Chapter 63: Whack a Yakuza
Summary: A very different Raid.
Warning! Chapter 62 & 63 were published back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss chapter 62!
Chapter 63: Whack a Yakuza
Preparations for the Raid had gone far more swiftly than most of the heroes who had met at the Nighteye Agency had anticipated. Few of them had worked with a cyberpath before, and none of them had done so with one of 2B's caliber. Given free reign to infiltrate the systems of every hideout belonging to the Shie Hassaikai, 2B was quick to breach the security of the majority, using the Yakuza's own security systems to confirm neither Eri nor Overhaul were present. A few of the eight bullets were seen and tracked coming and going from those facilities, but they always returned to a single compound. One which also happened to be the only one of the known Shie Hassaikai locations whose cyber security had been augmented by a cyberpath. 2B could have breached it, but she would have been detected doing so. Even so, the combination of that additional layer of security with the known presence of several of the eight bullets was more than enough evidence that this was the location they needed to raid.
Even then, 2B and Izumi had caught the rest of the heroes off-guard by deploying a stealth Recon Pod over the compound. It wasn't the idea of doing drone-based recon that had surprised everyone, of course, as such footage was used whenever it was possible to get it. Instead, the startling part had been the detailed layout of the interior that the beyond-military-grade ground-penetrating scanners had been able to provide them with. Coupled with the visual data, heat maps, and even an EM scan that pinpointed many of the security systems, the Raid Teams had been provided with a comprehensive snapshot of the building far beyond what they normally had to work with. The fact the buildings had been extensively changed, and expanded into the underground, was concerning. But with the maps available, they were confident they could cut off all possible escape routes. Even better, because of the presence of Mudman…they could inject a team straight into the underground.
Which is how the plan formed. Ryukyu, as the highest ranking and most visible of the heroes taking part, would lead the police and a mixed dozen heroes and sidekicks in an upfront service of the warrant in their possession. No one actually expected the Yazuka to respond positively to that, which would lead to that team hopefully providing a very noisy distraction once the Shie Hassaikai began to resist. The instant resistance was offered, the other teams would roll into motion. Two would strike via the hidden exits Izumi and 2B's scans had discovered…while the final team would use Honenuki's Quirk to burrow straight down into the most secure parts of the Yakuza complex.
It was on that team, Team 4, that Izumi was deployed with. Along with Lemillion, and for similar reasons. Their team was led by Eraserhead, concentrating the three most likely people to be capable of direct engagement with Overhaul into a single team. Eraserhead could shut the villain's Quirk down, Lemillion could avoid direct physical contact, and Izumi's ability to absorb QE meant that any attempt by Overhaul to rearrange her was more likely to backfire than actually work. Adding the ability to use her summons and a 2B-guided Pod to take the hit if needed, plus her numerous sensors to guide the group in the first place, and she'd been able to talk her way onto the deep strike team.
Mudman was going to be pulled out the moment he'd gotten them in, but another hero and sidekick pair, Dasher and Flasher respectively, would be moving in with them. Both had Speed Quirks, which would hopefully allow them to evade Overhaul's touch if he was encountered. Dasher's was the more traditional Quirk, creating a near-frictionless repelling surface that allowed him to accelerate and chance directions rapidly. Flasher's was…odder. The man got faster the more skin he exposed. Which, with the rules on costumes being what they were, had limited him to being an eternal sidekick. Even so, his rather brief costume allowed him enough super-human speed to make him a good addition to the deep strike team. Personally, Izumi was just glad she was only minimally attracted to men, as it had kept her blush reaction in check at first meeting his barely speedo-and-pasties clad form. Mostly.
At 8:28 am, all teams reported into position and Sir Nighteye, who was coordinating, called them to action.
"Team 1. All teams are in place. You are free to initiate. Repeat, you are free to initiate."
Every other team had at least half an eye on their heads-up-displays, watching from Ryukyu's scouter-provided livestream as four police vans with riot-teams rolled out from their hiding places, professional drivers bringing them to a squealing halt before the compound even as Ryukyu herself moved in with an armored SAT Captain. That Captain was holding the warrant and reached for the buzzer on the compound gate to read it off to the inhabitants…only to be cut off as the gate was smashed outward with great violence. Already primed to act, Ryukyu pulled the Captain behind her and partially transformed, taking the hits from numerous pieces of metal gate. There was just time to identify one of the Eight Bullets, Rikiya Katsukame, engaged in combat with Ryukyu as Nighteye rapped out the order.
