Ancient Machine, Modern Threat

“…This is your daily war report. Following the total collapse of the Ayatollah’s regime in Tehran several days ago, the interim administration of Iran has agreed to unconditionally surrender to the forces of the United States of America and its allies. With this a civil war has begun in Iran, being fought between the new interim government, loyalist forces from the previous regime and separatist forces in the war and east of the country. Meanwhile in Europe, the stalemate that began last week has come to a close. NATO forces in the Baltic States, western Belarus and eastern Ukraine have begun counterattacks to push Russian forces out of friendly territory and back across the border with great success. With the poor state of Russian logistics and the total superiority of allied air power over the battlefield, many analysts are beginning to think that the war may be over far sooner than initially expected. Total liberation of the Baltic States is expected to occur within the week, and the first joint Polish-American task force is expected to reach the city of Minsk within the next two. One can… Wait, hold on.” The speaker on the radio shifted slightly, after having been handed a piece of paper. The audience waited expectantly. “We are getting reports that the nation of Otheon, a country that had provided a great deal of naval and logistical support for the war in Europe, has fallen to an internal coup. We tried to contact our branch inside the country, however no one is quite sure what is happening just yet. What appears to be true however is that these are the actions of an international terror group known as ‘Humarise.’ Humarise is a group known for its radical beliefs about quirks, but up until now it has always stayed in the shadows. As soon as we get more information about the situation on Otheon, we’ll be sure to inform you. Additionally, it seems that in New York City a total security lockdown is in effect due to a ‘threat to national security.’ Whether this has to do with the war across the rest of the world, or even the coup in Otheon, remains yet to be seen…”

“How do you know who I am? How do you know about One For All? Are you working for All For One?!”

“Work for All For One? Don’t be ridiculous. All For One seeks power because his aim is to rule the world in his image, I seek power because I wish to raise my country and its people from the rut it has been left to fester in by the elite. The only reason we’ve worked together in the past is because of our similar quirks.” Similar quirks?! “Don’t look so surprised. With a world population so high, it would be more statistically unlikely for a singularly unique quirk to exist than it is for two similar quirks to exist. And since I don’t have the baggage that connects my quirk to yours, there won’t be anything to hinder me when I steal it from you.” He raised a hand towards them, “The only ones I need alive are you and the rabbit, the rest can be disposed of.”

Mirko and Midoriya stepped in front of Jiro and Hagakure, meaning that any attack he tried to perform to use against them would also hit them. Dylan still hadn’t reached the top of the tower and thrown the switch yet, he needed to stall for time. “Does that mean you’ve planned for everything? Even if we somehow manage to beat you?”

“I would be a poor tactician if I hadn’t come prepared. I’ve already called for reinforcements to crush the little attack your compatriots staged against the dig site, then once I did that I sabotaged all our communications equipment so even if you somehow manage to beat me there will be no way for you to call for help. Even if you somehow manage to make it out of these mountains alive, you will never be able to leave China.”

“We’ve already done many things people would have said were impossible, one more won’t make a difference.”

“It’s a moot point, now curl up and-“

“Eat forty millimeters of HE you fuckin’ red!” Dylan threw the switches, then popped out the window of the tower with his rifle and opened fire with a grenade. The room shook from the explosion and left their ears ringing, Midoriya and the others quickly moved out of the immediate line of fire.

“Cute.”

He continued firing with his rifle, “The rest is up to-!” Colonel Shun turned his hand towards him.

“DYLAN!” The laser fired from his palm, completely vaporizing the man they’d just fought beside. Not even a square inch of him was left.

“Hardlight technology, isn’t it amazing? To think that this and so much more was buried under these mountains for almost a million years… One can only imagine what else I might find when I finish excavating the ruins underneath this face. But that will be up to me, and once I am finished all of it will serve China and its people!”

Hardlight? “Hagakure!”

“Already on it!”

“There is no way for you to face off against my power!” As the Colonel fired another beam towards him, likely with the aim of disfiguring him as he’d done to Mirko, Hagakure stepped in the way and used her quirk to redirect the beam.

“Yowch! That’s way more powerful than I’m used to!”

“Then feel free to die to its power!” Upon realizing the fight would be much more difficult than he realized, the Colonel began rapidly firing his beams across the room with the aim of overwhelming them with his firepower. Midoriya increased his percentage of One For All, gritting his teeth as his body creaked its way up to sixty percent. He could feel the pain in his bones as he jumped from place to place in the room, using Blackwhip to try and latch onto the Colonel and attack him that way. But any time one of the tendrils got close it was blown apart by one of the beams. Hagakure has no choice except to stay on the ground, redirecting the beams back at the Colonel when they were fired at her. Jiro meanwhile helped Mirko into the little cover they had since she was injured.

