Open The Gates of Tartarus
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Hailstorm Vol. 2! Today a battle concludes but will it be the end of the war? We'll find out soon enough, and speaking of finding things out did you all know I have a Pat reon now? That's right, if you like what I do you can help support it now by becoming a patron at one of three tiers, each of which gives you a certain level of access to where I'm at on story writing and other events going on behind the scenes! Just visit the website and type 'maskedspider' at the end of it. Now then, I've kept y'all waiting long enough for this one and with no guest review questions this week, let's dive on in!
The Ruins of Jaku City
The shockwave was powerful, hitting everyone like a hurricane force wind. Both Clay and Dabi were sent flying in different directions before using their quirks to keep themselves from flying off even further. 'That attack,' the cloud wielder realized in horror, 'I thought his body couldn't handle using air cannon anymore?' It was basically the truth.
The short time Shigaraki's body had been immobile while everyone else was occupied allowed All For One to recover some use of his quirks. But his use of Air Cannon and Radio Wave just now had undone most of that recovery, rendering him basically helpless even if he was conscious. That's why he'd done the one thing he knew would keep the battle from being a complete loss: called upon all nearby Nomu to retrieve him, what League members they could, and withdraw.
The first signs of this came when said Nomu all turned from their fights with the U.A. students and sped towards the comatose Machia. Best Jeanist obviously wouldn't allow this and used what cables he had left to wrap up the half dozen genetic monsters attempting to rescue their master. The radio wave didn't just reach those Nomu, however, it reached every active Nomu left in the ruins of the city. Hardly a minute passed before more came running, all sporting various strange body types and quirks.
Dabi, for his part, flew down towards Machia and unleashed his flames, forcing away Mirio and Slade. Clay charged in next with Todoroki right behind him. The cloud wielder used Humming Stratus to send multiple blades at the pyro who quickly burned them away with a wave of his flame covered hand. Yet it still succeeded in giving Todoroki an opening as he moved in and slugged his older sibling with an ice-covered punch.
Before he could do more another Nomu came in and tackled him, forcing Clay to divert and use what clouds he could spare to decapitate the monstrosity. This moment of distraction would still cost them, however, as another Nomu swooped in to grab Dabi. Spinner and Skeptic were also being carried off by the genetically altered beings. As for All For One himself, Chimera managed to slip through and grab ahold of him, soaring into the air as fast as his bat-like wings would carry them.
Dabi made sure any attempts to follow them weren't going to happen as he blasted one final huge wall of flame at the group, causing them all to scatter. All of them, except for Izuku Midoriya. Some way somehow, the One For All holder managed to fire off a final Black Whip tendril from his mouth, a move he called 'Froppy Style', which wrapped around Chimera's leg. "Your tenaciousness is at least comparable to All Might's," All For One commented with amusement while watching the U.A. student attempting to reel himself in closer, "let us meet again when this body is complete, useless Izuku Midoriya."
"SHUT IT ALL FOR ONE!" He shouted as best he could while having a quirk shooting out of his mouth.
"Farewell for now," the villain was no doubt smiling underneath the hand covering his face, "Chimera, if you would."
"Later shrimp," the cannibal quipped before growing a spiny tail that slashed at the whip on his leg, severing the quirk and sending Midoriya falling to the earth below. Much like his opponent, the green-haired boy had used the last remnants of energy in his body to produce his froppy style attack and this time he couldn't stave off the wave of unconsciousness that was falling over him. But, as seemed to be his fate, Clay just managed to catch him with one of his clouds as he'd caught many others before finally floating down to earth himself and collapsing to his knees in exhaustion. The cloud wielder had intentionally been producing clouds from his wounds in order to staunch some of the blood loss from them but the continued use of his quirk over such a long period of time had served to exhaust his body's resources.
Like nearly everyone else he was in no condition to pursue the fleeing mastermind any further. Only Slade remained standing after everything, his body beaten and bruised but still functional. Yet he didn't feel the least bit fortunate because all he could do was watch the League escape once again, his fists and teeth clenched in pure frustration. The battle may have been over, but Shigaraki's escape ensured the war would continue.
Nighttime: Central Hospital
Things were bad. Clay, Slade, the rest of Class 1A and all the other participating U.A. students knew that. But it wasn't until reading the official report compiled by the Public Safety Commission that they realized just how bad. To start with, the Public Safety Commission itself had managed a pretty big fuckup before the ball even got rolling. The organization had apparently invited Re-Destro, head of the company Detnerat and former leader of the Superhuman Liberation Front, over to their headquarters with the false promise of a joint venture in order to trap him.
