Hello again, everyone. Time for another step in setting up all the pieces for the core of this original story arc. I hope you all enjoy reading it, and if you like what you see here tonight, please be so kind as to leave a review.

I would like to give a thankful shout-out to my two beta readers and consultants, Mizu and Johnny, as well as the two artists who've been providing artwork for the chapters I've uploaded onto my DA account, 'ubasnaga': Syyndev and Akane Kahomi. You've all been instrumental in helping to get this story out to more and more people, and I can't express my gratitude to them all enough.

My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters, the original events surrounding them, and the alterations of established events that occur as a result of their existence.

A/N: [[]] indicates that characters are contextually speaking Russian.

Chapter 68

Something Amiss

(Что-То Не Так)

Tuesday, September 9th

Konstantin Khodamchuk couldn't begin to think about just what the last thing that had happened was which caused him to lose consciousness. He couldn't even begin to think of just how much time had to have passed between then and now as he finally began to stir. Because the only thing he could feel upon the return of consciousness, was the worst throbbing pain in the back of his skull he'd ever experienced.

The pain wouldn't subside, but as the moments passed and he let out an involuntary groan to signify he was waking up, many things became apparent to him: he had no idea where on earth he was, other than that it was frigid cold, the air was damp, and he couldn't even see a centimeter past his nose.

[[Sir…sir, can you hear me? Are you awake?]] The sound of a man's voice was emanating as though he were being spoken to while underwater. His brain was pounding within his skull as though he were in the middle of the world's worst hangover. However, whoever it was that was speaking to him was not alone, as soon more and more voices began to speak up, and with each passing second, those voices not only grew clearer, but more and more familiar.

[[Commander Khodamchuk, are you okay? Can you hear? For God's sakes, answer!]] The resonating impatience in Elena Ustinovka's voice finally hit the middle-aged man loud and clear, and at last was he able to focus enough to not only hear, but finally form cohesive words: [[Yes…yes, I can hear you…all of you.]]

The acoustics of everyone's voices echoing off the walls quickly made it apparent that wherever he and his people were being held, it was comparatively small, and somewhere man-made, from the texture of the floor and wall around him. Of course, along with the feelings of the environment was it immediately clear that his hands were restrained by a pair of cold steel shackles behind his back, and so were his feet.

[[Sir…where are we?]] The fear was instantly apparent in the young Boris Tartakov's voice, coming from his right, and while Konstantin's head was still pounding too much for him to answer immediately, that didn't stop his fellow soldier, Anatoly Grischenko, from answering with an almost furious spit: [[What the hell makes you think he'd know any more than the rest of us? We could be in a basement, a cave, or a shipping container about to get thrown in a goddamned volcano for all we know!]]

[[How many times do I have to tell you all to stop with the shouting? Wasting your energy on getting angry isn't going to solve anything.]] As soon as Konstantin heard the incomprehensibly calm sound of Angel's Eye's voice coming from the far corner of the room to his left; did all the once fuzzy memories come racing back of just how they'd gotten here, and with that, came Konstantin's returning sense of panic he'd felt at the most crucial point of their mission.

[[Everyone…did you see that man with the scars and the military coat go down? Did you all confirm it to be sure?]] Unfortunately, the lingering silence that immediately answered said everything but what he actually wanted to hear, all until the gentle giant known as Ilya Toptunov suddenly answered: [[With the first shot, yes. We couldn't even pop off a second before his army of freaks got the drop on us, though. They took us all down in seconds.]]

Despite the intense gravity of their circumstances now becoming abundantly clear, Konstantin let out a sigh of what could only have been described as relief with a twinge of unease. [[I've already heard all your voices, so obviously they didn't kill any of us.]]

Despite this, however, he was instantly answered by a series of disagreeing scoffs from Anatoly and Boris respectively: [[Yeah, but it wasn't for lack of trying. One of those monsters has some kind of Finger Machine Gun Quirk, blew the hell out of my legs!]] [[Yeah, and another one has some kind of Puppet Quirk, cause she made me blow my own goddamn feet off!]]

[[But the thing to remember is that they had your injuries taken care of while we were unconscious, which means they clearly want something from us they need us alive for.]] Angel's Eye suddenly pointed out, and while nobody immediately answered, it was clear this did nothing to put everyone's minds at ease.

Finally, a pained grunt sounded from Elena directly across from Konstantin. [[Another one of them…kid had some kind of crazy Air Blade Quirk, could've easily taken our heads off, or put a spear hole through me. Those crazy prototype reinforced suits you lent us really saved my ass, sir.]]

The reminder of this had Konstantin momentarily brighten up with the beginnings of an idea. [[The rigs, of course! They're supposed to be able to help reinforce our strength as well as protect from offensive Quirks, at least long enough to make a difference. If anyone here can focus enough, we may be able to brute force our way out of these restraints.]]

[[I'm afraid I already thought of that, old friend. Did it really take you until now to realize you're not wearing it anymore? None of your comrades are.]]

The sudden intrusion of a voice none of the other special soldiers recognized, but one that Konstantin knew all too well, suddenly echoed from an intercom placed in the middle of the ceiling.

BZZZT

The suddenness with which the fluorescent lights overhead suddenly turned on nearly burned everyone's retinas to the point they really would have been rendered blind. Once their eyes stopped burning and their heart rates lowered enough to where they could actually now observe their surroundings, they finally found themselves in the middle of a decrepit dark grey concrete room, like some kind of makeshift prison cell, with only a single wrought iron reinforced door, and what looked like a mirror on the opposite wall.

Of course, with the way everything else was set up, and the fact they were now being spoken to by the person holding them captive, many of them were quick to realize it had to be a two-way mirror.

[[Our good doctor is taking a look at your special armor rigs, and should be able to make more for the rest of us in due time once he finishes his work reverse-engineering your fancy Quirk-erasing bullet. Thank you for such bountiful gifts to make our own, by the way. Since Mother Russia decided to do what it does best and play dirty by sending you and your shadow warriors out here to kill me and my soldiers, you've pretty much given us no choice but to retaliate with them, Konstantin Alexandrovich Khodamchuk.]]

KLIK

Nobody in the room, save Konstantin himself, could even finish processing the fact that their captor knew their leader's entire name, before the handle to the door suddenly turned, and before their eyes stepped in the now-familiar visage of the older man in old Red Army command apparel, a scarred-up chin, and short black graying hair, with a pronounced scar running along the left side of his scalp, and now a second one running diagonally down his scalp proper from above his right brow to behind his left ear.

Standing just behind him was a hulking figure dressed all in black, with what looked like a heavily reinforced black body suit with thunderously heavy boots and leather gloves underneath a thick black raincoat, with a yellow-tinted reflective dome over its head.

Everyone, this time including Angel's Eye, could scarcely believe they were looking upon the man they had all seen with their own eyes get shot in the head, standing here with a fully healed scar and looking none the worse for wear otherwise. Even if his aim had been thrown off at the last fraction of a second, the sharpshooter among them knew there was no possible way he could've survived such an injury.

However, out of all of them, the only one who was putting on an admirable attempt at a brave face was the stalwart, gaunt-faced, blue-eyed, graying blonde-haired and short-bearded face of Konstantin Khodamchuk himself; a display that was far from lost on Pietro Dobrynich Granin.

In fact, such a show actually brought a smile to the man's face as he slowly approached his apparent old acquaintance; Konstantin simply staring at the deep red eyes that had now replaced the orange ones he had seen mere hours ago (assuming that was all he'd been out cold for).

[[Are you sure you're alright, Konstantin Alexandrovich? You look as though you've seen a ghost…but then again, you always were the especially pasty type. Glad to see some things truly never change.]] Pietro's tone sounded deathly serious, but the way he was just barely grinning as he leaned in to Konstantin's face gave the distinct image of a man taunting another.

However, Konstantin was still refusing to have it, as he looked his captor in the eyes and never flinched away. [[I saw you die back there, Pietro Dobrynich. I pulled the trigger, I know I killed you.]]

Pietro slowly leaned back, standing straight once more as he brought a hand up to motion to the original scar along the left side of his scalp. [[I can understand why you'd think that so certainly. However, in all the years we've known each other, you never were the best shot in the unit. That's how I know it couldn't possibly have been you behind the trigger of the gun responsible for my newest mark…but I can make a pretty good guess just who that is in here.]]

Pietro took a step back, carefully looking over each and every one of Konstantin's comrades as they all glared similar daggers his way…at least with the exception of Boris, who was still grimacing with the lingering pain of his missing feet, despite Alyosha's earlier applied painkillers and surgery.

Finally, Pietro's eyes fell upon the shorter middle-aged man with the short but receding black hair and thick, neatly trimmed mustache. Even as Pietro approached this particular captive, the man in question never gave any indication of fear, let alone hint he was about to start begging.

Without another word, Pietro suddenly reached up, held the man's head by his jaw just firmly enough, and barely tilted his head to the left before pulling the collar of his uniform a ways down his shoulder, revealing a particular-looking tattoo of what looked like a flock of angels crowded around a radiant eye.

The smile slowly returned to Pietro's face as he gently let go of the sharpshooter's head, looking him in the eye with intent. [[So…this is the legendary Angel's Eye, is it? The infamous sharpshooting ghost freelancer with a sense of aim the highest a Quirkless person could ever achieve, only ever called upon by our government for the most covert of assassinations or last-ditch-effort security detail. I'd heard rumors of your name so many times over the years, even before the Siberian Flash…ever since you apparently assassinated that turncoat of a Pro Hero, Brother Vortex, somewhere in Bulgaria, to be precise. I have to admit, after this long, I'd actually started to doubt you even really existed. Glad to know I was wrong, though.]]

[[How about you stop screwing with us, you damn freak!?]] Elena suddenly spat with all the vitriol in the world one person could communicate, immediately gaining both Pietro and the silent dome-head's attention.

[[Yeah, we all saw your head get cleaved like a melon back there! How the hell are you still alive? Is that your Quirk?!]] Anatoly immediately followed up, fighting through the pain of his shot up legs in order to spit just as much venom.

Instead of the backhand across the face in a demand for silence like they had all braced themselves for, Pietro instead just chuckled in relief to himself. [[Oh…I wish that were the case. Maybe I wouldn't have bided my time for moving against you people and your government for so long if it were. While that's sadly not the case; fortunately, the newest addition to my personal army has a Quirk that has effectively removed death for me and my comrades from the chessboard. Your equipment will only further stack the odds in our favor on top of that.]]

Completely ignoring the hateful glares all being shot into his back, Pietro once more turned his attention back to Konstantin. [[You were always the much more prepared one out of our old unit, Konstantin Alexandrovich; you making your way up the new government hierarchy must've only improved that attribute of yours. You certainly must've had some kind of a contingency plan in place on how you and your people were to get out of here once you'd eliminated us, yes? A Fulton recovery would be impossible, because Russia knows it would be violating Japanese airspace if it tried. So what exactly do you have set up for yourselves?]]

For a moment, it looked as though Konstantin would actually open his mouth to answer, only to be rendered silent once more, when Pietro suddenly held up a tiny little earbud-like device connected to a similarly small radio with a frequency tuning dial.

With a victorious smirk on his face, Pietro pocketed the tiny communicator in his breast pocket. [[The years haven't made me as soft as you might be thinking, now that you know I'm alive, old friend. I know how people like you and your comrades think, and especially how you plan. Don't forget who used to be in charge, remember? Whoever your extraction is, they'll eventually reach out to contact you once you don't show up at the agreed upon time after a day or two. They surely would know how risky and time-consuming this mission of yours might have been.

[[Either way, as soon as they contact you through this, we'll be able to discern their coordinates, and deal with them as accordingly as we dealt with you. But until then…]] Pietro deliberately let his last sentence trail off, as he began to make his way out the door of the cell alongside his silent companion.

[[If you have everything so figured out and in your favor, then why do you need us alive, Pietro Dobrynich?]] Konstantin suddenly asking this brought the Quirked army leader to a pause, slowly looking back to see the look in his old comrade's eyes.

[[Seriously, it sounds like you've got all your bases covered…so what's stopping you from just killing us?]] Just as most of his soldiers, with the exception of Angel's Eye, began looking at the man like he'd well and truly lost his mind for giving their captor the idea, Elena suddenly gave an especially bitter chuckle in response, glaring at Pietro just the same way: pure malice and disgust.

[[It's because he knows he can't afford to…not yet, anyway. No, even better…he doesn't have the backbone for it. He knows that if he kills us, he risks inviting the full wrath of The Motherland's forces on his head. If he kills their last resort for dealing with a problem subtly, it could very well come to a point where he may have a genuine international invasion on his hands; Russia deciding to screw diplomacy in favor of neutralizing the threat he and his ilk represent…or better yet, a multinational effort by Russia and Japan to avoid a war and take them all out; an ultimately worthwhile effort to make in exchange for eliminating such a potentially major problem.]]

At this point, none of Elena's comrades could tell if she was actually genuinely trying to anger Pietro into killing them out of defiant spite, or what. The mocking smirk on her face definitely didn't help. However, instead of the anger she expected any halfway-there person to express when being figured out so easily, he instead only gave her yet another bemused chuckle.

[[Well, it's good to know Konstantin knows to take on soldiers with the mental capacity to figure out exactly what I did when I first found out we had all of you as our prisoners. By all means, I should've just let my soldiers kill you. For all intents and purposes, you'd killed me, and they needed blood for blood. However, I have something better coming together; something that'll make it so we don't get caught so unawares again. A certain detail of that other plan is the main reason you're all still breathing. Speaking of which, I need to get back to overseeing that little detail, so I think this is a good time to let you all stew in your new reality.]]

As the very reality he spoke of began to visibly weigh in on his new captors, Pietro and his dome-head comrade once more began to take their leave. This time when he stopped in the doorway, though, it was of his own volition, as he turned back to once more meet Konstantin's gaze.

[[Make no mistake that you will die here, Konstantin Alexandrovich. However, before you do…I'm going to make sure you live long enough to regret not taking the time to put that second shot in me the first time you had the chance…against both of us. You have no idea just how big a reunion this really is, old friend.]]

With an acknowledging muffled grunt from the dome-head, the two men finally took their leave and once more left Konstantin and his soldiers locked away in this dingy cell; at least giving them the courtesy of light if nothing else.

Pietro and his comrade made their way down the lengthy hallway from there, which was lined with several similarly heavy steel doors lining both sides, behind which one could be able to hear heavily muffled voices calling out for the man himself, but he didn't bother to open them to check. It was always the same thing every time he did, anyway; always the same questions. He'd gone through the attempt of telling the people inside his version of the truth multiple times, and at this point his patience for it had completely evaporated.

These people could ask why they were being kept here, where their families were, beg to be set free and cry as much as they wanted, but the fact was that he was guided by a much higher sense of purpose; and many, many others would soon follow, as long as their wills were weak enough to be persuaded and reshaped.

Once they ascended the stairs, stepped out into the lobby of the old hospital, and finally emerged out into the front courtyard awash in the late morning sun, the two men were quickly called out to by a just-then returning Maja, joined by Eliška and Hristofor, with the young Polish girl taking the lead. [[Good morning, sir! I'm glad you're already back on your feet!]]

[[Yes, so am I. I apologize for having only just now stepped out. Have you all been managing things around here in the meantime?]] Pietro asked his three soldiers while steadfastly observing Jozef, Marius and Gazsi continuing with their regular morning training drills, while Ljubomir and Danila were taking care of chopping away and hefting the fallen trees from what he automatically could tell had to be the battlefield from last night.

[[Yes, sir. Misha's still resting up in his room upstairs, and we just got back from town. For some reason, the people are still going around asking where Valera and his parents went. It's been several months now, you'd think they'd have figured out they moved away by now. We thought of asking The Linguist to tell them, but Father Sergei said he's come down with a major fit of fever last night and has asked not to be disturbed. He's taking over Linguist's duties until he's back on his feet again.]] Maja immediately answered, and while Pietro's outward expression was unreadable, inside he was immensely relieved to see that all his uses of his Memory Rewrite Quirk on her regarding the toddler, Valera, and his parents had indeed taken root.

