[The Day of the Incident]
I woke up around 7 a.m. and started doing a slightly shorter version of my morning routine. The meeting was scheduled for around 11 a.m., so I had to get ready. I organized the files and uploaded them onto a flash drive for easier access. I also made sure to input the positions of my puppets so they wouldn't be flagged as hostiles. When it was time to go, I sent a text to Mei, reminding her not to go outside with her family unless completely necessary. She just sent back an "ok" and wished me luck. As I walked out of the house, I said my final goodbye to my mom and made sure that Wilhelm was around to protect her. After a short walk, I got on the bullet train and headed to UA University.
I arrived around 10:30 a.m. and walked to the imposing supercomplex. In front of the gate, I could see Mr. Aizawa waiting for me, with someone sitting on his shoulder. As I got closer, he noticed me and waved me over.
"Ah, problem child, you arrived a bit early. Good job. Now, let's not waste time and start this meeting." The creature chuckled at his bluntness and added, "Now, now, don't be mean, Shota. We didn't even give him the temporary pass—he couldn't follow you even if he wanted to." Mr. Aizawa just grumbled something about being sorry and illogical under his breath. The creature then turned to me. "Well, it's nice to meet you, young man! Am I a dog, a mouse, or a bear? It doesn't matter, I am the principal of UA, Nezu." I was a bit shocked at first, but after all the crazy things my quirk revealed to me, it's hard to truly surprise me. Nezu just tilted his head and said, "That usually gets a bigger reaction. Well, whatever—we've wasted enough time already. Here's your card. Let's get going!" He handed me a simple blue-and-white card with the UA logo on top and the word "guest" written underneath.
We then went inside the building, which seemed more like a maze than anything else. After a surprisingly long walk, we arrived at a space that was somewhere between a conference room and a teachers' lounge. I could see ten people already waiting for us. They seemed to be the staff of the school, all pro heroes, as they were clearly in their hero costumes. They all turned towards me and greeted me in their own styles. When they were done introducing themselves, I asked Nezu if I could use the large TV on the wall to present the information myself. He supported the idea and asked Mr. Aizawa to bring me a school laptop. He obliged and helped me connect it to the screen. Once we were set, he returned to his seat near Nezu. That was my cue to start the meeting:
"First of all, I want to thank you for your swift help. I wouldn't know how to fix this situation without you. Now, before I get into the details, I'm going to be transparent with you about my quirk, so there's no confusion later on. It's called Hyperion, and the only relevant information for now is that it's similar in nature to Mr. Ectoplasm's quirk." Everyone perked up at this, especially Nezu and the teacher in question. Aizawa already had a general idea about my power but didn't know the specifics. I continued after they finished talking amongst themselves: "The main difference is that I can make seemingly infinite, separate, customizable human puppets. They are under my absolute command, but they are also independent of me. I don't have a hive mind with them, unlike Mr. Ectoplasm. These are the current templates I can make and actively use." I showed them slides of my different units and their stats. Everyone seemed impressed, especially Nezu, who was clearly thinking about the endless possibilities.
"This is important for two main reasons: first, although I know it's illegal, I currently have two teams of units in advantageous positions—one around my house and one around my friend's house—to alert us of a possible attack and protect us in case of an emergency. Second, I have a high-range radio, which my friend made, so I can communicate with the Commanders and they can communicate with each other. They currently have orders to radio me if anything happens. We've had some false alarms, so don't be alarmed if you hear their voices. They may report something important." Some of the staff gave me disapproving looks, but Nezu and Aizawa didn't seem to mind. They seemed to appreciate my thinking and planning.
"Now, onto the information I've gathered. The most important clue is the organization behind it. It's most likely the Kurogane-ikka (Black Steel family), a former branch of the infamous Shie Hassaikai yakuza group. They separated due to internal conflicts and went off the radar to avoid the wrath of their parent group. It was believed that they disbanded a decade ago after their leader was assassinated. I've found that not only have they not disbanded, but they have deep roots in this city and other prefectures. They accidentally exposed themselves by using the same tattoo as before their rebranding." I heard concerned murmurs among the teachers, but I continued without a care: "I noticed that every member has the family's logo tattooed on their wrists. It's pretty distinct—it looks like a katana embedded in the flesh with the original Japanese rising sun flag behind it. This is a tradition and a sign of respect, but they made a mistake. Even their 'undercover' members have the tattoo. For example, FastTrack, a hero ranked 146th, has it. It's visible in this photo, taken last year when he received an award and shook hands with the organizer." I zoomed in so they could take a better look. There were shocked gasps and even angry shouts. Even the usually cheery Nezu frowned. Aizawa had a dark look in his eye as he leaned closer—he already knew most of the details from our conversation yesterday, but he still didn't like the idea of a scumbag pretending to be a hero so close to where he worked.
