("Underlined text" is supposed to be read as Sign Language. "Italicized text" is used only for Misaki's Dad's quirk. "Bold Text" is used for messages Misaki types out.)

Chapter Six

Guts


When Misaki regained consciousness she was laying on the ground with her face in the gravel.

Wait, gravel? Why was she laying in the dirt?

She felt sore and every part of her body ached all over but when it hit her that she was someplace different and strange she shot up like a bat out of hell and looked at her surroundings on pure instinct from the adrenaline running through her veins. She didn't recognize the area in the slightest but when she looked overhead she realized that she was still within the walls of USJ. That warp villain had scattered all of the students around the building to dwindle their numbers and make it much easier to pick them off one by one.

However, that meant that their numbers were well enough in the dozens if they could cover each of the specific zones of USJ. If they had a good amount of members with them that their levels could be varied. The bosses tended to stay in one area while weaker members would span out to do the dirty work the boss didn't want. They might have been weaker but that didn't mean that students could handle the threat.

She needed to be on her guard. Even if the villains that were scattered around the building were petty thugs and the real threat was waiting in the middle of the dome, it didn't mean that any of them could take it easy. Speaking of villains that would be waiting in the area, she could feel the thudded vibration of footsteps against the ground. Misaki sucked in a breath and steadied herself.

Oh, hell no!

She wasn't about to let herself hesitate again. It was against the rules to fight back against villains but there was no way to tell the school that they were being attacked and until All Might or someone else showed up, they were going to have to do what they could to survive.

If you want to be a hero and rescue those in need, you have to be ready to kick some butt along the way if the situation calls for it. Her grandmother's words came to her in a moment of need.

In a split second, she was surrounded by three thugs from all sides. They seemed rather amused that she looked like she was ready to fight; she could see the whisp of a warning on the lips of one of the villains. If she played along then she wouldn't get hurt, that's what they were saying. Rather than take stock in that idea, her lips curled into a wicked grin. She raised her hand and flipped it over her shoulder in a quick motion that froze time faster than they could react to it.

Misaki was fast as she could be. She rushed forward and hit them before they knew what was coming, and as she flickered time back on, the trio was confused and laying on the ground as she was long away from them.

The particular zone that she had wound up in was the landslide zone and she took stock of the area as she headed in the direction that she thought she could find the exit to it. There were plenty of rocks and sharp hills of gravel in the dirt that gave some points higher elevation and other points had a lower elevation. Just as she scaling what she assumed was the last hill, she felt the familiar chill of ice run down her spine.

Todoroki, it's just Todoroki! She wanted to sigh in relief and realization.

He had a group of villains much larger than the ones that she had faced in front of himself and they were all frozen to the brim with just the upper part of their torso unfrozen so they would be able to talk. He was trying to interrogate them about what they were doing, and he was in the perfect position to do that with the help of his quirk. Their bodies would be subject to the coldest temperatures for so long and if they didn't give in to his quirk then they would be proxy to hypothermia.

Misaki slid down from the top of the hill and landed not too far from the scene. Todoroki made eye contact with her momentarily and then returned to his interrogation. The shivering villain was chattering and finally, he gave in and admitted all that he knew once Todoroki warned him that if he didn't listen then the frostbite would take his limbs.

"They just wanted us to get rid of you kids while they took care of All Might out there! All I know is that they have this creature with them called a Nomu. It's stronger than anything else we've ever seen before! It's even stronger than All Might is! They're going to use that monster to fight and ultimately kill All Might."

Something stronger than All Might? It didn't seem humanly possible. Todoroki and Misaki left the villains chilling on ice after all the information was pulled out of the thugs. It was unsettling to think that these guys wanted to kill their teacher and that they had something capable of it. So, not only did they have to worry about these petty villains they had to think about the beast that was waiting in the middle of USJ. At least that information would be useful for the pro heroes if they arrived.

They weren't out of the fray yet, however.

