Chapter 52: Phantoms Dance: Ch 3
Hey everyone! I'm back again, and this time with fan art! This phenominal picture of Project Rapture's first working prototype was made by little_art_mango on the Discord, so I want all of you to thank them in the comments, or I'll skin ya! They're also working on Izuzu, and it's looking really good! I'm not sure what I did to impress him enough to spend time drawing my work (or what I've done to get over 3 thousand people following this fic across different sites, for that matter), but I want to publicly thank him for his work, as well as all of you for reading!
Project Rapture: Charybdis
(Note, as I am new to webnovel, and am just crossposting everything of mine via copy paste, I have no idea how to put pictures here, like you can on A03. So you'll have to use your mine- or join the discord)
-Rain of Sins-
-Phantoms Dance: Ch 3-
Mei grunted as she dug around in the guts of what might have been the most intricate machine she'd ever worked on. But while other engineers might have been intimidated at such a thought, Mei was practically over the moon!
There were few things that made her happier than being in her natural environment- that being on her hands and knees, metal edges diving into her arms, her clothes ripped and stained with oil and chemicals.
It was paradise!
"Don't mess with that piece Ms Hatsume." The scientist assigned to advise her said, his voice muffled by the machine she'd buried herself in. "The stabilizer is very important."
"Is it really?" She asked in annoyance as she began screwing it back into place. "It's responsible for most of the strain on the capacitors, and it's the smallest thing in here!"
"It's incredibly important! It's responsible for keeping the conditions within the tank within the acceptable levels, even minute changes in the composition could kill off beneficial bacteria."
Mei rolled her eyes in response and went back to tinkering. Why would you even want bacteria in something? Didn't that stuff make you sick? She was a mechanic, she worked with gears, wires, and metal, all the biology and "green science" stuff they talked about made no sense to her.
It was something like a language barrier. They would ask her something, she wouldn't understand, they'd spend the next ten or so minutes trying to gradually walk her through some very complicated theories so she'd know what it was they wanted her advice on, she'd come back with a stack of blueprints and a whole presentation, and they would stare at her like she was speaking Greek, leading to another gradual explanation from her this time.
It had been annoying at first, but gradually the worst of the gap had begun to close and become a bit more manageable.
Their current working rhythm was that someone important would give her a list of what they wanted X thing to be able to do, she would make the thing be able to do those things without understanding at all why any of those things were important, and the scientists would get a cutting edge machine that they didn't understand in the slightest how it worked, but that did exactly what they had specified.
It wasn't perfect, and there had been a few mishaps of entire projects having to be redone because one side assumed the other side was aware of some basic level thing, but the young inventor had found herself enjoying it very much. It was almost like a puzzle at times! And she was constantly finding new tech she didn't understand, which hadn't happened in YEARS! Her mandatory work for the lab was slowly becoming just as enjoyable as her free days in her lab.
…Although she did wish Izuku would visit her a bit more often, he was at least able to hold a conversation in her field of study, and the complete lack of that outside of him was gonna drive her bonkers.
"No! That's also important, you can't remove that either."
"Look, Izuku was really happy with the add on I made for these things, and how much it improved them, but it's really energy intensive, which overloaded the capacitors, and you said we couldn't just buy better ones, so I need to find a way to reduce the load in the base system. Which I can't do if you won't let me take anything out!"
"Because the price you estimated for procurement was ridiculous!"
"They're expensive and you need several for every tank you have, and you have a lot of tanks! That's just math! You could always just let me use the ones I built for my lab, buying raw materials is way cheaper."
"Absolutely not! Those explode!"
"Only occasionally!"
"Couldn't you just make it not strain the capacitors? Maybe screw it in better?"
"THAT'S NOT HOW ANY OF THIS WORKS!"
As she shouted, the whole lab shook slightly. The machine rattled, a screw falling on her head.
"Huh." Mei blinked and leaned back, poking her head outside. "I didn't think I was that loud."
" My God… " The scientist whispered, cupping his hand over his graying beard, staring out into nothing in shock. " He really released it? "
"Released what?" Mei asked. "What did who do? Hello?" She waved an oil slick glove in his face, but he still didn't respond.
