A/N: We've officially reached the big 4-0 on Incident Zero! In wedding anniversaries, that's the ruby chapter, a fact which has absolutely no relevance to anything this chapter is about to contain but is nonetheless still quite cool.
The USJ hype has been incredible from the last couple of chapters, and I have very much appreciated hearing people's views on the whole thing. I'm pleased that several guessed Mustard would be on the way, and watching the reaction to Izuku's Quirk finally being named was incredibly rewarding as the writer. More on that later.
In terms of this chapter though, I'm doing a sneaky and having a look at the wider class. Canon did a great job of panning back from Izuku's main struggle to look at the bigger impact on 1A, and some of the best parts of the USJ were (in my view, anyway) the Kaminari/Jiro fight and the fight between Kurogiri and Thirteen/her crowd. It gave the class more depth, allowed us to learn more about them, and get more attached to them…
Let me try my hand at that, okay?
(***)
The previous few moments had been an absolute blur for Yui Kodai.
Like most of her classmates around her, she had been completely blindsided by the emergence of villains in the USJ, warped in by the one called Kurogiri. She had costumed up that morning expecting to be put to the test by her teachers in the many zones of the USJ, content to sit and soak up the hubbub of her class' excitement to be there, and the villains had put paid to that completely.
Yui had tried to absorb as much information as she could while the villains emerged, because the henchmen and henchwomen were completely static while Midnight stood off against their ringleaders. If they were about to be attacked, it made sense for her to try to get her bearings on who was attacking them, what sort of Quirks they might have. Midnight and Thirteen were good teachers, and Yui had had faith in them, but if the worst case scenario happened she did not want to be caught unawares.
That scenario very quickly had become reality. That boy Mustard, the kid with a complex and an attitude towards all of them, had shot their teacher. Thirteen froze in the headlights of pressure, their class moving quicker than she did, and panic had begun to set in. And then, with nothing any of them could have done, Kurogiri's purple fog rippled and expanded, descending on all of them to catch them in his grasp and scatter them, a scream from Thirteen being the last thing Yui heard…
Before silence. For that terrible moment as Yui was caught by the warping Quirk, she knew nothing but a void around her, dark and purple and completely empty. Like being caught in space without stars, all she could feel was her own presence within the darkness, the sound of her sharp intake of breath deafening, before the darkness drained down from around her like ink running down a piece of paper.
Emerging into the lights of the USJ after that was blinding, making her screw her eyes up, before the sharp impact of the landing on some hard surface beneath her nearly took all of the air out of her lungs.
Yui gasped, pulling herself upright and trying to get her bearings; the pain in her ankle was not her priority, when she needed to know where she was and what she would be up against. For a moment she was absolutely confused by the feeling of what she landed on, before the sight of water all around her and the sound of splashing brought her into focus- what she had landed on was the deck of the fake ship in the Shipwreck Zone. And over there, in the water, splashing down out of a portal… that was Awase and Iida. Her teammate from the Combat Training and the loudest boy in the class, one heavily armoured and one bogged down by his chestplate and pads. Both heavy, and both now in deep water.
Given the fact that several villains were now arriving on the scene at speed, jumping in at the edge of the lagoon, she needed to move fast before her classmates started to sink.
"They're sitting ducks, you lot!" A tall man with a skull-like face and imperious look on his face yelled, apparently the ringleader of the little group of villains who were diving in for a swim. "You have the advantage here, go get them!"
"Iida!" Awase yelled in the water, having the foresight to paddle himself to the side of his exuberant classmate. "Thank god I'm not alone here-"
"Neither of us are!" Iida had spotted Yui's wave from the deck of the ship, and one arm rose to chop the air frantically- Yui was frankly amazed that Iida could balance himself while floating to do that, and that the ferocious chopping didn't drive him closer to the villains. "Kodai! Don't come in the water, we'll come to you!"
"Mmm!" Yui didn't shout, because she never did, but she did have to restrain herself from smiling as she grabbed the nearby rope and activated her Quirk. The villain's cry that they were sitting ducks? This was clearly all part of a plan, and she couldn't have been more glad that she had the fortune to land on the deck of the ship, and not in the water. It meant, when the ship was made as realistic as possible, she had things to use. She had an arsenal. And she could help save her friends.
"Good spot, Kodai!" The waters behind Iida began churning as he caught the rope in the hand he had raised, his other arm going to Awase who clenched on like a koala determined to not lose hold of a tree. "Hold on, Awase! I'll get us to the ship!"
"Alright!" There was a cacophony of noise at that moment, and Yui could barely keep up with what happened. As Iida's Engine Quirk fired up underwater, launching a spray behind him and Awase as they turned into a human torpedo for the brief sprint over to the boat, several of the approaching villains who had got far too close for comfort yelled out, caught in the wake of Iida's launch. All she knew in that blur was that there was a clang of metal against metal, her costumed classmates' armour ringing against the hull of the ship, before Awase yelped and scrambled up over the side. "Dammit! Iida-"
In all the commotion, there was another brief roar of Engine, and the white form of Iida rose like a salmon in the air, a propelled leap to get himself up the side of the ship. Yui could see the reason for Awase's yelling, some blonde-haired man with a spear grabbing onto Iida's foot and drawing the arm with a spear back, but with some strange twist in mid-air, Iida blurred. Yui would have missed it if she blinked, as his other leg kicked out and made impact, sending the goon careering back into the water with a cry while Iida stuck the landing onto the deck. "Phew! That was closer than I would have expected! It appears my Engines struggle to get into gear when they're not on dry land. Apologies, Awase-"
"Dude, you nearly got stabbed by some jackass with a spear and you're apologising to me? I was done without you in the water." Awase bumped a fist against Iida's shoulder, before slumping to the floor besides Yui. "Or without Kodai giving us the big assist. Seriously, thank you both."
"Mm." Yui nodded, not expecting any thanks for what she did because it was simply the right thing to do, and threw the end of the rope she was holding away while deactivating her Quirk; she didn't want to give the villains a free lifeline to get onto the boat, after all. "Was the right thing to do."
"Hanzo Suiden!" The man with the spear emerged from under the water, shouting back at the skull-faced man who was now half-submerged too. "The brats made it onto the wreck! What do we do?"
"All because the old man killed Sharkyonara to make an example, when he was the fastest one of us in water. What a foolish waste of our time." The one apparently called Hanzo Suiden cursed, treading water. "Lucky escape, children!"
"You honestly think you're safe?" One of the others, a woman with a strange propeller-like growth at the end of her ponytail, called. "Some kid who can glue shit together, a speedster without dry land to run on, and some girl playing tokusatsu dress-up? What chance do you have?"
