Chapter 80: Remember Me
Summary: Aftermath and new information.
Warning! Chapters 78-80 were all published back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any of them!
Chapter 80: Remember Me
A day later, they were honestly no closer to answering exactly what the 'QE Disruption Bomb' had done. Whatever it was had royally fucked the local QE fields in a way that was gibberish even to Izumi. Though the effect had been localized enough that the general flow of QE from the equivalent of global QE currents had eroded and disrupted the local effect over the course of several hours. Extremely tentative viewing of the island by remote drones had revealed that the landscape for several hundred meters around the blast site was…fucked. Warped, twisted, and fused. Grass was bonded to concrete but still growing, bits of the QE storage crystal were fused with a decayed and pitted stop sign that looked like it had briefly sprung to life, only to die in some sort of hellish agony.
The entirety of Gajajima Island had been declared hazardous and a 'nothing leaves' zone. Even the drones had been left there, rather than risking them coming back with some sort of taint. The entire crew of the ship, and everyone else present, was also effectively quarantined for the next several days at least…even if Izumi had also been immediately ordered to make a half dozen more of the disruptors. Those left the ship only in containment spheres that didn't originate on the ship. Only to be pulled out right before being primed and thrown through their target Gates, as those Gates were being collapsed.
Honestly, using them at all with no farther chance to study was insanity. Only the continuing loss of control of Gates worldwide and the armies of monsters that now controlled a third of Africa made the Powers that Be desperate enough to try. And Japan had the dubious honor of trying the damn things on their Gates. Both because they had come up with them, and because they honestly had better control of their Gate situation than almost anyone else at this point. Even the Americans couldn't claim theirs were under control to the same extent, simply by virtue of the sheer size of the United States. Gates opening in a random wheatfield in Kansas might open more slowly than those in New York…but getting people in place to close such Gates was a logistical nightmare.
So, hurrah. Japan got to try the insanely risky plan first. Joy. Worse, Izumi was quarantined with everyone else, so she couldn't even participate. Instead, all she could do was watch the operation via video link as several teams closed in on Lesser Gates that had been targeted for the operation. Even as she did so, something that no one had explained to her niggled at the back of her mind. Finally, she got up the nerve to just ask.
"Nedzu? How are we going to even know if this works?"
The Dean, who had gone so far as to shunt aside all other communications to focus on this operation, let his eyes drift to her screen for only a moment.
"I wondered when you would ask. Are you certain you really wish to know the answer?"
Izumi bit her lip, Momo's arm around her shoulders tensing. This was why she hadn't let the question slip before. She was afraid she knew already. Closing her eyes and bracing herself, she nodded at the Dean.
"You sent scouts through, didn't you?"
The chimera's smile was grim, and he didn't try to deny it at all.
"Yes. The two Recon teams that supposedly failed weren't failures at all. They were designed only to appear that way, in order to insert operatives. Only one of them has been successful, to our knowledge. You know him, actually, in passing."
Izumi blinked, startled by that. She both wanted to ask…and was terrified of doing so.
"His name is Azusahawa Sakuta. You helped him with his Quirk, just a few months ago now. Do you remember him?"
She did. Of course she did. Her memory was the next best thing to infallible, after all. Something she half-regretted now.
"The man whose Quirk made people forget him."
The Dean nodded, then explained farther.
"You sent the government into a bit of a paranoid fit, you know. Azusahawa took your advice and visited Nishimura & Croft. They managed to help him learn to intentionally control his Quirk fully. Which was great for him…but also made him into a perfect assassin who was already registered to be observed by the government. Thankfully, he's a good man, and never complained once about the additional watch lists he ended up on. He also actively volunteered for the assignment, once it was explained to him."
Izumi closed her eyes. She was happy that he'd made progress. But had very mixed feelings that her advice had caused him to be in danger now. Momo squeezed her shoulder and asked a question to buy Izumi a moment to try sorting out her feelings.
"How is he sending messages back? I would think that would be impossible?"
Nedzu's grin was a bit more cheerful this time.
"Oh, that was delightfully simple! He can make other things be forgotten about for short periods now. So he's been making a set of capsules with a timed mechanical flare be 'forgotten' and sneaking them onto monsters headed through gates! It's quite random, I'm afraid. But we've successfully collected four of nine messages he's sent. Each one complete with canisters of very old fashion, pre-quirk, film. We had to reach out to some hobbyists for the expertise, but they created a camera for him that is purely mechanical, with film that is purely chemical. Developing them is a bit finicky and the results are far inferior to the digital imagery of today. But we've gotten quite a few additional bits of information from analyzing the results!"
The chimera stroked a couple of keys, and a data file was sent to them.
"You can see for yourself! We didn't want to jostle your elbow while you were working. But they give us more hope that this may accomplish something. We managed, earlier today, to get a telepathic message to him as well. He'll be set up where we think the Gates will most likely lead, far enough to be outside the radius of effect…we hope. Even if he does see what happens, it will likely be some time before he can locate another Gate and try to slip himself or a message through. But there's at least a chance he'll succeed! And, of course, we can observe the behavior of the monsters at existing Gates, mark the flow of how many Gates open, and so on."
Izumi sighed and nodded. It was a horrible burden to put on a civilian who'd already been screwed by his own Quirk in life. But…at least he would be remembered now. As a Hero in the more traditional sense of the word, if this worked. A man whose own Quirk had forced his parents to forget who he was, perhaps forever remembered in the history books. Fitting, she supposed. Though she hoped he lived to see it, rather than it only being a posthumous sort of victory for him. Either way, she had something else to focus on at the moment.
"Looks like they're starting."
Nedzu nodded.
"So it does. Let us hope for luck. Good for us, and bad for our enemies."
There was a bloodthirsty tone in Nedzu's voice that would normally have bothered her. But given the things she'd seen since this invasion started? This time she shared in his bloodthirst…
... ...
Katuski was glad the Wonder Duo hadn't needed him to stick around for the testing. He could admit that what they'd pulled him away from the fighting for was way more important than simply splattering a few more Ogres. But that didn't mean he'd liked playing chemistry set replacement instead of punching shit. Combat was what he was born for, and if it hadn't been for the death toll, this invasion would have been his paradise. As it was, he was guiltily aware that he was one of the few that were going to enjoy the way the world had changed. He was smart enough to know there was no way they could put this all back in the bottle. It was going to take years, at minimum, to beat back the invaders. And, even then, the world wouldn't be the same safe place it had been before.
It was fucking horrible.
He knew that.
Hell, part of him hated it because there were people he cared for, like his parents, that weren't fighters.
He was also completely aware, however, that it was a change to the world that he was going to thrive on. As proven by the fact he'd rapidly become the anchor for a Reaction Team. Just like each of the Wonder Duo had. He wasn't in charge of his squad the way they were. But that was honestly fine with him. It meant that he got to focus on the fighting, instead of having to order all the lesser fighters around. Even better, he got aimed and let go at the toughest fights, since they knew he had the firepower and skills to handle it.
This changed world was almost a pure meritocracy and it showed in assignments like this, which had a lot of the under generation of Heroes present, with the more powerful Quirks they'd been born to. That might not be true everywhere. But Nedzu was a pragmatic, ruthless bastard when pushed to the wall. He'd used his new authority to hammer out teams based on power and talent, rather than any previous ranking. Even some non-heroes were being quietly folded into the Hero forces. He'd seen Icy-Hot working containment down in Osaka, despite the fact that he'd been removed from Heroics at UA and, so far as Katsuki knew, hadn't been able to reenroll elsewhere. A sign of desperation and change, perhaps. But who knows? Maybe a slap of reality like this had gotten the fool's head on straight.
"Nitro. Start the party."
Katsuki smirked…and launched himself off the building he'd been watching their target portal from. Accelerating with controlled explosions, he barrel-rolled to send a spiral of pre-stored sweat out in a fan ahead of him and detonated it all just as the monsters below saw him coming.
"METEOR CRASH!"
He wasn't always the type to shout out his attacks. But this one was special. Not only was it a hell of an epic opener, forming a flaming ball of concussive force that impacted hard enough to cause a visible shockwave distortion as he landed in a three-point hero pose. But that pose wasn't just for show in his case, as the carefully-shaped explosion had left him in the center of a patch of monsters that had been driven off their feet. This opener was actually the start of a chain he'd perfected over the last week, and he targeted the most powerful enemy present, accelerating with explosions from the support gear in his boots. The Ogre had been staggered by the Meteor Crash opener and failed to block his gauntlet as it wove past its guard and planted over the monster's heart. Katsuki's smirk was vicious as he triggered the pre-loaded gauntlet and watched the monster fall.
Even as he launched himself at the next set of targets, he heard more barked orders coming over the comms. There wasn't just one Reaction Team here, but three. They'd weakened other areas, enough so that there would likely be a price to pay in losing control of some Gates temporarily. But everyone had agreed that they needed enough power to a point at the locations they were trying this stunt to ensure Midoriya's fucking-scary WMDs got through the Gates only as those Gates were being closed by force. No one wanted to find out what happened if the energy release backsplashed through an open Gate. Which meant they needed to get enough control here to get the timing right.
Something that, given the number of heavies they'd brought in, took less than ten minutes to achieve. As they took control of the Lesser Gate, Katsuki joined others with pure mechanical or biological armaments in chucking attacks through the Gate from range, keeping the other side clear as Robo-boy raced forward and chucked the Distortion Bomb through the Gate. Everyone leapt backward, scrambling away, even as a dozen heavy emitters poured Quirk Fire into the Gate, causing it to collapse with a violent event horizon that erased everything within fifty meters. Everyone had gotten clear…but they all waited with bated breath to see if something would happen.
A few seconds later, something did, as the fabric of reality tore like a Rift was opening, only this one was a jagged kaleidoscope of unreality that defied any attempt to describe it. Everyone flinched away, but the dozen MK II Siphons that had been brought in activated an instant later and the wild Rift began to calm, vanishing entirely in just a few minutes. Breathing sighs of relief, everyone was still left to wonder.
Had it worked? What had happened on the enemy side of the Gate? Was this worth all the risk they'd just taken? With no answers immediately forthcoming, their leaders started snapping orders. They needed to get these teams back in the regular rotation and close any Gates that had gotten a foothold while they were busy…oothold while they were busy…
... ... ... ... ...
AN 1: This is the one-per-release that I mention this and my other works have a Page. All of my fanfiction work becomes public access eventually, but there are early access chapters. Currently, chapters 81-85 (roughly 15,000 additional words) are already up in early access on my ! Not to mention that there are early access chapters of my other stories amounting to roughly another 40-60k words at any given time. If you're enjoying this story, please consider tossing a bit of support my way?
A/N 2: Due to the need to do a bit of planning for My Hero Automata, it will receive only one of its normal two updates in September. I just need a little time to outline future events better, as I've hit the point where my initial planning got fuzzy on the details. There will still be one update in September, and we should be back to the usual 2 updates a month in October.