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A New Existence Chapter 10
🕑 Added 2023-09-20 15:14:47 +0000 UTCMan, oh man, I was much busier this previous week than I had expected, so I wasn't able to work on this as much as I wanted to, but hopefully, I was able to get this done in time to post it. Not helped by the fact there is another MHA story and Danny Phantom story I’m working on in the works but I’m learning how to balance things. Anywho, let’s get to the chapter.
Chapter 10: Blood-Stained Regret.
"Get to it, protect the students and civilians, the exam is over!" Gang Orca’s yell broke most out of their surprised stupor as the students switched from one task to the very real one coming down on them. H.U.C. actors broke character and immediately fled, trying to leave the field and decrease the pressure that the students and pros would need to handle in protecting them and repelling the League’s latest assault. Teachers from the stands leapt into the fray, yelling out commands, loud and fast to their students who followed them the best they could in the growing chaotic melee. Others rushed to either help or direct students to get the civilians to safety.
All this was visible to Izuku and co, who had seen it all happen in only a few seconds. ‘Keep out of trouble,” Ms. Joke told her as she and Aizawa, his goggles covering his eyes and capture scarf in hand leapt from their seats into the fray, Aizawa cancelling the quirks of several villains before rushing them while another group broke out in tears as Ms. Joke crashed into them, her fists hitting cheeks and jaws in quick succession. However, despite them and so many others, these weren’t gutter punks, even to someone with as little experience as Izuku, she could tell that these weren’t like the grunts that the League attacked the U.S.J with, nor were they like the people that attacked Hosu.
They were better, vicious and numerous as when one fell, a portal opened and 2 more entered, if this went on, the dozens would turn into hundreds, and supported by those Nomu tanks, they'd overrun them. This was an observation that rang true across the field as in every zone, a major assault was occurring, supported by Nomu yes, but led by a member of the newly minted Vanguard Action squad of the League, the crème of the top among thieves and killers.
In the Mountains, the rocks and stone were bathed in blue flames as Uraraka and Hagakure faced off against a heavily scarred in dark clothing with piercing blue eyes that seemed to relish in the inferno of his creation. With the shock of the assault fading, the two remained on the backfoot with the rest of the students as they had to fight and retreat at the same time as most were a poor match-up against the incredibly hot flames or needed to ensure that the civilians didn't meet the same fate as the unlucky ones that they couldn't get too in time. Uraraka tried to buy them more time by levitating boulders and throwing them at the man, similar to her fight with Bakugo at the festival, but he was incredibly fast, dodging just about everything she could throw his way before responding with a brutal blast of fire so hot she could feel it even from a distance.
The Urban sector was facing off against its own monster as a blonde man covered in muscle fibres rampaged through concrete, brick and steel like they were cotton, paper and string. In his wake, he left destruction and the corpses of both the unlucky H.U.C personnel he murdered and the brave students who tried to stop him before he tore them apart as well. A student from Shiketsu with a strength booster was his latest target as he slammed the boy into the ground hard enough to crater it, robbing the guy of his breath and most of his strength, fading fast he could do nothing to prevent his coming death as Muscular rose both hands over his head, prepared to turn him into a blood spatter but he was saved by his classmate, Mora who with a yell of fury, both rescued his injured comrade and grabbed Muscular with as much hair as he could and threw him into a already damaged building, causing it to collapse on the murderous villain and buying them valuable time.
On the other side of the destroyed urban district, purple gas blanketed the area, chocking out H.U.C agents and students by the dozen as before many could save themselves, they fell victim to it, leaving them nothing more than obstacles and easy prey for the small, gas mask wearing villain that moved in the centre of the gas cloud, casually strolling like he was on an afternoon walk and humming a tune to himself, one with no words but a cheerful beat. This act of normalcy was only broken by the fact he wielded a small gun which he used whenever he came across a body. Hero, student, H.U.C agent- it didn't matter them him as he would aim for their chests or heads and pull the trigger, the deafening crack that followed heralded the end of another life, followed by another, and another, and another. All this was heard by Yaoyorozu, Aoyama and the small group that had managed to escape the initial gas attack. Yaoyorozu had thought fast once she saw the gas and created gas masks for as many as she could, even if that meant just the 14 of them. Despite their fury at how casually this villain took the lives of others, none could stop the shiver and wince that came with that damned humming and following gunshot.
