Wolverines

Before leaving for the frontlines, Aurdel had gathered up as much gear and equipment as he could possibly carry and thought he would reasonably be able to use. This included massive boxes of thousands of rounds of ammunition, over twenty hundred grenades of varying types, over a dozen different firearms with spare parts to swap out when needed, the powered suit that he’d been helping Hatsume to construct and the prototype weapon that he’d begun putting together a long time ago now. Essentially all of the supplies that he needed to fight by himself could fit inside of a large wagon, one that he could drag by hand all the way to the front. However he had no intention of just going to the front to fight, instead he was going to re-establish communications and manage everything from the foxhole by himself if he had to.

And so he requisitioned the truck with the highest towing capacity he could find, daisy chained as many trailers as he could attach without affecting his ability to drive and and then filled the additional trailers with enormous spools of data lines, electrical wires and all of the equipment to run with them and parallel to them. Then began driving his way to the frontline, taking the highway and dumping tens of miles worth of cable as he made the trip. All along the way he was greeted by groups of refugees and soldiers, each group more surprised to see him than the last. The refugees were heading south east, hoping to find safety in the cities and countryside away from the countryside where the worst of the war hadn’t yet reached. The soldiers meanwhile were heading in the opposite direction towards the front, disorganized and disillusioned with their prospects. Many had lost family members and friends before even having the chance to fight back, so he couldn’t blame them for the way he felt. But there was still a war to fight, and he let them know that. Telling them that if they didn’t win the battles ahead of them, then they would face even greater loss at the hands of their opponents. And something like that was a prospect they wanted even less.

And so a day and a half later, when Aurdel reached the frontlines, he’d effectively established himself in his position as a frontline command. Over a hundred miles over communication lines had been laid with new electronic infrastructure to use them, two battalions worth of disparate soldiers had come together and followed him to the front and the path was being laid for the next moves to be made. But he’d been greeted with an entirely different monster.

As he pulled into the makeshift FOB in the center of Chikuma it was like the scenes out of a history textbook. Craters covered the ground and bracketed the roads, blood splattered across freshly fallen snow and collapsed buildings stretched out for as far as the eye could see. Off in the distance the sound of falling artillery shells could be heard, even as he stepped into the tent to meet with the command officer in charge. “Sir, what are you doing?” The Colonel looked at him, “Shouldn’t you be back in Tokyo with the rest of the command staff?”

“Communications were down and I needed to know what was going on at the front, this was the simplest solution to that problem. Now Colonel Sano, I need to know the status of your men and the enemy.”

Sano gestured towards a table in the center of the tent, the two walked over. On top of the table was a physical map of the area with crude lines drawn on to mark certain boundaries, and resting on top were a varied number of objects that they’d found and were now using to indicate different friendly and hostile units. “From what I can tell, their main plan was to blitz the capital and cut it off from the rest of the country. In the west their troops landed on the Noto Peninsula with very little resistance, and in the East they landed just outside the city of Niigata before taking the city with some resistance. After that they began their rapid assaults. So far here in the west they’ve managed to take the cities of Kanazawa and Toyama, but we’ve managed to stall their offensive operations across most of the front as reservists have trickled in. Right now the only place they’re attempting to push is at Shirakawa, and we’re holding them back, but I’m expecting a push at Nagano within the next few hours.”

“And the situation in the east?”

“Judging by the little contact I’ve had with my counterpart there through messengers, much worse. After taking Niigata they successfully pushed hard and fast towards the eastern coastline. Even if it cost them a lot of casualties, they managed to succeed. Fukushima and Sendai are under their control, and there’s currently fighting ongoing for Koriyama. Because of that we’ve been completely cut off from the northern half of the country and have no clue how they’re holding up. For all we know the Chinese could be up to the Kuril islands already.”