Mei just shrugged and went back to her work. She had a machine to fix!
"Whatever it is, it's probably not that big of a deal."
-Rain of Sins-
Believe it or not, losing your organs responsible for your senses of sight and smell, living in a constant ebb and flow of pain from years old injuries that never fully healed, and being forced to spend the vast majority of each day hooked up to life support systems, really took some of the fun out of life.
But, if there was one upside, it made the precious time that he got to spend on his own two feet so much more cherishable.
All for One sighed contently as he bit into a piece of perfectly prepared ribeye steak.
The tender meat, seasoned with a heavy yet deft hand, practically dissolved in his mouth. Tender, juicy, savory, with a trimmed line of fat that had been slightly curtailed so as to not overpower the seasoning, but still more than heavy enough to add a rich underflow.
"Delicious as always." He said to the aid standing at the far end of the room. "Give my compliments to the chef, I hadn't realized how much I missed Mr Fortunato's cooking, but ever since I've recovered enough to start eating solid food again, I can see that my decision to keep him on my payroll for all these years has, without a doubt, been the correct one."
"Thank you, your majesty, I'll be sure to tell him that, I know he will be most grateful." The old maid bowed deeply. "Is there anything else I can do for you? Perhaps another bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon?"
"Oh, you spoil me so." All for One chuckled, swirling his current glass of the velvety wine and gulping the last of it down. "Let's see, I just finished a plate of Ribeye and Doe, what's for the next dish?"
"Caviar and pufferfish, unless you wish for something else."
"Not at all, that sounds delectable. Tell you what, surprise me with the wine, I'll let the experts decide the best drink to break my forced sober streak."
"You honor me, my liege, how do you feel about something French?"
"Madame, les Français ont mon cœur." He smiled. "J'aspire à l'éclat de Napoléon, à l'élégance de Marie-Antoinette, à la force de De Gaulle et à votre beauté."
The maid flushed, before dropping into a deep curtsy, and hastily making her way out of the room.
All for One watched her go with a wry chuckle.
" Madame, the French have my heart. I aspire to the brilliance of Napoleon, the elegance of Marie-Antoinette, the strength of De Gaulle, and the beauty of you. " He repeated to himself in his own language. "Smooth as the Devil."
The most powerful man in the world finished off his plate of fine meat with proper etiquette, placed his silverware down on the plate, with the ends of the fork and knife facing right to signal "excellent meal", and leaned back into his silk padded wingback chair with a sigh.
The dining room he was sitting in was tall, rising up almost 30 feet into the air, with an intricate painted ceiling, and diamond chandeliers who's candles lit the room with a lovely warm glow. The walls flowed in handcrafted victorian era designs- flowers and gems painted onto a dark background with real gold. Meanwhile Beethoven's finest works played with a rich symphony from above.
All while he, All for One, sat at the head of an elegant table he had personally seized from the old Japanese Imperial Palace, sipping fine wine, and dining on the best dishes the world had to offer.
This was the difference between him and the "Villains" of the world.
Even the mightiest of them were just that, Villains.
He was All for One .
He had ruled Japan, and would one day rule it again, the only questions were when and in what form.
He sat on the wealth of generations ! While they squabled like dogs over scraps, for his own amusement!
He was ALL FOR ONE! And his reasoning was very, very , simple.
Why not?
Why not dine on the most exotic food? Why not give effortless compliments to his personal staff so that they lavish him in earnest praise? Why not be worshiped? Why not build himself a palace of such excessive luxury and wealth that it would make the rulers of the greatest nations of the world weep in envy?
Why not collect the most powerful quirks like they were bottled ships for his shelf?
Why not take over Japan?
Why not rule?
Why not sacrifice the All for the sake of the One?
Why shouldn't he!? After all, if he wasn't supposed to, then he wouldn't have been given his quirk!
His musing was interrupted as the room shook, it was only slightly, and for a brief moment, but someone as astute as him could never miss it.
All for One frowned, conflicted with himself.
This was supposed to be a day off for him, to finally enjoy the luxuries he'd been missing all these years. He didn't want to go and babysit Tomura today, and it would be better for Tomura for him to not get involved. The boy needed to learn how to stand on his own, and having someone swoop in to save him from his own stupidity would be counterproductive to his growth.
