Location: Kashiwa Ward, Japan – Arisaka Consulting
Time: Evening
Kaito hit the enter key and pushed his chair back from the desk. He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
The right monitor displayed the final page of the Yaoyorozu Quirk Development Plan. Hundreds of pages detailed biological limits, chemical compounds, and strict dietary schedules.
"Eve," Kaito said, looking up at the ceiling. "Lock the Yaoyorozu file. Send it directly to their private family server."
[Encrypting the file now, Boss,] Eve replied through the office speakers.
BEEP.
[The document is delivered. The Yaoyorozu family confirmed receipt. They also transferred the final payment to your accounts.]
"Good," Kaito stood up and stretched his arms. "Update the public dashboard. Announce that the ten online consultation slots for this month are officially filled."
[Updating the website. The global agencies filled the quota very quickly this month.]
"They know what they are paying for," Kaito said, walking over to the mini-fridge to grab a bottle of water. "Even if I can't fly out to Europe or America to contract them face-to-face, the remote data and agency restructuring plans are the exact same quality. Millions of dollars for the blueprints. They just have to execute the steps themselves."
[Understood. Shall I update the physical client roster as well?]
"Yeah," Kaito twisted the cap off his water. "Put Crust on the front page. Announce him as the newest three-month physical agency contract."
[The announcement is live on the website.]
KRING. KRING. KRING.
Kaito reached into his pocket. His cell phone vibrated against his leg. He looked at the caller ID and pressed the accept button.
"I just finished up," Kaito said, holding the phone to his ear.
[Kaito! Are you packing right now?] Grandma Saki asked through the speaker.
CLATTER.
A loud crash of ceramic plates echoed through the phone.
[Put that plate down right now, Emmy! The rice isn't done!] Grandma Saki yelled, pulling the phone away from her mouth.
[I'm starving, Grandma!] Emmy whined in the background.
[You will wait for your Uncle Kaito!] Saki replied softly.
Kaito laughed. He walked over to the coat rack near the glass doors and grabbed his jacket.
"I'm grabbing my coat right now," Kaito told them.
[Uncle Kaito!] Emmy screamed happily through the phone.
Quick, heavy footsteps padded across a wooden floor on the other end of the line.
"I hear you," Kaito smiled, pulling his dark coat over his shoulders. "I'm heading down to the parking garage. I'll be in Shizuoka in about twenty minutes."
[Don't speed,] Grandma Saki took the phone back. [We will wait for you. See you soon.]
CLICK.
The call ended. Kaito slid the phone back into his pocket. He looked around the office.
"Shut the monitors down, Eve," Kaito ordered, grabbing his car keys off the desk. "I'll see you tomorrow."
[Have a good evening, Boss,] Eve replied.
The computer screens went black. The overhead lights clicked off.
Kaito walked out the glass doors and headed for the elevator, leaving the hero industry behind for the night to go eat dinner with his family.
...
Location: Death Arms Agency
HUFF-PUFF
GULP. GULP.
Death Arms wiped his face with a towel and tossed it onto the bench. He sat in the agency breakroom, taking a long drink from a plastic water bottle.
SLID.
The door opened. His young sidekick walked inside, scrolling through a digital tablet.
"Boss," the sidekick said, looking up from the screen. "Arisaka Consulting just updated their client roster. We weren't chosen."
Death Arms set his water bottle down on the table. He leaned forward.
"Who got it?" Death Arms asked.
The sidekick turned the tablet around. A large photo of Crust sat on the front page of the website.
Death Arms stared at the photo for a few seconds. He didn't look disappointed.
"HAHAHA!"
Death Arms let out a booming laugh. His deep voice echoed off the breakroom walls. He shook his head and leaned back in his chair.
"He finally got it," Death Arms grinned. "He thought Kaito was ignoring him."
"But Crust is already a top-ranking hero," the sidekick said, looking confused. "Why does he need a special contract from the manager? We need it way more than he does."
"Because the other pros are following the new standards," Death Arms explained calmly. "Hawks, Mirko, Kamui Woods. The new generation is leaving those who still didn't get the Golden Manager effect. Even Endeavor and All Might had joined in. Crust knew he was the absolute last guy from the older veterans who hadn't adapted yet. He was desperate to keep up."
Death Arms stood up and grabbed his yellow hard hat off the table.