“Well if they’ve been completely stalled here in the west, then it means their pincer has completely failed. Units are moving in from the far west of the country to support us, so any attempt to pull off the same move is going to be met with a fresh wave of soldiers.” He folded his arms, “But that probably also means that they’ve given up on the pincer, and have consolidated their force in the center.”

“Yes sir.” He pointed towards the map, “After failing to isolate the capital area, the two separate forces pushed along the coastline and met up in the middle at Joetsu, using it as a staging area to gather their strength. Its proximity to Nagano is why I think they’re about to go on the offensive again soon to try and drive down the center using the highways.”

Guess that’s where he’d be going next… “The civilians that weren’t able to get out of the cities in time, any news on how the Chinese troops are treating them?”

“Nothing good. Even before we had partisans start actively opposing them, their soldiers were taking part in looting and indiscriminate violence against civilians. Saying that ‘anyone who stands in the way of liberation will be cut down for the good of the people.’ It’s a bunch of bullcrap they’re using to justify their crimes.”

He gripped the table, it was like the Chinese were actively trying to cause as many casualties as possible just for the sake of doing so. There was no strategic or tactical meaning behind it, they were just spilling blood to spill blood. Aurdel couldn’t stand it. The idea that anyone could support a war of this kind was beyond him, though even he wasn’t sure that most people in the Chinese mainland knew that a war was even going on. So tight was the grip of the party and its censors that even information such as that was hard to get access to. Even then, it is entirely possible that those who do know don’t care about the death of Japanese civilians. After all, bad blood has existed between the countries for centuries and has likely only been played up further in recent times. “What about their quirks? Have any of their soldiers been using their quirks in combat? Or have they deployed Heroes to the frontlines?”

“We have a few soldiers who think they saw them using their quirks, but we have no confirmation on either.”

“Find and hand out as much recording equipment as you can, I want to know the exact moment they cross the line and I can send in Heroes to swat them back into the sea.”

“Swat them back into the sea?”

“Colonel, the longer we let them consolidate the harder it will be to drive them out. The only choice we have is to force a battle where we can break the back of their forces, splitting their offensive capability in half and laying the groundwork for any kind of victory.”

Sano looked around, then let out a sigh. “Alright, what am I supposed to do?”

“Whatever troops you currently have in Nagano, I want you to move three additional battalions in.”

“Three?! If they attack from another angle, we’ll-“

“Seven armored companies are going to be moving to this area of operation, they’ll hold off any counterattack. Then once we’re ready they’ll act as the spearhead.”

“This is an ambitious plan, sir.”

“Of course, I’m going to be taking part in it myself.”

Aurdel opened his eyes, it was dark and quiet. Looking around it looked like he was floating on the inside of an empty gray void, with nothing to seemingly stand on or even brace himself against. Was he… dead? No, he couldn’t be. Something about this place felt far too familiar for him to be dead, it was like he’d seen it before. Maybe it was a dream, or a hallucination. “You know, I wondered how long it would take before I spoke with you in this way. After all, ever since this war began you haven’t even had the courtesy to see me in prison.”

“You…” Aurdel tightened his fist and turned. All For One. “If you’re here, then it means for sure that I’m not dead. We’re inside of my head.”

“Yes, we’re inside your head. Though I’ve been seeing from this perspective for quite some time longer than you have, ever since I lended you my quirk.”

“Lended it to me? You’re making it sound like what you did was a favor, just something you did out of the kindness of your heart. You FORCED IT onto me.”

“We can squabble over the details of how it happened, but can you really argue that me lending you the power of All For One didn’t benefit you? After all, think about all that you’ve managed to get done with that power. All the things that you’ve managed to accomplish. You don’t really think that you would have been able to do it without me, did you?”

“Yeah, I’m stuck inside of my own head four miles under the sea. Some help you are…” He scowled, “Cut the crap already. You may be able to convince the desperate that you’re their guardian angel, but we both know you don’t do anything out of the kindness of your heart. So spit out the truth, because I don’t won’t have you lie inside my own head.”

