NOVEL NEXT Welcome the Phantom 5.
Gru's eyes were wide as he saw Lucy get out of the flying car - which is now parked in the courtyard of the mansion - and run towards him. She quickly appeared near Gru,
"I am back!!!" Lucy cheerfully exclaimed but then she noticed the condition Gru was in. An expression of tiredness and multiple bruises and wounds could be seen on Gru. Lucy's face had a worried expression as she bent down and checked on Gru.
"Are you okay?! What happened to you?" She asked as her hand caressed Gru's face tenderly. She took out a handkerchief and started wiping off the dirt on his face.
While Lucy and Gru were sharing their moment, Night Slash came out of the car with Mr. Fantastic, La Brava, and Kaina (Previously Lady Nagant).
They moved towards Knuckleduster but stopped at a distance from him when a horrendous stench invaded their noses.
"You went to a gay orgy and didn't take a shower or what? You smell like shit!!" Night Slash yelled as the foul smell of surströmming came from Knuckleduster. the other teammates pinched their noses and made some more distance from him.
"I used this smell to defeat El Macho," Knuckleduster said in an indifferent tone as he ignored Night Slash's comment. They looked at the unconscious El Macho lying in the courtyard.
"Yeah... This smell is enough to kill an elephant. But put that aside for now, What I want to ask you is, Now what?" Night Slash asked.
"What?" Knuckleduster showed a confused expression.
"Now what? I mean the perpetrator is caught. Eventually, the AVL will find the serum. So what do we do now?" Night Slash asked.
"Isn't there the organization that we have to kill for buying all the triggers? We will deal with them... You remember Giran's mission?"
"I clearly remember that, Mr. Smarty Pants. But you were supposed to find some clues about them and you didn't do that. Now we don't have any clue about them. So that is what I am asking, What to do now to find that organization?"
"Ooh~ That's what you were asking... Then the answer will be... I don't know" Knuckleduster said and started walking towards Gru.
Night Slash sighed and also walked towards the group near the airship.
...
"Lucy... How are you alive? I mean I saw you tied to the missile and the missile flew off," Gru asked Lucy.
"You won't believe it!! I mean there was a flying car but there was no propulsion jet then there was magic and stuff you know. The thing is here and then *WHOOP* It's gone!!" Lucy tried to explain but her usual flamboyant tone prevented her from doing so.
"Wait Wait Wait... One thing at a time," Gru stopped her.
"Yeah Yeah... So it happened like this,"
....
[After the Missile was launched]
A red missile was flying in the skies at a great speed, making its way towards an Active Volcano. Its purpose was obvious which was to go inside the mouth of that Volcano. But it also had another purpose. That was to send the passengers on the missile to the same destination.
The passengers were Lucy and a dead Shark. Well, the shark was alive before the launch of the missile but soon died.
Now Lucy was the only one left alive on the missile but she was just a few moments away from meeting the shark in heaven.
She had a heavy heart as emotions flooded out when she was near her end. She started remembering all the good memories of her life. After remembering her childhood memories - which were not that special in general but were special to her - She started remembering some recent good memories that she made in her first mission.
She met Gru, became friends but after that night where they talked about random things and bitched about Knuckleduster, the night filled with laughter. She knew the dynamic of the relationship has changed but she was afraid that the thing may become awkward if she rushed in her interpretation and thought that Gru likes her. So she kept things like they used to be. They stayed friends.
But now when the end is near, she is regretting that she didn't say anything about how she felt to Gru.
While she was having her moment of remorse, She heard the honking of a car. She thought she was listening to things but when she turned her head she saw a car flying next to the missile.
"Hey Gorl, Need a ride?" A man in a black suit, sitting on the driving seat, asked.
...
[Present]
"Then he touched the missile and the missile disappeared with the Shark. After that, the guy with white hair made the air elastic so I didn't fall down into the ocean. Then they brought me here in their flying car." Lucy completed her explanation.
Gru looked at the approaching Night Slash. He knew that the guy approaching him is serious trouble. He is thankful that he saved Lucy but that's all. He doesn't want any more interaction with this bunch of Vigilantes. He already got enough with this investigation
"Thank You for saving Lucy," Gru thanked Night Slash.