"But that's not all. Kasper Kaiser and BoomBox also have the same tattoos. They're still up-and-coming heroes without official rankings, but they're supposed to be heroes nonetheless." An eerie silence enveloped the room.
"Another connection is that they patrol the general area where the attempted kidnapping took place. Over the past seven years, during my investigation, I found that 47 people disappeared under suspicious circumstances in this area." I pointed to the relevant section on the map of Musutafu. "There's also a strong likelihood that some dirty cops are involved." Before I could explain why, Nezu did it for me. "There's no way just these three have enough power and influence to provide an almost perfect smokescreen for the crime family. Even if they could cover things up for a while, some camera system should have caught them, and the police would have been alerted. That means someone was destroying evidence." I nodded and continued. "I only started this investigation because I noticed increased police and hero activity around the place where Mei and I accidentally ruined their plans once. Mr. Aizawa can confirm this." He nodded and said, "Yes, that's the general area where I ran into the kids, so the logic checks out." I thanked him for the clarification and continued. "The really worrying part is that about a month ago, they seemed to stop searching. At first, I thought they gave up, but if they didn't stop for seven years…"
"Why would they stop now? It's most likely they found what they were looking for," Nezu finished, looking genuinely mad and worried.
"Alright, I think we've heard enough. We should start patrolling the kids' general area and look into relocating them to a safe location, either temporarily or permanently. We should also…" Before Aizawa could finish, we all heard the radio buzz to life, and the text-to-speech voice came through with a very ominous warning.
"Attention, attention. This is Hatsume Defense Squad Commander. Multiple hostile vehicles have entered the area. They are heavily armed with low- and high-caliber weapons! We've received a report that the Jack Defense Squad is in an active battle with more hostiles. They are currently in a standoff but have managed to hold them off for now. We are now entering Phase II of the plan. This message will repeat."
A deathly silence enveloped the room. No one could even utter a word. Even Aizawa looked pale and was shaking slightly. Nezu looked absolutely furious, cursing aloud. This couldn't have come at a worse time. I was so scared something would happen to those I loved that I almost snapped. Before I could do anything, I felt Mr. Aizawa shaking my shoulders. "Hey, kid, I know this is a terrible situation, but you can't lose your cool now." His words snapped me back to reality, and I saw that Nezu was already issuing orders, so I knew I had to do the same.
I quickly ran up to him and said, "Sir, I'm sorry to butt in, but I think the best course of action would be to send the most manpower to Hatsume, since she lives in a much more populated area. The puppets will have a harder time stalling the villains there." He thought for a second and nodded. "And I'm sorry to ask, but could you grant me temporary permission to use my quirk for assistance? I could start sending more reinforcements to my area." He didn't hesitate and immediately agreed. "Okay, you do that. I'll call the local heroes to try and lessen the burden there. Meanwhile, we'll head to Mei's home with you, and after that, we'll deal with the situation near your house if the villains haven't been captured yet."
He paused, then ordered the teachers, "Now that we have a temporary plan, let's rush to the garages ASAP." Everyone bolted to the UA garage. When we got there, Nezu continued giving orders. "Okay, every teacher will go with me to the more populated central area of the city. I've contacted local hero agencies to delay the villains. I've also given them descriptions of Young Adams's puppets so they know they're there for support. Ectoplasm, you and two of your clones will drive the armored trucks. You'll drive us downtown, and your clones will drive some puppets as temporary reinforcements to the apartment complexes. Is everything clear?" Aizawa and a few others weren't too keen on the idea of taking me into an active warzone, but the principal only said that we didn't have any other options or time.
