At ten thirty-eight p.m., a van cruised to an almost silent stop just outside Hosu City. The vehicle’s windows were blackened, and its exterior was coated in dark brown, which made it nearly invisible in the dark. Just a few dozen metres ahead of it stood a small, inconspicuous research centre. To the public, it looked like nothing more than a government facility.
But to the two men in the van, it was their next target.
Hiro kept a lookout through the dull windows while his partner fiddled with a small laptop. This time, the vigilante was dressed in a sleek, dark grey suit, a far cry from his shoddy homemade suit.
Miles had seamlessly incorporated all his existing weapons into this suit. The inventor had even taken the liberty to add even more upgrades of his own, including a new ‘Bjarkan mode’, whatever that meant.
“So this isn’t Yamato’s base?” Hiro asked. “Why are we here, then?”
“On record, this is just a regular research laboratory.” Miles nodded. “But according to the intel you’ve gathered on your previous mission, someone has been accessing the Ethernet portal of our previous foray. Tracing back the data stream, all that network activity came from this place. Whoever’s in charge of all that research, they’re certainly very interested in quirk extraction technology. Besides, I don’t think a mere research place needs such heavy security. See for yourself; too little unknowns for a place that’s supposed to be full of scientists.”
Hiro put on his helmet and activated Reconnaissance Mode, scanning the facility from inside the van. His heart raced with apprehension. Miles was right; there were way too many armed men in this place for it to be a mere laboratory.
“Seems Yamato likes to repurpose old research facilities into Yakuza bases…” the vigilante muttered to himself, retracting his helmet. “But why isn’t this one in his records?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out,” Miles said. “Like before, you’ll infiltrate this place and investigate the source of all the network activity. I’m already in their system’s mainframe, so I’ll back you up from here.”
Hiro nodded. “I assume I have permission to use that… ‘Bjarkan mode’ as well?”
“You don’t need my permission to use your toys; the suit belongs to you. I’d advise you to refrain from abusing that mode, though. Bjarkan Mode makes you several times stronger and faster, yes. But it also feeds on your adrenaline to power its enhancements. And not to mention, your body can only output so much force before a single punch shatters your arm.”
“Just like that hero, Deku, when he first borrowed the ‘One For All’ quirk from the ex-Number One Hero, All Might?”
Miles let out a grunt of acknowledgement.
“Ordinarily, I’d simply give you Amplus so you can go wild.” There was a serious look in his eyes. “But seeing that you don’t have a quirk, I engineered this to bolster your natural physical capabilities instead.”
“Thanks, Miles—”
“Hang on, I wasn’t finished.” Miles raised his hand. “You’re the first person to use Bjarkan Mode, mostly because it doesn’t play well with anyone with a quirk. Do not crank the setting to its maximum for too long.”
Hiro gave the man a warm, grateful smile as he slid the van door open. “I’ll be careful, I promise. Besides, I’ve already had sufficient time to practise the new upgrades while on the way here. I got this.”
“Oh, and one last thing.”
Hiro turned back.
“This won’t be as easy as last time. I’m sure Yamato is already aware that I’m trying to gather evidence on him, so there’s no need to insist on sneaking around. If stealth fails you, feel free to leave nothing alive.”
The vigilante leapt out of the passenger side as his helmet formed around his head. He caught a glimpse of himself in a shiny metallic door. He looked like some kind of post-apocalyptic rider, which was rather badass if he was being honest with himself.
An ultra-thin rope shot out of his palm as he aimed his upgraded adhesive grapple at the nearest high point. It pulled him up effortlessly, and he did a triple twist in the air before landing stylishly. The rope dissolved into a stream of nanobots and re-entered his suit.
Hiro glanced at the side of his visor. Even with Bjarkan mode only at ten per cent, it was more than enough to make his acrobatic movements feel a lot easier. The best part? He wasn’t even beginning to feel any strain on his body yet.
Perfect. Keep it nice and steady.
The vigilante peeked over the edge and switched on Reconnaissance Mode, scanning the compound intently. Pockets of people were scattered all around, although they were unarmed for now. The only threat he had to look out for was a small crowd patrolling near the front gates, all armed with weapons.
Hiro pursed his lips and looked around some more. Engaging in a head-on conflict was bound to draw too much attention. Besides, he wasn’t a one-man army.