“Can’t you see that continuing this war is wrong?!” Midoriya shouted as he continued jumping around, still trying to find an opening. “Thousands of innocent people and scores of your own countrymen are dying, all because you want power!”

“My countrymen are proud to give their lives for the good of their nation and their people, and the lives that we’re taking are by no means innocent!”

“How can you even say that?! The missile strike at the beginning of the war was completely random, the people most affected by it were civilians! They were people who had nothing to do with this war, I know people who lost friends and family!”

“Your people are complicit with all of it!” The beams of hardlight intensified, leaving small impressions in the walls of the room as the heat caused the steel to begin to melt and the concrete to crumble. “It would be one thing if your nation only fell victim to the decadence of the capitalist and zionist ways of the west like the rest of Asia, but Japan has reason to earn my ire! To this day not a single one of your politicians has apologized for the actions taken against my people during the Second World War, in fact they completely deny any wrongdoing and instead glorify those who committed them! You’ve built shrines to the devils who ravaged my country, handwaving everything as a noble soldier's duty! This is the inevitable conclusion that the war heralded in, and I will see it through!”

“This is what you’re seeing more people die over? A war that happened over a century ago?! That’s insane!”

“You don’t understand, you can’t bet understand!” Midoriya ducked downwards as a series of blasts barely missed his head, instead blowing the stylized ears off of his helmet. “Even a hundred years later our country has never truly recovered. After all, the only reason the Communists even took power is because your people killed anyone that could have truly led us into a bright future!”

Midoriya saw his opportunity and dove in, “Manchester Smash!” The pain he felt as his leg impacted against the suit was overwhelming, and because of that he would think he’d landed a powerful blow. But he was wrong. At the very moment of impact a sort of shield surrounded the suit of armor, again not too dissimilar from the kind that Mr. Aurdel had for his own, And so even though the Colonel was thrown backwards by the blow, seemingly no damage was done.

“With blows like that, the idea that you could ever defeat me is nothing more than a pipe dream!” He rebounded forward and struck Midoriya, sending him flying backwards into the wall. A pain shot its way through his body as he felt what he thought was his left shoulder blade fracturing.

“Midoriya!”

“Let me add to your regrets before you die!”

“NO!” Midoriya watched as Hagakure stepped in front of him when the Colonel fired again, the silhouette of her gifted costume completely disappearing amidst the light and not reappearing. He couldn’t tell whether or not she was still alive. “HOW COULD YOU?!”

“You-“

“WHY?!” Midoriya launched in, striking with his right fist while still at sixty percent. He pounded again and again, the shield flaring up each time. He ignored the pain completely. “TELL ME WHY!”

“BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE THE TRUE STRENGTH TO MAKE YOU WORTHY OF THE POWER YOU HOLD!” The Colonel backhanded him, again throwing him back. This time the pain didn’t even register at all, willing or not.

“Deku!” Mirko shouted at him, “If you’re going to keep fighting like that you’re going to end up dead!” He snapped out of it, gritting his teeth as the pain

“Then what else are we supposed to do?”

“Loud enough sounds can distort light too,” Jiro said, hooking up to the many speakers on her costume. “Do whatever you need to, I’ll back you up.”

He gave a nod, then plugged his ears with the ear plugs from earlier. Moments later he physically felt the loudest and most intense sound he’d ever experienced, the entire room shaking as Jiro blasted it with her quirk. From that point on it was impossible to hearing anything, so he simply launched himself back into the fight. He was determined to take this man… No, this monster, down. He went up to sixty five percent, reaching the absolute limit of what his body could physically take. In flashes he bounced from side to side of the room, avoiding the hardlight beams as they fired. Avoiding them was made much easier by the physical distortion being done by Jiro’s sound, redirecting them in directions far from what the Colonel intended. And with every pass he made of the Colonel position, he would give him one good kick with his legs. Each time the shield flared, seemingly with no sign being any bit depleted. But he just knew it was getting weaker as the damage added up.

Cracks began snaking across the walls of the rooms, small chunks of concrete beginning to fall and scatter into dust. The room was being physically shaken apart. If he didn’t end this quickly, then they were likely to be crushed to death when the structure finally gave way under all of the destructive force. On his last pass he gave the Colonel one heavy swing of his leg, throwing him against one of the walls before launching to the opposite side of the room. No one could hear his words as he bounced back, his left arm reeled back. One hundred percent. “Detroit Smash!” His fist connected with the suit, the shields fizzling out. It then flew straight through the wall with a massive crash, going flying into the next room. Midoriya fell to his knees, completely exhausted and out of breath. Was… was it finally over?”

