TOPCAT-59 - Emoji is, in fact, an incredibly annoying enemy to fight. Hey, I can't make the new Top Heroes a pushovers, right?
Shahryar - Oh, boy. Invincible is a terrifying force of nature, and you'll all see in this very arc.
Jpx0999 - Nice to see you here :D
TheGreatBubbaJ - Man, imagine increasing a long fic's number of comment by like 1/3 on your own. Chad move, friend xD
(***)
Seven Days Ago
"If we want to secure a victory in the battle, we need to achieve two things as soon as possible." Midoriya continues. "Goal number one is regaining the advantage of mobility that the warpers offer us. Goal number two is making sure that the Rapid Deployment Division won't be able to attack our flanks and back." He pauses for a second, before smiling widely.. "And those two goals can be realized at once."
"Namely, through Furnace." Nakahara adds. They already had that talk in private. and she was already past her moment of utter, sheer amazement at the simplicity of the plan and horrific imagination behind it.
"Furnace is a simple idea." Midoriya takes over. It's his brain child, after all. Even Ayako Nakahara has to admit that he had valid reasons to be proud of it. "Step one of the plan is to upload all the data about Marukane Ward's geographic outline… into Mastermind's head."
Mastermind smiles from his seat, his eyes glowing for a second.
"Oh, so that's your plan." Yoshihiro's smile somehow gets even wider. "Oh, this is beautiful."
Crawler and Yaoyorozu are clearly impatient to join those that know, while simultaneously clearly disliking the fact that they didn't figure it out quickly enough. Midoriya is, honestly, slightly disappointed with Yaomomo not figuring it out.
It's basically the FRU annihilation, except on a bigger scale. Much bigger.
"Once Mastermind has those, he's going to calculate the most likely positions for the warp scramblers and the RDD blockade positions." Midoriya decides to give them what they want. "Then… we're going to plant explosives there, using Landslide's quirk to cover up the fact that the earth there was recently moved… before detonating all of them simultaneously."
Oh, now they understand. And like it a lot.
"We were filling our storehouses from the start of the war." Midoriya continues. "Using All for One and Re-Destro's remaining bank account to buy things overseas, and then have Cloud or Eclipse warp them into the Overlook. This includes explosives, with Hatsume Industries engineers producing detonators according to Clockmaker's designs." Hatsume smiles widely at the acknowledgement. "While we'll not manage to plant all of them, for as long as we'll be trying to do that quietly, we talk about up to three thousand tonnes of military-grade explosives."
Those were some very deep accounts, even if almost entirely extinguished after this stunt.
Nakahara almost choked on her tea when she heard it earlier. It's rather clear that the people in front of them have a slightly similar reaction right now.
"Naturally, this won't be enough to destroy the RDD." Midoriya adds. "Most of them will immediately scatter around, preparing to intercept fleeing vigilantes. However, they will have to establish a number of strongpoints to serve as fortified field bases for their forces. Places where their reserve units will be stationed to respond to larger and still organized groups of the NVA soldiers attempting to flee the encirclement, while simultaneously defending the warp scramblers. And that's what we're going to destroy."
"The warp scramblers deployed by the RDD are the lightly armored ones." Nakahara decides to add. "They have to be if they are to be transported by the helicopters. This means that the explosions should get rid of them. If not, we'll have Crawler's artillery battery finish the job, using Mastermind's analysis for improved targeting."
"Unfortunately, we can't avoid Intelli realizing at this point that the NVA and PLF joined hands." Revenant takes over. "Warp scramblers are there to keep the PLF trapped in case of its intervention. NVA has no reason to destroy them, unless it actively wants to let PLF in."
"I assume…" Skeptic decides to speak. "... that the chances of Intelli thinking that NVA got themselves a warper are rather low."
(***)
Today
"While those are mine explosives, it was your hard work." Midoriya replies. "Do the honors."
Nakahara isn't one to refuse such an option. A few seconds later, her finger presses a large, red button (they just had to make it look that way) on the console in front of her.
Marukane Ward outskirts to the north and east are rocked by titanic explosions, tearing through the positions of the Rapid Deployment Division. Out of about fifteen thousand soldiers, six and a half thousand are killed or heavily injured in the blasts.
