861Chapter 132
.::The Number of Freedom::.
While the street rang with the sounds of battle, a different sort of chaos unfolded inside the restaurant. Customers and employees alike had started barricading the windows with tables, rolling them over and stacking them while using chairs to brace their positions. Mina helped hold one table in place against the window while a waiter spat a white substance at its legs which quickly hardened, securing it in place.
When he finished he hacked and wiped at his mouth, licking his dry lips. "Water!" he called, and a woman appeared at his side to hand him a water bottle which he eagerly guzzled down. He handed the bottle back as two more customers rolled over yet another table towards the window, cheeks puffing up in preparation to spit and secure that one in place as well.
"Those tables won't do much if that thing attacks the building!" one of the employees directing the barricade efforts yelled. "Keep blocking the windows, and everyone else go out the back door! If you can't run, go to the panic room!" Even as he spoke a chef waved people towards the kitchen, another customer helping to direct the last of the frantic newcomers stumbling through the entrance.
Mina looked over the crowd and found her attention instantly drawn to a man with rocky-textured skin clutching his side. She and another woman raced towards him just before he started to collapse, Mina diving to support his weight and help him remain upright. "Sir, are you okay?" the woman asked as they helped him hobble to the side, and the man grimaced.
"N-not really," he grunted, and even those two words seemed to take a lot out of him.
"I think I saw him get pushed into a lamppost," another newcomer piped up, to which he nodded in confirmation.
"You mean the half-melted ones?" Another nod, and the woman cursed as she turned to the restaurant to yell, "Does anyone here know how to handle burns?"
"I do!" Another person joined them, a man with a single twisting horn on one side of his head. He knelt next to the injured man and coaxed him to ply his arm away from his side so he could look. The small crowd that had gathered hissed at the injury, Mina wincing sympathetically. "Burn" was an understatement, she'd leave it at that, though the horned man remained largely unphased. "Okay, this is bad but not the worst I've seen. I'll need supplies though."
What kind of burns have you seen? Mina wondered in horror, but didn't dare speak that out loud. "There's a med kit in the panic room, but I don't know if it will have anything helpful for... that," an employee said with a grimace.
"As long as it has bandages. A clean tablecloth would work too, all we can do right now is cover it until we can get him to a hospital for proper treatment. If anyone knows how to make a stretcher, we could really use one right now!"
And that was when Shouto materialized. "I can make one out of ice," he volunteered.
"Good enough for now! Make it, someone else get some tablecloths or something to cover it so there's no direct contact with the ice!" The group set into motion quickly, Shouto producing ice which he then began melting with his fire to reshape it while others scrambled to find a tablecloth. Soon enough they'd prepared the makeshift stretcher, carefully helping the man lie down on the layers of tablecloths and torn clothing.
Mina and Shouto hung back to watch the adults carry the stretcher to the back to the panic room, following the orders of the horned man. It felt almost odd to see a group of civilians so neatly organized in such a hectic situation, but Mina mostly felt relief. For all their hero training, she was still a first-year; she wasn't equipped to deal with that kind of emergency yet.
And after so long of being basically on their own in this world, it was nice to be able to depend on adults to take charge for once.
She heaved a large sigh as she turned to the front of the restaurant. "I think everyone got off the street," she said, noting the front door had finally been shut. Most people were now heading for the back save for those still working on the barricade.
"Hey kid, you've got an ice Quirk right?" one of them called. "Any chance you've got enough juice to try to add to the barricade?"
"Sure," Shouto replied, joining the adults in their efforts. Mina meanwhile took the moment to check her phone. Still no updates on the FacePage chat from Tooru or Ochako, and she didn't feel comfortable trying to ask in case they were inside the base. Nothing from An-chan either, which was worrying in its own right, but hopefully meant she was busy texting Tsu-chan instead.
She exited the app, and bit her lip at the stream of notifications lining the top of the screen. Urgent villain attack warnings had poured in from all over Nabu, enough that her phone automatically collapsed them into a single stack with an ominous exclamation mark icon. She'd gotten a few such notifications before in both worlds, but never this many at once. Anyone could tell this had to be some sort of coordinated attack.
And something told her they were probably all noumu.
