97

Chapter 97: Slaughterhouse

A/N: And the night of the operation arrives… But first, Nezu's secret countermeasures! After all, what self-respecting super genius wouldn't have his own secret base on the ready?

P.S. As for potential upcoming questions above certain things this chapter, check endnotes :)

"Let's go over it again. Limit of five individuals; fifteen foot radius. Who to prioritize first?"

Izuku mulled the question over in his mind. At the same time, he made an experimentary flexing of the mass, ordering it to morph into a limb and to crawl up the wall of the cell.

"Waypoint," Izuku answered, watching his progress from behind a thick panel of one way glass. "We need to completely cut off their escape; it's the only reason they've been so slippery so far."

Inside the cell, Caustic glared, his face remaining in the same scowl that it had adopted for the p[ast half hour. He stood in place, growling every time that a part of him moved against his own will.

"Second comes Ricochet, for sure," Izuku continued. "He's both their heaviest hitter and their bullet sponge. He's the most dangerous one in the group besides Kentaro himself."

Caustic's outstretched limb climbed the whole of the wall and touched the ceiling. It quickly slithered atop, branching into several different limbs to fully cover the ceiling.

"Phantom's third. That power nullifying screech is dangerous, even if it is less effective on regular quirk users. Point is, it might affect me when it's time for me to act."

Izuku relieved control of Caustic. The portions of the villain around his cell immediately retracted into the man's main body. Caustics bared his teeth, but otherwise held his tongue towards any sort of retorts. He'd stopped after the seventh or so time that Nezu had done something about it.

"Pathogen's next. Those spores getting loose are a liability. One of us might die from them if we're not careful. Then again, that's what we have Mei's drones for."

Caustic grumbled a few choice words under his breath and moved over to the bed in his cell. He knew that today's exercise was done; the pattern from the past few days had yet to change, after all.

"And lastly, of course, is Jack himself. With Waypoint down, Jack won't be able to flee. And besides, he's likely playing for keeps. Given the rarity of shard-bearing individuals — let alone ones he can shape to his will — and Jack will likely won't leave unless he absolutely has to."

"All things considered, everything hinges on everyone else's ability to corral the priority targets into a space I can manipulate. From then on, it should be easy as pie… Hopefully."

Taylor's swarm nodded. "Good, Izuku. I think that you're ready."

"I'm glad to hear it!" Nezu exclaimed, his minute form appearing from behind the corner of the hall. He made his way over to Izuku near instantly, prompting Izuku to look down at his principal.

"Walk for me?" Nezu asked.

Izuku blinked. "Don't you mean, 'Walk with me?'"

"Nope!" Nezu chuckled, raising his arms out and up towards Izuku, much like you'd see in a toddler asking their parents to carry them.

"You're kidding." But Izuku doesn't wait for a response. Just by the look in Nezu's eyes Izuku already knows the answer. Although begrudgingly, Izuku picks Nezu up in his arms and places the rodent on his shoulders.

His work done for the day, Izuku begins to walk towards the exit. He ignores the myriad ramblings that follow as he passes the second occupied cell, and tries to disregard the sound of a body colliding against the glass panel that occurs as he passes the third and final occupied cell.

"So," Nezu said from his perch, pulling out a teacup as he did so, "as you requested I'll be bringing Cementoss down here later. He'll have the extra branch redesigned and before you know we'll be ready for tonight's operation. To think, within a few hours you'll have your very own collection of serial killers! Oh, think of all the possibilities!"

Izuku merely looked on at the cackling demon on his shoulder. Only when Nezu had calmed down did Izuku even think of questioning his concerns.

"Remind me again as to how you got the permission to house three highly wanted criminals in a secret basement under a high school?"

"Well, as I said before the facility is technically a repurposed bunker that I whipped up a couple years ago courtesy of Cementoss."

"Right…" Reaching the end of the hall, Izuku calls the elevator. He steps in without a moment's hesitation. "And just to make sure, U.A. does have a school board, doesn't it? You're telling me they're alright with this?"

Nezu chuckled. "Oh, you naive little boy. You've seen the way I run things around here. Do you think the board has any actual sway over me?"

"I… suppose that I can't argue with that."

