Izuku POV, one month later
I wake up to the sound of a blaring alarm. I snap upright and activate my most useful quirk, Caffeine. Now that I feel fully awake I grab my phone and look at the message blaring on the screen.
'NINE IS ATTACKING FUKUOKA CITY PREPARE TO DEPLOY'
This was bad news. Hitoshi has been working on the Nine case for some time now, the only info we have is that he was a 'personal project' of The Doctor and has a weather manipulation quirk. Everything that The Doctor was involved in was bound to be bad news.
I throw on a nice business suit and run into the main chamber. Hitoshi and Aki are already ready in full tactical wear, Hitoshi with a gun over his shoulder. Kurogiri is standing at the ready beside them. I move over to the two and give a firm nod.
"Where's Eva?"
Before anyone can answer she suddenly appears next to us in a flash of lightning. She's dressed in a black bodysuit that resembles the wetsuit of a diver. I have to admit, it really shows off the width of her hips.
Hitoshi cocks his assault rifle before addressing us.
"Alright, there's a massive weather event happening in Fukuoka right now, this has got to be Nine. Kurogiri will warp us into the city and we'll move in and go for the kill. Remember, Nine has been involved with Izuku's father. Whatever the hell is going on is bound to be bad. Be careful everyone."
Kurogiri opens a portal and we walk through.
Eva POV, seconds later
I step through the portal and scan my surroundings. The sky is pitch black, not a single star visible through the thick layer of clouds. Air raid sirens blare alongside dozens of nearby car alarms, the sounds of explosions and thunder intermixed with the chaos. The atmosphere is constantly flashing as vast beams of electricity arc downward from the heavens. I watch as a swathe of panicking civilians are cut down like wheat before a scythe as a thunderbolt arcs toward them, killing dozens as their innards are flash boiled.
Izuku turns toward me with determination in his eyes.
"Eva, go find Nine! We'll take on his group!"
I activate my quirk. Everything slows as raw power flows through my veins. I leap forward and push myself until I'm traveling just under the speed of sound. I sprint up the side of a building before leaping from rooftop to rooftop. All I can see is chaos. The sky is nothing more than a sinister swirling miasma, intermittently broken up by hundreds if not thousands of flashing thunderbolts.
I spot at least a hundred civilians running down a road, presumably fleeing from their apartment buildings. I change my direction and soar through the air until I land in front of them.
"GET UNDERGROUND! IT'S THE ONLY SAFE LOCATION!"
They take credence and start running to a nearby underground train entrance. Satisfied that I have saved their lives, I leap to the top of a nearby building. I move onward and-
An explosion.
I snap around. A ball of fire erupts from the road as a gas line underneath detonates. I watch charred bodies smear against the pavement as the shockwave hits them. After several seconds the fireball recedes, leaving behind a ruined street. I can see dozens of bodies torn apart, and many on fire. I watch a child struggle against the flames before going limp.
I turn my head and take a deep breath, steeling myself. Now was not the time to panic. I had to stop Nine. I had to stop him before he killed more innocent people. I sprint from rooftop to rooftop to the nearest skyscraper. I make a running jump and scale up the side of the building, my momentum keeping me flush against the wall. Once I am at the top I take a proper scan of the city.
Everything is on fire. The continuous booming sound of thunder is drowning out the air raid sirens at this height. I calm myself for a moment and carefully observe the city. I take note of each location the lightning is striking, forming a mental map in my mind. There's an area about a few kilometres out where I have yet to see even a single beam strike. Perhaps it's the eye of the storm?
I soar through the air. As I grow nearer I have my suspicions confirmed, I spot Nine hovering in the air, his other gang members standing around him. They look to be amused by what is going on around them. I shatter the sound barrier as I accelerate toward their leader.
"Oh?"
My fist smashes against a forcefield mere milliseconds before I would have exploded his head like a watermelon. The barrier wobbles for a moment before it suddenly launches me back via my own reflected energy. My body tumbles for a moment, carving a trench in the road before settling into the pavement. Nine's subordinates look panicked and begin sprinting away from the two of us. Evidently they were able to sense the power between us.
The man cocks his head as he hovers in place, very clearly unaffected by my attack.
"Who are you?"
I answer his question by snapping upright and throwing a punch in his direction. The wave of air pressure strikes his shield and splits the street in two. Buildings to either side of him are torn apart as the intense pressure caves in industrial concrete like wet paper. When the dust clears, I spot him still floating in place, looking almost bored.
"You are strong. You should join me, for I am Nine."
I need a moment to think. I need to stall for time.
"Why should I join you?"
