24 Muscle Vs Muscle (4)

"Boss, something's wrong."

A man sitting in the middle of the control room, suddenly shouted that. He was 'Sensor', a villain capable of leaving [Tag] on others which allowed him to percieve all their movements and health.

"Why? Did one of our men go missing?"

Contrary to the small figure of Sensor, a huge, bear-like man stood behind him. His body and villain name were both 'Muscular', also known as Goto Imasuji.

"What is your [Tag] feeling?"

"It's not my quirk. Look at this screen."

On the screen, Cobra was bringing along a new hostage, that didn't act like one. Cobra didn't restrain him and neither did Bamboo Eater after a small conversation.

"Do you think they are trying to revolt against me?"

Muscular expressed an almost delighted face when he said that. The whole reason he staged this heist was to fight. Against the police. Against the heroes. Against Almight.

Although he would be bashed in one hit, Muscular only wanted to fight the strongest man of this era.

"Wait! I think there are heroes among the hostages!"

"What? Where!?"

Delighted by the new information, Muscular almost ran out. Uninterested in protecting Sensor.

"Oh, they got taken down."

Sensor didn't need to narrate things anymore but it just felt right for an explanation character like him.

"Now, the boy beat them up. He's tying everybody up? And he's sending out the hostages. I think the plan has failed what should we do, Muscula-ACK!!?"

Sensor was grasped in one hand. His entire face was hidden away by that hand as he was having troubles breathing.

But Muscular couldn't care less about Sensor. His attention was completely focused on the boy in the screen.

"This will be fun."

Licking his lips excitedly, he looked no different than a kid waiting for Christmas.

- Crack!

And in that exhilaration, he unknowingly killed Sensor, gripping his head too tightly.

"Eww!"

The blood and the brain matter stuck to his hand like gum. And he acted like they were no different than ordinary gum, feeling no remorse, only disgust.

Muscular noticed the boy heading to the control room so he took a seat, waiting for him to arrive. His eyes betrayed his patience, gleaming with an eerie hue.

...

After everybody was tied up, there was no need to worry about them. The hostages walked outside the mall, tied together with the unconscious villains.

A certain imaginary figure rose up from the shadows as he watched all that.

- Taking out the long-ranged one first and then the one who had the biggest opportunity to hurt hostages. Finally, the deadliest one, who was away from the civilians. That was good.

Stendhal gave out a cold, rational explanation.

- But you should have used 'Hachimon Tonkou'. In the worst case scenario, Cobra wouldn't have been confused and attacked the civilians closest to her. Your tendency to hold back, almost put the heroes and the civilians in danger.

It wasn't a tendency, it was a quest.

"Anyway, I did a good job, didn't I?"

- You should have escorted them out. Instead of letting them go on their own. There must be more villains, they can harm their safety. 

Somehow, the Hero Killer was much better hero than me.

- And the tied up villains can always wake up. You still don't know the ability of that young girl. You should have broken their bones and cut off their tendons. Perhaps even drained their blood so that they couldn't fight for a good amount of time.

Habits were hard to change. At least, he didn't kill anymore.

- Still, considering that you're growing and inexperienced. It was good. I will give a 5.

"Woah, 50% marks. Feeling pretty generous, Ossan?"

-... I meant out of 100.

Saying that, the mystic figure vanished into the shadows.

Perhaps this was how one became a sociopath. Talking to imaginary figure, telling them to stab and break.

"Tch! I should go to a psychiatrist... Nah, I might just make a sane person insane."

See, that's how self-sacrificing I am. Perfect hero material. 

"Is this the control room?"

I stood before a small door, with the tag 'Control Room' on it.

"Come in!"

An eager voice came from the room.

Well, considering the fact that I wasn't the most ninja-like, stealthy infiltrator, it seemed fair for him to know. I didn't even avoid cameras since the hostages were already saved.

Not that I evaded CCTV even before that. Blatantly walking with Cobra just made it seem like a new hostage had been caught.

- Creak!

The door opened with a horror-movie sound, revealing a sturdy man inside. 

Muscular stood up with a maniacal grin and stepped forward.

