Gowithebeat - Yeah, it's going to be... nasty.
DragonB0b - Not quite. The ending of this chapter, in the meantime...
Detrametal - It's going to get... bad.
MrMateusz - You want to hear the worst thing? I'm writing this fully sober. Oh, the horror.
(***)
Y'all remember the intermission fic? The one with Nedzu and AFO confrontation in the former's office? I've started to publish it, but on Ao3 for now because I'm going to f_king go crazy if I have to update regularly one more fic on this horrifyingly outdated website. I'm done with TTB here (just 10 more chapters), you'll start getting Answering the Call.
(***)
"Was that… a part of the plan?" Skeptic asks as they are all staring at the screen in silence. Overhaul seems to be taking his sweet time to start the battle, probably venting out the stress of being cornered earlier by some boasting in front of the heroes.
Thank you for giving us some time to think. Even if Re-Destro has no idea what to do right now.
"No." Re-Destro replies after a second of silence. "That was most certainly not a part of the plan. In fact, I specifically inquired Doctor Garaki about the possibility of Overhaul somehow using his quirk to turn the tables on Nemesis in order to become the dominant side in the fusion. He was adamant that was an impossibility."
He groans loudly. So much about trusting their 'friend in Jaku'. What's the point of financing a mad scientist when they are actually WRONG about their favorite subject to this degree?
"I should have expected that his obsessive love for our favorite demon lord was going to make him discount the possibility of someone managing to defeat him like that. Especially an 'anti-quirk quack' and 'an upstart with delusions of grandeur' like Overhaul." Re-Destro continues. Before briefly glancing at his personal assistant. "Consider this another lesson, my dear. You might be the smartest person in the room, but you can always arrive at the wrong conclusion when the data you were provided with by your subordinates was wrong to begin with."
"Are you sure that this is a good moment for teaching?" Skeptic asks.
"There is no, well almost no such thing as a bad moment for teaching the next generation." Re-Destro replies with a faint smile on his face. "The thing is, I don't exactly fathom any way of dealing with that issue that doesn't include Doctor Garaki trying to fix his own mess by deploying his unfinished prototypes en masse. Of course, I'm going to have to move to Jaku together with as many heavy-hitters of MLA because they might not be enough and we're only going to have one shot at this."
Especially now that Nemesis just HAD to mention Re-Destro's existence in front of the heroes. What were the chances of Sir Nighteye believing Doctor Garaki to be the shadowy mastermind he was facing? Close to zero, really. What's worse, Overhaul now knows whom to blame for being backstabbed.
Wonderful. And let's not even dig into the issue of Doctor Garaki apparently trying to call Re-Destro right now. Probably to scream. He'll deal with that in a moment and…
"... wait, what was that?" Re-Destro asks, his attention turning to the feed coming straight from Sir Nighteye's command post.
(***)
"I have an idea!" Midoriya shouts at Sir Nighteye. "I can take him down, but… I need my classmates and Aiko here right now!"
There is panic around them. Sir Nighteye and Midoriya are the only ones who remained calm. Well, more or less. Izuku DID shout at Sasaki and Sasaki is still busy realizing that everything just went to hell.
But he is a hero. A veteran hero.
He grabs Midoriya's hand, and then makes eye contact with him. The future is a mess. His theory about Class Six quirks interference throwing his own quirk off finds confirmation, it's like trying to watch several movies at once. One is always at the front, the rest flashing in the background behind the partially transparent primary timeline.
The primary timeline and the secondary switch between each other periodically, the Reality itself changing its mind about what's the most likely outcome. Never before and most likely never again so many Class Six quirks clashed with each other.
"Go." Sir Nighteye says, as he deactivated his quirk. "Take the communicator and the warp beacon. I'll get the warp coordinate scramblers off." Midoriya nods, grabs the equipment in question and dashes towards the compound.
Sir Nighteye hated the concept of sending sixteen years old kids against what was de facto a new All For One. But if his understanding of the nearest future was correct, that was a basic prerequisite to the one and only future where Overhaul doesn't kill every single hero participating in the raid.
(***)
"We have a plan." Best Jeanist and Edgeshot hear Sir Nighteye's voice in their earpiece. "My quirk says that it will work. But we need time."
Sasaki doesn't add it, but the two heroes understand it immediately. This is the end of the road for them and the heroes surrounding them. There is only a straight tunnel behind them, their trap for Overhaul turned against them. None of them are fast enough to get there…
… and Chisaki will certainly make sure to not leave anyone behind.
Overhaul pauses his gloating for a moment, before at them with a smug look on his face.
"... you do realize that I have a radio signal interception quirk as well, right?" Overhaul says, as the heroes in front of him freeze. "Oh, well. Let's do it like people of culture, huh? Where did I pack those quirks… oh, here they are. Hair Control, Aura Creation!"
In a second, his hair stands upright, changing its color to yellow. Aura of similar color envelops his whole body.
"What, no one recognizes the ancient classics?" He looks vaguely irritated at the confusion visible on the faces of heroes in front of him. He, himself, always liked watching things made before the quirks ruined Mankind as a species. "Shame. Time to die." The battle starts.
(***)
Midoriya dashes through the forest between the command post and the compound, passing by some fleeing stragglers. He shouts orders to his classmates through the communication network. He needs Asa's quirk on some of them for the plan to work. He also needs someone to go fetch Aiko.
(he hates it, but they don't have a snowball's chance in hell against Overhaul in his current state without her).
Behind him, Sir Nighteye tells everyone to evacuate from the command post, staying behind alone. Endeavor is told to approach the main compound. Immediately afterwards, Sasaki runs into a problem.
(***)
The crew of the warp coordinate scrambler that stayed behind instead of following Overhaul refused to switch it off, clearly not understanding the gravity of the situation and being afraid of Kurogiri trying to attack them.
"Seriously?" Re-Destro groans slightly. "I guess that's the side effect of cooperating with the GSDF. They are only cooperating with the pro-heroes, Sir Nighteye clearly can't just order them around. Unfortunate side-effect of many joint operations."
The last words were clearly targeted at his personal assistant, who quickly nodded in agreement.
"Do you think that Valiant's plan… whatever it is… is going to work?" Skeptic asks. Re-Destro looks at the disaster unfolding in front of him in silence. He picked just the right to do that to witness Edgeshot's death.
"I can scarcely imagine Sir Nighteye' banking on it if his prediction didn't tell him that it's at least possible." Re-Destro replies. "The only alternative is him using Valiant' to buy time for the evacuation to conclude, but I believe that he isn't cold-hearted enough for that. Besides, All Might would be… angry."
To say the least. Especially considering the whole Thunderbolt affair.
"I believe that I have a small job for Geten." Re-Destro decides. Skeptic, clearly, didn't expect that. "It's also our mess and it might be best to help the heroes clean it up. If there truly is a way of eliminating Overhaul right here and now, it's going to be beneficial to the Meta-Liberation Army's long-term goals."
In the meantime, he has to contact Slidin'Go. He and Crust are the second blockade between Overhaul and the surface, if Tokoname wants to somehow avoid getting mauled he's going to need to find an excuse to not be there at a…
"Oh you've got to be kidding me." Re-Destro lets out, looking at the camera displaying the events in the tunnel from Best Jeanist's point of view. Their original plan (that survived for about ten seconds after Nemesis' contact with the enemy, has to be a world's record for fuck-ups) was at this point more out-of-date than HPSC' president retirement plan.
(***)
Best Jeanist just lost a friend - and close to half of the heroes that followed them into the tunnel. He was also acutely aware that the rest are only alive because Overhaul decided to toy with them before killing.
Despite that, he still had enough mental capacity to freak out when Overhaul - who just disassembled Edgeshot - paused his attack for a moment to use Foldabody on his right arm.
"That's an interesting disease." Chisaki announces. "But it requires a lot of training to use to a reasonable degree. Shame. Once we're done with this battle, I'll hand it to one of the QLF soldiers. Maybe several of them, in fact? A stopgap measure that will only last until I'll create the cure, but… a craftsman needs his tools, am I right, Best Jeanist?"
In the command center, Sir Nighteye corrects his earlier statement. He didn't send Midoriya against a new All for One. He sent him against someone that just outgrew All for One by an order of magnitudes. Because Overhaul carried all of his quirk… and didn't need a few minutes to steal a quirk from an unwilling subject.
He needed a single touch. Anywhere at all. And could do that while simultaneously killing you. And if his boast about handing Edgeshot's quirk to several people was an honest one… if he could also replicate quirks…
Midoriya's plan might be the only shot they'll have of taking Overhaul down before he gets used to his newly found powers. Because if (no, when) he does that, then even an army of heroes led by someone like Star and Stripes might not be enough.
Unawarely to him, Re-Destro arrives at the exact same conclusion. Slidin'Go receives a brief summary of the situation and the order to delay Overhaul for as long as possible.
Not only an order from his superior among the Heroes, but also his old friend and Grand Commander of the MLA. And, well, Chisaki now has the murder boner against the MLA as a whole, and his wife is a part of it as well. That's really not a choice anymore.
Best Jeanist dies twenty seconds later. The last of the heroes in his group die four seconds later. Overhaul promptly activates several movement acceleration quirks and dashes towards the other end of the tunnel. He could simply dig a vertical tunnel up and get to the surface that way, but… where's the fun in that?
(***)
"THAT'S THE END OF THE LINE FOR YOU, OVERHAUL!" Crust shouts, his face as expressive as ever. They are still in the hall where Chronostasis and the QLF force made their last stand.
The hero is, clearly, alone. Aside from him, the only thing present in the room are several QLF corpses.
"Crust, what a pleasure to see you." Overhaul says dryly. "Where, pray tell me, is my assistant? I've come to pick him up, and I expected to see him here."
"NOT HERE, VILLAIN!" Crust grins. Inside, he is all but happy, but… he knew the risks involved when he joined the heroics. He can as well fight this properly.
"That much I can see." Overhaul sighs. "Air Cannon, Strength Enhancement Times…"
Crust uses his own shield to propel himself towards Overhaul. The surprise flashes on the villain's face, a second before Slidin'Go appears behind him and punches him in the back. They repeated their earlier plan of flanking and attacking Chronostasis' group from behind.
Slidin'Go slides with maximum speed. Overhaul just received a punch directly into his spine, with a speed approaching two hundred kilometers per hour. Tokoname's fist breaks, but so does Chisaki's spine.
Nemesis would have noticed the attack incoming. There were many sensory quirks at his disposal. Without at least a fragment of All for One's memories to call upon, Overhaul's grasp of his own quirk arsenal was limited. But he was learning very fast.
The attack propelled him towards Crust, whose shield's rapid deployment almost severed Overhaul in half. He managed to dodge in the last seconds, using Air Cannon's recoil to send himself sideways. His spinal cord finally had enough and snapped as a result.
Overhaul slams into the wall, his legs clearly no longer working. He calls up for his regeneration quirk as Crust and Slidin'Go dash towards him. The delay in calling up for quirks and his limited skills in applying are their only chance at winning that fight. They aren't going to give him any breathing space.
They end up buying Midoriya less than two minutes.
(***)
"I don't fucking care!" The officer yells through the communication equipment. "It's your job as heroes to deal with villains! I'm not switching off the warp coordinate scrambler, or Kurogiri and who knows how many more villains are going to roll in."
In his defense, his line of thinking is logical. To believe that someone equal to All Might (as Revenant was at least his equal, Nemesis being akin to him) just randomly popped up again is insanity. It's not like Nemesis and Revenant being clones of the Symbol of Peace' archenemy (and their creator still being at large) are public knowledge.
The lack of imagination, as it often is, was born from lack of crucial information, chaos of an active battlefield, and the tensions between completely separate branches of governmental organization that were told to cooperate literally a few days ago.
They didn't even have proper procedures for such a cooperation. Army operating besides the pro-heroes was something out of the chaotic times of the Dawn of Quirks. Naturally, things are going hairy at the first opportunity.
Of course, while his line of thinking is logical, it's still going to get everyone killed. Things are rarely black and white on a battlefield, after all.
"What the hell is that?!" One of his subordinates shouts in panic, pointing at something at a distance. The officer turns his head to see and…
He barely had the time to realize what was happening before a massive flying dragon made of ice - accompanied by a storm of ice needles and spear - tore through his entire unit. Twenty three soldiers die in a span of twelve seconds.
"Crew eliminated." Geten reports, floating on an ice platform right above the ruin that used to be part of the GSDF. Its commanding officer slides off the side of the scrambler, Geten's ice spire still sticking out of his head. "Scrambler's still on, this thing's armored." For as much as his meta-ability is potent, it's just… not potent enough to pierce through reinforced steel.
"Do not worry." He hears Re-Destro's voice. "Skeptic will instruct you on how to switch it off. Once that's done, evacuate immediately. The area is getting way too hot for my taste and losing one of my closest lieutenants is enough."
Geten always thought that Slidin'Go's meta-ability was kinda weak, but… dying for the cause while fighting an almost literal god is actually rather cool.
(***)
"I just lost contact with the warp coordinate scrambler crew, I think they came under at…" Midoriya hears Sir Nighteye. "... nevermind, some PLF remnant force just did us a favor, even if I don't plan to repay it. Warp scrambling off."
YES!
"I'm almost at the base, I'll start the warp in a moment." Midoriya says back while jumping over the mines. It really brings back the memories from the sports fest… NOT NOW. "Eto's zoomed in on the vicinity, she just has to relocate the exit point of her warp from the field hospital here, she should be able to open it up in one to two minutes and…" He pauses for a second when he hears Sir Nighteye's quiet curse. "What happened?"
"Crust and Slidin'Go down." Sir Nighteye's voice is perfectly impersonal, even when they just got two more Top Heroes to mourn. They'll be time for that after the battle is over. "Overhaul's heading for the surface. Endeavor, slow him down for as long as you can."
"On it." Endeavor is much worse at hiding emotions. The amount of sheer living fury contained in those two short words is astounding.
(***)
Sir Nighteye gets to witness the moment Overhaul bursts out of the underground section of the base through his binoculars. He has quite an entrance (alright, exit), flying up above the base, where he uses Air Step quirk to hover.
Then, he extends his hand. Toward the command post.
So, he had a quirk that allowed him to trace the radio transmission back to its source. Just as he expected. Sir Nighteye knew what was coming from the moment when he saw future Midoriya's sudden expression of anguish through his quirk.
Judging from his calculations, Overhaul only had time to fire once before Endeavor and Ryukyu would arrive and occupy his attention. Keeping the radio activity high to make him attack the command post rather than field hospital was, honestly speaking, perfectly logical.
The rest was up to Midoriya. Also, the decision to share his findings with Eraserhead and detective Tsukauchi was, after all, a correct one.
The Air Cannon combined with Heavy Payload and several other quirks wipes the command post from the face of the earth a few seconds later.
(***)
Overhaul redirects his attention to a mass of people at the distance. Additional base of operations? Evacuation point? He managed to locate Chronostasis, who was clearly still en route to it. The rest… it didn't matter.
He was about to level that place down with another salvo, but a blink of light at the corner of his eye warned him of incoming Prominence Burn.
Empowered Air Cannon meets with the Prominence Burn. The resulting blast was nothing short of inspirational.
Number One Hero. Not All Might, but… irritatingly close to him, in Overhaul's opinion. It was, honestly, a fluke that Chisaki ended up facing Slidin'Go, Crust, Best Jeanist and Edgeshot separately. If they all had ganged up on him together with Endeavor, things would have been ugly.
Ryukyu was there as well, circling in the distance, probably planning to jump at his back the moment that Endeavor - currently using his flames to fly in front of Chisaki - occupied his attention.
Pain in the ass.
"Endeavor, my dear Number One Hero!" Overhaul shouts. "You seem to be running out of sidekicks, wouldn't you s…"
Another burst of flames. Not Prominence Burn - he is recharging, no doubt about it - but… it seems that Endeavor is uninterested in talking. Fine enough. Overhaul talked enough for now.
(***)
"There is a line in the Meta-Liberation War…" Re-Destro says. His mind still has not fully processed Sir Nighteye's death. How could that happen to someone with a quirk like Foresight? "... that states that children always surpass their parents, but the latter can win against them thanks to their experience. Destro meant the quirked and the quirkless, but…" He sighs. "... I wonder if we'll get to see a student surpassing his mentor."
One thing is certain - he is going to witness the whole thing through backdoor that Slidin'Go placed in the hero communication network, even if the headquarters were gone. And he can't help but be excited about it.
What sort of plan made a man with a precognition quirk choose to die willingly to help come to fruition?
(***)
"That's all for the plan." Midoriya concludes. He isn't crying, despite wanting to deep inside. He will cry later. Sir Nighteye would have been more than irritated if he wasted the time bought at such a steep cost on something like that. "We have only shot at this. If I yell 'Failure', run away in different directions and don't stop whatever will happen, got it?"
Their attack party is composed of Yoarashi, Kirishima, Ashido, Todoroki, Sero, Shoji, Jirou and Uraraka. Ochaco is the one carrying Aiko (on the Dreaded One's face, a regal but determined look). Izuku would trust his classmates with his life, but the lives of his siblings are… more than that.
Uraraka will keep her safe. Midoriya knows that.
They nod. They know the stakes. They decided to trust him on that. Midoriya has the best classmates in the whole world, even if he still doesn't feel like he deserves them.
They run to the positions, having reached them soo before the battle above them ends.
Overhaul's Rivet Stab strikes through Ryukyu's wing. Endeavor acts fast enough and uses Hell Spider to slice the wing off before Ryukyu is disassembled or loses her quirk (he saw the attack coming and reacted lightning fast), but the Dragon Hero drops from the skies.
Before the Flame Hero can hope to catch her, he is blasted with another Air Cannon almost point blank. He blocks it, somehow. But it's still enough to send him flying.
"NOW!" Midoriya shouts. Yoarashi lifts off, using his quirk to a maximum. Ryukyu's fall is cushioned, and Overhaul is hit by a massive blast of wind from above. Despite his Air Step being activated, he is slammed into the ground, somewhere in the middle of the ruined compound.
Part of it is on fire, mostly thanks to Endeavor. And the missile that almost took out Glassmaker.
Overhaul rises from the ground, still pressed to it by the raging wind, right in time to see Midoriya Izuku in his hero uniform, right in front of him.
"You goddamn pest." Overhaul says. Deep inside, he is happy. So many enemies wiped out at once. The teenager who ruined him in the past is next to the chopping block. He'll then find and finish off Endeavor and Ryukyu. With heroes out of the picture, he is going to go find Garaki and Re-Destro.
"This ends today, Overhaul." Midoriya replies, clenching his fists. Overhaul decides that it's time to prove him right. He replicates his Shock Absorption quirk a few times, just in case. He knows about One for All, after all.
"Air Cannon, Strength Enhancement Times Three, Power-Up Times Three." Overhaul announces calmly, before extending his right hand and firing at Midoriya. Except, something in the quirks he called twists at the last second.
Air Cannon doesn't fire the concentrated gust of wind - instead, it blows his own arm cleanly off. Overhaul stared at it in shock, long enough for the Hyper-Regeneration to kick in. Except, it's working off wrongly as well. What's regrowing off his arm is certainly not resembling an arm in the slightest.
His sensory quirks that he called up for give utterly nonsensical readings. He calls-up for Overhaul and it actually works, his arm shifting back into place. Thus far, only All for One and Overhaul are working as int… is it because they are Class-Six quirks?
Midoriya took advantage of his distraction to vanish. Instead of him, there are now a bunch of kids in front of him. He recognizes them from the sports festival (he checked the kids that beat up his lackeys at the USJ). The acid girl and the hardening guy at the front, the gravity girl carrying some brat behind them, the tape guy slightly to the side.
The brat is staring at him intensively. That girl is the only person whose quirk he doesn't know. Whatever's interfering with his quirks, it's probably her doing. He would suspect a deception, but would Midoriya, the H-e-r-o, use a young girl as bait?
He dashes towards her. He needs to extinguish her as soon as possible. Whatever she's doing, it's leaving him more vulnerable than he felt during all his earlier fights combined. It has to end.
The acid girl dashes to the side, using her acid to slide off. The hardening boy is way slower - and in the way. Overhaul grins maniacally when his hand touches his forehead and…
What?
(***)
Earlier
"Kirishima, even under the Quirk-Resistant state from Asa, I can't guarantee that…" Midoriya says. He just entered the compound, the warpgate is almost open, but he didn't finish narrating the plan.
"It's alright." Kirishima cuts in. "I'm the Sturdy Hero: Red Riot. Acting as a shield is my job. I'll do it." His job is to tank hits. He knows the risks.
(***)
Now
To Kirishima's great relief, though, it works. Chisaki fails to disassemble him or his quirk. Kirishima uses Overhaul's shock to grab his arms and pull them forward.
A second later Mina's maximum concentration acid fired from the side severs them right around the elbows. That's when Mina slides backward, while Sero's tape wraps around Kirishima's body, pulling him into another direction.
(***)
Shit. They did it to seal his quirk.
Overhaul realizes that a second before the area in front of him is opened up. Midoriya appears out of nowhere, shouting something akin to 'Faux 100%' and delivering a gut punch to Chisaki.
It was more than 100%. 50% of baseline + recently unlocked Fa Jin +Asa's Powerful status (he didn't show up to the battlefield, but Izuku had him touch him before his departure, so that Asa could deploy his status conditions through a phone) It might be closer to 200%, in fact.
Despite all the enhancements, despite no less than six - however malfunctioning - Shock Absorption quirks, Overhaul is sent flying backwards, together with pieces of the buildings around them.
(he doesn't even notice Midoriya's arm breaking under impact)
(***)
Earlier
"Jirou, you're there because your Heartbeat Wall is one of the few things I can think of to block or at least depower his attacks if Aiko fails to seal his Air Cannon." Midoriya continues narrating his plan, the warp is almost ready. "And to confirm our success. Shoji, you're going to go with Powerful to grab him and hold him in place. Once that's done, Asa will switch you into Fireproof remotely. Todoroki…"
"Yes?" Shoto asks. As emotionless as ever. Even after having heard what's the end goal of the plan.
"I know that I'm asking for a lot, but…" Midoriya tries to say, but is interrupted.
"I trust you." Todoroki announces. "You said that this is the only way. I'll do it." He can't say that he is particularly happy about it, though.
(***)
Now
Mezo Shoji uses his massive physique, physical augmentation from Rabbit, gimmicks of his own quirk and Yoarashi's wind assistance to catch flying Overhaul. He is pushed backwards by no less than twenty meters, but he manages to stop him.
As Midoriya foresaw, the impact of his attack restricted visibility. Aiko's quirk (whatever it is, Midoriya promised to tell them all afterwards, but…) stops holding Overhaul's powers in check. The Hyper-Regeneration kicks in, but it'll take him a moment to regrow his hands to use Overhaul and…
That's all that they need.
Chisaki has less than a second to react before Shoto Todoroki (who used his ice as propulsion)'s left hand is on the side of his head. He tries to switch the Shock Absorption quirks for the Fire Resistance ones, but he's too slow.
Then comes the fire. As much of it as possible, with a temperature as high as he can achieve.
Three seconds later Overhaul's head is gone, leaving behind nothing but a completely carbonized stump of a neck.
After what feels like an eternity, the Hyper-Regeneration - having almost reached the wrists - stops. A second later, Jirou announces with a trembling voice that Overhaul's heartbeat stopped, his body going limp in Shoji's arms.
(***)
Godhaul was extremely dangerous, but... too dangerous. As stated in this chapter, if given time to get used to his quirk, he would be basically undefeatable unless I'd pull some Deus ex Machina or whatnot. So, I've went this way. He burned brightly (no pun intended, okay maybe a little), but only for a moment. Also, kudos to Re-Destro for actually being decent enough to f_king help clean up his own mess. Even if he killed a lot of people in the process.
The Paranormal Liberation Front finally got its Kamino. Or, to be exact, it managed to achieve its goal for the Kamino Ward. As one can imagine, the resulting 'aftermath' chapters will be... impactful. And yes, they'll include the reveal of Aiko's quirk (in chapter 62).
Also, the line about children their parents but the later having the benefit of experience is actually quote from the actual Meta Liberation War book. Someone puzzled up the quote from the short snippets of the book we get when Endeavor reads the hidden message from Hawks, I saw a twitter post I think about it a while earlier. I've decided to add it together with what I believe to be the right context for it. Just for continuity nod I guess.