Should I be working on this story when my other one is due Saturday? No. Did that change the thoughts or song of my muse? Also no. Therefore, you all have one more chapter of A Hero's Creed in this short time span. This will complete 95% of the I-Island arc for this story, but with clear implications and ramifications for the future. Before that, however, first Reviews:
ace200777: I do not have an account on AO3, so I couldn't post it there if I wanted to. That website is too complicated for me. Someone could post it there with my permission if I had the ability to see the reviews that came about there, but I won't be wandering through the site myself.
CallMeCayde: It's actually close to that as it is. Momo's parents suspect Izuku's loyalties and Izuku knows Momo's, but they aren't trying to "convince" each other of anything... yet.
LEGOBRICK13: Alright, we're getting to the end of I-Island, no need for knowledge of the Isu. Actual Canon about them is pretty limited as is, though, even though the last couple games focused more on their reminants than the Assassins themselves. Much of what I'm establishing with this chapter is my own headcanon that may go against "official" sources in the future. The turrets were actually pulled from Portal 2, but they're just as wonky as the droids. Anyway... *opens a portal and grabs AHC!Tsuyu* I need you back here for the next chapter.
maxperseus130: Oh, how I have missed your long reviews. I'm glad you picked up on the Portal reference and I thought that David landing on the short list of possible Sages made perfect sense. I hope you also enjoy breaking down this chapter and the effects it will have rippling into the future.
Monkey D. Conan: Read this chapter and have all your questions answered! Well, except the shipping. That's an answer I still don't have an answer to and probably still won't for a couple years. I guess you could call this slowburn IzukuX? We'll figure it out together.
Monster King: Thank you.
Pirohiko-Baltazar: As I understood it, Juno's genetic meddling was how most of the Sages (mostly Aita until Valhalla, I think) came about. That somewhat-random jackpot of genes is what I'm going with for most of the Sages in this story, though I don't expect them to be regular characters. I'm asking for a little leeway there for explanation as "Isu meddling."
Wizardwolf 1020: I've never watched Scrubs myself (I'm not a fan of that type of show in general) but I can promise you no one is truly safe. For many, it is merely a matter of time, the title of this chapter should tell you.
Chapter 38:
Loss
Izuku tried to keep a straight face as he watched David Shield continue to pack up the devices he'd created in a past life, all at the behest of the woman who kept Melissa at knifepoint. It wasn't hard for Izuku to feign his worry, since said emotion was truly genuine. He had no idea what plan was forming in Wolff and Michael's heads, but he knew timing could be the difference between life and death in such instances. And right now, Melissa's head was the closest one to the chopping block.
["So, Thoth,"] the Templar woman said, her voice almost casual despite the knife at the teen's throat, the pistol in her other hand, and all her dead associates on the floor. ["You remember everything now? Tell me, what was it like when the world was made?"]
["What do you want me to say?"] David sighed, packing away another one of the devices. He was working his way closer to the middle of the room, nearing the women who held his daughter hostage. ["I wasn't David Shield back then. The memories, they're more like watching a thousand movies in first-person with a stream-of-consciousness narration. And there's just so many of them all at once."]
["Yes, but I want to hear about the first one. The original. The life of Thoth, before the rise of humanity. What was your work? Where did you stand on human labor? Did you take part in the revolution?"]
["It was…"] David let out a breath, closing his eyes. ["It was idyllic,"] he finally answered. ["It was beautiful. Shining cities as far as the eye could see, gleaming in the noonday sun. I can't say it was perfect, but we weren't as apt to violence. The Isu each had a longevity of hundreds of years, so there was always the future to think about."] He chuckled. ["Back then, you weren't an adult until you reached 40. That's one of the reasons we created humans. They could reach their maturity in less than half the time, so we could send them to do the more dangerous work. After all, like canaries in coal mines, humans were expendable and replaceable.
["I was ok with it. Heck, the practice was normalized by the time I was born. It was just a fact of life. Seshat and I were more invested in technology than bioengineering, so we didn't pay much attention to how they changed. When the whole program started, humans were nothing more than domesticated monkeys trained to recognize shiny things and swing a pickax, but then people started selectively breeding them for other tasks. Cooking, cleaning, animal care, stuff like that at first, then more intricate things like metal production and jewelry making. We had a few humans of our own, mostly to do our laundry, keep the fires going, wipe up the ash from the latest explosion, and other such maintenance around the lab.