The sound Jiro was making stopped, presumably due to a similar level of exhaustion as she too would collapse. He raised his, looking through the hole. No… It can’t be… “That was a whole lot of effort, all to accomplish nothing of consequence.” The Colonel, still standing, stepped back through the wall. Too exhausted, Midoriya didn’t have enough strength to resist as the man picked him up by the head with one hand and lifted him into the air. “I will take your quirk, you will die here and your people will serve as nothing but chattel for my next generation. Then, you will all be wiped from the Earth to atone for your ancestors' crimes while I will avenge the lives of mine. How does it feel?” Midoriya didn’t speak a word. “How does it feel?!” Again, he said nothing. The Colonel brought him closer, staring him in the eyes as he shouted in his face. “ANSWER ME YOU PAWN!”

“Here’s your answer!” With one leg Mirko jumped in, throwing a heavy kick against the Colonel’s head. The visor obscuring his face shattered into a thousand tiny pieces, revealing a man consumed by absolute rage. He dropped Midoriya, Mirko quickly grabbed him and managed to hop back.

“YOU IMPUTENT BITCH!” He raised his hand, firing a powerful beam of hardlight at both of them like he didn’t care about taking them alive anymore.

“Now!”

“Refracting Array!” Rows of holograms suddenly appeared as the light was refracted back, guiding the beam back towards its source. Hagakure was still alive!

“No!” The hardlight punched a hole into the Colonel’s armor, exposing his uniform underneath. Mirko released Midoriya and he launched forward, this is the way it would end. He poured one hundred percent into his right arm. “I WON’T BE KILLED BY THE LIKES OF YOU!”

It was up to them to complete the mission of those who were sent before him. “AUSTRALIA SMASH!” Midoriya’s fist connected with the Colonel’s midsection, blowing a hole straight through him before sending him flying against the wall. The back of his armor broke into a number of pieces.

“He told me… that I wouldn’t be strong enough…” He clutched his open wound, blood spilling out from the rest of his body. “I know he’s out there… laughing at me…” He wheezed as he put both his hands on the wall behind him, steadying himself as he tried to stand up. “But I cannot die… China must… China… needs…” His eyes suddenly rolled over, and he collapsed forward into the ground. Then, as if to ensure he was dead, the panopticon tower in the center of the room finally gave way to its damage and collapsed, falling into his body and crushing him beneath its weight.

Midoriya collapsed onto the ground, sobbing and hyperventilating. Mirko hopped over on foot, carrying Jiro over her shoulder, and Hagakure walked over, sitting down next to him. “It’s over… It’s finally over…”

“Yeah. It’s over.”

Once the fight had finally finished, Midoriya needed a moment to recollect himself. Not only had his opponent been so overwhelming physically, but his ideas and plans were utterly oppressive and weighed down his mind. “Everything that he said… The beliefs he shared… I know they were wrong. No one who preaches such hate about others can be right. But I couldn’t even put together the words for a rebuttal…”

Mirko put a hand in his head. “Kid, in life there are just some people you don’t argue with because there is no way to change their minds. He was never going to change his. The hate he was using to justify his actions is something that was passed down for generations, and once it goes on for that long it’s almost impossible to let go.”

“It just doesn’t feel right.”

“That’s just how life is. Now come on, you can mull over it all you want once we’re out of here. Right now we still have a mission to complete.”

“Yeah.” They were all in horrible condition. Midoriya had a fractured shoulder, one fractured arm and one broken arm, Mirko was missing half a leg, Hagakure was almost completely covered in serious burns from her costume and Jiro had almost gone into cardiac arrest and was now suffering from arrhythmia after using her quirk so much. Even so, they needed to keep going. “Let’s go.” Midoriya stood up, then led the way forward. As they walked through the halls of the facility they found them covered with bullet holes and stained with blood, bodies of prisoners and soldiers cluttering the floor. No one who was imprisoned here would ever willingly want to stay, but they knew that the people they were looking for would be here.

“…ever find me?” Midoriya heard a muffled voice come from one of the hallways.

He called out, “Mr. Shield!”

“Huh? Is someone there?!”

He quickly ran down the hallway, the others following. “Mr. Shield, it’s Izuku Midoriya! We’re here to break you out!”

“Midoriya? That can’t be right, you’re supposed to be in school in Japan!”

“A lot of things happened.” Eventually they got to the door, then Midoriya opened it.

Upon opening it David Shield initially seemed happy, then a look of horror was on his face. “My God, you all look like you’ve been dragged through hell.”

“Yeah, I suppose you could call it something like that,” Mirko said, still managing to get some snark in, “Though, you don’t really look any much better.”

