"That woman didn't seem to close the door or something, Ryuu-kun. Looks like we're going hunting again."
I looked up at her. Himiko's smile was bright, but her golden eyes were filled with a wild, hungry excitement. She wasn't joking. "Hunting." It was literally hunting.
I glanced back at the half-open door. Pixie-Bob hadn't "forgotten." She'd left it unlocked on purpose. Aizawa and Guren hadn't locked us in here to "protect" us from battle ; they'd locked us in here to keep us until the battle began. The gas masks weren't a normal product. They were military gear, and the fact that they were high-quality was enough to show how much those two valued me…
"Okay," I replied, my voice hoarse with fatigue but also cold with concentration. I reached for the two gas masks on the table, the pain from the ropes still lingering. "Hear me out. I have a crazy plan..."
...
After I had agreed on the plan I had come up with, I was finally able to untie myself and get dressed properly, step outside and put everything into action.
First, I needed to get the Wrist Gun Slider, tactical slingshot, wax-coated nitroglycerin pellets, revolver, and all the ammo I had stored in the boys' room first. Simple: NEUTRALIZE Mustard. One shot to the oxygen tank behind him, God save the bastard if the oxygen tank exploded. Killing him was easy, but also very difficult, because with his Quirk, it was exactly Midnight's "Somnambulist" Quirk but in a more annoying version, and also had the ability to sense anything inside that mist, the ability to hide Himiko's presence and mine was useless. And on top of that, that bastard was also a pragmatist like me - except for the overconfidence - and also carried a revolver similar to me. God knows what he could do with that "democracy".
Kill him, or neutralize him, and MUST DO IT before Itsuka and Tetsutetsu intervene to move on to the next step: Disguise and blend in. Of course there are two possibilities...
1, if his support equipments and clothes are intact, then I will disguise myself as him and Himiko will disguise herself as me and pretend to be captured by "Mustard", then break into the Leauge's hideout and then possibly cause a ruckus inside.
2, if he burns to death after the oxygen tank explodes - I'm sure this will happen - then Himiko will be the one to transform into him by drinking his blood, then bring me along with the same plan to break in.
After getting the necessary items, I let Himiko choose, and then came up with a specific countermeasure.
"Now you choose, darling. Either the 'Pyro-Metallic Magic' of America, or the 'special item' that can make anyone shot to heaven to meet Allah and 72 virgins immediately?"
"Both," she replied, her smile stretching from ear to ear. "But I like your 'custom-made' better. Your 'magic' is too noisy."
"Okay," I nodded, tucking my pistol into the holster under my arm. "I'll use the 'magic wand'. You'll get the "Allahu Akbar". Remember, the bastard we're dealing with is no pushover."
"I know," Himiko replied, her voice horribly cheerful through her gas mask, and raised her tactical slingshot. "I'll aim for the breathing tank. Just do enough bullshit to buy me some time."
"Just try not to kill him completely. I don't want us to go to jail after this..."
"Nuh-uh, no promises," she giggled.
Enough with the laughing and all, we rushed into the woods, preparing for everything before it all started..
...
10 minutes before Vanguard Action Squad's Invasion, it was suddenly pouring rain - a far cry from the dry night sky of the original.
After wandering in the forest for a long enough time, about 15-20 minutes, we finally found the target we had been looking for all this time.
A kid, wearing a Gakuran outfit with teal gloves and white shoes - now covered in dirt, with a green gas mask covering his entire face, attached to two oxygen tanks on his back, was struggling to find a good spot to spam a wide-area smoke with his Quirk. But probably because it was raining, he didn't seem very comfortable, choosing a dry place while cursing continuously, "That son of a bitch is doing his job so badly, making me suffer in this damn place!!!"
Just that alone was enough to understand how much my presence had affected him. And this weather was quite a hassle, if not downright annoying...
BOOM
Before I could even comprehend what had just happened, the first thing that caught my eye was the sight of him - Mustard - screaming violently with his body on fire from the explosion that was so loud it seemed to tear my eardrums apart, and Himiko standing not far away, silently observing without saying a word, as if disappointed about something...
