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Mina clapped her hands together, "Acid shot!" Acid sprayed from her hands into the Meganulon horde, causing them to screech in pain while their armor dissolved. Mina slid over to another downed soldier. She helped him to his feet and shoved him to where Emoto was gathering the others. "Go!"
One soldier, looking guilty, lifted his launcher toward her. "Alien Queen!"
"To the others!" she said pointing. She gave him a cocky smirk. "I got this." She slid along the horde, melting anything that got near. Any time their claws got close, she'd effortlessly dance away, throwing some acid for good measure.
Just like a group of villains, she thought. A group with the same quirk and personality. Nothing you haven't handled.
As the AMF group reformed, Mina saw three Meganulon sneaking up from behind a little ridge. Not on her watch. As the Meganulon emerged, Mina leaped in front of a startled Emoto. "Maximum Viscosity! Acid Man!"
Her acid formed a protective shell around her, taking the shape of a bulbous alien with a cartoony face around Mina. She swung her Acid Man's arm into the bug's mouth, melting it with her acid. Another she backhanded in the torso, causing its organs to fall out. Finally, she slammed both hands into the last one's face. Dead.
Mina let the acid slide off her and turned to the gawking soldiers while beaming. "And that's how we get things done!"
Emoto stepped forward. "Alien Queen, here." He held out a launcher. "This one's free."
"Why does it have blood on it?" Mina said, taking it.
"Old owner didn't need it."
Mina sighed and lifted it up. "I think I hate bugs."
"We all do."
The group fell in line, with Mina and Emoto at the front. She gave the rest a confident grin and said, "Stay in line boys and follow me!" The group shakily reformed and followed.
As she and Emoto walked in front, he said "You realize there's a nonzero chance they'll accidentally shoot us?"
Mina grimaced. "Probably…"
Izuku blasted into the group of Meganulon. Several died, several more came at him. Izuku stepped back and quickly reloaded. His hand nearly slipped once, forcing him to go against all instinct and slow down slightly to properly load and ready the launcher. When he stood, everyone else was already ready. He hated being a rookie.
They fired again, wreaking more havoc on their lines. The Meganulon getting closer to the edge of the G-Force line, where Izuku was. His heart roared as he and the others blasted more and more Meganulon. This was where he was useful. This was where he belonged.
A Meganulon came up from behind a rock and tried to grab a nearby soldier. Izuku swung his launcher like a club, batting the creature. The soldier had an injured foot, so Izuku dragged him backward. The Meganulon approached again, its pincers clamping at the two. Izuku threw the soldier behind him, then barely avoided being bitten in half. The Meganulon instead clamped its pincers on the business end of Izuku's launcher.
Izuku pulled the trigger.
Izuku and the other soldier were thrown backward. Slime and other bug innards covered Izuku. Some even got in his mouth, leading him to almost gag. Izuku shook his head as several others pulled him to his feet.
"You alright?" one said.
Izuku smiled, "Yeah, I'm fine!"
He looked back and said, "This is the first time we've had a nest this big in my memory. Kenji's going to be fascinated by everything I saw here. He also might want to know that I finally know what they taste like."
"Fanboy," someone grumbled.
The flamethrower soldiers fired a barrage of flames, leading the Meganulon to back away. Izuku sat up. He and Tchujimori exchanged looks. This was the first time the Meganulon had retreated. They no longer had the numbers to waste their forces.
Looking closer, Izuku saw how badly their lines had thinned. Then Izuku saw the reason why. The other groups were punching through. However, given how thick the lines still were…
The others needed help.
Izuku turned on his comms. "Kisaragi, are you guys in your masers?"
"Yeah. You have a crazy idea for us?"
"It's not crazy! Mostly."
"Really? Shoot."
"Funny you should say that…
Gantaro grabbed another rocket, brought up by a courier. A benefit of them being closer to the bottom, couriers could still reach them. The robots had been covering them, but those had been quickly ripped apart. The group got in line and fired again. It seemed the bugs weren't sending as many at them as before.
Gantaro wanted more than anything to run, but he couldn't. The Meganulon almost killed them all last time people ran. Besides, Alien Queen was helping lead the charge, and he couldn't be upstaged by a Hero at his own job right? So shaky step after shaky step they continued forward, pushing through the edge of the horde.
Before long he heard the sounds of other fighting. He and Ari exchanged looks. The other AMF groups were close.
The Meganulon grew agitated. They refocused their efforts. All they could do was keep shooting. Out of the corner of his eye, Gantaro saw Alien Queen's launcher wripped from her hands. She sprayed acid on the monsters, then motioned for the others to follow her. Seeing her at the front filled Gantaro and the others with determination. They would not run. Not again.
Soon it was a daze of rockets, fire, and exploding bug parts. Gantaro was barely aware anymore. It was just the same motions over and over. Emoto however grabbed Alien Queen by the shoulder and yanked her back. "STOP! HOLD! HOLD!
