Hello everyone and welcome to another chapter of Legion!
I'm sure that you're all still crying…so here's more tear fuel.
But first, as always, reviews.
Mother of Quirks: Yes, he did and yes.
ArchaicPhenominon: Surprisingly, not as many as expected.
Colossus Bridger: Yeah, I felt bad doing it too and it's for the react story.
Helios61: F, and yes it was.
Shobu556: It's for KingKuma's (Genesian) react story.
Maniacalharp747: That's a good song.
Monkey D. Conan: Oh believe me, we have more in plan for Toga.
Chadbunger: Thanks, and yeah, but don't worry, we have plans for her.
Fanifc writer 117: No worries!
Nopeknight: 99's pretty much a oneoff.
Blaze1992: Well, when you're surrounded and seeing your brothers fall left and right…
the mysterious Mr.E: Thanks!
Silversabre15: It'll definitely be interesting.
Starlight in the Night: Thanks for your comment and support, hope you enjoy this!
THE-Twilight-Blazeknight: I'm loving your review and the ideas.
Austin: Always good to hear from you, we definitely have some ideas and your questions will be answered soon.
Uber Ghidorah: Sorry man.
Thunderstrike16: Definitely going to be interesting, hope that you enjoy this chapter though, but sorry, Thorn's dead.
robogamer11041: Thanks!
Evin Reimer: Thank you!
wolves567: Definitely will show respect.
61394: There will be war.
DYnoJackal19: Yep, we like our references.
Verdauga: Thank you!
Jss2141: Sorry mate.
Silverswordmaster: HOOYAH ZERO!
Gen3sian: Yep.
adammflatt: SCOTT STERLING!
Vinciblecoin1: Hi there, glad to see you back then! Hope you enjoy what we have, although I am sorry about Thorn.
The Cocoa Puffer: Yeah, it's definitely gonna get interesting these next few chapters for Itsuka and the others and thanks for your constant support!
If you haven't already, please join the discord. discord. gg/ QwErUjGYW3
WARNING: This chapter does contain blood, gore(?), death, etc. If you are uncomfortable with these topics, please read at your own risk…I can't really place specific warnings cause it's literally all over the place.
Legion: Mourning
"Strength of character can defeat strength in numbers."
Getting into a battle stance, Shoto analyzed the patched up villain while moving in front of the still unconscious clones with him.
"Who are you?" He asked, not bothering asking how he knew his name since it had been broadcast to the entire world during the Sports Festival.
"Me? No one special. Just someone with a vendetta against that fiery turd Endeavor. But you may call me Dabi," The patched up villain said, bowing in a mocking attitude, seemingly unbothered by the blue inferno they were standing in the middle of.
"If your vendetta is with that bastard, why have you come here? I've never even met you before now," Shoto said in his usual monotone voice, while noticing slight movement from one of the clones he was guarding.
"I thought that would be obvious. That flaming blowhard is too hard to reach right now, so what would be the best way to hurt him instead? Why, turning his pride and joy to cinders of course!" Dabi sneered as blue flames engulfed his right hand, before thrusting it outwards, sending the torrent of fire towards the young Todoroki who responded by creating a wall of ice mere moments before the inferno hit.
Gritting his teeth, Shoto decided to nudge the clone with his foot, trying to wake him up.
"Get up! This wall won't hold forever, and we have a villain at our neck!" He shouted, while the clone groaned and slowly began to get up.
"What's your name, trooper?"
"Huh?"
"I asked what your name was!" Shoto repeated, setting up another wall to give them even a few more seconds of time.
"Nitro, sir!"
"The moment this ice cracks, get ready to move."
Nodding Nitro reached down to his hip to grasp his pistol, only to find it gone.
'Dank farrik. Must've dropped it.' He thought as he readied his vambraces just as the wall cracked, the duo jumping out of the way of the flames and landed separated.
'This fiery bastard picked the wrong clone to mess with!'
"Two against one? I like those odds. However, the only real danger here is you, Son of Endeavor," Dabi spat as he unleashed his flames again, trailing Shoto who froze the ground to evade the flames.
Hearing the clone sprint towards him from behind, he rolled his eyes and raised his other arm, not even bothering to look at the small distraction before he incinerated him.
However instead of feeling the familiar pain of scorching heat, he instead felt the pain of biting cold, a sensation that made him snap his head towards his left hand which was now frozen solid while the clone had his arm raised and some strange liquid dripping onto the ground from his wrist gadget.
"The hell did you just shoot me with!?" Dabi bellowed, too busy to look at his hand to notice Shoto having moved in close, before getting punched in the face, sending him flying into a tree which the frozen hand shattered against and he screamed in agony.
Grasping the arm that now missed the hand, he glared at the duo with hatred, his eyes once again demanding what he had been hit with prior to the punch.
"What? Never taken any chemistry classes? What I shot you with was none other than good old liquid nitrogen," The clone replied like it was common knowledge. "You picked the wrong place today, Patchwork!"
Groaning in pain, Hevy stumbled through the forest dragging Sasha with him.
He and Thorn's group had gotten separated during the gas attack, where droids had arrived to intercept them when they were searching for the brat.
'I hope Thorn and the others are ok… Dammit, I should have taken down those clankers faster so I could help them!' He admonished himself as he held a hand to his side where he had been shot and was currently bleeding from.
'Where did they come from? How did they get blasters? How did they get these numbers?' These questions flooded his mind as he tried to find his way back to the lodgings.
Suddenly he heard the all too familiar sound of blaster fire in the distance, lots of it.
Ignoring the pain in his side, he picked up Sasha and rushed towards the sounds of battle that gradually grew louder and louder, until he came into the opening where the lodgings were currently under siege by the droids.
Pressing the trigger, the rotary blaster's six barrels began to spin, before they unleashed a hailstorm of blue bolts into the droids, cutting down swathes of those about to overrun the defenses, as he made his way towards the makeshift trench system that his brothers and the students had made.
"Look! It's Hevy!" One of his brothers said, with several of them calling to him to hurry up, soon joined by more of the students, all while blaster bolts flew around him.
Just before he reached friendly lines, he felt a sharp pain in the back, knocking him down, with Rin and Mayhem jumping out and helping him inside, the chaotic clone throwing detonator after detonator from two bandoliers across his chest to disrupt the enemy lines.
"Push forward, you tin cans! Hold your positions!" Someone shouted over the raging battle.
One clone stuck his head up and lowered his helmet binoculars, seeing a man dressed in a full black bodysuit with gray accents and red wristbands.
"What do you see, Scope?" 36 asked his brother.
"I think I might have spotted their commander. With the way he contradicts his orders, he probably has schizophrenia," Scope said, just as another detonator exploded.
Crouching his way over to another side of the trench, he put a hand on the shoulders of Keeli and Pony.
"Pony, Keeli, we've spotted the enemy commander. He's about twenty clicks away from our position, think you can take him out?"
"Will be difficult, but we try!" Pony nodded, as she made one of her horns pop off and fly through the lines.
"36! I can't let you endanger my students! I'll go!" Kan bellowed above the noise, with 36 nodding and wishing him the best of luck as he went over the top.
"Waxer, Boil! Provide cover for Kan-Sensei!" 36 commanded the twins.
"You got it!" They said in unison as they adjusted their blasters for precision fire, taking down any droid trying to shoot the teacher.
In the midst of the chaos, Fil was currently putting pressure on the blaster wound Yui had suffered.
"Come on, Yui! Stay with me!" Fil begged as he looked around everywhere for a bacta patch to close the wound with, while a small trail of blood ran down the corner of the ravenette's mouth.
"Come on! I NEED A MEDIC!" Fil screamed before Momo slid over to where they were and began to produce medical supplies.
"Here, I don't know the chemical composition of bacta, Recovery Girl's still analyzing it exactly, but I have had training!" Momo said as she then began to work on Yui.
"Fil…I'm scared," Yui whispered as she held tightly to his hand.
"Easy, Yui, I've got you," Fil said as finally, a medic slid over as well and applied bacta in conjunction with Momo's treatment.
"This is gonna hurt!" Momo said as she applied disinfectant.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
"Blaster bolt was a clean hit, and it's already cauterized the wound but there's still bleeding, she needs a medivac!" The clone said as he covered the wound with bacta and began wrapping it as Momo and Fil held her still.