Up above them, the ceiling parted way. The elevator soon came to a stop, leaving the duo to arrive in the middle of Nezu's office. With their journey done, Nezu hops off Izuku's shoulders and makes his way towards his desk.

"Now," the principal says, pulling out his whole tea set, "any other concerns before tonight?"

Off to the side, Izuku noticed Taylor's true form popping into existence and moving to lean against the office wall. "A suggestion: You should get a gun. There is good synergy between them and our bugs. Pinpoint accuracy, you know?"

"I'm not getting a gun," Izuku countered. He ignored the amused expression that came up on Nezu's face. "Besides, don't you know how hard it is to get a gun in Japan?"

"Snipe has one."

"And Snipe is the exception. Besides where would I even get one?"

Taylor grinned. "Nezu has one in his desk. Middle drawer on his right."

Izuku blinked, slowly turning towards Nezu.

"You should really break that habit of yours," Nezu scolded. "Some people would grow worried if they saw a kid speaking to thin air, especially if said conversation was about guns."

"Nevermind that," Izuku huffed. "Do you really?"

"Hmm?" Nezu hummed.

"Have a gun," Izuku specified. "In your desk."

"Kekehehe." Nezu was already moving towards the right of his desk, just as Taylor had said. "Do you—"

"I'm just going to leave that alone for now," Izuku said, prompting Nezu to stop. "I'm not even going to ask. But no, I don't necessarily think it's a good idea. I'm fine, Nezu. I'll work with what I have."

Nezu smirked. "If you say so, Izuku. Anything else that you'd need of me?"

Izuku let out a sigh, shaking his head. "Let's hope that a week of preparation and observation has paid off, Nezu. That's all that I can ask for."

Honenuki held back another sigh; despite what the others had told him, he was afraid that something as simple as letting out a breath would catch the targets' attention. So he kept himself quiet.

For the past thirty minutes he'd been leaning against the same spot of the building, waiting for Hatsume's mark to take action.

In the meantime, Honenuki was scared out of his wits, wondering why he'd let himself get dragged into this situation in the first place.

-Mudguy- Mei spoke over the comms. Honenuki very nearly jumped in place, but caught himself at the last moment. -Time to roll-

Right. Honenuki activated his quirk, sinking himself into the ground. Following the already relayed from before, Honenuki swam straight for five meters, took a left for three meters, and a right for two. And then he waited.

-Target up top in three-

Honenuki readied himself, steadying the rebreather on his face. He couldn't risk it getting loose in the struggle.

-Two-

He oriented himself, hardening the floor under his feet in preparation. Legs were bent and ready in position.

-One-

He shot upwards, using his quirk to change the composition of the ground as he went. It wasn't long before he liquefied and breached the surface. His hand emerged from the floor, grabbing hold around his target's leg, and pulled.

A deftly aimed punch smacked right into Horde's jaw. Honenuki's other hand delivered a control shock to the boy's torso via a modified taser. A forceful knee collided with the boy's privates. And a sudden headbutt collided with the killer's head. All in under three seconds.

Horde was unconscious. After grabbing a rebreather from his belt and placing it over the boy's face, Honenuki took meticulous care in zip tying the boy's hands and feet.

-One target down- Izuku praised over the comms. -Good job, Honenuki. Now, onto phase two-

Several blocks away in the distance, Izuku stood up on a rooftop, watching everyone through the eyes of Mei's miniscule drones.

He couldn't be anywhere near the warehouse that Kentaro and his group was using. Otherwise his presence would be discovered immediately — the past few encounters with the group had proven that.

However, despite all of Jack's methods and for all of his success on Earth Bet, his shard's ability to read parahumans wasn't all too suited to this new world that he had found himself in. Especially when the team being sent to take him down had no shard-bearers to speak of.

And already, Izuku's group had taken the advantage.

Of the group, Horde was one of the more troublesome members. With all of his drones — dozens upon dozens with kamikaze capabilities and the means to turn invisible — he was a true danger.

Horde's only weakness, discovered via Mei's spying, was the limitations of his drones needing to be directly ordered. In other words, they couldn't act for themselves. Whether it was to attack, defend, or enter their active sentry mode, Horde needed to explicitly clear their actions first.

