Hello, everybody. Well, after the supersized chapter you got last week, I thought it would be better for all of us if we got a couple much shorter chapters to wrap things up with this Arc, in order to unwind, especially in preparation for the events to come. This chapter primarily serves to start setting in place some plot seeds for future battles. If anything, I hope that just leaves you all excited for what may unfold when those future battles eventually come into formation.

I'd once again like to give my sincerest thanks to my beta readers and consultants, Mizu and Jonny, alongside all DA-associated supporting artists, Syyndev, Akane Kahomi, AliceKuroCross, Suki-Chan2509, Eliza-Frost, Yumake and effasempai; as well as every single one of you loyal and supporting readers out there across the globe, showing your support and patronage every single day.

My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters and the original events surrounding them.

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

Chapter 102

Revenge

(Месть)

Saturday, September 13th

Vukodlak's adrenaline had been running at near white hot levels of speed from the moment his body had at long last been forcibly separated from that of Overhaul; plummeting down into the unforgiving craters and rubble below. But with the benefit of his always running Super Regeneration Quirk, any broken limbs were soon nothing more than an afterthought, as he didn't waste even a minute before fleeing for the first entrance into the underground that he could, soon finding himself within the maze-like sewer system just outside the boundaries of the Hassaikai's underground compound.

The moment he was back in the safety of the shadows, he was like a man possessed as he ran down one tunnel after another, simply desperate to put as much distance between himself and all the police and Heroes that were now practically crawling all over the compound. He couldn't even stop to think about the fact that he hadn't been able to get his hands on Overhaul's precious little girl prisoner, Eri, or any of his precious experimental materials he'd been keeping on his person. Right now, the only thing Vukodlak could think of as he ran, was—

"SENSEI! WE FOUND YOU! I KNEW I WAS HEARING YOU FROM ALL THE WAY BACK THERE!"

Even as his pounding heartbeat and heaving breaths dulled his otherwise inhuman hearing, the echo of Himiko's overjoyed voice was still near deafening, as Vukodlak suddenly found himself getting plowed into from around one of many corners, nearly enough to knock him off his feet. However, his fighting instincts just as quickly took hold, as he used the momentum of Himiko's pouncing embrace on his body to plant his feet, and subsequently slam her back into the wall; his steel claws on his free hand already poised right at her throat, while her eyes were widened with surprise, despite her fanged smile still persisting. "Oooh, Sensei, we missed you too! We were so worried when we heard you got all swallowed up by that Overhaul jerk! I'm just so glad you're okay!"

"Here, here! Welcome back, Vukodlak-san! Now take a step back or prepare to get wasted!" Twice's likewise on-edge tone sounded from just outside Vukodlak's view of Himiko, and he could easily picture the masked Villain striking a battle-ready pose in his direction if he didn't do as he was told. Thankfully, Twice wouldn't actually have to back up those words, as his and Himiko's voices finally managed to hit the switch for reasonability in Vukodlak's brain, dulling his instinctive panic and aggression enough to where he could fully recognize his two partners again, and quickly release his hold on Himiko's collar and pull his claws away from her throat, and she in turn retracted the knife she'd had poised at his stomach.

"I'm sorry, Toga-san, Twice-san. I never would've gotten dropped on by you two under normal circumstances; you both know that. I've just been running on adrenaline since that Midoriya boy and that little girl got my body freed from Overhaul's a few minutes ago. My brain is still trying to process what the hell that sensation as a whole felt like, but I just know I'd never want to go through it ever again."

As soon as Vukodlak finished apologizing for his violent outburst; ever few seconds looking back the way he had come to make sure he wasn't somehow being followed; Twice eagerly chimed in, looking visibly pumped up and excited: "I don't think you have to worry about that! Not only does it sound like all that fighting's finally over, but I even went and put that big plan of yours you signaled to Toga on the earpieces into action, adding a couple extra details of my own to help it go off even smoother! Even if the Heroes and the cops have the whole HQ cordoned off and are patrolling it, they won't be any the wiser of what we've done!"

Himiko could feel her typical giddiness immediately recharge once she saw the look of genuinely being pleased visible in Vukodlak's silver eyes. "We definitely aren't walking out of this empty-handed, Sensei! Were you able to get your hands on any of Overhaul's boring science-y stuff he's been trying to make and sell and all that noise?"

Unfortunately, Vukodlak's once pleasant eyes narrowed and darkened with restrained frustration. "Unfortunately, everything happened so fast; both before I got destroyed, rebuilt and absorbed, and after I got let back out; that I didn't have any opportunity to get either of the cases I heard him tuck away in his jacket…at least, if I wanted to avoid running into any more of those damn Heroes or the police. In the state I was in at that moment, it wouldn't have gone well. They're bound to have found and collected all that stuff along with the girl by now…but if what you've said about putting our plan into motion is indeed accurate, Twice-san, then we'll still have a chance to at least make one of those things right."

