Chapter 48: Ashes of Tokyo
Himiko ran a hand down her face as she turned her gaze back to the wall full of screens in front of her. "At least Nezu's surveillance network came in handy for once." She glanced at Akina and Kaishin sitting on the couch next to her. "Well twice I guess."
"I guess you could say that." Akina whispered, her eyes remaining firmly fixed on the constantly shifting images. Lowering her voice, she tipped her head slightly toward Himiko. "You said you have friends in the city?"
"Have you heard from them?" Kaishin added as he turned away and toward Himiko, giving her the best concerned look he could pull off.
"A few." Himiko answered, her face falling slightly as her eyes moved away from the pair and back toward the dozen or so news stations that were covering the unfolding disaster. "One of my girlfriends was with the first wave of heroes that arrived as backup." She glanced at her phone sitting face down next to her. "She sent me a text right before they took off." A sigh escaped her. "The other just told me that they arrived in the city…" She started to reach for it before stopping herself, her hand going limp.
Lifting his head from the cushion next to Akina, Kaishin took a gentle step forward and butt his head into Himiko's hand. Moving on instinct Himiko started to run her hands through his fur while Akina gave the other woman a sympathetic look.
"And you're stuck on campus with someone you don't even know watching everything from the sidelines."
Himiko's hand stilled for a second before she nodded slowly. "I'm going to be a hero, damn it, and all I was told to do was stay here and monitor the situation from the rat's office." A frustrated growl escaped her as she glared ahead. "I could have gone with the teachers. I should have gone with them."
"Then who would be left on campus?" Kaishin quietly offered as he stared at Himiko out of the corner of his eye. "Any of the teachers who are heroes are gone and all of the heroics students are on their internships." Leaning his head away, Kaishin removed his mane from under Himiko's hand as he turned to look her in the eye. "I'd say that the Dean leaving you behind shows that he trusts you enough to monitor the situation here and call for help if you need it."
Shocked, Himiko stared down at the sentient Quirk for a long moment before turning toward Akina. "I get the feeling he's the brains of the operation?"
A smirk tugged at the edge of Akina's lips. "He does his best to make everyone believe that's the case." She let out a dramatic sigh. "But I don't even know where he gets that idea from since he can't read books on his own."
"It was one time!" Kaishin growled as he gave Akina a betrayed look. "I told you I only shredded that book by accident!"
"How do you shred a book on accident?" Himiko asked as she looked between the pair, a playful light slowly returning to her amber eyes.
If a guardian lion could look bashful Kaishin did at that moment. "I was getting a little too into the story and…" He trailed off for a moment as his eyes narrowed into a glare toward Akina. "...and let's just say that my claws may have been… well they may have been extended."
"May have been?" Akina smirked at her Quirk, her eyes darting over to a now grinning Himiko. Mission accomplished. "You tore through half the book when you tried to turn that page."
"The Balrog was closing in on the Fellowship and Gandalf was getting ready to make a stand!" Kaishin protested as he spun around to face his partner. "Last time I checked you were the one who cried when he fell."
A faint blush quickly dusted Akina's cheeks as she glared down at Kaishin. "I was six!"
"And so was I." Kaishin responded with more than a little triumph coloring his tone.
Himiko stared at the two of them as the corner of her lips curled up into a small grin. "Don't think I don't know what you two are doing."
"What are we doing?" Akina offered innocently as she folded her arms across her chest and turned back toward the observation wall.
"Distracting me." Himiko concluded as she rolled her eyes at Akina.
"Is it working?" Kaishin asked as he padded over to where he had been previously, curling up next to Akina once more.
"Maybe." Himiko muttered under her breath as she turned away from the pair, her smile remaining in place as she whispered. "Thank you…"
"What are new friends for?" Akina replied, a grin of her own forming. "Now all we need to do is sit here and wait for everyone to get back."
