And we're back. Back to the lab again.
Anyways, please enjoy this chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
If you were to ask Isana to explain his grand plan, he'd liken it to a grand performance. Acquiring the ingredients and chemicals needed to manufacture his mutagen was simply gathering the props. The criminals under his command, the members of Aquarium, were the actors. Kugo, traitor that he was, was still respected by the now christened villain, so death wasn't in the cards for him. No, a better punishment would be to have him be a literal captive audience. Let him watch as the world he knew was silently wiped away, replaced with one curated by Isana. Surely there was no sweeter revenge. Of course, he still had to prove to Kugo that the serum worked and his words weren't just the mad ramblings of a deluded supervillain. A demonstration was in order, and he had to thank Shikuma for his willingness to participate in it, even if he was somewhat against the idea, even now.
As it stood though, the stage was set for the world to go through a brand new forced evolution and, with only a handful of kids and two Pros aware of only a fraction of his plan, he was confident his plan would succeed. Vlad King and Present Mic were both powerful Pros in their own right, but it was just the two of them and a bunch of students. True, they were U.A. students and a handful of them did help to take down the Hassaikai, but the Aquarium was of a different league. They didn't seek destruction, they sought equality. Let the world share the perception that all mutants had.
After all, in a world where everyone was a mutant, how could an organization like the Creature Rejection Clan exist?
With a tap of his new cane against the floor, the sound echoing through the old building, Isana grabbed a syringe full of his new compound, something that Shikuma nicknamed Seawater. Maybe not the best nickname for the compound, but oddly fitting given its effect. Needle in hand, the Curator made his way down to the empty tank where they had secured their old friend. It was time for the show to truly begin.
Vlad and Mic were at the front of the group, trying to follow the old path as best as they could. Without a GPS or a map, they wouldn't really tell how far away they were from civilization, nor could they have any idea of where those water-themed thugs could have taken Orca. Out here, it just seemed like nothing but forest for as far as they could see. If there was something out here, it would have to be old for no one to know about it.
While most of Class 1-B followed behind their teachers in silence, a certain group were whispering to each other at the back of the group, so as not to be overhead.
"They knew him?" Setsunna asked, in complete shock.
"The two on the train, not so much. Only from second hand accounts, but whoever was on that comm unit...they knew him well. First name basis, not even hero name," Mogana explained.
"Old rogues of his? Maybe these guys are Gang's version of uh...what are those guys called? The fire guys who hate Endeavor?" Tetsutetsu asked.
"The Volcano Thieves?" Pony asked back.
"That's them! Maybe that's what we're dealing with."
"Doesn't explain why they refer to him as 'Kugo' though," Monoma added, "There's being familiar as a nemesis and being familiar as an old friend."
"It's possible that Gang Orca has some sort of past with them," Juzo suggested, "Maybe he used to work with them or something."
"I can't imagine a Pro of his status working with a group of criminals like that," Kendou said skeptically. "I know he had a 'criminal' past, but I thought it was something like...petty theft or something."
"Well, people can change," Shiozaki chimed in, "Maybe they used to go way back, but Gang Orca left them behind when he became a hero."
"Or they're the reason Gang Orca decided to become a hero. Did you see how intense they were?"
"You mean while I was getting crushed by an octopus tentacle? Yeah! Ohhhh if I see that guy again, I'm gonna...gonna...-!" Pony just fumed, failing to articulate just how much Innsmouth was going to pay for that little interaction on the train.
"Fire your horns into his eyes?" Tetsutetsu said.
"YEAH! THAT!"
"And staple him to a wall as well?" Setsuna added.
"Exactly!" Pony nodded with a huff.
"Such violence makes me shiver." Ibara muttered.
"I'm exaggerating, Ibara! I'm just mad!"
"That may be true, but we should not be so quick to anger. It will lead us astray, especially when facing off an opponent willing to harm a child." Ibara said.
"She's right." Mogana agreed. "If this guy has no issue with ordering us to get crushed in some walrus' grip...who knows what else he'll be fine with?"
"All the more reason to find out where they decided to make their secret lair and save Orca, right?" Tetsutetsu asked.
"And it's GOTTA be at this aquarium we passed by. Shut down years ago." Mogana theorized.
"An abandoned aquarium? Well that's a bit on the nose," Monoma scoffed.