"You've got nowhere to go, and you know you're out of your depth here!" Hanzo Suiden launched what appeared to be a barrage of water at the side of the ship, perhaps his Quirk in action. "We can draw this out, or we can make this quick for you, y'know!"
"We're fine where we are, you bastard!" Now he was on the boat, Awase's sarcasm briefly emerged in his shout, before he banged a fist against the deck and lowered his voice for Iida and Yui. "I, uh, I don't fancy our chances here-"
"They planned this." Yui's voice was soft, but in the midst of the tension both the boys looked to her. "They know our Quirks… we're supposed to be useless here."
"... I see. You raise a good point, Kodai." Iida sounded concerned beneath his helmet. "Awase's Quirk in water has limited use-"
"Make that none," Awase groaned, hanging his head. "How the hell do you weld water? We're lucky Kodai landed on the boat so she could use Size on something…"
"Mm. Fortunate." Yui's foot being in agony- it definitely felt like something had been fractured- disagreed, but it beat having impromptu swimming lessons. "Still, backed into a corner."
"Amen to that." Awase looked over to Iida, who appeared to be scanning to count the number of villains. "They probably sent you here because there's a shitload of water and nowhere to properly run. Although… how the hell does your Engine work when you're in the water?"
"What do you mean?"
"I just…" Awase gestured at Iida's legs, struggling for words for a second. "You've never seen what happens when people drive a car through a flood? Water flooding the engine? How are you any different-"
"I suppose I have a slightly different air intake to your average vehicle." Iida sounded a little proud as he tapped his helmet, and Yui understood- his Quirk was biomechanical, in a sense, so his lungs were his air intake. As long as his head remained above water, Iida's Engine could draw air and fire. "That said, my exhausts were underwater, and I fear there may have been some damage as a result of that. We would do well to stay out of the water-"
"No complaints from me about that," Awase muttered, semi-sarcastically, taking a second to peer over the ship rails at the assorted villains floating beside the ship, perfectly content to watch their targets and not make a move. "I count ten of them. How the hell do we fight that many from the deck of this ship-"
"Fight them? We couldn't possibly!" Iida practically vibrated in alarm as Awase suggested that. "While I accept that we would be acting entirely in self-defence, and as such we are permitted to use our Quirks to protect ourselves, it would be a grave tactical error to even consider taking them on! We are outnumbered, on unfamiliar terrain, facing villains who have planned to face us because they are suited for battles in this sort of environment-"
"They're villains." Yui hadn't meant to sound so blunt, but it had the benefit of getting Iida's undivided attention when it broke his flow. "... They can do things we can't."
"Precisely." Iida nodded to her, grateful for what she said even if there were morbid implications. "What can we do against villains like that, in close quarters and in water, no less? We have to plan to escape, not to fight-"
"Others will be out of their depth too." Yui knew she was being a lot less quiet than usual, but this was desperate, and the point was obvious. If she had been isolated into a zone she wasn't suited for, it made sense that the rest of the class were as well. "We escape… we can go help elsewhere."
"Oh sure, I get that, it's a good plan." Awase pulled himself upright, and clenched his fists. "But they're not gonna let us just up and leave. And how are we even get out of here when it's open water between us and the shore? Let's be real, Iida has to propel us and carry us-"
"I agree, I'm not leaving either of you behind to fight." Iida nodded resolutely. "I couldn't abandon you, not when there's no guarantee of others being spare to come and help us."
"Right. So we're holding onto you again, dragging you down, and if we're in the water we risk permanently damaging his Engine if too much water gets in the exhaust. Unless you can get on top of the water to run-"
"Like a basilisk lizard?"
"... What the hell is a basilisk lizard?" As Iida drew breath, Awase shook his head. "You know what, not important right now. Can you run like that?"
"Well, I've never tried, and in all honesty I could get up to some speed on the deck here, given that there would be a clear run along the side from stern to bow. That said…" Iida trailed off, resigned. "There's a move I could use which would be the only guarantee of getting any good speed up. I would have to push myself in a way I've only tested once or twice, and to be clear, that would stall my Engine after I've used it. Even then, we're hitting the water while I use it, so even if that alone doesn't stall me, the move will. And if we're not at the shore by then-"
"Hmm…" Yui looked away, not liking the options at all. She respected Iida's intelligence and ability to plan, even if his deafening voice got on her nerves sometimes, and she didn't like that in that moment, the risky move he referred to was appearing to be their only option. They couldn't get away from how much Iida would be weighed down if they were going with him, even if Awase removed all of his heavy armour, and there was still the question about the deck being long enough for Iida to get a run-up. She hated having to put it all on him like this, with so little her own Quirk could do to help...
"Wait." Yui's eyes flicked to Awase's pads and chestplate, as Awase was already removing the plate to reduce the strain on Iida. Then they flicked down to the deck of the ship they were standing on, and finally to her own hands. There… there was an idea forming. It was crazy, chaotic, over-the-top and then some, but in that moment there was something about how madcap it was that lit a fire in her belly, and made her want to do it. Something about it that screamed to her to be bold. "Ramp."
"Ramp?" Awase looked at her, confused. "What do you-"
"We can escape. But we don't run." Yui pointed to his chest, then to Iida's legs, to the back of the ship they were standing on, and then to her own chest. "... We fly."
"... Oh." Realisation dawned on Iida, and he seemed to stand up straighter; clearly her plan had given him some hope. "Your Quirk! You could actually make that work!"
"I hope so." Yui allowed a smile to grace her face. "Do you trust me?"
"... I do." Iida nodded, and gestured to Awase. "I think we both do-"
"I… yeah." Awase had been her partner in the Combat Training exercises, and so Yui knew she could count on him to trust her plan enough to work. "Even if I don't know yet what we're doing… I trust you."
"Good…" As the three of them began to make their way to the stern of the boat, Yui's heart began to pound in anticipation; right now, the adrenaline rush from her plan was enough to ignore the pain in her ankle. "Awase. I need your plate."
"Oh! Sure!" As he prised the plate off and handed it to her, he grinned sheepishly, also shedding his shoulder pads and casting them aside. "I… think I get what you're planning now. A ramp, huh? Guess this is gonna be a wild ride."
"Yeah." Yui could feel a little mischief creep into her eyes. "Weld us to Iida?"
"Oh, you think I was gonna just chance it holding on? No way!"
Their movement had caught the attention of the gathered villains, and the one who had clutched Iida launched his spear, falling far short of the boat. Their leader, Hanzo Suiden, seemed to laugh at them. "Exploring your prison, children?"
"Just admiring the view!" It was amazing how much courage any plan could give Awase, enough to banter back at the villains around them. "Iida, this move of yours better be good-"
"It's an Ingenium family tradition, Awase! If I can manage anything like my brother can when he performs it, then…" Iida jerked a thumbs-up, as they reached the stern, taking position with a couple of spare metres of deck behind them. "We can do this!"
