Thirteen called out. "Bakugo, get back!"
Kurogiri laughed, before swelling in size.
"Begone, hero brats."
The purple mist engulfed the students, swallowing them up.
Izuku raised his arm, ready to flick his finger, with all of One For All's power behind it.
Before he could something slammed into Izuku's back, sending him crashing into Sato, both of them rolling clear of the villain's mist.
"Writhe in torment, until you breathe your last."
Izuku pushed himself onto his knees, he looked up to see most of the class was gone.
Only Sato, Kirishima, Sero, Ashido, Shoji and himself remained.
Thirteen stood in front of them, separating the hero students from Kurogiri with their body.
His hand brushed something.
Izuku reached out, picking it up. It was Aizawa's phone, the screen was cracked, Mikumo must have dropped it when the portal swallowed him up.
Pressing the power button, the screen lit up, confirming it still worked. Izuku started at Aizawa's lock screen, an image of the dark-haired man and Present Mic, both in civilian clothes, a white cat sat on the former's shoulder.
Aizawa looked happy, they both did.
So this is the world Aizawa fights to protect. His world.
"Midoriya!"
Turning the screen off, Izuku looked up, seeing Sato towering over him.
"R-Right."
Izuku accepted Sato's outstretched hand, standing. "Shoji, the others, are they still in the USJ? Are they safe?"
Shoji's arms stretched out, ears forming on the end of each.
"They're all still in the facility, but scattered." Shoji retracted his arms. "They're fighting."
Izuku nodded. "Good, our first priority should be to regroup, they've split us up to weaken us."
"We'll have to take this guy out first." Sato said. "Otherwise he'll just warp us apart again."
Sero sighed. "Physical attacks won't work on him, he'll just warp himself away before they can reach him."
"Then we need a plan." Izuku mused.
"No."
Izuku's head shot up, seeing Thirteen looking back over their shoulder at him.
"Class Representative." Thirteen raised their arm, the finger-caps of their gloves popping open. "Your job, you need to pick someone here to run back to the school. You won't have long, I'm not sure how effective my quirk will be on him."
"But-"
"This is our best bet, whoever is blocking communication is well-hidden, too well-hidden. If we don't get reinforcements soon we'll all be squashed like a bug with a flick of his finger." Thirteen activated their quirk, purple energy starting to swirl. "Now. It has to be now."
Looking at each of his classmates still on the platform, Izuku made his decision.
"Sero, you're the runner. Sato, you get the door. You two need to blow past him." Izuku opened his hand, activating Explosion. "It's on the rest of us to run interference. Ashido, aim for his collar, Shoji, use your quirk to maintain three hundred and six degree vision, tell us where this guy goes when he warps. And Kirishima."
Kirishima turned his head to Izuku.
"You're the tank."
Kirishima grinned, hardening his arms and upper body, flashing the green-haired boy a wink, a conspiratorial grin on his face.
Kurogiri chuckled. "What kind of fools discuss strategy in front of the enemy?"
Izuku stepped forwards, standing alongside Thirteen. "Ones who aren't discussing the real plan."
"What-"
Raising his arm, Izuku pressed his middle finger and thumb against each other, glowing with red energy, as he called on the confidence that came with Bakugo's quirk.
I can't afford to sacrifice my arm right now, even if we get past this guy, there might be more. Imagine the egg not exploding!
"DELAWARE SMASH!"
A gust of wind and massive shockwave shot from Izuku's finger, tearing through Kurogiri, blowing the mist away from his body.
Izuku held his broken finger with his other hand.
It didn't work, I still broke it. I can think about that later, now...
"Sero. Sato. Go now!"
Sero shot strand after strand of his tape, pulling himself towards the door, while Sato used his sugar-enhanced strength to lengthen his strides.
Kurogiri began to reform. "You cannot be allowed to escape."
Sero made it to the door first, trying and failing to open it.
"I could really use your strength right now, Sato. Hurry."
Sato accelerated, burning through his sugar stores faster, increasing his strength, reaching Sero faster.
Kurogiri swooped down, soaring towards Sero and Sato.
Thirteen activated their quirk, aimed at the mist-covered man. "You can't stop us!"
Izuku's eyes widened as Black Hole began to pull at Kurogiri's mist.
"Sensei, don't use your quirk on him, he's going to-"
A portal opened up between Thirteen and Kurogiri, connected to one behind the space-themed hero's back.