"Best place to operate. No people around for miles..." Vlad muttered, having overheard the group, "Lots of free reign to work with."
"Thinking we should head there? Just to check it out?" Mic asked.
"The best lead we have so far. So, we're gonna have to be smart about this." Vlad planned. "No signal in these mountains. This is a rescue mission with no real prep-time or intel. Don't know how many there are, how well equipped they are. For missions like those, improv is key."
"Relax man, improv's one of my best skills!"
"Alright! Everyone, listen up! We're taking a bit of a detour!" Vlad called out.
The group at the back of the glass looked to each other, surprised that they weren't being as quiet as they had thought.
The Class reached the dilapidated aquarium, broken and forlorn, as if time itself had forgotten it existed. The signs had faded and peeled and the windows were broken. There was no doubt that nature was triumphing; vines were rapidly ascending the walls and reclaiming the territory. It was quite big, with multiple exhibits to explore. No wonder the Curator chose this place...
"Yeesh." Kendo cringed.
"This place was abandoned after an incident with one of the performers. Never recovered..." Vlad King mused.
"What exactly happened?" Monoma asked.
"Penguin pecked a guy's eyes out."
The Class took that in stride, surprisingly.
"Alright, here's the plan," Vlad addressed the group, his voice carrying a sense of urgency. "We need to split up and cover more ground. But stay alert; we don't know what we might stumble upon in this place. Kamakiri, Setsuna, Yui, Shihai, Nirengeki, you're in Group 1. Stick together and be cautious."
"Yes, sir." Setsuna nodded.
"Shiozaki, Komori, Honenuki, Shishida, wase, you form Group 2. Explore carefully and keep an eye out for anything unusual."
"Understood." Juzo nodded.
"Mic, Kendo, Bondo, Rin, Yanagi, you're Group 3. Stick close and communicate."
"You got it, boss!" Mic grinned, flashing two thumbs up.
"And the rest of you...you're with me." Vlad turned to look at his group- Monoma, Mogana, Tetsutetsu, Pony and Kosei.
The groups split up, each heading towards their designated areas of exploration in the dilapidated aquarium. Group 1 headed to the 'touch pools' exhibit, Group 2 headed to the Educational area, Group 3 headed to the gift shop, and Group 4 headed to the movie theatre.
As Group 1 entered the dimly lit area, the musty smell of old water and decay hung in the air. Nirengeki gagged.
"Guess they didn't clean this place out." He mumbled.
"Well, that's one way to preserve the natural ecosystem, right?" Setsuna said. "Letting it decay and all."
"Mmm." Yui pinched her nose as they walked in to check the place out.
Setsuna leaned against one of the tanks, peering inside at the empty shell of what used to be. "This place must've been really something back in the day."
Nirengeki nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's kind of sad to see it like this."
Togaru growled. "Sad's too…light. More pathetic, really. Whoever let this place go to waste should be held responsible. There's still some fish bones in here..."
"Maybe the ghost of that penguin with a taste for eyes is still around, snacking on unsuspecting visitors," Setsuna joked.
"I could slice that flightless bastard up in SECONDS." Togaru said, deploying an arm blade for emphasis.
"Real intimidatin', aren't ya?" a voice called out from the darkness, putting the group on edge. The doors behind them were suddenly thrown closed, cutting them off from any backup. The students all got into a ready stance, scanning the darkness for any sign of movement.
"Heard the walrus guy before, Setsunna said, "You're not him, so I'm gonna guess you're the octopus that Poni wants to nail to a wall."
At that, the lights both in and outside the tank switched on, giving the arena the same atmosphere as a stage in a play. On the far side of the tank stood Innsmouth, his arms crossed and a cocky look on his face.
"So we capture a killer whale and they send a school of guppies after us? Not the smartest move, is it?" Innsmouth chuckled.
"I wouldn't call us 'guppies.' I'm more of an alligator and my friend here's more of a mantis," Setsuna countered, gesturing over to Kamakiri as he sharpened his blades for the fight to come.
"The rest of us don't...really fit with an animal comparison," Shihai pointed out. With all the lights on, his Quirk was practically useless. Innsmouth probably didn't even know about that, he just got lucky.
