Miles licked his lips, considering his options. There weren’t many to begin with. He still hadn’t figured out why Yamato was choosing to hold him hostage instead of just killing him flat out, but it was for the better.
The technopath engaged his quirk surreptitiously, activating the quirk data reader in his suit. He was well within range. All he needed to do now was keep talking long enough for his device to finish scanning the villain’s DNA.
“What do you want?” Miles spat. “Because I don’t believe you want the quirk destruction wave to happen as well. You love your powers too much.”
Yamato tilted his head back and laughed. “Oh, Cooper. I thought you were smarter than that. This is opportunity knocking. Why wouldn’t I answer the door?”
The bald researcher scurried over as if on cue.
“Mister Gouma, the data collection is complete.” He presented a watch-like device. “When activated, it should emit a shield that’ll counteract the quirk-destruction wave.”
Yamato received the watch and put it on, pressing a button on its side firmly. “Better be safe than sorry. One last thing, Kojima. Was anyone else involved in this little project as well?”
“No, sir. You told me to keep this a secret, so I did.”
“So did Kusanagi,” the Yakuza boss chuckled sinisterly. “This is for betraying her trust.”
Yamato pulled out a pistol without warning and shot Kojima in the head before he could react. Blood gushed onto the gravel floor as the corpse crumpled into an undignified heap, its lifeless eyes staring into nothingness.
“What… the fuck is wrong with you?” Miles whispered in horror.
Yamato tossed his sniper rifle aside, stretching his neck casually. “Eh, he had it coming. I never liked traitors. Sorry for the distraction, by the way. As I was saying, this is opportunity knocking.”
He aimed the pistol at Miles again.
“A world without quirks, without any special advantage to overthrow the established order. A world where everyone is back at zero…” the man remarked languidly. “Except for me. I’ll be the only extraordinary man in the world. What better way is there for me to guarantee my rightful position as the undisputed king?”
“The hell makes you think you deserve to rule over everyone else?” Miles took a step forward, and Yamato cocked the pistol threateningly. “You cheated your way to the top. All you knew how to do was sneak around and manipulate people! You’ll fall once you become a ruler, and the whole world will fall with you!”
“Sneak around? I’m not the one engaging in cyber espionage. So I’ll ask you this one time. Where is the data you copied from my private server?”
“I’ll never tell, you pathetic peasant. Fuck you.”
Miles yelled as a blue shield slammed into his face without warning. He pushed himself to his feet but fell again as a bullet tore through his shin. The agony numbed his foot almost immediately.
“I am chosen by the Heavens to rule!” Yamato roared, pressing the gun barrel against Miles’ head. “How dare you call me a peasant! Where is it?!”
Miles grabbed the pistol, feeling the hammer fall on his finger as Yamato pulled the trigger in vain. With a growl, he flung the weapon aside and tackled the man to the ground.
“Enough insolence!” Yamato’s eyes burned fiercely, sending Miles back with another blast of magnetic energy. “What must I do to make you bow to me?!”
Blue energy encased Miles’ body, but a green tint of light rippled through the casing of energy and broke him free instantly.
“Magnetism doesn’t exist without electricity, Yamato.” He grinned, dissolving another beam of blue light aimed at him. “Your quirk is useless against mine.”
“You cocky little shit!” Yamato bellowed as he magnetically summoned the sniper rifle to him.
Miles’ eyes glowed as well, and a cloud of metal buzzed towards him. They transformed at the speed of thought, forming a thick wall to block the rifle bullets. Residual nanobots separated from the wall, turning into a spear in his hand. He rolled out of the wall and flung the spear like an Olympic javelin thrower.
The spear pierced Yamato’s hand, and he dropped the rifle in pain. Miles limped towards him as the wall behind him transformed into a war hammer, flying into his outstretched hand. His arms barely slowed their swing as he slammed it into the man’s glowing chest.
Yamato rolled along with the momentum, clutching his chest painfully. The blow Miles gave him would’ve knocked the soul out of an ordinary person, but Yamato’s electromagnetic shield seemed to have mitigated most of the damage.
Miles lunged towards him with a war cry, determined to finish the fight once and for all by kicking his foe off the thirty-storey building.
