Don'tturnarounddon'tturnarounddon'tturnaroundjustkeeprunningdon'tstopdon'tturnaround-
Running away had quickly proven to be far more terrifying than Izuku had expected. After an initial surge of speed he barely dodged some fireballs Pandemonica threw at him by a combination of adrenaline-fueled reflexes, panic-driven attention, and pure dumb luck. When the initial salvo was over he tried to look back over his shoulder. But it turned out doing so was difficult while running at One for All-boosted speeds through a soaked, slippery city of concrete with a mortal in his arms who was one bad stumble away from a broken neck.
Instead, he had to keep his attention focused forwards, desperately racing to his destination of the almighty boom that had resounded from the World Sphere. Aware that at any moment Pandemonica could be a mere few feet behind him, biding her time for the perfect shot. Aware that she could emerge from a bout of flames and throw more at him at any moment. Aware that she could have another army of skeletons lying in wait around any given corner. Aware that-
"They're around-!"
"BRAKES!"
"wAOh!"
Unaware that Justice had chosen that exact moment to leap out from another street, directly into his path.
Unable to stop in time, Izuku and Uraraka were sent hurtling into the demon at uncomfortably high speeds. Izuku clutched Uraraka tight and managed to twist before the impact, determined that they weren't about to escape all of that demonic insanity alive(ish, in his case) only to get Uraraka killed in a carless car crash.
"Got ya!" thankfully, Justice was far quicker to react than he. She'd barely even been bumped before stepping back, catching Izuku (while he was still holding Uraraka), and taking the pair's momentum by sliding backwards on her feet. Finally given a moment's respite, Izuku looked behind him only to confirm his greatest hope and worst nightmare:
Pandemonica was gone.
Where is she… his eyes darted around the rooftops, She could be anywhere-
"Whew!" Justice blew out a lungful of air, "That was a close one! Knew you were around here but hard to sense you clearly through solid objects while I'm runnin' so fast-"
"Can you see Pandemonica?!" Izuku was still on high alert.
"Huh?" she lazily looked around, apparently not on any sort of alert, "Nnnnnope, not here."
"Thank God…" Izuku heaved a huge sigh of relief. He wasn't even embarrassed as he relaxed into Justice's arms, too exhausted both physically and emotionally to care.
"Fuck me…" Uraraka did the same. Having her relax into his arms was a little embarrassing, but for the most part his mind was firmly in the 'amazed we got out' zone.
"Watch you language!" Justice hissed.
"Oh, sorry-"
"Not you." she brushed off Uraraka's apology to glare at Izuku. Huh-?
"Hey!" Cerberus' familiar and excited voice came bounding up the street Justice had run in from.
"You're still here!"
"Neat!"
"Yeah…" Aizawa's soon followed, jogging in-between the great swigs of air he had to take. Apparently keeping up with Justice could be difficult without a movement-enhancing Quirk. Behind him everyone else followed, panting even worse than he was barring Iida. "'Neat'…"
"Ooooh," except for Modeus, who seemed fine. "You're like… a Russian nesting princess-carry!" she blinked, "Or maybe Japanese, I guess?" why couldn't she be struggling for breath like the others? Why did she have to bring attention to the sandwich of embarrassment Izuku was currently trapped filling?
"J-Justice could you put me-"
"No time." she paused and glanced upwards, before looking back towards the others, "Is there anything underground nearby? Deep basements, special bunker, maintenance tunnels, Subway station?"
"How is this a priority right-?" Aizawa's question was interrupted by a sudden boom of thunder. Izuku didn't even see any lightning, but he could feel the energy in the storm clouds above.
"Because," Justice started through gritted teeth, "if we don't get out of their sight in about two minutes we'll have a battle making the shit we just dealt with look like some toddlers throwing pebbles around!"
"… That way." Aizawa quickly answered, "If we run then-" once again, he was interrupted. This time, by Cerberus morphing all three bodies into hound-forms and one grabbing him.
"Wha-"
"Just go with it." Todoroki suggested monotonously, accepting another Cerberus grabbing him to put on her back.
Moments later, all mortals present (and Modeus) were on a Hound, albeit with some measure of protesting from Shiozaki. Izuku and Uraraka, meanwhile, remained in their awkward position while being carried by Justice.
The embarrassment of the situation was alleviated by the terror of being carried at bullet-train speeds.
The group raced through the city, their speed making droplets of rain slam against Izuku's body like a harsh storm of hail, buildings and streets streaming past his vision faster than he could even process the sights. Before long, Aizawa had managed to direct their group to a small mound of concrete.
"It's under-" before their guide could even finish the sentence, Justice had set Izuku and Uraraka aside before slamming a fist down into the concrete. The entire mound shook, fracturing into a thousand pieces before Justice wiped it away with a series of sweeping kicks. In the meantime, the others dismounted their Cerberi, the hounds soon shifting back into their human forms.
"Ok!" Justice cleared the vestiges of rubble from what had been the centre of the mound. She pulled up a two-meter-wide metal hatch, the hinges barely surviving the effort to reveal a ladder leading down into darkness beneath. "Everyone in!"
"But why-"
"NOW!" their group quickly complied with the order. A Cerberus was the first to descend, before Modeus, Hagakure, Todoroki-
"You're next." Izuku went to go down as instructed. Climbing down the ladder, the final sight he saw above was of a dark, roiling sky. Somehow, the darkness he was climbing down into felt comforting by comparison.
