Chapter 5: Shock and Awe

Abandoned Mall, Musutafu City.

After a grueling week in the hospital, 51 was finally discharged and he, along with ZARA, both instantly made a beeline back to the mall before anyone else could interrogate them. 51 was still sore, but thanks to both the surprisingly advanced medical technology mankind possessed and 51's biology, he made a swift recovery, although he still possessed some scars across parts of his body. The pair sat in their usual food court meeting area in silence. Unable to really comprehend just how lucky they were, or otherwise how dumb humans seemed to be, that the two weren't caught red handed that entire time. "First question... How did you know that-?" 51 began.

ZARA interrupted to pre-emptively answer his question, "-I could see the fight through various security cameras. Once I saw that you were wounded, I began manufacturing a basic disguise module from what we have left from the ship alongside some parts of my own. I am honestly surprised the module lasted as long as It did."

ZARA presented the ramshackle module that looked beat to hell and back, and was both scorched and smoking in some places. "And our identities?" 51 pointed down at the smoking disguise module. "I fabricated two basic identities for the both of us. The humans believe us to be Sezuki Chikiyu and her son, Odai Chikiyu, two individuals that currently do not exist."

51 rubbed his now stiff arm and leaned back in his seat. "Yea... Are we taking what that Hero human said seriously?" 51 was referring to Kamui Wood's earlier question about If he wanted to become a Pro-Hero after seeing 51's "Quirk" in action. Kamui seemed willing to vouch for 51 to enter 'UA High School,' which was a prestigious Hero school located within Musutafu City that was apparently the best school in the country.

There, 51 could undergo a heroics centered curriculum and eventually gain his Pro-Hero license. ZARA tilted her head, "Insufficient data. I am unsure whether or not becoming a Pro-Hero advances our goals of leaving this planet." 51 looked down at the floor, bouncing his leg, before looking up at ZARA. "I mean... We aren't going anywhere for the time being... and... perhaps it wouldn't hurt to try it out... the whole Hero thing... you know?" ZARA seemed confused about 51's sudden interest in the Hero business.

"But... Why?" ZARA asked, rather bluntly, as was her way. 51 rubbed his hands nervously, "ZARA... Is there a word humans use for... when you want to fix something that's broken and..."

"Repair." ZARA interrupted once again.

51 shook his head, "No... Its when you feel like you have to make something correct?"

"A solution."

"No! No!-" 51 waved his hands in front of himself, though groaning a bit at how tender they still were. "I mean... When you've done something wrong and you want to make it... not wrong anymore."

ZARA sat silent for a moment, staring off at the wall, before turning back to 51.

"You yearn for atonement...?" ZARA's tone was tinged with confusion.

51 swallowed and nodded, now gripping one of his hands and trembling.

"And... You believe that saving humans will provide that for you..?"

51 didn't move that time and just stared at the floor.

"Fine. I will do whatever I can to allow you to enter this Hero Academy. I however fail to parse what you believe that you'll do once the Elders do find this world. If they haven't already..."

51 failed to muster up any sort of retort and just nervously squeezed one of his hands, staring at ZARA with a look of fear.

"I failed to mention...during your incapacitation I was able to track down the location of our ship. The humans moved it to a temporary holding area within the city. However, they plan on moving it to a secure location outside of Musutafu City tonight." 51 tapped his chin in thought, before something occurred to him.

The ship's data banks...! Neither of them had wiped them the night they crashed. Oh no... all the information stored on those computers, all the designs and schematics, star maps... "So... you want me to go to the ship and initiate a purge on all data...?" 51 asked, ZARA let out a buzzing noise and a 'X' appeared on her face. "I require that you get me into the ship so I may retrieve the data for ourselves. I doubt the humans have extensively probed our ship, so perhaps the data is still untouched. But once the ship leaves tonight, I fear that we wont have another chance at entering it so easily again. Even then, I suspect they'll have quite the security detail on site."

North Musutafu City, 7:30 PM

51 found himself at the perimeter of a large, unsuspecting office complex smack dab in the middle of Musutafu City's financial district. But according to ZARA, this was indeed where the humans had taken their crashed ship to. The only real give-away of the building's true purpose was the excessive security measures placed all around the buildings, alongside the unusual amount of military personnel moving in and out of the building.

