Terror and Heroes

I had done everything I could at Hero Academy, but then a terrorist attack broke out at a nearby large shopping mall.

Unfortunately, it was an attack led by a named villain.

For everyone’s safety, we decided to wait at the academy for the time being.

But as it turned out, that villain was someone I knew very well.

And since we had almost no information on him at the moment, I offered a helping hand in hopes of building a good relationship with the heroes.

To my surprise, they reacted far more enthusiastically than I’d expected.

“Th-that’s… really true?”

“Of course. Though it would be my personal help, not assistance from Black Cell.”

The moment Principal Baek So-ah heard that, she looked as delighted as a man dying of thirst who’d just stumbled onto an oasis.

When I paused to think about why she was reacting like that, I remembered what this body was worth.

From the principal’s perspective, this was almost the same as suddenly gaining a very real chance to break the deadlock.

Of course, she still seemed a little uneasy, so she asked the question that had been bothering her.

“We’re certainly grateful for your willingness to help, Maxwell, but why exactly…?”

“Let’s just say it’s the misery of an employee who wants to clock out early.”

That was such a universally relatable answer that the principal couldn’t even think of a rebuttal.

After that, Principal Baek So-ah decided to take my hand in this matter.

Her authority was apparently considerable, because she was able to access all of the information and records the Hero Association had gathered on Air Bomb.

“There’s quite a lot of older footage here.”

“We’d appreciate it if you’d acknowledge that we’ve been trying very hard to deal with villains.”

Seeing how neatly the videos and documents had been organized, it really did seem that the Hero Association, the backbone of the righteous side, was highly competent.

Soon the principal opened footage on her laptop and began explaining things as she showed me CCTV clips of Air Bomb.

“This is footage from when a pro hero was dispatched to arrest Air Bomb.”

“If his mutation-type ability turns his body into steel-like metal… then that must be Titanium Man.”

He was a powerful hero capable of enhancing even his physical body.

And yet even Titanium Man, with his formidable defenses, could do little more than endure Air Bomb’s indiscriminate carpet bombing.

The explosions spread through the surrounding area in an instant, and in the end he lost Air Bomb after being unable to continue the chase.

Just from this footage alone, it was clear Air Bomb was indeed the villain I knew.

Still, it seemed he hadn’t fully learned to control his ability yet.

Now that I had a decent grasp of Air Bomb’s situation, I moved on to the CCTV from the large shopping mall where the terrorist attack had taken place.

“So many people died.”

“………………”

In most parts of the mall, innocent people’s blood was now flowing like a river.

Principal Baek So-ah and Secretary An, who had watched the catastrophe with me, remained silent.

Then I quickly rewound the footage and checked another area.

In one location, I caught sight of the mutants who had participated in the attack.

The terrorists were celebrating as if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they’d just won some kind of revolution.

People like that only made ordinary mutants suffer for no reason.

I clicked my tongue inwardly, and then at last the bat mutant, Air Bomb, appeared in the footage.

He acted as if he were some kind of savior.

It was like watching a cult.

And although I thought I’d be numb by now after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠seeing so many corpses, staring directly at this mass slaughter made disgust surge up inside me.

So this is what kin aversion feels like.

The situation was bitter enough to make me sigh, but it was also worse than I’d expected.

The more time passed, the more the civilians and hostages hidden inside would die.

So I asked the principal what I needed to know right away.

“Principal, do you know what those terrorists are demanding?”

“They want the hostages’ ransom money, and a military armored vehicle they can use to escape safely. They even declared that if we refuse, they’ll kill all the hostages and detonate gas throughout the city.”

Air Bomb’s ability was nothing more than compressing air to cause explosions, so that threat was obviously a bluff.

But with the Association having so little information right now, Air Bomb had still managed to carry out this attack and escape.

It looked like the future protagonist, the one with the ability-sealing power, would be the one to subdue him.

In a way, that meant I’d be stealing one of the protagonist’s minor achievements, and that did leave me feeling a little conflicted.

But then I saw, on the CCTV, a child shaking their parent’s collapsed body and desperately trying to wake them, and all those worries vanished in an instant.

Having made up my mind, I borrowed the principal’s laptop, brought up every video record I could find, and pretended to skim through Air Bomb’s entire file at high speed.

As I continued to look impressively busy, the others in the office stared at me in wonder.

“Air Bomb is both a manifestation-type and a manipulation-type ability user.”

The things that would only be revealed after the attack had ended came spilling out of my mouth.

“More specifically, the manifestation type looks like telekinesis, and the manipulation type seems to be compression.”

“Is that really true?”

“I can’t guarantee it, but those two seem the most likely. He’s got a very strong combination, though his limits appear to be fairly clear.”

I showed the principal and the secretary footage of Air Bomb using his power, with each explosion appearing directly in front of him.

