Chapter 10: USJ

Just as Libra had expected from a Pro Hero, Eraserhead's hair was standing upward and he had already sprang into action, making quick work of the villains at the front of the group. Crimson and Libra continued to stay toward the back of the mob, not rushing into the fray; opting to wait for a more appropriate moment to move in to strike.

Crimson took a quick look around as the two continued to march forward. "Not seeing All Might anywhere," he stated while tilting his sunglasses downward and turning his head side to side, "maybe he's late?"

"That Shigaraki fellow seemed rather upset as well," Libra said while glancing back at the man covered in hands. "Nonetheless, this can still work. Killing two Pros and a group of U.A. students will still have an impact."

In preparation, Crimson already began to let small streams of blood trickle down his fists. "Right, so shall we get down to business?"

Libra's dark green eyes stared daggers toward the Pro, as he responded with a delighted, "Of course."

Habrok and I quickly arrived to our designated area, albeit a little later than the other villains. We were at what appeared to be a simulated landslide, so I was momentarily confused when I saw the rocky ground covered in a layer of ice. But I soon saw that the cause was none other than a U.A. student; a boy with half of his hair fiery red and the other half white as snow, he also had a very noticeable burn around one of his eyes. I couldn't help but gasp slightly when I saw that all of the other villains assigned to our zone had been incapacitated.

"No way…he took them all out by himself…" I shouldn't have been so surprised, I mean this is a U.A. student we're talking about.

The student had been walking toward one of the frozen over villains, but came to a halt when he noticed me. We both just stared back at one another, although I think he was just temporarily confused that someone his age would be a villain, while I on the other hand had to finally break through my hesitation and potentially maim or kill an innocent person. And I had to do it quick on account of the boy placing one foot forward and turning the ground before him into ice, ice that was quickly making its way towards me.

My body pretty much moved on its own at that point, I stretched my hand forward drawing in what natural light was let into the dome. Within a second my palm caught fire, and I let loose a torrent of flames towards the oncoming ice, which was thankfully enough to stop it. The boy seemed momentarily surprised; my guess is that he didn't expect my Quirk would be able to counter his so perfectly. Although he was not deterred in the slightest, his face contorting into one of annoyance as he simply readjusted himself and blasted a wall of ice toward me.

This time I had to spew a heavy jet of fire from both of my hands in order to not get frozen by the incoming attack. My fire barely chewed and melted away a path for me within the barrage of ice which had chilled and frozen the ground around me, so close that I could feel a biting chill in the air.

"Holy crap that was close! My fire barely managed to melt through that last attack! And here I was worried about HIM getting hurt…"

To my dismay I could already see him walking toward me gearing up for another attack, but thankfully I had some backup to divert his attention.

Letting out a primal hawk call, Habrok came rushing downward from the air, his talons outstretched to rip into the boy's flesh. However, the boy was not only able to roll out of the way, but was also able to send a large barrage of ice toward the low flying Habrok.

He weaved his way through the air around the jagged chunks of ice, calling out to me, "Helios! Free our comrades!"

He was right, our allies were all still frozen in place, but could be freed with a little heat! I reduced the fire in my palms to a nice simple flame and quickly made my way over to some of the frozen villains.

I looked over to check and see if I was still good to go, and I was thanks to Habrok keeping the boy busy for the time being. I held my hands over the ice restraining the other villains and got to work freeing them as fast as I could. "It's ok, I got you. Let's get back in the action!" I reassured my newly freed comrades. The thing is though, some villains are braver than others… Once free, half of them ran off too afraid to fight the boy, while the other half was eager for revenge and were rushing toward the U.A. student.

The boy wasn't fazed by his new attackers at all; giving them a cold stare, he dealt with them just as quickly as he had done the first time. It still shocked me that he had just stopped a group of villains dead in their tracks and yet he just seemed annoyed with us, which means he still didn't see us as much of a threat. The group's sacrifice was not in vain however, because Habrok dived toward our target with incredible speed, using his talons to grab the boy by the shoulders and hoist him into the air, soaring upward. I tried my best to focus on the two gliding through the air, but instead it was what I had heard that had caught my attention.

Habrok cried in anger when he felt the bone chilling ice snake its way up his arm and begin to latch onto one of his wings. Out of viciousness or reflexes, Habrok quickly dropped the boy. No longing focusing on the falling student, I quickly ran to where Habrok would soon be landing, as he was now descending quickly to the ground since one of his wings was frozen over with ice. The hawk man tumbled and rolled across the rocky terrain, and soon after, got onto his knees while grunting in pain, "Helios, get over here and unfreeze me!"