With a pair of extremely enthusiastic thumbs up, Twice immediately snapped his head in Himiko's direction, ignoring how she was already instinctively squirming with anticipation. "Damn straight! Toga, would you stop drooling over that broccoli-head boy from before and ring up Tomura and the others? Vukodlak-san, keep your ears open. With the ground all cracked up like this, maybe you might be able to hear some of the police chatter we can share, you deaf old goat!"

With an annoyed grumbling, Vukodlak proceeded to take a few steps away and shut his eyes, mentally willing himself to block all other noises while focusing his ears for the distant sound vibrations echoing even all this way through the underground from the cacophony of police chatter on the surface several blocks away.

While the foreign Villain was doing this, Himiko was likewise doing what Twice was commanding, speed-dialing the number she remembered to be Tomura's on her own phone through an encrypted number, as far as she understood when given the little thing. After only two rings, she was quickly answered by the sound of Tomura Shigaraki's voice, with a notable humming sound blaring prominently in the background on his end: "Toga, I'm assuming you all have good news if you're suddenly calling?"

"Hey, hey, long time no see, eh, Tomura? We got so much to tell you guys, but could you step somewhere a little quieter? It's so noisy." As Himiko was speaking especially loudly in response to the background noise, Vukodlak held out a silent but deathly serious hand in her direction, motioning for her to keep it down; while Twice was similarly making a slicing motion across his neck at her.

Nodding eagerly, Himiko was about to ask the same question in a much more restrained volume, but Tomura was already answering: "No can do. We all caught wind of the news reports covering that mess at the Shie Hassaikai's HQ less than an hour ago. It figured that would bring a lot of trouble your way, so it'd only be natural for you all to take flight the first chance you got. We've been on the road in a truck we…borrowed, keeping our ears on the radio and listening to all the developments since. It sounds like they've got that prick Overhaul and his cronies all locked up and about to hit the road, so we're gonna head over to pay them a little personal visit of our own .We just need to find out where they're being taken so we know where to cut them off."

Just as Himiko was instinctively about to ask Vukodlak if he'd heard any such info yet with his Super Hearing, the older Villain was already glancing back her and Twice's way over his shoulder. "I just picked it up through the echoing sound vibrations from the scene, just barely clear enough, too. I'm hearing the word 'Takodana' a lot."

The moment Himiko loyally relayed that information to Tomura; she and her partners could just feel the change in their leader's atmosphere through the phone. "Takodana, it's the best-known Villain-centric police hospital in the country…and thankfully it's not too far from where either of our teams currently are. However, since we're the ones with wheels, we can cut them off first. Good work, all three of you."

"So what do you want us to do next, boss man? We're tired, shaken up and ready to do whatever!" Twice eagerly exclaimed; only for Vukodlak to once again give the same impatient silencing motion. Tomura then answered: "Unfortunately, Kurogiri-san is still currently indisposed with some special business that Sensei sent him off on right after he teleported you guys over, so his Warping Quirk is out of the question. Plus, with the news already commenting about all three of you, and what I can easily assume was a Copy of Compress-san, being spotted at the scene and having injured several Heroes and killed two of Overhaul's thugs; it's not exactly like we can all just kick our feet up at our old field base anymore from here. From here, we're gonna be living on the move for what's looking like the long-term…at least until we can find a suitable discreet place to call home again."

At this sudden downturn in their living situation, the first thing Himiko could instinctively ask was: "Wait, so does that mean that creepy old Doctor of ours is riding with you guys, too? He didn't leave all that blood of ours, Izuku's, Kolya-kun's and that Tunguska fossils', did he?"

Tomura, reassuringly, didn't sound nearly as worried as she did when he immediately answered: "No. Truth be told, collecting those samples from all of us was the only instance where the Doctor ever even set foot in our field bases with his little chemistry sets. Ever since then, he's been securely holed up in Sensei's old headquarters, where nobody can find him. Don't worry; all of that scientific shit of his you all collected is safe and sound. This issue only concerns us field agents.

"Now, the way our two groups are currently positioned, and especially with Overhaul and his people getting sent out on the road in a pretty heavy-duty-sounding convoy as we speak, it's impossible for us to come pick you three up and intercept that convoy on time. So, I'm going to text you a specific address for you three to head towards, where you can hole up in relative safety, until we come pick you up tonight, and we can slip away. Just do us a favor and stay on the line from this point forward until I say otherwise. I don't want you three to miss out on at least hearing what's ultimately going to happen today."

While Himiko immediately began looking over the address they were all to go to when her phone chimed; Vukodlak and Twice were similarly looking back urgently the way the Russian had come from. Just as Tomura had suggested; now that everyone on the surface knew that three League of Villains members were specifically spotted at the scene, it was only going to be a matter of time before the police and Heroes would be combing the surrounding area for kilometers all around, in order to try and find them. Knowing this, Vukodlak shot a cautionary glance Twice's way. "We're inevitably going to have to travel on the surface, which means you'll need to lose what's left of that mask of yours. Are you gonna be able to handle that? Or would you rather I make a fake face for you along the way?"