Nine raises his palms to the sky and every nearby building suddenly explodes.
"Power. You are strong, you have the strength to rule over others. Why settle as a petty villain or Hero when you can achieve godhood? In this world, the weak should fear the strong."
The man is insane. He speaks in a calm voice, but I can see fanaticism in his eyes. I carefully school my expression before I speak.
"What is your quirk? Weather manipulation of some kind, but also force fields? It's almost as if you have multiple quirks…"
The man chuckles deeply. It's an unnerving sound as his sandpapery voice rasps against my ears. He raises a palm upward as his face contorts into a sick expression of glee.
"Would you like to see?"
A bright light. I hear ringing in my ears. When I open my eyes, I find myself laying on my back within an enormous crater, facing the sky overhead. I whip myself to my feet and look around. Before me is a series of destroyed buildings that were presumably collapsed by my body passing through them. I spot Nine floating toward me at a leisurely pace.
I crouch. I push my quirk to its limits before springing upward and closing the distance in a fraction of a second. My foot impacts his barrier and I push every last bit of my strength into my attack. The shield seems to bulge for a moment before it suddenly rejects me, the intense force slamming me into the dirt once more.
"Hrrm, not a bad effort."
Lasers shoot from Nine's fingers and dig into my flesh. I gasp as lacerations suddenly appear across my skin.
"You have potential, you know."
Teeth clamp around me as I am suddenly hoisted within the mouth of a twisting serpent. My vision tumbles as I'm lifted into the air, before being flicked into the Earth yet again. I feel blood dripping from inside my suit where the teeth of the monster had bitten. I take a moment to catch my bearings. Nine is floating in the background while two twisting serpents grow from his shoulder blades.
One of the serpents rears itself back suddenly before throwing itself at me. I dodge the strike and throw a brutal punch directly into the side of its jaw. I hear a sickening crunch as its jawbone is snapped in two, the monster shrieking in pain as it spasms. Nine seems delighted by this turn of events.
"Yes, you are strong! So much potential, so much power! Once you join me we will rule this world!"
I meet the second serpent's attack with a kick that shatters its front teeth. I leap after it and latch onto its face before it can fully retract, allowing me to strike a flurry of blows into its skull. The creature goes slack as its head is caved in like a cantaloupe.
I land on the ground panting heavily. Nine slowly claps his hands together, an expression of amusement across his sharp features.
"This has been fun, but now I need you to decide. Will you join me?"
I throw another punch in his direction. The shockwave from my attack washes over him and knocks down several nearby buildings.
"Disappointing."
I see white. Every nerve in my boy is on fire. My body is frozen as every muscle is locked into place, making it impossible for me to escape. I feel the fluids in my throat boil and erupt into steam as the intense energy courses through me. The pain is beyond comprehension.
I realise now, that I am going to die. This is it. The end.
I try to scream as my vision darkens-
"APOLLYON!"
I lose consciousness.
Izuku, five minutes ago
The three of us sprint as fast as we can. The sound of explosions intensifies as we get closer to ground zero of whatever is going on between Eva and Nine. Nearby buildings are uprooted as visible shockwaves tear them clean from their foundations.
Hitoshi grabs my arm suddenly.
"Look!"
I spot the three villains further down the street, Slice, Mummy, and Chimera. Based on our intel we should be able to deal with Slice and Mummy with minimal issues, although Chimera may be another story altogether. They have their backs to us, clearly distracted by the battle ahead.
I turn to Aki and Hitoshi as we duck behind a nearby wrecked car.
"We'll stick together. Hitoshi, try to get a few shots off on Mummy. Aki and I should be able to deal with Slice without an issue. Chimera is going to be hard to face without a ranged fighter, we need to get within air propagation range of Decay."
With that decided we shift from behind cover. Hitoshi pulls his assault rifle to his shoulder and lines it up with expert precision. There's a loud banging sound as he fires a quick burst at Mummy, the villain shrieking as the bullets pierce through his torso. He falls to the ground and writhes in pain, the villain now clearly incapacitated.
Slice immediately retaliates with a wave of needle-like hairs. They strike against Aki's barrier before falling to the ground, piercing clean into the concrete. Those things were sharp. If even one of them touches Hitoshi or Aki, they are all but guaranteed to be dead.
Hitoshi fires a few rounds at Slice, but the woman blocks them with minimal effort. Hitoshi lets his rifle go slack before cupping his hands together and yelling in their direction.
"Your buddy over there had a bit of a skill issue, weak fucker couldn't even take a few bullets!"
