She didn't hesitate, immediately prompting Olivia. "Give me all the details."
Olivia fell silent, looking towards Aizawa and remembering the man's blunt uselessness. Due to the lack of memory, he wouldn't be helpful in recalling any details. The woman perked up and glanced at the officer.
"I would go back outside and get a more helpful individual, but I could get attacked again."
The female officer arched an eyebrow, her hands habitually tightening around her firearm. "Do you have any idea of their location?"
"The rooftops," Olivia responded, looking out the window.
Following this, the officer raked the room and quickly assembled a team large enough to protect both Olivia and deter any danger. In a normal situation, a large mass of officers in the streets could only mean something dangerous and alluring was nearby, so they quickly ensured that the number of pedestrians nearby wasn't large enough to attract the unseen attacker and potentially harm citizens.
She sent an officer outside to inspect both ends of the streets, the lanky man peeking his head out the door and gazing upon both sides of the street from the door. After a few callous moments, he looked back to the duo and announced the condition of the environment.
They didn't waste time, quickly assembling their weapons and stepping outside. Due to the police station being located in the industrial complex of the kingdom, the sheer quantity of smoke stacks puffing out viscous black smoke into the air granted the group limited visibility.
Olivia was nestled in between the officers, the main focus of their makeshift shield. As they traversed the streets the vigilance of felines, they reacted at the smallest of sounds, down to the occasional grunt and whirr of the pipes in an effort to keep up with the methodical, mechanical slog of their daily output.
"Remain callous of the rooftops," the female captain barked, hyperstimulating the focus of everyone on sight, their attention gravitating to the smoke-ridden stacks above.
At this moment, a sharp sound rang out from above, and a dull thump was heard behind them. Everyone on sight turned around to gaze at the now grizzly scene. One of the officers had fallen, a copious amount of crimson blood spilling from their head like a macabre fountain. The female captain stepped back, her grip around her weapon trembling slightly as she continued forward, the angle and direction of her body never leaving the dead officer.
"Take it out." She said, her voice a deadpan order.
One of the officers quickly scurried through his bag, removing an object that appeared to be a mixture between what looked like a power generator and a potted plant. He sat on the ground and gave it a good kick. At this moment, the peculiar device sprang to life. Its metallic hull rattled and screamed as if in inscrutable pain. From within the work of machinery, lights buzzed and flashed an earthy green color.
"What's that thing do?" Olivia asked, her voice trembling slightly.
As if the machine heard her question, it suddenly sprang to life. A large, thorny vine extended from within a hidden compartment, shooting directly into the darkness. A low grunt was heard, followed by repeated sounds of gunfire. The vine protruding from the machine suddenly burst open with colorful flowers of numerous hues and patterns.
"Cover your mouth," the captain looked back at Olivia as she raised a mask over her face.
Olivia followed those instructions, watching in awe as the flowers across the vines emitted a faint blueish-purple mist that dissipated into the air. Soon enough, the gunfire within the smoke fell silent, and the sound of something hitting the ground was heard, ringing out against the hard roof with an echo that shook the walls.
A figure emerged from the ashen-colored smoke, clad in a dark-colored cloak that matched the environment. Though, their body wasn't atop their two legs, instead remaining slack and vulnerable. The unconscious body of whoever had attacked Olivia slid down the rooftops, falling off the edge. A group of officers reacted quickly, extending their arms and catching the individual.
"Check their vitals, I believe we found our little attacker," The female officer lowered her facemask and scoffed, approaching the limp body nestled among the group.
She reached down and yanked the hood of the person, revealing a soft face adorned with smooth and yet black hair. Her fingers moved with precision, carefully raising the eyelids to gaze into them. A pair of crimson pupils gazed back at her, and the moment they did, the air around everyone seemed to turn colder.
The smooth skin of the woman began to ripple and writhe as if liquidus in nature. The bones gradually sharpened, their cheeks taking better shape. The jet-black hair turned an orangy-blonde mixture, and a row of freckles peppered their lower face just below their eyes. Olivia watched in shock as the visage of Carter appeared within the cloaked figure.
"W-wha..." Her heart sank to her feet.
With a sudden thrust, Carter leapt up and kicked the officer straight in the cheek, before arching his back and landing a gut-punch to another one. He leapt into the air, casting his gun and planting bullets left and right into the skulls and chests of other officers. Olvia could barely react in time, narrowly dodging the bullets and ducking for cover.
Even among the grotesque changes and undergoing violence, her thoughts were dominantly focused on her own survival, but how Carter had taken the appearance of that woman, and why he would have attempted on her life like that. From what she knew, Aizawa was still inside the officers building, and she quickly conducted a plan.
After taking a few seconds to survey the surroundings, she dealt a critical hand. She began to run, her eyes clammed shut, ignoring the bloodshed happening just a few feet away. Her hands remained in front of her, blocking her face from seeing anything she shouldn't. As the gunshots gradually faded, and the last officer fell to the bullets, Olivia burst into the police station and took a hold of Aizawa.
Unexpectedly, Aizawa had actually fallen asleep in his chair, blissfully unaware of the violence happening just outside. Olivia knelt down, taking a hold of Aizawa's shoulder with a trembling, contemplative grasp. She took a deep breath, cursing under her breath as she landed a sharp slap to Aizawa's face. The man shot awake, his cracked crimson eyes jetting open.
"Fuck," Olivia cursed, noting Aizawa's frantic reaction; she had hated to had waken him up like that, especially in a time like this.
"Come on! We gotta get the Pollinators!" She hurriedly snatched Aizawa out of his chair, bursting out the door and immediately gazing upon the collection of dead officers littering the streets like bloodied garbage, the mess of stained leather and still-warmed corpses sending a bone-rattling chill through her entire body.
"I don't recommend running from your troubles, Olivia." A voice sounded from the rooftops.
They both reacted in sync, stepping back from the nearest building. Standing atop the smokestacks was Carter, still wearing his black cloak, his arms crossed as if he were an emperor gazing upon his subjects.
"What the hell..." Aizawa rubbed the tiredness from his eyes, which were now wide with a mixture of astonishment and terror.
The man with freckles chuckled, leaping down from the rooftop with the grace of a royal princess rather than someone who had killed an entire platoon in cold blood. Taking a slow step forward, he sighed and drew his handgun again, aiming the barrel to the center of Olivia's skull in a matter of seconds.
"I could grant you rapture with the flick of a trigger, you know that, right?" Olivia flinched the moment she saw Carter's grasp on the trigger tighten only a miniscule.
"Carter, put the gun down," Aizawa's body tensed, his fists clenched at his sides, ready to attack if anything transpired beyond his control.
The orange-haired man huffed, a prominent surge of irritation extruding from his demeanor. "I heavily recommend just letting me kill the both of you, or..."
He lowered the gun, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small object—a syringe. The barrel was filled with a viscous blueish-purple liquid. He raised the syringe, pointing it at himself, the pin-thin tip edging towards his eyelid.
"I could help you, cleanse your sins." He looked back at Aizawa, smirking.
The dark-haired man didn't respond, his grip on Olivia tightening. "I don't know what the hell you're planning on doing with any of us, but I know damn sure I'd never agree to this bullshit."
"Alright then, see the rapture of your sins before your eyes then."
With an instantaneous burst of motion, Carter raised his handgun and pulled the trigger, planting a bullet directly into Olivia's forehead. The wound gushed with crimson blood that quickly spilled down her forehead and in between her eyes. Olivia's eyes rolled back in her head, showing only the whites as her body fell to the ground with a lifeless thump.
Aizawa didn't speak—all he did was act. With fits so clenched they turned white, he leapt at Carter, planting a heavy punch to his nose, swiping the man by the feet moments later. Tears streamed down his face, tears that fell onto Carter's cheeks, sizzling his skin.
Thin trails of smoke drifted upwards from the small droplets of water as they continued to hit his skin. Underneath his skin, pores and wrinkles gradually manifested.
Even if the injuries looked grisly, Carter didn't react in the slightest. He took a hold of Aizawa's collar, pulling him closer to himself to the point where their lips were only a few millimeters from each other.
"I must say, your mind is the most rational I've seen in a while, Shouta Aizawa."
...
Aizawa shot awake on the couch with a yell. The first thing he noticed were the tears streaming down his face, which he quickly wiped away. A surge of relief immediately coursed through his body when he realized everything was a dream ...a rather horrifying one.
"Olivia went out to buy ingredients for a more ...herbal treatment," Isaiah Walls announced, sitting on the chair across from Aizawa.