Thirteen screamed as the back of their costume was ripped apart, followed by their skin.
In all the times Izuku had been put down, discarded, told to kill himself for being quirkless, he had never got mad, he had just let it wash over him.
But now, Izuku was angry, he could hear the blood pounding in his veins.
Here, this villain was killing a hero, a hero that dedicated themselves to rescuing people in need.
Why?
Because they were in his way, because they were trying to protect children.
Izuku released a howl of rage.
Activating Slingshot, Izuku pulled on the remains of Thirteen's costume, pulling both it and its wearer out of Black Hole's area of effect.
"Sato, get that door open, now!" Izuku glared at Kurogiri as the purple cloud dove at him.
Izuku made his selection, opening his mouth and calling on one of his newest quirks.
A hail of tiny seeds shot from the green-haired boy's mouth, most of them passing through the mist harmlessly, the rest bouncing off the villain's metal collar.
That told Izuku everything he needed to know.
Closing his mouth, Izuku switched to Slingshot again, and applied a strand of its power to Kurogiri's collar.
Planting his feet, Izuku added the rest of strands to the collar and began to spin.
Kurogiri was spinning too, the speed increasing with every rotation.
"Faster, I need to be faster." Izuku gritted his teeth, his passive Speed quirk was already boosting his velocity, but he needed more.
I have to go beyond, like All Might did with the sludge villain.
I have to break my limits.
Inside his quirkspace, the Speed quirk lit up as Izuku supercharged it with One For All's energy.
He would only have a few seconds before Speed reached quirk exhaustion, overtaxed by One For All's power.
Izuku's velocity increased, practically becoming a blur as he reached his new top speed.
He wouldn't be able to hold it long, Speed was dangerously close to depleted already.
"Release!"
Izuku let go of both Slingshot and One For All, watching as Kurogiri was thrown the full diameter of the USJ.
"Woah!" Kirishima exclaimed, watching the villain's trajectory.
Rushing over to the prone form of Thirteen, Izuku dropped down to his knees, resisting the urge to vomit as the sight of the hero's injuries.
"C-Class Representative, you must go." Thirteen coughed. "You all need to go."
Izuku shook his head, removing one of his gloves. "Not a chance."
Placing his hand on Thirteen's back, allowing only his fingerpads to make contact, Izuku called on Heal, using One For All to power it in place of Thirteen's stamina.
A shout grabbed Izuku's attention, making the green-haired teen look up.
Sato was holding the door open.
Outside there were more villains, around fifteen or so, waiting for any escapees.
They needed to maximise their chances of one of them making it back to campus.
Izuku made his decision, raising his free arm, aiming directly at Sato, his other classmates forming a rough line between them.
His eyes met Sato's.
Sato nodded, grunting as he pushed the door open wider.
Izuku placed his ring finger to his thumb, next to his shattered middle finger.
One For All thrummed through Izuku's veins, into his arm and down to his finger, red lines criss-crossing his skin.
Izuku flicked his finger, releasing another shockwave, sweeping Shoji, Ashido and Kirishima off their feet and blowing them towards the door, colliding with Sero and Sato.
The door closed, with Izuku's classmates on the other side.
Izuku was alone.
Thirteen was out cold, but their back healed, the strain on them had been too much to remain conscious.
"That was impressive."
Izuku flinched at the sudden reappearance of Kurogiri, his hand slipped, making physical contact with Thirteen's exposed back.
Black Hole bloomed into existence inside Izuku's quirkspace.
But Izuku didn't have time to think about that.
Izuku stood, watching as Kurogiri walked up the stairs, flanked by three villains. One wore a metal mask, some kind of breathing apparatus.
Another's entire head was covered in a thick layer of burns, followed by bandages on top. The last was wearing a straightjacket, his head vaguely reminding Izuku of pig.
Taking a defensive stance, Izuku stood with fists clenched despite two broken fingers, using his body to shield Thirteen.
"It doesn't matter." Kurogiri paused. "Our companions outside of the facility will deal with the escapees post-haste."
Izuku gritted his teeth. "They won't just rise to meet what you throw at them, they'll beat it. All across the USJ we're fighting back."
Kurogiri said nothing.
"You know why?" Izuku paused. "Everyone here today wants to be a hero, and heroes never give up. Never give in."
"A touching speech." Kurogiri clapped his misty hands in what was clearly a sarcastic manner. "But it won't work, a speech won't save you. Go."