"Hell yeah!" Awase's Quirk activated, him on Iida's left and Yui on Iida's right. Yui winced slightly at the strange sensation of her side becoming completely attached to Iida's armour, as Iida effectively picked her and Awase up like kegs underneath his arms. She had to shake her head to ignore that, and the sensation of being off the ground, as she clutched Awase's plate in one hand and flexed the fingers on the other. "You ready, Kodai?"
"... Ready." She nodded, determinedly, before looking behind them, calculating the trajectory and how she would need to make her move to get the result she wanted. "On my mark, Iida."
"Ready when you are!"
Yui took a breath, steeling herself for what was about to happen; she had to get so much right in respect of what she was doing, and deep down she crushed the insecurity that Awase's plate wouldn't be enough to achieve what she was looking to do. They were clear to do what she had envisaged, only a couple of villains floating in the water with no idea they were about to move. This plan…
Yui almost wished she could watch this herself from the sidelines as this unfolded.
"Three." Yui wound up the throw, and launched Awase's plate into the air, several heads from the villains shooting up to follow its arc.
"Two." The plate began to reach the peak of her throw, and for a second, so many eyes were drawn to it, the glimmer of the floodlights in the USJ reflecting in its metal as Iida's engines began to whine from being fired up for action.
"One." The plate reached the peak, hovering for just a second as it did so, and Yui heard an indistinct yell from one of the villains in the water. Perhaps they had realised she was the one who had thrown it, and perhaps they had finally remembered her Quirk, remembered that she shouldn't be underestimated. It slowly turned as it fell, beginning to reach the height she needed it…
"Mark."
Many things happened in that moment, and Yui almost struggled to keep up with them. As she brought her fingertips together, Size kicked in as she intended, the heavy metal plate expanding immensely to become nearly the size of the boat itself. With the additional weight from becoming so large, the force at which it fell caused several villains to panic and cry out, clearing out from underneath where it was going to land with such force…
And strike the rear end of the ship, as the whine of Iida's engines revving beyond their limit filled the air, blue flames emerging from the exhaust.
"RECIPRO... BURST!"
As the weight of the falling metal plate from Awase pushed the rear end of the boat further into the water, the bow rose up, and that was all the moment Iida needed to launch with his Quirk. For a moment, Yui thought that the force of acceleration was going to rip the welding that kept her glued to her classmate apart, but Awase's Quirk held firm, and she felt herself dragged along for the wild ride as Iida hurtled forwards along the side of the boat towards the rising bow. It was all she could do for a moment to blink and release her Quirk's hold on the plate, hoping that what she had done would be enough to get them out…
And it had. The impromptu ramp she had created enabled Iida to fly high in the air, no threat of landing in the water and leaving the villains completely helpless to do anything other than to spectate. Over the rush of wind in her ears, Yui could have sworn she heard a shout of several expletives from the guy who had tried to attack Iida in the water, but she was over his head before he realised, and the arc of Iida's launch had comfortably cleared the lagoon.
"Awase…" Iida's yell cut across the spluttering sound of his Engines finally stalling, as they began their descent towards the ground at speed. "Now!"
Realising that the force of impact would be horrendous if they all stuck together, and could cause them some serious injury, Awase's hand swiped over both him and Yui, releasing the hold of Weld on their bodies. Yui tucked in and rolled as she hit the ground, something which caused her some considerable pain on the hard earth of the shore, but it was better than landing on her injured ankle and making that problem ten times worse. At least she wasn't the only one; while Iida skidded to a halt in a trench of his own making, smoke pouring from his exhausts, Awase landed even worse than she had and faceplanted. "Heh. We made it-"
"We actually made it!" Awase somehow sprung immediately upright and actually punched the air, as if he hadn't hit the ground with the grace of a baby swan. "Kodai, that was awesome-"
"I couldn't agree more!" Iida, despite being essentially immobile due to his endings, chopped the air with renewed vigour. "Such a bold move to create our escape route! I am relieved I have a classmate with the vision that you have-"
"We're not free yet." Yui didn't enjoy bursting her classmate's bubble, especially when he was being so complimentary of her plan, but she had picked up movement on the edge of the Shipwreck Zone's lagoon. The Typhoon Zone was behind them, and so were some of their classmates, but from the look on the face of Hanzo Suiden and several of the other villains, they weren't about to let Yui and her friends escape that easily. "Can you run yet?"
"Not yet." Iida gave his leg a tentative shake, and Yui could practically hear him wince. "I'm afraid I'm still stalled for the time being-"
"Then we've gotta hold the line here." Awase had formed a staff from several pieces of metal and wood he had apparently not discarded before Iida's jump. As much as Yui wanted to be annoyed at carrying extra weight, he had been smart to keep resources for his Quirk, and if needed hers. "You okay with that, Kodai?"
"Mm." She nodded, one hand reaching down to grab a clump of earth; she inwardly breathed a sigh of relief when she felt a number of stones in her grasp, ready to be turned into ammunition. "Got your back."
"And I have yours." Awase grinned nervously, teeth showing in a brittle smile. "Guess we're doing this!"
Spurred on by the yells of Hanzo Suiden behind them, the villains charged, not letting the lack of field advantage slow them down. Yui saw the weapons they were carrying, spears and clubs and all sorts in between, and tried not to let her worries show; even if they were out of the worst of it in the Shipwreck Zone, they still had to face the odds and overcome them here.
The distance narrowed between them, Size getting to work on the stones in Yui's hand, and Yui hoped that her friends were having a slightly easier time of it.
(***)
There was a sound almost like Midnight's whip cracking, as the woman with needle-like hair solidified her hair and flicked it out to jab at his face. The movement was so obvious that it was almost embarrassing, but even so he had to be careful, Steel solidifying across his face so that her attack bounced off him and didn't leave a scratch.
Neito Monoma cursed under his breath as she dodged the retaliatory punch he threw her way, and wished in his head that some of his classmates were around to help out. There was no other way to describe it; he and those who had also been left behind were in the fight of their lives, not only to save themselves, but also to save Midnight. What the villains had done… Neito knew it would haunt him for a long time.
The entire USJ had descended into carnage, the moment that the portals from the one called Kurogiri had appeared. Neito was a keen student of Quirks- he had to be, with a Quirk like his, if he was ever going to stand a chance of successfully borrowing them- but the villain's power was unlike anything he had ever seen, and he knew he wouldn't have had a clue how to use it even if he acquired it somehow. That alone was enough to startle him, but he had been hopeful that a teacher as good as Midnight, a heroine of her skill, would be able to handle it.
