"Teresa, nice to see you again."
"... I doubt that you called me here for something pleasant, D."
D chuckled as the beautiful, young-looking woman settled into the passenger seat of his car. She had flowing black hair, plump red lips, and a trim figure covered by the large cot she was wearing. He then leaned forward to look at the suit-wearing bodyguard standing outside.
"You can return to your original position, GAIA."
The guard nodded, then walked back into the small airport.
"That was GAIA?" Teresa turned in surprise. "Seriously, you're becoming scarier and scarier by the day."
D chuckled again as he started up the car and began driving. "You look much healthier than before. You're young, so don't push yourself."
Teresa burst out laughing, her unfastened seatbelt slipping out of her hand. "Me? Young?! Should I remind you about all that happened years ago?"
D raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Please, enlighten me."
Teresa chuckled as she clicked her seatbelt in place. "First, I'm seventy-five years old. Second, I only look like this because of what you did to my Venma, you old coot."
D shook his head, smiling. "Old coot? Really?"
Teresa's smile slowly faded though, and she fixed her eyes on the road. "Why did you summon me?"
"Because I thought you needed a change of pace. Aren't you tired, living in the mountains for so long?"
Teresa shook her head. "You know I did that solely because I didn't want to interact with people. Considering our history, there is most definitely something dangerous involved if you called out a former Elite Hero from her seclusion."
She turned her head to D, her green eyes boring into him. "Explain yourself."
D chuckled, his gaze flickering over to her for a brief moment. "Teresa, or should I call you Dryad?"
"D," she muttered, her voice low and warning.
"Calm yourself," D smirked. Then his expression immediately turned blank. "There's some trouble brewing behind the scenes, and I suspect mass destruction is imminent. Your power will prove very useful in helping to mitigate it."
Teresa folded her arms. "As selfish as always I see. Why don't you stop it yourself?"
"I cannot interfere with the world's problems to that extent. You already know the dangers that could arise from my actions ever being exposed again."
Teresa fell silent, looking at the scenery pass by. "So, you want me to make sure the casualties are kept to the bare minimum."
"Yes. It shouldn't be too much to ask of 'The Mother', no?"
Teresa chuckled. "Don't call me that. I never liked that epithet, and it sounds especially disturbing coming from you. As for this... problem, I'll do my best to aid you. I owe you that much."
D nodded. "'Restore' is an immensely versatile ability. Aid is exactly what is expected from you."
"Oh, be quiet you," Teresa chuckled. "After you forced a mutation in my Venma that caused me to Awaken later on, not only was I able to heal all those people during that Incursion, but my body also regressed to its prime. At the time, I was simply satisfied with being able to heal many more of the injured, but sometimes I wonder... did you do that because you knew that you would need my Awakened power in the future?"
A faint smile pulled at D's lips as he negotiated a curve. "You could say that."
Teresa smiled, shaking her head. "You and your melodrama."
D turned his head to look at her. "Melodramatic? How?"
Teresa scoffed. "Keep your eyes on the road, wise guy. I don't want to have to put us and this car back together if you crash."
D chuckled, then leaned over to whisper in her ear. "I'll have you know I'm a master at driving. Besides, I know you like it when I pay attention to you."
Teresa pushed his face away while he smoothly guided the car through a roundabout, past a car, and into a different lane. "You show-off. I said eyes on the road."
D chuckled at the light blush on her cheeks. "Yet you aren't denying it."
"Shut up. Didn't you reject me?"
"Old history," he replied.
Teresa rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I assume you have some intel on whatever danger is approaching?"
"Of course I do," D smiled as he slowed down and parked the car in the lot of a hotel.
"Why do you think Top-Class Heroes came to stay at Dawn Academy?"
****
"Spirit," Goliath rumbled in his deep bass. "That intel you received—you believe it's accurate?"
The small woman nodded, her expression completely serious. "Truth delivered it himself."
"Ah," Nocturne said with a quiet smile. "If the greatest detective alive has confirmed it, then it has to be genuine."
"Do you always come dressed to impress?" Sumoka raised an eyebrow as he took in Nocturne's crisp burgundy shirt, black vest and trousers, and ruby-red watch.
"Of course," Nocturne smiled as he smoothed back a few strands of his long black hair. "A good sense of fashion runs quite deeply in House von d'Avoire."
"I don't see the problem," Hound muttered as she took a seat beside Sumoka. "Maybe you should consider dressing like that sometime?"
"Oh come on," Sumoka huffed, a stream of light grey escaping his nose. "Not you too."
"Enough, all of you." Barrier banged the conference table lightly with his fist. "Spirit, please continue."
She nodded at him, then tapped her black watch. The screen behind her blinked to life, displaying a strange red crest.
"This is the symbol of the formerly secret Villain syndicate: The Kakistocracy."
Leprechaun narrowed his eyes. "That is... disturbing."
Spirit nodded. The crest was a surreal arrangement of human bodies, Mo, and several haloed ovals forming its outermost circle. Dripping motifs ran throughout the image, as though whatever had been used to create it had trickled down the surface.
"According to investigations conducted by Truth and the International Defence Force, The Kakistocracy has been responsible for several large-scale crimes, including terrorism, inciting civil wars, human trafficking, organ trafficking, machine-based Venma modification, and slavery. Truth discovered that a government in the far-east had been making deals with them, which is how he even discovered their existence in the first place. I've invited one of the Hero Association's spies to explain in detail, but since they aren't here right now, I'll get down to the broader problem."
Spirit tapped her watch again, and this time a three-dimensional holographic model of the globe appeared over the table. All the Heroes observed it carefully, a few noticing the red spots against it.
"Those spots," Barrier pointed at one in Asia. "Do they represent areas of the syndicate's influence?"
"No..." Hound muttered. "Those markers are on all the areas that have experienced the crimes Spirit just mentioned."
"Correct," Spirit nodded. "These are all the suspected affected areas, meaning that The Kakistocracy—"
"Is a worldwide threat," Nocturne finished, his eyes narrowed.
"Exactly," Spirit smiled from one corner of her mouth. "Though I would appreciate it if you didn't interrupt me like that."
Nocturne bowed his head. "I apologize."
"Apology accepted," Spirit replied.
Suddenly, a loud crack filled the air, and everyone present turned to see a woman in black trousers, a jacket, and a purple-accented mask standing there, pink and purple sparks jumping off her body.
She glanced around the room, then made a peace sign with her fingers. "Hey all. I was told Spirit wanted to see me?"
Apart from Spirit, the other Heroes were slightly taken aback by the woman's personality.
Spirit chuckled. "Yes. Everyone, this is Glitch. Glitch, everyone."
Glitch waved at all the Heroes excitedly. "Hi! I'm a huge fan of Top-Class Heroes, and I'm stoked to be meeting you guys! Um... can I get an autograph?"
The others exchanged glances, then Nocturne and Leprechaun smiled at her.
"Sure—"
"Later," Barrier sighed. "We're a bit busy right now, so we can't just branch off like that. This isn't a fan meet'n'greet."
Glitch chuckled as she walked up to the front. "True. Then I'll have to give my intel as concisely as possible so I can get those autographs!"
Barrier shook his head, a small smile on his face regardless.
"Anyway~" Glitch said as she began typing on a small panel attached to the conference table. "I did some digging, and this is what I discovered while on an infiltration mission."
Right beside the floating globe appeared a new image. A crest of intermingled black and white, two crowned men sitting on thrones of those very colours, facing each other.
"This is the insignia for a separate organization I've been investigating: The Chess Royalty. They aren't exactly Villains; more like a large group of criminals. However, the reason I was sent to investigate them is because they were suspected of managing a Vilzone. You know, those insanely secret Villain hideouts. The fact that there are only two known to the Hero Association really ticks the higher ups off."
"Hold on," Sumoka cut in. "What does this have to do with the Kakistocracy?"
Glitch raised a finger. "Don't worry, I'm getting there. You see, after surfing the dark web for a considerable amount of time, I snuck into a private chat room designated for Chess Royalty members. I found out a lot of things, but the two major pieces of information are these:
First, the Chess Royalty has two heads, known as the Black and White Kings, and they seem to have some form of collective manipulative Venma."
"So they could be identical twins?" Leprechaun asked.
Glitch shrugged. "Identical twins are all born with Venmas that complement each other, but we can't assume the Kings are twins just from that."
"That aside," Hound said. "What's the second piece of information?"
"Chess Royalty does some of the Kakistocracy's dirty work. To be specific, they supply them with mercenaries, and terrorism seems to be their main job."
The Heroes fell silent, realizing the implications of the information she had just revealed.
"In other words," Nocturne spoke. "Not only is the mafia siding with Villains—"
"They may not be the only ones helping them out," Spirit finished. She wiggled her eyebrows at Nocturne, who smiled and shook his head.
"Yep," Glitch nodded. "There's a high chance that the Kakistocracy is a network of large criminal groups. The Iros is currently dealing with the Card Dynasty in the East, and..."
Glitch's voice trailed off as she looked at Spirit, and the Elite Hero chuckled.
"And he sent me here to deal with a possible attack here in the Dark Continent."
The other Heroes looked surprised, then nodded as one.
"Basically," Barrier said as he looked at Glitch. "You're saying the Chess Royalty might decide to make a move here?"
Glitch nodded. "According to Boss Truth, the Chess Royalty are looking for someone. Someone with insane tech, a huge repertoire of knowledge, and a secret that could very likely give the Kakistocracy a hold on the world itself."
Goliath frowned. "Any idea who that might be?"
Glitch shook her head. "The Chess Royalty Pawns—apparently that's what they call the grunts—had no idea who it could be. However, what they did say was kind of... disturbing."
"And what did they say?" Barrier leaned forward.
Glitch remained silent for a few seconds, then said: "They said that an Elite Hero level 'Rook' was heading towards the area they suspected that person resided."
Glitch pointed downwards. "Here, the very city Dawn Academy sits in."