My Hero Academia – Under Pressure – Season 3 – Episode 22 – A Day In The Life Part 1: Villains
Far from the eyes of the Pro-Heroes, let alone the students at UA High, the members of The Deck moved around their current hideout without a care in the world.
Each one of them knew that they were safe there. They had numerous safehouses stashed throughout Japan, and even though they moved around often, they could feel that the Pro-Heroes didn't even know a handful of them existed.
Their shadowy nature was what made them so effective. The Deck rarely ever failed a mission, and even in failure, they always came out on top. That was what made them so feared by the Pro-Heroes that did know about them, or by the governments that knew they lurked within their country for a time.
But no matter their Quirk, the members of The Deck knew that without their leader, The Dealer, it would all be for not. They enjoyed the peace of mind that they had a leader that didn't get frazzled, that didn't berate them constantly or make them feel small. Just the opposite occurred. When he was mad, he let them know it, but would also ensure they knew why it was a justified anger.
When they succeeded, he would make it clear how pleased he was, and would give them both praise and rewards for a job well done. Granted, he couldn't give them all that they wanted for numerous reasons, not the least of which was that some of their desires were…eccentric to put it lightly. But they knew that he wouldn't skimp on them or "dangle a carrot" in front of them with no hope of reward.
In The Deck, your worth was proven not by your Quirk, but whether you got your tasks done.
One might have thought that after the failed coup attempt at the Shoza District would've gotten The Dealer's ire. But true to his nature, he turned it into a victory by securing The Dominator in their ranks.
Some "reshuffling" was done to make room for him, but his presence was welcome to many of the members. Not the least was for strictly Quirk-based reasons. His power was good enough to hold ground with Mythical for a time, something that many of them couldn't say.
The newest member wasn't happy about his new position, as he was the one being "dominated" by his new role. But with the alternative being prison, he knew there were worse things than this. Plus, he had given his word to join The Deck had he failed, and while he was many things, a broken word would damage his reputation far more than any lost battle.
The Dealer was also wise enough to know that the best move for them after breaking free their newest member was to back off and "lie low" for a bit.
That didn't stop him from doing jobs, but he ensured that only members with certain "stealthy natures" did certain requests. For better and for worse, they had the people's attention now. The public didn't have all the answers, but there was enough of an uproar to get Mythical involved and for the No.1 Pro-Hero to get a task force involved in hunting them down.
In his lair, The Dealer watched a press conference that Mythical took part in. The volume was off, but Nochi Hitan could tell every word that the hero was saying.
After a bit, he clicked off the video and scoffed, "No.1 hero? More like No.1 fool."
As he spun around lightly in his chair, his assistant appeared before his desk, "Sir?"
"Hmm? Oh, Mythical is doing yet another public appearance to try and assuage the people's fear of this mysterious new group of villains. It's all bluster. He can't even use our name because that'll reveal that we're structured, organized, have a leader. They're going to keep saying we're nothing more than a ragtag group of wannabes to make people think they have nothing to fear."
"A classic hero method, sir."
"Indeed. But it's so boring! At least try to be creative!" exclaimed The Dealer.
The assistant nodded, "That might be beyond them, sir."
"So I keep finding out. Did you have something for me?"
"Possibly, sir. We've been contacted about a new job."
"And?"
"Well…it's a bit bigger than what we've done recently, sir. It would go against your mandate of stealthier operations for the time being."
The Dealer was intrigued by this statement and motioned to the assistant with his hand. The assistant gave him a folder and the villain quickly strummed through it.
His eyebrow rose with ever growing intrigue as he read the briefing, "A military convoy strike?"
The assistant shook his head, "Close, sir. It's a private contractor strike. The client is a rival of the company in question, and wants us to take out the convoy so that their company can swoop in with their weapons as a replacement."
"And make lots of money as a result."
"That would be my guess."
"Ha, ha, ha, I love it when motivations are simple."
"Sir?"
