All Might looked at the crowd in front of him quietly. Though he stood off to the side of the hastily assembled stage, unseen by the public, he had the perfect view of everyone present. All it took was a single announcement on where and when his speech was being held, and thousands showed up. This was by no means an exaggeration. The local of his speech was chosen to be in front of the Hero Commission's HQ in Tokyo.
The government building had a rather large open park in front of the entrance. And in that space stood hundreds of reporters, civilians, and a massive amount of security personnel. It didn't end at just the park though. In the apartments near the park, All Might could see hundreds of windows cracked wide open, with thousands looking out toward the stage. It was like this for blocks.
It wasn't surprising though, as both Snake and Present Mic were right. When he shows up on the news, everybody tunes in.
"Got everything ready?" Miller inquired next to him, while All Might slowly turned toward the blond.
"Somewhat," All Might replied, taking a moment to fix his striped yellow suit. Everyone thought it was an odd choice, but it was his suit. That said, it did look a bit awkward on him since he was in his skinny form. This was because All Might didn't want to waste the only time he had with One for All. This was much to the MSF's, and shockingly the HPSC's dismay. So for added security, each building near the park, by the MSF's and HPSC's request, had been vetted for snipers.
The roads were, shut down, barricaded, and under police watch, along with heroes and HPSC agents patrolling the area. With what All Might knew now about the HPSC, this level of added security was shocking, but then again he was their cash cow. And it paled in comparison to what the MSF did. Secretly the MSF set up air defenses in the area, in the form of some THeMIS drones with AA-missiles and radars.
They had mercs hidden in the crowd ready to go if anything went wrong, and as a last resort gave All Might some prototype device their R team was working on. He didn't know the device's specifics, but Dr. Soul had simply called it an Energy Wall. The best All Might could describe the device's appearance, was… well like a pipe bomb with random antennae on both ends. Supposedly it would protect him from harm for either enough time to run or buff up.
All Might quietly hoped it wouldn't come to that.
"Never thought I'd see the Symbol of Peace nervous," Miller eventually noted, with All Might dryly chuckling.
"It is… a tad bit nerve-racking," All Might agreed, "Have to both keep Night Owl distracted and ease the public's worries."
That last part was why it took so long to even hold this speech. This would be a world-changing event. Having to announce his physical health, and All for One's existence to the world.
"Good thing you had weeks to prepare," Miller commented, with All Might pausing for a moment. Miller quickly noticed the man's silence and slowly looked toward him.
"...So…" All Might began, slowly trailing off as Miller's eyes widened.
"What have you been doing all this time!?" Miller demanded while All Might held up his hands defensively.
"Look I've been trying to come up with a speech, but the words just… couldn't come out!" All Might replied, causing Miller to groan. The man began rubbing his brow carefully, becoming more annoyed by the second.
"Oh, we're doomed," Miller muttered, while All Might quickly coughed into a handkerchief.
"N-not necessarily! My best speeches were me simply winging it," All Might told him, hoping it would provide some comfort, "I'm sure it all be fine."
It did little to soothe Miller though, the man now slowly taking off his sunglasses and wiping them with a cloth. Still, All Might was sure it would be fine. He'd given millions of impromptu interviews to the press before. This one would be far more impactful, but no different from the others. Yet as All Might thought this, he suddenly felt a chill go through his spine. He thought nothing of it at first, until a voice called out behind him.
"Hmph, and here I thought you'd use your brain," an old grizzled voice stated, making All Might's blood run cold, "Why am I not surprised."
"G-Gran Torino!?" All Might called out shocked, his head whipping around. They're right behind him, was the almost comically short old man. He wore rather basic civilian clothes, mainly an old sweater and some jeans. Aside from that, was his small cane he currently rested on.
"What uh… what brings you here… sir?" All Might inquired nervously, as he noticed Miller soon notice the old man below them.
"The speech," Gran Torino dryly replied, "Came to see how you were doing."
With a sigh, the man brought a hand to his furrowed brow, the old man grumbling to himself.
"Winging it, honestly Toshi what are you thinking?" Gran Torino asked dumbfounded.
"Well… I… uh… you see…" All Might attempted to say, while Miller snorted next to him. It went unsaid, but All Might could hear the blond's "I told you so,". It didn't help when Gran Torino interrupted him and kept talking.
