27: Ladies & Gentlemen!

Ladies & Gentlemen!

A/N — Here we are ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) I'm back, so a chapter every 2 or 3 days from now on I think. I finished my scripting. More than 23k words written for not getting much in return, but hey, that's how it is. At least now I'm here. This chapter is more than 7000 words long, I wish you a good read!

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"What did I just witnessed...?"

"Well, I told you it would be an interesting evening," said Felix while scratching the spot where he himself had decided to reintegrate the microchip that the HSPC had put under his skin when he arrived in Japan.

"I don't know if 'interesting' is the best word to define the situation, but..." sighed the blue-skinned heroine after scratching her face hidden under her mask.

"Haha! Just relax. We won't be bothered by those gals or these guards anymore. Your chloroform bubbles were more effective than anticipated, but we need to hurry; it won't last forever."

"Yeah... Yet, seeing everyone here unleashing their quirks for their own pleasures... it's kinda a nightmare for a hero, you know?"

"A nightmare for some, a dream for others," assured Felix by taking the earpieces of one of the guards. "Some people aren't lucky enough to have quirks that are discreet, so they end up showing their true natures here."

"Mhm, I understand that, but some just look kinda mesmerized or bewitched by others, so..."

"I haven't done any better, you know. I'm somehow quite similar, and you sure didn't hate it either, even after you become fully aware again."

"Th-that's because I got to know you, but they just do that between strangers."

Behind his fool's mask, Felix smiled; a smile tore between affection and bitterness. He himself didn't know if the feelings people felt for him were genuine. Although he had hit on Kaoruko and made friends with her during his internship with Nighteye without using his quirk, this thought never really left him and was still haunting him today, now, in the middle of an undercover operation.

"Felix, focus. You were the one saying that we needed to hurry."

"Yeah, my bad."

"What are you thinking about?"

"We'll talk about it later," he replied, taping Kaoruko's shoulder as she rubbed her arms to make foam appear pronto if required. "We better get going. Like you said, time's flying."

"Roger… But I must say I'm stressed as hell."

"You're way more suitable than me for this kind of operation, you know, so just breathe in and out; it should go smoothly."

By stepping into the premises with guards' clothes on, suits, and ties and changing masks with those of the security members, they started to explore the area. So far, their infiltration was kinda mild till now, despite a problem encountered with one of them. Sadly for this guy, a shot of melatonin, cortistatin, and a few bubbles of chloroform were enough to shut him up for at least an hour, and they were able to access the banquets without problems.

Felix didn't notice any abnormalities or significant factors in the conversations he was listening to; in fact, even before taking the guards' clothes, the people present here, despite their debauchery, seemed to have a sense of secrecy and humility towards those they met. Luckily for him, he and Kaoruko now had the guards' earpieces, letting them know the movements of other guards and know what to do to avoid being caught.

Simple orders, said in a monotone male voice, obviously jaded by his job. The only thing they could do now was to do what was asked of them while slowly approaching the offices, or at least to the place where they cashed the money. They didn't get a lot of hints and clues from Mr. Brave, he only knew the building vaguely, and so, they would have to search on their own to find clues about the festival and the possible connection with influential or controversial people.

No one answered the warden, but that didn't seem to bother him, as if this kind of occurrence was routine. The safety staff in the area probably had to deal with issues independently, so this guy was paid for nothing. The exploration through the corridors brought Felix and Kaoruko back to the banquet hall as if the place were one giant cyclical maze.

—Is this the effect of some kind of quirk or just us buggin'?

Before either Felix or Kaoruko could propose a solution to this puzzle, a man wearing a simple bandana to cover his face and a red suit literally slid towards him while his rigid body didn't move from an iota, as if all friction between him, the ground, and the air no longer existed. His momentum stopped dead in his tracks, no more than a few inches from Felix's mask, who also didn't move at all, despite the man's bizarre smile.

"Hello, may I ask your assistance, sir?" he started with a high-pitched tone, his smile still on his face.

"Yes, what do you need help with, sir? You also had a problem with the quiches? Undercooked?"