Todoroki seemed to notice it before she did. His hand lifted to his side and slicked the ground behind them as he pushed Misaki out of the way, a villain skidded out on the ice and fell, unable to get back up. However, that was the first villain of a dozen that had been waiting for them at the front of the landslide zone-

so, Misaki grabbed Todoroki's shoulder without thinking and activated her quirk.

Time slowed down to a fever pitch and it surprised her how Todoroki had been unaffected her quirk and pulled into the time slip with her!

Much to her startling surprise, Todoroki wasn't frozen like the rest of the thugs had been. She looked at him and then at her hands in amazement, and then shook her head, unable to process this new adaption to her quirk. Without letting her confusion cloud her mind, she directed Todoroki to isolate the remaining villains in ice and then she released her quirk before the side effect hit her hard.

Her headset was vibrating against the back of her skull hard when time resumed. It was warning her that she had stayed too long in the slip and that the symptoms would be hitting her soon. Breathing hard, she sank to her knees to try and catch her breath. Her vision was a little cloudy and the world was spinning just so. If Misaki used her quirk beyond her time limit of fifteen seconds, she would feel extreme vertigo. It would be nearly impossible to stand up or walk around, and nausea would become overwhelming.

They had only been under the effect of her quirk for around eight seconds but it felt as though that time had been doubled because of another person using the quirk's power. It took a few minutes of waiting for it to subside. When she came to, Todoroki was puzzled by her quirk. She could only offer him a shrug and a weak look that simply said, "I haven't done that before."

It wasn't impossible for this to happen because she vaguely remembered that her grandmother could do that but she had never been able to do that herself before. She pursed her lips. Quirks could grow and adapt in stressful situations, as well as being able to grow stronger through training and practice. It just so happened that this power manifested now of all times. She had been able to touch plenty of people on the arm or shoulder and save them from danger while using her quirk but she had never been touching someone before she activated her quirk.

Odd.

Misaki had had the foresight to bring along her phone with her just in case she needed to chat with one of her classmates during the exercise, and she remembered that it might be possible to get a text out if the signal was up and running again, but that realization did nothing since the signal was still jammed.

She pressed a palm to her forehead.

The signal is still jammed. She typed out before showing it to Todoroki. I tried to get something out just in case anyone manages to find the villain blocking the signal.

He nodded his head. It had been worth a shot.

Misaki figured she could also tell him about her quirk as well. Thanks for not freaking out back there, by the way. I've never been able to use my quirk on someone and pull them into its effect with me before. We made a pretty solid team there for a minute. We'll have to try that again sometime.

Todoroki didn't react to that in a way that was positive or negative. He simply indicated that he understood. He had been perplexed by her power since she had been able to beat him, and knowing that he had been under its effect had probably got him thinking about how much she could and couldn't do. But, they had bigger fish to fry. The two of them kept moving towards the center of the building and sooner rather than later they exited the landslide zone and found themselves on the familiar concrete path of the USJ.

You want to head towards the center, don't you? She asked him.

His look confirmed that.

They took a look at the scene and tried to make out as much as they could from their vantage point. From the front of the building where some of the class remained, it seemed as though Thirteen was down and everyone that was left was cornered by the warp villain and unable to make a move without fear of worse becoming of them. Then, throughout the building, it was obvious that makeshift battles were going on. Whoever had been scattered like she and Todoroki were fighting back.

They had no choice but to do that.

In the center of the room, there was a beast of a monster lying in wait with the boss villain. Her stomach dropped when she saw the blood pooling on the ground underneath the villain, and following it to where it started connected itself to Aizawa. She reached up and pressed a hand to lips to stifle the gasp that escaped. That villain had seriously injured their teacher and the extent of his wounds wasn't obvious but it looked bad- really bad. Misaki wasn't even sure if he was moving anymore.

Todoroki shot her a concerned look but Misaki shook her head to indicate that she was fine.

What was worse was that Aizawa wasn't the only one in the center ring. Midoriya was out there with who she assumed was Asui, and the villain had shifted his attention from their teacher onto the students.

Both she and Todoroki seemed to come to the same conclusion. The smart thing would have been to run back to the entrance or hide until the pros showed up but they couldn't afford to do that when their classmates were in danger and they could do something about it. They shared a look and understood what the other was thinking. If they ran fast enough they would be able to get there before something bad happened.

