Izuku fumbles forwards, barely catching himself on his hands and knees. Up his throat and out through his mouth comes a vicious vomit mixing saliva with blood. He wipes his lips with the back of his hand. Somehow, that clear crimson liquid is better to puke than the black gunk that transported him again. Or, at least, he thinks he was transported elsewhere. The room is still dark as hell and the floor is still rough concrete. But, there's something different. The humidity in the air, maybe. It's not as damp. Well, aside from his vomit.
"You're back!", a chipper shrill suddenly alerts him that he isn't alone. Hastily, Izuku gets to his feet and reaches for the starter string on his sternum. That voice didn't sound anywhere deep enough to belong to the faceless guy but it still sets him on edge.
Before he pulls the ripcord and transforms though, he thinks twice. He isn't sure how many times he did so already or for how long. This could be the last one that he has in him. He wracks his head trying to guesstimate but he has brain damage thanks to his anti-psychic defense. There hasn't been a whole lot of thinking. Just action. Just droning the mind probing out with his chainsaws. But now, he pauses and thinks. He considers for a second that he might finally be able to stop.
Then Himiko Toga saunters out from the darkness, swinging her hips with her stride. Izuku raises his eyebrows. If this is another psychic attack, it's certainly a new approach. "Are you gonna do it?", the blushing blonde stares at him with cat-like eyes within the dark.
"D- Do it?", Izuku blushes too.
Himiko giggles whilst nodding. "Show me your blood", she licks her lips but there isn't so much as a sexy seduction to it after what she just said.
"Only if you're okay with showing me yours too", Izuku fires back a quick retort and threatens her with a tiny tug of his ripcord. Though he may as well just be threatening her with a good time.
"Sounds like a fair trade", the girl's grin bares her fangs and Izuku finally sees what sort of rabid animal he must look like when he transforms. It doesn't help matters when she produces a pocket knife.
"Ah, what the hell, why not?" Izuku's shoulders slump instead of shrugging but it may as well equate to the same gesture. Wasting no more time chit chatting, he pulls on the ripcord sticking out from his chest and erupts with chainsaws once again.
Parked along the sidewalk just outside the LOV bar's back alley entrance, sits a black limo with its engine still running. The vehicle's windows are tinted one way, nobody able to see in but the passengers able to see out. Residing within the limo are the HPSC representatives, Makima taking lead. They're on an inbuilt line – a secure one, of course – that connects them to the American Hero Association and company. It's a temporary truce, a ceasefire, that has brought them here.
"You're positive that this is the place?", a voice carries over the comm system that has just enough feedback to inform Makima and her associates that the voice's owner must be within at least thirty yards.
"Mm", Makima hums just loud enough to be heard. The device in her hand indicates that Izuku Midoriya is nearby.
"Then we can commence the infiltration", a second voice responds before the original one can. This new voice sounds eager. Impatient. It must belong to one of the pro heroes, desperate to rescue the young hero hopeful.
"Proceed with the operation", Makima confirms that there's no use in waiting around any longer. Even if the command gains a few wary looks from her comrades.
Mirio hears the conversation, or lack thereof, through the piece in his ear. He, like many other capable heroes, had been dispatched to one of many locations to deal with the threat. He was hoping to be on the rescue team for Midoriya but found himself instead being sent to a hospital that's supposedly a secret stronghold for Nomus. He has no doubt that it was Makima who pulled some strings to make that happen; she's using the last of her power to still control the situation as much as she can.
As such, he doesn't plan on allowing her to stall him more than the bare minimum amount of time that she can. One For All floods his system completely, channeling through his body and giving him a full charge. He plans on taking out the enemy here as quickly as he can so that he can rush to the rescue site and assist there. Which means going all out.
Mirio, followed by Miruko and Crust, venture into the facility.
Swat swarm and surround the bar's exterior. Whoever isn't on the ground is perched atop rooftops with snipers trained on the bar's alley. The invasion is carried out by the heroes though, Endeavor and Eraserhead taking charge. A backup squad made up of Kamui Woods, Death Arms, and Gunhead bring up the rear.
