The Downward Spiral Begins
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Hailstorm Vol. 2! We have an admittedly short chapter this time around but there's still plenty happening in it so feel free to get excited! And if you haven't already check out my book, Plains Riders, on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited! And for those wondering I am going to continue Spiral Flames In Lugnica I just need to get around to it. Finally, we appear to have no guest review questions this week so let's dive on in!
A Few Minutes Ago: Gunga Mountain Villa's Lower Levels
The building shook suddenly as Chimera looked up from the report he'd been given. "The heroes are attacking!" Yelled one of the Liberation members as they came running by, shouting the news as they went.
"Now that's some inconvenient timing," the cannibal commented as he tossed the report over his shoulder, "or is it?"
"You and I both know who's responsible for this," Dabi, who happened to be walking by, said. His demeanor was still calm, he hadn't even taken his hands out of his pockets.
"Then we'd better head up," Chimera replied while shifting his hands to that of giant monstrous claws, "you can go hunting. I'm better at digging so I'll lead what members I can out of the nearest alternate exit."
"They'll have heroes watching those places," the burnt villain warned.
"Oh I'm counting on it," the maneating villain replied with a wicked grin before the two parted company in opposite directions down the hallway. "After all, I've been waiting for another feast."
Present: Upper Floor of the Gunga Mountain Villa
"You," Dabi said as his expression became a mixture of annoyance and amusement, "one of the guys Shigaraki wants dead, Clay Cero, right?"
"It's 'Cirrus' to you," Clay replied as he formed more clouds over his hands and feet, "and you're Dabi, obviously."
"Okay 'Cirrus'," the pyro replied with an evil grin, "I just realized we've never actually spoken before."
"You think I much care what you have to say," the cloud wielder stated with a raised eyebrow.
"I think you'd care to know that that guy you just helped save, Hawks," Dabi said before pointing towards what Clay now saw was the body of the villain Twice, "killed my friend over there while he was running away."
"And I'm supposed to believe that ain't just another double," the U.A. student scoffed while Tokoyami looked on, crouching protectively over said hero.
"I don't want to believe it either but I saw it with my own eyes," Dabi confirmed, "Twice is dead as dead can be. His double making days are over and it's all thanks to that hypocritical 'hero' in the number two spot." He fully expected a reaction like what he'd gotten from the birdheaded student, shock and confusion. What he got instead was.
"So what," Clay said after a moment, "are you expecting me to feel bad about that or something?"
"Are you serious right now," the flame wielder asked in apparent astonishment, "the number two hero in the nation kills someone and you don't even bat an eye? Heroes are supposed to save people, help people, right?!"
"Exactly," the cloud user confirmed, his eyes narrowing beneath his mask, "Hawks probably just saved a number of lives by taking out Twice. He was among the bigger threats to my understanding and if the number two hero in all of Japan couldn't find a way to bring him down without killing him then there probably wasn't one."
"Wow, are you sure you're not a government agent like Hawks," Dabi asked with an amused smirk, "that's a surprisingly cold assessment coming from a highschooler."
"You're one to talk," Clay responded, "if I recall you've got a count of thirty confirmed murders of innocent people, give or take, some of whom probably begged you for their lives and yet you killed them anyway. Even more hilarious is you acting like we're to blame for things escalating to this point. Bullshit on both counts. 'You' are the ones who started this mess, 'you' are the ones who've turned this from a battle of heroes and villains into a war. And in war there are casualties. If you weren't ready for that then, like everything else so far, it's your own damn fault!"
The Cloud wielder leapt forward then, his quirk wrapping around his body as it became a spiraling attack headed straight for his opponent. "Spiral Charge!" He proclaimed.
"Annoying bastard!" Dabi exclaimed as he fired a blast of blue flame at his advancing opponent. The heat was intense, hot enough to burn away the clouds surrounding Clay's body. But it wasn't enough to stop the momentum as he again emerged from the flames and slugged the pyro across the face. Dabi staggered and tried lighting a flame in his left hand only for Clay to smother it with his clouds long enough to uppercut the villain before following up with a roundhouse that sent the villain stumbling into the wall.
"Tokoyami! Get Hawks out of here, I'll handle this!" The U.A. student said, not letting up as he batted aside a flaming counter swing, feeling the intense heat on his arm even through his costume, before punching the villain in the gut.
"But Clay," the dark shadow wielder started to say before being cut off.
"You came here to save him, right?" Clay reminded his friend while narrowly avoiding a flame aimed at his head, "finish what you started! I'll be right behind you!" It was clear Tokoyami had his doubts but eventually he summoned dark shadow and flew off using his Dark Fallen Angel technique, carrying Hawks as he did so.