"No. The cooking was fine." the man intoned with an even more strange smile as if this stupid grin still lasted during his sleep. "A big, large, muscular man is trying to make a fuss for a woman, but I must say that he's too big for me to fight."

"Guards are here for that, don't worry," Felix answered, trying to hold back a sigh. "Now that you talk about it, I hear the stupid mess. What the fuck is happening...?"

"Did this troublemaker did anything bad to someone?" inquired Kaoruko by discreetly creating more bubbles, little ones, so nobody could see them well and recognize her in the process.

"If he's still fighting, then he defeated the other safety staff member that people called before."

By arriving in the large room, Felix noticed that the dining hall isn't as well arranged and clean as before, a table is overturned, glasses dropped on the ground, dishes embrace the carpet, not to mention the scattered chairs, and the many people who left their seats to observe the scene from afar.

Despite what was going on, no one used their phones to record it but just stared at the muscular man who was still martyring those who tried to get in his way. Satisfied with the situation, a fully masked woman with a snake on her arm giggled happily about the outcome with other festival members.

The imposing build of the troublemaker dissuaded casual folk from approaching him, and in fact, given his height, probably not far from 6.6 feet, he was taller than Felix by more than 7 inches. He'd beaten taller ones in prison, but the few red fibers coming out of this dude appeared even more threatening. As a former medical student, Felix knew very well what muscle fibers looked like, and seeing them coming out of the body of someone wasn't a good sign at all, especially since the facility needed to be preserved for further investigation by the police.

"What the… I know that guy… I saw him in the wanted list." whispered Kaoruko, wide-eyed. "He seems a bit drunk, though."

"Wanted list? He's a criminal?" Felix muttered so that the man next to them wouldn't overhear.

"An A-Rank villain. He's infamous for extreme violence against the population and some heroes…"

"Then it's not very wise to attack him head-on, right?" sighed Felix while triggering the production of adrenaline and norepinephrine. "I still carry my weapon with me, but I didn't expect to have to bump someone off tonight."

"My bubbles are ready, but I still need to be able to approach him, but if he hit me just once, I might just be out." the heroine admitted before pressing the button on her earpiece. "Here, agent #007, the individual making a mess is still here; we're going to engage in a fight hoping to put him down. Over."

Although this venue was accessible to all, letting in this sort of guest was a terrible idea. If Victoria was guilty of this, her recklessness was close to naivety, proving once again that her role shouldn't be leading events like this. Proving that someone was probably coercing her into fulfilling that role.

Felix struggled to believe in a mere coincidence; people like this villain are identified with ease; this criminal had to accompany a registered member, but impossible to know who and why.

Felix stepped forward with no real malicious intent; if he could settle this without fighting, it would be for the best, but considering the guy's behavior, his pacifism wouldn't last. However, he will need to touch him to send him a big enough flow of hormones, and if Kaoruko wanted to expel bubbles at him, Felix would have to "immobilize" him. Neither of them was at the pinnacle of their abilities and quirks, unlike this brute. The sooner it is done, the better it will be.

"Excuse me, sir, you're a nuisance for a lot of people." started Felix, looking at the intruder who was holding another guard by the collar. "If you didn't understand the purpose of the festival, that's one thing, but I'm sure you can figure out that it's not a place to fight."

"Eh? I don't understand how it's that… bad. I'm not even trying, you know. He... told me I could unleash my inner beast once in here; that's what I do. Nothing else."

"Not this type of inner beast," Felix answered, causing some snickering among the people still around.

"Like if I care what type of beast you want me to be. I'm just me; try proving me I'm wrong, and then we can talk!"

"Proving what? You're just rampaging the whole place like an angered chimpanzee."

"Fel- #006, angered chimpanzee incoming!" exclaimed Kaoruko, bracing for impact.

For his stature, the villain was surprisingly fast, although Felix was aware that this man held back so as not to destroy the building, the few muscle fibers accumulating little by little over his poorly ironed suit gave him a boost similar to what the former inmate could get, the difference being that he was limited to the muscle fibers he possessed, unlike him, this dude could simply create an offensive and defensive boost in a matter of seconds. Copying his quirk despite its simplicity would be a pleasant discovery and a nice power-up... the problem being that Felix couldn't do that today, but he could at least-

—Shit… Here it comes.

