"Um…Void…why aren't you moving?" Izuku questioned. The Herrscher had cracked her knuckles and had agreed to fight but now she was merely standing on the roof overlooking the villains.
"I'm thinking," Void told Izuku.
"Thinking?"
"If I save your mom, they'll know she's connected to us, which is hollow since it will mean more trouble," Void told him.
"So…that doesn't matter now." Izuku reasoned.
"You're not thinking clearly Izuku. You're letting your emotions cloud your judgment." Void told him. "I can't believe I said that."
"So what are we supposed to do?" Izuku questioned.
"If I save anyone, they'll make an assumption, so ideally saving no one means they can't connect us. So I'll just need to make it look like saving Inko was a byproduct." Void reasoned.
"Or you can just save everyone," Izuku pressured.
"I hate when you think." Void sighed. As much as she hated it, she doubted she could pull off her plan and accidentally save Inko. This was honestly going to be less work but damn it she did not want to save humans. "Alright, let's go," Void told him as she warped to the villain's location.
"Have you no honor fiend." Man-Spider gritted his teeth behind his mask. He was currently staring off against the villains with several other heroes in tow. Unfortunately, these villains were the truly despicable kind. "Release those hostages," He growled.
"Oh sure," The leader said. "Give the heroes the only leverage we have. Are you that idiotic?" He sarcastically asked.
"Why you!" The Man Spider pulled back his arm forming a web ball in it.
"Really?" The tentacle villain questioned as he squeezed one of his hostages, a short green-haired woman. The hero loosened his grip and lowered his fist. "That's better." He told them.
"Now here's what's going to happen. You are all going to stand down and let us walk away. If I'm sure we're safe, I'll release one hostage at a time, if not…well…it doesn't take much force to make some of them pop in my tentacles…or in the appendages of my other friends," He noted. "What's it going to be hero?"
Man Spider glared at the villain. But ultimately…he had to give, the safety of the people was more important. "Alright fine," Kamui agreed. "Everyone…stand down…for now." He whispered.
"Smart bug." The leader said.
"And dumb Octopus," A low female voice called. Several spears and cubes emerged around the villains, separating them from the heroes and the civilians. The villains looked around, recognizing the items.
"Well…well…to what do we oh the pleasure, Herrscher," The leader announced as he took note of the villainess before him. "I assure you your help is not needed, but we do greatly appreciate it."
The Herrscher said nothing, instead glaring at the villains. "Um, boss, I don't think she's happy to see us." The Rhino user noted as saw the disdain on the girl's face.
"Seems like one of you has a brain, and it's definitely not you, Professor Squid." She sneered.
"It's Doctor Octo-"
"I don't care." The Herrscher cut him off. "Musutafu is my turf, and I won't have some 3rd rate villains with 4th rate powers intruding." She told them. "So, either you get out of my city, or I send you to the morgue." She threatened as her eyes pulsed with an orange glow.
"Uh boss…" One of the villains whispered.
"No worries, Herrscher." Professor Squid agreed. "Just put down your barrier and we'll be on our way." He told her. "Come on fellas." He told them.
"Wait…just like that…there is six of us and one of her, we can take her." One of the villains, a vulture-themed one noted.
"Yes, and we'd risk losing an extremely potential asset." The Professor noted. "Just follow my lead." He told them. "Ignore my friend, he's had too much to drink." The Professor informed.
The Herrscher complied and lowered her barrier. The villains were once again greeted by the Heroes and cops all lined up around them. "Insolent pests." The Herrscher sneered as she noticed the ground that had gathered.
"Tell me about it," Professor Squid sighed. He held up another hostage. "Allow me to get them to back off while you make a portal for us to leave."
"No." The Herrscher responded. "Find your own way out." She told him, eyeing the hostages.
"Alright fine." The Professor said.
"One more thing…drop the hostages." She ordered.
"I beg your pardon…these are our ticket out of here." One of the villains noted. "We can't just drop our hostages."
"No…they are MY HOSTAGES." The Herrscher added. "My turf, my hostages." She reiterated.
"You truly are a stubborn woman." The Professor noted. "Perhaps far too stubborn to be reasoned with. No deal." He told her. "Vulture it seems like we'll be going with your plan."
