Eight: Season 1

Episode 18: The Mercenary Camp!

  Kirishima-
  The morning came and I went with the mapping party. It was Yo, Isabella, Bri, and myself. Isabella was drawing the maps. Yo and I were more like protection for Bri and Isabella. Bri was taking pictures. "I can't believe a professional camera works here." Bri said.
"You and me both." I said, and she chuckled.
There was rustling in the trees and Yo and I lifted our guns up, Bri and Isabella behind Yo and I. "Come out, we don't want to hurt you." I said.
A net flew at us and Yo cut the net so fast with his Iron Make Magic. Arrows shot our way and I shot arrows made of my Metal Make Magic to intercept them.
Isabella wrapped us in tree trunks in a spherical shield. "Who are these people?" Yo asked.
"They fight like The Raiders...but—" I began. "Something isn't right." I said.
"It's a faction within The Raiders that doesn't seem to like the alliance very much." Yo said, and I nodded. Suddenly, the tree trunks began to shrink and Isabella screamed. Yo cut through the tree trunks and WHAM! We were all four immediately knocked out.

Shoto-
"Has the mapping party come back yet?" I asked.
"No, but we'll keep looking for them." Iida said.
I nodded. "Shoto...I meant to mention this but, I stole something from The Ark that you need to see." Jade said.
"Ok." I said, Hanta, Bakugo, Tetsu, and Midoriya all followed us to the shack.
Jade closed the door. "Look away." She said, and we did.
"Ok." She said, holding a towel below her right breast that had blood in it.
"Shit Jade!" I shouted, concerned, running to her and holding the towel against where the bleeding was...which was right on the side of her breast.
They snickered and I looked at them. "What?" I asked.
"Nothing its's just super funny seeing you do that." Hanta said, and they all laughed.
"Oh shut up, no one asked you!" I shouted, red as hell from embarrassment as I continued to hold the towel on her breast while she typed.
Jade wiped the USB drive of blood and plugged the drive into the laptop she rigged a long time ago for us. "Can I ask how in the hell you got that in there?" Tetsu asked.
"I used my knife to cut it open, put the drive in, and stitched it up." Jade said.
"While you were on The Ark?" Midoriya asked.
"I didn't want to risk it being found." Jade said, clicking on the file and opening it.
We all gaped. "This is..." I began.
"All of The Ark prisoners getting experimented on and tortured? Yeah, but each video gives us another piece of the puzzle. We finally know everything Dr. Mort did to us." Jade said.
"That is impressive Jade." Bakugo said.
"That's our girl." Hanta said, smiling and gripping her shoulder and she smiled at him.
We pulled the drive out after watching and writing everything down in Arcadian, and then put the drive in a hidden spot within the shack. "Ok, time to get you to the doctor's hut." I said, guiding Jade to the hut and setting her down.
Lilith was the one that stitched her up. "How'd you get this?" Lilith asked, cleaning Jade's wound.
"Self-inflicted to hide a USB drive." Jade said.
Lilith chuckled. "Clever girl. I'd have done the same thing." Lilith said, and Jade smiled.
"You good?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm in good hands." Jade said.
I nodded and walked out. I called Hanta and them over. "It has been way too long since the mapping party left. Can the four of you go find them?" I asked.
"We're on it." Hanta said, as they tacked up and left.
I rubbed the back of my head. "You're good at this leader business." Jax said.
"Really? I don't think so." I said.
Jax chuckled. "Why not?" Jax asked.
"I just feel like every decision I've made this far has led to everything happening now." I said.
"Shoto, a leader has to make tough calls when no one else will. A leader has to stand strong and tall in the face of danger. A leader has to decide what's best for the people as a whole, and my Greek Gods, Shoto! You are only 15 years old and you have proven to be a great leader. Even greater than the best one's I've known." Jax said.
"I just feel like I'm messing up." I said.
"You're gonna mess up, Shoto! You're human, it's part of learning." Jax said.
"Jax...would you...sorta act as a guide for me? I mean...you're the best leader I know. A tactical genius, I could learn a lot from you." I said.
"Shoto, I would happily provide you counsel. Granted, I don't know that you need much. You have your friends you're always with. They seem to be great advisors. But, I will happily be here to provide guidance." Jax said, and I smiled.

Jade-
"He likes you." Mom said, as Shoto walked out.
"What, just because he kept me from bleeding!? No! No way!" I said.
Mom chuckled, as she started to stitch my wound carefully and gently. "Yes way." Mom said.
"Nuh-uh!" I exclaimed.
"Yu-huh." Mom said, and we both chuckled.
"And anyways...he's way out of my league mom. He's a prince! I'm just a-a-a-a common present." I stumbled.
"Royalty doesn't matter here Jade, and frankly he doesn't walk all over everyone. He's not a prince. You and him are equals here, and trust me Jade...he likes you." Mom said.
"How would you know? You only just met him." I said.
"A mother knows, even a bad one. The way he looks at you, the way he supports you, the way he cares about you? Shoto Todoroki is very much into you, Jade Jareau." Mom said.
I smiled a bit. "Really?" I asked.
"Yes." Mom said.
I blushed a bit, and mom smiled pulling the last stitch through. She cut the thread and then gently pat the wound with cleaning solution. She dried it, and then she wrapped my breasts with bandages and I pulled on my shirt since the wrap acted as a bra. "Oooh, this is way better than a bra, what is this?" I asked.
"Sarashi wrap, it's what I wear." Mom said, winking and then showing me.
I chucked. "Hey mom...I'm into him too." I said.
Mom chuckled, smiling. "I know baby." Mom said.
I smiled. "Thank you for wrapping me." I said, and she nodded as I left.
I saw Shoto talking to Hanta and then and ran to him. "Shoto!" I shouted, and he turned, smiling at me as I ran over to them and hugged him.
He hugged me back. "Ok, now that you're here...we need to show you something." Hanta said.
I looked at them concerned, and it's like Shoto read my mind. "The mapping party hasn't returned yet, they went to investigate." Shoto said, and I nodded.
We all walked out. "Jax, you're in charge until I get back." Shoto said, as he and I tacked up and followed Hanta, Bakugo, Tetsu, and Midoriya.
We got to a spot. "This is Isabella's mana signature." I said, kneeling, confused.
"They got taken. From the looks of it, by a faction of The Raiders." Hanta said.
"Which one?" I asked.
"The mercenaries." Bri said, badly injured as her and Isabella held each other up.
I ran to them and held them. "Where are Yo and Kiri?" Shoto asked.
"They...they protected us...but they were taken back to the mercenary camp." Isabella said.
"Ok...it's ok." I said, hugging them.
Sero put Isabella on his back and Bakugo put Bri on his back. We walked back to camp and took Bri and Isabella to the doctor's hut. The doctors started tending to their wounds.
Shoto, Hanta, Bakugo, Tetsu, Midoriya, and I stood in a circle. "What do we do?" Midoriya asked.
I sighed. "I need to talk to the leader of the mercenary tribe of The Raiders. The six of us are gonna head to their camp. It's a three day trip, but...at least we can get things cleared up." Shoto said.
"And if they attack us?" Bakugo asked.
"We defend ourselves." Shoto said, and we all nodded.
The adults packed our bags. "You're sure you don't mind handling things here while I'm gone Jax?" Shoto asked.
"I don't mind, I'll make sure nothing bad or crazy happens." Jax said.
Shoto smiled and nodded. "Be careful Captain!" Iida shouted.
"We will be." Shoto said.
"Bring them back safe!" Momo yelled.
"Yeah!" We all shouted, and we saluted with the X shape across our chest before we headed off on the three day journey to the Mercenary camp.