BEN 10 DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. MY HERO ACADEMIA DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. IF I COULD BE A SUPERHERO… WELL, I PROBABLY WOULDN'T DO IT. I'M TOO LAZY.
Okay, so while the heroes scored a decent win last chapter, the stakes just got a little more personal.
My Alien Academia
Chapter 48
Crisis at Home
"Kacchan, there's another one!"
"I know, Deku!" Bakugo spun on his heel and blasted another monster on its back; it wasn't dead, but as it scrambled upright, Midoriya incinerated it with his emerald fire. "What the shit is going on today!?"
"I was hoping one of you Heroes would know," Toga called out as she darted around a bleeding mess that had been another abomination. "Hey, has anyone seen Shigaraki?"
Bakugo scoffed. "Last I saw, that prick was turning one of these freaks into dust."
Midoriya's flame-horns flickered as he moved from one monster to another. "How about we find him and the others after we survive?"
Another burst of heat washed over them, and they looked up just in time to see Heat Viper literally vaporize a dozen more monsters. Despite his hatred of his father, Midoriya was starting to get worried; an hour ago, Hisashi had been annihilating a hundred at a time, but now he was too exhausted to kill more than a handful. If a powerhouse like Heat Viper was running out of steam, then this sudden invasion was worse than anyone could have predicted.
"I think we need to get out of here," Toga said nervously.
"No shit," Bakugo sneered, but even he couldn't hide his anxiety. "C'mon, let's find the rest of the class."
The ground shuddered, and a building collapsed around a hulking specimen; it was easily five times the size of any other monster they'd seen so far.
"After we deal with that," Midoriya said mildly.
"Yeah, Deku, after that."
…
Uraraka stumbled when she saw that her boyfriend was suddenly gone.
"What just happened?"
Before anyone could answer her question, a strange sound reached them. It sounded like tearing cloth and shattering glass all at once; an instant later, a gaping hole appeared in the air less than fifty feet away from them.
"A warp gate!" Yaoyorozu shouted. "Is it Kurogiri? Is the League of Villains attacking us?"
"Everyone, get back!" Vlad King ordered. "Anyone who is too tired from today's exercise, fall back and call the other teachers. Everyone else will stay and hold the line until reinforcements arrive."
Aizawa lowered his goggles over his eyes and readied his scarf as he stood next to his fellow teacher. "I'll shut down any Quirks, and you can knock them down."
"Got it." Vlad glanced over his shoulder, and saw almost half the students heading further away from the potential battle. "Damn. Of all the times for the students to be exhausted…"
"I know what you mean, but if we keep the enemy bottled up, then numbers won't matter." Aizawa scowled. "But I'm worried about Midoriya. It can't be a coincidence that he disappeared and this portal showed up at the same time."
Vlad laughed humorlessly. "Even when he's not here, that kid is causing trouble."
Aizawa smirked, and he felt a flicker of the satisfaction from a few minutes ago, when his class had beaten Vlad's. "You're just jealous you didn't get him."
"Oh, shut up, you scruffy hobo."
That small attempt to keep the tension from getting overwhelming ended when a screaming tide of monsters barreled out of the portal. Some of them walked on arms instead of nonexistent legs, or too many limbs, or mismatched wings. All of them had grey flesh that looked on the verge of rotting; some bodies had spikes haphazardly erupting from them, and others had layers of hide. All of them produced a deafening wave of noise, and the smell of rot and death.
Aizawa had time to realize that these things couldn't possibly be Nomu, but there was nothing else to consider. They were intruders with hostile intent—more importantly, they were intruders with hostile intent to his students, and he would die defending them, if necessary.
Just as he prepared to leap into battle, a golden blur tore past him, almost knocking him over by the passing shockwave. Togata moved so quickly that Aizawa needed almost three full seconds to process that the third-year student was even there. More importantly, Togata proved that these enemies could be beaten when he crushed the skull of one with a fist encased in crackling golden energy.
Another blur passed by, this one green, and Aizawa started when Midoriya, as Jetray, flew into the oncoming horde. He fired bursts of green energy from his eyes and tail, then transformed midair into Diamondhead to decapitate three monsters before he hit the ground.
More bolts of energy crossed the air above him—some green, some pink—as unfamiliar people charged into battle. One was a redheaded girl that seemed to be midway through transforming into something pink, and two more—a teenage girl and an old man—wore hulking suits of green armor. The latter two kept their distance, firing a variety of weapons into the crowd of monsters, while the redhead hurled a thin discus of energy that separated a monster from its arm. As it fell, another girl—Aizawa recognized her as Ben Tennyson's daughter—grew to almost fifty feet tall and finished the thing off with a single stomp.
The countercharge was courageous and devastating, but it wasn't enough to stop every enemy that poured through the hole in reality. One shouldered past the armored girl and roared as it charged at Aizawa; it was huge, bulging with muscle, and covered in spikes, including two that replaced its eyes. Aizawa and Vlad prepared to stop the beast, but a boy covered in metal ran past them to intercept it. At first, Aizawa thought it was Tetsutetsu, but that student couldn't turn his metal arms into hammers, which this boy used to shatter the bony spikes on the monster's chest.
Off-balance, the creature couldn't stop the next blow from connecting with its chin, and it staggered back. Before it could recover, Diamondhead hurled a crystal javelin that speared it through the skull, and it collapsed.
"We need to close the portal!" Togata shouted. "Luthor, I hope you got that gizmo working!"
The old man in the armor replied, but Aizawa didn't hear him; he was too focused on how Midoriya was fighting. Even against the Eight Precepts, he had only used as much force as was necessary to stop an opponent, but here, he was clearly fighting to kill. There was a kind of desperate ferocity to every move, as if even the slightest misstep could spell disaster.
