A/N: The final battle begins! Several local Pros (don't worry, they'll be explained at the bottom) join the fray! Shigaraki is 112% done already! We aren't even halfway through the chaos!
(Quick warning: this chapter contains violence. Like, more violence than I would usually ignore. Someone's arm gets pulled off, someone's eardrums burst, it's a riot. Just be warned, if you get squeamish easily, maybe skip after the second cut.)
An explosion wracked the front gates of the Academy at the same time that a large black and purple vortex appeared in front of the gym.
Shouting and jeering echoed in the air, and Shigaraki wrinkled his nose in distaste behind the mask.
"Ugh," he grumbled, scratching his neck before Dabi swatted his hand away. "Is this the best that rat has to offer? I could've been planting apple trees on my island right now."
"Let's just get this over with," the flame villain replied, readying into a fighting stance.
"I'm so excited!" Toga bounced up and down, giggling madly. "I wonder if I'll find someone fun to play with!"
Twice cracked his knuckles.
Compress chuckled, tipping his hat. "What brutes. It's no wonder they were hired by Yuuei."
"Care to have some company?" Someone called, and a short woman wearing a pantsuit and boots walked up to them with a smile.
"Who are you?" Spinner questioned.
"I'm the principal of this school, Inoue Asuka at your service," she bowed slightly.
Then she caught sight of Shigaraki and brightened, marching over. "You must be Tomura."
"How do you know that name?" He narrowed his eyes.
"Midoriya has mentioned you in passing, and it didn't take long to connect the dots," she winked. "Nothing horrible, I promise."
Another explosion rocked the grounds, and she heaved a weary sigh before cracking her neck. "Well, I suppose you should get going. I trust that you won't harm my students?"
"Not unless they get in the way," Shigaraki replied snarkily.
She laughed heartily before turning away. "I hope you don't, otherwise I will have to personally see to it that you can't do it again."
She turned her head to stare at the League, and her friendly demeanor dropped. "For your sake, you'd better take my word that I'm being serious."
The young man tried to ignore the chill that went down his spine at the look in her hard caramel eyes. Few people had actually managed to intimidate him; his father, of course, was the first, Sensei was next, although to be fair, he intimidated everyone. In the most extreme of cases, even Inko could get angry enough to pin someone with a death stare.
But this? This was new.
"You don't look like a Pro Hero," Twice observed. "Who the hell are you?"
"I may not be a Pro Hero, but I'm always going to be a hero to my students." She smirked before turning back to face the horde of villains rampaging toward them.
The villains turned to their leader.
Shigaraki just sighed. "Whatever. Just try not to die."
"Team FujiMidoKawa, your sector is the Education Building," their teacher instructed. "I want you to keep yourselves and the building safe. Do whatever you have to do."
"Understood," the three chorused.
"Team KaKaShi, your sector is the greenhouses," he said next. "Again, do anything you have to prevent them from wreaking havoc."
"Understood!"
"Team ShiraiHashi, your sector, along with one team from classes 1-B, 1-C, and 1-D, is protecting the gym and the remaining students and staff inside."
"Understood," the siblings and their friend replied.
"Team..."
The fight began in a fury of red-orange flames and heavy black smoke that clouded the bright, cheerful sky.
Yuuei's Class 1-A had been asked to help where they could; offense-based heroes like Bakugo and Todoroki fought the villains head-on, while more rescue-based heroes like Uraraka and Asui helped defend those who were struck down.
Yaoyorozu stood back with Iida, barking orders to the rest of their class. She had to be on standby in case she was needed, but the first thing she did was give a Quirkless hero student (whose main gimmick was guns, having idolized and taken great inspiration from Edgeshot) a large gun with a scope as a replacement for her destroyed weapon (seriously, what the hell was Nedzu doing, hiring villains with literal acid blood to terrorize high schoolers?!) before she, aptly named Hotshot, went back to her post, attached a silencer to it, and without breaking a sweat was able to headshot from the bushes near the gym. The villain, who'd just been coming in through the destroyed gates, collapsed immediately with a spray of blood, making several others look around in confusion and alarm.
When asked how she knew exactly how to make that type of gun, Yaoyorozu smiled brightly, shrugged, and said "Heroes-in-training don't reveal their secrets!"