Of course, the Association had already noticed that much.

“The explosions do seem to occur only in the direction he’s looking, but I believe the Association has already tried to interfere with Air Bomb’s vision.”

“That’s a relief. But have you considered his mutant traits?”

Mutants naturally inherited certain traits from their animal counterparts.

Air Bomb was also a bat-type mutant.

And contrary to what many people thought, bats weren’t all blind; depending on the species, their eyesight was actually fairly decent.

They also had echolocation, using sound waves to perceive the shapes and positions of their surroundings.

“Right now, Air Bomb’s air explosions are happening only within his range of perception—more specifically, only within his field of vision. If you want to subdue him safely, you’ll need to block both his sight and his hearing. And finally… would you like to take a look at this?”

This time, it was footage of Air Bomb starting a fire inside a building.

The villain was clashing with armed police in a smoke-choked space, but he was only using an absurdly weak telekinetic force.

It was the kind of scene you could dismiss as nothing more than an attempt to escape without making a fuss.

But the moment she saw it, Principal Baek So-ah froze for a second.

Since she had faced countless villains before, she must have immediately realized what kind of limitation had been placed on Air Bomb.

Soon she snatched the laptop from me and checked every instance of him using his ability.

By the time she was done, her expression had turned into one of understanding at last.

“...Right before he uses his power, his chest swells up quite a bit.”

“He must be using the compression ability when he takes a deep breath and then exhales.”

In other words, if you made it hard for him to breathe, Air Bomb’s ability would weaken sharply.

That gave us every weakness he had.

The plan to arrest this named villain began taking shape in detail.

I arrived at the large shopping mall where the terrorist attack had taken place together with Principal Baek So-ah.

By then, the area around it was already packed with reporters hungry for a paycheck, and with plenty of civilians who’d come to watch the fire like neighbors gawking at a burning house.

Armed police and heroes were also holding the line.

There were even a few heroes I recognized.

“Oh?! Mr. Maxwell?!”

“What brings you here?!”

“We meet again. Good to see you, Solar, Sunray.”

Since this was such a major incident, it looked like some of the stronger heroes had gathered here.

In a case like this, deploying the nearly invincible Solar seemed like the best option.

Unfortunately, the attack had happened at a large shopping mall.

“I-if only there were no sprinklers....”

“Ahaha, Solar’s weakness is pretty well known.”

If the space were large and open, like the main entrance of Black Cell, Sunray’s fire manipulation could prevent the sprinklers from activating.

But a large shopping mall had a very low ceiling, which meant even a small fire would send water spraying everywhere.

And as I’d kept saying, Solar was “semi-invincible” for a reason.

Once his body got wet, it wasn’t just a matter of weakening—his invincibility was undone entirely.

In the end, the Association seemed to have given up on using Solar for this operation.

Still, once Principal Baek So-ah arrived on the scene, the police and heroes all looked visibly relieved.

After that, we headed straight into the command center and explained Air Bomb’s abilities.

“We already thought something was off, but so he was one of those guys with extremely good eyesight.”

“So even tear gas wouldn’t have stopped him from using his power, thanks to echolocation.”

“But even knowing Air Bomb’s weakness, there are still plenty of problems.”

There were serious complications in figuring out how to seal a named villain’s ability, not to mention the followers’ gunfire and rescuing the hostages.

And as a variable, some of the followers might even have powers of their own.

It was a massive operation that could be understood as pretty daunting from any angle.

But Principal Baek So-ah encouraged everyone, saying there was no need to worry.

“Fortunately, there’s a girl here who can be a huge help.”

When everyone’s attention turned to her, the principal smiled faintly and turned her head.

There, hiding behind me, was Victory.

Everyone wore a look that clearly demanded an explanation, so I gave it to them right away.

“This child is Victory. She has acceleration abilities.”

“What?! Acceleration abilities?!”

“Ah! So that’s why the principal—!”

I had never planned to involve Victory in this terrorist suppression operation.

But in the office, she had stubbornly insisted again and again that she would go herself.

She was probably doing it because she wanted praise from me, though...

But a bullet after being fired was basically a love letter asking to be killed.

Honestly, the strange one was Gloria, who could actually keep up with Victory’s speed.

If Victory fought seriously, even pro heroes would be absolutely defeated by her as she was now.

Of course, unlike Gloria, Victory still couldn’t control her power very well.

And leaving everything to a ten-year-old girl was completely insane, so Principal Baek So-ah had opposed Victory joining the battle with everything she had.

Instead, the principal proposed a new method.

In the strategy room, she pulled out a star-shaped sticker and began explaining the operation.

While Maxwell was speaking with Principal Baek So-ah, a great tragedy was approaching the large shopping mall.

The hostages had been plunged into overwhelming terror by the catastrophe, which looked like a sea of blood and corpses.

