Hello again, everyone. After setting things up with last week's chapter, the next few weeks are going to be dedicated to my parallel all-original story arc to take place alongside both the Shie Hassaikai AND Hokkaido Arcs, which I'm entitling the Villains Abroad Arc!

Syncing up the events I have planned for this arc alongside the events of the former arc has been proving especially tricky, but as I've gone along, I feel confident that thus far, I've been pulling it off. I hope you can all confirm whether or not I've been doing it well by leaving a review after reading what you see here for this week. It would be vastly appreciated.

I'd like to once more give a show of thanks to my two consultants and beta readers, Mizu and Jonny. These last few weeks have been proving especially busy for both, but the fact they still keep up contact whenever I find difficulties is still monumentally helpful.

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 are caused by their existence here.

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

Chapter 70

Holy Ground

(Святая Земля)

Sunday, September 7th, Russia

[[All right; remember what I've been teaching you, Toga-san: for all intents and purposes, your eyes don't work anymore. You must rely on your other senses to tell you everything about your surroundings, about what's around you. Focus, and try to block out every other sound, even that of your own heartbeat. Right now, there is only my voice, and in the end, there won't even be that. There is only what you choose to focus on. You can isolate everything else out if you just concentrate. Now, we're about to pass something by. Listen, truly listen, and tell me what it is.]]

What normally should have been a trip from the Georgia/Russia border to the city of Saransk in the Republic of Mordovia in Russia that would have taken a couple of days, thankfully managed to go by much faster, thanks primarily to Vukodlak's impeccable familiarity with every byway and means of travel across the Russian sub-continent.

Of course, since the small bunch of Villains had to destroy their original vehicle shortly after crossing the border in order to avoid authorities sniffing around for a Georgian vehicle in the wake of every border checkpoint in that country exploding; the periods when they had to divvy up their hauls of explosives, weapons and the nifty empowering bracelets between themselves and travel on foot were less than pleasant, and not helped by Tomura, Himiko and Twice's lack of familiarity with their new surroundings, having to rely solely on Vukodlak to make sure they wouldn't get themselves hopelessly lost, or worse.

Fortunately, those periods had proven few and far between, as after three relatively brief stints of stowing away aboard freight trains in order to cover the most distance the quickest; the four members of the League of Villains now found themselves on the fast track to their destination in the back of a thankfully not-too-thoroughly attended cargo truck, with its box trailer half-filled with the kind of packaged foods that could only be going to markets in multiple different towns.

It didn't do much against the cold in this portion of Russia in the autumn they were all having to deal with, but it did at least quell everyone's hunger for the remainder of this particular trip, and provided a good enough means of pacifying the ever-restless Twice, while Vukodlak himself continued what he'd been doing with every travelling stretch their journey had taken thus far: helping to try and train Himiko to sharpen her other senses; especially since she'd been continuously prodding him to do so once they'd ditched their original ride hours and hours ago.

As per her impromptu teacher's instructions, Himiko didn't remove the blindfold he'd fastened securely over her eyes, and tried to mentally focus on her ears, and from there, even try to block out all the other noises so she could try and listen for the sound of something approaching them. Since they were in a moving truck, and by his specific choice of words, that had to mean they were about to pass by another vehicle heading down the opposite side of the road.

However, no matter how much her face tensed up in her attempt to try and listen, the sound of a running engine that wasn't their vehicle's own, never came. "What the heck?! Sensei, you said something was gonna pass us!" Without warning once she spoke, Vukodlak met Himiko with a resounding finger flick to her forehead.

The blonde-haired girl began rubbing at the sore spot on her forehead; while Vukodlak finally took the blindfold from her face. "It wasn't a passing vehicle; it was the heartbeat and corresponding panting of a wild dog on the side of the road. You're setting yourself up by making assumptions, instead of actually stopping to really listen. That makes five failures and no successes, Toga-san."

"It's not like I'm not trying, Vukodlak-sensei; promise! Blocking all the other sounds is really hard, and the smell in here and all the shaking doesn't help! And do I really need the blindfold? It's already super dark in here, you know!" Himiko immediately tried to argue back like a pouting child, completely ignoring the momentarily insulted look of surprise on Twice's momentarily half-unmasked face; just before she was cut off with yet another flick to the forehead from her foreign teacher.

"Yes, you do need it, because without it, the human eye can adjust to being able to even somewhat see in the dark. You need to be able to hone your senses without even that advantage. Without sight taking your attention away, your mastery over your other senses will come that much easier, but you still need to make the effort, and you won't be able to do that by making excuses. Your brain is your ultimate tool, and you need to learn how to use it to compartmentalize your different senses so you know exactly what to use and when. And for the last time, you need to be practicing your Russian at the same time, too. Even if I speak Japanese with you, you need to answer me as though you were speaking to a stranger here and wearing a disguise in order to blend in."

Himiko didn't dare try arguing this time, still rubbing at her forehead while smiling in acceptance of her teacher's advice. Twice, on the other hand, didn't have the same kind of situational filter: "Why should she have to deal with the linguistics lessons on top of the blindfolding? It's not like we're ever gonna be totally on our own while we're out here, right? That's a promise, isn't it?"

Vukodlak sat back against the side of the trailer with a tired sigh. "There's no guarantee of that, though, Twice-san. If something unforeseen happens, we all need to be able to manage ourselves until we can reunite. That's why you and Shigaraki-san should be paying attention to the language lessons, too; it could really help you both just as much. Besides, if all goes well between now and our next stop after Saransk, you'll all definitely be wishing you'd taken the chances to practice."

"How about you actually tell us exactly what all it is you're planning for us to do until we can get back home, Vukodlak-san? You may be the guide while we're out here, but that doesn't mean you can just leave us out of the loop, especially when it's something for the sake of the League as a whole." Tomura suddenly spoke up for the first time in over an hour; having since convinced his partners he was taking the opportunity to rest up.

Much like how Vukodlak had just described to his precocious young student, he could see the impatience in Tomura's red eyes, staring him down from all the way across. It wasn't exactly like he could blame their official leader for speaking as such. At an almost regular basis since they had crossed the Russian border, the young dry-faced Villain was still succumbing to visibly agonizing headaches, and from where he was sitting, of course he would want to know the details and know that this bizarre suffrage of his was going to ultimately be for something.

At the moment Vukodlak was actually going to give Tomura an answer, they all suddenly felt the momentum of the truck start changing from beneath their seats, with the screeching of brakes immediately ringing alongside it, and the forward trajectory actually veering to the side. The driver was pulling over and coming to a stop.

"Whoa, what's happening? You don't think the driver heard us, do you?" Twice asked in a momentary surprised panic, while Vukodlak was already in the middle of trying to shut everything else out in the trailer so he could try and listen for what was happening outside.

Fortunately for his comrades, they didn't have to wait long for an answer, as Vukodlak was immediately able to pick up a multitude of unnatural sounds from outside, soon after returning his attention to the three Villains. "There's a couple non-civilian class vehicle engines running outside just ahead, and numerous intensified heartbeats centered around them, each one wearing real military boots from the sounds of the steps. The voices sound far too professional for it to be some gang of hoodlums or civilians, either. It's a military checkpoint."

Tomura, miraculously, was maintaining a chilling calm, while Vukodlak could immediately hear Twice and Himiko's heartbeats intensify. The clone-making Villain was already starting to reach over toward one of the nearby burlap sacks with his share of the guns, explosives and the empowering bracelets inside, but Vukodlak immediately closed the distance and placed a firm clawed hand on his shoulder. "Don't. No matter what may happen, we need to hang onto this hardware down to the last round for as long as we possibly can until we reach our endpoint out here."

"But is there supposed to be an army checkpoint out here?" Himiko immediately asked; only to be given an immediate shushing motion from her teacher, already able to see just as much even in this complete darkness.

"No. This is clearly some random checkpoint they've put up for random searches. It's likely a response to the border checkpoint explosions yesterday. It only makes sense they would set up on the roads in the countryside remotely nearby." Vukodlak explained while he, Himiko, Twice and Tomura were already hoisting their respective bags over their shoulders in preparation to move fast.

"Hey, hey, Tomura, could you take a look outside, see if we can maybe make a run and hide?" Before Himiko even asked, Tomura was already doing so, planting his pointing finger against the side of the trailer, decaying a fingertip-sized hole into it so he could take a look.

Instantly he answered: "No. It's nothing but a damn flat open plain of tall grass." Himiko and Twice were already clutching onto the straps of their respective bags even tighter, while Vukodlak was getting himself into a ready sprinting position aimed for the trailer doors. "That's right. Nearly all of Mordovia is flat grasslands. We can't hope to just slip out the back and duck into the grass without being spotted, either. I hear too many voices beside the driver's outside for us to do that, and they're positioned all around the front of the truck. If we step out, they will see us."

"And they're coming for the doors, too." Himiko suddenly pointed out with tension growing in her voice, drawing the eyes of her partners, including her teacher. "I'm trying to listen, like you said; and all I can make out from what they're saying is 'open.'"

