[66: Lucky E]
(Nighttime, Eleanor's Base. A Few Days Later)
"This is the location, correct?" Aizawa asked.
"Yes, it is," Sir Nighteye said.
A team of heroes, consisting of UA teachers, used the information they gathered from Sir Nighteye to launch a raid on Eleanor's base. They made a plan and tried to account for many variables. And while Sir Nighteye really did try to help, there was only so much that could be done. A few days had gone by, and each day that passed meant a lower chance of Sir Nighteye's visions being 100% correct or reliable.
Aizawa staked out the location from a distance. The building they were looking at seemed to be nothing special; it looked just like the typical abandoned building one could find anywhere. Nothing unusual could be seen just from looking outside.
"I don't see any kind of traps or other threats," Aizawa said as he looked through binoculars.
"That's what makes it dangerous," Sir Nighteye said. "Something ordinary can spring a trap on us."
Aizawa put down the binoculars and spoke into a communicator. "Can everyone report?"
"Midnight here."
"Snipe also reporting."
"Cementoss here as well."
"All Might in position as well."
They weren't holding anything back.
⁂
(A few hours earlier)
"Alright, the plan is simple. We're going to implement a strategy that has been used throughout all of human history," Eleanor explained the plan to Lady Nagant, Toga, and Twice.
"And what is that?" Lady Nagant asked.
"We're going to run away," Eleanor revealed in a grand fashion.
"Uh…what? Seriously?" Toga, who had been excited for the action, had her mood dimmed a little at Eleanor's revelation.
"I mean, duh. Look, they have All Might going after us. Now, granted, he may be…okay, he's like 99 percent of all the force going after us, but that doesn't mean we have to be scared. All Might is strong, but because of some things, we have a chance. Now, this will involve targeting the others in their little operation. You know, give them a real dilemma. And while they're stuck, we make our escape. I already have a new location picked out for us," Eleanor said.
"Okay, so what do we do?" Lady Nagant asked.
"We set up a bunch of booby traps, of course. I can set up a bunch of things with my quirk," Eleanor said.
"Quick question. Aren't booby traps illegal? I mean, like, they're a war crime, no?" Lady Nagant asked.
"No, booby traps are not a war crime by themselves, only how they are used. It's only a war crime if you disguise or attach a booby trap to harmless portable objects, protected persons or items, food, and religious and cultural monuments. It's also a war crime if placed at a location where it cannot be directed at a specific military objective or where it risks disproportionate civilian casualties, and if it's used against civilians," Eleanor said.
"You seem to know quite a bit about this," Twice said.
"I have…some experience," Eleanor said. "Anyway, we're fine. We're not disguising the traps as something they're not, we're not targeting civilians or placing the traps in a place where it would disproportionately affect civilians, and we're not targeting any religious or cultural monuments. Look, the worst-case scenario if we get caught is that I'll be extradited to the United States, where I'll then be set free and then start working for the military or some agency. You three will…it won't be good. Toga and Jin, you'll be thrown in prison for a while. And Kaina, to be frank, you'll be executed after the HPSC pulls a few strings at a trial, if you even go through a trial."
"I…appreciate the honesty? I guess." Lady Nagant said.
"Okay, but how will we run away?" Twice asked.
"Okay, this is how we do it. It's going to take expert timing, perfect precision, and maybe a bit of luck," Eleanor said.
"Uh…I don't think we have that kind of coordination yet," Lady Nagant said.
Eleanor laughed a little. "Yeah, I know, I'm only messing with you. Although a bit of luck won't be bad. Okay, pay attention, because when things go down, it's going to be hard to see each other." Eleanor got a map of the hideout and the surrounding area. "We're going to meet up here." Eleanor pointed at the map. "I'll send a guide of sorts to you, so you won't get lost."
"Why can't we just go away now?" Lady Nagant said.