I brought out around 20 Combat Engineers, 2 Commanders, 4 Heavy Infantry, and 10 Scouts. They were evenly split under the two Commanders—one in each armored truck. They were temporarily designated Alpha and Beta squads. I also made 4 Infiltrators and 2 Elite Scouts for my protection and for quick surveillance. We all rushed into our designated vehicles, and my personal puppets clung to the sides for a quicker disembark. Once everyone was seated, we drove out of the building at a very fast pace. The ride was short, only 10 minutes, but understandably, everyone was tense. The convoy finally split into two different routes. I knew we were close—about a minute away from Mei's house. When I tried to get an update from the Commanders, only the one from my house responded. He reported that they were still bunkered down but were slowly falling back due to constant gunfire and the fire that had engulfed a third of the building.
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When we arrived in Mei's area, I understood why they couldn't answer me. Half of the buildings were on fire or shot up. Thankfully, the only saving grace that I had was the distinct sound of the electromagnetic rifles going off in the distance. This most likely means that Mei is somewhat safe. I feared the worst when I couldn't contact her; now it's most likely the fault of the damaged infrastructure. We quickly drove through the destroyed road, but we had to stop and continue on foot because the road was packed full of abandoned and burning cars. I quickly ordered my Infiltrators to look for survivors, but I had no luck. Either everyone here is already dead or they escaped. The horrific scenes of the burning and lifeless bodies everywhere are certainly going to give me nightmares. The teachers, although angry and mournful of the atrocities, just moved forward to help at least those that they could.
We soon arrived where a part of the gang was pinned down behind their cars, from the constant sniper fire and the unpredictable arrows that seemed to come from nowhere. My puppets quickly rushed to defensive positions to help support the local team. While the teachers quickly attacked the villains head-on with everything they had, fortunately, they were just simple disposable grunts who could only be foot soldiers for bigger guys. I asked the teachers if I could take their guns into my possession temporarily. They hesitated for a bit, but due to the time constraint and need for more support, Nezu allowed me, on the condition that I give each and every one of them back. I obviously agreed, so I brought out 7 Combat Engineers and one Commander. I ordered them to collect the guns, look for survivors, and establish a temporary relief zone here.
I finally managed to get into contact with the Local Commander. Nezu and I waited for a status update from them, but he didn't bring the best news. It turns out that before the lines went down, he managed to alert Mei and her family. They locked themselves in somewhere in the workshop's building. The Infiltrators managed to follow them and are most likely guarding them, but it's not that confident in the information since he can't confirm it with them anymore. The bigger problem was that they were slowly running out of ammunition and couldn't hold out much longer. One of the Elite snipers is most likely dead when he fell off the roof due to the extensive damage done by the gunfire. They, however, spotted small batches of civilians trying to leave the nearby building and are trying to support them from above. They also reported that there are at most 20 villains in the area; they only saw 5 cars with gunmen inside them. Nezu looked a bit relieved because this means that we already took down 8 of them, and we have a pretty good idea about where the others might be. Nezu asked me to relay to them the order to continue supporting civilians as well as looking for villains and reporting their whereabouts to us. I relayed the order with the extra command to listen to Nezu's commands unless it directly harms me or Mei. The commander confirmed it. We then began to move up and searched for villains or survivors. We took down, in the next 20 minutes, almost all villains except possibly 2, but we didn't have much more time to linger around here. I also lost 1 of my personal Infiltrators and 1 of my Elite Scout units.
But after the immediate danger subsided, the teachers left me here with Recovery Girl and Thirteen to help with the evacuation until more pros could show up to help us. So I brought out 10 more Combat Engineers and made them join the now two local commanders in the rescue operations. With their help, we managed to secure an old parking garage as a temporary relief site for survivors, and now the units are actively guiding people there. When it seemed everything was going to be stable for now, I rushed to get Mei and her family out of their nearly destroyed building and get them here to relative safety. I ordered every Elite Scout to guard the streets from any threat and rushed with my Infiltrators to the all-too-familiar mechanic shop. I'm not gonna lie; the empty and destroyed houses gave me an uncomfortable, lonely feeling. When I got to their address, I saw that the heavy metal door had holes shot through them, probably from stray bullets. With the 5 of us working together, we managed to force it open. Inside, everything was dark, and my anxiety kept rising as I searched around. When I didn't find anyone downstairs, I rushed to the second floor of their home. However, just when I was about to go up the stairs, I saw blood flowing down it. When I arrived up top, I saw the front door knocked down with one of the missing villains lying in their own blood with an arrow lodged right in their throat. When I stepped inside, someone tried to swing at me, and I almost fought back instinctively, but I saw that it was just an injured Mr. Hatsume. I calmed down and shouted at him: "Hey, it's just me, Jack. I am the hero here, not the villain!" He seemed to realize who I was and settled down as well: "Phew, kid, I almost knocked your lights out. Come in; I think there is someone who needs you more now than ever." He tried to joke with me, but I noticed that he was in obvious pain as he grabbed his bleeding shoulder. "Hey, you are hurt. We should bandage that wound immediately to avoid infection or blood loss."
