Green Scale
Chapter 26 ~ Akuno Shigaraki
Rated M
I Don't Own MHA
Responses!
PsychoNightmare ~ There will be an answer for that action in the next chapter.
MIKE202303 ~ haha relatable
Raven Mordrake ~ Dude, Izuku and the rest would clearly value the lives of millions/billions over the lives of two people they have never even met. Your question is literally answered multiple times in the chapter.
thirsty boi ~ Thanks for the support :)
EastWest ~ Much appreciated!
Bio RL ~ Not sure what you mean by possession powers, but that new side of his personality will be more prominent in the future.
Donovan2771 ~ Oh I agree 100%. You can't possibly place the blame solely on Bakugou, but the three students highlighted in this chapter (Iida, Momo and Todoroki) all have a connection with Midoriya and really just wanted someone to point the finger at. The fake Izuku made it very plausible to believe that Bakugou had sided with villains, and seeing him right next to Lancelot when Izuku got snatched only sealed it. From the reader's perspective, Bakugou is just a victim here, and you will find out why he chose his parents over Izuku in this chapter, as he explains his reasons.
In short, he didn't actually do anything wrong, and was just being punished by people way higher up on the power scale.
Guest ~ Yup, poor guy lol
Good job ~ Thanks!
Rovsan143 ~ Well, you'll have to wait till the next update to see whether or not Akira and Michael will even bother, and I dedicated a part of the intro to answer your confusion of the traitor subplot. Hope it helps!
Insaneauthor050701 ~ Already PM'd :)
Good evening everyone and welcome back to the story!
In the last chapter, the blazing fang Lancelot entered the training camp and abducted Izuku without any effort at all, and now the students all have to live with the consequences. Earlier, the entity inside Izuku went out of his way to wrongly condemn Bakugou as a traitor and turned almost everyone present against the blonde… All of that will be answered in this chapter…
There was some mild confusion regarding Izuku calling Bakugou a traitor, and I wanna clear that all up…
So Bakugou was told about the attack beforehand by Hoshino and his family would be killed should he tell anyone either about Volt Break being in Hosu, or the incoming attack. The real problem for Bakugou was that Minoru heavily hinted that a fang would appear, and that was why Bakugou was so terrified before the attack began. Izuku saw this and his behaviour throughout the camp and suspected that he was hiding something, and since Izuku was already deeply against Bakugou, he was just looking for a reason to accuse. The scene in the forest right before the Vanguard Action Squad attack only fueled Izuku's suspicions that Bakugou was working with villains.
Inside the forest, the guy posing as Izuku basically told the students that Bakugou had planned the entire attack while in Hosu and used the forest to contact his allies before the whole thing happened. With all these things lining up, a load of people already had a good reason to believe that Katsuki was against them, and the dragon lying about why Izuku went into the forest only confirmed it for most.
Now, when all the Vanguard Action Squad (minus Magne and Spinner) had been defeated, Izuku finally thought that it was over, and he began to doubt his suspicions that Bakugou had betrayed them, so he apologised and said he was one of them. It was only then that Lancelot appeared and crushed that notion instantly.
Izuku then felt betrayed, thinking that Bakugou had led them to Lancelot, and all of the evidence before came together, and his thoughts were the thoughts of almost everyone else as he was captured.
Hope that clears it up, but this is why everyone is now super dubious about explosion boi.
Anyway, in this chapter, we will see the aftermath of the training camp abduction, and how all the students handle it. We will focus on Bakugou, Yaoyorozu, Todoroki and Iida as they struggle with what to do, and then at the end, we will have a small teaser that hints at what will happen to Izuku.
Again, I'm sorry for the slight delay of this chapter, but there are two reasons. The first is that this arc is seeming harder to write than I predicted, and the second being that I'm currently editing my story and improving it for you all (currently at ch5). Updates will slow until I get up to date with my work and polish up all the bad chapters.
Hope you enjoy the update, and drop your thoughts in the reviews!
Akuno = Evil (Japanese)
(Yokohama)
The police station was filled to the brim with heroes and officers from all over Japan, and all of them had arrived at a moment's notice.
Why?
Because the fate of the world was hanging in the balance…
Tsukauchi eyed every single person in the room, his black eyes not missing a single detail…
Half of Japan's top 10 heroes were called here, along with many other elites as they awaited the news and what they were going to do… The details of the training camp attack hadn't yet broken because UA and the police wanted to conduct an investigation and find the league before they could prepare for an attack and move out of reach, so most of the people in the meeting were completely unaware of the events that had transpired...
"Since I went to the bother of calling you all here, it should be quite obvious that the situation is dire…" The detective looked around and saw that even the most pompous and rude heroes there were intently listening. That showed that even they knew the severity of this…
All Might didn't like the way Naomasa looked at him before the briefing started, because the officer had a look of pity plaguing his features whenever the two of them locked eyes. He'd already known about young Midoriya's capture from Aizawa, and the tragic death of his coworker Vlad King, but Tsukauchi already realised that, so what was with this atmosphere?
Endeavor; still seething from not being able to track down Stain's killer, was growing impatient already. Ever since the Hero Killer kicked the bucket, he'd been receiving criticism from the press for being outshone by Izuku and Shoto at Hosu, and Enji's fuse was known to be short. He was already annoyed at the sight of the green brat, and with each passing day, more people would look and whisper about Izuku one day overtaking Endeavor in the rankings… The kid pissed him off, but he'd been told that this meeting was actually concerning him, so he chose to keep personal feelings out of his mouth. "Tsukauchi! What are we even gathered here for!? I had to cancel a meeting with Shoto for this farce!"
The detective could only sigh at the sound of the flame hero's annoyed tone. "I do apologize for calling you in so late Endeavor, but this is something that could possibly put each and every one of us at risk…"
That got almost everyone's attention…
"Well...then what are we here for? We deserve some sort of explanation, no?" Edgeshot politely asked, bowing his head.
