AN: This story will be updating infrequently as the majority of my time and energy will go to producing chapters of DFL.
Unexpected guest
Beast Forest, Japan
The dark peacefulness of a forest clearing was broken by a spark of electricity several feet above the ground. More sparks soon followed, each one joining with the next spark as they began to expand. A hemisphere of crackling electricity forming from the sparks, ten feet in diameter.
As quickly as it had appeared the hemisphere collapsed, leaving behind a circle of burnt grass, leaves, and a tall figure standing in the center. The figure wore a dark green cloak and hood that covered everything except for the face, which in turn was covered by a glowing red visor mounted over the eyes. The visor itself part of a featureless metal mask that was the figure's face.
The figure slowly turned its head as it examined its surroundings and then looked skyward. The figure rose into the air, faint sparks of electricity appearing around its hands and feet as it did so revealing that they were covered in some sort of metallic material or armor.
Once the figure had ascended above the tree tops they rotated around in place, gaze sweeping across the forest.
"Alana where are we?" No words had been spoken, instead the figures neural interface transmitting the question to an onboard A.I. Even in the figure's own mind the voice held a masculine tone.
"Searching...
Cell tower located...
Bypassing firewalls...
Routing through satellites...
Accessing internet...
Immediate data shows that we are located in Japan during the early 21st century. Early estimates all point to a successful dimensional jump. We have arrived back on an Earth master. The jump has damaged the dimensional circuit, and drained 75% of our power reserves as well. All systems will be operating at 20% efficiency to prolong operation time."
The voice that spoke was feminine but held the hint of a synthesized nature. Before the figure could respond, a plume of blue fire rose above the trees in the distance.
"Master, I'm detecting well over a dozen heat signatures in that general area. Several appear to be engaged in battle against the others."
Zooming in with the visor he could see that the blue fire had begun to spread outwards along the foliage and branches of the trees. Electricity crackled around his hand and feet once more as he flew towards the disturbance. As he flew the cloak began to shrink, fabric being pulled beneath the suddenly revealed armor that wouldn't look out of place on a medieval knight. Beneath the plates of armor was another layer of of some kind of silvery metallic substance. As he accelerated, Alana was speaking to him images from the history of this world flashing in front of his eyes.
"In this world powers are better known as Quirks. They appeared some time ago and are passed down genetically, 80% of the population at present is known to have a Quirk."
A warning flashed up onto his visor showing that movement had been detected less than a hundred meters ahead. Zooming in he could see a green haired woman dressed in a yellow vest, skirt, and boots collapsed at the feet of a mint green skinned monster with an exposed brain surrounded by a purple metal helmet. In addition to having the normal two human arms the monster also had six additional ones extending out from it's back. These additional arms didn't end in hands however, four of them instead ended in whirling chainsaw blades. The final two ended with a drill and a claw hammer respectively.
"Alana continue to gather information and scan the surrounding area. I'm engaging in close combat with a monster."
Redirecting his flight he crashed down into the trees at an angle to the mint green monster. The metal beneath his armor began to flow down along his right arm. Inch by inch the metal hardened until a three foot long double-edged blade extended from his forearm and over his wrist and hand. The edges of the blade began to blur until they appeared to be covered a thin silvery mist.
The monster was just tilting its head upwards when he plowed into it traveling just below the speed of sound at the time of impact. Both skidded across the ground until the monster's back impacted with a tree. Recovering from the crash the man's arm sliced down. The first slash sheered off two of the monsters chainsaw arms. The arms had barely landed, blades still whirring, before he sliced upwards at an angle. The second slash lopping off the monster's drill hand.
Roaring in rage around the gag in its mouth the monster struck out with its remaining limbs. Chainsaws shrieked as their blades tried to cut through his armor, the sharp edge of the blade being ground away instantly. The clawed hammer and empty hands had a similar lack of success. The blows bouncing off without any apparent affect. As the monster pulled its arms back in preparation for another attack the armored man took a step forward. A second blade identical to the first appeared on his left arm, the blades flashed silver in the dark as with a swift scissoring motion the monster's head went flying off into the foliage.
Swaying on its feet the monster took a moment before it collapsed. Turning around the man trudged the several feet back to where the green-haired woman lay unconscious, blades shrinking back into the armor as he walked. Scooping her up into his arms he scanned the area for anyone nearby. After a moment he spotted a pair of heat sources moving a couple of hundred feet away and headed in that direction at a brisk pace.
A couple of minutes of walking later he emerged from the trees onto a narrow dirt pathway facing the pair. A boy and a girl, both with black hair but while the girl's was long and straight, the boy's was gravity-defying in its spikiness. Both of them seemed to be in their late teens but he couldn't be completely sure.
As soon as they spotted the man the pair dropped into a defensive stance. Multi-colored light flickered around the girl's hand and when it faded she was clutching police baton. When they noticed the woman that he was carrying their eyes widened in surprise. Before either the boy or the girl could speak the man spoke, his voice holding only a trace of its synthesized nature along with a slight accent.
