First Brainwashing: Hero Spade (1)
"I'm back~ Aigoo...."
"Good work, Senior Spade. How'd the mission go?"
Hero Association's 7th Squad Base. In the lounge area doubling as a break room, Spade had just returned from her mission. Club, her fellow hero lounging sideways on the sofa in the back, playing a smartphone game, greeted her.
"Nothing much. Barely any villains, and it was over in under ten minutes. Infiltrating to find their hideout and scout the situation took way longer."
"Oh...."
Club set down her smartphone and gave a light, emotionless clap. But it was supposed to be just a recon mission—when did it turn into an extermination?
"Any Awakeners?"
"Nope."
"Purge targets?"
"...One who exceeded the threshold."
"Did you kill them?"
Spade pulled off her gloves and tossed them aside. "Yeah."
The pitch-black gloves bore strange stains. It wasn't hard to guess they were blood.
—Purge target. A term for villains deemed too dangerous to even capture and imprison. Heroes had the discretion to "purge" them on the spot. In other words, kill them outright since containment wasn't feasible. Criteria varied wildly, so the hero in charge usually "handled it" themselves. The 7th Squad had a detailed checklist they memorized and applied per mission, but some units just wiped out any villain on sight, no criteria at all.
In the old days, people might've cried foul about human rights or whatever. But after the massive villain crime wave a few years back that shook the nation—scars still lingering, society barely holding together—few cared about villains' rights anymore. To most, villains weren't human, just pests to exterminate.
The government had officially stripped them of human rights. So even if some random passerby suddenly bashed a villain's skull in with a rock, no one would prosecute.
Not that many villains would go down to a civilian, of course.
Anyway, villains had no rights. They weren't human. Just vermin to eradicate.
Even heroes...?
A stray thought bubbled up, but she shook her head to dispel it. Maybe the unpleasant sensation still lingered in her hands, stirring bad vibes. She'd crushed a purge target's throat with one hand right there on the spot. The tactile memory was vivid.
To shake it off, Spade forcibly changed the subject. "Anyway, Club, what about those idiots?"
"You mean those morons from Abyss?"
"Yeah."
"We squeezed out all the intel we could, and now they're in the underground reeducation room for a full 144-hour hellish EBS lecture course."
"Whoa... that's... yeah."
It sounded light at first glance, but under hero supervision, they had to watch nonstop for 144 hours straight. Urinals at each station meant handling business in place, no breaks. No sleep allowed. Meals were jelly-like energy supplements. Slack off? They added two hours per infraction—a devilish torture. Just thinking about it made her shiver.
Usually, by 30 hours, people snapped, begging for death. By 70, they lacked the energy to riot and went quiet. Fill all 144, and even the toughest reformed into new people. Proven method, terrifyingly effective.
Eek, scary.Eek, brutal.
But Apple's watching, so...
Administrative D-rank hero Apple. Colleague with big round glasses and a modest style—soft-hearted, couldn't stand seeing others suffer. They'd said no breaks for 144 hours, but she'd surely sneak in rests or snacks. Everyone knew she went easy on captured villains, yet no one stopped her. Why? Every villain, big or small, ended up calling her "saint" and sobbing as they followed her lead. No exceptions. Vowing never to harbor evil thoughts again, never to hurt her feelings. The 7th Squad's biggest mystery—and maybe scariest woman.
Anyway, if Apple's in charge, those villains were probably thrilled... Or so Spade thought.
"Nah, Senior. Apple's on vacation right now. Back tomorrow."
Club resumed her game, denying it.
"Oh...? Then who's watching the reeducation room?"
"Coco."
Ah, crap. Even villains felt a bit pitiful now. Coco was... whoa... brutal....
Former Abyss folks... hang in there... If you survive, good times await someday....
Villain organization Abyss, huh...
Upstairs in the living quarters of the base. Spade's room, her bathroom. She rinsed the sweat and grime from her body under the shower, lost in thought.
A bunch of perverts committing petty crimes and annoying people nonstop. Yet their executive-level members were high-caliber, marking them as a high-threat group.
But two months ago, they started crumbling—practically disbanded. Club's recent capture of the last stragglers sealed it. Interrogations revealed only four top execs left. Total annihilation. No hope.
One of them had even devolved into a total powerless normie.
Villain No. 13.
That guy with their bad blood. Two months back, during contact, Spade had beaten him half to death; he'd barely escaped. A rare male Awakener irregular. She'd hunted him relentlessly but never won—always got the short end. Her pride as a promising A-rank hero got utterly crushed, leaving her desperate to restore her honor.
And it ended anticlimactically. For some reason, he'd lost all powers—fallen to powerless civilian status, as far as she'd seen. Matched the intel from interrogations.
"Somehow... it's hollow."
She'd chased him forever, beaten him to her heart's content, yet something felt off. Incomplete combustion? A lingering void?
...Anyway, bad mood. No drive for anything lately.
"Argh, what am I even saying."
She swept back her wet hair, muttering in lament.
Even if Villain No. 13 had lost his powers, he wasn't caught yet. Sudden loss could mean sudden regain. So she'd capture him for sure. This time, snap his neck or rip out his heart with her own hands and end it... Then this nagging feeling might finally settle. That was her hunch.
Bzzzzt—
After washing away sweat and fatigue with warm water and stepping out of the bathroom, her smartphone on the table vibrated noisily.
Whoops, on vibrate—missed the call. She lunged for it, but it cut off right as she reached. Missed calls: three. Holy crap.
Apple? On vacation, yet calling three times? She could've just come to the room, but apparently not at the dorms.
Why would Apple call? No clue. Worried, she went to call back—but the phone rang again in her hand. Four times now. Must be urgent. She tapped to answer.
"Hello? Got your call."
Finally picked up, but something odd from the speaker. Fumbling? Tense deep breaths?
"Apple? It's Spade. I answered."
Still no reply. Wrong number? But four calls said no.
As she puzzled, an un-Apple-like fake cough echoed a couple times.
[Long time no see. How've you been, Spade?]
For some reason, from Apple's number came a thick male voice—not Apple's.
