In the end, the 'meet the fleeing heroes' group was composed of Hawks' Quirk Suppression Squad, Defiant, Singularity, Gargoyle and Pinky for combat, and Earworm for additional early warning. Plus a patrol of normal police officers from the nearby precinct.
They also deployed a handful of Alchemist' reconnaissance drones over the general area. Just to be one hundred percent safe.
Sure, the majority of Overhaul's forces were down for the count. Defiant suspected that his ability to resurrect people was somehow limited when they actually died. Not limited as in 'he can't do that', but limited as in 'it takes the resurrected person a while to get operational'.
There was no direct proof, but the fact that Overhaul didn't redeploy Dabi, Mustard and perhaps Carnage (Beast back then) during their fight in Aldera was telling. If he did so, then Goto Imasuji alone would probably be enough to wipe out both the SAT unit and the heroes present at the scene.
The meeting area was next to a highway connecting Shizuoka with Musutafu (or, to be exact, Shizuoka the city with Takoba the city). Some rest spots for the drivers, with a small convenience store that was now closed (it was night). The few drivers that were there, including one or two trucks, were gently told by the police officers to move elsewhere.
No one arrived to fill the gaps, mostly because the police officers were blocking the entrance. Told to only let in the cars with the right register number. They had no idea what it was about, but the presence of the local SAT unit and direct orders from two assistant commissioners made them realize that it was something serious. That they really shouldn't ask about.
Izuku was getting impatient. The Shizuoka remnants were a bit late. Ten minutes, actually. Principal Sasaki called them earlier to tell them that the group was slightly delayed, but everything was going as planned. That's when Eclipse popped up.
She is wearing her hero outfit. It's not much, just a black bodysuit with some utility belt and dark yellow decorations. Then again, her quirk is unique enough that it's really hard to find a way of influencing it with items.
"I'm back." She says. "Poltergeist's safe." So, they got Reiko Yanagi out. Izuku looked forward to getting to meet a fellow telekinesis user, even if his was clearly an order of magnitude stronger. At least judging from the descriptions.
Izuku isn't sure if he likes her slightly shaken voice. It's not shaken enough for Hawks to notice that something was wrong, but Izuku knows immediately. He knows her enough.
"What happened?" He realizes immediately that something did happen. The only question is what.
Hawks' men and women are spread around a bit. The superheroes and Hawks himself are partially hidden from the eyes of the police officers guarding the entrance to the area by the convenience store. This gives them some privacy.
"Shie Hasseikai was there." Eclipse replies. Izuku can hear Hawks' clicking his tongue in irritation. "We had a very serious fight with Carnage and ten of Overhaul's elites."
"Did someone…" Izuku speaks first, but Eclipse doesn't let him finish.
"Hijack was shot." She replies. "Looked pretty nasty and went through his uniform but Rewind fixed that already. But it was close. Very damn close. If Split didn't kick a grenade out of the Poltergeist's room in time, we'd have a total party wipe."
Shit. So much about having Eri help them in the field. They are certainly not risking that again. Then again, it was a bit of a special situation.
Also it looks like he owes Setsuna. A lot.
"And the enemy?" Hawks is mostly concerned by that.
"Praetorians dead." Eclipse replies. "Blackwing and Split wiped them out. That grenade throw was their last-ditch effort of killing Poltergeist. Carnage almost killed Blackwing, but I cut his arm off before he managed to land a punch. We all fled before he attacked again." She sighs. "And now I goddamn hate myself for it. We could have taken him down! But I freaked out and escaped with Blackwing instead of pushing forward."
She has a point. Izuku isn't sure how to answer this, but Hawks does that for him.
"Do you want me to tell you a very funny story, Eclipse?" He says. Eclipse's head perks up. Izuku himself wonders what this is about. "During the American War for Independence, the Americans ambushed a large British force and wiped it out. When they searched the corpse of its commander, they found a letter warning him of that very ambush. In his pocket. It was unopened."
