Things went to hell, have what part of chapter 8 I have done

- X Snipe X-

It was Jesse "Snipe" Jeremiah's training regime that saved him from the first blow. Which was a damn bad sign, since he had created that regime to take down Nagant.

He whirled as the air displaced itself, a single dagger flying forwards and bouncing off the concrete where his spine had been. Where were they…?

"Sir," Snipe said into his mic, opening the filters of his gasmask and taking in a hissing breath of air while the telescopic lens zoomed in, "Got a cocky one."

"Do you need help?" Nezu asked.

"They're a cocky one, Boss," Snipe drawled, hand gripping his revolver, "odds are nine to one they're a first timer about to eat crow."

"And the last chance is that they're a hero killer."

"Yeah, well, I doubt it. There's no Killing Inte-"

The next dagger came then, clipping the corner of his head from behind faster than he had time to respond. Snipe whipped around, drawing his gun from his holster and letting his hackles, "I'm gonna have to call ya back once they're dealt with."

His hackles raised to maximum when he realized that Nezu wasn't responding, and he flicked off the safety, resting his hand on the outside of the trigger guard, he raised his voice, "Imma give you a chance, partner. Either get, or come out with your hands up. That way ain't nobody needs to get hurt, got that?"

Silence stretched, and Snipe started to think the person attacking him had actually run away, when-

There. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the man wearing a black cloak pull back his hand, another strange awl-like dagger in hand. Sliding his finger onto the trigger, Snipe locked onto the dagger.

That was the thing about his Quirk, he couldn't decide where he hit on something, but if you were holding something, you and that object still counted as two separate things, so he could nail it right out of your han-

Snipe's senses screamed at him, and he threw himself out of the way of another dagger. Christ alive, there was more than one.

Slowly, standing, he watched the group rise from each rooftop in a circle around him, men and women, massive and child sized and everything in between. Snipe reached for the emergency button every UA teacher held, only for a dagger to nail it out of his hand. Breathing in, Snipe resolved himself and snapped up the gun, holding the trigger and fanning the hammer.

He hit three, just three, before another person materialized from the shadows next to him and he was forced to whip out his combat knife. They caught it with their own dagger, and didn't flinch as Snipe leveled the gun at their head with his finger on the trigger.

"Last chance," the Number 25th hero in Japan snarled, dropping his signature drawl, "Back. Down. Or your friend gets it."

"Kill me," the one he was fighting, and Snipe was quietly worrying about how well she was stalemating him, said, "and the rest will deal with you."

Fanatics. Great.

"Sounds like you got roped up in a cult," Snipe said, "don't-"

"No," a giant of a man materialized, grabbing Snipe by the neck and ripping him away from the woman. Mask met mask before he was hoisted high above the man's head, letting him see the rest of the cult had vanished, "We're just one."

And then Snipe slammed into the rooftop like a freight train through a wall, gun and knife flying from his hand, and he mercifully blacked out.

- X Death Arms X-

"Excuse me, Mister?" Death Arms turned to the little girl he had sworn wasn't behind him a minute ago. Her white hair was done up in two heavy twin tails, and she was wearing an obviously expensive black dress. Parents confused him, sometimes.

"Give me a second, please," Death Arms smiled at her, he dropped his cigarette into the ash bin he had been standing next to, turning his head away from her and exhaling. He wasn't normally one to worry about second hand smoke, but he had got a reprimand from the HPSC last month for smoking in a no smoking zone and really didn't need another for doing it to a child. Crouching down, he said, "What's wrong?"

"I need you to come with me," the girl said, blinking up at him, "My friend needs your help."

"Well then," Death Arms stood up, stretching, "let's go, huh?"

The girl nodded quietly, turning and half running, half skipping towards an alley. Death Arms bit back a sigh, following her. He swore, if this was a prank or something for a. Autograph or something, he was gonna be tick-

Holy crap.

Leaning against the wall and a dumpster once they'd made two sharp turns was a young woman missing an arm and a leg, her head slumped down and her chest not moving.

"Outta the way," Death Arms said to the girl gently, rushing past her and towards the woman as the emergency care course of Shiketsu immediately sprang to the forefront of his mind. He leaned down, feeling for a pulse on the… hard skin of the…

"Unknown whereabouts," the girl suddenly started singing as Death Arms moved the Heteromorphic woman onto the ground. No heartbeat. He had to administer CPR, damn, he hoped this worked, "Fire-spouting dragons and cloud-breathing giants.

Illusions are silhouetted apparitions.

Adult conversations are, perhaps, full of lies."

"Can you stop!" Death Arms barked, louder then he meant to, only for the girl to continue.

"The truth lies within Professor Dodgson's head.

Aykroyd in celluloid.

Acrostic sadistic.

Everyone here is ordinary!

Birds are Birds and People are People!"

