Chapter 105: Operation Idiot Swatter
Summary: *Mission Impossible Music Continues*
Warning! Chapters 103-106 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any of them!
Chapter 105: Operation Idiot Swatter
This time, the location of the Clean Slate group was one of the largest and oldest high-security briefing rooms in Might Tower. Built when Tokyo was still a mess and Might Tower wasn't even half completed, the old briefing room was actually under the Tower and more than large enough to handle their fully assembled group. That was particularly important this time, as all twenty-five Heroes were present, plus Captain Mikto and all five JSDF Lieutenants serving at platoon commanders under him. Gang Orca was once more in control of the meeting, standing on a small, raised platform with a projection of the city behind him. That projection was marked with the known location of all Trigger Bombs, along with the two Humarise central bases. In total, there were twelve bomb locations marked. Not as bad as it could have been, but still horrific.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. This is the final briefing prior to Operation Idiot Swatter."
The name of the operation got some snorts and smiles, which the Hero let die down before he continued.
"Despite the name, sadly, these people are only idiots in a single sense. In all other ways, they've set up an extremely solid operation. One that, according to our international counterparts, they've managed to repeat more than a dozen times over throughout the world. In the rest, they were thankfully a little less competent, with several cells having been caught based on the information we passed their hunters. Fourteen potentially devastating operations remain active, including ours. And we have only 36 hours remaining until their scheduled start time."
That sobered the room up completely, and Gang Orca let the near dead-silence hang for long seconds, making sure he had everyone's full attention.
"That said. Our focus has to be on our own part of the larger operation. The moment this meeting ends, the three small teams that have the combination of stealth and expertise needed will begin operations. The goal for those three teams is to sneak in and disable as many of the bombs as possible before the terrorist's notice. In an ideal world, we might get very lucky and they disable all of them before anyone catches on. As we very much don't live in such a world, each of your strike teams will be waiting to come down like the wrath of kami on your assigned targets. Anyone who has their target verified safe before the ant hill gets kicked over will redirect to the base raids."
There were nods all around, of course. While this was the final briefing before the operation kicked off, every individual team had already been briefed by someone in more detail. Including the JSDF platoons who were set up with various containment and neutralizing methods in case the worst happened and one or more of the bombs went off. Even one going off would be catastrophic, potentially affecting tens of thousands. But the JSDF units had enough chemical neutralizers and other countermeasures to at least keep the cloud of Trigger from spreading to include the millions that it would affect if it hit all of Tokyo.
"Alright. This is your last chance to bring up questions, concerns, or additional ideas folks. Anyone got anything?"
There was a long silence and a lot of shakings heads. It wasn't particularly surprising. They'd had nearly a full day since the first Bomb was located to work out the game plan and adapt to any suggestions. A few specific heroes had even been brought in and added to the JSDF units based on those suggestions. Such as a Backdraft and Cementoss, who were both now part of the containment plans if things went to shit. Enough water would wash the trigger out of the air, and dense enough concrete could contain an explosion in the first place. Last resort measures, but ones that had to be thought through just in case.
"Very well. You all have your assignments. Get to it! Infiltration teams, you're officially on the clock. Make sure to check in before and after each bomb site! Team leaders, check in once you're on site at each location, the infiltration teams won't go in until you're in place near your site!"
Acknowledgments came quickly, and everyone moved with alacrity to get their individual parts of the operation underway…
... ...
Izumi breathed a near-silent sigh of relief as she cut the last connection to ensure the bomb she was working on was inert. Gesturing to Illusionist, the older woman nodded and shifted the currently-static illusion to a mobile one again. It took them a few moments to get proper line-of-sight on all three of the Humarise members present, but as soon as they did, Illusionist used a red dot only visible on the inside of her hard light projection to indicate which one she would go after. Izumi nodded, focusing on the other two and figuring out the best approach to get both of them quickly. Both were male, so the option was honestly obvious, and she quickly signaled back that she was ready as well.
