At the dawn of the next day, within a conference hall in the Hero Public Safety Commission, rows of chairs filled the room, occupied by the top heroes in Japan. The gathering itself was unusual. Meetings of this scale rarely happened without weeks of preparation, yet they had all been summoned within yesterday suddenly.
At the front of the room stood Sir Nighteye.
Facing him were some of the most recognized figures in the hero world: Endeavor, Hawks, Best Jeanist, and Mirko. Heroes from UA were present as well, including Present Mic and Thirteen.
The sheer concentration of top-tier heroes made it clear how serious the situation was.
Nighteye adjusted his glasses and began speaking.
"I thank you all for coming on such short notice," he said calmly, though the gravity on his face was clear. "The urgent summons was due to a piece of information we received yesterday. Information that, if accurate, threatens the entire country."
Every hero listened with tense faces.
"The villain, Junsei," he continued, "has formed an alliance with the Yakuza. Together they have been working toward the creation of a gas capable of permanently erasing quirks."
He paused briefly, letting the words sink in.
"They have succeeded."
A murmur spread through the room.
"And now," Nighteye added, "they intend to deploy this gas across the entirety of Japan."
Some heroes became stunned hearing that, others became grim. No one treated the statement lightly.
Endeavor narrowed his eyes, looking at Nighteye.
"How certain are you of this information?" he asked.
Nighteye answered "It was delivered by a member of the Yakuza. He approached our agency voluntarily, driven by fear and guilt over what is being prepared."
He continued, his tone steady.
"The confrontation we had with Junsei during the previous raid was intentional. He wanted to protect Overhaul and allow the Yakuza to escape."
A quiet whistle escaped Hawks.
"So the monster who enjoys killing humans teamed up with a lunatic trying to erase quirks and collapse society?" he said with a faint smirk. "Strangely enough… I can actually see that partnership working."
Nighteye nodded slightly.
"Regardless of how absurd it sounds, the threat is real, and the bullets we uncovered months ago were the first breakthrough of their research. Now, according to the information we received, the Yakuza will begin distributing gas bombs across the country today."
The heroes had a somber look on their faces.
"That is why I asked to summon you all immediately. We will attack the Yakuza hideout today, before those bombs leave their base."
Endeavor frowned.
"That's reckless," he said bluntly. "You're asking for a large-scale operation with almost no preparation."
Nighteye anticipated the objection.
"I already possess detailed information regarding their members and their quirks," he replied. "And more importantly… Junsei is not currently with them."
That statement immediately drew the attention of everyone in the room.
"They do not know where he is," Nighteye continued. "He disappeared after he attacked Tartarus."
The heroes had all access to the recordings and they had watched it all play out. The destruction of Tartarus and the slaughter of its inmates had shaken the entire nation.
Nighteye looked across the room at the gathered heroes.
"The most dangerous individual involved in this situation is absent. This is the best opportunity we will ever have to strike. If we hesitate and allow the bombs to be distributed, the consequences will be catastrophic. Without Junsei present, the Yakuza and their operation become a far more manageable threat."
He took a slow breath.
"I understand the risks. I understand the lack of preparation. But time is against us, and our greatest threat is not currently among them. This will also allow dealing with Junsei easier later on when he has no allies"
His gaze hardened.
"We cannot afford hesitation."
The room remained silent for several seconds.
Finally, Endeavor spoke.
"…Very well."
He straightened in his chair.
"I'm in."
One by one, the other heroes began nodding.
Agreement spread through the room.
Mirko cracked her knuckles with an eager grin.
"Great," she said. "Now that the boring talk is done… when do we attack?"
Nighteye looked around at the assembled heroes and said "Now. We move immediately."
——————
Deep beneath the Yakuza hideout, Kai Chisaki sat alone in his laboratory. For a long moment he simply sat there, unmoving, staring at the floor while his thoughts churned.
His blood was boiling.
Today was the day everything would change. All of his planning, experimentation and sacrifice, everything had led to this moment. The gas bombs were ready. His subordinates were already moving the carts upstairs, preparing to distribute them across the country.
Soon, the sickness of quirks would be erased from Japan.
Everything was ready.
Then the silence shattered.
An explosion thundered through the building, followed immediately by screams and the distant sounds of battle. Overhaul shot to his feet, alarm flashing across his normally controlled expression. He pressed a finger to the earpiece.
"What is going on?"
Chronostasis's frantic voice answered.
"Heroes are here!!"
Overhaul's eyes widened. "What? Which ones?"
Chronostasis's voice came back through the comm, strained and urgent.
"Everyone!! Endeavor leading them…aaah!!"
The transmission crackled violently.
Then Chronostasis's voice returned again, weaker this time.
"Dammit… they destroyed the bombs… and Thirteen is sucking the gas… dammit…"
The line went silent.
Overhaul stood frozen.
Cold realization washed over him like ice water. How…? How could the heroes have arrived now? At this exact moment?
Everything had been prepared for today. Everything had been sacrificed for this moment.
And it was being destroyed.
Rage surged through him like fire.
His breathing grew heavy as he clenched his fists, veins bulging.
"I will kill them all."
His voice came out as a low growl.