"I said-!" Death Arms barked as he gave a compression, only for a hand to latch onto his arm. Looking down, he watched the woman stretch and…

"Your name is now mine! (A Tale Just For Someone) Nursery Rhyme!"

The alleyway rippled, becoming a checkerboard hallway as the woman contorted, sliding out from under Death Arms hands and flipping towards the once dumpster, which had become a tea table. She grabbed a leg hidden under it with her one hand, snapping it into place and landing with a roll, grabbing the other arm and returning it to its place.

"Well done, Nursery," the woman said, pulling back her arm as several… somethings popped out of it, "focus on maintaining the Reality Marble, I'll deal with him."

"Oh, you will, will ya-" a kunai flashed by his cheek, leaving a hairline cut.

"Yes," she said, "I will."

- X Izuku X-

Izuku was in the middle of denying another request for new weapons systems (seriously, if he agreed to them all, they could use the Border to hold a small country hostage) when the drain of magical energy suddenly kicked into high gear. His Magic Circuits felt like they had ripped open, the mana dense atmosphere of the Border being drained as fast as it could to accommodate the drain of his body.

Izuku fumbled with his communicator, a red formalcraft circle appearing in it and he slapped it. The flow of energy was shifted towards the mana reactors of the Border, the Mage King's Grails and the Heart of each Tree of Emptiness, and off of him. Izuku took a shuttering gasp and leaned back in his chair, the fractals lines of his Magic Circuits slowly fading.

"Are you alright?" Izuku's eyes jumped open, and he met Circe's eyes. The Queen of Witches was standing with a wrapped up package over one shoulder, and Izuku offered her a smile.

"Just a surprise," Izuku said in greek, rubbing his chest. Note to self, get a familiar so he could check into what caused things like this, "Saw you wanted to add a couple of bombardment type spells to the Border.

"And I saw you denied it," Circe huffed, walking forwards on her high heeled sandals. Izuku rolled his eyes good naturedly.

"We don't need a spell to glass half an island," Izuku said, before nodding to the package, "What's that?"

"Izuku," Circe stared at him, eyes flat and face deadpanned, "We've got into so many problems that we literally could have used that in. A gift from the Casters, it took a while to make."

Izuku hesitated as she thunked down the package, before reaching out and undoing the binds. Pulling it open, Izuku stared at the lacquered staff within.

It had been carved from a golden wood, and was as long as Izuku was tall. Incantations were carved into it in over a dozen different languages, with Izuku recognizing greek, french, russian and japanese. At the top of it was a head of golden metal, made in the shape of a spider. Slowly, Izuku lifted it, noticing immediately that it was incredibly bottom heavy. Not physically, it was nearly completely even that way… but conceptually, spiritually, magically. Reaching down, Izuku found a seam and carefully tugged on the wood below it, the blade separating from the wood with a loud hiss and leaving a long cane in its place.

It was about the length of a wakizashi, but straight like the tanto he had practiced with when Shiki had been with them. The metal seemed to paradoxically drink in light and glow at the same time and it was both perfectly balanced and incredibly heavy to Izuku's frame.

"Do I want to know what this sword is made from?" Izuku asked softly, swinging it once away from his terminal and listening to it sing. Norse runes glowed along the blade, the air heating and shimmering along the path of the blade.

"Probably not," Circe chirped, smiling at him like the cat that caught the canary, "You'll probably have a panic attack about wasting resources. But we used the broken blades of the Spiritfuge. Don't want that to go down to the idiot Gut."

"Thanks," Izuku said, whirling the blade into a reverse grip and returning it to the staff.

"It acts as a focus and enhancer for your fire," Circle, "and before you ask if I mean the staff or the blade, yes."

Izuku nodded, glancing at the request to watch an anime with Jeanne Alter (and confirming it) Izuku then glanced at the door before using the staff to stand, making his way towards the Queen of Witches… and pulling her into a hug. She tensed for a second in surprise, before Izuku spoke, "You all are the best family a guy could ask for, you know that right? And now, with Mom here… it's complete."

"...I want you to promise me something, Piglet."

"If I can do it," Izuku said, "...and if it isn't that I'll authorize those spells."

Circe laughed for a second, before continuing, "Don't… don't do anything that will leave you like that again. You're… important, to Chaldea, to me. We… you're… we just got out of that stupid blank texture and we can do anything, go anywhere. I don't want to miss that with you."

"If that's what you want," Izuku said, "I'll try-"

"No," Circe said, her wings tightening around Izuku, "Not "You'll try" say "I won't, no matter what… mistress.""

"I won't, no matter what, mistress," Izuku parroted back diligently. And Circe locked up, burying her face in his chest.

"I didn't expect you to actually say the last part," she admitted softly.

"It's what you wanted me to say," Izuku said.

"So you'd say anything if I asked you to?"

"Unless it was really mea-"

"Tell me you care about me."

"Of course I care about you," Izuku said without missing a beat.

