For the students of Class 1-A, the site of their next lesson in heroics was certainly one that will be engraved in their heads, if the location was any indication. The bus ride had taken them to a large domed structure that reminded Hagakure of the pre-quirk era's idea of a futuristic utopia. But the glass of the dome structure was not translucent enough to show what exactly was inside, but she has her fingers crossed for that utopian city. With a shiver of excitement, the invisible girl followed her classmates and their tired teacher into the structure.
Inside the dome was not a city, but a patchwork of different environments. Each urban and rural biome were connected together by a series of cobblestone roads that led to the center of the dome with an ornate greek-inspired fountain in the heart of it all. Yet, what caught the invisible girl's attention was the person wearing an astronaut costume that was greeting them by the concrete steps.
"It's the Space Hero: Thirteen!", Uraraka Ochaco exclaimed with stars in her eyes.
"Good to see that I have some admirers in this year's class.", the space hero said humbly, "I am Thirteen, and I will help you kids in your rescue training today."
Mr. Aizawa did not appear to be as pleased as his students to see Thirteen.
"Thirteen, wasn't All Might supposed to be here with you.", Mr. Aizawa said in an irritated tone as he walked up to his co-worker.
Thirteen did not respond to Mr. Aizawa but instead held up three fingers. Whatever meaning that sign had it was lost on Hagakure, but Aizawa seemed to understand its unknown meaning.
"Well, then I suppose we better get started then.", their homeroom teacher replied.
The space hero went into a mini lecture to the class about the potential harm that their quirks could inflict, but added that even the most dangerous of quirks could be used to help people. Thirteen highlighted the fact that her quirk, Blackhole, was one of these examples. The space hero also gave a quick summary of the place in which they were going to do their rescue trials, the aptly named Unexpected Simulation Joint or the USJ. Hagakure had to stiffen a giggle at the mention that it had the same acronym as the Universal Studios of Japan amusement park. With the briefing seemingly over, Mr. Aizawa started to get things rolling for the trial.
"All right, now that is out of the way let us get started by…"
Whatever her homeroom teacher was going to say was cut off by the lights flaring on and off, and a burst of wind began to ripple through the air. A large black vortex cut through the air like a knife, and from the swirling darkness emerged a couple of figures. One was a man in his early twenties with shaggy white hair with an assortment of human hands attached to his body and face. Another was a giant of a man with black skin, a bird-like beak, and a head that had an exposed brain. Last to emerge was a man that appeared to be made from the same dark mist from the vortex with a pair of yellow eyes, he was wearing the attire of a bartender along with a metal brace around his neck.
"Thirteen and Eraserhead, but no All Might?", the hand villain said with a confused tone.
"Perhaps there was a change in schedule, or maybe he was due to show up later?", the mist villain was quick to reply.
"It doesn't matter.", the hand villain stated, "I've run this kind of dungeon before, and in order for you to draw out the boss you need to kill some of his mobs to do so. So let's get our party together and start this raid."
The mist villain nodded at the hand villain's request and opened up a series of portals in the courtyard of the fountain area, and from the mists emerged a small army of villains. Each one with quirks or costumes that were grotesque or intimidating in the eyes of Hagakure as they slowly marched towards their little group.
"Thirteen! Protect the students, and get them out of here! Kaminari, use your quirk to try to contact the school, and tell them we are under attack! I'll hold them off as long as possible! These are real villains!", her homeroom teacher ordered as he put his goggles on and sprung into action.
"Mr. Aizawa, you can't! There are too many of them!", Hagakure heard Momo exclaimed.
"A hero always finds a way out of a tough situation, Miss Yoayorozu! Now Hurry!", Aizawa barked before he sprung upon the approaching horde of villains.
"You heard your teacher! Let's get moving kids!", Thirteen said as she quickly took hold of the situation.
Hagakure speedily hurried alongside her classmates as they kept pace up with Thirteen towards the entrance of the USJ. She glanced at the faces of her classmates, each on with a look of panic or steeled determination. And if the fear she felt in her chest was any indication, she was certainly not among the latter of the two categories. However, anymore thoughts of fear or courage in the face of danger were washed away by the sight of the steel entrance of the dome. They had made it!
