CW: Attempted kidnapping/human trafficking, intense blood and gore, infested self-mutilation.
AKA the Stalker vs normal quirked goons.
==========================VI==========================
△ London Down Protocol
Protocol was established in 2011 after the Zeppelin Affair, in which the Terrorist organization Millenium Attacked London and Washington D.C in an attempt to push the world into a third world war. Thanks to the intervention of the Speedwagon Foundation, Passione Mafia, and the Catholic church, the attack in America was thwarted before it could begin. In London, the death toll, unfortunately, numbered around two million.
The attack resulted in the most extensive supernatural coverup investigation to date, and the establishment of the London Down Protocol: In the event of an uncontrollable supernatural threat that poses a significant risk to a nation the resulting area surrounding the incident must be purged via carpet bombardment.
The Protocol Requires a majority vote from the council and has been enacted a total of six times since 2011.
- Incognito Subjugation (2028)
- Area 51 Mold Breakout (2051)
- Gary Indiana Incident (2101)
- Vocal Cord Parasite Quirk Eradication (2150)
- Rapture of Dunhuang (2222)
- Argentina Agari Infestation (2238)
==VI==
[Sapporo, Japan, June 9, 2242]
Two police detectives strolled past the crime scene tape into an alley with an unmarked bloodstained van surrounded by spent bullet casings and visible damage to the floor and walls.
"Fucking hell." The police detective swore—five bodies, nigh unrecognizable due to the brutality inflicted upon them were barely covered by several tarps. One of the beat cops who was approaching him began to wretch.
"Hey, if you're going to lose your lunch, do it over there. Don't contaminate my crime scene." The senior detective crassly told the man. "What do we have?"
"Five dead human traffickers. Real messy, one witness, the attempted victim. They were trying to abduct her. A local hero found her passed out among the corpses."
"Damn. You think it's the hero killer?"
"Doesn't fit his usual M-O. And look at the wounds." He rolled the corpse of a small man over with his gloved hands. "Looks like a curved blade, clean cut. Plus there's the amount of force needed to do… that" He pointed to one of the dead traffickers halfway embedded in a wall. "First it was those yakuza a few weeks ago, and we've had a few more bodies turn up all over Hokkaido. Stain usually takes out four heroes before he moves on. I think this is a new serial killer."
"Shit. What's his estimated body count?"
"Adding in the five from today? Anywhere from twenty to thirty."
The lead detective swore under his breath.
"Sirs!" The two detectives turned toward the cop who tried to approach them before. "The witness, she's awake."
==VI==
This witness's name was Konda Tomoko, a young woman attending the local community college. The brunette was still laying in the back of the ambulance when the detectives arrived. She was staring up into the sky and seemed to be whispering something.
"Detectives." The paramedic stopped them. "The patient is still in shock. I don't think you're going to get anything out of her today. She's unresponsive, only repeating a single word."
One of the detectives leaned toward the woman who ignored him and continued to stare blankly ahead. Faintly, he heard her whisper in terror.
"Shinigami."
==VI==
The previous night…
He'd been stranded in this world for weeks now, scraping by on the money… acquired from the criminals he'd disposed of. In between meals, he would go to a public library to study or practice Japanese on an app he'd installed on a stolen phone. Every day he checked the news, searching for news.
No sightings of his master, assuming the Sentient had survived the cataclysm. He had no idea who all had survived. The only thing he knew was the location didn't seem to matter. He'd been on Uranus, and the Corpus he'd questioned and executed yesterday was on Pluto before arriving here. According to the news, there was a massive uptick in violent crime and several tragic disasters in the week following his arrival. The crime wave had tapered off as the heroes swooped in. Most likely the smarter Origin System survivors had gone underground or blended in.
The biggest surprise was the lack of Tenno. "Betrayers." a voice burned in the back of his mind. They wouldn't stay hidden for long, and once they reappeared… he would have his vengeance. For now, his blade was saved for the criminals of this world. Northern Japan was mostly farmland but in cities like Sapporo villains operated in the dark. Most of the "heroes" of this world moved to bigger cities. Sure, there were some heroes here but the difference in quality was obvious.
Most of the criminals here were smart. They were careful not to draw too much attention to themselves. He suspected that some of the police must be on several gangs' payrolls. Tonight was no exception. It appeared a group of men was attempting to abduct a young woman.
Pathetic. Those who break the law and betray order must be punished.
==VI==
"God dammit would this bitch just stop struggling!" The kidnapper shoved Tomoko into the back of the van. There were five traffickers. One large man with a strength enhancement quirk, a short man who could detach his hands and telekinetically control them, the driver who she couldn't see, a man with dual submachine guns strapped to his waist. The last was a younger angry-looking man with lime-green skin and abnormally curved limbs.
They weren't bothering to hide their faces, which meant they weren't afraid of her getting away.
"Hey boss," The small man piped up. "Can I have a bit of fun with her before we get back to base?"
