--Friday, July 24, 2172
"I understand; send reinforcements."
After a brief discussion, Keiko ended the call with a final order and put away her phone, then turned to look at David and asked in a serious tone.
"They seemed pretty shocked about your blockade on the other end, David. They had no idea. Is there any situation in which your access could have been automatically blocked without direct human intervention?"
"They didn't know…?"
David couldn't help but murmur in disbelief, though he quickly brought a hand to his chin and began to think deeply. After a few seconds, David looked at Keiko and commented with clear incredulity.
"… There is a possibility, but it's highly improbable. The defense system wouldn't make such a mistake…"
"What do you mean?" Yumiko asked, raising an eyebrow, visibly confused. David thought for a moment but quickly shook his head and said.
"… Within the algorithm for a level 3 alarm procedure, there's a directive to temporarily revoke access to suspicious or potentially dangerous individuals. But there are two very strange things about this.
"First, to block someone at my level, suspicion alone isn't enough; there needs to be solid evidence. And in that case, the blockade is always accompanied by a preventive capture. But as you can see, so far, no security bot has attempted to apprehend me."
Hearing the explanation, the group couldn't help but recall the way the robots obeyed David when they wanted to capture Kai, leading them to glance at the surrounding robots. But no matter how they looked at it, none of them seemed interested in him, even after scanning him for a few moments.
"It seems like an unintentional logical error due to a rushed system modification…"
Keiko commented in a thoughtful voice, to which the others could only nod. At that moment, Kai turned to look at David, and while unleashing another wave of slashes toward nearby Nomus, he asked.
"What 'evidence' could the AI obtain without human oversight that would lead it to block you?"
"There are very few possibilities…" David muttered while organizing his thoughts, soon explaining in a serious tone.
"To justify my blockade, there would need to be concrete evidence of my involvement in the invasion or that I've sold classified research to outsiders. But neither of those are things the AI can determine on its own. It would require multiple confirmations from other systems and human authorization to do so."
"Oh, and what if something key from one of your classified research projects went missing? Wouldn't it block you preventively?" Keiko asked with curiosity. David's eyes widened with three parts realization and one part disbelief as he murmured uncertainly.
"No, the security AI is independent; it wouldn't have a way of knowing that in an active investigation. But if it's a high-danger archived investigation…"
"Sounds like you've got an idea of what this is about…" Kai muttered with a small smirk as he turned to gaze at one of the artificial island's inner lakes with sharp eyes. David nodded heavily and commented.
"Certainly, not long ago, one of my research projects was archived by unanimous decision of the entire board of directors for being deemed too dangerous. Though at one point I wanted to retrieve it since it was related to All Might's recovery, after he healed, I completely set it aside and focused on other things.
"But if 'that' were to disappear, a blockade would be the least of my concerns. They'd have me under 24/7 supervised arrest until they figured out what happened to it. Or at least until it was proven beyond any doubt that I had nothing to do with it, which could take a long time…"
"And yet, no robot is trying to capture you…" Yumiko commented with a serious expression, at which point Keiko spoke in a calm voice.
"It seems we've already found the source of the logical error… Someone took your research and modified the system to go unnoticed, but the defense system detected the missing item and blocked you preventively without requiring confirmations…"
"The possibility of that happening isn't low, but its implications are terrifying…"
David commented in a heavy tone, causing Melissa to grip her father's hand with apprehension. Yumiko spoke with a serious tone while looking in the same direction as Kai, somewhat curious.
"Looks like we've got someone with considerable power behind all this."
"David Shield, what do you think about working for the Yaoyorozu Group? We have a top-tier legal team, and our executives receive free representation as one of the benefits." Keiko said with a small smile, staring intently at the prolific inventor.
"How much annual budget would I have, and how would we handle patents?"
David swallowed hard and asked in a solemn tone, knowing his future wouldn't be easy on I-Island. Keiko smiled professionally and replied while turning to look in the direction Kai was staring at, as she noticed strange movement in the distant lake.
"For someone of your caliber, we can open a new research lab with about 3 billion dollars a year, and the patents you develop would bear your name, with you receiving 5% royalties on each licensed patent."
"I'd like to discuss this in more depth after all this calms down, Mrs. Yaoyorozu." David replied in a serious tone as Melissa looked at him in surprise. Keiko smiled, satisfied, but before she could say anything, Kai commented in a calm tone.
"Let's head to the bunker. There's something quite problematic under the lake."
With Kai's warning, the group grew serious and rushed toward the bunker, which looked like an exact replica of the hotel lobby. Upon entering, Kai snapped his fingers, bringing the place to life as several holographic screens displaying the outside of the hotel appeared, and he quickly said in a serious tone.
"Tama, keep the place secure. Only let in people we know." As the white cat in Yumiko's arms meowed affirmatively, Kai looked at the pair of beautiful mothers with black and blue hair and said in a serious tone.
"If anything happens, you know what to do. I'll try not to take long."
"Go with ease." Yumiko replied seriously. Keiko quickly created a small earpiece with her Quirk and handed it to Kai while speaking.
"With this, we should be able to communicate without much issue."
"Perfect, see you later."
Kai nodded with a smile and quickly exited the bunker with Salem, closing the door behind him. At that moment, Melissa couldn't help but look at the pair of stunning women who hardly looked like mothers and asked worriedly.
"Is it okay for Kai-san to go out like that? He's very strong, but he's not wearing a hero costume or anything."
"Don't worry, only someone like All Might could give our Kai a hard time." Keiko replied with a smile, greatly surprising the father-daughter pair. David couldn't help but ask, shocked.
"He's that strong?"
"More than you can imagine." Yumiko replied with a proud smile while taking a cat brush from a service robot to groom Tama.
