Chapter 18: Guarding a Princess
Once they left the airport the first thing they needed to do was to meet with the king who requested a second guard detail for his daughter. Her own guards were already elites, but he wanted more for her. She was his only child and the royal family's quirk was one that greatly lowered fertility.
Plus he was leaving the country for an extended period of time so he wanted some insurance that his child would be alright. On the drive, she and her new team continued to talk amongst each other to pass the time. One thing different about the royal family of Britain was that they had taken back control of the United Kingdom when quirks became a thing.
Their power made them the supreme rulers just like the other countries that had a form of monarchy had gained powerful quirks. Even the Church had gained great power because it had its own powerful quirk which caused scientists to make a theory. When quirks first apparated, it was possible those ancient lines had power within, to begin with.
However, what set apart the King of England from the others was that he was considered one of the few people in the world who could fight toe to toe with peak All Might and maybe above him. The more Sayo heard about him and his family made her excited to meet him. She wondered more about him.
"What are you thinking about Sayo? Your face looks like you are in deep thought."
She looked at Anastasia and told her.
"Well living in Japan all you hear about it is All Might this, All Might that so finding that the King could fight him at his peak just makes me a little giddy. The fact that more strong people are in this world than that old man."
Dimitri who was next to her nodded and gave his input.
"There are a lot of people hidden by the governments with the power to fight All Might. The king of Britain is one person and Russia has one as well. Her name is unknown, but her quirk was nicknamed Crusher. Just think about a car crusher, but on the scale of cities."
Dimitri shivered in terror when he thought of the time she was deployed to a city that had been taken over by terrorists. She did not even bother to save anyone and crushed the entire city with no hesitation. He was part of that operation as he used to be part of the Russian Special forces and he knew that defeating her would be near impossible for just anyone.
Even All Might would probably end up badly hurt or dead, but she might as well. At that level of power, it was less about straight power and more about who had better control over their quirk. Those were just three of many more that were known and unknown. The Blackhand also had 4 such people in its hold but very few knew them. Sayo did not know if her grandfather knew them, but with his high position, he might.
Baek nodded as he also knew one person in South Korea with such power. He was considered to be the hero of South Korea. Yet his identity was also not known, but what was is that he was a soldier and that his power was one of pure destruction, Immolation. His fire made Endeavor look like a spark as he was immune to heat.
The more they talked about those people made Sayo realize that she still could be killed. Her quirk was refined, but she still had more to go is she wanted to read the peak.
'Awesome.'
When they arrived at Buckingham Palace and their convoy parked at the entrance there were quite a few guards gathered in case they were a threat. Sayo whistled and got out of the SUV with her three pets in had to approach the guards. She knew these guys were strong and trained by the Royal Family as sentinels.
They were dressed in military uniforms as they were soldiers, not heroes. As such, they were authorized to 'shoot to kill' unlike heroes who were bound by laws. One of them called out to her.
"State your identity and reason for being here."
(British accent and everything.)
Sayo pulled out her badge with a decayed hand logo on it. The moment the guard saw it he knew it was real as no one but the Blackhand used that symbol. Anyone who used it besides them never lived long.
"Let them through.'
When the gate opened they entered while being led by the guards. Stephan lit up another cigar as they walked in, but he was also looking all around for any threat. Sayo walked up to him and talked to him.
"Notice anything Stefan."
He looked at Sayo and shook his head.
"Not yet brat. I will let you know when I do."
Anastasia rolled her eyes.
"Just because you are old and bitter does not mean you should be an ass."
"I am not old, I am 29."
Sayo looked him over and acted shocked.
"I would have said 50."
Dimitri broke out laughing at their banter, but he was also not old. He was 32 and the oldest among them. Baek was 30, Stephan was 29, Sophi was 17, Anastasia was 14, and Sayo was the youngest at 10, but she said 16. The soldiers led them to a big room where a young man with black hair in his early 20s was sitting on a chair dressed in a black suit.
The moment they saw him all of the team knew he was dangerous. It was like a beast was standing over them and they were sheep. The one who had it worst was Sayo as she knew this was not related to a mere quirk.
In his arms was a young 9-year-old sleeping, but the moment Sayo saw him her back was drenched in sweat. Her eyes glowed dark purple as she gazed at the man and she felt pure danger.
'Now this is power.'
She looked at his eyes which were vertical like a dragon and they burned in his eyes like coals. For a split second, she thought he saw a giant dragon behind him. He glanced at her which made her become on edge.
'This guy is the real deal. All Might my ass, this guy is what Might looks like.'
Sayo bowed to him as she did not mean to offend him.
"I am sorry your majesty. I did not mean any disrespect. We are here for the guard job you asked of us."
The king of Britain, Samuel Mountbatten Windsor. Despite his young appearance, he was actually 150 years old. The girl in his hands was his daughter Eliza Mountbatten Winsor.
"It does not matter to me. This is my daughter, very soon I will be leaving for Germany. My daughter can't come and my spies have confirmed there is a possible threat to her. She has her own security, but I felt it better if she got some more guards on top of them. I expect your team to do their best at keeping her safe. You will have all the support of the guards here."