"The flier!" Momo exclaimed. "I saw it earlier, Izuku summoned a flier!"
"Then we need to call it over!"
"I've let them know, they've just finished driving General Grievous away!"
"GENERAL GRIEVOUS!?" Momo exclaimed in shock and fear.
"Yes, Mand'alor and Yanagi have managed to fend him off with help from the flier, they're on their way now but-damn it, Mand'alor's gone off in pursuit of villains!"
"That idiot! I oughta-"
"No time! Transport's on its way," The mediclone declared before using his comm. "All units! The flying transport is on it's way to the lodge, get the injured students and staff onboard so that we can get them medivac'd!"
"OCHAKO! NO!"
An explosion erupted nearby and sent dirt falling around them, Fil covering Yui's body with his own.
#All units, Ochako's gone after Mand'alor! Squad 1, go after her!#
"Those two really are meant for each other," Momo growled as she launched a few droid poppers to the enemy. "Neither of them have common sense!"
"Any luck with reinforcements from U.A.?"
"The flier managed to get high enough that whatever's blocking our signal didn't affect it!"
A few more minutes of battle and chaos went by, the united group managing to do what they could against the forces.
Vlad King had managed to shoot the enemy commander with a blood spike but he'd dodged and retreated, more droids closing ranks and forcing Vlad King to retreat back to the defensive line.
"We've got something incoming on the horizon!"
"SMASH!"
An earthquake of tremendous magnitude erupted from the epicenter, sending a shockwave so powerful that droids were atomized, crumbled into pieces, or were blown away as the distance increased from the epicenter.
"I AM HERE!" All Might roared in fury.
"All Might!"
"ALL MIGHT'S HERE!"
"All units, All Might has arrived at the scene!"
"WHERE'S MAND'ALOR?" All Might asked after quickly disposing of the droids in the immediate area.
"Pursuing after the villains sir, but we need your help, there's still hundreds more droids left in the forest! We've got a bunch of injured, but we can't evac them without risk of the flier being shot down!"
"Flier?"
"New vehicle-there! It's on its way!"
All Might turned to see the flying vehicle land in the now open field, clones grabbing stretchers from the lodge and other supplies before loading them onto it.
#All units, this is the Low Altitude Assault Transport, i.e. LAAT, we're taking the injured in!#
"All Might, we've still got droids in the north and east…Thorn's squadron managed to take out the south and west companies that were on their way but we haven't had any word from them since," A clone reported.
#ALL UNITS! THE DROIDS HAVE SUDDENLY SHUT DOWN IN SECTOR 12!#
#Sector 10 here, same thing!#
One by one, the different sectors were receiving reports that the droids had surprisingly shut down without any action from the clones.
"Something's wrong, All Might, can you check it out?"
All Might nodded before sudden screams of rage erupting from the clones surprised everyone.
"What happened?"
"The droids…have shut down…because Mand'alor has surrendered to the League of Villains…" The clone said.
All Might's blood ran cold.
"Mand'alor has been captured."
All Might gasped in horror before jumping off in the direction of their last known location.
Arriving with another crash, he found only Uraraka and a few of the clones, catatonic.
"All Might…you're here…" Ochako rasped out, her vocal cords highly abused from the screams she'd made.
"...what happened?"
"Izuku went after the villains, a-and Shigaraki appeared again…wanted him to surrender and he'd call off the droids…"
"And he willingly surrendered?"
"Yeah…took off what armor he had…and he gave me the Darksaber…" Ochako said as she held up the mentioned weapon.
She didn't notice how the clones around her were giving her extra attention.
But Toshinori did.
Whatever Izuku had done before surrendering had been something understood only by the Vod'e.
All Might wanted to scream his fury into the heavens as well.
But right now the children needed him to be their support in this darkest hour.
"There are still some of your classmates unaccounted for," All Might began as he kneeled next to the solemn girl. "You should go and help them."
With a large hand, that were it any other time would appear comical on her shoulder, he comforted her.
"Don't worry, we'll get him back."
"I know we will…he owes me a date."
"TODOROKI! ALL MIGHT'S LANDED IN THE AREA! THE DROIDS ARE SHUTTING DOWN!"
'All Might!?' Dabi thought in fury and pain. 'I thought that the signal blocker should have prevented them from contacting reinforcements.'
#Dabi. Mand'alor has surrendered to us. The mission is complete.#
"Not yet."
Dabi then unleashed his largest attack yet with a roar, with Shoto placing himself between the clones and in his moment of desperation and fear thrust both fists out in opposite directions.
From his right side erupted a veritable monolith of ice that would constantly melt and rise as he protected the clones, and from his left, a titanic discharge of fire to combat the inferno of his enemy.
Shoto had begun with a strong horse stance, one of the earliest things Endeavor had taught him, and truth be told, it was the only thing keeping him up from the strain of using both sides of his quirk at the same time.
Finally however, the blue fire dissipated and Shoto allowed himself to stop using his quirk.
Falling to his knees in utter exhaustion, Shoto looked to see the sheer devastation caused by the quirks combining and fighting each other in the forest.
Dabi was nowhere to be seen however.
"He's gone…" Shoto grunted before falling down.
He was caught by gentle hands, as the clones who he'd saved raised him up and took him to safety.
"You did good, Shoto. You did good."
Kaminari was shocked, in disbelief or maybe even in denial. He couldn't place his finger on it.
"I-Impossible… My uncle is dead! You're just an imposter! A fake!" Denki said, panic increasingly crawling into his voice as he began taking a step backwards.
"Search your feelings and memories, you know it to be true," The man said, following each step backwards up with one forward of his own.
Kyouka suddenly placed herself between them, spreading out her arms to cover her friend.
"Don't listen to him, Denki! He's just trying to get into your head!" She said, her earjacks lifting themselves up threateningly like snakes.
"Oh? What's this? Got a little girlfriend, do you, nephew dearest?" he chuckled to which Kyouka glared at him.
"Stop trying to play mind games with him! Denki, he can only be lying about being your uncle! There's no way it's true!" She said, turning to the electric blonde who looked like he was understandably having an internal crisis.
"Hah, teenagers… So mouthy…" The villain sighed and began to approach, electricity crackling between his fingers, his hand reaching out towards them.
The moment he did so, Kyouka reacted immediately by ducking down and rolling to the side before jabbing her earjacks into the limb and sending her heartbeat into it.
That however, only served to piss him off, making him swipe after her as she dodged the swing and jabbed into him again.
"You brat!" He growled, before trying to predict where she would go next, waiting for the right moment where the punk rock girl jumped again, before reaching out and grabbing her throat, lifting her up while slowly crushing her windpipe and burning her neck with his quirk.
Denki roared and tackled the older man, electricity flaring up as the impact caused him to let go of Kyouka who held her neck in pain while gasping for air, tears and saliva dripping onto the ground while her pupils trembled due to this experience practically paralleling the USJ, causing her to go into shock as a panic attack hit her like a truck.
The two lightning users clashed, electrical arcs winding up all around them.
"Sorry, my boy! But I'm afraid you'll have to use a lot more than that to affect me! You can thank your mother for that actually!" He laughed as he began to overpower the younger man. "I never thought that I'd be grateful to her for anything, but she really helped me develop my resistance!"
He grinned, looking down at his nephew whose eyes soon filled with terror as the older man grabbed him by his face and smacked him into the ground.
Denki growled as he held onto the man's hand.
"That's it! Let your anger take over! Unleash your true self! Together, we can rule this wretched country alongside the Master!" He cackled, removing his palm from his nephew's mouth, allowing him to speak.
Wheezing and coughing, Denki glared up at him. He only had one response to the proposal.
"Fuck… you…"
His uncle merely laughed.
"Oh my poor boy…so misguided," He chuckled. "Of course, I realize now that you have been surrounded by such heroic taint for so long, you cannot achieve your full potential…I want to train you, boy…but first, a test."
His uncle then leaned forward with a grin.
"Tell me, do you know where your little girlfriend is?"
Denki's eyes widened in horror as he looked back to where Kyouka had been, only to find her being held at knifepoint by a masked man in a top hat.
