The day that in hindsight would be one of the great turning points in Izuku's life started the same as any other day at Yuei. Being taught theory, math, history and all the other non-physical classes Yuei had to offer.
As was usual, it was only after lunch that their basic hero training would begin.
"Now, for today's basic hero training…" Aizawa began in his usual dull tone. "for this exercise, me, All Might and one other will supervise."
So, another special class then, Izuku mused. It had to be if three teachers would be there.
Behind him, Seto asked the obvious.
"Um, what are we doing exactly?"
Picking up a card and holding it up for all to see, Aizawa continued in his usual deadpan tone. "Today we're preparing you for disaster relief, from fires to flood. Today is rescue training." as if to punctuate what he had just said, the golden card flashed the word RESCUE in the light of the sun.
Seemingly assuming that Aizawa was done talking, the class immediately began to chatter. For about 10 seconds anyway, before Aizawa shut them down again with a glowing red glare.
"I'm not done yet." He said in a tone that promised pain for anyone who didn't keep their mouths shut.
Putting down his card, he instead picked up a small remote and with a click, the shelves with the boxes that held the rest of the class's costumes slid out of the wall.
"It's up to each of you whether you want to wear your costumes for this exercise. As some of them are ill-equipped for this kind of activity."
"Finally, the training area is a bit remote, so we'll be going by bus. That's all, now get ready."
And with that, he nonchalantly walked out of the room, hands in his pockets.
-Rescue training eh? Well, it's not glorious battle, but we'll take it over more boring ass lectures.-
For Izuku's part, he was stoked. No, more than stoked.
He knew most of the rest of the class had been looking forward to combat training more than anything else. Not him. This was what he had become a Hero for, not for the battles or victories, but to help people.
Memories of seeing the Video of All Might's debut time and again as a child flowed through his head. But there was also the memory of the night he met Stick-San, and how the man in red had helped him when he needed it.
THAT was the kind of hero he wanted to be.
I
After everyone had gotten dressed and was on their way to the buss, Izuku walked up to Uraraka, intending to start up a conversation, when he noticed something.
"Your-your cape…"
"Hmmm? Oh right." She absentmindedly fingered the hole in her outfit where the buttons attaching her cape had been. "I've sent in a request for a new outfit that's less… constraining, and since I'm not really gonna use this one in the future, I thought getting it repaired would be a waste of time."
Made sense. For one thing, Izuku had learned quickly over the last few days that it could feel really humiliating wearing a skintight outfit.
Normally he was fine, but whenever some decided checking him out was just fine, he became red as a tomato, and generally had a lot of trouble concentrating. Thankfully, none had done so while he was doing something important. Not yet anyway.
As they were reaching the buss, Iida was already there, with a whistle, and motioning.
"LINE UP ACCORDING TO YOUR ID NUMBERS! FILL THOSE SEATS IN AN ORDERLY FASHION EVERYONE!"
"WOW, Iida really into the whole class president thing!"
"Yeah, he's really going full throttle."
I
After spending two minutes lining up in according to their I'd numbers, it turned out the bus was actually completely different than regular busses with a layout that simply didn't work with the neat and orderly set up they had.
As everyone just found a seat wherever they wanted Izuku patted Iida, who had just seen his meticulous work undone and seemed kinda depressed about it, on the back.
Opposite of them, Tsuyu started up a conversation with Uraraka in a blunt, awkward manner that made Izuku seem subtle and great at conversations.
"I generally say what's on my mind Ochako-Chan."
"Um… Okay? What is it?"
Tsuyu turned to look directly with a huge, yet also somewhat relaxed grin.
"Your quirk reminds me of All Might's."
Wow. And Izuku had thought he was blunt.
Both Izuku and Ven turned their heads towards the pair as Uraraka stuttered in shock.
"Y-You think so? I mean…"
Kirishima, sitting to Tsuyu's left, butted in.
Hold up Tsuyu, All Might doesn't get hurt by his own power though. They're already way different in that.
