Miller was somewhat ashamed to admit it, but All Might was right. When the man put his mind to it, he truly had a way with words. For the last few hours, he had stretched out his monumental tale of fighting the supposed villain All for One. Everything had been put into shockingly in-depth detail, to the point no one watching seemed to have gotten bored. Even though the story was slowly beginning to drag on.
For what was supposed to be a serious matter, the entire speech felt… casual. It still held a solemnness to it, but All Might somehow kept the mood lively.
"Which brings us, to the Sports Festival, and the Musutafu Massacre," All Might stated, bringing a small whisper to the audience, while All Might's face softened, "It pains me to think about how many innocent lives were lost those days. About how many valiant heroes and first responders laid down their lives."
Wordlessly dozens in the crowd nodded, a few looking close to tears.
"All of it against an enemy, even I failed against," All Might muttered, and it suddenly felt like the atmosphere was sucked away. While the crowd had stayed quiet before, this silence felt different to Miller. It was… unnatural- as if everyone could now feel the gravity of everything. And it disturbed the crowd of civilians.
"On that day, it became clear to me that we heroes needed to do better. Be, better," All Might continued, his hand pounding on the podium, "Us, all of us, have grown stagnant. Compliant. We heroes were supposed to protect everyone. So for an attack of this scale to catch us by surprise, it is unacceptable. And, with the truth of my condition revealed to the world, I believe now is the time to call for change."
A bit late for that, Miller thought to himself, mentally sighing all the while.
"We heroes are not trained to fight organizations like the Ninth Circle," All Might added, earning some surprised looks from the audience, "Our position in society is next to our first responders. Yet we've taken on responsibilities not our own. When called upon by the international community, heroes are sent around the globe to fight terrorists or to act as peacekeepers. No matter the situation we were expected to solve every conflict. But that was never our role."
"We weren't trained to fight wars. Dare I say it, we heroes are simply first responders, albeit with better uniforms."
All Might treated the last line somewhat like a joke, and he earned a few small snickers from the audience. One person even gave him a mock "Boo!". Which of course made the Symbol of Peace laugh.
"Oh come now, you've seen Best Jeanist!" All Might exclaimed, causing more of the audience to laugh as well. He shook his head slowly though, the mood calming back down again.
"As I've said though, we were never trained to fight a war. We've all deluded ourselves into believing heroes are the be-all and end-all for every single problem," All Might stated tiredly, the audience slowly beginning to murmur at his words, "And once the Ninth Circle came about, proving us all wrong, it was too late.
"I was to blame for that belief," All Might then muttered, the audience quickly gasping in response. It was difficult to hear but Miller could make out a dozen different people crying out that it wasn't All Might's fault. Yet their cries went ignored as All Might kept talking.
"It was my symbol, my legacy, my promise. A promise that no matter what, I would be here. That I would bring about peace," All Might continued, the man slowly looking across the audience, "But the truth is, I can't bring peace. One man, no matter how powerful, cannot bring peace."
This time some people scoffed at his words. They were few, possibly no more than four, but Miller knew others held quiet agreement. Even with the Symbol of Peace telling them otherwise, there would also be those too stubborn to agree.
"People, average people, bring peace," All Might explained, "Communities striving for a better tomorrow bring peace."
For a moment All Might paused. The hero took a deep breath, seeming to brace himself before he started talking again.
"It's why I have to thank the MSF," All Might announced, earning even more gasps from the audience. This time, the crowd became more vocal in their distaste, some of the people's expressions visibly souring. Others looked at All Might shocked and slowly turned away, displeased. The majority of people, though, didn't do any of this. Some nodded in agreement with All Might, while others looked at the hero unsure.
"At first I was distrustful of this… band of mercenaries. I viewed them as villains. Killers who'd turn on us for a quick buck. But I was wrong. Though they are mercenaries, their ranks are filled with average people," All Might went on, the hero slowly pointing toward himself.
"People I've had the pleasure of meeting," All Might told them, "They're husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, sons, and daughters. Each and every one of them is an average person. Some joined to pay the bills, others for a sense of adventure or out of a sense of duty."
The words seemed to stick with most people, as Miller slowly saw those unsure begin to nod along. The more stubborn, though, still scoffed.
"And were it not for these average people, the Musutafu Massacre would have been worse!" All Might announced loudly, practically slamming his hand onto the podium, "Without their intervention, thousands more would have died. Which again, is why I believe we need change."
