YM778.TV Chapter 17: NO. 17 - Playing Hero
Chapter 17: NO. 17 - Playing Hero
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[General POV]
The old loading dock stood as a testament to years of bustling activity, its weathered wooden beams telling stories of countless shipments and deliveries. A faded sign hung above, its once-bright letters now peeling and barely legible, hinting at the dock\'s long-past glory days.
Rusting metal fittings and heavy chains lay scattered around, remnants of the machinery that had once clattered with life. The air was thick with the scent of salt and aged wood, mingled with the faint aroma of oil and the ghosts of cargo that had been stacked high. Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the corrugated roof, casting streaks of light across the dark, cracked concrete floor.
Pockmarked walls bore evidence of time\'s relentless march, with streaks of moss creeping in where rainwater had seeped through. A few scattered crates, long forgotten, sat in the corners, their once-bright colors dulled by the passage of time.
"Hoho! Not bad!" A large, pot-bellied man grinned as he looked inside one of the parked vans beside one of the loading bays. Sitting within the van were ten young children with their limbs tied together with rope; their mouths were covered with tape while their eyes were covered with blindfolds. "A very nice group tonight. Great work, as usual, Okuma-san."
Okuma, a woman dressed in a two-piece business suit with long black hair and green eyes, smirked as she walked over to the other van. "I aim to please, Satoshi-san. There are so many desperate parents in a rush to begin their kid\'s hero careers that they\'ll more than be happy to hand them over to a hero recruiter." Okuma nodded to the two men standing beside the back doors of the other van.
One of the men nodded and opened the back door to reveal another group of bound, scared children. Seeing this, Satoshi laughed and stepped inside the van to inspect the children.
The bound children were all shaking in fear as they sniffed and cried underneath their bindings. Satoshi stepped in front of a young brown-haired boy with dove-like wings on his back. The man then brushed the boy\'s wings slowly with a malicious grin.
"Yes, very nice. I think I\'ll give this one a run before we turn them in." Satoshi said lecherously, causing Okuma to look away in discomfort.
"Remember that these kids bring in more profit if they\'re pure," Okuma said nonchalantly.
"Yeah, yeah. It\'s fine. It\'s been a while since my last one, so I\'ll eat the pay cut." Satoshi said as he licked his lips. With a chuckle, he stepped out of the van and closed the doors behind him. "Alright. I\'ll take it from here."
Satoshi pulled out his phone and tapped its screen. A soft ding pinged from Okuma\'s phone as she watched a large amount of money be deposited into her secured bank account.
"I\'ll let you know when the next batch is ready." Okuma said as she turned away to begin walking over to her parked Handa across the street.
"All right, boys! Let\'s get moving. I want to get to Hokkaido before morning!" Satoshi said as he turned to look at his two men, only to find them missing. In an instant, all the surrounding street lights that illuminated the area exploded. "What the hell? Where the fuck-"
Crack!
Satoshi jumped back in fright as Okuma\'s body fell directly in front of him from above, causing her to yell in pain as her right leg was snapped to the side. The woman screamed as she lifted herself up to look over to Satoshi.
"Ah! H-help m-"
"Piercing blood."
Satoshi\'s mouth opened in a silent scream as Okuma\'s head burst into a gory mess as an impossibly fast line of blood pierced through her skull. Satoshi took several steps back but then froze when the two thumps echoed behind him. The pot-bellied man, against his better judgment, turned to look behind him.
There, lying on the ground with their bodies ripped to shreds as if they were mauled by a pack of dogs, were his men.
"How many?" A low, dispassionate voice said from behind Satoshi, causing the man to jump. Satoshi watched in fear as a dark, hooded figure slowly emerged from the shadows. "How many kids have you taken?"
"I... I-I don\'t..."
Satoshi struggled to say before the hooded figure swiped his arm up. Two incredibly swift lines of blood flew through the air and stabbed through Satoshi\'s knees. Causing the man to yell in pain and fall to the ground. The hooded figure then pulled his arm back, and the two lines of blood retracted into his jacket sleeve.
"Whatever. It doesn\'t matter." The hooded figure said as he walked over to the bleeding Satoshi. The figure reached down and took Satoshi\'s phone. The pot-bellied man pushed himself up as the hooded figure nodded over at... nothing? Satoshi blinked in confusion and looked back at his attacker.
"Do it slowly. Ah, but drag him far away. I don\'t want the kids to hear." The hooded figure said and turned away.
Satoshi was left confused, but he suddenly felt his arm explode in pain. "Aagh!" He looked over to his arm as several bleeding puncture wounds covered his skin. A sharp, jerking motion then pulled him to the ground as his body was quickly dragged along the ground by an invisible force.
"Gah! What is this?! Let me go!"
Satoshi turned his head back to the hooded man\'s back as he crouched next to the bodies of his men and Okuma. Without warning, their mangled bodies exploded into bright flames. The fire didn\'t last long because their bodies were reduced to ash in a few seconds from the intense heat.
That was all Satoshi saw before he was dragged around the corner towards the pitch-black entrance of one of the loading docks abandoned electrical rooms.
The door then slammed itself closed, stifling Satoshi\'s bloody screams of agony.
x x x
[Shimizu Souta POV]
"All done?"
I looked down at my divine dogs as they ran over to me from around the corner. They barked and nodded at my question as I looked down at the ugly man\'s phone. "Good. Now then, what should we do with these kids?"