Vukodlak's eyes narrowed, settling on the door. "I can use that Air Shield Quirk to fill in the doorway. It'll at least buy us a few seconds to counter-attack when they open fire."

Suddenly, Tomura stood up, his eyes looking all across the trailer around them as he cracked his knuckles. "Actually, I have a better idea. All of you, huddle close together, and then Vukodlak-san, create an Air Shield all around yourselves. I'm going to catch these bastards by surprise."

Himiko, Twice and even Vukodlak couldn't begin to guess what was going through their leader's mind, but did as he said anyway, and once Vukodlak had swept his hands entirely around where they stood and across the ground beneath their three pairs of feet, creating a solid air cylinder around them, outside that perimeter, Tomura knelt down in preparation. "Vukodlak-san, Toga-san, do either of you hear any more vehicles approaching?"

The two Villains quickly listened in, with the young girl once more taking her mentor's words into consideration and trying to ignore all the other noises around her and close her eyes. For once, her not being able to hear anything of the sort brought a smile to her face as she and Vukodlak both gave him a thumb up and a confirming nod respectively.

Now knowing they weren't at any immediate risk of drawing in further witnesses, Tomura suddenly planted his hands upon the floor of the truck, only instead of the rusting decay dissolving through it like his comrades had come to expect, this time his touch produced an instantaneous and devastating wave of instantaneous rot, tearing through wood, plastic and steel like a force of nature, nearly making the entire trailer explode into a cloud of rust and shrapnel in a matter of seconds, catching the driver and the dozen soldiers that had just then been encircling it.

With the soldiers momentarily blinded and hacking their lungs out from the rancid cloud, the League knew it was now their time to act, and quick. Hence, from within the blinding cloud of rust, Vukodlak immediately came flying out, swinging his steel claws across the first few soldiers he could hear the racing heartbeats of, cutting them down where they stood. Himiko was doing exactly the same right behind him, swinging her rope knife around while trying to do the same. She couldn't quite make out heart beats, but then again, all their panicked cries meant she didn't even have to; relishing in the sound of steel slicing through flesh as she swung the line around like an honest to goodness cowgirl.

All the while, Tomura similarly rushed out, planting his hands upon the faces of the driver and the nearest soldier to him, decaying their entire bodies in his grasp within seconds, just before the soldier's body exploded into dust with the rapport of a single reactionary gunshot from the last remaining soldier standing just close enough to make out the outlines of what was going on.

The soldier quickly fired another short burst of rounds, all nailing Tomura square in his torso and sending him tumbling back…only for his body to quickly dissolve into a thick mud-like substance, leaving the soldier completely confused and terrified; especially now that the cloud had finally cleared, and Vukodlak, Himiko and Twice all now had their eyes squarely set on him, and he could see that every one of his other comrades were dead.

The instant he tried to turn heel and run, he literally ran face first into the waiting palm of the real Tomura Shigaraki; having snuck through the chaos of the rust cloud like a snake. The soldier couldn't even think of screaming before that jolt of instantaneous life-sucking power tore through his body, and he crumbled into dust and left the wrinkly-faced young Villain with his hand standing empty once more.

With the immediate threat of the soldiers and the one driver as a witness having been eliminated, the Villains now found themselves with the distinct disadvantage of being left with half a truck, and a few now-abandoned military vehicles. Fortunately, just as mere seconds before, there didn't look to be any other vehicles coming, and with the terrain being as flat and open as it was, it wasn't exactly like the four of them would be caught by surprise anymore.

"Alright…it looks like we're gonna have to go on foot from here. We'd better not be too much farther." Tomura finally instructed as he was already preparing to disintegrate all the dead bodies and vehicles to remove whatever evidence he could.

Looking at the spilled blood from their enemies, Himiko noted disappointedly as an aside: "Well, if anybody sees the blood, I'm sure they'll probably just chalk it up to road kill. What a waste."

Tomura had already just finished turning the rest of the truck into a pile of rust and scrap, which he and Twice were now hurriedly moving off to the side of the road under the cover of the tall grass. At the same time, Vukodlak was moving for the military vehicles, climbing into the first one and carefully working to remove every piece of radio equipment from its console, all while his comrades were by now all watching him confusedly. "Hey, what are you doing? We can't be going around blasting tunes while we're out in the middle of nowhere! That'd be way too fun!"

As Twice went ahead with his natural assumptions, Vukodlak simply stuffed the radio equipment into his own burlap sack, officially motioning for Tomura to do his thing and get rid of these vehicles the same way. "It's not for that; it's a preemptive step to make things especially easier for us out here further down the road. I've learned quite my share of nifty little tricks on how to survive and make do on my own with little resources; you'll see. Now let's get moving. We should only have about a two-hour walk through these fields until we reach the outskirts of Saransk. From there, our objectives will become considerably easier."

As soon as Tomura had finished disintegrating the rest of the vehicles and the dead bodies, and Himiko and Twice had finished removing the rust and fragments from the open, Vukodlak once more found himself taking the lead; the four Villains now moving in tandem through the waist-high grass towards the very distant outcropping of what had to be a city just over the nearly infinite flat horizon.

Looking back to make sure they were far enough away to where any other daytime drivers wouldn't be able to clearly make them out even in these plains, Tomura once more returned his attention to the back of the Russian Villain before him. "So…with that distraction now out of the way, do you feel like letting us in on exactly what else you've got in mind for us to do while we're all the way out here, Vukodlak-san? After we nab all this saved info on Tunguska, what happens then?"

Vukodlak didn't stop his stride, nor did he look back to address his compatriot, but he also was smart enough not to give any of them the silent treatment; not only because he could hear the shortening patience in Tomura's voice, but because he also knew what was best for them all in these circumstances.

"You make a good point, Tomura-san. In unfamiliar territory, trust is the only thing that'll keep us all together. The only reason I didn't tell you all the details before was because I was honestly still piecing it all together in my head in order to try and make up for all contingencies. Now, I feel sure enough to tell you all.

"Once we get what Soviet Hero info was able to be saved, then we'll need to head north in order to secure some extra manpower for our final stop out here, if not even further beyond that. Overhaul was correct that we need to consolidate further manpower, and I can think of a good handful of people who would be willing to work with us for the long-term, so long as you let me do the talking."

Vukodlak mentioning this now at least had Himiko visibly light up with understanding of why he'd been so insistent on her practicing the language; already smiling wide with anticipation to meet some new faces.

"After that, it's a straight shot to Moscow, and that's where all of our hardware we've amassed comes into play, because we're going to need to break into the heart of the entire Russian government in order to get what we need next, and it's far more secure than any of you can imagine. We're talking about the consolidated wealth that the so-called 'government for the people' refused to spend in the wake of the Siberian Flash, thus leading to their own system collapsing and leading to the place you see around yourselves now. Not only that, but perhaps even the source of those migraines of yours, Tomura-san."

The mentioning of their leader's ailment once more had Himiko and Twice looking Tomura's way, both visibly relieved to see he didn't look to be in any particularly intense pain like he had been a few times before over the last several hours. Of course, the thought of being able to finally solve that mystery alone was enough to convince him to go along with this arduous little side-quest of theirs.

"So, in the end, we're doing all of this in order to pull off a super-heist?" Himiko ultimately asked, not sounding disappointed in the slightest, while Vukodlak just let out a grumbling utterance of just how basic it sounded when worded like that. "In the end, yes, but it's not just finances we're looking for, nor whatever's been trying to reach out to Tomura-san, as he said. The fact is that there are many potentially great secrets hiding underneath the Kremlin, and if the League of Villains were to get their hands on them—

"It could help us come back to the Shie Hassaikai far bigger and powerful than they ever would have expected…and completely helpless before us, too." Tomura ultimately concluded; the thought of Overhaul and his entire organization crumbling with overwhelming terror in the wake of their comeback bringing an especially eager smile to his and all their faces.

"It still sounds like a pretty big gamble, you guys. Before we start putting our trust in yet more people we don't know, shouldn't we at least try and see if the hardware we already have actually works like we think it does?" Twice suddenly asked, and this was what finally brought their little four-person convoy to a halt, as they all looked back to their on-the-spot-looking masked comrade, who was already rustling through his own bag before pulling out one of the enigmatic bracelets he and Tomura had stolen back in Georgia.

"I mean, I know what I saw when those hoods were testing these things out; they definitely made them stronger and tougher to break. Shouldn't we at least confirm they could actually help us with making our Quirks even tougher, instead of just assuming? I mean, assuming things always makes them true, you know?"

Thankfully, given that they had simply been in a rush beforehand, now that they had at least a moment to breathe, the other three Villains could easily understand Twice's reasoning, with Vukodlak giving an agreeing nod. "Good point, Twice-san. Thanks for volunteering. I think it would be best if we did a little comparison to your Quirk before and after you put it on."