"I warned you." The Herrscher told them. Every villain that wasn't holding a hostage immediately had a portal opened below them. So that was about two of them, the Rhino and a Lizard guy. The next thing anyone knew, those villains came falling down from high up in the air, hitting the floor and leaving two craters beside them. "Next!"
"You're going to kill us over not putting down a few measly hostages." Professor Squid.
"Humans have killed for far less," The Herrscher retorted as she summoned her lances, all around the area. She stretched her hands out and drew several patterns with her fingers, the lances all launched in coordinated patterns striking the villains in numerous locations.
The scorpion was struck at the base of his tail, the vulture was struck in his wings, and a bettle-themed one was struck in his back. All dropped their respective hostages who the Herrscher simply portal to the side. Professor Squid got the worst of it, being hit his back at the focal point of all his tentacles. He lost feeling crashing down but he hadn't let go of his hostages.
"Damn Squid," The Herrscher noted as she pierced the arms still holding the people, freeing them. She looked in the corner of her eyes as Inko seemingly paused to look at her with confusion. Void hesitated for a moment when she saw Inko's panicked expression. The Herrscher quickly turned her sights back on the villains.
"Freeze," The heroes said as they looked at the Herrscher who had nonchalantly crossed her arms. "You're under arrest." One of them said.
The Herrscher rolled her eyes as she looked at them. "Seriously." She noted as she side-eyed them. "You couldn't even handle these clowns." She warned them.
"Void," Izuku whispered trying to ease his partner's rage. "It's over now." He tried to reason. "They're not worth it. They're beneath you." He tried to convince her.
"Fine." She huffed. She was about to make her leave via portal when she noticed the Squid guy standing up.
"We're not done yet." He winced as he held something by his arm. Void eyed him in confusion when it was revealed to be a syringe of sorts. The man hunched over as his skin started to turn pale, his hair turning white and his eyes glowing gold. "Wait…something's…. wrong." He screamed as he felt an incomprehensible amount of pain start to flow through his body. "This power…"
"Trigger." One of the heroes warned. "Quickly get all civilians out of here." They instructed as the villain started to grow, his tentacles returned to full strength, growing, and mutating with their own.
"What is happening?" Izuku questioned.
"Honkai," Void answered him as she saw the partially mutated, partially zombified man start to grow before her. What little of his human body that remained was immediately morphed before her eyes. His arms and legs turned into even more tentacles before they wrapped around each other to make new makeshift limbs. "Okay, it's probably Honkai Hentai," Void noted.
"What are we going to do?" Izuku questioned.
"Get popcorn," Void suggested. She was eager to see the zombified villain wreak havoc on the humans, now that Inko was out of the way. Unfortunately, her wishful thinking was dismissed when the mutated villain raised its arm and smashed her with it.
"Traitor," The Villain called.
"How annoying," The Herrscher sighed. "It seems like it still carried its original desire to fight me." She noted.
"Traitor,"
"Well, I guess it's time we put out of its misery." The Herrscher noted.
"Wait what?" Izuku realized. "You can't just kill him." He pleaded.
"Izuku, he was just threatening to kill your mom to get out of being arrested. I think he more than likely deserves this." Void noted as she launched several lances, puncturing the villain's body once more. It didn't seem to phase it as much this time as the villain was still able to try and strike her.
"He deserves to be locked away and left at the mercy of the law." Izuku reasoned.
"Seriously, you wanted my help and now you want to dictate how I handle it." She reasoned.
"I wanted you to save mom," Izuku argued.
"Uh…fair enough." The Herrscher noted. "But I should warn you, zombification is already a death sentence." She informed. "His mind's being degraded as we speak, and any sentience, if any, is slowly being destroyed by the Honkai." She explained.
"So what? Can't you just remove it?" Izuku questioned. The Herrscher started to fly around the villain. Circling him before sending a lance straight into one of his eyes.
"I can but…it's far more…merciful…to kill him." She reasoned. "Honkai infection is almost incurable, with the only cures available requiring Schriac blood and I'm not sure it exists here. Even if I remove the Honkai the damage might already be done." She noted.
Sensing her presence the villain turned to strike her, only to hit a building nearby. "AH," A familiar voice screamed. Void looked down to see Inko with a few heroes and civilians nearby panicking at the falling debris. She quickly made a portal to catch all the debris before dropping it on the Mutate Villain.
