21/05/2024

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, you are the greatest!

The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 21 - Rescue

Yu Hojo limped between desk cubicles, using his good arm to steady himself. His other arm was definitely broken and while neither of his legs were, there were definitely strains and pains in them. He hadn't looked but he could imagine they were one big bruise. The creatures Twice had with him didn't muck around.

He was panting with effort and the cold air, caused by water on the ground, was not helping. His wet clothes clung to him but he kept moving with grim effort. He might be the only one who could escape and fulfill the second part of the plan - to rescue Overhaul. The Shie Hassaikai might have suffered a defeat here, but if they could rescue Overhaul, they had not lost the war.

He didn't remember the office part of the building being this big, which said a lot for his physical state. The pain was providing him with a nice distraction from his situation, and from the fact that he hadn't found anyone else. It strongly suggested they'd been defeated.

He stumbled to the next partition and grabbed it to steady himself. The door was at least in sight. Nise Kai, the business that rented space from them, had a reception desk, and then an open plan office on this level, behind a floor to ceiling partition. It separated the areas without providing any security. Right now, that was a blessing. He didn't have to go through any door but the entry.

A noise behind him, caused him to jump. The quiet had been universal with only the drip of water, and as such it seemed overly loud.

Yu felt his eyes widen when he saw one of the dun coloured creatures. It gave him a toothy grin and rushed towards him. Yu turned from it immediately and hobbled towards the door. He knew what the creature wanted. Just defeating them wasn't enough. The brat was making sure he won the war.

No! He wasn't going to be captured. The Shie Hassaikai would rise again, just so long as he could-

"Urgh!" The creature slammed into his back. "No!" Yu yelled as it recovered, and reached down to grab him. Crystal formed on his arms and legs as they tried to kick or punch it away. It just soaked up the punishment and began walking back through the office.

"No!" he shouted again and tried to grip the floor. His crystal covered fingers left deep gouges in the wet carpet, ripping it up but ultimately not slowing him down. The creature was strong.

"No!"

-ted-

Exodus Rubble approached the Precept building carefully. He couldn't smell any smoke in the air, and he certainly couldn't see any which was a good start. It increased the likelihood of this just being someone who'd had a cigarette in the office significantly. He wasn't convinced of that though. The building was quiet, almost too quiet.

Yes, it was way after hours, but one thing the Japanese Office Worker had not been able to shed was a love, and some said, requirement, for over time. There was usually someone, or several someones working quite late. The lights were off in the building.

Which actually put the likelihood that this was a real fire up.

The usual guide lights were on and as he got closer he could see the emergency lights were still on but… there was no other obvious light on in the building. And, where was the guard?

Or was the Precept building one of those ones that didn't have a guard?

Exodus looked at the building carefully. It was… It was at that odd in between size. Large buildings hired a guard. Smaller buildings hired security firms to do drive by's and checks each night. Medium sized buildings could go either way and the Precept building fit neatly into the inbetween size. There was no obvious guard which meant they should have a security firm checking their doors a couple of times a night.

He squinted, looking at the doors but he couldn't see any tell tale mark to indicate the firm had been around for the first time already.

That meant there was no extra source of information. He'd have to check.

So much for a cushy evening shift.

Exodus approached the building, walking openly down one of the paths that lead to the entrance. The fastest way to draw attention was to pretend he didn't belong here. He did. And if there was someone inside, then walking down the path, in his hero uniform would give them confidence to approach him.

There was a slight possibility that a villain or a thief had set off the sprinklers, in which case, they were long gone. Arsonist villains usually wanted victims and the smart ones disabled the sprinklers. Thieves just wanted whatever item they were after.

Because he was approaching so openly, the cry from the building startled him because it was a scream. A flash of movement accompanied it before everything became still again.

Exodus Rubble peered at the building for a moment before he shook himself and ran to the door. He was a hero! If someone needed help then it was his duty to provide it. And thus far all the signs pointed to this being an accidental triggering of the alarm and sprinklers or a break in gone wrong and someone would now be trapped. Plus rescuing people from alarmed buildings was an automatic bonus.

The interior of the building was dark and once he'd gone through the doors Exodus Rubble looked into the gloom. There was no movement and inside the building everything smelled wet.

As he listened he heard or thought he heard a cry of 'no', followed by something that could almost be tearing. He started towards it striding confidently past reception.

