Nexus: Heroes Will Rise

by tmb1112

Universal borders have been erased and beings from thousands of universes now live on the same world: Nexus. In the first Saga of Nexus, Awul was saved, but the mysteries of Nexus remain. Now our heroes sail across the sea to Aebrith to search for lost loved ones and save the world. MCs from DBZ, KH, Soul Eater, FT, Blue Exorcist, Bleach, 7DS, OP, Ben 10, SAO, HxH, and many more!

114. Nexus HWR 16-6 The Art of Assassination

Nexus HWR 16.6 The Art of Assassination:

Bludhaven

The city of Bludhaven in west-central Aebrith was a ghost town in consideration of the citizens of the city. Not one civilian was out on the streets, no civilian hovercars flying around, and most citizens were staying away from their windows. They were in former Fire Nation territory, but so far they had in a large way avoided any of the conflict that followed their nation's collapse. That was in no small part thanks to the immediate capture of the city by a neighboring Lord who executed the former Lord and flipped the military in the matter of an hour after news of Sozin's death reached the city. Some people had not even heard the news yet, when Lord Ichiji made his announcement and declared Bludhaven under Germa control.

The former Fire Nation soldiers in the city who did not stand by their fallen Lord were all given new uniforms, and the people hiding in the skyscrapers and apartment buildings all around Bludhaven's central most metropolitan area were praying those soldiers would protect them. Only half the citizens were able to see their own soldiers though, as the city was currently split in two. One side was full of their Germa soldiers, who wore black uniforms with white cloaks over them that had big red '66's in the centers of the white capes, had red handkerchiefs wrapped around their necks, and they all wore black sunglasses over the tight white masks that wrapped their entire heads except the bottoms of their faces. The other half of the city, the southern half, was full of soldiers wearing the uniforms of the Sun Marines. They were pointing their weapons up at the buildings on their sides and making the citizens inside cower, but they could not worry about the fear of the population when there could be Germa soldiers hiding around and using their home-field advantage.

Fleet Admiral Komei could not deny the request for a peace summit, and to show his strength he accepted Ichiji's request for it to take place in Bludhaven. The Sun Marines knew there was a high chance for ambush, but they were also planning on moving up to Bludhaven at some point anyway, so if Ichiji was going to betray them after inviting them into the city, they were going to take it. The citizens of Bludhaven were not stupid, and rumors of the plans and possibilities this meeting could entail had them too scared to leave their homes. Most workplaces were closed, but that did not include the largest building in the city right in the center. It was not the tallest building, but it was wider than the bases of all the skyscrapers around it combined. It was round and extended outwards from the base up a hundred feet before it started curving back in with a giant round dome. That round dome started pointing as it got closer to the center, and right in the middle of the building was a tall single point. Above that point was a huge sign that was flashing bright colors of the rainbow, a different color for each letter of 'CA$INO.'

The streets were packed on both the north and south sides of the casino in the center of the city. The Germa soldiers stood in giant battalion formations lining the roads from one side to the other and all the way down them. Every ten rows of soldiers there was a line of seven white mechs standing twelve feet tall with see-through glass cockpits, with one much larger mech over twice as tall standing in the middle of the seven with three smaller ones on either side. At the CA$INO, the Germa forces became more spread out closer to the rounded east and west sides of the building. Before they reached the side though, they stopped moving out and kept in defensive positions instead. Whereas the Sun Marines moved all the way to the line, the actual red line, that the Germa forces painted out from the sides of the casino directly in its east-west center.

The majority of Sun Marine artillery stayed outside of Bludhaven along with half of their army. The other eight thousand five hundred soldiers moved into the city in a much more packed formation through the southern streets of the city. They were not permitted access into the buildings, but they had drones with hovering capabilities flying just outside the windows of buildings all over the southern half of Bludhaven. The drones used thermal sensors through the walls of the buildings and marked the number of people on each floor before moving up higher and scanning again. Floors with inordinate amounts of heat signatures in them then had soldiers with jetpacks on flying up to those floors' windows. Every time so far though, it was just a floor where the citizens had gathered together in hopes that grouping up would make them safer, though they only felt a lot more afraid as the heavily armed soldiers flew up to the windows with their guns aimed inside.

The Sun Marines wore white uniforms pretty close to their usual design that the people of Bludhaven recognized, but they had made some alterations to the uniforms since Kong's self-declaration as a Lord. The hats the soldiers wore were red all around including the rims, only with the white 'SUN MARINES' letters written on the front just above the rims. Another change was the symbol that every soldier now wore over the left side of their chests, and for the officers they had it in the background of their jackets that had the Kanji for 'Justice' written down them vertically. Those symbols no longer consisted of the white seagull from the original Marines, instead replaced by a red seagull over a large dark yellow sun. The soldiers on the streets were moving alongside two lines of tanks, and each tank had several soldiers standing or sitting on its sides while aiming around heavy weapons they were using the tanks to help carry so they would not have to carry the heavy weapons for as long.

There were several entrances and exits to the CA$INO, but only two were currently open. The front doors in the north which was the main entrance, and the southern doors which entered into a night club that the Sun Marine delegation had to walk through in order to get to the main floor where the talks were going to take place. The negotiating party for the Sun Marines arrived at the table first, and Admiral Prodi glared around the room at the guests and staff of the casino all over the place. Such a public venue, he thought in annoyance, though he tried masking it from showing on his face well. Prodi sat at the middle seat on his side of the round table that was set up in the perfect middle of the casino. The round table had an open section in the middle that one of the staff walked into once the delegation had taken their seats. The sides of the table had small wooden doors elevated off the ground but stopping just at the table's surface, so the man who walked up to them pushed the door inwards to step into the opening.

"Could I bring you men some drinks to start off with?" Gotoh questioned. The lanky man wore a black suit that was nothing fancy and had a red tie on that vanished beneath his black jacket leaving only a few inches of it visible. He reached down under the counter and lifted an expensive-looking bottle of brandy, to which Admiral Prodi lifted his eyebrows up at.

Prodi frowned after looking at the bottle with some interest, then he glared through the glasses the thin man was wearing and growled at him, "Where is Ichiji?"

"I would request that you use the proper title when referring to Lord Ichiji," Gotoh responded. Prodi's frown deepened and Gotoh could see him about to blow a fuse from the rising look of anger on his face. "Lord Ichiji is arriving at the northern entrance now," Gotoh added, and Prodi froze with his mouth open as he was about to yell something.

The Admiral paused, then he closed his mouth and glared around the room again. What kind of place is this for peace talks? Does that bastard actually intend to make peace at all? Prodi looked towards a bar to his right that cut out of a side wall over thirty feet before curving around the room. There were dozens of seats at that bar, two televisions over each bartender's area, and five shelves of alcohol going across the entire thing. It looked to Prodi that business was not as packed as usual, as a few of the bartenders were standing still and not doing anything, which made sense since all the seats in their areas were empty. Still, Prodi could tell they were ordered to look presentable even when they were not doing anything, since unless they were straightening out their suits, they were standing still with their hands either put together in front of their waists with their arms outstretched or together behind their backs with their chests stuck out farther.

The large open doors on the north side of the main casino's floor became lined with staff who all wore the same black suits whether or not they were male or female. The only difference in the women's outfits was that theirs consisted of long black skirts instead of pants and they were not required to wear ties. A procession of Germa soldiers started walking through those doors, each one identical to the others at its sides. Clones, Prodi thought as he looked over. Let's see, he brought some speed-types, some strong's, and a bunch of balanced's. No need for concern though. Prodi kept a stern and confident expression on his face, while he looked between the cloned soldiers towards the red hair he saw towards the back of the procession. Prodi glanced to his right after he caught a glimpse of Ichiji, and he saw the broad-shouldered bulky man a few seats down so he was closest to the other half of the table watching Ichiji's procession closely. Not the strongest in the Elite, but his Devil Fruit power will help out greatly if this does turn out to be a trap.

Ichiji's soldiers moved out of his way as he walked forward with his hands at his sides. He was wearing his Raid Suit, but he kept a sharp gaze through his red-tinted sunglasses at the table in the center they were heading towards. So he brought Blueno? Might be other Elite hiding around here, Ichiji's eyes did a once-over of the casino's main floor. More crowded than I thought it would be, but that works in our favor. I made it public where the meeting would be days ago, as well as the time it would take place, for a reason.

