Chapter Text
Jiro and Kaminari were stationed near the Catalina Island Marine Institute. It was essentially an educational camp for kids between elementary and high school. But with the disappearances, no one wanted to send their child there, so the only people present on the premises were the instructors who lived there.
They were currently the team farthest out from Avalon, having sprinted to their target location to keep pace with the other search teams. Just as they reached their destination, they had gotten the radio message from Brandon and Bakugo. And mere moments later, their watches sparked and practically caught on fire.
“We just got here!!!” Kaminari shouted in annoyance.
“We should head back,” Jiro said, delicately taking the watch off and throwing it to the ground to stomp out the fire so that the forest remained safe. It was in stark contrast to Izuku’s panicked handling of it.
“I mean, that’s the safe choice, but come on, there could be people nearby. We just got started. We can’t turn away just because the fancy tech failed…”
Jiro grimaced. She felt the same way. It was kind of lame to run back to the town just because. “I’ve never heard of any Villain doing that to a body,” She said, referring to the skinned corpse. “So it’s probably just a human doing some messed up stuff.”
Of course, they were both ignoring the simultaneous failing of their watches and the additional Mana they could sense around them. They knew they had to head back. They were just doing their best to keep calm, rationalizing a situation that told them to run like hell.
“Maybe we should just hunker down at the marine institute,” Jiro said nervously, looking around. “We’ll make sure they're safe first.”
“Yeah…” Kaminari responded, his body crackling with electricity.
Neither of them saw the figure creeping up from the darkness of the forest.
*******
The metal man moved from the shadows of the forest, into the clearing with Izuku, Iida, and Baruka.
Growling could be heard as Izuku and Iida frantically looked around, realizing that, somehow without noticing, they had been surrounded by two dozen wolf-like creatures made of the same metal as the humanoid figure before them.
Izuku and Iida clenched their fists, ready to fight, but the metal man merely laughed. It was a distorted and grating sound that made him sound evil. It literally sounded like a stereotypical supervillain cackling.
“Don’t concern yourselves with them. This is how they greet others. It has been quite some time since we’ve been on Earth to see Homo Sapiens. They’ve so missed your kind.” The metal man had his hands clasped behind his back, hidden under a long flowing cloak made of shimmering metallic fabric.
“Who are you?” Izuku asked, still ready with Gravity Magic to flatten the stranger.
“I have quite a few names. King Raia Cadmus. Lord of Synthetics. But perhaps my most recent name is that of the Architect.”
“I know that name… Bael mentioned you…”
Raia’s metal lips turned up in scorn. “That fool always spoke of things he did not know. He was not even the proper Lord of Hell. Just some idiot who craved power. I should have cut his head off when I had the chance, but Ashborn had other plans.”
“King Raia,” Iida began respectfully, ignoring all the talk of Lords that he didn’t understand. “May I ask you what your purpose is here on Earth?”
“I have come to exterminate that,” He pointed to the misfigured corpse on the ground. “It is a child of Tetrax, the Lord of Evolution. Its arrival was arranged by the Monarchs to greatly weaken humanity. I would have taken it out sooner, but a certain Primordial was awoken on Europa. It took all my energy just to lull it back to sleep and keep it from consuming the solar system. Thankfully, I had just enough power left to contain it to this island.”
“W-Wait.” Izuku stepped in, cautious of the wolves still growling at him. “Primordials, Lords, Monarchs… What is all of this? What’s going on here, really?”
Raia gave a sly grin. “I suppose since we’re so well acquainted, I could give you the rundown.”
“Acquainted? I mean, I saw you on Europa, but I don’t know you aside from that,” Izuku protested.
“Oh don’t you? After all I am…
“The System.”
[The System]
*******
“My Lady, you have been awake for approximately 36.73 hours. While your body can function adequately for around 72 hours without noticing side effects, your mental faculties have started to decrease,” Deep Blue informed Momo as she stared at readouts on the coffee table. She had been in the Luxian lab just moments earlier, but decided to get some snacks from home before heading back to her work. Izuku had been gone for over a day by this point, but they hadn’t talked since it was likely that Izuku was on a part of the island without reception.