“My captivity over the last few months has been rough…” His mind trailed off for a moment, “But wait, if you’re here does that mean Melissa is-“

“She’s safe and sound as UA,” Midoriya assured him, “She’s part of the reason we were even able to find out where you were being held.”

“The debt I owe the friends who protected her is so great…” He sighed, relieved. “Did you come here alone?”

No, we did have help getting into the base. It’s just… not everyone made it.”

He shook his head, “It’s all my fault. They were after my designs so they attacked I-Island, now they’ve been waging this senseless war. I can only fear what the actual list of consequences for my actions are.”

“You didn’t have a choice. If you didn’t work with them, they would have killed Melissa.”

“Part of me wonders if they would have actually gone through with it. Even so, as much as I love my daughter I don’t think that our two lives are worth all that were lost because of me.”

“After all the effort we put into traveling more than half a continent away to find you, we’re not going to just give up and leave you here,” Mirko said. “We’re also here to complete the mission of some soldiers, rescuing-”

“-Zhong Tian, the Chinese progressive leader. Right?”

“You know about him?”

“There were a number of guards on rotation throughout my imprisonment. One of them was sympathetic to him, and told me about his captivity. Back then the Colonel wanted to ‘keep all of his aces close to his chest.’ I’m not sure if he’s still alive, but he was imprisoned near my cell.”

“Let’s not waste any time then and find him.” Midoriya took point, leading the now group of five through the halls of the facility. On that floor they encountered the same scene over and over, until eventually reaching one hallway where the bodies of the guards seemed excessive.

“Lord…” There were the scattered corpses of around two dozen soldiers in full kit, riddled with bullets from the front and behind. At the opposite end of the hallway sat one soldier next to a door, covered in bullet wounds and clutching his rifle. “Wei.”

“Mr. Shield, I see that your rescuers have finally come,” the soldier coughed out in accented english. He was in clear pain. “The others thought Colonel Shun was just going to transfer Tian, but from the moment that intruders were known to have infiltrated the base my squad was ordered to execute him. I gunned down my entire squad, then waited here to defend him against anyone else sent to make sure the job was done. I succeeded… but I myself have not been so lucky.”

“You did more than anyone else could have ever asked for.”

“Make sure that he leaves his place, so our people will know the truth and have a chance to live in freedom.” As soon as he finished speaking, so too did his breathing stop. The rifle clutched in his hands fell to his side.

David Shield crouched down, closing the man's eyes. “Not everyone involved in this war is a cruel monster. Some are good people and victims just as much as the rest of us, roped into something they could never hope to fight or comprehend.”

“Yes, and I weep for all my brothers that have fallen to the sword,” the door opened. “All this bloodshed, all of this violence… I hope that when I do finally return, there will still be a people and a nation to save.”

“Only one way to find out. Come on.”

Emancipation

Midoriya and the others backtracked through the prison, returning to the soldiers that had been ordered to distract the guards. Upon returning to the lower level they found very little alive. The only three people left standing were three of the soldiers they’d entered the base with, their uniforms and gear stained with blood and bulletholes. “Are you all that’s left?” There was a solemn nod.

The last standing ANZAC soldier from their group spoke up, “Where’s the sarge?”

“He… gave up his life to ensure that we would complete the mission.”

“Damnit…” The soldier covered face, letting out a pained and frustrated sigh.

“We can’t stay here,” one of the two remaining Gurkhas said, “If we have our targets, then our main objective is to extract them to allied territory as quickly as possible. Zhang Tian must go to India.”

“I protest,” Zhang Tian said, raising his voice. “My place is with my people, and I must go back to them to show them the lies they were told.”

“If flying into Hong Kong, Shanghai or Beijing and cutting you loose was an option, then that’s what we’d be discussing. But it’s not. The CCP told your countermen that you were killed by the west, your people think that you’re dead. If you try to do something by yourself you’ll be killed and then this will all have been for nothing.”

“That is exactly why I need your help to take me back to my people, I must speak to them.”

“We can decide what to do once we’re out of the mountains,” Midoriya interjected, “The longer we stay, the greater chance that they’ll send someone to wipe us out is.”

“The kid’s right,” Mirko said.

“Lead the way then. While all the prisoners down here were killed in the firefight, the rest should have been able to push their way to the surface.”

“Right, stay behind me.” Midoriya led the way forward, being the first one up the stairs as they ascended through the base. Everywhere they looked they saw bodies, hundreds of them. It seemed that this was the price of-

“Freedom…” David Shield muttered the word as they finally reached the surface, emerging into the cold air of the mountainside. Despite leaving early in the morning the assault on the base had begun last noon, and by now they could see that the sun was beginning to set. At the same time the clear weather they’d first seen when deploying into the mountains was beginning to leave, with snow beginning to fall and heavy winds beginning to blow.

