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Chapter 5: A Fateful Raid – Part 2
🕑 Added 2024-02-05 15:06:49 +0000 UTCGood news, after nearly a year without it, I've finally got Grammarly Premium working for me again! So, this chapter is one of the best written in this entire series. Because of that, I've taken the chance to write something special, a new story I've spoken about with other authors in passing but have never put much thought into. Unlike…everything else, I'm not giving it any release schedule to keep it flexible because I have 5 other works already.
Chapter 5: A Fateful Raid – Part 2
"It can talk?" Now on his guard with the rest of them, Shishido asked, as there was nothing in the reports about such an ability for these mindless beasts. Endeavour could see that the file would need to be updated. That just meant that he would need to take at least one of them alive, which is not an easy task, but as the number two, he could have done it more easily.
He was given no time to act on that new plan as the newly healed Nomu dashed for it, using the jets on its back and its superhuman physique to close the distance between them at an insane pace, the two being launched out of the building with the man hearing the others yell out to him as he found himself being taken somewhere else. That served as the bell as Shinsho and Mirko were already moving, their eyes trained on a Nomu, a piece to handle. In contrast, Ryukyu and Lady pulled out with the ones they had to hand over to the police, Jeanist moving to assist, but unknown to them, a warp gate opened up above them, and a fourth Nomu was sent through.
As it fell to earth, its arms bulged, its palms facing the warehouse. "Die, heroes, die!" The artificial being cried out as it fired a powerful blast of air towards the damaged building, the heroes and police only having a moment to realize what was about to happen before the building and everything else in a 3-block radius was reduced to rubble.
Line Break
The dust hadn't even settled after that surprise attack, and already the pros were getting back to their feet, some worse off than others. “Dammit, what the hell?” Shishido growled, as he only faintly heard the attack coming but wasn’t fast enough to react, which left him wondering how he was still awake and ready to brawl.
The reason for that was a winded Jeanist, who had pulled everyone to safety thanks to their clothes but hadn't been able to move, only being saved from being buried alive in debris by Ryukyu, who used her massive dragon body as a shield, but not without injury. "Focus, that was merely another attack. We need to handle these reanimated corpses quickly!" He ordered them, his eyes peeled as he noticed that the Nomu they thought were neutralized had all awakened, and with the police out of the picture, it fell to them to handle them before they started suffering losses.
Looking to her side, she saw one of those Nomu running towards her, screeching like an unholy fusion of a bear and pigeon, but it was sent packing thanks to a blast from Hado. She wasn't the only one in action, as Shishido and Mirko wasted no time handling these enemies. As sad as it was, they were merely corpses, tampered with and turned into weapons for some sick and twisted villain. And because of that, neither held back as with a single kick, Mirko snapped one's neck and straight decapitated another while Shishido grabbed on by the skull and smashed into the ground, not so much cracking as it shattered its skull.
That didn't mean that the stronger ones had stayed back, oh-no as in between handling the grey and mustard-skinned ones, the pros were fighting against these much stronger ones, with all three displaying quirks and power that could rival them, with Jeanist being at a disadvantage as none were clothes, forcing him to use his own clothing to handle things. Ryukyu, despite this, could see that they were managing with the combat, which meant she had to focus on the other part, rescue.
“Ryukyu!” Nejire-chan came floating next to her, her work studies student worried and waiting for instructions now that things had gone so badly.
“Hado, we’re getting the police and people. Get out of here; they could have been caught in that blast!" She looked to the side, where she knew the entrance to the warehouse had been before the entire place had been destroyed. She understood that a group had been waiting there, and then there was the rest, which was a block away. Not to mention civilians, as they might have cleared everything in a block of the warehouse, but she could see that the destruction stretched much further than that.
“Got it!” Hado didn't question this as the two left to get as many lives out of this clusterfuck as they could; with Jeanist, he felt his brow starting to sweat as he battled with one Nomu, which had a tentacle-like appendage growing from its head, one that it could swing with incredible speed and power. Things he was ill-suited for as he used the fabric of his sleeve to grab onto it and redirect it away from his body.
