Chapter 42 - Hostages

When they had arrived at the blockade they were quickly received and let to the meeting room. The police and the heroes had successfully borrowed a house close to the bank and declared it as the temporary headquarter for this operation were they could formulate a plan and could direct everything without delay. Inside the meeting room three seemingly important people stood around a table on which the layout of what he assumed to be the bank laid. Two looked like they belonged to the police, the other looked like a hero as he wore a costume. As they entered the room they looked up and seemed to be relieved at seeing Allmight figure that blocked out the entrance but seemed skeptic and irritated when they saw Hermann who entered behind Allmight and had looked at them through the small empty space underneath Allmight's right arm. After they had seen enough they turned to Allmight. The older one of the two policeman who already had parts of gray hair and a receding hairline spoke up first.

Older Policeman: "Good morning Allmight. What is that kid doing here? This is serious business!"

Allmight: "That is why I am here Mr. Kobayashi. I thought that I myself and my adopted son could be of assistance."

Mr. Kobayashi: "I can agree with you being of assistance but I don't think I can agree with the involvement of your son. We have files on him that state that he has an enhanced physiology but he is untrained and too young! He isn't even a hero!"

Allmight: "Your files don't record everything. We have recently noticed that his vocal chords and ears mutated which allows him to communicate with animals."

Abruptly the younger policeman stood up and exclaimed:

Young Policeman: "Sir! That could be of great assistance to us when dealing with his snakes. If he can convince them to stand down or at least distract them we could use that window of opportunity to free the hostages, kill a few snakes and storm the building!"

Mr. Kobayashi: "Sit down! Don't rush to conclusions when firstly we don't know everything about him and his exact capabilities, secondly he is a civilian and lastly he has no training whatsoever concerning infiltration or other risky meneuvers."

Young Policeman: "I'm sorry Sir. I was just so excited to have a possible and quick solution."

Now the hero that had until now remained silent chose to intervene in an attempt to return the discussion to the matter at hand.

Hero: "If you are finished now then how about we talk more important things. How do we get the people out of the building and capture the villain? It is good that we know of him as an alternative but how about we first find out what that villain wants? We don't have any records of him that could help us determine his character or his regular behavior so how about we simply ask him?"

Mr. Kobayashi: "If he chooses to speak though an opening we could shoot at him with tranquilizer darts. We could request a few snipers from the government..."

Allmight: "To risky. What if he goes crazy and commands the snakes to poison the hostages? Or the dead snake bites due to reflexes? The reports that I received stated that they saw a few of the snakes through the windows and they are really dangerous."

Mr. Kobayashi: "True. The people spotted a cobra and a snake which we later identified as an inland taipan. These snakes aren't native and we don't have the antivenom. If the snakes manage to kill or even cripple a few people then the people and the government will rage. More then a few heads will role in this case."

As they finished their discussion it was decided that Mr Kobayashi would inform his superiors and the government about the exact situation and request snipers equipped with tranquilizer darts. Meanwhile Allmight, the nameless Hero and the young policeman would request negotiations with the villain. Hermann was ordered to stand aside, observe and wait until being told otherwise.

As the snipers arrived and positioned themselves in the surrounding buildings the three people went out to negotiate.

Allmight: "Speak villain! What do you want to leave the hostages you captured!"

From inside a voice shouted:

?: "I want a fast truck and free passage. None shall follow me and you will allow me to board a ship of my choice with a victim. If you fulfill these demands then I will release the rest of the hostages."

After the demands had been received the three retreated together with Hermann and the Mr. Kobayshi to the meeting room to discuss the final strategy.