Not even waiting for his now alarmed-looking partner to answer, with his own sense of alertness spiking, Vukodlak proceeded to grab the sleeve of Twice's bodysuit and Himiko's sweater tight, pulling them both along while she was still looking at her phone at their destination. All the while, knowing Tomura was still listening, Vukodlak spoke up: "Shigaraki-san, I'm sorry, but I wasn't able to secure any of Overhaul's special materials or supplies before we had to evacuate…but Twice-san and I put a plan together that will make what you're about to do that much simpler. We may be able to get what we came all this way for, after all."

"That's right! We're in no rush at all, so you all just sit back and let us regale you! Let go of me, you bastard!" Twice excitedly cheered before just as angrily snapping at Vukodlak, as the trio continued to sprint for their lives, ultimately filling Tomura and the rest of the listening League members on just what they had done in secret behind Overhaul and the Hassaikai's backs.

Less than one hour later…

Upon one of the countless elevated highways that stretched all across the entirety of Japan, a lineup of eight different heavily armored ambulances was hastily making its way, flanked, backed up and lead on all sides by a contingency of police cruisers. Within every ambulance was one of the Shie Hassaikai lieutenants, every single one that was still alive, thoroughly restrained and heavily sedated.

And in the lead ambulance, Chisaki Kai was currently tied down, only able to watch and listen in his morose state, as one of the police officers standing guard currently calling in to their superiors, looking over a small steel box set aside. "Currently transporting eleven members of the Hassaikai organization. Some are badly injured, two are deceased, and one is in a coma, and others have been put under heavy sedation. We're currently making our way to the Takodana Villain Hospital, ETA thirty minutes. We've confiscated all their belongings, including the bullets in question, and the Quirk-boosting drug. There were also a third-type of some capsules that have yet to be identified."

However, while this bog-standard procedure was unfolding in the back of the leading ambulance; in the leading police cruiser spearheading the transportation, all had been uneventful for the majority of the drive…but just as it was beginning to make one of the last turns before it would finally leave the highway and begin the final leg of the journey, something peculiar happened.

A single regular delivery truck suddenly came into view from further up the road, and from the looks of it, it was as though the driver was deliberately slowing their pace down more and more, reducing the distance between itself and the convoy currently choking up all lanes on this side of the road.

Just as the officer driving in the lead was ready to put on the speaker to his car and instruct the truck ahead to speed up again, his discerning eye picked up on something odd: a large piece of black and white fabric blowing wildly atop the truck's trailer. However, the closer the truck came, the more it began to clear up in view, and the moment the officer realized just what he was looking at, hit like a pile of bricks through the windshield.

That wasn't fabric at all: it was a large black jacket upon a man with flowing yet short white hair; adorned with what looked like disembodied hands on his arms and face. That detail alone struck the officer with a terror that made his blood go like ice in his veins, right at the very same moment the bay door to the truck swung open from underneath the man perched on top, revealing a slender man in a white mask dressed like a magician, and a young man with stitched-on patches of purple leathery skin on his arms and face with spiky black hair; all three sets of eyes affixed to the ambulance at the head of the convoy.

The League of Villains had swooped in here from out of nowhere, and the police were completely exposed with no immediate means of fighting back. Dabi and Mr. Compress could both see this, and Tomura Shigaraki, eyeing the ambulance like a hawk, knew this advantage of his teams' even more clearly, as he confidently declared, as though Chisaki inside would somehow be able to hear him: "In shogi, you just need to capture your enemy's king to win, right?!"

While Dabi was already answering in skepticism to Tomura's claims ("I doubt it's really that simple"); Mr. Compress was still on the phone with Himiko, Twice and Vukodlak on the other end after all this time. "It's just as you all said, the police were headed this way specifically. Good work, you three. It really does this old man proud, to see just how capable you are together as a team."

On the other side, even with the rushing of the wind and the roar of the engines, he could easily hear Himiko giggling, while Vukodlak's voice called out in the distance: "Don't patronize me, you're still barely half my age," before she herself answered: "Thank Jin and Sensei for reminding me to even contact you guys about all this stuff. I just couldn't get my mind off Izuku back there. Now, we obviously weren't able to get the girl we told you guys about, but if what Sensei and I were hearing the police say was clear, then you should still be able to find the perfected stuff in one of those cars, anyway. And even if that weren't the case, I'm sure you're all still just dying to see him again, right? It's so unfair, you guys get to have all the fun today. Just make sure you really make 'em all hurt for the three of us, too, okay?"

Before Compress could properly answer, the truck suddenly began to swerve into another lane before jerkily correcting itself, prompting Dabi to call back with no shortage of subtle annoyance in his tone: "Oi, Lizard, knock it off with the swerving. I'm getting carsick back here."

In the driver's seat of the truck, Spinner himself was metaphorically white-knuckle-gripping the steering wheel, every inch of his reptilian body wracked with nervous tension, never taking his eyes off the road as he shouted back in borderline panic: "It ain't 'Lizard"! The name's 'Spinner'! And what the hell's the problem with my driving?! I picked it all up from video games, what do you want from me?!"