With a single push of button, the Rapid Deployment Division - the pride of the JSDF - stops existing as an organized fighting force, its command chain severed completely, its communications down and the orders they received suddenly more than outdated.
All the warp scramblers were destroyed with them.
"Furnace successful." Nakahara speaks through the communication network to all the field commanders of the NVA spread throughout the Marukane Ward. "Phase Two starts now."
And it's going to be a worthy follow-up to the Furnace.
(***)
Seven Days Ago
"Once the Furnace is successful, we'll have to go all out immediately." Midoriya announces. "We have literally no time to waste, because we do not know when Invincible will arrive. As a result, our goal for the Phase Two will be to cause as much damage as possible to the 6th Division and kill as many SS-Rank heroes as we can before Invincible arrives."
The screen behind them changes, displaying the Marukane Ward, the assumed positions of the 6th Division and that of the New Vigilante Alliance.
Pretty much two lines, one red (for the Government) and one blue (for the NVA), going through the district parallel to each other. The positions of their artillery are marked as well, and so is their joint command post.
There are smaller blue lines behind the central and eastern parts of the NVA line.
"Once Phase Two starts, the frontline will be separated into three parts." Midoriya continues. "Right Flank…" He uses a laser pointer at the side NVA lines with no additional line behind them, closer to the central Korusan. "Center and Left Flank. Each part is going to be reinforced differently."
"Right Flank is going to be reinforced with PLF forces warped in by Cloud." Nakahara takes over. "Center will be reinforced by heroes freed from Tartarus, under Miruko and Ms. Joke. The Left Flank, in the meantime, will be reinforced by the Naruhata Vigilantes."
Both of the additional forces were already present in the Marukane Ward, explaining their presence on the map.
"We're going to go all out right from the start, taking full advantage of the enemy surprise and our sudden multiplication of S and SS-Ranked combatants." Midoriya adds. "As stated, we have no time to lose, forcing us to…"
"I have a question." Ryukyu cuts in. "All of that sounds pretty good, but what I get from it is 'we're going to throw our forces at the soldiers and heroes and hope that they break instantly'. This sounds like a horrible waste of human lives. And we don't even know if it will work."
Revenant nods. This is, honestly, the biggest flaw of the plan in its current form. He is also acutely aware of Nakahara drilling his head from the side with her rather intense glare. He mentioned in their face-to-face meeting what was going to happen, just without details. And she craved details.
"That's a perfectly valid worry." Midoriya replies calmly. "Thankfully, we're going to deal with most of the issues in question by sowing chaos among the heroes and the JSDF right after Furnace happens, chaos that will be then strengthened by sudden tripling of the enemy forces. As for the chaos in question…" Midoriya smiles. "... we'll achieve it by killing Saiko Intelli and her entire command staff right after Furnace happens."
(***)
Today
The lieutenant general in charge of the RDD was screaming into the radio. It was, honestly, a waste of time. The real-time satellite image made it clear that the RDD just ceased to exist. And no amount of frantic shouts could change that.
Sure, there were still thousands of its soldiers left, but they were skin and muscles of a body that lost its nervous system and the entire skeleton. It was going to crumble completely, especially if someone applied any pressure to it.
The warp scramblers were destroyed.
What was the NVA's goal? Opening themselves a way out of encirclement? Illogical. Destruction of the local NVA forces would cripple the organization, however, losing Gang Orca and Ryukyu would be the end of it.
They were, after all, Top Heroes from the last days of the Era of Peace. Their existence legitimized their entire movement. Their call to restore the Good Old Times meant something because they lived, fought and bled to keep the Good Old Times back in the day.
However, Ryukyu and Gang Orca were clearly fighting on the battlefield. And that left only one option.
The one that made Saiko Intelli's blood go cold.
They destroyed the Rapid Deployment Division to destroy the warp scramblers. And they destroyed the warp scramblers… to let the Paranormal Liberation Front in. While allowing Cloud to tactically reshuffle their forces around.
Marukane Ward was a trap. And the heroes just fell into it.
