American Muscle
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Hailstorm Vol. 2! Now I'll be straight with everyone, my writing has taken off a little and gotten me a few commissions. Unfortunately, I've filled up my schedule with said commissions, meaning a lot less time to update this story, so as much as I'd like too I can't promise a consistent update schedule right now. Of course, with enough support on Pat reon I'd be able to turn this sort of thing into my job and have a lot more time to update my stories, but I digress. The good news is the chapter is here now and I want everyone to know I plan on finishing this fic now that My Hero Academia itself has come to an end. With that in mind, on to the story!
Hidden Cave: League Of Villains Current Hideout
"So," Chimera spoke up, looking over at his boss who was seated in a stone chair with his life support system attached to it, surrounded by the remaining Nomu, "is there a problem we need to worry about?" The maneater was currently relaxing in a makeshift hammock that he fashioned from some ropes and blankets he found while looting around the city for supplies, and people to consume.
"Now what would ever make you say that," All For One gave a toothy grin as his eyeless gaze settled on one of his more trusted confidants, "with the jailbreakers going wild to their hearts content, the police and heroes are too busy to conduct a proper search for us. Moreover, Shigaraki's body is close to fully synchronizing with mine. All we need is a bit more time, so I'm curious, what's prompted such a thought?"
"When you looked at the ceiling suddenly," he pointed upwards, "you looked like you just came to a realization."
"Ah, you've come to know my habits so well, Chimera," the villain gave an amused expression, "Indeed, there is one obstacle to our goal right now that we need to remove."
"Which goal are we talking," the cannibal decided to ask for clarification, "we're obviously set on the hide-and-seek bit, so is this problem going to affect the midterm goal of acquiring One For All, or the long term goal, where you become a Demon King?"
"It affects the midterm goal, but that invariably affects the long-term goal as well," All For One clarified.
"What are you two even talking about," Spinner was sitting on one of the many nearby wooden crates in the cavern.
"Surely you've wondered by now," the faceless man held up a finger, "why we continue to remain in Japan despite the obvious risk it poses? Put simply, it's the most convenient place for us to be right now as our biggest obstacle, and biggest chance, will be arriving soon."
"And what's our big chance," the lizardman asked with a stern look.
"Star And Stripe," All For One answered, "you've no doubt heard of her. She is the top hero of the land of the free, the birthplace of heroes, and said by many to be the strongest woman in the world."
"That's clearly an obstacle," Spinner pointed out, "are you worried she's going to come here?"
"He's counting on it," Chimera spoke up while rolling an eyeball between his fingers. Naturally the Stain-themed villain didn't ask where he got it. "Star And Stripe's quirk is a well-kept secret but the fact she stands on top means it's undoubtedly powerful. If we can acquire that quirk," he tossed the eyeball into his mouth, "we'll basically be set here."
"And what makes you think she's the only one to worry about," Spinner asked in concern.
"Because I made sure to prevent as much interference as possible," All For One held up his hands, "you see, what's happening right now isn't just limited to Japan. I have many friends in numerous countries, some of whom are part of large criminal organizations. Acting on my orders, they've been causing chaos all around the world, forcing the other nations who could provide aid to Japan to weigh their options. But one thing not everyone knows about Star And Stripe is that she was mentored by All Might and won't suffer anyone getting in her way to help him in his hour of need."
"But what if you can't steal her quirk," the lizardman asked the logical question.
"That's the one drawback to this plan," the villain leader clenched his fists despite smiling, "it's a gamble. Even with Shigaraki far closer to completion the chance still exists that he won't be powerful enough to face Star And Stripe. It will be a setback that won't be easy to recover from, which is why I'll be sending you, Chimera, as backup."
"I'll admit," he hopped out of the hammock and landed nimbly on one of the boxes, "it has been a while since I've taken a bite out of a foreigner."
"It's possible you won't get a taste of anything," All For One continued to smile, "but you'll be on hand in case the tide turns against Tomura. It's embarrassing to admit but even now he doesn't possess a flying quirk."
"Quite the oversight on the Doctor's part, not putting that in sooner," Chimera snorted before growing his signature bat-like wings, "but we can fix that soon enough. For now, let's go deal with our biggest potential problem from overseas."
