Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
Taylor POV.
Moord Nag, the African war lady, was known to be at High Rank A or a low Rank S, but with her growth potential buffed, she could go much further over time, even theorized into a national-rank hunter despite her slow growth.
Her Quirk was monstrous. One of the few sentient Quirks in the world. Moord Nag's Quirk was called Aesdier, a living shadow. A shadow that could grow larger each time it consumed corpses. Aesdier had been fed until it had grown large enough for Moord Nag herself to ride it without any problem.
And now, that Quirk was in the possession of that damned Sophia Hess. My mind started racing. How the hell did this happen?! All For One was already awake?! Too soon, too fast! According to Izumi, he wasn't supposed to be able to get a body for several more months.
So… the doctor, the creator of the Nomu, that Garaki guy, somehow managed to transplant Moord Nag's quirk into her? The League of Villains defeated Moord Nag? How did nobody notice!? My mind quickly came to an answer.
Himiko Toga or Twice.
The first could change her appearance as long as they had access to Moord Nag's blood, while Twice was capable of duplicating anyone. Either of them would have been enough to deceive everyone and make it seem as if nothing had happened if they managed to kidnap the original Moord Nag.
Damn, damn, damn. This is bad.
Did Aesdier have any weaknesses?! It was made of smoke; cutting and severing it was useless, it would simply reintegrate itself. Hitting it hard would cause it to lose some of its mass, but who considered itself strong?!
Haki? Haki would work?!
"So? Will you release Lung? Please say no. Or say yes. I'll attack you anyway to kill Hebert." Sophia mocked condescendingly.
"Miyamura." I corrected her without hesitation, Sophia looked at me almost bored.
"Did you change your name after escaping to the other side of the world, you coward?" Sophia asked mockingly. I frowned.
"Coward? You're the only coward here. You joined the League of Villains, you stole a power that isn't yours." I retorted violently, Sophia laughed out loud.
"That's how the world works, Hebert! The strong eat the weak! That stupid Moord Nag wasn't strong enough, so I'm taking what's hers." Sophia said with a wide smile.
"Ha! Stop talking nonsense, Sophia!!" Antares shouted as she flew toward us, holding the unconscious Oni Lee by the neck and dragging her along. "Not in 100 years would you be strong enough to fight Moord Nag alone and win! You claim to be strong, but I bet you hid behind other villains while they did the dirty work and you just reaped the rewards!!" Antares spat. I could see Sophia's eye twitch slightly before she glared at us furiously.
"Apex, we're going to hunt these weaklings down." Sophia growled, the living shadow shuddering.
"Antares! Take care of the shadow! Skitter, Sophia's weakness is electricity or Haki! Triumph and the others, take care of the remaining villains, I'll take care of Bakuda!!" Armsmistress shouted without hesitation. I glanced around; half the villains were already on the ground unconscious or trapped in containment foam or other restraint devices, so there were almost 30 gang members left capable of using their Quirks. Triumph and the others were only 5 people; I suppose we wouldn't be getting any help anytime soon.
"Leave it to me!" Antares said, throwing Oni Lee several dozen meters into the air, onto a building while she was still unconscious, then slammed her fist against her palm so hard that it made the wind around her move away, then shot off towards the living shadow.
Antares was about to collide with the living shadow's skull, but it turned to smoke. It was already smoke, but this time, its skull turned to smoke, just like Sophia's. Antares passed through the living shadow without harming it before it became tangible again, trapping Antares inside.
The shadow, Apex, swirled around itself and began attacking Antares. I lunged toward it; I couldn't move my right arm, so I gripped Shusui tightly with my left, let Haki envelop her, and moved.
Water Breathing - Third Form: Flowing Dance, I launched myself towards Apex, I saw how Sophia tried to become intangible but my sword still impacted against the shadow forcing it back to its normal form, my cut didn't do much, it only separated a part of Apex momentarily before it reformed, but a small part seemed to evaporate.
I continued moving sinuously and widely around Apex, cut around Antares where she took the opportunity to come out, ignored Apex and headed towards Sophia to hit her directly.
Sophia smiled sadistically, at that moment my vision changed, Antares' fist was right at my forehead, I didn't even hesitate before throwing my head back avoiding being hit by millimeters, even though I felt my Aura decrease slightly.
"I'm sorry!" Antares squealed.
"Watch out for Trickster!" I simply yelled, launching myself again as I forced my swarm down on Trickster. She simply vanished from the spot and reappeared several meters away, a distance I covered in a fraction of a second with Thunderclap and Flash.
I was about to strike when Trickster switched places with Antares. I couldn't stop fast enough and my sword hit Antares's back. Luckily, her shield stopped my attack with a dull thud.