Aizawa wondered what could have possibly triggered such a response, and the thought sent a shiver down his spine.
Midoriya turned into Echo Echo, and then transformed again; this time, he was taller, with blue skin and a more robotic face, and he floated a few inches above the ground. He raised his hands, and tunnels of raw sound tore a wide path through the mob, exposing the portal.
Aizawa had seen Ultimate Echo Echo in training before, but seeing him turn stone to dust was quite different than obliterating flesh. He had seen worse in his career, but it was still enough to turn his stomach.
The old man, Luthor, charged through the opening, and almost through the portal itself. Two cannons unfolded over his shoulders, and began crisscrossing beams of energy across the portal, like a seamstress patching a hole. Aizawa realized that that was exactly what was happening, as the energy seemed to pull the portal closed, and it slammed together with a sound like crashing mountains.
Jen shrank down to her usual size and crossed her arms; green energy gathered where they met, and she fired a beam the width of a car in a sweeping motion that obliterated most of the remaining monsters. The few that survived were quickly finished off by Togata and Ultimate Echo Echo.
"How long do we have?" Midoriya asked Luthor as he turned back to normal, ignoring his teachers and fellow students for the moment.
"I'm not sure," Luthor admitted. "I had less than two hours to come up with that modification, and no time to test it. At my best guess, perhaps an hour, and that's only in the immediate area; more breaches could appear anywhere, at any time."
Aizawa took that moment to jump into the conversation. "Then perhaps you should explain things sooner than later."
Midoriya looked up at him, and Aizawa got a good look at his face. He was exhausted; more than that, he was haunted in a way that Aizawa had only seen in veteran Underground Heroes.
"We'll do what we can, Aizawa-sensei," Midoriya said tiredly. "Let's get somewhere safer."
…
"They have stopped one of our breaches."
"So they have. It will only take a short while to open more."
"We do not have unlimited drones. They could stop us."
"Not before we deny them the final prize. Send them in. Leave none on that world alive."
…
Yaoyorozu had been raised to be a proper young lady; from an early age, she had been taught to not act improperly, which included not gaping. After learning about the multiverse, and the truth about Quirks, she thought she never would.
That changed after Midoriya's abridged retelling of his mission, and if the open mouths of most of her classmates was any indication, she wasn't the only one whose mind was blown.
"I don't believe this, Deku," Bakugo said stubbornly. "You're telling me that you were picked to save the entire fuckin' multiverse?"
"Save your disbelief for someone who cares," the old man, Lex Luthor, said with a sneer. "We're only telling you this out of courtesy, and because we don't need you getting in our way."
Midoriya gave Luthor a warning look, then shrugged apologetically. "I'm sorry for not going into more detail, but we're running out of time. The only hope any of us has is if we find this 'time unbound'. We're pretty sure it's a person on our Earth, and we need to find them."
Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose. "Considering those… things… that attacked us, I don't have any reason to doubt you, especially if time is a factor. Still, we will discuss the fact that you essentially falsified having a Quirk to enter this school."
"I fuckin' knew you were a fraud, Deku!" Bakugo crowed, only for Sero to tape his mouth shut.
Midoriya nodded, and Yaoyorozu felt a chill when she saw how little he seemed to care at that moment, either for Aizawa's threat, or Bakugo's words. Clearly, this Vilgax was such a danger that Midoriya didn't care that his dream of being a Hero was about to come crashing down.
"I can't think of any Heroes with time-related powers," Aizawa went on, ignoring Bakugo. "That kind of Quirk is extremely rare. There was Stopwatch, but he died twenty years ago."
Midoriya frowned. "Stopwatch… he was a French Hero, wasn't he? His Quirk let him stop time on any person or object for up to ten seconds. Does he have any children, or relatives with a similar Quirk?"
Despite everything, Yaoyorozu couldn't help but share a fond smile with her friends; even in the face of the apocalypse, Midoriya's encyclopedic knowledge of Heroes and Quirks was second to none.
Aizawa shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of, but he could only use his Quirk once every hour. That doesn't sound like 'time unbound'."
"Good point." Midoriya turned to the others on his new team. "Any ideas?"
The girl whose armor had morphed into a black-and-green bodysuit shrugged. "Well, 'unbound' largely means not held down by rules. Anyone on this planet whose powers don't have any rules regarding time?"
Midoriya shook his head. "I can't think of any Heroes who can do something like that, and the whole world would know if a Villain had that kind of power…"
Yaoyorozu put her considerable intellect to work trying to come up with an answer; it was difficult, considering all she had learned in just a few minutes, and it took more than a little effort to get her brain going.
It turned out that she didn't need to.
"Deku-kun…" Uraraka's eyes were wide, and her voice was shaking. "W-what about Eri?"
Midoriya was sitting down, but he suddenly lurched like he'd tripped. "Oh… oh, god."
Gwen looked at him. "Who's Eri?"
"Basically their adopted daughter," Togata supplied, pointing to Midoriya and Uraraka. "She can reverse time around any living thing she touches."
Luthor raised an eyebrow. "How powerful is she?"
Midoriya began to tremble. "She can bring dead things back to life… or rewind them out of existence."
Kevin whistled. "Well, I'd say that qualifies as time unbound. Where can we get her?"
"Whoa, whoa!" Ashido put her hands on her hips. "Eri's only six years old! You can't just use her like a cellphone!"
Midoriya jerked back like he'd been slapped, and Yaoyorozu understood why—just thinking about 'using' Eri for anything would make him feel like Chisaki. If there was anyone Midoriya didn't want to be compared to, it was that monster.
