Chapter 16: Chaos and Comradery
What happened next was pandemonium. The heroes present were not ready for the twelve incredibly powerful creatures that suddenly flooded the school mess hall. The place filled with screams as students panicked and fled from the monsters, which at first seemed to be intent on attacking everything they could see.
Each one possessed multiple powerful quirks in addition to being monstrously fast and strong. Aizawa watched as Vlad and Cementos combined their powers to create walls of stone and binding blood, but the beasts simply smashed through them, barely even slowed for having done so. His mind tried to lock onto a solution.
There were far more heroes in this room than there would normally be, but that clearly didn't mean anything. Never had he seen such power amassed against himself or even a team of heroes. The Nomu that had injured him back at the USJ had taken everything All-Might had to defeat, and it had been working alone.
His eyes followed as Midoriya and his friends jumped into the fight despite being told not to. Ida snatched students from in front of the creatures as fast as his speedster quirk allowed him, narrowly dodging a few of the Nomu that lunged for him, proving that they were so fast even he had to struggle to stay ahead of them.
Uraraka proved equally effective, using her powers to float a Nomu that lunged for Ida, sending the surprised creature treading into the air before it could turn to retaliate to the girl whom had touched it. The Nomu's own weight and momentum sent it spinning helplessly through the air. It wasn't the only one that was surprised, though, as the monster suddenly called out, "This one's quirk is annoying! Kill her!"
They could speak! Which meant they could reason and weren't simply dumb beasts on a rampage or following specific commands like the last one. They were even more dangerous now! Reacting fast, Aizawa sent a line of his rope out and wrapped Uraraka around the waist with it, snatching her back towards his position as he used his quirk to nullify whatever quirks the Nomu that had been charging her might have used.
It was still fast! Just like the Nomu from USJ, these things were surgically altered and genetically modified to have strength much greater than possible for a regular human being. Sadly, that meant nullifying their quirks didn't save them from being smashed to a pulp by the creature's raw physical power. Grabbing the girl as she came within reach, Aizawa pushed her away and dashed in the opposite direction.
As he did so, he sent lines of his capture weapon, which is a steel wire alloy woven with carbon nanofibers out to trip up the Nomu and keep its attention on him. The line did little to slow it down, sadly, and Shota frowned to see the monster rip the strong white weapon apart as if it were flimsy tape. It did at least take the bait and chase him as he ran to stay ahead of it, jumping hard to avoid a swiping, clawed hand.
They couldn't win this fight like this. From his peripheral he could see the battle going poorly and by the shouts he could hear they were taking injuries and having a hard time containing the mutant Nomus. He could hear Midnight shouting that a quirk was disrupting her attempts to put the creatures to sleep and buy them time by blowing her scent into the escaping students, which was rapidly going to lead to disaster.
Even if it would only even the odds just a little so that they weren't so overwhelmed... He had to do something.
Scanning his immediate vicinity as he ducked and rolled from the fierce creature that kept lunging for him, Aizawa used his environment as best he could in defending himself from the beast by making it follow him around and through objects. Seeing what he could for the time being and knowing that he didn't have any more time to plan he shouted out.
"Bubaigawara, make two copies of Midnight! You should know her dimensions by now, right?! Uraraka, float the unconscious students so Ida can get them all in one go on his next pass! The rest of you, stay alive but try to cover me while I get that one under control!"
It became clear which Nomu 'that one' was as Shota launched himself headlong towards the creature that was using its quirk to blow Midnight's sleep-inducing pheromones back at the retreating classes. Quick to render help, Midoriya was the first to strike into the Nomu that was still chasing Eraser, but since the erasure hero no longer focused on it, the beast's quirks flared back to life.
Raising one arm, the monster easily blocked Izuku's inhumanly powerful punch without so much as flinching, it's wide, sharp-toothed mouth set in a patronizing grin, "Too weak!"
It raised a hand to deal him back a lethal blow of its own, but white tape shot out and wrapped around its arm, delaying it enough for Midoriya to retreat. Sero Hanta stood a few paces away, stumbling as the monster roared and ripped the tape he had shot at it from his elbows with his quirk away. Its voice boomed in annoyance, "What's with all the tape!"
"He has shock absorption, like the one that attacked us at the USJ!" Izuku yelled, waving for the others to get back. He had distracted the thing away from Aizawa as his teacher had asked, and his One-for-All meant he could stay away from it if it gave chase, but with the speed it had and the other unknown quirks it possessed, Sero was in grave danger.