“What’s the quickest way off of the mountain?” Midoriya asked.

“The Chinese were often using a cable car to ferry their forces from the top to the bottom of the base,” one of the Gurkhas said, “But after hearing about the attack on the dig site, and then the intrusion from inside the base, they’ve likely already cut the cables. If not, then they’re waiting at the other end with rifles to gun down whoever shows up.”

“Then what about other options?”

“Even disregarding the fact that most of this group does not possess experience scaling mountains, nearly all of us are injured and in no position to actually climb down. Not that current weather would even permit it. That only leaves taking an aircraft and flying it back down the mountain and to the others.”

“Then I guess we don’t really have much of a choice,” Midoriya sighed. “Does anyone here have any experience flying aircraft?”

David Shield raised his hand. “I could, theoretically. I familiarized myself with the controls of the machine they were making me work on, and I have some limited experience flying cargo helicopters when they came to I-Island.”

“Then that will have to do. Mr. Shield, come with me and we’ll try to find a working aircraft with enough seats to use. Everyone else, please look for supplies we can use. Anything you find will be a big help.”

Bakugo stared off into the distance as he stood guard, eating from an MRE that he’d been handed by one of the friendly soldiers. The last time he’d a proper meal was before they left Japan, making it nearly three days ago. But this kind of food… “Man, this stuff tastes like crap.”

“You think this stuff is bad? You should see what the Americans have to eat, that stuff isn’t even edible. If I was ever offered I think I would rather eat my boot.”

“Doesn’t help that it’s so damned cold out here,” Bakugo turned the heat up in his suit. As the sun went down cold temperatures had quickly followed all across the mountains, something that had only gotten worse as brutal winds and heavy snowfall began making their way over too. And sure, he knew that at this time of year this kind of weather was to be expected here. That didn’t make it any less harrowing to face. In fact the only reason he was standing guard outside right now was because his suit was heat controlled, a tool the others didn’t have access to. Of course that didn’t stop Issac from also standing guard with him, but since he was the leader of these soldiers he felt a responsibility to take the most risk while the others warmed up. “Do you think they even made it into the base?”

“If your friends are as good as you say they are? Yeah, they should. It’s a tossup whether or not they find the targets though.

“What makes you say that?”

“It’s common sense to have some doubts. After all, it’s not like we’re-“ He paused mid-sentence, a weird look on his face as he tried to focus on something. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Engines, they sound like the ones on a cargo chopper. It’s hard to make out since the wind is so damned loud. All this snow isn’t making it any easier either.”

“How are you-?” He stopped too, “No, wait, I can hear it too. Is it another attack?”

“Not sure, but I don’t think that if they were attacking us they would send just one chopper. Not even with weather this bad. There still could be a chance though.”

“Damn snow! If only it would clear up, that way we could see what we’re dealing… with…” A dark outline began to emerge in the snow, heading towards them. Their. Exact. Position.

“Bloody fucking hell!” Issac leaped out of the tower, dragging Bakugo by the collar and dropping the both of them into the snow. The helicopter then smashed through the tower that they were just standing in, continuing on and spinning out of control before eventually slamming into a large snowbank on the ground and coming to a stop. He and Issac rushed over, a number of other soldiers that were hiding in the buildings to keep warm doing the same, and within a matter of seconds they had the helicopter surrounded.

The back door dropped open, kicking up a puff of smoke. “Wait wait wait! Don’t shoot, it’s us!”

“You morons, what the hell are you doing?” The soldiers lowered their rifles as Midoriya was the first to step out.

“We were coming here to pick you all up so we could try and leave the country, but the weather was too much. It’s impossible to try and fly in these conditions.”

“So you nosedived our only means of getting out of the mountains into the ground?!”

“I will take full responsibility for the crash, as the one who was piloting the helicopter.” An American looking man stepped out of the helicopter, covered in cuts and bruises. “If it’s any consolation, I don’t think that we would all have been able to make it out of the country with this helicopter. There was no fuel left to refuel it, and it was the one helicopter that was purposefully left behind.”

“So you’re the one we came here for,” Bakugo pointed at him, “You better be grateful for all this, a lot of good people died to break you out.”

“Kacchan! You don’t need to-“

“It’s alright, Midoriya,” Shield put a hand on Midoriya’s shoulder, “I am indebted for all that was done to rescue me, and I don’t think I can ever truly pay back all the lives that were lost. But I am truly grateful.”

“As am I,” another man said, a Chinese one. He was the politician that the soldiers were sent here to save, Zhang Tian. All this trouble for a couple of middle aged men…

“Whatever.” He turned, “Issac, can your guys take them? Medicine isn’t my field of expertise.”

