Kunlun Offensive

Aurdel sat alone in the recovery room, taking a break on the wheelchair next to the medical bed. He’d spent the last half an hour wandering around the small room, practicing his stride and making sure that both his legs were in sync. So far he’s seen some minor success.

There was a knock at the door. “I’m awake.” The door then slid open, and two familiar figures walked in.

“Aurdel.”

“Doctor Halsey, ma’am.”

“Spartan.”

“Chief Petty Officer Mendez, sir.”

“I see that you haven’t been following the advice of the doctors by getting out of that bed so often.”

“I can’t stay in one place for so long ma’am, it feels unnatural. I feel much more at home being up on my feet, though I’d prefer to bring training with the others.”

“You already know that’s not possible anymore. Musa was paralyzed from the waist down by the procedures, you would have most likely suffered a similar result. As it stands it was lucky that we managed to catch the deformation early. That way we were able to save the upper half of your leg from being deformed, preventing the crushing of your femur and the severing of your femoral artery.”

“I understand, that’s why I’ve been practicing moving around with my deformed leg in its current state. I believe that with enough time I should be able to-“ Aurdel stopped as Mendez put a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry son, it’s over.”

“Sir?”

“We’ve done all that we could, and I know you’ve done all that you could and more. But I’m afraid that this is as far as you can go as a Spartan.”

“Sir,” he reaffirmed his position, “Those aliens, the Covenant, if we’re going to win this war then you’re going to need every Spartan that you can throw at them. I already heard the details about the briefing from the others, and how big of a threat they are. I… I also heard what happened to Sam.”

“We are… all affected by his loss. But you can’t fight in your condition. The augmentation procedures were necessary for the next stage of being a Spartan, as without them it’s impossible to field the armor we had prepared. Even if your body managed to successfully take the augmentations now, your leg is too disfigured to properly fit the armor.”

“Sir, ma’am. Ever since you brought me I’ve been taught how to fight, how to protect those around me. I don’t want those skills to go to waste.”

“You will be fighting, just not on the frontlines. Musa and Fhajad have already been given positions in ONI and started their work, you’d be able to work with them and help us fight the Covenant from there. It’s what’s best for you now.” Dr Halsey looked him in the eyes when she said that, and he could see the guilt that she felt over his situation. Even so, he couldn’t accept this outcome.

He looked down, remaining silent for a moment. Then he realized what he needed to do. “…My leg is the problem, right?”

“It is, but-“

Aurdel quickly wheeled over to the other side of the room, going up to the Chief and then yanking his combat knife out of its sheath. Then he wheeled back towards the bed. “Spartan, stand down!”

“One of the lessons that Déjà taught us was about the wolf stuck in a trap. It knows that if it stays there it’s going to be killed by a hunter. So instead of staying caught, it chews off its own paw. So if this leg is what is keeping me from being a Spartan…” He grabbed the pillow from the bed, biting down on it.

“Stand down!”

“Then I’ll cut it off!” Aurdel plunged the knife into his lower leg, stifling whinnies of pain as he worked to remove everything below the knee. Tears of agony streamed out from his eyes, and he practically bit through the entire pillow to keep himself from screaming.

“My God…” In less than a minute he’d managed to completely sever the lower half of his right leg, the mangled limb falling to the ground next to his still good left foot. Blood spattered everywhere.

“Fight… I… I can fight!” The knife dropped from his hands, clattering against the floor as he barely remained conscious.

“Take him to the medical bay and have them stabilize him as quickly as possible!” Dr Halsey shouted, “If they don’t do it fast, we’ll lose him entirely!”

“Yes ma’am!” Mendez quickly went around the wheelchair, pushing it out of the door as fast as he could. Even in his partially delirious state he could see the other washes out Spartans sitting in their rooms, looking at him as he wheeled over to the medical bay. He…

Aurdel finally came to his senses, “PAUSE PROCEDURE!” He practically screamed the words out, panting as the surgical unit halted the procedure. He could feel the open hole in the back of his skull. As the arms lifted up he managed to get in a few good breaths. There was many reasons why these kind of surgeries were meant to be done while sedated, and that was one of those reasons. Time and memories would become fluid to the patient, and eventually they would lose their ability to perceive them. But it had also taught him a lesson. Aurdel reached over to another vial he’d kept next to the surgical unit, “Computer, accept additional chemical substitution.”

