And we're back with another chapter of "Through the Rough"! Things are really picking up as we're finally about to get into some action in this arc! But before we begin, I'd like to extend my gratitude to you all.
Currently, this story is my most-reviewed one on the site. And it'll likely remain that way for a long time. So I want to thank you all for reading and supporting this story! It'll continue on as long as it needs to, hopefully with longer chapters, too!
Anyways, it's time to start the raid mission for real!
"Hey, Mister Justice?" Shiki said as he ran alongside the Interstellar Hero through the halls with Kris, getting his attention, "I thought you said we'd be going in together with Weisz and Laguna..." he recalled before they turned a corner.
"Some Quirks don't work well in large groups," his mentor replied, "Eraser's in particular can be quite dangerous," he pointed out to the Satan Gravity Quirk user's confusion as he blinked.
"Why?" he inquired.
"As someone who wants to be a hero, you should make sure to not only know the Quirks of the villains you face, but the heroes you fight with," Justice explained as an answer, "Compatibility is key for any aspiring hero," he mentioned seriously.
"Knowing Eraser's Quirk, he's a double-edged sword..." Kris chimed in, getting their attentions, "Arsenal could be one, too..." he added while narrowing his eyes.
"I'm sure they'll be fine," Justice affirmed in response, "Right now..." he continued as blue lines of energy started to appear upon his face, going over his right eye and making his white hair turn blue, "our job is to save Hermit," he stated firmly. Rounding another corner, he and his interns widened their eyes in shock. Ahead of them were dozens of Nomu, though many of them had mechanical pieces upon their bodies. All of them were grey as well.
"Those... are Nomu?!" Kris inquired in shock.
"We gotta take 'em down!" Shiki declared as his green-glowing markings appeared along his arms. However, Justice gestured for them to stand back, holding his right arm out. He took a deep breath, getting into a lunging stance. A cloak of bright blue energy shrouded his body.
"Meteor," he uttered, instantly speeding forward and tearing through the Nomu before they could even react, making pieces of their dismembered bodies fly about. Shiki and Kris looked on in disbelief as their mentor continued to assault their enemies without relenting. Before too long, he had taken them all down as he landed at the end of the hall. "There's a reason we invited you along on this mission," he noted to his interns, "I knew you wouldn't go and slow us down," he said.
"Whoa..." Shiki uttered in amazement.
'So this is the power of the Number Three Hero in action...' Kris noted inwardly, 'I wonder just how strong the others of the IUA are...' he said through his thoughts. Elsewhere in the building, Weisz quickly fired off rubber bullets from his rifle towards the dozen of Nomu. He grimaced as they harmlessly bounced off of them.
"Damn, I need live rounds for these damn things..." he muttered out.
"So these are the monsters that attacked Hosu, huh?" Laguna remarked while making waves of water surge up and knock back a few of the Nomu, "They really are disgusting..." he muttered out, glancing over to the Machina Maker Quirk user, "Hey, you gonna use that damn suit of yours already?" he inquired.
"Would you just shut up and keep 'em back?!" Weisz shouted in response, "You said it yourself..." he grumbled, "I can't use it for very long and I'll drain myself if I do..." he noted out of frustration, "Let's just keep these guys back long enough for-!"
"Well done, you two," Eraser's voice chimed in, getting their attentions, "My power's fully charged now," he told them as blue-glowing markings appeared around his left eye, while his dark hair turned completely white. As the Nomu charged forward, he merely waved his right hand across as a white light flowed off of it. In that very instant, every single Nomu in the hall disappeared, with only a few parts of their bodies remaining as they plopped onto the floor lifelessly.
"THE HELL?!" Weisz yelped, while Laguna actually found himself sweating a little.
"So Justice was right..." the I.U.A. Hero realized, letting off a small grin, "The League is involved in this operation..." he concluded.
Hero Name: Eraser! Quirk: Erase!
By just waving his hand out before a target, he can erase it completely from existence! However, he requires five minutes to charge up this power and can only use it for sixty seconds at a time.
"I tend to hold myself back when it comes to fighting normal opponents, so this is perfect for me," he pointed out before continuing onward.
"Yikes..." Weisz uttered out, grimacing a little.
"Hey, don't get spaced out," Laguna insisted, getting his attention, "Whenever he's in charging mode, he's depending on us to back him up," he noted before hurrying off.
"Uh, hey!" the Machina Maker Quirk user yelped, running after him, "Don't go acting all high and mighty just because you think you're better than me!" he shouted in frustration.
"I am," Laguna remarked back bluntly, causing him to growl angrily.
"You know what, maybe I will use Arsenal to prove your arrogant ass-!" Before he could finish his remarks, a wall suddenly came down hard between him and the Tears Lover Quirk user, forcing him to screech to a halt. "What the hell?!" he exclaimed. On the other side of the wall, Laguna exhaled a relieved sigh.
'They should be able to take him down at least,' he noted inwardly, 'Even if Müller gets captured, we can at least land some blows to the future of heroes...' he added to himself before running away.
"Hey, Laguna!" Weisz yelled, "What's going on over there?!" he inquired, only to receive no response, "Damn..." he cursed, wondering what was going on. All of a sudden, his rifle suddenly blew apart in his hands. "AGH!" he yelped in agony, stumbling back a few feet. Cautiously, he equipped his Arsenal armor and wound up feeling something strike his right hip. He looked down to see that it was a smoking bullet.
