Enjoy!
Izuku got up and stretched. Another day in the AMF. He reached the command tent and was informed of the latest news. Baragon had vanished off their sensors. Meanwhile, Godzilla had briefly been spotted by an SGS, helped by Froppy's last sighting. Rodan was still being tracked.
Izuku's group was mainly to pursue a possible lead on Anguirus. It was getting close to populated areas. Besides, unlike Rodan, they were actually built to fight him. Izuku had a fondness for the ankylosaur. Weaker than his peers, yet stubbornly refused to give in. It had allowed him to fight enemies well above his weight class and come out on top. Izuku admired that.
"How was it sir?" Hinae said as he returned.
"We're heading into the mountains after Varan."
"Will we fight him?"
"Probably."
She nodded, her gaze firming. "I know that one. I can handle it."
Izuku nodded. "Of course you will." She had before she'd even been partnered with him.
She clenched her fist and nodded. Akiba and Kisaragi came out.
"Heard we're moving."
"We are," Izuku said. "Varan."
"The old flying squirrel huh? Let's help give him a more permanent sleep."
Izuku smiled and nodded. As he got into his tank, he noted that this was like old times. He just had to keep from annoying the higher-ups too much, and he'd get to keep it a little longer.
Nemuri took this little trip to Endoor to prepare for possible evacuations, assist with any crowd necessary control, then stay a few days and get some fresh air.
Nemuri did not come here to interact with the decade-long bane of her existence! And yet, that insufferable brat had arrived too, because apparently she couldn't let Nemuri have twenty minutes of peace and quiet! Worse, there was nobody else in the Heroes' tent right now, besides Aizawa in his sleeping bag, so Nemuri had no choice but to interact with her.
"What are you doing here Mt. Lady?" Nemuri said, folding her arms.
Mt. Lady tossed her hair back. "I came to ask about the warnings of a kaiju near here. Do they expect one to come?" She had the usual smug look, but it had a hidden tension. Even she knows better than to mess with kaiju.
Nemuri said, "No, the Gargantua turned west an hour ago. Seems this place will be safe. Even if it did come, it wouldn't be here for several hours." In other words, no publicity here. Go away.
"Excellent! Can't have one ruining my quiet vacation! I came here to escape the constant buzz of media attention."
Nemuri gave her the same look she gave Yamada when he promised to be less loud at a staff party, or Aizawa when his New Year's resolution was to be more social for New Year's (at Eri's request of course). Separating Mt. Lady from the press was like separating a fish from water.
"Awww, is that jealousy I see?" Mt. Lady said, putting her hands on her hips. "Still upset I'm still highly ranked at this age while you had, how shall we say, slipped?"
"Oh don't even!" Nemuri said. " I had an important calling as a teacher taking up my time. Plus I didn't constantly chase the cameras." Nemuri was tempted to add that none of her colleagues refused to work the same day as her, but decided that was too low. Though, she did wonder what Mt. Lady did to annoy Kamui Woods so much.
"More like you cut off a large demographic before you even started, R-Rated Hero. Besides, I'm just better at handling big threats. And as for rearing up the next generation…" Her smile became coy. "I might have a little experience doing that too."
Nemuri raised her brow. Mt. Lady teaching? That'll be the day. Still…
"I suppose you have plenty of experience," Nemuri said, "seeing as how you're the same age I was when you called me old. Remember that?"
"Of course. I'm not worried about that at all," Mt. Lady said with a haughty smile. "I've grown older, my body has changed, and other younger Heroes are the hottest commodity now, but that's fine. I've matured, moved onto the next stage of life. Not tried to keep acting like I'm twenty-two a full decade later."
"You? Mature?" Nemuri said, giving her a skeptical look. "Please, do enlighten me on this next stage you've moved to?"
Mt. Lady's smile somehow became even smugger.
Hook. Line. And sinker.
"Well, since you asked so nicely. Promise not to tell." She sent a priority message to Nemuri's phone, via the secure messaging app that deleted messages after a day or two. Mt. Lady then held out her phone with the recording light on.
Nemuri rolled her eyes. "Sure, sure, I know how to keep a secret." She looked at her phone. She frowned. It was just a little girl with short, slightly messy, brown hair. She almost looked like a younger Mt. Lady, but her shirt logo was too modern.
"Who is this kid supposed to-" Nemuri's eyes widened. She looked back and forth between the girl, and Mt. Lady, whose smile became more and more devious with each passing second. "No… You?!"
"Isn't she adorable? Me and her loving father did such a great job, didn't we?"
Nemuri's jaw dropped at the utterly incomprehensible, and somewhat terrifying, mental image of Mt. Lady as a mother. All she could say was, "That poor girl."
Mt. Lady balled her first. "Why you-!"
Aizawa poked his head from his sleeping bag. "If either of you were mature, you wouldn't be having this same sleep-destroying argument for ten straight years."
" You shut up!" they said in unison.
Mifune and X both stood in front of their device. The Red Bamboo had told them it was time. However, one question lay ahead of the two.
"Who gets to push the button?" said X.
"I'll activate it," Mifune said.