“Confirmed, please insert a solution.” Aurdel put it into the slot, and the surgical unit scanned it. “Warning, unknown solution detected. Please confirm-“

“Confirm.”

“Confirmation accepted,” if All One For was right, and there was a quirk awakening inside of him… then this would be the quickest way to find out.

The vial contained a modified solution of the trigger variant that Uraraka and Asui had been exposed to, the one that had evolved their quirks.

He took a deep breath, his life was in the hands of fate now. “Computer, double all dosages.” Fate… something that had never been too kind to him in the past. He could only have faith that things would work themselves out in the end. “Resume procedure.”

Throughout his life, there were never any moments where Bakugo sat idly by. When he was young he constantly fought with his classmates, beating them up so he could train his discipline for when he would become a Hero. He would spend his spare time at home and anywhere else practicing with his quirk, with hours going by at times as he blew up everything he could no matter how much discomfort or pain it might have caused him. He watched all of All Might’s appearances, that way he could emulate his greatest Hero and become even stronger. But it wasn’t enough, it was never enough. It started with the sludge Villain, he hadn’t been strong enough to save himself and because of that someone like Deku stepped in to try and save him. Then there was the training camp, where the Villains came with the original sole goal of capturing him. Again he had to be protected and saved, something that would force All Might to retire. Then there was the fight against Stain, where he couldn’t even beat the one Villain in front of him and his teachers had to step in. But all those paled in comparison to his biggest failure. When the war started, he… he wasn’t there. He wasn’t with his parents. A missile had fallen almost right on top of his house, with the blast being large enough to completely obliterate it. It was completely destroyed, in an explosion… He squeezed his eyes shut.

The teachers were the first ones to find out the news, and when he eventually found out they tried to stop him from going. But it didn’t work. Every chance he had to go back to his house he would go, standing where it once stood. While there would look for anything that could even give the slightest bit of proof that this was where he and his family once lived. Photos, old toys, notes… even bodies. But there was nothing. Each time he would be left with nothing else to do except sit in the ashes and snow, his thoughts running rampant and attacking himself over his failure to be there. Because deep down he believed he should have been there, but he hadn’t been. For years he pushed back against his parents, acting like an ass because he felt he was strong and didn’t need to show any love because it would make him seem weak. But they had loved him and cared for him all the same, and that ate away at his insides. Because he has to ask himself, just how far had his tough act gotten him? Sure he’d been accepted into UA, but he’d had to fight tooth and nail to maintain a position at the top, barely had anyone that would consider him a friend or vice versa and had spent months away from home and only visited at Christmas to get into arguments. In terms of becoming the Hero he had long aspired to be… He’d failed. Thoughts of all those he’d told Midoriya to kill himself would run through his head, and that was exactly what had made him originally volunteer to go on this mission. To get himself killed as he took some form of revenge. But that had changed.

It was a realization he’d had on the flight over, like having his eyes suddenly opened. If he gave up now, if he chose to die, then all of the crap that he had put those trying to help him through would be for nothing. It would be a spit in the face to them, and the very image of a Hero that he chased after and aspired to be. So he decided to live. Not for himself, but for all of the people that had put up with him for so long.

Bakugo received a nudge. “Hey kid, I don’t plan on having you die under my command. Are you zoned in or what?”

“If there’s any day that I’m zoned in for, it’ll be today. Me and those bastards have a score to settle.”

“Ha, that makes two of us.” The man, an ANZAC soldier by the name of Issac Hill, gave him a pat on the back. He was the one who’d offered to lead the diversionary attack to pull Chinese forces away from their infiltration of the main base, an unenviable task that he actually seems to take some amount of joy in. But after speaking with the man the previous day and hearing his reasons for why he fought, he could understand why.

“Try not to fire yourselves out so quickly,” Edgeshot said, his hands folded in a sort of meditation position to calm himself. “We have a long battle ahead of us, and not even the smallest bit of energy can afford to be wasted.”

