"I think they are moving away from us," Shinso said.
"I agree, they must be pressing their advantage," Tokoyami said, who was now walking unassisted if not slowly.
The sounds of combat from their friends started moving away from them, further into the complex.
"I don't know how long I've been imprisoned... is the war still happening...?" Toru asked slowly.
"No, we won the war. Zeus took over the league's remnants after Shigaraki was taken out. He's been a pain as of late, but if all goes well, then we'll take him down tonight." Shinso said.
"You're... not being honest... I can tell..." Toru said tiredly.
Shinso grimaced.
"We lost most of our company getting this far. Originally we planned on having them holding our retreat open for us while he engaged Zeus, but now I don't know how we will manage. There was also a second group with us, but we got separated. I don't know if they can even reach Zeus from the route they were forced down." Shinso said.
"Then... they need all the help... they can get..." Toru said.
"You aren't going to help anyone in the state you are in, we'll get you to the area where we got off. When we deactivate the barrier barring our way out we'll get you the help you need." Shinso said.
"Not me... Tokoyami," she said.
"I'm feeling stronger by the moment. My muscles aren't in good shape, but Dark Shadow will thrive in this environment so I won't need to contribute much. I can go on ahead and help the others." Tokoyami said, stretching his arms a little.
"If you're sure you're okay, then I won't stop you. Dark Shadow will be of great help." Shinso said nodding.
With that, Dark Shadow lowered the hand holding Toru to the ground. They heard some shuffling and then Dark Shadow re-absorbed his hand, then wrapped himself around Tokoyami.
"Good luck and Toru, it's good to have you back," Tokoyami said before Dark Shadow flew down the hallway like a wraith.
"Where are you?" Shinso asked, getting down on his knees and holding his hands out.
"I'm here," Toru said, grabbing his hand.
He was surprised to feel her hand was stronger than he expected, at the very least they hadn't starved her to the point she was skin and bones.
He crept his hand along her arm until he managed to wrap one arm around her and he pulled her upright, one arm of hers over his shoulder as they started making slow progress down the hallway.
They had been walking for about a minute before Toru finally spoke.
"When I was younger, I had a lot of problems. My parents were killed in an accident, and I had many problems stemming from that. Eventually, I was taken in by a man and he helped me turn my life around. He thought I could do some good as a hero so I tried to go to U.A. I didn't think I could accomplish anything, my quirk wasn't very strong or that useful, but I wanted to live up to his expectations. After I got into U.A... well you know the rest. But that cheerfulness was a front, and I've wanted to say something to everyone for a long time..." She said, trailing off at the end.
To Shinso's surprise, she seemed to rally herself and her speech grew stronger the more she talked.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I'm a fucking good actor." She said flatly and without the weakness, she had had earlier.
His whole brain came to a halt, he opened his mouth to say something but was suddenly pushed to the side and he felt a jerk at his thigh.
He hit the wall and turned toward Toru and he saw in the dim light of the emergency lights of the hallway a flash of steel. He felt his throat slit open and he clamped a hand to his throat in panic. He slid to the floor as strength started to leave him as fast as the blood gushed out of his open throat.
Then there was a shimmer in the air and Toru's physical form manifested itself in front of him. She had long disheveled hair, sunken eyes, and a pale complexion. Half of her head was riddled with acid scars, stretching from the top of her head down to her neck and covering most of her face. A hideous visage accentuated by general unkemptness. Her complete nudity didn't help matters.
"I've been wondering what kind of face you lot would make when I finally revealed myself. All those years spent undercover... I won't lie, I had some fun once in a while." she said crouching down in front of him and getting close to his face.
"But I always hated you all, you and all heroes with their damned hypocrisy. It feels fucking amazing not to pretend anymore. Oh, and by the way, that man who took me in? That was All For One, the man you "heroes" murdered." she said, a wicked smile forming on her face yet he saw the burning rage in her eyes.
"Goodbye Shinso, enjoy dying alone and in the dark. Don't worry though, I'll be sending Mina to join you next. I owe her one for my face." she said, giving him a small wave before vanishing.
He lay up against the wall, and he replaced his hand with his scarf. Putting as much pressure as he could on the wound without strangling himself. As the seconds ticked by and his strength failed, all he could do was sit and pray someone found him before it was too late.
"IT'S LIKE A FUCKING ZOMBIE MOVIE!" Cried out Kirishima, punching the head off of another reanimated corpse.
The corpse, as if being manipulated by invisible strings like some kind of grotesque marionette, was unfazed by its head being removed and jerkily pulled the pin on a grenade. The explosion and shrapnel washed over Kirishima who started coughing.
They'd first been engaged by a crack team of mercenaries, they'd nailed Momo in the leg, then Todoroki had his left hand torn up by a razor wire quirk. They'd eventually wiped them out, but then the bodies just got back up and started using their weapons. They'd started to push the zombies back, but then reinforcements arrived, and they'd been fighting continually since. Slowly they started to force their way forward, Todoroki had to burn the corpses as they passed since Mina couldn't use her acid without the fumes killing them all.