A good idea in theory but the execution was sloppy, to say the least. For one, the chairwoman, in apparent overconfidence or lack of foresight, decided it was a good idea for her to be there personally instead of just sending the commission agents to storm the room the moment Re-Destro had made himself comfortable. The result, she lost her life in the ensuing struggle to apprehend the Paranormal Liberation Front Lieutenant who turned out to be just a double Twice had created in case things went south. This turn of events left the Public Safety Commission in disarray as they scrambled to reassemble the chain of command.
Despite this turn of events, the raid on Jakku hospital and the Gunga Mountain Villa proceeded. It was confirmed that Hawks had indeed cornered Jin Bubaigawara, otherwise known as Twice, and attempted to subdue him to keep his quirk from influencing the battle with a sudden influx of numbers. Due to Dabi's interference, however, the number two hero was forced to take the only opening he could find and killed Twice before getting heavily injured himself. His efforts likely kept the battle from turning uglier than it could've been, but things took a turn for the worse anyway.
The awakening of Tomura Shigaraki, or rather All For One within the body of Shigaraki, with his newly enhanced and implanted quirks reaped destruction throughout Jakku city and his order that moved Gigantomachia into battle turned the tide at the villa. The giant was forcibly fed anesthetics part way through the battle thanks to the efforts of U.A.'s work study students, but it didn't prevent him from barreling through multiple cities and rejoining his master. One disaster that was avoided, thanks to Slade Mason, was the disruption of Dabi's attempt to broadcast his true identity as Toya Todoroki, the son of Endeavor, to the world along with footage of Hawks killing Twice. The Public Safety Commission's cyberwarfare division was currently working overtime to ensure Skeptic wouldn't be able to hack into anything and attempt to broadcast the footage again. If they were lucky, though, the hard drive/disk containing the video was destroyed when the laptop got smashed.
Still, the battle would've been an eventual bloodbath if not for the intervention of Best Jeanist and LeMillion along with the timely effect of the anesthetics Machia had ingested putting the beast down for the count. In the end the battle was won, but Shigaraki's escape with seven Near High End Nomus, Chimera, Spinner, Toga, Skeptic and Dabi meant that a very grave threat was still at large. Interestingly, despite the roll the work study students played in the raid and evacuations the only mention of them was that all the heroes questioned denied their participation. But Clay and the other U.A. students weren't really worried about recognition right now.
In truth, they'd gotten quite a fair bit so far in their first year at U.A., more than they probably needed. But even if they had been mentioned, Clay doubted anyone would've thought too much about it once the after-action report came out. In it was listed the results of the raid: Garaki Kyudai, head of Jaku General Hospital and secret right-hand man of All For One was arrested for his countless crimes of inhumane experimentation, aiding criminals, illegal lab construction, etc. The giant, Gigantomachia, was captured and moved to a very secure facility meant to contain something of his size.
Mr. Compress was arrested and is currently undergoing medical treatment for his self-inflicted wounds. All but seven of the Nomu in Garaki's lab had been either killed or captured and what equipment that wasn't destroyed was excavated and taken in for examination. As for the Paranormal Liberation Front, their leader, Rikiya Yotsubashi or Re-Destro, was captured. In addition, all of the lieutenants, save for Skeptic, were captured.
As for the Liberation members themselves, 16,929 were captured by the end of the battle including the ones at all other branches throughout the country along with the heroes that supported them. However, 132 members did manage to escape by following along the path of Gigantomachia's rampage and are currently still on the run. For most, that was where the report ended. But for those in the know, who were allowed to hear about the damage incurred during the operation, the picture was far more grim.
It was for that reason that Clay and Slade were both already up and walking out of their hospital rooms. 'I have to know,' they thought, 'I don't want to read it from some report. I have to hear it, see it for myself.' The duo knew they needed to move quickly before the staff noticed they were gone.
In all honesty, Slade could basically be discharged at this point anyway given the low number of injuries he received during the fighting. It was Clay who needed to lay back down and rest. The minor burns he'd received from Dabi along with the numerous cuts caused by All For One's stabbing tendrils were all relatively minor, individually. Stack them all on top of each other and add exhaustion from extended fighting and quirk use plus near dehydration and it was a recipe that would have any doctor telling him to take at least a day or two of rest before leaving the hospital.
