Toma Akio was returning from his shift from the main Water Facility in the region. He mostly did night shifts as a security guard, in case there were any leaks to contact the workers or authorities, but it was 6 AM in the morning, and his shift was over, finally, he could relax.
He approached the porch of his small house, near the city. He had recently bought this house with all his savings, finally moving out of that small flat he had. The house was not that big, but it was something to work with.
He approached his door, taking out the keys, and unlocking it. Toma opened the entrance to his house and walked in, closing the door behind him. He took off his coat, placing it on the couch, but then he noticed something strange.
A window was wide open in the living room. "That is strange" Toma thought to himself. But he quickly dismissed it, thinking that he most likely left it open when he went out for his shift to cool it down.
He was feeling hungry, so he entered the back room to find some food. It was dark since he had not yet installed a light on the ceiling, but he thought that he would not need it since he could still partially see.
He kneeled down to get some cans of tuna from a box, it was not the most delicate food out there, but it still kept him alive and from starving.
As he was kneeling down, he suddenly felt a hand covering his mouth, and before he could even react, a knife had slashed his throat, as blood started gushing out of his neck all over the wall and floor.
"Mmmm, I cannot wait to taste your yummy blood for tonight" A female voice was heard behind Toma, he used the little strength he had to turn to his side to see who it was, it was a female with blonde hair and a school uniform, smiling at him creepily.
After a few seconds, Toma closed his eyes as all life left his body, his body dropping dead on the floor as Toga just giggled "Well this was exciting, shame it only happened for a few seconds. But no worries! I will make sure you will come to work for one more night! The female stated, letting out another giggle.
Later that day
Bruce kept going through several newspapers from yesterday, trying to see if there were any clues to his rogue gallery. This was sadly his only way of finding anything out, here there was no Batcomputer, not to mention he and Tsukauchi had to break ties because of the orders from the president of the HPSC.
But he had one more hope for finding Crane and uncovering his plan. Around the restaurants, there were a few local surveillance cameras. He knew that hacking into them would be pretty easy, and he could quite possibly spot the henchmen who were preparing the fear toxin containers on the roof.
Unfortunately, due to a high police presence in the area last night, he would not manage to go through with his plan because he would get seen, but tonight the area of the restaurant should be less crowded. This was the only way he could get a lead on the villain.
Across from Bruce was Damian, sitting at the sofa with his arms crossed. He was also thinking about the situation last night and was not happy with the news he received. "So what now? Hiding in the shadows from all these heroes will not be easy. It is one thing when the police is after us, but there are hundreds of people around who have powers, who would be chasing us." Damian said.
"We will continue on as usual, with the added challenge. They are unfamiliar with their ways of operation, and without us, they will not stand a chance against Strange and the others. Crane is definitely planning something, something none of them will be prepared for." Bruce said as he went to the next page of the newspaper.
Damian just sighed at that response. But he was right, they cannot just stand there and watch as this world burned, they needed to do something. "So what is the plan? You always have one." Damian said looking up at his father once more.
Bruce put down the newspaper and stood up from the couch "There are a few public cameras around the area, perhaps they could reveal some relevant information to us on the whereabouts of Crane." Bruce said.
"You don't think that the police already haven't tried that strategy already?" Damian asked.
"I am sure they did, but I have a feeling that they may have missed something important, something that would not simply slip by us. So we will inspect the security cameras tonight, it is the only option we have." Bruce replied.
His father was right, that was the only option they had. And if it turned out that there was nothing on the cameras, then it would be back to square one again. "We need to hurry, whatever he is planning, he might go through with it sooner than we could expect" Damian said.
"Precisely. Time is almost never on our side, so we must move in exactly when the sun goes down. Because of the attack, the nearby streets will most likely be closed, meaning fewer chances of us getting spotted by some pedestrian." Bruce said once more, picking up his coffee mug and taking a sip.
