A/N: Alright, readers. Better clench your butt cheeks, because we're about to kick it back into high gear. This will be a long chapter, but the number of revelations contained herein necessitated it. My wife has been pushing for me to release this chapter early for a very long time, and now we're finally here. I hope you guys enjoy this installment as much as she and I did.

Fair warning- the violence is going to be getting more graphic from this point forward. I might change the rating to 'M' if anyone advises me that it might be a bit much for a rated 'T' story.

Dawn of War

"It's finally here," the one known as Umbra murmured to himself. "The day that we've planned and dreaded for so long…" In the dark of the room that he called his home, the only light sources were from a quartet of monitors hooked up to computers that were far ahead of their time. The space's only decoration was a revolving chair that sat empty, which he knew would soon change.

Looking around the barren room, Umbra let out a sigh before he could catch himself, and then said, "Look at me, getting sentimental to no end."

"Your sorrow may not serve a purpose, but to feel even some measure of regret for what we've had to do is only human," said a voice that came from one of the monitors. "Even you have that capability- more so than many of the people we'll be dealing with today."

"And the merciless deserve no mercy," Umbra replied, his voice hardening. "I know that our mission is too important to set aside because of mere sentiments. I am not expressing a desire to change the mission."

"No, I shouldn't think so," chuckled the other speaker, though they too sounded sad. There was a brief pause before they then said, "Thank you for standing beside me in all this."

"I should be the one saying that to you," Umbra snorted. "After all, you stand to lose far more than I do. You could have just blamed all of this on me, but you're choosing not to."

"In order for this plan to succeed, we both had to work our respective angles, and with the way that the hunt for you is progressing from UA's end, it wouldn't be long before we would both be outed," Umbra's partner responded with a sigh of their own. However, it didn't take long for them to resume a more business-like tone as they asked, "I take it that everything is set in place for our friends at the HPSC?"

"Like you have to ask."

"I do, actually. Been a bit busy on my end of things."

"Of course everything is ready," Umbra snorted. "How many hours have we spent calculating the timetable for all of this?"

"Well, battle plans never survive first contact, and our fight has been going on for some time," the other muttered. "As for me, everyone is in place as we predicted."

"Including the team that'll be coming after me once these final transmissions go out?"

"Even them."

"Then I'll be ready for them and you."

"Good," Umbra's partner stated. "Going dark until the grand reveal. See you in a few hours."

"Understood. I'll be ready to go by the time they arrive."

With that, the line of communication was severed, and Umbra was left in the dark that had formed his namesake. His last thought before the monitors all shut down was, It's up to you now, heroes.

"I still don't know that us splitting up was a good idea."

"We talked about this." Kurai's brow bent downward as he went on to say, "Your powers will be best used against the enemies you'll encounter at the hospital, and mine are more of a match for open-space combat against large groups. We have to consider the possibility that if the Front does have any powerhouse surprises like Gigantomachia lying in wait for us out here, it'll be good to have me and Izuku on this front- contingencies and all that. It's also a little too late to change our plans now."

He was standing at the edge of the Gunga Mountains, looking down at the city that was about to become a massive battleground between the heroes and villains. His brother's latest invention had encased his body entirely, forming a suit that looked like black fabric layered with stylized white leather armor. It was very unlike his original outfit, but a short-sleeved gi design would have left his arms mostly uncovered, which would have prevented the programmable matter from serving its primary function in protecting his body. This costume had been inspired by the Princes of Zakuul- characters from an old Star Wars game that had eventually been made into a movie shortly after quirks had finally started to fit into the modern age. It was the first movie that Kurai had shown to his brother when they were younger- before Akarui was even allowed to watch the franchise, as their parents had wanted him to wait until he was a little older, due to some intense imagery; not that a child Kurai was going to let that stop him.

In spite of the sudden change to his general aesthetic, the Guardian Hero felt as though this costume fit him just as naturally as the one that they had first designed for him. The saber looks a little more at home this way, too, he had thought with a grim sort of smile after first putting it on.

Alongside Kurai now were about half of his classmates, including the other members of Team Lightning Drop- all of them dressed in new suits of their own. As Ashid Queen was there, both of the Ingenium heroes were, also, with the elder brother seemingly switching between speaking to his sidekicks and someone over the radio- likely his medical team that was being stationed at Central Hospital in preparation for the massive casualties that they would no doubt be witnessing today. Further scattered throughout the area were many other heroes from dozens if not hundreds of agencies, each of them practically vibrating with nervous energy.

It was the calm before the storm, and while some may have called it worse to wait for the battle to come, the students of Class 1-A knew that the worst of it was nowhere near them yet.

"And what if the doctor wakes Shigaraki up early?" Eri asked him from the other side of the communicator. "The last time I fought him, it didn't exactly turn out well." She had been ordered to accompany Eraserhead and the others with Endeavor's strike squad, since they would likely be encountering Nomu, and she had the ability to negate their powers and turn them back to normal.

"You're stronger now, and he's weaker than what you faced before," Izuku said, having joined in on the conversation with his own com device that had been built into their new suits. "Kurai and I believe in you, Eri- we know you can take him."

"And if something comes up that we just couldn't have seen coming, I can be there in ten seconds," the Tenth wielder of One For All promised her. "This won't be like last time, I swear. You're not facing this alone."

There was silence on Eri's end for a couple of seconds before she replied, "Alright. I'll hold you to that. And thank you."

"For what?" Kurai inquired.

"I think I just needed to hear that," the girl answered with what sounded like a grin. "There's few things more reassuring than knowing that your heroes are still looking out for you."

"Okay, don't jinx it," he chuckled dryly. "Good luck, Chronoa."

"Same to you, Kai. Sounds like we might be about to move out, so hopefully the next time I call, it'll be to tell you that we got 'em all in cuffs." The line was then disconnected, and Kurai turned to the rest of his classmates with a more serious look in his eye.

"Eri just told me that her team is about to engage," he reported, causing his friends to stir in place with a mixture of heightened apprehension and impatience. "We're probably about to receive orders to move in, ourselves."

"I guess this is it," Ochaco said as she gulped nervously. "Nothing's gonna be the same after this, is it?" Her costume didn't look too different from her old bodysuit, but the interchangeable matter was programmed to massage various pressure points continuously while she used her quirk, as to further extend her limit before her vertigo would overcome her. There were even anti-nausea medications that could be administered into her bloodstream when things got really bad, but those were more of a last resort than a normal preventative.

"Most likely not," Tenya agreed somberly as he glanced down at the forest below them, where they could all see an army regiment all preparing weapons while their commanding officers consulted among themselves. Like Ochaco, his suit didn't look all that different, but its functions would serve to extend Recipro Turbo's run time by more than half, as well as vastly reduce the time that he would need to cool down before using it again. "But whatever may come, we shall endure it together, as we always have."

"Damn right," Kurai muttered before the two of them bumped fists. Struck by a thought, he then asked, "Who's Tensei have watching things back at Central? I saw Scab a few minutes ago- thought she'd be the one to take that job on."

"Pause is on it," his friend answered readily, to which Kurai quickly nodded.

"Makes sense," he mused, though this only seemed to prompt intrigue from their other friends.

"Who's 'Pause'?" Izuku inquired, even as a brush of wind swept his off-white cloak out behind him, casting a rather heroic profile in the process.

"One of Ingenium's sidekicks," Mina answered before the boys could. "He's been a rescue specialist for the agency since Tenya's dad was running things- has a quirk that basically lets him put a stop to people's bodily processes for an hour after he touches them."

"Means that if somebody's on the brink of death, he can usually keep them alive long enough to make it to a hospital so that they can get the medical attention that they need," Kurai summarized. Glancing at Tenya, he then asked, "If I'm remembering right, he can't use it on the same person consecutively, yeah?"

"Unfortunately," the taller boy answered with a grim nod. "He wanted to be out here today, but Brother insisted that he stay with the hospital team. He seems to think that with the number of casualties we expect to see, it would be more prudent to keep Pause stationed where he will be able to affect as many people as possible, as opposed to having him run about on the battlefield, where we run the risk of losing a valuable medical asset, so to speak."

"Speaking of valuables, you're gonna remember to let us have your back, yeah?" Mina prompted her fiancé, to which he grinned nervously.

She looked good in her upgraded outfit, he thought. The material had been arranged and shaded so that it resembled her old leotard's color scheme and pattern, though her midriff had what looked like a stylized armor corset that matched a set of gauntlets that rested on her forearms. The material was, of course, acid-proof, but the suit's function went far beyond that. Mina had learned that not only would she still be able to secrete acid from anywhere on her body without damaging the suit, the technology would work to pull in moisture from any available source, be it water that she was touching, or even from the air around her, all in aid of keeping her hydrated, allowing her quirk to remain at full strength for far longer than normal. Even further, the suit could work on a cellular level to help her body naturally repair any damaged tissue as a result of overusing her quirk. Such things couldn't have been easy to implement, even for Akarui's super-powered Solar Intelligence, which made the couple wonder just how long the boy had spent on this suit, as opposed to some of the others'.

"I'll be glad to have you with me for this one," Kurai started to say, doing his best to keep his mind in the present. "Just-"

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna try and solo Shigaraki if he somehow manages to make it past Eri," Mina said with a roll of her eyes as she nudged him with her elbow, which led him to breathe a huge sigh of relief. "But don't try and do all the protecting, okay? You need to let me protect you when I can this time, so that you're ready for whatever surprise this army throws at us. Promise me that you're not gonna deny me that."

