Katsuki Bakugo stared off into a random direction, barely listening to what Thirteen, The Deep Space Heroine, had to say.
Rescue training...what a waste of time!
Right now, he and the rest of the extras of class 1-A, the top of the whole school, where he belonged, were at some special dome building called the 'USJ', to practice saving lives or whatever. This is not what he signed up for. He's the kind of hero who's supposed to beat down bad guys, not save idiots who were in the wrong place at the wrong time!
The rest of the nobodies who made it into the class were hanging off of the bubble-headed hero's every word. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't block out their constant blabbering. He glanced a passing eye to two of his so-called classmates he'd smoked in one of their hero classes.
A round-faced girl with bobbed and curved chestnut hair, who had an annoyingly sweet pair of permanently blushing cheeks. She wore a pink and black bodysuit with matching wristbands, helmet, and boots that made her look so sweet and innocent, it made him want to puke. Her power was to control gravity or something, he didn't care.
The second was a real goody-two-shoes girl with ginger hair, tied up into a left-sided ponytail that draped down her shoulder. She wore a stupid-looking light blue Chinese dress with gold trim, as well as a black eyemask, matching corset and combat boots. Her power was to enlarge her freaky hands to an abnormal size. Could be good in a fight, if she knew who to use them right.
He thought back to the round of battle training he and the four-eyed class president (How he didn't get that position, he'll never know) had against the girly duo, a feral smirk appearing on his face. It wasn't even a competition. While he left speed-geek behind with the prop bomb they were supposed to guard, Bakugo figured that it was a good time to show his class, as well as the number one hero who was teaching them, exactly what he was made of.
It took All might threatening him over the intercom with suspension for him to stop blasting his opponents.
That was fine by him. By the time he was done, both girls knew who the top among them was. He'll admit, while he was busy showing those two who was boss, the image of a frightened, tear-faced, green-haired nobody came to mind. That didn't stop him though. In fact, it just motivated him all the more.
After so much time had passed since his big disappearing act, Bakugo had to admit, he was starting to miss the little Quirkless beansprout. He made the best punching bag. Testing out his explosions on 'Deku' had been a real highlight to his day. Now that he was gone, he missed that feeling of dominance he'd get from pounding on him.
His eyes darted to the gravity girl out of the corner of his eye. His sneer grew bigger on his face. Ah well, at least there's plenty more weaklings where he came from...
Ochako felt a pair of eyes on her and turned to where it was coming from. She flinched and looked away again as she saw the bomb boy gazing at her viciously. She let out a small yelp, catching the attention of Itsuka Kendo, the redheaded girl with a left-sided ponytail she'd made friends with on the first day of school.
Itsuka noticed the look of discomfort on the gravity girl's face. The big-fist girl then noticed the class's explosives expert, Katsuki Bakugo, staring daggers at the two of them. Itsuka shot her own scowl at the boy, who scoffed proudly and looked away.
Itsuka had an instant dislike for the bomb boy after their battle training and decided that if he wanted to hurt anyone in their class, he was going to have to get through her first.
The big-fist girl looked back to her friend and placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. Don't let that jerk get to you."
"Y-Yeah! I know!" The gravity girl gave a smile before it fell downward again. "It's just...he was really scary back then..."
Itsuka gave an uncomfortable sigh. "I know. But just remember, that guy's got our homeroom teacher, and All Might's eye on him. If he tries anything like that again, he'll land himself in real trouble. And that's when we'll get to really see him explode!"
The two girls shared a chuckle between them.
"Something funny about saving lives, girls?"
The two looked back to see their homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa, AKA the Quirk-Erasing Underground Hero, Eraserhead, staring them down through his tattered black locks of hair with bloodshot eyes. Itsuka and Ururaka snapped to attention in an instant, not wanting whatever cockamamy punishment the ragged looking man could come up with. "N-No, sir!"
"Good." The quirk-eraser turned back to the Deep Space heroine. "Sorry about that. Please continue."
As Thirteen went back to her speech, the home teacher noticed something that put him on edge in an instant. A dark swirling vortex appeared in the centre of the USJ, growing larger and larger.