Justice soon followed him down, and for a good half minute the only sounds that reached Izuku's ears was the muted ringing of hands and shoes against the metal ladder. The sound lightly echoed off of the concrete walls surrounding them, before growing louder as the walls seemed to open up into a larger chamber. The echoes and shifting of air were the only clues to make themselves known, however, as the dim light cast down from the opening above was the only means by which shadows were cast away. The air tasted musty and stale, with that now-familiar dull taste of wet concrete filling the chamber, along with the slightest tang of metal. Before long, it sounded like his companions had reached the bottom.
"Don't suppose anyone has a light?" Hagakure's question was soon answered with a light flame filling a Cerberus' palm.
"Is this…"
"A… train station?" Izuku finished Todoroki's thought. While the light was by no means bright, it was enough to make out most of the surroundings. The concrete platform their ladder led them down onto, the sunken indentation filled with a pair of metal tracks, and the two openings either end leading into pitch-black tunnels.
"Keep moving." Justice had to encourage Izuku to stop his gawking at the scenery. A few seconds later, he was off the ladder and on the platform of this…abandoned train station under U.A.that he'd never known about.
"Do all schools have secret train stations?"
"No." Todoroki answered Cerberus blandly.
"Since when did U.A. have this…?" Uraraka came into view on the ladder, climbing down after Justice and the other two Cerberus forms.
"Would've been nice to save the walk from the Tulrus station…" Hagakure groaned. The walk did feel a little bit too long considering U.A. was Japan's number one Hero school-
"Oh!" Izuku tapped a fist into his open palm, "I remember this! A few years ago Principal Nedzu was petitioning for the Tokyo subway to extend into U.A.! I think the idea was to increase the range applicants could easily travel from…"
"And," Aizawa picked up Izuku's explanation as he descended the ladder after them, "Being the scheming rat he is, had the station and tunnels built in advance so that construction costs couldn't be a deemed a detrimental factor."
"What the hell is U.A.'s budget?" Hagakure asked.
"Yes." Aizawa replied, "But a ton of red tape meant expanding the network was going to be a much larger project than it should've been. The station was sealed with the intent to open once everything was cleared, but…" he trailed off.
Right… School shut down. World ended. Expanding train routes wasn't such a priority.
"The maintenance tunnels are all connected, though. So long as we're discrete," he eyed each of the demons and Present Mic in turn, "we should be able to get to any subway station without having to go back up to the surface."
"Perfect." as the last of their group got down off the ladder, Justice climbed a few rungs, pulled back for a punch-
*crack* and proceeded to bring the ceiling down around the opening they'd climbed through.
Meaning the only way back up was now through a pile of rubble.
""What are you doing?!"" Iida and Monoma were on the same wavelength.
"Making sure we're not followed."
"Oh yeah, a freaky magic dome didn't stop that psycho from teleporting through but I'm sure some rubble will do the job!" Monoma still wasn't convinced.
"Not the one I'm worried about." Justice turned away before he could ask any more questions. "Now, we need to throw off any tails. Best way I can think to do that is fake your signature," she gestured to Izuku, "for two groups, then we all mask our presence a few minutes after we split."
"Um." Izuku blinked lamely, "I have a number of questions-"
"As do I." Aizawa growled.
"Same here." Uraraka said.
"Likewise."
"I concur."
"Some clarification would be nice."
"Reveal your infernal secrets!"
"Divest yourself of the shadow surrounding-"
"Enough!" Justice shouted at the litany of voices, "You may have forgotten already, but we have just barely escaped, and could have an even bigger problem about to burst through that pile of rubble any moment." she paused to let that thought sink in. "So if you've got questions, I suggest you wait until we're moving." she looked over to Izuku's companions, "Invisigirl, Ice T, get over here."
"Can you call me something else?"
"Sure thing, Q. ." she ignored Hagakure's response of 'I guess I'll take it…' "Now, Izuku, step over here." she gestured to the side of herself opposite where Todoroki and Hagakure stood. "And if everyone would relax for a second…"
Justice put one hand to Izuku's chest, and another to Todoroki's. A moment later, Izuku felt something flush through his body, like One for All decided to activate and dissipate in a momentary wave from head to toe. Justice took her hand off of Todoroki, placed it on Hagakure, and the same sensation coursed through him, before the colder sensation recognisable as the shawl cloak thing Justice used earlier crept over him.
"Ok, to the untrained sight both of you-" she pointed to the two souls on her right, "-will seem basically identical to him." she pointed to Izuku on her left.
Todoroki briefly glanced at Hagakure, then Izuku, "But we look the same."
"Did you put in another filter bypass?" Hagakure's eyes shone.
"Not the same as before." Justice shook her head, "I've thrown another shawl over you for safety, and yes, everyone here is an exception to it. But this is more a way to trick any supernatural scanners that might be on the look out; the soul shawl is more for mortal eyewitnesses."
"'Scanners'?" Izuku echoed, "Why would anyone be-"
"Scanning for suspiciously strong supernatural soul signatures in a realm that supernatural entities are generally prohibited from entering?" Justice finished his question with a hint of exasperation.
"… Point taken."
"But-" Aizawa raised a hand to his eyes, "But that just raises further questions-"
"Which you can ask as we leave. Cerberus," Justice looked to the demon in question, "One of you stick with Q. , one with Ice T, one with the rest of us. It'll make sure we can stay in touch."
"Why should I-"
"We'll get you pancakes or something, I don't know."
"Um," Izuku raised a hand lightly, "I'm sorry if we're asking too much of you Cerberus, but I'd really appreciate it if you could help me through this last step… I-I promise I'll make it up to you later somehow!"
"Ok."
"Done."
