Follow The Little Green Rabbit
Hello everyone and happy, belated, Fourth of July! I know this isn't fireworks or anything but perhaps you'd like to read the latest chapter of Hailstorm Vol. 2! And something that I'd definitely celebrate is y'all taking a moment to check out my Pat reon and maybe dropping a small donation or becoming a patron if you like what I do. Every little bit helps, as they say. For those wondering, yes, the chapter is a little late due to some holiday vacationing but it's here now and, with no guest review questions this week, let's dive on in!
Central Hospital
Clay blinked a couple times, doing his best to look confused at the inquiry. "You think I know what One For All is," Clay asked.
"Given your actions and, more importantly, your reaction upon hearing it over the radio, yes, we believe you have some idea what it is," Hawks informed.
"Mind humoring me on what those actions were," the cloud wielder requested, "I didn't think it was unusual for a guy to jump in and help out one of his oldest friends."
"Admittedly, and Endeavor did request the aid of any and all heroes who could move without touching the ground," Jeanist agreed, "but it was that loud swearing reaction you gave right before switching to a private channel that had us puzzled." 'FUUUUUUUCK,' Clay both recalled and shouted internally to himself. He'd lost his cool for a split second when he'd heard Shigaraki's voice mention One For All over the radio. With everything that had happened he'd hoped a single outburst like that would've been overlooked.
"Of course that alone wouldn't be enough to prove you know anything," Hawks admitted, "but your following actions of immediately switching to a private channel along with Midoriya and Bakugou, the former of whom contacted Endeavor along another private channel, are of definite note. But the most damning of all was your conversation with All For One through Shigaraki's body. You'll recall Ryukyu was there along with a few other heroes Todoroki had tended too. It was her most of all who was convinced you knew something."
The cloud wielder let out a long sigh. "That is pretty daming evidence right there," Clay rubbed the back of his head. He could play off some of the other stuff as just trying to help his friends but he'd basically admitted to All For One out in the open that he knew the secret of One For All. He couldn't lie his way out of this so there wasn't much choice but to try another approach. "Fine, yes, I know what One For All is."
"You do?!" Best Jeanist's normally stoic manner nearly broke in that instant. Apparently he wasn't expecting such an easy admittance.
"I've known for a little while now," Clay continued, "I learned about it during the sports festival and then heard the full story shortly after."
"Then you know why All For One wants it too?" Hawks questioned.
"It's a long story," the U.A. student answered, "and one that's not mine to tell."
"Then who's story is it to tell," Best Jeanist inquired while smoothing out his hair.
"Talk to All Might, or if he's not available talk to Gran Torino," Clay answered, "they can probably judge better than I can whether or not it's a good idea to let you guys in on the secret. What I can tell you is that if All For One gets his hands on One For All, we're almost certainly screwed."
Three Days Later: U.A. Heights Alliance
It didn't take long for everyone to be cleared and discharged from the hospital. Even some of the more injured pros were back on their feet which was good news considering the apparent thousands of prisoners that had been unleashed on the populace. That alone was keeping the heroes occupied but it wasn't the only problem. Detnerat, Re-Destro's company, had distributed support items to the country's populace some time before the raid on their headquarters claiming that it would help the people protect themselves.
That was only a half truth, however. Most of the users of the support items were inexperienced in combat and situational awareness, resulting in additional injuries and property damage. In short, it was a mess out in the cities. In stark contrast U.A. was surprisingly peaceful, at first. The effects of the prisonbreaks and societal unease became all too apparent, however, when a state of emergency was declared and U.A. became one of a number of shelters for housing civilians until the crisis was declared over.
Naturally with the loss of so many heroes during the assault on the Paranormal Liberation Front there were requests for aid intended to be sent out to other countries. Unfortunately it was gonna take forever thanks to the Safety Commission still being in a state of reorganization. Understandably, this made it a little frustrating for some of the U.A. students who were told to remain at the school for the time being. But the greatest irritation of all came when all of Class 1A discovered notes left on their doors by one student in particular.
"That absolute moron," Slade growled, crushing the glass he'd been drinking from in his higher density hand out of frustration as he finished reading the letter, "did he finally get hit hard enough on the head to develop amnesia or something?"
"Worse than amnesia," Ojiro commented with clear confusion in his voice, "he's not making any sense whatsoever in this note."
"I knew All Might seemed to give him a little special treatment," Jirou noted, "but what does he mean he received a power from him?"
"It means he felt everyone was owed at least a partial explanation for him running off," Clay sighed while crumpling up the letter, "thanks to some blabbermouth the media now knows the name One For All and that All For One is after it."