Bruce had promised his son to take him next time he went out, but he still did not forget of the injury he received back at the USJ "How is your leg?" He asked calmly.
Damian looked down at the leg the bullet went through. He managed to recover pretty fast and could wark normally now, but he could still feel a bit of the pain sometimes, but it was not all too serious "It is healed enough for me to be able to go out with you" he just replied, raising his head.
"Then it is settled. Meet me at the changing room around 9 PM, at this time we will be going out when few people would be able to see us in the darkness." Bruce said as he walked past his son.
Damian gave his father a nod "Of course I will." He said calmly. He did not go out as Robin ever since they arrived here, so of course, he was looking forward to becoming the boy wonder again.
10:41 PM
Batman and Robin were jumping rooftop to rooftop, getting closer towards the street where the attack from last night took place at. They carefully chose which rooftops to use so that no civilian would spot them, and they would watch out for hero patrols.
Eventually, the dynamic duo arrived as they stood on the ledge of a building right across the half-destroyed restaurant.
Robin observed the are of the restaurant carefully, seeing how the roof was torn off. "This all looks a lot more disturbing in real life than on TV" the boy wonder stated as he crouched down on the ledge next to Batman.
Batman pulled out his Cryptographic Sequencer. The building they were on had a public camera right below them. The Dark Knight managed to connect the Sequencer to the public security camera with ease.
Robin turned to his side and noticed how easily it connected "I thought you needed the security data from their servers to access it" The boy wonder stated.
"The encryption on the majority of public security cameras is relatively low, so the sequencer can easily hack into it without their security data." The Dark Knight responded.
With the decryption of the camera done, Batman started rewinding it to last night where the attack took place, being able to observe everything the camera caught on the sequencer.
As he was rewinding the footage, he found exactly what he was expecting. There were a couple of henchmen on the roof of the restaurant, and they seemed to be putting a few fear toxin containers down the ventilation shaft, Batman zoomed in and notice that the design o the container matched with the one from last night.
But the henchmen had masks on, so it was hard to identify them. Batman continued watching the footage until the henchmen eventually retreated down the building on the other side. Batman closed the sequencer, and the boy wonder turned towards him once more.
"Anything useful?" The boy wonder asked as he crossed his arms.
"Hardly. But we could trace where they went through the other public security cameras in the area. If we find one of them and manage to interrogate him, we would get more than enough information." Batman stated as he grappled his way towards another building across the empty street.
"Whatever you say." Robin replied as he followed after his mentor. Searching through all the cameras and following them will take lots of time, but they had no other options left open.
Batman eventually stood on the ledge of another building behind the restaurant where another camera was. He pulled out the sequencer and decrypted the code of the camera, as he then started rewinding the footage to last night.
He observed as the henchmen went down a metal ladder behind the restaurant, making their way towards a darker street nearby. When they got out of the view of the camera, Batman closed the sequencer. "We have a chance of pinpointing their current situation." Batman replied to the boy wonder that just arrived next to him.
"Then let us not waste any more time. Let us split up across the rooftops, that way we might have an idea where one of them is" Robin suggested.
"Not a bad idea. You take the left side, I the right. It would be better to find one of them as soon as possible." Batman responded as he headed towards the street where the three of them went after going down the ladder, and Robin taking some buildings further ahead.
11:36 PM
The dynamic duo checked almost every camera in the area, tracking the henchmen towards where they went. Eventually, the cameras led them to an old part of the city, it looked abandoned and it did not seem like a lot of people were living in this part.
The Batman checked the last camera on another building, watching as one of the henchmen entered an old building right across from the street. The Dark Knight closed the sequencer and looked towards the old building in front of them.
"Do you think he is still here?" Robin asked as he took his eyes off the sequencer, then looking towards the building as well.
"It is likely. It does not seem like the henchman has a fancy apartment, I speculate that this is his resting place, meaning he could still be in there." Batman said as he then started gliding off the ledge of the building, landing in front of the wide-open doors of the old one.