…Also, ever since Izuku had entered the picture, and began pumping out piles of research for Ujiko that exponentially sped up his recovery time, Tomura's importance had begun to wane.
But speaking of Izuku, the Sovereign was spearheading his own attack, wasn't he?
Hmm, decisions, decisions. It would be a somewhat large setback if their inability to work together wound up with both of them being killed somehow, which would be annoying to rebuild from, not to mention all the whining from Ujiko if the boy was killed.
Hmm…
Why not?
All for One let his awareness spread beyond the room, beyond the underground mansion, and out into the distance.
Cameras flickered as he peaked into their feed, eyes carved into stone walls began to glance around- there were benefits of owning every one of the strongest observation quirks ever seen in Japan, and having almost 200 years to put his mark on the country. He was called the "Shadow King" for a reason after all.
…
All for One raised a nonexistent eyebrow in surprise.
"Impressive." He pulled back in most of his quirks, but kept some focused on the events unfolding on the outskirts of Tokyo. The strain of using them would cut into the time until he needed to get back onto life support, but that was fine, he'd make it worth it.
"Dinner and a show? As always, the world favors me." He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. "Make that two bottles of French wine! I want to know what it is that I've been missing."
-Rain of Sins-
The world shook as Charybdis, the first working subject of Project Rapture, took its first lumbering steps into the larger world. Its dual heads swiveled around on long necks, eight crimson eyes spitefully surveying its surroundings, while each flicked out a serpentine tongue to taste the air.
Something seemed to catch its attention, as both heads leaned back to glare balfully at the sky, and let out a roar so loud it shook nearby buildings, and shattered windows.
"That's a prototype!? " Kuin hissed in Izuku's ear, keeping her voice down so she didn't draw its attention.
"Yes. Really it was just me stress testing how far I could push my current methods of genetic engineering, and the lab's capability to grow things. It's already done its job, the knowledge I've gathered from the process of making it will be invaluable for all the next stages. Ideally I would have liked to study its behavior over long periods out of the tank, but science wouldn't be science if everything always went according to plan."
"Uhhh, Boss man, why are you speaking like you've already written the giant fuck off dragon kaiju to die?"
Izuku didn't respond as his mind traveled back to when he was truly introduced to All for One, when he was shown first hand the incomprehensible power of the Symbol of Evil. When he stared death made manifest in the eye, and was told that what he was seeing was a broken husk, a pale imitation of what once was.
…and who it was that broke him to that point.
The creature's roar was cut off as a golden comet smashed into its chest with enough force to knock it back into a skyscraper.
"Come on, Kuin." Izuku grabbed her arm carefully, to avoid cutting her with his claws, and slowly began pulling her away from the conflict. "Let's get out of here while we still can."
His eyes lit up as he used his tech interface quirk to send out an extraction text back to base.
Gray foam bubbled to life at their feet, reaching up and enveloping them. He sent secondary orders to pick up Jeremy as well, and, with a moment of hesitation, also sent the command to extract Dabi & Mustard.
…
And that torn up car they arrived in, as well. How the thing was still in one piece was a scientific mystery.
-Rain of Sins-
Izuku stepped out of the warp quirk as if it wasn't even there, his metal boots clacking loudly on the solid floor.
Kuin and Jeremy exited behind him, similarly with little fanfare, but with a slight shake as they found their footing.
Dabi and Mustard came stumbling out of the foam like drunkards who had missed a stair on a moving escalator.
Immediately they were greeted by the muffled sound of combat, dust falling from the ceiling on one particularly harsh thud. They were at the main event building, behind the stage that Endeavor had been crowned into King on.
"Try to stay indoors Kuin, the rain will be picking up soon, and I don't want to risk your wings in a hurricane." Izuku said. "I'm sorry we didn't have the time to evacuate your swarm, but considering what's about to happen back there…"
"Nah, don't worry, I understand. I managed to call some back to me right before we ran, and even without my bees, it's not like I'd be totally out of the game."