In order to effectively infiltrate the base itself, ZARA took the liberty of modifying his gauntlet to include a module based off of the 'Seekers' the Elders would sometimes field in various situations calling for rapid ambushes. Using a small amount of elerium, an extremely energy dense and psionically active compound of their own formulation, and a host of complex systems within the gauntlet itself, 51 could briefly simulate the Seeker's ability to render themselves completely invisible.

The natural quantities of Elerium in his bloodstream made this possible, though unlike the Seekers themselves, his invisibility would not last forever thanks due in part to the ramshackle nature of the module itself. So 51 had to be smart on where he chose to go and where he hid.

Activating the module for the first time. 51 darted across the street and into the building proper. Thankfully, it seemed either no one noticed or thought anything of the front doors randomly flipping open and closing. Advancing through the lobby, he noticed a massive logo hanging above the main rotunda, followed by a motto running along the edges of the banner that read something in Latin. A motto that two guards were apparently having a conversation about.

"Hey... What's that sign say anyway...?" One of the guards asked his buddy, who wasn't even paying attention.

"Huh, what...?"

"Super-bus... via..." The man read off, his southern drawl making his mispronunciation of the phrase all the more humorous. Finally, his friend snapped his head towards the banner, quickly reading it before smacking his friend on the shoulder.

"It's Latin, dumbass..."

"Oh... Foreigners..." the guard said derisively with a shrug of his shoulders. Just then, a humanoid figure entered the lobby made purely of metal and alloys. It was a robotic unit used mostly by military forces for engagements within urban areas. They were built with a human frame, save for their birdlike heads, which contained an advanced set of cameras that acted as the unit's eyes.

It tightly gripped a MP5 in its arms and walked as stiff as could be. The robot snapped its gaze directly towards 51. Fuck. The robot marched towards 51 and extended its hand towards him. He carefully backed away and the robot grasped at what appeared to be nothing, causing the two guards to look over in concern.

"Son of a bitch, are his optics fried again...?" One of the guards mumbled. The robot, unable to ascertain why it was seeing blobs of thermal activity on its sensors, determined the anomaly to be nothing more than a glitch and walked off, leaving the two guards utterly confused, and 51 terrified for his life.

"You never told me there were robots patrolling the area!" 51 said in his mind to ZARA, whom could hear him through his psionic implant. She spoke to him in the same way without alerting anyone around them. "I was unaware they even had advanced robotics..." 51 asked incredulously, "The base?" ZARA clarified, "No. Humanity."

After slipping past the guards in the lobby, boarding one of the access elevators, and taking a long ride down, 51 found himself in a underground area with a size rivaling that of a cathedral. Between moments of dashing across open spaces using the Seeker module, he hid in corners while the recharge sequence carried out, assisted by ZARA hacking cameras and temporarily providing blind spots for him to hide within.

After some time of playing a proverbial game of redlight/greenlight. 51 entered another large room that was structured similar to that of a parking garage. Rows upon rows of parking spaces dotting the room with nary a bit of cover to spare besides the occasional, load bearing concrete pylon. Though there, off towards the very entrance of the parking garage, laid a convoy of military vehicles centered around a massive trailer carrying what was very likely his ship. This seemed like It was going to be easy as... What did humans say? Easy as cake? Piece of pie.

Of course, that feeling faded whenever 51 copped a look at the security detail around the convoy, various soldiers, both robotic and organic just standing guard, chatting with one another. Chief among them seemed to be a middle aged, black haired man wearing dark military fatigues, chatting with some of his squadmates with one hand on his hip and the other wrapped tightly around a Vektor R5. "That man is the only Quirk user of significant power I've detected within the building..." ZARA stated suddenly after several minutes of complete silence, causing 51 to jump a bit and catch his breath. "He doesn't appear to be registered within the Pro-Hero database.

Name: Viktor van der Knapp

Quirk: Fungal Plating

'Quirk user is able to grow shards of fungi all over his body to protect himself from any source of damage or to utilize as weapons, weaknesses appear to be fire. Alongside a risk of mental regression depending on how much fungi is allowed to cover the user'

And as far as 51 was aware, he really didn't have very much in terms of weaponry to actually fight this guy. Not that he wanted to. But he figured that getting in and out of the craft without being seen was becoming more and more of a pipe dream as time went on. Oh, how he wished he still had his plasma pistol.

Sneaking across the parking garage, 51 managed to get within spitting distance of the truck with his ship. He could hear Viktor speaking to the soldiers.

"Y'know, I really don't know honestly. It's.. It's loike, I took her out to eat last year, and I... really don't want to seem like I'm uh..." Viktor waved his hands about in a strange fashion, like something was on the tip of his tongue.