Meanwhile, the bout between U.A. student and League member would continue for a few moments as Clay smothered Dabi's flames just enough to keep himself from getting burned before landing another blow on the fire user. "Piss off already!" The now angered villain spat as he kicked the younger man in the chest hard enough to knock him over.
Fortunately the cloud wielder remembered his training and rolled with the fall, quickly getting back to his feet in time to conjure his cloud greaves and jump backwards. No sooner had he done this than blue flames scorched the spot where he'd been. In the few moments he had while the flames were raging, Clay used the clouds on his feet and in his costume to flip over in midair and land on Dabi's left side, forming his cloud gauntlets as he did so. Just as the two were about to trade blows again, however, something unexpected happened.
A miniature iceberg exploded from the walls of the villa, its force sending both Clay and Dabi flying in different directions. "Shit," he cursed, righting himself in the air just in time to avoid Mt. Lady's giant form flying by him and landing on several trees. She wasn't seriously injured but it definitely looked like it hurt. 'Todoroki isn't here,' Clay recalled as he looked around and noted a figure in a blue parka with white hair standing on a higher part of the iceberg, 'so it probably means that guy right there has an ice quirk. Wonderful.'
"Clay," the voice of Tokoyami crackled over his earpiece.
"Fumikage," he responded while habitually holding a hand to his ear, "are you alright?"
"I'm fine, I made it out of there before that iceberg appeared," the dark shadow user replied, "I've got Hawks with me too but he's in critical condition!"
"Take him to the medical tents then," the voice of Fat Gum ordered over their earpieces, "as for you, Cirrus, consider your part done and then some. Tsukuyomi is safe so head back to the rearguard with the other students."
"You sure that's a wise idea," he asked, "I ran into Dabi just a minute ago so that probably means the rest of the league members are around here too."
"Let us worry about them," the fat hero stated, "our momentum hasn't been slowed that bad. We'll deal with this and make sure they all go behind bars this time." Clay couldn't help but have his doubts considering how many times the league members had evaded capture before. But taking a look at the battlefield with Mt. Lady back on her feet and the other heroes recovering it didn't seem like there'd be much more he could help with. "Acknowledged," he finally said, "I'm on my way back."
The cloud wielder turned and began his flight to the rearguard, purposely going slow in case he spotted a stray villain on the ground. Unfortunately, his earlier concerns would prove to be correct but in a different location. A short distance in the forest, another group of heroes stood guard around a sealed exit. "Edgeshot," the lead hero said into his earpiece, "are you needing reinforcements over at the villa?"
"Very soon," the shinobi hero replied, "if you've confirmed that no villains are capable of escaping the sealed exit then proceed towards the villa."
"Roger," the hero acknowledged before turning to his allies, "you heard the man. Let's make sure this place is locked down before we-BOOOOOM!" The entrance burst open as the head of a monstrous, fleshy snake lashed out and clamped down on the hero's upper body. In the next instant it was torn off as the large head retreated into the dust cloud that had been created from the entrance's destruction. The other gathered heroes were in shock for only a few moments before their training took over and they turned to face the new threat.
"For lord Chimera and lady Curious!" Shouted a liberation member as he and several others rushed the gathered heroes. The pros quickly moved to subdue them but were taken by surprise when the villains barreled into them, and exploded. The ground was covered in the blood of both liberation members and pro heroes alike then as the newest league of villains member and his lieutenant stepped out of the clearing dust cloud.
"'Lord Chimera'," the cannibal repeated with a tone of amusement in his voice, "that's got an interesting ring to it."
"I told you, didn't I," Curious purred as she patted the head of one of her shorter subordinates, "they are completely loyal to me and whomever I follow. And I've declared you my king."
"In that case, I've got a simple order for everyone," Chimera declared as he sprouted a scorpion tail from his back, "take 'em from behind!" This and the appearance of the ice-wielder liberation member was only the start. From this point on, everything began to spiral downwards. Because at about the same time in Jaku hospital, an awakening occurred.
Tomura Shigaraki, though he was supposed to be asleep and had had the tank holding him shattered, was awoken by a simple but powerful electric shock. From that small spark, awoke an engine of absolute destruction. And his first act upon awakening was unleashing the immensely enhanced power of his decay quirk. The destruction began at Jaku hospital and spread far, wide, and fast. In mere moments the lab beneath the hospital was destroyed and in hardly a minute, the hospital itself followed.
Cracks spread outward from the hospital and went down the street, up buildings, through cars, trains, telephone poles and turned even living things into dust just by touching it. If one were watching from a distance it would almost look like a slow moving bomb had gone off as structures collapsed and a massive dust cloud spread. For both hero and civilian alike there was only one thing they could do when faced with such power: run. And that's exactly what they did.
