Chapter 127: Haunting

Summary:I peak into what Heroics looks like in this changed world...

Warning! Chapters 126-129 were all post back-to-back! Make sure to catch them all!

Chapter 127: Haunting

Kyoka did her best to control her own heartbeat as she jacked into the concrete of the building, listening intently for signs of what they were seeking. Despite patiently waiting for nearly five minutes, she got nothing, withdrawing her jacks and shaking her head at her companions. Tsuburaba, her companion from UA for this particular outing, shrugged. X-Less, their Heroic mentor for the job, shrugged.

"No matter. We knew it was unlikely you'd get lucky and catch them making noise. While Wraiths are capable of wearing armor, most of them don't. At least that we've seen so far. On the plus side, we probably aren't dealing with anything except the Wraiths if you didn't catch any sounds. Frankly, catching them without support is the best we could have hoped for."

Both of the students nodded. Even the various Ooze species made enough sound to be picked up by Kyoka's level of sensitivity, which was part of the reason she was frequently assigned jobs like this. UA's Heroic Work Study program had shifted drastically once classes resumed, with the second and third year students serving as a skilled pool of talent for the slowly-unifying Heroic industry to call on. All of said students that remained were now veterans of the Invasion, often with far more combat experience than Heroes twice their age would have had Pre-Invasion. More importantly, they were familiar with many of the monsters of the Empire and could be expected to react sensibly to them.

That said, most of the students weren't Izumi and Momo, or even Bakugo and Setsuna. They'd all picked up combat experience and a lot of tricks to stay alive, but they'd sacrificed other skills they should have learned in the process. The new form of Work Study that UA, alongside the other big schools that remained, were now using allowed students with suitable skills or Quirks to be pulled from the a collective pool of talent. So long, that was, that it was for a mission that would benefit both them and the mission in question. In this case, Kyoka had an extreme talent for urban tracking, which was helpful for pinning down stealthier monsters that had slipped into a city.

Meanwhile, Tsuburaba's Solid Air Quirk was just as good for pinning incorporeal threats, such as the Wraiths they were hunting tonight, in place. Wraiths could move through a certain amount of physical matter. They could not move through walls generated out of QE, which meant that Solid Air could be used to trap them in place while they were dealt with. This was something common to most 'incorporeal' types of monster, and a fact that had seen the two of them on missions like this together several times.

X-less too, was no stranger to them or to such missions. He had discovered his own Quirk might lack punch against many of the larger or tougher monsters out there, but that it was virtually pure QE. This made is a fantastic counter for incorporeal types like Wraiths, able to directly damage them in ways that more physical Quirks couldn't hope to. It was a detail that had caused him to slowly shift his Heroic career into this exact sort of monster hunting, and he regularly drew on the Work Study pool to flesh out his team with trackers and containment experts that worked well for the monsters and terrain types he expected to encounter on any given mission.

The fact that, so far, he'd proven to be an able teacher and had gotten all of those he'd taken into danger back out alive? That meant that no one minded him drawing on the pool so often. It exposed the students to one of the trickiest of the new Heroic duties to manage Post-Invasion, in as expert and safe a manner as just about anyone could manage so far. Something he proved again now as he drew out an odd looking cigarette and lit it. As he puffed out the smoke, it was quickly obvious it wasn't a traditional nicotine cigarette, or any other sort of narcotic, for that matter. After all, the trail of smoke was moving.

"These are something I worked out myself when I noticed that certain elements, harvested from the invaders, are drawn toward anything incorporeal. I call them Spirit Smokes, and they're a bit hard to source the material for, but invaluable in the case of something like Wraiths. Come, the smoke doesn't linger long, and we need to follow it. Be on your guard, particularly as the smoke starts to thicken. If it starts to swirl, strike immediately at the spot it is swirling around."

Kyoka was always fascinated by tidbits like this. Unlike the precision science and engineering of her girlfriends, the creations of field experts that specialized in esoteric monster hunting were almost an art. The Clever Craft, some had started to call it. Adaptations, tricks, and bits of useful knowledge gleaned by raw observation and the right mindset. Thankfully, most such tricks were freely shared once they were sorted out, tested, and made repeatable. But the best way to learn them was still from the people that had twigged onto whatever bit of information or inspiration that had formed the method in the first place.