The mocking smile All For One’s vestige faded, becoming serious. “A man as intelligent as you should know my plan, but I suppose that there’s no harm in confirming what you may suspect. After you defeated the League of Villains and killed Shigaraki, and after you destroyed the Nomu that I sent to kill you, I was able to recognize the potential that you held. So I quickly put a new plan into action, one where I would give you my quirk, manipulate your thoughts and actions from the back of your mind and prepare your body to be the next host of my consciousness.

He was silent for a moment, “You were trying to take over my body? That’s all this was?”

“Yes. My own body is old, shriveled, damaged and decayed. Just to stay alive I require a combination of quirks and life saving equipment, and that is no way for a man to live. Originally my plan was to use Shigaraki as my next host, given his strong quirk and his connection to All Might through the blood of his master. But once you killed him you became the only viable option. There was no personal hatred involved in the decision, it was simply just the only remaining avenue open to me.”

“You had a number of other options available to you. There was Nine, that man that you had Garaki strap to a chair and prod for months in order to give him a copy of your quirk. You could have used the bodies of one of those Nomu, or Gigantomachia. Hell, you could have even kidnapped some random young and strong Hero off the streets. It’s not like I’m in peak human form, but you chose me anyway.”

“It matters little what you think of the very few options I had at the time, the result will still be the same no matter what. When you finally wake up I will seize control of your body and then return to the surface. There, nothing will be able to stop me. I will take back One For All, I will kill All Might and as the Demon King I will rightfully rule the world as I so deserve.” Aurdel heard All For One’s declaration, and for a moment he let it hang in the air in silence. Then he laughed. “You think this is humorous? Have you truly lost your mind then?”

“Well, it’s debatable whether or not someone would diagnose me as being insane. But I certainly haven’t lost my head to you.” He stepped closer towards the vestige, “You spent months in my head, gently nudging and prodding me from the back of my mind, and you think that was enough to change me into you?”

“Are you presuming to say that from the beginning that you knew what my plan was from the beginning? And that you were just actively fooling me into believing that I would be able to take over your mind?”

“No, of course not. That’s stupid. I didn’t even think you were inside my head until I was literally told that I was given your quirk. But once I knew you were inside my head you were never going to succeed, because I didn’t need to know what you were planning to try and keep you from affecting me.”

“You don’t have any way to stop me from taking over your body, not now. While you may possess a great deal of willpower, it’s impossible for you to overcome the strength of myself and the other vestiges. The ones that I’ve corrupted.”

“The ones that you’ve corrupted? Yeah, right.” Aurdel turned, “You’ve been inside my head for months, giving you access to more information about me than anyone else on the planet. But even so, it’s like you haven’t actually learned a single damn thing about me.”

Others began to walk out next to All For One. They were the other vestiges. Or at least… What All For One thought were the other vestiges. “What? What is this?!” Suddenly the figures became mirror versions of Aurdel, grabbing All For One and beginning to drag him backwards.”

“I’ll be the first one to admit that you too have a strong willpower, but it’s nothing when compared to mine. That’s always how it will be when you compare those who fight to protect against those who fight to control. It’s not like you made it any easier for yourself, since you chose to fight on my turf.” Aurdel crouched down as the copies pulled All For One towards the metaphorical ground. “You were never going to take over my body or mind by corrupting the other vestiges, because you were never going to meet them.” From the sides other figures popped out, constricted by more mirrors of himself. There was the CIA woman he’d taken Flashbang from, Overhaul, Garaki and a few versions of the Nomu. None of them could move or speak of their own free volition. “Eight years of psychological training and conditioning, twenty seven years of putting that into practice and thirty five years total of constant mental trauma and anguish from constantly losing everything that I ever had taught me one of the most powerful skills the human mind can possess. Compartmentalization. My mind is designed like a prison to trap itself and anything that might push me into complete insanity. And you willingly entered into it. So for someone that’s over a hundred years old and should have vast experience with manipulating the minds of others, I think I’m anything but impressed with your performance.”