The highway had its problems in the form of a madman screaming for flesh, having appeared out of nowhere, he had fallen on them like rain. Despite Tokoyami recognizing him as a death row inmate Moonfish, this didn’t help their case as he along with Sero and Makabe hid in the ruins along with others, they were forced to as they tried to attack him all at once when he appeared, hoping that their numbers and skills would be sufficient to handle him before he could do serious damage. They paid for that mistake in blood as Makabe nursed a deep cut on his arm while the bodies of 11 of them littered the area between them and the crazed killer. The fact that there were more villains present was only mitigated by the fact they stayed back as well as Moonfish didn't seem to care who or what he killed, so long as it bled.
Line Break
“Shit, shit, shit!” Mera cursed, the stress and rage caused by the situation shooting through his veins like super caffeine as he tries to call the police, the other exam sites, the commission, or the pros-only to be with silence and that damned auto reply of ‘No Cell service.’ Nearly throwing his phone into the wall, he turned to the suited men with him. “Anything?”
One of them shook their heads, sweating like a pig as they tried to use one of the two emergency lines that the commission had prepared, this one being a direct satellite phone that while bulky and heavy, was meant to offer service anywhere on the planet. “Nothing sir!”
The other person was trying to use the direct cable phone which was routed to the nearest police station and hospital but there was nothing but silence. “The secondary line is unresponsive either!”
“How the hell is that possible, it’s cable-not satellite!?”
“They cut the line.” Mera cut them off before they could start to panic like headless chickens, his heart falling as he looked out the window to the madness unfolding, to the gas, the flames and the dust being thrown into the air. “Just like the U.S.J. they waited for us to be isolated, cut off communication and then attacked us.”
One of his aides stepped forward, a young woman no older than 25 and very much an intern far deeper than she could have ever realized. “Sir, what do we do, we have over 1400 students here, they-”
“I know, but we can’t do anything for them at the moment, they’ll have to fend for themselves.” He hated it as much as they did, but none argued as they knew he was right. The commission weren't fighters, and certainly none of them were the exceptions, if they tried to enter that madness, they'd either get themselves or someone else killed. Rather, they needed to focus on what they could do. "We need to clear the face first, how many gas masks do we have?"
One of them rushed to the side of the room where a locker sat, opening it, he found what he was looking for inside. Emergency fire gear such as hard hats, high-powered flashlights, 2-way radios, fire extinguishers, flame retardant blankets and most important of all, gas masks. “Just 5, sir. But they don’t clean air, they’re connected to oxygen tanks.” Moving forward, he saw that he was right as there was only enough for half of them, and each was connected to a bulky oxygen tank which would slow them down.
“We each one is good for 20 minutes at best…great.” He wished this place stocked more updated gear but he could complain to the president after he ensured as many of the students under his care made it out of this nightmare alive.
Looking back at the group, he grabbed a gasmask and tank and fitted it on, "You 4, with me. We need to get a better idea of the situation within the stadium, and clear out as many of these villains as possible, lethal force is authorized for all commission agents, I repeat," He fitted the mask into place and reached into his jacket, drawing out a pistol, grey and simply, both deadly and efficient. “Lethal force is authorized. If they don’t surrender when instructed, take them down hard.”
“Yes, sir!” Four of the more experienced agents under his command rushed to follow his lead, though his mind wondered for just a moment as his eyes burned with rage.
‘I’ll make you regret attacking my exam, league of villains.’
Line Break
“This…this is insanity, how did they even manage this?” Shishikura asked, his mind still trying to process what was happening below, to his classmates, to fellow students in question. This…this should have been impossible! There were heroes in every corner of the place, how could this happen?
None had answers for him as Eri gripped her mother’s shirt, memories of the raid coming to the forefront of her mind. “Momma.”
“I know, sweetie, I know.” Izuku soothed her, a calming hand on her head before she gently picked her up and walked over to Seung, handing her to him. “Momma’s gotta go for a minute, Blessing. I’ll be leaving you with the nice man, I want you to be on your best behavior with him and listen to what he says, alright?” She spared the teacher a glance which he met with a nob. He knew what she planning on doing, but couldn’t stop or join her. Unlike U.A. a fair amount of Shiketsu’s staff weren’t heroes or combatants, and he fell into that category.
Eri seemed upset about this for a moment, but a quick kiss on her forehead stopped any complaint from her.“…Okay,” Izuku turned to leave, but Eri caught her hand in her tiny one, turning back, curious to what Eri wished to say, she was met with a little shaky smile from her which melted her heart. “Have a good day.” Whatever fear or rage she felt about the situation flowed out of her at that, at that catchphrase that Eri used whenever she was leaving her at the kindergarten or home.
“I will, we’ll have some apple pie when I get back.” She smiled back at her as she walked over to Shishikura, taking a deep breath, she reached for one of her horns and touched it, allowing it to scan her fingerprint as she lowered its suppression response of the venom in her bloodstream. Almost immediately, she bulked up, her stretching before buttons shot out and her shirt tore, leaving her in her green and white one-piece underwear. She would feel shame over showing this much skin, but it was designed like conservative women's swimwear for this very reason, besides, some skulls needed to be cracked.
Paying no attention to the teacher who looked away from her transformation, she grabbed Shishikura by the shoulder, knocking him back to reality. “Let’s move.” Her words left no room for debate, no time to question as she lifted him like he was just a bag of sugar over her shoulder.
“Wai-wha!!!!” He screamed as she jumped from her seat, him over her shoulder, towards the field.
“Hold on!” She told him as she braced for the landing. Smacking into the ground with a thud that was drowned out by the melee happening all around them, she put Shishikura down before she looked around to get a better look at the situation in their immediate area. Around them, Gang Orca's goons battled against the Leaguers and were holding the line for the most part, with only a few breakthroughs which were quickly repelled by the students that were in the immediate area. Most of the H.U.C actors were being led away from the fighting, but not into the interior of the stadium-not a good sign as if the inside was also being attacked it-NO, no, she couldn't afford to think like that, he had to do what she could, Seung wouldn't endanger Eri, they'll be safe, they HAD to be safe.
Against this backdrop, she could see Gang Orca handling the Nomu, a large beast that vaguely looked human but was covered in pitch black skin, scales and fur as if it was more a chimaera, which she supposed they were what the reports the MLA were able to get their hands on were accurate. It wasn't displaying any outright meta-abilities, but she could tell it was incredibly powerful and durable as even point-black ultrasonic blasts didn't seem to affect it, forcing Gang Orca into a melee with the beast.
A melee he seemed to be struggling with so she decided it would be best to help him with that so he could help everyone else. Turning to the guy she grabbed for the ride, she spoke. "How many people can you use your quirk on?"
"24 max, but the larger the target, the more effort it takes to turn them, lowering that total number," Shishikura replied, having caught his breath as he fixed his hat, his eyes tracking what was happening around them as he barely held back his anger at this mockery of heroes.
With that in mind, Izuku estimated the size of the Nomu in relation to Gang Orca before crouching down, making ready to join the fray. “We’re going for the big one, I’ll make you an opening, be ready for it.”
Line Break
‘Dammit, of all the times for this to happen!’ Gang Orca thought to himself as he strained his arms to keep this monster from beating him, though despite him having superior close-quarters skills, it was like hitting a mountain. This version of the beast must have been of a higher quality than the ones that Endeavour killed on mass in Hoso, closer to the U.S.J variant. He didn't even have much time to think as while as mindless as a doll, the beast was extremely fast and seemed to heal from what little damage he could do.
He scratched it across the chest, it healed within seconds, he knocked its jaw loose, and it realigned and reattached itself good as new. Meanwhile, the number of bruises and cuts he sustained only grew as the scarp did as the beast didn't fight with a style or a plan, he just growled, screamed and swung its limbs at him like a wild animal. Side-stepping one of its arms, he grabbed the limb tight with his left hand before back-handing the Nomu across the face with his right, immediately following this up by grabbing its face before it could get too far from him and bringing it close to hitting it with as powerful as a blast of ultrasonic waves as he could.
Despite getting hit with two blows that individual could cause a concession and together could easily result in brain damage, the Nomu didn’t even slow down as it broke his hold and jumped him, with the suited pro growling as he held it back. “Just like the report stated, you’re a resilient bunch but you'll die just like any one monster!” In response, the best sprouted two no arms from its back, on them were tool-like growths. With his arms locked keeping the monster from running through him and attacking the rest, he was unable to stop them from coming down on his arms, his right forearm breaking on impact with the hammer while his left was pierced by the drill of its other.
“Crap!” With arms useless, Gang Orca was pushed into the ground where the Nomu took a bit out of his shoulder, his flesh giving way as he roared out in pain and defiance. Before his death could come, he was saved when a muscular green and white figure slammed into the Nomu’s flank, dislodging its tools from his useless arms and sending it back a couple of meters.
“Stay away from him!” The interloper didn’t give the monster time to even think if it could as they-no, she punched it in the jaw, doing more damage than Gang Orca did, which she immediately followed by jumping to the side to avoid its clumsy but fast counter and with a single swipe of her fingers, dug a trench through its exposed brains. With its brain damaged, the best lost some motor functions momentarily as it collapsed to its knees as the girl unloaded into it, landing punch after forearm after palm strike, each more than enough to break bones before she finished off her 8-move combo with a spin kick and sent the best falling back even further.
“Who are-are you in your underwear?!” Gang Orca asked, seeing a student he didn’t recognize fighting in their damn underwear, did she rush here from the interior? Turning to him, he realized who she was, which made even less sense. Rushing to him, she looked over his arms and winced at the state they were in, combined with the shoulder-Izuku focused on getting him out of there as she easily lifted the man 21 taller than her on her back like he weighed nothing, but he could accept that she could if she had venom in her.
“We have other things to focus on!” She told him as huffed with the added load, he was heavier than she thought, but she had carried worse in training, only for an animalistic groan to bring their attention back to the Nomu which seemed like it'll be ready for round 2.
“Run, leave this to the heroes!” Regardless of that, he wouldn't allow her to get hurt, he might not be able to fight but he could damn well slow that beast down as despite that impressive, if not brutal assault, they watched the blacken-skinned Nomu regenerate, first its brain and then whatever internal damage she did.
“Sir, you’re not in any position to protect anyone right now, so let us protect you!” She yelled back at him as she backed away, keeping her eyes on the Nomu which was nearly done regenerating its damaged brain, once that was complete, they were sure to be targeted again.
“It’s too strong for you!” Gang Orca expected defiance, or maybe on some slim hope, acceptance from the girl before she left him, but what he wasn’t expecting was to see the smile on her face.
“I know.”
“Wha-” Before he could question that strange sense of confidence from the girl, the Nomu groaned once more, but this time in confusion, turning his eyes back to the beast, they widened as he saw it begin to contort, shrink and twist much like a meatball, the source of which being a fleshy attachment on its back that was slowly consuming the thing before it fell to the ground, nothing more than a blacken meatball with tuffs of hair and fur sticking out along with one of its absent eyes.
"Capture successful, I wasn't expecting you to rip parts of its brain out, but it was an opening," Shishikura stated, walking up from where he had been watching the fight. His flesh returned to his hand as he picked up the Nomu meatball and while he had done this plenty of times, both to criminals and his classmates in training, this was the first case where he felt genially disgusted by what he held-perhaps this beast's mere existence was simply that antithetical to his beliefs.
“I needed to be sure it couldn’t see you coming.” Izuku shrugged, no fear in her despite the madness still going on around them as there was so much happening that the other villains didn’t even notice that their big gun was no longer in play. “Are you still good?”
"I am, that was about 4 people's worth, if the rest of these vile monsters are the same, I can capture another 5 of them." He replied, a pensive look as he wished he could capture more, especially as if this was another acceleration from the League, there could easily be more of them around. “But what will we do if I take damage or lose focus?”
Izuku thought about that too, till she saw two of Gang Orca’s people escorting the students away from the fight to where they were protecting the H.U.C agents, one of whom carried someone she could use for this. “Todoroki!”
Line Break
“Todoroki!” The two masked men turned to see Izuku rushing over towards them, neither being prepared for the sight of the muscle-bound girl carrying the gravely wounded top 10 ten pro on her back like he was a small child.
“Sir!”
“Are you alright?”
“Worry about me later, listen to the students.” Gang Orca huffed out, doing his best to not think about how much pain he was in as the adrenaline was starting to fade as his life wasn’t in immediate danger, and with it, his wounds were making themselves increasingly known to him.
Their training kicked in, both wordlessly agreed to his orders as Izuku trained her eyes on the still-motionless Todoroki. “Is he still conscious?”
“Yeah, but he can barely move.” The one carrying the dual-haired boy replied.
“That’s enough,” Izuku looked at Todoroki, moving so she could look him in the eye and to her slight surprise, she could see some genuine remorse in them, perhaps he wished he hadn’t fucked up earlier, perhaps he wished to be fighting along with them. Regardless of the reason, if he even had some heroic spirit in him, he wouldn’t refuse her. “Todoroki. I need you to freeze that Nomu ball, can you do that?” She gestured towards the black meatball Shishikura still carried, the thing wiggling and pulsing like a heart.