Before the villain landed a second punch, Felix leaped forward like a hare, making good use of the alteration of his legs and using his momentum to propel himself up on one of the chairs that shattered because of the force, and attempted a powerful back-kick to his opponent's head. Sadly, before he could reach him, the man moved his head, then tried a counter-punch which Felix canceled the impact of with his legs and propelled himself into the air thanks to it. He got just enough time to touch his opponent's shoulder during his leap to send just enough melatonin and cortistatin to have a weakening effect on the party-pooper body, even if it was a minimal debuff.

—Better finishing this before he sobers up. Plus, he's probably tanky as fuck; it might be useless to do this. Powerful strikes may be the only way. I hope Kaoruko remembers what we worked on together.

Taking advantage of this brief moment of stillness in their fight, Kaoruko began to place tiny "soap" bubbles on the ground to slide and increase her speed while limiting the movements of the one she was targeting. This would also hinder Felix, but they had both trained during the last weeks to counter this.

As a result, her stats were also increasing:

[▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲]

[Perks Analyser —

Kaoruko Awata]

[STR :black_small_square: 45]

[DEX :black_small_square: 85] — [AGI :black_small_square: 70]

[END :black_small_square: 50] — [RES :black_small_square: 40]

[▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲]

It was nothing unprecedented, especially compared to Rumi or even Felix, but it was enough for someone who handled fighting from afar. Her quirk was the thing she needed to work on the most. Nevertheless, she wanted to be even stronger; so her stats will never cease to increase, like everyone else who tries to be the best. A very shonen mindset, but it's Japan, so Felix coped with it a while ago; manga and anime influence are pretty big things here, without being negative, of course.

Finally, seeing the opportunity to launch a blitz, she dashed onto the fight, sliding at insane speed on the ground with almost no impulse before sending a volley of bubbles in front of the villain's face. He closed his eyes instantly before sneezing and biting his tongue until it bled to remain fully conscious.

"The fuck's this odor!? It's worse than the smell of a corpse! Women are also my type of prey, y'know? Don't step too close to me." the villain groaned before trying to hit her, but she avoided it by sliding between his legs, using this as an occasion to pull Felix along with her and open up a new chance for him to attack.

Regrettably for the rampager, when he tried to turn toward them, he slipped and ended up on one of his knees, opening a perfect "firing" timeliness. Kaoruko pulled out from her belt the strange gun that Felix gave her before starting the mission and yanked the trigger.

In a fraction of a second, a net reinforced with several weights at each corner and launched at breakneck speed knocked Muscular down and made him back up; the recoil of the small firearm was too much for Kaoruko, and she fell on her buttocks... A net projected by gunpowder? Really? At least 450 joules power. Jesus.

Hoping to get it over with quickly, Felix charged at him, hauling one of the tablecloths off the tables, and gave him a powerful kick to the temple that made him stagger and back toward the windows. Avoiding the soap on the floor but rubbing the tablecloth against it, Felix made his way towards his opponent and, knowing that he wouldn't have enough strength to penetrate the man's defense, pulled out the second "tool" he brought with him. The power hammer capable of bending steel.

Coupled with his speed, rotation, strength, and momentum given by the flames propelling the hammer, the tool smashed with a raucous thud into the villain's diaphragm, expelling all the air he had in his lungs. To make sure the muscular fellow took a deep breath of the substance, he then stuck the chloroform-soaked tablecloth on his face.

The movements of his body and his muscular fibers ceased to be little by little.

"#007, quick, I need your help. I will make him sleep longer. Just try to keep him in this position and use your bubbles to keep him in this state."

"Roger! So…" she answered after sliding on her chloroformed-soap toward Felix. "It was way easier than I thought it would be…"

"He said himself that he wasn't trying, and he was drunk, like everyone else here tonight."

"Except us."

"Yeah, except us," Felix repeated as he handcuffed the man, knowing that if he wakes up, it will be useless because he would just have to create muscle fiber to be free again. "His sole purpose was fighting for himself, right here, right now."