"Yeah, I know. I was just about to do it when I saw someone trying to enter. I thought you were with those guys," he said, pointing at the dead guy in the door.
"Hey, is everyone okay here, other than you? Or do we need to treat someone else? More importantly, is Mei okay?!" I asked, increasingly worried and panicked.
"Relax, kid. Your quirk came as a big help to us. They took down the villains who broke in. Unfortunately, they only managed to catch one of them off guard. The second one reacted too quickly and shot one of your puppets in the stomach. The other one held the guy off long enough for me to hit him in the head with one of my bigger pipe wrenches. The guy died due to me breaking his skull. Sadly, the puppet who got shot in the stomach didn't make it either; its body is with the others in my office's panic room. The other puppet is pretty banged up from the scuffle but is still standing guard in front of the security door." While we were talking, I helped tourniquet his shoulder with a kitchen cloth we found.
We headed back to the office. When we arrived in front of the door, I saw the one remaining guard unit of this family still standing proud and strong. I smiled at it and said, "You did an absolutely amazing job. Please join the others in the formation for now; this is almost over." It nodded its head and stood between the other 3 Infiltrators. Mr. Hatsume then opened the door for us. Inside, I saw Mei's entire family in relatively good shape. Mrs. Hatsume was silently crying over the body of the fallen puppet. Hana, Mei's sister, was just staring absent-mindedly into nothingness while clutching the puppet's hand. She had obvious tear marks on her face. Mei was sitting in front of a desk and was tinkering with her phone, maybe so they could finally contact someone. When we stepped inside, all of them looked at us, but when Mei noticed me, she threw everything away from her hand and rushed at me. I also couldn't help but feel relieved that she was all right, so I also ran towards her for a hug. When we finally collided, I couldn't help but feel so relieved that I picked her up and spun her around in my arms in pure relief and happiness. Mei did something even more outlandish than I did. After I put her down, she hugged me deeply and kissed my lips. We stood there for a couple of minutes in pure bliss, and only separated when we ran out of air. A trail of saliva was still connecting us, so we quickly snapped out of our hypnotized state when we heard weird sounds from beside us. Mr. Hatsume was just grumbling something with fake tears on his face, but he wasn't truly upset. Mei's mum was just laughing in the exact tone that Mei uses when she has an especially crazy or dangerous idea. Her sister just gave us both a thumbs up. We both became as red as tomatoes due to this, but we shrugged it off not too long after our intimate scene, because we were still relieved that the other party was safe and sound.
I quickly explained that there is a civilian relief point nearby that I helped set up, so we should go. I made one of the Infiltrators carry the body of their fallen brethren. I didn't want to risk my quirk absorbing back their remains; they deserve a proper burial just as everyone else does. When we left the shop, the whole family was shocked at the destruction and the casualties. As we made our way back, they sometimes stopped and stayed silent for a while, probably recognizing familiar faces amongst the dead. We finally arrived back at the parking garage. When we stepped inside, I saw Recovery Girl and Thirteen briefing the newly arrived heroes and emergency responders. I spotted the No. 4 pro hero: Best Jeanist, the No. 7 pro hero: Mirko, and the No. 12 pro hero: Ryukyu, amongst others. When I arrived with my group, Thirteen signaled to me to join them. I said goodbye temporarily to Mei and her family and ran towards the pro heroes.
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"Oh, it's good that you are finally here, dearie. We were just about to go out and search for you. I guess you found your friend. Good job. You are just in time for the meeting." Recovery Girl seemed to appreciate my efforts and even treated me as an equal to them. It honestly felt really good.