"Let's go." Cerberus' three forms quickly stepped up to their assigned souls.
"Wait a second!" Hagakure held both hands up in exasperation, "I'm sorry, but what exactly is happening? Who are we running from?"
"Any who protest against supernatural entities meddling in mortal affairs." Justice gave something resembling an answer, "Which is a lot of them." she gestured to Todoroki and Hagakure, "You two said you had business in the mortal realm, right? Saying goodbye to your family and flexing on the old man? Well, this is your chance." she put a hand on Izuku's shoulder, "We travel to this training spot and hope to Hell we find All Might, completing my deal with Izuku. You two split off to take care of your business, making sure we aren't easily followed in the process. Any questions?"
"I still have many-"
"Good." she ignored Aizawa's increasingly frustrated tone, "Cerberus will keep us in touch, have fun," she nodded away from Izuku, "Let's move."
"Wait!" Hagakure repeated. One irritated groan from Justice later, she focused her attention on Todoroki and Izuku, "Uh, wish we had a bit more time to do this, but…" she shook off her worries before giving the two an encouraging nod, "Good luck! Promise not to do anything too reckless?"
"Agreed." Todoroki nodded.
"Uhhh-"
"I promise to keep his recklessness contained to non-lethal levels." Justice intervened.
"Close enough, I guess…" Hagakure shrugged with an awkward smile, "So, uh… See you later?"
"Aren't we leaving together anyway?" Todoroki glanced at her. Hagakure stared back. Todoroki didn't get the message.
"I was speaking more to Midoriya."
"Oh." Todoroki blinked, "That makes sense."
"Yeah, see you later, I guess…" Izuku fiddled with his hair awkwardly. Trapped in this weird state of not-urgent but still-kind-of-in-a-hurry danger didn't make for the best of farewell conditions. But even so, he was parting ways with two companions who'd been travelling with him for the past day or two.
It was with that thought Izuku realised: This would be the first time they separated ever since arriving back on Earth. It took a moment for that to hit him as he was in such a weird situation and surrounded by former classmates and teachers, but… He was saying goodbye to his only two mortal-yet-similarly-deceased former classmates. These past days had been confusing, terrifying, and often-times infuriating, but Todoroki and Hagakure had given him something resembling normality. People to talk to who didn't just see world-shaking revelations being dropped like a light Tuesday. Something to help keep him grounded. With that in mind, he tried to shake away his more nervous thoughts and offered something resembling a more proper goodbye.
"Good luck to you too; Hagakure, Todoroki." he nodded to each of them, who returned the gesture with a smile and an affirmative nod/blink respectively. "Stay safe, I guess? And when we next meet back up, well…" he scratched his cheek nervously again.
"Back to Hell?"
"Back to Hell." Justice confirmed Todoroki's thought.
"Wait what-" a thought which the living evidently took issue with.
"Oh!" Hagakure gasped, "I almost forgot: I need to pick up my box set!"
"We're fighting supernatural entities beyond mortal comprehension." Todoroki pointed out, "I think it's fair to forget a… What was it called?"
"A viewing marathon." Izuku recalled. I can't even believe she remembered that, with everything else going on…
"The correct terminology is Who-a-thon, thank you very much." Hagakure feigned a pout and crossed her arms.
"Sorry, sorry…" Izuku laughed, before Justice coughed as audibly as possible. "Right, sorry, uh-"
"Stay safe." Hagakure echoed his words from earlier and put a fist forward lightly.
"Good luck." he bumped his own fist lightly against hers, before the two looked to Todoroki.
"Meet up again soon." who soon added his own. A moment later, Hagakure re-bumped the two and retracted her hand into a finger-gun. Izuku repeated the gesture with a small chuckle. Todoroki followed with a level of awkwardness Izuku hadn't thought humanly possible.
With their farewells said, the two groups of demons and undead made to go their separate ways-
"Wait, what do we do?" Uraraka asked nervously.
"I dunno." Justice shrugged, continuing to walk towards one exit with Izuku, Modeus and a Cerberus, "Follow us? Stay here? Clear the rubble and go back up? Die? Honestly couldn't care less." Izuku loudly cleared his throat, "Ok, probably don't do the last one."
He felt bad forcing everyone to make snap decisions without much warning, but he doubted his demonic companions would take kindly to waiting for the living among them to determine groups. Besides, they weren't rushing forward at top speeds or anything, merely continuing on at a fast walk.
Izuku turned to wave good-bye again to his undead companions; Hagakure returned the gesture wholeheartedly with a grin, and Todoroki gave a small wave back.
It's not forever. Izuku took a breath, I mean, if anything, it's kind of the opposite. A short break, and then we'll basically be free to visit for the rest of 'eternity'…
"When we get back-"
"They'll be stuck working for me until we clear the backlog." Justice answered his question before he could even ask, "Which, considering the fact we had such an insane spike in deaths recently, is probably going to be a few decades minimum." she threw a grin his way, "You'll be seeing plenty of them going forward."
"Right." Izuku smiled in kind. It was nice to know that after all this, he'd have people around who seemed to at least kind of enjoy his company, and weren't demons that could obliterate his existence with a backhand. He knew that Hagakure was probably only offering to keep all of their spirits up, but even so…
I've never been invited to binge-watch a show with anyone before… the thought made his smile grow stronger.
"Thank you…"
"You don't have to thank me for trapping extra help in the deal." Justice chuckled, "Though, considering they'll lessen your workload, I guess maybe you should." her face grew more concerned, "But, on a more serious note: What happened to Pandemonica? I was so relieved you got away and focused on getting further, I forgot to ask."
