My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters, and the original events surrounding them.

Chapter 140

Border Crossing

(Пересечение Границы)

Deep within the darkness of an intricately carved cave mouth, the vast chamber that was the Humarise cathedral echoed with the oratory power of Flect Turn's voice, as he stood illuminated and alone upon his elevated podium/balcony; currently in the middle of a video call with the Otheon chief of police. "My agents have failed to retrieve the case, and the tracking signal has been lost. The only information we were able to glean so far is the face of their third companion."

"I understand, sir. There's no doubt they're still trying to head for the border to Klayd. Do not worry; I will have my men fortify all the border crossings. They won't be able to cross without us finding them, I swear it."

But for the chief's assuredness, the Humarise leader looked unmoved. "Are you unable to organize the military to take action as well?"

"That unfortunately is far outside of my jurisdiction. But for the salvation of humanity, they will be found, that is my pledge."

A light of consideration briefly flashed across Flect Turn's eyes. "There is something else you can do for me in the interim. I have assigned several of our newest converts to eliminate the traitor being held in your city's hospital. However, he is still under the constant protection of those meddling Heroes, so they will need to be provided a window of opportunity to remove him, as well as to ensure your officers that have not been converted to our cause won't get in the way. I can spare a few of our brothers and sisters to assist in this task, but you have the best means to make that opportunity."

The chief only looked surprised by these sudden new orders for a split second, but that steely resolve immediately set back in as he bowed his head. "I understand, sir. It will be done, for the salvation of humanity."

Otheon, Friday, January 16th

Last night had not been the first time Nikolay had ever had to camp out in a cave. He had been a little boy barely halfway through grammar school age the last time he and Tunguska had been in such conditions, but even now he hadn't forgotten how inherently uncomfortable and unsettling an experience it was. The cave he, Izuku and Rody Soul had ultimately decided to stay the rest of the night in was no different, but the fact he had two fellows at his side made it easier for him to finally fall asleep in the end.

Enough so, that he actually needed to be lightly shaken in order to stir him awake, only to see it was just Rody himself, with Izuku still asleep out the corner of his eye once his vision cleared. Rody, seeing Nikolay was finally awake, spoke in the faintest whisper: "Hey, sorry to cut it short, but we don't have a lot of time before sunrise, and there's something I want to do that you can at least help keep an eye on me through while we still got the cover of night to work with."

Nikolay was naturally very confused. "What are you talking about? If we have to go anywhere or do anything, shouldn't we wake up Midoriya-san? We need to stick together."

But Rody was clearly adamant in whatever he'd set his mind on, as he was already making his way up the lengthy cavern that led up the mouth of their cave, forcing Nikolay to follow closely after him. "I'd normally agree, but his injury was ultimately more serious than yours, so he needs all the rest he can get. You seem to already be back to normal. Besides, now that you got rid of the tracker in the suitcase, I feel like I can actually breathe easy. Maybe you should take a minute to do the same for your own good."

But Nikolay was far from ready to start letting his guard down that much, as he and Rody emerged back out of the cave, where a single lonely dirt road ran across in front of it, with a heightened forest on the other side. Nikolay couldn't contain his curiosity when he realized Rody was heading back the way they had originally come from, towards the last small village they had stopped in mere hours ago. "What exactly are we doing out here?"

Rody didn't break his stride as he answered: "I couldn't help spying another pretty isolated farmhouse and barn on our way here. I've been thinking that maybe they have a car sitting around we could borrow that would make the trip go by a lot faster. I've had my fair share of experience hotwiring them when I needed to, so I could get us roadworthy without drawing any unwanted attention our way easy."

Nikolay had to really swallow his sense of unease at the thought of assisting what was ultimately a theft before finally answering: "Okay, so what exactly do you need me for? You're already a bigger expert than me, I've never even tried."

"No worries, I just need you to serve as lookout. Your survivor's senses are pretty impressive, since you were able to hear that helicopter at the last barn way before me or Deku did. You just let me know if anything suspicious comes our way while I work my magic. If all goes well, we won't have to deal with anything before we come back here to pick him up and be on our way. I'll even leave an IOU for whoever the owners are, if that'll help ease your little Heroic sensibilities."

Nikolay was simply too tired to trade any kind of witty comments, but he could at least better tell that Rody was simply teasing. Truth be told, he knew the young thief was right; a vehicle would make their journey far less arduous. It would certainly put time far more on their side until they'd make it to the Klayd border.

Thankfully, Rody's skills with hotwiring a vehicle were more than just bold talk. The barn in question that he had mentioned seeing was a good ways away from the village proper, and the house nearby didn't have any lights on. Clearly the two boys' timing was perfect. Nikolay only had to stand guard for but a couple minutes before the engine of an aged rust-marked van rumbled to life and slowly rolled out the barn, with Rody grinning from ear to ear while sitting behind the wheel. "Whoever owns this place clearly loves their vehicles. This baby is running like a dream and is still even topped off for gas."

"Otlichno (Excellent). Did you leave the IOU like we said? If so, let's get back, grab Midoriya-san and hit the road."

Upon Rody's confirmation, Nikolay quickly jumped in, and soon the two of them were hurriedly driving back down the way they had come; carefully maneuvering their way on the unsteady dirt road until they finally pulled up to the familiar cave mouth. The moment they disembarked, they were suddenly met by Izuku hurriedly rushing out with the intensity of one who was clearly getting ready to fight, only for his whole body to loosen up once he saw his two companions. "Thank goodness. I was woken up by that engine, and I thought it was more Villains that found us, especially once I saw neither of you were here. Where did you find this van?"

"Rody asked me to be his lookout while he hotwired this from a barn we passed last night. It runs well for how old it looks, so we have a reliable means of getting to the border much faster now." Nikolay explained while Izuku looked the vehicle over.

Rody could clearly see the look of concern on his face, and thusly answered: "Don't worry, I wrote up an IOU for the owner, and Niko here even told me who to make it out to, this association that sent you all here and such."

That definitely looked to ease Izuku's conscience, as he let out a sigh of relief. "Good going, you guys. Any idea how much farther we have to go with this on hand?"

Nikolay pulled out the aged-looking map he had found in the glove compartment along the way. "So long as we stick to the back roads and don't go fast enough to draw attention, we should make it there in three days tops, half that if we just go without stopping at all, like driving in shifts, except I don't have a license and have never driven anything ever before, so I'm out."

If Nikolay was in that boat after his experiences, then Izuku definitely was as well, as he likewise shrugged his shoulders in apology, leaving Rody sighing with a smirk. "I don't have a license either, but this is far from my first time behind the wheel, as buddy boy here can now attest. Of course, if there were an airfield and a Cessna nearby, I'd get us over that border in just a few hours. Anyway, I'll take care of the driving, buying food and fueling up, so long as you two keep your eyes and ears open in case any more of those Villainous pursuers manage to find us, as unlikely as that now might be. C'mon, let's get this show on the road."

Without further ado, the three climbed inside, Izuku taking the front passenger seat, while Nikolay made himself as comfortable as was possible in the back, regularly switching his view out the side and rear windows for any potential signs of trouble.

As the sun finally began to brighten up the landscape around them, it felt like the first time Nikolay and Izuku could finally really take in the rolling and vastly varied beauty of the Otheon landscape. From vast colorful fields of flowers, to seemingly endless forested mountains, especially after the wide open desert-esque grasslands they had traversed through yesterday, it was clearly a marvel of just what a vast manmade micro-continent could truly unfold into. Alongside their all-around senses of caution, the two young Heroes couldn't hide the astonishment on their faces at just how beautiful this country could actually be.

After an hour or so, Izuku simply couldn't help saying as he stretched out his back with a tired groan. "Man, I never would've expected Otheon as a whole to look like this."

"Yeah, this is definitely a far cry from both Mother Russia and Japan altogether. God, I'd always wanted to one day go on a cross country road trip through a place like this with a friend, just like in all those old road movies from way back when…just not under these circumstances." Nikolay agreed, sounding both happy to have the experience, yet disappointed as to why.

Listening to his two passengers, Rody adopted a wistful smile of his own as he instinctively pulled out the small locket from under his collar. "I hear that. Camping back in the day was great and all, but I always dreamed that one day I'd get to do something like this with my siblings…or better yet, actually take them flying through the skies. They've never even set foot on a plane before, so just thinking about the looks on their faces up there always makes me smile."

Rody took a couple seconds to look at the picture that lay inside his precious trinket: depicting himself being piled on with huge by two smaller children at his sides, a boy with bowl-cut dark brown hair, and a smaller girl that looked much like Rody himself, but with redder brown hair in pigtails.

Seeing the deeply emotional look in his eyes as he quickly tucked the locket back, Izuku said: "You really do care the whole world's worth about them, don't you, Rody-san? Aren't your parents around to take care of them when you're not home?"

A distinct air of unpleasant quiet fell upon the van, drawing Nikolay's attention as well, before Rody answered: "My mother died right after giving birth to my sister. For a while, my dad did the best he could to raise all of us. He's a big time engineer, so it's not like he was barely scraping by for our sakes…until eventually, he just up and left us behind without a word. That was a long time ago."

"He abandoned you?" Nikolay immediately asked, sounding as though he could hardly believe someone could do something so cruel, especially when it sounded like things were actually going well for Rody and his family.

If there was any serious bitterness on Rody's part, he was a master at hiding it, as he simply answered as though it were the most basic answer imaginable: "Yeah, to go work with those Humarise people you came here to arrest."

A sheer electrical jolt shot through both Heroes' bodies at this news, before Rody continued: "When word got around that our dad was now a member of a bunch of genocidal terrorists, you can easily imagine how well everyone took it. Our distant relatives cut off all ties with us, our friends stopped speaking to us, we all got kicked out of our school, and eventually even our house. I couldn't even get an honest job because of the stigma. I'm sure this all must sound real familiar to you, huh, Niko?"

Nikolay couldn't help but nod grimly at the memory of so many different stories through the news over the years of just those very same instances befalling countless other people back home. His hand instinctively gripped into a fist as he tried to shake the thought away. All the while, Rody went on: "Once we eventually got settled in the slums, I just decided to try and make money whichever way I could, in the hopes it'd help my siblings one day live an honest life, even if I couldn't. I hated my old man's guts for a long time, but then I eventually just stopped caring. My brother and sister are all that matter to me now, which is why as soon as we get the whole thing with this briefcase figured out, I'm hightailing it back to them the first chance I get."

As much as Rody tried to make it seem like he truly didn't care through his tone and his smile, Nikolay and Izuku could both see and feel a profound air of hurt in his eyes and radiating off his body. Finally, Nikolay asked unexpectedly: "Do you mean to say that you really wouldn't ever want to see your dad again?"

Chuckling with a pronounced bitterness, Rody answered: "Guess my poker face isn't as good as I thought after all. To tell you the truth, the only occasion I would ever want to see my old man again, would be to tell him off for walking out on us, right when we needed him the most. After that, I can wash my hands of him forever, take my siblings and move on, live happily ever after and all that jazz. What business is that to you two, anyway?"

Rody didn't mean for his words to come out so standoffish, but given what a deeply personal subject this was, it was only natural for it to come out that way regardless. Knowing this, Nikolay answered: "Well, all that stuff I said about wanting to be a Hero to make my parents proud aside…the truth is that I actually despised my father for the longest time after the Siberian Flash, too. Yeah, he was the one thing keeping us alive all those years we were on the run, but as the years passed and I heard more and more people talk about how Quirks and Heroes, especially him, had destroyed everything our country had, I found myself blaming him for all of it, too. So I can really relate to how you feel."

Rody instinctively let out a snide chuckle to himself, while Izuku's face lit up with an encouraging smile. "You always talk about that as though it were just yesterday, Kolya-san, but you've come so unbelievably far since then. You're like a completely different person now."

"Only because of you and all my other friends back at Yuuei, though, Midoriya-san. Everyone has been beyond instrumental in helping me get past that." Nikolay immediately answered back.

Izuku replied: "But words and feelings from other people can only do so much in the end. You're the one who did the majority of the hard work to get back up, so give yourself due credit for that."

Nikolay smiled in remembrance and acceptance, while Rody sarcastically answered: "You two aren't about to start making out on me, are you? Cause if so, the least you can do is both get in the back and keep it down."

Both boys nearly jumped so hard, their heads left a perfect indentation in the roof of the van, such a comment had come so out of nowhere; Izuku frantically answering: "WHAT?! WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?!"

"YEAH, THAT'S NOT WHAT THIS IS AT ALL! The point I was trying to make is that, no matter how justified we feel in resenting our parents or anyone else, we shouldn't let ourselves get weighed down by it forever. With the right kind of people around, maybe you could even be able to put it behind you and move on way less venomously than you described, that's all."

TWEE-TWEEEE!