And now it was time to tell the story…
Tsukauchi gave one last look to All Might and then nodded to one of his agents as a large display screen rolled down from the ceiling of the large meeting room…
The first thing on there was the scene of the training camp, and the large blue fumes that engulfed the treetops…
"This morning, just after midnight, an attack was launched on a training camp used by the 1st year hero course of UA High, and the attack was carried out by none other than the league of villains; the same group that attacked the USJ a few months ago…"
It didn't take long before the heroes pieced together all of it…
"Do they have him!? Do they have the boy!?" Kamuii Woods recalled seeing Izuku's fire debut in the streets of Musutafu, and the kid hadn't left his mind since. Should that power fall into the hands of evil, then that would be disastrous…
The officer didn't answer and merely showed the next slide, which made everyone in the room have a double take…
What they saw were three separate images, and they were all of the battles that a single student had… All Might instantly recognised who it was by the melted rock and charred surroundings in the first picture…
"Just like last time, they were after Izuku Midoriya, and they didn't take him lightly either. Instead of trying to overwhelm a group of elite students with waves of fodder, they chose to send a group of ten A class criminals that were all incredibly proficient in combat. They could equal above average pro heroes and prove unbeatable for these children, and yet there was one that was able to defeat them all…" Naomasa used a stick to point to the collapsed cliffside. "The first villain to fall by his hands was known as Muscular…"
Tiger immediately flinched when he heard that name… "That monster was defeated?"
"The villain could stand toe to toe with even the best of those here tonight, and yet he was brought down by the might of this child alone." Then, the second image showed a path of charred trees that was made by a single move. "It seemed he lost control after that and killed the villain, but then set his sights on the others… Reports from two students confirm that the boy has now developed draconic wings through some sort of mutation and used them to easily blitz and decapitate a teenage gas villain…"
One of the heroes stood up. "T-That doesn't make sense! Wasn't his quirk an emitter!?"
All Might looked deeply concerned when he heard that, and realised that it was part of the reason why Naomasa looked so tense…
Young Midoriya was beginning to evolve even further…
And if they didn't control him soon, he would prove to be an unbeatable opponent for anyone in the continent...
"And lastly…" The detective pointed to a clearing made by dozens of shattered oak trees… "The boy dominated the villain Moonfish quite quickly and then knocked the rest of the villains unconscious… This man in particular was kept confined in a nigh unbreakable straight jacket for the sole reason of him being far too dangerous for normal equipment to handle. Even with the best things that his prison had to offer, this unhinged murderer still managed to see the light of day after he broke out…"
Gang Orca; already displeased at the boy's actions, was beginning to get unnerved as to why Tsukauchi was delaying the reason for the meeting… It was obvious that the boy had been captured, and that alone was enough to warrant the top heroes aid, but this man wasn't someone to needlessly drag out something… "Detective...what exactly is this leading to? Is there some sort of hint I've missed?"
"And why would Midoriya just leave the remaining criminals unconscious when he needlessly killed the rest? Wouldn't that be pointless?" Asked Best Jeanist, skeptical as everyone was still trying to find a possible way that the boy could have even been captured after defeating the rest of the squad…
Naomasa again ignored the question as he showed the final image, and that shut everyone up…
A crater…
It was humongous…
Possibly the size of a stadium...and from the looks of the surroundings...it was only via one attack…
That made the heroes suddenly think to the only people capable of that strength in Japan…
There was All Might…
And quite possibly the Fangs…
"As you can see, this was done by the one remaining villain that had somehow remained hidden within the area, and considering that this one punch didn't completely vaporise the young man on impact, its safe to say that the blow had absolutely no intent to kill and probably didn't require a lick of effort from the criminal… He managed to avoid Ragdoll's Search quirk which should have sniffed out everyone in the entire forest, while also defeating Eraserhead and Vlad King easily..." The man stopped for a second. "He apparently sliced the blood hero so many times that his body was unrecognisable and in a huge pile by the entrance of the shelter, and Aizawa's erasure quirk had no effect on his physical strength, which he used to slap the teacher through several walls…"
Endeavor suddenly stood up, feeling a strong concern for his son. "What about the students!? How did they survive that blast!?"
Everyone in the room was thinking the same thing…
"That's a mystery to us… The injuries they received were mostly from that one blow, but how they all survived it has yet to be revealed, unfortunately… When Recovery Girl examined them earlier today, they barely looked hurt barring a few that faced villains head on, so that makes things even more suspicious. The villain responsible for the blast is known as someone that boasts unparalleled raw power that measures up to the head of his group, so it's unlikely that he could hide his presence with his quirk..."
"Then who did this!?" Enji scowled hatefully, internally swearing to maim anyone that dared scratch a hair on his favourite child's head...
Tsukauchi looked at Endeavor and almost thought about whether he should tell him or not, but he had to know, as any father would… "We don't have any visuals from it, but from the eye-witness reports of Mandalay, Tiger and the rest of the students, it was all too obvious who the culprit was… You veterans will all surely remember him from the horrible massacre at Musutafu City, and how he could level small countries with his quirk's full power…"
Enji's brilliant blue eyes shrank back in shock…
"With the long black hair, purple and red armour, and shining onyx greatsword, there would be no mistaking it… The Blazing Fang Lancelot led the attack on the training camp last night, and he was the man that abducted Izuku Midoriya…"
The heroes could see colour drain from the flame hero's face as his fists shook violently...
