Chapter One Hundred and Five
The world had changed, since he had gone to sleep.
Softened.
Weakened.
But they would learn.
Inu Chuuken had faithfully served his Master, All-For-One, since the man had come to his aid, as he'd lain, broken, in the wreckage of his home, his family slaughtered because fools thought that just because his family were all dog heteromorphs, one of them must have a sickness-causing Quirk, like the Inugami of ancient mythology.
His own Quirk, the ability to create green flames he could direct, had seemed supernatural, but his son had taken after his mother, another Canine Heteromorph, with a Quirk that enhanced his animalistic abilities, while his older daughter could make shapes out of flames that didn't burn but could be used to move things. His younger daughter, only four, had not yet shown her gift, however the child had been nowhere near the afflicted.
But the mob did not care.
Perhaps if he had not spoken out in the defense of others, protected them from the mob, gaining its ire, they might have listened. Perhaps if he had not done the right thing, and exposed the fact that the town's government was breaking the law to line their own pockets, and those of their friends, his family would have survived. But the very people the Mayor had stolen from had listened to him, for reasons Inu did not know, and turned on the man that sought to protect them.
The people he had tried to help had collapsed his home with their powers, with his family inside, his wife trying to carry little Yoru to safety out the back while he kept their attention, only to have her legs broken and thrown back within the burning structure.
Inu had tried to save his family with his flames, to use his fire to stop the fires of the others, but his Quirk was weak, untrained, for what use was there for a power whose function was only in the lighting of candles?
Only the rain had saved him, the mob taking cover, his dark fur appearing charred, his mild resistance to heat meaning he had only had extensive burns, instead of having died outright.
Even when he'd wanted to.
And then he had come.
All-For-One.
The man had been too late to save his family, having heard of Chuuken's good character, and wishing to meet with him. With the murderers gone, the suited man used his Quirks to bury the bodies of Inu's family, and heal him as much as he could, before offering the man a position in his organization. AfO, like Inu, had been reviled for his ability to manipulate Quirks, cast as the Villain by those looking for a scapegoat, a sacrificial lamb, just as Inu's neighbors and countrymen had tried to, had succeeded in turning his youngest into, the rest of his family punished for 'not doing the right thing' and letting the girl burn.
The large man, with sad crimson eyes, had reminded the heteromorph of a saying those in the West had: "A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying 'You are mad: you are not like us.'"
Inu had thought his homeland was better than those others, still in the grips of chaos and anarchy.
That the Japanese people were strong, and could come together.
But he had been wrong.
"If they call us Evil for going against them," his white-haired savior had stated, calmly, the rain not touching him as the heavens wept for Chuuken's loss, "Then let us be known as evil. If I must be known as a 'Demon Lord', then it is a title I will take gladly, rather than live in the world that took your family from you. Will you join me in this, Chuuken, as we blacken our hands, so we do not see our children turned to nothing but char and ash?"
There, in the rain, Inu Chuuken had looked upon his family's graves, and the burned remains of his life, and taken that man's hand.
Become Inugami in truth.
And then carved a bloody trail through Japan, gaining his second Quirk, able to be as a spirit, passing through the world that could no longer touch him, but he could touch them.
It had taken time, and work, but they had started to make the world a better place, Inugami managing operations for his Master, who himself was better able to manage things far better than the Heteromorph could, on a grander scale, until they had, essentially, won. And Inugami had found himself at a loss, society reforming, with some problems, but the raids, the strikes, the wholesale slaughters of those that would rather cling to their fantasies then learn to accept the new realities and who would rather kill the innocent, like his family had been, were no longer needed.
So, All-For-One, being the kind, considerate leader he was, not having even needed to fully take over like he had dreaded to achieve peace, had offered Inugami another choice.
Try and find a new family, or stay with his old ones in spirit, and sleep, in case he was needed again.
And the Black Dog of Misfortune had, finally, rested.
But there was no rest for those society deemed wicked, and he was needed once more.
His Master had been injured, in a way that could not be healed, and the system of 'Heroes' that Inugami had helped foster to oppose the 'evil' he served, despite them sharing a vision of the future, though they knew it not, had been corrupted by the same people that Chuuken had tried to stop.
