the town of Gagaringrad, high up in the thickened woods of the surrounding hills, six pairs of eyes were closely watching every bit of activity out on the streets, simply looking for the very first sign of anything unusual for them to follow up on. These eyes belonged to the heavily camouflaged team of Russian-sent spec ops officers being led by Konstantin Khodamchuk, accompanied by the expert sharpshooter simply known as Angel's Eye. The two men were accompanied by four more soldiers: the heavily built white-haired and hotheaded female Elena Ustinovka, the bald-headed and handlebar-mustachioed Anatoly Grischenko, a younger man with black eyes wearing his blonde hair in a short-end Mohawk named Boris Tartakov, and another older man with two eyes of red and blue, longer black hair tied into a ponytail, and a longer beard tied into several braids named Ilya Toptunov.
After having spent the entire previous night quietly and slowly working their way through the woods in order to get the best kind of vantage point over the entire town, only to now have to stay here and stay quiet once daylight had come, it was hardly a surprise to Konstantin when Elena had started to run her mouth again for the third time since they'd settled here: [[I'm telling you guys, this just isn't right. It's an entire town of possible threats right here for the picking. You know we could be able to take all these people out come nightfall without a single sound being made.]]
Konstantin and the others could only roll their eyes. They all knew she wasn't stupid, contrary to the incredible recklessness of her words. This was simply her venting the frustration born from her own boredom. Regardless, compared to many of their other operations together, this was by far one of the riskiest, and thus Konstantin knew they couldn't simply ignore her and let that be the end of it:
[[Regardless whether we can, the fact is that we can't. These people are still under this country's government's protection. You really think they wouldn't start asking our government questions if an entire town of refugees were to suddenly vanish? We all have our objective, and we are going to stick to it, regardless of personal feelings. Now everyone keep your eyes and ears open. The first sign of any of the terrorists we find, we follow it. Depending how that unfolds and where it leads us, we could very well be able to snuff out that lot by this time tomorrow.]]
As Nikolay and company continued to follow Maja and Eliška throughout the town, it was a semi-reassuring sight that, despite the now occasional sideways glare from some of the townspeople; for the most part, many of the people that passed the group by didn't seem to pay Nikolay any particular mind. In fact, there were even a rare few that actually smiled at the sight of him; clearly fellow citizens of the mindset that either Tunguska ultimately still being alive was a good thing, or that Nikolay wasn't his father, and therefore deserved the benefit of the doubt.
Either way, it was a good sign for the young Slav, knowing there were at least a few people here already warming up to the idea of him being around. It already felt like progress towards finally being able to come into his own as a Hero in this community for a start.
Along the way, especially when passing by the portion of town where many of the townspeople had their workshops set up, they ultimately ended up witnessing a fair number of people with pretty impressive Quirks; from people able to craft fishing nets from their hair, people who could craft sand from the beaches into glass with a single stroking touch of their hands, people who could breathe fire in order to stoke the furnace of the local smith who revealed himself to have a Quirk to form his hands into any tools needed for the work, and even people that could produce industrial strength welding flames from their fingertips.
Taking all of these sights in had Nikolay, Mina and The Giver all looking very impressed, to the point the pink young girl couldn't possibly keep her curiosity to herself: [[Hey, I know you said everyone here doesn't want to go and put all their trust in a few Heroes and all, but how come none of them have even thought of trying to go to any Hero schools or anything? I mean, some of their Quirks would be great for it!]]
When Maja looked back to address Mina's question, there was a clear air of regret on her face as she looked back the way they came, to all the people they had just passed by. [[If things had played out differently, Ashido-san, they probably would be doing that very thing. You need to understand though; these people…a lot of them come from really poor towns. The effects of the Siberian Flash cost them everything they had, however little that might have been. That kind of loss, on top of the constant struggling to survive long enough to get to a safe haven, it does a number on a person's spirit.]]
Eliška's expression looked a touch more bitter by comparison. [[Yeah, the way a lot of them figure, they've paid their dues for being born with Quirks in the wrong place at the wrong time, so now they've earned the right to simply try living in peace and quiet, regardless of goings on around them.]]
However, despite the clear-cut cynicism of her comrade, Maja was still exceptionally upbeat. [[Fortunately, a big part of that working towards living peacefully, is integrating themselves with the local area. This isn't a town of complete isolationists and shut-ins. A fair number of people here actually have jobs over in Arakisu City or some of the other nearby cities, and there are others that actually perform charity activities that ultimately go towards providing for this place.]]
At that moment, a single older man with a long beard of several different grays similar to Leonid, with wise-looking blue eyes, dressed in an aged black robe with white Cyrillic inscriptions up and down the front, and an Orthodox cross hanging around his neck, came walking out from a nearby street corner, and the moment Maja and Eliška noticed his arrival, the Polish girl brightened up that much more, as did De-Condenser, as their young host waved happily in welcome to the obvious priest. [[Case in point; good morning, Father. I hope we're not interrupting you in the middle of something.]]
Thankfully, the old priest seemed to just be smiling all the more under his beard at the greeting. [[Not at all, my child. It simply seemed like a nice enough day for a morning stroll. I see our town's bi-weekly guests were clearly of the same mind, unless you're simply acting as their guides to lend a helping hand around. I know the crew working on the new greenhouse up the hill could appreciate some extra helping hands. Oh, but honestly, where are my manners?]]
With a semi-embarrassed chuckle, the priest happily approached De-Condenser, The Giver, Nikolay and Mina, hands still folded as he gave a polite bow in greeting. [[It's good to see you again, De-Condenser-san. I see you have some new faces accompanying you this time around. Hello, and let me personally welcome you to Gagaringrad. I'm sure you've all already figured, but I'm Father Sergei Cherenkov, the local priest. If ever you find yourselves in need of a listening ear to anything that troubles you, please do not hesitate to come to me, my children.]]
On one hand, it was clear to the three new Heroes that such a thorough welcoming offer was all too customary for the man, and that he clearly had many years of practice with it. On the other, especially considering the unspoken but shared anxiety between the Russian boy and his pink best friend specifically, such an offer was far more enticing than either of them would have expected.
However, once all had been said and done, Maja simply chuckled as she rejoined Sergei's side. [[Thank you as always, Father, but I don't think our friends have any such thing to share right now. I honestly was calling out to you to prove a point we were all trying to make. I'm just showing Solovei and Pinky some of the things the people here do to provide for the town, and had just gotten to the point of charity acts and such. Your timing was really just convenient.]]
At this mention, Sergei's smile somehow became even warmer, once again returning his attention to the three new individuals. [[That's right. My son, Andrei, and some of his friends; they actually travel around Hokkaido and perform as a sort of Slavic folk music quartet for culture festivals and charity events and such. Speaking of convenient timing, they should actually be finally returning from their latest tour today. You should all stick around for their homecoming performance tonight. I believe you might really enjoy yourselves.]]
Before Nikolay or Mina could even finish processing the fact they were suddenly being invited to an actual concert from out of nowhere, De-Condenser likewise chimed in: [[In fact, I'm not sure if you both knew this already, but charity work is actually another sizeable responsibility that Pro Heroes can conduct themselves through as well. In fact, our Agency often organizes several charity events with the other Agencies around Hokkaido, and even several others on the Japanese mainland throughout the year.
[[It's often to raise money for things like funding orphanages, homeless shelter and feeding programs, and sometimes also to provide food and medicine to struggling nations as well. The charities themselves can also take just as many forms; whether it be musical performances like Cherenkov-san's son and his friends do, or raffles, dance performances, anything you can think of that would draw in people. There are no wrong answers, so long as your hearts are in the right place when planning it.]]
The instant the idea of charitable dancing came out of the Density Hero's mouth, Mina's eyes almost ignited with how much her eagerness and excitement simultaneously exploded inside of her. [[A CHARITY ALL ABOUT DANCING?! I COULD TOTALLY DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT, NO PROBLEM! OUR STYLES ARE WAY DIFFERENT, BUT ME AND KOLYA-KUN ARE AWESOME DANCERS, SENSEI! DO YOU KNOW WHERE OR WHEN THEY ARE?! HOW DO WE PUT ONE TOGETHER?! PLEASE TELL ME!]]
As soon as The Giver had finally managed to calm Mina down considerably, to the point where she wasn't almost crushing Nikolay in the overly-excited hug she'd instinctively pulled him into, Leonid exchanged a thoughtful look with Sergei; both older men clearly on the same page, before the town leader finally asked: [[Tell me, you two; by any chance are you planning to continue interning with the Kapenta Agency for long? If so, I'm sure Father Sergei's boy and his friends would happily accept you to perform with them sometimes. You could be able to get your field experience in charity work that way.]]
[[I agree, their music is hardly anything slow and droning; it's the music that fully embodies the spirit of our people. You two adding a dancing element to their performances may be able to draw in even more people than they usually do.]]
As soon as the priest voiced his similar support, Mina was all but literally illuminated with inspiration. [[Totally, that would be SO awesome! Dancing's my all-time favorite thing! If I could do that and still do Hero work at the same time, that'd be, like, the coolest thing ever!]]
It was hard for everyone present to not laugh with similar eagerness at the bubbly pink girl's infectious enthusiasm. All the while, Nikolay finally couldn't help but ask: [[Forgive me, but I'm just curious. As far as refugee communities go, this town isn't nearly half-bad. Maja even said a fair number of people even have jobs outside of here. What exactly does the charity money for the town go to?]]
At this, Leonid and Sergei's expressions both visibly lowered, especially as the priest looked back the way he came towards his church, where the Orthodox cross was just barely visible behind the nearest rooftops. [[Well, it goes to a number of different things: raw construction materials to build and reinforce new homes for new arrivals, or for helping to keep the fishing boats in good working order. For the most part, though, it goes towards providing for the school and orphanage. The children all staying there…their parents either died in the after-effects of the Siberian Flash, or from the hardship of the journey to get here. We all pull together and try to do everything we can for them. The charity money is simply one way we do so.]]
The two Yuuei students were now following everyone else's gazes up the hill towards the church. They could already distinctly remember the school/orphanage just across the road from the church. Just the very thought of any number of children without parents in any circumstance was sad enough; but now knowing as much as they both respectively did about just why they lost their parents, had Nikolay and Mina's hearts twisting with sadness; prompting the young Russian to speak with sudden resoluteness: [[Sensei, would it be alright if we went to visit the children there? We never got around to it yesterday.]]
[[Yeah. They deserve to know there's Heroes here to bring them smiles more than anyone right now.]] Mina wholeheartedly agreed; the excited energy in her voice now replaced with heartfelt empathy that matched the emotional look on her face.
Thankfully, that was all the convincing De-Condenser needed, as he gave his interns an approving nod. [[Of course, you two. Children are the people that look up to Heroes the most, and you two can use all the experience connecting with them emotionally as possible. In the meantime, Giver and I will head uphill to see about helping with building that greenhouse.]]
From there, with Maja and Eliška once more taking the lead, Nikolay and Mina momentarily parted ways with their mentor and the two local elders, finding their way to the two-story school/orphanage in no time at all, just at the same time as over a dozen children were all actively playing around the front yard.
Right from the outset, it was surprising to Nikolay and Mina alike, just the wild variety of visible Quirk mutations a lot of these children had; not just including the already familiar trio they had seen at the site of the accident yesterday: two little girls, one of whom had white hair that sprouted cat ears, along with similar eyes and paws, and another with lilac-colored hair with an upright unicorn horn sprouting from the center of her forehead; both accompanied by a little brown-haired boy with six arms. Just to seemingly add to the overall similarity, the three were even busily playing with the very same dog that they had all witnessed get brought back to life by the mysterious toddler, Valera, to boot.
[[Wow, what other kinds of Quirks do you think they might have, Kolya-kun?]] Mina asked with wonder as she saw the various animal, mineral and God-knew-what-other kinds of mutations the children had; her imagination already running wild.
However, Nikolay's instinctive answer of simply not knowing, was cut off by the sound of Eliška letting out a saddened sigh. [[I wouldn't get my hopes up. These children have never exercised any of their Quirks once.]]
The Czech woman could already feel the two teens' eyes fall on her with shock, prompting her to merely glance sideways in response: [[Think about it: these kids come from an environment that was screaming how their Quirks make them abominations, and got their families killed. Could you really blame them for never wanting to use their Quirks at all if they could help it?]]
Nikolay could practically feel a lead weight hit him in the stomach at such a question. It was like this moment was all but tailor made for him to confront, to try and be the example these kids needed in order to know they didn't need to fear their own powers. With his hands clenched into fists at his side, his lips tucked in with a deep breath through his nose, Nikolay took a determined stride into the front yard, prompting Mina, Maja and Eliška to follow suit, with the two Yuuei students approaching their own shares of the children, who had by now definitely noticed the unfamiliar new people approaching them, with many instinctively retreating back amid themselves.
Despite this, Nikolay didn't let his spirit dim, as he instead knelt down to meet their eye level; his body language showing no aggression, but instead a kind of peacefulness within himself. [[You all don't need to be afraid of me…and you don't have to be afraid of yourselves, either. I…I know what it's like, what you all may be feeling, even when you laugh and play. But despite what you've all lost, you all still have each other and everyone in this town. None of you are ever really all alone. If you can all remind yourselves and each other of that, you could be able to become Heroes, too.]]