"I mean you no harm, I spotted the fire in the trees soon after I arrived. Heading towards the fire I came across this woman after she had been knocked unconscious by a monster. I defeated the monster and seeing as you were the closest ones to the monster, I came in your direction for help. "
Momo Yaoyorozu was a bit startled at the sudden appearance of this armored man, one that also happened to be carrying an injured Ragdoll. Mandalay had telepathically announced that the training camp was under attack and now she was facing someone that could be working for the Villains. While he didn't seem to be hostile she was worried about the monster that he said he had killed. Glancing over at her companion, Yosetsu Awase from class 1-B, she could see that he was also suspicious of the man. Clearing her throat and stepping forward she decided that she would be the one to talk.
"My name is Yaoyorozu Momo, I'm the vice president of class 1-A, this is Awase Yosetsu from class 1-B. The woman that your carrying is one of our teachers a hero named Ragdoll. Our classes were taking part in an exercise and scattered about the woods when we were alerted that Villains were attacking us. The monster that you killed could you describe what it looked like?"
Momo was worried that the man wasn't going to answer before he nodded. "The monster was as tall as me with mint green skin and six additional arms that ended in power-tools. Around it's head the monster wore a purple helmet of metal and its brain was exposed."
At those last words Momo felt her breath catch in her throat, there was only one thing that she knew of with an exposed brain, Nomu. If this man had really taken out one of those monsters then he certainly wasn't working with the League of Villains.
"Take us to where you killed the monster please, I want to confirm with my own eyes that what you said is true."
Nodding the man began to turn away before stopping. "Sorry I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Iron Mask but I generally only go by Mask."
The man turned away once more and started back the way he had come, Shouldering through the few tree branches that were still in his way. Momo and Yosetsu needing to jog after him in order to keep up. As they ran Momo was trying to recall anyone by that name but all she was drawing was a blank. She wished that Midoriya was here as if anyone would know the name of an obscure hero it would be him.
It didn't take the group long to reach the spot where Mask had said that he confronted the Nomu and rescued Ragdoll. Momo bringing her hand up to cover her mouth as she looked at the dismembered and beheaded Nomu. There was a strange absence of blood, either splattered across the ground or on the wounds themselves. Then there was the fact that Mask didn't appear to actually carry any blades. Could the cuts be part of his Quirk somehow?
Yosetsu had taken one look at the body before quickly looking away. Spotting something in the bushes he knelt down and when he rose he was holding Ragdoll's battered headgear. He started to try and get it to work when Momo spoke up.
"This monster as you called Mask-San is known as a Nomu, they seem to serve the League of Villains and follow their orders. They can be very dangerous and hard to kill so thank you for taking this one down before it could attack anyone else."
Mask set Ragdoll down so that she was resting against a tree. He then turned his gaze back towards Momo, the red visor glowing eerily in the otherwise fairly dark forest.
"It sounds like your classmates are going to be struggling against the League of Villains then. Can I leave Ragdoll with you I go to help them? I can move faster on my own while utilizing my flight. " Mask sounded almost sheepish as he spoke. He clearly knew what he was asking of Momo but if he could actually move faster by flying.
" Alright, please go and help my classmates. Me and Yosetsu will get started taking Ragdoll back to camp."
Mask nodded and Momo got the feeling that he was smiling even if she couldn't see it. Electricity crackled around his hands and feet before he took off into the air. She watched him go until Yosetsu cheered from behind her, turning she saw that he had the headgear on and was speaking into it.
"Mandalay this is Awase Yosetsu with class 1-B. I found Ragdoll with the help of Yaoyorozu Momo and a man in metal armor with a red Visor that calls himself Iron Mask. Ragdoll is injured and unconscious at the moment but Mask is heading in your direction to help."
Removing the headgear Yosetsu turned to Momo with a grin on his face. Momo in turn gestured down at the dismembered Nomu. "Help me attach trackers to the Nomu so we can find it later, then we can get Ragdoll somewhere safe."
Mask soared above the treetops as he headed in the direction of what seemed like the main area of battle. Judging from the walls of ice and multiple explosions at least he was getting closer to it at least. The fires were limiting his ability to detect heat sources and with most of the more powerful sensors offline he had to use mostly visual detection. Zooming in he brought up a more detailed display for the fight before him.
Two teenagers were fighting a man in black leather with multiple blades sprouting from his mouth. The first teenager was generating the walls of ice from the left side of his body. The teens hair was split down the middle into a pair of distinct colors, the left side white while the right side was red.
The second teen had spiky blonde hair and was remaining crouched down behind the ice, from the way his face was screwed up into a scowl he wasn't happy. Occasionally he would flex his hands as if he was subconsciously doing an action that he couldn't actually perform right now.
The blades extending from the mouth of the man in black leather were fast. Each blow from them cracking and breaking through the ice, forcing the two color haired boy to create more. Mask didn't even slow as he adjusted his flight path so that he was coming downward at an angle towards the mans back. Electricity crackled across his body as it gathered in the palm of his right hand, forming into a sphere nearly 2 feet around.