When the boy calling himself Mustard had shot her twice, that belief had been shattered.
Neito had leaped to the side of his teacher, in case there was anything he could do to help, and he hadn't been the only one. Yaoyorozu, in his view the most intelligent of his peers, had jumped right in with her incredible Creation Quirk, showing resolve even where their other teacher Thirteen had faltered. With her and Mezo Shoji, Dupli-Arms extended to maximise his efficiency, working to stem the bleeding and tend to Midnight, Neito had almost felt surplus to requirements in some ways. Still, it made him relieved that there was a chance Midnight might pull through. And then…
Darkness had fallen. Kurogiri's Quirk had enveloped them all, and all he had heard was the scream of his other teacher, in amongst the fog.
When it had cleared, Neito had briefly been stunned. He remained with Midnight, her breathing shallow, her skin pale from blood loss, and to his relief so too did Yaoyorozu and Shoji. What surprised him were two things, however. The first was that Thirteen, standing right beside him, was gone. Or at least, most of her was. It seemed her reaction had been to try to step in herself, activate her Black Hole Quirk to absorb the black fog, but she had quite literally been disarmed by the monster's warping Quirk; wherever the rest of her was, all that remained was one arm, clad in white puffy sleeves and bleeding on the floor. It was horrifying to look at, her spacesuit so clean and white among the dirt and blood, and Neito had been amazed he had not thrown up.
The second thing was the presence of Tetsutetsu, the great lug that he was. Neito had watched Midoriya rush to the front of their group, a defiant class representative willing to take charge in a crisis; as much as Neito didn't want to like him, he respected the move. Tetsutetsu had only been slightly slower, the group forming a wall between Midnight and the villains. Even if Mustard had been disarmed, they were still facing the creepy old Doctor, the warper and that horrible creature they called Nomu.
Now, Tetsutetsu was with Monoma, and the rest… were not. Midoriya and his friends would pull through, wherever they were. They were too talented not to, whatever he thought of them. But even with that certainty, he couldn't help but worry for their safety when they had been ripped away to places unknown, and when the Nomu creature was unaccounted for.
Neito shook his head, his fourth created arm solidifying into steel and back-handing away an attack from the short girl who had turned her brown ponytails into hardened drills for an assault. He couldn't let his guard down worrying about Nomu, really. Not when the angry little brat Mustard had brought his cronies to come and finish the job.
From the moment that the villains approached their group, it was clear they had one target; Midnight, apparently the aunt to the vicious teenager with the gas mask and a gun. Neito understood that the Doctor and Kurogiri were the ringleaders, but Mustard was effectively acting as some kind of lieutenant to them, allowed to run free and take his own group away to menace the students. The vitriolic bile he had spewed about the students and their teacher left Neito under no illusions- he was doing this to satisfy some personal vendetta. To finish the job.
Their group's priorities were simple, to prevent him from hurting their teacher any more, and to help Midnight, in the hope it would prevent her from succumbing to the injuries she had already sustained. That was why Neito found himself on the front lines, borrowing Steel and Dupli-Arms to transform himself into a defensive wall alongside Tetsutetsu; he must have looked a sight, the sleeves of his tuxedo ripped to accommodate Shoji's Quirk, straining every time he turned into Steel, but he didn't care. Everything they did was to buy Shoji and Yaoyorozu time to save their teacher…
And it was clear Mustard was enjoying how much he could draw it out.
"Really, students?" Mustard laughed, one hand in the pocket of his green trenchcoat and the other lazily waving around the pistol he had recovered. "Even though it's so futile that you can win, you still keep fighting like you stand a chance! How pathetic."
Neito gritted his steel teeth, and tried to cut out the taunts. The craven little kid recognised that at any time, he could have ended this by activating his Quirk and incapacitating their group, or could have waited until their guard was down to use the pistol as he already had, and yet… he was content to watch. He was torturing them by pushing the henchmen onto them, wearing them down. This brat thought he could bring them to their knees and crush them completely before delivering the final blow, and Neito wasn't about to let him. "Tetsu, on your left!"
"Got it!" Tetsutetsu dodged a barrage of paper runes being sent at him by a man who appeared entirely made of paper, and delivered a punch to the paper-man's gut which sent the feather-light villain flying. "This little coward keeps talking about us behind his minions, huh? Not manly at all! It's really pissing me off-"
"Oh, I'm sorry, did you think I'd be so stupid as to risk everything by not playing to my strengths?" Mustard's wheedling little voice sounded so condescending, even if the filters of his mask distorted it. "You UA students, so narrow-minded. Thinking you can punch your way out of every problem, thinking you can win everything-"
"And here you are, getting others to do your work for you," Neito sneered, one Dupli-Arm which had formed an eye giving him enough warning to grab Needle Hair and throw her away by her hair. "Too scared to pull the trigger and get the job done?"
"You think I'm the only one who hates UA?" Mustard's question was met by jeers from the gathered group of villains he was commanding, clearly demonstrating that others shared his view. "Everyone here wants nothing more than to see you guys dragged down from that high horse you cherish, to be exposed for the nobodies you really are! That's why I'm happy to sit back and let these guys wear you down. I don't just want you gone, I want you broken, realising how little you're actually worth!"
Neito noticed how the villain attacks appeared to be slowing down as more of them listened to Mustard's words, the pace of the brawl slowing, and saw opportunity. Maybe their collective guards would continue to be brought down the more he talked. "And yet I've never met any of you before today. What could I possibly have done to deserve being attacked like this?"
"There it is! That superiority, that sanctimonious little voice of the ones who think they're entitled to our respect, just because of the badge on your uniform!" Mustard ranted. "You're all the same! But how could you ever see it? Not when you get supposed role models like your witch of a teacher-"
"Hey, you leave Midnight alone!" Yaoyorozu shouted, her head whipping up from Midnight's side to wade into the conversation. "You invaded a school to attack a bunch of students, you have no right-"
"No right?!" Mustard's laugh was practically a cackle, sounding more manic the more he hit back. "Seriously? Look at her! Lying there on the ground in that attention-seeking costume of hers. You all claim some kind of moral high ground over the likes of me, but what morals is she bringing to society when she parades herself like a whore in front of the cameras and calls it 'hero duty'? Let's face it, children, your teacher is a has-been, alone and unwanted, clinging to teaching as a means to salvage a career built off of her body. And she pretends to have a morality to teach you?"
"Such a foul attitude, and based on what?" Yaoyorozu had formed something with her Quirk, slipping it down at her sides before Neito could see. "The amount of people Midnight has saved in her career, the good she has done, and what? You can't see past her costume!"
"Spoken like someone who hasn't lived with the consequences of her acting that way! All the looks, the sneers, the pity!" Mustard cried, and Neito could have sworn the boy actually stamped his foot. "And really, what example are you trying to set? You, the girl stripping herself off in front of everyone even in a crisis!"