The Dealer tossed down the folder and leaned back in his chair a bit, "Oh, I'm just musing about things. There are so many people out there, both heroes and villains, who make things so…complicated. Their motives, their desires, their goals, they twist themselves up in knots about it. But those who live simply? Those who can think in basic terms and justifications? They do much better more times than not."
"Such as yourself, sir?" put out the assistant.
"Precisely. I don't desire to run the world, or dominate it. I seek simply to make my mark and muck things up for the heroes when I can. And…I succeed. On that note, while you're right that we've been doing stealth operations recently, we were going to have to reveal ourselves on a larger scale sooner or later. This mission seems like a lot of fun! Plus…the natives are getting restless."
"Wouldn't want that, sir."
"Indeed we would not! So, how many trucks in this convoy?"
The assistant grabbed the folder and held it up, "Three. The trucks are headed to local law enforcement precincts to bolster their capabilities in case of a villain strike."
The Dealer snickered, "Gee, wonder what got them so spooked…heh. Alright, three trucks, probably some security, maybe a hero or two…? We'll send five members to deal with it."
"Suggestions on the crew, sir?"
"Hmm…usually I'd just let you draw…but given that we need both destruction and people dealt with…I probably should pick this time."
He went to his trusted deck and moved his hand around it. The cards shuffled themselves in various ways, and slowly, five cards were picked out of the deck and landed on the table face up. The Dealer motioned to them to show that these were his official picks.
The assistant bowed, "As you wish, sir. I'll prep the team and send them off."
"Keep me posted on all developments," ordered The Dealer with a nod of the head.
With a nod of his own, the assistant left. Now alone once more, The Dealer sat back down in his chair and laughed as he pictured the fun that was about to happen.
The next day dawned, and soon enough, the convoy in question got prepped for its departure.
They proceeded as though they didn't expect anything troublesome to happen, not knowing that it would be very troublesome indeed.
Armed guards proceeded to help load large crates into a set of trucks. More guards watched over the entrance to ensure that no attacks happened while things were being loaded.
Once everything was done, the trucks were locked up tight, with some safety precautions inside just in case. The drivers revved up their engines and signaled to the entrance guards that they were ready to depart.
"Attention all positions," said one of the guards into a radio, "the convoy is about to depart. Repeat, the convoy is loaded and ready to depart!"
Various other people radioed in that they were ready for the convoy to proceed. When they all checked in, the entrance guard motioned for the convoy to proceed forward.
The trucks accelerated and headed out. They exited the docking area, and then through the gate that helped block off the building from the outside. A long road connected the contractor building to the main roadway, and the convoy rode on it without a hitch and easily got onto the highway that would safetly get them to their destination.
That is, it would have, if company had not arrived.
For high above them, a helicopter slowly descended within distance of the trucks. Within that copter stood five members of The Deck, each ready to do their job for the glory of the group.
Among them was Shed, who was itching for a fight, and to get off their aerial ride, "While I love the old-school approach this time, why couldn't our reflective friend just get us into the trailers of the trucks?"
A familiar woman wearing a leotard, the one known as Wall Shadow, approached from behind, "Too risky, and we wouldn't want to be caught up in a wreck we cause from the inside."
"Fair enough. And I guess we do get to test this new tech, right, Digi-Terror?"
A snicker came from behind, and a tall man with a teched out ensemble approached. Not unlike a certain student, he wore a very elaborate helmet, but his made him look sinister, and was sending pulses all over the helmet as though it was constantly computing something.
"Oh yes," said the villain, "with these we'll be able to stop right on the truck's roofs without issue."
"We better," came a deep voice, "if we don't, we go splat, and then I'll be very mad."
They turned to look at their fourth member, a very muscular dark-skinned man with a buzzcut. His left arm looked much different his right via the 'veins' that covered it.
Digi-Terror waved off the veiled threat, "Relax, Cannon. You'll land safely, and then you can begin your destruction."
"Incorrect," emerged the voice of their final member.
A very tall female parted herself through the other members. She wore sleek yet form-fitting attire, but her upper arms were exposed, and the bottom parts of her legs had slits cut out of them. Her fiery red hair was nearly as long as her body due to it being tied up in certain spots.
