Chương 9: Chapter 9
The smell in this place was the first thing that'll hit you if you walk in. Metallic and sharp from blood, mixed with the musty, tangy smell of sweat and damp earth as well as urine. It should be expected in an illegal dog racing circuit.
People lined the railings of the track, leaning too far over, shouting at the animals, shouting at the animals like their lives depended on the outcome of the grim sport. Beneath the rackets I could hear the dogs—snarling, yelling and panting. If you listened too long you would start to feel sick.
I kept my mask on, this time only covering the lower part of my face snuggly. The fewer eyes on me the better. My back was pressed upon a grimy support beam as I scanned the crowd. It didn't take long to find him, Mirio Togata. As a UA student he was kind of famous, as the hero Lemillion, many people believed he would be the next All Might. The top rookie.
Even in this grimy atmosphere and him wearing dark colours, he still stood out. His posture was casual but you could tell he was not used to this, he wasn't even surveying his surroundings. With every second he spent looking at the line up it looked like he was just an inch away from jumping in and putting a stop to it.
I pushed myself off the beam, weaving through the crowd to close the distance between us. Mirio caught sight of me, finally, and moved as well, until we had reached a corner less populated by the people in the room.
His eyes locked on to mine, unflinching. He was more cautious now, more deliberate.
"A charming spot you found huh?" He said.
"It's neutral ground. Overhaul has no business here." I replied to his natural confidence with my even tone. "No one here cares what we're talking about, as long as we stay out of the way."
His eyes scanned mine, searching for something. "Sure, I just hope this doesn't fall back on us and it is actually out of the goodness of your heart."
I tilted my head, not sure if there was a message I was missing. I ignored it and stated my prose.
"Overhaul has two high schoolers. He just bought them off someone earlier tonight. Alive for now, if you want them to stay that way you go to the location that I tell you in 2 hours."
I was really going to be working on overtime here. The group I was with had to make a stop, we had made sure Overhaul knew we made the stop. Mimic kept the two in question sedated and tied in the back of the truck while we rested and waited for the tank to cool down and fill up.
Overhaul didn't want us using any of his newer vehicles in case they'd be damaged.
"Hold on, that easy? You hand the intel and I'm supposed to just believe you don't have some ulterior motive?"
"Believe what you want, but in two hours time the window of opportunity will be open, if you miss it, I won't be doing any more to free them." I glanced towards the track, watching the dogs tear down the dirt path, their bodies taut with desperation.
Mirio crossed his arms. "Why are you doing this then? You're deep enough with the yakuza to know that if they go down, so do you."
Honestly I never thought about that, and I didn't care to.
"You don't need some morality lecture. Let me give you a rundown on Overhaul's quirk. With a touch he can disassemble anything he touches, as well as reassemble it in any configuration he desires, basically having full control over matter."
Mirio gained a thoughtful expression, he really should have worn a mask.
"He's experimenting," I continued, "Merging humans with animals, among other things. Those two high schoolers will be next in line."
The words hung in the air between us. Mirio didn't respond right away, and when he did, his voice was quieter and sharper. "You're a kid."
And so, I wanted to spit out. But I stopped myself since I didn't want to expose any more of myself, this man in front of me was in the same year and school as my sister. No clue if they're in the same class though.
Mirio pressed on and stepped closer looking into my eyes. "You're a kid. Probably not much older than me, but judging by how small you are you're probably younger."
That felt more like a jab than an assessment.
"...You're playing with people that would kill you without blinking. Don't you get that?"
"I know exactly what I'm doing, and if you're not ready with your team of heroes then their blood is on your hands. Do you understand that?" I spoke slowly to properly get the message across.
Then an anger flashed across his face, it was brief but unmistakeable. "You don't owe them your life, you don't owe anyone your life. You know that right?"
He was trying to be thoughtful but to me it came off as condescending.
"We could help you,"
I don't need any help. I can help myself,
"Save the hero speech,"
Before he could respond, a guttural growl cut through the air, followed by a sharp yelp. The crowd erupted, surging toward the railing. The dogs in the pit had turned on each other. One had started biting and the bodies of more collided.
Shouts of panic and excitement blended into a deafening roar as the spectators jostled for a better view or backed away entirely.
Mirio's head snapped toward the commotion, and his voice was steady and commanding. "Bubble Girl, now!"
A moment later, a girl coloured blue appeared. Her bright shade was a sharp contrast to the shadows of the venue. "What the hell is going on?" She asked, her tone was sharp but not in panic.
"Separate the dogs from the crowd," Mirio yelled, already moving forward toward the pit. Bubble girl activated her quirk forming bubbles that floated down to create barriers between the dogs and people. She worked quickly.
As she moved her foot got caught in something, and she stumbled. Looking down she was surprised to see three men knocked out and wrapped up tightly in thin white paper.
"Lemillion!" She called out urgently. "I think we got something here."
I watched from the shadows as they both inspected the men.
Mirio approached, quickly connecting the dots as he told Bubble Girl.
"They are probably the organisers of this event."
Mirio's gaze swept the room in search for me. But I was already gone, flying high back to where I left my initial group.
___
The smell of gas and rust filled the trucks cabin, the sound of the engine cut through the silence. I sat in the corner of the cargo hold, my mask still covering the lower parts of my face. Mimic floated nearby, his small figure darting between seats and walls, muttering to himself as he fixed his eyes on me.