"If only we could arrest him…"

Although Felix experienced the joys of unleashing his quirk to do whatever he wanted, it was back in his teenage years and really early adult life. There's a difference between letting loose at times and wanting to let loose for nothing, like this guy. Always wanting blood, sex, fighting, face-slap, it's akin to a teenager in the middle of a meltdown who thinks that acting like this will make him unique…

However, this guy seemed to only think with his muscles, so it was even worse. Seeing him in jail would probably be better. Nobody wants to fight someone whose purpose in life is to die or live as the strongest just because it's fun. Anyway, he took the chance to take as much of his super-hormones as he could; muscle fibers superpower with his hormonal quirk sound like a great combo.

Then, he looked up at Kaoruko, his mask struggling to remain in position.

"Not today." Felix sighed. "Frustrating, I know, but it's how it is."

"Why would you arrest him?" called out to them the man from earlier, his smile still lingering on his face. "You must be the person the more aware of the rule applying here, right?"

"We're aware, but this man is a menace for everyone joining the festival; even if you see this as a mere commodity, destructive conduct cannot be ignored."

"I don't know if Lady Utsushimi will be okay with this if you ever decide to do it. She and the other Ladies follow the same rules. Transgressing them would be detrimental to everyone."

"We didn't say we will bring him to the cops you mor-, sir. My colleague thought it would help with the festival safety in the future." Felix snarled as he tried to remain calm despite the weirdo in front of him… but maybe he could obtain something out of him. "I'm only doing my job, but since you seem to know everything, make me a recap of what rules the Ladies bestow upon us, so you can also tell me what's the guards need to do. Right?"

"...The guests must cooperate with the guards, or they will be temporarily banned from the festival," he said, furrowing his eyebrow, his smile slightly fading. "The three Ladies follow old rules based on Destro belief and intercontinental partnership to expand connections between 'outcasts' from all over the world, and to promote tourism in another way than the traditional conventions…"

"Exactly. So explain to me how letting this man come back in the future would be beneficial for expanding connections between outcasts, and even more so how it would be profitable for the tourism aspect of this place." Finally, some exciting information, but it was better to remain calm at all times. After noticing that Kaoruko was looking at him insistently, he realized why. "Sorry, sir, I'm on edge lately. I didn't mean to pester you."

"I will talk about this to Lady Utsushimi. I never imagined that coming here could turn out to be so toxic. Anyway, go and do your thing before people decide to unleash their quirk on you."

Well, someone might lose his job soon, but it wasn't Felix; it was agent #006, so in a way, he didn't care. However, the poor dude he put to sleep will wake up with many issues to settle. Unwilling to deteriorate the situation, Kaoruko pulled him by the sleeve and pointed him towards the infirmary after she asked another guard where to dump the villain they just "defeated."

Carrying the body of a chap like this villain was another matter; even if Felix could do this alone, as a safety staff member, he had to keep him in "good shape" so as not dirty his clothes, etc. Bubble Girl held him by the feet with difficulty while Felix took care of carrying most of the weight by the arms; the individual still snoring loudly, a chloroform-soaked cloth on his face.

A door leading to an empty room with empty old clinic beds was all there was in this dark hallway with neon light flickering like in horror movies. A portion of the building is undergoing renovation, or at least too old and unfrequented for anyone to be interested in setting foot there.

Not a sound reached here despite the music loudness and the many people laughing, chatting, and having sex just fifty meters away. Only the redundant electric neon bulb noise of the hallway brought a slight distraction from such silence. It was almost as if the purpose of the carpeting present everywhere and on every floor was to make sure that people could move unnoticed, the sounds of stilettos and leather shoes muffled by the pressure prevailing here.

They put the sleeper on one of the beds, whose mattress released a thick dust cloud, like a drenched sponge. The old paper and metal odor bothered Kaoruko; she, who had an overdeveloped sense of smell thanks to her quirk, quickly detected its origin. Several clamshell cabinets adorned the room's walls like relics of an ancient time that no one cared to remove; they stood there, dusty and rusting. Waiting.

"Number 6 and number 7?" asked a voice coming from the other end of the room.

"—! Y-You startled me… What are you doing here alone?" answered Felix, trying to appear as peaceful as he could.