"Really?" Mieko asks. Izuku still has no idea what it is about.
"Yes, some local sympathizer gave it to him, and he either forgot to open it or left it for later." Hawks replies. "There was also a battle in the Balkans where one side lost ten thousand soldiers in combat before encountering the enemy. Because some soldiers got drunk, misidentified other soldiers and started a lengthy battle between two parts of the same army. Not to mention the glorious clusterfuck of the Pig Bay landing, when Americans lost some bombers because they and fighters were from different airbases and someone forgot about timezone differences between them. So the fighters and bombers arrived at the meeting site an hour apart, and bombers had to fly without an escort."
Hawks sighs loudly.
"So let me share with you a very important lesson taken from those incidents." The police officer says. "The wars aren't won by the side that created a perfect plan and executed it flawlessly, surprising the other side completely. In anime, maybe. But in real life, wars are won by the side that fucked everything up to a slightly lesser degree." Oh, so that's what he was about. Well, Izuku agrees with Hawks. If only because the man is clearly way more experienced when fuck-ups and wars are involved. "The whole point is to learn what you can from what you did wrong, and perform better next time."
"I guess." Eclipse takes a deep breath. "Well, at least everyone is safe now, right?"
"Yeah." Hawks replies. "And just for the record, if you stayed, things would probably get nasty. Even with Carnage out of commission." Now everyone is looking at him. The masks conceal their faces, but the confusion is obvious. "Look, Mustard is unaccounted for after the battle. Wanna bet that Overhaul sent him on foot after Carnage, telling him to threaten you with gassing the hospital if you don't surrender to him? In case Carnage would find his match?"
"Oh, shit." Eclipse is the first person to be able to say anything. "I didn't think about it."
Izuku didn't think about it either. And that's a problem. It was extremely in character for Overhaul. Especially with how much he was looking down on heroes. Threatening them with murder of civilians and then probably murdering them either way once heroes surrendered sounded like something he would do. And enjoy.
"Yeah." Hawks replies. "So the only real fuck-up is the fact that you didn't warp in the rest of the heroes, but that's mostly because they were all either in Aldera or here. And you wouldn't make it in time to open two warpgates." He shrugs. "So seriously, don't feel down about that. You kids did fine."
"I think you're right." Eclipse says after a few seconds of digesting it. Hawks gives her a thumbs-up gesture. "Thank you."
"No problem, pep talk is a crucial skill of a team leader." Hawks replies. If Izuku's past experience with him is any indication, he loaded a lot of attribute points into Charisma. So he was naturally good at it. "Also, for the record. How the hell did two heroes slaughter ten of Overhaul's elites?"
An extremely logical question to ask. The Quirk Suppression Squad needs to know stuff like that. To better tailor their tactics and equipment for future encounters.
"They broke the lights on the floor, letting Blackwing fight with full-strength." Eclipse replies. "He ambushed the team from behind, killing four of them before they chased him away with flashbangs. But it was part of Split's plan. While he was distracting them, she sneaked her eye and fingers next to one of them and tore pins off several of the grenades that he was carrying. Then Blackwing tore through those that were left."
Ouch. Seriously, ouch. But the plan itself was brilliant. It looked like Split went through her own trial by fire, and the results were positive. She was going to be a brilliant hero - of course, if her first contact with villains didn't scare her off from the business.
Overhaul being able to resurrect his fallen was a boon to heroes as well, in a way. Killing people that you knew were going to come back to life was one way to acclimatize yourself with fighting to death. In a way, Chisaki helped heroes harden themselves. And they needed to be very, very hard to survive what was coming.
It also made his goons way too generous with their lives. They had that talk with Hawks earlier. People like Dabi were borderline suicidally brave at this point (at least judging from him dying both in Aldera and Shizuoka - and perhaps in Marukane Ward as well, unless Overhaul was really close).