"The whole industry is shifting," Death Arms told his sidekick. "If a guy at the very top is pushing that hard to evolve, we can't just sit around and wait for our turn. Grab your gear. We are adding another patrol route tonight."
...
Location: Rock Lock Agency
Rock Lock pressed his pen hard against the paper. He sat at his cluttered desk, filling out the endless property damage reports from his afternoon patrol.
His lead sidekick opened the door and stepped inside the office.
"Sir," the sidekick said quietly. "The golden manager announced the new contracted hero."
Rock Lock stopped writing. He dropped the pen on his desk, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Let me guess," Rock Lock muttered. "Crust?"
"Yes, sir," the sidekick nodded.
Rock Lock let out a long, heavy sigh.
"Of course it is," Rock Lock crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling. "He was the only one left. Endeavor, Jeanist, Edgeshot, All Might. Now Crust."
...
Location: Texas, USA – Cow Lady Agency Clinic
RIP.
Sarah tore a long strip of white medical tape off the roll.
"Hold still, Koichi," Sarah scolded lightly.
"Ouch!" Koichi winced.
He sat shirtless on the edge of a medical cot. A tight white bandage covered his right ribcage. A dark purple bruise showed right at the edge of the cloth.
Sarah slapped the tape over the bandage, pressing it down firmly.
Dave and Mark stood near the door wearing their greasy mechanic overalls.
"I don't get it," Dave crossed his arms. "You literally skate past bullets. You can even fly. How did you get hit by a piece of flying metal?"
SIGH.
Koichi sighed. He pulled his blue jacket on and zipped it up halfway.
"Wolfram is stronger than the intelligence we got," Koichi explained, rubbing his sore side. "I got distracted."
"What was he doing?" Mark asked.
"He wore this heavy metallic helmet," Koichi looked down. "It had thick wires running down his back."
...
Location: Texas State Penitentiary
Time: Last Night (Flashback)
WEEE-OOO.
WEEE-OOO.
Sirens blared across the prison yard. Searchlights swept through the thick smoke.
Wolfram stood in the center of the courtyard. A bright red light glowed from the wiring on his helmet.
A massive barricade of twisted steel and ripped-up fences floated in the air directly in front of him.
VROOM.
The modified Cow Lady Agency transport truck blasted straight through the ruined outer gates at sixty miles per hour.
CLANG.
The back ramp dropped.
Pam launched out of the truck in her normal human form. She hit the asphalt sprinting at her absolute maximum speed.
She charged straight at the floating steel barricade.
"A hero?" Wolfram raised his hand to crush her.
Pam didn't slow down. A microsecond before she hit the metal wall, she activated her quirk.
FWOOSH.
She instantly expanded into her massive minotaur form.
Five hundred pounds of dense muscle materialized in mid-air.
All of her sprinting momentum transferred directly into the new mass.
"Shift Ram!" Pam roared.
BAAAM. CRACKLE.
She slammed into the barricade. The kinetic force shattered the steel wall into hundreds of broken pieces.
SKRRT.
"This woman!" Wolfram slid backward across the concrete, his eyes wide behind his metal mask.
He recovered fast. He twisted his wrist sharply.
RUMBLE.
The structural rebar of the main cell block literally ripped itself out of the concrete walls. Hundreds of heavy iron pipes and steel girders floated into the air.
SWOOSH.
SWOOSH.
Wolfram sent a massive tsunami of metal straight at them.
Pam flexed her lats and pecs hard. She locked her muscle fibers tightly together, making her outer hide as dense as vulcanized rubber.
CLANG.
THUD.
CLANG.
Steel pipes bounced right off her chest and shoulders.
She didn't even flinch.
SWIISH. SWISSH.
She kept running, diving under a collapsing guard tower and physically holding the concrete up with her bare hands so the military police beneath it could escape.
SWOOSH.
Koichi skated across the courtyard.
"Everyone! Get back!"
He leaned low, dodging heavy iron gates and flying debris with ease.
"Another one.." Wolfram noticed him.
CRACKLE. SWIISH.
The villain aimed three massive girders directly at Koichi's right side, forcing the young hero to dodge hard to the left.
"Woah!"
SKKKRT.
Koichi slid perfectly, completely focused on the huge chunks of metal.
But.
He left a massive blind spot open.
SWIISH.