"It's for my Quirk-"
"It's for my Quirk!" Mustard mimicked, high-pitch and petulant. "I read your records, Yaoyorozu! The girl who can create with her lipids? Your Quirk needs body fat to work, it doesn't need you to flaunt yourself! Honestly, brains before beauty, is that how you want to pretend to be? Give me a break, you're all the same as she is, craving attention from people, thinking yourself so much better than everyone-"
"All these excuses, from a villain like you? You're just trying to hide your own despicable nature." Shoji had risen from Midnight's side, and there was a fire in the boy's eyes as he stood beside Neito, the teeth on the mouth he had created bared in defiance. "We won't lose to people like you."
"Shoji…" Neito was briefly uncertain. "What about Midnight? Aren't you-"
"She's fine." The masked boy bowed his head, solemnly, and Neito saw Yaoyorozu make herself a shield with a gasp behind him; clearly her Quirk was nearing its limits. "The bleeding is stemmed. Yaoyorozu was able to create a sedative, so… for now, she's stable."
"Stable? Clearly, we need to push harder if you were able to save her so easily. Perhaps something like this, next time?" Mustard held something up, and Neito realised that in the fray, Thirteen's arm had been knocked around by the scuffle. There was something sick about the boy holding it up like a trophy. "This is the state your whole side is in already, and you think you stand a chance?"
"You little creep!" That one gesture had riled Tetsutetsu up even more, and it was all Shoji could do to catch his arm before he charged the whole group head-on. "You let that go, right now!"
"My, so protective! You can have it, if it makes you think you'll survive the other side of this!" Mustard looked at the arm, laughed, and threw it at Neito, who caught it in his actual hand and immediately tried to secure it inside the lining of his tuxedo. "Squad, push the attack again. Let them know how much you hate their kind."
"Tetsu! Shoji! We're not letting them get through!" Neito activated Steel again, feeling the surge of metal up each of the Dupli-Arms he was able to manifest, before suddenly there was a sinking feeling in his gut, and he felt the hairs on the back of his arms stand up. "Oh… damn."
"Well, would you look at that…" Mustard tittered underneath the mask, as the dull grey of Steel faded completely from the many Dupli-Arms Monoma had created, normal pale flesh taking its place. "You must think your Quirk is so special when you can borrow from others, but now look at you. I read all about your time limit, in those notes from the Doctor, and yet you thought you could stall me out? Or what, beat me before then? The arrogance of you UA students…"
"Well that's… unfortunate," Neito muttered, under his breath, before mustering every bit of courage he had to smirk at Mustard. "So what, you think I'll just show my belly now? That I can't fight any more?"
"No… you'll still try. You're so full of yourselves that you still think you stand a chance." Mustard snickered, stepping forward in amongst his goons. "It's just, well… you did a good job with your defences, until now."
"Monoma, no!"
Tetsutetsu's shout was matched by Mustard raising his arm, and Neito realising with horror that he no longer had the benefit of Steel to protect him, when staring down the barrel of Mustard's gun. "What an embarrassing end."
Bam.
"Gah!"
What happened took Neito a second to process, partly because of the blooming pain that was now apparent in one of the Dupli-Arms he had manifested for himself. The sound of the gun firing was deafening, and Neito felt the arm which had formed an extra eye rip from where he had been shot; clearly he wasn't able to form as sturdy limbs as Shoji, and he yelped as the pain rippled across into his actual body. But the scream wasn't his. The scream…
Was Mustard's. Tetsutetsu had yelled, but it was their many-armed classmate who had reacted quickest, seeing that Mustard had stepped forward and opened himself to an attack. Neito knew that if Shoji hadn't moved, there would have been more than one gunshot, because the speed at which Shoji had closed the gap had enabled him to land a solid punch to Mustard's shoulder. It was that punch that had meant Neito took a bullet to one of his fake arms, and not to his actual body, throwing Mustard off course, and by the time he realised this Shoji had ripped the gun from the grasp of the violent little boy and jumped back to stand as a shield between Mustard and Neito. "Mezo... you…"
"Neito… I hope you're alright. Losing one for the first time was an awful feeling." Shoji brushed off any comments on what he had done, throwing the gun as far away behind him as he could. Neito could see he was ensuring nobody would get the gun without going through them, saving any risk to both them or Midnight. "He won't be using that on anyone else."
"You bastard!" Mustard yelled, furious at being disarmed so easily, surrounded by stunned villains who hadn't thought a hulking student like Shoji could show so much speed. "Who the hell do you think you are-"
"People like you always say the same thing." Shoji's calm demeanour in the face of such anger caught Neito off-guard, and judging from the looks on the faces of a number of the villains, he wasn't the only one. "I've seen people like you before. So filled with hate, so determined to despise anyone who wants to make a difference and do a good thing, so threatened because you only care about yourself. Blinded by your own prejudices, projecting your own insecurities to feel better… you're nothing special, Mustard."
"You… you dare talk to me like that?!" Mustard sounded practically rabid. "You don't know a damn thing about me-"
"Don't I?" Shoji shook his head, and there was no anger in it, to Neito's surprise. "I've lived a lifetime of people calling me a freak. A monster. People look at me and assume the worst anyway, and I always said I'd prove them wrong, that I wouldn't let them defeat me. Just because you hate my school instead… you're no different. I won't let you defeat me either."
"How... how DARE YOU?!" Mustard screamed, agonised and furious, and to Neito's surprise the villain took several steps back, retreating behind his squad again. "So you want to lecture me, all self-righteous about who I am?! That's it! All of you, and that filthy bitch of a teacher you seem to worship… if you really want to die so badly, and don't want me holding back, then you'll get that alright!"
"Wait… Mustard?!" The boy's feet suddenly became wreathed in purple gas, and as the students collectively took a couple of steps back, the villain Needle Hair looked back at her leader in alarm, hiding behind the human wall formed by his squad of cronies. "Kid, seriously, get a grip! You'll take us out too-"
"Then you should have acted sooner!" The gas billowed and emerged from underneath the sleeves of his coat, a jet shooting into her face and making her gag. "I gave you your chance to take out these arrogant kids, but if you can't put a dent in UA's pride and take down their students, then I guess I have to myself!"
After such direct exposure to Mustard's Quirk, Needle Hair's eyes glazed, and she began to slump. Several of the villains in Mustard's group showed strong enough self-preservation instincts to flee as he activated his Quirk, but Needle Hair wasn't the only one caught out in his Gas, a number of villains collapsing around the side of their leader while a thick cloud formed as a shield around him and continued to grow in size. "Guhhhh…"
"Dammit, he's gonna choke us out after all!" Tetsutetsu was a little too close to the villains for comfort, and even if he hadn't breathed it in directly, his proximity had begun to make his eyes water. "Guys! I can't get close enough to him to break through without breathing that shit in-"
"Yaoyorozu!" Shoji called, although there was some concern in his voice. "Your Quirk… are you able to make anything?"
