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The current political climate placed heroes in an awkward position to respond to the world's request for protection against those who intend to do the innocent harm. People were even becoming increasingly more openly hostile against heroes after the raid upon the Paranormal Liberation Front's base of operations.
Many lives were lost in the face of such a dangerous operation, though none of those lives were those of the heroes who were involved. A press conference with ESD officials representing the organization disclosed that the intention of the raid was to make sure the loss of life remained within acceptable parameters. This then devolved into some press accusing the ESD of being reckless with their officers in the face of such dangerous situations. It was a fair question that even put the representatives in the line of fire.
When asked if they too would happily give their lives in the face of such precarious situations, the answer actually caused the room to go silent. Without hesitation, the publicity representatives expressed that their desire to give their lives were parallel to those of the officers who actually perished in the line of duty.
No officer in the ESD thought themselves fortunate or unfortunate when they were put in the line of fire. Only the safety of the public existed for every member of the ESD.
Truth often felt stranger than fiction. Hearing the entire department of officers all answer in the same nonchalant way when questioned by the press put into perspective how dedicated the ESD were in providing safety to the public as a whole.
In light of such a development, heroes were put on blast for simply piggybacking off the sacrifice and hard work of the ESD.
A significant amount of publicity from the government and ESD in order to help the image of heroes still had a good amount of people leave their mantles behind in light of the increasing pressures of what being a hero meant in modern society. More and more people clamored for the same commitment from those who claimed to be heroes, though many of these individuals were reluctant to return the same commitment to the public that the ESD swore themselves to.
Shifts in the expectations of what being a hero meant began to shake the world little by little. Japan being the epicenter of a major terrorist bust only caused the rest of the world to also reassess where things were to go from here on out. An echo that the entire world heard ignited the first winds of change to take place.
Musutafu City Streets
Out on patrol were two junior heroes from Ketsubutsu Academy; young heroes-to-be, looking to make a name for themselves before they even graduated.
Shindo, the earthquake quirk user; along with Nakagame, a tomboyish girl with blonde hair tied up in two frizzy buns on each side of her head, were patrolling the streets of the city while still remaining cautious of the environment. Since the takedown of the Paranormal Liberation Front; an influx of villains were on the uprise, due to the perceived loss of over a thousand ESD officers from the raid attempt that took place.
This increase of criminal activity stretched the thinning number of heroes enough that the hero academies themselves were forced to send out students to save face in light of the diminishing hero image.
Government advisement recommended to such institutions of education to not follow through with such reckless practices. Several academies, Ketsubutsu Academy included, chose to play the noble cause card to send out their students into dangerous situations to help bolster the image of up and coming heroes.
Multiple ESD squads were already scouring the streets to help establish security checkpoints throughout the city. The increase of criminal activity had the government almost call in martial law to help contain the chaos. In the area that the Ketsubutsu students were patrolling, a local gang calling themselves the Berserker Gang were trying to establish their dominance against the ESD. Though they put up a valiant effort against the officers; their increase of members did nothing to improve their odds against the stalwart law enforcement department armed to the teeth.
"Grand-san, Turtleneck-san; Thank you for arriving."
Meeting with the ESD officers tasked with speaking to the leader of the local community, both junior heroes were met with a debrief of the current situation.
As it were, the gang had gained a significant amount of traction in the area and now required an evacuation to allow the proper authorities to move in and neutralize the threat. Community opinion on hero support caused the local business owners to form a local militia that refused to dissolve in light of the precarious situation about to boil over.
To keep the peace, the ESD requested local heroes to come and speak to the reluctant civilians in order to help vacate the areas in need of severe intervention. A decrease of available heroes made things messier than they needed to be.
Escorted up to the agreed meeting spot; Shindo, aka Grand, laid on the charm as he spoke to the local civilian militia leader.
"We must give the ESD the appropriate amount of space to operate to give you all your community back. Please, allow us the opportunity to escort you to the safety shelters until the authorities have done their work."
"Pah, you brats don't know what you're talking about. These guys are far more competent than any so-called hero that gets pushed through the woodworks! Why don't you just go and grow a few more years before you talk like one of them supposed 'heroes'?"
Before Shindo could even feel the first crack in his mental facade, an officer interfered and spoke with authority regarding the civilian's blatant disregard for public safety.