However, Dabi's muttered answer ("No need to flip out") was practically ignored, as Spinner nearly hunched himself over, he was so intently focused on the road and making sure not to crash, even as his mind was drifting elsewhere through his verbal thoughts: "Still, though, would it really be right to attack cops in a 'True Hero Society'? Is this the kind of thing that Stain stands for? I'm not sure how to feel about this."

To his and Dabi's mutual surprise, Mr. Compress suddenly chimed in as well: "I hate to bring it up now, but I honestly can't help but agree with Spinner-san on this. Going after these yakuza scumbags for what they did to us is one thing, but these officers are ultimately blameless. To kill them simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time hardly seems right to me. After all, I'm a performer and a thief at heart, not a wanton murderer."

At this, Dabi couldn't possibly stay silent, staring menacingly at the magician Villain like he'd lost his mind: "What the hell are you even talking about? Neither one of you had any qualms like this back when we were raising hell in that frozen shithole Moscow. Don't act like you two have suddenly got some lame moral compass. What changed?"

But in return, Mr. Compress held up two objecting hands. "The principal is what changed, Dabi-san. That entire society back there was essentially partaking in or giving silent support through indifference, towards out-and-out genocide. If we want to make the truly just and balanced global society that we've been talking about, then there simply is no room for an oppressive system like that to exist. This is different; these officers are simply normal people like we easily could've been, if things had been different and society hadn't simply left us to fend for ourselves. These people here are just trying to survive day by day."

Dabi looked like he was just about ready to incinerate Mr. Compress where he stood, but it was Tomura's stern spoken interjection that thankfully snapped his companions back to attention. "This is simply a worthy sacrifice to help make the grand plan come to fruition, you guys. No perfect society is made without a few sprinkled here and there. You can go ahead and feel bad about it when it's all over and done with. Now stay focused. It's time to move."

At his command, Dabi had his emotionless eyes zero in on the leading police cruiser just before them; the driver still visibly petrified and desperately looking for any alternate direction to swerve to, so his fellows could put one of their emergency maneuvers into action. "Now then…"

With no hesitation, and nothing but a light sizzle to kick things off, Dabi proceeded to extend his right arm and send a horizontal pillar of brilliant blue fire from his hand, and straight into the face of the car…but after a handful of seconds; more than enough time for that insane heat to have ignited the gas tank and turned the car into a pile of flaming debris, there was nothing. And so, Dabi had no choice but to retract his fire, looking into the blaze with only the most thickly veiled confusion. "What is going on here?"

As the flames dissipated; instead of a scorched police car; Dabi was met with the sight of that car virtually unharmed, protected by a near complete shield of sand, all emanating from a single person crouched atop it: a muscular-looking older man with flowing long platinum blonde hair and a razor sharp-pointed mustache, wearing a black mask covering the top half of his head, but for his fierce blue eyes, and a pair of white-and-green patterned, armored straps over his shoulders; with his right arm and left hand all turning into the very sand protecting the car.

This was a rather middle-tier, but still relatively well-known Pro Hero by the name of The Sand Hero, Snatch; and right now his gaze was focused on the League members before him, like a hunter having found his prey.

Tomura, having seen Dabi's incredible Fire be rendered so ineffective, finally proceeded to stand up tall upon the speeding truck, showing no intimidation whatsoever on his part at their sudden opponent. "A Hero…should've figured one would stick around with the cops after that whole raid, just to be on the safe side. Honestly, what a pain. Spinner-san, slow down a little bit, get me in closer."

Tomura could see how Snatch's eyes were now shifted upwards to him, the moment the truck began to back up even closer to the car, and he didn't waste any time before swinging a sheet of sand from his left arm upwards towards the hand-masked Villain…but Tomura was just that much quicker to react, having actually jumped from atop the truck and onto the police car, one hand extended in preparation to grab the Hero by the face and Decay him into nothing where he knelt.

But even when contact was made, nothing happened, and Tomura quickly found his throat getting clamped around by another arm of sand, while more sifted through his attacking hand harmlessly, even despite all of his fingers making physical contact. "Well…this is a bad matchup for me."

"Your Quirk decays everything you touch if all your fingers make contact, eh?! Well nobody can grasp a Sandstorm, not even you!" Snatch's declaration of his advantage reached Dabi and Mr. Compress loud and clear; the young pyromaniac of a Villain sneering with annoyance. "Figures, Shigaraki's gotten too famous, and now every Hero with a permeable Quirk like that knows they got an advantage."

"Not to worry, Dabi-san. Shigaraki-san's actually provided the perfect misdirection. Now I present to you, the Magnificent Floating Police Car Ensemble! No strings attached, no smoke or mirrors! Voila!" Mr. Compress' completely nonchalant tone expertly paralleled Dabi's annoyance, before he just as gracefully retracted his hands from his pockets, revealing a multitude of marbles tucked firmly between all ten of his fingers, before just as precisely flinging them all en mass down the road, snapping his fingers on both hands the moment the last of his little toys had been sent careening down the road in all directions going back, soon covering every lane of this side of the highway.

SNAP! SNAP!