"Alright, go ahead. I can get the next one," X said, subtly gesturing to the second button on top.
Mifune smirked. "Of course."
He then raised his thumb to the button and pressed down.
Under the earth, an earthquake's moving epicenter shifted directions.
Three Gargantuas, each several kilometers apart, looked up from what they were doing, and took off in the same direction.
A shadow moving across the sky made a supersonic turn.
The shadow lurking beneath the waves moved.
After that bit of fun with Midnight (her face was priceless, filming it was her best idea in years), Yuu went back to Shinji with the good news about the kaiju. They then drove out to her parents house, which was in a neighborhood bordering the woods.
Yuu met with her parents, before abandoning Yui to be doted on by them. Yui made a big deal of not liking it, only to constantly follow her grandparents around to get more attention. Yuu had to smile at that. She remembered being like that for her grandparents.
Yuu sat down on the back porch and sipped some coffee, looking out into the woods she'd played in as a child. At least twice she got the cops called on her as a giant monster lurking in the woods.
Good times.
Shinji sat next to her. "Reminiscing Yuu?"
"No, I was just wondering if any of those trees are my in-laws," she said with a smirk.
"Nope. Those are pine trees. My hair is deciduous."
"Oh right. My mistake. How could I forget when you and Yui's hair changes every season?"
"I still have no idea how that works. My leaves make sense, but her hair?"
"Eh, it's just quirk stuff. I don't think about it too much."
"Fair enough. I didn't get it when the doctor explained it either."
"Just be glad the rest of her quirk is so similar to mine. My parents had a lot of tips on taking care of her." It saved her agency from more debt.
"We're lucky they're so helpful, aren't we?"
"You're lucky they actually like you. They hated most of my boyfriends as a teenager. Not that they were wrong. Frankly, they were shocked when they met you and saw you were…" She gestured to them.
Shinji said, "Mine wouldn't have been surprised at all by you."
Yuu narrowed her eyes. "In what way?"
"I had a bit of a type in Middle School…"
"Which is?"
"Vain, egotistical, incredibly feisty yet still good at what they do. And incredibly beautiful."
"I suppose I barely fit that. Especially the last part." Yuu frowned. "You think Yui will be alright up here? She's still not sleeping right."
He looked out at the woods. "Hopefully getting away from the city helps."
Yuu nodded. "The only thing that got rid of the nightmares completely was when she and Mikumo had a sleepover. And he can't be sleeping at a girl's house for much longer. Or vice versa." Fortunately, the boy himself had fewer (metaphorical) scars from the encounter. Probably because he spent much of it concussed.
"I'm sure she'll be fine. Right now we just have to do what we can.
Yuu nodded. She almost had a heart attack when she learned how close her little girl had come to dying that day. She'd had trouble sleeping for weeks just thinking about it.
"She's been better since she started playing with other kids again," Shinji says. "Too bad we can't just bring them along."
"True." Yuu then flashed him a flirtatious grin while leaning against him, "There's always one way to give her a constant friend."
Shinji was about to respond when the sound of a door opening behind them caused both to scoot away from each other. The soft footsteps confirmed their instincts were right as Yui sat down next to them.
"I'm bored," she said. "I'm going out into the woods."
"Alright, just watch out for animals. And don't go too far!" said Yuu as Yui walked away.
"I won't!"
Yuu and Shinji went inside. Her parents were there. "How have things been around here?" Yuu said. No kaiju trouble?"
"We've been fine Yuu, don't worry. Those monsters haven't been around in a while."
"And when they do, we've always had enough time to evacuate. The AMF is keeping a close eye on them.
Yuu sighed. "I'm glad to-"
Their phones and television made an ugly siren sound.
They all fell silent, watching as text appeared. "EMERGENCY KAIJU ALERT: MULTIPLE GARGANTUAS SEEN APPROACHING ENDOOR FROM THE SOUTH WOODS. CITIZENS ARE TO EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY"
Yuu turned to Shinji. "We should-"
Wait. South woods?
"YUI!" Yuu ran to the porch. "COME BACK! NOW!" She was about to go out with her quirk when her daughter came running back, quirk activated.
"What is it?" she said, shrinking down.
"Get to the car. We're leaving. Now."
"What?" Yui said. "Why?"
They heard a distant screech. Yuu and Shinji tensed. It was far enough way, they were safe. Yui paled, her gaze going eerily blank. Yuu took her and put her in the car with her parents. She was borderline unresponsive. Yuu and Shinji both got the call for any Heroes to assist. They agreed.
Togashi stared at the map, examining the Gargantua's path toward town. Or rather, through the town. Nobody had any illusion about what this was. Not when multiple responded at once. This was a psionic transmitter.
"How is the second maser team holding?"
"Still pursuing," his subordinate said. "We weren't able to set up a killzone, so the thing managed to sneak behind some of the nearby rocks. The masers should still be able to kill it ."
"And the other one?"
"Making a beeline sir."
"Any reinforcements?"
"Alpha's on its way sir."
Another solider came in. "Colonel! We have another one!" He pointed to a spot on the map.