"Cannon, Shed, and Wall Shadow are on defense when the guards inevitably strike. Take them out but don't harm the driver until we've taken care of the payload. We need to ensure all the weapons are destroyed so the client is happy. Digi-Terror, I'll assist you in getting inside each truck where you'll short circuit or blow up the stored weapons. Once we're done with the first vehicle, I'll help us get to the next, and then the one after that."
Shed snickered at the plan and how her teammate delivered the message, "Whatever you say, Queenie."
The tall woman quickly grabbed Shed by the face and lifted her up a bit. From her wrists came several whips that started to ensnare her, "You will respect your Queen of Diamonds, and you know my name is Whipstrike. Understood?"
The whips still constricting her, Shed did her best to nod. It was enough for Whipstrike to let her go.
Shed rose up and readied to fight back but Wall Shadow morphed her arm into a claw and put it on her shoulder, "Enough! We're in good range for the drop."
They all looked down and saw they were indeed really close to the convoy. The trucks below continued on their path as though nothing was wrong.
The irony of the situation would soon dawn on them.
Seeing the time was now, Whipstrike popped her neck and readied herself to go, "You have your orders. Let's get the job done and show our leader we're ready to be back in the spotlight."
Without waiting for a reply, she jumped out of the helicopter and aimed straight for the top of the third truck. Whipstrike streamlined her body so she would get there with maximum speed.
Just before hitting the truck, she tapped something on her belt, which Digi-Terror had given her, and immediately, a unique blast emitted from the belt and hit the spot that Whipstrike was aiming for. The blast hit the truck and then rebounded to hit Whipstrike, and the two entities were slowly brought together without issue or large impact.
"See? I told you it would work," gloated Digi-Terror. "Geronimo!"
The villain jumped out to follow his leader, and the others soon joined him. One by one they activated their tech and slowly found themselves on the top of the truck. Despite the high speed of the vehicle, they were perfectly fine on top of it.
Digi-Terror pointed to their feet, and they all looked at the similar style boots they were wearing, "You'll be free to move with these on! You might even be able to walk on the walls of the truck…but I never got around to testing that…"
He laughed until he was smacked in the back of the head by Whipstrike, "Focus. We need to get going before we miss our window and are potentially overrun. You three, move carefully to the front while I open the back for Digi-Terror."
The three nodded and slowly made their way into position. Wall Shadow merged with her own shadow and went to the side of the truck where she had no trouble staying in place due to her Quirk.
When Whipstrike saw the others were ready, she summoned a whip and slashed it across the lock on the door latch. With it gone, she put the whip onto the latch and slowly raised it. The moment she did, voices came from within.
Digi-Terror noticed this first and tried to gaze within from above, "What was…WHOA!"
No sooner had he looked inside than a blaster bolt narrowly missed his head. He reared back in time, but it was clear these trucks were more guarded than they realized.
The guards within the back of the truck realized the situation and quickly messaged the others, "We are under attack! Repeat, we are under attack!"
The other trucks reacted quickly and slowly broke formation so they were more staggered. As they did, the locks on the backs of the two trucks disengaged and the doors flew open to expose the rest of the guards, who were more than happy to aim at the villains they could now clearly see.
Whipstrike was annoyed by the new situation, "This will complicate things. Deal with the oncoming fire! We'll handle things on our end!"
"As if we have a choice!" shouted Shed as she started to take the brunt of the enemy fire.
"I got you," said Cannon as he readied to fight back.
He held out his left arm and it folded in on itself until a cannon was revealed. With it ready, he primed it for a certain kind of strike and fired at their attackers.
The guard in the passenger seat of their vehicle opened up his door to try and get a jump on the villains. But that's what Wall Shadow was waiting for, and she quickly grabbed him and threw him out of the vehicle.
Knowing she needed to get things going, Whipstrike plunged the tip of one of her whips into the roof of the truck. It folded in on itself once inside to form an anchor point.