Snapping out of my daze I rushed over, "Right!" Just like before I used my flames to thaw the ice coating Habrok's body. Once the ice on his wing had mostly melted away, he was able to stretch and flap his wing in order to shake the remainder of it off.

"So damn cold!" Habrok complained, still stretching his previously frozen wing.

"Hey Habrok, what happened to that kid?" I asked while cautiously looking around for him.

"Not sure, just hoping that fall shattered his bones," Habrok spat out vehemently.

I was all for killing in order to help the group achieve our goals, but I still wasn't quite used to the blunt way Habrok and Crimson could be about it sometimes.

Habrok let out a breath as he rose to his feet and steadied himself. "But that's just wishful thinking. That dog was well trained; a simple fall would be unlikely to stop him."

"So what's the plan now?"

"We'd best regroup with the rest of the pack, they could use our aid."

"Sounds good. Oh, but what about these guys?" I asked while jutting a thumb over to our frozen backup.

"We have no time for common mongrels like them Helios, we've completed our task, now we must head back," he said sternly and with a bit of derision toward the men still frozen in place.

It's true that it wouldn't be wise to waste time, but I knew Habrok probably just thought lesser of those villains for not being able to even help us beyond being distractions. I was tempted to stick around to help them, but in a way I knew Habrok was right, these guys were mongrels; common thugs with no real ambition to change things.

Thus I nodded to the towering man, "That's fair. Alright, let's get moving."

He seemed rather pleased to hear that and led the way back to the rest of our team.

While Habrok and I had been busy dealing with that student, Libra and Crimson had been dealing with a much tougher opponent.

The duo ran alongside eachother as they approached the Pro. "Keep him busy," Libra commanded.

Crimson nodded, already getting an idea of what Libra wanted to do. Letting some more blood drip from his hand, Crimson splattered the familiar red liquid on the ground in a shaky line intending to set off a ranged explosion to blast rocky debris toward the Pro. The villain's fist was but mere inches away from the drying blood on the ground when a white cloth wrapped around his wrist and yanked him forward. Crimson readied his other fist, still wet with blood, to punch the Pro he was now nearing. Crimson's fist made a hard impact against the Pro's open palm, but rather than ending in a glorious bloody explosion like he expected, Eraserhead simply clutched down on the villain's bloodied fist and delivered a hard knee into Crimson's stomach.

Crimson wheezed as he was then slammed onto the floor, Eraserhead having to focus on some other villains for a brief few seconds. "Right, this guy can erase Quirks or something." Still busy with some other miscreants, Crimson rushed in with fresh blood, eager to land a hit on the preoccupied Pro. Eraserhead opted to use his scarf to grab and disarm the other villains rushing him, whilst also dodging Crimson's punches.

"Not good at handling big brawls like this are you Eraserhead?" a voice uttered from behind the hero.

He felt fingers digging into his shoulder, but was unable to take his eyes off Crimson, so instead he slammed his elbow backwards in the hopes of dislodging his attacker. And the attacker did let go, however, involuntarily the Pro's hair came down and the villains standing before him were able to activate their Quirks. Breaking out of his momentary surprise, Eraserhead quickly disarmed and beat down a pair of incoming villains before turning his attention to his previous attacker, who was now chuckling.

"How does it feel to have the tables turned Eraserhead? Let's see how you handle being quirkless," Libra said while taunting the now weakened hero.

Quirkless or not, Eraserhead was a professional, and thus he pressed on just as he had before. The long haired man didn't have the luxury of disabling Quirks for the time being, so he instead focused on quickly dispatching the smaller villains first. In the meantime however, Crimson had laid out a few blood splatters on the ground with the goal blowing the hero apart in an explosion of blood and gore. With that joyous thought still envisioned in his mind Crimson began blasting apart the ground with dry blood, the air being filled with dust and rubble as the villain tried to kill the erasing hero.

The fighting had died down within the heavy cloud of dust with no clear sign of activity from the Pro. Crimson smiled like a maniac, "Rest in peace bitch, hope your corpse isn't too mangled for the funeral!"

Crimson's celebration was cut dreadfully short when two pieces of white cloth wrapped around both of his hands.

"What the fu-!?"

Within a second he was off his feet and swung to the side before being released; colliding with an oncoming group of thugs. Emerging from the diminishing dust cloud was a battered Eraserhead looking with disgust at the man who had just tried to kill him.

