EDIT: I posted a second opening video for this story on youtube! It's titled "Invasion Opening 2", and if you are interested in viewing, PM me and I'll message you the link.

CHAPTER 17

ON TRACK

The sun was set to rise any minute now. After an eventful evening, peace had returned to the valley at the mountain peak. Things were back on track now, at least for now.

At one point, Deku opened the door to one of the cabins, followed closely by Caitlyn, still armed with her weapon. Upon entering the building, they cautiously headed to the kitchen, only to find it unoccupied. There were traces of the purple net on the floor, but Haruko Haruhara was nowhere to be found.

"Looks like she was able to break free," Deku commented with a sigh.

Caitlyn squinted her eyes with concern, but in the end she could only sigh as well. "Forget her. If she comes back, we'll outwit her again."

After he heard the story, Deku nodded with approval. "That was quick thinking. Good job."

She shrugged but didn't protest his words. "Thank you," she said in a low voice. After all, she was trying to be more accepting of his kind words, after their previous conversation.

Meanwhile, Deku remembered his role in the conversation with her as well. He needed to stop worrying so much about her. Inside, he really felt like bringing it up that he feared for her well-being when Haruko threatened her life. But now that he knew he was being overbearing with his concerns, he wanted to try to cut down on it.

The only problem was that he couldn't help how he genuinely felt.

To help preoccupy his mind, Deku entered the kitchen and searched the area. The evidence of the purple net was still there, as was the messy oven from the baking that Haruko had been up to. While there, he noticed something else that stood out. There was a stack of papers on the counter, and for some reason, it caught his attention. Something like that felt out of place in the kitchen.

"Hmm," Deku said as he inspected the papers.

From across the room, Caitlyn glanced over curiously. "What did you find?"

"Whoa." Deku's eyes lit up at the discovery. "It looks like… some papers with information. Information on Teckh."

Once she heard that, Caitlyn hurried over to see it for herself. "Looks like a dossier or something," she explained. "I didn't see that before."

"Haruko must have left it here by accident," Deku theorized. Going through a few pages, he noticed instructions addressing Haruko directly, proving it was true. "This is… wow. I think we can finally answer some questions about this invasion. Wait until Senku sees this."

(Later on, outside the Cabin)

Though time was of the essence, the team of heroes was gathered to have a quick meeting before they began the journey back down the mountain. Although the air remained chilly, the sun was starting to bring warmth back to the valley, after a cold and dark night. Regardless of the weather, this place was not safe for them to stay now. Once Teckh realized his ambush had failed, he would eventually try again.

Senku held his hands to his hips and cleared his throat. "We just acquired some valuable information left by that alien mercenary. Thanks to the documents she left in the cabin, we can now confirm a few things that we could only theorize before."

Everyone listened with full focus. After nearly two weeks of this exhausting war, they were all eager to find out more about their enemy's origins.

"First things first," Senku began. "Now that I've reviewed these documents, I can confirm that the enemy we are up against… is the man named Dr. Bofoi, also known as Metal Knight."

More than the others, Genos looked fired up. His suspicions had been present this entire time, but it was still revealing to have them confirmed now.

"Perhaps Dr. Bofoi was concerned that his origins would come to light," Senku continued. "Or perhaps he simply wanted to reinvent his persona under the name 'Teckh.' Whatever the case may be, his army of robots and machines gives him a powerful capacity for his mission of intergalactic conquest."

"The second part of my analysis revolves around Bofoi's armada. Up to this point, we've encountered numerous Teckh Bots, of all shapes and sizes. However, the majority of them have been devoid of anything resembling intelligence. The exception to this was his lab bot, which had some degree of artificial intelligence programmed into its design. However, it's very likely that Dr. Bofoi is forced to run the majority of his armada with his own control. We're talking about a man who is constantly at a control terminal, unable to take breaks from his work."

It was hard for the others to imagine such a way of life. But they were up against an evil scientist who was invading worlds in different galaxies. It would take someone with tremendous commitment to this dark path to have any chance of pulling it off.

Senku grinned, pleased to have more information on the team's nemesis at last. "The third point relates to his power levels. Dr. Bofoi must require tons of energy to power his technology, which would explain why his ship has been completely inactive since it arrived over this world. As we figured previously, he would need generators to increase the rate necessary to recharge all his power. That power will be necessary not only to power the petrification weapon… but also to teleport to the next world."

After the heroes had listened silently for a while, Maka finally was the first to ask a question. "How did he ever get technology like this anyway?"

To this, Senku turned toward Genos. "Our team's cyborg informed us previously that this alien ship belonged to a group of dangerous aliens who attacked his world in the past. Dr. Bofoi was serving under the Hero Association, which allowed him to acquire the alien spaceship without repercussions from the other heroes. And that very same spaceship had teleported above that world instantaneously, without any warning beforehand. Therefore, it's most likely true that the capacity to teleport between worlds originated from that space ship."

While Maka nodded after hearing the explanation, Caitlyn was the next to speak up. "After the alien ship teleported away from my world, I found a portal. I was able to see visions of the ship, and I even went through the portal. Apparently, others in our group experienced the same thing. If Teckh was using the teleportation for his ship, why leave portals for people like us to chase after him?"

This was one of many inquiries that remained significant. Senku leaned his head to the side as he grinned, more than willing to review the mystery. "I can't say for certain how something as extraordinary as that could function. However, I believe the alien spaceship possibly left portals to serve as intergalactic footprints. Maybe it was simply a part of the design that the aliens had put in."

Genos had more to contribute to this point. "My master told me some things about the aliens who used to pilot that ship. He told me their leader traveled to different worlds across the galaxy, looking for powerful lifeforms to do battle with. According to my master's story, it stands to reason that the aliens would want to keep track of the worlds they visited previously."

Senku pointed toward the cyborg. "Ten billion points to Genos. We have additional evidence to support this now. And even if Dr. Bofoi studied this alien technology for a good period of time, he still could have overlooked a few aspects of its design."

At least, there was some sort of explanation for them to go on. Caitlyn had always felt uneasy about going through that portal, but after seeing her world get conquered pretty much overnight, she had taken that leap. Now, that teleportation process was going to be important for all of them. After all, if they managed to win this war… they would need a way to get back to their respective home worlds.

Somehow, the team's scientist appeared to read Caitlyn's mind. "That teleportation technology will be how we all get back home," Senku explained. "But that remains a lower priority for us right now. First and foremost, we have to overthrow Dr. Bofoi. Once we stop him, we can concentrate on restoring the population back to normal from this petrification. And then, finally, we can go to the other worlds and save all of them as well."

It was such a massive undertaking. There truly was no easy way to state it. They had to do more than just be heroes in this world. There were multiple worlds in multiple galaxies that needed heroes now.

As he thought about it, Deku tried to imagine sharing this story with All Might. Surely, even the world's greatest hero would have his hands full with a mission of this magnitude. In fact, Deku felt weak once again after thinking this way. How was he going to even make a difference? Even if he fought enemy after enemy, there was just such an overwhelming amount of work to be done.

While she had let Senku do all the talking at first, Kotoko finally spoke up to give her own thoughts. "We've done a good job at surviving some of Dr. Bofoi's most threatening attempts to stop us. But he has a dangerous mind and he's capable of trying a variety of new tricks to overthrow us. As we move forward, we'll have to be ready for pretty much anything. His machines will continue to be more advanced and more powerful."

"Fortunately, he is still just one man. It's very demanding for him to control all of his machines, run his space ship, and maintain his own personal health and stability. Knowing all of this, we can be more confident. After all, we have a team of strong minds working together, while he is acting alone. A lone mind, likely possessed by a massive ego. We have to take advantage of what we know about him."

Kotoko held her hand up, extending it toward the large steel wall, which was in place from when the colossal bot had attacked them. "We know that Dr. Bofoi needs a large quantity of energy to fuel his operations. We already cut off one of his generators, but more remain. Since we already know that his ship has a force field to protect it, we at least need to take away his power enough to open up his defenses. With that in mind, our next destination is the closest generator. We'll go to it… then destroy it."

"But we don't even know where it is," Soul commented, despite all the constructive planning from the rest of the team. "And our last trip to a generator brought us here to this trap in the mountains."

This time, both Senku and Kotoko smiled at the same time. "Thanks to this dossier, we now know the locations of the other two generators. And we're going to hit them hard, and hit them fast."

(Aboard the alien ship)

There was an intense migraine that was burdening Bofoi. He rubbed his forehead, hoping to will it away, but it was not to be. This conquest was taking its toll on him.

In the past, his invasions had gone without any problems. His army of machines made short work of their directives, considering everyone who could pose a threat had been turned to stone. It normally took him only a few days to acquire full control of a world, and then he would move on to the next one.

This time, things were much different.

Hoping to take his mind off the current conquest, Bofoi switched his terminal to a different location. There was the lab with the petrified beings, where the Quirk research was still underway. So far, he had made progress with acquiring knowledge on the matter, but there was still no path revealed on how to exploit it. Bofoi wanted to find a way to possess the Quirks, whether it was for his machines… or for himself. Having this kind of power would enhance his conquest to extraordinary new heights. After all, even when he was with the Hero Association, he himself never actually had super powers. His power had come from his army of machines. Now, he had the potential to enhance everything about himself.

Directive 14: Study Quirks. This was an important and intriguing new path, since he only added this directive upon reaching this current world. In fact, he was so excited by this prospect that he constantly returned to check on the status of his research, despite the fact that he was currently at war with the rebels trying to take him down. As badly as he wanted to learn more about Quirks, he kept on getting distracted by all the issues stemming from Genos and his team of troublemakers. It was getting quite agitating.

That was the main reason why Bofoi decided to commission Haruko Haruhara to eliminate the rebels. Even if she failed to kill them, she would at least preoccupy them enough for Bofoi to power up his forces. It was hard for him to resist seeking a shortcut or two along his path to success.

But there was still a problem. Haruko had power as well as knowledge. Knowledge of Bofoi's operations. If she wanted to, she could reveal information to others. With how difficult it was to predict her behavior, she pretty much encapsulated everything that he despised. That only further proved that Bofoi had made a mistake in getting her involved with his plan.

It was a mistake he wasn't going to repeat again. And to make certain it was accounted for, he was going to make sure that Haruko didn't survive when this was all over.

At one point, Bofoi noticed he was grinding his teeth. It was a habit he had a history of doing, especially with how he was never at ease. With his mind constantly at work, it wasn't easy to remain constantly in one spot, sitting at his control center. His way of life took its toll on him, despite how little physical strength he had to apply for his work. The tremendous amount of tasks and responsibilities he had each day still required loads of energy, and he had to maintain himself without having the luxury of a day off. Ever.

No matter how much it tore him apart, Bofoi was not going to stop. This collection of his was far too important. In fact, it defined his very existence. This was his purpose in existing to begin with. It was what he was meant to do. He didn't even have the slightest idea of what he'd do without it.