Another explosion rang out, and when Midoriya looked over, he could see Bakugo jumping at a large scarred man with a bull's head and two large, thick horns. Disgustingly, the tips were slick with red.
He couldn't help himself. "Ka- Katsuki! Don't let him headbutt you!"
"DAMN NERD! DON'T PATRONIZE ME, I ALREADY KNEW THAT!" came his irritated shout in response. Then after a moment, "AND DON'T CALL ME KATSUKI! YOU FREAKIN' WEIRDO!"
A relieved smile spread across his face as his former childhood friend jumped out of the way of the enraged villain, before the young hero turned to assist Kawaguchi, who was crying an abundant stream of water onto Fujiwara's steadily-growing flowers.
"I should have enough to shield us while Kawaguchi-kun replenishes his water supply!" She chirped with a smile. "What's the plan, Midoriya-kun?"
"How high can your quirk go?" He inquired.
"For now, I can extend my flowers up to fifteen feet."
"I was thinking we could try to make a wall of flowering vines, but that likely won't work because they'll send any villains with fire our way," he muttered. "Our next best option is for you to activate your Botafication armor and use your Nerium Kiss to at least take down a few." He looked at her expectantly. "Can you control it enough yet?"
At this, Hanae winced. "I can't... exactly control who smells it. There's no telling how many casualties there could be this time if I just use it in the open like this."
He nodded, apologetically raising his hands. "Sorry, sorry! Um... anything else? Rafflesia Seeds?"
"That could work," she hummed, opening her palm. Slowly, a weird smell began to fill the air as the bright polka-dotted red petals of the flower began to bud from her hand. Kawaguchi plucked one of the lilacs from a nearby bush to hold to his nose, but Midoriya was unaffected, having long since endured much worse from cleaning up Dagobah Beach and dealing with the hazardous smells that arise from dorm life. Fried and/or burnt skin just happens to not clear out of a room very fast when it comes to Quirks that burn and electrocute. He learnt that the hard way after the toaster incident.
She scanned the area until she noticed a villain sneaking up on them from the shadows. "Whoa, Mido-"
Suddenly, the villain punched himself in the face with his spiked-knuckle gloves, both knocking him out and leaving deep gashes across his face. As he fell, Kuro appeared behind him, hair flying out of his face to reveal narrowed eyes with glowing yellow irises and dark-gray sclera. As the effects of his quirk faded and the villain was unconscious on the ground, his hair fell back down over them and cast a shadow across his face.
"Apologies for letting him get so close," the teenager said. "But there's a dying villain missing part of their chest around the other side of the building and the sight disturbed me far too much to remain at my post before they're disposed of."
Immediately, the girl beamed at him. "You did perfect, Kuro-kun! I'm proud of you!"
The shadowy boy immediately winced, looking away. "You're too bright," he murmured.
"Where's your partners, Miyano?"
"Over kicking someone's detachable head like a soccer ball," he nonchalantly said, pointing over his shoulder. As the three looked, indeed, his two teammates were shouting and laughing as a short villain ran between them, yelling obscenities and trying to get his head back.
All the three could do was laugh in disbelief at the spectacle.
"DIE!" Bakugo roared as he slammed his palm into the face of a villain with an elongating neck. An explosion bloomed from his palm and the shrieks of the woman were drowned out by the noise as he jumped back.
"That's how it's fucking done!" He exclaimed with a smirk.
"Good job, kid," someone's voice called, and Bakugo and Kirishima turned to see an unfamiliar man with shoulder-length chestnut hair walk up to them in a costume that looked like a military uniform, although the top was just a tank top with a vest over it.
"Who the hell are you?" Bakugo questioned.
He smiled, shaking his head. "I'm the Pro Hero Kevlar. I'm here for my kids. Figured you kiddos could use a little help?"
"Whoa, you're so cool!" Kirishima's eyes were sparkling as he stepped closer to the hero. "What's your Quirk?"
"My skin is totally bulletproof," the man replied with a wink. "Can't get anything through me! Now where's my partner? Elastra should be around here somewhere..."
With a battle cry, a woman grabbed a thug's arm and puuuuuuuulled...