The scratch marks on the floor brought him to a stop. Exodus looked down at them. There were two sets, five scratches each, going straight through the soggy carpet in neat lines. And… something flashed. Was that a diamond? He looked around, following the marks on the floor but they disappeared deeper into the office. Exodus squatted briefly, looking at the shiny thing. It was diamond, or at least some form of crystal. Probably a quirk.

Five lines though meant someone, and the mark itself meant that someone was being dragged, very much against their will. He followed them, careful to keep track of his surroundings. The carpet might be wet but the gouges were deep and that took a lot of strength to make, from the person doing the dragging, and desperation from the one being dragged.

The marks lead deeper into the building, occasionally breaking off and then starting again. Exodus followed them to a stair well and went up it cautiously. Then the marks went back into the office space. He was careful to step so that he didn't make squelching sounds on the carpet and was listening for any noise over the drip of water but…

Wait, there was something.

"That's-s-s-s-s the-e-e-e-e last-t-t-t-t-t!" The noise was faint and echoy, as if it came from a long distance.

"We-e-e-e-e should-d-d-d-d leave-ve-ve-ve-ve," came the follow up sentence.

There were two of them!

Exodus turned his head, trying to determine where the noise was coming from. He couldn't see enough. Carefully he turned on his flashlight. He didn't like to do that, because it gave his position away but he had to see. He ran it over the floor, tracking the scratches. They led into the office and then disappeared. Exodus titled the light higher, and it splashed against an internal wall. He ran the light over it and then frowned. There was a corridor in the middle of it. One that didn't look right. It was too dark and the noise was coming from there.

He strode towards it, keeping his foot falls light.

"Do-o-o-o-o-o you-ou-ou-ou-ou have-ve-ve-ve to-o-o-o-o-o?"

Exodus paused. Even with the echo the voice was high pitched and female… A child?

"I-I-I-I do-do-do-do," the echo came through again. "But-t-t-t-t-t a-a-a-a-a hero-o-o-o-o-o is-is-is-is nearly-ly-ly-ly here-re-re-re-re."

He did more than pause at that. Exodus jerked. He didn't like the sound of this.

"You-u-u will-l-l-l be-e-e fine-ne-ne-ne," came the assurance before everything went quiet.

Exodus listened carefully but there was only silence. No further sound echoed down the dark hallway. He bit his lip and shivered in the cold. The office was abnormally cold because of the wet and then Exodus told himself there was no point in stalling. He was a hero and while he preferred cushy jobs, if he didn't do his then-

"Hello?" He called tentatively.

He shone the light at the corridor. It went for quite some time and the walls were lined in some sort of metal. Exodus heard movement but it was as tentative as his call. He took a few steps forward, making sure he made noise. He paused when he got to the entry of the corridor. There were several scratch marks in the floor and on the walls. Whoever had been dragged in here had done their best to fight back.

"I'm here," he called.

"Hello-o-o-o-o?" The girl's voice called back.

"Are you alone?" Exodus asked. She'd probably lie but he figured he could ask.

"Yes-s-s-s-s-s." The response was immediate and was followed by a sniff. "Dragon-n-n-n said-d-d-d-d I-i-i-i-i couldn't-t-t-t-t-t go-o-o-o-o-o with-h-h-h-h-h him-m-m-m-m."

Exodus blinked. Dragon. He'd heard that name somewhere. "Is Dragon still here?" he asked as he tried to remember. It was recent and it was in a report, Exodus remembered, because he remembered he'd snorted at it. It was patently untrue.

"He-e-e-e left-t-t-t-t," the girl replied. "Will-l-l-l you-ou-ou-ou help-p-p-p me-e-e-e-e?"

While Exodus Rubble was primarily a rescue hero, he did have some combat instincts and they were telling him that the males he had overheard earlier had left. They'd taken with them whoever had made the scratches on the floor. The girl at the end of the corridor was the only one here. At least, that's what it felt like.

But this was an unusual situation. He'd come expecting a fire, or the remains of one but hadn't got that. Instead he'd got creepy claw marks on the floor and a corridor in a building that did not belong.

His other instincts were screaming warnings to him.

And… Dragon was… at least in the report, Dragon was extremely dangerous. He was one of the new villains who was making a move in the vacuum left by the guy All Might had taken out. He'd flat out murdered at least one person, breaking into her home to do it and- All of that was hardly a reason to fear Dragon. The other information made it clear he was dangerous. He could apparently take quirks from people and had taken them from several UA students. That's what made Dragon so dangerous. His quirk allowed him to move rubble, hence his hero name and while many would call it a boring quirk, he had no desire to lose it.