"How about we just ask for her help?" Togata offered. "We'll explain it to her as simply as we can, and we'll keep her safe while we work."
An insistent beeping was suddenly heard from Luthor's armor, and he looked at a holographic screen in front of his face. "We may need to help her before she can help us. More breaches are forming."
"Where?" Midoriya demanded.
Luthor looked him dead in the eye. "Everywhere. The entire planet is being invaded this time. If we are going to retrieve this girl, we need to do so now."
Midoriya took a breath; he looked at his team, and then at his classmates and teachers. "Okay, we need a plan. Aizawa-sensei, can UA hold off the enemy?"
Aizawa glanced in the direction of the dead monsters from earlier. "The Heroes and Hero students should be able to keep them back for a little while. If your mission succeeds, will they go away?"
"We're not sure," Jen admitted. "If we're lucky, then yes. Worst-case scenario, these things lose their reinforcements and their direction."
"That's good enough for me." Aizawa stood up from his seat. "We'll begin lockdown procedures immediately. Anyone who can fight now will come with me, and we'll hold the entrances as long as we can before falling back. Those of you too exhausted or injured, get to Recovery Girl; once she's fixed you up, assist Principal Nezu and keep the other students calm." He looked at Midoriya. "How long do you need to get the job done?"
"I don't know," Midoriya answered. "Professor Paradox used a lot of his energy to get us here in time, and it might be a while before he recovers enough to retrieve us."
"Um, wait a second." Kaminari raised his hand like he was back in class. "You guys are just gonna bail after you get Eri? You're gonna leave us?"
"We won't be gone for long," Jen said, trying to sound nonchalant. "If things go right, we'll be back before you know it. Well, Izuku and Mirio will; the rest of us will go home."
"Oh." Kaminari tried to smile, but it was obvious he was on the verge of panicking. "I, uh, guess we'll see you later, Midoriya?"
Midoriya nodded. "Yeah. Once we get back to campus, we'll only need a few minutes to pick up Eri; after that, we just have to hold out until Paradox gets us."
The sound of breaches in reality began to echo through the air, and Aizawa shared a look with Vlad. "All right, everyone on the bus; our first order of business is getting back to UA proper."
Kevin sighed. "Great, we've gone from our own spaceship to a school bus."
"It beats walking," Gwen said.
"Like that matters to you, you haven't set foot on the ground since we got here."
Gwen frowned and looked down; sure enough, her feet were a few inches above the ground. "Huh. I didn't even notice."
"That's not good," Jen commented. "You should really—" She blinked when a piece of skin on Gwen's hand abruptly peeled off, revealing purple light underneath. "Yeah, that's a problem."
"One for later," Luthor reminded them. "Ironically, time is not on our side."
…
"So…" Asui cocked her head as she looked at Midoriya. "Saving the entire multiverse, ribbit?"
The blandness in her tone made Midoriya laugh. "Y-yeah, I guess it's a big deal."
Sero smiled. "And to think, a week ago, the scariest thing we had to deal with was the League of Villains."
"Well, they still are for the rest of us," Ashido cut in. "But that's small potatoes for a big-time superhero like Midori, right?"
For a brief instant, Midoriya pretended that the bus ride was like any other, and he was just enjoying his time with his friends. The moment ended when he heard an inhuman roar in the distance, and he was reminded that there was a very real chance that his entire world was going to be destroyed in a few hours.
The two classes were on their respective buses, making all speed for UA. Julie and Luthor had opted to fly overhead, but the rest of Midoriya's team was crammed into the 1-A bus. Aizawa hadn't gotten off the phone since the ride started, rapidly talking to several people in a conference call. Midoriya wasn't sure who he was talking to, and didn't dare interrupt to find out; he was positive that one of them was Nezu, but he wasn't sure about anyone else.
"Hey, Deku-kun." Uraraka peered closely at him. "You look exhausted. Are you okay?"
"I, uh…" Midoriya shrugged. "I haven't slept in a couple days."
"How could it—oh, right, you mentioned time-travel." Uraraka frowned. "You could have left a note or something. It was weird when you just disappeared."
"To be fair," Iida pointed out, "he returned a moment after he left."
Yaoyorozu nodded. "The benefits of time-travel—you are never late for anything."
"Wait, I'm confused," Ashido said. "If you guys could travel through time, how come you just didn't go back and find baby Vilgax and, well…"
Ashido made a rather impressive show of pretending to break a neck.
Midoriya decided not to address that his sort-of twin had just suggested he commit murder. "Apparently, Vilgax exists outside of time now, just like Paradox. We couldn't change his history if we wanted to."
"Oh. Why can't anything be easy?"
"Because life sucks and then you die," Jen said curtly; she was staring out the window, her expression somewhere between bored and tense. "The best we can do is grab what happiness we can before the end."
"That's morbid," Sero commented.
"It's the truth. I've seen some of the most twisted people in existence devote their lives to destroying as many innocent people as possible, and I've spent almost half my life trying to stop them. The only thing that lets me sleep at night is knowing that I was able to buy a few people at least one more day of life." She sighed. "That's why I'm here now. That's why all of us are here; to keep a genocidal maniac from wiping out all life, at least until the next guy comes along and tries to do it all over again."
Midoriya couldn't agree with her philosophy. There had to come a time when the bad guys finally gave up, and the good guys could relax. Maybe it was naïve of him to think so, but the idea of a never-ending war between Heroes and Villains wasn't appealing to him at all.
That might be how things are on Jen's Earth, but this isn't her Earth. This is my home, and I'm going to make it a better place to live!
