Ochako slammed into the ground, a cloud of dust erupting from the impact. The sound of battle had quieted at her sudden appearance, and she strode out of the cloud towards the villains. They opened fire upon her as she strode forward, the bullets bouncing or deflecting off her, the quirk attacks simply washing over her without touching her. She started to run, and the bullets and debris littering the ground around her rose up and were condensed into small balls.
She could see the fear in the eyes of the villains now, some turned to run, others turned desperate and threw explosives or poured even more firepower on her. Her lip twisted in disgust and the balls of condensed metal, stone, and concrete shot out. The attack punched through buildings and bodies alike, blood spurted all around her, and the building collapsed as screams erupted from inside. She paused as she ran past the collapsing buildings, looking to her left she saw the bodies of civilians crushed to death by the building she had destabilized with her attack. Deep inside herself, she felt distantly a sense of horror, revulsion, and the intense desire to die as well for what she had done. She squashed that weakness and continued forward, if the civilians didn't want to get hurt then they should have evacuated the city like the others. Only the complete and utter and destruction of her enemies, and the destruction of the league mattered. She would do anything to accomplish that goal.
She fought her way through more skirmishes in the now ruined streets of the once small town. Where she went, blood and death followed her like a shadow. Her allies cheered and rallied behind her, one of the six angels that had rebuffed Shigaraki and turned the tide of the entire war. She ignored them all, andjust continued her path of destruction. In time she came to the center of the conflict, where some of the last high-ranking members of the League had decided to make their final stand.
Spinner, now the League's leader, had proven to be an effective commander, his recent quirk awakening proving to be extremely powerful. He cut down soldiers and heroes alike, breathing noxious gas out of his mouth that he then ignited with his twin swords. She waded into the large cloud of green gas, her helmet filtering out the toxins. Spinner met her in the center of the cloud, twin blades shattering to pieces as they met her gravity armor. He had learned much of fighting since the war started though. He clashed the remnants of the sword together and created a spark. The cloud exploded into a roiling cloud of fiery destruction. Her gravity simply rebuffed it, the attack not even coming close to the level of power that Shigaraki had been able to unleash. There was quite literally, no one alive who could stand against her, save another angel. She basked in her power, staring Spinner straight in the eyes, and the gravity of the situation settled upon him. She brought her hands together as if she was crushing a ball or something similar in her hands and pushed inward with her quirk. For the brief moment, a mote of darkness formed between her hands, and all light around her went out.
The black hole began to suck everything in, and instead of letting it absorb, she simply let it collapse rather than close it safely herself. The mote of darkness had been no bigger than a small pebble. Yet even a black hole of that size, and existing for such a short amount of time had collected an enormous amount of energy. The black hole collapsed in on itself and the energy rippled outward. Spinner's body was torn apart like a sheet of paper through a sawdust machine. His body turned into a fine mist, the ground around her exploded outward and the battlefield became little more than a crater, with her at its center, eerily similar to the after-effects of Shigaraki's Decay.
She began to laugh, a high-pitched cold sound that sounded alien even to her. In the immediate vicinity, it was as if the matter had simply been scooped out. The farther out one went though, the fine destruction gave way to jagged and warped terrain. Bodies missing half of themselves were dotted about, others were simply bloody streaks across the ground, and at the furthest edges of the crater, more whole yet still horribly disfigured bodies were strewn haphazardly. Hero, villain, soldier, and civilian alike, none were spared from the indiscriminate attack.
She turned around then, after admiring her handy work and froze, the smile frozen on her face at what lay behind her. Her eyes widened, laying on the ground in front of her was a single body. Mostly intact it had but a single wound, a massive hole bored through the center of it. She staggered backward at the sight of the mangled corpse of Tsuyu. She turned around to flee and saw the rest of 1A. Their bodies were suddenly strewn about haphazardly all around her, each sporting very lethal wounds. Their blood rand down the sides of the crater to pool at her feet.
"Ochako..."
She fell backward, splashing into the ever-growing pool of blood.
"Ochako."
She brought put her hands to her chest, ready to materialize a small black hole right where her heart would be, assuming she still had one.
"OCHAKO!"
She awoke with a start, breathing heavily and sweat pouring off of her. She looked about wildly, half expecting the corpses of her friends to have risen up against her. Her vision came into focus and she saw the concerned faces of her friends around her. Tsu was was over her, with Mina and Momo behind her, with similar looks of worry on their faces, while everyone else stood slightly farther back. Then her memories of the past few hours rushed back to her, even as the nightmare faded from it. She felt herself being pulled into an embrace with Tsu, who stroked her hair. She clutched her friend and sobbed, her tears dampening both their clothes. Even when she couldn't anymore, she continued to tremble in Tsu's arms.
She had come so close to losing her, and she hadn't been there. The fear of losing Tsu was overpowering, the fear of losing anyone else terrified her beyond belief, but Tsu had become like an older sister to her. She was the closest thing she had to family now, and she didn't know if she could survive Tsu's death. Whether that death would be physical or psychological, she didn't know, but that terrified her as well.