However, the fact that the townspeople themselves would notice and start asking questions was an inevitability he knew needed to be addressed, as well as the Linguist, Leonid Viktorovich Briner himself. After the meticulous work Pietro had put in over the time since he'd arrived in this town to cover up all of his workings, he couldn't afford to let a single loose end unravel the entire operation. [[Well, if the people have been so persistent in wanting to know, then they clearly need to be given an answer. If Leonid Viktorovich isn't available, then it's only right we do our part to give the people peace of mind and take the workload off the Father's shoulders. Knot, Petto, go back out into town, and if you overhear or see anyone asking about Valera and his family, please bring them here and let me speak to them.]]

Maja gave an enthusiastic [[Yes, sir]] while Eliška gave a much more subdued but no less genuine nod of understanding. With that, the two female soldiers made their way out the gate toward Gagaringrad. As soon as they were out of sight, Pietro turned his attention to Hristofor.

[[Blackout, I want you and Gust to keep an eye on Leonid Viktorovich's home, make sure nobody else goes in there, or that he doesn't come out without my knowing about it. When night falls, we go in there and get him back on our side. Make sure Grenadier knows ahead of time as well.]]

[[Understood, sir.]] With that, the Bulgarian dutifully took his own leave, finally allowing Pietro a moment to really think of how he was going to tackle this issue.

Up until his dome-headed comrade finally spoke up: [[Do you really think it wise to have our soldiers systematically bring the townspeople here for you to rewrite, Pietro Dobrynich?]]

The figure only ever referred to as Ocean Master knew he had perfectly good reason to be expressing caution, hence why it caught him off guard when Pietro looked to him with the same confident smirk he often gave his comrades when he had the utmost faith in a course of action. [[It shouldn't prove too difficult to cover our tracks here, my friend. We're not giving them a major life rewrite, after all. We're simply making sure they don't ask questions about Valera or anything related to him anymore. Once we have that and Leonid Viktorovich taken care of, we can finally start really getting to work. For now, let's just hope Alyosha Stepanovich manages to finish reverse-engineering that bullet in time, and that he can make us more of those armored rigs those bastards downstairs were wearing. I couldn't have asked for a better extra tool for us than that.]]

WOOSH!

All of a sudden, the smaller form of Tuule teleported right at Pietro's side, nearly causing the man and Ocean Master to likewise jump in surprise, before just as quickly noticing the look of mild concern in her eyes. [[Gust, what's going on? You're supposed to be keeping an eye on the train station for De-Condenser to come into town.]]

[[I know, sir, but that's just it. It's well past the time he and his sidekick and interns should've arrived, but I've waited for two extra trains to come and go, and there's been no sign of him or any of them.]] As the young Estonian girl explained this, Pietro brought a closed hand to his mouth, bowing his head in contemplation, while Ocean Master was likewise thinking hard behind his reflective head covering.

[[None of those Kapenta Heroes have ever been even a little late in coming here during an inspection week. Doesn't the timing seem a little too convenient to be a coincidence, sir?]] Ocean Master finally asked once he saw Pietro starting to pace in a small circle while trying to put the pieces together.

[[Indeed it does, but that can't be possible. I never used my Quirk on any one of them. I always made a point of never using it whenever they were anywhere nearby. This doesn't add up.]] Just as quickly as he said this, he came to a complete stop. [[Unless there's actually something to my Quirk I never even considered before.]]

Pietro looked genuinely shaken by the thought of it, while Ocean Master's body language showed someone who was much more in the moment as he all but forced his comrade to look him where his hidden eyes were. [[That may very well be, but we don't know that for certain yet. For all we know, perhaps a situation arose in another nearby town that required De-Condenser and the rest of those Heroes to forgo coming here for the day. I'd say we would be lucky for that.]]

As Pietro took his eyes off his hands and looked into his reflection on the man's dome, his expression became far more resolute and certain. [[You're right, not having them here is ultimately for the best as far as our grand plan is concerned. Still, we shouldn't let our guards down completely. Gust, inform the others that today, they're to be patrolling the town, keeping an eye out for anything unusual, and to pay no mind to what Knot, Petto and Blackout will be doing. Understood?]]

[[Understood, sir.]] With that and a loyal salute, Tuule made her way to inform the rest of her fellow recruits, leaving Pietro to once again start ruminating over the perceived boundary of his own power in silence.

VRRM

The instant the earpiece in his pocket went off; Pietro instantly snatched it up and put it back on; his red eyes reflecting complete adrenaline-fueled anticipation. [[Is it done?]]

He instinctively let out a sigh of immense relief as soon as he heard the obvious delight in Alyosha Stepanovich Mikhalkov's voice on the other end: [[Damn right I am! You and Ocean Master get down to my lab! You need to see this!]]

As soon as the two men entered the laboratory, Alyosha was borderline manic as he held up the Quirk-erasing syringe/bullet as he sat at his work station with a microscope, several glass blood slides and numerous other pieces of chemistry equipment. [[Finally! After all this time, I did it, Pietro Dobrynich! I managed to crack the genetic code! The tiniest sample of the Quirk-erasing blood that once filled this bullet has effectively been biologically reversed into its polar opposite, effect-wise.]]

[[Are you absolutely certain of this?]] Pietro asked with baited breath, only for Alyosha to eagerly motion both men to join his side as he pulled up his microscope.

[[In order to figure out how this bullet was able to do what it reportedly could, I had to test out whatever effect the compound the blood was mixed with would have on the blood of another Quirk user. I tested a drop from the bullet on a sample drop of my own, and I couldn't believe what I saw. You both are familiar with the explanation of how a Quirk manifests and is activated, correct?]]

A filtered groan of annoyance emanated from the dome-headed man at his right: [[Of course, Quirks are born when someone's body structure is altered by the plus alpha of their Quirk within their genetic code, otherwise known as the Quirk Factor.]]

Alyosha gave a resounding snap of his fingers as he motioned to his assortment of glass blood slides. [[Exactly. When I ran the initial test, I looked through the microscope and found that the blood compound from the bullet directly attacked the Quirk Factor within the blood cells from my personal sample, effectively preventing it from activating. However, as soon as I knew I'd cracked and rewritten the overall genetic code of another micro-sample from the bullet compound, and then tested it on that same attacked blood sample from before, this time it actually seemed to bond to the blood cells and reactivate the Quirk Factor.]]

The whole lab was thick with a heavy silence, as Pietro and Ocean Master tried to process the scientific milestone their army's scientist had potentially made. Finally, Ocean Master simply had to know: [[Are you suggesting that, if this bullet were to now be used on someone whose Quirk had been deactivated, it would actually bring their Quirk back?]]

Only for Pietro to instantly follow up with: [[No…do you think this reversed compound would actually be able to activate a Quirk in someone who is Quirkless?]]

That question, especially, had Alyosha's hands fidgeting with desire to test the theory out, although the rest of his face behind his microscope-eyes expressed mild frustration: [[I'd certainly love to find out, and I know I can replicate more of this reversed formula now that I've cracked the genetic code. However, that would take a few hours, and I personally don't want to waste the limited supply we have on a test run.]]

However, this did nothing to deter Pietro, as he was already in the process of changing the frequency on his earpiece, preparing to speak out to one of his soldiers: [[Never you worry about that, comrade. I'll make sure you have all the resources you need to make more of this reverse compound as possible. If anyone can pull it off, it's you.]]

Finally, as he hit the button to send the call out, he immediately spoke up as the gruff voice of Ljubomir answered: [[Grenadier, I want you to go into town and speak to the local black smith and glass-maker. Tell them to make us several cases of syringe heads, bullet casings and glass syringe tubes.]]

As he instructed his Serbian follower of this, Pietro impulsively grabbed a nearby piece of blank paper and a pen, and began eagerly drawing up a diagram of the same syringe/bullet itself. [[I'm going to provide you a diagram with all the measurement details you'll need to give them. Don't let them see it, though, we can't allow the people to know exactly what this stuff is all being made for just yet.]]

Without even missing a step, Pietro then proceeded to change the frequency and hit the call-out button again, this time being answered by Tuule's voice: [[What is it, sir?]]

[[Gust, rescind my previous order to watch Leonid's home with Blackout. I have a much more important mission for you two today. How familiar are you with Hokkaido's geography?]] Given just how young the Estonian on the other end was, Pietro was half-expecting her to instinctively ask for details before giving him an actual answer.

[[I know every settlement, from the big cities to the small towns. With the speed my Quirk grants me to get from one place to another, I pretty much have to know exactly where everything is.]] The moment Tuule told him this, Pietro's mind began racing as he put the details together on the fly.

[[Alright, contact Backtrack and Spitfire, and tell them I want them to take Blackout's place, keeping an eye on Leonid Viktorovich's home. I want you to take Blackout with you to Sorachi Prefecture, to the city of Ashibetsu. There's a sizeable technical college with a pharmaceutical science department there that is said to have some of the most advanced chemistry lab equipment in Hokkaido. I know Blackout's Quirk works the same on security cameras as it does people, and I know your Quirk can help you teleport people and inanimate objects with you. So when night falls and you've scoped out the layout of the campus, he can help you both infiltrate the place, steal as much of the equipment as you can, and bring it all back here for Alyosha Stepanovich before sunrise tomorrow. I'll have him make a list of exactly what he'll need and what it looks like for you both to look over so you don't waste time second guessing. Do you understand all this?]]

[[As clearly as crystal, sir.]] Tuule couldn't have given Pietro a more desired answer, and as soon as he ended the call so she could relay the details to Hristofor as well, he turned his attention back to Alyosha, who was already busy at work with his created reverse-compound sample with what little equipment he already had.

With the high of realization of just what they had at their fingertips starting to go down, Pietro's eagerness turned back to pure seriousness. [[Alyosha Stepanovich…you can make more of this stuff in the meantime until they return with the equipment you need, correct?]]

Alyosha didn't even grant Pietro eye contact as he answered: [[If you had any doubt in my capabilities to do so, I wouldn't be here right now, Pietro Dobrynich. Don't worry, I can make more, and being able to do so in greater quantity and pace is all the better. Besides, I'm eager to see just what this new agent could be able to do to a Quirkless person sooner rather than later.]]

Pietro had to put aside the instinctive thought that came to him at the mention of such a wish. [[Well, at least make enough for one test for now. And be sure to put aside a tiny sample of the original Quirk-cancelling compound for the same test. We don't know what exactly could happen when we test your new creation on someone, and I want to make sure we're prepared either way. Once you've made enough, see what you can find out about the armor rigs we took off our assailants. If they were able to save the woman from being killed by Scythe's Quirk, then they're definitely worth hanging onto.]]

As he continued to give these instructions, more than confident his people would all be able to pull it off; Pietro felt a sense of true elation he hadn't felt in years. While he would still need to spend the day rewriting the memories of the townspeople brought his way in the slightest way, there was also the anticipation of Konstantin's extraction eventually reaching out through his radio. With that, Pietro and his people would finally be able to zero in on them and take out the one most prominent obstacle still standing in their way. With that, then they would finally be able to really begin preparing for the true war to come.

As Pietro had suspected, today had proven to be especially eventful for every one of his people involved, and yet it all somehow managed to pass by exceptionally quickly. Just as he had instructed, Maja and Eliška kept bringing him a steady influx of questioning townspeople to the compound, and each time he was able to get them alone, he made damn sure to erase any questions or even curiosities about the missing Valera and his parents, and send them right back out on their merry way; all the while silently counting down the potential hours before either Tuule and Hristofor would return with all the chemistry lab gear Alyosha would need to make more of his reverse compound, or that the scientist himself would have the armored rigs figured out and reconfigured for at least one of them so far. At least Ljubomir and Danila were consistently making themselves useful by providing a few crates each of the parts needed for their potential reverse-effect bullets. It would just be a matter of seeing exactly what the stuff would do to someone when the time came.

When they were at the last few minutes of sunlight, he had finally been given the fateful call down to Alyosha's lab, where he was not only met with the sight of a fully repaired version of the armor rig, undoubtedly the one Danila had broken last night; but also the heart-racing sight of Alyosha carrying a single newly crafted syringe/bullet of his same compound, with the scientist even having greeted his comrade the moment he stepped into his lab with: [[This is it, Pietro Dobrynich. The first full recreated dose of my genetic reversal of the Quirk-erasing compound, primed and ready to use. I have the original sample stored away for when the rest of the equipment gets brought here, then I can begin full-speed recreation and bullet manufacturing.]]

As he gave Pietro the first of their hopefully many, many similar bullets to be made and filled, the man himself looked over the tiny object in his fingers, feeling the same sensation of power he got when he'd first been given the original bullet by his soldiers after their first mission. With everything that had happened, it already felt like a lifetime ago.

At the same time, Ocean Master was eyeing the armored rig with intent in his body language. [[Were you able to figure out what the deal with these things are as well?]]

Albeit, not with the kind of typical mad scientist-style enthusiasm as he showed for the bullets, Alyosha was still quite excited as he began motioning over the newly repaired suit. [[Yes, and while not nearly as game-changing as my compound or the original formula it came from; these are still quite a marvel of modern engineering. Somehow, these rigs have been designed to not only provide extensive protection for the wearer against virtually any directly offensive Quirk, at least for a short duration of time, it's also been designed to improve the physical strength output of the wearer as well. Frankly, your soldiers were lucky they managed to catch the intruding team by surprise, otherwise the fight could have proven especially ugly for us.]]

Ocean Master and Pietro were both visibly impressed with what clearly advanced toys Konstantin now had on hand, having provided one of these rigs to each of his own soldiers, as well as somehow getting his hands on something like Quirk-erasing bullets to begin with. The current Russia certainly was not playing around when it came to bracing themselves for a war against Quirks if the day ever came.

However, when Pietro's gaze returned to the new bullet, a spark of resolve ignited in his brain. Right now, he was simply glad that many of the younger recruits were still out in town, and thereby not around to see just what was potentially going to happen here next. [[It's time to finally conduct the new bullet test. Alyosha Stepanovich, get this thing loaded into a gun. Ocean Master…come with me down to the basement. It's time to pick our fateful test subject.]]

When Pietro stepped through the door to Konstantin and his team's cell, barely any of them flinched at his sudden arrival, all with the exception of the exceptionally young one with the short blonde Mohawk and two missing feet. For as far as he could tell at a glance, it was as though none of these people had even tried to somehow make their escape in the hours since he'd left them. He couldn't really tell if that was a sign of them having resigned themselves to their circumstances, or if they were simply trying to bide their time. Given how well he knew their leader, he was more than willing to bet on the latter.

[[Try not to look so forlorn and hateful, everyone. We're going to take one of you with us for something very important. If all goes well, this could be a fortuitous turn for every one of us involved.]] Pietro finally announced as Ocean Master stood guard in the doorway; his body language making it clear he was ready to act in a heartbeat if any one of them even tried anything.

It was obvious from the looks in many of their eyes that their resultant silence was born from spite more than anything else. It was honestly for the best, since Pietro knew he needed someone who wasn't going to immediately try to fight back. So far, Konstantin's two injured subordinates, the bald one with the handlebar mustache, and the footless blonde young man were looking to be the most promising choices; especially since the latter's brave face was slipping more and more by the second, both from fear and the lingering pain of his extensive wounds, no doubt.

As Pietro's focus fell upon the young man called Boris Tartakov, he instinctively tried to shrink away from it. Unfortunately, this was all the telling that the scarred older man needed. [[You obviously must've already done well enough to prove yourself if Konstantin Alexandrovich took you into his ranks…but still, you're so young to be out here and put into such dire circumstances.]]

All of a sudden, the sound of Konstantin violently struggling against his restraints drew Pietro's attention from his youngest soldier. [[Why don't you stop toying with him?! We both know I'm the one you really want!]]

Pietro thankfully took a step back, never taking his eyes off the captive leader. [[Well, how about that? You, actually stepping out and taking action like a man? It looks like your rise to leadership wasn't just cosmetic like I'd thought. You got anything else you want to say to me, old friend? This may very well be your last chance to.]]

Konstantin sucked in a hitched breath as he tried to stand as steadfast and tall as he could while being as restrained as he was. [[Your hatred right now is centered on me; I'm smart enough to know I deserve that. But how could you do all the things you've already done to our Motherland that led to us coming after you like this? For all the years I'd known you, you were the most patriotic person I'd ever known.]]