Looking to the bracelet in his hand, Twice was scratching at his masked head in thought. "I dunno what difference it would make, though. My clones already can perfectly imitate a person's memory, attitude and Quirk. The only problem is that they're real brittle. One hard enough hit and they just disintegrate. I mean, you all saw what happened with my Tomura clone back there; a handful of bullets to the chest and he was out."

"That would apply to anyone who got shot straight in the chest without a vest, but I think you might have just answered your own question, Twice-san. Put it on, make a clone and let's see." At Vukodlak's urging, Twice finally slapped the bracelet onto his wrist, and after a momentary stinging sensation, as though he'd just gotten pricked with something, he could immediately start to feel a slight but unmistakable empowering sensation start running through his veins.

"Whoa…it's incredible! Is this what steroids feel like for athletes or something? C'mon, you dinky little trinket: make my clones tougher!"

Completely losing himself in the thrill of the moment, Twice proceeded to concentrate before the same mud-like substance began to step out from the frame of his own body, prompting him to take a step back from it so that the clone could take its form; ultimately developing the familiar features of Vukodlak himself.

"So your clones are able to do exactly what you tell them to, but carry on like the original when you don't, correct?" Vukodlak asked once Twice had finished catching his breath from the exhilarating effect the bracelet felt to have on his Quirk.

"That's right. If you wanna go ahead and hit him with everything you got, have at it. Let's just hope it actually worked." As soon as Twice confirmed, with the Vukodlak clone looking back at the man like he was insane, the real Vukodlak didn't even hesitate to rush in and plant a full-on knuckle sandwich straight into his clone's face, sending it reeling back like anybody else would have…in its entirety, as once it had regained its footing, it still stood completely solid, no sign of disintegration to be seen, but plenty of anger on its face. [[You piece of shit!]].

"Holy shit…holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, it actually worked! That kind of hit would totally have ruined one of my old clones!" As Twice immediately started celebrating and bouncing excitedly, he too rushed over and planted a swift and fierce series of punches to the clone's sides before finally ending it with an uppercut; and in the end, it still stood as solid as ever; gritting its teeth and baring its claws, only for Twice to anxiously start ordering it to stand down, almost like a caretaker at the zoo trying to comfort a ferocious animal.

"WHOA, THAT'S SO COOL! I WANNA TRY, I WANNA TRY! LEMME SEE WHAT IT DOES TO MY QUIRK, TOO! MAYBE I CAN FINALLY START TO BE ABLE TO USE THE QUIRKS OF MY FRIENDS I DISGUISE AS NOW!" As soon as Himiko likewise began rummaging through her own burlap bag; Twice and Vukodlak both looked to her with confusion, with her mentor even asking: "Wait, I thought you could already do that. You would've had to in order to blend in at the Provisional License Exam, wouldn't you?"

Himiko didn't stop foraging, although her excited smile slightly faltered. "No. That's why I had to lay low for so long. I was only able to convince Kolya-kun I was MiMi-chan back then, because I had to ask the Doctor to make me a sneaky little one-shot acid shooter I could hide under one of my fingers, just in case. Otherwise, my Quirk only changes my look and nothing else. But these bracelets might finally be able to get me that much closer to my besties at last! I'm so excited; please let me give it a try, Tomura! PLEASE?!"

However, when Himiko lifted her gaze to try and help her case with pleading to their leader, she was instead met with Tomura and Vukodlak continuing on their way to the city skyline ahead. "We don't have much more time to waste than we already have, especially out here, Toga. Let's wait until we get what we came here for and have transport again. Now hurry it up, you two."

At Tomura's order, Himiko happily skipped along after the two, while Twice hurriedly deactivated his Vukodlak clone, leaving it disintegrating into nothing, like all the others, as he hurried to similarly catch up. After over another hour of non-stop trudging through the grassy plains, the four Villains finally found themselves stepping into the outskirts of what was already proving to be a much more extensive city than the three Japanese villains had been expecting.

Thankfully, this part of the city outskirts looked to be sparsely populated, with a fair share of what looked to be especially aged and uninhabited single houses and some sheds to go along with them. The four League members naturally settled with the first building they laid eyes on that couldn't have possibly been inhabited. It thankfully wasn't in the state where it couldn't help protect them from the encroaching Autumn cold, either, which only served as an added bonus, on top of the fact it was situated at a street that gave a good view of the clearly more bustling part of the city farther ahead in the distance.

As soon as he could see his comrades were officially settled in for now, Vukodlak was already getting to work producing another strip of the disguising film from one of the openings in his left forearm. "Alright, everyone. Luckily for us, the place Toga-san and I were told the info we're looking for was hidden is an especially easy-to-spot landmark, so we have no worries of getting lost in that regard. Right now I just need to secure us the hardware we need for after this little stop, to go with the radio equipment from the checkpoint."

"Well then let's get this all over with." Tomura stated impatiently, already getting back to his feet, only for the Russian Villain to raise an objecting hand, motioning for him to sit back down.

"I understand the sense of urgency, but now that we're in a populated area, we need to be extra careful about rousing any suspicion. Even if I were to disguise all of us; a discerning eye behind any city cameras might be smart enough to start putting pieces together if they start seeing a group of four unfamiliar people traveling together in any city or town where trouble follows. You and Twice-san wait here, and Toga-san and I will go to get what we need, and check out security around the cathedral. We shouldn't be long."

Twice and Himiko could both feel the air grow chilled as Tomura begrudgingly sat back down; only for the young fanged girl to bounce along happily to her teacher as he provided her another disguising film of her own she hurriedly applied to her face. As soon as they were both rendered completely unrecognizable, the unusual duo officially made their way out ultimately to the heart of the city of Saransk, while Tomura and Twice could both only sit in silence, hoping they wouldn't be stuck in this town for too long, and that Vukodlak did indeed know what he was doing. Tomura, despite his impatience, was willing to work with the man while on his home turf, but the thought of the League members back in Japan not having their leader around did not sit well with him; the thought of Overhaul and the Shie Hassaikai potentially boosting their own resources and growing stronger in their absence, even less so.

It hadn't taken long after the disguised Vukodlak and Himiko had made it to the far more modern, bustling and especially colorful heart of Saransk, that the older Villain had managed to find his way to a decent-looking electronics store. Thankfully, not only was his skill of sleight-of-hand downright masterful; reminding Himiko of Mr. Compress and his magic tricks to be precise; but the employees and few scattered civilians around also didn't seem to be paying any mind, as Vukodlak had systematically managed to pocket a few very precise pieces of computer and radio-based hardware, all while his overly-enthusiastic pupil kept standing watch at his side; fighting the urge to squirm with excitement every time she saw him work.

Once that had been finished, it was straight on to finally checking out the scene they had ultimately come all this way for: The Cathedral of Saint Theodore Ushakov; standing tall and downright glorious at the end of an expansive, wide city square lined with patches of multi-colored flowers, fountains and light-lined arches. Even from a long distance, the place was massive, standing in brilliant ivory with multiple domed roofs of gold that excellently caught the mid-afternoon sunlight.

"Oh, wow! It's so huge and pretty! Like a fairytale castle! Dammit, of all the times for me to be without a phone; I just gotta take a photo like this for the trip, sensei!" However, Vukodlak was especially quick to grab Himiko by the arm just tight enough for her to stop with her inane rambling of excitement, and take note of the especially intense look of warning even behind the eyes of his new disguise.

"Don't draw attention to us. We're just here to get a look at the layout of the place so we'll know what kind of security we should expect. Although, since Tamaz said he had our objective locked up underneath the building proper, I can't imagine the cathedral itself would be overly fortified."

Vukodlak took her by the arm into the cathedral itself, revealing an immense echoing white-walled and illuminated chamber, with the arches all lined with numerous ornate Orthodox paintings, and from the ceilings hung the most intricate and gorgeous golden chandeliers imaginable. From there were the mirror-like checkered floors, and the pillars and walls were all similarly decorated with more ornate gold-framed paintings. At the center of it all, fenced behind velvet ropes and standing at the end of a long crimson Turkish rug, was what looked like a cross between a throne and a full-blown golden altar lined with paintings of nearly every conceivable saint in the history of Russian Orthodoxy, if not Christianity as a whole.

The entire place felt like stepping into a veritable work of historical art, which had Himiko's childlike excitement at getting to see such pretty sights on this road trip of theirs that much more palatable; but another timely sideways glare from Vukodlak thankfully managed to remind her to keep her voice down; especially as there were several other civilians; most likely tourists; scattered around, taking in the art and architecture as well.

"At least he said it was being kept under this place, instead of being hidden in one of the towers. Climbing up the face would draw too much attention." Vukodlak noted as they proceeded further in.

"If it's under this whole place, do you think it could be connected through the sewers? You think we could be able to get it that way?" Himiko had a surprisingly hopeful ring to her voice. Just from the look in her eyes, Vukodlak could see that she was clearly hoping they wouldn't have to destroy this whole place if at all possible.