"I promise," he replied instantly as he gave her a brief, tight hug. "Just as long as you promise to protect the civilians down there while you're watching my back."

"I haven't forgotten our job here," she said as she returned the hug before they stepped away from one another with somber expressions on their faces. "I can do my duty as a hero and your other half at the same time. Trust me on that?"

"I will," he nodded sharply. It looked like he was going to add more, but then the pair was interrupted by a familiar snarl.

"Don't go getting yourself killed again, Hogo-sha," Bakugo growled as he came to stand at the edge of the cliffside in front of them. "You do that, and I'll kill you in the afterlife." At the moment, he looked to be wearing nothing more than a black-and-olive bodysuit, but his classmates had already seen how quickly his suit's true form could manifest, so no one dared to comment on the sight of Ground Zero missing his oversized gauntlets.

"Noted," Kurai smirked while the others gave vent to various forms of disapproving sounds and gestures. "But the same goes for you, got it?"

"Ha!" the blond hero snorted. "I'm not dyin' until I've shown everyone that I'm number one- the guy who's even greater than the Guardian Hero!"

At that, everyone- even Tenya and Weiss- had to smile just a little bit.

I guess not everything will be different, Kurai mused as he felt Mina's hand slide into his while he closed his eyes and did his best to prepare his body and mind for what was about to begin.

"You done with your little chit-chat?"

Eri raised an eyebrow at the speaker, who just happened to be the Number Five Hero, Mirko. "We haven't gotten orders yet, so it's not like I'm taking time off the clock," she said in a mild tone, which just got the other heroine to scowl harder at her.

"Yeah, well social calls ain't exactly the way to get your head in the game," the pro muttered as she swept her hair back from her face. "You get distracted even a little bit in there, and you're dead meat."

"I've been in these kinds of situations before," Eri replied firmly. "I know what I'm about, trust me."

"Keh," the Rabbit Heroine snorted in response. "I don't get why the hell your supervisor thinks he can just send you along with me- I don't do team-ups, and I definitely ain't gonna look after you if you bite off more than you can chew."

"Fine, don't consider this a team-up," Eri shrugged as a breeze stirred her cape and allowed it to billow out behind her. "Let's make it a contest."

"Really?" Mirko laughed derisively. "And what kinda contest do you think a rug rat like you is gonna be able to keep up with me in?"

"Our target is beneath the morgue, and I'd bet my hero gear that the way is gonna be loaded with Nomu," the younger heroine replied as she looked at the woman out of the corner of her eye. "Person with the most take-downs wins."

"Huh," the pro said with a slightly manic grin that reminded Eri of Bakugo. "You're pretty sure of yourself, ain't ya? Fine, we'll compete- but don't come crying when I get ahead and take 'em all out before you can even get through the door, little girl."

Before Eri could make a reply, an unexpected voice interrupted the two of them. "Don't discount Chronoa's abilities just because she's young," said Eraserhead as he approached the pair, his hands in his pockets. Normally, he walked slowly when not in combat, as if too tired to properly commit to each movement. Today though, he was walking with a clear sense of purpose, his back was straight, and his eyes were bright and alert. Stopping in front of the two heroines, he looked at Eri and added, "She's more powerful than anyone here- even Endeavor. I shouldn't have to remind you that she was one of the heroes who stopped Flect Turn and the Ideotrigger bombs back in January."

"That was a team effort, and all teams do is cover for the weaknesses of the guy who can't hack it on their own," Mirko replied dismissively.

Before she could add to that, the area was filled with a burst of bio-lightning that emanated from Eri's body while her hair and clothing was stirred up violently, and her eyes glowed an ominous crimson. Without even moving a muscle, everyone in the vicinity was briefly made aware of the fearsome power that dwelt within the young heroine, and those who had been watching from a distance retreated a few paces on instinct, save for Eraserhead and Mirko. However, as soon as it had come, the power faded away and left the trio standing relatively alone while Eri said, "I was weak, once upon a time. Now I have the power to take down the people who made me suffer, so don't think for one second that I won't use it."

At the end of her declaration, she was nearly up in Mirko's face, who refused to budge even an inch from where she stood. Instead, a lazy grin spread across her face while she said, "Huh. Maybe there is something to you, after all, kid. I like the look you got in your eye right now."

"Then we're good?" Eri asked, though she too did not move from where she had decided to take her stand.

"For now," Mirko grinned a little more savagely. "We'll see if you can back up all that talk from you and your teacher, though. You'd better not disappoint me once this thing gets started."

"Same to you," the raven-haired heroine smirked before she stepped away and saw Aizawa regarding her silently. They maintained eye contact for a moment before he gave her a single nod and then moved toward Present Mic and a handful of other heroes who would be leading the charge into Jakku Hospital.

No sooner than he had than did Endeavor lumber into view, flames alight and eyes burning with intensity. "It's time," he rumbled, sending a thrill of adrenaline throughout the bodies of every hero who was present. "You all have your orders- if we fail this task, All For One's most dangerous henchman will escape, and more innocent lives will be at risk. We cannot allow that to happen under any circumstances!"

As the heroes around him let out various sounds of approval, Eri allowed the power of One For All to fill her body along with the thought, This day is my time's chance to set itself back on course- so I'm not going to give it the opportunity. If I can't find a way to prevent it, then I'll make one.

"I got a hit!" Akarui panted as he flung the door to Nezu's office open, causing him and Taiyang to shoot up to their feet. "Weeks of waiting and sorting through data, but I've got him. It's him- It's Umbra," the boy said as he tossed his phone to Nezu, who looked at the display with no small measure of surprise.

"How did you find this?" he asked after looking back up at the boy. "The last time we tried to trace his signal, we had a direct line to him, and we couldn't pull it off. How did you manage it?"

"He didn't contact you again, did he?" Taiyang added, looking pensive.

"No, the only people he's contacted today are with the Commission," Akarui said with a rapid shake of his head. "I didn't just use my last days with my quirk to design the ultimate hero suits for my friends- I used them to create a program that would let me find Umbra, if he was ever stupid enough to contact the outside world again. I used one of the only things that is unique to him in order to track him down- his voice scrambler."

"His scrambler?" the American repeated dubiously, even as Nezu's ears pricked up in surprise.

"You created a program to listen for the filter he created whenever it happened to travel over an airwave coming from the Safety Commission's offices?" the small principal surmised, to which Akarui nodded excitedly.

"It took up all the processing capabilities on five of my best computers to manage all the data that needed to be sorted- the guy ran his voice through a filter that could've been generated by a freakin' quantum computer, so I couldn't reverse engineer the original audio to match the voiceprint- but just ten minutes ago, I got a ping," he told them. "There's no other filter that works like that in real-time. Trust me, I've looked into it. You might be able to alter a voice like that in post-production, but- Wait, this isn't important. Point is, I tried calling you guys from my office, but you weren't picking up."

"Seriously kid, how many computers do you have?"

"Also not important right now."

"Sorry, we were just conferring with Crow and All Might about the field preparations that our students are in involved in," Nezu apologized. "I saw the call coming in, but I thought those topics to be more important."

"I'm insulted that I rank that low on your list of priorities, but I get it," Akarui said as he waved his hands dismissively. "Point is, I know where he's been broadcasting from, now- or at least one of the places. Guy like him probably wouldn't stick to one hideout- he'd have several backups waiting, just in case somebody discovered him, either on purpose, or by pure chance. Either way, even if we don't find him at the address I've found, it'll give us a more solid lead to go off of than a voice that's been altered beyond recognition before it reaches our ears."

"Wait, did you hack a government database and violate half the privacy laws that have been written on the subject to do this?" Taiyang demanded.

"No, don't be ridiculous," Akarui replied, looking offended at the thought. "I tapped the computers and phones of people who have already been bugged by Crow to listen for any sign of Umbra."

"You didn't get a warrant for that."

"Oh, bite me!" Akarui snapped. "We have bigger problems than procedures and protocols right now- Crow will probably just tell people that he enlisted my help, if it'll help us avoid an obstruction of justice charge. This information is turning stale as we speak- are we gonna go get this guy or not?"

"A swift pursuit would be in our best interest in this instance," Nezu mused as he put his paws together on the table. "We have a group of students on standby here at UA who were unable to get work studies because of the timing of their arrival in this country, but with my permission, they can track down Umbra and arrest him."

"Team JNPR?" Akarui asked, which Nezu confirmed with a nod. "Alright, I've seen them in action- they're better than a lot of pros I could name, and they're technically supposed to be sitting this one out, so maybe we'll be able to take Umbra by surprise. Plus, we don't exactly have the personnel to spare on the off-chance that this is a trap being set up for me… Hmm."

"You don't sound very confident about that last part."

"I'm really not," the boy admitted. "This guy has outsmarted me in spectacular fashion, and now I don't have my quirk. There's also the fact that the timing on this discovery is way too suspect- finding the hidden big bad the same time that all our usual go-to teams are out on the job seems grossly convenient. But, I can't keep track of all the variables that I used to be able to, so I can't guarantee any absolute certainties. I mean, not that I ever could before, but- Look, all I can say for sure right now is that their team is a wild card that may be even more capable than Team RWBY, who're already pretty amazing. Any other pro we could think to call on right now is otherwise occupied, so they're our best shot at taking down this lunatic, provided that I've really managed to find him."

