Chapter 78: An Ensuing Battle
"Honey! I'm home!" Night Owl proclaimed as he stepped into the large warehouse. Almost instantly every member of the Ninth Circle inside turned to glare at him, though all said nothing. Reaper, however, gave him a quiet inquisitive look. The silent man then pointed behind Night Owl, asking an unheard question.
"Hmm?" Night Owl inquired, turning around to see what Reaper was pointing at. He was, of course, pointing at Eri who followed behind the mad scientist, with a strawberry milkshake in her hands.
"Oh, yes. She wanted food, stopped for a happy meal on the way here," Night Owl replied, as Reaper gave him a deadpan look, "Oh, fuck off. What matters is that I got the target."
Reaper simply shook his head slowly, before motioning towards one of the warehouse's back rooms. Night Owl of course knew what was back there, that being where the Ninth Circle was keeping the kids abducted in the attack. Contrary to what one would expect, the holding area was surprisingly humane. Which made sense as Night Owl reflected on it. The Ninth Circle, through its misguided ideals, believed themselves to be saving humanity from suffering.
Their entire schtick was avoiding or ending suffering. Only those they didn't like, were made to suffer. Of course, Night Owl also knew what else Reaper was implying.
"No, you can not put her with the others. I've got other plans for her in mind," Night Owl told him. To think of what he could do with a quirk like hers because good old Overhaul was thinking too small. Ooh, the kind of experiments he could do! Possible immortality, the manipulation of time itself, could even devolve a chicken into a dinosaur… ok that isn't exactly how it works, but needless to say, Night Owl was excited.
And if he got to lure an idiotic child into a false sense of security, then all the better. It ensured she didn't try to run as well. Add on the prototype quirk erasing bullets he managed to acquire, and things looked good. Truly, it's been a while since he had any kind of fun like this.
"Now then, what have I missed…" Night Owl inquired, before turning to face the nearby TV. He trailed off though as the news displayed UA continuing to be shelled. It was hard to notice, but Night Owl's smile soured.
"Why is UA still standing?" Night Owl asked, slowly turning to face Reaper. The school's destruction had been one of his goals for years now. It was a bothersome symbol he wanted burnt to the ground. He said as much to the rodent's face all those years ago and was now shelling it with artillery. Of course, Reaper looked at him again with a deadpan look, as if saying "They have CRAMS."
"Yes! I get that, and we've accounted for that. So why is that school, not rubble yet?" Night Owl asked, only for Reaper to quietly point at the TV. It confused Night Owl for a second, but he followed where the villain was pointing. He wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to be expecting, but an explosion went off right in front of the campus building. Smoke covered the area for a few seconds, and Night Owl finally thought something was going to happen.
Instead, the smoke dissipated, showing the campus building hadn't been damaged. It remained perfectly intact without even a scratch. Then four more explosions rocked the school, all with the same amount of destructive power as the first. And again, the smoke dissipated and showed the school was unharmed. The camera swapped over to the stadium, and he could see that it was falling apart in some places.
Chunks of the building fell off as missiles crashed into it.
"What the hell is this school made of?" Night Owl muttered to himself, watching as another set of missiles rammed into the campus. The building again, remaining undamaged.
"Alright, fine. I'll destroy that school another day," Night Owl relented, it seems he would need a change of plans here. Ah well, thoughts for later it would seem.
Ape hid behind cover, or what little he had behind this flipped-over vending machine. All while the thugs behind him fired into the thick slab of metal with everything they had. Carefully peeking out, Ape spotted one thug slowly running over with a flamethrower in hand. Before the guy could get any closer Ape opened fire, sending rounds straight into the man. It killed him quickly, but Ape quickly had to duck back mere seconds later.
What he wouldn't give for an incendiary round of some kind. But no matter, Ape thought, as he again slowly started peeking out of cover. As he did so though, someone seemed to call out to him.
"Yo! LT!"
Getting behind cover Ape turned around to search for the voice. He couldn't help but smile when he found the source was Grizzly carefully running over to him. Eagle was also in tow and the two slid to a stop next to Ape.
"About time you chuckle fucks got here," Ape muttered, flinching slightly as a bullet whizzed by overhead.
"Sorry, I was busy fixing my hair, had to look good with all the cameras around," Grizzly replied joking, before firing back at the villains in front of them.
"Must have been an impossible task then," Gecko stated, bringing a small chuckle to Ape's mouth.
"How are things here?" Eagle asked, looking at Ape for a second, before helping Grizzly provide covering fire.
"Fucked. Papa bear's going ham on the enemy, but I don't think he's doing too well," Ape replied, still remembering the blood Ape had on his hand. To think the symbol of peace of all people could bleed. Eagle seemed to grimace at the words, before chucking a flashbang out down the hall.
"Would expect as much, you've seen what the dude looks like off the clock," Eagle muttered, with Ape slowly nodding in agreement. At the same time, Ape turned to look out over cover again. Not much had changed a while after the attack began. The MSF had been forced to fall back somewhat before reinforcements could arrive to try and regain their footing. Outside the stadium, Ape could hear the sounds of battle raging.
He was dragged out of his thoughts quickly though, when he spotted the same minigunner he ran from before. Already Ape could see the behemoth of a thug readying his GAU-19 to fire.
"Shit, Grizzly! Ice him!" Ape ordered, ducking back right before the thug fired. It took a second, but the familiar chill of Grizzly's quirk arrived, with the same beam of light following it. In mere seconds the minigunner was frozen over, stuck in place. Ape waited a few seconds before accepting the man was incapacitated. Turning his attention away he spotted a few more enemies approaching them, ducking in and out of nearby rooms as they got closer. Ape was about to shoot them before flames suddenly engulfed the men.
They howled in pain for a few seconds, before Ape was able to find the source of the fire. A rather large hero covered in fire rushed into the room, holding up a seeming spear of fire. The hero chucked it, and the spear struck another enemy dead on. Mere moments after the hero propelled himself forward with his flames, sending him almost flying in the enemy's direction. The hero slammed into the first thug he came close to, striking the man in the face with his flaming fist.
It knocked out the thug quickly, so the hero grabbed his body and threw it at another thug while lighting their clothes on fire. Ape could only call it brutal efficiency as the hero whittled down what enemies remained. Looking closer, none of the attackers seemed all that hurt. Sure they were set on fire, but the flames oddly gave them first-degree burns at best and second-degree burns at worst.
It was almost as if the fire was colder than it was supposed to be. Must have been the hero's quirk, Ape quickly reasoned, before firing down the large hallway. Slowly the chaos seemed to die down, as the last of the villains began to pull back.
"Think they're running scared?" Grizzly asked with a slight bit of hope in his voice. Though it sounded like he didn't fully believe the words.
"Unlikely. They're more than likely regrouping," Ape muttered while checking his rifle's magazine.
"Just how many of these fuckers are there," Gecko asked rhetorically, with everyone quietly agreeing with him. Ape had lost count of how many enemies he shot today, and the fight wasn't even over yet. That wasn't even counting the rest of the city, and even then, this might not be the enemy's full force. Looking over his rifle a final time, Ape directed his attention back toward his colleagues.
Before he could say anything though, the fire hero called out to everyone present.
"Who's in charge here?" He loudly asked, his eyes looking over every soldier present. No one stepped forward, so Ape looked over everyone's rank. Mentally he swore, seeing that no one else was past the rank of staff sergeant.