"Because if we run away now, without giving them any consequences, they'll just keep coming after us over and over again. It's better to show them the possible effects of a raid on us now, instead of it interrupting us all the time. And plus, with so many high-profile heroes coming here…it'll give one of us a massive advantage in possible infiltration operations," Eleanor said. "Now, this doesn't mean we fight directly, but just enough to keep them engaged."
"This sounds fun now!" Toga clapped a little.
"I guess so, Toga. Okay, let's get to it," Eleanor said.
⁂
(The Present)
It was time to start.
Aizawa, along with Sir Nighteye, started their infiltration. Something like this would normally be left to the underground heroes, but given that Eleanor was a part of UA, some of them felt they had to interfere. To bring her back before it was too late or got any worse. (A/N: Yeah, of course they'd think like that.)
"Okay, here we go." Aizawa slowly snuck around the outside of the hideout. Nothing seemed out of place during the stakeout. Aizawa looked through a crack in one of the boarded-up windows. It was very dark, and the new moon didn't help at all with illumination. 'It's pitch-black in there. There's no source of light either,' Aizawa thought to himself as he went to a window that was broken and more open.
He went through, but as soon as he did. "Stop, don't move." Sir Nighteye's voice came from a communication device.
"Nighteye, what's going on?" Aizawa asked.
"I'm at another spot in the hideout, but if my vision is anything to go by, it's better if we just go all-in right now. We don't have the luxury of sneaking around too much," Sir Nighteye said.
"Why is that?"
"There's a high chance she knows we're here already."
'I have a bad feeling about thi—' Aizawa was interrupted when a sudden hissing sound came from all over. He couldn't see very well in the dark already, but he could see a very thick, dense gray cloud beginning to cover the area completely.
"Nighteye—"
"I know, it's happening where I'm at too. We have to get out of here now!" Sir Nighteye's urgent voice sounded.
From outside, Snipe could start to see the smoke coming out of the building. He wasn't too far from the building. He quickly saw Aizawa and Sir Nighteye come out as well. They were coughing and using their hands to wave away the air. Aizawa in particular was rubbing his eyes. Snipe quickly looked around, but he didn't see anyone else out.
"I don't see anyone else leaving the building. They're still in there," Snipe said through the communicator.
"Keep your eyes up, Snipe. At least we know she's definitely in there now," Midnight said through the communicator.
"Just one person, and it's already causing us this much trouble," Snipe muttered to himself.
From the building, and even through the smoke, there was a barrel poking out. Lady Nagant. Using a special respirator, she was unaffected by the smoke, and she wore goggles that kept it out of her eyes. She had an attachment on her rifle, a thermal imaging scope that easily pierced the smoke. The smoke completely concealed her and the rifle. She took aim at Snipe, deciding to quickly eliminate one obstacle to their escape plan.
Lady Nagant steadied the rifle, took aim, and fired. It was a clean hit. Snipe was hit in the arm.
Luckily for Snipe, it wasn't an actual bullet he was hit with. It was a dart that was tipped with a powerful sedative.
"Oh n—" Outside, Snipe slowly fell to the ground, not even knowing where he was hit from.
Once she saw that he was down, Lady Nagant quickly reloaded and shot something else at Snipe. A syringe. When the syringe hit him, it drew blood before shooting back up into the air. The syringe, filled with blood, deployed a small parachute. A drone came flying in and picked up the syringe before flying off.
Lady Nagant quickly retreated and took the rifle with her.
"Snipe? Snipe!? SNIPE!?" Aizawa's dramatic voice sounded over Snipe's communicator, but there was no chance he was ever responding. At least for a while.
Things were already off to a bad start.
⁂
"You took down Snipe already? That was fast. Okay, we can start escaping, since he was their lookout. Kaina, switch to rubber bullets. If All Might appears, shoot at his ribs, about the left side. Jin, we're gonna need you to cause even more confusion. Toga, stay near me or Kaina for now, at least until one of them fully enters this place. Then you can do what you do best," Eleanor explained. All of them had on masks to filter the smoke as well as protective goggles.