Had lost his family to.
All in the name of the 'Status Quo'.
Hearing of Heroes that had been twisted, like Sidewinder, Gumshoe, and Lady Nagant had saddened him, while hearing of the actions of 'Heroes' like Shockwave, O'Clock II, and most of all, Endeavor, second in all the country, enraged the Wolf who wore the mantle of Villain with quiet pride.
To do that to your own family was… sickening.
So, just as then, it was time to remind those who would call themselves 'Righteous' why that term had meaning, and that True Evil would show these petty tyrants for what they were.
And for that, a message needed to be sent.
Though, just as the 'Heroes' of this age had grown fat, and soft, so too had their 'Villains'.
U.A.'s plan had been passible, retreating to a hidden location, with close to a hundred low-level 'Pros', for they were not Heroes, to maintain a perimeter, but it was clear the extreme Heteromorph who ran the institution was used to modern rules, and had not realized how compromised the system he served truly was.
The call had gone out, not for random malcontents as his Master's Apprentice had first sought, the willful child clearly spoiled, a product of the times, but pulled from the networks of 'Friends' that All For One had made, those with talent, and will, and a knowledge of what could need to be done, even if they struggled with their inner darkness. A group three-hundred strong had been gathered, and deployed, once the players on the other side of the board had been spread far and wide enough to make the attack possible.
And it had gone well.
At first.
Losses had been expected, this exercise was being used to separate the wheat from the chaff, and the operation had been going within expectations, what should have been the most difficult portion over, only to then start losing groups, and losing them quickly.
The compasses his people had been given were being tracked, allowing Inugami to monitor them as they moved, and get a sense of the battlefield. Unfortunately, the same Quirks they were using to block out communications within the camp blocked their own systems as well, the 'Compasses' all containing bits of a Utility Nomu that he had requisitioned from Dr. Garaki, the bits of flesh decaying away come dawn, the screen built into the main creature's back giving Inugami a realtime view of their positioning, as they all pointed back to their creator.
And one was moving quickly.
Too quickly.
And wherever it went, compasses either stopped moving, or vanished, the devices destroyed.
The only question Inugami had, was who was the cause.
Given their combat capability, it was probably Target Alpha or Beta, Target Delta having already been retrieved, Gamma in the wind, and Epsilon, by the sudden formation of a distant glacier, still free, removing Inugami's men from the board, likely doing his monster of a father proud in the process, death by hypothermia in many ways worse than being burned away in seconds.
Checking with the others, the Heroes at the center had still not fallen, which was impressive in its own way, with the timers counting down, but 'disposable' fighters were being used there for a reason, Mr. Bubaigawara a most impressive find, even with his understandable paranoia. If Inugami could be certain that he was the original, it would be easy to prove it to the man, but if he was not the Friends would lose a valuable asset, and it would not be the first Quirk-Creation the furred manager had worked with that was absent its originator.
"Mr. Doggy, I'm back!" one of his more promising new recruits called, skipping out of the woods,.
Glancing at the disrespectful, but not insultingly so, girl, she was injured, but barely seemed to notice. "And your mission, Yachin?"
It took the young woman a moment to remember her new callsign, before she smiled widely. "A success! Even if they were, like, super uncool about it!"
With a nod, he director her towards their medical station, "Good, see to your wounds. We are almost done here."
The salute she sent his way, with a, "Yoooou got it!" might've been taken for mocking, but he could tell she was just filled with childish exuberance, something that, for a moment, reminded him of his own children.
Inugami wished this was not required, that he could have lived his life, helping others, watching his son and daughters grow up and start families of their own, but that was not the life this society had seen fit to grant him.
And he was not so foolish as to believe that the world would change without a price being paid.
His family had paid it, and others would as well.
The Black Dog of Misfortune knew he was planting a tree whose shade he would never rest under, but if not him, and his Master, then who?
If not now, when?
This was not personal, and, once they had succeeded, made a world where this, none of this, would happen again, and the Heroes, the true Heroes, managed to kill them all, he would not hold it against them.
But today was not that day.