"That would be me," Ape said reluctantly, stepping forward as the hero spotted him "Lieutenant Telepathic Ape."
"Endeavor," the hero introduced, before holding out his hand. It surprised Ape for a second, but he slowly grabbed and shook Endeavor's hand
"Any word on the full situation outside?" Endeavor asked, crossing his arms as he examined the rest of the hallway.
"Nothing much. But the enemy's got helicopters in the sky and ground troops both outside and inside the stadium," Ape replied, watching as Endeavor brought one hand to his chin, his other arm still crossed.
"I figured as much… Do you have a plan?" Endeavor inquired, again surprising Ape. It was odd how… cooperative this hero was being.
"Was about to form one," Ape replied, while slowly pulling out his Idroid, "Marston, anything from command?"
Holding the Idroid up for the hero to see, Martson's avatar appeared quickly. The digital cowboy walked across the device slowly, while looking up at Ape. If Endeavor was surprised at all, he didn't show it, instead looking on with a small but unrecognizable curiosity.
"Not at the moment. Commander Miller's a bit wrapped up tryin' to keep things organized," Marston replied, with Ape mentally groaning.
"Enemy comp then?" Ape asked, with Marston pausing for a slight unnoticeable millisecond.
"Count at least a hundred, a decent lot of em' got heavy weapons. Though some cams are offline, so I can't get an exact amount," Marston replied, before taking off his hat to look it over.
"Give me a live feed of what's still up," Ape ordered, with the AI complying quickly. Instantly the entire map of the stadium was brought up, showing every floor. Red dots began popping up on the map, all varying by the floor. Of course, there were some rooms shaded in a dark gray, most likely Marston marking the locations he had little intel on.
"Damn, lotta bad guys," Grizzly muttered, while Endeavor looked over the map carefully.
"They seem to be concentrated near the main entrance. They're most likely trying to flank the forces outside," the hero stated, pointing out several large red dot clusters on the map. The bottom floor had the most, while the higher levels had barely any enemies.
"Could move up a floor, and drop down on top of them. Looks to have a smaller enemy presence too," Ape said, thinking the idea over. Only for Endeavor to shake his head no.
"Too risky. We may end up getting surrounded both above and below if things go wrong," Endeavor countered, with Ape piecing together his logic. If they dropped down, the enemy could loop around and head up a floor, effectively trapping their small group.
"Room to room then?" Ape inquired, with Endeavor thinking it over.
"That may be the best course of action," Endeavor agreed, before pointing out a route on the map, "If we start near the concessions stand-"
"Now hold on, the concession stand is wide out in the open. We go that way and their air support has a clean shot at us," Ape interrupted, not noticing Endeavor's brief glare. He also didn't notice the slight rise in temperature from the hero's flames. However, that was due to the hero quickly regaining control of his temper.
"Assuming Papa Bear hasn't knocked them all out of the sky yet," Eagle countered, with Endeavor looking at them confused for a second.
"Papa bear?" the hero asked, looking over at Ape.
"Code word for All Might," Ape replied, which seemed to make Endeavor slowly frown. Some kind of bad blood between him and All Might, Ape wondered. He quickly dismissed that thought though, as Endeavor's frown turned to a more contemplative look.
"Ah. Well, knowing the buffoon he's most likely knocked most of the aircraft out of the sky. I'm sure your… digital associate can provide us confirmation, Marston was it?" Endeavor asked as the AI reappeared on the Idroid.
"Pullin' it up now-holy fuck that's a lot of helos," Marston muttered, quickly bringing up security camera footage above the stadium. His words were by no means an understatement because at least a hundred enemy helicopters crashed into the ground, while what remained tried to remain stable in the sky. Ape couldn't think of any better way to put this, but All Might was kicking ass.
Every few seconds the symbol of peace would punch up in the air, and a massive gust of wind would spin three or four helicopters out of control. He would then rush around the area, ensuring the helicopters' occupants were evacuated, knocked out, and safe when the helicopters finally crashed. Then All Might would simply rush off, and do the whole thing all over again. Nothing seemed to even harm him, 7.62 bounced off his skin, 40mm grenades detonated harmlessly against him, and even the makeshift rocket pods strapped to some helicopters didn't faze him. Ape almost doubted it was All Might's blood he felt, but it couldn't have been anyone else's.
Getting back on task though, Ape simply shook his head as he looked at both Endeavor and Eagle.
"I still wouldn't risk it. If it isn't the helicopters, it's the arty," Ape told him, with Endeavor grumbling for a moment, before seeming to concede.
"You make a good point… what if we loop around the right side, behind the concessions area?" Endeavor inquired, pointing out a new route this time. Quietly Ape followed it while nodding along.
"Goes through a whole lot of small rooms, but it's better than going outside," Ape agreed, seeing that Endeavor was satisfied with the plan. Quickly he put his Idroid away, before motioning Eagle to gather up what few soldiers remained in the area.
"You know, surprised a hero of all people's willing to work with us," Ape commented while looking at Endeavor still confused. The hero just grunted, before briefly stretching.
"Villains are attacking the entire city, and while I may not like your organization if it means stopping them, then I'm willing to put my opinions of you aside," Endeavor told him, which Ape quietly respected. Explained a bit about Endeavor now that Ape thought about it. The hero was oddly practical, sure he had a costume like the others, but it seemed to serve a purpose.
He had boots with sick soles, his costume was mostly a single dark color, while the rest was just his quirk providing the required flair all heroes had. His arms had his support equipment which both aided his attacks and acted as small arm guards. He had a seemingly large temper but was serious on the job. It was refreshing compared to all the other heroes Ape had seen.
"Now then, I'll take the front," Endeavor proclaimed, turning to walk as Eagle got the rest of the men organized.
"Works for me," Ape replied, quickly following the hero, as the group now carefully began to clear out a path.
The vehicle was oddly silent as it drove. There was the occasional boom outside it, or the hum of an engine, but the interior was quiet. Uraraka would have thought the silence would be calming, especially after the never-ending noise that was previously transpiring. But this was somehow worse. It made her anxious as she looked through the armored window nearby. The entire campus was under attack again, and yet nothing was happening.
Something was going to happen, but when? Where? How? The possibilities of what could happen ran through Uraraka's mind, and her breathing sped up. A villain could ram through the vehicle, crushing it in seconds. An explosive could land on top of them, blowing her apart. Someone with a metal manipulation quirk could crush them like a tin can.
"Uraraka?" Yaoyorozu asked, drawing Uraraka out of her little tangent.
"Hmm?" Uraraka replied, looking back over at the other girl.
"Is something wrong?" Yaoyorozu inquired, with Uraraka quickly waving the question off.
"N-no, just thinking is all," Uraraka told her, flinching slightly as she heard another explosion echo out. It was far away, but just hearing it worried her.
"...How are you fairing?" Uraraka asked, trying her best to calm her nerves.
"I'm… I'm fine," Yaoyorozu hesitantly replied. Though Uraraka could instantly tell it was a lie. Subconsciously Yaoyorozu had shifted in her seat, moving to cover herself with her arms. Uraraka said nothing though, not wanting to make her friend uncomfortable. It was bad enough having to run out in the open half-naked while explosions kept going off. Of course, Uraraka then had a worrying realization.
Had UA stopped filming the field once the attack started? If not, then Uraraka suddenly felt even sorrier for Yaoyorozu, and even angrier at Mineta. Of course, it led back to an awkward silence, which neither girl wanted to address the longer it went on. So both decided to try and distract themselves by looking around the vehicle. Eight people sat inside it, with two soldiers in the driver and passenger seat. A third soldier, Penguin Uraraka remembered, was in the middle section, next to an open chair.