"What now?" Sho said.
His answer came from two beams of energy thicker than a flagpole blasting in front of them, carving into the mountain and annihilating any bugs unlucky enough to be hit. As they stared at the new gap, Gantaro and his fellow soldiers exchanged shocked looks.
Had they…had they fired a maser tank up here?! Were they insane?!
Azusa smiled at her handiwork. She'd been the only one Izuku trusted to make that shot. She hadn't let him down. "Path is cleared, enemies thinned. Can't fire more or risk hitting friendlies."
"That was more than enough Kisaragi."
"Prove it, and come back alive."
Gantaro and the others didn't have time to dwell, Emoto propelled them forward to meet the second group. Some of them had wounds, several were holding sidearms, their launchers discarded nearby. Many were dead.
"Took you long enough," the American Leland said as the mix of Japanese and foreign AMF reloaded their weapons. "We were about to fight them hand to hand with the ammo we had."
"Well now you can join us in getting to G-Force," said Alien Queen. "Just don't fall behind." She added cheekily.
"Don't get cocky. That was Private Jenkins' mistake when we attacked the Zilla nests. He was cocky at first, but soon lost his head."
"What happened to him?"
"He lost his head."
"Ohhh, well don't worry. I'll be careful." She put a hand to her hip then waved to the others. "Let's go boys!"
The two groups pushed through together.
Gantaro watched them fight, and he was certainly not wrong. It wasn't just those ones, it was all the knew they were good, but he hadn't known they were that good. They moved with a smoothness he hadn't thought possible. Some of them jeered the bugs, others screamed curses, or looked impassively. One American howled, "FOR DEMOCRACY!" He fired his launcher into the bugs. "DIE BUGS! FOR FREEDOM!"
"Are guys like that common in your army?" Gantaro said to one of them.
"Depends on the guy! We have a lot of nutjobs in the AMF!" The American said. "Don't give me that look! Sam's crazy, but he's good at his job!"
That was true. That was very true. All of the veterans continued to advance, without the slightest hesitation. Just being near them made Gantaro double his efforts, if only to look half as good.
Then he saw Meganulon corpses mixed in with the horde, their guts soaking the ground. G-Force's work.
Gantaro could finally see them. Their group were crouched near the entrance of the tunnel, half of them hiding behind the others, throwing grenades or firing pistols while their launchers lay abandoned next to them. Some even had knives drawn for a last stand. Yet, as desperate as they seemed, the soldiers still moved more machine-like than human. It made Gantaro look like a High Schooler at the cultural festival next to a professional athlete.
Speaking of, Alien Queen grabbed a bag of ammo, charged the Meganulon, and vaulted over one like it was nothing. Gantaro watched the Pro Hero avoiding their pincers even the best of the AMF didn't show before turning his attention back to his enemies. He had a job to do.
Izuku fired his pistol into a Meganulon. Its exoskeleton, rendered brittle by fire and ice, shattered. He dropped his clip, then loaded another.
Based on the drone footage, the majority of the bugs consolidated around G-Force, evidently identifying them as the biggest threat. Ammunition was depleted, several were dead. A few more minutes and they might have been broken.
However, now the others were here, just behind a few rows of bugs. Alien Queen vaulted over over the Meganulon, spraying them with the acid from her boots. She landed near the gathered G-Force soldiers, then fired two jets of acid from each hand. Any Megenulon near her died.
"Alien Queen," said Tchujimori.
"Kiriko!" Alien Queen said. She pulled a bag from around her shoulder and dropped it in front of them. "More ammo! Consider it a gift! You're welcome," she said with a wink. Izuku was impressed she could keep up her Hero persona here. Then again, keeping her cool in stressful situations was probably normal for her.
Several G-Force soldiers loaded up, Izuku included. As Izuku looked up, he aimed his launcher. "Alien Queen, down!"
Alien Queen was already on the ground. Izuku fired a shot over her head, blasting apart the Meganulon sneaking behind her. As he ran to help her up, she fired acid over his shoulder. "These things are getting on my nerves," she said.
Izuku noticed the exhaustion in her movements. Even she was reaching her limits.
The two joined the G-Force line. They and the other AMF lines fired into the Meganulon between them. A few volleys later, and the Meganulon were a paltry force, who the flamethrowers quickly scattered. The two groups were united at last. As the G-Force soldiers loaded their weapons, Kiriko said, "Don't get comfortable. We're moving. Now."
Then Izuku heard a sound.
"Wait."
"What is-" Tchujimori's eyes widened. They both looked into the cave, then at each other.
"Alien Queen," Izuku said.
"Yeah?"
"I want you to fire as much acid as you can into the mouth of that tunnel."
"Why would-" The buzzing grew louder, while several others, including the Ozaki's, were training their weapons on the tunnel. "Never mind."