"Hey...what's that?" Eijiro Kirishima, a spikey red-headed boy spotted the portal next, drawing the rest of the class's attention. "I-Is this part of the lesson?"
As soon as the vortex had appeared, a lone figure covered in severed hands stepped out of the darkness, followed by a multitude of misshapen, multicoloured newcomers, who didn't look all that friendly.
"No..." Eraserhead pulled down his trademark goggles and grabbed a handful of his binding cloth scarf. "Those are Villains!"
All the students gasped in shock and horror. All except Bakugo. The bomb boy looked at the oncoming horde of villains marching out of the darkness. A predatory grin creased across his face.
Now, this was more like it!
Deku stepped out of the dark void created by Kurogiri, the living cloud of smoke he'd learned the name of and walked into the light. He took in his new surrounding s with a slight glimmer in his eye. He never thought he'd have the chance to set foot on the grounds of the illustrious UA academy. It would have been a dream come true if he wasn't here under such poor circumstances.
"Where's All Might? He was supposed to be here..." Shigaraki hissed in disappointment. "Oh, well...maybe we can draw him out by killing a few kids?"
A chill ran down the green hooded boy's back at those words. The way the hand-man spoke them was much too casual for the young villain's liking. He looked up to where the head of the operation was staring at. He could see a bunch of indistinct figures at the top of a large stairway leading to the main entrance. Just as the leader of the league said, there was no sign of an oversized being with two long hair strands sticking out of his head.
The Quirkless child was dreading running into his former idol after the soul-crushing encounter he had with him last year. But Shigaraki made it violently clear that no one here was allowed to walk out on the operation. So, he had no choice but to come along, lest he wanted to take the chance of having the League of Villains come after him.
But to kill All Might? To have a hand in the assassination of the Symbol of Peace himself?
All of a sudden, one of the distant figures came to the front of the group, before taking a giant leap down the stairs and hurling straight toward the enemy.
"Hey! Someone's coming right for us!" Bronco pointed to the approaching figure.
"Who the heck is that? I thought the only heroes we were gonna fight were Thirteen and All Might!" Split-Endz noted as she readied her hair for a fight.
"Who cares?!" A helmet-headed villain with gun barrels for fingers spat as he took aim. "Just blast him outta the sky!"
As the figure became easier to see, Deku instantly recognized him. "Guys, wait! That's...!"
Eraserhead activated his quirk, as seen by his hair flailing in the air, and Split-Endz's own wilting like a dead flower. The underground hero then wrapped his steel-weaved capture scarf around the three and yanked them in, knocking their heads together and rendering them unconscious in a matter of seconds.
"Eraserhead..." The green hooded boy finished too late. "He can cancel out you're quirks just by looking at you!"
"Good to know..." A friendly voice spoke as a hand was placed on Deku's shoulder.
"Rock-Slide?" The green hooded boy inquired, glad to see a kind face in this difficult situation.
"I didn't sign up to beat up any kids..." The four-armed rock man stated, before taking back his hand and cracking all four rows of his knuckles. "But a pro-hero like Eraserhead? Now that's more like it!"
Rock-Slide charged forward toward the Quirk-Canceling hero. "Hey, Eraserhead! Bet you can't cancel out heteromorphic quirks!"
"I can't." The underground hero noted nonchalantly, before delivering a devastating punch into the centre of Rock-Slide's face. "I can only cancel out operative or transformative powers. However..." Eraserhead then ducked under a villain's sucker punch from behind, kicking him away into a gang in the distance. "When it comes to tackling close-quarter enemies like you, it's best to have..." Eraserhead slung Rock-Slide over his head, letting the rock man fall onto the heap of villains in a painful crash. "Countermeasures."
"Woah...!" Deku found himself in awe of the underground hero's fighting style, forgetting about his inner turmoil for the moment.
Shigaraki watched as Eraserhead rapidly dispatched his forces with ease, scratching his neck at an anxiously unhealthy pace. "That stupid hero's building up quite the combo...!"
"Shigaraki, the children appear to be escaping." The living cloud suddenly informed the hand-man.
"What?!" Shigaraki snapped back to see the students heading back toward the main entrance. "Don't let them get away!" Shigaraki spat. "They can't leave the building! We need them to lure All might here!"