"And I'll be going with 'em," Taiyang said in a tone that brooked absolutely no arguments from anyone. "Crow's already out in the field, which means that I'm the only one from Second Amendment who can look after them in person. I've already failed to protect my girls and their team, but maybe I can help keep their friends safe."

"Alright, we've got one actual pro on this thing, even better," Akarui grinned, a little glint of anger hiding behind his eyes as he did. "Do us a favor when you catch this guy, and smash every piece of tech that he's got in his hideout for me."

"You're really still mad about the laptop thi-"

"Did I stutter?!" Akarui snarled. "Smash 'em all, I said!"

"Gentlemen, please keep your voices civil," Nezu cut in before a shouting match could start. "Hikari, if you could provide logistical support for Team JNPR from here at the school, it would be much appreciated."

"You got it," the boy said sharply. "There's a few functions in their new suits that should help them against advanced enemy tech, just in case Umbra's booby-trapped his lair."

"Excellent," the principal nodded quickly. "Xiao Long, if you could please gather Team JNPR and head out to the coordinates that Hikari has prepared for us?"

"Where even is this guy?" the older man asked as he stood up from the chair he had been occupying.

"Oh, you guys are gonna love this," Akarui deadpanned. "The signal I pinged is being sent out from here in Musutafu." As the two heroes stared at him in stunned disbelief, Akarui shrugged and said, "It fits what we know of him- arrogant enough to think that we can't catch him, even if he was right under our noses. To be more specific, the prick is hiding in an office complex across the street from Kiyashi Ward Mall."

There was a brief moment of silence before Taiyang started toward the door while saying over his shoulder, "Send me the address. I'm gonna tear this guy to pieces for what he's done."

As the door slammed shut behind him, Akarui cringed and asked, "Are we sure it's a good idea to send that guy after Umbra? He might not think clearly enough when the time comes."

"Xiao Long is rather protective of his daughters, but there are very few heroes who can match his battle instincts," Nezu assured his young charge. "Believe it or not, he's quite the master on handling his emotions while in a fight. I trust him with this."

"Well, as long as you do," Akarui shrugged as he scratched at the back of his head. Turning toward the principal, he then added, "I'm gonna go get ready to direct them from my room, maybe check in on Kurai, provided that the battle hasn't started yet."

"Alright, I'll be sure to check in when I have the chance," the principal replied. "If they do manage to capture Umbra, please inform me the moment that they do. I'll give your call priority this time, I promise."

"Heh," Akarui grinned as he walked to the door. "Much appreciated."

Then he was gone, and Nezu was left alone to look at a photo on his desk with a drawn-out sigh. "Let us hope that this is truly the end of All For One's legacy," he said to the picture of him and All Might the year that young man had won the UA Sport's Festival. "If we fail this time, we may not get another chance- hoping that our students still manage to get it right amid this horrible business of war."

In spite of all the precautions that they had taken, no matter every advantage that they had gained thanks to Eri and Akarui's efforts, the little animal couldn't shake the feeling that there was something coming beyond the capabilities of the factors that they had taken into account. We've trained them as best we can, he thought in resignation as he turned to face the windows that offered a view of the distant mountains. All that's left for those of us relegated to the sidelines is to have faith.

Mina watched Kurai and Izuku talking in lowered tones, with the taller boy making gestures toward a few landmarks that could be seen in the city in front of them, Tenya, Shoto, and Ruby pitching in with a few comments of their own every now and again. Looking at the pair of them, she couldn't help but replay the conversation that she'd had with Akarui that morning before they left campus as she watched.

The pink girl had expected a quick farewell from the younger boy once he had talked to Kurai for a moment, but he had surprised her with a request for a private talk. "I'll be watching his back as often as I can, I promise," she had told him as soon as they had moved away from everyone else who was getting ready to leave.

Mina had been even more surprised when Akarui had shook his head in a negative motion and told her, "I'm not worried about him today- leastways, not in the traditional sense."

"Uh… what?"

"Mina," the boy had said with the same look in his eyes when he had told her the tale of the Hogo-sha's blood oath, "I'm more worried about you than anyone else, today."

Under normal circumstances, such a declaration would have warmed her heart, but that morning, all it did was send a nice shiver up her spine and into her horns. "That's… really sweet of you," she had tried to laugh, though it came out more like a dry wheeze than anything humorous. Even so, she went on to insist, "I'm a big girl- I can handle myself, I promise."

"I don't doubt that, provided that you go into battle knowing something that I realized while I was making plans concerning this day," he had replied, the look in his eyes not wavering for even a split second. "I'd bet my net worth that you're going to be on the enemy's 'top ten' list today. That is to say, whenever you run into an enemy, you cannot pull your punches if it means that there is even the slightest chance of it meaning your death or worse, capture."

"Aki, what are you talking about?" she had asked him, all pretenses of humor gone, then. "You're kinda scaring me."

"Good," he had replied in a short tone. "Be scared today. Fear will keep you sharp, which will keep you alive. The League of Villains- the core members of Shigaraki's forces- are going to come for my brother in this war. Whether it's for his quirk, or for a personal vendetta, they will be after him- which makes you the prime target. If they have any brains among them- which Dabi and Compress unfortunately seem to have covered- they'll have realized that no number of disposable minions are going to weaken Kurai enough to make a difference before they're forced to face him themselves. The only way to wound him is through what- and who- he loves with all his heart."

"Me," she had whispered. Her gaze had sharpened before adding, "That makes you pretty high on their hit list, too."

"Yeah, but I'm not gonna be on the front lines for this mess," the boy had shrugged with a tone of resignation. "If things go sideways today, I'm sure they'll come for me when it suits them, but I'm not throwing myself into the danger zone, so to speak. Mind you, they'll be gunning for all of his friends, but you? You're the crown jewel for them- the instant ticket to bringing the mighty Kai to his knees. You get what that means?"

"I… I hadn't stopped to think about it," she had been forced to admit. "But I do understand what it means for me… and it doesn't change what I have to do. No threat to me ever will."

Akarui had regarded her with shrewd eyes as her classmates were called ahead by Aizawa before he said, "As long as you're sure." He had then darted forward to throw his arms around her and whisper in a choked voice, "Take care of yourself, Sis. I don't want to lose any more of my family to this insanity, got it?"

It had taken her a good couple of seconds, but she had returned the hug along with the words, "I love you too, Little Bro. We'll see each other once this is over."

"We better, but if you ever tell anyone about what I just said, it never happened," he had warned her as they pulled away from each other. He was smiling through a hint of tears as he had promised, "You'll never hear me say otherwise; I will deny it tooth and nail."

A similar smile creased her face now, which apparently prompted Ochaco to sidle up to her and ask, "What'cha thinking about?"

"Hmm?" the pink girl replied, a little distracted by the now-fading memory. "Sorry, did I miss something?"

"We just thought you looked like you knew something good; wondered if you felt like sharing the good mood before it all goes way away," Yang said from her other side, causing Mina to wonder when she had even gotten there. "Not much of that going around today, y'know?"

"Just remembering what Aki told me before we left," Mina answered, her smile fading away just a little as she did. "Is it weird that…? Hmm."

"What's up?" Yang asked, none of her usual, playful energy present as she did. "Did he ask you to do something for Kurai that you're not sure you should do?"

"No, nothing like that," Mina quickly assured her friends, having seen that Asui was also present and listening. "It's just that I talked to my parents and brothers a little bit after the announcement, and while they tried to talk me out of going through with all of this, they were supportive of me when they realized I wasn't gonna change my mind. I even got my brothers to admit that they were worried about me." At the last part, she let out a wry chuckle before saying, "It was just… Something about Aki's goodbye this morning hit different. Like he knew that he needed to talk to Ashid Queen instead of plain ol' Mina Ashido. Is that wrong; that I feel better having talked to him instead of my own family?"

"Girl, there ain't nothing 'plain' about you," Yang grinned, which the other girls nodded in agreement with. "But I know what you're talking about."

"Really?"

"I may be a hot blonde, but I can pay attention every now and again," the American replied, some of her usual bounce and energy returning to her demeanor as she did. "The way I see it, it's kinda like how my dad talks to me and Rubes, but Uncle Crow has a way of talking to Firecracker and Crescent Rose when it comes to hero time. Dad's not bad at pep talks, but I think he just has a hard time letting go of his little girls when stuff like this comes along. Our uncle loves us too, but he's able to take a step back sometimes, which we really need."

"I definitely wouldn't say that it's wrong to feel more encouraged by whatever Akarui told you," Ochaco said with another nod. "He loves his brother, and it's pretty clear that he cares about you, too. If he was able to help you come to terms with what's about to happen, I'd take it as a blessing, you know?"

"So what if he's not your natural brother?" Asui mused as she put a finger to her cheek, as she often did when she was in thought. "I don't remember hearing anything about how family are the only ones allowed to cheer you up when you're stressed out. Ochaco's right, ribbit. Your family and Kurai did their best to help you, but if someone else was able to help you settle things in your head, it's still a good thing."

"…You guys are good friends," Mina said as a more sheepish expression crossed her features, causing them to smile at her in turn. "I'm here worrying about random crap while we're standing on both the figurative and literal edge of war, and you take the time to make me feel better."

"Hey, if you feel like you owe us, convince your man to let me take that bike of his out for a spin one of these days," Yang grinned a little brighter. "It's been way too long since I've burned any rubber!"

"You might have better luck convincing Shigaraki to become a hero than getting Kurai to lend anybody his motorcycle," Ochaco grinned, which finally got a round of chuckles out of the girls.

