Chapter 143 - Blood Binding Perfection
|Siege Engine Collision - 01:15:27|
Chaos erupted down the hexagonal corridor as molten metal tore through the hallway as Toga narrowly dove around the next corner, seeing metal plates and wires swept up by the blast behind her. She waited, leaping back as sword swung around the corner, nicking a few strands of hair before she dove into a roll backward from another point blank blast of slugs from the shrapnel launcher.
The three-armed Captain, Avarokk the Disciple, drew his sword forward again, his blade pushed aside by Toga's knife. In a lightning-fast reflex, her own arm swung up, slicing the cylinder off the Fallen's left cheek as he snarled, kicking her down the hallway as a long tongue swept forward, curling around his wrist to disarm him of his sword. But he raised his launcher again as something touched his thigh in passing. Toga smirked, she knew hiding Ochaco in the vent was a good idea.
"I got him!" Ochaco yelled as she shoved the Captain toward the ceiling as they ran for the nearest doorway with Toga blowing a raspberry back at the enraged Splicer. Only for her eyes to widen as he pivoted his arms, firing a stream of slag behind him until his large, weightless body slammed into the girls, throwing them into the next room.
He had used his large body to throw them all into what could only be assumed to be a factory floor, the humidity skyrocketed, and the whole wide chamber was cast in a harsh orange glow as they scrambled off the catwalk to avoid the shrapnel that ate into the metal, splitting Ochaco and Toga from Tsu. Avarokk chuckled, NARA evolving to counteract Ochaco's gravity to fix his feet to the catwalk with each step. "Your tricks are very poorly matched; Frog, Gravity, and Mimicry of the two, not a wide verity," Avarokk shot toward Tsu who hopped away to hide behind some the machines and devices that poked between the catwalks, the support chains rattling as the Fallen stomped toward her.
"Hey, give me a boost," Toga barked a little too harshly at Ochaco, the brunette slapped the blonde's hand, sending her over the wide gaps before releasing her. Toga dived down only to gasp as she was struck in the stomach, but still managed to toss three throwing knives into Avarokk's face, blinding his right side as Tsu wrapped her tongue around his arm flailing the shrapnel launcher around, pulling it down.
Clutching Avarokk's arm, Toga recovered and drew her knife through his wrist, twisting at a sharp angle to tear the limb from its socket as he screamed, stomping the ground with enough force to dislodge many of the catwalks into swaying by only their chains, some splitting into smaller, swinging sections as the two girls flew back from the force. The Splicer caught Tsu's tongue, then yanked back, drawing her into his regenerated fist as she croaked in pain, having been struck in the stomach.
"I hear you humans like to dissect frogs, wonder how much fun that'll be with one as big as you?" He muffled his laugh, bringing his arm up to choke her tightly. Behind him, his arm moved on its own, drawing his launcher at Toga who attempted to move in his blindspot. "Want to play hero? Here's your chance," She froze, seeing the cherry-red liquid dripping from the jaws of the weapon. "You evade and I break her neck, you stand and take this shot to the face, thereby melting flesh and bone from your shoulders, and she goes free as a result. You choose?"
Then he shook his head with a low chuckle at her hesitant look, tightening his hold on Tsu's throat as she struggled to breathe. "Hahaha... you won't, because that means you'll die. You claim to care about them but when your own life's on the line, you turn and run to save yourself, I bet even if you were still on our side you'd run when things seemed hopeless, you haven't changed at all!" He leaned forward, the harsh glow making his glowing blue eyes stand out. "You lie, steal, cheat, and survive. That is all you'll ever be."
Toga gave no verbal reply, but her glare could send shivers down the most frightening of monsters' backs, but Avarokk wasn't anything that resembled flesh and blood, something Toga smiled at. "You keeping going on and on about how I'm pretending to be a hero, that I can never redeem myself or whatever," She tapped her knife to her chest. "I'm not askin' for your approval, nor anyone else's, I'm doing things my own way, and right now, you're threatening someone precious to me, even if that don't make sense at all!" Her words managed to strike a cord in both Ochaco and Tsu. Avarokk only listened silently as the crazy blonde stuck her head straight in front of the weapon, eyes burning with the fires of hell. "But let me be crystal clear. If you fucking miss, I'll make you regret ever touching Tsu, Ocha, Izuku, and Yuyu!"
He didn't pull the trigger so Toga stepped forward again, and his right foot shifted slightly. Toga's fangs were on full display when he did, and a single, childish laugh escaped her. The catwalk they stood on groaned, and the one section they stood on collapsed, right above a large vat filled with molten metal. In one move, Toga dove forward, shoving her knee against Avarokk's face to reach forward and slash the hand grasping Tsu's throat.