No, today was the first step in reminding a group that had gone so soft they hid their sins, like unruly children, instead of taking account of them, like honorable adults, that there was more out there than just the common purse-snatchers, drug-addicts, and thieves.
That, in the Darkness, True Evil lay, not just beyond the walls of civilization, but within it, living next door, at your workplace, in your halls of justice, and it was by facing Evil, openly and without compromise, that true Good could come to be.
He would work with his Master to create a new, improved world, a world in which a spiteful, petty, stupid mob would never murder another innocent family, thinking they would get away with it, hiding behind their deflections, their excuses, and instead know they would burn for their crimes, as his Master had allowed him to make sure those men and women had.
It was the least Inugami could do, for a better tomorrow.
MHA
Mineta, beaten, battered, and bloody, kept going, because he had to.
Because it wasn't just him he had to take care of.
He'd been fine to let Monoma take charge at first, though the ball-headed boy had made sure to keep on eye on the betrayer, while Aoyama and Tsunotori, who insisted they call her Pony, had done the same.
And things had been fine…
Until the Villains attacked.
They'd sauntered out of the woods, obviously freakin' evil, and it was just like the USJ, so Mineta had asked himself 'what would Denki do?', and then cut them off mid-speech with balls to the face, getting Aoyama to shoot them, Pony and Monoma just staring as the short boy had, with a couple balls to speed himself up, body slammed the Villains down, throwing even more balls, and sticking them face-first to the ground.
He'd taken a claw to his own face, which had hurt like a bitch, but Denki kept going when he was hurt, so he would too, taking them down himself. He'd had to keep one eye closed afterwards for a while, not because it'd been hurt, but because he kept getting blood in it, though it'd finally scabbed over after half an hour, making it hard to throw things until then.
After the fight, Aoyama had run off, leaving the rest of them alone, and he was gonna have words with that freakin' Frenchie when he saw him again, and, and stick his hair to a tree or something! Like, not cool, man. That'd left him with Monoma, who still hadn't moved, scared stiff, and Pony, who'd gotten two horns out, but wasn't sure what to do with them.
Mineta had, cursing, snapped the blond boy out of it, and gotten his ass to copy the Quirks of the Villains who were stuck to the ground, face-first, unable to move, the 1-B student picking up fire-hands and a paralyzing gaze, which it turns out the guy had gotten hit with, but Mineta had been overlooked by.
Literally.
The Villain with that Quirk had seen Monoma strutting and thought the blondy could back it up, so had focused on him, right up until Mineta had covered her face with his balls.
The Copy Quirk user could only keep a power for about eight minutes, so they couldn't count on them, nor could he copy Mineta's, though he had gotten his own set of horns that Pony walked him through on using, before the ball-headed boy had Monoma refresh his timers and they'd left, a lot more carefully, and kept on trying to make it back.
For hours.
Things had been, they'd been bad, and both Monoma and Pony had killed people, something that neither of them were handling that well, but Mineta had kept them going. Pony had been hurt, bad, her leg getting messed up, a fire power that Monoma had gotten letting him, with some coaching from the shorter boy, stem the bleeding with cauterization. She could still move, sitting on two of her horns, going high when they fought and using her other four horns to fight with.
Before they'd gone to camp, she could only manage three total, and barely, but they'd worked hard, and gotten better, the short teen himself able to keep going, and going, and going, with balls for days.
… He'd make a sex joke but… Mineta was just too tired.
So they'd killed people, the only reason he hadn't was how hard it was to use his Quirk that way, not because he wanted these people to live. Yeah, he was trying to be a Pro, but these people were trying to kill them, for no reason, and… after I-Island, Mineta was finding it harder and harder to see Villains as people.
He hadn't said that to his teammates, obviously, but done his best to keep them going, telling them they didn't have a choice, that it was kill or be killed, and that he didn't blame them, which were all true things. Pushing them forward, they'd fought people, Pony getting more deadly with her horns, Monoma figuring out how to use his copy of her horns to ride them as he closed in, before copying and countering the Villains with their own Quirks, and Mineta?
Mineta was getting fast.
Chaining balls together, metaphorically, though he'd also figured out how to do so literally, the short guy was really getting a sense of his bounces, something he hadn't realized he could do, just assuming he was landing on them just right, but, able to direct them, he'd been able to push it, and that had let him go, like, Ida fast.