"Now, you all now know that the kid is being held by the fangs, and possibly Red Scale himself, but the reason I gave you guys a summary of the attack wasn't to prepare you for tonight's operation, but to make sure that each and every one of you is completely aware of what failure could mean…"
Tsukauchi then showed one final picture…
All Might froze when he saw it…
"This was taken at the massacre, and while it is in poor quality, it is the only reference we have right now… The bastard was so strong that no one could even catch a glimpse of him amidst the carnage. Some people were melted from getting too close, while others were killed by his 4 followers before they could even see him...but the rest could only make out a crimson comet shooting around the globe at speeds beyond our understanding… Even the villain Prism, known to travel at the speed of light, cannot compare to his agility, and it's a damn miracle that we can even get this picture…"
For some, this was the very first time actually seeing a real image of the villain…
"Someone in Musutafu managed to take one shot at him before his most trusted follower, Orochi, had his snakes eat him alive as a warning to others… This man worked for one of the news stations in Tokyo, and he bravely followed this group of monsters through the smouldering ruins of Japan until he got to their final destination. This was taken mere minutes before the dragon went inside a house in one of its urban districts and called off the huge conquest of Asia…"
MT Lady, while still worried about the kid's safety, couldn't keep the question out of her head. "H-Hey mister detective? Are you saying that the villains let it happen?"
"That's our only answer to this profound piece of evidence…" Tsukauchi felt a chill run down his entire body when he thought of the implications that came with...
It was blurred, but you could make out some of the details, and it was enough for the experienced pros to easily recall…
It was Red Scale…
"As you can see, the villain was surrounded in crimson scales far thicker than that of the boy's, and from what little information All Might could gather through their brief exchange, they were unwavering from even his strongest attacks… Also, Red Scale has a huge red and black tail that was capable of sending All Might through the entire city of Musutafu with complete ease…" there were many more feats from the villain, but they had no proof. These two were the only ones with some form of validity behind…
All Might finally grasped the reason as to why Tsukauchi was so concerned…
The child was-
"What you are looking at now is the completely perfected version of Izuku Midoriya's quirk… We have no idea when the boy will attain even a shadow of that strength, but what we do know is that if the quirks are one in the same, then he will eventually equal the crimson dragon, so now that begs the question… Would any of you like to face someone with that level of power?"
…
The entire room was silent…
Even the most deluded...narcissistic pieces of garbage in the world wouldn't raise their hand to answer that…
"If this boy was released with no goals and no direction, leading a life of just death and destruction, do you have any idea how much damage that would cause? The entire planet would cease to function… Clearly, Red Scale wants the boy to become as strong as possible… The reason for that is known by no one, and that's the case for just about all of his actions...but that boy will soon amass power of world ending proportions...and when that time comes, he absolutely must stay on the side of justice!"
Toshinori gripped his chair, hearing the words he'd been saying to everyone since the child's existence was acknowledged by him…
"In North America, villains numbering over a million banded together to take down the continent they lived in, and before Akira Midoriya and his agency ended their reign, they managed to dominate 60% of the landmass… Before the rise of All Might; the symbol of peace, the crime rate in Japan was at an all time high and darkness covered this great nation with one single man controlling every city from the shadows…" The detective's gaze sharpened. "If we do not save this boy and his dream of being a hero, then not just this country, but the entire world will be plunged into an age of evil it cannot ever hope to recover from!"
Tsukauchi took a deep breath after seeing all of the heroes on the edge of their seats. It seemed that the message had been conveyed flawlessly… "The police and I have been working tirelessly through the day to uncover the identity of each League member, and while we cannot determine Izuku Midoriya's exact location, we have found the exact place that the League has been hiding in…"
It wasn't the path to Izuku, but it was the very best they had… Tracking the Fangs was an impossible task, so it was a blessing that they'd associated with the much less elusive League of Villains…
They had a chance, and by the looks of all the heroes and police, it was a chance they were more than willing to take…
"The location is a rundown bar in Yokohama's Kamino ward, and it somehow avoided demolition despite no one visiting… That was suspicious enough, and when we found the serial killer Magne walking through the door, it was enough for us to fully monitor the establishment…" The screen then showed the bar that he was talking about. "We may not find the kid in there, but we will definitely get the League, who could either lead us to their boss or the child's whereabouts…"
"How will we do it? Would maximum destruction be necessary?" Endeavor asked shakily… He was shocked by the revelation that his nightmare had come back to haunt him, but he wanted to save Izuku, even when the two of them were against one another… "I can burn down the garage area and collect all the crooks before they even know what hit them!"
"No Endeavor… We have no idea where the Fangs are… For all we know, they could even be in the same building, or the ones right across… Caution is best advised for everyone involved, and while speed is essential for this rescue mission, we must be aware and alert for any signs of danger in the surrounding area…" Edgeshot advised the flame hero, who didn't even bite back in defence this time…
All Might nodded. "Edgeshot is right. Young Midoriya is Red Scale's only obsession, so he will be guarded like a king's crown… If we make too much noise and force their hand, then we will all be annihilated…"
Enji scowled at the blonde symbol, but couldn't disagree.
"We get near the boy… We die… How the hell do we save him then?" Gang Orca questioned angrily. "This sounds hopeless…"
"We will try everything we can to free the child if we know his location, but we may have to bank on his ability to escape. At the end of the day, this child's safety is paramount, and if you really call yourselves heroes, you should be willing to put your lives on the line for the sake of this earth's future…"
"A boy escaping from the most dangerous villains on earth? Be realistic Tsukauchi…" Endeavor sighed.