I walked over to both of the parked vans and pulled open their rear doors. Sitting inside both of the vehicles were around 19 or so kids. Each of them tied, blindfolded, and gagged. I stepped back to look around the old loading bay and shrugged. I reached into Zaiko\'s mouth and pulled out one of my many burner phones to dial the police.
"Hello? So, uh, there\'s two vans full of kidnapped kids in the old loading dock by Toyohashi City. Huh? My name? Sorry, can\'t give you that. Just send several of the boys in blue here, okay?"
I hung up the phone and crushed it into pieces. The sounds of whimpering and silent crying grabbed my attention as the kidnapped kids leaned on one another for comfort.
There were children ranging from six to ten years old. All of which didn\'t seem to have any mutation-based quirks with the exception being the small boy with wings on his back. I looked around the area and saw that there weren\'t any traces of the violence that had just happened.
Which was good; I didn\'t want to traumatize these kids.
"All right, kiddies. Let\'s get you out of there."
Over the next five minutes, I helped each of the kids out of their binds and took off their gags and blindfolds. Throughout the process, I slipped off my hoodie in favor of wearing my black Spider-Man mask. I didn\'t want to risk these kids recognizing me after tonight. My divine dogs were off in the background, keeping watch in case any more of the kidnapper\'s crewmates showed up.
Once they were free and off the dirty old vans. The group of kids all looked around with fear and anxiety, which was fair. We were in some dark old loading dock with no light. One of the children, a little girl with bright blonde hair, walked up to me nervously.
"U-um, M-Mister? Are you a h-hero?" The little girl asked, gaining everyone\'s attention.
"A hero?" I said as I crouched down so I would be at their eye level. "I suppose, from your perspective, I am."
[3 x 19 = +57 SP]
"See, I told you a hero would save us!"
"Yeah! We\'ll get to go home soon!"
My words caused a domino effect as all the kids visibly relaxed at the implication I was a hero. They all began to chatter happily and surrounded me to ask dozens of questions. The little blonde girl in front of me sighed in relief and smiled at me widely.
"Thank you for saving us, Mr. Hero!" The little girl said. "I\'m Haru! I didn\'t ever give up hope that a hero would come save us."
"Yeah, yeah! A hero!"
"Mr. Hero, your costume is so cool!"
"What\'s your hero name, Mister?"
"Okay, okay." I held my hands in front of me in an attempt to calm them all down. "Take it easy. My hero name? Well, I don\'t really have a hero name. But you kids can call me... Sukuna. How\'s that?"
[3 x 19 = +57 SP]
"Such a cool name!" A boy with short, grey hair and an All Might shirt said as he jumped up and down. "How did you find us, Sukuna?"
They all grew quiet and waited for me to answer with smiles. Haru had walked closer and grabbed my left hand with a curious expression.
Might as well play the part. At least until the police get here.
"You see! I was patrolling the streets in a nearby city and heard your cries for help!" I said in a boisterous voice, similar to All Might. "I ran straight here in a flash and took down the evil villains. They all ran away crying at the sight of my power!"
My claims caused everyone to cheer and yell in excitement. They showered me with praise and asked questions about what my quirk was or if I knew any other pro heroes. I laughed and indulged in their little questions for several minutes before the sounds of approaching police sirens could be heard. We all looked over to see flashing red and blue lights glow behind the loading dock\'s main building.
"Okay, kids." I stood up and brushed some of their heads gently. "You all have to wait here for the nice police officers to take you all home, okay?"
"Huh? Aren\'t you going to stay?" A young boy with brown hair and dove wings, his name was Oki Katsu, said with sadness, causing everyone to whine and plead with me to stay. "Please stay, Mister Sukuna!"
"I want to. I really do. But the policemen and women will take good care of you all. Besides, I think I hear more cries for help. You all want me to go save them like I saved you, right?" I said gently, causing the children to pout.
Thankfully, they understood what I said and parted the way for me to leave. As I began to walk away, I turned back and looked at Haru.
"Haru, keep an eye on them for me, okay?" I said with a thumbs up, causing the little girl to nod and return the gesture.
[+5 SP]
"I will! Now go save the day, Mister Sukuna!"
I smiled behind my mask and made a show of powering up before leaping onto the roof of one of the vans before jumping onto the rooftops of the loading bay\'s main building. All the kids waved goodbye as several police cars and ambulances came to a stop several feet away.
Dozens of officers poured out and approached the children with worry. Quickly and carefully, they guided the children to the paramedics to be checked and treated.
I watched all this go down from the shadows on the rooftop; my divine dogs and crows were beside me as we peered down. I then pulled out the phone I took from the ugly, pot-bellied man and glared at the list of contacts on his phone. My eyes focused on the contact named "Boss Man."
It wasn\'t my intention to play hero tonight.
Running into these kids had been a coincidence from my usual nightly training routine. From what Crow Nobara found, I thought this was a simple drug deal for me to bust. But it turned out to be so much more.
Human trafficking. Kidnapping. And other horrible crimes against children were something I detested now and in my previous life.
So when I saw that these vans held several tied-up children, I acted and executed all these rabid dogs without mercy.
My actions tonight had stopped Haru, Katsu, and all the other kids from tonight from disappearing and falling into the darkness of human evil due to the agendas of money-hungry degenerates.
But seeing this long list of contacts on the corpse\'s phone, I knew that this wasn\'t the end of their operation. No, this was just the tip of the iceberg.
I was no hero, and I knew that.
But that fact just made what I was going to do next even easier.
"Let\'s go hunting."