"Sir, we are truly operating in difficult circumstances. We would appreciate it if you would refrain from insulting the heroes who are just looking out for your wellbeing."
An embarrassed cough escaped the older gentleman who mouthed off against the academy students just trying their best to protect an ungrateful populace. A few others couldn't make eye contact with the heroes as the building was being evacuated of all civilians. Many were seemingly aware of the shame that came with being obstinate. Having one's way of life uprooted put people as a whole in a foul mood, it seemed.
After the building had the majority of its occupants evacuated, Shindo finally let his true colors show as he kicked at the wall while talking shit on the rebellious civilians.
"Fucking idiots! Don't they know how fucking dangerous it is?! All I have to do is just shake the fucking building they were in and watch as they all-"
"Psh, as if!"
Nakagame cut off her classmate before he started wandering off into darker territories of thought. Whatever he had to say, she would rather he just not say it in front of her. Before anything else could be said or done; the ESD officers then started to react to something being broadcasted to their radios.
"Squad 5-2; return to checkpoint one to secure the remaining civilians!"
Shindo by nature kept an open ear to everything in his surroundings. Careful observation of the comm chatter from the ESD clued in the young man that checkpoint one for the squad indicated was none other than where he tried to evacuate the civilians.
His memory was good, so doing a headcount made it easy for him to realize that the civilians left in the building that was about to become an enemy hotzone were a single mother and her two daughters. He even kept a count of officers, which informed him that only three ESD officers were still upstairs to protect the remaining civilians.
"Yo-kun?! Where are you going?!"
Despite the ridicule that heroes were getting from the public; in the face of being criticized and put down, Shindo still felt that his mission as a hero still needed to be fulfilled. He didn't care if people hated him; he already thought that people were generally stupid. All his minor gripes and hangups paled in comparison to his sense of right and wrong. Also, he had a mind that kept tr4ack of too much information that he wished he could just forget. The way the single mother interacted with her two children; despite how tired she looked as she gave her children the love they deserved. It irritated him how kind the woman was to be so understanding of her children when they would have gotten a slap from him had they been his children. No person so patient and kind deserved to meet their end at the hands of such a degenerate group like the Berserker Gang.
Elsewhere
"Back up! Back up!"
The three officers left to defend the handful of civilians from the advancing gang members were doing what they could to funnel the criminals into the single emergency stairwell as they remained in between the frightened civilians and the rabid men trying to overwhelm the officers.
Their name, the Berserker Gang, wasn't simply because they thought it sounded nice rolling off the tongue. Brutality dictated their methodology with how aggressive they were in eliminating their enemies.
Brian Gaul, the current leader of the gang, embodied the gang's philosophy with his quirk alone. Although it wasn't his birth name; nobody who knew of his actual name remained to testify otherwise. Being feared for his abilities took precedence in his life for as long as he could remember. A natural leader with the ability to enhance the physical strength of those who believed in him placed Gaul as a man who only wanted to expand his influence.
Muscle bound gorillas bound up the stairs in pursuit of their master's desire for conquest. One drawback for those who fell under Brian's influence was how his quirk drained human intellect in exchange for greater power. This didn't have any effect with how much control he still exhibited over the brainwashed humans under his control. In fact, controlling an army of brainless apes sat perfectly well with the depraved man.
Mindless animals with quirks kept pushing forward against the ESD officers still fighting to protect the civilians. The first officer to meet their demise fell when a brainwashed gang member launched a barrage of cement spikes from out of their fist.
Picking up the slack of the first dead officer were his fellow squad members. They didn't hesitate in the face of his death, so the defense held a bit longer in the face of imminent danger.
Behind the single mother and her two daughters, the roof access was all that remained as a defensible position.
"Go! Get through the door!"
Without anything else to go off of, the mother ushered her daughters through the door before the heavy metal panel slammed shut behind them. In order to keep the family safe; the officers barricaded the door shut behind the family before making their final stand. The female officer heard her male compatriot get torn apart by the rabid creatures before she herself was plucked up by the waist.
These men were more instinctive beasts than thinking creatures. They recognized her as female before trying to tear at her clothing to get at her more intimate parts. Even if she were to die from this, her dignity would not allow her to beg for mercy. A warrior through and through to the end.