["They were useful pets, but humans as a whole got smarter and smarter with each generation, watching us and learning. Certain folks started breeding them like today's dogs to get the exact traits they wanted. Darker skin or lighter, specific hair colors or eye colors, taller or shorter and whatever body proportions. Any aesthetic you wanted in your human, you could find one or breed one. We would call such eugenic processes barbaric nowadays, but back then, humans weren't our equals. But you know what happened.
["That's when the revolution began. It seemed to come out of nowhere, but that's only because the Isu barely considered the span of 20 years to be much time unless they were a kid or had them. Seshat and I… we were too invested in our work to even think about kids, so the news took us by surprise. Our humans didn't join their brethren even after they heard, so I guess they liked us well enough; considered us good and honest masters. As a result, we were contacted separately by Jupiter about the catastrophe to come. We moved everything here and tried everything we could think of, but it was too little too late."]
["Nothing you tried worked, and the solar flair happened,"] the woman finished.
The Sage ran a hand through his hair, the lines of his face seeming deeper than they had been before the start of his story. He leaned back, his recently-packed Piece of Eden forgotten as he stared up at the ceiling from his knees.
["Seshat, our humans, and I stayed here in the lab for a few years afterward, letting the outside world settle after the catastrophe, but we got restless with nothing to do and provisions started to run low. There are only so many times one can create a boardgame, teach it to the ones you considered useful pets, and then get embarrassed when a couple of them get so good at Senet that you can no longer win. Eventually, we chose to abandon the lab and went as far from it as we could to run from our failure. Our humans came with us, founding a place for themselves. They even built a monument with Seshat's face to celebrate a new start, though I never understood why they insisted on the body of a lion."]
["Senet?"] Melissa breathed. ["Monument? Wait, Egypt? You and Mom founded Egypt? The Sphinx has Mom's face?"]
["No,"] David denied with a shake of his head. ["Thoth and Seshat helped found what would become Egypt, but they aren't your parents. They never were."] He turned, offering a smile to the hostage girl. ["I am not that Isu. I might have these memories, I might be a Sage or a reincarnation or whatever you want to label me as, but I am still David Onuris Shield. In this life, I am your father, Melissa, and that's the most important thing to me. And I promise you your mother would have said the same thing."]
["How touching,"] the woman muttered, turning her pistol on the Sage. ["If only we had the luxury of family over the fate of the world itself. Unfortunately, I find the destruction of one family far less important than the long-awaited peace our mission will bring about. Omelets and eggs, as they say. Now get back to packing before I let your daughter here take over the temple by force and finish packing for you."]
["Yes, I suppose you're right,"] David said, standing. He moved to the next podium, this one holding a device shaped like a small tube made of the same golden substance as the others. It was small, about the size of an old camera's lens if not a little smaller, the device beginning to glow at his touch. He turned, pointing it at the woman, and stomped his foot.
The floor under Melissa and the woman swelled, sending both of them off balance. At the same time, the device in David's hand hummed, a sort of light surrounding the knife in the Templar's hands and dragging it away from the blonde's throat, ripping it out of her hand and to the device where it stuck as if magnetized. Izuku stumbled, the cords holding him falling away.
BANG!
David cried out as the bullet passed through his shoulder in a splash of crimson. He stumbled backward from the force, one hand coming up instinctually to try to stem the flow.
["Dad!"] Melissa called, crawling forward from where she'd fallen. The woman with the pistol behind her growled in a very unladylike manner, spitting something in French as she aimed her gun at the blonde's back.
["You bastard Sage!"] the woman hissed. ["You would side against those who want to see you succeed in this hellish world? Fine! Suffer the punishment for your transgressions!"]
"No!"
BANG!
Searing pain. That was all Izuku could comprehend, the new wound in his gut hurting worse than his body crashing to the hard floor. Someone yelled his codename —or maybe his actual name, he wasn't cognizant enough to distinguish the two— and he tried to force his eyes open. The woman who had shot him —dressed in a dark blue bodysuit that left none of her proportions to the imagination— was locked in a fast-paced battle against both Wolff and Michael, her pistol in one hand and a hidden blade she'd grabbed somewhere in the other. Somehow, she was keeping up with the two trained killers, her pinched expression clear that they were still giving her a challenge she didn't enjoy.
"Izuku!" Melissa said, the older teen falling to her knees beside him and rolling him onto his back. David moved at his periphery, drawing closer. "You idiot! Why would you do that‽"
"Couldn't… let her hurt you," the boy coughed, the movement causing pain in his side to flair. "How bad is it?"