He had taken advantage of the girl's moment of trauma and used it to cuff and gag her, tying her earlobes into a knot so she couldn't use them to free herself nor jab at him.
"I must say, this is quite the haul we've gotten, sir."
"It was surprisingly easy, the girl seems to have an innate fear of lightning. Quite stupid to then choose an electric as your partner if you ask me." he chuckled bemused, as the girl glared at him.
"Shall we take them both with us? We have the room." Compress asked, while Kyouka struggled to get out of his grasp.
"Hmm…first I want to conduct my test…marble her."
Kyoka yelped before suddenly disappearing, becoming a marble in Mr. Compress' hand.
"KYOKA!" Denki screamed before he was kicked away by his uncle.
"It's simple, Denki. You will fight Mr. Compress, you will use your power to its fullest. Satisfy me, and I will let her go. Refuse or fail, and she dies."
Denki snarled as he got up to his feet, already feeling the effects of his negative emotions on his power.
'I…I have to maintain control!' Denki thought as compress then threw more marbles at him, revealing debris and other obstacles that got close to crushing him.
"Come on, Denki!" His uncle called out. "You're disappointing me!" he called out, annoyed over how he still maintained control.
"I simply don't understand your logic… we should simply take both of them with us after this little experiment of yours," Mr. Compress sighed as he threw another marble, this one holding the corpse of a clone.
Denki's eyes widened as he saw the clone pass by, recognizing his armor.
'Flint?'
The clone was a recent friend made, to see his corpse so callously used.
Denki roared as he sent forth a torrent of lightning bolts, Mr. Compress dodging each one.
"Come on! That's not enough yet, Denki! I saw what you were capable of at the I-Expo! Show me more!"
Denki roared as he sent forth more lightning bolts, but Compress was still too fast.
After a few minutes of this, his uncle had enough.
"Ugh…so disappointing," He said as he shot a lightning bolt across the clearing that striked Denki in the chest and sent him flying and then crashing into the ground with a groan.
"Mr. Compress, kill the girl. If Denki wants to do things the hard way, then we'll do things the hard way. And after you kill her, I may pay my dear sister and niece a visit… It's been so long afterall."
Denki gasped as he saw the villain pull out the marble and applied pressure.
Crack!
CRAKOOM!
"RRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
Denki had appeared in front of Compress with the speed of a lightning strike, his body bleeding heavily due to the strain he'd just put on it. With a lightning infused punch he sent him flying backwards and through a small tree, leaving him full of splinters and bruises along with some broken ribs while still being shocked.
"THAT'S MY BOY!" His uncle laughed uproariously
Denki roared again, the very sound like the thunder from the sky as he then shot a miniature storm towards his uncle who flared up his power and combated it.
'Amazing! His power is so great, that I'm even feeling his attacks against me and that technique he just used, it wasn't just speed, he was turning his own body into lightning!'
"The marvels of the next generation…and my sister holds you back so much, Denki," He said before overpowering him and sending his nephew crashing to the ground.
Denki groaned as his body burned in agony, his mind fraying at the edges.
"I am truly…amazed! And it looks like you did quite some damage to Mr. Compress," He chuckled.
"Oi, fuck you and your nephew…" Said villain grunted while pulling out the worst splinters and threw the marble containing Kyouka onto the ground, releasing her.
Hearing the groan of Kyoka, he then turned to her, the girl staring at them in horror.
"Tell my sister that I'll enjoy spending time with my nephew, come along Mr. Compress."
"You better make this up to me! You hear?! You owe me big time!" The half-fried villain sneered as he turned Denki into a marble and picked up a long stick to use as a cane.
"Oh!" He said as he turned back to face the girl. "I almost forgot my manners…my name..is Relampago." He grinned, just as Kurogiri's portal opened and the two disappeared into it, leaving the cuffed girl on the ground screaming her friend's name, being muffled by the gag while tears ran down her cheeks.
'Why do I have to be so useless?'
"9….! 99…! 99!"
The ARC trooper groaned as he heard his name being called out over and over again, his ears ringing and his body hurting all over, most of all his leg and arm.
'What happened?' He thought to himself, before the events hit him like a truck, making him try and sit up, only to feel every joint in his body aching .
"Eri… Kota…" he muttered out, his vision still blurry as he saw several silhouettes surrounding him.
"He's coming to! Bring the bacta!" He heard one of his brothers shout as his vision began to clear, the first thing he saw being Orion's face, his fellow ARC holding him.
Something else he noticed was that his helmet had also been taken off.
"Orion… What, what happened? I feel so tired…" He muttered as his brother helped him sit up.
"Thank Legion you're still with us, vod…" Orion sighed in relief as he pulled him into a hug.
"Where are the kids?"
"They're safe. Barb managed to evacuate the perimeter. Muscular has also been defeated and detained, thanks to you."
"Now I remember… I punched the bastard, but why do I feel so… rusty?" 99 asked, to which most of his brothers looked slightly grim, before one of them brought out a small mirror and showed him his reflection.
What 99 saw was no longer the face of a young boy, but that of a man in his sixties, graying hair and slightly dimmed eyes.
Wielding One For All, even for that short amount of time, had aged 99 several decades and also made the damage to his leg permanent due to it not getting proper medical treatment.
"Well, I'll be… now we at least know that Ori'vod won't get too many wrinkles," He joked, trying to lighten the mood, even a bit, which seemingly worked as a few of his brothers chuckled.
"Um, excuse us? Could we get some help?!" The somewhat distant voice of one of their brothers called out, making them look around, before one of them decided to look over the edge of the cliff to see several of their brothers that had been thrown off hanging onto their cables, the cliffside and each other.
"Ridgeway, Cliffjumper, Trapper, Ransack, Crumblezone, Grif?!" The clone yelped in surprise as he spotted sextet amongst the dozens of clones hanging there.
"Well, duh! Now help us up, dammit! Our grip is slipping!"
Pulling the cables and reaching out hands, they quickly helped their brothers get off the edge and onto the platform once more.
"I just hope that Barb is gonna be ok…" Ridgeway sighed, before being interrupted by laughter.
It was from Muscular.
"You clones really are dumber than you look, just like all of the other heroes. Once I break out of Tartarus I'll come straight for those two brats! It'll be cathartic to hear their dying screams as my first victims outside of that hole!" He laughed, causing every clone on the cliff to turn towards him.
The clones looked at each other as Muscular shakily got up to his feet before falling back to his knees.
"You'll never get rid of me, you have no idea what's coming for you clones and that brother of yours…what the big man has planned."
The clones immediately tensed.
If what he was saying was true, then that meant that All For One was planning something that would cause an upsurge of villain activity.
"What do you know of his plans?" A clone asked.
"Heh, I don't know anything, but I do know that when it happens, I'll be right there to finish the job," Muscular grinned. "And I'll enjoy hearing their screams before I snuff them out."
Orion narrowed his eyes and stepped forward, blaster rifle in hand.
He knew what he had to do.
"Any last words?"
"This is not your country to rule, The Fallen will rise again," Muscular chuckled.
It looked like these clones knew how to make the hard decisions.
"Not today," Orion said as he fired.
The corpse of the villain slumped to the side, his expression being a mix of surprise and glee.
"What do we do with the body, Orion?"
Thinking for a few moments, he looked back at his brother who had suggested it.
"We can't risk All For One getting this quirk. Muscular might be dead, but we don't know how All For One works to its fullest extent. For all we know, he could pull quirks out of corpses…"
"So what you're saying is that we take it back with us to UA?"
"No. I'm saying we wait until we get confirmation from a teacher or Mand'alor on what we do with it." Orion replied.
Just then, they all felt their connection to their older brother being cut, with a few of them collapsing in shock.
"Noo…" Orion muttered in horror as he looked in the direction where the lodgings were while 99 began to tremble.
Eri was still unconscious, so Kota, upon hearing the lack of fire, decided to scout ahead and see if there were any villains left.
Heading outside though, he was sorely regretting his decision.
All he could see were…bodies.
The clones, droids, the big creatures that were attacking them.
It reminded him too much of how he'd accidentally seen his parents' corpses.
He heard coughing, and a voice crying out to him.
"Kid! Kid, over here!"
Turning his head towards the voice, he had to cover his mouth so he wouldn't scream and accidentally attract more of the machines and monsters.
