Hey Guys. I am Back. There will be four chapters posted today
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He wasn't sure if his body was dying or if he was simply about to pass out from the blood loss.
As for whether the doctor was lying, he couldn't bring himself to care right now. Perhaps he was telling the truth, or perhaps he simply didn't want to take the risk of warping them in their current state.
'So .. this is how it all ends ..' He thought with darkening vision. The sounds outside had stopped, meaning the battle was over. The league of villains had lost. If this was the end for him, it would be ... Truly pathetic. Nevertheless, the fog in his mind had cleared entirely, and his irritation along with it.
"Tomura, are you still alive?" Garaki's voice fell into his ears.
"Yeah." His voice was barely audible. "But..." A small smile spread across his face. "I remember everything now."
"Hmm?"
"Yeah... It's all coming back to me. Almost like it just happened yesterday ... ." Shigaraki said, blood leaking from the side of his lips onto the floor. Yet, as he wiped his mouth, his cracked lips curled upward into a chilling, genuine smile.
"...You were right, Doctor. I really was immature back then, wondering what I wanted for the future..."
The sound of approaching combat boots were tuned out of his ears. "It turns out... I never wanted a future," Shigaraki muttered, his red eye locking onto the moonlight as the last remnants of his consciousness gave out. "All I wanted... was to destroy it." His hand went limp as he closed his eyes.
The people he killed. His family, those random punks when he was a kid, everything and everyone. There was no great cause behind it. His motivation had been that simple all along. He really just wanted to destroy everything.
Silence returned to the immediate perimeter of the overturned carriage, until a long shadow fell over his broken body.
Mirko stood at the entrance of the shattered freight car, her arms crossed as red eyes swept over the eerie smile plastered across the unconscious villain's face.
"Eh? Already passed out?" Mirko huffed, crossing her arms in disappointment. Then, she reached down, instantly catching the active wireless earpiece resting in the dirt beside his head. Picked up the small device and holding it up to her lips.
"What about you?" she asked the microphone. "Not gonna do anything to save your little vanguard?"
There was only silence on the other end of the line.
"Ha! Why so silent now? Afraid?" Mirko taunted, her smile widening into a sharp display of teeth. "I know you can hear me on the other end, old man. Why don't you wanna say anything now? Come out and fight!"
No response.
"Tch. Disappointing." Hearing the sounds of approaching footsteps, Mirko clicked her tongue and tossed it aside. "Hey! Clean-up crew! Get the cuffs over here! The big fish is bagged!"
Meanwhile,
Back in the depths of the hidden laboratory, the line went entirely dead. Dr. Garaki slowly pulled the headset away from his ear, ignoring the rabbit hero's arrogant barking entirely. He stared at the blank monitors, then back to the examination table across the room.
A small, dark chuckle escaped Garaki's throat as he marveled at Tomura Shigaraki's utterly abysmal luck.
Not far from him, Johnny, the pink, multi-eyed Nomu, was currently sprawling across the metal surface, its skin twitching violently, spitting up a thick, dark fluid as its biological systems wheezed in absolute agony.
As a result, Garaki found himself caught in a critical dilemma. His words to Shigaraki weren't lies. The moment the suppression fire had erupted in Kanagawa, he had immediately attempted to trigger a mass-recall warp to yank Shigaraki and the League back to safety.
But Johnny's warp quirk was unfortunately, much worse than Kurogiri's. Neither was his biology capable of effortlessly handling such strain like his master could.
The creature had already performed four warps today, including two in rapid succession just minutes prior. Forcing another long-range warp right now was ill-advised, as the sheer cerebral strain would cause a fatal brain hemorrhage, permanently destroying the only warping asset the Doctor possessed.
Even if he risked it, the mathematical probability of a successful retrieval through the interference of the heroes was fifty-fifty at best.
The current Shigaraki was not worth such a cost. "I suppose we cannot rely on the children to do a monster's work."
Garaki looked from the twitching Nomu back to the audio line. He paid Mirko's taunts no heed. There was absolutely no universe in which he would sacrifice a foundational, irreplaceable quirk like Johnny's warp just to salvage a boy who couldn't survive ten minutes in the field.
'To save, or not to save...'
What he needed most now was time for Johnny to heal from the strain which would take several minutes.
As regardless of what he said, Shigaraki was vital to All For One's plans. Who knew when such a suitable chess piece filled with such pure hate could be found again.
Hence, he needed a distraction. One good enough to force the heroes onto the defensive and buy Johnny the thirty minutes required to biologically reset.
"Regrettable. Truly regrettable..." Garaki sighed, setting the headset down onto his main console. He rose from his padded chair, his lab coat trailing behind him as he turned his back on the monitors.
The cavernous laboratory stretched before him, illuminated only by. Thick cables disappeared into the darkness overhead, feeding the monstrous creations with nutrients and electrical impulses.
"Such a troublesome child..."