In the back meanwhile were her, Yaoyorozu, Ashido, Kirishima, a medic, and Bakugo. Bakugo from what Uraraka could tell, looked horrible. Bits of blood stuck to his clothes, with pieces of metal sticking out of his chest. The teen looked around the vehicle dazed, most likely in shock. Meanwhile, his right arm had been wrapped with a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, though Uraraka couldn't tell if it was working.
The entire time, the medic next to Bakugo was trying to keep him stable. Uraraka noticed something though, something she never thought she'd see. Bakugo's eyes were watery, and his surviving hand grabbed the medic's arm.
"P-please… I-I don't want to fucking die," Bakugo pleaded weakly.
"I know kid, just keep breathing and stay still alright. You'll make it out of here," the medic told him, carefully removing Bakugo's hand from his arm, before continuing to tend to the teen's wounds. Bakugo's arm simply slumped back next to him, as he breathed in and out raggedly.
"H-hag… M-mom… Mom…" Bakugo muttered. Uraraka could barely believe her eyes. Never once had she seen Bakugo genuinely afraid, so weak. She wasn't even sure if Bakugo could make it in his state. Not wanting to stare, Uraraka forced herself to look away, while quietly pitying Bakugo. At the same time, she spotted Ashido looking over Kirishima carefully.
"I'm fine-" Kirishima tried to protest, but the two words were slurred together. Ashido just frowned at her friend before pulling out her phone and taking a picture. Afterward, she turned the phone around and held it out for Kirishima to see.
"Kirishima that is blood," she said, worry clear in her tone. Kirishima looked over the picture, somewhat surprised, before touching his forehead. When he brought it back down, he found blood sticking to his hand, and dripping off his fingers. Of course, Kirishima chuckled at the sight.
"Oh… heh, so it is," Kirishima said, which immediately worried Uraraka. He was definitely not thinking straight.
"What happened to him?" Uraraka asked, leaning forward to get a closer look at Kirishima.
"An explosion went off nearby and he tackled me out of the way. I don't think he was able to harden his skin in time though," Ashido answered while looking over Kirishima again.
"Heh… harden," Kirishima said, again chuckling.
"I think he has a concussion," Yaoyorozu called out, slowly standing up to get a better look at Kirishima.
"Will he be fine?" Ashido anxiously asked while Yaoyorozu observed Kirishima closely. As far as Uraraka could see, the boy didn't have any overt shrapnel wounds. So the bleeding must have been from some kind of blunt force trauma, possibly when he hit the ground.
"I… think so," Yaoyorozu hesitantly told her, though her tone only seemed to worry the other girl. Uraraka was about to say something to try and comfort her friend but was cut off by the sound of an explosion. This time, it was closer. Much closer than the ones before. Together Uraraka and her classmates turned to look out the vehicle's windshield.
"[Holy shit,]" the driver slowly muttered, looking out at the expansive battle in front of them.
"[Its like Onishita all over again,]" the soldier next to him muttered. Uraraka didn't know what either of them had said, but she couldn't help but agree with their sentiment. In front of them, raged the mother of all battles. Tanks drove across UA's grounds firing at small pickup trucks or infantry. Soldiers, heroes, and villains fought each other and dove into craters for cover. Helicopters flew overhead, tearing apart anyone who moved with their chain guns.
And bodies were simply everywhere. Blood pooled around small groups of dead men, before trailing down like a stream. Uraraka quickly turned green when she saw them, forcing her stomach to keep its contents. That proved almost impossible when she spotted a pair of soldiers get run over by a pickup truck.
"[I'm starting to think the kill box was the better option,]" the driver muttered reluctantly, while Uraraka saw the battlefield get closer by the second. She couldn't help but pale as the silence that had befallen the vehicle before was slowly overtaken by the war raging outside. Moments later bullets began banging against the vehicle's exterior, as the villains outside directed their attention toward them.
Uraraka pleaded that the vehicle's armor would hold, but then a bullet punched through it easily. A soda can-shaped hole sat next to Uraraka before she dropped down. More rounds started punching through the vehicle.
"Enemy technical, a thousand meters! Due left at…" Bison called out, as rounds continued to pelt his tank's armor. It was getting ridiculous at this point as it had gotten loud enough he could barely hear himself think! He had hoped this would lessen the noise, as his drone feed showed the enemy technical attacking them. Or more, trying to. The 30mm autocannon fixed to the vehicle while dangerous, did nothing against his tank's armor.
Quickly Zebra adjusted the tank's main gun, bringing the cannon onto its target.
"On target!" Zebra told him.
"Gun's loaded!" Rhino yelled.
"Charge at five percent!" Texas called out.
"Fire!" Bison ordered, the gun firing the second the word left his mouth. The shell crashed into the enemy truck in mere moments, boring a hole straight through it, and the weapon mounted onto it. Which caused Bison to swear, as the round continued going well past the vehicle it flew through.
"Overpen! Decrease two percent!" Bison ordered, watching as the shell finally exploded a few meters away. Wordlessly the AI complied, while Zebra finished off what remained of the technical with the turret's coaxial machine gun. At the same time, Bison scoured the area with his drone, watching the surrounding chaos. There were just so many targets, and Bison wasn't sure if they had enough shells.
But they had to keep fighting, just to hold the line. Before Bison could issue a new order though his radio began spewing word from command.
"Delta four this is CP! Allied forces are moving through your area, carrying WIA. Move out and defend them at all cost!" CP loudly ordered, barely giving Bison time to register the order. Instantly though the data was sent over to his Idroid, with Texas sharing it with the rest of the tank crew.
"Lion, you heard em', get us moving!" Bison ordered, bringing his drone around to scout the set of coordinates command had given him.
"On it!" Lion loudly replied, as Bison felt the tank lurch around, before moving forward. After a few minutes of flying Bison managed to get his drone in position, and spotted a group of MRAPS driving toward the stadium's side entrance. Bison could only swear as a rocket streaked by and crashed into a lone MRAP. The vehicle now had a large gaping hole on the outside, allowing Bison a clear view inside.
Students hid behind what little cover there was, while the soldiers driving did everything possible to keep them alive.
"Damn it, we're going too slow," Bison muttered, slamming his fist against the tank's armor.
"Maybe they can add a rocket engine for the next upgrade package," Zebra joked, only to shrink back as Bison glared at him.
"Not the time," Bison reprimanded, before holding out his drone's controller. Once Zebra saw the feed, the gunner seemed to instantly regret his words.
"Texas, your drones anywhere close?" Bison asked, the AI's voice soon running through his comms.
"Just the quadcopters. THeMIS ones are gettin' there though," Texas replied, anxiousness clear in his tone. Looking out of the tank's cameras Bison could spot the AI's THeMIS drones driving right alongside the tank, though lagging behind.
"Lion, how long until we get there?" Bison asked, the driver taking a few moments to answer.
"Uh… five minutes at best!" Lion replied, only making Bison angrier.
"Fuck. Texas, provide what support you can, I'll do the same," Bison told him, before bringing his focus back to his drone. There wasn't much he could do, as his small quadcopter was a barely armored piece of plastic. It at the very least had a small 9mm submachine gun bolted underneath for hit-and-run attacks. But it was at least something he could do. So flying the drown erratically Bison spotted a group of enemies taking cover in a small bombed-out crater.