The two girls tumbled atop one another, with Toga flashing a winning grin. "Thanks for that, Toga, ribbit,"
"Hehe, anytime, Tsu!" Toga hopped back, wincing when she felt a few burns on her cheeks from standing too close to the launcher. Unfortunately, Ochaco wrapped around the catwalks, waving her arms.
"Move, quickly!" She then pointed at the various catwalks now swaying in the air above the ground or other vats of scorching metal. Quickly, the pair ran and leapt to each set like a swing, hearing some of them fall under the weight as they drew closer to Ochaco. Suddenly, after leaping over the last gap, something hot burned around Toga's ankle, forcing her to cry in pain as she was thrown onto the catwalks across the chamber away from the two heroes.
A hand pulled itself up from the ledge in front of Toga who winced from the chain-shaped burns around her right leg as that same chain was cast aside by a hand dripping in molten metal. Avarokk trembled with pain and fury, NARA worked to cool the liquid metal down as it dripped with every step he took. "You... are a very... disrespectful young lady...!" He snarled, wrapping a red-hot chain around his lower right arm while levelling his slag-covered Shrapnel Launcher.
"New look really brings out the ugliness in your eyes," Toga quipped then shrugged. "Wait, no, that's always been there, it just made it worse." He then howled, missing his shot as Toga ran, ducking from the hail of molten slag that followed as his footsteps grew louder and frantic.
"I heard you have a sister somewhere...!" His voice echoed, his clanking feet echoing around Toga's head as she glowered. "...I might have to find her after we're done!"
Toga spun around, drawing her knife on the open air, but the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, suddenly, that bloodlust wafted through her nose, and she rolled forward in time to avoid the droplets of liquid metal and the two blades carved deep into the catwalk. Avarokk dragged them through, the friction setting the cutlasses alight as Toga narrowly dodged by bending her head back, then feeling one sear across her right bicep while she deflected the other.
"This guy's seriously starting to piss me off!" Every cut across her body made Toga stumble backward, throwing a knife to wedge it between one of Avarokk's elbows as he recoiled to tear it out, giving her time to move left behind a large dome-like machine and drink a small vial of blood, feeling her body starting to undergo its transformation. With a glint in her murderous eyes, she lunged from the dark, the needles that remained of her support gear stabbing into the Captain's body as she raised her hands toward his chest, her smile stretching unlike the real Ochaco's.
"Tch!" He suddenly dove backward, landing on all fives before crawling forward and tackling her to the ground, pinning her wrists to keep her from touching him while he raised a blade in his lower right. "I won't be falling for that again," His grip started to twist, intending to snap her wrists in one go.
*Bam!*
Like a fluffy cloud, the grip on Toga was gone as she and Avarokk started to float. Ochaco landed behind them, the long chain she swung herself on flying away as she smirked triumphantly. Toga, cancelling gravity on herself, then affected the Captain with twice the amount, the combined might of two gravity quirks causing NARA's augments to be ineffective for a short time, giving Toga the chance to jump and slam her fist into Avarokk's gut, throwing him higher into the air.
"What the-!?" Without warning, something slimy and invisible yanked Avarokk through the air as he thrashed, causing his grip on his shrapnel launcher to slip. Then, with a flick, the invisible force flung his body into a few jutting mounds of rebar below the catwalks, impaling him in several areas with a howl of pain. Hopping down beside her allies, Tsu became visible again.
"That guy's really underestimating us," Tsu noted while Ochaco nodded.
"Serves him right, but until we destroy his core, he'll keep coming back," Much as she hated it, they needed a better plan than this.
"Let's just get outta here before then," Toga huffed, the heat was killing her. "Fighting him in the open is better,"
The girls nodded, and followed the blonde forward until Ochaco's foot fell out from under her with a clatter of metal. The pair spun around, seeing her kick Avarokk's jaw only for him to reach her face, throwing her high and slamming her head back into the metal surface, causing her eyes to nearly roll up into her skull. "Uravity!" Tsu swung her tongue but winces as his claws slash along the muscle, forcing her to retract it when he suddenly disappeared in a wave of red nanites.
"Tsu!" Toga pushed the girl aside only to cough up blood from the sheer force behind the Fallen's kick to her stomach, and Toga was left reeling on the ground while Avarokk swung two new cutlasses at Tsu who tried to crawl up the wall to flank him only for his eyes to lock to her heat signature, dragging her down as she leapt over his head, smacking her back off the catwalk as she clearly trembled from the impact.
"Get..." Avarokk turned to Toga still hunched over on the ground, not seeing the blood dripping from her knitted teeth. "...away from them!" Her eyes shot up and with her left hand raised, a sudden funnel of wind swept Avarokk off his feet, the sheer force behind the attack blasting him through several low-hanging bars, pipes, and other metal objects as he landed somewhere near the center again.
