"Understood," Momo said, powering down the transmitter. A dark expression on her face.
"Zeus has been busy, every route to his base was trapped. Ours and several other paths were rigged for a landslide, but two groups were almost wiped out. Zeus managed to smuggle in landmines. One had a platoon of soldiers, the other was carrying a lot of our equipment for when we set up a basecamp. As it stands, it's not enough to scuttle the op, but it's going to be a lot harder." She said bitterly.
"Damn. Well, nothing we can do but keep going. Spread out in a wedge formation. Red Riot will take point, with the rest following up." Said Ahmya. She put her helmet on, followed by the rest of her squad.
The squad formed up, with the more durable members at the front, with the more fragile members in the back. Then they proceeded to head up the mountain.
The going was slow, the slopes and now inability to find the path they had been driving along made traversal slow.
"So how do you think he managed to rig multiple landslides?" Asked Kirishima while they were struggling up a particularly steep slope.
"Probably explosives buried along the slopes. If you have enough that are strong enough, bury them deep enough, and then place them in strategic positions, you could create one. Of course, the fact that this region has been getting off and on rain showers for the past month only weakened the earth which made the landslide considerably larger." Said Bakugo between grunts as he clambered up onto an area where the slope leveled off some.
"He's been preparing for this day for a while. It's a serious undertaking and would take days if not weeks to set up. On the upside, I don't think we'll need to worry about any more explosive traps. The fact he resorted to landmines on some of the paths indicates that he might have been running short on explosives. Landmines would have been better served in the lead up directly to the base entrance" Shinso said.
"We should keep an eye out the closer we get. No telling what other traps he might have set up in the areas surrounding the base." Said Todoroki.
With that, the group fell silent as they continued pressing forward.
A half-hour later, they decided to rest. They'd made considerable progress, the enemy camp was very close. The time for a group check-in had come, and they were just waiting on the other groups, all but one failed to report in. As the minutes ticked by, and no response came, it seemed like they would never respond.
"It has been too long, assume D-Team to be MIA and proceed with the mission. All teams report in for a final check." Said Ahmya into the transmitter.
As the groups reported in, they noticed that another group that had previously reported being in position failed to respond.
"F-Team, report." Said Ahmya.
There was a pause as everyone heard nothing but static.
"G-Team, did you hear any sound of fighting? You're closest to F-Team." Ahmya asked.
"Nothing, should we check it out?" asked the team leader.
Ahmya thought it over.
"No, but keep your frequency going. Until you hit the enemy encampment as planned I want everyone to be able to hear everything on your end. Zeus probably has a hunter-killer team moving from group to group. All other teams, proceed with extreme caution and report everything." She said.
"Understood." came the G-Team leader's response.
"Commence final approach and good luck," Ahmya said, then she turned to the group and nodded.
They set off once more, weaving through the trees as the shadows started to lengthen. Then the sounds of combat started to echo across the mountain. Gunshots mostly, from their distance, but explosions could occasionally be heard. As they made their slow and careful way forward, they ran into several traps, from simple pitfalls to grenades linked to wires.
Daichi had to disable a rather elaborate series of linked grenades set to blow when a hidden pressure plate was stepped on. At worst, it would have killed them all. At best it would injure some of them, but the size and scope of the trap were immense. They'd already walked into the trapped area and had been forced to stop and take what cover they could until Daichi finished disabling it.
When he was finally done he stood up and was about to call the all-clear when he realized he'd left his gun on the ground. As he bent to pick it up, a gunshot rang out and the tree directly behind Daichi had a large chunk of it explode in a shower of wood. He dove to the ground while everyone else immediately repositioned themselves so that their cover faced the direction the shot had come from.
Then silence fell once more.
"I hate snipers," muttered Kirishima; remembering all to the well the time one of the deadly weapons put a neat hole through him and his hardening.
"How far out do you think they are?" asked Mina.
"Hard to say, but I'd say a fair distance. Any ideas for how to advance?" Ahmya asked.
"I can make a shield to protect myself, and advance. Bait out a few shots then we can pinpoint the sniper's location." Said Momo.
"Sounds good, do it," Ahmya said.
Momo concentrated and eventually materialized a large tower shield out of her chest, made out of a special combination of composite metal foam and glass, it'd stop almost any bullet in the world in its tracks. She attached it to her arm, then gave herself a three-count before swinging out of cover shield up.