Midoriya flinched when he heard another roar in the distance.
After we save it, anyway.
…
Nezu listened to the report with what almost seemed like indifference. Of course, he already knew about people from other universes, and that Midoriya's Quirk was a ruse; judging by his reaction, Aizawa realized that Nezu had probably helped forge that ruse. Still, if there was anyone who could help plan a successful defense of the school, it would be Nezu.
"Begin escorting the students to the emergency shelters," Nezu said calmly. "General Studies and Business Course students first, followed by any Support Course students who don't want to assist in the defense. Any first-year Hero Course students are permitted to go to the shelters as well, but second- and third-years are required to stay outside. We'll need all the firepower we can muster. Aizawa, what kind of support can we expect from our expanded security roster?"
"They're all retired Heroes, but they can hold their own," Aizawa replied immediately. "I'd like them to stay with the younger students; their experience should help calm any nerves."
"Excellent." Nezu looked at his phone, and sighed. "I would have preferred to have more Pro Heroes and police help as well, but there are reports of monsters running rampant all over Japan. There's simply no one available to help right now."
"Then we'll just have to hold the line." Aizawa hesitated. "At least until Midoriya's team can stop this invasion at its source."
"I have complete faith in him," Nezu said promptly. "I'll explain the details of his situation later, but for now, we must focus on the present."
Sometimes, Aizawa hated that Nezu could be even more rational than he could. "Of course, sir."
"How are your students?" Nezu abruptly asked. "Some of them were quite exhausted by today's exercise, correct?"
"They'll be able to fight," Aizawa assured him. "Shield recently created a kind of adrenaline-pill that can keep someone in fighting shape for six hours that counteracted the side-effect of Recovery Girl's Quirk, so the students are as ready as they can be."
"Excellent news." Nezu paused. "Is Shield-san going to be in the shelters as well?"
"No, she refused." Aizawa smirked. "Last I saw, she and Hatsume were finishing a suit of power armor, and arguing over who got to pilot it."
Nezu chuckled. "Oh, if this were any other situation…"
"Yeah." The building rumbled, and Aizawa tensed. "I'm going out there."
"Eraserhead." Aizawa stopped mid-turn. "Remember, according to Midoriya-san, these monsters don't have Quirks. Be careful."
"I'll do my best, but I won't hesitate if my students are in danger." With that, Eraserhead strode from the office.
Nezu looked down and closed his eyes. "That's what I'm afraid of."
…
"Izu!" Eri ran up and hugged Midoriya's leg. "What's going on? Everything's loud and scary."
Midoriya knelt and gave Eri a quick hug. "Sorry, Eri-chan, there's a lot happening right now. I know it's scary, but some friends of mine are working to make it stop. We're almost done, actually, but we need… well, we need your help."
Eri blinked. "Me?"
Jen, standing behind Midoriya, waved and smiled. "Yeah, we heard you had really special time-powers, and that's exactly what we need to save everyone."
"B-but… but I don't know how to use my Quirk yet," Eri said, her bottom lip wobbling.
"Don't worry," Midoriya assured her. "We met this man, Professor Paradox, and he has time-powers too! He can help you help us."
That wasn't necessarily true, especially with Paradox's deteriorating condition, but it wasn't like any of them had any better ideas. Plus, Eri perked up at the thought of someone else having powers like her.
"Is… is that okay?" she asked Uraraka, who hugged her.
"As long as Deku-kun keeps you safe, it'll be fine," she said, and gave her boyfriend a pointed you'd-better-not-let-a-single-hair-on-our-girl's-head-be-harmed-or-so-help-me look.
For his part, Midoriya emphatically nodded; the end of the multiverse scared him, but facing Uraraka's wrath if something happened to Eri was much worse.
"So, how long do we have to wait before this Paradox guy takes you away again?" Sero asked as he absently adjusted his helmet.
"No idea," Kevin admitted. "He's been getting weaker since this whole thing started. It could be hours."
"Let's hope not," Luthor cut in, staring intently at a hologram in front of his face. "I've been monitoring the progress of the invasion thus far, and it's not good. Contact has been lost with three countries in the last thirty minutes, and casualties are already in the millions."
Midoriya felt his gorge rise; it was one thing, intellectually, to know that whole universes had been wiped out by Vilgax, but it was another matter entirely when the same thing was starting to happen to his home.
"Hey, it's okay," Jen said, and gently elbowed him. "We'll fix this, I promise."
"Y-yeah." Midoriya smiled as he watched the Rising Stars play with Eri to distract her. "I hope so."
"Deku." Eraserhead was suddenly right beside him, and Midoriya jumped. "I need you to come with me. The south gate has come under siege, and I need you to help keep the enemy out until we can reinforce the breach."
"We can help," Jen said, arms crossed.
Eraserhead shrugged. "Sure. Genesis, Cellophane, Alien Queen, you're with us. Everyone else will stay here and protect Eri; this whole mission fails if something happens to her."
After a moment of discussion with the rest of Midoriya's team, Jen and Gwen decided to accompany the reinforcements. Midoriya headed to the south gate as XLR8, while Jen dragged the others on a floating Mana-platform from Gwen.
By the time they arrived at the gate, things were already deteriorating; the sealed door was crumpled, and the two retired Heroes guarding it were bloody and falling back. A screaming drone crawled through the breach; as soon as it saw the reinforcements, it charged.
Midoriya acted first, turning into Diamondhead and throwing a crystal javelin into the monster's chest. Ashido sprayed it with acid a moment later, but other than burning away a few patches of skin, it ignored her; that changed when she upped the power of her acid for another spray that melted away one of its arms. Diamondhead finished it off with a quick stab to its head, then looked outside.