It's a group assembly made last minute by each organization involved, U.A having less of a say due to their scandalous situation with the general public currently. During this particular operation, the teachers and other faculty attend press conferences and PR programs. Which leaves the HPSC to take credit should things end considerably well. Makima leans back into the cushion of her car seat, already working out the details in her mind as she waits for what comes next.
Nobody is prepared for what comes over the Kamino Ward. A blast large enough to have come from a bomb wipes out everything and reduces the site to rubble. The sudden white flash within the midst of a pitch black night alerts everyone before the thunderclap of a gregarious boom. Except, it's not rain that falls from the sky. It's fire. Streaks of flame fall in long trails and set what very little remains ablaze.
It came from the warehouse where Mt. Lady and Best Jeanist detoured. A spike in reading led them to believe it was another holding ground for Nomu like the hospital they discovered but what came forth instead proves it's much worse than that. A figure floats just high enough over the debris and dust that hasn't settled to be spotted by anyone with a critical eye. Few can recognize the being but Makima does. All For One is on the scene.
She redirects her attention to her immediate surroundings when the screaming starts. Warpgates begin releasing Nomu onto the street, dispatched from who knows where. The swat teams go gun crazy, unloading rounds with rapidfire bursts of muzzle flashes. Cop cars turn over and bodies go flying when the Nomu take offense to being shot at.
Endeavor makes a move on the bar. A counterattack, maybe. That only invokes more chaos. Explosions erupt. More fire spreads and the bright flames are a blinding contrast to the night. Villains spring forward and join the fray of fighting. Eraserhead makes some maneuvers as one would expect from him but he's obviously out of his element when faced with foes like these.
"Oh dear", Makima makes a thoughtful touch to her chin as she ponders what to make of the shift in dynamic to circumstances, "This certainly alters the situation…"
"We should go while we still have the chance", one of the HPSC associates wishes to choose the coward's way out and leans forward to signal the limo's driver for a getaway.
Makima draws her hand into a gun shape and drops her thumb on it like she's cocking the weapon's barrel. The HPSC associate loses their head completely now. Literally. More screaming. Makima prefers silence when she thinks, so she executes the others too.
There's blood all over the woman's outfit. No amount of dry cleaning will get the red out.
Makima retrieves a cellphone from one of the corpses that she shares the limo backseat with. A web page is opened up on the screen. The person was mid-process getting plane tickets to flee Japan when they died. She closes the window out and dials a number she knows by heart before handing the phone over to the limo driver. The driver is trembling, terrified, but takes it.
"Tell them to send All Might", Makima gives the driver an order before leaving the vehicle and shutting the door behind her.
A snowball strikes Izuku's upper right shoulder.
A knife slices through Izuku's upper right shoulder.
Himiko laughs.
Himiko laughs.
"No fair!", Izuku pouts as he tries bunching up enough snow to make his own ammunition to fight back with. "I wasn't expecting you to throw that!"
"Who throws a knife?!", Izuku critiques his opponent's fighting style while having to block another blade with a chainsaw. After having dodged so many slashes, the sudden toss caught him by surprise.
"Come on, Izukun, have a little imagination!" Himiko continues her assault on the boy by brandishing a new collection of knives to throw. "Have a little fun!"
"Where do you even keep getting all of those?!", Izuku finds himself unable to deflect every blade thrown in his direction and starts getting pierced by them. There's just too many.
"You should always keep a stash prepared!", Himiko grabs from a pile of snowballs that she preemptively made before starting the fun fight with her friend.
A snowball smacks Izuku in the face. He sputters and spits the ice out, keeping his eyes closed so none of the snow gets in them. A sigh full of condensation is followed by a small smile. "Noted", he says.
Izuku's tongue rolls out of his mouth when he comes up with a countermeasure. The chainsaws on his arms retract and he starts plucking the knives from his body to throw back. "You fool! You supplied me with ammunition!", his cackle is crazed and it matches the blonde's similar psycho energy when she laughs along with him.
"I almost forgot how much fun you are! Oh, I missed this!" Himiko relishes in their battle as it becomes more bloodied than before.
She's shocked when Izuku closes the distance between them and slams a heel into her stomach. She's even more shocked after crashing through the door behind her and out into a place that looks like hell. The world is on fire, casting a glow from flames that makes shadows flicker in the dead of night. All that remains from the bar is the room they had been in, somehow.
