My Hero Academia: The Dragon's Quirk

The night before the mission felt different. It was no longer a tension filled with doubt, but the focused calm of soldiers who had accepted their fate. Each member of the alliance prepared in their own way, a silent symphony before the main performance.

On the cold roof of the safe house, Tatsumi stood looking at the sea of trees of Aokigahara in the distance. He wasn't training. He was remembering. He recalled every detail of the laboratory layout, every escape route, every possible thing that could go wrong. He felt the weight of this mission, not as a burden, but as a responsibility he had chosen to bear. This was the final test of all he had learned.

Inside her room, Akame slowly sharpened the blade of Murasame. Her movements were a meditation. Each scrape of the whetstone against the metal was a sharpening of her resolve. Tonight, she wasn't just bringing her sword to fight the PLF. She was bringing it to face the ghost of her world, Esdeath, and the shadows of her sworn enemy in this world, the Yozakura. Her sword felt heavier than usual, filled with the weight of two worlds.

In the nearby town, Leone sat in her non-descript car, disguised as a delivery driver on a break. She watched the streets with the eyes of a hawk, monitoring every movement, ensuring there were no surprises from the enemy. She was their first line of defense, the unseen gatekeeper.

And in the war room, Hawks was the conductor. Surrounded by dozens of screens, he was the center of an information spiderweb. He hacked into local communication networks, monitored police movements, and prepared the software to breach the PLF's security systems. He was the god in the machine.

At 00:45, the signal was given. It was time.

Tatsumi and Akame launched into the darkness. Their flight this time felt heavier, filled with a sacred and dangerous purpose. They landed on the outer perimeter they had cleared a few nights before. The forest felt more threatening, as if it knew they were about to go deeper into its heart.

"Okay team, I'm in their system," Hawks' voice came through their earpieces, clear and calm. "Using Kageyama's access codes... and... I'm in. I have access to their camera network and internal door locks. The maintenance window for the cooling system starts in ten minutes. Move to position."

They moved like two merging ghosts. Akame on the ground, every step silent, while Tatsumi hovered low above her, providing overwatch and ensuring the path ahead was clear. They followed Hawks' directions, bypassing patrols, avoiding cameras, and slipping through the shadows. The laboratory complex that once seemed like a fortress now felt like a puzzle for which they held the key.

"The maintenance window has begun," Hawks reported. "Motion and energy sensors in the main Laboratory Sector are offline. You have thirty minutes. Starting now."

The clock was ticking.

They arrived at a steel service door at the back of the main building. "This door. I'm opening it in three... two... one..." There was a soft click as the electronic lock disengaged. Akame opened it without a sound and they slipped inside.

The corridor within was sterile and cold. White walls, polished floors, and the pungent smell of chemicals. They moved quickly down the maze-like hallways, guided by Hawks' voice telling them when to turn and when to hide.

Finally, they arrived before a thick steel door with a high-level keypad. "This is it," Tatsumi whispered. "The door to the main lab."

"This is the final lock," Hawks said. "Using the master access code from Kageyama... let's hope the bastard wasn't lying."

A moment of silence that felt like an eternity. Then, a small green light flashed above the keypad. With a soft hydraulic hiss, the massive door began to slide open.

They stepped inside, and the sight before them took their breath away, even though they had already seen it on the recording. The Nomu tubes, the workbenches filled with Humarise technology, and in the center of it all, that massive energy containment pillar. The room was empty. The scientists and guards had vacated the sector during the maintenance window, as per standard protocol.

Without wasting time, they walked straight towards the main containment tube. The closer they got, the stronger the aura of incredible power radiating from it became, a pressure that made the air feel heavy.

They stood right in front of it. Behind the thick glass and the slightly murky transparent gel, their doubts vanished.

There, floating in majestic silence, was a woman with long, ice-blue hair fanned out around her like a shroud. Her face was pale and possessed a sharp, aristocratic beauty. Even in her forced slumber, there was an aura of absolute dominion that could not be hidden.

There was no doubt. It was Esdeath.

Akame stared at the face of the monster who had once terrorized her world, now a helpless specimen for other monsters. Hatred, pity, and fear churned within her. Tatsumi felt the trauma of their battle hit him again, but he pushed it aside.

"Tatsumi. The terminal," Akame hissed, reminding him of their second objective.

Tatsumi nodded and immediately moved to the main console connected to the containment tube. He took out the small chip Hawks had given him and inserted it into a data port. On his helmet's visor, a progress bar appeared. [UPLOADING 'BACKDOOR' MALWARE... 0%]

"Hawks, I'm starting the upload," he whispered.

"Copy that. The process will take about a minute to breach their internal firewalls," Hawks replied. "Stay alert."

[25%...]

[40%...]

Suddenly, Hawks' voice came back through their earpieces, this time filled with sharp urgency. "Team, we have a problem! There's an unscheduled movement! Someone is walking down the corridor towards the lab. A senior scientist. ETA to your door, less than two minutes!"

Tatsumi's eyes were glued to the progress bar. [60%...]

[70%...]

Akame had already drawn Murasame, her body tense, ready for a fight. They could hear the faint sound of footsteps from the corridor outside. Getting closer.

[80%...]

[90%...]

The footsteps were right outside the door now.

[99%...]

The panel on the door beeped as an access card was swiped.

[UPLOAD COMPLETE]

Just as Tatsumi pulled the chip out, the massive steel door behind them began to hiss and slide open.

An old man in a clean white lab coat stepped inside, his eyes widening in shock as he saw two uninvited figures standing in the heart of their most secret facility.

The alarm hadn't sounded. But they had been discovered.