The thought made her sick to her stomach and freeze, dread building up quickly. Just the thought of fighting a single noumu made her want to curl up and hide. Yet somehow, even worse than that, she remembered Ochako had been able to mention noumu no problem back when she was dealing with that Quirk. So they couldn't be connected to the Alliance. And with that message from Tooru-chan about some kind of fight at the base...
Mina had no idea who or what they were up against.
She exhaled a shuddery breath as she slid her phone back into her pocket and slapped her cheeks. "Enough bad thoughts!" she scolded herself. "Don't just stand around, move!" She nodded and turned to the barricade, which had now been reinforced with a wall of ice.
A wall of ice which shattered at that very moment.
Everyone screamed as they scrambled out of the way of a flying blur of pale blue and bright red, narrowly missing one man's head and hitting the far wall. Their heads spun around to see that it was a hand, large and misshapen and leaving a burning hole in the wall where it hit. Something pink and stringy extended from the wrist's stump, hanging through the air and waving lightly. It twitched and jerked backwards, yanking the hand with it.
There was stunned silence as the hand was reeled back through the melted hole in the ice. Through the steam wafting around the edges Mina could glimpse the burnt edges of a table and jagged shards of glass from the window, and beyond that was darkness. For a long moment no one moved, just stared in horror as they listened to an animalistic roar from outside.
"Run," one of the waiters choked out, and then repeated louder, "Run! The barricade's doing nothing, we need to get the hell out of here!"
That declaration had everyone scrambling into motion, a panicked chorus rising once more. "Shit, we need to run out the back!" "Forget that, my phone's going crazy! There are attacks all over the city!" "Is no where safe then!?" "Panic room, panic room, panic room!"
As they ran around frantically Mina jumped up against the wall to get out of their path, and Shouto managed to squeeze through the rampaging cluster to join her. "I think that counts as a second ranged attack," he murmured, eyebrows furrowing. "Do you think Jirou and Kaminari are a good matchup for this one?"
"I don't know!" Mina whined, feeling an urge to cry. "Why are noumu even here? I thought they didn't exist here!"
"It sounds like there are other attacks, too. Should we help people evacuate safely, or go help them?"
Mina whirled to look at him in shock and horror. "Why are you asking me?" She normally wasn't one to complain, but she was not a tactical thinking type of girl, she was a "go in and do stuff" girl! She never thought stuff through in advance, she just did it! She was the last person to ask for advice on this kind of thing, even she knew that!
If Shouto realized that, he didn't show it. "We're a team, so I want to know what you think," he said, blunt as ever. "I don't want to split up, so we need to decide together."
Okay, that made a bit more sense and removed some of the pressure. He didn't want a plan, he just wanted her opinion. Still, this was a major decision. One option guaranteed fighting a noumu, while the other still had a high chance of fighting a different noumu. Mina bit her lip as she thought it over, forcing herself to calm down. "I, I don't know—"
She was cut off by another one of those ear-shattering shrieks, both teens crying out as they fell to their knees. Covering their ears did little to lessen the pain. It was so much worse this close to the thing, the hole in the window and barricade doing nothing to dampen the noise.
Nor did it block another agonized scream that was all too familiar.
Kyouka.
"Here!" she cried over the ringing in her ears. "We need to take that thing down! This is a bad match for her!"
Any fear and concern for her own safety were gone now, replaced by worry for her friend. She couldn't stop thinking of the trickles of blood on Kyouka's fingers just minutes ago as she'd held her ears, and how much worse it had to be now. Mina knew she couldn't do much to help herself, she was a bad matchup for it too, but she wasn't alone. "Shouto, please, help them!"
She didn't know if he could even hear her, not with how badly her own ears rang. But Shouto looked at her and nodded even with his pained grimace, staggering to his feet and running to the door to join the fray.
And after a moment of hesitation, Mina got up and ran after him. No way would she leave any of her friends to fight a monster alone.
Outside the cell, it was clearer than ever that a full-fledged battle was consuming the base. Shouts and yells mixed in with the distant sounds of stuff breaking and the occasional explosion, people racing around in a panic. Every step down the halls was infinitely more terrifying because of it, each corner hiding an unknown danger and potential foe.