Slowly making his way over, he looked at the familiar clone lying on the ground, the formerly white armor with green accents now covered in blood while the front of his helmet had crumbled, revealing his pale face.
At least, what he could see.
The rest was under the body of one of those creatures, now with a large pike through its brain.
"Barb…?" Kota asked hesitatingly as he slowly made his way over, his entire being trembling with each step before his legs gave in after reaching the clone, now sitting right next to his head.
"Be honest kid… Am I hurt bad?" He asked.
"N-n, no, not at all, actually you're looking great, you've got…good color in your cheeks…"
Barb however, looked at him with an expression that told him he knew the kid was lying, most likely in an attempt to try and fool himself that none of this was real.
"No…I can see it in your eyes…I'm a goner…" Barb coughed, before looking back at the trembling kid. "Help me up, Kota," He asked, to which he looked around a bit in confusion, before settling with just holding his head, trying to imitate how his mother used to hold him.
"I can't feel my legs…" Barb muttered as Kota's eyes began to move around frantically, trying to see if there was anything that could be used to help.
"Y-you've got to hang in there, Barb! I'm going to find help! There has to be someone, some…where…" Kota's trembling voice quickly died down to a mutter as he looked around, finding only corpses and wrecks in the torn up forest.
"Kid…"
"I'm sorry! B-barb! Your b-brothers! Everyone back at the lodgings are waiting for you! Please, don't leave them behind!"
"Kid…this is what heroes do…I don't doubt that you parents wanted to come back to you, just like I wanna see my brothers again," Barb began before coughing out. "But we do this, to save kids like you…"
"Barb…" Kota whimpered.
"I need you to do something for me, Kota…you gotta keep Eri safe, alright? I know you hate heroes and quirks and all that…but just this once, you gotta be one, alright? If not for mine, then Eri's sake?" He said, gently grasping his hand.
Kota whimpered again and nodded.
"Thank you… My… Hero…" Barb breathed out before his hand slowly let go, his body going limp with one final breath.
"Barb…" Kota whispered as tears he had fought with all his being to hold back finally broke the dams and flowed freely.
After a few minutes, he heard a rumble in the distance and gasped.
'Eri…'
Kota swallowed heavily as he stood up, looking back at Barb he gave him a nod and then ran off back towards the cave.
He could hear voices shouting, familiar voices and saw flashlights in the distance.
"HEY! OVER HERE!" He cried out from the entrance of the cave.
"KOTA!? KOTA! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Mandalay called out, desperately searching everywhere for her nephew. With Ragdoll down, they wouldn't be able to check if Kota was alright.
A few clones were next to her, looking around with flashlights and keeping an eye out for any more enemies.
Pushing aside the shrubbery, the boy emerged while also trying to carry Eri with him and called out again, with his aunt sprinting over to the kids and pulling them into a warm embrace.
"Thank the heavens you're alright! Are either of you hurt?" Mandalay said, checking the two kids all over for any sort of injuries, but only found a few scratches and bruises, much to her relief.
Kota hugged his aunt back, while his gaze moved over to the squad of clones, one of them kneeling down next to Barb and shaking his head, hand placed firmly on his helmet with his fingers nearly digging into it.
"This is Domino Squad… We've found the kids… No other survivors," The clone with a handprint on his chest said, the hiccups betraying the stoicness his helmet provided.
Another one, this one carrying a minigun looking weapon and having some bandages wrapped around his chest, side and back with bacta patches beneath them, put the firearm down before falling to his knees and punched the ground hard enough to crack his hand armor.
"We will avenge them, Hevy. Next time, there won't be any mercy." the trooper next to him said while putting a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Every time… Why am I always too late to save any of my brothers?! Tell me why, Fives!" The clone called Hevy yelled as he got up and tore off his helmet, tears running down like waterfalls, while Fives could only respond by slowly pulling him into a hug.
Kota could only watch him, finally understanding.
"We've got transport ready to evacuate the wounded students, alongside Ragdoll and Pixie Bob, let's get the kids there to check them out." Mandalay relayed, using her quirk to communicate with Aizawa.
Kota kept trying to look around, only for Mandalay to cover his eyes with her hand. She knew she was too late to save him from what he already had seen, but she could still spare him the sight of the clones collecting their deceased brothers onto the transport on stretchers.
Aizawa panted heavily as he leaned against a tree, he'd been able to recover some of his and Kan's students and lead them back to the lodge.
He was exhausted and in pain, having taken a shot for a clone who was currently patching him up.
"Hargh…"
"Easy, sir, I'm almost done here," The clone said as he tightened the bandages.
"My students?"
"All the students are alive, sir. The Pussy Cats are safe too…"
"And…the Vod'e?"
"Sir?"
"How many…did we lose?"
The clone remained silent for a bit before sighing in pain.
"I think almost the entire company, sir…"
Aizawa sighed and leaned his head back against the bark of the tree.
"So many lives…lost…I'm sorry."
"It's what we're meant to do, sir."
"No…heroes aren't meant to die…"
"We knew fully well the risks of being heroes, sir… this is the price we pay. Because for us clones, the only easy day is yesterday."
Aizawa looked at the ground and clenched his fists tightly enough to draw blood.
'I am a failure as a teacher…' He thought to himself just as the clone finished the treatment.
"We need to get back to the lodgings… come on…" Aizawa groaned as he tried to stand up, the mediclone helping him doing so.
Back at the camp, the machines had shut down without warning, with the Vod'e sending out a few scouts with shield vambraces to check if it was safe to go over the top.
After confirming that the droids were indeed safe, they quickly rushed out and began to search for the wounded on the field, luckily managing to find dozens of their brothers who were still alive and started to bring them back to the lodgings.
"We need to stabilize them before we bring them to the transport… Dammit! If only Quickfix was alive… , we could really use him or Kix… Why didn't we bring more of the medical company, dammit…" 36 sighed, currently kneeling beside the deceased mediclone, cradling the body gently.
The sound of speeders could be heard in the distance, with the clones and students pointing their weapons in said direction. If the League had gotten droids and blasters, who said they hadn't gotten speeder tech too.
Luckily for them however, the speeders racing out were their own, each of them carrying the mediclone corps who immediately sprang into action the moment they were close enough, amongst them being Kix, Coric, Vaccinator, Kritzkrieg, Overdose, Neutrophil, Doc, Syringe and Scalpel.
Kix was the first of the group to arrive and surveyed around, before noticing 36 holding the body of Quickfix, making him gasp as he ran over to him.
"Oh no… Nonononono…" he whispered as he began to fall to his knees and slowly reached out to him, with 36 getting out of the way.
"Kix… I'm sorry…" 36 said, putting a hand on his brother's trembling shoulders.
"Quickfix… You fool…" Kix said while putting a trembling hand on his helmet, tears dripping out from the bottom shortly after.
Coric walked up to them, a serious aura emitting from him as he tapped 36 on the shoulder, allowing Kix to mourn the loss of their brother.
"What's the situation, 36?" Coric asked, his voice sounding strained as he attempted to hold back tears, before taking off his helmet followed by 36.
Looking around the field, the now cyclopean clone began to give his report to his brother.
"Not good… The numbers are still coming in, but we have estimated that we've lost nearly twenty percent of the mixed units we brought here. Detachments of the UA Battalion, Horn Company, the 501st… All together the size of a company," he reported, while the data kept on flowing from his wristcomm.
Taking a short break to catch his breath, 36 soon continued, while Coric noted what he heard down.
"Amongst the injured, we have several students, the most critically injured being Kodai, Shishida, Kirishima, Yanagi, Mashirao, Shoji, Komori, Tokage and Rikido. As for our brothers… Bel has been hit in the shoulder, Hevy has taken several blasts to his back and one in the side, Droidbait was hit in the leg, Bombshell has several broken bones and a concussion, Rookie has a broken leg after it was caught beneath a falling tree." 36 needed another pause before he continued with the list.
"Makeshift was hit with a steel beam and has a broken jaw, along with a concussion… 99… I can't even describe what and how it has happened, but… He's aged several decades." he said while Coric just looked at him in shock and confusion.
"So far MIA, we have Mand'alor, Kaminari, Jirou, Flint, Thorn and his squad, Noble, Todoroki, Tetsutetsu, Kendo and Nitro."
