[29: A Certain Scientific Railgun]
(A/N: Yeah, I know this probably isn't fully scientifically or lore accurate, or preserves some of the continuity, but I went for coolness over all of that. Rule of cool and whatnot, which matters a lot more for this attempt at a cinematic and maybe too over-the-top chapter, just for this scene. This doesn't happen often, so I have to take every chance I can. I'm sure you can understand. I have to make any moment of the railguns being fired as cool as I can.)
Energy conduits flared to life, lines of light racing along their spines. Large arcs of electricity buzzed and crackled around the barrels. A low hum vibrated through the air, the pitch rising higher and higher. The air around the barrels shimmered as they were warping with heatless distortion as magnetic rails aligned. The hum became a shriek.
The water beneath the railguns cratered inward, pulled by the distortion. Rings seemed to ripple away from the crater, being cast into the ocean. The rails reached critical charge.
[Parameters met.]
"...Fire." Eleanor said in a calm and quiet voice.
The sound snapped inward. There was a tiny bit of silence until…
BOOM! The world seemed to crack. Two lances of compressed atmosphere detonated from the barrels, invisible projectiles tearing the sky open in their wake. The recoil slammed through Eleanor and through the water. A shockwave that kicked up a vertical wall of water meters high. Across the ocean, the clouds split in twin straight lines as the shots punched through the air.
The projected trail in Eleanor's visor matched almost perfectly. A white spear across the curvature of the Earth.
[Time to impact: 4…3…]
/\\//\\//\
One of the nomus the heroes had surrounded raised its arms, the fire from the city making it look menacing, but just then…a vicious and violent impact shook the Earth. The asphalt was completely gone, in its palace was a perfect crater with the nomus having ceased to exist. Pavement was turned into dust, windows were destroyed, and cars were flipped over. The shockwave knocked over some heroes and destroyed signage on buildings, and debris was sent flying into the sky. The only evidence of a nomu being left was a smoking crater.
"What was that?" One of the heroes asked as they coughed and tried to get up. But just then…three other booms slightly shook the earth again.
"What's happening? Is it another villain attack?" Another hero questioned.
/\\//\\//\
(At the same time as the first blast.)
The flying nomu was pierced by a rod, crashing down to earth as it was vaporized, leaving only a crater behind and similar damage to the first blast. The last nomu experienced the same. Three distinct craters riddled the city, easily visible from the sky.
In an alley, Todoroki and Midoriya were fighting Stain. Stain raised his blade, and Midoriya jumped back behind the cover of Todoroki's ice. Todoroki unleashed a massive amount of ice, surrounding Stain. Though it wouldn't hold Stain for long, it would hold him for just a second, which was more than enough time.
Stain was just about to make his move, but he felt something. He turned around, and at that exact moment, the alley seemed to vanish from his point-of-view as the pavement cracked and uprooted as it made its way toward him. The impact hit him, virtually disintegrating him along with the bricks of buildings as the side of them was sheared away from the impact.
The shockwave hit Todoroki's ice, absorbing some of the impact, but it was quickly destroyed as the shockwave hit Todoroki, Midoriya, Iida, and Native. They were blown away and knocked away by the blast and out of the alley. They would be injured, but nothing fatal.
All of their visions were blurred as they all struggled to even move and get up. Dust made breathing hard, and they coughed. Car alarms blared incessantly, and the street had a jagged fracture that seemed to span as far as the eye could see.
"What the? What's going on?" Todoroki groaned as he stood up, holding on to a building that was still standing. A dust cloud blocked his vision.
"Is everyone okay?" Midoriya asked.
"We're as fine as we can be for whatever this was." Iida groaned as he stayed on the ground.
Back in the city, dust drifted and fell like snow. Multiple heroes were finally getting it together. Some helped others up, and others contained the fire damage as best as they could. Some started at the crater, still in shock and awe at the damage that seemed to come out of nowhere.
"Was this a support strike of some sorts?" one of the heroes asked.
"I don't know. But it seems to be over. We'll need to investigate this as soon as we can," one of the other heroes responded.
/\\//\\//\
Back at the ocean, the barrels were cooling. A bit of steam hissed as the railguns were unsummoned.
Eleanor took a deep breath in and out, calming herself and processing what she just did.
[Primary target Stain: Confirmed eliminated. Secondary targets: Confirmed eliminated. No collateral civilian casualties. Damage to infrastructure in impact areas: severe. Operation is a success.]
The ocean around Eleanor calmed down again.
'Fires in Hosu, destruction from the nomus, multiple quirks being used. Way too many things to track down a single thing.' Eleanor thought as she walked back to shore. How the news would describe this or what the investigations would say didn't matter to her. What mattered was that she put an end to someone who should've long been gotten rid of.
/\\//\\//\
(The next day)
"...with the scale of destruction already present in Hosu, investigators classified the anomaly as collateral." News reports were filled non-stop with what happened in Hosu. The attention was on the attack, but also on the mysterious craters that appeared seemingly from nowhere. "...the damage is blamed on villain crossfire, the League of Villains, and what the Hero Public Safety Commission is calling 'secondary quirk discharge.' As rescue and repair efforts unfold, investigations will continue, but it seems results may be very difficult to find, and the severity of the damage might prevent deeper investigation…"
Eleanor watched the news reports on her tablet as she rode the train. ''Secondary quirk discharge.' What a load of BS that is, they can do better than that. But credit where credit is due, it has that 'official-sounding' tone to it.' Eleanor thought to herself as she smiled, finding that part of the excuse kind of laughable.
"You think Iida and the others are okay, Eleanor?" Next to Eleanor sat Asui.
"Yeah, they'll be fine. I doubt it's anything that current technology and medicine can't solve. And I can also help out once we all return to UA. I work a little bit in Recovery Girls clinic. A bit of time under nanobot treatment and they'll be good as new." Eleanor responded to Asui.
"Yeah, that's right, but it's a bit concerning about the attack, but it seems the pro have it under control."
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure they do, Tsu." Eleanot responded as she seemed to zone out as she looked at the news reports.
"Are you okay, Eleanor? You've been a little off today."
Eleanor shook her head to clear herself up. "I'm okay, Tsu. I guess I'm a bit worried for Iida and the others. I can't imagine what Iida must be feeling. Especially since what happened to his brother is probably what caused him to want to inter at Hosu. He'll need some counseling sessions for sure." It was a mostly white lie that Eleanor told Asui.
'Will this inspire those other people, like Dabi and Himiko Toga? Well, Stain doesn't have his moment in the news, and…speaking of Dabi…what is that attention-seeking bum and fraud even doing? 'Oh no, my quirk causes damage to my body, and instead of listening to my dad about not using it, I'm going to keep using it and ruin the lives of the rest of my siblings!' That fraud is a mass murderer worse than Stain! At least Endeavor eventually realizes and tries his best to make up for his mistakes, even if it is long overdue, but Dabi? And this guy somehow has fans! Like…what?! His feats are garbage! Killed some random heroes, and then defeated Hawks, but it was literally his weakness. He'd better pray he doesn't run into me. Okay, monologue and hate over. I need some rest.'