"Message to all governmental forces in the Marukane Ward." Saiko Intelli speaks to her staff. They will relay it properly. The 6th Division commander is glancing at her, surprised by her sudden involvement. "Paranormal Liberation Front is about to arrive to reinforce the NVA. Cease you advance, reinforce your positions and wait for Invincible to arr…"
Mindscape only survived it thanks to Slingshot. Her faithful first sidekick, and classmate from the Seiai Academy. Something made her realize what was happening a second or two before everyone else in the Command Center, Hotaru Chiba shouting a word of warning while tackling Saiko Intelli off the path of danger.
Saiko will never find out what made her realize it in time, because Slingshot was practically pulverized in the blast, together with a solid half of the people present in the command center. Saiko Intelli was sent flying, toppling a random desk over with her body.
Lieutenant General Arata Noya of the Rapid Deployment Division didn't even notice that an attack was happening, the man dying instantly. Lieutenant General Tetsuo Higuchi of the 6th Division was only narrowly more lucky, half of his body mangled beyond recognition, the man thrown to the side to the blast.
Intelli barely had the time to react before two more blasts annihilated two of the S-Rank heroes present in the command center, both of them barely having the time to realize that the attack happened.
Her eyes met those of the third of the S-Ranks. Airhammer looks surprisingly calm for a man that just killed twenty-something people, small balls of tumultuous wind raging in front of his palms.
Both of them pointing at Saiko Intelli.
She expected her entire life to flash before her eyes, but no. Instead, her final thoughts are those of big damn disappointment. At herself. Why was she even in the command center? She should have taken her family money, taken the contents of a few secret governmental black ops accounts she knew about, and then run out of the country.
Probably with Lemillion, then again, he would probably refuse. Wanting to stay in Japan until the bitter end.
Damn. She was really in love with him, wasn't she?
Then a miracle happens.
With a willpower beyond what the humans should be capable of, Lt. General Higuchi manages to raise his upper body up a little and point his gun at Airhammer. He is promptly annihilated by Airhammer's Double Air Blast, but by the time he points his arms at Intelli again, she isn't where he expected her to be.
Instead, she is much, much closer.
Seriously, the gall of people suspecting that with so many enemies Saiko Intelli didn't take some self-defense classes was just incredible. She lacked his quirk's additional power boost and defense improvement, but in terms of sheer close quarters skills, she was Lemillion's equal.
Just with some martial arts rather than boxing.
She only had a single shot at it, and she was going to make it count.
Airhammer tries to blast her with his quirk, but she deflects his hand at the last second, the blast tearing through mostly desert . Nasty uppercut to the jaw pushes his face upward, enough to not see what she was doing.
Then she puts a gun to his chin, the one small caliber pistol that she kept hidden in her sleeve with a small support item to push it into her hand when needed, and pulls the trigger.
The gall of people assuming that she was above carrying a gun, despite being rather squishy in general, was just as astounding as the one about the martial arts. She also had no moral qualms about mixing the two.
Airhammer falls backward with a loud thump, landing on the floor and staying there, unmoving.
It was a small caliber gun, so she makes sure that the issue is over by putting another bullet in his right eye.
The soldiers take that moment to barge in, responding to the brief battle right after it was over. She had so many goddamn questions about their security protocols, but no time to ask them.
"What h…" One of them asks Intelli, clearly surprised by the view.
"Treason." Intelli replies coldly. "I need to get to the reserve command center, now."
She'll mourn the death of her best friend later. For now she has a disaster to avert. Or, well, at least lessen the impact of.
(***)
Seven Days Ago
"Alright, one of her S-Rank bodyguards being a traitor does sound like it could work." Nakahara admits once the initial surprise is over. "But what if it doesn't work? We should prepare for the worst case scenario."
Honestly, understandable. Even if Midoriya thinks that it wasn't to be the case. Airhammer is a professional, and a veteran member of the MLA that spent years in hiding. His loyalty and dedication to the cause were as foolproof as his skills.
But, well. Better to prepare for the worst case scenario and never have to apply your preparations than to prepare only for the best case scenario and be surprised completely by a different course of actions.