"Are you saying that Midoriya possesses this power known as One For All?" Todoroki questioned.
"It's none of your business," Bakugou retorted.
"But it is," Uraraka spoke up suddenly with some tears falling down her face, "Clay, Bakugou. If you know what's going on please tell us. Tell us why All For One's after Izuku, tell us why he felt he couldn't let us help him?!" The cloud wielder sighed once again before answering.
"Guess there's not really a lot of point in keeping it a secret anymore," He admitted, "yes, Midoriya possesses One For All." Bakugou just scoffed and threw his hands up in the air, muttering about the point of keeping secrets.
"Do you happen to know what it is?" Momo asked next, just as curious as everyone else.
"To put it simply One For All is a quirk, or rather a hybrid of two quirks," Slade responded, "one of those quirks is power compacting while the other is transmission. When Izuku says he received his quirk from All Might, he means the symbol of peace literally transmitted his own quirk to him."
"Wait you know about this too," Mineta exclaimed, "how many people are in on this secret? Come to think of it why is it a secret in the first place?!"
"Try paying attention," Clay spoke up, "as you just read in this letter All For One is after One For All. The reason being is that not only has it proven difficult to steal but the quirk has also proven powerful enough to bring him down twice. Adding on to that, the presence of a quirk that can be transmitted would definitely be of interest to some pretty shady groups and even groups that aren't so shady might still put the holder of One For All on an operating table to find out what makes it tick."
"And since these two morons have decided you have to know it's only the three of us," Bakugou indicated by pointing to himself, Clay and Slade, "Deku decided to tell me at the beginning of the year but I didn't figure it out until after the damn license exam. Stormy and Hard Ass over there have known since the sports festival."
"Midoriya's one of our oldest friends," Slade continued, "we kept up with him even when we were in America. The sudden spawning of a quirk, All Might's interest in him, a random blond scrawny guy he never mentioned hanging around. We just connected the dots and confronted All Might about his weak form. The two explained the rest to us after that."
"So you knew what was happening when he suddenly manifested other quirks," Uraraka asked.
"Not at first," the cloud wielder answered, "we were just as surprised as everyone else when he first used Black Whip. Now we know it's because the quirks of the previous wielders of One For All have awakened within Midoriya somehow."
"Back up!" Iida ordered while slicing the air with his hands in his trademark robotic fashion, "'previous users', so you mean to tell us All Might wasn't the first holder of One For All?"
"You know it'd probably be best if we backed up even further than that," Slade pointed out, "let's start from the beginning with the creation of One For All." He, Clay and occasionally Bakugou ran through it all then. The accidental birth of One For All within All For One's brother, how it was passed down from one holder to the next, how it grew in strength and power every time the torch was passed until it reached All Might and finally dealt a lethal blow to the world's greatest villain. Then they explained the injury All Might sustained in that same battle and his search for a successor to be the next symbol of peace.
Finally they got into the school year and explained the new developments with the quirk ever since it was passed to Izuku. Class 1A listened and absorbed all of this new information, their faces twisting to one degree or another with each new secret that was revealed. When it was over no one spoke for a few moments. It would be Uraraka who finally broke the silence.
"So Izuku was carrying this burden all this time," she almost whispered, "and now he thinks it's too dangerous for him to be around us anymore?"
"That's pretty much the long and short of it," Clay confirmed, "I didn't get a chance to talk to him before he left, which was likely by design, but he probably figures he's the only one who can stop All For One now and is trying to lead him out by being the bait."
"Which is a stupid fucking idea!" Bakugou exclaimed, "he would've been wasted in that last fight if Clay and I hadn't been there!"
"Given the fact that I'm actually agreeing with Bakugou should tell you all how bad the situation is," Slade added, "Midoriya's not thinking straight. If he took five minutes to really organize all the facts he'd know that All For One isn't coming back out until he's good and ready. The man spent years in hiding while manipulating things from behind the scenes and he's definitely gonna fall back on that for the time being."
"But with everything going on do you really think All Might would let him go out and look for All For One alone?" Tsuyu asked.
"All Might's known him long enough now to figure out it won't do any good trying to stop Midoriya," Clay replied, "it didn't stop him, or some of the rest of us, the last time they tried telling us to stay on the sidelines. If he decided to tell Hawks and Best Jeanist the full story then what they're likely doing right now is sticking close by Izuku, waiting for All For One to show up."
"Which is a stupid fucking idea!" Bakugou exclaimed again, "if that shady bastard could've been lured out so easily he would've been caught ages ago!"
"As was mentioned earlier," Slade sighed, "so, I guess the big question is what do you guys want to do now that you know the whole story?"
"I mean what can we do," Kaminari responded first, "a few of us could maybe sneak out and look for him without raising any red flags but what'll we do once we find him?"
"He's got a point," Kirishima admitted, "Midoriya might not seem like it, but he can be really stubborn when he wants to be. And while I really hate to admit this, he can kinda kick most of our asses in a straight up fight."
"As if, just let me go and I'll bring him back!" Bakugou interjected.
"He'd probably hear your explosions coming a mile away," Sero commented.
"And I'd really like it if Midoriya didn't come back barbecued," Mina added.
"Fine, we'll do it your way," the explosion user relented, "what's the plan?"
"I think," Uraraka began, "I think we all should go. Midoriya needs to know, he needs to hear it from all of us that we want him back. And we need to show him he doesn't need to worry."
"I doubt we can all sneak out," Iida continued with a hand on his chin, "we'll have to present our case to the principal. I've heard hero course students from Ketsubetsu have been allowed to patrol the streets and help with the evacuation of civilians. If we can convince Principal Nedzu that having Midoriya here is better than having him as bait out there I don't see him forcing us to stay here."
"We better bring our A-game then," Kirishima added, "it probably won't be easy to convince him to let us go with the shape things are in right now."
Some Time Later: Principal Nedzu's Office
"I approve," the large, mouse-like man said in his usual singsong voice from behind his desk, "feel free to set out whenever you're ready to bring Midoriya back to U.A." A lot of blinking and double taking occurred among the gathered members of Class 1A.
"Okay that was easy," Kaminari voiced the thought on everyone's mind.
"I suppose you expected I'd be resistant to the idea of sending students out into the city right now," the principal guessed, "a reasonable expectation given how hard we've worked to ensure the safety of all of you up to this point. But Izuku Midoriya is also a student of U.A. and we can't very well say we're doing our job if we let even one student go unprotected. As for why I'm allowing Class 1A to handle the task I believe wholeheartedly that you, his friends, are about the only ones who can bring him back right now."
"I guess we were nervous over nothing," Jirou sighed, "sorry you didn't get to make a big speech, Iida."
"It's completely fine, so long as we can go find Midoriya it's absolutely fine," he replied, failing to hide his teary eyes. 'I practiced it and everything,' he moped.
"So our next step is coming up with a plan," Clay spoke up, "it's going to have to be flexible because we've got no idea where in the city we're going to find him. Then, of course, there's the actual finding him part."
"We'll just go where the biggest villains are popping up," Slade pointed out, "Izuku can't ignore the possibility that it might be All For One showing up so that's likely where he'll be."
"That still leaves the whole city," Todoroki informed, "since my old man, Hawks and Best Jeanist aren't answering any of our calls we're basically on our own."
"Don't worry," Shoji spoke up while forming some eyes and ears on his dupli-arms, "we have plenty of options for reconnaissance and information gathering. If we start with the most recent big villain attack and go from there we should at least find some clues."
"As good a way to start as any," Ojiro acknowledged.
"Then it's settled," Uraraka declared with her fist clenched in determination, "we get ready for a fight, and then we go find Deku."
The Next Day: Musufatu
It was like being in one of those zombie movies. The once bustling city which had always seemed a little too crowded in some places and a little noisy in others was for the first time in Clay's memory devoid of both people and most sounds of civilization. Adding on to that was the amount of damaged property, stores, and even buildings he passed while trying to find traces of his friend. 'Guess even with all the reports it just doesn't hit sometimes until you see it for yourself,' he mused.
Class 1A had split up into groups designed with a decent balance of combat strength and search capability. An idea which quickly showed merit once they encountered a second unpleasant element besides released inmates running loose, opportunistic looters. It annoyed Clay and many members of Class 1A to no end how some people took advantage of bad situations to commit crimes so they were naturally quite happy to turn such individuals over to the police whenever they encountered them. The cloud wielder himself already stopped counting how many he'd encountered and captured.
"Clay," Jirou's voice sounded over his earpiece, "we're wrapping up our patrol of this section of the city."
"Any leads," he asked while ascending higher into the air to get a better view of the area.
"He's been through here," Jirou confirmed, "but he's been moving fast. Most people have only caught a glimpse of which way he's going."
"It's no surprise his movement would be erratic," Clay acknowledged, "villains are everywhere right now and the big ones pop up whenever and wherever they please. The best we can do right now is establish a general area and try to close in on him."
"If we're lucky we'll run into Endeavor or one of the other heroes," Momo chimed in on the same line, "according to the principal they undoubtedly have some sort of tracking device in case communications get cut."
"That's the least of the measures they've taken, I hope," The cloud wielder stated, "all it should require is just one of us finding them and the rest should fall into place."
"Just remember to be careful out there too, Clay," Mina's voice came over his earpiece, "I still hate the idea that you're the only one of us patrolling out there alone."
"Blame me being stubborn," he replied before a window suddenly burst open and a woman with razors for hair came leaping at him. Clay raised his hand and blasted her against the wall with a small mass of his clouds, only giving her a cursory glance while continuing the conversation. "And the fact that I move at my fastest by myself. Like I said I could carry a couple of you but it would slow down our progress and make us easier to spot."
"I know," Mina huffed, "it really is like we're chasing a little green rabbit now. He'll hop away if we give him the chance."
"Don't worry," Clay assured, "we planned for that so just focus on finding him. Best case scenario he'll see reason and we won't have to get rough at all."
"I'm the one who's supposed to be saying positive stuff like that," the pink girl commented, "so what are we waiting for, let's get back to it!"
"You got it," Clay responded before getting off the line and finally looking at the struggling criminal, "now then, I believe there was a police patrol just a block or two away from here." And it barely took five minutes to get the criminal dropped off with them before he resumed searching this part of town. 'Gotta think,' he pondered, 'where might a major villain or two show up?' An image of All Might flashed in his head then.
'The statue in the park,' he recalled, 'not exactly a lead but it's another place to look if nothing else.' With that in mind, Clay sped over to one of the more famous landmarks in the city. It was a statue of All Might in is heavily muscled form with one arm raised triumphantly in the air. The symbol of peace probably never asked for a statue in his honor but no doubt the city wanted to honor him in some way and decided a sculpture would do.
Unfortunately, it appeared that the statue no longer inspired hope for some people if the sign hanging around the statue's neck reading 'I am not here' was anything to go by. 'What sort of pricks risk their own safety just to hang a cynical sign on a statue?' It was always possible a villain was responsible but the ones he'd run into so far were more interested in robbery, assault and property destruction. Either way the sight of it still bothered the U.A. student who decided to head down and remove it.
When he got close he noticed he wasn't the only one present. A woman was approaching the statue, a civilian. 'Now what's this about,' he wondered, stopping to hover in the air for a bit. He noticed the unknown woman had brought a few small cleaning supplies but no ladder. Something that proved no hindrance at all once the woman got to the base of the statue and suddenly formed a large snowball beneath her feet to raise herself up to the statue's height.
Clay couldn't hear if she said anything but in the next instant she'd taken the sign off of the statue and tossed it to the ground before going to work cleaning up the statue. 'Good to see there are people holding onto hope,' the cloud wielder couldn't help but smile a bit under his mask before noticing more movement a little ways away. It was a group of about four people who didn't appear to have friendly intentions, or so Clay thought as he moved in close enough to hear without being seen. "Hey, you're the one who keeps taking down the sign, aren't you?" The lead man questioned.
"I am," the woman answered, "it's an eyesore and it's disrespectful."
"No shit," one of the other thugs commented, "that's why we put it up there. Now that All Might's gone everything's a mess and people need to stop pretending the heroes are gonna save anyone."
"All Might isn't gone," the snow woman declared, "he lives and he's passing his teachings on to others. Things might be bad now but they aren't hopeless, so stop trying to upset people with childish pranks."
"Oh, you think we're coming out here for the fun of it," the lead thug questioned while stepping forward, "we're getting the message out. People need to wake up, the only ones we can depend on is ourselves. The heroes don't care about us, if they did we wouldn't be having these problems right now. So we're gonna ask nicely once: stop cleaning the statue and let it rot like the rest of hero society."
"And if I refuse," she asked without an ounce of fear in her voice.
"Guess you'll have to learn the hard way," the lead thug replied as the four of them spread out, "'cause no one's gonna come to your res-THUD." He was cut off by the sight of Clay landing in between them and the woman. "Who the fuck?"
"Cloud warrior Cirrus," he introduced simply, "provisionally licensed hero and student of U.A."
"Hey, I think I recognize him," the third thug spoke up, "he's one of those Class 1A brats."
"And I'm not in the greatest of moods," Clay informed, "so if you don't want me taking my personal frustrations out on the four of you, leave the lady be."