Again some people scoffed. But the more All Might pointed out the hard truth, the more Miller could see people shift about. It was uncomfortable for anyone to admit that they were no longer safe. Sometimes people didn't want to admit it.
"It took a foreign army of mercenaries to stop the Ninth Circle," All Might muttered, tapping his finger on the podium in front of him, "To fight the largest threat our country has seen in years, we sent heroes, backed up by police officers and firefighters. And when our heroes failed to break through the villain's lines, we didn't call up the military, we didn't call the US for assistance, we simply sent more first responders. For days hundreds were sent charging into a meat grinder, for no gain. Hundreds more were brutalized, and marched about as trophies or prized kills. "
For a moment All Might paused, the man slowly rubbing his hands over his face tiredly.
"It was unacceptable," he muttered, dropping his hands back down to the podium.
"For days a war was waged in Musutafu, a war we claimed we could fight. But in truth it was a war we were never equipped to handle," All Might stated, the man slowly looking over the crowd, "Again I say, we need change. For our country's safety, then we can't rely on heroes alone."
At the last word, All Might started coughing into his hand. A bit of blood shot out of his mouth, which he carefully wiped away. It was a stark reminder to everyone watching.
"No, we can't rely on me alone," All Might told them, wiping away a few more specs of blood. At the same time, he straightened his posture just a bit more. His mouth turned to a wide familiar smile.
"Instead, everyone must stand up and help," All Might proclaimed, his voice slowly becoming his more boastful tone, "To complete a job this grand, will take a village! And some of you may say, my quirk is too weak, or it's unsuited for the job! You may say it's villainous or too dangerous! But none of that matters! It doesn't matter if you're a hero or a baker, or a salesman!"
The crowd slowly began cheering the louder All Might got. Which caused the hero to smile wider, and in turn brought louder cheers.
"Because only together, can we make our home safe again!" All Might finished, the crowd reaching an unparalleled uproar. Hundreds clapped and cheered, while All Might held out his arms widely. Again, Miller was ashamed to admit it, but All Might had a way with words. Slowly the commander began clapping and noticed the Gran Torino did the same.
"Not bad Toshi," Gran Torino muttered, the old man watching All Might continue. The speech wasn't entirely done, as Miller heard All Might talk about how "The military's corruption must be rooted out, and the institution restructured from the top down!". But for the majority of people, it seemed to be wrapping up. This only left the interviews, the autograph session, the hero meet and greet, and about a dozen other activities to hopefully keep people distracted.
"He's still got a few more hours to go," Miller pointed out, with Gran Torino grumbling in response.
"It's honestly ridiculous," Gran Torino replied tiredly, "Who needs a seven-hour-long speech?"
Miller just remained quiet at the question, now watching as All Might began answering the press's questions. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, though Miller didn't doubt the HPSC had some plants in the crowd. Whether they'd be helpful, or problematic was yet to be seen. As All Might's discussion of the MSF definitely ruffled some feathers. Yet as Miller watched, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching behind him.
"Excuse me," a female voice asked, with Miller turning toward the source and… holy that's a big woman. As behind him was a rather tall woman, with blond hair, a comical amount of muscle, and an American flag-themed hero costume. Miller had to crane his head up a smidge to reach the woman's eyes. It wasn't by much. He was at least six foot, and the woman looked about six foot three.
"Commander Kazuhira Miller I presume?" the woman asked, her arms slowly crossing together. Miller wordlessly nodded but slowly brought his hand to his sidearm.
"Star and Stripe," Gran Torino soon commented, the old man looking at the hero curiously, "What's the US's number one doing here?"
"Guard duty," Star replied, before looking back at Miller, "With some extra goals."
She walked around the stage for a moment, looking the commander over.
"Your boss is a hard man to reach," Star commented, before turning toward All Might. There she watched the Symbol of Peace move about.
"For good reason," Miller replied bluntly, "I'm assuming you were sent in the hopes of talking to him."
Star nodded slowly while turning to face Miller again.
"The President still has questions for him," Star explained, the woman soon finding a chair, "As does the rest of NATO."
She sat down carefully, her cape draping off the back of the chair. Miller slowly did the same as her, now sitting across from her.
"He'll talk to the UN in a few days," Miller told her, with Star shaking her head.
"The President doesn't believe we have a few days," Star countered, while Miller looked her over.
"You've seen the news," Star added, "The world's changing."
Tad bit of an understatement, Miller mentally remarked, but he said nothing.
"You remember that spacecraft the Russians announced?" Star asked, causing Miller to sigh annoyed.