Seeing that he could do something to help after his messed up, a little light returned to Todoroki's eyes. “Y…Yeah…but I…do-con-trol.” Considering he couldn’t move, she doubted he could lift his hand, never mind properly use his quirk so she would need to improvise.
"Put them down, make sure he can see it and it's on his, right side, correct?" She directed them, looking towards Todoroki to be sure she was laying the target in the right place as while watching it burn to dust wouldn’t be a bad thing, she did wish for a higher level Nomu to survive to be studied.
“Y-yes.” Todoroki nodded as he was placed on the ground, with the meatball Nomu placed close to him. it took some effort, far more than he would have normally used, but he managed to create some ice which engulfed the nomu. It wasn't perfect, far from what she would have expected from him but the circumstances excused that as she broke off pieces of the ice till she could pick up the Nomu, now encased in an uneven block of ice.
"It's crude, but that'll keep it in place, the extreme cold might even cause frostbite," Shishikura noted as he picked it up again.
"Capture is optional, if it dies-that's one less one to worry about," Midoriya explained as she moved to hand the pro on her back to one of the sidekicks, who as he couldn't leave the man like she could, settled to aiding him to walk as his legs weren't injured.
“With that done, we need to get back into that. Take Gang Orca, he’s arms are badly hurt, so in his shoulder.” She instructed them.
“Make sure to keep this one in check.” Shishikura handed the captured Nomu to one of them.
“You got it.” With that, the two rushed back into the battle, leaving the four to leave the field as Todoroki could only watch them go, regretting that he couldn't join them and that he couldn't fight to save anyone in his state.
Line Break
Above it all, watching them fighting were two people, the leader of the League and his faithful right-hand man. They had been there since before the attack started as Tomura wished to have the best seat in the house for the coming blood-letting and he wasn't disappointed. Though Kurogiri noted that despite them watching as one of their Nomu was handled, Shigaraki didn't seem to give any reaction to it. "I'm surprised, Tomura Shigaraki. Despite the loss of one of the more valuable Nomu, you haven't seen too upset about it.”
The hand-wearing man shrugged, instead of grumbling or yelling, he seemed completely calm about it, which would have been strange during the U.S.J but he supposed that his young master was merely taking master All for One's teachings to heart. "Yeah, it sucks that we lost one of the 3 upper tiers but hey, you kinda expect to lose gear when facing off a floor boss," Shigaraki replied, he wasn’t happy about it, but he wasn’t gonna rage quit about it either.
“Excuse me, was Gang Orca…a floor boss?” Kurogiri still struggled to understand his gamer talk, but if he was interpreting that correctly, the top highest pro was considered a floor boss, but he wasn't the one that bested the Nomu, quite the opposite.
“Don’t be an idiot, this entire place is the floor boss!” Shigaraki replied, turning to him with his arms held out wide, the background of screams, violence and explosions his music as even under the hand on his face, the portal villain could see how much he was enjoying being the cause of it all. “Or maybe it’s more the boss level which is filled to the fucking brim with mini-bosses…fuck it, it counts.” With a casual shrug, he turned back to the action, more accurately, his eyes tracked the girl that had been the one to battle his Nomu and not get her shit ran, at present, she was rushing through the crumbling lines of villains they sent to battle Gang Orca as without the Nomu, those annoying heroes were pushing them back.
“Besides, I was looking at one of the brats that took it down, was she at the U.S.J or something, I feel like I’ve seen her before?” He scratched his neck, sure that he knew her, but couldn’t place the where.
Kurogiri stepped forward and followed his master’s gaze, seeing the girl right as she punched a man twice her size to the ground, got on top of them and started whaling on them for 10 straight seconds before she left him bloody and knocked him out on the floor, already on the hunt for the next target. “No, Tomura Shigaraki. She’s the girl that the Shie Hassaikai was holding captive, the biological source of the main ingredient to Venom.”
Snapping his fingers, Tomura smiled. “That’s where I recognize her from! She was on the TV talking about those idiots, all through, if she could match up with an upper tier…well, it's just proof that Venom is no joke." It made even more sense that some girl could do that, that venom stuff was no joke. This was a great opportunity.