"You're really quiet," he finally said, "Where were you earlier?"
"Sleeping."
"Really, cause I knocked really loud and I didn't even hear a stir."
I shrugged and kept my tone light and dismissive. "I was real tired, you know how exhausting these runs can be."
His glare didn't waver. Suspicion of me was still strong from the other members. "Yeah sure, deep sleep." He sighed and turned away. "Make sure you carry your own, no use in babysitting around here."
How ironic.
The truck jolted as it hit another bump in the road. Up front, Hojo cursed under his breath, his knuckles white against the steering wheel.
"How much longer till we're back?" Mimic barked.
"Another hour, maybe less." Hojo replied, his tone clipped.
I stayed silent watching as the landscape had taken on the colour of early morning. Mimic got Hojo to sedate the two teens in the back, there breathing was shallow but steady. It was still a weird revelation that I knew of them, as well of the fact that they may be involved in some rancid experiment by Overhaul and whoever his conspirator's are.
Pieces of paper were in both of their pockets, it would make what I'm about to do easier and unnoticeable.
Mimic wandered back to me in his small form. "You seem awfully invested in those kids," He mentioned, "What's your deal?"
"No deal," I replied coolly, I turned my head from him and out the window as I started noticing flashing lights, then came the sirens.
"The fuck! Police are here!" Hojo announced it
"How, and why?" Mimic turned to me, I couldn't judge what his face was saying because of the mask but due to his earlier suspicions I was sure he believed I had something to do with it.
I didn't respond, I was concentrating on the paper in the round-faced boy's pocket and it floated out and out of the truck following along as a small bird now. The other's couldn't see it, but the police may have been able to.
"Hang on!" Hojo yelled. He slammed his foot on the accelerator. The truck roared as it careened down a side path, the tires screeched against the gravel. The cages in the back rattled violently, and I instinctively reached out to steady it.
The sirens grew louder. Flashing red and blue lights grew closer.
Hojo swore again, yanking the wheel to avoid oncoming obstacles. Thankfully there weren't many vehicles on the road this early. "Mimic, Do something!"
"Do what?!" Mimic snapped, his small body darting around the cabin. "I can't stop a whole damn convoy!"
"You're supposed to be the damn manager!" Hojo screamed. 'Self-imposed Manager.'
I gripped the walls for balance as the truck swayed dangerously. The high schoolers' cage was still intact, but it wouldn't be for long. My quirk was ready to act.
As the truck rounded a sharp turn, the heroes popped out. A car sped up, pulling alongside the us before veering sharply to block our path. Hojo slammed the brakes, and the truck skidded to a violent stop, throwing all of us forward.
'Perfect.'
I remained unperturbed, the paper that was following the truck had slit it's tyres and another formed in the shape of a knife and cut the cage open. Once the truck had dropped it was easy to notice that the back tyres had gone.
And with that the back of the truck was tilted backwards. The cage dropped and the two victims were on the gravel.
"You're surrounded!" The voice of Centipeder bellowed, "Step out the vehicle and surrender!"
Mimic was the first to react, his form darted towards a light-pole and... merged? I think that is what happened. So that must be his quirk then. The light pole twisted in shape before smashing atop the vehicle that was following us.
"Surrounded? We'll see about that!"
Mimic was back in his cloth-like form, Centipeder approached cautiously, "You are only making this harder on yourself."
Mimic laughed and it echoed. As Centipeder got closer, the ground beneath him shifted, the metal warping into a slippery surface that threw him off balance. Mimic reappeared, darting at his legs before vanishing again, his movements were taunting.
"Come on bug boy, catch me if you can!" Mimic jeered.
The two teens that were on the gravel had disappeared. They must have been carried to safety already.
Meanwhile in front of me stood Lemillion, who's eyes were focused on me. He done his best to drag me off to a far distance not too far away from the main battle.
He opened up with, "There's still a way out! You're better than this." I hated that, when people spoke like that they most likely had prior knowledge of the person.
In all honesty, you can never fairly judge someone. And his profession was one where it was more than necessary.
A sharp cry cut the night. Glasslock stumbled out of wreckage, blood seeping from her side where a jagged crystal protruded. Hojo stood over her, his body shimmering with sharp edges of pink that came from his quirk.
"We have no reason to be surrendering to you heroes."
Glasslock managed to deflect a strike, but Hojo's hit still connected. The impact was brutal and it sent her sprawling. Her glass armour shattered and her quirk faltered.
"Glasslock!" Centipeder shouted, abandoning his chase for Mimic to rush by her side.
Lemillion was silent and to hammer in that I did not need his help, I quickly formed a large pair of scissors and kicked upward one side that was powerful enough to cut his hand off.
But it phased through, and then he dipped into the ground, vanishing.
"Behind you!" Hojo barked, I twisted to the side avoiding the strike Lemillion was aiming at me.
His face shown a different expression now. One of rage. That earlier pleading look had disappeared so easily.
And of course it did. It meant nothing.
Massive paper, angel-like wings appeared on my back and I rose to the air avoiding the barrage of punches Mirio was about to dish out. Two massive paper birds spawned near Hojo and Mimic, Hojo got on top of his and Mimic merged with his.
And with that, we flew off into the night.
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