"Glad I can count on you. We're outnumbered here, so you, Jeremy, and I will be sticking together. We'll sweep the building and track down Endeavor."
"So, you're after King, huh?" Dabi asked. "That's why you're here? That's why you were at the festival?"
"Yes, King ," Izuku said the word with sneering sarcasm. "Took everything from me. I won't rest until I settle the score, in one way or another."
"You're going to kill him."
"Perhaps." Izuku eyed him with a bored interest. "What's it to you?"
"He's my kill." Dabi glared, fire dancing at his fingertips. "Your boss already agreed to it."
"Boss? You mean Tomura? He's a mass murdering, man child, lunatic, who's done more damage in the past three months to Japanese society, than every villain combined in the last 30 years. If I could, I would have already backstabbed him, done as much damage to his quirk as possible, and then left him tied up on the porch of a police station. He has no authority over me, and regardless of what he says, I have made it clear to his master that I will kill the idiot if he steps foot in my lab."
"Master?" Mustard cocked his head in confusion. "Wait, does that mean you both work for someone else?"
"Doesn't matter. Endeavor's mine ." Dabi took a step forward.
"You can have him once I'm done."
"Not good enough!"
Blue flames burst into existence and Jeremy growled in warning.
"Uh, dude, this guy just dropped Godzilla on All Might, maybe we should, you know, not ."
"What's your stake with the new number one?" Izuku questioned. "Was it him who gave you those scars?"
"That bastard is my father!"
You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed.
"…Really?" Izuku asked in surprise.
"Yes, and I guarantee that whatever he did to piss you off, doesn't hold a candle to what he's done to me and my family!"
Izuku stared at him for a long moment in thought.
"I'll tell you what, if you can find him before me then he's yours. But when you don't, and this is all over, I'm going to contact you about a highly beneficial mutual agreement.
Dabi sneered, fist flashing forward in blue fire, but it was already too late.
The Sovereign and his followers were already gone, in a wave of sandy gray foam.
-Rain of Sins-
New Leaf Cafe was a small tea and bakery shop on the fringes of the city.
It was a rather dainty thing, with only five tables, and an old box TV that was suspended precariously on the wall. It couldn't afford high end ingredients, or offer exotic flavors, but the gentle old couple that ran the place put their hearts into their work, and you could taste it in every bite of homemade bread.
Unfortunately, due to all the chaotic things happening recently, the number of customers had dropped harshly, and the couple were struggling to keep their business afloat. They had founded the place when they were teenagers in love, and had poured everything they had into keeping it alive. They had no retirement funds- this was their dream, their passion, their lives. They had raised their children in the second story rooms. This little shop was so much more than just their house or their business, it was their home, their lives.
And they were going to have to sell it away.
…Until, like a miracle from a fairy tale, a group of customers had tipped them more than enough to keep the place running for years.
"Lion Heart Accounting has been an on and off topic throughout the years, with whistleblowers and conspiracy theorists claiming the company was somehow involved in drug trafficking." A reporter said from the old TV. "They have been investigated four times over the years by the police, but nothing has ever been found… until Now. Two days ago the new and explosively popular Villain group the "Gentle Knights" uploaded a video of them breaking into a secret underground floor."
A cheer went up in the cafe as everyone raised their glasses and drank.
"We did it, La Brava!" Gentle laughed in glee. "Look! We're actually on the news!"
"The evidence they discovered in the video, and left in boxes on the front of a nearby Hero agency has blown the case wide open. The arrests have come in fast and numerous, not only involving the entire management board for LHA, but also the chief of the area's police department, who it turns out is a second cousin of LHA's CEO, and had been sabotaging the investigations in return for large bribes he'd received over the years."
"Good riddance!" Mineta spat, his drink so full of sugar and milk, it could hardly be considered tea anymore. "I've never even met the guy, but he's managed to make me hate him more than literally every other person in existence."
"I couldn't have said it better myself." Aoyama said, reaching over and clacking their glasses together. "That's why we're bros, dude. Same wavelength."
"Now a statement from the Safety Commision: Despite the good this has done, we must remember this group are all criminals and Villains , taking the law into their own hands without proper licenses and training. They launched their raid without a warrant, and caused severe property damage."
