"Goodbye!" Mr. Fujimoto's grandchildren, Ichiro and Yuri. said.
"We'll miss you Alien Queen!" said Yuri.
"Yeah! You're really cool!" said Ichiro with a blush.
"Awww, I'll miss you too!" said Mina, giving the two one last hug. "It was nice meeting you guys!" She ruffled the two's hair and turned to their grandfather.
"Good luck," he said. "And thank you for saving them. I am in your debt. You and the AMF man."
"It's nothing," Mina said. "Literally just doing my job. Where is Ozaki anyway?"
"He already boarded," Fujimoto said with a shrug. "Have a safe ride back."
The AMF were leaving, and the Heroes were going with them. The HPSC would dispatch a plane to pick them up in the next day or two and take them from the AMF's carrier to Tokyo. Until then the AMF were giving them a ride.
As Mina stepped onto the flight deck, she spotted a fat transport plane with some technicians working on it.
"It's no good!" One of them said to his superior. "They won't be ready for a whole day!" he said.
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely!"
"Alright, I'll see if command can get another transport jet! In the meantime, keep working on this one!"
"And if neither works?"
"Then we're thoroughly screwed! The only way we're getting to Tokyo on time is by air!"
The technicians eyes widened. "Yes sir!" He dove into his work, going about it with the intensity of someone who's life depended on it.
Mina frowned. This AMF group were apparently the one most experienced with that…thing. Because of that, she really hoped they'd be there for the fight in Tokyo. With the Heroes forbidden from fighting, they really needed every edge they could get.
It was almost funny, a few days ago she'd be annoyed if she and her friends were forbidden from fighting a massive threat to the city. Now, she almost felt relieved. She still remembered her quirk bouncing off its skin like tap water.
Mina glanced at her phone and opened her texts. She stared at the exchange of messages from yesterday.
Ejiro: The Villains have a quirk to detect telecommunications. I'll be going incommunicado for a few days.. Good luck!
Mina: Alright. Hurry back. Text me when you can Ejiro!
Ejiro: Will do! Stay safe!
Mina: You too!
Mina let out a long sigh. She hoped Ejiro got back before the battle. She'd feel a lot more comfortable with him around. If he wasn't…
Mina glanced over at Bakugo who was walking a few meters ahead. At least they'd have him during the fight. If anyone could give that big monster a run for its money, it was him. Nejire and Todoroki would probably put up a pretty good fight too.
Speaking of Nejire, Mina wondered what Ochako was doing right now…
Ochako sprinted into Nejire's agency.
I'mlateI'mlateI'mlate!
Ochako clocked in, five minutes after she was supposed to. Damn the trains for running late this morning! She raced to the ready room to find Nejire…and Ryukyu. Her mind flashed to the night before.
"We'll be seeing each other soon."
Oh. Ohhhh.
"Hey Ochako!" Nejire said bouncing toward her, looking even more excitable than normal. "This is Ryukyu! She's my mentor! I've mentioned her before, right? Isn't that so cool?! Isn't it? Isn't it?!"
Ochako stared. "Uhhhhh…"
"And Ryukyu! This is Ochako, the Gravity Hero Uravity! I told you about her! She's not scared of anything!"
Ryukyu chuckled. "Yes Nejire, you've told me. Several times. I actually met her last night. She helped foil a robbery with one of my sidekicks…"
"Oh wow! You've got to tell me that later! I'd have you tell me now but we have to get started for the day!"
"I know, I know." Ryukyu said with a smile. "I'll tell you tonight."
"So, are our Agencies teaming up?" Ochako said.
Ryukyu nodded. "Indeed. We feel that this incident would be best resolved with maximum cooperation. Since we're not allowed to actually fight, we'll work together on evacuating."
Nejire nodded. "Uravity," she said, her expression growing serious. Ochako straightened at the sound of her Hero name. Time for business. "You're going to come with me and Ryukyu to the Minato Ward. We're going to oversee evacuations there and check on some of the older emergency shelters. I'll fill you in a little more along the way. Any problems with that?"
Ochako shook her head. "Nope."
"Then let's move."
They soon headed out and dove into their work. The day was much like the one before, massive crowds on the verge of panicking, Heroes desperately trying to keep things calm, and the occasional Villain to stop \. The Heroes did their best, as did the police.
While the newly arrived AMF mostly kept to themselves, several of their soldiers were sent to help. However, they were clearly out of their depth with a job this big. Heroes may not have much experience fighting kaiju, but they did have experience evacuating cities. But even for them, this was a lot.
"I can't find my Mom!"
Ochako noticed the little girl wailing while two AMF soldiers looked around helplessly, staring at the endless crowd. Ochako ran over to them and said, "Hey!"
"Miss Hero!" The girl threw herself onto Ochako's legs. "I can't find my Mom anywhere!"
"I've got this," she said to the soldiers. "You handle the crowd." They nodded and continued ushering the crowd while Ochako knelt down. "Hey there," she said, lifting the girl. "I'm Uravity. Could you tell me what your name is?"
"I'm Hanabi.