Hitoshi felt almost nauseous with nerves as he followed Bakugou with Mion clutched to his chest, the newcomer—Abyss—a silent shadow beside him. He was both constantly aware of Abyss's presence but also kept somehow forgetting the other teen was there, given how hyper-focused he was on looking for threats. The occasional glimpses of black in the corner of his eye always seemed to make Hitoshi jump before recognizing the other teen, adding to his nerves.
There really hadn't been much time to talk or do full introductions with the ongoing attack meaning someone could stumble upon them at any moment. Abyss had thankfully quickly proven that he knew about the escape plan as they moved, which reassured them he was an ally and helped ease their nerves a little. He'd been early in his infiltration and still had yet to figure out Midoriya's location though, which meant they'd still have to look for him.
But they put that off for the moment in favor of something more urgent.
As the one with the most combat-oriented Quirk as well as the one who'd gotten two tours of the place, Bakugou had been elected to take lead. The blond barely paused to peek around a corner before gesturing for them to follow. "Come on, I think this is it," he grunted as he continued onwards. Hitoshi and Abyss followed in silence, every nerve standing on edge as they entered an empty hallway.
Most of the halls in the base looked identical, especially the ones used for residential purposes, and this one was no different. They moved quickly, Hitoshi's gaze skimming the shut doors before he came to a sudden halt. Most of the doorknobs had dust but this one didn't, and he recklessly threw it open to reveal an apparent shrine to heroes.
"Found it," he called, and Bakugou and Abyss instantly joined him as the trio hustled into the room, closing the door behind them.
Even knowing what to expect, it still caught Hitoshi off-guard to see all this hero merchandise in the middle of a villain base. He briefly went still from shock upon entering the room, his arms going slack enough for Mion to wriggle free and scurry off. At least he'd known what to expect though. Abyss jolted and froze in place as he processed the sight, jaw falling open as he slowly turned to survey the merchandise plastering the walls and every surface.
Hitoshi had a feeling seeing a veritable shrine to heroes in the middle of a villain base would always be jarring.
Only Bakugou seemed unaffected as he strode towards the bed. He lifted the mattress with a grunt to reveal a small, black object that had Hitoshi's heart soaring into his throat. "Is that—?" he asked, voice choked with emotion and unable to finish the question as he stepped forward.
"It's the key," Bakugou confirmed, snatching it and letting the mattress drop down with a thump. The key fob looked the same as when they'd first seen it, so unassuming and normal for something so critical.
This was the key to their freedom.
Bakugou thrust it towards him, making Hitoshi blink in surprise. "You've had that stupid thing way longer than me," he grunted. "You unlock them."
Hitoshi's throat clenched as he reached out with shaky hands, handling the fob gingerly as if it were made of glass. He tapped the screen and a green 0 appeared, raising to 1 when he tapped the button below it. With each press his thumb moved faster and faster, the number rising rapidly.
"Twenty-two," he whispered to himself, watching the number change almost in time with his own rapid heartbeat, until—a green 22 stared up at him. Holding his breath, he crouched and rolled up his pants leg, exposing the metal band that had adorned his ankle for so long. He held the fob to metal, right against the light, and—
Beep.
Click.
The anklet opened.
After what felt like years, the anklet finally opened and fell off. A choked noise caught in his throat at the sight of the pale skin, not that different from the rest of his ankle but still a small stretch he hadn't seen in far too long. It felt weirdly light, the weight long-familiar at this point, and his skin tingled at being exposed to air.
Freedom was finally, truly in sight.
Tears threatened to spill as it finally sank in that the nightmare was finally coming to an end, that tonight would be his last night in this hellhole. He forcibly blinked them away before thrusting the key towards Bakugou's leg. The blond stood close enough that Hitoshi didn't have to stand up or move closer, just needing to tug up his pants enough to expose the band.
With a beep and click his anklet fell off too. "Finally," he grunted, rotating his ankle a couple times before letting the pants fall down. Hitoshi lingered a moment, still staring at his own bare ankle.
As he did, he was startled by black fuzz appearing in his line of vision. A glance revealed Mion had apparently satisfied her need to explore for the moment, and made her way over to her favorite human. And when presented with a bit of bare skin, she did what any cat would do and rubbed her side against it.
The feeling of soft kitten fur on his bare ankle felt as close to heaven as he'd ever gotten, and Hitoshi's heart melted as his eyes grew misty.
