Requiem of the Broken

Chapter 62: Twin Angels

Tsu watched as Ochako vanished into the tunnel, then it closed behind her. She looked to the observation window and saw Takeo inputting commands into his console. She looked back at the sealed tunnel entrance. She didn't know what to make of it all, Ochako had been... different. She couldn't say how, but it had been good to see. The best she could describe it would be hope, Ochako had found some kind of hope and confidence that didn't feel forced.

She shook her head, not confidence, but determination. A resoluteness to do what needed to be done. She recalled the last person who held that same combination of hope and determination. Endeavor had looked and held himself the same way just before he had died. She prayed that it wasn't a sign of what was to come.

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Ochako emerged from the darkness of the tunnel behind the main school building and into the early night sky. The full moon shone down, illuminating the land below her and she could make things out easily. She saw lights flashing across the campus, and distant noise. Then her HUD finished booting up and basic information started to display itself surreptitiously along one side. The towers seemed to have been booted up and her suit was tapped into the data stream. Markers showed up, marking the location of friendlies based on their phone's location or other identifying markers on them. 

"Still didn't help with identifying enemies," Ochako thought with some annoyance.

She looked past the school to the city. The dust cloud had mostly dissipated and she could see flashes of light at the crater which were accompanied by occasional booms. She knew people were fighting Yo Shindo, and she only hoped that she would arrive in time to save some of them.

She blasted forward, heading to the ground she pulled up at the last second and skimmed across the ground, dragging a hand along it. As she zipped across the ground, she sent a constant pulse through it. Stretching as far as she could go, she started to drag pieces of rubble along with her. Slabs of sidewalk and road, pieces of buildings, and other pieces of rubble were dragged into the air and followed behind her.

She passed the gyms and headed toward the walls and the city proper. As she flew over the walls and the city came into view, she heard an ear-splitting crack echo behind her. She stopped and the sound and echo continued for some kind as the roar died down. She looked back to the school, torn between helping at the school and stopping Yo Shindo.

She didn't have much experience with the noise but sounded chillingly like something breaking the sound barrier. She knew none of the teachers could do something like that, few people could. The only option was some powerful foe was on the grounds.

She wrestled with her emotions for a moment before turning away and blasting toward Yo Shindo. As strong as that unknown foe may be, Yo Shindo was on another level entirely. Sinking the entire city wasn't outside the realm of possibility if he unleashed his full power. She clenched her teeth in anger as she started to fly over the top of small buildings and residential areas.

As she got to the city proper, she dove to the street level and did the same along the streets as she did at the school. The rubble of the city as she passed joined her increasing large train of rubble and debris. If she passed by a hero fighting someone or an isolated enemy, she had one of the rubble pieces splatter them as she passed.

Eventually, she was dragging parts of entire buildings that had collapsed. The sky was filled with rubble like some kind of localized asteroid field. As she got closer to the crater, she heard an earth-shattering noise and a giant plume of dust and dirt fly into the air on the opposite side of the crater.