One of them had an RPG in hand and was quickly aiming it at the line of MRAPS. Before the thug could fire it Bison, flew his drone in close, holding the trigger on his controller down. Dozens of rounds flew forward, with most harmlessly striking the enemy's ballistic plates. A few lucky shots though went through the man's head killing him quickly. At the same time, Texas's more well-armed drones joined him, flying erratic circles above the enemy.
The thugs below attempted to shoot down the small craft, but just couldn't hit them. Slowly Bison whittled them down, watching as the enemy quickly began to run. With that first group eliminated Bison began looking for the next target. He spotted it in the shape of an enemy technical with an anti-tank missile mounted on the back.
"Texas, enemy technical…" Bison relayed, quickly providing the AI coordinates.
"Got it, Switchblade on route," Texas replied, as Bison looked out of the tank's cameras. He spotted one of the THeMIS drones soon launch a small drone into the air before the loitering munition flew out. Looking back toward his drone's feed, Bison quickly maneuvered the small UAV to avoid enemy fire, before watching the Switchblade slam into the truck's rear. In seconds the small suicide drone exploded, tearing apart the AT missile.
"We're here!" Lion finally called out, as Bison wrenched his eyes away from his drone feed.
"About damn time!" Bison exclaimed, before looking through the tank's exterior cameras, "Get us in front of the MRAP lines, use our tank as a shield! Rhino, get me an AP round! Zebra, enemy infantry seven hundred meters and closing, due…"
Bison quickly felt the tank shift and move as his crew followed his orders. The turret moved around facing the next group of enemies, while the main gun's loading hatch was slammed shut. At the same time, Lion kept the tank moving to keep a slow pace with the fleeing MRAPS, as other units slowly arrived to help.
"Guns loaded!" Rhino called out.
"Fully charged!" Texas relayed.
"On target!" Zebra exclaimed.
"Fire!" Bison again ordered. The explosion lightly shook the tank as the anti-personnel round was fired. When it reached its target, a group of exposed enemy infantry, the round exploded violently. Tearing apart the surrounding men, Bison barely had time to process the group's elimination before another took its place. He called out the target just as he didn't before, feeling the turret move to the right slightly.
Rhino loaded up the next shell quickly, before calling it out for the commander. Seconds later it was sent flying into the new group of enemies. At the same time, Texas's drones maneuvered around the tank, providing what support they could. One drone with a 30mm autocannon broke off from the group, heading straight toward an enemy helicopter flying above them. This drone wasn't designed for anti-air, but Texas aimed the autocannon up anyway.
Firing, the 30mm rounds punched through the lightly armored civilian aircraft, before driving away as the helicopter crashed to the ground. It was all just pure chaos as far as Bison could see. He couldn't tell how long his crew had been at this. It felt like hours, but couldn't have been longer than thirty minutes. Eventually, the MRAPS arrived at the stadium's side entrance, their occupants filing out and running into the building.
With that task done, Bison mentally sighed, before returning his focus to the task at hand.
"Quickly now! Go go!" a soldier ordered, as he provided covering fire near the vehicle's exit. Wordlessly Uraraka complied, climbing down and out carefully. The second she stepped out, she flinched as a bullet struck the vehicle's armor. She didn't stop though, she couldn't stop. Quietly she ran, following all the other students heading toward the stadium's entrance. Uraraka was almost there, and she could see it. Minutes felt like hours as she ran, almost tripping on her feet but continuing regardless.
After what felt like an eternity, Uraraka made it, darting through an open door into the stadium. The moment she was inside, she collapsed onto her back. Uraraka breathed heavily the entire time while looking up at the surrounding room. A sad light chuckle escaped her lips, once she realized she was safe. Of course, her small moment of rest was interrupted, when a soldier ran over and pulled her to her feet.
"You can rest later kid," the soldier told her, before briskly walking away, and motioning to the rest of the students, "All of you, this way! [Koala, take your squad and keep watch of that hallway. See if you can get the two-fifty in position.]"
"[Got it,]" a different soldier replied, before breaking off from the main group. Uraraka could barely register what was even going on anymore. Watching as the MSF got to work, Uraraka couldn't help but wonder how they did they remained so calm. It was like this was just another Tuesday for them, instead of what it was, the largest villain attack Uraraka had ever seen.
Everyone around them was dead or dying, and every minute everything just seemed to get worse. Was… was this what true combat was, Uraraka worryingly thought. Looking back, she became terrified of the battle she just escaped from. So many people had been killed in just a few short minutes. But, where was All Might? He… maybe he wasn't here. Maybe he was on an early vacation, she tried to rationalize. Yeah, if All Might was here, then this attack would never have gotten this bad.
He was most likely rushing back to the campus and would make everything right. All of this would be over soon, Uraraka told herself. Once All Might got here, the villains stood no chance. Though Yaoyorozu quickly shook her out of those thoughts, as Uraraka turned to face her rich friend. Quietly Uraraka thanked her, when she spotted the rest of the students being led away, almost leaving her behind.
Following them, Uraraka couldn't help but turn green again. Every few seconds she would stumble upon a new gruesome sight. A child was crushed to death by a stampede of fleeing civilians. A soldier with a dozen bullet wounds in his chest, her eyes still wide open after death, and staring into Uraraka's soul. One of the soldier's comrades stopped for a moment, just to close the dead woman's eyes.
It somehow got worse, as Uraraka passed by the charred bodies of dozens of people. Or the several feet of blood-caked floors. Even the villains weren't spared from a gruesome fate, as one was missing his bottom half. His organs fell out of him, as the villain seemed to try and crawl away, before succumbing to his wounds. On and on the class went, passing by ever more blood, guts, and bones.
Eventually, they reached the infirmary and Uraraka almost dashed inside, expecting things to be better. And why wouldn't it be? Recovery Girl was inside, healing up everyone she could. Everything would be fine, Uraraka pleaded, only for her eyes to prove her wrong. The wounded covered every inch of the room, crying out in anguish. At that point, everything Uraraka had seen added up to much.
The girl rushed over to the nearest trashcan, before throwing up what remained of breakfast. It was all too much. Uraraka closed her eyes, trying to look away from everything, but her ears still heard everything.
"S-someone, please, help me…" a young woman begged, only to go quiet seconds later.
"We're out of blood bags!" a doctor called out.
"Anybody got more anesthetic!?" another doctor asked worriedly. No answer came to him.
"My son! Please somebody help him!" a father pleaded, only to get ignored by the already busy doctors.
"I-I can't breathe. D-doc please!" a soldier begged, clutching his throat while a doctor tried to keep him stable.
"M-mom… I-I'm sorry Mom… I-I-I… I n-never shoulda j-joined the army…" another soldier desperately muttered.
"We're losing him! Get the crash cart!" a different doctor yelled, only for someone else to yell over him.
"Another doctor's already using it!" the new doctor loudly told him, causing the previous one to swear loudly. It was all too much. Too much blood, too much death. This couldn't be happening, it was a dream, a nightmare. And yet the pain felt real to Uraraka as she pinched herself. Soon Uraraka spotted a pair of medics carrying Bakugo into the infirmary. The teen was quickly placed in one corner of the room, where a doctor began to operate on him.