"I won't let them complete their plans to destroy everyone," Todoroki uttered.

"Right," she agreed.

It wasn't that far of a run but they had to get there as soon as possible. The trees that covered the walkways gave them enough cover to block them from the view of the villains, and that meant that they would be able to launch a surprise attack on them and at least get everyone out of there. Misaki would be able to use her quirk to give everyone a headstart as long as they could get there. Todoroki would be able to provide them a wall to block them from following them immediately.

It wasn't the best plan but it was what they had. Of course, it would have been alright if Bakugou and Kirishima hadn't run in from one of the side paths and met up with them. The grimace that was on the blond's face was evident when he realized that Todoroki and Misaki were on their way to launch a counter-attack when he had been thinking the same thing. Kirishima was a lot more kind then his new friend, the look on his face was apologetic and his worried grin was just alright.

They stopped for a moment to make sure that nobody had followed them or noticed them.

Bakugou's eye twitched. He looked down at Misaki with an annoyed scowl. "It's half and half, and the plum, fucking great. You two are just going to get in the way."

Misaki pressed her hands against her hips and leaned up to glare back at him. He had called her that stupid nickname again and now she wanted to give him a wallop for it. Misaki opened her mouth to say something back at him but Todoroki stopped her before she could engage him.

"This isn't the time for that," Todoroki told them.

"Sorry about him," Kirishima rubbed the back of his head. "Chill out, Bakugou. Numbers can mean everything when we don't know anything about these villains."

Todoroki informed them of the intel that they had learned as the group of students took off running in the direction of the main villains. It wasn't like they had much else to go on. Every little thing that they could learn would make a difference. "That thing that they have with them is supposed to be stronger than All Might apparently."

Bakugou wasn't having that. "Stronger than All Might, huh? I fucking doubt that. I'm going to destroy these bastards."

Up ahead of them in the center of the fray, a blurry blob flew overhead of the group and launched itself towards the so-called Nomu. Midoriya had tried to fight back and someone had swooped in before things could get ugly. It was All Might, and he tangled with the beast for a moment before it had him on his toes. The legend was knocked back and had the claws of this foe dig into the skin of his ribcage. With the number one hero on his toes and in the need of a hand, the quartet launched in the fray.

Bakugou went straight for the warp villain with one of his calculated blasts and knocked the man on the ground, while Kirishima took his opportunity to run at the boss villain but missed his window. Todoroki used his ice to freeze the lower half of the Nomu so it wouldn't be able to move further and cause any more harm to the hero.

While the boys took care of the threat, Misaki took it upon herself to make sure that the others were alright. Midoriya was staring in awe at his classmates in shock and a bit of awe as they held their own for a moment. Misaki offered him her hand and a worried look, mouthing to ask him if he was alright and not harmed. He nodded his head but then he looked over at All Might was still in a bit of danger.

He was worried.

But, Misaki had faith in their classmates even if some of them were less than friendly. The warp villain would be unable to use his ability as long as Bakugou had ahold onto his physical body. If he took one step out of dodge then he was going to be burned. The blond was taunting him and warned him that if he made one slip up that he would "blow them to kingdom come."

Suddenly, however, the Nomu broke free of Todoroki's ice quirk and began to build up muscle mass in the blink of an eye. He was knocked back just a bit by the hero but it wasn't much.

The smoke and steam that was coming from the Nomu was unbelievable. Every injury that had been inflicted on it was starting to simply disappear as if it had never even been there. That was well beyond the power that a human could have. Even those with healing quirks had drawbacks and that didn't account for the building strength that had started right after that.

All Might held his ground to block once he was free from the Nomu but now he was refusing to budge to keep it from reaching any of the students around him. While everyone was staring at the beast, it made an opening and with one flick of his hand, the boss directed Nomu in the direction of Bakugou to get back their escape route. Midoriya was frozen in shock until he noticed the girl beside him reaching up with her hand and then suddenly, smoke covered the entire battlefield and he couldn't see anything.

