A/N:

TW: Mentions of gore and violence. A certain scene was inspired by one of my favourite movies! Guess which.


Chapter 3


Enji pushed open the door to the boathouse with caution, eyes adjusting to the gloom of the interior. His team had been equipped with small track-packs, pouches containing a strontium aluminate compound that emitted a traceable phosphorescent glow. The packs would allow for his team's movements to be recorded by a tracker set up just within the crime scene. This would assist the forensic techs who entered later to eliminate traces his team had left behind as possible evidence.

A rusted iron walkway extended from below the harbour wall, all across the right side of the boathouse. The vessel sat, stationary and squat, in its moorings. An eerie silence pervaded the scene, made more so by the fact that this boat had been manned by a crew of five men just a few hours prior. Endeavour heard a controlled explosion followed by a clanking sound on the rooftop where Bakugou had situated himself. Kido and Onima flanked him as he leapt from the slightly raised ramp to the lower deck of the vessel, careful to keep his flames out. The smell hit him as soon as he got close. Kido grimaced and Onima made a small gagging sound.

While the two sidekicks covered their noses and checked the sides of the boat, Endeavour made his way slowly across the deck. The photos had done a lot to dampen the gory nature of the scene. The idea that more than one person had died here firmly cemented itself in his mind as he picked his way between murky sprays and pools of congealing blood. Here and there, he saw traces of flesh, skin and the odd glint of gristle or bone. Something had shredded its way through these men. The heavy, metallic odour was starting to cling to the insides of his mouth.

He climbed the stairs to the upper deck, noting that the windows of the cabin were also blood-stained and occluded, making it difficult to see inside. Due to his height, he was forced to duck slightly to avoid the tattered rigging. It was not just the carnage that provided enough evidence for the attack. The state of the ship, now that his eyes had fully adjusted, told its own story. Deep gouge marks in the bluish-green plastic, the cracks and punctures in glass and steel, the lighter drag marks across the deck, all spoke of the power and fury behind the onslaught.

"All clear."

"Same here."

Kido was standing at the base of the stairs, looking rather green around the gills, while Onima had positioned himself back-to-back with him to survey the boat. Endeavour gestured to him to wait while he stepped across to the open door of the cabin. Here, he found his first solid traces of a victim. There was an arm, the radio receiver still within the tight grasp of the bluish-tinted fingers. Just that, an arm. Striated muscle dangled in ribbons from the truncated joint where a shoulder should have been. A massive quantity of blood had gathered here, probably because the cabin was a shielded environment, unlike the lower deck. Endeavour's gaze tracked slowly around the small room, taking in the details. Apart from the communication and navigation equipment, most of which had been destroyed, there was little else of interest in the cabin. Printed maps of the coastline with marked areas overlapped on the walls, some yellowed with age and brittle with dried salt spray, most now covered in darkening sprays of crimson. A few shelves in the upper reaches contained files and a few boxes, some of which looked newly labelled. There was still no sign of what had been responsible for the attack, a thought that was beginning to increasingly concern him.

He remembered the scratchy voice on the recording, thick hysteria lacing the cry for help. These were probably the remains of the man who had made the call. "All clear," he called down to the two sidekicks and saw their postures sag a little in relief.

Enji was not a man who expressed emotion easily. Anyone who worked alongside him, and members of his own family, could attest to that. It was not something he prided himself on, especially in recent times. He thought of Shouto, his son, standing out there on the harbour wall, waiting to hear about a crime that had been committed. What would his boy think if he told him the full details of this? That there were men who had met such a cruel, painful end, who would never make it back to the safety of their homes? His desire to remove the trainees from the case with immediate effect grew stronger with every step, but he held himself in. There would be time enough for proper evaluation later. For now, the Detective Inspector was waiting for his report.


Stepping out of that oppressive atmosphere was a blessing. Burnin' was professional enough not to ask any questions, even when she saw the expressions that Onima and Kido wore. She shouted to the trainees to re-join them. Endeavour saw Bakugou open his mouth to ask a question and was pleased to note the way Shouto kicked the other boy's foot to shut him up. His son's observant heterochromatic eyes were focused on his face, and something tightened in his chest when he realised that his earlier worries were unfounded. Shouto had immediately understood that something was terribly amiss. Enji turned to Hosakawa, who had been tracking his reactions with close scrutiny.