And a week of spying gave Mei a general rough idea of the group's schedule. Horde often went to the restroom between the times of 7:30 to 8:00 — and his need to go to the restroom isolated him. A factor that allowed Honenuki the means to take him out of commission.

And without the drones being ordered to attack incoming enemy combatants beforehand, they were essentially useless.

"Are we all in position?" Mei asked. Izuku looked over at his right to look at the girl, who was currently busy typing in all sorts of commands into her portable desktop.

"I am!" Pony exclaimed, this time from behind Izuku. "Horns are all ready to fly in! And none of them are blocking Momo's predicted trajectories!"

A few more words of assertion came in through the comms.

When everyone had checked in, Izuku went over and grabbed at Mei's headset, positioning the mic towards him. "Good. And remember everyone, don't hold back. We—"

Mei shoved Izuku to the side, grabbing the mic back for himself.

"Remember!" she exclaimed. "Prolonged conflict means death! So we hit 'em hard, we hit 'em fast, and we don't relent! If one of them ends up dying, no use crying over it!"

Izuku leaned back and looked at the screens for the show.

A formal command via Mei activated the twenty-five undetectable surveillance drones hiding up in the rafters of the warehouse. Any more and they risked the chance to be spotted; and less and there risked a greater chance of the plan failing.

However, with twenty five different streams of white powder falling from the ceiling and mixing in with the air, it should have been more than enough.

"Finally using capsaicin powder; it truly brings me back, you know? The results speak for themselves."

Izuku glanced over to his left, where Taylor's visage had formed on the edge of the roof. He only spent a second to look, eyes placing their attention back on the screen in front of him.

The little drones watched as the killers down below began to scrunch up their noses. It wouldn't be long until the less resilient of them began to cough and sputter on the ground.

Izuku took one last look behind him, eyeing the out of place figure of Traveler. He was the only adult amongst the group, and his awkwardness of attempting to fit in showed. He couldn't keep still, moving from foot to foot and tapping his fingers on his sides.

"Ready?" Izuku asked.

Traveler looked at Izuku, his mouth forming a thin line. He then sighed, knowing what was coming next. "Mhm. Go ahead and do it. I'm ready."

And just like that, Izuku took control. Traveler's body came under ready use.

"NOW!"

A whole plethora of things happened all at once.

Tear gas grenades sailed in through the glass windows, filling the warehouse with eye-watering smoke. Outside, Momo didn't relent in her assault. After six whole grenades had been shot out from her riot gun in quick succession, she began loading to start again.

The gas gradually filled the room. And while most of the Nine began their efforts to fend of the gas, the various attackers had no need with the gas masks that had been provided to them.

From the roof, Manga revealed himself from his hiding spot. Straight down at his feet, he let out a booming shout of "HEAVY!"

An enormous, overly-weighed bundle of kanji reigned down from above, specifically tailored for one target. The words fell down on Ricochet, crushing the man between the kanji and the floor. The man wouldn't be killed, of course. The main point was to stall him.

The only problem with Manga's role lay in the destructive condition of his footing. But that was what Izuku was for. Timing it to the millisecond, Izuku had Traveler teleport right atop of Manga. The teleporter laid free of Izuku's control for a single second, and even still the man was lucid enough to act.

Traveler brought Manga to the rooftop holding Pony, Mei, and Izuku. And as the two arrived, Izuku took control again of Traveler.

Next came the speedster. Frisk would have reacted fast enough. Could have sped out of the warehouse, aiming to find the others. He could have been on the rooftop control center in seconds. But instead, Honenuki grabbed at Frisk's leg, and pulled; they befell the same faith of Horde.

Setsuna and Pony played themselves up as a sort of tag team. Setsuna pelted her targets with her various body parts. Suffice to say, Pathogen, Phantom, Kizu, and even Kentaro found themselves pelted with projectiles, hampering their movement.

Pony went in for the rougher and stronger hits. Two horns each, one for the throat and one for the torso. Two horns guided Kizu in one direction, two guiding Phantom and Pathogen in another. It was no coincidence that both Phantom and Pathogen fell beside Kentaro, who was furiously swiping at the incoming body parts with his sword.

