Warning, the end of this chapter and the next will have an increase in violence.
UPDATE: I noticed I was wrong about my interpretation of Kaminari being scientifically unable to eletrify the water, especially after your many reviews on the matter. And I've come up with a way to make him able to scienfically do so and still respect the canon aspects of his quirk. The chapter is now updated for that purpose. Thank you for your constructive criticism!
"How did this whole thing come apart?" Izuku Midoriya shouted as the current predicament seemed to get grimmer. The day had started as a very promising day for something awesome. Hours later, he was surrounded by menacing villains along with two other classmates.
Hours before
This Friday had started out as any other day that was steadily becoming Izuku's UA routine. Except for the tinge of trepidation over what the rumors spoke of. That today was the promise day of a special class. It was either very good or very bad. Considering class 1-A homeroom teacher was Shota Aizawa, it was more of option B.
"Today we will be doing rescue training. Shipwrecks, fires, natural disasters and the like. The lesson will be lectured by myself and other two teachers, on an off-campus site."
Per the teacher's order, they collected their suites, changed hastily and proceeded to a waiting bus.
Izuku found himself sitting by Iida's side. The two boys were in an unspoken cordial truce after their disastrous joint performance at the battle trial.
"Iida, what's eating you?"
The boy in light armor looked at him, like Izuku had said the strangest thing. "Nothing is eating me, Midoriya. In fact, if I was being devoured, I would not be so relaxed."
The diamond boy restrained a nervous chuckled. This guy didn't have the slightest idea of slang or was just too literal. "No, I meant to ask why you look so upset."
Iida sighed. "I confess I am disappointed with myself. I had hoped to be class representative. I believe I have the skills to be a great leader. But alas, the consensus is that most of our classmates look at Yaoyorozu and Asui for guidance."
Izuku digested that. He had voted for himself in hopes that having responsibilities would force him to shape-up. In hindsight, as Aoyama said, it was a very poor idea and a waste of his vote. He decided then and there to never tell the bespectacled boy the reason why he voted for himself. No need to make him more hostile.
"What would you have done if you were elected?" Izuku asked.
That perked up the boy's mood. He spoke dramatically again, making his trademark robotic hand gestures. "Had I been elected, I would have made the class enter this bus in an orderly, alphabetic order."
Izuku hummed. "I think that's why nobody else voted for you. Iida, you tend to overdo it. You try too hard."
"Trying too hard is what anyone who is proud of being a UA student strives for." Iida retorted like explaining that two plus two equals four.
"Sure, but has it occurred to you that some of your…" Izuku paused to search for a term. "policies are impractical. For example, that idea of entering in alphabetic order. What would that accomplish?"
Iida prattled on about the advantages of entering in alphabetic order, allowing Izuku no chance to comment. The conversation remained mostly one-sided until the bus came to a sudden stop and Aizawa announced they had arrived.
The destination turned out to be a large domed structure, easily occupying an area of a neighborhood. The outside of the dome was bare, giving no indication what purpose it served.
The teacher and class promptly exited the bus went inside where they met the second instructor for the lesson: Space Hero, Thirteen. A pro-hero – potentially a woman – famous for her expertise in rescue missions. She was of average size and wore a space suite that left everything to imagination. Perhaps even her gender. Thirteen introduced herself as the main instructor for rescue training and briefly divulged how their practical class would go. Then she started a discourse about a more serious topic:
"Before we begin, let me say something you may need to hear. For those who don't know, my quirk—Black Hole – can absorb anything and disintegrate it instantly. Though I made it handy to rescue civilians, it can easily kill someone if misused. I'm sure some of you possess or have seen quirks like that."
She paused for effect. "In a superhuman society, quirks with a significant potential to cause damage for the user or others have been certified and closely regulated, so such quirks are often looked as relatively harmless by the general public. However, please do not forget that there are many Quirks that can easily kill with the wrong move.
"In Aizawa's fitness test, you got an idea of your quirk's maximum. In All Might's combat-oriented lesson, you experienced using your powers on others. Today, you will learn the core value of heroism; that is to use your abilities to help others. You don't have powers to use them to harm others."