In an instant, the entire road was nearly entire cut off with a multitude of large rocks, ice walls of stored and released liquid nitrogen, and plumes of raging fire from similarly released napalm. The devastating combination of all three of these things erupting from those marbles, caused nearly every police cruiser to either get skewered up into the air through their engine blocks, or to be flipped over or set alight careening over the barricade lining the edge, plummeting onto the streets or rooftops below. And the ambulances all fared no better, with all but the leading one, being completely immobilized by boulders and ice alike.

And as for the leading ambulance and the leading cruiser; it was sent flying as a rock erupted from underneath its wheels, causing Snatch to ultimately lose his grip on Tomura, who immediately capitalized on all that built up momentum suddenly being stopped, to send himself flying over onto the front of the leading ambulance hands-first; causing the windshield to immediately disintegrate. Once he had his opening, he didn't even heed the horrified scream or expression on the driving officers' face, as he reached and grabbed onto one of the hands clutching the steering wheel for dear life, applying his Decay up his arm before giving it a sharp turn.

All of that momentum with that sharp of a turn, caused the whole ambulance to immediately flip over, dragging hard across the road, while Tomura had leapt off to bring himself to a rolling stop, and Snatch ultimately jumped in to grab the still-screaming driver out before coming to a safe landing afterward, looking on in fury at the already devastating damage done to the whimpering officer's arm from a split second of Tomura's Decay Quirk.

"You Heroes; saving the lives of others is always the top priority for you guys, isn't it? So predictable." Dabi's voice sent an immediate chill up Snatch's spine, as he slowly set the now-passed out officer on the ground, refusing to even look back in the young Villain's direction, as he could just feel his shadow looming over him.

"All those burnt up corpses that have been popping up here and there lately…that's all you, isn't it?" However, the building rage in the Hero's tone didn't even register to Dabi, who could only form a mocking smirk. "Oh? You've been hearing about me? Love it. Too bad you all aren't hearing nearly enough."

In an instant, Dabi found himself being charged with an oncoming wall of sand taking the form of a charging lion, emanating from Snatch's arms the moment he threw his body into a 180-degree about face turn. "YOU EVER STOP TO THINK ABOUT THE FAMILIES THAT HAVE TO LIVE WITH THAT LOSS?!"

FWOOSH!

But that charging sand lion was immediately stopped in its tracks by an equally fierce column of Fire that Dabi let loose in a knee-jerk reaction, leaving Villain and Hero alike in a momentary standoff.

And the only reason such a fierce standoff was so brief, was because all of that sand just as quickly stopped billowing out, for in the moment Snatch's attention had been on Dabi, Mr. Compress had taken that opportunity to sneak in behind the Hero's back, and apply his Quirk to him with but a touch, eliciting nothing more than a fading "Dammit", before his body and a fair amount of the Fire around him became engulfed in a single tiny marble.

As the marble fell pointlessly to the ground, Mr. Compress was hastily patting away at some of the smoldering embers on his sleeve, while Dabi recalled the rest of his flames. "OW! Hot, hot, hot! But, wait, sand doesn't burn. He should be left relatively unharmed, even trapped with some of your flames, shouldn't he?"

"From what I could tell, only the top half of his body could turn to sand. He's probably dead." Dabi had not even a trace of enjoyment as he said this, looking upon the marble that now held the likely-deceased Snatch inside; a further punctuation mark to his overall cruelty and apathy towards anyone that got in the League's way.

At that moment, Tomura's voice came with an undeniable commanding air about it, as he called to Dabi and Compress from near the overturned ambulance: "So long as the body is whole once you restore him, that's all that matters. Bring it with us, Compress-san. A Quirk like that could be useful for us later on. Then you and Dabi-san take care of the rest of the police cars, and check the other ambulances. Spinner-san's bringing the truck back around, so let's make this all real quick."

With the realization that it would only be a matter of time before police reinforcements would come here in full force; Dabi and Mr. Compress wasted no time heading further back down the road towards all the other immobilized or wrecked vehicles composing the convoy. Fortunately for them, the cars that had been burned to a crisp by the napalm, or sent flying over the barricades, were virtually a non-issue. But the cars that were either flipped over from rocks, or skewered up into the air by ice, proved to be some momentary target practice for Dabi, who effortlessly and mercilessly burned them all away with his Fire, along with the screaming and desperate officers trapped inside.

Once they had taken care of the only thing passing for a potential threat, the two Villains proceeded to make their way towards the first couple ambulances, readying themselves for some kind of fight once they would get the bay doors open.

BLAM! BL-BL-BL-BLAM! BLAM!

Suddenly, a multitude of muffled gunshots erupted from the backs of every single one practically at once, sounding akin to a professional firing squad, the timing was so well-synced. And just as quickly as they had started, the gunshots had all soon stopped…before a single gunshot followed within every single ambulance, like a series of well-timed executions.

For once, even Dabi looked remotely interested, as well as confused, by what was going on; before each one of the ambulance bay doors suddenly swung open. Before his and Mr. Compress' eyes, a pair of identically dressed police officers came climbing out of each ambulance, and each pair stepped out into the open with a single body being carried listlessly between them from out the bay doors, before ultimately and unceremoniously dumping them on the ground side-by-side at the two speechless Villains' feet.