The three villains charged at Izuku.
Izuku ducked the swing of the masked villain's fist, before using Slingshot to pull himself out of the way of a cloud of boiling steam, emitted from the bandaged villain's hands.
The straightjacket villain charged at Izuku with a pig-like scream, head down. Holding up his arms in an x-block, Izuku hardened his arms, bracing himself as the pig-like villain slammed into him.
"Stupid child, stupid child, stupid child!" The villain suddenly let out a squeal.
"Re-Strain, keep your head in the game!" The bandaged villain called as he charged at Izuku's back.
Pivoting on one foot, Izuku moved to the side, allowing Re-Strain to barrel forwards, straight into the bandaged villain.
"Damn it, Re-Strain, Azubaz, pull yourself together!" The masked villain snapped at his compatriots.
Azubaz groaned. "Don't tell me what to do, Masque."
While the two villains untangled themselves, Izuku focused on the masked villain, listening and watching intently.
Masque took a deep breath in, his mask hissing, Izuku watched as his muscles tightened, swelling and gaining further definition.
His mask is feeding him some kind of gas to increase his strength. Trigger? Or part of the villain's quirk?
Izuku used Slingshot to half-step, lining his right arm up with Masque. Activating Kirishima's quirk, Izuku hardened his right arm, past the elbow, driving it deep into the masked villain's gut.
Masque gasped as the air was driven out of his lungs, his muscles returning to normal as he did.
So whatever he breathed in only enhanced his strength while he kept it in his lungs, it has to be his quirk, Trigger wouldn't work like that.
Izuku released the hardening on his arm and spread his palm flat against Masque's chest. Calling on Wave Motion, Izuku felt his vitality dropping as a small blast of light blue energy, in the shape of a swirl, was emitted from his palm, bumping the villain slightly.
Masque had regained his breath, laughing as he towered over Izuku. "Is that all you can do?"
Izuku looked up, reaching out and connecting Wave Motion's energy drain to One For All's stockpile.
"That was me just warming up."
Izuku fired another blast wave, far larger than the last, sending the villain flying backwards, flipping over in the air and landing on his front. Taking a step forward, Izuku opened his mouth and released a hail of seeds, peppering Masque with them.
"What are these things?" Masque picked one of the seeds up from where he lay, examining it.
The seed burst open, a vine growing out of it, snaking around his wrist.
"Hey, get off!" Masque shook his arm, trying and failing to remove the vine, unaware the rest of the seeds had also produced vines, wrapping up his body. "Wait, no, help-"
The vines grew up Masque's neck and into his mask, cracking it, the sound of a hiss revealing whatever gas the villain had been breathing in was dissipating uselessly.
Yet the vines continued to grow, covering Masque in a cocoon of green, muffling his shouts.
"This kid has multiple quirks!" Azubaz turned his head to look at Kurogiri. "You said you were going to send the one with the copying quirk to Sangata."
Kurogiri's eyes changed shape. "Hm, I thought I had, this child, he looks very similar to the one I sent."
Izuku fell into a combat stance, watching the remaining villains.
They must have sent Mikumo instead.
"No matter, Sangata will copy whatever quirk he has regardless." Kurogiri's eyes returned to normal.
Izuku chuckled before he could stop himself, slapping a hand over his mouth as quickly as he could.
Azubaz rounded on Izuku. "What's so funny, brat?"
"You sent Mikumo to fight your comrade."
"And?"
Izuku smiled. "Mikumo is quirkless."
"Kurogiri, you are a moron!" Azubaz charged at Kurogiri, steam billowing from his body.
"Tomura made a mistake hiring you." Kurogiri's mist swelled. "I tire of you."
Kurogiri opened a portal, below Azubaz, connected to a hundred feet in the air.
The villain screamed in terror as he plummeted towards the unforgiving concrete.
I have to save him, even if he is a villain.
Izuku shot into the air, using Slingshot to push against the concrete below him, his hand outstretched towards the bandaged villain. His hand made contact, all five of his fingerpads touching Azubaz's skin.
Azubaz froze in place, suspended in the air.
Reaching out with Slingshot, Izuku hooked two strands to the roof and two to the floor, holding him in place.
"What have you done to me?" Azubaz's eyes were wide with panic.
Izuku looked down at the hand that had made contact with Azubaz, at the round pads of the tips of his fingers.