"Oh." the thought made Izuku's own face grow similarly more serious, "I'm not really sure. I just ran for it with Uraraka after Pandemonica got hit by that sniper."
"… Hold up." Justice turned towards him with a quizzical expression,
"What sniper?"
Kaina was counting herself lucky that she hadn't been spotted yet.
Years of working for the darker side of Hero society had given ample time to refine her practice in tailing marks. VIPs who needed a shadow to provide out-of-sight protection. Persons of interest who could be followed to catch bigger fish. Targets who needed to be taken care of somewhere not too inconvenient.
She'd long since become an expert at finding a target in the crowd through her Quirk's scope, discerning their current course, and moving to another location which should be along the route they were taking. Sometimes, of course, it was better to go with a more close-up and personal method. Blending in as a simple civilian and following from a respectable distance was a lot easier in a bustling city than parkouring across the rooftops, and it was less likely you'd be noticed so long as you weren't too obvious.
When she'd decided to follow the group of suited weirdos through the city, she'd almost opted for the civilian route. Sure, there weren't many people out-and-about, but when you considered the lack of information she had on them nor what they wanted, the possibility of using the subway, the fact the rain made it more difficult to dart amongst the rooftops? Tailing them incognito on foot rather than from a distance by rooftop seemed like the safer option. It was only because of the smallest of knots in her stomach, the faintest tingling of her skin, the most miniscule feeling of her instincts telling her it was a bad idea, that she decided to stick with following them from a distance.
Kaina had never been so glad to have followed those instincts in her entire life.
Because despite keeping to the rooftops and occasional abandoned building, despite the grisly weather providing piss-poor visibility for anyone without an eyesight-enhancing Quirk, despite making sure she maintained an absolute minimum distance of at least half a kilometre? One of the little shits still kept looking over their damned shoulder whenever Kaina checked them through her scope. To this day, she still didn't know the biology behind an arm capable of morphing into a silenced sniper rifle. Was the scope made of the same material as the lens in her eye? Did she have some small chunk of glass constantly buried in her arm? She didn't know, and honestly, she preferred it that way.
But what was strange with this group, was that even though she was pretty confident it was only one of them was noticing her sight, they were one of three which Kaina couldn't distinguish. Like, no matter how hard she focused, she could never make out any noticeable features beyond 'They're in suits, I think'. No idea as to age, sex, hair colour, build, anything.
After a few times noticing her, though, it seemed like the super-sense freak asked one of the women with them, the one with white horns and black sunglasses, about his suspicions. At least, that's what it seemed like when being viewed through a scope with no sound audible beyond the pelting of rain hitting glass, metal and plaster. And from the movements the woman made in response, Kaina was pretty sure she had some kind of sensing Quirk which allayed his concerns.
Apparently it couldn't sense a sniper about 2 kilometres away.
Thank fuck for that, at least…
Kaina couldn't know how they'd react if they realised some stranger they never met (or, worse, someone who knew her history and wasn't happy about it) was following them, but in all honesty she wasn't eager to find out. Maybe they'd be chill, or tell or her to get lost. But considering how effortlessly they curbstomped Dabi and his band of not-so-merry dipshits, Kaina could see her organs ending up all over the pavement at an alarming speed.
Again, not eager to find out.
But with a new sense of caution instilled, Kaina was able to follow the group to what turned out to be their destination: U.A. High School. Or at least, what was left of it. There was already another person there – that Uraraka girl, standing beside a photo of who Kaina assumed was her dead classmate. Usually she wasn't one to remember names, but by this point Uraraka's story was pretty well known. A kid taking out some bonehead, then talking shit to a bunch of asshole murderers moments after she watched her friend get gutted? That earned her a place in Kaina's memory.
The same couldn't be said of the others, who strolled in after the girl looked like she was having an episode. Kaina wished she'd had a directional mic or something with her after that. It may only pick up a few bits and pieces through the rain, but it looked like whatever they were saying was pretty important, if their shocked faces were anything to go by. The only real gear she had on her at this point was a small wireless camera she could watch on her phone – useful for watching her back without drawing attention to herself.
Then yet some other stiff in a suit strolled on up with a casual swagger that told Kaina the two of them would get on like a house on fire, or a house with one of them in the fire. There was a standoff, Kaina had her rifle prepped in case she felt the need to intervene, that blonde survivor kid went for the kill (though Kaina could see through his ruse from here), the suit threw something in the air, and… uh…
What…?
Now, Kaina wasn't exactly what one would call a 'good, law-abiding citizen who strived to do their civic duties' these days. If there was someone getting mugged in alley, she'd take the other street. If there was a burning building, she'd maybe check the smoke alarm when she got home. If there was a minimum amount of effort, she'd find it. But still… An evil blood-red dome materialising over a bunch of traumatised kids?
"119, this is the emergency services."
Even in her books, that was worth making a call.
"Yeah, there's something strange going on at-"
"If you are in need of medical emergency services, please press 1. If you are in need of the fire department, please press 2. If you are in need of law enforcement, please press 3. If you are in need of a Professional Hero, no you aren't."
… Damn, budget cuts hit hard. She pressed 3.
"If you are currently being murdered, please press 1. If someone else is currently being murdered, please press 2. If you suspect someone intends to murder you, please press 3. If you suspect someone is committing tax fraud, please press 4. If-" Kaina slowly ran a hand over her face. This was what being good got you.
"You have selected: 19; Misc. Is this correct? Please answer 'yes' or 'no'"
If you have voice recognition then why- A small crack suddenly appeared in the dome, before sealing itself like a recording stuck on rewind. You know what, nevermind. "Yes."