The volume with which Pietro started to laugh rendered Konstantin completely silent, to the point the scarred man actually had to wipe the tears from his red eyes. [[Are you really as smart as you say, Konstantin Alexandrovich? After what our Motherland convinced you to do to me after all the years of service I'd put towards protecting it? And for what, simply for the fact I have a Quirk; one that could never even hope to do the kind of damage that Tunguska did? After a royal stabbing in the back like that delivered by you, my most trusted comrade; you seriously have the gall to stand there and ask how I could simply give our nation a taste of its own traitorous medicine?]]

PTOO!

The sound of whom he now recognized as Konstantin's one female soldier spitting at the ground at Pietro's feet, drew the man's discerning eye towards her, while she was giving him another venomous and spiteful smirk. [[Every last one of you freaks deserves that and more, and you know it! It was only a matter of time before one of you would destroy what else was left after what Tunguska had done; after he'd taken everything from all of us, from me, by trying to 'save' us! We won't be safe until every last one of you monsters is wiped out!]]

For a few sparse moments, as Pietro and Elena's eyes bored intensely into each other, the rest of her comrades and Ocean Master alike were all but ready for him to give the order for her to be taken away as their choice test subject.

[[The young one with the blown off feet.]] Pietro's announcement was brief, but carried with it the chill of a death sentence as he gave Elena the slightest mocking smirk and then made his way out, leaving Boris Tartakov as white as a sheet, physically struggling to try and protest or beg his comrades to help him, while Ocean Master silently made his way for the young man, unbuckling his restraints and hoisting his now-wriggling body over his shoulder like a kill from a hunt.

Every last word or shout of protest or hate from Konstantin's soldiers fell upon deaf ears as Pietro, Ocean Master and Boris exited the cell and slammed the door on their words once more. For the next whole hour, Konstantin, Ilya and Elena would all be nearly breaking their shoulders and wrists to try and break free. Even Anatoly Grischenko did the same, his adrenaline blocking the pain of straining with his injured legs.

But alas, it would all ultimately be for naught.

On the sparse beach just the tiniest way north of the compound, Pietro and Ocean Master silently made their way, before the dome-headed man was certain they were now far enough away that they would be at no risk of any of the recruits overhearing or overseeing what was potentially about to happen here. As soon as he was sure of this, he finally set the footless Boris down on the pebble-strewn sand; teary-eyed and whimpering with the returning pain of his wounds now that he'd gone this long without painkillers.

As soon as his comrade stepped away from the young man, Pietro slowly stepped forward, drawing the tiny single-shot pistol from his coat pocket, while Ocean Master himself took out a tiny video camera from the pocket of his trench coat that Alyosha had provided for the sake of recording this little test.

Between the gun and the video camera, Boris' pain and fear quickly ignited into an especially vitriolic anger: [[Seriously?! An execution video?! You really are terrorists like they say!]]

In response, Pietro actually opened the loading chamber to his pistol and pulled out the syringe/bullet with the brilliant blue compound inside its glass tube body. [[Please, it's nothing as crude and barbaric as that. This is simply us conducting a test, of both science and your character.]]

Pietro continued on as he let Boris take in the sight of the bullet as he re-loaded it back into his pistol and closed the chamber, pulling the hammer back, priming it to fire. [[This compound our resident scientific genius made from the original Quirk-erasing bullet we swiped from your leader's R&D lab could very well prove to be the godsend we've been looking for in order to win this little war of ours. We just need to test and see what it will do to someone who's born Quirkless first. Besides, given just how indoctrinated your comrades in there seem to be, not to mention the rest of our countrymen back home, it'll be interesting to see just what they all might do if they find out you've come back now in possession of a Quirk of your own.]]

BANG!

Before Boris could even open his mouth to beg him to stop, Pietro immediately aimed the gun and squeezed off the only shot, sending the syringe/bullet straight into the young soldier's arm, sending him reeling and writhing with automatic panic on the ground before them; Ocean Master never taking the camera off him, as he and Pietro began silently counting down the seconds before there would hopefully be a reaction.

However, after thirty seconds, not only had Boris stopped writhing, as the initial pain of the injection had ridden its course, but there was still no visible change in him to be seen. Ocean Master kept his camera on the young man as he looked to see Pietro looking at his gun with noted confusion.

Just then, a pained grunt suddenly escaped Boris' lips, and as the two men looked to their prisoner and test subject, they saw that what looked like a thorny vine had suddenly sprouted from out the back of his hand, quickly followed by several others sprouting from his palm and fingertips, and then the same with his other hand. Boris' expression as he saw these vines continuing to grow from out his body was both disbelief and horror, while Ocean Master kept recording with great intrigue, and Pietro was already preparing the sample of the Quirk-canceling compound he'd been given, loading it into the chamber.

[[OH MY GOOOOAA-!]]

In a matter of seconds, however, Boris' body suddenly began to go into the most violent convulsions either of the men had seen before, with such suddenness and force, they could even hear his spine break as he arched his back, as though trying to fight against something moving around inside him.

Before their eyes, a multitude of the same thorny vines not only began to start sprouting and rapidly growing from all over his body, but they ultimately even began billowing from out his mouth, rendering his agonizing screams silent, as the vines continued to tear out through his body and bind themselves together around him, as though they were mummifying him. Once his entire body had been consumed in it, this horrific sight came to a complete stop, and all was silent for a good few seconds.

Ocean Master didn't know how to describe the sensation of instant caution he felt in the moment he decided to act. It was simply that animalistic feeling that the danger wasn't passed just yet. The moment he saw the vines began to twitch, he followed through with the first course of action he could think of: using his Quirk to pull the nearby ocean tide in like a rapidly building shield before himself and Pietro, just in time before Boris' thorn-engulfed body suddenly exploded in a multitude of fast-flying splinters flying all about, ultimately leaving nothing left of himself.

As Ocean Master let the water shield fall so he and Pietro could look at what little was left of their initial test of Alyosha's Quirk-activating bullet, the dome-headed man uttered forlorn: [[Goddammit…this formula of his is a total failure.]]

[[I wouldn't be so sure, comrade.]] Pietro immediately answered, earning a curious glance from his old partner as he continued replaying the event in his head with great intrigue.

VRRM!

Pietro was snapped out of his introspection as his earpiece went off, and the moment he answered, he was immediately answered by Alyosha's voice; prompting him to signal for Ocean Master to listen in as well.

[[Sir, the communication equipment you took from the prisoners has just started going off! I've already been writing down everything the person on the other end has been relaying. Come back to the lab, let me see the test results, and you take a look at what they're saying out there.]]

While Alyosha was continuously observing the perceived disastrous results of the test on the beach from mere minutes ago on repeat, Pietro and Ocean Master had taken to listening to the radio communication their scientist had taken the liberty of recording through their own radio equipment, while comparing it to the notes he'd taken in their absence, as well as their trusty map of the Hokkaido area.

[[So, they're utilizing the naval forces from Sakhalin Island for their extraction. Those coordinates they're giving for the rendezvous point are just outside of recognized Japanese waters, too. Smart.]] Ocean Master finally muttered once they'd finished listening to the whole broadcast a second time.

[[Yes. Believe it or not, we're also lucky this crew happens to be smart enough to know Konstantin's mission wouldn't be the kind to likely be accomplished in a single day. If they are indeed going to come back to those coordinates, that gives us a chance to fortify ourselves and hit them accordingly.]] Pietro stated in agreement, before turning his attention back to one of the last pieces of information the broadcast had given before cutting off for the night.

[[All this talk about a second extraction team going for 'stolen merchandise' in two days' time maximum does have me worried, though. It's obvious they're referring to the submarine offshore. The scope of the coordinates they were going to send them out to look in, is that anywhere near where you all left it?]] As soon as Pietro asked, he could just tell from the way Ocean Master was gripping the edge of the table that their new enemies were right on the money.

[[We should head out there and take the extraction ship out while we can right now. Call the recruits over, tell them what's going on, and you know they would go for it no problem.]] Even through the filter, Ocean Master's voice was wrought with violent intent, clearly resolute in his judgment that this was the best call.

However, Pietro simply answered him with a similarly resigned sigh. [[Even if they would, it wouldn't help us. That man on the other end of the radio clearly sounded surprised that Konstantin Alexandrovich and his people hadn't finished their mission yet. That means he and his crew will be on high alert. That's why we're lucky they've made the decision to keep coming back each night until they do meet up. In another day or two, it'll have come close enough to being routine for them that they'll start letting their guard down. That's when we'll make our move against them, and remove another obstacle from our path.

[[Just to be on the safe side, though, perhaps you could head out to where you left the sub periodically and keep an eye on things, and if this extraction team shows themselves, let us know before you take them out, and we'll handle the extraction boat.]] Pietro was somehow still managing to maintain a completely collected mindset and demeanor as he tried putting these contingency plans together on the fly, all while Ocean Master was simply watching him with an unseen but concerned eye. Pietro had always been a good strategist, but he'd never seen the man be this forward before. Clearly that gunshot to the head from last night had really knocked something loose; potentially for better, and just as likely for worse, depending how things went.

[[Don't worry, comrade. I've already gotten a good portion of the Gagaringrad population completely off our trail as far as Valera and his parents are concerned. From what Knot and Petto have told me, they came shortly after the mass influx of new citizens that we came in with, so there shouldn't have been much time for them to really integrate with the town as a whole, so we may not have many more people asking about them to worry about.

[[I also have Spitfire and Backtrack keeping watch on Leonid Viktorovich's home. It's nighttime now, and I gave the instruction that once that time had come, they would let me know, and we could move in to give him the same rewriting touch, and remove that issue altogether.]]

VRRM!

The smile on Pietro's face at the sound of his earpiece going off again all but shouted 'perfect timing' to Ocean Master as he quickly answered: [[Yes, Spitfire? Is everything ready for us to come in and speak to the old man?]]

[[No, sir. You see…he's not here.]]

Pietro's instinctive move for the laboratory door came to a complete stop as his eyes shifted to his earpiece. [[What do you mean he's not there? How can you possibly know that? I was told he was bedridden with illness.]]

[[I know, sir, but Backtrack and I just wanted to make sure before we called you all the way out here. We had to pick the lock once we were sure most of the town had turned in for the night. We've looked all over the place, but there's no sign of Linguist anywhere; not even a sign of how he could've gotten out. I swear, we got here before Gust and Blackout had left, so there was no way he could've slipped out into the open.]]

Pietro had to suck in an especially tense breath through his teeth as he tried to figure out a solution to this most unexpected problem. The silence around him was growing more and more imposing with each passing second.

[[Alright…alright. Contact Scythe, Grenadier, Knot, Petto and Blowback. Don't tell them exactly why, but just let them know to keep an eye and ear open around town and the woods for any sign of him. Just tell them that if they see him, to bring him back home, and let me know the instant they do, and I'll be right there.]]

With that, Pietro shut off his earpiece and stood solemnly in the doorway, feeling the inquisitive eyes of Ocean Master on his back as he tried so hard to not let his frustration get the better of him. Things were still technically going their way in a multitude of forms; he couldn't afford to let one mishap like this ruin all of that for them. Leonid was an old man, he knew he couldn't have gotten far, whichever way he was going, assuming he wasn't somehow hiding somewhere in this town. Even if he were to go running his mouth off to any of the townspeople, that was an issue Pietro could easily rectify. He just had to hope the old man wouldn't make it out of here to another city before his soldiers would find him and bring him back. This entire situation surrounding him needed to be completely contained.

Wednesday morning, September 10th

As Nikolay, Mina, De-Condenser and The Giver once again made their way through the entranceway to Gagaringrad, the two Yuuei students still found themselves completely confused about just what their mentor had told them when they'd arrived at the Kapenta Hero Agency this morning.

"It just sounds so weird, Sensei. What exactly is it you suddenly feel so clear about with this town?" Nikolay finally asked the blue-haired Hero, only for the man to give a regretful shrug, as he'd still been trying to make sense of it himself.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure that nice old man, Linguist-san, might be able to help us. He seems to know everything around here." The Giver opined enthusiastically, thankfully earning nods of agreement from her companions, just at the same moment that the familiar turquoise-haired Maja suddenly rounded the corner ahead, visibly lighting up with a smile at the same time Nikolay and Mina did, the pink girl calling her name out happily as they reunited.

Eyeing the building Leonid had always come from when greeting them the last two times, Nikolay was already motioning for his friend and mentors to follow him as Maja addressed her bunch of acquaintances: [[It's good to see you all again. A lot of us were starting to worry when none of you showed up yesterday.]]

Realizing the disadvantage his companions were in since Leonid hadn't given them the language-changing touch yet, Nikolay took it upon himself to act as interpreter for them both: [[Yeah, we had to stay at school, and Sensei suffered a really serious headache yesterday, and I guess there's rules about the other Heroes taking another's place out of turn. We were hoping to ask the Linguist some questions once he used his Quirk on the rest of us.]]

The young Russian boy had already reached the front door before Maja could say anything; a noted sudden urgency in her body language that went completely unnoticed as he suddenly knocked at the door, only to receive no answer for a good ten seconds.

"I'm afraid Leonid Viktorovich isn't going to be of much help to you all today." The powerful, but welcoming, sound of Father Sergei Cherenkov's voice suddenly answered from around the corner of the house, drawing all surprised eyes his way, as the Orthodox priest kept his hands together and approached with that same warm smile.

The revelation that he was actually able to communicate with them in Japanese quickly proved to be a godsend, as De-Condenser immediately answered: "What do you mean, Sergei-san? Is he alright? Out of town?"

Looking at the front door, the bearded priest had a regretful look on his face: "Unfortunately he came down with a rather strong fever yesterday and asked for nobody to disturb him. I've been checking on him regularly since then, and he still hasn't recovered yet."

Father Sergei's explanation felt concise and honest enough to the point the Heroes seemed convinced, albeit silently surprised at the bizarre matching timing with De-Condenser's splitting headache yesterday. However, behind them, Maja had a glimmer of intrigue in her eyes that no one else noticed.

"Well, if he isn't able to help us talk to anyone here, how can we help them?" Mina asked with genuine worry about how they could possibly carry out their internship duties, only for Nikolay to step forward with surprising self-assuredness. "It's okay, Mina; I can just be an interpreter for us, it's no trouble."

"I can do it, too, if that helps." Maja suddenly chimed in with surprisingly good Japanese, catching the surrounding Heroes and priest by surprise, giving them a confident smirk of her own. "What? I do my fair share of Japanese practice on the side when I can. You never know when you might need to step out of town and find your way around."

The offer really seemed to lift her fellow youngsters' spirits, as De-Condenser looked upon them all with an approving smile: "Well then, how about we make the most of whom we have here? Solovei-kun and I can check things out around the industrial section of town. Maja-san, you can join Giver-kun and Pinky-kun in seeing if anyone around the residential areas needs help with anything."

"Yes, Sensei!" Once Nikolay and Mina expressed their acceptance of the idea and wished each others' little groups luck, they were just as quickly off, with Nikolay simply taking in the peaceful silence alongside his mentor, while Father Sergei had then gone off back to his church in preparation for the evening service as he explained.

It didn't take long afterward for the two male Heroes to find themselves in the section of Gagaringrad lined with the docks, fishing boats and crafting shops. Everybody was hard at work in their own rights, but before the two could ask anyone if they needed help with anything, they quickly caught sight of the hulking white-haired Serb named Ljubomir, and the shorter Ukrainian named Danila.

Fortunately, the two young men just as quickly recognized the sight of Nikolay and De-Condenser just ahead as the two hurriedly approached. [[Good morning, you two! Glad to run into a few more familiar faces already!]]

As Nikolay greeted them; neither he nor his mentor noticed the momentary glances of apprehension the two gave each other when realizing they still had their latest crates of their respective shipments in their arms, right out in the open. However, Danila still tried his best to play the gracious host between them: [[It's good to see you too, Nikolay Olegovich. We were starting to worry when none of you Heroes showed up yesterday.]]

"Well, there's no need to worry; now that we're back, things can get back to normal routine again. I have to admit, I didn't expect to see you boys out here this early. Aren't you usually doing morning training by now?" De-Condenser asked while Nikolay dutifully translated for him both ways, only for Ljubomir to answer with as much casualness as he could:

[[Normally yes, but Commander Granin has recently made some outside business arrangements, and he wanted us to get the raw materials for it as soon as they were ready.]]