This meant that once they managed to get Overhaul out of the picture, his empire would collapse quickly. Because he was actively teaching his servants how to commit public suicides by cops/heroes.
Unfortunately, this day was far away for now.
"Well, shit." Hawks announces in the resulting silence. "I've suddenly become painfully aware of how many ways I can be blown up or otherwise killed by someone with detailed telekinesis quirk and some knowledge of police equipment. Thank you."
"Some changes to equipment, then?" Izuku asks. Hawks nods.
"We're probably going to have to make grenades electronic enough for them to require the registered user's fingerprints to get armed." Keigo Takami says. "I certainly don't feel comfortable carrying any right now. Poltergeist, Split and you would all manage to pull this off, I believe. And who knows how many villains out there. Whiteline, I believe, would have managed to do it as well with some training. So feel free to drop that idea to the Hatsumes."
Logical. Reasonable. Can earn you some money in the future. He'll certainly have that talk with Mei… or, he would have, if she wasn't listening to it through his communication system. And if she didn't tell him already that she is going to mention that to her parents once the meeting ends.
"... you know that someone out there probably has a remote hacking quirk, you know that?" Izuku asks. Hawks shudders.
"Well, fuck me then." He says. "Although hopefully it's rarer than telekinesis and similar powers. Also brace yourselves." He suddenly adds. "I think the guests are here."
Judging from the two cars stopping by the police blockade and then being let through, he is right.
With Overhaul's army currently massacred, there is a fair chance that Chisaki has nothing else to spare in order to interrupt this meeting. Unfortunately, the perfect occasion to attack his headquarters is ruined by the fact that he recently moved his villain lair and they have no idea where the new one is. Except for the fact that it's somewhere in Hosu.
Joy.
Izuku Midoriya would have enjoyed his career as a superhero a bit more if his nemesis was slightly less intelligent and farsighted. And probably less maniacally evil as well, let's not forget about that part.
(***)
The cars arrive by the convenience store soon after that. Naturally, Hawks choose a spot that wasn't covered by the convenience store cameras - they aren't stupid. In fact, they are trying to be the opposite of stupid in this.
It's dark and the people inside didn't exactly put any lights on. So the atmosphere is tense for several seconds. Until the driver's door of the first car opens and a head pops out of it. It has…
Long ears. Very long ears. And they look distinctly… like rabbit's ears? Another complex mutant? The ears look deliciously fluffy, even Izuku notices that.
"Try anything funny…" The rabbit girl says. "... and I'm going to fucking murder you."
… slightly furry and cute Bakugou Katsuki. Oh how joyous. Meeting someone like that is precisely what Izuku Midoriya expected to happen when he got off his bed this morning. Wow.
"Someone has an… attitude." Hawks comments. Quietly. Unfortunately, he forgot to take the big ears into account.
"I heard that, shitface. The long ears aren't for show." The rabbit girl says, while leaving the car fully. She is wearing a loose and tattered hoodie over some equally tattered body armor. Izuku then notices knives. A lot of knives. And a sword sheathed behind her back. "Don't test your luck. I'm having the shittiest day of my life and I'm not in the mood."
Dedicated close quarter combatant. Body hardening quirk unlikely. Certainly someone that Izuku isn't planning to send anywhere near gunfire. This is an anime, you can't dodge bullets.
Well, there is probably some reflex boosting quirk that allows that, but the chances of the hero in front of him having that was unlikely.
No face concealment. Huh. The face in question is kinda pretty, but also seems to have worryingly sharp (and very non-rabbit) teeth. Unless Izuku saw something wrongly at the distance. It's late after dark after all.
"Sooo…" Pinky asks on the inside network. No one but the heroes can hear her. She doesn't say what she wants, but her boyfriend realizes it immediately.
"Being overly aggressive isn't manly." Kirishima judges. Izuku wholeheartedly agrees. Mina, in the meantime, giggles a bit. She really likes hearing that word. It's practically an inside joke at this point.
