Villain Catching Villain (5)
I'd found the warehouse. I hadn't been too suspicious, but sure enough, Snake's intel was spot on.
"Kill him!! We have to stop him no matter what!!"
"It's Blank!! The boss said to kill him for sure!!"
"Surround him!!"
I'd figured these guys were a bit off their rockers, but Crusher hadn't skimped on warehouse security with total scrubs. They all looked like superpowered types.
"Raaargh!!!"
A guy with cat-like makeup lunged at me, claws gripped tight in his fist.
Zzzzzing.
His arm stretched out long, flying straight at me. Claws bristling with blades were about to graze my head.
A pretty solid superpower. The kind where your whole body turns into a stretchy elastic human, straight out of some famous comic.
But this felt like a watered-down version of that power.
I twisted my body to dodge the incoming claw strike, then slammed my iron pipe down on his fully extended arm with everything I had, unleashing a shockwave.
Booooom——!!!!
The fated thread connecting me and that guy shattered into pieces from the shockwave.
His sausage-like stretched arm exploded from the impact and got severed clean off.
"Gaaaaahhh!!!"
The guy who'd proudly extended his arm clutched the stump, screaming and rolling on the ground.
That was the limit of Elastin Body. Sure, you could stretch for ranged attacks in close quarters, but it just made you a bigger target. Without the agility to cover that weakness, it was a shitty power.
Whoosh!
Ignoring his buddy with the missing arm, one guy wrapped his body in flames and charged me. Another flanked from the side, crackling with electricity.
It was touching, really—their beautiful loyalty, not hesitating for a second even after their friend lost an arm.
Flames came at me from one side, lightning from the other.
But this weapons warehouse was basically a theme park full of dangerous toys on display.
Click.
I bolted to a nearby crate, and their movements froze for a split second.
Anyone could tell it was packed with ammo and bombs. One spark of fire or lightning there, and boom—game over.
They wanted me dead, but not enough to blow themselves up with me. They immediately dropped their powers and backed off.
Thanks to their hesitation, I got my opening.
I closed the distance fast and swung the iron pipe with a full-body twist, putting my hips into it.
The villains' bodies turned to rags from the amplified shockwave, tumbling across the warehouse floor.
That took out all the warehouse guards. Now I could wreck the place without worry. After pocketing anything valuable, of course.
I grabbed some pristine guns and bombs, planted C4 all around the warehouse, pocketed a few grenades, and got out. More than enough firepower to bring the whole thing down.
Kabooooom——-!!!!!
I detonated the bombs with satisfaction. Watching from across the river, far from the blast radius, there was something oddly mesmerizing about the fireworks.
One more warehouse to go, right? Time to handle that one too.
The second warehouse went down easy too.
It was bigger, with more goons, so I switched tactics.
Luckily, I spotted some good stuff at a nearby abandoned gas station: fuel drums.
I snuck around the warehouse, doused it in gas, then lit it up from outside and let it burn.
"Aaaagh!!"
"Fire! It's fire!!!"
"Kill the flames first…. If everything in there goes up, we're fucked!! Get out of the warehouse!!!"
I gave the villains a warm welcome with my iron pipe as they came charging out like madmen, engulfed in flames.
Then the fire spread to the weapons inside, and the warehouse blew sky-high.
That rendered Crusher's terror stockpile useless.
'Crusher's firepower just took a massive hit.'
With fewer weapons for the terror op, civilian casualties should drop too. The Association would handle the rest.
Ring ring. Ring ring.
I was staring blankly at the burning warehouse when my phone rang. Figured it was Yongpal, but no—unknown number. Though I had a pretty good guess who it was.
"Hey there, honey~ You made quite the splash."
Snake's innocent voice trickled into my ear.
"How was it, honey? My info was spot on, right?"
"Yeah. Thanks."
The intel quality was top-notch. No way I'd have found those spots on my own.
"Darknet's blowing up. You're a big deal now, honey? It's all about you."