But the villains weren't going to let the hero students get away that easily, and that became apparent when the black vortex reared its ugly head again, this time in their escape route. From its misty depths emerged the villain made of the black mist. He had his arms crossed behind his back in a posture that was similar to that of a waiting butler. Yet, the villain displayed mocking and malicious intent behind his bright and wispy yellow eyes as he bore onto the students and their escort.
"Greetings.", the villain siad with friegn politeness, "We are League of Villains, young heroes. I do hope you forgive us for our intrusion in this bastion of heroes, but we are here to end the life of All Might, the Symbol of Peace."
Hagakure could feel her blood turn to ice at the proclamation of the villain. They were here to kill All Might?
"It seems, however, that he is not here at the moment. But it matters not!", misty continued, "We can't have you little eggs running around unsupervised, now can we?". The gentleman villain morphed into a large shapeless portal of black mist, and in the corner of her eye, Hagakure could see another dark portal form beneath her and her classmates.
"Not if I say anything about that! Children, stay back!", shouted Thirteen as she unclasped a finger on her spacesuit. The effect was immediate as Thirteen's quirk began to suck up the black mists that were trying to envelope the students. Yet this did not faze the mist villain in the slightest.
"Thirteen is it?", the villain said with a smug tone, "You are rather well known for being a rescue hero, so I cannot imagine you have much experience in combat."
"I have enough experience to beat scum like you.", Thirteen defiantly retorted.
The villain attempted to open up another set of portals to try to snare up his quarry, but each time, Thirteen's Blackhole dispersed any portal by sucking it into its own crushing void. The two combatants were seemingly at a stalemate, but the mere fact that Thirteen was only responding to the villain's attacks would ultimately be her downfall.
As Thirteen moved her hand to swallow up another misty portal, but without any warning another portal opened up in the direction in which Thirteen moved her hand. The small portal swallowed the hand of Thirteen, and quicker than the blink of an eye a third portal opened up directly behind the space hero. The effects were immediate as Thirteen's back ate the full force of her own quirk. A large chunk of her space suit was ripped away violently as the hero gasped in pain. Thirteen collapsed onto the ground, her quirk also stopping, only the sound of strain breathing could be heard from the downed hero.
With the fall of the rescue hero, Class 1-A nearly descended into chaos. Hagakure could hear Uraraka crying amid the panic shouts as well as Iida yelling for everyone to hold steady. Yet, it was Bakugou and Kirishima, and Todoroki that were shouting the loudest, and who were the ones that effectively prevented them from scattering. However, As class 1-A's hard hitters immediately took the place of Thirteen, ready to try to fight their way out of danger. But the mist villain did not even register them as threats in the first place.
"Looks like yet another hero overestimated their own abilities, how typical,", the mist villain mocked, "But now with that nuisance is out of the way, it is time to do my job. DISPERSE AND SCATTER!"
Once again a huge portal of black mists opened beneath the students, intending to swallow them up and separate them. It was at this moment that chaos ensued. Hagakure saw Bakugou attempt to blast the mist villain with his quirk, only for it to have no effect on the villain. Others tried to use their quirks as well on the villain, but they were met with the same result as Bakugou. She could hear the sobs and shouts of a different number of students, each one unidentifiable as the mist grew larger in her vision. But then a voice emerged from all the other ones, a voice that was loud and echoed, a voice that sounded unnatural and scary. It was the unmistakable voice of Tokoyami's quirk Dark Shadow.
"THE PREDATOR IS HERE!", shouted the panicked voice of the sentient quirk.
A sudden flash of blue that swirled and twinkled inside the black mists, and the invisible girl was greeted with the concrete floor of the entrance of the USJ. The invisible girl shot her head up from the ground and scanned her surroundings. Sure enough, she was still at the entrance at the USJ along with most of her classmates with Bakugou, Todoroki and Momo being the only ones missing. But the classmates that weren't sent off by the mist villain didn't look very peachy. Uraraka and Mineta had a frightened and baffled look with tears streaming down their eyes. Kirishima, Iida, Aoyama and Sero all had a dumbfound expression but one that was laced with fear. Ashido, Kaminari Ojiro, and Jiro all looked utterly confused; while Shoji, Sato, and Kota all looked afraid. But It was Tokoyami and Tsuyu that were what worried the invisible girl. Both of the two had their eyes opened as wide as they could and they were shivering as if they had been plunged in ice water while both were bordering on the lines of hyperventilating. Why were they...