“I’m almost there.”
“We are missing a critical piece of the puzzle, being how to treat the abnormality in the amygdala, which requires an act of creativity, rather than an act of logic, both of which are severely impaired by a lack of sleep.” Deep Blue had actually refused to serve Momo any sort of caffeine, as he believed it would worsen the problem. It was one of the rare times a Shadow had insisted against an order. Since it was for the benefit of his Lady, however, it made sense that he would attempt to fight against it. If she pushed for it, he would likely obey.
“I feel like I’m right there… going to bed now-”
The grating sound of the emergency alert system interrupted Momo, coming from her smartphone on the table. It wasn’t immediately concerning. After all, Japan had frequent earthquakes, these warnings were familiar to the residents of the nation. And due to the brilliance of the architects and engineers of the country, the warnings barely warranted a glance these days.
Of course, Momo still looked at it as all Japanese citizens did for their own safety, and what she saw made her blood run cold.
‘J-Alert Emergency System’
‘Sapporo city is under direct military threat by unknown forces. All Japanese citizens are to be prepared for evacuation and shelter protocols.’
Momo’s immediate thought was that it was a prank made in horrible taste. But then her phone rang again. It was one of the heads of the Shadow Organization.
“Is it real?” Was the first thing she asked upon answering.
Scattered voices could be heard in the background, people yelling for stuff and arguing.
“It’s real!” The voice on the other end shouted. “Russian Naval ships have been spotted off the coast of Sapporo! They’re firing on the city!”
Momo leapt up from the chair, donning her Shadow Empress outfit as she rushed through the house to get, “KAINA!”
The lady who walked out into the hallway was not the same Kaina that Momo had spoken to just two nights ago. In the thirty seconds between the alert and Momo confirming it as real, Kaina had gotten dressed in camo gear, grabbed a rifle, tied back her hair into a ponytail, and was walking out to meet her. She had moved in the day prior, and she apparently brought everything she needed to defend her new home.
“Let’s go,” Her eyes were cold and calculating. This was the Lady Nagant that had been drafted into the special forces in her previous lifetimes.
They rushed out of the house as Momo began giving orders. “Igris! Defend the home! Beru, get Kei and bring her here, then move to protect Izuku’s mother in the hospital. We don’t know what the scale is yet! Wyvern squadron, patrol the skies, shoot down any invading craft or ballistic missiles! Quasar, patrol the coastlines, be ready to rain fire on any infantry! Kaisel take us to Sapporo city! Everyone else, stay in my Shadow and be ready for deployment!” After barking out orders, she and Kaina hopped onto the Luxian machine, configured into its Raptor Form for max speed.
There was no time to process, no time to emotionally resonate with the fact that a war was breaking out, and not even enough time for the intellectually gifted Yaoyorozu to have a debate with herself as to why Japan was being invaded. She was using lessons learned from Izuku to not panic. Lives came first. Devote all the power possible to saving as many people as you could. Narrowing her focus down to that simple task was easy. Her parents had trained her in the art of war. After all, her favorite game was chess.
“Are there any ICBMs or Air Superiority fighters on radar?!” Momo shouted into the phone over the roaring wind. She had never hung up on the Shadow Organization member. With ties to the government, military, and a whole bunch of other branches, they were her best source of information.
“The early warning system hasn't been triggered. The only thing we’re reading is a squadron of SU-57s.”
“Those planes are like 30 years old! Why would they be using them?” Momo asked. SU-57s, when first being put into service, were pretty remarkable pieces of technology, but they’d long since been passed up by many generations of aircraft. After 30 years, it wasn’t believable that they were the only aircraft in the sky. It wasn’t odd that they would be flying, after all, the F-14 Tomcat was used for decades after it was outdated by other aircraft. The strange thing was just that the SU-57 was flying alone.
“The Japanese Air Force can handle those,” Momo concluded. “But…” Her instincts told her something was wrong here, and it wasn't just that a war had broken out suddenly.