"I'm sorry, but that would just be reckless on Tamaz's part. Hiding something so potentially valuable somewhere where any random hooligan or drifter looking for shelter could find it is being far too optimistic. For now, I want you to go forward, walk as much of the ground inside the cathedral as you can, and listen for any kind of hollow spot in the floor. That could be a good indicator where we'd need to start when there's far less people here."

Realizing this was yet another way for him to continue training her utilization of her other senses, Himiko balled her hands into eager fists and gave him a resounding nod of acceptance before proceeding on her way, listening as hard as she possibly could with every footstep either of them, or any of the other tourists around them, took; making sure to shut her eyes every few seconds in order to try and better boost her hearing.

After a minute of this, however, Himiko already found herself growing increasingly anxious from the lack of talking, and thusly; while continuing to try and listen as closely as she could to every footstep for the sound of something hollow nearby; she finally asked: "Hey, sensei, why exactly did you need to take all that stuff from that store before we came here? What's it gonna do for that radio you took?"

The fact that she still had the same look of pure focus on her face as she was talking was the only reason Vukodlak didn't immediately chastise her for being distracted, and even decided to oblige her curiosity. "For as much planning as I've been doing since we came here, there will ultimately always be the risk of things happening that we don't foresee or prepare for. I know our chances would be better if we had access to our comrades back in Japan, so this is what's going to not only help us do that if need be, but also allow for Kurogiri-san to always be able to reach us when and if we need him to. That's all I can really tell you right now, so get back to it, Toga-san."

Himiko didn't dare break focus, but inside, she was grinning happily from ear to ear that Vukodlak apparently trusted her enough already to actually let her in on one of his more secretive plans. As far as a student/teacher relationship, this was a really good start where she was concerned. And so, with a greater pep in her step, she continued to walk the cathedral grounds and listen with everything she had for a clue to some kind of hidden passage in the floor or walls; all the while hoping she'd be able to pull it off and make her teacher proud; make all her friends in the League proud.

Then, of course, with the thought of Tomura and Twice, came the hope that the two weren't getting into any trouble.

Back in the abandoned house, from the moment Himiko and Vukodlak had left, Tomura and Twice were left to ruminate on exactly all they were aiming to accomplish here, and how it would ultimately aid them against Overhaul once they got back to Japan…at least, this was what Tomura was focusing on, as Twice was soon pacing anxiously back and forth, muttering to himself all the while: "This isn't right. I don't like this. We shouldn't be splitting up more than we already have, not out in the middle of nowhere like this. I should've insisted on going with them. We should've insisted. What if they run into some kind of trouble they can't handle, even with Vukodlak having all those extra Quirks?"

"Would you shut up and sit down, Twice-san? This is hardly the time or place for you to start getting all manic on us." Tomura ordered in that chilling tone; and while it was enough to make Twice stop pacing, it did nothing for his anxiety, visible through the eyes on his mask; which Tomura was just as quick to address.

"Vukodlak-san wouldn't have us waiting here while he and Toga-san are out there if he wasn't a good deal confident in their capabilities. He's shown us faith before, now we need to show him the same. Now that I know what we're actually aiming to do after this, I can say that with some degree of trust. So how about, instead of making a scene, you tell me how it felt wearing one of those bracelets?"

Thankfully, the masked Villain decided to indulge his leader's call for a change in focus as he pulled out the bracelet he'd already worn before, handing it to the white-haired young man, who began looking it over intently while Twice explained: "It was so weird; there was, like, this tiny little pinprick at first, and then the next thing I knew, it was like I could feel my Quirk growing stronger all across my body. Like I said, I wanna think it's what steroids must feel like."

Looking closely, not only did Tomura spot what looked like the tiniest little pointy protrusion inside the bracelet itself, hence the pinprick Twice described, but he soon noticed something else. "Hey, there's something else here, along the actual ring facing up the forearm once you put it on."

As Twice leaned in to check as well, the two men found what looked to be a series of five tiny little windows lining the ring of the bracelet; all of them red, but with one window blacked out.

Acting off an instinctive thought, Twice hurriedly dug up another of the bracelets from the nearest bag, and upon looking, pointed to Tomura that it too had five little red windows lining the ring, with none blacked out this time. "What do you think this means, Tomura-san?"

Looking between the two; Tomura's red eyes narrowed, and his wrinkled brow furrowed even further. "I think it means we found what makes these bracelets have the effect they do; some kind of compound that directly enhances the capabilities of the wearer, whether they're Quirked or not…but most importantly, that these things only have a finite time they're actually useful, and you used up one of them for this one."

At first, Twice looked especially ashamed for having wasted one of these once-perceived godsends, before another light bulb went off over his head. "Hey, you think those thugs we boosted these from stole them from somewhere?"

Tossing the full bracelet back into the bag, Tomura got back to his feet. "Of course they did; you really think a gaggle of morons like that lot could actually make something like these? Those crates they came in looked way too official, especially with all the paperwork and stamping all over them. The writing definitely didn't look like the scribbles we saw all over the place back in Georgia, either. Wherever those idiots stole these things from, they definitely had to have come from Russia originally. Vukodlak-san did say he'd heard rumors of things like these being worked on before. Perhaps the Russian military's been branching out to someone with access to a substance like this in their desperation for an advantage."

As Tomura figured this out, he could feel the beginnings of an idea of his own starting to come together, and so too did Twice see it on his leader's face. "You think, when we finally hit our final stop like Vukodlak-san said, we might find even more of these things?"

A quickly growing smile began to spread across Tomura's scarred, dried out lips as he thought it through over and over again. "I think we just might…if not whatever compound they're using that can actually strengthen Quirks like this on its own. If we could secure a batch of that at least and bring it back home to the Doctor, imagine the advantage it could give us, not only in fighting against the Shie Hassaikai, but also in recruiting yet more Villains to our cause."

Twice's eyes grew wide, and he even start hopping and clapping in excitement while Tomura was just imagining that glorious final result as he said it out loud. "That's awesome, Tomura-san! We could come back bigger and stronger than ever! That's a totally half-assed idea if I ever heard it!"

However, just as Twice was about to continue on voicing his contradictory praise of this new end game of theirs, Tomura heard the masked man suddenly go completely silent, and just as quickly did he too find himself overcome with the sensation of knowing they were no longer alone.

Looking back out the doorway to the room they were in, the two Villains now found themselves faced by three young adult men in ratty-looking clothes, undoubtedly a trio of street punks and nothing more. To nobody's surprise, they looked completely lost, as though they'd been simply observing the two for a little while, and couldn't understand a word of what they'd been saying.

However, that didn't change the fact that they now had total strangers and potential witnesses in their midst, and one wrong move could have any one of them rushing for the authorities. One look on the world criminal database from there, and every law enforcement entity across Russia would know that at least two of Japan's most wanted Villains were right here on their own.

[[See? I told you guys I saw some strangers lurking around here.]] The visibly youngest of the trio finally started muttering anxiously to his friends; neither of the other two taking their eyes off Tomura and Twice, but neither of them noticed, either, that Tomura was simply looking back at them from over his shoulder, and thus they didn't notice he still had the used bracelet in his hand, open and just hovering over his left wrist. However, he knew he still needed to time this right in order to get them fast enough.

[[Didn't you say there were four of them, though? What happened to the other two?]] The man in the middle asked with baited breath, clearly not liking not knowing where all the pieces in this little confrontation were.

[[Who cares, they probably went off to scope out the town. Once we take care of these two, we can just wait for the others to return and get them the same way. No way these people are natives; probably Villains on the run.]] The oldest of the three hoodlums muttered with a mischievous grin, clearly not taking this as seriously as the one in the middle, who was looking Tomura and Twice over with an especially studious eye.

All the while, Twice was anxiously darting his gaze from the intruders to Tomura, then to the bag full of their weapons and the bracelets, and finally to a nearby piece of rubble that looked light enough for him to throw with some degree of accuracy; confident that doing so would buy him enough time to pull out a clone or two to ease their odds.

[[Hey…wait a second, I feel like I've seen these guys before…yeah, the dry-faced one, I feel like I've seen that hair on TV relatively recently.]] The middle man began pointing specifically at Tomura as he began saying this; and while the League's leader still didn't understand a word being said, he didn't have to. The pointing finger and the look on the man's face was obvious: he recognized him, and soon enough, so too did the others.

[[Whoa…holy shit, you're right! He's one of those Japanese Villains; the ones the media was all saying had something to do with All Might retiring a few months back!]] The youngest one actually sounded genuinely excited by this discovery as he spoke, while the last man's smile only seemed to grow that much more.

[[Well, hot damn. That must mean those other two you saw were more of them. We could become local saviors if we take these guys and turn them in to the cops! I'm sure nobody will mind if we bloody 'em up a bit. I mean, Villains just live to hurt others, so who's gonna argue against a little self-defense?]]

As the third man said this, he was visibly beginning to reach for one of the pockets in his jacket, and the moment Tomura and Twice noticed this, that's when they knew there was no more time to waste.

And thus, Tomura finally clipped the bracelet around his left wrist, and the moment he felt that pinprick Twice had described, it felt like his entire body was growing in both size and power, as the effect of whatever the substance inside it ran its power through his Quirk.

