Super Science

Ch. 121: NIP vs. HAJ part 2

When the heroes and military walked through the streets of Japan, all eyes were on them, from the buildings to the dark alleyways. Everybody moved aside, as their aura was anything but friendly. This wasn't a parade or a time of cheer; it was something else. The heroes made no kind remarks to the people as they passed by, grimacing so hard you would think they were villains.

When the army finally made it to the threshold of the N.I.P compound property, three enormous thick concrete walls sprung up from the ground and cut them off in seconds! The walls stared from around the building and made their way outwards, getting farther and farther before the last hit the property line. As the heroes and army stopped the war machines short before they crashed into one another, they all looked up at the impossibly tall and thick walls, not expecting this to happen.

Just then, a speaker mounted on one of the walls blared to life. The voice of Egon shouted at them, "Attention, assholes! You are trespassing on private property! Turn your flashy spandex butts around or face the fatal consequences!", only for one of the heroes to destroy the speaker in one shot, causing it to explode and fire off sparks. Back in the control room, Egon stared with shock at the reaction and exclaimed, "They destroyed my speakers! Okay, hit 'em with the turret!"

Purah nods and presses several buttons on one of the controls, where several turrets spring from the pillars and the wall itself. There was a whole host of them ranging from armor pricing, shock grenades, RPGs, sound boomers, shock blasters, scream pods, and so much more! All of them were set to a mix of lethal and nonlethal settings on several targets.

The heroes and army only had time to gasp in surprise before a hail storm of gunfire, electricity, and fire rained down upon them! They all scattered like roaches, with several already being taken down fatally or non-fatally. Not only that, but they were strategically pushing the military and the heroes away from one another so the machines' settings weren't confused.

After the initial shock, the military and heroes arrived and fought back. Within minutes, they took down the turrets and began attacking the walls themselves. Anyone who could fly or climb did so, while the rest tried to break through the walls, which took several more minutes with quirks and high-grade military shells.

"The outer wall turrets are down, and the outer wall has fallen. Two walls are left, but the heroes are scaling, digging, or flying over the others.", Purah relayed to Egon.

Just as Egon was thinking and about to give his next command, Nagat suddenly stated, "Not if I have anything to say about it!", and began to match off.

"Nagat, where are you going?", Egon suddenly called out to her.

Nagat called back, "To shoot them off the walls or out of the sky."

Egon ran after her and shouted, "Okay, but don't kill them!"

Nagat stopped her match as he turned around with a baffled expression and asked, "What? I just saw you turn part of their non-hero army into Swiss miss."

Egon approached her with an uncomfortable disposition as he explained, "I hate to say it, but they're expendable. Like it or not, even if we come out of this alive, if one hero dies, we'll look like the villains. The public won't bat an eye no matter how much of the fodder we take out. Besides, you said it yourself. Many of those heroes have been brainwashed; they don't know what they are doing wrong. The others aren't and are getting paid for it."

Nagat tightens her fists as she looks at the ground and replies begrudgingly, "I want to say it's hypocritical, but you're right. Plus, without them, the heroes will be easier to manage."

Just before she left, Egon grabbed her hand and assured her, "Nagat, listen to me. You don't have to kill anyone! It's all up to you how you deal with the fodder and the heroes."

Nagat finally looks up from the ground with a determined look and says, "Then I won't take a single life."

After Nagat pulled away from Egon with this thought in mind, he wished her good luck as she took the elevator to the rooftop. Once out in the open, she used Air Walk to get even more height and took a stance while activating the rifle. Looking through the scope, she put it on one of the heroes who just made it up the wall and shot.

The bullet hit their shoulder and caused them to fall back. After reloading, she kept shooting heroes down in non-lethal areas. Causing them to be put for the remainder of the fight. Just as she thought she could handle this, the first wall was broken through, and the army supplies were in. Forgetting any of the walls or flying, she aimed at the ground troops and aimed for shoulders, legs, and stomachs!

Just before the army could reach the second wall, several hatches opened, bringing hundreds of bots alongside creatures known as rat pigs and crawling corpse flowers. While the man-series bots acted as cannon fodder and bullet sponges, the crawling corpse flowers produced a noxious gas that brought the attackers to their knees, which the rat pigs took full advantage of!