Izuku steps out, following after her, before pausing in his stride and glancing about. "What the fuck happened here… ?", he asks.
Makima walks through the smoke of the blast site, approaching the floating figure of All For One. He eventually senses her, blinded face tilting toward the woman. He then lowers closer to the ground, feet still slightly suspended in the air.
Slowly, Makima raises her arm, folding her hand and lifting a single finger to point at the man.
All For One mirrors the motion with the opposite arm, pointing back.
Bones screech as they shift, sounding as metallic as scrap metal being twisted. Makima's finger snaps and contorts. As does All For One's. Blood spouts out through the pores and fingernails.
Makima moves, attempting a step forward. All For One unfolds his hand into a open palm, a motion made to stop her. She flicks her own arm up, swiftly matching the movement and the gesture.
Makima's arm snaps in several spots. The folds contort into a twisted shape until there's nothing left of the limb.
Chimes from bells are gentler than a death toll. And yet, they come from a jingling set attached to a long sword materialized over All For One's head.
The sword shoots forward and impales Makima.
Blood seeps out of the woman's mouth and nostrils.
And yet, she still smiles.
As she says…
"Save me, Chainsaw Man."
Izuku dives over a pile of rubble to regain his barings. Himiko ran off, doing the same in such an unexpected scenario. They just stepped into a war zone. Kurogiri is seized by armored men, probably a task team sent by the HPSC. The warping villain's comrade, Tomura, expresses outrage by charging at them. Izuku has half a mind to intervene there but is drawn away by Endeavor's flames. The flaming hero fights a swarm of Nomu while swat provide cover fire.
Amidst the chaos, there's the centerfold of action. Izuku spots Makima, the woman speared like a kabob. The faceless man who used psychic attacks hovers over her. Then he hears the command. "Save me, Chainsaw Man" It's not a plea. It's not a request. It's an order. Izuku feels his feet moving before his mind catches up to them. He's sure that he's not simply saving her to do her bidding, but rather because she needs help and he's aiming to become a hero. And yet..
Chainsaws chop at All For One. The man, the ultimate evil, stops the arm bar full of spinning blades with a bare open palm as though he's stopping a pillow tossed his way. An exhale of heat smashes into Izuku, an exhaust of the energy being redirected, and the boy is thrown back. "Impotent brat…", a dark voice comes from the devil personified as he reaches for Izuku with his other hand, "You really wish to strike me down with a power bestowed unto you that is not your own? That you don't fully comprehend?"
Streaks of red stretch out from beneath the man's fingernails. They're as thin as veins but flow freely as blood itself. The wirey things stab Izuku in several spots around his chest. There's a burning sensation there. Near his heart. It feels like it's going to explode. When All For One says, "Forced Quirk Activation", it does.
Izuku blacks out.
That darkness consumes him.
Within the dark, the sound of chainsaws roaring can be heard.
The cameras broadcasting the press conference with U.A, or rather the public interrogation of its principal, are no longer occupied. Rather, all eyes are on the screens that have begun broadcasting a different camera source.
Live from Kamino, a devilish monstrosity wreaks havoc against an equally devilish villain. They're both beings that Nezu recognizes. One of which makes the chimera gasp.
An animal instinct comes to him, one long preserved since encountering a predator capable of making him feel like he's prey. That gasp leaves the mammal's maw hanging open, bottom lip quivering. He's afraid.
Nezu places a paw over the scar that streaks across his eye.
Chainsaw Man stands as tall and strong as All Might would in the face of All For One. Pitch black armored plates cover him, flitting like scales on a fish, except the damp humidity comes out as an exhaust of steaming fumes from revving chainsaws. Split at the elbows, two forearms each on either side amplify the number of those rotating blades. Chainsaw Man spots Eraserhead across the battlefield. Mimicking the underground hero's scarf to appear more like a hero, Chainsaw Man carves out his own intestines to wrap around his neck.
Except, Chainsaw Man looks nothing like a hero. Not to anyone watching him. And the whole world is watching him. Normally, that would do detrimental damage to Izuku. For Chainsaw Man though… That fear fuels him. He has enough fuel to power his chainsaws for centuries.