But he was restless and so was Slade, enough that the threat of a scolding or lecture from the medical staff wasn't about to stop them. Fortune, or what might be seen as misfortune later, smiled upon the two of them as three figures turned the corner they were heading towards: Jirou, Momo, and Mina. "Clay! Slade!" The trio exclaimed before Momo threw herself into Slade's arms while Mina and Jirou did the same with Clay. They'd clearly been crying recently, a lot.
"You're all safe," Clay breathed out in relief as he and Slade hugged the girls back.
"We've been reading the report," Slade continued, "what happened after we left the villa?"
"Clay," Jirou sniffed while looking him in the eye as a couple tears fell on her hospital robe, "Miss Midnight. I don't know what happened, one minute we were talking to her on the radio and then…."
"We found her and…there was nothing we could do," Mina continued while choking back a sob, "she's gone. Midnight sensei…is gone." What little control she had left crumbled before she buried herself in Clay's chest, her body shaking as she sobbed. Jirou wasn't doing any better, tucking herself beneath his arm while her own tears flowed.
"That's not all," Momo continued for them, "Slade. Majestic…...he tried to stop Machia with the others. He…..he was mortally wounded and…" She couldn't finish the explanation, covering her eyes as she began to cry uncontrollably. Instinctively, the duo enveloped their girlfriends in a hug, trying their best to comfort them. It was difficult, especially when they felt tears of their own pouring down their faces.
'Midnight Sensei,' Clay thought as memories of the heroine played out in his mind, 'even if your methods were a bit odd, we still learned a lot from you, things we'll never forget.' Slade was having similar thoughts about Majestic. Even if he'd only known the man for a short time, he'd found him to be a good judge of character and a courageous individual worthy of the title of 'hero'. He and Midnight were some of the hardest hitting losses for the U.A. students but far from the only. Numerous heroes had lost their lives during the raid, and it would affect the direction of the country more than any of them could anticipate.
About the Same Time: Tartarus Prison
With the emergence of quirks decades ago countless changes and adjustments had to be made throughout the world. One of the big concerns was what to do with quirk-wielding villains once they were captured? Obviously you couldn't hold someone with immense strength, the ability to fire lasers or shift their body in an ordinary prison but you also couldn't just execute someone if the crime they were committing didn't warrant such a penalty. Thus was the birth of counter-quirk prisons.
The title itself was self-explanatory: these prisons invested in the latest in quirk suppression and security in order to confine villains. In Japan, the highest maximum-security prison for the most dangerous of criminals was known as Tartarus. Much like the old American prison, Alcatraz, it was located on an island five kilometers off of the mainland. And as advertised for a counter-quirk facility, It was fully equipped for monitoring each and every inmate with various defenses tailored to their specific quirks.
Its blocks were divided into six different groups, each one determined by the danger posed by a quirk and the severity of the crime. Naturally each block was lower and lower underground, hence the name Tartarus along with its nickname, the Darkside of Quirk Society. Its reputation was such that some rumors claimed you won't come back out alive once you go in. With all that in mind, it was hardly surprising that this was the place where they were holding All For One, or rather, All For One's true body.
And they were about to break into the place. Chimera couldn't help but smirk a bit at the irony as he viewed the prison from his position in the air. "Do you find this as entertaining as I do, Chimera," the distorted voice of All For One asked, the villain himself standing atop a flying Nomu. The cannibal honestly found it amazing he could even move with his body looking as battered as it was, but then again this was the most feared villain in the world they were talking about so perhaps it wasn't so surprising.
"Just thinking how funny it is," he answered, "I've done my best to avoid being thrown into places like this. Now here I am diving headlong into the most secure prison in Japan."
"No need to worry," Shigaraki/All For One assured, "I've already got a plan. So long as you're heading in the general direction of, well me, go wild."
"Say no more," Chimera smiled evilly before diving down to the top of one of the buildings. For once he thanked the presence of rain for helping to mask his movement and slinking around in the shadows was something he'd learned years ago roaming the streets. As for locating the front gate, that was easy enough given that it was guarded by two large, multi-armed dudes with handheld gatling guns and a small army of square shaped robots sporting their own assortment of firearms. 'Alright boss, what's your move?'
It turned out to be one of the most straightforward things imaginable: the Near High Ends charged the gate. The drones and two guards reacted almost instantly, firing their machine guns and blanketing the whole area in front of them in a storm of bullets. Against one or even a couple of Nomu this might've been effective but against seven it was practically useless, especially when one of the High Ends happened to have a quirk to project a shield around itself and the others. Even worse for the guards, the Nomu that could were still able to fire projectiles out of the barrier.