"You're gonna need some darkness," Shoda whispered to his shadowy classmate, "Yui's got the projectiles, I got the force. Once things start-"
Before they could properly plan though, a bolt of lightning was suddenly fired out from above them. The students scattered just in time for the shot to miss them, but that was the proverbial starting shot. Before the dust had even settled from the lightning's impact, Innsmouth had rushed in to get things started. He smirked as he quickly punched Yui and Kamakiri in the gut and Shoda and Shihai in the face. Some of the tentacles from his face lashed out and wrapped around Setsunna's arms. pulling her up into the air.
"Hahaha! Was that REALLY all you swabbies had?! And you call yourselves heroes?" Innsmouth mocked.
"Buddy we didn't even try, yet," Setsunna smirked as her body suddenly split apart in a myriad of purple pieces, easily letting her escape the octopus' vice-like grip. With her card played, the other members of the group jolted back to their feet and began to enact their plan. Yui quickly brought out a few bolts from one of her pouches and tossed them over to Shoda. He did some quick calculations before throwing the bolts into the air at some of the stage lights.
"Fire!" Shoda called out, activating the second impact and shattering some of the lights.
A portion of the tank the class had found themselves in was shrouded in shadow, letting Shihai dash and dive into the shadows themselves. A darker piece of shadow, completely unnoticeable by anyone, began snaking through the shadows and climbing up the darkened wall. Innsmouth was about to react to the sudden burst of energy from the students before one of Setsunna's pieces slammed into him. The components swarmed all around the cephalopod criminal like bugs, constantly slamming into him from all angles and flying off before he could actually strike back. The pieces flew away and reassembled into a full Setsunna, giving Kamakiri an opening. Blades flashed and cut through the air at the cephalopod thug, forcing him on the defensive. He could afford to lose the tentacles, sure, octopi can regrow them. But with how this guy was attacking, he'd be bleeding out before he got the chance to regrow them.
Up above in the rafters, one of Innsmouth's brothers, one of the tentacle-haired squid guys from the train, took aim at Kamakiri with one of their lightning guns and began to adjust their aim every so often. He didn't want to hit his big brother, but with all the movement down there, a clean shot was getting difficult. Without noticing, a small portion of the shadows up on the walkway pulled itself up off the metal and reformed into Shihai. With a smirk, the shadow-man raced forward and grabbed the gun, forcing the barrel down before throwing a punch to the squidman's cheek. The hit knocked the gunner to the floor as Shihai tossed the lightning gun behind him.
"No guns," Shihai smirked, getting into a fighting stance.
"Upstart little-!" Innsmouth's brother growled as he got back, getting ready to fight as well.
"Huh, how many times has Class 1-A heard that?"
As Yui was about to toss another trio of bolts over to Shoda for another barrage, a second lightning bolt fired off from somewhere and disintegrated the bolts.
"Where did that-?!" Shoda asked, looking around.
Yui remembered something rather important about certain cephalopods like octopi and squids. They could camouflage themselves. Her eyes darted over to one of the nearby walls, looking for anything that just seemed out of place or strange. Sure enough, there was a slight glow from an off-looking bump on the wall. At first glance, it just looked like the metal was misshapen from all the time it had been neglected, but it was oddly human shaped. Yui reached into one of her pouches and threw a miniaturized oil drum at the spot and forced the hidden gunner to jump out of the way. The dull grey metal color with old blue paint flecks disappeared to reveal a yellow coated squid woman wielding a pair of dual lightning pistols.
"Ruin the fun, why don't you?" the squid villainess huffed.
"Was never a fan of hide and seek. Always preferred dodgeball," Yui answered, tossing another few small items to Shoda. He nodded and tapped the side of his scouter-device, scanning the dual pistols this squid criminal was carrying. When the readings came up, he could swear they were kinda familiar. He could take a better look once she was out cold though. Together, Yui and Shoda were a living machine gun. The former provided ammo that could do varying degrees of damage while the latter provided the kick and momentum needed.
Shoda began throwing various shrunken items at the squid shooter before she could react, with Yui quickly pressing her fingers together and activating the reverse power of her Quirk. The various objects suddenly exploded in size, their shadows looming over Innsmouth's sister, much to her shock. She rolled out of the way of a supersized wooden crate that shattered into splinters on the ground before she took aim with her pistols and began to fire off quick barrages at the items to destroy or knock away some items before others came crashing down on her. She rolled out of the way of those as well, but, after dodging out of the way of a massive screw, Yui suddenly appeared in front of her. She reached out to try and tap one of the pistols, but Innsmouth's sister was faster, pulling away and moving to strike Yui in the side of the head.
