Super Science

Ch. 123: NIP vs. HAJ part 4

Egon briskly walked down the halls of the N.I.P facility in a power walk with a deep scowl on his face. It had only been a few hours since he had his talk with the president and made sure her name was sundered so N.I.P couldn't be seen as some kind of undercover terrorist group, but it still left a sour taste in his mouth. He knew evil was something anyone was capable of, but that woman's form of it was just something on another level. She had made such a huge mess, a mess that he would have to clean up so Japan wouldn't take a nose dive. Money was never the issue, but getting everyone to either accept or learn from it was the problem. He'd had to move fast instead of gently pushing this like he wanted and knew the backlash would be massive! He only hoped to mitigate the damage done.

He made his way to a door in the facility where Cluck and Otto were waiting for him. Standing before the two animals, he asked, "Are they in there?"

"Every last one.", Otto confirmed.

"Good. Then let's break this cycle," Egon told them as he pressed a button. The metal door opened, allowing all three of them to walk in.

When they entered the room, it was dimly lit and had a single old TV set on one wall. The room was large, and it needed to be so with all the people inside. Every hero who tried to invade N.I.P.! sat on the ground, covering every inch in restraints and quirk-dampening collars. All of them looked upset and tried to break free but weren't given an inch. Once the door opened and the three walked in, they went quiet and glared daggers at them.

The door closed behind them, the light became a bit brighter, and Egon cordially greeted them, "Good evening, dear heroes, or should I say villains." This caused an uproar of shouts and angry sounds thrown toward him, only for Egon, who was already irritated, to shout at them, "Oh, shut up, the lot of you! You break into our facility and attempt to murder my staff just because your boss tells you you were evil with no investigation of your own? For a bunch of overdressed detectives, you sure are dumb and gullible."

The complaints died down, but several still threw nasty words and gurgling sounds at him. Allowing Egon to calm down a bit, fix himself, and then tell the heroes in a serious tone, "Listen up, no matter what you all think right now or have to say, you broke the law and are at our mercy! I should have you all thrown into prison for this, or have you lose your hero license and everything else you worked so hard for! Hell, I could kill you and chalk it up to all of you being taken out by the automatic security system! People can't blame a machine, and we can make sure your bodies are never found! Is that what you want?"

This immediately stopped all disagreements as they stared at the scientist with equal parts shock and fear. It was now that they realized how badly they had messed up. Even so, the scientists cooled down a bit, taking a deep breath, fixing his hair, and telling them, "Thought so. But don't worry. We won't do any of that so long as you understand one thing."

"And that being?", one hero inquired suspiciously.

"You were all lied to. Every last one of you throughout your whole life. The Heroes Association tricked and groomed you.", Egon explained in short.

"Now you're the one who lies! The Heroes Association saved us all from far worse fates and helped our families!" Hawks shouted, and several voices agreed with him.

Instead of looking angry, Egon just looked disappointed as he shook his head before monologuing, "Is that so, pro hero Hawks, or can I call you Takami Keigo, age 22, quirk name Ferice Wings? Son of Fuka Takami and Shoyo Amigaki. The first is a prostitute and drug addict of the red light district, while the second is a member of a small villain gang known as the Crumblers."

Nearly all eyes were upon the winged man, but even with his backstory revealed to the group. Hawks didn't lose his bravado as he boldly shot back, "What's your point? Are you trying to embarrass me by spewing about my past? For your information, my mother is no longer an addict or prostitute and is living a normal life. My father is serving his time and will be out in a couple of years."

"Oh, Kegio. How naive you are," Otto said, shaking his head and looking disappointed.

"What? Don't screw with me!", Hawks yelled at them.

"I'm not; I'm here to tell you the truth.", Otto asserted.

"We all are, and the truth is that when you were brought into the Young Heroes initiative program, you spent less and less time with your mother until she became practically non-existent, right?", Egon added on as he asked the man.

Hawks nods suspiciously before arguing, "So? She got busy, and so did I? That's not either of our faults."

This time, Click chimed in as the cart held up her Purah Pad and read off, "Let me just give you the cliff notes. At the same time, the association did help your mother overcome her addiction and get her a job with some funding on the side. That all was cut off one day, and she was left with no way to contact you, see you, or provide for herself. So she went back to nightlife, drugs, and eventually overdosed a little over six years ago." Hawks looked on with shock and disbelief yet still said nothing as the chicken continued to explain, "Your father, on the other hand, was not sent to jail waiting out his sentence. He and his gang were caught up in a police linch operation and got killed."

Hawks looked like he was in the most of a crisis, looking down with eyes wide and face dripping with sweat as he vehemently denied, "No. No no no no no no no no! Y-Y-Y-Your wrong! W-Wrong, I say! Just last week, I had dinner with my mom at our favorite chicken restaurant. And I had a phone call with my dad last month!"

Egon resisted the urge to roll his eyes and told him, "Actors. All that you've been told is a lie. All that you've all ever known is a lie!"

"No.", Hawks said while closing his eyes, hoping it was nothing but a dream.

