We rush through the halls of the yakuza base, occasionally coming across signs of fights between the yakuza members and other teams. Rubble, damage to the walls and floors, bullet casings. Blood.

But none of that is a concern for us. Our only concern is finding Eri, and taking out Overhaul. Well, for the others it’s more taking Overhaul ‘in’ instead of ‘out’. But we’ll see what happens.

It’s only after we have to traverse a series of jungle gym of protrusions -likely an aftereffect of Lemillion trying to catch Mimic- that I realize we’re missing someone.

“What happened to Suneater?” I have no idea when, but somewhere along the line he vanished.

“He was dropped down a hole by Mimic at the same time we got separated from Mirko.” Eraserhead says, raising an eyebrow. “He was probably planning to drop all of us, but you sending Lemillion after him put a stop to that. Rocklock jumped down after him so he wouldn’t be overwhelmed by villains.”

“Hey! Did you really not notice my student wasn’t here!?” I look away from Fat Gum, avoiding his accusing stare. It’s not my fault! He doesn’t have any presence!

Eventually we come across the remains of a fight that causes us to pause. Stone spikes extend from all over the floor and parts of the wall, for the most part all pointed in the same direction. Further down the hall.

We can also see a large man sitting with his back leaning against one, hands cuffed around it. Mimic, I think. Which means that Lemillion was here. But he’s not now.

“Blood.” Nighteye crouches on the floor, rubbing his fingers together as he stares intently at the slight amount of blood coating their tips before examining the area around him. “Not much, likely a light wound. Especially given the lack of a blood trail.”

“More over here.” Eraserhead says closer to the end of the spikes. “Different source, probably a different person.” He nods his head towards the spikes, and a closer look at the ones by him show a thin coating of blood on their tips. “Not seriously wounded, but if both sets were from Mirio there would be more scattered around. Especially if he was using his quirk to move around.”

“No signs of bullet use. No telling if that’s because there wasn’t a chance to use them or if they’re loaded with quirk erasing bullets and are saving them.” Fat gum states confidently.

“Quirk is obviously a manipulation type, different from Mimics.” I peer closer at the spikes with narrow eyes, noting the obvious marks on them. “Other than Mimic, there’s only one person a part of the Shie Hassaikai that could do this.”

Our voices overlap as we come to the same conclusion.

““““Overhaul.””””

It’s clear that they fought here, though it’s impossible to say when or for how long. Neither could have taken too much time though, certainly no more than a couple minutes for the fight and maybe ten for how long ago it was.

But both are probably injured, or Eri got hurt in the fighting. I hope she didn’t get hurt in the fighting, that kid has suffered enough. But if Lemillion was injured, but still chased Overhaul…

Seeming to have the same understanding, Nighteye abruptly stands and strides around the spikes. “We need to hurry. The more we dawdle the farther away they get.”

Nodding, the three of us plus my summoned cats follow him though I eye Mimic as we maneuver around the spikes before shrugging. It’s not like he couldn’t get out of the handcuffs if he was awake anyways. We’ll just have to hope he doesn’t wake up before he gets taken into custody properly. We begin to jog once we’re past the spikes. As we travel, I note the lack of spikes and my eyes narrow. If they were fighting, and Mirio chased him, then there should be signs of it. But other than the occasional bits of blood on the floor, there’s nothing. It’s suspicious.

Even if you take into account Mirio using his quirk to remain hidden, I doubt that Overhaul wouldn’t have taken potshots at him. It’s not like there would have been any detriment to it, and there would have been the chance he would get lucky with one of his attacks.

The hallway provides no answer, just echoing back for footsteps as we attempt to get closer to our goal. To catch up to Overhaul and Eri.

It takes time, and I’m starting to worry about how long my cats have been summoned. I can feel that some of them have been destroyed, including the ones I sent with Mirko and Gentle, but the rest must be pushing two hours of being summoned. If we don’t manage to find them soon, I’m going to be out of the raid.

Luckily it’s about the time I start worrying that we finally come upon them, inside an oversized room that can easily fit a few cargo planes. Close to what I’d guess is the center of the room are Overhaul, the monster wearing human skin, and Eri, the little girl we came to save, being held captive in his arms.

Standing a bit behind him as they turn towards us is a man wearing a long black cloak covering his body, as well as an all-black plague mask and matching black bowler hat. But, like Overhaul, he’s holding something. Draped over one shoulder is a dark gray bag that matches him in size. A closer look lets me see that there’s a small tear in it, the area directly around it having a red tint. The hand not steadying the bag is loosely holding a gun pointed in our direction.

“Well, well. It looks like your hostage is really pulling their weight.” Overhaul says in a conversational voice, to which Nemoto nods.

“Indeed, though they’d already proved their worth when they let us deal with that blonde fool earlier.”

Nighteyes mouth turns down in a snarl as he takes a threatening step forward. “What did you do with Lemillion!?”

I hold back a scowl. That’s what he’s concerned with? Not the hostage, or the usually futile but obligatory ‘let the girl go’, but where his intern is? What else can I expect from Ass Might’s former sidekick if not tunnel vision.

“Him?” Nemoto taps the barrel of the gun against their chin as they look up in mock thought. I blink at them before shaking my head. “Well, he was a problem, with how his quirk worked. So I made a deal with him. Quirk roulette, if you will.”

He shakes the gun to make his point, seeming to enjoy the shock and rage that overcomes Nighteye’s face. “Is his quirk gone forever? Or just for today?” He shrugs. “Who could say?”

“You’re in an unusually good mood, aren’t you Shin.” Overhaul says, not looking at his right hand. The man nods happily.

“Of course I am. Yes, it is unfortunate that we will have to find a new location for our base of operations, but so long as you have the girl then your dreams can be realized!”

Eraserhead interrupts the moment between the two villains, his scarf at the ready for the first opportunity. “Who’s the hostage?”

“Oh?” Overhauls asks in an overly surprised voice. “You’re concerned about the hostage? That first hero only cared when Shin stabbed them.”

“Are they dead?” I ask, tension causing my energy-made back to stiffen, and I watch as Nemoto jerks as if surprised. Overhaul rolls his eyes and mine narrow.

“A hostage wouldn’t be of much use if they weren’t alive.”

My stare shifts to Nemoto, who’s feet are fidgeting, as if he’s nervous. “Prove it.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” I scowl at Overhaul and cross my arms, suddenly being hit by how ridiculous a sight this must be. A blue cat-person standing against and arguing with the head of a yakuza group, but I shake the feeling off. My eyes focus on Nemoto, on the hand holding the gun. On his eyes that shift to Overhaul.

Overhaul’s lower face is covered, but I can just feel the scowl he’s giving me. He gestures to Nemoto. “Pull them out. Then you’ll be letting us go. If you don’t want anything to happen to them.” He directs the second part of his words towards us, but none of us deign to reply.

Nemoto nods. “Of course, Overhaul.”

*BANG*