"Sorry!" I growled this time. I quickly turned around and took Apex's attack as it descended upon us. With only my left arm, Apex was able to withstand my attack long enough to push me back slightly. Even so, Antares didn't remain still; she immediately struck Apex's skull with enough force to send the living shadow flying backward as the skull cracked slightly.
I looked around before a plan formed in my mind. I gripped my sword tightly and charged at them once more. Antares and I continued fighting, trying to defend and attack each other, but neither of us could land a single blow.
Trickster was a huge nuisance, he kept swapping us out, putting us in front of each other so we would attack each other, or simply replacing us with rubble so our attacks would hit the air.
More than Antares, she couldn't hit Sophia and Apex. Sophia's original quirk of becoming intangible also worked with Apex, making it intangible as well, and that worked well against Antares. She definitely didn't know about Haki, and apparently, she didn't really need it much at the moment, but right now, she was a huge nuisance.
"Is that all you've got, Hebert?! Just let yourself be killed already, you damn weakling!!" Sophia yelled, but I just ignored her.
"Antares! I need you to trust me! Just attack the only thing you can see!" I said aloud.
"What!?" Antares asked, confused. I didn't explain. I let my swarm descend. I could see the fight where Armsmistress and the other heroes had defeated almost all the gang members. The evacuation had also been completed, so my entire swarm was finally free to fight Sophia and Trickster.
My swarm enveloped us all, especially Antares and me. Trickster's power relied on her field of vision, so getting rid of that was the main thing. I let a dense swarm cover Antares, then created a small opening in Trickster's direction and lit the path with the few fireflies I found in the city.
Antares lasted a fraction of a second before launching itself at Trickster through all the insects. I let my insects begin to wrap the silk around my left wrist, reinforcing the web with Haki before launching myself toward Apex.
The living shadow was roaring, trying to kill all the insects around it, which it managed to do, but it was distracted. I used Shusui to cut through it and move past Apex, where Sophia was. She looked at me in surprise before trying to become intangible, but my Haki forced her to remain in her physical form.
She covered herself with her arms, but that wasn't the important thing; the silk tied to my wrist, reinforced with haki, had formed a large net behind me, one that had enveloped Apex, trapping it in place.
More spiderwebs began to envelop it, trying to hold it back as my haki spread over the new silk. In the short time, I had only managed to create a weak spiderweb. I could feel Apex constantly destroying threads reinforced with haki quickly, but it was more than enough.
I continued attacking Sophia, fast and steady enough to prevent her from becoming intangible. Finally, I lured the rest of my swarm—a swarm armed with nearly a dozen grenades I'd stolen from a very unconscious Oni Lee—attacked Apex and ripped off the safety pins.
Sophia opened her eyes in realization, trying to become intangible, but I struck her at the same time, and explosions erupted behind me. I gritted my teeth to try and stay steady as I attacked.
Finally, I moved away from Sophia and looked at Apex as the smoke and my swarm drifted away. Apex had been reduced to half its size. A large part of Apex had somehow crystallized—how did smoke crystallize?! Another part had simply vanished. A large portion of the smoke was ablaze, and in another area, there was a distortion in space that pained me to look at directly, a distortion from which Apex couldn't escape, and more.
Bakuda was capable of creating esoteric bombs, bombs with various strange and devastating effects. I had seen them used against Armsmistress and the other heroes to no avail, but seeing it in action, even against a living shadow, was truly terrifying.
"Apex!!" Sophia screamed furiously. "I'll kill you, Hebert!!" Sophia screamed, driven mad. I jumped back and moved out of her range. My swarm moved away, and I could see Trickster badly beaten; even her mask was broken. I could see the look of hatred she was giving us.
I just dropped a grenade behind her and pulled the safety pin. Trickster was so distracted she didn't hear until it was too late. The grenade exploded and—
Trickster let out a bloodcurdling scream as she began to writhe on the ground. The grenade hadn't exploded with any visible effect, but Trickster's scream said otherwise. My eyes widened. A pain grenade?! Bakuda was crazy!
"What happened to her?" Antares asked, confused.
"I... thought it was a normal grenade, I thought I could tell them apart," I said, frowning as I bit my lip.
"That was definitely not a normal grenade," Antares said dryly.
"Grenade of pain," I said immediately. "From what I've been hearing in Bakuda's speech, they induce such intense pain that, well, you'd end up like this." I said with a grimace. Antares grimaced too.
"Sophia! Do something for once, damn it!!" Trickster yelled, writhing on the floor. She glared furiously at Sophia before turning to me. "Miyamuraaaa!!! You and your damn husband will pay for this!!!" Trickster growled gutturally, her voice so full of anger and fury that it made me wince.