"We broke a single filing cabinet!" La Brava whined in annoyance. "And it wasn't even on purpose!"
"We once again ask that you do not continue to praise such behavior, and do not idolize these thugs. Several safes, believed to have held the drug money, had been hacked into and emptied. This group isn't doing it because they are good, they are doing it for attention and profit."
"That statement hasn't worked the last three times we did something like this, what makes them think now will be any different?"
"It doesn't work, because everyone loves Robin Hood. We're actively helping the people they're telling to not support us. We take from the corrupt-" Aoyama gestured to the screen. "And give to the poor." He gestured to the happy old couple counting their new retirement money.
A horrible wailing noise came from the TV, as the picture of the reporter was replaced by large bold letters that said [EMERGENCY BROADCAST].
"ATTENTION ALL CITIZENS, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY BROADCAST BY THE HERO AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISION, AN S CLASS THREAT HAS HAS APPEARED ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF TOKYO. REPEAT. AN S CLASS THREAT HAS THREAT HAS APPEARED ON THE WESTERN OUTSKIRTS OF TOKYO."
The screen switched to grainy footage from a helicopter of a giant lizard monster.
"THIS IS AN IMMEDIATE EVACUATION NOTICE FOR EVERYONE IN THE WEST TOKYO OUTSKIRTS, AND A NOTICE FOR EVERYONE ELSE IN THE CITY TO SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. ALL MIGHT IS ENGAGING THE THREAT ALONG WITH LOCAL MILITARY FORCES. REMAIN CALM. REMAIN INDOORS. REMAIN CALM. THE SITUATION WILL SOON BE UNDER CONTROL. REMAIN CALM. THIS MESSAGE WILL NOW REPEAT."
"Oh my God…" La Brava whispered, cupping her hands over her mouth as she watched the footage. "Wait, where are you going!?"
"To East Tokyo." Aoyama said without glancing over his shoulder, Mineta following close behind him.
"Insanity!" Gentle exclaimed, pointing at the screen. "Are you not seeing this?"
"Yes, and that's exactly why I'm going." The blond knight paused at the door. "I joined UA to fulfill my dream of becoming a Hero. I joined with you so I could continue to help people, even after my dream died. I'm going to go help evacuate everyone in the area, I don't expect you to come with me, so I'm not going to ask. But you aren't going to talk me out of this."
The door closed shut with a loud thud.
"Gentle…" La Brava began, looking at the love of her life. "Please don't tell me we're going after him."
The high class criminal sighed deeply as he stared at the door, before tipping his head back and downing the rest of his tea in one big swig.
"Come on La Brava." He said as he stood from his chair. "Let's go keep our new friends from dying on accident. It's been Aoyama's idea that has kept us in the top 5 of trending for over a month straight now. We owe them that much." He held out his hand to her. "So let's get going, shall we?"
"Ugh, why do you have to be so charming?" The cherry head groaned, accepting his hand, and being pulled to her feet. "We better get some footage from this though!"
-Rain of Sins-
"Well this is entertaining." Toga hummed happily to herself as she kicked her legs over the edge of the building they were watching from. "But if we wanted to just watch, couldn't we have done it from the TV back at base, on the couch."
"Quiet! Don't question Sensei!" Spinner hushed at her. "All of his lessons have value, and you're disturbing his thinking!"
"The only thing that's getting ruined is my makeup in this rain."
Stain ignored his two apprentices, and continued to overlook the League's attack. It was clear they were outmatched, the Heroes had been prepared for them this time, and their attack had stalled without the advantage of surprise.
The logical thing to do would be to retreat and try to mitigate losses.
It's what he had expected Shigaraki to do.
…It's what was not happening.
Instead more and more Villains continued to pile into the scene as the League requested more and more reinforcements.
First it was by portal, then when that stopped, they began arriving in cars and vans.
It was a slaughter, a meat grinder where they attempted to wear down the Heroes through pure number advantage- a number advantage that they didn't have.
It was working to keep them in the fight, but the casualties… he couldn't see how there would be a "League of Villains" at all if this kept up much longer.
"Alright, listen up."
Immediately the two students quit their bickering and turned their full attention to him.
"We're here with the Shade to kill the King of fake Heroes. I've talked with him extensively in the past, I can endorse his reasons for going after Endeavor. It doesn't matter between us who kills him, the intent will be pure, the message will be clear."
Stain paused for a moment, licking his lips.
"The League of Villains also wants to kill Endeavor… We can't let them."
"Why not?" Toga asked, despite the frantic 'be quiet' motions from Spinner.
"Because of the message ! By our hands his death is a warning against corruption and decadence! A strike against the rot that plagues society! If they kill him, then it will only serve as a symbol of chaos! A message that the law is weak, and unable to contain Villains. It would be an invitation to riot and let loose anarchy."
Stain stood, drawing his sword from his back.
"I'll deal with the false Heroes, and their false idol of rot. You two stall the League's vanguard."
""Yes Sensei!""
-Rain of Sins-
What would you do if you wanted to meet back up with your group, but your boss was pissed at you for not capturing a person who wasn't even there and told you to split up and find him or else he'd disintegrate you?
It was a good question, but in Mustard's case he kinda just decided to roll with it.
Tomura splitting him and Dabi up made the job more boring, but it also let him use his quirk without holding back.
The Super Duper Villain Mustard walked through the halls of the event building, deep purple gas choking the air all around him.
He stepped over the passed out forms of Heroes and small time wannabe Villains alike, idly tallying up how many Heroes he could brag about beating after this was over.
…
To be honest, it was kinda boring.
…
Man.
…
Maybe his quirk was just too good? Being forced to only use it in short controlled bursts had been annoying, but this was just ridiculous.
"Endeavooor! Kiiing!" He called out. "Here Hero-Hero-Hero, where are you?"
His head perked up at the vague sensation of someone entering his gas cloud. It was probably just another Hero that thought they could just rush to him before they got knocked out. Maybe they could have if it were an open field, but in this maze of hallways? Please, no one could hold their breath for that lo-
A fist sized hole in the door next to him promptly exploded.
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!"
Mustard scrambled backwards as he felt the form in the fog rush towards the sound of his voice, kicking the door off its hinges, and jumping into the hallway with a combat roll.
It was only thanks to his ability to sense movement in his gas that he was able to leap to the side and avoid two .50 BMG bullets ripping him in half.
"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THAT GUN!?"
"Heh, she's all custom." Snipe rose to his feet and tapped the side of his mask. "Y'all really thought the whole gas thing would work twice? It cost me uh pretty penny, but ah got my mask upgraded to filter out more than just smoke."
"Well, considering no one else has a mask, I would say the whole gas thing has worked twice." Mustard called out from behind a wall, stalling for time as he rummaged around in one of the duffle bags he'd been lugging around.
"...Yuh know, that is a fair point. I'll give yeh that one."
"Oh don't worry about it, the only thing you have to give me IS THAT COOL HAT! "Mustard held his rifle out to the side, beyond his cover, and blindly fired at the Hero.
Snipe calmly stepped back from the direction he came from and pressed his back against the wall. He reached into his belt and pulled out one of his 'special' rounds he kept for when things went to shit, and hummed an old country tune as he listened carefully to the bullets harmlessly impacting the concrete behind him. He knew the model of the gun the Villain was using, he'd actually used it himself at the firing range before, and even though he couldn't be completely sure how large the extended magazine attachment it had was, it should be running out just… about…
The gun clicked empty.
Snipe leaned out of cover, took a breath, lined up his sights, and pulled the trigger.
Mustard yelped in pain and surprise as the wall behind his head exploded. He fell to the ground, clutching his helmet, which he could feel concrete shrapnel impaled into, and stared up in horror at the dodgeball sized hole in the wall.
" What the Hell?" Mustard whispered as he slowly crawled backwards.
"Oh, come on boy, don't tell me you thought you could match me just 'cuz y'all had some heavy lead?" Snipe chuckled as he stepped out into the hallway, spinning his hand cannon revolver on his finger, not even bothering to draw the other one on his hip. "Ah teach at UA, alongside the best damn Heroes in the country. Y'ain't gonna really say you thought it only took some guns and guts to make it to the top twenty, are yuh?"
Snipe slowed as he approached the corner, before throwing himself forward in a lung roll that would have forced the Villain to swivel his heavy rifle to take a shot, whereas Snipe with his revolver would have easily shot first.
But instead of finding the Villain holding an angle, he only found an empty hallway, and a closed door.
Snipe couldn't help the amused chuckle he let out as he weighed his options.
Should he A: continue down the hallway where the gas was thinner, or B: go through the door that has gas billowing out from under it?
He nudged the door open slightly, and threw a flash bang from his belt into the room.
Immediately the distraction came under fire, knocking it out of the air and tearing it apart so badly that it didn't even explode.
Snipe kicked the door open, firing two rounds in the direction of the muzzle flashes. His quirk gripped the bullets, and they curved mid air to bear down on the Villain's center mass.
Mustard, even having started moving before Snipe entered the room, thanks to his fog's extended sense, barely got out of the way in time, one of the rounds scraping his helmet. In a panic he let go of his gun, grabbing a grenade launcher from his back and firing two rounds.
Snipe jumped out of the way of the first shot, grunting in pain as shrapnel from the explosion dug into his padded leather armor. But it was a trap, the first grenade was meant to push him into the path of the second, which was now much closer- actually too close, in fact. Which was proven when Snipe snatched it out of the air, and hurled it back.
The timer of the grenade was mostly spent, so it exploded at the height of its arc back to Mustard, but it was more of a mental attack than anything else.
The Western Hero slid behind an upturned table for light cover, and peaked out into the thick fog, trying to make out anything.
A barrage of light fire hit his position, and he flattened himself on the floor as it tore apart the wooden table, but the bullets quickly stopped with the sound of a door being slammed shut on the other end of the room.
Snipe was about to push himself up to pursue, but stopped himself.
The fog wasn't getting any thinner.
His enemy was still in the room with him, and had almost made him stand up without any cover.
"Well ain't you clever?" Snipe couldn't help the smile that grew beneath his mask. "It's been too long since I've had a good shootout."
-Rain of Sins-
Bakugo, Momo, Ochako, and Setsuna, the four Hero students picked from the first year to attend the event, were in a difficult position.
Immediately when the attack started, all the students from UA who were supposedly only there for "decoration", had immediately been given pre-printed pamphlets that split them into groups and told them how to efficiently evacuate all civilians from the facility via large freshly made evacuation tunnels.
This let all the pro Heroes leap into combat without having to split their own numbers escorting civilians, and hold back for fear of catching people in the crossfire- like what happened at the festival.
The evacuation had gone smoothly, far smoother than it had any right to when evacuating so many people at once, almost as if everything had been planned in detail in advance…
The students had then been instructed, in very clear terms, that they were to go back to UA and stay out of the fighting.
Which is exactly why they were currently running, full sprint, back down the escape tunnels after evacuating the civilians- the exact opposite of what they had been told to do.
"Split up." Momo called from the front of the group. "Bakugo, Shoto, and Ibara, are our fastest members, you three do a quick lap around the building, to make sure the groups assigned to the upper years have been evacuated as well, and then link back up with the rest of us. The rest of us will look for a Hero to assist, and then-"
"And then what?"
The group skidded to a halt as they turned a corner and came face to face with one of the last people that wanted to see in this situation.
"And then what?" Aizawa asked again, standing over a pile of beaten Villains. "Because if the next words following that aren't 'do as we were told and leave the situation that's clearly too dangerous for us' then we're going to help issues."
"The only issue here is the fact we were ordered to fuck off during this!" Bakugo scoffed. "We're Hero students, you taught us to be Heroes. We're not fucking leaving. Give us detention if you want, Hell, I'll take on everyone else's punishment myself! I was the one to suggest we come back! But we're Not. Fucking. Leaving." Red eyes glared into crimson in a staring contest of wills.
Aizwa sighed in exhaustion, pinching his nose- but that couldn't hide the tiny smile on his face.
"Fine. But you're staying with me. If any of you try anything stupid, I'll tie you up and haul you out of here myself, got it?"
""Yes sir!""