Night Slash stopped in his tracks, "No need. We saved her as we found her on our way here and by the way thanks for the shark." Night Slash said and looked at El Macho.
"Is he dead?" He asked.
"No. We need the antidote first to revert him back to normal and then we can kill him. In his current form, not even a missile can scratch him," Knuckleduster explained.
Night Slash started moving towards El Macho,
"Now what you are up to, Gaylord?" Knuckleduster yelled at Night Slash.
"Well, I think I can kill him without the antidote. The only thing I need is 'Time,'" Night Slash turned his head and said to Knuckleduster.
Knuckleduster sighed at his weird team leader and then turned to Kaina.
"What are you doing here? Weren't you tasked to kill the villains in Hosu?" He asked Kaina. He really didn't trust Kaina still after her participation in Villain-Slaughter Week and Evidence Formation.
Kaina showed a slight smile on her beautiful face but it was not charming. The smile on her face was of smugness, "Well, The Villain-Slaughter Week, as you call it, has ended. I overdid it and all the big villains in Hosu are now 6-feet under the ground. So~ I went to Musutafu to kill some more villains and did a decent job there. In 3 days, I completed the mission."
Knuckleduster was irked by the smug expression on her face, "You know what you did? You killed all of the villains in such a short time... You shouldn't have done that. Now this will create a huge shitstorm of the police searching for us and news media running to find anything related to the team."
"So what? Doesn't the name suggest Slaughter of the Villains for a week? So I just slaughtered all of the villains I could find in Hosu whose names were on the list. I don't see a problem here?... Or are you jealous of my achievements in Japan while you in America were unable to find a single clue to the organization which was your main mission and called the entire team just to clean an unconscious enemy which is not even related to the team's mission?" Kaina folded her hands as she looked straight into Knuckleduster's eyes.
He and Kaina were now standing in a confrontation without saying anything. Knuckleduster narrowed his eyes but Kaina didn't falter. Some moments later, Knuckleduster broke the silence between them,
"I want to ask you two things."
"Go Ahead" Kaina tilted her head a little but the eye contact didn't break off.
"Are you really a member of the team or do you have any ulterior motive?" He asked.
The smile on her face only widened, "If I had any ulterior motive, I am sure the team leader who can do so many things which now includes making a car fly, would easily find about that. But answering your question. No, I don't have any ulterior motive in joining Night Raid. I am only doing this as an act of redemption for the heinous crimes I did under the curtain of Justice."
Content with the answer Knuckleduster asked the second question,
"Who is this Shido you are trying to find?"
As soon the question came out of his mouth, the proud smug smile and strong demeanor on her face faltered for a short moment but she quickly regained her demeanor but now there was a serious expression on her face instead of the smug smile she was showing earlier.
"You shouldn't look into others' things Oguro-san. I think such values are known to an aged man like you,"
"I know... but you see, I do some childish things like reading a file on the table which is full of people with the name Shido, their location, and their other details. So answer me properly this time... Who is this Shido and why are you trying to find him," Knuckleduster pressed Kaina for an answer.
When Kaina was about to answer Knuckleduster's question. They heard a shout,
"FUCK!!!"
...
[A few moments earlier]
Night Slash looked at the unconscious El Macho and he crouched down. He then touched El Macho's purple skin. It was like normal skin, not too rough or hard like a rock. He took out a knife and tried to stab El Macho and the results were striking for him. The knife shattered as it made contact with the skin.
He knew PX-41 serum granted a high resistance which makes the body nearly indestructible to a lot of means of attack. But the upper limit of the damage which can be taken is unknown. He knows that the body can take missiles head-on without any damage. Seeing this in real fascinated him as even his body is not resistant to bullets and knives.
He sighed and moved his hand towards El Macho.
Night Slash was about to fuse his hands and use {Law of Time} to revert El Macho to his normal form but before he could do that, a black metal ball suddenly appeared near him out of nowhere. It had a red light blinking.
*Beep* *Beep*
"FUCK!!!" Night Slash shouted and jumped back.
...
[Present]
*BOOM*
The sound of the explosion was heard by all and they turned to look to find what happened. They saw Night Slash standing against a plume of smoke with a katana out and an Uzi aimed at the smoke. Knuckleduster used his quirk to quickly reach beside Night Slash.
