I've spent the last 20 years fighting a pointless war, a war which I never thought I'll survive, especially given the fact that I have no quirk.
In a world filled with fantastical powers, I am what my great-great-grandfather would call 'a regular joe' but here I am today, while great heroes and villains of old have fallen, Here I stand.
Okay, I'm lying about one bit though, me being quirkless though, despite attempts, I have yet to discover my quirk.
Alright I'm getting sidetracked currently, back to our story. So there I was, standing behind one of the Zytar Tank, talking cover from their railgun rounds. I cringed from the deafening sound of the rounds clashing with the alloy of the tank.
*PUM*
*PUM*
*PUM*
*PUM*
*Click*
Well that's my que folks. With that, I turned around the corner and activated my force-field while I drew my combat dagger.
Forcefield technology was brought to earth by the Zytar invaders and even though our scientist managed to reversed-engineer how to project them, our forcefield haven't reach the level of utilizing them as projectiles like how some of the Zytar Knights do.
The Zytar grunt screeched loudly as one of it's scaly hand fumbled for its ammo pouch located at its hip. Eight metre separate me and my opponent as we raced each other. Me trying to reach the Zytar before this lizard bastard managed to reload his rifle.
I was too late
The grunt managed to load in a single shot and fired. Luckily my shield had enough power to barely deflect it. The purple shimmer of my forcefield shattered into dark purple flakes. With my shield down and his gun once again emptied, I closed the distance.
The scrawny, lizard-like humanoid attempted to take a step back, screeching something. I think it was probably some form of pleading, the grunts were after all, the bottom feeder of the Zytar army. It hands were outstretched, signalling for me to stop. I grabbed it's right wrist with my left hand and yanked it towards me before I plunged my dagger into it's skulll.
I took a step back, breathing heavily as I look at the collapsed corpse of the Zytar grunt. Having your forcefield take a shot never gets old. No matter how many time it deflects a bullet, a small part of your head believe that the next bullet will just punch through the shield and your skull.
Despite knowing that this Zytar probably don't have any energy packs, I searched it regardless. Besides some rounds for his railgun rifle, nothing.
Looking around what used to be a T junction, I whistled an old tune. From the corner of eye, I saw a small figure leave one of the abandoned shop houses. The figure wore an oversized cloak which draped down to the floor. I knelt down and addressed the figure "You alright Tina?"
The little girl nodded furiously, shaking the entire cloak before replying
"Mhm, Tina's alright"
I nodded slowly, standing up while I continue to scan my surrounding for anyone else. I offered my hand which Tina took without question. A frown appear on my face as I thought about the implications of my encounter with this Zytar grunt.
Me and Tina were on the run after the last base we were at was discovered and raided by Zytar Knights. We are supposed to head towards the last military base belonging to the coalition, Fort Shield but the presence of Zytar worried me even if it's just a grunt.
I entered the shop house Tina had just left and dragged out an old bicycle, one of those with a pillion seat with a burlap sack inside the front bucket.
We began making our way towards Fort Shield on the bike. Fort Shield wasn't actually a fort per say, before the war it served as the biggest shopping complex in the state. Soon it was fortified till the point where it practically look like a medieval keep.
Soon it was evident that something had gone wrong.
Normally once you reach within three or four kilometres of the base you'll encounter some sort of patrol, but so far now we've encountered no one so safe to say I was concerned. I peddled into a multi-story carpark and rode up till the third floor.
Quickly I droped my tactical vest, leaving only my combat dagger strapped to my waist.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to check the base, Tina can you stay here?"
She nodded, her unnatural red eyes looking at me solemnly
"Sure, Tina can do that"
I smiled at her softly and ruffled her hair, causing her to giggle
"That's a brave girl, I'll be back, just contact me if anything happen"
With that I sprinted off towards the base, maintaining a full sprint the entire way. It didn't take long for me to notice the dead bodies strung across the streets as I approach the mall. A pang in my heart can be felt as the implications of what happened sunk in. Still I refused to give up
What if they managed to push back the assault
What if they are survivors still alive
Eventually I arrive at the block adjacent to the mall. Well you couldn't really see the mall since it's surrounded by a concrete solid wall roughly three meters thick and five stories high. Dwarfing the two-three stories buildings surrounding the shipping complex.
My heart sank as I approached the main entrance, and I felt a bile rise up my throat. A familiar, macabre sight. In front of the entrance, a pyramid made out of decapitated heads. The pyramid was so big it almost occupy the entire width of the street and it's height span roughly three stories
You know how they say once you get exposed to enough violence and gore you get desensitizes to such things? It might be true to a certain degree but in real life, such sight will haunt you no matter how much you think you can by stomach.
You see, the Zytar is more of a collection of races categorize in a hierarchy. Theoretically, the higher races can order races below them but they normally operate as separate military units and this haunting pyramid is the calling card of the Zytar Grunts.
Unlike the other races of the Zytar who see such acts as beneath them, the Zytar Grunts comprised of aliens we had nicknamed 'Dino' . A bunch of barbaric bunch, despite their apparent submissiveness, they are as cruel as they come.
So this is what has become of humanity's last bastion.
Gone
After that I can barely remember what I did. I remember roughly scavaging what little supplies I could and walking numbly back to where Tina hid. She didn't need to use her quirks to figure out what happened, it was written all over my face. We made camp on the second highest level of the multistorey carpark.
I was sitting up against a wall, staring at the small campfire we made while Tina was on the opposite side of me, slurping on a soup I made for her. I barely talked since coming back. Honestly it was because I didn't know what to say.
The fall of of Fort Shield held an implication that I could not properly accept.
Humanity is done for.
20 years of hard fighting and suffering was all for naught.
Anger, resentment and most importantly regret bubble up within me. And for the first time in a while, I let a tear slip down
"Papa.." Tina muttered underneath her breath and immediately I looked up at her, my eyes becoming clear again
A grown man shouldn't cry Infront of a kid in a situation like. So for a brief moment I composed myself and looked into Tina's red eyes, eyes which shone with intelligence and wisdom well beyond her age
"If you could save Tina from the Lab… would you do it again?"
I tilted my head to the side, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"Of course, I would."
Tina is not my biological daughter, she and along twenty other kids were genetically created with multiple quirks. Quirks were something the Zytar never came across before in their galactic conquest I believe. Like how our knowledge in their forcefield technology. So were their knowledge in quirks. They didn't know how to imbue themselves with quirks but knew well enough to imbue human with quirks and Tina was part of their project to create subservient quirk users.
She nods slowly before finishing up the soup. Soon she was lying against me, wrapped in her cloak and soundly asleep.
Normally I would take watch and wait till Tina is await before getting some shut eye but I was too exhausted, emotionally.
That night I dream of many things. I dreamt of him again
I was holding his battered body close to me, his bruised face donning a smile brighter than anything in the world. I remember crying my eyes out, begging for someone to come and help. I remember him apologize sheepishly for getting so injured. I remember begging him not to close his eyes. I remember him still having that smile as he close his eyes for one last time.
I cried in my dream for what seems forever before hearing a familiar voice.
"Love you Papa.. Tina hope we meet again Papa. See you soon Papa"