"Ha, this ain't a class kid," the lead thug responded, "this is the real world out here!" That was his first and last mistake. The moment he took a threatening step forward Clay used the clouds in his costume to leap forward from a standing position and slam him in the head with a powerful roundhouse kick. The other thugs hardly had a chance to react before he rushed forward and jammed his fist into the next thug's solar plexus, causing him to double over in pain before being knocked to the ground by Clay's follow up left hook to the face. By this point the other two thugs had shaken off their surprise and came at him from either side.
The U.A. student upper-cutted the closest one, floating quickly into the air with the strike before flipping around to avoid the final thug's flailing arms then coming back and kneeing his original target in the face. He finished it by kicking off the final thug and floating back over to his original spot between them and the snow woman. "And just so you know," Clay informed while producing a small number of clouds that took on shapes like clubs, claws, fists and swords, "that was me barely using my quirk. Continue to waste my or anyone else's time with juvenile vandalism and you'll see just how many ways I can break you without even lifting a finger."
The injured group seemed to understand his threat and quickly made their retreat with one final order of 'leave' from the cloud wielder. Clay let out a breath as soon as the unruly thugs were out of sight, dispersing his clouds before turning to the woman. "Sorry about that," he apologized, "I'm usually a bit more professional."
"It's alright," the woman assured, "they were bound to run into trouble at some point. Lucky for them they ran into you instead of one of the escaped convicts."
"Something I'd like to prevent happening to as many people as I can," Clay responded, "speaking of which, you should probably be getting to one of the shelters as soon as you can."
"The one I'm staying at isn't far," she informed, "but I'd like to finish cleaning the statue before I go. Would you be able to stay here just a bit longer?" Before Clay could answer the sound of thunder rumbled in the sky above. 'About time,' he mused, 'it's been looking cloudy for the last few days now.' He quickly conjured a couple of clouds to cover both himself, the woman and the statue.
"I don't suppose there's any harm in me taking a break for a moment," he answered, "heck the whole reason I'm out here is to get someone else to take a break."
"Is your friend a hero too," the snow woman asked while working on the statue.
"He is," Clay answered, "and possibly the biggest All Might fanboy in existence. He'll be happy to hear that someone's taking care of this statue."
"It's the least I can do," she said, "I was actually there at his final battle, the one in Kamino Ward when he was fighting that awful villain, All For one."
"You too, huh," Clay commented, "yeah I guess after seeing something like that other stuff wouldn't be all that scary in comparison."
"You were also in Kamino Ward when that happened," the woman questioned with a mild hint of surprise.
"It's a long, convoluted story but I did wind up in the area when all of that was going down," the cloud wielder admitted, "how about you? It sounds like you were pretty close to the action."
"Possibly less than a hundred feet," she revealed, "I was pinned by rubble so the only one standing between me and the end of my life was All Might. I'd never been so terrified, seeing him in that weakened state. But I held out hope, I didn't know what else to do. And he did it, against all odds he beat that monster. So even if things are looking bad now, I'll continue to believe in All Might and all the people he believes in."
"Appreciate it," Clay meant it too. At a time where it seemed like the heroes were being blamed left and right for things which might or might not have been in their control, it was good to see some people still trusted them to get the job done. If nothing else it did wonders for his mood as the woman finished up her work and Clay escorted her back to the shelter she was staying at. And even despite the rain he couldn't help but feel that things were gonna turn back in their favor to at least some degree.
And as if the universe felt like throwing him some kind of bone, Clay spotted a figure stumbling on top of a building into what used to be a hotel penthouse. He dropped down onto the roof and moved into the slightly open door cautiously. The sound that greeted his ears was that of ragged breathing. Expecting the possibility of a trap, Clay formed a cloud kite shield on his left arm and moved the rest of the way into the penthouse. The source of the ragged breathing whirled around as best they could, given they were leaning against the back of a couch, and held up their right hand.
But whatever kind of quirk that was supposed to be only came out bent and misshapen, resembling a broken rifle barrel. 'A rifle in a right hand,' Clay thought as he moved to get a closer look at the stranger. Turned out she was a woman with neck length hair that was possibly multi-colored and a type of sleeveless combat outfit. But it was her face that really caught his attention. He'd seen this woman's face and quirk before.
"I know you," he realized, "you're an ex-hero. Kaina Tsutsumi, formerly the sniper hero, Lady Nagant."
Has the universe thrown Clay a bone or has it found another way to screw with him? We'll see what Lady Nagant has to say about that in the next chapter, 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. Also check out my Pat reon and see if you'd like to become a patron to help my writings along. Finally, stop in next time as our hero is confronted with the truth of a fallen hero! 'Til then.