Overhaul turned and moved toward the back of the lab where a collection of sealed containers rested. Inside them were the remnants of Junsei's body, what remained after blood and scraping flesh.
Bones.
He had kept them intentionally.
If Junsei ever turned on him, he had planned to use those bones through his quirk. Assimilating them into his body might give him enough power to fight back against the monster himself.
Now that precaution became his weapon against heroes.
Overhaul removed his gloves.
He placed his hands on the pile of bones.
In an instant they shattered into dust.
The fragments spun violently through the air before surging toward him, merging with his body as his quirk reconstructed everything in a violent cascade of biological restructuring. Overhaul gasped as power flooded through him.
It was overwhelming.
More power than he had ever felt in his life.
When he looked up, the reflection in the glass tubes showed something entirely different from before.
His body was covered in a full armor formed from bone. Jagged plates overlapped across his chest, arms, and legs like a grotesque skeleton shell. Yet something far stranger pulsed within it.
Thin blue lines glowed beneath the bone armor and even beneath his skin.
They pulsed like veins of light.
Overhaul could feel that energy fueling his quirk, amplifying it beyond anything he had previously achieved.
"With this power…"
His voice trembled with fury.
"I shall kill them all."
He raised his hand toward the ceiling.
The next moment, a massive spear of bone erupted upward like a cannon shot. It tore through the ceiling, through the floors above, and through the entire house in a violent explosion of shattered stone and debris.
Above ground, the heroes had already secured the battlefield.
Within less than a minute they had overwhelmed the Yakuza forces. Most of the criminals were restrained, and the gas bombs had been destroyed before they could be deployed.
Only one enemy remained.
Endeavor scanned the ruined yard.
"Overhaul must still be inside."
Before anyone else could respond, Mirko stepped forward with a grin.
"On it."
But the moment she moved, the ground exploded.
The entire house erupted upward in a violent blast that tore the earth apart beneath the heroes' feet. The pro heroes reacted instantly, retreating while dragging the captured Yakuza away from the blast zone. Mirko, Hawks, and Endeavor grabbed the slower heroes and carried them clear of the collapsing terrain.
Dust and debris filled the air.
Best Jeanist looked around.
"Did they prepare bombs under their own base?"
Then the ground began to rise.
A massive pillar of earth surged upward through the smoke, lifting higher and higher until it towered above the heroes like a jagged spire.
Present Mic looked up.
"Dammit… he's here."
Through the swirling smoke, a figure slowly became visible at the top of the pillar. Blue lines glowed across its body like veins of energy.
Sir Nighteye stared upward in shock.
"He's back…?"
Even the captured Yakuza stared in disbelief. They had not expected to see him again so soon.
But as the smoke cleared completely, the truth became obvious.
It wasn't Junsei.
Standing atop the pillar was Overhaul himself, clad in bone armor streaked with glowing blue lines.
He looked down upon the gathered heroes with burning hatred.
"You will regret coming here," he said coldly. "I will kill all of you."
Hawks rose into the air, tilting his head as he examined the strange armor.
"What's with the outfit?" he said casually. "If someone didn't know better, they'd think you were wearing Junsei's bones."
Overhaul's eyes narrowed.
"They are his bones."
The blue lines pulsed brighter across his armor.
"And right now, I am stronger than ever. Stronger than any of you could hope to fight."
Hawks gave a low whistle.
"Yeah… you two really are perfect for each other."
Overhaul raised his hand, fury burning in his eyes.
"You damn heroes will pay for ruining…"
He stopped.
Suddenly his body froze.
His eyes began glowing blue.
The anger on his face vanished, replaced by pure confusion.
"What is going on…? Where am I?"
Hawks and the other heroes looked confused at the sudden change in Overhaul, it was as if he didn't see them anymore. Overhaul looked around and said "What is this place? These people… All of these people, what are they eating?"
Overhaul then stopped looking around, focusing somewhere in the distance and said "You! Was it you who brought me here?"
Overhaul paused for two seconds then said "What is wrong with you? I…. ugggh"
The heroes watched Overhaul's body twist and crush on itself as he screamed "STOP!! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!! WE ARE…."
Before the horrified eyes of the heroes and the Yakuza members blood seeped through Overhaul's body as cracks began forming across his body.
Then a voice sounded from within Overhaul that didn't resemble a human. "Humans stole pieces of me and used them to hurt me and the world. We should have ended your kind when you were still weak too few. No more. You will not be allowed to ruin us again"
Everyone who heard the voice felt the hair on their bodies stand on end as their hearts skipped a beat. They felt their own quirks tremble in fear before whatever had just spoken.
But that sensation didn't last long. It was quickly replaced by confusion.
Overhaul's body began breaking to pieces then to dust and from within it a giant blue flower rose atop the rocky spire. The flower pulsed with light before it exploded into glowing dust. And with it the entire surrounding area began pulsing blue, the next moment trees and flowers spurt out of the ground destroying the streets and the nearby houses.
In the span of a minute, there was a miniature forest among the civilians' houses.
The heroes just stared around confused by what just happened.
Hawks, who saw it the clearest, looked down at the forest and said "What the fuck was that?"