They all bowed to the king as he was their client.
"You can count on us."
"I hope so, John vouched for you which is rare. Your grandfather must care a lot about you."
He woke up his daughter who yawned and saw that she was still in her dad's embrace. Her eyes did not look like his and looked human. Her quirk was active, but she could barely call 5% of it.
"Eliza, these are the new guards for you. I need to go now."
They expected a tantrum, but she got off his lap and bowed to him.
"Yes father, come back safe."
Samuel looked at her for a while before he began to walk away. Before he left he looked at Sayo and Anastacia.
"You two have already awakened your quirks so keep training. If you live as long as I do, come find me if you ever want to fight."
Sayo and Anastacia could feel pure excitement in his words and she had to say he hid it well. However, it seemed he was a battle junkie. Sayo bowed before he left.
"I will see you then your majesty."
Anastacia nodded.
"If I live that long I will find you."
"I hope you do."
When he finally left Sayo and her team all lowered their guard and looked at Eliza. She looked at all of them and bowed respectfully.
"I am sorry to be such a burden. My father has delayed his trip to keep me safe and now I am troubling you."
They were confused as they expected a spoiled brat. Sayo just shook her head.
"That is our job. You are our guard target and our job is to keep you safe. Now, do you have any idea who could want you dead?"
She shook her head.
"No, there would be too many. My father has many foes that envy his power, wealth, and status. Killing me is the easiest way to hurt him as they can't do anything to him. I feel useless for being a weakness for him."
Sayo and Anastasia rolled their eyes at her as they did not like being on guard duty. This was their second mission and they already were not liking it. On the attack mission, they just needed to kill everything in sight while not dying. However, guard duty would be slow and a threat could be anywhere and from anything. Who knew if the danger was in the palace already so they needed to be careful?"
Sayo spoke to the whole team.
"Alright, first order or businesses is getting a leader. Who here has had guard duty?"
Stephan and Dimitri raised their hands and seeing that Sayo asked one more thing.
"Who feels more confident about this?"
Dimtri lowered his hand as he did not see much point in him being the leader. He had led a squad in the Russian military before he left it for the Blackhand. Anastasia had a suggestion.
"Then Stefan should lead?"
Jenny was fine with that.
"I am fine with that."
Sophi jumped on his shoulder and held his head.
"Big man will lead us then."
Dimitri patted him on the back.
"Your up boss."
Baek also was ok with it, and Sayo was the one to suggest it anyway
"Alright, so Stephan is the leader of this operation. Now how long will we be here?"
Eliza answered even if she found them all kind of intimidating.
"Dad is going to be meeting with the new president of Germany. Tensions have been high recently and he is going to our allies to prepare for any war that could break out."
Stephan made one rule that he thought might annoy Sayo.
"As the current leader, I will make one order to you Sayo. Could you let your tigress stay in the princess's shadow? I know she can hide in the shadow, and in any situation, she could be a life safer. Not just the princess but all our lives too."
Nyx snarled at him as guarding anyone other than Sayo was a waste of time to her, but Sayo knew it was important. She knew Nyx would not be happy, but she wanted to have as high a score in this mission. It might give them access to higher-tech and secrets that even her grandfather did not tell her.
"I can do that. Nyx, I know you will not like it, but please."
Nyx snorted, but she obeyed and entered the princess's shadow. Sayo knew her pet was not pleased as she only cared about Sayo's life, but in any situation, they could not move to her it might be the best choice they could do. Stefan looked at Sophi on his shoulder
"Sophi are you just fast or do you have anything else."
Sophi smiled happily as she clicked on her necklace. They were all given nanomachine suits, but hers was light and made her invisible. She appeared next to Sayo and as cats barely made noise when they moved they could barely feel her move. Stephan found a good way to use that ability.
"Sophi, I want you to tale the guards around to make sure they are not traitors."
"You got it, boss."
"Baek, can you see through walls?"
"Sure can. This visor has many vision modes."
"Good, use those to keep an eye on her. Dimitri, you are going to have to be her direct guard as people will see you as our main heavy hitter. However, Sayo and Anastasia are our true trump cards. Anastacia, how far is the rage of your quirk."
"Around 100 meters at my normal. 150 if I push myself."
"Use it periodically to scan the space in that area. Sayo, I want you, Maximus, and Koba to split up and patrol different parts of the castle. Jenny, go with Maximus. I will be with Koba."
Sayo was fine with it.
"Alright, you two heard him."
They snorted, but they obeyed her orders. Jenny looked at Maximus who looked at her.
"Hi."
He held his paw which she shook.
"Can he understand me?"
Sayo nodded.
"Yup, just talk to him and he will nod or shake his head."
Stefan was glad as he could communicate with Koba.
"Alright, now princess. Some ground rules."
"Any food you eat must be sniffed and tested by Maximus as he can smell poisons. Dimitri will stick by your side at all times and when you are outside the palace you will not try to escape. Alright?"
Eliza knew her life was at risk so she accepted it.
"Alright. I got it."
Stefan waved them off.
"Off we go."
They all started their job as her attackers could be anywhere. They did not want to die so they would keep her from dying at all costs.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone