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Chapter 38: To Reach the Top
🕑 Added 2024-09-11 19:28:28 +0000 UTCChapter 38: To Reach the Top
I-island was known for its many breakthroughs in science over the 50 years it had been around, however, most of those centered around the phenomenon that had irreversibly altered the world and humanity, that being quirks. However, in a world where dangerous villains and even governments could target the researchers, their families, or their work, all these things had to remain on the island, thought to be one of the most secure places on the planet.
However, there were things that the island created, research projects from mere theoretical notes to finished prototypes that were deemed so powerful, such game changers that they could only ever see the light of day with full approval from the island's board of sponsors, and half the UN security council’s support.
This forbidden knowledge, these prohibited projects weren’t anyway where people could easily get them, but at the very top of the Central tower, kept in the vault: A massive circular room which was 20m tall, covered entrance to entrance with panels containing tens of hundreds of chests. It was the most secured storage facility on the island designed to keep out anything, and if failing that, to destroy everything inside in a scotch earth protocol to keep its secrets out of anyone’s hands.
Even with the right clearance, it was an intentionally length process to access even just a single one of the chests held within, to ensure that not even the researchers could try and get away, not without someone noticing and stopping them. But tonight was their best chance to circumvent all of that.
Security was higher than normal, yes-but it was focused on the lower floors and the wider island. Their clearance allowed them to smuggle in the right people they'll need, along with their equipment and the necessary code meant that with the party in full swing, they could do it, take control of the island without firing a single shot, a double reward for them as it meant no-one got hurt, and kept most people in the dark, preventing a wider panic or some unforeseen call for help getting out.
Such measures might have been seen as excessive, but another way David used to see it was a badge of honor of sorts. After all, in a world where quirks could do all manner of things, from something as minor as his own, to power comparable to All Might, what else but human ingenuity and science would terrify people enough to put so many restrictions on it?
But that was the mindset of the old him, the one whose work hadn't been stripped from him when he needed it the most when the world needed it the most. He had tried the right way, tried it over and over but there were only so many times a man could hit a wall with his fist before he decided to strike it with a sledgehammer.
As he worked on the keyboard, his fingers dancing over it, inputting the correct instructions, passwords, and workarounds, he could feel that it was all worth it. Soon he'll have it again, he just had to wait a little longer.
As they worked, the door outside remained open, which meant that they heard chatter from the people manning the security, including that pink-haired fellow who didn't seem to be friendliest. “Is that a storm?” Sam asked, the two hearing the two outside talking about some big storm hitting the island.
David’s brow creased. “One wasn’t meant to happen today, not in this part of the ocean.” That was incredibly strange, their island got the best weather forecasts for its intended routes and made sure to stick to them. After all, just because the island was built to withstand the worst nature could throw at it, didn’t mean they should needlessly let nature do so.
“You two finished yet?” The pink-haired man, Swordkill if David heard his name correctly, asked as he strolled in, lighting up another cigarette.
"Nearly done, but it's taking longer than we thought. Security for this place isn’t easy to overcome.” David replied, turning back to the screens he was looking through for a moment before he asked something. “Excuse me, what’s the situation outside, we heard a commotion earlier, you sounded mad.”
Swordkill hardly bad an eye. “Don’t worry about it, some brats managed to slip by security and were pretty high up the building.”
“How’d they do that?” Sam asked, nervous though if he was nervous about the intruders, or himself Swordkill didn’t know and didn’t care enough to find out.
“It’s your tower, you tell us. We scanned the place like you said and they didn’t appear till after they opened a door on the 80th floor.” He lit up his cigarette, as he would have still had his other one if not for those stupid brats.
“Will,” Sam gulped. “Will that complicate things?”
Swordkill gave the traitorous assistant a look, hiding his amusement at watching him sweat with a shrug and a mask of a confident face. "Of course it does, but we sent a couple of guys to direct them to the party." At least, those two should do that with some, though what to do with the others, he didn't know as the boss seemed to have a plan.
“Oh, that’s reassuring, I thought some heroes had managed to escape, as it wouldn’t be much of a fight if they did, wouldn’t it?” David laughed at his joke, Swordkill joining in, though for different reasons as while the doctor might think them fake, and no match for actual pros, well-as far as he knew, their guns were packing blanks.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, I was pretty good in high school boxing. Could have gone pro if I didn’t decide on acting.” Swordkill joked with him, almost feeling bad for how clueless the man was, all while his assistant remained silent.
“Well, I’m glad that you chose to act, you guys really sell the role perfectly. Though…” David paused, both in his speech and in his efforts to collect whatever it was he was so desperate that he hired people to help steal it.
"Yes, what, spit it out," Swordkill asked, before David looked back at him, a determination in his eye.
“It wasn’t part of the plan to move a hostage like that, I know he’s in a wheelchair, but still.” Swordkill wondered how the hell he was talking about, and if the scientist forgot that he hadn't been the one to escort him up, but then he recalled that their brat tag-along grabbed someone.
He didn't know why the kid did that, but the boss thought him insane, powerful, and a pyromaniac. For all he knows, he grabbed the guy to go torch him for his twisted shits and giggles, though he wouldn't say that out.
So he played the part instead. “The kid’s new to the group, but he’s got some talent from what I hear. He probably grabbed the cripple since he’ll be easy to control, and it scares the rest to remain compliant without anyone even needing to say the threat.”
“Oh, I see, well that is some extraordinary improv, I hadn’t even thought of it.” That seemed to calm the professor down as he got back to work.
‘Neither did I.’ Swordkill thought to himself as he took another drag of his cigarette, before letting out the smoke through his nose, which was accompanied by a familiar and welcome burning sensation. “Well, that’s how things work. I’ll get back to my stuff, you just finish on your end.” As he turned to leave, neither scientist saw him grim as he left.
Line Break
“You have an update yet?” Wolfram asked, having taken a seat and helped himself to some of the food that had been prepared for the evening. After all, they had plenty of it, so what was one man getting his fill on the top-class catering?
“We managed to capture 4 of the brats in the server room, but 3 of them managed to get on through.” Mitnick, their tech wizard replied.
"They're getting pretty far. Kid, do any of these kids have a quirk that lets them listen in?" Wolfram frowned, as he had expected them to be good thanks to Pyre's warnings, but he wasn't expecting them to be this good. Goes to show that only the best could make it into U.A. as these brats were still freshmen there.
“Which ones are still in play?” He asked, as with fewer of them to worry about, they could prepare more detailed counters for them and end this farce before the kids went and retook the security from them.
“A browned-haired girl with a gravity manipulation quirk, a pink-skinned one with acid, and a blonde. She hasn't done…wait, that's the professor's doctor.” Wolfram was very interested in that last bit. That solved one puzzle he had been wondering about, that being how these brats had evaded their gaze to the 80th floor and then kept finding ways forward, it was only natural that the little Shield would know the place like the back of her hand.
“And you just now realizing that?” Nine focused on that last part as well, the sound on his end being hard to discern with the heavy thunderstorm he created and was manipulating.
“I'd been busy.” Mitnick it back.
“Haven’t we all.” Nine’s retorted.
As boring as things had been for him with the hostages, Wolfram wasn’t going to let them argue like idiots over their comns, not when they had better things to do. “Continue. What about the brats that were in the plant factory? Have they been taken care of?”
Mitnick grumbled about Nine but followed his instructions all the same. “No, those 2 we sent haven't replied to any of my calls, when I looked, I saw the 3 boys on the 93rd floor. Looks like they’re trying to follow the path the others left.”
“Details?” Wolfram looked over the hostages, especially the pros who he had been sure were far enough away from him that none could have hoped to hear a word he was saying. His mask and acting skills ensured that he gave nothing away to them.
“A boy with white and red hair, another redhead, and a blonde with a scowl on his face.”
“Kid, any of that ring a bell?” Wolfram asked, getting a chuckle from Pyre.
There was a sound of an explosion, no doubt another jet of flames being set loose before Pyre answered. “Starting from the girls, that would be Uraraka, Ashido, Todoroki, Kirishima, and Bakugo. They're all capable students, with powerful quirks.” Pyre gave a quirk run-down of their quirks, starting with Todoroki, who of course was the son of Endeavour, followed by Uraraka before the rest.
“Well, a well-placed ambush should do the trick.” Swordkill joined the chat.
“Actually, can I handle them?” Pyre asked, taking a break as they heard him bellow out more of those flames of his. “I've fought 3 of them before and beat both of them. They'll probably focus on trying to take me out, buying us time.”
“You the self-sacrificing type?” Mitnick asked, only for Pyre to let out a hard, loud laugh that helped make it clear he sounded different like he was chewing on rocks or something.
When Pyre spoke, his words were filled with nothing but a confidence that could have only been built through experience and results. “That would imply that they have an honest chance against me. Oh no, this is more of a fun distraction.”
“Well, go have your fun.” Wolfram gave his permission.
“Right, bossman.” Pyre chirped back, before sighing out, leaving the redhead to chuckle to himself, unnerving some of his hostages.
‘I just hope the brat doesn’t burn something important.’ Hopefully, the brat didn’t bring the entire tower down on them.
Line Break
Some time passed after that call when the door leading outside the tower was blown open by Uraraka, who along with Mellissa and Ashido found themselves buffered by strong, cold winds and drenched by the storm that continued to rage. “What is this place?” Uraraka had to yell just so they could be heard over the storm, and the giant fans rapidly spinning overhead.
“It’s the wind power generators, it helps supply the island with power!” Mellissa replied, doing her best to not start shivering, though she made a note, a means to remind herself that they’ll survive, to take some medicine when this was over else she’ll have a terrible cold in the morning.
“Did we have to come outside during a monsoon?” Ashido complained as the area was drenched, lighting streaking out over the skies and crashing into the seas.
"We had no choice, if we stayed inside the tower, we'd have to fight our way through hundreds more robots. They could even try and call in robots around the island to bulk up the number even more!" Mellissa replied, as they had lost a lot of their fighters thus far, and because of that, had taken much longer to clear obstacles than they had been before.
“So, what’s the plan then?” Uraraka asked, as she thought she could see another door on the other side of the wind generator area, but she couldn’t be sure it was a door and even if was, what was the point of re-entering the tower when they left to avoid fights?
Mellissa pointed up, as the space they occupied was near the top of the tower, the win generators having been built between 3 large pillars that both offered a frame for the dozens of multi-ton fans that spun overhead but also helped support the weight of the last 5 floors of the tower. “We can climb to the top from here, avoiding the drones and we should be able to use an emergency exit to enter on the 195th floor!”
“We can use my quirk for that then? But with this wind, wouldn’t we be blown away?” Uraraka asked, as normally, she wouldn't have thought much else, but with how bad this storm was, she worried that if any of them had gravity nullified, they'd be blown out to sea, or into the side of the tower like clothes in a tumble dryer.
Mellissa looked at their pink-skinned member. “That’s where Ashido comes in! She uses her acid to make hand holds on the wall so she can climb up, you’ll make me weightless, so she won’t be weighed down by me!” She would have volunteered Uraraka because she could fight against the villains far better than Mellissa ever could, but they also needed someone who knew enough of the system to retake it, as even a simple system reboot to clear any meddling the villains did wasn't so easy that you just had to press a button.
She didn’t like it, but that was how things were. But before she could do anything else, she saw something coming towards them. “Look out!” Mellissa yelled, pushing the two girls out of the way of a massive green fireball crashing right where the two hero students had just been. The flames were so hot that they raised the humility and made Mellissa start sweating from being near them, despite the storm.
“What the heck was that? Green fire?” Ashido complained as the flames continued to burn even as the wind and rain continued to pour, but Uraraka wasn’t focused on that, not at all.
"Wait…no, it can't be…he can't be here," Uraraka uttered, as she recognized the color, the shade of green as it burned.
“I figured that you'd try and sneak past the robots!" Someone called out, the trio of girls looking around, trying to spot where the voice was coming from, but with the poor visibility, and howling winds, it was like they were coming from all around them. “It’s good to see my gamble paid off!”
Mercifully, the rains started to lessen, enough at least that they would see someone approaching, their movements an opposite to the weather as they were calm, focused, and direct. Their clothes were different, matching the rest of the villains they had seen, but Uraraka would never forget that face, the same one that torched her friend.
“You.” She seethed at Pyre as he approached, stopping not even 10m from. Pyre, unlike her, seemed pleased to see them as his emerald burned.
“Oh man, we’re so dead.” Ashido bemoaned, as she knew what this guy could do, and what he had done.
“Who…who is that?” Mellissa asked, picking up on Uraraka's anger, and Ashido/s fear for the foe before them. That didn't seem right, they had been scared before, sure but was less for the villains and more for being caught by them. This…this was a different kind of fear.
"Someone that shouldn't even be here," Uraraka replied, but her eyes never strayed from their enemy who stood amused by her anger.
“Oh, and what’s that, Uraraka? We were invited after all.” Pyre waved off her retort, which only seemed to incite further rage from her.
“That’s a lie!”
Pyre sighed, figuring, that even when he told the truth, he wasn't believed. Oh well. "Believe what you wish, I know talking to you doesn't mean you're listening." He shrugged, but then his eyes shifted to the blonde in the back, who took a step back when he looked her way.
"But I have a feeling you might, won't you Ms. Shield? You wouldn't want us to fight here, not with these delicate and expensive fans in the line of fire.” Pyre lazily pointed towards the dozens of fans overhead, pieces of equipment he didn’t care for, certainly not enough to avoid damaging them.
Ashido grabbed onto Uraraka before she could take off, the girl having already tapped into One for All which made it harder for her friend to hold her back. “Don’t! He’s totally trying to provoke you!”
“But we need to get past him!” Uraraka yelled back, grounding her teeth together as they were running out of time, their friends had done all they could for them, even if that meant being captured. They couldn't afford to let that all go to waste now, but even so, she couldn't just rush him, else it would end just like last time.
“Come on, I know that look in your eye! I want to attack me, don’t you? Well, I’m right here, you want your rematch? Well, come get it!” Pyre roared at them, the raid hitting his body heating up and steaming off him as his flames built up, smoke leaking out the corners of his lips and nose.
“Gladly!” Bakugo’s voice suddenly called out and Pyre’s head whipped to the side, only to see a glowing palm right in his face and getting hit with a point black explosion which sent him tumbling back.
“Bakugo?!” Ashido yelled as they saw Bakugo, having never even heard him coming, turning, they saw that he wasn’t alone.
“Todoroki? Kirishima?” Uraraka called out, feeling relieved that they were still in the fight.
“We saw your guys from the doorway, and Bakugo wanted a super flashy entrance!” Kirishima explained with a smile, pointing at Bakugo who despite hating the rain, had rushed headlong into the fight without hesitation if it meant he could land a surprise attack and end this fight.
Bakugo for his part, remained still as he watched his foe, ready for them should they get back up. That was a wise move as he saw them stir nearly immediately, and he moved to land another blast to knock them out and then have Icy-hot restrain him with ice. “Oh, that really burned, Kacchan.” At least, that was the plan till his heart was ceased, a burning hand grabbing hold of it as he heard that voice.
He watched in disbelief as Midoriya, barely hurt by his blast got up, a smile on his face. “You’ve gotten stronger.” Oh, he didn't know he would be here, but this wasn't bad, not at all! It meant that they could have another fight, though he could already hear Koharu chastising him for not keeping an awareness of his surroundings, else that attack would have never landed, but he had gotten used to her being his second eyes, ears, and tongue.
“Pyro.” Bakugo breathed out, now much more cautious about this, the same happening with the other two as even if Kirishima hadn’t fought him before, he had seen what happened to those who did.
“Wait, Pyre, here?” Kirishima asked, hardening his entire body to increase his flame resistance.
“Stay focused, we have the advantage this time, in numbers and environment!” Todoroki reminded him of the fact they were standing in the rain, which should dampen Pyre's quirk even if only a little.
“Advantage? I wouldn’t put it like that. After all,” Pyre smiled, as he could predict what Todoroki thought, but he didn’t know that Pyre trained in the snowy mountains and rain with his quirk thanks to Nine’s help. It would take far more than this to weaken up. But more importantly, he gestured towards the entire tower. “You have to keep the tower’s safety in mind as you fight, but me?”
“I can burn as much as my heart desires.” He gleefully reminded them, as he knew what kind of power Todoroki and Bakugo would use, and while he wasn’t so arrogant to believe that the two working in tandem couldn’t give him a serious run for his money, this wasn’t U.A., this wasn’t some random Japanese street, they couldn’t just go buck wild trying to fight him, but he sure as heck could.
“Do you need back-up?” Mitnick asked, the man no doubt ready to send him dozens of security drones to try and overwhelm their prey.
Pyre reached for his earpiece, the thing having survived even when he had shifted forms earlier, a product of training. “They’ll just get in the way; I’ll handle things here.” Though it would have been fine to set them on fire and have them charge the students.
“Doc says they’ll be done in a few minutes," Swordkill informed them, which made Pyre smile even more.
With a chuckle, Wolfram joined the chat. “Good, I’ll be up there soon. Looks like our night’s coming to an end.”
"Well, at least make this entertaining for me!" Pyre let loose a large stream of fire, the wind and rain not affect him as Todoroki created a barrier of ice to protect them.
"Dammit! We're holding him off, you need to continue with the mission!" He looked towards Uraraka and Mellissa, Kirishima and Bakugo having already jumped over the weakened ice to attack Pyre in close combat.
“You can’t fight him alone; he completely overwhelmed you last them!” Uraraka reminded him of Hosu, but this time, Todoroki wasn’t angry, he turned his gaze back to the fight.
"I'm fighting alone this time," Todoroki replied as Pyre smacked aside a straight punch from Kirishima and kicked him in the gut, but found that it didn't do nearly as much as he expected as he had to bend back to avoid the explosion swipe from Bakugo before he twisted on his heel to avoid the counter-attack from Kirishima. "I'll make you an ice tower, then you can jump towards the top."
“Right.” Uraraka wanted to argue, but she stopped herself. She would have to trust them to last long enough for them to regain control, and then All Might can handle the rest. Before they could, they heard Kirishima yell as he threw towards them, Ashido grabbing Mellissa and pulling her down to avoid being hit as Kirishima bounced a couple of times.
“Sorry, but you did say you have the numbers on me, so why don’t you use it?” Pyre dusted his hands, having been the one to toss the human rock. “Or maybe…you’re just buying time. How heroic of you!” He let loose another blast of flames which Bakugo dived for but then evaded at the last second, letting the heat help him build up sweat to make up for what the rain was washing away.
Todoroki met the flames with his own, orange and green battling for dominance, a fight cut short by Bakugo blasting Pyre, forcing him to avoid the attack and lash out in a counter, striking Bakugo’s leg, throwing him off balance but now Ashido throw acid towards him, some of which managed to hit him as Pyre retreated more.
Looking at his forearm, he saw the acid burn, but aside from a raised eyebrow, her attack did nothing to harm him as it was already healing, the rain washing out the residual acid. When Bakugo tried to attack him, Pyre blocked his blast, letting the explosion eat into his forearm, allowing him to grab Bakugo by his face and slam him head-first into the roof, followed by a stomp to his gut to drive the air out of him.
Ashido threw another glob of acid at him, but the fact she was throwing made it a sloppy move, made all the defective by the rain watering it down before he even reached him, but it was enough of a distraction for Bakugo to blast himself free, sliding along the ground out of the way as Todoroki launches ice spikes towards Pyre which he met with a fireball, shattering them.
Looking above them, he saw that they were right below some fans, with a glint in his eye, he took a breath and fired off a fireball right for them. "Move!" Ashido yelled as she and Todoroki either slid or skated out of the way using acid or ice as the fireball crashed into a fan, breaking it loose as it tumbled down, crashing into the spot where they had just been.
Mellissa was getting nervous, as even while it was a 3 on 1, 3 people she had faith in, weren't so much winning as they were keeping up with the villain who seemed to be toying with them, who seemed to favor his hands to fight, and his flames to counter Todoroki's flames, or just to spread chaos as more fireballs flew about, a few striking the central column, others the fan.
“I’ll make us weightless, Kirishima, get ready to throw us.” Uraraka grabbed Mellissa’s attention and the girl herself, who despite being taller, Uraraka placed her onto her back, tapping both of them and holding in the urge to throw up as Kirishima, who had been close enough to aide them, grabbed them both.
“Get going!” He threw them as hard as he could towards the roof, but the two ascents didn't go unnoticed.
“Oh, you think I’ll just let you through?” Pyre asked, before blasting out an even larger fireball towards them, Uraraka seeing it grit her teeth and prepared to flick her finger towards it, but then it was blocked by Todoroki creating a massive pillar of ice.
"You don't have a choice," Todoroki told Pyre, as the rain started to let up.
“Not when you have to fight us.” Bakugo spat to the side, glaring at his foe as he knew for a fact they were being toyed with.
“Pyre, I’ve done my part. I’m heading to the meeting spot.” Nine spoke up, to which Pyre’s smile grew as they were in the end-game now.
“Give me…5 minutes.” He replied to his teammate before turning his attention back to the four, who had moved to surround him yet despite that, he didn’t feel an ounce of fear. If anything. “You want to fight?”
“Well then, let’s fight!” He was delighted as he shifted into his stone form and roared at them, charging the closest person to him.
Line Break
As Pyre had his fun with the students, Nine had floated down from the tower and with the rain still pouring, calmly walked towards a spot he had been to not too long ago. There was no hurry, as thanks to all the times Midoriya had scorched him, his quirk's drawbacks weren't as bad as they used to be, so he liked to indulge in his power when he could now, without the fear of being bedridden for even just using a taste of it.
Security drones spotted him many times, but they had been fooled into thinking he had clearance to be out, even during an apparent chemical weapon's search of the island, and a monsoon to boot. Soon enough, he made it to his destination, the convention hall where all those wonderful gadgets were hiding.
With no time to be slick about it, he used his quirk to send a barrage of wind towards the door, breaking his way in, with the silent alarm blaring, but it wasn't like anyone was in any position to come. He went by the more useless stuff, or the gadgets that they wouldn't be able to either use or sell and went to the one he had been most eager to get his hands on. The multi-purpose jet.
‘They should have kept a mock-up for display, not the real deal.’ Nine thought to himself, amused about the situation as he floated up towards the craft and got inside, finding the interior to be more spacious than he had thought. With seating for 12, and room for supplies, it would do nicely as he walked up to the front and got into the pilot seat, the layout being more complicated than a car, but not by much, no doubt an intentional decision to aid with ease of use.
'But then again, I-island before tonight was one of the most secure places on earth, and I'm more than happy to take advantage of their confidence.' Nine smirked as he reached for the start-up and pressed it, and just like that, all the screens lit up, along with lighting around the craft as its engines awoke with an eased purr.
"Computer, what are fuel levels?" Nine asked, seeing that the system had a helper A.I. built in. They'll have to scrub that later to ensure it didn't have a failsafe about calling home.
“Current levels sit at 30%." On the screen, the face of a redheaded mermaid appeared, smiling as it replied to his inquiry.