"Checking if everything is alright, you fought a big fish after all. Teruo asked me to do so, so here I am." he paused before standing from his chair. "Why is your voice so different? Sore throat?"

"Huh? Nothing is different; what do you mean?"

"...It's definitely different, I know for a fact. I guess my two friends are dead; we dreamed of becoming the best con artists…" he said after pulling a gun. "You two, what's your goal?"

"Investigate this place." Both responded in unison; they turned to each other to understand what had just happened. How could you give out confidential information so easily?

The one who sounded like the head of the guards took his walkie-talkie as fast as he could to warn his other colleagues, but the sudden leap that Felix made caught him by surprise, and in an instant, a swift two-legged kick launched him violently towards the metallic furniture; he was propelled headlong towards the clamshell cabinets which distorted on impact in a short, but thunderous crash.

The mask he was wearing was lying on the ground and revealed his bloody face; completely knocked out, he didn't even need to put him to sleep any more; he just might not wake up...

Somewhat disturbed by the fact that he had almost killed a mere stranger, Felix sent him a few hormones for him to recover faster. One good training, there is nothing better to progress than practice on the field; at least he agreed on that with Mirko.

"This dude may have some kind of truth serum quirk… We almost get caught…" Kaoruko sighed with relief. "That jump was insane. Are you copying Mirko's style?"

"Yeah, copying her to create my own style later, but it's far from done; I can't even beat Iwao without my quirk when he fights me with one arm even though I have combat experience from my time in prison," he confessed while triggering the production of muscle fibers thanks to the super-hormones he stole. It was thrilling, he felt like he just could go fight for hours without rest, but he managed to keep it together; his hormones affect him way worse than that.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm using some of the villain's super-hormones to get the ones from this guard; if his quirk is indeed a kind of truth serum, it could be advantageous to us in the future. I'm going to stockpile some of it; start scouting the room while I do this, please."

After a glance towards the door, checking if any camera was observing the room, Felix agreed to guard the entrance as soon as he finished what he was doing while Kaoruko examined the archives stored through all the contents she had at her disposal; even if it was all from the former use of this building, having information about it would greatly help Mt. Lady's team since this place wasn't on any list or index. Fortunately for her, as a side-kick and often dealing with paperwork, her analytical skills, but especially her reading speed exceeding 700 words per minute and file management, was a great advantage to handle this sort of situation. Naturally, Felix had analyzed the matter, which is why he asked her and no one else for help. Nothing better than a second brain rather than a bundle of muscle such as Rumi.

"Felix." She started by going through documents from a decade ago. "This guy, the one with the odd smile."

"Yeah? What about him?"

"I've seen his face once, I'm sure of it. I don't know if he's a reporter, side-kick, or hero, but he's definitely someone at least a bit renowned in any way whatsoever."

"So you're trying to say that this place may actually be a sanctuary where "good" and "bad" guys come to satisfy their needs?" Felix muttered by putting his hand in front of his mouth. "Does this mean that someone has found a way to unite people despite their differences thanks to this kind of process?" he mumbled as he realized that someone might have done what he wanted to do himself, but on a miniature scale. Yet, something was wrong here; unifying people for profit, forcing people to be anonymous, and making sure that their families didn't know about it went against his beliefs. "Reprogramming people's biochemistry seems to be the only way… as hypocritical as it may sound…"

"So that's why you were thinking all along, huh." lamented Kaoruko while continuing to read the files. "Are you really worried about that?"

"You're the only one I trust enough to have shared my ideals and goals with you. So I think you can understand my views on my doings. I will only repeat what I've done in the past and end up alone."

"Are you? I don't feel like you're manipulating me at all. As much as your hormones can be potent, they don't last forever, and I'm here with you despite that." she explained with a trusting tone. "You also may craft momentary feelings or emotions, but what lingers in the heart and the brain cannot be crafted by mere tricks."

"And what about if I was truly manipulating you?"

