Location: Texas – Cow Lady Agency
CLANK.
VROOM.
The heavy engine of the modified transport truck roared inside the garage.
Koichi stood near the back tires holding a digital datapad. He watched the steel ramp lower to the concrete floor.
Tap.
He tapped the screen and looked over at Dave.
"So the pneumatic doors deploy in exactly three seconds?" Koichi asked.
"Three seconds flat," Dave answered, wiping grease off his hands with a rag. "Right when the truck hits sixty on the highway. You just have to time your jump."
"Got it," Koichi nodded. He quickly typed the notes into his pad.
Pam walked over and handed Koichi a cold bottle of water. She wore her full cow-print hero suit.
"You did great on the morning patrol today," Pam smiled.
"Thanks," Koichi said, opening the bottle. "I am still getting used to it. Launching straight out of a moving truck onto the interstate is completely different from my usual routes. Back in Naruhata, I just slide through tight alleyways."
"Texas has a lot more ground to cover," Mark added, walking up with a clipboard.
"I noticed," Koichi laughed, taking a drink. "I really wish I brought my motorcycle. The roads here are incredibly wide. Riding down the highway would be a lot of fun."
WEEE-OOO.
WEEE-OOO.
The main dispatch computer on the garage desk suddenly blared a loud alarm. Red lights flashed across the screens.
Mark dropped his clipboard and ran straight to the terminal. He typed on the keyboard and pulled up the police scanner.
"Code Red," Mark announced. "Hostage situation downtown. Multiple armed suspects."
"Where?" Pam asked. Her tone turned entirely serious.
"The Houston Advanced Science and Space Expo," Mark read the screen. "They locked the main doors. Dozens of civilians are trapped inside."
"..."
Pam froze.
She stared at the computer screen.
"Cow Lady?" Koichi asked.
"The Space Expo," Pam whispered. Her eyes went completely wide. "Kaito is doing his solo tour downtown today. I told him to go to the Science Expo this yesterday."
Mark looked up from the keyboard.
"..."
"..."
"Are you serious?" Mark panicked. "The golden manager is trapped inside a building with armed terrorists?"
"Dave! Fire up the main engine!" Pam yelled, running toward the truck. "We are launching right now! If Kaito gets hurt on our watch, it will be on us!"
Mechanics scattered across the garage. Dave jumped into the driver's seat and revved the engine.
They forgot that Kaito managed to take down a villain back in Japan.
Well aside from someone.
VROOM.
"Get your helmet on, Skycrawler!" Pam shouted, grabbing her gear. "We have to save Kaito! He is just a normal civilian!"
"..."
Koichi stood completely still holding his blue helmet.
A single drop of sweat rolled down the side of his face.
He watched Pam and Mark completely lose their minds over Kaito's safety.
'Kaito in danger? What are they talking about? Aah, I'm one of the only people knew he was Hero X. He was not in danger. He was the danger.'
Koichi opened his mouth. He wanted to tell Pam to calm down. He wanted to tell them Kaito was perfectly fine.
But
He stopped. 'Nevermind'
Koichi couldn't say a single word about it.
Exposing the Kaito secret alter ego was totally out of the question.
Koichi closed his mouth. He forced his face into a highly exaggerated, dramatic look of pure panic.
"Oh no!" Koichi yelled awkwardly, slapping his helmet onto his head. "We have to hurry and save the completely defenseless Golden Manager! Let's go!"
Koichi ran to the passenger door and climbed into the truck, just hoping Kaito wouldn't overdo it.
...
SOB.
WHISPER.
"Are the local pros coming?" a man whispered, holding his hands over the back of his head.
"Just keep your head down," an older woman next to him muttered quickly. "Don't look at them."
Parents held their crying children tightly on the hard tile floor. People shook in fear, keeping their heads down.
Meryl Hope knelt behind the glass case of an old astronaut suit. She stared down at her smartwatch.
She sent the SOS distress signal to the police dispatch minutes ago. Right now, she focused entirely on staying completely quiet.
She peeked around the edge of the glass case. She watched the armed men controlling the crowd.
They wore heavy tactical vests, grey respirators, and red accents on their shoulder pads.
