11/05/2024
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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 18 - Of War
Dabi looked around. He hadn't been in many offices. Hospitals, pharmacies and doctor's surgeries, yes, he was familiar with all of them and knew exactly how to get in and out to get what he needed with the minimum of fuss but an office was a new experience.
He knew people worked here but it seemed so routine, so regimented. The desks were arranged in groups of four, sometimes with a walkway between them but some formed a pod. There were little touches of the people who worked here. A photo pinned there, a plant here but it was all- He shuddered. He never fooled himself into thinking he could be one of the good guys but there were times when he was actually glad of that. Now was one of them.
The creatures Dragon called Nomu, were stalking through the space, peering at everything. He didn't know exactly what they were looking for but Dabi was pretty sure he wasn't going to find it here.
"Move on," he commanded the Nomu. They didn't even look at him for confirmation but instead made a beeline for the door.
That is, until one of them went flying back through several desks. It was almost pretty with the way paper - who used paper these days? - went flying. But Dabi was aware it was indicative of a bigger issue.
A laugh came from the far side of the room. It was dark, so he couldn't really see. "At last, something to fight!"
Dabi rolled his eyes at the statement and gestured to the Nomu. They charged and were knocked back again. He frowned. Dragon had explained that there were different types of Nomu. The lowest, and weakest had dull coloured skin. The strongest were jet black. Those in between tended to have more vibrant but not natural colours, where natural corresponded to the before quirk skin tones available to humans. Those who had charged were dully coloured.
That was interesting. The Nomu appeared to know which were the shock troops and were letting them go first. Or maybe he was imagining it. Dabi gestured to one of the more colourful ones. It was green with a purple helmet and had multiple arms. He kind of liked it. It looked dangerous.
The Nomu charged and Dabi smirked as he saw chainsaws form on the end of each limb. Let whoever was hiding deal with that!
"Tch! A quirk?" the comment came but the Nomu didn't immediately fly back. Dabi watched as sparks were generated. Their temporarily bright light let him get a look at the person there. He didn't recognise them but they were large. He had long hair and wore one of those stupid masks the Shie Hassaikai seemed to favour. What became abundantly clear was that he was fighting with his fists, which were wrapped in leather and reinforced with steel. Dabi couldn't see the guy using a quirk but all that meant was that his quirk probably wasn't a flashy emitter type one.
Wait…
Dabi peered into the gloom. He was using a quirk. The Nomu moved quickly but the guy was moving even faster. That wasn't possible. Dragon had explained that the Nomu were engineered to be at the pinnacle of human potential. They were then imbued with quirks to make them even stronger. The higher level Nomu had regeneration and strength and then other quirks. The lower level Nomu tended to just get the specialist quirks. Dabi wasn't sure if this one had regeneration or extra strength but the chainsaws on its extra arms were causing the fighter some issues. Dabi could see the way he was being careful to avoid being cut.
Though that wasn't stopping him from hitting back. And the way he moved his arms… That wasn't natural.
"Go for the shoulders!" Dabi ordered. That seemed to be the point at which the guy's super movement was centred on.
The Nomu made no sign to say it had heard but it obeyed. It roared and Dabi saw it drive two arms towards the guy's shoulders. The guy leapt back but the Nomu moved with him and there was a splash of blood but the large guy had moved fast enough to avoid being impaled by the Nomu's arms. Blood stained his white shirt but that was all.
Instead of retreating the guy laughed again. "This is great!" he cheered and then rushed forward again. The Nomu wasn't expecting it and while it pulled back, Dabi saw the guy catch one of the Nomu's arms and there was a crack as it broke. The guy didn't try to pull the tool out of it, instead he let it drop and then punched another Nomu that was getting close.
The Nomu with the broken arm didn't hiss or make any sound to acknowledge the pain. Instead it just lunged forward again. It was kind of fascinating. The Nomu weren't intelligent but he could see that they didn't have to be. Through the weight of numbers they were effective and since they didn't stop… They definitely had their uses. And if what Izuku had told him was true, that the Doctor could create an intelligent one…
His goal might be in reach sooner than he thought.
"There you are!" The cry startled him.
The Nomu were still engaging the big man but his eyes were firmly fixed on Dabi. He roared and rushed towards him. The Nomu tried to intercept but the Yakuza was using his quirk again. His arm movements were far too fast and the flailing motion was keeping the Nomu from truly getting in his way.
