Ochako sat with her chin in her hands. She'd been waiting at Dr. Minoru's office for Tsu for the better part of an hour. Ochako just assumed she was busy with work or had to do something class-related. They had busy schedules, so it wasn't surprising. Her session had been about an hour and a half long, taking into account the wait time and it was closing in on three hours. The wait finally got to her and she opted to see if anyone else could come by and get her. The soonest bus wouldn't be close for another half an hour, factor in the stops it would inevitably make and she wouldn't get back for another hour and a half if she went by bus.
She tried calling Ashido and Kirishima, they had a vehicle that they had driven to Mufustafu, but they didn't pick up either. So she called Todoroki and Momo next, but when they didn't answer either, she started to get seriously annoyed. Did some kind of event happen while she was out like a light with Dr. Minoru? She doubted it, but with her list of friends who had a vehicle dwindling, she feared she might have to take the agonizingly slow bus.
"Ms. Uraraka?" came a voice from behind her.
Ochako turned around to see Dr. Minoru standing in the doorway to his office.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Oh, well Sara told me you were outside. Is something the matter?" he asked in turn.
"My friend Tsuyu didn't show up to pick me up. I thought something might have come up but after waiting an hour and calling a few times I'm starting to think something happened. None of my other friends will pick up either." She said, frowning herself now.
"Hmmm... Well, I'm closing the office for tonight, if you like Sara could take you home after dropping me off at mine." offered Dr. Minoru.
"I don't want to bother you two, I can just take the bus," she said.
"Nonsense, that would take at least an hour. I insist." Said Dr. Minoru firmly.
A few minutes later they were driving back into the city proper, Sara taking Dr. Minour to his home at the city limits, and then finally to Ochako's apartment.
"Thanks again for taking me home." Said Ochako to Sarah.
"It's not a problem, it's only a little ways off my regular route to my own apartment." Assured Sara.
"Speaking of home, have you been back to your parent's place in the countryside yet?" Asked Dr. Minoru.
"No, I know I should, I have to go through it all eventually. But it's just hard, finding the time. Everything is just so busy nowadays." Said Ochako, not entirely truthfully. While it was hard to find the time, she was sure she would be allowed time to get the will and the property all in order. The real reason was that she was afraid to go back, she didn't know what she would find, and she also didn't want to see her childhood home empty and forlorn.
"I see." was all Dr. Minoru said, but Ochako was sure he saw right through her thinly veiled excuse.
Ochako looked out the window and frowned. They had come out from around a bend and they had a good view of the city, but she could see smoke in the distance. Had a major fire broken out? Was that why everyone was busy? She rolled down the window to give the air a sniff when she heard a distant rumble. Her frown deepening, she listened carefully. She thought she heard another rumble but couldn't be sure over the noise of the car.
"Hey, stop the vehicle for a moment," she said.
Sara looked at her in the mirror, glanced at the city, and pulled over. Ochako got out of the vehicle and listened carefully without the noise of the car. She heard the rumble again, more clearly this time. It sounded familiar too, she concentrated on that familiarity and then it struck her.
"Artillery, it's the sound of artillery." She realized with a shock, and she knew of only one person who could make that noise.
"Bakugo's fighting." she realized. If there was smoke from the city and the sounds of repeated explosions from Bakugo sufficient to be heard from here, then things were bad. In a sudden burst, she propelled herself forward, layering as much gravity on herself as she was capable. She felt anger start to boil inside her, villains were undoubtedly behind this and she intended to see them suffer for this.
Bakugo dodged the shard of ice, passing so close he felt the wind whip past him as it blasted through a concrete wall behind him. He sent several blasts at Fenrir, strafing around him using the explosions from his feet to guide him. His suit had been designed to allow him to create explosions from his feet, he could only use it if he used his blood as a catalyst, but he'd learned how to deal with it.
The Hunter kept trying to get hits in, staying on the opposite side of Fenrir that Bakugo was attacking. So far though he'd only managed small cuts when they managed to remove enough of the ice armor for him to get a hit in. While Fenrir could move incredibly fast, it was only in one direction at a time so they tried to split his focus as much as possible. Diagonal, the sides, and from behind, so long as they didn't try a frontal assault they could keep up with his speed. Bakugo kept up the hellfire from the air, while The Hunter tried his best from the ground, using his superior mobility and athleticism to evade Fenrir's attacks.
Despite this, they lacked the power needed to get any definitive strikes in. Bakugo's blasts were strong enough to blast off the ice armor, but Fenrir was very experienced and he had managed to shield those areas from further blasts while he regrew his ice armor.
Bakugo suddenly ceased his bombardment and blasted towards Fenrir. He dodged the clawed hand that swiped at him, shot past Fenrir, and grabbed The Hunter. He carried him a ways off, putting some machinery between themselves and Fenrir.
"This isn't working, you got any gear or tech that might work on him?" Said Bakugo, panting as he caught his breath. Using his blood, while powerful exhausted him at an accelerated rate and this wasn't the first break he had needed to take. They couldn't evade Fenrir forever, his senses were too keen for that, but they could buy a minute.