Kaina and Danjuro also rushed towards them. La Brava made her way to Gru's group as she is not a combatant.
As the smoke started fading, 5 silhouettes could be seen standing behind the smoke.
"♩ Bang Bang Bang Bang
The skies just sang
The Deadman's Anthem♩"
The team tensed up and took a fighting stance.
"♩ A Savage Heart
The Lord of the Dark
The Phantom ♩"
The smoke faded away revealing 5 people standing in front of the unconscious body of El Macho.
A man wearing a hoodie and a gas mask with big black glass on it, standing in the center. Another man standing to the right of the man in the center. He had a sword strapped to his waist and looked like a robot as he had cybernetic-looking legs and torso. On the right of this guy stood a metal giant with 3 slits on a place where normally should be a face.
On the left of the man standing in the center were two beautiful girls. One was wearing a thin tactical suit and had a toned body while the other girl was wearing a casual dress but the most striking feature was her black hair and white/silver eyes. She had a feminine and thin body.
Night Slash without any hesitation started shooting the newcomers with the Uzi. He just pulled the trigger and didn't release it as if he was intending to empty the clip on them.
One of the 5 came forward. He had a red sword in his hands and a toothpick in his mouth. He took a stance, closed his eyes, and readied his sword.
When the bullets reached near him, Current started passing through the red blade of the sword. He then made a swing so fast that it was invisible to untrained eyes and put the sword in its sheath. After that, all the bullets fell down and now were cut in half.
The man went back to his previous position right of the man with the gas mask.
"Fuuu~ Quite the aggressive person you are... I don't think we have done anything to warrant such an action from you." The man with the gas mask said to Night Slash.
"I felt like doing it. I don't think it was an inconvenience for you or was it?" Night Slash said bitterly as he was a bit angry with that bomb act.
"Oh~ No No No It wasn't a big problem... And you know what? I like that attitude of yours... But let's put that aside for now. Allow us to introduce ourselves first. I am Genesis," The man in the gas mask or Genesis introduced himself.
"On my left is Caos. Her eyes are beautiful, aren't they... Well, let's move on... On her left is Breeze. She is a good girl." Genesis then turned to his right.
"On my right is this dude. His name is Jetstream. Cool guy and a very good drinking buddy. And on his right is NRG. Stern from the outside but a soft guy on the inside, just like his suit. And You have already met El Macho. He is a nice guy too. You know the Good Uncle that everyone has in their family... No! Not the molesting one. They also seem good a first but I am talking about the actually good uncle. Yeah, he is like that," Genesis then turned to face Night Raid.
"And we are the Phantom 5..." Genesis said with his arms spread.
"Now I know, I know that you must be wondering that 'there are 6 people and the team is called Phantom 5' So let me tell you. Caos is technically not a team member but she is my assistant so she follows me everywhere so we look like we are a team of 6 but actually we are 5 people in Phantom 5...Me, Breeze, Jetstream, NRG, and El Macho. So yeah Phantom 5
I know gender diversity is bad in my team but what can I do about it? Tell me huh? Your team's gender diversity is a tad bit good than me but... Come on..." Genesis went on with his explanation and questions.
Knuckleduster slightly leaned towards Night Slash, "He is a lot like you. He talks a lot of shit, just like you. Do we even need to take him seriously? He looks like a nutjob to me, Just like you." Knuckleduster whispered.
"I heard that!! I heard that!! You, Mr. Bandana I heard what you said!!" Genesis pointed at Knuckleduster and shouted.
"So What?!" Knuckleduster yelled back.
This made Genesis shut up, "Hmmm Good Question... So What?... So What? So What? What should I do? What could I have done?" He then started mumbling the same question again and again in different tones.
Now Night Slash and the rest of the team thought that this man is a nutjob. But their perception of him changed as soon as it formed when they heard what the supposed nutjob said.
"What should I do? Maybe nuke the country... No No No... It has already been done before... It will look repetitive... Maybe an airstrike... Nah... Too bland," But then he raised his head excitement,
"Yes!! I got it... I should use the PX-41 serum and the huge amount of trigger that I bought from Japan to smash the US down to smithereens. Umm... Actually that was the plan, wasn't it?"