Some of the people at the bar nudged each other and motioned towards the north side of the room that Ichiji entered from. Some brigands sitting at a blackjack table not far from the one Ichiji was walking towards looked the Lord up and down as he marched through the room. Their round table was within earshot of the table the meeting would be taking place around, and the dealer in the center gap stopped dealing his cards when he saw every one of the people he was dealing to look away. Even the two men not part of the brigands who sat across the table were looking over interestedly.

Ichiji looked past the table he was heading towards to the other half of the main casino floor. There were ten rows of slot machines going from the middle of the room on that half all the way to the west side where the walls started curving in. On the east side of the far half of the room from him though, was an area meant more for eating, drinking, and relaxing. There were comfortable chairs and couches around low tables. He saw a few of the couches closest to where the meeting was going to occur had people on them staring right towards the middle of the room. Two of them he spotted as journalists from Bludhaven, and he recognized an independent journalist whose articles often made it into the Aebrith Daily as well. The independent journalist who was more famous than the two mostly based in Bludhaven had a brown hat on with a short rim, a plaid black-and-white button down, and he had a camera around his neck and a laptop open on his legs. He had a lollipop in his mouth and was already typing as he darted his eyes up from the computer over to Ichiji who was not looking straight at him, but was staring at him through his sunglasses that hid where he was looking.

Ichiji was walking with his head pointed straight at Prodi, and he kept a deep frown on his face as he approached the table. He stopped behind his chair, and eight strong-class clones walked up to his sides. "Admiral Prodi," Ichiji began. "Komei disrespects me by sending you in his place."

"As it was yourself, and not your father who called this negotiation," Admiral Prodi began. "Fleet Admiral Komei," he emphasized Komei's rank as Ichiji had left it out a moment ago, "decided that I would suffice."

"If my father, Lord Judge Vinsmoke, had called this meeting," Ichiji countered. "Then Lord Kong would have been expected to show up himself."

"Lord Kong is busy with international matters, and is currently in the Alvarez Empire," Prodi replied, casually name-dropping the country that neighbored both of theirs to the east, however one that the Sun Marines had a much longer border with.

Ichiji continued to frown at Prodi, but then he spoke while pulling his chair out, "As it is, I thank you for responding to the summons at all." Ichiji sat down at his chair, and only once he was sitting comfortably did all the clones move at once and take their seats in a strangely synchronized fashion that unnerved some of the Sun Marine officers sitting at Prodi's side, though Prodi and Blueno ignored it. After Ichiji took his seat, he turned his head and glared at one of the officers sitting across from him directly on Prodi's left side. "General Shinu," he greeted in a not-so-friendly tone, then turned back to Prodi without another word.

The Fire Nation general who had commanded Fire Lord Sozin's northern armies, and who pulled them all out of Germa territory after Sozin's defeat, did not say a word to Ichiji or change his facial expression after Ichiji's harsh greeting. The man had long, dark brown hair that was tied up in a bun over his head, and he had a large beard that spiked out in Fire Nation style from his jaw while also sharply cutting in towards his nose over his cheeks. Shinu's hands tightened into fists under the table, while he responded in a calm tone to the Lord who had already turned away from him, "It is Commander Shinu now."

Ichiji was annoyed he actually spoke up, but he grinned at the sound of that. Prodi cut in before Ichiji could make a taunt however, "Yet a Commander of the Sun Marines, is on level with a General of the former Fire Nation. Only General Bujing was granted a higher position, which is to be expected of the highest ranking General of Sozin's forces." Ichiji turned back to the Admiral and once again frowned at the older man with gray hair slicked back over his head and a sharp gray goatee. Prodi wore the common golden epaulettes of Sun Marine officers on his shoulders, but like all the others,' his had red plating in the centers unlike the blue he used to wear on his own world. He had on an orange suit jacket over a red button down, which along with his white jacket gave his uniform and Ichiji's a somewhat matching appearance.

The Raid Suit Ichiji had on was blood red like the color of his hair but with the numbers '66' on the center of his chest. He wore a white cloak that had the red number '1' on the left side of it so that with his arms down the 1 came around his left shoulder. As it was while he was sitting, the 1 was on his left side barely sticking out around him, and Ichiji crossed his arms while leaning back in his chair. He looked to Gotoh after Prodi defended Shinu, and he said to his direct subordinate pretending to be a member of the casino's staff, "Drinks."

"Lord Ichiji," Prodi began, cutting in before the tall, thin man could start pouring anything. "We came here in good faith, because you requested an audience. Our goal is peace, so we could not decline, but if you treat this like a game I will leave-"

"It is not a game," Ichiji said, though he smiled while Gotoh filled up his glass then started filling the glasses of each of the cloned soldiers who all asked for the same thing one after the other. They were all wearing the same uniforms, all had the same heights and widths, and even their smiles when the drinks were poured were starting to creep Prodi out. "But do you think negotiations can go so quickly that you would not like a drink while we endure them? My father didn't want to come here himself, as it would damage his pride," Ichiji said, and each of the clones near him all turned to their Lord with wide eyes, as did some of Prodi's fellow officers who gawked at Ichiji after his said it. "But he doesn't want things to continue as they have been, so I told him I would take care of everything. Your boss really pisses me off," Ichiji said, turning his head and glaring suddenly at a man on his left who had black hair slicked back over his head and a thin dark beard over his face.

Blueno stared right back into Ichiji's sunglasses, while every one of the Germa soldiers sitting at Ichiji's side and standing in the single-file lines behind his chair leading back to the northern doors, also glared at the member of the Sun Marines' Elite unit. "Did he tell you about our fight before you came here?" Ichiji questioned. "It was close. How close are you to his power?" Ichiji was looking for a twitch, a flinch, even a drop of sweat to give him a good read of the strength of the man in front of him. Kaku is the Elite's strongest, but his power was no joke. I know Blueno is weaker, but by how much? Could an assassination have worked? No point thinking on it now.

"We came here to discuss terms," Prodi said, making Ichiji turn back towards him. The Admiral frowned and kept himself from uttering the words, 'of surrender,' knowing that negotiations would break down before they started if he did, and Komei would not be pleased when he received that report. That man's become arrogant since Kong gave him the title, even though he lost Pyraxas… Maybe it's not even the title though, with the power of a God thrust on him like that. Prodi continued while refocusing his thoughts, "The conflict between the Sun Marines and Germa is taking priority in both of our groups' armies, would you agree?" He waited a second and Ichiji kept frowning at him silently, so Prodi growled before continuing louder and in a more frustrated voice, "While there are brigands, warlords, and former Lords who abandoned their cities with large portions of their armies when they saw either of our groups approaching. Those forces are spread throughout the former Fire Nation and they are causing constant chaos, which we cannot properly deal with while you Germa are attacking our cities."

"If we stop attacking to let you take care of your domestic affairs," Ichiji started. "Then as soon as you gain control over the interior, your next move will be to unite the former Fire Nation under one leader: Kong."

Prodi almost corrected Ichiji that he did not say "Lord" before Kong. However, Prodi recalled earlier when he had been watching out for it more that Ichiji had referred to Kong that way, so he did not see it as much as a sign of disrespect this time. Instead, Prodi wondered if he only said "Kong" because if the former Fire Nation was united, then it would be under High Lord Kong. Just the idea of that made Prodi grin in a more relaxed way, and he leaned back in his chair feeling that the negotiations were getting under way.

Ichiji gazed around from behind his sunglasses as Prodi started talking about the situation that he was already more than well informed about. Prodi discussed the previous battles, army sizes, which cities were under whose control, and the overall status of their conflict. Ichiji knew he was getting to a point, somewhere, but he shifted his attention on the casino floor that he had selected as a location for their meeting for good reason. No low ceilings for anyone to ambush from above, and there isn't a basement to reach from below. All I.D.'s are scanned and carefully checked, and yet, I have a bad feeling. My instincts do not fail me often. His eyes focused on some of the slot machines in the second row down yet close to the center aisle of the room that had a red carpet over it. He could only see three machines on that row, but two of the people sitting there with one older woman between them had on red hoodies, with the hoods up.

"…Your situation was clearly bad before, but Fleet Admiral Komei's Devil Fruit has made an even larger distinction. Two cities in a single day, as well as the capture of your younger brother Niji…"

Yes, the main reason I have to hold this farce. Ichiji thought while scanning his eyes from the slot machines back to Prodi, and then father left to Prodi's right and the east side of the room where he focused on the couch area. His hidden eyes looked farther left than the journalists who were not hiding what they were doing, then past a few other onlookers standing behind a poker table and looking his way while pretending to watch the game in front of them. Thought so, Ichiji thought, while staring at a few other figures wearing jackets very different from the hoodies the ones at the slot machines were wearing. There were also others wearing hoodies sitting on a couch closer to him that was facing the couch past their table and the other one's table where the three in jackets were sitting.