In perfect timing, as though to answer Nikolay's sentiment, Pino once more emerged from Rody's collar, her chirps sounding sad, as though she were trying to get Rody to accept what the Russian boy was saying. Alas, he didn't take his eyes off the road in a show of defiant ignorance as he answered: "Yeah, well, when you're in such a privileged position like you two are, it's easy to just have wistful thoughts like that. But for me, I can't afford it. Every minute that I'm not home, my siblings are crawling the walls with worry, hence why I just want to get this done ASAP."

With that, he proceeded to push down just hard enough on the gas to just let it be clear that he was done talking about this. As such, Nikolay and Izuku both exchanged regretful looks, knowing that their hearts had been in the right place, but Rody simply was not in the right mindset or emotional place to just act like his past experiences could just be erased. Even Pino's lingering chirp sounded distinctly disappointed in Rody himself.

In such an uncomfortable silence, Nikolay decided to retreat back to his spot in the back, before the heel of his right foot hit against something underneath that made a distinctly non-metallic scraping sound. Looking down in curiosity, he saw a small wooden box with an aged latch on it. Once he pulled it out and unlocked the latch to see inside, he felt a surge of excitement sweep through his body.

"Hey, guys, there's a whole ton of CD's in here, looks like a lot of that old Western rock music Kyouka-san likes so much, from the track list written on some. If we've got a few days worth of traveling left, who says we have to do it in silence?"

Nikolay's enthusiasm quickly proved to be just what the moment needed, as Rody's subtle impatience gave to a genuinely pleased smile. "Hey, if the stereo works, then go right ahead. I could really use some lively tunes, myself."

Izuku fiddled with some of the buttons, and as the tiny screen lit up as a proof that it still worked, Nikolay just went with the first disc he could get his hands on, carefully sliding it inside while the van was still going over some bumpy terrain.

For a few seconds, they were only met with the sound of the machinery inside trying to spin, yet no music coming out; leaving the three sighing in disappointment that either the player itself was damaged, or the discs were scratched to hell and back.

[Judas Priest – Riding on the Wind]

Then the pounding crunch of electric guitars hit the trio like a shotgun blast to the senses, before it finally kicked into full gear, and not one of them could actually resist the beat, from Izuku tapping his toes or Rody just barely banging his head as he drove, and even Nikolay eventually taking advantage of Leonid's Quirk still having an effect, by trying to sing the words, or at least mouth them for the sake of his fellows' ears.

They still had a very long road ahead of them, long and difficult to be sure, but if even for just a little time, the three were able to set aside the troubling knowledge of their being hunted, and could actually take this one singular moment of music, companionship, beautiful scenery and the open road for everything it was worth, all with the hope that they would be able to reach their destination with some degree of ease; all while still silently hoping their friends out there were all okay as the clock continued to tick towards the inevitable call for action.

New York City, America

For as disappointing as it was that they were to remain on standby after a fruitless initial raid, the city of New York certainly didn't make things dull for the amassed foreign Hero team of the Hawks, Shishido and all their interns, Fumikage, Rikido, Mashirao, Nirengeki Shouda and Jurota Shishida of Class B. For such a massive city with so many people, it was only natural that there was some kind of incident they could help all the local Heroes out with at just about every corner.

This was essentially fortunate, because with the news blaring across the airwaves worldwide of Izuku and Nikolay being wanted as fugitives; this duty of theirs was just about the only thing that could help keep their minds at least partially off their growing worry for their classmates and friends.

And it was with that distraction, that right now, as they took the chance to patrol through Central Park, Rikido finally asked: "You know, maybe it's just me, but since all the others on this mission got to go alongside their respective country's Number One Heroes, how is it that we still haven't met the Number One here?"

Nonchalantly eating the pretzel he'd bought on the way in, Hawks answered: "Well, it's a Number One Hero's job to be able to handle all the incidents across their country as possible, and the U.S. is more than a little big, in case you hadn't noticed, as well as pretty dang busy when it comes to Villain activity, especially in the bigger cities like this one, Sugar Man-kun."

Looking around at all the civilians walking around the park as they went about their work, and especially considering just how many local Heroes they'd met already in the last couple of days since coming here, Jurota opined: "I'm sure a lot of the local Heroes are happy to get a chance to really exercise themselves through work without the Number One close by; but given what a serious threat we're talking about, I would've thought they'd pull out all the stops to come here for when Humarise decides to finally make its move."

"I must say I agree with him on this, Hawks-sensei." Fumikage suddenly chimed in; his intense eyes scanning all around for even the minutest sign of trouble. "I've heard a fair share of rumors that America's Number One is on a power level equal to All Might, if not potentially even more so. I wouldn't exactly mind having someone like that readily available sooner than later. The Association's orders could come at any moment, and if Humarise were smart enough to set up decoy bases, then it's more than possible they already know we're here for them, and are using this time to shore up their defenses."

But, just as he'd come to expect from his mentor, Hawks simply finished off his impromptu lunch and stretched his back with a casual grin. "You may very well be right, Tsukuyomi-kun, but if you start looking over every bit of activity around expecting it to be some kind of trap, then you're gonna end up missing the forest for the trees. The real trouble could come lurking up behind you, and you'd be too in your own head to even notice, then you'll be in real trouble. You gotta learn to be able to be both perceptive, and able to just go with the flow; relax and enjoy the moment, while still being able to jump into action at a moment's notice. Enjoy the peaceful time while it lasts, have fun when you can. Trust me, boys, you'll live longer if you do."

BRRRRING!

An electronic ring suddenly sounded from out of Hawks' pocket, stirring him to attention as he hurriedly got it out; his eyes reflecting a more serious light once he saw it was Shishido on the other end. The moment he hit the button to accept, he said: "Shishido-san, what's up?"

"Trouble, that's what. A group of Villains are holding a bunch of civilians hostage in Grand Central Station, and they've got eyes out of all the exits, so the police can't move in without risking their lives. My interns and I are gearing up for a surprise attack, but we all know you and Tsukuyomi-kun are the fastest of us, so you can give us the edge we need to save them."

That was all Hawks needed to hear, as with his confirmation, he quickly hung up and unfurled his massive crimson wings. Thankfully, Fumikage, Rikido and Mashirao had likewise heard what was going on, and were already ready to follow his lead as he took off at blinding speed through the air for Grand Central Station.

Within less than a couple of minutes, they were there, with Shishido, Nirengeki and Jurota very easy to spot, having taken advantage of some of the blind spots of the building to perch themselves on the roof. As soon as Hawks and Fumikage landed; Rikido and Mashirao being carried in Dark Shadow's hands so they could all be able to get the same information regarding their plan; the Wing Hero wasted no time: "How many Villains are we looking at, and how many hostages? Are they all gathered up in one spot, or are they scattered about?"

Looking down with a ferocious gaze, as though he were trying to look through the roof to the scene below, Shishido growled: "It's a dozen Villains, but it sounds like they're packing some serious Quirks, and more than three dozen hostages altogether. The police were able to give us the footage of the surveillance cameras before they'd cut the power, so we have a rough idea as to how they're positioned."

Shishido proceeded to show the newly arrived Heroes the selfsame footage that had been uploaded to his own phone by the police. Upon looking it over, Hawks smirked in confidence. "All right then. A four-tiered pincer attack from the windows and ground levels should just about do the trick."

Wasting no time, the whole assortment of Heroes took their positions above and at ground level around the station, mentally counting down to the point that had been agreed upon for when they would finally make their move.

CRAAASH!

And the moment they did, they were on the move, with Hawks, Fumikage and Mashirao diving through the high windows overlooking the station proper, with Dark Shadow flinging Mashirao down into a midair spin so he could slam his tail into the face of the nearest thug perched on the upper level of the station, while simultaneously expanding its tremendous shadowy mass to block out the light and thus cut off a good portion of the Villains' lines of sight, before Hawks just as quickly proceeded to obliterate their weapons, and even pin another one of them to the nearest wall with his feathers.

At the same time, Rikido and Jurota proceeded to use their respective immense strength to smash through one of the solid concrete walls opposite each other, further catching the remaining Villains off-guard, as they'd been so prepared for anyone foolish enough to attack, to do so through the front doors. With their positioning, Jurota was able to plow straight into a third Villain with his immense frame, while Rikido took advantage of the confusion to rush through the station with his improved speed, picking up as many of the hostages as he could mid-sprint, and getting them out the hole he had made to safety.

Following closely on Jurota's trail, Nirengeki and Shishido likewise rushed in; the short Hero student using his Quirk to send several of the pieces of rubble his classmate had left behind flying at the remaining Villains with unnaturally increased force, knocking several out cold with well-aimed shots to the head, while the rest finally regained enough focus to finally try fighting back with their Quirks, only for two more to get flattened to the ground with Shishido's ferocious speed and aggression allowing him to masterfully evade their attacks.

But amid the coordinated assault of the Heroes, and the continuing rescue of the civilians, one of the remaining Villains took the opportunity to focus his Quirk, his eyes starting to glow a blinding fluorescent red, before a multitude of burning hot plasma beams suddenly shot out from his fingertips and eyes, carving through the entire building like melted butter, sending massive chunks of the whole station falling from the ceilings above, catching the Heroes off guard, especially as the influx of sunlight once more caused Dark Shadow to start shrinking back down in reaction. Such an incident had happened so unexpectedly while there were still a few other Villains to take care of, and even more hostages still to save, that they couldn't rightly counteract the collapsing of the station atop their heads.

"NEW ORDER: REMOVE GRAVITY!"

From out of nowhere, an adult woman's voice came thundering upon the air, echoing the kind of world-shaking power that the Japanese Heroes all too easily recognized from All Might.

And it was as though the world itself answered to such spoken power, as all of the once free-falling rubble came to an immediate stop on command, now just floating listlessly, with even the remaining Villains, Heroes and hostages starting to levitate as well. Thankfully, the Villains were all too shocked to react immediately, thus allowing Hawks and Fumikage to once again take up their rescuing duties, flying through the suspended destruction to pick out the hostages and fly them away from the scene.

But before the rest of the Heroes could likewise think to take advantage of the moment to try and take out the rest of the Villains, a blinding light from above suddenly tore through the floating rubble, as a blur of red, white and blue suddenly came shooting down from the heavens, before landing with a resounding slam to the ground.

Heroes and Villains alike could only look on in dumbstruck awe, as a single new figure once crouched down on the floor in the middle of the station, finally proceeded to rise like a veritable phoenix before their eyes, bathed in the light of the day and radiating like a god come to Earth.

Towering before them was a single adult woman with the most powerful muscular physique any of them had seen on one; with long flowing blonde hair, with eight distinct tufts of it protruding and swept back from her head in a style all too similar, once again, to All Might. Her costume consisted of a red diamond-shaped domino mask around her piercing brown eyes, a tall-collared bodysuit whose torso consisted of vertical red and white stripes and matching shoulder pads, with blue sleeves and pant legs, red-and-gold armored gauntlets and boots adorned with star-shaped engravings. Even the billowing cape that flowed from her shoulders was patterned after the stars and stripes of the American flag.

Every single thing about this newly arrived Hero simply radiated with All Might-esque presence, power, charisma and spirit. Even the way she stood and smiled as she surveyed the scene looked like it was taken straight from the Symbol of Peace's handbook.

Once she saw all the fellow Heroes around the scene, and the Villains that were still conscious and thereby a threat, her smile only seemed to grow that much more confident. "Glad to see I'm not too late for the fun."

Her speaking out finally stirred the Villain with the Plasma Quirk back into action, as he quickly aimed his eyes and fingertips at her. "YOU'RE NOT TAKING US DOWN, YOU DAMN GOODY-GOODIES! EAT THIS!"

But as the blazing red beams shot out at her, and Hawks and Fumikage immediately started to dive in to get her out of the way, the female Hero's smile didn't even flinch as she stared at the incoming projectiles, her open hands slowly raising at her sides. "New Order: Redirect Light!"

And like magic, the beams that should have connected with her dead center, proceeded to bend and warp completely around her, as though she'd summoned up an invisible and impregnable force field, leaving everyone witnessing utterly speechless, before the beams finally proceeded to curve back around and shoot back at the Villain that had originally fired them, causing him to hurriedly deactivate his Quirk before he'd end up skewering himself.

"All you Heroes here best take a few steps back! New Order: Liquify Floor."

And at her command, not only did all of the once floating debris suddenly come crashing the rest of the way down, like gravity had just been flipped back on with a switch, but the solid floor below proceeded to swallow it all up like quicksand; everything, including the Villains themselves. And as soon as they were up to their necks in it with no way to try and paddle their way out, the victorious Hero didn't hesitate: "New Order: Solidify Floor."

And just like that, the floor was once again completely solid, and the Villains, conscious and unconscious alike, found themselves completely immobilized, unable to try and fight their way out. But while the others were fruitlessly struggling, the Plasma user knew he still had a means, until a single well-placed tranquilizer dart from the police that had finally proceeded to move into the scene, managed to put him down for the count.

