Lightning Serenade

Chapter 90: Fields XII

"This is fine," Takaga mocked in a high voice, unrestrained and unintimidated by the other agents in the room, not bothering to look up from where he was tapping away at his phone. "The League of Villains will take care of Chargebolt for us, just like they offed Hawks."

The agent he was quoting was sinking down in his seat, face reddening, eyes darting around, desperate for someone to jump in and defend him. No one did.

"Play it again," Nato demanded, eyes trailing up to the big screen as Takaga tapped on his screen, the projected screen following phantom touches of his fingertips against his own phone. Each time he watched the video, he saw something new, a new detail that he had missed the previous thousand watches.

The video was already viral on TikTok and started off by showing the profile of infamous villain Shigaraki, lounging on a couch, yelling into his headset as he pressed buttons on his controller, intensely involved in some kind of zombie fighting game on the screen in front of him. While the music said, "the first man's name was Kiki. He wore such little pants. His brother was the champion, but Kiki loved to dance," the text on the screen read, "the first man's name was High5UrDead. He's the leader of the League of Villains, but also loved to game."

It was a shocking start, catching anyone who saw it off-guard. Seeing a villain on TikTok was really rare. Even the ones who were confident that their technology couldn't be tracked were paranoid enough about what could be disconcerted from their backgrounds that they rarely risked it. When they did, it was a low-level villain; it was never as someone as well known as the leader of the League of Villains. Not until now.

Another thing that was sure to catch people off-guard was the music. The silly, up-beat music was not the tone that one would set to indicate that they were going to ransom off a hero they had just captured, or maybe announce that hero's demise, which was probably the point seeing as to where the rest of the video led.

The screen switched to show Chargebolt, playing the same game, also talking into his headset, very much alive and not tied up and gagged if the video was to be believed. While the music said, "the second man was Choo-Choo, a master of romance. He loved the damsel in distress, but not as much as dance," the text on the screen read, "the second man was P05itiv3R3volt, a hero student by chance. He loved to save the innocent, and unknowingly game with villains."

The screen switched to show the news broadcasts and newspaper articles of when Denki was taken from the training camp by the League of Villains. The music blared through the speakers, causing some of the agents near the front to wince. Served them right in Nato's mind. When Takaga didn't turn down the volume, he once again made a mental reminder to really push for a raise for him. "And then one day, it happened, they went off to the world, they went onto a journey, idolized by the boys and girls. They learned so many lessons, in all the foreign lands, but no matter where they wound up, they never stopped the dance," while the text on-screen read, "and then one day, it happened. The League kidnapped the wrong hero student and ended up with Chargebolt instead. An unsteady peace was accomplished when Chargebolt recognized one of the members, and a temporary truce was called."

The screen changed once again to show Shigaraki and Chargebolt gaming right next to each other. "One day inside the station, in Amsterdam, perchance, the men were dancing side-by-side by the man with the crooked glance. They turned to face each other, it was just happenstance, that these two men would meet that day, and do that fateful dance." The agents' eyes trailed across the screen to read, not for the first time, but still in disbelief, "one day in Shigaraki's room, playing videogames, perchance, Chargebolt offered to play a game to work out a deal to protect his friends. They played the game, the order came, and Chargebolt shot the enemy down. They turned to face each other, it was just happenstance, that these two men would game that day and play that fateful match."