"He's getting suspicious. Maehara, do it."

In the direction Ichiji was looking, one of the people in hoodies who was facing away from him turned towards the woman on his right. The young man's face was visible under his hood, and he said something to the girl in front of him while reaching his arms up and sliding them out of his sleeves. She nodded and started doing the same with her pink sweatshirt that had fur around the hood, but the other girl next to her shook her head and rubbed her arms instead, choosing to leave her extra layer on.

Is it cold in here. Strangely enough, it is, Ichiji thought. It's colder outside so I did not notice, but the temperature in here is not as high as it should be. Is it a move by the CA$INO staff? Colder people may tend to buy more drinks, and thus gamble more, if they want the alcohol to warm them up. It's a possibility. Ichiji focused on two pairs of guards standing on the left and right sides of the wraparound bar to his left past all the other card tables. The Shinra Tribe, Peacock Queen claims they are bodyguards and bouncers, but I have seen them in combat. The light-purple-skinned aliens had pointy ears sticking out from their heads below the white bandages that wrapped the top of their skulls and the bottoms to cover their mouths and necks completely. They wore gray cloaks covering their entire bodies other than their heads, and Ichiji had his soldiers on the lookout for them from the moment they entered the casino. I wouldn't put it past that woman to ally with the Sun Marines to try and gain favor. Yonji tells me she's still in the Dread Fort though, so if anything happens here she'd be signing her own death warrant. That means it isn't her.

"My brother is a failure," Ichiji said, as soon as Prodi finished speaking even though his attention had been elsewhere. "He failed to take Pyraxas, and keeping his city was his next mission, which he also failed at." Ichiji paused, then he continued, "However, we need him back anyway."

"I am glad to hear you care enough that his return is a necessity," Prodi said. The Admiral smiled confidently and continued, "We are in the position to make demands, after all the current situation is in our favor, however Lord Kong is willing to return Niji." Prodi leaned in and continued, "In exchange, for the Germa submitting to his rule, that is."

"I am against that," Ichiji began. "From the tell of things here, I can see you have far too much confidence in the current state of the war continuing at this pace. Did you know, Admiral, that I too recently acquired a Devil Fruit ability?" Ichiji said it while narrowing his eyes and leaning farther forward over the table. Prodi got a bead of sweat on the side of his face, while Blueno's body tensed up and his eyes started darting around at all the clones behind Ichiji who were not reacting at all to their Lord's sudden killing intent. Blueno's eyes shot to the bartender in the middle of their table who turned straight towards him and started giving him as murderous a glare as Blueno could imagine the man could give through those glasses.

"I knew you would be planning something," Ichiji said. "Which is why I wore my Raid Suit to a 'peace' meeting." Then he smirked as Prodi's eyes opened wide in surprise.

Prodi stared straight at Ichiji with wide eyes, and he said, "What are you talking about?"

Ichiji's senses went wild. He's actually surprised. He doesn't have any idea as to what I'm talking about?!

"Abort."

Ichiji's eyes started darting around the room, and he spotted the three people wearing jackets over at one of the couches get up to their feet. One of them looked at his watch and mentioned something, while the other two looked towards the middle of the room, then back at him and nodded at the guy. Their hoods were not so high up that Ichiji could not see their faces, and two of them definitely looked towards him in that second they stood up, though it was not all that surprising since everyone knew what was going on at the CA$INO that day.

At the same time though, Ichiji also spotted someone over at the slot machines slam his hand down in frustration on the machine, something common for people wasting their money at a casino. This person was one of the two he spotted before though, another figure with their hood up. "Lord Ichiji, what are you-"

The group of three who just got out of their seats in the relaxing area turned and started for the doors of the southern entrance closer to the night club. They made it two steps before a figure dropped out of the air right in front of them and they all jumped in surprise. The girl in the center of the three stared at Ichiji in shock, and she stuttered, "M-My Lord! W-W-What are you-"

"Cancel abort! Execute!"

The girl stuttering to Ichiji sighed and reached up to her blue hood. She pulled it back while giving the man in front of her who was almost a foot taller a hesitant smile. "I'd rather we talk things through," Touka Yada began. The young girl had a large chest pushing against her jacket, and her hair was long, brown, and tied into a thick ponytail by a red hairpin. As she spoke and removed her hood, Ichiji's eyes could not stay focused on her for several reasons.

There were comebacks Ichiji was about to say, threats, questions, but his head snapped up and he spun around with eyes growing wider under his glasses. Both of the hooded figures over at the slot machines had stood up and spun around, while another two people in the row that was even closer to the middle of the room but who were not wearing hoods jumped up as well. From the couch to Ichiji's left that was facing the one where these three just got up, another three stood up: the two who had taken off their hoodies before and the girl still wearing her purple one. They all shot up fast, all while the brown-haired girl in front of Ichiji was speaking. The two who had taken off their sweatshirts consisted of a blond boy who had two arms made of steel beneath fake skin under his sleeves, and the girl who he had recently started dating whose brown hair was much shorter than his falling only a few inches off her head. Maehara and Okano lifted their removed sweatshirts in their hands as they got up, but they were holding their hands in strange positions under the clothing so that the clothes looked more like weapons to Ichiji. The reason Ichiji went wide-eyed though as he confronted the big-chested teenage girl however, were all the others in the room who started reacting at that very same moment.

The four Shinra guards on the sides of the bar started moving forward, when the bartenders on both ends of the bar spun towards them while pulling guns out from beneath the counters in front of them. One of the bartenders was a tall girl with long blonde hair falling straight behind her, and she was smiling wide as she blew her cover. The other behind the counter had orange hair and pulled out two pistols instead of one, she had almost as long hair that also fell straight back, but her look turned deadly serious as she broke her bartending guise. While two of the people sitting at the bar in front of her spun back her way, as they had been looking towards the middle of the room, and then fell off their seats, one of the bar patrons himself spun around while lifting his hands and showing he had a rifle in them.

The bartenders- Ichiji started to think, before his eyes started darting back towards his own table. His eyes shifted over a different poker table where the group that had all spun towards where he landed yelled out in panic as the dealer in the center of the table pulled an automatic pistol out of the inside of his jacket. At the same time, a waiter who was walking around the high-stakes tables farther towards the north side of the room stopped staring in complete shock like everyone else around him, instead lifting up the metal top to the platter he was carrying and revealing that he had a submachine gun on the dish. He dropped the dish and top while grabbing the machine gun, and at the same time reaching for his face.

At the southern entrance of the casino, the guards heard crashing and screaming come from the main hall and they spun around. The whole group of them started running, then one turned his head sideways and began, "Move it-" Click. The younger bouncer behind him who had a head of combed-back black hair was pointing a pistol at the other man as he turned sideways, and the older bouncer got a dart stuck in the side of his neck. He fell forward while the other two bouncers were spinning back, Click Click.The other two guards went down, then one of the two women behind the counter just past the southern entrance reached for the phone in front of her.

The woman picked up the phone and in a frantic voice started speaking into it, "The southern entrance has- hello?! Some-" the woman looked down and saw the wire that should have been connected to the phone's connector had been disconnected. She slowly turned her head farther to the side where the other receptionist was sitting, to see the woman there she had been working with for over five months spinning around the wire in her hand while smirking at her. The panicked woman started getting out of her seat, letting out a half-yelp half-scream at the look on the other woman's face. Click. The smirking woman dropped the wire from one hand as she stood up, looking towards the security camera above her comrade's head and pointing her gun at it. "Bang," she said, while raising her other hand and grabbing underneath her chin. She dug her fingers under her skin, wincing as it had to be tight in order to trick anyone, then she ripped her face off and kept smirking at the camera as she dropped the perfect mask of one of the CA$INO's trusted employees who never really made it into work that morning. Kirara laughed darkly while grabbing the counter and throwing her legs over it to land on Terasaka's right side.

The burly bouncer reached up and rubbed his hair, while Kirara snickered at him. "It looks better this way," she said.

"Shut it, I'm dying it back as soon as we're gone," Ryoma Terasaka snapped back. Alright guys, hurry it up in there.

Inside the main room, the black-haired dealer at a poker table pointed his machine pistol up in the air and started unloading with a smirk spreading over his face. Anyone who did not realize what was happening yet started getting up and running for the doors, only two of which were open at the moment thus crowding those exits despite the few people in the room to start with. Two of the journalists started running with everyone else, while the world-renowned one was typing faster than ever still in his seat.

