Chapter 12: Tragic Day in America
Joey
Joey's phone went off in the middle of class, and he went to see it. He almost dropped his phone when he saw the news. "Oh my God!" he said out loud, loud enough for everyone to look at him. The headline on his News App said: Millions Killed in Terrorist Attacks!
"Freeman-kun!" Shinso-sensei said and walked over, "You need to keep your phone…on…silent…" The teacher stopped when he saw the headline. Then everyone's phones went off, and they all saw the shocking news as well. Shinso-sensei stood up and said, "Class is dismissed for the day. It might be for a while. Freeman-kun, call your sister." Joey nodded and got out of the classroom and immediately called Marie. She picked up on the second ring. "MARIE! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!? WHAT HAPPENED!? HOW DID IT HAPPEN!?" Tears were streaming down Joey's face, and he heard Marie say, "Joey…I…we did what we could, but this was…everywhere!" Joey stopped when he heard his sister's voice, and collapsed against a wall in relief, just glad she was alright.
She told him what happened, on her side of the world it had only been half an hour ago. The bodies were still being recovered. Multiple cities attacked, and three wiped out in explosions completely. Topeka, Kansas; Ann Arbor, Minnesota; and Madison, Wisconsin; all of them were…gone. Nothing but rubble; and a combined death toll of 1.5 million people from these three attacks alone. And the death toll was only growing, over 2 million dead and rising. The worst terrorist attack in the history of humanity. "Who would do this," Joey asked her, sounding not like a Hero in training, but a scared little boy. "I don't know, Joey," Marie said, and swallowed, "I just don't know. I…I have to go now. Things are going to get harder, here. I don't know when I'll have time to talk to you again.
"I love you, Joey. Tell Mom I love her too," Marie told her little brother. "I love you too, Marie," Joey said back, and Marie hung up. Joey looked up and saw his friends were all there. "Is Marie-nee-chan alright?" Eri asked him. Joey nodded, "She's fine. She…caught some of the terrorists and stopped it from happening in her city. But…millions of people…three cities just…gone…" The other three teens didn't say anything, only held him in a group hug, as he started crying. That was how his adopted Mom found him, tears still falling as his friends held him; he may have been the physically biggest and strongest of them, but now he was the weakest and needed their help.
"Joey," Nemuri said, "I…I couldn't reach Marie." Joey looked up at his adopted mom and said, "She's…alright. She stopped it from happening in Charleston. Marie had to go, but she wanted me to tell you that she loves you, Mom." Nemuri nodded, and said, "Let's go home. I got permission from Principal Nezu. A lot of things are happening now, and I…I want you to be somewhere close, for tonight at least." Joey wiped his tears and nodded, and then told his friends, "Thanks, guys." Jougo nodded, "Anytime, man." Eri said, "Take care of yourselves, Joey, Midnight-sensei." Nemuri smiled and nodded, and then the two of them left U.A. They headed for Nemuri's apartment, and she told Joey she had to lie down.
Joey sat down on a couch and heard as his adopted Mom went to her room, and then collapsed to the ground. He heard her sobbing through the door, not because she wasn't controlling her voice, but because his hearing was just that good. He thought he knew why she was crying; they were tears of relief, joy, and guilt. Relief that her only daughter was fine, joy in that fact, and guilt that she would feel these things when so many other parents would never see their children again; either the parents or the children or both all slaughtered by insane terrorists. He had felt the same feelings at school after he heard his sister's voice.
Wolfheart
It was three hours after she had stopped the bombing. She was sitting down in the Police Department waiting room now, waiting to see what would happen next. He had answered numerous questions from the police, and the FBI, and even Homeland Security. The rest of her team had done the same, and now they were all waiting to see what they would do now. Marie looked at her phone and saw how many had been killed so far. The death count had hit 2.5 million people. And even more would have died if she hadn't thrown that insane woman into the sky and let her blow up. It was a pyrrhic victory.
"Marie!? Where are you?" she looked up and saw her husband, he was dressed in a regular t-shirt and jeans and flip-flops, it was obvious he just slapped on whatever he could before coming. "I'm here, Denki," she stood up and went over to him. He surprised her by wrapping her in a hug and then kissing her desperately. "My phone woke me up, the news, all those people, and I heard about a bomb in Charleston, and I…I had to come," he told her in rapid Japanese. "I'm alright, Denki," she told him in Japanese, "I managed to stop it from happening. But…I don't feel like I won or stopped anything."
"You saved the city," he reminded her, "You did all you could do. I sure as Hell couldn't have done it. Remember what Aizawa-sensei said, 'You can't save everyone, you can only save who you can.' We had to learn that the hard way in Japan." Marie remembered the horrors of fighting against All for One and his forces and nodded. She and everyone else in 1-A had done all they could; but there were still many losses. Many people had died tonight; but she had made sure that none of them were in her city. "What are we going to do?" her husband asked her. "I need to sleep," she answered, "And then…we'll have a lot to do."
The next day, Marie woke up with Denki in the morning and together they worked out and finished by sparring for thirty minutes. They had sparred off and on for years since U.A. and the start of their relationship; they knew each other intimately in more ways than most people understood. Their fight looked like something perfectly choreographed, only a trained and experienced fighter would have seen those small stops and changes in rhythm that showed they were acting and reacting to each other, they were just so used to sparring against each other that it was as natural as walking. Suddenly, Marie grabbed her husband's arm with both hands and twisted then pulled him and pinned him to the ground. Denki grunted, "Atatatataa! You win!" Marie let him go and said, "Sorry, babe. I was…distracted, I didn't mean to go that hard."