A few civilians nearby complained as they were there longer, but all of their injuries were minor. Minor in the sense that they weren't life-threatening, as Uraraka spotted many with broken limbs. How did all of this get so bad? Where had it all gone wrong? Looking around, she couldn't even see if everyone in her class survived. She spotted a few of her classmates as everyone filed into the infirmary, but not all of them.
"Uraraka!" a voice suddenly called out, dragging away Uraraka's attention. Almost instantly she spotted Akatani running over to her before the teen practically slammed into her with a hug.
"Akatani!" she called out in shock, right before Akatani realized what he was doing.
"Ah, wait, no sorry! I was just worried and-" the teen told her, before beginning to back away. But as he did so, Uraraka stopped him. He looked back at her confused for a moment, but Uraraka couldn't help but let her emotions out. Tears streamed down her face, her mind constantly replaying the horrors she'd seen over and over again. She remembered every explosion that went off, every student she saw got blown apart into a red mist, and every soldier torn up by a hail of bullets.
Nearby Ashido would have celebrated the sight of the two teens hugging, but with everything else going on, she couldn't bring herself to. Instead, her attention was back to Kirishima, who was getting his head bandaged up. At the same time, she looked around the room, hoping to spot Hagakure walking in.
"I'm s-sorry about that," Uraraka muttered into Akatani's shoulder.
"Yeah, well, I did the same thing with you," Akatani said, hoping to try and comfort her. Uraraka lightly laughed at his words, thinking back to that moment on the beach.
"D-don't remember you crying into my shoulder," Uraraka said with a small laugh. It left the two in a small silence for a moment, before Uraraka stopped hugging Akatani. The teen backed away a step or two, before seeming to cringe.
"Wait crap, are you ok?" Akatani asked, looking over Uraraka carefully, "No injuries or anything?"
"Yeah… yeah I'm fine," Uraraka replied, before noticing that Akatani's hands were worryingly bloody. Thankfully she realized he had gloves on, but the blood was still very present.
"So… what are… What are you doing?" Uraraka asked, wiping away what few tears remained in her eyes.
"Well, I was helping Recovery Girl bandage up some patients-" Akatani began to explain, only for a new voice to cut him off.
"[Akatani! Recovery Girl needs more disinfecting alcohol! Says she has extra in the storage room!]" a blond girl with glasses suddenly called over. As the girl spoke she also carried around a box of medical supplies, passing out some of its contents to nearby doctors.
"[Got it!]" Akatani called back, before turning toward Uraraka.
"I gotta go grab something, you up to help?" Akatani asked, motioning to the nearby storage closet. Uraraka looked over it for a moment, deep in thought. She was perfectly fine physically, not like she needed to sit around doing nothing. Even then, the thought of doing so ate away at her. The supposed hero student sitting around while everyone else did something.
"Sure," Uraraka replied, following Akatani as the teen led the way. Reaching the closet Akatani began looking over a few boxes, before grabbing and passing one to Uraraka. After a few seconds, he grabbed another two and did the same.
"I… think that's the last of it," Akatani said, worry clear in his tone. Uraraka could tell why looking at the storage closet. It was vacant of almost any other medical supplies, and there were still dozens of patients waiting for help. Quietly Uraraka used her quirk on the boxes, floating them easily to lighten the work. With a light push, she guided the three boxes forward, while Akatani walked ahead.
The other teen did so to keep the path clear, while also ensuring the boxes didn't float too far forward. Soon they reached Recovery Girl, who was busy tending to the same pink-haired girl Uraraka had seen earlier. Akatani seemed to have recognized the girl, as he looked over at her worriedly.
"Hatsume!?" he called out shocked while Hatsume slowly turned to face Akatani.
"Oh, heeeeeey test dummy buddy," Hatsume said, her words slurring somewhat and the girl very clearly out of it. At the same time, Uraraka set down the first box and opened it carefully. Recovery Girl soon spotted her, and slowly turned toward her.
"This all of it?" Recovery Girl asked, holding out her hand.
"It is," Uraraka answered, carefully passing the nurse a bottle.
"It'll have to do then," Recovery Girl said with a sigh, popping the bottle open. Quickly she began to disinfect Hatsume's wounds, the most prominent of which being a large red spot on the girl's chest. The pink-haired girl flinched as the alcohol stung her, but was held in place by Akatani to keep her from moving. Moments later though, the entire room shook.
"Don't… don't… wasn't me, wasn't my babies," Hatsume muttered incoherently, right before the room shook again. Dust fell from the ceiling as Uraraka slowly looked up. She paled when she spotted a large crack in the middle of the roof. Nearby Miller spotted the same thing, the commander rushing to grab his weapon.
"[They're above us!]" he yelled, right as the ceiling collapsed, and villains began to repel into the room.
Chapter 79: A Line Crossed
Creeping from rooftop to rooftop, Stain could tell his target was near. Soon, another fraud would be dead, and society would be just a tad bit cleaner. Though, Stain could never tell when he looked back on it. Dozens of corrupt heroes were dead at his hands, and dozens more remained to be dealt with. For every fake he killed, another hundred seemed to take their place.
It didn't matter though. A hydra could only regenerate so many times before all its heads got tangled together. Soon enough, Stain stopped moving and stood atop a lone building. He could hear the sound of engines nearby and knew his target was close. Looking down, he spotted a dust cloud rising down the road getting ever closer by the second. Now how to lure his prey, Stain wondered.
A nearby alleyway would give him the cover to remain hidden and leave Ingenium in a precarious spot. But how to get him there, play a recording of someone screaming in terror? Well, Stain didn't have a phone on him, even then who's to say the audio would be loud enough for Ingenium to hear? Break a window and make it seem like there was a break-in?
Again, it might not be loud enough for Ingenium to hear. So Stain decided to go for the simple route. Jump out for Ingenium to see, before disappearing back into the shadows for an ambush. With his plan set, Stain got into position, ready to climb down the building. That was until he saw Ingenium stop. At first, he assumed the hero had spotted him, but instead, he seemed to be talking to someone.
"Woah, woah, slow down, what is happening?" Ingenium muttered as Stain tried to sneak up closer to the hero.
"I just told you! The entire damn city's under siege, now the commission's calling in whatever heroes they can get!" someone on the other end of the call replied, urgency clear in their tone.
"Seriously? I won't reach Musutafu for a few hours, isn't there anyone closer?" Ingenium replied, concern clear in his words. Though where his words were more based on practical thinking, Stain could only hear arrogance. To think this hero didn't believe a villain attack was worth his time. Stain could only tighten his grip on his sword though, continuing to get closer to the fake hero.
"Everyone closer has already been called in, but the villains outnumber us three to one out here!" the voice on the other end told him, "Check the news for crying out loud, there have to be hundreds of these guys!"
"No no, I get it. I'm on my way," Ingenium said, before abruptly hanging up. Stain was now close enough to strike, and all he needed to do was climb down this rooftop. But before he could even move, Ingenium sped off in the other direction. It left him in a small cloud of dust, as Stain quietly grumbled. He was this close, and yet the hero ran off. What had he even been talking about? What was so urgent that he had to abandon everything here and run off?
The possibilities ran through Stain's head endlessly, as he sheathed his blade and began to sneak back into the shadows. Ingenium was probably off looking for another autograph session, Stain angrily thought. That was until something new caught his eye. Down below him, a crowd of civilians stood outside a lone electronics store, all watching the TVs on display.