She got two steps before she felt a sniper round slam into the shield. A dent formed in the back of the shield and she stumbled from the impact but kept going. Then she was knocked backward onto her butt when three more rounds hit her shield all at once. All she could do was hold her shield up in desperate protection. Another two slammed into the shield before she heard gunshots behind her as Ahmya and her squad returned fire.
She got up and started advancing again, but now most of the fight was between Ahmya's squad and presumably Zeus's hunter-killer team. She ducked behind a tree and looked at the front of her shield and felt a shiver go down her spine at the huge craters that had formed in her shield. She examined the side facing her and realized that the first dent now had a part of a bullet poking through the back. They'd hit the same spot twice and had come very close to punching clean through.
There was a sound of compressed air being released as a deep bass thrummed out, then an explosion followed by a huge cloud of smoke.
"Finally managed to get up and fire a smoke grenade, as far as I could manage," Daichi said.
Momo looked out from behind her cover and saw that a thick cloud of white smoke was far ahead of her. She came out of cover and started running towards the smoke, with no sniper rounds coming at her. She glanced behind her and she saw everyone sprinting towards the smoke as well.
As she got closer to the smoke, she saw figures start to emerge from it. A series of black-armored mercenaries came into view and she dove behind a tree as they opened fire. A few bullets hit her tree, but most of the attack was focused on everyone else sprinting. They'd also abandoned their snipers for assault rifles. Everyone managed a majority of the deadly storm, but she saw one of Ahmya's people take a hit in the leg before getting behind cover. Kirishima also took a few hits but his hardening deflected the bullets harmlessly.
Momo swung her trusty gauss rifle from her back and fired a few blind shots from behind her cover. She didn't hit any of them but succeeded in drawing some of their attention based on the renewed hail of bullets that started preparing her tree. She looked back to where everyone else had taken cover and returned fire wherever possible.
She saw Todoroki form a layer of ice armor on himself now that they had abandoned their snipers his armor should be strong enough to deflect the bullets. Then he walked out of cover and slammed his right foot into the ground. A wave of ice rolled across the ground and around the trees. The gunfire went silent, and she saw Todoroki standing still watching the area ahead of him. Then she heard a pinging noise then she saw something bounce off of a nearby tree. She immediately threw herself to the ground as the grenade exploded.
When the explosion had faded she looked up and saw Todoroki on the ground a few feet away from where he had been. He groaned and rolled onto his side where she could see his face and front. His armor had been shattered, and blood oozed out of wounds but she didn't see anything serious. He looked up at her, and waved a hand towards the enemy then placed his right hand onto the ground and sent another wave of ice, this time overturning trees.
The wave just exploded, however, and a chunk of ice slammed into Todoroki knocking him out cold. Then Kirishima jumped out of cover and sprinted at the mercenaries.
Every step Kirishima took created small tremors as he charged at the mercenaries at max hardening. She also saw the new addition to Ahmya's squad covered head to toe in lamelar-like armor he had been lugging around strangely shaped containers. He was letting Kirishima tank a majority of the shots. Momo poked one eye around her tree and saw the mercenaries hadn't been stuck to the ice somehow, that or they had already freed themselves, giving ground as Kirishima showed no signs of being able to be stopped. The mercenaries retreated into the smoke now mixed with mist where Kirishima and the new guy followed. Momo and the rest also came out of cover and ran into the smoke as well.
The smoke enveloped her on all sides, and she swung her gauss rifle back onto her back and materialized a bow staff. No sooner had she done so when a figure burst out of the thick smoke to her left, swinging a tonfa at her head. She blocked the strike and swung back but her target leaned backward and her swing swung centimeters over his head.
Then he snapped back up and sent a series of jabs at her using spikes at the end of the tonfas. She back peddled, as she tried her best to deflect or dodge the jabs. She could see now that these mercenaries were every bit as well trained as they assumed them to be. He was highly skilled with his chosen melee weapon.
Then her foot snagged on something and she fell backward onto her back, slamming into a root sticking up and causing pain to lance down her back. The figure jumped on her and straddled her waist as he continued to try and stab her. She swung her staff up above her head and caused the spikes to lodge into the ground instead. Then she released her staff and materialized knives in her hands and tried to stab him back. To her horror, the man's back bent backward at the waist at a 90° angle and she stabbed empty air. The man deflected her knives to either side and raised his tonfas, ready to deliver a final blow.
