The air tasted like dust and sweat.
Aiko Tanaka was fourteen years old, and she was going to die.
She knew it the way she knew the shape of her own heartbeat, frantic, uneven, clawing at her ribs like a trapped bird. Around her, the evacuation center trembled, the walls groaning as something enormous moved outside. The sound was a living thing, deep, rolling boom that shook the floor, followed by the high, splintering shriek of glass giving way.
Aiko clutched her knees to her chest, fingers digging into the fabric of her jeans. The heroes had herded them here, well they were actually carried here with small sheets of paper folded into birds. And now they were in a hollow belly of what is a shopping mall. "You're all safe now." Death arms shouted out, his voice was too loud, too forced. "Just stay calm."
But no one was calm.
Next to her, a woman rocked back and forth, whispering prayers under her breath. A child, maybe five or six, was sobbing into her shoulder, his tiny fists tangled in her shirt. The heroes, Vlad King and Death Arms, stood at the front, their postures rigid, their eyes flickering toward the ceiling every time another distant crash echoed through the city.
Aiko could see it in their faces.
Everyone was scared, she could feel their fear and angst in her bones.
"This shouldn't have happened!"
The voice was raw, fraying at the edges. A man stood up, his face flushed, his hands shaking. "Every damn time... every time we think it's over, it gets worse! First the incident with Hosu, then again with Daigo terrorising the entire nation. Now This! What the hell are you heroes even doing?"
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Aiko felt the words like a physical weight pressing down on her lungs.
"We trusted you!" another voice, a woman this time, shrill with panic. "We brought out kids here because we thought... we thought that maybe, we could go into the new year with something different. Peace!"
Aiko's vision blurred.
She didn't even realize that she was crying until the first tear hit her wrist.
Then... silence.
A sharp, splintering crack cut through the noise.
The metal doors at the far end of the room buckled, hinges screaming as something, no, someone forced them open.
Aiko's breath caught.
The first figure stepped inside, movements jerky, unnatural. Then another. And another.
People.
But not really.
Their eyes were blank, their mouths slack. Their limbs moved like puppets on strings, twitching in ways that made Aiko's stomach turn.
And then...
"Ahhh, what do we have here?"
A voice deep and mocking, slithered through the room.
A man strode in behind the puppets, his grin too wide, his eyes gleaming with something hungry.
Dictator.
Aiko's blood turned to ice.
She'd seen him on the news. A villain whose quirk let him control people, turn them into mindless dolls with a touch. It took a top ten hero like crust to take him down and put him in Tartarus.
And floating behind him, suspended in the air like some twisted angel, was Starservant, his hands outstretched, shards of glass orbiting his fingers like a halo of knives.
"Run....!"
Someone screamed. The room erupted. People scrambled back, chairs toppling, voices rising into a cacophony of terror. Aiko tried to move, but her legs wouldn't obey.
Then...
A tug.
Something pulled at her wrist. She looked down. A thin, almost invisible thread had wrapped around her skin, glowing faintly in the dim light.
No.
Her fingers twitched.
Then her arm moved on its own. Around her, others gasped, cried out, their bodies were jerking around without their brains command. Dictator had seized them.
"Stop...!"
Death Arms lunged forward, but a wall of glass erupted from the ground, slicing between him and the crowd. Starservant smirked, flicking a wrist. The shards of glass that he had shattered from around the shopping center rearranged, forming a cage, trapping them all inside.
Vlad King snarled, his quirk flaring, but then his own muscles locked up, his veins bulging as Dictator's control took hold.
Aiko's breath came in short, panicked bursts.
She couldn't move.
Couldn't scream.
Could only watch as Dictator stepped forward, his laughter echoing off the walls.
"Pathetic," he sneered. "You really thought you were safe? The heroes have failed you and you still choose to follow their every word. You should have secured your own way to safety. Any means possible."
Dictator's words were cut out.
His fabric snapped. A rope of denim lashed through the air, wrapping around Starservant's throat and yanking him down.
The glass cage shattered. A figure dropped from the ceiling, landing in a crouch.
Best Jeanist.
But he wasn't the pristine hero from the magazines. His costume was torn, his hair matted with dust and blood. One of his sleeves hung in tatters, revealing a gash running down his arm.
"Apologies for the delay," he said, his voice hoarse but steady. "These two have been... troublesome."
Dictator's grin faltered.
Best Jeanist moved. Threads of fabric unspooled from his gloves, weaving into a net that slammed into Dictator, throwing him back. Starservant tried to rise, but another flick of Jeanist's wrist sent a wave of denim coils wrapping around him, pinning him to the ground.
For a moment, silence.
And finally...
Aiko's arms dropped, the string snapping. The control was broken.
They were free. And the villains were down.
.
.
...or not.
The two villains seemingly dissolved into mush under Best Jeanist's heel.
He got up and let out a sigh and raised his hand to his mouth in exasperation. Aiko could feel it, he was holding in frustration. Had he been experiencing this since the attacks started?
She didn't know if she wanted to know the answer.
She could feel his anger and desperation. What Dictator said to them about finding their own way to safety sounded appealing as her faith in the heroes was waning, even now. But considering what Best Jeanist is feeling right now, and his reaction to the villains turning into mush, she felt like staying as close to someone that can protect her like the number four hero.
So as long as he and the other two heroes were here locking the place down and guarding the perimeter, then she was plop herself down and stay put.
***
The air trembled with each earth-shaking step as Gigantomachia's massive form loomed over the ruined cityscape, his matted hair bristling with barely contained power. The heroes scattered across the battlefield could feel the very ground protesting beneath his weight, asphalt cracking like thin ice underfoot.
