A chance encounter (Otome)

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It was an interesting thing to say, getting jumped by a famous hero. As far as Otome was concerned neither of them had done anything that warranted getting jumped by a hero. At the very least apart from Lavande she was sure no one else was around when she beat up the runner dangling from her tails. Was the admin implying that she was infamous enough to be jumped by a hero on sight even if she wasn't doing anything villainous at the time? What an annoying and troublesome life that would be. Otome would hate to become someone like that. She liked her peace and quiet outside of villain work thank you very much.

She entered the shop, bloody guy in tow, but she found that she couldn't get past the back room without moving things around. It wasn't because her tails were too big to let her through. The way was quite literally blocked. Shelves were knocked down. Boxes were scattered all over. The contents of several bags were spilled open, some of which she recognized as tea. In the hour or so that she left the shop after making her purchase, someone had raided the place and made a big mess.

There was no point in just standing around. With the aid of her tails it was easy enough to clear a path to the front. She made sure not to disturb things as much as possible however and only moved what was necessary to let her pass through. There was no guarantee that who ever did all this had already left though, and so she cautiously opened the door leading to the front of the shop in case there were unsavory people still there waiting.

It was dark but she couldn't hear or sense anyone present. Her hand felt around a bit for the light switch and upon finding it flipped it open. The main store was just as messed up as the back room. The shutters of the shop were closed hence why it was so dark. Obviously no one passing by outside would have any idea what was going on in there and would just assumed the shop closed early or something. There was no sign of the shopkeeper but there were signs of a struggle at the counter. Were they dragged out? Since the front was shut tight, they probably entered and exited from the back. But that would mean...

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From a nearby building a couple of lookouts spotted that two unknown girls just showed up at the shop they were staking out. They did not find what they were looking for when they raided the place just a while ago and the shopkeeper was refusing to talk. The girls didn't look like ordinary people though and so they alerted the muscle on standby to go after them. They might have some idea where the drugs were.

Five thugs would emerge from the building, armed with knives and batons, and make their way to the shop to apprehend the so-called girls. One of their two targets entered the building but they would catch her too when she came back out. For now they would start with the one left outside.

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To her surprise rather than wait outside Lavande followed right after her into the shop. Otome didn't mind but that meant she had to be extra mindful of where her tails were at. Such was her disadvantage in closed and cramped locations. The admin even offered to help move things around but it wasn't necessary. Speaking of disadvantage however, realizing what had happened in the shop, Otome figured it wouldn't be good for them to stay long. More than likely it was being watched by whoever raided the place and it would be bad to get caught inside where she couldn't move around as freely.

"We should head back out. I wasn't expecting this, but it doesn't seem like it would do me any good to linger here. This is turning out to be a bigger mess than I thought."

All she wanted was a little payback at the ones who troubled her, but she didn't want to get involved in an underworld conflict at all. Unfortunately she had already walked right into it. She silently cursed her own misjudgment and switched her focus to figuring out what to do from here on.

Returning to the back room however, she suddenly heard movement from outside like rushed footsteps. Did they think Otome and Lavande were deaf? It was a little too obvious. But at the same time Otome let out a sigh of relief that the ambush was waiting for them outside. It would have been a pain if they went in and came at them indoors.

"That sounds like uninvited guests. Well, I suppose in this case we were the ones who were uninvited."

She stared at the door and pondered to think. There was no use anymore for the guy she was carrying around. Those people outside were probably his comrades so she basically found them already. She figured she ought to give him one last role.

She gestured to Lavande to stand back a bit as she 'winded up' her tail that was wrapped around the unconscious guy. And then with all her might she would throw him through the back door, smashing it open and startling the party waiting outside. Normally they would have taken this as the cue to rush inside, but recognizing the bloodied man that came flying out they hesitated for a moment. Otome would use this opening.

Streamlining the rest of her tails into a missile-like shape, she would use two tails throw herself forward through the open doorway and out into the alley, getting past the 'ambush' and breaking away from their formation. She counted five of them, armed with various weapons. It was time to do a little cleaning.