The heroes walked into the Jakku Hospital waiting area with no intention of waiting for anything or anyone. While most of the staff and patients inside gaped at the large assembly of enforcers, one man hailed them down and urged them to follow him into a hallway, which many of them moved to do immediately.

As he led this group, Endeavor growled over his shoulder, "Mirko, Chronoa! The morgue!"

"I'm on i-!"

Mirko's words were cut off as Chronoa sprang into action, lightning crackling after her as she leaped across the room, clearing the entire area in a single bound in order to barrel down the path that her new suit's navigation system had laid out for her. The Rabbit Heroine, not willing to be outdone by any means, let out an enraged shout as she gave chase after the younger girl, leaving behind a number of heroes who looked either bemused or annoyed that such a top-ranked pro would be acting so childish right then.

"They better do their jobs," Endeavor growled as Eraserhead came to walk with him near the front of the column, alongside Present Mic and a couple of other pros tasked with restraining their target.

"They will," the dark-haired pro said tersely as the sound of shifting dust preluded the formation of what looked like reflective lenses on his eyes, making it impossible for anyone to tell which way he was looking at any given time. As they followed their inside man who had been able to keep track of All For One's doctor, his muttering became a growl that said, "Let's make sure that we do ours'."

After that, it wasn't even a minute before they sighted their quarry, who was walking away from them and whistling a merry tune, as if he hadn't a care in the world- very clearly unaware of the threat to his well-being that was now lurking right behind him. Before Endeavor could even call out for Doctor Garaki's attention, Eraserhead's hair floated upwards, and the man fell to his hands and knees, some great weakness apparently crippling him to the point of immobility.

"So, his registry is a lie," Tsukauchi mused as they came closer, the reason for their target's near-paralysis quickly becoming clear with an unobstructed view. "He does have a quirk."

"The second you activated Erasure, he aged," Endeavor confirmed for the others as they all came to stand fairly close behind them now-crawling, decrepit doctor. "I suppose this explains how All For One has lived for so long."

"H-How…?" Garaki wheezed, trying in vain to escape from his captors, but the heroes were not having it today. Before the ancient man could even get a second word out, a cloud suddenly enveloped him and hauled him to his feet, though it kept him suspended off the ground, preventing him from being able to move. "Wait, this…" The man's sunken eyes widened with horror as he recognized the power responsible for capturing him. "It can't be…"

"Heya there, Doc," said a young hero with pale blue hair and a chilling smile on his face as he was flanked by an oddly tense Present Mic. "Been a while, hasn't it? I never got to say 'thanks' for all you did for me."

Garaki's eyes widened so much that it was a wonder they didn't just fall out of his head as he managed to gasp out, "Kurogiri?!"

"The name's Oboro Shirakumo, thanks," the young hero replied, the light in his eyes hardening to a degree that even Endeavor was a little intimidated by. "But I guess that name doesn't matter much right now. Cos today, you're the devil's pawn, and I'm the hero who gets to bring you in: Loud Cloud!"

"We're on!" Burnin' shouted to the assembled heroes, sending them all into action and charging down the mountainside, even as the troops below them began their own advance. "Remember, hold back until the civilians have been evacuated, but once they're outta the way, our orders are to exterminate the League and Meta Liberation flunkies with extreme prejudice!"

There were some growls of affirmation from scattered points among the mass of heroes, but many of them said nothing in the way of acknowledgement. The time had come- the nightmare was upon them. Before the day was done, blood would be on their hands, one way or another.

If we kill the villains, we shed blood, Kai thought as he led the stampede alongside Deku and their girls. If we don't kill them, and they kill someone innocent because of our inaction, then their blood is our responsibility. Uravity had made herself float and grabbed onto the greenette's back so that he could pull her along at top speed while the Guardian Hero had snagged Ashid Queen around the waist with Blackwhip and was pulling her along while she used acid from her feet to slide effortlessly down the rocks. Textbook 'damned if we do, damned if we don't.'

And yet…

There was something to be done soon, he knew. It would be in mere moments, and when that time came, Kai knew what had to be done in order for his friends to live through the hell that they were entering- and that only he could do what was needed. I've done it before. I can- I have to do it again.

"Hey, am I the only one seeing this?!" Ground Zero shouted, his voice surprising several of the others who had direct communication lines to his new suit's com. "What the hell's going on down there?!" As he flew overhead, he took a moment to point at the main highway that ran through the city, where the heroes could now see swarms of people leaving via car and on foot on either end of the main road.

"Are the civilians already evacuating on their own?!" Myrtenaster yelled in disbelief.

"How'd they know to do that?!" Deku added, looking just as bewildered as the next hero. "There was no warning from the Commission or the army about the villains being stationed here, or our plans to fight them!"

"Agh, they're already out in the open!" Firecracker growled in frustration. "They're sitting ducks if the Front decides to attack 'em!"

"Maybe, but it also gives us less ground to cover!" Crescent Rose countered as she shot up into the air for a more elevated view alongside Ground Zero. "If we can get there fast enough, we won't need as many heroes to protect a group of people like that! We don't have to go door-to-door and spend time getting everyone out one building at a time!"

"She's right!" Kai yelled to be heard over the stampede thundering above and behind him. "We'll have to get in close to make sure that those really are civvies instead of the Front members, but if this is what it looks like, our jobs just got a whole lot easier!"

"But how?!" Myrtenaster demanded again. "How could they have known to leave before the battle even started?! The Commission put all heroes in the know under a strict gag order!"

"We'll figure it out later!" Freezer Burn answered shortly. "Right now, we need to focus on the task at hand, and get this battle over with so that we don't face a drawn-out war like before!"

"Right!" shouted most of his classmates, even as Ground Zero and Myrtenaster moved to go spread the word alongside Burnin', who had also noticed the bizarre development down below. Still, in spite of his insistence that they focus on the coming battle, Freezer Burn couldn't shake the sudden feeling that he was being watched by unseen eyes.

Either none of this adds up, or it adds up too well, he thought as the incline started to level out, and his heart started to pound even more rapidly. His first thought was that it could be Umbra working another angle, but other than the mysterious villain being the only one ambitious and/or capable enough to pull off such a thing, he couldn't fathom the reasoning behind the move. Someone is arranging all of this, even if it isn't him. The real question is 'why'? And to serve what agenda?

"Are you ready, Kaminari?"

"No, but when am I ever?" the blond hero muttered in an aside to his avian-headed classmate. As he and Tokoyami looked down at their new outfits, he did add, "I guess if nothing else, I'm real glad that we'll be getting to fight in these things- it feels so safe!"

His new suit hugged his body snugly beneath his jacket and pants, which he had elected to keep from his old costume. The programmable matter had been stylized to show golden lightning bolts rippling down his arms on top of a black backdrop, and the nanoscopic pieces could change shape into any piece of equipment that he needed, such as the polarizing disks he used to make distanced attacks without risk of hurting allies and bystanders, or protective lenses to avoid getting blinded by his own power. It also automatically circulated any excess electricity that he might discharge back into his suit, potentially keeping it stored for later use, and thus increasing the number of times he could attack before his brain copped out from the strain.

"Indeed, these are magnificent gifts to be bestowed upon us," Tokoyami said in agreement. "I hope that they will aid in our successes today, and hereafter. However, we must be careful not to assume victory because of their application to this battle."

His suit was also form-fitting, with a likeness of dark red wings spreading across his pecs, though it noticeably lacked the large cloak that he was known to conceal his body in so that he could keep up Dark Shadow's strength, even in broad daylight. This was due to a function of his suit that was only visible to the human eye if one looked closely enough to see a mirage-like shimmer around his body- a refracting field that kept sunlight from even coming into direct contact with Tokoyami's body at any given point, and thus allowing him to keep Dark Shadow at full strength, no matter what the lighting conditions were. He could even conjure an armored raven-styled helmet to go over his head and completely cover his body, but unfortunately, his quirk itself would remain vulnerable to bright lights. Even so, the suit had essentially negated one of his biggest weaknesses in its entirety, and with all the work that Tokoyami had put into mastering his quirk while it was at its strongest, he was confident that his presence on the battlefield was going to be even more pronounced than their supervisors had guessed. After all- when trying to tame a savage beast, it's best to have a handy food supply at the ready, and the villains could certainly be considered as such to Dark Shadow when it was free to cut loose.

The pair of young heroes were set to move in on the Paranormal Liberation Front's current HQ, an estate in the Gunga Mountains, where their top commanders were supposedly gathered, sans Shigaraki himself. Due to the nature of their quirks and their applications in potentially dealing with multiple strong opponents at once, they had been asked to join the vanguard, which the pair had agreed to. Kaminari still had reservations about this, but thanks to Deku and Kurai's plan, he knew that they had a good shot at making it out of this first encounter. Who knows, maybe we'll even manage to make a major difference in what happens? the electric-themed hero thought with a nervous grin. Man, this tension is killing me!

"Hey, Tokoyami?" he found himself asking before he could stop the words.

"Yes?"

"This is… probably a dumb question, but do you ever get scared?" Kaminari inquired, his words halting, as if they were difficult to speak. "Like, I know that… well, Dark Shadow used to get out of control… And obviously, that'd terrify anybody. But, other than that…?"

"Of course I feel fear," Tokoyami answered, though not unkindly. "As we speak, my heart pounds in my chest like a war drum, because I am forced to contemplate the notion that, in spite of all of the advantages that we have gained leading up to this battle, the truth is that we may not live to see the next sunrise. Only a fool would face such circumstances without at least some measure of fear."