…
…
…
[Sage, how's our loot?] Stepping outside again, Kai asked his trusty assistant through their mental connection. The beautiful fairy responded with a smile.
[In perfect condition, Master. I haven't even needed to move it. The impostor Nomus have even checked the trash bins, but it hasn't occurred to them to look where I hide it.]
[Well, it's not easy to believe a large briefcase can turn into a card we can move at will from a distance.]
Kai replied with an equally mischievous smile as he tracked several 'Nomus' with his black-and-white vision. Instead of attacking indiscriminately, they were searching for something everywhere, trying to stay unnoticed, and he soon asked in a more serious tone.
[But what did you find out when you touched those 'impostors'? Do they have the same shape-shifting Quirk, or what?]
[No, Master, that's the strange part. They all have Quirks, but only one each, and none seem to be shape-shifting Quirks. Moreover, their 'voices' are solid and easily distinguishable, so they're living, conscious people. Therefore, I hypothesize it's the quirk of a third party. Someone has the ability to temporarily or permanently change these people's appearances.]
Sage explained in a serious tone while creating holographic screens in [In] mode with various data she had discreetly gathered while Keiko made her call. Kai, advancing toward the inner lake where he had detected something strange emerging from the bottom, replied in a serious tone.
[Keep an eye on that and keep the card safe. A deployment of this scale only means that what we stole is incredibly important.]
[Understood, Master.] Sage replied seriously, at which point Kai use his black-and-white vision to continue studying what was inside the inner lake.
At the bottom of the lake, Kai could see 10 colossal serpents inspecting every corner and stirring up the earth, afraid to miss anything. After a while, finding nothing, Kai saw a dark portal appear beneath the lake, through which the serpents moved to another of the island's inner lakes to continue their search.
[Those things are pretty strong…]
[Yes, Master, they're comparable to the mid-level spiders from Spider Island. Should we capture one? I'm afraid they'll be used for a final strike once they finish searching, and it would be hard to get one then.]
Sage asked seriously while gathering as much data as she could on the serpents. Kai nodded and replied while turning to look at a 200-story building in the center of the island.
[Yes, it'd be good to capture a couple, but I'm more interested in capturing that new Portal Nomu. Its quirk appears to be slightly different from what we have, and its 'voice' is also a bit odd.
[I want to see exactly what causes those changes; maybe we can improve teleportation with it… The problem is how to do it without alerting the other side. If they suspect I captured it, Accompany's advantage would be greatly reduced…]
[After analyzing the 'voice' of that Nomu, I can discern that it's a bit unstable, Master. Also, based on how it uses its power, I believe there's a high probability it's being controlled remotely.
[Therefore, a viable way to do this is to make its disappearance look like an accidental casualty in the final battle against the serpents. Though they'd still be cautious, it's better than them being certain we captured it.]
Sage replied seriously as her wings shimmered in different colors, to which Kai nodded with a smile and responded while his Conqueror's Haki made the air roar.
[Let's do that. We'll use the serpents to cut it in the confusion and toss it far into the sea. That way, it'll be hard for them to even decide to look for it, and if they do, they won't have much hope.]
[Perfect, Master. I'll make the necessary calculations and send support.]
Sage replied with a smile. Kai nodded, satisfied, before raising his sword and sending a colossal slash toward the lake, splitting it in half as if he were Moses, revealing the serpents below, with three of them ending up sliced in half.
As colossal waves rose into the air, ten deafening hisses echoed across the island, causing it to tremble slightly and sending shivers through everyone who heard them.
Meanwhile, the heroes on the island turned to look at the gigantic masses of water rising into the air with absolute terror. At that moment, the water began to fall like rain, soaking their terrified faces and snapping them back to reality.
At the same time, to Kai's surprise, the thunderous hissing soon morphed into a roar as the serpents turned into beams of light and combined, revealing a terrifying 10-headed monster.
The monster made of light rose into the air before crashing down into the lake with force and roaring into the sky as the light slowly faded, revealing its dark scales beneath.
"First a Godzilla hero, and now a 'Biological Megazord' type giant hydra…"
Kai couldn't help but murmur in a somewhat odd voice, though his expression soon turned serious. As dark electric bolts began to flash in the air, he leaped forward to confront the colossal monster. Salem let out a thunderous roar that created shockwaves clashing against those produced by the hydra, then leaped behind his master, leaving a trail of electricity in his wake.
At the same time, three of the monster's heads gathered to form a sphere of pure energy that accumulated in milliseconds, transforming into an enormous beam of pure energy. It shot toward the young man and the giant panther at his side, making them look like tiny ants in comparison.
"Saito!!"
From the ground, Bakugo heard a frightened scream as he watched that blue-eyed bastard leap toward the beam that made him look minuscule, leaving him completely petrified in place. In his mind, countless contradictory thoughts began to surge, but in the end, from the core of his being, something roared louder than anything else.
(I still have a score to settle with that son of a bastard; I've got to get him out of there!)
Making a decision, Bakugo aimed his arms backward, preparing to release all the power stored in the grenades on his forearms at once to reach maximum speed. But before he could do so, an absurd scene unfolded before his eyes. Almost in slow motion, Kai in mid-air drew his sword to his waist, then unleashed a slash toward the energy beam.
As if reality struggled to register what had happened, or perhaps because his brain couldn't process it properly, Bakugo saw, after a small delay, the colossal energy beam split in half, defying any notion of physical laws or logic.
This allowed the young man and his pet to pass through the center of the beam without a single scratch. Bakugo's jaw practically dropped to the ground, but soon an expression of self-mockery and bitterness took over his face.
…
[Two more? Are they mass-producing these things or what?] Meanwhile, Kai couldn't help but glance at the lake and comment to his trusty assistant with visible surprise. The beautiful fairy quickly replied seriously.
[I'll investigate, Master.]
***
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