That bit of contact also helped ground him though, reminded him that he was still alive and in the present. He inhaled a shaky breath and let his pants roll back down, standing up and blinking away the urge to cry while she continued to rub his now-covered ankle. He couldn't break down now, they still had a long way to freedom and safety.
"So, how the hell do we find Deku?" Bakugou asked Abyss. "You got a plan?"
"We marked a couple potential places where prisoners could be," Abyss said, pulling out a folded sheet with what looked like a map. "I think we can skip the rooms by the wing where you were."
"Yeah, those cells weren't exactly luxurious," Hitoshi agreed dryly, his voice thankfully lacking the shakiness he'd half-expected. "Don't think they'd be up to Shigaraki's standards for his brother."
Abyss nodded in agreement. "The issue is we'll have to pass the bar to get to most of these, which seems to be where most of the fighting is occurring."
The declaration had Hitoshi and Bakugou grimacing, both stepping over to look at the paper. It was surprisingly detailed, clearly a printout of an official floorplan with hand-written labels on various rooms. Several rooms had been marked with stars, and Hitoshi recognized the one with his own cell just from its proximity to the labeled basement door.
Unfortunately, just as Abyss said, most of the rooms were indeed on the other side of the clearly marked bar area.
The thought of going near that fight had his heart pounding anxiously. Not just the whole risk of getting discovered, but also because that fight was loud. Hitoshi had enough experience to recognize that this was far more than just a scuffle. The sounds of this battle were particularly destructive, the type of loud crashes that came with demolition. And some of those screams cut off a bit too abruptly for his comfort.
As if to punctuate his thought, the ground shook once more with another explosion that made them stagger. The teens muffled curses as they all turned to the door, straining to hear if the sounds of battle had moved closer.
When a few moments passed without any nearby-sounding shouts, Hitoshi exhaled a shaky breath. "Do you have any plans right now?" he asked Abyss lowly.
"I was supposed to just be scouting tonight. There's someone else here too, but I don't know where he is or if he's caught up in the battle." Abyss's words were clipped and careful, clearly wary of saying too much in the middle of enemy territory. Maybe he'd been warned about Seiko—
That thought had Hitoshi's breath hitching with panic. Shit, Seiko. "Seiko?" he called, and they all paused and held their breaths.
After several moments passed and nothing happened, Katsuki released his breath in a frustrated growl. "Dammit, is she here or not?"
"She might be hiding," Abyss murmured, looking at the shadows warily. "It would be the safer move with an unknown entity such as myself."
"I feel like she'd show up even with you around," Hitoshi muttered. Somehow, he got the sense she'd find revealing herself to a total stranger entertaining. She was just weird like that.
(He hated that he was starting to get familiar enough with the creepy kid to predict her likely reactions. The sooner they got out of here, the better.)
His thoughts were interrupted by a soft mew, and his gaze snapped down to Mion. He bent down to scoop up the kitten, holding her close and using the contact as a reminder not to let himself spiral too much. "So, should we look for that guy you mentioned?"
"That would probably be best," Abyss murmured, turning to the door. "I can search for him while you two wait here—"
"I'm sick of hiding!" Bakugou snapped, startling the other boy. "We're not just going to—"
"Okay," Hitoshi interrupted, and the blond whirled to look at him in shock and something akin to betrayal. To which Hitoshi shrugged and said, "He was scouting around fine on his own, and it's easier for one person to move undetected than three. And I can't protect Mion on my own." He hefted the kitten for emphasis, coincidentally bringing her close enough to his face to nuzzle his cheek.
"You're prioritizing the cat," Bakugou said flatly. "Seriously?"
"Why not?" It wasn't just his life on the line, he had Mion to worry about too. That thought helped keep him grounded, gave him reason to not be reckless and rush into stupid shit head-first. Not that he felt like mentioning all that right now. "We need to play this smart. The less fights we get into, the better. Not like I'd be able to help much anyway."
His voice took on a bitter note at the last bit, mouth twisting into a small scowl as he held Mion closer. Ultimately, Hitoshi knew he was vulnerable and near-defenseless right now. His Quirk was still forcibly suppressed, able to feel its glaring absence every time he spoke. He could still fight reasonably well hand-to-hand, but not against large groups of enemies—or even a single enemy if they were behind the destructive noises they kept hearing.
