Time: Next Day
The Salaam Agency didn't use a standard boardroom.
They used a massive, tiered lecture hall.
Over thirty sidekicks filled the seats.
The squad leaders sat in the front rows, talking quietly with each other.
The junior sidekicks and new hires took up the back rows, pulling out their notebooks and pens.
Down at the front, a giant digital screen covered the entire wall.
Kaito stood near the screen. He held a small remote.
Salaam leaned against a desk in the front row.
He wore his red and gold costume.
He smiled and waved at a few of the rookies in the back.
Nuubis stood right next to him, typing away on a datapad and looking completely stressed out.
"Alright," Kaito said. His voice easily reached the back row. "Let's look at yesterday morning's patrol in the market district."
BEEP.
The giant screen lit up.
It played body-cam footage from one of the junior sidekicks.
A three-story building was burning.
Black smoke rolled out of the top windows.
Down on the street, a villain with fiery hands was laughing and throwing fireballs at the police barricades.
On the screen, Salaam's flat, 2D body slid out from a tiny crack in the burning building's foundation.
He popped back into a normal 3D shape, holding a coughing civilian under his right arm.
The villain turned and saw him. He threw a massive wave of fire straight at them.
Salaam didn't block it.
He immediately turned his body completely sideways to dodge the heat, grabbed the civilian tight, and sprinted away.
Behind him, two of his sidekicks threw cement bags and wind blasts at the villain to slow him down.
CLICK.
Kaito paused the video right as Salaam was running away. He turned to the crowd.
"Talk to me. What just happened?"
A big guy in the front row raised his hand. His name was Sirocco. He was a veteran with a sand-generating Quirk.
"We pulled off a clean extraction," Sirocco said.
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "The boss bypassed the blocked doors, got the hostage, and cleared the danger zone. My squad pinned the guy down right after so the cops could move in."
A girl sitting next to Sirocco blew a pink bubble with her gum. That was Gale, the wind-mobility specialist.
POP.
"Yeah, we're a rescue squad, man," Gale said, shrugging her shoulders. "We don't really do the whole 'stand your ground and punch the fire' thing. We get the people out and clear the board."
Salaam chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.
"She's right, Manager," Salaam said. He looked back at his sidekicks and grinned. "I had to run. If I tried to hit that guy, I'd just bounce off. My punches hit like wet paper."
A few of the sidekicks laughed.
The room felt relaxed.
They all knew the boss's physical limits, and Salaam didn't care about looking tough in front of his crew.
Kaito nodded. "You got the civilian out safely. That is a win."
He pointed the remote at the frozen screen.
CLICK.
The screen split in half.
One side showed the rescue. The other side showed a tactical breakdown of Salaam's body.
"But look at the reality of that fight," Kaito told the room. "The villain threw a wide attack. Salaam had absolutely zero options to push back. He had to run. If that villain was just a little bit faster, or aimed slightly to the left, both the Number One Hero of Egypt and the civilian would be injured."
The laughing stopped. The room went quiet.
"Your entire combat plan depends entirely on your sidekicks," Kaito continued. He walked closer to the front row. "If Resin misses his glue trap, or Sirocco can't blind the target fast enough, the boss has no defense. You are totally at the mercy of the environment."
Kaito tapped the screen.
"A water hose makes you too heavy to move. Fire burns you alive. And worst of all, you have a massive blind spot."
He looked directly at Salaam.
"Because you flatten yourself to dodge, you literally cannot see behind your own back. You have to flip your entire body around just to look behind you. A fast villain will just circle you and end the fight."
Nuubis let out a long, tired sigh. His jackal ears drooped.
"Manager Arisaka, we know about these blind spots," Nuubis said. He stepped up to the front desk and plugged his datapad into the main console.
BEEP.
The screen changed.
It showed dozens of 3D models. Heavy armor, metal shields, fireproof suits.
"We have spent millions trying to fix this," Nuubis said, rubbing his temples. "We built carbon-fiber shields. We tried heavy-duty heat suits. Every single piece of gear just weighs him down. If we put armor on him, he loses his rescue speed. He gets stuck in the cracks."
Nuubis looked at the crowd, then at Kaito.
"If we keep him light, he can't fight brawler type villains. If we armor him up, his Quirk is useless."