The other real vestiges aside All For One were shunted away, shoved back into the darkness. “Even if I cannot take your mind and body this way, it will not stop my plans. Everything else that is in motion will continue, even if this vestige is trapped or destroyed.”

“Your plans?” He leaned in closer, “Plans of what? Humiliating All Might? Toppling Hero society? Causing chaos in Japan? Well, I have news for you.” He stood back up, pacing around his own head. “All Might is never going to leave the public consciousness as the top Hero, even when you tried to expose him for acting like a sham for years it didn’t even shake his image in the slightest. In fact, it probably only reinforced what many thought about him. Hero society won’t be going anywhere either, not in Japan and not in the rest of the world. For the longest time the dream of protecting the innocent with superpowers was something people could only realize through comics and films, and now that they have their teeth sunk into the real thing it won’t leave. And as for causing chaos here in Japan, you’d really have to try hard to make things worse. Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s a war going on. And so if you even try to wiggle on that chair in Tartarus I’ll have your body filled with lead and strapped onto the first missile heading to Beijing.”

All For One went quiet, “You seem confident in your efforts to win this war, but do you even know what’s happening to your own body?”

“Of course I do. I’m lying unconscious on the floor of a ship in the middle of the deep ocean. At the very least I know I’m not dead, and that’s enough for me.”

“Is it?” All For One forced his head up to look at him, “For the longest time now you’ve been experiencing severe headaches, then you began having back pains that were getting progressively more painful. Haven’t you ever stopped to think about why that is?”

“Of course I have, it’s because I’m getting old. Being almost half way to death's door will do that to anyone, it's just that I’m getting those specific pains.”

“That may be true, but we both know that those back problems only began getting tremendously worse after you took all those quirks from the Nomu.”

He grabbed him, “What are you trying to imply?”

“I don’t know when or what triggered it, but something has started growing inside of you. I believe it to be something like a quirk. At first it was growing slowly because of your nature, then the quirks you took from those Nomus catalyzed and sped up its growth. Now… It’s trying to find its way out.

“That’s impossible. Where I’m from, no one has a quirk. The only people capable of superhuman feats are those that were trained and augmented.”

“From the dawn of time, humanity has always had the potential for quirks to emerge. Even where you’re from it is likely to be the same. No matter how much time needs to pass, quirks will eventually emerge.”

“Then what is my quirk supposed to be?”

“I don’t know, only time will tell.”

The Only Easy Day

Upon reaching Nagano, he found that the defense of the city was under the total leadership and command of a Second Lieutenant by the name of Kai Akimoto. During the initial bombardment of the city by the Chinese, his command officer, and a number of other superior officers, had all been killed when their command tent was struck directly by an artillery shell and enveloped in an explosion. Being left as the highest ranking officer, he was forced to take command and ordered a hasty counterattack that just barely managed to push the Chinese out of the city temporarily. Now that Aurdel had met the man he could see that he was completely inexperienced, and though trained to take command in situations such as these there was a difference between scenarios and the real thing.

So Aurdel, wanting to foster growth in the young man’s tactical and strategic ability, began supplementing his command, taking partial authority to organize the actual defense while trying to give Akimoto some room to breathe. On the roads leading into the city he ordered his men to set up ambushes with anti-tank weapons and recoilless rifles, waiting for a convoy to mostly pass through before targeting the lead and rear vehicles to trap them. A similar trap was laid out on the main highway that went into the city, with teams set up to lure the Chinese armor on and others waiting in killzones to detonate the shaped charges and collapse the highway before targeting with near point blank fire. Then if any soldiers were to dismount, machine gun nests scattered throughout the city were ready to gun them down.

