Chapter 15 - Bomb Defusing 101
With Matthew wrapped around his waist and stomach, and Shiozaki and Yanagi holding his legs, Shoji began climbing up the eight-story building. It was only a little difficult due to him carrying three people, but fortunately, he had the strength to carry himself and three others. Plus, the girls were featherweights, so that helped.
"Glad you're on the team, Shoji." said Matthew, as the four of them were on the fourth-story. "You're strength's really helping us here. Once we get to the top, we'll get through the door on the roof and get to the bomb."
"What if we get to the top of the roof and are unable to locate a door?" asked Yanagi.
"We'll go through one of the vents then." Matthew replied. "The roofs usually have large vents on them, so we'll be able to crawl through."
"What about Shoji?"
"I'm hoping that he'll be able to-"
Matthew's reply was cut short, as he heard what sounded like a low humming. He looked up, and saw that the walls were beginning to sprout electric chargers from them. And, to make matters even worse, they were starting to turn on!
"Shoji!" Matthew yelled. "Get to the window!"
"What?" Shoji asked, using his real mouth to speak, as he couldn't make a mouth with one of his limbs at the moment.
"Get to the window!" Matthew replied. "There's an electrical trap; we'll get fried!"
Shoji looked up and saw the electricity coming fast, and he began climbing over to where a window was. Matthew turned, opened it with one of his free hands, and climbed in. As quick as he could, he helped Shoji and the girls in. And just in time too; the electricity went right by them!
"Whew…" Matthew breathed. "That was close…"
"We were able to pull ourselves out of the fire, but now we find ourselves in another predicament." said Shiozaki, as Matthew came over to help her up. "Yet, we will seek, and we shall find the bomb that we must defuse."
"Correct." said Matthew, before turning to Shoji and Yanagi and asking, "You two good?"
"I'm alright." Shoji replied.
"I may have sustain some minor injuries from falling through the window, but I am still in able condition to continue." Yanagi replied.
"Okay." Matthew spoke. "How about you, Shiozaki?"
"I have renewed strength from the lord, which has abled me to carry on." Shiozaki replied.
"Good, very good." said Matthew. "Let's keep moving."
After saying that, Matthew began walking down one of the hallways. Shiozaki and Yanagi followed, with Shoji being the last one. So far, they were able to get through one trap, so things were going smoothly at the moment for the four heroes-in-training.
Back in the viewing room, the students of Class 1-A and Class 1-B, the American students, and their teachers were having their own reactions to what just happened.
"Wow! That was close!" said Uraraka. "They almost got zapped!"
"Looks like they dodged a bullet…" said Todoroki. "And a good thing too; it would've been bad to have fallen into a trap that early."
"Those guys have serious guts!" said Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, a student with silver hair and hard looking eyes. "Good thing they made it to the window!"
"Just shows has Class 1-B has the ability to work with anybody…" Monoma said haughtily. "Unlike Class 1-A, who only choose themselves to work with, we can-"
"Quit trying to start fights, Monoma." Kendo growled, as she was standing beside him when he said that.
As for Vlad King and Aizawa, the two were standing at the control board, watching as Matthew and the other three continued making their way down the corridors.
"Despite not having a quirk, that 'Noble' kid seems to be the leader in this situation." said Vlad King.
"He takes charge in most cases; he has the mind for it." Aizawa replied. "He's a cunning tactician, and he can hold his own in a fight. Justice High must have given him exceptional training, being the number one hero school in the USA."
They watched as Matthew and the three went down a corridor, and came to a dead end. There on the wall, they found a paper containing the plans for disarming the bomb. Matthew grabbed it off the wall, rolled it up, and put it under his arm. Upon seeing that, Aizawa pressed a button on the control board, and a trap activated.
As Matthew was walking away from the wall, he heard what sounded like something moving. He turned around and, to both his and his teammates' horror, the walls had produced nozzles! Suddenly, the nozzles activated, and flames shot out of them!
"Yikes!" Matthew yelled, jumping clear from the fire.
However, when he had jumped clear, a small bit of fire caught onto the schematics. Much to the horror of everyone, the schematics starting burning away! They all moved forward to try and put it out, but the flame was still going despite their best efforts! So, with it still burning away, Matthew opened the schematics and began studying it, hoping to memorize it time! Once he did, the schematics finally burnt up and turned into ash!
"Well, good news and bad news." said Matthew. "Bad news, the schematics telling how to disarm the bomb are gone. Good news, I was able to memorize most of it."
"Most of it?" asked Shoji, making a mouth with one of his limbs.
