All It Takes Is A Single Thread
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Hailstorm Vol. 2! The battle continues as more heroes join the fray and the villains up the ante with unorthodox tactics of their own. But first, a little announcement. For those who haven't heard yet, I now have my own ! That's right, I got a spot where I'll be posting news, drafts, Q&A's and other fun stuff, so if you like what I do become a patron and support my work because if all goes well I can spend more time doing this and get chapters out even faster! But first thing's first, the story, and with no review questions this week let's dive on in!
The Ruins of Jakku City
Clay couldn't remember the last time he'd slid back and forth on the emotional scale as much as he'd been doing today. From the initial success of the villa raid to Shigaraki's awakening, their timely arrival to assist the other heroes only to fall slightly short in protecting Aizawa's vision, then the fortunate appearance of Todoroki, Nejire and Iida to the disastrous coming of Gigantomachia and Dabi's revelation about Endeavor being his father. Heck, in just the last couple of minutes the pyro had gone from nearly broadcasting his story to having it literally stepped on by Slade, to nearly burning his brother and father to cinders before being stopped by the missing in action hero, Best Jeanist. 'If we all get out of this alive I might need some counseling,' the cloud user quipped to himself.
But before any of that could happen, they needed to handle this situation. Something Best Jeanist was already on top of as he commanded the massive cables to pull Gigantomachia to the ground. "We will spin together," he said, "the threads of hope!"
"Now what the shit," Chimera swore, still flying in the air thanks to his maneuverability which left him the only member of the League not currently wrapped in cables. "I thought you told me this guy was dead, Dabi."
"He was," the restrained pyro called back, "what Hawks showed me was definitely a corpse!"
"I told ya you should've just let me eat 'em," Chimera commented.
"If you're greedy," Best Jeanist said while moving his hands like a conductor to control the countless fibers around him, "you'll come apart at the seams like cheap denim."
"So what if you're alive," Dabi seethed as blue flames reignited on his body, "it doesn't mean my past has disappeared! RIGHT SHOTO!" He said this as his brother propelled himself into the air with the flames from his left foot before they clashed in midair. The temperature around them rose dramatically as Todoroki's orange flames battled for dominance against Dabi's blue flames.
"Guess this fight isn't over even with Jeanist's help," Slade surmised while on the cloud Clay created for him, "I'll drop down and move Endeavor. You and Nejire worry about that flying prick." He didn't give his friend a chance to protest before leaping down to the ground. Truthfully, the storm cloud wielder wouldn't have had much of an argument anyway and flew up towards Nejire who was circling around and evading Chimera.
"One hundred percent output," she said, gathering energy in her hands while dropping downward to avoid a swipe from a clawed hand, "Nejire-huh." She saw it coming at the last moment, blue flames somehow fired out of the back of Dabi's body right towards her.
"NEJIRE!" Clay exclaimed as he tackled her midsection, pushing her just enough out the way that the flames didn't hit her body. They did, however, catch some of her hair which had been flowing in the wind on fire. It also dissolved most of the cloud he'd been riding on.
"Hot, hot, hot, HOT!" Nejire exclaimed while beating out the flames on her hair as much as possible, "I can't believe he did that! It took forever to get it this long!"
"Be happy he didn't get the rest of you," Clay pointed out, "burn scars are nasty-WHOA!" The pair were interrupted by Chimera swooping in, this time producing a large lionhead from his back to try and chomp on both of them. Nejire reacted by holding up her left hand and blasting him away with what power she could muster in such a short window of time. She also moved the both of them farther back with her quirk as a precaution.
"Time to split Clay," Nejire announced, "you can hug me all you want later."
"You really know how to give a guy mixed signals," the cloud wielder quipped, now having the chance to let go and produce more clouds while hovering in the air. As they readied for another round against Chimera, however, Shigaraki began to awaken. The lead villain was in no condition to do anything major, given his injuries and being immobilized by Jeanist's cables, but all he really needed to do was speak.
"Ma….chi…..a," he barely managed to groan out, "destroy….it…..all." The giant being roared in acknowledgement, his voice echoing across the battlefield as he worked to stand up while still entangled. Best Jeanist was forced to redouble his efforts, wrapping more cables around the monster to replace the ones that were snapping. The strain was such that he was starting to cough up blood, owing to his still somewhat injured condition.