Endeavour's team rushed out with Ryukyu and the number one hero himself carrying as many people as they could into the air. When Midoriya's group noticed the destruction they tried to slow it with first Deku's quirk and then Todoroki's ice. It only served to slow it down somewhat before they too ran while evacuating as many civilians as possible. Flying, driving, running, even crawling, everyone did whatever they could to outrun the wave of decay until at long last it halted.
The result, was an entire third of Jaku city rendered into nothing but rubble and dirt. The one spot that remained, raisng up from the ground like a mesa, was the basement of the hospital where Shigaraki resided. It would be only a few short minutes after this that all hero teams received a chilling call. "Everyone, this is Endeavor!" Came the urgent voice of the number one hero over the communications network.
"I'm currently fighting Shigaraki in the remains of the hospital," he informed, "anyone who can move without touching the ground should come encircle it immediately!"
"Shit, so much for falling back," Clay commented as he turned his cloud towards Jaku city while also contacting his friends, "guys, I know you don't want to hear this but it sounds like I've got another job to do."
"But Clay, the pros are in that area," Jirou informed, "Endeavor should have backup already."
"Not by the sound of it," the cloud wielder replied, "I know you heard him loud and clear, he said 'anyone' who can move without touching the ground and I got that in spades."
"Oh fine, hurry your floating butt up and get over there then," Mina said in obvious frustration, "but you better come back in one piece, do you hear me?!"
"I wouldn't dream of making ya'll upset," Clay replied with an upbeat tone, "just remember to watch your backs too. I'll be back as soon as I ca-."
"I need to get it," Shigaraki's seemingly distant voice sounded over Endeavor's still open channel then, "One For All." The U.A. student felt the color drain from his face as he heard those words, only registering a few important details from the number one hero after that. 'He knows,' was his immediate thought, 'Endeavor just reported that he has multiple quirks which might mean he has locating and power identification quirks. Even worse, it means he has it, the power to steal others quirks: All For One.'
"FUUUUUUUUCK!" He exclaimed as he quickly shifted the shape of his clouds into a half-tube formation that he grabbed onto and situated himself in the prone position on. 'Cloud Vehicle Formation: Missile Variant!' The cloud blasted forward in a similar fashion to its namesake as Clay flew at the fastest speed he could go.
In truth he could technically push his clouds to go faster but when his own body was attached to said clouds that was ill-advised. And he'd never felt more irritated about that fact then right now. 'At my current fastest speed it'll only take me a couple of minutes to get to where Midoriya's team is at,' he mused, 'but naturally he's not going to stay put, he can't afford too.' "Midoriya," he called over his earpiece, remembering at the last second to use a private channel, "I know what you're thinking so tell me now, which way are you headed?"
"But Clay," he started to argue before being quickly cut off.
"Don't even start with me I'm already heading in your direction," the cloud wielder informed, "if it is as bad as we think then you're gonna need a ride and a fast one."
"You think you can outrun him, stormy," Bakugou's voice came over the line.
"I can fly higher and for a longer period than you can," Clay replied, "and I can still fight while transporting people so, I've got a better chance than you."
"Running isn't the plan," Midoriya revealed, "We need to get him someplace where there are no people."
"And somehow not die while fighting a newly enhanced villain with the power to, if the reports are accurate, level city blocks just by touching the ground," the cloud wielder surmised, "all in hopes that backup will get there in time. Other than being completely insane it's a sound plan."
"If you ain't got the balls for it then stay away," Bakugou quipped, "I'll blast that asshole to pieces whether you're here or not!"
"Now I know I need to get over there," Clay quipped back, "Midoriya's gonna need help when you get your ass kicked."
"I'll blast him to pieces without either of you!" the explosion quirk user yelled.
"We're heading southwest," the One For All holder informed, deciding it was best to get them back on track, "get here if you can but be careful."
"Same to you two," Clay replied as he changed direction with a bit of difficulty due to his speed. 'Let's see if I 'can' get there in time.'
Gunga Mountain Villa: Rearguard Location in the Forest
'Shit,' Slade thought as the color drained from his features, 'shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIIIIIITTT!' "Slade," Momo's voice broke him from his thoughts as he nearly jumped, "is everything alright?"
"That depends on how the situation goes from here," he replied after taking a breath, "but things definitely aren't great right now."
"It's not the situation I was asking about," she clarified, "are 'you' alright? You've gone pale, Slade?"
"It's just," the density shifter tried to think of what to say, "you heard Endeavor just now. Whatever they did to Shigaraki at that hospital, he's stronger than ever before. If they can't contain him-."
