Here's the next chapter, hope you'll enjoy it.
DuckBoi - Thank you so much, I hope you will like the next chapter just as much.
djinn - Thanks so much. That's a good idea, I planned for Lewis to take Mei to some convention and this could be a good opportunity to do it. Hope you'll like the next chapter.
RublixJr - Thank you so much.
CerealKiller420 - That's wonderful to hear, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as much. It's got a lot more action then the last chapter.
Neo Infinity - Thanks so much. I was mainly inspired by Rentarou from 'The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really Love You'. No disrespect to Ochako, she's a great character and I love her quirk, but I like her better with Midoryia. I hope you'll like this chapter just as much.
Guest - That's funny to hear. Thank you so much, I hope you'll like the next chapter.
FanSuperAnime - Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the comedy. I will be doing a Mei and Lewis chapter later on which will develop their relationship more and probably do a Melissa Vs Mei chapter based on the short story from 'My Hero Academia School Brief'. I feel like David is a good man despite everything and I feel like he and Lewis would connect over technology. As to why the villains want Lewis...well, you just have to find out. Thanks for recommending the RWBY trailer; I honestly didn't know they were still making that series. I stopped watching after Vol. 3 I think, but I see if I can catch up with it. Thanks again.
wellingtonlucas282 - No problem, I'm happy that you enjoyed it.
Reader20448 - That's a shame. Thanks for reading anyway.
Guest - Good question, because I am not sure at the moment. If I feel like it's becoming more M than T then I will change it as per the guidelines, but for now I think it may remain T. It's the same for my other story. Thank you.
Thank you for reviewing :)
Chapter 31: One Against Four
Unknown Location
Lewis continued to slipped in and out of consciousness as he was driven to who knows where; the restraints binding his hands behind his back were tight and the bag over his head was becoming uncomfortable. He stayed still as he laid down on floor of the van he was in and tried his best to not panic by taking deep breathes. If he learned anything from his hero training courses back in U.A it's that you can't make good choices if you're hysterical. Granted, he was sure this isn't exactly the situation Aizawa had in mind, but it also applied to the current scenario very well.
He was surprised when he felt the van stop and noticed his short of journey it was; if would have thought that kidnappers would go as far away as possible from the kidnapping site. The journey mustn't have been any longer than five minutes long. Maybe his mind was so confused that hours went by without him noticing. The next thing he knew, he heard the doors of the van swung open and a strong hand pulling him out by nape of his suit collar and make him stand on the ground. With another hand on his toes hands, the figure pushed him forwards and in though a door that was opened to him. After a few minutes of walking down empty hallways, going up an elevator and being pushed through another hallway, he was then pushed into a room and forced into a hard wooden chair. As the powerful hands held him down, another pair, that felt much smaller than the first, wrapped something around his neck and fastened it tightly. He had no idea what they had put on him, but it felt like a band of heavy metal attached to a heavy box that hung beneath his chin. He then felt the hands rummage through his pockets to check for anything that might aid his escape; luckily he always kept his personal items like his phone, wallet and keys in his hat for safekeeping so they did not find anything. Unfortunately, since he has no way idea of where he is, he won't be able to use his quirk to retrieve them.
"Nothing on him," a woman's voice muttered in English, "he's fine to leave on his own until he's ready for him"
He felt the large hands that restrain him lift up and was followed by the sound of dark, menacing grunt.
"Relax, the brief says he can't use his quirk unless he knows where he is or where he needs to go to," she whispered to her companions, "he might as well be quirkless."
Lewis frowned at that, 'Brief? What brief? Who are these people?' he thought in alarm, 'It's just like that Nomu I battled a few months ago; it knew my quirk as well.'
Another grunt followed her statement before he heard the figure walk away from him.
"Yeah, alright. See you in a while," the female grumbled, "I'll just stay with the brat then…being bored out of my mind."
Lewis needed to get out of here and get to the others; he had no idea what was going on, but he couldn't help but feel like they were in danger as well. The fact that the emergency lockdown was set off and then he was taken away from the others was too coincidental.
He heard the woman's footsteps walk away from him and knew he had to act now.
"Wait! Stop!" he called out to her, "Can you please take the bag off!"
The footsteps stopped and was followed by an annoyed sigh, "Don't tell me you're feeling claustrophobic?"
"No. It just happens to be really hot in here! It's getting hard to breath!" he lied to her.
There was a pause for a few seconds before the footsteps returned and the bag was ripped off his head. He blinked and looked around the best he could as his glasses were hanging off his face; however, he could see that he was in a dark room with no windows. It was just bigger than a storage cupboard and filled with shelves we with, from what he could tell, were filled broken robot parts; mechanical arms that held broken rubber clubs, square heads with black visors for faces and red triangular metal bodies were scattered haphazardly every like some robotic graveyard. Glancing down, he saw the black box that rested under his chin; it had a small light on the side the flashed a single green light every few seconds. He looked in front of him and up to one of his captors who was a woman who looked to be Italian or from Mediterranean descent looking over him. She smirked at him before she turned and headed out the door away from him.
"I might as well," she said, "even if you can see, you still have no idea where you are and therefore can't use your quirk."
"Who are you!?" Lewis demanded, "What do you want from me!?"
The woman stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder at him, "My name is Elda. And we're your new employers," she said before she shut the door behind her.
Lobby, Central Tower
"This is bad. This is really bad," Mineta squeaked in fright as he and the rest of Lewis' friends huddled down in the lobby together, "I thought we would at least stand a chance with All Might here, but now we're doomed."
"Stop muttering like that," Karminari told him, although he too couldn't help but feel nervous about the situation he was in.
It was clear for them that something had gone very wrong.
There were no phone signal, no access to the internet and no way of contacting the outside world from within the Central Tower. Melissa had pointed out that this was not the proper protocol and so Midoryia and Jiro climbed the stairs to where the gala was being held and discovered something shocking. The dark uniformed villains had taken over; not only did they trap every single hero at the party using I-Island technology, but they seemed to have hacked into the Central Tower's control centre; they had the entire island in their grip. Using Jiro's quirk, they heard a trapped All Might's warning telling them to get out of here as soon as possible and for them not to fight. This, of course, was devastating to the heroes once they relayed his message.
Iida shook his head, "We received All Might's orders loud and clear. He's our teacher, I suggest we follow his orders and get out of here otherwise we're going against his will."
Momo sadly bowed her head, "I'm afraid I would have to agree. We are students who have yet to receive out hero licences."
"So what? We're just going to sit here and do nothing?" Karminari sighed.
The door to the stairwell opened up and Shoko, now wearing her hero costume, stepped out, "Speak for yourself," Shoko she sharply said, "I'm going out to find Fleetwood."
"Where did you get that from!?" Karminari shouted in shock pointing at her costume.
Shoko simply showed him her clutch bag she had brought with her as part of her dress.
"What!? From there!?"
"I'm really good at packing."
"A girl was changing only a few meters away and I missed it," Mineta moaned, "This day gets worse and worse."
Iida sharply turned to her, "Todoroki, where do you think you're going? You heard All Might's orders."
"I know, but Fleetwood hasn't," she sternly countered, "He's out there all alone and we have no idea where he is."
"But Fleetwood can teleport back," Midoryia told her.
"If he could, don't you think he would have come back by now," she pointed out, making him frown in concern. She turned on her heel and marched towards the door in determination, "All Might wanted us to get escape, right?" she said as her left arm was set ablaze, "I'll melt through this door and get us out of here, then I'll go out and find him."
"Wait!" Melissa suddenly cried, making Shoko stop in her tracks, "You can't! The security on I-Island is on par with that of Tartarus prison. There is no way of getting out of here unless we regained control of the system."
Shoko looked back at her and narrowed her eyes fiercely, "I have to try. Fleetwood is my friend. Our classmate. He might be in trouble."