All Might then looked to his friend… "Naomasa…"
Everyone then turned to the no.1 hero…
Tsukauchi stopped the speech and looked at the man…
"I may have someone that can assist us…"
(Todoroki Residence)
It was a while since Endeavor left, and while Natsuo and Fuyumi were watching the start of the UA press conference, the news about Midoriya's capture and the re-emergence of the Blazing Fangs, Shoto was sitting alone in his room… He was facing his desk with his head in his hands, and his eyes didn't leave the wood as he glared at it hatefully…
Again…
He'd failed again…
This wasn't the first time he'd failed in life, as he wasn't able to keep his promise to himself and win the festival with just his right side… He'd betrayed himself that day and even let his classmate show him up in front of the one man he wished to see in a hospital...but this was worse…
Far worse…
Midoriya was someone he once thought of as an arrogant rival and a threat to his dominance over class 1-A, but once he was beaten in the mock battle so easily...that caution turned straight to fear, and that fear boiled over during the final match of the sports festival… He was petrified by the shadow above his opponent, which he thought was the man Izuku would become, but after his humiliating defeat and self loathing...the boy saved him from a deep abyss he could never hope to claw his way out of…
He had hated his father for what he did to his mother's mind, and he wished death upon him for years, but while that raging flame of vengeance was burning inside his chest, he neglected to realise that the fire was not only consuming all of his weaknesses and perfecting his combat ability, but also tearing away the last remains of the boy he used to be… Back when Toya was still around with his radiant smile, and when his mother could look at her children with pride and love… Those were simpler times that were ripped away by his father's lust for power, and now the hatred that circled him was threatening to take away the last remnants of that life...
On that street, when it was pouring with rain, the two of them stood there and Todoroki heard the words his mother once said to him… Midoriya told him to give his mother's smile back, and it was something the young man had now set his sights on… His desire to see his mother revert to her once brilliant joy was so strong that it even overshadowed the hate he had for his father…
He could have even called Midoriya his hero for saving him from that mental hell of self hatred and envy…
And now that guy was gone…
And it was his fault…
The villain that captured him was too strong for any of them, but Todoroki still despaired about it, thinking that there was always some way he could avoid the swordsman and escape the forest with his friend's freedom intact… Midoriya was his first friend and rival...and he could even say that he was his second inspiration behind All Might...but he was now in the hands of Red Scale…
The boy's velvet hair waved slightly as small orange flames danced across his face…
That rage he had was engulfing him like before, but it was now aimed at himself, and not his father… His fire reacted to his emotions, and even though Toya spiralled down the path of hatred and died because of it...Shoto didn't care, and clenched his hair in his hands…
His nails dug into his palms as his blue iris shook violently…
If he could, he would save Midoriya and sacrifice anything for his friend's freedom, but it was impossible… The one villain he encountered wasn't even on the same scale as the Nomu in the USJ, and there were four of his kind, with two of them being even stronger than Lancelot… If Midoriya was being held by Red Scale; the villain said to eclipse their collective strength...then there was no way that anyone on this earth could bring him home…
Maybe his father and brother could...but if they truly cared about him, they would have come to his aid months ago…
There was no one that Midoriya could rely on for support, and that broke Todoroki slightly…
He was sinking deeper into the same void that Izuku rescued him from, but couldn't even begin to imagine what horrors the dragon was experiencing while having an audience with his evil counterpart…
A small blue flame then flickered by his left eyelid, and vanished moments later...
Just as he was about to jump from his window and locate Midoriya himself, his phone buzzed…
(Outside Yokohama Hospital)
Todoroki arrived at the hospital that held all the students, but he wasn't coming to wish them a speedy recovery like one would think. Just as he was about to hold his own investigation, he had received a text from an anonymous number, and the only thing it stated was that he needed to meet with the sender outside this hospital. Knowing all of this, it was easy for Todoroki to guess that a student sent this, and they'd be waiting outside…
It was nearing 9:00pm and the sky held no light… The hospital was noisy with the police and heroes coming in to question those that saw the villain Lancelot and witnessed Midoriya's capture, so the sight of some students exiting their beds could be missed by the staff…
He was at the doors of the building, and it was then that he saw 2 people waiting for him…
Yaoyorozu and Iida…
It couldn't have been them that sent the text, because they wouldn't need to hide who they were…
"You guys got the message too?" Todoroki asked slowly.
"Yeah…" Was all Momo said while Iida kept quiet…
Todoroki looked at the two of them, and it didn't take a genius to tell that they weren't acting normal… Yaoyorozu was almost too serious about this and seemed to be on guard from even Iida, and Ingenium's brother was even worse off; his eyes bloodshot and sweat coating his face as he stared intensely at the ground…
Iida was probably feeling the same level of frustration as him, because of how Izuku treated him at the hospital after their close call with Stain… Iida never even got over his brother's loss, and now this must have hit him like a train… If he could, he would pity him, but Shoto was too worked up to care about anything but finding the green haired student…
"I-I'm sorry…" Tenya struggled to say it with his posture as stiff as a board…
"We all are...but we have to find him…"
Yaioyorozu agreed. "We can't rely on the heroes for this, because Izuku will be gone by the time they arrive. They all have the nerve to hold a damn press conference while he's probably being…" she stopped herself, realising that her persona was cracking…
"And how are we gonna find him? The heroes probably know something about it if they acknowledge how Midoriya being a villain would doom the world, so should we tail them and find our own way to him?" Todoroki suggested.
"That's where Yaoyorozu comes in…" Iida gestured to her…
The girl was clearly struggling with the idea that Midoriya was suffering, and while he decided to ignore the signs between the two, now it didn't matter. Yaoyorozu and Midoriya were a couple, and that much was now obvious to Todoroki, so she was probably in the same boat as he and Iida. Midoriya meant something to all of them, and now he was suffering because they couldn't stop the villain that took him… In some way or another, that guy had saved them all from a mental prison of their own design, and they wanted to repay the debt and rescue him from the clutches of the most evil monster…
Yaoyorozu shakily revealed a small black phone that only had a radar installed in it…
"Does this get us anywhere near Midoriya? We can use anything we have…" Todoroki examined the device closely and saw a small red dot in the sea of green, and near that red dot, there were huge black dots circling it…
"T-Those black things are-"
Momo cut Iida off. "My father suspects that they are the Nomu…"
"Your father? You mean the head of Japan's top quirk research branch?"
"Yes…"
Todoroki was instantly suspicious. "Why would he want to help a kid he's never met? Even if it's your dad, the guy is Japan's greatest treasure behind All Might…"
"I know it's sketchy, but my father is a kind and genuine man… He admires Izuku's father greatly and would do anything to further the guy's research, so when he found out that his idol's son was kidnapped by villains, he offered his full support…"
"Then how do these black marks indicate Nomu? I don't understand…" Iida looked at the screen intensely.
"My father shares the same quirk as me, but it operates at a far slower level, so he uses his machinery and inventions to assist him in creating this… This device measures the power of a certain individual, and before I got out of the hospital, I scanned All Might, and his strength was less than the things surrounding Midoriya…"
"But what if they're the fangs?"
Momo flinched slightly at the idea of that, but shook her head. "That's impossible… This device can only record so much power, but when I scanned All Might, I knew that I didn't need to worry. Those black things are stronger than him, but not by an incredible margain, so we shouldn't encounter anything that strong…"
Iida's brows furrowed in stress… "That bird monster we encountered in the USJ was said by Midoriya to be on the same level as All Might...so then...are you saying there are creatures like that thing that have even more power? If so, then why didn't the league use them at the USJ?"
"It could be that they're saving them for a specific time. The pale teen that headed the attack probably wasn't the leader...and since he was so frightened by the prospect of one of those monsters being beaten, it's plausible to assume that he wasn't trusted with the finest batch of them…"
"Todoroki's right…" Momo said quickly. "My father had the USJ Nomu analysed before the final exams last month and he managed to uncover all the DNA of the creature… He saw that there were traces of a single amplifying quirk, and when he brought in one from Hosu, he saw that the same amplifying quirk was contained inside, but to a much lesser degree…"
"This means?" Shoto irritably asked.
"It means that there is one reoccuring quirk in all these monsters, but the amount of it varies in percentage… In the Hosu Nomu, there was about 20%, and in the USJ beak monster, there was over 60%. My father is convinced that there are a few with higher than 80% of that quirk, and maybe even a handful with 100%… We are looking at creatures in that range…"
Iida shook slightly. "Then how do we...even begin to try and get Midoriya out of a place with those monsters?"
"That's the hard part. For someone as wealthy and knowledgeable as my father, knowing Izuku's location was child's play, but physical power isn't something that has ever run through our bloodline… You guys are really strong, and could probably beat some of the best villains out there, but those creatures are on another level… We should try and sneak in and create an opening for Izuku to escape through…"
Todoroki's gaze hardened. "But if we get caught...then we die… Shouldn't we tell the pros about this and have them come with us?"
Iida shook his head. "No, that wouldn't be good. We'd be punished in the aftermath of the rescue, and those heroes will all probably be raiding another location that may hold Midoriya…"
"And then in that location…" Shoto's thoughts dwelled on his father for a moment. "They'll encounter the Fangs…"
Yaoyorozu looked at him in slight concern. "We don't even know if they're here in Japan. We have to just hope that Izuku is in the league's hands...and that the fangs won't be there…"
It was true…
If those monsters really were in the place that the heroes set their sights on, it would be an all out massacre…
Despite his hatred, Shoto's heart was dominated by concern for his father's safety…
"We can't get distracted…" Momo surprisingly flicked him with a cold glance. "In case you have trouble recalling, we are all here because we want to rescue Midoriya. We don't have any time to worry about anyone else…"
"Yaoyorozu…" Shoto slowly uttered, surprised…
"If we lend our aid to anyone other than him, then we won't ever see him again… I won't forgive you if we lose him because of your father's mistakes…"
"We shouldn't keep pointing fingers and arguing while we could be doing something with the limited time we have… We need to know who contacted us..." Tenya grasped Yaoyorozu's shoulder harshly.
…
...
"That'd be me" A familiar voice called to them from the gates of the hospital…
As soon as Todoroki saw who it was, the flames on his left arm erupted…
Yaoyorozu and Iida both glared at the kid as he stepped out with an almost fearful expression riddled with more guilt than any of them…
Bakugou…
"Why the hell are you here, you treacherous filth!" Iida's recipro charged up as he gritted his teeth…
The boy's eyes didn't even show offence to the insult and just looked focused on one thing…
"Think you can atone now? You're the reason we're in this mess…" Todoroki sneered.
"How can you show your face here? Do you even have shame?" Yaoyorozu questioned in a far more sinister tone than they were used to…
Bakugou could understand why they acted like that… Deku probably meant as much to them as he did to him...and he'd probably kill someone in his own position… Looking at Iida in particular; it was a miracle how he hadn't come and attacked yet...and the same could also be said about Todoroki…
They were livid, but he couldn't care less about their feelings… He understood them, but he didn't care at all…
"I assumed that creation girl actually had some sort of info that the heroes didn't-"
"How about you start by explaining why you threw your childhood friend to the dogs?" Momo wasn't even considering an alliance…
…
Bakugou flinched at her words… "It's all his fault…"
"You dare-" Todoroki was about to burn his classmate, but he saw that he wasn't finished…
"Some of what Deku said was true… I was in Hosu with you two and I did work with someone not affiliated with the Japanese Hero Association, but that's where the truth ends…"
The girl cast him a killing glare. "Why should I believe any of your drivel…"
The blonde never heard her speak like that… It was chilling… "You don't have to, but you lot need all the help you can get…"
"We don't need scum like-"
"I HAVE TO GO!"
They were momentarily startled by the arrogant child's sudden outburst…
Katsuki stood shaking for a second, but breathed out slowly. "My family was in danger cause a hero threatened their life…" A bead of sweat ran down his neck… He prayed that he didn't cross the line that the man set…
"A hero? You said he wasn't from the association…" Iida was also adamant about distrusting him.
"He was foreign…"
"What nationality…" Momo questioned intensely…
"...I can't say…"
The female student looked at him in disgust. "Then we don't need to hear-"
"Wait!" He held his hand out. "Deku didn't believe it either, and he was even about to kill me because he thought I was with the villains…"
"Who's to say you aren't?" Todoroki raised a cruel brow. "All we can see is a dirty little liar that robbed us of the only person that saved us from a hell you will never know about…"
Katsuki's red eyes expanded in a sudden rage… "I'd never know? You don't have a fucking clue what happened to me!"
Yaoyorozu's eyes lingered on him, but they closed again as she brought out her tracker. "You can tell your sob story to the kids inside… We have a job to do…"
…
They all began to turn away as the blonde boy's fists balled…
In that moment, Bakugou weighed the chances of getting Izuku back…
Now that everything was going to hell, would Hoshino even carry out his threat? There was a chance...and it was slim, but there was a chance...and there was no way Deku would ever forgive someone killing his parents with no reason...
"It was one of his brother's soldiers…"
That made them stop…
"The hell did you just say…" Todoroki's fire reappeared… "I've had enough of your childish nonsense…"
Yaoyorozu's eyes widened as she stopped Todoroki from hurting him. "Wait… He isn't lying…"
"How do you know that… He betrayed Midoriya… He'd easily stab us in the back…" Iida shook off any idea of sincerity…
"I just know…" And Yaoyorozu was originally the one that wanted him gone the most…
They slowly lowered their guard…
Bakugou took a shaky breath. "It was Volt Break, rank 3 in the states… I don't know for sure why he did it, but he said that if I revealed that he was opperating in Japan, he'd brutally murder my mom and dad in front of me… Someone of his power could do that easy…"
…
"He bugged me with sound moderators and is probably listening to every word I say… If I reveal too much, I'll find my family rotting on my doorstep…"
"You believe he'd do that?" Iida questioned skeptically.
"He's a monster…" Bakugou shuddered heavily, making the others genuinely concerned for a second… "He'd kill newborns if his master willed it...and it seemed like he just did this for the kicks…"
"He risked whatever plot they had for just a laugh? That's hard to believe…"
"I don't know if there was even anything at stake, looking back… He was way too laid back...but he definitely meant what he said… I was thinking about my family and wondering what would be better to lose…"
"Then why did you leave your friend in the dirt! We're all gonna die because you chose your damn parents over the world!"
Bakugou glared at Iida. "Cause I thought I could stop it… I thought that we could rescue him if he was captured… Even if he knew about Lancelot, he couldn't just run away right? I wanted to save both!"
"Then why have you just told us this? Spilling that has condemned your parents… Have you chosen Midoriya over them?" Todoroki didn't let up, despite how believable this story was becoming…
He faltered. "No… I just thought that it was too late, and if he acted on his threat now, then there'd be no way he could keep that from Deku… The nerd loves his brother more than anything, but he wouldn't just let my parents dying slide. If Hoshino doesn't have a motive, then there's no way he could escape punishment…"
"That's pretty clever coming from someone like you…" Shoto's face didn't change. "So you're betting that this Hoshino person can't use the excuse of preventing a leakage of information...because those American heroes are already on their way?"
"Obviously…"
"Fuck…" Iida cursed in frustration. "Then why haven't you gone yet! He's suffering because of our failure!"
…
Bakugou gritted his teeth and uttered the words he never thought he'd say in his life…
"Because I can't do it alone…"
All of them were shocked…
"I need your help…"
He'd actually said it…
Bakugou...acknowledged his own lack of strength…
Even Todoroki stopped judging him then…
"I have to go, because I owe it to De- I mean Izuku… He's been my best and only real friend since we met...and once I got a quirk and he didn't, I treated him like dirt… He's grown up hating me more than the villain that traumatised his own damn mother, so I have enough on my fucking shoulders already… I wronged him one too many times, and now it caught up with me...but I wanna have my friend back- No… I need him back…"
Yaoyorozu saw that he spoke nothing but fact… She knew that she had that same gaze when her and the other two were gathered together, unloading their guilt and grief…
Bakugou was crumbling...and just like them...it'd be over for him if he failed here…
"Fine… We'll bring-"
"Hold on…" Katsuki said before she could say any more… "I don't have anything left if this fails...so I don't care what you do to me if we don't get him back-"
Todoroki shut him up with a hard slap. "Is that all you wanted to say, fool? Of course you're gonna put your life on the line...and if it comes down to it, I'll be using you as a human shield…" He then looked at Momo and Tenya. "All of us want him back, and we're willing to throw away everything to prevent that dark future, and get our friend back…"
He looked Bakugou dead in the eye… "Don't think I'll ever trust you, or forgive you for what you've done… Truth is that we need all the manpower we can get, and having you is good enough… Once this is done, and once we have Midoriya back in our hands, I'll expect you to never open your mouth against him…"
Katsuki was looking like he was gonna say something back, but held his tongue, probably because he knew he was still deeply detested by the trio. Simply confessing his wrongdoings and clearing his name of any treachery wouldn't satisfy them, and he doubted that they'd ever treat him normally again…
But he was fine with that…
"Lets go…" Yaoyorozu said seriously. "The location is an abandoned cold storage that the league is probably using as a lab to breed Nomu. It's easy to get to and there are loads of places we can use to get in close. Unless they have that area completely monitored by villains, we will be able to get inside…"
Iida scowled impatiently and then took the chance to look back at the disgraced blonde. "Are you ready for this? You won't be allowed to leave us if you accept now…"
"I'm going." Bakugou said without needing to think.
"Then don't let us down… We're going in and facing foes we've never seen before, so your power is needed now more than ever…"
Tenya held out his hand with a stone face…
"Huh?"
"For Midoriya…" he said with a fierce look in his eyes…
Katsuki's expression changed slightly as he nodded and grasped his hand. "Yeah…"
The boy's only desires were getting his friend out of danger and atoning for what he'd done in the past… Unfortunately, for these desires to become reality, he would need to band together with his fellow classmates and set his prideful soul aside… He was arrogant, but wasn't just going to risk the entire rescue for his own ego… It hurt to cooperate with people he still thought of as below him, but he'd been thrown into a pit called reality by Volt Break, and was taught that none of them at UA held any weight when compared to the strongest people in the world…
Soon, they would be risking their lives to snatch Midoriya from the jaws of the strongest villain in the world… From Yaoyorozu's findings, the Fangs might not be there, but it was still almost impossible to succeed with the power they had…
He needed to get so much stronger...but there was no more time left… If they failed here, then everything they worked for in life will have been for nothing, and their dreams of being heroes of Japan would be worthless…
But…
These kids weren't about to let hope die out...
(Kamino Ward / Nomu Laboratory)
Green eyes cracked open as Izuku woke up in a steel chair…
It was dark, but he could see everything thanks to his enhanced vision…
The first thing he noticed was his arm…
'I-Its...still attached…'
He clearly remembered Lancelot tearing it off, and the horrible pain that followed… It was bad enough that he passed out, and he thought that he would have died of blood loss...but he was here, in this strange place...with his arm completely intact…
If Carla was still around, then it could be explained, but the person that captured him was a member of the Blazing Fangs, who were known to have broken off their alliance with his father's faction soon after the Musutafu battle had concluded…
There were a few windows, but he could see nothing but buildings and dirty wastelands…
Was he even in Japan?
His clothes had been replaced and he was shirtless with nothing but black shorts covering him…
"Where am I…" He asked, knowing that someone was in the room with him…
Then, he felt large hands pat his bare shoulders… They were cold, and almost seemed to belong to a reanimated corpse…
He then heard the clacking of shoes along the steel floor, and lights began to buzz to life…
The room had grey walls made from nothing but steel, and the absence of the sun prevented any light from creeping through the lone window… It was like a prison cell, but near the entrance door, there was a life support machine and a huge setup of computers that monitored a single bar Izuku had never seen before...
The man was in a suit and had a frame similar to his father, being muscular like a retired pro wrestler, and his suit only complemented that feeling of strength… For the first time in a while, Izuku was intimidated by a villain…
His face was obscured by scar tissue, and only his mouth and below were visible, but that was all Izuku needed to confirm who it was…
He and All Might had discussed his nemesis after the end of term exams...and it was Izuku's first time hearing about the dark overlord in detail… All Might described him as scarily intelligent and evil to the core...having no qualms with ordering the deaths of thousands and betraying close friends for the benefit of him alone. He had amassed an incredible army of villains that numbered in the tens of millions across the whole of Asia, and was even a threat to the Blazing Fangs until he was taken down…
He was the man that killed All Might's master - Nana Shimura - and was even able to bring All Might close to death when he was in his prime… There was no villain or hero that could oppose him in that time, and Japan was under his complete control. His vicious allies roamed the lands of the rising sun for hundreds of years and crime was through the roof with no hero daring to even challenge his power, so the task of bringing him down was left to All Might…
But he failed…
The man got away, and has been growing his power from the ground up ever since… The man that single handedly slaughtered every last holder of One For All was still expanding his hideous shadow from the depths of the criminal underworld, and his one goal was to bring down the symbol of peace…
All the events that took place, and all the things carried out by the league were orchestrated by this man…
All For One…
There was no way he could have been wrong…
In his fight with All Might, the man was ultimately pinned down after both combatants heavily wounded each other… His face had been caved in, while All Might's organs had suffered irreversible damage, and the villain ultimately won the day by distracting the hero and ripping a hole through his side…
His wounds were still visible to this day, just like All Might's…
Izuku stared him down…
However, his glare didn't seem to have any effect on the criminal as he just opened a black liquid portal and summoned a chair of his own… He smiled as he snapped his fingers…
The room then began to shake as the grey steel tiles of the floor began to rearrange themselves rapidly, and holes opened up around the two people…
Izuku's eyes widened when he saw 5 green test tubes emerge from the empty spaces… The tubes filled with a glowing neon green liquid were 8ft tall and as wide as a bulky human's torso, and inside them were large black creatures that looked to still be sleeping…
'Nomu… These ones are different to the ones I saw In Hosu and the USJ… They look way more whole than the others...and have a far more human appearance… I can assume that they're the best of the best…'
"High-End…" The man's deep voice explained…
"What?"
"Are you curious about my children?" His tone was arrogant, but he was being...welcoming? Was he trying to recruit him into the league, or was he working with Lancelot and the other Fangs?
Izuku didn't answer, but still kept his eyes fixed on the villain…
All For One walked over to one of the cylinders… Inside it was a female Nomu with some sort of collar protruding from its back… It had flowing blonde hair and eyes right under the brain, that almost acted as its brows… "These are the highest grade of mutated humans I have created with the doctor. We have nearly 50 in total, but these 5 are head and shoulders above the rest with combat ability and quirks that far exceed even the current iteration of All Might… They are my finest creations, and once stabilized, will be fine assets for you and Tomura to use…"
He didn't bother retorting to the man's proclamation, because he knew that it would get him nowhere… "Why not use them against me in the USJ? Even with my fire, I don't think I could even touch those beasts…"
The man smiled with a strange sort of pride… "Young Tomura wasn't ready to handle these perfected specimens, so I gave him a lower grade. I never intended to capture you, and that Nomu could have been deactivated at any second before it killed you. The actual goal to seize you came from the Fangs..."
"Then what was the point of it? You wasted a good soldier on me…"
"It was more of a learning experience for my disciple. He needs that childish arrogance to vanish if he is to become a competent leader in the future. Having him fail even with such a strong pair of allies is something that has affected him even more than I anticipated, and he will now be more cautious of his own limits…"
He didn't seem to care about Izuku's hostility and snarky tone, as he just calmly sat back down and extended a friendly hand, almost like he was picking up a starving pup from the streets. "My name is Akuno Shigaraki… I am the head of this league, and we will be getting along quite well in the future…"
As expected...Izuku slapped the hand away without a care in the world. "Fuck your league… I'm going home…"
"Hahaha!" All For One laughed loudly in sheer bafflement. "I do admire your courage, to stand before the man that mutilated your favourite hero and beheaded his master, and actually dare to decline my invitation…"
He didn't even look hurt or offended from that…
It only served to make Midoriya even more uneasy…
"You don't need to worry so much, child. We do not intend to keep you here for long, or even make you spend the night…"
Izuku glared at him in frustration. "Then what do you intend to do?"
"Well...if I told you...then it would ruin the surprise…"
The student wanted to get heated about that...but his body wouldn't let him, because those words hinted that there was something far more sinister than torture or brainwashing awaiting him…
His body temperature dropped without his consent...
"Ever since the two of you locked eyes, my master has valued your safety and growth above everything else...to the point that even I am impressed. I questioned your uses at first, but once I heard that you'd managed to actually contest with one of my upper-tier children, all those doubts were removed and I put my full faith in your abilities… Our lord has tasked me with assembling a grand army for you to command in the coming war, filled with superhumans that surpass any military force in the world… That legion will carry your wrath through this earth and crush any opposition it happens to face…"
When did he...come face to face with his master?
No… Who was his master?
"Great war? How will that come to pass?" He didn't like the sound of a war when people as powerful as his father existed…
The man known as Akuno Shigaraki generated a screen magically in his hand and gifted it to the youth…
It showed the destruction of several Japanese cities and a huge artificial island being blown into the ocean… There was also a video of Washington DC being the setting of a huge one sided battle, and then UA being reduced to a pile of rubble, with the final image being a gigantic army forming...on the perimeter of his brother's unbreakable fortress…
'W-What is...this…'
"This merely paints a picture of what's to come should my lord's plan act as intended, but I assure you that these are sights you will surely see within the next 2 years…"
"Tokyo...Deika...Kyoto...Musutafu…" Izuku slowly identified the ruined cities…
"Those are the first places that will be torn through in this conflict…"
He then saw the island that was sunk beneath the ocean… "T-That's I-Island… How did it become like this?"
All For One's smile widened… "It was annihilated by the blast of a single man…"
"Who did it…"
He didn't answer, and only the size of his smirk increased…
Izuku's eyes then found the scene of his father's black laboratory tower being the target of a siege… He was too shocked to even speak…
And then, the image of the war's climax greeted his gaze…
Millions of heroes were gathered around the lone black citadel...and it looked like they were ready to raid it…
His emerald eyes vibrated with darkness… "Tell me, vermin… What is my future?"
Akuno only continued to smile… "You and your family will face the world...and this very planet will bow at your feet…"
"Tell me the truth, you senile old fool…" Izuku spat hatefully… "Tell me what turned the heroes against my brother…"
He only replied with a single thing…
"Ambition…"
Midoriya looked up. "Explain…"
But Akuno seemed to be done with entertaining his guest as he seemed to sense something serious. He rose from his chair and walked towards the window. "We are in the centre of Kamino Ward, and soon the heroes will be closing in… The time we have is limited, but for some reason...my master wanted it to be that way…"
Suddenly...Midoriya felt a sudden surge in power coming from somewhere...and it was more than he'd ever felt before…
"I will soon entertain that blonde fool and help him fulfill that fantasy of revenge he has...but before that...we must ensure that you remember this night…"
A white portal opened up behind All For One…
"I can see those friends of yours…" Akuno watched Izuku's eyes express panic when he said that… "They are heading for our exact location…"
He saw white and gold armour as Prism came from the gate…
"And I can also see your father arriving in Japan… Your brother's squad of heroes have already begun their journey from the United States...and they will be here very soon… I can see everything…" All For One smiled darkly as he viewed all these people with one of his quirks...
A woman with long purple hair and red eyes followed him… She wore a black biker jacket with a violet cap, and two double barrel pistols hung at her side… That was Violet Marsh…
"You need to pick a side, young man, and before it's too late… The heroes of this world are flawed, and the title itself has lost all meaning...so you must be the one to correct that…"
Lancelot then took his place on the right while Prism and Violet Marsh stood at the left and behind… They all looked concerned as the last person entered…
"Believe me when I say that none of us ever wanted you to experience hardship so early in life… Unfortunately, you are the only man that can make things right, and drive this earth into a new eutopia…"
Izuku's chest erupted with an explosion of fear as the last villain came from the portal…
"If you cannot find the way forward, then you must trust in your family… Those heroes around the world, and we, the strongest villains alive, are merely just placeholders...awaiting your rise… All you have to do is take your throne…"
The man looked to be over 25 and he was the only one that didn't have armour… Was it because his quirk prevented the use of it...or was he just too confident in his abilities? He was dressed in a black suit with a white shirt and grey tie...and he didn't even look like he was ready for combat…
He stood at 6'2ft and his build was agile like Prism's, but was far more balanced, like Izuku's own…
His navy hair was spiked like Bakugou's, and his arctic blue eyes swirled with an almost bloodthirsty glint…
He didn't carry a weapon...or...did he not deem anyone in this room worthy of seeing it?
His strength completely towered over even the other Fangs, and they looked genuinely afraid of him…
This wasn't loyalty…
Izuku, with his last remaining drop of courage...scanned the villain…
He almost vomited…
When he tried to see the man's true strength...it blocked him off…
There was something inside him…
No…
It was like there was an army inside him…
It was then that Izuku finally came face to face with the leader of this elite syndicate…
This…
This was Orochi...