In a burst of inspiration, she lifted her legs and pinned him in place by wrapping her legs around his neck which was now reachable thanks to his quirk. He tried to make himself upright but her muscle strength was too strong. She brought her knives down into his unprotected abdomen now that he couldn't look down at her to block the attack. She continued to stab, blood gushing from the wounds until his struggles ceased and she rolled the body off of her.
She got to her feet and looked down at herself, now thoroughly coated in blood. She couldn't help but shiver but shrugged it off as she grabbed up her staff once more. She focused her attention back on her surroundings and realized that the sounds of combat had fallen silent.
The smoke was starting to dissipate, and she made out figures now. As the last of the smoke faded, she could make out the details of those around her and sighed with relief as the only people still standing were her group.
"Any injuries?" Ahmya called out.
"My leg was hit, but it's nothing serious. Still good to go." Said Ahmya's squadmate Sukōchi.
"I'm fine... bruised, but fine," said Todoroki walking slowly up to the group. Todoroki looked like he'd been thrown around like a ragdoll and a large bruise was forming on his forehead while numerous cuts were all over his face.
"Anyone else?" she asked, looking around.
When no one said anything she nodded.
"All right, let's get moving. We'll walk for now, and recover some of our energy." She said, making her way toward the enemy base but at a leisurely pace.
The group followed after her, and Todoroki came up beside Momo.
"You all right?" he asked, looking at her thoroughly blood coated visage.
"Yeah, I'll be fine, but the bastard was good. He nearly had me," she said, trying and failing to wipe some of the blood off of her.
"Let me." Said Todoroki, before sending a small stream of water at her face by using his fire to melt his ice as he made it. The blessedly warm water easily allowed her to wipe the blood off of her face.
"Thanks," she said, shaking her head to get as much water off as possible.
"Anytime," he said smiling.
"Are you sure you are all right?" she asked, now able to more closely examine his wounds.
"Yes, the concussive force of the grenade was mostly absorbed by my armor but the shockwave hit pretty hard, I'm probably bruised all along my front but otherwise fine." He said sighing, touching the large bruise on his forehead where the chunk of ice had struck.
"These mercenaries are good. It's clear Zeus has been toying with us until now." He said, glowering in the direction they were walking.
"That was just a single team of four, under different circumstances they might have very well wiped us out," she said.
"I can see why Zeus used them as a hunter-killer team. They were extremely efficient and their quirks were well used." Todoroki said.
"I didn't have any trouble with my opponent but his quirk let him change colors like an octopus. A good quirk for stealth and camouflage." he continued.
Momo went to respond when they heard a twig snap loudly somewhere near them. The whole group immediately got into cover and raised weapons once more. They stayed that way for a minute or so, waiting for an all-clear.
Ahmya scanned their surroundings with her mechanical eye but could see nothing amiss on any spectrums. Still not satisfied though, she signaled for Kirishima and Daichi to move up ahead of them. The two immediately started forward, moving from cover to cover. Ahmya continued to send people ahead in groups of two.
After about four minutes of nothing, however, she relaxed.
"I think we're clear, it was probably an animal," she said over comms.
The group relaxed and continued forward. By this time the shadows had seriously lengthened and dusk was upon them now. The closer they got, the more the sounds of combat became clearer. Then she saw something move out of the corner of her eye.
She spun around and fell into a crouch, raising her rifle as she did so, and scanned the area. She didn't see anything. Todoroki had spun around with her and an icy mist fell from his hand as he also failed to see anything.
The whole group had stopped now and was scanning the entire area around them.
Eventually, Ahmya's voice came over the comms. "What is it?" she asked.
"Saw something out of the corner of my eye, something definitely moved but I didn't get a good look at it. The shadows obscured it," she said.
"We keep moving for now but keep an eye on your surroundings, everyone. I get the feeling like we're being watched and followed," she said before turning and continuing their trek.
Everyone turned to follow her when they heard the noise of something rustling through dead leaves on their right. At once the group turned to face the noise and saw a black mass rushing toward them. It was fast, massive, and had very familiar arms and a head with two red glowing streaks of light in place of eyes.
Dark Shadow was bearing down on them, and he was very, VERY angry.