The squid sister was about to shoot the stunned student, only for Shoda to come in for the save. A marble suddenly pelted the gunwoman in the shoulder with the force of a rubber bullet, throwing off her aim. Two more marbles slammed into her other shoulder and gut, stunning her long enough for Yui to recover. She swept her opponent's legs out from under her before landing a powerful axe kick to the sister's midsection, slamming her into the ground.
"You're really not the best henchmen, are you?" Yui asked. With a growl, Innsmouth's sister grabbed one of the pistols and jabbed it into Yui's leg, giving her a small shock and forcing her to step off. The size-altering student let out a quick yelp of pain as it felt like she was just hit by a taser. A new barrage of lightning shots fired out from the squid woman's weapons, but a marble from Shoda reached Yui's hand. She tapped it, threw it in the air and used her Quirk to make it giant. The lightning bullets sparked against the makeshift barrier, much to Yui's relief.
"So one of you makes things grow or shrink...and the other's a walking gun," the sister pondered aloud, pausing her barrage from one gun and pointing that pistol towards Shoda. A smirk came to her beak-like mouth and she opened fire on him. All the ammo in the world's useless if you can't actually fire it off. Shoda picked up on that too, but he was too slow to evade the first shot. A ball of concentrated lightning impacted his leg and knocked him to the ground, inadvertently sparing him from the following six shots.
"SHODA!" Yui called out. The clicking of empty magazines soon reached her ears and she peeked out from behind the giant marble. Innsmouth's sister looked at her pistols in concern as she realized just how she'd messed up. She forgot to monitor the charge on them.
"I uh, I don't...suppose you'd let me move off and charge these back up, would you?" the squid woman sheepishly asked.
"No," Yui threatened.
The squid woman took a step back. "Hey, I'm just following orders here." She countered, deploying her tendrils. "You can't fault someone for just doing her job now, can you-!?"
Without another word, Yui picked up a bunch of marbles on the ground, and tossed them at the sister. She pressed her fingers together- and the sister braced for impact. She was about to explode those balls in size and crush her-
Nothing.
The squid woman blinked, before looking at Yui. The balls were thrown, right? So where were they?
"Release." Yui said.
Suddenly, from underneath her tentacles, six massive balls shot up in size, each one easily the size of a car. Their weight was heavy enough to create small craters in the ground. The squid woman stumbled back, trying to avoid the massive spheres that were now rolling towards her.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" the squid woman yelled as she ran for her life. With that out of the way, Yui raced over to check on classmate.
"Shoda? Can you stand? Can you feel your leg still?" Yui quickly asked. She wasn't exactly a trained doctor but, thanks to the license exam, she knew what to ask here, how to handle things in a better fashion.
"I'm fine, I'm fine..." Shoda groaned. "The blast sort of 'grazed' me. But it feels like my leg is one big bruise."
Yui sighed. "Thank goodness..."
As the sister ran for her life, Shihai's fight with the younger brother up in the rafters was going pretty well for him. Sure, he might not have been the best hand to hand guy, but Innsmouth's brother was much worse. The squid brother really relied on that gun of his. Right as he took a clumsy left hook, Shihai ducked under him, merging into the shadows and swiftly moving behind his opponent. He popped back up from the shadows and landed a front kick to the squid's back, knocking him to the walkway floor.
"Ow..." the squid muttered, looking up and a smile coming to his face.
"Yui was right. You guys are not good henchmen," Shihai smirked.
"Not in a fistfight...you're right. But when I have THIS?!" the squid turned around, the lightning gun back in his hands.
Thinking quickly, he darted to the side, using the rafters as cover. The squid brother fired a few shots after him, but they missed by a wide margin. Shihai quickly merged with the shadows, and began traveling around the room to psyche the brother out.
"What the hell!? Where did he go?" The brother cursed, keeping the weapon drawn.
"Over here."
The brother fired a shot where the voice came from- but there was nothing.
"Nice shot."
Another shot, another miss.
"No one taught you the first rule of shooting did they? Aim at where someone's going, not where they are."