When the smoke cleared Bakugou was out of the line of fire and Misaki had unceremoniously landed on the ground beside him.

"Kacchan, you dodged that?" Midoriya blurted out, staring at the sight in surprise.

The look on Bakugou's face was not happy but he was surprised that he had been moved out of the way. He knew that Hisakawa had gone out of her way to move him out of the path of danger once again. But it seemed as though she had overused her quirk to rescue him and knocked herself out stupid because of it. He took one look at the unconscious purple blob next to him, and grit his teeth. "No, the fucking plum decided to move me with her quirk! The fuck do you think happened?!"

The earth all around them was shaking from another impact, as the rest of the smoke settled, all eyes landed on the sight of a cracked wall where All Might had punched the Nomu into. Misaki might have gotten him out of the way in time but All Might hadn't known that she could do that; He had taken the blow that the Nomu had intended to give Bakugou.

Shigaraki chuckled at the sight. "Anything to save a comrade, huh? You heroes are all the same and look where it gets you. Bent and broken, and for what? You gain nothing. Even worse than that, your solution is to fight. Just like earlier when that plain-looking one tried to help you, he gave me everything that he had, all of his hatred. Oh, but violence in the name of justice is admirable, isn't it, hero? You know what, All Might? That pisses me off! Heroes and villains thrive on violence, but we're still categorized. You're good, you're evil. That's how it is!"

All Might laughed that statement off. He taunted him and his words, "Symbol of peace? Hah! In the end, you're just a tool for violence, made to keep us down! Violence only breeds more violence. I'll show the world that by killing you! What a load of hooey. Idealistic criminals have a different sort of sire in their eyes when they say that sort of thing and mean it." All Might responded the upward curl of his smile hard. "But you're just enjoying yourself, you big liar."

Shigaraki sneered at them from underneath his hand.

"It's three on five, you don't stand a chance," Todoroki told them, plainly.

"And Kacchan showed us exactly where that man's weak point is!" Midoriya said.

"These might be some brutal looking dudes but with us supporting All Might from the behind, we can beat them back!" Kirishima agreed and pressed his fists together hard.

All Might stood his ground but he turned his head to look back at the students. He didn't need them getting involved in something that they shouldn't have been, and it was better for them to retreat while they had the chance. "No! You kids need to get out of here."

"Things would have gotten worse if I hadn't stepped in," Todoroki said. He rolled his sleeves up and crossed his arms. He had a point.

Midoriya stared at him with a bit of unease. He couldn't just leave behind the hero when he was this hurt. "All Might, you're bleeding... and there's not much time..!"

"You're absolutely right, Todoroki, and I appreciate the help that you've all done," All Might interjected. "But fear not. Sit back and stay safe, you can watch a pro get serious!"

"Nomu. Kurogiri. Take him. I'll handle the kids." Shigaraki commanded the two before he started to push forward. "Let's clear the game and go home!"

"He's coming. Get ready, guys!" Kirishima held his ground, his eyes darting in the direction of his classmates.

"He's got shock absorption..." All Might's voice began to resound throughout the area as he charged forward with his fists blazing and ready to attack. "You already saw it yourself."

He began to punch the Nomu over and over again, the blasts from his punch rocked the building and everyone struggled to stand still. "It's absorption, not simply negation! So he must have a limit, no?! Built to counter me, you say?! Made to withstand everything I got?! Then I'll just go beyond that limit!" All Might kept going and going, it was a formidable display of his power to everyone around. The energy surged all around them and the students struggled to hold their ground and not fly off.

He was actually beating down this creation!

"A hero's always ready to smash through the trouble! That's what we do! Tell me, villain. Do you know the meaning of... Plus Ultra!" With one solid punch, the Nomu went flying through the air and crashed into the ceiling of the U.S.J. as it disappeared from their eyes completely.

The smoke began to settle down and All Might stood there, undefeated.