I bet she realized that the situation was very good so she carried out the action I had instructed even before I gave the signal to start. And the fact that I couldn't even notice that she had separated from me to "assassinate" Mustard was enough for me to realize that she, from this moment on, had completely surpassed me by a long way...
Of course, with such an explosion, the equipment of the boy who was "cosplaying as a Jew in Auschwitz" couldn't avoid being blown to pieces, even stabbing into his body, making him feel even more pain. He didn't die, but he definitely wished he were dead. The broken pieces of metal and plastic from the oxygen tank were deeply embedded in his back and shoulders, bright red blood oozing out, mixed with rainwater and mud.
Only then did the drama begin.
"You... bitch..." He hissed, trying to roll over as soon as he realized who the culprit was, but the pain and the explosion had paralyzed him.
I stepped out of the tree's shadow, the pistol in my hand still unused. "Calling my girlfriend a bitch is not a good idea, you cunt," I said, my voice chillingly calm.
And for some reason, I picked up a sharp piece of his mask, approached his burned body and asked:
"Any last words motherfucker?"
Mustard's eyes widened, pained and terrified, staring at me. He tried to speak, tried to curse, but only made a wet gurgling sound as blood slowly poured from his mouth.
"How pathetic," I said after taking off my mask and tossing it aside, my voice flat, my hand clutching the sharp piece of his mask. "You can't even do one thing properly, so don't call yourself a villain."
I glanced at Himiko. She was still standing there, silently watching, the disappointment still evident in her eyes behind her crude gas mask.
"What's wrong, darling?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"This is boring," she pouted, gesturing with her tactical slingshot, then took off her mask. "It's not fun. I thought it would be dramatic..."
"It's going to be dramatic now." I said, resolutely holding the broken piece in my hand and stabbing it straight into Mustard's throat, then catching the blood that was pouring out with both of my hands, then holding out the metallic-smelling "ketchup" towards her. "I don't want you to drink anyone's blood but mine, but let's make this the only exception, okay? I just…"
"Listen, Ryuu-kun…" Himiko slowly walked towards me, her face showing sympathy but also a bit of resentment. "I understand how you feel right now... But let's do it. Don't ever get emotional about what you're doing, it's unsightly. This doesn't affect us at all..."
Before I could respond, she immediately drank all the blood I had collected on my hand, not forgetting to lick my fingers and hands clean in an extremely erotic manner, then suddenly pushed me down on the wet ground...
"But... Except for the extremely unpleasant look on your face when you're jealous like this, the fact that you think of me is quite an improvement." Himiko said as she sat on top of me and slowly stripped off all of her clothes, including each of her socks, and threw them aside. "How about I reward you right here and now?"
"That's fine, but we still have work to do." I replied. "Besides, having sex next to someone who's dying right next to us isn't a good idea. You know how much I hate being watched."
"Then let's do it next time..."
With that, she transformed into Mustard right in front of me, her appearance, clothes, and equipment all identical to his, then took the gun from my hand and walked towards the real Mustard - who was now lying dying and looking at us with extremely disgusted eyes - and said.
"You should feel honored," she said. Mustard's voice came from his mask, but the vicious sarcasm inside was 100% Himiko's.
She bent down, waving my pistol in front of the real Mustard's fading eyes. "I don't 'cosplay' just anyone. But you're so boring."
With that, she fired a shot straight at his forehead, followed by a loud bang that drowned out the sound of the rain, followed by her Mustard-like sigh.
"What now?" Himiko asked me, kicking the corpse. "Well, we'll have to take you with them, but how can we do it without anyone suspecting anything? I don't know a damn thing about this bastard."
"Your job is just to act like me. He's the same as me. You know a lot about me, right...?" I said.
"I know that," Himiko replied. "But I'm not sure I can pull off the sluggish gait and arrogant voice of a teenage boy. Trying to act cool but actually sulking at the world…"
Why the fuck am I such an edgy, cringe-worthy jerk in her eyes?
Oh well, that doesn't really matter. What comes next is more important, especially when I need to fake fainting so Himiko can carry me over her shoulder and run around the forest - just to find the rest of the Vanguard Action Squad and avoid anyone else, then regroup and retreat.
And the real "Mustard"'s body? Screw that. The rain washed away all the evidence we had there...