Of course, he didn’t hinge all of this defense on just those few measures. There were multiple phase lines of defenses set up throughout the city, each one more reinforced than the last. However, there was one last avenue his forces didn’t have a particular solution to. “Sir, we don’t have any MANPAD or SAM capabilities. How are we supposed to defend ourselves if the Chinese deploy air attack craft for fire support missions?”

“I’ll just handle their aircraft, just make sure that you have those mobile radar sites ready. I want spotters set up and ready to give me an answer whenever I need one.”

“Unless you grow a pair of wings and fly into the sky, I’m not sure how you might deal with their aircraft.”

“Just watch me.” After talking with the young officer in person, he’d gone up the tallest building in the city. From up here he was able to get a perfect vantage point, giving clear lines of fire on both the highway and the sky above. Something he’d also dragged up the many flights of stairs through the tower were a number of generators and high powered cables, all connected and feeding into the weapon that he was using. He sat on the ground, shouldering the rifle and beginning to scan the sky for aircraft. By no means was it more effective than radar, but he couldn’t just sit and wait.

A voice crackled over the direct link, “Sir, the armored column is coming down the highway just as we expected. But we’re also picking up an escort of aircraft. Helicopters and fixed-wings, estimate it thirty five total. What are we going to do?”

“Did you have the decoy positions set up just like I asked?”

“Yes, and we increased their heat and radar signatures.”

“Good, then I’m going to shoot them down.” Aurdel went silent, using a cable hanging off the side of the rifle to plug into the back of his head. Then he unslung the rifle and went into a kneeling position, looking towards the sky off into the distance. At first he could only hear the sounds of an approaching jet, the noise getting louder and louder. Then he was actually able to see it. It was a J-42A, a ground attack aircraft that was supposedly decent at its job with a strong fuselage, high payload capacity, a powerful nose gun, a top speed of around nine hundred and fifty miles per hour and a surplus of chaff and flares in order to confuse SAMs and MANPADs alike. Unfortunately for it, he wasn’t using a missile based weapon. “There you are, take the bait…” Aurdel watched the pilot carefully, figuring that they likely had somewhat of an ego as they performed a number of unnecessary flips before going into their attack run. Good, this meant it would be that much more of a demoralizing kill. “Now I’ve got you, you bastard.” For any normal person, lining up a shot on an aircraft that was traveling around the speed of sound would be near impossible. But he was no normal person, he was a Spartan and he had the right equipment to pull it off. Aurdel waited until just before the pilot looked like he was about to release his bombs, then he squeezed the trigger. Because in his hands was possibly the most powerful handheld firearm to ever exist, one that fired ten thousand three hundred and eighty six grain armored piercing high explosive projectiles out of a homemade railgun at a muzzle velocity of six thousand six hundred and fifty four feet per second. And with numbers that high… Well, when the numbers were that high it didn’t matter what the hell you were flying in. No math would be able to save you when you heard the thunderous sound of what seems like a church bell being struck.

“What the hell was that?!” Akimoto shouted.

Aurdel pulled open the breech, loading another projectile. “That was the sound of one of their aircraft, it’s pilot and its fuel being disintegrated by a projectile that traveled faster than they could fly. Now get off the comma, before they zero one of us in.” Aurdel turned back towards the sky. The attacker had been part of a formation, but after seeing one of their pilots get shot down they began to spread out. Not that it was going to save them. “Waging a war of aggression, using indiscriminate bombings, wanton destruction and the killings of civilians… You’ll all get what you deserve.” Aurdel lined up the next shot, aiming at another attacker aircraft that was preparing to go in for a dive. This time the projectile gutted the plane from nose to rear, completely obliterating the cockpit before detonating the plane entirely. There would be nothing for them to send back to his family.

He tapped into the Chinese comms as the ambushes began around the outskirts of the city, the forces of the JSDF beginning to engage the armored column. “That’s another aircraft down, what the hell is going on?! I’m not picking up any signs of anti-air weaponry!”

