"Shit! Fuck! Goddamn it!" Burnin exclaimed, punching the white wall, leaving indentations from her fists. "Motherfucker!"
"Burnin, this is no time for this!" Tat shouted, pushing her back and holding her by the shoulders. "We have two wounded, and we don't know if Yunma or the Leader are even in the facility!"
Burnin looked at him intensely before taking a deep breath. "You're right. How are Lena and Lemillion?"
"I'm not sure."
"What do you mean by that?" Aegis frowned, clenching his fists tightly.
"Look, I'm no doctor or medic or some shit like that, but it's pretty obvious he did something to them, possibly some kind of poison," Tat replied, staring at the large Hero dressed in green. "We need to get them to a hospital urgently, but—"
"Oraaaa!" A battle roar erupted down the hallway; the source of the scream was none other than Mirko herself. "Where's Reaper? I want to fight that asshole!"
"You're late, bunny, the idiot already left with a Hashimoto henchman," Burnin reported, looking Mirko up and down. She looked remarkably good—her suit a little worn, but no serious injury was visible anywhere on her body. "In short: We're out of party."
"Ran away?" Mirko looked incredulously at the three heroes.
"That's one way of looking at it, yes."
Mirko let out a disappointed sigh. "Oh man, I wanted to fight him."
"Combat maniac..." Aegis muttered with a shrug.
A vein throbbed on Mirko's forehead. "What did you say, you little shit?"
Mirko walked up to Aegis, looking him in the eyes. It was amusing to observe the height difference between the two: a small rabbit and a mountain of muscle.
"This is no time for this!" Tat exclaimed, snorting with annoyance as he stepped between them, before turning to Mirko. "Mirko, I need you to take Lena and Lemillion to the nearest hospital. He possibly has poison in his body, and we don't know how fast it can act."
Mirko followed Tat's gaze and saw the two Nighteye wannabes lying on the floor, experiencing nasty spasms throughout their bodies. They were breathing heavily, and their skin looked redder than normal.
"Understood," Mirko quickly replied, effortlessly lifting Mirio and Lena over her shoulders. "Continue the raid and search as much of the facility as you can. Mt. Lady's Team is coming to provide reinforcements in case Yunma or the Leader shows up on one of the lower floors."
"...Guys?" Burnin called out to them in a low voice. Her skin looked paler than usual, and a bead of sweat trickled down her cheek.
"What's wrong?"
"I can't get through to Nighteye..." Burnin reported, swallowing tensely.
Immediately, Tat tried to communicate with Nighteye, but...
"I can't either. It's as if the connection has been..."
"...cut off."
A somber silence permeated the air as each Hero processed the implications.
"""Shit."""
Without wasting a single second, Mirko bolted for the second-floor exit. What had appeared to be a simple operation had quickly spiraled into a complicated and tense one.
Inside a lavishly decorated room stood a young man. His hair was completely black, almost like the night itself, and his sharp pink eyes gazed at the screen in front of him with a sly smile.
The young man was dressed in baggy beige clothes and casual black pants. He wore a pair of black sandals with white socks.
This young man was none other than Hashimoto Kirigaya, the Leader of the Hashimoto.
Sitting next to him was a beautiful woman with white and red hair. Her eyes sparkled like gems, and her figure would easily put any actress to shame.
In contrast to Kirigaya, she was dressed in a formal suit that exposed her ample chest and proudly showcased her curves to the world.
This was Yunma, Kirigaya's personal assistant... and his wife.
They were currently observing the elders of the Shimada Clan attempting to convince their new leader of something heinous and wicked: to kill his own brother for the good of the Clan.
"Those old farts, I didn't even have to pull any strings to achieve this result," Kirigaya scoffed with a wide grin on his face. In his mind, this was as absurd as a cheap TV show. "It seems that with the death of their former leader, not only did the head of the Clan go, but also their intelligence!"
"I don't understand what the elders are doing with the Clan..." Yunma muttered, running a hand across her forehead in disbelief at what she was hearing. "Is this serious?"
"It's ridiculous, isn't it? They are basically destroying themselves from within. Hanzo Shimada is not ready to be the Clan Leader," Kirigaya mocked with an amused smile. "He hasn't even realized that his greatest enemies are his own allies. He is naive and impulsive; sooner or later, he will succumb to paranoia and pressure from the elders."
The elders were an important part of the Shimada Clan who formed a sort of political circle where the important decisions of the Clan were made. The opposite was true for the Hashimoto Clan, where all decisions were made by Kirigaya and no one else.
"But Genji Shimada has no intention of ascending to Leader," Yunma folded her arms, unconsciously pushing her broad chest upwards. "The elders' arguments don't make sense. Besides, I don't see Genji fighting Hanzo for the title of Leader."
"That's the thing; they're making him believe that his brother wants the throne all to himself. Which is absurd, but I can see where Hanzo's doubt comes from," Kirigaya grinned like a fox as he ran a hand down Yunma's back, reaching her ample chest and giving it a firm squeeze, drawing a soft moan from her. "Genji is greedy and lustful, an eccentric person raised in luxury and privilege. From an external point of view, Genji will easily lash out at Hanzo for the Shimada throne."
Yunma began to struggle to keep her mouth shut as Kirigaya continued to talk about the Shimada's stupidity while still massaging Yunma's chest.
Suddenly, Kirigaya's transmission was interrupted as a red-haired woman appeared on his screen.
"Oh, hello, Moira, how are you?" Kirigaya greeted casually, without letting go of Yunma. "Are we done with the little trap we set up, or what?"
"Lot was defeated," Moira reported casually.
"I know," Kirigaya nodded absentmindedly as he now used both his hands on Yunma, eliciting a few more moans from her. "Don't worry about it, a few ropes and he'll be free in no time. You didn't come just to talk about him, did you? Because if not, you're just interrupting my quality time with my wife."
"Idiot child."
"Ugly old lady."
Taking a deep breath, Moira continued. "Anyway, I already got what I needed, although I had to mobilize Widow to get it... Anyway, you'll hear from me before too long if my experiment is successful. Thanks for your contribution."
"You're welcome. If you want, you can come over here and have a good time with me, you know?" Kirigaya offered Moira a charming smile that could have made hundreds of schoolgirls swoon.
"Gross..." Moira muttered before cutting the call.
Kirigaya let out an amused laugh before turning his gaze back to Yunma with a predatory smile. "So, where was I..."