"I'm… I don't know! I don't have much left in me!" Yaoyorozu stood up beside Midnight, and it was clear to Neito that she really was running on empty insofar as her lipid reserves were concerned; he had never seen the girl look so drained, sunken bags underneath her onyx eyes. "Maybe I could make a mask, but that's only going to save one person-"
Neito looked over to her, haggard and on her last legs. He looked over to Shoji, his classmate's eyes as wide as those on the end of his Dupli-Arms. He looked at the unconscious form of his teacher on the floor, sedated and defenceless to Mustard's toxic gas, and looked over to Tetsutetsu, frustrated at his inability to act...
"Dammit," Tetsutetsu cursed, "what the hell do we do?"
And as Neito hesitated, drawing his tuxedo in around himself and hoping for a miracle, he felt it…
Inspiration dawned, and Neito Monoma found himself celebrating the Quirk he was born with once again.
"Tetsutetsu… Mezo… get behind me." Neito pushed past them both, not waiting for an answer. "I'll end this."
"Monoma, no!" Tetsutetsu grabbed at his sleeve, and missed. "Dude, you can't! How are you gonna-"
"Trust me, my friend." Neito stood taller now, allowing himself the luxury of a little confidence in the face of the enemy, and the nod from Yaoyorozu was all he needed to confirm that she understood. He was ready, even as the cloud of gas swirled and grew. "I've got this."
"Oh ho ho! What the hell do you think you're gonna do?" From within the depths of the gas, the eyes of Mustard's gas mask were the only thing visible, and there was something demonic about the way they shone in the purple smog. "The pinnacle of arrogance… thinking you can be a Hero when you're so helpless!"
"Helpless?" Neito smirked, knowing how much it would rile his opponent to see him remain so confident. "I'm not out of ideas yet."
"You sure about that?" Mustard cackled within the cloud. "You can only copy the Quirks of others, genius, I've seen your file. Steel and Dupli-Arms? You set yourself up for the brawl, burned through your limit on Steel and ran out right before the end, and yet you think you've got something to deal with my Gas?"
"Have you seriously never heard our wonderful school motto? All Might used to say it enough. Maybe he was before your time, you irritating little child." Neito smoothed down his jacket, one Dupli-Arm extending from the rip in its side to point a hand squarely at Mustard. "Plus Ultra. It means we don't deal in limits, here. We don't accept them. We go beyond, and show the world that we never give up!"
"Cute little speech! Now remind me…" Mustard's gas seemed to writhe. "How the hell you think you've got more in you? Two clocks, for two Quirks you can copy. One ran out, and one is on its last legs, and neither did a damn thing against me!"
Oh, his arrogance was beautiful to behold. Neito wished he could have seen the face of the kid under the mask as he laughed. "Oh, how naive! I don't wear those clocks because that's how many Quirks I can copy! It's not a reminder for me how long I have left... it's to show how foolish people like you are, when you think that's all I have in me! That I'm just some supporting character powerless to stop you!"
Neito smirked, as the tip of the hand at the end of his Dupli-Arm unfurled, no matter how strange it was to look at the strange cylindrical tip on the finger that had formed, pointed directly at Mustard. "Us UA students… nobody here is ever going to give up hope, no matter how hard you try to make us. You want to tell us we have limits? Fine! Then we'll go past them, time after time after time, if that's what it takes to save people!"
"What is this… what are you doing?!" The scream within the gas was manic. "Answer me-"
"I'll tell you what's happening, Mustard! No matter how powerless you think I am… I'll step forward again!" The fingertip flicked back, and Neito grinned like a maniac. "BLACK HOLE!"
For the briefest of moments, the world was silent around them, before the Quirk borrowed from Thirteen, the Quirk stored up from Neito grabbing onto her amputated arm, activated and went wild. Neito had heard the warning from his teacher about the damage it could do, and he knew how much of a desperate last resort it was to use, but up against the threat of Mustard's gas, there was no way he was going to hold back. Now, he got to saw the impact of the Quirk first-hand, turned on the boy in the gas mask, and it was frightening.
Gas and dust and debris writhed and flew in the air in front of him, the suction effect of the black hole at his fingertip pulling everything towards him. It was his first time using it, so the heavy and unconscious bodies of villains like Needle Hair weren't pulled towards him, but there were hairs on her head that were ripped out towards him and disintegrated by the Quirk, weapons which were ripped from people's grasps, even the shredded Dupli-Arm he had lost earlier. The power terrified him, but it was doing its job and then some. From what he knew, it could destroy matter at an atomic level… and that included the gas.
"No…" Mustard's billowing cloud was being torn away from him, the kid's helmet now clearly visible in a raging sea of purple fog being dragged into Neito's finger and destroyed. Somehow, his shriek was audible even above the roaring sound of Black Hole. "You bastard, how?!"
"How does it feel, kid?" Neito stepped forward, enjoying the way in which the boy took a step back out of fright, watching the power dynamic shift in an instant. "How does it feel to watch your gas get deconstructed, right before your eyes? All that fear you tried to create about what you could do to us, well… this is what we can do! When we go Plus Ultra!"
"S-Stop this!" The hem of Mustard's coat billowed under the pull of Black Hole, and the last trace of purple gas disappeared into the void Neito had created; Neito could see that it showed no sign of stopping. "You-You can't stop it! It's too powerful!"
"It is." Neito knew this, and could feel it, feel the hunger of the black hole intensifying at the end of the Dupli-Arm he created. It was starting to move the unconscious goons on the floor now, ever so slightly, and Neito knew that if it wasn't stopped, it could consume them too. Judging from how Mustard had dug his heels in, the boy was afraid it was starting to pull him as well. "I know that-"
"Then stop before you destroy us both!"
"You see, that's why we were always going to win, Mustard. You always just thought of things in terms of yourself, your own goals. Keeping yourself safe when things don't go your way. Whereas me…" Neito caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of his eye, and grinned. "I have classmates to back me up, too."
It couldn't have gone any better. Even as the worries flickered through the back of his head about such a destructive Quirk running rampant, whether he would be able to find the off switch for the devastating power, or whether he himself would be consumed by it, Neito knew he had to use it to act, and trust that those around him were able to have his back. The second Yaoyorozu had nodded, he had known she would be reliable, and the horrendous pain he suddenly felt in the Dupli-Arm he had grown proved that.
