Chapter 26: Chapter 27 – The Press

—Cole POV—

Walking up to Commissioner Togo, I gave him a nod and apologized for causing him some issues. Telling me it was fine, he apologized for letting it get this bad. His intel on the Yakuza came from the Hero Association which supposedly had moles in the Yakuza ranks. There was never any mention of Overhaul nor the fact that they were so well armed. The fact they had Anti-Quirk weapons wasn’t even mentioned in their reports, they claimed it was only a myth.

 

“It’s a good thing you forced them to attack here. If this fight had happened near the school, this would have been a massacre with bullets and shrapnel flying every which direction.”, Togo stated looking at the bullet holes and craters that peppered the waterfront, “There are several people that got hit by ricochets, so I will have to figure out how to compensate them for their loss. The Yakuza didn’t happen to have a cure for their bullets, did they?”

 

“They were working on it, without Eri’s blood they couldn’t run tests. What you saw was everything they had stockpiled for sale, we got this early enough that the bullet count was low. Given a few weeks' time, we’d probably be looking at a different situation. They have a few manufacturing facilities throughout the city, so you will want to round the stuff up before someone steals it.”, I informed him before changing subjects, “Let me see who got hit, I think I might be able to help them.”

 

“Really!?”, Togo said with a sense of relief, “Let me show you!”

 

Taking me over to where the medics were, several officers and heroes were in pretty bad shape from the HP rounds that the Yakuza were using, in addition to the Anti-Quirk bullets. Using Bio Pulse and Rewind in conjunction, their injuries recovered almost instantly as the bullets fell out of them. Feeling their Quirks returning to them, the officers and heroes looked relieved that they weren’t going to lose their Quirks and livelihoods.

 

“Thank you, Kessler, you have certainly helped save them from a very rough road. We will take care of the Yakuza grunts, and get every scrap of information we can out of them.”, Togo assured me, “This sort of shit is exactly why I don’t trust those nutjobs in the Hero Association. You won’t have any issues from the police, but I have no authority in the Hero Association. If there is anything I can do to assist you, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

 

“Actually there is something I wanted to ask you, did Nezu or you leak the Anti-Quirk bullets to the press? I didn’t tell them anything about it…”, I remarked.

 

“Come to think of it…Nezu and I didn’t tell them, we kept it pretty quiet given the public panic it would cause.”, Togo replied rubbing his chin, “My best guess is that some desperate hero leaked the information to gain some fame, or one of my officers let it slip. Either way, the bullets are destroyed so they aren’t an issue anymore. We will gather the research data to dispose of it, and Eri has you watching her so not many villains will try to hurt her. The message you sent to villains here in Japan was pretty clear, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a drop in crime for a while after this.”

 

“To be clear, I don’t condone killing every villain on the streets. Killing someone for stealing food, a purse, or a car is ridiculous. My goal is to only kill bastards like Overhaul and All For One who have no regard for anyone or anything other than their own goals.”, I told him, “I only kill people I can justify, and I think you can agree the ones I killed were in that category.”

 

Nodding his head, he agreed that anyone that condoned torturing children needed to die. Telling me not to repeat what he said to anyone else, given the repercussions it could have on his job, I laughed assuring him that I wouldn’t tell anyone. Seeing the news crews already forming around the police line, this was one of those times I couldn’t walk away like nothing was wrong. Giving him the coordinates to the other bases, I excused myself and walked over to the press ready to deal with them.

 

Seeing me approach, several reporters pushed forward trying to get a word in to get a sound bite from me for their articles.

 

“Lightning Hero: Kessler, is it true a girl you rescued recently is the reason for this attack tonight?”, a reporter questioned.

 

“Yes, she is the granddaughter of their former leader who currently is in a coma. Their new leader tortured her repeatedly which led to her fleeing one of their bases, that was when I found her.”, I stated, “To clarify, the child is barely old enough to be in preschool. At her age, she should be more concerned about what snack she wants, not hiding from her tormentors.”

 

“Is it true the Yakuza were using Anti-Quirk bullets? What sort of bullets are they?”, another reporter questioned.

 

“Yes, they were using Anti-Quirk bullets. As many of you know, the Yakuza has been losing much of the glory they held before the Age of Heroes. In a futile attempt to reclaim that glory, they developed a special metal that completely blocks Quirk activation. Once it enters a person’s body, the bullet is absorbed and is impossible to remove via normal means. Thankfully we caught them early in development so they appear to only block Quirks for a few days. The brave heroes and officers that were hit will be taking a few days off to let their Quirks recover.”, I assured them and wrote off their future return to duty.