"Huh," a voice scoffed, causing him to perk up and look around, "Guess that's armor's tougher than I thought it'd be..." he muttered out, "But I remember that it only lasts so long for you," he mentioned.
"Who's there?!" Weisz shouted in question.
"Someone you'll never see... right up to your death..." the voice of Seth replied as he held a silver gun with a silencer in his right hand.
"How much further is it, Mirko?!" Endeavor called out to the Rabbit Hero, who was hopping ahead of him, Shoto, and Homura.
"Tsk, there's a lot of damn noise rattling about..." she responded with a scoff, "They've definitely got more of those Nomu bastards like we saw earlier," she noted, "But I'm not sure if there's anything else..." she mentioned, sounding frustrated, "But I think we're getting close!" she assured.
"Shoto, Homura," the Flame Hero began to the two U.A. students, "you two should focus on providing us support when we need it," he decided.
"Understood, sir," the Soul Blade Quirk user responded, while her classmate glanced away, seemingly frustrated that he wouldn't get to help. They continued onward until they reached a corner. As Mirko and Endeavor rounded it, a wall came down.
"What the?!" the Rabbit Hero yelped, looking back to see that Shoto and Homura hadn't been able to follow them.
"Shoto...!" Enji gasped as he grimaced.
"Hey boss!" a voice called out in greeting, getting his attention as he widened his eyes. He and Mirko turned to find two men standing ahead of them. One was a young man with light blue hair, wearing a high-collared long-sleeved trench coat suit with gloves. The other was a tall muscular man with spiky red-orange hair, wearing a sleeveless trench coat with a fur collar, a flaming tattoo on his left shoulder bicep, an intricate bracelet on his left wrist, a fiery symbol of "F" on the back and pants with three belts: one wrapped around his waistline and two wrapped around his legs. "Been a while, huh?" the latter of the two inquired to the Flame Hero.
"...Gowen?" he inquired out of shock.
"Dammit!" Shoto yelled in frustration as he tried to break down the metal wall with a wave of ice, only for it to shatter upon contact, leaving not so much as a dent.
"It seems this Müller is aiming to separate us..." Homura noted while narrowing her eyes.
"You'd be right," a voice answered, enticing the two U.A. students to whip around to find Diego walking towards them with a dozen Nomu behind him, "The heroes'll get dealt with along with you kids..." he declared. Both Shoto and Homura took on ready stances, with the latter preparing her red energy blade in her right hand. This fight had only begun...
"Whoa..." Izuku uttered in amazement as he, Rebecca, Momo, Itsuka and Setsuna were all left shocked to see the bodies of multiple Nomu littered about with holes in their bodies. They were courtesy of Holy, who blew out the smoke on her left pointer finger before chuckling a little.
"Let this be a lesson as to why I'm Number Eight, kids," she remarked to the interns.
"Good grief, Seinaru..." Gran Torino grumbled out, "Heroes that're so boastful like you don't make a good name for others..." he noted.
"I only boast because I have the strength to back it up," Holy responded, putting her hands onto her hips.
"She really is amazing..." Itsuka noted with a small, nervous grin.
"But this whole situation does beg the question..." Momo chimed in, putting her hand onto her chin, "is Müller the one producing the Nomu?" she questioned aloud, causing everyone to look over at her in surprise.
"That's a good question..." Gran Torino admitted, closing his eyes for a moment, "In any case, we need to apprehend him and retrieve Mio soon," he insisted firmly.
"Right," Izuku agreed with a nod. He looked over to Rebecca, who seemed... a bit nervous. This was the third instance in which the League of Villains was involved in something she and her classmates were a part of. She trembled a little, but then felt a hand come onto her shoulder. "Hey," her best friend said, giving her a reassuring smile, "We'll get through this okay," he promised reassuringly. A light smile came across the Leaper Quirk user's face.
"Yeah, I know," she responded with a nod.
"Oh, Witch," Holy suddenly said, getting their attentions as they saw that she was on her communicator, "Good to hear that you found her," she noted, causing the U.A. students to smile with relief upon overhearing the news, "Hey, has anyone located-?" Before she could finish her question, the ceiling gave way up ahead. Everyone widened their eyes as they saw Justice jump out from the smoke.
"Holloway!" Gran Torino called out.
"Stay back!" the Interstellar Hero insisted as he held his right hand out to his colleagues. Another figure emerged from the smoke. Everyone's eyes widened.
"No way..." Izuku uttered in disbelief. Standing before them was a slim young woman with long crimson hair and brown eyes. She had a voluptuous figure and wore an eye patch that covered where her right eye was. She also wore a black, gold-trimmed, and high-collared coat that showed her insignia on the back over a one-piece, black armor, a pair of dark-colored gauntlets, and armored knee-length boots. She wielded a cutlass in her right hand.
"Th-That's..." Rebecca stuttered out.
"Elsie Crimson..." Holy finished for her, quite stunned as well. Justice gnashed his teeth together as he glared at the woman before him. She stared back with a small smile.
"How shall we settle this, James?" she asked of her foe.
Oh boy, now we've got Elsie's crew involved in all of this! How will our heroes fare now in this critical hour?! Well, we'll find out soon! Thanks for reading as always, everyone!