Eventually, the military dawned masks and took out the corpse flowers, allowing the heroes to destroy and kill the man series bots and rat pigs. Only to be surprised as more turrets sprang up from the ground and pelted them from the front. Nagat still sniped them from afar, and several chemical traps were employed. The army took up riot shields to block the bullets while the hero broke the turrets and attempted to avoid Nagat. Once the last turrets fell, they pressed on where several of them found their feet stuck to the ground by a super adhesive.

Suddenly, a hero stepped on a small round ball that exploded into a large cloud of foam that trapped him. Several other heroes and military personnel stepped on these and were caught in the foam. When a tank broke one of the pods, it got caught and failed to go on. Just as panic began to set in, they all noticed that their voices were changing pitch. Quickly, they realized that a gas was being pumped all around, trying to asphyxiate them.

Just when it seemed that they were done for, Hawks swooped in and turned the tide. Flying around at his back speed with another superspeed hero, they created a small twister that blew away the gas and exploding pods. All that was left was the glue traps, which hawks outlined with a single feather, allowing everyone to navigate to the next wall covered in turrets easily, but soon that one came down, and one remained.

This section was even more heavily guarded! More advanced Man series bots, and security droids began to spill out alongside the Glavanua, Carmilla, and a new creature called the Kirin, which looked like a Chinese dragon compacted to the size of a horse.

The bots were even harder to destroy as they were made to be tough and smart! So the military left them to the heroes while they focused all firepower on the animals! The Glavenus superheated its tail and began to cut through the troops like butter; Carmilla flew around, spitting up its glue-like mucus and spewing the invisible gas before sucking people dry. Then there was the Kirin, who was a living tank! Nothing shot at it would pierce its hide, and it was strong enough to mow down anyone dumb enough to stand in the line of fire and flip tanks while sending people flying with its whip tail and fireballs!

So, the heroes and military switched out their opponents, which worked in their favor. The sparse robots fell within minutes to the military, and the heroes managed to easily detain or restrain the monsters, as they had been put under order not to hurt the heroes, which confused them.

Once the animals were down, they only had to break through the last wall, leaving the building alone. By now, the army has suffered significant losses, with nearly all the heroes remaining and only a few dozen soldiers still alive. But like last time, it was heavily guarded—this time by high-end assassins, droids, and four robots in high-tech suits: RINO, VULTR, GOBLN, and SCORPN, along with the Valkyrie and Megaman.

"Wait! Is that Megaman!? What's he doing here.", Egon exclaimed in shock.

"Hehe, I might've called in a favor," Wily said, proudly stroking his mustache.

Egon sighed relievedly. "I'm glad to hear that you and Light have mostly worked things out."

Megaman stood in front of the robots, and as the army approached, he shouted, "Stop right there, you fowl fends!"

Everybody stopped at hearing the small, childlike robot talk so clearly, not like a machine, and one person pointed out, "Look, one of the robots talks."

Megaman stood tall and firm before the people, stepping in front and boldly declaring, "I, Megaman, shall stop you from harming the innocent from within."

Megaman then struck a pose and readied his arm cannon, which began to charge.

At this point, everyone was confused, and one person said, in a somewhat hushed tone, "I don't think that's a robot."

Thinking he really was a robot, a soldier approached Megaman and tried to sway him, "Look, kid, I don't know what they have told or done to you, but they are far from being…he,y what are you doing?", he added as he noticed the gun arm on Megaman charge up.

Without warning, he blasted the man head-on and knocked him clean out! Everyone looked between the man and Megaman, with one person confirming, "Okay, that's definitely a robot."

"Take it down!", a hero yelled as the soldiers and other heroes opened fire or attacked.

Leading to the robots and auto turrets to counter! It was pandemonium! Soldiers and heroes went in all directions as the Rhino smashed through the crowd with no pushback; the Vulture and Goblin took to the skies and picked them off one by one, while the Scorpion took on heroes one by one in single combat. The assassin droids danced around the heroes and military personnel with great ease, as if it were a ballet, cutting down military soldiers and non-lethally taking down heroes left, right, and center! Megaman ran around the field and blasted off nearly all of his copied upgrades in rapid successions, like a gamer using all his buffs to wipe a whole battle screen.