Because his full concentration was needed on Machia and the other villains, he was no longer able to restrain Dabi whose flames burnt through the bindings as he clashed repeatedly against Todoroki, rebuffing his younger brother's efforts to bring him down. 'That's not good,' Clay thought as he sent a few vortex spears against Chimera who spun and twisted in the air to avoid them before retracting his wings to fall, dodging an attack from Nejire on his flank. He sprouted his wings and was back up in the air in the blink of an eye, this time forming a scorpion tail-like tendril on his arm that he whipped at Clay.
The cloud wielder dodged and blocked his first couple of strikes with a spinning shield cloud before bringing two vortex spears from either side in a pincer attack that Chimera evaded with a quick flap of his wings upwards. He folded his wings in time to block another blast from Hado, though the force was enough to send him back several feet before he opened his wings and righted himself in the air. The three took a moment to assess things, not only their battle but the other battles happening around them. That's when Nejire saw them approaching in the distance, four figures with bluish black skin, possessing bodies of various shapes and sizes, Nomu.
"SLADE!" She called to the density shifter on the ground who was still moving Endeavor, "there are Nomu heading for Jeanist!" She dodged out of the way of a swipe from Chimera but at that point the message was loud and clear. The U.A. student looked over and spotted them heading for the fiber hero and immediately knew what he had to do.
"Sorry about this number one," he said while starting to put the pro hero down, "but if we lose Jeanist now-."
"I know," Endeavor replied almost immediately, "go help Jeanist. As the number one hero, I have to be able to pick myself up when necessary." Slade simply nodded at this before rushing off towards the fiber hero. It was obvious he couldn't dodge as it was taking all of his concentration just to hold Machia who was struggling more than ever. Even a momentary distraction would prove disastrous for all of them.
With that in mind, Slade decreased his density and leapt up onto one of the cables, running along it as the Nomu got closer. He could already tell this was gonna be close and he'd need to take them out in very quick succession. As the hero in training approached his destination he picked out his first target, a nomu with winged arms and some kind of small trunks on its face. 'Here goes,' he thought before jumping with all the strength he possessed, spinning in midair while increasing his density at the last second.
The nomu was taken by surprise at the speed of his jump and didn't react in time to block the kick to his face before Slade kicked again, this time lowering his density enough to use the creature's face as a springboard to go to the next. He was taking a page from Midoriya's book, greatly increasing his density right before the moment of impact. Even so, the next targeted nomu, which had a female body, raised her arms in time to block his kick. The blow still did its job, sending her flying back while also letting Slade jump towards the next one, a worm-like Nomu with the circular, toothy mouth of a lamprey.
Yet when he went for a punch, the creature managed to dodge by rearing its head back while still in midair. 'Shit, it figured out where I was going next,' he thought while aiming his wrist cable at the monster's now quickly approaching maw. But before its teeth could close down on him, something shot out of the ground, or rather, someone. "POWER!" Exclaimed the newcomer with an impressive uppercut to the worm nomu's 'chin'.
He sped through the air then and punched the final nomu which had the head of an elephant before landing on the ground at nearly the same time as Slade. "LeMillion!" The density shifter exclaimed once he got a good look at who the new arrival was.
"Hey," he replied with a smile while wiping his nose, the red cape of his hero outfit fluttering in the wind, "I heard what was going on from the villa. Good thing the villain hideout the NightEye agency was raiding happened to be around here."
"Can't say I'm not happy to see you," Slade quipped while their foes regrouped, "there's enough nomus for the both of us to smack around."
"Then let's show them some hero power!" Mirio exclaimed while sinking back into the ground. Slade, for his part, charged forward at low density, already calculating his next few moves. He jumped up and dodged the mouth of the worm Nomu, slamming a high density ax kick down on its head before it could retreat. Togata phased through the nomu and him before punching the two flying nomu.
Slade sprung upwards with Mirio putting his hands down to catch his foot and fling him even higher into the air. He punched the elephant head Nomu then kicked off the worm nomu when it tried to chomp down on him again. When the nomus attempted a pincer attack on the both of them, Slade and Mirio punched their respective nomu on the outside before both lowered their density and passed through the ones behind them. "Plus Ultra," they both said as their now solid feet connected and they pushed off each other to punch the remaining nomu, "POWER!"
Their opponets slammed into each other before falling to the ground in two piles. "Tough bastards," Slade noted as he and Mirio landed back to back, "they're not staying down."
"That just means we have to keep hitting them until they don't get back up," the big three member stated while the duo took fighting stances. The four nomu had regained their footing by this point and resumed their charge at them. The good news was that they no longer seemed interested in Jeanist for the time being. The bad news, all their efforts were now focused on the two of them.