"You're lucky," David commented, leaning over his daughter, accidentally leaving a smear of blood on Melissa's shoulder and dress. He reached down with his good arm, pulling a warped piece of metal from Izuku's torso. "It looks like you had a knife from the kitchens that partially caught the bullet, redirecting it away from your more vital organs."
"So I'm not going to die?"
"Not immediately."
"Ah, that's good." More pain wracked his body, forcing a hiss from the young Hero student. "Shit. You got anything for this, Doc?"
"I think so," David nodded, standing. "Let me—"
BANG!
Another gunshot pierced the air and the world seemed to slow. Izuku's eyes widened as a hole tore itself dead center through good scientist's gut, right below the sternum, the brunet's blue eyes shooting open behind his glasses as he froze. He coughed.
["DAD!"]
["Fuck!"] Wolff yelled. ["Swordkill!"]
["We can't chase her."] the other Assassin snarled. ["She jumped into the water with a case. Let the sharks get her."]
["We've got bigger damn issues! Shield's been shot!"]
The pair ran back into the room as the David's strength seemed to leave him, a trail of crimson dripping from the corner of his mouth as he started to fall backward. Melissa, still in shock, was not fast enough to catch him before his back hit the floor. His glasses fell off his face, clattering across the room. A pool of red started spreading underneath him, at odds with the green glow of the floor.
["Oh, look at that,"] he breathed as Melissa's blurry face appeared over him. ["I've been impaled."]
["Now isn't the time for fucking movie quotes, Dad!"] the blonde yelled, tears falling from her eyes to splash against his face and chest. ["We need to get you to a hospital!"]
["Mel,"] he muttered. ["The third suitcase. There's a weave in it."]
["I'll get it,"] she vowed, immediately running across the room. The blurry red of Jonnathan Wolff appeared over him, the man's expression probably pitying as he bent down. Across the room, Melissa wrenched open the case her father had specified only for something star-shaped to fall out. Frantic and cursing, she started pulling open the other cases.
["That thing isn't going to be enough to save you, is it?"] the Villain asked, his voice low enough that there was no way Melissa could hear it. David shook his head.
["I can't feel my legs,"] David admitted. ["Bio was always Juno's expertise, not ours. All we have here is one of her prototypes. One-time use and can't heal my spine, but it should be enough for the boy. He should be able to use it."]
Wolff bent down, taking the scientist's hand in his own.
["What can we do?"]
["Take my daughter with you, back to America,"] David answered, his voice weak. ["The Templars will be after Mel now. Protect her… since I won't be able to."]
["You have our word,"] Wolff swore. ["The Assassins will keep her safe."]
["I've got it!"] Melissa yelled, running back over with a shimmering, golden cloth about the size of a dishtowel in hand. She knelt, her hand already on course to press the glowing artifact against her father's wound, but Wolff's hand caught her by the wrist. ["What are you doing‽ I need to save him!"]
["It won't be enough,"] the redhead told her. ["Not for him."]
["It has to be!"] she cried. Her voice broke. ["It has to!"]
Wolff pulled it from her hand, easily fending off her protestations, and tossed the no-longer-glowing artifact to Michael, his fellow Assassin making his way to Izuku.
"Mel," David whispered, grabbing his daughter's arm before she could go after it. He spoke in Japanese, wanting what would probably be his last words to his daughter be special to them despite the Assassin's presence. "My little Melissa. My golden ray of sun."
"Dad, please," she begged. "Please."
"Go with them," he told her. "I'll stay here and destroy the place."
"But Dad, you can't! Then you'll—"
"I have relived a thousand lifetimes, Melissa. This one may not have been my longest, but it has been my happiest, and that's all thanks to you." His hand came up, Melissa grabbing it without care for the blood coating it. He smiled, his teeth discolored. "Thoth and Seshat never had children, and I didn't in any past life either. Always too focused on science. That's what makes you special. None of them had you. Thank you of being part of my life, Mel."
"Dad—!"
["Wolfram, take her and go. I'll stay here and take care of the lab. No one will ever get their hands on it or anything inside."]
"Dad!" Melissa screamed, fighting Wolff every step of the way as he grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. She reached for her father as he smiled sadly, watching as she kicked and screamed, pounding her fists against the man's back as she demanded he take her back.
Izuku barely comprehended what part of this he was able to see as Michael Corvain got beside him, the Piece of Eden in his hand dull.