"I also wanted to talk to you. I found the remaining villains. They were killed when they tried to attack my friend and her family. So at least we don't have to worry about them. Did you get any update from Nezu or any of the teams I sent as support?"
Before she could respond to me, Mirko suddenly butted in: "Hey, who is the kid and what did you mean by 'your team'?" She raised her eyebrows at me questioningly.
Before I could answer, Thirteen addressed the question: "He is a kid that Nezu invited today to UA to speak about a potential leak among heroes and to protect him and his friend because a dangerous organization was after them. Unfortunately, we were too late, and the Black Steels started their plan during our meeting with him." Thirteen quickly summarized my situation. Then Recovery Girl added, "Nezu brought him along to act as support because he knew more about the situation than us, and we were pretty much out of time and options as well. I can't say I am too happy about the decision, but he proved himself to be an invaluable asset during the whole catastrophe. Every one of those soldier-looking guys is just a part of his quirk." After they finished, almost every hero looked at me with either respect or disdain, although the latter was the minority. Fortunately, it seems that I gained the top-class heroes' acknowledgment. Even Mirko looked at me with a big savage grin and said, "Well done, kid! If you ever want to become a pro-hero, just try to contact me, and I will give you some pointers."
A Commander walked up to me and handed me their radio. I heard from the other side the voice of one of the Commanders; they quickly identified themselves as the one in charge of Beta squad. The heroes perked up at the new information. The Commander continued his report:
"We are currently supporting No. 3 pro hero Hawks with the evacuation effort. The HPSC declared a general emergency in the whole area. There are apparently multiple powerful hostiles in the area. Both No. 2 pro hero Endeavor and The Symbol of Peace, All Might, are in active combat. Alpha squad is helping the teachers evacuate. Vlad King is in shock due to blood loss, EchtoPlasm has lost both of his legs and is in critical condition, and Midnight and Cementoss are both unconscious thanks to serious but not life-threatening conditions." The pro heroes became shocked. Just who could have All Might run into that caused him to enter a prolonged battle this serious? Recovery Girl looked really worried for some reason, but I did not care. My heart was racing, but I had to ask: "What about the original defense squad? Do you have any information on Mom or Wilhelm?" The pros looked down in sadness, already anticipating the answer.
"We couldn't reach them for the last five minutes, ever since the start of the battle. Their last known information is that they lost almost everyone during the fighting. Only the Commander and two Combat Engineers survived, and they are still with Wilhelm and your mother. Their last sent message was this: 'We will try to evacuate. The enemy forces have scattered, but someone stronger showed up. He is in a black suit and has white hair. Currently, All Might is preparing to face him. Good luck with the evacuation efforts. Jack, defense squad out.' " I stood there not knowing what to do. Mei, who heard the conversation thanks to the other Commander's radio, just came close to me and hugged me.
Recovery Girl shook her head and thought to herself: 'So it's finally time for their final clash. I hope that big oaf will be right. But still, poor kid, I wouldn't wish anyone in his shoes. To be totally helpless as you are not powerful enough to change anything... Sadly, I can relate to his feelings. Oh Nana, how much I wish you were here with us right now.'
I snapped out of my hopeless state and spoke with unwavering resolve: "I am going to go there and help. Does anyone want to go with me?"
"Absolutely not! You are not a pro hero; you aren't even a hero student! I am not letting you go anywhere from here! I am not letting you throw away your life so you can play hero!" Mei shouted at me, genuinely angry at me for even suggesting my idea.
"You should listen to her, dearie. You are still just a young boy, even if you have an almost unlimited potential in your quirk. Do you honestly think that you could do something significant there that heroes with years of experience already aren't doing? Okay, let's say that maybe you could do something, but would it be enough to make a difference against the villain? People of All Might's caliber rarely need more than a couple of minutes to finish their toughest opponents in a fight. The fact that it started 5 minutes ago should tell you how dangerous this villain is. Still, you would arrive there in about 10 minutes. The fight would most likely be over, with a non-zero chance that the villain takes down All Might, in which case you would just be running to your death." As Recovery Girl finished her rant, Mei tightened her hug at the thought that I would run into my death. Still, without changing my mind, I explained to them: "They are my family—both my mom and Wilhelm. Family for me is the most important thing in the world. Even if I have to let the world burn to save them, I would do it. I would do this for you as well, Mei. I honestly love you and I can't bear the thought of losing you, but that is also true for Wilhelm and Mom. I couldn't forgive myself if I didn't at least try something." Mei was shocked and deeply touched by my words.