“How far would that get the vessel fully loaded?” He asked another question, as the craft was a gem, make no mistake, but he would like to leave with a few more treasures.
"If this vessel would be used at maximum capacity, the range would be reduced to only 380km." The A.I. hardly struggled with the calculations needed to get that number for him, though it wasn't as far as he wanted it to go.
"Not ideal, but I have a feeling that our…employer thought of something if Wolfram's plans for escape fell through." Nine thought aloud as he tapped his pocket, where he was keeping the drives he had been given, and his one. All for One was many things, but he wasn't stupid or one to put all his eggs in a basket, Nine would just have to stomach it and trust that he would be able to contact them once they were off the island.
Coughing, he looked at his hand and saw that some blood and bile rested in his palm. "Crap, not a lot of time to keep up the storm." Nine said before he got up and jumped out of the craft, using his quirk to move the most prized of the exhibits via carefully controlled wind gusts toward him. When they were close enough, he was able to start loading them in.
Line Break
“What are you talking about, Mellissa?” David was confused, as he had never imagined he would see his daughter here, in the vault, never mind with her friend who came with All Might. But if that wasn't enough, both seemed to look like they had been through it rough, their clothes were crumbled, soaked, and dirty. His baby girl even had a pretty bad cut on her arm.
But that couldn’t be right, her words blamed the villains for that? “The villains are fake, they’re just actors.” He looked towards Sam, but his assistant didn’t meet him in the eye.
"Of course, it was an act, though it was pretty hard to pretend to just be a bunch of actors." They all turned to the doorway, where they saw Wolfram and one of his men standing, having watched the entire exchange with amused smirks. David felt like a rock was forming in his gut at the man's words.
“You’re the boss?” Uraraka didn't waste time as she charged him, but Wolfram placed a hand on the metal frame of the door, his hand glowing blue, at his command, the metal guard rails around him bent and shot out of their fixings, before flying off towards Uraraka, pinning her to the other way, her arms to her sides and torso held in place by 7 of them just t be on the safe side.
“That I am, little missy. Now why don’t you stay put while the adults talk?” Wolfram laughed, as if she had much choice was Mellissa ran towards Uraraka.
“Oh no, Uraraka!” Wolfram thought it cute that the little scientist thought she could do anything, but she hadn’t used her quirk once so far, so fair to say, whatever it was, it wasn’t all that useful.
‘His quirk, it lets him control metal?’ Uraraka tried to break free, but even using zero gravity did little.
“You’ll be smart not to resist. Sam, hand it over.” Wolfram looked towards the fat one, and for a moment, David thought that Sam would never do that.
“Yes, sir!” That moment passed as Sam ripped the case from his arms and walked down towards Wolfram.
“Sam, what is going on?!” David asked him, but then his shock faded as the pieces fell into place. “You…you were the one that came up with the plan, it was you that said you found people that could pretend to be villains…” He realized in some part of his mind that he had been played, played from the start, but another part of him wanted to believe in Sam, to believe this was all some big misunderstanding.
“You…you were going to hand it over all along? I thought we were doing to continue our work or save All Might!"
“You were saving All Might!” Sam didn't share his confusion, horror, or despair, only anger as he turned back to David with a look of utter rage and disgust but had David step back. “I…I was trying to get back what was ours-no, what was mine.” Sam held the case close to his chest like one would a child.
“I was your assistant, your second for 10 long years, and yet-when they came for our work, our greatest creation, you didn’t even lift a finger to fight for it, did you? You just let them take it away from us!” Sam yelled back, as when the board had told them the news, David had fallen into stunned silence, it was Sam who pleaded their case, he who begged. Not David, but it was David who handed it over.
“We could have had fame and fortune, but it was ripped from us.” He started tearing up, but his eyes, eyes that David had always thought of as kind remained angry, but with a hint of desperation bleeding in. “If I can’t get something from the work, I put into this, then my entire career was a complete waste of time.”