"Nice to meet you Hanabi! Could you tell me what your Mom looks like? Maybe what her Quirk is?"
"S-she has brown hair, and it's kinda spiky. And her quirk is to stretch her fingernails."
"Ok, let's see if we can find her," Ochako said. She pressed her earpiece. "I've got a lost child, says she can't find her Mom. According to her, her mom has brown hair that's kind of spiky? Also she can stretch fingernails for her Quirk."
"Roger," one of the Heroes on the other end said.
Ochako then smiled at the girl. "Alright, they're looking now."
"Is talking to the other Heroes your quirk?"
"No, that's just an earpiece. My quirk lets me make things float. How about yours?"
"My quirk lets me hold my breath really long," the girl said.
"Really? How long?"
"Fifteen minutes was my last record. I'm trying to make it more."
"Wow! You have a useful quirk you know."
"R-really?"
"Yeah. My friend Tsu can also hold her breath a while. Her quirk makes her like a frog."
"You mean like Froppy?"
"My friend is Froppy!"
"Wow! I like her! She's so cool!"
"Really?" Ochako said.
The girl began reciting what she loved about Froppy while Ochako waited to see if anyone found the mother. After several minutes, they'd found no sign of her, meaning they shoulld take Hanabi where they kept the other lost children and search for her parents from there.
Soon, a figure in silver armor appeared. "Uravity! I'll take the child from here!" Ingenium, the Turbo Hero said.
Ochako nodded. "Hanabi, this is Ingenium. He's going to take you to other lost children while we look for your Mom."
Hanabi nodded. "Ok. Bye Uravity."
"Goodbye Hanabi!"
Ingenium took the girl and jetted away. Ochako resumed guiding the crowd. Several pieces of heavy weaponry drove passed, their sides marked with paintings of kaiju.
"I'm telling you, this route is prioritized for evacuation! It's the shortest route!"
"And I'm telling you, command wants the masers here, so that's what we're doing!"
Ryukyu watched the "discussion" occurring in front of her. While the AMF and other services had tried to keep the other updated on their plans, some oversights were sadly bound to occur. This seemed to be one of them, with an AMF vehicle blocking a path that they'd planned on using for evacuation.
Ryukyu walked toward the conversation, Nejire by her side, hoping to resolve it. Uraraka was a block away giving first aid to some civilians after a Villain attack. She'd catch up to them later.
"Excuse me," Ryukyu said. "What seems to be the problem?"
The Hero, a local one with a traditional Japanese theater aesthetic, turned around and said, "We need this route for evacuation, but they want to park their oversized toy there!"
"Toy?!" the AMF soldier said. "That thing can punch through 4/5 of a kilometer of solid granite! Show some respect!"
Ryukyu looked up at the vehicle, the "maser" as they called it. It was truly massive, taking up half of the road. The tank had six wheels, a cockpit on the front with flashing red lights on top. It had a dark green paint job, with white letters at certain points and a brown porcupine-like creature with a rhinoceros horn painted on the side. The back of the tank had a turret mounted with a large cannon which ended in a strange satellite dish. Ryukyu had never seen a weapon like it.
"Have either of you called your superiors to resolve this?" she said to the arguing parties.
"I got my orders," said the AMF. "You call yours."
"You first!" said the Hero.
"I intend to call my own superiors," said Ryukyu, trying to be diplomatic. "But it would be best if you could-"
"Hey, what's going on?"
Uraraka ran over to Ryukyu and Nejire.
"We're trying to get these guys to move!" The local Hero said.
"We told you we were ordered to be here!" the AMF soldier said.
Ryuku took a deep breath and opened her mouth to ease tensions when Uraraka interrupted with. "Who the Hell's dumb idea was that?!"
Ryuku stared at the sidekick Nejire had spoken so well of, the one who just torpedoed all chances of diplomacy.
Not done, Uraraka pointed to the tank and said, "That's an MBT-92! A heavy tank built for open terrain! Look at this area! Look at that corner!" She gestured to the large buildings enclosing the street, and the smaller road the tank was parked at the intersection of. "Do you really think you can get a tank this big through that quickly?! You're practically begging to be blasted!"
Ryukyu and the other Heroes stared. What? What was she- How was she- Ryukyu turned to look at the AMF, the notorious group filled of stubborn Hero haters who picked a fight over anything. One of their jaws had dropped, one looked like he'd just fallen in love, while the others watched like they were in school and the teacher was talking.
"These streets are too thin. You need MBAW-93s. They're smaller and more agile, better for tighter areas. 92s need to be on the bigger roads. Get your superiors and get these tanks somewhere they won't get blown up! You're fighting Godzilla, you need to be maneuverable or you die!"
One by one, they nodded. Then one said, "We'll pass your advice along. I'll make sure to mention it's from you."
They walked away. Ryukyu heard one of them say, "How did she know all that?"
"That was Uravity. Former member of Task Force 54 and partner to the Emerald Madman."
"Holy…"
Uraraka glowered after them. "Amateurs," she muttered before turning away.
"Well done Uravity," Ryukyu said.