The blonde bartender who fired at the Shinra guards next to the bar fell backwards as one of the two leapt over the counter and pulled a katana on her. She had hit one, but the other had moved fast enough to dodge her second bullet fired from her silenced pistol. Rio Nakamura let out a yelp, then the Shinra slamming his sword down at her snapped back with a hole in the center of the bandages on his forehead. Rio spun her head and saw Rinka pointing one of her pistols over towards her, while firing the other still over the counter she was staring over. Rio was amazed at the orange-haired girl's accuracy seemingly without even looking, and she thought, That's the second best marksman in the class for you.

Rio jumped up to her feet and called out, "Thanks," before planting one hand on the counter and swinging her legs over while pointing and firing her pistol in her other hand. Rio hit the floor on the other side of the bar and rolled into a stance with one knee down, and she fired at two burly men getting up from their poker game and pulling pistols from their sides. Don't know you guys, but can't let you get in our way trying to gain favor with the Lords. The men screamed as they were shot in the legs and brought back down, dropping their weapons as they fell.

The waiter who had watched all the initial movement in shock, only to pull out his own submachine gun from the tray he was carrying, pulled the trigger and held it down as he dragged the weapon down the lines of clones on his right. He was only halfway through the line, when he saw all the people at the center table had either focused on something else or spun around towards the half of the room where all the commotion was going on. Haku's body started morphing while he dropped his gun, and the clones charging at him came to sudden stops. Their eyes opened wide as the teenager who looked younger than most of the others starting a panic through the room transformed.

The river spirit's body morphed into a long, white dragon's. He had a mane of bluish green hair going from above his head in between his stag horns all the way down his back almost to the end of his tail which was also covered in the same fur, leaving a small gap between it and the mane. His white body was long and slender, though with a thicker darker stomach and underside, and he had four thin legs which each had four sharp talons at the end of their claws. Haku transformed into a dragon in under two seconds, and he shot off the ground towards the table while one of the clones shouted towards the strong-class clones who had all stood up from their seats but could not see behind them.

The broad-shouldered clones started turning, but Haku flew to the right of them and around the table to the opposite side as the one figure in the Sun Marines' group who he thought could give him some trouble. As that figure started turning his way, quicker than the target Haku was almost upon, Blueno got thrown out of his seat and slammed into a different table nearby that fell over as he hit it. Haku brought his eyes away from the man he threw aside using telekinesis, and his long body curved around Prodi's side as the Admiral started spinning to Blueno. Prodi's eyes opened huge as the dragon curved around him, then Haku opened his mouth and revealed his sharp teeth as he brought his head for Prodi's neck.

Gotoh lifted his right hand and Haku's eyes darted over as he saw the dealer's weapons. This guy, Haku thought, pulling his head away fast. Gotoh was not aiming at Haku's head however, as if Haku were to dodge as he did, then Gotoh's attack would have hit Admiral Prodi's neck. Instead he aimed farther down on the dragon's body before flicking his thumb up twice in rapid succession. Gotoh had a handful of golden coins curled in his fingers, and each flick of his thumb sent one flying at Haku so fast that his body snapped backwards and he winced, closing his mouth full of sharp teeth.

Shit, there goes plan B, Rio Nakamura thought while ducking behind a table as the member of the Elite who had been thrown her way just got to his feet. She did not expect him to come after her if his mission was to protect Prodi, but she did not want him to see her at all. She looked up while ducked behind an empty poker table with only the dealer at it who was crouched down in the center gap. Rio's eyes focused on a point in the ceiling and she thought, Last chance. Come on Chiba!

Ryunosuke Chiba, the best marksman in Class 3-E, lay flat on a metal bar just off the ceiling being used as a support. It was diagonal and connected from where the eastern wall stopped extending out to the point in the center of the roof. The exterior could not look as aesthetically pleasing as it did without these supports on the inside holding the roof up. He had been watching closely everything that went on below, and as soon as Haku was thrown from Prodi, some blood splashing off as Gotoh fired his coins faster than even the dragon's scales could protect from, Chiba dropped off the steel bar. He rolled off, and his body started falling down head-first. He fell, while his feet stayed up above him. He focused his chakra on the soles of his feet and took in a deep breath as he aimed his sniper rifle down at the casino floor. He inhaled, his finger rested on the trigger, and then he started exhaling the breath he would fire on.

Everything happened in the matter of a few seconds, but Ichiji turned back to the girl right in front of him after seeing the status of the room descending into chaos. "Who are you?" He asked the girl. His right fist clenched, his expression was dark, and his spiked-up red hair dipped down a bit to shadow over his forehead and top of his eyes.

The two behind Touka Yada pulled off their hoods with their right hands while keeping their pistols raised at Ichiji with their lefts. The once class representatives of Class 3-E introduced themselves, "Megu Kataoka."

"Yuuma Isogai," the boy next to her said. He had darker brown hair than Megu's, and his spiked down after falling straight to his shoulders and back of his neck, while Megu's lighter brown hair fell in a single braid behind her down into her jacket. "Though you already knew that Lord Ichiji," Isogai continued in a quieter voice. "I don't think anyone's watching, no need to keep up appearances for appearances' sake."

Although Isogai was right, and there was not anyone within earshot who was looking towards them other than the others in Class 3-E, there was one person sitting on the other side of the couch that Isogai's best friend Maehara just got up from. That man stopped typing into his laptop and opened his eyes huge without spinning his head around.

Ichiji narrowed his eyes at the dark-haired boy who just said that and then smirked at him. They want it to look like I had Prodi killed. Doesn't seem like something the Sun Marines would do, it's not they're style. Plus they were winning and didn't need something like this to justify attacking us, they'd do it anyway. Ichiji's right fist tightened harder and he punched it forward at the girl closest to him who had stuttered when he first landed there. The girl went wide-eyed, and as Ichiji's fist started connecting he thought, Who benefits from our fighting? The warlords and other brigands maybe, but to organize something like- Ichiji's right fist lodged in the girl's chest and slowed down as it pushed farther into her bust.

Touka's shocked look turned into a more smug one while she stared down at Ichiji's arm, then she lifted her head and looked into his eyes, "Got ya." His arm started sucking farther into her chest that had turned brown and mushy. "Swamp Swamp Capture," she whispered in an even quieter voice than Isogai used a few seconds ago, telling Ichiji that Isogai had actually been speaking louder for a purpose. Ichiji recalled the location of the journalists and spotted one still out the corner of his eyes, past a few of his assailant's comrades.

At the poker table where the dealer had started shooting up in the air (while being cautious of where on the ceiling his bullets would ultimately connect with), the black-haired fake staff member tossed his gun aside after unloading it completely. He reached up and grabbed his mask, yanking it off from under his chin to his hair that he also pulled off since his mask covered his entire head unlike Kirara's at the front desk of the nightclub entrance. Once he pulled off his face and hair, Akabane Karma smirked and jumped up on the table in front of him. Karma had bright red hair the same shade as Ichiji's, his eyes were a light orange hue, and he tossed his black jacket to the side and yanked hard on the top of his white button down to rip the first two buttons off. He smirked while making handsigns in front of him, then he leapt forward while finishing the final one, It's not going to work! So time for Plan D, improvise! The "plan" he made up on the spot, became necessary as the member of the Elite twitched and rose his head before anything fired from above. Karma knew the Elite had Observational Haki, but Plan C included knowledge of that and had Chiba only setting up for the shot if Plan B were to fail, and that he would need to take it right after setting himself. It also planned on any powerful guards being out of the way at that point, but Haku's telekinetic toss did not throw Blueno far enough away.

Damn that Karma, Rio thought while popping back out from behind her table, laying suppressing fire towards the clones who were all running towards the middle of the room from the north. Rinka fired from the bar behind her, not needing to get any closer to hit her targets with her silenced pistols, and the group across the room near the slot machines started laying down fire too. Most of their weapons were silenced so the cloned soldiers could not tell easily where their enemies were all firing from, but Rio ducked down and rolled to a different table when she needed to reload anyway. I knew when Plan A failed he would still find a way to be the one to do it.