"We've got a bunch more coming in," he reported. "At least ten, maybe more."
Eraserhead nodded. "Tennyson, you and Deku go out and hold them off for as long as you can. Genesis, do what you can to repair the door."
Yaoyorozu bit her lip, but nodded and began studying the door mechanisms. "Hanta, I may need you to hold things in place."
"No problem," Sero said, but underneath his helmet, he looked far less certain than he sounded.
After a moment, Yaoyorozu began creating several different components from her arms, then directed Sero to replace the old parts with the new ones. While that happened, Midoriya and Jen held their ground, driving back or killing the handful of monsters that tried to get past them.
"The gate is repaired!" Yaoyorozu called out. "Izuku, get out of there!"
Jen stopped another drone with her cosmic ray, and covered Midoriya as they retreated back inside. "Why isn't the gate closing?"
Yaoyorozu frowned. "Um, I repaired the lock, but I didn't have time to fix everything. We just need to get the gate closed, and it should stay shut."
Jen sighed. "Okay, give me a minute." She held out one hand, and with her magnetic powers, forced the gate to close. "Izuku, can you weld this shut? It might buy us a few more minutes."
"Sure," Midoriya said, and turned into Heatblast to heat the seams in the door into a solid piece of metal. Once the metal cooled, Sero reinforced it further with a literal wall of tape; it wouldn't do much, but in this siege, every second counted.
Jen raised an eyebrow. "So… tape?"
"Yeah, what about it?" Sero asked, his tone defensive.
"Nothing, nothing!" Jen held up her hands. "I'm sure tape is useful in a lot of situations."
Sero grumbled, but didn't complain further.
"Enough," Aizawa ordered. "We're pulling back now. Rest as much as you can; you may get called again at any time."
"Psst! Midori!" Ashido pulled Midoriya aside so that they could speak privately as they walked. "Look, I get that you're on a big-time, save-the-multiverse mission… thing."
"That's one way to put it, I guess."
Ashido elbowed him. "Shut up, I'm venting."
"Sorry."
"Anyway, I just wanted to ask… we are going to be okay, right? I mean, you guys have a plan."
"We know what we need," Midoriya clarified. "But we haven't figured out how all the pieces come together yet. The sooner we get Eri to Jen's universe, the faster we can set this right."
"Cool, cool." Ashido took a deep breath, then pulled Midoriya into a one-armed hug. "This is why I'm so glad I decided to be your friend when we first met."
"Really?"
"Okay, at first I was just interested because your Quirk was so cool," she admitted, "but then I saw how much of a lovable dork you are, and I couldn't stay away."
"H-hey!" Midoriya tried to pout, but couldn't; instead, he returned the hug. "Why does my sister have to be so mean?"
"Part of the job; I've gotta poke holes in your ego, and keep you safe, because you are a precious bean."
Midoriya blushed, but before he could try to come up with a witty comeback, the school shook again. The source felt much closer than before; Midoriya turned in the direction of the gate, but it still held.
Jen, however, had super-hearing, and knew exactly what was about to happen. "Izuku, move!"
She was already starting to move when the ground underneath Midoriya's feet began to crack and break apart, but she was a beat too slow. Ashido, however, was not; she pushed Midoriya away, and gave him one last chance to look at her with wide eyes.
Then a claw burst up from the ground.
"MINA!"
…
"Seven casualties," Cementoss reported grimly. "Three retired Heroes, and four students when the monsters tunneled up from underground."
Nezu nodded. "Injuries?"
"Thirty-one, and half of them are serious." Cementoss' hands twitched, but he managed to remain composed. "Recovery Girl says that the serious ones will likely not last through tomorrow."
Nezu's ear twitched. "I understand. Have all our defenses been repaired?"
"So far, but the breaches are occurring faster and faster." Cementoss inclined his head. "How is the wider situation?"
"Deteriorating rapidly," Nezu answered. "There isn't a single province in Japan that isn't under attack, and we've lost contact with half the country. The number of casualties is estimated at least four million. As for the rest of the world… we can't reach most of Europe, China has gone completely dark, and the only state in the US still holding out is Texas."
"So much devastation, so fast…" Cementoss put his hand to his head. "It's unprecedented. Not even the worst Villain attacks did so much damage."
"The good news is that it's happening too fast for people to fall into despair." Nezu smirked. "Before we lost radio contact with them, Mirko and Hawks were leading a joint strike force of Heroes, police and JSDF soldiers into several breach points."
"At least Mirko is taking this seriously enough to work with other people." Cementoss tried to sound jolly, but it came off as hollow. "How much time can they buy?"
"We had some conflicting reports," Nezu admitted. "Some civilians they managed to evacuate are saying they're still fighting, but a few claim Mirko is dead. We can't be sure of anything right now."
"What about Midoriya-san's plan? How is that progressing?"
Nezu sighed. "Right now, he's not in any place to talk. He fights when he has to, but he hasn't spoken a word in hours."
"I'm not surprised." Cementoss closed his eyes. "Has he even washed her blood off yet?"
"There hasn't been time."
"I hate this."
Now it was Nezu that closed his eyes; he tried not to imagine a cheerful, pink face that would never smile again.
"So do I."
…
Uraraka watched as yet another monster floated helplessly in the air, only until Heatblast burned it to ash. She wished she could feel some satisfaction for helping to destroy over thirty of these things, but she couldn't feel anything at all.
She'd only felt grief for the first hour after Midoriya and Sero had brought back what was left of Ashido. After that, she'd gone completely numb; she wondered if she just hadn't accepted reality yet.