"And what do I do best, Eleanor?" Toga asked.
Eleanor smirked. "Hunt."
⁂
"We have to go in now. Snipe isn't dead; he's just unconscious. He's not even injured in any way. The more we're out here, the more time Eleanor has to escape, assuming she hasn't already," Aizawa said after examining Snipe.
"If it wasn't for the smoke getting in my lungs, I would've tried to warn him." Sir Nighteye clenched his fists. "This one is my fault."
"Did you see this happening, Nighteye?" Aizawa asked.
"I did try to say things wouldn't end well. But…this specifically isn't something I saw reliably," Sir Nighteye said.
"Doesn't matter anymore; we have to continue. Midnight, can you watch over Snipe?" Aizawa asked through the communicator.
"I can, but it'll decrease our numbers more. And what about the smoke?" Midnight asked. (A/N: Sidelined just like that? She didn't even do anything. That kind of sucks.)
"I'll handle it," All Might's voice interrupted them.
At the hideout, a massive gust of wind seemingly shook the entire hideout. All the smoke was instantly blown away, leaving it as it was before they got there, in terms of visibility at least. A single punch was enough to blast away all the smoke. All Might stood directly at the entrance of the building.
"Wait for us, All Might!" Aizawa and Sir Nighteye caught up. Cementoss also showed up.
"Cementoss, you block the entire hideout while we enter the building," Aizawa said.
"On it." Cementoss knelt down and put his hands on the ground.
"Let's go." As soon as Aizawa entered the building, he saw something move in the dark. He immediately threw out his scarf, but as soon as he did, a large shock and burst of electricity hit his body, making him convulse involuntarily. The sudden and involuntary movement of his body caused his aim to be off. By a lot. The scarf took a sudden turn and wrapped around Cementoss' hand, yanking it, which also threw off his ability.
What should've been a wall around the hideout turned into jagged and random walls all around the hideout. It was only a few seconds before the electricity finally stopped affecting Aizawa, yet things became much harder.
Aizawa fell to his knees, breathing hard.
"Aizawa! Are you okay!?" All Might quickly looked over Aizawa, kneeling down.
"I'm fine! I don't feel too bad. Just need a little breather! I'm sorry about that, Cementoss."
"Don't blame yourself, Aizawa. What even was that?" Cementoss asked.
"I believe it's this." Sir Nighteye held a broken rod-like shape. Half of it looked like a drill point, and the other half was too broken to tell. (A/N: It's the shock charge from Black Ops 2.)
"We have to be very careful from now on," All Might said. "Cementoss, try to remove all these walls.
"On it."
⁂
"Remember what I said about having a bit of luck?" Eleanor asked her group. "Well, that is what I was talking about. We should give a medal to Eraserhead and Cementoss for this."
All of them were looking at a video of what was happening from one of Eleanor's cloaked drones.
"Luck? Yeah, that looked more like some kind of supernatural intervention. Like, I know he was being electrocuted or whatever, but for his scarf to do all that? Come on, a bit much, isn't it?" Twice asked. He carried his part out perfectly. A clone that moved in the dark to get Aizawa's attention.
"You really are lucky, Eleanor! Maybe we should call you Lucky E! E for Eleanor!" Toga said. (A/N: She said the thing!)
Eleanor looked at Toga, a bit of a smile on her face. "Say that again?"
"What do we do now?" Lady Nagant asked.
"I say run, but Toga could use a few more samples. And we have some good subjects with us. And one is left alone. My drones can take care of Midnight by themselves, and we can handle things here. Are all of you ready?" Eleanor asked.
"Yeah, I'm ready," Twice said.
"I just want to go there now!" Toga said.
"We've all been ready before they even got here; why even ask?" Lady Nagant said.
"Nice to see our chemistry. Let's go," Eleanor said before pulling down night vision goggles over her eyes.