"Sit here and wait for everyone to get back." Himiko repeated under her breath as she scanned the news in front of her, her eyes darting from screen to screen. "I guess that shouldn't be too…" She trailed off as the video on the screen changed, causing her to sit straight as a rod in her chair.
"What is it Himiko?" Kaishin asked as both he and Akina tried to see which screen she was looking at.
A long moment passed before Himiko responded, her voice faltering slightly and eyes never leaving the screen. "Th-that's Izuku and Ochako…"
Akina and Kaishin were quiet for a moment as they watched a man in a green and black fight alongside a woman in pink and white against a monster that looked like some kind of mutant elephant. "Who are they?"
"Two of my best friends…" Himiko whispered as she kept her eyes glued to the shaky home video of the pair fighting. Despite the slightly awkward angle that the cameraman had, they managed to track the fight, blow by blow, until suddenly the pair sprinted off screen and the video ended.
"Thankfully these brave heroes were on the scene to defend our civilians from the threat. However despite their, and others, best efforts it's clear that-"
The reporter was cut off as Akina reached over and muted the television. "It sounds like they're ok."
"Yeah…" Himiko muttered as she glanced toward her phone. Come on Izuku… Let me know you're alright…
++++++++++++++++++++
"And that's the HeroNet stabilized." Mei grinned at the rest of the group. "And to think we got to work alongside the Lady Brava."
"Lady Brava?" Melissa asked as she rolled her chair back from the computer she had been using.
"You don't know about Lady Brava?!?" Mei gave the blonde American a shocked look before turning back to address her classmates. "She doesn't know about Lady Brava!"
Yuuko looked at her fellow 1-H members and seeing their equally confused looks turned back toward Mei. "Um… who's Lady Brava?"
"Who's… Mei trailed off as stared in disbelief at each other person in the room in turn before throwing her hands in the air. "How… How do none of you know about the greatest hacker that's ever lived! She was behind the attack that exposed the South Canadian heroics scandal." She snapped her fingers. "Or what about the N'Hake Bank release when she wiped out tens of thousands of people's debt?"
"So she's a criminal?" Maina offered as the group continued to stare at Mei.
"Criminal?" Mei scoffed as she waved the other woman off. "The South Canadian job exposed that they were deliberately delaying hero response times so that there was more damage and so more to repair." She waved a hand toward the destruction of Tokyo behind them. "And the N'Hake job? She only targeted people with debt that was stacked against them. She saved victims who were given loans that they couldn't understand with hidden clauses that screwed them over."
"So she's a modern day Robin Hood?"
"Exactly!" Mei gave Melissa an excited smile before spinning around in her chair, forcing a smile onto the other woman's face with her antics. "And now I can say that I was working with her on getting Japan back on track!"
"And you know it was this Lady Brava because?" Rui said, asking the question on all of their minds.
"Because who else would already have a backdoor into the HPSC systems. Forcing those servers to reboot and get back online isn't something anyone can pull off in an afternoon." Mei stopped spinning in her chair as it rotated around and faced her station. "I'm betting that she had something already set up but decided to burn that plan in order to help Japan."
"Well at least it's over?" Maina offered as she shared a worried glance with Rui as the pair continued to watch the news playing behind the group. "The servers are up, heroes are flooding in and it looks like the Nomu are all dealt with."
A harsh laugh, that bordered on manic, escaped Taji as he shook his head. "Over? No, I think it's far from over."
"I think she meant the attack." Rui replied, cutting Maina off in the process with a shake of their head. "Clearly Tokyo will need time to recover but if the news is right those monsters are down for good."
"For now." Yuuko muttered under her breath as she stared up at the screen as the camera panned across blocks of damaged and ruined buildings. "They need to figure out where they came from."
"From inside the city of course." Mei answered as she swiveled around in her chair to face her classmates. "At least that's what I've been able to gather from the reports. It seems like there were a series of explosions and then the Nomu started crawling out of the rubble." A frown quickly flitted across her face. "I should be able to make a new algorithm baby to cross reference reports and pictures and figure out where they came from."