In fact, that increase in sheer power he felt in that moment almost felt like it was taking complete control of his body on its own, as the moment the three hoodlums flinched when they saw Tomura's body start going into rapid spasms; the white-haired Villain instinctively threw his hands up as if he were about to grasp onto their faces and reduce them all to dust like always…only this time, his legs didn't send him forward to close that distance. It was as though, in his mind, he just knew he no longer needed to.

And he didn't, for the moment his extended arms were aimed at the three wide-eyed intruders, Tomura could feel his Decay Quirk come rushing down his arms and into his hands, and before his and Twice's eyes, it was as though an aura of pure stagnation and rot just cracked and tore through the very air itself from his fingertips all the way to the three shell-shocked men. The moment that aura met them, they all began to scream, crack, split and evaporate away where they stood; their cries of fear, anguish and mercy dying out just as quickly as they had come, and within less than five seconds, without having moved an inch from where he stood, Tomura had managed to disintegrate all three just as effectively as he would have before if he'd had to run to them.

With the immediate threat finally removed, Tomura struggled to catch his breath from the insane rush of increased power he'd just felt, while struggling to unclasp the bracelet and remove it from his wrist; taking that chance to look at the five windows lining the ring once more, and this time, there were only three red spots upon it, thus confirming his and Twice's theory.

"We should hang onto this one as a momentary practice tool; and if a chance comes along, let Toga-san and Vukodlak-san try it for themselves, see what it does for them." Frankly, Twice was still too much in shock to actually give Tomura a verbal answer, but the League of Villains leader knew the clone-maker was on the same page. Now, all they needed to do was wait for Vukodlak and Himiko to return, and hopefully they would be out of this place and onto their next stop before the next morning. The rush he was still recovering from left him feeling even more anxious than before to get back home and bury Overhaul and establish himself on top through this newfound means to ultimate power. These tools had the potential to make the League of Villains truly invincible.

After nearly two hours of waiting in the aftermath of their close encounter, Tomura and Twice were both pleased to see Vukodlak and Himiko return none the worse for wear. After giving them the rundown of not only the three intruders, but also Tomura's theory on how the Quirk-empowering bracelets actually worked, it made it clear that it was time for the League to really sit down and think about everything they had to work with now.

"So, that's just about all we did today. Were you guys able to come up with anything? Did you find what we were looking for?" Twice asked the moment he got a chance to speak, only to immediately regret it when he saw the disappointed look on Himiko's face.

"No luck. I did everything you told me to back there, Sensei; but there wasn't anything hollow anywhere in or around that place. You don't think that ojii-san was lying to us yesterday, do you?" The moment Himiko asked, though, the other Villains could see that, surprisingly, Vukodlak didn't look at all bothered.

"What good would it have done for him to lie about that, Toga-san? We were threatening the life of his daughter; if he lied and we found out, he knew we could've easily come back and killed them both. Tamaz wasn't lying; the safe he was talking about just has to have been buried deeper than we thought. Don't beat yourself up about it; I didn't hear anything hollow in there from the moment we walked in. I just wanted to see how serious you were about wanting to practice what I've been telling you."

Had it been Tomura or Twice in her position, being told that they were simply being tested or toyed with; Vukodlak had no doubt they both would have tried to kill him on the spot for it. Hell, instinct was even telling him that Himiko would have been no different, hence why it struck him as so surprising that she took this news with a bubbly giggle of amusement. "You really trusted me to learn enough for that kind of test already, Sensei? Yay! That makes me so happy!"

A concise clearing of Tomura's throat managed to stop Himiko from breaking into another giggling mess, although she kept rocking back and forth in her seat, like the little bundle of energy she always was. "If there's no way for us to get to the safe under the cathedral through the place itself or the sewers, though, then how do we get to it?"

Thinking it all over, Vukodlak furrowed his brow, sitting in silence for a good minute or two, before his gaze finally switched over to Tomura. "The cathedral clearly had business hours posted at its entrance. Once the sun begins to go down and evening mass lets out, the place will be practically empty. It's an incredibly risky move, but with no other options, we'll have to get you in there and see if you can decay the ground away so we can make our way down to the safe by force, Tomura-san."

In an instant, Twice slapped his hands upon the map Vukodlak had laid out for them of the city of Saransk as a whole, which he had swiped from one of the many kiosks during his and Himiko's time out. "Are you out of your mind? That whole building's right in the dead center of the city! The instant any of us makes any noise out there, the cops will come in full force from literally all around!"

Vukodlak's tired sigh made it clear that he was on the same page as their ninja-looking comrade, as he too was looking over the map. "You're right, Twice-san…but the fact it's in the city center also gives us a distinct advantage as long as we plan ahead. If we could find a way to cut off every road around the cathedral so the cops couldn't come rushing right in, it would be able to buy us plenty of time to get to the safe, open it, grab what we need and run through the sewers to freedom before they'd even get a good look at us."

Fortunately, Vukodlak's partners could all similarly see that geographical advantage. However, keeping his hands folded together as he thought, Tomura couldn't keep silent: "But timing isn't on our side, and it would take way too long for us to go around planting explosives underneath every single road and blowing them out from underneath."

"Maybe we don't have to do all of that work ourselves." Himiko suddenly chimed in, only there wasn't any of the lofty-headed ignorance typically found in her voice; the three men all looking to see she was genuinely thinking of something. "When we were out around here to the south of the cathedral, Sensei, did you notice a smell coming from one of the sewer grates, too? Not like a smell you'd normally think of coming from a sewer, it almost smelled like gas, or like a gas leak; that rotten egg smell you always hear public service commercials talk about. Don't a lot of big cities have, like, electricity and gas running under the streets all over the place? I think I remember one of the teachers from my old school rambling on about that, or something."

Himiko's eyes were the only part of her face to visibly change expression when she saw how her seemingly mundane pointing out had left her three allies visibly emboldened with the best strategy to their current plan, with Vukodlak once more looking over the map, running one of his claws along the very specific road she'd just mentioned. "That's right, the gas lines and electrical lines run underground to provide for the whole city without cluttering the streets themselves."

Before Himiko even knew it, Vukodlak was, for once, actually patting her on the head with a genuine anticipating smile on his grizzled face. "Excellent use of your sense of smell, Toga-san. Your sensory training's finally coming through."

Himiko had to hide her ecstatic smile behind her hands as she started giggling uncontrollably to herself, feeling so overwhelmingly happy to finally be receiving her teacher's praise. By now, Vukodlak was back to looking over the map. "Alright, when we enact the plan, Tomura-san can use his Quirk to work our way down to the safe, and Toga-san can use her Quirk to take on Tamaz's appearance and voice to get through the security systems on it. If Twice-san and I detonate one of the explosives at the point of the leak, it can set off a chain reaction that would not only blow out the streets around the cathedral, thus cutting off the police, but it can also knock out the power to the entire city, making it easier for us to slip away through the sewers and head north to the rail yard where we can make our escape and continue on our way via train to our next stop. With disguises, any street cameras that would see us wouldn't be able to identify us later on."

The further he went with this explanation, the more Twice and even Tomura found themselves actually seeing the sense in such a plan. It sounded thorough enough, and if done well, they could be in and out in no time with everything they needed from this place.

At that moment, Tomura suddenly flinched, as a sudden piercing pain suddenly erupted from the back of his skull; the very same tell-tale sign of the arrival of another of those damned telepathic intrusions from the same distant yet ever-present voice that had been calling out to him ever since their arrival in this whole part of the world:

"Yes, Tomura Shigaraki. Every step you all take brings you one step closer to me, and all that I have to offer you. You ultimately have nothing to lose…but everything to gain. If there is nothing more you can bring yourself to trust coming from me, then know that you can trust that. Come to me, and I can help you make your dream come true and so much more."

Mercifully, this momentary surge left just as quickly as it came, and as Tomura tried to ride the last lingering bit of it away, he could once more see the matching looks of concern on his three partners' faces; they could all clearly tell what he had just gone through, and were thankfully smart enough not to ask.

Although, if anything, that damn voice picking now to speak out and compel Tomura to come to it once again, served as a kind of poetic timing, as he felt driven to finally give his answer, as they all still knew his final word was law for their team. "That voice…I don't know if it's a friend or a foe to us. Whoever or whatever it is, it won't stop clawing its way into my head, not so long as we're here, and not until we get to it…until I get to it. This little side quest has already gained us some excellent hardware; who knows what else it could give us to work with later on? Whatever it is that's waiting for us at the end of this trip…it'll be worth it."

The whole mood across the room could be physically felt lightening up as Tomura voiced his final approval for the League of Villains detachment to go about their mission now that they knew what to do.

Looking to the window, or more specifically the daylight, Vukodlak was settled. "Alright. We'll have to wait until nightfall before we make our move on the cathedral. We'll have plenty of time to set up the explosive charge we'll need for igniting that gas leak, and most importantly, I'll have time to make what I need from the radio and those electronic store supplies."

