15 What Must Be Done

To hear about a villain was both concerning and, at times, oddly enjoyable for Kia. It had always been an exciting topic when it came to stories, but this was no ordinary tale — it was her reality.

She would have asked Matsuura again if he was serious, but doing so might reveal something she wished to keep hidden.

The entire ride to the station was filled with anxiety for Kia. Despite the tension, she kept a bored expression on her face to avoid any indication that she knew who led those villains in the USJ incident.

Eventually, Kia decided to focus solely on the task at hand, steering clear of any references to the future she remembered from watching My Hero Academia.

Matsuura's car screeched to a halt, stopping in front of a familiar figure.

"Is there nothing bigger than this car?" Buster asked, his large frame barely fitting in the vehicle, evident from his harsh slouch.

"Changing the car we use makes it less predictable and prevents patterns," Prophet explained with an annoyed click of his tongue. "It's always been like this."

"Sorry, just trying to start a conversation."

"Get better topics then."

Gouger entered with a big smile on his face. "My lady!"

Kia responded with a groan. "As your Queen, can you kindly shut up?"

Like a dog given a command, Gouger vigorously nodded, following Kia's order without uttering a word.

"Good," Kia said, starting to understand how to handle the eccentric villain.

Matsuura spoke. "Now that we're all in the same place, here's what we're going to do. I know Hot Hands' address, we'll drive there and deal with him. Disposal is up to you since we still have other business to take care of."

Buster nodded. "...Okay. You're only taking Gouger for this 'other business'?"

"I'll explain on the way to Hot Hands' place. Don't engage aggressively; I want to know who made him turn and why he decided to betray us."

<>

The location was a dank, garbage-ridden cesspool—a medium-sized single home. Inside, the furious noises of a man gaming echoed.

With a VR headset strapped and a controller in his hands, he was momentarily distracted by a loud bang on his door.

"Hold on!" Hot Hands screamed, "Goddamn! This guy keeps spamming the same move over and over! Argh! Shit! Damn, lag!"

Another knock, stronger this time, shook pieces of half-drunk cola on his table. Ignoring it, Hot Hands continued, "Oh wow! Of course, he gets the better power-up than I do! Piece of shit luck-based system!"

This time, the knock was forceful enough to send him rushing toward the door. "Damn salespeople bothering a good gaming session."

Opening the door, he was met not by salespeople but by four fellow villains. "Buster? Queen? Gouger? Prophet…?"

Glancing at the weapon in Prophet's hands, a very intimidating .44 magnum, Hot Hands backed away.

"Let's have a seat," Prophet asked, forcing himself through the doorway.

"What's this about?" Hot Hands responded, almost tripping over the trash as he walked backward.

"We have a traitor," Prophet declared, going inside along with the others. "I believe one of them is with us today in this room."

"Yo, it's not me!"

Prophet chuckled. "Hm… what makes a man turn his back to his comrades, Hot Hands? Personal gain? Perhaps some kind of favor that made you do this? Or is the reason much simpler? Don't answer any of those; they're rhetorical."

"Shit, Prophet are you crazy?! I haven't done anything!"

"Sit down," Prophet motioned for the floor. "I've already investigated everyone here, and with some help, I've finally decided who acted against me."

In a panic, Hot Hands kept raising his hands, waving them erratically and spouting excuse after excuse. "Dude, I know I interacted with Giran, but that was business only! Ask any man out there that does crime, and they'll tell you he's the man to approach!"

Prophet glanced behind him, taking note of the reactions. "Although, I've never really told anyone what I discovered. I am truly disappointed in you… Buster."

Quickly, Prophet turned the barrel of his gun toward the real traitor lured into a false sense of security.

Buster's eyes widened, only to fall blank as pure lead entered his brain, instantly killing him. Yelps of pain erupted from those nearby, deafened by the gunshot indoors.

"Jesus Christ! Prophet what the hell?!" Kia yelled, almost getting sprayed by the gore.

"What? He's the spy." After holstering the gun, Prophet walked past the body to check if Buster was indeed dead. "Apologies for gathering you all to witness that, I needed everyone here to be convincing; you'll understand the necessity."

"Prophet…" Hot Hands winced at the body. "Why'd you ruin my house?"

"It's your house. The room already smells like someone died in here with the amount of trash," Prophet explained.