"I get it, this is Slingshot's second power."
Reaching out, Izuku pushed against Azubaz's chest, barely able to move him. The tension pulling Azubaz was like a rubber band.
Like a slingshot.
That's it!
Glancing over his shoulder at the Shipwreck Zone, Izuku made the calculations. Releasing one of the strands attached to the roof, Izuku bonded it to the bandages wrapped around Azubaz's chest and applied the required force.
"You're going to land in the water, so be prepared." Izuku decreased the power in the strands below himself, slowly lowering to the platform. "You can swim, right?"
Azubaz's eyes widened. "What-"
Izuku released the slingshot, Azubaz flew through the air, towards the water of the Shipwreck Zone.
"You're a diiiccckkkk…"
Izuku's sneakers touched the ground as Azubaz's yell faded away, followed by a faint splash.
Kurogiri chuckled. "You really are a wannabe hero."
Izuku glared at the mist man. "So?"
Kurogiri shrugged. "I can't see why anyone would want to be a dog of the government, that's all heroes are."
"Heroes aren't dogs, I mean, Hound Dog kinda is, but that's besides the point!"
"So bright eyed, so optimistic." Kurogiri said. "I wonder if I was similar at the age you are now?"
Re-Strain charged at Izuku, with a loud squeal.
Izuku grabbed the villain's straightjacket with his telekinesis, throwing Re-Stain against the railings with all four of his strands.
"Impressive." Kurogiri clapped. "Sangata was supposed to recruit you, but seeing you here I can tell that won't happen."
"Why?"
Kurogiri's eyes showed his frown. "Hm?"
Izuku looked Kurogiri dead in the eyes. "Why, with a quirk like that, would you choose to be a villain?! Think of all the people you could save with your quirk!"
Kurogiri shrugged. "I guess you could say, this is what I was made to do."
That had been the wrong thing for Kurogiri to say.
Izuku burst into action, Bakugo's explosions in his palms, propelling him forwards.
"Using your quirk for evil isn't a choice!" Izuku roared, dispelling the explosion in one of his palms, his body curving around Kurogiri at speed.
Using Slingshot, Izuku grabbed ahold of Kurogiri's collar with a strand, his momentum from his explosions allowing him to swing the villain around and slamming him back down onto the ground.
Izuku landed, placing his hand on the collar, holding the villain down. "It's cowardice!"
"How dare you!" Kurogiri began to swell.
A jolt of panic ran through Izuku.
This villain is going to open a portal to who knows where, I can't let him! What would All Might do? No, what would Kacchan do?
Izuku released a series of explosions from his palm, pressed against the metal collar. "Do that, and I-I'll blow you sky high. Die?"
Kurogiri sighed, not stopping. "You won't, you're a purehearted fool."
Izuku released a supercharged explosion, the boost from One For All rattling the bones of his left arm, he could feel the bruises and aching muscles already, as well as a sharp scratch.
Kurogiri was out cold, but it was too late, the portal was already open.
Both hero-in-training and villain fell through the portal, into the Shipwreck Zone, above the water. As Izuku fell towards the water, Kurogiri's unconscious body floated away, going higher with every second.
Holding out his arms, Izuku prepared to call on Slingshot to push against the water and stop his fall, until something wrapped around his waist and pulled.
Izuku landed on the deck of the boat with a roll, coming to a halt against the outside wall of a cabin. Opening his eyes, Izuku looked up, seeing both Tsuyu and a panicking Mineta looking back down at him.
"Is he dead? Does he have brain damage? Oh, no, no, no-"
Mineta's rambling was cut off by a slap of Tsuyu's tongue.
"Midori? Are you okay, kero?"
Izuku groaned, rolling over and pushing himself to his feet. "I'm fine."
"You have two broken fingers! How can that be okay?!" Mineta exclaimed, eyes wide with fear.
Tsuyu tilted her head. "Mineta's right, are you sure you're okay?"
Izuku nodded his head. "I-It's okay, at least I haven't broken anything major."
Mineta made a funny choking noise. "Anything major?! That's it, we're all going to die, if they have something that can kill All Might like you said Asui then we're doomed!"
"Call me Tsu."
Mineta wasn't listening, continuing to ramble loudly as he spiralled towards a panic attack. "I'm too young to die, I've never even kissed a girl!"
The small purple teen was sobbing now.