Kaminari allowed those words to sink in for a moment while sweat slid down his neck before he said, "Looking at you, I never would have guessed it. You always look so cool and calm, like Todoroki and Hikari do when they're about to get into a major battle."

His friend folded his arms at that while saying, "I am humbled that you equate my temperament to that of our Guardian Hero. I suppose you might say that I sympathize with his reasons to clench his fists whenever trouble comes our way, so to hear that my emulations of his character bear such a resemblance is quite heartening."

Kaminari blinked a couple of times before he said, "Those were… definitely some words you used just now."

Tokoyami favored him with a rare smile before he explained, "I am not like Hikari in many ways, but hearing that I have managed to give off a similar presence makes me rather happy to hear. I too, want to protect my friends and all that they hold dear, and to have you say that I am like him is truly encouraging."

"Oh," the blond grinned again, a little more assuredly this time. "I mean, I think Hikari has something- or more like someone- that he fights for harder than any of us ever could. But I get wanting to protect all of our friends, and all that. I just wish that it'd help me be cool like you guys."

"You are cool," Tokoyami informed him bluntly, causing his friend to do a double take in shock. Seeing this, the Jet-Black Hero shrugged and went on to say, "Believe it or not, I have seen Hikari visibly show fear. He has not always faced terror and death as the unshakeable pillar you seem to believe he is."

"Wait, when was this?" Kaminari had to ask. "Even when he fought that crazy Nomu in the Fall, he didn't show any fear that I could see. Did I miss something?"

"No, this was in the forest when the League attacked us in the dead of night," Tokoyami replied, his tone having gone grave. "We were under attack by Moonfish; I had only just gotten Dark Shadow under control, Shoji was injured, and Hikari could barely see- truly dire circumstances, by anyone's measure. When he realized who was after us, I hardly recognized him for his fear. Even so, he did his duty as a hero and our friend by sacrificing his arm for Bakugo's sake- just as we are about to take to the front lines of this battle so that our comrades do not bear the brunt of our enemies' wrath."

"Heh," Kaminari chuckled while rubbing the back of his neck. "You make me sound a lot cooler than a guy who just didn't wanna lose face in front of his friends and the one guy who's got more right to complain than anybody."

His classmate fixed him with a steady gaze before he told him, "You're a magnificent hero in the making, Kaminari- showing your fear, even on the battlefield, does not diminish that potential. And if I'm not mistaken, your ability to sympathize with Hikari outclasses my own."

"Huh?"

"I'm saying," Tokoyami replied as he turned away to look further up the column, where they could see the beginnings of some movement from the pros, "that like Hikari, you have something precious that you would willingly give your life for- something that means more to you than the bonds that Class 1-A has forged together as a collective."

Against his will, Kaminari's thoughts drifted back in time to his memory of performing in their class' concert. He had been disappointed that he wouldn't be able to play in the band, but once he saw one of his classmates in particular begin to grow into her role with a greater passion, his own feelings about the matter became inconsequential. It didn't matter if he wasn't where had wanted to be- he would do whatever he could to make sure that her showing was a success. I wonder if…

"Hey, Tokoyami?" he asked, even as the stirring at the head of their regiment started to spread. "If we both survive this, can you do me a big favor?"

"Of course," the other student nodded firmly. "What would you have of me?"

"Remind me to ask Jiro if she'll teach me to play guitar when this whole stupid thing is over with," he replied with a wobbly smile. "It's probably not the lesson that Hikari wants us to learn from him, but after that whole thing on Nabu, I should've realized that our lives are way too short to be tiptoeing around stuff that scares us. I gotta man up if I wanna get anywhere, right?"

"Indeed," Tokoyami answered with a serious nod. "As you wish, I shall remind you of this request when we both see the other side of this conflict alongside our classmates. Though, if you would permit me to ask, why do you need a reminder when it seems your heart is set on what you should do?"

"I still think that I might chicken out if I just keep it to myself when the time comes…"

"This is the building?" Jaune asked as he and Taiyang regarded the small office complex in front of them. "It doesn't look special at all."

"I'm sure that's the idea," Pyrrha replied as her emerald eyes regarded the building carefully.

"You really don't expect a guy like Umbra to advertise his hideouts, do you?" Akarui snorted from the other end of the coms that had been built into each of their new suits.

"This is the building where Hikari managed to trace the enemy's signal," Taiyang warned his young charges. "Remember, if he is in there, Umbra is someone whose intellect surpasses Nezu and Hikari, both. We can't afford to take this lightly."

"Trust me, sir, we won't be," Jaune replied, a hard light coming into his deep blue eyes. "This creep is responsible for the mess our friends are in right now, and we're not exactly in the mood to play nice today."

"He'll be lucky if his legs are the only thing I break," Nora said with a slightly deranged grin plastered on her face as some of the material that made up her suit shifted and congealed in her hands until they resembled the hammer that she employed for combat. "Where do I start smashin'?"

"Ren, take point for the entry, but be ready to switch formation if I call for it," Jaune ordered as he willed his own weapons to form out of his suit, quickly generating a sturdy shield and a sword honed to an impossibly narrow point. He took a moment to be impressed at the fact that they felt exactly the same in his hands as his old gear did before he turned to Pyrrha and said, "I need you to bring up the rear. You think your quirk will work against any machines that this guy may have set up?"

"My quirk affects all metallic objects capable of magnetic interactions," she nodded with a fond smile at her leader. "Unless he somehow manages to make machines out of plastic, we should be good."

"Seriously, Jaune," Nora said as Ren moved toward the door, daggers in hand. "Where do I swing this thing?"

"Right at Umbra's head, the first chance you get," the blond boy answered as Taiyang followed Ren, a pair of well-loved gauntlets adorning his arms, similar in appearance to Yang's armaments, though they were decidedly more sturdy-looking. "Sir, we're ready."

"Good," the man muttered. "Cos I get the feeling that our enemy is, too."

"Now this is what I'm talking about!" Mirko shouted with a feral grin as she and Chronoa skidded to a halt in a darkened corridor that was now teeming with gray Nomu. Her powerful leg muscles flexed as she prepared to tear through the monsters with impunity, even as the lightning encasing the younger heroine's body began to crackle with greater intensity.

"Remember, don't kill them," the girl muttered as she took a ready stance. "I need them alive to turn them back to normal." Strictly speaking, this was not true for Chronoa, but she knew that it was better to keep her ability to revive the dead under wraps as much as possible, as to avoid questions she knew were best left unanswered.

"That's fine by me- wouldn't want this to be easy!" Mirko replied before she took off, her partner hot on her heels. Together, the pair made short work of the gray-skinned monsters, with the Rabbit Heroine mostly taking the lead so that Chronoa would be met with no resistance when she activated Rewind to return them to their human selves. The process was shocking enough to the restored individuals that they were all left as unconscious heaps on the floor that would be collected by the police and other heroes at the first opportunity.

Within minutes, the two heroines crashed through a large door into a massive room lined with huge vats that glowed an ominous purple- an image that Chronoa had seen many times through surveillance footage captured by the UA Alliance in the future. Seeing them caused her to falter for a half-second, but she recovered her faculties in time for Mirko to turn toward a trembling, rotund figure that the women recognized as Doctor Garaki.

"What's up, Doc?" Mirko sneered as the rubble around them crashed to the ground while Chronoa regarded the man with a silent, neutral look that was entirely at odds with the chaos of noise surrounding them. "Endeavor says that the one upstairs was a double, so I'm guessing that you're the real one!"

Before she could say another word, or move toward their target, the room shuddered with an unmistakable air of menace and power that preluded a blue-and-red blur smashing into the doctor, snapping his left leg like a twig and a savage strike to the throat that crushed his vocal chords- just enough to cripple his ability to speak, but not quite cut off his air supply in its entirety. Chronoa stood over the man with his arm twisted into a painful lock, her horn glowing brightly as bioelectricity continued to stir up her hair and cape. "Give me a reason to kill you, old man," she hissed with a venom that took Mirko aback for a second. "Make my day."

Where the hell did that come from?! She could only wonder, not having expected such a violent outburst from the softly-spoken kid that she had been ordered to take along.

Garaki could only wheeze pitifully, unable to even properly scream out his agony as he felt his body beginning to age, further exacerbating the wounds he had just been dealt. Forget trying to awaken the High-End Nomu, it was a struggle for him to even breathe properly. Had he been in a clearer frame of mind, he might have wondered at the accuracy with which she had known to strike his body in order to swiftly cripple- but not kill- someone like him.

His suffering, wasn't over, either. "Your quirk is gone," Chronoa snarled, the lightning generated by her power flaring even brighter than before. "How do you like that, thief? You helped All For One steal so many powers, so many lives, and now the quirk that helped you to do it is gone. Not only that, you're gonna lie here and watch as I undo everything that you've spent the last hundred years working to accomplish, and it won't take me five minutes to do it." The man was starting to struggle, seemingly in protest, so Chronoa snapped the arm that she was holding at the joint, her eyes glittering with an unrestrained malice as Mirko could only watch the scene unfold.

Holy shit, this chick's even crazier than I am! she thought with widened eyes as she watched the now-ancient doctor writhe on the ground in unspeakable pain.

"You killed my friends, turned some of them into Nomu- helped the League of Villains steal the childhood that my heroes paid for with their blood and lives!" Chronoa screamed as the lightning began to strike at the machines around them, damaging nodes and terminals at random while Garaki was forced to witness it all happen in relative silence. "I have been waiting for this, Doctor, and now I'll pay you back with interest!"