"Understood." Kurogiri shrunk into his own darkness and disappeared. Deku saw the living cloud reappear at the top of the stairs, blocking off the class's escape, when suddenly a large explosion went off, consuming the living cloud.
Deku's head snapped to the top of the stairs the moment the blast went off. That explosion...the sound..the smoke...the flames...they seemed... painfully familiar...!
All the boy's doubt and uncertainty about his current position were completely wiped away. Deku broke into a mad sprint, heading straight for the stairs. Eraserhead took down another batch of villains before laying his eyes on the green hooded boy coming his way.
After hearing Midnight's story about failing to foil an ATM bank robbery, he'd been paying attention to numerous reports from the authorities and the media, who could find the weak spot in a hero's quirk and use it against them. After hearing so much about him over the last seven months, the underground hero was able to recognize him in an instant. "The Green Rabbit...'Deku'..."
The Quirk-Canceling hero activated his quirk, his hair standing on end. But as he aimed his gaze at the approaching villain, he was surprised to see no sign of hesitation or sudden loss of confidence in his body language. He threw a strand of his capture scarf toward the boy.
But Deku proved to be more slippery than Eraserhead expected. The green hooded villain managed to dodge out of the scarf's path without slowing down. Eraserhead tried again, this time snagging a few villains to the side of him and flinging them toward the boy. The young villain merely jumped over each thrown villain, somersaulting in mid-air before landing on his feet and continuing his advance.
Eraserhead refused to let the boy get past him. He rushed toward the oncoming rabbit villain, intent on stopping him in his tracks with a well-placed punch. However, at the last second, Deku got down on his knees and slid under the underground hero's incoming fist.
For a split second that seemed to go on forever, the underground hero's bewildered eyes behind his goggles locked onto Deku's focused, dark-rimmed gaze behind his red-vised eyewear.
Time caught back up with the two, as Deku sprung back onto his feet and continued his dash for the main entrance.
"No!" Eraserhead cursed. He couldn't believe someone got past him. What blew his mind, even more, was that the boy was able to do so without the telltale signs of any quirk use. That brought him to the harrowing conclusion that Midnight was telling the truth.
The Green Rabbit...Deku...really was Quirkless.
"Here comes Skullasaur-!" The dinosaur man was dispatched in an instant by a lightning-fast kick to the head.
This was no time to lose focus now. He may have let one villain get past him, but he swore that it was the only one that would. As he intercepted another band of rogues, he could only hope that his students still at the entrance, and scattered across the USJ could handle themselves.
His eyes gleamed red as he activated his quirk once more.
This was going to be a long day...
Deku recognised that explosion anywhere!
It had to be him! Of all people, they let that cruel, vindictive, temperamental, pride-ridden sack of garbage into their school?! Who was he kidding, of course, they did! Aldrea High must have painted up his recommendation to look as prim and proper as possible! They'd do anything for the precious golden boy! Never mind the fact that he beat and blasted a Quirkless, defenceless child to the point where he felt like...!
...That was in the past.
A manic smile split across the boy's face, hidden under his mask. Well, things were a lot different since high school, now. And he and Kaachan had so much catching up to do...!
The green hooded boy made it to the top of the stairs. Hoping to see a blonde-haired dirtbag with a superiority complex the size of Mt. Lady, he was disappointed yet surprised to see a large dome of dark energy swirling around before him.
A few students came jumping out of the arch vortex, rescuing a few of their friends as they did, before the whole dome disappeared.
"NO!" A boy with neat dark blue hair and glasses, wearing a white suit of armour cried out in despair. He managed to rescue Ochako, as well as another girl with light pink skin, black eyes with yellow irises, and fluffy pink hair with two antenna-like horns growing out of her head.
"It's okay! They're still alive!" A student with a jagged grey hairstyle with a mask over his face, along with multiple limbs called out through a mouth where his right hand should be, while his left held up a large ear. "I can hear them! They've only been teleported across the facility!"
Deku agreed with the multi-limbed student silently. Shigaraki explained his plan to all the villains taking part before the attack started. As soon as they saw All Might, the hand-man would sick his secret weapon, the Nomu, on the Symbol of Peace. While All Might had his hands full with the monster, the students would be separated and ambushed by the rest of the villains, putting All Might in a difficult compromise.