"Alright, that's twice he tried to kill your mom. Can I kill him now?" The Herrscher questioned.
Izuku was silent.
"Izuku,"
"Incapacitate him but let him live. He needs to be punished for his crimes. Death would be too easy for him." Izuku told the Herrscher. The last part wasn't exactly his own ideal. He would rather the villain be jailed than dead, but the Herrscher seemed to take joy in choosing the sadistic option, so perhaps making her think sparing was more sadistic might yield better results.
"It's not outright I want but fine, you're getting it," she noted. Unfortunately for her, the villain still had some semblance of intellect as it sprayed ink in the Herrscher's face. "On second thought….I'll kill him." She told Izuku.
Izuku wanted to argue but he felt the sudden rage of the Herrscher slowly start to weigh down on him. "Fine," He told her. He'd managed to get her to help save a lot of people, he could let her mercy kill this villain. Right?
"Good." The Herrscher smiled as she wiped the ink off her face. Her eyes began to glow even more vibrantly as a sinister smirk crossed her lips. "Judgement." She declared as she snapped her fingers and triggered an explosion in front of the villain. The villain fell landing right beside the crater where its previous allies had fallen.
"Now to end this." She noted as she opened numerous portals ready to end the villain.
"Not so fast,"Man-Spider called as he launched his web attack at the Herrscher.
"You're starting to aggravate me, spider man." Void threatened as she made her body intangible and slipped out of his grasp. She summoned a cube to the side and knocked the hero down, before turning back to the villain. Landing on the ground the Herrscher concentrated her energy before she smacked the ground with all her might.
The ground rumbled as the Herrscher kept her hands planted on the floor. Suddenly several thousand lances of varying sizes emerged from the ground beneath the giant villain, skewering him where they could. The result was not a pretty sight for most people as the villain was now suspended by the lances, his body now completely zombified and dripping blood all over the area.
"And that's it," Void noted as she looked up her handiwork. "Another villain beat," She told Izuku in an attempt to cheer him up.
"I think I'm going to be sick." He responded, not like the sight of the now presumed dead villain. It didn't look that different to other monsters he saw her kill but still. This was a person.
"You'll get used to it," the Herrscher noted as she reached out her arm and tried to tug at the Honkai she had felt from the villain. The suspended mass started to move as wisps of gold and blue energy emerged from the villain and floated to the Herrscher. As the energy flowed the corpse started to shrivel up, becoming like a husk.
"Well at least it was quick," Izuku sighed. However, their attention was soon caught off guard when the corpse seemed to crack. "Huh," The cracks got wider, and soon something fell out. "What is that?"
"Please tell me, he didn't reproduce," The Herrscher grimaced as she looked at what had fallen. "Wait…is that?"
"No way," Izuku noted. It was the villain. He was alive now, but his quirk. "It's gone, his quirk's gone." Izuku stared in shock. The villain was clearly a mutant but now, his mutation had disappeared entirely. The only features he had retained were white hair and skin and golden eyes.
"So…do I kill him again?" The Herrscher wondered.
"No, I don't think that's needed." Izuku quickly told her. "He's stripped of his powers now; he can't hurt anybody." He argued.
"Fine." The Herrscher sighed. She lifted the man up with her powers and then tossed him at the heroes along with the other villains. "Here, take care of the trash," She told them. "Let's go and look for Inko, she's probably worried sick." Void thought to her partner.
However before they could leave, another hero arrived on the scene, and upon seeing the Herrscher wide open, he moved to subdue her.
""Yeah…let's….ARRRGGHHH!" Izuku screamed along with Void as their body was engulfed in fire. They felt their skin get charred as their hair was turned to a crisp. When the flames died down, the Herrscher turned her head to the source. A man covered in flames was now standing before her.
"You're under arrest." The man said stoically as he stared down at the Herrscher. Izuku recognized the man almost immediately.
Endeavor.
"Void," He called to his partner hoping to get them to leave. However, the Herrscher was not responding. Her breathing had become heavier as she had focused on the hero before her. Her vision turned red as her eyes glowed even more intensely.
She clenched her fists as she stared at the firehero. Numerous emotions were whirlpooling inside her.