"Nothing strong enough, if I had time I might have been able to come up with something, but this is the worst-case scenario for us." Said the Hunter, similarly tired.
"I got an idea, but it's only gonna work once. If we can't get some kind of decisive hit in then I think it's best we retreat." Said Bakugo, disliking the idea but recognizing how outmatched they were in this scenario.
"I'll make an opening, then I'll launch you into the opening. The added momentum might be enough to get a deep cut in." Said Bakugo.
The Hunter didn't get a chance to voice his opinion as a forklift suddenly fell from the sky. They jumped backward, barely avoiding the vehicle while Fenrir blasted a nearby wall apart in a shower of large ice shards.
They dodged the ice shards and then they were back to their original tactic for the time being.
Bakugo changed it up this time by sending a cascading wave of blood-infused flash bombs towards Fenrir. While it wouldn't buy them the opening they wanted, it would buy the time they needed. Bakugo blasted over to The Hunter and positioned himself behind him. He stretched his arms out from behind the Hunter, and then his gauntlets startedglowing a bright angry red.
"When I fire, jump with your feet facing me." Said Bakugo.
He funneled what stored sweat and blood he had left, leaving only a small amount left in his boots and as Fenrir turned towards them, he released the condensed blast. A variation of his Explosive Snipe, the twin shots looked more like lasers than explosions.
The twin blasts hit Fenrir full in the chest, sending him tumbling backward end over end until he arrested his momentum by digging his feet into the concrete. His clawed feet left deep furrows in the concrete as he fell to one knee after he stopped moving. Bakugo meanwhile had fallen to his back, lifting his feet to face Fenrir he slammed his feet into The Hunters, who had jumped with his feet facing Bakugo. Bakugo's feet slammed into The Hunters and the blast rocketed The Hunter right towards Fenrir's exposed chest.
There was a flash of silver and The Hunter hit and bounced off of Fenrir, causing the man to fall onto his back as The Hunter tumbled to the ground.
There was a lull, as Bakugo and The Hunter both got to their feet unsteadily. Pain racked Bakugo all over, but he started storing more blood.The Hunter raised both arms, swords at the ready but the arm holding his Wakizashi shook with the effort, it was obvious he had injured his arm.
Fenrir sat up slowly, and Bakugo grinned. On Fenrir's chest was a clear injury, twin slices that bled, and not insignificantly. The blood matted his fur and Fenrir grunted as he stood up again. Ice grew over the injury, but the damage had been done.
Bakugo was about to say something gloating when something white zipped past him from behind. Bakugo blinked as a white blur slammed into Fenrir, the giant once again being sent end over end. The Hunter dove out of the way, barely dodging the giant.
Bakugo focused on the newcomer and he felt the tension leave his body some.
"You boys seem to be having quite a bit of fun over here, mind if I tag in?" Said Mirko. Smirking as she looked back at Bakugo.
"Damn you look bad, that tough huh?" Said Mirko, her eyes narrowing slightly and her smile fading slightly as she took in his appearance.
"One of the toughest," said Bakugo, still in his ready stance, but much more confident in their chances now.
"Take a breather, both of you, I'll keep the big man entertained while you catch your breath." Said Mirko smiling again as she faced Fenrir, who was now clambering out of the rubble of a building that had partially collapsed on him.
Fenrir's eyes locked onto Mirko's then, and she felt every hair on her body stand on end. Her ears went straight, and she felt some instinct inside her tell her to bolt in the opposite direction. She immediately crouched down lower to the ground, not breaking eye contact. She shut down her rabbit instincts desire to flee, and instead tensed herself.
Fenrir seemed to have a similar reaction, he bared his massive wolf teeth, a growl escaping from his throat as he started to circle the rabbit hero as he slouched over. His hands almost touched the ground as he bared his claws at her and roared at her.
Fenrir circled her for a few moments more, then he roared again and dashed at her. The two collided, a massive clawed fist driving along the ground toward Mirko as she met it with a powerful kick. The sound of leg meeting fist echoed around them, Mirko pushed off the ground with her other foot and spun toward Fenrir, attempting to bring down a dropkick onto his head.
Fenrir met her in mid-air with his other fist, despite the force of Mirko's kick, she had no support in the air and his fist quickly sent her flying into the air. Mirko got her feet under her and she landed without issue, immediately pushing off and closing the distance. Fenrir tried to swipe at her with his left-hand claws, but she slid under the attack, dodging it by centimeters. As soon as she cleared the swipe, she kicked the ground and set a flying kick into Fenrir's chin.
Fenrir's head snapped back but managed to slap her out of the air, even as he tumbled backward. Mirko bounced off the ground and crashed through a wall.
Fenrir massaged his jaw, while the wall of the building Mirko had been slapped into exploded and Mirko flew toward him. He brought his arms together and blocked the attack, sliding backward but suffering no damage. Mirko used the blocked kick to push off of Fenrir's arms, landing on the ground and dashing toward Fenrir again.
Fenrir dashed forward as well, meeting Mirko halfway and trying to catch her with a lariat. Mirko ducked however and Fenrir zipped past her.