And Bakugou seemed to realize that too, because some of the fire in his eyes faded as he growled under his breath. "Fine," he huffed, turning back to Abyss. "You really think you can find this guy faster on your own?"
"Yes," he confirmed with a nod. "I can traverse through the darkness with my powers, but only I can withstand the cold embrace of the abyss. People like you lack the ability to enter the void."
In other words, he could move through darkness (shadows like Seiko, maybe?) but couldn't take other people with him. A bit of a dramatic way to describe his Quirk, but Hitoshi got the basic gist. "Is there enough of the 'abyss' out there for you to get around right now?" he asked, thinking back to the halls and the distinct lack of objects to cast shadows.
The other teen's mouth split into a smile that practically glowed against his pitch black face as he chuckled. "You need not worry for me, I have ways around my limitations." He turned to the door, continuing in a quieter voice, "Hide in here or one of the neighboring rooms. I'll be back soon."
The two nodded while Abyss crept to the door, carefully listening for a moment before opening it to peek outside. He started to step out only to pause halfway and turn his head to the side, the sudden halt making Hitoshi's heart sink and Bakugou tense. Someone was in the hall.
Before dread could fully take form though the other teen began gesturing wildly to someone, the familiar "come here" motion quickly easing some of his tension. Abyss wouldn't do that to a stranger or enemy. This had to be that ally he mentioned.
He looked down at Mion and forced himself to take some steadying breaths while Abyss spoke in the background. "What are you doing?" he hissed. "Don't just drop it in the middle of the hall!"
"There's no one around!"
And just like that Hitoshi's world ground to a halt.
His heartbeat pounded loud in his ears as his head snapped towards the door, back suddenly ramrod straight and mouth dry. He could see Abyss's mouth move as he said something else, but couldn't hear the words. Everything was silent except for the steady thump-thump of his heart, each beat thumping against his chest with that painful, painful feeling of hope that bordered on desperation.
His vision seemed to narrow as he watched Abyss withdraw inside, lingering with one hand on the doorknob before two more figures appeared. Two whose presence had Hitoshi's stomach doing flips, his knees shaking and his eyes misting. The newcomers started to enter only to freeze as their eyes met, stunned lilac locking with beady black and dull periwinkle, and Hitoshi felt his mouth open to utter in soft, barely-audible whisper:
"Mashirao? Neito?"
And then he was tackled to the ground, his best friends knocking him over with a tight embrace.
So, over the weekend FFN went down. Turns out it was domain issues with GoDaddy flagging a story as "child abuse". So it wasn't directly FFN's fault this time, but this is the mandatory reminder that AO3 is far superior.
Other than that, new chapter! New chapter! Also, a heads up in case you haven't heard: the My Hero Academia manga will be ending on Chapter 430. (We're at 427 at the time of this posting!) Just... wow. It's finally coming to an end. Ignite won't end, don't worry about that, but it's still kinda crazy to think the manga is at the end. It's always a bit sad when such a major series ends.
I was planning to update today anyway, but then this weekend...
Well. Yeah.
A reminder to anyone who needs it: get the heck off any social media if you have any sort of anxiety or other mental health issues.
Just disconnect from everything, don't turn on the news or check sites like reddit. Binge watch a TV show, get a bunch of books from the library, deep dive into a video game. Go camping, take a nice hike. Just stay away from the news and take care of your mental health.
The fact is, humans aren't really built for the modern 24/7 news cycle we have now. It's easy for the constant stream of bad news to wreck our mental health and just feed into our overall stress. Absolutely don't feel guilty for disconnecting from news and social media.
One of the reasons I love and promote fan fiction is that it's an avenue for escape. Escapism is so damn vital in hard times. Hell, even outside historic events, I've seen plenty of people in abusive situations say how fan fiction gave them a little bit of a bright spot from their stress. In the past I've done surprise updates after stressful events so people could have a little break, just take a few minutes to forget about their worries and delve into another world. It's such a small thing, but it's the best support I can offer in these trying times.
So if you need to step back from news and social media for a bit, absolutely do NOT feel bad. It's important to give yourself room to breathe so you're not stuck in a doom spiral. Please, take care of yourselves!