Karma had been wearing the face of the oldest, longest-employed, and most skilled dealer at this particular CA$INO. However when he arrived at "work" that morning, his persona had been informed that he would not actually be getting to serve at the table of the delegations today. Karma had argued, as he figured the guy he was disguised as would have as well expecting a large tip from the powerful parties he had intended to serve, but he stopped arguing when his boss introduced him to who would be taking his place. He already recognized Gotoh but had pretended not to, and he accepted that their original plan had fallen through and moved on to the next one. Ichiji discovered them before Haku had reached the delegation's table though, and the distance the river spirit had to cross to reach Prodi's neck gave the reason for their first plan's failure enough time to ruin their second as well with his golden coins.

Chiba fired but Blueno yelled out, "Geppou!" and got in the way of the bullet. The sniper round pierced through the Elite member's armor, but Blueno's skin was not pierced which Chiba stared at with wide-eyes behind his long dark bangs. "Tekkai, Gou," Blueno said, turning his head and glaring up towards the ceiling and the sniper on it. Chiba spun and jumped towards a point in the roof above him. He slammed the butt of his sniper up into a pre-carved loop in the ceiling, hitting it hard enough to knock it out completely even though there was a small piece previously holding it together. He reached up and pulled himself through the roof, then he tapped a button on a watch on his wrist and turned invisible, so when the jets came out of his shoes and he started flying away, none of the soldiers on either side of the casino were able to see him.

Blueno would have gave chase to the sniper, but the dragon had not given up on Plan B yet. Haku mentally grabbed Gotoh by the arms and swung them to the sides as he moved back in which was easier than throwing a powerful, prepared person with a strong aura of Nen surrounding him from his position. Haku shot at Prodi who turned and glared at the dragon, but as Prodi's fists covered in Haki themselves, Blueno dropped in front of him and slashed his left leg forward. "Rankyaku," Blueno said, as the green slash came off his leg. Haku had to yank his whole body to the side, and the kick's slash still almost cut into one of the long white whiskers sticking off of his face. The slash cut through a large portion of the ground and a few other gambling tables, as well as hitting a few of the retreating people heading out the southern door.

The entryway above the doors broke apart and Terasaka and Kirara stared at it with wide eyes from the side of the crowd running past them in the night club. Kirara looked down at her watch, while Terasaka spun towards the back doors where some Sun Marines were starting to push back against the crowd or just move them to the sides in order to rush to their Admiral's aid. "Not good," Terasaka muttered, glancing behind him towards a table that had a longer-than-usual tablecloth over it in order to hide the unconscious bouncers he had dragged beneath before everyone started rushing out of the main room.

Ichiji pointed his free hand at Touka while she tried sucking him into her body, and all the Class 3-E students around them started firing at the same time. They ignored the fact that their classmate was still there and fired, but she could take each of their bullets in stride with her Logia powers. Unfortunately, Ichiji's Raid Suit was as durable and his head moved whenever bullets coming towards his one weak point got close. His left hand opened into a palm in front of Touka, and he shot out a blast of flames at her. "I don't know who any of you are," Ichiji said loudly, though he grimaced as he doubted that would help now that the journalist had heard the one called Isogai. I'll have to kill him too, Ichiji thought off-handedly, white flames erupted out of his hand and filled the entire room in the direction he was aiming.

Maehara stumbled backwards and Okano rose her arms to protect her face next to him, both of them staring in fear towards all that fire where some of their friends just were. Next to them, Hinano Kurahashi looked around with her face still shadowed over by her hood. The girl with bright but short orange hair frowned and said to the two next to her, "Let's go."

They spun to Kurahashi who had a nervous look on her face but motioned for the door in as calm and serious way as she could manage. The other two glanced back at Ichiji, then they nodded fast at her and rushed for the southern exit while shoving their half-empty weapons back into their waistbands. Maehara and Okano threw back on their sweatshirts that had hems low enough to cover their waistbands and thick enough that even the bulges of the guns would not be seen. Kurahashi kept her gun out longer and backpedaled behind them as they ran for the doors, keeping her gun aiming around at anyone who might chase them.

"Drop it," Okano whispered as she spotted Sun Marines through the southern doors. Kurahashi spun while dropping the gun, putting her hands behind her head and screaming while they sprinted into the doorway. "They're shooting at us!" She screamed as two fast and strong-looking men in white uniforms sprinted past her. Maehara and Okano found it hard to keep up their panicked expressions while trying to hold back their laughter at how convincing Kurahashi was being, as one of the Sun Marines even told her not to worry since they had arrived.

Running up to the three of them as they moved through the nightclub were a bouncer and a receptionist, with the larger member of the staff ushering the other one and then yelling at the three of them to keep moving. Kirara looked at the three she joined up with and asked while turning her head over her shoulder, "What's going on?"

"Ichiji suddenly attacked the Sun Marines," Maehara replied in a shocked and afraid voice, right as other Sun Marines were running by his sides.

Terasaka pushed on Maehara's back, "Get out of their ways. Everyone out of the building."

"Hey," Maehara yelled, turning and frowning at the larger boy who actually did push him pretty hard there.

"We need to go," Terasaka said. "This is dangerous!"

"We're doing the best we can, but it's chaos in there," Maehara called back, while turning forward again and trying to push his way out the front doors. The Sun Marines all started moving through the same doors as they were crowding out, and the teens all grimaced internally as the lack of disorder made it easier for their enemies to figure out what was really going on. All five of them were outside and running off though before any sense could be made of what was happening inside.

More and more cloned soldiers and Sun Marines were bursting through the north and south entrances, but the room was still under the control of Class 3-E. Touka was exhausted when the flames went away, but her huge muddy body shrank back down and she smiled at Ichiji the whole time. "I know, you've gotta make it convincing," she said with a small laugh afterwards, "but wasn't that going a little far? Peacock Queen isn't going to like all this property-" Ichiji decided to ignore the girl's obvious taunts, and he shot to the left where a group of teens had just ran off from. He would have chased the other assailants, but he had felt the Hakis inside of his huge flaming explosion, and none of their presences had disappeared.

Ichiji shot towards the couch the reporter was sitting on and he snapped the man's neck 180 degrees while the guy was in the middle of typing a sentence that Ichiji suspected would not have been good for him. He stomped on the computer that fell where he was about to land, shattering it while the teen assassins behind him frowned at the brutality. Sorry, Touka thought towards the journalist who she felt responsible for killing after what she had just been saying.

Touka fell to her knees after thinking an apology to the journalist, and Megu ran up to her side while Isogai aimed his pistol towards the southern doors and laid suppressing fire at some Sun Marines trying to figure out what was going on. Others in their class were firing from between the rows of slot machines, but the enemies' numbers were too much and Isogai knew there was no way they were getting out through either of the main entrances anymore. The female class representative behind her male counterpart helped Touka up to her feet, and Touka mumbled in a low voice, "I hate how gross that was." The feeling of Ichiji's hand shoved through her swampy chest gave her chills. She glanced to her side at Megu who just smiled back at her.

"I think it's cute when you do that," Megu told her.

Touka's eyes widened, then when Megu looked back towards the Sun Marines rushing into the room, Touka looked away with a blush on her face. Cute? Swamp Swamp powers? You really think so? Touka looked back at Megu, then she leaned off of her friend's arm and steadied herself. "I can keep fighting," she said, raising her arms and causing them to drip mud as she walked up next to Isogai.

Over at the bar, Rinka frowned towards the center table while dropping the magazines out of both her pistols. Damn it Karma, she slammed her weapons down to her sides at the perfect angle that two of her extra mags slid straight into her guns. It's been too long. Too many seconds have passed. We're at the improv stage now, but… She snapped her arms up and started firing rapidly at the center table, trying to hit one of the targets so the mission would not be a failure.

The man Gotoh spun her way though and started flicking his thumbs at her, firing golden coins at the girl's bullets and intercepting each one in mid-flight. Rio Nakamura ducked down as bullets and coins slammed into each other all over the place around where she was crouched behind a tipped table, and the blonde girl looked down at her watch nervously as she knew too much time had passed too.

Gotoh was flicking coins at every bullet, but he finally saw one that was not at an angle to hit any of the people around him. Instead of flicking a coin as fast as a bullet to intercept that one, he decided to stop the bullets altogether and aimed one at the orange-haired fake bartender. His coin shot towards her, then his eyebrows rose as it was her turn to intercept one of his projectiles by shooting straight into the coin. Her bullet pressed against the center of the coin and dented it in, while her bullet also crunched and flattened out against the coin that was only gold on the outsides and much harder in the middle. Gotoh kept firing his coins at her, but now they were alternating who was the one protecting themselves and others and who was doing the attacking.

Karma, we have to go! Rinka thought, as she was running out of ammo and could not tell how many coins that man Gotoh still had on him.