The Next Day: U.A. Heights Alliance
It was truly amazing how peaceful things seemed to be on the inside of U.A.'s giant steel walls now. Ever since the civilians who'd taken shelter at the school had accepted Midoriya's presence and the risk it carried, they'd had few complaints about the state of things. Clay, for his part, found he wasn't filled with as much trepidation as expected. Probably another symptom of once again facing down the world's most dangerous villain and even fighting him this time.
No, he wasn't all that frightened about the future, which is probably why Jirou and Mina had sought him out last night. Glancing on either side of him, he found the two girls were still asleep, the looks on their faces quite peaceful and yes, admittedly cute. He recalled there'd been need for him to make a choice between the two at one point, but the longer the current conflict drew on, the more he found he didn't want to let either girl go. 'I wonder if we should sleep in late just once,' Clay mused.
It was a question which would answer itself when Jirou suddenly started stirring, her incredible hearing no doubt picking up the subtle sounds of him waking up. "Is it morning already," she asked with a yawn as her eyes opened.
"Afraid so," the cloud wielder smiled lightly, "and as much as I hate to say it, we should all probably get up before Iida tries kicking down our door."
"If he does," Mina commented sleepily with her eyes still closed, "we can always get him back during training. I think it's our turn to throw attacks at him while he dodges."
"Hate to point this out, but you still need to get out of bed to do that," Clay reminded, "so it looks like we need to get up, either way." He received a couple of groans in answer while shifting to get out of the bed. Naturally, this meant the girls had to get up too so he wouldn't have to climb over them. The trio had to stagger their times leaving his room, not that anyone would really care about some of the girls being on the boy's level and vice versa at this point in time, but it was better not to raise a bunch of questions so early in the morning. Clay was the last to leave but wasn't the last to arrive in the common room.
"Oh, good morning Clay," Midoriya greeted as he also entered the common room.
"Hey Midoriya," the cloud wielder grunted while stretching, "how ya feeling today?"
"Still sore from yesterday's training," he rubbed his neck to indicate one of said sore spots, "but I'm a lot better than I've been in the last week."
"Good to hear," Slade spoke up as he entered the room, "you looked like the world's most dangerous, and ragged, rabbit man for a bit. Ironically, I get the feeling Mirko would've liked seeing you that way."
"Speaking of which," Momo poked her head out from behind Slade, "have she and the other heroes recovered?"
"They were doing better last I heard from Uncle," Clay checked his phone, "I'll ask him about it a bit later today." The group would've said more but All Might suddenly burst through the door.
"Is everyone awake right now?!" He asked frantically between breaths.
"They should be soon, why," Midoriya tilted his head in confusion.
"We had an incident yesterday," the former hero relayed, "it was Star And Stripe." Now he had their attention as he began to recount what had happened the day before.
A Day Earlier: Off The Coast of Japan
Chimera let out a whistle at the sight before him. Tomura Shigaraki, now clad in a ragged red cape and a suit, stood on top of a winged Nomu facing a squad of specialized planes known as X-66s that resembled spirit stealth bombers. But it was the person who stood atop the lead fighter across from the villain that was the real threat: A tall woman with a massive muscular frame resembling All Might's. She was clad in blue and white tights with a gold stomach plate and gold bands on her arms and legs.
A red and white cape resembling the American flag billowed behind her as her long blond hair swayed in the wind, save for the antennae that also resembled All Might's. This was Cathleen Bate, better known as the greatest hero in America: Star And Stripe! 'Her quirk is a closely guarded secret by the U.S. government,' Chimera recalled, 'but even despite their best efforts we know it involves her making physical contact with something.' A chance Tomura didn't intend to give her as he made the first move, blasting off a combination of Radio Waves, Air Cannon, and Heavy Payload into one of his favorite signature attacks, an electrified shockwave.
The fighters were forced to scatter and Star was dropped temporarily. She quickly recovered by landing on another jet and activating her quirk, declaring that the air a hundred meters in front of her would cease to exist. A star-shaped vacuum formed around Tomura then, causing him to gasp for breath as there was no longer any air to breathe. Both he and the Nomu fell as the jets surrounded him using a specialized hover feature and opened fire with concentrated yellow lasers.
The villain countered with two more quirks, Reflect and Scatter, allowing him to send the lasers flying back out in all directions. Again the fighters dispersed, save for the one with Cathleen Bates which remained as she called upon her quirk to catch and hold the laser. Strangely, the vacuum around Tomura disappeared at that moment. 'I'm starting to understand,' Chimera smirked, 'Star And Stripe's quirk, New Order, seems quite powerful at first but it comes with several limitations.' It seemed she required to not only touch something but call out its name.
Once she did that, her quirk allowed her to impose a new rule on the named object or person she was touching. But it seemed there was a limit to how many rules she could impose and how they applied. Which might explain what happened next as she knocked Tomura into two planes that acted as a platform to allow her to pin him. But when she gave a rule, it didn't work on the villain who sent her flying with his shockwave combination.
'Tomura was saying the whole trip over here how he wasn't sure who he was,' Chimera recalled while still hovering a safe distance away, 'it's an odd turn of events but welcome. As long as Shigaraki is stuck in that state of not being entirely himself or All For One, New Order won't work because neither name is accurate at this point in time.' The cannibal found himself wondering who was currently in charge of the body of Tomura Shigaraki. It would be a question for later as the villain was tossed off the planes and back onto the flying Nomu.
That's when Star did something that made Chimera's eyes widen. She imposed a rule that hardened the air in front of her into a shape a thousand times her size. The cannibal wasn't sure if he was seeing it right, but it was almost as if a titan-sized version of Star And Stripe had been summoned. This was further supported when Tomura was sent flying by a massive invisible fist.
He was then swatted in between those giant hands before the jets fired more lasers that Star gathered into an enormous spear that she used to force Shigaraki into the ground. The energy output was so intense that the water was being pushed away and solid ground was actually visible underneath. "Okay, now I see how she got her title," Chimera remarked while shielding his eyes. This was starting to become a problem.
Thanks to the power of super regeneration granted to him by All For One, Tomura could withstand this onslaught for an unprecedented amount of time. The problem was he couldn't move, making the fight a stalemate. 'I wonder if now's the time for me to intervene,' the cannibal mused, already running the numbers in his head. He just needed to take out the jet Star was on and that would probably distract her enough to end the attack.
The trick would be getting through the other fighters. Too bad for them, such craft were designed for medium to long range combat and could do basically nothing against a powerful close-range opponent. So he analyzed the formation and flew downwards. 'Given our position, their radars shouldn't detect something right beneath them,' Chimera surmised.
As he dove, however, he noticed something in the distance coming on his right. "Don't tell me," The maneater reversed direction, "I should've known." It was a small collection of missiles, half a dozen or so, heading straight for them. Chimera could try intercepting them but that would be nothing but a bad idea.
Not only were they coming fast and he had the jets to worry about, there was also no way the U.S. would send regular missiles to take out the successor of All For One. This meant being anywhere near the blast radius would be a death sentence! And as if the universe was trying to tell him his instincts were right, Star And Stripe released the massive laser sword her construct had been holding and reached out for the missiles. The jets moved in and fired their lasers once more.
The figure trying to escape in that small window was blasted by the yellow beams, halting their momentum as the American Hero spun and redirected the missiles at her target. It was the State-Of-The-Art Hypersonic Intercontinental Cruise Punch! And its impact was massive. As soon as it hit, Chimera felt the blast wave send him soaring much faster through the air as he wrapped his wings and his hardest armor around his body. If he could see right now, he would've sworn at the size of the mushroom cloud that leapt up from the sea with such tremendous force it caused the clouds in the sky to open up.
It took several moments for the villain to reorient himself and regain altitude. "Damn, they really pulled out all the stops," Chimera breathed out, dropping the armored plating from his body that had gotten burnt by the blast, "is it over?" His answer would come in another few moments as a figure shot out of the hole that had been created in the water before it filled back up completely. For obvious reasons nearly everyone present was surprised.
'I see,' the cannibal smirked, 'that shape I saw flight out was the Nomu. Shigaraki must've buried himself in the ground to avoid the majority of the impact.' Considering his regenerating body looked like charbroiled meat, he must've pulled his move right before the missiles went off. Now as the planes scrambled to get back into formation, the villain reached out his hand and activated the self-destruct quirk which had been implanted in the falling Nomu. The resulting blast was enough to scatter the fighters while Chimera decided now was as good a time as any to make a move.
While the planes were still in disarray, Star And Stripe had no platform to stand on and was quickly descending towards the sea. Shigaraki, on the other hand, was able to jump off the planes one after the other in order to reach the American Hero. Naturally, she had no intention of giving up and moved the mass formation of hardened air in an attempt to swat away the quickly approaching threat. As she moved, however, the hero felt the pain of several teeth biting into her back.
"A pleasure to meet you in person, Star," Chimera greeted as she turned to glance at him in surprise, "you didn't think you were the only one who brought a little backup, did you?" He released the gaping maw he had digging into her back in order to avoid the swing of her fist, smiling all the while. It was only a moment, but that was all Shigaraki needed. As the hero turned back to face her foe, the vessel of All For One clamped his hand around her face.
Red light flashed then. Chimera could barely hear it, but he was certain Cathleen Bate had attempted to stop her body from decaying with a rule. The problem was, she couldn't stop her quirk from getting stolen and fortify her body at the same time since her power appeared to require a declaration. That's why, when Tomura pulled his hand away, not only did he successfully steal the quirk, New Order, he also succeeded in causing her body to decay.
"New Order!" Shigaraki declared, already trying out his new quirk, "the air will-." He stopped suddenly then, as if there was some sort of problem. The issue became obvious then as his body suddenly started spasming and small explosions of red light kept appearing, blowing off parts of his skin.
"What the fuck," Chimera changed the direction of his flight back towards his secondary boss. 'Looking at things from here,' the villain analyzed, 'it almost looks like he's getting his ass whooped by an invisible force. No, that's not quite accurate. It's more correct to say he's getting the piss beaten out of him from the inside!' They'd miscalculated.
Because of the way she'd been calling out rules, it had been assumed she needed a verbal command to activate her quirk. But that wasn't the case. Before Tomura had stolen her quirk, Star And Stripe had made a rule, and now her quirk was fighting inside of All For One's future vessel, trying to tear it apart. "Damn, should've known that was too easy," the cannibal cursed before flying in and snatching Shigaraki by his ankle.
Naturally, the fighter pilots wouldn't just let them escape and chased after him, firing their lasers. Chimera veered left and right as he flew, feeling the heat every time one of the beams got close to hitting him. 'This is bad,' he grit his teeth, 'we planned for the possibility of losing but we didn't plan for what might happen if an absorbed quirk went haywire. Even with my shapeshifting abilities I'm not built for outrunning state of the art fighters.'
It was an almost worst-case scenario. The worst possible scenario, of course, being New Order and One For All working together. But Shigaraki being torn apart by a quirk and leaving All For One with no replacement body was pretty high up on the list of things they didn't want to happen. 'I need to get back to the hideout fast,' Chimera grimaced as one of the lasers singed his wing, 'the boss might be able to stop what's happening!' Amazingly, Tomura managed to get enough movement in his arm to fire off his air cannon radio wave attack, pushing their pursuers away.
"Still got some life left in you after all," Chimera remarked as he did his best to pick up speed and put some distance between them and the planes, "don't worry, once we get to the city they won't be able to follow us."
"I have," Shigaraki wheezed, "I have to give….this quirk to…..someone."
"In that case," the cannibal grinned, "I know just where to start looking."
Several Minutes Later: Formerly Occupied Home
"There's nothing on the TV," a woman with long red hair in pigtails whined as she flipped through the currently dead channels with the remote while sitting on the kitchen table. Because she'd been trying to relax she was dressed in only a black sports bra and shorts along with detached black sleeves.
"What did you expect," her companion, an orange-haired man in a white long-sleeved shirt and green pants asked, "everyone at the stations has been evacuated. But at least the water and electricity is still running. Distribution might be dead but they've left the necessities." He took a drag from his cigarette then, "after finally getting out of the slammer those idiots are going crazy in the city while the wise ones like me are starting a second life in the country."
Sure, he was a convicted robber and murderer who got caught before, but the heroes were stretched too thin to come out this far. Or so he thought until the wall suddenly burst open, throwing him and his companion to the floor along with the table and chairs. "What the shit," the criminal looked up to see two figures entering. One had wings and monster claws along with a black outfit sporting centipede decorations.