Fenrir slammed one hand into the ground and using it, pivoted sharply around to face Mirko who was still trying to arrest her movement and turn. Using the hand in the ground, he grew ice around it and then launched several shards of icetowards Mirko along with a chunk of concrete.
Mirko saw the attack coming and jumped in the air, kicking them apart into tiny pieces with a mid-air roundhouse kick. She landed on the ground and almost had her head taken off as a thin disc of razor-sharp ice spun over her head. While it didn't kill her, it did cut off half of one of her long ears.
Blood spurted out, the ears housing a host of blood vessels and nerves. Momentarily blinded by the pain and blood pouring down her face, she kicked off and sent herself backward while she recovered. One of Fenrir's giant clawed hands slammed into the ground where she had been a half-second earlier. Mirko blinked several times, pushing through the haze of pain that had momentarily overwhelmed her.
When her vision cleared, she saw Fenrir standing up, having just recovered from a small coughing fit. Before being injured by Bakugo and The Hunter, he had managed to keep up the breakneck pace without issue, but after taking that hit and numerous smaller hits his body wasn't holding up.
"If was in my thirties, or even fifties again these wounds wouldn't have been a problem." thought Fenrir, angry at his body's weakness.
Mirko bent over, getting ready to launch at Fenrir when there was an explosion and a red blast slammed into Fenrir's abdomen. Mirko pushed off from the ground and moved to close in on Fenrir when she saw some object embedded into Fenrir's Ice armor. Changing targets, she sent a flying kick into the object. There was a cracking noise and a small dribble of blood seeped from the shattered ice armor.
Fenrir staggered backward, a hand going out and grasping the wall of a building as he looked down at the knife now clearly sticking out of his abdomen. He tried to remove it, but he lacked fine motor control and his claws were too large to get a good grip on the small knife. It was probably for the best that he couldn't, removing it might just cause him to bleed out.
As things stood the wound wasn't lethal, at least not yet, but his body wasn't handling the injuries well.
"I really have gotten old..." Thought Fenrir.
He sank down onto his haunches and gave a wry grin even as he grimaced. He had to admit it was a well-executed attack. He had dismissed the other two after Mirko had shown up and taken up the fight herself.
He started to shrink in size, the outcome all but decided. He could have kept fighting, but they just had to play the waiting game and he would inevitably keel over from the knife wound. Better to surrender and survive, than fight and die. He wasn't in the circuit anymore and he had actually started to grow fond of his retired life. Though he supposed that was over now, he wasn't going to get out of his punishment at this point.
There was the sound of footsteps and Fenrir looked up at Mirko and he couldn't help but chuckle.
"I... Always wanted to fight you. If this turns out to be my last fight, then I suppose it wasn't all that bad. You got me, I surrender." He said, continuing to chuckle as he rest his head against the wall behind him.
"That was pretty damn fun, wish I could have fought you back at your prime." Said Mirko, looking quite deranged with a wide smile and blood covering her face.
"You and me both. I would have preferred something more private, more formal." Said Fenrir wistfully.
"So what did Zeus offer you to join up with him? I studied the files for everyone on the international wanted list and you never joined an organization after the circuit got closed down." She asked, curious. Fenrir was old, and it was strange to see someone like him suddenly abandon anonymity and risk arrest.
"What else? Hostages. I came to Japan decades ago, and I've made a small life for myself here. I got family I care about, and let me tell you, I was quite content living quietly alone in a countryside retirement community." Said Fenrir, with a huff.
"If he's got your family hostage we'll get them back." Said Mirko.
"I'd appreciate it," replied Fenrir.
It was then that Bakugo and The hunter approached Mirko and the now shrunken Fenrir. The Hunter supported Bakugo who had gone pale and weak all over from blood loss. The Hunter lowered him to the ground, where he sat, shaking lightly.
"Let me see your ear." Said The Hunter gesturing to Mirko.
Mirko shifted her body, starting to drop into a ready stance.
"Don't be an idiot, you're still bleeding from your ear and if I don't tie it off you'll wind up in the same shape as him." Snapped The Hunter, jerking his head towards Bakugo who just glared at him.
Mirko narrowed her eyes and also glared at him, but did relax.
Taking this as an invitation, The Hunter approached Mirko, pulling out a small compact tourniquet from a pocket. He quickly tied it around the base of the ear with the injury, ensuring she didn't bleed out.
"Now that's taken care of, I'll be taking my leave." Said The Hunter stepping back.
Mirko went to grab him but she heard several objects tinkle against the ground. She looked down just in time to see several capsules explode. Several exploded in flashes of light and sound, causing her to jack back in surprise. Then she inhaled something foul-smelling. She immediately started coughing, her enhanced senses overwhelming her. Back in the war, she had a helmet she often wore to prevent this, but it was stifling and she hated wearing it. When the war ended she hung up the helmet and just kept her combat suit, preferring a return to basics.
She felt herself slipping into unconsciousness as she collapsed to the ground, she looked around dazedly at the others and saw the others in similar situations. Bakugo was already passed out, and Fenrir was coughing weakly. She looked up and saw The Hunter dashing off.
"Dammit." she thought before passing out.