Inside his mind, Venom snorted.
-She's young, she'll grow into it yet.-
Kirishima followed up on his blatant show of inexperience, with praise.
"But still, that sort of simple strength enhancing quirk is really cool! You can do a lot of awesome stuff with it!"
He got a somewhat sullen expression on his face, as he lifted his arm up, and with a metallic sound, his arm seemed to turn into skin-colored metal.
"Not like mine at all. "Hardening" is great in a fight, but it's really boring."
"I think it's pretty cool though! It's more than enough to fully go pro."
It was a bland compliment, that didn't actually address any of the things Kirishima didn't like about his quirk.
Surprisingly, it was Venom who gave some actual advice.
"Real battle is about efficiency, not flashiness, or pointless shows of Sound and fury, signifying nothing. Yours is a very useful power that should allow you to fuck over most kinds of enemies with ease. Also, by virtue of possessing the mundane power of being bulletproof, it's one of the most useful power sets in this group."
"Ummm… Yeah, that's kinda what I said. It's great for battle but not much else really. Being a pro means you have to worry about popularity too you know? You cant ONLY think about how good you are in a fight."
"Isn't that literarily how the second-ranking Hero of this country rose to such height? By caring only about battle, and solving as many cases as he possibly can, ignoring everything else?"
"...Touche. But that kinda illustrates my point. Endeavor has one of the flashiest quirks in Japan. Incredibly powerful, but also a surprisingly versatile."
-Fuck, this guy's dense.-
Well, it wasn't wrong, but frankly, Izuku agreed with Venom. Todoroki Enji had not risen to the second rank because he was charismatic or flashy. He had risen to the top 2 by being better than almost all the rest.
That wouldn't have changed if his quirk was less flashy.
"Speaking of Endeavor, I'd say that the guy with the best mix of flashy and strong quirk in class would be Todoroki… And maybe Bakugou."
Before either Izuku, Venom, and surprisingly enough Shoto(Who had suddenly taken an interest in their conversation) could interject, Tsuyu gave another of her blunt statements.
"Bakugou's so unhinged though, He'll never get popular."
"YOU WANNA FIGHT FROGFACE?!" Katsuki barked as he jumped up from his seat, hand on the railing as he leaned menacingly over it. Or tried to. The effect, along with his hair had him look more like a chihuahua barking over a fence.
Izuku blinked. Had… Had Katsuki always looked so non-threatening?
"See?" Tsuyu said, nonchalantly pointing at Katsuki without even looking at him.
Venom was chuckling at Katsuki's outburst, but it was what happened next that got him really cackling. Namely, Kaminari Denki decided to make some sport of the easy target that was Bakugou leaning on the railing above them.
"It's only been a brief while since our socialization was has commenced, and yet apodictically cognizant of your personality, redolent as it is of a turd, getting steamed in a sewer."
"YEAH, OK MR VOCABULARY, HOW ABOUT I FIGHT YOU INSTEAD!"
"Enough."
Aizawa, who had been napping during the trip finally bestirred himself to shut down the argument with a glare of shining crimson.
Everyone quieted down before Aizawa added "Also, we're here, everyone look sharp now okay…"
That last part could have sounded inspirational, but coming from Aizawa, it was as unenthusiastic as everything else he said.
I
The "here" He was referring to turned out to be a giant park. The whole, thing looked like an enormous theme park, or at least it would have if not for the fact one of the zones was at fire, and another two zones seemed like all the buildings in them had collapsed.
Venom's, and to a lesser extend Izuku's eyes and attention was instantly drawn to the fire zone. As everyone was standing just looking at it and marveling, their eyes were glued to the dancing flames.
-We take it back. This is going to fucking suck.-
The third teacher turned out to be a woman, though the only way one could know that was if one were familiar with her already.
She was dressed in an attire that could best be described as a mix between an astronaut spacesuit, a poncho, and a down jacket. On her head was a giant black dome with only two large white eyes showing anything of her face.