"I KINDA LIKE IT, BUT ALSO I REALLY REALLY HATE IT!" Mina yelled in response as she shot small jets of acid down the corridor.
"FOCUS!" Bakugo yelled, firing another series of blasts down the corridor. The closest body was blown to pieces and a few behind it lost limbs.
Progress had been slow for another reason though, they were all trying to conserve energy for the fight with Zeus. Bakugo especially, who, apart from Todoroki, packed the biggest punch.
"We have to get through them and to the person controlling the bodies!" Momo shouted, firing a few rounds down the corridor at one of the living mercenaries crouched behind a corner.
"Well, how are we supposed to do that without Todoroki or Bakugo exhausting themselves!" Kirishima yelled back.
"It might be slow, but we are making progress!" Kirishima shouted.
"OUT OF THE WAY!" Came a familiar voice from behind them.
By habit, they all moved out of the center line of the hallway. Dark Shadow rushed passed them, tearing living corpses to pieces before being stonewalled by a bright light from the end of the passage. Dark Shadow shrank back, before retreating to Tokoyami. They saw a large orb of light, shining like a spotlight at the end of the hallway. Momo fired a few rounds at it, but nothing happened.
"Tokoyami! You okay?" Kirishima yelled over the renewed sounds of gunfire and quirks being thrown both ways down the hallway.
"A bit sore and weak, but more than strong enough for combat! Shinso sent me ahead, he should be along shortly, he's helping Toru get to the exit!" He shouted, using what he could of dark shadow to block projectiles.
"What?!" Several of them said at once.
"Toru has been imprisoned here since the war, she is very weak, but she is alive!" Tokoyami shouted, a smile coming to him.
He saw similar smiles form on the faces of everyone else as well, Even Bakugo had a smirk on his face as he fired down the corridor with renewed vigor. The news seemed to energize the group and with renewed energy, they pushed down the corridor, Kirishima tanking what he could and dodging what he couldn't. As they got further down the corridor and closer to the end of the hallway which split into two more hallways heading left and right, a shaggy furred, huge tusked form barreled from around the corner and collided with Kirishima.
Kirishima grabbed the form by the tusks at the last moment and hardening to its maximum slowed its charge until it was uselessly pushing against the ground in an attempt to move Kirishima. With little maneuvering room, Kirishima brought his head back and slammed it into the creature. It howled in rage and a black maw opened and sent a chilling blast of cold into Kirishima's face. Then tusks grew from its side and tried to impale Kirishima whose head was covered in a layer of ice.
Todoroki blasted himself behind Kirishima and slammed his bloody palm onto the creature's face and sent a point-blank blast of fire at it. To his surprise, the shaggy creature burst into fire, as if its fur had been soaked in gasoline. He grabbed Kirishima and drew back as the creature howled in rage. He broke the ice encasing Kirishima's head and he gasped as he could once more breathe.
Despite being on fire, all it seemed to do was enrage the creature and charged at them again, growing more tusks out of its body. It took the combined efforts of Todoroki and Kirishima to slow its charge this time and to hold it back from the others. The rest of the group started attacking the creature with wild abandon. Yet the creature held on, an incredibly durable foe.
Mina was at the back of the group, just behind Momo, and fired jets of acid at the creature but her acid exploded upon reaching its burning coat. She pouted inwardly and holstered her acid gun, instead opting to use her trusty P90 that she always took with her on military operations.
She fired several rounds at the creature, a few bullets pinged off of Kirishima's hair but she otherwise landed her shots. Not that they seemed to do anything but annoy it further.
"Not much use right now are you?" Came a voice from behind her.
Reacting on pure instinct she spun round while pushing herself forward. When she found no one behind her she faltered, then she saw a flash of orange, firelight reflecting off of a metal object as it came at her. She dodged it by a hairsbreadth, but then felt someone grab one of her horns and yank her forward. Caught off guard, the knife stabbed into her abdomen penetrating deep into her body. She gasped in pain, and then the knife was yanked out roughly. She saw the knife brought up toward her face and she lurched backward, pulling her attacker off balance since they were still holding her horn.
"Behind us!" she barely yelled out through the intense pain, warning the others of the danger.
Momo being the closest spun round and fired blindly down the hallway, while Tokoyami also spun round. The spikes from Momo's gauss rifle shot down the corridor and they heard a grunt from nearby but no one was to be seen.
While Tokoyami and Momo faltered in confusion, they heard a voice come to them from the air.
"As much as I hate you all, I'm not stupid enough to fight all of you at once. Can't say the same for Shinso, he should have bled out by now." said the voice before fading into the darkness of the corridor with a giggle.
Mina slid to the floor, starting to feel dizzy. She had no idea what was happening anymore, the sounds of her friends fighting the beast echoed around her, and gunshots from Momo's gauss rifle rang out. Everything was blurring together in her mind.
"Mina!" Momo said, coming to her side.
Momo rolled her onto her back and pulled the hands away from the wound.
"Oh god..." she whispered going pale.
"END THIS NOW BAKUGO!" Momo screamed desperately.
Bakugo heard the scream and knew something had gone very wrong judging by the desperation in her voice, throwing all caution to the winds. He burst forward, pulling Todoroki and Kirishima away from the beast, then pointing both palms towards it he let loose a blood-infused blast. The creature was summarily blown into pieces and he fired another one down the corridor for good measure. The explosion washed around the corner and roasted the few remaining mercenaries hiding behind it.
As the explosion sound started to die away there was a massive rumble above them. Bakugo looked up and saw the ceiling starting to collapse. Before he could try and dodge, a slab of ice slammed into him and he was sent down the corridor, just in time to avoid part of the hallway collapsing right where he had been standing. The collapse crushed the ice and the Bakugo started to cough from the dust that was thrown down the corridor. When he had gotten his breath back, he jerked upright and ran to the collapse, looking for any way to get back but it was well and truly sealed off.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING!" He shouted. Hoping his voice would get through, he wasn't sure how large a collapse it was.
There was a pause and he heard the faint voice of Todoroki from the other side.
"MINA'S BEEN INJURED, SOMEONE INVISIBLE AMBUSHED HER FROM BEHIND. MOMO IS DOING WHAT SHE CAN. WHAT ABOUT YOU?" Todoroki yelled back.
"I'M FINE, BUT GETTING THROUGH HIS COLLAPSE IS GOING TO TAKE A WHILE. WE CAN'T RISK ANYTHING HIGH YIELD WITHOUT FURTHER RISK OF COLLAPSE!" Bakugo yelled.
There was a pause as the two of them both tried to think through the problem.
"I'LL GO ON AHEAD WITHOUT YOU, ZEUS SHOULDN'T BE FAR. I WON'T ENGAGE HIM BUT I'LL SEE IF I CAN'T LINK UP WITH THE SECOND GROUP!" Bakugo shouted.
"ALL RIGHT, STAY SAFE AND DO ANYTHING RASH!" Todoroki shouted.
Bakugo just rolled his eyes and started down the corridor.
"Help me get her to one of the side rooms, I need a table and ideally a light," Momo said, collecting herself after the collapse.
Tokoyami and Todoroki ran to a nearby room where they started clearing things.
"Kirishima, help me move her." Momo barked.
Kirishima who had gone pale and was obviously in shock mechanically followed her orders. Together they carried Mina into the nearby room where an office desk had been cleared of everything.
Then Todoroki hit the light switch for the room and the lights flickered on, temporarily blinding them all.
Momo immediately started making all the tools she would need, medical equipment sprouted from her arms and she deposited them on another nearby desk that the others had dragged to her. Her medical knowledge was limited, but she had made sure she had a firm grounding in battlefield medicine and emergency surgeries. She took a few steadying breaths, then she got to work. The wound has a simple stab wound, in a bad location. A stab wound and regular bullet wounds she could manage, she would not let Mina die, not so long as she could do something about it.
Bakugo walked down the corridor, taking to make as little noise as possible. The corridor was lined with doors, and as he poked his head into a few he found nothing but what appeared to be abandoned administration offices. As he reached the end of the corridor he found an office labeled,
'ZEUS'
He opened the door to find it similarly abandoned, a computer monitor was visible on the desk, but no tower to pair with it. He opened a few drawers but couldn't find anything of use. He was about to head back to the corridor when he heard footsteps echoing down the corridor.
He went to the door and listened as several booted feet ran past the door. He gave it a few seconds then silently opened the door and looked back down the corridor. Halfway down the corridor, a group of mercenaries was moving quickly and almost to the corner leading the collapse.
Smirking, he raised both hands and let loose a series of rapid-fire shots. The attack tore into them blowing chunks out several and reducing the closest to pieces. He kept the attack up until the corpses were in pieces so they couldn't be manipulated in death by whoever it was.
Throwing caution to the wind now that they knew he was there, he blasted around the corner throwing a flash explosion as he did. As he came round the corner he saw two mercenaries sprinting down the corridor at the far end. They skidded to a stop at the sight of Bakugo and glanced backward before pulling knives and running at him.
One of them shot neon green gas at him while the other manifested purple leaves. Bakugo launched a chaining explosion down the hallway which promptly blew them into pieces. As he sped past the bodies, he slowed as he reached the T-junction.
"What were they running from?" he thought, recalling them glancing back behind them as if weighing their options.
He poked his head into the junction and saw nothing, just more abandoned hallways. Keeping a wary eye out for any sort of ambush he headed right, as he suspected left would take him in the opposite direction he needed to go.
He was right to trust his instinct as he came to a set of large doors, the largest outside of the doors used to move the larger hound specimens on the lower levels. They were also more ornate, and a plaque next to them read,
'Assembly Hall'
"Zeus..." he whispered under his breath.
Just then, there was a click of a lock and the doors swung open of their own accord.