Tsuyu's tongue slapped Mineta again, harder this time, enough to leave a noticeable welt across his cheek.
Mineta calmed, a hand slowly rising to touch his cheek. "I hope this doesn't awaken something in me."
Izuku frowned at the small teen.
And people say I'm weird.
Putting that bizarre can of worms to one side, Izuku thought back to what Mineta had said.
"A way of killing All Might?" Izuku mused, a finger on his chin as he sank into deep thought. "Possibly, these villains have countered the heroes fairly well, Thirteen by sending Kurogiri against them and Aizawa by sheer luck his fighting style was unsuited to battles against large numbers."
"But when it come us students, they only seem prepared for some of our quirks, Kurogiri said they'd planned for my quirk, then they probably did the same for Todoroki as the son of the Number Two Hero, as well as Kacchan as he came first place in the entrance exam. Maybe Kirishima, since he came second place, and Momo, she is the other recommendation student after all. But they can't know about them all, otherwise they wouldn't have send someone with a quirk like Asui's-"
"Tsu."
"-Tsu's to the Shipwreck Zone, logically, the Conflagration Zone would have been the best for them to send her to, assuming Tsuyu's quirk also gives her susceptibility to high temperatures, which is likely. Then, Mineta should-"
Izuku was brought back to reality by a violent lurch of the boat.
"What's going on?"
"One of the villains, he's broken the boat in two with his quirk, kero. We're sinking."
True to Tsuyu's word the boat was snapped clean in two and sinking at a rapid rate.
Izuku moved to the railings, looking out at the villains in the water, he counted sixteen, eight on each side of the boat, more could be hiding under the surface.
"Huh, I hadn't even seen them there."
"Hadn't seen them!" Mineta's voice reached almost supersonic levels, his panic returning in full force. "How can you not have seen them?!"
Izuku ignored Mineta, staring out at the villains.
"If they have a way of killing All Might, then we need to stop these villains, here, and lighten the load for him."
"Lighten the load?! That's ridiculous!" Mineta was crying. "We've not even finished our first week at U.A. yet. We should wait for the U.A. heroes to save us!"
"If we do nothing we could all be dead by the time they get here." Izuku paused, looking down at his hand.
"Young Midoriya, this is your hero academia!"
"It doesn't matter if we've barely started." Izuku raised his head, channeling the confidence from Bakugo's quirk. "Someone once told me that most heroes have a story from their youth, when their feet moved before they could think."
"That doesn't matter, we're going to die!" Mineta rushed to the edge, throwing multiple spheres at the villains, as tears continued to stream down his face.
Tsuyu's tongue shot out, binding Mineta and pulling him away from the railing, ceasing his barrage, as Izuku fell back, joining his two classmates.
Izuku spoke. "We can't let them figure out what our quirks are, for you two at least. The boat's going to sink in less than a minute, once we're in the water, it's over. They'll win."
Mineta shook like a leaf. "T-That's true.."
Tsuyu turned her head to look at the small teen. "Mineta, did you really come to U.A. to become a hero?"
Mineta flushed red. "Shut up! You have to be weirdo like Midoriya to not be scared right now!"
"I'm terrified." Izuku said, getting Mineta's attention. "I pretty sure if I wasn't using my quirk to boost my confidence right now I'd be unable to even think straight."
"So you're still just as afraid as me then! You're not courageous at all."
Tsuyu shook her head. "'Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the ability to act in the presence of fear', kero."
Izuku stood from the crouch he was in. "The moment the enemy thinks that they have definitely won, it represents your best chance to strike."
"All Might said that, right?" Tsuyu questioned.
With a nod, Izuku stepped towards the railings, his fists tightened. He ignored the pain in his two broken fingers.
He looked down at the villains, two of them were talking about, something. It was too far away for Izuku to hear them.
Note to self, find a hearing enhancement quirk at some point, one would be pretty useful right now.
One of the villains, bald with pure white skin and high, metal collar was gathering water around his hand, increasing it in size with every second.
Some form of Hydrokinesis, too powerful to be a minor variant, so he might be able to manipulate the temperature of the water. In conclusion, he's probably the most powerful, and considering his body language, the leader.
"We have to act."
Izuku called on Explosion, sparks dancing in the palms of his hands, putting one foot on the railing.
"DIE!"
Mineta's eyes widened. "Y-You can't be serious?!"
Act like Kacchan.