"All teams, engage! Repeat! All teams, engage!"
Mudman didn't wait for confirmation from Eraserhead, already having been primed with his hands touching the ground. Between one instant and the next, the ground softened, causing the rest of the team to begin sinking through the near-liquid that the ground became. All of them were braced for it, which still doesn't make it particularly pleasant as they slow-fell through the ground for nearly ten seconds before breaking through into their targeted underground tunnel. Izumi, cognition dialed as high as she could handle it and still communicate with others, was the first to react. Using her sensor suite to snap a 360 scan of the tunnels, she quietly barked the results over the Team 4 comm channel.
"North and South both clear to the doors. No changes. Three heat signatures inbound from South, two outbound from North."
Eraserhead's own order snapped out with crisp precision.
"Strike south. Resolution, blow the door, Dasher and Flasher hit the inbounds."
It was the call Izumi had expected, already charging Virtuous Contract even as he snapped the order. North was towards the main entrance. The people heading away from them there were likely heading to reinforce against Team 1. South held what they suspected were labs and offices. High priority targets.
Izumi stepped one pace in front of everyone else, toward the south, and made three lighting quick strikes with her blade, hands blurring even to the eyes of the two speed Quirk users. Charged to produce short-ranged shockwaves, the first two were razer sharp and sliced through each side of the security door, treating metal hinges and locks like butter. The third was blunted and slammed into the door, launching it's now unsupported weight into the room beyond. One of the inbound Yakuza was struck by the door, flattened in a way Izumi really hoped hadn't been lethal. The other two went down almost as fast as Dasher and Flasher moved past her into the room and took them down hard.
Eraserhead was through the door next, assessing the hallway on the other side and prioritizing targets. This area of the underground had been shielded better than the rest, too well for heat signatures from above. But now, with only the comparatively thin lab walls in the way, he could see the outlines of people moving with his scouter.
"Lemillion, Dasher east, door 2. Resolution, Flasher west, door 1. Clear them. Call out priority targets."
The synchronization between the called out pairings wasn't great, but they made do with a couple of quick hand signs. Lemillion and Izumi breached, each in their own fashion, and immediately followed up by their respective speedsters. Lemillion and Dasher found on a pair of goons-cum-lab-techs that were quickly eliminated. Izumi and Flasher on the other hand…
"Bullets 3, 4, and 5 encountered!"
Izumi had tanked a bullet, of the regular variety rather than a Quirk-Damaging one, the moment she breached the room. Still in a state of elevated cognition, she could have dodged or swatted it aside, but doing so would have risked Flasher taking the hit instead. And his costume meant he was absolutely not bulletproof. So she'd tanked the shot with barely a grunt, the Bruiser Mode she'd chosen to start with for the raid easily letting her shrug off the large caliber handgun round. She immediately identified the shooter as Hojo Yu, with his fellow Bullets Tabe Soramitsu and Setsuna Toya already dashing forward.
Toya's Quirk, Larceny, activated and warped Virtuous Contract from Izumi's grip to his own…only for the man to stumble as the blade's weight completely threw off his plan to use it as his own. Virtuous Contract was far heavier than it looked, being made to be wielded by an android whose physical abilities were in the same weight class as All Might, against machines made out of metals far tougher than modern humanity was used to dealing with. Given Izumi's reaction speed, Toya wasn't given the chance to recover from his stumble as she launched forward and folded him over her knee like a ragdoll. He was unconscious before he hit the back wall, and Virtuous Contract was back in her own grip where it belonged.
Flasher, meanwhile, had taken advantage of the initial opening to clear the door and engage Tabe in a contest of speed. While the member of the Eight Bullets obviously had enhanced speed, it was equally obvious that Flasher was faster and was taking the Yazuka member apart in hand-to-hand. Which left Izumi to intercept Hojo before the crystal covered form of the last Bullet present could bulldoze into that fight. Knowing from his dossier that those crystals gave him enhanced durability, she didn't bother risking disruption of Flasher's flow by closing the distance, instead simply slamming Hojo with a telekinetic blast which sent him rocketing back the way he came.