She remembered reading a BCD news file about this exact uniform back in Washington.
This was that villain Wolfram's underground crew. They only showed up for high-value targets.
Meryl slowly scanned the crowd of hostages to see if anyone was hurt. Her eyes stopped on a guy near the back.
"Hmm?"
He wore a white polo shirt and glasses. He crouched on the floor exactly like everyone else, but he wasn't shaking.
He wasn't crying or panicking. He just looked incredibly annoyed.
"Why does he look so familiar?" Meryl frowned. She stared at the side of his face.
He looked really familiar. She felt like she saw his picture in an international news report. She tried to remember his name, but her brain felt completely foggy from the adrenaline.
"Boss Swordkil is taking forever," one masked guard complained by the front glass doors. He popped the magazine out of his rifle, checked the bullets, and slapped it back in.
"He has to manually bypass the internal alarms," another guard replied casually, leaning against a concrete pillar. "Just relax. The local pros won't get here for another ten minutes."
"Can't Boss Nobu just used his quirk? Thay was the plan right?" another one jump in.
"The plan has changed ok. Something was wrong in that room." another guard joined in.
"You guys are so serious. Ten bucks says it takes them fifteen to arrive," a third guard joked, keeping his gun pointed loosely at the crowd.
"Easy money," another guard mumbled. "I just hate standing around."
Step. Step. Step.
Nobu paced back and forth in front of the hostages. He gripped his rifle tight. He hated waiting too.
He couldn't use his spatial warp quirk to jump into the vault somehow.
"Damn, I really hare when something is wrong..."
But then.
He stopped pacing.
A young boy in the front row stared directly at him. The kid looked about ten years old. He wore a cheap Star and Stripes graphic t-shirt.
"Look at the floor, kid," Nobu ordered.
The boy didn't look away.
"Your mask makes you look like a weird bug," the kid said loudly.
"..."
"..."
The crowd went completely silent.
"Is that kid crazy?" a tourist whispered in pure shock.
"Agh?! Tony!!" The boy's mother gasped.
She grabbed her son's arm, pulled him behind her back, and desperately tried to cover his mouth with her hand.
"I am so sorry!" the mother panicked. Her voice shook violently. "Please, he is a kid! Stop talking, right now!"
The boy pulled her hand away.
"But, he looks stupid," the kid insisted, pointing at Nobu.
"..."
Nobu's eyes twitched. His ego was incredibly fragile. He actually got offended by a child.
Step. Step.
"You think I look stupid?" Nobu sneered. He took a step closer to the crowd. "Look at your shirt. You probably bought that out of a bargain bin. You look like a walking garbage bag."
"At least I don't wear giant clown boots," the kid shot back instantly. "Did you buy those at a circus? Do you trip when you walk?"
"..."
Nobu opened his mouth to reply. He couldn't think of a single comeback. He just stood there in silence.
PFFT.
The masked guards by the door laughed out loud.
"He actually got cooked by a ten-year-old," one guard wheezed.
"Shut up!" Nobu screamed at his own men.
His face burned bright red under his grey mask. He was completely humiliated. He marched straight toward the boy.
"Kid it seems like you mother didn't properly discipline you."
Nobu reached his heavy gloved hand out to grab the kid by the collar, wanting to drag him onto the open floor and teach him a harsh lesson.
"Don't touch him!" the mother cried out.
She jumped in front of her son and threw her hands accidentally forward.
FWOOSH.
A very weak wave of kinetic energy pushed out from her palms. She possessed a minor repel quirk.
The force hit Nobu directly in the shins.
His boots slid across the smooth tile.
THUD.
"Huh?!" Nobu landed flat on his butt.
HAHAHA.
The guards in the floor laughed even harder.
A few civilians in the crowd accidentally snickered.
"Oh my god, he fell over," a teenager whispered from the middle of the crowd, slapping his hands over his own mouth in pure terror right after.
"Shit!" Nobu scrambled to his feet. He was absolutely furious.
"You think this is funny?!" Nobu roared. "If I don't teach you guys a lesson. You might think I'm a pushover."
He raised his right arm high. He swung his huge palm down, aiming strike straight at the mother's face and activating his quir.
The mother squeezed her eyes shut and raised her arms to block for child.