"If he's your friend then you must know that he can look after himself," Melissa said which made Shoko flinch slightly, "Look, if we you attempt to melt the door then the security system will go off and the villains will know where we are and you will jeopardise any plan on finding Fleetwood," she frowned sadly and gave a small sigh, "I'm sorry, I want to make sure he's safe as well, but we just can't do it now."
Shoko stared at her for a few more seconds before she extinguished her flames and hummed in annoyance, "Fine, but I don't want to stay here and do nothing. We're training to be heroes, aren't we?"
"But we are not allowed to work as heroes. You know that," Momo told her.
"Does that mean it's right if we don't do anything to help?" she said, causing the black-haired girl to look away guiltily.
"Well...no. No it's not. It's complicated."
An uncomfortable silence fell between them as they all began to feel useless. They could not run, they could not fight, they could not do anything except wait for some miracle to occur.
However, a feeling grew inside of Midoryia; a feeling of heroic spirit that grew with anger and the determination to help, 'Shoko's right. Are we not heroes,' he thought as he clenched his fists tightly, 'All Might is trapped, I-Island is held hostage, our friend is out there somewhere and we are just sitting here doing nothing. Everything and everyone is depending on us to do something,' Midoryia lifted his head and, in a voice filled with resolution, declared, "I want to help."
The others turned to him in shock.
"What was that Deku?" Ochako asked.
"I want to help," he repeated, "I want to save them."
"Are you out of your mind, Midoryia!? Did you lean nothing from the USJ incident!?" Mineta yelled angrily at him.
"This is different," he told them, "We don't have to fight them. All we need to do is find a way to release All Might and the heroes at the party without being detected."
"That easy to say, but-" Karminari began to say when Midoryia suddenly cut him off.
"I know, but I still want to try! We can figure out the best course of action and stop these villains from winning. We can save everyone."
Ochako frowned in concern at him, "Are you sure about this?"
"I know where the security system is," Melissa said as she stepped up, "It's on the top floor of the Tower. If these criminals had managed to take over it then the passcodes and security locks have probably been disabled. All we have to do is get to the top and restart the system without setting off the alarm."
"That's great, but how do we do that?" Jiro asked with a raised eyebrow.
"If the villains hadn't spotted us yet then it's more then likely that thay don't know how it works very well. We just need to keep on the down low until then."
Shoko nodded, "So, all we have to do is avoid fighting. I supposed that's possible."
"Sounds like a plan," Karminari agreed with a eager smile.
"Let's do it," Jiro chimed in.
Mineta began to shake in fear, "You guys are insane."
Momo rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "The villains are more likely to gather at the top...I suppose if we're quick and reset the system like Melissa says..."
"Then we can release All Might and save the day," Midoryia said.
Ochako grinned, "I'm in. I'm tired of staying here doing nothing."
Shoko nodded and stepped forward, "I'm going as well. Once we free everyone, I will go out and find Fleetwood."
Still feeling a little unsure, Momo sighed and relented, "I will come as well. I don't know what I can do, but I'll be happy to help in anyway."
"OK FINE! I'LL JOIN YOU, BUT IF I DIE IT'S ALL ON YOUR HEADS!" Mineta screamed at them as tears streamed down his face.
"How the hell did you get into the hero course," Jiro muttered as she rolled her eyes at the short boy.
Iida shook his head and pushed his glassed up his nose, "The moment things go out of hand then it's over. If you agree to that then I'll come with you."
"Thank you Iida," Midoryia thanked him gratefully before he turned to Melissa, "Maybe it's best if you stay-"
"I'm going with you," she interrupted him, much to his surprise, "I know I'm quirkless, but I'm the only one here with any knowledge of the I-island's security network. You need me."
Midoryia looked up at her shock, internally debating whether allowing her to join was a good idea. After a few seconds, he gave a firm nod of his head.
"Alright, you can come," he told her, which made her smile. He turned to his classmates and gave them a confident smile similar to that of his favourite hero, "Let's do this everybody."
Storage Room
Lewis struggled against his restraints and tried to break himself out, but the zip ties keeping his arms bounded were too strong. He eventually gave up with an annoyed grunt and looked around the room to see if there was anything that could help him. Finding nothing that was within his reach, he slumped in his chair and sighed deeply.
"This is stupid. There's no way I'm getting out of here. This is what I get for over relying on my quirk,' he thought miserably, 'I hope the others are alright. They must be worried about me. If only I can get one of my phone or my cards then I can get out of here. There are no clues or signs of where I can be and I highly doubt Elda is willing to tell me," he leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling, "If only it was the other way; that I know where I currently was and go to a place that I didn't know. I can do that and just do what Sir Knighteye taught me and gradually teleport just like bef-' he stopped mid-thought and leaned his leaned his head up, 'Wait. Why can't I do that? It's logically the same, but instead of fading somewhere I'll just fade the thing to me.'
He closed his eyes and pictured his phone that he kept in its special place in his storage unit. It was in a small box that was labelled personal items on the third highest shelf on the right. He began to picture it, sense the feeling of its cool screen; the hard metal casing and how light it was. He then began to imagine the object slowly and steadily began to fade; piece by piece and atom by atom until it disappeared into nothingness.
That was the easy part; sending it to him was going to be much harder.
'Come on, think!' he scolded himself, 'Imagine this was a person and I'm telling them where to find me. What do I do?' he told himself as he kept the image of his mobile in his mind, 'I would start with the last place I remember. The place where they captured me,' he thought as he pictured the side of the road, 'I remember it being a one way street with a right turn at the end so they must have travelled forwards and then right.'
He mentally told the image of his phone to follow his instructions slowly and surely. Maintaining the faded form of his mobile whilst trying to figure out where he was going based on memory was draining for him; his brain began to ache, he was feeling lightheaded and the was sweat pouring down the sides of his face. But if this mean getting out of here then he would have to bear with it for a little longer.
'I-Island's roads uses a grid system so I don't have to worry about alleyways or hidden routes. Once the van had turned right, they...they...must have kept going straight,' he thought of the faded form of his phone travel down the road for a little while, before he gasped in shock, "Oh! I remember suddenly being forced to the roll to the right; that must mean they sharply turned to the left and then...they...they went straight for a little while before- HA! I remember the map. If they turned down that way then they must have turned down the main street and headed away from the Central Tower...'
In a few minutes, Lewis began to mentally recall the route that brought him here. Every sharp turn, every stop; it was all coming back to him. He then pictured them finally stopping and them dragging him out of the van and pushing him into a building. The image was blurry, but he remembered the walk much better than the drive there. They led him down a hallway, up an elevator, down another hallway and then into a room. He was so close; mere meters away. It was mentally straining on him and, along with the aches, the light headedness and the sweat, he felt his nose began to bleed and trickle down the sides of his mouth. He tried his best to ignore it as he imagined his faded phone travel across the room and into the storage room where he was kept. He imagined his restrained hand held behind him and his faded phone head over to it and...
...he suddenly felt something in his right hand. He waited for a few seconds to be sure before he opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder. He almost burst out in laughter and he saw his mobile phone appear in his hand without a single piece missing.
'I did it! I actually did it!' he shouted in his head victoriously.
However, he didn't have time to celebrate and pressed the home button; however his hope instantly disappeared when he saw that there was no phone signal.
"Damn it," he muttered as he bowed his head in depression, 'All that work for nothing."
He looked down at the ground miserably when he then thought of an idea and remembered something that Melissa had given him this morning.
'It might just work,' he thought to himself, 'It'll be tough. But it will be my only way of escaping.'
Hotel Room
Moe sighed irritably as she flicked through every single channel as she laid on the sofa; every single one had the same message saying that there was no single. After a few more clicks of the remote, she gave an annoyed grunt, turned of the TV and rolled her eyes.
"Damn it! Really? Now," she told herself, "Can't even have a holiday without there being some sort of emergency," she sighed once more and pinched the side of her nose, "Can't even go out because of the lockdown. This blows! I wonder if the brats are alright with th-OW!"
