Mina tried to hide her exhaustion and keep a brave face for these children. Yet, now that the danger was over, it was hard to fight off the growing weight in her limbs.

After the monster returned to the sea, Ozaki's brother had arrived. He'd been…irritated.

"You idiot!" he said getting into Ozaki's face. "What were you thinking! You heard the Heroes were doing a rescue and decided to run toward Godzilla?! Even for you that was dumb!"

"What was I supposed to do? Leave them to die?" Ozaki said.

Ozaki's brother opened his mouth, then glanced at the two kids, who were now sitting by Mina.

"Your brother did help save them you know," Mina said. "I'm not sure I could have done it on my own.

Ozaki's brother huffed and walked away to brood. Mina rolled her eyes. There's always one…

Shortly afterwards, a group of AMF vehicles picked up Mina and Fujimoto's grandchildren while Ozaki and his brother went to rejoin their unit on foot. During the ride back to town, the kids clung to Mina like a safety blanket. Mina put her arms around them to comfort them as the adrenaline faded. Fortunately, they were asleep in her arms before she could crash.

While she sat there unmoving in the truck, the full the scale of the night sank in. All that destruction…

Mina knew it was bad to dwell, but she couldn't stop the thoughts from coming. How many people had died? How many could have been saved? Could she have-

The truck came to a halt and the door opened. Mina shook the two kids.

"Wake up. It's time to see your grandfather."

They blinked their eyes open. The boy yawned, opened his eyes, then realized where he was shot straight up blushing. Mina tried to keep from giggling. His embarrassment was too cute…

Once the kids were on the ground, Mina got to her feet and hopped out of the truck. A soldier dressed head to toe in thick gear with a gas mask covering his face gestured to them.

"Follow me. We're going to get you decontaminated."

Decontaminated? Oh right. Radioactive monster.

"We won't be in danger, will we?" Mina said.

"Probably not," the soldier said. "The dosage was probably low. If not, they'll tell you. Trust me."

He led them to a set of makeshift showers, where technicians pointed Geiger counters on them before ushering them in. Once inside, pink steam filled the chamber, carrying the smell of peaches. Mina leaned against the back wall and waited. Outside AMF personnel looked at some sort of readout while others lined people up to enter after her.

Soon the door opened and Mina walked out with the two children.

"You're clean," a technician said, "The dosage was minimal so you shouldn't have much to worry about. Move along and make way for others." He waved them away as another group were sent in.

After Mina and the kids had gone a few meters, they saw a familiar figure waiting for them.

"Grandpa!"

The kids ran to meet Mr. Fujimoto, who embraced his grandchildren with a look of profound relief. "Ichiro! Yuri!"

"We were so scared Grandpa!"

"That big dinosaur came and we didn't know where to go!"

Fujimoto held them tighter. "I'm sorry I wasn't there. I'm so glad you're both safe." He looked to Mina. "Thank you Miss Ashido. Thank you so much."

Mina gave him a tired smile. "Don't mention it. I'm just glad it turned out ok."

The two kids ran over and hugged Mina. "Thank you, Miss Alien Queen!" the girl said.

"You're amazing!" The boy said while looking at the ground.

Mina smiled and ruffled the two's hair. "I'm just glad you two are ok. You stay with your grandfather now. And be good!" She waved while the three walked away, following the other refugees.

Mina looked around the nearby area, trying to find where to go. Around her, people were being led by AMF soldiers in various directions. Toward tents, toward buses, toward the decontamination steam baths, etc.

Then there the wounded.

They were either taken to a large tent or to the decontamination chambers then the tent. The more severe-looking cases were taken to a smaller tent, staffed by people in full protective gear.

So many wounded…

Mina looked back and forth between the devastated town, the refugees, and the wounded. Where could she even start?

Mina took a deep breath. Easy. She could do this. She'd done it before. When faced with an overwhelming task, she just needed to center herself, find a place she was needed and start helping.

Mina took a deep breath and started walking toward the nearest group of refugees when she heard a voice next to her.

"Miss?"

Mina turned. A soldier holding a spare protective suit walked up to her. "You and your colleagues have been given authorization to help with crowd control, search and rescue, and first aid if necessary. I was also told to give you this." He held out the hazmat suit. "You're to wear this if you go into any contaminated areas. Standard protocol." He handed her the suit and walked away.

Not friendly, but not hostile either. She'd call that an improvement…

Mina could help with the search and rescue but with the protective clothing her quirk would be useless. Besides, while she wasn't bad at it, she wasn't a rescue Hero. She was however a people person. She'd probably be the most help assisting the refugees.

Mina was about to turn on her comms and confirm with Kendo when she saw a group of infantrymen, the same she'd met in the mantis battle (had that really been only been a couple days ago?), returning to the camp. They were carrying bazookas, and Mina could smell smoke gunpowder.

"You didn't fight that thing, did you?" Mina said as they passed.

The leader, Gondo said, "Not this time. Just fired some mortars over the side."

As he walked onward, another said, "Still lost some guys. Stood too close to the tail."

As the group walked away, headlights appeared.

Three of the laser tanks rolled into camp. As they neared Mina, she noticed the graffiti covering them. Each tank's markings were different, but there was one consistent element. A gray dinosaur with yellow eyes and spines on its back.

Him.

Between that and Gondo's comment of "this time", Mina couldn't help but wonder. How often do they fight that thing?