“I’m not sure if ‘long’ is what I would call what we’re about to do. But hey, whatever gets you going pixie.” He turned around, “Now kid. You make explosions, right? How about giving us an entrance?”

“I’ll do more than make an entrance, I’ll rock them to their god damned core!” Bakugo spiked the temperature in his suit, rapidly heating himself to increase his sweat production. He then pulled the standoff dispenser off of his back and began pouring his sweat into the bomblets. Once it was ready he carefully angled his arm, aiming for the main gate guarded by around ten soldiers that were covering the entrance into the dig site. Then he let it rip. “GO TO HELL AND DIE!” In a flash the jet on the back of the dispenser powered on and ripped itself out of his hands, gunning its way into the air above the target before it rapidly began throwing out clusters of bomblets. Explosions carpeted the area as the bomblets touched down on the ground, carving a path that went straight into the heart of the dig site. The walls and towers meant to keep them out collapsed seconds after the explosion, the ten men who'd been standing by the entrance becoming buried under the rubble. The main gate meanwhile has been completely turned to dust.

“Hahaha! Now that is the kind of Hero I can get behind!” Issac clapped him on the back before turning back to the other soldiers, drawing his rifle. “Boys! Queen once asked who would want to live forever. So let me tell you, the answer is no one! But today isn’t our day to check out. Today we are fucking chauffeurs! And we’re going to send every single one of those red bastards in that camp packing to the next world over!” With one last cheer their assault on the dig site began, with their forces storming through the massive gap in the perimeter. Bakugo, Tokoyami and Edgeshot went into the air, beginning their part of the attack from above.

“AP Machine Gun!” Bakugo blanketed the area around the Chinese soldiers as they rushed out of their barracks, knocking them out of the fight before they could even properly put on and use their gear. Eventually though bullets began flying around them, meaning that closing the distance and taking them out in code quarters was their only option.

“Black Abyss: Sabbath!” Tokoyami dove towards the ground as more opposing forces came running out. Using Dark Shadow’s claws he tore through the weak armor that they wore, knocking them down and out of the fight while also collecting their weapons and tossing them away into a large pile. Edgeshot meanwhile went low and traveled along the ground like a thread, piercing through the chests of entire squads of soldiers and knocking them all out at the same time.

“DIE!” Bakugo blasted his way over towards a guard tower near the center of the dig site, then used point blank explosions to blow the three soldiers standing at the top off before completely blowing apart the supports. Bullets then came at him from another direction. “Who’s next?!”

“Kid, we need support over here!” He heard Issac shout over the short-distance radio link and flew over, laying down a hail of explosions that allowed the ANZAC soldiers and Gurkhas to open up with a volley on the Chinese soldiers. They were practically cut down by the combined fire, unable to get even a few rounds of their own in. “We’ve already found their barracks buildings, so that means be just need to find three more areas. Their operations center, their armory and the workers quarters. Once we have those under our control we’ll have the dig site totally secured.”

“You and your men should look for those first two, I’ll look for where they’re keeping all the slave labor. I’m faster in the air and there’s no telling what those soldiers will try when they’re desperate.”

“If you’re going to do that then take two of my men with you,” Issac jerked his thumb back to a pair of Gurkhas, “Unless you’ve somehow managed to learn Chinese.”

“I’ll take ‘em, but they need to stay behind me. It’s better if I’m able to draw their fire since they can’t hit me.” Bakugo blasted towards another half of the dig site, the two soldiers on his tail. Along the way he blasted more Chinese soldiers, then a pair of rockets blew past him. “Why you…!” Bakugo spotted the source, an armored truck. Rapidly he blasted up into the air and spun. “Howitzer Impact!” He drove rapidly through the air and slammed into the armored truck, creating a massive explosion that practically melted the plate of armor he’d impacted and sent the truck flying on its side.

“Kid, pay attention! We’ve got soldiers pouring gasoline on one of the buildings!”