Dabi felt his eyes widen and for a split second he wasn't in an unknown office, staring at a Yakuza, he was in the dojo, staring at his father as Enji rushed at him.
He shook his head forcefully. He'd been far too sentimental lately and had to remember his purpose. The memory focused him. And he didn't have time for a fist fight.
Dabi extended his hands. "Prominence Burn," he murmured, almost bored. Fighters tended to hate emitter quirks and Dabi wasn't going to give this guy time to recover.
Instantly, blue fire wrapped around him and for a moment it felt warm before Dabi felt it burn him. He didn't care. The fire lanced out, straight into the charging Yakuza. Dabi kept the fire from spearing out, concentrating it on the Yakuza.
The beam flared out of existence quickly. Dabi hadn't had much time to generate it, so it was short lived, but had done enough.
The man screamed and actually took a few steps forward before the blue flame ate away at his flesh. Dabi ignored the smell as the man fell to his knees, his screams cut short by the heat of the fire. His body fell to the ground and the fire continued to burn. All over the office little fires were burning.
Dabi looked at the corpse disinterestedly. He'd seen enough burnt bodies over the years to know what they looked like.
Pft-hsss… Further thought vanished as water splashed down on him, and the body and office as a light rain. The fires still burned. His fire wasn't so cold as to be put out so easily but it didn't spread. Dabi shook his head and rolled his eyes. Of course, he'd triggered the sprinklers.
It was safe to assume an alarm would be going to the Fire Brigade and the nominated local hero…
Fuck.
He might have screwed this one up.
-ted-
"Shin, I've got him alone!"
Shin wasn't the only one who jerked at the information. Hekiji did as well and stared at the radio. "Then get him, Soramitsu," Shin commanded. They'd been trying to get the brat isolated and it appeared he'd done it for them. Soramitsu would do whatever it took to get him. They all would. Or die trying, because the Shie Hassaikai demanded nothing less, and they would give nothing less than their lives.
-ted-
Izuku made his way through the office. So far the water from the sprinklers hadn't soaked through his clothes but it was only a matter of time. He could feel water on his legs but that was because the water was running down and getting into his boots where he'd tucked his leathers into them. And worse, it was trickling down his back where the leathers met the helmet. There would have to be a design change in his costume for the future.
The Nomu moved with him. They didn't care that it was wet. He thought the wet carpet would have muffled their footfalls except every move they made squelched on the carpet. It was kind of slippery and Izuku wished he could spare the energy to make a wind platform. He could do it but it was better to save his energy for when he needed it. His current get up didn't let him get any natural sunlight on his skin and while his solar vest was on, it couldn't keep up with what he could do. Plus it was night and…
It was better to be conservative for now.
The noise was annoying and he was blaming that for covering the approach of one of the Shie Hassaikai. The first thing Izuku knew of the attack was a squeal from one of the Nomu. It was so surprising he stopped and almost couldn't believe what he was seeing.
A man, with what looked to be a white sack over his head was biting one of the Nomu. His jaw was opened unnaturally wide and his teeth seemed huge. They weren't pointed. They were normal teeth, but they were far too large for the body. As Izuku watched, the teeth disappeared into the Nomu's flesh and the man pulled back, ripping a huge wound in the side of the Nomu.
Izuku expected him to spit the flesh out but he swallowed. Izuku grimaced. That was kind of gross.
Before he could see anything further, the Nomu clustered around him. Izuku recognised it was to protect him but he needed to see what was going on, except by the time he'd pushed them away, all Izuku could see was a bloody body with blood being washed into the carpet. The sack on his head was torn, revealing a wide eyed, surprised expression and his mouth gaped far wider than normal. It revealed that the teeth were as long, straight and strong as Izuku had suspected.
Whisper was also there, looking at the body with an expression of faint disgust as she laid a hand on one of the Nomu. "He ate them," she said. She didn't appear upset at touching the Nomu, though her hair was plastered to her head, and her long plait didn't so much as drip as deliver a constant stream of water to the floor behind her.
Izuku nodded.
If anything, Whisper's expression turned more disgusted. "That's so nauseating," she muttered, turning away.
"Yeah," he agreed, as he scooted around the body. He really didn't want to think what had made the gouges in it, and was suddenly thankful for the water still falling from the sprinklers. It washed the blood from the Nomu, specifically their faces.
"You saw the message?" he asked instead.