Libra grimaced as he marched once more toward the fray. "Three minutes left. Even with all this manpower this bastard continues to be a nuisance," Libra grumbled while drawing a combat knife from within his cloak.

The Pro looked back to see the white cloaked villain rushing in with a knife aimed for his throat. The long haired man easily maneuvered out of harms way, Libra also avoiding the counterattacks the hero threw at him.

"False heroes are bad enough as is, but ones who actually think they can pass on their twisted ways onto the next generation," Libra had a murderous look in his eyes, "It just makes me sick! I'll purge every last one of your kind until balance is restored!"

Eraserhead payed no heed to what the man said and simply passed it off as a villain's nonsensical babbling. The two continued to skirmish for a bit, until Eraserhead managed to finally disarm and beat down his assailant. Libra, still involuntarily clutching himself in pain, quickly moved back to catch his breath; thankful that some thugs came along to take his place.

"Less than a minute left…not that it matters. He's clearly getting tired. As long as this cannon fodder keeps up for a bit longer, Crimson and I can take him down ourselves."

Despite being somewhat sore, Crimson made his way over to his boss, but an explosion in the distance followed by some goons screaming and running away caught both of their attention.

Clearly getting more and more frustrated, Libra ordered, "Crimson, go and-"

Crimson was already readying his gauntlets with a malicious smirk, walking toward the explosion in the distance, calling back, "Way ahead of you."

Refocusing on the enemy at hand, Libra was disappointed to see that Eraserhead had regained his Quirk and didn't waste a second to use it on the reaming group of thugs surrounding him.

"Hmm, not good. Maybe I can sneak around him and nullify his Quirk again? But he might be prepared for it this time…" Libra was still pondering what to do when he saw that the ringleader of this operation, Shigaraki himself, was running at the Pro. When the two collided it had seemed that Eraserhead had managed to get in a good hit on him using his elbow, but upon closer inspection Libra could see that Shigaraki had managed to catch the attack right before it hit him. A few seconds later and the Pro's long hair standing straight up; came down and hanged loose once more.

"This is good, he should be blinking right now which means…"

As if on cue, Shigaraki's Quirk activated, causing Libra to look on with interest. The cloth covering the hero's arm began to crumble as the skin covering his elbow began to crack and peel, revealing the red muscle beneath. With little but a grunt of pain, Eraserhead managed to escape the grasp of Shigaraki, but was once more met with an onslaught of minor villains. Of course, Libra watched all of this with delight; cautiously hanging back to be prepared to help the ringleader.

Crimson sprinted past multiple fleeing villains, looking at each with confusion and contempt. "The hell is wrong with all these pussies? Can't even handle a couple of fucking kids."

A large explosion rumbled from near the entrance to one of the simulated disaster areas. The source was a boy with spiky blonde hair sauntering forward from the smoke cloud of a fresh explosion; a shirtless boy with even spikier red hair followed behind him.

Crimson let out a long impressed whistle, "Wow kid, that's quite the Quirk you got there. Shame it's going to waste on a wannabe hero like you."

The boy had a wicked smile on his face and a murderous look in his eyes, which was something Crimson did not expect. "Shut it, just get out of the way and die!"

That statement made Crimson pause. "This kid is trying to be a 'hero', right?" But nonetheless Crimson welcomed the boy's aggressive nature, after all, it was a nice change of pace from the usual self-righteous attitude he got from most of his opponents.

A slight cause for alarm appeared when the boy propelled himself forward with an explosion from his hands. Crimson, caught somewhat off-guard by his speed, moved more irrationally than usual, but still managed to dodge the explosion the boy had fired toward him once he had landed near the villain he wanted to blast away.

"Damn! He can just fire off explosions whenever he wants, which means his Quirk has a slight edge over mine. But I can still outclass him with skill."

However, the wannabe hero continued to be full of surprises. Crimson tried to beat down the raging boy with his bloodied knuckles, only for the hero in training to outmaneuver him using his explosions. And the kid didn't just have speed, he could dish out damage as well. Crimson soon found this out when he was caught off guard, an explosion to the side launching him off his feet and coming back down to land against the cold hard ground.

"Out of my way! I don't have time for shitty weak nobodies like you!" the boy shouted.

Still feeling the aching pain from hitting the ground, in addition to being blasted with an explosion, Crimson tried to push himself off the ground. Coughing as a look of rage spread across his face. "Damn it! What the hell is wrong with me!? I can't even deal with one fucking kid?!"