But that also meant he hit things Ida hard, which… well, half of his bruises were self-inflicted.
Worth it, but self-inflicted.
Hearing distant voices ahead, Mineta paused, holding up a hand, pointing upwards, Pony nodding and sending a horn his way which he grabbed onto. Her Quirk dragged him up into the air quickly, to get eyes on the target.
And saw the camp.
What was left of it.
The entire place was wrecked, burned, crushed, and more. There were tents set up, blocking his line of sight, but he could see people moving, though couldn't tell who.
Letting go, he fell the hundred feet to the ground, easily grabbing a ball and tossing it down, landing on it, and stepping off it easily, looking to the others. "We're almost there, but, like, be careful. I saw some people, but I'm not sure. And they might not know it's us."
The other two nodded, Monoma telling him, "I've got about two minutes left on Attention Grabber and Palm Guns."
Considering that, Mineta nodded back. "Call out to them when you see 'em. Pony, get ready to pull us back if we need to."
"You think it's not safe?" the half-American girl frowned.
"I want it to be," the short boy sighed. "But I won't risk you guys getting hurt on it."
She smiled at that, Monoma blinking, but nodding in thanks, and they carefully exited the tree-line, the blond guy yelling, "Hello? Is this place safe?"
"Yeah, come on!" someone yelled back, Pony perking up, using her horns to carry both her and the smaller boy forward, one of the 1-B students, the one with that could cover himself in green scales, stepping out from behind some rubble, his arm held out towards them, locked and loaded, the relief on the boy's face almost painful as he dropped his limb, which ready to fire, and yelled, "Pony! You're alive!"
"Rin!" she yelled, zooming forward, launching herself into the air to hug the boy, chattering away in English, of which Mineta picked up one word in five, and, from the ponytailed, and Pony-grabbed, boy's face he didn't get much more than that.
The ball headed boy, however, focused on something else. 'You're alive!' Which meant others weren't.
Walking with Monoma, they got deeper in, finding a military-style camp, what Mineta had seen from above, with cots laid out and Yaoyorozu chowing down on protein bars, creating stuff from her bare back, the girl's skin blotchy from burns, several clotted cuts visible, her right hand unseen under a mass of that foam that Denki had made, and that she'd used to take down Ida.
Speaking of whom, Ida and Koda were both laying down, heavily bandaged, their clothing scorched and charred. Bakugo and Jiro were in the opposite end of the camp, both watching the far wall, the explosive teen glancing his way, red eyes glancing at Mineta's wounds, giving the short boy a terse, approving nod, and going back to guarding the other direction, not saying a word, which… what?
Kirishima and Kirishima-but-metal were both in another direction, watching to the left, while Vlad-sensei was off to the right. Tiger was taking care of Mandalay, who was out on another bed, while also tending to the other injured, coming over to Pony and Monoma to see to their wounds, Mineta waving the Pro off as they were hurt way worse than he was, and, in the center of it all, was Aizawa-Sensei.
And that was it.
"Eraser-Sensei," the small boy said, walking to his teacher, his legs suddenly feeling like they were made of lead. "Is-Is this everyone?"
"Everyone so far," the tired-looking man, now seeming dead on his feet, nodded. Taking a deep breath, he asked, "Aoyama?"
"Ran," Mineta replied, annoyed, but worried, his teacher letting out a sigh of relief, nodding again. "We… We lost people?" the student asked.
The Pro didn't move, just looking into the distance. "We have. They only stopped attacking twenty minutes ago. Might attack again. Can your team fight?" His voice was even flatter than normal, the man clearly exhausted.
Without having to think of it, the small boy gave his teacher a thumbs up, if a hesitant one. "We can. Monoma's powers are almost up, but… but he can probably copy scale-dude, and… and you want me to put down a sticky minefield?"
"In a minute. Let Tiger treat your wounds," the man, who Mineta only realized now was bandaged himself, ordered.
"I'm fine, I can-" the small student tried to argue, only to be cut off by his teacher.