Bakugo quickly turned, seeing what the two were referring to. “Trying to get rid of the evidence? I won’t let you!” Bakugo quickly blasted over towards the three Chinese soldiers that were holding gas cans, making sure to time himself so he didn’t accidentally release an explosion too late and set off the gasoline.

The three soldiers saw him approaching, so they threw down the gas cans and drew knives. Morons. As the first one shouted and charged Bakugo, he quickly moved himself to grab the soldiers arm and punch it out of its socket. Then he used his boots to kick the man in the stomach, punching holes in the armor they wore with the spikes on the bottom of his boots and leaving the man to clutch bleeding wounds as he collapsed. The other two, figuring that their chances would be better, attacked at the same time. As one of them went in for a bear hug restraint the other tried to put him in a headlock from behind, Bakugo repelled the first with a swift knee to the head before kicking backwards to get the second man off of him. As he focused back onto the first man he attacked with more kicks, again piercing the armor before eventually finishing him with a stomp to the groin. The second man attacked him again from behind, reaching over with his knife to try and slit his throat. Bakugo put up his right grenadier bracer and stopped the knife, then used the leverage to throw the soldier over his shoulder and onto the snow. He then twisted their arm until it broke, then stomped on their chest.

Bakugo then heard the sound of a knife cutting through flesh. Upon turning around he’s found that one of the Gurkha’s had tossed one of their knives, severing the hand of the first soldier he’d brought down. “You’re supposed to confirm your kills before you move on in a battle.” The Chinese soldier had pulled a grenade, in a last ditch attempt to take them with him.

“I’ve got you to watch my back for me, that’ll do for now.” He went to his comm, “Sergeant, we caught some of the soldiers trying to set fire to what look like long lodge houses.”

“Those will probably be where they’re keeping the workers. Go inside and make sure they haven’t gunned them all down, we’re going to keep pushing on this side of the dig site.”

“Got it.” Bakugo and the two soldiers entered the building, the smell of gas fumes filling the air as they entered. The first few rooms were empty, looking like offices for guards to stay in during the day. But when they made it to the main wing… “What the hell…”

There were rows and rows of wooden beds stacked on top of each other, with cell doors separating them into stacks and confining them in incredibly cramped spaces. On the beds were dozens of men and women, every single one of them looking beaten, broken and horribly emaciated. The two soldiers started going around, unlocking the cells with a pair of keys they’d found. “We’ve known about places like these for over a century now, the entire world did. But nothing was ever done because it would have shattered the world order of the time. Because of that these people continues to pay the price for the ‘perfect society’ that the party sells to the masses.”

“But who are these people?”

One of the soldiers stopped, turned to the people who were walking out and then said something in Chinese. After a moment there were a number of responses. “Uyghurs, Altais, Tuvans, Mongols, Kazakhs, Hindis, political offenders from Macau and Hong Kong… Just normal people.”

Just normal people… Bakugo didn’t have a response at first. Many of them wouldn’t survive here in the mountains, and it was even less likely that they would ever make it home to their family and homes… If they even still had family and homes to go back to. “Ask them if they want a chance at revenge against their captors.”

The soldier translated the question. At first there was silence, then a roaring of replies. This time around he didn’t need the translation.

Into the Beast

“Looks like they’ve really beefed up the defensive line around the cave entrance since last time,” Dylan said, looking through a pair of binoculars. “Barbed wire, machine gun nests, land mines, IFVs and even a tank. They really do not want us getting in.”

“If that’s the level of fight they’re putting up, then it means they have what we’re looking for.”

“Again, easier said than done. We just need to wait for the others to distract their reserves.”

They remained crouched down in the snow, waiting. Then, the sound of distant explosions began to echo across the mountains. “It’s begun. Now we just need to wait for them to pull troops away.”

Several minutes passed as they laid in the snow, camouflaged and observing the forces outside the cave as they continued their guard duty. “They’re not moving… Are you sure that this distraction is going to work?”

“It’s not them that we’re waiting for, it’s-“ The sound of helicopters could eventually be heard, thundering out above them and towards the dig site. “Well, we were waiting on those.”

“Helicopters?”

“They’re gunships with troop bays, one of the very few aircraft that they can actually use effectively in these mountains. Now with them gone their reserve forces will be depleted along with their supplemental firepower.”

