The heavy metal door groaned open with a low mechanical wheeze, stale air spilling out like the breath of a crypt long sealed.
Jetsling Beroba stepped into the underground lab with silent precision, boots barely making contact with the cold concrete. The darkness inside was different than the slums above—this wasn't the absence of light. It was deliberate. Controlled. Sanitized.
Only the soft glow of his Delta visor lit the path ahead.
His HUD flickered.
[Environmental scan complete. Life signs detected: four. One unstable. One unconcious. Two active. Locating...]
He followed the signal through narrow corridors lined with steel pipes and flickering fluorescent lights. The walls were lined with dried blood, shallow gouges etched into them like desperate claw marks. Children's claw marks.
They kept them here.
His hands curled into fists. Rage boiled beneath the armor, but his steps remained calm.
[Analyzing structure integrity. Bio-signatures converging in main experimentation chamber. Commence infiltration?]
Jetsling didn't answer. His fingers gently traced the side of the Delta Mover, waiting.
He already knew what lay ahead. He'd seen flashes of it during raids—data fragments, corrupted files, broken voices screaming from drive archives.
Children taken. Minds broken. Bodies experimented on.
And now, two perpetrators. Not adults. Not scientists.
Children.
This disgust him. Forgive them. Then what about the victim, who will scream for their justice.
The door to the lab's core slid open without resistance.
Inside, the air was cold. Sterile. Rows of machinery buzzed softly. One of the medical pods hummed with faint light, casting a soft glow over the room.
A girl—Mari—floated inside. The other one seem to be on the stretchers with medical equipment seem to be making the kid sedated.
He also knows the other. He just meet her.
Both of them looked peaceful, in the way only the drugged or dying could.
And standing nearby.
One boy and one girl. Barely older than ten.
One of them—white-haired and pale—manipulated a holographic interface with surgical precision. His face was emotionless, only his fingers moving.
The other, taller and broader, leaned against the wall cracking her knuckles with a grin too wide, too sharp.
"No alarms from the hero? Told you this job's a joke," the strong one chuckled.
"That's because I severed the sensor threads ath that place before we arrived," the white-haired boy—Kurono—replied blandly. "I'm not incompetent like you."
"Whatever. We're getting paid. The sooner we drop this one off, the sooner we get more sweet points from the Lab."
Jetsling watched them from the shadows. His hand drifted to the Delta Mover.
Children.
They're children.
But not innocent.
He heard their voices again, replayed through Delta's internal recordings from previous raids. Their data fingerprints matched. The ghost signals. The brainwave suppression quirk. The enhanced strength readings. He'd seen them before—never imagined they'd be this young.
They had been kidnapping and delivering children for experimentation.
And they knew.
They enjoyed it.
Jetsling's body trembled.
But not in fear.
In disgust.
He stepped into the light.
Metal rang under his boot. Both kid turned instantly.
"Whoa, what the hell is—"
"Wait," Kurono said, narrowing his eyes. "That suit… that's a Rider belt. Delta. Impossible."
Jetsling's voice was low. Filtered. Menacing.
"Do you know what you are?"
The muscular girl—Gin—laughed. "Kids who get paid more than you ever will."
"You're monsters wearing children's skin."
Kurono frowned. "Who sent you? Commission? Private watchdog? Or are you some vigilante freak?"
"Wrong again. I'm just like you."
He lifted the Delta Mover.
"A kid."
Kurono blinked. Then he stepped back.
"Gin. Kill him."
Gin roared and lunged, her quirk surging through the limbs. Her skin darkened, muscles rippling, bones thickening.
Jetsling didn't move until the last second.
Then—
CRACK.
His armored fist met Gin's jaw with bone-shattering force.
Gin flew backward, crashed into a pillar, and crumpled to the ground like a broken toy.
But she wasn't finished.
She roared, blood dripping from her mouth, and charged again.
Jetsling let him come.
He sidestepped, twisted, and drove a knee into the side of Gin's chest.
Ribs shattered. Gin screamed.
Again.
Jetsling grabbed him by the hair and slammed his face into the steel wall.
Again.
The screams turned to gurgles.
He dragged the body across the floor like a rag, armor covered in blood, and threw him at Kurono's feet.
Kurono froze.
Jetsling turned.
"Your turn."
Kurono's face twitched. "Y-you can't touch me. You can't. I'm protected by juvenile status. The Commission—"
"The Commission doesn't care."
Jetsling's visor flared.
"And I'm not here to report you."
Kurono screamed and fired his psychic wave. The air pulsed, collapsing inwards, sending a shockwave of mental force like a hammer to the skull.
[Neural disruption detected. Engaging mental shield protocol.]
Delta's armor surged.
Jetsling faltered—just a second—before charging through it.
The psychic pressure bent the walls. Screws popped. Steel warped.
But Jetsling's hand pierced the field.
He grabbed Kurono's face.
And squeezed.
"You broken children. You ended lives. You thought the law would save you."
He lifted Kurono by the skull and slammed him into the floor.
"Pay for the live that you have taken. No more mercy."
BANG.
BANG.
Blood sprayed.
Kurono clawed at his wrist, but Jetsling didn't let go.
His voice came out cold.
"Die like the monster you are."
One final strike drove Kurono's head into the control console. The screen cracked, then burst. Electricity sparked, lighting up the room in flashes of white.
Smoke. Screams.
Then silence.
Jetsling stood amidst the wreckage.
[Threats eliminated. Mari's vitals stabilized. Recommend immediate extraction.]
Jetsling turned to the pod.
Mari's face was pale, but her chest rose and fell.
Still alive.
He then look at the side. Mariko also safe. Then he walk to Mari first.
He reached out, fingers gentle as he tapped the release. The pod hissed open. Cold vapor spilled.
He lifted her carefully.
Cradled her. Then he walk toward Mariko and take her together.
A fragile thing. Hurt by monsters.
He carried them through the burning hall as the Delta system still activated. He cannot carried them with his fragile body.
No sirens.
No police.
No heroes.
Just judgment.
And one promise echoing in his mind:
I will erase all of you. Every shadow hiding behind laws. Every monster even in a child's skin.
The Hunter had begun his war.