The people from the second car leave it. Two more young women. One surprisingly normal brunette which looks rather well-trained, but not to the level where you can get described as buffy. She lacks any sort of defensive equipment. The other one has hair in a mix of dark blue color with some strands of pink. That one's at least wearing a bulletproof vest.
The Shizuoka heroes clearly lacked the funding and equipment of their Musutafu cousins. Which probably didn't help them in surviving the fight against Overhaul. Also no concealed faces. Odd. Or, perhaps, they stopped caring about that.
Izuku wouldn't put much thought into concealment after a massacre like this.
"That's three people." Izuku decides to speak. Hawks is too busy being cautious to speak anything more. "I heard that they were going to be four of you." And five villains, but he thinks that he can see two, lying unconscious on the backseat of the nearer car.
"Rabbit, come out." The rabbit girl says. Do they have someone who is even more of a rabbit than she is? Is that even possible?
Her car had a passenger. It's a girl too. This time, it was a very smol girl. Long white hair, very… honestly, super-flat built, trousers and a clearly rabbit-themed T-shirt. None of that felt actually feminine.
She looks… hard to say how old. Average 14-15 years old, maybe more youthful sixteen years old? Certainly younger looking than Izuku under his helmet.
It's not like people are wearing their age written on their foreheads. Izuku once saw a cashier ask a guy for the ID in order to buy alcohol, only to discover that the guy was thirty years old. Izuku would have asked him about that himself, and the guy said that it's alright because he is still regularly asked about ID and he considers that a compliment.
So, yeah. Hard to say, especially when you are this short and have such a thin build. It really makes you look much younger. In all honesty, Izuku's attempts to judge the age of Rabbit are mostly a failure.
"Really?" Surprisingly enough, it's Uraraka that asks. "Only girls?" Izuku would have rather asked who the hell thought that letting a kid like that become a superhero, but whatever floats her boat.
Then he remembers that he technically allowed Fumikage Tokoyami to battle Carnage despite being underage. And Izuku himself doesn't exactly look very adult, according to people. Well, shit.
Rabbit seems like she was trying to say something, but instead looks down. She is clearly shaken and timid, and honestly, Izuku can understand that. Not exactly relate - they didn't lose anyone yet, thank God - but he does know how losing someone close to you feels. She went through something similar, times four.
"Okay, first of all, bitch, Rabbit is a boy." The rabbit girl drops a bombshell. "Second of all, before any of 'ya fuckers have any dumb ideas, he is an adult. He only looks like that because his dumb bitch of a mother is an asshole. Third of all, make him feel unwelcome and I'm going to stick my foot so deep into your mouth that my toes are going to stick out of your rectum."
Oh. Well, it looks like that particular Bakugou Katsuki isn't that much of an asshole. Or there is at least one person that's clearly excluded from their shitlist.
The two remaining women approach them. The brunette looks clearly worried by something. The other looks extremely done with everything.
Brunette is clearly interested in intervening, probably due to thinking that the rabbitgirl is being too confrontational. But she failed to do so before Rabbit spoke.
"E..Edge, don't be mean to them!" He says, looking at his companion. She visibly deflates in an instant. Wow. Then he turns his head towards them. "I'm… I'm sorry for what she s…said, she is r…really angry because…"
He is really forcing those words out. Looks like Izuku's social anxiety found a superior specimen of its own kind. Defiant decides to intervene. Because watching this is really, really sad.
"It's alright, we understand." He replies. "We've managed to evacuate and heal Poltergeist, by the way. Right before Carnage got to her." Some good news is never a bad idea, especially during the night like that. "She's waiting for you at our headquarters."
Rabbit looks like he just realized that the world was a nice place. The smile is a killing one. Edge actually throws her hands up.