["I can't make this work, Prince,"] he said, lowering it toward the bullet hole in Izuku's side. It started glowing again as it got close, the pink-haired man lifting one of Izuku's hands to grab the woven cloth. ["Dr. Shield seems to think you can, though. I need to check to make sure the bullet isn't in you first."]
Izuku moved his other hand, Michael grabbing a flashlight to shine the light into his wound. He frowned.
["Kid, this is gonna hurt."]
["What i—?"] Izuku screamed as Michael turned his hand into a dagger and drove it into the center of his wound. The boy grit his teeth as the edges of the man's Meta cut into his flesh, Michael quickly pulling it out to show the bullet stuck on the very tip. The light coming from the Piece of Eden jumped in intensity as Michael shoved Izuku's hand —in which he held the nigh-magical cloth— against the wound, the light getting to be too much to look at. More pain burned through Izuku, lasting for only a second before it faded to leave only a dull ache, the Piece of Eden now blood-stained and dim.
Izuku pulled it up, the area under it clear of everything but some remaining blood and a scar that looked months old. He breathed easier.
["Good job, Prince,"] the roset said. ["You're gonna live and can apparently use P.O.E.s, for some damn reason."]
["I do not know if that is good or bad,"] Izuku chuckled, allowing the older Assassin to pull him to his feet.
["Come on!"] Wolff ordered, carrying Melissa over his shoulder. ["Let's get the fuck out of here! Godspeed, Dr. Shield! It's been an honor!"]
["DADDY!"] Melissa screamed, David barely pulling himself into a sitting position to wave at her, the last glimpse of his daughter he'd ever see. Needing to give them time to get away, David rolled over and dragged himself toward the closest podium, propping himself against it. He sighed.
["Computer, play my favorite music."]
'Yes, Sidi Thoth. Playing Uriel's Concerto three-hundred-twenty-seven: Fated Lovers' Dance at one-point-three-seven times speed.'
["Oh,"] he chuckled as a concert piece of unknown instruments he'd only ever heard in memories that he hadn't lived himself started playing in his head. It felt familiar, but it certainly wasn't Kansas. ["I suppose I should have seen that coming. Computer, scan sequence 37. Play the song I am remembering and set the lab to self-destruct at the end of the music."]
'Self-destruct? Are you certain, Sidi Thoth?'
["Yes. I'm sure. Make sure nothing within remains. Start."]
'Yes, Sidi Thoth. Beginning now.'
'Carry on my wayward son~ There'll be peace when you are done~'
Inko Midoriya's eyes fluttered open, wind whistling in her ears. She wasn't quite sure why, her vision blurry but clear enough that she knew she was staring up at a cloud-covered night sky, but she didn't feel rested in the least even if it felt like waking up. There was a spot of seafoam in the center of her vision, growing larger as she watched. The smell of a coming storm tickled her nose and her head hurt, the woman wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep.
"Inko!" a voice yelled, forcing the woman to open her eyes wider. She knew that voice, but it wasn't Izuku. "Don't worry! I'm coming!"
Why did she recognize that voice? It was so familiar, but she just couldn't place it. The spot of seafoam grew larger, the face and dimensions of a buxom young woman quickly filling Inko's vision.
"…Momo?" Inko questioned. She didn't receive an answer before the young heiress slammed into her, the young Hero student wrapping her arms around the rather portly woman as best she could, but the difference of speed between the two practically knocked the wind out of the elder's lungs.
Now having a firm grasp on the woman, Momo closed her eyes and tried to forget the fact she and Inko were rushing toward one of the tower's external landings at terminal velocity. She focused and rolled over so she was facing the sky, conjuring the schematic she needed as the entirety of her back began to glow with the multicolored light of Creation. A yellow form practically spewed from her skin, sucking in the surrounding air to inflate itself as the little motor Momo had painstakingly memorized the intricacies of so long ago whirled to life.
It wasn't fully inflated when it smacked into the landing, nor was it when the two woman made their landing upon its rubbery surface, but the plastic dinghy served its purpose, painful as it was. Rather, its incomplete inflation absorbed much of the women's momentum instead of bouncing them away. Still, the impact itself knocked the wind out of Momo and would have done the same to Inko if her lungs weren't already empty.
Between the force and the external landing, something punctured the dinghy's hide, the whole thing letting out a PSSHHHHH as air started to rush out of it like a sad bounce house. It collapsed around them, shrinking into a limp lump of yellow rubber as Momo and Inko tried to get air back into their lungs.