Robin followed after him, landing next to his mentor. "We need to be cautious, we have no idea what kind of quirk he might have." Damian stated, cracking his knuckles. They were still not 100% sure that the henchman was still in there, but they had to check regardless.
The dynamic duo entered the building while having their guard up, as they checked the abandoned kitchen and living room for any signs of the henchman. "There are no signs of him here, we need to check the floors above" Robin stated, looking at the staircase.
Batman gave him a slight nod and started slowly making his way up the stairs, and just as he reached the top, he suddenly felt something similar to a knife, scratching the side of his armor as sparks started flying.
Batman quickly turned around, catching some kind of extendable weird blade in his hand as it started heading towards his face, as he then proceeded to smash it with all his force.
The henchman was on the other side of the hallway, he had a quirk which allowed him to sharpen his fingernails and extend them at long distance. "Shit!" He yelled out, after seeing Batman so easily shattering one of the blade nails.
Batman did not waste any more time, the hero started charging towards the thug, proceeding to dodge any extended nails along the way, getting closer and closer to the henchmen with incredible speed.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?" The henchman screamed out as he observed the hero getting closer, dodging his fingernails with incredible speed and reaction time. Who was this? Some kind of new hero that settled nearby?
Batman eventually caught up top the henchmen, pressing his foot against the wall on the side, before forwarding himself directly at him, delivering a hard kick to the side of the face, while simultaneously using the blades on his gauntlets to completely shatter the extended fingernails from close.
The henchman fell down onto the ground, losing a few teeth because of the hard kick, he looked up at Batman again "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" He yelled out, straightening out his arm and extending his fingernails again, in hope to cut the hero this time.
But instead, Batman swiftly dodged the nails and took ahold of his arm, before twisting it with all the strength he had, breaking it as loud cracks were heard.
The henchman screamed out in pain, as his broken fell down on the floor, he could not feel it at all, the mysterious hero had broken it so harshly that he may never even move it again.
Batman placed his boot on the face of the henchman "Do that again and you will never use any of your hands again." Batman threatened in his menacing tone.
The henchman felt the boot on his face, he was pressing it so hard that his nose may get shattered at any moment "W-What do you want?!" He asked in a terrified tone, who was this? This individual does not act like a pro hero at all with his threats and injuries.
"You were taking part last night in the attack on the restaurant, you work for Scarecrow." Batman said intimidatingly.
"H-How do you kno-" The henchman then stopped, if he kept asking questions he may get even worse injuries. "Yes! Yes, I do! I help him out from time to time, I need the money, I have no choice!" He said in a terrified tone.
"If I was you, I would start talking. Tell me everything you know!" Batman said as he pressed his boot against his face a little harder, to squeeze the information out more smoothly.
The henchman let out a low scream as he felt the boot pressing harder, he felt that his nose was just about to break "HE HAS A HIDEOUT THREE BLOCKS AWAY FROM HERE, AN ABANDONED WAREHOUSE, THAT IS WHERE HE PLANS HIS STUFF, PLEASE, LET ME GO!" He screamed out.
"Wise Choice..." Batman said as he retracted his boot, before delivering another hard kick to the side of the face, knocking him out entirely.
Batman adjusted his gauntlets, looking down at the unconscious man. He now had the location of Scarecrow's hideout, an old abandoned warehouse not too far from here.
The Dark Knight started heading towards the exit of the building, finding Robin leaning against a wall, like he was waiting for him. "An old warehouse? Shouldn't be hard to find." he commented.
"I thought that you would have come up almost instantly after hearing the fight going on" Batman said. It was a bit strange for Damian not to come up to his location for interrogation.
"You already had everything under control, and his screams of pain were already enough to satisfy me." Robin said as he pushed himself forwards "Let's not waste any more time." He said.
Batman just replied with a nod. This henchman had them more than enough information to deal with, if they could find Scarecrow on this very night before his plan would get initiated, then that would be a miracle.