Eraserhead was in the doorway before the Crystalize user could recover, catching him in his Quirk long enough for Izumi to bounce off the room's far wall. Doing so got her around the fight in the center of the room and she drove the pommel of Virtuous Contract into the Yazkua's now Crystal-free face before he could recover. He was out cold from the hit, something Izumi took only a half second to verify before darting back to grab the last bullet by the scruff of his neck. She flung him at an angle toward Eraserhead, allowing the man to shut his Quirk down without risking Flasher. A quick flick of Capture Cloth grabbed Tabe…and a precision strike from Eraserhead had him out cold just like the other two. All three men where quickly secured with high-density cuffs and a spray of capture-foam courtesy of Izumi. They could be properly rounded up later. Eraserhead nodded to both of them and gruffly voiced approval.
"Good work. We're moving on."
The moment they were all back in the hallway, the taciturn hero spoke again.
"Kendo, Tengai, and Rikiya are confirmed elsewhere by Team 1. Sakaki and Nemoto are unaccounted for. Teams 2 and 3 have hit only regular goons. Overhaul hasn't been seen, nor has Eri."
They all nodded, but Izumi spoke up a moment later, correcting the last statement.
"Correction. 2B just disabled their cyberpath. Turned out to be Mimic controlling a heavy server. She has eyes on Eri and Overhaul, Chronostasis as a taglong. Painting the path."
Everyone but Mirio, whose lack of a Scouter really was an irritant, suddenly had their HUD light up with a golden trail shooting down the hallway. A transparent overlay showing Overhaul Quick-Marching with Eri in his grasp also appeared…as well as their location on the blueprints. Eraserhead cursed and activated his comm, even as he started running. The rest of them quickly followed him as he spoke.
"Team 2. Overhaul is enroute to your location with Eri. Pull back and hold the exit. Do not engage. We'll be coming from behind him."
Eraserhead deactivated the line, hesitated, then barked out orders he obviously didn't want to give.
"Lemillion, Resolution. Go. You can make it faster. Dasher, Flasher, clean up behind Resolution."
All of them lurched into motion at the release order, Lemillion diving through a wall to cut the path between him and their targets, even as Izumi shifted from Bruiser Mode to Assault Mode and fell fully into Hypercognition. Her lessons in and experience with high-speed movement from training with Miruko paid off as she accelerated, bouncing off walls to round corners as she pushed hard to close the distance. Thankfully, she could see from her own internal data streams that Team 2 had obeyed the order, falling back, and she would reach Overhaul before he reached them.
She wanted to curse a moment later as she saw the remaining two Bullets come out of a security-camera-blind side passage to meet up with Overhaul…and that Lemillion was going to reach the now-foursome of villains before her. With no way to warn him, since he couldn't even carry a basic comm with him, she gritted her teeth and summoned up a ranged weapon to act as soon as she had a shot. Her heart clenched as she saw Togata burst out of the wall…then she breathed a sigh of relief as only the two remaining Bullets stopped to deal with him. He tried to bypass them to follow Eri and Overhaul, but staggered as Sakaki Deidoro's Quirk went to work on him. Suddenly dealing with secondhand drunkenness, Mirio had thankfully been drilled to the point he could activate his Quirk under even those conditions, doing so to phase through a shot from Nemoto's handgun.
A second and a half later, while Mirio was still trying to get his shit together, Izumi cleared the last turn and opened fire herself. Unworried about hitting Lemillion, who could just phase out of it, she pumped the trigger of her summoned grenade launcher five times to completely coat the entire lower half of the room in capture foam. Both Bullets cursed as they were caught, Lemllion did as predicted and phased through it to follow Overhaul, and Izumi went airborne over the foam. She bounced off the ceiling and down through the open door beyond them, using the overhead path to avoid her own hazard and pulling equal to Mirio. Moments later both of them burst out into a large underground garage where Overhaul was leading Eri to an armored car.
Chronostasis's incoming hair was the more immediate problem. Well, for a heartbeat at least. Mirio phased through the minute hand while Izumi simply grabbed the hour hand in motion and snapped it off. Chronostasis howled in pain at that, causing Izumi to flinch internally as she hadn't realized he was connected enough to the hair for that to be painful. Still, she didn't let that daunt her, using his distraction and the loosened grip on the pistol in his hand to close with him and knock him out with a single carefully-calculated blow to his temple.