Chimera responds by sending a massive beam of energy in our direction. Aki's orange barrier flickers into place before us and the street is suddenly sliced in two as the laser is parted to either side. I take this opportunity to place my hand on the concrete and focus Decay into a path under the barrier.
I push the chain reaction forward and watch as it digs a trench toward the Villains. Chimera stomps onto the street and forms a chasm that stops my attack in its path.
Hitoshi tries to yell at them once again.
"Wow, nice quirk dog man! Are you gonna bark too? What, are you some kinda furry?"
The villain looks a little angry. He leaps forward, crossing fifty metres instantly, before slamming a fist into Aki's barrier. The sound is like a hammer striking on iron as Chimera's fist is suddenly recoiled back by Reflective Barrier. Aki drops the barrier while he is off balance and Hitoshi dumps his mag into the villain.
Unfortunately, the villain simply shrugs the bullets off his skin, before taking the opportunity to leap at us once again. I wave my hand in front of me and activate Decay just as he is about to reach us. The villain seems to realise what's about to happen and pulls back at the last possible moment. The air propagation of Decay just barely reaches him, causing it to only disintegrate a few layers of flesh.
The villain looks down at the exposed bone on his hand before looking up at me with shock.
"The fuck is that quirk?"
Hitoshi answers for me.
"Why don't you tell us yours first?"
Chimera goes to speak, but before he can utter a word our conversation is broken as Slice suddenly sprints into close quarters. The villainess throws a series of needles before whipping her hair at us as a blade. I activate Decay and disintegrate the incoming needles before they reach us. Aki uses her base quirk to form a series of razor-sharp blades, cutting through Slice's hair before it can get near us. The villainess looks nothing short of apocalyptic.
"YOU MOTHERFUCKERS CUT MY FUCKING HAIR!"
Aki forms a dome just in time to stop Chimera's punch. The man winces as the intense recoil reverberates through his wrist.
Hitoshi does a silly little wave and gives a middle finger to Slice.
"Hey bitch, nice hair! Oh wait, it's gone now!"
"YOU CUNTWAFFLING FUCK-"
"Run away and hide inside that building."
Chimera looks rather confused as he watches his teammate suddenly sprint off. He seems to connect the dots a second later, clearly deciding we were not worth messing with any longer. Hitoshi gives him a wave.
"Awww, are you scared? C'mon, I don't bite!"
The villain dashes off and scoops up Mummy (who has been groaning loudly this whole time), before leaping into the nearby building that contains Slice. Hitoshi makes to follow them but I grab his shoulder.
"WE NEED TO GET TO NINE!"
The sky turns white as a truly massive pillar of lightning strikes the Earth. The buildings between us and the battle are turned to liquid as the intense electrical current liquifies stone and metal. I turn to my companions.
"AKI, FORM A BUBBLE AROUND US. WE'RE GOING TO RUN IN THERE AND GRAB EVA!"
We sprint as fast as we can to the centre of the blast. Aki's orange barrier splits the stream of energy like the red sea, her non-conductive barrier simply forcing the electrons to flow around it. We keep running until we hit something.
"APOLLYON!"
Aki expands the barrier over Eva, allowing me to finally get a look at her. She looks bad. Her bodysuit has been mostly melted off, exposing a network of burn scars across her flesh. She looks seconds away from death.
"FUCK!"
I throw myself to her side and slap my palm against her chest, activating Touch Regeneration. Immediately the web of burns begins to fade as Touch Regeneration does its magic. I hold it on her until her breathing stabilises. I slap her cheeks to try get her awake, but it does nothing.
"Come on Eva, you'll be fine!"
I pull her into my lap and place my ear to her chest. I can hear her breathing steadily. She'll survive.
The blinding light past the dome suddenly abates, revealing Nine floating mere metres from the dome. His gang of bloodied and bruised villains are standing in the background. Chimera looks furious as he tends to Mummy's wounds.
Hitoshi jabs a finger in the direction of Nine.
"Hey fuck face!"
Rage crosses the man's face.
"How dare-"
"Stand still and deactivate your quirk!"
Nine's body begins to spasm. A second later he snaps out of it and returns to normal. The villain scowls.
"A mind control quirk? You will need more than that to defeat me-"
The villain starts coughing harshly as his body violently convulses. Veins on his skin pulsate as blood pours from his mouth. The tubes on Nine's back start pumping their green fluid into him, and the man visibly relaxes. He stabilises after a moment and wipes the blood from his mouth with a sneer.
"This isn't over."
The dark skies begin to recede as the man walks away, taking his group with him.
I pull out my phone and text our coordinates to Kurogiri. I gently scoop Eva in my arms and bring her through the portal. Kurogiri immediately begins applying medical aid the moment I rest her on the bed. Unfortunately, Touch Regeneration cannot do any more for her, the quirk could only do so much per patient per day.