As soon as he mentioned this, he quickly noticed; to his chagrin; that Nikolay and De-Condenser were already getting a good look at what was inside the cases in their arms: an assortment of what looked like brass bullet casings, glass tubes and syringe heads. The sight of such off-putting materials had Nikolay's initially sociable grin start to fade; his green eyes reflecting clear curiosity: [[You guys; what is all this stuff? What would Mr. Granin need this stuff for?]]

Ljubomir was about to swallow the instinctive lump in his throat, when Danila stepped in with a miraculous save: [[I know, it looks sketchy as hell at first glance, doesn't it? I admit it was really sudden for us, too; but since Dr. Mikhalkov made his own tranquilizing formula a couple days ago, Commander Granin made a deal to provide our own manufactured tranquilizer darts to animal control services, nature reserves and zoos around Hokkaido, just to try and add our fair share of income to the town coffers, you understand.]]

"Indeed we do, boys. With some of the animals that roam around out there, I'm sure those services will be quite grateful for your contributions. If you hadn't mentioned how Mikhalkov-sensei only accomplished making this formula so recently, I'd have said I was honestly surprised Pietro-san didn't think to make an arrangement like that much sooner." De-Condenser's admission came with another friendly smile on his stubble-chinned face while Nikolay translated for him, before he gladly motioned for Ljubomir and Danila to continue on their way, while he and his young intern continued on their own.

Upon reaching the height of this particular road, Nikolay soon spotted the already familiar sight of four young men in matching white kosovorotkas emerging from out of the nearby forest brush; with heads of short hair of respective brown, red, blue and white. At the sight of them, he and De-Condenser simultaneously shouted their greetings. Although, curiously enough, the four boys, led by Father Sergei's son, Andrei, seemed to be more involved in speaking with each other, as at first they didn't notice they were being called to. At least until the red-haired young man, Timur, noticed Nikolay and De-Condenser's approach.

"Good morning, Mitsudo-san, Solovei. Did something serious happen that would make you and your partners not come here yesterday?" Andrei finally greeted the two Heroes once they'd finally caught up. Immediately, their eyes noticed how the quartet's clothes were noticeably dirty and frayed, while their faces were similarly smudged with dirt.

"No, I just came down with a serious headache; the strangest thing. I understand Linguist-san hasn't been feeling well since then." De-Condenser explained, earning several utterances of confirmation from the four young men before Andrei answered: "Yeah, he takes pretty good care of himself for a man his age, so it came as a surprise when my father told us. He's taking over his position as the overall town leader until Leonid Viktorovich is back on his feet again."

"So if your dad is already the town priest, and is now handling Linguist's duties, then why are the four of you out in the woods instead of helping him? You all look like you've been out there a while." Nikolay suddenly asked, finally bringing their dirty clothes and faces to attention.

The four exchanged notably worried looks before finally acquiescing to the young Russian's question, with Andrei answering: "Okay…the truth is: my father taking over Linguist's duties isn't the only recent change that's happened here since the last time you all came by. The fact is, a small child who lived here named Valera went missing the night of our homecoming show; his parents too. I mean, all we knew before was that they live out in the forested outskirts of the Gagaringrad township and have pretty much kept to themselves since coming here only a couple months ago, so we just naturally assumed they left the show earlier than everyone else."

As Andrei explained all of this, all Nikolay and De-Condenser could feel was an immense blow to their respective guts, knowing that the little blonde-haired boy with the Resurrecting Quirk was potentially lost somewhere out there. Already did Nikolay find himself wishing Mina, The Giver and Maja were here so they could spare the few minutes to fill them in, and instead just get right to work looking for the child and his family.

At the same time, the blue-haired Sasha took over for Andrei with explaining everything: "However, nobody's seen any sign of them all day yesterday, so while some of the folks in town have been asking around and putting up signs, we took it upon ourselves to search the woods around where we were told they live, just in case there were anything we could follow up on. We help with foraging out in these woods already, so we know how to traverse and investigate. We already checked their house itself, but there was no sign of them anywhere. If you guys could help out, I'm sure we'd be able to find them."

De-Condenser couldn't have visibly agreed more, already clenching his fists with preparation, while Nikolay was looking back further into town, looking just as focused on the task at hand. "Sensei, we need to tell Pinky, Giver-san and Maja about this."

"You're right, Solovei-kun. We should get as many people out there searching with us as possible. No amount of familiarity with the area changes just how treacherous this terrain can be if you're not alert, after all." De-Condenser wholeheartedly agreed; he and his intern heading back the way they came already, spurring Andrei and his friends to follow suit, as the priest's son declared: "Yeah, mentioning Maja Kieslowska, we should see if that Pietro Dobrynich Granin's recruits could be able to help us! I'll bet they've been trained for this kind of thing just as much as the Heroes have been!"

With everyone in full agreement as to what they were to do, it was ultimately decided that Andrei and his friends would head out to the old hospital to recruit Pietro and his group to join the search efforts, and once Nikolay and De-Condenser filled their fellow Heroes in on the situation, they would ultimately meet back up at the compound and start exercising their efforts from there.

With that, the two groups once again split up, and Nikolay and his mentor hurriedly made their way further into town; both of them silently assuring themselves they would be able to do this and get Valera and his family back home safely.

From the moment they had decided to split up, Mina and The Giver were keeping their eyes and ears open for the first sign of anyone needing help, or at the very least, simply wanting to come forward and introduce themselves. Mina always loved meeting new people and making more and more friends, and as the minutes passed and she saw how the people around were going about their business with not a care in the world visible on their faces, she was practically bracing herself for it, with a spring in her step and a sunny smile on her face as always.

As they rounded the street corner they now knew led to Father Sergei's church, Mina's gaze naturally went to the nearby school and orphanage across the street from it, and her stride began to slow, before ultimately turning to address her two partners and friends: "Hey, Maja-chan, could we check in on the orphanage real quick?"

Of course, the wax-haired girl looked to her pink guest with a curiously raised eyebrow. "I mean, sure, but why? Out of anyone, they seem to run into real problems the least."

Looking back to the building, noticing how none of the children were out playing in the front yard like they had been on Monday, Mina answered: "Yeah, but I just wanna make sure they're all okay, y'know?"

"Forgive me, Pinky-kun, but the kids didn't really seem to gravitate towards you or Solovei-kun the last time, remember?" The Giver suddenly pointed out, her eyes quickly sinking to the ground with regret for having to remind her of this.

However, Mina's posture remained just as tall and confident as ever, her smile stretching from ear to ear as her golden irises only seemed to ignite with a drive all her own. "Yeah, I know. But Maja-chan said they're scared of new faces. So, if I keep coming, they'll get used to me and won't be scared anymore. They shouldn't have to be scared of Heroes, you know? I mean, what little kid wouldn't wanna have a Hero for a bestie, right? If I could be that for those kids, wouldn't that be, like, the coolest, most Heroic thing ever?!"

The look in Mina's eyes was already a million miles away, just envisioning that one little sweet piece of an amazing future, while The Giver was simply giving the intern a knowing smirk. "You're just a natural sweetheart when it comes to wanting to be there for everyone, aren't you, Pinky-kun?"

However, just as Mina realized what a spectacle she was making of herself and grinning with embarrassment—"They're not inside."

The sound of Maja calling out to the two drew their attention, only to find the young Polish girl had taken the liberty of peeking through one of the windows, spurring them to do the same. Just as she said, the classroom was completely empty. Confused and growing concerned, Mina instinctively asked: "Where are they? Does this school do stuff like field trips?"

Maja was already shaking her head, no. However, before Mina or The Giver could ask anything else, they all three could just barely pick up the faint sound of an adult woman's voice, accompanied by what sounded unmistakably like a child crying. With all their protective sensibilities going into overdrive, the three hurried around the corner of the building, and upon stepping out into the back, they were met by the unexpected sight of a single adult woman with the head of a fawn standing before what looked like a tiny grave, accompanied by all the orphaned children, who were all visibly and audibly crying, all while the woman who was clearly their teacher and keeper sounded as though she were giving some kind of eulogy.

Of course, as solemn and important a moment as this was for all of them, Mina simply couldn't stomach the sight of children crying, and thus she and The Giver made their approach: "Excuse me!"

With Maja hurrying over to play interpreter, Mina's call stirred the teacher and her children out of the solemnity of this apparent funerary process, with the adult among the bunch stepping forward to meet them: [[Good day, Maja Kieslowska. Oh, and you two must be some of the Heroes that have been coming here with Mitsudo-san for this week already. I'm Olga Mikhaelovna Fedorova. Is there anything I can help you with?]]

It was certainly an awkward moment, since The Giver had to forego their previous urgency, and had to remind Mina to do the same, so they could properly introduce themselves. As soon as that had been done, though, the young pink Hero immediately returned her attention to the kids: "What exactly is going on here? Why do the kids all look and sound so sad?"

As Maja continued to translate, the fawn-headed woman looked back to the children and let out a remorseful sigh. [[Yes, I imagine you must've heard the crying and thought someone was in need of help; very natural for a young and forward Hero like yourself, from what the children told me about you the last time you came by here. There's no trouble; we're all just in a bit of mourning right now.]]

"What exactly happened?" The Giver immediately asked while Mina was trying so wholeheartedly to at least try and wave and smile to the children in the hopes a familiar face would at least make one of them smile. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be working.

[[It wasn't anything like an accident, don't worry. You see, our orphanage's dog, Makar; he'd gotten hit by a car a couple days ago, but this little boy we in town know as Valera, just came out of nowhere with his parents and used a Quirk that healed his wounds and brought him back to life like nothing had happened. I'd never seen the children so happy when they'd come back here and told the rest of us about it.]]

Already, the three girls were replaying that whole incident in their heads, remembering it all clear as day. However, they could similarly feel their hearts sink when they saw the downtrodden look on Olga's face, and then put the rest of the pieces of just what they were really seeing together in their heads.

Olga could already see it becoming clear to the three as she continued: [[This morning, Makar simply wouldn't wake up, and that was when we realized he wasn't breathing. His injuries hadn't come back, and he was never a sickly dog; quite young and spry, in fact. It was simply as though that life that had been given back to him had simply run out. We all agreed that a proper service was the least he deserved for the joy he gave these children, given their circumstances.]]

Maja continued to translate as she watched the expressions on the children's faces before ultimately setting her eyes on the little wooden headstone itself. All the while, Mina had to try and sniffle down the oncoming tears as she too watched the whole scene: "So that little boy's Quirk isn't permanent after all."

The Giver gave a solemn nod as she and Mina actually went on to join Olga as she returned to the children to carry out the rest of the impromptu service. As much as Mina didn't want to admit or accept it, the fact was that this was not a time for her to be trying to use her sense of humor and high energy to cheer these kids up. They needed to let their feelings run their course, and if she could be here for them in that, then that was surely enough, and they would know it, too. Honestly, the whole thing really reminded her of being with Nikolay under that bus stop that fateful day she'd gone after him, and simply been there for him to grieve thirteen years worth to.

What neither she nor The Giver noticed in those few silent minutes, though, was how Mina's summation of Valera's limited Quirk effectiveness, had left Maja looking wide-eyed and shaken to her core, unable to think of anything else now.

As soon as the momentary service had finally run its course, and Olga urged the children into the building to begin the school day, they all began to make their way for the front of the building, with Maja and her two guests following close behind; Mina still having a downcast look in her eyes; which her fellow Hero was quick to point out with a hushed whisper: "Pinky-kun, you need to remember who we're around right now. You just said that children shouldn't be afraid of Heroes, but how do you think people would feel if they saw a Hero outwardly sad?"

Mina momentarily came to a stop, thinking about what her current partner was suggesting. She couldn't deny she had a really good point. "I know…but wouldn't those kids feel better if a Hero could sympathize with them, and not act like everything's a-okay? That'd be, like, ignoring them and their feelings, and totally rude, y'know? They've already gone through so much insanely sad stuff already, they shouldn't have to feel like they're being ignored, too."

As The Giver was visibly taking Mina's perspective into consideration and opening her mouth to answer—"Pinky, Giver-sensei!"

The distant and quickly approaching sound of Nikolay's voice drew both female Heroes and Maja's attention, to find him and De-Condenser running to them with surprising urgency in their movements before coming to a stop.

"Whoa, Kolya-kun, Sensei, what's going on?" Mina immediately asked when she saw the intensity in both their eyes, as De-Condenser stood tall and ready before them all.

"Something serious is going on, Pinky-kun, Giver-kun. That little boy from a couple days ago, the one with the Resurrecting Quirk, Valera; he's gone missing, and so have his parents." The moment he said this, Mina and The Giver both went pale as sheets, before Mina's grip on Nikolay's shoulders tightened with her own sense of urgency. "Then what're we all just standing here for? Let's go find him, you guys!"

"The more people we could get to help with the search, the better, though, Mina." Nikolay suddenly interrupted, grabbing her by the forearms to keep her from just running off blind. As she and The Giver both looked to him, with Maja doing the same from behind them all, he further explained: "We found out because we ran into that priest's son and his friends out near the woods back the way we came. They've been looking for him since yesterday and haven't found any sign of him, not even at their house."

None of them even realized how Maja was getting ready to actually try and talk the four of them down, before De-Condenser turned his attention to the fawn-headed teacher ushering her children into the school: "Excuse me, Fedorova-san!" The moment he saw he'd gotten her attention, he was straight to business: "I understand you act as a teacher for all the children in Gagaringrad, not only the orphans. One of the children, a little boy named Valera, is said to have gone missing alongside his parents very recently. Was he one of your students, by any chance?"

Olga's ears flapped outward with surprise at what she was being asked, but she still went on to answer as honestly as possible while Maja translated: "Unfortunately, no, he isn't. I know of him, but that's as far as it goes for many of us. When he and his parents came here after the mass influx earlier this year, they settled outside of the town proper and kept primarily to themselves, even homeschooling the little dear when I'd asked back then. I can't see why people are suddenly saying they've gone missing, though; they moved away from here not too long after they'd arrived in the first place."

The fact that the teacher explained all of this as though it were so obvious and ordinary, was what made it hit Nikolay and his companions so much harder, as they all looked at her with surprise, with Nikolay immediately responding: [[What? That doesn't make any sense, we just saw him and his parents on Sunday, and the priest's son said they were at the performance on Monday.]]

However, Maja was quick to step in, a regretful look in her eyes: "I'm sorry I didn't think to mention this to you guys before, but it is actually true that they don't live here like everybody else. I'd decided to check them out after what we'd seen Valera's Quirk do to that dog. They actually moved to a different town a little ways away from here less than a month after they'd first arrived, but they did still tend to visit here often. Whether out of some kind of nostalgia or country-based kinship, I can't really say."

Nikolay's face was still wrought with confusion, and the others could see it just as well. Finally he asked: [[But if that's the case, then why would the priest be having his son and his friends going out looking for them?]]

Again, Maja let out another remorseful sigh, while at this point Olga had finished apologetically taking her leave to attend to the rest of the children. [[I hate to say this, but we have to remember that Father Cherenkov isn't exactly a young man, you guys. It's not unheard of that he wouldn't be 100% there. And as for his son and his friends, don't forget that they can sometimes be out doing their music tours for a few months at a time. It's just as likely they wouldn't know exactly what goes on around here down to the smallest detail. A reaction like this from them only makes sense in that regard.]]

Fortunately for her, it seemed like her answers were at least making some kind of sense to them, but they still looked considerably troubled. Finally, De-Condenser spoke up: "When Andrei-kun and his friends told us this, we decided we would meet up at Pietro-san's compound to set up a search party. If nothing else, we can at least head over there and speak to the man himself."

Maja's eyes lit up alongside her expectant smile at the sound of this: "I agree. He may not interact with most of the town proper, but he does keep his fingers on the pulse of what goes on around here. If nothing else, he can at least help clear things up for you all."

"Then what're we waiting for? Let's go!" Mina announced with great enthusiasm, and with that, the whole bunch started making their way for the old hospital up north.

Once they were halfway there, by now out of sight of town, they soon came across Andrei and his three friends, curiously enough, making their way right back for town, all waving with smiles on their faces at the sight of Maja and the four Heroes accompanying her. [[Hello again, everyone. You all certainly got here fast.]]

However, while the red-haired Timur and the others were as casual and pleasant as could be, Nikolay and his companions couldn't hide their confusion: [[Where are you guys going? I thought we agreed we'd meet up at the compound and ask Mr. Granin and his people to help us look for Valera and his parents?]]