Akabane Karma sprinted at Ichiji with a grin on his face. He slammed his right fist forward, while Ichiji grinned back at him and slammed his own fist forward. As his hand shot forward it sparked red around his glove, and when his fist collided with Karma's, a huge explosion of flames engulfed the teenager in front of him and blasted him backwards with lightning sparking all out of it.

Karma skid back on the ground while crossing his arms in front of his chest. He panted a few times while still grinning forward, Those Raid Suits are as good as I've heard. I still need to get past it though.

He's strong, Ichiji thought, his eyes darting to his right arm that was still vibrating after that punch. He frowned and glared towards the boy who crossed his hands over each other in a hand sign, and he created Shadow Clones on either side of him. The boy in the middle started sprinting forward while the two who stayed behind did some hand signs and yelled, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Fireballs shot out of their mouths that they cupped hands to, while the Karma sprinting between those fireballs lifted up a small black hilt that he pressed a button on. A long katana extended from the hilt and he jumped up in the air, slashing it down at the Germa Lord below.

Ichiji stood there as the fire jutsu exploded around him, then he punched an arm up and broke straight through the flying slash coming at him. The force from his punch alone knocked Karma flying backwards, but the teen flipped in midair and landed on a poker table. The table leaned backwards and started falling, but Karma bounced off it and to another behind him, then he shot off that one forward while slashing his sword three more times. As he slashed it the fourth time, he had to change the trajectory and cut a poker chip instead that was shooting at him.

Rinka Hayami had leapt over the bar counter as she finished off the last of her ammo, and now she was at Rio's side asking her blonde friend for the last of hers. Gotoh had run out of his special coins that he used as weapons, but at the table in the middle of the room there were hundreds of gambling chips that were the perfect size, even if they were not as powerful as the coins he had been using. Karma got pushed back and had to start slicing up the chips flying so fast at him that even small, covered in the Nen auras that he noticed around them, they were going to hurt. They're spinning too, probably could still rip through my skin and burrow a hole right through me.

"Karma!" Rio shouted from behind the table her and Rinka were hiding at. She noticed Germa clones in her peripheral vision to her left, and Sun Marines to her right cornering some of their other friends including both class representatives. Touka fell backwards and Megu shouted something about Kairoseki bullets, then Haku shot over with a group from the other side of the room at the slot machines on his back. He got there to get the others on his back for an escape route, but three grenades flew at them as they tried getting Touka on Haku's back. The river spirit shook everyone off him while lifting his body and swinging his long snake-like form at the grenades. He hit them back, but they still exploded much too close to him, cutting up the middle of his body and piercing him with lots of shrapnel.

Karma saw this and lost his grin. He darted his gaze around, no longer solely focused on making sure the mission was completed. Too many haven't gotten out yet, he thought, seeing a high chance for casualties among Class 3-E if this continued for even a few more seconds. Ichiji was charging at him, and Gotoh kept firing without letting up. Worst yet, the other targets he was attempting to reach still, were all escaping right out the middle of the room. Damn that, Blueno, Karma thought in aggravation, as the man with black hair slicked back over his head had opened a magical door that the Sun Marine officers were escaping through. Prodi was gone, and Karma grimaced as taking down Ichiji was not in the plan. Even if the Germa lost Ichiji, it would be worse for us. Yeah they wouldn't have peace, but they'd lose one of the only reasons the Germa can still stand up to the others.

"Pull back," Karma's voice filled everyone's minds.

"We're pinned down!" Isogai called over from the corner they were all backing into, some of them dragging Haku, Megu pulling Touka back, and only a few of them still firing and using the cover around them to attack the Sun Marines. The Sun Marines were using cover too now though, and the soldiers were no longer confused as to their situation. They knew that there was a group in the corner, they knew there were two others behind a turned-over table closer to the center of the room where the enemy's strongest member was backing off from Ichiji and Gotoh.

Shouting anything like how he doesn't need to go so hard against us now, Karma thought as he considered shouting something of the sort at Ichiji. It would only convince the Sun Marines more that we aren't on his side. We need as little confrontation with him as possible while there are Sun Marine witnesses. Karma gave Ichiji a small nod when he noticed a couple of Sun Marines looking his way, though he made sure not to look at any of them as he did. Then he leapt backwards while making some more hand signs, but Ichiji shot towards him much faster than he was rising up. Shit!

"Isogai!" Megu shouted forward as she saw the dark haired boy fall backwards with blood splashing out the back of his right shoulder.

Haku was staggering up to his legs, trying to get back up as he could see how bad the situation was. If I could fly everyone through the hole, Chiba opened up, then I could… Haku could barely keep his eyes open, let alone carry people on his shrapnel-riddled back while flying away.

Ichiji punched his fist forward into Karma, sending him flying all the way into the wall above the bar in a giant explosion that caused him to cough up blood this time. He hit the wall, bounced off and fell out of the explosion, and hit the floor in front of the bar. A metal drink shaker from the counter behind him fell off and landed at his side with a dink right as Ichiji landed in front of him. Dink. Karma's eyes opened huge as he stared at the ground beneath him, one foot up as he tried to stand before his enemy. His eyes getting that huge made Ichiji freeze and snap his head to the metal shaker that just made that noise, a noise that echoed out after coming out twice as loud, and filling the entire casino main floor. Dink dink dink Dink Dink DINK DINK! DINK!

The red haired man in front of Karma lifted his hands to the sides of his head and grabbed them in pain while clenching his teeth furiously. Gotoh dropped his gambling chips and grabbed his ears, as did all the clones and the Sun Marines, and all the teens in Class 3-E who were still able to do so. Isogai stopped yelling in pain, instead covering his left ear with his still-moving left arm, while ignoring the pain in his right to try and grab his other ear. Despite all that pain though, he started laughing and smiled as wide as the other teens who were grabbing at their heads in agony. A mist fell into the CA$INO, and Blueno's eyes darted around before he stepped into his own portal using the Door Door Fruit.

What is this now? Ichiji thought angrily, glaring back at the boy in front of him who stopped being so wide-eyed, and instead leapt up in the air to disappear into the mist.

As soon as the boy vanished into the mist, Ichiji lost all signs of his presence. He spun his head towards a different table near him where two girls had been ducked behind and had called out Karma's name around the same time that the metal clinking started echoing through the room, but the two of them vanished into the mist along with their presences too. Ichiji spun around while holding his ears even tighter, but he lost the feeling of any and all of the presences of the enemies' in the building.

Ichiji heard panicked and angry shouts coming from the Sun Marines, and his own soldiers were yelling in confusion too. His eyes darkened as he glared around the mist, A bunch of teenage assassins. I won't let them all get away. He spun and shot towards the corner of the room that he knew it would be hardest for them all to escape from quickly.

Ichiji shot through the mist and reached that corner, only to fly farther than he thought the wall was. His eyes opened wide as he exited the mist, straight outside into the street of Bludhaven to the west of the CA$INO. He looked right and saw Sun Marines lying on the ground, then turned left and saw his own cloned soldiers' bodies littered about, then he turned forward and saw three holes on the walls of three different buildings in front of him. Covered up his tracks. Did they make those before they knocked the wall down, or did whoever just did that manage all this in a few seconds? Ichiji lowered his hands from his ears as the eardrum-blasting noise from behind him slowly started quieting down. I will have to have the science division come up with countermeasures for that in my Raid Suit. For now though, I need to find Prodi.

30 seconds ago

Half a minute earlier in the corner of the casino, right as the mist dropped down in the room, all the members of Class 3-E who reached their hands to cover their ears pressed buttons on the earpieces hidden in them. They had to cover their ears while the enemies could still see them, but once they had vanished in the mist, they all pressed a special button built into their headsets that immediately drowned out the echoing around them. At that same moment, the boy with the Echo Echo Fruit, the sixteen year old with bright blue hair, and the leader of Class 3-E, dropped down in the middle of them and said, "Let's go." He turned and jumped at the wall, knocking it down with a heavy punch that was impossible to hear for anyone else in the room who could only hear the high-pitched clinking of metal that was causing their ears to bleed.