Kaito looked at the failed armor blueprints on the screen.
He looked at Nuubis, then at Salaam. He walked over to the desk.
CLACK.
He tossed the remote onto the wooden surface.
"You are trying to fix a physical problem with extra weight," Kaito said. "You don't need heavy armor."
Kaito crossed his arms.
"We are going to weaponize your actual body."
*-*-*-*
BEEP.
The tactical breakdown of Salaam's body disappeared.
A massive financial spreadsheet replaced it on the screen. It showed the agency's spending history.
"Nuubis, you are dumping millions into support gear that actively ruins your boss's Quirk," Kaito said. "We are cutting that off right now. We are taking that R&D budget and pushing it into your infrastructure."
Nuubis adjusted his glasses. "What kind of infrastructure?"
Kaito tapped the screen. A digital map of Cairo popped up.
"A predictive network," Kaito answered. "It will track ground shifts and structural faults across the old city blocks. You will get a warning five minutes before a building actually falls down."
Nuubis groaned and leaned heavily on the desk. "A custom AI? The coding alone will drain our accounts."
"You aren't coding it from scratch," Kaito told him. "My firm will hand over the base algorithm. Your IT department will adapt it to the city. Your agency buys the servers, and you own the tech. I am just giving you the blueprint."
Nuubis sighed in relief. "Okay. We can afford that."
CLICK.
The screen shifted to the agency's garage.
"Next, we fix your transport," Kaito said. "Scrap the black patrol cars. Take the leftover budget and commission three heavy support jets. Mount wind cannons on them. They will fly Salaam directly over a fight and shoot him straight down to the street."
"Hold on a second."
Salaam stood up from the desk. He shook his head.
"I can't do heavy jets, Kaito," Salaam said. "They are way too loud. Half of my rescues work because the villains don't even know I am in the building. If a massive jet engine rolls overhead, they will panic and hurt the hostages."
Kaito looked at Salaam. He listened to the Number One pro.
"That is a fair point," Kaito said. He deleted the jet icon on the screen. "We downsize. You pay a support company to build high-altitude stealth drones. Silent motors. They hover way out of sight, hit you with a directional wind burst, and return to base."
Salaam grinned. "Yeah. I like that a lot better."
A girl with a blue scarf raised her hand. It was Oasis.
"Wait," Oasis said. "If he drops in super fast, what happens if he drops straight into a fire? Or a flooded street?"
"Next is the support gears," Kaito answered. "Salaam keeps his iconic red and gold suit. Top heroes never lose their look. We just stop strapping heavy metal plates to him. You hire a top company to mix a custom nanotech spray. Salaam coats his costume and his skin before a patrol. It makes the suit and his body completely fireproof and waterproof, and it adds absolutely zero weight."
Wohoot.
Resin, a guy covered in sticky sap, whistled. "That actually fixes the weakness."
Kaito turned to the front row. He pointed at Gale and Sirocco.
"Which brings us to the launch squad," Kaito said. "Gale, Sirocco. You two are going to stop shooting at villains. You are going to shoot Salaam."
Gale paused. She stopped chewing her gum. "Come again?"
"You are the ground launchpad," Kaito explained. "Gale fires her wind blast directly at his back. Sirocco adds sand pressure. You blast him forward to break the sound barrier."
Sirocco crossed his massive arms. He looked seriously concerned.
"That won't work," Sirocco said. "If we hit the boss with that much concentrated force while he is paper-thin, his body will literally rip in half. He doesn't have the durability for it."
Kaito smiled. He tossed the remote onto the desk.
CLACK.
"You are absolutely right," Kaito said. "He would tear apart right now. Which is exactly why we are moving on to the final part of this meeting. Quirk development."
"..."
The room got very quiet.
"I am going to help every single person in this room evolve their Quirks," Kaito told the crowd. "We start by hardening Salaam's body to take the pressure. Then we upgrade Gale and Sirocco so they can actually launch him without passing out."
OOOOHH.
The back rows erupted.
The rookies jumped out of their seats.
The veteran squad leaders in the front row started talking over each other loudly. The excitement was massive.
Everyone in the agency know about the reputation of the Golden Manager.
They all saw the online videos and news.