Oddly enough, this reminder only brought about a sigh of what sounded like peaceful contentment from the four young men, as the blue-haired Sasha answered: [[Yes, that was the plan, but Pietro Dobrynich helped clarify a lot of things for us. Turns out that Valera and his folks had actually moved out of Gagaringrad shortly after they'd first come here. They just kept to themselves so much, it's no wonder it took so long for most of the people to really notice and react like they had.]]

[[Plus, it's no wonder we wouldn't have known any better, being out on the road for as long as we have been this year,]] the white-haired Grigori noted in agreement.

Now, with not only the town schoolteacher, but now even these four having changed their tune so quickly, Nikolay felt like his head was spinning; all four of them did. However, they all tried to remain professional as De-Condenser spoke up: "Well, be that as it may, I think it'd still be best if we talk with Pietro-san ourselves, just to ensure we're all on the same page."

"Well, of course, go right ahead. We're gonna head back and see if my father needs any help with anything. You all take care of yourselves out there, alright?" As Andrei gave those parting words, he and his friends continued on their merry way, while the four Heroes made the rest of their way to the old hospital, all of them growing increasingly eager for some kind of explanation.

All throughout the previous night and into the morning, especially ever since he'd been informed of Leonid having somehow vanished without a trace from his home, Pietro had sequestered himself within Alyosha's lab alongside Ocean Master; both men eagerly watching their resident scientist hard at work. Contrary to what the dome-headed soldier had believed after the perceived disastrous first test of their believed-Quirk-activating bullets, Alyosha had instead taken the results to be some kind of godsend.

[[A veritable deterrent to any and all enemies that could think of standing up to us, the likes of which they could scarcely comprehend. Threatening a nation that despises and fears Quirks with something that could force one upon them is good enough, but if it could continuously have destructive results like this, it could be the answer we've been looking for all this time.]] Those were the words Alyosha had used to describe what he now believed these bullets to be, but words had turned into outright faith when he'd decided to try introducing a sample of his chemical compound to a tiny sample of Quirkless blood extracted from one of Konstantin's crew during their period of unconsciousness, only for it to result in a crystallized explosion that nearly destroyed a whole corner of his lab, to his excitement.

Indeed, the night had been especially busy for all of them, as not only had Alyosha finally finished repairing the damaged armored rig from before, but now he proudly stood before his leader and their army's second-in-command, with a newly constructed syringe/bullet in his fingertips, with yet more of his compound filling it to the brim, thanks to the assortment of automated chemistry equipment that Tuule and Hristofor had managed to bring back to them in the latest hours of the night.

[[Finally…a perfected and ready Quirk-explosion bullet.]] Pietro muttered, enraptured, as he took the bullet from Alyosha's hand; the scientist grinning proudly to himself as he looked to the several crates of bullet casings, syringe heads and glass tubes, all in varying lengths and widths in accordance to all the different caliber assault weapons the team had managed to bring back from the Urals with the submarine.

[[It's the perfect weapon for us, Pietro Dobrynich, just as these rigs will make the perfect protection for us to go with it once I finish looking over the schematics now that I fixed the damaged one. As soon as I do that, I can get started on constructing more of those while having my formula and the bullets for it get made automatically with this new equipment. As soon as we have enough of these bullets for all those weapons in our arsenal, and enough rigs for every soldier we have and will have later on, we could very well become the most feared small army the Motherland has ever seen.]]

VRRM!

Just as Pietro handed off the bullet to his ever-silent comrade to observe for himself, smiling all the while, his earpiece suddenly went off, and when he instinctively answered, he was instantly met with a sound of clear apprehension from Tuule, who had once again relegated herself to lookout duty after she and Hristofor had returned: [[Sir, I'm sorry, but it's Knot; she's coming back, and she has De-Condenser, his sidekick and those two interns with him. They're almost here.]]

Pietro let out a noticeably frustrated grunt as he shut off his earpiece and began to make his way for the door. Ocean Master watched this change in his comrade's demeanor before suddenly speaking up: [[It's those Kapenta Heroes again, isn't it? Things have been going too smoothly for us so far to just let them stick their noses in.]]

Standing in the doorway, Pietro looked back with an especially fierce determination in his red eyes as he grabbed a nearby aged mariner's cap that Alyosha had often worn from a nearby counter, fitting it over his head to hide his newest scar. [[Well, outright killing them will only end up shooting us in the foot, so you stay here with Alyosha Stepanovich, comrade. Besides, we all saw what happened when I worked on those four young men from town. If need be, I can take care of those four and get them off our backs without even having to lift a finger to fight.]]

As he made his way up to the surface level, Pietro was still riding the immense high of the little test and resultant discovery he'd made about the scope of his Quirk when Andrei and his friends had come poking their noses around with questions of Valera and his parents. It had been enough to ease a lot of tension and uncertainty off his shoulders, to say the least.

As Pietro stepped out into the daylight of the front courtyard, so too was Maja, as she was still closely accompanied by the four Heroes, who all hastily greeted her commander, and their unwitting host, the moment they made eye contact. The scarred man maintained the same pleasant and welcoming smile as he had before as he approached his four visitors. [[Good morning, everyone. I understand you must be dealing with quite the challenge if Linguist isn't available to help your communication issue. I trust Knot…er, I mean, Maja here has been proving quite the boon for you in that regard?]]

Nikolay stepped forward to serve as interpreter for his partners as De-Condenser spoke through him: [[She and I have been very helpful together for the others. We don't want to sound rude, but we came here to ask if you and your recruits would be willing to help us form a search party. A little boy named Valera has recently gone missing alongside his parents. We saw him on our first day here on Sunday, and Maja said she saw him at the homecoming show on Monday. Yet we've been asking around, and already several people are suddenly saying they moved from town a while ago. Why would they come visiting town two days in a row in that case?]]

As soon as Nikolay finished translating his mentor for the man before him, Pietro let out a remorseful-sounding sigh. [[It's really a shame; this town was meant to be a way for our people to unite in far stronger comradery after what had happened to our country; and yet instead, everyone pretty much keeps their heads down and pays no mind to one another, hence such unfortunate misunderstanding and confusion comes to pass. In the case of you young Heroes having only recently started coming here on the regular to provide us aid, it's only natural you'd get caught up in such a mess.

[[The situation regarding that Valera boy and his family is a conundrum, there's no denying that. It seemed like hardly any time after they first arrived that they decided to settle elsewhere in another town away from here. Yet, it's also true that they've made a point of visiting quite often since then. I won't dare to assume the thinking behind it; but if I had to guess, I'd say the visiting decision is simply out of a desire to feel some kind of familiarity, being surrounded by your own countrymen. Anyone in a strange new place can relate to that.

[[Yet, as to why they'd leave if they wanted that connection to begin with…well, I can only imagine that having seen what our Motherland had turned into over the last thirteen years, and then finding himself fathering a Quirked child in that kind of environment, I can't imagine the kind of deep-rooted sense of caution that gives someone can go away so easily. I imagine that feeling must've stuck with you and your father for quite a while, Solovei.]]

Even as Maja was translating Pietro's words for the three Japanese Heroes, Mina was visibly getting ready to try and get the man to lay off Nikolay, not liking where this conversation was going. And yet, the Russian boy himself continued to stand tall as he finally answered: [[Well, even if what you and the other people we've spoken to in town are saying is true, I still think it would be best for us all to work together searching these woods just in case. With all of us together, I'm sure we could be able to find some kind of clue at the least.]]

Pietro could clearly see the boy was driven in resolving this, and with a brow raised in intrigue at his spirit, he answered: [[Well, I can't say I disagree with your all wanting to be thorough. According to some of the people in town, Valera was known for being quite the little explorer, so it's not impossible.]]

As Nikolay and his friends all visibly lit up with hope that he would finally concede, Mina suddenly chimed in, emboldened: "Is it possible he would've wandered into the woods and found his way here?"

Unfortunately, she was immediately answered as Pietro motioned a thumb up to the roof of the hospital, revealing Tuule standing vigilant at the corner. [[It's a good question to ask, but unfortunately it couldn't be possible. I always have at least one person keeping watch from the rooftop. If Valera had indeed ended up wandering his way here, I would've been informed of it instantly and brought him back to town myself. Plus, it still doesn't solve the issue of his parents.]]

Mina's body language was still clearly driven to get to work, even if her eyes showed notable disappointment that her hunch was no good. Suddenly, Maja chimed in: [[How about this: Why don't my comrades and I take care of searching the woods around town, and you guys go and check out the other nearby town registries to see where they're living, just on the off-chance they didn't get lost?]]

Pietro's gaze behind the Polish girl's back made it clear he was impressed by her showing of initiative while still under the effect of his Quirk. Nikolay, Mina and The Giver all looked equally surprised, even though Nikolay still looked to be thinking hard about it all. [[I don't know; I still feel like we'd be able to cover more ground if we all checked both sides of the woods together.]]

Suddenly, De-Condenser cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention again. "I have to admit, I see the logic in Maja-chan's plan. It's best that we cover all our bases until we know for certain where they are. I'll even contact the others at the Agency and have them investigate the other neighboring towns aside from our own, that way we can cover more ground that much quicker."

Nikolay, Mina and even The Giver all looked deeply conflicted about what they felt should've been done, since both approaches seemed to make sense. Eventually though, they knew that if the most experienced Pro Hero among them really felt this was the best, then they owed it to themselves to watch and learn, and hope this would ultimately pan out.

"Thank you for all your help, Pietro-san. We'll keep you informed of whatever progress we make on our end," De-Condenser thanked the older Russian with a grateful bow, which he humbly returned.

[[Of course, and we'll do the same for you all as well. I'm confident that working together, we'll bring this confusing mess to a close.]] As Pietro bid them farewell, the four Heroes gave their similar gratitude and farewells to Maja, and began making their way for the courtyard gate.

However, just before they followed their mentors out, Nikolay and Mina both came to a stop, and finally turned back to address Maja's commander: [[I'm sorry, Mr. Granin, but there's something else we've been wanting to ask you; something I've been curious about, if you don't mind, of course.]]

Pietro fidgeted with surprise on his way back inside when he realized the two Hero interns weren't already gone, and picking up on the situation, Maja hurriedly got back to translating for Mina's sake. [[After our last visit to town on Monday, I told my father all about it, and learned that you two have actually known each other for a while. He even had a picture of you together with him and several of the New Bogatyrs…except that in that picture, your eyes were blue.]]

The moment Nikolay got to that point, Mina had gotten so pumped off of his own energy that she suddenly chimed in: "Yeah, then when we first met, your eyes were orange as a pumpkin, and now they're red like apples! Is that a part of your Quirk, Granin-ojiisan?!"

The energy the two kids were exhibiting nearly blindsided Pietro, but he was exceptionally mentally quick with his explanation, as he lifted up the brim of his hat, once again revealing the old scar along the left of his scalp. [[It's not part of my Quirk, but it hasn't always been an aspect of mine, either. I suffered a really bad head injury a long time ago, and it caused a bizarre chemical change in my brain once I wasn't on death's door anymore. Since then, my eye color changes at random. I wouldn't even know how to fix it.]]

There was no visible flinch in his expression, nor crack in his tone to tell Nikolay and Mina that anything he was saying was less than the truth. The scar certainly looked serious enough to match his story, he sounded completely genuine, and it wasn't exactly like Nikolay even had any other questions that went further than that simple childlike curiosity; especially not when they had a potentially missing family to look for. [[All right, Mr. Granin. Sorry to bother you. I was worried it was a sore subject for you, but I'd just never seen anything like it before, I couldn't help but ask.]]

With an amused chuckle, Pietro waved the two off in farewell: [[Oh, you don't have to apologize, you two. It's only natural for people your age to still have curious questions about new things, Heroes or not; there's no harm in it.]]

With the two Hero interns giving similarly apologetic bows side by side, they finally hurried after their mentors, while Pietro let out a heavy sigh of relief, at least until he suddenly felt Maja tugging at his sleeve to get his attention, a distinctly concerned look in her eyes.

[[Sir, I wanted you to know, I think I might have a clue as to where Linguist is.]] The moment she said this, Pietro's whole body flinched; his red eyes reflecting a growing need to know. [[When we ran into Father Sergei earlier, he said that Linguist was still in his house recovering, but we know that's not true. He even said he's been checking on him regularly, but did Spitfire and Backtrack ever see him while they were keeping watch last night?]]

Pietro leaned back, standing tall and rigid as he sucked in a deep breath through his nose, staring intently in the direction he knew Gagaringrad to be. [[Excellent work, Knot, but we unfortunately have other business to attend to before that, mainly regarding those Heroes. Get back into town and tell the others to keep an eye on Father Sergei, but don't draw attention, and don't do anything rash. This is still simply an observation mission.]]

Maja gave another dutiful salute and made her way back out the gate. She had honestly no idea why Pietro was acting this way in regards to the kindly old man, but if he had a reason to act in such a way, then it was her duty as his soldier to follow his lead.

As soon as she was gone, Pietro turned his attention back to Tuule on the roof, signaling for the young Estonian girl to come down, which she immediately did in less than the blink of an eye, visibly ready for anything.

[[Gust, I want you to go into my office. Inside, there's a drawer of forged filled out census forms I've had made for every citizen in Gagaringrad for any of the nearby towns in case they'd wanted to move. I want you to take one of any of the copies I had made recently for that boy, Valera, and his family, and head to the census office of that town and slip it in there. The Kapenta Agency Heroes are bound to go to any of those towns in search for them, and even if they might have moved even further away than we thought, this will be a good enough block to keep them from prying too deep into what we're getting ready to do. Do you understand what your objective is, soldier?]]

[[Yes, sir! I promise I won't let you down! Are we getting ready to head out on another mission, finally?]] As Tuule eagerly asked this with a twinkle in her eye, Pietro folded his fingers together, glancing back and forth between Gagaringrad and the open sea the hospital looked over. [[Possibly.]]

"I don't like leaving early like this, Sensei! What if there're other people here who need help? Heroes gotta be able to help everyone if they can!" Mina's complaints had started coming once they'd finally made it back into town, and had only persisted as they made their way to the town entrance. By now, despite everything, even Nikolay couldn't help but agree: "Yeah, I can't help but feel like we're ditching our intern duties by doing this!"

De-Condenser suddenly turned on his heels, looking both his interns and similarly conflicted-looking sidekick in the eyes. "I don't like having to leave here earlier than we're meant to, either, everyone; but you need to be realistic about our resources and circumstances. We could very well be looking at a missing family case, and we all need to work together alongside Pietro-san and his people in order to resolve it. We can't afford to spread our numbers thin by having you two stay behind here for further patrolling duty. Ask any of the other Heroes at the Agency, and I guarantee you'll be getting the same answer."

Just as he began to turn back, his expression suddenly softened, prompting the three younger Heroes to look back, just to find Maja rushing to catch up with them, an unmistakable optimism in her eyes. "Maja-chan, what's up!?"

As Mina happily re-greeted her, the Polish girl had to actually hunch over to catch her breath. "Sorry, I was hoping I'd catch you guys before you left. I just…I just wanted to wish you all luck on your end once you get back. I hope your hunch ends up working out, and all this confusion was for nothing."

Once De-Condenser and Mina gladly thanked her for her vote of confidence, Nikolay thoughtfully chimed in: "I know Sensei and Granin-san already said so, but could you please let us know if you do end up finding Valera and his folks out there? I mean, if, for whatever reason, our search doesn't yield anything, could you also maybe let us know as soon as Leonid-san is okay again? Maybe he might be able to help us if it comes to that."

To all their relief, Maja gave them a faith-instilling wink and thumb up. "No problem, your office should be easy enough to contact once he recovers. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't come to that, and we find them okay."

As Nikolay began to turn back to rejoin the others, Mina dutifully took his place, a similar inquisitive light in her eyes as she glanced back the direction of the old hospital. "Maja-chan, I don't wanna sound like I'm calling Granin-ojiisan a liar, but are you sure no kids come wandering around out there at all?"

Looking back, Maja looked fairly sure as she answered: "Sorry, Ashido-san. We're all around those grounds a majority of the day. The last little kid face I saw around there was Commander Granin's son, Misha."