"Aaaahhh, fuck!!" Sophia screamed, completely enraged, as if receiving orders only made her angrier. Even so, she climbed onto Apex. Apex soared into the sky before crashing to the ground and becoming completely intangible. I blinked. Was she escaping? I frowned before hearing a noise behind us and paled as my insects took in the scene.
"Lung!!" I screamed in panic, turning around without hesitation. Sophia had appeared from the ground beneath the PRT truck, where Lung's capsule was. Apex tore the truck apart, grabbing the capsule with its jaws and throwing it into the air. Antares took off towards the capsule without hesitation, only to be replaced by a huge pile of rubble. I turned to see where she had appeared.
I gritted my teeth as I looked at Bakuda, who wore a mocking smile despite looking slightly battered. Beside her were Trickster and Sophia, reunited once again, with the capsule beside them, while Apex stood protectively behind them. Trickster could barely stand; her entire body was trembling. Sophia seemed mostly unharmed, but Apex had lost a significant amount of size.
Immediately we all gathered near Armsmistress, who was standing in front of them.
"Ha!! Once Lung is freed, you will all die!!" Bakuda laughed maniacally, approached the capsule, placed small explosives, I was about to move to try to stop her, I saw Antares do the same, but Armsmistress just raised her hand to stop us.
"What?! We have to stop her!" Antares said almost in a panic. Armsmistress just shook her head solemnly. I gritted my teeth as I considered disobeying that order. I could see Sophia's mocking smile, almost trying to provoke me into attacking.
"Armsmistress!" Antares said in a panic as Bakuda finished placing the explosives on the capsule. "Fuck it!" Antares growled.
"Antares! Stay still! That's an order!!" Armsmistress said. Antares froze in place and stared incredulously at Armsmistress. Antares was about to scream, but a single look from Armsmistress silenced her. I saw her grit her teeth in frustration; I felt the same way.
Damn it, damn it, damn it, why didn't we do anything to stop her?!
"Ha! They've already surrendered?! Pathetic!? Wake up, great Lung!" Bakuda said maniacally, pressed a button, and small, well-placed explosions tore the entire capsule apart. I watched, almost horrified, as the capsule slowly opened.
Before I could react, something burst out of the capsule. My eyes snapped open as the shadow inside shot out, striking Bakuda in the temple and stunning her. The shadow then swung away from the capsule, striking Sophia in the neck before Apex could react, and then backfist-punching her in the head, knocking her back. The shadow's next attack hit a piece of rubble that had been swapped by Trickster, completely shattering it.
Apex roared with fury as she tried to attack the new person, only to have them retreat at breakneck speed and reappear in front of us.
"Well done, everyone, the plan went perfectly." The voice said as it approached. I could finally see her properly. She was a woman who, if I had to describe her, was exceptionally average, with dark hair and no identifiable ethnicity. But the important thing was her body—a mechanical body. It looked almost human, but she was definitely a robot. She… she was like Penny.
"Thank you for your work, Dragon," Armsmistress said with a small smile. My eyes widened. Dragon… Dragon was here… Dragon was in the capsule all this time? What was happening?!
"Where is Lung!?" Bakuda shouted while clutching her bleeding, almost out-of-focus head.
"Lung is no longer in the Bay," Armsmistress said without hesitation.
"Impossible!! The information wasn't wrong!!! You should have Lung!!" Bakuda said frantically. Armsmistress shook her head.
"Lung was transferred only an hour after her capture, Lung was never in Brockton Bay." Armsmistress said impassively, I turned to look at her incredulously.
"What-" Bakuda asked awkwardly.
"Lung was immediately transferred to Birdcage. The plan for this operation was to deceive everyone, including most of the Protectorate and the PRT. The plan was always to lure you all in and get rid of the ABB completely," Armsmistress said confidently, taking a step forward. "And not just you, but your entire gang. What do you think the other splinter groups are doing? Each group leader was ordered to guide you to the safe houses, the operational networks, the known ABB hideouts, and all the fronts in your territory and dismantle them completely."
"At this moment, all the heroes, PRT soldiers and the police, are arresting all the members of the ABB, the only ones left were to secure their lieutenants, Oni Lee is already defeated and secured, you Bakuda, you are next, and you too League of Villains."
"So I'll say it one more time, you're cornered, in the name of the heroes of the Protectorate and the PRT, surrender, villains, there's no escape." Armsmistress said as she slammed her halberd against the ground and stood before the villains with the utmost confidence.
Oh damn… that was… incredible.
Author's Notes: How's it going so far? I really didn't want to make a lame Brockton Bay, so here's the result. I hope you've enjoyed it so far! and, I just want to say thank you for last week's comments about the Protectorate's incompetence; I hope you were surprised!