An instant later, Illusionist's hardlight projections switched from stealth to offense, quickly gagging and restraining the woman she'd chosen, even as Illusionist herself darted in and struck her target with a precise blow to the base of the neck that caused her to slump. The other two, Izumi's targets, never had a chance to react either as Izumi had instantly accelerated into a blur, knocking one into the other then releasing a small amount of Midnight's pheromone-gas that she'd captured into digital storage over the gasping pair.
While on women the pheromone sometimes took a few seconds, on men it was nearly instant, and both of them ceased struggling before they could even properly process what was going on. Izumi and Illusionist both quickly separated them from their manual detonators and comms devices, before Izumi keyed her HSN link and called it in.
"Central. Delta team confirms Delta-Three bomb and personnel disabled. Repeated confirm Delta-Three bomb and personnel disabled."
The response was quick, the voice of the JDSF Lieutenant that had been earmarked for Central communications routing responding in a crisp, clear voice.
"Confirmed. Deltra-Three, all targets disabled. Good work. Shifting your current strike team as extra support for Delta-Four."
Izumi nodded, then spoke a quick confirmation. This was the third of four bombs that she and Illusionist had been assigned to disable. The combinations of Mist Me and Ectoplasm, and Edgeshot and Searchlight were each assigned to the other two sets of bombs. Ectoplasm proved to have the technical certifications for bomb disposal, while Edgeshot and Searchlight together could work so fast as to disable all targets from a stealth entrance and then have a JSDF technical team disable their bombs. Izumi, of course, could have built better bombs in her sleep, almost literally. Given that she'd scanned and dissected the design for everyone else, no one had questioned her ability to disarm them.
She and Illusionist, having already worked together enough to gain a degree of familiarity, had been assigned to the Tokyo Dome bombs. This had been the third of four, with all going seamlessly so far. They all expected that to change with bomb Delta-4, for the simple reason that it was guarded by multiple of Humarise's Quirked terrorists. Ones fanatical enough to know they would die if and when the bombs went off, yet were present anyway. Even if Izumi managed to disable the Delta-4 bomb, there would be a fight to be had. The same was true with at least one bomb in every set, proving that this cell of Humarise, at least, were irritatingly competent.
Which also neatly explained why, this time, their unused backup was being directed to Delta-4 instead of folded into the two Base Raid teams. While it probably wasn't needed, the caution was justified given the stakes. After a minute to finish securing the unconscious terrorists with proper cuffs, to be picked up by JSDF as soon as all bombs were disabled, Izumi and Illusionist quickly headed out to the Delta-4 site. Time to wrap their part in all of this up…
... ...
Kyoka had discovered that literally the only downsides to the reworked gear Izumi and Momo had made her was a personal one. Specially, having her jacks plugged in inside the armor of her new costume meant she didn't have them available for her usual nervous tics. She hadn't been aware just how much she used them to bleed nervous energy with various gestures until she'd first used the new gear, and as it was she was still working on alternatives.
Which was very frustrating when one was less than 100 meters from a bomb that could kill tens of thousands in a very horrifying manner, including you. If that wasn't a reason to have some nervous energy, she had absolutely no fucking clue what was. Drumming her gauntleted fingers in a rhythm just wasn't the same, and she felt like she was going to crawl out of her skin soon if this didn't end. Thankfully, Beta team also only had one last bomb to deal with. Less thankfully, it was the one where they expected trouble. Mist Me and Ectoplasm had just returned, and they were all gathered just shy of their objective's concealed location, working out their best approach.
"I think we just need to hit this one hard and fast. Both Quirk users here are Heteromorphic. A skunk morph and a stone man of some sort. Neither are going to be easily disabled, and either might have senses that risk spotting you through Mist Me's illusions. But if we jam the frequencies Resolution determined the detonators are capable of, all we have to do is keep them away while Ectoplasm works."
That was a very Miruko plan. Which, given that's who had spoken it, made sense. It also, however, fit their needs quite well. More than one person nodded at the logic, so Kyoka just went with it and added a suggestion.