"Let's do this!" Mudman shouted as he and the other three UA students charged out into the open, where an army of heroes preceded them, all of them ready to go to work now that Cementoss had torn the gates to the enemy fortress.

He was decked out in a programmable matter suit like the rest of his classmates, but at first glance, it didn't appear all that different from his old outfit. However, it was another matter entirely for how it felt to wear it. His old gear had never been uncomfortable, nor could it have been called impractical or hindering- but this new suit? It felt like wearing a comfortable second skin, it was so light- yet he knew that its durability was on par with Tetsutetsu's metallic skin, if not greater. Even if someone were to take a shot at him while he was exposed in putting his quirk to work, he felt reasonably sure that he would hardly even notice the effort.

Still, that's not a reason to get lax! he thought as he knelt down and placed his hands on the earth, eyeing an area where it seemed like a large number of villains were gathering.

Even as he began to lay the literal groundwork for his trap, Tsukuyomi and Chargebolt were advancing with the vanguard, both of their faces set in determined lines as they readied their own quirks. "What do you think?" the blond hero asked as they ran, fear and apprehension both building and fading with the adrenaline of the moment.

"I think that an opening strike from you may prove more effective on this field," Tsukuyomi answered from within his helmet. "Besides, it appears as though one of our specialty targets has decided to make a grand entrance."

One of the Front's sub commanders- Chargebolt couldn't be bothered to remember his name at that moment- had emerged from the fortress, and was generating massive amounts of electricity that he seemed to be ready to unleash on the heroes as a whole. Not on my watch, he doesn't!

"Now, die, you filthy heroes!" the man could be heard shouting.

Chargebolt couldn't help giving vent to a grin before he held his right arm up in the air and channeled his own power in the same split second that their enemy directed his attack at all of them. "Come on, is that the best insult you guys can always come up with?!" he called out, even as the electricity began to pour into his own body, sending tingles along his entire nervous system. "I think I've heard that same cheesy-ass line from every other villain group we've gone up against!"

"Wha-?! Impossible!" the man gaped as his power began to fade away. "They withstood my attack?!"

"Yeah, heard that one, too," Chargebolt snorted, even as he lowered his arm to point his index finger right at their enemy. Bits of shifting material began to fly out of his suit at his command while he said, "I should start keeping count of the same lame lines you villains yell whenever you get stomped! But in the meantime, why don't I show you what a real opening move looks like?"

By the time he had finished talking, there were over twenty small clusters of interchangeable material that looked no bigger than pebbles, all of them floating in a seemingly random pattern around their enemies. Some of them were located near heroes, but they were each too busy with their own battles to notice what was happening just yet.

Tsukuyomi watched carefully as his friend's suit began to redirect the blue lightning that had been cast at them, the air around them coming alive with power anew, sending an ominous buzz straight through his bones, as well as that of their allies. "Kaminari…" he said, a little worriedly, but the other boy shook his head quickly.

"I've got this, trust me," he muttered in a low voice. "Everyone's trusted me to get this right, so I will. I know what I gotta do, and I won't mess it up."

"…Very well," the avian-headed hero nodded as he suppressed his urge to shudder at the continued crawling sensation that snaked throughout his entire body.

"Here goes…" Chargebolt growled as lightning sparked across his body. "Bullseye Shock… 1.5 Million VOLTS!"

A single thread of white-hot electricity burst forth from his finger, but the pattern it wove was one of nigh-unmatched devastation. The lightning struck through the enemy commander's chest, jumped into the heart of one of the hovering clusters, and then was redirected into the body of another villain, giving her the same treatment as her boss, so that when the blast had left her body, she was a charred lump of flesh. This pattern continued across the battlefield, leaving nearly two hundred corpses strewn about when it was over and done with, and not a single hero among them.

Before the battle had even begun, Kaminari had surreptitiously tagged as many of the heroes as he could with some bits of his suit, and marking them as friendly targets, so that his equipment would know to automatically divert any concentrated bursts of power away from them, if at all possible. While the flash of lightning faded away and began to allow others to see what he had wrought, the pieces that had ricocheted his attacked swiftly made their return to his suit, becoming one with the material just in time for Chargebolt to heave out a giant, exhausted breath, even as Tsukuyomi was forced to catch him up from falling.

"Kaminari!" he said urgently. "Was the power too great?"

"That was nothing," his friend said, though his voice and bearing were still weary as he did. "I… can hardly believe that I was actually able to do all of that." Here, he made a vague gesture at the field before them, where villains and heroes alike were recoiling in shock- if not horror- at the power that had been displayed as a mere opening act from a teenager. He added a bleak smile as he said, "I guess it's like Thirteen told us all that time ago- our quirks aren't anything to mess around with."

The thought that their quirks had been refined to such a degree in a matter of weeks with the help of their new suits was both thrilling and terrifying for them to contemplate, but this was war. It was kill or be killed, and the young heroes had no intention of allowing even one hint of Eri's future to emerge in this timeline.

It wouldn't be easy, Tsukuyomi reflected as he used Dark Shadow to drive back a group of attackers that was now trying to target his shaken friend from a distance, but they had to survive this. We cannot know if this carnage will be worth it until we have seen the other side of this bloodied river of fate…

"Here we go!" Kai shouted as the group he was with sighted the stragglers of one of the exodus parties. Already they could see some people who were running after the fleeing civilians with what looked like hostile intent.

"Long-range, discourage them!" Burnin' ordered the heroes closest to her.

"You got it!" Deku shouted as he unleashed a handful of lasers that would strike between the two parties.

"Don't give me orders!" Ground Zero snarled as he sent a barrage of explosive bolts to accompany the emerald lasers to create a deadly maelstrom of power that anyone with a brain would know not to try crossing.

Freezer Burn said nothing, but added a torrent of flames to the mix, even as other heroes around them seemed to pick up on the idea and let loose with their own quirks, some of them aiming more directly for the villains themselves. Seeing this, Kai looked over and yelled, "Hey! We need some of them alive for answers!"

"We only need one to talk!" snapped a man with bear-like traits. "Let us do our jobs, brat!"

"Up yours', Smokey!" Firecracker shouted as the projectiles made contact with the ground, tearing up the road and halting the villains' advance, at least for the moment. "Kai tells you to jump, you should be asking how high!"

"You little-!"

"Enemy contact!" Myrtenaster interrupted, her sword flashing out in front of her to intercept some kind of crystalline projectile and flick it away from her and the others.

"Tenya, catch up with the civilians and see if you can't figure out what the hell is happening here!" Kai called to his friend, who immediately nodded in affirmation.

"I'll radio the military forces and request an escort for them!" Ingenium Mk. II replied as he took off, some of the other heroes around them moving to follow his example. "Keep the enemy from advancing on them while we do!"

"Done!" Kai shouted before he used Blackwhip to launch Ashid Queen right at their enemies at high velocity, acid already spraying in circular motions that scorched her targets with hideous chemical burns before she landed among them and started throwing punches alongside Crescent Rose, who had been the first to actually dive into the fray.

Seeing another group of people coming toward them with what appeared to be active and hostile quirks at the ready, Kai leaped clear over the first battle that was forming, raising his fists high over his head as he did. "Malgus…" he growled as the ground rushed up to meet him. "SMASH!" His fists slammed into the road beneath, tearing it apart and sending forth a shockwave mixed with tar and concrete that pulverized his enemies with impunity.

As he stood up to observe the results of his handiwork, his ears rang with the sounds of combat spreading throughout the city from this sector, and he felt his heart grow heavy as he was confronted with the reality that the war had truly begun.

"Spacing out in a battle is how you get ki-!" A burst of black lightning surging from his fingertips fried a man who had leaped down from a rooftop with a flaming sword in hand, sending him crashing to the ground, away from the stoic young hero.

"I know what gets people killed in battle," he muttered sourly as he began to jog toward an altercation that seemed to be going poorly for the heroes involved. "And before today is over, I'm sure that brand of knowledge is going to be unfortunately commonplace."

Around him, he was vaguely aware of his classmates taking the briefest of moments to realize that he had just drawn the first blood of this war- that there was a man who would never again breathe because of what he had done. They saw that he had done so because he could not take any chances with his attacker, but that he had ended a man's life nonetheless. They witnessed him once again embrace one of the darkest parts of being a hero, and be capable of moving on from it.

As he allowed the power of One For All to swell within him again, Kai allowed himself a grim nod as he saw Ground Zero swerve upward in a spiraling motion so that he could grab a villain off the ledge of a rooftop, stick a grenade on him, and then throw him at a cluster of other liberation soldiers that were taking up sniping positions, resulting in a devastating explosion that left none alive. Nearly simultaneously, Freezer Burn had turned a woman to solid ice and unleashed a short burst of fire that carbonized her partner's upper torso in an instant.

So it was that as he ran through the city streets, striking down villain after villain so that his suit's self-cleaning function could hardly keep up with the spree of bloody fatalities that he was inflicting, did he see every single one of the friends he had come to fight beside harden their hearts and do what must be done to put down the evils standing before them.

"I'm sorry, Jin," Hawks said dully as he beheld the sight of his newest 'friend', curled up in a ball and at the mercy of his feathers. "I really am."