Speechless, because they both immediately recognized every one of these adult bodies laying motionlessly before them, were all of Overhaul's lieutenants and confidantes that had appeared at the end of their organizations' disastrous first meeting…only this time, they all had a single pronounced bullet hole in between their eyes.

"Take it all in, everyone Shigaraki-san could've asked for: Kurono Hari, Irinaka Joi, Rappa Kendo, Tengai Hekiji, Nemoto Shin, Katsukame Rikiya, Setsuno Toya, Hojo Yu, Tabe Soramitsu, and Sakaki Deidoro; every one of Overhaul's best fighters. The police sedating them like they did when loading them up in the aftermath, they were literally like shooting fish in a barrel. There was an old man in a coma in the rearmost car, but he couldn't possibly be of any use to us, so I didn't even bother with that one. He'll probably keel over any day now, regardless."

The sound of Vukodlak's voice emanating from the cops that had just delivered this bunch of corpses, sent an exhilarated chill up Dabi's spine as he and Mr. Compress looked up from the smorgasbord, just in time to see them all reach up and peel away their faces, revealing a lineup of exact Copies of the League's foreign member, all smirking with similar accomplishment among themselves.

With an excited smile upon his stitched face, Dabi gave a 'gather up' gesture with his hand before turning back the way he and Mr. Compress had just come from, back to the flipped over leading ambulance. "Alright, gather them all up and lay 'em out up that way. I just know Shigaraki's gonna wanna make a show of this for our old pal up there."

And this statement couldn't have been timed better, as they could see Tomura come kicking a large mattress from out the doors of the overturned ambulance; one covered in heavy duty security straps, and with the single unmistakable form of Chisaki Kai, Overhaul himself, being the one restrained by them, even as his hands were securely locked away in a huge electronic crate form of handcuffs.

Looking down upon him as he stared up at the sky, it didn't even mean anything that this was their first time seeing their sworn enemy without that ridiculous beak-shaped mask over his youthful face. It didn't even mean anything that the fire once in his yellow eyes was no longer present, instead giving him the look of a man well and truly defeated and with no fight to speak of left inside.

All that mattered was that the League of Villains members present all had him where they wanted him. To their delight, the sound of his allies' bodies being dumped on the ground beside him was enough to spur Chisaki to ultimately look in the direction of such sounds; the malaise on his face visibly turning into restrained horror when he saw all of his closest associates lying dead beside him, with his sworn enemies now surrounding and towering over him like vultures; all punctuated by the scornful sound of Tomura's voice: "Who's the next leader now?"

Chisaki slowly lifted his gaze from his lieutenants' bodies, only to nearly do a double take when seeing the man in police uniforms all had Vukodlak's sneering face. Seeing the horrified confusion in his eyes; each one of the Russian Villain's Copies proceeded to speak up, one following off the tail of the other:

"You know what the great thing about your base having such an expansive underground complex is? It has so many remote and sound-isolated places that are just perfect for setting up ambushes. Once the Heroes and the cops came knocking, all I had to do was have Twice-san make a bunch of Copies of me, while he had a Copy of Compress-san here turn them all into marbles a few at a time to distribute in all those far off corners. It's easier for him to control that many for a while when they're that small. Then, just before that Compress Copy would go kaput, he'd deactivate his Quirk, restoring all those Copies of me to normal, just lying in wait to take out the cops nosy enough to go searching in those remote hallways and dead-ends. By the time the reinforcements would even find their dead comrades, we'd all already be long gone. From there, I just whipped up a quick one of my Full-Body disguises for each Copy of myself to slip into, in order to blend in with the rest of the rank-and-file officers with no one being the wiser, and the rest…well, you can see what the rest is right here, can't you?"

Every detail of this elaborate deception hit Chisaki like a thousand knives to the heart, as his eyes once more fell to all of his dead lieutenants; an especially powerful chill seizing his heart the moment Tomura spoke up again: "You gave me that whole diatribe about shogi the last time we met, remember? Well, my Sensei has always been quite fond of that game: checkers, and every variant of it…precisely because you get to take all of your opponents' pieces and convert them to your own ranks. Get where I'm going with this yet, you bastard?"

For a good long moment, Chisaki felt his whole body become overcome with indescribable horror at the thought of these animals doing what Tomura was suggesting, not only to his allies, but potentially to the true boss as well; turning them into mindless pawns. But while he was going through this himself; Dabi was instead looking with a questionable glare at Tomura. "And how exactly do you plan on doing that if these guys are all dead as dirt?"

Tomura started instinctively reaching down, placing a hand protectively over the interior right pocket to his jacket as he answered: "Well, ever since we sent Vukodlak-san, Toga-san and Twice-san to the Hassaikai after our little road trip abroad; I decided to do a little research on our…tag-along friend, so to speak; just to find out what it was said he could actually do, even in the old stories about him from those parts. First thing I find: he was said to be able to resurrect the dead, and enthrall them to serve him. He could literally make an unstoppable and loyal army just like that."