Just when it seemed like things were finally in N.I.P's favor, one of the remaining soldiers called in for an emergency air strike! Within seconds, a jet plane flew overhead and was ready to drop its load on the battle sight. However, the anti-air tech activated and began to shoot at the fast-flying aircraft! Just before it was shot from the sky, it released a single bomb, which did not cause a wide-scale explosion but a blast of EMP energy! This caused the facility to lose control for about five seconds but made the machines go haywire just long enough for the heroes to counterattack.

The assassin droids were beaten first, followed by the many high-end military suits worn by robots who were pulled straight out of them, and lastly was Megaman, who was punted far off into the horizon by a strong hero. When a few soldiers tried to put on high-end military suits to help aid better in the battle, they suddenly fell apart as a fail-safe. So the remaining army, which was now 90% heroes and the rest being assorted military, marched up to the now unguarded building. Just as they made it within shouting distance of the building, several defense turrets, a building encasing Tesla gate, and the defense plants began to counterattack!

The heroes were nearly pros at handling the turrets and dispatched them with ease, followed by an electric hero who passed out after redirecting the power of the Tesla gate to fire itself. The plants were the hardest part. The screaming daisies made it impossible to get close enough to stomp them out, especially with the crawling ivy that protected them. The tangled willow made it even harder without getting wrapped up and lined by spiny shot cacti. The hypnotic pitcher plants made them lose their focus and were used to protect the exploding durian tree that threw its fruit from long range alongside the terrible tree which threw its fruit that latched on with razor-sharp teeth.

In addition to the plants keeping them at bay, Nagat had changed from sniper mode to semi-auto and pelted them from the roof. Unfortunately, she had to retreat when the soldiers opened fire at her, and Hawks tried to attack her. Seeing that the advantage was compromised and was more needed inside, she slid down one of the ventilation shafts so hawks could follow her through the door, especially with the roof defense on lockdown with her nearby. Suddenly, a fire hero and three soldiers with flamethrowers began to torch the plants slowly but surely until not even a screaming daisy remained.

Just to air on the side of caution, the soldiers put C4 chargers on the door in case it had any sort of defense. When the metal protector on the door flew off its hinges and left an opening, three heroes tried to enter, only for the other to watch them all pass out on the spot as red gas leaked out. The door might have been blown off, but thankfully, the drowsy poppy gas defense system is still online. Hawks used his feather to blow it away, and the remaining army entered the main entrance, where more defense measures greeted them.

Several dozen mind-control butterflies, Staro mind-jacking clones, the seven valkyries, and N.I.P. security and bodyguards came out from the shadows. Rogue floated down from the dark background, followed by Rappa and Muscular marching out with their muscles flexed and pulsating. Barkan finished chewing the meat of a skull and threw it aside while licking his lips; the xenomorph's tail came down from the ceiling, soon followed by the rest of its body. And lastly, Dante shifted into his full demonic form before roaring at the army with the xenomorph!

"Aw crap! These robots look even more powerful than the last!", one of the soldiers exclaimed.

"Sorry, shuga, the only bots here are the valkyries. The rest of us are flesh 'n blood.", Rogue explained while punching her hand.

The remaining military personnel looked apprehensive, and Dante said, "Well, I'll give you a chance to surrender, run, or die."

"Whatever they offer isn't worth your lives," Barkan added, retracting his arm blades.

They all looked at one another and opened fire or charged in to attack! Leading Rappa to say in a disappointed tone, "I guess it is."

Under normal circumstances, the heroes would have easily won, especially since it was 10-1. However, being so exhausted from fending off the other defenses caused them to become little more than a nuisance. This was made even easier when the remaining soldiers became mind-controlled by the butterflies or Staro clones! Within minutes, the heroes were apprehended one after the other until only a few were left.

Just when victory was nie, Hawks managed to slip away and flew into the building at full speed! Rogue, who was occupied with two heroes, said into her earpiece, "Red alert yall. One of their heroes escaped us and is fly'n unimpeded in the building. He might be look'n for ya, professor."

After saying this, the three of the valkyries flew after Hawks in hot pursuit! Hawks sway them chasing and put on more speed! However, Gunnr managed to catch up with him and got into a mid-air tussle that led to Hawks nearly breaking his neck. However, he managed to shave the robot into a Tesla gate and fire her circuits. Being slowed down allowed Rota to catch up and engage him in combat!

The valkiers' scythe struck fast and precisely, nearly decapitating hawks several times as he fought back with his own feather blades! However, the man overcame the machine, and he slashed her in half! Finally, Kara tried to stop the Hawks from advancing using her wing shields. But Hawks was on something else that day, and the blades that would have bounced off such high-tech armor sliced clean through both wing and machine with no trouble. Allowing the winged hero to continue his hunt.

Egon watched all of this unfold from the control room and immediately felt a sense of dread wash over him! Without a word, he ran out of the safety of the room and headed for where Inko, Eri, and the other non-combatants were hiding out. Otto tried to call him to stop, but he didn't. The only thing he listened to was Hatsume, who threw his prototype hover tech. Egon strapped them to his feet and ran with the aid of floating off the ground!

He reached the door in seconds and slapped his hand on the sensor, which locked it down. Feeling relief, he wiped his brow dry; he turned to go back to the safety of the control room when his floating state suddenly was lost under him, and he fell to the ground! Looking up as he kicked the floater off his feet, he saw Hawks standing several yards away with wings spread, feather swords in each hand, and a dark expression on his face. From what Izuku told him, Hawks was always a laid-back but bright and friendly hero. This Hawks was anything but that, and it shook Egon to his core.

"What's behind the door?", Hawks asked in a threatening tone.

Even though he was scared shitless, Egon stood firm and stated, "Nothing you'll be able to get to."

Suddenly, the winged hero threw several feathers against the door, which sunk into it by the tips! Something that shouldn't be possible. "Jesus! Are you on Trigger or something?! That door is triple reinforced!", Egon exclaimed while jumping away only to get a good look at Hawks and see that he was sweating, pale, and overall looking like he was going through the wringer. With concern, he said, "You must be on something. You're looking a little green under the gills."

Only for Hawks to reply with an uncomfortably sick expression and sloppily throw several feathers his way! Egon was able to dodge by how uncoordinated it was and ran off with the winged hero chasing on foot! Egon ran and ducked and made as many tight turns as he could to shake him, but no matter what, Hawks kept coming even though he was starting to get the after-effects of whatever he had taken. After a chase that spanned for a few minutes, one of Hawks' feathers finally managed to pin Egons coat to a wall!

"Crap! Crap! Crap!", Egon began to panic as he attempted to rip himself free. "Oh wait.", he said to himself as his brain caught up and realized he was wearing a coat. Slipping out of it, he said to no one but himself, "Sometimes I wonder how I became a professor."

Only for his legs to be swept out from under him, and look up to see a sweating, ragged, heavily breathing, pale Hawks with a feather blade to his neck! Trying to appeal to him, whatever was left of him, Egon exclaimed, "Hawks, wait! You don't have to do this, please!"

Hawks looked like he wanted to accept this statement, but he shook his head. With a drool drip from his mouth, he argued with a weak look, "No! I have to! If the Association says you're a villain, then you're a villain! You have to be!" He brought the blade closer to his neck.

Making Egon freeze up in place as he tried once more, "They're lying to you!"

Just when it looked like Hawks would cut him down, a voice yelled, "Hawks!"

Knowing the voice, Hawks paused and looked over to see a blurry image clear into the form of his old friend he was told was dead and asked with confusion, "Tsutsumi?"

Before he could react, Nagat shot him with her rifle, blood spraying from the side of his head as he fell to the floor with blood pooling around him.

Nagat put her quirk away and said with an apologetic tone, "Sorry, Kegio."

Nagat went over and helped Egon back to his feet, where he took a moment to breathe and calm down while taking everything in. He looked at the hero, back to Naga,t and said, "I can't believe it. You killed him."

"I only grazed him. He's still alive." she assured him while taking a deep breath, her hands trembling as she admitted, "It was hard to practice self-restraint.", looking down at the body of her old friend with shame.

After collecting himself and his coat, Egon clapped her on the shoulder and said, "Well, thanks for saving my life. Consider us even.", to which she gave a small huff.

"Professor!" Rogue yelled from down the hall. Looking in the hallway, the woman flew toward him. After landing, she reported, "Thank God you're okay. We've managed to apprehend the other heroes, just as you said."

Smiling at her, he pressed his earpiece and said to the facility, "Excellent work, you guys, all of you. You did amazing, but it's not over yet." He suddenly said this in a darker tone, gaining Nagat's attention from Hawks as he told them, "I think it's time we paid the Association a little visit."

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