Mirko had been having the time of her life cracking skulls. Had been. Then the riot troopers broke out the shotguns and the dogs. Now Mirko was having a fucking terrible time. A bean bag round smashed into her thigh. "That HURTS!" She tumbled, hitting the ground, but somehow managed to tuck into a roll. She popped to her feet and crushed the coward that shot her.
Memories of the Golden Cat threatened to tear her away from reality.
Miss Sally was screaming, begging him to stop.
He didn't stop, not until Marguerite blew his head off with a twelve-gauge pump. She put two more shells in his back after he hit the ground. The shotguns report was tremendously loud, and Rumi didn't hear much more than a high-pitched whine after the third shot.
Rumi couldn't stop the tremor in her hands, or the anxiety pooling in her lungs, but it didn't make any difference. She could work around these obstacles. On the bright side, being unable to hear the shotguns going off around her was probably the only thing between her and a total meltdown.
With ruptured ear drums, her equilibrium was trashed. Relying on muscle memory, Rumi leapt, flipped, and twirled across the intersection, crushing acrylic shields and helmets as she went.
One of the rioters charged a downed cop, baseball bat raised high.
Mirko disarmed him and pushed him onto his ass. "GO. HOME." She snapped the bat over her knee and discarded it. Fucking morons. This one wasn't the first rioter she'd put down. It probably wouldn't be the last. The bulk of them turned and ran after she arrived on scene. A few opportunists had lingered. She questioned their intelligence. If she saw some crazy bitch fall out of the sky and nuke a truck with a roundhouse kick, she'd haul ass out of there. Well… I'd probably want to fight me a bit first. But only a little… probably.
At least most of the civilians had fled. Unfortunately, that meant less distractions to keep the cops from swarming her.
A dog crashed into her, biting down her forearm. It took her down, thrashing its head from side to side.
Rumi was certain she screamed. Something popped in her elbow. "Get. The fuck. Offa me!" She hammered its neck with her fist until it let go. The instant it did, she got both feet under its chest and launched the slavering bastard into the side of a car. It didn't get up. Rumi squashed the guilt. Not now, later.
Nejire twirled through the air, sparkling with sunny energy. After racing off from the police command post and 'accidentally' muting her radio, she'd gotten to work. Now that she finally had something to do, the gears in her dummy brain turned smoothly. All those little mile-a-minute thoughts stopped ricocheting around, instead coalescing into a single laser-focused stream. Strategies and plans formed. Priorities were made, checked, and checked again. The most efficient route through the district was plotted. Nejire knew she came off as an airhead, but she was smart. Really! She wasn't UA's top student in academics because of a pretty face. There were lots of brains crammed in her noggin, even if it was hard to use them sometimes!
She cruised through the city above a primary evacuation route, guiding stragglers towards the relief camps at the perimeter of the city. Most that she'd come across were terrified, so she'd smiled her Winningest Smile. It was a special smile that she reserved for times like these because it was a guarantee that everything would be A-Okay! It was very cute, and Uwabami – one of Ryukyu's friends – even said it very on-brand for Nejire.
Unfortunately, despite the ongoing disaster, some people just felt like being rude. "Ope!" Nejire dropped down about a meter from where she'd been hovering, narrowly dodging a volley of bricks. "Hey! Don't do that, you could really hurt someone!"
They were being thrown from the roof of a nearby building, by a woman with six arms. A swollen, black tongue hung from the woman's mouth. She reached down and ripped more material out of the side of the building, hurling the debris across the sky.
Trigger. Nejire harrumphed. Nejire didn't mind fighting. It was kind of fun sometimes, but not when drugs like trigger were involved. Users just didn't know when to stop fighting, and often someone was left injured once the dust settled. Nejire swooped in, charging up a super move. It was one she'd never gotten around to naming. Mirio liked to tease her by calling it the Nejire Bonk of Justice. It always made her laugh when she felt sad.
The six-armed woman cackled, frothing at the mouth, hurling more and more projectiles.