Whisper nodded.
"We'd better hurry then," Izuku said, gesturing vaguely to the ceiling.
"Dabi?" Whisper asked to indicate her understanding.
"I assume so," he told her, "but it could have been one of the Shie Hassaikai." His father had been very clear about assumptions and where they lead. Izuku had learned that when he took action on something, he had to be sure. If he wasn't, then all he was doing was allowing himself to be fooled and the responsible party got away with it.
They went up a flight of stairs and came to the floor Mr Compress was on. It was easy to find him. He was standing near one of the internal walls and despite the mist of water in the air, they could see the broken section of the wall.
It lead into darkness.
Izuku blinked as he looked at it, activating Night Cat but all he could see was a smooth corridor. He released the quirk and looked at the wall. Mr Compress had tried to go around the corridor by having the Nomu rip out the panelling but the wall behind it was reinforced.
As they approached, Mr Compress dipped his hat to both him and Whisper. Izuku nodded his acknowledgement and then looked again at the corridor. There was a shimmer there.
"A quirk?" he murmured the question.
"I presume so," Atsuhiro told him.
Izuku reached out with Dragon's Hoard and he frowned. "I can feel something, vaguely," he said, gesturing at the darkened passageway. "But not enough to-" he shrugged.
"Not enough to take their quirks? You can take their quirks?" Twice asked as he arrived.
"They are just far enough away that I can't get a grip on them," Izuku explained.
"Who knew quirks were slippery?" Dabi joked as he joined them. There was a hiss from the ceiling and the water stopped. The silence was almost startling until the water began dripping off the desks and tables.
Izuku looked at his companions.
"They can be," Izuku murmured, glaring at the corridor. "I can hit the barrier," he suggested. Whisper looked up to the ceiling, as if to confirm the water had stopped before she pulled her long braid over her shoulder and literally rang it out, letting the excess water fall beside her. Dabi just gave him a grin and started steaming. Since his costume was skin tight, Twice looked unchanged, and Mr Compress simply sighed and took off his top hat briefly to shake the water off it. Hopefully his jacket was water proof.
"Are you stronger than the Nomu?" Whisper asked sensibly.
"Maybe," Izuku admitted, but as he did that he directed one of the black, higher tier Nomu to the barrier. They didn't have time to waste.
The Nomu obeyed, and slammed into the barrier. It didn't move.
Izuku sighed, and gestured at the others. They moved back slightly. He flexed his fingers, forming a fist as he activated a number of quirks. Kilo, Hardening and his strength quirks. He slammed his fist into the barrier, feeling a vague sense that time was running out.
The impact was solid. If he didn't possess Shock Absorption Izuku knew he would have injured himself but the barrier remained. "Darn," he grumbled, before reaching out with Radio Waves to order the Nomu to attempt to break in through the roof. If the other walls were reinforced, it was probable the ceiling and floor was reinforced, but it was worth a try. He could feel the Shie Hassaikai there he just…
Wait, he could get to them…
Maybe. If whatever was at the end of the corridor was only one level, then he could go up or down a floor and get close enough to take their quirks from there. That would bring the barrier down.
"Did the layout of the lower floors go under here?" Izuku asked pointedly as one of the Nomu's punched a hole in the ceiling and hauled themselves up.
"What do you mean?" Mr Compress asked.
"I can't reach their quirks from here," Izuku explained. "But if I can get under them or over them then-" He didn't need to conclude.
"I'm no-" Twice never finished the sentence because the lights in the dark corridor leading to the remaining Shie Hissaskai turned on allowing them to clearly see that the barrier had disappeared.
For a moment Izuku just stared and then he became aware of Twice shaking his head, as if to deny what they all saw. "Anyone?" He whispered the question.
"Not us," Mr Compress replied for them all.
"So a trap or-" Izuku sighed, and commanded the Nomu to enter the now bright space.
If it was a trap, then the joke was on them.
To defeat them, he only needed to be close enough, and he no longer had time to play.
-ted-
Usually I dislike the trope of yelling the attack but in written word, it sure as hell makes it easier for the reader to know what's going on!
And I know it jumps around a bit in time but the POVs are important. Don't worry the Shie Hassaikai have nearly run out of people and soon Izuku will get to meet up with his best, budding mad scientist Yakuni!
My discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all! Not just about MHA.
-ted-
Loved it? Hated it? Found a spelling mistake? Let me know please!