When she had first come upon the seemingly lifeless body of Tsu, she had simply frozen up and stared at her. When Tsu started to breathe, and when she had opened her eyes, she had been able to do nothing but cry in relief. She even cried herself to sleep as Tsu stroked her hair and reassured her she was fine. The emotional and physical exhaustion of the day's events had crashed over all at once so her body shut itself down for her own good.
In time she managed to get control of herself. She slowly detached herself from Tsu and realized for the first time she was on the floor of the hospital room, right next to Tsu's bed. Tsu stood up and helped her to her feet. By this time everyone else had drifted away, leaving the two somewhat alone.
"You want to talk about it?" asked Tsu, as she guided Ochako to a nearby chair.
"No... just a nightmare brought on by the battle, and... you almost dying." Ochako said, putting her head in her hands and taking a few deep breaths.
"I... I don't know what I'll do if I lose anyone else. I feel I'm being held together by a hair, and I'm afraid of what will happen to me if that breaks. I'm not right, something inside me is broken, I can feel it. Dr. Minoru has done his best, and I'm definitely better for his help, but he can't fix it. I don't know what can. I'm just so scared..." She said, all but whispering by the end.
Tsu pulled her into another hug, and Ochako started to tremble again but didn't cry this time.
"I can't guarantee I won't get hurt. Zeus isn't an easy opponent, and what he did today he can probably do again if we don't stop him. Even if it means we might get hurt, or even die, we can't let that stop us from doing what is needed of us. We are All Might's legacy and we can't let that be in vain. People depend on us, look up to us, and just like All Might, we can't let them see our fear. Remember? "I smile to show the pressure of heroes and to trick the fear inside me." Recited Tsu from memory, it had become something for them all to live by.
"Even if by the end of all this, I were to die, I think you would survive. It would hurt for a long time, but you still have people who care about you, and I think that would be enough to save you." Finished Tsu, smiling now as she brought Ochako to arm's length and smiled.
Ochako blinked a few times, but eventually, she too smiled. Even as she shed a few final tears, she still smiled.
"What do preliminary reports indicate?" asked Nezu, even as he skimmed over numerous reports being sent to him, the H.A., the police, and the government.
"It could have been worse, we picked up on the jamming early enough and you managed to get the tower system online fast enough to prevent any really serious problems from emerging. The worst was the police station being almost taken over, but the QSU managed to secure the building quickly. Casualties are also lowered than expected, but we lost several heroes, at least two dozen police officers, and a handful of QSU operatives. Of course, we both know what the real problem is..." Said Tsukauchi over the conference call with several others.
"The blood samples..." Said Nezu grimly.
"Still no idea as to what they might be for?" asked Hawks.
"Nothing yet, but I've not had time to really think about it in detail." Said Nezu, massaging a temple.
"What about Eri?" asked Hawks.
"She's fine, a bit shook up but managing." Said Okimi.
"What about the hospital itself? Do we need to set up any more temporary treatment centers or pull in any additional medical personnel?" Asked Nezu, now starting to skim over preliminary hospital reports.
"We've managed to get things under control, a lot of the staff was around during the war so they managed to get the chaos under control very quickly. We no longer have anyone in critical condition and fortunately, the stream of people waiting for help has started decreasing by the hour." Said Okimi, clearly sounding tired.
"Well, that's one bit of good news at least." Said Tsukauchi.
"I've just received a report that we have managed to capture one of the key villains who took part in the attack. An old villain by the name of Fenrir was captured after a fight occurred between him and Bakugo Katsuki, The Hunter, and Mirko. The Hunter seems to have escaped after the fight, leaving the other three unconscious." Said Nezu, reading off of a recent report.
"He'll be an invaluable source of information if we can get him talking. I assume he's been sent to Tartarus?" Asked Tsukauchi.
"Yes, he has. He is still unconscious and is also in serious condition following his fight. He appears to have suffered severe trauma to the abdomen and significant blood loss from a knife wound. Bakugo Katsuki suffered intense blood loss, and Mirko has several cracked ribs and is missing an ear." Said Nezu, reading more of the report.
"If he knows where Zeus might be based out of, then we need to get that information. I'll talk to my superiors about what we can do." Said Tsukauchi, thoughtfully.
"Hawks, do you have anything new concerning our information leak?" Asked Nezu.
"I'm afraid not, the security commission has been working on that ever since the war began, but we've still made no progress on who or what is passing on information." Said Hawks, sounding uncharacteristically aggravated about the topic.
"It just doesn't make any sense how we've not gotten any leads on how it's happening." Said Tsukauchi, sighing.
"This spy or surveillance system has been a problem since before the war even began. It seemed to have stopped after Shigaraki's death, but once Zeus came into the picture it's likely that they started feeding information to him. Several ambushes in the city, especially the one that nearly resulted in Tsuyu Asui's death, indicate that this informant has fed Zeus a significant amount of information." Said Nezu, tapping one foot as he thought about it.
"I think it would be best if we started using the cipher again. We must bring down Zeus at all costs and this information leak could prove fatal to that objective." Said Nezu, after a few moments of thought.
Tsukauchi and Hawks agreed, and they signed off, leaving Nezu alone. Okimi seemed to have left the call at some point, though he wasn't surprised. Out of everyone, she was probably one of the busiest people in the city at the current moment.
Zeus reclined in his office chair looking over reports concerning the raid. Apart from the failure to retrieve Eri, things had gone very well. He'd managed to collect over two dozen blood samples, even if half of the supply turned out to be wasted in experiments, when things finally started falling into place he would acquire a great deal of financial and military assistance. Jackie was a genius when it came to biology, and they still had all the notes of Dr. Maeko.
For all the benefits her quirk of technomancy had granted her, it had undoubtedly also driven her a little crazy. Yet even in death, she continued to be of use, she had extensive notes concerning the future of the Hound Project and Jackie had managed to bring some of that future to life. Shame they had lost Hound Zero, they could really do with an ample supply of her blood right about now...
He shook his head, no use in bemoaning what he could no longer get back. As things stood, he had a decent amount of Hound Zero's blood in storage and a possible lead on duplicating more of it. So long as things panned out, he could produce a constant stream of Hounds. He might even be able to replicate Hound Zero itself. Though, that was something for a far distant future. He first had to make deals, and uphold promises, then his true offensive against the Japanese Government and the Hero Association could begin.
He checked a wall clock and frowned, his appointment was late. He disliked lateness in his employee's, when she arrived he would have to-
His thoughts were cut off when the door opened and a woman stepped into his office. He smiled, swung his boots off the table, and gestured for her to sit. As she sat, he examined her closely. This was technically his first time ever meeting her, it had taken a lot of digging and assumptions to come to a correct conclusion but eventually, his ingenuity had won out.
The woman looked to be in her mid-twenties, five and a half feet tall, short-cropped black hair, average-sized chest, and a particularly nasty acid burn scar running across her face and part of her scalp where no hair grew. Her fingernails were poorly maintained, her hair was greasy, and she had a poor complexion. It was clear she hadn't bothered to maintain herself in quite a while, though she did at least look healthy. Without the acid burn, and if she bothered to maintain herself more, she might even be considered beautiful.
"Well I must admit, I had some doubts that you actually existed. You were one of AFO's most well-kept secrets, a spy among spies. I once more extend my gratitude for agreeing to work with me." Said Zeus, smiling politely.
The woman who now had her arms crossed merely shrugged. "With AFO dead, you're my best bet at getting what I want. I believed Shigaraki would continue his master's work, but it eventually became clear he was a lunatic, hell-bent on destruction. By the time the war was ending, I cut my ties to him and thought I'd have to content myself with watching in contempt as "heroic" society continued to exist and even grow stronger from the war. But I must admit I was surprised as well to have you manage to track me down. I'm not easy to find when I put my mind to it." she said, staring at him with tired eyes. Only now did Zeus notice the bags under them.
"Well it was a great deal of luck really, I initially thought that AFO means of acquiring information was based on an elaborate biological-based surveillance system. Given his abilities, I didn't rule anything out. I didn't think a spy could remain unknown to the heroes for so long, but I expect AFO trained you in espionage?" Asked Zeus, raising one eyebrow.
"He did." She said shortly.
"Did he give you an additional quirk as well?" He asked.
"Only one, but it was so small that he said it would be extremely unlikely for me to develop any problems from it. So far, he's been right." She said with another shrug.
"Well, I think I can guess what that quirk does. Regardless, I wanted to reaffirm our deal. You continue with your espionage work, so as to help me with our shared interest in breaking down heroic society and the eventual take over of Japan. Given how precarious things are right now, one good push should do the trick." Zeus said, leaning back in his chair smiling.
"Sounds good to me, and to make good on my end, I have some information for you already." She said, now smirking herself.
"Oh? My information is already very good, so I expect something even better." He said, leaning forward with interest.
"Fenrir is still alive and in Tartarus. They transported him there, in as secret a fashion as possible, but I overheard the report." She said.
Zeus's smile faded at that. He had expected Fenrir to die in the attack, and while his information had nothing on that front yet, it was unwelcome news. Fenrir was dangerous, he had old contacts, and ways of contacting them that Zeus couldn't monitor. It was highly possible that he might know something vital. He needed to increase the guard detail surrounding the man's family, and instruct them to kill them should they be discovered. Should Fenrir's family die before the heroes could rescue them, he would refuse to help them out of spite, or so he hoped. At best he had managed to keep a hold on them, and Fenrir never had cause to reveal his information. At worst, the heroes would rescue them and Fenrir would tell them something vital. How vital it might turn out to be, he couldn't anticipate, but he'd prepare for the worst.
"I see... That is indeed some good information. You have my thanks, talk to my secretary for compensation for it. I don't believe in not rewarding good work or information. In the meantime, I think we're done here. I have a lot of work to do, and frankly, you need a bath and some care. Feel free to make use of our facilities before you go. I insist." He said, emphasizing the last bit.
The woman just scowled at him and got up to leave, closing the door behind her. Zeus glared at the door she had left out of as he chewed the inside of his lip. She would need watching, she would be in a prime position to betray him and he had no leverage he could bring to bear against her. More so than Fenrir, she was his current weakest link, and also his greatest asset.