It was hardly surprising that none of the children staring at him said anything in response. For all he knew, they probably thought he was a crazy person, or they simply weren't listening to begin with. Either way, he knew he couldn't say more than that, otherwise he'd inevitably start repeating himself.
As he backed away, signifying to the children that they could go back to playing again, he turned to find Eliška watching him with an especially attentive glimmer to her eye. [[I have to say, I'm surprised, Nikolay Olegovich. Usually, before a crowd of young wide-eyed kids is where a lot of pretty eloquent folk would lose themselves. You did pretty well.]]
Nikolay let out a regretful sigh, instead of the smile of pride she'd been expecting. [[I think it's because I was where they all are, once. They're all still so young, a lot of what I said probably just went right over their heads.]]
When he saw the curious look on the young Czech woman's face, he went further: [[For the longest time, I also hated the fact I had a Quirk. I honestly believed all the Anti-Quirk talk that had been going around, up until my Dad and I came here. But it's because of just how this country is…but mostly because of Mina…hell, all my friends at Yuuei; they're all the reason I was able to get past all that and start actually looking at a future of being a Hero again. I owe them all everything for that.]]
Nikolay's eyes had by now drifted to see Mina and Maja interacting with the trio of children from yesterday mere feet away, and when Eliška did the same, she formed a little knowing smirk. [[Well, that makes you one of the insanely lucky ones, kid. You actually had people who didn't have to live with the Flash and its effects, to help lift you back up and make you think there's still something Heroes can do for the world. A lot of the kids here; hell, a lot of the people here in general didn't have that. Even kids as young as these…it's probably already too late for them…for all of us.]]
Nikolay could just feel the age-old bitterness evident in her voice as she finished. A lot of what she was saying was clearly coming from a lifelong pain, and that was something he already knew he didn't have the knowledge or the right to speak on.
At the same time as all this, it didn't take any time at all for the trio of kids from yesterday to notice and recognize the approaching and smiling pink-skinned and pink-haired girl from yesterday approaching them alongside Maja. The moment Mina knew she had their attention, she immediately stopped and similarly knelt down to be on their same level, even digging through one of the pockets of her Hero costume's vest and pulling out a small handful of wrapped candy she had grabbed from the train station earlier that morning; her smile never losing any of its sweet-hearted warmth.
[[It's okay, you all can take some if you want.]] When it was clear the kids were simply too nervous to go for it, she simply set the sweets aside on a nearby wooden post lining the yard. [[I'm really happy your doggy's okay. He seems like a really good boy.]]
Once more, the kids couldn't bring themselves to say anything. However, Mina was nowhere near ready to start getting discouraged, as her eyes soon settled on a nearby ball. With a spring in her step, she kicked it up and began happily bouncing it off the toe of one of her boots and off her knee, every now and then glancing back to address the kids so she wouldn't fumble. [[You all don't have to be nervous; we can all be real good friends, even besties if you want. Do you all wanna play?]]
Finally, just as she was about ready to let the ball hit the ground and give a gentle side-heel kick to one of the kids to start off; the silent and wide-eyed trio simply started backing away, with the Cat-Quirked girl even taking their dog along, even despite it being the only one of the bunch clearly wanting to meet Mina's offer to play.
That was the sight that finally made the sunny pink young girl let the ball simply roll aside, visibly wondering what she was doing wrong. However, when Maja stepped in and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder; that was enough to make Mina take her eyes off the children, her confusion apparent in her eyes, despite the smirk on the Polish girl's face. At that same time, Nikolay and Eliška were finally returning to their side.
[[Don't take it personally, Ashido-san. It's not your appearance that's getting you the silent treatment. Remember, the other kids here, and the townspeople, are the only faces any of them have ever really known. It's only natural they'd be hesitant to talk or play with total strangers.]]
Despite the perfect sense that made, it still left Mina looking visibly saddened. [[I get that, but Heroes should be everyone's friends. All these kids have gone through so much sad stuff already, they deserve to have all the BFF's they can get; and I'd love to be that for all of them, too. I wanna help show them that the world doesn't have to be such a big, mean and scary place anymore, y'know? If I could, maybe they wouldn't feel like they have to be all scared of their Quirks anymore.]]
This sentiment of Mina's sounded pretty much like the perfect chance for Nikolay to step in and support her point: [[She could really be able to pull it off, too; Maja. When I was at my absolute worst point, Mina was the one person to be able to bring me back and help me regain my own sense of purpose. If anyone could be able to help these kids accept their Quirks, I really think it would be her.]]
Mentally, Maja was grinning knowingly when she saw just how big of an appreciative smile Nikolay's vote of confidence put on Mina's face, alongside just how much it made her adorable pink cheeks turn strawberry red. However, she knew this was hardly the time or place for teasing, like she had done with the Russian boy yesterday, as she instead replied: [[Well, if nothing else, I gotta say I envy that optimism of yours, Ashido-san. I don't think I've ever seen it be able to spread so easily from person to person like it does with you. I honestly wish I still could feel that way. But, if nothing else, at least when those kids get a little older, they can go to Commander Pietro to help them learn how to use their Quirks to defend themselves and the town if the need arises. I mean, you both saw how years of travelling and training under him helped me and Eliška here; just imagine what he could do for these kids here.]]
For a fleeting moment, Maja felt immense regret at having even mentioned Pietro's name, with Eliška shooting her a glare expressing the same sentiment. However, neither Nikolay nor Mina noticed this, as the Russian boy immediately asked: [[Yeah, speaking of which, I'm honestly surprised neither of you, nor your friends, have even thought of trying to apply for any Hero schools.]]
This train of thought immediately had Mina lighting up all over again; her golden irises shining like stars against her black sclera as she was all smiles and eagerly pumping fists once more: [[Yeah, yeah! You guys' Quirks were all so awesome! I bet you could all become totally cool and badass Heroes without even trying!]]
However, in comparison to the two students' eagerness for their two hosts' chances, Eliška simply let out a scoff of what almost sounded like defeat. [[Thanks for the sentiment, you two, but not only are some of us a little old to be looking at Hero high schools, but the rest of us…just spend enough time around these parts and you'll see they lack the spirit. Like I said, a lot of us have come from hard times as it is; barely making it here by the skin of our teeth. Now it's all about simply doing what we can to protect this little piece of land we can call home. What does the rest of the Hero world have to do with us? Besides, if you only knew some of the stuff some of us have had to do in order to survive long enough to get here; you wouldn't be singing such a naively optimistic tune so readily.]]
There was no room for doubt in either Nikolay or Mina's minds when listening to the red-gold-haired woman speak: she was absolutely set on this stance as far as she was personally concerned.
However, when looking to Maja, they were surprised to see a notable look of genuine thought and hesitation on her fair face…and so was Eliška herself. She'd never seen her young comrade hesitate to answer anything before.
CRASH!
A sudden crashing sound from further up the hill brought all four of them to full attention, with Nikolay and Mina immediately remembering both Sergei and De-Condenser mentioning the construction of a greenhouse in that same direction. Without any hesitation, the four took off into a driven sprint for the site, all mentally preparing themselves to step in and take action in whatever way they'd need to, all the while hoping nobody had gotten hurt.
Upon reaching the top of the hill, they laid eyes on the admittedly impressive sight of a frankly massive steel framework for this future greenhouse, being attended to by more than two dozen different adults, alongside De-Condenser, The Giver, and their two hosts' comrades: the mustachioed Bulgarian, Hristofor Stoyanov; and the shorter olive-skinned and long-black-haired Hungarian, Gazsi Istvan; who looked to be in pain, as he was the only one among the crowd squatting and clutching at his still bandaged shoulder. In fact, the scene of the crash they had overheard was right beside where Gazsi was squatting.
[[Is everybody okay? Is anyone hurt?]] Nikolay and Mina were already asking as they rushed onto the scene, while Hristofor and Gazsi both noticed the recent return of De-Condenser's two interns, and their two female comrades.
[[Well, glad to see you're both so resilient that you didn't hesitate to come back. It's always nice to see a returning pretty face.]] Hristofor immediately greeted the two students, completely ignoring how Mina was instinctively taking a step back closer to Nikolay at the sound of his voice, while Gazsi was grimacing and had already broken out into a sweat.
[[Yeah…yeah, it's not as bad as it could've been. It was my mistake. I thought my shoulder was finally all better, but it's still feeling a bit stiff. I just lost my grip on the line for the support we were trying to lift, that's all.]]
However, despite his attempt at brushing his own pain off, Eliška was clearly not having it, as she immediately stepped in and hoisted her comrade's right arm over her shoulder; a timely and authoritative glare convincing Hristofor to do the same with Gazsi's left. [[You shouldn't be pushing yourself this much so soon after Alyosha finished treating your dumb ass to begin with. We're taking you back, and you don't get to say shit about it.]]
As the three already began to make their way back, Nikolay and Mina instinctively began to follow after them: [[Do you need any help?]]
[[Thank you, but we'll be alright.]] Hristofor answered, barely even looking back over his shoulder as he tried to keep pace with his Czech comrade's purposeful stride.
Turning back to address the inwardly collapsed portion of the greenhouse frame, Nikolay and Mina were both already being met by the sight of Maja stepping in, throwing the line connected to the fallen curved steel beam over a rod above in order to provide leverage, and after looping the line around her right wrist, proceeded to build up a thick buildup of wax from her hands and the lengths of her arms; building them up in mass and attaching them to the line in order to strengthen her grip.
She was like a completely different person as she turned her intent gaze to the other much more muscular adults around her: [[Well, are you all just gonna stand around and watch? This thing isn't gonna build itself!]]
Such a tomboyish display of bravado got a resounding cheer from the rest of the adults, as they likewise began to continue with their work, while Maja dug her feet in, and as soon as she started to pull; the use of her Quirk managed to add to her grip strength enough so that she was already able to start lifting the fallen beam by the connected line.
Within seconds, she surprisingly found herself being aided by Nikolay and Mina as well, as the two hurriedly joined her sides; grabbing onto the line themselves and providing their own upper body strength with hers, quickly bringing the beam all the way back up into position so that the adult man perched on the top of the greenhouse frame could move in, and pull out several of the steel bolts lining his forearms, and driving them all the way into the beam, connecting it to the rest of the building frame, with but a single slap of his palms.
Over the next few minutes, Maja continued the same process in helping to get the rest of the side support beams up through the assisted physical strength from her Quirk (while constantly shooting shit with the rugged-looking adults in a manner that almost made her look like a complete natural alongside them, especially with how heartily they would all laugh with her), while Mina was now using her Acid to help cut the thinner steel pieces to length according to the townspeople's blueprints, and Nikolay similarly used his kinetic fingertip blasts to drive nails and bolts into all the spots he was instructed to, in order to keep everything fastened from now on.
With the three youths doing their parts with a spring in their step and one in their hearts, and with the aid of De-Condenser, The Giver and so many of the townspeople; it seemed to take hardly any time at all before they were all able to take a step back and look upon the newly completed skeletal framework of a greenhouse big enough to supply vegetables or fruit for the entire town with ease. Such a sight, and knowing they, in their own ways, were able to make this possible, left Nikolay, Mina, their mentors and Maja with a swelling feeling of true accomplishment in their chests.
Over the course of those several minutes, none of them were ever aware of how closely they were being watched from all the way across the entire town within the opposite forest, where Konstantin Khodamchuk had been trying to get as best a look as he could at the unfamiliar-yet clearly Slavic-looking boy among the new arrivals. Underneath the trappings of his Hero costume, it was hard to make out any discerning details.
Even if that hadn't been the case, he didn't have much of a chance to observe for long anyway, as the moment three of the locals had departed from the construction site, Angel's Eye had been quick to signal for the rest of his comrades to converge on his spot and hear what he had to say; his rifle scope focused on the shorter young man with the bandaged shoulder. [[The terrorists at the Ural navy installation were all wearing masks, so I can't speak as to their faces. However, I know the one I shot was shorter than most of the others, and I nailed him in the right shoulder. Those two distinctions can't possibly make this one here just a coincidence. I'm almost certain we've got our ticket to finding these bastard's hideout.]]
Konstantin was instantly on the move as he began signaling for everyone to start packing up their gear and getting ready to move. [[Alright, everyone. We stay close, and we stay quiet. We're only looking to see where these three ultimately lead us, alright? As soon as we find out, we can start making decisions as to if this is going to be a long-range assassination job, or if we'll have to go in with close-quarters. Whatever we do, we don't act until nightfall, understand?]]
For once, Elena Ustinovka actually kept her mouth shut, even though the scowl on her face was unmistakable. Everyone else gave a resolute simultaneous nod of understanding to their long-time comrade and leader. [[Good. Then let's move.]] and with that, deeper into the hilly forests they went, all while never managing to lose visual on their three unsuspecting pieces of bait down on the streets far below.