“Wait a minute,” Jiro said, “If they’re so dangerous that we needed them to be drawn away, does that mean the others are going to have to fight them?”

“It sure does, but that’s the point of a distraction. Someone needs to take the hit somewhere. So long as we don’t take too long then they won’t have too much trouble. Now you,” he said, pointing at Jiro, “are coming with me.”

“Why me?!

“Because we handed off our AT weapons to the other group. So if I understand your quirk and that rifle correctly, the you’re our only way of punching through their defensive positions and armored vehicles. Now come on,” Dylan jerked his head in the direction of a nearby ridge. “The rest of you, wait until we get to the ridge. Then once you’re ready we can begin our attack. Just make sure that when you do attack it’s hard and fast. The Chinese know that we tried to bust in this way last time, so they’ve probably set up shapes charges to collapse the entrance in case their defenses collapse.”

“Get your ass moving then,” Mirko said, “We don’t have the time all the time in the world to wait for you to go.”

“Too right,” Dylan, Jiro and a few of the other soldiers moved away, up towards the ridge line. After another minute passsd, and after they were given a thumbs up, they knew it was time to start.

“On your go kid.”

“Full Cowling!” Midoriya brought One For All to forty percent as he prepared to attack, taking one last deep breath. “Let’s go!” He launched forward in the blink of an eye, the others following him. Seconds later head could hear shouting from the Chinese soldiers who now spotted them, alarm being raised to their attack. “Air Force!” Midoriya used both his gauntlets to attack. The first five concussive air blasts struck the ground, triggering the above ground landmines hidden beneath the snow and clearing the others a path to move through on foot. The other five struck a group of soldiers who were raising their rifles, knocking them away before they could get any rounds out. Something he did notice was that his shots were less powerful than usual, likely due to the thinner atmosphere.

“Keep moving unless you plan on getting shot!” Mirko said, pushing him forward. She was hopping from one spot to the next, fighting the soldiers. Against one she swung her right leg and kicked hard, shattering bones and throwing him through a nearby concrete barrier. Against another she gave a powerful front kick and sent them flying into an entire squad, knocking them down before jumping up and stomping down on all of them.

“This is crazy, since when would Heroes do stuff like this?!” Hagakure used her quirk to great effect, blinding entire groups of the Chinese soldiers with her refracted like and allowing the friendly ones to pick them off. Not only did the immense amount of snow cover mean that nearby light was reflected much better, but being at such a high altitude meant that there was a greater exposure to UV light. In fact he didn’t doubt that with high enough concentration she could cause serious burns at this height.

“Careful!” One of the soldiers, not yet having been hit, wildly began firing through the air with his rifle. Midoriya quickly leaped over, kicking the soldier away.

“Thanks!” She quickly blinded another nearby soldier, then grabbing their arm and twisting it behind their back before hammering against the uncovered side of their head. “Jeez, even if this is what we need to do it doesn't feel right.”

“It might not feel right, but-“

“I told you to keep moving!” Mirko moved both of them out of the way as a machine gun opened fire, cutting through the space they’d just been standing in. As they rolled into cover they heard what sounded like a firecracker going off. As they looked up they could see the machine gunner who’d been shooting at them fall to the ground, holding his face and screaming agony.

Blood was pouring out of every orifice, the soldier hopelessly trying anything he could to stop the bleeding. “What the…”

“Looks like that’s what he meant when he said it could be adjusted not to kill. Though frankly, it’s better than they deserve.”

“Better than they deserve?! He’s bleedkng out and in horrible pain! Does he really deserve that just because he was in our way?”

“Maybe you need to be reminded about this, kid, but we’re at war. These aren’t small-bit Villains looking to rob a convenience store to make a quick buck who fold at the sign of the police, they’re soldiers. The same soldiers who’ve killed thousands of completely innocent people and are willing to do the same to you.”