"Still not convinced? How about this?", Otto told him while clicking the on button to a remote he was holding.

The TV at the far edge of the room turned on, and all eyes fell upon it as it shifted from static to a picture, and an image of a live feed from a new station began to play. The anchor was a young woman with pink and yellow skin who began to report on some breaking news that was flashing all over the edges.

"This is Yuri Kastsumi reporting live at the station with some shocking news that has swept not only Japan but the world as a whole!", the woman said as the heroes went dead silent and watched the woman's report. "Approximately seven hours ago, the Heroes Association of Japan had attempted a failed all-out attack upon the Neo Icon Phoenix Research Facility using a small military of both Japanese soldiers, paid militia, and heroes alike. All military are dead, while any heroes involved appear to be M.I.A. This was then followed up by an army of robots, made by the Neo Icon Phoenix Research Facility, storming and completely overtaking the Heroes Association of Japan in one fell swoop before the building was destroyed and collapsed on itself. As of currently, no survivors or the president in the building have been found apart from a large group of children ranging from 4 to 16 years old. All of which have been found numbering in the dozens. These children, mostly orphans, homeless, or living within impoverished households, have subsequently been discovered to be in the Young Heroes Initiative, a practice that was outlawed almost two decades ago. As of now, all children have been given back to their rightful parents; as for the ones who don't, no word on this has been discussed."

The screen diverted from the woman and showed several pictures. First, the HAJ was in pristine condition, followed by another of the buildings as it was attacked, and the final one crumbled to the ground, with firefighters working to assess the damage and put out any fires. The following picture was one of the presidents of the HAJ with a live feed of one section of the demolition site with dozens of body bags scattered around. And finally, there was an aerial view of what looked like dozens of children being pulled out from a secret bunker under the destroyed building.

The screen changed back to the reporter, who continued to explain, "Leading up to the counterattack by the Neo Icon Phoenix Research Facility, many news stations, including us, have been given leaks from the facility regarding all the underhanded and dark deeds performed by the Heroes Association. Much of which I cannot say on air, but it is rather eye-opening, to say the least." She said the last part with a pale expression and shiver.

After collecting herself, she coughed and explained, "In other news, the attack and downfall of the Heroes Association has greatly negatively affected Japan. With the association gone, many pro-heroes agencies have already closed their doors or stepped down as heroes due to the massive financial support given by the association suddenly being cut. Leaving many places in Japan unguarded and many sidekicks without employment. The government has told any current heroes and agencies to do their best with the funding provided by the government for whatever they do in the field until something is done. With the attack and light brought to the many underhanded deeds, public sway for heroes has been put into question, as well as the system that helps make them. As of now, the Prime Minister is in talks about how to restructure the Japanese branch of the Heroes Association from the ground up. On a related topic, the effects of this event have not only affected Japan but have sent ripples through the world as a whole regarding the World Heroes Association.", she said the screen showed several heroes and agencies already on different newer stations to step down or putting up a closed sign on the building's door.

Soon after that, several images of other countries and their Heroes Associates Presidents were shown, as the report said, "Several countries have looked deeper into their branch of the Heroes Association, and many have already been destroyed, completely dismantled, or are in the process of being rebuilt from the ground up. With very few doing nothing or keeping things quiet."

Before she could continue, the heroes looked on with anticipation. The screen went black, and all eyes went back to the group of three, where Otto was fumbling with the remote. Seeing all eyes on him, he apologetically told them, "Sorry about that. I meant to turn it off a lot sooner, but the button got stuck."

The whole room was dead silent, with not a single sound. It was just a sea of faces shifting from various emotions. They tried to understand all that they had witnessed, but they found many roadblocks in their heads.

Egon approached Hawks, who was fighting internally the most, and asked him, "Now, do you all understand?"

After a long time of waiting for an answer, Hawks finally admitted through a shaky voice, "That all this time…everything we knew…was a lie?"

"I'm afraid so. I'm sorry to tell you all this, but it's the truth. What you do with this knowledge is up to you.", Egon told Hawks and then other heroes.

Then all hell broke loose! Hawks repressed whatever feeling he was holding back, but the damn finally broke, and so did he. Years of lies, pent-up and repressed emotions all came slipping out in an uncaring sob of pure sorrow! First, it was Hawks, then two other heroes, then four, until the whole room was filled with the sound of bitter weeping!

Egon looked on in remorse and pity for the room and could only turn away when left with Cluck and Otto in tow. Once they left the room, they walked down the hallway with the sound of the sobbing room muffling out into a low rumble.

Once they were a reasonable distance away, Cluck voiced her displeasure and complained, "Awwww! I thought we were gonna kill them!"

"Only if they refused to see reason. Which they didn't. They're not monsters, just very hurt. They need help and therapy. Lots of it.", Otto told her with an arguing tone.

"But I wanted to make Splinters out of their quirks!", Cluck croaked even louder.

"You can still do that, just no killing.", Egon shot at her, making the bird smile as he said under his breath, "Crazy bird."

Please Review and have a Plus Ultra day!