After being bid thanks by the present townspeople for their help in completing today's phase of the greenhouse's construction, Nikolay, Mina and Maja began making their way back down the hill and back into town, once more accompanied by De-Condenser and The Giver. Their mutual feelings of accomplishment had the three teens still smiling brightly as Maja congratulated the two students: [[You know, seeing how excitable you two could be, I was honestly starting to wonder just how on the ball you could be in a working situation like that. But you really came through for everybody back there. Good on you.]]
However, the similarly knowing grins on their faces when looking at the turquoise-wax-haired girl, was the last thing Maja was expecting in this kind of moment. [[What? What's so funny?]]
[[Oh, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. We were just thinking of how you were talking all that smack to the adults back there so aggressively. You sounded like a total salt-of-the-earth-type.]] Nikolay admitted, with Mina chuckling with an agreeing smile.
[[Yeah, and with how your Quirk made you just as strong while you were talking all tough-like, you reminded us a lot of a really good friend of ours back at Yuuei. I think he'd absolutely love you if you two met.]] Considering they were clearly talking about something she couldn't have been further removed from, there was no reason for Maja to show any kind of embarrassed reaction to such sentiment, instead grinning proudly to herself that they considered her to be really tough when she needed to be.
However, simply bringing up Yuuei at all, once again had Nikolay and Mina's train of thought going back to the last thing they had discussed before the greenhouse situation had come: [[Speaking of which, Maja, you never gave an answer when we were talking about you trying for a Hero school.]]
Mina didn't miss a beat once Nikolay had come back around, skipping happily while keeping pace with the rest of the group as she followed up: [[Yeah, your Quirk is awesome for fighting, capturing and repairing all in one! I bet you'd be a super amazing Hero if you tried, Maja-chan!]]
While the multicolor-eyed girl didn't lose an ounce of her forward stride, her proud grin slowly sank as she found herself once again really thinking about the two's implications. [[Look, I really appreciate you both saying so; really. To tell you the truth, I'd always wanted to try being a Hero, even after what happened to my parents. I still wanted to, even when I was travelling with Pietro and the others for so long, and training with them all to boot along the way. Hell, even now, I sometimes find myself wondering what it'd be like.]]
This admission on Maja's part had Nikolay and Mina smiling eagerly to each other, but then they saw how her shoulders visibly drooped. [[But you both need to understand just how much we all went through together, and how much we all grew together thanks to him. The fact is that those people out at that compound are not just my comrades. They're my family. Yeah, I sometimes wish they'd be a little more open-minded about using their Quirks for something more than just protecting this one town, but still, I couldn't just leave them behind, even if it was for the sake of becoming a Hero. You two really seem like good people; surely you must understand that at least a little bit.]]
As Maja continued to walk, Nikolay and Mina's enthusiastic smiles had similar dropped, especially when looking back to the ever attentive De-Condenser and his sidekick, who both simply gave them similar looks of contemplative acceptance. [[You both tried, Solovei-kun, Pinky-kun. Nobody can say you didn't. However, it's her choice to make in the end, and as upholders of society, we need to be respectful of that, no matter how much it may hurt to let go of her potential.]]
Back in his lab in the lower levels of the old hospital compound, Alyosha Mikhalkov was still busily working his scientific magic on the collected blood sample from the syringe-like bullet that had been in his possession ever since Pietro's soldiers' successful first outing. With every hour, he could see the fruits of his labors slowly but surely coming together, even if nobody else could. It was both the blessing and curse of his specific Quirk. The blood and other chemical he was working with was unlike anything he had ever laid eyes on before, even in a world so full of distinctive and widely varied and game-changing Quirks like the one they lived in now. This was truly one of a kind, and if he could simply unlock the one factor that gave it its Quirk-erasing property, and effectively reverse it, he could stand tall, knowing he was the one to unlock a whole new side of Quirk-combat that could similarly change everything forever. He could only imagine how pleased his comrades would be with him when that time came.
BAM!
The sudden slamming of his door being forced open and all but bouncing off the concrete wall jolted the scientist from his seat as he looked back, only to find Eliška and Hristofor easing a visibly pained Gazsi onto the nearby hospital bed; prompting the team's scientist and only real doctor to hurry over. [[What on earth happened this time?!]]
[[Good to see you too, Alyosha Stepanovich. It's nothing serious; Backtrack just got a little too forward with what he thought he could do with a still-bum shoulder, that's all.]] Hristofor greeted the man sarcastically before turning his snark onto the young Hungarian; prompting him and Alyosha alike to all but swat the man away so that the lab coat-bedecked man could get to work, not even turning his gaze to Eliška as he spoke to her: [[Thank you for bringing him here and not being too rough with him at the same time, Petto. You both go on back out to town; I'll take care of our young friend and finish up my work here.]]
Thankfully, Hristofor had already long since taken the hint and left, knowing Gazsi was now in good hands for getting the last of the finishing healing touches he needed, while Eliška did as she was told and similarly stepped out into the hall to reunite with Maja and their visitors in town; only to nearly run into a passing by Pietro and Ocean Master, drawing both men's attention, and her leader's visible curiosity.
[[Ah, Petto, this is surprising. I wasn't aware you'd already returned. Is Knot with you?]] As soon as Pietro asked this, Eliška just let out a noticeably annoyed sigh.
[[Unfortunately, no. She's still in town with De-Condenser, his sidekick and his interns in town.]] However, rather than her already unmistakably sharp tone; what the two men immediately noticed was the troubled look on her furrowed brow.
[[I didn't think this would be such a problem for you, Petto. I'd made it clear you and Knot would be dealing with that lot for today once they returned. Is there a problem I'm not aware of here?]] Pietro's tone was genuinely concerned, but there was also an underlying seriousness to his orange eyes that made it loud and clear to his Czech follower that he wanted the full truth, warts and all.
And so, with a regretful sigh for bringing him anything to worry over, she answered: [[Those two kids are definitely very enthusiastic about their training to become Heroes, that's for sure. They even suggested that Maja, myself and all the others could still somehow try our luck at registering at Hero schools in this country, actually try using our Quirks as official Heroes. I told them exactly how I've always felt, but Knot, she…she actually hesitated, sir. I don't know about you, but I've never seen her hesitate to answer anything someone's said to her before. It's really got me worried.]]
It was impossible to tell just what Ocean Master was thinking at this news, but Pietro, to Eliška's surprise, looked completely unshaken by this. [[Well, Knot is still quite young compared to many of us; you can't necessarily blame her for thinking about any kind of chance to possibly unlock her fullest potential, especially if it's towards a greater good. Why do you think she gravitated towards us as quickly and thoroughly as she did? A one-time occurrence like this hardly justifies this demeanor of yours, though. Is there something else I should know about regarding Knot, Petto?]]
Realizing just what kind of corner her impulsiveness had just driven her into, Eliška knew she couldn't possibly not tell her commander the truth. He was too smart to fall for simple lies, and he did not deserve such treatment. [[Actually…there is. Both at the Kamchatka mission, and our attack at the Ural Vault…the rest of us have followed every detail of your training to the letter…but she hasn't. Every step of the way, Knot's been continuously utilizing her Quirk in every possible non-lethal way she can, even when knowing that doing so could later prove a huge detriment to our missions, to our whole campaign. The whole thing just can't help but make me question just how resolute she is in helping us see this whole operation through, sir; how prepared she is for what that might entail. I don't think she's strong enough to do what it takes.]]
It was so hard for Eliška to state all this without sounding unbelievably judgmental; Pietro and Ocean Master could both tell this immediately, knowing her as well as they did. However, the small army's leader reflected no such air of disappointment as she did. Instead, the sigh he released almost sounded like that of someone who was finally hearing something they'd always expected to hear one day, and was frankly relieved for it.
[[Yes…yes, in the battlefield, such sentiment is detrimental. But it's just as I said before: in comparison to many of us, Knot is ultimately still just a kid, and it's only natural for kids to want to try and protect their innocence as best they can. I understand how easy it could be to write this display of hers off as weakness after what happened to Backtrack, but we mustn't let ourselves forget the fact that she wasn't directly responsible for that.
[[Now, since we aren't preparing any future missions as of now, I don't see the harm in allowing her to do this for just a little bit longer. She'll eventually learn she has to come around and do what really needs to be done in time. Otherwise she or any one of her comrades could die as a result. As soon as that fact gets driven hard into her head, I know your current worries will be put to rest.]]
Over the course of the next couple of hours, the four visiting Heroes found themselves finally being able to assist the townspeople of Gagaringrad alongside Maja with one task after another. Sure, none of it really measured up to what Nikolay, Mina or The Giver would have considered to be standard Pro Hero work, as it all revolved around either helping with the building or reinforcement of buildings throughout the town and helping with the repairing of the half-dozen fishing boats lining the small harbor. However, in the end, it was still the lot of them showing initiative and helping people where they needed it, and in a way, that ultimately left the two Yuuei students feeling just as heroic as they had hoped they would get to feel this time around.
All throughout, while they and De-Condenser helped with all the manual work, either through their sheer physical strength or the careful implementation of their Quirks, all The Giver was ultimately able to do that really stood out, was simply applying her Quirk to those she felt needed it, allowing their own Quirks to strengthen that much more, and thus allow them to do their jobs that much more effectively.
Once they had finally finished with helping reinforce the last of the boats, De-Condenser was rolling his shoulders and letting out an especially tired groan. [[Well, I'd say that was quite the impressive workload for your first official day as Hero Interns, wouldn't you?]]
Despite it hardly being the kind of Hero work they'd been studying and training for, the overall feeling of tiredness that had washed over Nikolay and Mina inclined them to agree with their mentor. It was certainly more than they had expected, knowing how quiet things around this town typically were, but it definitely felt worthwhile, knowing they had helped make things even just a little easier for the people here.
As they began to walk, Mina couldn't help but momentarily glance towards their mentor's sidekick, who was looking especially free of any kind of physical achiness like they were all dealing with. However, when she finally decided to address The Giver, her voice was only lined with curiosity: [[Hey, hey, Erumi-sensei, have you ever thought about using your Quirk to make yourself even stronger?]]
The Giver was visibly shocked that she was suddenly being asked this, but she was quick to recover and answer honestly: [[Well, yeah, I used to, and I've tried. Unfortunately, I'm the only person my Quirk doesn't work on.]]
Nikolay immediately followed up, unable to hide the surprised expression on his face, which Mina was already matching with her own: [[Do you mean you can only ever use your Quirk to help other Heroes? How does something like that make you feel, now that you're a licensed Pro?]]
De-Condenser looked like he had half a mind to reprimand his two interns for asking something so deeply personal that could have easily been mistaken for being mocking. However, The Giver simply gave a wistful giggle. [[Well, I'll admit I used to feel pretty insecure about it for a while. I mean, I've never been all that good at physical or stamina tests, but everybody else just kept getting physically stronger, and all I could do was make them even more so. But in that time, I've always kept pushing myself forward. At first, I was doing it out of pure stubbornness; maybe even spite. But with time, I'm now okay with the idea that if I can use my Quirk to help Heroes do their jobs more effectively and thereby save more people, then that's enough for me. I'm more than okay serving as a sole Support Hero.]]
The pride of her own self-acceptance only became that much sweeter when she could see the similarly admiring looks on Nikolay, Mina and Maja's faces when listening to her, alongside the approving smile from De-Condenser. That was exactly the kind of mentality and attitude that really cool Heroes had, as far as any of them were concerned.
BEEP, BEEP!
At that moment, a distant honking of a car horn suddenly sounded from near the entrance to the town, and it sounded like it was definitely getting closer; quickly followed by a rapidly growing number of excitable voices responding.
Memories of the events of yesterday had Nikolay and Mina's alertness immediately spike as they began to race towards the source, with De-Condenser, Erumi and Maja quickly following suit; only whereas the Heroes were preparing themselves for a situation to possibly intervene in, the Polish girl was already grinning knowingly, just considering what day it was.
Once they reached the town entrance where a crowd of people had already formed, the two Yuuei students found that the people seemed especially happy to see the sight of a large white moving van sitting in the middle of the road. Once they had managed to work their way through to the front, the driver and passenger doors opened to reveal two young men in what looked like matching white and red kosovorotkas; both of them with short hair of brown and red respectively, and both happily greeting the townspeople with handshakes and hugs. [[Hey, everyone! Good lord, does it feel good to finally be back!]]
Before either of them knew it, the back door to the vehicle suddenly opened up as well, and now the two young men were joined by two more in the same exact outfits, only these ones had heads of short white and blue hair, but still looked just as happy to see these people; especially the brown-haired one when Father Sergei Cherenkov made his way to the front of the crowd; greeting the old priest with a joyous embrace, which he happily returned. [[Welcome home, my son. It's always a blessing when you come back home. It's later than I had expected. Was there a problem?]]
The brown-haired young man, whom Nikolay and Mina now realized had to be the boy the priest had mentioned to be his actual son, Andrei, was still all smiles as he pointed his thumb back to the rear of the van. [[Honestly, there was a bit of a problem back in Arakisu City, but a familiar and new face together helped us out. Hey, come on out and say hello, you two!]]
Looking back, Nikolay and Mina found themselves completely shocked when, from out of the corner and into the open, stepped an awkward-looking Kyouka Jirou, accompanied by a much more casual-looking Blast Beat; the latter of whom many of the people politely expressed greetings to.