Kia raised her hand, garnering attention. "I know we just killed someone, but yeah, this place is a dump." Slowly, she noticed what was left of Buster's head splattered around them. "Urgh… I'm going to fucking barf. I thought you wanted information from him?"

Prophet laughed. "Hah! I already knew what I needed to know. I just required some confirmation from that phone call just recently because, from it, you'd notice an obvious reason why Buster was the traitor. The most powerful motivator is love for someone, even a hardened criminal will stop when the people they love are threatened. None of us have any close or known family, Buster was likely targeted as soon as Giran figured out who was involved. One phone call or threatening letter, and that's that — ready to betray us for his family."

"So you killed him… for protecting his family?" Kia questioned.

"This is why I tend to avoid people who have close families or why I don't have non-business related relationships. It's a crutch in this world."

Kia looked at the cold, dull brown eyes Matsuura had, noting the lack of remorse. "But it's concerning that you killed him so easily…"

"Don't worry, I won't kill you. You're interesting."

As if Matsuura saying that would have been comforting.

Hot Hands interrupted the ongoing conversation. "Great talk and all, guys, but I've got a dead body in my house and a whole lot of blood and brain meat to clean off!"

"Then you'd be happy to know you have the entire day to make your place spotless. Carbonize what you can't discreetly dispose of. You've got a nice isolated section at the edge of the city. One loud bang from here wouldn't be odd, considering you regularly use that obnoxious car of yours."

"Oy! It's a street race car!" Hot Hands stared at the body, the blood slowly dripping onto the floor. "Why did it have to be me…"

Kia, still a bit taken aback at the sudden death, receives another fresh set of clothes from Prophet. "Here, Queen. Change in the bathroom. We're going for utility so make sure your ski mask is not gonna come off easily."

"...So that's what was inside that bag," Kia said, realizing the purpose of the bag Prophet had handed her earlier. "Wait! You told us that Giran knows who was involved, does that mean he knows who I am?"

"Not yet but he'll probably find out. You won't have to worry though, after this, I'll handle it."

"That's… worrying still," Kia mutters, hesitatingly trusting Prophet.

<>

It all happened so fast. In less than an hour, Prophet had killed someone he had worked with for months. Kia was confused about the conclusion but quickly wanted to sweep aside the event.

A direct headshot and Buster's head were unrecognizable. Kia's first reaction to being held at gunpoint earlier was now sensible — her head would've looked like an opened pomegranate.

"Queen, did you hear what I said?" Matsuura asked.

"Yeah..." She responded. "There's some underground gambling den masquerading as a normal office building owned by one of the people Giran is working with. Since you couldn't get close to most, if not all, the other associates, you decided to take us to break in. My only question is, why do you think three of us is enough for this?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Why in broad daylight?"

"Because criminals are harder to find at night. I've been watching this guy for a while; he stays here to manage his business."

"We can't fight our way through an entire gang with only 3 people! I know I can fight off a pro hero, but this doesn't mean I can go Rambo and defeat everyone with a 1 to 30 ratio."

Prophet tapped the steering wheel in contemplation. "I have a request then… seduce me."

Kia sputtered. "What the fuck?"

"It's your quirk. If you want this to be easier to explain, seduce me."

"No!"

"Alright then." Prophet shook his head. "I was hoping for an attempt. It'd make you the best at fighting large groups. Villains are typically male and in this situation inside a gambling den where the men guarding it are the desperate type, showing just a bit of skin would make them fall for you."

Kia sighed. "So it's about my quirk."

"It's a powerful ability, to be able to command and share thoughts with people who are attracted to you," Prophet commented. "Although, I'm not sure about the specifics. It's the difference between influencing or outright taking over someone's mind. It's a good time to find that out."

"Can we just go? I just want to keep streaming. I had debt and I wanted to pay it off. Now that it's gone, I shouldn't have to keep accompanying you."

Prophet shrugged. "I almost forgot. Here's some bandaids."

After getting handed a small box, Kia looked in confusion. "Huh? What's this for?"

"Just in case you want to keep a bit of shame."

<>

After a while…

Kia popped the trunk, revealing an array of equipment. "Fragmentation, smoke, chemical, incendiary, and concussion grenades. Two Kevlar vests, and... what's this thing for?"

She opened a notebook handed to her by Prophet, flipping through a few pages. "It's a net launcher with electrified barbs sewn in between. There's also a diamond-tipped ballistic spear. That's going to kill someone."