"I-Inko," Momo coughed, rolling onto her side. "Inko, are you ok?"
"…Ah," the woman breathed, unable to get her words out past the tightness of her throat and the emptiness of her insides. She sucked in a breath, coughing.
"Inko!" The Hero student reached her side, pulling the green-haired mother up into a sitting position. "Are you ok? Nothing's hurt?"
"You…" Inko blinked. "You saved me."
"That's what pro Heroes do. Besides, Izuku would never forgive me if something happened to you under my watch."
"H-He wouldn't forgive himself first," the mother said, shaking her head and looking around. She winced, her hand going to a large scratch on her arm. "What happened?"
"That explosion threw you out the window," Momo answered, already forming disinfectants and bandages from her arm. She started treating the woman's injuries.
"What about Iida and the other Heroes?"
"They should be able to handle themselves. You're a civilian, though, and I can't let you get hurt, Inko."
Something exploded above them, shattering the already-broken window. Momo threw herself over Inko, her back again alight with the colors of her Quirk as a thick blanket formed, floating down to cover them before the shards of glass could. Said glass rained around them, cracking and breaking against the metal landing around the remains of the dinghy.
"Momo?" Inko questioned, pushing the blanket away as soon as the noise died down. The black-haired heiress looked pale, her complexion sallow. She seemed thinner now than she had been before, so much so that her dress started falling off. It had barely been holding after creating the dinghy, such a large item having been taxing on top of all the creations to fight the robots, but the blanket was just another hair upon the metaphorical back of her Quirk's metaphorical camel.
"Yaoyorozu!" a voice called from above. "Ms. Midoriya! Are you two alright‽"
"We're fine, Iida!" Inko called back, supporting the drained student in her arms. "Help those Heroes! Momo can't do anything more until she gets some food in her! I'll take her inside and see if we can't find another way to help!"
"I am glad to hear neither of you are physically incapacitated! Please, try to remain safe!" Something else exploded, Iida quickly returning to what must certainly be an exciting battle. Climbing to her feet, and ignoring the painful bruises running along her back and the staunched cut on her arm, Inko pulled Momo along toward the door. If nothing else, it would be best to get inside before the rain began.
Abrielle de Blanchet cursed to herself in all seven languages that she knew, her fingers moving across the keyboard before her in a blur. Every prompt she tried was blocked by a password, each one different than the last, and none of them were stopping the elevator as it rose higher and higher. The camera's footage was grainy, but she could easily tell that there were more than one figure inside the speeding transportation, meaning it was the Assassins and not her mother riding the hunk of metal to the top of its path.
She needed to get a message to Andre and Annabelle, to let them know that whatever happened down in the Isu Temple probably did not go their way. And for them, it was not as simple as pressing a button on an earpiece.
Finally, she cracked one of the passwords to the turrets (it was Glados for some reason. Maybe a name of importance to the designer?) and set to work editing some of the words and phrases they could say. She needed something that would not tip off the speedster of the group for there had been no visual confirmation he was one of the chosen flock, but she needed her superpowered siblings aware that the Assassins were coming.
And then the elevator shot past the floor in question, Abrielle blinking for several seconds as she tried to understand what had happened. Were they not after the de Blanchet family? Did they remain unaware of their involvement?
She shook her head. No, the Assassins can't have won yet and there was still one hail Mary she could pull in an attempt to ruin their scheme, to bring this battle to a Pyrrhic victory for them if not a stalemate. Opening another prompt —the one she'd cracked first— the oldest of the three siblings flipped a setting from ON to OFF and pressed enter.
Across the island, the defense robots powered down, the island's systems turning off. Even in the ballroom, the cords and wires holding pro Heroes loosened and retracted. Abrielle allowed herself a grin at the soundless panic she saw in the monitors as the international Heroes leapt into action against the criminals that had taken liberties with the restrains of some of them, beating the Villains in moments with their combined strength.
One Hero, however, was absent from this one-sided fight, the bindings of Japan's Number One empty and the blond man nowhere to be seen.
Melissa's cries had softened to whimpers as the elevator rose, Izuku trying to comfort the older teen as best he could while Wolff and Michael argued about something in hushed voices. The blonde American clung to the green-haired youth as if he were a lifeline, her tears soaking into his shoulder as he held her.
The building shook and the lights flickered, the force of it slamming Izuku and the other Assassins into the wall while the youngest of them used himself to cushion Melissa. Rather than a thank you, her tears redoubled as she correctly guessed what the rocking was. Only one thing could have caused such a shift of the floating island, and with it was the end of her father.
["…Well,"] Wolff grunted after a moment. ["Mission accomplished but we aren't out of the woods yet. We still need to get the hell out of here and get Prince off easy."]
["We've got the helicopter on the roof,"] Michael reminded him. You can take the girl and get away. I'll stay here with Prince and make sure he doesn't get caught as one of us."]
["Are you sure, Swordkill? What about you?"]
["Trust me, Wolfram. I know what I'm doing."]
["But you know what that means."]
["They won't catch me,"] the man promised. ["I won't compromise the Brotherhood."]
The elevator dinged, its doors opening to the roof. Izuku carried the still-crying Melissa out, followed by the two American Assassins. The roof was a helipad, a single helicopter sitting silently on the concrete. Peeling her hands off his shoulders and whispering assurances to her, Izuku passed Melissa to the redhead, Wolff carrying her to the vehicle.
["Is this the best plan?"] Izuku questioned. ["Can they not track a helicopter like this?"]
["This is only to get us off the damn island,"] Wolff replied, setting the blonde in one of the seats and buckling her in. He prompted Izuku to strip himself of his Jungle Law disguise. ["I'll blow it up over the water and use my Meta to twist it into a rudimentary sub. A shitty one, but good enough. With periodic stops for air, that will get us to Cali's coast and they'll think us dead. All the better. I'll contact the Osaka when everything's clear."]
Izuku relaxed, but only slightly as he dropped his blood-soaked disguise where it would be caught in the coming explosion. Thunder rumbled in the clouds above, the first drops of rain falling.
["Can I keep in touch with Melissa?"]
["I mean, she won't have a phone number for you to call and there'll be the damn time difference, but I think we can make sure there's something on our secure systems. I'll put in the request later. Ask your Mentor about it in, I don't know, five days?"]
["You need to get going,"] Michael ordered, the rain getting stronger. ["I've got a bad feeling. Leave the rest of this to me. Izuku, cover story is that both Shields are on that thing and Wolfram's taking them. Got it?"]
["Got it, Swordkill."]
["You better come back or I'll fuckin' kill you myself, Michael,"] Wolff growled.
["I'll do my best, sir. Godspeed."]
["You too."] Wolff climbed into the helicopter, Izuku and Michael leaping backward as its propellers whirled to life. Soon, the hulking machine began to rise, taking to the air.
As soon as it did, Michael rounded on Izuku, his arms turning into swords as he swung for the boy's head. Izuku's instincts screamed at him, the Assassin Initiate ducking under the blade that would have otherwise taken his head.
["Fight me!"] Michael ordered, planting himself between Izuku and the Helicopter. ["Fight me like your life depends on it, Hero! Like Melissa's life depends on it!"]
["Get out of my way!"] Izuku roared, falling into his assigned role. He charged forward, swinging his rope-dart. Swordkill batted it away with the flat of his blade, swinging the other for the student's face. Izuku bent backward, just avoiding the loss of his nose, and let his back fall to the concrete of the roof. He spun, using his legs to control his momentum before leaping to his feet and spinning away from Swordkill's next strike, a cut that put a gash into the roof.
["You're weak, boy!"] the mercenary yelled, also playing his part, for surely someone was on their way by now this long after the loss of Tapper. ["You couldn't protect the Shields and you can't defeat me!"]
["You will not get away with this!"]
["Then come take me in!"]
Izuku used his rope-dart to pull himself closer, the same way he did when he'd been chasing the pink-haired Assassin the first time in the hallways. Swordkill hopped backward, but Izuku showed off his flexibility by flipping forward, twisting on his hands to drive a mule kick into the man's crossed blades. The force was enough to push him back, his shoes skidding over the concrete. He jumped before Swordkill could fully retaliate, blades narrowly missing him by skill or by design, and his heart thundered in his chest.
Lightning flashed and thunder rolled.
He landed, pushing into Swordkill's guard to punch him in the torso twice. The man grunted, forcing the student to retreat from the double downward swing. The mercenary went onto the offence, wild swings making Izuku duck and weave. He tried to sneak past the man in his attempt to play the worried Hero-wannabe he was, a chance the other Assassin decided to take to make everything more real. Izuku slid under the next swing but wasn't fast enough to stop Swordkill's spin, the older Assassin driving the point of his blade into Izuku's calf.
The green-haired boy screamed in pain, his blood dripping to the roof.