"See? I told you she'd be okay!" She says, clearly to Rabbit. Rabbit looks even more reassured. Izuku decides not to mention the 'would not survive until morning even if Overhaul didn't send his death squad after her' part.
Okay. Izuku isn't exactly an authority on that, and he'd really like to receive an age confirmation before supporting anything like that, but… wait, let's confirm that. Mina is the closest thing he has to an expert.
"Uhm, Mina?" He asks on the inner network.
"She is totally in love with him." Mina replies cheerfully. "I wouldn't be surprised if the others were as well, I mean, he looks just so cute!"
… yeah, this confirmation confirmed nothing. Let's ignore that for now. He really isn't digging into relationships of other people. But the fact that Edge lost all her anger in an instant when Rabbit told her to stop being mean was… suspicious.
"I'm Immortal, by the way." The brunette decides to announce that she exists. "And her name's Deadshot. But she doesn't speak a lot." Her companion stood a meter or two away from them and decided to take the break as an occasion to smoke a cigarette. "And… you?"
They introduce themselves hero by hero. Hawks does so as well. For some reason, his eyes are on Deadshot. Who absolutely freezes when he says his nickname. And looks at him in shock, before looking through the remaining figures in combat gear surrounding them. In a growing panic.
"Oh, this is going to be hilarious." Hawks whispers to Defiant. "Wait for it."
What?
"Hawks, why did you tell me to c…" One of the QSS soldiers arrives. Izuku recognizes their sniper. Mostly by the fact that it was clearly a woman, and had a sniper rifle. What he didn't expect was her freezing midstep and midword when she saw Deadshot. Whose cigarette promptly fell out of her mouth. "... AKI?!"
The superhero promptly dashes away from them, pursued by the QSS soldier. Everyone gathered in front of the convenience store was staring at the scene in shock.
"Hawks?" Izuku asks as the soldier grabs the superhero and… german suplex, really? Is this an anime or what? "Care to elaborate?" He really isn't sure if it's the right time for the antics, even if they have several different ways of early warning against potential attacks.
"Nagant had a child." Hawks replies. Izuku is certain that he is grinning widely behind his identity concealing balaclava. "Accidental pregnancy, quite early. She was sixteen and a half years old when it happened. She did her best to raise her, and actually did quite well. But when the whole mess with Chisaki started, she evacuated her to her relatives in Shizuoka. Looks like little Aki decided not to stay put. And turned out to be a metahuman."
It's going to be a very serious scolding if her mother started it with german suplex. And it's only the very beginning, judging from the half-audible shouts at a distance.
"What's her quirk, by the way?" Hawks ask. Immortal wakes up from the stupor as the first one.
"Uhm… she can transform her right arm into a fully functional sniper rifle." Immortal replies and Izuku decides that it's a SUPER AWESOME quirk. Also it's oddly… fitting for a daughter of a sniper? "Or an anti-material rifle. She can alter the caliber and few other things at will. Plus produce bullets from her own hair. She, uhm…" Immortal pauses for a second, as if trying to figure out if saying that is a good idea. "... she actually killed Dabi during the battle. Headshot. From almost a kilometer away."
It suddenly got even cooler.
"They'll be alright then." Hawks replies confidently. "She only evacuated Aki away because she had no significant combat skills and Nagant didn't want to endanger her. If she has a literal sniper rifle in her body and knows how to use it, they are going to have shooting competitions in our shooting range every other day."
"If you say so." Izuku said weakly. Jirou was probably overhearing the whole argument, due to being jacked into the ground in order to detect potential attacks. Izuku really wondered what sort of face she was making under her helmet. "What are your quirks?"
That's what really interests him. Sue him about that.
"Well, I'm immortal." Says Immortal. Rabbit retreated to the other side of the car, right next to Edge. He looked significantly calmer while being next to her. "Like, literally. Everything heals."
Oh my fucking god, they got both Deadshot and Deadpool in one day. Wow. Seriously, wow. At least she seems particularly sane.