“But Mr. Aurdel is a soldier too! You haven’t exactly-“

“He’s different because he hasn’t been actively trying to gun you down!” The two of them leaped over sets of concrete barriers and went back into the fight. Midoriya punched a group of soldiers, scattering them across the snow and away from their weapons. Mirko meanwhile hopped rapidly toward one of the lighter armored vehicles, giving it a powerful and heavy kick that sent it toppling over onto its side. As one of its occupants crawled out with a rifle she came back down, kicking away their rifle and stomping on them before moving to the next targets. Another vehicle that was driving around got hit by Jiro’s weapon, the driver and gunner tumbling out from inside and writhing on the ground. Within a few minutes they’d managed to take out almost all of their defenses, with one exception.

Midoriya felt a pressure wave as the tank shell flew around seven feet off to the side, aiming for the ridge that Jiro and the others were sitting at. Midoriya took a moment to recover, his ears ringing. Were they alright? Had they been hit? The smoke and snow make it hard to tell. Damnit, he had to do something. “Full Cowling, Fifty Percent!” Midoriya jumped up and caught the attention of the tank crew, the turret swiveling towards him as he landed back on the ground. Just as it was about to fired he moved in a flash, the shell bouncing off the ground for some reason and falling into the snow. He then did it again, forcing the turret to traverse all the way to the left before firing. Then once it fired he quickly used One For All to get to the opposite side, meaning that he would have to traverse all the way back. “St. Louis Smash!” Midoriya brought his heel down and kicked through the barrel of the main gun. The front half snapped off, while the back half was warped and forced downward. Either way they were unable to fire anything else. He bounced back, taking a moment to-

Midoriya was thrown backward as the tank suddenly combusted, a hot jet of fire shooting upwards with the turret as it was thrown into the sky. He quickly used One For All to get away from the wreckage, throwing himself into the snow as superheated shrapnel ripped through his costume and the shattered turret landed mere feet away. “Deku, are you alright?” Hagakure offered him a hand, pulling him up.

“Yeah, I was just-“

“Double time it into the cave! If anything is going to be a sign that we broke in it’s going to be that!” Dylan slid down the ridge with Jiro and the others in tow.

As they sprinted towards the entrance Mirko quickly grabbed Jiro and Hagakure, while Midoriya used Blackwhip to drag Dylan and a few of the other soldiers forward. Within seconds of reaching the cave the charges above their heads collapsed. Midoriya tried to reach back out to grab the rest of the soldiers with Blackwhip, but it was too late. A mountain of rubble descended on the opening, sealing them in and keeping any one who was left outside out.

“No no no!” Dylan pounded with his fists on the newly fallen rocks, before taking off his helmet and throwing it against the ground. “Fuck!”

“We just barely made it in…” Jiro said.

Dylan leaned against the rocks, covering his face. “And with less than half of our force left.”

“Having second thoughts?” Mirko asked.

“Even if I did, there’s no turning back now.” Through the rubble they could hear the sound of an avalanche happening outside, swallowing up whatever hadn’t been crushed in the collapse of the entrance. “The only way out of this base now is through the main entrance, which means fighting through an army of personnel that stand in our way.”

“Then we’ll just have to force our way through.”

They took a moment to rest, needing to catch their breath after the first fight and having to sprint their way into the cave. Then they began moving forward again. “Looks like they’ve remotely shut down the elevator system, meaning that since there are no stairs the only way up is the service ladder. I don’t doubt that they’re waiting with guns trained on it.

Midoriya thought for a moment, “Well… If the elevators have been shut off, and they’re down here, then it means they won’t be able to use them to come get us down here. They also won’t expect us to come from that direction.”

“Hold on a minute… Are you suggesting that we climb up the elevator shaft?”

“I do. It’ll be our best bet of safely getting up to the next levels safely.”

“But we don’t have climbing gear. How do you suppose we’re going to climb?”

“Leave that to me!” Midoriya pried the elevator doors open, then climbed through the emergency escape on the top of it. “Mirko, Jiro, Hagakure, we’ll go first and secure the first floor we get to. Once it’s secure we’ll bring the rest of you up.”

“You heard him, get up there!” Once all three were standing on top of the elevator, Midoriya used Blackwhip to grab them. Then using One For All he began hopping from wall to wall of the elevator shaft, making his way up over what felt like several hundred feet of blank concrete surfaces. Eventually they made it to the closest floor.