12:56 AM
The Dynamic Duo eventually found an old warehouse that matched the description from the henchman. It took them a lot of time trying to find them through these streets with nothing but a description since they had no Batcomputer.
Batman found an open ventilation shaft on the side of the building, where they could enter without being seen. "Robin, over here" Batman said as the boy wonder quickly caught up to him.
Batman lifted himself up towards it with his batclaw, as he started crawling through the extremely dusty and dirty ventilation shaft, with Robin following right behind him.
"This shaft is more disgusting than any we have ever been through" Robin stated as he felt cobweb in his face, as well as his suit getting dirtier by the second, but Batman gave no reaction to his statement.
They eventually reached the end of the ventilation shaft, as Batman dropped down into some room that looked like a garage. Robin dropped down as well and quickly noticed some tire tracks on the ground. "There are tire tracks here" The boy wonder stated, as he got down on one knee, inspecting them.
Batman noticed them, as well, so he turned on his detective vision to scan them. "They were made ten minutes ago." The Dark Knight stated, turning off his detective vision.
"So we missed them...Dammit." Robin cursed under his breath. If they were here ten minutes early, they would have caught Scarecrow. "We need to inspect this lair for any clues where they might be." Robin said, standing up.
Batman had thought of the same idea, and since they left, he had a feeling that there might not be anyone here, so they could explore freely.
The two split up and started searching the warehouse for any clues on Scarecrow's whereabouts. Unfortunately, there was not much to see, most of the rooms were empty, but5 there was one room which they still haven't taken a look at.
Batman opened the door to the last room in the warehouse, and his eyes widened a bit at what he saw. There were numerous bottle tanks of fear toxin laying around, as well as a large table with many different liquids, this was the room where Scarecrow was developing his new toxin.
But instead of focusing on the toxin, Batman started going through the numerous drawers in the room. He opened one specific drawer and found some kind of...Blueprints?
He took the blueprints in his hands and started examining it. It was the blueprint of the water facility, as well as its water tanks. According to the blueprints, the toxin is more effective when mixed with water, and anyone who would come in contact with it would get infected.
Batman closed the blueprint and started thinking to himself. "Of course..." He muttered out. The tire tracks from ten minutes ago...Could it be that they are already commencing their plan? "Robin! We need to get to the water facility as fast as possible!" Batman yelled out, running out fo the room, they did not have much time left.
1:33 AM
The security guards in front of the gates of the facility noticed a very familiar car approaching them. The car stopped in front of the gate as the security guards walked up towards it. "Have to say, it has been very boring without you Toma." One of them said.
Who they thought was Toma, leaned out the car window a bit and gave them a smile "It is always a pleasure to come back here." Toga said, disguised as Toma Akio.
One of the security guards gave a slight wave towards another at the gates, as the gates slowly started opening, and the car started driving inn through them.
Toga was focused on the plan. Since Toma was a security guard, he had access to the generator room, which had the ability to shut down the power to the entire facility except for the water machines, once the generator was shut down, none of them would be able to call for help, and then Scarecrow could finally move in.
It only took about five minutes for Toga to find the generator room,. since she, as well as Twice, went over the map of the place and memorized its rooms. The female entered the room and took a look at the gigantic machine in the middle.
Without a second thought, Toga approached a lever on the wall which was connected to the generator. As she pulled it down, the generator stopped working, shutting down power to the entire facility. Fortunately, the water was connected to a different one, so fresh water could still enter homes despite this generator being turned off...All according to plan.
In order to make sure that the generator stays down, the female pulled out her knife and slashed the main power cord, which was safe now that electricity was no longer flowing through. Now, the generator will stay turned off for this entire operation.
One of the security guards at the gate noticed the lights shutting off around the facility "Wait, what is wrong with-" Before he could finish, a bullet suddenly went through his head, and his corpse collapse down onto the floor.