"It's the space hero 13! She's a famous hero who does all her best work in rescue work!"
Izuku was about to go on in his regular way of just listing up everything he knew about said Villain but was interrupted by Uraraka, who similarly squeed in delight at the prospect of meeting 13.
"Oh my gosh, it's actually 13! I can't believe it!"
Uraraka beamed looking at the space hero, in a way that Izuku was pretty sure was how he had looked when All Might had first walked into their classroom. It was a look of pure, untainted admiration. It seemed Uraraka was a big fan.
13 was about to introduce herself when Aizawa interjected and walked up to her.
"Wait, where's All Might?"
In response, 13 waved him over until they were right up against each other, and she answered in a very hushed, quiet tone.
Izuku, hypersensitive to sounds as he was, didn't have too many problems listening in on the conversation even though he wasn't trying.
"Well?"
"About that sempai… It seems he reached his limit during his morning commute. He's currently resting in the break room."
Izuku froze. Limit?
-It would seem All Might is limited to how much he can operate at the moment. Well, isn't that interesting.-
Izuku, still in shock, didn't answer. This… This little piece of information completely changed what he thought he knew about All Might at the moment.
All Might had a freaking time limit for how much he could operate? That… That completely recontextualized why he was here teaching. Izuku had merely thought he was here to teach his own child, to make sure she reached the heights he himself did… And he was, just not in the way Izuku had first thought.
If… If ALL Might was so injured he had a limit for how much he could operate…
He was interrupted in his train of thoughts by 13, who had turned to the class and begun talking. Izuku actually missed her opening, so in-depth was he considering the new question, before he realized his teacher was saying something.
"-of you are aware… My quirk is called Black hole. As you can probably guess from that name, it can suck in and tear apart anything."
-Wow. An actual power that could be used to end all life on this planet, color us impressed.-
13's continuation wasn't that far from Venom's assessment.
"It is remarkably useful in disaster work, and capture. However… It is also a power that can kill Incredibly easily."
She gave a look from left to right looking over all of them. It was hard to read her expression, but as she continued, her voice became more somber.
"I'm certain there are many of you who are similar. With powers that can easily take others lives, even without intention. In our super-powered society, the use of quirks is heavily restricted and monitored. It may seem like this system of ours, is a stable one."
"But, we must never forget that it only takes one wrong move for someone with an uncontrollable quirk to kill someone, intent be damned."
Yeah… That wasn't wrong at all. It was an aspect of superhero work that was generally not discussed much(At least not in Japan, certain other countries had much bigger problems with it) but cases where heroes accidentally caused a death, or intentionally killed someone in self defense or protecting others happened.
Being a hero didn't give you permission to kill, but when you there thousands upon thousands of super-powered people together, sometimes, the worst happened.
One of the few cases his mom had done which Izuku remembered clearly from his childhood, was a case where a hero's protective shield had ricocheted bullets and killed 4 criminal gunmen.
He had been cleared and found non-guilty, as it was clearly self-defense, but even that open and shut case had still gone to court.
As it should. They did not live in a world where heroes should be allowed the authority to murder people.
"During Aizawa's physical fitness test.. You were taught to learn about your hidden potential."
"During All Might's battle training… You experienced the danger that your powers pose to others."
"This class… Will teach you a new perspective! Here, you will learn how to. Utilize your powers to help people, and save lives."
Izuku smiled at her words, as this was precisely why he wanted this class. THIS, was why he wanted to be a hero.
His bright spirit, and smile withered with her next line.
"Your powers are neither Made, nor Meant to inflict harm on others. I hope you leave here today with the understanding that you're made to help people."
As 13 finished her speech and got some applause(From Uraraka who seemed to really love the hero, and from the always prim and proper Iida.) Izuku felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.
It was a good speech, one that encapsulated everything Izuku himself felt about hero work… But it was also wrong in one point, at least regard to Izuku himself.
His powers WAS both Made, and Meant to hurt people. Memories flashed through his head, memories of Venom explaining the origin of his race, and the being that had created them for conquest across the stars.
