MosesArk Reborn2000
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Chapter 5: Raxus Fire
🕑 Added 2023-10-20 15:40:55 +0000 UTCAs I was writing this, I got a call from an old high school friend who brought up how I accidentally created an image for myself back then. Like, I was not the quiet kid but I was the large dude that rarely spoke, which was mainly because at times I was lost when it came to conversations or didn't know what to say. So whenever I did, they treated it like I was Ferb-even when I said something that was downright idiotic. I also had a bit of an afro going in, partly because it was the cheapest style as my parents weren't ones to 'give an allowance' and part-time jobs were scarce, so one time I cut my hair real short, this girl that I had never shared a conversation with walks up to me, compliments it, but breaks me when she says 'you look younger than normal'…I was like, a couple of months YOUNGER than her, my friends couldn't let me live that shit down for 3 weeks.
Chapter 5: Raxus Fire
"Crap!" Izuku cursed as he checked for the pulse of a child, no older than 8, only to find nothing. He wished that it was the first, or even second corpse he had seen, but the fact was that in the last 20 minutes, he had seen more death than he ever hoped to see in 20 years. Stepping back, he noted the bright red hair and the unicorn doll on their hand, making it all the harder to focus as he recognized them, he had made them apple and grape juice to take home only hours before…they had been so happy.
Now he’ll never see that happiness again.
Leaving the small room, he rushed down the halls of the shelter, glad that they had at least cleared the first 2 floors and were nearly done with the 3rd. He focused on the fact he managed to find and save 11 people, not the fact he found 6 dead, or else he'd break down and become a sobbing mess. Turning a corner, he met up with Ōbi who was carrying an unconscious woman in his arms bridal style.
"Have the firefighters arrived yet?" He asked, speaking as loud as he could to be heard over the raging fire and creaking structure, they didn't have much time before something gave and neither wished to be around for that.
“I didn’t see them, just keep focusing on what you can do!” Ōbi yelled back, not stopping as he turned around another corner, heading for the stairs to get his passenger to safety. Izuku muttered that he'd ring someone's neck but moved on, kneeling, he extended his tenet-much like he had done when he was doing his exam for his red belt. He didn't let the walls or the fire stop him, feeling out for any movement, any irregular shapes that could be considered human. He ground his teeth as the fires didn't make it easy, as their constantly changing shape messed with his perception, but he was able to detect a few more people on the floor.
Right as he finished, people rushed up the stairs and found him, all of them wearing their robes and any other spare pieces of cloth that had been doused with water. He pointed at several rooms and paths in what most would assume were random. "There, there, down that route, the middle path 4th door on the right!" These people knew better than to question him as they ran past him to where he directed them, busting down doors or if time was short, walls to get to the people inside. Midoriya took one where he felt a body, but couldn't detect movement. Breaking the door down, he coughed through his mask as he took in the space, seeing a small window which had been opened up, allowing some of the smoke to escape while to the side was a familiar person, slumped against the wall.
“Granny Biscuit!” He yelled, almost teleporting to her side and inspecting the old woman. Her cane was missing, and she was badly burnt, but she had a pulse, a weak one but it was there. Sparring the window thought, he realized that she must have ended up in her and opened the window to give herself some air. ‘I need to get her out of here, fast!’ He slowly picked her up, being careful not to make her wounds any worse than they already were, but now wasn’t the time for a proper examination.
“Hold on, we’re going to make it out of this, you hear me, Granny? I’m not letting some idiots do you in!” He told her as he left the room, followed by another as they raced down the stairs, the lower levels not as bad as when they started as others ran all over the place with buckets of water, dousing fires wherever they could. Making it outside, he saw that the small area for treatment had expanded to now have dozens of people, some awake, most still out as Kyūfune ran about, barking instructions and treating people in equal measure. She at least had help from locals who either could follow orders, or have some first aid knowledge.
It was the same with the fire suppression as the two lines from before had turned into 6, with 3 supplying the buckets for people entering the building while the rest worked on the exterior, but the blaze was a difficult bitch and wasn’t going down without a fight. Laying Granny Biscuit down, two people rushed forward to aide her, too busy with that to say a thing to him, not that he would have heard it as he ran to a small water station, picked up a pale and tossed it over himself, getting his clothing and body wet again.
“Please, you gotta help me!” Turning to the side, he saw a woman being held back from running into the inferno by Ōbi
“Mam, we’re doing all we can!” The older man yelled at her, but she didn’t seem to care as she continued to struggle against him till someone came up and grabbed her from behind.
“But my son,” Even while restrained, she kept crying as her eyes focused on the burning building. “My son’s still in there!”
“Which floor?” The woman and the group turned to Midoriya, the boy fixing his wet robes to ensure they covered everything.