SMACK.
...
The hit never landed.
Nobu felt his wrist slam into something solid.
He looked up.
"Another one? Who are you?!"
Kaito stood right there. He held Nobu's wrist in his left hand. His grip was entirely unbreakable.
Kaito didn't even look at Nobu. He looked down at the young boy.
"Hey," Kaito said calmly. "Do not pick fights you cannot finish. Especially when it puts your parents in danger. Understand?"
"I'm sorry mister." The boy stared at Kaito and nodded slowly.
"As for you." Kaito let go of Nobu's wrist.
BAAM.
He pressed his palm flat against Nobu's chest and shoved him hard.
SKKKRRTT.
Nobu's boots slid backward. He skidded twenty feet across the smooth tile floor, completely separated from the hostages.
Kaito reached up and took his glasses off. He handed them down to the boy.
"Hold these for a second," Kaito told the kid.
"Oh... okay..." The kid named Tony was dumbfounded someone managed to push back the bad guy far away.
Kaito reached up to his white polo shirt. He unbuttoned the top two buttons.
He rolled his long sleeves up to his elbows. He ran his hand through his hair, slicking it back away from his eyes.
Kaito thought to himself. 'I guess I need to stretch my own legs today. It has been a few months anyway.'
Kaito cracked his neck.
He looked at the remaining armed mercenaries.
"Are we doing this or not?" Kaito asked.
"..." The guards on the lobby looked to each other and was dumbfounded. They didn't know what to do.
"Get him!" Nobu screamed from the back of the room.
PFFT. PFFT. PFFT.
The guards pulled their triggers. Suppressed bullets flew directly at Kaito.
SWIISH. SWOOSH. BAAM. BOOM.
Some guards used their quirks to attack Kaito from the distance.
Kaito moved.
He leaned backward, bending his spine at a sharp angle.
SWIISH.
A bullet passed a millimeter over his nose.
SWIISH. SWIISH.
He twisted his torso to the right. Two more bullets flew past his chest. He wove through the gunfire effortlessly.
"WHAT THE? How was able to dodge that?" The guards stopped shooting, completely dumbfounded.
Kaito stepped forward right into their personal space.
He raised his open palms. He slapped the barrel of the first guard's rifle away, grabbed the man's heavy vest, and swept his leg hard.
CRASH.
"Ugh!" The first guard hit the floor.
Kaito grabbed the falling guard's rifle, twisted it out of his grip, and used the heavy wooden stock to strike the second guard directly in the throat.
BAAAM.
The second guard choked and dropped his weapon.
Kaito spun around.
He grabbed the third guard by the shoulder, pulled him off balance, and drove his knee straight into the man's stomach.
THWACK.
He pushed the collapsing guard into two other advancing mercenaries, sending all three of them crashing to the ground in a tangled mess.
BAAM. BOOM. THUD.
"AAGH!" Five guards went down in seconds.
"Damn! What's wrong with this guy?" Another guard ran for cover. He hid behind a thick concrete pillar.
He pointed his hand around the edge of the stone, waiting for a clear shot and activated his quirk.
Kaito looked down at the tile.
Thump.
He kicked a dropped rifle magazine up from the floor and caught it in his right hand.
He looked at the pillar.
"No you don't." Kaito pulled his arm back. He whipped his wrist violently to the side and threw the heavy metal box.
SWIISH.
The magazine flew in a horizontal arc. It curved entirely around the concrete pillar, completely bypassing the cover.
WHACK.
The heavy magazine hit the hidden guard square in the side of the helmet. The guard dropped unconscious instantly.
THUD.
The crowd of hostages stared at Kaito.
"Wait," a man in the crowd pointed. "That throw... that is Pro Hero Snipe's curving bullet technique from Japan!"
"Look at his face," a tourist yelled loudly. "He slicked his hair back. I saw that guy on the international news last time. That is the Golden Manager from Japan!"
"The one who beat the A-Rank villain?!" another tourist shouted.
"Yeah! It's him!"
The fear left the room.
The hostages realized they were entirely safe.
They were standing behind the man who trained countless famous heroes like Star and Stripe and All Might.
Tourists pulled out their phones and started recording.
Meryl Hope wiped her camera lens. She hit record.
Her hands shook from pure excitement. This was the most exclusive footage the BCD Network would ever broadcast.
"No this can't be..." One of the remaining guards panicked. He realized they lost total control of the room.
"There's no choice." He looked at Meryl recording him. He lunged forward to grab her and take her hostage.
"Huh?!" Meryl froze. She saw the guard running right at her.
But.
SWOOSH.
A blur of white and black crossed her camera lens.
Kaito intercepted the charge. He pivoted on his left foot, spun his body, and delivered a high roundhouse kick directly to the side of the guard's helmet.
CRACK.
The guard flew sideways into a wall and collapsed.
Kaito lowered his leg. He looked down at Meryl. Her face was flushed bright red, and her heart hammered against her ribs.
"Are you okay?" Kaito asked casually.
Gulp.
Meryl swallowed hard.
"Yes," Meryl stammered, nodding quickly. "I am okay."
"Good," Kaito said. He pointed at the tourists holding their phones. "Stay back. Tell everyone to give me some room."
"Oh okay... Don't worry." Meryl answered.
Nobu scrambled to his feet. He was laughing.
"Hahaha.. You are using a quirk now!" Nobu screamed, pointing at Kaito. "That is illegal for you. You're now a criminal in the eyes of the government."
Then.
"He didn't use a quirk! Rat face!" a civilian yelled from the crowd. "You are just getting beat up by a manager!"
Nobu ignored the insult. He activated his displacement quirk.
THWOMP.
A circular air ball appeared right next to Kaito's head. Nobu threw a heavy punch into the air directly in front of him.
"Interesting quirk.." Kaito tilted his head slightly.
Nobu's attack missed his ear by an inch.
Step. Step.
Kaito stepped forward.
Two more attacks arrived suddenly infront of him.
Kaito sidestepped and ducked under a wild displacement object that was sent by Nobu.
He closed the distance instantly and entered Nobu's guard.
Kaito raised his hands. He extended two fingers on each hand.
TAP. TAP. TAP.
He struck Nobu's left shoulder, right bicep, and the center of his chest in rapid succession.
He hit the exact nerve clusters.
UGGH.
"What??!" Nobu gasped loudly. His arms fell straight down to his sides.
He tried to lift his hands. He couldn't move them. He couldn't activate his quirk. He was completely paralyzed.
"What did you do to me?"
Kaito didn't answer but swept Nobu's legs.
THUD.
Nobu hit the floor, unable to move a single muscle.
CRASH.
The front lobby doors suddenly shattered.
The local Texas pro heroes charged inside.
"It's Lone Star!" a tourist cheered.
"And Desert Ranger!" another person yelled.
HUFF-PUFF.
HUFF-PUFF.
Cow Lady ran in ahead of everyone else. She breathed heavily.
Her cow-print suit was covered in highway dust from the high-speed truck launch. Koichi ran into the lobby right behind her.
Pam completely ignored the twenty unconscious mercenaries scattered across the lobby floor. She sprinted straight toward Kaito.
She grabbed Kaito by the shoulders. She looked him up and down frantically.
"Are you hurt?!" Pam yelled, checking his arms for injuries. "Did the villains touch you? Are you bleeding?!"
"..."
Kaito stood there.
He didn't know what to say.
Koichi walked up next to them. He looked around at the groaning, paralyzed villains covering the floor.
"Miss Cow Lady," Koichi said flatly. "I think the villains are the ones who need an ambulance."
Pam stopped checking Kaito's arms. She finally looked around the room at the destroyed mercenary crew.
"Huh?" Pam asked.
...
A few minutes ago.
BANG.
Swordkil slammed his heavy metal prosthetic fist directly into the reinforced glass wall.
CRACK.
A thick spiderweb crack spread across the clear surface.
He stood in the center of the R&D wing hallway. Directly in front of him was the two-foot-thick steel vault door.
The head facility scientist knelt on the floor near the keypad. The old man was bleeding from a small cut on his forehead.
"Input the code," Swordkil ordered. His rough voice echoed in the hallway.
"I cannot do that," the head scientist replied, shaking his head. "That energy condenser belongs to the government. I will not hand it over to criminals."
Swordkil tilted his head. He completely lost his patience.
He reached down and grabbed a young, terrified lab technician by the collar of his white coat.
Swordkil lifted the young man completely off the floor using only his left arm.
"UGH!!"
The lab technician choked and kicked his legs in the air, grasping at Swordkil's grip.
Swordkil looked down at the kneeling head scientist.
He raised his heavy metal right arm. He pressed the cold steel blades directly against the lab technician's elbow joint.
"I know this is your son," Swordkil said quietly. His voice carried zero emotion. "I am going to ask you one final time. Input the override code right now, or I am going to break every single bone in his body, one by one, until you do."
"Dad! Please!" the young man cried out, tears streaming down his face.
The head scientist shook violently. He looked at the metal blades pressing into his son's arm. He broke.
"Okay! Okay, I will do it!" the scientist yelled, scrambling toward the keypad. "Just let him go!"
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
The old man typed a long sequence of numbers into the wall terminal with shaking fingers.
He pressed his thumb against the biometric scanner.
HISSS.
The heavy steel vault door unsealed. It slowly swung open, revealing the dark room inside.
Swordkil dropped the son onto the floor.
"Get it," Swordkil ordered his men.
Two masked guards ran into the vault. They grabbed a glowing, cylindrical piece of machinery resting on a metal table.
They quickly shoved the energy condenser into a heavy black duffel bag and zipped it shut.
"We got the package, Boss," one of the guards confirmed, throwing the strap over his shoulder.
Swordkil tapped the radio earpiece in his right ear.
"Nobu, we have the hardware," Swordkil spoke into the comms. "Kill the hostages' phones and get ready to fall back."
BZZT. BZZT.
Static.
Swordkil frowned.
"Nobu. Do you copy?"
BZZT. BZZT.
More static.
BAAM. BOOM.
Swordkil heard something down the hallway.
He walked toward the R&D double doors and listened closely.
The main lobby was supposed to be completely silent.
Nobu was supposed to keep the hostages terrified and quiet.
Instead, Swordkil heard loud cheering. He heard the muffled sounds of people clapping and shouting. He heard the distinct sound of bodies hitting the floor.
Swordkil tapped his earpiece again.
"Daigo," Swordkil called his outside lookout. "What is happening out there?"
BZZZT.
[Swordkil! You need to get out of there right now!] Daigo yelled through the radio.
"Calm down," Swordkil ordered. "The local pros are not supposed to arrive for another ten minutes."
[They are already here!] Daigo shouted back.
[I don't know what they did, but Cow Lady didn't fly here! She launched out of the back of a moving semi-truck on the interstate! She cut the response time in half! She is about to breach the front doors!]
"DAMN!" Swordkil gritted his teeth. The plan was falling apart.
He walked over to the security desk inside the R&D hallway.
He looked at the glowing monitor displaying the live camera feed of the front lobby.
Swordkil watched a man in a white polo shirt and his mercenary squad get completely dismantled.
"What the..." Swordkil muttered.
"Boss," the guard holding the duffel bag stepped up next to him and looked at the screen. "Who is that guy? He knocked out Miller with a thrown magazine."
Swordkil watched the screen as the civilian delivered a spinning kick to another guard's head.
"Should we go out there and help Nobu?" the guard asked nervously.
[Swordkil! Listen to me!] Daigo yelled over the radio. [Leave them! You have the condenser! The Boss needs that technology to finish the device! If you go out into that lobby, you will get boxed in by the local pros. Get to the extraction van right now!]
Swordkil stared at the monitor.
Swordkil hated leaving his men behind. He gripped his metal fist tightly.
But he was a mercenary. The mission always came first.
CRASH.
Through the monitor, Swordkil saw the front glass doors of the lobby shatter as Cow Lady and the local Texas heroes charged into the room.
It was too late.
Swordkil turned his back on the screen.
"Move out," Swordkil ordered the remaining guards in the hallway. "We take the back loading dock. We leave Nobu behind."
The guards nodded.
They grabbed their rifles, carrying the heavy duffel bag down the dark corridor and disappearing into the alleyway just as the heroes secured the building.
...
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(9 Advanced Chapters)