With a scream, drawing strength from places unknown and pooling lipids into one more creation, the sharp metal blade she had created amputated the limb using Black Hole at the elbow; Neito inwardly breathed a sigh of relief that, as he suspected, Thirteen's Quirk ceased functioning the second the limb was severed. "Haaa! Tetsutetsu!"
"On it!" The Steel user was charging even before Yaoyorozu's blade fell, all the frustrations from the beating he had taken to protect Midnight from the villains powering him on. As Mustard rocked forward, released from the grip of Black Hole, the furious fist of Tetsutetsu drove forward, the punch so strong that it shattered the gas mask worn by the villain and flattened him into the ground below. "Graaaagh! Stay down!"
"Heh, thank you…" Neito felt the sinking feeling in his stomach again, the sign that a borrowed Quirk was wearing off, and sure enough with a tearing sound like a knife through cloth, the remaining Dupli-Arms he had summoned fell from his body, joining the one amputated by Yaoyorozu on the ground. "... Just in time."
"I, um…" Yaoyorozu paused, staring at the limbs he had shedded with a brief dazed look, before shaking her head. "Are you alright?"
"Thanks to you, yes." Neito hoped that she saw him as genuinely grateful, and not at all insincere. "I was starting to worry that you may not have picked up what I was planning-"
"The second I saw you pick up her arm, and hide it away, I knew." Her response made Neito nod, grateful that her intelligence easily caught that. "And after your comments on the bus earlier, about the consequences of dangerous Quirks if you copied them and used them without thinking? I thought it was better to be safe than sorry…"
"No, you… you did exactly what was needed, in the circumstances." Neito felt himself sag a little, the strain of the Quirks he had been using finally catching up with him as his adrenaline levels dipped. "That… that was difficult."
"Well done to both of you for holding out as long as you did." Shoji nodded respectfully to both Neito and Tetsutetsu. "Thanks to your efforts holding them off, we were able to give Midnight the best treatment we could. Hopefully that time you bought might have given her a fighting chance."
"Gotta say, Neito," Tetsutetsu added, a clang of metal sounding out as he pounded a fist into his palm, "I'm impressed. I didn't see you as the type to get stuck in like that, but… super manly effort, y'know."
"Thanks, Tetsu… couldn't have done it without your Quirk." Neito smiled, weakly. "I guess that makes you the manliest?"
"You better believe it!" Tetsutetsu barked out a laugh,before staring down at the unconscious form of Mustard beneath him. "Damn. This kid really is young. I mean, shit, kinda looks like he's thirteen or fourteen at best, don't ya think?"
"You're not wrong…" Yaoyorozu grimaced, staring down at the villain who had harassed them so much. "Someone gave this boy a gun, of all things, even when he was such a danger with his Quirk alone. This world we live in… if there are people like him out there, then we really do have our work cut out for us."
"I suppose you're right." Shoji's response was to lean down beside Mustard, unwrapping something from his pockets and binding the villain's wrists and feet. "It feels strange doing this when he's so young, and I know it won't prevent his Quirk, but I don't think we can take chances. Better safe than sorry."
"Is that… Capture Tape?" Neito raised an eyebrow. "You kept that after the Battle Trial?"
"I did." Shoji hoisted Mustard's prone form up in two Dupli-Arms, wrapping a third around him as a binding, and nodded. "I thought it might come in handy at some stage-"
"Come in handy?" Tetsutetsu stared at him, and laughed. "I feel like I should ask what you were planning to use it for, if you didn't have to today!"
"You can ask." The fabric of Shoji's mask creased, and it took Neito a second to realise he was smiling underneath it. "I just won't tell you."
"Oh, you crack jokes now? I thought you were the strong and silent type, Mezo, what gives?"
"Character development, maybe?" Neito said, wearily, before looking over to where Midnight remained pale and unconscious on the floor, and back over to the group. "We need to decide what to do next."
"Agreed. Those villains who ran, ran because Mustard activated his Quirk." Yaoyorozu was quick to offer her insight, and he appreciated it. "The moment that they see he's no longer emitting any gas, they might return. Which means we may face another fight if they decide to carry out what he wanted and come for Midnight."
"Let alone us," Tetsutetsu added, grimacing. "I'm feeling okay myself, although my iron levels are seriously depleted, but I could still take another fight if we had to. Shoji?"
"I… could take a stand if needed. But I don't think it's wise." Shoji nodded over to Neito. Perceptive as ever. "The amount of lipids Yaoyorozu burned on creations to keep Midnight stable, and the limit Neito is reaching on his Quirk… we're effectively two people down."
"So what were you thinking, Monoma?" Yaoyorozu asked, deferring to him despite being one of the most brilliant minds in the class; Neito appreciated the compliment. "A tactical retreat."
"As much as I want to help our classmates… we're in no fit state to do so." Even despite his tiredness, and how much sense it made, it still stuck in his throat to say it out loud. They had other priorities to manage after all. "We're closer to the exit here than anyone else, if they're all in the zones. We should use our last strength to break down the door, and seek help."
"Man, are you sure?" Tetsutetsu looked a little uncertain, and Neito remembered how bold his friend was, how eager to jump into the fray. "It feels like we're… almost abandoning them a little, you know?"
"We have to ensure that Midnight gets effective medical attention sooner rather than later," Yaoyorozu replied, vocalising what Neito wanted to say but wasn't quick enough to add. "Between that, Shoji securing Mustard, and the potential that we can call for help… the amount of assistance we can provide while fighting is limited when we're this run down, but we would be assisting them if we could bring backup here."
"I agree. No matter how much I want to help people, we can do more good by escaping. And in our current state, we would be actively making things harder for our classmates." Shoji nodded his head, a lone strand of white hair falling in front of his eyes. "When victory comes at too heavy a price, there's honour in choosing defeat. We should leave."
"Woah…" Tetsutetsu was practically in awe, as he lifted Midnight's unconscious form in a fireman's carry. Neito almost wished he could take a picture. "That's so poetic… Shoji may just be the manliest of all of us."
"I doubt it, but thank you." Shoji blinked, staring at Neito and Yaoyorozu. "Are you two… going to be okay to make it? I can carry you?"
"As tempting as that is, you've got enough to do with Mustard, thank you. Although…" Yaoyorozu extended an arm to Neito, and he was struck by how even that appeared skinnier; her Quirk must have burned a lot. "We could possibly help each other along?"
"I…" Neito would have been too proud to accept at any other time, but he took the arm with a nod, wrapping his own behind her back and around her waist to provide his own support. "I think that may be best. Although now the heir to the Yaoyorozu dynasty is right next to me, I feel I should apologise for the state of my tuxedo-"
Yaoyorozu laughed, and Neito could have sworn she almost snorted. "You're probably about to say that I should see the other guy, right?"