Thankfully, Kyouka's apprehensiveness quickly diminished and was replaced with happiness of her own once she spotted Nikolay and Mina amid the crowd with De-Condenser and The Giver. From elsewhere in the crowd, spotting this spark of familiarity between the visiting Hero's interns and this other new young arrival, Leonid made his way through the crowd, ushering Blast Beat over as well. [[It's good to see you again, Kazuki-san. Please, let your young friend here know there's no reason to worry.]]
Blast Beat gently grabbed onto Kyouka's shoulders, spurring the purple-haired girl to attention, just in time to see the old man approaching them with a hand extended. "Don't worry, this is perfectly normal, Earphone Jack. Just know you'll be pretty dizzy for a few minutes."
With two singular taps of his index finger to both their foreheads, Blast Beat looked to recover almost instantly, still keeping his grip on Kyouka while her head was wobbling from the sensation of Leonid's Quirk working on her brain.
Once it seemed like she'd finally recovered, that was when Nikolay and Mina finally returned to their friend's side, just as she finally decided to greet them: [[Hey, you guys. I—WHOA, WHAT THE HECK?! How come my mouth is moving all weird?! How can I actually understand what I'm saying?! Wait…this sounds like the Russian I was practicing before! What's going on, you guys?!]]
[[Don't worry, Kyouka-san, it's a normal thing the Heroes go through when coming here so they can talk to everyone here. It'll wear off when we leave tonight.]] Nikolay reassured her, much to Kyouka's relief, while Mina was still all-but bouncing excitedly at their friend's surprise arrival.
[[You're gonna love this place, Kyouka-chan, it's super peaceful, and there's so many cool Quirks that people have here! We even have a new bestie for you to meet!]] Without even missing a beat, Mina was already eagerly ushering a completely flustered Kyouka over to meet a similarly awkward-looking Maja. [[Maja-chan, this is Kyouka-chan, another classmate of ours from Yuuei! I hope we can all be able to get along together!]]
Trying to ignore the pink girl's bubbly energy and overly forward enthusiasm, Kyouka tried to play it cool as she simply gave the grinning Polish girl a bow. [[Take it from me, Mina-chan's always like this. Anyway, I'm Jirou Kyouka, but my Hero name's Earphone Jack. It's nice to meet you. I like your threads, by the way. Real punk rock.]]
An amused chuckle was the immediate response Kyouka received, as Maja gave her a simple pat on the shoulder. [[Thanks, yours aren't too shabby, either. I can definitely see why Blast Beat-san has you for his intern.]]
With that being said, Nikolay quickly stepped in, just at the same time De-Condenser and Erumi were approaching Blast Beat with the same exact question: [[What exactly are you doing all the way out here? Did something happen on your patrol?]]
Looking back to their four young hosts that had driven them out this way, Kyouka chuckled as she clearly started to think back with a soft smile on her face: [[Well…]]
A few hours earlier…
A good few hours into their patrol around Arakisu City, Kyouka and Blast Beat had already gone about conducting several civil service acts, from helping the elderly cross the streets, helping children who had climbed far too high up the trees in the park, and even helping a woman who'd had her purse stolen in broad daylight.
All things considered, it wasn't like what all the training at school had braced Kyouka for, but it was still far from boring. Plus, between everything else, getting to simply talk music with Blast Beat and listening to how he integrated it with his Mood Quirk was worth it. Already she was actually considering the idea of just straight up becoming the Jukebox Hero's sidekick after graduation, they seemed to mentally and emotionally synch up so well.
When they rounded the corner onto a medium-sized road, she and her mentor both immediately spotted four clear-as-day foreigners in just as unusual clothes all standing together further down the sidewalk, and even from this distance, she could tell from their body language that they were in some kind of distress.
However, when she saw the knowing smile on Blast Beat's face, she knew this wasn't just some random bunch of tourists. There was an undeniable familiarity, confirmed when he finally called out to them as they walked: "Hey, Andrei, Timur, Sasha, Grigori! You boys run into some trouble?"
The four now-identified Russians all simultaneously lit up with relief at the sight of Blast Beat, with equal shares of curiosity at the sight of the unfamiliar girl walking alongside him. "Kazuki-san, it's a relief to see you! Is this a new hire your Agency made? She seems kind of young for a Pro, doesn't she?"
"Ha, no, nothing like that, this is Jirou Kyouka-kun, or Earphone Jack, my new intern. We actually just took on three over the last two days. Jirou-kun, these young men are actually a traveling band from the city Solovei-kun and Pinky-kun just went to. Say hello." Kyouka could barely mutter such greetings while bowing, not used to being put on the spot in front of so many new faces like that. Thankfully, they all seemed sociable and polite enough in response.
"So, with that all being said, you guys look like you're having some trouble." Blast Beat finally got back to business, prompting the white-haired boy, Grigori, to motion to the empty spot of the road they were standing by. "You can say that again; we left our van here to get some snacks for the rest of the trip home, and when we came out, it was stolen! All our equipment and the money we collected for the town was in there! Now we'd be going home empty-handed, unable to try and get more, and no way to even get home regardless."
However, despite the despondency apparent on all their faces; Blast Beat had all the assurances in the world that they wouldn't feel this way for too much longer. Once the police had arrived shortly after, everything would soon fall into place.
When looking over street camera footage at the police station, it was quickly apparent just what rank-and-file amateur excuses for Villains they were ultimately dealing with; four complete hooligan-looking types who simply stole the van once the four Slavs had gone inside, and from there, they didn't even try to avoid cameras by going into back alleys. After about ten minutes worth of driving, the police were easily able to trace them all the way to an abandoned mechanic's garage just outside the heart of the city.
"Alright then. Stay close to me while we're out there, Earphone Jack. Let's get to work." The sheer confidence being exhibited by Blast Beat, as well as the handful of police officers that were clearly gearing up to accompany them for the confrontation ahead, had Kyouka feeling exceptionally prepared as well. After all the training she'd put in up to this point, it was actually rather hard not to feel this way.
It took virtually no time at all for them to soon have each identified entrance to the building the Villains were using as their hideout encircled. From the looks of things from the outside, judging by the working light above the doors, and what they could make out through the windows, the place still had running electricity.
"Alright, we still need to be careful. For all we know, the four thugs that stole the van may have more friends inside." Blast Beat cautioned Kyouka and the police alike. However, with that question in mind, the purple-haired girl had a look of complete focus in her eyes. "I know just what to do to find out, Sensei."
Staying as quiet as a church mouse the entire way she went down the alley with Blast Beat at her side until they were flush against the wall next to the nearest entrance, Kyouka poked her earphone jacks into the wall, listening close for a good minute. "I hear six voices inside…all men…four on the ground floor…medium and far distance from this door…and the other two are on the second level, probably rafters over the garage floor, from the echoes and other acoustics. One is over by the northern wall…and the other on the western, the farthest away from us."
As she pulled her jacks out of the wall, she could feel her chest swell with accomplishment when seeing the clearly impressed look on Blast Beat's face. "Awesome work, my rockin' protégé. Alright, officers, let's all get into position, but we don't act until I give the signal. If this place still has electricity, then I have an idea how we can win this fight before it even starts."
Via the fire escape, Kyouka and Blast Beat quickly made their way onto the rooftop, and before long were able to spot the unmistakable sight of a fuse box with its wires running down into the building itself. After prying the cover off, Blast Beat eyed the headphones resting on his intern's head. "Your application said you can project the sounds you hear through your jacks just like your pulses. Is that true?"
Kyouka already had her earphone jacks plugged into the section that was labeled 'intercom' as she gave her mentor an affirming nod. With that, Blast Beat took the cord to her headphones and plugged it into his collapsible guitar, before then tearing off a dark blue patch from the right shoulder of his vest and slapping it onto his instrument. "I'm gonna need to use you like a conduit for this part, alright? If this works like I'm hoping it will, the mood affect of my Quirk should be able to transfer through you and into the criminals inside, taking their fighting spirit away, and allowing us to capture them."
With that all being explained, and Kyouka giving a prepared thumb up to her mentor, Blast Beat proceeded to flip the switch for the 'intercom' fuse, and then immediately went on to play a melancholy-sounding progression of chords on his guitar. He could feel his Quirk reverberating through the cord, through Kyouka and into the building. It was only because he was so focused on his part of the mission, that he didn't even hear the thugs inside expressing confusion at the effect the sudden music was having on them.
Once he had finished, he quickly tore the patch from his guitar and just as fast, replaced it with a bright orange one, and after pulling Kyouka's jacks from the fuse box, played a brief and speedy riff that quickly reignited her own adrenaline, while keeping from having the same effect on their opponents. With that, he rushed to the edge of the roof to the police officers below: "We've got them dazed, let's move in!"
Before the six Villains inside even knew what hit them, the two doors to the building suddenly burst open, and with quick and sufficient aim, the police suddenly hit half the criminals with a few tranquilizing rounds, putting them to the floor in a matter of moments. However, the sudden intrusion was enough to spur the others to attention, as one of the criminals actually revealed himself to be wearing plugs over his ears, preventing the debilitating effect from Blast Beat's Quirk.
At that same moment, the Jukebox Hero and Kyouka likewise came rushing in through the nearby open window onto the causeway where he now stood, catching his attention while his two goons down below were already trying to make an escape through their own Quirks, consisting of exhaling hurricane-strength winds, and releasing a pepper spray-like mist from their palms.
However, since the two Villains down below hadn't recollected themselves enough to actually make a formation to fight back with, the one with the super-strong exhaling breaths quickly found himself the recipient of a precisely aimed pair of earphone jacks getting planted into his ears, instantly followed by a deafening ringing blasting straight into his head, leaving him dizzied enough for the police to close in and bring him to the floor.
With one half of their ground floor enemies taken care of, and a good number of their fellow officers having already since subdued him, the other police on that side of the building were able to use the opening to hit the pepper-spray Villain with yet more tranquilizers while he was focused on the forces on the other side of the building, quickly taking him down as well. These really were bottom-tier Villains at best, even a student like Kyouka could see that.
However, she wasn't able to focus on that for long, as the Villain actually smart enough to plug his ears against Blast Beat's Quirk had the momentarily distracted girl in his sights, just as he began to produce a set of razor sharp knives from his knuckles. The instant Blast Beat noticed this, as well as just where the fiend's eyes were focused; he instantly tackled his intern to the floor, just at the same moment the Villain threw his hands forward, sending the knives flying at her as a set of projectiles, just barely missing her by less than an inch.
"Are you okay?" Blast Beat immediately asked, but before Kyouka could even answer, she glimpsed just past her mentor's shoulder, just in time to see the Villain actually leaping from atop the railing, across the air with yet more blades at the ready from his hands.
Once he reached the peak of his jump, he once again swung his hands downward, sending his knives flying, all aimed straight for Blast Beat's exposed back. Kyouka knew she didn't have time to yell for him to get out of the way or watch out, and even if he did, the walkway they were on was simply too narrow for them to separate in opposite directions enough to avoid getting hit.
With pure panic and complete reflexive memory rushing through every inch of her body, Kyouka sent her earphone jacks flying upward past Blast Beat's shoulders; the metal ends ringing with numerous rapid-fire pulses as she drove them into every knife coming their way one after the other with cobra-like precision and speed, shattering the steel blades with a resounding ring every single time.
By the time the barrage had finally ended, the Villain had since landed, and could only look with disbelief that a teenage girl was able to completely deflect his sure-fire attack. By now, she and Blast Beat had gotten back onto their feet, both staring him down. His momentary shock had quickly returned to anger as he produced yet more blades. "You damn Heroes aren't bringing me in! You're gonna have to kill me first!"
PIIING!
It was already clear to Kyouka and her mentor, just from the Villain's body language, that he wasn't about to go down without a fight, and if given half the chance, he would no doubt try to force them into some kind of hostage situation in order to buy himself time. As underhanded as it was, they knew they couldn't afford to give this guy a chance to fight back. Even from this distance, Kyouka could see that the earplugs this Villain decided to defend himself with were cheap. They were simply to avoid the full affect of Blast Beat's Quirk, not actually protect against especially harsh noise frequencies.
And so, with her earphone jacks drooping behind her shoulders while the Villain made his declaration of intent, Kyouka sent an especially large charged up pulse down her earlobes, and just at the moment they would fire out, she brought the ends of both together at the last moment, using a covert Earphone Jacks Strike to send a disorienting and powerful high-pitched ring all across the interior of the garage, leaving the Villain spinning and dizzy as his head rang.
Kyouka and Blast Beat both instantly used that opportunity to close the distance, and once the latter used his collapsible guitar to smack the readied blades out from their enemy's hands, Kyouka immediately followed up with a swift and perfectly performed flying spinning kick straight to the Villain's face, knocking him the rest of the way out cold and to the floor.
And just like that, with quick-thinking, Quirk ingenuity and masterfully synchronized teamwork, Kyouka and Blast Beat had managed to bring all six Villains down and delivered into the hands of the authorities in a matter of minutes, putting to end a sloppy and overly-ambitious attempt at a car chopping ring. With initial statements given to the press, and the obligatory Hero-to-police paperwork, the single most exciting part of Kyouka's introductory internship day had come and gone, and the four young Slavic men that had brought their attention to this slovenly bunch to begin with, managed to get their vehicle, instruments and charity proceeds back with no trouble.