Alien Queen stood next to the entrance. She closed her eyes.
"Alien Queen," someone said.
"Wait." She said. "I've got this."
"Alien Queen?" She still did not move. "Alien Queen!"
Alien Queen's eyes shot open as she unleashed a blast of acid, covering the entrance to the tunnel. Several shapes broke through the spray, only to tumble down the mountainside, corroded by acid. Izuku didn't bother to look. He knew what the corpses were. Giant dragonflies. Or…
"Meganula," he said. The evolved form of the Meganulon.
The swarm continued to slam into Alien Queen's acid. The sheer number disrupted her spray enough for a few to make it through. Worse, Meganula also emerged from several other apertures in the mountain, unbothered by the AMF. They formed a massive swarm in the air.
Several soldiers fired rockets and, in the case of the Ozaki's, heavy machine guns into the swarm. Even some of the rookie maser operators joined in on the ground. However, these only killed a few out of hundreds.
The Meganula stopped coming from the caves, all of them either in the air or dead. The Meganulon stared after their brethren, ignoring the soldiers. Tchujimori said, "Now! Move out!" The group hurried down the mountainside. Once they were clear, the bombers swooped in. The mountainside was covered with explosions, blasting apart the Meganulon horde.
This was small comfort to the soldiers, who stared after the flying swarm.
Izuku said, "Bring me Kenji. Now."
Below the surface of the water, fish swam all around the lake, searching for a good meal. However, there was one area that had been abandoned. This had a new form sitting in it, like a massive boulder. However, this boulder moved.
For in the center of the lake sat a giant Megnulon. But not for long. Soon its thralls would come back, and then its larval stage would finally be over.
Then, it would fly.
Ochako slapped a large piece of rubble, lifting it from an injured woman. Ochako did what first aid she could, allowing her to move the woman. Nevertheless, the wounds were near fatal. Ochako picked the woman up using her quirk and hurried away.
A massive dust cloud rolled down the street toward the two. Ochako ducked inside a building until the dust died down. Nearby, she heard the booming of two massive bodies colliding, trading blows with the force of an artillery barrage.
Ochako took into the air with her rescuee out, only occasionally glancing back at the battlefield. Three rows spines were visible in the dust, along with the occasional almost porcupine-like armored hide.
Those two at once…It wasn't even a transmitter, just a quirk that rioted the smaller one's emotions while they both were nearby.
Ochako carried the woman into the medical tent. The orderly took one look, then ushered them down a small tunnel into another interconnected tent. There a Hero student with curly brown hair took Ochako's charge, lying her on a bed and placing his glowing green hands on her wounds.
Nearby, Ochako saw another Hero-in-training, a silver haired girl in a red and white Hero costume. The girl took a small red capsule-like syringe from her arm. "I'm out for five minutes," she said. "Sorry."
"Got it. I'll handle it," the boy said.
The girl took out an energy bar and shoving it in her mouth. She glanced up, her eyes briefly meeting Ochako's. After a few moments, Ochako turned and went out to continue her rescue work. Then Ochako hurried out to continue her rescue work.
Moments ago, this was a sleepy power station. Sure villain activity, or even an occasional kaiju would occasionally cause a disruption, or even require the workers leave. But that was never bad enough to panic.
Until today.
Today, Ryota and his colleagues ran for their lives as an unholy buzzing filled the air. All around them, enormous dragonflies touched down and slammed their machete-sized stingers into the station. Their stingers glowed as the energy flowed into them.
We're safe, Ryota thought as he ran. They just want the power. They don't want us. We're-
Ryota was pulled out of his thoughts by Kobayashi screaming. Kobayashi had an electricity quirk, which he futilely tried to use as one of the dragonflies plunged its stinger into his abdomen. Toshi howled, his electricity vanishing as quickly as he had used it.
Ryota moved to do something, but his friends pulled him away into the woods. There was nothing they could do for Kobayashi. Not anymore.
The Meganula finished gathering power, then returned to the mountain where they had made their nest. When they got close, their enemies attacked. They unleashed a poisonous vapor that killed any who flew too close, a metallic net carried by their flying thralls that ensnared any Meganula that got too close, fiery explosions, concussive blasts, but it wasn't enough.
Nothing would stop the Meganula from diving into the lake. Death was inevitable, desired. But first, they must accomplish their purpose. They dove down until they reached their queen.
They dug their stingers into their Queen's back, giving them all of their precious energy. All that mattered was her evolution. Soon their corpses floated up around her. The paltry energy gathered was barely enough.
But barely enough was still enough.
Fun fact, the guy screaming "Democracy!" was added in after last chapter because of all the comments comparing this to Helldivers.
Also Godzilla and Anguirus' brawl was made because I couldn't resist giving them the first onscreen kaiju battle however brief.
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