...suddenly Hagakure could suddenly feel a rosy and warm feeling deep down in her chest, the same feeling she had when looking at the drawing. And the same feeling she had when around Mid...
"I should've expected resistance from this little group of eggs.", the mist villain said, trying to hide the irritation in his voice, "Though I cannot say I am not impressed that one of you managed to cancel out my quirk, but that fact shouldn't be surprising. You all are the best of the best, the little golden eggs waiting to hatch. Golden eggs that must be crushed…"
The mist villain once again prepared another portal to swallow them up, but a fast and slime-like liquid shot rapidly into the heart of the portal and exploded. The explosion dissipated the portal in a manner that was akin to dust being blown away in the wind. The yellow eyes of the mist villain narrowed while the eyes of Class 1-A widened. Hagakure suddenly became aware of the scent of sea salt and iron in the air.
"I am getting tired of all this stalling, why can't you be good and stay still…".
Suddenly a burst static blue light rippled across the large mass black mist like contorting tendrils that seemingly striking at the inky darkness itself. The sickly yellow eyes of the villain expanded as an unearthly shriek emerged from the black void. The mist villain's larger form dissipated back into his smaller humanoid body; sparks of electricity could be seen dancing on the metal brace around his neck as the villain fell onto his hands and knees.
The mist villain let out a dry cough as he looked up at the group of students, his yellow eyes were contorted in panic,"W-What? T-That shouldn't be possible?! You brats couldn't possibly figu..AAAAHHHHH!"
The mist villain was abruptly flung back, like he was hit by an invisible truck, all the while he was airborne, blue electrical sparks danced across his body with most of them congregating on his metal brace. The mist villain met the reinforced door with a loud bang before unceremoniously face planting onto the floor. A large human shaped dent could be seen in the steel door from where the villain had hit it.
"You are right, they didn't figure it out. But I could see it written all over you.", projected a low emotionless voice.
In the space between Class 1-A and the mist villain, the air rippled like the surface of a body of water and revealed a figure hiding in plain sight. Said figure had their back facing the hero students with his front facing the downed form of the mist villain. But it didn't take much for the hero students to recognize the white costume of the vigilante that they had seen only a mere minutes before. He was positioned in a slight crouch with his arms position like they were going to grapple with the villain. Two tentacle-like limbs were positioned as auxiliary limbs from the puddle of the mysterious liquid at his feet. Help had quite literally come from out of nowhere, and it seemed he was more than a match for the mist villain.
The mist villain slowly rose up from his hands and knees, wobbling all the way back to a standing position. Compared to the crisp and well dressed that he was first seen, the mist villain was frazzled and dazed.
"The Ghost of Musutafu graces us with his presence, here to play hero.", the mist villain sneered, "Your presence here changes nothing, we are more than prepared to deal with some lowly vigilante."
"Oh Really?", the vigilante replied with feigned surprise in his voice. But, if the villain was expecting a reply at the attempt to get a rile up the vigilante, then he was completely mistaken. Without even moving an inch physically, one of the liquid tentacles shot at blinding speed at the mist villain and grasped onto the metal neck brace. The Mist Villain attempted to break free from the hold of the liquid, but the tendril flexed like a constrictor snake and appeared to get tighter. The villain stopped his struggle the moment the metal braces begun to whine and crack at the crushing pressure placed upon them. The yellow eyes of the villain contorted into a look of absolute horror.
"Because the way I see it, is that you stay and fight an opponent that completely out matches you, or you run away back to your companions and delay the inevitable.", the vigilante said with a venom in his voice, "And I am not inclined to let someone who could pose a serious threat with a quirk like yours run around freely.