Midoriya used Float to hold himself in the air next to the elevator door, “Jiro, use your earphone jacks to find out how many people are waiting for us on this floor.”

“Got it.” She extended her earphone jacks, needing a moment to punch them into the thick concrete. “There are… Woah, that’s a lot of people.”

“How many specifically?”

“There are sixty- No, wait. There are eighty people on this floor. Around seventy of them are clumped up in groups to the far left and right sides of the rooms. Most of the remaining ten are scattered around the room, though three are sitting next to where that service ladder would open up to.”

“We must be on one of the prison levels then. Alright, we’ll bust in and knock out all the soldiers on this level. Then I’ll go back down, bring Dylan and the others up and then we can free the prisoners.” He looked over, “Jiro, use one of those muffle charges to disorient the soldiers inside the room. Hagakure, wait until I open the door to blind the soldiers inside.”

“Got it!”

“Ringing ears, huh…?” Mirko muttered, being the only one who couldn’t actually put on ear protection due to obvious reasons.

Jiro placed the charge on the wall, “It’s ready!”

The three of them put in ear plugs, “Let’s do this!” Jiro pushed the button on the charge, and Midoriya was able to tell that it was working properly because even with the earplugs in the few sounds he’d been able to hear became muffled as if he was underwater.

Midoriya then quickly pried open the elevator doors, dragging everyone in and releasing them. As soon as the soldiers turned they were instantly blinded by Hagakure, allowing Midoriya and Mirko to rush forward. “Smash!” Midoriya punched the closest soldier, launching him into another and sent both of them flying against one of the many cells that lined the side of the room. Mirko meanwhile charged towards a group of them, using a sweeping kick to hit three of the soldiers in a row. Hagakure then used the emitters on her gloves, keeping a set of holograms to run at the remaining soldiers.

As they stuck to the side the soldiers opened fire on the holograms, only realizing too late that they were attacking a bunch of decoys as he and Mirko attacked from the side and knocked the five out all at the same time. Moments later the muffle charge deactivated. “Jeez, ringing ears isn’t even the half of it. I think I’m going to be sick,” Mirko said, “Kid, bring those other guys up here. We’ll wait here and stand guard.”

“Right,” Midoriya quickly hopped back in the direction of the elevator, dropping down while using Float as an air brake to prevent him from reaching too high of a speed. “The next floor is clear! I’m going to bring you all up now.”

“Took you guys a while to do it, I was really considering climbing that ladder and singing all the way up,” Dylan said. “Now be quick, the longer we take the more likely they’ll send reinforcements to try and retake the next floor. And while it was easy for you guys to take out one set of guards, I’m not sure how it would be for an entire base.” Midoriya used Blackwhip to grab Dylan and the other soldiers, then rapidly ascended the elevator shaft again.

“Jiro, have they sent anyone to come and attack us?” He asked the question as he swung back in, releasing the soldiers.

“There’s movement on the next level, but I don’t think they’re coming to attack yet. They’re probably waiting for us to make the next move.”

“I’m not so sure about that. Rabbit, go with him and start freeing the prisoners so they know what to do,” he pointed to one of the Gurkhas, “Meanwhile, I’m going to ask some of our PLA friends what’s what.”

“You think you can make them talk?”

He pulled out a knife, “Sure, I know Chinese too. And on occasion I can be quite persuasive. The rest of you, keep watch by the stairs. Make sure we don’t suddenly get ambushed.”

“Got it,” Midoriya took up a position watching the stairs, holding a combat stance that would allow him to attack if need be.

“Hey, Midoriya,” Jiro started.

“Yeah?”

“I know it’s probably a little late to ask this question, but how exactly are we going to get home?” There was an uneasiness in her voice, “I know we’re going to try and call back that plane that dropped us off, but will they even be able to land anywhere in the mountains? We both saw how long of a runway they needed when they came to UA, the amount of space that Cementoss needed to clear was crazy.”