"Thank you. We'd like to ask a few more details." then ASK- "If you suspect someone is plotting against All for One, rest assured. Our Lord has already seen through their clumsy attempts at revolution, and swift justice will soon befall them. Additionally, if you are calling to report a crime committed by our Lord, there is no need. Your voice will not be heard." Kaina blinked.
Wow… That's… Huh…
"If you believe someone intends to attempt regicide, please press 1." wouldn't that fall under regular murder- "If you believe someone is plotting against an elected official, please press 2. If you would like to note a JISHA safety violation, please press 3. If-"
"All right." Kaina sighed, "This-"
"You have selected: 88; Suspicion that All Might may have regained, or intends to regain, his former power. Please-" Kaina hung up the phone. By the time she could report whatever the hell she was looking at, they'd probably be more in need of a hearse than a Hero. Instead, she sent a text message outlining what she'd just seen to an old HPSC number.
Probably not even operating anymore, but still… better than nothing, right? With that done, she took another look through the scope- Wait a second! What if there's another exit?! Assuming they'd have to come out in view of Kaina's field of view was idiotic – if anything, weren't they more likely to try and run out the opposite way?
Still, don't want to miss them… While lacking a directional mic was unfortunate, having her wireless camera was beyond lucky. After quickly positioning it to cover as much of the area at the front of U.A. as possible, Kaina folded up her rifle-arm and took off around the perimeter of the dome, careful to maintain a reasonable distance. Hopping the run-down U.A. perimeter fence outside the main building was laughably easy, and she soon found a large urban environment to set up in. Well, actually there was a few to choose from, but she picked one that seemed to have good sight on the back of U.A. and the least internal obstructions.
She set up in the top floor of one of the abandoned buildings, making sure to note the windows and escape routes (spoiler: they were the same thing) before re-deploying her Quirk to watch the dome. After that, it was just a matter of waiting to see if anything popped out-
*fwoosh* only for the sound of flames to erupt from somewhere in the city behind her.
Quickly re-positioning to one of the other windows, Kaina was soon able to identify three people on the streets below, about 1.2km away. With the rain still drizzling down and threatening to get worse again, she should be more-or-less impossible to see, so long as she was careful.
Once she got a view of the situation, the Uraraka girl was being held up against air by some weird glowing circle, the new suit was stalking around like she owned the place, and there was someone else pinned to the floor by another circle. Green hair, probably male, looked like a teenager-
Wait a sec, she zoomed in on the green-haired teen, That's… she'd seen his face before… Where was it, where was it- OH! She'd slap herself on the head if it wouldn't throw her aim off, I saw his face on that mourning photo! And she was pretty sure it had shown up here and there on the grapevine. The first casualty of class 1-A.
Is he alive…? Kaina had seen her fair share of cover-ups, but that didn't mean she was a conspiracy nutjob. Is there any advantage to faking his death? There weren't many people with the power and influence to pull that off. Obviously there was the rat god, but with how badly that all spiralled he lost a lot of that power and influence. It'd be a good way to force himself underground, but all things considered, it seemed unlikely. Maybe the HPSC could've done it, but considering the League were able to follow up so quickly-
*BOOM*
The mother of all explosions shook out from the direction of U.A.
Doesn't matter. Kaina shook off any irrelevant thoughts. She was done with all the politicking bullshit. She'd just followed these freaks out of curiosity. And now, apparently, to pull some kids from the jaws of death. The suit was using her Quirk circle things to strangle Uraraka, now seeming to offer the maybe-Midoriya-maybe-impersonator kid some kind of deal. Kaina wound a small piece of her hair up, formed a bullet, loaded her arm-rifle, lined up the shot…
… and then Uraraka, with a face more befitting a damned demon than a teenage victim, handed out the mother of all bitch-slaps to the suit's poofy white hair, and soon sent her flying down the street.
… Huh. Kaina didn't bother smothering her grin. "Not bad, kid…"
But apparently being sent hurtling down a street and still under the effects of her Quirk didn't stop the suit from getting up and staggering back towards the two kids. Step. By. Step. 'Midoriya' stepped between Uraraka and the suit, fear smothered by courage clear in his eyes.
"Guess I'm getting involved after all…" It would be lying to say Kaina wasn't at least a little glad about that. It'd been a while since she got to shoot something. She wasn't some psychotic murderer out for the thrill of it or anything; the number of people she'd shot- well, number of people she'd shot dead since getting out of Tartarus was pretty low, all things considered. But it wasn't like her years spent in an isolated cell had miraculously given her some fundamental aversion to the idea of killing another person. Some bitch trying to murder a couple of teenagers with a smug grin on her face?
I'm gonna enjoy this…
With the suit conjuring some bright glyphs around the kids, Kaina decided it was now or never. She lined up her shot…
*bang* it was a relief her Quirk meant bullets were fired so quietly. Hearing loss and tinnitus was no joke. Naturally, the bitch went down; people didn't survive shots to the back of the skull, and Kaina's aim was great by nature and further refined by years of experience. The lack of visible blood on the floor was surprising…
… But not as surprising as the bitch getting up.
Excuse me? Kaina wasn't sure whether to be shocked or insulted that she had the audacity to survive that. But… Wait, maybe she has a defensive glyph or something? Those circles seemed capable of all kinds of bullshit, after all. She formed a second, larger calibre round from her hair. Whatever. Survive this.
*BANG* the shot was quieter than your average anti-material rifle round capable of taking down lightly-armoured tanks. Still not 'quiet' though.