Melissa, having been content to rest her eyes for a second as she fought back her worry for her uncle Toshi, looked over at Mei once more. "That's not a bad idea." Sitting up, she rolled her chair back over toward the station next to the pink haired inventor. "If we can find the locations that these Nomu crawled out of we can try and figure out who owns the building and see if there are any similarities."
"They may not own them." Yuuko cut in as she sat across from the pair. "If I was planning on something like this I would just rent the location under a false name or something."
"But if they were smart enough to pull the attack off under everyone's nose then they would have covered their tracks." Maina muttered as she too pulled up a chair.
"Well first things first we need to know where they came from before we can try and figure out who put them there." Rui sighed as they joined the others. "Mei do you still have your algorithm running for our heroics classmates?"
"Sure do!" Mei quickly switched her screen, changing the display to a series of smaller videos. "Who do you want me to find?"
Rui shook their head. "Nobody. If we can find the first messages or videos we can triangulate where each of these Nomu came from."
"We'd need to change the search from heroes to just Nomu in general." Taji added as he too joined the others, having calmed down.
"That's an easy fix." Mei chirped as her fingers started to fly across her keyboard, lines of text seemingly writing themselves as she went. "Though it might not work to find all of their starting locations." She let out a contemplative hum. "But if I write something to follow their paths of destruction I might be able to help narrow it down further."
"You get started on that." Melissa nodded toward the text on Mei's screen as she pulled up the already existing algorithm. "I'll edit this one."
Mei stared at Melissa for a moment before grinning and turning back to her work. "Just don't mess up my baby too much."
"No promises." Melissa smirked as she deleted a whole section of the code and began typing. "I was looking at this earlier and I know that it can be improved."
"Improved?" Mei's eyes narrowed as she glared at her American counterpart. "And who are you to say that my baby can be improved?"
"I know you know that I do all the coding for the gear I make."
"I know you do what you claim is coding for the gear you make."
"Claim?! I've been working with nano-machines while you've been stomping around in those clunky boots."
"CLUNKY! Have you seen Izuku's new battle boots? I'd love to see your nano-machines hold up to the stress he puts them under."
"Please! I-"
"How long do you think it's going to last this time?" Yuuko whispered to the others as all four of them shot glances over toward the still bickering pair.
Rui scoffed as a smile slowly formed. "A few more minutes at least."
++++++++++++++++++++
Neito felt his throat burn as he dry heaved for the umpteenth time, having fallen onto his hands and knees. Human… They…. They're human… The thought repeated itself over and over again in his mind as he stared blankly at the concrete beneath him while the clawing stench of vomit mixed the lingering taste of ash on his tongue. The world around him had dulled to mere background noise until a soft motherly voice cut through.
"Are you ok?"
Turning his head, Neito's eyes squinted as he looked up from his kneeling position to see one of the heroes from earlier standing over him.
The woman's smile didn't falter as she continued to stare down at him. "That looks like a U.A. uniform. Which course are you in?"
"H-heroics." Neito croaked as he pushed himself up onto just his knees.
"Heroics?" The woman's smile widened. "I had a feeling that would be the case."
"Really?" Neito asked as he slowly shook his head, his eyes darting to the mess he had made across the pavement. "It doesn't feel like it should be."
"Why not?" The woman cocked her head to the side as her eyes quickly darted to look at the vomit on the floor before settling on Neito's face once more. "You saved us today with your quick thinking." Her smile widened slightly. "And don't think we didn't see you start toward that creature originally."
"B-but I-"
"Threw up?" The woman let out a soft laugh. "There's nothing wrong with that, especially after a fight for your life. But what matters is what you do after you fall down." Her face turned stern as she glanced away from Neito and over his shoulder, nodding toward the destruction the molten Nomu had left in its wake. "I'm not going to force you to get up, you've done more than enough today, but Sorai and I would appreciate any more help you want to give."