She suddenly cried out as something hard dropped onto her head and drop onto the sofa beside her. Rubbing her head in anger and confusion, she glared down at the mysterious object and saw, to her confusion, was a mobile phone. She frowned critically at it and glanced upwards to see where it had come from; on discovery that the phone seemed to appear out of nowhere, she picked it up and inspected it.
"What the hell?" she murmured before she clicked the on button the side.
The device's screen turned on and Moe raised a curious eyebrow at what it was showing her.
Storage Room
Using his bladed Club playing card, he finally sawed through the zip tie and his hands were released. He gave a relaxed sigh of relief before he leaned down to untie his legs.
It had taken a while, but he managed to get a few other items using his reverse fading technique. It was a little easier the other times, but it still put a strain on him and he almost fainted at one point. He managed to bring seven of his playing cards, two of his bladed Clubs cards, two of his his exploding Spade cards, one tracking device Heart card and two EMP Diamond cards; as well as his goggles and mask from his hero costume. He, unfortunately, wasn't able to bring anymore so he would have to be careful. He tried his best to remove the collar around his neck, but found that it was much stronger than he was expecting; after he few minutes of trying to cut through, he decided to give it for now and focus on getting out of there. Once he untied himself, wiped his bloodied nose and put on his goggles and mask; crept to the door and gently turned the handle. He frowned suspiciously when he opened the door without much effort, but swiftly exited the room anyway.
The next room was no lighter than the last one; but he felt that it was much bigger than the last; probably the size of a warehouse. It was pitch black and not a single sound can be heard. He squinted in the dark and spotted a door about twenty meters away on the far side; he quickly and carefully made his way over to it, his heart pounding in his chest as he did. However, he didn't get even halfway before he heard a noise.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
He stopped and looked around, but couldn't find where it was coming from.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
There it was again; the sound flew by him suddenly and made him jump in surprise. What unsettled him was the fact that the buzzing noise didn't sound mechanical...but it sounded more like a wasp...a giant wasp.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
He gulped when the buzzing grew louder and angrier...it was coming from right behind him.
He tried to jump out of the way when he was suddenly tackled from behind and pushed onto his front painfully. He tried to get up but a pair of arms held his hands while a sharp knee dug into his back painfully. Before he could do anything, the lights flicked on and he now saw where he was. It looked like one of the training rooms back in U.A but bigger; it had soft padding floor, a high ceiling, a metal viewing platform around the room situated a few meters above him and on the far side were a dozen or so tall menacing robots. They resembled the broken ones in the storage room he had been trapped in, with one large wheel for a foot, a thick red triangular body and a square head with black screens for faces. They all had arms which ended with hands holding large padded clubs; they were all powered down, but Lewis could tell that, when they were on, they were powerful.
Lewis grumbled under the weight of the person behind and turned his head to look at them; he gasped suddenly when he recognised them. The lean woman had long blond hair, tanned skin, thin insect-like wings, and large grey compound eyes which resembled that of an insect which stared blankly down at him. She wore a fluffy collar, a black and yellow suit with a black and white battle skirt and white knee hight boots. On each arm was a large round arm band that had black and yellow stripes on it which resembled the thorax of a wasp.
"The Hornet Hero: Vespa,' Lewis muttered in surprise, "You're the fifth ranking hero in Italy and twenty-sixth ranking in Europe. What are you doing?"
"I see you know your heroes," a familiar voice drawled. He turned his sights upwards to see Eina on the metal viewing platform, grinning down at him as she leaned on the railing, "I know Vespa very well myself. She captured me and sent me to prison back in Monte Carlo...all because she didn't want me to have my fun," she gave a small chuckle, "Now the tables have turned."
Lewis growled in annoyance before he glanced up at the pro-hero holding him down; he recognised the dull, hollow look in her eyes and realised that it was the same thing the woman who called for a First Aid had. This must be the villain's doing.
"Is this your quirk?" he demanded, "Hypnotising people?"
Elda rolled her eyes, "It's called Puppeteer. It allows me to control people to do my every bidding with a simple touch. Even heroes."
'Just like Shinso's quirk,' Lewis thought as he struggled to get up.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Elda said as she held up a black remote, "That thing around you neck is a small, but powerful bomb. I can kill you with a single press of this button," she said, as she hovered her thumb over a red button; "it also has a proximity trigger so if you stray too far from the remote then it will explode, so best not use your quirk to escape."
Lewis growled in anger, but reluctantly stopped his struggling and allowed Vespa to drag him onto his feet.
"You still haven't answered my question from earlier. What the hell do you want from me? This seems like a pretty lousy ransom attempt since the island is filled with heroes."
"I already told you; we're your employers now. And don't count on those heroes helping you anytime soon," she told him, "I might as well tell you now. After all you need to be prepared for when Wolfram needs you," she muttered as she played with the remote in her hand, "you are known as Plan B; your job is to use your quirk to, if in case of an emergency, teleport us away to somewhere safe quickly. You'll be a…highly valued part of our organisation."
Lewis frowned angrily at that, but he then grinned, "I hate to tell you this, but I can't teleport other people then myself unless you want to lose a limb. Inanimate objects are one thing, but humans are more complicated."
He expected her to be shocked by this reveal or at least think he was bluffing, but, to his surprise, her smirk never left her face.
"You may not," she said, "but that clever little hat of yours can, can't it?"
Lewis felt his stomach drop and the blood drain from his face, "H...how...how do you know about that?" he stammered.
Elda chuckled at that, "You have no idea how useful a quirk like yours is to us. A quick, easy and harmless way of escaping from the heroes is any villain's dream," her smile dropped in a snarl, "Some people just have all the luck. It's...really unfair," she spat before the grin returned as if nothing had happened, "Of course, once we're done here, you will help our organisation with other jobs. You are just too valuable for us to simply let you go," her grin widened into a deranged smirk, "You are the skeleton key to the entire world; banks, lab experiments, even government secrets will be all ours because of you. No need to bypass security, no need for covering our tracks and we don't even need guns to help us. Honestly Fleetwood, you are wasted at being a hero; you can have the entire world in the palm of your hand and make them dance like puppets for you," she licked her lips hungrily as a blush appeared on her face, "It'll be so much fun causing so much pain without lifting so much as finger. I love it so much. You would make a wonderful villain."
"TAKE THAT BACK!" Lewis yelled furiously at her, "TAKE THAT BACK NOW! THE ONLY THING I'M GOING TO USE MY QUIRK FOR IS TO HELP THOSE IN NEED! I'LL NEVER JOIN YOU!"
Elda laughed again at him before she waved the remote that controlled the bomb around his neck, "Do you really think you have a choice? Vespa, rimettilo di nuovo nell'armadio."
"Sì, padrona," Vespa replied in a monotone voice before she began to drag Lewis back into the storage room.
Lewis was led reluctantly back to his prison, but then a thought occurred to him. It was a gamble, but it could probably give him a chance to escape.
With one sudden yank that neither a controlled Vespa or Elda was expecting, he ripped his left wrist out of the hero's grip and elbowed her in the face. The attack knocked the wasp-themed hero back and, strangely enough; even Elda flinched at the attack as if she was hit as well. Lewis then spun around, made a Diamond playing card appear in his hand and threw it towards Elda on the viewing platform; it hit the remote, almost knocking it out of her hand, and stuck onto it. The villain looked at the card stuck onto the remote before smiling smugly; the smile soon left her face when the card began to flash a few times. The next thing she knew, the lights dimmed and turned off on the remote; she pressed the on and off switch, but nothing happened; she pressed the detonated button, but, yet again, it did nothing; she hit it against the palm of her hand and growled when she got no response.
"That's one of my EMP cards," Lewis told her, "it shuts down any sort of technology temporarily."
Elda sighed angrily, "That was not on the brief. Anyway, your attempt was fruitless. Tie him up again."
"Wait!" Lewis called out to her, making her arch an eyebrow at him.
"What is now?" she sighed in boredom.