However he used these powers Venom gave him, he was different than his classmates, who had all been born with their powers. Natural, and blameless. No blood rested on the origin of their powers. Very much unlike Venom.
He was still trying to bury, and/or deal with his overall thoughts on the less… Savory parts of Venom's history, when 3 things happened.
The first was that suddenly, and without warning, he could feel the presence from yesterday. The man who HATED.
The second was that almost against his own will, his body forcibly snapped around to face the new threat, instinctually falling into a combat stance Izuku had never used.
And thirdly and finally, was that there, down a set of stairs in the plaza that was between all the zones. Several dozen black and purple portals appeared as dozens of people walked through them.
Villains was Izuku's first thought.
Panic was the second. The same feelings that had taken over him in the forest, less than a week ago, yet now seemed like it had happened a lifetime ago. Fear, panic, and doubt shot through Izuku's mind. But there was also a surge of adrenaline, a readiness for battle like he had felt before he and Katsuki had come to blows.
The men and women who stepped out through the portals were a ragtag bunch, but almost all looked pretty threatening, some with gun, or knife, or other weapons-related quirks, some mutations, whether animal or more random ones.
Two stood out amongst the group though.
A huge man dressed only in a set of ripped pants, with blackish, purple skin, crisscrossed with red veins. His muscles were such they rivaled All Might himself, in how ripped he looked, but the most notable features he had was his head, with a huge, metal-encased beak full of jagged teeth, and on his head, in one of the most grotesque things Izuku had ever seen in his life, was his brain, exposed with no skull or skin, pumping and pulsing.
The one who stole Izuku's attention, however, was the man. The one who hated. His eyes locked out to him, and Izuku froze.
-That's the guy? THAT'S the source of this hatred?-
He looked absolutely ridiculous.
Tall, with matted white hair, the guy was dressed in a black shirt and pants that looked like they were someone's pajamas. But the ridiculousness didn't stop there.
Around his arms, neck, shoulders, and head, he wore detached hands that were holding on to him. It could have looked somewhat creepy, but several of them have silly, red cables connecting them, and one of them was over the front of his head, covering his face and looking absolutely ridiculous.
Finally, as if encapsulating the narmy look, he wore basic standard, worn red sneakers, and was hunched over as he walked.
The look basically could all be summed up in one word.
-Fucking HELL he looks stupid!-
… A bit more crass than Izuku would have put it, but yeah, he looked really, really stupid.
Right now though, there was something more pressing about the man in question.
"Aizawa Sensei! That's the guy from the alarm incident! The guy in the pajamas!"
Several students, who hadn't quite resales what was going on, or even realized something was wrong, all turned to look at who Izuku was yelling about.
Aizawa though wasn't forthcoming with an explanation.
"13, PROTECT THE STUDENTS!" He yelled in a panicked, hoarse voice like he wasn't used to actually speaking loudly.
"The heck are those?" Kirishima asked, looking down on the invading group. "More robots?"
"DON'T MOVE, THOSE ARE VILLAINS!"
"Yeah, that's pretty fucking obvious man. They're here to kill us most likely. Or try to anyway" Immediately after finishing, he fused his head around Izuku's.
His voice was nonchalant as if being attacked by a sudden dozen Villains who wanted to murder them was just a regular occurrence to be taken in stride.
Those words didn't exactly bring calmness to the rest of the class, but before any true panicked reactions could be had, the source of the misty black portals made itself known, as a head made of the stuff suddenly materialized itself in the air, overlooking them, it's eyes like yellow, burning slits with yellow energy trailing behind them.
"13 and eraser head is it?" As his eyes narrowed, Izuku felt his eyes scanning him, and the rest of the class.
"According to the staff schedule I got the other day, All Might was supposed to be here… Yet he is not."
The pajamas guy didn't take the news well.
"Where is he…? We came all this way… brought so many playmates…. All Might… The symbol of peace… Isn't here?"