Noticing 36 starting to tremble wholeheartedly, Coric walked over to pull him into a hug.
"Take all the time you need, vod… I hate this just as much as you, but we need the numbers… Otherwise, we can't bury the dead…" He said, struggling to finish his sentence, barely able to suppress the emotional pain of having to write down a list of their fallen brothers.
While the clones and students helped to attend the wounded, sounds from the forest were suddenly heard, with several of them starting to point their blasters and vambraces in said direction, before Tetsutetsu carrying an unconscious Itsuka stumbled out of the foliage with a few other students and battered brothers.
"It's Tetsutetsu and some of the missing students!"
Running towards them, they immediately got assisted by several clones and their friends, starting to lead them to the camp.
"What's the status? Anyone hurt?"
"Luckily, most of it is bruising and strain, however Itsuka had to be stunned so she wouldn't throw herself into the fray," Tetsutetsu said, before hearing a small groan from the girl on his back.
"...Tetsutetsu…?"
Itsuka then gasped and pushed off his back.
"THORN!"
"Damn it, Kendo!" Tetsutetsu yelled as he fell to the ground, while Ibara and Momo tried to reach out after the redhead, who sprinted back into the forest, praying to whoever was listening that her boyfriend and his brothers were ok.
"After her! We don't know if there still aren't activated droids out there, or God forbid, Nomu!" Momo yelled as she began to give chase along with 36, Ibara, Tetsutetsu and Hagakure.
Ignoring her friends' shouts, Itsuka kept on running, her mind hellbent on getting back to the clearing as fast as possible and hopefully finding Thorn alive and well.
Bursting through the foliage, she got back to the forest opening where she, Tetsutetsu and Thorn had been with his squad, before she had been stunned.
What she found made her gasp in horror as she slowly brought her hands up to her mouth.
Bodies and wrecks. Hundreds of wrecked droids and dozens of dead clones were strewn around the place, each clone having seemingly taken fifteen or so droids with them if the body ratio were anything to go by.
Slowly walking amongst the fallen, careful to not step on any of them, her foot bumped into something that emitted a strong heat, and looked down to see the rotary blaster that was Thorn's weapon of choice, the Hammer, with its barrels bent, having seemingly been used as a bludgeon.
Feeling her heart rate increase, she quickly scouted the area with her eyes, and saw a huge ring of droids lying in a small mound around something and rushed over there.
Climbing over the machinery, she looked into the middle and stood frozen for several moments that for her felt as an eternity, not noticing her tears welling up in her eyes as she rushed down into the middle and slowly approached what she hoped was only a cruel joke and carefully sat down, not caring about the staining the puddle of blood created on her.
Reaching out, she ever so gently put her hand behind Thorn's head, the clone lying still and limp, the little warmth left in his body fading fast, all while a bit of blood dripped onto her from the knives still stuck in him.
"No…no…Please no, Thorn!" She cried 9ut as she hugged him, uncaring of the blood that was now staining her clothes.
"You promised!" She screamed. "You promised! You promised! You promised!"
She then completely broke down over his body, heart wrenching sobs wracking her body as she tightly clutched his armor.
"You promised we'd fight together…" She sobbed, before she gently intertwined her fingers with his, clutching his hand tightly as she kept on holding him close, tears dripping onto the helmet, before she heard something from the inside. Something that sounded like it was playing on loop.
She took off the helmet, trembling at the sight of Thorn's face.
Despite having without a doubt been in pain, he was smiling, even had a serene expression, making her wonder just what it was that was playing.
Putting on the headgear hesitatingly, her jaw dropped ever so slightly when she saw the inside of it.
One of their outings to the gardens…where Thorn had first asked her out.
Their first Keldabe Kiss.
Their time at her house where they worked on her motorcycle.
Everything.
Feeling her heart clench in her chest, she slowly hugged the body once again, never taking off the helmet and began to sing.
After some time, the others that trailed after her, already exhausted by going through the forest once, meaning they quickly lost sight of the big sister of Class 1-B. A squad of clones had followed them and after some time, managed to find the clearing where Thorn and his squad were last seen.
It was an absolute massacre. Droids were scattered all over the clearing, hundreds of them cut down by blaster fire in all ranges, however as they got closer they began to see the corpses of clones, beginning from a line and ending up in a circle with some buried beneath metal and circuitry.
Dust was high in the air, obscuring their vision in certain areas of the battlefield.
But they could hear somebody singing.
"...Heal what has been hurt…"
Elsewhere, Spartan wandered through the forest to search for any possible survivors who had gotten lost in the forest, before he heard the crackling of electricity somewhere and ran in said direction, DC17 ready to fire at any potential threat, as he slowed down and began to walk into a clearing, constantly having his eyes down the sight until he felt his foot bump into something and looked down to see a helmet with a broken visor.
"Noble…" He gasped as he slowly knelt down and picked up the helmet and began to look around for his younger brother and disciple, searching under every droid wreck and the foliage in an attempt to find the body.
The only thing he found however, was a pool of blood with no sign of a body anywhere, before he noticed how these droids looked different and knelt down to examine them.
"Their armor is thicker, yet they're still skinny enough to be nimble… Almost like our Commandos…" He muttered as he picked up one of the swords stuck in the ground and examined it.
"A vibro-sword? How did they acquire our technology? Not to mention these blasters…" Spartan asked himself once more, while noticing that the quality of the gas driven blasters were of shoddy quality.
Something else he also noticed just now, was one of Noble's cut off hands.
"They must have torn him apart with these things…" the ARC trooper sighed solemnly and slowly took off his helmet as he sat on his knees, holding Noble's helmet in his hands and looked at it.
"Forgive me, Noble…" he whispered, and for the first time ever since the USJ, shed tears.
Change the fates' design…
"I'm sure I saw some electricity over here a short while ago! Come on!" Sparkplug shouted as he, Ochako, Tsuyu and Mina ran in the direction the plucky clone claimed he had seen Kaminari's quirk in action while the clone followed them using a jetpack.
"Kyouka was with him! Ohhhh… I hope they're ok!" Ochacko said in a worried tone as she jumped long distances with Tsuyu after using Zero Gravity on herself, while Mina skated along the ground by excreting acid from her feet.
"I wouldn't worry too much, Ochako. Remember, those two would literally die for each other after I-Island." Mina said, trying to sound assured, but had a hard time believing her own words.
"That's exactly what worries me, Mina! You know that those two don't think before acting around each other! So imagine if one of them got hurt by a villain and the other flew into a rage! Especially Kaminari, if what he told us about the incident on I-Island is to be believed!"
"Let's leave I-Island out of this-hey, I found her! Kyoka!"
Mina ran to the struggling girl and quickly released her bonds, the latter coughing as she was finally ungagged.
Then they heard the sobs.
"I'm so useless…"
"Hey, hey, Kyoka, what's wrong?"
"They took him!" Kyoka screamed. "They took Denki! And I couldn't do anything, he just-he just wrapped his hand around my throat and I-I-I f-froze and Icouldn'tdoanythingbutwatch-"
"Hey, hey, easy Kyoka," Mina said as she hugged the panicking girl who was mumbling some other things, before trying to do a series of tricks and other things to help her catch her breath.
"It's okay…just breathe…we'll get him back…just…breathe…"
Mina tried not to think about the clones that were dead, and her friends that were seriously hurt.
"...just…breathe…"
Save what has been lost…
"Bring back what once was mine," Itsuka gasped out in tears as she held Thorn's body closer, caressing his face.
Tetsustetsu gulped as he saw Thorn's smile even in death.
"What once was mine…"
The group could only bow their heads as they approached..
The early morning air was silent, no one said a word as the students, teachers and surviving clones looked upon the four rows of bodies lying with blankets over them.
Mandalay approached them, Kota and Eri in her arms.
36 looked from the trio and his brothers, before he heard Mandalay hesitatingly ask the question he was dreading.
"H-how many?"
36 was understandably hesitant, but gave in. He was a soldier, and good soldiers follow orders with reports.
"40 of the 144…" 36 whispered. "I'm honestly surprised it's so low…considering the amount of droids we trashed…at least half the kills are from Thorn's squadron. However… around 83 were critically injured…"
"How many had found their names?"