Overhaul had nearly reached the armored car…but Izumi had been multi-tasking. Even as she dealt with Chronostasis, she'd summoned a Capture-Foam-Rocket Pod. 2B, having done all she needed to with security by now, occupied the Pod immediately and fired. Not at Overhaul, but at the armored car, coating the entire thing in Capture Foam. Overhaul snarled, ripping his gloves off to deal with the foam…and in that instant where the man had to let go of Eri to do so, Mirio struck.
Lemillion had known the biggest hurdle they had from the moment Izumi had stated Overhaul had Eri. Instead of simply phasing through Chronostasis's Quirk, he'd phased through the floor. With a precise prediction that did his mentor proud, he appeared right behind Overhaul as the man began to slow…and snatched Eri from him as the man was distracted dealing with the foam. Overhaul howled and lunged for him, but Togata faded backward with Eri in his arms. 2B was on the job, covering Lemillion's retreat with a fusillade of more capture-foam rockets which forced Overhaul to raise a wall of concrete to protect himself.
Izumi grinned in fierce approval as Mirio didn't linger. Instead, he booked it back the way they'd come, clearing space between her and Overhaul. Spikes of earth and concreate launched toward her and 2B's Pod, but they both dodged with ease, even as Izumi pulled two submachine guns loaded with Tranq Rounds from her inventory and fired back as her sideways dodge cleared the angle of that concreate wall. 2B, out of rockets but still game, suicide-charged with the Pod at the same time, forcing Overhaul to split his attention.
To the Villain's credit, he did so with ease. One hand slapped the ground toward each of them, 2B's Pod quickly slammed into the ceiling by a pillar of rising concrete, even as another wall of the same blocked Izumi's fire. Worse, as Izumi traversed past that wall at speeds he shouldn't have been able to follow, it became blindingly obvious that Overhaul had Overhauled himself at some point. They'd suspected that might be the case, given his apparent medical training and Quirk. Now, it was proven as the man tracked her movement with only a tiny delay, moving rapidly enough himself to keep up with her Assault Mode speed.
Annoying. But not a serious issue. Not with Mirio already clear and a timer in Izumi's HUD showing estimated time to Eraserhead's arrival. Now knowing he could react to her speed, Izumi dropped the empty submachine guns and replaced them with something far nastier. Specifically, with a hard-light gatling gun that she proceeded to unload at Overhaul. The rounds from this were no Tranqs, and a furious-faced Overhaul was forced to raise a much thicker 360 degree wall to protect himself. That wall developed spikes that shot out in all directions at once a moment later, but Izumi almost laughed at that effort as she desummoned the gatling gun and slapped aside the few spikes that would have hit her. She took the free breathing room to dismiss 2B's trapped Pod and summon a second missile Pod with proper warheads.
2B held her fire, even as Izumi retrieved a heavy pistol loaded with HE rounds from her inventory and darted in the opposite direction. Both of them expected Overhaul to go either under or over his wall, and waited for him to do so and reemerge…only for him to shatter their expectations. Instead of maneuvering, Overhaul choose brute force and turned the concrete around him into a suit of battlearmor which immediately swung extra-long arms in a 360 whirlwind around him. Momentarily flummoxed, 2B and Izumi went over and under those arms respectively, opening fire on the concrete-and-rebar golem-cum-mechsuit. Every shot from both the oversized hand canon Izumi was using and the rockets 2B fired took great chunks out of the golem armor…only for Overhaul to reform it to repair the damage instantly.
Suddenly facing a serious problem, as she knew Eraserhead couldn't shut down a Quirk whose user he couldn't see, Izumi dipped fully into hypercognition even as she kept firing to pin Overhaul down. She needed to change the equation, but…how? She could easily pull out the copy of Momo's railgun she had in inventory. That could punch right through the golem armor. But it was a very lethal option and she wasn't really supposed to kill non-Nomu villains if there were any other option. She did have a couple of types of knockout gas…but Overhaul might well be able to make that thing airtight. She'd almost most likely run out of stamina before he did, despite her improvements in that area. So…
Nodding, Izumi dismissed 2B's Pod as she decided to make things much worse before fixing them. Sensing 2B was more amused as she realized the plan than anything else, she nevertheless appreciated it that her partner double checked the location above them and sent a 'back the fuck off' message to the team that had almost reached them. As Izumi had thought, above their heads was nothing but a derelict warehouse that their earlier scanning had already discovered was empty. Conveniently already condemned by the city, too. That was good. Should keep the HPSC from screaming too loudly about this. Briefly powering up to her full form, Izumi launched herself at the roof with every bit of power in her complete transformation. Summoning not just her physical power, but her telekinetic as well, she hit the roof with power equal to any of All Might's punches…with predicable results.