Upon hearing that, Izuku's mind travelled backwards to the incident with the sludge villain. Months ago he was attacked by a villain made of slime and his powers reacted out of whack, knowing the attacker out. All Might showed up afterwards and picked up the villain. Later a detective went to his house to inform him the captured villain had experienced memory loss. The cause had been Izuku's strange powers. Though he was assured the villain would recover, it fueled more motivation for him to learn to fully control his enigmatic abilities.
So consumed Izuku was with his thoughts, he failed to notice the demeanor changed drastic and instantly. The lights went out. Something dark and purplish manifested swirling at the center of the plaza. Strange people poured out of the ominous vortex. The teachers tensed immediately whereas the students were confused.
"Stand back! Those are real villains!" Aizawa leaped without hesitation to handle the small army of criminals. The class was rushed to the exit by Thirteen, but their path was blocked by the same dark purplish fog from before. It had two yellow, slated eyes and spoke:
"Greetings. We are the League of Villains. Please, pardon us for inviting ourselves into the grounds of the prestigious UA. We are here to ensure All Might, the Symbol of Peace and Justice, takes his last breath."
But All Might hadn't show up. Izuku vaguely recalled Aizawa and Thirteen whispering something about All Might running late and something about three, or whatever.
Kirishima and Bakugo lunged at the mist villain but their joint attack proved fruitless.
"Oh, my…that was quite dangerous. Even though you are still children, it's apparent you show great promise for heroism. My role is to scatter you all and have my associates torture you to death. My apologies."
The dark fog surrounded them all. Izuku felt the ground beneath his feet disappear and he fell.
Mountain Zone
He landed on his front, rather gracelessly. He joked how Aoyamma would criticize him for falling with such lack of beauty. A quick look at his surroundings told him he was in the mountain area. Kind of obvious when all around him was rock and dirt. Also the large mountain was a dead giveaway.
Another vortex manifested above him. On instinct, he went for a pouch on his utility belt and grabbed three bubble-bullets ready to throw them at any in-coming enemy. To his relief, two of his classmates were deposited, Yaoyorozu and Jiro. The former of whom did a short flip in midair and landed on her feet.
"She must have had training in gymnastics."
The girls didn't even have the luxury of collecting their bearings as a third portal appeared, a much wider one. One by one, villains poured out. Obviously, that warpgate villain was much gentler when sending over his comrades.
"I guess we're fighting." The diamond boy grinned grimly, still holding the marbles.
To the girls' credit, they quickly composed themselves and took battle stances. Yaoyorozu created a bo staff for a weapon. She glanced at her classmates:
"Do either of you need anything?"
"I'm good."
"I could use a sword." A blade began to slowly protuberate from Momo's back. She noticed now the majority of their enemies were armed with knives or makeshift swords. "Most of the enemies are armed. Yet they hesitate to attack."
Jiro had her own thoughts, which unconscious followed her classmates reasoning. "They must be wary of what our quirks might be. So they planned to overwhelm us with numbers against a mountain."
Izuku made a ghost of a grin. "But their fear might work in our advantage. It wouldn't do to discuss a plan while they can hear…Unless they don't understand the meaning!"
"Hey, Jiro. Remember what I did at the battle trial to get Iida away from you?" He gave her a sideways glance, praying to whatever deity that she took his meaning. Her response was just a brief look of confusion and then realization.
"Go for it." With fast reflexes, she closed her eyes and covered a surprised Yaoyorozu's.
Finger to his temple, Izuku shouted. "Solar Flare!"
The area was bathed in blinding light, which the heroes took the opportunity to escape.
"Damn! Where did the brats go?"
"No way they could have gotten far."
"The girl with the big boobs is mine."
"Shut the hell up, all of ya!" shouted one above all the rest. This villain was the only one not yielding a bladed weapon. His face was concealed by a steel helmet. "They didn't teleport away. While we were blinded, I heard them running."
The evil cadre paused in something akin to respect. There was no strict hierarchy in the League, barring the obvious fact that Shigaraki stood atop of the pyramid. The big boss had the League's members separated into parties, each assigned to a different part of the USJ. Whoever led these parties, was up to the members to decide. Naturally this led to some in-fighting before a leader was decided. But not in this team; no, Deathvolt was infamous enough on the streets to be feared as the temporary leader.
