[66+1: Roku Nana]
Outside, Midnight was watching over Snipe's body. It should've been a relatively calm role, but it didn't turn out that way. While Midnight was looking towards the hideout, a silent hum and electrical buzz rapidly approached her.
Fortunately for her, she reacted fast enough and turned around.
Unfortunately, as soon as she did, her entire vision became blinded, and her ears had a high-pitched ringing. She had no clue what happened or what even hit her. She became completely disoriented. The only thing she could feel was a sharp prick on her back before it stopped.
She didn't know it, but a drone had just gathered her blood.
When she finally recovered, enough to see properly at least, she looked around. Snipe's body was still there, and she didn't feel any significant pain or injury. She looked all over her body and didn't find the slightest bit of injury.
"What was that?" She muttered to herself.
⁂
Back inside the hideout, Cementoss had finally broken the mess of concrete walls he put up after the accident with Aizawa. It was finally easier to move, but the damage was still visible. Walls were broken, and rubble was all over the place. And it was still dark, making it hard to see properly.
"We should've brought night vision goggles, or some kind of support equipment," Sir Nighteye said. "It's darker than I expected."
"You know how much that kind of equipment costs? It's a few ten-thousand dollars just for the goggles, and then hundreds more for related equipment. We're talking tens of millions of yen for just one set of elite equipment. Now imagine the costs of just this group alone," Aizawa said.
"UA has the money for it," Sir Nighteye said.
"Yeah, but I doubt Principal Nezu will allow that. The support department can do it themselves. I mostly mean for hero agencies. You really got that kind of money, Nighteye?" Aizawa asked.
"True. It's more of a luxury, I guess. Anyway, focus," Sir Nighteye said.
All Might led at the front. The rest of them followed. They inspected rooms, mindful of any more surprises that Eleanor might've left.
"Where is she?" Aizawa asked. "We've inspected more and more rooms, but there's nothing."
"There's more than one floor here; above and below. We might have to split up to cover more ground," Sir Nighteye said.
"Split up? I'm not sure that's a good idea," Aizawa said.
"Why not? We'd be able to find Eleanor faster. Search and rescue teams do it, and the police as well," All Might said as he looked back.
"Correct, but search and rescue teams are the ones looking for someone without that someone looking for them. In our case, Eleanor is most likely also looking for us, or hunting us down as well. If we split up, we lose the advantage of our group. Splitting up means we turn ourselves into solo targets, which makes it a lot easier to take us out, and you can imagine how easy it'll be for Eleanor to take us out individually. Even if we go in pairs, the logic still stands. It's easier to deal with two people than four people," Aizawa said.
"You're right, Aizawa. I was thinking too short-sighted with such a recommendation," Sir Nighteye said. "We'll just have to pick a place to go. Up or down?"
As Aizawa was discussing a potential strategy, Cementoss continued looking around. In one of the unchecked rooms, he could make out very faint green dots. Whether it was his eyes playing tricks on him or if something was actually there, he wasn't too sure. As he continued to look, he could've sworn he saw the green dots following them slightly.
"Everyone, I think I found something." Cementoss kept his voice quiet. All of them looked to where Cementoss was looking.
"What is it?" Aizawa asked.
"Do you see those green dots? They're very faint." Cementoss pointed to the dark room.
"Yeah, I kind of see it," Sir Nighteye said.
While they were distracted, a few objects rolled toward them, making a few sounds.
All Might heard it. When he looked down, he saw cylinder-like shapes.
"EVERYONE, WE HAVE TO MOV—" All Might was too late. The flashbangs exploded in an instant flash of light, immediately blinding them and causing extreme disorientation. Their ears had an intense ringing, and their eyes couldn't process new images. The dark room only made it worse, since their eyes were dilated.
They couldn't counter what came next. All Might, while still affected by the flashbang, suddenly felt vicious impacts on his ribs. A burst of rubber bullets focused on him. Sir Nighteye and Aizawa felt cuts and slashes on their body; they were shallow cuts, but the sheer number of them made up for it. Cementoss was at least lucky he didn't have to be subjected to the extra attacks.
While it was only a few seconds, it felt like minutes. Just as suddenly as it came, it went away. The attacks, at least. The flashbangs would last for more time.
⁂
"Hell yeah, good job, everyone," Eleanor said to her group as they finally left, not a single scratch on them. It was almost perfect. They went in and then immediately left. As soon as the heroes were affected by the flashbang, Toga went in with her knife, slashing and gathering blood. She gathered enough blood before also escaping.
"That was so exciting! What a thrill!" Toga laughed, that creepy, wide smile of hers making itself known.
Lady Nagant glanced at Eleanor when she saw this. She didn't like this, not at all. Toga was too unstable, the kind of person to potentially cause more damage to them because she wanted to seek the excitement or "thrill." She felt that sooner or later Toga would be a liability. While Twice had his set of issues, at least it was more manageable.