"Yep; just the important parts, such as which wire to cut at the end." Matthew replied.
"Let us hope that we are fortunate enough to get that far. Otherwise, we could be in for an unfortunate event." Yanagi spoke up.
"Right." said Matthew. "Anyway, let's roll!"
"Like the ancient Israelites of old, the lord is on our side, and we shall march onward to victory." announced Shiozaki.
The four heroes-in-training then began heading through the building, getting deeper into the traps and hoping that they would receive the knowledge on how to escape them. And hoping that Matthew didn't forget the schematics he memorized…
As the group made their way up each floor, they encountered several different traps. Some were relatively harmless, such as closing walls and slippery floors, while some were relatively dangerous, like flamethrower nozzles and swinging hammers. How they were able to put the traps in the building was unknown, but they were there.
Using Shoji's strength, Shiozaki's vines, Yanagi's telekinetic quirk, and Matthew's wits, the four were able dodge and fight their way through the traps. Pretty soon, all four were on the eighth floor. Luckily, there were no traps on the eighth floor, only several supply items, like barrels and crates, in the room. There were plenty of places for the bomb to be hiding, so they had to look, and quickly too; who knew how much time they had left?
"Shoji, can you make an ear and listen for the bomb?" Matthew asked.
Shoji made an ear with one of his limbs, and a mouth with the other, and said, "Already on it. I hear a faint ticking come from that group of crates over there."
Yanagi, using her quirk, lifted the crates and moved them to the side. There, sitting on the floor, was the bomb. It looked like several grey tubes tied together, and there was a timer on it that was ticking away. Judging by how the timer was going, the bomb was at five minutes and counting.
"It's Grey Mercury!" Matthew said in shock, as he picked up the bomb.
"Grey Mercury?" Shiozaki asked. "Is it dangerous?"
"No, but it's a paralyzing agent, meaning if this stuff touches us, our joints and limbs will be locked into place, and we won't be able to move for a while. We better start deactivating this bomb, or we won't be running anymore races today!"
Matthew then set the bomb on the floor, and all four heroes-in-training gathered around it. Remembering the instructions, Matthew knelt down and began taking apart the bomb so that he could deactivate it.
"Looks like the found the bomb." said Aizawa. He then looked at the students and said, "Pay attention and watch, students; this will help you when you come to the part where you need to deactivate the bomb."
Yaoyaorozu, Kendo, Todoroki, and several other students from both classes watched intensely, studying Matthew's movements as he started taking the bomb apart. His movements were slow and precise, making sure not to jostle the bomb and cause it to blow. But, the cost was precious time, as the ticker was still ticking away.
After having taken apart most of the bomb, the moment of truth arrived; the cutting of the wires. There were four wires, each of varying color, and cutting one would result in something happening; either the bomb would shut off, it would speed up ticking, slow down ticking, or would just go off right in their faces. At this moment, Matthew stopped.
"Looks like he hit a wall." said Ojiro. "I think he can't decide which wire to cut."
"An American hesitating?" Monoma asked, his tone prideful.
"Come on, man." Milo spoke, his tone annoyed. "Not now."
But Monoma wouldn't listen, and continued, "And here I thought you Americans would be more assure of yourselves. What's the matter; left your confidence back in your country? Maybe your friend should have one of us disarm the bomb; at least they'll-"
Much to the relief of everyone, Kendo karate chopped Monoma on the neck, knocking him out.
"What are you waiting for?" Shoji asked, his tone patient.
"Don't freak out, but I forgot which wire to cut." Matthew replied, his tone worried.
"WHAT?!" Shoji and Yanagi yelled, with Shiozaki staying silent.
"Yeah…" Matthew replied once again, his tone still worried. "Listen, can you guys just back up a little bit? If I cut the wrong one, the bomb will probably go right off in our faces."
Shoji, Shiozaki, and Yanagi obeyed, and they all took a step back. Matthew, now holding a pair of pliers that Shiozaki had found on the floor, looked at the wires intently. He began thinking about which one to cut, and trying his hardest to remember which one was the right one. He then picked one, and put the plier blades around it.
"Well, here goes nothing…" said Matthew.
Saying a silent prayer, Matthew closed the pliers around the green wire and clipped it. The bomb's timer stopped; it was deactivated. Matthew sighed in relief and got up, taking off his helmet.
"It's alright." said Matthew. "The bomb's deactivated."
Cautiously, Shoji, Shiozaki, and Yanagi came forward to examine the bomb. There, they found that the green wire had been cut; it was the one that had turned off the bomb!
"The green wire?" asked Yanagi. "It was the green wire?"
"Yes." Matthew replied. "At first I thought it was red, cause that's how they usually did it in the movies. But then I remember that this isn't the movies, so I didn't choose that one. I was going to choose the blue or the yellow, but I thought that Aizawa wouldn't do something that simple. So I just chose the green one, realizing that this was probably the one that did it."
"So basically, you struck out." said Shoji.
"Yeah, if you want to put it that way." Matthew replied. "But hey, we got the bomb."
"They deactivated it!" Ashido cheered. "Go Team Noble!"
Milo laughed and said, "I gotta be honest with you, I was on the edge of my seat, even if I couldn't hear anything."
"For a quirkless, your friend is really quite exceptional." Yaoyaorozu spoke.
"Well, that's Matthew for you." Sunshine replied. "He defies expectations."
"That was amazing." said Midoriya. "He memorized the schematics, and was able to use that knowledge to deactivate the bomb."
"He's not special! He just got lucky!" Bakugo roared, making Midoriya jumped. "No quirkless can do something like that!"
"He just did, Kacchan." Midoriya replied.
"Shut it, you nerd!" Bakugo yelled, causing Midoriya to back up in fear.
"Oh leave him alone, Bakugo." Murdock spoke, his tone annoyed.
"You shut it too, crap-shoveler!" Bakugo growled in response.
After a few minutes of getting out of the building, Matthew and his team were in the viewing room with the rest of students. There, they were to go over how they did and discuss their actions.
"Alright, now who do you think was the most valuable on the team?" asked Aizawa.
Matthew raised his hand to signify he wanted to speak, and Aizawa nodded in reply. Matthew then said, "Shoji, Shiozaki, and Yanagi all proved to be valuable on this team: Shoji used his strength to get us in, and his quirk to help us find the bomb. Yanagi and Shiozaki used their quirks to get us past the traps. All I did was give orders and deactivate the bomb. Other than memorize the schematics, I was useless; they could've done it without me if I got taken out."
"I give you marks for maturity, but you shouldn't belittle yourself." All Might spoke up. "Despite not being like the others, you still helped by deactivating the bomb, and you were able to succeed in your mission. Does anyone else have anything to add?"
Kendo raised her hand, and she said, "I have a question; why didn't you use your quirk when confronted with the traps?"
A smile appeared on Matthew's face, and he replied, "Well, I guess it's time to spill the secret once again, huh? Well, to tell you all the truth, I'm quirkless; I don't have a quirk."
"WHAT?!" Class 1-B, except for Yanagi and Shiozaki, all asked in shocked. "You're quirkless?!"
After Matthew told his story to Class 1-B, the bomb exercises continued. Milo, Ashido, Tsunotori, and Togaru Kamakiri, a Class 1-B student with an insect-like face, went next. They went into a different building, as the teachers wanted to make it challenging for the students by putting them in buildings they didn't already use. The team did pretty well, though Kamakiri was somewhat similar to Bakugo in terms of attitude. Fortunately, they were able to get through most of the traps that were set up, and they managed to deactivate the bomb.
After them, Murdock, Tokage, Tokoyami, and Kodai were next. Just like the team before them, they worked well together, and were able to get to the bomb and deactivated it. Though at one point, Murdock pretended to drop the bomb, and scared the heck out of his teammates. Tokage found it hilarious, though Tokoyami and Kodai were not amused.
Sunshine, Kaminari, Komori, and Shihai were next. Just like the team before, they worked well together, and were able to get to the bomb. After them, Joshua, Jiro, Fukidashi, and Awase were next, and they were able to get to the bomb. After them, Annabelle, Asui, Shishida, and Juzo Honenuki, a student with a skeleton-like face, went next, and they were able to get to the bomb.
On and on the exercise went, with each team of four going into different buildings to get the bombs. However, two of the teams had to be teams of five, as there were forty-six students. All the teams did well together, all except Bakugo and Monoma, who were on the same team. They fought all the time and the bomb went off before they could do anything, which caused all four members of their team to be paralyzed by the Grey Mercury.
Joshua watched all of teams intensely, studying the quirks of Class 1-B, making sure to note them for when he would have his nightly meeting with Stonefish. But still, as he was watching, he found himself surprised at what he was feeling.
Somewhere in his heart, past the infinite maze of darkness, there was growing light inside him. He started feeling that, despite his origin as the son of a villain, despite being here as a spy, despite all of those things, he belonged in U.A. He belonged among his friends, who had treated him nice despite being mean to them. He wanted things to stay like this; he found himself wanting to be with them. He wanted to stay in this place where he accepted. He found that-
He wanted to be a hero…