The explosive U.A. student continued to stomp forward, soon noticing his enemy was trying to get back up. Crimson's cracked and mangled sunglasses fell from his face as his dark red eyes stared angrily at the hero in training. Crimson shot up and made a mad dash at the boy in the hopes of getting in one good explosive punch on him before he could react. But react the boy did, simply ducking out of the way before using one hand to blast Crimson yet again. And just like before, he fell down onto the ground, this time unable to push himself back up.

The pain from Eraserhead, this kid, and draining his own blood, were all starting to take a toll on the man. "This can't get any worse…" Crimson thought absently, loathing in self-hatred.

Suddenly the boy with red hair tackled his classmate to the ground. Crimson was confused for a split second until a large stream of fire sprayed past them; scorching the ground the two were standing on mere seconds ago.

"Don't tell me…"

I had missed the two U.A. students who were attacking Crimson, but that didn't matter, what mattered was getting him to safety. "Habrok, do you think you can carry both of us?" I yelled back to the bird man, who was already helping Crimson up.

"Get the hell out of the way!" the boy with an explosive Quirk shouted to what I assumed was his friend. He was already back on his feet; enraged.

I couldn't hesitate, I knew this guy was powerful so I couldn't waste a second thinking, I just needed to do it! And so with my hand still outstretched I let loose another wave of flesh roasting fire. The boy with red hair looked shocked and quickly got in front of his friend.

At this point Habrok had a limp and bruised Crimson in one of his arms as he shouted, "Of course I can carry both of you, how weak do you think I am? Get over here!"

Before running over to my ally I looked back to see what became of the red haired guy. To my honest surprise, rather than his flesh being burnt to a crisp, it was jagged and hard looking. He seemed fine for the most part, but the other U.A. student didn't seem to care; pushing his savior out of the way in a rage.

"Move it!"

"Hey Bakugo, you've got to be more careful man," his friend warned.

I quickly ran over to Habrok, who was already spreading his wings and getting off the ground. As his remaining free talons latched into my clothing and hoisted me up, I continued to spray fire toward the two pursuing students, and soon enough we were up in the air and away from them.

I looked over to the downtrodden Crimson, hearing a faint muttering under his breath, "I didn't need help…"

After flying for a moment or two, Habrok dived to the ground in a rather rough landing. Despite what he said, he must have had a least a little trouble holding onto both of us at once, I mean, Crimson is a grown man after all. The hawk man stretched his arms before helping Crimson onto his feet, letting the injured man lean on him for support.

"Come Helios, let's head back to Libra," Habrok stated.

"Right," I agreed as I fell in step alongside him.

While we were on our way to help out Crimson, I could hear quite bit of commotion in the distance, and it seemed like an explosion had happened at the entrance. Remembering this, I brought it up with the other two.

"Could that monster have been fighting someone?" I wondered. After all, it was the only thing present that I could think would be so powerful.

"Not sure, but we must hurry," Habrok replied; picking up the pace.

I soon found my answer as we came upon quite a scene. As we approached Libra and Shigaraki, the three of us all looked on in absolute bafflement at what lay before us.

Libra's mask couldn't hide the look of joy hidden underneath. "Good, you're all here. You're about to see history in the making."

"He's here…" I let out in a whisper.

There before us was The Symbol of Peace himself, All Might. But he wasn't standing tall and proud, smiling triumphantly like I had always seen him do on the news. No, he was sticking out of a warp gate created by the smoky figure called Kurogiri, and was in the clutches of Shigaraki's monster.

"Today, The Symbol of Peace will die," the words seemed to escape Libra's lips in an almost mystical tone, like he himself could hardly believe it.

We all watched on in anticipation as the warp gate around him began to slowly close. I just stood there motionless, my mouth agape behind my mask, watching the world's strongest hero about to be killed. But out of the corner of my eye I spotted a U.A. student with green hair rushing toward us with a look of worry on his face. I'd call him foolish for thinking he could actually help, but I know I'd probably do the same if I saw Libra in a similar predicament. Still, it didn't make his actions any less pointless.

Just as I suspected, the shadowy man Kurogiri appeared before the boy in order to stop him. I looked on with a faint amount of pity, "Sorry, but sometimes you just can't-"

BOOM

"Move! You're in the way, Deku!"

The explosion and shout came from one of the students we had just ran into, who had apparently kept up with us and was here to ruin our plans. The boy had tackled the smoky man to the ground and was essentially holding him hostage. It didn't stop there however. A layer of ice quickly crept across the ground and then made its way to the leg of the bird monster, creeping its way up his arm and chest, turning that layer of his body into a chunk of ice. The source was, of course, the red and white haired guy Habrok and I had fought earlier.