Before either Tsuyu or Mineta could stop him, Izuku leapt the railing, his arms behind him, explosions slowing his descent towards the water, releasing a roar as he did.
The villains were taken aback at the sudden change in the actions of their 'prey'.
Good, that's put them off balance.
The leader recovered first, preparing to send his clawed fist of water at Izuku. "I guess he's just a kid after all."
Another villain chipped in. "The second he hits the water, we'll gut him."
From the boat, Mineta stared at the green-haired boy, tears streaming from his eyes.
"Midoriya's just as scared as I am, he said so himself! How did he keep going? Giving it his all?"
Izuku stopped his explosions, stretching his right arm out, aimed towards the water.
Just like with the mist guy, I can't afford to lose the use of my entire arm, and even then I can't hit them all at once if they form a circle, so, I'll aim for the water!
With his middle and ring finger already broken, Izuku placed his index finger against his equally broken thumb, calling on One For All's power and Kirishima's Hardening in both digits.
Don't break the egg. Don't break the egg. Don't break the egg.
"DELAWARE SMASH!"
Izuku flicked his hardened finger, a deafening crack echoing through the Shipwreck Zone.
The force of his attack slammed into the water's surface, creating a whirlpool.
Shouts and cries came from the villains as they were sucked towards the vortex of the whirlpool.
"Tsu! Mineta!"
"Kero!"
Tsuyu's tongue wrapped around Izuku's middle, pulling him up and away from the water's surface, the frog-like girl's jump dragging him along after her, Mineta under her arm.
Izuku dared to look down at his hand, his index finger was still hardened and unbroken, however large patches of his toughed skin had been blown off, revealing the muscle underneath. His thumb had fared slightly better, with only a few deep cracks in his skin.
Mineta clenched his fists. "What the heck, Midoriya?! First the Battle Trial, now this?! Why are you acting so cool?"
Reaching up to his scalp, Mineta grabbed at his spheres, throwing them at the villains one after another.
"Even I, even I can do something!" Blood poured down the sides of Mineta's head, the vortex in the water ensuring the thrown spheres stuck to their targets.
And then stuck their targets together.
The whirlpool closed, dragging the villains under the water before suddenly firing them back into the sky at high velocity.
Reaching out with his left hand, Izuku attached a Slingshot strand to four of Mineta's spheres, stuck deep inside the pile of villains, and supercharged the quirk with One For All's power.
Izuku's temporarily increased weight limit allowed him to change the villain pile's trajectory, slamming them into the side of the slide, the spheres sticking them in place.
"It rounded them all up at once." Tsuyu looked back over her shoulder. "Looks like we've cleared the first hurdle."
Mineta, Midori, you're both amazing.
Izuku turned his head. "Tsu, aim for the water near the main plaza!"
"Sure, kero."
They landed with a splash, Tsuyu and Mineta first, then Izuku, who used Slingshot to slow his descent.
Mineta thrashed wildly, struggling to keep his head above the water.
Tsuyu stood, placing her feet on the bottom of the shallow water, grabbing Mineta by his cape and holding him above the water.
Mineta ejected a lungful of water. "Thanks, Asui."
"Call me Tsu."
Izuku took the lead, the three of them setting off towards the main plaza.
Mineta looked back to the Shipwreck Zone. "Good thing I took a nice clean dump this morning, those villains will be stuck-"
Tsuyu interrupted him. "Finish that sentence and I drop you, kero."
Izuku started up at the roof of the facility as they trudged on through the thigh deep water.
I can't assume Sato and the others have managed to beat those villains and make it back to campus yet, I need to come up with a backup method.
Izuku mentally cycled through each of his quirks, trying to find one he could use to somehow contact or signal for help.
Variable Mist, that could work, but I'd need the formula, Momo might know it, but I don't know where she is.
Picturing the moment that Kurogiri had swallowed them up with the mist, Izuku tried to work out who it was likely for Momo to be with.
Kaminari. He and Jiro were standing right next to her.
Pulling Aizawa's phone out of his pocket, Izuku opened the call app and keyed in the number for Kaminari's transceiver.
I just hope whichever quirk is blocking communication isn't stopping internal signals.
"Hello? Hello? Kaminari, can you hear me?"
Izuku heard faint cracking and a few whispered words.
"Izuku."
A smile graced the green-haired teen's lips. "Momo, it's great to hear your voice."
Mineta groaned and rolled his eyes. "We get it Midoriya, you're a chick magnet."