Recovery Girl was about to object when Mirko spoke up: "All right, kid, I will take you there." The heroes were about to object, but she just raised her hand to stop them. "He has already set his mind on this; you can't change it however you try. I should know; I have almost the exact same mentality. This way, I at least can keep him safe and out of trouble. He would no doubt sneak away just to go there all by himself if we didn't help him." Everyone just sighed in defeat and slowly went back to help the civilians. Recovery Girl's final words to me were: "I hope you succeed, dearie. Good luck." I was about to say goodbye to Mei, but she just looked confused at me: "What, are we not going or what?"
"What! You obviously can't come. Didn't you hear the whole 'I can't bear the thought of you being in danger' part of my speech?!" She just chuckled and nodded: "That is exactly why I am going. To make you take fewer risks and, of course, to help you as well. I think I love you more than anyone or anything in my life, so I am prepared to do everything to keep you safe as well." Mirko just laughed at her declaration. "That is a brilliant idea! I already like your thinking. I know from personal experience that this is pretty much the only way to convince us super stubborn people to even reconsider going about things in a different way than our own." When we finished with the banter, we found an abandoned car that Mei hotwired so Mirko could drive. For some reason, she just laughed at the situation and didn't ask any questions about how Mei knew how to do this kind of stuff. Heck, even I wanted to ask her about it, but it wasn't really the right time to talk about it.
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We drove recklessly through the evacuated and empty streets until we reached the quarantine zone that is under lockdown for now. Our group managed to enter when Mirko said we were helping her with the rescue operations. We parked next to the field hospital and went to look for someone in charge. We found Nezu, who was coordinating everything in the main tent. He was surprised to see us here. I quickly made a report about what happened in the downtown area and why I was here. Nezu was ecstatic that this whole fiasco was finally over. Apparently, All Might won the battle but suffered serious injuries and is now being transported to a specialized hospital of the HPSC in Tokyo. He eventually allowed me to look for my family, on the condition that Mirko would stay with us at all times. She had no problem with it, so we went on our way.
As I finally saw and walked closer and closer to the destroyed apartment building I once called my home, memories from my life came up as I walked with an eerily calm pace. Memories of me and Izuku brainstorming in the living room after I invited him over, the time when I finally convinced Mei to come over so I could properly introduce her to my mom. Then memories appeared of me and Wilhelm, my oldest and first creation—my friend, who I almost looked up to like an older brother. The time when, after saving up a lot of money, I managed to buy him his own phone. His proud face when he brought home his first paycheck ever. His grumpy but kind-hearted banters with Mei when they spoke to each other. And finally, my mom, who I at first resented for not spending enough time with me, only understanding the true weight on her shoulders when she broke down crying alone in the kitchen when she thought she was alone. How she felt like a bad mother, but she needed to work extra hard so she could support me with my dreams in the future. After that, I could see how truly lonely she was after Dad left us. How tired she was every day coming home after constantly working longer and longer extra shifts so she could get even a little more money for my well-being.
I finally arrived next to the ruins of the building, not even noticing my tears flowing down my face. I saw some of the scattered remains of my soldiers and began walking towards the entrance of the basement, with the others following me. That was their only possible way to escape. The sewer system connected to the city is a relatively safe escape route that I had thought of for every Commander I have ever made. At the door, we saw the corpses of the last two Combat Engineers behind a large metal sheet. They most likely sacrificed themselves to protect the others from the deadly shock waves and died when they were finally crushed by the clashing forces under their own makeshift shield. Mirko and Mei paid their respects in silence, likely understanding their sacrifice.