Air compressed and glass shattered, a yellow blur blasting over the side of the roof. Swordkill grabbed Izuku, turning the boy toward the blur as he leveled his sword-arms before and behind the Initiate's neck.
["A-All Might!"] Izuku gasped, his voice carrying true pain from the injury to his leg. The rain was getting hard to see through, but there was no way Izuku could mistake the two tufts of blond hair. ["The helicopter!"]
["Villain!"] the booming voice of All Might declared, leveling a finger at the pair. ["Release Young Midoriya and return the Shields!"]
["You're too late, Hero!"] Swordkill mocked. ["He is at my mercy and Wolfram and the Shields are already gone! You'll never catch their helicopter unless you abandon the kid!"]
["You fiend! You think I can't defeat you, save my student, and save them? How foolish!"]
["The only way Wolfram doesn't get away is if that girl manages to overpower him, and there's no way—"]
Lightning flashed in the distance, striking the helicopter. It exploded, all three humans on the roof turning to see the ball of fire. The flaming wreckage fell, crashing into the water in a plume of steam, smoke, and sea spray. Izuku silently prayed Wolff's plan went off without a hitch. Michael feigned shock.
["Boss!"] he yelled.
["Melissa!"] Izuku screamed. ["Dr. Shield!"]
["NO!"] All Might gasped, falling to a knee. Steam wafted off him, but Izuku didn't know what that might mean. Perhaps it was the rain meeting the heat of his rage? Slowly, the man's face twisted into a baleful glare he turned on Swordkill. ["Your plan has failed and your boss is dead, Villain. The Shields are now forever out of your reach and a dozen Heroes are already on their way up while capturing your lackies. Release Young Midoriya and you won't be harmed further."]
["Fuck,"] Swordkill hissed. If Izuku didn't know any better, he'd be convinced by the man's acting. ["Well, I guess I've had a good run."]
["What are you—?"]
Swordkill rolled his tongue and bit down, something going CRUNCH by Izuku's ear. The man staggered back, Izuku pushing his arms away and falling toward All Might. The mercenary chuckled, the student turning to stare as white foam dripped from the man's mouth. He leaned back, trying to fall from the rooftop.
["I will not allow that!"] All Might yelled, grabbing the front of the man's shirt. Swordkill offered a mad, foamy smirk, staring up at the Japanese Hero. ["Why did you do this? Who sent you?"]
["Heh… heh…"] Swordkill chuckled, his breathing growing weaker as the cyanide he'd used started to shut down his organs. He was so tired after a lifetime of killing, but he needed to redirect the Hero's attention from the Brotherhood. He would uphold the third tenant, one last time. ["W-Who… do you… think? Who… else would… do this?"]
His body went limp in All Might's grip, Michael Corvain dying on his own terms with a smile.
All Might snarled. The Hero shook with barely-contained rage, every ounce of his willpower being needed not to drop the body off the roof in his anger. He pulled the corpse up, setting it on the concrete.
"A-All Might?" Izuku stuttered, not needing to fake his shock. His eyes darted between the Hero and the body of the Assassin, the one he'd come to think of as a tentative friend. "All Might, is he…?"
Tears fell, streaking over the cheeks of the blond.
"David," he muttered. "Melissa. I'm so sorry. I wasn't strong enough. I wasn't fast enough. But I swear, I'll avenge you. The man who orchestrated this will pay."
"All Might, what—?"
Izuku query reminded the Hero he was not alone, the man quickly wiping his tears and turning to the student.
"Young Midoriya, can you stand?"
"He stabbed my leg and one of his swings got my forehead, but I think so. How is everyone else?"
"Young Iida, Young Yaoyorozu, and your mother are all alive, if tired and sore. You have no need to worry about that, Young Midoriya."
"But…" Tears of his own fell from Izuku's eyes, though not necessarily for the people All Might thought they were for. "But the Shields… I couldn't…"
"Sometimes, Heroes just aren't fast enough," All Might said. "On top of that, you are still a first year. Young Midoriya, none of this is your fault. That you came this far is amazing. Now, the building should be secure. Please, make your way inside. I'm sure your mother and classmates are worried about you."
"Yes, Sensei." Izuku did as bid, limping toward the elevator. Some of his blood was it in already, so him taking it down while bleeding would explain why it was there, and his stabbed calf would explain why he would opt for that over the stairs.
All Might deflated as Izuku disappeared with the elevator, his tears flowing freely now that he was alone. He cried for his friend and his surrogate niece, both seemingly lost to the storm along with the leader of this attack.