"Not a brain cell in that cranium of yours," Gran Torino muttered, "Tell me you at least know what you're going to talk about?"
"I… don't want to give too much away. So for right now, I'm just going to talk about my health, All for One, and my future," All Might replied hesitantly, looking down at his mentor for any kind of annoyance. Instead, the old man seemed somewhat satisfied by the answer. He still grumbled to himself, but his annoyance had been tempered.
"Keeping it simple then… I take it back, you have one brain cell," Gran Torino muttered, causing All Might to sigh. The noise was covered up though, as the crowd surrounding the stage began to cheer. In confused All Might, until he looked down at his watch. Mentally he swore and quickly fixed up his suit.
"Almost time," All Might muttered, before taking a few final deep breaths. Looking out at the stage, All Might mentally readied himself. All he would talk about, is his health, All for One, and his future. His health, All for One, and his future. All Might repeated the line in his head over and over. Soon, it was time. He stepped out and walked toward a podium on the stage. For as grim an event as this was supposed to be, the crowd didn't seem to care.
Even as he walked by in his skeletal form, practically everyone present cheered and chanted his name. It was in stark contrast to the news All Might had. But it was comforting to the man, seeing all the people still holding their heads up high.
"All Might! All Might! All Might!" the crowd chanted, while All Might laughed, and carefully waved at a few fans. Reaching the podium, things seemed to quickly quiet down. Calmly All Might tested the microphone. Finding it worked, the hero looked at the crowd and cleared his throat. He stayed quiet for a second, the words coming to his mind as he looked at the crowd.
"Thank you, all of you, for that applause," All Might commented, motioning to the audience before him, "This was going to be a more… somber affair. But I'd rather have everyone keep those beautiful smiles!"
His words brought another segment of cheers, with All Might laughing alongside them. They quieted down again after a few seconds, allowing All Might to continue.
"While my appearance may suggest otherwise," All Might added, motioning toward his skeletal frame, "I am not gone yet. So, now is not the time for doom and gloom."
He noticed a few people grimace at the action, but others stayed calm as they watched.
"I have been promising an explanation to all of you, for weeks now. Calls have been flooding my office, demanding answers on what has happened to me, and what will happen to me," All Might commented, his hand slowly going toward his suit's dress shirt. He stepped to the side of the podium then and took a deep breath.
"And today I have an answer," All Might stated, before looking around the crowd one last time, "For those of you who are squeamish at the sight of blood or scars, I suggest you look away now."
With that brief warning, All Might stood there for a second, allowing some people to look away. Very few did, though All Might knew they would regret it. Carefully he unbuttoned his yellow jacket and his dress shirt. He pulled both pieces of clothing to the side slightly and exposed his injury to the world. The crowd collectively gasped, and All Might could see the news' cameras zoom in on his wound.
"This was an injury given to me five years ago, by a powerful villain," All Might explained, now buttoning his shirt back up. At the same time, the crowd murmured in front of him.
"It was a cataclysmic battle, and in the end, this villain was beaten," All Might continued, earning a few sole cheers from the last line. Though the crowd mostly stayed deathly silent.
"But, it was at the cost of my digestive tract and a lung," All Might noted, hearing a few gags from nearby reporters, "Since that day, I have been growing weaker by the day. By the time of the massacre, I could only remain as… Buff Might, for three hours. Now, it is only thirty minutes."
Another gasp rang through the crowd, everyone soon going deathly silent in shock. It got quiet enough that someone could drop a pin a mile away, and All Might would still hear it. So he decided to ease the public's worries.
"Make no mistake though. Even if I have only thirty minutes, I will not stop doing my duties as a hero," All Might continued, his speech slowly trailing on without the hero realizing it.
Part of Snake wished Midoriya never entered the room. That he stayed out in the hallway and never noticed Snake. Instead, he didn't. He quietly entered the room. And while Snake stood over his son in that cold conference room, he heard the Boss call out to him. It was faint and in a hurried tone like before, but this time was far more prevalent. All she said, was "Bring him".
It had him practically paralyzed with fear the moment he heard the words. The mere thought of bringing Midoriya to a battlefield filled him with dread. Yet it was something the Boss had ordered. Snake never believed she'd let a child come to harm, so… she had to have a reason, right? There was some factor Snake didn't know about. Something that required Midoriya.