Izuku didn't hear, continuing to talk to Momo over the phone, asking her a question about some chemical formula.
"I don't think he heard you, kero."
Mineta shrugged. "They never do."
Tsuyu looked back at Mineta.
"The perverted thing, it's an act, or at least an exaggeration, isn't it?" Tsuyu tilted her head. "You want to be seen, don't you?"
The short boy recoiled in shock.
Tsuyu gave a half-smile. "Mineta, I see you."
Mineta's face crumpled as he fought back tears.
"I get why you want to be a hero now." Tsuyu moved Mineta, allowing him to cling to her back, instead of trailing in the water. "Touch anything and I drown you, kero."
Mineta nodded, brushing aside tears.
Izuku's arm shot out, stopping Tsuyu and Mineta in their tracks.
They had reached the edge of the water, before them was the main plaza, the pale man stood back, two out of the three monsters he'd brought with him as his side.
Aizawa was still fighting the horde of villains, only five remained, the rest either unconscious or on the floor, moaning in pain.
"Remember, Midoriya, we're just here to see how things are going, okay." Mineta said as he climbed down from Tsuyu's back, the water was shallower, only going to his waist, for Izuku and Tsuyu, their knees.
Izuku nodded, drips of water flicking from his damp hair. "Right, the second it seems like we're in danger, we leave."
The three teens crept up to the edge, slowly raising their heads to peek out at the plaza.
Aizawa soared into the air with a pull of his scarf, before slamming down, a foot in the guts of the two remaining villains, taking them out of the fight.
Pounding footsteps signaled that the pale man had made his move, running at Aizawa with his arms stretched out.
Aizawa stood from his half-crouch. "So you're their boss."
An end of Aizawa's scarf shot at Shigaraki, moving to bind him, but the blue-haired man caught it before it could, holding it tight so its owner couldn't recall it.
The two men sprinted towards each other, at the last second Aizawa pulled on his scarf, throwing Shigaraki off balance and slamming his elbow into the villain's gut.
The trap was sprung.
Shigaraki sank into the attack, gripping Aizawa's arm and holding it in place, stopping the Pro Hero from pulling back for another attack.
Aizawa's hair felt limp, forced to blink.
Shigaraki's quirk returned.
He laughed. "You know, it's hard to see when you keep moving around, but that moment when you hair falls, that's when your quirk stops."
Aizawa swore, unable to move as the material of his costume over his elbow turned grey and crumbled away.
Just like the U.A. Barrier.
Shigaraki continued to talk. "As you've gone on the time you can keep your quirk active has gotten shorter and shorter, and the downtime has gotten longer and longer."
Izuku watched in horror as the skin on Aizawa's elbow crumbled away, revealing the raw muscle below.
Aizawa took a half-step back, pulling Shigaraki off balance before driving his knee into the pale man's groin. Shigaraki grunted, stumbling back as Aizawa made some distance between the two of them, blinking rapidly in an attempt to moisten his eyes, his elbow was still falling apart, even without contact.
Three of the villains had got back up again.
Aizawa ducked under the swing of a woman's gorilla-like arm, before spinning to avoid another villain's metal claws. Blinking one final time, Aizawa activated his quirk, erasing the quirks of the three villains and their boss, stopping the decay spreading up his arm.
Shigaraki had recovered. "That quirk of yours isn't suited to fights like this, multiple enemies, drawn out, is it? If you're the underground hero you look to be, then you rely on stealth against large numbers, right?"
Aizawa's chest heaved, forcing his eyelids not to close.
"And yet you leapt right in, into a fight you know you have no chance of winning, all to put your students at ease."
Aizawa blinked.
The villains pounced.
Aizawa dodged the clawed villain again, wrapping him up in his scarf and swinging him into the last villain, a man generating chains from his wrists, a mace attached to the end. The two villains tangled in the chains, leaving them struggling on the floor.
Turning to face the pale man, Aizawa reactivated Erasure.
"Man, you're cool." Shigaraki threw his arms wide. "But, by the way, I'm not the final obstacle."
Aizawa turned, the black monster towered over him, its eyes wild and unfocused.
"He is."
The monster moved with speed that was unnatural for a being of its size, grabbing Aizawa in one hand and lifting him into the air.
Shigaraki laughed. "Say hello to the Anti-Symbol of Peace, a bio-engineered being, Nomu."