The brother fired at the ceiling and, once again, nothing. Admittedly, Shihai was having fun with this. He'd learned how to throw his voice a while back, for stuff like this. So, where was Shihai?
Right underneath his opponent's feet.
"What? Soon as I get a gun you get all scared? All that bravado gone, shadowman?!" the squid taunted.
"On the contrary," Shihai grinned, eying the charge on the gun.
"Really? Cause from where I'm standin'," he fired off another bright shot at where he believed Shihai to be, "Looks like you're just cowering in the dark!"
Shihai let him fire and unleashed a scream of anguish to let the guy lower his guard a bit.
"HA! How's that-" The brother never finished his sentence. Shihai launched up from the ground to unleash a brutal uppercut to his face.
The brother was knocked off his feet and he lost his grip on his weapon. The giant lightning gun clattered to the ground as Innsmouth's younger brother slammed to the walkway floor with a metallic thud.
"You down? Or do we need to go again?" Shihai asked.
"Stupid brat..." The brother muttered, before surrendering.
"Good boy." Shihai grinned.
Now, the only one left standing was Innsmouth. He used his tentacles to leap away from Togaru's whirlwind of blades, even if one slash did cut through them at the end. The pirate octopus winced in pain before he landed a good distance away from the mantis-like hero to be. From the wounds, new tentacles emerged to replace the old, thanks to the boosted regeneration that his Quirk afforded him.
"Togaru! Slice me up!" Setsuna yelled- they had a small 'combo' attack they had been working on. Something smaller scale than her RegenScales, but just AS effective.
"ON IT!" Togaru yelled, before he cut into his classmate. Innsmouth was confused- why were they doing this?
"The hell are they…?" Innsmouth tilted his head, his backup plan ready just in case this went south.
Tiny pieces of Setsuna flew around the villain, entrapping him. "What the hell is this?!" He muttered.
Setsuna grinned (although it wasn't visible). "Sorry, but we're TRYING to end this quickly. So, hope you don't mind being the first time I try out my new super move!" Setsuna's pieces suddenly started flying at Innsmouth, cutting at her opponent with her razor sharp body.
"End this quickly? You think I'm just some D-list thug?!" Innsmouth growled.
"Kinda yeah!"
Innsmouth's eye just twitched in annoyance as a black cloud of inky smoke filled the air, seemingly coming out of his mouth. Of course he would have an ink escape plan.
"Nuh uh! Don't even try it." Togaru hissed. He performed a swift spinning motion, creating a powerful gust of wind with his razor-sharp edges that could slice through anything in its path...including the haze.
"The hell-?!" Innsmouth yelled.
"There you are!" Setsunna smirked, her pieces adjusting their trajectory and slamming into the cephalopod criminal.
Setsuna sent her body parts flying at her opponent like a barrage of missiles, digging into Innsmouth's skin. He screamed, and Setsuna grinned, as she reformed on top of him.
"Don't mind me." She smirked, "I'm just a distraction!"
Innsmouth was confused, but she saw someone moving behind her. It was Togaru and he was prepping another attack.
"It's not gonna hurt me...but it will hurt YOU!" the mantis hero-to-be shouted.
Togaru took a deep breath, and looked at his target- through Setsuna. "Iajutsu..." Kamakiri quickly drew a razor-sharp edge on his arm and rushed through his target with incredible speed and precision.
"STRIKE!"
A flash of light sparked after the blade passed through Setsunna harmlessly and struck Innsmouth hard. Togaru landed safely on the other side of the villain, but the octopus-man himself was down for the count, proven by the pupil-less eyes he now sported. Innsmouth started to fall back, right as Setsunna jumped off and reformed her body.
"Nicely done." Setsuna grinned.
"Never cut through something that squishy before," Togaru muttered.
"Still got him though," Setsunna smirked, "Now…how do we cuff him?"
The educational area was a series of small 'classrooms' adjacent from one another. They didn't have much beyond some tables, a few chalkboards and emptied tanks. Kids would come here to learn facts about an animal when on field trips or day camps or something.
The educational area was a series of small 'classrooms' adjacent from one another. They didn't have much beyond some tables, a few chalkboards and emptied tanks. Kids would come here to learn facts about an animal when on field trips or day camps or something. Shiozaki just found the whole thing depressing, really.