"Yep, I'm slowing down. In my heyday, five of those punches would've been enough." He held his fist up triumphantly. This battle had ended in favor of the true number hero of Japan. Now all that was left were the two villains that stood against him and after that use of his punches that had destroyed that Nomu and sent him flying far away, nobody doubted that he could take care of everything on his own. "But that was over three hundred hits just now."

"Well, villain." He looked at Shigaraki. "How about we hurry up and finish this? Well? Aren't you coming to get me?! What happened to clearing the game once and for all, villain? If you can take me on your own, then bring it on!"

Midoriya stared at All Might with a deer in the headlights expression, Kirishima was agasp, Todoroki was staring with surprise, and even Bakugou was reeling at his energy. Shigaraki stomped his foot in a familiar that rivaled a child's temper tantrum. He wasn't happy that his plan hadn't worked out, and he was pissed that his Nomu had been sent away.

However, it seemed as though the game was over for the villains in this case, and for that reason, the students turned their back to their teacher and knew that he could take care of the rest. Well, sans Midoriya. He stayed still as he watched All Might with a hint of unease under his belt. It was like he was worried about the hero for reasons that the others didn't know.

"Midoriya! We oughta just hang back for now. Rush in and they might take you hostage or something." Kirishima advised.

"He's right. We're not ready for this level yet." Todoroki said.

Meanwhile, Bakugou was weighing his options between shaking Misaki back into consciousness or demanding one of those other idiots drag her ass back to the front of the building instead. On the one hand, he was irritated that she had gone and done the damn thing that he told her three times already to not do. She went and used her quirk to save to him. On the other hand, she had done it to allow All Might the chance to beat down that villain.

If she hadn't done that All Might would have had to save him and then shakedown that thing.

It didn't make him any fucking happier to know that he had been a liability. Whatever. He was fuming but he would deal those thoughts later when he could take it out on something.

He sucked in a breath and decided to shake her shoulders. It wasn't like he could scream at her until she woke up. Plum never fucking reacted to any sound at all, no matter how loud he was or no matter what was happening. It meant that she was one hundred deaf compared to people that partial or only a small percent of hearing loss.

"Wake the fuck up," he muttered.

Her eyelids snapped open and she whipped her head up, nearly hitting him in the process but Bakugou had the foresight to step back before she could. She glanced at him and then herself, and then she realized what had happened all within fifteen seconds. Her cheeks began to burn hot in embarrassment.

"You can fucking thank me later for not leaving you behind, plum," he scowled and then headed in the direction of the other boys.

Misaki pushed herself off of the ground and took note of the scene. All Might had managed to make a dent in the villains. That Nomu was nowhere to be seen and he had the other villains cornered and on the ropes; She wasn't surprised that the man had been able to turn the tides so fast. At least she had saved him the trouble of dealing with Bakugou.

She caught up with Todoroki and Kirishima who were staring at Midoriya who had hesitated to walk away from his original spot. Both Kirishima and Todoroki shot her a concerned a glance and she smiled back at him to reassure him of her status. Her body had just caught up from her after she overused her quirk. If she hadn't had used it that quickly than it would've been alright.

Midoriya didn't turn to listen to whatever the boys had told him.

Instead, the instant that the villain began to charge at All Might with his hands extended, Midoriya sprang into action with his fist held high and body launching through the air.

Misaki braced herself for whatever was to come but her body stiffened when bullets began to rain through the rain.

The villain had been hit.

All eyes in the room turned to see that every single one of the teachers and even the principal had arrived with Tenya Iida. There was no choice from that point; the villains that could escape got out of dodge right at that second and the ones that weren't fast enough to catch up were left behind to be caught.

From that moment, the rest of the afternoon was a blur for the students, with the eyes of the world all on U.A. and the villains that had dared to attack in a time of peace and prosperity.

And all Misaki could think about was what would this mean for the future.


AUTHOR'S NOTE.

Surprise! Back to back updates! I'll let you know that I meant to put this out yesterday with the other chapter but it needed a little more fine-tuning before I posted it. I'm glad to see you guys liking the story so far. Keep your reviews coming, questions or anything that you want to say are the reason that I keep writing! I'll have another reviewer response in the next chapter.