Lewis glared up at her and frowned and began to think, 'I thought it was strange that, despite the fact she can control people, she hadn't done anything to me. Why? It'll be much easier if they want to keep me alive,' he tightened his fists and clenched his jaws, 'However, I think she was expecting me to break out. Taking the bag off my head, explaining their plans for me, using a pro-hero so she could ambush me if I attempt to make a break of it. She's doing all of this for one reason: because she's bored. She admitted it herself that she loves tormenting people; she must think of it as a form of entertainment. Well…if she wants to have fun…then I give her fun,' he pulled down his mask and smiled up at her, "Let's make a bet," he called up to her.
Elda's eyes widened and they seemed spark in excitement; she licked her lips hungrily and her breathing grew deeper, "R-really? Y-you do?"
"Yes," Lewis said, "If I get take that remote from you then you let me go. If I don't do it…well, I will willing do what every your organisation says."
He saw Elda bite her lip and her right eyelid twitch in anticipation, "I…I really shouldn't...Wolfram says I can't gamble whilst I'm on duty…b-but, since we have time to spare…I guess we can have some fun. There's no harm in that. Just a little light entertainment, that's all," she muttered rapidly, as if she was trying to convince herself, "Vespa! Cattura questo!"
She tossed the remote over the side and Vespa immediately flew over to it and caught it in mid-air. The pro-hero then proceeded to fly a few meters above them and hover with the remote tightly in her grasp. Lewis took a deep breath, took of his suit jacket and threw to the side before he pulled up his mask.
'All I need to do is get the remote,' he told himself, 'Should be easy enou-'
He stopped mid-thought as he sensed something hurtling towards him. He leapt away just in time for a person to slam their fist down at where he had previously stood, shattering the floor.
The figure that stood before him was a tall, muscular man with spiky silvery hair, fair skin and grey eyes hidden behind a blue tinted visor. He was bare chested and wore black trousers, a pair of blue mechanical gear that resembled metal plates on both of his arms and large red metal gloves. There were wires that were attached to the mechanical arm gear that were connected around the back of him before connecting up his neck and two his blue visor. Lewis gulped nervously as he recognised the pro hero.
"The Defence Hero: Power Gauge. Second ranking hero in Sweden and fifteenth ranking hero in Europe," he muttered to himself.
"Another hero I picked up from the gala event," Elda said as she leaned on the railing with an excited grin, "I might; it's not as if they were doing anything since they were captured up by I-Island's security system."
"Were you expecting me to escape or something?" Lewis muttered as he kept his eyes on the powerful pro-hero before him.
Elda chuckled darkly, "I'm not much of a fighter, so I took some precautions in the form of hero puppets. I hope you don't mind."
"Jag ska förgöra dig," Power Gauge said in a zombie-like manner as the blue plates on his arms began to crackle with electricity.
"I'm sorry I have no idea what you just said...but I bet it's not good for me," Lewis sheepishly said.
Power Gauge leapt at him with his armour-plated arm raised to deliver a devastating blow, but Lewis jumped back in time. The pro hero didn't relent and continued to attack him viciously. Lewis was quick enough to avoid all of his hits, punches and strikes, but being on the defensive won't last him long.
'I think he's quirk is called Static. He can generate electricity with every moment which gets transferred to his armour plates,' Lewis thought as he ducked and rolled out of the way as Power Gauge slammed both fists into the ground he had previously been, 'The electric attack is enough to stun people so I need to avoid his attacks as much as possible," he flipped over another attack and produced another Diamond card from his pocket, "One of Melissa's EMP card should dismantle his battle suit."
He threw the card directly at the hero, hoping that it would work like it always did. However, Power Gauge raised both arms up in defence and produced more static as the card got nearer; with only a few centimetres away the hero's electric attack caused his card to spark and burst and fall to the ground in defeat; the electricity must have overloaded the EMP before it could work. Lewis grimaced as he saw the card, which was begging to smoke, fall to the ground uselessly.
"Ah...that's not good," he uttered before he noticed Power Gauge charge at him with his arms raised above his head, "Really not good!" he yelped as he dodged to the side.
However, he didn't quite get away in time and Power Gauge grazed his leg. Lewis cried out in pain as he was electrocuted and landed on his front a few meters away. He gritted his teeth and his muscles were racked with pain and was unable to move for a few seconds. Hearing Elda's sadistically cackling from somewhere he looked up and found that he was lying a few meters away from one of the many robots in the warehouse. On the robots one leg, just above the wheel, there was a label next to a green on and off switch. The label read:
'Property Of The Battle Gear Testing Department. Do Not Remove From Premises.'
'Battle Gear Testing?' Lewis thought before he remembered the broken pieces of robots in the cupboard that he was in.
He spotted Power Gauge rushing over to him with electricity-powered gauntlets and armour plates ready to hit him again and immediately reacted by pressing the on switch on the robot. The robot winked to life and lifted his head before it spotted its first target running at him.
'Target located and locked' the robot buzzed out before it sped over to Power Gauge.
The pro-hero seemed shocked to see the robot roll towards him with his clubs raised and ready to attack. The hypnotised hero decided to deal with it by blocking its rapidly spinning clubs with his arm gauntlets. Power Gauge grunted under the barrage of attacks, but then he gave a war cry and punched the robot right in the chest; his armoured hand punched through its metal casing and after a few seconds fell to the ground lifelessly. Power Gauge snarled at the robot before he scanned the floor as he looked for his real target, but found that he wasn't there. He looked around trying to find him when suddenly he felt somebody leap on to his back and latch on to him tightly.
Lewis held on as Power Gauge tried to swipe him off him, but his large metallic arms were in the way. Power Gauge was known as the defence hero because he never turned away from a fight, otherwise, if he did, he would expose his weak side. Lewis reached up to the power cord that attached his gauntlets to his neck where the source of his quirk was; he needed to detach his power and make his gauntlets unusable. If he did that, he can then focus on Vespa.
However. just before he could pull out the cord, he felt two powerful claws dig into his shoulders and lift him off Power Gauge and into the air. Lewis was shocked when he felt somebody fly though the air, his legs dangling uselessly below him. He looked up and saw who he else would do something; Vespa was the only one who could fly, but she couldn't carry somebody off.
The one who had grabbed him resembled the mythological monster the griffin. He was a muscular man covered in brown feathers with the head of a eagle with a sharp yellow beak and round grey eyes. He had two large feathery wings on his back and hands like bird of prey that ended with black talons. He wore a blue and black sleeveless jacket, baggy blue jeans with lots of pockets and a pair of headphones on his head.
'The Griffin Hero: Valiant. Fourth ranking hero in Syria. I heard he's actually very gentle and does a lot of charity work. He's one of the most popular heroes amongst young children back in his country. I can't believe Elda would do something like this to him,' Lewis thought angrily.
Elda, seemingly knew what he was thinking, grinned in delight, "Don't get to upset about it. Heroes like him always weak to real villains like myself. It's to be expected," she called out before she waved her hand.
Valiant flapped his mighty wings and soared across the warehouse, holding Lewis in front of him as he planned to smash him against the brick wall. Lewis saw this and disappeared just in time and reappeared mid-air a few meters behind before Valiant slammed against the wall. He was so powerful that he was not at all effected by the impact and instead pushed off and grabbed Lewis once again. He twirled in air as he built up momentum to hurl Lewis to the ground towards Power Gauge who is ready to clobber him with another electrical punch.
Lewis focused and disappeared once again before he could be hit, reappearing a few meters away on the ground. He growled angrily, there was no way he could beat the two pro-heroes in this state and started to focus on escaping them and getting to Vespa who had been hovering above them with the remote in her hand.
He was about stand up when he suddenly felt his body unable to move except for his head and his hands. It felt like he was encased by something solid but invisible keeping him from moving at all. He grunted and struggled fruitlessly, but that's when he noticed another figure step in front of him.
He was a tall, fair skinned man with black pointed hair and a handlebar moustache. He wore a black suit under a short dark green jack that was lined with a golden seam and a orange sash tied around his waist; over that he wore a red cape that flowed down to the floor and had a dark red domino mask over his eyes; looking like a cross-between a magician and a matador. Lewis, just like the other three heroes, knew who he was as well.