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There were five people before her but Otome was sure there was at least someone else spying on them from somewhere. That was the only way they could have sent people there to ambush them so soon after they arrived at the shop. Perhaps they were watching from one of the buildings. In that case she had to be a little careful. She positioned seven of her tails in a semi-sphere like shape covering her back, sides, and top, leaving her with two tails to fight with. There was simple enough reason for doing so. None of the thugs in front had anything particularly threatening on them. Not to mention Lavande was coming from the other direction to help too. Meanwhile anyone attacking from afar or behind would either have guns or some long range quirk. That's what she was being careful about.

Already in disarray, Otome found herself taking advantage of their poorly planned ambush by grabbing their attention as much as possible. To their assailants her current tail formation might have looked a little intimidating, despite its true purpose being defensive in nature. Her two tails kept the two closest men occupied. She was honestly putting in effort into striking them down quickly but they were stubborn and so it would take several swipes before she could overcome them and knock the weapons off their hands and subjecting them to a beating. Hopefully her new acquaintance would help take care of the others too.

It was around then that she finally remembered why she returned to the shop in the first place. She was looking for answers on who was responsible for spoiling her day. Walking over to one of the downed thugs she spoke.

"So, who do you work for and why are you after this shop and its customers? One of your boys stole from me you know. Or at least tried to. That was a very very very bad idea..."

At this point Otome would normally proceed with her torture play to get them to talk, but she would find herself interrupted by the sound of a gunshot from behind followed by the rare sense of pain. Someone had taken a shot at her like she feared. Fortunately it wasn't too big a caliber of firearm. She guessed it was a pistol from how she only got a bruise. Talk about small time.

"This is such a pain..."

She signed and turned around, shifting her defensive formation to the front as she started walking towards the building where the gunshot came from. Perhaps not convinced at the sturdiness of Otome's tails they shot at her a couple more times. She grit her teeth and bore with it. It wasn't that bad, but it had certainly been a while since anyone hurt her like that. And they were going to regret it. Upon reaching the door, she smashed it wide open with a single strike from her tails. She then heard panicked scrambling from the floor above. She wasn't letting anyone get away.

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It wasn't too hard to find the people she wanted to talk to. She simply had to follow the sounds of footsteps on the wooden floor. It was an older building so things creaked wherever they went. Arriving at the room in question, she smashed open the door with one of her tails and stumbled upon two men standing, one with a gun and another with a knife. The knife was held at the neck of a third man gagged and tied to a chair. He was bruised and battered all over but Otome recognized him as the shopkeeper from earlier in the day. He was unconscious but alive for the most part.

'Are you with this guy!?! He wouldn't spill the beans on the drugs... but maybe you will. If you tell us what you know and back-off, he gets to live!'

An idiot finally made it clear what all this was about. Drugs? Otome couldn't care less. These were the guys responsible for ruining her day and they were going to pay for it. Simple as that. As for the shopkeeper, she owed him nothing. She paid the fair price for her purchase and that was that. She had no other obligations to him. If he was stupid enough to get involved in this mess and lost his life because of it, then she just had to find another supplier. If anything she was rating him negatively now for getting her caught up in all this when she was just an innocent customer.

"No no no, that doesn't matter at all..."

With barely any warning Otome's tails stretched across the room, striking and pinning both of the armed men against the wall. The pain and surprise caused the man with a knife to drop his weapon. Meanwhile the gunman fired off a few shots wildly but hit nothing before another tail of Otome's would just go an crush his wrist, making him drop the dangerous weapon. Both men winced in pain as Otome slowly walked closer, her tails constantly applying pressure and making it hard for them to breathe.

"So which one of you two is the ringleader of this little group?"

Both men stared at each other with panicked looks as if trying to pin the other. This went on for a few seconds and eventually Otome had enough. Suddenly the gunman found himself thrown out the window with a loud crash and falling on the ground below with a splat from several stories high. Hopefully Lavande wasn't out there and got hit or anything by a random man getting tossed out of the building. But yes since they couldn't make up their minds, Otome decided for them.