"A tragedy...truly a tragedy! This once noble place, providing small bits of education and wonder, now twisted into a den for these vile villains!" Shiozaki waxed poetic as Group 2 were doing a room by room sweep of this improvised learning center.
"It's...just an aquarium Vine," Awase sighed, "No need to treat it like the end of the world."
"As sorry a sight as it is, we have to stay vigilant," Shishida chimed in, adjusting his stylized goggles, "Outside of the walrus and the octopus, we don't know who else is here."
"Speaking of knowing who's here, you wouldn't happen to be picking up anything would you?" Komori asked, tapping her own nose for emphasis. The beastly-looking student stopped and took a sniff of the air, seeing if he could detect anything of importance. Aside from stale air and the smell of old, chipping pain filling his nostrils, the only other scent he caught was a faint hint of...fish?
Uh oh.
"I think we have a prob-" Shishida began, but he was cut off when the nearest wall exploded, sending rubble and debris flying. Bondo and Awase would've been struck by pieces of debris had Shiozaki's vines not curled out and woven themselves into a protective barrier. Komori took a dive to avoid being hit while the beastly hero-to-be bulked up with his Quirk and used his body as a living shield. As the dust and debris settled in the classroom they were all in, a massive and imposing figure marched through the now gaping hole in the classroom's wall, their massive fist gripping the edge of his improvised entryway.
"You're kidding me," Walrus scoffed as he took in the sight, "Kids. The Number 10 ranked Pro and all they send to save him are a buncha kids? What, was WASH busy?" The new muscle of the Aquarium let out a snorting laugh at the joke.
"I will have you know, villain, that Wash is an upstanding and remarkable Pro! There's a reason he's number 11!" Shiozaki fired back as her vines unravelled and she got ready to fight along with the rest of her class.
"Woulda thought they'd send a Pro...or Orca's sidekicks or hell, maybe even Yoroi or Crust. But no. Doesn't that just say something about the brass' views."
"This was on short notice, but that doesn't mean we're not up for it," Awase countered, "Besides, Gevaudan's much scarier than you."
"Geva-what?" Kaizou raised a brow before a roar practically deafened him. Before he knew it, Shishida was on him, the muscle of the second group tackling the walrus fighter back through the hole he created and into the next classroom. The others quickly followed as Shishida and Kaizou began their bare-knuckle brawl. With the surprise advantage, Shishida started things off with several ferocious punches to his opponent's gut, making him double over from each successive hit. With a growl, Walrus moved and caught the next punch Shishida was going to throw, yanking his massive arm to the side and opening him up for a strong headbutt. The beastly behemoth staggered back from the impact before Kaizou started his own barrage of punches.
Orca was right when he called the hits "sloppy." Shishida had some martial arts skills even before going to U.A, but Kaizou? Kaizou was a street thug, a self-taught "boxer" who only really knew the basics for proper hand to hand, things like how not to break your own fingers when you throw a punch. To the Walrus, the only thing a fighter really needed was their brute strength. And if that wasn't enough, well, there were always plenty of support gear on the black market that could help. He didn't need it yet though. Instead, another messy but heavy right hook slammed into Shishida's face. Kaizou was about to pull off an uppercut before several vines wrapped around Shishida's waist and pulled him back, making the strike miss. Now it was time for the others to get involved. Bondo raced in first and fired off globs of adhesive at the brute's feet, controlling the glue to quickly dry and trap the walrus villain in place. Then came Awase and Komori. Both of them raced around the villain, taunting him and forcing him to lash out with heavy smashes. Komori leapt over one strike, while Awase slid under a sweep backhand.
"Next one?" Komori asked as she ducked under another powerful hit.
"Next one!" Awase confirmed. He reached into some of the pouches on his own belt and brought out some pieces of metal pipe. As the next strike from Kaizou came down, Awase dodged out of the way and let the Walrus' fist hit the floor. Then, before the brute could take his hand away from the floor, Awase took the pieces of metal he had and welded them to the giant villain's arm and the floor, effectively binding it in place.
"The hell?!" the Walrus yelled.
"And that's not all!" Komori smirked as she took out two water bottles, spinning them in her hands like old western revolvers. She took aim and then just...spritzed the Walrus with sprays of water.
"...the hell was that supposed to do? I'm not a cat."