"The situation is still developing as we try to learn more, however, it can be confirmed, that Musutafu is under attack. At around eleven AM today hundreds of unknown villains began swarming the city streets effectively unopposed. Local authorities have stated the threat is being combated with the country's best heroes. With this proclamation, though they have urged all civilians in the area to evacuate immediately," a newscaster explained, with the crowd gasping in surprise.
It caught Stain off guard as footage quickly appeared displaying the attack in full. At the same time, the newscaster continued to give off information, but Stain didn't fully listen. Instead, he simply saw the fire and death splayed out on the screen. Moments later a map was put on screen, displaying almost a third of Musutafu in a bright red, labeling the area as extremely dangerous. Somehow, Stain thought that was an understatement and sneered at the TV.
With all these fake heroes like Ingenium, it was no wonder an attack like this would occur.
All Might took a deep breath before running off again. In what little time he had, the symbol of peace had defeated half of the villains attacking UA. Over five hundred villains were knocked out, beaten, tied up, or unfortunately dead. They weren't dead by his doing though, no All Might thought grimmly. The villains had taken their own lives, after putting up a small fight against him.
To think any of this was happening. Quietly All Might reached down and felt blood trickling from his years-old wound. He winced in pain momentarily, before forcing himself forward. Eventually, All Might found a crowd of villains charging down a hallway.
"This way! The nonbelievers have barricaded themselves near the infirmary!" one of the villains shouted, leading the others.
"Our mercy shall be swift!" another proclaimed, in an excited tone. All Might scoffed at the notion. This was just slaughter, nothing merciful about it, All Might mentally remarked.
When All Might got close enough, the villains heard him running up behind them, but none could react in time to fight back. Instead, they felt a strong gust of wind knocking them off their feet, as All Might lightly punched the air in front of him. In seconds the villains flew into a nearby wall, with many being knocked out instantly.
Some remained conscious though and slowly tried to stand back up. They would look back up ready to fight, only to blink and find All Might standing in front of them. It took mere seconds for All Might to knock them out, only needing a single punch to beat them. While that happened though, a new group of villains appeared out of a nearby room.
"The false idol is here!?" one of them panickingly called out, drawing over All Might's attention.
"Shoot him!" a different villain yelled annoyed while holding down his rifle's trigger. The others followed suit, all shooting at All Might. However, they watched dismayed as bullets bounced off the hero harmlessly. Taking extra care to guard his still bleeding wound, All Might began moving towards the villains quickly. So they tried something else, stepping back as one brought up a flamethrower. Soon the hallway was in flames, the fire licking away at All Might's skin.
"Ha ha! Burn fucker!" a particularly demented villain taunted, "Burn in the glorious cleansing flames! So pretty."
The fire did nothing though, as All Might had felt hotter flames before. With the flick of his wrist, the fire was extinguished, and he rushed in to knock out the group of villains. It took mere moments as he punched what few stood before him. After he knocked out the majority, a few villains tried to turn and run. Of course, All Might couldn't let that happen. So he cracked his knuckles, before cocking his fist back.
"Texas," All Might began just as he threw a punch forward, "Smash!"
A strong wind launched through the hallway, crashing into the fleeing thugs, and knocking them out. Once they were done with, All Might took a single deep breath and again ran off. He couldn't take a break, not now. Not when everyone was relying on him. Not when his alma mater was under attack. Part of All Might couldn't help but blame himself, because he knew these villains. He recognized their colors, their logos, and their style. They were the Ninth Circle, a would-be yakuza he defeated years ago.
And that's how he remembered them, a defeated weak villain organization. Their case file had been closed for years, as their leader, Reaper, was imprisoned. So how? How were they here? Their organization was never this big, and yet hundreds of them were now attacking this school. Had he missed something all those years ago? Some key detail the Ninth Circle had hidden away? Perhaps it was All for One's doing, and this attack was part of his plan? But that assumed the villain was still alive, which All Might did not want to believe.
Whatever was true, didn't matter to All Might, as he found another group of villains. Each one looked at him with momentary shock, before shouting something.
"It's the false idol!" one villain called out panicked, before All Might's body slammed into him, audibly breaking one of the man's bones.
"You deserve no mercy All Might!" a different villain shouted before All Might kicked him in the chest. It sent the villain crashing into a nearby door and knocking it off its hinges.
"Kill the fraud!" another ordered, only for All Might to dash over to him, and knee him in the chest. The wind knocked out of him, All Might then slammed his fist down into the man's face, forcing the villain into the ground.
"Why do you oppose us!? We only wish to help the world! You of all people should understand!" a fourth villain stated, while All Might threw one of his unconscious comrades at him, knocking out another foe.
"Death is too good for you!" a fifth yelled, charging All Might with grenades in hand. Both the pins were pulled, but it didn't matter. All Might just uppercutted the villain's chest, staggering the man. Enough so he dropped the grenades in his hands, allowing All Might to catch them. Covering the explosives with both hands, All Might let the weapons explode, barely feeling pain from the blast.
He punched the villain soon after, and it sent the criminal flying into his compatriots, while All Might clutched his wound carefully. All Might could feel himself running out of time, but he had to do this. He could do this. The people needed him, and he could not give up now.
For Midoriya, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Rubble fell from the roof unabated, while ropes dropped with them. Soldiers ran into the room, while Miller raised his shotgun at the roof. Next to him, Uraraka stared up in shock, unmoving as everything happened. But soon, Midoriya felt the room go cold. Next thing he knew a wall of ice climbed up off the floor and sealed the hole in the wall.
The attackers moving to drop in through the roof, were quickly engulfed in ice. Looking around in shock, Midoriya spotted Todoroki weakly sitting up with his hand on the wall. Moments later the teen would collapse back into his hospital bed.
"Get the patients out of here, now!" Miller loudly ordered, the soldiers entering the room doing so quickly. At the same time, Recovery Girl smacked Midoriya on the arm getting his attention instantly.
"[You heard him, get her moving,]" the nurse ordered pointing at Hatsume, before stepping back while Midoriya quickly nodded. He grabbed Hatsume's gurney, while Uraraka moved to the other side. Once she was in position, both teens began moving Hatsume out of the room. The pink-haired inventor mumbled incoherently the entire time, causing Midoriya to worry. He said nothing though, instead focusing on the task at hand.
Reaching the infirmary's door, he led the gurney out into the hall, while gunfire echoed around them. The sound of ice shattering came moments later, the gunfire becoming ever louder now. It was met with screaming, as civilians poured out of the infirmary behind him. Soldiers followed behind them, escorting the wounded out or running in to support their comrades.
Part of Midoriya quietly hoped Miller was doing ok, while the other part told him to run back inside. There were people still in danger and he was waiting out in the hallway twiddling his fingers. Of course, before he ever could consider running back in, the ceiling above them slowly began to crumble. Seconds later it fell to the ground crushing a pair of soldiers, as enemies began to drop from the new hole.
Midoriya ducked when it happened, narrowly avoiding the rounds flying through the air. Quickly he dove behind a nearby wall, pulling Hatsume's gurney with him. Uraraka quietly did the same, the teen flinching as bullets struck the nearby wall chipping off bits of concrete. Once behind cover Midoriya unholstered his Pitviper and checked the chamber. Seeing it was loaded with tranquilizer rounds brought Midoriya some relief, as he glanced around cover.
"[You ok?]" Midoriya asked while he took a few deep breaths, trying to steel his nerves. Remember your training he thought to himself, you've done this a thousand times. Never with live ammo, he realized grimly, flinching as another bullet hit the wall he hid behind.