“Do the Japanese have stealth enabled SAMs? They couldn’t!”

“The pulse would have taken out their SAM launchers, there’s no way they have any. All aircraft, spread out and continue with the attack. We-“ The aircraft currently speaking was one with ornamental livery, being the one to lead the squadron into the battle. They were an easy target.

“Squall One was shot down!” Panic began to spread across the Chinese comms as their squadron leader was shot down, not even given the courtesy of being allowed to finish his sentence.

“Where is it coming from? Above or below?!”

“AWACS, you need to tell us what’s going on!”

“We’re working on it, just continue evading until we’re able to determine the situation.”

“The longer we wait the more of us will be dead!”

Aurdel switched back onto the Japanese comms for a moment. “Lieutenant, tell your spotters to pinpoint the position of their AWACS and other EW aircraft.”

“One moment, pinging radar.” There was a momentary silence. “We’ve found them, sending coordinates. They’re sitting at nearly thirty thousand feet five miles away from the city, what are you planning to do?”

“Sit tight.”

He switched back to the Chinese comms, ‘-has to be coming from below, there has been zero sign of hostile aircraft on radar. And there’s no way they could be putting out fire this accurate from beyond visual range.” Aurdel lined up his shot with the coordinates received, raising his rifle and adjusting the trajectory for the time it would take to reach the aircraft he was aiming at. Granted he couldn’t actually see what he was trying to hit, but that was hardly a problem.”

Aurdel then pulled the trigger and began to count. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Sev- “Our AWACS has been hit!”

“What the hell is going on?!”

“We need to get out of here, we’re all-!” After loading in another round, Aurdel put the panicking pilot out of his misery.

“Squall Two to all aircraft, perform your attack runs and then pull back. There’s no reason to stick around here any longer just to get killed.” Aurdel loaded another round, “Squall Ten and Fifteen, go and-” He fired.

“Squall Two lost!”

“Why the hell are we flying out here if they have weapons like this?!” Another round went into the chamber.

“Squall Three and Seven, you’re flying too close to one another!” He fired.

“Squall Three and Seven lost. Screw this mission, we’re pulling out!” He watched the aircraft as they began to retreat, loading in another round. He gave them another parting gift. “Squall Eight lost!”

“Where the hell is our air support going? We’re already facing heavy resistance down here!”

“This is Squall squadron. Captain, something down there is targeting our aircraft and we can’t get our eyes on what. Almost half of our squadron has already been lost, so unless you do something about that weapon we can’t assist you.”

“Damnit… You flyboys will never understand how hard it is for us who have to fight with our boots on the ground!” Aurdel loaded in another round and looked down from the building, locating one of the helicopters that had been sent to assist the Chinese ground forces. It looked to be a derivative of the Russian Mi-64, a gunship once famous for its sheer firepower and aerial command capabilities. However, when faced with his rifle… “Terror Two has been shot down… This is Captain Cao to all forces on this net, we must get rid of whatever is shooting down our aircraft! The transports coming in behind us are relying on us!”

Paratroopers huh? He would have expected the Chinese to use them in the first assaults of the invasion, not as a rapid assault force while a city was already under siege. But if they were deploying them now like this then it meant that they were getting desperate to end this campaign as quickly as possible. And if that were the case, then he was going to oblige them in this own way. He looked back towards the set of generators, a number of them had burned out with their capacitors due to the power surge of firing the rail gun. He probably had enough of them left to get in five more shots with the rifle at half power before all the generators were fried. After that, they’d have to fight them on the ground. Aurdel switched back to the Japanese comms. “This is Spartan to all personnel in the city. The Chinese are planning to parachute in an unknown number of forces onto our lines, I want all of you not currently in battle to prepare for close quarters urban combat. Set up the specialized anti-personnel trophy systems to take down as many of their men as their landing, but don’t fool yourself into believing that it will be enough to drive them out. I expect all of you to put your best foot forward.” After that, he began his preparations for the next stage of the battle.