"You'll be fine after you're treated. We're not done yet, but if you open your wounds, you won't be able to keep fighting," Aizawa-sensei stated. "Get treated, then go lay down those defenses, but leave a path in for each direction, if you have that many left."
Thinking about it, the ball-headed boy nodded. "Before this? No. But now, I still do."
That got a small smile out of the tired man. "Why we did it. Good to see you made it, Mineta. You've done me proud."
Caught off guard, the short teen just nodded, leaving with a muttered, "Uh, thanks."
Waiting for Tiger to finish up examining Pony's leg, Mineta looked out into the dark forest, and hoped that Komori was doing okay.
MHA
The Hunt Continued.
I followed my compass, tearing through the forest, tracking this invasion down to its source.
Keeping in mind my capabilities, I did my best to leave the female Villains alive, but Stamped, none of them recognizable to me, and thus I'd get half the points, but I only need two.
As I ran through the forest, my movements smoothed, my kills tightened, and my focus narrowed, not coming across any more students, but, some part of me noted, by this point they were either dead or had escaped, and either way would no longer require my help.
The model of Denki in the back of my head was… not gone, but nearly catatonic, unable to handle what had happened, but I didn't blame him, as he was just a kid, and a sheltered one. He wouldn't've been much help now, to be honest, my uses of Electrification so far away from anything he would've envisioned, the situation like a waking nightmare to him, but it would be something I'd settle with later.
I was busy.
The last three groups I'd come at from behind, the Villains heading for the retrieval point, in high spirits.
Until they met me.
And then, well, they became spirits, or would be someone else's problem, in three days' time.
Flitting through the forest, barely even touching the ground, I finally slowed, electrical claws smoothly sinking into the trunk of one tree as I stopped, seeing lights in the distance.
Firelight.
Blue firelight.
It took an effort to snap back to normal, bringing my powers down to the point I no longer glowed, my body fully human, my reserves… acceptable. A couple of Villains had been carrying snacks, which I'd consumed, giving me more room to create, and, trying to take down the women softly, I'd held off on my more indiscriminate, costly attacks.
Saving them.
For this.
Stalking forward, I passed by several trees that were consumed with bright-blue flames, casting the area into unnatural shadows, and came across a large, burned area, with Kurogiri's distinctive portals at the back, over fifty villains slowly trudging through the space, making their way to the exits, and, squinting, there was no sign of Shigaraki.
Perhaps he was on the other side of the gate?
I should go say hello.
Looking at the Villains, the ones who had come to kill children, and may even have succeeded, I smiled, even as, in the back of my mind, the remnants of Denki Kamari told me not to kill any more people, and I agreed.
Because these weren't people.
The were Monsters.
Flaring my powers back to full, crackling with energy, those closest turned, recognition dawning in their eyes, along with a mix of confusion, greed, and fear.
Good.
In a moment I was off, towards the nearest conglomeration, electrical claws forming, even as they tried to raise their Quirks, either in attack or defense I did not know.
What I did know was that they died.
Either to me, or to the not-so-friendly fire, as others tried to take me out, uncaring of their fellow Villains, but that was just fine with me, as I was already off once more, dashing for another group, even as the masses fell to confusion, some rushing to attack, others fleeing for the portals, one of my arms snapping out, splitting apart, and firing a quick-Created chained-together set of flechettes, the connections thin enough they broke apart as soon as they were launched, turning a line of Villains into so much meat.
Command and Control Powers, Paralysis Powers, Mind Control Powers, and more slammed into me, only to slide off my Defenses, and I danced between them, hands and feet freely shifting, dodging attacks, cutting through them, along with their users, a thin coating of acid lessening blows, my jacket long since gone, my pants little better, cancelling out fire with cold, and ice with flames the moment they would've hit, turning into a rolling mass of death, bullets no more than stiff pokes to my One-for-All enhanced flesh, even as that power seemed to squirm in my mental grasp, but I gave it no mind, vision twisting and warping to let me keep track of the battlefield, shoving lasers off-course enough that they missed my face, though they burned my skin, which was littered with a litany of minor wounds, disabling or lethal strikes barely marring my flesh.