"The Magician Hero: Magnifico," he sighed, "the ninth ranking hero in Colombia and thirtieth ranking in the whole of South America."
"Able to make invisible barriers with a wave of his hand," Elda chimed in, "Useful for catching villains and...well, you."
"Four against one," Lewis muttered, "Either your over-cautious or a coward."
Elda rolled her eyes, "It's been fun… but I think I've won this bet. The boss could call on me at any moment."
Lewis struggled against Valiant power, but there was no way he could get out in time. His only hope was the exploding Spade card he had hidden in his sleeve. He slid it out, grabbed it between his finger and thumb and threw it towards Elda. However, due to his lack of mobility, the card went flying off course towards Power Gauge and Valiant instead, landing harmless
"How pitiful," Elda hummed before she turned to Vespa, "Finish him off."
The wasp hero buzzed in acknowledgement before she swooped down towards him, aiming a kick at his head. Lewis braced himself for the impact while Elda grinned in delight, however that's when she noticed the recently thrown card began to flash rapidly.
Her eyes widened in alarm, "Merda! Questa è una delle sue carte esplosive!" she yelped before she pointed at the two hypnotised heroes, "Togliti di mezzo ora!" she ordered.
BANG!
Power Gage and Valiant leapt out of the way just in time for the card to explode, causing her to sigh in relief.
However, over with Lewis as he waited for Vespa's kick, two strange things happened. The first was that the invisible box that had him trapped suddenly disappeared and freed him for his prison. Secondly, before Vespa could hit him; she suddenly went limp and fell to her knees only a meter away from Lewis. He caught her just in by time and allowed her to fall to the ground. He stared at her for a few seconds, he could still see that she was under Elda's influence, but she seemed to show no signs of life; like a puppet whose strings have been cut.
Elda noticed Vespa and instantly took control of her again; the wasp hero rose up from the floor and got to her feet. However, before she could attack, Lewis leapt away, ducked under the balcony where he knew Elda couldn't see him and disappeared to the the rafters of the warehouse.
"Stai scherzando!?" Elda snapped slamming her hand on the railing in anger, "Magnifico, put up a protective box around me and this time make it permanent. I don't want that him sneaking up on me," she demanded as the pro hero carried out her order.
Lewis peered down at the heroes curiously. He saw Vespa fly into the air once more, Power Gauge searching the area for him and Elda barking orders at them to find him. However, neither Valiant nor Magnifico made any sort of movement; they stood there with their shoulders hunched with their arms hanging limply at their sides and the knees slightly buckled. They were acting just like Vespa was; like a puppet who wasn't being used.
He leaned back and frowned thoughtfully, 'They are all still under her control, but only two of them are actually moving. Could it be that she can only control two at the time while the others wait for her command?' he asked himself before a thought struck him, 'If that's the case then I can assume that her hold on them is weaker when she's not moving them. Maybe if I hit the non-moving ones I can break their trance like with Shinso. That way I can concentrate on getting the rem-'
"!لقد حصلت عليك الآن" a voice squawked behind him.
He glanced around and saw Valiant hovering right behind him; his arm raised above his avian head. Lewis leapt out of the way and onto a parallel rafter before the griffin hero slammed his fist down, making a large dent in the metal where he had previously been on. He didn't have time to rest; as he sprinted down the rafter to far side of the warehouse with Valiant quickly following him with his powerful wings. He ducked, leapt and rolled under his attacks his barrage of attacks as he leapt across the rafters to try and get rid of him. However, his eyes widened in shock as, flying up from between the rafters, Vespa appear in front of him ready to trap him between her and the other hero. He had no choice, but to skid to a halt and perform a backflip over Valiant and land on his feathery back and grab him around the neck.
The griffin hero squawked in anger and tried to shake him off mid-air but he held on tightly. Lewis grabbed his right wing and pulled it back which forced Valiant to fall rightwards and perform a nosedive towards the floor. However, the wing slipped from his hand and Valiant took back control and began to perform acrobatic feats in the air to shake him off from looping, rolling and nosedives; however, this had little effect on him due to his years of doing acrobatics. At the fifth nosedive, he spotted Magnifico currently not being controlled by Elda and knew that this was his chance.
'Now or never,' he thought as he disappeared and reappeared just behind the hero's head.
He swung his leg and aimed a blunt kick to the side of his head, but then his leg slammed into an invisible barrier. He cried out in shock and fell roughly to the floor as Magnifico looked down at him with his grey, hollow eyes.
"Damn, Elda's reaction time is quick," he muttered.
He didn't have time to ponder any longer on it as he had to roll out of the way; Power Gage came out of nowhere and slammed both fists down at him. Lewis rolled on to his feet and had leap away again and again as the hero unleashed powerful electric punches at him.
'This is not going to work,' he thought as he ducked underneath a haymaker, 'I can't catch Elda by surprise because her reaction time is too quick. Then, instead of letting me go for the real target, she's distracts me by attacking me with another hero,' he thought as he began to feel lightheaded due to the fact that he was using his quirk too much, 'I need her to force her hand to switch the heroes she's using again.'
He ducked underneath a punch and disappeared when he knew his large arms kept him away from view. He, once again, appeared upon Power Gauge's back and tried to reach up to disconnect the cord that controlled the heroes' power. Power Gauge tried to shake him off again, but then fell limp as Elda's influence left him. But then, Lewis was forced to duck as Valiant swooped down to try and pick him off him. He glanced up and saw Vespa still hovering over a few meters above them, meaning that Elda had control of Valiant and Vespa and not on Power Gauge and Magnifico.
"Just give up," Elda moaned as she leaned against her invisible box, "This is getting boring now."
Lewis smirked, ducked underneath Valiant once again before he pulled out two playing cards, "You want excitement!" he called out to her, "I've got two exploding cards left. Your choice which one you want to save!" he shouted before he flung one playing card at a non-moving Magnifico and the other at Valiant.
Elda raised her eyebrow at that before her eyes widened in alarm once she understood what he meant. She watched as the two cards were flung at two of her puppets and gulped nervously. You see, since she could only move two heroes at once, she could easily shift her command from one puppet to the other in a split second or, in this instance, move her command from Valiant to Magnifico. But she couldn't otherwise Valiant would be hit with an exploding card. There was no other way, she had to take control of them both which meant...having to release Vespa, who was hovering in the air, from her control.
Magnifico raised his hands and stopped the card with an invisible wall; the card exploding upon impact...Valiant grabbed the card that was flung at him and threw it away as far as he can...but Vespa fell to the ground with the remote loose in her hand.
Lewis disappeared beside Vespa grabbed the remote from her hand and disappeared again just in time for Elda to take control of Vespa once more. He grinned triumphantly as he held the remote in his hand; feeling no longer at the mercy of the bomb around his neck. He desperately searched the remote and found a release switch and immediately flicked it; he gasped in relief as he felt the metal collar break apart and drop to the floor harmlessly. He rubbed his aching neck and turned towards Elda.
"Looks like I wi- huh?" he uttered when he saw that she was no longer there.
He searched the area, but he couldn't find her anyway...and then the lights snapped off.
Confused and desperate, he didn't have time to react to the loud buzzing sound hurtling at him or an thing that felt like a fist smash against the side of his head and knocking him off his feet. Before he could do anything, he heard the flapping of feathery wings and then a powerful hand pick him up by the neck and hold him with his legs flailing beneath him. He heard the crackle of electricity and then a heavy punch slug him in the stomach and threw him across the room and skid along the floor. He spasmed as electricity racked his body in pain, causing him to cry out in agony. Then he felt three solid walls trap around him, locking him in place on the floor.
The lights switched on again and he was greeted with the sight of all four hypnotised heroes and Elda standing over him. Despite the prideful smirk on her face, there was a deep, raging anger in her eyes which held her true feelings; the was sweat on her brow and her right eyelid began to twitch rapidly. She simply held up one of his playing cards, the one he had thrown at Valiant and shook her head.