"[Y-yeah, I'm fine,]" Uraraka replied, the girl looking over Hatsume for a moment before slumping against the wall. At the same time, Midoriya continued to peek out of cover. Looking down the hall, he could see how fast things had deteriorated. It was like a World War I trench fight.
Both groups were so close together one could grab the other's rifle and force it away or wrench it out of their grasp. It made shooting a rifle awkward in such a cramped space. Now soldiers and villains couldn't shoot each other efficiently, not unless they were a good distance apart. So instead they beat the tar out of each other, using their rifles as shields or clubs. They unholstered knives and tackled their opponent to the ground, before slowly pressing the blades into some vital area.
This hadn't been covered in his training, not yet at least. But that didn't matter, as Midoriya gulped. This was what he was training for, so he aimed his pistol at the closest thug and fired. Thankfully this thug had no mask like the others, instead covering himself with face paint. So the tranquilizer round flew by quickly and struck the enemy dead on, knocking him out quickly. With one down Midoriya switched his sight to another villain, this one trying to stab a pinned-down soldier.
He again fired and watched as another villain was knocked unconscious. On and on this went, enemy after enemy. Eventually, he spotted Miller leaving the infirmary carrying Recovery Girl like a sack of potatoes. The old woman did not seem pleased by the action, but Midoriya saw she made no move to oppose it. Bullets flew by the door, while Miller returned fire with a pistol.
One of the thugs tried bomb-rushing through the doorway, only for Miller to kick the man in the chest. It knocked the man off his feet before Miller shot him in the head.
"Is that everyone!?" Miller loudly asked, before carefully setting Recovery Girl down. A few soldiers also trickled out of the infirmary next to him, carrying wounded, or laying down covering fire. Once Recovery Girl had been set down, a soldier tossed him a Mossberg 500, which Miller quickly used to blow a golf-ball-sized hole in another enemy.
"It should be!" a soldier replied, while Midoriya ducked behind cover again. Reloading his pistol he waited a few seconds before moving to fire again. Before he could though Uraraka grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him away. Midoriya was confused as to why, only for the ceiling above him to cave in. A piece of rubble landed right where his head would have been, and created a large crack in the ground.
"[Above us!]" Uraraka told him, with Midoriya looking up at the new hole in the ceiling. eight more enemies were beginning to rappel into the room. From what he could see most of them lacked armor or had armor that was heavily damaged. So acting quickly Midoriya fired up at them, knocking out at least four. At the same time Uraraka grabbed Hatsume's gurney and pulled it out of the way, the pink-haired inventor still rambling on. Once Uraraka was sure the other was in the clear, she began looking for some kind of weapon.
There wasn't much she could work with, so Uraraka resorted to throwing bits of rubble with her quirk. Midoriya meanwhile, was forced to run as the enemies above began returning fire. The brief lull in Midoriya's assault allowed three of them to drop into the room. Two of the thugs present weren't much to take note of, but the third one's arm had a hook. Midoriya began to question why, when the hook shot forward, impaling itself into Midoriya's thigh.
It thankfully missed an artery, but Midoriya cringed in pain nonetheless. Soon after he felt himself go weightless as the hook pulled him closer. Flying towards the thug Midoriya's grip on his pistol slipped before the thug sidestepped. Colliding into a nearby wall, Midoriya quickly forced himself to turn around. He did it in the nick of time, as the hook-armed thug was bringing a pistol to bear.
Before the thug could fully point it at Midoriya, the teen forced himself up and grabbed the man's wrist. He tried to twist the man's arm into dropping the gun like he'd been trained but found the man's grip wouldn't budge. Come on, Midoriya mentally shouted, both his hands trying to fight back. Slowly the thug began trying to point the gun at Midoriya's head, but the teen continued to force it away.
"[Hurry up over there!]" one of the villains shouted while fighting still raged down the hall. The villain Midoriya was fighting just grumbled in response for a few seconds, still trying to aim his pistol.
"[I'm trying, brat's stronger than he looks!]" the thug yelled back, as Midoriya slowly felt his grip on the man's wrist loosen. Slowly but surely the villain brought the gun closer to his head. Midoriya's breath only heightened while he continued to resist. Not like this! He couldn't die here, not now! But the gun got ever closer. A scream echoed around the hall catching Midoriya briefly off guard.
This almost doomed him, as the gun's barrel brushed up against his skull momentarily, before Midoriya forced it away. It didn't stop the villain from firing, a bullet quickly grazing Midoriya's forehead. It caused the teen to bite down in pain while continuing to struggle. He wondered fearfully who the scream was from, before getting his answer. Getting only a brief glimpse, he spotted Uraraka crawling down the hall.
Bleeding from her chest, Midoriya spotted the other two villains getting ready to finish her off. His eyes widened in terror, while Midoriya mentally yelled at himself. Come on! You wanted to be a soldier! You wanted to save people! So save her! Again he tried to force the gun out of the man's hand, and again he failed. Midoriya breathing rapidly watched as Uraraka continued to crawl, blood seeping into the floor.
His friend turned around momentarily, allowing him to see her face. Terrified, Uraraka looked up at the two villains, before her gaze fell on Midoriya. Uraraka forced herself to sit up while trying to float a nearby piece of rubble. Defiantly she threw it at one of the villains, managing to knock the rifle out of their hand. But it left the other still ready to attack. Midoriya silently pleaded for Uraraka to do something, anything! There was more rubble nearby, maybe she could throw it!
Maybe one of the soldiers would intervene! Uncle Kaz! Uncle Kaz was around, he would help! Just someone, anyone! Midoriya didn't want Uraraka to die, he couldn't let her die! Yet the villain began to aim his rifle. No, no, no, no, no, no, Midoriya mentally shouted. One of his hands let go of the hook thug's wrist, before punching the man in the gut. It gave him the brief lull he needed to finally disarm the man, but not before the villain fired off a shot.
A bullet flew into Midoriya's shoulder, causing the teen to cry out in pain. Struggling to raise his arm, Midoriya rolled over to pick up the thug's weapon. Raising it quickly Midoriya pulled the trigger three times. The bullets tore through the villain's chest, killing him instantly. Midoriya didn't stop to realize this, instead focusing on the next two villains. Before either man could attack Uraraka, Midoriya fired.
The teen unloaded the magazine onto them, the bullets tearing apart what unexposed flesh the men held. There they too dropped dead, as Midoriya's pistol clicked empty. The teen sat there for a few moments, his breathing slowly calming down. He blinked a few times before Midoriya looked at the gun in his hand. He… he… no… Midoriya thought, his hand shaking as he looked around again.
His eyes spotted the blood trailing from the three dead men. He killed them, Midoriya realized, the thought only now registering as the adrenaline wore off. They… they didn't need to die, but he killed them anyway. Looking away from the bodies, he turned to face Uraraka. The girl looked at him shocked, a hand slightly covering her mouth. It brought Midoriya some joy seeing her alive, but that joy was taken away quickly, once he felt the hook thug's blood trickle over to him.
He looked away from Uraraka downtrodden, his eyes reaching his still shaking hands. What had he done, Midoriya questioned fearfully. A gasp dragged him out of this thought before he saw something float in the corner of his eye.
"[Akatani!]" Uraraka shouted, causing Midoriya to turn toward her again. His eyes widened when he spotted her throwing a chair-sized chunk of concrete his way. Narrowly Midoriya ducked, barely having time to question why she threw it. The rubble subsequently slammed into something behind him, before he heard the crack of bones breaking. Turning around he found the body of a thug.
