Chapter Text
“Slowly, slowly…”
Midoriya Inko carefully directed her crew mates to slowly draw the ice core out of the frozen surface of the moon the three of them currently stood on. “Aren’t you two excited? This ice could finally prove the existence of aliens!”
Togata Mirio only grunted in response, which was reasonable given that he was currently attempting to crank a stubborn winch to raise a large block of ice from its unfathomably frigid surroundings.
As more of the ice cleared the surface of Kerberos, Inko crouched down to examine it. It was shockingly pure, with only a few visible gas pockets. This ice would be an absolute goldmine for her research! She couldn’t wait to get home and show Izuku. He would find this just—
“Inko, Mirio, run.”
Inko looked up at the voice of their third crew member, Toshinori Yagi, otherwise known as All Might, the pilot who had shattered every record that could be broken, and then broke some of his own as well. The man was staring at the horizon with pure panic in his gaze.
“Run, now!”
Inko scrambled to her feet and grabbed Mirio’s arm, which was highly difficult given the bulky space suits both of them wore. “Mirio, let’s get back to the ship.”
Mirio spared one last glance at the ice core before joining Inko in booking it back towards their small craft.
But they were far too late.
>>> Some Assembly Required <<<
“Okay crew, we’re beginning our descent into Kerberos en route towards the distress signal. Eta is three minutes, status update please.”
“Comms are connected,” Mitushimi Izumi supplied. “I’ve got a solid line back to HQ. I haven’t connected to the party that is broadcasting the distress signal, but I’m working on it.”
“Everything’s running smoothly here, Captain,” Yaoyorozu Momo reported. “You’re good to take us in.”
Monoma Neito grinned. “Then we are continuing our descent. Let’s go rescue that crew.” He tilted the yoke forward and felt his stomach rise slightly as the nose of the spacecraft dipped down and the surface of the moon began rapidly approaching.
There was a loud beep from behind him. “Crew, what was that alert?”
“I just lost the distress signal,” Mitushimi answered, her fingers tapping rapidly on her keyboard. “I think the magnetic field from Kerberos is disrupting the connection.”
“The nav system also can’t give you a flight path without a lock on that signal,” Yaoyorozu added.
“Guess we’re performing an approach on visual,” Neito responded with a grin.
“Rodger,” Mitushimi responded hesitantly. That was one of the things Neito liked about Mitushimi; she never questioned his actions.
The same could not be said for Yaoyorozu. “Monoma,” she warned, “I’m getting readings that suggest heavy dust clouds and a strong magnetic field that will disrupt your instruments. Pull back up so Mitushimi can lock onto the distress signal again.”
Neito made a show of thinking it over. “Hmmmm… nope! I’m the pilot, and I say we’re doing approach on visual.”
“You need visibility for that, Neito, and you don’t have any!”
“Oh, cool it, Yaoyorozu!” Neito laughed. “I’m the best Beta Crew pilot UA’s got, and I’m also better than any of those Alpha Crew posers, so just sit down, do your job, and let me do mine.” Neito carefully eased the throttle forward, increasing the speed of the craft as they descended, then pulled up sharply just before they would have crashed so that they were whistling only a few dozen feet above the surface of Kerberos. Sure enough, there were heavy clouds of fine dust and ice that swirled through the nonexistent atmosphere and all his instruments were completely freaking out, needles swinging left, then right, then back again while warning lights randomly blinked on and off across his dash. Neito’s grin stretched wider. This was the sort of flying he lived for.
“Any progress on reconnecting with the downed crew, Mitushimi?” Yaoyorozu asked as more alarms began filling the cockpit with noise.
“No, a-and my connection with HQ is breaking up,” Mitushimi stammered out. “We-we’re too low, we need to-to pull up and get out o-of this mag field.”
“And waste time while the other crew could be dying?” Neito put in, momentarily tuning in to the conversation happening between his crew members. “I don’t think so.” He immediately paid for his lapse in attention as he lightly clipped an outcropping of rock that he didn’t see coming.
Yet another blaring siren began going off. “Nice going, Monoma. Left stabilizer is out,” Yaoyorozu griped.
Neito immediately nicked another rock. “Quit distracting me, Yaoyorozu!”
“Right stabilizer out!”
“Pull u-up, Monoma, please!”
Neito ignored his yammering crew mates and focused on flying through the stone maze that surrounded them. Sure, it was a bit trickier with both his main stabilizers knocked out, but he still had his emergency stabilizers, and a firm hand on the yoke could compensate for most of the work that the stabilizers did. Abruptly, he hit a clear patch, where the clouds of dust and ice parted for a few hundred feet in front of him… right in time to reveal a monstrous monolith of stone rising up in front of them.
“Bank left, Monoma!” Yaoyorozu yelled.
Neito spent barely a moment considering her suggestion. Would they be fine if he went left? Yes, but that would waste time. The giant rock jutting up from Kerberos had a conveniently-sized hole right through the center, though. Just the right shape for their small spacecraft to fly through, if Neito could turn them to flying perpendicular to the ground.
“Fasten your seatbelts, kids, and watch how a real pilot flies,” Neito announced, then began to twist the spaceship clockwise.
There was a clatter from behind him as something or someone fell over. “Monoma, you idiot! Go left!”
“I’ll be fine! Have some faith, Yaoyorozu!”
More alarms began sounding. “Faith? Faith? You just lost us a spoiler from the drag from this ridiculous maneuver!”
Only a spoiler? That was better than Neito had been expecting. Spoilers were practically optional anyways. He rolled the craft harder and heard more thunks as unsecured equipment slid around. Thankfully his crew members had finally decided to just let him fly. “C’mon, just a little further,” Neito murmured to the spaceship, begging it to turn just a tiny bit more. The horizon shifted just a smidgen further before they were cruising through the hole in the rock. Neito laughed out loud as they soared through the stone, then began to roll the spaceship back to level as they cleared the rock, but a jarring crunch stopped him. Panic rose in his chest as the whole ship shuddered and creaked violently and Neito lost control over their flight.
“Left wing gone,” Yaoyorozu sighed angrily. “We’re really in for it now. Thanks a lot, Monoma.”
Neito, knowing she was right, groaned and sat back from his controls, letting the craft spiral unimpeded towards the surface of Kerberos. With one final smash that Neito would be feeling for days, their view through the windshield went dark.