Wolfram took David hostage and headed up the elevator to the top floor.
Meanwhile, inside the venue, All Might and the other pro heroes were still stuck. With a hostage in play, All Might couldn't just rush in.
Seeing this, Momo Yaoyorozu and the other girls talked it over and decided to find a way to get control of the central tower back. If they pulled it off, All Might wouldn't have to hold back anymore.
At Momo's suggestion, the girls started climbing the emergency stairs toward the top floor.
Melissa was guiding them, but the mercenaries had control of every camera in the building. The girls got spotted pretty fast.
With no other choice, Momo and the others had to fight while pushing forward. When there were too many enemies, they'd leave one or two behind to stall while the rest kept going.
After a while, Tsuyu Asui, Mina Ashido, Toru Hagakure, and Kyoka Jiro stayed back to cover the escape. Momo, Melissa, and Ochaco Uraraka finally managed to lose the mercenaries and made it to the wind turbine room outside the central tower.
Momo frowned. "Miss Melissa, why are we here?"
Melissa explained, "If we keep climbing from inside, we'll just get ambushed again. From here, we can go straight up." She pointed toward the top of the tower. "With Miss Uraraka's Quirk, you and I can float up together."
As soon as she finished speaking, footsteps came from behind them.
"Don't even think about running, you brats!"
The three girls went pale and spun around.
Two guys in mercenary gear had already caught up.
"Oh no, they found us!"
Momo immediately stepped in front of the other two and created a handgun with her Quirk. "Ochaco, use your Quirk and get Melissa up there!"
"J-just me?!" Ochaco stammered.
"None of you are getting away!"
One of the mercenaries had his palm blow up into the shape of a duck's foot. He swung it like he was throwing a baseball.
A solid blast of wind came roaring at them like a cannonball.
'An air cannon type Quirk'
Momo realized instantly that her bullets wouldn't stop that kind of power.
She made a quick call and pulled Melissa and Ochaco to the ground.
Boom!!!
The air cannon flew right over their heads and completely destroyed the wind turbine behind them.
"Grab those three!" the air cannon guy yelled at another short, stocky mercenary.
"Raaargh!!!" The stocky guy roared. His body swelled up, tearing his clothes apart as he turned into a purple-skinned monster.
"A purple giant?"
The giant took one step forward. The three girls thought they were done for. But then,
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Two icicles dropped from the sky and drilled straight into the purple giant's eyes.
"AGHHHHHH!!!!" The giant screamed in pain, clutching his face with both hands and thrashing around. "My eyes! I can't see!"
"Ice?!"
The girls were shocked and instinctively looked back to see where the icicles came from.
Against the strong wind, Pet Shop was flapping its wings, staring coldly in their direction.
"Pet Shop!"
"Arthur's bird!" Momo and Melissa said at the same time.
And then it hit them. If Pet Shop was here, that meant...
"What the hell? That bird!" The air cannon mercenary was startled and started charging another shot in his hand.
"Zzzzz" Pet Shop let out a sharp screech. The entire open-air wind generator floor began to freeze over, locking both mercenaries in place.
"Damn it!" The guy fired another blast.
Pet Shop tilted its beak in disdain, shifted slightly, and dodged like it was nothing.
"Haaaaaaah!!!!" Horus appeared from behind, six arms gripping massive icicles. As Pet Shop spread its wings, they all fired at once.
Crash!
Crash!
Crash!
The three girls only saw both men get completely impaled by the giant icicles. Blood splattered on the frozen ground and instantly turned to frost.
"Ughoh!"
Melissa had never seen something like this up close. She went pale, covered her mouth, and almost threw up.
"Zzzzz??" Pet Shop, having easily taken out the two mercenaries, perched on a wind turbine and turned its cold stare toward Momo and the other two.
"Um... can you take us to Arthur?" Momo asked awkwardly, trying to communicate.
Pet Shop's stare stayed cold. But five seconds later, Horus spread its six arms wide.
Cold air spread through the sky, forming an ice bridge from the ground all the way to the top of the tower.
The three girls were overjoyed and quickly ran up.
"Thank you, bird!"
"Thanks, Pet Shop!"
Pet Shop looked away with disgust and flew back into the sky.
A helicopter was approaching in the distance.
That became its next target.
By the time Momo, Melissa, and Ochaco reached the door of the top floor control room, they saw David standing in front of a computer, typing away.
Behind him stood the mercenary leader, Wolfram.
David opened a password-protected cabinet behind him and pulled out a locked case.
He opened it. Inside was a device that looked like a VR headset.
"You got it?" Wolfram sneered under his iron mask.
"Yeah... I finally have it. This thing, I'm never giving it to anyone," David said, gripping the case tightly. "After causing such a huge mess, I finally got it back..."
Melissa, standing at the door, heard everything. It hit her like a truck. She stepped out into the open, her face blank. "Dad... this..."
"...That means our contract with you is done."
"What's going on? What do you mean 'caused a mess'?"
"M-Melissa!?" David never expected his daughter to be here. He looked just as shocked, and guilt spread across his face.
"Let me explain, little lady," Wolfram said with a smirk. "This whole incident was arranged by your father. He hired us to steal this device from the Hero Association. A device that can massively enhance Quirks."
"W-what?" Melissa stared at David in disbelief. The way he avoided her eyes told her everything.
"Finally here?"
A low, calm voice cut through the room.
"I've been waiting for you for a while."
...
Re@d adv@nce ch@pters on p@t
guilt_free_daoist
Jo!n d!sc0rd I!nk in synops!s.
GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.