The vigilante shot his other hand into the liquid tendril that had remained by his side. Hagakure and her classmates' eyes widen at the sight of the baseball sized ball of liquid that formed directly in front of the bound villain. From the hidden depths of the orb, shot out the hand of the vigilante.
The hand extended far enough to grab the neck brace of the mist villain. Somehow the black mists seemed to have paled.
A stream of lighting enveloped the vigilante and as well as the mist villain, making the entire area glow blue with the bright light from the attack. The yellow eyes of the villain expanded to an impossible size as his screams drowned out the sound of the crackling electricity. The villain went limp in the liquid hold of the vigilante, seeming knocked out from being shocked with the blue lightning. With the threat of the mist villain out of the picture, the white robed vigilante let go of the villain and let him fall to the floor with a soft thump.
"I-Is he…", the voice of a quivering Mineta sliced through the silence.
"No, but its unlikely that he was able to remain conscious from that attack.", the vigilante said in his emotionless tone, "I have been following this group for weeks now, and have been trying to put a stop to thier plans. Clearly I have failed in that regard, but that won't stop me from limiting the damage that they could do. Do not think of me as a enemy becuase I only wish to help you students out of this predictament. So set aside any prejudices you have for my ilk because the only way we are going to get out of this alive is to work together."
...
...
...
Mr. Aizawa had taught them in hero ethics that vigilantes are just as bad, if not worse than villains. This was in due part because of their disregard to the law in favor of their own belief in justice. However, vigilantism was bad because it was very easy for a person to shift to villainy, as their belief in the system becomes ever more and more disillusioned. The example Aizawa had used to the class was an unfortunate vigilante named Pop Step, who went from an attention seeking vigilante to a very dangerous supervillain before being defeated in a grisly final stand.
But with the situation at hand, the hero students were in a battle of practicality and principles. Do they work with a person who by law is just as bad as the attacking villains or do they team up with him for the sake of survival? Many of the class couldn't help but notice that he had not left his battle stance, and how he seemed to be sizing them up somehow while not looking at him. An aura of suffocating pressure had descended upon the scene.
"We Graciously accept your proposal for a temporary alliance in the face of these villains.", said the stiff voice of Tokoyami.
Most of the hero students gave Tokoyami a look of shock.
"Yes, we as a class agree upon working together, kero.", a trembling Tsuyu also chimed in.
Upon those words, the pressure immediately vanished, and in its place a soothing and calm one surfaced. White Robes turned to face the group of UA students as he relaxed from his battle stance, giving them a good look at the front of the vigilante. He was just as indistinguishable from the front as he was from the back, save for a smiling mouth full of sharp teeth. However, indistinguishable was too strong of a word for a certain invisible girl because the vigilante was anything but unrecognizable.
Hagakure's unseen eyes widened to dinner plates as her mouth contorted into a frown of disbelief. The camera images of the vigilante were grainy and of low quality, making it impossible to discern any details beyond the general shape of the person. But now that the vigilante was right there in front of her, she could see him in greater detail than what the camera could offer. She was hard-pressed not to recognize those white priest-like robes, the same robes that Midori was wearing when they met in the park.
"It's him?!Midori is the vigilante?!", Her thoughts told her.
A stream of different emotions sparked within the invisible girl, each one conflicted with the other. One was happiness and relief because of the fact that he had saved her from the mist villain. She could feel wonderment and shock at the display of the powerful quirks and how they were used to surgically take down their attacker. Another was anger because she had realized that her closest friend had been lying to her for who knows how long and about how many things? And another was embarrassment?
…
…
..!
An unseen red blush crept onto the face of the invisible girl as heat also flooded her cheeks, as the invisible girl quickly became aware that she was standing there wearing only gloves and shoes in front of the only person in the world that could see her. While Hagakure was not exactly a girl that minded showing skin, but that layed with the fact that her quirk made it impossible for anyone to see her nude form. So she didn't exactly mind when she had to run around in her 'costume', but with Midoriya that was simply not the case.
…
…
…
It took every ounce of willpower for Hagakure not to scream hysterically in embarrassment or to dive behind the classmate nearest to her in an effort to cover herself.