His route into the main hub showed itself soon enough, along with the first door he’d have to go through. Fortunately, there was virtually nobody near that area to spot him. It looked safe enough.
“Miles. Southwest corner, back door. Looks like it has an electronic lock,” Hiro whispered. “Can you get it open?”
“Playing it clean, eh? Not a bad idea. No problem. I’ve just unlocked the door for you.”
The vigilante was already moving by the time Miles had finished speaking. He landed on the exposed stairway and pushed the metal door open. Hiro cast a cursory glance before breaking into a small jog down a long corridor. With any luck, this mission might just be as straightforward as the previous one.
A plain white door greeted him as his footsteps slowed down. The vigilante tilted his head in slight confusion. If he remembered correctly, this should’ve been the source of all the network activity. He wasn’t expecting something too high-tech, but this looked like just another room in the facility. What was so special about this one?
Hiro pushed the door testily. It was unlocked.
“Is this it?” he muttered to himself as he took in his surroundings.
The room didn’t look like it had anything important at all. In fact, it looked more like someone’s living quarters. A single-sized bed was flushed against the wall, while a relatively empty desk stood just across it.
A small flash of silver caught his attention.
The vigilante bent down and picked up two broken pieces of a knife from the garbage bin. Whoever lived here certainly had an interest in bladed weapons, judging from the few sharpening stones on the table.
“Hiro, press that button on the side of the table,” Miles spoke up all of a sudden.
Hiro did as he was told, and a computer pushed itself out of the desk. He attached a thumb drive to the machine for his partner to work his magic.
“Odd… This is a personal computer, and yet it has access to lots of restricted files. Whoever lives in this place must be some kind of high-level executive in the Yakuza.”
“Found anything useful?” Hiro asked, keeping an eye out for anyone nearby.
“Depends on what you mean by ‘useful’. I’ve got name lists and lots of research material, but nothing that points back to Yamato. All the transactions here are either under anonymous accounts or by other Yakuza members. Hold on, I think I’ve got hold of who lives here.”
The vigilante turned back to the computer. “Really? Who is it?”
“Someone called Kiko Asahi. Her alias is… Kusanagi?”
Hiro’s mind swirled. No way. Miles must’ve made a mistake. That name was more than familiar to him.
Kiko Asahi was pretty much his only childhood friend before she had to move away to a foster home. If he recalled correctly, her parents were killed in a villain attack. Didn’t she move out of Japan all those years ago because of that? Why was she part of the Yakuza now?
“Shit!” Miles shouted in his ear without warning, causing him to flinch. “Dammit, I got careless!”
“What is it?” Hiro generated a riot shield immediately, looking out of the slightly ajar door. “What happened?”
“I’m so sorry, Hiro. I only just noticed this. The room is rigged to detect foreign tech. You tripped a silent alarm when you walked in. Bollocks, I can see the whole base heading to your location. You gotta get out of there right now!”
The vigilante burst out of the room, but he was too late.
“Hey, who the fuck are you?”
Nine or ten gangsters poured into the narrow corridor. Some of them dropped into crouches, aiming their rifles at him. Others wielded their support items as they activated their quirks. More men were trying to squeeze in from behind, but that only betrayed how disorganised they were.
“Crap, they’re heavily armed too!” Miles exclaimed in Hiro’s ear, his voice filled with worry. “This is bad. Can you handle this on your own?”
Hiro smirked, noticing the gangsters’ poor firing postures.
“Shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Kill that guy!” one of them yelled.
A small metallic ball slipped into Hiro’s fingers, and he smashed it on the ground before the men could fire their weapons. Coughing and wheezing filled the air as smoke billowed out from the cracked device.
Hiro made a mad dash towards the exit door and leapt out of the building, ignoring the yelling behind him. His stomach lurched with weightlessness as he glided to ground level.
And landed right in front of another huge group of people.
Muzzles flashed, and the sound of automatic fire crackled through the air. The vigilante pressed his body against his riot shield and charged forward, feeling the slight rumbling of bullets ricocheting off the metal. The shouts got desperate. Some of the gangsters began to transform.
And then he was amongst them.
Power coursed through his armour as he slammed his foot into one of the rifle-wielding men. There was a cracking sound as his kick shattered the weapon and sent the man flying into everyone else.