The last heavy hitter of the killers — the then named "Centaur," now named Katamari — had his own problem in hand. Before he could act, a huge chunk of ice rushed at him from above. While Manga had the problem of falling, Todoroki did not. The large amounts of ice turned into a slide halfway down. And despite Katamair's efforts to escape, Todoroki continued to pelt the monster with ice.

And even then he wasn't done. Ricochet emerged from under Manga's weighted kanji. He pushed the words off — but before he could move a large rushing of ice collided with him, pushing him towards Kentaro.

And the last of the group, the one who held the most risk of escape, wasn't even a target. Waypoint, through all the chaos, ran towards Kentaro, no doubt focusing on his leader's escape. It wasn't long before the man was within range.

Izuku had Traveler grab onto him, and they both teleported. Izuku found himself right in the midst of the battle. And Kentaro, Phantom, Pathogen, Waypoint, and Ricochet were only just a few feet away from him.

And they were under his control, just like that.

The battle had been decided. And it had lasted all but seven seconds.

Within another three, four consecutive shouts of 'Clear!' rang out through the warehouse. Kizu and Katamari were restrained. Meanwhile, Honenuki brought Horde and Frisk to the surface.

All while Izuku allowed one of the biggest smirks to overtake his features. "A bit anticlimactic, don't you think, Jack?" Izuku said, looking the man right in the eyes.

In the background, the others weren't standing idle. Momo began to produce whole syringes full of tranquilizers, each dosed up to match each of the captive Nine. There wasn't any hesitation in injecting the four killers currently not in Izuku's grasp.

"Of course," Izuku continued, "you probably weren't expecting me to master Taylor's old Khepri abilities in such a short amount of time, huh? In fact—"

Izuku paused. He immediately turned towards Todoroki. "There's a mannequin in the southeast corner of the room! Destroy it!"

And a blast of ice did just that. Izuku could feel the thin grip on his mind begin to fade.

Izuku turned back towards Kentaro. "Not so easy when the assaulting force lacks people whose minds you can read, hmm? Seems your backup plan proved for naught."

Izuku willed Ricochet's mouth to open. His skin wasn't readily penetrable, so the opened orifice was enough to allow Momo to give Ricochet a different set of tranquilizers.

"Of course," Izuku continued, "your lack of knowledge was just what we needed."

Pathogen and Phantom were up next, and injected just like the rest.

"We knew that we couldn't win a prolonged battle. If I couldn't just pop in and take control of your body, if we were just fighting normally — we would have lost. And some of us would have died, just so you could gloat in my face. But instead, we had the upper hand this time."

Izuku walked forward, moving up to Waypoint. Izuku deposited one of his escrima sticks into the villain's hand, which promptly glowed after a quick second.

"Traveler!" Izuku called out.

The man in mention popped up next to Izuku, already knowing his role. He took the escrima stick from Izuku's hand and teleported away.

Most of the Nine were set to be taken under. All that were left standing were Waypoint and Kentaro.

Izuku let his hand out. A syringe was placed into his hand. And then he began to walk forward, straight for Kentaro.

Taylor's form shimmered into view. "How does it feel? Losing for the second time?"

Izuku smiled. "See you soon."

Izuku jabbed the needle into Kentaro, delivering the tranquilizing drugs into the man's bloodstream. It wasn't long before he was out cold.

Izuku sighed. He took the moment to sit down on the floor, making sure to up his control of the still-conscious Waypoint and the steadily fasting minds of the others of the Nine. He looked out to his friends, who were in similar states of relief.

Manga was the one to break the silence. "Dude. What was with the monologuing? I mean, really?"

Izuku let out a chuckle. "Well, you see—"

Taylor's face invaded his vision.

"Movement," she said. "Northwest rooftops, coming in at high speeds."

A/N: As you may have noticed, there are some things to take into account — specifically, some new factors that aren't explained (ahem Traveler taking part in the raid ahem). Why is this? Well… I've sort of been lacking behind on Songs of the Cicada. I've been a bit busy, and haven't had the time to write those small snippets of exposition without sacrificing time for the main story. So… I'll try for them soon. (Missing snippets will include: Traveler being informed, Toga's attack on All Might, and Izuku's therapy session).