She didn't feel much in the way of being violated after her uniform had been torn off. What she felt was the warm spray of some sort of warm liquid that stuck to her skin in a very uncomfortable way.
"C'mon lady, help me out here!"
Opening her eyes, she saw the young man from Ketsubutsu academy assigned to her division stab a Berserker Gang member and hang off the protruding knife while defending her.
Hesitation no longer existed for her as she quickly picked up her weapon and fired into the crowded hallway filled with muscle bound gorilla slaves. The fight wasn't over, so the least she could do was make sure she dragged all these degenerates into hell if she was meant to expire here.
Several Minutes Later
Ammo was thoroughly depleted. Shindo couldn't move after using his quirk on dozens of smaller targets that were trying to rip him apart. The last surviving ESD officer still remained half naked with only her underwear on as she brandished her almost empty weapon at the currently empty fire escape stairwell. She had Shindo in her arms as she kept her weapon pointed at the empty hallway littered with bodies of the Berserker Gang.
Although her team members were dead, giving this teen another lease on life would make all of this worth something. Defending Shindo with the remaining strength she possessed, The sounds of more gang members advancing up the stairwell told her that this would be her last stand.
Strengthening her resolve, her weapon remained pointed down the stairs. Those cursed steps kept getting closer with each passing moment. She refused to close her eyes in the face of death. If this was her end, then this boy deserves everything she had to offer.
Suddenly, the roof access door blew open. Solid metal plating flew off the hinges as the rooftop exit door ejected itself violently off its hinges. Right as the next wave of adrenaline fueled gang members were about to flatten the remaining survivors; something captured the muscle headed minions in a web of pink webbing.
Leaping into the space to their rescue, a feminine looking stranger dressed in a dark red bodysuit sealed off the fire escape and let the survivors take a moment to truly relax. Pushing up behind the captured gang members, more muscle bound criminals were trying to capture the remaining survivors. Their efforts were only met with failure as the vigilante with a mask that wrapped around their head with subtle decals reminiscent of alien designs continued to use their acidic abilities as a weapon against the remaining gang members.
At the end of it all; the stranger left the last surviving ESD officer with Shindo still alive in her arms. With the single mother and her daughters checking up on their saviors; the ESD pushed in to help the survivors.
Earlier
"Storm it. I want nothing left alive."
The leader of the Berserker Gang watched as the brain dead members who joined his group with the promise they would become physically stronger stormed the next object of his conquest.
So many desperate idiots out to make their fortune turned up at Brian's doorstep, thinking that they could make their fortune without realizing what the man had intended for them.
More of his mindless drones were entering the building for his personal gain. Whoever remained in the building should be dead or broken beyond repair at this point. Little did Brian know, his men were all struggling to take down the few remaining survivors inside of the building.
About to enter the building himself, Gaul allowed his entourage of muscle bound bodyguards to flock around him as he approached the building. He took only five steps before something landed violently in front of him from one of the upper story windows. Glass showered down along with whatever was thrown out of the upper floor window, a hard impact of one of his more brainwashed minions stopping him in his tracks. Things didn't end there as more men were all being chucked out of the upper floor window.
About eight men landed one after another right in front of Gaul. To his shock, all of them looked to be severely injured before they fell out of the building. Multiple broken bones and bruises covered the men who were suddenly ejected from the building. It was obvious to him that someone had inflicted these wounds on his men before throwing them down several stories.
The one responsible for this development made themselves known by leaping out of the damaged window and landing on one of the henchmen Brian had sent in earlier. Another impact on the man's torso rendered him completely unconscious.
Taking in his appearance, it did catch the gang leader a bit off guard with how small this guy was in comparison to the injured gang members.
Standing at no taller than five feet six; Gaul could tell that this stranger was likely just a teenager. The slim build gave away the fact that this wasn't just some short man out for blood.
Clad in some sort of costume, even the ensemble of outer wear told him that this kid wasn't fucking around. Both arms were covered in some sort of alloy mesh with thick weaving. These armored gloves stretched all the way up to the middle of their biceps. The hood was a deep emerald that bordered on becoming black, two tassels that looked like rabbit ears hung off the back of the hood. Under the hood was a mask that covered the face of whoever this was.