Hope I angled it right… It had been a while since she'd had to use a larger calibre for a precision shot. Even so, she was, like, 99% confident that it wouldn't hit either of the kids after shearing through the bitch's skull.
Only… It didn't. It didn't go through. It just made her forehead bleed a bit.
Kaina blinked. She checked on the kids. Seemed like they'd legged it. She looked back to the bitch in a suit. She was staring directly at Kaina's position with a glare that would've frozen most rookies in their place.
… Ok, I'm out.
Kaina began retracting her rifle back into a normal arm. Her eye came away from the scope, zoomed in on the bitch over a kilometre away as she went up in a sudden puff of flames.
*fwoosh* only for an identical burst of flame to erupt about thirty centimetres in front of Kaina's face.
SHIT- Kaina leapt backwards, barely ducking under a swipe of fire that accompanied the well-dressed bitch stepping through the flames. She quickly undid the re-folding of her rifle, hastily shoving in a bullet and lining up a shot-
*chk* only for the damned thing to jam; of course it did – she was already pushing her firing rate to the limits! Even at the best of times, interrupting the retraction or deployment process was a sure-fire way to bugger her whole arm!
"I don't know why-" Kaina didn't stay long enough for the red-eyed freak to finish her sentence. She'd seen what this monster could do, was willing to do to traumatised teenagers. The only way Kaina would live to drink another day was getting the hell out of dodge right fucking now. So, instead of listening to whatever threats or tricks this woman had intended, she did the only logical thing in this situation.
She jumped out the window.
The storey exploded behind her. Evidently, she was right: The two had gotten along like a house on fire.
Thanks to the U.A. training grounds being made wholly out of concrete and not bothering with any glass panes, she didn't even have to deal with the nuisances like small cuts or severe blood loss that usually came with a departure via defenestration.
Of course, this escape route still came with the unfortunate caveat of falling several stories to a ground also made wholly out of concrete. With the handful of seconds she had in the air, Kaina was able to restore her arm rifle-
*BANG* She fired another high-calibre shot, directly at the ground while bracing herself as much as possible, trying to slow down through recoil.
"Argh!" the result: Her right arm was overheating, her right shoulder was dislocated at best, she hit the ground on her left side, her left arm might have a fracture, her left shoulder may have been dislocated as well, she was in immense pain, she landed on her canteen, everything sucked… But at least she was alive, right?
"Was that really necessary?" Kaina hadn't even felt a rush of heat accompany the monster showing up. Maybe she'd just assumed it was more pain.
"… Probably not." she tried to sit up. The pain in her everything told her it was a bad idea, but experience told her it was her best chance of survival at this point. She managed to push herself a bit with her legs, leaning back against the building she'd just jumped out of. In retrospect, not the best idea she'd ever had. But every instinct had told her to run, and every fibre of her being not occupied with the pain was still telling her to act on that instinct. But looking around, there wasn't any immediate cover she could use. With her rifle temporarily out of commission, she couldn't break into the buildings. The only cover she could find would be turning a corner around a building, but it would take at least a few seconds to get there.
She'd probably be dead by then.
"Still, can you blame me?" recognising that escape would be a dead-end, she looked back towards her opponent. Her white hair was dishevelled, her forehead still had blood on it, she had some scrapes here and there, her suit was… holding up remarkably well, all things considered.
"Perhaps not." *crunch* oh, and apparently she was still snapping some bones back into shape. Which was a thing she could do with just a small wince of pain, apparently. "Still, if you're so foolish as to distract me from-" she glanced back in the direction she'd come. "One moment." she walked straight towards the building, disappearing in a puff of flames where she would've walked into the concrete wall.
Ok…. Kaina made to stand up. Not ok… Bad idea. Apparently it wasn't just her arms that had been damaged in that fall – she felt a stab of pain in her chest and a bloody hammer to her abdomen when she made the effort. Cracked ribs? Torn ligaments? Internal bleeding? Fuck if she knew, the only obvious fact was that she wasn't getting up any time soon.
Let's see if we can get this working… she tried to get her rifle-arm back up and running. It may not have been effective against the bitch earlier as anything more than a pinprick, but…
…
…
… Really hoping I'd come up with something there…
But if given the option of having an ineffectual but loaded gun in her arm or nothing at all, she'd still go with the former. It turned out to be harder than expected, flexing her arm in the right ways to get her Quirk back up and running while being attached to a dislocated shoulder, but she managed. In other good news, her left shoulder was just badly bruised, scraped, and bleeding! Not dislocated! Result. It was awkward, but she managed to reload her rifle with the biggest calibre she could muster-
"Sorry about that." and decided not to use it immediately. The suit looked pissed after coming back through the burst of fire. Like she was just looking for something to shoot- or, well, something to set on fire, in her case. A helpless hostage still trying to shoot you would probably fill that role.
"No problem." it was a struggle not to groan in pain through the two words. Still, Kaina made an effort to sound detached yet polite. A co-operative captive was a don't-set-on-fire captive, after all.
"It seems my task will now prove unreasonably difficult." she clicked her tongue in annoyance, before turning her attention back to Kaina. "I trust you had a reason to make my job more difficult?" she ran a hand over her forehead, some flames lapping at the remaining blood before the wound was soon gone without a trace.
Good to know her best attack was barely an inconvenience to this monster.
"Well, what can I say?" Kaina tried to shrug, only to wince in pain at the effort, "I see someone trying to kill a kid, I shoot."