After unplugging the rifle from the back of his head, Aurdel switched out from his anti-air equipment for some he was a little more familiar with. Close quarters battle. To start with, instead of using the power from remaining generators to charge the railgun he instead used it to charge the powered suit he’d brought from UA. While a complete step down from his MJOLNIR in terms of offensive, defensive and electronic capabilities, it was better to wear it instead of nothing at all. His main weapon now was one of his heavily personalized MA5Bs, the other having gone into the ship with the real him. The mag well was modified to take personally constructed two hundred drum box magazines, something that would probably make the average UNSC armorer cry. It also had a laser module strapped to the left side for hip firing, an underslung 40mm grenade launcher and a right side mounted single fire shotgun. In addition he was also carrying ten frag grenades, four smoke grenades of different colors, a fully automatic Beretta that with a number of extended mags, a 105mm recoilless rifle with four warheads and-

Aurdel looked up, hearing the sound of props and engines. Here they come

Far above him and off in the distance he could see Chinese transport aircraft rapidly approaching. Their rear bay doors fell open and waves of men began leaping out one after another, falling through the air for at least a hundred feet before pulling open their parachutes. Aurdel launched into the air using the jetpack on the powered suit, drawing the recoilless rifle and aiming it up towards the lead transport. Then he fired. The projectile shot through the air and struck the transport at the base of its right wing, the tandem charge punching the wing and reaching the fuel lines. From there the fuel cooked off, setting off an explosion that chained its way into the fuselage and detonated the entire fuel reserve. The main body of the aircraft totally erupted into flames, with jets of fire shooting out the back and sending the charred corpses of a number of paratroopers tumbling out the back.

Aurdel put away the recoilless, switching to the MA5B and charging while still in the air towards the men that had actually made it out the back of the aircraft. “I won’t let you reach the ground alive!” He let loose with a burst of rounds, using one hand to fire his rifle at a group of paratroopers that were nearly clumped up. The bullets ripped through the six and their parachutes, leaving them to fall as Aurdel charged towards the next group.

“Stay away from us!” One of the Chinese soldiers fumbled with their rifle as he came close, barely managing to get his finger on the trigger by the time Aurdel had closed the distance. With his free hand he ripped the parachutes off of his back, allowing him to plummet to death in the city below. Turning, a number of other paratroopers had managed to grab their rifles and started pouring fire in his direction. Aurdel moved swiftly, letting loose another burst of rounds. Nearly a dozen more paratroopers slumped dead in their parachutes, their rifles dropping towards the ground.

Aurdel turned his head as the transport plane he’d shot down finally crashed, secondary explosions started to go off as it plowed through an apartment building. Hopefully there hadn’t been anyone in there. He turned back around, reloading and drawing his recoilless rifle once more as he gunned his way to the front of the next transport plane. Aurdel could see the pilots in the cockpit visibly duck down as he aimed and fired, the projectile obliterating the thin protective armor of the cockpit and practically vaporizing the pilots inside. But just as he was about to move on to target the paratroopers…

“I won’t let you have your way!” A large, red, serpent-like dragon quickly traveled along the side of the now falling transport before leaping at Aurdel. It grabbed him with its teeth, violently shaking him around before tossing him away from the transport. “It is our duty to liberate this country, and nothing can be allowed to stand in our way!”

Aurdel loaded in another of the warheads, “The liberation that you’re bringing is a joke!!” He fired the recoilless rifle at the dragon, the projectile flying past as it avoided it and instead obliterating a random paratrooper that had been unfortunate enough to be in its path. The dragon then dove towards him again, Aurdel moving preemptively and only being swiped this time instead of grabbed. But the recoilless rifle was tossed from his hands, falling towards the ground. As he went to grab it the dragon swooped in again, swiping him and keeping him from grabbing it.

