"Commando Rick?" One of the two guards stationed outside the Detention Center's main entrance asked, stunned. "Is that you?!"
Commando Rick was a black man in his thirties, wearing a black uniform with a cap, and carrying his sniper rifle across his shoulders.
He smiled as the guard recognized him, nodding at the other guard, whom he wasn't so familiar with.
"On night duty again, Bryan?" Rick asked, smiling. "Your wife's gonna kill ya one of these days…"
As Bryan smiled wryly, the other guard eyed Rick suspiciously. "… Wait!" he said, putting his hand on his rifle. "… Why are you here, Commando Rick? If I am not wrong, sniper duty lasts the entire night, doesn't it?"
Bryan frowned. "… What are you on about?!" he asked. "It is Commando Rick, OK? I know him…"
"Haha!" Rick laughed, taking off his cap, lifting both his hands. "Protocols are there for a reason, Bryan. Calm down."
Usually, the Commando assigned for the day's duty would have relieved Rick in the morning.
A Humvee would travel to and fro between the Center and the Sniper position, leaving no stone unturned when it came to security.
So, Rick's presence here, over a mile away from his post, and that too on foot, rang an alarm — at least in the mind of the guard unknown to him.
"My comms suddenly died," Rick explained. "I couldn't contact Tower. Taking caution, I decided it's best to get a replacement set. Have a cup of coffee, too, perhaps?"
Bryan laughed at the comment.
"… Wait here," the second guard said flatly. "I will go and get Commander O'Brian."
Commander O'Brian was the head of security of the Outer Zone during the night, and his office was right next to the main entrance.
As the guard disappeared, Bryan shook his head. "… Don't know what's up his ass…"
Rick chuckled, taking out a cigarette as Bryan came to join him. "New kid?"
Bryan nodded, taking a puff and passing it back to Rick. "Joined a month ago," he told Rick. "Still not out of his Hero complex, I guess."
"Like us when we came here?" Rick asked, smiling, flicking the butt of the cigarette.
That caught Bryan off guard, a touch of shame appearing on his cheeks. "… yeah," he said, realizing he was being overly harsh on that kid. "Anyway… he will soon realize how redundant we guys are here. Everything is controlled by AI and machines. If it wasn't for the Government Policy, these higher-ups wouldn't even hire us…"
Rick nodded, agreeing with Bryan.
Almost all the security staff at the Detention Center were Quirkless, trained and armed to take down people with Quirks. But it was only for the rarest of the rare cases when the machines didn't work as intended.
With the automated system, any lifeform with a Quirk wouldn't make past the outermost Boundary Wall without getting found out and obliterated by the drones.
By the time Rick and Bryan finished the cigarette, the other guard returned with Commander O'Brian, a team of guards following him, all armed.
Rick and Bryan saluted the Commander as the older man nodded.
Commando Rick put a hand on Bryan's shoulder as the latter opened his mouth and explained the situation himself.
The Commander nodded before looking at one of the guards he'd brought with him.
That particular guard rushed to Rick and took his dead wireless comms, ran them through software in the Pad he carried, and nodded back to the Commander, all letting out a breath of relief.
"This is odd," Command O'Brian said in a thick voice. "Comms just don't die. And you lost even the spare ones?"
Rick nodded. "Yes, Sir," he replied. "That's why I thought it's better to report this anomaly right away instead of waiting it out."
Commander O'Brian smiled. "You got a good head on your shoulder, Commando," he praised. "Collect another set of Comms and report back to your post. I will arrange a vehicle to take you back."
Commando Rick saluted. "Yes, Sir!"
Then, sharing a nod with Bryan, Rick disappeared inside the entrance, the other guard's head dropping as his ears went red.
…
Rick stood straight as a red slab of light scanned him up and down.
A guard within a bunkered Monitor Room observed Rick in many spectrums, Commander O'Brian standing behind him with a serious expression on his face.
"No Quirk," the guard reported. "No foreign material within him. Fingerprints, Facial patterns, and DNA matches to our data as well, Sir. It is Commando Rick."
This time, when Commander O'Brian sighed, it was the genuine one. "And here I thought I caught a big fish this time… There goes my promotion… Will need to retire as it is, I guess."
The guard's mouth twitched at that.
"Alright, carry on," Commander O'Brian said, chuckling.
When he went out, Rick was entering the guards' resting area, holding a cup of coffee.
"Did you notice anything odd out there?" Commander O'Brian asked, taking a cup of coffee himself.
Rick looked up, narrowing his eyes. Then, he shook his head. "No, Sir," he answered. "Pretty much the same. Dark and lonely."
Sharing a laugh, the two finished their coffee together, a guard handing over new comms to Rick meanwhile. Then, a Humvee parked itself outside, waiting to take Rick back to his post.
"A minute!" Rick shouted. Then, he looked at the Commander. "Bad timing for the coffee, Sir. Need to go to the bathroom…"
O'Brian nodded, smiling.
However, as he saw Rick walking to the bathroom, he secretly nodded at two guards.
Yes, it was still Rick — even all the Scans told him so. But there was a reason they still kept people like him here — to make sure nothing went wrong — to the very end!
Once in the bathroom, Rick came to a sudden rest in front of the toilet, clearly knowing the presence of guards outside the door.
But he didn't mind.
He didn't mind not taking off his pants.
He also didn't mind taking out a large knife and plunging it deep into his arm, drawing a bloody line, letting the blood drip into the toilet like urine.
Then, without any expression, as if he couldn't feel pain, he thrust his fingers into the wound and took out three balls of flesh.
The moment he took them out, he threw them out of the bathroom's open window.
And, even before the balls of fresh hit the concrete outside, they bulged, transforming into three people drenched in blood — The Apostles of Mr. Fool!
Phase I — Infiltration of LA Villains Detention Center — Success!!
********************
AN: Up to 60 more chapters are available in advance across three Tiers. [Use the link in my webnovel profile to access all options]
You can even subscribe Trial Tier for just 1 dollar to have an experience of exclusive chapters for an entire month. I hope a few of you will consider supporting the work.
100 Power Stones/day: +1 Bonus Chapter next day