The guy's head shot back up, and his entire spine went up, and rigid, like he was a pole.
"I wonder if some dead kids will bring him here?"
It was… Interesting to be able to feel him as he changed his mind.
Seconds before there was nothing more than hatred, a burning loathing of everything around him.
Then like a switch, his emotions turned to something else. A feeling Izuku hadn't felt before, yet instinctually, he somehow knew what it was. Killer Intent. But not focused, on anyone, or anything. Just kinda… There.
Izuku should have felt horrified by his words… Yet he didn't. At all. There was no conviction in them. Despite all this guy's hatred, he just didn't feel anything one would have expected from a guy who just proclaimed he wanted to murder kids. Murder him, Izuku realized.
He should have felt threatened the same way he felt from the rest of these guys. But he just wasn't. At all.
He was like a child throwing a tantrum.
By his side, Kaminari stepped up and looked down upon, the congregation of Villains. Unlike Izuku, he was obviously shaken by Shigaraki's words. He shook in fear, and his eyes scanned the Villains as if looking for someone or something. Most likely he was trying to figure out exactly how many there were.
He was afraid. Scared. Terrified.
Izuku put his hand on his shoulder. He tried to think up something positive to say to calm him, but before he could, Kaminari, seemingly snapped out of his fear by Izuku's hand, suddenly stopped shaking.
His look changed from fear to resigned.
"We'll just have to fight then…" The blonde boy grit his teeth and clenched his hands into fists, as he looked down on the Villains, who now seemed to be considering their next move.
"Ain't happening." Aizawa said in a tone that would broker no argument.
"13! Get the students out, and try calling the school! One of these Villains must be jamming the sensors, it's a large chance that one of them is an electric type causing a disturbance preventing the signal!"
"Kaminari! When you get outside, try using your quirk to signal for help!"
"Uh, Right, GOT IT!" Kaminari responded.
Aizawa then stepped up to the edge of the stairways, obviously preparing to fight. Fear for what might happen to Aizawa suddenly shot through Izuku's mind.
"Wait, sensei, you can't fight all of them alone! Against that many, not even you can nullify, ALL of their quirks. Not to mention your battle style is Erasure and capture, head-on battle isn't your-"
Aizawa cut him off.
"No good hero is a one-trick pony."
Then, before he attacked he gave one final line. "13, take care of the students."
Then, with a short burst of running, he jumped down the stairs towards the plaza.
I
Aizawa did remarkably well in his assault. Frankly, though, a better strategy would have been to have the students with ranged capability back him up.
But as it was, he had decided to make this a one-man show. Oh well. They would need to fight anyhow. The presence of a teleporter made sure of that.
Still, they had bested teleporter before, even before the final bonding. They would do it again. Maybe break his neck too this time, instead of just knocking this one out.
I
As the students began their attempt at evacuation, Izuku had to fight an urge, no, a NEED to jump down and back up Aizawa.
He should FIGHT! He should help Aizawa. Leaving him alone down there, felt so, utterly wrong.
Those thoughts were interrupted by the teleporter, who suddenly materialized like a huge black sheet of black mist in front of the entrance.
"I'm sorry to say, but I cannot allow you to leave." The darkness said in a polite voice.
"Allow me to introduce ourselves. We are the league of Villains. Forgive our audacity, but… Today, we came here to Yuei, highschool of heroism… To end the life of All Might, the Symbol of peace…"
Izuku froze. This guy… Unlike the hands guy, this guy was the real deal. An actual killer in mind and soul. Izuku could feel it from him. Conviction, steadfastness, a total disregard for them, and their lives. This guy would kill them if he could.
He would kill All Might.
Not happening.
"We were under the impress-" He was cut off as two figures launched themselves forward, and punched him in the face and gut… Or at least where his face and gut had been.
Izuku's fist hit him straight where his head had been, but it simply went through his mist, as the man dematerialized into mist and reappeared a bit in front of them, outside their immediate reach.