Her other friends weren't doing much better. Sero couldn't stop shaking, and had needed a good twenty minutes alone to scrub off Ashido's blood, and then another half-hour being held by a teary-eyed Asui to not have a complete breakdown. Like Uraraka, Yaoyorozu and Iida had grieved at first, but now moved forward grimly, only speaking when needed.
Todoroki was the worst of them all. He now reminded Uraraka of how he'd been when they'd first met, as cold as his ice. At first, he had reached out and touched Ashido's remaining hand, as if he could magically restore her to life. When that had failed, he had locked up, not showing even the slightest hint of emotion. The only sign that he felt anything at all was when he marched to the wherever Vilgax's monsters appeared and incinerated them. He pushed himself so hard that Eraserhead had been forced to shut down his Quirk twice, and dragged him back to rest and recuperate. Throughout it all, he hadn't said a word.
"How much longer do you think we need to hold out?" she asked quietly.
Midoriya shrugged as he turned back to normal. "According to Jen, she and Kevin needed to wait for almost two hours before Paradox showed up."
"It's been four hours so far."
"I know." Midoriya sighed. "Paradox has been getting weaker ever since this whole thing started."
He didn't say it out loud, but Uraraka knew he was wondering if Paradox was going to show up at all.
"I lost track of Mirio a while back," Midoriya continued. "Where did he go?"
"He's still leading the defense by the south gate," Uraraka reminded him. "The third-years are doing well; only a few injuries so far."
"That's good; Nezu-sensei doesn't need to send them reinforcements yet."
"Yeah, we need it more." Uraraka tried not to wince as she thought of the 1-B students who had suffered crippling injuries during a skirmish an hour ago.
Kendo had passed out from blood loss after losing a leg, Kamakiri was on a ventilator after one of his lungs had been destroyed, and Monoma was blind after a monster had torn off his face. 1-A had been relatively luckier, with only minor injuries thus far… other than Ashido.
"We should head back," Uraraka said tiredly. "Our shift is over."
"Yeah. Okay." Midoriya was quiet as they walked back to the infirmary/barracks, barely waving at their replacements, a team led by Tokoyami.
"We have to keep going," Uraraka reminded him. "It's the only way we're going to make Mina's sacrifice worth anything."
"She wasn't 'sacrificed'," Midoriya snapped. "She was murdered. I don't care if we fix this, I'm never going to accept losing someone I care about 'worth it'."
Uraraka tried not to flinch; Midoriya was barely holding it together at this point. He was blaming himself for Ashido's death, and for the attack on their Earth. As far as he was concerned, if he hadn't agreed to help Paradox, none of this would have happened. Uraraka didn't believe that; from what she understood, Vilgax would have sent his army here sooner or later, regardless of what Midoriya did.
"Izuku!" Jen waved as they approached, and for the first time in hours, she seemed happy. "Good news! Paradox just showed up!"
Midoriya actually tripped, and Uraraka had to quickly tag him with her Quirk to keep him from falling on his face. It reminded her of the first time they'd met, and it brought a fond smile to her face.
"That's fantastic!" Midoriya gave Uraraka a quick nod of thanks when she brought him safely down to his feet. "We just need to get Eri, and we can finish this, right?"
"That's the plan." Jen gestured for them to follow her. "Come on, let's get out of here."
Uraraka had never seen Paradox before, but if she had been expecting an inspiring figure, she was sorely disappointed. The man being held up by Julie was a withered husk, his skin so pale it was almost translucent.
"Whoa," Jen breathed. "He did not look like that a minute ago."
"My… apologies, Jennifer," Paradox wheezed. "It would appear that… my powers are nearly… depleted."
"Then we need to wrap this up fast," Kevin said.
"We still require… time unbound."
"We have her," Midoriya said. "Her name is Eri, and she has the power to rewind living things. She's the only person I know with that kind of power. That's why Vilgax attacked us, right?"
"You are correct… and not." Paradox smiled weakly. "The power is right, the person is right… but not the universe."
Midoriya blinked. "What are you talking about? I thought you knew what you were doing!"
Paradox sighed, and it sounded like dust escaping a tomb. "As I've said… my powers are severely weakened. What was once… clear as day… is now muddied."
Julie scowled. "You know, if we hadn't spent the last few hours trying to keep people safe, I'd say we just wasted our time."
"You did not," Paradox assured her. "I, however… have used up too much of mine."
"Please don't tell me we're stuck here," Jen pleaded.
"Not… not all of you." Paradox closed his eyes, and for a moment, he looked like he'd died. "I can only send six of you to the Watchtower. Someone… will have to stay behind when this world falls."
Uraraka, who had been watching until now, tensed. "You said 'when' this world falls, not 'if'."
Paradox nodded. "There is no preventing it at this stage. Some of Vilgax's creations have already begun devouring the fundamental energies that hold the universe together. Most worlds that stand against him last less than half a day. The only reason these creatures fight you at all is because Vilgax enjoys cruelty."
Midoriya lunged for the ancient man's coat, and only Jen's strong arms kept him from throttling Paradox. "Don't say that! There has to be a way to fix this!"
"There is," Gwen said quietly. "The same way we can fix my Earth—by letting this one die first."
Tears welled up in Midoriya's eyes. "No! N-no, I can't do accept that!"
At that moment, Togata arrived; his costume was dirty, and he was clearly exhausted, but he remained strong. "Sorry I'm late, what'd I miss?"
Kevin sighed. "There's no way to save your world, man. Paradox says that he can only get six of us out of here before everyone else dies."