"Good. Now hurry, there's a team of elites somewhere in the building, and we don't want to be caught alone by-"
The wall behind Aizawa exploded, as a Hero was thrown through it, slamming into the other side of the room and collapsing into a bloody slump.
"Pathetic!" A huge man made of muscles laughed as he climbed through the hole. "That's all you got? Really? Come on! That was insulting!"
A man in a straight jacket followed behind him, his teeth working like boney tentacles to lif thim in the air.
"Alright, ignore what I just said." Aizawa said softly to avoid attention as long as possible. "We're going with Ms Yaoyorozu's plan. You three run and find help. The rest of you play support. I can only use my quirk on one person at a time, so distract whoever it is I'm not on. Play it cautious, no scratch that, play it OVERLY cautious! If any of you so much as get a scratch, you'll have detentions for the rest of your life, got it?"
""Yes sir!""
"Good." Eraserhead smirked. "Now GO!" He shouted as he used his scarf to fling himself forward, landing a flying kick into the Muscular's head as he wondered why his muscles were falling off.
-Rain of Sins-
Izuku rushed through the ground floor of the building with Kuin and Jeremy following right behind him.
"So how are we going to find King?" Kuin asked.
"He is a six and a half foot man, who towers over everyone around him, and literally glows in the dark. He's kind of difficult to hide. Someone would have noticed if he was evacuated up top, which means they must be trying to scurry him out somewhere through the tunnels beneath us." Izuku responded. "But we only need to get somewhat close to him, he's a living bonfire with lava blood, he's a giant beacon to Jeremy's thermal vision, even through walls of concrete. There's less turns up here, so we just need to get a reading, and then we can break in on them through the-"
Izuku's eyes widened, his enhanced brain processing the danger before anyone else.
"WATCH OUT!"
He threw himself backwards, roughly shoving Kuin out of the way of the giant metal spike that-
Slich
Buried itself deep into his gut, skewering him all the way through.
Izuku instinctively gasped in pain but his throat clogged as blood forced its way up his windpipe and began dribbling out of his mask.
"Ha!" A Hero in a silvery gray costume stepped out from the corner he'd been hiding behind. "The Silver Spiker scores a strike with scarily successful sensationalism." He flexed his muscles, more metal spikes growing from his shoulders.
Izuku wasn't listening, blood gushed from his chest like a waterfall, painting the ground crimson as he stumbled backwards and braced himself on a nearby wall.
" B-Boss? " Kuin whispered in disbelief, staring up at him with wide eyes as she struggled to comprehend what just happened. "I-Izuku?"
Prometheus coughed, spewing up a river of blood, as he grasped at the iron spike with his metal claws, cutting into the weaker metal to get a grip, and slowly ripped the offending weapon from his chest.
Immediately once it was clear, crimson lightning sparked around his grievous wound, slowly knitting the gaping hole back together.
This had the odd effect of causing his eyes, which usually glowed green, to illuminate a blood red.
"What the fuck?" The Hero stepped back in shock. "H-He really is a ghost!"
The Sovereign of Sin stood up straight, his eyes glowing like the fires of Hell, and dropped the bloodied spike to the floor like it disgusted him.
"Jeremy." He spoke in a dangerously cold tone that carried on the wind like flakes of ice. " Kill ."
The monster roared in fury as it charged forward in a blur, crashing into the man and shaking the building as he carried him through the wall, and then another, and another, and another, and another, and another…
"Come on." Izuku said as he gently held out his bloodied hand to Kuin. "Let's go investigate the tunnels, while he's busy."
Kuin stared at the man who seemed larger than life, who had brought her back from cold storage, who had just saved her life again, and who was acting like nothing had happened.
"Yeah…" She whispered as she grabbed his hand with a light blush. "Yeah, let's do that."
-Chapter End-
Le Bee has El crush!? Gasp! Imposiblae!
The comments and the discord have repeatedly highlighted the irony of a sentient quirk crushing on the guy who is actively researching how to erase them.
HUUUUGE shout out to everyone on the Discord for helping me with ideas, and a special shout out to art_mango for their absolutely amazing drawings!
If you're on FFN sorry but the site doesn't let me actually post pictures. If you're on A03, then thank him for the art!
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