"Hmm… I guess these feelings would indeed be fabricated, but they would be no less real. Emotions are reactions provoked by chemical procedures that are then engraved in our psyche. Who is there to judge what caused these emotions? Emotions are just emotions, no matter what caused them. Nobody should be allowed to dictate whom to love because, basically, love has no origin. It comes from nowhere; you can even love someone you consider ugly and goofy. I mean… Some women still love violent, alcoholic men, and some men like abusive, manipulative women. So in a way, I consider that an emotion crafted by a caring, pleasure-seeking partner is a hundred times healthier than other relationships, especially if they involve emotional blackmail, toxicity, etc."

"Damn, did you think of this beforehand?"

"Let's just say that I thought about whether I wanted to continue to see you and talk to you despite your quirk, and as you can see, I'm still here. I'd rather be with you than with someone less masculine, less intelligent, less funny, or more manipulative, cold, or selfish. You have your flaws, but I have mine too. I hope we can work them out together."

What a way to give him back his confidence. When he first met her, he only saw the surface of what she indeed was for a pretty long time, then after trying to honestly know her, by talking, playing Uno, and dating her a few times helped a lot, firstly to understand her, and secondly to acknowledge the fact that he didn't have to change. Anyway, now that they found pieces of information, it wasn't a time for sweet-talk or chit-chat.

They didn't even know what they searched for, so letting his partner focus on her job was the least he can do. Fortuitously, his hearing was far above average since he can maintain and even regenerate the compacted hair cells in his cochlea. So, after breaking the neon bulb above him in the corridor to stop the annoying noise it was producing, he was plunged into darkness with only the neon bulb at the other end of the infirmary to illuminate everything. Now his hearing would finally be helpful and not impaired by ambient noise. Although the guy watching the cameras yelled at him for doing this, he received no further warning, so it was all good.

After more than fifteen minutes of going through the documents, Bubble Girl already grasped what was going on here just by skimming and reading with attention what seemed relevant. It was all just patient records, but if she could take some of the registers with her, it might help to pinpoint these people and find out more. As for Felix, apart from a few voices echoing in the corridor that sounded like drunken men and women having trouble walking, nothing bothered him, and he just watched over the room, out of sight of the cameras.

Nevertheless, they both knew that the guards they had hidden in the same spot and forced to sleep would soon wake up if they hadn't already been found, and if someone came to check the infirmary soon, the body of this other guard would also be discovered, putting once more at risk their mission. The only way out was through the windows, but they were at least 20 feet above ground… so-

Wait, is this a voice?

"Taruo said that he was taken to the infirmary after he took a beating. Sorry to bring you to such an inappropriate place, but you know how little value the other Ladies give to this facility. I sadly can't refurbish everything."

"It's okay, don't worry. I know that you replaced Lady Tsukauchi not so long ago. And it seems to be a pretty busy night, a bunch of guards put to sleep, kinda freaky. But it also makes me think that the same process was used to calm Goto."

Felix's eyes widened, he recognized one of the voices, and more importantly, it seemed to be coming closer to them. He gently closed the door and checked to see if the guard was still well hidden.

"Someone's coming?"

"Yeah, go hide behind this clamshell cabinet; there's just enough room for one slim person."

"Try to hide... Erh... somewhere?"

"It's just a giant infirmary with no hiding spot, Kaoruko." Felix blabbered while looking at the windows. "And I'm the one who brings you here, so it's my responsibility to take risks. I'll try to talk with them, take notes if you can, but even if I change my voice a little and wear the head of the guards, they will most likely see that something isn't right in no time. Worst case scenario, you know what to do."

"But-"

"I agreed to do this. That's my job, stop worrying; plus, I can fight for myself, and even if they abducted me, I know how to keep my mouth shut. Your job here is to earn as much information as possible and gain experience to work with Wash, so do what needs to be done. Plus, I have a plan in both cases, winning or losing."

"Yeah, Mister Big Brain is back, I suppose... Be careful."

Preparing for the decisive moment, Felix sat down like the man he had knocked out and looked at his walkie-talkie the same way. The silence between the time he sat down and the sound of the discussion he heard seemed like an eternity.

When the door opened, he felt sick to his stomach to see this woman here, Victoria; he had previously found it hard to believe that she was here, and regrettably, she was here, and he still didn't know anything about her. Dressed in a simple but chic black dress, she stared at the villain in the bed who still had the tissue on his face to force him to sleep with an amused look. She was accompanied by a man in his fifties, with salt-and-pepper hair, round glasses, and a purple suit. He removed the chloroform-soaked cloth from the face of the sleeper, and from the smell alone, he knew what it was. Then, he took a cigarette drag before sneering at the state of the person he came to look for.