The large man looked down with a mixture of annoyance and disgust. "No. We don't touch the merchandise you sick fuck." He made a mental note to kill the perverted moron when they got back to base. "Calm down girlie, soon you'll be so doped up you won't remember any of this."
"Coazt iz' clear bozz." The green-skinned mutant buzzed. "Letz get back to baze for our payday. Zhe is a pretty one zo zhe'll fetch a nice price."
Suddenly, the few lights illuminating the dark alley began to flicker. From the darkness, an unnerving scraping sound echoed like nails on a chalkboard. A faint trail of sparks illuminated by a low red glow approached them.
"You cannot run from your crimes." The modulated raspy voice seemed to come from every direction.
All the traffickers pulled out weapons. "What the hell? Is it a hero?" The man with the submachine gun exclaimed.
Tomoko's eyes widened. She was saved!
"There is no salvation for your actions."
==VI==
Then
The Tenno slaughtered them all, and he could do nothing to stop it. They were too powerful for a lowly warrior like him. Countless Dax and soldiers were cut down as the Orokin fell like wheat to the scythe. The only thing he could do was run, rage filling his heart.
==VI==
Now
Black smoke seeped down the alley and from the inky blackness, a man clad in some sort of black and red armor slowly approached. A single glowing orb of red outlined his face, and behind him, an energy scythe cut a narrow groove through the pavement. The weapon only glowed a faint red, the rest an abyssal black that seemed to suck away the rest of the light around it.
"Ogai, handle this idiot before more heroes show up." The muscular man shouted to the mutant.
==VI==
Then
He found it, the lab where the Tenno were made. He had to torture the scientist to let him in and kill the remaining security personnel. Most had already fled with the Orokin leadership crumbling.
He lay in the bed, several I.V. drips of the modified infested strain pumping into his veins. He knew of the plague. One of the Orokin's many mistakes. He had no love for the golden masters. What he couldn't stand was the Tenno's betrayal. The shattering of the order the Orokin maintained. But soon he would have their steel skin, their power.
So long as he could survive the transformation.
==VI==
Now
Ogai, the green-skinned mutant, charged the slow-moving hero. The man's hero suit was impressive, but his quirk could cut through most materials. All he had to worry about was the scythe. It gave off bad vibes but the man was moving at such a slow pace he wasn't worried. One hero was no match for him.
"Die, hero!" He leaped into the air, pants ripping as his oversized leg unfolded like a spring-loaded blade. His skin hardened into a razor-sharp edge aimed straight at the man's neck.
The hero stopped the attack with one hand, catching the bladed limb. The only noticeable effect was a faint blue shimmer at the point of contact.
"Your quirks are useless."
Ogai tried to pull his leg back. The pressure on his leg increased until his hardened leg started to crack.
"Your sentence is DEATH!"
The man only had a split second to process that before the scythe sliced through his leg, severing it at the thigh. Ogai only felt the pain for a split second before the man brought his bladed limb back down, vertically bisecting him. Crimson blood and organs sprayed out with a sickening squelch.
The rest of the villains snapped out of their shock. This wasn't a hero! It was a goddamn vigilante!
"Fuck, he's a vigilante! Take him down!" Screeched the midget, his returning to him with two pistols.
Gunfire filled the narrow corridor as all three of the men opened fire. The fourth man exited the driver's seat with a katana to guard the prisoner.
==VI==
Then
Pain.
He could feel nothing else. His skin had hardened into a metal shell. The process had taken hours or days? He couldn't tell.
Where?
Where was he? What was he? He couldn't remember. The infestation ravaged his mind and took away nearly everything.
The Mission.
They needed to suffer for what they did. They betrayed everyone. They had to be punished.
"Tenno!" The creature rasped. He crawled over to the examination room, clawed hands digging into the metal. Slowly but surely, he reached the mirror and pulled himself up shakily.
What stared back was the warped shell of a malformed Excalibur Umbra Warframe. The serums used in the creation of this creature weren't designed to be used on one body, not that the warrior had known. Parts of his helmet were warped between several different Warframes. He reached toward his face with grasped the offending protrusions, pulling twisted lumps from his face.
The new Warframe had awoken early. His body was still settling and growing. He kept tearing the rapidly regrowing flesh from his face for hours. Eventually, a blank canvas stared back at him. The flesh was nearly done regenerating.
There was almost nothing left of the warrior who entered the lab. Only the mission remained. Taking a blade form one of the corpses in the hall, he brought it to his helmet and began to carve.
A single burning red eye, surrounded by groves all around his face.
A symbol.
The last thing the Tenno would see as he removed their traitorous heads.
He would follow every last one to the edge of the system. None would be safe from the reckoning he brought.
None would escape the Stalker.
==VI==
Now
The low-caliber rounds barely depleted his shielding. Bullets bounced off the blue aura surrounding him while shell casings pinged against the ground. With a few swings of his scythe, he began to completely deflect the rounds into the walls.
The man with the dual Uzis was the first to run dry. The Stalker teleported right in front of the man and lifted him up by the head. The midget beside him panicked and unloaded his pistol into his partner's back. If he were lucky it would've killed him.