They even saw the news of All Might punch a literal windstorm from Tokyo all the way to Kuwait. And they knew the Golden Manager was the guy who made it happen.
"Are you serious?" a rookie in the back yelled out. "You're going to help us train our Quirks?"
"He did it for All Might and other top pro heroes!" Gale said loudly, slapping the desk.
Sirocco laughed and shook his head in disbelief.
Salaam chuckled out loud. He looked at Kaito.
"Hehe. You just made their entire year, but I am also very excited about your ideas on how to make us go further," Salaam said.
"Let's give them something to read first," Kaito said.
He tapped his datapad.
BEEP.
Every single phone and tablet in the room buzzed at the exact same time.
The sidekicks all jumped and looked down at their screens.
"I pulled your agency records last night," Kaito told the crowd over the noise. "I just sent custom three-month training files to all of your devices. The rookies have their regimens. Gale, Sirocco, your Launch Squad drills are in there too."
Gale scrolled on her phone, her eyes going wide.
Nuubis raised his hand. He was sweating a little and looked seriously nervous.
"Manager Arisaka, hold on," Nuubis said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Are we really putting the Boss's new body mechanics and physical limits on the main screen?"
Salaam crossed his arms and looked right at his sidekick.
"Nuubis, relax," Salaam said, his voice warm but firm. "They are my sidekicks. All of you are part of my team. They need to know my body won't break. Keep going, Kaito."
Kaito nodded. He aimed the remote at the big screen.
CLICK.
The financial spreadsheet disappeared. A massive 3D model of Salaam's flattened arm popped up.
"To figure out your body, I looked at raw physics and structural engineering," Kaito said, putting a hand in his pocket. "The math is solid. First up is density compression."
A rookie in the back row whispered to his friend. "Man, that is crazy."
"Right now, your edges are soft," Kaito explained, pointing at the screen. "You hit a concrete wall and you crumple. I want you to squeeze your outer cells until they are micrometers thin. Turn your soft paper edge into a cardboard-grade razor blade. When Gale launches you, you will slice straight through villain armor."
Sirocco leaned forward and crossed his huge arms.
"Okay, but what about the actual impact?" Sirocco asked. "He still has zero mass. If I hit him with a concentrated sand pressure wave, he'll just rip in half."
"He won't," Kaito answered. He held up two fingers. "When taking a massive hit, fold your body into a honeycomb grid. Think of the inside of a heavy shipping box. You disperse the shock across the geometric folds."
Salaam nodded slowly. He looked down at his chest, visualizing it. "So I take a punch and just crinkle my chest into little squares?"
"Exactly. You become totally shock-absorbent," Kaito said. He held up three fingers. "Third thing. Aerodynamic folding."
Gale snorted a laugh and covered her mouth.
"I'm serious," Kaito said, looking at her. "Fold yourself into a tight dart shape to cut the air."
Click.
Kaito pressed a button on the remote. The 3D model on the screen turned perfectly sideways and completely disappeared.
"Fourth. We fix your blind spot," Kaito said. "It is a pure visual trick. You are two-dimensional. If you snap perfectly parallel to a villain's line of sight, your edge is so thin you vanish. It is a total optical illusion. While they panic and look around, you step out of their blind spot and strike."
Salaam stared at the empty space on the screen. "I just turn sideways."
"Straight down their line of sight. Yes," Kaito said.
Kaito held up his hand and closed it into a fist.
"And the finisher," Kaito said. "When someone throws a massive punch, you go loose. Wrap your flat arms around their fist. Ride their momentum backward, take zero damage, and steal their kinetic energy. Then you snap back like a giant rubber band and hit them with their own force."
"..."
The boardroom went totally quiet.
Salaam looked down at his own hands again.
He flattened his fingers, then popped them back to normal 3D. A huge grin spread across his face.
"People call you the Golden Manager," Salaam said, his voice buzzing with hype. "I get it now. You just turned me into a weapon."
"You're a blade now," Kaito said.
He tossed the remote onto the main desk.
CLACK.
"Meeting is over," Kaito told the room. "Salaam, let's head down training venue. We are drilling these folds until you can do them in your sleep."
Salaam cracked his knuckles.
"Let's go break some records," Salaam said.
*-*-*-*
Location: Underground Highway Tunnel – Japan
Time: Midnight
VROOM.