To have seen one Hero manage this very difficult situation without even breaking a sweat had left the bunch of Japanese Heroes visibly impressed, as the police and civilians alike all proceeded to not only give their thanks to them for their help, but especially applaud their new arrival, who simply gave a humble wave of the hand in response, smiling happily all the while upon seeing that none of the civilians were harmed.

Of course, once the shock had worn off, Hawks' face formed that same knowing grin that Fumikage knew all too well. "Hawks-sensei, do you actually know that Hero?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Hawks answered: "Not personally, but definitely by reputation. You all were asking just where our host for the mission was at. Well, ask and you shall receive, everyone: you're looking at the Number One Hero of the United States of America, and probably the closest thing we've got to All Might for this generation and maybe even the next: Star and Stripe."

The police were already fast and hard at work removing the Villains from the floor to be taken away. The ones that were still conscious were at least smart enough to realize what minuscule chance they stood, and thus were quick to announce their own surrender to the authorities.

As soon as Star and Stripe had the chance to let the police do their job and give her assurances and briefest answers to the public and the press respectively, she finally took full notice of the contingent of Japanese Heroes still observing the way she carried herself. The towering female Number One Hero smiled upon recognition. "I guess it goes without saying where you all came from, huh? You're the team the All-Star World Heroes Association sent to work with me, regarding that Humarise bunch, aren't you? How're you liking your time in the Big Apple so far?"

Nirengeki and Mashirao gave an instinctive awkward mumbling of "Cramped, crowded and noisy" in response, while Hawks was naturally more forthcoming and pleasant: "We big city Heroes are used to how busy our work is, so this makes us feel right at home. We're grateful for the hospitality of you and your colleagues while we work towards removing their threat."

Hawks was being as professional as Fumikage had ever seen him yet, but even then he carried a lackadaisical, casual smoothness about him that unexpectedly got Star and Stripe laughing approvingly. "Well, don't you know how to lay the charm on thick there, Wing Hero Hawks? Are you like that with all the ladies, or am I the exception? Tell me, how receptive are they all to it?"

With that, she suddenly gave Hawks a single telling wink, which managed to break through his demeanor and leave him looking away with an awkward grimace on his face. While far from a womanizer, he did get a certain kick out of putting on charm around his female fans, but that kind of receptiveness coming from a woman with an All Might physique who easily dwarfed him was enough to really put him off his game.

But his reaction went virtually unnoticed, as Fumikage took the chance to speak up: "It's an honor to finally meet you, Star and Stripe. I am Hawks-sensei's intern, Tsukuyomi, and these are my Yuuei schoolmates, Tail Man, Sugar Man, Mine (Nirengeki) and Gevaudan (Jurota)."

At the mentioning of their respective Hero names, the rest of the Hero students quickly bowed in greeting. As soon as they did so, Nirengeki asked: "Please take no offense when I ask this, but we've all been curious why you weren't at the official debriefing of our mission, or at least to meet us upon our arrival here for raiding Humarise's local base."

Thankfully, she didn't look to be offended at all, as she had a look on her face that seemed close to embarrassment. "Yeah, my apologies about that. The American people put a great lot of stock in me, and in a country this big, that means I'm always on the move. My making it here in time to put this little incident down was just due to me finding a lucky window of free time. But now that I'm here, we can really get to work. Why don't you all accompany me for patrol, let me really get to know who all I'm working with? Just let me take care of a little something first."

As the Heroes all quickly accepted her invitation, following her out of the station, Rikido finally whispered to his fellow interns: "Hey, guys, am I the only one getting serious All Might copycat vibes from Star and Stripe there? Seriously, she looks like she could be his twin sister."

But before any of them could actually answer, the American Hero suddenly answered with a hearty laugh that once more almost sounded exactly like All Might's own: "His twin sis? Well now, I've heard a lot of comparisons between us before, but that's a first! Thank you for that, Sugar Man."

Rikido bowed his head, the exposed parts of his face beneath his mask having turned a deep red, having not expected Star and Stripe to have heard him so clearly. But such feelings were quickly forgotten as she shot the boys an encouraging grin from over her shoulder. "No need to sound so down in the dumps. As far as I'm concerned, that was a real compliment.

"Anyway, you're really not wrong. A long ways back, when All Might was working in this country, he actually saved me and my family in the middle of a Villain attack. I thought he looked so powerful and cool, I knew right from that moment I wanted to be just like him. So, ever since then, I've been pushing my body and my Quirk alike as far as they can go, and look at where it's managed to get me already. All I need now is a chance to see the man himself, and thank him for giving me something to work towards, and I'd dare say my life really would be complete."

The air among her Japanese compatriots was awkwardly silent, as they could all only look on and listen to how Star and Stripe's once powerful and commanding voice now rang with a dreamy air akin to a classic fangirl. Thankfully, she was quick to realize this, herself, as she quickly cleared her throat and took on that authoritative tone once more. "Anyway, I hear tell that All Might has taken to teaching at Yuuei since his retirement. I must admit, I envy you kids. You couldn't ask for a better Hero to learn from."

From there, she suddenly turned her attention to the exterior of Grand Central Station itself, looking it up and down with that same confident smile on her face, before she proceeded to place her hands upon it, a look of intense focus in her eyes. "New Order: REBUILD!"

Suddenly, the air was filled with the sound of heavy stoned grinding against one another, followed by a growing roar of cheers from the crowds outside, as all the damage that had been done to the busiest train station in all of New York was instantaneously undone at Star and Stripe's command, while her fellow Heroes could only look on in disbelief at how she'd managed to do what usually took entire construction crews days to do, even with Quirks.

Seeing this, Jurota finally asked: "Forgive me, Star and Stripe-sensei, I know this is none of our business, but I simply have to ask: what exactly is that Quirk of yours? It has so much more variety in its uses than I think any of us has seen yet."

The recognition of just what an incredible gift she had, only seemed to make her grin shine that much brighter as she looked them all in the eye. "Yeah, it is pretty amazing, isn't it, my New Order? To tell you the truth, I'm still testing the waters of exactly what its limits are, but so far I haven't come across anything absolutely impossible for it to do yet."

"Are you actually able to do just anything you can think of with it?" Mashirao asked as she continued on her patrol, all of them quickly following her lead.

"I'd be tempted to say yes, but there are definitely some limits I've come across, mainly that it can't boost my own strength any more than it can already go, so there is that. I also can only have it put two of my orders into effect at any given time. Any more than that, and one of my orders becomes nullified, so depending what kind of situation I'm looking at, I need to be real careful with what I choose to do with it and when. Believe me when I say I went through more than my fair share of trial and error to figure that part out. New Order: Fly."

At her sudden command, she suddenly began to levitate higher into the air, once more prompting Hawks and Fumikage to lift up after her, while Dark Shadow carried Rikido and Mashirao along, and Jurota let Nirengeki and Shishido ride upon his broad back.

Looking back to her fellows and their young students, Star and Stripe proudly proclaimed: "But hey, if nothing else, all of that trial and error taught me just how vital it is as Heroes for us to implement more than a little imagination and creativity into how we fight or act. What I did with GCS back there, for example: I had to really be specific when ordering my Quirk to rebuild from the damage that had been done, so the whole building would reconstitute itself into the original solid singular building it was before. If I'd simply said for it to put the pieces back, then the moment I'd given a second order from there, all of those once collapsed pieces would just come falling right back down on the civilians below."

She could see the gravity of her example settling upon the students, but still she could only give another encouraging laugh. "Don't let yourselves got so worried, kids! My point is just that you all need to be ready to think outside the box way ahead of time, in order to counteract anything an emergency or a Villain can throw at you. Even in the biggest teams, if we just stick to the same old rigid move set, we're eventually gonna go up against someone who memorizes everything we've done before, and then we're in a real tight spot there. A healthy imagination on top of a Heroic heart can make all the difference. Remember that, and I know you'll all be shining new Heroes and then some!"

With that, Star and Stripe finally turned her attention back to the unseen path ahead, allowing herself to fly on that much faster, thus prompting her colleagues to really push themselves to keep up just as much. All the while, the students of Class A couldn't help but run her advice repeatedly through their heads, admittedly wondering to themselves the same thing: 'Think outside the box to succeed, huh? I wonder if that's what Midoriya-san and Bezpalov-san are doing about their crisis right now…or any of the others, for that matter.'

Of course, just a couple of minutes spent looking online would have assured all the Hero teams abroad of each other's well-being and growing capabilities of adapting to their temporary new working conditions.

One look at any social media revolving around Australia would have shown them just how much Mina had quickly come to endear herself with the locals, as during a recent patrol along the Sydney beaches, hers and Mirko's presence alongside the local favorites had gained them tons of attention, and Mina's distinct looks had made her a surprise photo or selfie-hit with a lot of the Australian teenagers.

Similarly, in all of the media waves coming out of France; everyone was abuzz with talking about Ochako, Tsuyu, Nejire, Selkie, Willow Light and Yoroi Musha, and all of the insane hard work in fighting crime and saving people they had done alongside their beloved Number One Hero, Frère Intrépide. Thanks to the body cams he had provided them, everyone online in France got to see their respective hard work in saving people from all walks of life nearly every hour of the day. Within record time; they were talking and praising this bunch of foreign Heroes as though they were already the oldest of friends towards their country as a whole. One could only begin to imagine just how flustered such a sentiment was liable to make a girl like Ochako once she would eventually see it for herself.

Similarly in Cairo, the team of Mt. Lady, Kamuy Woods, Edgeshot, Death Crawler and their collected interns of Denki, Minoru, Hanta and Ibara were making a very good impression alongside the Egyptian Number One Hero, Salaam, to the locals. Using their Quirks together to prevent a couple of cargo ships from both colliding and capsizing in the Nile had made them instant internet favorites in the region. This went a long way towards lifting Minoru's spirits, as by now he had come down with one of the worst sunburns any of his fellow Japanese Heroes had ever seen, thanks to his insistence that sun block would cause his costume to chafe, thus leaving him to toil unprotected under the merciless Egypt sun.

At the same time, in the already quite peaceful country of Singapore; Momo and Setsuna were likewise making a good name for themselves with the locals and online, as their Quirks together with Majestic's Magic Quirk, allowed for them to make for an outstanding performance showcase for a local charity for the underprivileged, much to the Class A vice president's visible embarrassment at the attention, and their host, Singaporean Number One Hero Big Red Dot's beaming delight.

All the while, the two Japanese teams of Kyouka and Mezo alongside Gang Orca, Cementoss and Present Mic in Tokyo; and Tunguska, Vlad King and Fatgum with Eijirou, Maja, Tetsutetsu and Tamaki in Kyushu, were just about going through what would otherwise constitute any regular day of Hero work, still keeping their eyes and ears open for any signs of Humarise in their respective areas, while still silently stewing in their respective worry for their two wayward students and son respectively; every minute feeling like an hour, and every hour an entire day, that they either didn't get any further word from the Association to move, or any updates from the boys in question as to their safety.

All across the globe, for as hard as they all continued to work at their Hero duties in the meantime, they could all only continue to silently hope that something would give sooner rather than later.

Otheon, Sunday, January 18th

Just as the three of them had suspected and altogether hoped, sticking to the back roads of the country had managed to help get them further on their way in record time, than taking the risk of public transportation or the major highways. No cameras, no police, and for the last two days, no further attacks from their pursuers. Of course, that didn't mean this route didn't come with its own myriad of obstacles they'd had to contend with.

Between Nikolay and Izuku needing to be as incognito as possible when it came to fueling up the van, while Rody served as their public face when it came to getting food; they'd also had to deal with some especially steep mountain paths in order to cut time, and with the rainy weather adding onto that risk, it fell to Izuku using his Blackwhip from the top in order to help pull the van the rest of the way. On top of that, there had also been a couple instances afterward of fallen trees blocking the roads, which left it to Nikolay to use his Kinetic Blasts to knock them out of the way so they could continue on.

And that of course also didn't even account for the one instance near the end of their second day, when they'd ended up getting a flat tire. With that, it fell to Izuku using his Full Cowling to boost his strength enough so he could lift the van up off said wheel, while Nikolay made up for their lack of a wrench by using a concentrated amount of his Quirk against the rim to get the aged, rusted nuts to dislodge themselves enough through the channeled vibration, so Rody could manually replace the tire altogether, and they could officially be road-worthy again.

It wasn't long after that, since it had already been sundown by then, that the trio had decided to pull the van off the road into a nice secluded little forest clearing, that just happened to have a dazzling view of a local lake in a small wooded valley amid the rolling green mountains; the water perfectly mirroring the dazzling sea of stars overhead.

Such a peaceful and beautiful spot like this was simply too good to pass up, and so the three boys had ultimately decided to at least open the sunroof on the van, so they could be able to sleep with the view of the twinkling lights in their eyes.

