Chapter Eleven
The Symbol of Peace
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Katsuki's anger at missing so much of the fight was tempered only by his anticipation of joining the fray. The trip had been about half an hour but felt more like four long hours of adrenaline-fueled anticipation.
Whaleface was laying out a series of instructions, but Katsuki was momentarily distracted by the approaching battle.
As the car maneuvered a perilous turn to avoid a burning truck, a scene of glorious chaos revealed itself. The ugly ape bastards were struggling against an entire angry neighborhood of Quirks. Still, the things were persistent. They were making a formation of some kind, advancing slowly but surely through the constant bombardment the extras were throwing at them. In the distance beyond that formation he could barely make out a team of heroes making their way between formations of…
"Kid, did you hear a single word I just said?" Katsuki was suddenly aware of just how little he had been listening to Whaleface.
As if he wasn't embarrassed enough, the backseat admonishment was accompanied by the stinging sensation of his mother's hand smacking up across the back of his head. The car didn't swerve as she drove and struck out at Katsuki. She had years of practice at this. Thankfully, she said nothing to add to the embarrassment of her adult son receiving "needed percussive parenting" as she sometimes put it.
His cheeks felt hot with his own self-recrimination. It stung worse than his mother's hand. Rather than bite back with a scathing remark, he contained himself as best he could. Gritting his teeth before speaking, he mustered as much humility as his body contained. "My apologies, sir. Please continue." Just speaking those words felt like a punch to the gut.
"As I was saying. I'm in contact with Eraserhead. He and Midnight are guiding a team of deputized civilians toward the Shell. Our job is to join up with them. I'm here to confirm if the kid inside the shell is indeed alive. From the way these… things are obsessed with him; we're theorizing that he is but that they're using the shell like a biochemistry lab on him. We have a plan to get him away from them… and hopefully to break him out afterward." Gang Orca laid out the facts in a straightforward manner, but Katsuki caught the lurching pause in his words.
There was no plan to get Deku out. All Might, the strongest hero in the world, couldn't break that shell. If not All Might, then who or what could? All they had was the desperate knowledge that these things wanted Deku, and they were willing to kill anyone that got in their way.
But why Deku? Why would they obsess over him, over Quirkless useless Deku?
And what was that thing that whispered to him earlier at the apartment complex? What did it mean when it said that Deku was gone? And why did the voice taunt him back then? What did the voice want with him? Were these things… was Deku their only target?
There was no time for those thoughts. There were abundant distractions both inside his head and around them, but now he had to focus on Whaleface. Er… Gang Orca.
Unfortunately, his internal distractions had thoroughly interrupted most of the actual plan. "Time to say bye to your mom, son. I'll give you both a moment." The hero said, opening the door. "You have about sixty seconds then we have to go."
And just like that, it was mother and son alone in the car, watching the end of the world unfold before their eyes. Somehow Katsuki had to say goodbye to her, and she would have to trust him enough to drive away while he went straight into that mess of melee and fire. "Mom, I'll be fine. I promise…"
"You can't promise me that you'll be fine when you're about to walk into that. Just… promise me that you'll try to stay safe, that you won't throw your life away for someone." She spoke up, cutting him off. She turned to look at him. The anger from earlier that day was replaced on her face with a mixture of pride and pain. He knew this was hard on her, leaving him to a scene of imminent danger. They both knew that it was possibly the last time they would ever see each other.
Katsuki could die out there on that street, and his mother wouldn't even know while she was driving away. "Look. I'm sorry… I'm sorry I made such a mess. I'll make this right. I'll save Deku, kick some monster ass, and get a letter of recommendation to get into U.A… but I can't do any of that if I make that promise, mom."
She looked genuinely hurt, tears welling in her eyes. She lunged across the divide between their seats and embraced him tightly. "That was the most mature thing you've ever said… I'm proud of you. I'm hard on you, I know… but I'm proud of you."
Whaleface knocked on the glass of Katsuki's window. There was no more time. "I love you mom. Go get dad and get out of the city. I'll come join you. I'll find you both, ok?"
He kissed his mother on the cheek, and in the process rubbed a tear from his own eye onto her face. He felt a part of himself die inside as he extracted her arms from around his shoulders and forced himself to keep his gaze forward as he turned and got out of the car.
It took only a second for him to place his vulnerable emotions behind a wall of anger and ambition. It was as if no one was behind him, certainly not his mother who he might not live to see again. He gave Gang Orca a dangerous grin. "Ready when you are. Let's kick some ass." He slammed the door behind him.
He was grateful that his mother was driving away to safety behind him. One foot in front of the other, he broke into a run alongside the veteran hero and charged into the battle ahead. Somewhere in that chaos ahead, he'd find Deku sleeping peacefully and uselessly inside a dumb looking conch shell. He'd figure out a way to blow it up… and then he'd punch Deku in the dick for worrying everyone.
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"Please," Inko begged again, her forehead pressed painfully into the floor. "Please show the heroes mercy. They mistakenly thought you were holding my son hostage. They couldn't understand… we're only human and know nothing of you or your people." She sobbed, her tears soaking into the tatami mat below her. She knew now that even the best heroes on the planet were helpless against these immortals.
Inko alone had her vision opened to the native reality of their world. When the creature, Mahbagodeth, had written those symbols in the air… something that he did caused Inko's senses to thoroughly change. She immediately knew that this was more than just a hallucination. Her mind remained sharp and focused. The fact that her expanded sense of sight was real frightened her… or rather, what she had seen was so frightening that she was shaken to her core.
There were far more of these things roaming around than anyone else could see. Inko, like everyone else, was aware of there being dozens upon dozens of these creatures, and only two varieties: the apes that had appeared earlier and a few wasps that were only now coming out of hiding. Now though, with her senses forced open to the ethereal nature of their enemies, Inko could see they numbered in the hundreds. There were three distinct varieties of each foe: the gigantic red ape-monsters that acted as the front lines, the rainbow hued wasps that emerged only in the past hour, and a third kind that she could catch peripheral glimpses of in the shadows.
Most frightening of all, though, were the commanding officers. The woman that had taken on eight of the nation's top heroes remained whole and healthy while her opponents were heavily injured… at least the ones still alive. One hero had fallen already during the effort to take her down. For his sacrifice to be in vain was too painful a thought to bear. And now this inhuman creature next to her was preparing to finish what his companion had started. If Inko couldn't think of something, some ploy, some emotional appeal, some way to broker a peace, then everyone would die.
Inko was gripped with the existential fear that preludes genocide, the severe dread that a disastrous death toll beyond comprehension loomed over her shoulders. As her fingers dug into the tatami mat beneath her, as her tears ran hot with desperation, she begged. "Please! I'll do anything! Please let me talk them into surrendering! Please! There's no need for anymore death…."
Cold fear gripped her heart as she felt the long-brushed tips of claw-like hands touch against the side of her face. She had seen these same bristles drain blood directly out of a man's neck, and now the soft touch against her skin warned hear that she too could die here right at this moment. She dared to look up from where she knelt on the floor, following the eerie tactile prodding of the alien creature in front of her. The blood red mask showed no emotion, eyeless and expressionless. She had no way of knowing if this thing even had emotions…
No. It did. It had laughed before. She knew that it could enjoy the suffering of its own peers.
"You will do anything, you say? Do you mean to tell me that the mother of the Prince will do anything for this request? Anything at all?" The thing's vocal bones creaked together into a cobbled voice that cracked in her ears. The creature seemed unhealthily interested in her cooperation. Whatever it was going to ask her to do, she already knew that she would regret it.
This moment was far past regrets for Inko. She had to do this. This was the only path in front of her, the only chance to save so many lives, to be with her son… even if the two of them would never go home again. "Yes, anything. Please instruct me… tell me what you want me to do."
In that exact moment, she was prepared to hear anything. A bloody sacrifice. Suicide. Self-degradation. Perversion. Anything at all, any extreme and heartless demand, and she would not have blinked. It could have whisked her away right then and there on a journey to this distant city it spoke of, and she would have let it, holding onto those horrifying hand-claws the whole way.
Inko was shocked into a surprised silence when the creature pulled a small statue made of salt from seemingly nowhere, manifesting it from errant sands on the wind. The object was perhaps thirty centimeters in length. It depicted a feminine figure with three discernible eyes, with the third placed in the center of her forehead. At the monster's wordless prompting, Inko got onto her knees and took the small statue into her hands. She noted that the exchange seemed almost reverent.
"Behold Cecelyne, the Endless Desert, the Architect of Faith, and the Arbiter of Prayer." The creature placed its four claws together. The formation of its claws clasped together must have been a symbolic gesture from a religion she had never heard of before. "From her infinite nature arises Orabliss, the End of All Wisdom, and from the mind of Orabliss I, Mahbagodeth, am given shape. I shall now prepare the attack. Pray to Cecelyne, and if she so commands me, I shall show mercy."
So that was it. It mocked her. Pray for me to be merciful, said the bully. Inko felt her heart break at the meaninglessness of the gesture, the obviousness of this taunt at her human frailty: you are weak, and the best you can do is pray. For a brief moment, she thought about the fact that her son's chief bully had told him to pray for a Quirk in his next life…
Wait. Did Izuku pray for a Quirk? Was that part of why he was chosen? She set those questions aside for another time. Was this actually a taunt? "Please… instruct me Mahbagodeth… what is the right way to pray to Cecelyne?" She chose to play along, hoping for the request to prove once and for all either a taunt or an actual ray of hope.
"Ah." The creature intoned. It spoke to her with no small amount of condescension, the way an adult might explain addition and subtraction to a child. "It is quite simple. Cecelyne, in her generosity, accepts prayer at any edifice dedicated to her, or indeed directed to her by name. But having a blessed relic such as this is helpful in ensuring the prayer is heard above the cacophony of requests she constantly receives. Many pray for gifts from her endless bounty, and many receive them."
It stood straight and tall, moving its arms outward. She watched as small blades of obsidian formed at the tip of each of its brush-clawed fingers. The blades floated away, fluttering like tiny insects, only for more to appear. The mask glowed brightly. Words formed as symbols around the mask, once again in that alien script so foreign to her. "Pray Inko, mother of Prince Izuku. Pray now. For you have very little time to intercede on their behalf."
The air quickly filled around her with tiny shards of obsidian. Testing one with an outstretched finger, Inko observed glasslike sharpness as it cut smoothly into her flesh. She stifled a cry of alarm and turned her gaze across the street where All Might and the other heroes were gathering. They had their attention locked onto the apartment where she, the news crew, and the Support Corps were trapped with this monster. She knew that they were planning to come and rescue her, to rescue all of them… but the situation was completely hopeless.
She had no way of knowing if she was being mercilessly japed by a monster or offered a viable solution. There was only one way to find out. There was no way that Inko could know that Cecelyne was a dread deity one should never offer a prayer. "Cecelyne, gracious and generous, please hear this poor mother's prayer…"
Inko grasped the salt idol tightly in her hands, causing the cut in her finger to sting horribly as blood tricked down the back of the statue. "Please help me broker peace between your servants… all of the forces sent here for my son Izuku… and the heroes who, like your servants, wish to protect and guide him… each in their own ways." The words felt like bile on her tongue and lips, the false admission of noble intention ascribed to her son's kidnappers, to murderers roaming the streets of their city. "Please stay the hands of your forces… please let there be peace and an end to the violence…"
Cecelyne was listening intently.
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All Might stood alongside Endeavor at the edge of the rooftop. Hours ago, there was a safety fence here and a pristine view of the city. Now against a black backdrop of night the ruined fence and rubble of the rooftop gave way to a vista of cracked buildings and pockets of fire littered across the city. Doubtless this would be considered one of the worst terrorist acts of the decade, striking multiple soft targets in residential districts.
Static and confusion plagued the Support Corps and the Hero Association, both literally and figuratively. Their communication relay system was thankfully switching to satellite backup, but even now the lines weren't as clear as they should be. The slow trickle of news from sites across the city painted a grim picture. Civilians, willingly or not, were being drawn into the battle in multiple neighborhoods. Some were rallying to support the heroes. Others were the victims of monsters while heroes were busy elsewhere.
Most disturbing though were the reports coming in from just across the street in their temporary headquarters. The site had been compromised and every human inside, from Midoriya Inko to the Support Corp itself were now hostages. It was no wonder that the lines had static, as many of them were being remotely rerouted…
And to make matters worse, the line was filled with chatter about the enemy being immortal… able to dematerialize and regrow their bodies. If that was true, then Ingenium died for nothing. They were fighting for nothing. It was a thought that disturbed the heroes deep into their cores. If that news was true, then they very likely were about to be the victims of a massive ambush. Yet they couldn't move toward the enemy position due to the hostage situation. What a mess.
"Something's bothering me." Endeavor mused out loud.
All Might raised an eyebrow at his rival. Even now he was fighting against the unending pain of a missing hand and struggling against his body's limits maintaining One for All. Add to that the shrapnel wounds the two of them had endured alongside the other heroes, a fatality that crippled the team, hostages just across the street, and supposedly immortal enemies… With a wry smile All Might replied, "Fine. I'll bite. On top of the obvious, Endeavor, what is bothering you?"
"It's obvious this Sondok was… perhaps is… a warrior. Her gang of monsters clearly have training, at least enough to function together as cohesive units. And now we have reports of the enemy having air support and captives… but if I were in command of them, I'd have them behave completely differently. Why did they hold back their air support for so long? Why did they hold back their ability to ambush us while we treated Ingenium? It makes no sense. They may be immortal as the rumor on the line suggests, but even in that case that level of restraint seems absurd." Endeavor seemed irritated as he spoke, as though the inefficiency of the enemy was an insult he could not bear.
All Might considered the situation, thinking aloud. "Even when I fought Sondok earlier, before your arrival… she held back. She refused to use her weapons at first, and only used her sword after I dislodged the shell from the roof for Mount Lady to catch." His stump of an arm pulsed at the memory of her first and most potent strike, the one that set the tone for the remainder of the battle. Even then, he wondered why she chose to cut off a limb that was already rendered so useless…
The ninja Edgeshot interjected into the conversation. "That sounds like we're dealing with warriors… but not soldiers. It may be a clue into their command structure as well."
All Might and Endeavor both turned their heads to regard the man. It seemed a compelling point. "Please, elaborate." Endeavor prompted.
Edgeshot gestured across the street. "We're getting reports that the newest breed of enemy, these giant wasps, only appeared when the named foe appeared in our headquarters. It could be that different breeds of devas report only to their own superior officer… and those officers each want personal glory more than they want the mission to succeed."
All Might was immediately reminded of Japan's earlier history; the struggles of the ruling warrior class before the Meiji era were littered with stories of samurai, elite warriors of those bygone eras, and their quests for personal glory. Rendering themselves obvious targets, they would wear banners on the battlefield so that not only could they avoid being mistaken for the enemy but so their own accomplishments could be noted. It was the opposite mentality of the modern soldier: accomplish the needs of the mission by any means necessary, and work as a team toward that goal. Personal aggrandizement was not part of that equation.
All Might gave a sideways glance to Endeavor after that last thought, realizing he shouldn't say that out loud. He chose a different form of tact instead. "We may be dealing with individual warrior clans rather than a single cohesive military… how do we use that to our advantage?"
Before Endeavor could answer, they found themselves taking defensive positions as the enemy made their move. The surrounding rooftops were filled with dozens of the ape-like creatures they had all fought before but were now joined by a swarm of human sized wasps that flitted between the buildings. But the worst problem emerged from the balcony across the street.
Thousands of tiny shards of glass-like obsidian were obscured in the moonless night, surrounding the heroes by surprise. The cloud of death was more easily heard than it was seen, softly whispering through the air like an insect swarm. Even as Cementoss prepared shields of concrete, ready to close it at any moment into a makeshift bunker, their position on the rooftop was supremely vulnerable. They found themselves engulfed in darkness as the mass of sharpened stones interrupted their vision, blockading any light from the street below.
Over the whispering storm of stones, the noise of an oncoming helicopter filled their ears. Where before the distant vehicle's approach was mournful to their vision, now its proximity filled their hearts with dread, as they feared not only for their own lives but for the crew of that vehicle. "Incoming aircraft, this is All Might. Reverse course. Abort medical extraction. I repeat, abort medical extraction. Get out of here and save your own lives."
Even as he spoke through the comm system, All Might prepared himself. With a single strong punch, he could generate enough force to blow a giant hole in this whirling cloud of blades. He hoped that would be enough time for the rest of the heroes to escape. It was a sobering thought: they were no longer thinking in terms of winning or losing, but of escape.
Even in this darkest hour, even with the loss of Ingenium and his own hand, nothing prepared him for the terrible heartache he would feel when the comms flared to life in his ear.
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Inko knew that what she was experiencing was a vision, a lucid dreamlike state. She knew that she was kneeling on the floor of a stranger's apartment next to a monster. She knew that she was praying, as futile a gesture as that seemed. However, she never expected the deity to respond to her in such a personal way.
When she closed her eyes, Inko found herself in a vast open-air temple beneath a strange and alien sky. A Green Sun shone far off in the distance against a garish yellow-brown sky.
She blinked, blocking the light out, only to find that she had opened her eyes and was once again kneeling in the dark room next to the monstrous masked fiend… rather than ponder that she shut her eyes hard and continued to pray.
Light flooded her senses, as did heat and sand as far as the eye could see. The air was so dry that her throat was immediately parched. No human could survive here for long.
Desperately she turned looking around her for some meaning or sense to this place, some sign of what she was supposed to do. That was when she saw an altar half buried in sand. Behind it was a great pillar of salt. She ran as best as she could in the heat, while wind swept in sand from the surrounding desert.
Inko could barely approach the altar. It had been exposed too long to the radiant heat of that strange Green Sun overhead. She feared what would happen if she touched it.
"Cecelyne." She called out. The name she really wanted to call out was Izuku's.
And then the pillar of salt turned to regard her. Inko yelped a meaningless noise of shock.
"Utter your request, mortal. I hear your prayers. You will find that I am the most generous of the Primordial race." The voice came not from the pillar, but from echoes across the desert that surrounded the temple.
Inko wanted to ask for her son, Izuku, and for him to come home. She wanted to ask for the dead and injured to be restored to full health. She wanted to ask for the whole day to start over and to have events unfold in a completely different direction… but that was all impossible. This thing in front of her probably had the power for such requests, but it was the monster that employed the ones currently attacked the city…
Inko steeled her resolve and stood defiantly in the heat. "Please, Cecelyne… please command the bodyguards sent for my son's protection to stop attacking and killing the humans, the heroes, the civilians… all of us. We are ignorant mortals and are no threat to you or your servants." In a show of subservience, she then knelt and bowed before the altar. The heat burned her knees as sands engulfed her legs with what felt like radiant fire.
Blessedly Inko's back felt cool as the shadow of the pillar stretched over her. "I will grant you this favor, mortal, if you accept my generosity."
A sensation that Inko could not describe took root in her heart. Somehow, she knew deep in her mind, in her heart, in every fibre of her being that this favor wasn't free. She almost wanted to laugh that even omnipotent spirits relied on fine print as they asked you to quickly scroll down and accept the terms and conditions.
"I accept your generous favor." Inko felt bile in her throat as she spoke the words. The back of her mind, or perhaps it was her soul, felt heavier as Inko's debt accumulated in Ceclyne's ledgers.
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"All Might, is that you?" Inko asked in the comm system. Her voice sounded weak to All Might, and he was certain it had nothing to do with the signal.
Death loomed over him, but in that moment all he could think about was her wellbeing. "Miss Midoriya. Are you well, have they hurt you?"
There was a pause on the line. The heroes exchanged worried glanced with each other. "I'm fine All Might. I'm contacting you because… because I've plead our case with Mahbagodeth, who is equal in rank to Sondok… the woman you've been fighting…"
Endeavor and the others appeared to balance on the edge of a blade next to him, teetering between hope and despair. All Might had no idea what kind of facial expression he was showing them, only that he wasn't the smiling hero he always wanted to be. "What was… his reply?"
The sound of Inko unmistakably sobbing caused his heart to lurch. His helplessness to aid her felt just as painful as his missing hand. "Sorry, I'm fine… I… He had me speak to his superior. She… her name is Cecelyne…"
He listened as Inko took several calming breaths. "You're doing fine, Miss Midoriya. Tell us what it is they want, and let's try to work this out."
After pausing a bit longer, likely to muster her courage, she spoke into the microphone again. "They want you, All Might."
He nodded, understanding as best he could. "I think I see where this is going, Miss Midoriya. Please, continue." He turned away from Endeavor and Edgeshot who each had grave looks of concern on their faces. Cementoss did not appear much better. All Might could practically hear each of them sternly lecturing him that no, he would not let himself become a hostage.
"Of course," she said to him. "They want you as a hostage in trade for all of us in here and all of you… out there… and as a condition for the fighting to stop." She was having obvious difficulty saying the right things. Everything about this situation must be tearing her nerves apart.
Even though she couldn't see it, he tried to put on a smile for her sake. "It's alright. I'm here." He said to her, comforting her through this. "You're doing great. Let me see if I understand, and just tell me yes or no. Alright?"
"Alright…" she replied nervously. Her fear was palpable across the line.
"If I agree to become their captive, all of the hostages in there will be let go… does that include you?" he asked, despite Endeavor shaking his head.
"No. I've agreed to stay on with them and… to go where they're taking Izuku." She said. The pain in her voice stung at him, as did his unfulfilled promise to her.
"I see, and I understand why you'd do that. Don't feel bad about that, alright?" he said, looking around at the darkness surrounding him and the other heroes. He could no longer make out the enemies beyond the cloud of blades. "So… by agreeing to this, they also promise to let the other heroes here go free, and to stop the fighting elsewhere in the city?"
He could practically see her nodding as she spoke. "Yes. They've agreed to let the others go, including… Ingenium… but you'd have to stay here with me… and they said that if anyone else broke the peace as an individual that they'd treat it as an individual act… but anything more organized than that and they would kill you."
He almost hated to ask, but he had to. "And in this deal… what happens to your son?"
She openly cried. He wished he could be there for her. He had never felt like such a failure as a hero in all his life, not like this. "They won't negotiate about Izuku… they want him more than anything… I… I'm sorry All Might… but I'm his mother… if he can't come home, I have to make a deal… I have to go with him!"
He nodded, understanding. "Don't blame yourself. I don't know how or when, but I will work at it until I fulfill my promise and bring your son home to you." He hoped that his words would resonate with her and help her get through this.
"Thank you," she said, "for inspiring him for so long."
It wasn't gratitude that he needed right at that moment. "Inko… can we trust them to keep to their word? Is there anything holding them to these promises?" He needed reassurance that if he went along with this that it would be meaningful.
Endeavor had had enough, apparently. "All Might, you cannot be entertaining this idea…"
"Let her speak, Endeavor." Cementoss interrupted. Edgeshot said nothing.
Inko paused on the other end of the line. For a moment All Might was worried that she was being forced to say these things against her will. Thankfully she resumed speaking, but her words did not assuage his fears. "By agreeing to this peace… Cecelyne… their boss… goddess… is putting me in debt."
That comment earned more than one raised eyebrow among the heroes. "Miss Midoriya, please explain. How are you in debt?"
"She used a Quirk… or… Charm on me. It seems that, by giving me something I want, she gets to reserve a single command for me… and… someday she'll use it on me. It can be anything. I know that she only wants that power over me because of Izuku but… I had to All Might… I'm sorry!" she cried out, a mournful wail at her helplessness and her desperation for her son, and the knowledge that what she had done would one day be used to hurt him.
"It's alright, Miss Midoriya… and you can let them know that I think it's a fairly good deal. I'm willing to go along with it, but we'll need to hammer out the details of the hostage exchange." All Might's comment caused apoplectic alarm on Endeavor's face, and no small amount of emotion in Inko… but All Might had a hidden reason that he felt that this exchange was a good idea.
He knew that he was probably minutes away from losing complete control of his body. He was well past his current limits for maintaining the muscular form afforded him by One for All. If he could negotiate a peace that would give the other heroes and hostages a chance, then that would be a far better contribution than he could make otherwise.
"That is a wise decision." The voice sounded like a scratched-up record. It emanated from the orbiting stones around them. "Let us discuss those details here and now."
Light, however sparse it was, flooded the vision of All Might and the other heroes as the blades of obsidian parted like a theatre curtain, allowing two gigantic wasps to fly into the eye of the blade-storm unharmed. Between them they carried a pair of interlinked black and gold chains ending in four clasps at the ends. The purpose was clearly to cuff and immobilize a prisoner.
They were here to imprison All Might.
"You can't go through with this, All Might. This is worse than a mistake. This is insane! We're up against impossible odds! How will we stand a chance without you?!" Endeavor's anger caused him to say things that surprised even himself. It was the closest he had ever come to admitting that the world, or that he, needed All Might.
As much as it pained him, All Might ignored Endeavor. The two insects landed a respectful distance away from the heroes. Their wings illuminated the darkness with a myriad of colors. They were clearly bioluminescent, but none of the men there could hazard how the mechanism of it all worked.
"I am listening… but first, introduce yourself." All Might replied to the voice that surrounded them.
The voice took on a dual toned quality, discordant and jarring to their ears. "I am Mahbagodeth, the Inkwell of Blood, Understanding Soul of Orablis, who is The End of All Wisdom and the Sixth Soul of Cecelyne."
It was a strange juxtaposition, All Might thought. Where Sondok's officer introduced her based upon her deeds, this one when self-identified rooted his own introduction based upon the hierarchy he reported to. The difference in their psychology was vast. "A pleasure to meet you. Now, how will we engage in this trade?"
"Our terms are non-negotiable. You will wear the Manacles of Night my servants have provided to you and submit yourself to them for transportation. Then I will release from my custody all humans in this structure and order all devas into a temporary retreat. I will divert the sorcery that surrounds you harmlessly away once you and your compatriots order your comrades away from the Chrysalis of the Shining Prince. Comply immediately… or I will kill you all right now and then proceed to eradicate all human life in this city." The terms were harsh, as was the voice itself. All Might knew he had no time to consider these options…
He was about to become much weaker.
His earlier mistake, attacking Sondok… he blamed himself for the outpouring of violence that followed. This imprisonment would be a fitting retribution for that mistake, even if no one else ever blamed him for any of this. "I will comply. Will I be in custody with Miss Midoriya?"
Endeavor and Edgeshot both tensed up at All Might's capitulation. Rigid with anger, Endeavor spoke up. "It's not over… we can… bust through this… with your power and my fire we can…" He struggled with his words, his own anger and desperation tripping his tongue.
"No." Cementoss said, depressed by their failure. "We can't gamble the lives of the entire city on our own ability to fight… we might win… but it would be a Pyrrhic victory. We aren't heroes so that we can win fights, Endeavor… we became heroes so that we could save lives… that's what All Might is trying to do. We shouldn't stop him."
All Might could not express gratitude to Cementoss. He could not do anything that would endanger his own secret, the secret of One for All.
Edgeshot looked at Cementoss with far more venom in his eye than Endeavor did. Perhaps the bitterness came from the fact that Cementoss was the least injured man of the roof. Perhaps Edgeshot was bitter over losing an eye and a friend to these monsters before waving a flag of surrender. Regardless, he did not say anything, and redirected his gaze to the strange insectile creatures and the chain they held between them.
The creatures did not speak as they held the chains out in front of them, the manacles open like hungry mouths. The voice resonated from all around them. "You and she will both be in my care. Now. Comply." Even with the alien staccato the thing's impatience was showing through.
All Might strode forward, placing himself directly in front of the strange creatures and their nightmarish chain. Despire their odd appearance, it was the chain that drew his eyes. The thing hurt to look at, as though the links themselves were malevolent. The dark and gold patterns seemed to move and fight each other on each link. The metal was unlike anything he had ever seen before. There was, however, no time to contemplate, or to doubt his course.
All Might reached forward and clasped one of the manacles in his hand. He ignored how vulnerable the position made him and knelt to place the hungry looking device over his ankle. Immediately, he felt weaker.
Light flooded the area. All Might looked over his shoulder and could see that Miss Midoriya was on the distant balcony, as was the news crew that was trapped with her. Behind them he could see the strangest and most vile creature he had ever laid eyes on. Even from this distance he could see it was a hollow twisted thing composed of a bloody mask and a leather cloak. Physically he had seen things far worse… but he knew just by looking at the creature's face that this being had no humanity in it, nothing that would let it empathize with human suffering or emotion.
What truly disgusted him though was how it had manipulated all of them, even its own comrades. Sondok, it's equal in rank, had taken the fight out of the heroes. Miss Midoriya was the ideal hostage. The news crew, also in danger, would be used as tools to compel the submission of the other heroes and the military… and All Might chided himself for his own predictability. This creature had played all of them like puppets, toward a goal he still did not understand… and now it was too late to fight back.
It was time for All Might to attach the rest of the puppeteer's strings, he told himself.
The chains were heavy, far heavier than they were before he had secured his ankle. Moving the manacled leg felt awkward and difficult as he prepared to trap his remaining ankle. Once both legs were secured, he felt it was almost impossible to stand, but he had to. He was All Might, the Symbol of Peace. He had to stand as the world watched. He may become a hostage, but he would not scrape and grovel. He would not sully the hopes of those who relied on him.
He could not encase his own wrist, lacking a hand to do the work. Instead, All Might offered his own remaining hand as one of the creatures manipulated the metal device in place. The thing hummed a strange melody as it worked. The creature smelled like meat wrapped in newspaper.
Once his arm was secure, All Might felt almost dizzy with weakness. But he stood resolute.
"I have donned your chains. Now. Release the hostages." He demanded, throwing what little strength remained in him into his voice.
The discord replied. "You are not done. There is one manacle remaining." Although the thing did not sound human, all Might could tell it enjoyed watching him debase himself with voluntary captivity.
He tried not to glare at the thing. It couldn't be helped. "I have no wrist to encase." He spat the words with more venom than he would have liked. He did not want to antagonize this thing, not while it had hostages in striking distance.
A long-clawed arm stretched to point at him. Next to the creature, All Might saw that Miss Midoriya was crying. "Your neck will do fine, human."
All Might grasped at the remaining manacle roughly, forcing it from the claws of the insect in front of him. He turned his back to the creatures and faced their master head on, glaring at him from across the rooftop and the chasm between the two buildings. "Fine. But you will fulfill your promise."
"Indeed. I will." It spoke neutrally.
All Might placed the device around his own neck, and it clamped itself shut. The sensation of weakness that assaulted him was immediate. He was afraid of this, afraid that his own limit would hit him at the wrong moment. Somehow though he felt much worse than any time it had struck him before.
The manacles tightened around is limbs and neck, choking him. He struggled to breath, to pull on the metal noose around his neck. The device loosened, then tightened again, as though the metal pulsed with strength at his expense. All too late he realized that it was his own strength that provided power to this alien device. All Might had not reached the limits of One for All… this device was shutting his Quirk down completely.
Toshinori struggled in vain. His weakness was now on camera for the whole world to see. He could not feel the core of All for One in his heart. He could barely stand. He coughed up blood as he bent over to retch. Scrawny, weak, and injured, he couldn't even fit in the clothes he was wearing.
Toshinori could not make out the shouts of alarm from the heroes around him. He barely made out the fact that Miss Midoriya was screaming in the distance. But even as his head faced downward, obscuring his face from view… he smiled.
Perhaps this strange and horrid creature had accidentally played into Toshinori's hands. His own limits, bared for the whole world to see, now appeared to be the work of alien technology and not an inherent weakness in Toshinori himself. The world saw how weak Toshinori really was, but the illusion of a dauntless All Might would remain intact despite his own frailty and failings.
Wiping blood from his mouth, he got back up. Raising his chained hand up defiantly, a fist pointed to the heavens, he roared like a cornered lion. "I have fulfilled my end of the bargain. Now… release the hostages!"
Toshinori was their captive, but the Symbol of Peace was free.