The mention of Pietro having a kid left all the Heroes looking thrown for a loop, and Maja visibly embarrassed that she'd left some much-needed details out: "Well, he's been keeping him hidden away in the hospital for a long while already, ever since we first got here and settled down. I think it's the same reason as when he was talking about Valera's folks moving away. He only just now decided to let him come and join in training. I guess you could say he's like our newest recruit, but the Commander goes really easy on him in comparison to us. Big surprise, right?"

There was hardly anything else that anyone could sensibly say in these circumstances, and in the end, time was not on their side. Thus, with yet more heartfelt thanks and farewells, the four Heroes finally continued on the rest of their way back to Arakisu City, while Maja turned back into Gagaringrad, ready to inform the rest of her watchful comrades of Pietro's latest orders for the elderly Father Sergei.

Once the four Heroes had returned to the train station and began making their way back to Arakisu City, Nikolay was sitting hunched over, fingers folded and his eyes looking incredibly focused, while De-Condenser had taken to looking out the window to the passing scenery now behind them. While similarly looking thoughtful, there was a much more pronounced look of nostalgia in his eyes.

"I must say, these last several months of training with Pietro-san has really helped Maja-chan's attitude along with her Quirk. It's a nice thing to see, really." However, while he was looking outside as he said this, all three of his fellow Heroes instantly jolted up with surprise, with Mina and Nikolay immediately answering: "What are you talking about, Sensei?" "Yeah, she said she'd been training with him for several years on Sunday."

However, now it was De-Condenser's turn to look confused to his interns. "I don't know why she'd say that, unless she was trying to say that those months of training felt like years. She's only really started training with him for the last several months since that mass influx of citizens came in earlier this year."

What sounded completely sensible to De-Condenser in that moment simply left his sidekick and two interns internally reeling with confusion. How were any of them supposed to interpret what he was telling them? Was it his way of saying that Maja had only really been able to focus on training under Pietro when she and her friends had gotten to Gagaringrad, being able to train without the pressure of constantly having to be moving? When looking at it that way, it made sense.

Of course, the overlying potential crisis of Valera and his parents possibly being missing took greater precedence than trying to interpret their teacher's specific wording; all three young Heroes were in full agreement on that in that moment.

The next several hours that had passed after they had returned to the Kapenta Hero Agency were equally hectic, tedious, fast and slow all at once. Thankfully, everyone had been 100% on board with investigating all the nearby towns around Arakisu City for any sign of Valera and his family at Chiaroscuro's suggestion.

The plans had all been the same for everyone: upon arrival, checking with the census and registration offices at the city or town halls for records on people that had recently moved there. Once they'd have found that, it would then be on to looking for their residences and simply making sure that anyone was even home.

Spirits had gotten especially low for Nikolay, Mina and their mentors when the city they had been sent to check out, a place called Matsuzaka City, had turned up absolutely no leads, thus proving their route had been a dead end. However, in the end, some hope had been restored, when the rest of the Kapenta Pros had been contacted in the early hours of the evening by High Noon, who had been sent eastward to another town called Hashikara City, where she found that a family bearing the same surname and description as Valera's had indeed registered to move there in the right time frame, and had even been included in the most recent census. As luck had it, apparently a lot of these towns were known to have had gradual influxes of foreign-born citizens moving in over the years.

However, while that had at least proved the townspeople and Pietro's explanations to be true, it still didn't amount to much, as when High Noon had tracked down their printed address, she simply found a house with nobody in it, thus proving the suspicions of Valera having gotten lost in the woods, and his parents following suit in their search for him, to be equally true.

What made this run-around scenario so much worse, was that by the time their investigations had finally wrapped up and everyone had returned to the Agency to figure out their next plan of action, it had already started approaching straight nightfall, and for Nikolay, Mina and the now-since-involved Kyouka, that meant the last thing any of them had wanted to hear when knowing there was a situation at hand they could have helped with: for their own sakes, it had now been time for them to start heading back to Yuuei, and leaving the rest of the situation in the hands of their mentors alongside Pietro's people.

"Sensei, you can't seriously expect us to just go back and not come here for an entire day when that kid and his parents could be in trouble, can you?" Nikolay had immediately asked as soon as De-Condenser and Chiaroscuro had reluctantly told the three interns it was time for them to go, with Mina arguing just as vehemently right alongside him, fists pumping in protest: "Yeah, we can't ever be Heroes if we just go home when it gets late and there's trouble! Let us talk to our teacher, please! He'd totally understand!"

However, as befitting her position as head of the whole Agency, Chiaroscuro was absolutely vehement in her response: "This is the price to be paid as Hero interns; you're always in a delicate balancing act between your educations and your Hero work, and you can't afford to sacrifice the time for one for the sake of the other. It's a bitter pill to swallow, especially for clearly idealistic young Heroes like you, but it's a pill you need to swallow if you want to truly have any hope of advancing through your Hero education like this."

Following her especially harsh and realistic reprimanding, De-Condenser tried to further talk his interns down much more reassuringly: "Besides, you all know that this case isn't simply being abandoned just because you won't be able to be there to help for a day. We're all still going to be helping in every way we can alongside Pietro-san and his people. No matter what, we are going to find that family and bring them back home safely, and you have all our words as Pro Heroes on that. Try to let that sink in, and please, don't fight with us about this. It's ultimately for all your own good."

Indeed, it was all a painful pill for the once bright-eyed Hero students to swallow, but it was still one they ultimately had to, as when it was clear none of the Pros were willing to budge on the issue and risk their interns getting in trouble with their school as a result, the trio ultimately resigned themselves, begrudgingly changed back into their uniforms, and ultimately had to take their leave for the train station, but not before they'd been given one last hopeful word from The Giver for the night: "Please, don't let this bring your spirits down, you guys. We're all still in this whole thing together, remember that. When you all return on Friday, we could all be looking at a better day, with Valera and his family once again safe and sound at home, and you can all once again just focus on learning everything there is to learn so you can be just as effective Heroes as us."

It was indeed a very stock-sounding speech, even someone as flighty as Mina could see that; making it obvious this was the first time The Giver had ever found herself in a position to try and reassure anyone, let alone fellow young Heroes like herself. However, that didn't make the sentiment any less undeniably genuine, and thus at least helped to slightly ease their apprehensions on the way back to the train station and back to Yuuei as a whole.

Of course, as time passed and they rode the train back home in initially heavy silence, the three students were all still looking deeply pensive among each other, unable to just put the events of today behind them, primarily regarding Valera and his parents. Of course they both wanted to simply keep hoping that their mentors and the townspeople would be able to find them before their return on Friday, but their lingering guilt that they couldn't stay up there to try and provide all the help they could simply would not go away.

It still felt like a downright insult towards their Hero training as a whole. How could any of them possibly be able to tell their classmates about being forced onto the sidelines like this, and expect to show any kind of pride in themselves as future Pro Heroes?

"It just sounds so nonsensical, how those people would just be completely ignorant of a whole family moving away for several months." Kyouka inevitably muttered in admittance to herself and her classmates, breaking the uncomfortable silence, and leaving Nikolay and Mina similarly troubled and frustrated by the seeming lack of logic behind it all.

However, in the end, Nikolay had to force himself to reply: "I mean, in a way, what Granin-san said makes some kind of sense, about how a lot of these people wanna stick with what's familiar, and still keep to themselves after what they'd gone through. I still don't like it, though; especially with all this going on."

Mina started clutching at the hem of her uniform's skirt, biting her lip with her own kind of frustration while her eyes were filled with a deep sadness, not for any one person, but for the people in the town as a whole. "It just feels so sad all over, you guys; you know? I mean, if you went through all that kind of pain to try and get somewhere safe, wouldn't it make so much sense to wanna open up all the way, and not just keep yourself all locked up with a bunch of other closed up people like they were before? I mean, if Kolya-kun could do it, then they all totally could, too! I'll bet they would all be so much happier that way!"

Neither Nikolay nor Kyouka could argue with Mina's optimistic way of thinking, but neither could they figure how to answer what she was saying, if she was looking for an answer at all. Nikolay simply couldn't focus his mind on so many different issues at once, not right now. Once the Valera case was resolved, then he could finally start thinking of how they could possibly be able to help bring the people of Gagaringrad out of the malaise of their shared past, and really start being the Hero representatives of a better future that they all so desperately needed.

At least, he could only hope it would be that smooth a transition when the time came.

[[This is Leviathan to Sparrow, come in Sparrow. I repeat, this is Leviathan calling Sparrow, please respond. We are currently in position awaiting your arrival to complete extraction. If you can hear my voice on this frequency, please respond. This is Commander Emil Kuznetsov of the corvette-class Rakhmaninov, calling Konstantin Khodamchuk; we are awaiting confirmation from you of your team having accomplished its mission. We are awaiting your arrival at the following coordinates-]]

What the commander of this small-class warship didn't even realize, was that while his message was being received, it wasn't by Konstantin Khodamchuk. No, Pietro had sequestered himself in his office with his radio equipment while using Konstantin's communicator as a conduit to listen in, currently writing down every detail he could get from his old friend's means of extraction, having to hold in the desire to laugh at just how easy this was proving to be. The inevitable result of complacency with procedure and continued success, as far as he was concerned.

As soon as the man called Emil Kuznetsov had finished listing off his current coordinates, and Pietro had gotten them all written down, the commander actually continued on: [[We will continue to wait for word from you for another two hours before heading back to base. You should know, we cannot continue venturing out this far from base on the regular. If we do not hear from you within the next two hours, I'm afraid we will have to step back as your means of extraction, and you will have to find another means of getting back home. I should also inform you that our deep-sea-diving extraction team has decided to act now in investigating the deep-sea coordinates provided yesterday in search of the stolen submarine. If we aren't able to extract you and your team, then at least we may be able to either salvage or disable that. If you're able, you can answer me on this frequency and we can confirm you and your team's success and extraction. This is Commander Emil Kuznetsov, over and out.]]

As the call ended, Pietro looked over all the information he'd written down, and then compared it to the map of the local waters, comparing and contrasting, all while Ocean Master stood vigilant at the door. [[They're out there again, and their submarine-recovery crew is on the move…aren't they?]]

With a contemplative sigh, Pietro rose up from his seat. [[Yes. They even said that if Konstantin Alexandrovich and his team don't return tonight, the ship won't come back…and I seriously doubt the government will be willing to just leave this team's survival to chance, especially if the ship comes back to its base and reports their continued absence. The fact is that we can't allow that ship to leave and get word out…nor can we allow them to take or disable the sub, either.]]

[[Then let's mobilize the soldiers and move out. You know I'm faster than anyone on the water. I could help us take care of both threats in no time at all.]] Ocean Master suggested with a note of urgency present even through his filtered voice.

Pietro knew the man was right. Fortunately, he knew they still had the advantage for that very same reason. Ocean Master's speed on the water could easily dwarf a corvette-class warship; they wouldn't have a hope of getting away once they were in his sights. Of course, he knew that with this double-pronged threat coming their way, he would need to divide their forces in order to take on both, and when it came to the submarine team, none of his other soldiers were any good under the water.

However, there were still other issues to at least have a bead on before anything else, as Pietro changed the frequency on his earpiece and hit the button to send a call out. Within seconds, he found himself being answered by Gazsi on the other end: [[Backtrack here, sir.]]

[[Backtrack, have you and Gust seen any updates on Father Sergei?]] Pietro knew that, out of all his soldiers, Tuule was at a disadvantage when it came to mobility on a space as confined as a ship, and he couldn't risk getting Gazsi injured again, if not worse; not when the rest of the pieces of the plan were so close to falling into place. Having them remain on standby and following up on the town priest was simply for the best right now.

[[Yes, sir; you actually called at the best time. Just a minute ago, Gust reported seeing him make his way from the church to Linguist's home with food, leaving it on the doorstep, and then just heading right back to the church. I decided to follow him and see if I could listen in, but the doors have already been locked and the windows shuttered. I think if he sees me, he'll know we're suspecting him and he might try to run off.]]

Pietro was pondering all the while as the young Hungarian explained all of this. Did Sergei really not know that Leonid was not even home, if not even in town? Or was this simply an act of his to try and make them think he might not have known anything? It was too soon to tell, and this was not the time for rash action. [[Keep an eye and ear on him as best you can, and have Gust keep watching Leonid's home, just in case. If anything at all changes, contact me at once, no sooner or later.]]

[[Understood, sir. Backtrack out.]]

With the call once more ended, Pietro's posture became rigid and resolute as he turned to address the dome-headed soldier. [[We need to move out. Gust and Backtrack won't be able to participate, but the rest will. If you can get them out to these coordinates the extraction ship is waiting at, I know they would be able to take it unawares, with a bit of your help. From there, they can take care of bringing the ship back here if possible, and in the meantime, you can head out and cut off the extraction team heading for the sub. They shouldn't be able to hide from you out there.]]

The way Ocean Master crossed his arms in response to that was as though he were practically shouting 'is there even any doubt?' Of course, now knowing he wasn't going to be able to be watching the recruits' backs full-time for this one, he couldn't help but hesitate before asking: [[We've been trying to play it relatively safe so far, hence why we didn't just massacre Konstantin's whole group as soon as we saw them. How do you want to play things here?]]

Looking back to the map, and then considering the armaments of the kind of ship they were going after, and how many soldiers they could potentially be up against, Pietro took a good few moments of silence to finally answer: [[I've tried being optimistic, even idealistic…and it's only led us here, and we know the enemy won't stop if given a single opening. If they're able to take any of the crew alive, then so be it. The more leverage we have to keep the government from trying anything, the better. But if push comes to shove…then our soldiers need to protect theirs and each others' lives before anything else. Tell them that once they've been gathered. They'll understand.]]

[[We already have one of their people's blood on our hand on our own turf, Pietro Dobrynich. That could very well hurt our chance of having any real leverage going forward.]] Ocean Master suddenly pointed out, earning an exasperated groan from Pietro.

[[That was a necessity, both to make sure we know exactly what armaments we have on our side…and if need be, as a deterrent to keep Russia from trying anything else. It's a long shot, but any shot we have is worth taking. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that. The last thing we need is to strengthen their perception of us as terrorists any more than we already have. Now get the soldiers together, and I'll give them the briefing before you all move out.]]

As Ocean Master finally began to take his leave out the door, he suddenly stopped with yet another realization: [[Sir, if we're going to be moving up against an actual warship, no matter the class, then we know they're going to be having eyes watching all around their perimeter, on top of radar. Getting the drop on them will be borderline impossible, no matter how fast I am or how strong my Quirk is out there.]]

However, this actually didn't seem to deter Pietro, as his red eyes slightly widened with probably one of the most promising ideas he'd had yet: [[That's true…but we just might have the means to take that advantage away from them.]]

It fortunately didn't take long for Ocean Master to have drawn all the rest of the soldiers together on the beachhead just south of the compound, and they were already so pumped up and ready for action, Pietro never even needed to double back once to make sure they understood the exact details of what they were expected to do.

Once everyone had gotten their instructions on what to do with the warship and its crew, assuming things went smoothly, everyone began to form up. However, what Pietro had been quick to notice, was that out of all of them, Maja was the only one with any visible hesitation, and a notable look of concern on her face as she kept looking his way. [[Is there something troubling you right now I should know about, Knot?]]

Her blue-and-pink eyes kept looking the man over, almost as though she were looking for some kind of unknown abnormality, before she finally worked up the courage to ask: [[No, I just…well, a-are you feeling okay right now, sir?]]

What Pietro had naturally assumed was her calling his mentality into question, had actually been born from her own worries brewing in her head all day long, ever since she'd learned what had happened to the dog Valera had used his Quirk on, and what that ultimately stood to mean for Pietro himself.

Of course, Pietro didn't know any of this, and instead went with what his gut was telling him to answer for: [[I understand some of you must think I'm not feeling myself, suddenly having us act in such a forward manner as this, especially so soon after what happened…but the truth is that I haven't felt this clear on what should be done in years. I thought we could play things safe and slowly build ourselves up for when the time was right, but now I know that if we just sit back, they'll just keep sending more and more attacks our way. It was bad enough this first one actually managed to kill me at all, no matter how briefly. The last thing I'll stand for is for the enemy to think we're weak. It's time for us to remove this immediate threat to us and our home, and start truly shoring up our defenses and manpower from there.]]

As Pietro's voice grew more and more intense, drawing the attention of more and more of his soldiers, his gaze suddenly shifted to just a tiny ways further up the beachhead, as though he actually were expecting something. [[In fact, I've already decided to do just that, with a little surprise our enemies won't see coming.]]