"You know, I have to admit I was still more than a little skeptical how well a trip via the back roads would go for us, but this has actually been surprisingly smooth sailing." Rody admitted with a satisfied sigh as he tried to get himself comfortable as he could in the back of the van. "We're only a couple hours away from the nearest border crossing now. We could be able to get there before noon at this rate. Let's just hope your buddies are actually waiting for us there by then."

It was admittedly a long shot, given just how many border crossings to Klayd there actually were, the last time Izuku had checked the map, but he was still looking plenty confident. "Don't worry, Rody-san. Kacchan and Todoroki-kun are some of the most reliable people we know. They won't overlook any possibility if it has a chance of us meeting up. Once we do, we'll look into what's really in this case, and you won't have to put yourself at any further unnecessary risk for us. You've done so much to help, already. We're really grateful."

Rody chuckled to himself before Nikolay chimed in, being the only one among them still sitting upright, as he was staring at the lake through the window and a small opening amid the trees. "It's true, though, we seriously owe you a debt. I'm honestly not sure how far we would've managed to get if it had just been us out here…plus, I can pretty much knock a big item off my bucket list, thanks to you."

Izuku and Rody both spied the glimmer of what resembled nostalgia in Nikolay's eyes as he took in this gorgeous nighttime view; thus prompting his two fellows to sit up alongside him and really soak in the rare tranquility of this moment. Finally, Nikolay muttered: "I'd honestly given up hope of ever seeing anything similar to Lake Baikal again, and yet here we are, sleeping next to the closest thing I've seen to it yet, smallness aside. It almost makes me feel like I'm back home…well, in the oldest sense…like, back before everything that happened. It's ridiculous sounding, I know. I mean, I was still just a baby back then, I shouldn't remember anything about that place…and yet, I do, all the same."

Izuku couldn't help but smile in appreciation for the feelings that had to be going through Nikolay right now, just listening to the loftiness with which he spoke right now. After a moment, the young Russian continued: "You know, for all the things people have always said about Russia, its people or its governments, in the end, there is still a lot of unspoiled beauty out there, when you know where and how to look for it. Maybe one day, if we get out of this and even graduate…I'd love to be able to take you, and everyone from class or Yuuei altogether, to see it for yourselves. There's only so much I can do just by talking about it, after all."

Of course, with that having been said, Nikolay couldn't help but bow his head, that all-too-familiar flicker of worry evident in his eyes. "Of course, if that amnesty call is attacked…who knows what could become of it by then?"

The slightest sound of motion from his side drew Nikolay's attention, just to see Izuku holding up a clenched fist before him, that light of assuring confidence once more burning bright in his eyes and his smile. "It'll happen, Kolya-san; we'll both see that it does. We will make it out of this, clear our names, go on to graduate and all become great Heroes together…and we'll all get to see your home the way you want it. I know we will…and I'm almost certain you do as well, deep down."

Looking and listening to this, Nikolay could only ask himself in silence if there was any spirit that Izuku's confidence couldn't possibly lift, as he gratefully brought his own fist up, meeting Izuku's in a powerful, resolving fist bump between the two great friends. Seeing this for himself, even Rody couldn't help but be inspired, as he added on: "Why leave it at that? Maybe by then, I'll have gotten my act together, and a Cessna to my name? Why don't I just fly you all across the country that day? Hell, why not the whole wide world while we're at it? Next to the dreams of you Hero types, the sky's the limit for guys like me."

Nikolay and Izuku smiled happily to hear Rody include himself in such a vision, especially as Pino happily chirped in agreement with him. Thankfully, the last two days spent out on the road, listening to music and passing the hours with jokes and stories, had helped a great deal in easing the by-now forgotten tensions that had existed between them. Nikolay then noted: "That would be really nice, but I'm sure your siblings would love the idea of a worldwide flight with you even more. You deserve that experience all to yourselves before you have any obligation to do anything for us."

Chuckling slyly, Rody answered: "Hey, it's a limited time offer, so you better take advantage and cash it in before I change my mind…assuming of course that any of us even live that long. Seriously, you and so many other people with Quirks dream about becoming Heroes, even though everyone with half a brain knows how freakin' dangerous it can be."

As Rody proceeded to lay himself down in preparation to actually get to sleep, Izuku suddenly asked; thankfully remembering to word his question very carefully for his own sake: "Speaking of which, I never even thought to ask over all this time. Your dream of being a pilot is so different, Rody-san. Do you not have a Quirk of your own?"

Stretching himself out in exhaustion, Rody answered: "I never said anything of the sort. I got a Quirk, I just don't feel like sharing with a couple of complete strangers at the time, you understand. A gambler never reveals his hand too early, after all."

"Well, I feel like we've all come to really get along over this time. Do you think you'd be comfortable sharing with us?" Izuku couldn't help but press the issue further; his instinctive eagerness to learn about all the Quirks he could once more coming out in full force, while Nikolay simply rolled his eyes in amusement at such a familiar sight.

Rody proceeded to roll onto his side, looking away from the green-haired boy. "Nah, I don't think I will. It's pretty lame compared to Niko's super-powered vibrations or shockwaves and…whatever the heck you'd classify yours as."

By now, Izuku's enthusiasm had proved far too contagious, as Nikolay now couldn't help but say: "Look, if you're worried we'd laugh at you, I promise that's far from the case."

"Yeah. I've always found Quirks so fascinating to talk about, so I assure you it couldn't possibly be embarrassing in my opinion. But if you really don't want to, then I'd understand."

There was nothing like disappointment to be heard in Izuku's words, but the sincerity with which he and Nikolay spoke, alongside the nagging-sounding chirps from Pino upon his arm, finally got Rody to relent: "Okay, fine, if you both promise not to laugh, then I'll tell ya."

Within that lonely little van in the dead of night, Rody proceeded to fill his two protectors and surprise companions, perhaps even friends, in on just what his mystery Quirk was, while Nikolay and Izuku could only take it in with rapt attention and surprise.

Otheon Capital City Hospital

For the last two days since Shoto and Bakugo had left to rendezvous with their fellow interns across the Klayd border, it had fallen to Endeavor, his Flaming Sidekickers and Clair Voyant to be ready for the Association's call, and to keep a protective eye and ear open around the unconscious man they now had identified as Alan Kay. With his evident connection to Humarise, and the surprising circumstances with which he had been discovered, and the timing of it all with Izuku and Nikolay's sudden labeling as fugitives, there was no doubt among any of them that he had information that would stand to benefit their mission exponentially.

Of course, that was simply the biggest outcome they could all hope for, until he would eventually wake up. And with each day that had so far passed in which he hadn't, the Heroes all felt their nerves tensing up more and more. It was bad enough that they had no idea what Humarise as a whole was planning while they could only stand in wait; but with two of the Flame Hero's interns being hunted for a crime they didn't commit, and now his last intern and his own son both having likewise gone off on their own to take the situation into their own hands, his already intimidating demeanor was almost physically too much for his fellows to handle being around for too long.

Anyone could see through the bristling impatience and worry in his eyes, that Endeavor wanted nothing more than to go after his four young charges on his own to personally make sure they would be safe, and yet his duty as a Hero was forcing him to stay here, and simply hope for the best. The man didn't even need to say a word of any of this, and yet his colleagues could all read this through him clear as day.

Tonight, they had all already been standing guard and patrolling the hospital for over an hour. If their suspicions were proven true, and Humarise was indeed gunning for this man with the sheer foolhardiness to attempt so in broad daylight in a massively public space, then they knew they couldn't afford to let even one potential security gap go unnoticed.

With their senses of alertness already running as high as they were, one could hardly blame them for tensing up with a readiness to act, once they picked up the approaching sound of some very intent-heavy footsteps from up the hall. However, upon seeing that it was actually none other than the capital city's police chief and a handful more police officers flanking his sides, many of them naturally let out a relieved sigh…all except for Endeavor himself, who simply gave the irritatingly familiar man nothing more than a sideways glare while he stood sentry outside the window to Alan Kay's room.

"Good evening, all of you. I apologize for the sudden intrusion. Unfortunately, local crime doesn't have the courtesy to remain at a standstill while you Heroes try to protect an invaluable lead in your mission. It's sadly left a lot of my men quite busy, and there's only so much they can do. That's why I was hoping to extend a helping hand to you all. I want to offer our services in continuing to watch over this man, so that you all may be able to give aid to the citizens out there in the most immediate need of it. I already have several more of my men standing guard at all the entrances and exits to the whole hospital, as well. I imagine it surely would do you all good to get your minds off this unfortunate intern situation, at the very least."

"Yes, speaking of which, you wouldn't happen to have any substantial updates in regards to that whole situation to share with us, would you, sir?" Endeavor asked, making no effort to hide the overwhelming bitterness in his tone at the end, to hear this man speak of his hunted interns so plainly, as though they were truly nothing more than common criminals.

But before anyone could further risk saying anything they might regret with all this tension, Burnin' thankfully stepped in, slightly nudging her boss with her elbow; wearing the same expression of subtle urging as the rest of her fellow sidekicks. "C'mon, Endeavor-san, we're all climbing the walls thinkin' about those boys just as much as you are, and we all see how much it's eatin' away at ya. Maybe an hour or two workin' out in the fresh air could do you some good."

VRRRM!

As Endeavor grimaced at the assumed condescension of his sidekicks towards himself, Clair Voyant's phone suddenly hummed to life in her pocket. She thankfully kept her voice low as she answered, but upon hearing what her caller had to say on the other end, her whole body went rigid with apprehension, before she finally hung up, turned on her heels and tugged urgently at Endeavor's sleeve; catching his and the Sidekickers' attention.

"Heads up, everyone: we've got a string of incidents unfolding all across the city right now, a borderline crime spree. A lot of the other local Heroes are doing everything they can to help the police apprehend them, but it sounds like more than they can handle altogether. They need our help right now."

Burnin' and her fellows had previously looked at the opportunity to work as a means to cool theirs and their bosses' heads; but now that dutiful desire to protect had gone into full effect upon hearing this urgent news, even within Endeavor's piercing gaze. Nothing further even needed to be said, as they all quickly began to make their way down the halls to the ground floor in preparation to spread out and lend a helping hand to all those across the capital city that needed it.

KRRRRSSH! BRRRRAKAKAKAKAKA!

Suddenly, by the time they had finally managed to descend, the muffled sound of screeching tires pierced the air for a split second, before being followed by a devastating crashing sound that managed to shake the ground beneath their feet…shortly after followed by the unmistakable billet of fully automatic gunfire echoing simultaneously from the lobby and further back, near the loading docks for the ambulances.

Thankfully, Clair Voyant was already lightning fast with activating her Quirk, as she instantly was able to see through the entire building, and quickly take in the scope of what they were about to go running into. "We've got two groups of assailants, four in the lobby and five in the back, all armed with assault rifles. Dammit, they took out the officers standing guard at both points!"

Without hesitation, the handful of Heroes immediately split into two small groups heading in both directions. It felt as though all of their suspicions about Humarise preparing to go after their suspect again were finally coming to be realized. The timing simply felt too perfect for it to be anything else.

But with the sharply honed maneuverability and speed of Endeavor and his sidekicks, together with Clair Voyant's Quirk while she spoke to Burnin' and her team through their ear pieces, they were all able to masterfully work their way through the twists and turns of the hospital to best catch the assailants in their blind spots.

The Flaming Sidekickers were able to overwhelm and knock out the armed gunmen that had driven a medium-sized truck through one of the loading docks, before they could squeeze a shot off, although it had still been too late for them to do anything about the officers that had already gotten shot. At the same time, Endeavor had been able to direct and empower his fire enough to melt the weapons of several of the assailants in the lobby from a distance without putting the civilians in harm's way, while Clair Voyant was able to move nimbly on her feet amid the fray to knock out and restrain the rest.

But even as both teams filled each other in on the swift and assured capture of all attackers on both fronts, something about this entire situation didn't sit right with any of them. The Sidekicker with the mummified-looking face, Kido, was the first to actually bring this up as he looked over the damage of the scene. "I don't get it; something about all this just feels way too easy. These guys look like they were pretty well equipped; radios and everything. You'd think they would've had bigger numbers or better weapons if they were going to attack a place this heavily guarded with Heroes and police…or at least a more thought-out plan than a two-pronged assault. This just reeks of being totally half-assed."

Listening to the other team explain this, Endeavor carefully observed the guns that were still intact that the assailants had wielded, comparing them to the clearly much better maintained equipment of the police lying motionless on the ground. "You may be right. It's been no secret that we've been keeping watch here for the last few days, and yet they came with a pitiful armament…and if the police chief was honest about placing as many of his men here as he said, then they should have been able to deal with this problem even faster than we did."

Clair Voyant was visibly intrigued by what the Flame Hero was suggesting, and upon restraining the last of the knocked down attackers, she proceeded to pick up the nearest of their guns, looking it over carefully to see it was indeed in a poor state of upkeep, before then activating her Quirk to investigate more thoroughly.