Uraraka stiffened, then turned to Ryukyu with the sheepish look of someone who just remembered where they were. "Oh…thatwasnothing!" she said with an awkward smile. "Let's…let's keep moving."
That was so embarrassing! In her zeal, Ochako completely forgot she was a Hero now and ran her mouth like she was back at the AMF dealing with another batch of mainland rookies on rotation in the Pacific! Fortunately, neither Nejire or Ryukyu were mad. In fact, after that…incident…Ochako became the go-to mediator for disputes between Heroes and AMF.
It was kind of embarrassing, but also flattering? She wasn't anywhere close to some of these Heroes but they trusted her to speak for them, even some of the Top 10s! As for the AMF, they respected Ochako as a former member and usually listened to what she said. Some of them asked her to sign their gear!
As the sun was starting to set, Ochako was assigned to help inspect an emergency bunker. She joined a several other Heroes to escort architects who'd examine the place while the Heroes stood guard. Ochako was assigned to escort one with the Hero from the previous night, Agonizer.
"Whoa. This place is an endless pit of shadows," Agonizer, ever the edgelord, said as they walked the empty halls.
"It's an old bunker," Ochako said. "I don't think anyone's used it in decades." No one but the rats anyway.
Ochako glanced back at the architect behind them. He was shining his light along a wall while checking his tablet. "Structure seems sound. No mold. Minimal deterioration. Air is clean…"
Ochako smiled, remembering Midori and his mutter storms.
Ochako suddenly heard a child screaming next to her. She whipped around, flashing her light to reveal…Agonizer pinned against the back wall pointing at the floor. Ochako shone her light to where he was pointing. "You can't be serious…"
"What? Those vermin are a pestilence upon the land! Unkillable plague carriers!" he said, recoiling from a random cockroach like it was All for One himself.
"it's a bug," Ochako said. "Cleaning crews will be sanitizing this place in a couple hours. You're fine."
"Yeah, but the cleaning crews aren't here now!"
"Don't be a baby," Ochako said, rolling her eyes. She stomped the roach under heel. "When you encounter one that's the size of a human with mandibles that can cut you in half, then you can freak out."
"Do bugs grow as big as that?!"
Ochako gave him a deadpan stare. "Yeah. I've run over a few." And spent the next week with a maser tank that smelled like Meganulon guts. "Those tend to prefer dark spaces, especially underground."
"Please stop! I don't want to hear that! Especially down here! It's unholy for bugs to get that big..."
"Oh trust me, bugs can get much bigger than that." She turned and started walking away.
"H-how much-Hey wait! You can't just leave me with that!"
Ochako just left him with that.
They descended deeper. This place had probably once been packed with refugees, now it was silent as a tomb, with stained concrete walls covered in dust and grime.
This bunker was one of many that had been built around Tokyo. Most had fallen into disuse after decades of not being needed. Relics of a bygone age, old history waiting to be forgotten. Now it seemed, their time had returned.
"Why do you think they built so many shelters in Tokyo?" said Agonizer. "And why so big? I get the Dawn of Quirks and the Century of Hell had a lot of crime, but this? It's almost like they wanted the whole city to take cover..."
Ochako shined her light on a wall and saw a child's drawing in faded marker. It was a dinosaur with a row of jagged spines on its back.
"Maybe they did," she said.
Eventually the bunker was deemed safe and the Heroes exited while the architects continued their work. Outside was a massive crowd in front of some evacuation buses. People pushed and shoved their way to the front. This was a powder keg, and a single spark could-
BOOM!
Four Villains emerged from a bank, one dressed as a cowboy, another as a spaceman, one as a robot and one as a knight. "Beware modern world! For we are the tide of history! You cannot escape your past, nor prevent the future! Now-"
The crowd began to scream. Ochako sprinted forward and began bringing her hands together.
"Prepare to-OOF!"
Before Ochako could do anything, Ryukyu flew down in her dragon form and pinned the knight while Nejire blasted the spaceman. The cowboy pointed a Support weapon at them but was tied up by his own clothes while the robot was enveloped in a layer of ice.
Ochako looked up and saw Best Jeanist on a rooftop while Shoto stood on a nearby street, both giving the Villains a cold glare.
The crowd erupted in applause, their fear long forgotten in the face of some of the top Heroes.
They just stopped them in seconds…
Ochako had seen Nejire in action before, but she'd forgotten just how incredible the Top 10, former or otherwise, really were. Truly the cream of the crop.
Next to Ochako, Agonizer folded his arms. "Every time I think I'm strong, I reminded how much those guys put us to shame."
Ochako nodded. "Always something bigger."
"Too bad they're not gonna fight that thing," Agonizer said, "They'd kick its ass for sure."
"You're wrong,"
Ochako's phone pinged with an update from the Hero net. She checked her updates.
Her phone clattered to the ground.
Oh no.
Ahh Agonizer, you fun edgelord you...
It was fun writing Ochako successfully scolding the AMF. I'll bet every Hero who's dealt with them before is in awe of her right now.
Hope you enjoyed!