Habrok set Crimson down, extending his talons as he looked furiously at the children. "This is what we get for being careless. This time I'll make sure to rip out their throats."

With the monster's muscles frozen solid, All Might was able to get loose from its grip, and was now at the boys side. As if we didn't have enough problems, that red haired guy with hard skin jumped in from out of nowhere and tried to attack Shigaraki. Our ringleader had managed to dodge in time, but still, now we had yet another person to deal with. We were all silent; our two groups staring back at one another.

"Not good," Libra muttered.

"What? Time to…cut our losses?" Crimson managed to heave out through his pain.

"No. Our friend over there," Libra gave a halfhearted point to Kurogiri, "is the only way we can get back to Corasu city. Like it or not, we're going to have to see this through."

Before Libra could instruct us on what to do, Shigaraki, in a rather calm tone, simply spoke one word, "Nomu."

The monstrous birdman heard the call and steadily pulled himself out of the warp gate, his frozen limbs cracking and falling apart. I looked on in confusion, which was immediately replaced with amazement as Nomu's limbs began to regenerate.

Crimson glanced up from where he was sitting on the ground and simply raised an eyebrow, "Huh, guess… we've still got a shot at this… after all?"

Libra seemed absolutely fascinated and observed the beast with keen interest while Shigaraki explained Nomu's capabilities to All Might. A most interesting point being that Nomu could take him on at 100%.

Shigaraki continued, "First, we need to get our gate back. Go, Nomu."

It was at this point I learned Nomu wasn't only strong, but fast too. It all seemed to have happened in a split second. That kid with the explosive Quirk was on top of Kurogiri, and then suddenly he was with the rest of the students. All Might had taken the attack from the beast. What was important however was that our ally who would provide us with an escape was now free once more.

A grunt to my side caused me to look over to Crimson, now staggering to his feet; fists raised.

"Crimson, you can't-" He was injured so I was trying to tell him to stay back, but Crimson being Crimson just yelled at me.

"Don't tell me what to do," he heaved, shaking his head to psych himself up, "I'm fine. I'm not some weak bitch like you seem to think I am."

"Hey I never said…"

I couldn't finish my sentence though, due to Shigaraki's voice refocusing my attention on our enemies. "Nomu, Kurogiri. Get him," the villain covered in hands ordered. Next he turned to us, continuing, "Make yourselves useful. Help me deal with the children."

Libra drew a blade from beneath his cloak and armed himself. Habrok stepped forward, his talons still out, "About time you asked." Holding back a groan of pain, Crimson knocked his knuckles together while walking toward the kids.

I looked at the four boys near All Might, observing their looks of anger and concern, the boy with green hair seemed especially emotional for some reason. None the less, no matter what they're thinking or feeling now doesn't matter to me. No, I need to be strong and see this through. If creating a future without false heroes costs a few lives then so be it. With my hands alight with fire, I followed behind the rest of the team, ready to do what was necessary.

All Might rushed toward us with great speed, only to be intercepted by Nomu. The two overwhelmingly powerful beings clashed, which caused a shockwave so powerful that it blew all of us back. Habrok, who had taken to the air when we made our attack, had been blown clean off course and slammed back down to the solid earth. The beaten and bruised Crimson was knocked back off his feet. As the two hulking men continued to trade blow after blow, the force they generated continued to blow us all back. Libra and I braced against that force alongside Shigaraki and Kurogiri.

"Fucking hell!" Crimson cried out while trying to get back onto his feet.

Habrok shielded himself with his wings as he got back up, bracing against the air blowing intensely against all of us. "There's no way we can even get close to them like this!" Habrok shouted to us.

I could only watch in a mixture of shock and awe as All Might pushed back Nomu. Their speed was unimaginable, their strength frightening, the overall raw power and skill seemed impossible. Worst of all, it seemed like All Might was exceeding Nomu in all these things.

Without even realizing it I had started unconsciously backing away, but I stopped when Libra gripped my shoulder. "Terrifying isn't it?" Libra said aloud, not taking his eyes off the fight, "The power that our greatest enemy possesses." Perhaps thinking I might crack under the pressure, Libra tightened his grip on me and said, "If balance is ever to be restored, we must eradicate this power from the world."

In response, I stood as confidently as I could alongside Libra; ready to see this through. The fight between All Might and Nomu carried on, All Might clearly leading the battle. Punch after punch, Nomu was knocked around and beaten down, the two of them destroying the ground beneath them as they fought. It all came to an end when All Might unleashed one last powerful hit on Nomu, the impact of which sent the bird monster soaring through the air, smashing through the dome itself, and then seeming to go further beyond that.