'Surprisingly simplistic approach for a schemer like All For One,' the cannibal mused before shrugging and leaping down to the back line of the robots. He gave them no time to react, growing multiple giant tendrils which ended in spiked clubs that he whipped around in front of him. The surprised machines couldn't react fast enough with several being sent flying into the walls and other parts of the facility before they could even fire back. The melee quickly turned one-sided after that with the Nomu closing the gap and falling on the one remaining multi-armed guard and robots.
"What a letdown," the possessed Shigaraki commented while approaching the main door, "I'd expected at least a couple more powerful guards, oh well." He raised his hand up and fired an enhanced Air Cannon, blasting the door to pieces. The villain's disappointment would be short-lived, however. The alarms sounded all throughout the facility and the guards in the control room activated the full range of the prison's security systems.
Some of those measures proved to be quite surprising. For starters, the bridge connecting the island to the mainland was dropped into the sea, a potential problem for those that couldn't swim so well. But the real kicker was the astonishing range of drone variants that were summoned. There were drones with two rotary fans and top mounted turrets, hawklike drones that flew in like miniature fighter jets and even drones that were a couple stories tall, greatly resembling the zero-pointers from U.A.
"I don't say it often boss," Chimera commented, "but be careful what you wish for." A real battle started from there. The flesh beast wielder took to the air with All For One riding on one of the winged Nomu close behind. Gunfire and missiles filled the night sky, forcing them to maneuver and evade almost constantly before swooping in and tearing through a group of drones in what would quickly become a repetitive battle of hit and run. The other Nomu naturally engaged the army of drones too and ripped them apart one after the other with their numerous quirks.
The problem was, there were just so damn many! 'It really is like the underworld in a way,' Chimera mused, spinning and flipping in the air while whipping multiple scorpion tails in all directions, 'we came encroaching on the Shinigami's domain and now he's sent every last one of his servants after us.' In truth, a facility like this would've been difficult for even Machia to break into. A point which was made clear when Shigaraki leapt down and used Decay to destroy an entire watchtower and much of the ground beneath it.
When he came back up, his right arm was bloody and not because it was covered in someone else's blood. "This place has certainly earned its reputation," All For One noted while looking at his injured limb, "it's not only difficult to breakout but it's decidedly hard to break in."
"I'm guessing there's a reason you can't just Decay yourself all the way down to your body," the cannibal surmised.
"The interior probably wouldn't hold up to the water pressure and this body doesn't have the strength to reach all the way down there even if it did," his boss replied, "not to mention, we need as many villains alive as we can get to either run amok or control for ourselves."
"So what's our alternative?" Chimera inquired while slicing through another couple of flying drones.
"Breaking in or out is hard on its own," All For One stated before holding out his hand, "but what happens when it's both at the same time?" He unleashed a powerful EMP from his hand which washed over the entire aboveground complex. Multiple lights and electrical devices, including drones, went dead almost instantly in response. It wasn't enough to shut off everything, as noted by the guards who still had power in the control room.
But that was where phase two of the villain's plan came in. Just as the surveillance system shut down, All For One's true body unleashed another EMP attack which spread throughout the entire bottom section of the facility. The safety features on the electronic locks activated once the power went out, opening all the cell doors, including All For One's. The old saying is one can't be in two places at once, but in this case that's exactly what was happening.
An All For One breaking in and another breaking out from below along with a flood of villains yearning for freedom who could now freely use their quirks once again. The suppression troops covered in tactical gear moved in with both firearms and their own quirks but with no security system to back them up along with the power and ruthlessness of their opponents it was a losing battle. Explosions started erupting across the facility one after the other as destruction reigned and before long much of the island was in flames. The villain's advance was only halted when they realized one minor problem.
"There's no bridge! We can't get across!" Multiple inmates exclaimed while viewing the empty space that once had a connection to the mainland.
"Of course not," Chimera called before landing, "that's why they call it 'maximum security'."
"Who the fuck are you," asked a large blond villain with a body covered in muscle fibers, "you better not be screwing with us!"
"Oh right, guess we never did meet did we, Muscular," the cannibal villain recalled before holding out his hand, "but I bet you remember this guy." The muscle fiber villain's eyes widened as he looked up to see his former boss.
"Friends," Shigaraki said in his distorted voice while dropping down onto an upraised platform, "follow me if you wish to leave this place." This statement certainly sparked a note of recognition in the villain's eyes before All For One's real body, no less intimidating despite his torn prison garments and floating life support system, stepped up next to Shigaraki. "I want you to watch by my side in the void era that's about to begin, where a more perfect demon lord will be born. Indeed, this is the story of how I become the greatest Demon Lord!"