"Seem like you're doing the same shit?" One of his men answered. Viktor clapped his hands together and pointed towards the man.

"Exactly! Exactly that, man." They seemed more invested into the conversation rather than actually guarding the trucks, but 51 doubted many of these guys even suspected anyone could make it all the way down here without being seen. 51 snuck over to the truck and leapt onto the trailer, carefully slipping underneath the tarp covering his ship and entering in through one of its many hatches.

It made a distinct sort of sound that made 51 cringe... but no one outside seemed to hear it. "Good, now hook me into the data banks and we can get moving..." 51 sat at the commander's chair, before inserting ZARA's main... brain into the ship's control panel. "This might take a moment. Just sit tight." Sit tight... As if, what was he going to do? Chat with the soldiers while he waited?

And speaking of which, almost instantly, a light flooded into the ship itself as someone had taken the tarp off. 51 turned around in shock to see Viktor entering the ship with his R5's flashlight attachment shining in the alien's face. "Ey! Ey! Stay roight where you are, boyjtie! This is a restricted area. Keep your hands where I can see them!"

Having no choice, and not wanting to be shot, or rather shot again, 51 kept his hands up. One of Viktor's men entered the ship, having heard the commotion. Seeing 51, the man gasped, lowering his P90. "Jesus, boss, how'd a kid get down here?" Viktor shrugged but kept his weapon pointed at 51. "I don't know, a Quirk I'd have to guess, boy's got a lot of explaining to do. Take him into custody." Viktor ordered the man.

The soldier approached 51, pulling out a set of zip ties. "Keep your hands where I can see them, son." 51 glanced down at ZARA, who still wasn't finished with the data transfer. Looking at both armed men in fear. 51 could feel that burst of psionic energy he had felt before coursing through him. He took a deep breath, before thrusting his hand forward, a massive burst of energy sent the one merc flying across the breadth of the UFO and slamming into one of the alloy walls.

Viktor panicked upon seeing one of his men getting thrown like a ragdoll. And knelt down into a firing position. "Hey! I said stand down boy! Don't make me do this, please!" Viktor yelled at 51, whom, using his psionics, yanked the fallen soldier's P90 off of the ground and into his arms. Viktor, now having run out of options, opened fire on 51, who bolted back into a blind spot within the command module. Viktor kept his gun trained on the door. Calling one of the robotic units over from outside of the ship.

Viktor ordered it to approach the command module slowly. "Suspect. You are outnumbered. Drop your weapons and reveal yourself with your hands in the air." the machine ordered as it slowly made its way towards the door, keeping its MP5 pointed towards the door. Leaning into the command room, ZARA's energy based body leapt into the robot, and after a brief second of violently spasming and sparking on its part as she seized control of the unit, she turned towards Viktor and opened fire on him.

"Fuck!" Viktor responded by shielding himself with his arm, a large riot shield made of a flesh colored fungus sprouted forth from his arm with a rather sickening, squishing sound. The rounds harmlessly impacted the fungus and fell to the floor. Quickly retracting the shield back into his body, Viktor delivered a short, two shot execution that struck the unit first in its chest plate, and then in its head, ripping a hole through the unit's optics and blinding it. ZARA tossed the unit's gun onto the floor and dashed towards Viktor.

Before the machine was clubbed across the head with a sizable fungal truncheon sprouted from Viktor's left arm. The blow finished the job the bullet started, destroying its head completely and leaving it to collapse on the floor in a heap of scrap and now leaking fluids.

51 took the opportunity to peek out from the command room and open fire on Viktor again. Now caught in the open. Viktor bolted for cover again, narrowly managing to miss being hit several times.

"Fuckin' bliksem!" Viktor shouted, loading another magazine into his rifle, this isn't what he thought he'd have to deal with today, this was supposed to be an easy job. 51, for his part, was feeling much the same, wishing desperately he hadn't gotten caught up in this firefight. By now, a majority of the soldiers within the parking garage were taking up defensive positions outside and sending another pair of robotic units in as bodyshields.

51 panted and looked to ZARA, still working on extracting the data. 51 peeked out to see if he could grab another magazine from the unit ZARA had been controlling earlier, only to nearly have his head taken clean off by a shot fired by Viktor from across the room. "Keep that fucker pinned!" Viktor leapt from cover and formed another shield on his arm to protect the rest of his men as the pair of robotic units broke off and began to push on the command room.