"If he won't kill her, he'll at least injure her." Midoriya replies. "If he doesn't injure her, he'll at least trash her command center, forcing Intelli to waste precious time to relocate elsewhere. The only truly bad outcome has him somehow outed before the attack. If we see no damage to her command center on the satellite images, we'll assume that this was the outcome and we'll have Mastermind shell it."
Taking Feel Good Inc' satellites from orbit was a way too costly endeavor to everyone involved. They were still up there, Skeptic and Mechanist reconnecting to those of them that remained operational.
One of them was a reconnaissance satellite on the geostationary orbit above Japan. Even from beyond the grave, Re-Destro's caution and years-long preparations for the Second Meta-Liberation War were helping his heirs.
"That's… fair enough." Nakahara agrees with him. Unlike PLF's council before the Revival Celebration, the presence of a completely foreign and mostly hostile group keeps the crowd quiet, unless something really important is to be said. The scene belongs almost entirely to Nakahara and Midoriya. "With Intelli out of the picture, and the enemy command structure in disarray, it's going to be a free hunting season for SS-Rank heroes."
They can only hope that they'll get them all. And that they won't survive too many casualties while at it.
(***)
Today
The fight between Old Flame and Gang Orca was practically over, the Killer Whale Vigilante only standing up through sheer force of will. Most of the vigilantes supporting him were dead or too injured to fight.
Then again, Old Flame was badly exhausted as well, his body armor reduced to tatters, the man behind kept alive only by his Shock Absorption quirk, one that has clearly reached its limits.
Soldiers were kept from approaching, to give Old Flame's flame constructs a space to fight without risks of collateral damage. Gang Orca was basically encircled at this point, the tunnels he could use to escape collapsed.
That's when Crusader arrived at the battlefield, wearing a long black robe, with a white cross proudly emblazoned at the chest area. He even wears a great helmet, though like most of the more aesthetically outlandish helmets nowadays, it's bulletproof and with a lot of electronics inside.
The wielder of one of the mightiest strength enhancement quirks of modern age, one that made him stronger proportionally to how morally right he saw himself in the present circumstances. And one of the most dangerous SS-Rank heroes.
Old Flame sighs. It aggravates his clearly fractured ribs a little.
"It looks…" He says towards Gang Orca. "... like this fight is over."
"Yes." Gang Orca replies. His own ribs are alright, but the burns on his skin are rather horrible. What's not burned is dried. "This fight is most certainly over."
Crusader swings his fist. The final remnants of the Shock Absorption give up in an instant, Old Flame's head crushed completely, what's left of it slammed into the wall behind him. The man was dead in an instant, his nigh-headless body slumping to the ground. What's left of his brain splattered over Maki Kanai's fist.
He used to be Maki Yoshihiro. But having Mastermind as a brother and Purity as your mother ruined your future prospects when you actually wanted to be a hero.
A true hero, not whatever the fuck the Prime Minister did to the term nowadays.
It's not even a betrayal. He just never truly worked for that woman.
"Took you long enough." Gang Orca groans, his legs finally giving up. Before he falls to the ground, Crusader closes the distance and grabs him, before throwing him over his shoulder.
"Hold on, old man." Crusader then says. "We're going to go very fast. And pray that your side doesn't shoot us accidentally after seeing me carrying you."
Yeah, that would suck.
A moment later Crusader lifts off, intent on proving that jumping with enough strength is nigh-indistinguishable from flying.
(***)
Behemoth managed to take down Ryukyu right before the enemy reinforcements arrived, the woman unconscious and her transformation undone.
He paid for that with a lot of bites, but his secondary hyper-regeneration quirk dealt with them already.
Unfortunately, that's when things suddenly become complicated. Because that's when Crawler arrived. And unless Miyahira Juro was more forgetful than he thought, there was supposed to be no Crawler in the Marukane Ward.
Then again, judging from the sudden silence on the communication network, things weren't going up to plan.
Crawler simply floated there, in front of Behemoth and the local soldiers that were about to get Ryukyu evacuated properly. The gunfire is stopped by his shield.