As if that were some kind of long-awaited cue, everyone soon began to hear another pair of footsteps approaching them from up the beach, leaving many of them confused, since they knew Tuule and Gazsi were on another assignment, and the rest of them were here and accounted for.

Until finally, just as a beam of moonlight broke through the clouds, the recruits all felt their hearts momentarily seize and their stomachs twist and turn, when they found themselves being approached by the very same older shorter mustachioed man they knew to have been the one responsible for killing Pietro in the first place; his expression showing no regret, fear, anger, or anything of the sort, while Pietro himself actually brought the sniper forward with all the pleasantness his body language could convey as he turned his attention to his dumbfounded soldiers. [[Everyone, I'd like you to meet the newest official induction to our little army, Angel's Eye. He may not have a Quirk, but his sharpshooting skills are borderline inhuman, and we can really use that to our advantage.]]

[[Sir, are you serious?! After what he did, you actually want us to fight with him?!]] Ljubomir immediately exploded with disbelief, while Eliška, Jozsef and Hristofor all looked like they were ready to kill him right there on the spot.

However, instead of instantly reprimanding his soldiers for questioning his orders, Pietro instead planted his hand upon the back of the sharpshooter's head, phasing his thumb through like it wasn't even really there, and spoke out with an especially resonating voice that sank into the sharpshooter and all his observing soldiers before him: [[Angel's Eye is not solely responsible for my wound, and has expressed wishes to atone and fight for our cause, and you have all accepted that.]]

The moment he stopped speaking and removed his hand, he watched as the violent apprehensiveness of his soldiers faded just as quickly as it had come, and even the volatile Ljubomir, still looking at Angel's Eye directly, stated: [[Well if you wanna prove yourself to us like you said, then get into position and let's go.]]

As everyone formed up, and Ocean Master ultimately took the lead as they delved into the ocean waves, Pietro could feel his heart lighten and his smile spread. Indeed, his discovery of the extension of his Quirk wasn't just a fluke. It wasn't the touch into one's mind that his power worked through; it was just the activating factor. No, it was his voice he spoke with when he had his hand upon someone that gave him his Memory Rewrite ability, and the intent and focus he put into it was what made the difference between simply rewriting the memory of the person he had a grasp on, or an entire group of people all at once, like what he had done to Andrei and his friends, and like what he had just done now. He had hoped that his more temperamental soldiers would've been able to give him the benefit of the doubt when it came to working with one who was originally their enemy, but clearly he'd been too optimistic in that.

But now that he knew for certain his Quirk had this extra extent of its power he'd never even considered before, he felt so much more powerful and prepared than he already had been. Now it was just a matter of seeing if Ocean Master and his soldiers would be able to take care of the warship and the submarine recovery teams like he hoped they would.

On board the Russian corvette-class warship Rakhmaninov, the ship sat idle and silent in these relatively calm ocean waters. They knew for a fact they were safely in international waters, so they weren't breaking any maritime laws by being out here, although if anyone were to have come by, to see a warship just sitting out here in wait and not actively patrolling would have indeed been considered strange.

Much of the crew was similarly tense, simply because they'd only been given the bare minimum of information by their captain as to just why they were all the way out here, so far from base and their usual patrol route. Yes, this was the second, and reportedly last night that they would be doing this, but much like with any other situation, it was not knowing everything that made it all the worse, and Commander Emil Kuznetsov knew this all too well. His crew was like family to him, much as it was bound to be for the captain of any other ship, and he didn't like the idea of actively putting them at any kind of risk if it could be avoided.

It was only because Konstantin Khodamchuk himself, a high-ranking member of Mother Russia's government in charge of putting together all their fail-safes and hardware for protecting themselves from all the Quirked threats out there, had asked for his personal assistance in getting them out of the hostile zone once their mission was complete, that he had agreed to it at all in the first place, alongside his guarantee that their involvement would be kept secret from what little press there was any chance of being.

[[Sir, I'm still not picking up any response from the approved radio frequency, and there's still no sign of anything approaching on radar. How much longer are we going to keep waiting out here? If we run into trouble, we're an hour away from base and the hope of any backup arriving to help us.]] The young radar operator couldn't hide the tension in his voice, anymore than the rest of the crew could hide the nervousness in their eyes.

However, Emil Kuznetsov hadn't gotten this far in the navy chain of command by letting emotions get the better of him, and as such, he remained steadfast in his decision, keeping a vigilant eye on the pitch black ocean horizon all around them. [[I told Khodamchuk we would wait for another two hours, and that's what we're going to do. An hour and forty-five minutes to be precise. Just keep your heads on a swivel, and tell the men on deck to do the same. There's bound to be some kind of signal out there for us to find.]]

[[Commander, what if the team wasn't able to complete their mission? What if they're in trouble out there? It's not like we can just mobilize a squadron and launch an attack on Japanese soil, it would be a full-on declaration of war in the eyes of the world.]] Kuznetsov could once more hear the fear in another of his officer's voices as clear as day as he turned to answer his concerns.

[[If that is indeed the case, we'll have no choice but to return to base, radio our higher ups and see about organizing a joint-national effort to neutralize the enemy and get them back, on the off-chance they're actually still alive. It's too soon for us to tell as of now, but it would be the best course of action to avoid a war, as you said. Now all of you keep your eyes on the radar, the radio and sonar and inform me the instant something comes up.]]

BZZZT! PEEEEW!

All of a sudden, with an intense electrical crack and the all-encompassing dying down of the hum of all the engines and generators for the warship, all the power instantly died out, plunging the cabin and the rest of the ship into total darkness, killing the radio, the sonar and the radar all in one. The whole cabin nearly erupted into a panic, with just as many voices calling out frantically from on deck, before Kuznetsov immediately stormed out onto the deck himself.

[[All of you quiet down and get a hold of yourselves,]] the powerful voice echoed across the deck as he grabbed one of his crewmen by the collar and shook him about to emphasize how truly serious he was. Once at least half the men had stopped voicing their panic, he once more took control: [[Now, clearly something is going on with the power! Two of you men go down below and check the generator room. The rest of you, check to see which of our navigational systems can be restored first. The rest of you, flashlights on and keep your weapons drawn and ready. We can't let ourselves get caught unawares.]]

Thankfully, the sailors all looked to be completely understanding of what their captain ordered of them, as with a resounding [[Yes, sir!]], they all started either pulling out their side-arms along with their flashlights, or they started filing into the ship and down to the armory to pull out the first assault weapons they could find, while others either climbed up on top of the cabin to investigate the modules for the radar or sonar, or heading down below to check the engines and generators.

It was only mere minutes after these orders were given, that the ship captain finally started getting reports back from his crew; only it wasn't the kind of news he was expecting, as by all accounts, according to the crew, the engines and the generators were all perfectly intact, with nothing having shorted out or anything else of the like.

[[Commander! We found something up here!]] Another of the crewmen who had climbed to the top of the cabin to investigate the now still but once rotating modules for the sonar and radar called down to his captain before climbing down.

Once Kuznetsov climbed up to meet whoever had made the discovery, he immediately noticed the look of complete confusion on the man's face, as well as the fact it looked like he was holding something in his hand. [[What did you find?]]

The sailor still looked like he was trying to find the words to make sense of it himself as he opened up his hand, revealing what looked like an assault rifle round, with what looked like a multi-pronged metal claw extending from its end instead of the usual pointed or hollowed tip such rounds usually had. Finally the sailor spoke up: [[I found it sticking out the side of the radar tower, sir. It gave me this tiny electrical spark when I first touched it.]]

Taking the round into his own hand to look it over, Kuznetsov's brow furrowed, deeply troubled by what this could have possibly meant: [[Are you saying someone or something out there shot this into our tower, and it completely overloaded all of our systems?]]

BWOOOSH!

The solid metal ground beneath all their feet suddenly gave, sending several of the men tumbling and rolling with another cacophony of confused and frightened shouts, just before it became abundantly clear that the ship was being rocked, or rather dropped, as the waters below it began to actually part from below, sending it freefalling until it came splashing right back in within seconds.

Several of the sailors were hanging on for dear life in the grips of this mass confusion, before Kuznetsov could get his bearings back and try to rally his men…only to be stricken silent when he saw the walls of rising water completely encircling his ship, before ultimately coalescing back together right over their heads. However, instead of the crushing weight of all that water coming down on their heads like they'd all naturally been expecting, the water all around them remained completely still, as though their ship were literally being held inside a massive air bubble under the surface.

[[What in the hell's going on, sir?!]] Several of the sailors were screaming this in panic while Kuznetsov was giving it his all to remain as stalwart and unshaken as he could be, even though his practicality forced him to realize what a disadvantage they were at.

SHWING!

All of a sudden, a portion of the water surrounding them parted just before a fast-flying thin line of air came flying out from it, forcing the crew inside the cabin to duck down just before it sliced through the windows and dissipated just before it could reach the other side and end up slicing the entire roof and its navigation towers off completely.

Before anyone else could even react, several other portions of the water began to part, and what happened next all occurred within a matter of seconds.

A handful of sailors simultaneously feeling a sharp prick in their forearms and necks, before their bodies either forcibly threw themselves flat to the ground or against the walls, or threw their weapons overboard and then threw themselves to the ground or walls.

The sailors in the cabin who had ducked to avoid getting cut down suddenly found themselves getting splattered with thick and quick-drying globs of wax, sticking them to their chairs, or completely immobilizing them as they tried to run.

Another handful of the sailors on deck having their guns explode to pieces in their hands as a barrage of bullets from within the depths slammed straight into the bodies, leaving them helplessly unarmed, just before they were just as quickly blinded one after another, and all before all of their attackers finally came flying from out of the openings in the water in unison, all revealed to be ranging from teenagers to young adults.

Of course, none of the sailors or Kuznetsov himself could focus on that for too long, before the ones that had their guns destroyed, were quickly finding themselves thrown, flipped, punched and kicked by a young girl with turquoise hair that looked like melted wax, a young adult man with a black mustache and goatee with semi-long black hair, and another young man with similarly colored hair, a short beard and slightly tanner skin, who looked to be the farthest from the rest of his comrades as he similarly took out one sailor after another, all culminating in two who managed to get into his blind spot and throw a huge punch and a precise kick to the back of his head and his left side respectively, only to both be blown right back from an instantaneous invisible hit to the very same places on their bodies, sending them to the ground, only for the aforementioned young girl to fuse them both to the ground with a deluge of wax from her open hands.

In the middle of all the fighting, Kuznetsov had managed to slip away back into the ship, down to the armory area and the generator/engine room, where he knew at least a handful of his men still were. If they could bolster themselves down here, they could potentially force their attackers into the bottleneck these narrow halls naturally provided, and they could just as easily take this ship back, as it was currently being taken.

Up on the deck, as soon as the sailors in the cabin and on the outside had all been neutralized, the water around them began to churn and push upwards against the bottom of the boat, finally allowing the ship to rise back up and find itself floating still on the ocean surface just as it had barely two minutes ago.

With that taken care of, the young soldiers all rushed to the edge of the ship in time to find Ocean Master's domed head looking up at them, just barely protruding from the surface. [[You all have this covered from here?]]

[[Thanks to you, comrade. Taking this rig back to headquarters shouldn't be too hard.]] Eliška stated confidently, with Hristofor, Ljubomir and Maja all echoing similar assurances.

[[Alright, then. I'm headed out to take care of the other team headed for the submarine. Don't wait up for me. This shouldn't take me too long.]] With that, the dome-head sank back beneath the pitch black waves, and within seconds he was farther away faster than any of them ever could have been able to swim in their lifetimes.

However, at that moment, Maja could just barely hear the sound of a rifle's loading lever being snapped back into place, and as she turned to the one door leading down into the bowels of the ship, she was met with the sight of a handful of sailors, and the captain, aiming assault rifles at her and her comrades, sending her heart up into her throat. [[GET DOWN!]]

She practically threw Danila and Marius out of her way as she dove forward and threw arm arms across in closing in arcs, sending twin streams of quickly building and drying wax between themselves and their attackers, just at the same moment they all pulled their triggers and let loose a barrage of automatic gunfire, pounding and whittling through her wax wall almost as fast as she could produce it, providing only a momentary shield. By the time they'd run through their first clips of ammunition, providing those few precious seconds for Maja to recover her energy and rebuild the power to her Quirk, Eliška just as quickly stepped in, throwing a handful of her hair strands straight at the doorway, puncturing every last person standing there and rendering them motionless.

However, that wasn't enough for her, as with a furious tugging motion of her arms, she yanked them all out at once, sending them all helplessly tumbling into a pile, before she just as quickly forced them all onto their feet.

At that same moment, the others could start to hear panicked and angered shouts echoing from further inside, and Ljubomir was instantly on the move to intercept them, dislodging both his hands and aiming his dual wrist cannons at the doorway, ready to annihilate every last one of the crew that was still here and able to fight.

And the poor fools inside didn't even realize it, as the moment the first few men stepped into the doorway, they were met with the sight of Ljubomir's charged cannons already about to unload on them, alongside Jozef's finger gun barrels all firing at a fully automatic rate from both hands, and Danila even throwing both arms forward in a horizontal arc, sending twin razor sharp gusts of air their way that were about to cut them all in half, with Hristofor instantly blinding every last one of them he could see just for the extra measure.

[[STOP!]]

The fraction of a moment Maja had chosen to finally intervene, firing both her arms' entirety worth of wax for the doorway, slamming all the visible sailors in the doorway straight into the wall, and at the same time providing a massive protection block against all attacks thrown their way, was nothing short of miraculous.

Her wax blockage ended up being rendered into useless crumbled pieces by the time the smoke cleared, the immense damage from Ljubomir's explosive shots having rendered a massive hole in the wall of the cabin of the ship, revealing the few remaining sailors that were still inside, just before Maja once again rendered their threat just as useless, slamming and fusing them all to the stairway wall.

Maja had to catch her breath, knowing she'd melted away her arms down to her shoulders now, and it was going to take a good few minutes before they'd regrow off of her. However, she wasn't about to get those few minutes, as once the whole last second save had come and gone, she suddenly found herself nearly getting head-butted by a furious Ljubomir, who nearly looked like he was about to start foaming at the mouth: [[WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, KNOT?! THOSE ASSHOLES COULD'VE KILLED US, AND YOU ACTUALLY END UP SAVING THEM!? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR GODDAMNED MIND?!]]

Just as suddenly did the first batch of sailors and their captain suddenly get yanked back onto their feet by invisible strings, just before they all simultaneously began reloading their weapons, all at the motion and command of Eliška's fingers. [[Grenadier's right, these bastards need to be made an example of!]]

Looking back to her Czech comrade, Maja felt her stomach start to twist at the sight of her forcing the handful of sailors to suddenly put the barrels of their guns right to their temples; their faces reflecting the most primal kind of fear now that they knew what was about to happen, and they literally couldn't even control their own bodies to try and prevent it.

However, even under the disapproving and furious eyes of her whole team (save for Angel's Eye, who at that moment had finally finished climbing up onto the deck of the ship himself after having been left out in the water to fire his EMP bullet in the first place), Maja still tried to stand her ground, looking them all imploringly in the eye.

[[Remember what Commander Granin said? He said we should try to avoid killing for as long as we're able, it'll give us better leverage to keep Russia from trying anything else! If you slaughter the whole crew, you could invite a two-nation military effort on our heads, and that's not even including the Heroes joining in on the fight! The important thing is that none of us got hurt, and we now have that many more hostages to bargain with, on top of this ship and all its armaments still intact! That's gotta count for something, right?]]

For a moment, none of her comrades said anything, instead opting to just keep staring the defiant young Polish girl down. Try as she did to remain brave, the weight of being the odd man out among them for simply trying to play things smart, ultimately made her back down, just as Eliška gave an especially frustrated sounding sigh. [[Whatever, let's just get this haul back to headquarters. You men know how to operate this ship, so get to it and don't say a damn word. Except for the captain. You get in touch with your base, and tell them you're going to stay here to keep watch.]]

At her command, and another twirl of her wrist, she forced the whole crew under her control back up to the cabin while the rest that were trapped within Maja's wax were forced to stay that way, with her having taken the extra measure to seal their mouths shut so they couldn't say anything along the way.

