The Deity Entertainment Network

Chapter 221 – Air Dominance Is The Spice Of Life

South of Tokyo

Tartarus Detention Facility

The flooding of Tartarus worked for the most part, allowing AFO and his two teams of villains to enter most of the facility without serious opposition. They were able to clear out nearly half the facility before encountering defensive equipment that was still functioning, freeing several hundred villains from the more humane confinement areas. What remained were the lowest levels, where most of the strongest villains were literally immobilized, held in some sort of half-stasis hell where they couldn't use their Quirks or even move, but were left wide awake. 

This inhumane treatment of prisoners was one of the many reasons he decided to hit this facility when he got the chance. This was the one time this government didn't act all soft and inept when facing adversity, effectively torturing villains instead of killing them or leaving them in jail like normal criminals. He could understand why, as it would be something he would do himself if he didn't just outright kill opposition, but it didn't make sense considering how soft on crime they were otherwise.

He found one of his moles still alive, and brute-forced more brainwashing into the man, then had him show him the layout of the lower levels. From the crude map he drew, AFO moved above the lower-level control room and focused another one of his many, many Quirks on the floor. It took a couple of minutes and a fair amount of energy expenditure on his part, but he managed to blow a hole to the next level. 

*BOOM*

The server room exploded as he blasted the electronics with his black balls of power, opening the path to the lower levels. He gestured for his teams to continue moving downwards, his final goal of releasing all the villains now in reach. Kirogiri was gating the already released villains out in large groups several floors above him, at least the ones that wanted to join him. The others, he allowed to escape out the front door, hopefully providing them even more distractions on the surface.

He moved down behind his teams, smashing the now-defunct defence weapons as he passed them, not wanting the government to be able to use them again. Times like this, he missed having his bodyguard with him, but he was out on his own mission right now. 

"Master, we found him." One of his minions said while skidding to a halt in front of him.

"Which one? There are several down here."

"Muscular, Master. He is still trapped inside his cell, as we are having difficulty breaking down these walls compared to the ones on the upper levels; the metals they are made of are resistant to the acids we have."

"Show me." He replied and followed the man deeper into the facility. He was intrigued more than annoyed at needing to open the cells himself; two of his minions, whom he brought with him, were able to produce acid from their bodies that could dissolve nearly all metals. The fact that they had walls that were giving them difficulties made him curious about what they were actually made of.

I should bring back some samples of these materials for my future headquarters. All these Anti-Quirk materials would provide some excellent protection depending on how they were created. 

Time passed as they continued downwards, the delays in breaking open the reinforced cells eating away at the clock. It wouldn't be long before heroes started to arrive here; the fact that they had made it this long without opposition was puzzling. Even with all the distractions he had set up, there should have been at least a token response.

Just what in the world is happening on the surface right now?

Musutafu, Japan

Anan cursed as she found herself on a side street, surrounded on two sides by the villains who had chased after her. On one side were half a dozen normally sized people, while on the other was a massive, muscular man who stood three stories in height. He was wearing nothing but a pair of black pants and smiled down at her with a mouth full of pointed teeth. His back almost looked like it was carved out of rock, with a spiky hunch visible over his shoulders. 

"Don't you have better things to be doing than trying to stop a rescue hero? I don't even arrest villains like you." She shouted, moving to the side of the street. She had one last gambit to play, but she needed to buy more time. 

"You stay still and not get hurt. Master want meet with you." The massive man said, slowly lumbering towards her. 

Fat chance. I'm not willingly following any of you villains. 

"Why does he want to meet with me?" She asked, nearly where she needed to be. 

"He just wants to talk to you, though he didn't say why. He has great respect for those heroes who work in the field of disaster relief." One of the villains behind her said. The group was closing in on her.

"I'm sure he does. Is he also the reason I have been up to my elbows in work recently? I have been doing this for over a decade, and this last month I have had more incidents I needed to respond to than the last three years combined." She said, stopping over top of her destination.

"Will you come willingly or by force?"

"Neither. In fact, you are all under arrest. Surrender now, and I promise it won't hurt." She said.

"Are you daft? We have you surrounded, Thirteen. You should be surrendering to us!"

"I take that as a no? Very well. Now, girls!" She shouted, then pointed a finger at the manhole cover below her. "Black Hole!"

The cover dissolved into her hand, allowing her to jump into the sewers below, just as a wave of drones strafed the villain's position. These were the same drones Mei had built for John's classes, though instead of paint, they were carrying pepper balls.

Not expecting the airborne assault, the villains were covered in the itchy powder, disabling any immediate response to Anan's disappearance. Even the giant did not remain unscathed from the assault, inhaling several of the balls before it closed its mouth. Though he had covered his eyes with his arm, blocking the initial strafing run from disabling his sight.

Not that it mattered for long, as Yu walked into the street behind the massive man. She pulled off the 'dress' part of her new outfit, leaving her in a white-and-purple leotard, then activated her Quirk for the first time in weeks. She became easily head and shoulders taller than the other giant, her gigantification making her nearly twenty metres tall compared to his measly twelve.  

Not waiting for him to notice her, she rushed forward and launched a full-on soccer kick between the man's open legs, her size two hundred shoe crushing anything that was there and sent him sprawling. Normally, it was frowned upon to sneak-attack villains without offering them a chance to surrender first, but Anan had already offered it. It was even recorded on their phones in case a villain's lawyer tried to contest their release in court. 

John's right. Our bureaucracy is a bit out of control, isn't it? 

She didn't let up on her assault, chasing after the fallen giant and continuing to kick him as hard as she could manage in her giant form. She couldn't afford to hold back, as there was no telling how strong he actually was; just because she was bigger didn't mean his Quirk didn't make him stronger. 

Mei, from the safety of their old apartment, was controlling the waves of drones still peppering the villains. She had the main swarm working with AI, while she controlled one directly. She was looking for an opening to pepper the giant's eyes, further disabling it before it could get its bearings. 

Is this what taking the initiative means? I never intended to work in crime fighting; I just wanted to be an inventor, but I can definitely see the appeal. Of course, I'm not stuck down there with Mom, but safely a couple of kilometres away. I really, really, wouldn't want to be facing that monster head-on. Oh! This gives me a few ideas for other gadgets I can make to deal with villains in the opening round of a fight.

Mei only half paid attention to the camera feed, planning her next gadget for their hero agency's arsenal. Half was more than enough, as the massive man finally moved its arm away from its eyes to try and stand up, allowing her to blast them with pepper balls directly, effectively blinding him. 

"I'm just glad I got to field trial these balls before John had a chance to shoot them at class 1-A. Wait, did I tell him I replaced the drone's paint with pepper balls? We were so busy in the new workshop that I might have forgotten to tell him. Oh well, I'll message him later. He should read it before he runs his next class." She mused, then refocused her attention on the fight. 

It was all but over now; apparently, none of the villains in this group had a Quirk that could deal with the powder. A simple bottle of water would have cleared out the irritants; she made sure it would break down quickly in water so it didn't cause undue suffering. The giant was the only thing that appeared to have any fight left in it, but being blinded let her mother run circles around it, beating it down safely outside of its grappling range. Mei pulled back the main flight of drones for a moment, then surrounded the massive man with the swarm and opened fire with the remaining ammo.

Maybe something with a higher capsaicin amount to deal with villains like this with increased stamina and pain tolerance. It might have been able to shrug off a kick to the balls, but could it deal with a pepper ball made from ghost peppers? Would that even be legal to make? I really need to look at the legal framework for my inventions soon, not just making things because they work.

Spent of ammo, she brought the swarm back to the apartment to reload, leaving her with just the one drone watching as her mother continued to pound the man into submission. Several instructors had just shown up from U.A. and were busy detaining the regular-sized villains. 

Cementoss walked towards the giant fight, and when he was close enough, he put his hand on the ground. The sidewalk seemed to come alive as the concrete moved like a snake, wrapping the giant villain's legs, then hardening again. This allowed her mother to move in and grasp the man's arms and pin them behind his back. Another sidewalk snaked forward, then wrapped its arms up as well, effectively immobilizing the giant. 

Midnight approached the struggling villain, then activated her quirk directly in front of it, putting it to sleep. Mei sat back and let out a breath. She wasn't even there in person, and she felt winded from the battle. She picked up her phone and spoke into the mic. "You're safe now, Anan. The villains have been captured."

"Thank you, Mei. I'm glad you picked up the phone, else I'm not sure where I would be right now." Anan replied. 

"No problem! Just use some of my gadgets when you're doing recovery operations, and we will call it even!"

"You're always about selling your inventions, aren't you? You need to make those gadgets first, but I definitely will try them out."

"You bet I am. If I can get people to start buying them, I'll be able to help support our family. Besides, making useful things is fun!" She said, smiling up at the ceiling. She would miss this little apartment, but it was time to move on to bigger and better things. 

South of Tokyo

Tartarus Detention Facility

The building shook, taking AFO by surprise. They had made it to the bottom of the facility, having released nearly every villain that had been interned here, including Twice, the man he planned on making his head lieutenant behind Kirogiri and the face of their operations. Making a snap decision, he created a portal at his feet and had his two teams of villains jump into it, before proceeding upwards to see what the commotion was about. 

Did Endevour finally show up? He is powerful, but a poor substitute for All Might. I may humble him a bit before making my exit. Our goals have been achieved, and now that Kurogiri and I have been inside the facility, we can teleport in on a whim. The amount of money they will need to waste repairing this place will be astronomical, and if I time it right, we can come in and destroy it all again before it comes online. 

Stepping into his own portal, he came out on the roof of the building. The sight below him caused him to pause, as it was a sight he did not expect to see again.

All Might was boxing with several of the released prisoners, slamming them into the sides of the building hard enough for the tremors to be felt in the bowels of the facility. They kept getting up, as these two were among the strongest villains that had been detained inside, though both of them appeared quite beaten up already. Their time in solitary confinement did nothing for them physically; their stamina reserves were already low. Though they appeared quite motivated, as they didn't step back from fighting with the world's supposedly strongest hero.   

His own stamina having been drained from the assault and breaking down of the Quirk-resistant doors and walls, he dropped the shroud he had been holding and called Kirogiri. The nomu answered on the first ring.

"Master?"

"Evacuate anyone remaining inside, and get to safety now. All Might is outside and fighting those two brothers. I'm leaving as well, as we achieved our objectives. If you have the power to do so, start retrieving our other teams. We will consider flooding the facility at a later date."

"Yes, Master. It will be done." Kirogiri replied, then hung up. 

AFO looked down again at the smug smile on his archnemesis's face. The man looked hale and hearty, unlike what their mole in U.A. had led them to believe. 

"Perhaps it is time I showed that child what the cost of betrayal really means." He mused, waiting for the right opening. 

It didn't take long, as the two brothers crawled out of the rubble, then charged towards All Might again.

"TEXAS SMASH!" All Might shouted, sending a powerful punch forward. The shockwave knocked the two villains off their feet and sent them into the facility's hardened wall. 

Black wings sprouted from AFO's back as he jumped down from the roof, launching bolts of black lightning towards All Might. Concurrently, he used his telekinesis powers to pull the two brothers towards his landing spot. The hero took a bolt to the chest, sending him sprawling to the side, but he looked relatively unfazed from the unexpected attack.

"Shigaraki! How are you still alive!" All Might shouted as he stood back up.

"One might ask the same of you, old friend. Now, if you excuse me, I am needed elsewhere. Our reunion will have to wait for another day." AFO replied, landing beside the two brothers. He launched a dozen different black balls towards All Might, then activated a wall of fire between them. Finally, he opened a portal at his feet, and the three of them disappeared into the inky blackness.