Air Bomb, the mastermind behind the attack, and his followers had become extremely arrogant.

If the government accepted the terms Air Bomb had demanded, many mutants would soon start following him.

A huge organization would naturally form, and Air Bomb could become the true savior of Korean mutants...

That was the bizarre delusion Air Bomb was trapped in.

But unfortunately for him, there were stronger psychics than he was.

Ping───!!!!

“Huh?”

“What?”

“Eh?”

Something suddenly shot through the terrorists.

At a speed that even the enhanced vision of the mutants couldn’t track, something raced rapidly through the shopping mall.

Of course, Air Bomb had echolocation, so he sensed that someone was approaching him.

But then—

Smack!!!

“Gah?!”

Sadly, by the time he realized it, Victory had already attached something to him and gone.

With her task complete, Victory smashed through a second-floor window and leapt out.

She landed straight in Maxwell’s arms, where he had been waiting in a safe location.

“Mr. Maxwell!! Mr. Maxwell!! Did Victory do well?!”

“Of course you did. You were amazing.”

“Heeheeheehee!!”

Principal Baek So-ah had plotted a route through the mall that passed through the areas with the fewest corpses, and she’d told Victory exactly where to go.

The sticker Victory had just attached to Air Bomb had been created by the principal’s magic.

On the target it was applied to, it caused interference with sight and hearing, and cursed them with breathing difficulty.

Since it only lasted ten minutes, once the principal confirmed that the curse was working successfully, she immediately launched the operation.

And the moment Air Bomb was weakened to the extreme, the heroes and armed police stormed into the shopping mall.

But the mutants were naturally physically powerful to begin with, and they were armed with guns on top of that.

As a result, the department store descended into chaos in an instant.

And when their leader Air Bomb suddenly rolled on the ground for reasons no one understood, his followers immediately tried to execute the hostages.

Tick.

“Wh-what the hell?! Why won’t the gun fire all of a sudden…?”

“Sorry, but I can’t let you do that.”

“Huh?!”

“Y-you’ve got to be kidding me!! Magic so—!”

Kwaaaaaaaang!!

In an instant, the possibility of the massacre escalating into another round of mass slaughter was completely erased.

Thanks to that, Principal Baek So-ah, who had entered the department store using magic, shut down the guns around her and took out the villains while rescuing the hostages.

And Maxwell, who watched all of it from outside, let out a sigh of relief along with the command staff.

“Phew… thank goodness….”

“Thank you so much for helping us this time, Maxwell.”

“I only gave the principal a few suggestions.”

“Hahaha, well then, I suppose I’d better keep buying Black Cell stock.”

The only remaining variable was whether there was a psychic ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠among the terrorists.

But according to the reports coming in now, the terrorists were being suppressed quickly, with no particular damage so far.

Then perhaps the command staff judged that things were more or less under control?

Just as the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠emergency responders were about to enter the department store to save the wounded inside,

Crash!

Someone burst out through a window on the upper floors.

They had such distinct forms that everyone outside recognized them immediately.

“Air Bomb?! And that is….”

“Probably his closest follower.”

The severely weakened Air Bomb had suffered serious injuries from the heroes’ attack.

His follower, meanwhile, had thrown himself out of the building in an attempt to escape somehow.

But from such a great height, everyone could already imagine how that would end.

And yet, something happened that no one had expected.

Kwaaang! We have to liveeeeeeeee!!

Air Bomb’s closest subordinate turned out to be a teleportation user.

However, there were heavy limitations, so only Air Bomb vanished into the air somewhere.

The subordinate himself fell straight down and died instantly.

Because of a meaningless act of loyalty among terrorists, Air Bomb managed to escape somewhere.

Of course, the heroes and police waiting outside were stunned.

Maxwell wiped his face with one hand.

We never compromise with ordinary terrorists... right, something was off.

If you compromised with terrorists, you only encouraged copycat hostage incidents and provided funding for more attacks, which would lead to a second and third round of terrorism.

In the original timeline, the Association and the police had somehow brought this attack to an end, even at the cost of heavy losses.

Maxwell now realized that Air Bomb had escaped by the same method as in that original course of events.

After letting out a long sigh, Maxwell looked at the head of the security team standing beside him.

Then, understanding the meaning of that look, the captain nodded once and disappeared somewhere.

And just like that, the terrorist attack at the large shopping mall came to an end.

Of course, with the unprecedented situation of Air Bomb fleeing, the scene immediately became tense again.

But amid all this chaos, Victory’s time was flowing differently from everyone else’s.

Before long, the girl looked up at Maxwell’s face.

The warm gaze he’d been giving her just moments ago was gone without a trace.

In its place was something cold and ruthless.

And yet the white rabbit, looking at the unfamiliar side of her guardian, felt her heart begin to pound instead.