"Why don't you come to me?" He asked, ruthlessly suppressing the feeling that he was being a coward. If Dragon had really been here, or was here, then he was not losing his quirk!

"I-i-i-i-i can't-t-t-t," came the reply.

"Why not?"

"Stuck-k-k-k-k."

Exodus Rubble blinked. She was stuck? He suppressed his instinct to snap that she couldn't possibly stuck and gathered his courage. "Then I'll come," he said, firmly telling himself that it made no sense for Dragon to be here.

The Precept building was nothing special though… it might have some hidden aspects he didn't know about but there was no reason for Dragon to be here, especially when the villain, young as he was, had to have known that the sprinklers would call in emergency services, and heroes. He didn't seem like the type of villain who just- No, he was lying to himself. Dragon was the type of villain who'd make enemies because he didn't know better.

Even so… Exodus took a step into the corridor, and then another one. He shone his torch on the scratch marks. They were still deep, and there were flecks of shiny things in them. It was definitely a quirk at work there. He shone the torch higher, tracking down one of the walls. It was a long corridor and before his nerve could break, he walked down it, expecting an attack any moment.

Nothing came and eventually Exodus came out into a room. He saw the light from the room before he came out into it and was almost ashamed how much better just seeing the light made him feel. It was lined in more of the metal that made the corridor walls and the scratch marks just ended suddenly near the middle. The other times they had ended, they had tapered off, as if the person making them had lost his grip, this time the gouges were deep and they just stopped. All at once. As if someone had just made a cut and it stopped.

He didn't get a chance to contemplate that because as he looked around, he saw the girl. She had long, lank, pale gray hair and was covered in bandages. They were covered by a simple smock and Exodus was thankful to see that they looked clean.

She was on a table but didn't appear to be confined, so he didn't know how she was stuck. Her red eyes looked at him and they appeared to be on the verge of tears.

"I'm here," he said softly, trying to sound comforting. He was reasonably good at that. You learned how to when you were a rescue hero. People needed comfort when they were rescued. They needed to know that things were going to be okay. Exodus wasn't as good as All Might at it but he wasn't the worst.

"Do you need some help to get down?" he asked her, gesturing to the table she was sitting on.

She nodded and he took several slow steps towards her. There was something about her that warned his senses she was… skittish, like a wild animal, and while she couldn't hurt him, he didn't need her hurting herself. Exodus was just reaching out to lift her down from the table when she screamed.

"No!"

And he was pushed back by something he couldn't see.

"Don't touch me!" She cried.

Exodus took a few steps back and looked at her before he reached out carefully. He felt the barrier without running into it this time and ran his hand over it. It felt completely solid. It was obviously her quirk but it was going to be annoying.

"Dragon said I'd help you, didn't he?" Exodus asked.

Her red eyes watered but she nodded.

"I will help you," he reassured her. "I said I would, didn't I?" he added, hoping she'd forgotten that he hadn't really said that.

"You didn't. You just said I should come to you," she retorted.

Exodus sighed at that. She remembered. "I did, didn't I?" he mused. "But then I've come to you because I want to help you," he explained. He had no idea why she was here. This wasn't the environment for a child and from the looks of the room… He had a feeling he really didn't want to know why she was here.

He waited for her to process that, and finally she nodded. Since his hand was still resting on the barrier, he felt when it disappeared and Exodus was experienced enough not to step forward at that time. Instead he drew his hand back and waited for her to come to him. Slowly, the girl pushed herself forward and eventually he could reach out to touch her.

Exodus waited. If he moved to touch her he knew she'd bring up that barrier again. Instead, he waited further as she reached out slowly and touched his hand. When that happened Exodus gave her an encouraging smile. He knew the courage it would have taken for her to do that. He nodded and she came closer.

"Shall we go?"

He saw the way she bit her lip and then nodded. Exodus helped her down from the table but made no other move towards her. He knew he should be checking other parts of the building but finding someone like this took priority.

The girl nodded and trembling, held up her hand. He reached out slowly and gently took it in his own.

"Then let's go," Exodus said, gesturing to the corridor as he took the first step.

The girl hesitated for a moment but followed and together, they walked out of the building.

-ted-

There we are, Eri rescued and in the hands of the heroes. If Kai manages to get way, he's going to be surprised, to say the least, that Eri no longer has Rewind, which really is all for the best.

And Izuku... Dragon, has made his first foray into the Underworld politics. Izuku is somewhat aware of his reputation, curtsey of Daddy-dearest, but he's going to discover how much it helps, and hinders. But that's for the future... Next up... well, that's the next chapter :D

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!