"Congratulations! Now you're in charge."

She squeezed the man even tighter.

"So are you the top of this little group or are you working for someone bigger perhaps?"

It was a silly question. The only way guys like him could survive in this world was working for someone higher up. But she was curious if he was the type to talk.

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The sound of someone approaching from behind startled Otome for a bit. She almost nearly reacted with her tails. Thankfully it was just Lavande following after her. She wasn't normally this jumpy but she did assume there was no one else on this floor and so if she had been wrong about that someone could have sneaked up on her unexpectedly.

"Ah, right you were here. Sorry for leaving you behind earlier."

She would briefly apologize before turning her attention back on her target. It seemed his panic levels increased when he saw that both Otome and Lavande were already up there. To him that meant that their whole team was practically wiped out by these two girls. Otome was obviously a quirker and it wouldn't be surprising if Lavande was too. In the end he lost the will to resist.

'Just kill me already... I dunno if you're from a rival organization or what. The higher ups will kill us anyway for this blunder.'

Was this honor among thieves? This was a first for Otome who was used to lowlifes breaking easily enough after sufficient pain or blatant threats to their life. This guy was small-time but he was a bit different from the others. She relaxed the hold her her tails, allowing him to drop to the ground, his back propped up against the wall. He would cough up blood and smile as he looked up at the two.

"Is something funny?"

The man didn't reply. Instead with what little ounce of strength he had left he suddenly scrambled for the knife that he dropped on the floor earlier. Otome quickly pinned him down on his back with one of her tails, thinking he was still trying to resist but that wasn't it. With his arms still free, he quickly slit his wrists and started laughing like a madman as he began to bleed out.

Otome released the hold of her tail. He was a lost cause now. Shaking her head she turned around to address Lavande. Come to think of it, she dragged her new acquaintance into quite a bit of trouble today. Of course she had offered of her own volition to come along in the first place. But still Otome still felt she could have showed her a better time.

"I just don't know how to deal with these types."

She would shrug and shake her head. It was no fun being a sadist when the victim was suicidal. It just goes to show how inexperienced she was in this world of villainy.

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This was the first time Otome noticed that Lavande was holding on to a weapon. She wondered if this was one of those created with her quirk. It probably was. The design and look wasn't something you would just find lying around in an alley. Not to mention she seemed really comfortable with wielding it. With one quick thrust she ended the man before he could die from bleeding out. Well that was one way of addressing the situation. With everyone dead here they were pretty much done.

"It really does take out the fun of it when they're perfectly willing to embrace death like that. I'd rather not kill if I can help it. Perhaps more ruthlessness was what was needed here."

Otome stared at the unconscious man still tied to the chair. How fortunate he was to have been 'rescued' in his time of need. She would have to ask him for some compensation later. For now they had to make themselves scarce.

"It doesn't seem like there's anyone else left in this little gang. That man over there is the missing shopkeeper. Honestly it's a shame he got himself involved in drugs."

Strictly speaking Otome was neutral about them. She didn't particularly care about people who engaged in such business. It was just one of many ways the underworld was kept afloat. But precisely because it was so lucrative that violence involving it was also rampant. She was glad it was just a small group this time around. Unless they were particularly close to their boss, eliminating a little gang like this shouldn't have too big repercussions. Besides there were no witnesses left anyway.

"This should be their hideout so..."

She glanced around and spotted a door leading into the bathroom. She then smashed it open with one of her tails and lo and behold, she hit the jackpot. Filling up the inside of the bathtub was quite the huge supply of an unknown substance in clear packets. Otome didn't know enough about the trade to identify what exactly they were but this stuff was most likely valuable. She looked over to her villainous acquaintance.

"I'm not really interested in this sort of thing but perhaps you know someone who would be? It would be a waste to leave it all here. Might as well get something out of this after going through the trouble."

Otome was honestly satisfied with her payback. Most other villains would probably take what they could but not her. Lavande though might have been interested and if she wasn't it wouldn't be bad to tip someone off about it and gain a favor or two.

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