"Please, no!" The man gurgled, choking on his own blood. His accomplices began to retreat knowing he was already dead. "Wai-"
The Stalker slammed him headfirst into the brick wall. His skull exploded like a watermelon splattering brain matter and a loose eyeball all over the wall. The corpse impacted with such speed that most of the bones in his upper body shattered and jutted out of his skin like a pincushion. His remains were stuck nearly half a foot in solid brick.
The midget vomited at the sight which interrupted the reloading of his guns. He looked up from the expelled bile just in time to catch the Exalted Cythe in the chin, carving a large chunk of his face off with a curved swipe. He died instantly, terror etched into what remained of his face.
The leader unloaded his combat shotgun directly into the Stalker's head from behind. A shell caught the corpse of his dead comrade and blew a hole in its chest. A single punch bent the barrel causing the next shot to explode the gun in his oversized hand. The large man ignored the shrapnel digging into his fists and attempted to punch the Warframe in the chest. The Stalker's shield broke from the man's strength quirk and the shockwave made him stumble. Before he could land another blow the Stalker grabbed his arm and snapped the bone in half. His other hand grabbed the large man by the head and brought it down as he screamed.
The scream was cut off as bone met his jaw and speared his brain.
The last member of the dismantled crew grabbed the bound and gagged woman and held his katana to her throat. He'd already pissed himself from sheer terror and the blade trembled in his grip. "Stand back, I'll fuckin kill her!"
He dropped the leader's body with a limp thud. That was fine. He stared down the crying man for a few seconds while his shields regenerated. The Stalker took a single step forward.
"I'll do it! Don't get any-"
He blinked once. He couldn't breathe. The woman he was holding lay against the wall, crying as she was forced to watch this all play out. She had no idea if this man was trying to save her or if she was next on the chopping block. The last man realized that he was being strangled by the man, no, the thingbefore him.
"Wheeze- What the fuck are you?!" He croaked.
"I am your reckoning!"
CRUNCH!
The Warframe's hand completely crushed the man's neck like a soda can. His limp body fell to the ground, head barely connected to his body. The Stalker turned toward the sobbing woman.
To her, it wasn't a he. IT was a god of death, wreathed in shadow and blood. Every instinct in Tomoko was telling her to run but her legs wouldn't respond. The thing's singular red eye looked like it was staring into her soul. She tried to scream, but nothing came out. Tomoko's eyes rolled back into her skull and she passed out.
==VI==
Then
The Scoria were the most elite assassins of the Orokin Empire. Were the operative word, as they had been wiped out by their patron saint, the Ash Warframe a few months ago during the Collapse. Another heinous example of the Tenno's treachery.
The Stalker stood over the corpse of one of the former members. She'd been dead for months judging by the rot. Her diadem was still embedded in her skull, ensuring her loyalty to the Scoria to her dying breath. A Scoria Diadem was a truly sinister device. It erased all non-essential memories including that of the host's past. Any thought unrelated to their mission was erased with a burst of pain, guaranteeing that the assassin would dedicate themselves completely to their task.
That wasn't what he was here for. The Stalker was far more dedicated than any Scoria could ever be. What he was here for was far more important. The tools to hunt the Tenno. Beyond the corpses that littered the hallways of the Scoria temple lay their armory. The Diadem of a high-ranking member of the Scoria was required to access it, and if her gilded armor was anything to go by this one should have clearance.
He pinched the smokey yellow jewel and yanked it out of the carcass taking a skull fragment along with it. The Stalker approached the vault door and pressed the jewel to the sensor. With a clang, the armory doors unsealed. The shadowy assassin immediately shifted into a defensive position upon the sight of an Ash Prime kneeling in the center of the room. Slowly but surely he cautiously approached.
Judging by the layer of dust the Warframe hadn't moved in months. The Tenno's weapons lay spread out in front of it. A Reaper, Hikou, and Vectis are all adorned in Orokin gold. Maintaining eye contact, he sheathed his Fang blades and reached for the scythe. Was the Tenno dead or asleep? It didn't matter. He would take no chances.
With a single clean swing, the Ash's head rolled.
==VI==
Now
The woman would be fine. If somehow nobody heard the gunshots this area was in the patrol zones of several heroes. He was already blocks away, back in his human form. Thankfully his clothes transformed with him or he would have to acquire more again. He wasn't sure why he was able to transform between states, but it allowed him to move anonymously.
He looked up to see the sun beginning to rise and sighed. Hokkaido was turning out to be a dead end. No Tenno to be found, and no sign of Hunhow. Right now it looked like Japan was the only country the survivors had arrived in. It narrowed down his search but without any of his previous resources, it would make searching the entire country a hassle. He needed a more reliable way to determine the survival of his enemies and allies. This world was technologically inferior but they weren't useless. The government had access to a wide range of surveillance equipment. According to his research, an organization called the HPSC was in charge of internal security.
Looks like he was headed to Tokyo.