A thin, sharp piece of rusted rebar shot out from the rubble directly underneath Koichi.
"Gah!"
The metal slashed right across his ribs. The force knocked him completely off balance. He tumbled hard across the asphalt, grabbing his side.
Wolfram lowered his hands. He looked at his metal-plated gloves.
"This technology is really good..."
WHOP.
WHOP.
WHOP.
Military helicopters approached fast in the distance.
"That number one unreasonable hero, Star and Stripes, could drop off any moment."
Wolfram didn't hesitate.
CRACKLE-BOOM.
He ripped the steel door off the maximum-security wing.
"Boss?"
"Shut up and hold on!"
Wolfram grabbed Nobu out of his cell and threw him onto a floating platform of scrap metal.
"What about me?"
"Boss help us!"
"Don't leave us!"
He completely ignored the rest of his captured mercenaries screaming from their cells.
FWOOSH.
Wolfram and Nobu flew straight up into the night sky, vanishing into the clouds.
...
Time: Present
Pam leaned against the clinic doorframe. Her cow-print suit was completely covered in concrete dust.
"He may have attacked a federal prison just to test his new helmet." Dave said quietly.
Pam crossed her arms.
"He just kidnapped someone from I-Island," Pam said. "And now he got his subordinate back."
"Did the government managed track him?" Mark asked.
"Not yet," Pam shook her head. "But the intelligence agencies confirmed it this morning. Wolfram is officially getting supplied by Humarise."
Koichi looked down at the floor. He clenched his fists. 'Flying and launching wave attacks is not enough. I think I needed Kaito's help.'
...
Location: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo – Shield Hero Agency
Time: Next Day
SCREECH.
A black car pulled up to the curb.
It parked in front of a five-story concrete building. Thick stone pillars lined the front doors.
Kaito stepped out onto the sidewalk holding a black briefcase.
"KAITO!"
Crust pushed the front glass doors open. He wore his heavy gladiator armor. He smiled widely and walked quickly down the front steps.
Two young sidekicks followed right behind him.
"Crust," Kaito smiled. "Good to see you."
"Welcome to the agency!" Crust grabbed Kaito's hand and shook it firmly. "I'm glad you made it. Let me introduce my lead sidekicks."
Crust stepped aside and pointed at the two young heroes.
"This is Phalanx and Ricochet," Crust said proudly.
Kaito shifted his briefcase to his left hand. He reached out and shook the tall man's hand first.
"Nice to meet you, Phalanx," Kaito said. "I read your files on the drive over. Your rescue numbers from last month are really good."
Phalanx stood up a little straighter. "Thank you, sir."
Kaito turned to the young woman and shook her hand next.
"And Ricochet," Kaito nodded. "You handled that highway pileup perfectly last week. Good work."
Ricochet blushed and bowed. "I appreciate that, Mr. Arisaka."
Crust clapped his hands together loudly.
"Come on inside," Crust told him. "Let me show you the place."
They walked through the front doors.
The main lobby was busy. Sidekicks in training gear carried boxes of support items.
Staff members walked back and forth holding clipboards and tablets.
Crust led Kaito down the hallway into the dispatch center.
Dozens of monitors covered the walls. A tired-looking man with gray hair sat at the main desk, rubbing his eyes.
"This is our logistics head, Aoto" Crust introduced him.
Kaito walked over to the desk. "Rough morning?"
Sato sighed and leaned back in his chair. "We handled thirty emergency calls before 9:00 AM. Passable"
Kaito smiled and looked around the busy room.
"I'll have someone drop off a new espresso machine for this floor tomorrow," Kaito told him. "It looks like you guys need it. Consider it a meeting gift."
Aoto laughed and sat forward. "I will definitely hold you to that, Mr. Arisaka."
"Let's head upstairs," Crust said.
They walked to the elevators and rode up to the top floor.
Crust opened the doors to a large conference room. A long wooden table sat in the middle of the floor.
Crust, Phalanx, Ricochet, and the rest of the personel from other sidekicks and logistics followed Kaito inside.
They all took seats around the table. The room went quiet.
The sidekicks looked a little nervous. They knew their entire careers were about to change.
CLICK.
Kaito set his briefcase down on the wooden table.
He sat down and looked at the team. He gave them a genuine smile.
"Alright," Kaito said. "Shall we get started?"
...
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(9 Advanced Chapters)