With that, after clearing away the map and instructing Twice to look the layout over to find the rail yard they would need to escape through, Vukodlak laid out a multitude of what looked like wires, small electronic-working tools, and spare chips and motherboards, alongside a small disposable cellphone and the radio from one of the military vehicles at the impromptu checkpoint earlier.

"Yeah, what are you thinking of making with all that, Sensei? You said you're super handy with bombs; are you actually gonna make, like, a radio bomb or something all retro like that?" Himiko asked eagerly once Vukodlak was already getting to work dismantling the radio casing.

"No. As I said before; this is going to be a way for us to not only reach out to Kurogiri-san if and when we need to, but it'll be a way for him to always know where we are in case we need him to send us help while we're out here, or for when it'll finally be time for him to take us home. I'm making a way for this radio to not only keep a real-time reading of our current coordinates we can relay to him through this phone, but also a way for it to continuously encrypt the phone itself with a constantly randomizing phone number for when we contact him; that way, even if the authorities in Japan or Russia were to somehow pick up our signal, they would never be able to trace it. It's one of the most useful tricks I've learned in my years surviving out here. It's going to take all the time we have until we need to head out in order to make this right, so if any of you need to catch up on sleep, this is your chance. Once we get this mission started, it's going to be nonstop from then until we get to a train heading north."

Vukodlak was the very picture of focus, as he never took his eyes off his work before him, and Twice and Himiko decided to take advantage of the offer and get some sleep; the first real bit of it either of them had gotten since they'd escaped Tbilisi nearly a day ago. At the same time, Tomura kept watching the outside, counting the moments not only until they could enact their plan to get all the info on Tunguska; and whatever potential advantage having such information could get them; but also the moments until they could finally get to the source of that damned voice, and he could find out exactly what was calling out to him so incessantly once and for all.

The next several hours to pass between then and nightfall were, indeed, incredibly busy. It surprisingly didn't take long for Vukodlak to finish making the heavy-duty encryption device out of the store equipment and radio, hooking it up to just one of the several burner phones he had managed to swipe back then for each of them; going the extra mile to manually activate each of them as well so they would be able to stay in contact while putting the rest of the pieces to this mission into play.

All under the protection of disguises, Vukodlak and Twice worked their way through the sewers beneath the streets before ultimately finding their way to the very same spot Himiko had noticed the smell of the gas leak before. With a single plastic explosive mounted to it, and a homemade ignition pin pushed in that was wired to another of the extra burner phones squeezed into one of the openings between the gas line and the ceiling, the two Villains knew the catalyst for their escape plan was officially in place, and now it was a matter of Twice getting himself onto the nearby rooftops lining the square upon which the cathedral stood; armed with one of the empowering bracelets to give himself a Quirk power boost, and keeping an eye on things to buy Himiko, Vukodlak and Tomura all the time they could.

At the same time, back at the expansive road from the south that led up to the cathedral, Himiko and Tomura themselves could only sit by and wait, not only for the evening mass of citizens to leave, like Vukodlak had described, but also for Vukodlak himself to finally show up, letting them know that the charge was set and it was time for them to get what they came here for.

Once the last of the church-going civilians had left, and the sun was already just about to finally set and plunge the city into full-on night time, the two waiting Villains quickly spotted the familiar street attire of their guide and comrade approaching them from the south; and that was all the signal they needed.

"The charge is set, and Twice-san is keeping watch from the rooftop. Once things get started, he has the switch to set it off, cutting off all the roads." Vukodlak already began explaining as the trio began making their way for the cathedral; their steps almost in perfect unison as Tomura kept his hands tucked in his pockets, feeling at the empowering bracelet inside that he'd decided to keep on standby.

All the while, Himiko had to keep from skipping with excitement as she turned to look at her mentor beside her. "Don't you think you should be with Twice-san to make sure things don't go wrong, Sensei? He doesn't strike me like the kind of guy who does too well all by himself."

"No need, in that regard. I made that trigger myself, and if there's one thing I know nearly as much as hunting people, it's how to make reliable explosives. No, I'm going with you for protection, just in case things get rough. Now focus, Toga-san. It's time."

As Vukodlak and Himiko had carried on their latest talk, with every step they and their wrinkly-faced leader took towards the doors; the more Tomura could once again feel that incessant scratching at the back of his head. The pain it infused him with only seemed to push that much more adrenaline into his footsteps, as he was being driven more and more by the knowledge that he was coming ever closer to finding out just who or what it was that claimed to want to help him become stronger.

As they finally stepped inside, with only the now-resounding echoes of their three footsteps to be heard, Himiko, Vukodlak and Tomura continued onward until they found themselves in the center of the cathedral just before the expansive golden altar gallery of painted saints.

The grandeur, majesty and feeling of all around sanctified grace this building exhumed was completely meaningless from where Tomura stood, as he began to pull the one bracelet he'd taken for the mission from his pocket, fastening it around his wrist and once again feeling that pinprick sensation, followed by the overwhelming powerful surge it began to push through his veins. And with that surge, the voice in his head was somehow managing to get even louder and ever-present, almost as though whatever it was coming from now stood directly before him:

[[Good evening, my children.]] The echo of a kindly older man's voice suddenly called out to the trio of Villains; prompting Vukodlak and Himiko to look and see a bearded old man in Orthodox priest robes approaching them with a warm smile upon his face. Vukodlak could just barely make out the minor spasms going up Tomura's arm out the corner of his eye. It was obvious the priest hadn't noticed, as he continued to approach. [[Are you three perhaps in need of a place to pray, or are you perhaps lost? I don't recognize your faces.]]

WHAM!

With a swift and resounding impact, Vukodlak drove the knuckles of a tightly balled fist straight across the priest's face, sending him toppling over like a fallen tree, only for the Villain to quickly catch him by the back of his collar, and hurriedly hoist him over his shoulder before making a beeline for Tomura where he stood. "C'mon, Toga-san."

"Sensei, what are you doing? Why can't we just leave that old guy here and get to it already?" Himiko asked with both confusion and impatience as she followed after her teacher, just as Vukodlak hurriedly swept his open hand across the air above Tomura's head, creating a horizontal air shield just above him.

"We're wearing disguises, so even if he were to speak to the authorities, it's not like they would even find who they're looking for. Plus, it's said to be bad luck to kill men of the cloth, and I'm not about to write off such things while we're out here and permanently outnumbered." As Vukodlak explained this, he was already grabbing his student by her sleeve and practically dragging her along to the entrance, while Tomura fought off the growing spasms of power throughout his body enough to speak back to his young associate:

"After what I saw this bracelet could do for my Quirk against three bunched together targets, I'm not about to take chances with either of you being near me when I use it here, not even with Vukodlak-san's Air Shields! You both stay back and don't come for me until we know for sure we've found this damn safe!"

Vukodlak was too fast getting them both back outside with their unconscious extra weight for Himiko to try and argue with Tomura sidelining her. Once they were both gone, Tomura knew he no longer needed to fight this expanding power as it rippled down his arms to his hands.

"You've come seeking greater means to power, and you've already found a minuscule means on your way. Everything you do from here on can bring us closer and help you to obtain your destiny, Tomura Shigaraki. You wish to change the world? What better place to start than by tearing down the house of society's idols? It stands in the way of you and that which can give you power over your enemies; and all those who are destined to change the world must show no hesitation to tear down all obstacles! This is how you ultimately shall come to win! Exercise your power, come to me, and achieve your victory!"

The voice had chosen the single most opportune moment to spur Tomura on as his growing strength was building through his hands, and with those final pushing words resounding in his head, the white-haired Villain finally threw his arms out to his sides and let this incredible surge of greater Decay power erupt from his fingertips, once more tearing through the air itself and ripping through the floors, pillars, walls, ceiling and windows of the entire cathedral; every single touch wearing through the stone and reducing it to rubble, rust and dust all around him.

Within less than a minute, this shockwave of pure death managed to rip apart enough of the supports for the cathedral, that soon what little of it was still managing to stand ultimately came imploding in on itself; every portrait of saints of centuries past completely erased into withering tatters, as glass, stone and steel alike came raining down all around Tomura Shigaraki as he continued to howl with the euphoric release of this incredible temporary new strength of his. Vukodlak's quick thinking of creating an Air Shield over his head ultimately proved to be the single greatest touch of saving grace in this moment, as even the devastating weight of raining stone rubble shattered several feet above Tomura's head and came raining down at his sides before just as quickly being reduced to dust like everything else, leaving him completely unharmed.

The passage of time didn't even register to Tomura; hence why when he finally felt this release of his Decay run the last of its course through his finger tips, he couldn't begin to wonder just how long this attack of his had lasted. All he knew was that it had worked so much more beautifully than he ever could have hoped, as where there had once been an ornate, downright magical-looking cathedral all around him, there was now nothing more than a massive crater caked in the dust of the building and over a dozen feet of solid ground that it had once been composed of, with only a single stock of solid earth and a tiny chunk of cathedral floor where he was still standing being the only remnant of what once was.