"Thank you so much for all your help, Kazuki-san, Jirou-san. You've both really helped us, and our whole town altogether. Rest assured, we won't forget this by a long shot," the brown haired young man, Andrei, eagerly thanked the local Heroes, even despite Kyouka's natural awkwardness at receiving such praise.
Acting off of their band mate's gratitude, the red-haired young man, Timur, suddenly stepped forward with an inspired glimmer in his brown eyes: "Hey, Kazuki-san; we all know you're a big-time music lover, and if Jirou-san here is your intern, then she must be, too. Why don't you two come along with us back to Gagaringrad? Father Sergei is already getting the stage setup for our homecoming show tonight, as always."
Kyouka looked to Blast Beat curiously, and she could already tell by the smile on his face that he was genuinely thinking about it as he filled her in on the details: "Andrei-san here is the son of that town's local Orthodox priest. Every year they go out for two or three island-wide tours and perform Slavic folk music for charity for funding their town and other causes, and every time they come back, the people throw a big homecoming concert for them. Speaking of, we've already covered a good majority of our route, and it is getting a bit late. I'd say you've earned a fun evening like that, Earphone Jack-kun. What do you say?"
Considering everything else they'd gotten to do throughout today, and being the music enthusiast she was; that was about all the convincing it took to get Kyouka smiling and eagerly expressing her agreement with this impromptu little detour before she and her friends would have to make the trip back to Yuuei.
Present
From the moment the introductions had been finished, all of the gathered townspeople and the visiting Heroes were like one mind, as they already began giving helping hands wherever possible, from building up a small stage in front of the church, to carrying all the four boys' equipment from their vehicle to said stage, to even just managing getting the people into manageable crowds. It was all-around a great example of people coming together, even just for a single night out of the year, as far as the six non-locals knew.
As soon as it was clear that there was nothing more for them to do to help everyone prepare, Nikolay, Mina, Kyouka and Maja quickly reunited, simply waiting with eagerness for the music to start. Of course, simply waiting didn't mean they had to be silent, as Kyouka's classmates were still reeling with how impressive her story about her first patrol today had been.
[[I'm really glad your first day's been going so well already, Kyouka-san. With how much I know you've been practicing with all of us, you really deserve a chance like this.]] Nikolay finally stated with all the sincerity in the world, while Mina was still impulsively grabbing her by the shoulders and hopping up and down with excitement. [[Hell yeah, you've made that Quirk of yours so much more than just noisy earlobes! That whole move of using them to deflect knives sounds so awesome; you could totally be a kung-fu movie star with moves like that!]]
All the while, Maja could simply see from the joyous and eager smiles on Nikolay and Mina's faces, and the resulting grin of both appreciation and embarrassment on Kyouka's; that this was far from unusual between the three, and just that realization had her smiling as well. [[You know, it's a real nice thing to see, what you three have. Even if you're from the same class, that's not the kind of closeness you get between regular classmates.]]
This sudden shift in conversation had the three Yuuei students looking at their Polish host confusedly, with Nikolay instinctively answering: [[Well, yeah, we're all really close friends. A lot of our classmates are. We've been together for this long already; I'd think this is only natural at this point.]]
Before Maja could even find an answer, or Kyouka could add on, Mina just as quickly suddenly pulled her in to join their little group huddle. [[Yeah, I love all my friends with all my heart, and I know that deep down they all feel the same! That's just the way all real friendships should be, you know? It's almost like we're a whole other family! You could be a part of that too if you wanted, Maja-chan!]]
While Mina was hugging them all close as she said this, momentarily ignorant of how her wording was already making Nikolay completely red; Maja had a deeply pensive look in her eyes, and a doubtful look on her face when the pink girl finally let them all free from her embrace. [[That's a really nice way of thinking, really. But I already told you, I couldn't just do that to my comrades…even if I wish we could be like you guys are.]]
She had once again gained herself the curious looks of her three fellow teens, as she began instinctively looking back in the direction of the out-of-sight compound further up the shore. [[Don't get me wrong, I meant it when I said that they're all like a family to me…but I'll admit there are some times when it doesn't entirely feel that way. I know some of them have suffered a lot more than others have over all these years, so it only makes sense they'd be angrier deep down. I just wish I knew what I could do to try and help them with that. Maybe then it'd feel like a family full-time. That'd be really nice.]]
By this point, the air of chatter among the crowd that had persisted was now starting to give way to the beginnings of ambient music from the direction of the stage, drawing the attention of most of the crowd with rising mutterings of anticipation. However, Maja was still entirely focused on the horizon, and in that moment, Mina's natural sense of compassion had her entirely focused on the wax-haired girl, as she quickly stepped in and leaned in over her shoulder to get the girl to look at her.
[[Try not to get too down about it, Maja-chan. You've known each other for so long, surely your feelings would be able to get through to them if you just told them. With what you all told us about what you'd gone through yesterday, that totally makes sense that you'd think you're like family. If they really feel the same, then I know they'd be able to understand your feelings no problem.
[[I mean, you heard Kolya-kun earlier, how he said he thinks I'm what convinced him to really try becoming a Hero for good again. I mean, he's told me there was more to it than that, and I believe him. But I still really think that the reason he said that about me, is because I meant every word I said to him back then; my feelings got through to him. I know it could work for you and your friends, too.]]
The growing excitement of the crowd thankfully managed to drown out Maja's response from any of the people around them, except for Mina herself, as she looked the young Hero in the eye. [[You don't strike me as someone who just tells people what they want to hear, Ashido-san. You come across like a truly heartfelt and honest person to me. You say you love your friends with all you are and they love you back, I believe it. Although, I think maybe you might love one just a little bit more deeply…and maybe they might feel the same way.]]
It was a miracle that Mina, for as scattershot as her attention span could be at any given moment, was able to hear just what Maja was insinuating, just as she suddenly leaned in to speak right into her ear: [[Yesterday, when I first ran into you and Nikolay Olegovich to test you, I swiped more than just his wallet. You see, he had something else in his other pocket, a small silver locket to be exact. Inside was a picture of the two of you, with you kissing him right on the cheek while he looked like a total cherry. I seriously doubt that's something even someone like you would do for all your friends on a whim, am I right?]]
Even as the sun was really beginning to set, Maja could clearly see just how intensely Mina was already blushing as she described what the Russian boy had been keeping in secret. Upon looking over the pink girl's shoulder to make sure neither Nikolay nor Kyouka were listening in; themselves now getting caught up in the excitement of the rest of the crowd, she suddenly asked: [[Am I right, Ashido-san? Do you…well, love him, love him?]]
Mina's eyes were already so wide, and she had her hands balled into pink fists hovering just over her mouth in the hopes Maja wouldn't see how much her lips were quivering with her struggle to give an answer. She soon turned back to look to her two friends to make sure they weren't listening as well, and Maja could see how Mina's golden irises stayed on Nikolay specifically, and how the longer she looked, the more her rigid body language calmed down, and the furious blush on her face became much warmer and softer.
Finally, lowering her fists from her mouth, Mina's lips formed into the single most affectionate smile the foreign girl had ever seen, and she said in the softest whisper that Maja could just barely manage to hear: [[Yes.]]
With that, like a shot, Maja suddenly planted a firm hand on Mina's shoulder, reaching over and across, as she gave the black-gold-eyed girl an encouraging grin. [[Then I'll tell you exactly what I told him, more or less: just take the chance when you can, and tell him so. You can make all the excuses you want as to why you can't, but just know that if you keep putting it off, you just might find yourself in a place where you'll never be able to tell him, and it'll eat you alive.]]
Before Mina could say anything, the music from the stage had suddenly stopped, drawing hers and everyone else's attention to see Leonid, Father Sergei, Andrei and his friends, all mount the stage and turn to address the crowd, with Andrei actually being the first one to step forward: [[I know we do this at least twice a year whenever we come back, but I just want to once more thank you all, from the bottom of all our hearts, for always coming out this way to join us in this solidarity. With the proceeds our charity tour has made this time around, we'll be able to fully reinforce the weaker of our buildings, insulate the rest of the new houses, and be able to afford numerous bags of seeds to fill our newest greenhouse with no difficulty. It's been a long and arduous road, but we've constantly been toughing it out, and we all have ourselves and each other to thank for that.]]
With that, it was Leonid who took the floor next: [[And, as the Gagaringrad community representative, I would likewise like to personally extend our welcome and thanks to our all-too familiar Hero visitors, Mitsudo-san and Kazuki-san, as well as their new sidekick, Sakakibara Erumi-san, and their three young interns who have come all this way from the prestigious Hero school, Yuuei Academy: Nikolay Olegovich Bezpalov, Ashido Mina, and Jirou Kyouka. This is hardly a hub of nonstop action and excitement that many young Hero students would be looking for, and it's more than out of the way from where they call home, but the fact is that they still made the conscious choice to come out here and lend their aid wherever it could be given to us, and such selflessness is what we all need to remember Heroes are supposed to embody. Even after what we've all suffered in order to get here…we shouldn't allow ourselves to forget that Heroes, especially the young ones, ultimately embody the hope of the world, especially when it feels like there is none to be had.]]
Nikolay felt like shrinking back when more and more people in the crowd started eyeing him and his classmates at Leonid's mentioning, but thankfully Father Sergei was quick to finally speak up as well: [[Everything that we all do here, each and every day, whether it's us or the Heroes that visit to try and help us, is all part of the same ultimate goal: helping to restore our hope, and to help make the best of what we have here, and make no mistake that we have a lot here to be thankful for. At the end of the day, everything we do is ultimately to help each other, for helping each other as a concept, is what helps keep the fabric of society bound together and strong.
[[Helping each other is how we've managed to keep ourselves from being scattered by the winds, even all these years after the damage wrought by the Siberian Flash, and the hardships that came after it. It all may have cost us our old homes…but in the end, it allowed us all to come together, find this new home for ourselves and each other, and has ultimately helped our community become one great, strong family. That love, that solidarity, is what will always keep us together, and is the single greatest proof that, no matter what anyone else could possibly say about us, we are all ultimately still just as human as anyone else. So let us embrace that notion, just as we embrace each other, and give thanks for the lives we still have here, and have this be a night to celebrate.]]
The whole crowd, even as they were wrought with great emotion, all but erupted into wild applause as the two older men stepped down from the stage. As Andrei and his friends took their places upon the stage, and the crowd continued to cheer as they began to play an assortment of both electronic and traditional Slavic instruments, creating a bizarre combination of folk and clear-cut post-punk music, Mina and Nikolay's heads were both still echoing with that one all-encompassing word Father Sergei had spoken to them all: love.
So loudly was that word still echoing in both their heads and hearts, that neither of them were even truly conscious of how they could simply feel each other's approaching presence to one another amid the crowd, and how their hands instinctively reached out and held onto one another as the music simply continued to build in volume, with the crowd's cheers following suit.
As the show really began to commence, Maja was still watching the three young Hero students intently. After a few minutes, she could just barely make out a familiar sounding adult man's voice speaking from her right, causing her to look that way, just in time to find the familiar little blonde-haired boy from yesterday, the same one who she had personally seen resurrect the dog at the orphanage with a miraculous Quirk, Valera; with his two parents anxiously following after the small child to keep him from wandering off.
As soon as the father, whom she could vaguely recall having overheard was named Alexei, had made sure his son wasn't about to run off again, he turned his attention to the ongoing musical performance ahead, before just as quickly noticing the turquoise-haired girl glancing his way; his youthful-yet-mature face reflecting similar recognition. [[Oh, good evening, young lady. I remember you from the accident site yesterday. I apologize for causing such a scene among everyone.]]
However, despite his clear guilt, Alexei was instead answered with a good-humored chuckle from Maja. [[Don't worry about it. We helped everyone simmer down, and it looks to be all good. At least it didn't get bad enough to scare our guests off for good.]]
With that, Alexei was anxiously looking across the crowd, and as soon as he spotted the head of short dark brown hair and olive mariner's cap amid the throng that he knew now belonged to Tunguska's son; his embarrassed and guilt-ridden expression instantly lit up. Maja just as quickly saw this, and couldn't help but think back to her own questions from yesterday: [[So you actually knew that boy's father? I mean, personally?]]
Realizing what he was being asked, Alexei's blue eyes reflected total admiration. [[That's right. We'd worked together at the shipyards in Vladivostok for years. I can't believe I'd never even put it together that he was Tunguska himself, until I saw him tackle a whole shipping container with his shoulder to keep me from getting crushed. He knew what would happen if he exposed himself, and yet he acted regardless, and my boy still has a father because of it. I'll never be able to thank Tunguska enough for that, no matter what he may or may not have done before, regarding the Flash.
[[I can't even begin to imagine what living in a place like what Russia's turned into for that long, and listening to all the media call that man a monster and a murderer must've done to that boy of his. Taking all that into consideration, just to now find him here with a bunch of other young future Heroes, still stepping up to do what's right, despite everything he's had to have lost like all these other people…I have to admit, it's enough to bring a tear to your eye when you really think about it. It really helps restore one's faith these days, I'll say that much.]]