“Wyvern Squadron, engage the Russian Air Force. If possible, damage their craft and force them to eject.” Momo wasn’t looking to become a mass murderer, she knew she had to protect Japan, likely at the cost of many Russian lives, but there was a limit to her ruthlessness.
The Wyverns, all the F-54s, came to line up with Kaisel, flying at a similar pace. They were already exceptionally fast in their past life as machines, so as Shadows, they were nearly a match for Kaisel’s fastest speed.
“They’re probably gonna set up a forward operating base further north!” Kaina shouted as Momo filled her in. “Military focus will be on Sapporo and give them time to set up elsewhere.”
Momo nodded. “Can I trust you to look into that?”
“I’ll take care of it,” She said, giving a once over of her rifle to ensure it was clean and configured correctly. But her sudden transformation into the cold killer concerned Momo.
“Are you going to be okay with all of this?” She asked. She wasn’t sure if PTSD worked from past lifetimes or what, but the stark change in Kaina couldn’t be overlooked.
Kaina looked up in confusion, blinking her eyes and shaking her head. “Uh sorry. I got lost in the past. There’s a lot of memories of war up here,” She tapped her temple. “Don’t worry, if there’s anything North, I’ll handle it. Is Monarch on his way?”
Momo almost forgot about Izuku for a second, she was so focused on deploying the Shadows effectively that updating Izuku had slipped her mind. After all, he might not have gotten the alert since he was in America, and the news might not have reported it.
“I cannot reach him…” Igris’s voice filled Momo’s head.
“Nor can I!” Beru shrieked in annoyance.
The Shadows all reported the same thing. It was like Izuku had vanished from the world.
Momo almost let the panic take hold, before Igris said, “I know we are still tethered to him… but it's cut off. I cannot see through his eyes, nor can he see through mine.”
Knowing he was still alive was a relief, but not being able to reach him was scary. So despite it being less reliable than the Shadows’ connection to their Liege, Momo dialed Izuku’s cell. It didn’t even attempt to ring, it just went straight to beeping incessantly.
Every cell in her body wanted to race to Catalina, to tell Kaisel to turn around and fly as fast as she could. But Momo held firm. They had predicted something would go wrong thanks to what the Anti-Heroes on Europa had said. Momo was here to defend her country and her family. She had to trust that Izuku was strong enough to take on whatever he faced.
“He’s… preoccupied. It’s just us,” Momo said to Kaina.
“And we’re enough,” She responded.
“Kaisel, take Lady Nagant where she needs to be!” Momo shouted, hopping through the air to land on the wings of one of the F-54s. “I’ll deal with the main battle in Sapporo!” The two women exchanged one last glance before they diverted, ready to defend their homeland.
“Wyvern 1-1 engaging,” One of the Shadow jets informed Momo. She was riding on top of 1-2, meaning she got a good view of 1-1 firing off a supersonic bullet of shadow. The F-54, in its old life, was armed with a railgun in addition to its other armaments, making long range a breeze for the Wyvern group.
“Negative effect. I repeat, negative effect,” The apathetic A.I. reported to its Empress.
“What does that mean?!”
“Target was struck, but has not been hindered.”
“That’s impossible…” Momo quickly created an advanced set of binoculars, allowing her to see the SU-57 still soaring through the air. One of its wings was slightly damaged, but the pilot was compensating well. One shot wouldn’t be enough. Which was strange because that single round should’ve caused the entire plane to disintegrate with how much power it was packing.
“Don’t tell me…” Momo focused her senses, angling them several kilometers away in the direction of the fighter jet. It was, in fact, putting off Mana. The fuselage was entirely made of magical metal. Russia had turned the concept of a magical military into a reality.
*******
“Who thought a magical quest for power on the moon could be so boring?” Miruko thought to herself as she walked the sterile halls of whatever structure she was in. She wasn’t sure how long it had been, just that she hadn’t grown tired, hungry, or thirsty in that time. Nor had the voice spoken to her again.
Just then, she heard something down the halls. It wasn’t the same voice, nor was it in her head for that matter.
“Rumi!”
