When Kyle ripped open the man's shirt, he had expected to find him hiding something questionable, but never in his wildest dreams would he have expected a detonator.
Of course, Kyle had no idea what a bomb detonator was meant to look like.
And the man strapping it to his chest was a little too dramatic. But it was as though whoever made it wanted its purpose to be very clear.
The designs, including the cartoonish explosion drawings, were a dead giveaway.
The man's eyes widened the moment the fabric came loose. He jumped back, eyes wide, sweat already forming on his head.
'I can't let him escape!' Kyle could have easily grabbed him, but the Big Three were present.
Any poorly planned move and he would blow his cover.
Whoosh!
Btzzzzz!
Skhhhhh!
Kyle felt the wind around him pick up as the Big Three flew into action.
Mirio vanished, phasing into the floor, and while Tamaki jumped forward, his body already morphing to form a gigantic crab arm.
Meanwhile, Nejire released spiral energy that shimmered past Kyle just before slamming right into the villain's skull.
In less than ten seconds, the man was immobilised.
'I guess that's the Big Three for you…'
Mirio quickly covered the detonator on the man's chest to prevent the crowd from seeing it.
Kyle almost nodded to appreciate their actions.
'They are trying to prevent the crowd from panicking. Even at this moment, they are still thinking straight…'
Nejire immediately turned to face Kyle, who was a few feet away from them.
This time, her face was a little more serious. "How did you know?"
Kyle feigned a shocked expression, elevating his breathing a step or two. "N-no one keeps their phone in their chest…"
"You did great, we wouldn't have caught him without you," Mirio added, then he placed the man on his shoulders.
"Please help us sort out the crowd… and try not to tell anyone about what you saw…"
Kyle nodded and the Big Three turned, dashing away. When they were far enough, his gaze darkened as he watched them from a distance.
'Another aberration to the plot line… and a nasty one this time.'
Kyle was not surprised that someone had tried to pull off something in UA; the real problem was the nature of the attack.
Bombs weren't the league's style… meaning it wasn't them.
'The new group then?' That was most likely the case.
He turned to the crowd and smiled. "The Big Three just caught a petty thief, no need to be bothered…"
Kyle created a small explanation for what they had seen, calming the crowd, then he sat down and closed his eyes.
'Where did they keep the bomb?'
[Geolocation]
Just like always, the structure of the arena unraveled before his gaze, but Kyle almost went unconscious the moment the information reached him.
There are too many people…
He narrowed it down, cutting off feedback about the people in the stadium, limiting it to inanimate objects.
Then he began his search.
But barely five minutes after he was done, Kyle immediately sat up straight, his jaw tightening slightly.
"Three bastards…"
Five bombs, five locations and enough explosives to send the entire place to hell.
"Sakura, Akiko, hundreds of part-timers, and thousands of his customers were still inside the stadium."
"Who dares interrupt my business?"
•••
"Stop right there! How did you get past the guards!" All Might screamed, his muscles tightening.
On close observation, All Might realised that the man was wearing regular clothing, and his eyes were unfocused.
Drool was dripping down his lips as he stumbled towards him, like a mindless puppet with one set goal.
All Might's eyes drifted down to the phone and back to the man. 'Is he being manipulated by a quirk?'
There were students who had quirks relating to mind control, so it would not be impossible that a villain had a similar quirk.
All Might allowed the man to come closer. The man walked up to him and stopped, unmoving, unblinking, just staring into space.
Ring Ring!
The phone remained buzzing on his chest, igniting All Might's curiosity. He grabbed the device and answered the call.
Silence…
"Good day… All Might."
The voice was smooth and fluid, so much so that it seemed strangely inhuman.
"Who are you?!"
A light chuckle followed. "Wrong question, All Might—the right question should be what have I done."
All Might stole a glance at the detonator on the man's chest. There were a few times he had fought terrorists in the past, and that was why he recognized it immediately.
"Don't tell me…"
"It is just like you are thinking… I have hidden five heavy duty bombs in different areas of the arena, all waiting to go off at a moment's notice."
All Might's fingers tightened around the phone, but he had to control himself by snapping it.
There were currently thousands of people in the arena. Just one bomb could lead to the loss of many lives.
And if such a thing were to happen, the public would completely lose all trust in the academy.
'Is this their plan? No, it can't be… if this were truly their plan they would have detonated the bombs already…'
"What do you want? Why are you doing this?"
The silence on the other end lasted for a little longer this time, after which the same smooth voice came through.
"A game of tag!"
"If you truly want to get out of this with your reputation intact, then find the five hidden bombs within the space of an hour, or else…."
"Everything… goes… BOOM!"
The voice snickered, thoroughly enjoying the little play he was putting up, after which he said;
"Oh, and All Might, it would be unfair if you played, don't you think? Return to your duties and do not interfere physically, or else…
Well, I'm sure you already know."
The line went dead and the man in front of him collapsed, dead.
As for the detonator…
It was a dud, that one at least.
But just the fact that they had managed to infiltrate the stadium made All Might certain that his threat was very much real.
•••
The white lady smiled as she watched All Might return to his seat, the crowd cheering as they noticed his arrival.
But although no one else could notice it, there was something different about him; he seemed a little more tense and watched everything with a certain degree of apprehension.
Midnight arrived at his side shortly after, and leaned a little as All Might whispered the recent developments in her ear.
Then her face darkened as she turned to leave.
The white lady smiled deviously. "I guess it's starting…"
"To think we needed to recruit the help of 'those' people just to make this a success…"
Now all they needed to do was wait a few minutes, after which they could send this entire place to hell.
..
..
A/N
I apologize for the delay yesterday, forgive the actions of this lil author. T^T