"Brain?" Izuku asks.
"Everything." Immortal replies. This is such a cool quirk! "Not all sunshine and flowers, though. Brawler and Rabbit got me out of a one-person involuntary organ farm. Even if I don't feel any pain, I still don't recommend that particular joint for your holiday."
Ouch.
"Ah, crap." Pinky actually speaks out. "I went through something similar. My condolences. Are they…"
Immortal gives her a thumbs-up.
"The police took them down." She replies. "Real hard. Uhm, Edge?"
"I'm a half-fucking rabbit." Edge says the obvious thing. "Go figure. Strong legs, can move really damn fast. Also when I taste someone's blood, it makes them weaker. How much, it depends on the blood type." Izuku is still trying to figure out how that ties into their theory about complex quirks having a chance for 'connected' quirks, when she shows her tongue.
It's really long. And surprisingly flexible. Izuku isn't even surprised when he hears Eclipse whistle loudly. Jirou only sighs. Mina giggles.
She also seems to have longer feet. Too long for normal boots, which is probably why she is walking around barefoot. And a short, round tail. It looks fluffy. Izuku is certain that mentioning this is a surefire way of having your life be brutally cut short.
"Not exactly… uhm… helpful against guns." Izuku decides to point it out. She is certainly not someone that he is willing to send into the field. Close quarters quirks are severely overhyped in his opinion, unless yours makes you into an unstoppable, mobile juggernaut (like Carnage, and they all know that he already died to guns) or literally bulletproof. Like Gargoyle's or, apparently, Bulwark's.
"I have Rabbit for that." She replies. "Rabbit, tell them about your quirk." He seems to be scared of talking to foreign people. "C'mon, it's super cool! Don't be scared!" Somehow her entire abrasiveness absolutely vanishes when Rabbit is involved.
"O…okay." Rabbit says. Then he takes a deep breath. "Wh…when I touch someone I can apply s…status conditions to them. B…bulletproof is a status c…condition."
"Are you kidding me?" Hawks suddenly sounds like he just found the love of his life.
"I… I mean I…" Rabbit freaks out by the question, having severely misinterpreted the intentions with which it was asked.. Edge intervenes. But Immortal looks like she was about to do it herself.
"No scaring Rabbit on my watch!" She yells at Hawks, her hand on the handle of her sword. He actually takes a step back which is probably a reasonable reaction to having an angry rabbit woman in front of you that MIGHT be bulletproof. And has a sword. Sword has a longer reach than any knife that Hawks might have. But instead of charging at him, she turns towards Rabbit. "Rabbit, it's alright. You're safe."
"O… Okay!" He calms down. "No, I meant it." He says to Hawks. "One of the enemies unloaded an entire magazine into Edge, but she just ran up to him and then she went swoosh, whaap, and shing! Then her sword was like ching! Bam! Clash! And he was dead."
… Rabbit is absolutely adorable when excited, duly noted. Even when he speaks about bloody murder. Mina almost squeals at that excited description. Uraraka and Eto sounded like they barely suppressed their squeals. Even Izuku is partially influenced.
Hell, even Hawks sounds like he was about to laugh but managed to restrain himself. Edge and Immortal look like their hearts were just warmed by the sight, and Izuku starts to suspect that Mina was right on the money with her crazy theory.
Edge sounded like she was from some tough place in life. Immortal was horrifically abused. Deadshot's mom just started an argument with her by german suplexing her daughter. They didn't all, like, found, the gentleness, niceness and emotional sensitivity of Rabbit to be the one thing that they all missed in life. Or anything like that. Yes?
This way or another, Ryo Inui is probably going to have a field day over this. And they didn't even get to the subject of captives.
(***)
Yes, you can probably figure out who are the parents of Edge. No, I do not regret it. Also no one expected a wild Rabbit to appear~! Such a cool quirk. Such uncool parents. Heh. Now, who the captives are gonna be, I wonder?