When we opened the door, we saw that the stairs themselves had collapsed and buried the Commander under their weight. The sticking out hand and the bloody footprints indicated that he had pushed Wilhelm and Mom out of the collapse just in time, but was ultimately unable to escape himself. He too sacrificed himself in line with my command, to protect them at any cost. As we saw, that was the cost of that decision. We managed to climb down to look further, but the next sight was what broke me. There were Wilhelm and my mom lying on the floor. The roof of the basement had collapsed and fallen on top of them. He tried to shield my mom with his body, but a large piece of rebar pierced through Wilhelm's stomach and went straight into my mom's chest. Mei covered her mouth and started sobbing softly into her hands. Mirko just looked down, and even she had a devastated look on her face. She was angry that all the sacrifice was in vain, that all the fighting was ruined by simple bad luck.
And I— I just stood there, broken, replaying all my memories with Wilhelm and my mom once again. Every birthday, every party, every sacrifice they made for me. I was snapped out of my shock when I heard a familiar voice speak to me: "Oh hey, kid, fancy seeing you here! *cough* *cough* Look, I am sorry I couldn't keep my promise to you. You know I really tried, but in the end, when it counted, I couldn't do anything. *cough* *cough* " I rushed to pull Wilhelm out, but Mirko stopped me. "Kid, don't do it. That piece of rebar is the only thing keeping the ceiling up anymore, and I am sorry, but he lost too much blood and was pierced in a vital organ. If you try to move him, you would just speed up his end. It's a miracle that he is even still alive."
"She is right, you know. I am not going to make it, boss. *cough* But I kept up the hope that I could at least talk to you one last time.*cough* Look, I just want to say two things, okay, kid? First, the most important message I could ever say to you. *cough* *cough* Your mother, in her last moments, said that if I ever see you, I should tell you this: 'I am so proud of you, my dear little boy. Every sacrifice and every lonely night was worth it because at least I could see you were happy. *cough* I know I am a bad mother for not being there for you most of the time, but I hope that you loved me at least a little bit, even with my flaws. *cough* I really wished to see you grow up, start a family with someone you truly love, like Mei. *cough* I know that you will be an amazing hero, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. In my eyes, you already became a true hero when you helped Izuku and Mei in their troubles. *sob* I really love you, and I will be watching over you from the heavens as your very own guardian angel.' "
At the end, Wilhelm started to sob as well. I was crying as I knelt down in front of their bodies and held both of their hands. Mei was fully bawling her eyes out as she hugged me from behind and buried her face into my shoulder. I even heard Mirko starting to shed tears in the background.
"Hey, boss! There is still one thing I would like to say. *cough* " I looked Wilhelm dead in the eye and nodded. He said with tears in his eyes, "You were the best possible boss anyone could ever ask for. *sob* You didn't treat me and the others like slaves and were even nice to us when you really didn't have to. *cough* I just want to say that I am so sorry that I was useless until the end. I was not particularly great at anything like the others are. *sob* If only I could have been stronger, faster, or even smarter, this wouldn't have happened to your mom. *sob* My only unique trait was that I am the most human out of your puppets, but that is only by your choice and not by my luck or anything. *cough* Even if it's selfish, could I ask you a question? *sob* "
I just nodded. "Was I at least useful to you in any way? Did my life have any meaning? Was I a good subordinate to you? *sob* "
I hugged Wilhelm with all my might and said between sobs, "Oh, you dumbass. Why didn't you tell me before? *sob* You were always by my side, helping me, motivating me, and cheering me up. *sob* You were like a real older brother to me! sob So what if you are not that special compared to the others? You were special to me and Mom just by being you. *sob* You are among the best of the best out of any of my puppets! You are someone that I could have never replaced even if I wanted to. *sob* You are one of a kind. I truly looked up to you; you were my role model! *sob* And you were just as big a part of this family as me or Mom! *sob*"
Wilhelm just hugged me back with one arm and said his final words, "I am truly glad that I was useful to you, as puppets this is our only true wish in life. *sob* And thank you for thinking of me as your brother. This is truly the highest honor that I could have received from you, boss. *sob* Thank you for making my short life so enjoyable and meaningful. I wish you with all my heart that you achieve your dreams. *sob* I doubt it, but I hope I can join your mother in heaven to watch over you. Goodbye, brother..."
With these parting words, all light left Wilhelm's eyes. I stayed there mourning their passing for God knows how long. I was having all kinds of thoughts and emotions rage inside me. And before I could realize what was happening, I began to float with ethereal purple wings. On the right side of my body, strange purple tattoos started to appear, and a glowing purple halo appeared above my head. Before I could even try to understand anything, I blacked out.