I saw the scene in slow motion.

The rocket exploded from its black tube.

It violently threw back the man who had fired it.

A cloud of white smoke rose from the barrel. Then it turned red. As if it were on fire.

The air shook.

The wind blew. Crackled.

Kenzei threw me underneath him, forcing me to put my head between my knees.

I felt it the second the rocket hit the bumper.

The metal bent. Rumbled.

The ground shook as if there had been an earthquake.

The pavement creaked. Buildings swayed.

Car windows exploded behind us. One of them, thrown into the air, spun around before smashing through the window of a flower shop.

Our car continued to creak.

For a second, the front wheels lifted.

I dug my nails into the seats and clenched my teeth. Kenzei, leaning over me, kept me from sliding.

A front tire burst. The car fell back. The airbags went off. The car alarm mixed with the crackling radio.

The rocket exploded.

The windshield shattered.

A blast of hot air lifted all the dust off the street, raising a gray haze over the crosswalks. The temperature inside the car rose.

The trees and groves on the sidewalks burst into flames.

On our left, a building collapsed. Pieces of brick rained down from the sky. A cement block larger than a television set hit our windshield. The crack widened, cobweb-like tears spread. The block rolled onto the bumper.

Brick projectiles hit our car so fast and so hard that, for a second, I thought they were bullets.

To our right, the window of the dry cleaner's exploded on impact. A veritable shower of cement meteorites fell on the street and the houses, gouging the asphalt and punching holes in the walls.

A boulder hit a fire hydrant, shattering the red cap. A veritable geyser erupted, soaking our car and the burning trees.

Steam was released.

The remains of the collapsed building drowned the sidewalk like a foamy wave crashing on the beach.

I waited, motionless, my heart pounding. Kenzei kept an iron grip on my neck.

Finally, he released me.

“You’re all right ?”

I nodded, barely able to utter a word because of how dry was my throat. We'd just been hit by a missile at point-blank range - and we survived. Ha.ha.ha.

Kenzei patted the car's roof with his knuckles.

“A really solid machine," he hissed admiratively, “The Germans really are the best when it comes to cars”

He smiled to reassure me, but positioned himself so that I couldn't see what was going on outside.

All I knew of the chaos around us was thanks to my hearing.

He looked over his shoulder and down the street.

I looked down at the cell phone and pulled it out of my pocket. The call with my father was still in progress.

Kenzei mumbled.

“Solid or not...”

He turned to me, still smiling.

“Okay, Shoto”

I didn't even flinch.

“Things are going to get tough from now on. The car is solid, but I don't think it can take one or two more hits like that. I'm going to get us out of here, and you're going to have to stay very close to me, you understand ?”

Considering what just one of those missiles had done, I had my doubts about whether this was the wisest option.

But my father trusted him, so I could at least give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Yes”

Kenzei tore off a piece of his black blazer and tied the makeshift mask around my mouth and nose.

“That's all I can do for now. Try not to inhale too much smoke outside”

He tore off another piece of his jacket and made another one for himself.

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“We'll go this way”

He pointed to the space between the back seat and the handbrake.

“I'll take care of neutralizing the missile shooter. Your goal is to stay safe and sound, okay ?”

He was talking to me as if I were a child, but I was a child to him.

I nodded.

“We'll go to the harbor and take a boat to get away”

That seemed to be our best option, indeed.

They must have blocked the roads and land access to the city, but maybe they hadn't thought of the sea.

After all, how could they have foreseen that a ten-year-old boy and an old man would manage to lose them and make off with a stolen boat ?

“If we get separated for any reason, you'll have to hide and wait for your father. I'll make sure they're distracted. Understood ?”

I pointed to the hole he wanted to make.

“I could freeze them”

Froze the missile launcher so fast and so hard that he'd die before he knew it.

The old man shook his head.

“You're still restricted in the usage of your Quirk”

I gritted my teeth.

“I don’t care about restrictions if we die here”

“Good mindset, Shoto. But that would only tell our attackers that we're out of the car, since your Quirk only works by physicial contact. Considering the way they've prepared their attack, I think they might even have a way to counter you if necessary”

But they didn't know about the chakra.

Nobody knew.

“Alright”

Kenzei activated his Quirk and a green light surrounded his hands.

I looked around through the broken windows.

The mixture of smoke, steam and dust was so dense that I could see nothing but the miraculous street lamp still standing a half meter to our right.

There was no telling when the next rocket would be launched.

There was a creaking sound, like metal being bent with bare hands.

A moment later, Kenzei had ripped the floor out of the car, leaving a hole large enough for a grown man to pass through.

He hit the jagged edges to bend the sharp pieces and prevent us from cutting ourselves as we passed through.

My chakra spread like a net around us.

No one.

He looked me straight in the eye, then put a finger to his mouth.

Then he slipped into the hole. A second later, his gloved hand motioned for me to follow.

My pants frayed as I passed.