"... Thorn, Noble, Flint, Barb, Warren,…"
He tried to list the names robotically, maintaining the soldier persona.
"Huffer, Steelskin, Quickfix, Brawn, Triton, Whirl, Leadfoot… Clocker…" 36 tried his best to keep up the soldier persona, before the dams broke, along with his knees buckling under the pressure as he collapsed to the ground, sobbing while his brain kept on listing the names of brothers. Brothers who had been with him since the USJ and those from Hosu.
Mandalay stood next to him, her silent support being a pillar.
"Bury them here…" She whispered.
"But…your land…the lodge?"
"Truth be told…" She said as she looked over to the damage and destruction caused. "We'd probably have moved from here anyway…besides, that's the least we can do for all of you who fought to protect us."
36 looked up at her, his lone eye staring at her with respect.
"But… The graves… It will take too long to dig forty individual graves…" He said, voice still quivering in sorrow as he looked towards the rows again.
A sudden rumbling from the ground disturbed them as dirt began to collapse and pile away creating a large hole in the ground, wide and tall enough for the 40 men they'd lost, according to the numbers that'd been reported.
The clones and Mandalay turned to the LAAT where a heavily disoriented Pixie Bob nodded at them from her stretcher before falling back to unconsciousness.
36 stared at her in awe before nodding. The other clones, students, even All Might helping to bury the dead.
The process went by surprisingly quick but then again, All Might was there to help, each clone being laid to rest in their own mound.
This was no mass grave, corpses callously mounted one on top of the other.
This was a burial mound, with each brother laid carefully next to his own.
In some cases, not much was left to bury, only charred husks or pieces of armor.
But still, they would rest.
With the last handful of dirt placed carefully on the last grave, they started walking to each of them, all holding one or several blasters, sticking one into each of the 100 small mounds.
The deceased clones' helmets were placed on top of the weapons, the last one to be placed being Thorn's, Itsuka personally putting it there after slowly and gently putting her forehead to it one last time.
Soon, the survivors gathered in front of the graves, each of them now having a helmet placed along with a Heart of Iron necklace hanging around the handle.
The atmosphere was solemn as they looked at each of the graves.
Every single one of the helmets were unique in one way or the other. Patterns, colors, attachments, paintings.
There'd be no time for a Kote Kyr'am, not for all of them.
But at least now they could rest.
"36…" A clone said as he got close to the injured clone. "All the injured have been placed on the LAAT with the exception of Kendo…Eraserhead and Vlad King want her on the transport to get checked out."
Momo, who was with them, nodded and gently guided the grieving girl to the ship, Itsuka being practically catatonic after everything that had just happened.
"How could we have let this happen… Once again, children have died under our watch…" Aizawa hissed to himself, before he felt something tugging on his pant leg and looked down to see Eri was clutching it, her eyes trembling as tears ran down her cheeks, yet she didn't scream nor cry, mind too boggled to even find a proper way to react.
Gently patting her head, he looked out of the transport, seeing the other kid, Kota, being guided towards them.
Slowly stepping inside, Kota looked to his aunt clearly hesitating about leaving her behind and quickly ran out to give her one last hug before he had to leave, the two embracing each other for several minutes with Mandalay promising her nephew to come and find him the moment they had safely relocated.
"Please… Please don't leave me behind…" He sobbed, while she reassured him that they would see each other again, before she carried him to the LAAT, the transport soon taking off and closed its blast shields to protect the passengers and the injured.
The inside weren't completely dark however, as the blast shields had a few gun slits at its side, with Kota quickly noticing the rising sun outside, the heat of the engines creating a mirage that made it look like the star had a twin rising alongside it, just as the slits closed.
He could only hope that things would be better for them in the future.
He felt his hand grabbed by Eri's and he looked over to the sad girl who Barb had asked him to protect.
Sitting down next to her, the two children hugged each other and fell back asleep, Aizawa looking them over.
"Those villains have a lot of balls to attack the camp… They have no idea of what shroud have just fallen upon them… The Vod'e will strike back, sooner than they expect," He said to himself, at this point knowing that no matter how much he and other pros told them to stay out of things, they would find a way to get involved..
Shota couldn't help but recall the words of one of their songs, translated by Ponds for him.
'Our vengeance burns brighter still…'
Shota knew that next time, they would bring vengeance upon the villains tenfold.
And to be honest, he'd probably join them.
"Mustufasu General, this is the LAAT Negotiator, we're coming in for a medical drop off, multiple injured heroes and students."
#Uh…Negotiator…we read you…U.A. let us know of your arrival. Recovery Girl is already here alongside a company of your…soldiers…landing pad is clear.#
"Clear aye, we're going in."
Oddball was strangely but appropriately quiet as he guided the LAAT down to the landing pad where a lot of doctors and other medical personnel were on standby.
His external sensors, and even though the situation was dire he was still having a bit of fun discovering every new thing he could about this thing, were detecting their reactions.
"-that is the coolest thing I've ever seen."
"Come on, O'Malley!"
"Right!"
The doors opened up, and the injured students and heroes were helped out one-by-one, whether on stretcher, wheelchair, or on their own feet.
"Come on! Move it! Move it!" Several mediclones said as they rushed the critically injured towards the hospital wards while some contacted UA to bring portable bacta tanks to the hospital.
One nurse looked at them muttering something about these only being kids. Something that gave her a bad feeling.
"You… Don't think that U.A will begin to employ child soldiers in every situation now, do you?"
"Why do you say that like it's something new? Basically every hero school employs child soldiers. They're just hidden beneath the title of 'heroes'..." Another one sighed, clearly uncomfortable with the hero system.
"You have no idea how many of these guys I've treated after their graduation…"
"What kind of injuries are these? They look like… cauterized bullet wounds."
"Enemy droids with their own versions of blasters alongside villains attacked the camp, these are the worst of the lot."
"Out of the way! This one is dying!" Scalpel yelled as he, Fil and Niner rushed past the crowd with Yui on a stretcher, the girl looking nearly ghastly pale along with having cold sweat run down her brow.
"What happened?"
"Blaster wound to the abdomen, we've done what we could with a field job but she's lost a lot of blood!" Scalpel said as he helped the doctor move the stretcher.
"OR-1, now!"
"We need to keep her stable until the damn bacta tanks arrives!"
"What the hell are bacta tanks!?"
"Think Recovery Girl's quirk but less instant and draining!"
"You guys have something like that up your sleeve?!"
"Less talk, more action!"
The last to get off of the LAAT was Kendo, who in her hand held one of the knives that had been stuck in Thorn's body, the redhead looking at it in her gloved palm as she clenched it.
"When I find out who wielded this, they will have hell to pay… I will avenge you, Cyare… I promise." she sneered, gently putting her hand on the cyan shoulder pad she was now wearing.
Heading in, she allowed herself to get treated, thoughts of revenge burning in her mind.
Oddball lifted off as soon as everybody was gone, heading back to the campsite to help transport the less injured.
#Negotiator, come in.#
"Negotiator, I read you."
#We're gonna need you to clear that landing pad.#
"Huh? Why?"
#Because, we're coming in hot with more injured.#
"What?! More LAATs? How?" Oddball asked as he moved his ship.
#Ochako said that vod was flaring his quirk before surrendering, he must have summoned gear for us to use cause we got these, along with more AT-RT's and speeders.#
"Well… It certainly makes things easier. Thanks for the heads up, Warthog."
Oddball then relayed the information to the hospital and more nurses came out to help the lower priority cases that were now exiting the LAATs.
Rows upon rows of clones with blaster scorch marks on their armor that was now dirtied and cracked several places were put into the hospital, its halls being filled with groaning, coughing and some swearing here and there.
"Good thing that the hero wing was empty today…" One of the doctors commented.
"Look at this… Just kids… All of them…" One nurse said horrified over how many injured there were.
"Aren't they clones though?" A younger nurse asked, only for an elderly doctor to give her a stern glare.
"Look one of them in the eyes and tell them that they're just clones…besides, we got the brief packer from Nezu weeks ago in case we had to treat them. They're not like Ectoplasm's clones."
"They act like soldiers…"
"Sirs, Ma'ams. We are both." Fil said as he pulled up to them, helmet held in his right arm, the greenet having heavy bags under his eyes along with also some tear stains.