"Get more people on her, I didn't know she'd be here but if we can capture her to make our own Venom, well that's a great additional objective for this level, wouldn't you say?" He asked his right-hand man who nodded.
“As you command, should they bring her back alive?” Good question, it might be easier if she was a corpse, he was sure the doctor had some funky way to preserve the body, but that would still mean a finite supply of her blood.
“Sure, but they don’t need to be gentle about it, a few broken bones or lost limbs isn’t an issue with her.” He waved towards the portal user who vanished to do what he was told. Looking over the place, he couldn’t help but compare it to the fun he had in Hosu, but this…this was so much better. More fights, more bloodshed, more fallen heroes. He couldn’t wait to read the papers come morning.
Line Break
Away from most of the fighting, or as far as they could get without going too far into the interior of the building, a group of people had been gathered and escorted from the fighting. Most of them were H.U.C actors, and many were injured. Of the students present with them, some acted as rearguards, others tended to the wounded while others were themselves in need of care. The smell of fake blood had long vanished, replaced with the real thing as moans, cries and confusion rang through the air.
One of the wounded students tried to get up, his body still covered with bits of ice and showing signs of mild frostbite, with great difficulty, he tried getting up. “Le-Let me get ou-” Only to be stopped by a hand on his chest pushing him back down. Nakagame had remained with the people, her skills at triage and first aid proving to be invaluable in the situation.
“Yo, you’re in no condition to fight, you’re lucky you didn’t die in that ice!” She reminded him, they had barely managed to pull him free before they had to flee, or else he would have frozen to death in that damn iceberg. Despite still breathing, he was in terrible shape from it, so weakened by the bout of childish arguing between those first years that she could push him down without any effort.
Shindo knew this, he knew that he wouldn’t be of any help even if he did somehow find the strength to get up and rejoin the fight but that didn’t stop him from wanting it. “Dammit, but…but ever-one else,” His friends-their classmates were still out there. They were risking their lives and he couldn't even help them. He just…he felt so damn useless! “I can-I” He started to cry tears of frustration and worry, he wasn't sure he'd be able to handle it if one or more didn't make it.
“I know, Yo, I know,” Nakagame hugged him, tightening the cape they had borrowed from someone to use as a blanket around him. She worried too, she hoped that they wouldn't see any more bodies like they had when they rushed over here, especially if she recognized one as a friend and classmate, but right now, this was all she could do. “But we just have to trust that they’ll make it through.”
A 3rd year who had managed to survive the initial onslaught walked up to one of the commission agents that had been found inside. “How are things?”
“Bad, we still can’t contact the outside world and the entrances have all been destroyed by fire.” They replied as while their phones were down, radios weren't and it seemed that the villains had penetrated the entire place. This explained why the over 1000 students that could have entered the battle outside hadn’t jumped into it, they were being held back by additional villains, or at least clones as they already had reports of at least 9 different people that looked the same and all shared the same fire quirk.
“So we trapped inside this death trap?” The 3rdyear concluded, really wishing that it wasn't just her and 4 others in her class present, they could have used the help of the rest of her classmates who even had work studies experience to rely on.
“For the moment, yeah.” The commission agent didn't bother to lie to sugarcoat things, which she appreciated as she was already close to shitting herself, but they needed hard facts right now. At that same moment, the building shook with what felt like an explosion, or something collapsing. “Though we better find a way out soon, it’s total pandemonium out there.”
“The heroes?” One of the injured H.U.C asked them, having heard their conversation. They two shared a look, silently speaking on what to say for a moment before the student agent spoke.
“I saw a couple, but they’re being held back by the sheer number of villains,” She hadn't seen her teacher, but she could only assume he was somewhere in that mess. “They’re strong too, a lot stronger than the typical one. I don’t know how, but the League found some dangerous ones here.” Even to a novice like her, that much was clear. These villains were easily some of the tougher ones, the smart kinds, that gave pros an actual challenge to take down, and there were dozens of them.
Another who heard this conversation but remained silent was Yoarashi. He had been taken with the first group and been left by the side ever since as his condition didn't need attention, which made it all the easier for him to stew in his guilt and failure. “I got wounded!” That feeling only grew as his head was left facing the entranceway, allowing him to see the two rush in, one aiding a very injured Gang Orca whose arms looked like they had been mauled by a bear. On the back of the other was a familiar face, but one that didn't spark so much anger in him as it did add to his remorse.
