My Hero Academia: The Dragon's Quirk

Time seemed to freeze. On one side of the newly opened laboratory door stood an old scientist with wide, horrified eyes, his hand reflexively moving towards the silent alarm button on his belt. On the other side stood two intruders—one was a murderous shadow holding a cursed sword, the other was an armored giant radiating an aura of draconic power.

Akame moved first.

She didn't use the blade of her sword. In this shadow war, an unnecessary corpse would only raise more questions. With a speed that defied human comprehension, she shot forward. Before the scientist's finger could even touch the alarm button, Akame was in front of him. She didn't stab or slash. She used the heavy pommel of her sword and struck a nerve point at the base of the man's skull with precision.

Thud.

There was no scream. The scientist's eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut, knocked out instantly.

But they had no time for relief. Hawks' voice exploded in their earpieces, sharp and frantic.

"I see it! He had a 'dead man's switch' on his alarm! If the button isn't pressed within a specific time interval, it automatically triggers the main alarm! You have less than ten seconds before this whole place goes into lockdown! GET OUT! NOW!"

Ten seconds.

Without needing a second command, Tatsumi and Akame turned and sprinted out of the laboratory, back into the sterile white corridor. They had just crossed the threshold when their nightmare became a reality.

WUUUUU... WUUUUU...

A deafening siren echoed throughout the facility, bouncing off the metal walls. The bright white lights were replaced by the flashing of rotating red emergency lights, turning the once-calm corridor into a pulsating vision of hell.

In front of them, a thick steel blast door began to descend from the ceiling with a heavy, grinding sound, threatening to seal their path.

"We won't make it!" Tatsumi yelled.

He didn't slow down. Instead, he ran faster, lowering his shoulder like a charging bull. Just before the door closed completely, he slammed into it with full force.

BOOM!

Metal bent and tore. The hinges screamed in protest. Tatsumi managed to create a gap just large enough for both of them to slide through, right as the door slammed shut against the floor with a deafening crash.

They were now in a labyrinth that was trying to swallow them whole.

"Dead end ahead!" Hawks reported. "Take the ventilation shaft to your right! I'll try to hack its controls to open another path for you!"

They kicked in the ventilation grate and entered the dark tunnel, the sound of the siren and the running footsteps of guards echoing around them.

In her car in town, Leone heard the faint but growing sound of sirens coming from the direction of the forest. She turned on a modified radio scanner. The police frequencies and even the PLF internal frequency that Hawks had managed to hack were now filled with panicked shouts.

"...intruders inside the facility! All units to the Laboratory Sector!" "Seal all exits! Don't let the rats escape!" "Anyone patrolling the highway, return immediately and block all access to the forest!"

Leone gritted her teeth. "Hawks, the whole beehive is awake and angry," she reported calmly, though her heart was pounding. "They'll be closing all the roads soon. Your time is almost up."

At the safe house, Hawks worked at superhuman speed. His fingers danced across the keyboard, dozens of code windows open on his screens. "I know! I'm fighting their security system. Every door I unlock, they try to lock again. I'm trying to open the main cargo door at the loading dock. It's the only large exit left!"

Tatsumi and Akame exited the ventilation system and landed in a large storage room near the loading dock. But they weren't alone. A dozen PLF guards were waiting for them, forming a barricade and aiming their energy weapons at them.

"Surrender! You're surrounded!" the guard leader shouted.

Behind them, a steel door began to descend, cutting off their path of retreat. They were trapped.

Suddenly, with a protesting groan, the giant cargo door behind the guards began to open upwards, revealing the night sky and freedom.

"I did it!" Hawks yelled through the earpiece. "That's your opening! Go!"

The opportunity renewed their spirits. But just as they were about to break through, a massive figure leaped down from the ceiling, landing between them and the exit. It was the lab's head of security, a giant of a man in heavy combat armor.

"You're not going anywhere," he growled, his Quirk activating as his skin turned into an impact-absorbing metal.

Tatsumi charged first, his Incursio-clad fist slamming into the man's chest. But instead of being sent flying, the man only slid back slightly, and his armor glowed brighter. He was absorbing the kinetic energy.

"Physical attacks are useless!" Akame exclaimed, analyzing the situation in an instant. She saw that the man's armor didn't cover his entire body, especially at the joints.

"Tatsumi, attack him relentlessly! Don't give him time to think!" Akame commanded.

Tatsumi understood. He unleashed a savage and non-stop barrage of punches, each blow shaking the room. The giant man laughed, absorbing every hit, his body glowing brighter with the stored energy. He was completely focused on Tatsumi.

That's when Akame moved. She darted to the side, using her steel wire to ensnare the man's ankle. As the giant stumbled, off-balance, Akame was already behind him, using the pommel of her sword to strike the back of his unprotected knee.

The joint shattered with a sickening crack. The giant roared in pain and fell to one knee. His momentum was gone.

Tatsumi didn't waste the opportunity. He grabbed the giant's head and slammed it into the floor with full force, knocking him out instantly.

"Let's go!" Tatsumi yelled.

They ran through the open cargo door, towards freedom. Tatsumi grabbed Akame, and with a powerful flap of his wings, they launched into the night sky, just as dozens of other PLF guards stormed the loading dock, firing lasers at their retreating forms.

They had made it out.

The journey back felt like a fever dream. They finally arrived at the safe house, exhausted, bruised, but alive. Leone and Hawks greeted them, their faces filled with relief.

"You did it... you actually did it," Leone said, unable to hide her admiration.

They all gathered in the war room, looking at the data Tatsumi had retrieved. They saw the undeniable footage of Esdeath, and the confirmation that the malware had been installed.

"We did it," Hawks said, his voice heavy with fatigue and the weight of what they now knew. "We know she's there, and we have a 'backdoor' to her containment system."

He looked at the weary yet determined faces of his team. The infiltration mission was over, but the real war was just about to begin.

"Now..." he said softly. "The hard part begins. What are we going to do with the biggest time bomb in the world?"