“Yeah, they’re on it.” Issac motioned to his men, who then began bringing out the injured. Mirko hobbled with some support, Jiro needed to be carried out in a makeshift stretcher and Hagakure needed to be completely concealed in blankets and other things. Midoriya, meanwhile, stayed behind with two splints on his arms, watching the others be taken away.

“So, what’s the plan to get out of here?”

“I’m… I’m not sure.,” Midoriya said.

“Not sure?”

“We haven’t been left with many options. Even ignoring the weather, the terrain is too dangerous to walk our way out. That’s also not accounting for the fact that we would be attacked all the way back. None of us would survive.”

“You’re a nerd, you’ve got to have more ideas than just that.”

“I don’t… Well, I had one idea. But I don’t actually know if it would work.”

“Anything is better than nothing, spit it out.”

“Back when Mr. Aurdel was telling us about our gear, he said that my helmet had a built in satellite uplink. That means it’s able to send out a single long ranged signal in order to reach those satellites. If that’s the case, then shouldn’t those computers that Mr. Aurdel had in his room pick up the signal too?”

“That’s relying on a lot of ‘if’s. First, the computers would have to be able to receive the signal. Second, the nobodies watching his computers would have to be looking for it. Third, they would have to understand what the signal means. Fourth, they would have to pass it along. And fifth, Mr. Aurdel would have to be in a position to leave.”

Midoriya tried to shrug, but wasn’t able to due to his injuries. “I said that I wasn’t sure that it would work.”

Bakugo tried to think of something… “What about those transmitters that he gave us before our work studies? The ones he gave us to use if we ever needed help. I didn’t bring mine but-“

“…I don’t have mine either. And I don’t think any of the others brought theirs.” Bakugo cursed under his breath.

“Then it sounds like we don’t have any other choice except to follow your plan,” Issac said, “Because I don’t have any of my own, and I sure as hell don’t have enough left in me to walk almost five hundred miles through enemy territory.”

Bakugo took a deep breath, taking in the whole situation. “I guess so.”

The next day Midoriya looked at the horizon as the sun began to crest over the mountains, the storm having settled with a layer of powder coating the ground. No attack had been launched on the dig site during the night, but now that the conditions had changed he didn’t imagine they would stay safe forever. That’s why everyone was on alert. Anyone who could stand and fight was ordered outside, holding positions around the digsite while those that were too injured stayed in the barracks buildings for their safety. He wasn’t so sure that it would keep them safe though. “Looks like this is it,” Issac said, looking through a pair of binoculars. Nine cargo choppers, three of which are carrying armored vehicles, and four gunships. Standard load of infantry for one of the transports is sixteen and five for the gunships. That puts us against one hundred and sixteen infantry total with a force multiplier of one tank, two APCs and four gunships. Not to mention they’re probably all warm, well fed and well rested.” He put down the binoculars and picked up his rifle, “I don’t know if either of you boys are the type, but I’d be praying if I were you.”

Bakugo folded his arms, “They’re probably here because of that signal.”

“I don’t think so,” Midoriya said, “That Colonel said he’d already called for reinforcements as soon as we showed up.”

“Maybe, but sending that signal would have made it much easier for them to track us down.”

“Where else were they going to look for us? There aren’t-”

“How about you go and ask them?”

“Why would I do that?! It would just-

“Midoriya!” a voice suddenly shouted out.

“Jiro?” He turned around, “What’s going on? You’re supposed to be getting some rest.

“Well it’s… It’s him,” she said, pointing to one of the men next to her.

“What the hell?!” Issac jumped down, running over. Midoriya and Bakugo followed. “Hold on, where do you think you’re going?”

“I know that my brothers are about to begin their attack, I wish to speak to them.”

“LIke hell you are!” He pointed a finger in his face, “Four hundred and seventy four people died trying to get you out of that prison, a number of them were close friends of mine. So I’ll be damned before I-!

“Please, I know the heavy toll that has been paid to reach this point. But you must understand that all this time my brothers have been dying too. If not directly as a result of the fighting, then indirectly as victims of the manipulations of a conspiracy much greater than themselves. If there is a way to save at least one of their lives from being so cruelly snuffed out, then I wish to take it.

Issac looked like he was about to say something, then shut his mouth. Frustrated, he eventually spoke again. “If this doesn’t work, then this is going to work in their favor. There will be no one left to lead the progressive movement, and this time they’ll have a body to present to China. It will most likely mean a further escalation of the war.”

“I must know where I stand with my brothers, Sergeant. Otherwise, I have lost.” Issac muttered something, then walked back to his position. “Will you help me?”

“...I can hook a microphone up to my speakers.”

Midoriya and Bakugo continued watching as the helicopters made their final approach, the beat of their propellers getting louder as they drew closer. Within around five minutes they’d made it outside the camp. Within moments the transports released their entire complement of forces, the gunships eventually descending to do the same once they saw they saw they weren’t attacking them. Soon enough a small army was sitting on their doorstep, then one of the gunships activated a megaphone. The first time around it relayed its message in Chinese, then it spoke in English. “To the Western forces that have illegally occupied this dig site, we have come to reclaim this part of our country from you devils! Despite your treachery, however, we are willing to give you once chance to surrender. Simply lay down your arms and walk out with your hands up, and you will be allowed to live!”

Zhong Tian stepped into view of the soldiers, with Jiro nearby to act as his way to speak. Now they could only hope that the words he said were enough to convince the soldiers outside. “Please, before you act I want to hear my words and look upon my face. That way you can know that I am telling the truth when I say that you have been lied to.” The Gurkha translated what was being said as Zhang Tian continued walking forward, the Chinese soldiers lowering their rifles. “I was not killed, I was imprisoned. And the ones you see behind me were not here to kill me, they were here to free me so I might go back to you. My brothers.”

Soon enough a group of soldiers put away their rifles completely, walking over and coming face to face. Moments later they began shouting to the others, motioning for them to do the same. Within minutes even the pilots descended from the sky to speak with him. “What’s going on?”

“The soldiers that they sent, they’re almost all young men who held the beliefs that Zhang Tian proposed. The sole reason they fought was because they thought he was dead. Now that the truth has come out… One can only wait and see.”

Midoriya watched as one of the soldiers walked over to Issac, first saluting each other before discussing something. After some time the two split, with Issac returning to Midoriya and Bakugo. “What’s the plan now?”

“He and his men will take pictures and spread the word that Zhang Tian is alive, but there’s another detachment of forces on the way. Members of the Internal Security Forces. They’re fiercely loyal to the party and won’t hesitate at killing us, Zhang Tian or any of their former comrades.”

“Then are they going to fight with us?”

The soldier walked back over, handing a rocket launcher over to Issac. “The man they’ve found here is the only one that is able to grant them the freedom they’re looking for, so they’ll fight to the last man if it means achieving it.”

The two APCs and the tank rolled into the dig site, parking nearby. The helicopters meanwhile took up positions in the air. “We need some way to identify them from the other forces,” Bakugo said.

He thought for a moment, “Do we have any paint?”

“Yeah, plenty of it in one of the sheds. Why?”

“We can use the paint to mark their uniforms and vehicles with ‘1-A.’”

“1-A?”

“It’s the number and lettering of our class at UA. That way we’ll be able to tell them apart, and so will Mr. Aurdel.”

Issac looked over to Bakugo for input. “It’ll work.

Looking back over, he shrugged. “Alright, if you say so.” He then sprinted off towards a nearby group of his soldiers, “Guys, grab the paint from the shed! We need to…” The voice eventually trailed off as he went further away, the work beginning.

“All of this is insane.”

“Maybe, but I don’t see any other way. Giving up isn’t an option.”

“Who said anything about giving up?”

And with that they began the true final preparations, heading back to their combat positions with a second wind under their belts and the means of winning the battle ahead of them. A second wave of helicopters began flying in from the same directions, their own forces rallying to meet them. Issac raised the rocket launcher, “When this is all over, and when you guys are old enough, we’ll meet again.and the drinks will be on me.”

Bakugo stretched his arms, completely focused. “I’ll count on you to hold us to that.”

“With tenacities like yours? I don’t think I’ll need to. Now, how about we show these assholes just what we can do!” As soon as the enemy helicopters came into firing range, a barrage of rockets fired from the ground and opened up on the enemy. Issac’s rocket scored a direct hit, blowing the cockpit off of one of the gunships and sending the mountain into chaos as the battle began in earnest. Bullets and more rockets rippled through the air, kicking up clouds of snow as dust as they peppered the ground.

“Kacchan!”

“I know!” Bakugo grabbed him, then began setting off explosions. “Explode-a-pult!” After building up enough speed he was thrown at the enemy, flying straight into the center of the force.

“Detroit Smash!” As Midoriya came face first with one of the helicopters, he used his fractured arm to punch a hole straight through it and left it to fall to the ground. “Manchester Smash!” He then came straight back down to attack a group of soldiers that had already landed, using the one blow to knock them all out and scatter them across the snow.

“AP Machine Gun!” Bakugo soon after blasted in, using his quirk to lay down fire on more of the soldiers as the others rushed in.

“Black Abyss: Piercing Twilight Claws!” With the soldiers unable to return fire, Tokoyami flew in. And using the claws made by Dark Shadow he easily tore through the enemies in front of him, knocking them aside like bowling pins at an alley.