Off in the distance, he could see massive gales of fire. ‘Dammit, Endeavour, of all the times for you to be separated from us, it’s now.’ They had asked for Endeavour because his quirk was a perfect counter to their regeneration, but the Nomu also seemed to know that as he was being kept busy. In the shadows, the group woman watched the heroes fighting, learning what she could to create a counter.
"Heroes still alive must be fast…no." She thought aloud, her eyes shifting to Jeanist as she knew the others should have been caught in that last big attack if not for him. She had seen him do it. “Just that one, Jeanist…” That's her target; it would be much easier if she could handle him. Smiling at the idea of slaughtering such a high-ranked pro, she screamed and jumped back into things.
“Dammit, all the little ones are also awake!” Shishido grabbed the arm of a black-skinned Nomu trying to strike him, put it into a lock and shattered its elbow before batting it aside to dodge a lunch from a weaker grey-skinned Nomu.
Dodging the air blast from another black-skinned, Mirko jumped over it and landed on the back of a mustard skin, her powerful legs striking with enough force to send it crashing into the ground, its bones and organs no doubt puddy. “They’re small fry! It’s the big ones we need to kill!” She called back as he jumped to avoid another air blast, one strong enough that it sent large chunks of debris flying, digging a canal through the already damaged earth.
As if things couldn’t get worse, as they fought off the Nomu, puddles of grey sludge appeared mid-away, forming as if there were invisible pipes that had been opening. The sight of them forced Mirko away from an attack. “What the?!” She cursed at the annoyance as she saw more Nomu being dumped onto them from these portals.
“More of them?!” Shishido yelled out in surprise and anger, growling as he charged these new ones as Jeanist counted the ones he could see, counting 14 more, the most that had been caught in a single incident.
"Of course, they knew we were coming; this was a trap!" He muttered as that was the only way to explain how the villains had been so prepared for them as defences were one thing, but this was a trap, and they had walked right into it.
Suddenly, they all felt it, a sense of dread and fear washing over them, their bodies screaming that something horrible was coming, while Mirko's rabbit instincts pleaded for her to run, nearly forcing her to do it as they heard someone approaching. This power source walked with dignity and serenity as if the destruction around them didn't register. Even the Nomu ceased their attacks, leading to a lull in the fighting as the pros turned to see someone appearing from the shadows, a tall, well-dressed man.
Clapping as he stepped into the light, All for One felt amusement over what had happened. "Impressive performance, as expected from some of the best heroes in the land. Not only have you removed a good portion of the lower tear Nomu, but you're also holding your own against the high ends." They spoke as if there were a sports commentator, like the entire fight wasn't worth much of their attention.
"But it would seem that you're both in check, which means it was wise to have the others attack elsewhere.” They heard screams in the distance, followed by roars from Ryukyu as Mirko looked away, her hearing picking up fighting where the dragon hero and her underling had gone.
Jeanist didn't waste any time. Fearful or not, this man wore clothes. As he clenched his fist, the fabric that made up his jacket, shirt, tie, and pants shifted and constricted. “Quick,” Jeanist found that this man wasn't the run-of-the-mill villain as he discovered that he couldn't tighten his fist no matter how much he tried.
Without warning, the man's right arm bulged up as if a balloon filled with air as he broke free of his restraints as if he had merely used a couple of strands of string. He didn't see anything else as a blast of air hit him in the gut as if it was a hammer; the light faded from his eyes as he felt his consciousness slipping from just that one blow, sending him flying away where he crashed into a portion of a wall, his limp body sliding down, the man out like a light.
"But not quick enough." All for One finished, impressed that the man hadn't been killed by that blow, but he must have instinctively reinforced his stomach with as many layers of fabric as he could. A powerful quirk, but only in the hands of someone with the time and patience to make it work, something other than what suited his successor's temperament.
“Jeanist!” Shishido yelled, shocked that a member of the top 5 could do down with just a single strike! Mirko wasn't going to wait as she rushed him. Still, the man, despite his size, proved to be just as fast, barriers of fire and water appearing to defend against her blows while black tendrils shot from his hand towards her, forcing her to retreat, her rabbit instincts yelling for her to run before she was killed by this predator.
“Bastard, you’re the big boss they told us about?” She asked, trying to buy time even as the Nomu finally started to move again, making an already lousy situation 5 times worse as they fought for their lives.
All for One smiled, not that they could see it with his helmet as he figured her game, but he supposed it wouldn't hurt to play it. “Maybe I am, I do hope you make this fun. It’s been quite a while since I last fought.” He wondered if it would damage that buffoon of a symbol’s pride if he were to arrive and find his hero comrades dead at his feet.
Line Break
The High End tossed Endeavour towards another building, having bull-rushed him through several already as the man barely stopped himself from crashing into it. “Dammit, it was even able to counter my reverse thrust,” He had rarely met a foe so powerful, as the entire time they had flown from the warehouse and towards this populated area, he had tried in vain to slow them down.
As the Nomu rushed him again, attacking with insane speed and extendable limbs, the number 2 was kept on the defensive, dodging attacks if not redirecting them away from himself, and the buildings he saw still had people in them. 'It's fast, too; not only that, but it's avoiding my attacks and forcing me away from the fight. Why? Does it only wish to face me by itself, or does it want to keep me from helping the others with my flames?' As he fought to protect people, his mind moved a mile a minute, analyzing what he saw, comparing it to what he knew and trying to figure out what was before him.
'Either way, this one shows intelligence but is too dangerous to try and capture for interrogation.' As much as they could learn from this, he wouldn't risk lives over it. He just had to put his faith in the others that they'll manage to restrain one, a thought that was proven accurate when he got below it and blasted it with as much fire as he could muster in the movement, the screams of civilians fleeing drowned out by the inferno of his creation.
He kept his guard up, not trusting that move to have been enough, a sentiment proved right when an arm shot out from the smoke, which he dodged. The hand grabbed onto the side of a building and pulled the Nomu towards it, where it latched onto it, its body covered with burns and its legs missing, but all of that healed in seconds. “Ha, not…are strong…flames…too…weak to kill me.” The Nomu gloated, his focus never wavering as he watched it heal itself in a second.
‘Its regeneration is also faster than the others I've fought; this could be trouble.' When he fought against the other black ones at Hosu, they had healed from his blows but much slower. If the intelligence and capacity to speak weren't enough, that fact highlighted that he needed to kill it fast and get back to the others.
“Is that…the best you got?” The Nomu asked him, its face near splitting with how wide its smile was as the man clenched his fist.
“Not even flash, Flashfire fist: Hellspider!” Endeavour sent out threads of fire, hot enough to slice through steel and concrete, towards the Nomu as it dodged most of them. Still, he twitched his fingers and had a couple swing back on it, trapping the beast as it avoided the worst of it, but he still managed to slice off another arm and its lower body, all of which fell to earth.
Pulling back, they both saw an attack coming from the ground, dodging around the boulder thrown at it; the Nomu's gaze fell to the street where a pro was ripping out chunks of the road and throwing them towards the beast.
“We’re back you up, Endeavour!” The pro, a man dressed like a shirtless barbarian, yelled.
"There are people that still need to be evacuated!" Another group kept people back from the fighting while directing people away, cars lying abandoned in the street in the panic. However, Endeavour's attention lay on the people and how that idiot was just drawing attention.
“No, stay back!” He yelled as the Nomu charged at them, roaring-
“Annoying bugs!” Even as it was still healing, he was under no delusion that they could handle it as he raced for it, managing to outpace it, only barely and punch it into the ground, his fist pushed forward by a jet of flames from his elbow acting like a rocket.
Holding it down, he tried to fry the damn thing, but the beast struggled like an animal, kicking and swinging its arms about as he got a punch to the face and knocked him off. Wiping the blood away, he didn't draw his attention from it as it charged at him, with Endeavour taking to the air again, even if it was taxing on his body to use so many flames to remain airborne. "I'll handle this one; focus on everything else!"
“Dammit!” As it flew towards him, he let out another massive gale of flames, spreading it as wide as he could but being forced to keep it weak as the Nomu quickly broke through and ascended higher than him. 'I can't go all out; too many people, yet this thing is fighting without a care in the world, a beast in all but name!' This wouldn't be a problem any other day, as even the biggest villains were still living creatures with a built-in sense of self-preservation and fear of fire. But this Nomu wasn't human anymore. It only existed to fight and came with a healing factor; why would it fear lethal injuries when most it could recover from in seconds?
Before his eyes, rather than go on the offensive, the Nomu's mouth bulged up as if it was about to vomit its entire innards. “Let small fry…handle small fry…!” Endeavour prepared for an attack, but instead, the beast spat out large clumps of something, that something revealing itself to be Nomu, at least 8 of them which uncurled from their fetal position with screeching and yelling as they fell towards the street.
He cursed; he had to wonder if he should take the fight lower to aid in handling the weaker ones with so few pros to fight them and risk bringing the one with him. Or keep his focus on the bigger fish, even if that meant leaving the small fry to wreck shop. He wasn't given time to choose as the Nomu locked eyes with him. "Let's keep fighting….higher…in the sky." The beast pointed towards the darkened skies, the fires and yelling below not bothering it.
“Why?” Endeavour asked.
“Because…you are…holding back. I want…to kill you…at your best…then I will…kill All Might…And be the best.” The Nomu replied, sounding excited, as if this was what it always wanted, and perhaps that was true.
‘That’s it? It just cares for?’ Endeavour asked, suspecting that this wasn't some programmed behaviour, as that wouldn't make sense as if it was only trying to kill him. Then, it was within its best interests to keep the fight close to the people, to limit him. No, that kind of illogical decision could only come from its personal wishes. He wondered how the power search corrupted him or if it was now more appropriate to call the Nomu it? His mind flashed to his family before he got his head straight.
Regardless of their parallels, he had to do one thing and one thing only, kill this thing. 'Either way, it's my best option to fight it if I can kill it before it can change its mind,' Ignoring how he was starting to sweat from the height, he increased the fire coming from his legs. He shot into the sky, a flaming arrow flying towards the clouds as he looked down at the Nomu that eagerly chased after him. “Come and get me, villain!”
“Show me…your strength!” The Nomu cried in joy, with Endeavour trying to lure them back towards the combat area that shouldn't have as many people. As he did so, he reached for his com to try and get a sit-rep.
"This is Endeavour, Jeanist. What is your situation?" He was met with only static from the Fiber Hero, which wasn't normal. “Answer me, dammit!” Switching to Mirko and then Shishido, they have yet to respond. Hoping they were too busy to talk, he tried someone else.
“All Might, have you secured the bar? All Might!” To his shock and anger, he again received no response. “Dammit, what the hell is going on?!” he rolled to the side mid-air to avoid an elongated arm sending him into a building 2000 ft below, turning to see the Nomu rushing him, screaming like a banshee as he yelled back, pulling back a fist now coated in fire before punching at the Nomu, the area exploding in flames. He didn’t know it, but he had lined himself up perfectly with the cameraman of a nearby helicopter, one of many that had flown in to cover the growing battle.
Line Break
These news choppers broadcast all that they saw to the nation, stunning tens of millions of viewers at the level of carnage and violence. A fraction of those viewers were the students of U.A’s hero course, as the students of class A had gathered in the common area to relax, only for the channel to shift to this growing crisis as the reporter in the helicopter tried to explain things while keeping what little composure he still had. “The scene below resembles the Hosu incident some months back; as you can see, most of Kamino ward is burning as the strange monsters known as Nomu rampage through the area.”
Another explosion of flames occurred as they narrowly missed having the number two hero be sent through them; the split second the man was in frame showed that he was taking damage as the Nomu went after him with a chilling scream. Gulping, the reporter continued. “Endeavour is one of them in the skies above the city, but we can't tell who has the upper hand! Meanwhile, on the ground, Ryukyu leads evacuation efforts to get people away from the villains while the pros and other heroes fight them off.”
The group felt fear and concern for Ryuku's part as they could make out the massive dragon fighting off the Nomu, trying to swarm her and the rest, Hado blasting them when she could as civilians were led away from the fighting as fast as they could, but with so many people panicking it was like herding cats. Another blast directed their attention back to the shattered remains of the warehouse where this all started, as they could see that Shishido and Mirko battled against their own problems, including a strange suited man who seemed, against all logic, to not just hold his own but almost toy with them.
“Holy-I…I can't describe it. The villains are holding them back, and the heroes are struggling. We don't know where All Might is, but sources state that he's being held back on the other side of town in a separate battle against the Nomu and known members of the League of Villains!” The reporter's fear and conclusion couldn't be covered, which didn't help the situation as Jiro tended to Koda, the boy looking close to a break, as they saw nothing but fires in the feed.
“It’s happening again…it’s happening again.” Koda fearfully whispered, seeing it all over again, hearing the crackling of the flames, the screams and dying breaths of the birds he summoned. He hugged him tighter as Sato joined in to try and keep him grounded.
“That the fuck…” Bakugo uttered, not being able to comprehend what he was seeing. They had said it already, didn't they? All Might was on the scene, so this shouldn't be happening; those league fuckers had always targeted spots where All Might wasn't because they couldn't handle him, so why wasn't he destroying them now?!
“Shit, man. How are they struggling? They have All Might and Endeavour on this.” Kirishima asked as Hagakure gripped a stunned Todoroki's hand, his eyes never leaving the scene once they saw his father struggling, taking damage against these monsters. She had heard what his home life was like already. She knew that he had a complicated as-hell relationship with the man who sired him, but she knew he didn't want him dead, especially after what happened at Dagobah; he didn't want his hate to be the only thing he had towards him.
But that needed him to be alive so they could reconcile and his father could change and improve. The boy blinked when he looked to his other side and saw Kaminari, the electric user, silently supporting him with a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s a nightmare.” Mineta yelped, scared out of his mind. It was a similar scene around the room as the rest of the class kept their eyes focused on the screen, seeing such carnage, reminding them too much of things they had seen before.
For Uraraka, it rang too close to Hosu, to Iida as Asui comforted her, both wishing that things wouldn’t end like that, that they wouldn’t need to watch another cherished person perish as Hado was in the thick of it. They had spent so much time with her and got to know the bubbly, excitable, intelligent and caring girl who wanted them to join Ryukyu's agency once the ban on work studies was lifted. Mt. Lady was present, but she had been too large a target for the Nomu as the camera arrived just in time to broadcast her being blasted away, the woman knocked out by the blow as her massive body crashed into some buildings.
A moment of hope came when Shishido managed to outflank the Nomu and charge the villain, whose attention seemed to be on Mirko. Still, that moment died as soon as it rose as without so much looking, the villain grew a 3rd arm from his back, already bulged out like a balloon before it burst. From the palm shot out, a deadly blast of air hit the Lion hero right in the gut, sending him flying through 2 buildings, where he crashed into an abandoned bus, unmoving.
As the rest of the class focused on that, Midoriya watched the action on the screen and them. She had suspected there was to be some action in Kamino thanks to what she heard from All Might; that was why news crews were so fast to arrive, as Curious always had things like this ready to capture media-worthy moments. But she didn't think it would go this bad. She frowned at all the destruction and death and wondered what purpose it could serve.
What did the League even want? That was a question many had asked since the USJ attack, but none could answer as the League didn’t announce a goal or ideology. They didn't attack specific things, as this showed. All they seemed to care for was destruction for destruction's sake. Such callous and violent acts infuriated her, but she could only pray that the heroes would handle this before it could worsen.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Aoyama getting up, the Frenchman looking like he was about to throw up, as he hastily excused himself and rushed off towards the stairs, most likely thinking the elevator too slow. She shot a quick "Be right back" to the rest to run after him, the rest assuming she must have been worried for her classmate, and in a way, she was. He didn't have a friend group or close confidante for moments like this, and she couldn't bring herself to ignore such, perhaps one of the few parts of herself that Overhaul's cruelty couldn't taint.
Following him to the boy's side of the dorms, she found him slumped by his door, muttering something to himself. She had started to approach when she heard what he was saying.
"I'm no hero, I can't be a hero…not when I'm….I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He continued to mumble, the boy a mess as his hair seemed to lose all its lustre, the sparkle he usually had was absent, and he was crying, fruitlessly trying to wipe them away with his sleeve. She was confused and concerned for him. What could make him this distressed? Why was he saying that he wasn't worthy of being a hero? Did he think he should be there? Maybe, but he never came off as so heroic that he could break down like this.
As she remained still and silent, he said something else. "When will this madness end? When will he finally be satisfied?" He asked, seemingly himself, God or whatever else she didn't know and, at the moment, didn't care as her breath hitched. Why…why did he refer to the villains like that? Why 'he' and not 'them'? As a matter of fact, why refer to them like that at all, as if he…knew them.
Wait a second, earlier today, she saw him feeling sick; she thought he was just under the weather, and then he was absent during lunch…it was insane, but…it wasn't impossible.
Shaking her head, she stepped a ways back around the corner before loudly stepping, making it seem like she was only now approaching. “Aoyama!” She turned the corner as she ‘looked’ for him, seeing him rubbing his face as he shakily got his feet. “Aoyama-There you are!”
Getting to him, she looked him over, and despite a couple of seconds she gave him to try and collect himself, he still looked like shit. “Are you feeling okay? You left in a hurry.”
“I’m…I’m feeling a little under the weather.” That was an understatement, but now that she had more pieces to work with, she could understand why.
"Here, let me help you to bed; the news is distressing for anyone; odds are you won't be the only one who needs to read to bed early." She opened his door for him and ignored how shiny the place was when she flipped the switch. She helped him to bed, drawing back the blankets before pulling them back to his chest. Rushing into his bathroom. She found he had a glass by the sink, filling it with water. She returned to his bedside and placed it by the bedside table for him to drink later if he felt the need.
I hope things will get better.” He muttered, though this time it was from exhaustion as the weight of everything started to catch up with him.
“So do I,” She replied as she got up to leave. Reaching the door, she stopped to look over her shoulder at Aoyama. Her emerald eyes were calm and open, free of malice, hate or fury. "Sleep tight, and…if you ever need someone to talk to, my door's always open." He smiled, looking genuinely grateful but restrained as he held back something. She suspected she knew the truth but wished to confirm it and give him the benefit of the doubt.
Gently closing his door, she took a deep breath and wondered what she would do if she was proven right. As she turned to leave, there was still much to watch. Returning to the common area, she arrived just in time to hear the group gasp in shock, her eyes seeing something she never thought would happen.
The number two hero falling.
And we'll end here. Once more, there was more to happen, but it wouldn't have fit as the rest of the battle is better read as a single chapter rather than me breaking it into chunks with what I have planned. So what was written for it will be in the next chapter. Again, as I'm working on another project, I will only post something in 2 weeks instead of the normal week, so I have the time to write that first chapter correctly.
Once again, if you liked this chapter, please leave a comment and follow the story so you're notified when new chapters are posted.