"Look what you look like when you sleep, Goto, what a cute baby boy. Hahaha." The smoker mocked after looking at his phone. "It's already late; we have things to do. So, do you know when he will wake up, #001?"

"Well, since you removed the cloth from his face, ten minutes," Felix lied, understanding that he was supposed to be. In reality, with that much melatonin and cortistatin in his blood, this villain will need more than that to wake up.

"Happy to see you, #001." greeted Victoria with a phony smile. "Have you seen two guards come in and out of here? Most of the guards try to find the fake #006 and #007."

"No, they came to drop this guy off and went the other way. At this time, they didn't seem anything suspicious. But Taruo warned me that something was wrong."

"Where is your Kansai dialect, #001?" she said with a quiet sigh. After a rapid switch of behavior, she looked away and focused on something. "What's this corpse I can see behind all these beds?"

"Did we find the intruder without realizing?" giggled the smoker with a grin.

"—! Oh! It's you, beautiful bones… Why are you here...?" she muttered with a somehow sad or overwhelmed tone. "I'm quite good to remember the bones structure of people, better than to remember faces. So, I know it's you, Tremblay-san."

Felix didn't add a single word; his cover hadn't lasted long at all, it was even kinda ridiculous, and now that he was alone to manage all this, it will be even more challenging, especially since he would soon have all the guards at his heels, plus Muscular if he wakes up.

Thankfully, Felix gave Victoria and everyone here a made-up last name, fraudulent credit card, and a wrong identity card, his real name, real story, shall not be known by them, so he was, in a way, half-protected.

"Where is your accomplice? Please just surrender. I'm not doing this for fun; please believe me. If I don't do it, they'll…" she murmured again, trying to scan the room with her x-ray quirk, but she didn't see anything else, and the idea that someone would be slim and agile enough to slip between hundred pounds of lead furniture didn't cross her mind.

—Old clamshell cabinets were often made with a good amount of lead, and lead-shielding is often used to protect from radiation such as x-rays. At least, this idea of mine worked; Kaoruko will be able to escape and bring help.

"Listen, Felix, just go to sleep please, since you're such a gentleman, I can only appreciate you, really. So I promise I will find a way to free you," she said with a saddened but self-confident tone as he felt a needle go under his skin.

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[►Metabolism Hyperdrive.◄]

[▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲]

[Super-Hormones Modifier — R"µb/t.]

[Exceeding Body's Capacities: 163%.]

[Stored Hormones & Pheromones: 98%.]

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—Metabolism hyperdrive? That's new. A 163% value with a single blowpipe needle and without even having started a fight… It smells like shit. It's like the "poison" from last time, but more potent. I need to put up a fight to buy time for Kaoruko. With enough fuss, I can break a window while fighting to create an escape route for her. Nimble and versatile as she is, she will find a way to escape unscathed, even from this height.

As the man in the purple suit stepped back into the hallway, eyes closed and a cynical aura surrounding him, he let in a different armed individual, while Victoria hid her eyes with her hand and then went to join the man she had come with, staring at the floor.

How many were there?

Five guards, if we don't count the ten or so guards waiting at the entrance. Plus, the one with the blowpipe hidden at the other end of the room behind the beds and who had taken care of the chief security staff through a door that had been hidden by furniture until then. Other guards entered through this door, increasing the number of people in the room to about twenty. The room was large, even huge—a perfect arena.

Time to go on the offensive, right? At that point, the risk of destroying everything wasn't really a risk anymore, was it?

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[Stored Hormones & Pheromones: 71%.]

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Felix leaped so fast that he surprised himself; the muscles created by the super-hormones gave him a buff far superior to what he first believed, and yet he used it in an archaic way. In a fraction of a second, his foot came to smash against the concrete because he couldn't control this new power with dexterity.

—So that's what the [DEX] stat is for, huh... If only I understood that before, I would have focused on it instead of trying to be tanky.

