The Exchange Hero

Episode 18

Hosu City was four districts away. We moved fast. With his permission I grabbed Crimson Riot and leaped as far as I could. He directed me. Each leap was almost a half mile. I was careful to absorb all of the impact so as not to damage the building on each landing and leap.

"Still no word from Native. But we're getting close to his location." The old man grumbled, checking his smartphone's All Star App™. Without warning an explosion sent a ball of flame high into the air less than a mile away. "Shit!"

"That way!" He pointed towards the explosion.

"But what about Native?"

"Innocents before heroes. He knows that. We all know that. Go there. And hurry!" I bounced us closer to the disturbance. In the streets below were could see people running from the town center. The noise of car horns and panicked voices grew as we approached the epicenter of the chaos. I heard a second explosion, smaller, but it still sent a shockwave that rocked the remaining widows of the buildings in the area.

We landed on a building overlooking the town center. This was an area that in better days had held a plaza with trees, sculpture, and a fountain. The plaza was at least one square block. The buildings that bounded the center were mostly large commercial establishment – two banks, a hotel, a department stores, and a few others I didn't recognize. It would have been home to crowds of pedestrians and vehicles, even at this hour. Now it was a raging inferno of burning cars, collapsed facades, and injured people. In the middle of the chaos were two creatures with exposed brains battling a dozen or more costumed heroes.

"Nomus?" I cursed. There was a giant one that looked similar to the Nomu at USJ. The other was smaller, with grey skin, a gas mask, and wings that let it fly. "This is bad."

"You've seen them before?" Crimson Riot demanded

"One almost killed All Might in the USJ a few weeks ago. Two could easily destroy the city." My mentor nodded silently and gave the battle a critical onceover. I noticed a red car fly thorough the air, landing on a winged hero who was prostrate on the ground. Someone had torn open a water hydrant and a helmeted hero was directing the stream at one of the fires. I saw a green-haired guy in a green suit that might be Midoriya, but I lost him a moment later.

"Get down there and help clear out the civilians. Once they're out of the area, look for folks trapped under debris, but be very careful moving it. If you have to, just set these markers near them and move on." He handed me a bag with emergency beacons. I had seen them in hero basics and knew how to activate them. "Stay out of the fight. Let the pros deal with the villains. Got it?"

"Got it." I leaped over the railing and dropped the seven stories to the pavement below. I landed softly, absorbing the impact and storing the kinetic energy temporarily. I couldn't hold it long, but thought it might come in handy. I quickly dropped all my bots with instructions to search and locate any trapped people. They had enough programming to do that independently. If they weren't crushed in the battle, they would make their way through the rubble looking for life signs and would signal me when they found anything. I looked around. The smoke and dust made it hard to breathe and the flames raised the ambient temperature to near-blistering levels. Maybe I'm not as invulnerable as I thought, fleetingly crossed my mind.

Hearing a cry, I rushed over to a trio of office workers huddled in a doorway. Looking for the safest route out of the area I saw pedestrian alley, with small shops and clubs lining one side, leading away from the danger zone. "This way! We have to get you out of here. This way!" I was yelling to be heard over the sounds of combat and waving my arms towards the alley. I actually had to grab one man's arm and start to drag him in the direction I wanted him to run before they started moving. I motioned them to run ahead of me, which proved to be a good thing.