The mud fell from Toga's face as she cringed from the acrid taste in her mouth, making her wish to throw up. She had siphoned the synthetic blood from Avarokk, while by far the worse taste in the world, deep down, his quirk genes were still present from before he was converted, and the result was as Toga hoped. His quirk had manifested. Ochaco and Tsu were starting to recover when Toga plucked forth one more vial of blood, her eyes shadowed for a time.
"Tsu... Ocha...?" The pair turned to the blonde villain as she stared longingly at the vial in her hands, cradling it. "If you trust me, please, buy me some time," It was a tall order to be sure, nothing was stopping Toga from running, but then again, she could've done so earlier.
"Sure/Leave it to us," The pair chimed together, quickly running in the direction of the glowing Splicer who summoned another pair of swords.
Toga sat there, thankful for the time she had to consider this. "Once I drink this, then he'll be gone for good..." Every inch of her wanted to save it for the right moment, was this not it? Or was Toga trying to fool herself like Kovik said? Just the idea of that insect gloating all high and mighty like made Toga cringe, but her heart was beating uncontrollably, her hands shaking. Then Toga remembered what Twice said about Kovik, he figured it out when all he ever did was feel ashamed for letting the rest of the League down. "Jin... please, help me."
He wasn't some failure. He was her best friend. He was her hero too. With her fangs bear, Toga opened her mouth, popping the cork off the vial to drink down the rich, red liquid. It was by far the sweetest flavour of blood she had ever had. Maybe... because it was offered? It was a precious gift that slipped down her throat and filled her body with vigour. Her dependence of blood suddenly feeling non-existent as her body began to change.
Ochaco used a piece of rebar to her advantage, going blow for blow with Avarokk, but she gasped as he criss-crossed his blades several times, reducing her weapon to little pieces before kicking her to the ground, using a free hand to catch a bleeding tongue from Tsu, swinging her across and into the side of a large machine. "You two have quite the double standard, don't you?" He stomped his foot against Ochaco, hearing her gasp as her cracked helmet fell off. "Fighting against those that were robbed of the luxury of a peaceful life, yet fighting with a murderer who's taken innocent lives; so she has a free pass, is that it?"
Ochaco tried to touch his foot but stopped when a blade nearly nicked her throat, causing her to gulp involuntarily. "Toga's mistakes can't be washed away, I'm... not denying that," She struggled to breathe as he pressed down harder that she swore her ribs were about to break. "But... she's risking her life... for us, for everyone... giving their all today... she... deserves a second chance... because... she's trying to prove it!" Ochaco trembled, her fingers digging between the gaps in the catwalk, glaring up at the unimpressed Fallen. "With her own blood, sweat, and tears, just like us!"
Slowly, Avarokk lowered his cutlass, NARA devouring the blade in a swarm before the molten edge of his shrapnel launcher came dangerously close to the brunette's face, one of the teeth digging into her right cheek, leaving a burning cut down her skin as she winced from the pain. "...die, human."
The Siege Engine let out a thunderous rumble, like a groaning stomach. Then, the weapon crumbled into pieces atop Ochaco, as a flash of red left Avarokk's body like an echo of himself, and he stumbled back toward the edge that overlooked the large vat below. His hands clawing at his chest as parts of his armour became torn and bent, the damage from before unwinding as holes in his body bled out, and his eyes widened as he rasped, struggling to breathe.
"W-w-what... w-w-what happened t-t-to the... c-c-core!?" He heaved, trying to stand firm again as Ochaco found her voice, as well as Tsu's.
"NOW!" The pair cried out, and the force of a thousand footsteps barrelled past them both.
"Now it's Our Turn!" "To go on a massacre!" "OUR FINAL SAD MAN'S PARADE!"
Dozens upon dozens of the once living villain, Twice, manifested before their eyes. His black spandex costume turning most into a dark wave of bodies that moved almost as fast as the tide, leaving the factory floor to scurry about the Siege Engine at an alarming rate. Avarokk, unprepared for this, was suddenly tackled by their masses, even as he slashed and tore them to pieces to stay standing, their muddy forms only served to hinder his progress.
"Uravity!" "Froppy!" "The Twices are here to save you too!" "Are you two okay?" "You're friends with Toga!" "Even if you're heroes!"
To their surprise, some stopped to help the girls to their feet, even checking their injuries as Avarokk growled with rage, eventually, the supports couldn't handle the weight of all the Twices pouring from the main source. That of Toga, half her face melded to look exactly like Twice's without his mask, both eyes glowering with pride at the falling Captain. "Die under our boots, just like an insect!" She hissed as the catwalk ahead bent and collapsed, throwing Avarokk and several Twices into the molten metal below as he writhed in pain, sinking waist deep into the substance.