She… if she had been… following them, then she wouldn't ask of this from Snake without a damn good reason. All of that though, was hours ago. As of now, Snake sat in a lone unmarked van, slowly driving through Tokyo's streets. In the passenger seat next to him, sat Midoriya, the teen busily checking over his equipment one last time. Though he said nothing, Snake could see him fidgeting in his seat nervously.
For the mission, Midoriya had brought his Pitviper 9mm pistol fitted with a custom silencer, an M4 carbine due to his shorter stature, a sneaking suit, an upgraded exoskeleton, various grenades, some under barreled grenade-launcher-looking device, and other essentials. Snake meanwhile brought a more brutalistic assortment of equipment. He had an M7 rifle chambered in the original 6.8mm due to enemy body armor, a Benelli M4, and an M18 pistol, all fitted with a silencer. Like Midoriya he also had his sneaking suit and varying grenades, though he bore no exoskeleton.
Victoria and DD were also brought along with them, the AI fuming for some odd reason in Midoriya's Idroid, and DD sitting in the back of the van. Soon, Snake drove the van into a small parking lot and brought it to a stop. The moment he shut off the engine, Midoriya looked up from his weapons, and around the vehicle.
"We here?" Midoriya asked, with Snake shaking his head no.
"Almost," Snake replied, while hopping out of his seat, "Compound is three blocks north of us. To avoid suspicion, we're heading the rest of the way on foot."
Following his dad, Midoriya got out of the van, before opening the side door to let DD out. The dog stood up and stretched for a bit, as Midoriya led him forward. At the same time, Snake looked up at the night sky above. If he was right, then the rest of the MSF should be raiding Night Owl's museums now. Which meant All Might's speech was going on, and Night Owl should be distracted.
That didn't leave a lot of time though, so Snake quietly motioned for Midoriya to follow him. Quietly he leads the teen down the sidewalk, cautiously looking around the area. After a few minutes, he turned into a nearby alleyway. With Midoriya behind him, Snake spotted what he was looking for: a fire escape. Quickly Snake reached up to the ladder and began climbing up. The action left Midoriya a tad bit confused, as he watched his father climb.
"I thought the compound was a few blocks from here," Midoriya pointed out, with Snake nodding as he climbed.
"It is," Snake replied, stopping to look down at his son.
"Then… why are we here?" Midoriya asked, the teen slowly peeking out of the alleyway and down the street. There he could see the compound's outline, and truthfully he wasn't sure what the place was. The entire building was massive, not due to height, but its sheer width. It was at least the size of a mall and stood out like a massive gray brick. Supposedly it was originally a mall, but some mysterious benefactor bought up the place. Now it was registered as a storage center for some shipping magnate.
"Intel says this building stands above the compound," Snake eventually replied, "We'll reach the roof, shoot a line toward the compound, and enter from above."
With that explanation, Midoriya clicked his tongue in realization. Not wanting to be left behind though, the teen quickly moved back into the alleyway and aimed his exo's grappling hook toward the roof. Wordlessly the hook shot upward and imbedded itself into the building. Attaching DD's harness to himself, Midoriya let the grapple's motor mechanism quickly pull him upwards.
He shot past Snake, the man still climbing up the fire escape. Once Midoriya neared the roof, the motor began to slow down, the grappling hook detecting it was close. Reaching the top, Midoriya pulled himself up and looked out across the street. The large brick of the building became more present now, displaying its odd appearance. Seeing that Snake would be taking a minute, Midoriya pulled out his Idroid and set it down next to him.
He then pulled out a pair of binoculars from his bag and brought them to his eyes.
"Alright Vicky, you ready?" Midoriya asked, looking toward the large brick. Though he didn't see it, the AI's avatar popped up onto the Idroid and nodded.
"As I'll ever be," Victoria replied, before the AI mentally took a deep breath, "Let's see now… odd, their cyber security is stronger than the museums'"
"That a problem?" Midoriya inquired, while Victoria shook her head no.
"Nope, but it is strange… what uh… what exactly am I looking for?" Victoria asked, with Midoriya pausing for a moment. Snake never explained what they were looking for out here. Just that it was a compound controlled by the Ninth Circle.
"I'm… not sure," Midoriya hesitantly replied, "For now we'll focus on guard locations."
At the same time, he spotted a small roof entrance on the compound. Nearby were two guards watching the area. One had a sniper, the other had a pair of binoculars. The sight caused Midoriya to slightly crouch down, the teen silently hoping to better hide his presence. The two guards would definitely be a problem, Midoriya reasoned, but the ground floor was worse. While the roof only had two guards, the ground had dozens more.
Looking down, Midoriya could see they were wearing regular civilian clothes and stood about trying their best to look normal. Though that was a bit difficult to do, while also hiding assault rifles under their clothes. For the untrained eye, it was barely noticeable, but to Midoriya, they stuck out like a sore thumb.
"Should be easy enough," Victoria soon replied, the AI busily scrolling through the compound's systems, "So… they've got at least… four hundred guys present. All spread out across the building in squads of four or five."
"Worrying," Midoriya muttered, a tad bit surprised by the number of hostels. Sure the massacre had shown him just how many people the cult had, but to have this many in a single place? It made no sense to him. Were they preparing for another attack? Or was this a barracks of some kind? His confusion mounted more as Victoria kept digging.
"They… appear to be searching for something," Victoria commented, while Midoriya heard movement behind him. Finally, Snake reached the top of the fire escape and rushed over to his son. The man looked at him, somewhat displeased, but ultimately said nothing. Midoriya could hear his words though, an angered "wait for me next time" ringing out in his head. Rather calmly Snake pulled out his own binoculars and looked toward the compound.
"Got access to their comms?" Snake inquired, Victoria going quiet for a minute.
"Working on it," Victoria eventually replied, "Here we go."
As soon as she spoke, both Snake and Midoriya's radios began to crackle. There was a bit of static, but it was quickly filtered out. There they could hear everything clearly, as the guards inside seemingly bickered about something.
"[So did we check her room?]" one of them asked, causing a different guard to yell out.
"[For the eighth time, yes!]" a second guard exclaimed, a few others joining him as more voices yelled.
"[How the hell do we even know she's still here!? For all we know she died in that freak fire]" a third guard finally exclaimed, managing to overpower all the others.
"[Her room was nowhere near the fire]" a fourth guard pointed out.
"[Then it was those fucking hornets!]" the third guard retorted, causing more of the guards to grumble. Eventually, someone sighed over the radio, causing the other guards to go quiet.
"[Dead or alive it doesn't matter. Boss wants us searching until we find a body]" a fifth guard stated, "[So shut your traps, and get back to work!]"
"Hmm," Snake couldn't help but mutter. As Midoriya looked toward his father, he could see the man reflecting on something. The guards' conversation only made him confused, yet somehow Snake seemed to understand. Before he could ask the radio continued to play the guards' conversations.
"[You know what happened yesterday?]" the first guard soon piped up again, causing the second to groan.
"[Not a clue]" the second guard replied, "[Heard a fire started in the food court, but no one knows how it happened. It's a damn miracle the fire department didn't notice.]"
"[Wait, if this is about a fire, then what's with the bugs all over the place?]" the first guard asked, leaving Midoriya even more confused.
"[The fire was just the beginning. While the fire was burning, a swarm of hornets flew into the maintenance halls. Killed like a dozen guys before they disappeared]" the second guard replied, leaving the first in stunned silence.
"[Oh… shit]" the first guard eventually muttered.
"[It gets worse]" the second guard told him, "[Some guys near the arcade reported some… spider-monkey looking freak crawling on the ceiling. The thing came out of the damn walls. Then other guys reported hearing gunshots down by the loading dock. Backup went to investigate, and only to find everybody stationed there gone.]"
After a moment, the second guard audibly took a breath of something, likely smoking a cigarette by Midoriya's best guess.
"[Worst of all, no one can tell why any of this shit is happening]" the second guard finished.
"[...I don't think I want to be here anymore]" the first guard muttered, with Midoriya quietly agreeing with him. Just what had happened here? It made no sense to the teen, as he tried to rationalize everything. At the same time, Snake grumbled to himself, seemingly unperturbed about the radio.
"Victoria, we have security footage of yesterday?" the man inquired, looking away from his binoculars.
"We do, though I don't think it'll be much help," Victoria replied, watching as Snake drew his rifle, "Most of it has been corrupted by… something."
As if it couldn't get any more ominous, Midoriya thought tiredly. While this happened Snake lined up his rifle with one of the guards stationed on the roof. The shot was still a bit far away, and the sniper outranged him. However, only one of them knew the other was there. Wordlessly Snake fired his M7, the bullet quickly flying through the air in seconds. Snake had been aiming for the sniper's head, but his shot had been low, and instead ripped through the man's neck.
Before his spotter could react, Snake quickly adjusted his aim and fired again. This time his shot hit true, and went through the spotter's skull. With the roof guards down, Snake looked toward Midoriya and motioned him forward. Nodding, Midoriya ready the grenade launcher-looking device, and aimed slightly over the building. Pulling the trigger, a large cable shot out and embedded itself into one of the compound's walls.
With it attached, Midoriya removed the under-barreled attachment from his rifle and angled it toward a small wall behind him. A second hook shot out then and connected itself to the wall, anchoring the cable in place.
"Now, Victoria, I want their cameras replaying old footage. Anything from at least a month before now," Snake calmly ordered, while attaching a harness to the line. Midoriya did the same, as well as attaching DD. Yet as he did this, everything still confused Midoriya.
"What are we even doing?" Midoriya asked. By now Snake would have given him some kind of objection. Find the bomb, steal the package, extract the target, that sort of thing. Something along those lines. It was… worrying to Midoriya the longer this went on. Snake's sudden pause didn't help either.
"...We'll know when we get inside," Snake hesitantly replied, causing Midoriya to go wide-eyed. He grabbed Snake right before he could zip down to the compound and held him in place.
"Wait, wait, wait! You don't know why we're here?" Midoriya asked shocked, looking up at Snake. The man said nothing, causing Midoriya to slowly go pale.
"You don't," Midoriya muttered to himself, becoming ever more confused, "If you don't know why we're here, then how… how do you know about this place!?"
With a sigh, Snake looked down at Midoriya and quickly checked over his son's harness. It was here that Midoriya got a closer look at Snake. He seemed… on edge. Panicked. Worry laced every part of his face, yet the man did everything possible to try and mask it. Snake truly had no idea what they were doing, and it terrified him. It should have been like any other mission, and yet Snake was terrified.
…He didn't want him here, Midoriya realized. Him joining Snake was never his original plan. And yet here Midoriya was. Snake didn't know why they were here, and he didn't know why he brought Midoriya. With the realization, Midoriya couldn't help but feel a pit form in his stomach.
"That isn't important, what is important, is that we get inside," Snake eventually told him, before letting go, and rushing down the line. It left Midoriya quiet for a moment before the teen began moving again.
"My first legitimate mission," Midoriya muttered, soon zipping down the line.
"...You ever find it odd that we have like, a million rounds of ammo stored in the back?" Suzuki asked, the man busily looking over the dozens of crates in front of him. Normally he patrolled the halls near the Cold War exhibit. For whatever reason though, his patrol had been reassigned to the museum's store rooms. Which meant he had to navigate through a winding mess of shelves crammed full of artifacts.
While he hadn't questioned the legitimacy of this before, it was beginning to bug him. Especially after he passed the fourth crate, of 7.62mm rounds.
"I mean… not really," Takahashi, a slightly older guard replied as he walked ahead, "We are a museum, and these are replacement displays."
Next to him, a third guard by the name of Abe walked alongside him. He was younger than both Takahashi and Suzuki. As he walked his entire body was slumped forward, and the guard tiredly yawned.
"That'd be a fair case for say, the tanks. But… these are bullets. Why do we need a million replacement rounds? None of this stuff is ever broken often enough to need a million replacements," Suzuki argued, with that point sticking out to Takahashi. When it came to tanks, the things didn't break easily, but they had kids clambering all over the things during the day. And in those rare circumstances, some irresponsible punk would use their quirk and break something.
But that was because the tanks were out in the open. The bullets and assault rifles were locked in a display, behind two inches of glass. It wasn't protected, but one had to actively try to damage it, whereas the tanks simply broke due to horsing around. It caused the elder guard to pause for a moment, and turn to one of the crates nearby. Looking it over, Suzuki could see it was labeled as having AKMs inside. Some kind of old assault rifle designed centuries ago.
"Now that you mention it… why do we need ten thousand AKMs? The last time one of them broke was… what three years ago?" Takahashi muttered, with Suzuki nodding.
"Yeah," Suzuki muttered, while Abe simply groaned next to them.
"Oh, who cares," Abe told the both of them, "So they have a lot of replacements on hand. That's kinda required in this day and age. You're forgetting a villain could demolish the entire building, and at least half of those million rounds would be gone."
While his words could have been a tad bit nicer, he did have a decent point. Still had a few holes in his reasoning, but it made sense in some context. So the three began to move again, determined to finish up their patrol. That was until Suzuki heard something clatter in the room. The loud noise echoed in the near-silent room. Quite quickly all three guards turned toward the noise, only to see nothing except shelves in front of him. Everything was too cramped together to see anything, and it caused him to crumble.
Warily he and the other guards stepped around the shelves and spotted a soda can resting on the floor.
"Hmph thought I told you to clean up after yourself," Takahashi muttered while elbowing Abe.
"I did," Abe retorted grumbling, while Suzuki stepped forward more. Getting a closer look at the can, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Were it not for one problem. Where did the can come from? There was no desk it could have fallen off of nearby. It wasn't resting on the shelves, as leaving food or drinks near the artifacts was grounds for termination. The biggest thing sticking out to him though, was the piece of gum sticking to the side.
It was as if someone pulled it out of the trash and chucked it… as a distraction. Suzuki lingered on the realization, right as something turned off the lights. Instantly everything went black, and Suzuki quickly grabbed his flashlight. He switched it on in seconds and looked around the room. A second light greeted him as Abe held his flashlight out. Yet Takahashi never pulled out his.
Confused, Suzuki shined his light next to Abe. It annoyed the younger man as the light blinded him for a second, but that annoyance turned to confusion. Quietly Abe looked at where Takahashi once stood, and rather swiftly began looking around.
"Yo, old man?" Abe called out, only to be met with silence, "Where'd you go?"
Both men looked around confused, not seeing any sign of Takahashi. After a few minutes, Suzuki turned back toward Abe.
"You think he's pranking… us…" Suzuki tried to ask, before slowly stopping. Abe was gone. Suzuki's eyes shot around the darkness. The only sign of Abe's disappearance, was his flashlight gently resting on the floor. If it hadn't dropped to the floor, there would have been a sound. No, it was placed on the floor. Suzuki's breathing quickened, the man searching through the darkness. Soon, he found something. Sitting in the darkness, were two bright green dots.
They sat near a wall, unmoving, yet they unsettled Suzuki. They weren't there before. Hesitantly, Suzuki began to move his flashlight toward the green dots. Right as the light was about to hit the dots, the flashlight's bulb shattered. Something smashed into the device and tore the device out of Suzuki's hand. Terrified, he stared at the dots unmoving. And the dots just sat there.
Then Suzuki heard a whirring noise, and two more dots appeared right next to the first pair. Another whir was heard, and four appeared. Then eight, sixteen, thirty-two, an almost full wall of dots stood in front of him. He wanted to scream, yet not a noise left his mouth. Instead, he was greeted with darkness, a tranquilizer round striking him in the head. Seconds later snickering echoed in the dark room, as the green dots disappeared and the lights turned on.
"Should have brought a camera," Wildcat muttered, as other soldiers around laughed. It caused Barracuda to groan, as he looked over the dozens of FOXHOUND members present. At least two companies of men were present, all to evacuate as much gear as possible in as little time. Yet somehow all of them thought now was the time to goof off.
"You jokers better knock it off," Barracuda berated while shaking his head, "Boss can't afford any slip-ups tonight."
At the same time, he looked back toward the storage room, and mentally counted how many crates were present. There had to be hundreds of them, each filled with at least a hundred rifles. It was a worrying sight, as Barracuda could already feel the exhaustion the night would bring him. Turning back to the soldiers behind him, Barracuda spotted one company heading towards the rest of the museum. Likely to deal with the rest of the guards, Barracuda reasoned.
"Alright, Charlie company's going to take care of the rest of the guards. Chameleon, you, me, and Nix are going to assist them. Pronghorn, you, Moth, and Wildcat start getting the guns out," Barracuda ordered, deciding it best to give Charlie company some help. Rather calmly Chameleon nodded, following Barracuda out the door. While they left, he spotted the familiar blue glow of Caela's quirk, along with Wildcat complaining moments later.
"Gonna feel this in the morning," Wildcat muttered before he walked forward. Seen only by Wildcat and Moth was an odd hexagonal pad sitting on the floor. It was a Boost Pad, an item Caela's quirk could create. Rather cautiously Wildcat stepped onto the pad, and for a split second felt adrenaline rush through him. He felt like he could take on the world, the mutant quickly rushing toward a nearby shelf, and picking up five different crates.
Of course, that split second was gone, once Wildcat remembered just how much he hated Caela's quirk. For as strong as it could make someone, it didn't seem worth it, when every one of their limbs felt like jelly the next day.
"Wouldn't be so big of an issue, if you worked out more," Caela retorted, while Wildcate grumbled. She didn't both stepping on the pad, and instead walked over, and picked up five crates filled with guns. Felt like lifting a feather to her. Rather quickly Moth joined the two, and all of them carefully began making their way outside. Once they reached their destination, Caela took a moment to look up at the sky.
She couldn't see it, but aircraft were supposedly flying toward them for pickup. With little time, she got to work attaching some harnesses to the crates. Pulling them tight to ensure nothing would come loose, she then set up the Fulton and watched the balloon rise into the sky. The crates followed the balloon rather slowly, but they were in the air. Five down, a hundred more to go, Caela thought tiredly.
At the same time, Barracuda carefully walked through the museum's halls. Calmly he looked around the area as he pressed through some World War One exhibit. And though the museum was just a front, Barracuda couldn't help but be impressed by the detail. The entire exhibit was built like a massive diorama. Mannequins stood about in authentic uniforms, holding Lee-Enfields, Gewehr 98s, Lebel M1886s, and Type 38s. Officers were given authentic whistles, held military records, and even mud-covered revolvers.
Telegraph lines sat above them, with lines of trenches below them. It was all extremely well made, which made Barracuda slightly upset. All this detail for a horrifying war his grandfather fought in, and it was done by a maniac who wanted to start a similar war. Barracuda couldn't help but be angry. He pressed forward though, spotting a few guards lounging about in the exhibit.
Currently, they were looking over a display of wartime letters Japanese soldiers had sent their families. Neither guard looked particularly interested.
"When's our shift end again?" one guard inquired, while Barracuda turned toward Chameleon. The soldier rushed up next to him, his pistol in hand.
"When the sun comes up," the second guard replied tiredly, before stifling a yawn.
"For crying out loud," the first guard muttered, "Where's the weekend when you need it?"
"Wouldn't count on that, last I checked management had you scheduled for Saturday," the second guard commented, causing the first guard to groan. Carefully Barracuda drew his pistol as well. For the mission, everyone had been given tranquilizer rounds only. Security was supposedly only civilian staff, so going lethal wasn't an honest option.
"Of course they do," the first guard grumbled, "I don't get paid enough for this crap."
"Could quit," the second guard suggested, only for the first guard to wave him off.
"Yeah, but then I gotta hire a quitting agent, deal with management demanding an apology, and just… it'd probably just end up costing me more than working," the first guard muttered, while Barracuda lined up his pistol. He aimed at the second guard on the right, and Chameleon aimed at the first guard on the left.
"Nah, management here's different. Last guy here, Kiryu I think, just quit on the spot. Management didn't say a word, and he left. Whoever runs this place doesn't exactly care all that much if we quit," the second guard eventually said, earning a hmm of surprise from the first guard.
"Well, better than my last job at least," the first guard commented, right as Barracuda pulled the trigger. Chameleon quickly did the same, and both guards were knocked out swiftly. Before their bodies could hit the floor, both soldiers rushed over and caught them. With little time they then dragged the unconscious guards to a nearby closet. They zip-tied them, gagged them, removed their walkie-talkies, and carefully placed them inside. The door was left open though, as looking inside Barracuda was sure they could fit another two guards inside.
So with that though, he and Chameleon quickly snuck off to find their next group.