Togata stared, then took a long, shuddering breath. "I see."
"Take everyone else," Midoriya demanded abruptly. "I'll stay and try to buy as much time as I can. Maybe the rest of you can figure this out in time." He turned to Uraraka. "I'm not leaving you."
Now it was Uraraka's turn to tear up; Midoriya had just declared that he was willing to die with her. She took off her helmet, then hugged him as tightly as she could. Then she saw Paradox and Togata share a look, and knew exactly what was about to happen; the question now was what she would do.
"I love you," she whispered in Midoriya's ear, and then stepped back.
Midoriya had less than a second to be confused, and then Togata punched him in the back of the head, knocking him out. Uraraka caught him before he hit the floor.
"You knew that was going to happen," she accused Paradox.
The rapidly-aging man shrugged. "Mirio here is quite skilled, but we need someone like Izuku to finish this mission, and everyone else has their part to play."
"My job has always been to save people," Togata added. "It may not be a million people, like I wanted, but I'd be happy to save one of my friends."
"We have no idea if we'll succeed," Jen said sadly.
Togata grinned. "Hey, I believe in you guys—even Luthor. I'm sure you'll do fine."
"Thank you for the ringing endorsement," Luthor said dryly, but still nodded at Togata. "I suppose I should wish you good luck."
Uraraka went over to the unconscious Midoriya, gave him a quick kiss, and then looked over at Jen. "He's going to be hurt when he wakes up."
"We'll take care of him," Jen promised, and took Midoriya in her arms; she then rolled her eyes at Togata. "I can't believe I'm gonna echo Luthor but, yeah, good luck."
A moment later, there was a flash of light, and then the six of them were gone. Paradox, however, remained behind.
"I figured you'd be helping them the rest of the way," Togata said.
Paradox shook his head. "I'm afraid that saving them took the last of my energy. Mr. Constantine will guide them to their future destinations."
"What will happen to you?"
"I'm not completely sure," Paradox admitted, even as his body started to fade away. "I've seen the beginning and the end, experienced eternity… but I've never looked to see the end of my own story. How… intriguing."
With those final words, Paradox vanished, leaving only his white coat behind.
Togata closed his eyes for a moment, then turned to Uraraka. "Go tell your class. I'll tell mine."
Uraraka sniffed, then wiped away tears. "Did we do the right thing?"
"Hey, saving the multiverse is way beyond me, but Izuku? That guy's exactly who we need." Togata laughed softly. "But we sent him away. Irony is weird, huh?"
The sound of shattering glass, followed by screams and sounds of fighting, made them tense.
"Once more into the breach?" Uraraka offered, then put her helmet back on.
"Yeah, let's go."
The two of them charged into battle, just in time for the world to end.
…
Julie idly swung her legs as she sat on a crate. "How long has he been in there?"
Kevin shrugged. "A few hours, I think. He hasn't left?"
"Not as far as I know." Julie sighed. "He needs this. He needs to grieve."
"We haven't," Kevin pointed out.
"And that's probably not healthy," Julie admitted. "But I think Izuku has been thinking of what happened to our Earth for a while, and he didn't want the same thing to happen to his. Now… now it has."
Kevin closed his eyes and leaned back. "Yeah, I can see why he's like this."
"Jen should be with him," Julie continued. "I think she was talking to… to her dad. She was telling him what happened."
Kevin nodded. "Have you seen him yet?"
"No, I'm pretty sure I couldn't handle it."
"Same." Kevin sighed. "Where's Gwen? Still guarding Luthor?"
"Last time I checked, but I think she's doing it because it's quiet." Julie hesitated. "She lost another piece of skin. Jen mentioned that Verdona is alive here, so maybe she can help."
Kevin opened his eyes and gave her a look. "You don't want to see this world's Ben, and you want Gwen to see this world's version of her grandma?"
Julie winced. "Good point, but I'm getting worried about her."
"Yeah. So am I." Kevin weakly punched the floor. "And now we've lost Paradox. What are we going to do?"
"Honestly?" Julie raised her hand to wipe her eyes. "I have no idea."
…
"You're a smart guy, Luthor," Gwen said, arms crossed. "How bad are things now?"
Luthor, who had been staring at a computer for hours, chuckled humorlessly. "Getting worse by the minute. Every time I scan the multiverse, the number of Earths I find are fewer. Even worlds I specifically know the locations of, worlds I spent months studying, have vanished. I thought disrupting Vilgax's factory would slow him down, but I was wrong. If anything, the destruction has intensified."
"How is that possible?"
"I can think of three immediate answers. First, that I was wrong about Vilgax having only one facility, and he has simply ramped up production in the others. Second, that Vilgax is destroying these universes personally, which indicates just how powerful he's become. Third…" Luthor pinched the bridge of his nose. "The third possibility is that no one is deliberately destroying those universes; instead, the multiverse has taken so much damage that it's starting to break down on its own. The laws of reality are beginning to fall apart, and multiversal constants are failing."
"Like time and space," Gwen guessed. "That would explain what happened to Paradox."
"Yes, his state of being was directly tied to the very concept of time. Without that constancy, there was nothing holding him together."
Gwen was silent for a moment. "Why can't I feel anything? I know I should feel terrified, sad, angry—something. But I don't."
"I can't say I've had many opportunities to study Anodites, but I imagine that you are undergoing a drastic transformation. Between that and the stress you've been through over the last few days, it wouldn't surprise me if your brain 'shut down' your emotions as a way to defend itself."
"So I'm a sociopath?"
"Doubtful; it would be more appropriate to say that you've reached your limit, emotionally speaking, and can't take more. From what I've observed, your two friends are going through something similar. If anything, you should be grateful; in the short term, this will help you get through this."