Denki shook his arm and flexed his fingers, then smirked, "Kiss it better." Marie smiled and kissed his hand and arm, and he flexed a little bit to show-off. Marie just laughed, "You goofball!" He smiled back and said, "I'm your goofball." Their flirting was interrupted when there was a knock at the door. They headed to their front door and answered it. Outside was a tall woman, at least eight feet tall with black hair and wearing sunglasses, and a bald man with bright red skin who gave off the scent of cherries. They were both in matching suits and the man asked, "Denki Kaminari? Marie Kaminari? AKA the Heroes Chargebolt and Wolfheart?"
"Who's asking?" Denki asked. The man and woman took out badges from their suits and the man said, "I'm Agent Redfield and this is Agent Tullers, we're with the FBI." Marie looked closely at the badges, and saw they were legit. "We need you to come with us, President Danvers has requested that all the Heroes who helped thwart the terrorists should see him personally," Agent Redfield said. "Has there been any news?" Marie asked. "Their leader sent a manifesto to all the major news outlets and throughout social media," Agent Tullers said, "And we need to be ready for what may happen next. Get cleaned up, get in your costumes, and during the trip you can read it."
Denki and Marie nodded to the Agents and quickly got in the shower. Normally a shower together was more…intimate, but both of them were too nervous to do anything but wash up. "We were really out of it," Marie said as they got into their costumes. Denki nodded and said in Japanese, "I just hope that we aren't needed. This feels like All for One all over again. Maybe worse." They went outside and locked the door behind them and headed out with Agents Redfield and Tullers.
As they were led to the Agents' waiting car, Denki turned his phone on to social media and found the terrorists' manifesto. It was everywhere and had been copied millions of times already. He showed it to Marie, and they quietly read it as the Agents drove them. It went:
Surge Humanitatum!
Rise Humanity!
We are the ones who have attacked this corrupted world.
We are the ones who will restore true humanity to its rightful place.
We are the Brotherhood of Humanity.
For too long have we watched the Freaks take charge of the world.
For too long have we watched the destruction they wreak upon the world.
For too long have true humans been left behind because they had only one head, or two arms, or only two legs as God intended. True humans were once the only humans, but now we are the minority. We were once weak, victims of the Freaks who could spit acid or blast lasers from their eyes. No More!
We are the Brotherhood of Humanity!
We have waited, and now we are ready!
To all the True Humans in the world, we say, join us, and let us take back our world.
And to all our enemies we say:
Occidere Animalia!
Death to Animals!
Surge Humitatum!
Rise Humanity!
"These guys are nuts," Denki finally said in Japanese, "Certifiably insane. They can't possibly win." Marie swallowed, "I don't think they care about winning. They just want people to suffer. They were quiet for the rest of the trip, and Marie looked out the windows of the FBI's car. Everywhere she saw a flag, it was flying at half-mast in mourning for the dead. Killed by this 'Brotherhood of Humanity'. Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw people going to numerous houses of worship, it seemed that every church, synagogue and mosque was filled to bursting as people prayed to God for guidance, for the souls of the dead, and for comfort for the survivors.
Marie wiped her tears and focused on the mission ahead. Her phone went off, it was a notification that President Danvers was about to make an announcement. Marie turned her phone on to the News App on it and showed it to Denki. They only had to wait for two minutes before it showed a live showing of the President of the United States. President Harold Danvers was a tall African American man in his fifties with salt and pepper hair and beard. He looked tired as he walked up to the podium, and Marie saw that his eyes were red as if he had been crying.
President Danvers said, "My fellow Americans… The last twenty-four hours will go down in history as one of the single greatest tragedies in the history of humanity. As you no doubt know, domestic terrorists have attacked cities throughout the United States. Despite the efforts of Heroes, Federal Agents, and local Police, many cities suffered explosive attacks, and three of them; Topeka, Kansas; Ann Arbor, Minnesota; and Madison, Wisconsin have been completely destroyed with an unknown non-nuclear explosive of incredible power. According to the latest reports I have been given, over three-million people were killed in these attacks. Among those killed…" President Danvers stopped and swallowed, "Among those killed, were my wife, her parents, and our daughter."
President Danvers stopped as reporters went ballistic, and waited for them to stop before he continued, "I join millions of you today, as we mourn our lost family. Our parents, spouses, and children are dead, taken from us in a senseless act of hatred for humanity. Those who claim responsibility for this atrocity, this so-called Brotherhood of Humanity; their name is a despicable lie!" Anyone could tell that President Danvers was filled with the righteous fury that only one who has lost people they loved could feel. "They are NOT a Brotherhood of Humanity; they are the Enemies of Humanity! They are truly the face of all that is Evil in this world! Even as I speak, our allies from around the world send their condolences, and they are sending hand-picked teams of Heroes here, to help us in our time of need.
"To these, the True Brotherhood of Our Common Humanity, I cannot express our nation's, or my personal gratitude strongly enough. Thank you, is all I can say, those words are too small to express the depths of our gratitude. And, to the so-called 'Brotherhood of Humanity', from the depths of my heart, I say that there is nowhere on this Earth that you can hide. We will exert every power we have to find you all and bring you to Justice! Our Heroes, our Police, and our government will not rest until you are defeated, one way or another. That is all I have to say, may God bless you all, and God bless America." President Danvers let his furious tears flow down his cheeks, and Marie felt her heart hardened with renewed determination. She would not rest until Justice was done.