My jaw had dropped behind my mask when I took in such a sight. Habrok and Libra seemed to share my look, while Crimson just scoweled. "No way… I've always heard things and saw him on TV but…," Crimson couldn't help but feel a cold sweat run down his back while looking at the fearsome All Might, "seeing him in action in person, I get why villains have gone into hiding…"

Smoke billowed from where the world's greatest hero stood, and despite the seemingly intense fight he had gone through just seconds before, he turned to Shigaraki and us. "Now, villains… I'm sure we'd all like to end this as soon as possible."

Impossible. There's just no way. Even after all that, he was still ready to take us all on!? I looked to Libra and Shigaraki for guidance, but Libra was just glaring and seemed hesitant to move, while Shigaraki looked frustrated and just kept scratching at his neck. I'll admit, by this point I was terrified about what would come next. I mean, All Might defeated the seemingly invincible Nomu, and he's left our ringleader speechless. What could we hope to do at this point?

"What's wrong? You're not coming?" All Might called out, "Come and get me if you can." That last phrase was said with a murderous stare from the hero, his piercing blue eyes bore into all of us. "Well? What's wrong?"

"It's like he's daring us to try and beat him! Just how confident is he!? No…no this has nothing to do with confidence… he just knows our power pales in comparison to his…" I thought nervously.

In the meantime, Shigaraki had been scratching his neck furiously and was understandably upset by the situation. Kurogiri leaned down to calm him, but also ended up calming me as well when he said, "Looking carefully, I see that he was definitely weakened from the damage of Nomu's attacks. Besides, the children appear to be frozen in fear." He then turned his luminous yellow eyes toward Libra and the rest of us as he continued, "We still have underlings who can be used."

"Underlings," Crimson scoffed in annoyance.

Ignoring him, Kurogiri turned his attention back towards All Might and carried on talking to Shigaraki. "There are likely only a few minutes left before reinforcements come. If you and I work together, we still have a chance of killing him."

Shigaraki probably only considers the four of us as cannon fodder, but Kurogiri had a point. If he really has weakened after that fight, then maybe we could all rush him and take him down. It seemed Shigaraki shared my sentiments.

"Yeah…that's right…we have no choice but to do it. I mean, we have the last boss right in front of our eyes," he muttered.

Libra let out a sharp quick whistle to grab our attention. "He's right. Killing All Might now would greatly accelerate our plans, so let's make sure it gets done by dealing with those brats." Some of the four students readied themselves when the saw Libra step up and point over to them. "Helios, take care of the plain looking one and that ice kid, Crimson help out if you can. Habrok, you and I will deal with the other two."

Before we could put our plan of attack into action however, Shigaraki and Kurogiri were already running at All Might, who for some reason just stood there waiting for them to strike. And then the unexpected happened. That plain looking kid with green hair was suddenly midair with a fist reeled back, aiming at Kurogiri.

"I didn't even see him move!" I couldn't help say in surprise.

Libra seemed perplexed by this as well.

Thankfully though, Kurogiri and Shigaraki were ready for him, the two worked together as the shadowy man opened a warp gate for Shigaraki to reach his hand through, ending up right in front of the boy's face.

"Guess it's time to see what Shigaraki's Quirk is." Inch by inch, Shigaraki's hand was about to reach the boy's face, only a few seconds and it'd all be over for this unfortunate U.A. student. "I do feel a little bad, but-"

BANG

Blood spouted from Shigaraki's hand. It was obvious he had been shot. We all looked towards the entrance; all of us spotting an absolute nightmare. An entire group of Pros, all here to back up All Might.

"Fuck me! Libra, look man I really think it's time we got out of here!" Crimson shouted while quickly limping over to him.

Libra sighed, "Yeah. Come on."

We all dashed over to were Shigaraki and Kurogiri were. Shigaraki had been saying something when he was suddenly shot through the arms and legs. I couldn't help but stare at the copious blood that poured out from his wounds. In response to the bullets still flying toward us, Kurogiri shielded us with his large misty body. The black mist then began to wrap around Shigaraki's body spread out on the ground.

"Hey! Don't forget to get us out of here too!" Libra shouted up to the shadowy giant.

Kurogiri looked us over, trying to remember if we were anyone of importance. He seemed to remember something, but pressed for time he just gave us a short, "Very well." A gate opened right next to us, Habrok helped Crimson through, Libra entered while giving one last passing glance to Shigarki. I was the last to enter, my heart pounding as I leapt through the closing gate.