It was going to be a tough fight, but also one filled with surprises. None moreso than what happened next. Shortly after the nomu charged several sparkling explosions impacted on two of them while a flash of white and blue kicked away the ones behind them. "Iida, Bakugou!" Slade exclaimed, surprised to see the explosion wielder up. From what he'd glimpsed earlier the blond hadn't been moving so well.
"Jeanist," Bakugou called while looking back at the pro hero, "you wanted to know my hero name?! From this day forward you can call me: Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight!"
"Damn," Slade started, "that's just lame." A similar thought was shared amongst not only the heroes present but also most of the villains. Save for one person.
"I like it," Mirio commented happily, "it's a fun sounding name."
"It's not supposed to be!" Bakugou exclaimed before collapsing onto the ground.
"'A bright future won't come to a society without energy and humor'," LeMillion quoted, "that's my motto! Now, since it looks like their boss can't move, let's hold the line!" But someone was moving. Clay saw out of the corner of his eye while dodging another one of Chimera's attacks that the tendrils of black whip had wrapped around Dabi, separating him from Todoroki who'd been starting to lose his fight.
"Nejire," he said while reconfiguring half of his clouds into a thick net that he cast over their opponent, "I think it's time we gave our little move a field test."
"Really?!" She exclaimed, more excited than she probably should've been. "Yeah I've got enough power left, do you?"
"More than enough for one good shot," Clay replied, producing even more clouds as he and Nejire held their hands close together. The big three member didn't need to be told to increase her output to one hundred percent, waiting for the exact moment the cloud construct in front of her finished forming. It was about this time Chimera broke free of the cloud net and charged towards the both of them with a massive serpent's head growing out of his back.
"Here goes," they both declared at the same time as Clay launched his clouds which had taken the shape of a locomotive quickly followed by Nejire's spiraling quirk. "Light Rail Locomotive!" The blue-haired girl's quirk wrapped around Clay's, increasing the force behind it as their opponent met it head on. The powerful flesh beast held for a few moments before being overcome by the strength of the combo attack.
"FUCKIN' A!" Chimera exclaimed all the way to the moment of impact with the ground which cracked and cratered in a near perfect circle, causing dust to spray everywhere. Clay removed his clouds shortly afterwards to assess the damage of their attack, revealing a now much more injured villain. Albeit, one that was amazingly still conscious and already trying to get up.
"Is it okay if I leave this to you for a bit," Clay asked, "things are getting bad over by Todoroki."
"Don't worry, I've got him," Nejire assured while readying more energy in her hands, "go help Shoto and the others over there." The cloud wielder nodded before flying over, already reforming his quirk into multiple shields. Midoriya's hold on Dabi with his quirk was already shattered and the heat around the pyro was intensifying fast. 'Smothering this asshole will solve the majority of our current problems,' he thought, 'and it'll just feel good to punch his lights out a couple more times.'
Alas, it was a chance that would have to wait. Machia, apparently tired of holding back or deciding that he would use his remaining strength for the fight, flexed his muscles and altered his form again. His growing spikes, claws and body snapped the cables, allowing the villain to stand up to his full height and let out a roar. Clay was forced to divert his course, diving under the monster's line of sight and down towards his right armpit.
Even if he'd been one hundred percent the U.A. student didn't find the idea of tangling with a beast capable of barreling through whole cities appealing. He quickly decided that taking out or at least occupying Dabi was his best option so that Todoroki could focus his more powerful quirks on the giant creature. But that's when the next surprise came in the form of Endeavor flying up and punching Gigantomachia in the side of the face. It was a surprisingly good hit, causing the monster to actually stagger slightly.
He regained his footing soon enough, however, and looked like he was about to chomp down on the number one hero before a miracle happened. "What," Machia gasped out, collapsing to his knees as his claws and spikes returned to their original size, "my strength…it suddenly." The giant fell forward then, his large body shaking the ground as he collapsed onto it. 'Did he finally run out of stamina,' Clay thought in astonishment.
"FUCK YEAH!" Slade yelled from down below, "the aneshetics worked after all! That titanic prick is down for the count!" 'Well I'll be,' Clay thought with a slight smirk, 'guess the rest of the class managed to make a stand after all. Now's our chance.' Best Jeanist knew this too and used what remaining cables he could spare to tie down Machia once more while also tightening his hold on the League of Villains members.
"Unbelievable," Chimera commented while taking to the air once more. This would be the first time any of them recalled seeing the cannibalistic villain with an actual frown on his face. "You're telling me something out of a damn jar is what finally takes down Machia? I'd hoped it'd be at least a little more climatic than that." 'But there is still one thing that can be done,' he mused before flying towards his captured teammates.