 

Fielding several more questions on how I got the information about their base, and about my Quirk specifically, I gave answers that kept my full potential a secret. Quickly shifting over to questions about my family, who I was dating, and my work at UA one of the older reporters cut everyone off to ask about the elephant in the room.

 

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“Kessler, was it really necessary to kill all of those people? Surely a man with your strength could have subdued them, and handed them over to the police.”, he stated trying to frame me as a cruel person.

 

Seeing red energy emanating from him when I pinged the surrounding area for power sources, I knew he was in All For One’s pocket.

 

“I could have, but that wouldn’t have resolved the problem. In order to maintain his position of authority, Overhaul needed the girl to stay in his power otherwise the organization wasn’t going to follow him. Since she was under my protection, he intended to attack the school she attends now to recapture her…and kill anyone that got in his way.”, I replied, “Every man, woman, and child in that school was in danger, the dedicated staff there wouldn’t have let the Yakuza take her without a fight and would have given their lives for her. In the ensuing chaos, many of the students would have been injured or killed as officers and heroes tried to contain the situation.”

 

“That is only one potential outcome, you could have still subdued them before it escalated that far.”, he argued.

 

“Are you willing to gamble their lives on that assumption? I am not a mind reader nor am I all-knowing, if they attacked the school without tripping an alarm how would I know they were there?”, I refuted as I stared at him, “I refuse to gamble the lives of innocent people, this was a threat that had to be dealt with before the public was put in harm's way. Given the damage to the waterfront you see in front of you, what do you think would have happened to the school and surrounding area?”

 

Painting that image in their minds, many reporters looked mortified as they did a double take of the extent of the damage. The school was close to a train station and a small market, so the number of innocent people that could have died was very high.

 

“The men I killed today were incredibly dangerous and ruthless killers that have no remorse for their actions. They would have surrendered now, but given the chance would happily break out of jail to kill again as many other villains regularly do. Those men weren’t going to repent or take rehabilitation seriously, all they wanted was to bring back the fear and respect they once held in the past.”, I pointed out, “I take full responsibility for my actions, if the Hero Association decides that I am not fit to hold my license I will hand it over willingly and face any charges they wish to push on me.”

 

“You are saying you’d surrender yourself to the Hero Association?”, the reporter inquired.

 

“Correct, I came fully prepared to accept the repercussions of my actions. If I had to do this all over again, I wouldn’t hesitate to kill them again.”, I replied without any hesitation, “Being a Hero means sometimes we have to make the tough decisions that others won’t. I pride myself on the fact that I will go to any length to help someone, all they have to do is want to be saved. It doesn’t matter if they are young or old, small or large, child or adult I will always do what is necessary to protect them. The fact is…I never want to see people crying over the bodies of their loved ones. If that means I have to kill villains or take down an entire organization to ensure that, I won’t hesitate to do so.”

 

Seeing many of the reporters' expression light up, the reporter who asked the question scowled at my response. Clearly, he knew this wouldn’t spin well in the news if he tried to outright slam me for killing them. There were many organizations across the world that kidnapped children and killed thousands every year. What I said would hit home for those affected by them making it very difficult for him to paint me in a bad light. Sure there were going to be those who frowned on killing the villains, but many more were going to rest easier knowing they wouldn’t have to fear them ever again.

 

With that Commissioner Togo quickly dispersed the reporters stating they needed to clean up the area. Letting out a sigh once they were gone, I was going to head home when someone punched me in the back. Hearing Mirko yelp in pain, I glanced back to see her shaking her right hand.

 

“You certainly know how to butter the press up.”, she snickered, “The only time I have heard someone say stuff like that is when politicians are campaigning.”

 

“I spoke my mind about this, nothing more.”, I chuckled, “So is there any particular reason you decided to hit me?”

 

“Yes, you realize I didn’t get to punch or kick anyone because of your stunts!”, she huffed, “I ran all the way here to help, but had to sit on the sidelines. This shit isn’t my style, I like being in the thick of it.”

 

“I know you do, and you could have certainly jumped in to help. Can you dodge bullets?”, I teased her.

 

Throwing another punch, this time at my face, I shifted my head to the left and easily avoided the blow. Telling her I would treat her to a meal, she shook her head and told me that she didn’t want food. Saying that she wanted to spar some more with me, I rubbed my forehead with exhaustion before agreeing to her request. Placing my hand on her shoulder, I transported us both back to her residence to spar.

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