Genesis wiped blood from her lip, her breath coming in ragged gasps as she assessed the situation. The titanic villain had already shrugged off their initial assault, his body seemingly growing larger with each attack they landed. She could see Nejire's spiralling energy blasts dissipating against his thickened hide, Gang Orca's sonic waves doing little more than making the beast shake its head like an annoyed bull.
A sudden pressure change made them all stagger as another distant explosion from a battle, that they knew All Might was fighting, miles away sent shockwaves rippling throughout the atmosphere.
Genesis' golden wings -living extensions on her boots she'd animated moments earlier- instinctively beat harder to maintain altitude as the wind shear threatened to send her careening into a half-collapsed building.
Through the gathering and uplifting dust and debris, she saw Ryukyu in her full dragon form circling like a predator, waiting for an opening while Mt. Lady struggled to her feet after being swatted away like a bothersome insect. The scale of this fight was beyond anything they'd prepared for, each of Gigantomachia's movements created micro-tornadoes of displaced air, his mere presence warping the battlefield.
Centipeder moved with insectoid precision, his multi-jointed legs allowing him to skitter up Gigantomachia's arm like a spider scaling a tree trunk. He aimed for pressure points and weak joints, but the villain's physiology seemed to shift and adapt in real-time, muscles bulging to protect vulnerable areas.
"His regeneration is accelerating!" Centipeder shouted as he barely avoided being crushed by a suddenly flexing bicep the size of a city bus.
Genesis watched in horror as the titan's wounds sealed before their eyes, the tissue knitting together with visible pulses of energy.
Nejire swooped in with her reckless bravery that Yuki had simply gotten used to seeing by now, her signature spirals of energy lancing toward Gigantomachia's eyes. "Hey ugly! Look over here!" she taunted as her attack forced him to raise a massive forearm in defense.
The momentary distraction allowed Ryukyu to strike from above, her draconic claws raking deep furrows across the villain's back. But instead of crying out in pain, Gigantomachia seemed to feed off the damage, his body swelling larger, muscles ripping with new growth as he reached back with terrifying speed to grab Ryukyu's tail.
The sickening crunch of impact made Genesis' stomach lurch as Ryukyu was hurled through multiple buildings, her scaled form leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. Mt. Lady, now back to full size, charged in with a battle cry, her fist connecting with Gigantomachia's jaw in a shockwave that shattered every remaining window for blocks.
But the titan merely turned his head and spat out a tooth, his grin widening as new, sharper fangs emerged to replace it. "He's... he's playing with us." Gang Orca realized aloud, his voice tight with dawning horror.
Genesis felt her wings falter as the reality of their situation sank in. Every injury they inflicted only made him stronger, every attack seemed to fuel his rampage rather than slow it. The distant thunder of All Might's battle served as a grim reminder that their greatest symbol was occupied elsewhere, this was their fight to win or lose.
She watched helplessly as Gigantomachia backhanded Mt. Lady into a skyscraper, the structure collapsing around her like a house of cards.
Then an idea struck her, if they couldn't overpower his regeneration, maybe they could overwhelm it. Genesis dove toward the ruined street below, her wings folding tight to increase her speed. As her boots touched ground, she pressed both palms against the fractured asphalt, pouring every ounce of her quirk's energy into the earth beneath her.
The ground began to tremble differently now, not from impacts but from something awakening within it. The rubble and broken concrete twisted and reshaped itself, forming into massive, sinewy constructs that vaguely resembled the musculature they were fighting against.
"Everyone! Keep him occupied!" Genesis shouted through gritted teeth as her creations took form, a pack of stone wolves with joints that moved like living creatures, a towering golem with fists like wrecking balls. The animated constructs launched themselves at Gigantomachia with single-minded purpose, their stone teeth and fists finding purchase in his flesh.
For the first time, the titan seemed genuinely surprised as the unnatural creations harried him from all sides. Ryukyu, having recovered, saw the opportunity and wrapped her draconic form around Gigantomachia's upper body while Mt. Lady grabbed his legs in a crushing bear hug.
The other heroes didn't need orders, they instinctively concentrated their attacks on the areas Genesis' constructs had weakened.
Nejire's spirals bored into exposed flesh, Gang Orca's sonic blasts vibrating internal organs, Centipeder's precise strikes targeting nerve clusters. Gigantomachia roared in genuine pain now, his regeneration struggling to keep up with the coordinated assault. Genesis could feel her creations starting to crumble from the strain, but she pushed her quirk harder, reshaping the very battlefield into weapons against their foe.
With a final, monumental effort, the combined might of the heroes brought the titan to his knees. The ground shook as Gigantomachia collapsed forward, his massive form cratering and seemingly shrinking on the street beneath him.
Genesis fell to her knees, her energy spent, watching as her stone constructs dissolved back into inert rubble. The other heroes looked equally battered but triumphant, Ryukyu's scales were cracked and bleeding, Mt. Lady's costume hung in tatters, Nejire's usual boundless energy was completely drained.
As they gathered their breath, the sound of swirling darkness made them all turn. A black portal expanded beneath the fallen titan, its edges crackling with unnatural energy. "No!" Ryukyu lunged forward, but it was too late, Gigantomachia's massive form sank into the void as effortlessly as a stone dropped in water. The portal snapped shut with an almost mocking finality, leaving the heroes standing amidst the ruins of their hard-won victory.
Genesis stared at the empty space where their enemy had been, her mind racing with the implications. The distant echoes of All Might's battle seemed only grow louder in the sudden silence, a reminder that their struggle was still not over.
They had to get up and keep fighting.