Lose his life while saving the children, or let them die as he tackles the creature?
Lose his life, or have his spirit broken?
An ingeniously, cruel plan...
A boy with tape dispensers for elbows shot a strand at the living cloud, only for it to go right through him. "Dang it! Nothing we throw at this thing works! It just goes right through him!"
Thirteen had been quiet up until now until she turned to the bespeckled boy in urgency. "Iida! You have to get out of the facility, and warn the teachers of the attack!"
Iida, the blue-haired boy, looked at the deep-space heroine in outrage. "What?!"
"The school's infra-red alarm system hasn't gone off, and there's no cell signal, meaning that some of these villains must be using their quirks to cut us off from the rest of the campus," Thirteen deduced. "Our best bet is to have the fastest among us to get out of here and call for help."
"No!" Iida argued back forcefully. "I'm not leaving! I will not abandon my friends!"
"These guys managed to get inside without tripping the alarm. That means that they had to get past the alarms outside the building, as well." A well-built student with fat lips in a yellow bodysuit and mask explained.
"If you can get out of here, then they can't follow you, not without setting off the security outside!" The tape-elbowed boy notified.
"This is what being a hero is about, Iida Tenya...using your quirk to the lives of others!" Thirteen declared.
"You can do it, Iida!" Ochako piped up with encouragement next. "Don't worry about us, we can handle this! Go for it, Mr Class President!"
"Don't you think it's rather foolish to talk about your plans in front of your enemy?" Kurogiri lashed out with his dark form, only for Thirteen to retaliate with her quirk, Black Hole, and begin sucking his smoke into the eradicating abyss that was her power. "It doesn't matter what we do if you can't do anything to stop us!"
Deku was impressed by the sight of the deep-space heroine's quirk, but he turned back to see the spectacled boy, who was still stuck in his conflict of going for help or staying with his friends. From the look of his armour, the boy appeared to resemble the noble speed hero, Ingenium. Either a die-hard fan or perhaps a relative. And if that was the case, then the boy must have some kind of super-speed quirk. A lightbulb seemed to go off in the young analyst's head as he reached for his Taser-Knuckle. Perhaps the class president needed a little more...motivation...
The Quirkless child hopped out of the way of Kurogiri's smoke and Thirteen's vacuum and headed straight for the small group of students.
"No!" Thirteen could only watch as the bunny-eared villain came out of nowhere and ran past her.
"Don't lose your focus, now!" Kurogiri declared as he opened up a vortex behind Thirteen, allowing the heroine's Quirk to flow through him and out toward her back. Thirteen wailed in agony as she was nearly torn to shreds by her own Quirk.
"Thirteen!" The pink-skinned girl, Mina, cried out to the deep-space heroine, but then took notice of the green hooded criminal coming their way.
"No, you don't!" The tape boy shot out a stream of binding toward the boy. Deku easily grabbed hold of it and yanked the boy out of his way.
The yellow suited and multi-limbed student tried to intercept him, but the young villain merely used their heads as springboards and jumped over the two.
He soared over Ochako and Mina's heads until he landed before Iida, blocking his path to the exit and protruding his Taser-Knuckle. "Try getting out of here now!"
Iida's stomach fell when the green hooded villain stood before him. He should have moved when he had the chance! Kurogiri began to loom over the students, his eyes burning with malicious intent. "Thank you for your aid, my friend. But it appears you are not needed here. I am fully capable of detaining these children myself."
"WANNA BET?!"
Iida's eyes shot to Ochako, who had grabbed hold of the metallic collar around the living cloud's supposed neck. Activating her quirk, she flung the collar into the air, with Kurogiri going along with it. "Go, Iida!"
The tape boy then shot a strand at the vortex man and swung him even further away. "We can handle the smoke guy! Just get past him!"
Iida snapped his head to look back at the bunny-eared villain before him. Deku held his Taser-Knuckle threateningly, pulling the trigger to emphasise his weapon's power. The spectacled boy recoiled at the villain's intent, however, he had finally pulled himself together. No matter how fast this scoundrel may have been, the little brother of Ingenium was faster!
Iida broke into a high-speed sprint, charging for the villain blocking his path. He'd knock him out of his way if he had to, as long as he could get through that door. Deku failed to register how fast the boy was going...which made his plan all the easier to pull off.
Throwing his training and practice in the underground ring to one side, Deku made the laziest, sloppiest swing with his Knuckle he could do. It was child's play for Iida to swerve out of the hooded villain's attack and pass by him as if he were standing still.
In the split second the two beside each other, the masked boy had whispered something small and hopeful in the speedster's ear. "Hurry."
The class president passed the bunny-eared villain, and rocketed out of the USJ, heading straight for the main campus. As Iida let his turbocharged legs carry toward his destination, he thought back to how he managed to avoid the hooded villain's attack, and yet he had the skill to get past Sero, Sato, and Shoji like it was nothing.
He couldn't fathom it, but...did that villain...let him go to get help?
The class president shook his head. There would be time to ponder on that later. right now, he had to get to the rest of the teacher's and let them know about the attack. He could only hope that he could make it back in time to save his friends...
Deku watched the dust trail of the young speedster dissipate into the distance. He heaved a thankful sigh before looking back to the rest of the group. Ochako and Mina, the pink-skinned girl, were by thirteen's side, while the tape-elbow, yellow suited, and multi-limbed boys stood before the boy, ready for a fight.
"...Guess I wasn't quick enough." Deku played off his failure as the bad guy he was supposed to be. The boy figured that it was only a matter of time until the spectacled boy reached the main campus. If Shigaraki was as competent of a strategist as he thought he was, once he got word of one of the students getting out of the building, then there was no point in sticking around when the rest of the heroes showed up.
Deku sprinted forward at the three students, his goal to get back to the centre of the facility.
"Don't let him get a-!" The tape boy, Sero, called out before the boy slipped by them. "...way."
As Deku headed for the stairs, he caught a glimpse of Thirteen, laid out on the ground with her suit ripped apart. The two girls were huddled up by her side, looking over her wounds to see if there was anything they could do to help her. The brunette looked up at the green hooded boy passing them by. Her tear-filled eyes contained a level of sorrow, pain, and fear that struck deep into the young villain's core.
For the first time since he became a villain...Deku felt like the bad guy.
And he didn't like it...
The green hooded boy kept up his pace as he bounded down the stairs. Once he made it to the bottom, though, he saw something that nearly made him tear off his mask and throw up on sight.
Eraserhead, after taking down nearly every villain that had invaded the school, was now pinned to the floor, with his right arm broken and disjointed, in the grasp of the giant abomination that was meant to kill All Might.
"Eraserhead...I'll admit, it's a good name that goes great with your quirk..." Shigaraki mocked as the beast took hold of the underground hero's other arm, and squeezed.
CRUNCH
"AAAARRRGGGGHHH!"
"But when you're pitted against raw power such as this, you might as well be Quirkless..." The hand-man giggled cruelly.
Eraserhead attempted to lift his head, only for the Nomu to grab hold and smash his face into the pavement.
Deku grimiced at the site. The young villain had worked with many gangs of criminals up till now, most of them being practically harmless. But the League of Villains...these guys were monsters.He prayed that the spectacled boy was as fast as the real Ingenium and that he got back here with support soon.
"Ribbit...!"
The green hooded boy turned to where the strange noise came from. At the edge of the Flood Zone, he could see three more students hiding in the water, watching the brutal display of their teacher being tortured with wide, fear-stricken eyes.
A red-haired girl wearing a black eyemask, as well as another girl with long dark green hair, with the facial features of what looked like a frog, wearing a dark and light green diving suit with goggles on her head. The last of the three looked like a boy with...grapes growing out of his head?
His attention was drawn to the hand-man, where the living cloud appeared beside him. "Apologies, Shigaraki. But I'm afraid one of the students managed to escape and go for help."
Shigaraki went as still as a statue, not moving for an uncomfortable few seconds that felt like minutes. He then reached up to his neck and began erratically scratching at it again, bringing up his second hand and almost digging into his skin. "Kurogiri...I'd turn you to dust if you weren't our ticket out of here...!"
He relentlessly clawed at his neck like the madman he was made out to be until he suddenly stopped. "We don't stand a chance against a whole swarm of heroes...Looks like the game's over before it could even begin...Guess it's time for us to go..."
"They're leaving...?" The grape-headed boy in the water asked hopefully. He then broke down in quiet thankful tears as he latched onto the frog-girl by his side. "Thank heavens, they're finally leaving!"
"Keep it down, Mineta!" Itsuka hissed at the boy.
The grape-boy, Minoru Mineta, did as he was told and kept quiet. However, the frog-girl, Tsuyu Asui, felt the little grape-boy give her chest a gentle squeeze. Looking at the boy's face, she noticed the distinct blush and flared nostrils on his face. With a stone-faced expression, the frog girl dunked the perverted hero student underwater, refusing to let him up no matter how much he flailed and gargled.
Deku would have been glad to hear that they were retreating if it weren't for the large pit in his stomach that told him that something bad was about to happen. It grew even worse when the hand-man turned to the submerged trio.
"But before we do..." Shigaraki spoke lightly, before snapping toward the three students and ran straight for them. "Let's leave some dead kids behind for the Symbol of Peace to morn!"
Deku dropped his stoic persona the moment Shigaraki descended on the children, reaching out a desperate hand toward him. "NO!"
It was too late. Shigaraki clasped all five of his fingers around Tsuyu's face, who showed emotion for the first time with a look of terror, and...nothing happened.
Deku was confused for a second until he figured out what had happened. Shigaraki realised what had stopped him from turning the girl into ash, turning back to glare at the one who stopped his fun. "You're starting to get on my nerves...Eraserhead!"
The underground hero was miraculously still conscious. He had lifted his head and activated his Quirk at the last second, stopping Shigaraki from dusting the poor girl. The Nomu retaliated by grabbing the teacher's head and slamming it to the ground once more.
The hand-man then turned his attention to the green hooded villain who called out to him. "And you...!"
The hand-man began to stalk his way towards Deku, seeming to completely forget about the three students he was about to kill. Tsuyu stayed frozen in shock for a while longer until she took a sharp intake of breath to regain herself. Itsuka held her by the shoulders for support, while Mineta was finally let up for air, ironically gasping for his life like a fish out of water.
Deku felt every nerve in his body screaming at him to run, but refused and stood his ground as the Leader of the League lumbered his way over to him. "Where do you get off...telling me what to do?"
"...We don't have much time." Deku attempted to change the subject. "The student that got out has a super-speed quirk. It's only a matter of time until he gets back with-!"
"I don't care about that!" Shigaraki seethed as he grabbed hold of Deku's neck, leaving one finger off from touching. Deku grasped onto the hand, afraid to pull it off as it might accidentally lead to him getting 'dusted'.
"You and the rest of the peons..." The leader of the League motioned to the scattered unconscious villains around the area that Eraserhead dealt with. "Are nothing more than a bunch of mindless, ignorant NPC's to me! When I tell you to do something, you do it! When I want to kill some kids, you don't get in my way! And if won't go along with the system...then I'll be more than happy to delete you!"
Deku struggled in the madman's grasp as he slowly reached for his Taser-Knuckle behind his back. He should have figured that his life as a villain would be a short one. But, If he was going to go out like this, then he was at least going out taking a swing at this psycho!
KABOOM
The front doors to the USJ came flying down the stairway. Shigaraki took his hand back from Deku's neck to shield his eyes from the dust and debris. Deku rubbed his neck of the cold, clammy feeling of Shigaraki's fingers and looked up at the destroyed entrance.
In the blooming smoke came a towering figure, with two tall stands at the top of its head. As it made its way inside, the students near the entrance grew smiles of joy, and some began to shed tears of relief. The figure stomped forward, its steps echoing and shaking the entire facility.
He may have been the one to have crushed his dreams. He may have been the one who left him alone when he needed him most. He may not have been the hero he always envisioned him to be...But Deku would be lying if he said that he wasn't happy to see him!
"Children...have no fear..." The Symbol of Peace, the Number one Hero, the one and only All Might, came into vision with the angriest face the green hooded boy had ever seen him make, and ripped the tie off from around his neck.
"FOR I! ...AM! ...HERE!"