The helmet-wearing villain looked down and spotted three trails of footprints. "They went that way." Deathvolt moved and motioned them to follow. Barring a mutant-type of blue skin and four arms. This one also didn't wield a blade; his four upper limbs were bladed:
"And what makes ya the boss, Deadbolt." The blue, four-armed cretin was a street thug who got by through petty thievery. One of the few who wasn't fearful of Deathvolt. "I don't see what every one of these wannabees is so scared of you."
Wordlessly, Deathvolt produced an object from a belt pouch. It was a hand-held device similar in structure to a tuning fork.
"You wanna know why I should be leading, shit stain? For starters, I'm one of the very few Shigaraki entrusted with one of these."
The upstart hesitated, eyeing the object like it was a rattle snake fixated solely on him.
"You saw one of these at work, right? Want me to test it out on you?" and the mutant-type backed down completely. Deathvolt pocketed the menacing weapon. "But tell you what. You wanna go get the first kill, go ahead. Take whoever you want with you."
The mutant-type was all too happy to do so. He picked five others to accompany him.
Deathvolt smirked under his helmet as he watched the pawns go first. There's a reason why the pawns always are sent in first.
Meanwhile, at the shipwreck zone.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" one Denki Kaminari was hanging nearer and nearer the water, tied by the waist by a rubber rope that Asui and Mineta were gradually lowering.
"Shut up and do your thing!" Mineta half-growled, half-pleaded.
Kaminari gulped, looking down. The villains kept their distance, like the frog girl said they would. Good to know they were just as scared.
"Yo villains! Get ready for a stroll on electric avenue!" his left hand sparkled, and, on that moment, the aquatic villains realized how frigged they were. He dipped the hand on the water and the villains were all eletrocuted into unconciousness.
"All done! I saved the day!" Kaminari bragged as they pulled him back up.
"Wouldn't have been better if you shoved both hands in the water?" Mineta inquired. Kaminari gave him a look.
Kaminari raised a finger and explained like it was rehearsed. "If I did that, they wouldn't be zapped. Eletricity flows through my arms like a circuit. And eletricity, naturally, tries to flow through its circuit. If I put two hands in the water, the electricity would travel from one to the other on a straight line, complete the circuit. The only water electrified would have been the one between my hands. Electricity won't scatter like that. But since I only placed one hand on the water, the electricity spread out to try and find the other hand."
Mineta just blinked. Asui gave him a studying look. Kaminari just shrugged at them.
"I have an eletrical quirk. Of course I gotta know stuff like this."
"This was surprisingly easy." Jiro remarked, sounding almost disappointed.
Following the solar flare, the heroes-in-training made their escape deeper into the mountain sector. A hill with trees served as a temporary refuge to plan their next move. Yaoyorozu was an advocate for playing defensive and waiting for real pro-heroes to rescue them. In spite of the situation, she argued calmly that they had no experience and were greatly outnumbered. Jiro protested that may not be an option and that they may have to confront the enemy. Izuku agreed with the ear-jack quirk user. A moment of thought later, the class president relented:
"I suppose you are correct. The fact those villains were able to bypass USJ defenses, cut off communications and were aware of our schedules proves they have this attack planned out. Being proactive and preemptive may be a better strategy."
Jiro and Izuku blinked and exchanged a glance. A moment ago, the class president was voting not to fight, then she changed her tune while reciting several logical arguments.
"Wow, you sounded like an actual leader."
Yaoyorozu shrugged. "I only presented the arguments you certainly thought of."
Jiro and Izuku shared another glance. Neither of them had thought of that many reasons to fight back.
The trio agreed to lay a trap. From their vantage point, they spotted a good place for it; a cliff at the foot of a mountain. Momo created a blanket over the cliff and covered it with a thin layer of dirt for camouflage. Jiro and Izuku went ahead to meet the villains halfway and slow them down with hit-and-run attacks. Thanks to Jiro, it was easy to detect incoming enemies. When Yaoyorozu - or Yaomomo as she didn't mind being nicknamed - gave them the signal by the communicators she made them, the pair turned tail and lured the evil doers to the trap.