"Shroom shroom shroom," The girl grinned, as the walrus man began to feel strange.
"What...the hell did you do to me!?" He yelled, feeling itchy all over.
"I don't wanna assume you're the 'big and dumb' stereotype, buuuuut, we already got the dark part down! All I needed to do was add the damp. And that's a perfect recipe foooooooooooor shroomies!"
As she said that, several mushrooms began to sprout out of his arms and wherever else Komori's mixture managed to land.
"W-woah! A-ah! Get them off!" The walrus man screeched. "These things REEK!"
"I don't think so! You can shake 'em off but they'll just grow back!" Komori beamed.
"Stupid brats…" Walrus frowned.
"So, mind telling us what your boss is up to?" Awase questioned.
"Repent, fiend, and maybe the pain will subside." Ibara declared.
"Repent? What are you, a nun?" Kaizou scoffed.
"I am a symbol of purity, hope, and justice for those who are in need!"
"...is she serious?"
"It's her thing," Awase smirked.
"Fine, fine...if it gets these things off me, I'm fine with selling out the bastard. He's crossing a line." Kaizou huffed.
"Who, your boss?" Awase said. "What'd he do?"
"...you guys remember that Overhaul guy, right? Sold that Quirk erasing drug?" Kaizou said. "Or, TRIED to."
"Yeah. We heard about it...is your boss trying to do that, too?" Bondo asked.
"More like a variation of it. He found a way to...overwrite Quirks." Kaizou explained.
The students all turned to each other, confused and muttering. "Overwrite Quirks?" Ibara repeated. "It's a scientific impossibility. No one can do that..."
"I mean, it's possible to replicate Quirks. Those Nomu guys in the news," Awase added. "They have the same Quirk. If there's a way to replicate them or steal them, overwriting them doesn't feel impossible."
"Believe me, I didn't think it was possible at first either," Kaizou scoffed, "but you don't know the Curator."
"The Curator? The archfiend of your nefarious cabal I take it?" Shiozaki deduced.
"Stop talking like that! You're not a saint!"
"I endeavor to be saintly, villain!"
"Ugh, whatever. Yeah, Curator's our boss. Hella smart. Took these second-rate black market support items and turned 'em into actual weapons," Kaizou explained.
"What support gear?" Komori asked, tilting her head.
"Oh, that's right...I didn't get the chance!" Kaizou grinned. Before anyone could react, a pair of knuckle dusters were fitted onto his hands by metallic arms that unfolded from his belt. A pair of electric enhancements were placed on the sides of his legs as a powerful jolt surged through the Walrus' body. Lightning bolts fired out of his body, forcing the heroes to back away from him. One of the bolts managed to strike Awase, sending him flying into one of the walls.
"He was stalling!" Shishida growled. The lightning bolts shattered the glue that Bondo had used to entrap the Walrus. Using his free arm, he managed to break apart the pipes that held his other arm in place, turning one arm into an improvised electric club.
"Just figured that out, huh?!" Kaizou laughed.
Ibara didn't hesitate to restrain him again. More vines shot out from her hair, and quickly wrapped themselves around his hands. "Nasty trick...honesty is the best policy."
"It's a shitty policy, y'know!" Kaizou gagged, pulling his fists back and bringing Ibara towards him.
Ibara gasped as she was about to be struck by one of Kaizou's electrified fists, only for Shishida to rush in and slash the vines in half, freeing up his classmate. The fist was still coming her way though, so, with his bulked up form, the beastly hero-to-be simply tanked the strike.
"Shishida!" Komori called out.
Shishida yelled, as he caught the fist. His fur coat was a good insulator, but it still was hurting. Shishida grunted, trying to push backwards.
"Damn brat!" Kaizou yelled, as he upped the voltage. "Go DOWN!"
"Not...going...to HAPPEN!" Shishida growled, his grip tightening on the Walrus' fist. He was doing his best to ignore the pain of god knows how many volts coursing through his body, insulator or no. Kaizou looked down at his fist and growled, throwing another shocking punch at his bulky opponent. The hit shocked him in the side, but the pain wasn't enough to force him to let go. The Walrus kept trying to punch away at the beast before him, but vines quickly wrapped around his other arm and held it in place. Shiozaki braced herself as electricity travelled down her vines like wires, shocking her greatly.