He murmured, walking down the long corridor of the laboratory and stopped before the largest containment chamber in the room.
Unlike the others, this one wasn't filled with cloudy liquid. It was empty. Leaving only a gargantuan, heavily muscled creature resting in the dark. Its grey, scarred skin was mapped with thick surgical staples, and its exposed, bulbous brain pulsed continuously.
Dr. Garaki raised a small, wrinkled hand, tapping his knuckles lightly against the thick glass.
TAP. TAP.
"Rise and shine, Hood," the Doctor smiled, his round goggles reflecting the monster's silhouette. "It has been nearly ten hours since your last neural calibration, but plans have changed."
A second passed in the quiet of the lab. Then, the creature's bulbous, yellow eyes snapped wide open in the dark, locking onto the small doctor with absolute, unadulterated malice.
Doctor Garaki paid it no heed. His fingers moved toward the nearby control console.
Mechanical safeties disengaged one after another.
CLANK. CLANK. CLANK.
Steam erupted from the capsule's seams. Garaki quietly adjusted his glasses.
The capsule opened, and from within, a guttural vibration rattled the glass pane. Inside, the creature's jaw split open, revealing rows of jagged teeth.
"...S-Strong?..."
The voice of the creature came through with a high pitched rasp.
"Yes, yes. Very strong," Garaki murmured, his fingers typing out a rapid sequence on the keyboard.
"The strongest heroes are currently gathered in Kanagawa, and they are taking our precious Tomura away. I need you to retrieve him, Hood. As well as his companions."
"Others?"
"Indeed. Though Tomura is the main priority, rescue the others as well. Besides them, everyone else is expendable. Do not hesitate to kill anyone who stands in your way, create as much beautiful chaos as your lungs can manage, and bring him back to me."
The machine hissed as the final hydraulic restraints retracted.
"K-Kill... strong... heroes..." Hood gasped, his massive chest expanding as his lungs took in the open air of the lab.
"Precisely. You should be more than able enough. Now go." Garaki slammed his palm onto the primary engagement switch. A secondary console hummed to life beside Johnny, whose multi-eyed face twisted in a silent scream of agony as the familiar black fluid began to pour from its throat.
The distance between here and Kanagawa was too far. Hence, to prevent Johnny's demise, he could only send Hood a short distance away, unlike the previous long-range mass recall. How unfortunate that the warp quirk was limited to sending targets to or away from the user. How terrible of Kurogiri to be misused in Shigaraki's hands.
Hood didn't hesitate. With a guttural roar that shook the very foundation of the subterranean lab, the High-End Nomu leapt forward, plunging headfirst into the black sludge before it collapsed in on itself, leaving the room in silence.
Dr. Garaki slowly returned to his monitors, pulling up the live tracking of Hood's location as it sped off. "Now... let us see how the Heroes handle a masterpiece." The current high end Nomu was the pinnacle of his creations. Second only to the USJ Nomu in terms of strength. Far surpassing it in versatility and intelligence.
It was unfortunate he had no way to view what would soon unfold himself. After all, he would very much like to see how the heroes would deal with Hood without All Might's overwhelming power.
Meanwhile, back in Kanagawa... The distant wail of approaching sirens grew louder.
With the League of Villains neutralized, the atmosphere around the abandoned rail yard had noticeably relaxed.
Police officers moved between the wrecked train cars, photographing the battlefield while specialized restraint units carefully hauled the unconscious villains out one after another.
Heavy iron transport restraints ... far thicker than ordinary handcuffs were fastened around every limb before each villain was loaded onto reinforced stretchers.
Twice. Mr. Compress. Kendo Rappa. Deidoro Sakaki.
Even Dabi, whose burns had forced emergency responders to wrap his entire upper body in heat-resistant suppression bindings.
Lastly...
Four officers stood around the unconscious Tomura Shigaraki.
"Easy..."
"Watch his hands."
"Don't let his fingers touch anything."
Specialized restraint gauntlets were locked over each of his hands before thick steel braces secured his elbows, shoulders and neck. Only after confirming every joint had been immobilized did the officers finally breathe a sigh of relief.
The infamous leader of the League of Villains had finally been captured.
"..."
Standing nearby, X-Less silently watched the procedure, receding his laser vision meant to fry Shigaraki's brain should he move a single muscle.
Unfortunately, the rabbit hero had already departed. Once she confirmed the battlefield had been secured, she had immediately answered another emergency dispatch elsewhere, leaving command of the scene to the arriving authorities.
During that period, they had called for reinforcements to secure the transport convoy before it departed. Now... The requested reinforcements were finally arriving.
Several police vehicles rolled into the abandoned rail yard one after another.
Behind them came three separate hero transports.
The first door slid open.
"... Well, looks like we missed the fun." A familiar figure stepped out, with a curvaceous figure, sky blue eyes and dark purple hair.
Midnight.
From the same car, three students quickly climbed out after her.