"Good," Circe said, tightening the hug and-

"Master," leaping back as Asclepius growled, stalking into the room with a pair of Nemo Marines behind him, one holding a plate of mashed potatoes and some water, while the other was pushing a wheelchair, "I do believe I told you that after you saw your mother, you were staying in a chair until you recovered."

Izuku's pulse quickened, and he swallowed. There was gonna be no reasoning with Asclepius on this one, he could tell.

"Circe?"

"I need to go talk to Anastasia about… ah, things," Circe said as Asclepius prepared a strap, "This was a good talk, we should go out onto the beach at some point, bye!"

"Circe!" Izuku called as she flew from the room, literally. Leaving him to the not so tender mercy of Asclepius.

"In the chair," he ordered.

"I-"

"Now, Izuku!"

-X Danzo X-

Danzo rushed towards Death Arms, kicking off the wall of the Reality Marble and using it to gain height on him. As he lashed out with his right arm, she span in air, grabbing him by the wrist and yanking it behind him, driving her knee into his spine and slammed them both into the ground, "Nursery Rhyme! Do it."

"Using a kid, huh?" Death Arms growled, slamming his other hand against the ground and starting to push himself up, "That's low, even for a villain."

"It's not personal," she said, before pausing, "well, I suppose that depends on the definition. We're doing this for a friend. Stop struggling, you'll be unharmed."

"Oh, sure," Death Arms pushed himself up further, and Danzo launched her other arm at him on a chain, dragging both arms behind his back and slamming him into the ground again, "No harm whatsoev-"

Nursery Rhyme planted her hands on either side of his head, singing quietly to herself… and then stopping as he stopped moving and collapsed.

"What?"

"I don't know what James made the story like," Nursery Rhyme said, "We'll have to drop the spell and ask him."

Danzo nodded, and Nursery Rhyme did exactly that, "James?"

"I figured you would call us," James said, "I didn't get a chance to lay out the details before everyone left. Listen carefully, we don't want any inconsistency that can't be blamed on adrenaline."

"You don't need to worry about your own Pro Hero?"

"From what I've seen," James said, "Eraserhead doesn't leave until late at night. We'll likely be the last to deal with our target."

"I don't know about that," Kotarou said, "Mt. Lady has only been in places full of people. I'm probably going to have to ambush her at her house."

- X Kintoki X-

Kintoki walked into the office of the Border, his normal grin gone as he did. Izuku was sitting at the desk, tapping his fingers and looking trapped, "Hey, Master."

"If this is about what happened earlier," Izuku said, "I was just about to call you about it myself. I wasn't around. Want a light?"

"Sure," Kintoki held out the cigarette, and Izuku lit it quickly, letting him sit down, "thanks. So?"

"...I'm not happy with Mother," Izuku said, "I know it's not her fault, but…"

"She still attacked your mom, I know," Kintoki said, "that ain't golden."

"Yeah," Izuku said.

"Then you'll understand I wanna deck Gawain next time I see him, right?" Kintoki continued without changing his tone.

"Yeah," Izuku repeated without missing a beat, "I get that."

"...So, what are we doing?"

"I'm still thinking about it," Izuku said, running a hand through his hair and pulling out a bubblegum cigarette to chew on, unwrapping the thing and stopping, "keep this under the record? Asclepius will probably go ballistic if he finds out I was chewing on one of these."

"Yeah, sure," Kintoki nodded, "so, you're thinking about it? What's going through your head, Master? I know ya, that's the most golden thing you've got."

"...I'm gonna resummon her once I get out of this dang chair," Izuku said, popping the white stick into his mouth and beginning to chew, "I want you there."

"You sure?"

"You know Raikou better than anyone," Izuku said, and Kintoki winced at the use of her real name. Izuku was angrier than he was admitting, "If anyone can help me talk her through this, it's you."

"And if we can't get through to her?" Kintoki asked.

"That's what I'm still trying to think of," Izuku said, "I… I don't know. There's no easy answer. We could try class changing her, I guess, but that's still not an easy answer. We'd need to find a class close enough to how she acts as a Berserker where I don't feel like I'm just killing her and replacing her with a different Servant, while also being sane enough to-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Kintoki said, growing unusually serious, "If we gotta choose between the two… take the first one."

"But-"

"Boss… hates being the way she is," Kintoki said, "we both know that. She's… she was ready to give up if it weren't for you and me. And she wouldn't have ever wanted to hurt someone like your mom when she was alive. If we can save her, even if it technically is killin' this version of her or whatever… then let's save her. You and me, bro."

Izuku stared at Kintoki for a long second, before holding out his hand, fingers up, and grinning, "That sounds golden."

"Atta boy," Kintoki said, grabbing Izuku's hand and gripping it tightly.

Well, as tightly as he could without destroying it. Izuku already had to deal with his leg like that, he didn't need his arm like it too.