"Heh. Something like that." Neito took a second to pause before they walked off, taking in the carnage of the scene beneath them, the unconscious bodies of the villains who had been collateral damage to their leader's own Quirk, the shredded flesh of the Dupli-Arms he had grown to fend Mustard's crew off, and the crater where Black Hole had nearly bitten off more than Neito could chew. It was devastation… and that was just their group.
"I just hope the others are going to be alright."
(***)
The sound of battles raging filled the air in every corner of the USJ.
It was becoming rapidly clear to the students who had been dispersed every which way that their enemies knew something about them. This mysterious Doctor, the hunched and sinister old man who apparently had been a figure in the lives of so many, had clearly known (or being able to access knowledge about) their Quirks, and had been able to strategise with the smokey subordinate he called Kurogiri, the one who had scattered them to the winds.
What several of the more intelligent members of the class were realising was that they were being placed into zones designed to test their maximum endurance, pushing them beyond their limits of coping. Their enemy knew them, and as such, their enemy knew how to ensure how to place them out of their depths. There was nothing random about what was happening; this was targeted, coordinated, methodical. They were being thrown out of the frying pan… and into the fire.
Fumikage Tokoyami, Tsuyu Asui and Ibara Shiozaki realised that, perhaps more literally than many of their classmates, as the towering infernos of the Conflagration Zone raged around them. The flickering light of the roaring fires that had been generated in the zone threw the shadows into disarray, enemies seemingly unfazed by the searing temperatures and able to capitalise on how the hellish landscape gave no quarter to the students. Unable to launch Dark Shadow any great distance under the light, Tokoyami found his Quirk wreathing his arms in some desperate attempt at protection, much the same way as Shiozaki's Vines cocooned her vital parts to create some form of armour.
As it stood, they followed the lead of Tsu who kept villains at bay with her strong kicks and tactical awareness; she was not immediately overwhelmed by the high temperatures, but deep down they both knew that her ranine biology would not stand the test of prolonged exposure to such extremes. When her resolve failed- and both the raven-headed boy and the fauna-haired girl knew that it would- then they would need to fall back, buy her protection in close quarters and hope they could withstand being overwhelmed. Hope was a fine thing to cling to, but there weren't many alternatives.
Reiko Yanagi found herself amazed that her only company was Toru Hagakure in the Typhoon Zone; she had to hope that Midoriya and Tokage were elsewhere, given that the swirling winds were a natural counter to their Quirks, because the alternative in Tokage's case was that she had already succumbed to the storm and been dragged apart. Lightning, actual lightning, crackled in the air as the winds howled around them, torrential rain and wind patterns making Hagakure's naked form look like a shimmer in the air. Hagakure was exposed, powerless, but this was something Yanagi could make work. She just hoped that the girl could compensate when she flagged, because in the face of the tempest, Poltergeist was fighting a losing battle with those sent to hurt them.
Itsuka Kendo would ordinarily have been pleased to find herself partnered up with Eijiro Kirishima, even if he and Tetsutetsu couldn't stop describing things as manly (she knew he meant it as a compliment when he talked about her strength, but it still irked her a little). The guy had a solid Quirk and could clearly handle himself in close quarters, something she prided herself on. The issue wasn't that, in the Mountain Zone, but who they faced. The mountain landscape gave their opponents, ranged attackers, the high ground and the cover to be able to pepper them, bombardment from every angle. They couldn't just charge in the open, take people on head-on, but they needed a breakthrough from somewhere. Anywhere!
Even where students found themselves with a teacher, they were outmatched and outgunned. Juzo Honenuki knew this, as he tried in vain to stem the bleeding from the side of Thirteen where Kurogiri had severed her arm in an attempt to cripple her. The villains around him in the Landslide Zone sensed blood, and Honenuki could tell why; the whole zone was a deathtrap waiting to happen, one where his Quirk or Thirteen's Quirk could destablise the whole thing and cause catastrophe. Mina Ashido was so far doing as good a job as she could to defend them, while not allowing her Acid to spray in wild directions, but Honenuki knew she was holding back, concerned about the environment and reluctant from a lifetime of restraint to harm anyone no matter their intent. The villains had no such qualms, and all they had to do was wait for the opening…
In one way or another, everyone within the Unforeseen Simulation Joint would have accepted any offer to trade themselves out of their current situation, to swap with another so that their Quirks and skillsets weren't having to overcome the odds. Perspective, however, was a wonderful thing. None of them knew how bad the others had it. And if any of them had known how bad things were in the Ruins Zone, amidst the wreckage of a fallen city, none of them would have traded places with Izuku Midoriya and his friends, facing off against the greatest enemy in the building…
The Nomu shrieked, and its heaven-piercing wail practically bounced off every wall.
(***)
A/N: Cue me, trying to wrap everything back around to Izuku's group, since I promised y'all that I'd be giving you a run of chapters which allowed focus on that side of things. I'm a man of my word, me (sometimes). If you want more Izuku and co dealing with Nomu, Garaki and Kurogiri, well… next chapter is in two weeks' time, y'know?
I really liked the idea of a little clever planning going into who ended up where in the USJ, because it provides that nice contrast against canon, where Shigaraki is tactically naive in randomly dispersing the class, failing to ensure that people aren't placed in their element (Tsuyu, looking at you). Garaki having knowledge of the students beforehand from his lifetime of work, and being able to acquire their medical records, made for a lot more astute tactics, and gave us people up against the odds.
And hey, focusing this time around on two canon 1B students was fun- Yui and Neito getting spotlight has been great because I want both to play a bigger role going forwards, and it's neat imagining how two non-1A members face such a crisis. It's part of why I minimised Thirteen's involvement as a teaching participant beyond 'someone for Neito to copy a Quirk from', as I thought she was pretty inept in canon and wanted to keep elements of that here to allow for focus on the students here. To quote Neito, "he actually got character development?!".
This story returns in two weeks' time, so for now, let me say a massive thank you. The amount of you following baffles me- there's nearly 1750 of you, let alone the 1500+ followers, and I really appreciate you all turning up so consistently as you do to read my story. I'm doing this part-time and then some around my job, so your very kind words make me smile when doing this for the love of the fandom and the love of the fic.
If you haven't already, please favourite and follow, and please leave a review if you'd be so kind because it is the absolute highlight of what I do as an author to get reviews (just don't flame, I beg). If you liked this, please feel free to share with your friends, and check out my profile for more content; I want to raise my Tenko x Setsuna Incident Zero spin-off oneshot, "What Would Izuku Think If He Saur-us", and my new fic "Nanaue" which is King Shark in My Hero (nom nom?), if you want to give them some attention.
Ya boy, out.