The moment she did, though, her eyes widened with shock, as she proceeded to sweep her gaze over the rest of the weapons lying about. "Endeavor-san, something's wrong here: these guns they attacked the police with are all filled with dummy rounds, blanks. They couldn't possibly be able to have taken down these officers with the bulletproof vests they have."

Thankfully, the Flaming Sidekickers were just as quick on the uptake, as a moment later, Endeavor could hear his sidekick with the horned face guard, Onima, exclaim: "WHAT THE HELL?! These guns are all filled with blanks!"

And not a second later, Burnin's voice likewise shouted out: "Hey, these officers are still ali—HEY, WATCH OUT!"

And at the same moment Endeavor and Clair Voyant both heard a short burst of genuine gunfire sound out from the Sidekickers' ends; the Flame Hero suddenly caught the slightest movement out the corner of his eye, as the few cops that had once been lying on the floor had all suddenly shot right up to their knees with their guns drawn, all aiming at the two Pro Heroes.

FWOOOSH!

In a flash, Endeavor crossed his massive arms, and a multitude of super-heated blasts of air ejected from the vents of his gloves and boots, spreading instantly through the lobby with such intensity that it forced the turncoat officers to lower their aim and raise their arms in an attempt to try and protect their eyes and mouths from breathing in the burning hot oxygen he exuded.

And that was just the chance he and Clair Voyant jumped upon, as the two Heroes immediately rushed the men they once thought had been killed, swiftly planting them flat to the ground without hesitation, and subsequently restraining them just the same as they had the gunmen mere moments ago.

But there was no time to even finish processing this unexpected shift in loyalties between Heroes and police, as Endeavor immediately called out to his sidekicks: "BURNIN', KIDO, ONIMA, REPORT!"

Immediately, Onima's voice respondd, sounding winded, but otherwise unharmed: "We're okay, Endeavor, just got a start, that's all. The cops just pulled their guns on us, but we've got them incapacitated. Why the hell would they do that?"

"The officers we thought had been killed in the lobby did the same thing to Clair Voyant and I, as well. We've likewise restrained them. It's clear we have traitors in our midst, and this recent explosion of crime across the city has something to do with it; no doubt a means to get us away from the hospital as a distraction, but the timing of this attack clearly showed a lack of proper communication on the culprits' part."

As Endeavor finally voiced his quickly growing suspicion, Clair Voyant signaled for him to look her way, as she was eyeing the direction they had originally come from, specifically the upper floors. "You're right on the money, Endeavor! I can see the chief's unconscious, and there's someone in doctor's garb right there outside Alan Kay's room with a gun, live rounds this time!"

In the past minute since the Heroes had rushed to attend to the crime wave outside the hospital, and the deafening sound of the crashing truck and gunfire had erupted, the police chief grimaced in frustration to himself. "Dammit, those idiots made their move way too soon! The Heroes couldn't possibly have gotten far enough away from the hospital at this point!"

No sooner than he said this, he quickly turned to his loyalist officers standing at the ready. "We're only going to have the smallest window to make this look natural. When the Heroes get back, they can't think that we stood here doing nothing. You all head down and act like you're helping with evacuation efforts. I'll stay here to wait for our contact."

As soon as the officers nodded their understanding of these orders and headed down for the nearest stairwell with arms at the ready, the chief heard another door open further down the hall behind his back. Upon turning around, he felt a surge of readiness overtake him as he saw it was one of the new conscripts Flect Turn had described him to look out for; an unshaven, middle-aged Slavic man with exhausted-looking eyes and his graying blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, dressed in hastily put doctor clothes, even as his flak jacket was just visible enough underneath his scrubs.

Upon seeing the chief, the Russian man wasted no time: "Sorry about that, the others got the timing off just enough, but they should be able to keep the Heroes distracted just long enough. Is this the room? That's the target?"

The chief was already urgently hastening his comrade on: "Yes, yes, we don't have time. Take your shot and get out of here down the opposite end of the hall. We have to make this look realistic, so punch me as hard as you can. I can take it."

Instinctively reaching under his lab coat for the gun holstered at his hip, and subsequently pulling it out and cocking the hammer back, the Russian man gave the chief only the briefest look of consideration. "For the salvation of humanity."

KRAK!

And just like that, he brought the police chief down to the floor with a well-placed and prepared punch straight to his face, leaving his nose already bleeding while he pretended to lie unconscious, thus giving the new agent the chance he needed, stepping through the door and already raising his gun for Alan Kay's immobile body.

But as his aim was laser-focused on his target, he failed to see the hallway grow a bright orange glow the direction he had originally come from. But he did quickly notice the rapidly soaring heat.

"FLASHFIRE SHOT!"

So many things occurred at once as Endeavor's voice thundered through the hall the moment he had eyes on the attempted assassin:

The Russian man, overcome with murderous intent and a desire to carry it out in one way or another, reached his free hand under his scrubs and into the pocket of his vest, wherein lay a tiny capsule of condensed Ideo Trigger that had been given to him personally, as the volunteer to personally see Alan Kay dead.

As he felt the tiny capsule against his fingertips, he proceeded to turn on his heels, his aiming arm still extended, thus turning the barrel of the gun towards the Hero he knew was now barreling toward him as a literal fireball. Even as he and Endeavor made eye contact, the man felt no fear. Putting his finger on the trigger to squeeze the moment his body would stop turning, and pulling the capsule out, he could only think of one thing: 'I'm sorry I won't come back to you, my Vanya. I'm sorry for so many things. But one way or another, I swear these Quirked monsters will pay for what they did to you, to all of us…and when you wake up, it'll be in a world with a clean slate.'

But even as he still deluded himself with this naïve ideal, the man didn't even register that with Endeavor's attack name called out, the Flame Hero had suddenly shot two condensed beams of white hot energy from his blazing eyes, aiming them just precisely enough to melt the assassin's gun in his hand, and destroy the capsule in his other hand before he could break it open proper; incinerating its contents before they could actually disperse, and burning a fine tiny hole straight through his palm in the process.

Before the pain could even reach the man's brain, Endeavor drove his speeding mass straight into him like a human freight train, smashing him straight through the wall length-wise looking into Alan Kay's room, ultimately leaving the unknown enemy lying listlessly at his feet, too shell-shocked to move, and visibly still breathing.

As Endeavor's flames started to dim around his body, knowing he'd stopped the attempted murder, he could feel an exhilaration rushing through his veins upon what they now had. 'At last…Humarise has decided to make their move, and unwittingly put a source of information into our laps we can readily use. Everything is finally starting to come together at last.'

But as Endeavor knelt down to secure the suspect, he didn't see how the police chief still splayed out on the floor behind his back had fully taken in exactly how badly the plan had failed…and exactly what course of action that now forced him to take. He knew the Flame Hero was too preoccupied to notice a surprise attack now of all times, and thus there was no other time for him to act than now.

Keeping himself prone so as to avoid making any excessive noise until the last possible moment, the chief carefully drew out his pistol and aimed it at the back of Endeavor's head he could still see from down here. No matter how much he knew he wouldn't get a second chance here if he missed, his hands were surprisingly steady as he got his finger on the trigger. 'I knew the risks, taking this task on…but I swore to him that I would see this objective achieved, no matter what. If I have to personally kill a Stage 5 like Endeavor in order to do so, then so be it. That traitor will follow after him into the fires of damnation soon enough. The hour of the great work is close at hand, after all, so even if I must take my own life to take any advantage away from them after this, then so be it! For the salvation of humanity, no sacrifice is too great!'

THWIP!

But just as he began to squeeze the trigger on Endeavor, a sudden zip cord came flying through the air from behind the police chief's back, firmly wrapping around his two wrists, before a powerful yank forced his aim high up, sending the resulting gunshot harmlessly into the ceiling.

WRAM!

Before the chief could fully turn around to see who had interfered, he was met with the sight of a furious-looking Clair Voyant diving through the air at him, one of her knees driving hard into his face with enough momentum to knock his lights out completely, while she landed in a masterful forward roll back onto her feet, all while Endeavor was back on his feet, observing the scene that had just unfolded with not even the faintest hint of trepidation on his fiery face.

Clair Voyant was still letting the rest of her adrenaline run its course, as well as the knowledge of what she'd just seen and prevented, as she finally spoke up: "I'm taking it you've got everything else under control here, Endeavor?"

The Flame Hero gave a single resolute nod. "Correct. I'd heard him moving about just before you'd arrived. He wouldn't have had the chance to finish pulling that trigger, but there's no point talking about that now."

With that, Clair Voyant was finally able to let the disconcerting knowledge of just who their enemies here had truly proven to be, register on her face. "I can't believe it. Our own police, working in league with Humarise. I never would have begun to imagine."

Naturally, Endeavor didn't look the least bit surprised. "Given the speed and sequence with which things unfolded regarding Deku and Solovei after Alan Kay had been recovered, as well as the chief's unwillingness to work with us, it only made sense to me that Humarise had at least some influence with the police, among other institutions. I had a feeling it would only be a matter of time before they would try something, but even this level of boldness is beyond what I'd expected."

With Endeavor's long-time suspicions having finally been voiced, Clair Voyant took a deep and shaky breath, reconstituting herself. "There's no way that sudden surge of random incidents across the city wasn't some kind of smoke screen for them to pull this little assassination attempt. We're probably looking at a bunch of Humarise agents passing themselves off as just random Villains or common criminals to keep whatever police aren't on Humarise's side away from here, as well as to keep the other Heroes and us distracted."

Nodding in agreement, Endeavor looked at their two present suspects. "I'll have the Flaming Sidekickers go out to assist in resolving all those incidents. We need to get our captured suspects back to the police station, and inform those officers of exactly what's unfolded here. Only then can we properly begin to get the answers we've been looking for."

Of course, Endeavor sounded as assured as could be that they had finally been given a break in the progress of their mission. However, what he could not allow to overtake his focus, was the worry creeping further and further up his spine. If Humarise truly had their devious claws in the media and even the police, to the point that they could attempt something like this, then who could truly know just what exactly his son and interns were liable to run into out there, without him or any of the other Pros to provide them support or protection?

Monday, January 19th

Almost exactly as soon as the sun had begun to rise on this, the most long awaited day in years, Flect Turn's numerous computers lit up with video calls from multitudes of his followers. With each one he answered, he could feel everything finally fall into place, as every single team he had set up across the globe all gave him the same confirmation, punctuated with the latest call, from the team led by none other than Marius Lazarescu: "The hardware is set up, and everyone here in position. We only now await your word, sir."

However, there was one outlier in all these calls, coming from yet more of his agents still within the Otheon capital. Their message was brief, but crushing in its implications: "The hospital mission ended in complete failure, sir. All our agents were apprehended by the Heroes…as well as several of our officers within the police. The traitor still lives, sister Beros still hasn't reclaimed the case, and now those abominations have the means to learn everything about our plan."

However, while listening to all of this, Flect Turn himself was simply watching one of the numerous news feeds playing out on the myriad of other screens before him, specifically one coming from the local Otheon news, wherein the footage was depicting the newly arrived Konstantin Khodamchuk, flanked on both sides by his personal security, stepping out of his personal plane at the international airport of the capital, even despite the numerous incidents that had erupted and just as quickly quashed by the Heroes just the previous night.

Seeing and hearing all of this, the Humarise leader finally gave a response, with not a trace of the same frustration as his followers. "There's no need to fret. The Heroes still know nothing of our true intentions, and even if they were to learn, it is already too late. I shall deliver my final sermon in but a few hours time, and then our great work shall finally come to fruition. Have faith, brothers and sisters. The salvation of humanity is closer at hand than ever before."

Otheon/Klayd Border

Just as Rody had suggested, the wayward trio had made sure to wake up at the crack of dawn so they could ultimately make it to the border that much sooner. It was just short of noon by the time the map said they were about to get there. Howev er, before they could even get eyes on it, they were met with the distant sight of far backed up traffic. To run into such a thing this far from the official crossing, made it all too clear to them just what kind of police security was waiting for them.

However, unwilling to just go off of such an assumption, it ultimately was decided, given the immense canyon landscape they now found themselves in, cleanly split in half by one river, that they would climb up and get themselves a bird's eye view of just what they would have to contend with to get across, thus leaving them no choice but to leave their van behind.

"Chyort (Shit)," Nikolay uttered the moment he, Izuku and Rody could finally see the distant border crossing into Klayd, the destination they had worked so hard and long to reach, now as heavily fortified with police presence as an army base would be with soldiers. Even the railroad line that ran parallel to the road was at a standstill, the current train's passengers all having already been forced off.

Izuku and Rody both looked similarly disappointed, knowing there was no way they could simply drive through without being spotted. Izuku took to scanning the canyon walls around them. "We can't possibly go through the front without getting into a fight. I think climbing these mountains is our only real shot."