Alexei had long since drifted from directly answering Maja to simply expressing his innermost thoughts for himself. However, that didn't change the fact, that his deeply genuine sentiments had stricken a surprising chord with her. Looking back to Nikolay, Mina and Kyouka together, now had Maja feeling a deep twisting sensation of…longing; whether it was for exactly what they clearly had, or something similar, she honestly couldn't say. It just left her with a feeling that, perhaps, the overall familial feeling she'd felt before from all her own comrades had been absent longer than she had thought.
And that maybe, just maybe, the prospect of being a Hero might not have been such an empty and pointless effort after all, if circumstances were just different enough for her and all of them.
In the deeper halls of Pietro's compound, Alyosha Mikhalkov was, at long last, guiding an exasperated Gazsi out of his lab and sending him on his way, the young Hungarian muttering primarily to himself: [[Next time you have to treat a wound, just rip the band-aid off and say they'll be suffering stiffness for a while. You think I actually like staying down here for that long?]]
[[I appreciate the company too, Backtrack. Now head on up and see if Pietro Dobrynich needs anything from you. I need to finish up my work, finally.]] Alyosha muttered the last part to himself as he finally shut the door, all too anxious to finally get back to finishing his work on the bullet. The breakthrough he'd been silently hoping to reach for the last several days now felt so close after all the testing he'd done, he could just about taste it.
DING!
The resulting ring through his lab may not have been for what he'd been hoping, but it at least was a sign he no longer needed to divide his time and efforts. At last, after much distraction and medical work, his testing on the collected samples of Gazsi's blood had been complete. Now he just needed to look over the results, then he could finally put this distraction aside and get to the more exciting prospect.
Tearing the printed results free, he at first began simply perusing through it nonchalantly and disinterested…but by the time he'd gotten less than halfway through, and especially once he saw some of the images his computers had taken at the microscopic level, all his attention on his work had plummeted into a stomach-churning and blood-chilling realization of horror.
The paper hadn't even touched the ground by the time Alyosha nearly threw his lab door off its hinges with his shoulder, charging with all the speed he could muster, desperate to find Pietro. Upon turning another corner halfway up the stairs to the ground floor, he nearly knocked the long dome-headed Ocean Master onto his back, the taller man taking the full brunt of his speed and clutching onto his arms tight. [[Alyosha Stepanovich, what the hell is wrong with you?!]]
However, his fumble was the last thing on the scientist's mind, as even through the mechanical extendable scopes protruding from his eye sockets, the rest of his face communicated pure dread. [[Where is Pietro?! I need to speak to him at once! I just got the final results of Backtrack's blood work from his bullet wound! It picked up faint traces of microscopic tracking devices, things like I'd never seen before I'd fled the Union! You removing the tracking device from that submarine made no difference, don't you understand?! They were able to track us all the way here through Backtrack himself!]]
Just outside the front entrance to the compound, upon Gazsi's long-awaited return and confirmed clean bill of health from Alyosha down below, Pietro Granin was stretching the day's worth of strain from his joints, just as the rest of his young recruits were, all visibly exhausted after yet another day of training and hard community and security work. [[Alright, everyone, you've all done a damn admirable day's work around here. I'd say you've all earned the right to an evening's relaxation. Why don't you all head to town, enjoy the homecoming show, and I'll even let you all sleep in an hour's worth tomorrow morning?]]
All the while, up in the forested hills just outside the perimeter wall, Konstantin Khodamchuk and his whole team had long since set themselves up under the cover of all the foliage; all their scopes and barrels aimed perfect into the courtyard, with a clear view of all the windows on the face of the old hospital, too.
Just the sight of the whole near-dozen of their now-confirmed terrorists just standing right out in the open upon exiting the building, had Elena Ustinovka all but licking her lips in anticipation as she refused to let her aim falter, her finger just barely hovering over the trigger. [[You guys better give the word soon, or else I will.]]
[[We're not going spray-and-pray on this, Elena. When I give the word, we have to make sure we know who's targeting who and synchronize our fire. They won't give us a second chance if we miss.]] Konstantin's voice, while low, was brimming with a deathly seriousness none of his old soldiers could mistake. This was truly do-or-die for them, and possibly the whole country, given what these people before them had access to.
It had only been a couple of minutes since the whole bunch had finally stepped outside, but they had remained so closely huddled together, it was hard for him to get a clear view of their faces. However, once they were just in front of the only gate in the wall, and the majority of them began to part, a taller and clearly older figure among them began to become more prominent, especially thanks to his unmistakable old Red Army uniform underneath a matching commander jacket hanging over his shoulders.
Once Konstantin saw the face of the man wearing these clothes; that of a grizzled older man with numerous scars adorning his jaw line, short black hair with large streaks of gray, and piercing orange eyes; for the first time any of his comrades could recall, his continuous sense of professional calm momentarily cracked. Being right beside the man, Angel's Eye could unmistakably hear Konstantin muttering to nobody in particular: [[No…that's impossible. I killed you. I saw you die.]]
[[Orders, sir?]] Anatoly Grischenko asked in a hushed whisper, clearly unsettled that they were apparently looking upon a single man that could actually have this kind of effect on their usually level-headed leader.
Without even hesitating, Konstantin immediately answered: [[That man down there has to be their leader. He's the single most dangerous out of the bunch. Angel's Eye, you're the best shot out of all of us. Get him in your sights and take the shot.]] Without asking questions, the sharpshooter did as he was told, and Pietro unknowingly had an unavoidable gun sight settled right on his head, as he was in the middle of bidding good night to his young soldiers.
Down in the courtyard, at the very split moment before the trigger was finally pulled, Pietro instinctively turned upon hearing the front doors to the hospital being thrown open, surprised to find Ocean Master and Alyosha sprinting his way; the latter looking white as a sheet.
K-CRACK!
With an air-splitting crack sounding from within the forest just ahead, Alyosha and his dome-headed comrade nearly came collapsing to the ground when they suddenly saw the top of Pietro's skull practically split open as though someone had run a fine blade across it, a huge plume of blood spraying out upon contact as the bullet's trail went right across his original scar on the left edge of his scalp.
The sound had also instantly alerted all of his soldiers as they had been halfway out the gate, and the moment they all saw Pietro collapse to the ground with a geyser of blood spraying from his head; their fight-or-flight instincts kicked in like they were a team of pure death machines, their senses sharpening to a point they skipped right past the initial confusion and immediately managed to hone in on where the sound of the gunshot had come from.
[[Again! Shoot him again; I need to see his skull splatter like a rotten fruit to be sure!]] Konstantin sounded downright frantic, despite them all having seen Angel's Eye's shot hit its target, just not dead center as he had planned, thanks to Pietro turning at the last possible second when he fired.
Despite the panic from his current boss, the sharpshooter instantly loaded another round and got his sights centered on the already motionless Pietro's bloodied head, but just as he began to land his finger on the trigger again—
WHAM!
From literally out of nowhere, the sniper was getting nearly folded in half from the forceful kick of an inhumanly fast-moving Gust, sending him tumbling and rolling across this tiny clearing and straight into another tree, instantly teleporting herself away before any of the others could get their sights on her.
The swiftly approaching sound of something slicing through the air reached Elena's ear before the others, and within a moment of glancing the way she heard it coming, just in time to see a few trees up ahead swiftly getting sliced down in a straight line, the words just came rushing right out her throat: [[GET DOWN!]]
By some miracle, everyone heard her and threw themselves to the ground, just as that same line came zipping right through the clearing and cutting down all the trees immediately around them at an angle that would have effortlessly beheaded all of them if they hadn't.
They were all immediately getting back onto their feet with their guns at the ready, just in time to catch sight of Scythe launching himself from atop the nearest stump of the trees he'd cut down, his hands both reared back and ready to drive an air spear right through the nearest two of his comrades' attackers.
Elena already had her gun trained on the quickly approaching Ukrainian, but the moment she was about to pull the trigger, she felt a sudden piercing pain in her left cheek, and before she realized it, no matter how much she was trying to will it, she couldn't pull the trigger.
Anatoly quickly threw himself in between his comrade and Scythe, holding his sizeable gun up to act as some kind of shield, only for a brief burst of rapid gunfire to erupt from the left side of the clearing, ripping through both his legs and sending him toppling down, and leaving Elena wide open for Scythe to thrust both his fists forward, nailing her twice in her midsection with devastating penetrating force that sent her collapsing and rolling back into another fallen tree. Only instead of two gaping bloody impalement holes like Scythe had been expecting, he instead found what looked like a few busted ends of some kind of metal apparatus underneath her uniform.
He couldn't allow himself to stay surprised for long, though, as the remaining attackers were already getting their guns trained on him, but just as the Mohawk-wearing Boris Tartakov was about to squeeze the trigger, his entire field of vision suddenly turned to pitch black, quickly followed by the same piercing pain Elena had suffered, only this time, instead of simply freezing, his arms forcibly aimed his gun downwards and subsequently made him pull the trigger twice on his own feet, blowing them both off.
The hulking Ilya Toptunov immediately turned back, ready to blow away or beat down whoever was bold enough to come charging him; half expecting the same girl that had waylaid Angel's Eye before. Instead, however, he was met with the sight of a single black-haired and goateed young man in white and red rushing him through the brush all on his own, with the rest of his comrades similarly charging in behind him, but too far away to provide any real help.
With adrenaline rushing through his veins, Ilya decided to close the distance himself and swing a massive fist straight into this young terrorist's face, all but ready to feel the sweet sensation of impact as he drove his knuckles straight into his cheek and knocked every one of his teeth right out…only for that very same sensation to immediately explode across the left half of his own face without his opponent even needing to raise a finger, as though every last ounce of that power in his punch had immediately been transferred unto himself, knocking Ilya spinning right off his feet and down to the ground.
It was all now down to Konstantin Khodamchuk himself, and as he desperately looked around only to find all of his comrades incapacitated, and himself vastly outnumbered by the very terrorists he'd been sent here to eliminate, every last course of action he'd prepared for now had him turning to the small single-shot pistol tucked under his uniform for just such an occasion as this.
Unfortunately, just as he began to reach for the handle and the sweet release that would come with it, he found his arms both getting gripped in a pair of massive and clearly furious hands, having been snuck upon and grabbed by the seething Grenadier, who let out a furious war cry before practically lifting the older man over his head and driving him into the ground head-first in a furious body slam, knocking every last ounce of air out of him, and leaving his head ringing to the point it would have been a miracle if Konstantin hadn't instantly blacked out.
With the fight having ended just as quickly as it had started, that did nothing to ease the tempers of the collected group of Pietro's universally furious soldiers. Ljubomir, Eliška, Danila and Jozef, or Spitfire, especially looked nearly rabid with rage, as the towering Serb already had both his hands disjointing at the wrists, aiming both his arm barrels at Konstantin and Elena point-blank. [[I say we blast every last one of these sacks of shit to kingdom come! Why are we even waiting!?]]
[[That's too quick! Let me put my control over them and make them break their own fingers and limbs one by one!]] Eliška screamed just as she drove a furious boot straight into Konstantin's side, even though the man was still completely unconscious and unable to feel it.
[[Let's at least get whatever that fancy metal shit the woman's wearing off first. I should've been able to punch holes through her like it was nothing!]] Danila immediately suggested, unable to take his eyes off the wrecked armor underneath Elena's uniform.
[[All of you stand down!]] The sudden intrusion of the dome-headed elder soldier among them thankfully managed to silence their anger and arguing amongst themselves; all eyes upon him as he finished ascending the hill to ascertain just who had the gall to attack them like this.
Upon seeing their especially covert uniforms, thanks to his personal history with the military, his sense of authority quickly kicked in. [[These people are special ops, really bad news for us if they have reinforcements out here. They'd only have the guts to come all this way if they were operating off the books with government approval. We don't know how many more we could be dealing with. Keeping them alive and in our custody may give us just the advantage we need.]]
While Eliška, Ljubomir and Marius all looked like they wanted to tell their virtually faceless comrade to shove that order down his throat, the finally returned Tuule, or Gust, suddenly chimed in: [[Hold up! Before we do anything, we gotta do something about Commander Pietro!]]
The reminder of what they'd just seen happen to their commander and father-figure had both sadness and tempers flaring right back up, as Hristofor finally asked: [[Yeah! Just what the hell are we all supposed to do if he's dead?!]]
That very notion got the fuming Bulgarian a swift back of Ocean Master's hand to his face, as Pietro's official second-in-command stood tall and powerful before them all, just as his position now demanded. [[He's not going to die! I won't let it happen! Alyosha is already moving him down to his lab! The rest of you get back inside, but Grenadier, Petto and Blackout, you'll all help me get this lot down into the sub-level. We'll need them secure for when the time comes for questions.]]
As Danila, Marius, Jozef, Tuule and the visibly agonizing Gazsi begrudgingly took their leave for the compound; Ocean Master, Ljubomir, Hristofor and Eliška were already busy lifting up their unconscious assailants, following after the rest of their comrades.