Snake stuck to that creepy "honey" thing. Anyway…
"Big deal? You mean big fish."
Seemed like she was teasing me on purpose with the slip-up.
"Oops. My bad~"
Snake giggled brightly, not sorry at all.
"So, honey, what's next?"
Her tone turned serious.
"Head to Starfield and finish off Crusher—toothless and nail-less."
I'd already decided to intervene at Starfield. The iron pipe decreed it.
"Hmm. What happens at Starfield doesn't concern us, right? We're villains, after all."
Snake's voice sharpened, probing my true intentions.
"Crusher invaded my peace first. And I've never liked the guy. Gotta kill him myself to feel satisfied. That's all."
I said it like an excuse, but it wasn't wrong.
"Hehe. Invade my turf, and you're enemy number one. So beastly. Villain-like. I love beastly men."
She tossed it out like a joke, but I knew it was to lower my guard. Never show your hand against her.
"Anyway, got it. You handle the annoying stuff, and I'm happy. Oh, and don't forget our date. Save my number."
Call ended.
Meanwhile.
Crusher couldn't swallow his rage. He blasted gravity fields everywhere at the construction site, crushing anything in sight.
His underlings let him rage. Better he crush objects than people—at least he had been squashing them just moments ago.
"Blannnkkk!!! That fucking Blank…!!!!"
Two heavily stocked weapons warehouses wiped out in a flash. His terror squads would have to charge in with barely any guns now. A few gangsters with pistols, that was it.
"Blank fucked things up this bad, so maybe scrap the terror op and focus on hunting him down…."
One underling tried redirecting.
The op was cursed from the start. Push it, and everyone dies. Even without a fortune teller, it was obvious.
"Then what the hell are we?! Check Darknet!! It's all mocks and jeers!!! A pathetic org toyed with by one lousy villain!!!"
Crusher had lost face big time. He'd planned to boost his rep with this Starfield terror and rise as the third major villain group, but one slip-up with Blank ruined it all.
Even villains eyeing his org had stopped signing up. His crew was a joke now.
In the villain world, become a joke, and you're done. Ignored, then hunted. One way to flip it: nail this Starfield hit. Success would silence the haters.
"Prepare."
Tomorrow was Starfield's grand reopening. One big boom then, and opinion would swing back. Stubborn obsession was all Crusher had left.
The next day.
(frog emoticon saluting lazily)
[Like that selfie last time?]
(frog emoticon puking its guts out)
She actually sent a real photo. A bright, cheerful shot of her flashing a V-sign near Starfield.
Yeah, it was cheesy, but her selfies had that energizing vibe. Puking emoticon and all, the kid was sweet.
'Can't let Crusher ruin that smile.'
Me, who'd binged the original Hero Chronicle reruns. I wanted Ida-in and Seo Ha-yoon happy ever after if possible. Just popping into Starfield to help out. No hero ambitions.
'Plus, I wanna smack Crusher again.'
Perfect textbook case for what happens when you mess with villain Blank. Time to crush him for good.
A few hours before Starfield's grand reopening.
Seo Ha-yoon was coordinating patrol routes with other heroes and police.
Way more guards than planned. The Association couldn't ignore Blank's warning entirely, so they sent backups. Seo Ha-yoon had pushed hard for it.
'….'
It could be Blank's usual mind games, but she had this baseless conviction his words were true.
'I trust Blank…? Me?'
Wasn't a hero putting too much faith in a villain? She'd warned herself endlessly, but that day, she'd locked eyes with him through his translucent mask and talked straight.
Those eyes shining through were dead serious. She wanted to believe them.
'He sounded so desperate.'
Like only she, his confidante(?), would hear him out for real, and he'd get the message across no matter what. She felt that iron will.
Overthinking amped her emotions—that was earnest Seo Ha-yoon's flaw.
'Crusher's definitely coming. And probably… Blank too.'
Feeling a fateful hunch she'd cross paths with him again, she gazed at the sky.
Amid swirling thoughts, Starfield's reopening ceremony began.