That was certainly…hectic.

After being transported back to the hideout, the four of us just sort of collapsed and took in deep breaths as we escaped from danger. Habrok set off fro the roof, Crimson was dealing with an incredibly worried Cleric, Libra was discussing the events with Gorou, and in the meantime I had been resting on the couch.

"You sure you're okay kiddo?" Reina asked again while looking me over.

I sat up on the couch, "Trust me, I'm fine. Libra and Crimson got it much worse than I did."

Speaking of which…

"Crimson is resting now," Cleric softly said entering the living room.

"Did you finally heal him?" Reina questioned.

She winced a little, "I did… but I had done it after he had gone to sleep...I know he's going to be mad when he wakes up, but I just couldn't leave him like that."

When we had arrived back at the hideout, Crimson was clearly about to collapse from blood loss and all the pain he went through, so Cleric wanted to heal him. However in response he just said, "No, this is my own damn fault! I was stupid, careless, and weak. I'm not going to let you go through pain for MY mistakes!" He didn't want to give her a slight chance of healing him, and thus brushed her off and shambled off to his room.

"He certainly is a stubborn one," Rorschach said from the recliner.

"He used to let me heal him a lot more when we were kids…" Cleric seemed to say more to herself than the rest of us.

I let out a long sigh, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised we failed… I should've known we weren't ready to go up against the world's strongest hero."

"A failure? Well that remains to be seen Akio," Reina said while smiling with a shrug of her shoulders. "I think we're on the League's good side now, at least somewhat. And I'm sure they can cook up something as deadly as Nomu again." She stretched her arms and settled onto the opposite end of the couch. "You know, all things considered, things are looking up for the future of villains."

Reina wasn't the only one to take notice of this however, both the villains and heroes of Corasu city took notice as well.

"Simon, please!" the rotund man pleaded; falling onto his knees, continuing to back away from his imposing former bodyguard.

The broad, tall, muscular, dark skinned villain towered over his cowardly employer. Crossing his arms, he looked down at the pathetic individual before him. "I warned you. I told you if my mistress ever calls on me, I will leave, and you will let me leave. No questions asked." Simon noticed he had some blood splattered on his shoulder, which he casually wiped off.

"I know, I know! But Simon I was just-gah!"

A stomp to the stomach shut the man up rather quick. "You had your goons try to kill me. Trash like you isn't worth salvation." He pressed his foot down even harder, the man beneath him wheezing in pain.

"Si-Simon! Please, I c-can give you more money! P-please just forgive me!"

Simon couldn't help but find it funny that this criminal that had acted like such a cutthroat badass was now on the floor pleading for one of his 'lowly grunts' to have mercy on him.

"The attack on Sanctuary High's entrance exam, my mistress's messenger returning, and now the attack on the USJ in Musutafu. It's all a sign that it's time for things to go back to the old ways. Which means I need to go fulfill my higher calling." Simon released the pressure he was putting on the gentleman beneath his foot; turning to exit the dimly lit office. Little light, but enough to do what he needed to do.

"Yeah…you're completely right…I'm sorry Simon, you've... done good work for me, it was wrong to-"

Simon's ex-employer would never get to finish that sentence. Multiple spikes black as night, pierced through the large man on the floor. The long dark spikes puncturing his heart as well as tearing through his flesh and organs. They then slowly retracted, growing shorter and shorter until they were flat on the floor, slithering their way back to Simon's shadow.

"Apology accepted."

Simon, his Quirk, Shadow Spikes. Extending from his shadow, Simon's spikes will creep along the ground as flat objects and can shoot upward becoming solid spikes. Said spikes can split apart or extend outward into additional spikes. Simon can either do many small spikes or just a few large ones, as doing both is difficult for him. Of course because his Quirk is reliant on his shadow, he is greatly disadvantaged in areas with little/no light.

Walking past the dead bodies of countless petty criminals, Simon exited the dirty old storehouse. "Time to go see what Malachi has planned."

During the afternoon a day after the USJ attack, some of the faculty of Sanctuary High gathered for a meeting to discuss the villain related activities that transpired over the past two weeks. More specifically, the Investigation Hero, Blackout, had gathered them there to discuss his findings. Arthur and Mother Nature sat side by side at the far end of the table, while Doctor Madhouse and Battering Ram sat across from each other on the sides of the table. The good doctor was idly tapping his fingers, desperately wanting a cigarette but decided against it on account of Mother Nature's distaste for tobacco. Battering Ram kept tapping his foot on the ground in impatience.

