Luke pressed a button, and the huge cylinder filled up with a greenish solution, having a black-skinned Nomu, with a carbonized head, suspended within it.
Despite Luke's mastery over the Quirk Factors' related concepts, he also knew a grave fact — When it came to copying Quirk Factors, or creating artificial ones, no one could match Dr. Kyudai.
So, to aid his research on separating the temporary bestowed Quirk Factors from the lifeforms, Luke had decided to kidnap a few specimens for himself.
In the huge lab, there were several such cylinders as the one lying in front of him.
The other two dead Nomus, one Lower Tier, taken down by Endeavor and Gran Torino, and another Middle Tier, killed by Stain, were suspended in the solutions as well.
Luke turned around and approached the table where Stain was lying unconscious.
During the Hosu City incident, Stain had suffered grievous injuries, with a few of his ribs puncturing his lungs and other organs.
Luke had done his best to save the guy, but Stain had gone into a coma.
Nyx flew into the lab and landed on Luke's shoulder. She eyed the Upper Tier Nomu within the cylinder behind Luke and then looked at Stain.
"What you gonna do with him?" she asked. "Don't tell me you want to regrow his nose or something…"
Luke's lips twitched as he checked Stain's vitals. "I will…"
Suddenly, his mobile vibrated. Luke took it out, saw the notification, and sighed.
"… She isn't letting you go, huh…" Nyx commented. "I told you. That Rabbit is in heat!"
"Nyx!" Luke gasped. "Jesus! She's our teacher…"
The notification was from Rabbit Hero: Mirko.
Luke's internship had ended a few days ago. Ever since then, Mirko had been calling him to return to the internship, saying she hadn't taught him everything.
"She doesn't like working with anyone," Luke said, throwing the mobile back into his pocket. "But she's a perfectionist. I bet she just wants me back to test out a few of her moves…"
Involuntarily, Luke rubbed his stomach, remembering those tests.
Even with his enhanced strength, Luke wasn't sure he could take one more kick from her.
To his chagrin, he was just strong enough not to pass out from her beatings… turning him into the greatest punching bag with active feedback!
"Let's test it out one more time," Luke said, snapping his fingers.
"I am sick of your tests, too, you know," Nyx said, rolling her eyes. Then, her body squirmed, becoming a black mask on his face.
Casually, as if he had done so hundreds of times, Luke took out a perfect sealing box.
The moment he opened it, the glassy bead within let out a blue glow, taking the form of Lower Tier Nomu that Luke had stolen during the USJ incident. And, unlike the three suspended in the greenish solutions within the cylinders, this one was alive.
After another bout of interrogation, Luke let out a sigh of disappointment.
"I guess only Upper Tiers are strong enough to get a reaction," Luke thought aloud,. "It's not practical to keep it around us, even in the bead form. I always feel like something's watching me… Quite unnerving…"
Luke went to the storage room and brought out enormous binding restraints that he had created using Blood Creation based on the ones that the police used.
These were reinforced with heavy-duty steel, which could even hold back an Upper Tier for some time.
Not only that, there was a Quirk-Suppressing Drug mechanism in the restraints as well.
If the Nomu tried to break out of the restraints, the mechanism would inject the drug in a large dose, suppressing all the quirks and making it pass out.
Luke put two of these restraints on the Nomu, binding its legs and hands, and a smaller one around its neck.
Meanwhile, the Nomu kept perfectly still like usual.
"Come here…" Luke ordered, pointing with his finger.
The light-skinned Nomu followed Luke and climbed into the cylinder.
Then, Luke filled the cylinder with another solution, a touch greener than the others, heavily sedating it.
Then, making sure that Stain was still alright, Luke walked out of the lab, Nyx returning to her original shape.
"I will go visit our friends," he told Nyx.
"Now?"
Luke nodded.
A day ago, when Nyx had gone to act as Seer to Tokyo, she had found a message on the wall in an alley.
— Knuckleduster wants to punch the fool.
Luke believed that it was from Iwao, who must have made up his mind after seeing what happened in the Hosu City.
"If they agree," Luke said, "then I will bring them here to show the dead Nomus, proving my point. So…"
"Yeah, yeah," Nyx said, sounding hurt. "Another excuse to get rid of me…"
Luke smiled wryly.
"I am just about to digest my Potion, anyway," Nyx said, grinning slyly. "I can't wait to be a Clown…"
"You already are…"
"What?!"
"… Nothing…"
Luke saw Nyx disappearing into a black portal and sighed to himself. Phew! That was close…
He put on a real, black mask on his face and snapped his fingers, activating Descorrer in a huge bat that was hanging from the ceiling.
…
Luke stared as Iwao appeared in the alley, dressed as Knuckleduster.
After walking out of the portal near the wall that held the message, he had roamed around in the alleys for a few minutes before the old man found him.
"Are you alone?" Luke asked.
"I am here as well…"
Luke turned around and saw Kazuho dressed as — Pop*Step.
The moment she saw Luke, a frown settled on Kazuho's face, though. "Are you mocking me?"
Luke raised his brows under the mask. He followed her gaze and looked at his waist, and found the bat latched on his back had its wings spread out.
Coincidentally, Kazuho's costume also had little bat-like wings in the same place.
"Enough with the tricks," Iwao said, walking forward, matching Luke's bloody stare. "If you don't have anything meaningful to share…"
The bat on Luke's back flapped its wings, splitting the space next to them.
Luke walked toward the portal and stopped, his foot inside the blackness.
"Come with me," he said, looking at Knuckleduster and Pop*Step. "Let me show you — who the true enemy is."
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