"I admit, you had me fooled with that trick. This is one of your bladed cards, isn't it; not you exploding one," she slowly muttered as she chucked it over her shoulder, "That means...t-that means that you didn't win. You just cheated. You stupid little cheater! I win! I win! HA HA!" her speech began to sound more deranged; her expression morphing into a crazed look, "t-this is w-what you get you see," she uttered as she fiercely began to scratch her cheek in irritation, "Everybody thinks they can cheat me out of my win. Like the casinos and the betting shops back in home. They always cheat; they are the ones who took my money, my house, my children away from!" she screamed insanely, "Of course they cheat; it only make sense, because I know I win. Now I'm broke, have no place to live and now my bambini live with their father and that new skank down in Napoli! ALL BECAUSE THEY AND EVERYBODY CHEATS ME OUT OF MY SUCCESS! BUT NOT TODAY!" she turned sharply towards Power Gauge, "DO WHAT YOU WANT! BREAK HIS BONES FOR ALL I CARE! JUST KEEP HIM ALIVE FOR LATER!" she demanded as Power Gauge raised both fists above his head. She sharply turned to him and Lewis grimaced as the unhinged look upon her face, "THIS ONLY THE BEGGINING! NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR POWER I CAN USE IT ANYTIME I WANT! STEAL ANYTHING I WANT! I WILL ALWAYS WIN AND YOU WILL ALWAYS LOSE!"
"I wouldn't bet on it," a new voice said, making her jump in surprise.
Before she knew what was happening, a rope of green fire wrapped around both of Power Gauge's arms and pull them together above his head; the fire rope pulled him back, making him land on his back and hit his head on the floor, knocking him out.
"Huh?" Elda uttered in confusion before she turned around and saw a hero in a white uniform with blazing green hair at the door to the warehouse.
Burnin' smirked confidently as she pulled a tuft of green fiery hair and threw it at Magnifico. The ball of flames hit his shoulder and made him lose his hold on Lewis who didn't waste any time to leap up and punched him across the face to knock him out. He then disappeared and reappeared above Vespa and gave her a blunt kick to her side, she fell to her feet to the ground as if she was a ragdoll. Lewis assumption was correct; any puppet Elda wasn't current moving could be easily knocked out of her the hypnotism.
"Valiant!" Elda yelled in alarm at the last hero standing, "Kil-"
"Oh no you don't!" Burnin' cried as she sprinted towards him, took a piece of her hair and stretched it out to make a fiery sword.
As soon as she was close enough, she swung the sword across Valiant's chest and left a shallow cut in his feathery chest. He squawked in pain before he too fell over as he was released from Elda's quirk.
"Hadn't done that in a while," Burnin' said with a grin.
Blazing Hair: It allows her to freely control the flames on her head; from throwing fireballs, manipulating fire into objects and even allows her to fly.
The villain gulped in fear as she saw her last puppet fall to the ground and then yelped when she noticed the hero and the hero in training turn to her fiercely. She immediately turned on her heel and ran as fast as she can. She fumbled with the radio on her belt and raised it to her mouth...
...when Lewis suddenly appeared in front of her.
Her eyes widened and tried to skid to a halt, but it was too late. Lewis formed a fist and uppercut her in the jaw; the force of which was strong enough to knock her off her feet and onto the ground. She landed hard on the floor and gave a defeated groan before she fell unconscious.
Lewis sighed and placed his hands on his knees for support, making sure to take deep breaths as he did. He looked up at Burnin'', pulled down his mask and gave her a small, happy smile.
"Hi Moe, thanks for coming."
"Sorry for taking so long," Burnin' apologised, "There were security bots everywhere and that GPS thing needs more work," she told him, holding up his phone for him to take.
Lewis took it before he slid a Hearts tracking card that Melissa gave him out of his back trouser pocket, "Yeah, I only got it today. I'll pass it on to Melissa."
"Are you alright? Any injuries?"
"Nothing serious. It's the pro heroes you need to worry about," he told her, "I don't know of any after effects of Elda's powers would be. It might be best to take them to a hospital."
"Yeah, right," Burnin' said, "What the hell is going on? First the warning, then the security bots have gone berserk and now...this," she asked gesturing to the heroes, "I tried calling somebody, but the phones are down."
"I know...wait, what about the security bots?"
"They're on full attack mode. Threatening civilians and forcing them to stay in their homes. I tried to take out as many as I can, but there were too many."
Lewis frowned thoughtfully, "The security bots are not programmed to do that," he muttered before he remembered something, "Elda said she took these heroes from the party at Central Tower... you don't suppose-"
"Villains have taken over the Tower? I don't doubt it," Burnin' grumbled, "If that's the case then they got the entire island on lockdown."
Lewis clenched his fists in anger and looked down at the ground, "Shoko's still in there and so is the rest of my classmates and Melissa. They're in danger," he turned his head up towards Burnin', "We need to get in there, get to the Control Centre and take it back from the villains."
"Great," Burnin' sighed, "But the whole building is locked tight. How do we get in there?"
Lewis gave her a small, apologetic smile, "You can't, but since I've been in there already..."
Burnin's eyes narrowed at him in anger, "Don't... you... dare," she slowly demanded.
"Sorry," he simply said before he flicked his last card at her.
She moved her head away in time for the card to fly past her head and turned back to him...but he had already disappeared.
Burnin' gave a frustrated sigh, "I am so kicking his ass the next time I see him."
Lobby, Central Tower
Cheshire appeared in the lobby of the Central Tower, having quickly got changed into his hero costume. He had expected to find his friends still there, however he was disappointed and concerned when he found that they were not there.
"Damn," he muttered out loud, "They must have gone on to fight the villains. I hope Melissa is alright," he frowned thoughtfully and looked towards the door that led onto the stairwell, "I'm sure they're fine. Midoryia, Shoko and Iida are more than capable to fight them. What I need to do now is find a way to the Control Room and find away to get things back online and stop the Security Bots."
He ran up to the door, went through it and looked up to see the staircase in front of him with a big red number '1' painted on the wall next to it. If he recalled from the guidebook, there were 200 floors in total and the Control Room was right at the top. It could take probably an hour of climbing to reach the top which is far too late.
Luckily, he didn't have to climb.
He looked up the first flight of twenty steps before it turned a corner and pressed the button on his cat ears headphones. The first song played was 'Ogre Battle' by Queen, making him smirk as he disappeared and reappeared on the second landing in an instant. He swiftly repeated the process over and over again, managing to ascend to the twentieth floor in only four seconds. However, after a few more seconds of climbing he hit a wall...literally.
On the eightieth floor there was a metal barrier that blocked him going up any further, causing him to growl in annoyance. However, that's when he noticed a panel beside the barrier with a keypad on it; he guessed it was an override system. He got an idea; he took out one of his Diamond EMP cards and held it against the panel. The card flashed for a few seconds and then the lights on the panel lit up before going dark as if he had shut down. With a loud clang, the barrier lifted open to reveal the rest of the stairwell.
"Thank you, Melissa," Lewis gratefully said before he continued his journey up the stairs.
It took less than a minute for him to reach the 200th floor; there were more barriers in the way, but he quickly dealt with them like the first. he found it peculiar when he noticed he hadn't ran into any villains on the way, but, judging by the sound of loud explosions and crashes from somewhere in the building, he could hazard a guess that they were more occupied with something else. Now that he was on the top floor, he carefully crept down the plain walled corridors towards the Control Centre. He turned a corner a found that he was in the doorway of a large, tall round room. The walls were filled with rectangular black boxes and in between them were flashing blue light; it was mesmerising and Lewis had to tear his eyes away from it to focus. On the far side of the round room was a giant computer with several screens which showed a plethora of numbers, passwords and keywords on the screen; above that was a balcony that surrounded the interior of the room which can be reach by four staircases. At the computer, much to Cheshire's surprise, was David Shield typing away intently while another man (who he would later would find out was Samuel Abraham; David's work partner) was waiting nervously by his side. He frowned curiously and looked around the room, however, he couldn't see any villain's around. If they were forced up here then why would they leave them all on their own.
He was about to call out to them, but he heard footsteps behind him and immediately disappeared to a ledge a few meters above David and Samuel's heads; he didn't want to be caught by villain's before he rescued the two men. From his perch, he watched as David continued to type away before he stopped and turned to Samuel.
"I was able to unlock it," he told him, "Go to Block 1147."
"O-okay," Samuel agreed before he rushed up one of the stairs, onto the balcony and headed to one of the rectangles on the wall.
The rectangle suddenly opened up to reveal that it was a storage unit for a single silver briefcase which Samuel eagerly took out; the portly man turned towards David, opened up the case and showed it to him.
"You did it, Professor," he told him, much to David's relief, "Everything is here."
Cheshire tried to see what was in the case from up above, but he was too far away. Whatever it was, David seemed to be happy to get his hands on it.
"Yes, I finally got it back," he sighed, a look of pained guilt evident on his face, "The device and research data are the only things I would never give to anyone. I'll never give it up."
'What's going on?' Cheshire thought in confusion, "Are they stealing technology from I-Island?'
Samuel, who in contrast to David seemed happy, smiled as he closed the case and began to descend the stairs down, "Everything's going to plan, isn't it? It looks like the villains are doing well, too."
For the second time that night, Cheshire was stunned by what he said and almost gasped by what he said, 'No way. Surely, they didn't-"
David shook his head and climbed up the stairs to meet him halfway, "Thank you. It was all because you arranged everything for me, Sam... I just wish it hadn't come to this."
Cheshire tried to lean down to listen in more to their conversation when a new voice echoed though the large room.
"Dad?"
Samuel and David stopped in shock and Cheshire almost slipped off his perch; they all turned to see Melissa standing at the doorway with Midoryia right behind her. They both looked as if they had come from a fight, Midoryia's jacket was gone and there were a few scrapes and bruises on him while his right arm was wrapped around arm guard that looked to be made out of red metal. Melissa's hair and dress were a little dishevelled, she was bare footed and there was a bandage wrapped around her right arm from where it had been cut. The teens' faces, especially Melissa's, looked appalling at the two men who had been caught in the act; disbelief and hurt evident in her eyes. David was just as shocked to see them as they were of him and found that he couldn't mutter a single word. Luckily for him, Samuel was the first to speak.
"Miss, what are you doing here?"
Melissa's eyes maintained on her father as she slowly made her way towards him, "We thought you were taken by the villains. We thought you were forced up here and came to find you...what do you mean that everything's going to plan?" she asked quietly, causing him to flinch, "Don't tell me you were the one behind this?"
David's mouth opened and closed as he tried to find the right words, however, he eventually he bowed his head in shame and simply said, "Yes, it's true."
Cheshire, Melissa and Midoryia gasped in shock as he admitted what he said. Cheshire couldn't believe it; he had known the man for a long time and knew of all his achievements and progress he made in the field of heroism. Not only that, but he was a family man who loved his daughter dearly...this was not like him at all.
"How could you!?" Melissa cried at him.
"He was only trying to get back what was stolen from him," Samuel said, hugging the briefcase close to him, "The invention inside this briefcase...is able to mechanically amplify quirks."
'Mechanically amplify quirks?' Cheshire thought in confusion as he stared down at the briefcase.
"It is still in testing," Samuel continued, "But with this device, unlike with drugs, quirks cam be amplified without affecting the body. However, the sponsors confiscated this invention and data and the research itself was frozen. If this was made known to the world then the structure of superhuman society would change drastically. Fear that, governments from different nations put pressure on him. That's why the professor...agree to my idea. If we hired fake villains to steal it then we can have it back. Not only the invention, but years and years' worth of data and research that painstakingly collected which can be used to complete it. Nobody will have to get hurt and we would be only taking back what was stolen from us; it was only right. We had been planning this for months and finally agreed to do on the night of the gala where everyone will be gathered in one place. The villains will take over and steal the amplifier and we will finally continue our work."
At the end of the explanation, Melissa stared at horror at her father, "This can't be true. The father I know would never do that! WHY!?"
"It was the only way..." David muttered in a defeated manner, "...to help All Might," he answered, surprising the three teens, "You two probably don't know, but his quirk is disappearing. However, if he uses my device then it can go back to normal. It can even give him more abilities than he started with. The number one hero...they symbol of peace...can get his light back again...and save so many people like he once did."
Cheshire looked down and saw the shocked expression on Melissa at this reveal, but then his eyes turned and saw the look of devastating guilt on Midoryia's face. David didn't know the truth; All Might had passed on his powers to him so he could become the next wielder of One For All; that's the reason why his health had been deteriorating. Midoryia must feel heartbroken that David went to such lengths in order to help All Might; to help the world not lose it's number one hero.
David ran up the stairs and snatched the briefcase from Samuel, "Please! Please let me hand this device to All Might! There's no time to remake it! After he gets it, I don't care what kind of punishment I receive! I've prepared myself-"
"THEY RISKED THEIR LIVES!" Melissa screamed at him, silencing her father, "WHAT DO YOU THINK DEKU AND HIS CLASSMATES WENT THROUGH TO SAVE THE HOSTAGES!? LEWIS IS STILL MISSING SOMEWHERE AND NOBDOY CAN FIND HIM," she ripped off her bandaged and showed him her cut arm, her blue eyes filled with rage, "DO YOU THINK SOME STUPID INVENTION IS WORTH RISKING LIVES!?"
David looked beyond shocked, not because of her screaming at him, but because of what she said and the cut on her arm. He frowned and took a step back as if not believing what she had said.
"Risking lives? What is the meaning of this? The villains are fake!?" he turned to Samuel, the portly man turning away guiltily, "It should've been an act!"
"Of course, it was an act." replied a dark, cold voice surprising everybody in the room.
They turned around and were shocked to see the man with the iron mask at the doorway, flanked by two other men. One was a lean man with long shaggy blond hair, fair skin and wore the black soldier's uniform; over the top of his face, which covered his eyes, was a grey mask with one round lens white and the other bright red. The other soldier was giant, muscular bald man with fair skin, beady eyes and wore a face mask over his mouth. The giant man cracked his knuckles loudly which sent shivers down Cheshire's spine.
The metal faced man grinned menacingly at them as he spoke again, "It was an act pretending to be a fake villain."
Midoryia immediately reacted; his body began to crackle with green electricity and was about to leap at him...when the metal-faced villain simply waved touched a nearby metal wall. With the snapping of metal, parts of the railing were torn off the balcony and hurled towards Midoryia; caught off guard, the green-haired boy barely had time to react before the railing hit him, dragged him across the room and trap him against the wall as if he had been caught in a spider's web. Midoryia struggled to get out, but the metal wrapped around him was too tight.
Metal Manipulation: Wolfram can reshape and manipulate metal at will by touching any metal surface.
"Deku!" Melissa cried in shock.
Even Cheshire considered going down to help him, but he knew he had to keep hidden for now; the villain's had yet discovered that he was there.
"Stay there and keep quiet," the metal-faced man told him before he turned to David and Samuel, "Sam, where's the device?"
Samuel suddenly snatched the briefcase back from David and rushed over to him, "Right here, Mr Wolfram."
"Don't tell me..." David gasped as he watched his partner hand the villain the briefcase, "...from the beginning, you were planning on giving the device to the villains all along? You tricked me!"
"Y-you're the one who tricked me," Samuel called back to him, "I served you for so long, but you let your research be frozen so easily and the honour and renown we were supposed to get all went away..." he turned back to him with a pained grimace, "If I didn't get at least some money, then it was a waste of my time!"
Samuel turned back around to the villains, but his eyes widened when he saw the handgun pointed at him.
"And here's the reward I promised," Wolfram said before he shot him in the shoulder.
Samuel collapsed to the floor with a shrill pained cry as he held his bleeding shoulder, "This...wasn't what...you promised," he stammered, looking up at the metal mask of the villain.
"Promised?" Wolfram asked with a sinister grin as he raised the handgun for a second time, but this time it was pointed at his head, "I don't remember. This is your reward."
Wolfram ignored the screams of both David and Melissa and began to squeeze the trigger...when something smacked the gun out of his hand, causing it to skid across the ground.
Wolfram growled in anger as he looked back to see Cheshire standing before the injured Samuel as if protecting him; in both hands he held three bladed Club playing cards in between his fingers resembling claws.
"Fleetwood!" Midoryia cried from his prison.
"Lewis!" Melissa shouted in shock and relief.
Cheshire turned back to a surprised Samuel and looked over his wound, "Keep pressure on it. I'll help you in a mome-ack!"
He suddenly gasped as the metal floor around him rose up and wrapped around him, trapping him with only his head poking out the top. It was hard to breath or move and he struggled within his binds. Wolfram immediately snatched his hat from him to reveal the top of his head, making sure, as long as they keep watching him, that he doesn't disappear.
"Your concern for others is noble, but you should really keep focus on your enemy. Who knows, if you had let him die...then maybe you'd have more success in catching me by surprise," Wolfram drawled out before he glared back at the muscular man, "I take it that Elda was defeated. You should have known better to trust her, Farkas."
Farkas grunted and glared at Cheshire murderously before his cracked his knuckles loudly once again.
"Leave him alone!" Melissa cried as she ran up to Lewis.
However, Wolfram battered her away with a swipe of his hand, causing Cheshire to cry out in shock. David ran towards his daughter as fast as he can, but the metal floor rose up and trapped him as well; Wolfram then waved his hand and made the metal drag him back to where he was. The metal-faced man glanced at him as he struggled against his bindings before looking around to the three teens.
"You see, this is the problem with heroes. You always rush in without thinking," making his hand into a fist, he smacked David in the side of the head and knocked him out; he grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and held him up, "You'll come with us and make more amplifiers," he turned his cruel eyes to a struggling Cheshire and held his hat up to him, "And we might even take the express way since it's right here."
"Please..." Melissa gasped out, holding the side of her face where he had hit her, "...please just let my dad go. You already have the amplifier. You don't need anymore."
Wolfram responded by picking up his fallen handgun and pointing it at her; Lewis eyes widened in fear to see his friend in danger and tried his best to fade out of his holding. Farkas eyes never left him for a single second, preventing him from using his quirk.
"I almost forgot," Wolfram smirked evilly as Melissa backed away from him, "I have to get rid of all of the professor's associates."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
He was about to pull the trigger when a sudden yell came from the other end of the room from Midoryia; green electricity sparked wildly around him as he burst out of his metal cocoon and zoomed towards Wolfram ready to deliver a punch. Wolfram had only just conjured up a wall of metal from the floor before Midoryia could hit him; the green haired boy smashed into the wall, but he was far from done. He turned his eyes to Melissa and yelled:
"RUN! MELISSA! GET TO THE CONTROL ROOM!"
She was surprised at first but she then nodded in determination, stood to her feet and ran as fast as she can towards the exit.
"Get her now! Wolfram ordered his other soldier as he began to make more metal pillars to defend himself from Midoryia.
The blond-haired man sprinted after her before she could escape. However, when Midoryia had yelled, Farkas had torn his hateful eyes from Cheshire for a split second and allowed him to use his quirk. Cheshire appeared just above the blond soldier, grabbed the back of his head in both hands before slamming his face into the floor below, knocking him out of the fight. Cheshire disappeared once more to snatch his hat back from Wolfram before teleporting at the exit and turning back to Midoryia.
"I'm going with Melissa! You think you can handle them!" he called to him.
"I'll be fine! Keep her safe!" Midoyria yelled back as punched away another pillar of metal.
Cheshire nodded and ran after Melissa down the empty corridor. Wolfram noticed his departure and turned to Farkas madly.
"There's more than enough metal. Kill the girl and capture the boy," he snarled.
Farkas growled in response and sprinted down the corridor after the two.
Cheshire finally caught up with Melissa running down the corridor and offered her a small wave, "Sorry, I'm late."
"You came at the right time," she said with a brief smile, "What happened to you?"
"Villains. What happened to your shoes?"
"Stairs."
"Say no more," he said as they sprinted; the Control Room was now in their sights.
As they neared the room, Melissa spotted a panel on the wall and rushed over to it. After pressing a few buttons, a giant metal barrier came down from the ceiling and sealed off the corridor behind them.
"That should buy us some time," she muttered, "Let's get this over wi-"
CLANG!
They jumped as something hit the barrier hard as something or someone ran into it.
Whhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
It was then followed by an unusual sound that they never heard of before. It sounded like pieces of metal being torn away rapidly and continuously. It was getting louder and louder, making them take a few steps back from it.
"Is somebody...drilling into the barrier?" Cheshire gulped.
"It's two meters thick and made from the most strongest material with have on I-Island. Nothing should get through it," she replied in slight concern, "well, in theory anyway."
The noise continued on constantly getting louder as the metal barrier groaned and creaked under the pressure. Cheshire frowned and made several explosive Spades cards appear in his hands.
"Is there another barrier in front of the Control Room?" he asked.
"I think so."
"Get to the Control Room and close the barrier behind you. I'll be out here," he told her, not taking his eyes off the barrier.
Melissa glanced at him, "No way, I'm not leaving you."
"The quicker you reboot the system the more time the pro heroes have to come up here," he said, "I'll be fine. I'll get out of here as soon as I am out of my depth."
Melissa frowned as still didn't like the idea, but ran to the Control Room anyway. Once she entered it, she closed the barrier behind her and sealed Cheshire inside the corridor. He crouched down, ready to fight who was on the other side of the door; when suddenly...
CLANG! CRASH! BOOM!
A large hole opened up a few meters above his head, smashing past the barrier as if it was nothing. Poking out of the hole was the giant, silver-coloured head of Farkas with his beady red eyes and bald scalp, but what really caught his attention was that he no longer wore his mask to reveal the round, gaping mouth filled with hundreds upon hundreds of teeth that took up the majority of his lower face. The beady eyes glared down at him and lit up with murderous intent before large fingers poked through the hole as well and ripped the barrier away as if it was made of foil to reveal the giant figure. He was ten foot tall and a broad muscular frame, two massive hands that ended with claws, but the most prominent feature was that his skin seemed to be made of shiny, silvery metal that glittered in the corridor light. Farkas stomped over to him and towered over Cheshire, his knuckles cracking as he tensed them. Cheshire didn't need to be told what his quirk was, he could see it for himself.
Metal Eater: Farkas can consume any metal and make it part of his body. The stronger the metal; the stronger he can become.
Cheshire gulped as he stared up at the behemoth in front of him, "Okay...I'm out of my depth."
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.
All the pro-heroes that fought Cheshire were ones I spotted at the party in the movie, but I couldn't find any information on them. So I decided to make them up; their names, where they're from and quirks were all made up by me. Next chapter will be the conclusion of the I-Island arc, I hope you'll enjoy it.
Thanks for reading :)
Daily Lives Of Victor Soul's OCs
"Hey Night Terror," Lewis greeted the Phobos as he walked into the living room, "Heard you battled an enemy in a tower. Got any tips for my next chapter."
Night Terror looked up at him from his armchair and folded the newspaper he was reading and placed it on his lap, "Hmm, I do not suppose you have long deceased family members whose ghosts will aid you in battle? That is what happened with me."
Lewis frowned thoughtfully before glanced over at Michael who was sharpening his katana in the other armchair. Michael sensed a disturbance and stopped his sharpening to raise his head up.
"Jiiiiiiiiii…" Lewis and Night Terror stared expectingly at him.
Michael sighed in annoyance and went back to sharpening, "Not happening," he grumbled.
"But we're canonical related."
"Canonical distantly related."
"Could you at least help anyway. I might die."
"Don't care. Fight your own battles."
"So mean," Lewis sighed, bowing his head in defeat.