I closed the door, like a polite guest and stared at him. It was dangerous for my neck as he almost dwarved me by 1 meter. 

After 3 years, my height had increased from 140's to 167 cm. Still a bit lower than the average adult but perfectly fine for a mid-teen.

"Who might you be?"

"Muscular! Let's fight, boy!"

Was his brain fine? What option did we have other than fighting? Surrender was an option but only heroes waited for their opponents to surrender. A guy like me, would just beat them into subordination.

"What if I refuse?"

His grin widened as his figure started to grow. Sudden muscles ripped apart his skin and covered his body externally.

[Muscle Augumentation]: A quirk that allowed one to grow as much muscles as they needed. Not limited to being within the body.

"I will kill you, brat!"

".... Why don't you try and hit-"

- Boom!

With that the story reached where it was. Flying like a kite without any strings, I crashed into an empty toy store.

- Squeak! Squeak!

That was a rubber ducky. Proof that this toy store was among the best.

"Argh! Cough! Cough!"

Groaning, I coughed up blood, spilling them on my clothes and the floor. It would take a lot to clean them. My heart was almost punched through. 

Pushing back my blood-soaked hair, I cleared up my field of vision. Everything was slightly red for a certain reason. 

- Ringing!

The hit was so strong that a tinnitus began singing in my ears. A heavy desire to sleep almost overtook the body. Regrettably, there was still something left to do.

"Syste-Cough!"

Woah, that was a lot of blood. Hopefully, [Blood Recovery] was working overtime, otherwise this place would become my tomb.

"Is... it an.... emergency now-Ahh!"

My legs quaked as I tried to stand up. The bones creaked in pain, refusing to work under such conditions.

Did that man even try and hold back? How was he going to get a fight if I was dead?

[It became an emergency when host entered the 'Control Room'!]

'So, basically, I didn't have to get punched for it to be an emergency? Oh, cruds. At least, I can use my quirk now.'

Since going forward, everything done is just self-defense.

A sly smirk rose up on my torn, bleeding lips.

"Heh, such a weak hero cadet. Truly, the quality of heroes is decreasing as days go by."

- Boom!

Breaking the small door of the control room, Muscular walked out. His towering body was tensed as he didn't feel the snap of life.

The boy he attacked was still alive. Just knowing that gave rise to expectations within him.

- Thud! Thud! Thud!

Each of his steps shook the ground slightly. And there he was, standing inside the toy store. 

I was standing on my wobbly feet, looking at the blood-coated, yellow ducky in my hand. My skin was slightly red.

"Oi, oi, oi, don't tell me you have gone crazy?"

Did he not like ducks? What a coincidence. Neither did I.

The silence pissed off Muscular as he further augumented his body and raised his right arm.

"If you won't answer, then just die!"

- Boom!

He threw the strongest attack that he had....

- Thud!

Only to fall on his back. His neck was crooked, with his head almost touching his right shoulder. While I walked out of the store, glancing at one corner. 

[Gate of Opening], [Gate of Healing] and [Gate of Life] had been opened in succession. A strange feeling passed through the surroundings. And those who felt it, could only use one word to describe it.

Fear.

"Huh!? Agh!"

Waking up from his two-second 'nap', Muscular felt pain from his twisted neck.

- Crack! Crack!

But he fixed it with his arms.

It was painful but also exciting. He remembered how he fell. The pain on his chin was still fresh, searing with hate. Blood dripped down his lips while he smirked.

***

As Muscular threw the punch, he heard a small sound.

- I don't like ducks. But I do like a bird that is similar... Elegant Swan.

In a second, the boy twisted his body and raised his leg, kicking the attack away. No, it wasn't redirecting the attack but using the force of the punch to propel himself.

When the boy's right leg struck his right fist, it lost all momentum, slightly turning the hand away. It didn't stop there though, he pushed the leg further, jumping in his spot to evade the rest of the attack and using the force he gained by pushing Muscular's arm away, to use the same leg again and kick his chin.

The attack used Muscular's own strength against him. Without a single mistake or extra, unnecessary movement.

'It's.... beautiful.'

That was Muscular's last thought as he fainted.

.....

Remaining Time: [4 Months]