His heart was still racing from the faint traces of remaining adrenaline as Tomura slid down on his feet into the depths of the crater, marveling over the sheer scale of power and area of effect one shot from this little bracelet had given him when he'd actually taken the time to build up his power alongside it. If that voice was actually genuinely offering him power greater than this, on top of everything All For One was still promising to give him when everything else was said and done, it was impossible for the scarred Villain to not smile in a sadistic childlike anticipation for it all.

At the same time, as soon as the sound of Tomura's Decay had begun to echo out from within the cathedral, quickly followed by the sound of the windows shattering and the stone ripping and tearing apart, Twice had been lightning fast to follow up on the one stage of the plan he knew his partners were all counting on him for; momentarily fumbling with the crude-looking homemade detonator Vukodlak had left in his hands once they had left the sewers. Despite the trembling in his hands, he'd luckily managed to finally slam the button down with a resounding click, and once he had; much to Vukodlak's credit as a bomb-maker, he'd instantly been answered by a booming shockwave resonating all across the streets and up the building to his feet.

The moment he'd heard that sound, it was impossible for him not to look and immediately start dancing and cheering at the sight of the huge plume of fire emanating out from behind several buildings back the way he'd come, only for it to immediately be followed by the soon-deafening sound of stone grinding and smashing against itself, as one street and building after another from that point began to similarly collapse in on itself and explode respectively, alongside the instantaneous blackness that swept across the city as a whole.

By some miracle, the building Twice was standing on had managed to be one of the few in this direct line of destruction to not completely collapse, but he wasn't about to test his luck by dancing with celebration any further. No, he knew that now, even despite the streets all around the decaying cathedral having imploded in on themselves and effectively cutting off the police from intercepting them, he still needed to buy his comrades a little more time.

Thus, the moment Twice finished sliding down a nearby gutter pipe back to street level, he began focusing everything he could into making as many clones as he possibly could on his way back to his allies; leaving behind a quickly forming duplicate of Vukodlak with every other running step he took. It was a physically exhausting effort, but one he knew only he could provide. After all, he had only one instruction for them to act on once they'd finished forming: keep the cops at bay. Even for how frustrating it was that his clones could imitate someone's whole personality perfectly, and therefore the attitudes that went with them, at least he knew he could rely on them to follow even instructions as rudimentary as that. He just had to hope that these Vukodlak clones of his also had the perk of carrying over the multiple different Quirks the man himself had in order to provide an effective defensive line.

Mere seconds previously, once the cathedral had completely imploded in upon itself after the resounding explosions of Vukodlak and Twice's explosive charge working its magic, and the sound of Tomura's Quirk had finally stopped sounding throughout the air, Vukodlak and Himiko finally felt sure enough to actually approach and marvel upon the crater their leader had just left in his wake; quick to spot him wandering amid the dust.

Once the two had slid their way down into the depths of the crater to catch up with Tomura, Vukodlak was quick to spot an opening in the furthest side of the crater that looked like a manmade passage. He had no doubt it was a passageway to perhaps a tiny storeroom for a sewer worker, and thus a means for them to make their quick underground escape.

All the while, Himiko actually struggled to find the words to articulate how impressed she was with what Tomura had managed to do thanks to one of those bracelets. "Holy crap, Tomura-san…that was…that was, like, super amazing! You're like a human atom bomb!"

The thought already had her grinning with insane amounts of anxiousness to try and test out what one of the bracelets could manage to do for herself, but before she could even think of asking Tomura if she could have a try, her eyes quickly spotted the distant sight of what looked like a large steel box protruding from a nearby mound of dust.

Vukodlak and Tomura himself were not too far behind her in spotting it as well, and soon all three Villains were rushing over to check it out. On one hand, none of them could figure out how on earth it had managed to avoid being disintegrated by Tomura's Quirk like everything else; but on the other hand they could all easily just chalk it up to luck being on their side, as it effectively meant all their hard work to get here hadn't been for nothing after all.

Unlatching the bracelet from his wrist now that there was so far nothing more needing to be decayed, Tomura's eyes settled on Himiko's back. "Alright, Toga-san. Now it's your turn. Let's just hope this'll all have been worth the effort. We can't show our faces for a second on the surface from here until we get to the rail yard."

With this grim reminder of how much pressure was about to come crashing down on their heads, Himiko grabbed the small vial hidden under her stolen jacket, the one she knew to be filled with the blood of the old man Tamaz Abashidze, and without hesitation, upon unscrewing the seal for the tube that fed into it, she proceeded to ingest the whole thing like a jogger drinking from a water bottle.

Within seconds of drinking all the collected blood, Himiko's body began to convulse and start growing increasingly malformed and misshapen, as though an oily thick substance was completely consuming her body. The moment Vukodlak and Tomura could no longer see her piercing yellow eyes through it, the substance suddenly began to take another human shape; one that the Russian Villain began to recognize more and more as it took on more detailed features, until finally, the only thing he was looking upon was the lively image of the same old Georgian man he had watched die over a day ago, looking as though he'd been completely unharmed.

At the same time as the now-disguised Himiko began making her way for the safe, Twice had finally finished making his way into the crater, rushing like the wind for Vukodlak and Tomura. "Hey, guys, we got what we came for yet? I don't know how long my clones are…gonna…"

Twice's words began to trail off as he watched the sight of an unfamiliar short old man approach what looked like a safe protruding from one of the many mounds of dust lining the crater. Even the cacophonous echoes of multiple emergency and police sirens slowly but steadily approaching, along with the multiple sounds of devastating crashes that followed, didn't even register to the three, as they watched Himiko do her work, looking the safe over for any kind of surprises.

Remembering exactly what Vukodlak had told her the little old man from before had told him about this safe, Himiko cleared her throat and moved in towards the tiny electrical console sitting right by the frame for what was clearly the safe door. Upon first glance, there looked to be a tiny touch pad at an odd angle that couldn't have possibly been the retinal scan she'd been forewarned about, and it definitely didn't look like a speaker for the vocal pattern test. Going by simple process of elimination, she proceeded to place her disguised thumb upon it, and thanks to the thoroughness with which her Quirk disguised her, a single green light suddenly ran up and down the screen her thumb was resting on, and with the rise in volume of a single electrical hum coming from within the safe, the rest of the tiny console suddenly lit up, and a tiny little slot opened up, revealing the small screen she'd been expecting.

As Himiko leaned in towards the screen so it could scan her disguised retina; Twice and Vukodlak were both finally taking notice of the sirens and crashing noises, now joined by unmistakable reports of scattered gunfire. And yet, despite that, there weren't any cars with flashing lights closing in, not even on the other sides of the massive crevasses the explosions had made in this large ring of protection.

"Twice-san, what exactly did you do to buy us more time outside the ring?" Vukodlak finally asked as soon as it was clear there was no sign of this unseen conflict stopping any time soon.

"I decided to make a whole bunch of different clones of you; you in your disguised face, don't worry; and have them basically make a whole bunch of those Air Shields of yours to block the roads. Let's just hope the shields actually last a little while so we can slip out of here. We're totally not gonna get away with this."

As Twice explained the extent of his preemptive planning, Himiko had managed to pass the retinal scan, and now it was finally down to the vocal pattern test, as another little slot had opened up, revealing what looked like a tiny mouthpiece. Thankfully, she was able to retain a tiny bit of the Russian lessons Vukodlak had been trying to hammer into her head thus far, and thus went with the very first thing that came to mind she could remember: [[I love to hunt.]]

Vukodlak had never mentioned the old man Tamaz mentioning anything about a specific code, so Himiko could only hope that meant it only wanted the specific vocal pattern, because she definitely remembered her mentor mentioning a warning about an acid failsafe that would destroy the documents inside they needed for this little side trip to mean anything. For a good few seconds when the safe system didn't give any hint of a reaction, she momentarily bit her tongue in anxiety; for a split moment fearful she had screwed up royally. There was no telling what Tomura would do to her if that ended up being the case.

PING! SCHHK!

With the sudden sound of an electronic ring, instantly followed by the sound of something metallic slipping out, the door to the safe suddenly unsealed itself, and for a moment, Himiko was in shock that she'd actually managed to pull it off. There didn't look or smell to be any noxious fumes coming from out of the safe, which was as good a sign as she could have ever hoped for.

Opening the door the rest of the way, even with her voice disguised, Himiko couldn't help but let out the equivalent of a bubbly laugh of pure delight as she reached into the safe and pulled out a huge book-sized folder with a bunch of Russian writing she couldn't begin to read, which Vukodlak hurriedly took from her the moment she had it lifted over her head. She didn't even pay that any mind, however, as she reached back into the safe and pulled out a small lacquered latched box which, upon opening, she saw was filled to the brim with little glass slides with aged red spots of blood inside each one, the sight of which had her smiling with accomplishment on the inside, even though the properties of her Quirk made blood in this particular state completely useless to her personally.

