Capítulo 134: Aftermath of AoLA (1).
Though Shido and his family were now at peace, the ripples created in Los Angeles were sending waves and tides worldwide. The main instigators of the scene i.e., Shido and Valdis were out of the scene now—the former with his family, and the latter one... with his family too. But the aftermath was more chaotic than the attack.
The people of LA were the most critically impacted by the entire insurrection plan of Valdis and his Quirk Welfare Organization (QWO). Though the involvement of QWO in the last three days was not visible to Night Raid, the organization secretly executed domestic terrorism in LA and a near-act of inserruction in Washington DC. Too much happened for the people of LA in these last three days.
Day 1 - A villain who wanted to kill the President of the United States attacked at his political rally. A new hero, with an inexplicable source of power, popped up to fight him.
Day 2 - Clash between the new heroes and the cronies of that villain.
Day 3 - Final clash between the new hero and the villain which nearly consummates 25% of the city in damages. When the hero won, a nuclear warhead was launched for LA and the hero sacrificed himself to save the city.
Now the same people are holding that hero's damaged helmet which acts as a sign of his demise. The hero won, but at what cost? The cheers of winning died down under the solemn respect for the dead.
These people were silent but those who knew the hero personally were in shambles right now.
[...It looks like it's my last mission as well.]
This was the last line the leader of Night Raid said before he rushed for the nuclear warhead.
Knuckleduster, Danjuro, and La Brava originally, at different places as they all had different tasks during the attack, now were running to the place where Shido's helmet fell.
When they reached there, they found a huge crowd covering the place but when the people saw the members of Night Raid, they separated, giving a wide space for them to walk towards the center.
Everyone present had a solemn expression on their faces and a dignified feeling in their hearts. But the members had sadness mixed in their feelings.
Everyone was silent. Nobody said anything.
"AAA!"
But in the silence, a high-pitched wail of grief could be heard.
In the center of the crowd where the Shido's helmet was located, a woman could be seen collapsed on the ground with the helmet held tightly in her embrace, as she wailed loudly.
It was Kaina... Shido was a friend, a sibling, a rival, and everything to her.
And once again, she lost him.
As Kaina grieved, the rest of the team members could only stand at a distance from her. Nobody came to soothe her as they had no intention of interrupting her grief. The crowd and the team members only stood there with their heads low.
------------------
*Thud*
A loud noise resounded as if a heavy object landed, near where the crowd was present. Everybody's heads turned back and found that a woman clad in the American flag was standing, facing the crowd. It was none other than Cathleen Bate or better known as the No.1 Pro-hero of the United States of America, Star & Stripes.
With a frown on her face, she walked into the center of the crowd where the Night Raid members were. As she saw the scene of Kaina wailing while holding Night Slash's helmet, her frown grew deeper.
-------------------
"Sorry for your loss."
Knuckleduster turned his head and found that a tall woman with blonde hair was standing next to him. Glancing at her overly eccentric costume, it didn't take him a moment longer to recognize the person.
"And you are?"
"Star & Stripes, a hero"
Listening to her answer, Knuckleduster turned his head back and had no intention of talking further. Star & Stripes read the atmosphere but she still pushed her agenda regardless as her coming here was not completely out of sympathy.
"I need all the Night Raid members to come with me," said Star & Stripes as she looked at Knuckleduster with a serious expression.
"...We don't want to"
Star & Stripes wasn't that surprised by the rejection, "There is an investigation going on about this whole situation. The officials and the country would appreciate you contributing to it."
"Isn't it funny Miss..." Knuckleduster turned around, "Last I checked, we were 'contributing' to investigating PX-41 and one of us died. Last time it was AVL, now which department do we have to serve, so more of us could die?! Tell me?! Is it Langley, FBI, or the Pentagon?!"
Listening to Knuckleduster's shout, Star & Stripes didn't flinch.
"I assure you it is not like what you are thinking. We just need your input--" But before she could complete, she quickly sideways as to dodge something. A sharp cut soon became visible on her cheek as blood oozed out.
She turned her head around to find the source of the object and found that it was a bullet shot by Kaina.
"It was your fault!" screamed Kaina. Knuckleduster's shout made her come out of grief momentarily and look at Star & Stripes. The crowd was puzzled but for some reason, she blamed Star & Stripes for the death of Night Slash. Slowly, she stood up and was about to pounce on Star & Stripes to attack her in a frenzy.
But as she was about to pounce on Star & Stripes, a very small dart flew and stuck to her neck which made her fall unconscious.
"Everybody! Calm down!"
A shout which reeked of authority reverberated in the crowd. Knuckleduster turned and saw Agent Lucy Wilde with her arm stretched, standing beside Ramsbottom. But they were not alone. With them, there were around 15 AVL soldiers present.