Twisting around, Neito looked over to see what the woman was looking at to spot the male half of the hero team trying his best to extinguish the remaining fires. Large torrents of uncontrolled water gushed from his palms as he slowly moved from one spot to the next.
Neito watched Sorai for a long second before slowly nodding his head. "I can help." A grunt escaped him as he pushed himself out of his kneeling position and into a squat before standing upright once more. Looking over he gave the woman next to him a confident smile as he ran his hands through his hair.
Now standing, Neito dipped into a small bow. "Monoma Neito also known as Phantom Thief at your service."
The woman smiled at him before nodding her head slightly. "Pleasure to meet you Phantom Thief. I think it's safe to assume you don't know a small-time team like the Water Hose duo so," She placed a hand to her chest. "Izumi Miu at your service." She nodded her head toward her partner. "That lug over there is my husband Sorai."
"I heard that!" Sorai shouted from the other side of the street, his created water still dousing flames.
"You were meant to!" Miu shouted back before returning her gaze to Neito. "Are you ok to start? You can take some more time if you need."
Neito let out an arrogant scoff that he didn't quite feel. "Of course I'm ready. I wouldn't be a member of the illustrious class 1-B if I just sat around all day."
"Illustrious 1-B huh?" Miu shook her head before motioning toward a different section of the ruined street. "Well use that illustrious skill you've picked up and carefully cut away the rebar and the concrete over there with your wind blades. We don't know if anyone is hurt under there but if we remove some of the excess debris we might find someone."
Neito, having nodded along as Miu spoke, stopped at the mention of the wind blades. "What do you mean by my wind blades?"
"Your Quirk of course." Miu raised an eyebrow. "You do have enough control over them to cut away portions, right?"
"But my Quirk isn't wind blades."
Miu stopped moving as she shot Neito a concerned look. "But I saw you-"
"My Quirk is Copy." Neito cut in, motioning to the rings along his belt. "I can copy Quirks for a limited time after I touch someone. Or well I guess touch something with enough of their DNA in it." His brow scrunched up. "Midoriya was a bit manic when he was trying to figure out the thresholds."
"I see." Miu trailed off as she stared at Neito before her eyes shifted to his belt. "So you should still have access to the wind blades?"
Neito froze at Miu's words. Distracted by the friendly hero in front of him the repeating thought of what they had just fought had vanished. His stomach clenched as the blood drained from his face as they returned once more. They were human…
"Are you ok?" Miu took a step forward and placed a hand on Neito's shoulder. "You don't need to push yourself. Just let me know if yo-"
"They're human."
Neito's strained whisper cut Miu off, causing the older woman to freeze in place. "What did you say?"
"They're human…" Neito's eyes focused on Miu once more, full of a mixture of pain and horror. "These creatures are human. I got the wind blades from one of them."
"They're…" The color drained from Miu's face as she turned to stare at the solidified corpse of the molten Nomu. "Oh gods…" She took a small step back from Neito as her eyes darted from one Nomu corpse to another. "Who could have done this?"
Why would they do this? A feeling of dread washed over Miu as she shifted to look over at Sorai. Better yet what do they get out of an attack like this?
++++++++++++++++++++
Manami sighed as she pushed her chair back. "Gentle, my love, the HPCS servers are back online but I had to burn my three gateways into their systems to accomplish it."
"That is regrettable but returning the HPCS to functionality is more important than any future data we can harvest from their servers." Danjuro shookhis head sadly before turning a warm loving smile toward Manami. "But we've done all we needed to do, my darling Lady. Though I must confess I didn't expect you to be able to return the HPCS service and the HeroNet at the same time."
"Ooooh Gentle…" Manami's hands flew to her rapidly blushing cheeks as she swayed back and forth before she slowly shook her head and regained control of her senses. "I wish I could take all of the credit, my love, but someone else managed to get the HeroNet up while I was still handling the HPCS."
"Is that so?" Danjuro ran a hand through his goatee while raising an eyebrow. "Do you know if it was the organization themselves or do we have an unexpected ally?"
Manami was shaking her head before Danjuro had even finished asking. "While I'm sure KANJI was working on things from their end, the DDOS that they were being hit with was too large for them to handle on their own."
"So then a new ally?"
"Or an interested party." Manami let out a contemplative hum as she turned back the bank of screens in front of her. "Whomever it was implemented a counter DDOS to the server farms that were being used, thus bringing them offline and restoring the HeroNet."
"Showing that it wasn't KANJI that did it." Danjuro nodded as he stood behind Manami and skimmed the screens as well. "And naturally you tracked all of it."
"Of course." Manami beamed as she switched the image on the screen to a simple world map. "Though they must have been in a hurry as I was able to track the source of the counter attacks."
Danjuro opened his mouth to comment before pausing as the screen zoomed in on a seemingly empty patch of the ocean. "Manami, my dear, that is the open ocean."
"Exactly!"
Danjuro paused as he gave Manami a confused look. "So we are looking for someone who is capable of a mass counter attack that… lives on a boat?"
"Gentle, you're thinking too small." Manami gave him an indulgent look. "What else could be found in the middle of the ocean that may serve as the home to someone with the skills to pull this off?" Seeing Danjuro's brow furrow she continued. "Ok love, where else could it have come from?"
The office grew quiet for a long second before the light of realization illuminated Danjuro's face. "I-Island?" Seeing Manami's nod he pressed on. "Do we know who on I-Island aided our cause?"
In response Manami let out a frustrated sigh. "No. Whatever encryption that the island uses obstructs me from narrowing it down further. The only reason that I even know it's from I-Island is because I've encountered this before when we tried to find trigger's origin."
"Right…" Danjuro gave the screen one last look before turning toward a different one off to their left, his eyes darting across the list of names it provided. "Has everyone reported in?"
"All of our Lords and Ladies have checked in except for Lady Tiger Bunny and Lord Rapper." Manami suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "But since the pair of them were seen multiple times on the various reports flooding in, I think it's safe to assume that they are fine."
"Thus ignoring protocol like normal." Danjuro sighed with a small shake of his head. "To think that I ever thought that they would grow up."
"And just think, Benefactor trusted Lady Tiger Bunny with a pair of his students as well." Manami giggled as the screens shifted back to the various news feeds that they had previously been showing, sobering her instantly. "It's going to be a mess out there for awhile…"
Danjuro placed a hand on the top of Manami's chair as he leaned forward to press a kiss to the top of her head. "It will but we shall aid those in need from the shadows like always."
"Of course." Manami muttered as she leaned into the kiss before letting out a frustrated sigh. "We're going to need to delay our investigation."
"Delay but not terminate." Danjuro took a step back, his eyes returning to the list of court members. "But if we are being honest with ourselves our plans don't matter until we know if it was they who freed the Lady Nagant."
Manami spun her chair around to face him. "If the two are connected…" She trailed off, unwilling to speak her ideas into existence.
"Indeed." Danjuro looked morose for a moment before shaking his head and giving his companion a warm smile. "But shall not dwell on things that we must wait for. Let us contact our court and start the process of reconstruction."
"Of course my king!" Manami answered with a blush as she swiveled back to her battlestation, her fingers flying the second they reached her keyboard.
++++++++++++++++++++
"I could eat a horse." Eijiro groaned as he slumped to the ground, running a hand down his face and closing his eyes as he did so.
"Here."
Cracking his eyes open, Eijiro looked up to see Momo crouching down next to him with an energy bar in hand, a clear offer.
Shaking his head, Eijiro tried to push the bar back toward Momo. "I can't take that from you Yaomomo. We don't know if we're going to be needed again."
"Kirishima I can get more later." Momo gave him a concerned look as she held the bar out once more. "Just eat it. We both know that Scrap will have a meal ready for us once sensei gives us the go ahead to leave."
Eijiro stared at Momo for a long moment before he slowly took the bar. "Thanks Yaomomo."
"Don't mention it." Momo replied as she shifted from her crouch into a seated position, her arms wrapped around raised knees. "How do you think our classmates are doing?"
"I'm sure they're fine." Eijiro answered as he unwrapped the bar. "Everyone should be with their own pro hero."
"Like we were?" Momo whispered as she raised an eyebrow at Eijiro, causing him to pause mid bite.
"Welll we did separate for a little bit…" An embarrassed look crossed Eijiro's face. "But even if they separated like we had to, everyone is manly enough to hold their own."
I hope… Momo shook her head slightly before leaning her head against the wall and closing her eyes.
Eijiro shoved the whole bar into his mouth, swallowing it nearly whole, before leaning back against the wall as well. "When do you think sensei will want us back?"
"I don't know." Momo muttered around a yawn. "He just said to go take some time but didn't mention how much time we should take."
"I'm sure he'll come get us when we're needed."
"Of course."
++++++++++++++++++++
Taishiro stared silently down at his two youngest interns. Covered in dirt and grime and still wearing their costumes, the pair had leaned against one another as they dozed, seemingly ready to spring back into action at a moment's notice.
He chuckled as he heard the faint shuffle of someone approaching him from behind. "They made it longer than I thought they would."
"Their class is impressive." Tamaki muttered as he came to a stop next to Taishiro. "There is a message waiting for you downstairs."
Taishiro's shoulders sagged slightly. "From whom?"
"Ryukyu." Tamaki answered in a neutral tone. "There was a second message as well from Dean Nezu but that one was sent to anyone who has a U.A. intern to let them know that the other interns are all accounted for and in decent shape."
"In decent shape." Taishiro snorted as he shook his head sadly. "That could mean any number of things given what's happened today." He spared Momo and Eijiro one last look before turning on his heel and leaving the room causing Tamaki to scramble to keep up. "Let them rest. Between our evening patrol last night and the excitement this morning they've more than earned a break." A bone-weary sigh escaped him. "We all have."
Tamaki stared up at his mentor, a look of concern flitting across his normally morose features. "Is everything ok sensei?"
Turning, Taishiro gave his protégé a small smile as the pair started down a set of stairs. "In the grand scheme it is but days like today wear on you." He continued forward once more.
Tamaki watched him go for a second before quickening his pace and catching up. "In what way?"
"What have I taught you about saving people?" Tashiro asked, his voice low and steady but full of emotion. "What were the rules I asked you to hold to?"
"That the first thing a hero needs to accept is that they can't save everyone." Tamaki whispered as he turned to face the hallway ahead. "That saving even a single life makes the job worth it."
"And?" Taishiro prompted, his tone gentle.
"And to not dwell on those you fail to save." Tamaki answered after a slight pause.
Taishiro nodded along as Tamaki answered. "Now tell me, Suneater, how well are you handling that last part?"
Tamaki went silent as he stared off into space, the sight of broken and burnt bodies from earlier in the day springing to the forefront of his mind. "Not well…" He turned to give Taishiro a pained look. "Does it get easier?"
"In some ways." Taishiro quietly answered, his lips pulling down into a sad frown. "Yet in others it gets harder. You still remember their faces, maybe even their names but me…" He shook his head. "...all I have left is a number."
"H-how many?" Tamaki stuttered out as he carefully watched his mentor.
"Too many." Taishiro whispered. "And that doesn't even count today's disaster." Having reached the exit to the stairwell he paused, his melancholic features vanishing in an instant to be replaced by a warm smile. "Now our day isn't over yet." He turned his newly reformed smile toward Tamaki. "Are you ready to go help more people?"
Tamaki stared up at Taishiro for a moment before slowly nodding his head and redonning his hood. "Yes sir."