"They'll contain him," Momo said with certainty, "this is one of the biggest hero operations in years. The top heroes, their sidekicks and many others have joined together to bring down this threat. They even put their faith in us to do our parts so we need to have faith that they'll do theirs."
"I know it's just," 'that the power of All For One might be on the loose right now,' "we don't know what he's capable of now. It's just, hard not to be a little nervous, I guess." Slade hated the fact that he was still lying to his girlfriend, but right now anything that might mess with their focus wasn't a good idea to bring up. More than likely, though, he was gonna have a couple questions that would need answering later.
"What do you think he meant, though," Jirou spoke up, "what's 'One For All' supposed to be?" 'Of course you heard that part clearly,' Slade thought as he tried not to sigh. But before anyone else could comment on the situation an unsettling crunching sound attracted their attention. As the two classes of 1A and 1B turned towards the disturbance, something came rolling out of the bushes.
"SHROOOOOOOMMMM!" Kinoko yelled out in horror as she realized what it was: the severed head of one of the heroes who'd been with their group until a couple minutes ago. They'd departed to reinforce the evactuation group while a couple had gone to investigate a report that one of the entrances might be compromised. It appeared the report had been accurate.
"Now this is a surprise," the newcomer villain mused aloud as he exited the bushes, "U.A. sending in so many students on an operation? I guess they got a confidence boost in you after that Shie Hassaikai business." He was an individual with dirty brown-red hair who stood as tall as Iida with a black costume decorated with red, insectoid like lines on his arms, snake patterns on his legs and a lion symbol on his back. He also had a black, red-lensed mask that covered his eyes and nose. But even that couldn't hide the obvious look of maliciousness in his eyes.
"W-Who are you," Mineta asked, trying and miserably failing to hide his shaking.
"Ah right," the man realized, "I've spent a good amount of time learning about all of you but we've never actually met." He reached down and picked up the hero's head, removing the mask that was still on it. "I am Chimera, the newest member of the League of Villains. Some of you may know the urban legend," he bit off part of the face then, "that I'm something of a cannibal."
"HE'S GONNA EAT US!" Mineta and Kaminari exclaimed while grabbing ahold of each other.
"You two are safe," Chimera commented while pointing at them, "sticky balls are hard to swallow and electric types have never gone down right. I'll just kill you instead."
"Oh good we're-HE'S STILL GONNA KILL US!" The duo yelled as Slade, Shoji and Kendo stepped forward.
"You realize you're taking on the majority of Class 1A and all of Class 1B," the density user pointed out, "and it's our job to stop any villain that gets this far. League of Villains member or not, those aren't good odds for you."
"Maybe, maybe not," Chimera replied with a smirk as he pulled the earpiece out of the head he was holding, "I happened to be listening in with one of these and I just heard Shigaraki is awake. And if that's true, it's only a matter of time before the whole situation shifts. So until then, I think I'll see just how I measure up against the famous students of U.A." He dropped the head and crouched down then with one hand on the ground as a pair of fleshy lion heads emerged from his back. "Now who wants to be first?!"
Jaku City: Destroyed Section
'Nearly there,' Clay thought as he converted his cloud back to it's regular riding state and stood up, 'as much as I hate it I have to slow down so that I can spot them easier. I'll need to check in before-.' A sudden jolt of electricity sparked in his earpiece, killing any and all transmissions he was about to send or receive. "What in the-Midoriya, Midoriya can you hear me?!" The only response he got was static, as if some kind of interference had just taken place.
'Outstanding, Shigaraki must have a quirk for jamming radio signals too,' the U.A. student surmised, 'the only thing I can do now is try to spot them from the air.' A task that would turn out not to take as long as he expected. It was only a few minutes of searching before he spotted Bakugou's telltale explosions propelling him through the air and the green lightning of Midoriya's full cowling. "Perfect," he said, "looks like I got here just in-BOOOOOOOM!"
Something impacted on the ground in front of the two U.A. students, kicking up a cloud of stone dust in the process. As it cleared, everyone's eyes widened in horror. An ominous presence filled the air now, one exactly like what they'd felt at Camino Ward, only this time it came from a more familiar face: Tomura Shigaraki. "It's echoing….inside my head," he said as he slowly reached towards the green-haired boy, "give me…One For All…..Izuku Midoriya."
Shigaraki is back, badder and nastier than ever! And with his awakening we'll be seeing more than a few new problems cropping up for our heroes. In the next chapter, of course, so in the meantime feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Also, don't forget to check out my book, Plains Riders, on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited! And, naturally, feel free to stop in next time as Clay and his friends are confronted with the threat of one who possesses the power of All For One! 'Til then.