“The liberation of workers is something that’s hardly understood by the bourgeoisie that keeps them in check. Only someone who has truly suffered under the boot and heel of capitalist tyranny would understand the freedom that we’re going to bring!”

“You’re using a lot of words to say absolutely nothing at all. The only thing you’re doing is acting as a parrot for your beloved ‘party of the people!’” The dragon came in again, attacking from the front, but this time Aurdel was ready. He dove as it extended its jaw, punching upward with a force equivalent to several pile drivers. It was sent reeling back and- “What’s that you have on your head?” Now that the dragon had been temporarily stunned, he was able to see that it was wearing a small mechanical device on its head.

“It is none of your concern!” The dragon quickly whipped around, slamming its tail against him as Aurdel grabbed his MA5B and wheeled it towards the dragon. It then began to make a hasty retreat.

“Get back here!” Aurdel needed to find out what that device was, and if it was something the Chinese were giving to all their Heroes. He let loose a hail of bullets as he chased the dragon, piercing its scaly armor but not managing to penetrate any further. If he could just get something a little more powerful…

“You pose the biggest threat to our liberation!” As he lined up his shot with the grenade launcher the second transport finally came back into view, finally having drifted far enough without its pilots that it was crashing in the city. That gave him an idea.

Aurdel charged the dragon head on, pulling to the side as it tried to lay another bite onto him. Then he fired the grenade launcher at point blank. The explosion temporarily concussed the dragon, giving him enough time to drive with full force using the jetpack and slam the dragon into the hull of the transport plane. It slammed into the bay through the side, wedging itself inside and becoming stuck as Aurdel flew off. He watched as the plane’s left wing collided with a building, severing it and forcing the transport into an angled nosedive into the ground. Moments later it exploded upon impact, a blazing inferno springing out after a fireball enveloped the area in which it landed. “Hopefully there will be enough left to find once the fire dies down. Now-” The fire suddenly swirled up, before firing in a single concentrated beam up towards him that just barely missed his head. “What the hell?!”

“The fiery heat of our goals burns brighter and hotter than any flames you can surround me with!”

Aurdel tried to grit his teeth, forgetting that he didn’t have any now. Frustrated, he charged towards the center of the inferno as intense blasts of heat flew past him. He opened fire with his rifle, letting loose another grenade and hail of bullets. Though only the grenade seemed to affect them in slightest. “Try fighting for your own ideals!”

As he landed on the ground he stowed away his rifle, charging in and dealing a blow to the lower jaw of the dragon as it opened its mouth. In the very short moment this gained him he hopped up the side of the beast, climbing up its head. “No, don’t!” Aurdel reached the top, and the dragon tried to shake him off. But it didn’t work. “NO!” They shouted again as Aurdel ripped the mechanical device off their head. At first glance he would have thought that it was some uplink to tap into comms and receive live intel, but he was surprised when the large dragon he’d just been standing on suddenly shrunk to a much smaller size comparable to that of a car.

Aurdel landed on his feet, drawing his rifle again on the smaller dragon who was now writhing on the ground in pain. The bullets that had penetrated his around previously didn’t have much of an effect due to his sheer size, but now that he’d shrunk they were having a pronounced effect. He stepped on its back. “Tell me what this is.”

In pain, they answered. “I don’t know what it is, they just said that it would make me and my quirk stronger! I don’t know how it works!” Make his quirk stronger…? “I’m not going to answer any other questions, if you’re going to take me prisoner then take me prisoner!”

“We don’t need to follow any prisoner of war conventions, not for you or any of your comrades after what you’ve done.”

“W-Wait!”

Aurdel used the single fire shotgun strapped to the side to put a shell in the back of the dragon’s head, causing enough damage to them to finally force them back into their human form. He then finished the Chinese Hero off, stomping on their head with his boot before flying back into the air to re-enter combat with the remaining forces.

A device that could amplify quirks… China. China was the one that had taken David Shield.