Without hesitation, she rushed to the end of the truck, jumped off it, and then used her whip to guide her into the trailer area.
The guards were stunned at first, but recovered quickly, and one shouted, "Open fire!"
The trio of guards let loose with their blasters, but Whipstrike wasn't impressed. She quickly summoned multiple whips from her arms and spun them around so they could catch and redirect the blasts. The guards were shocked at this, but kept firing.
Getting more annoyed by the second, the villain used one of her arms to send a duo of whips at two of the guards and encircled their necks. With a casual flick, she launched them out of the truck.
"No!" shouted the final guard as he increased his firing at the villain.
Whipstrike wasted no motion, and this time used one of her legs to launch a whip, and it hit the guard's gun, knocking it out of his hand.
"Your guns are really annoying," she said with clear fury.
"Uh…I…uh…"
Whatever he meant to say was lost as she wrapped his whole body in whips and then threw him too out of the truck.
The trailer clear, Whipstrike took a deep breath and briefly soaked in her victory before calling out to her teammate, "Digi-Terror! Get in here!"
From above, the tech villain worked his way into the truck's trailer. It wasn't as stylish or graceful as Whipstrike's entrance, but it got the job done.
"Oh, I can feel the tech in this place," he said with glee.
"Just take care of it so we can move to the next truck."
"Will do. Let's see what we have here…"
He went from one crate to the next and carefully opened them. Inside were specialized weapons, much different from anything in a standard police arsenal.
Even the villain was impressed with this, "Huh, we must've really spooked them, this is top of the line. There are high-grade military units that don't get decked out in this stuff!"
"Not yet, at least," cautioned Whipstrike. "But it matters not. Let them use whatever toys they desire. The Deck can crush it all, as you're about to prove."
"Indeed! I have just the thing to wipe this all out in one blast. Just give me a second to set it all up."
"It's not you I'm currently worried about…"
Whipstrike looked up to the roof of the truck, where the sounds of explosions and gunfire could still be heard.
Up top, Cannon and Shed were doing their best to withstand the onslaught. With two trucks firing at them from a decent position, they had to be quick on their feat to not get overwhelmed.
For Shed, her Quirk allowed her to take hit after hit and keep going. That's not to say it wasn't hurting her, as the weapons fire was more than just physical hits, but she grinned and bore it.
She primarily acted as the shield for Cannon, who fired back at their attackers while also trying to take out some of the crates if possible. The crates were tied off within the trucks to ensured they didn't move, but that also made them good targets.
However, thanks to the guards constantly firing at them, Cannon had to shoot from the hip versus getting clearly aimed shots, which frustrated him, "Wish I could use my bigger shots here!"
"And I wish I was in those trucks so I could crack some skulls!" yelled Shed as she took more hits. "But we don't always get what we want! Your bigger blasts take a long charge time, and you don't have that kind of…ow…time!"
"Don't I know it! These guards don't seem to care about anything outside of shooting us."
"That just means they were paid well and they don't ask questions."
"My kind of people. Now take this!"
Cannon let loose a volley and was able to wound one of the guards. But the others formed a protective barrier around them so they couldn't get hit again.
Despite the victory, Cannon had to duck behind Shed again to shield himself from their blasts, "Are they almost done in there?"
Shed watched some of her layers be shot off and bared her teeth, "They better be! I refuse to stay on defense forever!"
Back inside the truck, Digi-Terror continued his malicious machinations until eventually, he was ready.
He opened up a part of his wrist gauntlet and tapped on it feverishly, "And here…we…go!"
The villain pressed a button, and a set of electrical impulses went to every weapon in the crates. They sizzled and fried until eventually they rested once more, smoke pouring out of them.
Whipstrike moved to the entrance and covered her mouth to avoid the smoke, "Is it done?"
Digi-Terror did a quick check and then nodded, "Yep! They're totally useless now."
"Then let's go!"
Without waiting for his consent, she grabbed his arm, launched a whip with the other to wrap around a bar near the top of the truck, and launched themselves onto the roof of the truck.
Once there, the two saw how things hadn't improved since time.
"The more things change…" snicked Digi-Terror.
"Save your jokes, we still have two trucks to go. Now come on!"
She rushed forward and got in front of Shed before quickly bringing up her whip shields once again.
"About time!" Shed said angrily.
"You can vent at me later if you feel bold enough," warned Whipstrike as she continued to shield them. "We must keep going before Pro-Hero backup arrives."
"I'm open to suggestions," put out Cannon as he readied his arm for Round 2.
"We can't waste anymore time. I'll personally launch us to the next trucks. Shed and Digi-Terror in one, and then myself, Cannon and Wall Shadow at the other."
"Finally! I can just blast the tech!"
Shed wasn't convinced, "I know you're good, but have you ever done this kind of thing before?"
Whipstrike turned her head to look at her, then smirked, "No. But there's a first time for everything. Even for a Queen."
"Now you hold on one sec—"
"Digi-Terror give me some temporary relief!"
The tech villain grabbed some gear from his outfit and handed it to Cannon, "Put these in your barrel, one shot for each truck! That'll buy us some time."
"On it," answered Cannon as he loaded up. "Fire in the hole!"
Whipstrike dropped her barriers and Cannon fired his rounds. The devices attached themselves to the floor of the trucks and then quickly poured out smoke.
"Smoke bombs, it's a classic!"
A whip crack silenced the tech villain, "No more gloating! Prepare for launch! Wall Shadow! When you see me jump to the other trucks, crash this one and launch out, I'll catch you!"
With that, she reared back and lashed out her arm whips at the two trucks ahead of her. They had to reach a long ways, but she got them to embed themselves in the truck.
Arms locked in, she wobbled her head a bit, which got her hair to glow. The hair itself became a whip, and grabbed onto Cannon before launching him at one of the trucks.
She did the same thing for Digi-Terror, and then Shed. While not the smoothest of landings, they all made do and got in.
The moment they did, all three went to work and took out the guards. Shed gleefully went to work and beat the crap out of the men in front of her. She laughed as she threw them out one by one, "Oh yes, this is so much more fun than being a shield!"
Digi-Terror merely stood to the side and let it happen.
In the other truck, instead of using his arm, Cannon used his regular muscles to disarm and throw the guards out of the truck until there was no one left but him.
Whipstrike maintained her position on the third truck. But as the final bit of smoke dissipated, and she saw her Deck members standing victories, she knew it was time to go.
She jumped and had her whips slowly pull her in.
As she did, Wall Shadow slowly emerged from her place on the side on the truck and quickly rushed into the cabin with the driver.
Needless to say, the driver was stunned at the shadowy being before them. They tried to pull a pistol, but Wall Shadow quickly put a stop to that and knocked the driver out.
"Sorry," Wall Shadow said simply, "but it's best you don't see this next part."
The driver KO'd, Wall Shadow grabbed the steering wheel of the truck and turned it hard in one direction.
The truck immediately started to skid, causing some of its tires to pop and the truck to start to roll. As it began to fall apart, Wall Shadow rushed out the door and jumped into the air, her hand outstretched to her teammate that still hung in the air above her.
Whipstrike saw her shadowy teammate launch into the air, and had her leg whip catch her and send her to the top of the truck with Cannon.
Now free to "get off the ride," Whipstrike retracted her whip from Shed's truck and reeled herself into the other.
As she touched down within the trailer, she had to catch her breath.
Cannon knelt down to check on her, "You alright?"
"Yes, Cannon," she said while still breathing heavily, "but that was indeed very taxing. Don't worry about me. Focus on the crates and destroy their contents."
"Gladly."
Cannon loaded up and started blasting everything in sight. When the first salvo didn't appear to do much, as the containers for the weapons were tougher than they looked, he changed his weapon setting and fired directly at the weapons.
It took a while, but he damaged them all to the point of no return. By the time he was done, Whipstrike had recovered, "Well done. Let's head to the roof and wait for the others to finish."
In the other truck, Digi-Terror did a similar setup on the weapons like in the other truck to wipe them out in one strike.
Shed rested against one of the trailer walls, but her impatience showed via her tapping finger and foot, "Anytime now."
"Hey, you heard the leader," chastised Digi-Terror, "we have to do this right to please the client. You of all people should know what happens when you fail a job."
"I didn't fail! I wasn't allowed to succeed and…oh, whatever, I don't have to explain myself to you! Just hurry up."
"Don't have to. I'm done."
He pressed a button, and the weapons once again shorted out. After a quick check to ensure the deed was done, the two went to the edge of the opened door. They carefully peered out and motioned to Whipstrike, who just as carefully grabbed onto the two's arms and pulled them onto the roof the truck they were on.
"Mission complete?" she asked them.
"Yes," answered the tech villain, "all the weapons are destroyed. And yours?"
"Demolished. Let's head to the final step of the plan. Cannon? You take out that other truck.
With a chuckle, Cannon charged up his arm and fired two powerful blasts at the wheels of the opposite truck. Like the other one, it immediately skidded and then rolled. They watched as it caused even more chaos on the roadway as numerous cars tried to swerve around it.
"Didn't realize there was going to be a show," joked Shed with wicked glee, "I would've asked for a meal to complete the effect."
"Celebrate later," overrode Whipstrike, "we're not free and clear yet. Wall Shadow?"
The shadowy villain popped out of her hiding spot to face her leader, "Yes?"
"Get rid of the driver. Then take the wheel and get us to the rendezvous point."
"Of course."
The villain went back into her shadow, and then like before, went to the side of the truck and approached the driver's cabin. Unlike before, she went straight to the driver's side, opened the door, and flung the driver out after slashing his seatbelt.
As she entered the cabin, she dissolved her shadowy form so she could focus on driving.
The Deck had planned out several routes to their rendezvous for extraction depending on how long it took to take down the trucks. Wall Shadow knew the routes, and immediately got on a nearby off-ramp to head for the desired location.
On top of the truck, Whipstrike knew that discretion could be the final part of this mission, "Let's get inside the trailer and seal it. It'll draw less attention and hopefully ensure a smooth ride to the rendezvous point."
Shed made to retort, but leaned to the side and looked behind her leader, "Yeah…I don't think that's going to work."
"Why not?"
"Oh, because they're going to try and mess things up…"
Shed pointed to something, and the other villains turned to see what it was.
To their shock and disappointment, a trio of Pro-Heroes were approaching via a custom aerial ride. Not unlike the villains in their copter, the set jumped off and soon landed on the roof to square off with them.
The first Pro-Hero pointed to them, "Villains! Did you really think your chaos on the roads would go unnoticed? You will face justice for what you've done."
"I highly doubt that," noted Whipstrike bluntly before facing her teammate. "Digi-Terror, get inside the truck. Your gadgets won't be as useful here."
The villain nodded, "Understood, good luck you three!"
With a final snicker, he rushed away, and they could hear the trailer door closing as he secured himself inside.
Shed cracked her knuckles as she awaited the challenge to come, "Three on three? This will be good. Too bad this truck needs to shed some weight!"
Cannon readied his arm for battle, "Yeah, but it'll be a blast, at least."
Whipstrike gave a grunting laugh at the puns as she summoned her weapons, "I suppose we'll have to…whip them into shape."
The Pro-Heroes were undeterred and also readied themselves for the fight.
As if on command, the two parties of three rushed to each other and began their combat.
Shed was the first to duke it out with her foe, a woman with seemingly no distinction as to what her Quirk was. But when they locked up, the woman smirked and her fingers and nails started to extend to extreme lengths, and said nails glinted in the light as their sharpness showed.
"Oh, you should see a doctor about that," mocked Shed as she playfully tapped one of the nails before breaking away.
The clawed woman sliced at Shed, but the villain didn't flinch as her attacks barely damaged her skin. The top layer was barely breached and the villain snickered.
"Yeah, you'll need to do more slicing than that to hurt me."
To her amusement, the Pro-Hero smiled back, "I'd be happy to oblige!"
They rushed one another and renewed the conflict.
Meanwhile, Cannon faced off against a Pro-Hero who had a Quirk that truly gave him trouble. The hero could make a copy of himself, and yet, while the copy could give damage, it couldn't take it. Despite this, once the copy got blasted, the hero could summon another without hesitation.
That meant Cannon had to guess which one was real, and to his dismay, he often guessed wrong.
"Will…you…just…stand still and get hit!?" he roared over the continuous blasts of his weapon.
"Nah, don't think I will," answered the hero as he went in for another two-time attack.
There were no words being said in the conflict between Whipstrike and the leader of the Pro-Hero group.
She too found herself against an opponent who matched up well against her. While she was a very offense-focused fighter, her foe was one where defense was his whole strategy.
His Quirk allowed him to repel ever lashing she made at him. He merely held his hand or foot out and the whips would be pushed away without harming him.
Secretly, Whipstrike found this fight rather fun. Due to her high ranking in The Deck, she was often sent out on missions where the results needed to be guaranteed without issue, and she did well to always complete those missions. However, this often meant she didn't get to work on her Quirk or skills to ensure she didn't lose her edge.
This mission helped her reconnect with that desire to get better, and that made her happy, though she wouldn't say that to her teammates, let alone her foe across the way.
Knowing that she shouldn't prolong the fight, she focused on how her Pro-Hero rival used his Quirk, and realized that he always had to look at the object he was repelling away. That gave her just enough room to maneuver.
With her arms, she threw a pair of whips just above the hero so it would continue on behind him. When she pulled them back, the hero had to turn around to stop them.
As he did, she kicked out a leg and snagged a whip around his waist and pulled backward. As he fell onto the truck, Whipstrike, did a twirl in the air and used her hair whip to hit the Pro-Hero hard and knock him out.
Cannon continued to get frustrated by his foe, as the two timer kept using variations of the same tactic to get under his skin and out of his blast range. Even when he did hit the Pro-Hero, he would merely summon the copy to harass the villain until he could get back on his feet.
Eventually, he had enough, and changed up his tactics.
He changed his cannon back its arm form and then beckoned the Pro-Hero to bring it, "Come on, let's see if you can handle my real guns!"
Cannon flexed and the hero laughed as he charged with his two forms. But that was what Cannon wanted him to do. As the hero lunged in for a dual strike, Cannon sidestepped and slammed his arms down onto the twin bodies.
One of them instantly vanished, and the villain wailed on the other until the hero was down.
As for Shed, she too was relishing the chance for a good fight. But for her, she merely wanted to see how much damage her foe could do, is she could do anything at all.
The clawed hero provided a good challenge, but due to the layers of skin that Shed had, it was like clawing away at a brick wall.
Even the Pro-Heroes special techniques couldn't chip away at the natural armor, and Shed made sure she knew that, "Ah, come on! Is that all you got? Is it? IS IT?!"
The hero tried to scratch out a victory, but it wasn't to be. As she reared up for an attack, a whip caught her arm. Shed seized the moment and KO'd her opponent, though she wasn't happy about it.
"For the record, I had that."
"Naturally," replied Whipstrike, "but were already behind pushing our luck timing-wise. We need to get clear and get to the rendezvous point. Cannon, politely show our guests the exit."
Cannon laughed as he went to the three Pro-Heroes and lifted them up on his shoulders. He then went to the edge of the truck and paused for a moment until an opportunity approached.
"Bye, bye, now!" he shouted as he tossed them off the truck.
While the Pro-Heroes would survive the fall, they would soon have to deal with the humiliation of literally being dropped into a dumpster.
Their foes dealt with, Whipstrike raised the trailer door and put Cannon and Shed inside with Digi-Terror. She didn't join them, but instead joined Wall Shadow in the cabin.
"We'll be at the rendezvous point in a few minutes," Wall Shadow said, relief shining in her eyes.
