8 Bit Glitch

Part 30~The Plan

Sneaking down the corridor, I peeked my head around the corner. The villains had gathered together the various heroes who were on patrol at the convention. Some were beaten up, a number were bleeding and they were all tied up and strapped to the floor.

Charlie's eyes widened as she stared at the line. "Mum..."

Blinking, I cursed my memory. Charlie's mum was a hero! She was here and she was attacked. She was curled over herself, bleeding and unconscious. "We'll get her back. We'll free all of them," I promised, gripping Charlie's shoulder as she nodded.

"Guys, look at that." Mark drew our attention back to the villains as Johnson walked in.

Gripping my fist tighter, my expression darkened. How dare they touch my mother. Denki noticed my tension, taking my hand and linking our fingers with the shiest smile ever. Sighing, I relaxed slightly, shuffling to get into a more comfortable position.

Johnson pushed mum into the line, much to Owl's confusion. Owl popped his head over Johnson's shoulder, leaning on him casually. "Why did you capture that one, Jonny?"

Johnson's eye twitch. "You didn't read the file did you?"

Owl stepped back, shuffling awkwardly. "Yes?"

Sighing, Johnson turned his attention back to mum. "She is Deku's mother, as long as we have her, he won't do anything stupid."

Owl blinked, only getting more confused. "But won't that just give him more reason to attack?"

Glaring at Owl, Johnson flicked the villain's forehead. "Stop thinking, you're not the brains of this operation."

Owl visibly deflated, lowering his head sadly.

Realising his mistake, Johnson sighed and turned back to Owl. "Sorry, I'm stressed and can't deal with lots of questions at the moment. I'm not angry with you, you're very smart."

Owl beamed, popping up as he cheered and tackled Johnson into a hug.

"I swear to Stain if you two are flirting and not getting your jobs done, I will hack your brains and torture from the inside out!"

Jumping from the noise that screamed from the speakers, we were reminded that the villain's boss still had the security system under her control. Ducking down, we shared a look. "Well, what's the plan?"

Kakashi hummed slightly, scratching his chin. "We need to deal with the boss first. We can't sneak up on the others if she can see us."

"And we need to help the civilians," Denki added with a concerned glint in his eyes. "Most were hurt during the first attack and need medical attention."

"I can do that. I had to learn first aid when I started working at the factory." We all turned to Mark who gave us a feisty look back. "Hey! I'm an adult, I have to work for my games, don't judge me."

Shaking off that fact, Charlie glanced back at her parents. "I'm getting my mum."

Nodding, there was no way either of us was doing anything else. "Kakashi should help Mark save the civilians. Keeping you out of their eyesight is imperative if we want to avoid a fight. Which means Denki is on the electrics." We all turned to Denki who started to fidget.

"I can fight, I can help here, not just go and turn off a switch." Denki pleaded to me as I smiled and took his hand.

"I know you can but it's not that simple. This place doesn't just have a simple switch. You'll need to turn off the main power source before heading to the basement and breaking back up generators. There are three backups. When one is broken, the room will go into lockdown and start removing oxygen from the air. You'll need to destroy all three at the same time or you'll die. I wish I didn't have to ask this of you, but you're the only one who can do it."

Denki's insult quickly turned to fear as he looked at me. Gulping, he lowered his head. "Okay, I'll do it."

Nodding proudly, I turned back to the group. "Alright, this is the plan. Firstly, we will split up. Denki will head off to the basement while Mark, Kakashi, Charlie and I will approach the main hall. Denki will turn off the main power giving us a minute gap where Kakashi will create a fog to hide our actions as Mark removes as many civilians as possible. Charlie and I will sneak to the backside of the line. Denki will go to the basement and overwhelm the generators with electricity, destroying them from outside the room. With the cameras disabled, we should be able to untie the heroes and get them out without the villains realising we are there. From that point, we will reconvene at the backstage which has a secret tunnel going underneath and to the nearby train station."

Holding up his hands, Mark interrupted me. "Hold up, since when did this place have a secret tunnel?"

"Does that really matter? It's not really a secret tunnel but rather train lines. The building was built on top of them. Once when I was little, I accidentally knocked over a speaker that went right through the floor. That's how we found out about them." I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly as they all stared at me. "I wasn't the most well-behaved kid."

Charlie sighed as she stood up. "Sounds like we've got our plan. We should go."

Nodding, I stood up, stretching my arms behind my head. "Right."

Slowly everyone stood up, walking to their positions. Denki gently stopped me, taking my hand with a shy expression on his face. "Please, be careful."

Smiling, I chuckled lightly. "Shouldn't I be saying that to you? After all, you're the one taking the most dangerous challenge." When my joke didn't lighten the mood, I pulled Denki into a tight hug. "Stay safe. I've already lost you once, I don't want to lose you again."

Denki sighed slightly, melting into my embrace. "Only if you do."

I didn't want to part with him, but it needed to be done. I held Denki at arms distance, stroking his cheek. "I'll see you backstage."

"Yeah. See you backstage."