"… That's it?" the suit didn't seem impressed. The sharp scowl she'd been wearing seemed to drop into something more tired.
"Sorry if you were expecting something deeper." turning off her regular sarcasm was proving more difficult than expected.
"But- then why were you here?"
"Saw them take down a bunch of League goons with no effort. Seemed interesting, so I tailed them."
The white-haired woman's expression sank into tiredness and exasperation. She made to speak, only to sigh again, putting a hand to her face. "Mortals…"
… What kinda psycho cultist bullshit did I stumble into?
Before Kaina could ask what she'd meant by that specific phrasing, the suit pulled out a phone and hit someone on speed dial. The device flickered with some sort of red energy before the call connected.
"Hey, it's me… Yeah, they were, but-… No, I don't…" she turned away. Kaina took the moment to move her rifle-arm ever so slightly… "Well, I have no idea…" a little more… "Because Zdrada and some skeletons couldn't keep their small army of powerhouses distracted, and also," a little more… "I've got a witness…" the shot was lined up. It'd probably put her firing mechanism out of commission for a good hour at minimum, but maybe the highest calibre shot she could muster would do something at such close range?
"Yeah, some mortal… No, they're not directly involved, but they stopped me from…" she paused, still not focused on Kaina and instead just brushing the hair over her ear. "Not really. Just haven't gotten around to killing them yet."
If those words weren't a big neon sign screaming 'do something!', then what was?
*BANG*
"On it." she didn't so much as turn her head. It was unfortunate that even the most powerful, fastest shot that Kaina could manage, was still effortlessly stopped by a red floating circle centimetres from the woman's free hand. She turned back towards Kaina, the bullet under her control rotating to do the same.
"I'll make it look like a suicide. Or close enough, at least." with that, she ended the call and put the phone away. Her eyes took on a tint of that sadistic edge they'd started with, boring into Kaina's very soul. "I'd ask you if you had any last words…" the hint of a smile tugged at her face, "But in this instance it really won't make a difference."
The woman went to pull back her hand. From the words coming out of her mouth, and from the way the magic circle containing Kaina's own purple bullet reacted, she knew that without action, it would be the last thing Kaina ever saw.
They said that in your last moments, your life could flash before your eyes. Something about your brain hastily scrounging for any information that could keep it going that little bit longer. Kaina always thought it was bullshit; she'd been in a life-and-death scrape or six, and she'd never seen anything like it.
Maybe she just hadn't honestly thought she could die before now.
Her childhood; a little girl crying over the kids picking on her for having a 'creepy' Quirk. Her teens; a brief stint of happiness after getting accepted into a Hero school. Her early adult life; Further excitement after being picked out personally by the HPSC for 'special assignments', before that turned into something far darker than she could've imagined. Her mid 20s; a slow decline as the assassinations began to pile up, every wide-eyed idealist looking up to her making her stomach that little bit more queasy. Her late 20s; the pressure finally making her snap, every frustration and piece of guilt wrapped up into that final shot: Her resignation letter. Her 30s; An entire decade stuck in an isolated cell, where a guard delivering her meals through a sound-proofed pane proving the height of social interaction. And then there was the last year or so; A hazy, disjointed memory of occasional mercenary guard-work painfully breaking up the sweet release of alcohol-lined oblivion.
Every Villain she'd fought passed before her eyes. Every 'threat' she'd offed without so much as a word passing between them flashed in the sight of her scope. Everyone who'd ever though she was something more than a killer desperately clinging onto the spotlight of Heroism, all the while she'd told herself it was for the 'greater good'. Every single fuckup condensed into one single moment of adrenaline-fuelled recollection.
Eh. she closed her eyes. She'd seen enough.
Living's overrated.
*fwoom* A gust of air blew against Kaina's skin, her clothes being tugged from every-which-way. Her first thought was to open her eyes, while her second was to realise 'oh. I can open my eyes. Guess I'm not dead.'.
"And you said we should focus on the main building." It turned out something was stuck in Kaina's clothes, pinned in several points that had dragged her out of the way of the suit's returned shot. Glancing down, it looked like they were red feathers.
"I said we should focus on the main campus." a burst of flames heralded a new arrival positioning himself between Kaina and the suit.
"Same difference."
"Categorically false."
"Oh, hey." Kaina recognised the HPSC's new lapdog and the ex-Hero formerly known as Endeavour. "Thanks for the save." she sighed, pulling out a canteen "Your lives bought enough time for me to have a final drink, so that's cool I guess."
"Well someone's optimistic." Hawks flashed one of his signature oh-so-punchable grins.
"Indeed she is." the suit summoned a pair of flames, one in each hand. "I hope you can drink fast. These clowns won't save you for five seconds."
"On it." Kaina immediately went to start chugging. A moment too late, she realised the canteen had been damaged in the scuffle. Burn marks and scratches and a number of small holes.
There wasn't so much as a drop left inside.
Living was really overrated.
"See, I was actually hoping we could talk like-" Hawks' request was cut off as the suit flung a huge burst of fire in their direction. Todoroki intercepted it, struggling to hold back the flames. Hawks quickly started spreading his feathers outwards, the air soon filled with two different kinds of red.
Kaina checked her canteen; maybe there was some left-
"DOWN!" she swung her rifle-arm around. It was useless for firing a shot, but not for knocking Hawks' legs out from under him. Whether by luck, skill or trust, he let himself fall downwards, maybe even speeding up the fall with his remaining wings.