Miruko’s ears perked up at the familiar call of her name. It was panicked… it was… her younger sister? Miruko took off down the halls, running for everything she was worth.
Not many people knew that the Rabbit Hero had siblings. In fact, they knew next to nothing about her past. It wasn’t because Miruko was estranged from her siblings. She truly loved them. But she kept her distance most of the time, simply giving them hefty chunks of money from her work as a Hero.
“Nia!” She yelled back for her sister, getting another call further down, like some twisted game of Marco Polo.
The corridor suddenly became lined with many doors, looking like some sort of apartment hallway.
“Rumi!” The call came directly from Miruko’s left, almost passing it in her rush. Not wasting a second, Rumi kicked the door down and shot inside.
It was pitch-black inside. Not a single thing could be seen, even with her enhanced senses, and even with the light of the hallway shining in. It was like a void, a black hole. And it became even worse when the door suddenly resealed behind Miruko.
“Rumi!” The voice was now calling out from all directions inside the room.
“I’m here!” She shouted, feeling around in the darkness.
“Aw… how sweet!” Another voice joined into the chorus. “Always coming to save the day!”
The darkness instantly cleared, and Miruko found herself… in her sister’s old bedroom, dilapidated and paint peeling. She was facing her mother, or rather, looking up at her mother.
Rumi Usagiyama was now just a few feet tall, appearing how she looked back when she was about 12-years-old.
Her mother was holding a cigarette, and her sister was tucked into bed shivering. There was a burn mark on her arm.
“What did you do that for?!” Rumi found herself screaming on reflex.
“Brat wouldn’t shut up and go to sleep, much like you!” Her mother stomped forwards, grabbing Rumi by her long hair and dragging her out of the bedroom and down the hall. Rumi tried to fight back, but she didn’t have her Awakening until later in life. She was just a 12-year-old girl here.
“You always have to make a fuss about every little thing your sisters cry about! How about you cry for once!” She dragged Rumi into her own room, over to a ring hook drilled into the wall. Her father had once put it there to hang a little swinging chair that Rumi loved. But when the chair broke, there was no one to fix it or replace it. So the hook remained as the sole reminder.
Rumi’s mother grabbed a fist full of hair and pulled it up, weaving thick strands between the ring hook and themselves. Because Rumi’s hair was so long, and her height so short, she was essentially leashed in the corner of her room, forced to stand to not pull on her hair, but she also couldn’t reach the hook her hair was tied to and there was nothing for her to stand on.
“If I hear anymore complaining from you, your sisters will get the same treatment,” Her mom threatened, immediately halting the complaints rising in Rumi’s throat. For the first time in her life, her lips clamped shut, and she said nothing as her mother walked out of the room, leaving her there to stand all night long. It wasn’t the only night she spent like that.
Rumi always wanted to be a Hero. Not the kind that killed Villains. All she saw were big fluffy animals. She wanted to be a real Hero. One who fought fires and saved people from burning buildings. She wanted to cure diseases and treat patients. It was a childish dream.
Rumi wouldn’t get the chance to get a proper education, nor would she have the freedom to pursue anything other than killing Villains. After Rumi and her two sisters finally escaped their mother, Rumi would need to pay the bills and support them so that they could get an education and have a normal-ish life. She was always busy protecting them, caring for them, even when she was a kid. She took the punishments, the abuse, so they didn’t have to. It wasn’t until that figure in dark armor came to save her that she-
“GAH!” Miruko shrieked out a gasp as she tried to catch her breath. Her body, though back to normal size, was drenched in sweat. She felt like she was on fire, tears running from her eyes. It wasn’t a dream, it wasn’t an illusion. It was almost like a simulation, so real to her brain that Miruko regressed to her child self.
“I see now why you were chosen,” The voice came from in front of her. Her father, smiling kindly down at her. His voice filled her mind. “You’re worthy of standing next to him. I permit it.”
Miruko could barely hear over the rushing of blood in her ears, her body shaking as it fell to the floor, exhausted. The last thing she saw before passing into unconsciousness, was a brilliant golden glow.