Looking up the nearest wall, Nikolay too nodded in acceptance. "Alright, I'll scout up ahead, see if I can pick out a route that's easier for us to travel."

"Wait." Rody suddenly spoke out, drawing both boys' attention, only for him to hold the briefcase out to them. "That injury of yours isn't fully healed yet, Deku, so I'm not about to have you go around carrying me. And Niko, your Quirk is inherently too loud to use without the cops down there hearing you, and carrying me would just slow you both down too much…so why don't you both take the case and go on ahead without me?"

"What?! But Rody-san, the van is practically running on fumes by this point, it won't be able to get you anywhere from here." "Yeah, you can't expect us to just leave you to walk all the way back home, can you?"

But despite Izuku and Nikolay's respective protests, Rody still wore that same confident grin. "Hey, for starters, I was able to tough it out at the start just the same as you guys, so don't go underestimating me already. Besides, you both know too well by now just how fast I can run. If nothing else, I'll just head back to the clearing from last night, gorge myself on some berries, and just wait for you two to return. I'll be fine, you'll see."

With that all being said, Rody all but planted the briefcase in Izuku's hands, looking him and Nikolay in the eyes with an encouraging glimmer as he steadfastly said: "You're the only ones that can wrap this all up now, so go figure out the secret of this case and clear your names, Heroes."

Neither of the boys could argue that after Rody had gotten them this far and put himself in such risk for their sakes, they couldn't possibly ask him to do any more than that. So, if this was the best way they could finally do what they needed, and make sure that he would be as safe as possible, then they had no choice but to take it.

But as Izuku began to reach his hands to accept the case, Nikolay's ears picked up a distinct sound coming from another direction than the border crossing…more specifically, coming from up above their position:

The sound of an approaching helicopter.

This time, Izuku and Rody both likewise heard it; the freckled boy especially getting ready to hold the case flush to his chest and try to flatten himself against the ridge as much as possible to make himself hard to spot.

But before either of them could do so, the noise reached its highest volume, as the helicopter in question crested just over the peak of the ridge they found themselves on. Glimpsing up to see for certain, Nikolay felt his adrenaline spike upon realizing it once more was not a police helicopter by any sign, before one of the doors suddenly slid open, revealing not only a large man in a gold mask covering the upper half of his face and matching fingerless gloves with metallic ball bearings upon his knuckles, but also the very same hooded woman that had attacked them at the barn two days ago; her hand already having changed into the same archery bow, with several arrows already pulled and aimed right at the trio. "I FINALLY FOUND YOU!"

"HANG ON, RODY-SAN!" Without hesitation, Izuku grabbed tight onto Rody and dashed across the ridge the way they had come, his body ignited with Full Cowling's energy, just as the hooded woman unleashed another barrage of glowing green arrows at her three targets. At the same time, Nikolay likewise launched himself up in the opposite direction, channeling rapid bursts of Kinetics out his feet with each landing they made upon the rocks lining the cliff face, propelling himself up and across it as he reached for his tuning forks tucked into the pack he was wearing. 'She might be able to direct her arrows, but she can't possibly keep a constant aim on me and Midoriya-san at the same time! I gotta hit their blind spot!'

KRRRRK! "YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE THIS TIME, KID!"

The noise of the helicopter and the rushing of the air around him kept Nikolay from noticing the unnatural sound of grinding stone beneath his feet, until he suddenly felt a vice-like grab snatch him by his left leg, stopping his momentum to a whiplash-inducing degree. As he dangled and tried to get his bearings, he quickly found the rocks of the cliff face starting to shift and form a massive goliath-like shape as it emerged from within, holding the Russian's leg in one hand.

Before Nikolay could even react, the third aggressor in this rock armor proceeded to whip his hand back, wrangling the Hero along with it, before he proceeded to throw him straight down the side of the ridge to the backed up traffic on the street below. Even as his body spun helplessly, Nikolay tried desperately to fire his Kinetics out of whichever limb he could think of at a given thought, to try and slow his momentum; only barely managing to do so enough to keep from breaking any of his bones, but nonetheless slamming hard into the roof of a small car, blasting its windows out on impact, and leaving him stunned and out of breath, while the numerous civilians and police officers dotting the whole scene all looked in surprise at his sudden crash landing.

But the Rock Quirk-using Humarise member wasn't done with dealing with Nikolay by a long shot. He didn't even stop to see if the boy was still moving or not, before he proceeded to leap down from the ridge, bringing all of his devastating weight freefalling in preparation to squash Nikolay like an insect.

Nikolay, even with his head still spinning, could hear the incoming screams of civilians who saw the incoming attack about to rain down on them. Through his blurred vision, he could just make out enough of the incoming shape from above, and thus his body seemed to move entirely on its own, as he desperately threw himself off the roof of the car, launching himself into a high-speed low dash in between the next few abandoned vehicles, while still thinking enough to call out: "EVERYONE GET OUT OF HERE, IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!"

BOOOOOM!

But Nikolay's attacker came smashing down on the car he had been plastered on mere seconds ago with the fury of a wrecking ball, completely flattening it into the crater beneath his feet, which was enough to cause all the police officers nearby to back away in shock, and send the civilians feeling in fear.

But all their presence meant nothing to him, as he had his eyes set on the fast-dashing sight of Nikolay trying to wind his way through the mess of cars, urging the civilians still inside to get out and run.

Without hesitation, the terrorist proceeded to slam his rock-encased fists down into the ground with all his strength, sending a resulting trail of rock spikes to come erupting from out beneath the asphalt in the blink of an eye, producing yet more screams from out of the civilians, as cars both empty and occupied were sent flying through the air as the trail continued to carve its way down the entire road after Nikolay.

The young Hero himself heard the screams, and without even stopping to see just what the attack was that was biting at his heels, he immediately took off into the air with all the Kinetic power he could muster through his limbs on such short notice, launching himself at the cars he could see still had people in them. He knew there was no time or chances to think up a more thorough plan, so he could only do the first thing that came to mind:

Planting himself against the side of the nearest car, he immediately forced the door open, unbuckled the driver's seatbelt, and eyeballing the trajectory of the vehicle through the terrain as he knew it, grabbed the driver by his shirt and threw him out towards the river. From where he, Izuku and Rody had just been observing, it wasn't a fast current, and there didn't look to be any large protruding rocks inside, so for all intents and purposes, he could only work on the assumption that it was a safe place to send the civilians away from the fight.

But he had no time to second guess, as he had to ricochet himself the fastest he could go from airborne car to airborne car, either repeating the same desperate process with the passengers still trapped inside as they flew, or channeling a powerful enough Kinetic blast through either his arms or legs, to strike the empty cars away from potentially landing on any of the fleeing civilians or police officers. The speed and power he had to force through his body at such a fast pace already left Nikolay feeling like he'd just torn several muscles in his arms and legs, or cracked his ribs and shoulders, but with all of these people still in danger, and the terrorist in rock armor still gunning for him, he couldn't allow himself to dwell on that. Now that the ground spike attack had finally run its course, Nikolay finally launched himself in a ricochet off the side of the ridge, flying straight for his opponent.

All the while as this unfolded on the ground level, the female hooded terrorist had her hawk-eye aim still set on Izuku and Rody, as the curly-haired Hero continued to dash them both across the length and height of the ridge. "Brother Terrioros can deal with the third one, but I won't let you two evade me again! I won't fail because of you again!"

With that, she proceeded to unleash another handful of her homing arrows after the two, but even with the soreness of his injury that still remained, Izuku's reflexes were still at their best, as he ran as fast as Full Cowling could get him to go with Rody's weight upon his back; those arrows exploding into the rock at his heels with every other step.

Seeing his ally's frustration as her arrows flew yet still missed their mark, the gold-masked terrorist suddenly clenched his right hand into a fist, popping out a handful of the small metal spheres lining his knuckles, handing them to her. "Use these, that little freak's speed won't account for them."

Without any questions asked, she proceeded to take them, pull them back on her Quirk's bow string, and fired them straight at Izuku. As they flew through the air at sonic speed, her partner focused his Quirk, causing the balls to suddenly expand to the size of wrecking balls, thus slamming them with devastating explosive power right where Izuku just managed to dash away from; the concussive force enough to channel through the rock and send it shattering from beneath Izuku's feet, causing him to lose his balance, and send him and Rody on the beginnings of free fall to the ground below.

But Izuku's own adrenaline had his thought speed going overtime, as he quickly threw his right hand forward, sending a multitude of his Blackwhips into the rock, clutching on, and reeling him and Rody back, to where he immediately took of in a Full Cowl sprint across the ridge once again.

But his two assailants refused to let up, as more and more of these gigantic wrecking balls came slamming all over the ridge, even trying to cut of Izuku's trajectory in order to get him off his feet again. On top of that, more and more arrows continued to swerve and fly their way through the otherwise blinding dust left in the wake of all this destruction, forcing Izuku to be just as evasive as he was being fast, trying his best to jump and ricochet off the flying rocks and debris all around him, but still proving unable to lose all the arrows in the process.

Finally, one last giant sphere managed to hit the lucky spot, as with another deafening crash, a good portion of the ridge around Izuku's face exploded all around him, once more sending him and Rody falling to their doom.

With no better ideas on what to do to try and save them, Izuku's eyes settled on the helicopter itself. Clenching his teeth in preparation for the bumpy ride that was about to ensue, he threw his right hand straight up, sending a condensed bunch of Blackwhip from out his palm, and securely latching onto the chopper's tail, the sudden added weight causing its flight and balance to go completely off, before Izuku focused, allowing Blackwhip to once more reel himself and Rody out of the dust and closer to the aircraft.

As the two terrorists inside saw what the young Hero had just done, Izuku was already mentally counting down, channeling all the power he could spare into his right foot, already reeled back in preparation for a full powered kick. "DELAWARE SMASH…AIR FORCE!"

The moment Izuku finally cancelled out Blackwhip, he threw his right foot across in a sweeping kick for everything he was worth, sending a devastating blast of air tearing across the battlefield, and ultimately slamming into the side of the helicopter, destroying its tail and causing its propellers to start smoking, as it started spinning out of control.

But just because their opponent's airborne advantage had now been taken care of, didn't mean Izuku and Rody were out of the woods yet, as the two ultimately came crashing down hard onto the top of the ridge, rolling painfully through the rocks and dirt, before finally coming to a stop; Izuku's old injury already flaring up in his chest, before he spotted Rody trying to get up several feet ahead of him. "Rody-san, are you okay?!"

Even wincing with clear pain, Rody still tried to answer with that same devil-may-care tone. "Y-yeah…I'm fine…wait! Where's the case?!"

Rody's whole body went rigid with shock the moment he realized he no longer had the case in hand. But he just as quickly spotted its silver body glinting in the sunlight just a few feet away. Without waiting, he immediately jumped to his feet and ran for it as fast as his legs could carry him, his racing heartbeat deafening in his ears, to the point he couldn't hear Izuku suddenly call out from behind him: "RODY-SAN, LOOK OUT!"

BOOOM!

Ony through sheer dumb luck was Rody able to avoid getting crushed by another of the giant airborne spheres, as it came raining down just behind his heels; the shockwave sending him flying and tumbling hard down the slope towards the cliff's edge.

Looking up, Izuku could see the gold-masked terrorist had by now taken the course to jump from the still-spinning helicopter, popping off, throwing and growing his knuckle spheres in rapid succession to chase Rody down, before they all finally came smashing down in such rapid and overwhelming force, that Rody and the case were both sent flying over the edge of the cliff; the young man just barely managing to reach out and grab the case's handle with one hand, and clutch onto a protruding rock on the face of the cliff with the other.

At that same moment, the terrorist himself landed perfectly on one of his previous spheres, looking down sadistically at Rody, and the utterly helpless position he was in.

Seeing this as well, Izuku was already about to rush Rody's attacker, but the faintest glimmer of green out the corner of his eye forced him to once more go on the evasive, as the archer in the doomed helicopter still continued to try and fight him with everything she had left, the arrows exploding the ground around Izuku in every direction he went; a cruel feint to keep him from intervening in saving Rody; who by now had realized just how royally screwed he now was, as the masked terrorist above lifted one last massive sphere over his head, ready to throw it down and wipe him off the face of the cliff like a bug on a windshield. "FOR THE SALVATION OF HUMANITY!"

SSSSHHHHHKKKKK!

But the sudden sound of something fast cracking caught his ear, and before he could even start to shift his gaze to see what it was, the terrorist suddenly found his entire body engulfed and immobilized in a frigid cold; his large body completely trapped inside a sudden lightning fast glacier of pure ice tearing across the top of the mountain, with a boy with a head of split red and white hair standing alone in the distance from where the glacier itself started, looking on the entire scene with piercing stoic eyes.

Rody was wide-eyed and speechless at this sudden miracle and the unfamiliar boy who had apparently caused it—

KRRAK!