He then walked off to the waiting room, hoping to hear good news about Yui.
Over in another room, Momo was pacing around as well, hoping to hear back about 36.
His injury had been extremely severe, having lost a lot of blood and risking a severe infection, and with all the operating rooms occupied, they'd been forced to use another room to operate on him as well.
At this point, she had been pacing around long enough to leave a trail on the floor where she had been walking, with even signs of cracks beginning to form.
"Momo…you're marking the floor," Fil said as he grabbed her wrist.
"Sorry…I just…"
"I know…Yui's parents are already on their way, some of the boys from U.A. are picking them up by speeder," He said as they sat down.
"What about Yanagi? From what I understood, she nearly had her windpipe crushed by Grievous."
"The doctors said that both her and Jiro need some light throat surgery. The former because of what you just stated, and the latter due to suffering pressure and electrical burns there twice now."
"It's just…frustrating…"
"I know…"
After a few more hours of waiting, parents began to file into the hospital, Yui's parents immediately hugged Fil.
"Any news?"
"Not yet."
"What happened?"
"She… Saw one of her friends, one of my closest brothers, Bel be hit in the shoulder and knocked down. It caused her to lose her temper and get out of cover to destroy the machines who'd hurt him, but she ended up taking a shot to the stomach and burning her wrists due to the equipment she used, despite managing to destroy a great lot of them."
Pausing to let the parents absorb the knowledge, he continued once they had given him a signal.
"Blaster fire normally cauterizes wounds, but the blasters used by the enemy seems to be more or less a cheap copy of what we use, and therefore only causes mild cauterization."
"The camp was supposed to be safe! How…how…?"
"We don't know…" Fil whispered out. "We don't know…"
"Yui's told us about you clones…she…well, we already know how she especially talks about you…how many?"
"...forty…I think…"
"...I'm sorry…"
"I…I'm sorry too…I-"
"Kodai Yui?" A doctor called out to the waiting room, the small group immediately standing up.
"Yes?"
"She's stable."
Immediate sighs of relief as her parents practically collapsed on each other, Fil even falling to his knees.
"She's lost a lot of blood and took some damage, but we were able to stabilize her in time for Recovery Girl and Kix to help her with the bacta. Truly a marvelous piece of technology…she's currently recovering in the bacta tank and we'll keep her under observation for the next few days."
"Can we see her?" Her mother asked.
"Yes, but she won't be responsive," The doctor then led them to her room, where she was currently submerged in the healing fluid.
Her parents leaned against the cool metal, her mother sobbing in the relief and agony of a child hurt but still alive.
Fil stood off to the side but was soon enough dragged down with them.
Momo observed them for a bit before a nurse closed the door, cutting off the noise.
She was tired, extremely so, but she wouldn't rest until she knew that 36 was alright.
"Uh…CT-3636?"
Momo's eyes widened in surprise as she stood up and approached the doctor.
"We…did what we could-"
Momo's heart dropped.
"-But we weren't able to save his eye."
Momo let out a deep breath and shuddered as she leaned against the wall. A fellow doctor smacking her coworker upside the head.
"O'Malley, what did I tell you about wording things properly?!"
"Sorry, Dr. Bailey."
"Sorry about him hun, we're here on foreign exchange program…his Japanese could use some work…anyway, he's alive and well, we managed to save the eye itself but he'll be completely blind in it…so far no signs of infections, but he's on mandatory bedrest as he recovers."
Momo sighed in relief and was guided to 36's room.
"Some good news though…maybe with that bacta stuff you guys have he can have his eyesight restored, but that's a pretty big if…"
"O'Malley."
"What? I'm just giving her all the facts."
"Pretty big ifs are not facts."
"It's fine, I appreciate the sentiment and I hope that your words ring true, doctor," Momo said as she sat down next to 36's side.
"Oh, he did ask me to tell you something before he went under, I think he was worried that he wouldn't make it…"
"What is it?"
"Wolffe, with two f's…not sure what it means but, he wanted me to tell you that."
Momo blinked before smiling softly, tears trailing down her face.
"Wolffe…of course you'd use that, you fool…"
The doctors quickly left the room, and she was left alone until her parents arrived, also worried but extremely glad to see her safe and sound.
Elsewhere in the hospital, families were reunited, however not every reunion was a happy one.
Kyoka sobbed as she was hugged by Denki's mother after waking up from her surgery, the woman comforting her even as she blamed herself.
"We'll get him back…"
Blitz who was standing next to Kirai was holding Hoshiko, the clone's helmet hiding the fact the he was clenching his teeth hard enough to draw a bit of blood due to the League having the balls to kidnap his friend.
Kyoka, unable to speak for the moment, wrote down a few things.
'RELAMPAGO - UNCLE - ALIVE-FIGHT-POWERFUL-DENKI-TAKEN'
Kirai trembled in fury. For whatever reason, however it may be possible, her fallen brother was still alive.
And he'd stolen her son.
She killed him once.
She'll do it again.
Her dark thoughts were interrupted however, by Mika Jiro along with Kyotoku Jiro rushing into the room.
The two parents quickly pulled their daughter into a hug, careful to not touch her currently healing throat.
Kirai could only hope that her son was alright, and that soon she'd have him in her arms again.
Izuku remained with his head tall, even though he was amongst enemies, he remained comforted by the presence of His predecessors and the assurety that his friends and family were safe.
He knew that he'd lost brothers, but he would mourn them later.
He did, however, take a certain pleasure in hearing that they got their due.
From what he'd heard, Grievous, Spinner and Dabi had lost limbs, and Muscular and Moonfish had been killed alongside many nomu and droids and Mustard had been captured.
Good.
Granted, that probably wasn't the proper response to the deaths of villains…but after everything that had happened.
He didn't have it in him to care.
Kurogiri had first made sure that he would look presentable, allowing him a shower and giving him some food. Although he was tentative at first, if what Buir had told him was true, All For One would not stoop so low as to poison him.
Especially if what Shigaraki said was true.
The cuffs slightly chafed, and he could feel his connection with the Mindscape muffled, including the presences of Nana and Hikage.
He took comfort in the fact that he could even feel them at all.
The last black portal that he would enter gave him pause but he took a deep breath and moved forward to the other side.
…
"Well then, it certainly is a pleasure to finally see you again, little brother."
The menacing baritone sent chills down his spine, paralyzing him to his core.
"And I've been waiting to meet you, young Nine…or which name would you prefer I use?"
Izuku swallowed as he finally saw the man, no, the monster, in front of him, his scarred and grim visage staring right back, even without his eyes, he could feel the monster staring into his soul.
"Midoriya Izuku?"
The man smiled.
"Or Mand'alor?"
A few days later
"We should strike with full force!" A hero said, slamming his fist into the table.
"Don't be a meathead! This is a delicate operation. We should send in small strike teams! I've heard the Vod'e have commandos amongst their ranks, trained for these kinds of missions." A member of the HPSC said, arms crossed.
"Are you doubting our capabilities as heroes, ma'am?!"
"Of course not, but we simply don't have the manpower to deal with this so-called droid army. Better to use the clones for what they're good for!"
"What are you implying…" Midnight said, squinting her eyes.
"They're just clones from a quirk. They're expendable. Just like Ectoplasms clones."
More shouting erupted from the teacher's side as they began to vehemently argue against such a tactic.
"Order people, order! Listen, they have an army they can release at any moment, so we need to be careful about this! Listen, dear colleague. I know that this operation has to be delicate and that the enemy has an army, but so do we!" Another HPSC member said.
"Why do you talk like the Commission owns the Vod'e as their own private army, huh?" Kamui Woods said, squinting his eyes at the two members. He was also on the iffy side about this, especially with the clones being treated like they were property when he'd made two good friends there during the Sports Festival.
"I, uh-"
"Because they do. Don't you? Mr. and Ms. Representative."
Everybody gulped. Titles were a warning when used by Nezu.
"He took the exam and has a license, which means he has to follow a few rules. Especially now after having been in the hands of a super villain. He could have an internship with Hawks when this is over."
"Trying to get access to the troopers so you can strengthen your grip on Japan, huh? Wanna make this a military nation again? Go back to the times of Imperial Japan?"