For all intents and purposes, their end of the mission should have been considered a success, but Maja would feel the eyes of her comrades burning into her back every minute of the trip back.

Within the pitch black depths of the sea, a handful of men in heavily insulated and reinforced deep-sea diving suits were making their way on small handheld motorized vehicles in tandem, following the minor-sounding yet far-reaching sonar echoes their equipment gave out when trying to zero in on the location of their target. They'd been dropped out here in the middle of the sea just off the coast of Hokkaido by the corvette-class warship they'd departed their base from, but if all went well, they would be coming back with this potentially devastating surprise in tow.

After a short while of simply following the echo coming back their way through the water, with nothing but that, the buzz of their engines and their rhythmic breathing to break the silence, they finally began to see the beginnings of a massive black shape coming up through the murkiness ahead of them, with the lights of their engines soon reflecting off the side of something clearly made out of heavily reinforced black steel.

With the protruding vertical tower just barely visible, jutting from the length of the body just up ahead, it was refreshingly obvious that their hunches had proven correct; they'd finally found the stolen nuclear submarine that had been reported stolen after the attack on a naval installation in the Urals.

[[Alright, men, get yourselves ready. Once we get inside, we're racing against the clock. We don't know if any of the terrorists have holed themselves up inside for security, either.]] The leader of this team's voice resonated through their interconnected earpieces as they all strapped their engines to the back harnesses of their suits, now all slowly swimming their way up to the tower.

[[Lieutenant, what do we do if they've somehow hijacked the controls? What if we can't actually get this thing back to the Sakhalin base?]] As soon as another of the divers asked this of their leader, they'd finally scaled to the top of the tower, where the hatch was waiting right there in the open, already clearly having not been welded shut to keep intruders or a recovery team like themselves out.

[[If that's the case, we need to disable the nuclear warheads inside. If we can't return it, we can at least take away the one thing the terrorists are planning to use from it. We may even have to set up thermite charges and sink the whole damn thing just to be on the safe side. Now look sharp, we're about to move in.]]

As the leader planted his feet firmly on the surface and grabbed the handle to the hatch, readying himself for the suction of the water flowing inside once he did, none of his team ever noticed the distant form of a single human-shaped figure watching them intently from a greater distance within the murky blackness; already summoning up one of the larger extents of his Quirk on sight.

At that moment as the leader began to pull, the rest of his team could suddenly start to feel an ever-increasing current within the water around them that they all knew had not been there seconds before. What was more, as many began to voice their confusion and subsequent alertness, it was already growing too strong for them to resist, as the current not only grew stronger, but was also clearly moving in a whirlpool direction, sending them all, and soon enough even their leader, swirling and spinning around and around like pieces of paper in a massive cyclone.

Finally, once he was sure he'd roped them all up into his trap, Ocean Master brought his open hands together in a powerful clasping motion, and as though the water ahead were actually mirroring his movements, the cyclone jet suddenly stopped, only for hundreds of pounds of oceanic pressure to suddenly come rushing in on the men caught in between, even despite the depth they were in being far less than what should've been able to adversely affect their suits.

With a multitude of screams that only the team themselves could hear, several depths' worth of oceanic pressure came crushing in on them from all sides at Ocean Master's command, and within seconds, their suits had all been mercilessly crushed, and so too were the men inside them, having already long since died before drowning ever would have become an issue.

Ocean Master didn't even leave a sigh of exhaustion after his work removing another threat had been done. It was regretful he had to take the lethal approach after Pietro had made the point of trying to gain as much hostage leverage as possible, but with circumstances being what they were here, he knew he'd ultimately been left no alternative when volunteering to tackle this specific task.

He would have to use his Quirk to move the submarine elsewhere manually in case another deep-dive team were to get sent out here, but as for the bodies, either the sharks would eventually come in and take care of that for him, or the team would inevitably find the bodies, and would ultimately have to chalk it up to any number of the kinds of accidents that could occur for even the most experienced military diving team in unfamiliar waters like this. Granted, the latter possibility was especially optimistic on Ocean Master's part, even he realized that, but he had to take care of the submarine before anything else, and then reconvene with the others back at headquarters.

Thursday, September 11th

With the first rays of the earliest morning sun having risen from behind the eastern hills, so too did all of Pietro's soldiers finally make their grand return, with Ocean Master having risen from the depths on his own, with the whereabouts of the submarine now only known to himself; and the rest of his forces having returned with the small warship in tow, thankfully having the wherewithal to hide it within a small cave just beyond the northern beachhead.

Pietro observed their return from atop the roof of the compound, and he personally couldn't have looked happier with the results, an expression he still had even when he finally descended the building to meet his returning soldiers at the courtyard gates. The sight of the warship's whole crew being dragged along, either still hopelessly stuck together through Maja's wax, or under the control of Eliška's Quirk, only further bolstered their leader's good mood.

[[Fantastic work, everyone. I never had a doubt you'd be able to pull this off. Ocean Master, take our guests down where they'll be…comfortable. I'd like to speak to them personally later today.]] With that order given, the dome-head urged Ljubomir, and Eliška to take the whole assortment of new prisoners into the confines of the hospital, while Pietro brought his attention back to the rest of his soldiers.

[[This is a big step forward for us. Now, not only do we have a warship alongside the submarine to add to our means of transport and defense, but we even have the extra manpower to help us use it the most effectively, and I have all of you to thank for helping make it happen. You've all earned a chance at some rest for now. I have some business to attend to in town myself, anyway.]] Pietro was ready to simply assume his recruits would jump at the chance to actually catch up on some sleep after the full night they'd gone through, but as he began to approach the gate, Hristofor suddenly cleared his throat in the way that could have only signified he had something to say.

[[Sir, before anyone does anything else, I think it'd be remiss of me not to tell you that during the mission, Knot almost compromised us.]] The moment her name came out his mouth, Maja looked at the Bulgarian like she was ready to knock him flat, but an inquisitive glance from Pietro stopped her dead in her tracks as he spoke up: [[Compromised it how?]]

Knowing their leader had officially given him the center stage, Hristofor went on: [[After we'd subdued the deck crew and the officers in the cabin, the captain and those that had been below deck nearly got the drop on us with assault rifles. Knot managed to save us, but when we were about to simply do as you'd said we should if our lives were threatened, she actually went out of her way to stop us. I know you said we should try to build up as much leverage with the hostages as we can, but I also know you said we could exercise lethal force if it was necessary, and that, to me, sounded very necessary. Grenadier, Petto, Spitfire, Blowback and Scythe will all tell you the very same.]]

Pietro had already halfway closed the distance between himself and Maja, his eyes bearing down on her, but his expression never flinching as he finally spoke to her directly: [[Is this all true, Knot?]]

[[Yes, sir…]] she didn't even try to lie, nor could she look him in the eye out of pure shame.

The sigh that Pietro gave was not the usual one born of understanding that she'd gotten so used to, but rather one of pure exasperation, similarly indicated by the authoritative tone he started to speak with: [[Trying to maintain your innocence in the midst of this war was admirable, especially for how long you'd been maintaining it. However, we're past the point of such niceties after what happened to me because of the people we're fighting against. You're not a child anymore, you're a soldier, and you need to start thinking like one if you want any hope of surviving the fights to come. Trying to play the pacifist is only going to get people killed, primarily your comrades, and I have worked far too hard in preparing all of you, just for your naiveté to get in the way of that.]]

Maja, while not saying anything, couldn't believe what she was hearing from the man who had been so patient with her, even in her times of failure in training up to this point. It was like she was being spoken to by a completely different person who just happened to be wearing the same face. All at once did the thought occur to her, that the gunshot he'd taken to his head had rattled more than its fair share in the depths of his mind.

Unfortunately, before Maja could even lift her head up to look in confusion at this sudden turn the man before her was taking, Pietro suddenly grabbed onto her head, phased his thumb into her forehead, and the deeply resonating power of his voice echoed and took root in the depths of her brain like a verbal parasite: [[You are a soldier, trained and conditioned to kill under my instructions, Knot. Your desire not to take the lives of your enemies is behind you as of now.]]

Finally he released his grasp on the Polish girl's head, leaving her looking especially lightheaded, more so than she'd ever been whenever he'd used his Quirk on her before. However, his mind was so much more focused on other things as he instructed the other recruits to get Maja to her quarters; all the while making his way back into the hospital, and instructing the loyally silent and waiting Angel's Eye to take up watch on the hospital roof.

So much time had passed in the dingy cell that Konstantin Khodamchuk and the remnants of his team were still being kept hopelessly restrained in. Spirits had sunken especially low after Pietro had taken Boris, and their youngest member had never returned, and their captor wouldn't even give them the courtesy of revealing what had actually become of him.

However, when several hours ago, he had come and taken Angel's Eye away, only for the sharpshooter to once again never be brought back, Konstantin could scarcely remember having seen such strong-willed people display such visible despair, even if only for a minute.

Nobody wanted to risk wasting what precious energy they still had by talking, and especially not by throwing out hypotheticals and theories. The only things that mattered right now were cold hard facts, and they knew they needed to work with them and try to find a solution to this hellish situation they now found themselves in.

Of course, even people like this could only focus for so long when they had started to hear what sounded like multiple dragging footsteps marching past the door to their cell. The fact the doors were so heavy, and the walls soundproofed, only served to really make them realize the sheer number of people that were passing them by at this very moment. Whether they were friend or foe, no one was about to be bold enough to guess.

It wasn't long after that, when their cell door suddenly clicked unlocked, and groaned wide open, only to reveal to them the victoriously grinning visage of Pietro Dobrynich Granin; his shadow undoubtedly being able to have cast over all of them if the lights hadn't been on, he felt so tall and powerful right now.

[[What do you want this time, Pietro Dobrynich? Another one of us to drag off and do God-only-knows-what?]] Konstantin finally asked after but a moment of tense silence as the man stepped inside to look them all over, as he had before.

[[No…no, not this time. I've already gained enough of a victory over the lot of you right now, I mainly just wanted to really get a good look at your faces before I let you know what's really in store for all of us here.]]

The sound of such self-satisfaction on Pietro's part drew out a sudden infuriated shout from Elena as she once more tried to brute force her way out of her restraints. [[Goddammit, I'm getting so sick of these stupid games of yours! Why don't you at least show some kind of humanity and at least tell us what you did to Boris and Angel's Eye, you son of a bitch!]]

The intrigued smirk on Pietro's face was all that immediately answered her, as Pietro took a deep breath, before ultimately deciding to finally humor her and the rest of them. [[Very well, but when I do, you might start to consider the earlier silence to have been a blessing. In the case of Angel's Eye, his raw talent was far too valuable, so I simply decided to help him…think about things from our point of view. As for your other comrade, Boris, though…well, his sacrifice was an ultimately necessary one for the sake of science. Necessary, in that it's given us incentive not to simply run the same kind of test on the rest of you right away, and that it may have shown us a way of winning this war we honestly hadn't considered before.

[[You should honestly consider yourselves lucky we've been convinced to go about things this way. Your own raw talents in the battlefield could be especially useful for us later on, so we actually have reason to keep the rest of you alive even after what you technically did to me…and if nothing else, there's at least the assurance you'll make for a good first wave when the inevitable meat grinder commences. We finally have the resources and manpower to actually realistically engage that, for starters.]]

As Pietro explained all of this, he could just see the wheels beginning to turn in all of their heads, and the horrified realizations of just what he was really telling them, registering in their eyes, gave him such immense satisfaction: the feeling of having truly gotten back at them after what they'd done.

[[Anyway, I'll leave the lot of you to really think about what could be waiting for you for now. I've got some other important business to take care of in order to get everything put in place. So this is goodbye for now…old friend.]] The venom lacing Pietro's last words to Konstantin as he turned his back on him were unmistakable, and with the resounding echo of the slamming and re-locking cell door bouncing off the walls, the imprisoned man could just feel the all-around spirit of himself and his soldiers waning. If those multiple footsteps they had heard before were any indicator as to what Pietro had just told them, then his number of unwitting servants for this sick crusade of his has grown exponentially, and there wasn't a damn thing any of them could do about it.

Such despair was finally given voice as the still gravely injured Anatoly Grischenko finally uttered: [[Goddammit…that son of a bitch is growing stronger with every day…and we're still stuck in here like damn livestock!]]

[[Not for long. Like hell, we're just gonna be kept hanging here, waiting to die or be made into anybody's meat puppets.]] Elena spat back in defiance, drawing all eyes to her at the very moment she began peculiarly moving her lower jaw, before they all suddenly heard an especially loud cracking sound from within her mouth, accompanied by a wince of considerable pain in her eyes.

[[What exactly are you doing, Elena?]] the larger Ilya finally asked once they could all see she was maneuvering her mouth as though she were trying to move something to her teeth, only for her to shoot him a sharp glare, speaking with her teeth clenched together: [[Just shut up for a minute, I need to concentrate.]]

Finally, once the look in her eyes only slightly softened, Elena tilted her head back so she was looking directly up at the ceiling; and even further back so she was looking at her shackled hands directly above where her head had been.

PTOO!

With suddenness and great precision, Elena suddenly spat out what looked like a tiny little black grain, shooting it at an angle that helped it to land perfectly in the palm of her right hand. The moment she knew she'd caught it; she brought all her fingers together, and began meticulously working to unfold the tiny object in her hands, until she could feel that what had once been an inconspicuous speck, had now been made into a long and very thin metal rod akin to an unfolded paperclip.

Elena could only use her fingers to maintain the proper grip on the tiny tool as she began blindly trying to angle it into the lock for her shackles, since she couldn't use her eyes to see where it was. As she did so, she could see her comrades were all still watching her with great curiosity and anxiousness alike.

[[I used my payday from one of our earlier jobs to have a fake molar installed with a collapsible lock-picking pin, just in case anything remotely like this was to have happened. Took a while before I'd finally get to use it, but I never regretted it.]]

[[Nor are any of us, I'm sure. But what do you plan to do once you get yourself free, Elena?]] Ilya asked with a sense of great relief that Konstantin mirrored, even though his own comments were far from uplifting: [[Yes, even if you were to pick all our locks and get us all free, Anatoly still can't walk, and we don't have our weapons, and are heavily outnumbered, based on what Pietro just told us. We're still at too much of a disadvantage to escape.]]

Elena never lost her sense of pace as she kept working at her shackles. [[Not to worry…because we aren't escaping. You're right that Anatoly can't do much mobility-wise in the state he's in, but the rest of us are still more than capable of fighting. I can maintain the illusion that I'm shackled even after my locks are picked, and from there, I can hand the pin off to Ilya to pick himself free, and he can then give it to you, sir, and then from you to Anatoly. On top of us, I even heard other people's voices from up and down the hall outside in the moments the door was open. Getting all our locks undone will take a good long while, but if we could get ourselves and the rest of these prisoners free, we could have enough of a distracting force on our side to make our way through this place, get our gear back, kill that Pietro bastard and the rest of his little terrorists, and finally get the hell out of here. If all goes well, we could all be free and ready to move by tonight.]]

Neither Konstantin, Ilya nor Anatoly could say anything either in agreement or to the contrary at first. Elena's plan was crude and abundantly, even foolishly, optimistic at best. The circumstances were still stacked overwhelmingly against them…but in the end, it all came down to the universal question that always came in dire situations like this: does anyone have a better plan?

[[She's right. It's either taking a risk with this plan…or simply resigning ourselves to whatever sick fate Pietro Dobrynich Granin has in mind for us. It was my call to bring you all out this way for this mission…and Angel's Eye and Boris' lives are on my hands because of it. I'm not about to just sit back and let the same thing happen to the rest of you.]]

As Konstantin announced this, he could feel that old soldier's swelling of pride build up in the pit of his chest, as he looked all three of his remaining soldiers and comrades in the eye, his decision resolute and final, just as much as their visible and silent decisions to stand by him: [[No matter how long it takes, and no matter what stands in our way…we're getting out of here and taking this fight back into our hands.]]

And there it is, everyone, the new chapter of the week. Pietro's plot becomes larger and more dangerous as time passes, and I can only hope that builds up all your own senses of anticipation as to just what's going to happen next, and how our young Heroes are ultimately going to be able to resolve all of it. If you like what you read here today, please be so kind and leave a review for me.

Have a great rest of your week, and I will see you all with the next chapter on 03/19!