However, while he was still willing to follow the dome-headed soldier's orders, Ljubomir was still nearly grinding his teeth with rage as he looked around: [[Goddammit, where the hell is Knot?!]]
What the Serb didn't realize then, was that simply by asking that question, he had gotten a miraculous set of wheels turning in Eliška's head, bringing her to a stop. [[She's already in town for the show with all those Kapenta Heroes, like the rest of the citizens…and if they're all there…then that kid just might be, too.]]
Hristofor was nearly brought down to his knees when the young Czech woman suddenly threw her unconscious captive onto his free shoulder, watching as she bolted right after the departing Estonian, Tuule, and nearly sent her spinning as she pulled back on her shoulder. [[Gust, I need you to get e down to town to find Knot! I just might know how we can save the Commander's life!]]
The sheer energy with which she said this proved to be all the convincing Tuule needed, as before anyone else could even ask just what Eliška was planning, the two female members of the army instantly teleported right out the courtyard, jumping twenty meters at a time all the way to town; the very fate of their leader and their cause hanging in the balance.
By some miracle, the combined volumes of the ongoing music and the celebrating crowd managed to keep anyone in the town proper from hearing the fight that had just occurred. A fortunate turn of events, as the last thing Pietro's soldiers wanted was for the townspeople, and especially the Heroes, to come investigating and stumbling upon a whole mess of very scary questions and even more frightening answers.
It didn't take long for Eliška and Tuule to spot Maja from within the crowd, as she had already sequestered herself to the rear edge of the audience thumping to the music. Even more miraculously, her Czech comrade could also already make out the sight of the very same little boy she'd had in mind for their last saving grace, just mere feet from Maja, albeit closely accompanied by the two adults she too recognized as his parents.
In order to avoid making a scene, she and Tuule quickly hid themselves behind a nearby corner across the road, and the Estonian girl hurriedly pulled out a tiny laser pointer from her pocket, carefully aiming it so that it would only draw Maja's attention, and no one else's.
Within seconds, the constant red glaring light out the corner of her eye forced Maja to draw her attention from the show and her three young Yuuei companions, only to be surprised by the unmistakably urgent looks on her two comrades' faces, even in the dark of early night, as the sun had by now finally set.
Fortunately for them all, nobody else was paying any attention to them, so Maja hurried over to rejoin her three comrades, already feeling a worried twisting sensation in her stomach, since nothing she could automatically think of could make someone as tough as Eliška Horáčková look this panicked. [[Hey, you guys. What's wrong? What's going on?]]
Eliška quickly put her hand to the Polish girl's mouth as she prepared to give her the hardest news she'd had to hear yet: [[Listen, somebody attacked the compound, a group of six people in some kind of fancy-ass spec ops uniforms…and they shot Commander Pietro. Doctor Alyosha's trying to save him as we speak, but…if worse comes to worst…we need that little boy, Valera, over there. If he was able to bring that run-over dog back yesterday, he just might be able to do something here, too. But you know we can't have his parents finding out anything about what's going on over there, or any of these people for that matter.]]
It was honestly amazing that the news of their leader getting shot and being at risk of death hadn't sent Maja into an absolute panic, but it was clear that she was now just as involved and ready to take action as they were. Looking back to the crowd, specifically Nikolay, Mina and Kyouka, Maja's brow furrowed as she spoke back to her comrades: [[Alright. I'll try to drive those three and their Pro Hero mentors out of town. If anyone would start asking questions, it'd be them. While I get them away, you take control of Valera and bring him over to you, and you and Gust get him to the compound ASAP. I'll meet back up with you there afterward. The show will still be going on for a while, so if all goes well, we could get Valera back to his parents before they even realize he was ever missing.]]
All three girls were in agreement, and so Maja cleared her throat and hurriedly approached the thankfully still-gathered trio of Yuuei students before her, tapping them all on the shoulder and getting their attention, and managing to put on the same casual smile she had been with them all day. [[Hey, guys. I'm sorry to be the stick in the mud, but I just remembered, these homecoming shows tend to go for a really long time through the night, and I'm willing to bet you guys don't exactly have the day off from school tomorrow, do you?]]
Unfortunately, that one question was all it took for Nikolay and his friends to realize just where Maja was going with this, and the unfortunate sense she was making. With the still-lengthy train ride they had to take back to Yuuei, they couldn't afford to stay out here for very much longer, if at all. They all looked notably disappointed, but Mina's pout clearly showed her to be the most so. [[Aw, boo! I was having so much fun, too!]]
[[Aww, it's okay, Mina-chan. If we keep coming up here for a while, we might get lucky and catch a show from those guys again.]] Kyouka suggested with an optimistic smirk, thankfully bringing the same to the pink girl's face.
All the while, Nikolay could already see De-Condenser, Blast Beat and The Giver just a tiny ways ahead in the crowd. [[I'll go ask our Sensei's to take us back so we can get changed and head home.]]
Just as he began to leave, he quickly turned back to address the similarly regretful-looking Maja. [[Thank you so much for all your hospitality and help, Maja. You really are a lot more than I thought you were before.]]
With his example, Mina and Kyouka similarly expressed thanks to their young host and possible friend, especially as Mina happily pulled her into a joyful hug, just as Nikolay returned not only with their instructors, but also Leonid as well, who had similarly overheard their need to leave for the night.
[[Thank you all so much for coming again and helping where you could. It won't be forgotten by anyone here for quite some time, I can assure you.]] Leonid thanked them once they had returned to the entryway for the town, prompting all the visiting Heroes to simultaneously bow in returned thanks, with De-Condenser soon mentioning: [[Erumi-san and I will still come by tomorrow, but unfortunately our interns here still have classes to attend, so they unfortunately won't be with us, then. Hopefully you all don't party too hard and make too much of a mess.]]
With that, and a good round of well-humored laughter between them, and final goodbyes for the night, the Kapenta Agency Heroes and their Yuuei interns finally took their leave to call it a night, while Leonid simply went back into town, none the wiser of just what had happened on the outskirts of the crowd while they had all had their backs turned.
While Maja had kept the whole bunch distracted, Eliška had wasted no time flicking one of the strands of her hair right into the unsuspecting Valera's neck, having been standing right behind his parents' legs and clumsily moving as best he could to the music. The moment she knew contact had been made, she immediately willed the kid to keep his mouth shut and to come her way.
Once he had gotten close enough, and all the while sure that nobody else seemed to notice, Eliška hurriedly grabbed the little boy, and the moment she did, Tuule grabbed onto her, and the trio were instantly gone and out of sight, rushing back to the compound, while Maja had by now likewise started hurrying her way back.
Once their train ride back to Yuuei had started after once more saying goodbye to their mentors until Wednesday, Nikolay, Mina and Kyouka were all itching to know each other's answer to their one universal question, which the pink girl was naturally the most eager to ask: "So, what do you guys think? Is this all super cool, or what?!"
Kyouka was surprisingly quick to answer: "Oh, definitely! Blast Beat-sensei makes an awesome teacher! Even on patrol, we were bouncing off each other just talking about music in a way I don't think I've ever been able to do with anyone. Honestly, I'm already considering being his sidekick."
Mina and Nikolay both looked utterly ecstatic for their usually withdrawn friend, while the Russian boy likewise answered enthusiastically: "Today went so much smoother this time! I'm really feeling good about how we could end up doing out here, you guys! De-Condenser-sensei and Giver-sensei both have really good heads on their shoulders, and a lot of those people in Gagaringrad already seem to be warming up to us. We might have a really good setup here."
By now, Mina was practically holding herself up by two of the handles hanging from the roof, just to try and work out her bristling energy like she was on a jungle gym, thankfully not making too much of a scene, as there was hardly anybody else in their train car. "Right? Right?! Coming up and interning for this place was the best idea ever! Everybody at the Agency is so cool! I can't wait to hear how Yaomomo and Iida-san did!"
At the mention of their two presidents, though, Kyouka suddenly eyed her own backpack and hurriedly began rummaging through, before pulling out one of their familiar textbooks and her own notebook. "Yeah, speaking of, maybe we might wanna get a head start on this while we're riding. I don't want them to think we're slacking off on school in the middle of all this, y'know?"
Thankfully, Nikolay and Mina both could easily understand their short-haired friend's reasoning, even if Mina personally pouted at the idea of having to do boring homework on a train ride back from a fun-filled day of Hero interning.
But, study they all three ultimately resigned themselves to doing, for the whole duration of their train ride back, from one line to the next. However, along the way, even as she both genuinely tried, and momentarily pretended to be looking over her textbooks and taking notes and answering questions, Mina kept finding herself mentally going back to the conversation she and Maja had at the show earlier; not only about the fact that Nikolay was apparently keeping that special locket she'd given him in his Hero costume (spurring Mina to glance at his costume suitcase every now and then), but also about those last words of warning the girl had given her: "Just take the chance when you can and tell him so. If you keep putting it off, you just might find yourself in a place where you'll never be able to tell him, and it'll eat you alive."
Mina knew Maja was absolutely right, this simply made her the second person to tell her that. It was honestly killing her that she simply hadn't decided to take the risk and just tell the boy. He was sitting right next to her, and all there was to witness was Kyouka, who had pretty much sent Mina down this path of emotional self-discovery to begin with (at least as far as she could feasibly think at any given moment). What was honestly stopping her from just simply getting Nikolay's attention and finally telling him just how much she now knew she genuinely loved him?
The lack of an answer to that question was only that much more painful. However, with already so many different people telling Mina to take the chance, it did bring one decision to the forefront of her mind as she sat in that train car: no matter what happened, one way or another, she was not going to head into the next week without having finally sucked it up, and told Nikolay everything, consequences be damned. This wasn't just Mina telling this to herself as some kind of platitude, this was a solemn oath to herself sworn on everything she personally held nearest and dearest in her life. By the end of this week, everything was going to change, one way or another.
Maja had no idea just how fast she had run from town back to the compound, but all she could figure was that it had to be a personal record for her, as once she had passed through the courtyard gates, Eliška and Tuule had only just beaten her to it as well, as Maja found both girls rushing through the front entrance with the wailing Valera in their arms.
Once she followed them inside, Maja found the rest of her comrades already gathered in the lobby, their faces all the picture of desperation while they were ushering the girls with the screaming little boy down in the direction of Alyosha's lab.
As soon as they realized Maja had finally returned, she was like a girl on a mission, eager for any one of them to give her an answer: [[Is he going to be alright? Where are the people that did this?]]
However, Ocean Master was very quick to keep her from proceeding any further. [[We have them in holding for later on. Don't worry, they will pay for this. Right now, we just need to focus on helping Pietro, alright? You all need to keep your heads on a swivel, and don't let yourselves fall into despair just yet.]]
[[OH MY GOD! HEY, YOU GUYS, GET DOWN HERE!]] Eliška's voice echoed up from down below, and like a shot, everyone rushed down to see just what was going on that could have her genuinely screaming like she was.
When they all finally reached the open door to Alyosha's lab, amid Valera's continued hysterical sobbing, the first thing they could all hear was the last thing any of them ever wanted to: the prolonged beep of an EKG reader flatlining.
Maja, Ljubomir, Hristofor and Danila practically forced their way through the door and into the lab, greeted by the sight of Alyosha hunched over Pietro's prone body on an operating table, almost completely covered in blood as he removed the latest of nearly two dozen blood-soaked rags from the opening in their leader's skull in an attempt to try and staunch the bleeding with what few supplies he ultimately had. Unfortunately, by the sheer look of defeat on his face, it simply wasn't enough.
He could just feel the hearts of the young soldiers all simultaneously break when he looked at their eyes. [[I'm so sorry, everyone. I tried the best I could with what I had, but…there wasn't anything I could do.]]
All the while, the sight of so much blood had the already hysterical Valera start wailing even louder with horror. Maja could easily understand how overwhelmed the child was, he was barely more than four years old from the looks of him; no child deserved to see something so grotesque. However, while everyone else was letting the loss of their leader bring them down to abysmal depths of emotional despair, she could only feel that much more determination to try and fix things.
As such, she steadfastly approached the sobbing little boy still in Eliška's arms, taking Valera into her own and forcing him to only look at her and nothing else. [[Valera, it's okay, I know this is all super scary, and you must be really confused. We didn't mean to take you from your parents, but don't worry. We'll have you back with them safe and sound in no time. We only need you to help us bring back this nice man, alright?]]
Her approachable tone was thankfully managing to get the little boy to at least partially come down, but when she momentarily nodded in the direction of what he knew was the bloody man on the table, his already red face was starting to turn even darker with even more tears.
However, Maja didn't let that stop her as she once again leaned her head in so that he had no choice but to meet her eyes. [[I know, I know, Valera, it's really scary, of course it is, but he's not going to hurt you, nobody's going to hurt you. We just need your help. I saw what you did with that dog yesterday, how you brought him back. Your daddy even said you've done that trick of yours with other animals before. Is that true? Do you like helping animals not to hurt?]]
The talk of animals proved to be a stroke of genius, as Valera sniffled and gave an incredibly nervous nod in response. This brought the beginnings of a reassuring smile to Maja's face. [[Well, that's what we're asking you to do for this nice man here. He's a good person who just wants to keep helping all the people in that nice town you and your parents live in, okay?]]