“What?”
“Which floor did you last see him?” He repeated, louder than the first time as the mother managed to collect herself enough to speak.
“The 4th.”
“Midoriya don-!” Ōbi’s warning was ignored as Midoriya didn’t even let the man finish before he turned and rushed back in like a bat out of hell. “Goddammit!” The man cursed to high heaven before he told the husband to keep his wife away from the blaze lest she become another corpse before he went to get himself prepped to chase after the boy.
Line Break
The 4th floor was just as dangerous as he feared, the flames hadn’t spread everywhere, but that only meant that the smoke was seemingly everywhere, even through a wet cloth over his nose and mouth, he could almost taste it on his tongue. Reaching out with his tenet, he had to move slowly as he ‘felt’ his way through the smoke-filled space. It was that use of Húxū that saved him as he felt it before it appeared. Diving to the side, he evaded the wall where he just was exploding as the fires reached something extremely flammable, perhaps a gas tank that was stored, it didn't matter as turning back, he saw his way out blocked by debris.
He steeled his heart, turning to continue the search as he felt through the rooms, not even opening them when he felt nothing. With those with movement, he called out for a response but got none. He didn't have backup, he couldn't wait for them but…but he couldn't just leave them. that wasn't his nature. It was this resolve that saw him break down the first door, grab the thankfully breathing body and leave, following this process for the next several doors, till he was straining to pick them up as had to carry them one at a time to his next spot, this slowing down with each new person he found.
By the time he reached the final door, he was trying to protect 8 people of different sizes, appearances, genders and ages. Turning back, he saw that the fire from before was gaining on them, making him grateful he grabbed those he could rather than leave them to a fiery end. The air was warm even before he breathed it in, he kicked the door down, his augmented strength shattering the wood and sending bits and pieces flying around the place.
There, hiding behind a sink in what he realized was a bathroom, was the child he suspected he was after, they certainly shared the same horse-like features he had seen with the mother, but like the rest of the people he had found, they were barely awake thanks to smoke inhalation, smoke that was now entering the room faster thanks him busting the door down. Grabbing their shoulders, he pulled their fading attention to him and him alone.
“Hey, everything will be fine, I’m here to help. You’re gonna see your ma and pa again, just you wait.” He lowered his mask, letting the kid see his dirty face but also the big smile he was sporting.
“…Are you…a hero…?” The boy didn't seem to react much, his head a fog which only made Izuku hyper-aware of the fact he was running out of time
“I try to be, and I will save you.” He replied, not wishing to lie but also wishing to live up to that idea. To what All Might preached, to what he believed.
“Kay…” The boy nodded but also cracked a lopsided smile as if remembering a funny joke. “You look like Rag-Gal…” Midoriya kept him awake the best he could, smacking his cheeks before he moved to check the rest of the room for a way to help the people he had with him and escape before they all burnt.
‘Window’s too small to climb through, even if I did, there’s no way I’ll be able to get everyone out.’ He eyed the window, but it was small, clearly meant for ventilation over scenery or any potential movement, not unless you were the size of a toddler. Gently moving the boy, Izuku stood on the sink counter to look through it.
“Good, it’s facing the front.” He was close to being above the entrance, which meant that most people were there. Jumping down, he eyed the wall for a moment before he pulled back his fist. “Here goes.” He uttered as he punched the wall, shaking the already structurally compromised room while leaving a small crater surrounded by cracks from the site of impact.
“One more!” Not sparing a second, he pulled back another, stronger blow before he punched through the wall, the force of the blow creating a large enough that the people on the ground picked up on it.
“What the-the wall exploded!”
“Dammit, where are the hoses?”
“Guys!” They looked up, seeing Midoriya clearing away bricks to increase the size of the hole. With that done, he started waving at them. “I’m sending people down, be ready!”
“What does he mean by-what the fuck are you thinking?!” Someone asked as Midoriya vanished back into the building, only for that question to change as he now held a middle-aged man in his arms in a scene that didn't take much to realize what his plan was.
“Ready to receive?” Midoriya yelled back to them, ignoring the second question as this wasn't the sanest solution, but he was on a timer and this was the best he could come up with.
“Oh for-Yes, give us a second!” The woman on the ground yelled back to him before she turned to the rest of them, including the mass of people that had arrived. “We need the biggest blankets you have!” They didn't have many blankets, but they did have plenty of people willing to give up the shirts off their backs and a spider mutant woman who volunteered to rapidly sow them all together. In less than a couple minutes, they had a blanket with the area of a small apartment held up by 16 people who moved into position.
“Alright, don’t mess this up!” Midoriya warned them before he dropped the unconscious man down to earth, right into the blanket which held, softening their fall. With the first person safe at ground level, he continued to drop people down to them, the seconds between when they got the person off the blanket to get ready for the next felt like hours as he watched the fire getting closer, with the smoke leaving through the hole only getting worse as he started to cough from it. As he reached for the boy whom he had come for, the last person up there with him, he felt another disturbance in his Húxū which made his eyes widen as he realized he didn’t have any more time.
Without a second thought, he grabbed the kid and jumped out of the hole, much to the horror of the crowd as an explosion followed after them, if he had remained even a second longer, they would have been caught in it, but as it stood, there were only pushed further by its force, a glance told him that he would miss the blanket entirely. With no other option, he transferred as much of his tenet as he could into the boy in his arms and braced for a harsh landing.
When his back and shoulder impacted the cold, hard pavement, there wasn't so much a crash as there was a crack and thud as he felt the air leaving his lungs, quickly followed by a searing pain all over his body, with the worst being the parts of him that impacted first as he found himself laying belly up, his arms to his side-one he was pretty sure was broken. Seconds after his rough landing, the rest were rushing over, fearing the worst but he could at least give a thumbs up as he felt it, the steady drumbeat of the little boy's heart, the rise and fall of his chest pressed against his own.
“Shit, you have to be the craziest person I know, the hell was that about?” Someone asked him as the kid was taken off him and rushed to the medical side, his concerned parents following right on after as Midoriya was helped up by two others.
"It was either a date with the pavement or the flames,” He hissed in pain as he moved, jolting his thoroughly messed up shoulder and arm. “I think I chose well.”
"You're lucky you didn't hit your crack your head open, you dunce!" The woman yelled at him as he laughed, feeling a bit light-headed.
“As long as the…people,” His vision started to blur, the voices and sounds of everything around him fading into white noise before-“…safe.” He was out, his eyes rolling back as he passed out from the pain of his injuries.
Line Break
He didn't know how long he was out, or what happened. One second he was being, the next he seemed to be back on the…bed? Groaning, he fought to regain consciousness, hearing bits and pieces as he did so. “He’s coming to.”
“Already? What the hell is this kid made of? Most people would be out for at least another day.” What was surprising about that? Anyone from the sanctuary knew his training was no joke, a simple 4 floor drop wouldn’t be enough to do him in….Unless these people weren’t from the sanctuary.
When he finally opened his eyes, he found himself on a stretcher, his head and right arm from his shoulder going down wrapped up, the limb being supported in a brace. To his sides were two EMTs, both looking at him with shock…when did they get here?
Ignoring them for the moment, he looked around and saw that he was still in Raxus, still close to the shelter which was now largely burnt out, with 3 different fire trucks still shooting water into the burnt-out structure while firefighters entered the buildings, others coming out carrying stretchers like the one he was laying on, but only covered with tarps. He didn’t need to be told to understand what that meant.
Against the instructions of the paramedics tending to him, he forced himself onto his feet, with the two holding him down. “I’ll be fine, focus on everyone else.” His assurance didn’t mean much to them, but the sneer one of them was shooting him didn’t give an impression that she liked or even wanted to treat him.
“You want to die? Fine, the world doesn’t need your kind anymore.” He grunted as he got to his feet, refusing to wavier when she could see him. rather, he turned to glare at her over his shoulder.
"I don't have any plans to die till I'm old and grey." He spat back, flipping her off with his good arm before he walked off. As he moved, he was able to take a better inspection of himself and besides the bandages around his head and his cast-covered arm, his torso was also wrapped up, his top missing-most likely tossed but at least he still had his red belt. His day was made even better when the child he had handed his scarf to. "Thank you for helping us." She walked up to him, giving him a small hug which he returned.
"We must be there for each other whenever we're needed." He messed her hair a little, getting a pout from the girl as she handed him his scarf back. Taking it in his hands, he held it like it was a child. "You helped me by protecting this, it…it's important to me." He looked at it, smiling as he recalled the day he got it.
"Is it expensive?" He couldn't help but laugh at that, confusing the child.
"Heavens no!" He knew that it was cheap, that he could easily get a new one from just about any clothing store but…that wasn't the reason for its value, at least to him. "It was a gift from my mother." For what felt like the first time in hours, he smiled as he thanked her, wrapping it around himself with just one hand. Walking closer, he saw that most of the rescue team was sitting with the people, making sure that they were as comfortable as they could be. The fire suppression was still working, even though their role was mercifully reduced with the presence of the firefighters while the first aid people continued to work as well, only they were now helping move people onto ambulances, he just hoped that they got the treatment they deserved.
Approaching them, he walked up to Ōbi speaking with a police officer. The man had removed most of his robes, leaving him with just his white vest and a bandage around his left forearms. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could guess that it wasn't pleasant as things got heated with his senior and started to get angry.
“You call yourself a cop, what a disgrace to the badge!” The man yelled at the cop before turning to walk away before he punched him.
Jogging up to him, Midoriya spoke. “That seemed like it didn’t go well.” Ōbi sparred him a glance, if he was shocked that he was on his feet again, he didn’t show it.
“Shouldn’t you be on your way to the hospital?” The man asked him, looking him over and seeing how bandaged up he was, and he walking with a slight limp.
"I'm still walking, I'll heal up later if I have to." Midoriya shrugged it off, only for the man to mutter something about him being an idiot under his breath.
“One of these days, I’m going to knock some sense into your head.” He spoke up, louder as they got closer to where the rest of their people from the rescue team were resting, their robes off and to their sides as some fanned themselves, or drank water that was offered to them by locals.
“Maybe, maybe not.” Now wasn't the time to talk about Izuku's habit of running into danger without thought to save another. “You didn’t answer my question.” Ōbi snorted before he gestured to the shelter and the many firefighters working.
“You were out for about 90 minutes, maybe a little longer, maybe a little shorter. Point is, the calvary arrived a little over an hour ago.” The was a dismissive disgust in his voice when he mentioned calvary, not that he blamed him as he wouldn't be surprised if that was a sentiment shared by all of them. When they called the fire department, they gave them a time of arrival of 20 minutes. That call had been before they arrived, where they spent over 20 minutes saving as many people as they could. All that meant that the firefighters, ambulances and the damn cops acting as crowd control didn’t get here till they were well over an hour late.
“Amazing what they could have done if they showed up sooner.” He felt an anger in him, a desire to lash out but he controlled himself, he wouldn’t allow him to be lowered to the same level as those dogs.
“That's not the issue. The fucking issue is that according to their primary assessment, the entire 'incident',” Ōbi glared at a group of cops as they questioned a couple of people, none of them looking the slightest bit comfortable with the presence of law enforcement. “Was an unfortunate tragedy caused by overpopulation and poor handling of flammable materials.”
“What the hell, it wasn’t an incident, it was an attack!” Midoriya’s rage exploded, his yell so loud that he drew attention from others, both residents and law enforcement alike, but he didn’t care. "We have one of the fuckers right there! If they had done their jobs and showed up sooner, we wouldn't be hauling so many bodies, we wouldn't have lost so many people!" He pointed at the mass of bodies, all of them covered by tarps, blankets, shirts-whatever could be sparred. Around them, families and friends mourned their loss.
They had been attacked, they had been the victims-to even hint that some blame lay with them made him see red. He was stopped from running to the cops to yell that fact in their faces by Ōbi who grabbed his shoulder, the man’s face as stormy as his but restrained in its fury. “Trust me, I know the feeling, I barely held back from clocking that cop in the face.” He wasn't scared of spending a night in jail, but he had to remain here, helping to run the rescue and recovery efforts as he didn't trust these cops or EMTs as far as he could throw them.
“Excuse me,” Both turned to see who was interrupting them, only to find themselves having to turn their heads up just to look the much taller man in the eye. “But I would like to get your statements about this tragedy.” The number one seemed…sheepish, apologetic even. His costume was slightly burned from the fires but the man was untouched by them.
“All Might?” Midoriya asked, surprised to see him before that surprise turned to irritation. All Might recognized him and must have realized that the boy wasn't his biggest fan at the moment.
“He arrived first, they,” Ōbi explained, nodding to the rest of the first responders. “Followed after him.” It had been…a surprise to see All Might just land, his signature smile visible for all to see before he rushed in to help, coming out just as quickly with people or at one point, holding up the ceiling to allow others to save people, the weight of the hundreds of tons of brick, steel and concrete easily held up by the blonde.
“Of course, they did, where the number one goes, the cameras are sure to follow.” Midoriya snorted, when did they call? They take their sweet time, but when All Might acts, they chase after him like love-sick puppies. “Didn’t you already ask others?” He didn’t wish to speak with him.
“We did, but it will be best if we speak to everyone involved, and not a lot of them can say they did what you did, young man. That was a mark of a true hero.” All Might told him, the phrase catching him off guard as he felt it vibrate in his chest, sing to his heart in a way he didn’t know that words from his fallen idol could.
"…Someone had to step up when there weren't any." He replied, but he agreed to speak with the man, it meant speaking with a cop that he might have struck.
That was shorter than normal, but I didn't want to bloat the chapter with nonsense, nor did I want to take stuff from the next chapter as that's not from the same day as the fire, so it would have and did feel jarring to only get a snippet of that, so I cut it.