"You…? I couldn't-?!" Twice blubbered as he tried to understand what was happening to him right then. One minute, the alarm had been sounded that heroes had found their hideout to charge in with full force, and the next, he had been prevented from helping his comrades by being cornered in his own room. The fact that it was someone he had come to depend on and call a good friend made it all the worse. "Why…?" he groaned as tears seeped out of his mask.

"Don't resist this, Jin," Hawks warned him as he saw the villain start to convulse. "I want to take you in alive- give you a new chance at life."

"Why does this always happen… to me?" Twice sobbed. "First, Big Sis Magne… And then Mister Compress… And now-!"

Snick!

Hawks' eyes widened as Twice ceased his babbling just in time for his head to roll clean off of his shoulders, blood pooling on the carpet beneath him as his body went limp. "What in the-?"

"The problem with long-term cover assignments…" said a cold voice from next to Twice's corpse, coming from a cloaked individual whom Hawks had been certain was not there two seconds ago. Freezing silver eyes met Hawks' startled gaze from beneath a crimson cowl as the speaker went on to say, "Even if you hold true to which side you're on, you can't help but make attachments- bonds that can sway judgement just enough that disasters erupt, regardless of all the hours put into making an operation as smooth as can be." At the last part of his little speech, the newcomer flicked a long blade to the side, slinging droplets of blood free from the steel.

Hawks felt a chill run up his neck as he recognized the person standing before him. "I take it you're the one they call 'Shadow'?" he asked as his feathers began to regather on his back, even while the commotion outside began to echo within the walls of the building as the Front tried to organize its troops to fight back. "A kid?"

The cloaked figure gave vent to a smirk before saying, "My reputation precedes me. And you should hardly be taken aback by my age, given how quickly you shot up the ranks, Number Two."

"How long have you been in here?!"

"Long enough."

"My feathers should have sensed anyone in the room- you a warp-type?"

"No," Shadow said with a terse shake of his head. "But if I don't want people to know I'm somewhere, they won't." There was a half-second pause before he scowled and muttered, "Move."

No sooner than he had said the words than did blue flames erupt from the doorway, racing to engulf Hawks in a merciless inferno that would reduce him to cinders. Fortunately, he had great enough reflexes that he was able to escape with only a few singed feathers- which allowed him to turn and see something rather spectacular. "That the best you've got?" Shadow taunted their attacker as he kept his left palm levelled at the flames that had been unable to get more than a few feet into the room. There was a shimmer in the air that could almost be mistaken for a heat mirage, but whatever it was, it was keeping the blue fire at bay completely, leaving no space for it to even find purchase on the carpet beneath their feet.

"You damned heroes," a raspy voice muttered as the fire let up, allowing a tall figure to walk through and stand amid the embers that remained, though they did not attempt to pass whatever barrier that Shadow had erected between them. "Your true colors are showing already- given a chance to act as viciously as the people you call villains, and you jump right on it."

"This coming from the guy who's incinerated dozens of people- many of them innocent bystanders- just for kicks," Shadow deadpanned while Hawks got into a battle-ready stance with a pair of his largest feathers in hand. The cloaked assassin's eyes glowed for a moment before his face stretched with an unsettling smile and the words, "I'd ask if your parents ever taught you any better, but I suppose that'd be expecting too much from Enji Todoroki, now wouldn't it?"

There was a grand total of three seconds' silence in the room before Hawks shook himself and started to ask, "Wait, are you-?"

FWOOSH!

Kai regarded the villains that had surrounded him from among the trees in a sprawling park with unbridled disdain and contempt as they all prepared to unleash the full force of their quirks against him. "Give up and let us make this quick!" shouted a woman whose skin and facial structure resembled that of a bearded dragon. "You've been cut off from all your little friends, hero! You're completely surrounded and outmatched!"

At some absurdly early point in the fighting, Kai had fallen prey to a bout of tunnel vision- which was markedly unusual for him. He had broken into pursuit of a group that had come away from the main force of enemies, unable to hear the sounds of his friends and other colleagues calling for him to come back until he had put more than a mile between him and the closest reinforcements. Wait, how did this happen?! he had fumed for a moment. I'm smarter than this!

Almost at the same time that he had the thought, his eyes fell upon a villain dressed like a matador, complete with a bright red cape and golden trim on his uniform. No, he had thought angrily. I did not seriously get baited like a damn bull!

Before he could even think to use his quirk to take the man down, the villain suddenly pitched forward without a sound, a massive hole having been torn through his chest and rendering him lifeless in an instant. The young hero wondered for a moment just what had happened, but then he saw a lone hero perched on a nearby rooftop, a sniper rifle planted firmly in front of them. Something about her looked vaguely familiar to him, but before he could try to hail her on the radio, she disappeared behind the edge of the building.

In spite of the confusion that followed, this allowed Kai's head to clear and refocus on the bigger picture of the battle around him, as opposed to the single target he had been chasing. Of course by then, the trap was sprung, and the Paranormal Liberation Front had the famed teenager pinned down.

Or so they thought.

"All I am surrounded by is fear and dead men," the Guardian Hero now replied to the leader's demands, adding a harsh cast to his voice as he swept his gaze across the gathering that had assembled, quickly noticing the nervous tics that many of them were exhibiting. As he was speaking, he unclipped his saber from his belt and activated the blade- resulting in a black beam of energy that sprung from his grip, casting a strange, shadowy glow upon his body, even in the morning light of the sun.

"There are over a thousand of us here!" the woman shouted again, seemingly as much to remind her troops of their advantage as much as trying to intimidate him. "The Grand Commander wants you alive, but I doubt he'll mind if we bring you to him in pieces!"

"Counteroffer," Kai said as his smoldering glare morphed into a chilling smile that he fixed directly on the enemy leader. "You shut off your quirks and surrender to become war prisoners before this becomes a complete no-win situation for you guys."

"No-win?" the leader scoffed incredulously. "Even with the army and the heroes you damned traditionalists have assembled, your side cannot hope to win. You yourself have no way to escape- the moment you try to take flight, you'll be shot out of the sky by over twenty gunners among our ranks. What delusion are you under, that you think you can overcome odds of 1400 to 1?!"

"Bring fourteen hundred or fourteen thousand at me, the result will be the same," Kai answered as his smile widened, his suit's scouter having alerted him to an incoming biorhythm that he had been waiting for. "This fight is already over. Wanna know why?"

"Because you're deluded," the woman muttered as she raised her arm in preparation to give the 'open fire' signal to her subordinates.

"No, villain!" a booming voice thundered from above, one that caused everyone but Kai to flinch and pale to an unhealthy color. One second after that, there was a resounding impact less than ten yards behind the young hero, causing a dust cloud to jettison upward from the force of the broken earth, obscuring whatever had crashed. "It is over because…"

Kai flicked his fingers behind his back to cause an air burst across the clearing and dispel the floating dirt, revealing six hundred pounds of rippling muscle dressed in a cape and tights made up of all the primary colors, topped with golden blond hair and a smile that was enough to make some of the Paranormal Liberation Front warriors simply faint on the spot.

All Might jabbed his thumb into his chest, flexing his rock-hard bicep as the borrowed power of Energon flowed throughout his body, boldly declaring for the first time in a long time; "I AM HERE!"

Mei Hatsume was not used to feeling frustrated.

Her process of invention involved innumerable failures, all of which she had always reused as brain food in order to create unique masterpieces that no one else in UA's support course could possibly hope to match. She was methodically spastic with her creations, never slowing down, and never turning away from a moment of inspiration whenever it struck. Even if her pacing would never be called consistent by others, it had never bothered her whenever a project seemed to be slow to progress, because she knew that it would all come together, eventually.

So why was it that the pace of her current project seemed so damn slow all of a sudden?!

Maybe it's because that Hikari kid has been on my shoulder for so long with all those amazing mod-matter babies that we made together, she mused as she forced herself to reapply her determination on the schematics in front of her. She was hard at work in the Support Course lab, her mind occupied solely by the development of a new programmable matter application that would be going into the suit of one Hitoshi Shinso when one of the computers across the room started bleeping rapidly.

At first she ignored it, but after a couple of minutes, the tone it was using started to get on her nerves. "Hey, Hikari!" she called without looking up from her project. "Your thing is making noise! Tryin' to work here!" When she didn't get a reply, she forced herself to look up and snap, "This isn't gonna-! Oh."

For a moment, she had forgotten that she was completely alone in the room, but she still couldn't remember why that would be. It wasn't until it clicked that even Power Loader was absent that she said to herself, "Wait, was that big battle thing today?"

When the room simply continued its silence- with the exception of the notification sound still going off from Akarui's computer- she shrugged to herself and moved toward the device, knowing that it would likely keep going until someone turned it off. Her look of annoyance quickly transformed into one of surprise, and then alarm when her eyes detected alternating flashes of red on the screen. That can't be good, she thought as she hurried to stand in front of the computer, whereupon her eyes widened considerably.

"That's a lotta no good!" she gulped as she turned around and broke into a run, not even bothering to acknowledge the notification that was continuing to flash on the monitor. She had to find the principal or one of the other heroes who might have stayed on campus.

Failing that…

Her hand shot into her pocket as she ran and dialed one of the few contacts that she bothered to keep in its memory. She found herself praying for the first time in what had to be years as she muttered, "C'mon, Hikari! Pick up! If something happens to you, your brother's gonna kill me and all my babies!"

"You guys detecting any traps?"

"None, which honestly has me more worried than if a turret suddenly popped out and started firing," Jaune muttered into his com as he peered around the corner of a short hallway. His team and Taiyang had already evacuated the building of any civilians, all of whom seemed stunned at the thought that they had apparently been playing host to a villain upstairs for some time now.

