Rejected Stones

The Face of Evil

Beta'd by kylekatarn77 and Poliamida

49. The Face of Evil

What can men do against such reckless hate?

-King Theodin, The Two Towers

"Right, let's go!" Izuku said. He turned and pointed through the red light lobby, over broken glass and panicked civilians. "The nearest stairwell is that way. Bakugo, can you take the lead?"

"Just stay out of my way!" Bakugo laughed. "Come on Uraraka, let's smash some heads!"

"I think maybe we're not supposed to do that unless they start something," Uraraka sighed. "But maybe just knock them out. I think a lot of these people are innocent bystanders but there's no way for us to know."

"I'll brainwash as many as I can to make them docile while we restrain them," Shinso said as they ran for the stairwell. "Izuku, you see anything ahead of us?"

"I don't see anything on my thermal scanner," Izuku told his team. "But this building has all kinds of weird systems and shielding that make it hard for me to use my long range sensors. We're practically blind here."

"Fine by me!" Bakugo barked, kicking open the stairwell door. "Clear!"

"My team will handle the second floor," Iida told Izuku over the radio. "You move up to the 3rd floor, Aizawa and his group are taking the 4th."

"Copy that," Izuku agreed, deploying another communications booster. "Mei, are you reading us?"

"There's a bit of static on the line. I think they're trying to decrypt our communications, Izuku. Don't talk unless you need to," Mei told him.

"Copy, going silent," Izuku said. He shook his head. "If we can't use our radios, that's going to be a big problem."

"Talking is boring anyway," Bakugo laughed, taking up positions to the side of the door on the 3rd floor. He looked to Uraraka, who nodded. Bakugo placed his palms on the door, then slammed them forward, blowing it right off its hinges and out into the hallway.

It's progress was halted when it slammed into a giant mutant type only a meter away from the entrance, his body hulking and stony. He groaned and fell backwards as Uraraka and Bakugo jumped out into the hallway, a few stunned Feel Good employees with makeshift weapons or activated quirks grouped to the sides.

"Quirks are lame!" Shinso shouted as he and Izuku followed, his capture weapon whipping out to wrap up a woman who was glowing with a pale yellow light.

"Establishment goon!" one of the MLA members snarled, then suddenly calmed, laying down on the ground. The others didn't fall for the trick though, and Izuku had to tase one foe while punching another hard enough to throw them into a wall. Bakugo and Uraraka rapidly sorted out five opponents who tried to resist with a flurry of punches, kicks, and explosions.

"They're down," Shinso said, taking out a roll of zip ties and quickly securing several of the groaning MLA members. "Izuku, spray that mutant down before he comes around."

Izuku quickly coated the unconscious stone man and the door that was half wrapped around him in capture foam, while Uraraka and Bakugo slammed open one of the office doors. There were screams of panic from inside.

"Shut up!" Bakugo roared. Izuku stuck his head in to see four cowering employees, all looking terrified. "Get down on the ground! Resist and I'll blow you away!"

"Oh God, what's happening?" a woman wailed as she knelt, looking terrified.

"The Meta Liberation Army runs your company," Uraraka told her, approaching cautiously then zip tying her arms and legs together. "Please remain calm. We're securing the building, but right now we don't have any way to tell who's an MLA member and who's-"