The end result, the villains wound up at the bottom of the cliff, dazed or unconscious.
"That wasn't all of them." Izuku noticed there were only six. The group consisted of twenty or so.
"This must have only been a vanguard." Yaoyorozu agreed.
Jiro walked to the edge of the cliff and asked rather demandingly what their plan for killing All Might. It took to the threat of burying them alive, but they called her bluff and kept their mouths shut.
To further the kids' distress, the bulk of the villains showed up.
"This is why the pawns go first." Deathvolt smirked under his helmet. The kids had had enough time to lay a trap, which those two-bit numbskulls fell for, clearing the stage for his group. Now the pro-hero wannabees had no more surprises.
That being said, these kids weren't half bad, taking down thugs left and right, while covering each other's backs. Of course, his 'colleagues' had no concept of teamwork and pretty much went one at a time for an attack. What else could he expect from a hodge-podge of low drug-dealers, extortionists, junkies and dumb-muscle freelancers occasionally hired by higher criminal bosses?
In all honesty, Deathvolt could direct them into something more of a coese attack force. But he was no team player, himself. Deathvolt believed if you can't cover your own ass, you're not worth the effort or the money. That was a lesson life drilled into him over the years he worked as muscle enforcer and security on illegal dealings between crime bosses. A curriculum he had started building a little before he even became an adult. Mostly thanks to his electric quirk, a rare asset it is. But his power wasn't all he had under his belt. No, over the years, he learnt how to be observant.
The half-naked girl with the ponytail fought with a bo staff, complete with a taser at the tip. Perfect!
He pushed another thug aside and lunged to attack her from the front. The girl, probably thinking he was another moron, hit him in the chest with the taser. It tickled! Deathvolt hit the ground and pretended to be out cold. From the corner of his half-opened eye, he was able to keep watch on the girl.
He made out some surprised shouts after his 'defeat'. Apparently seeing the 'leader' down caused the others to chicken out. Worthless pussies, all of them!
It wasn't long until the last of them was felled and the kids relaxed. The weary creation girl turned her back to him.
Perfect opportunity.
Deathvolt sprang to his feet and stabbed his gift from Shigaraki in her back. He girl cried out as the weapon shocked her. She stumbled back into his hands.
Izuku had his back turned when he heard Momo's cry. He gasped when he saw a villain holding her by the neck with one hand. The big one with a skull like mask.
"Word of the wise, brat." The villain sneered at his hostage. "when you strike your enemy, make sure they're dead."
"Let her go!" Jiro wielded her sword.
"You're in no position to make demands. I am." His other hand came closer to Yaoyorozu's face, sparking with electricity. "You want her to live, then start by dropping your weapons."
The rock girl and diamond boy did as demanded. The bubble-bullets Izuku had on his hand scattered on the ground.
The villain pointed at Izuku. "Get rid of your belt, too. You thought I hadn't noticed you stored those marbles there? Drop 'em."
Cursing their luck under his breath, Izuku tossed the utility belt far away and held his hands in the air.
Yaoyorozu squirmed. Her fact looked determined, then confused. "W-what have you done to me? Why can't I use my quirk?"
"That's right, you can't. Now shut up!" the villain face snapped back to Jiro. "Don't even try it! You thought I wouldn't see that!" Izuku spotted her ear jack retreating from her boot. Whatever move Jiro had attempted was foiled.
"Now, you" the villain meant Jiro. "walk into the pit you dropped these shits in. I bet they're jumping at the chance to pay you back."
Seeing their petrified class representative and no other option, Jiro began to step back, slowly.
Amidst all the apprehension, Izuku's gem began to glow.
"I said don't try anything, diamond boy!"
"But I'm not…" right then, he felt the vibrations and increasing heat coming off his forehead. Shit! Not the time for his powers to start acting on their own!
"Midoriya, stop that." Jiro whispered through clenched teeth. "You could get Yaomomo killed."
"It's not me." The glow and vibrations increased. A headache settled in and was getting worse, fast.
"That's it, the girl's dead!" the villain's hand burst with electricity.
"No!" Jiro cried out.
On instinct, his hand travelled to his gem. Light exploded. There was a cry of pain. Blood spilled on the ground.