A moment later, a new set of flames burst out of two floating circles that had formed either side of their group. They lapped out where Hawks and Todoroki had stood. Barely kept safe by lying prone on the floor, the heat had Kaina immediately missing the rain. On the bright side, her hair and clothes were practically flash-dried, so that was nice. The rain seemed to be getting heavier, unfortunately.
"What…" the flames died out, and the two floor-bound fighters turned their gaze towards Todoroki. He'd jetted forwards, striking at the woman with a jab. Maybe he'd hoped to end it in one strike. "How are you…"
From the way Todoroki's face was straining as his fist met her hand, a bored expression the only emotion on her own face, his hope wasn't exactly realistic.
"Fine." she woman sighed, "Don't want to burn? Then I'll just-"
"Flashfire Fist!" Todoroki's hand erupted like a volcano, quickly engulfing their two forms. Their fight was lost in a raging inferno, an instantaneous blaze which Kaina and Hawks had to jump back from.
Well, Hawks jumped back. Kaina was pulled by some more of his feathers.
"The second that thing goes out…" Hawks' feathers spread out in a circle around the pyre, "If she's not down…" they all flicked around, their sharpened points focused towards where the woman's form once was.
"She took a round to the face better than most medium-armoured tanks." Kaina sighed, "Your little pinpricks might tickle her if you're lucky."
"I wouldn't count on that." the fire vanished, flickering out like the last vestiges of a dying light. In the centre, the woman stood unmoved. Unmarked.
Todoroki was on the ground. His breathing looked ragged. His burns had burns.
"Hyah!" Hawks' feathers rained downwards, a thousand arrows all focused on a single target.
"She did warn you." None of them made it past yet another bullshit red circle that was glowing on the ground. The feathers embedded themselves in an invisible wall, unable to pierce any further. Hawks made to pull them out, but they were stuck in place.
"Let's see… You may have stopped me from killing her" she nodded to Kaina, "With her own bullet… But burn him to death…" she twisted a hand. The circle below her spun, moving and rotating the cylinder of feathers into a wall of death pointed towards them. "Kill you with your own feathers…" she shrugged, that sadistic smile from earlier now on full display. "Two out of three isn't bad, right?"
Hawks immediately used whatever feathers he had left to pin his and Kaina's clothes, desperately trying to float them away-
"Uh-uh-uh." only to be caught in yet another stupid goddam red circle appearing out of nowhere. The two were turned around, met with the bitch still having most of Hawks' feathers under control. "This is starting to grow tiresome."
"Look, I'm still not entirely sure what you want, but-" Hawks tried to reason with her.
"And I'm done entertaining mortal curiosity." but clearly she wasn't open to negotiation.
"She's some weirdo cultist." Kaina glanced towards her would-be rescuer. "Bargaining ain't gonna work." the woman readied Hawks' feathers once again. Kaina tried to send a strained a smile Hawks' way. "Thanks for trying though, I guess…"
That should've been it. They'd had their asses handed to them, no last-minute secret forbidden techniques to fall back on, no chance of backup arriving just in the nick of time. The crazy flame-throwing woman had them all dead to rights, and everyone here knew it.
*CRASH* Even the lightning striking the nearby building didn't miraculously stun everyone to give them some means of escape. Kaina didn't expect the woman to give it so much as a glance.
"Shit." except she did. The lightning made her lazily smug and sadistic form stand to attention. She glanced at the lightning, back to Kaina and Hawks, and then up at the sky. Less than a second later, she groaned in frustration, before quickly summoning another bout of flames to engulf her form.
"Wha-" the red circle holding the two of them disappeared. Gravity suddenly took hold. Kaina counted herself lucky that Hawks was skilled enough to pick up the slack quickly enough and stop her battered form hitting the concrete once again.
Looking back towards the scorch marks on the ground, the woman had disappeared. Used her stupid fiery teleport bullshit and just… gone. Impervious to bullets, dominating two powerhouses, abilities up the wazoo, and she'd been scared senseless by a little lightning!
"What…" Hawks took a breath, "What…" he turned towards Kaina, adrenaline meeting panic as fear was still clearly settled in his eyes, "What the hell just happened?!"
"… Beats me." Kaina undid her rifle-arm transformation as much as she could, before going to push her shoulder back into place.
"Hey, wait-" *crack* she just barely managed to keep from passing out from the pain. Hawks eyed her with something resembling a flat stare, "I could've helped with that."
"Thanks, but I'm fine." she'd survived this long as a solo ex-HPSC assassin. If she couldn't put a dislocated shoulder back into place on her own, what good even was she? Going to get up, it became clear that standing on her own would be an ordeal. Walking would be impossible. Maybe a light shamble? Still, after getting involved where she shouldn't, facing a monster that seemed beyond human capabilities, and nearly dragging two other people down with her, at least Kaina's destination was clear.
"You don't know a good bar around here, do you?"
A/N:
Wow I did not expect that Nagant section to go on for so long. I mean I guess me underestimating section lengths is just par for the course now. Didn't get as much time as I would've liked to edit that second section because of the length, but hopefully it was still fun to read. Been looking forward to writing that bit for a while now, and we're coming up to some big moments (though all things considered, chapter 19 will probably be setup while chapter 20 is probably going to be the next major beat. But evidently I'm terrible at judging chapter length, so who even knows at this point).
And now the battle is actually, properly over! Everyone got out by a combination of running in the opposite direction of the enemy and luck. I was tempted to kill Nagant here and then have her appear again later as another deceased sinner, but in the end it fed better into the story this way. The alternative was Hawks and Endeavour finding her corpse, and shit's already depressing enough as-is.
As always feel free to comment with thoughts, predictions, concrit etc. etc.. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!