As in, she punched her way right though several feet of reinforced concrete, into the warehouse above…and caused the garage below her to collapse since she'd deliberately taken out the central support when she did it. Summoning Virtuous Contract, she lashed out with several shockwaves to do the same thing to the warehouse, then jumped and cut her way free, standing on the rubble and waiting patiently.
It took nearly sixty seconds. But Overhaul did exactly what she'd expected him to. A far larger golem surged up out of the debris, now made as much of steel from the warehouse as concrete from the underground garage. It was easily a story and a half tall as it roared theatrically at the sky. Izumi grinned…and reactivated her full transformation. Flickering forward, there was no chance of the monstrosity being fast enough to deal with her now, even if Overhaul could technically track her. And, likely unknown to him, she could see exactly where he was inside that giant golem via his heat signature. A great slicing swing of the Greatsword she'd summoned in place of Virtuous Contract separated the golem horizontally, just below where Overhaul was resting in its body. In the instant before he could repair it, Izumi hammered into it with a kick that sent the top half of the golem off the lower half, sailing into open air.
From there, the story was already over. Izumi might still struggle with precision telekinesis. But brute power she had to spare. She gripped the top half of the golem with it and lifted it higher, even as she sliced twice more. Two thirds of the torso fell away, leaving only an easily held chunk of steel and concrete that Izumi began to systematically slice away with shockwave-slices that never brought her into physical contact with the golem. Overhaul desperately tried to launch waves of metal spikes at her. But in her fully transformed state, she easily sidestepped or deflected them. Her time was rapidly running out, of course. But not nearly as fast as Overhaul's material was as he attempted to fight back. In a half dozen more swings he was physically visible and she roughly ripped him out of the golem with her telekinesis. If he'd survived this much, he was obviously physically tough enough to take the pressure from her ungentle telekinetic hold…even if she did feel a bone or two snap.
Grimacing at that lapse, she nevertheless held him spread eagle as she fired Tranq darts into his ass. Could she have shot him elsewhere? Absolutely. Was she feeling extremely annoyed with him and wanted petty revenge? Also absolutely. This time, she could even state that the ass was one of the safest places to stick a needle in someone as a defense of her actions! As the Quirk-based knockout drug went to work, she kept a careful eye on Overhaul's vitals…and sighed in relief once was sure he was out cold. She deactivated her transformation almost entirely, stripping out everything but some reflex enchantment and bulletproofing as her energy levels were dipping into the critical zone. She still kept the Yakuza carefully suspended in the air as she secured his hands in special cuffs meant for those with touch-activated Quirks. Once they were secured on him, she finally let him drop…and turned to face a blank faced Eraserhead that had somehow ascended from the ruin of the garage below.
"Mission accomplished, sir!"
Izumi continued to smile cheerfully, even as the underground hero facepalmed. She was sure he was just impressed with her, after all! She'd even saved the city needing to demolish the condemned warehouse! Hmmm, she wondered if Aegis Inc could charge the city for that service? Eh, probably not…unless 2B backdated a contract for it? No! Bad Izumi! No using her partner's illegal hacking for fun and profit! That way lies slippery slopes that led to depravity! Like ruining politicians and forcing her bids to be the highest on rare hero merch by shutting others out!
Swearing again that she'd only use 2B's hacking habit for the power of Good, Izumi waited for her assigned Team leader to get over his apparent migraine…
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A/N 1: Eraserhead might be secretly rather glad he didn't end up teaching this particular class...
A/N 2: This is the one-per-release that I mention this and my other works have a Page. Currently, chapters 64-68 (roughly 16,000 additional words) are already up in early access! Not to mention there are early access chapters of my other stories amounting to roughly another 30-40k words at any given time. If you're enjoying this story, please consider tossing a bit of support my way?