["Who sent you?"]
["Who do you think? Who else would do this?"]
"All for One," the Hero hissed. "You have taken too many people. Mark my words, when I return to Japan, you will not escape me again. This I swear."
A blue-covered hand holding a waterlogged suitcase burst from the ocean, dragging the rest of its attached body up onto the very edge of I-Island. The rest of the body was the same shade of shimmery blue, the face covered in a mask with two red lenses where the eyes would be. The figure pulled herself out of the water, dripping and chest heaving as she rolled onto her back.
Alexandra de Blanchet wrenched the mask off, filling her lungs with her first breath of true air since she'd barely escaped those Assassins in the temple. She'd had to fight her way over a mile and a half upward just to reach the surface, and that was after managing to shake and fight off those sharks by stabbing one and letting the others eat it instead of her. The collapse of the Isu temple had churned up the water so severely that the deep-sea suit's internal buoy system was the only way she knew which way had been up. That and the murky shadows of the temple's remains sliding into the Marianas Trench, never to be seen or identified again.
Had it not been for her stop at the showroom to steal this suit, she would surely have died down there.
{Son of a bitch!} she hissed, having no energy after her swim to swing her arms in frustration. The only saving grace was her own survival, so her children and her dear husband would not need to mourn her loss in their great game.
Not yet at least.
She laid there for several minutes, time simply a blur through her aching muscles and labored breathing. Pulling her willpower together, she rolled onto her side and opened the suitcase she'd managed to steal.
Inside rested a golden artifact, trapezoidal from the side like a pyramid with the top third sheered off, the lines over its surface so reminiscent of the other Pieces of Eden she'd seen over her 48 years. Despite her tiredness, a smirk stretched over her face.
{Aaron, my love, I will not be coming home emptyhanded."}
All was quiet in the tiny submarine, Jonnathan Wolff having to constantly use his Meta to turn the metal he'd shaped into something like a whale's tail at the back. He knew which direction they needed to go and was certain they were following the path. Melissa was close, her knees pulled into her chest with the limited area. Thankfully, Wolff had managed to squeeze in her seat, so she at least had some padding, unlike him.
["I'll never get to talk to Uncle Might again, will I?"] she asked, breaking the silence between them that had only been filled with the low screech of metal. ["He thinks I'm dead."]
["He knows nothing of our shadow war,"] Wolff confirmed. ["It's a fuckin' mess and always has been, but we do what we have to. If the Templars had their way, everyone on earth would suffer for it. A Hero like him would never understand that our methods are necessary."]
["But…"] she tried. ["If I could get a message to him secretly, something only he'd understand—"]
["Then what? You'll tell him you're working with the guys who kidnapped you? That they're murderers, but 'the good kind of murderers'? This is the shitty world we live in, kid, and if you want to tell All Might you're alive, then he'll come looking. We can't compromise the Brotherhood or Heroes everywhere will be on our heads and thousands of years of fighting will go up in smoke. Sorry kid, but our war would just get him killed."]
["If I could convince him—"]
["Of what? That our deadly cause is worthy? That the justice he's fought for all his life is rigged in favor of the greatest and oldest conspiracy in the world?"] Wolff sighed, spitting a curse.
["The other guy,"] Melissa muttered. ["You don't think he's…?"]
["Yeah, Michael's dead by now,"] the redhead grunted, averting his eyes. ["He knew that would be the only way to get suspicion off Prince. Even if the Heroes caught him, he'd never give them a chance to get anything. He always was a tough bastard like that, and that's how he wanted to go down."]
["...I want in."]
["What?"] Wolff turned to the blonde, her blue eyes unwavering.
["Train me. Make me an Assassin. Those Templar bastards killed my dad and two of your friends. Their interference and their damn treasure hunt stole my family and my life from me. I can't let them get away with it."]
Wolff sighed, shaking his head. ["Well, can't exactly say no to that."] He reached forward, offering the girl a hand. She took it, a fire in her eye. ["Melissa Shield, welcome to the Assassin Brotherhood."]
End of Chapter 38
And with that, I-Island mostly comes to an end! Next chapter, we return to Japan before the Summer Camp training. Izuku has his alibi, but at what cost? How will Michael's last words affect All Might's actions going forward? What does the artifact Alexandra de Blanchet recovered do? What will Melissa get up to in America? Let me know what you think!
Read and Review!
-SwordOfTheGods