The two boys stared openly in horror as the thug's arm was ripped clean off, though the woman's stretched-out arms only came back to her body until they were normal-sized again.
"Hi darling!" She chirped, dropping the arms and walking over to kiss the man on the cheek. "I found Hiromi using her body as a human shield against some weirdo with a size-changing Quirk."
"And Hayate?"
"Probably helping her, you know him. Always so concerned." She laughed lightly before noticing the two boys. "Oh! Are you Hayate's friends?"
Both of them just stared for a moment, dumbfounded (and slightly terrified). Bakugo's nose wrinkled and he opened his mouth to speak.
"We're visitors from Yuuei," Kirishima quickly cut in before Bakugo could say anything, blatantly ignoring the blond's annoyed glare. "We're here to help! It's kinda our fault there's a villain attack happening at all, eheheh..."
"Well, thank you for lending a hand." She gave him a confident smile, her freckled cheeks dimpling. "Are you a fan of Crimson Riot?"
"Am I ever! He's only like my idol!" He lit up happily as he gestured to his costume.
The mother laughed once more. "I can see that," she remarked fondly. "Reminds me of Hayate's old obsession with Wash. He had all the figurines as a kid. Sometimes I wonder if we spoiled him too much."
That only reminded Bakugo of Midoriya, the green-haired boy's excited face popping up in his mind as he clutched a limited-edition All Might action figure, and he looked away with a sour face, guilt a heavy rock in his chest.
"Hon, I feel like we shouldn't be divulging our kids' embarrassing hero phases like this," Kevlar reminded with a chuckle. "He would be mortified."
"It's my job as his mother to properly acquaint myself with possible new friends." She poked him on the nose before a yell interrupted her. She frowned, turning towards the source: a Quirkless student running away from a villain with horns, the teenager's armor badly damaged.
"Duty calls." Kevlar took his wife's hand and started to march forward. "See you around!"
"Good luck, kiddos!" Elastra added.
Both boys watched as they descended upon the poor villain.
Kirishima turned to Bakugo, clearly starstruck. "Dude. I am so jealous of Midobro right now. I know that lady literally just tore someone's arms off, but just imagine having friends with parents that amazing! And a Pro Hero duo, to boot!"
All Bakugo could do was mutely shrug.
"This is it, this is the end," a student was muttering as they crouched with their head covered, fingers gripping their headphones tightly as a villain charged at them with intent to kill. "Goodbye, Onee-chan. Sell my Amplifier and Present Mic merch for me."
All of a sudden, a young woman jumped in front of them, her skin glistening with moisture.
With narrowed eyes, she reached out her hands and yelled, "Total Isolation!"
In an instant, a thick layer of misty fog was surrounding the two, and the student gazed up at her in wonder and awe.
She glanced down at them. "You alright?"
"Yeah," they breathed as they shakily got to their feet. "Y- you're the Pro Hero Fret, right? I'm a huge fan!"
"I'll give ya an autograph later if you want," she replied before turning back to the confused villain, who was attempting to get through the mist. "For now, let's beat this bully!"
The student nodded, softly clearing their throat.
As soon as the mist faded, the villain roared and charged at them with fingers splayed open before her, she stepped out of the way as the student cupped their hands around their mouth, muttering "Off-Key," before taking a breath and screaming one long, out-of-tune note straight at the villain.
"eeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
The villain screeched in pain, clapping her hands over her ears, but it was too late. Blood began trickling down her neck and she grit her teeth in pain, forced to her knees. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT NOISE?!" She hollered over the discordant scream. "MAKE IT STOP!"
Fret watched, amazed as the villain collapsed unconscious, bleeding heavily from her ears. Only then did the student stop, wincing and massaging their throat with one hand.
"Sorry if I have to whisper, it takes a lot out of me," they whispered to her. "I can't quite control it yet."
"Nah, that was awesome." She smiled and patted them on the back. "Let's go save some more people, yeah?"
"This is one of the greatest days of my life," they whispered in breathless awe, trembling as Fret took their hand and started running with them in tow. "Now if only I could meet Present Mic and get him to give me an autograph, I would die happily on the spot."