Three armored trucks rolled down the dark tunnel. No lights. No sirens. Just the sound of tires on asphalt.
Inside the middle truck, it was pitch black.
CLANG.
CLANG.
Thirty prisoners sat on the cold metal floor.
Their hands and feet were locked in heavy, quirk-suppressing cuffs.
Thick chains bolted them to the walls.
They were being moved to the new jail like Tartarus, but nobody said a word.
They just listened to the hum of the engine.
Stendhal crouched on a maintenance beam near the ceiling.
He adjusted his red scarf, his hand resting on the hilt of his katana. He watched the convoy crawl forward.
"The fake heroes don't get it," Stendhal whispered to the dark. "They can't finish the job. I will."
He pulled two heavy metal balls from his belt and let them drop.
THUD.
The balls hit the road right in front of the lead truck. Steel spikes burst out across the lane like a spiderweb.
POP. POP.
SCREECH.
The lead truck blew its tires. It swerved hard, slamming into the concrete wall with a shower of sparks.
The trucks behind it slammed on their brakes, tires screaming.
The drivers jumped out, hands on their sidearms.
"Ambush!" one guard shouted.
SWISH.
Stendhal dropped from the ceiling.
BAAM. BAAM.
He didn't use his sword. He swung his boot, catching the guard in the temple. The man dropped like a sack of potatoes.
Thud.
Two more guards ran at him.
SWISH. SWISH. SWISH.
Stendhal flicked his wrist.
Three knives flew out, pinning their sleeves to the truck.
BAM.
He moved in, hit them with a quick strike to the neck, and they slumped over. He didn't want to kill them.
They were just doing their jobs.
He walked to the back doors of the middle truck. He slapped a charge on the lock and backed away.
BOOM.
The doors flew open. Smoke filled the tunnel. The prisoners inside panicked, pulling against their chains.
"What is happening?" Someone from the back screamed.
Stendhal stepped into the back of the truck.
His mask glowed in the red emergency light. He slowly drew his sword.
The blade made a long, sharp sound against the sheath.
"Who are you?"
"Are we being saved?"
The inmates at the front stopped screaming. They stared at the mask. They knew exactly who he was.
"You..." one guy whispered. "You're that maniac."
"I am the blade of Hero X," Stendhal said.
"Damn!"
"Stop him!"
"What's going on?"
"He is going to kill us."
Stenhdal stepped forward.
The villains pulled at their chains, but they had nowhere to go.
"Filth!"
He raised his sword.
Swish. Swish. Swish.
*-*-*-*
Location: HPSC Headquarters – Tokyo
BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.
Red lights flashed across the floor.
The dispatch room was a mess of shouting people.
"Sir!" an operator yelled, spinning his chair around. "Sector four just went offline! I just got the signal, thirty inmate vitals flatlined. All of them. At the same time!"
The dispatch chief gripped his headset. He looked at the screen, watching the lines go flat. "That's not a breakout. That's an execution."
He stood up and pointed to the lead monitor. "Get the cleanup crew out there now. And someone call Lady Nagant. Tell her to get to that tunnel."
"What about the heroes?" an operator asked.
"Send an emergency ping to the Top Ten if Lady Nagant can't solve the situation," the chief growled. "Tell them we have a killer on the loose. And get the report on Hawks' desk immediately. We also need his assistance."
*-*-*-*
Location: Gang Orca Agency – Tokyo
Time: Eight hours later
Gang Orca sat in his dark office. The only light came from the blue water in his massive shark tanks.
PING.
His monitor lit up. He leaned in, his heavy chair creaking.
[HPSC EMERGENCY: CONVOY SLAUGHTER. 30 DEAD.]
Orca opened the file.
He scrolled through the photos of the truck. He didn't look at the blood.
He gritted his teeth. The cuts were perfect. A clean, practiced slash.
Gang Orca stood up. His chair slammed into the desk. He grabbed his radio.
"Barnacle," Orca rumbled.
"Boss?"
"Get the squad ready," Orca said. His voice sounded like grinding stones. "The masked guy is back. And he's not just a vigilante anymore. He's attacking state convoys and killing prisoners."
Orca leaned into the screen, staring at the photo.
"He's a villain now... Stendhal."
...
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