"Aoyama, give me your cape now!", the invisible girl said on the border of shouting.
When the shiny hero-in-training gave her a dumbfounded look , she could feel her heart begin to race.
"Please, give it to ME!", Hagakure shouted the final word with a bit of venom in her voice.
Aoyama paled at the 180 turn that the usually bubbly girl did into a demon-like entity, and proceeded to take his cape off. However, because of the shakiness in his limbs, the naval laser user fumbled the process enough times that in the corner of her eye Hagakure believed she saw the white form of Midoriya staring at her. Heat exploded out the invisible girl's ears at the thought that Midoriya had seen her completely exposed. She violently ripped the cape out of the hands of the shaking Aoyama, and proceeded to cover her naked body with it. She sank down onto the ground in a little tent made from Aoyama's cape as steam could be seen emitting from where her head should be.
"Maybe it would have been better if that villain had sent us away, after all?", Hagakure thought darkly.
Barring Hagakure, Class 1-A was confused at their classmate's unexpected desire to be covered or at the vigilante standing there as still as a statue.
"Erm...um...right", White Hood said awkwardly before shaking his concealed head, "Okay, enough dilly dally. I need those with knowledge of first aid to attend to Thirteen immediately, and I need a headcount of your classmates."
Heading the orders of the vigilante, Iida proceeded to take charge of the headcount and tally up the numbers. Uraraka and Koda got to work on patching up Thirteen as best as they could with what they had. The vigilante remained fixed upon his spot clearly waiting for Iida to finish the tally or was perhaps formulating a plan in his head.
"I count only 16 out of our class of 19.", Iida said with his usual stiffness.
The vigilante cursed under his breath, "Can any of you contact the school?"
Kaminari spoke up, "Even with my quirk, I can't get a signal on my phone. They must have some jamming signal or a quirk that can block the electronics."
"Well, we must…". Whatever the vigilante was going to say was interrupted by him suddenly turning his head in the direction of the courtyard. White Hood sprinted back to the descending stairs cutting past all the students in his way. Those who weren't tending to Thirteen also went with the vigilante to see what had caught his attention. They all wished they hadn't because they all caught sight of Mr. Aizawa beaten down to bloody pulp in the hands of the giant villain with the exposed brain. The grunts of the League all cheered in victory before charging towards the students.
"GUYS, THE MIST VILLAIN!", shouted the panicked voice of Uraraka.
All of them flipped around to see the mist villain wobbly standing up, while trying to open a portal to escape. Without hesitation, the vigilante sprung into action by sending his two liquid limbs to try to restrain the villain. But because of the greater distance between the two, the mist villain was able to dive back into the darkness before the slime-like tentacles could even get close enough to touch him.
The vigilante cursed out loud before issuing more orders,"Those with combat oriented quirks will set up a defensive perimeter around the entrance and repeal any of the cannon fodder that gets past! The rest of you need to work on getting that door open! And you!"
"Me?!", Kaminari said in a panic.
"Yes, you! You are going to alert UA on what is happening over here and bring in as much help as you can muster!", the vigilante barked.
"B-But, I can't…", Kaminari argued.
"I'll make sure that their jamming signal won't be an issue.", interrupted White Hood. The self appointed leader quirky raised his oversized sleeve, revealing a hand and snapped a finger causing the liquid around his feet to shoot towards Kaminari. The slime-like liquid then encircled the yellow haired boy before shrinking in on itself before disappearing into thin air. The hero students collectively gasped at the sight and before anyone could ask, the vigilante cut them off.
"Don't worry, I only warped him outside UA's gates. If your other classmates were here, I would send all of you, but I am not one for leaving them to the sharks and I believe we share that sentiment. Let's hope your friend can get help in time.", stated the vigilante.
Without anything else to say, the vigilante dashed without hesitation towards the oncoming attackers while Class 1-A got to work immediately. Save for one girl, who was awestruck by a person she thought she knew.
Well, peoples I hoped the wait was worth it. But wait there's more in part two of the USJ. So Look forward to that. Anyways thanks for all the support for the story and look out for an update to Mechanicus in the near future.