Nagisa Shiota got onto the street on the west side of the CA$INO, and instantly the scattered clones on his left and the dozens of Sun Marines around him much closer (since they were near the middle but farther on the south side of the building), all spun towards him and his injured friends escaping the building. "Do it," Nagisa said right as his friends panicked and started spinning to all the soldiers around them. BOOOM! All the soldiers about to shoot at the teens or shout asking where they came from, spun towards the three buildings to the west that exploded on different low-level floors all at the same time. BANG! Right after the explosions, the Sun Marine officer leading the soldiers in the area flew to the side with blood splashing out a hole in his head that ripped a chunk of it off. The officer who was too surprised by the explosions in the building to notice the shot coming was screamed towards by his soldiers, ones who became panicked at their leader's death and were not able to organize in time before other sniper bullets along with fire from the ones who ran out of the casino started mowing them down.

"Get everyone through the right hole," Nagisa said, while throwing some shuriken to his left towards the Germa cloned soldiers. He made some hand signs and said, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu." A few shuriken turned into a few hundred, right as Rio and Rinka ran out the hole behind him, and then Karma sprinted out and turned to Nagisa who looked back at him.

"That everyone?" Karma asked.

Nagisa nodded while looking towards the hole in the wall behind Karma. "Ten seconds left," he said. "Move, he's coming," Nagisa said in a hurried voice. Nagisa and Karma ran forward.

Karma ducked down and grabbed Haku under the stomach from the three already carrying him, calling out, "Hurry."

Sniper shots took out the remaining Sun Marines who had not run off, and there were not many of them in that position to begin with considering so many had run to the southern entrance to go help Admiral Prodi. Nagisa checked his north but he hit all the Germa soldiers in the area, leaving another possible path they could have taken. He leapt up through the hole in the building on the right, farthest south of the three buildings that had holes blown in them. As soon as he made it through the hole he spun around and stared out it towards the hole in the CA$INO. Ichiji had just sprinted through that hole and was glaring around for the assassins. He looked both ways down the street, and then closely at all three holes in the buildings.

The others around Nagisa gasped or held their breaths as Ichiji looked towards them, but his eyes shifted to the next possible location just as fast. Karma turned his head and spotted a glowing blue device on the ceiling close to the hole in the wall, and he chuckled at Nagisa's thorough preparations.

"What do we do without you?" Karma said, grinning at the leader of their class who turned back towards him with a semi-relieved look. Nagisa checked that Karma was alright, then his smile disappeared and he frowned at the redhead before turning to check on the other classmates. Karma frowned at that look Nagisa gave him before turning, but whatever it meant could wait for now.

Nagisa put a hand to his head and said, "Meet you at the evac point. Bring the shuttle over, keep engines quiet."

"Roger," a voice replied over his headset hidden in his right ear.

"Let's go, we're not safe yet," Nagisa said.

Megu got up from next to where she lay Touka near Isogai, and she said in a confused but rushed voice, "Nagisa, where did you come from? What about your mission?"

"I'll tell you when we're safe," Nagisa said and looked at her harshly, showing he meant it as he rarely ever gave his classmates that look. "Rio, save it for when we're out of here."

Rio just wrapped her shirt around Isogai's shoulder faster, then she tied it quick and then yanked him up on his feet. "Let's move people," the blonde said, pushing Isogai farther into the building before reaching down and grabbing Touka who had passed out from the blood loss. "We have to get the bullet out of her."

Sea Stone, Nagisa realized. He grimaced and said to Rio, "There really is no time. We need to move, now!" The others who could still move nodded at him, and Nagisa picked up one of his wounded classmates and started moving. Megu picked up Touka to carry on her back, a worried look on her face over her best friend's safety.

Karma picked up Haku who had reverted to his human form right before passing out so that it would be easier for his friends to keep carrying him, but even as Karma thought he was unconscious, he heard the river spirit mutter, "I'm, sorry." Karma ground his teeth and started running after Nagisa who led the group through the room and then across a hallway into a room on the other side that had a rectangular-shaped hole cut cleanly in the wall. There were three ropes hanging down from the opposite building, but Nagisa leapt straight out and started running up the wall while focusing chakra on the bottom of his feet.

Megu and Karma both leapt out to the other building's wall and started running up it, while Isogai grimaced but jumped to the rope and started climbing up. The others who had to leap to the ropes were moving faster, but no one below him on the rope said a word as the boy who got shot through the right shoulder had to climb using his right arm. Isogai did not let out any noise in pain though, as they were outside and he did not know if anyone was watching them now.

They all rushed up to the roof and saw the entire roof's surface was empty. It did not look like an ideal spot for a landing, as there were air conditioning vents, a stairwell sticking out of the middle, and the roof was not even level across it all. That just made it all the better for an extraction though, as who would expect one from this roof? They all felt the wind pushing down on them from just above, even if they were not able to see the cloaked shuttle hovering there. "Karma," Nagisa began as the invisible shuttle lowered in front of them. They heard a door open and a man became visible there, as did the floor and walls on the inside of the vehicle, giving everyone a good view of where the door was. Karma turned to Nagisa as they each hopped up a few feet into the doorway, and Nagisa continued, "Where is your rendezvous?"

"The others are meeting up on the hospital helipad where our shuttles are cloaked," Karma replied.

Nagisa nodded at him, then turned to the older soldier ahead of him who nodded as he saw what Nagisa wanted him to do. "Everyone on fast," Nagisa called out the door in a quiet voice, then his eyes snapped up and a pissed-off look filled his face. "Damn it," he snapped, as he saw two helicopters rising up over the casino and turning their way. Isogai leapt up onto the shuttle, but Nagisa did not slam the door shut. He grabbed the sniper rifle leaning against the door to his right, and he aimed it at one of the two choppers that just turned to face him. Right at the missile, there! Nagisa fired with a loud, BANG! Then he grabbed the door and slammed it shut while tossing the rifle to his side.

The shuttle became invisible again, right as the third helicopter was rising up not far from the first two. One of the first two lost a rocket on its left side though, hit by the sniper round and blasting in an explosion large enough that the helicopter got pushed to its other side. The rotors on top of the chopper collided with the spinning blades of the other heli it got pushed towards, and both of them fell out of the air before crashing down in even larger explosions as their other missiles blew up.

The shuttle flew off, slowly, and the conscious and least injured of Class 3-E's students stared out the starboard side's windows towards the other helicopters lifting up and facing their direction. Their hover-ship kept moving slow, almost like they were not in any rush at all, while really they just could not speed up and risk losing stealth mode. They would stay cloaked physically as long as the system was functioning, but if they moved any faster the ship would no longer be able to mask their heat signatures, or its own.

Megu lay Touka down across a few chairs on the port side farther towards the back of the shuttle, and Rio ran over to help her out with the Sea Stone bullet. A few of the guys who had been stationed near the slot machines took off their hoods that they had kept up through the fight, and one of them pulled a mask over his face off, right before they all started helping out Haku with the bad gashes on his back that stayed even as he transformed back into a person.

"Damn, even some of the shrapnel's still in there," Juzo Honenuki said. The boy who pulled his mask off had a very distinguishable face, considering he had no lips which gave him a creepy, skull-like appearance with all his teeth constantly showing. The teen had wavy beige hair that his mask did not cover up but that he had wet down that morning, and he ran a hand through it to mess it up before helping hold Haku down while one of the others pulled the shrapnel out.

"Where's the First Aid Kit on this shuttle?" Rio asked, spinning back to Nagisa as her own supplies that she had on her were not enough to deal with Touka's injury. The shuttle was not one she had ever seen before, and she figured its design was a Cooperative one from whatever country Nagisa must have stolen it.

"Here," Rinka tossed over a capsule on the floor next to where Megu and Rio were working on Touka. The capsule popped open to show there were five First Aid Kits inside, and a few of the others looked at Rinka in surprise that she had brought so many. She darted a look towards Karma as he was one of those surprised, and her look said, 'I thought we might need them.' His eyes narrowed back at hers, but Rinka turned to the window she had been staring out of again. Chiba, get to the hospital fast. We need to get out of here.

Turrets on top of buildings all over the city, north and south side alike, were aiming around the sky where their shuttle was flying. Karma looked out the window again, and he chuckled before saying, "Sun Marines aren't going to like that. Only way the Germa have all those turrets working, is if they were already planning something. Or a contingency at least, but Prodi won't take it that way."

"So, you think the mission isn't a complete failure?" Rio asked across the shuttle.

"Nope," Karma replied, and Rio frowned but sighed as he sounded serious about that. She looked back to Touka who they had removed the bullet from and even stopped the bleeding already. If it had hit anything vital, I would punch you in the face right now, idiot, she thought towards Karma, while too relieved to do it at the moment as Megu said something about how Touka was going to be okay.

"Ramirez! Bank left," Nagisa called out.