For a few moments, listening to all of this rambling between Tomura and his subordinates; Chisaki couldn't comprehend just what the hell they were talking about…until an inhuman but clear voice suddenly sounded out, as though it were emanating from the air around them…or better yet, as though it were directly speaking from within all of their heads, making Chisaki nearly jolt with surprise against his restraints.

"It's true, although it has been well over a good millennium since I last was able to exercise my power so effectively. But, when Tomura Shigaraki becomes strong enough for me to imbue with my spirit and power alongside All For One and his own, I have no doubt he will acclimate to it splendidly. After all, if he's to become the king of this global empire of equality that you're all working so hard to build, he will need some especially powerful warriors to carry out his will across all corners of the world properly, besides all of you League-folk."

Chisaki couldn't begin to understand just who the hell this unseen, inhuman voice was that was somehow speaking clearly from within his and everyone else's heads; but his confusion, horror and sadness; all quickly culminated into a nearly blinding anger at the thought of his followers being turned into what sounded like a bunch of hapless puppets. He soon began struggling violently against his restraints and the crate around his hands keeping him from using his Quirk. "So what the hell is the point of you telling me all of this, Shigaraki?! Is this the part where you finally kill me?!"

Looking down spitefully at the struggling and defeated yakuza, Tomura answered bluntly: "Don't tempt me. On a very fundamental level, I want nothing more. It's the least you deserve after what you did to Magne-neesan, after all. And after everything I heard from our absent members about what you did to one of them during your big fight earlier; I know all three of them would be more than a little pissed at me if they heard what I have in mind for you…but you see; I actually have something much worse in mind for you. You see, what I hate the most about you, is just how high and mighty you present yourself as to others."

With this, Tomura proceeded to reach up and remove the disembodied hand covering his face. But before Chisaki could actually get a good look at the true face of his enemy; he was suddenly overcome with an instantaneous and otherworldly pain.

For Mr. Compress had ultimately taken that opportunity to step in and, with a single touch, compress nearly the entirety of Chisaki's left arm into a marble just like that; even removing the white plate mask from his face so that the shocked and now one-armed yakuza could at least see his true eyes and mouth through the holes in his black balaclava. "Me too. Sure, Vukodlak-san might have been kind enough to undo the damage you did to my arm after our first meeting…but I'm a firm believer in an eye for an eye."

After removing his hand mask, Tomura had just as nonchalantly pulled out the three tiny little cases he had likewise lifted from out the back of the flipped ambulance; clicking one open after another in order to look the tiny vials inside over. "Three little boxes: your nifty little Quirk-booster, your finished Quirk-destroyers, and something else. Well, doesn't matter too much. Our Saw-Bones will make good use of these once we send them his way, anyway."

"GIVE THAT BACK!" It was certainly surprising to the surrounding League members, that Chisaki could still manage to sound so serious and murderously angry after having looked so drained and defeated mere moments before. But he was hardly in any position where he could've been considered intimidating, let alone a threat; and Tomura made this unfortunate change in dynamic abundantly clear, as he uncaringly reached down and took full grasp of his right forearm; his Decay immediately beginning to spread all the way up and down it.

"Listen, Overhaul: a guy spouting off about getting rid of Quirks, really shouldn't be relying on a Quirk in order to get it done." As Tomura stated this, he could just see the fright and natural will to try and fight burning within Chisaki's face as he looked at the crackling Decay work its way further and further up his arm.

Seeing this, the white-haired Villain suddenly produced a single knife from out another of his pockets. "Why don't I take care of cutting that off for you, unless you want to just crumble to pieces here and now."

Chisaki didn't even have a chance to even think of an answer, before his whole body became engulfed in another fiery pain; Tomura mercilessly slicing all the way through the elbow joint of his right arm with a single surgical stroke; tossing the severed limb aside like a piece of utter trash, and the knife right along with it. "There! Now you're a useless, helpless, Quirkless wonder, just like you wanted to turn everybody else into!"

Agonizing pain and tumultuous emotions alike left Chisaki's skull a ringing cacophony that would have made him deaf to all else while lying there…but the thunderous and clawing sensation of Tomura's increasingly psychotic laughter continued to claw into his brain loud and clear; as the wide-eyed, viciously smiling and wrinkle-and-scar-faced Villain continued to cackle manically directly into his face, blocking the sunlight overhead so that his face was the only thing Chisaki could see.

"You know, I used to actually think using anything of yours to secure my win would've been distasteful or something! So stupid! Good thing some temporary friends of ours abroad helped me gain some real perspective! The best and most satisfying way games are won is by using everything available to you, no matter what it is! And what better way for me to win now, than to make you sit back and watch, while my League of Villains uses all your fancy toys to do what you can't even dream of anymore, before finally killing you?! ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK, ALL THAT BACK-BREAKING EFFORT YOU PUT IN; IT'S MINE NOW! YOUR LIFE'S GONNA BE A REAL NAIL-BITER NOW—NOT THAT YOU EVEN HAVE NAILS TO BITE ANYMORE! HAVE A NICE LIFE!"