The four faculty member's attention was drawn to the door, a man with pitch black skin entering the room. Blackout wasn't wearing his usual getup that'd he wear out in the field, but rather, a neat and tidy grey suit with a grey tie to match. Despite his change in outfit, he still kept his semi-long dark purple hair loose and disheveled, a long patch hanged low and covered one of his void like blackish lavender eyes.

"Thanks for coming everyone," the hero greeted in a rather forced politeness, whilst placing some papers onto the table before him.

While Blackout was approaching the board he had set up with a spread of information attached to it, Doctor Madhouse corrected, "Well, technically this isn't everyone." Blackout turned back to stare at the doctor, who was now polishing his glasses as he casually followed up with, "I mean, just the four of us? Is there a reason for that?" the last part came off as somewhat accusatory.

"He has his reasons Madhouse," Arthur interjected from the end of the table. "Please Blackout, carry on."

"As I'm sure you're all aware by now, an off campus U.A. facility was attacked yesterday. The perpetrators were a group known as the League of Villains. There were dozens of villains in attendance, most of which were petty criminals not worthy of note; however there were some familiar faces among them." He pointed to the array of photographs on the board relating to the attack on Sanctuary High's entrance exam facility.

Arthur leaned forward, clearly perturbed, "The Syndicate?"

"Yes, more specifically I can confirm that their leader, Libra, was a participant of the attack from yesterday." Blackout paced as he theorized, "It's clear that the two are separate organizations from each other, but this leads to a more frightening conclusion."

Doctor Madhouse leaned back in his chair; arms crossed as he sighed out the answer, "An alliance."

"That's what we believe, yes. These two fledgling villain organizations could possibly be planning to team up. I assume that the fact that The Syndicate took part in this plan means they're trying to earn trust with them, or perhaps they're already working together and this was their first operation together."

"Doesn't matter which it is, the two of them working together is bad news either way," Battering Ram stated, holding back the anger and worry in his voice.

"I must address another topic," Blackout said to regather the groups attention. "There was talk of there being a possible traitor among U.A., someone who was helping the League."

"And what does that have to do with us?" Mother Nature innocently questioned.

Madhouse readjusted his glasses with a smile as he leaned on the table. "You believe it is the same for us then? That's why it's just us four here, correct?"

"I have my…suspicions."

Wanting to defend the honor of his staff, Arthur argued, "Could this not just be the work of Masquerade? We know little about them, but we do know they're resourceful."

Blackout let out an annoyed breath, "As of right now, until I get more definitive evidence, the most likely cause of the information leak was an informant among Sanctuary High's staff."

"And you're sure it's not one of us?" Madhouse asked with a smirk.

"I wouldn't be discussing this with you if I thought otherwise." Blackout walked closer toward the table, looking the principle dead in the eye. "Arthur, if you want to ensure that incidents like the ones that have been transpiring these past two weeks don't happen again, I need you to let me investigate your staff."

Arthur rubbed his face, mulling over the issue. Looking to his wife she gave his hand a gentle squeeze, a silent sign that she was with him no matter the decision. "Blackout….do what you have to do. I do not wish to doubt my fellow heroes, but if they are all innocent then I'm sure your investigation shall bear no fruit."

"Trust me, that's what I'm hoping for. Of course I'm sure I can trust all of you to be discreet about this matter, yes?"

The four all affirmed the investigators request.

"Good, now there's another troubling matter I must bring to light." Blackout drew everyone's attention to some photographs attached to the board; depicting rusted corpses. "As if two new villain groups on the rise wasn't bad enough, I fear an old one is being revived right here in Corasu city."

The morning after the USJ attack, the team understandably needed a day to rest. So the last thing we were expecting was for Reina to be taking visitors. As night approached, there was a simple knock on the basement door. Reina signaled for Gorou to get the door, and in walked a lanky man with long hair.

"So, this is the Syndicate huh?" The rather unkempt man chuckled and outstretched his hands in greeting to all of us in the room, "My name's Malachi."

Yet again thanks to my shitty schedule this chapter came out much later than I anticipated. But it's all good, because I do believe that I'll be able to get the next couple of chapters out quicker. Also here's something, so when I first started this I had planned on only coming up with a couple of students for Tsuneo's class, you know to make things easier for myself. But in my off time I've actually managed to almost fill out the full twenty student roster, so at this point I was just like "fuck it, guess we're doing a full class". Don't get me wrong, I had planned to introduce more from the get-go, I just wasn't expecting to do ALL twenty. So that's a thing that's happening next chapter. Thanks for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy.