Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
A couple that will go down in legend
Chapter forty-three: Villain Siege part five- Final climax
Re-Destro, one of the lieutenants of the Paranormal Liberation Front, rushed towards the group of five guys who all stood in his way. The former MLA leader, at the peak of his potential power at one-hundred percent stress, felt confident that he alone would be able to defeat all of the would-be heroes who currently stood in his way, in the way of the Front, in the way of the highly exalted Grand Commander.
…Re-Destro, as one could expect, ended up being greatly surprised.
Izuku rushed past Re-Destro's large, pitch-black from, hanging behind while Lincoln and Harold took the left and right (respectively and from Re-Destro's point of view) sides and Tsukune and Natsu confronted him head on. Before the villain could take any action, he felt a slash on his left side, turned to see Lincoln leaping back with a bloodied bowie knife. Re-Destro was disgusted when he saw the white-haired boy lick the blood off the blade, but before he could object, he was completely paralyzed by some power he didn't understand.
"Fisher Family Style!" Harold declared as he pulled his right fist back before throwing a punch forward towards Re-Destro, "Punch of one-thousand Happy Hours!" The attack, while nothing more than a regular punch with a flashy name, did distract Re-Destro while he was hit from his front by ice from Tsukune and fire from Natsu.
The former MLA leader turned to regard the Fire Dragon Slayer mage and the human-turned-snow fairy, intend on punching them both as they both leapt to the side of the street the fight was taking place on. This action at first confused Re-Destro, but he got his answer when he was struck from behind by a devastating axe kick as Izuku yelled, "Manchester Smash!" The axe kick from Izuku, who was letting off streaks of green electricity, sent Re-Destro tumbling forward with a blinding speed.
Rushing alongside then right past Re-Destro, Izuku got ahead and, activating Blackwhip, grabbed ahold of a streetlight on his (Izuku's) left with the right whip and a streetlight on his right with his left whip. When Re-Destro got close enough, Izuku pulled hard on both whips, yanking the streetlights down and causing them to crash down upon the large, pitch-black villain, pinning him down somewhat.
"Delaware Smash Air Force!" Izuku yelled as, while wearing the gloves that Mei had made for him, he flicked his middle finger forward, creating a concussive blast of air that struck Re-Destro in the face. As the force of that attack actually pushed Re-Destro away and out from under the streetlights that were pulled down on top of him, Izuku rushed forward, intent on not letting the villain that he and his allies were fighting get away.
As Re-Destro tumbled head over heels through the air, unable to move as he still felt paralyzed, Natsu appeared on his left while Tsukune appeared on his right. The two boys, one a snow fairy and the other a mage, fired at the pitch-black villain, striking his left and right sides with fire and ice respectively and making him cry out in pain as Izuku caught up and, swinging his left foot at Re-Destro's head in a roundhouse kick style, yelled out, "Shoot Style: St. Louis Smash!"
The devastating roundhouse kick struck Re-Destro on the right side of his enlarged, pitch-black head, sending him smashing into the side of a three-story tall brick building. Re-Destro was still stunned, unable to move, as he saw that green-haired boy rush him with his right fist pulled back. Swinging his fist up towards Re-Destro's face, Izuku yelled, "Detroit Smash!" as the punch scraped up the left side of the pitch-black villain's face with such force that it actually left a bit of a gouge.
Being scarred in such a manner made Re-Destro cry out in pain, still helpless to move as he was still under the influence of whatever power it was that was paralyzing him. All that the former MLA leader could do was watch as Harold, his head aimed at his (Re-Destro's) face, was flying right at him, his body straight. The pink-haired older man seemed as if he were a spear that had been thrown by someone, in this case both Natsu and Tsukune, who used their respective powers to give Harold's flying speed a bit of a boost.
"Fisher Family style: Awesome Rock Head-bang!" Harold declared as he head-butted Re-Destro right in his left eye. Re-Destro, unable to block the attack, could only cry out in pain as Harold's head made contact with his eye. After he had slammed his head into the pitch-black villain's eye, Harold fell back in the air, did a few backflips when he regained his sense of balance, and then he landed on his feet behind the others.
Natsu, with an amused but mildly confused look on his face, looked at Re-Destro while he crossed his arms over his chest. "You know, I'm surprised that this one here hasn't tried to fight back at all," the Fire Dragon Slayer mage remarked, "I mean, shouldn't he have at least tried to stop Harold from head-butting him in the eye?"
"He's still under the paralysis effect of my Vampiric Stun quirk," Lincoln explained, "That being said, we ought to hurry up and defeat him while he's still stunned."
Izuku, still letting off arcs of green electricity, nodded grimly in agreement as he and the others witnessed Re-Destro's form shrink down and go from its pitch black coloration to a more normal color for a Japanese citizen. The deflated villain also had orange hair that was balding, and he wore nothing on the upper half of his body; Izuku figured that whatever top that Re-Destro wore was torn to shreds when the villain grew to his max size.
The green-haired cinnamon roll, with his right fist pulled back rushed at the deflated, stunned Re-Destro. A particularly high amount of that green electricity surged out from Izuku's right arm as he swung his fist at the side of Re-Destro's head, shouting, "Detroit Smash!" as he struck with such force that it picked up the villain and sent him flying off into the air, disappearing over the line in the distance made of the tops of various buildings. Re-Destro became little more than a small twinkle in the air after he had been sent flying by the protégé of All Might.
Izuku, as he stumbled backwards a bit, ended up being caught by Harold, keeping the green-eyed boy from falling backwards and hitting the ground. "Holy fucking shit, little dude," Harold said in a sincerely impressed tone, looking up in the air in the direction Re-Destro had disappeared off into, "You sent that guy flying into the horizon." Looking down at the young teen that he was holding in his arms, Harold said, "You ever considered becoming a ninja? Because I'm pretty sure that Konoha can use strength like that right now."
Letting out a tired breath, Izuku replied, "I…I just want all of this fighting to be over."
Skeptic was beyond shocked when he saw the vast bulk of the Paranormal Liberation Front get more and more of its mass torn out and down before his eyes. The long dark-haired villain knew that things would have quickly taken a downhill course for him and his fellow Front members when two lieutenants, as well as the Front's strongest warrior and friggin' Shigaraki were all killed in the ongoing siege that they had launched on the city, two months ahead of Shigaraki's schedule due to Re-Destro's assurances that now was a very good time to strike.
But this…all of this that he was now seeing, this worried him beyond all of that combined. A large red dragon appeared out of nowhere and quickly made mincemeat of any and all members of the Front that it found. Similarly, other monsters, for what else could Skeptic call all those other supernatural beings, showed up and started giving the members of the Front a hard time, with one silver-haired vampire kicking the living daylights out of every solider she struck.
There were also the shinobi that were backing the pro heroes, with one that had long spiky blonde hair killing a good number of the Front's soldiers with a giant bluish sphere that was spinning with curved points, like a giant throwing star, that he threw as said villains. "There is no way that all of this is possible…" Skeptic said in a somber tone as the once near uncountable numbers of the Front was soundly being whittled down in droves by the allies of the heroes, and even a few of the pro heroes themselves, although most of them still aimed to knock out and take what villains hey fought alive.
As the long dark-haired villain backed up a few steps, he heard and sensed something land next to him rather hard, as if that something had been sent flying from a ways away. Turning to look, Skeptic saw that Re-Destro had landed right next to him. Skeptic scowled, as the Front's attack on the city today was all the idea of the former leader of the MLA. Despite how Re-Destro still held authority over him, Skeptic would let nothing stop him from tearing into the balding man.
"I hope you're happy, you bastard!" Skeptic snapped at Re-Destro after the latter was able to straighten himself out and up, "Do you know how much of our grunt forces, how much of our command structure, has been wiped out in this attack?!"
"It's can't…uhnn…be that bad, Skeptic," Re-Destro remarked, grunting a bit in pain as he cracked his neck a bit.
Skeptic knew that trying to get through to his boss right here and now was not a good idea, as the two of them were still in danger. Dragging Re-Destro along behind him, the long dark-haired villain declared, "We need to bail NOW, before the two of us are killed as well!" Re-Destro tried to object to being taken away from the fighting, the chance to win glory in the name of the untied power that was the Paranormal Liberation Front.
What Skeptic said in response to get him to shut up not only shut Re-Destro up soundly, but it made him realize that by the end of the day, not only would there not be a Paranormal Liberation Front left when all was said and done, but that an overwhelmingly vast majority of the original Meta Liberation Army would be gone as well. Re-Destro was hunched over in his special wheelchair somewhat, giving off a truly humbled air as he reflected on the fact that all that he had done, all that he had given to help bring his late father's vision to fruit, had been undone, had been utterly ruined by those who got in their way.
"At this point, less than ten percent of the forces we came here with are still alive."
Later in the afternoon, close approaching evening, the battle that had engulfed the whole of the city had finally come to an end. Someone with a recon quirk was able to do a headcount on all of the villains that had attacked the city, so the Commission was able to get numbers on everything that had happened today;
Four-hundred and seventy-five villains had been defeated and captured alive, with approximately ninety percent of that number, surprisingly enough, being captured by hero course students from U.A. and some of the members of the Royal Woods High team that came to Japan for the team battle event. Unfortunately enough, an estimated two-hundred villains, with the real number most likely being below two-hundred, was able to escape the fighting, and would undoubtedly go on to commit more evil.
…But even both of those numbers were overshadowed by the fact that one-hundred thousand seven-hundred and forty-four villains were all killed (that's the official head count). Most of the villains that fell in the battle for the city today were the grunt soldiers of the front, but there were a few notable members who were vanquished. Among that noted lot were two villains that were identified as lieutenants of the Front, Trumpet and Geten.
Gigantomachia, a villain considered to be the strongest warrior that the Front had to offer, was also felled in battle by Asgardian. One of the various crews hired to clean up all of the mess all over the city came across the impaled body of the pro hero Slidin' Go, and official statements from Visionquest, who was backed by two of her friends and a Japanese hero-in-training, confirmed that the fallen Slidin' Go was spouting pro-PLF propaganda as he fought them. A good number of the Japanese populace would be shocked to learn from tomorrow's morning news that one of their heroes was actually in bed with the ideals of a villainous organization.
Perhaps the most surprising instance in the whole of the villain's attack on the city was when the villain Shigaraki, the very man who was the top boss that commanded all of the villains, was felled in the fighting by Sengoku. Toshinori Yagi, when he and his friend Detective Tsukauchi visited the morgue where Shigaraki's remains were taken to and saw the late villain lay still and cold in the open body drawer, felt great pangs of regret in his heart, wishing that he was able to do something, anything, for the grandson of his (Toshinori's) late mentor Nana Shimura.
"Curse you, All For One," the former symbol of peace swore in his mind as tears of regret filled the corners of his eyes as he and Tsukauchi watched the mortician close the body drawer that Shigaraki was being kept in, "Look at what your evil had done, leading Nana's own family down the path of villainy." Despite what Toshinori may feel if only due to Shigaraki's relation to the late Nana, the fact that the day had been won, that so many villains had been ended, was a fact that made many feel that the age of heroes was going strong and would not be stopped.
…If only the citizenry of Japan knew of the losses that their peace and freedom had been bought with this day.
Harold was found by his fellows from Konoha, and Natsu was picked up by other mages from Fairy Tail. Tsukune likewise was collected by his friends, one of which was his girlfriend Mizore, who threw her arms around his shoulders and threw her face into his chest as she cried out of a sense of relief. This left a tired Izuku, who was being partly carried by Lincoln, walking into an office room somewhere in the main building of U.A.
When he entered, the green-eyed boy spotted his homeroom teacher Aizawa, as well as his classmates Bakugo, Todoroki, Sero and Mina. To Izuku's worry, Mina was softly crying as she was comforted by Sero, who sat on her right. Bakugo looked to the members of his 'squad', his own expression looking similarly as troubled. Looking over to Aizawa, Izuku saw that the class 1-A homeroom teacher had an expression that was a mix of remorse, guilt, sadness, and looking like he was barely keeping it together without softly crying himself.
"…Guys?" Everyone who Izuku saw in the room looked over to see the green-eyed boy himself standing there in the doorway, partly supported by the protégé of Sengoku. "…What happened?" Izuku asked, worried about what the answer may be, if the gnawing sense of dread pooling in the pit of his stomach.
Aizawa shuddered a bit as he huffed in a manner showing that he was trying very hard not to cry. Mina, who was actually crying, was unable to say anything, and Sero was still trying to comfort her. Even Bakugo, normally always having something, anything at all, to say to whatever came out of the green-haired cinnamon roll's mouth, was finding himself silent. Thus it ended up that Todoroki had to inform Izuku of the tragic news.
"There is no easy way to say this, Midoriya, so I'm just going to say it straight up," the two-toned teen replied, a hint of grim resignation in his tone. Todoroki took a breath to steady himself before he began to explain what was going on. "…Ten of our schoolmates were killed in the villain's attack on the city today."
Right away, Izuku's eyes widened with shock, the sheer surprise of what Todoroki had told him giving him enough of a surge of energy to stand on his own without the support of Lincoln. The green-eyed boy was finding it impossible that anyone from U.A. could have fallen in all of the fighting that had engulfed the whole of the city this day.
Seeing the total look of disbelief on his friend's face, Todoroki sighed in an understanding tone. "…Aizawa-sensei has a list of everyone from U.A. who was killed in the fighting against the massive force of villains that attacked the city," Todoroki said to Izuku while gesturing to the underground hero who sat in the room, barely able to hold it together. Izuku swallowed a lump in his throat as he approached Aizawa who, knowing what Izuku was going to ask, got out a sheet of paper and handed it over the moment Izuku got within range.
Izuku was beyond shocked to see the ten names of his U.A. schoolmates who were all killed in the fighting today. The first five names he saw were particularly shocking as all of them were some of his classmates in class 1-A, those being Tsuyu, Hatsume, Yaoyorozu, Kaminari and Kirishima. Ibara, as well as Shihai, Manga and Togaru from class 1-B were all also killed, and the last name on the list of casualties was Tamaki-sempai of the Big Three.
As the green-eyed boy looked at the list of those who had been lost, he momentarily looked up and over to Mina when he heard her let out a particularly notable sob. Having seen two of the members of Bakugo's 'squad' on the list of those who were killed gave Izuku an idea on why Mina was crying at the moment. He himself felt like crying, given that many of his schoolmates had been taken away well before any of their respective times had come.
"…How the fuck are we going to explain this to everyone?" Izuku heard Bakugo say, turning his attention over to look at the explosive teen, who was oddly giving off a quiet, somber air that by no means was common for him. Getting up, Bakugo gestured to where Izuku stood with the list that was received from the underground hero. "The people that are on that list are fucking dead," Bakugo said, "How the fuck are we going to explain this to everyone that survived the villain attack? I can't imagine that a lot of them will be happy!"
"Before anything…" Aizawa said as he struggled to keep himself calm, "…We need to inform the families of the students who were killed in the villains' attack on the city. Now then, in the event of cases where there are multiple casualties, we go by alphabetical order in respect to the last names of the-"
Aizawa was cut off when he and everyone else heard someone knock on the door frame that led into the room everyone was in. Turning to look, Aizawa and the rest saw Aggro standing in the doorway. "…You can go ahead and belay the order of informing those who lost family today, Mr. Aizawa," the Samurai Hero remarked, "My sisters, Bobby and I can fix this."
"Oh yeah," Lincoln said as he turned to look up at his mentor, "Luna told me about how Sam was killed earlier today during the fighting, but she found you and got you to resurrect Sam for her." Aggro nodded once to the white-haired boy in confirmation, a small but knowing smile on his face.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," Bakugo said, cutting everyone off as he got up and walked over to Aggro, getting within a foot of his face. "…What did your boy wonder here just say?" Bakugo said, looking and sounding like he didn't believe the white-haired boy's words.
Looking around, Aggro saw that everyone else in the room were all looking at him with looks of disbelief, with only Lincoln not sharing in that; the white-haired boy, in fact, looked as if he had seen what was surprising everyone else before. With a somewhat helpless shrug, Aggro said, "I guess that it's something that you need to see to believe."
…
Izuku and his classmates from the room, accompanied by Aggro and Lincoln, followed Aizawa until they reached Gym Gamma, which was completely bare save for ten white sheets on the ground, each one completely covering a human-sized object each. Which was appropriate given that the bodies of those killed in the villain attack were lying under those sheets, after all of them had been found and taken to the school for holding until proper arrangements could be made to take care of the deceased.
Aggro, with Lincoln following him, walked over to the covered body located closest to the front doors of the gym on their left side. Aggro grabbed the one end of the sheet and pulled it back, revealing that Mei Hatsume laid under that sheet. The eccentric inventor laid eerily still on the cold floor of Gym Gamma, her body growing colder still as her eyes were closed, never to see any light ever again.
…But the Samurai Hero would be having none of that.
Aggro yanked the sheet covering Hatsume's dead body away completely, drawing a surprised yelping gasp out of Mina as she spotted the remains of a fellow class 1-A girl. Aggro scooped Hatsume's body up, his left hand going under the back of her neck and his right going under the backs of her knees, then carried her over to approximately the center of Gym Gamma before he laid her body back down. Straightening himself back up, Aggro walked backwards a few steps away from Hatsume's body, always facing her remains. When he was at what he saw a good enough distance, Aggro aimed his slightly clenched hands so that both of their palms were aimed at Hatsume's body as he prepared to cast one of his super moves.
"Morning Sun!"
A small dome of golden flames appeared on top of Hatsume's body, between her chest and stomach. The dome grew bigger and bigger until it spread out to completely cover the dead body of the eccentric inventor. The dome grew larger still until it reached a height of about six or so feet, with an appropriately proportionate circumference. Izuku and everyone else watched in wonder as the sheer energy of the golden flames that enveloped Hatsume's remains washed over her, going into her dead form and causing a surge of energy from within. What happened next drew surprised cries out of everyone aside from Aggro, Lincoln and the dead.
Hatsume's eyes popped wide open as she suddenly gasped, drawing in a large, greedy breath of air as she bolted upright while sitting on the floor. The eccentric inventor, the color flushed from her skin, coughed a good bit as her dead lungs, all of her dead body, had suddenly been rebooted, returned to the land of the living. As Hatsume settled down a bit, Aggro turned to face everyone else that was in Gym Gamma, all of them wearing looks of unbelieving shock on their faces.
"…Like I said," Aggro began as the doors to Gym Gamma flew open, with Bobby leading Allison and Amy inside, "You can go ahead and belay the order of informing families, as there won't be anything to inform the families of."
Bobby stood in front of a large dome of golden winds that he had conjured on top of the body of Tamaki using his resurrection technique, Northern Wind. Nejire and (a particularly teary eyed) Mirio watched as the golden winds dissipated when Tamaki, his skin having paled, bolted upright while sitting on the floor of Gym Gamma as his lungs started to draw breath one again, as his heart started to beat once again. Mirio, overcome with relieved joy, rushed forward and threw his muscular, well-toned arms around his resurrected friend.
"(Rainbow Bridge!)" Allison declared as she conjured a dome of golden lightning on top of the body of Tsuyu. Many of those in class 1-A, Tokoyami in particular, watched with shock as their fallen classmate was resurrected by the power of the Viking Hero. Uraraka, who spotted Ryukyu watching nearby, could see a sense of relief flood into the Dragoon Hero's expression as the frog girl of class 1-A was brought back into the land of the living.
Amy, with the use of her Sacred Land super move, returned Togaru to life. When the mantis boy of 1-B had been brought back to the land of the living, he was carefully collected by some of the other class 1-B boys, among which was Shihai whose normally pitch black skin was now a shade of dark gray. Some of the 1-B boys patted Togaru on the back, with Monoma, in a way that made it clear he was only playfully ruffling some feathers, told the mantis boy that he had them (the rest of 1-B) worried.
Over where Bakugo, Mina and Sero were watching while they were joined by Kyoka who was supporting a pale-looking Kaminari, Aggro conjured another Morning Sun, the large dome of golden flames covering the body of someone that he was in the middle of resurrecting. After the dome of brilliant golden fire blew out, Kirishima sat upright on the floor of Gym Gamma with a sudden bolt. The pale-looking hardening quirk boy coughed a bit as his formerly dead body had to get used to being alive again, and so suddenly.
As Kirishima's breathing settled down to a regular level of breathing, Aggro remarked as he turned his head to look at Bakugo and the others, "With your friend here, the last of your schoolmates who were killed in the attack today have been returned to life." The Samurai Hero turned his body to fully face Bakugo and his 'squad'. "Make sure you guys tell everyone that those who have been resurrected need to take it easy for a bit."
"Well what about how Kirishima and the others look pale as fuck?" Bakugo asked, gesturing to where the pale-skinned, crimson-haired boy sat on the floor in Gym Gamma as he was getting used to being alive again.
Nodding once in understanding, Aggro replied simply, "A side-effect of them having been resurrected. The paleness will wear off on its own in a few days, sooner if they eat well and are allowed to get plenty of rest."
"A good thing that I heard that," Aizawa remarked aloud, getting everyone to turn to face him. The underground hero was accompanied by a few other U.A. staff members, among which were Nezu and Recovery Girl, the latter going about checking on all of the students who had been returned to life by the Sacred Heritage quirk users. While Recovery Girl was busy fussing over Yaoyorozu where the rich girl was sitting on the floor next to Ibara, Nezu approached Aggro.
The quirked animal principal let out a mildly troubled sigh before he looked up at the Samurai Hero. "I already discussed it with your school's principal," Nezu said as he began to explain his business, "And due to what happened, as well as the fact that you guys are set to return to the States soon, we agreed that we cannot actually have the team battle event between our respective schools. Additionally, I've decided to, on U.A.'s behalf, concede things to Royal Woods High." With a single nod, Nezu said, "Meaning that, officially, your school won the event, Sengoku."
Aggro, who understood what this meant, nodded once in acknowledgement. "…My sister Allison, knowing her, might be a little bit disappointed to learn that she won't get to face your students in battle, but I bet that she'll willingly consider all of the villains that she took down during the attack today as an acceptable substitute." Turning so that he fully faced Nezu, Aggro went on, "…And I'm willing to bet that you're yielding the event to Royal Woods High partly out of gratitude for what my sisters, Bobby and I did here in the gym."
Nezu, with a bit of a knowing smile on his face, gestured to something behind Aggro, making the Samurai Hero turn around and see Kirishima, as he still sat on the floor after having just been brought back to life, simply sit there as a crying Kinoko had her arms around his shoulders as she cried into his chest. The red-haired boy still looked a bit tired, but Aggro could tell that he was glad that the mushroom girl cared for him so. Aggro even got a bit of a chuckle when Recovery Girl made Kinoko back off so she could take a look at Kirishima.
Izuku, who was accompanied by Bakugo as both of them had to go to the exact same destination, walked through the front door of the Midoriya apartment, where they were received by Inko and Mitsuki, the latter visiting the former. U.A., understanding what the student populace had gone through during the villain's city-wide attack today, decided to cancel classes for the next few days while various issues related to post-attack work were taken care of. Part of giving all of the students this time off included allowing them to return home, something that both Recovery Girl and (especially) Hound Dog vouched was good for the mental recovery of those who had been brought back to life.
"Boys!" Inko cried out of worry as tears flowed freely down the sides of her full face, "Are the two of you alright?"
Izuku and Bakugo, both of whom collapsed into the sofa and an armchair respectively, let out tired, emotionally drained moans as Inko and Mitsuki, being moms and all, began to fret over the tired teen boys. Mitsuki, despite being Bakugo's mom, moved to sit next to Izuku on the sofa, gently collecting him and leaning him against her. "Izuku, sweetness, what all happened today while you and Katsuki were stuck in the city?"
"I woke up this morning when me and Kacchan's classmate Mina banged some pots outside of my dorm room over at U.A.," Izuku began as he started to tell his story, "The only thing on my mind at the time was how me, Kacchan and everyone else on our team were going to take part in a team battle event that we had no realistic shot of winning." The green-eyed boy let out a tired sigh before he went on with his tale.
"Then, when we got to the event itself and saw that there was beyond a shadow of a doubt no possible way that U.A. was going to win the event, we started things anyway. Then, right before the countdown to signal the battle could finish, everything was interrupted when a massive army of villains decided to attack the city right there and then. Everyone spread out, I met up with a few people from out of town who came to help fight off the villains, my improvised team took on this massive villain, all of the fighting ended, and I learned that ten of me and Kacchan's schoolmates were all killed, only to see them get resurrected by a few students from the team opposing the U.A. team."
Mitsuki, as well as Inko who heard what her son had said, looked beyond shocked with all that had apparently gone down during the city-wide villain attack that took place today. Straightening himself out and up where he sat on the sofa, Izuku remarked, "At this point, I just feel like using the four or so days that I have off from U.A. to sleep the entire time. I am just simply too tired to try doing much of anything else, thinking included."
Mitsuki turned her attention over to where Inko was still fretting over Bakugo, who was actually asleep in the armchair he collapsed into. The ashy-haired woman was surprised with what both her son and her boyfriend had gone through over the course of the day today. Normally a brash and bold person, Mitsuki currently found herself actually intending to let things be taken easy for the next few days or so. "Yeah, both my bae and Katsuki have been thrown through the shitter," Mitsuki thought, "Letting them take it easy for the next few days sounds like a plan. The two of them deserve nothing less." With a bit of a gentle smile, Mitsuki looked back to where her son was passed out, before returning her gaze to the green-eyed boy who now sat leaning back passed out in the sofa, right by her side.
Giving a gentle shake of her head, Mitsuki thought, "Besides, there is no way that what happened today can be topped. I got a feeling that all of the boys' main struggles are behind them now, and that things will be nothing but smooth sailing for them from here on out."
The surviving members of the PLF's command structure gathered together in an abandoned warehouse somewhere on the outskirts of the city. They were mostly trying to lick wounds and regroup. Re-Destro, now wearing a fresh suit since his old one was ripped to shreds when he used his one-hundred percent form, had a particularly somber look on his face as he addressed the rest of the Front's surviving command structure.
Taking in a solemn breath, Re-Destro said, "Truly today did not go in our favor. We should have been more prepared, should have taken a bit more time before we made our move to liberate the masses from the unjust laws that restrict true freedom."
Scoffing in an annoyed tone, Skeptic remarked, "Things would have gone a lot better if we had waited the remaining two months for Shigaraki to be ready. But no, no he had to listen to you when you said some manner of bullshit about how the heroes would be vulnerable today and that made things perfect to strike." Crossing his arms over his chest, Skeptic gave his superior a very disappointed look. "And now look where your hubris had brought us. Most of the PLF, including Shigaraki himself, was killed today. The lot of us here in this warehouse are all that we were able to track down and scrounge back up after the survivors scattered."
Re-Destro, holding up a hand to cut off further argument, made Skeptic take pause. "Surly you overestimate my fault here, Skeptic. We all share equal blame here, as none of us are perfect." Straightening himself out, the former MLA leader said as he sounded like he was going to just casually go over some casual points of business, "Now then, since our beloved Grand Commander fell valiantly today, we are down a leader. Thus it falls to me to assume the mantle and lead the rest of us into a brighter future."
Skeptic, as he face-palmed, sighed, "Oh, you have got to be kidding me…"
Re-Destro moved to stand (or sit in his special wheelchair) in front of the rest of the surviving command structure of the Front so that he could address them. "As our first priority," Re-Destro began, "I say that we should look into finding what other survivors had scattered away after our ultimately foiled attack on the-"
The villain was cut off, and he and everyone else turned around to see who was making that noise, when all of them heard someone slowly clapping, as if giving sarcastic applause. As such, the villains saw an early to mid-twenties male adult, dressed in a casual outfit that was still top end, like a formal business suit. He wore sunglasses, so none of the villains were able to see what his eyes looked like. All they could tell about him was that he was fair-skinned and that he had dishwater blonde hair in a messy mop long enough to reach halfway down his shoulder blades.
"The boss…" began the mysterious young adult when he saw he got all of the villains' attention, speaking to them in a tone of warning, "…Is very displeased."
"You're an agent of our mysterious benefactor," Spinner remarked where he stood off to the side with Dabi and Toga, drawing an affirming nod from the young agent.
The young agent pulled out a watermelon dum-dum pop and unwrapped it as he said with something of a sneer, "Which one of you idiots is that Tomura Shigaraki fellow?"
With a troubled sigh, Re-Destro explained, "Shigaraki, who was the exalted Grand Commander of the Paranormal Liberation Front, was unfortunately killed in our attack on the city today. As such, it fell to me to ever so humbly assume the mantle of the Front's new Grand Commander."
"Bullshit on you being humble," Skeptic muttered under his breath, too quietly for anyone to clearly hear what he had said.
The agent gave Re-Destroy a wry look, one that showed that his interest had barely been piqued. "Very well, then. Since Shigaraki is dead now, perhaps you, Mr. New Leader of the Villains, could tell me where I can find that Rikiya Yotsubashi bastard who's in the Front with you and the rest of your little fuck buddies here." Some of the villains weren't exactly sure what to make of how the benefactor's agent was talking to them, the attitude he was taken to using while talking to them here. But since he was an agent of the mysterious benefactor, there was practically nothing that they could do to remedy his tone with them.
Re-Destro, his eyes a bit wide with surprise, gestured to himself. "…Actually, I'm Rikiya Yotsubashi. You need me for something?"
Cocking his head to the side, the agent said with a slight hint of annoyance in his tone, "You're that Rikiya Yotsubashi guy that I had been told to find?" Turning to look at the rest of the villains, the agent said, "Is this one here for real?"
"Yeah, that really is the guy that you're looking for," Dabi said while pointing at Re-Destro, with all of the other villains nodding in confirmation.
The agent turned back to face Rikiya. The air, tone and expression that the agent was giving off had a slight hint of dangerousness to it. "…You don't say." With his left hand on his hip, the agent, with a casual gesture, pointed right at Re-Destro. This action had caught the handicapped villain's attention. Rikiya looked like he was going to speak, given that he opened his mouth.
*BLAM*
The other surviving members of the Front's command structure all jumped back with shock when they heard the gunshot, saw Re-Destro suddenly slump forward in his seat, a gaping, oozing gunshot wound in the back of his head as a slightly blood-spattered agent who also was working for the mysterious benefactor stood behind the now dead Rikiya Yotsubashi. There was a Sig Sauer 9mm, its barrel smoking, in the assassin's right hand.
Turning his attention to the remaining villains, the first agent said, "The boss is very unhappy with what Rikiya had done."
"Oh, I get it," Mr. Compress said to the agent while pointing to Re-Destro's dead body as it sat in the specialized wheelchair, "It was Re-Destro's idea to carry out the attack today, so it was him who our generous fellow wanted to see dead."
Shrugging indifferently, the first agent said, "In a way." Pointing to the villains, the first agent said, "You all are very lucky that the mess that this one here-" the first agent paused to point at Re-Destro's dead body, "-Had caused was cleaned up the way that it was. The boss said that otherwise, all of your lives would have been forfeit." Giving the villains a knowing look, the first agent said, "To give you all an idea of what I mean…"
The first agent then snapped his right fingers, and suddenly a bunch of other agents working for the benefactor, all of them armed with guns, came out of hiding, all of their weapons aimed at Dabi and the others. The villains knew that they held no advantage here, that the first agent and his fellows held all the cards. Dabi, with his hands held at about eye level in a clear gesture of surrender, simply asked, "So what does your boss want to do with us now?"
"Believe it or not, the boss is a forgiving, benevolent man," the first agent explained casually, "He is willing to give you lot another chance. All that he really wanted to do to punish your organization was for me to make sure that your fellow Rikiya Yotsubashi here was properly punished for his monumentally massive screw-up today." Turning to leave, the first agent said, "We'll be getting in contact with you guys soon. Oh, and since Rikiya here was your group's new leader before I had him snuffed out on the boss's orders, you all had better get to electing a new leader for your group."
The agents of the mysterious benefactor took their leave, allowing the villains to remain alone. It was just the six of them; Dabi, Spinner, Toga, Twice, Mr. Compress and Skeptic. Looking to the other five, Dabi said, "You…guys mind if I take the mantle?" None of the others wanted to argue with the blue flame villain, thus it was that Dabi became the new leader. "Alright dudes," Dabi began, "First order of business is that I'm reforming the League of Villains, moving the six of us into said newly reformed League, and then disbanding the Front. Sound good?"
None of the other five villains wanted to argue, and Skeptic even said that he wanted to see what things were like in the League of Villains compared to the Meta Liberation Army. Nodding once in a manner to show that he was glad everyone was on board, Dabi said, "Good. Now then, what we have to do now is to lay down a couple of ground rules."
END, CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Author's notes;
And with this chapter, the 'Team battle arc' is now officially over. Things had gotten pretty extreme over the last few chapters, but if you think that the troubles for Izuku and friends are all behind them now, even more so since a good number of notable named villains are now straight up dead, then think again. The mysterious benefactor will be on the move in the next few arcs, and there's the fact that there is a newly reformed League of Villains working for him. But don't let that cause you all too much worry.
In fact, the next arc will be something of a breather, as it'll be focusing a bit on the romantic aspect of this story. The relationship between Izuku and Mitsuki will get some more love shown towards it, to be sure. However, other parings that were made over the course of this story will also get some spotlight here and there.
There's the Ojiro and Hagakure paring that first appeared back as early as chapter one, first off. Also, there's the fact that Todoroki and Bakugo managed to get together with their respective crushes in 1-B, those being Reiko and Pony. Tokoyami and Tsuyu got together, and the fact that I hadn't yet done much with them is part of why their pairing will receive some more work and spotlight sometime in the next arc, actually. And let's not forget that two certain idiots who hang out with Bakugo managed to catch the eyes of some girls, so they'll be getting some focus as well in the next arc.
As for the next arc's name, it not only fits the theme of focusing more on the romance aspect of this story, but I bet that a lot of you will get the reference. I'll be seeing you guys later in the next chapter, which will be the beginning of the 'Romance Dawn arc'.