The ship pulled to the left and lowered down, then two fighter jets with Sun Marines' symbols on their wings shot through the air where they were just flying. The wind from those jets made their shuttle wobble in the air, and then Karma's grin spread much wider as one of the turrets behind them fired up at the jets. It stopped firing after only a few shots, but the others in Class 3-E who heard the shots or saw it happen started smiling and letting out relieved sighs as well.

Nagisa kept frowning after staring back towards those planes that curved up in the air and pulled back much higher in elevation. He looked at Karma who was facing away from him, and he bit down angrily at the back of his friend's head. Not yet. "Everyone stay focused, here we go." Their shuttle started lowering for the hospital's roof, a roof where two turrets had popped out of opposite corners of. Neither turret seemed to have noticed the invisible shuttles in the middle of the hospital's helipad yet, but some of the people in the new shuttle lowering down towards the other two spotted a group of three crouched down on the other side of a ledge of the hospital's roof.

Chiba, Rinka thought worriedly at the sight of the boy with long dark bangs who poked his head over the ledge for a second only to duck down and start talking to the other two.

"Someone's going to see them," Isogai said, looking around behind them and knowing that soon someone would spot the three who were not in a very hidden position.

"They must not have noticed the turrets until they got up there," Rio said as she ran up to see what was going on, leaving Megu behind to watch Touka. Most of the others moved up too, leaving one of the guys behind to strap Haku in to the seats they laid him on. Rio Nakamura looked around, but the top of the hospital was too open, too flat despite the one part sticking out where the stairwell extended onto the roof. "No way to reach the shuttle without being seen by the turrets."

"And no way to stay where they are without being spotted in a minute, less," Rinka added. "What do we do?"

"Take out the turrets Ramirez," Nagisa ordered.

"Bad idea," Ramirez said back. "Every turret in this place will spin towards us. We'll never make it out of here."

Nagisa grit his teeth and looked around. The hospital was close to the southeast edge of the city, but there were still many buildings around them with turrets that had popped up onto the roofs, more that he figured could be hidden inside tall buildings behind walls that looked normal for now. "What do you think then?" Nagisa asked. "Ten seconds or we've gotta go with blowing the turrets."

"No Manami, that's us," Karma said, and Nagisa turned to see Karma speaking into his headset. "Nagisa's here with another shuttle."

Manami must be flying one of the other… how does she notice us? No, it must be because we're hovering right over them or something. If stealth had failed, we'd be blown out of the sky already-

"I've got a plan," Ramirez said as he walked back from the pilot's chair to the main area of the shuttle.

He grabbed a pack off the wall, and Nagisa stepped towards him with a worried look on his face, asking sternly, "What are you doing?"

"As you said," Ramirez replied. He lowered some green-tinted goggles from his helmet over his eyes, lifted his assault rifle that he switched to grenade launcher setting, then he repeated what Nagisa told him a few seconds ago, "Take out the turrets. If I use this ship, it loses stealth and they'll blast us in a second." He reached forward and opened up the door, "Good luck." He hopped out the side door of the shuttle and dropped, firing one of his grenades right before turning on the jetpack on his back to slow his descent.

As James Ramirez slowed himself, his feet hit the roof of an invisible vehicle below him. He was still moving fast since he was not expecting to hit the ground so soon, and he had not realized they were directly over one of the other two shuttles on the helipad. One of the two turrets exploded, and the other spun towards him to see him doing a forward roll off of something invisible right in the middle of the hospital's roof. As he came out of his roll though, he fired on the turret and blew that one to pieces as well. Then, Ramirez started sprinting over the roof to the opposite side as where three teenagers were crouched behind a ledge, while all three of them looked over in shock.

"Move!" Nagisa shouted down at them. Chiba hopped over the ledge and sprinted for the shuttle in the middle that threw the side door open for him and the other two running behind him. Nagisa slammed the door shut on their shuttle and started sprinting for the front, biting down so hard and clenching his eyes for a second as he sat in the pilot's chair. "Ramirez," he whispered, right as Karma was sitting on his right side in the co-pilot's chair.

"Nagisa," Karma began.

"Don't," Nagisa said in a cold, angry voice, right before he started flying the shuttle at its max speed for stealth mode towards the edge of the city.

Karma hesitated, then he frowned and lifted a hand to his ear. "Go now. Everyone else is with us on a different shuttle."

"How do you know?" Chiba asked from the shuttle he just got inside where the third person in his group made it in. He shut the door and said in a fast voice to Karma, "We have to do a head count-"

"I said now!" Karma shouted. He's right. Some others might not have made it yet, but they have to get away from the hospital right now. Even with that guy…

In the back of the shuttle, Rio, Isogai, and Juzo stood closest to the far back window. They stared out it and let out amazed gasps as three more turrets exploded in balls of flames on the roofs of different buildings. Glass shattered on a skyscraper near where Ramirez flew towards, right as some fighter jets shot past the side of that building and slowed to start aiming around. Ramirez had fired machine gun ammo at different windows all over the building and the one next to it though, masking which window he had dove into.

"Think he has a chance of escaping?" Isogai asked, his tone hopeful at the sight of that soldier's skills.

"Doubtful," Rio said. The blonde girl looked behind her where Rinka stood with a relieved look on her face. Rio Nakamura frowned at that relieved look. Were the others all already in the shuttles? Did the turrets take a while to pop up, so they all managed to get inside before it? Or are those three, the only three who…

"Just got a head count from the other shuttles," Karma called back through the shuttle from up front. "No one was left behind." As soon as he shouted it to the others, he felt instant regret from the harsh glare Nagisa gave him. As the others in the back let out sighs and sat down with exhausted and thankful expressions, Karma asked, "Who was he?"

"He is, a great soldier," Nagisa said, not going to use the past tense as he was not giving up on him that easily. "Corporal James Ramirez," Nagisa said, and he said it loudly so the others in the back would be able to hear him too. Their smiles lowered down as they had heard Nagisa call the guy who leapt out of the ship before 'Ramirez.' "A Resistance member. And a good man! And he was left behind."

---

A/N Thanks for reading! Class 3-E returns with an assassination attempt to keep things destabilized in the north, which will help out with Gray's invasion west if it works out. Nagisa returns, and so does James Ramirez. If you guys forgot where we last saw them, quick recap here: Nagisa went with Gray's group up towards Pyraxas but broke off at Sin City to go try and stop the Fire Nation counterattack. James Ramirez was one of the undercover Resistance agents in the Fire Nation army, the only one to survive when Ulquiorra attacked the palace. Anyway I'll put a list below for all the characters added this chapter as there were a lot of them. I hope you enjoyed!

Hunter x Hunter: Gotoh

Boku no Hero Academia: Juzo Honenuki

Assassination Classroom: Nagisa, Karma, Rio Nakamura, Terasaka, Kirara, Maehara, Okano, Chiba, Isogai, Touka, Rinka, Hinano Kurahashi

One Piece: Komei, Kong, Ichiji, Judge Vinsmoke, Blueno, Niji, Yonji, Kaku

Avatar TLA: Sozin, Fire Nation, Bujing, Shinu

COD Modern Warfare 2: James Ramirez

Spirited Away: Haku

Gintama: Peacock Queen, Shinra

DC Comics: Bludhaven

-Think that's all of them. If you saw someone else you didn't hear mentioned here though, let me know in the review and I'll say where they're from. (Or, you know, just google it? XD)

Limit-Breaking chapter 113 . 4h ago

Hey nice to see this story is back, either way i have to say it was an enjoyable chapter to read so far and was pretty interesting seeing sasuke perspective and thoughts on naruto and how he felt about the whole thing.
Not much to say except the fight was really well written and was enjoyable to read. I was going to review this when i read it a couple of days ago but i got side tracked and forgot to do a review.
Anyway im glad your back and i look forward to reading more chapters. I also need to get caught up to your other story Death, i wanted to wait til it was completed or far ahead to fully enjoy it.

Yeah definitely wanted to add Sasuke's thoughts in as a new main character and not just someone who's there at the Resistance HQ. Glad you liked the chapter and thanks for the review. And I hope you do read Death, it was a lot of fun to write and I kept getting more and more into it which is why it took me so long to get back into this at all. Hope you enjoyed the new chapter!

cyber chapter 113 . Aug 22

I like the goku vs sasuke fight cant wait to see more

Thanks! Once I started going with it I realized it wasn't going to be as much of a shut-down fight as I'd initially intended, and it was a lot of fun writing them battle it out. Glad you liked it and hope you enjoyed the new one! Thanks everyone for reading, and 'til next time!