The leading tank passed Mina, letting her see the words "Former Property of Uravity" written in pink near the front.

Mina scratched her head before shaking it off. She could puzzle that after the disaster was contained. Mina checked in with Kendo before jogging over soldiers shepherding the refugees. She soon found the guy in charge was given a job helping to usher them.

Many were shaken by the night's events, but fortunately, Mina's presence alone seemed to set them at ease.


Itsuka stepped off the boat and into a nightmare.

The town was devastated, ravaged by the initial wave before being trampled by that…walking natural disaster. Several buildings were leveled, and others ravaged beyond repair. She'd seen powerful villains do less during Trigger fueled rampages. And Godzilla simply walked…

Itsuka did her best to organize her fellow Heroes, sending them where they were best suited. Tetsutetsu donned protective gear and joined the Rescue efforts. His quirk was well suited to the task since it gave him enhanced strength that the suit wouldn't hinder. Setsuna joined him. She could split apart inside the hazmat suit and float upwards to search from above.

Jiro would stand just outside the quarantine zone and use her quirk to detect survivors from a distance. Suboptimal but necessary given the AMF's rules. Mina, Kaminari, Splash'n'Go and the Ojiros would stay with the refugees and help keep them calm.

In the meantime, Itsuka and All Might would coordinate with the AMF officers to avoid any…confrontation between the two groups. The disaster may have made the AMF more cooperative, but many of them still didn't like the Heroes. They couldn't afford to shatter this brief alliance now. With any luck, All Might's prestige as the former Symbol of Peace would give their requests some extra weight.

Or at least she hoped it would.

Itsuka and All Might approached the command tent. Itsuka glanced at the nearby tanks. technicians examined them with Geiger Counters while a group of people she assumed to be the tanks' crewmembers stood nearby chatting. Just as Itsuka was about to reach for the tent flap, a man her age with green hair walked out. He nodded at her before walking toward the tank crews. Itsuka opened the tent and held it open for All Might.

He wasn't following her.

Instead he was staring at the tank crew with a stunned expression, like he'd seen a ghost.

Itsuka frowned. "All Might?"

He started and turned to her. "Oh, sorry Young Kendo. I was just distracted, that's all." He stepped toward the tent, leaning on his cane. For a moment, he looked less like the teacher she'd looked up to in High School and more like a tired old man.

Unfortunately, they couldn't afford to let him be that right now. As much as he deserved his rest, they needed him to be an experienced Hero with insights to share.


"How was the debrief, fearless leader?" said Akiba.

"Fine," Izuku said. "I told them everything I could. And no I did not go overboard on the details." He added while throwing a look at Zeni.

"Emphasis on the words this time," Zeni said with a smirk.

Izuku threw his treacherous driver a dirty look before continuing. "Sakaki will be here soon. He wants to hear my report personally."

The team winced. Izuku didn't blame them. After returning to the ocean, Godzilla set off in the exact opposite direction from where they wanted him going, and no amount of torpedoes or depth charges could deter him.

Sakaki, who's temper came perilously close to breaking Izuku's scale of one to Kacchan, would naturally not be pleased. At least he would probably be professional enough to not blow up on the job.

Probably.

Soon, Izuku heard the rumbling of tank treads, as six MBAW-93s rolled in. Sakaki leapt from his tank and stormed to Izuku, stopping only to let the technicians clear him with their Geiger Counters before continuing on the warpath. "Midoriya! What the HELL happened out there?!"

"I don't know sir." Izuku said. "He broke off his attack and left!"

Sakaki's eyes widened. His glare intensified. "He. Did. WHAT?"

"He broke off his attack. And. Left."

Sakaki's gaze grew eerily calm. "Why?"

"I don't know."

Sakaki's eyes narrowed. "Bullshit. No one knows him better than you. You have to have some idea."

"I don't," Izuku said. "I fired at him and hit his eye. He prepared his breath, but just as he was about to fire…he just closed his mouth and hurried into the sea."

Sakaki's eyes widened. He knew Godzilla too. Godzilla was aggressive, vicious. He didn't just stop. Not like that "And you've never seen him do that before?" Sakaki said.

Izuku shook his head. "What about you?"

"No, I haven't." Sakaki said. "By the way, why did you hit him? You were ordered you to miss."

"He got too close to Alien Queen and the civilians and I decided to distract him."

Sakaki nodded. "Fine." He paced. "But if you hit him like that, why the hell would he- "

"Sir!"

Kenji ran over to them. He saluted Sakaki. "You wished to see me?"

"Saegusa," Sakaki said, "You're a skilled analyst. You know Godzilla's behavior. You've even read his mind. Why did he retreat when he did?"

Kenji took off his glasses and fidgeted with them. "I'm not sure. Something definitely provoked him to move like that. I felt something, some sort of psychic tremor before it happened. When I reached his mind afterward, he was intent on following something out there. Something familiar."

"Can you read whatever it is that caused that tremor?" Sakaki said.

"No." Kenji said. "Something feels off. I don't know what it is...but something's wrong."

Sakaki sighed. "Shit." He turned and glared out to sea in the direction Godzilla had vanished. "Whatever this is, it's far from over."

He was probably right.

Whatever attracted Godzilla's attention, it bode poorly for all of them…


Thanks for reading! Have a Merry Christmas!