My Hero Academia: The Dragon's Quirk

The cold seawater felt like a thousand ice needles piercing Tatsumi's armor. The adrenaline that had kept him warm had now faded, replaced by a bone-deep exhaustion. He and Akame were adrift in the churning waters, clinging to a large piece of metal debris from a PLF patrol boat destroyed in the battle above. In the distance, I-Island was a blazing inferno silhouette, adorned with flashes of explosions and bursts of fire.

"Hawks... can you hear me?" Tatsumi's voice was hoarse and full of static through his damaged communication channel. "Mission... accomplished. But we're stranded. Southern sector. Far from the exfiltration point. We need pickup."

He tried to activate his flight system, but there was no response. Only a faint hiss and a critical power warning flashing red on his visor. "Damn it... my flight system is dead. That cryogenic shaft froze some of the circuits and drained my energy reserves."

They were stranded. Injured, exhausted, and adrift in a sea that had become a war zone. Akame, silent by his side, continuously scanned the horizon, her sharp eyes never resting, searching for threats from the air and from beneath the surface.

At the command post on the coral island, the relief Hawks and Leone felt upon hearing Tatsumi's voice was immediately replaced by deep concern.

"Dammit!" Hawks swore, slamming his fist on the table. The tactical map on his screen showed their blinking position, far to the south, right in the middle of an HPSC naval patrol route. "I can't send a boat there. They'll be shot down by the Navy or a PLF submarine before they even get close."

"Our Dragon Boy can fly, can't he?" Leone asked, trying to find a solution.

"Not anymore," Hawks replied, pointing to Tatsumi's biometric data on the screen. "His armor's core temperature has dropped drastically, and his energy output is less than five percent. He's lucky his life support systems are still functioning."

Hawks fell silent, his genius brain working at full speed, searching for a solution to an impossible situation. Then, his eyes fell on the technical schematics of the Incursio armor. A crazy idea, a final gamble. "Maybe... he doesn't need to fly far," he muttered.

Inside the now chaotic sub-level laboratory of I-Island, PLF scientists and Yozakura technicians were running around in a panic. The intruders' escape had left a horrifying parting gift.

"The containment field is unstable!" a Yozakura technician shouted, pointing at a monitor displaying wild energy fluctuations. "The emergency release of the cooling system has disrupted the cryogenic balance! The Yozakura seal wasn't designed to withstand this kind of internal energy spike!"

The layer of ice on the surface of Esdeath's containment tube grew thicker, and from within, a dim but threatening blue light began to pulse.

Slither, who had just arrived on site, stared at the scene with a pale face. "Stabilize her!" he roared. "I don't care how! Divert all backup power to the containment field! If we lose 'Asset E' now, all of this will have been for nothing!"

They didn't know that their actions to escape had accidentally lit the fuse of the world's biggest time bomb.

Back in the ocean, Tatsumi began to feel the true cold. His armor could no longer generate enough heat.

Suddenly, Hawks' voice came through again, this time clear and determined. "Tatsumi, listen to me carefully. I can't pick you up, but I can give you one last push."

"What do you mean?" Tatsumi asked.

"I'm hacking into Incursio's internal systems from here. I'm going to bypass all safety protocols and channel your last remaining emergency power directly to the flight system. You'll have enough power for a single takeoff and a short flight. Just enough to reach a small cluster of coral islands east of your position. From there, Leone can pick you up with a rubber dinghy without being detected."

There was a brief pause. "But, kid, this is a one-way street. Once you use this energy, Incursio will be completely dead until it can be manually recharged. You will be completely defenseless. Do you understand?"

Tatsumi looked at Akame. Her wet face looked pale under the dim moonlight, but her eyes showed unwavering trust. He nodded. They had no other choice.

"Do it, Hawks," Tatsumi said.

He felt a powerful jolt as Hawks remotely triggered the command. The green energy lines on his armor flared brightly for a dazzling moment before dimming again. His visor flashed with dozens of red warnings. [EMERGENCY POWER RESERVE ACTIVATED. ALL OTHER SUPPORT SYSTEMS OFFLINE.]

"It's now or never," he muttered.

With Akame holding on tight, Tatsumi pushed himself off the debris, channeling every last ounce of this borrowed energy into his wings. With a roar that was a mix of determination and exhaustion, he launched into the air.

This flight was not graceful. It was a desperate struggle against gravity. But they were flying.

For a moment, they rose high enough to see the hellish landscape of I-Island in its entirety. An apocalyptic panorama of fire, lasers, and explosions. They saw Endeavor like a small sun fighting a giant Nomu, while dozens of other heroes fought on the ground and in the air. It was a horrifying yet magnificent sight.

They flew towards the coral islands Hawks had indicated. Closer and closer. But their energy was fading fast. The light on Tatsumi's armor began to flicker like a dying lamp. The hum from his wings began to sputter.

"We're not going to make it!" Akame shouted.

They began to lose altitude, gliding down rapidly. The coral islands were still a few hundred meters away.

Below them, there was only the dark, unwelcoming ocean. Their last bit of energy was gone.

As they free-fell, Akame tightened her embrace on Tatsumi's back, her body becoming a shield for the coming impact. "Hold on tight," she said, her voice remaining calm even as they plunged into the darkness.