Before he could formulate a plan of attack, though, a lunch tray suddenly slammed into the beast's head from behind and to the side of them. The Nomu snarled and wheeled to look at the gray-haired young man whom was shaking a fist at it, Tenko shouting at the top of his lungs, "Tell One-for-All he can go hang, fucker!"
Somewhere else in the room Tenko could hear Toga yelling for him to run, though he was already turning to get the hell out of there without need for her council, but even so he could see immediately that he wasn't going to be fast enough. With startling alacrity, the monster was already bounding after him and nearly upon him before he could even turn around.
For a moment it was as if he was moving in slow motion. It was only too bad his opponent wasn't. Idly Tenko wondered if this was where he was going to die, having done little else other than throw an insult at one of that bastard's pets. What a shitty way to go, he thought. He had never really thought about it in this light, but having no quirk to defend himself with really sucked balls.
And then Midoriya saved him. There was a green blur of movement from his peripheral, and a streak of fast action just behind him so fast paced that his eyes couldn't keep up. With a flurry of blows, Izuku attacked the floor the monster stood on, sending it off balance and then grabbing it while it was midair. Spinning in a tight circle it was clear that he meant to throw the beast.
Absently Tenko thought out what Midoriya was doing. Break the floor because the Nomu could not be moved when attacked head on due to the shock absorption, then grab it in the air where it couldn't use its strength to fight being thrown. Brilliant.
Except that Izuku wasn't ready for the creature's lightning reflexes, as the Nomu grabbed ahold of the aspiring young hero and threw him instead. The monster charged after the plummeting One-for-All user, clearly intent of capitalizing on the opening it had just made in his defenses. Shimura glanced around, knowing there was nothing he could throw that would matter.
Tenko smiled; it looked like he didn't need to do anything. Midoriya was still getting what he had been aiming for, the moment the creature had given chase.
With an incredibly fearsome blow, the Nomu drove its massive black fist at Izuku, whom blocked the strike with both arms. The ground shuddered and the high schooler was thrown ten feet back from the force, though, his grimace a clear indicator that it had hurt even though he'd braced against it.
Laughing, the menacing enemy stalked towards Izuku as the latter backed away, "What's wrong little hero? You only just now finding the brains to be afraid?"
Stumbling, Midoriya slumped back against the opposite wall, his eyes drooping as he panted, fighting to focus on his opponent.
With another roar of laughter, the Nomu starting advancing again after having paused to sneer its insult, "Already done after just that one blow? I don't know why he ever thought you were a threat!"
It lifted one clawed hand high, clearly planning to deliver the killing blow, when a voice from behind gave it pause, "Hey, dumbass! Have you not realized you've lost yet?!"
Turning to glance behind itself, the creature suddenly stumbled at Midoriya had, its limbs growing heavy as its blurring vision took in the sight of Tenko back where he had been a few moments ago. A young black-haired girl was handing him a gas mask, with one already fitted over her own face. A gas mask. The Nomu's eyes widened as it realized what had happened.
Too late, it understood that Midoriya had fallen down because he had lured it into the pheromone cloud created by one of Jin's clone Midnights, the sounds of her distinct laughter filling the cafeteria three-fold as most of the Nomu lay sleeping in various positions around the wrecked building. It tried to retreat but it had already breathed in too much, and slumped down to the floor to lay still.
Yaoyorozu Momo rushed forward and put a mask on Midoriya once it was clear that the monster was asleep. She glanced at Tenko, whom stood with his hands in his pockets despite the fact that fighting could still be heard just outside, probably the Nomus whom had realized the danger and moved away from both Midnight and her clones.
Realizing that his shouted insult had likely given Izuku the time he needed to survive the Nomu's attack, she nodded at him, "Thank you."
Flustered, Tenko turned away from her, looking to see where Jin, Toga, and Shuichi had gotten themselves off to, "I didn't really do anything." He didn't see his friends, and as he had come to see them as such, he would be at least a little disappointed if they managed to get themselves killed, he told himself.
Momo hefted Midoriya and started to head for the kitchen area, but froze when she saw the lone figure blocking the doorway, two glowing eyes set under a ragged hood. Sensing her pause, Tenko whirled to look at the Nomu, too. "Fuck..."