"WHAT...ARE YOU DOING?!" Shishida roared.
"It's only fair! These shocks were...meant for me! I couldn't allow you to...to languish under such punishment!" Shiozaki managed to say.
"Yeah! No one should languish!" Awase yelled. "Whatever that means!"
Bondo roared. "Keep him still! I got an idea!" Ibara and Shishida pulled Kaizou both ways, trying to hold him still. Bondo took aim, and yelled as glue launched out of his face.
"GLUE SQUALL!" He yelled, as the paste splattered across Kaizou's face.
"The hell-?!" Kaizou yelled before the adhesive smeared all over his face, muffling his confused yells. He couldn't even try to get it off as Shiozaki and Shishida still held strong to his hands.
"Release his hands!" Bondo yelled, and Shishida and Ibara followed. Bondo began to shoot more glue out of his face, coating this man head to toe in glue. Kaizou stumbled around, screaming for help.
Bondo gagged. "A-augh...gross, that's the most I've ever produced..."
Awase winced. "...d-don't say that, dude."
Once the Walrus had been covered in glue, Shiozaki and Shishida both released their respective held arms. No matter how hard Kaizou tried it, he couldn't get the paste off of his body before it hardened, leaving him as a perfect sculpture.
"He's gonna be ok, right? He won't suffocate or anything?" Komori asked.
"He should be fine, yeah," Bondo huffed.
Ibara pushed him back. "Attach him to the ceiling, just in case. I don't want him to be trouble any further."
"Think I got that covered," Awase said, putting on his welding mask and pulling out sections of industrial piping.
"Hopefully the others are having an easier time than we are," Komori said.
"Well," Isana said as he looked down at his watch, a live feed of the heroes fighting and searching the facility broadcasting right to him, "It seems your students decided they wanted to be first in line for the procedure."
"They're not here. They wouldn't be so stupid as to-!" Kugo began, before the Curator moved and just showed him the feed, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU IDIOTS?!"
"As strict but concerned as ever. Now, usually I wouldn't consider using them as test subjects...but in a way," the Curator turned to his subordinate, "Shikuma."
"It's time boss?" Bearhead asked.
"That it is. If you wish to back down-"
"Boss, already went over this with you. If this works, then I'll be fit for the world you're making. Won't be an outcast before you flood the world, right?"
"You're going to WHAT?!" Kugo yelled.
"He exaggerates, Kugo. You know he has a penchant for it," Isana sighed before readying the needle. Shikuma held his arm, letting the Curator take a hold of it before gently sliding the needle in. Bearhead winced in pain as the needle slipped under his skin and injected the compound. Isana quickly withdrew the needle once the vial was empty before he took a few steps back. Shikuma looked down at his arms as, at first, nothing seemed to happen. Kugo hoped that maybe whatever compound this was still had kinks to work out, or was just outright a dud.
"Are we su-GAH!" Shikuma began, cut off by a searing pain in his body. He double over and his body began to mutate, He kept his claws but he gained a thin, web-like membrane between his fingers, perfect for swimming. All the fur on his body began to fall off in large clumps. Kugo watched in horror as his friend mutated into a new form, while the Curator's grin only grew wider behind his bandages and mask. A tail ripped its way free of Shikuma's body, thudding against the ground.
"It worked..." Isana muttered, "It WORKED."
"That...it...DID, boss," Shikuma growled, his voice now carrying a watery gurgle to it.
"Then you know what to do. Kaizou and Innsmouth are out there, so's Zookeeper. Dholak and Innsmouth's brother are readying the delivery system. You-"
"I keep the kids out while you work," Shikuma snapped his new jaws.
"Precisely. Enjoy your new body, old friend. I believe…" Isana checked the cameras, swapping from one feed to the next, checking on the path that one of the groups would be taking, "There. Seems some of our unwanted guests are heading to the flooded Amazon River exhibits. Perfect environment to test out everything, wouldn't you say?"
"I would… Shikuma hissed before he thundered off to assault the students.
"You...you're-" Kugo began.
"Insane? Can you not think of a better insult? Don't rely on clichés," Isana rolled his one visible eye, "Now, come on. I want you to see the delivery system while we still have time." With that, the Curator grabbed the back of Kugo's chair and, with a surprising amount of strength, easily dragged Kugo away to another part of the aquarium.