I lay on my stomach, my palms touching the hot asphalt.Kenzei stood over me to protect me, his long legs on either side of my body, his head above mine. His

Quirk enveloped us like a protective cocoon.

Shoes - three of them - crossed the street in front of us.

They reached the rocket launcher's vehicle. Kenzei stopped breathing and so did I.

I saw the bottom of the rear door slide on its tracks. The seats creaked. They groaned under the strain, their jerky breaths barely audible over the drizzle falling from the fire hydrant.

One pair of shoes climbed into the 4x4.

Two others followed, then descended more slowly than they had climbed. Their soles squeaked as they made contact with the asphalt, where puddles were already forming.

Wisps of white steam rose from the hot, humid road.

The two pairs of shoes walked back the way they'd come, zigzagging between carcasses and pieces of collapsed buildings.

They turned the corner onto the intersection. I had already lost sight of one of the shoes when suddenly a pale hand fell and brushed against the asphalt.The fingers scratched the pavement.The shoes stopped and the hand was lifted out of my sight.

They switched shooters.

The 4x4 door closed again.I counted forty-eight seconds.

Sliding door. Inhaling.

Kenzei pinned my head to the ground, preventing me from looking up. I felt the mark of the tiny stones that formed the tar on my forehead. I craned my neck to keep looking.

Kenzei whispered in my ear.

“Don't move”

There was a click.

The shooter put his feet on the road for more stability.

My blood pounded at my temples. I inhaled, my chakra swirling furiously beneath my skin.

Kenzei counted in a low voice, his eyes glued to the cargo pants and polished shoes.

“One, two...”

Kenzei, his green light illuminating his body, lifted our car and threw it at the missile shooter.

There was a howl of terror.

The missile exploded the two tangled 4x4s.

Another earthquake shook the ground.

A mushroom of smoke and fire rose into the sky.

The two cars rolled towards the intersection, the explosions startling them in fits and starts.

Kenzei lifted me by the collar of my T-shirt and threw me onto his back. I clung to his neck as he crossed the street from where we'd arrived, in the opposite direction of the two 4x4s that continued to explode.

Kenzei zigzagged briskly between mangled cars and pieces of collapsed buildings.

A thin rain was still falling on the road, sticking my hair to my forehead.

I brushed it out of my face.

I heard another building collapse behind us. The whole neighborhood shook.

Kenzei lost his footing for a second, but caught himself immediately.

The neighboring buildings fell like dominoes.

Boom boom boom boom.

It was like bombs exploding one after the other.

I could hear people running across the rooftops, but I still couldn't feel them.

Suddenly there was a burst of gunfire.

They’re riddling the street.

A burning wind cleared the smoke behind us, giving them a bird's eye view of the ruin we were leaving behind us.

Kenzei jumped over a half-charred tree that blocked our path. We passed the van that had landed in the window of a florist's shop.

“Are you hanging well ?”

I could hear footsteps on the street across from us. Dark silhouettes appeared behind the gray smoke.

“Yes”

Kenzei straightened his legs, the green light swirling around him. He jumped almost four meters into the air.

The air whistled. A whirlwind of wind surrounded us, chasing the smoke around us, as if we were cutting through it.Bullets whizzed past where we'd been a second before.

Kenzei landed softly on an orange tiled roof.His shoes crunched on it.

A hooded sniper with his back to us, yellow-rimmed glasses screwed onto his nose, lay only a meter away.The second he raised his head, Kenzei slipped behind a tall chimney. Silence.

Down below, the street continued to be shot at.

Slowly, Kenzei set me down on the ground. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple. He pointed at the sniper through the chimney, then motioned for me to be quiet.

I nodded.

He leaned forward slightly to watch our shooter.

The fog was still quite thick over the rooftops. If Kenzei was discreet enough, it was possible that none of the other snipers would notice the disappearance of one of their own.

Our sniper began firing again down the main street.

Kenzei waited until he'd emptied his bullet out, then pounced. There was a muffled sigh and the sound of a body collapsing.

The next thing I knew, Kenzei was back with a black helmet, a CRS shield, and a body he forbade me to look at.

“Come here”

He tried to put the helmet on me, but it was too big for me and too small for him.

Kenzei finally let it fall to the side. He took off his belt and threaded the strap through the handle of the shield.Finally, he put the shield behind his back and tucked the belt back into his pants to secure it.

A green light surrounded the shield.

“I guess I'll go in the front this time ?”

I tucked my two knives into my waistband.

Kenzei smiled.

“I'm sorry I didn't bring my baby carrier”

I ignored him, although his cheerful demeanor calmed me down a bit. I knew he was doing it on purpose, but it felt good to know that at least one of us wasn't going to lose it.

Kenzei picked me up and held me against his chest with one hand. He attached the silencer cylinder to his pistol, then checked the number of bullets in the magazine one last time.Ten.

He pulled the strap of his shield and jumped into a new street.

We landed silently behind a dumpster. Kenzei stopped and scanned his surroundings.

I did the same, my fingers brushing the knife-filled holster at his waist.

Goal : Reach the harbor.