Dear Heroes, I really am a Villain-Chapter 74: Theodore & The Iron Tusk Chief

Switch noticed it, but she couldn’t do anything to stop it. The plane was too fast for her to intercept its data to wipe out whatever data it took from here.

"Shit... now we’re in trouble," Switch spat in frustration.

"The spy plane?" Dragon Fist asked.

"Yes, that’s the one. I think the military back in the city must’ve picked up the seismic activity from the Behemoth and sent someone to investigate. We’re going to get held up and questioned for weeks because of this," she complained with an exhausted sigh.

"You don’t need to worry. Let’s get to any outpost outside the mutant territory first. I have a solution," Dragon Fist said confidently.

— A Day Later – 20 Kilometers West of Old Manhattan —

At the devastated site where the Behemoth had fallen, clear traces of battle remained, evidence of a clash between the Iron Tusk Tribe mutants and the UEC military.

The ground was scarred with pockmarks and scorch marks from heavy weapons, missiles, and artillery. Corpses from both sides, mutants and UEC military personnel, lay scattered across the battlefield. Both sides had taken casualties.

However, a truce had already been established between the leaders of both factions.

Theodore, who harbored no love for mutants, wore a sour expression, like he had just swallowed a fly, as he reluctantly shook hands with the Iron Tusk Chief, the leader of the Iron Tusk Tribe.

But since this was mutant territory, and he didn’t want to waste more of his men’s lives on a conflict that could be resolved with just a simple talk, he would begrudgingly tolerate these human-eating beasts.

Strauss, who had been called here by Theodore as a consultant, stepped out of the helicopter. He was accompanied by another hero assigned to protect him.

This time, it was a hero clad in a black armored suit. She wore a black mask with a dark visor, letting her fiery red hair flow freely like a burning river. A short sword was strapped behind her waist, and a handgun was holstered at her side. Her gauntlets appeared to be high-tech gadgets, likely capable of deploying something extraordinary.

The hero in black didn’t say a word, silently following behind Strauss, giving off an aura of mystery.

"Fort Commander," Strauss greeted, shaking hands with Theodore, then gave a curt nod to the Iron Tusk Tribe Chief. "Chief," he acknowledged shortly.

"Mr. Strauss, I know you’re very busy, but please take a look at this," Theodore said, handing a tablet to Strauss.

The tablet displayed a series of photos taken of the Behemoth’s front left leg. The images showed clear signs of muscle and skin ruptured from the inside, and the blood had visible traces of liquefied tissue.

"What am I looking at?" Strauss asked with a serious expression.

"It’s an injury caused by a human intruder... a very powerful one," the Iron Tusk Chief answered.

"We initially guessed it was the work of a Leviathan-class creature," Theodore added.

"No. It was a human. My people saw it with their own eyes. And you need to give us an answer for this destruction," the Chief said in a threatening tone.

"Give you an answer? What, you want us to hand over our people?" Theodore’s temper flared the moment he heard the Chief’s demand.

"It is only just," the Chief replied calmly.

"Heh! ’Only just’?" Theodore scoffed and continued, "If a human really caused this, instead of handing them over to you, I’d give them a medal!"

"You are unreasonable, human!" the Chief growled.

"You think I want to reason with a man-eating beast like you? If it weren’t for the Central Command, I would’ve already bombed you back to the Stone Age!" Theodore barked back fiercely.

"Fort Commander, please calm down. We still need to uphold the basic integrity of the truce we’ve negotiated," Strauss said in a composed tone. Though reluctant, Theodore forced himself to calm down, knowing Strauss was from Central Command.

"Back to the matter at hand," Strauss continued. "There are several heroes capable of inflicting this kind of injury, but none of them are currently in Arkadia City-state or anywhere nearby."

He paused and looked at Theodore.

"To my knowledge, there’s no weapon in the UEC arsenal that could cause this kind of wound. So we can rule out UEC military involvement. That leaves us with two possibilities."

"First, it could be a villain who came here to stir up trouble. But based on available data, there’s no known villain in the region capable of this. However, the information could be outdated. It’s possible someone infiltrated without our knowledge.