Under normal circumstances, they might have left one of them behind to ask the civilians some questions that might help them understand their target, but other than checking that no one had gone up or come down the stairs that day, they knew that they had no time to waste. Umbra needed to be captured now, and this was the first- and possibly only- lead that they were going to get, now that Akarui's Solar Intelligence was gone. If the elusive villain was half as smart as he claimed to be, there was no way he would continue to use the same methods of communication that had led the heroes to him now. As such, Taiyang and Jaune were at the head of the party, with Pyrrha and Nora right behind them, and Ren bringing up the rear. All of them were properly armed and ready for the first hint of danger, but as Jaune had noted, they had yet to encounter any traps from their enemy.

"Did this guy seriously think that we wouldn't find his home base, so he just didn't booby trap it?" Nora asked curiously as the two blond men exchanged an uneasy glance.

"Might've been too conspicuous to set up a trap when there are civilians working downstairs," Taiyang answered in a lowered tone. "There's something to be said for hiding in plain sight, but…"

"This doesn't feel right," Pyrrha murmured. "Hikari, do you think that this could be a trap?"

"Probably is," the boy on the other end of the line said in a strained voice. "If you guys think it's best to wait for backup, you can always hold your position. I can tap into the camera feeds and keep an eye on the room where he's supposed to be hiding, make sure that he doesn't slip out via the window without you guys knowing."

"Do it, but we're going in," Jaune decided abruptly. "Even if this is a trap, our friends are out there, risking their lives because of this guy. Even if it's too late to stop him, we can make sure that he answers for what he's done to them. We probably won't get another chance like this." Looking over his shoulder, he then said, "Nora, you're gonna take point this time. Your quirk has the best chance at dealing with any tech-based countermeasures he's got ready for us. Pyrrha, I want you right behind her."

"Got it," Nora said as she stepped around the corner and made straight for the door at the end of the short hall, her hammer at the ready, and a vicious smile plastered on her face.

Hatsume was nearly out of breath as she jogged up the stairs to reach the third floor of the teacher's dorm building, but she did not stop until she had reached her destination- a door with the label 'Hikari' next to it. Hand shaking, she reached up and knocked on the door rapidly while shouting, "Hey, kid! You gotta get out here! Those sensors you installed last week were tampered with- someone might've broken onto the campus, and it looks like it woulda been close to this building!"

There was no reply for several seconds, and Hatsume felt a chill run down her spine as a dozen thoughts ran through her mind. The teachers said that he might be a target for the bad guys, but they weren't supposed to come for him yet, right?! she thought as she grasped the doorknob and moved to throw the door open. She could hear the humming of several machines at work, which she took to be his computers- meaning that he could well be hard at work, even now. Maybe he's got his headphones on so he can't-!

All thoughts were obliterated the instant that the entrance was opened, a terrific explosion ripping through the building, annihilating the contents of Akarui's room beyond recognition, and leaving Hatsume as a burned, flattened mess in the room opposite of the boy's, having been thrown clear through the door. She barely registered the sounds of the fire alarm blaring in her already-ringing ears before she lost consciousness and gave into the dark of a forced slumber.

The door to Umbra's room was thrown clear off its hinges to embed itself in a wall after Nora's foot connected with the wood, admitting the light of the sun into a dark, somewhat spacious room that was littered with what looked like computers and other technological pieces whose function Team JNPR could only guess at. Near the wall where the door had crashed into, there was a high-backed rotating chair, where Nora could just make out the shadow of a person sitting with their arms folded in front of them, as if they hadn't a care in the world.

In those circumstances, there could only be one person so arrogant as to calmly sit through the arrival of a hero team, even if they were only high school students.

With a yell of rage, Nora put every bit of power that she dared into a driving force that would slam into Umbra with just enough strength to break his bones, but not quite kill him. The same instant that she did, however, her suit made a sharp clicking sound, and suddenly the girl found that all of the strength was gone from her muscles, causing her to slump forward and land nearly flat on her face with a grunt of surprise.

Pyrrha reacted first, her quirk triggering to repel all manner of technology in Umbra's vicinity, smashing his equipment to bits before he could even flinch, sparks flying to briefly light up the room and cast a twisted shadow of their enemy on the wall before the image was gone, and the hidden figure was left in a dark illuminated only by the obstructed light of the hallway. Right after that, Jaune and Ren moved in quickly, their weapons ready to disable the unseen figure- until there was another sharp clicking sound that came from each of their suits, and leaving them all in the same state as Nora.

The sound of a shotgun being chambered finally seemed to be enough to force Umbra to turn, his right hand pointing straight at Taiyang as he swung his fist with every intention of blowing his enemy's entire ribcage away. Before he could unleash his ammo, however, something flew from Umbra's fingertip and buried itself in the hero's neck, causing him to also go limp, though he was more vocal in his defeat, giving vent to an animal bellow of pure rage as he realized that his entire team was now at the mercy of the shrouded figure, who hadn't even bothered to get out of his chair.

How did this happen?! he silently seethed. Pyrrha destroyed his tech, he shouldn't have had anything to use against us!

"You made a grave mistake, assuming that the only traps I could lay would be those that you could walk into," said a hoarse voice that came from the seated figure, whose face was still obscured by the shadows of the room. "You never bothered to check for the trap that could be etched into your own skin."

"Wait, that voice…" Jaune grunted out as he tried in vain to shift his head so that he might get a glimpse of their enemy, but only just managing to spot the figure in the corner of his peripheral vision. "You're…?! You can't be!"

"Strictly speaking, I'm not Umbra," the figure replied, his voice still raspy, as if from disuse. "He is."

There was a soft blue glow that emanated from his body, which quickly took on the form of a partially familiar face that caused all of the heroes to widen their eyes in a mixture of horror and terror as they began to understand the true nature of the threat that they faced. "I am Umbra," the holographic being said, sounding sad as it did. "For the record, I had hoped that we would never meet, especially since I knew that it could only be under circumstances such as these. But events have unfolded as they must, and now there is no going back."

"An A.I. construct double?!" Taiyang snarled. "That's how you pulled all this off?!"

"How could you?!" Pyrrha gasped out as she tried to make her quirk work, but utterly failing to even make one piece of her armor move a centimeter. "What possessed you to do all this?!"

"I never wanted this," the figure in the chair replied sadly, finally standing up and moving into the light so that there could be no mistaking his identity. "But as my other half said, this is the way that things have to be from now on."

As the hologram faded out of existence and he stepped over the prone forms of the heroes who could only watch him leave in a helpless rage, the figure dropped a flash drive behind him onto Jaune's back, which was quickly absorbed by the material of his suit. "Give that to my brother once the fighting is over- he'll know the password that'll decrypt the files."

With that said, Umbra's partner departed, tears streaming down his face as he refused to spare a backward glance for the people demanding that he come back and explain himself. After all that he had done, Akarui Hogo-sha would never look back again.

Mataras: Before you start...

Ashid Queen: What the actual hell?!

Mataras: Okay! Before. You. Start!

Ashid Queen: How long has this been a thing?!

Mataras: Since the beginning.

Ashid Queen: He's been a supervillain that long?!

Mataras: Oh, no. I meant that as in I've been planning for this particular twist since the beginning. I didn't know when it would happen for a while, but I always planned for Akarui to be a surprise twist villain.

Ashid Queen: I'm about to twist you, you're the villain!

Mataras: That... makes no sense.

Ashid Queen: I KNOW!!!

Mataras: I'm honestly surprised that no one at least suspected something, given that I did something incredibly similar in The Red Swordsman Shattered Fragment story.

Kai: Mataras.

Mataras: Ah... Thought I'd have longer than this.

Kai: You have three seconds.

Mataras: Next time- Burdens of War

Ashid Queen: Let's Go Beyond on this guy!

Kai: PLUS ULTRA!!!

Umbra's Notes

Bullseye Shock: After sending out small pieces of his suit to act as highly effective conduits for his power, Chargebolt fires off a single blast of electricity that can be absorbed and then redirected by the conduits, allowing him to instantly attack from multiple directions, as well as avoid causing any friendly fire with his quirk. The amount of power supplied affects how many targets can be hit with the use of this move, though it is doubtful that the speed factor would be affected by anything other than the amount of time taken to set up the conduit points.

Next time on Your Hero Academia...

"You sure it's not best if I lay low until the next phase of your plan kicks into effect?" she inquired as she made for the nearest door that would take her back inside the building.

"If you're not in the presence of other heroes when phase seven kicks off, they might just wonder if you had something to do with it," Umbra answered, sounding a little impatient as they did. "I timed your release for three weeks ago to show that you've had ample time to take your revenge, but you haven't. When evidence that the Paranormal Liberation Front were the ones responsible for the attack comes to light, no one will even question your part in it- especially given how you were so busy following 'their' orders to look out for the heroes' new golden goose."

"Not gonna lie, it's a pretty interesting challenge to keep the target in my sights alive instead of dropping him," Nagant snorted with a grim sort of amusement. "You really know how to rack up the surprises, Umbra."

"One of my many talents," the unseen benefactor chuckled. "Alright, like I said, I'm going dark. Expect contact shortly before nightfall."

"Understood," she replied, her voice becoming completely business-like again. "I'll keep my eye on Hikari until then. If he's really all you say that he is, I'm interested to see what kinda world will rise up under the influence of his brand of heroism."