++++++++++++++++++++
"You've known for years?!" Hisashi stared incredulously at Izuku as the pair separated from their hug. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I could ask you the same question." Izuku countered his tone containing just a little heat. "I understand not telling me as a little kid but why not when I got older?" His eyes started to tear up for a second before, with a shake of his head, they refocused on Hisashi. "But we can talk about that later." Taking a further step back, Izuku sank into a crouch next to Ochako before looking back up at his father.
"What happened?"
"We could ask you the same thing." Pan snorted under his breath as he stared at the trail of Nomu corpses that littered the roadway.
Ignoring his subordinate, Hisashi focused on the young couple in front of him. "We dropped in to help the city and followed the trail you and Uravity left for us to find her here fighting two of these monsters at once." He paused for a moment as he took in Ochako's injuries. "Uravity was holding her own but was quickly overwhelmed and that's when I ordered Phoenix to get her out of there. After that the road was covered in that smoke and we put the monsters down."
Izuku nodded once before looking over and giving Phoenix a quick smile. "Thank you for getting her out in time."
"Just doing my job." Phoenix responded with a small smile. "I'm just glad we showed up when we did."
"So am I…" Izuku trailed off as he stared down at Ochako's unconscious form.
Hisashi gave his son a moment before asking the one thing that had been bothering him since they found Ochako fighting on her own. "Analyst, I know that you two work as a duo. How'd you two get separated? Better yet where is Miruko?"
Giving Ochako one last look, Izuku stood upright once more. "We were with Miruko gathering intelligence from a contact of hers when the attack started. Uravity and I responded first with Miruko following right after us." He shook his head. "I'm not sure when we separated from her but Och- er, Uravity and I stuck together going from one group of Nomu to the next." He turned to look down the street and toward the elephant Nomu's corpse. "We had just taken down that elephant Nomu when…" His eyes blew wide.
"When?" Hisashi prompted, seeing his son's reaction.
"When… SHIT ERI!" Izuku shouted quickly before turning on his heel and darting off, leaving a befuddled squad in his wake.
The six members of Wildfire squad watched as Izuku activated his battle boots and took to the air before vanishing around a corner.
Naturally Pan was the first to break the silence. "What's gotten into him?"
"I'm not sure…" Hisashi stared at where his son had vanished. "He was debriefing me about what had happened to them when he suddenly shouted and left."
"Eri sounds like a name to me." Siren offered as she and the rest of the squad closed in around Ochako's still prone form. "Could be another hero?"
"If it was another hero why run off like that?" Cosmos countered with a shake of his head.
"They could be hurt." Phoenix offered as she inspected Ochako once more.
"But if they were hurt, why not ask for us to come with him?" Zephyr asked as they shook their head. "It doesn't make sense."
"He did leave in a hurry." Hisashi looked down at where Phoenix was crouching. "How is she? If this Eri is another injured hero we need to be ready to assist Analyst."
"Unconscious but stable." Phoenix sighed as she pushed herself upright. "If we need to assist him we're going to need to leave someone here to cover her until she wakes up or medical assistance arrives."
Hisashi nodded to himself a few times before turning to address Siren and Zephyr. "Siren, you and Zephyr are going to stay with Uravity until we get back with Analyst and whomever this Eri is. If she wakes up, fill her in on the situation and wait for my call."
"Yes sir!" The pair responded as they took up positions on either side of Ochako.
"Good. Now the rest of us are-"
"INCOMING!"
Pan's shout caused the whole squad to spring into action and, turning as one, the squad of six watched as a blur of white crashed into the ground in front of them, filling the air with the sound of cracking pavement. Covered in blood and viscera, the humanoid shaped creature exuded an aura of pure hatred that was only added to by the glaring gleam of nearly glowing red eyes.
Standing upright the monster before them loomed large despite its stature, causing more than one member of Wildfire squad to take a step back.
Then in a voice dripping with malice the creature spoke.
"What did you do to my kit?"