The first pangs of exhaustion hit Hiro like a speeding truck as he increased Bjarkan mode to sixty per cent. He tore his mind from the discomfort; focusing on it only increased the odds of failure.
A sword bloomed into his hand at the speed of thought, and he swung in a wide arc. Blood flew. He slashed again and again like a possessed animal, separating limb from bone easily with his increased strength.
Time slowed to a crawl as his reflexes sped up. It moved slowly enough for him to take in the men’s dying faces. Some of them seemed to have transformation quirks, while others were only halfway through charging some kind of energy blast before they were cut down.
Petty vindictiveness chuckled at the back of Hiro’s mind. Quirks? So what?
The last man lunged at him with a growl, fire bursting from a hole in his palm. Hiro stepped to the side nonchalantly and pressed his palm into the man’s elbow. The flames died off immediately as the man screamed in pain, holding his broken arm.
With one last battle cry, the gangster charged at the vigilante in a desperate attempt to settle the fight with his fists.
Hiro pulled the incoming fist towards his body while kicking the man backwards, dislocating the arm at its shoulder joint instantly. Bones crunched as he slammed an open palm into the man’s jaw before assaulting his exposed torso with a flurry of targeted punches.
The vigilante watched coldly as his foe collapsed to the ground, bones fractured and pressure points broken.
Hiro wasted no time, darting off in the direction of Miles’ van. He was pretty sure that wasn’t the full manpower of this base, and he wasn’t exactly in the mood to fight a hundred people. The world smeared into a blur as Hiro pumped his legs forward as fast as he could. With his increased speed, it shouldn’t take long until—
Something flashed from the side.
The vigilante flipped in the air, quickly kicking away a grenade. Explosion roared in the distance, but he was focused on something else now.
“Kusanagi…” he hissed under his breath, raising his fists at the assassin standing motionless before him.
Kusanagi reached for the assault rifle on her side, and Hiro took the chance to rush towards her. He kicked away the weapon before she could get a proper aim at him. She spun around with the momentum, pulling out a submachine gun.
The vigilante moved in a narrow circle to dodge the wild hail of bullets, occasionally raising a small circular shield to block some of them. The firing ceased abruptly as Kusanagi stopped to reload. Hiro tossed the shield at her wrist, knocking out the weapon from her grasp as well.
The assassin pulled out a karambit this time.
Hiro heaved an internal sigh of exasperation as the crescent-shaped blade clashed with his dual batons. How many goddamned weapons did this woman have?
The vigilante parried the attacks tenaciously, but his opponent obviously had the upper hand. There was a graceful art to her movements, unlike his desperate swinging.
After all, he had only trained superficially in Krav Maga and Kali back in his military days. Bladed weaponry was hardly his field of expertise, and sheer strength was the only advantage he had over the incredibly skilled woman.
Pain lanced up his thigh as Kusanagi finally landed a solid slash. He gasped and fell to one knee, before another blow made him see stars. Hiro flailed as he tumbled away, feeling his steel-toed boot connect with something.
The vigilante panted with exhaustion as Bjarkan mode plummeted back to zero per cent again. Frustration bubbled within him as his suit ignored his mental commands to reactivate it. It was probably a safety measure to prevent him from killing himself with overzealousness, anyway. So Hiro turned his attention back to his surroundings. Best to focus on what he can control instead—
He froze, and so did the assassin.
“Kiko? Is that really you?” he breathed, staring at his old friend in disbelief. He didn’t want to believe it when Miles revealed the information earlier, but this had just confirmed it.
Kusanagi pulled her broken helmet from her head and tossed it carelessly onto the ground.
The vigilante retracted his helmet as well. “Kiko, it’s me. I’m Takehiro Kazuma. We were friends. Don’t you remember me?”
Kiko Asahi’s eyes were still burning a bright red, although she made no further movement.
“No… I—” She shook her head slightly. Her lips quivered, before curving into a snarl. “No, I don’t!”
Hiro flinched as Kiko pulled out a pistol, aiming it at his head—
Something golden flew in out of nowhere, slamming the assassin a few dozen metres away with a dropkick. Hiro barely had time to gasp before it swerved sharply towards him, sweeping the vigilante into its arms.
Inertia crashed into Hiro, and the research facility disappeared into the distance.223Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqk3zCDsMpT
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