Chimera worried his face would get stuck in the permanent evil smile it was in. As always, he didn't really care what the state of society was as long as he got to eat his fill. But even he had to admit it'd be a lot easier with a ton of villains running amok, and if any of them got any funny ideas about trying to take out his boss, he'd just eat them too. The cannibal kept such thoughts in mind as they continued on to the next prison and the prison after that.
In a matter of one night, seven prisons were assaulted by them with six possessing a large population of criminals that were unleashed onto the country. The following days would be the most chaotic the country had seen in decades.
Two Days Later: Central Hospital
'Damn, what a shitshow,' Clay thought while looking at the latest news on his phone. All For One knew the state of things wasn't great for either of them, that's why he'd released the prisoners from those six prisons. With a hundred and forty-six heroes injured and others having lost their lives in the previous operation the current active heroes had their hands full trying to contain the sudden crime wave. The worst part was this was no doubt just a distraction to give All For One time to heal his body. But even if it wasn't it was still a mess, much like the occupant in the room he was currently standing outside of.
The cloud wielder glanced in Todoroki's room where Momo, Mina, Kirishima and some of the others were comforting the dual quirk user to see how he was doing. Sure, he and Slade had shrugged off the revelation of Dabi being Endeavor's son because that's what they'd needed to do at the time, but it would be far harder for his actual family members to process such a thing. Speaking of which, a trio of people were approaching now with some familiar features. "You're Clay Cero, aren't you," asked the lead person, a girl with glasses and shoulder length white hair sporting red highlights. Behind her was an older boy with short white hair, but most surprising was the woman with long white hair standing in the back.
"Yeah that's me," he replied while putting his phone up, which was slightly difficult with the pockets on the hospital gown he was wearing, "you three must be his siblings and mother."
"We are, I'm Fuyumi, this is Natsuo and Rei," the glasses wearing girl introduced, "do you know how Todoroki is doing?"
"He's awake," Clay answered, "he got burnt up pretty bad in the fight so don't be surprised if he can't say a whole lot right now. Good news is his recovery is progressing well, all things considered."
"That's a relief," Natsuo breathed out, "are visitors being let in right now?"
"Go right ahead," the U.A. student encouraged, "a few other members of the class are already in there. I've just been hanging out because there's not a lot else I can say that hasn't already been said."
"You could do one thing," Fuyumi informed, "If you see your friend, Slade Mason, could you thank him for us? I'd…rather not think about what might've happened if that video had gotten out."
"A matter like that isn't something the whole country needs to be in on," Clay replied, "it's a matter between heroes, villains and family. Slade might've known that but in case he didn't I'll be sure to pass along your thanks to him."
"We'd appreciate it," Rei said before the three of them entered Todoroki's room. That was Clay's cue to move on down the hallway towards Bakugou's room. His tall friend had stationed himself there for when the hotheaded blond woke up. He'd likely have to restrain him once he heard the news about Midoriya. Not that Clay would actually blame him for his reaction this time.
For whatever reason, be it the severity of his injuries, extremely overexerting himself, or something beyond that, Midoriya still hadn't regained consciousness in the last two days. It was more than a little concerning that the doctors couldn't seem to pinpoint the exact reason why he hadn't woken up yet. That, however, would be a problem he'd have to wait on investigating. The reason being was that Hawks and Best Jeanist of all people stepped out from a turn in the numerous hallways to greet him.
"A matter the whole country doesn't need to be in on," the formerly winged hero paraphrased, "I hate to say it, but the Public Safety Commission would probably enjoy having a guy like you in its ranks."
"Guess they require a meaner breed of hero," Clay commented, "is that your way of attempting to recruit me?"
"No, recruitment isn't really my job," Hawks assured with a closed eye smile that was difficult to see due to the medical mask he was currently wearing, "Jeanist and I actually have a couple questions we were hoping you could answer."
"You mean something that wasn't already asked during the official debrief," the hero in training questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Given that it's something even we weren't aware of, we thought it best to keep this between as few people as possible for now," Jeanist explained, "I believe the answering of the first question, however, will shed the most light on everything else. Please tell us, Clay Cero, what is One For All?"
'What is One For All?' That's a question Clay and the others are going to be getting frequently in the next few chapters. But with a new wave of crime happening will they even have time to answer any questions? We'll find out in the next chapter, so in the mean time feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to swing by my Pat reon and think about becoming a patron while you're at it too. Finally, stop in next time as Clay and Slade are confronted with what they should now do with their knowledge of All For One! 'Til then.