While the entirety of the Vukodlak Copies proceeded to finally disintegrate where they stood; Tomura's insane laughter to follow would've been considered deafening to anyone listening, Chisaki included. But that wasn't the most painful thing. Even the fact he'd officially lost both of his arms, one of which to a knife and instant decay, didn't even register in his brain.

No, what was now tearing him apart to his very core right now, was the fact that Tomura and the League of Villains had just stolen away the ability to do the one thing he'd been hoping above all else to eventually do, no matter what else happened: restore the Shie Hassaikai's true boss to consciousness.

Even for as apathetic, cruel, and downright sociopathic as everything else he had done in the name of his ultimate goal; there was one thing that Chisaki had forced himself to do before anything else that well and truly tortured him on a fundamental level. When the boss had made it clear that he would never support what his young subordinate and surrogate son was hoping to do, even for the sake of their organization and clan, Chisaki realized that he was the one piece that needed to be removed from the board, even if only temporarily, in order for everything else to go smoothly.

Everything, all this hard work and suffering, had all ultimately been for the sake of pleasing the boss, of having his dream of the yakuza remaining alive and thriving in this Quirk and Hero-obsessed world, be made a reality. Every waking moment, Chisaki had constantly reminded himself that it was all for the boss' sake, that once he would restore him from the coma he'd originally put him under that day, that any punishment fallen upon him would be acceptable.

But now, in this moment, with Tomura's mocking and heartless laughter clamoring louder and louder in his head as he walked off with the literal fruits of his labors and sacrifices, and having taken away the very hands Chisaki needed to be able to undo the unforgivable harm he'd put upon his beloved boss, his own adoptive father…that one faint ember of hope that had been persistently kept alight in his otherwise withered heart had finally gone out.

There was nothing Chisaki Kai could do anymore. The one unforgivable sin he'd committed for what he'd considered the greater good, could no longer be undone. He would no longer be able to undo the boss' coma, show him the results he'd worked so hard for, and never be able to atone in any way for the suffering he'd caused him and his own granddaughter to make it happen.

In one fell swoop, Tomura Shigaraki and the League of Villains had taken everything Chisaki had forced himself to do, and rendered it all completely meaningless. And it was that horrific realization that finally brought the only sound out that the defeated and devastated young yakuza could make, while lying there helplessly in the middle of the road with no arms left to speak of.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"

While Chisaki's haunting cries of anguish echoed all around, Tomura had Mr. Compress hastily turn every one of the Hassaikai lieutenants' bodies into marbles to tuck away within his pockets, while hiding away the three small cases within his own jacket as well; all while declaring with his heart alight and his blood flowing with excitement: "BECAUSE OUR TIME…IS NOW!"

"Indeed it is, Tomura Shigaraki. With mine and All For One's tutelage, your League will be the kings of this brave new world…but YOU will be the King of Kings when all is said and done. All your struggling and hard work is already bearing fine fruit. But you know there is still far more to do."

With the omniscient-sounding voice of Koshchei the Deathless still speaking out clearly within his mind from the tiny ornate pin tucked safely within his pocket; Tomura, Dabi and Mr. Compress hastily climbed back into the trailer for the truck, where Spinner had been impatiently waiting, keeping an ear open for any oncoming police sirens, and putting the pedal to the metal the moment he heard the back doors slam shut, leaving behind the massacre site of fire, ice, stone, steel and blood.

"It sure does suck that we have to go about getting Toga-san, Twice-san and Vukodlak-san in such an old-fashioned roundabout way like this, isn't it?" Spinner eventually exclaimed, sounding somewhere between excited and anxious as he proceeded to drive, while Tomura stared ahead at his mental horizon through the steel walls, ever focused on the future.

"Yeah. Sensei sent Kurogiri-san on some mystery errand yesterday after he'd warped them away, but he should've gotten back to us a long time ago since then. Something must've gone wrong somehow, and without having any idea where he was sent, there's no way for us to give him a hand. The best thing we can hope to do right now is just get the others, leave these materials of Overhaul's in the spot the Doctor instructed us to so he can take them for study, and lay low while we try to find a new headquarters for ourselves. Then, of course, there's the question of how we put all that money we stole out of Moscow to good use for us."

Taking all of these big steps for their foreseeable future into consideration, Dabi nonchalantly laid back, staring into the blackness with a bemused smirk. "Well, these next few weeks or so are definitely gonna be real interesting."

And there we have it, everyone: our new chapter for the week, short, sweet and straight to the point. Hopefully next week's chapter can prove the same, so we can finally wrap the Eri Arc up and move onward. If you're excited to see what this little change to the League of Villains' plan could spell for the future, be sure to let me know in any reviews you can write for this chapter. It'd be really nice to know what you all think of this story, 100 chapters in.

I hope you all have a nice rest of your week, and if college doesn't get too insane, I should have the final chapter of the Eri Arc up for you all on 11/19! You all take good care of yourselves!