"Your students are doing well," Aizawa commented to the 1-A teacher of Besupin Academy as they stood by, watching the grounds being destroyed. "Each team is like a well-oiled machine. Not a wasted talent among them."
"I've taught them all I know about what it means to be a true hero," he replied, beaming with pride as a small girl with steel-toed boots kicked a villain in the groin. "I have faith that they'll all grow to be very successful, no matter what lives they lead. They're good kids. Someone's gotta believe in 'em."
Aizawa nodded distractedly, a sense of guilt filling his stomach as he watched the three-man teams fighting together in harmony, each quirk complementing the other two well. A boy with a turtle shell on his back was shielding a mousy girl with glasses as she quickly wrapped her comrade's wounded wrist before he sprung back into action, headbutting someone else with his ram-like horns with a bleating battle cry.
Then something struck him as he noticed the principal kneeling beside a crying support student, mentioning something about his arrows snapped in half. She pet his head, and Aizawa looked on in wonder as she seemed to effortlessly calm the student before helping him back to his feet.
"I've heard it mentioned that Inoue-san left Yuuei because of her Quirk," he said, turning to the black-haired older man. "What exactly is it?"
Fujiwara grew confused for a moment before he understood. "Oh, her Quirk lets her take exactly one cubic meter of matter from something that she's touching with all five fingers."
For a split-second, his brain bluescreened. Then he quietly asked, "And... they thought she couldn't be a hero why, exactly?"
The teacher just shrugged. "She could've easily become a high-profile villain... or just a hero who causes too much property damage. Or has a higher body count than is publicly accepted by most agencies." He paused, thoughtful. "At least she wasn't bitter about it. She laughs about those assumptions now."
This time it wasn't guilt, but dread, filling his stomach. With a Quirk like that...?! Not even the strongest of us could stand a chance... and 'body count'? The only hero I know of who has a confirmed count is Endeavor... and most of those are dismissed as collateral!
Suddenly the principal moved her other hand up, carefully slipping a four-fingered glove on. She glanced up, noticed their staring, and smiled and waved.
Aizawa reluctantly waved back.
"Principal Inoue can be scary, let me tell you," his fellow teacher whispered. "But most of the time she's kind enough that it's easy to forget. Keeps all of us on our toes."
Somehow, it reminded him exactly of Nedzu, and he could hardly suppress a shudder.
"Mom!" Hanae's eyes lit up and she ran to the seven-foot woman striding over to them.
"How's my little flower doing?" She seemed just as happy as the girl, bending to scoop her up into a hug. Her monochrome white skin looked like the bark of an aspen tree, streaked here and there with black and gray, and her hair was short and leafy. Fitting for her codename.
"I feel useless," she announced with a sigh. "Mido-kun, Kawaguchi-kun, and I haven't seen any action! I feel like they're ignoring us!"
"Consider yourself luckier than your classmates, then," the pro hero Aspen soothed, curling her thin, twiggy fingers through the teenage girl's soft wavy hair. Then she turned to the boys. "You kiddos doing okay?"
"Yes ma'am!" Midoriya nodded.
Kawaguchi nodded slowly with a quiet thumbs-up.
"Good. I suppose I'll keep you company just in case you get more unwanted guests." She winked and sat down near the flower wall.
Hanae just beamed, snuggling into her stepmother's arms as the boys sat down against the wall with them, keeping a diligent watch on any would-be sneak attackers.
A/N: I really love that old Reddit post about "How much chaos could you cause if you could remove a cubic meter of something?" and I just had to reference it here. That, and it would totally be viewed as a villainous Quirk that nobody would encourage you to become a Pro Hero with. Not even a Support or Underground Hero. Hooray, quirkism!
Elastra (QUIRK: Elongating Arms), and her partner Kevlar (QUIRK: Bulletproof), are the Shiraishi sibs' parents, of the 'Embarrassing, Doting Parent' variety.
Fret (named after the mist that comes off of the sea) (QUIRK: Mist), is Hiromi's oldest sister.
Aspen (QUIRK: Tree) is Hanae's tree of a stepmom (seriously, she's 7'4"). (Hanae calls Aspen 'mom' and her florist mom 'mama'. It's cute. They're cute.)