Whipstrike gave a small sigh of relief herself, "Good. The Dealer will be pleased with our work. Just make sure we don't draw anymore attention on the way to the pickup."
"Of course."
With that, they carefully maneuvered through the streets to where they needed to go. While there was tension within both sets of the party, as they wondered if more Pro-Heroes would show up, there was also a sense of satisfaction for the job they had done.
Minutes passed, and Wall Shadow soon parked the truck outside of an alleyway. Her and Whipstrike cautiously exited the cabin and checked to see if there were any surprises waiting them. When there wasn't, they went to the trailer and opened the door.
"Come," Whipstrike said simply.
The trio left their confinement and joined the others as they entered the alleyway. The alley itself was empty, but they moved forward undeterred. Soon, they came across a large object covered in a cloth. Whipstrike quickly removed the fabric to reveal a mirror.
The others smiled as they saw their getaway.
"Mirror, we're ready."
From within the mirror, a hand reached out. Before Whipstrike took it, she looked back to the others and extended her hand to them. Wall Shadow took it, and then extended her hand to the one next to her. Once they all held hands, Whipstrike grabbed hold of the mirror's hand and took it.
Slowly, the hand retreated into the mirror, and one by one, The Deck members entered the mirrors confines. As the last one entered, it was like they were never there at all. An explosion within the truck itself was the only sound that rang out.
Some time later, The Dealer was going over some information on a tablet when a knock rang out, "Enter."
The door opened, and Whipstrike emerged. But gone was her villain attire and in its place was a more casual set of clothes. It didn't hide her height, or beauty, but it definitely struck a different note than her "work clothes."
"Ah, my Queen of Diamonds returns. Mission report."
He gestured to the chair in front of him and she happily took a seat, folding one of her long legs over the other as she got comfortable, "The mission was a complete success. The weapons were fully destroyed, as were the trucks for good measure."
"Wonderful. Injuries or casualties?"
"Nothing serious for our members. I'm sure we'll hear that some of the security members didn't survive, but they were not our priority."
The Dealer smiled widely, you could almost see it in fully despite his face being partially covered by his mask. He got a kick out of her disregard for non-essential life, "No, they were not. But I hear there was some Pro-Hero trouble?"
She slightly adjusted her position as she addressed her leader, "There was, but our planning anticipated that. They were dealt with, but not killed."
"Good. The occasional civilian casualty can be allowed because…well, we're villains. People like them die every day by villains less special than us. But with Pro-Heroes, we must be more careful. That's why I'm glad I can count on you to follow my orders."
"I would do nothing less."
"Which is why you're my favorite queen…don't tell the others I said that."
The two shared a light laugh at the joke. A noise got the attention of The Dealer. His tablet received a notification and he quickly checked it.
A satisfied smile grew on his face, "Ah, how quickly our clients' move. He just sent over his thanks for the job well done, and has apparently already gotten the call to replace what was lost."
Whipstrike was also satisfied at this, "Happy to please."
"And you have. This was a big step for us after what happened with The Dominator. The Pro-Heroes will see this as a message that we're coming out of the shadows again and that'll put them on edge, which is what we want. It'll make getting work easier, and ensure we continue to work under their noses. For now, though, you and the others stay hidden per standard protocol. Once you're cleared…you have my permission to live it up."
"I intend to."
With one last smile, Whipstrike stood up and headed for the door. But The Dealer kept his eyes on her as she did so.
"Out of curiosity…whose card did you leave behind today? It was your call, after all."
Whipstrike stopped with her fingers on the handle and gave a small grunt of amusement, "7 Of Spades. Digi-Terror's card. It felt fair given he blew up the weapons and the last truck. Plus, it'll make them fear what the higher cards can do if they suspect that only one of our sevens did most of the work."
"Like I said, my favorite queen."
She left and The Dealer went back to work. But as he viewed his tablet, he couldn't help but burst out into laughter and spin around in his chair with glee.
The Deck had scored a big victory against the Pro-Heroes, and the heroes would be fuming because they once again couldn't stop them.
*credits*