Second, it may have been caused by an unregistered individual—someone we now need to investigate," Strauss explained calmly.

Hearing Strauss’s explanation, Theodore took the tablet from his hand, swiped through a few images, and handed it back.

"Do you recognize these three?" Theodore asked, pointing at a photo taken by the spy plane.

On the screen was an image of three individuals—two men and one woman—running away from the scene.

"Huh? This..." Strauss frowned, leaning in closer to examine the image.

"You know them?" the Chief asked.

Strauss frowned deeper, then silently handed the tablet back to Theodore.

"I’m sorry, Fort Commander, Chief. I don’t know who they are," said Strauss.

"I see... too bad," Theodore replied with disappointment. "I suppose I’ll have to search for them myself." He then lightly patted Strauss on the shoulder. "Thank you very much, Officer Strauss. You should head back, I heard you’re very busy."

"Thank you, Fort Commander," Strauss nodded, then walked back to the waiting helicopter.

The helicopter’s engines roared to life, and the rotor began to spin before it lifted off into the sky.

Inside the helicopter, the hero in black looked over at Strauss.

"The truth is... You do know them, right?" she asked.

"Only two of them, Ms. Onyx Blade. The first one is Dragon Fist—our registered hero currently on probation. And the other... the other is the brother of a villain who’s been operating quietly in Arkadia City," Strauss replied.

"Oh? That villain? The one you asked me to investigate?" Onyx Blade asked.

"Yes. Other than the possibility that he was trained by our top black ops operatives, possesses incredible close-quarters combat skills, is ruthless, and has an EF ability that can drain energy, we know almost nothing about him. We don’t know the full extent of his EF, whether CQC and infiltration are his only specialties, and most importantly, why he became a villain instead of choosing to be a hero," Strauss said gravely.

"What makes you think he chose not to be a hero?" Onyx Blade asked.

"His actions... he’s very unpredictable," Strauss replied.

"How so?"

Strauss didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he handed a tablet to Onyx Blade for her to peruse. It contained all the data and analysis Strauss had compiled on Maximilian.

Onyx Blade took the tablet and began reading through it, preparing for the mission she had been assigned.

— Meanwhile – ??? Outpost —

Within the safety of the walled outpost, Maximilian sat on the porch of a traditional Chinese-style window, overlooking the bustling settlement below.

The place was full of mercenaries and contracted hunters working around the clock to hunt mutated beasts beyond the borders of the city. This outpost was located 30 kilometers outside the mutant territory. Large mutated creatures were regularly hauled in by various armored trucks, and a few registered heroes under the outpost’s employ ensured the valuable cargo made it safely into the city.

God only knows how much money this outpost makes each day. From what Maximilian knew, mutated beast meat had become something of a delicacy in this world, and this outpost was responsible for hunting them and shipping them off to high-end restaurants and luxury hotels inside the Arkadia City-State.

"Grandmaster, what do you think of this place? Is it so fascinated that you didn’t even catch a wink of sleep after we had arrived?" a familiar voice asked from behind Maximilian, who was watching the hunters and mercenaries hard at work below.

He was seated at the residence of the outpost’s owner, high up on the top floor, far removed from the hectic and noisy scene beneath him.

"In a way... yes," said Maximilian as he stepped down from the porch and stood.

"Oh, if Grandmaster likes this place, I’ll speak with the elders about transferring it under your name," Dragon Fist said with a smile.

"Huh? This place is yours?" Maximilian asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"Not exactly mine, but it’s one of the properties under my family," Dragon Fist replied with a wry smile. "Otherwise, how else could I bring you here to rest?"

[Don’t tell me the reason you’re staying up all night instead of resting... is because you don’t trust that this place is safe? (￣Д￣）]

{....}

[So... I was right, huh?]

"Hey, when are we going back? I can’t wait to put a bullet in that bastard Doc’s ass anymore," Switch said as she walked into the room, looking at Maximilian.

Switch was now wearing a fresh set of clothes, her back deliberately left bare to accommodate the heat sink embedded there.