Gwen shrugged. "I guess that's something."
"You should be more concerned with the other boy," Luthor continued. "You've had a few days to process your loss; he's had only a few hours."
"Oh. Right." Gwen grimaced. "Yeah, he's probably not doing well."
…
They're dead. Everyone is dead. I failed.
Midoriya couldn't shake the thought from his head, no matter how hard he tried. All he could picture was his friends' deaths; even if he hadn't seen them die, his imagination filled in the blanks.
Iida, bleeding out after getting his legs torn off when he'd tried one too many kicks.
Asui, devoured by a giant monster while trying to escape.
Sero, watching in horror as his girlfriend died, and following soon after.
Todoroki, driven to a frenzy to avenge Ashido, either freezing or burning himself to death.
Yaoyorozu, lying helpless before the oncoming horde because she'd run out of lipids trying to make more defenses.
Ashido… well, he knew how she'd died.
Uraraka, putting herself between a crowd of monsters and Eri—
Midoriya sobbed again. His friends, his teachers, his parents… god, he hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye to his family!
The door to the Rustbucket opened, and Jen stepped inside. "Hey, cousin."
Midoriya didn't answer; he stayed where he'd been for hours, his knees pulled up to his chest, and his face buried in his arms.
Jen sat next to him, and was quiet for several long minutes. "You and Dad are more alike than you think. You both jump right into situations without thinking, for one." She gently put her arm around Midoriya's shoulders. "And you've lost your families to the same person. Believe me, if anyone knows what you're going through, it's Dad."
"I should have stayed," Midoriya whispered.
"That's crap, and you know it. Even if you'd saved your school, the entire universe would have been destroyed."
"I abandoned everyone I love."
"No, they saved you so that you could save them."
"And I failed. We all failed. Paradox said that Eri wasn't the one we were looking for after all."
Jen felt Midoriya shaking, and held him a little tighter. "I know. We're running out of time, and that's why we need you, Izuku. We need that big brain of yours, because lord knows I don't trust Luthor's."
For a moment, Midoriya was absolutely still, and Jen wondered if he'd fallen asleep. She turned her head, and saw him staring at her with wide eyes.
"We're running out of time," he echoed.
"Yes?"
Midoriya blinked once, twice, then shot to his feet. "Time."
Jen raised an eyebrow. "What's going through your head, dude?"
Midoriya began to pace. "We're looking for time unbound, but Paradox said that we were wrong. We had the right person, but not the right…" He stopped, then turned to Jen. "I need to talk to Luthor. Get the others, and the crown and the mask, hurry!"
Before Jen could question him, Midoriya turned into XLR8 and dashed out of the Rustbucket. He ran to the lab Luthor had claimed as his domain, but didn't say anything until Jen arrived with the crown and the mask in her hands, as well as Julie and Kevin.
"Okay, what the heck is going on?" Kevin asked.
"No idea," Jen admitted. "Izuku might, though."
Midoriya pointed to the items they'd recovered. "How come we had to get these specific things? The multiverse is infinite, right? That means that if we'd failed to get these, we could have gone to any other universe and gotten the same items, but Paradox told us that failure wasn't an option. We had to get these things from specific universes, but why?"
Gwen shrugged. "I don't know, Paradox is… was… weird."
Midoriya shook his head. "No, that's not good enough. There has to be a reason. Luthor, have you inspected the mask or crown at all?"
"Actually, I haven't," Luthor admitted. "Paradox had me investigating other matters… but you might be on to something."
Luthor took a scanner off his workbench and ran it over the crown, then the mask. A moment later, he smiled.
"Of course," he said. "They're emitting a frequency that's perfectly matched."
"Is that weird?" Julie asked.
"Two items from completely different universes, both with perfectly identical frequencies?" Luthor scoffed. "The odds of that happening without any kind of connection are astronomical, even when taking the infinite nature of the multiverse into account."
"You don't have to be a dick about it," Jen muttered.
Midoriya ignored her. "So, if the crown and the mask have the same kind of frequency, wouldn't it make sense if the correct time unbound also had that frequency?"
"It does stand to reason…" Luthor turned back to his computer and furiously typed away. "I've got it! I've located the universe we need to visit."
Midoriya grinned; it was wild, and a little manic, but he felt something he thought he never would again.
Hope.
I'd like to thank darkfire1220 for their permission to cameo their story, Viridescent. It's an amazing story, and probably one of the best MHA fics out there.
Sorry this chapter took so long. My creativity levels have been less than cooperative lately. I blame the fact that my house has been under renovations for the last few weeks, and the near-constant sound of jackhammers and other power tools doesn't help my focus.
Anyway, yeah, I kinda just killed the entire MAA universe. I enjoy making my protagonists suffer some kind of crippling trauma at least once, because I'm an awful human being. Also, Paradox is dead. Because, and say it with me now, I'm evil.
As always, please consider buying my book, Alpha Sanction, by Josh Gottlieb. You can find it on my website (link in my profile), and on Amazon as an eBook and PDF. I've made some progress on the sequel, and I've only got about 2 chapters left!
You can also support me via my P-atreon account (link in my profile). Every little bit helps me get closer to not living in a house with constant distractions, which lets me write more.
Speaking of which, I would like to thank the following patrons:
Serious Muffins: Nimrod009, Aaron Meek, Matthias Matanovic, Red Bard, killroy225, Lokthar, Hakuryuken, Anders Lyngbye
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Next Chapter: With Paradox dead and his world gone, Midoriya has only one chance to set things right, but it won't come without sacrifice…
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