Amidst the relatively non-lethal gear, there were also batons that she had used before. Other items included an AK platform rifle. Despite being American, Kia had no intention of taking lives.

There was a partial gas mask covering the nose and mouth, along with tinted goggles. Kia selected a few concussion and fragmentation grenades and one of each of the others and stashed them along her utility belt. 

The chemical and incendiary grenades could harm innocents so she carried only a few to not overdo it, the office space was still used by normal workers so burning the entire building down or leaving harmful chemicals would do too much. She handed the net launcher to Gouger, who slung it over his back while leaving the gun.

"Ah, Gouger, you can speak now."

"Thank you!" The man exclaimed. "If you prefer, I can handle the firearms."

"Um, if you don't mind. Let's avoid killing if possible. I know they're villains, but I don't want to take a life, especially after today."

"Aye! Brutal maiming it is then!"

"...Good enough."

Leaving the nearby parking lot, Kia drove to the front of the office building. "Prophet said he'll sneak in and be finished about 10 minutes after we start the attack. Police response has an ETA of 15 minutes, so we have 5 minutes to make our exit. Heroes are patrolling, so we might encounter them. We can use the chaos to escape if needed." 

"Yes, ma'am! One question, how do we attract attention?"

"Take these..." Kia removed the pins from the concussion grenades. "...and run inside as quickly as you can. Just scream."

"What should I scream?"

"Does it really matter?"

Gouger aggressively nodded. "No, it does not!"

"Okay... go!"

Gouger sprinted inside, waving the grenades without a care in the world. "THE QUEEN WILLS IT! LONG LIVE HER MAJESTY!"

Screams of surprise and panic echoed. As soon as Kia heard the explosions inside, she pulled out a stopwatch given to her and activated it. "I guess that will work."

Kia follows the location of Gouger based on inputs to her brain. Kia goes toward the office spaces on the first floor, where a hall connects to the receptionist area.

"Even the flames of hell cannot melt my love!" Gouger proclaims.

"What the hell is wrong with this guy?" A fire quirk user yells in response, sliding his arms and palms creating flames. 

Kia took one of her concussive grenades and slid it across the room while the villain was distracted. Instinctively, Gouger leaped away and braced for the impact. The villain he fought, not expecting the retreat, saw the grenade but it was too late.

It went off with a sharp bang. Disoriented, a sharp pain entered the enemy's calves from Gouger's quirk, dropping him to the floor before Gouger retracted his arm spikes and punched him, knocking him out cold.

"Thank you, my queen!" Gouger gave a big smile and a thumbs up.

"We need to be a distraction. Where are all the enemies?"

A prominent ding rang out.

They looked at the side of the wall; an elevator opened with around five people inside.

"Huh, that's manageable," Kia uttered, extending her batons.

Then, the thundering noise of people going upstairs arrived. The emergency exit was forced open, pouring out half a dozen men who responded to the noise.

"Fuck. Me and my big mouth jinxing us." Kia sighed.

"Your big mouth is a beautiful feature, my queen."

"Not now." Kia admonished. "...There are so many of them."

"My lady, there are probably more than triple considering there's a second office space on this floor and presumably another elevator and stairs! Not only that, I don't think they're stupid enough to make everyone leave the gambling den, so there's probably a decent group still guarding the lower floors."

"You're not making me feel any better."

"Oi!" One of the villains walked up. "You have a lot of guts to waltz in here and mess the place up. You're both going to—"

"Adios, muchachos!" Kia ran away, followed by Gouger heading toward the other office space.

Left without an audience, the previous villain yelled. "Hey, you can't just escape from my monologue. Kill them!"

The men chased after, all of them prepping their various quirks for battle. As they turned the corner, a noticeable pair of objects rolled toward the front of the group.

"Oh shit—" the goon reacted.

With a few milliseconds to react, some villains got caught up in the fragmentation scattering. Nevertheless, some of them came out unscathed and continued their pursuit.

Kia skidded to a halt, seeing the elevator numbers blinking on the first floor. "Oh God, there's going to be more of them. Gouger! Take half."

Gouger was already turned around, screaming at the top of his lungs. "FACE ME, HEATHENS!"

A+ for enthusiasm.