I didn't go for large displays, not pausing to tear someone in half when a bladed talon across the throat, the femoral artery, or through the heart would do. Heteromorphs were tougher, requiring full blade or hammer strikes to get through their enhanced flesh, while one woman, who turned incorporeal, I shot a railgun barrage through, killing those behind her, while spreading her out enough with the shockwave that she was forced back into reality, bits of her falling everywhere within a fifty foot cone.
Unable to help myself, I started laughing, making my way to the portals, where I could really get this party started, and go after the ones that had killed my classmates. A bull-man charged, its horns and hooves alight, trying to match me mano-e-oxo, but I wasn't here to prove myself superior.
I was here to kill.
A flicker-step to the side, and a chambered railgun shot, my reserves swiftly dropping, and I took him at point blank range, ducking down, the attack coming up under his ribs and into his lungs, though I did announce, "Toro!" as the villain was blasted to bloody chunks, taking the opportunity to run for the-
"Kaminari!"
I turned, stumbling, turning it into a roll that ended with me shoving an electrical sword through the throat of a Villain with spiked tentacle-fingers, turning to see-
"Mina!" I yelled, seeing my lover being dragged away by a Nomu, towards a different portal, off to the side.
What was she doing here!? I thought, but I didn't have time to question, I'd been too late before, and I wouldn't be too late again!
Launching myself as hard as I could, flying towards her, my mind spun, trying to figure out why they'd captured her, realizing that of course AfO would go for her, as he was trying to get to me, and we hadn't exactly been subtle, and I was a moron, but that was just THIS ENTIRE NIGHT, WASN'T IT!?
Villains tried to get in my way, and I killed them as easily as I moved, one dragging claws across my side, spilling my blood freely, but the pain was nothing, and I would heal, so it didn't matter, saving Mina did!
And my girl watched me coming, expression shifting from despair, to a wide smile as I neared, knowing I'd be there for her, that I wouldn't lose her too, as my arm came up, the grey-skinned Nomu holding her head and shoulders taller than my pink-skinned lover, making it easy to aim and, right as I landed beside the girl who was everything to me, the creature lashing out with a scorpion-like tail, I blasted its fucking head apart.
Mission changed, I landed fully, arm going around her, as, between killing Shigaraki and saving Mina, Mina would win every time, and-
Stab.
Mina sank a hook into my chest, the chain it was attached to extending into the portal behind her, as the Nomu turned to mud, and my lovers features ran like wet clay, revealing blonde hair, sharp teeth, and golden eyes full of madness set against white instead of black.
"Seeya-later, Cutie!" Toga cheered, sweeping my leg, as the chain went taught, and I released every last spark of lightning I had to kill her too, but she exploded into more mud as I desperately tried to pull the hook out of my flesh, but the fucker was barbed and I was dragged through the portal, finding myself in a large wire cage, in a concrete room.
Tearing it out in a spray of gore, I leapt for the portal, only to have it close, running head-first into the other side of the cage, the wires not giving in the slightest, even as I slammed punch after punch into it, desperate, shifting my hands to claws to cut through it, only for my Electrobody to be diverted by the metal, some kind of Support Item effect in play, and, turning back around, the hook finished reeling in, another wireframe door dropping down to separate it from me.
A splash of acid did nothing, the substance sitting on top of the wires, indicating a forcefield, though my blood was doing the same, my body feeling weak, so weak, a hidden summoning of my phone from within expanded electric limbs showing I had no service, so I dismissed it, and my creation reserves were, once again, low.
Looking around, there was a little two-door airlock that would let them pass me things, which the winch now sat in, but other than that… nothing.
Leaning against one wall, I slowly slid down it, the blood-loss from tearing out the hook hitting me, hard, but the bleeding had already slowed, as tiredness clawed at me, and I realized that I'd run right into All-for-One's trap.
"Well… Fuck."
Music
learn - Now and Then Here and There - Calmative
What was left of it - Mannen No 2
Monsters - Silver For Monsters...
Kaminari! - Subete wa Tadashii Shakai no tame ni
AN: And thus the Summer Camp almost comes to a close, one last chapter wrapping things up, and the Captured Mini-Arc begins, though it is much smaller, the climax of which having just been written, and is available to my upper-level Patrons/Subscribers on and Subscribestar, along with the three chapters in-between.