I stand and watch her on the bed for a long time.
After some period of time, Kurogiri places a hand on my shoulder.
"Young Lord, it will do Eva no good for you to fret over her. She will be fine, please leave her with me. You know just as well as I that if she were conscious right now she would be ordering you to go get some rest."
I let out a shaky breath.
"Y-yeah. Thank you Kurogiri."
I numbly walk out of the room. My body shakes as I make my way to my room.
We just suffered total defeat.
Izuku POV, four hours later
This was a disaster. Eva almost died, she only survived because of Touch Regeneration, and even then it was close. Nine's attack was somehow able to overpower Eva's Resilience and had literally cooked her from the inside out. Any normal person would have had their blood boil within their veins, it was only by the virtue of her quirks that she lived at all.
None of us had expected Nine to be so powerful. His strength was nothing short of overwhelming, a level of power that only someone like All might or Endeavour could hope to match. We simply weren't ready to face Nine, none of us were.
Every time I close my eyes I can see Eva's body covered in burns. Even with all of my quirks I wouldn't have been able to stop Nine. He was simply too strong of a villain for me to face. He was even resistant to mind control somehow (perhaps an effort of The Doctor?).
We weren't even able to fully defeat the other members of his gang. Mummy and Slice were easily defeated, but Chimera was simply too fast for me to go on the offensive. Without a ranged fighter we lacked any ability to beat him. He could simply dodge our attacks at his own pace, making our efforts fruitless. We relied too much on Eva to carry us in direct combat.
As The Elite, we were handling our loss in different ways.
Hitoshi was taking it personally. He blamed himself for our lack of intel and promptly locked himself in his room, vowing to learn all that he could of Nine and his group. Last I checked he was hunting down older police reports and was formulating some sort of plan.
Eva was… alive. She is currently in the infirmary being tended to by Kurogiri. She is unconscious but seems to be healing in her sleep. Touch Regeneration was able to stop the internal bleeding but her body was simply too damaged for a full repair. She would survive due to Resilience, but the process would take days or weeks.
Aki was taking it hard. She burst into tears the moment we came back and immediately went to the bar to have a cold drink. She was upset that she lacked the offensive power to protect Eva. The older girl was deeply protective of her friends, and seeing us hurt made her furious.
As for myself, I was… surviving. Seeing Eva in that state made me feel terror beyond anything I could imagine. She was everything to me. I couldn't live without her. Father had created her as a bodyguard, yes, but she was my friend. My first friend. The friend who I trusted more than anything. Losing her would be…
"F-fuck."
I sniffle softly as I press my palms into my eyes. After wiping my tears I pull back my hands and grip the edges of the sink, looking at my reflection in the mirror.
I close my eyes and slow my breathing. When I open them, I see something burning deep within them.
Resolve.
Of course. This was a loss, yes, but this was our first loss. What the fuck was I thinking? That I would win forever, that I would never lose? That everything would just fall into place and be happily ever after?
No. This is not defeat, this is a temporary setback.
This is a message to The Elite that we need to be better. That we need to step up our game. We've been idle as a group, pouring all our effort into Monolith, and enjoying resting on our riches. The Elite have become stagnant, our success against minor threats made us feel overconfident against the true monsters of this world.
The other villain groups have been growing stronger by the day, meanwhile, we have been content as a dragon resting atop our hoard.
Nine would see this as a victory, yes, but he would soon realise his mistake once he sees the burning passion that has been ignited within us. Our undying thirst for revenge. The next time he sees us, he will die. I will personally rip those quirks from his broken body.
Plans start forming in my head. It is time to start preparing for the next phase of our operations. We will start attacking known villain groups and disrupting their operations across all of Japan, using Kurogiri's portals to get in and out for quick strikes. We will perform attacks in every city and every town, no one will be safe from us.
Taking down the false Heroes will have to wait. We can't afford to draw the full attention of the Hero Commission quite yet. Hitoshi and Aki would continue their online work of exposing corrupt Heroes in the meantime, but that would be all. The rest will be a project for a later date.
The war against the scum of society has begun, even if they don't know it yet.
Keigo POV, two days later
Flying over Fukuoka city was humbling. I stopped trying to count bodies within the first thirty seconds. Even with my Hawk-like eyesight, the destruction spanned as far as the eye could see.
A hundred thousand people were dead.
The Villain, Nine, was now declared an SS-ranked villain by the Hero Commission. Amusingly enough, the man was originally a B-ranked petty criminal, with his subordinates Chimera and Slice being ranked as A-tier. How he had managed to fly under the radar for years was a mystery.