“Yup, and here’s the payment I promised.” Sam turned to Wolfram just in time to see the man had raised his pistol, shooting him without warning as Sam went down, shocking the students and the professor as Sam now, on his butt, looked up at Wolfram in confused terror, holding at his shoulder which was turning red.
“Sam!” David yelled as Uraraka tried even harder to break out.
“Why…? This wasn’t part of the plan…!” Sam asked, the pain of the bullet paling in comparison to his fear and disbelief.
Wolfram was quite different, having quite a fun time with all the juicy drama between the professor, his daughter, and his assistant. If he had some popcorn, he could have sat back on watched, but where like a movie one would watch, he could interject and add even more spice to the soup.
“Part of yours, maybe not. But part of mine? Well, this was in from the part. After all, I might be a villain, but even I can’t stand traitors…well, that’s a lie, I love them when they benefit me, which you did, Sammy. But I don’t get any more use for your greedy little pig-ass.” He smiled as he pulled the trigger again, with his second bullet tearing through flesh and bone just like the first.
“Professor…?” But it wasn't Sam, but David who despite everyone, rushed into the line of fire, Mellissa screaming when she saw her father's vest and shirt turn red from his blood as he fell over.
“Get out of here…now!” David, despite being in serious pain from having been shot in his side, so close to his lung that he swore his lungs felt the shock of the bullet tearing through his back and out his front, still found the strength to try and save the others.
"Wow, who would have thought? You just found out your assistant and right-hand man stabbed you in the back and you still took a bullet for him. I'm not sure if that was an act of chivalry or stupidity." Wolfram scratched his head, looking towards Mitnick who shrugged, as it wasn’t like he would have seen that coming.
“Papa!” Mellissa ran at them, but Wolfram knocked her aside without much thought, much to the horror of her father who tried to rise, tried to plead for her life as Uraraka was forced to watch, her efforts too slow even as she called upon more of One for All and felt her restraints start to give.
“Really? And what did you think you could do, little girl?” Wolfram asked Mellissa, who had the gall to glare right back at him, even as she lay on the ground. If nothing else, it seems that being ballsy ran in the Shield family.
But he could think about that later, if the mood struck him, right now, he had something even more fun to do as he wanted to make something clear. “Trying to play the hero now? Well, it’s a little late, don’t you think?”
Picking up David, he held him close so that he could look him in the eye. “No matter your reason, you still dirty your hands. It doesn't matter if you thought we were actors, you planned and carried out an actual crime what you've done might go down as one of the greatest heists in history as we're the only ones who can say we snuck into I-island and out with one of its scared treasures." David glared at him, but it was weak, and getting weaker as the truth settled in.
“You’re just…like…us. So allow me to officially welcome you to the other side of the law, Professor David Shield.” He even went as far as to hug the man, just to break him even more as this…this wasn’t what he wanted, he didn’t want any of this! But then, a voice in his head, one that sounded so much like Wolfram told him that what he wanted didn’t matter, it was what he did.
“Your time here is done; your time was a good man is done. But you still have so much to give, don't you? So you'll be coming with me so you can make even more of these devices which I can sell to the highest bidder." Wolfram knocked him out and tossed him over his shoulder, with that being the moment when Uraraka yelled out in fury as she shattered the railings holding her down and rushed him.
Line Break
Well, my internet was spotty for most of the day, I couldn't even access Discord all that well. But it seems to be better now, so I'm going to get this up before things can change. Also, I do have something to share, which is that I got my first commission! After a year of having this up, someone's reached out with a story request for me, which is pretty exciting. But because of that, I want to give the commission the time it needs for planning and writing, so there won't be any updates next week as I sort that out.
As for the chapter itself, we’re approaching the end of the movie, as I imagined it would be longer, but seeing how we’re following the villains, that means we can’t use most of the scenes or material from said movie. Also, if I used them too much, well, the heroes wouldn’t even get past the 100th floor since at this point, it's pretty clear Izuku is more than a match for their heavy hitters alone, throw in a Nine who can use his quirk more freely and they'll be washed.