But it was the other figure, a shirtless man with long, ratty white hair and a torn up looking body that gave him a monstrous visage who really terrified the jailbreaker. "You two aren't heroes," the woman squeaked as they cowered back towards the other wall, "are you ghosts?"
"I think monsters might be a more appropriate term here," Chimera smirked maliciously, "now if you don't mind, we need to borrow one of you." Shigaraki made his choice and lunged forward, clamping his hand onto the orange-haired man's face. The criminal's cries of pain were muffled as Tomura stole his quirk, intending on implanting New Order into him as a way to store it for later. However, something went wrong.
As the Decay User let go, the man was nothing more than a withered husk. Tomura collapsed to his knees then. "That damn woman," he growled, "the rule she imposed destroyed the quirk upon transfer. New Order is gone."
"So our only prize is getting Star And Stripe out of the way," Chimera remarked as he produced a lion maw from his back to chomp off the head of the now deceased criminal, "and a snack for me." His gaze shifted to the trembling woman then. "Oh yeah, what should we do with her?"
"I don't care as long as you do it quickly so we can get back to the hideout," Shigaraki growled between heavy breaths, "my body needs to heal and I need to take stock of my remaining quirks."
"Please, don't hurt me," the red-haired woman begged, "I'll do anything."
"Anything," the Flesh Beast Villain flashed a hungry smile.
The Present: U.A. Heights Alliance
"And naturally the search that was launched immediately after failed to find either Shigaraki or Chimera," Clay crossed his arms and let out a breath, "do we want to know how the other nations have responded to this?"
"Word's been spreading around the world," All Might somberly relayed, "the other countries have decided to pull back any heroes they were planning to send here. The prevailing thought being that if Star And Stripe, the possibly strongest hero in the world, couldn't win, then the other heroes probably can't win either. In this day and age, countries depend on heroes to protect them nearly as much as their own militaries and losing them is equivalent to leaving themselves vulnerable."
"Even though the biggest threat to all of their countries is right here," Slade narrowed his eyes, "so is there any good news from all of this?"
"The pilots who assisted Star were recording all the data they could during the fight," the former hero perked up slightly, "Cassie's death was not in vain. According to our data Shigaraki's body should've been completed tomorrow, but the internal damage he incurred during the battle has extended that time to one week. We also believe a good number of the quirks he possessed before were destroyed by New Order."
"So right now, is our best chance," Jirou voiced the thoughts on everyone's mind.
"That's right," All Might nodded, "we need to use this time efficiently to better prep for defeating Shigaraki and All For One. We'll also continue to evacuate civilians while the other heroes continue to search for the League Of Villains. Although we don't know how a seriously injured Shigaraki will act, one fact is certain. Whether we find them or not it's going to be an all-out war, so use this extension Star has given us to become as strong as you can."
"What do you think we've been doing this whole time?!" Bakugou yelled in annoyance. All Might raised a confused eyebrow.
"You left with Deku so I guess you wouldn't know," Uraraka decided to explain.
"Ever since the Jaku City and Gunga Mountain battle, we've continued the intensive training we did with the Pussycats," Ojiro flexed his arm for emphasis, "at least as much as we're able to while in the dorms."
"We said before that we intend to fight Shigaraki and All For One with Midoriya," Tokoyami continued, "that holds true, even now."
"Kacchan and the others said they'd spare with me to help complete One For-," Midoriya started to say before being interrupted by Bakugou.
"What?! I didn't say that," he yelled, "did those jailbreakers break your ears off?!" The explosion boy was silenced as Slade put a hand on his face and pushed him back.
"You may not have but we did," the density shifter pointed out, "we all intend to show him what we're capable of."
"And now we have another reason to take those bastards down," Clay clenched his fist, "to carry on Star's legacy, and the legacy of every hero who worked to end this nightmare." All Might couldn't help but smile at Class 1A's determination. They'd come a long, long way from their first days at U.A. High. The class had become strong, and the time would soon arrive for them to demonstrate the full might of that strength in the battle to come.
And so, one of the mightiest heroes has fallen, but Class 1A will not let it deter them. Instead, it's yet another reason that spurs them on to become better in preparation for the war ahead! But it'll still be a little bit before we get to that so in the meantime feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters! And as usual you can find news and other updates on my Pat reon. Stop in next time as our heroes continuing improving, while also making a horrifying discovery. 'Til then.