Izuku didn't turn to look at the other person, but a flash of pink in the corner of his vision told him it was Ashido Mina.
"That was close." The mist guy said as if he hadn't almost had his lights knocked out.
He narrowed his eyes. "Yes… Students though you may be, you are indeed the best caliber."
"BEGONE."
Without warning, and so fast that Izuku didn't even have time to react, black mist surged forward, and around them.
Izuku could feel a hand close around his arm, and rip him backward and off his feet, away from the mist at incredible speed, but it wasn't enough.
The mist engulfed, him and the owner of the hand completely in a maelstrom of black mist, even as they moved backward.
I
For what seemed like far, far longer than it probably was, Izuku floated through a void, the only thing he could feel for sure was the arm, that still firmly held unto his arm.
Suddenly, and without warning, light returned, and they were back in the world of the living.
Izuku immediately notice two things. The first was that he was falling. The second, that he was maybe 6 meters above ground, or rather a rooftop. And the third, was that below, there were 5 people, all of whom had what, with a shock, he realized was machine guns.
They were waiting for them to hit the ground to riddle them with bullets.
The shock almost overwhelmed him, but instincts, his innate will to survive, took over.
The arm that wasn't clamped down on, shot up and a line of black web hit the ground by the feet of one of the guys.
Then, with a PULL, Izuku changed their direction and instead of landing in the middle of the five, Izuku instead slammed into the unfortunate Villain.
The hand let go as they hit the guy, and Izuku heard someone kick off from the ground beside him.
-KEEP MOVING, DON'T STOP!-
He did so, and rather than turning around, he jumped sideways.
Seconds later, a small hail of bullets flew into the spot where his body had just been, and over the unfortunate guy, Izuku had slammed into.
The sound from the explosion of each bullet was a ping of pain in Izuku's head, but he ignored it.
As he flew, Izuku turned midair to get a look at his assailants. The sight that greeted him was Mina ashido having moved so that she was between three of the gunmen and a final fourth one, who she was in the process of attacking having apparently ripped his machine gun out of his hand and tossed it over the edge of the building.
One gunman had trained his weapon at Mina and the guy she was tangling with, but he hesitated at the prospect of shooting and possibly hitting his buddy.
The other two were attempting to reload, having used both their clips trying to kill him.
Izuku didn't need to consider who to attack first. A black webline slammed into the gun of the hesitating gunman, and with enormous strength, it was wrenched out of his hands and went sky-high. The man screamed in pain, probably having broken his index finger.
Izuku ignored it, and instead, two new black lines slammed into the ground where the two men who were reloading were standing.
Izuku hit the ground right in front of them, and his hands shot up and closed around the guns, and with two "crunch" he broke both of them in his grips.
Izuku had made one mistake, however. He assumed the guy he had just disarmed was without a method of attack.
A giant fist of water slammed into Izuku from the side, sending him flying through the air and over the edge of the building.
His hand wrenched up, and a line attached itself to the side of the building, and instead of just falling, he slammed into the side of the structure.
He did not stop to catch his breath though, instead, he forced himself to climb back up, ignoring any pain of just having been hit by the water.
He vaulted over the edge.
What greeted him was the sight of the water fist guy lying on the ground and clutching his side, where Mina had just punched him, having already dealt with the guy she had been tangling with. The two other villains were running to help him, but stopped and turned towards him, as he came up over the side.
For a moment, it was a moment of calm as they just stood there staring at each other.
Then, with a glance at the other, both nodded, and they split up, one went towards Izuku, while the other went towards Mina.
The man who went towards Izuku changed, his suit, which Izuku only now realized was an army uniform with bulletproof armor, was shredded as he transformed, becoming larger and bigger, his muscles bulging, becoming a mountain of a man.
With a roar, he jumped forward, and lifting his hands over his head, he slammed them down on Izuku, who, panicked, brought his arms up to block.
The force… wasn't all that impressive actually. Izuku blinked, as the man recoiled, seemingly in pain, then after planting his feet brought his hand forward in a massive punch.