The other security guar did not have time to react either, as another bullet was fired at his head, his corpse also collapsing. There were several snipers positioned around the facility, taking out any guards they could find. They all had special orders to take out specific guards on the outside.
As all of the guards on the outside were taken out, several vans started moving in through the gate, as one rammed itself at full speed at the gate, breaking it open. Soon enough all of the vans were parked outside of the facility.
Scarecrow was in one of the vans, as he opened the dual doors on the back, stepping out. Around the same time, Twice also exited one of the vans that were next to Scarecrow's. "Huh, this went better than I expected." Twice commented, looking around at all the dead guards.
"Careful coordination and planning can overcome any obstacle in someone's way." Scarecrow replied as several armed men with machine guns started coming out the other vans. Only 1/3 of the henchmen in this operation were real humans, the other ones were clones made from Twice.
Everything was going according to plan. Toga managed to infiltrate the facility and shut off the generator, while Twice would be making a good number of clone henchmen, who would be equipped with the weaponry provided by Penguin. Scarecrow just chuckled at how smoothly this was all going for now.
"What the hell is going on out here?!" One of the guards from the inside asked while having the flashlight on his rifle since all the lights were shut off.
"We are under the attack!" Another one yelled out, trying to get the normal workers to safety.
"What?! Has anyone called any hero agencies?!" The guard asked as he tried barricading the door from the inside.
"Ar you braindead? Because the power is out, our communication systems are out as well. It is all up to us to-" The guard was suddenly shot through the head by a bullet. the henchmen managed to get in, as a gunfight broke out from the inside. Because the henchmen severely outnumbered the guards, eventually the last corpse of the guard hit the floor while bleeding.
By orders from Scarecrow, any armed individual not on their side should be put down immediately, and the normal workers would be taken hostage. The henchmen started to take all the workers they could find hostage, some of them were trying to hide and others attempting to escape.
Now that the inside was cleared out, Scarecrow entered the inside of the water facility, with Twice following beside shim. Twice was overly excited to be working with Scarecrow, he was amazed at how he was quirkless, yet could do this much damage. This night could very well end the hero society overall as everyone would start killing each other, just what Tomura wanted.
Scarecrow started observing a few hostages who were up against a wall. All of them had terror in their eyes, some were crying and others praying...But that would all be useless.
But one worker had a determined look on his face, he was not crying or praying...Just staring coldly at Scarecrow. Scarecrow just walked up towards him, using his right arm to grab him by the throat. "Tell me, do you fear death?" He said in a menacing tone.
"As long as there are heroes all around us, I do not fear you or any scum around...They will come, they will save us...And put you scum behind bars." The worker said in a determined tone.
Scarecrow just chuckled at the reply he got. "Hope...So easily believable, but yet so easily trampled." Scarecrow said as he raised his left arm, as fear toxin entered the syringes he had on his gauntlet.
The worker just kept staring at him "What are you..." He asked quietly.
"What am I? I am the shadow you can see on the moon at night...The one delivering your nightmares when you sleep." Scarecrow said as he stabbed the worker at the side of the neck, as fear toxin started entering his bloodstream.
The worker's pupils started glowing orange, his skin turning darker and the veins getting more and more visible, and they, too, were getting darker. It did not take long for the worker to start screaming in terror.
Scarecrow just turned towards a group of henchmen to the side. "Get canister's and start pouring it into the water supply." He said with a simple arm motion, as all the henchmen started un-loading the many barrels of the new fear toxin from the other vans.
Scarecrow started making his way to the roof of the building. Conveniently, it also started raining at the same time. He walked up to the edge and observed the henchmen unloading the barrels.
Scarecrow let out a low chuckle as he looked up at the city far away. The facility was located deep in the forest, so he could barely see some of the large buildings and lights coming from them. The villain smirked underneath his mask before raising his arms up as if he was about to embrace an old friend.
"My reign of terror shall now commence."