"Hard to forget," Miller replied, remembering the headache the ship was giving him. The MSF's AIs had made designing their own ship somewhat easy, but it was still a nightmare to fund and build. As it stood the project had effectively gone nowhere past the designing stage. So he knew Star's next words weren't going to be fun. Quickly the woman pulled out a tablet and placed it in front of Miller. Once the device turned on, Miller was proven right.
"Well, the CIA's learned China's got their own program planned up," Star told him while scrolling through some files, "Both the Kremlin and Beijing were reportedly exchanging information on their developments."
She stopped on a file labeled Xian Class. Looking it over, it seemed both the Russians and Chinese had taken a different approach. Whereas the Zhukov was a battleship, the Xian was a destroyer. It was much, much smaller than its Russian counterpart, only being one hundred and forty meters long, and thirty-five meters wide and tall. It had four dual-purpose 100mm guns, eight 30mm Type 1130 CIWS guns, and eighty-four VLS missiles. And where Zhukov weighed over seventy thousand tons, the Xian weighed only eight thousand.
As of yet, it hadn't been built, but the file stated the Chinese were requesting five ships to be constructed. Two for national security, and three for possible missions to Mars. Considering they were going to be military vessels, Miller knew exactly what missions they would end up being.
"So another ship to worry about, great," Miller muttered tiredly, only for Star to shake her head again.
"It's not just a ship," she revealed, swiping over to a new file, "The CIA also found sister programs linked with their ship development."
The reveal shocked Miller for a moment, the man thinking over what she meant. Did they have other classes of ships in development? Cruisers? Frigates? Corvettes? Carriers? Where did it end? Or was this something else? An orbital weapon? Quietly Miller watched as Star flipped to the right file.
"The Chinese are calling it Tiānjiè Zhīxīn, and the Russians are calling it Sputnik," Star explained, while Miller read over the file present. It… it was bad. It wasn't a new ship. Instead, the file showed the Russians building a facility near the Arctic. It was utterly massive. The facility could have been a regular military base, but Miller knew otherwise.
"They're developing sentient AIs," Miller commented, looking over the massive data center under construction. Strangelove had always explained the signs of AI development in meetings. Without the pocket dimension, an AI would need an entire building for its data center. The data center would have to be kept cold at all times, and it would have to be secluded. And from what Miller could see, the facility under construction met all the criteria. Star nodded in agreement as he thought.
"Likely spurred on by the MSF's own advancements," Star pointed out, with Miller groaning annoyed. Quietly he took off his glasses and began rubbing his brow. It was just one problem after another. But slowly Miller thought over everything. It all seemed… odd. The US sent their number one hero, to talk to Snake, with a file of information provided by the CIA.
"Why are you showing me this?" Miller inquired suspiciously, now putting his glasses back on. Star sighed in response, while her hand tapped her thigh.
"Like I said, the world's changing. As it stands the MSF is the only one prepared for these changes," Star explained, "So, President Morrison wants to work with you."
At this very moment, Thirteen was beginning to loathe this mission. Hearing the MSF was conducting a black op, and needed the staff's help, she decided to tag along. Both because her quirk would help speed things up monumentally, and to ensure things went smoothly. She did trust the MSF, but the last thing anyone needed was for a civilian to die. It's why she stood inside the Okinawa International Military History Museum. Specifically, inside one of the museum's many storage sites.
Wanting to keep the MSF's and UA's involvement with the raid secret, Thirteen did not wear her usual hero costume. Instead, she wore some basic camo fatigues the MSF had given her, along with a balaclava to hide her face. Around her dozens of soldiers continually carried in crates of weapons. And each weapon was almost instantly torn apart, as Thirteen's quirk worked its magic. In seconds the guns were gone, sucked away, and spaghettified in a black hole.
She'd been doing this for two hours now, and somehow the MSF kept finding more weapons. More assault rifles, more shotguns, more machine guns, more everything! And by this point, it was beginning to hurt her hands. Her fingers felt ready to fall off, and every few seconds Thirteen would stop just to shake her hand. The shaking did nothing, but it didn't fully matter to her. It got bad enough Thirteen eventually shut off her quirk, and started breathing heavily.
Seeing her stop, one of the soldiers rushed toward her.
"Hey! Hey! Are you good?" he called out, concerned, with Thirteen slowly nodding in response.
"Yeah… just," Thirteen replied, holding up a hand, "Just one second…"
The soldier looked at her for a moment before grumbling to himself. Shaking his head he turned toward a different soldier.
"Cricket, get her some water!" the man ordered, motioning toward Thirteen, before turning to the other soldiers present, "The rest of you Fulton what you can! We'll bring the rest to her once she's back up!"
Not a man said a word, as everyone switched up what they were doing. Weapons were quickly carried outside, while soldiers rushed to ready Fulton harnesses. Balloons soon drifted into the sky, before Thirteen saw them get yanked away. At the same time, a soldier stepped up next to her with a canteen in hand. Quietly Thirteen grabbed it, and thanked the soldier. She didn't really need the water, but the cold metal felt good on her tired fingers.
Thirteen asked the soldier, before he left, "Are you sure we can destroy all of this in time?"
"Doubt it," the soldier replied, the man turning towards the piles of equipment.
"More than likely we're going to be forced to dump this crap into the ocean," the man muttered, while Thirteen watched a T-90 drift into the sky. How the balloons were strong enough to carry the thing, she had no clue. Still, the soldier's reply bugged her slightly. Dumping everything into the ocean was the fastest option, but it was not the cleanest. Thirteen dreaded to imagine the kind of ecological damage that could occur if this went wrong.
"That's our best option?" Thirteen inquired, watching as the soldier shrugged.
"The alternative is blowing it up," the soldier answered, right as a crate of C4 was carried by them, "And I'm pretty sure setting off all these explosives at once is a bad idea."
It took Thirteen a minute to think it over, but yeah, that seems bad. When it came to explosives alone, the MSF's intel estimated at least a hundred thousand bricks of C4. Just C4. If every single brick was detonated at the same time, the blast would shatter windows from five hundred meters away. That was just with C4. That didn't count Night Owl's missiles, grenades, artillery shells, rockets, bombs, mortars, and whatever else he had.
With that realization, Thirteen took a small drink from the canteen, before passing it back to the soldier.
"Best destroy what we can then," Thirteen commented, with the soldier quietly nodding. Feeling somewhat better, she took a deep breath and held out her hands. Seeing she was better, soldiers instantly began rushing to drop off equipment near her. And once the first few crates were set down, Thirteen switched on her quirk, quickly spaghettifying some AK-74s.
Night Owl was beginning to get pissed. When he received word on what had happened at the Tokyo compound, the mad scientist quickly knew he'd have to investigate. Unfortunately, there was one main issue. Because as he looked out his office's large window, all he could see was the wave of civilians crowding the building.
There had to be thousands of them, and they were all here for one thing. All Might's supposed speech. Why!? Why was this happening, Night Owl mentally questioned. Why was All Might here!? Because of him, Night Owl couldn't leave. Not just because of Reaper, the buffoon that he is, but because the sheer number of people here blocked the exit. It was a flood of flesh and limbs. The only way he was leaving the building was by helicopter.
And of course, this wasn't helped by the fact that Night Owl could spot Miller on the ground from his office. At least, that's who he assumed was Miller. There was a shockingly odd number of blond people standing near the building. One of which vaguely looked like an American… oh that's Star and Stripes.
This just had to get better, Night Owl sarcastically remarked. Now all he could do was pace around his office while Reaper and his associates watched.
"This… haha… this is your fault," Night Owl muttered, slowly chuckling to himself in annoyance. Everything would go according to plan. He didn't know what was happening, but that didn't matter. It would go his way. Things have always gone his way. For the last ten years, all they've done is go his way! And just… ugh! He needed to hit something, shoot something, stab something, experiment on something! Reaper said nothing to his words, instead giving the mad scientist an unseen glare.
"You just… you said your men could keep the compound secure," Night Owl continued, still chuckling madly while he spoke, "Gave your silent word and everything!"
Again Reaper said nothing, but Night Owl could see his lieutenants quietly shuffle around him angrily. Still laughing, Night Owl couldn't help but facepalm.
"Now, I instead find they've all gone crazy!" Night Owl exclaimed, before slamming his hands on his desk, "Or did you put the schizophrenics in charge of guard duty!?"
Because honestly, what made-up nonsense did they expect him to believe? Swarms of hornets, a random fire, a bunch of odd paranormal activity, all of this had a logical explanation. Some quirk was obviously at play, but the Ninth Circle didn't want to admit this. Because otherwise, it would mean they couldn't keep track of a six-year-old! And Night Owl was not letting it happen again!
He didn't even get to do anything for crying out loud! He had hundreds of experiments planned for Eri, but… He was supposed to have all the time in the world! No one knew the girl existed, except Overhaul, so almost no one would search for her. The MSF didn't know the Tokyo compound existed, and if they did his nuke would keep them in check. The only logical explanation was the Ninth Circle screwing up somehow.
Of course, his rather brash choice of words quickly angered Reaper. The man stood up from his chair swiftly, his sickles in hand as Night Owl felt the man's fury emanate off him. Were it not for Night Owl's current annoyance with the situation, he'd have been afraid of Reaper's threat. But he wasn't, as this situation couldn't get worse.
"Oh piss off!" Night Owl exclaimed angrily, watching as Reaper slowly walked toward him, "You built up an army of the mentally ill! Don't get angry at me for pointing out the problems there."
Once Reaper was close enough, Night Owl felt the cold steel of Reaper's sickles touch his neck. They didn't cut anything, but they were worryingly close. But again, any fear Night Owl held before was gone. Instead, both men stared each other down, Reaper's lieutenants shuffling around behind them. It left the room relatively quiet, with the only noise coming from All Might outside. Eventually, Night Owl sighed, his annoyance dissipating. Fear came roaring back, as the man realized how close he was to losing everything.
"...You know what, fine. Let's call the compound again. Maybe they can get someone more competent on the phone, and not raving mad," Night Owl stated, the last part being an unheard mutter. Slowly Reaper seemed to agree, the cult leader pulling his sickles away. The man sheathed both weapons carefully and pulled out a burner phone. After a few seconds, it began to ring.
No one picked up though, so Reaper tried again. Four times he tried, and not once did anyone pick up. It confused the cult leader, while Night Owl mentally scoffed. Just as he thought, incompetence. Yet Night Owl's assumption was quickly disproven when his own phone began blaring an alarm. His eyes widened in realization, and the scientist ripped it out of his pocket. Looking over the device, Night Owl couldn't help but pale.
"Someone's accessing my supercomputer," he muttered shocked, utterly confused by the alarm. The supercomputer had been a side project he'd built in the compound. It wasn't the best, as being a side project the only resources dedicated to it were pieces of junk at the compound. But it still held dozens of his important files. Dimensional research, hidden bases, secret projects, exactly what one would expect. With all the information it held, Night Owl had spent weeks beefing up its cyber security and programmed a few small viruses into the computer as contingencies.
The biggest virus was designed so that if anyone were detected copying his files unauthorized, an immediate alert would be sent to the rest of the compound and the remaining files would be corrupted. So if he was receiving the alert then… crap! Quickly the mad scientist rushed to his desk computer. Turning it on he opened up the compound's security footage. At the same time, Reaper walked around him, watching as the man worked.
With the footage on his computer, Night Owl couldn't help but grow confused again. Nothing was out of the ordinary on cameras. But the alert could not be wrong. Someone had accessed his supercomputer, which meant they were in the compound… they were in the compound…
"...Someone's infiltrated the compound," Night Owl muttered to himself, feeling Reaper look at him in shock. Night Owl switched through a few more cameras, hoping to find some kind of change. He didn't. His breathing sped up the more it went on, his anger coming back as well.
"They've hijacked the security cameras!" he yelled out angrily, hastily trying to regain control of the system. That was until he remembered Reaper's attempted call. It wasn't just the cameras they lost control of, the compound's comms were being jammed too. Knowing there was little time Night Owl booted up a small backup plan he'd had. With the press of a button, the compound's security cameras were all shut down. Whatever was controlling them was hopefully locked out.
If I can't control the cameras, then no one will, Night Owl mentally remarked before slowly turning toward Reaper. He didn't know who had broken into the compound. It could have been anyone, but that didn't matter to him. For right now, Night Owl felt furious.
"I don't care what it takes or if the cult's cover is blown," Night Owl began ordering Reaper, "I want everyone you have to get to that compound!"
This could cost him months of planning, but whoever was in the compound needed to be stopped, now!
Once Victoria had raised the partition trapping him in the food court, Midoriya wasted no time sneaking through the compound. Quietly Eri stuck close behind him, with DD taking the lead in front of them. Walking past the mall's stores, Midoriya began finding it a bit more difficult than before. His stunt in the food court had made a lot of noise, so every once and a while he'd run into a dozen guards running toward them.
Whenever it happened, he grabbed Eri and ducked into the closest store. Once they were gone he'd leave the store and keep moving forward. The strategy had worked so far, but only because the guards were more focused on getting to the food court. At the same time, part of him wondered what Snake was up to. Midoriya knew he didn't trigger the alarm, so it had to be Snake's doing.
But then that meant he was caught… he wasn't caught… right? I mean Snake was the Legendary Soldier! Nothing ever stopped him! He… he… Midoriya felt a pair of small hands grab his arm then, the action shaking him out of his thoughts. Looking down he spotted Eri, who was trying to regain his attention. Right, Midoriya thought, Snake was fine, you need to focus on the task at hand.
Wordlessly he pressed forward, watching as DD sniffed the air for threats. After what felt like an eternity, Midoriya arrived at the entrance he and Snake had gone through. Looking around, the area seemed clear. But there was no sign of Snake. Not wanting to waste time, Midoriya rushed through the exit door. He booked it back up the exit's stairs, until he was back on the roof, outside the compound.
Only now did he stop, and take a deep breath. With this brief calm Midoriya pulled out his Idroid.
"Vicky, how are we doing?" he asked, waiting for the AI to reply. Instead, she remained quiet.
"Vicky?" Midoriya asked again, confused. At the same time, he found Eri looking up at him curiously. Through the silence, Eri then looked away and began looking around the rooftop. A tad bit worried, Midoriya snapped his fingers, earning DD's attention. Wordlessly he pointed at Eri, and the dog walked up to her carefully. His focus returned to Vicky though, as the AI still had not replied. That was until his Idroid began to screech.
Quickly Midoriya covered the speakers, though the noise could be heard muffled through his fingers. The loud noise scared Eri for a moment, while DD instantly was put on guard. The noise dissipated eventually, and Midoriya pleaded that no one heard it.
"Vicky?" Midoriya again asked, now becoming worried.
"H-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-hey!" Victoria eventually replied, her words glitchy. The AI's tone fluctuated a dozen times just saying a single word. When her avatar popped up on the Idroid it flickered in and out of existence. It changed shape, height, and color in milliseconds, with Midoriya losing track of how many changes occurred.
"What's happening?" Midoriya asked worriedly, with Victoria struggling to reply.
"V-v-viru-s-s-s!" she yelled, her avatar turning red, then green, then purple, "S-s-na-ke f-found com-p-p-uter! I-i-it t-trap! A-a-a-al-a-rm! L-l-l-o-st c-c-c-amer-a-a-as!"
Snake did set off the alarm, Midoriya realized. But he quickly shook that thought away, as he watched Victoria's avatar struggle to maintain shape.
"H-h-el-l-l-l-l-p m-m-e-" Victoria tried to plead, only for half the letters to filter into static. Quickly Midoriya tried to think of something, desperation becoming clear on his face. Then it hit him.
"Go to the Oasis!" Midoriya told her, hoping he was right. He didn't remember everything, but he remembered Strangelove ran tests on the AIs a few years ago. Just to see what would happen if one was affected by a virus, and how to protect them. Most of the results Midoriya didn't remember. But whenever an AI infected with a virus entered the Oasis, it was simply turned into a regular sickness. Of course, Victoria looked back at Midoriya afraid.
"B-b-but-t mi-ss-i-i-on!" she tried to protest, her voice's octave changing rapidly.
"Forget the mission, go!" Midoriya told her. Hesitantly the AI left, earning a small sigh from Midoriya. He… he was sure she'd be fine. Just focus on the mission. Focus on the mission, Midoriya told himself. Looking around he could see the zipline he and Snake used was still there. It would be difficult, but they could hopefully climb back across. Walking toward the building's edge, he looked down toward the sidewalk.
The plainclothes guards that were there originally were now mostly gone. Likely assisting those inside search the compound. But then Midoriya noticed something odd. While the people surrounding the compound were gone, there were now a large number of people on the streets. And now that he thought about it, he could see the lights of cars coming towards the compound.
A lot more than there had been before… not to mention the… sniper teams… sniper teams! Midoriya quickly ducked behind the building's ledge. It had been hard to see but he saw it! Some small glint of scope, the odd window open in the middle of the night, the random shadow on the rooftop! There had to be a dozen different sniper teams on the buildings across from him.
When did they get here!? Looking toward Eri and DD Midoriya sighed in relief, seeing the two were short enough not to be seen. But that wouldn't last forever. As now Midoriya heard the roar of engines. Carefully peeking over his cover, Midoriya spotted the first of the Ninth Circle's vehicles arrive. Four full vans of cultists jumped out, with each enemy rushing into the building.
Looking back towards the lights on the road, Midoriya paled. They all blurred together as a bright mesh, but there had to be hundreds of vehicles. All heading straight towards him.