Toga stumbled forward, feeling her blood transformation beginning to slip. Using a person's quirk to the same extent as the user's full power drained her time alot faster than she realized. The other Twices would be duplicating themselves to compensate for either distance or losses against any enemies caught in their path, and as a result, her time was rapidly declining, yet, she persisted. "Jin did some pretty bad things too, but he saved me and Compress, and the others when it mattered," Toga spoke in a merge of his and her own voice, hearing Avarokk scream in pain. "We're no heroes, so do us a favour, and scream in hell for us."
"We need to go, this whole area's gonna fall apart!" Ochaco urged, helping Tsu move past the Twices as they started to shift out of the way, Toga gave the duplicates of her friend a solemn look before turning to hobble away with them.
Down in the vat of molten metal, Avarokk lower right arm reached out from the liquid. "TOGAAAAAA!" With a final scream of defiance, he whipped the chain around, controlling it with NARA as it pierced the Twices and snagged around the girl's already burnt leg, dragging her down with a painful cry as she tried to dig her fingers into the catwalks, feeling her legs already go over the edge, trailing mud with her as Twice's blood was quickly devoured by her quirk. Avarokk thrashed left and right, tugging Toga over the edge inch by inch.
Toga's eyes were wide as her fingers slipped, unable to withstand the constant thrashing. For a moment, she felt that awful life she once had start to fall by her eyes, until a sweaty pair of hands caught her wrists, keeping her a few feet away from the vat as Avarokk snarled in frustration. Ochaco had dove over the edge, and Tsu wrapped her tongue around the brunette's waist to keep them steady. The downside was, with Avarokk connected to Toga the way he was, if Ochaco used her quirk, he would be levitated too, and their efforts would be for naught.
The last of the mud around Toga's face slipped away, but not before she stared wide-eyed at the smirk on Twice's unmasked face, "Hey, who said you could touch Toga that way?" He berated the angered Fallen, then, to their surprise, broke the chain wrapped around her leg with a single twist of his wrist, freeing the girls to be flung back. In that time, Toga stared back at the molten pool below, her eyes and Twice's meeting as he started to dissolve, the body of Avarokk sinking beneath the surface. "Thanks for wrapping me up, Himiko," He offered, splashing down into the pool.
"Jin..." She whispered, thrown onto her back as the last of her energy dwindled into nothing.
The constant yelling and commotion soon fell away as whatever clones of Twice that lingered slowly crumbled away, hopefully, the damage they caused was enough to atleast slow NARA down for a while longer, now that the Control Core was destroyed. Tsu and Ochaco sat still, trying to catch their breaths while assessing their injuries. Ochaco then moved to Toga's side, the girl resting on her back. The brunette cringed from the smell of burning hair and skin, long, red lines had been burned into her right leg from the chain, thankfully, it seemed the sludge from her transformation helped to cool the metal down so while she needed medical attention, she would live.
Toga's eyes were half-lidded when her chalky lips parted. "...Ochaco... are we... friends?" Her voice was trembling aas she spoke, trying to supress her pain. "I hurt you, Yuyu, Izuku... but... I don't know... how to like people... normal is... it makes me angry and confused all the time..." She tried to close her fists but the pain wouldn't let her. "I suck at this..." She bemoaned.
Ochaco turned to Tsu for a moment, the greenette nodding her head for Ochaco to speak for her. While she did, Ochaco reached for whatever medical supplies she had, opting to try and minimize Toga's burns and other open wounds. It took some soul-searching, and alot on what Ochaco spoke about with Izuku and Yuki. She honestly didn't have all the answers, but if there was one thing she knew about Toga, it was she didn't like people hiding who they are, that acting 'normal' was just some cover-up, the same that supressed her until she snapped.
"I'm not sure about the others, I can't speak for them, but..." She carefully took Toga's hand to offer her some comfort. "I remember Yuki saying this to someone like you, if it helps," Clearing her throat, she recited what she heard. "If one of us falls, the others will catch them. If the others fail, one of us will win for them. If one of us becomes a villain, the others will bring them back to the light," Then she smiled weakly to Toga, "So, even if the whole world hates you, we'll be friends... if that's what you want?"
Toga said nothing, instead, she opted to close her eyes with a sigh of relief. Then, her lips curled up, forming the first, genuine smile of gratitude on her face. It wasn't creepy or twisted, it was what had been buried for too many years.
To Be Continued...
What a heated battled, literally, as you can see, the timelines for all the different fights once again overlaps. Toga was alot of fun to write, just something about her lack of offensive quirk combined with her vicious fighting style just makes it fun to work on. Fun note, Avarokk is the name of the boss from a Destiny 2 dungeon called the Grasp of Avarice. I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Heroes!
Next Chapter Intermission: Salvation
...come to us... do not be afraid... we've been waiting...