ZARA, finally gave a loud ping, confirming that the data had been extracted successfully. But what good did that do when they were both surrounded? 51 looked around the corner and unloaded another salvo of suppressive fire at the oncoming soldiers, but most of it was blocked by Viktor. "Just go away!" he thought desperately, "Leave us alone and nobody has to get hurt!" Panting, 51 began to try and focus on one of the soldiers, but the constant gunfire was making it nigh impossible to focus any of his psionic energy on anyone.

"ZARA! Get me out of he-here!" One of the leading robots twitched and turned their attention towards the advancing hostiles, unfurling a frag grenade from its integrated utility belt, it pulled the pin and tossed the grenade onto the ground in front of Viktor and his men. Using the distraction, the robot dashed back into the command module and leapt on top of 51, shielding him against the alloy plated wall.

Viktor, noticing the grenade, acted quickly. He dashed forward and encased both himself, and the grenade in a thick ball of fungal plates while the rest of his squad dashed to safety. The grenade went off in a loud, thundering explosion that echoed through the parking garage, Though no one seemed to have been harmed. ZARA looked up, and got off of 51, now peeking outside the command module.

All she could see was the ball of fungus sitting in the middle of the room that was once Viktor... a ball that began to move and unfurl. Now, standing taller than Viktor's average height, was a hideous amalgamation of both man and fungi, possessing no eyes, but an ungodly amount of heavy fungal armor plating. The creature panted hoarsely, before glancing in the direction of ZARA, a deep, clicking noise emitted from its horribly shaped mouth. 'Viktor' gave a guttural roar and lunged forward, his footsteps echoing in the cramped saucer as he grabbed 'ZARA' by the neck and tossed the robot across the room, damaged but still functional.

It seemed as if 'Viktor' wanted 51, his conscious self's last priority carrying over into his now feral state. The monster lurched around the corner into the command room. 51, having had just about enough of all of this fighting nearly passed out from fear at the sight of the beast and opened fire on Viktor to no effect, the bullets just harmlessly bounced off of his full body plating. ZARA took the advantage and leapt onto Viktor's back, trying to choke the mutated man out.

Leaning the full weight of her frame back, she drew him out of the command room and allowed 51 a chance to reconstitute himself, as he activated his cloaking module to escape the craft. Outside of the ship, had soldiers had begun panicking, knowing exactly what was happening within that damn saucer, and what had happened to Viktor. Viktor, meanwhile, managed to flip ZARA off of his back and grabbed hold of the robot's head with just one of his hands.

ZARA struggled to force the man to let her go, but he ended those struggles with one, swift move, as he turned and ripped the head off of the machine and tossed it aside in a pool of coolant and other fluids now spewing out within the ship. Her vessel destroyed again, ZARA returned unharmed to 51's implant. Though with a simple, grave command of "Run."

Not even thinking about asking twice, 51 ran out past the guards using the Seeker module and began to flee back towards the main elevator as fast as he could. He could hear gunfire erupting from behind him, likely from some of the soldiers attempting to calm Viktor down. He noticed a squadron of soldiers wielding what looked to be non-lethal weaponry running past as he bolted into the elevator and rode it all the way to the top.

The scene topside was oddly peaceful compared to the underground, though the guards were nowhere to be seen. It mattered not to 51, just as long as he could actually leave this hellhole alive. Though with the distance from here back to the mall. 51 had a long walk ahead of him. "Please tell me the data is safe..." 51 wiped his forehead with his hand, realizing he was slightly bleeding from the firefight earlier.

"Yes. All data was collected from the ship's memory banks and purged successfully. Good job." 51 blushed and rubbed his shoulder. "Ah... well, I really couldn't have done it without you..." ZARA gave off a fit of chirping laughter. "No, you really couldn't have." 51 was taken aback. "Was that...laughter I heard from you...I wasn't aware you had the capability of laughter..." ZARA was silent for a moment. "Knock, knock." ZARA prompted. Typical. Though, considering the lonesome road ahead, 51 figured to humor her for the time being as they both walked off into the night... a sea of chaos left underground in their wake...

To be continued.

Authors Note: Next chapter will actually get onto to the main story of MHA with the Entrance Exam. Still trying to balance these stories together though I feel as If the XCOM content has taken more priority over MHA's content. If anyone has any criticisms they would like to throw my way, then I am absolutely all ears, this is my first, long form story and I'd like to get better to make more of these and perhaps more stories in the future besides just MHAEU. So reviews would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.