Oh, how little we had known.
Fukuoka city was in ruins and would take years to be repaired. The humanitarian disaster was all over international news and relief efforts had already begun. A single villain had created the greatest loss of life that Japan has suffered since world war two.
Public faith in Heroes was crushed. While All might was the symbol of peace, he simply couldn't be everywhere at once. The Commission was doing its best to stop people from panicking but it just wasn't enough. There were riots in the streets in several cities, many demanding Nine's head. Unfortunately, the villain was too deep in hiding to be captured easily. I muse over my thoughts as I make my way further into the city.
I suddenly spot a rather distinctive figure crouched within a crater. I dive down and land alongside Endeavour, the man currently inspecting the once-liquified concrete at his feet. I give him a little wave.
"Hey fire man, what's up?"
Endeavour doesn't even bother to turn his head.
"Hawks."
I give him a moment to continue speaking. He doesn't. Ah, that's awkward. I clear my throat.
"Yep, that's me! Watcha looking at here?"
The number two Hero lets out an exasperated breath before standing. He turns to face me and crosses his arms.
"You know just as well as I what we are looking at. This is the scene of a battle, one between two extremely powerful individuals. Considering the amount of electrical damage here, I can only imagine that this is the scene where someone attempted to fight Nine."
The crater is large, probably about fifty metres in width, and half that in depth. Every building within the radius of several city blocks has been flattened. Clearly, the two involved in this battle were very much not playing around.
I let out a low whistle.
"Damn, a lot of power here. Any ideas as to who was fighting our villain?"
Endeavour starts walking up the edge of the crater. I float up into the air and hover by his side. After a solid minute of silence, the giant of a man begins talking.
"I can think of a few. None that are likely to have been in Fukuoka."
A man of few words.
I take the opportunity to fly upward and take a better look at the area. Everything was flat. There were dozens of massive craters littering the surface, most looked to be caused by lightning. Some of the buildings were clearly destroyed with just kinetic energy, however, lacking the distinct molten look that most had. Whatever happened here was definitely the centre of the conflict.
I continue to fly along until I spot something of interest. I fly back to the number two hero and give him a wave.
"Hey Endeavour, take a look!"
The man stomps over in the direction I am pointing. After a period of walking, he reaches the edge of a truly massive crater. I gesture to a small, circular island of intact soil set in the middle of the molten crater.
"Notice how there's a perfect circle of intact land right there? This soil looks burnt, I think someone with some kinda shield quirk was her. Nine was probably trying to cook them but wasn't able to get through. Whaddya think?"
Endeavour jumps into the crater and inspects the charred earth. He then makes his way to the central island and examines it as well. It's a perfect circle of land, maybe a dozen metres across. After several minutes of analysis, he turns toward me.
"This damage is consistent with Nine's electrical attacks. Someone with a forcefield quirk was standing here, and Nine attempted to kill them. I can't see any trails leading from here, so I can only imagine Nine chose to leave of his own accord."
But why would he choose to leave when he had his victims right where he wanted them? I tap my chin, deep in thought.
"Quirk overuse? Maybe he had no choice but to leave, he could have been seconds away from passing out. That would make sense to me at least."
Endeavour hums. It's the closest I have ever gotten to approval from the stoic Hero. After a moment, Endeavour adds his thoughts to the conversation.
"It brings into question why he was here at all. There is nothing in Fukuoka of importance to a villain, why would he choose to destroy this city? I would normally assume that trigger was involved, but if that were the case he wouldn't have had enough consciousness to leave of his own accord. Villains on trigger are unable to perform rational thought and simply attack everything around them. This doesn't add up."
A thought clicks into place.
"I think it was spontaneous. Maybe he was celebrating a victory, or just showing off to his new recruits. None of this seems planned, he wasn't striking anything specific nor was he even within the actual centre of the city. For all we know this is just the beginning, God forbid he does this In Tokyo."
The two of us wince at that. Public faith in Heroes was in a poor state as a result of this attack. Petty crime has skyrocketed in the past twenty-four hours. Unless Nine is captured or defeated quickly, it is unlikely to stop any time soon.
We can only hope that we can capture him soon.
Author note:
Wow, this chapter was really hard to write. I had to redo it several times and I ended up with this, I have to admit it's a bit chaotic. Also I swear to god formatting on this site is so annoying, it wont let me to do like proper empty lines and all the formatting looks wonky grrrrr.
PSA: I love reading reviews! Every time I read a review I get a sudden passion to write and immediately begin working on the story!