Eleanor also glanced at Lady Nagant, and their eyes met. It was a silent gesture between them. Eleanor understood Lady Nagant's concern, but that would be a conversation between the two of them. Alone.
For now, the four of them moved to their new base.
⁂
(UA High. Nurses Office)
"Saying things went wrong doesn't begin to describe what happened," Aizawa said as he was recovering. The worst of the damage was to his ears and eyes, but those would heal. The cuts would heal fine on their own.
The same went for Sir Nighteye. "We shouldn't try something like this again. We should be grateful we returned how we did. Our lives could've easily ended. Also, I think it's safe to assume Eleanor's not alone."
"Yeah. We might not have seen it, but we certainly felt it. Though there is no concrete evidence. It's speculative at best," Sir Nighteye said.
"We'll just have to assume she's not alone anymore. But finding out who's with her will be a problem," Aizawa said.
"That's an entire problem in itself. But we can't focus solely on her. I heard there's been some action going on with a certain villain group? And I'm not talking about the League of Villains." Sir Nighteye said.
"So you've heard. There are certain things happening in Deika City. A sort of extremist group is gaining traction there, so we're keeping an eye on the situation," Aizawa said.
"I see. Are your students doing okay?" Sir Nighteye said.
"I would say it's complicated, but that doesn't begin to cover it. Most of them really want her back, but they're all unsure of how. I've had to remind them several times that they can't do anything, and that the situation is beyond them. They should leave it to the pros to handle it," Aizawa said.
"They could use a break of sorts, don't you think?" Sir Nighteye asked.
"Well, there's an event coming up they might like," Aizawa said.
⁂
(Eleanor's New Base)
"Alright, gather around, everyone. Welcome to our new base. It's pretty much like the old one, but in a new place. We just need to get the items again. All the tech, gadgets, gizmos, and whatnot," Eleanor said as she walked into the new building. She had scouted many new places, and this was only one of them.
"Isn't all that technology expensive?" Twice asked.
"Expensive? You got it wrong, Jin. We are going to strategically transfer equipment to a new location," Eleanor said.
"S…T…E…A…L…" Toga muttered a bit before her eyes lit up. "Wait a minute! That's just an acronym for stealing!" Toga shouted.
"It's a good one, isn't it?" Eleanor asked, shrugging her shoulders.
"Yeah, that's a good one. Did you come up with that yourself?" Toga asked.
"I got it from someone else, anyway; that's not important. I got a gift for you, Toga," Eleanor said. Two drones entered the building: the one that collected the syringe from Snipe and the one that attacked Midnight. Eleanor grabbed the vials of blood before the drones disappeared. "These are blood vials of Snipe and Midnight. You'll probably find them useful. Though please try not to just drink them for taste. The infiltration potential these carry for you is almost endless." She handed the blood vials to Toga.
"Oh wow! And I thought I got it good with that greasy-haired guy and the glasses guy!" Toga happily accepted the vials.
Eleanor clapped her hands and got into work mode. "Alright! Let's get to furnishing this place!"
⁂
Later that night, Eleanor was casually using her tablet while sitting. Until Lady Nagant entered the room. It was just the two of them.
"Eleanor, I need to talk to you about something. But I think you already know what." Lady Nagant sat down in front of Eleanor.
"Yeah, it's about Toga, isn't it?"
"Yeah. She's too…unstable. Or I fear that she may be at times. Can we really trust her to keep calm and quiet about certain things? I don't want her to reveal things to others just because it excites her," Lady Nagant said.
"Don't worry, Lady Nagant. I'll make sure she won't reveal anything. There are many ways to make sure she won't reveal sensitive information if it has to come to that," Eleanor said.
"What kind of ways?" Lady Nagant asked.
"Well, if she truly does show too much risk of revealing sensitive information, then she becomes a loose end, and there are many ways to deal with loose ends." Eleanor was being cryptic.
"Hmm…I see. I'll put it to rest for now. So, what's next?" Lady Nagant asked.
"Well, we continue our war against the HPSC; they're our main focus. Those new files that were leaked are still causing trouble for them. Though…a certain opportunity may arise soon. I don't plan to get involved, since it's not my focus, but if I have to, I'll take a page out of the communist Chinese playbook when they started the civil war in China in the mid 20th century. If there's anything they deserve credit for, it's taking advantage of an opportunity," Eleanor said.
At that moment, a notification came from Eleanor's tablet. It was a message from Aoyama. "Hmm…I have an informant, and they just gave me some information."
"Can you tell me?" Lady Nagant asked.
"Sure. I feel that among our group, we'll be the closest. You don't carry the kind of baggage that Toga or Jin have," Eleanor said.
"How close?"
Eleanor smiled as she looked Lady Nagant in the eyes. "Now that's a good question. Indeed. How close?"