Check and Coco, Hero Rescue Operation (4)
The sounds of fierce combat echoed. Hard clashes of weapons meeting and shockwaves burst repeatedly. Listening to that symphony, Spade darted back and forth through the narrow space, lunging at her comrade before her eyes time and again.
"What the...? Spade, you seem faster than usual...?"
Blocking Spade's storm-like, or perhaps rabid-rabbit frenzy of attacks, Check muttered in surprise.
Check was in charge of training Spade—how to move her body, how to wield her abilities. As a distant senior, she often guided Spade. That's why she knew Spade's top speed, her maximum output, inside and out.
And yet.
Claaang!!
Once more, Spade's decisive blow came at an impossible speed. Check's staff, infused with mana, blocked and deflected it. Even so, a numbing shock rippled through the staff and her arm despite the mana reinforcement.
A brief gap opened between the two again.
Spade crouched low, steadying her ragged breath. Around her, red mana roiled in a menacing aura.
'Can't take her lightly.'
Check thought that, but compared to Spade—who was already starting to falter—Check looked as relaxed as if she were out for a stroll. She'd just single-handedly crushed a horde of those dolls moments ago, blocked Spade's all-out assault, and not a scratch or drop of sweat marred her.
Her speed had increased. Power too. Mana control was far more refined than before. Spade had clearly changed—grown much stronger.
But even so strengthened, the gap with the 7th Squad's veteran vice-captain remained utterly despairing.
"Now I'm attackin'. Focus up. If ya don't block proper, one hit and you're done for."
Check warned with a faint smile. And in the next instant—
The tip of the staff in her hand trembled, then shot toward Spade's face in an unnatural motion.
"?!"
Spade crossed her mana-charged batons to block the precise strike at her face. An explosion. A fierce shockwave. Even as weapons clashed, it erupted like a bomb, sending Spade flying—crashing through the window behind her and out.
Thud!
"Gah...!?"
From the third floor, she plummeted straight to the ground. No landing roll; she hit back-first. Without full-body mana reinforcement, her bones would've shattered and organs ruptured from the fall alone. Head-first, and she'd be dead.
Even so, the throbbing pain echoing through her body twisted Spade's face. But she couldn't just lie there rolling on the ground.
Lightly, Check landed right beside her, staff in hand. She'd chased Spade from the third floor in one leap, touching down feather-soft without a sound or hint of impact.
How the hell did she use mana to pull off that trick? Impossible for Spade, still short on experience.
"Still alive? Even hit ya pretty hard there."
"Check, you...!"
"Ya got more in ya, right? Get up. This ain't the end. Ya didn't pick a fight just to drop here, didja?"
Check taunted in her pseudo-dialect drawl, aiming the staff tip at Spade again. She could neutralize her right now with an attack. But driven by her own complex, Check urged Spade on, deeming her lacking.
Thanks to that, Spade regained her stance. Her baton was intact, somehow. It should've shattered from Check's last blow. A crack ran through it now—crack—who knew how long it'd hold.
"Kinda disappointed, though. Figured since ya jumped me outta nowhere, it'd be a real scrap. This way, ya ain't gettin' shit."
"...Is that so."
Spade steadied herself, summoning red mana once more.
"I'm fine. Don't worry. I'm starting to adapt now, too."
"...That so? Then I can look forward to it?"
And the battle resumed.
Check and Spade had gone off-screen. Cameras on the building's exterior existed, but too far to capture them clearly. No proper observation like this.
And the point was to test Spade's abilities—not let her die. He'd been watching, ready to intervene if needed. But this wouldn't do.
'Gotta go out there.'
Villain No. 13 checked the tablet screen. Locating the remaining intruder, Coco.
Coco was easy to find. Underground level 2 corridor. Still far off. This was the abandoned factory's basement level 5 room. Reaching here required finding hidden passages—tricky.
'...But to head up, she'll have to cross paths with Coco.'
'Neutralize Coco first, then back Spade up.'
No one else besides Check and Coco. Apple had confirmed it. Knock out Coco, and no more variables.
Just pray Spade didn't get stupidly killed in the meantime. He'd given her an ace in the hole... but mid-fight, who knew if she'd have time to use it.
Time to move.
As he thought that and rose—
Pfshk—
"......Huh?"
A deflating hiss from Villain No. 13's neck. No—before that, something had pierced it. A needle protruded from his neck. Stabbed in.
He only realized after the fact. No sense of anyone approaching, or drawing that viciously huge syringe to jab his neck.
Weird. Only two heroes in the factory. Check had just chased Spade outside, and Coco was clearly still far on the tablet...
"Never thought you'd really be here. Figured the odds were under 20%... Good thing I kept searching without giving up."
Eerily, the voice from behind was unmistakably Coco's. The tablet showed Coco far away—yet she was here too.
No chance to turn and confirm. The paralysis toxin thick on the needle made his eyes roll back as he toppled over.
Coco was a specialist in espionage. Her hero rank was D—below even Club's—but a fake to hide her 'Intelligence Division' affiliation.
Among Hero Association members, the 'Intelligence Division' focused solely on info gathering and spying, never frontline combat. Coco was dispatched from there to the 7th Squad.
Coco's magic: Illusion and Phantasm. Many in intel had similar powers, but none wielded them like her. Sending a perfect phantasm to a distant spot for seamless camera feed, while camouflaging herself undetected to strike from behind? Only her in the Association.
"Club, Club. Can ya get up?"
As the paralyzed Villain No. 13 convulsed on the floor, Coco undid Club's bonds and patted her cheeks, checking her response. Club's thin eyelids twitched, then slowly opened.
No need for the awakener drug she'd brought just in case.
"Ah... Master Coco...?"
"Yeah, it's me. You okay? How many fingers?"
Coco held up fingers before Club's eyes to test. Club was better off than expected. Coco had braced for brain-melted vegetable status from drugs or worse.
Villains usually killed captives—or worse. Coco had seen it plenty, so she'd prepped for the worst.
"Thank you. And I'm truly sorry. I caused you trouble."
"...Yeah. Got a lotta words for ya. Lotsa scoldin'. I'm your supervisor, after all."
"Ugh...."
"But we'll talk back home. Looks like somethin's up with Check too."
Coco bound the paralyzed Villain No. 13's limbs. Cable ties and the rope from Club's bonds—secure.
Leave him for now, check Check's situation, then drag him out.
"Let's move, Club."
"Wait, Master Coco. There's an important item to grab."
Club's words halted Coco's urging. She rummaged Villain No. 13's bag beside him, pulling something out.
A doll. Eerily familiar. Eerily like herself.
"...? Club?"
"Master Coco. Take a look at this."
What the hell with a doll now? As Coco puzzled, Club thrust it forward.
"The Strange Land of Miss Coco. Now, Master Coco becomes this doll."
What nonsense? But it rang familiar. She'd heard it before.
Before Coco could grasp why it felt so known—
Her mind blurred, body stiffening.