“Thousand Sheet Pierce!” Edgeshot finished them off as they were knocked over, traveling along the ground in his thin form and knocking them unconscious multiple at a time. Slowly but surely they were thinning out their numbers and-

“We’ve got a breach from additional reinforcements on the other side!” Someone shouted, “They’re breaking through!”

“I’m on it!” Midoriya quickly began bounding over towards, beginning to let our Blackwhip in preparation of-

“Rocket!” As soon as he heard the words he saw a rocket impact against the turret of the painted tank. Quickly he dropped down, threw open the hatch and used Blackwhip to pull out the soldiers inside and get them clear. Within three seconds after that, the tank exploded and the turret was blown into the air.

“I won’t let us be defeated!” He grabbed the turret out of the air and slung it directly at a group of the enemy. A massive cloud of snow kicked up as it slammed straight through a snowbank and plowed through the enemy. “Delaware Smash!” He then used his glove to create a number of concussive air blasts, peppering the enemy with long ranged attacks.

“Howitzer Impact!” Bakugo flung himself at one of the remaining enemy gunships, knocking it off its course and causing its rotors to fail. It began rapidly firing off its remaining munitions before it crashed. “Not so fast!” He fired precise shots, blasting the fired rockets out of the air.

“Thanks!” Midoriya grabbed the crashing helicopter with Blackwhip as the two pilots bailed out, before using the combination of quirks in One For All to stabilize himself and throw it into the midst of the enemy like the turret. This time his projectile exploded into a fireball, taking out more than a number of the enemy and throwing shrapnel into the air. “Bakugo, do it now!”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Bakugo pulled the bomblet dispenser off his back and chucked it towards the enemy, letting out a rain of explosions that caused the enemy to completely scatter.

Issac rushed over, “Haha, looks like they’re running!” The hostile Chinese soldiers were tossing down their rifles and dumping their gear, sprinting away in the opposite direction.

“From us?”

“Who else would they be running from?”

“Them!” One of the friendly soldiers pointed towards the sky, a number of fighter jets were diving their way towards their position.

“Ah fuck, duck and cover!” Everyone dropped to the ground as the enemy fighters looked about ready to blow them all away, when suddenly…

“What the hell?!” One of the jets was blown apart mid-air, forcing the others to quickly turn away and halt their attack run. Any semblance of a formation was lost when a massive aircraft flew straight in through the center.

“Holy shit!” It flew forward, shut off its engines, flipped one hundred and eighty degrees so that it was upside down, fired with its guns on a nearby plane and then re-engaged its engines. One by one it began chasing down the other aircraft and blasting them out of the sky, leaving them to fall into the depths of the mountains.

“Who the hell is piloting that thing?”

“With something like that, it can only be one person.” The large aircraft eventually gunned down the entire squadron, gliding through the air before eventually slowing down and coming down towards the ground. It lowered its landing gear and rolled through the snow, coming to a stop just before the massive hole in the center of the dig site.

Everyone swarmed around it as the ramp dropped open, Mirko being the first one to hobble over. “It took you long enough.”

Mr. Aurdel walked down the ramp, the metal of his boots clanking against it. “Believe me, if you’d seen what I’ve been seeing you would take your sweet time too.”

As he walked down Midoriya could see that something was different, because on his back were two white wings.

One of Flect-Turn’s Lieutenants walked up to him, “Flect-Turn, the bombs in New York are all in position. The American Heroes have fallen into our trap.”

“Then now is the time that we shall make ourselves known to the world, and we will show them the salvation that we will bring.” He retrieved the dagger from his desk and left the study, stepping out into the main hall where his followers were gathered. Each and every one of them was loyal to his word, loyal to his ideals. He began to speak, “Why were superhuman abilities, the so-called ‘quirks,’ introduced and forced upon humanity? Why was the shining baby, the first to display these abilities, brought into the world?” He paused, “Quirks. These powers were not a blessing for humanity, they were an unneeded tragedy that will bring about the end of the world. As it is foretold in the ‘Quirk Doomsday Theory,’ quirks will mix and evolve as generations pass by. Soon enough, none of humanity will be able to control their powers. And in these final days eighty percent of humanity is sick with these powers, reducing the ever-dwindling numbers of those who do not have quirks through relations with them. Even more will be brought into this world to suffer at the hands of this curse.” He raised his voice, “The end is near, and that is why we Humarise must take action even if it means having the rivers and oceans of the world run red with blood! It will be our righteous burden to bear, for humanity’s salvation.”

The crowd began to chant. “For humanity’s salvation!”

“For humanity’s salvation!”

“For humanity’s salvation!”

He raised his dagger, flipping the switch. “Now, let us begin!”