This one was taller but thinner than the last one, but there was an aura about this Nomu that expressed just how dangerous it was as it starting taking slow steps towards Momo, whom was still frozen in indecision. Not that there was much in the way of a choice to make; as far as they could tell, everyone else was too far away to assist, and they wouldn't be able to outrun it, especially not with Midoriya in tow.
The creature's voice came out hard and raspy, laced with malice, "You didn't think we were really running around rampant, did you? A lot of us wanted this to be a challenge, so we played around a little, but we aren't going to be done here until that little runt is dead..."
Tenko's eyes narrowed; dead? Midoriya? That had never been All-for-One's plan. He had been told to avoid killing that boy on a few occasions. Had the plan changed? Perhaps because Shigaraki was in prison and the League had fallen apart? It was the explanation that made the most sense, especially considering how many Nomus had shown up.
This was a considerable amount of lethal overkill; All-for-One was going all out. He really wanted to kill Izuku now, likely so that his quirk would disappear with him.
Scowling as he set his jaw, Tenko balled his fists and frantically looked around for something he could use, anything at all. If he was going to screw Shigaraki over, now would likely be his one and only chance, not to mention he couldn't go dying alongside Midoriya with that altruistic little dunce having just saved him.
An uneven spot on the wall in one corner of the room caught his eye, and Tenko recognized something that few others would, due to his time spent with Shuichi. The lizard boy could camouflage himself with his quirk, his skin shifting colors to match his surroundings, but it wasn't perfect, and Shimura had gotten used to noticing the flaws in the disguise.
"Shuichi, now!" he shouted as the Nomu had advanced just a few steps away and was clearly tensing to lunge at Momo. "Fire your lasers!"
Becoming visible immediately and looking very confused, his friend regardless played along, "Uh, wha... right! Pew pew!" For dramatic effect Shuichi pointed one hand at the Nomu braced by the other as he made his silly sound effects.
Unaware of what Shuichi was actually capable of, the monster snarled and leapt as far back as it could, uncertain of the line of effect, speed or area of the imagined lasers.
Momo didn't have to be clued in on the plan; whether she thought Tenko's ally actually had a weapon like that or not, she dashed as fast as she could in the other direction as Shimura ran alongside her, taking one of Izuku's arms so that they could share his weight and run faster.
Being as he only had nano-seconds to make his decisions, Tenko hadn't considered what might happen to Shuichi now that he had involved his friend in buying them precious moments to try a mad and doomed attempt at escape against overwhelming odds. Now though as he pushed his body to move as fast as possible his brain caught up to it.
Worry lanced through him like a knife that the Nomu would become angry at being made a fool of and charge Iguchi with lethal intent from such a short distance away now that his friend was no longer hidden from the enemy. If that monster rips Shuichi apart, it will be entirely Tenko's fault. A sort of relief followed when he heard Iguchi shout in warning.
Relief that was short-lived of course; it was nice that he wasn't getting his friend killed in the short term and all, but Shuichi's scream of impending peril meant that he, Tenko, was about to die. Deciding that he wasn't about to die being hit in the back and wanting to make certain the slate was clean between him and Midoriya, Tenko whirled, snarling.
His fist raised to strike, knowing that he likely wouldn't even land his pointless attack before he was torn open, Shimura screamed in frustrated defiance. He paused, though as several things happened all at once to save his life. Just behind him stood someone whom was not a Nomu, the powerful monster actually drawing up short as a rock-hard body interposed itself between the three fleeing students and the creature.
Kirishima Eijiro, whom had taken up the training hero name 'Red Riot', stood his ground as the angry beast slammed its arms into him again and again. His hardening quirk was already being pressed to the maximum of its ability, and Kirishima cried out in pain, but rather than back away he took hold of the monster, screaming in its face as he tried to pin it in place.
With an almost casual swat the beast backhanded him, causing his grip to slip before it drove another fist into Eijiro's chest. Kirishima gasped as his hardened flesh cracked on the impact, and he was thrown aside, unable to muster enough strength to maintain his stance against such overwhelming force. Before he had sailed far Shuichi leaped in from behind the Nomu, swinging a chair as his weapon.
The monster batted the chair aside and grabbed ahold of the lizard boy, whom yelped as he was slammed hard into the ground at the Nomu's feet.
Momo nearly had cleared the door to the room with Midoriya, and perhaps someone outside could keep the boy hero alive against this thing, but Tenko was frozen where he stood in indecision, because that matter wouldn't save his friend from being killed right now.
Shuichi weakly raised a hand and pointed it at the Nomu, his teeth gritted.
The monster laughed, its serrated teeth flashing menacingly, "Do you think I'll fall for the same trick twice?! I know you don't..."
The laser beam struck the beast dead center, throwing him backwards and making him lose his grip on Shuichi as his body smashed through an overturned table.
Aoyama Yuga cheered himself on as the blonde made his presence across the room known, "Can't stop twinkling!"
Sprinting as hard as he could, Tenko snatched ahold of Shuichi and dragged the young man to his feet, leaping back in the direction of the exit the moment Iguchi had his own feet planted under himself again. Seeing that Aoyama was still standing where he had been with a wide grin on his face, Shimura swiped a hand his way.
"Run you moron! There's no way that took him out!"
Yuga looked startled a moment and then fearful as his logic caught up with his sense of accomplishment on blindsiding the Nomu. With a yelp he started running too as rubble shifted and the beast roared as it suddenly lurched back up onto its feet. Aoyama gasped as he looked back over his own shoulder while running.
Before his startled eyes, the hole he had bored through the creature's chest healed itself, returning the Nomu's flesh to the way it had been before receiving the injury in the first place. Clenching its fists, the monster leaped forward with terrifying speed, and Yuma screamed as it closed the distance between them in only a few moments.
To make matters worse, Aoyama tripped on some debris from the ruined wall since he was spending too much time looking behind himself, and he fell down in front of the advancing beast. Panicking, he fired his navel ray at the Nomu again, but this time the creature was ready for him, and with superhuman alacrity it dodged the beam of light.
Yuga shut his eyes tightly, knowing that the next thing he was going to feel would be the beast's rending claws, or perhaps its biting, serrated teeth. Maybe the Nomu would simply smash him to a pulp with its massive fists. He gasped after a long moment, taking a deep breath since he had been holding it and peeking one eye open to see that he was alone in the room now.
The Nomu had ignored him and kept going. Why didn't it take that perfect opportunity to finish him off? Aoyama frowned; was he so weak that the monster had decided he wasn't even worth taking the time to kill? His stomach felt sick from firing off two powerful blasts so close together, but he lurched to his feet, running after the others.
He might not be able to do much, and maybe that creature was right about him being weak, but he was going to do what he could! That's what it meant to sparkle!
Outside things had turned into a veritable war zone, and the heroes were still fighting a war of attrition with the remaining Nomu that had not been put to sleep, fighting defensively as they shepherded the children away from the carnage. Yuga skidded to a stop, seeing that Momo now lay unconscious, likely having been struck while fleeing to get her to drop Midoriya.
The One-for-All user was also still out and helpless, but a bloodied Tenko still stood between where Izuku lay on the ground and the Nomu whom had chased them out of the cafeteria. Shimura wasn't what gave the monster pause, though; it was the two heroes whom stood flanking the now quirkless gray haired youth.
Cementoss on one side, Vlad on the other. Both were panting and looked worse for wear, but their stances and steely gazes said they weren't ready to be counted out of the fight yet. Vlad shouted loudly, "We got students down over here, we need one of the Midnights!"
He didn't take his eyes off the Nomu, though. Both heroes seemed to understand how dangerous their opponent was, and how quickly it could cover the ground between them if they let down their guard.
The beast grinned widely at them, its mouth a display of jagged fangs, "Do you two think you can stop me, then? It should be fun to see how long you two pros can keep up..." The Nomu crouched, its powerful muscles coiling for the attack before it exploded into action, leaping directly for Tenko and the unconscious Midoriya at his feet.
Just as quickly cement walls and binding strands of blood shot out from Cementoss and Vlad, though the monster plowed through the walls and tore through the grappling blood, slowed but not stopped. Laughing as it reveled in its own superiority, the Nomu suddenly bellowed in pain as Toga drew a butcher knife from the kitchen across its hamstrings.
For a moment the creature stumbled due to the damage to those important areas, as it tried to counter her sudden attack with a backhanded strike of its own. Toga deftly tumbled out of the way, though, proving that she could keep up with its speed enough to evade the attack with it thrown off-balance the way it was.
Vlad and Cementoss were quick to capitalize on the opening as well, a well of cement trapping the Nomu's legs as streamers of blood wrapped around its torso tightly and coagulated into strong bonds. The thing roared and proved that even standing still it was too strong to be held that way, though, as both the bonds and the cement burst in a shower of destroyed matter as it flexed its mighty body.
Tenko took a look at its legs and tsked; they were already healed, so the narrow window that Toga had afforded them to attack it while it was off-balance had already closed, and running for it remained impossible. Not with that monster's speed. It had already proven that it wouldn't hesitate to take the advantage of attacking Momo's back.
Scoffing at the assembled fighters, the Nomu paused as it took in Toga where she still crouched a half dozen feet away, "Impressive that you managed to catch me like that; it isn't often that a person is so stealthy that they manage to take my back, not since I was gifted with these incredible new senses of mine."
Toga smiled at the monster, holding its gaze firmly with her own as she slowly licked the creature's blood from the blade she had taken from the cafeteria kitchen. "From the way Shuichi made an ass out of you, I'm going to guess you don't know what my quirk is, yet..."
Her body suddenly bulged, rapidly taking on a new form until a naked copy of the Nomu stood staring at the original, even Toga's voice having changed to match that of her opponent's stolen form, "I usually avoid doing this with such an ugly target, but I suppose it can't be helped."
The Nomu's eyes widened. Tenko could practically see the gears turning in its head. It was trying to decide if her change was merely cosmetic or if she had actually gotten the power and agility of its modified body. More than that, it was likely wondering if she had copied the abilities granted by his quirks.
Even if only the former was true, the Nomu would be now be hard-pressed to make a short fight of it, allowing more heroes to come join the fray and further reduce its odds of success. If the latter was true, it was very possible that it would end up captured as so many of the others had been. Apparently, the monster decided to retreat, scowling as it suddenly turned tail and bounded away.
As it did it howled, and similar roars could be heard in the distance as the entire pack of beast-men withdrew from the fight, their clear goal thwarted.
Tenko let out a heady sigh of relief with the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Suddenly weary beyond belief he sagged to his knees, grimacing at many small pains and discomforts and grumbling at the unconscious Midoriya, "We aren't just even with this... you owe us one now, punk."
Aoyama breathed a heavy sigh of relief from where he stood just outside of the cafeteria. He had run so hard to catch up to the action only to freeze when he saw the showdown between the two heroes, the Nomu and Toga. He was seriously outclassed by that monster and that had created a decision paralysis on what he could do when things started moving.
He had seen Himiko sneak up behind it when he had started thinking that he might need to blast it from behind, only pausing as long as he did out of worry over whether he could actually fire again. After all, he had fired off two big shots and his stomach was already twisting and cramping miserably. A side effect of his quirk, ever since he had received it.
It made him feel really weak that he hadn't actually done anything to help when it came down to the wire, but Yuga was nonetheless happy to see the Nomu retreat from the field of battle, some of them pausing to grab their unconscious brethren before they bounded off. A few more fell into the invisible snare of two Midnights, Jin's second copy having been destroyed in battle.
Those monsters hit the ground and started sleeping, proving yet again how formidable Nemuri's subtle power was.
Yuga limped over to where Midoriya lay, his own leg hurting as he walked. With the adrenaline pumping through his body, he hadn't been aware that he had twisted his ankle when he fell, but he certainly felt it now, favoring the hurt foot as he checked up on his friend. Aoyama's voice was worried, "Is he... is he alright?"
He had heard what that Nomu said from where he had been hiding in the cafeteria earlier; they were all after Izuku for some reason.
Cementoss and Vlad had stepped over to talk to All-Might in hushed tones, the latter looking bloodied and haggard and nursing a limp and obviously injured arm.
Tenko was the one to reply to the question, glancing down at the prone form of Midoriya still lying at his feet. Shimura was bloodied, too, but it seemed that it wasn't his blood, which was part of why Aoyama was so worried, "He's fine, he just fell there when that girl dropped him; she took a hit to the back, though, so you should probably check her out."
Yuga had a blank expression on his face, which annoyed Tenko, "Hey, did you hear what I just..."
Suddenly Aoyama lurched forward and took hold of Izuku by tightly wrapping both arms around the boy. Utter terror laced Yuga's expression as he cried out in horror, "W-what?! N-no! Noooo!"
Shimura's eyes widened in surprise as a golden glow began to suffuse the boy hero known as 'Navel Laser', as his stunned mind finally comprehended what was happening; he was about to blow up...