Izuku stopped it dead in it's tracks with an open palm, simply catching it midair
He then grabbed the arm, and threw him over his shoulder straight down into the rooftop, cracking the stone. The large man grunted in pain but was quickly silenced, as Izuku brought his hand down and punched him in the face, the man going out with a single blow.
For a few seconds, he just stared at the guy who went down so easily.
Then, the sound of battle shook him back to reality, and he snapped around towards Mina… Who also was finishing up her fight, the other guy lying on the ground having taken a power blow to the head.
"You okay Midori?" She asked in a worried tone as she jogged up to him.
Midori?
"Yea-yeah I'm fine… You?"
She grinned. "No injuries here. I was worried about you though when you flew over the edge."
She smiled at him. "You know to handle yourself in a fight, you been in many?"
"Not… Really?"
"Huh. Well, you did great anyway."
Apparently catching something on the ground, she bent down and picked something up. One of the Villains guns.
"Uzi's." She exclaimed. "That's… Not really a good sign."
He would take her word for it. He didn't really know gun types enough to call it something other than a machine gun.
"So… What do we do now? We can't just leave these guys loose, then move on."
Izuku blinked. Then he realized that he wasn't done here, and hastily begun to go and web up every single one of the Villains.
As he walked from Villain to Villain, Mina kept talking.
"Who are these guys anyway? They can't seriously think they could beat All Might could they?"
Izuku went cold. Time limit. All Might had a time limit.
"You… You remember that commotion with the news reporters yesterday?"
"Yeah? Oh right, you said something about that earlier."
"Yeah… Those guys used that commotion as a distraction to break into Yuei… Probably to look at the schedules. They knew All Might would be here."
They knew about his time limit and planned to attack him while he was vulnerable.
"I… I don't know about the hands guy… But… The teleporting guy, of black mists? He didn't strike me as the kind of guy who would have gone through with this plan if he didn't think it could succeed. These guys probably think they could theoretically kill All Might."
"But… He isn't even here."
"Yeah…" He went even colder. "But killing All Might isn't all they're after here. They… They separated us. They had this whole thing planned out, and divided us up so we would be easier to deal with."
"They want to kill us. That's the second part of the plan." As she talked, Mina had lost all her cheerfulness, the normally preppy girl suddenly having turned really melancholic.
She wasn't wrong though.
"Yes."
A silence followed as Izuku finished up webbing the gunmen. He bent down over the final Villain, the water fist guy, and with a shock, and a wave of disgust at himself, he realized he hadn't just broken his index finger, he had ripped it clean off when he yanked the gun out of his hand.
He had broken the leg of the guy he had landed on, but somehow seeing the blood flowing from where the finger had been, made it really sink in for Izuku.
These guys wanted to kill them. This was a life and death battle.
And all their classmates were in similar bouts.
"We have to go save our classmates. All of them are in similar boats to us."
A horrible thought went through his mind, and his hand went down and grasped the water guy by the bulletproof jacket. His webbing formed a seal around his hands as well and closed up the wound.
He then hoisted the webbed up man up, holding him upwards.
"Do all of you have guns?" he said in a dark tone, Venom's darker version of his own voice bleeding into it.
The man looked down on him, anger, and hatred in his eyes. Izuku grit his teeth in a snarl.
Fear went into the man's eyes. "I don't understand you!" He said in English.
What? Oh, right. His gaze turned to the group. Now that he got a look at them, none of them seemed to be Japanese. Probably American, or European.
"Do all of you have guns?" he asked again, this time in English.
The man hesitated for a moment, then, looking into Izuku's white eyes, he answered.
"Our entire group does. The japs don't."
"The Japs?" Mina said in a very angry tone like he had just horribly insulted her personally.
The guy, seemingly thinking she was asking for clarification answered.
"We were hired to do this job. All for One gave the Big Man, 30 million if we helped him out with this project. Our group is here, while the rest of the people here are Japs from his own group."