Kia checked what she had left. To her side were five more grenades: one chemical, smoke, incendiary, fragmentation, and concussion.

In her mind, Kia was stressing out.

'Think! Damn it, if only I had a few minutes to get a plan straight!' Kia suddenly realized. 'No, what if I didn't need time? Just enough brain power to come up with something quick!'

The muscles in her head pulsed, and Kia's quirk worked overdrive. Her brain started to receive so much information; lights looked brighter, time started to slow down, and each detail got absorbed more easily.

It was like she'd just wired everyone in the collective to her mind. Pumping her arms in the air, she exclaimed, "Haha! Parallel Processing!"

It was both overwhelming and awe-inspiring. However, her celebration of her success was cut short when even yells of pain started to pierce her ears.

"It worked— argh!" The sensory overload was getting too much even for a minute; it'd be too much. So, closing her eyes and ears, Kia made the most of her brainpower and thought.

"The chemical grenade, dropping it to the stairway would be wrong. I remember… it's chlorine gas, denser than air, meaning it'd be better to let it come out from the top of the stairway! That'd delay or incapacitate half the people coming up."

Kia opened her eyes and unblocked her ears, looked at the elevator starting to reach the first floor, and steeled herself for what was to come.

Feeling the relief of stopping her quirk, she dashed for the fire exit, kicking it open. She ignited and leaned the grenade down pointed to the edge of the stairs and closed the door.

As she goes back, she hears a loud ding. It was time to face whoever was in there. As expected, nearly the same number of villains exited. 

'Only five? That's surprising. I guess not all of them wanted to risk the elevator being interrupted, so most of them took the stairs. Good for me though.'

Four humanoids, one was a mutant with bird-like features. Without any idea what any of the four's quirks were, Kia held back from acting and waited to see.

One of them rushes forward and Kia reacts, backing away and slamming an electrified baton at the man who tried to charge.

A pair came forward, not knowing what they could do, Kia retreated to one of the many cubicles in the room, jumping over walls while observing what they could do.

With a flash of light, Kia winces at the brightness, learning that one of them had some kind of light quirk. The other of the pair rushes forward fist raised.

Blinded, Kia reactivated her Parallel Processing, closing her eyes and trying her best to ignore outside noises.

Her spatial awareness turns up, knowing exactly where the villains are despite not seeing them thanks to her senses being amplified with the power of other brains processing information better.

A loud thwack impacts the chins of the two, surprised at the ease of Kia being able to fight without her eyes open, a talent only possible with her quirk.

Kia faces the remaining two, learning that they circled and are now on opposing sides of her.

"I guess this is the perfect time to use this." Kia unclips the smoke grenade from her belt, throwing it aggressively on the ground after undoing the pin. The room fills with smoke, leaving many of the fighters blinded.

"Hack— shit! Where'd that bastard go?!" Without any sight to rely on, the villain flanking her didn't know how to react.

The bird mutant raises his arms, feathers produced from his arms, and pushes the smoke away, laughing as he does so. "Ha! You thought you'd be safe?! I can blow your smoke away—"

"I know," Kia exclaims. Exiting the blown-away smoke and with the bird mutant's arms not protecting his body, Kia swings both batons to the villain's chest, beating him to the ground wheezing.

Kia turns to the other villain left; she smiles, cocky at her victory as she points to the ground. "Watch your step." she taunts.

The other villain notices a lacking grenade on Kia's utility belt; he looks down to see the incendiary grenade. "Fuck." he utters, milliseconds after the grenade spews a vertical burst of sparks and hot particles.

It wasn't an actual fire that spread as Kia imagined in games, so with her right arm, she rears it back with a concussion grenade on hand.

"Heads up!" Kia yells for the villain; he looks up momentarily.

One good throw and the concussion grenade live up to its name, literally concussing someone with pure kinetic energy.

"No wonder people talk during these battles…" Kia sighs, tired from the fight. "Maybe the influence of anime is spreading to me; I can't help but talk during that."

As her head swung in Gouger's direction, she couldn't fathom the man still standing. "Gouger?" Kia asks.

Gouger was surrounded by a pool of blood, big holes were present on the villains he fought, which was even more than what Kia handled. Without many tools and only the net which he fired early on at a group, Gouger had managed to defeat almost a dozen people.

