My Hero Academia: The Dragon's Quirk

The cold, turbulent seawater was a brutal awakening. The underground cavern was now a giant, boiling cauldron, filled with the strong currents created by the rushing ocean. Tatsumi, Akame, and Leone were swept up in a vortex of water filled with metal fragments from the damaged submarine, pieces of concrete from the shattered dock, and the lifeless bodies of floating PLF soldiers.

Tatsumi, whose consciousness had just returned after fainting, struggled to stay on the surface. Every muscle in his body felt like it was on fire, a side effect of unleashing the Tyrant's raw power without the full protection of Incursio. He could feel Akame and Leone nearby, both fighting just as hard amidst the chaos.

Suddenly, a large, fiery shadow descended from the collapsing cavern ceiling. Endeavor, his body battered and smoking, landed on a large piece of floating wreckage. The once-blinding fire on his body now seemed dimmer, but his eyes still burned with anger and exhaustion. He saw the three figures tossing in the water. A flash of conflict appeared in his eyes—between his duty as a hero and his suspicion as a commander.

After a moment of silence that felt like an eternity, duty won. With a frustrated growl, he leaped from one piece of debris to another, approaching them. "I won't let you die before I get all my answers!" he roared. He used his power not to attack, but to create a small wall of fire that vaporized several sharp ice chunks left from Esdeath's rampage that were heading towards them. It was a clumsy, angry act of protection.

It was then that they heard the sound of a high-speed boat approaching. Leone, with her sharp vision, was the first to see it. It was their black inflatable boat. At the helm stood Hawks, his face tense with concentration as he navigated the treacherous waters.

"Get on! Quickly!" he shouted as the boat pulled up alongside them.

With great difficulty, they were pulled from the water—Endeavor lifted the weakest, Tatsumi, while Leone helped Akame. The five of them were now on the small, overcrowded boat, soaking wet, exhausted, and surrounded by the destruction they had created.

In the Open Ocean

A few kilometers from I-Island, an eerie silence enveloped the ocean. The battle had stopped. In the middle of the floating wreckage, a torn conning tower from the Yozakura submarine managed to float like a cork. Inside, Slither and a few surviving Yozakura technicians stared in horror towards I-Island.

On the damaged deck of the submarine, Esdeath stood calmly. She did not pursue the heroes. She did not continue her destruction. She just stood there, looking at the burning island with an appraising gaze. The chaos caused by the fight and the flood had given her something more valuable than a quick victory: information.

She had seen the power of the Number One Hero. She had seen the command structure of the heroes and the PLF. She had felt Tatsumi's fighting spirit again. And most importantly, she now had a nuclear submarine (albeit damaged) and the remnants of a technical crew who now submitted to her out of fear.

She would not be a pawn again. She would build her own empire in this new world. She smiled faintly. "This game..." she whispered to the sea breeze. "...has just become much more interesting."

The damaged submarine slowly began to sink, but not to be destroyed, but to move silently beneath the surface, disappearing from all radars. The Ice Queen had been let off the chessboard, ready to become her own player.

On the Wreckage of Victory

As dawn began to break, the picture of destruction on I-Island became clear. The island was a disaster zone. Black smoke rose into the sky from various sectors. Most of the PLF forces had either surrendered or been captured by the heroes who were now starting to secure the island. The battle for I-Island, technically, had been won by the heroes.

Aboard the HPSC command ship, the atmosphere was a mixture of relief and confusion. The heroes had retaken a ruined fortress, captured hundreds of soldiers, but the PLF leaders and their main target—that mysterious submarine—had vanished.

Endeavor stood before a hologram of the HPSC President, his face as hard as stone. "An underground explosion caused the submarine cavern to collapse," he reported, a lie he had agreed upon with Hawks. "The submarine was destroyed along with all its contents. There were no survivors from inside."

The President looked dissatisfied, but she had no evidence to refute a report from her Number One Hero. The world would never know how close they came to apocalypse that night. And Endeavor was now bound even deeper to Hawks' conspiracy, a fact he deeply resented.

Counting the Cost

Far from I-Island, on the boat speeding towards the dawn, the shadow alliance team finally had a moment to breathe. They were silent, each contemplating the price of their victory.

Tatsumi, now fully conscious, sat wrapped in a blanket, staring at the data siphon device he had managed to secure. Inside it were all the dirty secrets of the PLF, Humarise, and the Yozakura. It was the greatest intelligence victory in modern history.

Next to him, Akame cleaned Murasame of salt water, her movements slow and meditative. They had stopped the Yozakura from obtaining Esdeath, a major victory for her personal mission.

Leone was tending to her wounds, her healing factor working to close the small cuts. She grinned tiredly. It was the best fight of her life.

Endeavor stood at the stern, his back to everyone, staring at the shrinking I-Island. He had helped save the world, but he had to do it by lying and working with vigilantes. A stain on his honor as the Number One Hero.

Hawks, who was steering the boat, looked at his battered team. His insane plan had worked. They had achieved an impossible goal.

Victory: they had obtained the enemy's entire database, crippled the PLF's operation on I-Island, and significantly damaged their partnership with the Yozakura.

Failure: Esdeath, the monster who was supposed to be the center of all this, was now free, untethered, and more dangerous than ever.

Tatsumi looked at the data device in his hand, then at his exhausted friends. The echo of the three souls within him whispered. The strategist knew they had gained an incredible tactical advantage. The hero was relieved that no civilians were direct casualties of their final battle. But the dragon... his dragon instinct could sense that a greater predator had now been released into the vast ocean.

We got their secrets, he thought, as the first rays of sunlight touched his face. But we unleashed their monster.

He looked at the now bright horizon.

Was it worth it?