Behemoth powers up his primary gigantification quirk. It doesn't make him as big as Mt. Lady (he is, what, five meters tall now), but it makes him significantly stronger. Add the variant on the Shock Absorption quirk, and…
… well, he might have been a bit of a discount noumu, skillset-wise. Shock Absorption + Hyper Regeneration were a bit of a bland combo. But it was working well enough, right?
It's pointless. Behemoth raises his hand, and the gunfire dies down.
"I assume…" The hero asks. "... that you aren't here to surrender."
"Since we've all come to Marukane Ward with intent to wipe out all the heroes, I get the feeling that surrendering before killing at least a few… dozen, would be counterproductive." Crawler replies calmly. "Do you want to know a fun fact about my quirk?"
Eh?
"You see, my attacks and shields are practically speaking intangible, if you exclude the fact that they repel foreign objects." Crawler speaks calmly. "However, they do not repel each other. It's entirely possible for two of my blasts to occupy the same point of space at the same time."
"What do you…" Behemoth tries to speak, but is interrupted.
Crawler raises his hand and points it at him. Seven simultaneous Shooty-Go-Kablams are fired from points around his finger. Despite losing one of his eyes, he trained a lot to make sure that the precision (the key part of this attack) was perfect.
Hundreds of hours of intensive training.
All seven Shooty-Go-Kablams hit Behemoth's forehead at the exact same place at the exact same time, their trajectories lined up perfectly. With seven times the usual impact strength, Shock Absorption fails to stop them.
They disperse once they reach Behemoth's brain, tearing it to mush. Then they fail to pierce the Shock Absorption-reinforced skull, some of them actually ricocheting in the skull cavity, destroying the brain completely.
Behemoth falls to the ground with a loud thump, killed instantly. The soldiers behind him frozen solid.
"I called it Shooty-Go-Kablam Bunker Buster Edition." Crawler sighs. "Developed to deal with Invincible if he ever cornered me, though I don't exactly expect him to stay in one place for as long as Behemoth did." The silence in front of him sometimes gets even fearful. "We aren't interested in taking prisoners today, but feel free to run away."
Not a lot of them manage to get anywhere else than early graves. Those that did, only managed it because Crawler decided to focus on evacuating Ryukyu.
(***)
Lemillion realizes that the situation is bad, when the command center goes quiet.
He doesn't have a lot of time to worry about Saiko (she can protect herself, she's no damsel in distress), before he realized that the situation wasn't just bad. It was downright disastrous.
Lemillion barely has the time to permeate in the floor before Songbird's sonic attack (Song of Disharmony, she would name it if she could speak) enveloped the entire JSDF column, carefully tailored sounds working as Brown Note.
Soldiers are thrown to the ground, vomiting or screaming, the sounds bouncing off the ruined building around them, amplifying the effects.
Lemillion calculated the trajectory perfectly, emerging from the floor only for his fist to hit Jirou's faceplate, the glass partially shattering.
He then vanished into the floor again, right before Biohazard's poisonous nails or Songbird's earphone jacks could end him.
With dozens of nigh-unconscious people behind him and two psychotic killers (not to mention who knows how many more PLF members) in front of him, it was going to be an ugly fight.
(***)
Revenant walks through Cloud's warpgate.
When he emerges on the other side, he gets to see a picture of total panic. That stops (to a degree) when they realize that Revenant himself has emerged from the warpgate.
It's quite an organized field hospital. A large building in Korusan, some open tents in front of it. A lot of soldiers, some of them injured, some of them on stretchers, some medical personnel around. Also, Molecular, an SS-Ranker, staring at him in shock.
"Hello there!" Midoriya smiles, his fingers pressing some buttons on a special glove, a result of Hatsume Mei's Ascension Project.
He has a lot of anger to vent out. Committing a war crime is a rather extreme way of doing it, but…
(***)
Less than ten minutes after the Furnace plan was executed, the Naruhata Vigilantes (following Behemoth's death and the panic among the 6th Division soldiers) broke the frontline between the 44th and 120th Infantry Regiment, beginning the process of the collapse of the now leaderless 6th Division.
Time until Invincible's arrival:
14 minutes and 59 seconds