-before the rock he had been holding onto for dear life suddenly broke away from the cliff, sending him plummeting down, too shocked at what was about to happen to even let out a scream.

The moment Shoto saw this ponytailed stranger start to fall, he likewise began to focus on redirecting his Ice down the cliff to catch him, before his ears caught the incoming and thankfully familiar sound of numerous rumbling bass blasts pulsating through the ground he stood on.

Over that last minute, Nikolay had tried everything he could to try and break down the armor his rock-controlling opponent was protected by; using the mountain face and the timing and speed of his Quirk through ricochets and slamming Kinetic Blasts to try and break it down piece by piece. Yet no matter how hard or how often he tried, while still trying to keep whatever civilians and police officers were left from getting caught in the crossfire all the while, none of it was working, and he knew his body would break long before this terrorist's would.

When he heard the unmistakable sound of Shoto's Ice traveling from up above, Nikolay had half a mind to rush on up there to try and fill him in so they could try to come up with a strategy together…until he saw Rody free-falling from the cliff. At that moment, all his thoughts of fighting were forgotten.

Nikolay immediately launched himself for the cliff face, running along it and using his Quirk from out his hands to boost his speed and propel himself further and further up so he could catch Rody. His heart was racing and his blood was burning, as he finally knew he was at the deciding moment, halfway up the cliff face, from wherein he launched himself off of it and practically slammed himself into Rody in mid-air, clutching him by his midsection and an arm before just as quickly firing themselves up from out his feet for everything he was worth, just in time to avoid the rock-user, as he had burrowed his way into the rock in pursuit the moment Nikolay had left their fight, and had subsequently redirected himself to try and catch the two boys and kill them, only now coming up a second short.

Nikolay made a mid-air beeline for where Shoto was standing; the two friends momentarily filled with relief to see each other in one piece again. However, Nikolay didn't realize that the female archer had likewise gotten her eyes on him whilst trying to eliminate Izuku, and thus saw that Rody and the briefcase were with him.

Her sense of duty stood paramount above all other concerns, as even with the helicopter continuing to spin in its pilot's futile attempt to stay airborne, she redirected her aim and fired another batch of her arrows, this time straight at Nikolay and Rody, who by now had finally touched down atop the mountain, mere yards away from Shoto.

The sound of those inescapable arrows whistling through the air for him sent Nikolay into an immediate evasive dive, practically throwing Rody towards Shoto while he himself rolled and leapt to and fro across the ground in an attempt to avoid getting skewered, just like Izuku before; fighting through the ringing in his head and the stinging pain of debris flying, striking and cutting away at him as each arrow exploded on impact.

Finding himself momentarily consumed in the following cloud of dust, Nikolay could only hear the helicopter, but he couldn't see a thing. But the archer herself didn't care, her killing intent was the only thing she could focus on, as she aimed for the center mass of that cloud and immediately fired, just waiting to see the sight of one of these meddlesome Hero children run through at her hand.

Nikolay would never be able to properly explain from this point on how it was he had managed to do so. He would only ever be able to maintain that it was purely his hard-wired survival instincts taking the reins from his head; for with his ears still ringing and his heart thundering away, there was no way he could have heard that telltale whistle of that arrow…but it was as though all of his senses were simply warning him that certain death was coming for him head-on, and he needed to do something about it.

Thus, his hands flew up like they had a mind of their own, as he barely managed to bring them together and catch the shaft of the arrow at the last possible moment when it punched through the dust; its razor sharp tip poised mere millimeters away from nailing the wide-eyed Russian boy square between his eyes. For that one moment, his, Rody's, Izuku's, Shoto's and the archer's wide-eyed looks of shock were perfectly mirrored against one another's.

But for her, that shock quickly turned back into rage, as she once more took several more arrows from the quiver on her back and aimed them at the trio, before the whole helicopter was suddenly yanked forcefully to turn away from them, revealing Izuku standing defiantly on his own, having used his Blackwhip once more to try and buy his friends a chance, even as the archer refused to let this disruption throw her off her focus, and instead proceed to fire her arrows at him, sending him into another blindingly fast Full Cowl sprint.

Suddenly, the sound of crushing and grinding metal from below snapped them all to attention, just in time to see a giant spire of rock suddenly come erupting out from just beyond the cliff edge, with a large tour bus propped on top of it, with the rock-armored terrorist clutching onto the side of the spire like a tag-along for the ride. The sudden stop of its rising momentum ended up shooting the bus high up into the air, rolling out of control as it began to fall in a trajectory that would land it directly on top of Nikolay and Rody.

Hearing the terrified screams of the civilians still inside, Nikolay instinctively launched himself up to meet it in mid-air, his eyes practically burning into the incoming vehicle as he took a deep breath and tensed his entire body, trying to brace himself to fire off his Quirk at the moment and from the point of impact, only able to think one thing to himself: 'Please, God, let this work!'

Shutting his eyes tight, the moment the bus was close enough to landing on him that it blocked the sunlight through his eyelids, Nikolay focused his mind solely on the act of releasing all the Kinetic power that had been building up inside through the course of this fight, all while trying to make sure his body was parallel to the surface of the ground behind him, so that the resulting Refraction he released would send the bus flying further away from the edge.

BWOOOM!

The resonating sound of his body taking in the force of the busses' momentum and firing the majority of it right back from the point of impact rang loud and clear. Naturally, that sheer power he tried to redirect was enough to slam Nikolay mercilessly on his back into the ground, causing his pack to practically explode its contents all over the place. However, just as he'd hoped, it was also enough to make his body essentially serve as a point the bus could bounce away from. It was still spinning and bound to cause too much damage if they didn't do something, but he knew he'd managed to make the next step possible, as Shoto was instantly able to figure out what Nikolay was hoping to do.

Slamming his right foot down, Shoto suddenly caused a massive column of Ice to erupt from the ground, shaped at just the right angle and speed to masterfully catch the bus in mid-air, stopping it completely, and holding it safely so as to keep it from crushing under its own weight, and harming the numerous speechless civilians still inside.

The Rock-user scowled in anger, while Nikolay, despite still being winded and aching all over from what he'd just put himself through, managed to struggle back onto his feet, overcome with relief that Shoto had managed to help him save the bus.

But before anyone on either side could act further, the voice of the gold-masked terrorist suddenly desperately called out from the glacier he was still completely trapped within. "Hey, let me out of here, dammit! Look, I'll tell you whatever you wanna know, all right? Just don't hurt me!"

With such an unprecedented turn of events, Nikolay knew this was too valuable an opportunity to waste, and that their attackers would definitely try to prevent it. As such, he immediately proceeded to launch himself after the Rock-user, finally managing to draw out his two large tuning forks from his ruined pack, charge his Quirk into them through his hands, and swiftly slam them into the spire; causing the whole thing to shatter into practically pebbles, sending the Rock-user plummeting down, before he managed to catch a lucky break by grabbing onto another portion of the cliff face, the rocks themselves seeming to part for him and subsequently swallow him inside for protection.

Knowing Izuku and Nikolay were working to keep his prisoner's compatriots busy, Shoto immediately rushed for the glacier, leaving Rody wide-eyed and alone; looking the immobilized man in the eye as he demanded: "Tell me exactly what it is you're all planning."

"Okay, okay! We're-!" The gold mask didn't waste a second trying to fight, but before he could get another word out, that same piercing whistle cut him off, as a multitude of those glowing arrows suddenly flew right over Shoto's head, before turning on a dime to drive straight into the glacier and the man head-on, the resulting explosions sending a rain of ice crystals and rocks flying everywhere, Shoto barely having managed to erect an Ice wall to protect himself in time.

As the smoke cleared, he could immediately see his prisoner was still half swallowed up by the ice, but was clearly knocked out cold by the explosions, just as the helicopter somehow managed to steer itself around to where the archer could get her sights on him, her next batch of arrows already pulled and aimed. "You traitor!"

BKOO-BKOO-BKOOM!

"DON'T YOU GO THINKING YOU CAN JUST IGNORE ME, DAMMIT! THEY AREN'T THE ONLY HEROES HERE!"

With a rapidly booming thunder like only the strongest of storms, Bakugo suddenly came tearing through the skies at the helicopter, propelling himself up and over the propellers, flipping through the air before setting off a rapid chain of condensed Explosions from the sweat he threw with his hand, simultaneously destroying nearly all the arrows, while giving Izuku a chance to get further out of the way; his instinctive surprised exclamation of "Kacchan?" being completely ignored, as Bakugo quickly fired himself off back the way he had come, flying underneath the helicopter, which he proceeded to riddle with another multitude of precisely aimed AP Shot Explosions, sending it into an even faster, more out of control descending spin.

Now seeing she had three Heroes to deal with, the archer Beros was seeing nothing but red, as she proceeded to do away with all forethought, and instead grabbed handful after handful of her arrows, firing them in vicious salvos one after the other, leaving a veritable spider web of their glowing green trails through the air all around her, as they shot after Bakugo and Izuku together, the two boys dashing, flying, flipping and everything in between all across the canyon to avoid getting shot, and forcing the arrows to slam harmlessly into the rocks.

Bakugo made short work of the arrows coming after him, masterfully outmaneuvering and subsequently blowing them up; a sight of skill that infuriated Beros even more, as she grinded her teeth beneath her mask, reaching for yet more arrows to turn him into a pin cushion with…only for her grasping fingers to meet nothing but empty air, instantly shattering her murderous resolve, as she realized the worst thing that could have possibly happened: without her former ally providing her more ammo, she had now run completely dry, and had nothing further to fight with.

The resulting lull in action told Bakugo just as much as well, as he wasted no time launching himself with another fiery Explosion at the helicopter, slamming into the side of the cockpit, gripping onto it with white knuckles and that constant vicious fire in his eyes as the two looked at each other. "JUST GIVE UP ALREADY!"

Those words from the furious young Hero served as the final nails to her heart and mind. He was right; she had failed in her mission yet again, and now had no possible means of killing her targets, retrieving the case, or even escaping to re-supply herself to try again. It was all over now…or was it?

Taking in everything still unfolding around her, Beros glanced down to see the helicopter was right now perfectly poised above the narrow canyon through which the railway ran. Like that, hopelessness gave in to unshakable resolve of a new kind. It was a very high drop from here, and that was exactly what she'd hoped for, as she brought her hands to her chest, crossing them like one laid out in their casket.

"For the salvation of humanity."

With that, she proceeded to tilt her body forward, and let gravity pull her the rest of the way out the open side of the helicopter, sending her plummeting to certain death, much to Bakugo, Shoto and Izuku's shock; the former taking that chance to jump off the helicopter, as it finally ended its long-awaited demise, and went spinning into another nearby ridge, exploding in a furious fireball that echoed all across the canyon.

"BLACKWHIP!"

Without breaking his momentum, Izuku immediately sent a multitude of black tendrils from both his hands, latching into both sides of the canyon as he swung himself forward and down at full speed, his eyes set solely on the plummeting woman in front of him.

THWIP!

As Izuku's body flew like a blur just past Beros, she suddenly felt her freefall get swiftly broken as one of the black tendrils of pure energy swiftly snatched onto her, before tethering her along behind Izuku; the young Hero quickly swinging himself up and over back toward where Shoto was still standing, his Blackwhip swinging her in a wide and high reaching arc over his head, before he finally focused, and Blackwhip dissipated, leaving Beros falling once more, before Shoto likewise sent another high-speed glacier out from his right hand and foot together, expertly encasing her up to her neck in it, and leaving her just as immobilized as the masked man she'd previously tried to kill.

BKOOOM!

With everything unfolding so fast, the only thing Rody could think to do was try to back away from the action as far as he could until he knew for a fact it was over. But he had been so transfixed by watching the three Heroes in action in front of him, that he'd momentarily forgotten about the Rock-user, Terrioros, until the ground beneath his feet exploded in a wide array of rock spires, almost resembling an earthen flower, as he was launched helplessly up into the air, with the terrorist himself likewise bursting from out the ground, eyes burning as he reached up to grab him and the case both.

BWOOM!

But with a rapidly approaching shockwave rippling through the air, Nikolay came dive-bombing in as fast as he could go, reaching one hand out for Rody to grab onto. When he and the young man made eye contact, he hoped that this would be just as obvious.

But Rody, realizing just what his attacker was still really going after, decided in his desperation, to add just one more ounce of difficulty to Terrioros' objective, as he suddenly threw the briefcase up towards Nikolay instead; forcing the Hero to grab onto it with his reaching hand, before flying right past Rody.

The terrorist's aggression immediately switched back to Nikolay once he saw the briefcase get snatched away at the last possible moment. With a monstrous roar of blind rage, he plowed through his own rock spires in a mad dash to catch him, while Rody was about to let out a call of encouragement, before landing hard upon one of the only spires still intact.