Izuku and Mina just stared at him.
"All for One? Seriously? THAT All for One?"
"Yeah, that guy."
All for One. All for One himself. The most notorious Japanese Villain in history was the brain behind this operation.
That seemed…. Well, It made things far more complicated.
"... If All for One was behind this, WHY isn't he here?"
"How should I know? I'm not a fucking officer. I just do as I'm told."
Izuku was about to continue when Venom suddenly shot a warning through his head.
-BEHIND YOU!-
Izuku, still holding the water guy snapped around, as out of the air, on the opposite edge of the roof, a new figure materialized out of thin air in a flash of purple light.
A very familiar figure.
The newcomer was a woman in dressed in the same military uniform as the rest, bulletproof west as well, the only difference being it was a navy blue color instead of bry and green. In her hand, she held a regular gun, though it wasn't pointed upwards at any of them.
She had long black hair, and though she had natural light skin, she obviously had a tan that had darkened.
Izuku recognized her immediately. The teleporting lady from the forest.
For a second, they just stared at each other. Then she groaned in an exasperated manner.
"Seriously, Morris? You guys couldn't handle a couple of kids literarily just out of middle school?"
Water guy, now identified as Morris, stiffened, then replied. "Sorry Tel."
"Fucking Yankees…"
She shook her head. Then she turned her face to Mina.
"Ah… Black Cat's brat eh? That explains a lot."
Then her eyes went to Izuku.
"And you are…?"
He stared at her, dumbfounded for a moment.
"Why… Why, would I tell you that?"
"Well, it's called proper manners kid. Or maybe your mom never taught it to you. Anyway, i-"
She stopped dead in her tracks.
"That liquid…"
Oh shit.
Her face went from annoyed, to pissed in a second.
"It's you! You're that asshole who broke both my finger and my jaw!"
"He did?" Mina asked incredulously. "Why? Who are you anyway?"
"I'll explain later," Izuku said quickly. Now was NOT the time to go into what had happened in the forest.
Now they had to deal with this lady.
He dropped Morris to the ground and assumed a combat stance. To his left Mina did the same.
"Tel" Did not move to attack them. Not that she needed to, being a teleporter and all. Doubtlessly, she would be relying on that for this fight.
Then, she disappeared into a flash of purple light.
Izuku tensed, assuming she would reappear somewhere nearby and attack, but she didn't.
-She left- Venom confirmed. - She's not around here anymore.-
"Did… Did she run away?" Mina asked in a baffled tone.
The answer, appeared in front of them, roughly 20 seconds after she left, as she reappeared once more.
But not alone.
Along with her, she had brought two guys.
One of them was dressed in a ridiculous yellow outfit, with a cross pattern over it. There was some red parts, as well as some steel sections on his outfit. Two gauntlets around his hands, in particular, standing out. Over his eyes, he had a large green visor.
All in all, he looked like a giant, yellow quilt.
Izuku had no idea who he was.
The other guy though.
"Oh shit…" Mina swore.
"Izuku, that's…" "I know, he replied in a tone far more squeaky than he'd have liked.
The man was Enormous. Grey, thick hide like plates covered him from head to toe in place of skin. On his head, two horns, one in front of the other, with the front one being much, much larger.
The only piece of cloth or equipment he wore, was a ripped and tatted set of baggy jeans around his groin and upper legs.
He could have looked comical… To anyone who didn't know who he was anyway.
"Thanks for helping me out here Rhino. You're really doing me a solid, here." Tel said in a cheerful tone while shooting daggers at Izuku.
"No problem Tel, I'm ALWAYS happy to help out my fellow Liberators." The monster replied cheerfully.
The man was Alexander O'Hirn. Better known as the Rhino. An American, man with a death count in the tens of thousands. He was one of the most notorious criminals alive. A monster who had crushed countless heroes into the ground over the course of a criminal career spanning only a single year.
Tel grinned. "Have fun you two." She gave a wave to Izuku and Mina before she teleported out.