It was brutal, the way he fought. Targeting where muscle groups and arteries were located. With Kia's command of lessening kill shots, he only damaged major muscle groups; the tendons on limbs, areas focused with nerves, and other sections of the body that would cripple a man physically or with the pain it inflicted.

What's left were the bloody metal spikes on his arms bathed in blood. He turns around, feeling the stare of Kia. "My Queen! I have done what you asked! Are you proud?!"

"Uh… yeah." Kia weakly responded. "Good boy, I guess?"

Gouger's eyes light up in joy. "Woof!"

…

"Don't ever do that again." Kia checks the stopwatch she pocketed before and states the time they have left. "Less than a minute left before Prophet should be here—"

"You're both still alive, good." A voice calls out for them at the end of the room. "Let's go, I'm satisfied with what they told me."

"Prophet, you're early," Kia responds, surprised. "It's time to skedaddle."

The three run back to the car; civilians are already gathering in the area. They all retreat from the sight of the three exiting the building.

No one even tried to stop them as they went into the car; My Hero Academia taught Kia that people in this world tended not to interrupt an ongoing scuffle between quirk-powered humans.

The deed was finally done.

<>

From the shadows of a different car, escaping the chase was easy for Matsuura. He had been doing this for years, and it paid off knowing the layout of the city. Twists and turns, plus using a bit of his predictive quirk to tell which street to go, meant little resistance.

Fortunately, not every hero in the city was at the level of any of the famous pros. Some were just above-average people who passed a hero school and patrolled near their agency. Not everyone could travel as fast as lightning or fly around Musutafu.

Thus, when an actual response to crimes was needed, some managed to escape the hand of justice. It's why people still sometimes complain about being saved too late.

When the coast was clear, Kia asked Matsuura, "Did you get anything?"

Prophet nodded. "A man named Kurogiri hired the people for the attack on the USJ. More importantly, I've got some interesting news… a weapon that was capable of defeating All-Might. That's all I've got. Still, it makes me want to know more. Although, the heat we generated from doing a stunt in public means we have to not do anything for a while."

Kia was worried; Matsuura had a grasp on straws, but it was tempting. A plan to kill All-Might was audacious yet it piqued Matsuura's curiosity.

Matsuura was a villain chaser; a sudden attack from someone he didn't know was going to look like a golden goose for him; an untapped potential to satiate his liking for villains.

Even Kia wanted to know, how did he even get this kind of motivation?

"Why are you going so hard for this? The USJ attack was done by a bunch of villains that didn't even do anything to All-Might."

Matsuura went silent, the idle sound of the air conditioner and radio filling as white noise. "...Nothing important. Nice performance today. I'm glad I made you use that quirk you have."

Kia sighed deeply. "I'll say it again, please stop involving me in things. I know this is the exception because my life was in danger anyway, but this doesn't mean you can bring me again."

"...You know that isn't possible, right? People can now see and look you up. As long as they have ties to a doctor or a government official, people can find someone. With a quirk like that, villains will fear your potential and heroes will try their damnedest to recruit you."

"That's not possible, I'm just a streamer. Well, going to be one."

"And you did not think to connect the dots? What happens when people discover a streamer with the power to manipulate and create a hive mind? Would they be comfortable with that fact? It's not that hard for people with influence to figure your identity out. How do you think I discovered your quirk? I've been waiting for you to slip up and reveal anything. I didn't think you'd be idiotic enough to register it publicly."

Kia felt offended. "Hey! Bank accounts can't be made without a complete I.D., I can't earn from the internet without getting one, an online wallet eventually needs proper identification for me to live comfortably."

Matsuura soured his tone. "Face it, the very essence of having that quirk necessitates being incognito. Unless you want to become a hero but then again, you're too lazy to work a job that demands that much effort. Besides, the public will never accept you for who you are — a brainwasher that can rob people of their free will once they hold even a small smidge of affection."

"I don't brainwash!"

"Tell that to the masses."

Kia couldn't respond, Matsuura made sense, as much as she hated admitting more of his words.

Matsuura smirked at Kia's silent response. "You have a villainous quirk; you're going to be one whether you like it or not. Blame society for your inability to be normal. We're here. Enjoy streaming."

Kia goes outside, her clothes already changed back into her work attire after escaping the scene of the crime. She stares at Matsuura driving away with the new vehicle and walks toward the convenience store.

"This world is messed up," Kia says, doing her best to forget what happened today.