A respirator with a visor protected both their identity as well as their face. The design had a slim design that prevented anything from sticking out too far while looking absolutely futuristic in its angular shape. The rest of the suit matched the theme of dark emerald with leg armor that looked sturdy enough to tank automatic gunfire. Dark metal plates hooked up to harnesses provided adequate defense on top of being a means for offensive striking. Their boots had shin plating jutting out of the top of them, along with plating covering the scarlet red footwear.
Even without seeing their eyes, Gaul could feel the piercing stare that this kid shot in his direction. This sensation couldn't have come from some hapless idiot; whoever this was, they were far from being out of their depth.
"Well then, looks like we got ourselves a hero here. Guess you already introduced yourself to a few of my men already."
No response. Gaul could tell this guy wasn't one for semantics, so he snapped his fingers and ordered his men to kill the kid.
Ten muscle bound gang members all charged in at the masked hero from all angles. They played to their numbers advantage to try and end the fight as quickly as possible. A good idea on paper, though in practice…
All of them all fell over flat on their faces. None of them knew what the hell just happened, until they looked down at their feet to see what had caused them to fall over themselves.
Thin black webbing had entangled themselves with their feet and glued them to the concrete. Following the trail of webbing from their shoes, they all saw that the restraints all led back to the mysterious hero's left glove. In trying to be aggressive, all of them failed to notice that they were already too slow on the draw while this one guy had made their move before them.
Smoke erupted from the individual's arms. The mesh on his arms allowed the smoke screen to spread all around him as efficiently as possible. Nobody could see what was happening in the densest part of the cloud.
Outside of the visual obstruction, Brian Gaul could only hear some sort of dragging noise before a solid impact preceded the sight of someone leaping out the top of the smoke cloud. There was some sort of black cordage or something in their hand as they managed to clear about four stories of height.
With his right hand, green electricity started to arc off their body before he launched an attack right back down to earth.
"Dakota Smash!"
Built into their mask, a voice changer modulated the masked hero's voice enough to make it indecipherable to pinpoint who this could be. Launching a focused blast from a kick, the smoke blew away immediately as all the men who were pulled into a single cluster right underneath the hero felt the impact of the ranged attack. Concrete cracked under the sheer force of the single blow, rendering everyone unfortunate enough to be trapped out of commission. Even Gaul found himself dumbfounded at the instant takedown of ten of his enhanced henchmen.
Landing in front of the pile of unconscious gang members, those same piercing eyes were again narrowed in on Gaul. Now he felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to finally stand up. He felt a bit of his arrogance bite him in the ass over his confidence in numbers. That advantage did fuck all in this specific situation.
Taking one step at a time towards the now nervous Gaul, the gang leader pushed the last of his men towards the advancing vigilante as he attempted to make a break for it.
They dutifully attacked the hero while their leader left them all for dead. Sprinting through the streets, Brian had no plans of escape and was struggling to find a path that could shelter him from the one who wanted to crush him.
This was supposed to be a takeover that he thought was going to be relatively effortless. Heroes have been less frequent in this part of the city, so he thought resistance would be at an all time low with the lack of public protection. His estimates were far off, even in light of the fact that heroes were now smaller in numbers. Yes, many heroes after the raid attempt did hang up their costumes. That didn't mean that the public were any less safe from harm.
"Freeze! Put your hands up and get down onto both knees!"
Turning a corner to exit the alley he ran into, fourteen ESD officers all had their weapons pointed at the gang leader as he stumbled a bit to regain his balance from stopping suddenly. He panicked and tried to turn back into the alley to only then see that more officers were already closing in on him from all available exits. Without any other choice, he did exactly as he was told and wore new silver bracelets as the ESD took both Gaul and his men into custody.
Shindo woke up in a medic transport with Nakagame sitting next to the gurney. Her relief showed as her classmate managed to regain consciousness after the harrowing fight he barely survived. Turns out the officer he saved managed to hold off the remaining gang members before someone came to their rescue. To his relief, the civilians and the officer were both unharmed due to his intervention. What did make him curious was who it was that came to his rescue after he had blacked out. The officers were a bit mum on the details, though it seemed that some sort of vigilante had come to provide assistance and pull the survivors out of the building.
Being sharp minded, his questions were left lingering as to who saved him. Whoever they were, they were certainly formidable in repelling that stampede of roided up gorillas who were out for blood.