“Mr. Aurdel talked with the people in the other countries, so they might be able to organize a way for us to get out by helicopter. If that’s not an option then we’ll just have to steal a ride to get out of the country. Though if worse comes to worst, then we’ll just have to walk our way out.”

“You’ve got to be kidding, walking all the way back home? You saw how long it took us just to cross from one side of these mountains to the next, how are we supposed to manage an even longer distance with more people who might be injured?”

“I’m not sure, but if it’s what we have to do then I’m sure we’ll manage.”

“That’s not exactly the answer I wanted to hear,” she said with an exasperated sigh, “Normally you’re great with all this planning stuff.”

“Well, I think it’s safe to say that I’m out of my element. None of us could have predicted the situation we’re in now.”

“Alright, we know where our VIPs are!” Dylan shouted as he ran over, “They’ve moved the prisoners from their original holding cells and to the one of the top levels, about seven floors up. But if the intel I got from that guy is any good, then they were planning to move them to another facility later today.”

“Then what the hell are we waiting for?!” Mirko shouted, “If they were planning to move them, then they could be doing that right now while we're still down here!”

Dylan gave orders to the rest of his troops, “I want you guys to hold position here. Since this is the only level of the facility we’ve managed to penetrate, they’ll be sending all of their strength here. Once we get to the control center we’ll free the rest of the prisoners inside the base, then we’ll push back down to you.”

“Yes sir!”

“Let’s not waste any time!” As they all lined up at the elevator shaft Midoriya used Blackwhip to grab Mirko, Jiro, Hagakure and Dylan, then jumped in and began hopping up. One floor, two floors, three floors… He could hear gunfire echoing out from down below, the guards had likely begun their counterattack. “We need to be quick…!” Four floors, five floors, six floors “Almost there!”

Seven floors, “Scouting!” As soon as they reached the seventh floor, Jiro put her earphone jacks into the wall and began listening. “This is weird… I’m not picking anyone up inside the room.”

“No one?”

“Absolutely no one, not even a mouse.”

“It could be a trap,” Hagakure suggested.

“We don’t have the time to argue over this,” Dylan said, “If we wait and discuss this, then more of my men are going to end up dead.”

“Trap or not, we’ll manage. Everyone, be ready for anything!” Midoriya kicked the elevator doors inward, then dragged everyone in the room. It was eerily quiet.

“I don’t know if I like the looks of this…” Jiro said, scanning around. The room was much larger than the one they’d previously been in, with a ceiling nearly five times as high, circular walls that gave way to empty cells and a large tower standing in the center.

“That panopticon should have the controls to the cells. I’ll throw the switch, the rest of you stay on guard.” Dylan sprinted towards the tower and went up the stairs.

“It feels like we’re about to be ambushed, but from where…?” Midoriya desperately looked around the room “Other than the elevator, there’s only one other entrance for people to move through.”

“I don’t know, I’m still not picking-”

Mirko’s ears suddenly perked up, “Above us, move!” She then kicked all three of them out of the way as the ceiling broke open, something that looked like a laser firing through.

“Mirko!” She didn’t have enough time to move away, the laser hitting below hitting her just below her right knee and severing her leg.

“Damnit!” She rolled to the side, leaving the severed leg as an object came crashing through the ceiling following the laser.

“A miss, but it would have been boring to simply kill you all in one blast.” The object stood up straight, revealing itself to be a humanoid like figure. “When I first heard that another group of infiltrators were coming from Japan, I thought that I would have to deal with that fake soldier and supposed ‘Hero’ Spartan. Instead I’ve been greeted with a few children and their nanny… But oh what a pair of prizes I’ve found. Spartan’s trophy girl, Mirko, and the ninth wielder of One For All… Midoriya Izuku.”

As Midoriya heard the words, he thought his heart was about to stop. He looked up at the figure. It was a massive suit of armor, one that stood at around twelve feet tall and looked not too dissimilar from Mr. Aurdel’s own armor. This one had a nearly pure white body, covered with bright orange and blue light scattered across its surface. “How do… Who are you?!”

“My name is Colonel Cai Shun of the People's Liberation Army of the People’s Republic of China, and I am the one that will lead my people to true victory over the West. That is… once I have your quirk.”