“Gang Orca!” One of the students acting as a field nurse rushed over.
“He’s hurt bad, where should we put him?” The man asked him, with the student pointing towards a free spot for them. It wasn’t clean, nor was it big but they had to work with what they had at the moment. The other gestured to place Todoroki close to Yoarashi as there wasn't anything they could do for them other than wait for the after-effects of Gang Orca's quirk to fade from them.
“Over there, I’ll get to him as soon as I can!” Once they helped the man over, he fell onto his but with a pain and tired groan as the student got to work, removing the man's ruined jacket, tie and shirt, leaving his muscular whale-like frame visible. With that done, the student began looking over his wounds, their eyes tightening as they saw just how bad they were and concluded he'd need medical attention as soon as possible, but he could only do what he could as he used what little supplies, they had to start cleaning his wounds.
Swallowing his grunts at the feeling of the antiseptic being used to clean his wounds, the pro kept himself up to date with the situation. “I heard something about the situation, how bad is it?” He asked the 3rdyear who seemed to be running the operation.
“It’s bad, sir. All these people are just from where we were, we don’t know about the other zones or much of the interior of the place but if they were hit as bad as us then…” She started but fell into silence near the end.
Gang Orca signed, understanding her concerns and while he wished to tell her that they would hold out, he knew that it was a comfort lie that none of them needed right now. “To think the day would come when this could ever happen…we were careless.” He closed his eyes for a moment, the shame of not expecting this from the League nearly overtaking him. How could they not? They thrived by this kind of madness, they debuted with an assault on U.A. of all places, why wouldn't they try and attack the licensing exam? Were they the only target? Was the other site also being attacked?
Before he could let himself go too far down that rabbit hole, he pushed it to the back of his mind. “How many heavy hitters do we think are still in place?” He had to remember himself and stick to the present and situation around him, not what could be happening hours away from them.
“Not much, most of the teachers aren’t super powerful, and with 3 student powerhouses down, we’re at a real disadvantage.” The 3rdyear pointed towards the three in question, two were the same as puppets whose strings were cut, and the other was a human popsicle. They had lit a fire for him, but they had to keep it small as they didn’t have proper ventilation. Now, if they had that Yaoyorozu girl, perhaps she could create a heater for him but she was out there…somewhere, and she wouldn’t be able to get to them even if they could somehow make contact.
“Dammit.” Shoto, who had heard the entire conversation, cursed as he tried to move but just like the last 20 times, he couldn’t even move a finger, his nerves and muscles too messed up to transfer the proper commands, never mind act on them. ‘We need people to fight, to help! And because of me, 3 of our strongest are out of the fight!’ He wanted to yell, he wanted to scream, he wanted to go back in time and punch his past self in the face and tell him to not get into a damn petty contest with a guy he barely knew!
But he couldn’t do that, he was just a glorified ice and fire maker at the moment. ‘We competed with each other for no reason, we let ourselves be distracted by foolish reasons and now…now people are fighting, people are dying and we can’t-I can’t do anything about it.’
“I’m sorry, mom…I’m so sorry.” He shed a tear. Unknown to him, Yoarashi was having a similar meltdown as he couldn't believe he did something so stupid as to get into a petty fight during such an important event! He knew what he was, from his earliest memories, he was excitable and eager to learn and interact with anything and everyone without fear. It was why he loved heroes so much because, to him, the best were those who used the passion burning within themselves to protect others and shine the way.
It was why after he met Endeavour, and saw that the man's eyes carried no light, but an inferno that seemed to hate the whole world that he knew he didn't like, that he could never like someone like that. When he applied at U.A., he had seen a similar look in Todoroki's eyes, he had tried to get close to him only for the boy to shut him down just like his father…and he grew to resent him too...no, he allowed that resentment to poison him as well. Looking back on it, had he even tried to act civil with Todoroki? Did he at least try to work with him?
What a fool he had been. He saw he was using fire, and he knew it would affect his wind but instead of working with him, or trying to find a compromise, they had messed up big time and now…now all he could do was lay on his chest like a human fan. "What kind of person have I become?" He muttered to himself, his eyes downcast as he prayed that he could do something to make amends, to begin to atone for his blunder.
Line Break
There was a change to the tier, not in payment but in rewards as now those in the Proud Provisional License Holder tier can request commissions for stories up to 40ks words, there is a 3rd tier in the works, but I'm still working on content for it but I'll keep you informed.