Nikolay similarly tried to roll himself through the air and fire off through his feet to try and turn back towards his allies on a pinhead turn, but Terrioros was already right on top of him; having dived back into the ground and only choosing now to breach out from it the moment Nikolay had brought himself to a stop.

The young Russian was immediately snatched in the terrorist's massive rock-armored hand; the fiend wasting no time before tightening his grip. Nikolay was already struggling to breathe; the piercing agony of his ribs starting to crack further and further with each second flaring through his body.

"You've all been a thorn in our side for too long! I just wish I had more time to enjoy this!" Terrioros snarled barbarically as he saw Nikolay's fair face start turning darker shades of red as he couldn't get any air into his lungs. All he needed to do was apply just a few more pounds of pressure, and he could crush the brat's ribs into dust, retrieve the case, and make his escape.

As Nikolay's vision began to go dark, his eyes settled on a pronounced crack in the rock lining the arm that was continuing to squeeze the life out of him. With one hand grasping the briefcase, and the other still just managing enough of a grip on one of his large tuning forks, he knew in the back of his mind that it was his only remote chance left.

And so, as he could feel his Kinetic power sifting through his left arm and into his tool, he gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the copper taste of blood starting to creep into his mouth, and summoned all the strength he could into swinging his left arm back and high up over his head in a full circular swing, driving his vibration-packed tuning fork straight down into that crack in the rock armor with all he could physically muster.

K-KRRAAK!

The finest ring sounded through the air between Nikolay and Terrioros upon impact for but a few seconds, and it was pronounced enough to distract the terrorist from applying the remaining pounds of pressure he'd intended, unable to realize just what this sound actually meant, as it proceeded to grow higher and higher in frequency with each passing second…until the crack Nikolay had aimed for began to split and spread out across the arm of his rock armor; ultimately shattering akin to glass into a bunch of small flimsy fragments of stone and dust. As a result, his grip shattered with it, as his much smaller regular human armor now stood exposed from the rest of his armor, while Nikolay came crashing back down onto his knees, still clutching the briefcase while he gasped and wheezed for air.

"YOU STUBBORN LITTLE-!" Terrioros bellowed as he raised his remaining rock arm up in preparation to squash Nikolay like an insect, while likewise trying to focus his Quirk so he could draw more rocks over to regain armor for his other arm.

But before he could bring it down with his murderous intent, he suddenly realized that something was restraining it. Looking back in surprised confusion, he felt his blood go cold when he realized there was suddenly a bunch of what looked like black tendrils latched onto the entirety of his arm, all emanating from the incoming young boy with curly green hair up above; Izuku rolling his body forward through the air as he descended, before ultimately bringing his right leg high up over his head in preparation for a chopping drop kick. "ST. LOUIS SMASH!"

BOOOOOOM!

The moment Izuku withdrew his Blackwhip, he drove his heel straight down into Terrioros' remaining armored arm, producing a devastating explosion of dust and flying rocks on impact as the terrorist cried out. Nikolay, in the state he was in, didn't even have time to see what Izuku was about to do and thus get away, but thankfully Shoto had proven to be that much quicker, as he managed to produce a quick growing and thick wall of Ice to shield him from the shockwave of Izuku's strike.

As the dust cleared, Terrioros was still standing, but barely; his rock armor now covered in devastating cracks, both arms completely destroyed, and himself clearly shaken up enough that he was practically delirious. "I'll…I-I'll kill…y-you…f-for the…salvation…"

"SAVE THE SANCTIMONIOUS BULLSHIT FOR SOMEONE THAT CARES! DIE!" Bakugo's voice spat out defiantly as he came tearing across the landscape into the closing scene of the fight; his eyes burning like flames as he practically threw himself straight into the terrorists' face; grinning sadistically from ear to ear with both hands wide open and sparking in preparation, before throwing them both forward and unleashing a combined two massive plumes of Explosions point blank into him; reducing the rest of his armor to ashes, while the scrawny middle-aged man within was sent flying at the speed of sound back the way he had come, bouncing listlessly across the ground before finally slamming hard into the side of one of Shoto's glaciers, and finally face-planting into the dirt, completely unconscious and smoking from multiple singe spots all over his body.

Even with the pain still lingering across his arms and his ribs, Nikolay could tell just as well as the rest of his gathered companions could, that the battle was well and truly over, and they had somehow managed to win.

"Midoriya, Bezpalov; are you two alright?" Shoto immediately asked upon confirming no other attackers were coming from anywhere around them.

Izuku winced as he felt at his old injury. "Yeah, I'll be okay, Todoroki-kun."

Nikolay couldn't help but groan in pain as he got back to his own unsteady feet. "I can still walk, if that's what you meant. I just hope you both brought some supplies, wherever we're going…cause my pack and everything but my equipment that was in it is ruined."

Without any hesitation, Nikolay finally held his hand with the briefcase out to Rody, who upon momentarily being stricken with surprise at what the young Hero was doing, ultimately took it back with a sigh of resignation. Of course, such an interaction immediately caught Bakugo and Shoto's attention. "Who the hell is this guy?" "He's the one they were both chasing back during that jewelry store robbery."

Rody naturally looked caught-off-guard at what was now such an old accusation being brought up, especially when he saw the look of aggression settling once again on Bakugo's face. Thankfully, Izuku was quick to step in: "That doesn't matter anymore. His name is Rody, and he's a friend to us now. The people chasing after us are targeting him just the same. It's this briefcase that they're really after."

"Then that proves we were right! It has to be Humarise that's put this whole framing job together!" Bakugo immediately exclaimed, leaving Izuku, Nikolay and Rody visibly surprised; the Russian boy even saying: "You thought so, too? I'd thought of it at first, but it just seemed like way too much of a coincidence the longer I did."

"Well, now we know for certain. That suspicion was the whole reason we decided to come meet up with you." Shoto confirmed, pointing to the case in Rody's hands. "We were hoping we could be able to get some answers out of that case."

To that, the three boys just let out a disappointed sigh as Izuku answered: "Well, if anyone could come up with something from the contents of that case, it'd be you, Todoroki-kun. We've looked it over a few times, and we haven't been able to—hey!"

As Izuku glanced to the case itself, his eyes suddenly widened, and with his exclamation, Nikolay and the others likewise looked, and soon were all similarly shocked. "Rody-san, look at the bottom of the frame!"

Rody immediately flipped the case over in his hands, and was met with the sight of a small square protrusion sticking out, not like the case itself had been broken, but almost like the disc tray of a computer popping out before being pulled the rest of the way. "Whoa! This thing must've gotten hit in just the right spot somewhere in the fighting."

Taking in their surroundings, Bakugo impatiently nodded his head in the direction leading further into Klayd. "Well, since those bastards had the gall to take the fight down to the street with all the civilians, it's only gonna be a matter of time before the cops come gunning for you three again, so let's get a move on somewhere private and check this thing out!"

Nikolay, Izuku and Rody clearly couldn't have agreed more, as soon as the now-five young men urgently took off running down the mountain. Along the way, Izuku naturally asked: "How were you two able to find us so quickly like that? Were you actually on the train we saw stopped at the border crossing?"

Shoto immediately answered: "No, the train got us to Klayd within a few hours. Bakugo and I naturally assumed that you'd all try to avoid traversing anywhere the public would be in big numbers, which would mean not only travelling on foot, but also going for a much smaller border crossing. We spent the last couple days passing ourselves off as tourists wanting to see the countryside, simply looking for any sign of you at any crossing. Once we'd heard the sounds of that fight at the beginning, we knew it had to be you, and now here we are."

Rody, unable to help but listen to this, instinctively piped in: "Wow, for the track record you guys have of saving my life, you're still not above needing to get bailed out of trouble, yourselves. Looks like I owe you guys a lifetime's worth."

Nikolay and Izuku naturally looked embarrassed, yet humbled, by the simple truth that they had both gotten themselves into a really bad spot, and really had needed Shoto and Bakugo's help to come out victorious this time.

But that didn't stop Shoto from bluntly answering: "I don't think that's necessary. Midoriya and Bezpalov looked to be keeping you safe quite effectively on their own before we showed up. That's only natural for Heroes like us."

Like always, the brutally honest Shoto's words were enough to break through whatever feelings of weakness his two friends had in that moment. It truly was a blessing to finally have their whole group reunited again.

Shortly after, they stumbled across a small yet secluded little cavern hidden out of view from the open. It was nothing akin to shelter, but for the sake of checking out this secret compartment of the troublesome briefcase, it was more than enough.

As Izuku finally pulled the protrusion out from the case, they were met with the most curious-looking of objects: a thin rectangular…object that looked similar in his hands to one of the portable gaming systems Denki was usually seen playing during their free time at school. But it clearly wasn't.

"It looks like some kind of puzzle box." Shoto noted, while Izuku was looking it over in his hands from every angle he could think of, carefully fumbling with any part of it he could get his fingers on, to see if anything could be moved, removed, depressed or pulled, as some kind of clue as how to unlock it.

As the seconds ticked by with Izuku making very little to no progress, Bakugo sneered impatiently while glancing at the similarly attentive-looking Nikolay. "Hey, aren't you Russkies supposed to be stupid good at chess and puzzle shit like this? Why don't you give it a shot before Deku ends up breaking the damn thing?"

But, having seen it just the same as Izuku for this long, Nikolay's shoulders slumped. "I'm not some Grand Master or anything like that; I wouldn't have any better idea where to go from what little we've already got."

By now, Shoto had likewise decided to give it a try, but he was at least better at hiding his frustration, as he tried and tried to get the box to unfold or change to no avail.

And if the smartest one among them wasn't having any better luck, then there was no hope for Shoto's already flimsy patience to last, as he angrily snatched the device out of Shoto's hands. "Forget this, I'll just blow the damn thing open!"

"You can't do that, Kacchan!" "Yeah, what if you end up destroying whatever's inside it? Then we're truly screwed!"

As Izuku and Nikolay exclaimed their respective protests, Rody's face suddenly lit up with the makings of an idea. "Hey, why don't you let me take a shot at it?"

With no better options, and with literally any other option being better than Bakugo's, Izuku quickly handed the puzzle box over to Rody. He immediately set to work, showing a sleight of hand in maneuvering the intricate pieces and levers that composed the puzzle box that seemed like they were coming from an entirely different person. Nikolay and Izuku couldn't hide the awe in their eyes to watch Rody handle the puzzle with such seeming ease.

And he could tell his long-time friends and saviors were feeling as such, as Rody chuckled humbly to himself. "Before he left, my dad used to make us puzzle boxes all the time, to test and see how far outside the box I was able to go to solve them. This looks just like the last one he'd made me. If I just twist this dial and pull this piece out here then it should…"

CLICK!

The piercing sound of a latch unclasping echoed through the small cavern, as Rody held up the puzzle box in victory. "Hey, it worked! It's actually open!"

"Well, stop flapping your gums and see what's inside already!" Bakugo snapped, to which Rody immediately did so. Two tiny objects suddenly fell out the bottom of the box, which Izuku and Nikolay were thankfully quick to snatch out of the air before they could risk breaking on the ground.

Looking their respective finds over, Izuku found himself looking over a bizarre, completely flat rectangular object covered in what looked like a computer microchip's inlay of circuits, while Nikolay was holding up a similar-looking flat square between his fingers.

Both boys looked utterly confused, as Nikolay muttered: "This thing looks just like the SD card you'd find in your phone."

"Yes, and that thing you have, Midoriya, looks either like some kind of computer chip or a key of some kind; not like any I've ever seen before, though." Shoto agreed, while Izuku looked upon the object in his palm with deep trepidation.

"Hey, there's something else in here, too." Rody pointed out, gaining everyone's attention again, as he gave the puzzle box a few decisive shakes, before a tightly folded little piece of paper fell out into his waiting hand.

Upon unfolding it completely, he looked it over with similar confusion on his face, flipping it over and turning it this way and that to looked at the writings upon it from every angle, before sighing in defeat and holding it out to the young Heroes. "If this is some kind of code puzzle, it beats the hell out of me."

Looking it over, the boys could all see that written upon the paper was a seemingly nonsensically arranged array of numbers and very few letters included here and there. "This just reads like some mathematical gibberish."

However, Shoto seemed that much more determined, as he proceeded to fold the paper back up and tuck it in his coat pocket. "Well, let's keep it with us anyway. We may not have to wonder for too much longer. There's a town at the foot of the other side of this whole mountain range. We can check into a hotel there, and then we can finally give all these things a much more thorough look."

At last, with a solid lead to look into, and a chance to finally catch their breath and figure out what was really going on that they'd landed in the middle of; the three boys were immediately back on their feet, and soon their whole group was back out and on the move through the canyon, hearts racing with apprehension and readiness in equal measure.

Alright, there is the second of the two new chapters today. I hope you all enjoyed both of these, and I'll try to get the rest of the movie out to you in decent time after New Years. Thank you all for your continued readership, despite everything that's forced me to slow down.