Valera was still too scared to actually look back at all the blood, but it actually seemed like Maja's gentle tone, in light of just what they were dealing with, was actually getting through to him, as the toddler barely managed to speak the words: [[Daddy say…Hero…help people.]]
Maja's pink-blue eyes practically lit up. [[That's right, Heroes help people, and this man here helps people, too. He's pretty much a Hero, too. If you can help make him not hurt anymore, he can keep helping people. You'd be helping us, too. You'd be a Hero if you helped us, Valera. Do you want to be a Hero, too?]]
Despite the frightened tears leaving his red face shiny in the lights of the lab, Valera finally seemed to get himself to stop sobbing; a very admirable show of courage for being so young. Finally, he gave a single nod.
Taking a deep and resolved breath, Maja finally approached the operating table, trying harder than ever to keep her own composure at the sight of the state Pietro was in; trying to mentally block out the continuing flatline sound filling the lab. When she finally turned Valera to look at the motionless adult below, she and the others could already hear the small child whimpering with great discomfort and fear at such a gruesome sight.
And yet, by some kind of steely resolve virtually unheard of in such a small child, he somehow managed to keep himself from crying, and instead; just like he'd done with the dog just the day before, Valera reached his hands out and placed them on Pietro's bloodied face.
Before everyone's eyes, that same all-encompassing golden glow of pure warmth emitted from Valera's hands; forcing many of them to shield their eyes from the sight, while Maja kept her own shut tight, never letting go of Valera the entire way through.
When the light finally dissipated, and everyone could bring themselves to look and see if their miracle last resort had actually panned out, they all felt their hearts catch in their throats at the sight of the once gaping and profusely bleeding gouging head wound along Pietro's scalp had not only been closed up, but had already since then scarred over and fully healed. Even despite all the blood still all over the operating table, Pietro Dobrynich Granin looked good as new, only now with a second scar running across the top of his scalp. All the while, Valera now looked completely exhausted in Maja's arms.
Before anyone could ask if either Pietro or Valera were truly okay, their leader suddenly opened his eyes, taking a deep gasp for air, and momentarily began spasming like crazy upon the operating table. The risk of causing him to further injure himself in the process, prevented Alyosha and Ocean Master from rushing in to hold Pietro down.
Thankfully, this whole period of uncontrollable activity only lasted little more than ten seconds, and afterwards, Pietro looked to finally be calming down and taking deep breaths while trying to regain his bearings.
As he slowly sat back up on the operating table before the eyes of all his followers and soldiers, they were all simply shocked at the miracle they had just witnessed, and the groundbreaking Quirk this little blonde-haired toddler had just proven himself to possess to them all.
Alyosha and Ocean Master were quick to notice that, where Pietro's eyes had once been a piercing shade of orange, they had now turned a vibrant red. However, that was far from the most pertinent question, as Alyosha finally decided to speak up: [[Pietro Dobrynich Granin? I understand you must have just gone through quite the shock. Try not to move around too much for now. Can you understand what I'm saying?]]
As soon as he took another deep and calming breath, Pietro lifted his head, trying to adjust his eyes to the bright lights of the lab. By now, the rest of his soldiers likewise noticed the change in his eye color. [[Yes…yes, I can understand you, Alyosha Stepanovich. Goddamn, my head is killing me. What happened?]]
Seeing that none of the soldiers had the heart to tell him, Alyosha once again took the initiative: [[This is going to be rather…off-putting, sir, but our compound got attacked by a Russian spec-ops team. They shot and…well, I suppose there's no easy way of saying this…they technically killed you, sir.]]
Just as he'd expected, Pietro's eyes went wide, and even as his returning blood flow was slowly restoring the color to his face, Pietro's complexion paled with the realization. [[But…if they killed me, then how am I sitting here talking to any of you right now?]]
That was the question that finally spurred Eliška to speak up, nudging Maja and Valera forward. [[That's all thanks to this incredible little boy, sir. His name's Valera. We'd all seen him use his Quirk to resurrect a dog that had been hit by a car and killed yesterday…so it seemed a desperate enough shot to take.]]
Seeing the similarly shocked looks on his soldier's faces, along with their silent nods to confirm he wasn't being messed with, Pietro looked positively shaken to his core, knowing now there was someone in this very room with such an incredible Quirk at their disposal: genuine resurrection of the dead.
[[How…how exactly do you feel right now, sir?]] Maja finally asked, and upon realizing just how worried they all had to have been, Pietro was finally able to take that moment to really gauge just how he really was feeling…and the more he moved his limbs and rolled his joints, the more his face began to form a genuine smile of complete and total relief.
[[To be honest with you all…I can't remember the last time I've felt this alive, and I don't just mean literally. I'd honestly been dealing with this incredible pain in my head for such a long time, and it kept me from truly being able to think about anything clearly…but now, for the first time in i-don't-know-how-long, I feel like I have genuine clarity in my head again!]]
It was clear to everyone that the experience was leaving Pietro completely rejuvenated, but Alyosha still was quick to step in and keep him from getting down from the operating table just yet. However, their leader's focus right now was entirely on Valera, who despite his clear exhaustion, actually looked happy to see the nice man he'd been asked to help was now okay again.
Upon making eye contact, Pietro reached forward and playfully mussed up the small child's hair. [[Thank you, Valera. You've done a great service you can never possibly be able to truly comprehend right now. Your Quirk is a true miracle.]]
The little boy was still clearly too wiped out to actually say anything, but by now Pietro's attention was back to what he had just been told had actually happened to him: [[So you said a team of people are responsible for this? Where are they right now?]]
However, Alyosha once more found himself holdings his arms out to keep Pietro from descending back onto his feet. [[Please try not to be too hasty, sir. They're being held in detainment right now; they won't cause us any more trouble. However, your body has just been through an incredible deal of stress. You still need the night to regain your strength.]]
With a heavy sigh, Pietro lifted his eyes to look over his whole assortment of soldiers. [[Yes…yes, you're right. In fact, I know we all need a good night's sleep after all of this. All of you make sure you get a good few hours sleep tonight, but let's not take any chances with security. Three of you take up a perimeter watching shift, and trade off with each other every two hours so you can all get some rest. Come tomorrow, we can try to get things back in working order again, and I need us all in full working order for that.]]
It was already clear that many of them didn't want to take any chances of leaving Pietro on his own after what had just happened, but a stern look from their leader made it clear he was being serious. As such, one by one they began to file out of Alyosha's lab to take up their respective places for now tonight. [[Knot, Petto, Blackout, Grenadier, you all stay for just a second. There's something I want to tell you.]]
Maja could only imagine just how serious this had to be, that their leader would actually rescind an order for any of them, and express a desire to speak to them personally, especially in the wake of what he'd just gone through and come back from. As soon as they returned to his side on the operating table, Pietro turned his attention to Ocean Master. [[Take Valera for now, would you? I don't want to disturb him when he looks so tired.]]
Following his reasoning, Maja gave the drowsy-looking child to her dome-headed comrade, and looked back to their leader with an expectant smile, which he already was returning. [[Considering where you all were yesterday, would I be correct in assuming you all had seen what this little boy, Valera, did yesterday that made you think to bring him here to help me?]]
[[Yes, sir,]] they all immediately responded while keeping their voices down for the sake of Valera himself.
With that, and another momentary glance to the child in Ocean Master's arms, Pietro's smile grew ever warmer. [[Then I owe you all an indescribable amount of gratitude. You've found me the miracle Quirk I'd been hoping for; the Quirk that's going to make the carrying out of all our future plans that much less complicated…and far less risky.]]
Ljubomir, Hristofor and Eliška all nodded with a resounding air of agreement and understanding…something that Maja, for once, seemed completely disconnected from. [[W-what exactly do you mean, sir? This was a one-time thing; we need to get Valera back to his parents.]]
THOOM!
With an inhuman swiftness and strength, Pietro suddenly threw his arm out and grasped onto the top of Maja's head, driving his thumb into her forehead as though his finger weren't even real, but a hologram phasing through a solid object harmlessly. In an instant, the confusion and surprise in Maja's eyes dimmed, and Pietro spoke with a voice that rippled through every physical fiber of her being, especially in her brain: [[Your parents died years ago, and you've traveled and trained with us ever since, and will follow my orders. Valera and his family moved away from Gagaringrad a few months ago to a nearby town and have only sporadically visited since. This little boy's name is Misha, and he is my son.]]
With that, Pietro finally released his grasp on Maja's head, and as her eyes slowly began to regain their light, her body became incredibly dizzy, prompting Ljubomir to swiftly step in and catch her. With that, Pietro simply ordered the loyal Serbian to take her to her room to get some sleep.
Once they were gone, while Hristofor and Eliška watched on silently with knowing looks in their eyes, Pietro turned his attention to the by-now asleep Valera, before placing his hand upon his little head, and drove his thumb into his brain like he already done to his Polish follower: [[Your parents abandoned you. You are my son now, and your name is Misha. I have raised you, and you will follow my orders.]]
With his immediate work on the little boy just as easily finished, Pietro finally turned to address Eliška. [[We can't have anyone start asking questions. Depending how much time has passed, the homecoming show in town may still be ongoing, so it'll be easy to have some people slip away. Petto, go into town, and use your Quirk to bring Valera's parents here. We'll keep them where they can't cause us any trouble. And Hristofor, start bringing the other soldiers in here one by one. I need to reestablish my Memory Rewrite's hold on them before it's too late. A trauma like a gunshot to the head will surely have broken the old connection; it'll just be a matter of time before their original memories come back.]]
The Czech woman and Bulgarian man's loyalty was unquestionable, as they both gave a resounding [[Yes, sir]] before heading out on their respective objectives, leaving Pietro alone in the lab with Alyosha and Ocean Master both silently watching on; their leader taking comfort in the fact that he once again had all his personal bases covered.
[[Tell me, sir; when you said that you're feeling a clarity like you haven't felt in years, am I to assume that means your conflicting personalities have finally balanced out at last?]] Alyosha finally asked, sounding as though he'd actually been anticipating a moment like this for a very long time.
Pietro simply lay back on the operating table, grimacing from the strain the bright lights still were having on his eyes. [[That's right. The first time around knocked it all about in my head and left me feeling like an even bigger conflicted mess than I already was, constantly being pulled back and forth between ambition and compassion. I never would have guessed a second shot to the head would be just what I needed to get everything to fall into place up there. Now, like you said, I need the night to get my strength back, and I've still got the rest of the soldiers to reconnect with. In the meantime, you get back to finishing your work on reverse-engineering that bullet, Alyosha Stepanovich. It, along with little Valera here, could prove to be the keys we need to really get ahead in this war of ours. And Ocean Master, go ahead and take the kid to one of the spare rooms. We need him good and rested, too.]]
Alyosha was already happily getting back to his terminal to continue his work, while the dome-head was in the middle of carrying the unconscious little boy out of the lab. Just as he reached the doorway, Pietro suddenly got back up and held a protesting hand up. [[Actually, wait! There's one last thing I wanted to ask: where exactly are we keeping the people who did this to me? I've got a fair number of questions for them, I'm sure you understand.]]
Ocean Master came to a momentary stop, barely looking back over his shoulder. [[We have them in the sub-levels. Also…I got a look at their faces, and…Pietro…Konstantin Khodamchuk was one of them. Probably their leader is my guess.]]
Pietro was deathly silent for a good minute, before his shoulders started to tremble, and the man honestly began to chuckle with anticipation to himself, instinctively reaching up to run his fingertips along the original scar along his head. [[Well now…this just got a lot more interesting. Now I guess I really will need to get my strength back. No way am I waiting any longer than I have to for this.]]
Pietro once more began to lie back down, prepared to completely force himself to sleep. However, when he realized Ocean Master was still in the doorway, the faceless man finally asked: [[Sir…what do you think we should do about the Heroes when they come back? Even if Petto removes this kid's parents from the public and they don't ask questions, there's no way they won't.]]
However, despite this very genuine cause for concern, Pietro surprisingly didn't look to be worried. [[This is why keeping ourselves so far removed from the daily goings-on of the town was so essential, comrade. We and our people don't make our way into their regular train of thought, so even if those Heroes did start asking questions, it's not like it would get them anywhere. Although you are right that we should at least keep an eye on them. That's what Knot and the others will ultimately be there for.]]
It was already clear that their leader's mind was completely settled on this current course of action. And thus, the dome-head finally took his leave, while Alyosha continued eagerly proceeding with his bullet work, and Pietro closed his eyes, silently counting down the moments until morning, and he could finally get back on his feet, and pay a personal visit to an old, old friend down below.
And there it is, everyone, this week's new chapter, and the plot is already starting to thicken.
Let me know what you think of this arc so far in a review, please. This, more than anywhere else, is where I need honest reader feedback.
Have a great rest of your week, and I will see you all with the next chapter on 03/05!
Also, all my thoughts and prayers go out to the people of the Ukraine, and the horrific situation they're currently in. I'm just one person amid a sea of human noise, but even one person showing compassion, genuine compassion, for a people's plight is a world more than no one saying or doing anything at all.