Fly High, Burn Bright

Chapter 14

I focused on making myself invisible to the two girls I was able to see, and tried to move as quietly as possible towards the entrance of the bank. The front door was still slightly open, with sickly fumes seeping out, and I frowned a little, unsure of what my next move should be. The blonde girl's actions caught my attention - it looked like she was about to torture one of the passed out officers - and suddenly, it was almost as if I had an exact plan of what I needed to do. I sprinted forward, staying light on my feet, until I was just behind the two girls who were now cackling with manic laughter.

They've already done too much to hurt others. I need to stop them first. I was tempted, oh so tempted, to put an end to the two of them. It would be so simple to just slit their throats while they couldn't see me, and to end their cruel little game, but I knew somewhere deep down that I couldn't do that, no matter how much I wanted to punish them for hurting so many innocent bystanders. I unhooked two of the daggers, holding one in each hand, and rushed forward, passing between the two girls unnoticed. As I raised the hilts of the knives to the back of their heads, some sick part of me desperately wanted to slice through their necks and leave them out to bleed, but I forced the urge away and slammed the dull metal into the back of their heads.

The two girls crumpled onto the ground, and I quickly dropped beside them to check if they still had a pulse - there'd been times when I hit someone a little too hard and had almost killed them. The pulse was still there, and I sighed in relief. Being known as the hero who killed two girls, even if they were villains, definitely wasn't something I wanted. My eyes landed on another police officer who was still able to move, and I signaled for them to restrain the two villains. I didn't have any time to linger on the scene. There were probably people in that bank, and if I was suffering with my makeshift mask, then they were definitely in trouble too.

Since my quirk basically relied on changing the brainwaves of a person to make them see what I wanted, I'd learned pretty early on how to detect someone's presence by finding their mind. It wasn't much, and always left me exhausted, but it was good for rescue missions such as these when I needed to find out how many people were located in certain places. It took a lot of concentration, but in situations like these where I needed to know where people were located, it would be stupid of me if I didn't at least try. With no other villains in sight, and the two unconscious girls being taken care of by a somewhat-capable officer, I sneaked around the cars on the street and got to the doors of the bank, pressing myself against a wall to make sure I wasn't visible to anyone inside.

After making sure one last time that there was no other threat outside, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, ignoring the burning of the toxic fumes. I spread out my senses, picking up the weak signals from the two girls I'd taken care of - so they were still knocked out. Good. If I had more time, I would've tried to either get more information out of them, or at least taken care of properly arresting them myself, but I needed to get into the bank. I felt the mind of the police officer I'd left the matter to, and the faint waves from the others that were still under the influence of the toxic gas. I turned my attention to the inside of the bank - there were four active signals, almost like radio towers that sent information from their mind to mine. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to focus a little more on the four active waves, but I could already feel my concentration slipping.

All I managed to learn was that the four active ones were definitely villains - if they were still conscious, then they must be wearing gas masks or face covering of some sort. No one would be able to withstand the amount of gas in the bank without passing out. My eyes fluttered open and I felt my head spin, but I didn't know if it was a side effect of using my quirk too much in such a short period of time, or if the toxic fumes were getting to me. Still, I gritted my teeth and forced myself back into the concentrated stance, managing to pick up another dozen or so weak signals. So there's four villains and at least ten passed-out citizens. I can't beat them alone, but back-up still hasn't arrived... 

I snapped out of the state and leaned against the wall for support, trying to ignore the burning at the back of my throat and near my eyes as I felt myself swooning. I shouldn't have pushed myself so far. I should've just scouted the bank quickly instead of trying to go in depth, and now, I could feel my whole body grow weaker from the overexertion. I dug my nails into the palm of my hand, the sharp pain helping me push away the woozy state of exhaustion, and I scanned the area of the bank. The front door was still slightly open, and if I was completely silent, I'd be able to slip into the bank and make myself invisible to the villains inside. I gave myself another ten seconds to rest, but as soon as they were up, I slid through the slim crack left open through which the never-ending gas was still seeping out of.

It was just as I'd thought - four villains, and eleven passed-out citizens tied up on the ground, and I was more than relieved that I'd remembered to hide myself from their vision using my quirk. I recognized the lizard-like villain from before - Spinner, was it? The rest, however, I wasn't familiar with. They seemed to be arguing over something, but I couldn't tell what it was. Instead, I tried to prioritize the greatest threat - the source of the gas. My eyes searched the entire bank until I realized that it was clouded around one particular person, and I frowned. Didn't we already capture that villain? I thought he was in jail now... Still, it was no question that the toxic fumes that made me feel so weak and burned at my throat were coming from that one villain. 

I briefly tried to recall his quirk before remembering that he was able to produce a gas that made people fall asleep, so maybe there was another substance in the room that made the gas more dangerous. Even so, it was clear that right now, he was the biggest threat - if I managed to stop his quirk, then the gas would disperse, and the toxic substance would be useless. But to get rid of him, I'd have to at least knock him out, and that would give away my position. I had to restrain myself from huffing out an annoyed breath, and I wrapped the cloth over my nose a little tighter. It wasn't like I could just let the villain keep producing more of the gas - if the passed-out civilians inhaled any more of it, they may not be able to recover.

Gritting my teeth, I drew my knife and crept forward, careful to avoid making any noise - my quirk can only change a person's vision, not their hearing, so if I made a sound to alert the villains of where I was, it would be game over for me. Every step was careful and silent, so I had to move a lot slower than I would hope for,  the burning pain near the back of my throat making me almost let out hacking coughs, but I forced myself to stay silent and push through. The villains were now a mere ten meters away, and I slowed down even more, unwilling to make any sudden moves for fear that they'd hear me. Still, the young one who was emitting gas was so close to me, and with his back facing me, I had the perfect opportunity to strike. 

I crept forward, casting an image of the boy still standing to the other three, and proceeded to slam the hilt of my knife into the back of the boy's head, catching him and silently lowering him onto the ground. I must've been a little too loud, though, because Spinner's eyes shot up and he stared at where I was, probably wondering whether he was hearing this or if his eyes were playing tricks on him, and I held my breath until he finally looked away. A wave of relief washed over me, and I decided to try my luck one more time - dagger still in hand, I managed to slip behind another one of the villains - this one I definitely hadn't seen before, because I'm sure I would've recognized his spiky black hair and scars if I'd had the displeasure of running into him before.

Just as before, I lifted the hilt of the knife, ready to strike it against his head, but my eyes shot open at the sudden buzz of the walkie-talkie on my hip. Oh shit. I'm screwed, aren't I?