"I don't think AVL has the authority to work on cases under American judiciary," said Star and Stripes. It was clearly written on her face that she was not welcoming of the AVL's presence.
"A cosplayer lecturing the director of an international law enforcement agency about laws. Talk about irony," Ramsbottom sneered. He continued, "I know my limits very well, Ms. Bate. You don't need to remind me. I know this case doesn't come under my department but these guys fall under my jurisdiction."
Star and Stripes' face scrunched when she heard what Ramsbottom said and it became ugly when he said the Night Raid members were under his care. She was about to argue but Ramsbottom just handed her a document and moved towards Knuckleduster. She looked at the document and it proved what Ramsbottom said.
"It's time to move," Ramsbottom said only one line to Knuckleduster and it was enough for him to go with him. The soldiers escorted the Night Raid members right in front of Star and Stripes and she could only see that with a frown.
------
[AVL Submarine Base]
"It's good that you decided to come with me... or things could've been uglier," said Ramsbottom as they walked towards the conference hall of the base. It was his intention to start a conversation but the response was only silence from the members of Night Raid.
"We may have had some grievances regarding the PX-41 case, Mr. Oguro. For which I'm extremely apologetic. But this situation is different, I need you to communicate with me," Ramsbottom said as he took his seat at the conference table.
"Say..."
"It's good that we are on the same page now. So let me fill you in about a few things before we move on to the main problem. While the Night Raid was fighting Genesis and the insurrectionist, some major things happened around the US. President Valdis was reported missing with no clues, and because of the urgent situation of insurrection, VP Rogers was temporarily promoted to Acting President of the US.
Not long before Night Slash's fight ended with Genesis, the paramilitary troops were able to curb the violent insurrection in DC and parts of LA other than Downtown."
Ramsbottom took a pause and then continued, "After a not-so-thorough investigation, the perpetrator of insurrection was found to be Quirk Welfare Organization. This organization was founded by President Valdis, but the President is missing so his connection to the insurrection is unclear but highly probable.
Nextly, Genesis removed his helmet but because of the intensity of the battle, nobody could see his face other than Night Slash but it seems Genesis' identity will be a mystery for a long time. Nothing is clear to anyone and this has caused a lot of chaos within the elite ranks of the government. This situation--"
"Who fired the nuclear warhead?" Knuckleduster asked while interjecting Ramsbottom.
"I was about to talk about that. The media says it was the insurrectionists. But it looks completely bogus to me. If the insurrectionist were somehow able to procure a nuclear warhead, the Department of Homeland Security would've caught them the moment the warhead entered the US borders. And to launch a nuclear warhead, they would need a sophisticated system that is not so easy to hide from the government--"
"I don't need explanations, Ramsbottom. Tell me the conclusion."
"*Sigh* The conclusion is that.... even I don't know who did it. But..." Ramsbottom's voice gradually died down. It was clear that he was reluctant to say it.
"But?"
"AVL intelligence says that they think... it was done by.... the US Government," Ramsbottom finally said it. But when he saw the ugly expressions on the faces of Night Raid, he quickly corrected him, "It is just a speculation! It is not clear at this moment!"
"Then, what is next?" asked Knuckleduster. He didn't dwell that much on the warhead issue as he knew no amount of argument would bring him anything. Currently, Night Raid is in a tight situation, he wants to take them out of it as soon as possible.
"Next is... this," Ramsbottom passed some files towards Knuckleduster.
Opening the file, Knuckleduster saw the files containing the information about the members of Night Raid (not their real identities). And on each file, there was a [MIA] stamp on it. He looked at Ramsbottom with a questioning gaze as if to find out what is the meaning of this.
"The reason why I wanted to bring you guys here is that I didn't want you to go with Star and Stripes..."
"Why?"
"She didn't come to you to show grief or put her condolences on Night Slash's death. She came on behalf of the Department of Defence. Currently, the FBI, Dept. of Homeland Security, Dept. of Justice, and even the Langleys are on this case. She wanted to take you guys with her to these officials.
This case is a mess... and you guys are the only ones remaining who can tell them about who can give more clarity on this case. These departments are hungry... hungry for information."
"So why can't we give the information to these departments?" Knuckleduster questioned.
"It is not so easy...." Ramsbottom sighed. It looked like he didn't want to continue this topic anymore but Knuckleduster relented.
"Why? Why can't we help these departments in their investigation and get out of this mess scot-free?"
Ramsbottom's face had an ugly expression as he opened his mouth to answer, "Because, they want two things from you. They want information from you regarding this case. And the second they want is..." Ramsbottom took a deep breath and continued.
"They want you dead."
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
Gonshido
Gonshido Thanks for reading!
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