Looking over the thug, Midoriya couldn't help but turn green. The concrete had crushed the man entirely, flattening most of his body. The parts that weren't flattened, had been broken horribly. Turning to face Uraraka again, Midoriya saw terror still on her face, but now for a completely different reason.
"[H-he… I… I didn't mean to…]" Uraraka tried to say, looking over at Midoriya pleadingly. He looked back at her apologetically, trying to find the right words. His silence told her everything though, as tears began to form in her eyes.
"[No… no… no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no-]" Uraraka muttered, trailing on as she slowly began to cover her face. Neither of them noticed, but by now the fighting had mostly died down. Miller, who stood off nearby, looked up at one of the several holes in the ceiling, waiting for something to occur.
"Nothing on soliton commander," a soldier told him, carefully looking over his helmet's findings.
"Surprisingly few of the bastards this time," a different soldier muttered, with Miller quietly agreeing.
"This area was supposed to be secure, so they must've been a straggler force we missed," Miller commented, before pumping his shotgun quietly, and ejecting a spent shell.
"Doubt that's all of them though, so, all of you gather up some men and get up there. Don't want them caving in any more roofs," Miller ordered, the soldiers present nodding and walking off. The brief lull in noise caused Miller to sigh, and carefully stretch. Of course, he slowly began to remember something, and the commander's eyes widened. Looking around the room, he spotted Midoriya sitting next to Uraraka.
Both teens were bloody, wide-eyed, and shaking, but they were alive. Which Miller was quietly grateful for as he ran a hand through his hair. Yet something seemed off, Miller realized. It confused him for a minute, the commander now walking toward the two teens. The closer he got though, the more things began to click.
"Shit," was all Miller could say, as he watched the panicking teens.
Grizzly didn't know how long it had been since the attack started. Right now, he and his small cobbled-together group stood outside the main lobby, connecting to the primary entrance. It felt like it had taken them hours to get there, as he and his group had constantly darted through hallways, clearing out rooms full of enemies. Yet he didn't know if that feeling was true. Had it been hours? Because everything seemed to rush by him the more they went. Grizzly was tempted to check his watch, just to be sure. But ruled against it when a bullet whizzed by him.
Better to wait for everything to be clear, he reasoned, while pulling away from the door he'd just peeked into. This proved to be a good thing, as that first bullet was quickly followed by dozens of others. After a few seconds the gunfire would stop, the enemies inside not wanting to waste more ammo. Of course that meant Grizzly could now hear them talking inside.
"[This is ridiculous! Why do we continue to sit here and wait?]" one thug asked, while Grizzly looked at his IVAS's soliton. He grimaced when he saw twenty or so contacts in the other room.
"[I told you, our orders are to secure the main entrance, to let the rest of our brothers and sisters in,]" a different villain replied, as Grizzly looked over at the rest of his group. There he spotted Eagle holding out an odd cord-like object and pointing it down the doorway. Quickly Grizzly realized it was some kind of camera.
"[What brothers!? What sisters!? The heretics' tanks won't let any of them through!]" the first villain exclaimed before Eagle looked back at Ape. There the Lieutenant pulled out his Idroid and connected it to the cord-like camera. Instantly the device lit up, showing the inside of the room.
"[Their armor won't hold for long, not against our will,]" the other enemy proclaimed, the first one scoffing in response.
"[Sure… keep throwing bodies at them why don't you,]" the first enemy muttered. Again, Grizzly grimaced as he examined the camera's feed. Soliton had not lied, there were twenty people in the room. Each one focused on the door he and his group now stood by. Most had assault rifles, particularly Type 89s or 20s, but two other enemies had Sumitomo Minimis, three had Remington 870 shotguns, and one had a flamethrower.
"Think we can loop around?" Eagle quietly asked, the question not directed to anyone. Endeavor answered though, by quietly shaking his head no.
"Not possible. If these villains are smart, then the other entrances are covered just like this one," Endeavor told him while looking over the Idroid.
"Only way is through then," Ape muttered, before turning to face Endeavor, "Here's what we'll do. Most of us got flashbangs ready, we'll throw them in and wait a few seconds. Once the enemies are disoriented we'll move in."
"A sound plan. I'll deal with the flamethrower and the machine guns," Endeavor stated, stepping back to let a pair of soldiers past him.
"We'll deal with the others then," Ape commented, before grabbing one of his flashbangs. Looking around the hallway, Grizzly did the same. Ape seeing that Grizzly was ready, held up his hand, lowering his fingers one by one. Once the last finger dropped, Grizzly pulled the pin and tossed the flashbang into the room. Quickly he then looked away from the door and covered his ears.
"[Grenade!]" a few enemies called out as the flashbangs went off. The second they did Endeavor charged into the room, and the others followed him swiftly. Inside Grizzly was hoping the enemy would stand down. After all, they had been dazed and now were opening their eyes to find a gun in their faces. But nothing was ever that simple. Even while half deaf and blind, the enemy began to fight back.
So Grizzly opened fire at the first thug he spotted, sending three bullets into the man's chest and skull. He didn't stop there though, and quickly moved his rifle to a different pair of enemies. Both were trying to fire at him, but Grizzly held out his arm readying his quirk. With a great beam of light, both enemies were frozen over. With that done Grizzly looked out at the rest of the room. The first thing he saw was Endeavor bomb rushing the enemy flame thrower.
The thug tried to burn the hero, but the flames just licked at Endeavor's skin. Annoyed by the attempt, Endeavor gave the villain a taste of his own medicine, by chucking a wave of fire. It engulfed the flamethrower in seconds, causing the man to scream in pain before the flames subsided. With one down Endeavor then launched himself into the air, using his flames to hover for a minute before dropping down onto the machine gunners.
Endeavor practically acted as a meteor when he landed on a machine gunner, set him alight, and broke some of the man's bones. Before the other machine gunner could retaliate, Endeavor rushed over and grabbed him by the shirt. There he ended the fight, with a simple punch in the face. No overly powerful flames or flashy moves, just a single well-placed punch, on the villain's temple.
Grizzly couldn't help but be impressed, an actually competent hero. Of course, by now some of the enemies present were beginning to recover, causing Grizzly to run and hide behind the entrance's lobby desk. Bullets ripped into the wooden furniture, and quickly Grizzled provided covering fire. Soon enough Gecko slid up next to him, flinching as a bullet grazed his shoulder.
"Shit!" Gecko called out, before looking over at Grizzly "Still think this is better than Africa!?"
"Still on about that!?" Grizzly yelled back somewhat surprised, before firing over cover again.
"Of course I am! Why the hell did we even accept this contract!" Gecko replied, forcing himself to return fire as well.
"Better than fighting the warlords at least!" Grizzly pointed out, with Gecko scoffing in response. At the same time, Grizzly ducked down behind cover to reload.
"Hell no it doesn't! None of them were this suicidal!" Gecko countered, with Grizzly quietly agreeing.
Looking back out over cover again, Grizzly spotted a group of thugs running for the Minimis left behind. Not wanting that, Grizzly held out his arm again and aimed at the machine guns. With another flash of light, the two weapons were frozen solid. With that, Grizzly then picked off the thugs out of cover. Everything seemed to slowly die down then, as the last of the enemies were dealt with.
Standing up, Grizzly stretched for a moment, before checking his weapon's condition. The entrance had been secured, but he could still hear the battle raging outside.