"How dare you-"
"Enough…" Nezu interrupted. "At the moment, there's no point in planning a response if we don't know where they are."
"I have Detective Tsukauchi already on it-"
"Actually sir, no need," Cody said as he entered the room, much to the shock of the HPSC representatives.
"Nezu, why are one of the clones here? This is a meeting between us, heroes, and U.A. faculty."
"Exactly, please allow me to introduce U.A.'s Vice Principal, Marshall Commander Cody."
"WHAT!?"
"Sirs, ma'ams," Cody greeted with a quick salute. "Just got word from Sentinel and his squad. They're hunting down the League as we speak and we already have two leads."
"Nezu, this is an outrage-"
"AS I SAID," Cody interrupted a bit to make his point. "We have two leads."
Placing a holodisk on the table, an image of Spinner appeared.
"You can't place a kid, not to mention a quirk as a vice principal-"
Before the Commission member could interrupt again, someone dropped a blaster pistol on the table with a 'thud', causing her to turn her head towards the hand that had dropped it.
A clone wearing an ARF helmet with red markings, a kama and some sideskirts of the helmet with teeth painted on walked inside.
"Let the Marshall talk." He growled, sounding almost a bit like a hunting dog.
"Thank you, Hound. Now as I was saying…we've got word from Sentinel. He's got a personal grudge with this man here, Spinner. Kill…ehem, he killed a few of our brothers at the camp and…disrespected them as well. Sentinel got his due but Spinner escaped before he could be brought to justice."
The holo then changed to an overview of a city with multiple red dots scattered throughout.
"Sentinel's already been tracking him, and using what data they've found, we've managed to discover that he's somewhere in Kamino."
"Find out where he goes, and we can find the others…impressive work, Commander." Nezu praised to which the clone nodded.
"CC-2224. If you are so sure of this, then how would you approach this?" The female Commission member sneered.
"The Vod'e have a few teams for this kind of situation," Cody said, ignoring the number drop.
"And where are they now, huh?"
"Right behind you." A somewhat gravelly voice called out from behind her.
Turning around with a small shriek, she saw twelve clones on somewhat bulky armor and with glowing visors.
"And who are these clones?"
"Meet Delta, Omega and Foxtrot squad."
The representative was now very quiet.
"Our next lead goes down to these abominations. Nomu. A bunch of them attacked, and a few escaped. Fortunately, Hound managed to shove a commlink down its throat, which we can track, we're triangulating the position as we speak."
"Remarkable…"
Cody remained silent…in truth they all were, adults especially so.
Because they still needed to address the elephant in the room.
"Cody…we are not sending you to risk your lives so recklessly, especially if the threat is as dire as it may be."
"With all due respect, Principal Nezu, we can't stand idly by while our ori'vod is in the clutches of the shabuir that nearly drove Japan into the ground. It's not just him who is in danger either. According to Bes'laar, her partner, Buurenaar was also kidnapped by the league. His formerly thought deceased uncle had a hand in it."
"Flashover?" The representative said with a chill.
"Apparently he goes by Relampago now. Don't know why he changed it to Spanish."
"That man must be put down, and if he managed to convince his nephew to join him, he must also be dealt with!" The female commission member said, to which not a blaster pistol, but a rocket launcher was dropped on the table, courtesy of Blitz.
"Say you want us to put down my friend, and this is the barrel that you will be looking down."
The representative could only sputter.
A few in the room chuckled.
"Now now Blitz… you know just as well as I that that would leave too much of a mess to clean up." Nezu scolded.
More sputtering.
"Either way…Cody…we can't let you do this…if the droids come back-"
"If the droids come back you will be overwhelmed. We did the numbers. They sent an entire legion of clankers after us. Which, believe me, I'm not missing the message. We lost 40 brothers, but in turn we took out over half of them before they were shut down."
Cody then leaned forward, his hands on the table as he looked at each of them through his visor.
"They have blasters, which means range and they have numerical superiority. However many heroes you send, barring All Might, who'll probably be preoccupied, will be massacred. It's not about skill, ability or any of that, just sheer logic.
"As if our heroes would be taken down by mere machi-" the representative said, before she found Hound with the blaster in her face."
"Boom. You're dead. Boom. You're dead again. Boom. Boom. Boom. That's all it would take." He said, making a recoil motion every time.
"Surely you're exaggerating…"
"He is not. On full power, these things can punch through concrete," All Might said as he finally entered the room, late, exhausted but still standing tall. "And at farther ranges, they have been proved to kill as you have already brought up."
They winced under All Might's disapproving gaze. Fordo's sniper shot of the villain at the USJ had been one of the many points brought up by the HPSC when it came to accountability, same with Ponds.
For the last few hours, in fact the last few days had been Toshinori comforting Inko and Eri, the latter unfortunately appearing to return to her shell without Izuku's presence.
Even the Vod'e weren't of much help.
Rookie was able to talk to her, along with Lock, but they both knew they weren't the real deal.
"Cody…I know it's pointless to ask…but are you sure that you want to do this?"
"Truth be told sir, you couldn't even order us to stay behind."
"Ochako," Cody called out to the girl who squeaked in surprise. "We need to talk."
"Cody…I'm guessing that you know already."
"I do."
"Then you know that you can't stop me…can't stop us...from joining you."
"That's not why I'm here…in fact, it's kind of the opposite," Cody said as a few clones came up from behind him.
"The teachers don't know this yet, we're going to break it to them at the last minute…we know that you will want to fight with us, but we're here right now because of what Izuku gave you."
"Oh, the Darksaber. Right, you probably want that back, don't you?" She said as she extended it to him.
Cody laid his hand over hers and gently pushed it back much to her confusion.
"No…you don't know what it means right?" He asked to which she shook her head with a confused expression.
One that quickly turned to shock as the clones slammed their vambraces twice.
"We are at your disposal, Uravity. Lead us well." They said in unison.
"Wh…what?"
"A stipulation from the HPSC, unfortunately one of the things Nezu was forced to concede with to ensure that Izuku could gain his license so early. Should he ever be captured, somebody not of the Vod'e had to be designated in charge of us," Cody said as the clones behind him entered into parade rest.
"Izuku was searching for a more…concrete way to ensure that no arguments would be made."
Cody then tilted his head towards the Darksaber in her hand.
"By giving you the Darksaber, you are now, for all intents and purposes, the current leader of the Vod'e."
Ochako's eyes widened in shock.
"You are Mand'alor."
Omake
Cookie, Shredder, Turner and Whisk all snuck through a hallway, blasters at the ready while looking around the dark corridor for any type of danger there could be lurking.
"This ain't good man!"
"I didn't sign up for this!"
"Quiet! You'll attract her!"
"SSHHH! Ya hear tha'?"
A sudden rattling noise, similar to a hiss came from the corner as well as the shadow of a deadly creature.
Claws appeared from the corner, digging into the wall as a glowing eye appeared from the shadows.
"Hello there, boys~"
"RUN AWAY!"
"HELP US!"
"SAVE ME!"
"LEAVE HIM! HE'S DEAD MEAT!"
"RUUUUUUNNNNN!"
"GET BACK HERE BOYS! I DON'T KNOW WHO IT'LL BE, BUT ONE OF YOU WILL. BE. MINE! AHAHAHA-ERK!"
Pixie Bob choked as she fell into a pile of limbs after Mandalay chopped her neck.
"Sigh…what am I going to do with you?"
Inspired by THE-Twilight-BlazeKnight
"Okay…I have to ask…what's going on?" En asked as he looked at the main chamber of the Mindscape where thousands of clones were dancing, music was playing, strobe lights were strobing…etc.
"Hm?"
"Why…this?" He gestured to the chaos below them.
"Oh that? Izuku finally asked Ochako out on a date," Nana replied with a smile, uncaring of the sudden explosions erupting below them.
Inspired by Austin
The Sports Festival final fight between the final four!
An all out wrestling match for the ages!
"Shoto's defending against Bakugo, knocking him back with a quick pillar!"
"Wait, what is that-"
"Watch out, watch out, watch out!"
Izuku then popped up from behind Bakugo and grabbed him by the neck before flinging his body and sending them both crashing to the ground.
"AND IT'S AN RKO OUTTA NOWHERE!"
Just a few quick omakes, I hope you guys enjoyed it.
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