Togashi looked at where he was pointing. "A third?" He looked up. "Move one of our tank squads away from the first one."
"Sir?"
"We need to set up a delaying action. I'll supervise it personally."
Togashi hurried out to his MBAW-93 maser and set out. Two more joined him on the road. They arrived in the new one's path. One upside of the transmitters? It made the kaiju very predictable.
The trees in front of them kicked up, as if being blown over by a powerful wind. Behind them was a flash of color. Togashi then saw it. The descendant of the allegedly immortal artificial human. A Gargantua. It had wild golden hair, an almost human face, and was rushing forward as if its life depended on it.
In fact, the opposite was true.
"Target locked on," Togashi said. "Fire."
Togashi and the others fired their masers. The Gargantua howled in pain. It dove behind the trees, hoping they would protect it. Togashi and his masers kept firing, slicing trees like toothpicks before a chainsaw. They could just see the Gargantua crawling, trying to get around them.
Togashi used his viewing screen to follow the creature's path, helped by aerial drone footage. He adjusted his aim, but the first shot missed. He scowled. He was a skilled leader, but he was clearly no Midoriya at shooting. Nevertheless, the rest of his shots hit the Gargantua enough to send it to its knees. It then rolled over, covering its head and lying in a fetal position as they shot its back.
Togashi frowned. He would have expected it to try and protect its head. Why wasn't it doing more?
Elsewhere
"Fire!"
The Type-99 masers continued their assault, firing lightning bolts from their mounted satellite dishes. The bolts struck the Gargantua again and again, it staggered, but refused to die.
"Dammit, where are the other masers?" Shusuke said.
" Another Gargantua showed up. They moved to intercept."
"Why are they all coming at once?"
" You know why."
" I hate these things!" someone else said.
If they'd had time to make a proper killzone this would be easy, they did it all the time. Yet now Shusuke and the other Type 99s were struggling to hurry along the road so it wouldn't get away. Fortunately, the heavy MBT-92s in the woods plowed through the trees, like sauropods of old, flanking the creature and cutting off its escape. They were genuine tanks, built to handle rough terrain that the 99s, which were more equipment carriers, couldn't.
Shusuke smirked as he and the other maser fired lightning at the Gargantua just as it came out from behind a boulder. The Gargantua screeched in pain. Shusuke's smirk vanished as it grabbed a nearby rock and heaved it at them. "Shit."
The masers tried to dodge, but they were too slow. The rock slammed into the ground and bounced, smashing through Shusuke's dish before slamming into the other maser's cab. The entire side of the cab caved in slightly, while the maser itself capsized.
Shusuke got out of his crippled tank and sprinted to the damaged one with others. They pulled their wounded comrades out of the wrecked maser.
"Shit. Is he breathing?"
"Barely. I'm pretty sure his bones are broken."
"No shit Sherlock."
"My name is Shusuke!"
They heard the Gargantua's triumphant screech as it ran away. Shusuke was about to call it in when the earth shook. The group fell to the ground while trees swayed, and in some cases fell. In a nearby ravine, they heard the sounds of cascading stone, and a familiar roar.
Shusuke stood up. "Are you kidding me?"
" Sir! The other Gargantua has broken through! It's heading for the town! It'll be there in two hours! Two masers are heavily damaged! The rest are pursuing, but it's too fast!"
Togashi flared his nostrils. "Do we have air support?"
" Half an hour away."
"Tell them to hurry and rain fire."
" Yes sir. There's more. Some of the men on the ground…reported seeing Baragon."
Togashi slammed his fist down, a rare display of anger. "Forget pursuing the Gargantua. Send your masers to the town on the main roads. It'll be slowed down by the terrain and air support enough for you to beat it. Defend the civilians at all costs!"
"Affirmative."
Togashi continued bombarding the one in front of him. It had now rolled over so its head was pointed toward them, a grave mistake. However, something in Togashi's mind told him something was wrong, like it would just before Midoriya shouted out a warning.
Then, the kaiju leaped to its feet. Only it wasn't running away…it was charging.
It was protecting its legs to run.
Togashi and the others fired, hitting the Gargantua in the chest. The kaiju staggered, but did not stop. Their tanks all broke off, attempting to get out of the creature's way. Togashi said, "Shoot its legs!"
They fired, but the Gargantua jumped and zig zagged randomly, causing it to only take glancing blows to the legs. Finally, the Gargantua leaped into the air, flying over Togashi and his masers.
Togashi swiveled his maser and fired, hitting the fleeing Gargantua square in the back. The Gargantua staggered and fell. The tanks kept chasing it as the creature continued mixing between crawling and running. Yet, with each passing few minutes, the distance between them grew.
Togashi hoped that its injuries slowed it down enough for them to kill it before it reached town. Otherwise…
Mt. Lady and Midnight are so petty aren't they? The two of them are really only like this with each other.
Kamui Wood's description of his taste in women is absolutely an Eva reference. I couldn't resist when I learned his name.
Izuku's part was added later so he'd have more of a presence in his own story. However, his fight will be elsewhere.