MHA – Shoto Todoroki : Modern-day Terrorist

Chapter 194 – Change of Command



Overhaul abhorred blood.

As a matter of fact, he hated anything that had to do with human secretions and universal filth.

Under other circumstances, he would have simply called an ambulance or left Neito to his henchmen.

But since he'd just murdered a teenage girl and the city was in chaos, he had no choice but to take care of his nephew himself.

It was either dirty his cloak or leave Neito at the crime scene, and he definitely had better things to do than be the focus of a police investigation.

When he received Neito's distress text, Chisaki had just concluded a promising deal.

The crisis Tokyo was in had been extremely beneficial to them. His men were able to distribute their goods safely, and they also took the chance to rob a small bank to replenish their coffers.

It seemed that some idiots had robbed Tokyo's Central Bank ; Chisaki wondered what face they'd make when they would try to spend their money and the cash would be identified.

Chisaki had been to the address sent by Neito and found nothing ; resolving he had better things to do than foolishly search the streets, he had called Yuei's headmaster.

After a short explanation, the headmaster had given him Neito's live geographical coordinates, thanks to the tracking system in his heroic outfit.

Chisaki had followed him without hurrying, taking advantage of the fact that the streets were empty to breathe in the fresh night air.

He loved rain ; it had the merit of cleansing everything.

Thus Chisaki, after taking care of the few nuisances, left the now burning building and went his own little merry way.

He hadn't even left the residential area when he came to an abrupt stop.

Before him stood a hero, tall and sallow, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Chisaki knew he had every reason to be : a lone man daring to venture out on a night like this, with a bleeding teenager on his shoulders, was anything but normal.

Chisaki saw the hero's thoughts flash through his eyes.

Maybe he'd taken advantage of the chaos to kidnap the kid. Maybe he was with the enemy, whoever that enemy might be.

Slowly, Chisaki slipped his hand into his jacket's inner pocket.

"I have a license that allows me to use my Quirk on public grounds" he said calmly, anticipating the tension in the hero's shoulders provoked by his sudden gesture

He examined the licende from afar. Clever.

"Who's the kid ?", the hero asked

"My nephew", Chisaki replied evenly. "There was one of the creatures nearby and he called me to help him"

The hero's eyes darted between Kai and the tee,.

It didn't take a genius to realize that they didn't look alike at all.

"Adopted", Kai said

The hero remained silent.

Chisaki waited quietly, tucking the license back in his pocket.

He was usually a patient man, but to stand in the rain when Neito obviously needed urgent care was not something he appreciated.

"What's his name ?"

"Neito"

The hero's eyes lit up in recognization.

He took a step forward.

"You must leave him here"

Chisaki cocked an eyebrow, not the least bit impressed.

"My orders are to bring him back-"

Suddenly, the hero's phone rang.

Without taking his eyes off Chisaki, he put the receiver to his ear.

Chisaki heard nothing of the conversation.

Rain poured down his face in waves, beading at the corners of his eyelashes.

He blinked and shook them off.

The hero handed Chisaki his cell phone.

"It's for you"

*
28 minutes.

28 minutes was the time it took for Tokyo to become a true war zone

He hadn't been notified - at least not immediately.

He'd been asleep, relishing one of the rare nights when he didn't have to linger late in his office.

He should have known something was wrong ; he rarely got a good night's sleep, and each time he had the opportunity he always was dragged out of bed for yet another crisis.

By now, he'd learned not to bother going home and slept in the Defense's headquarters assigned to him.

This night, he'd barely had time to lay his head on his pillow and close his eyes for what seemed like an instant before his phone rang loudly.

He'd answered, scowling, and put the receiver to his ear before he'd even opened his eyes.

"Head of Special Forces"

The voice that answered was one he knew well but rarely heard.

Gunhee stood up immediately, eyes wide open, feet flat on the cold floor.

"President Pantu", the other voice said. "We are dealing with a crisis"

The mere fact that the President of the Heroic Commission had reached out to him was already proof enough of a dire situation.

Within seconds she explained the whole situation ; he listened quietly, slipping his feet in his shoes.

It was a good thing he was used to going to bed fully dressed and shower in the morning.

All of a sudden, his bedroom door swung open.

It was his assistant, alert, her hair a mess and a pillow imprint on her cheek :

"Sir, I've just-"

He silenced her with a raised finger.

"The Nomus have now moved to the foot of Atago Jinja's shrine, following an unknown order"

Minato's district, a voice whispered to Gunhee. Not that far, but they'll need time to travel through the city.

"You have drones there, right ?" he asked, "How many creatures are there ?"

"At first glance, there were almost 40," she said. "But black portals keep popping up in the area, and Nomus are still arriving in bulk"

She didn't need to say who was responsible for it ; people with space-wrapping Quirks were so rare that Japan could count them on a single hand.

The Special Forces had been trying to kill this one in particular for years.

"How many ?", Gunhee stressed

Usually she wouldn't have liked his tone, and he wouldn't have dared to speak to her like that - she wasn't his subordinate, after all - but the circumstances were too grave, and neither of them wanted to waste time on pointless civilities.

"At the latest count, almost sixty"

It was silent.

Gunhee had received several reports about excavations in Tokyo's underground after the Gigantomachia incident : hundreds of Nomus had been found and exterminated by the Commission.

Entire underground networks had been discovered, connecting the city's hospitals and cemeteries to the "Nomus Garages," as they had dubbed them.

By then, everyone had realized the extent of the catastrophe they had avoided ; they had scoured the capital from top to bottom, razing each and every hideout they found.

The underground exits had allowed them to understand where All for One was furnishing himself.

There'd been several discussions about a law requiring all corpses to be cremated in the presence of a public official, but nothing had yet ensued.

"And the area is full of civilians"

Gunhee clenched his teeth.

"How could this have happened ?"

The shrine was in the middle of a business district ; nobody - or almost nobody - should have been there in the middle of the night.

"Endeavor and his son, Shoto Todoroki, are here," she explained. "A few minutes ago, an entire section of Minato was wiped off the map. All that remains is dust. Almost simultaneously, nearly seven hundred civilians appeared out of nowhere at the foot of the shrine. We assume it is owed to Todoroki's abilities and that he was able to evacuate them all barely in time, although he might have left some behind"

Gunhee exhaled slowly.

Evacuating almost seven hundred civilians in a few minutes was nothing short of a miracle.

They owed the kid.

"And what exactly are they doing ? How are they holding up ?"

"They're still alive," she said. "But there are seven hundred people to protect, and the Nomus..."

Pantu hesitated.

She never hesitated - never.

"We have a visual on them, and it looks like they're tiring out"

Gunhee didn't even bother to ask if there were any other Heroes around.

With so many Nomus around, sending second-rate Heroes would turn into a pure butchery.

"You're putting me in charge", he said

There was no other reason why she would have called him.

"The situation is completely out of my jurisdiction," she said. "I've tried to limit the damage as best I can, but it's getting out of control"

Gunhee agreed easily.

"I just got off the phone with the Prime Minister", she said. "And he's declared martial law in Tokyo"

*

A/N : It's back to school for a lot of y'all so good luck with that everyone !

(And try not to spend too much of your free time reading FF. Go out and touch some grass)

If you want to read ahead of schedule, go check the story's P@treon, Nar_cisseENG

See you in the next update everyone !


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