"We won't let you!" Nejire exclaimed, firing her wave quirk which Chimera rolled to evade. 'The top priority now is freeing the boss,' he told himself, 'as long as he gets away the heroes won't have a full victory.' The villain was broken from his thoughts when he had to stop short in the air to avoid a large cloud buzzsaw.
"You heard her say 'we' right?" Clay more stated than asked while floating in between Chimera and the rest of the league members, "I only stepped out for a moment. You're still fighting both of us." He subtely used some of his extra clouds to move Midoriya and Endeavor out of the way.
Their stubbornness had proven quite impressive but neither one of them was in any shape to do much else. The fact that they'd even been to remain conscious was remarkable on its own. Unfortunately, they weren't the only stubborn ones refusing to blackout. Clay heard it before he saw it, one of the bindings coming undone.
He glanced back for just a moment but that told him all he needed to know. Mr. Compress had used his quirk to carve out a part of his own hip in order to free his arm. Things started to figuratively and literally unravel from there when he reached out and turned both Spinner and Shigaraki into marbles before leaping down onto Machia's back. "Don't think you're the only ones risking your lives," Compress declared, "now witness, the greatest show on earth!"
"Shit," Clay swore before holding up a cloud shield to block a claw swipe from Chimera.
"Now it's my turn to say it," the cannibal quipped, his smirk returning, "I won't let you!" The cloud wielder deflected more of his blows before enlarging the shield and sprouting spikes from it. Chimera flapped his wings and moved backwards, avoiding the spikes before diving to evade a blast from Nejire. He no longer needed to worry about heading for a stationary target and circled around Machia while Compress continued to run.
"I'll catch him, you get Compress," Nejire said while speeding off after Chimera. Clay turned and pursued the league member who didn't get too far before Jeanist used his quirk to tighten the villain's clothes. But his gall won out again with him using his quirk to shred the majority of his outfit to keep his freedom of movement, even taking a chunk out of his own left shoulder in the process. He zigzagged through Machia's spikes, turning the trapped Skeptic into a marble and pocketing him along the way.
'I haven't got a lot left in me for producing clouds,' the U.A. student noted, 'gotta make as many of these count as I can.' As he readied his clouds to chase after Compress, however, the sound of his classmate yelling in pain caught his attention. Todoroki had just been overpowered by Dabi and Clay instinctively moved a cloud platform to catch him before he could crash to the ground. "Clay Cero!" The flame wielding villain exclaimed while firing a torrent of fire in his direction, "our last fight got interrupted, didn't it?!"
Clay gained altitude to dodge the attack while gathering his remaining clouds. He quickly glanced down and noticed that Jeanist's cables and Mirio were in hot pursuit of Compress. 'I can't chase after him and deal with Dabi at the same time,' he mused, 'I'll just have to leave the chase to them while I keep charbroil occupied.' To that end, he dodged and weaved around the next few fireblasts, intentionally moving in such a way that Dabi's attacks weren't going towards his friends.
"I remember you just shrugged it off when I told you how Hawks killed Twice," Dabi continued, the malicious grin on his face as wide as ever, "but what about now? Can you just shrug off knowing the number one hero is a self-serving egomaniac?"
"You'll get the same answer from me that you got from Slade," Clay replied while sending a couple of arrowhead-shaped projectiles at Dabi who quickly evaporated them, "after all the terrible things you've done in the name of 'changing society' I couldn't scrounge up enough sympathy to give a single shit about what happened to Toya Todoroki. You're just another villain playing the victim card and that won't excuse you of your crimes now or ever!"
"Heh, there's just no convincing a stubborn brat like you," the pyro scoffed before intensifying the flames around his body, "my old man is unconscious now but lucky for me his dear masterpiece is still alive. I wonder what kind of look he'll have on his face when he sees his classmate burn to death in front of him!" Clay readied for his attack, making a decision between dodging and countering. But it would turn out not to matter.
The reason being was about the same time this was happening, Mirio was taking down Compress and charging towards the now released Spinner and Tomura. Just as he got close, the reptilian villain got the idea to put the final hand of Shigaraki's family on his face. He reawakened then and with it came a blast that rang out over the battlefield.
This is now a battle of who's the most tenacious! Or at least who's better at staying awake, given how things are going. Either way the battle itself shall be wrapped up soon so until then feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. And do check out my by going to the site and looking up 'maskedspider'! I've got news, Q&A's and I even plan on posting some of my early chapter drafts so check it out. Lastly, stop in next time as All For One unleashes his power once more! 'Til then.