"If Mist Me sneaks us close first, I can open up with a sound barrage that should stagger even most Heteromorphs. Typically, mutations only enhance hearing, not deaden it, so they'll be nauseous at minimum. Follow that with Miruko and Momo engaging, and I doubt there's any chance they'll be able to get back on balance."
Her addition to the plan got a thoughtful look from Miruko, then a curt nod.
"Keep it directional, yeah? My ears are fucking sensitive too, you know."
Kyoka snorted but nodded. She had more control than to disable her allies too…at least with her costume. Less so without it.
"Right, that's what we'll do then. SonicWave as the opener, then Keystone and I move in. Keystone, stone face is yours, I'll take the skunk lady. Who fucking better not actually have a scent spray or I might kill her."
There were half-hearted chuckles at that, but everyone nodded and moved into position when she gave the order to start. Now that sneaky was out of the picture, mostly, Miruko was in charge. Kyoka stuck to Mist Me, the other girl blowing out the illusion mist that she'd named herself after. Both of them used it for cover, the others trailing a few steps behind as they closed the distance to the secret entrance. Mist Me's Quirk was extra useful right at the moment, as she could easily get it under the crack in the hidden door, using it to cover herself opening it. Even the sounds were dampened by her mist, and in less than three minutes they were in position for Kyoka to hit both of the Quirked members of the terrorist group. The Quirkless pair with them were, thankfully, farther away from the bomb.
Kyoka took a deep breath, then sent the pre-prepared message via HSN for Momo to kick in the jamming. She got a response two seconds later…even as all of the terrorists looked down at their detonators in surprise as they made a shrill alarm noise. Not letting them react, she stepped out of the sound-dampening mist and let loose with two brutal sonic pulses from her gauntlets, set at wide-angle to catch all four of them. The two Quirkless men practically collapsed, and the skunkgirl screamed in pain as her hands flew to her ears. Stone man didn't react as much, but even he staggered and clutched at his head…
And then two blurs moved past either side of Kyoka's head.
An instant later, those blurs resolved into Miruko and Momo, who landed heavy kicks to both opponents, sending them flying away from the bomb and into the far wall. Not dallying herself, she triggered her Base Boost move as a dash, closing in her own blur of sonic-wave boosted speed, aiming for the Quirkless pair. One of them had managed to fumble out a gun, and she kicked it out of his hand, incidentally shattering that hand in the process since Base Boost was still active. Oops.
The other one screamed…apparently seeing something horrifying as Mist Me's mist enveloped his head. Focusing on her own target, she quickly followed up on her kick, jabbing the palm of one hand, Ear-Jack shifted to the hole there, into the terrorist's neck. Her HeartBeat Fuzz locked him up a second later…and then steel-toed boots disabled him entirely with a kick somewhere sensitive. She didn't flinch at the crunch that made. Bastard probably deserved it. Seconds later, she had him spun around and cuffed, even as he threw up and whimpered.
Thankfully, she'd managed to point him away from her before he vomited.
She looked back at the bomb to see Ectoplasm had it well in hand, being guarded by both his own clones and Midnight. The later of whom sauntered forward to knock out the two Quirkless men, Mist Me having neatly taken down the other. Stone face was already down and whimpering, while skunkgirl was midair and being bicycle kicked by an overeager Miruko. Somehow, she didn't think that either of them were going to be trouble at this point.
Honestly, compared to the League, this was all proving anti-climactic, even if the sheer damage they could have done if the bombs went off honestly made the League look like idiot children playing at mad scientist. Kyoka wasn't quite sure what to do with the dichotomy. Shrugging, she decided she'd deal with that later, shifting her attention to watching her badass girlfriend look sexy as she cuffed the giant stone dude with equally giant manacles she'd produced with her Quirk.
Hmm, maybe she could get Momo to put her in manacles like that when they celebrated this win? It had been super-hot when she'd taken charge to Dom Izumi for once. Jirou wanted some of that for herself…