"Inspector. We found signs of a serious assault on board the vessel. The area has been cleared. No sign of what caused the attack is currently on site."

"I see. Any traces of the crew members?"

"Yes. I'm afraid fatalities are a definite possibility."

He did not elaborate. Their crime scene techs would provide enough detail in their report. Hosakawa nodded grimly before radioing in for the forensic team to join them. He made an additional call to the Coast Guard patrols to keep up their search of the area for possible survivors before turning back to the imposing pro-hero.

"Endeavour, could we have your team co-ordinate with the others posted at the entrance of the blockade? We need to check the surrounding areas, both commercial and residential, for the perpetrator. Or perpetrators. If you could take charge of organising and strategizing the search effort, I would greatly appreciate it. My team will be in touch with a full report in due time, so if you could turn up any additional leads, that would help us a lot."

"Of course, Inspector. Leave it to us."

Enji paused, gaze raking over the uniformed Coast Guard members that had gathered not far away.

"Where's Selkie? Our agency has done a few co-op missions with him before. I could use his input."

Hosakawa shook his head.

"Out on a separate mission right now. Somewhere in the Verize Islands. He's tracking some smugglers, so he'll be out of our range for the next week or two."

As they made their way back to the blockade, Endeavour spotted, from the corner of his eye, Midoriya and Bakugou communicating in rapid hand signals to Shouto. The fact that they thought they were being discrete coupled with the fact that they had actually invented their own little cipher made the corner of his mouth twitch, despite the gravity of the situation. A few seconds later, Shouto approached warily, eyes directed anywhere else but at him.

"What is it, Shouto?"

"Endeavour, we – I think that the dash cam footage on those trucks would be worth checking."

Ah, so that's what they were up to. Endeavour decided to humour them, at least for now.

"Why those trucks, specifically?"

Bakugou, never one to be left out, suddenly appeared beside him. "Because they're delivery trucks for restaurants and shit. They musta been parked there since super early this morning."

"So, you believe that their dash cams would have picked up some useful footage. I see. Well observed. I'll see what the police can do."

Midoriya bounced slightly on his toes, nodding rapidly, but Endeavour only had eyes for the satisfied look he received from Shouto. Oho, progress!

The crowd waiting at the blockade brought back his frown, soon enough. He couldn't give any kind of briefing to the search squads here. There were now reporters swarming all over the cordon that had been placed around the entrance, cameras and mics at the ready to snap up any soundbite. He made eye contact with the pro-heroes standing outside and jerked his head. A flurry of activity occurred as the crowd realised that something was finally about to happen. The sidekicks and trainees stood to attention as Kamui Woods, Death Arms and Gunhead approached, gathering just out of earshot of the reporters. Endeavour could see the tell-tale manic gleam that had entered Midoriya's eyes at the sight of the heroes and sighed internally.

"Hiya, Endeavour," Gunhead greeted cheerfully. "Heads up on what's going on?"

"I'm not sure what the police have told you so far."

"There was an attack on a fishing vessel." Kamui Woods smooth voice sounded from beneath his mask. "We know that the Coast Guard was involved. Not much else."

"Right. We've just finished clearing the vessel. The attack was extremely violent. It's highly unlikely that any crew members survived. There was also no sign on board of what caused the attack."

Death Arms raised an eyebrow. "So it could be anywhere in the area right now?"

"That's what we're going to be dealing with. There's always a possibility that whoever it was remained at sea or on another vessel, but we can't afford to take any chances. We'll be organising search squads for the surrounding areas, and I'd like each of you to lead the squads for your sectors."

He received murmurs of affirmation from each of the heroes before Burnin' stepped forward.

"Endeavour, the police have cleared a room for us to use as a base of operations. It's in the security offices over there."

"Good. Yamamoto, you ready to set up?"

The burly agency tech nodded, patting his equipment case. "All good to go."

"We're going to need a satellite image of the surrounding areas, trackers for our search teams, monitoring in real time and communications. Kido, call someone from the agency canteen. Get them to pack and send food for us to eat on the go. It's going to be a long day."