"A book? Is that seriously what we went to this much effort for?" Twice instinctively reacted with frustrated disbelief the moment he saw the aged old document collection in Vukodlak's hands. However, the Russian Villain didn't pay the masked man any mind, instead leaving him to once again flip-flop in his attitude and immediately start congratulating Himiko for good work; while Vukodlak was already hurriedly perusing through the papers. Just as Tamaz had said; every page was the original copy of the official documentation of every known Hero from across the Soviet Union back in the day; from their real names, places of birth, Quirks, and relatives, with those coming from Quirked parents even having their forebears' information marked with parenthesis-locked page numbers for reference, which he was immediately able to confirm was there as well.

"This is it, Tomura-san. This is exactly what we need if you want to know everything there is to know about Tunguska, Kolya, and where they come from that could give you a distinct advantage to work off of. Look, it even has a copy on the boy's mother, Gamayun, too. If, by any chance, looking backwards through Tunguska doesn't give us anything, then surely it can't hurt to have just as much info on both his parents to work through." Vukodlak assured the doubtful-looking Tomura, even handing him the whole document to quickly browse over for himself.

However, a few notable flinches from Twice while he'd still been in the middle of congratulating Himiko as her disguise melted away; broke the two Villains' attention, and they could all see the sudden look of panic in the eyes of his mask. "Guys, the cops are starting to take my clones out! Maybe we can save the reading party for the train ride?! C'mon, we gotta find a way out! We're totally gonna get caught out here!"

Vukodlak immediately tucked the Hero information files into the burlap bag over his shoulder and grabbed Twice and Himiko by the forearms; his eyes laser-focused on the opening he'd found in the side of the crater. "We have a direct route into the sewers just ahead. We still have enough of a head start; we can make it all the way up to the rail yard by the time the authorities find it, themselves. Twice-san, you looked over the turns by way of the streets on the map we'd have to take in order to get there from here, right?"

Twice, even in his growing tension, could pick up the threatening air in Vukodlak's voice. He was clearly counting on the cloning Villain having actually followed through on his own share of responsibility for the plan; otherwise he'd make sure Twice would suffer long before the cops ever got to him. Of course, with that apprehension also came the emboldening realization that Vukodlak actually was placing a degree of trust in him like he did with Tomura and Himiko, and that just made his chest puff out with pride. "Yeah, leave it to me, guys! There's way better guys to follow than me, but I won't get us lost!"

It was about as good a show of confidence as could be hoped for, as Twice officially took the lead once the four Villains had ducked away into the darkness of the narrow tunnel, all before they eventually found themselves traversing the winding maze-like passages of the sewers. They, unfortunately, knew they couldn't rely on anything like flashlights, lest it somehow gave their position away to any hostiles up on the surface.

However, with the combined Quirk-enhanced vision of Vukodlak, on top of the ever-evident advantage his training was giving Himiko in being able to navigate the dark, alongside Twice and Tomura's natural vision acclimating to seeing in the dark like everybody else, getting lost or at the very least stumbling, wasn't going to be a problem. As long as they stuck to following the passages that ran parallel to the streets and not the buildings, they wouldn't have any issues of blocked routes stopping their progress; especially when Twice ended up stumbling on a doorway for a ladder to a lower access level that could help them traverse underneath the fallen rubble from one of the collapsed streets.

After that little detour, the Villains were soon once again on their way, navigating through the rest of the sewer system under Saransk, until they eventually found themselves at a storm drain blocked off by a grate, which looked to lead out to another wide open field which, upon further investigating, clearly showed the edges of a rail yard to their right. After a momentary making of an exit courtesy of Vukodlak's claws rending through corrugated steel rods making the grate, the four finally found themselves back out in the open, and there didn't look to be a sign of the authorities anywhere to be seen.

Of course, they weren't about to take that on good faith, and wouldn't have to waste too much time in order to risk it, for as luck had it, a large freight train was just then taking that moment to start heading off on its way for the horizon. Upon Vukodlak's confirmation after looking at the stars above that it was heading north, the Villains ran like hell, and after having him jump onto the side of one of the freight cars and bust open the lock, the four finally climbed their way inside, shut the door closed behind them, and could finally let their racing hearts slow down as they collapsed from the rush, feeling completely exhausted now.

"Holy shit…I…I can't believe we actually pulled it off! We're the greatest! I'm the greatest! I'd love to see the look on that smug Overhaul's face when he hears what the League can do!" Twice started gloating once he'd finished catching his breath; all while Himiko was similarly glowing with pride, soon dancing and cheering right alongside him, and Tomura simply looked at his own bag resting beside him; specifically thinking of the bracelets they still had on hand, and the total number of uses they could still get out of them.

"It's a shame these things can only be used so many times, and who knows how many of those times we might have to use them while we're here? If we can at least get one back to the Doctor, we could have a potentially infinite number of these things to add to our armory."

As Tomura confirmed this plan to himself, he tore away the disguise from his face, and his eyes soon shifted towards Vukodlak and his own bag sitting beside him, thinking of the makeshift radio he'd made with it for communicating with the others all the way back in Japan. The thought of his explanation of what it was supposed to do sparked an idea in Tomura's head. "Any idea how far we have to travel before we reach our next stop, Vukodlak-san?"

Vukodlak's removal of his disguise finally prompted Himiko to do the same, while Twice was hesitant to take his traditional mask off while their Russian compatriot gave Tomura his answer. "It'll be less than a days' travel before we get to where we need to be, and we'll need to jump to different trains a couple times along the way. That's all I can really say, Tomura-san…well, that, and that compared to what we'll have to do next, this was pretty much a tutorial level, if I'm getting that terminology you tend to use correctly."

The fact Tomura wasn't saying otherwise was as much of an answer as Vukodlak needed. However, he was then quick to notice that the man's red eyes were still focused on his bag. "You want to look over the files we recovered? We found a box of blood slides collected from a good number of the Heroes documented inside as well. They're all quite old, but I'm sure the doctor might find a way to work with them once we get them back to him."

That last note was what finally spurred Tomura to ask the question most prominently on his mind: "Speaking of the Doctor; you said that device you crafted would help us contact the others without the authorities in either country being able to track us. Was that all true, or were you just bullshitting us to make yourself look even more capable than before?"

While, under normal circumstances, Vukodlak would have taken great offense at his survival skills being questioned so harshly; it wasn't exactly like Vukodlak could blame Tomura for expressing doubt. In concept, it really did sound too good to be true…but the same could have been said for how effective a lot of his personal training out on the field had been. "I don't bullshit, Tomura-san. If there's anything you want to let the rest of the League know, this nifty radio/encryption hybrid will keep our number completely untraceable, and allow Kurogiri-san to know exactly where we are if we need anything from him. Do you already have something in mind?"

Tomura folded his hands together; his red eyes deep in thought for a good several seconds as Himiko and Twice likewise found themselves watching this tense exchange between their two allies with rapt attention.

Not only was Tomura considering exactly what the first thing he wanted to do with that device was, now that he had Vukodlak's seal of assurance in what it could do…but he was also once again trying to fight off the pain of that damn voice trying to call out to him through his brain.

"One step closer. That's how far you've now come. You have what you now need to know everything about at least one of your enemies. Now it's time to amass your strength. Every task you pursue will bring us together, and I, alongside your mentor whom takes so much space in your heart and mind, will help you achieve the ultimate power in this world. Do not stray from your course now, Tomura Shigaraki."

With those assuring words echoing on and on, Tomura finally opened his mouth to answer: "I have some ideas, but I'm going to need a little time to really think them through. But I'll have it figured out by the time we get where we need to be, no later. I'll just have to save my thanks for then, once I can see for myself that it works."

Vukodlak let out a contented sigh, figuring that was about the best answer he was going to get from Tomura as far as his faith in his machine-working skills would go. Knowing they still had quite the lengthy journey ahead of them, he finally decided to lay back and try to get some rest of his own…which only last for about a minute before he found himself once again being jostled not only by Himiko wanting him to train her more, but also by her continuously asking Tomura to let her have a try with one of the empowering bracelets.

The road ahead was going to be a very long one, indeed. However, with his three comrades continuing to prove their capabilities as they had thus far, Vukodlak actually felt a genuine air of confidence that they could actually pull this all off together so long as they stuck by each others' sides. It was a feeling of actually comradery he, for the longest time, had actually written off the possibility of ever remotely feeling again. In its own way, it actually felt rather nice; hence why he was ultimately able to actually work the miracle of getting some actual sleep in light of Himiko and Twice's energetic chatter.

And there it is, everyone; the new chapter for the week, focusing entirely on the misadventures halfway across the globe of Vukodlak and his fellow Villains. Thanks to this chapter focusing solely on one set of characters, it's no surprise this chapter turned out comparatively shorter compared to so many of the others. You can all look forward to that much easier reading over the next few weeks.

If you liked what you read here today, please leave a written review for me to see, letting me know how you all think this story is doing thus far. I crave your feedback, seriously.

Stay safe, everyone; have a great rest of your week, and I will see you all with the next chapter on 04/02!