"What are they made of? Monster parts?"

X-Less snorted, another bit of smoke blowing out to replace the initial fading trail as he did.

"No, I'd not be willing to smoke it like this if it was. No matter how useful some of the tonics and 'potions' that the Alchemists have figured out are, inhaling monster bits doesn't seem like a good idea."

Tsuburaba let out his own amused snort at that, and Kyoka had to admit she quite agreed.

"No, the reason why they are a bit hard to source is that it's some sort of plant fiber from their side. I first noticed it when smoke from their version of hemp rope occasionally acted oddly near Incorporeals. Eventually, I sorted out that the more crudely made versions still have some seeds remaining in the rope, and the seed oil is what made the smoke do that. Once I worked it out, I tested it, then got the Herbalist people to try and grow the stuff from what seeds I could recover."

Kyoka nodded, already seeing where this was going.

"The same mixed successes as usual?"

X-less's voice was wry as he confirmed it.

"Yep. Got it in one. The first batches didn't work quite right, wrong QE concentration in the soil, they think. They're getting better, dialing it in just like their other efforts. But I still keep about a quarter of the seeds I manage to harvest to use in my personal version. The herbalist version is only about 70 percent reliable so far."

Kyoka and Tsuburaba both nodded. There had been plenty of recovered plant specimens. Some recovered from odd means like X-less had just described, others as samples from the few raids and scouting expeditions that had been performed into other worlds. Very few of them had thrived without a lot of careful tweaking to the QE levels in the air, not to mention soil content and other such things, all done in the specialized greenhouses of the growing Herbalists Union.

Like the Alchemists Guild, it was an eclectic and weird bunch that made up the Union, but they'd had a fair bit of success. The greatest of those so far was a sort of health potion, a simple but useful one, that they'd managed to grow the bits for and create in conjunction with the Alchemists. The Herbalists were a promising development, as they were slowly filling holes in recipes the Alchemists had reverse-engineered from examples of the Empire's various concoctions. Not to mention being very useful to the Clever Craft people, who were themselves creating ways to find and fight more esoteric threats like Wraiths.

"Getting close now. The smoke's splitting into two streams. Which means we've got at least a pair. Hopefully no more than that, Wraiths are a stone cold bitch to contain and fight. Smart, unfortunately. Smart enough to run if they think they can't win. Which is why we couldn't bring more muscle."

Kyoka grimaced. The smart monsters were always the worst. Not just because they were harder to pin down and fight, but because their purpose here was virtually always to open Rifts within cities. Generally, sabotage or assassination was actually done by giving less intelligent but even sneakier monsters given specific goals or targets. Various types of Ooze monster were the worst, in that regard. Well, on the bright side, she at least wasn't likely to end up with her costume melted off again…

"There!"

Kyoka saw it even as X-Less let loose with an eye-blast. The smoke had abruptly swirled around a single location…which turned into a Wraith shrieking in anger and pain as X-less's QE infused laser beam hit it. Yet, for all the obvious threat, someone had Kyoka spinning. The noise, she realized, of a blade whooshing through the air. Tsuburaba's own instincts had triggered in time, and he'd breathed out a weak wall of solid air to take the strike…and then Kyoka was sending a blast of QE infused sound at the second Wraith.

"Containment! I'll keep this one busy!"

Tsuburaba didn't bother replying verbally, already busy creating an stronger encirclement of more solid air. Given thirty seconds, he'd strengthen that encirclement so that the Wraiths would have to work to get out. Given two minutes and the solid air walls would be strong enough that the Wraiths would be trapped in with them until one side or the other won the fight. Kyoka, knowing her own part in the procedure, focused on pinning down the second Wraith to buy that time. Her own Quirk could affect the Wraiths, but wasn't well-suited for killing them, just battering them. That was enough for now, though, as X-less was tearing the first one apart chunk-by-chunk. Besides, if she really needed it, she had a QE blade created by Momo and Izumi. They were still a fragile design however, with limited uses. She'd really prefer to get through this fight without needing it.

Then the third wraith appeared, nearly taking X-Less's head off, and Kyoka cursed. So much for that. Slamming a much more powerful burst of sound from her Sonic Cannon into the second Wraith, she twisted the wrist of her other arm and, a moment later, a glowing blade formed around her fist. Clenching that fist, she shifted and triggered a Base Boost from her boots. The compressed soundwaves threw her into a dash and she took the third Wraith in the side with a deep stab. It wailed, writhing on the blade…then she blasted it off the blade with her cannon and it screamed again.

The QE blade flickered and almost failed.

Drat, she'd only get one more blow with it. Bad luck, that, they usually lasted at least three hits. Thankfully, one more was all she should need. Noting that Tsuburaba had managed to temporarily contain Wraith 2, she aimed not at Wraith 3, but the heavily injured Wraith 1. Another dash and stab…and that Wraith dissipated with a wail, even as X-less laid into Wraith 3. Her QE blade shattered with a sound not entirely unlike breaking glass, and Kyoka growled. Lacking a way to put another Wraith down, she shifted targets back to containing Wraith 2. At least she'd gotten one kill on them, and X-less was almost finished with the third. She smirked in satisfaction as she reengaged.

She was happy she'd chosen to stick with the Hero Path. She was doing good, important work, and it was interesting too. Not to mention far more likely to keep her near a bed that had Momo and Izumi in it…

... ... ...

Itsuka couldn't believe she actually sort of missed the horrible experience she'd had with Uwabami during her first Internship. Yet, for all that Uwabami had been more of a 'celebrity' style heroine than what Itsuka had really wanted to become, she hadn't been any sort of fake. That horrible commercial might have been a nuisance that had traumatized her past self a bit, but the rest of that internship hadn't been awful. Uwabami legitimately had taken her out on patrol, aiding other heroes and police in rescuing victims for disasters. She'd also, in the process, shown a previously unappreciative Itsuka something she now missed badly.

The lighter side of Heroics was almost entirely missing now.

Gone were the days where she could take time to talk to a little girl that wanted to see 'the new heroine,' or shake hands with a police officer after helping with a minor purse snatcher. The shifts in Heroic priorities had caused most such minor crimes, and even the Rescue work, to be taken up by the Police and Emergency Services. Only major disasters or major crimes got Heroic response now, as their numbers were just too limited to be pulled away from more pressing problems.

Hell, even Uwabami had stepped up, stepping away from her modeling gigs and becoming one of the new specialists in hunting esoteric monsters that tried to slip into cities. Her snakes could, apparently, detect QE flux, making her extremely good at picking out disguised monsters from the background. Itsuka had even worked with her twice in the last three months, finding the woman almost unrecognizable. Even her costume had been swapped out from the dress and high-heels she'd once worn to an admittedly still-stylish bodysuit and boots. Her second and third experiences with the woman had been entirely positive, with Itsuka learning a lot about how to detect and deal with new sorts of threats.

Itsuka's Quirk, unfortunately, wasn't very well suited for that sort of thing. Instead, she spent most of her 'Work Study' time helping with either dangerous patrols where her combat abilities were useful, or those larger disasters where her Quirk and the strength it granted her could help clear debris quickly. It was the latter she was doing now, which was making her wish for those more peaceful days, no matter how embarrassing modeling for a commercial had been.

"Ready! Lift please!"

Itsuka grunted, body straining to keep her leverage correct as her enlarged hands lifted the massive chunk of ruined concrete. It tried to break apart, but she'd long since learned how to shape her grip to spread out the weight and prevent that. Twisting, she shifted it back to a cleared spot, trying hard not to let herself fully process the mangled forms of two men that had been caught in the building collapse. She already knew they were dead, the dogs and Quirk trackers having already gone through the area and helped pinpoint those who were still alive among the wreckage of what had once been an assembly facility for flatbed trucks.

With no more living people to rescue, she'd knew that the Heroes would be called away soon in favor of running a patrol around the area to make sure it was truly clear for the proper clean up and salvage teams. Despite the horrors it would expose her too, though, she would keep helping as long as she could. The faster they could get the plant back online, assuming it was repairable, the better it would be for everyone. They'd lost entirely too much industrial capacity already, and heavy trucks like the ones built here were more critical than ever, since they were tough enough to handle the increasingly rough roads outside the cities.

Yeah. Itsuka really wished all she had to worry about was being taken seriously after appearing in a beauty product commercial…