Right before Mask would impact with the man he thrust his right arm forward and slammed the sphere into the man's back. Arcs of electricity erupted outwards as the majority of the current coursed through the man's body, traveling down the blades of metal until they grounded themselves into the earth. The man jerked twice before finally his body went completely limp. Smoke drifted off of him as he dropped like a stone to the ground.
"What the hell Extra, we didn't need your damn help!" The blonde shouted as he ran up to Mask. He didn't even flinch as Mask stood up to his full height and fixed his gaze onto the blonde.
"Your Mask right? Mandalay informed us that someone of your description was helping us out." This question came from the two hair colored teen as he walked closer. Mask felt a twinge of surprise to see that the teens face had been badly burned sometime in the past. It reminded Mask of his own injury when he was younger, the burnt visage that had looked back at him from the hospital mirror. He was so lost in the memory that it took him a moment to process the question.
"Yes, sorry I got caught up in a memory for a moment. Are either of you injured?"
"Dammit quit ignoring me to talk to Half and Half you Extra!"
Mask turned to look at the angry blonde who was staring up at him even as his hands crackled with small explosions. Before he could respond someone crashed out of the trees and onto the dirt path.
Mask first noticed a multi-armed boy with a black mask covering his lower face. Many of the arms were behind the boys back creating a crude basket in which he was carrying a green-haired boy who appeared to have two broken arms. Directly behind the pair was a massive shadow creature with a pair of glowing yellow eyes. Tree's proved to be no obstacle to the creature as it smashed them aside.
"Bakugo, Todoroki, make light with your quirks we need to weaken Dark Shadow so it calms down!" The multi-armed boy shouted producing a mouth from the end of one of the arms just before he was forced to dive forward. A huge shadowy claw swiping through the area he had just occupied. As Dark Shadow reared back for another strike Mask interposed himself between it and the multi-armed boy that was its target.
All four of the boys shouted out as they saw the man step into the attack. Bakugo and Todoroki both producing flashes of light to illuminate the scene. Dark Shadow's claws were pressed into either side of Mask's body making it look like he had been impaled. A second look however revealed that the claws were scraping uselessly against the metal of his armor. Mask lifted up his left hand, the palm flared brightly for a moment before lighting up like a floodlight.
Hissing in pain Dark Shadow recoiled from the sudden blast of light. Form starting to shrink as Mask continued to direct the beam of light in its direction. As it shrunk Dark Shadow revealed that it had been concealing a black bird-headed teen into which the shadow was being absorbed.
"Fumikage are you alright?" The green-haired teen yelled out. He probably would have been scrambling to the other boys side as well if his arms hadn't been broken. Since things appeared to be calming down for the moment, Mask took the chance to scan the white and red haired teen as well as the one with the broken arms.
"Scans indicate that his scar was likely caused by a combination of boiling water being poured onto the face followed by rapid cooling. Judging by the scar tissue the scar itself is quite old and probably occurred when he was still a child. The unusual coloration of the pupil doesn't seem to be related."
Tilting his head in the direction of the green-haired boy Mask brought up an x-ray profile of the kids numerous broken bones.
"What the hell kind of sadistic torture has this child been going through!" Alana shouted over the connection she had with Mask. It was lucky that she didn't have physical form at the moment because if she had someone would likely get strangled. At first he had to agree with Alana, multiple broken bones all having occurred within the last year, limbs having been shattered completely more than once. The only bones that didn't seem to be have broken were the ones that comprised of a persons center of mass, chest, spine, skull, pelvis. Mentally that thought tugged at the back of his mind and he took a closer look at the x-ray.
"Alana, bring up the file we have on suddenly gaining super strength." The A.I. Paused her ranting as she brought up the file. Man and A.I. studying the text before they mentally scolded themselves.
"To be young and reckless when gaining super strength for the first time without the benefits of improved durability." While Mask had been studying the scans the five teens had clustered together and were making sure that they were all right.
Approaching the boy with multiple arms Mask extended a hand to him. "Here let me help the kid with the broken arms. I don't have a way of fixing them but I can accelerate the healing process and prevent them from shifting too badly."
Looking at Mask the boy set the green-haired kid down onto the ground carefully. Raising his left hand Mask began to spray a pale blue foam across the kid's arms. Once both limbs were fully coated the foam began to darken in color, the boy flinching as it harden.
"Sorry forgot to warn you that things would shift a little bit."
"It's alright Mask-San I can handle a small amount of pain. Sorry I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Midoriya Izuku." One by one the rest of the group introduced themselves. Shoji Mezo, who could create multiple appendages. Bakugo Katsuki, the angry blonde with the ability to generate explosions from his hands. Todoroki Shoto, the one with the two-toned hair who was able to produce fire from the left side of his body and ice from his right side. Finally there was Tokoyami Fumikage, who could produce a powerful shadow with its own personality.
It didn't take long for the group to organize themselves into a group to protect Bakugo, despite the blondes rather loud objections, as the League of Villains was apparently after him. Shoji was out in front using his ability to make appendages to scout out their path even as he carried Deku. Todoroki was the next in line followed by Bakugo, then Fumikage, and finally Mask bringing up the rear of the group.
