Just as a shocked Luke disappeared after hearing the matter of the first Radiant, a plane left the USA's skies, heading for Japan.
It was a military aircraft, flanked by over a dozen fighter jets.
Within the aircraft, Alex eyed Stain, separated by a thick layer of glass. The Villain was wrapped in a white piece of cloth in an upright position, with several collars around his neck, wrists, waist, and ankles, all containing the Quirk Suppression Drugs.
In the white-walled room, the cyan glow of the drug made the Villain's face take on a ghostly look.
But that wasn't the most striking detail regarding Stain's imprisonment.
It was the rhythmic rise and fall of his flesh under the white piece of cloth.
To Alex, it looked like Stain's entire body was a lake on the mouth of a volcano, its water boiling… hinting at an imminent eruption.
"Will you just keep staring at him or what?"
Alex looked over his shoulder and found Christopher Skyline and his sidekick, Skycrawler, walking toward him.
"What are you two doing here?" Alex asked.
"Haha!" Captain Celebrity laughed. "I captured him! So, it's only right that I will be the one taking him to Japan."
Standing next to him, Koichi's mouth twitched. He looked up at the huge, old man and explained, "I am originally from Japan. Mr. Christopher has also been to the country many years ago. So, the Chief of the Hero Department saw it right to send us because of our familiarity with Japan's Heroes."
Alex scoffed. "Balls!" he cursed. "What are you two truly doing here?"
For the first time, the big smile on Christopher's face flickered, and even Koichi's face blanked.
"… Two Villains who were with Stain got away that day, Alex," the top-ranked Hero said with a determined tone. "I am assigned the task to find them and bring them to justice. Unlike you, I am not going there as a showpiece. No offense."
So, they don't know about my true mission… Alex confirmed, seeing Christopher not mentioning the Cyborg at all. "None taken. And how will you do it? Walk across that little country and ask someone to show you the way?"
He obviously took offense… Koichi held back another twitch on his mouth.
"That is classified," Captain Celebrity said, the corners of his lips arching up. "Just so you know… we already have a lead. Come Koichi. Let me introduce you to the hostesses properly."
As Christopher began walking out with his arm around a blushing Koichi's shoulders, Alex looked back at Stain again.
"Say, Chris…" he said, making the official Heroes stop. "Did you sense something odd when we captured Stain?"
Captain Celebrity looked over his shoulder and smirked. "Of course! Beating the shit out of Villains always makes me… Haha!"
As the sliding door closed behind him, Alex kept quiet for some time.
At one moment, Stain's capture by two powerful Heroes indeed looked like an ordinary and logical outcome, no matter how powerful the Villain had become, contrary to the reports on him from Japan.
However, Alex couldn't help but still feel something was amiss.
Was it because of the vanished prisoner?
Was it because of Dr. Blessed's non-Villain-like behavior?
Was it because of Singularity's silence and Stain's obvious Conformitybacking?
The Radiant of Gravity just couldn't put his finger on what was troubling him as he looked at the Villain.
Suddenly, the silently lying Villain opened his eyes and… smirked.
"… Bastard!" Alex cursed, noticing the bloody glow in Stain's eyes. "One way or another, I will figure out what you are up to…"
…
Stain felt like there were many of him inside one body.
His flesh didn't feel like it belonged to him. His thoughts were in disarray. His vision felt clouded as memories of unknown beings kept flashing in his mind.
As if that wasn't enough, he was… dividing.
Every moment, it felt like many little Stains would come bursting out of his body and hack him to death.
"How long… will it continue?" Stain mumbled, his mouth barely moving.
[You assimilated too many Quirks, too soon.] Conformity's whisper rang in Stain's mind. [Your Spirituality is rejecting the foreign power, making you mutate. That's why I told you not to go after any more Nomus, until you safely made the first Nomu's powers yours.]
Alex's odd feelings weren't unfounded.
Unknown to both him and Christopher, Stain hadn't lost to them, but… he had allowed himself to be captured.
During the Detention Center incident, Stain was pushed into devouring a dying Nomu, consuming its Quirks.
However, there had been a reason that the leader of The Claws of Conformity hadn't asked All For One for more Nomus to strengthen himself.
First, the very ability of assimilating more Quirks was unnatural, a boon bestowed upon him by Conformity.
Second, unlike All For One, Stain's body and Quirk weren't suited to holding several Quirks.
With every new Quirk, he stood a chance to mutate on the spot, becoming an obscenity.
Ever since he had gained the Quirks of Lower Tier Nomu, Stain had been allowing his body to get used to them.
During the recent battle, though, he was forced to assimilate more Quirks — and that, too, of a Near High End Nomu.
The changes to his body had started right at that time, as made clear by a boost in his Muscle Rope Quirk.
However, those changes hadn't stopped there, unnaturally deforming his body while his battle with Christopher, who ignored them, thinking them to be just an effect of Stain's Quirks.
It was then that Conformityhad dropped bad news, forcing Stain to give himself up.
Because he needed the Quirk Suppression Drugs to suppress his own mutations.
[Give it some time…] Conformity's whispers entered Stain's ears like the strike of rusty blades. [A few months, perhaps. Then… you will come out — stronger than ever.]
"…And the Sinner will keep getting stronger meanwhile!" Stain hissed.
[Kekeke…] Conformity cackled. [Do not worry about the traitor. He will be too occupied to think about anything else…]
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