The adrenaline he administered to himself took care of dissipating the pain, even if his shoes were reinforced with metal plating. He also made a mixture of hormones that took care of the rest: better breathing, increased heart rate, oxygen rate in the white blood cells, stop digestion to save energy, etc.

Here we go again.

He dodged a fireball, then ran towards one of his opponents and kicked him against a wall; the force of his blow was enough to stun the man, and he fell to the ground. However, before he could do anything else, nine-millimeter bullets suddenly whistled close to his ears and grazed his arm.

—Okay, Rumi, forgive me for snatching your moves, but it's fucking needed right now. So, what about this?

Like his favorite albino bunny, he took advantage of his speed to ricochet on the same wall using his leg as springs and his arms as stabilizers. He kicked the ground with both feet to create a shockwave that destabilized everyone and knocked the dust off the ceiling before flying back into the air like a bouncing ball. Three quirks boosting physical abilities? Well, it worked well.

But how many similar kicks could the ground take before collapsing?

Understanding what Felix was trying to do, the guards prepared a real offensive to limit their opponent's movements, all this without suspecting that someone was planning to escape right next to them. The ex-convict smashed the ground again in order to possibly create an escape route but had to dodge a kind of electric cloud that was coming at him. He swung his hands forward as if to walk with it but brought his feet back to catch the head of one of the guards between his legs before violently bringing both feet to the ground, crushing the security officer to the floor like a pancake. The centrifugal force he had gained from this combination of blows was enough to continue his assault; while still spinning in the air like a circular saw, he unfolded his right leg and aimed at the other guard in front of him, his heel aiming towards him like a mortar shell.

The guard barely managed to dodge the strike; however, his arm still got damaged; the noise of several broken bones resounded instantly before Felix's heel ended up in a bed that bent due to the shock. The man let out a scream; his arm bent, but it was not a joint.

The former inmate didn't wait for the people to recover and charged his enemies again. He jumped from wall to wall and then used the ceiling to assail an ax kick similar to Luna Arc on the skull of an imprudent guard. Sadly, this one was flattened on the ground like a vulgar rag doll.

The moment Felix's foot touched the ground, an enemy with a body made of crystal tried to approach him suddenly, his fist raised and ready to strike him a blow; he didn't expect Felix to take the strike head-on and follow up with a front-snap kick to use him as a rock, as a mere projectile to be thrown towards the other security members.

Faced with this kind of strength that exceeded that of anyone but one person here, the crystal-man crashed into two of his allies. Felix bounced from the floor to the ceiling again, from the ceiling to the wall, destroying with kicks and punches his opponents, using the medical bed has shield and weapons, rampaging… but despite this, there were always some of them who managed to hold on. Thanks to his speed and strength, he could "dodge" the bullets or, to be more precise, the shooters didn't know how to hit a high-speed target. However, the blowgunner seemed to be much smarter, and three of his needles had already hit him. Even with a metabolism like Felix's, his body was starting to suffer; at least the wind blowing on his body thanks to the broken windows was helping him remain awake.

The sound of one of the only intact beds still in here started to make noise. The only bed used and the only person Felix didn't want to wake up in here started to wake up. He didn't even have to turn back to know what was awaiting him in no more than a minute.

Anyway, he was a pretty good bad-luck magnet, so he wasn't even surprised. Each time he has done something in his life, he has done his best despite the warning, during his teenage years with his friends and girlfriend, during his early adult life, which caused him to go to jail, then, after coming to Japan with the HPSC, now with the risk taken for Mt. Lady team, and THIS.

He was just like that. So he took the bet with a smile. Even if it was a loss or a win, his journey wouldn't end here and now. He didn't integrate the microchip under his skin for no reason.

Just another step forward.

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[Stored Hormones & Pheromones: 24%.]

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Drops of sweat ran down his forehead as he turned toward Muscular's bed, still half asleep and beset by guards ready to help him caught Felix... Well, this dude would probably only charge him with the only intention to really fight against him now that he probably has sobered up.

Mentally preparing for a fight that would likely make him progress thanks to the actual experience that it was and not just some training with no stakes, he thought about the last word he would say before the end of this mess.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's almost time to fuck off."0

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