Nejire just slipped right on by. She threw a mean right hook, about ten meters away, hammering the woman with a crackling helix of raw energy. The surge connected, blasting her opponent downwards, through the roof of the building.
Six-Arms went still, half buried in rubble.
Thankfully, Nejire could see that she was still breathing. "One and done." With a sigh, she floated down to the street, looking for a police officer in the throng of running people below. "Hey, hey! Officer!" She flagged one down. He looked exhausted, covered in soot, and sweat. "I'm Nejire, Ryukyu's intern. There's a woman on the top floor of that building. Mutant type quirk, multiple arms. Pretty sure she was abusing Trigger."
The officer wiped at his face with a rag, panting. "Yeah, I saw you kick her ass, nice work. I'll send a team up to make an arrest when I can, but I really don't have the personnel right now." He stumbled back as a panicked person shoulder checked him. "Hey, slow down! Proceed in an orderly fashion!" He was right, there weren't nearly enough officers on the street to manage the flow of the evacuation. "Nejire! Can you give me an update? Where the hell are the firefighters?" He shouted over the din.
Nejire scrunched up her nose as she considered what to say. She should do her best to keep morale up, so telling the entire truth – as she knew it – wouldn't be very wise. Still, she wouldn't lie to him. Just selectively… forget to say some things. "Don't worry, heroes and firefighters are on their way! Hawks the Wing Hero put out an All-Call, and even contacted All-Might! Everything will be okay, Just keep on helping the people where you can!" Dozens of eyes turned skyward when they heard 'All Might'. He was hope to these people, and some of the tension in them relaxed, if slightly.
"Oh, thank god. Hey, wait up! I heard on the radio that one of the riot teams are in trouble. Some kind of villain is tearing through them over at the south edge of the industrial park. Doesn't sound good, you might want to check it out!"
Trigger was one thing, but a villain? In the middle of this mess? That was really poor timing. "Got it! Anything you can tell me about the villain?"
The officer grimaced. "All I got is, it's a woman with a mutant type quirk. That's all, sorry!"
Well, that really wasn't a lot to go on, but that was fine. Nejire had plenty of experience stumbling into high stakes situations. She saluted with a wink, "Don't worry, Nejire is on the case!", and took off for the industrial park.
Aizawa stepped off the bus and screwed his eyes shut. The air burned his already dry eyes. He quickly applied his eye drops and slid his goggles on. Behind him, Class 2A trundled out, wary, but resolute. His bus was one of many, each carrying an entire class from the heroics course. They were all there, Classes A and B, years one through three, except for those currently out on internships.
"Alright, Listen up. Class 3 is contributing to search and rescue efforts. Classes 2 and 1 are to remain here and provide disaster relief." These were good kids, most of them. They were determined. "Amajiki, you're in charge. Coordinate with the other class representatives, Lunch Rush, and Recovery Girl. Your priority is to help them provide for the needs of incoming refugees. Stay out of the way of the medical personnel and DO NOT leave this camp. If I find any of you in the disaster zone, you'll wish you'd been expelled. Is that clear?"
Amajiki, normally timid in the extreme, nodded after Togata quietly reassured him. He began directing his classmates clearly and concisely, if still somewhat nervously. He was taking things seriously.
Good kid.
Heroes, paramedics, firefighters, and volunteers of all flavors swarmed Kamino, setting up relief areas and combating the fire with everything they had. The University of Tokyo Hospital sent a team of its best surgeons and burn specialists. They, along with the Red Cross and the Healing Heroes Association had set up an ultramodern field hospital. The triage area was already overflowing with people. The number of lives already lost was staggering.
Aizawa joined Mic, Midnight, and Vlad on their way over to the Incident Command Area.
Nezu was already there. He'd been flown in while the rest of his staff wrangled their students onto the busses.
The principal briefed a crowd of people, among them the HPSC President and other high-ranking cabinet members. A real-time map of Kamino was displayed on a holotank in the center of the temporary building. "-unless new developments come up later. The Incident Mitigation Division is being led by the Endeavor and Gang Orca agencies. Endeavor's group is performing aggressive fire-breaking operations here, here, and here, along the leading edge of the fire. Gang Orca is leading firefighting efforts within the perimeter.
"The Search and Rescue Division is split between The Wild Wild Pussycats and Team Idaten. Please ensure they have a clear corridor to bring injured citizens to camp at all times." The high-spec rodent glanced over at Aizawa. "My students, as well as students from Shiketsu high school, will be assisting Camp Operations. Matters of chief concern are ensuring that our first responders are fed, watered, and supplied as needed. If you already have your assignments, please proceed with all haste. The people of Kamino are counting on you." He nodded at Aizawa.
"Now, sleeping areas are currently being set up across from the mess tent, and teams will be operating in three shifts, those of you who- "
Outside the tent, Nemuri dragged the four of them into a quick huddle. "Alright, we've got work to do, so let's get to it, but before that… I expect all of you," she glared at Aizawa in particular, "to report back here at regular intervals and return, uninjured, at the end of your shifts. Promptly. Got it?"
Vlad nodded stoically. "Of course, Nemuri. You have my word."
Mic grinned sheepishly, making finger guns at her. "C'mon, you know me!"
"This is a waste of time."
Nemuri glared, jabbing her crop at him. "Don't be a grump, Shota! The students would be heartbroken if you died out here. We'd be heartbroken. You always harp on your students about the futility of breaking themselves to save people, but you need a dose of your own medicine. If you don't swear to me, to us, right now that you'll take care of yourself, then we're going to make sure that you don't leave this camp."
Aizawa grumbled but found it hard to meet Nemuri's eyes. At least he was already wearing his goggles.
Mic tapped his arm with a fist. "She's got a point dude. You gotta practice what you preach. And it'd suck if I had to take over homeroom for you."
Vlad stared him down, arms crossed. "We love and respect you, both as Eraser Head and as Shota Aizawa. Don't let one kill the other.
So irrational. He stuck his hand out, palm down, with a sigh.
Nemuri, Mic and Vlad stacked their hands atop his.
"Shota…" Nemuri said warningly.
"I promise that I'll check in regularly…"
"And?"
"… and I'll return here promptly at the end of my shifts."
Victorious, his friends smiled. They were good people, if obnoxiously stubborn, sometimes. He supposed that was the only reason they'd stuck around so long, the stubbornness.
She beamed at him, satisfied. "Alright team! Ready? Go Beyond- "
"Nemuri, this is ridiculous." But even Aizawa joined in with the cheer, if reluctantly.
"PLUS ULTRA!"
The riot troopers, routed by her assault, had fled. Rumi harried their retreat, picking them off one by one, until a vengeful blue sledgehammer smacked her aside like it was nothing. The girl – Hero. Emitter quirk, flying, threatening posture, appears agitated – shouted something down at her. "Bitch, I can't hear a word you just said!" With her hands, she mimed her ears exploding.
Blue scrunched up her face, too cutely for it to come across as threatening. "Stop attacking the police. Stand down and come quietly." She said with exact gestures of her hands.
Rumi was surprised she even attempted to use sign language. She was fluent, Hawks had made sure of that, so she responded. "They were hurting people. You weren't there. I was."
Blue touched down daintily, about ten meters away. She probably thought she was safely out of range. "That's no excuse. You can't interfere. Vigilante."
With a snarl, Rumi signed back, "Bullshit. The city needs help. Get out of my way. People are dying." This must look ridiculous, two women silently arguing by flapping their hands in the middle of a burning city. Her patience was at an all-time low.
"No. I was asked to stop you. Bring you in. Please don't fight. I don't want to hurt you."
What fucking idiot wanted to devote resources to bringing her down in the middle of a crisis like this? Rumi shifted her weight, bending slightly at the knees. She raised her hand, forming a sign that was universally understood, even without knowledge of sign language.
Blue grimaced and squared her shoulders.
Hawks was losing feathers at an alarming rate. It was inevitable, fire was one of his major weaknesses. Still, he fought on, throwing people out of burning buildings left and right. There were just. So. Many. He hadn't been exaggerating when he told All Might that a half-million people needed him. Kamino was old, it was big, and it was dying.
Too many had slipped through his fingers. Sometimes literally. He'd been at it for hours, and he just didn't have the energy to go on. Hawks was built for raw speed, not endurance. In most cases, being the fastest thing alive was preferable. Speed saved the day, always. But this, this was a whole different beat. He'd never been involved in natural disaster relief before.
Sure, he'd been given cursory training for it, but the commission had always used him for HUMINT work. If he hadn't gone off script earlier, would they have even sent him to Kamino? Based on the slew of text messages and missed calls from his handler, he doubted they would have. He even had a single missed call from the Commission President herself. This year's family reunion is going to be nice and awkward.
He broke the sound barrier in the hallway of a burning high rise. The shockwave snuffed most of the flames on that floor. It was only a delaying tactic; they'd return to full strength soon enough. All Hawks could do against fire was buy time. He had to.
Buildings were starting to collapse. Dust joined the smoke in suffocating the city.
This was Hell on Earth.
Blue hit like a fucking truck. Rumi made the first move, landing a brutal roundhouse kick on the taller girls' gut. Her ankle throbbed. She'd probably sprained it. it was like kicking a steel I-beam, it hurt.
Blue didn't tank that kick without cost though. She skidded back on the balls of her feet, almost doubled over. It had hurt, but she rose, determined, and started to crackle with golden energy. After that first kick, Blue took her apart. It was systematic, it was clean, it was fast.
Rumi sprawled on her back, wheezing, after being effortlessly flipped over Blue's shoulder. She couldn't land another hit. This girl could fight. It was incredible, like fighting a stouter, slower Hawks. Were the situation any different, she'd be hounding the girl for a rematch.
An ominous rumbling demanded their attention. To the east, a high-rise building – at least twenty stories tall – sagged, collapsing in on itself. A thick cloud of off-white dust ripped through Kamino like a shockwave, coating everything in sight.
Rumi stared incredulously as she dragged herself up to her knees.
Looking so much more tired than a moment ago, Blue turned to face her.
With a sigh, Rumi held up her hands. "Enough, enough, no more fighting. Truce." She panted, jabbing her finger towards the newly vacant part of the skyline. "They need help, Blue."
With a skeptical look, Blue signed back. "If we help, then you'll come quietly?"
Fucking… whatever, fine. Rumi groaned. This woman was impossible. "Yeah, fine, Blue. Goddamn. When everything's settled you can bring me in. You can even hold my hand if you want." Yeah, she absolutely wasn't going to let that happen, but this girl was an obstacle as stubborn as Rumi herself.
After a moment's consideration, Blue perked up. She signed out a few letters. "N-E-J-I-R-E. My name." And stuck out a hand.
Rumi slowly reached out and shook her hand. "Mirko. You know, I can read lips by the way. You don't need to take the time to sign."
Nejire's cheek twitched cutely.
Endeavor's earpiece beeped. "Talk to me."
"Hi Endeavor, this is Ragdoll! I searched ahead of your position for about a kilometer and didn't see anyone, so you're clear to do your thing. Go get 'em!"
Mandalay's voice cut in "We only checked a fifteen-degree cone because of Ragdoll's hundred-person limit, so try to stay within the borders we outlined on your map."
"Understood. Go scout ahead, this will be quick." Enji let the heat build, in direct challenge to the fire that raged around him. Fire was oppressive, it was hungry, and it was irreverent. It would take, and take, and take, until there was nothing left. Then it would starve. Fire was the only thing Enji hated more than All Might. He pulled back a fist, Hellfire boiling across his body.
Some weakling shouted at him. "Endeavor, stop! What the hell are you doing? We don't need more fire!" They were neatly intercepted by Burnin.
"Endeavor is the best of the best." She shouted, twisting the weakling's arm behind his back and hauling him to a safer area. "So shut the hell up, and just watch him!"
"Prominence BURN!" Enji didn't say it for himself. He wasn't weak, he didn't need to rely on mnemonics to remember his own super moves. No, the only reason he ever bothered to announce his attacks was so other people would know to get the hell out of his way. It didn't matter if his opponents knew what he was going to do next. They wouldn't win, even if they could see the future. He was Endeavor, and Endeavor was unstoppable.
A column of yellow orange fire blasted down the road, incinerating the buildings just before the leading edge of the natural flames ravaging the city. Endeavors fire burned hot enough to melt glass and twist steel. Buildings came down, utterly consumed, leaving a firebreak as wide as the road next to it. The coolant system in his costume kicked into overdrive. He had pushed himself to the absolute limit with that attack.
Burnin released her captured idiot and charged forward, hosing Endeavor down with the chiller pack she wore on her back. "SIDEKICKERS!" She roared at the top of her lungs.
As one, thirty Endeavor Agency sidekicks charged, snuffing any flames on the leeward side of the firebreak. They spread out, fast and efficient, stabilizing damaged buildings, clearing debris, and prepping secondary evacuation routes.
Enji took a breath. Hellflame pulsed on his body. "There is no room for failure. I will not permit even one more death to occur here today. We will prevail, or we will perish with this city. Is that understood?"
"YES SIR!" Came thirty voices.
Burnin snarled up at him, victory etched into her face. "Just lead the way sir, and the rest will follow. To hell and back!"
Enji said nothing. Burnin was loyal and strong, but a fool in the end. She could easily become No. 3 with her experience, talent, and iron will, but she remained steadfast by his side, stunted in his shadow. Enji marched onward. He had a fire to extinguish.
Hawks needed water, and his first aid kit was exhausted. He'd burned through four already. A rough crash landing in front of the resupply area kicked up a spray of chalky white pea gravel. His legs didn't want to work anymore. It was getting hard to breathe.
This was unacceptable.
He clawed his way to his feet and lurched into the tent, scattering students like leaves. Hawks snatched a water bottle from a trough of ice. Most was poured on his head. He gulped down the dredges. "I need three FAKs, a new radio, some saline bags, and splints. ASAP, c'mon!"
One of the students shouted, "Hey Amajiki, he's back!"
Hawks didn't have time for whatever schoolyard bullshit this was. He hopped the table and started gathering what he needed. A blonde missile came from nowhere and tackled him to the ground. He didn't see or hear it coming.
"The hell? Get off me, I don't have time to screw around!" You can't stop me, there are people out there that need help!
"I'm sorry- "The blonde wrestled him into a submission hold, "sir! But I have to ask you to… stay… put !"
Hawks tried to dislodge the kid. Threw an elbow at his face, but it just passed through, like there was nothing there. His arms were real enough though, as was his bulk. If he were a betting man, he'd say that the kid's quirk let him pass through solid objects, or something along that vein. Which meant that if he wanted to keep Hawks pinned, then he could only phase so much of his body at once.
He managed to get his hand around the small and ring fingers on the kids left hand. He squeezed, grinding the knuckles together.
The kid hissed through his teeth but held on. He made his hands intangible, relying on the bearhug hold to keep Hawks down.
"That's enough, Hawks." An old crone – Recovery Girl – jabbed a needle into Hawks' shoulder. "You're injured. I'm pulling you from active duty."
He thrashed and snarled, little more than a cornered animal. "You can't, there are still people out there!" I can't find Rumi!
The kid held on tight.
"Fool boy." She tutted down at him. "Selfish. Arrogant. If you destroy yourself saving these people, then you destroy all the hope you've built in them. To be a hero is to be a symbol, and in your current state the only thing you inspire is fear. Your wings are burnt, you're dehydrated, and you're exhausted. You're done, until I say otherwise, and that is final." She stabbed her cane into the ground, as though delivering a mandate from heaven.
The kid, Togata, released him.
Hawks' vision swam. He tried to lunge to his feet but couldn't move his wings. Or his legs. He wasn't sure that was because of the sedative either.
"Thank you for your assistance Togata, Amajiki. Please, carry Hawks to the medical tent. Gently now, mind the burns."
The blond, Togata, gingerly scraped him off the ground. Amajiki grabbed his ankles.
Rumi, I'm so sorry.