Yamato caught his legs and flung him to the side instead, sending him dangerously close to the edge of the building. Both men panted audibly, struggling to get up to their feet. Bloody hell, this wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
Fire spiked up Miles’ leg. He screamed, writhing in pain as Yamato stepped harder on his bullet wound.
“This all… feels familiar.” Exhaustion coated Yamato’s voice, although it was also filled with sadistic pleasure. “Guess I’ll finally get to break your leg after all these years.”
What the hell was he talking about— Oh, that.
“You… dirty prick…” Miles gritted his teeth as the memories came flooding back to him. “You stole my parents’ only inheritance just to get my head out of the game.”
“Oh, don’t blame me for going all out. It’s our school motto, after all. What was it again? Right, Go beyond, Plus Ultra.” Yamato grinned.
Miles clawed futilely at the man’s leg.
“If anything, I was smart enough to notice how much that photo album meant to you. I didn’t plan for your parents to die just a few days before the school festival, but it was a prime opportunity.” Yamato gestured languidly. “How could I not exploit such an obvious weakness before our tournament match? It was a pity our teachers stopped our match before I could snap your leg off. It would’ve been such a resounding victory.”
His eyes shifted downwards slightly. “Eh, what’s over is over. You should’ve brought backup, but I guess you were always too self-serving to play well with others. Now die, without further delay.”
He summoned the pistol into his hand—
A gunshot cracked the air as blood spurted from his mouth. Yamato dropped the pistol, clutching the rapidly spreading patch of red in his chest. Miles picked up the weapon and aimed it at Yamato. No time to wonder who fired the shot.
“Ow… that smarts. So you did bring backup, after all.” Yamato chuckled, gurgling on his blood. “It’s pointless. So what if you prove me guilty? So what if you lock me up? The entire underworld is under my command; I’ll still be a king in jail. And if you kill me, your reputation will be destroyed in the public eye. You can’t win, Miles. You can’t take me down in any way that matters. Those in the shadows can’t bring villains to the light. I’m not afraid of dying, as long as you go down with me.”
Miles lowered the pistol slightly. “How do you know? You’ve never tried death before.”
The gun barked, ejecting a shell casing that tinkled as it hit the ground.
Yamato’s head was flung backwards, accompanied by a large splatter of blood bursting from the back of his head. For a moment, the man seemed frozen in time, his body angled back in a graceful arc. And then he fell over the roof ledge, plunging a hundred metres to the ground.
Miles lowered his hand, letting the pistol drop to the floor with a soft clang. It was over.
“Miles!”
He turned around in shock at the familiar voice. What was she doing here? And was that—
Melissa Shield dropped the sniper rifle in her hands and hugged him tightly. Hawks followed close behind with a wry smile on his face.
Miles looked at the two of them in surprise. “What the hell is happening?”
“Hawks showed up earlier and carried me here to help you,” Melissa explained. “Turns out he’s been following our activities all along and secretly kept others off our trail so we could find enough evidence on Gouma’s crimes.”
“The tracking device I gave to Jelly Girl has been feeding information back to me all this time,” Hawks said apologetically. “I’m sorry I couldn’t interfere directly. Any involvement from the HPSC Chief would only alert the enemy prematurely. The Villain Factory was the only place safe enough for me to organise its data for you to pick up.”
The winged man sank into a deep bow. “On behalf of all the heroes, we thank you for being such an invaluable ally.”
Miles opened and closed his mouth in incredulity. “I—”
He gasped audibly as his quirk screamed at him, directing his attention to the booster machine sitting innocently behind them. Or rather, the time bomb that Yamato must’ve rigged beforehand to go off upon his death.
“Wait, the booster machine is rigged to explode!” Miles exclaimed, scrambling to find an exit. “We need to get out of here now!”
But there wasn’t one, and his wings were grounded. This was bad—
“You’re not the only one who can ride the winds, Cooper.”
Inertia crashed into his body as something hooked onto his suit. He turned around, staring incredulously at the swarm of red finger-sized feathers somehow strong enough to carry him away from the building. Beside him, Hawks glided gracefully with his wings fully extended, carrying Melissa in his arms.
A thunderous explosion roared from behind as the three of them soared into the distance.155Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNrky3FL73
and then Add to home screen.