The USJ has begun, and everything's going to go to shit already! The class is scattered, the grunts are useless, Aizawa is still a badass, and oh...why is that guy familiar?
"Hmm. Eraserhead and Thirteen. Where is All Might?" said a smoky, black figure who formed out of the purple-black smoke that the villains had stepped through.
"So it was you who broke in the other day?" Aizawa said, stopping his run at the words from the figure. He carefully lifted up the yellow goggles around his neck and placed them over his eyes.
The red-haired woman smirked. "We're being rude, I suppose. Allow me to introduce ourselves. We're the League of Villains. Now that we've introduced ourselves, could you kindly inform us of where All Might is? We're here to have words with him."
"He's not available, so why don't you leave," Thirteen said, a growl in her tone as she stepped forward in front of the class, her hand held up threateningly.
"Tch. No can do. Think he'd show up if we killed some of these kids, Nine?" the large heteromorphic man asked.
"Not the original goal. But it will be worth it if we can break the Symbol of Peace and end this pitiful society. However, let's let our friends handle this for us. Go, my friends…enjoy," the man identified as Nine said, waving one hand lazily. With a series of rumbling laughs and taunts, a few dozen various villains began to stalk forward towards the students up the stairs.
Aizawa cursed under his breath. "Thirteen, get them out of here!"
"Sensei! You can't fight them all off! You're more suited to ambushes and one on one fights!" Izuku managed to shout out, though his head was still pounding and he could swear he was seeing double.
"No hero is a one trick pony, Midoriya," Aizawa replied, his gray scarf whipping out and wrapping around the arm of a nearby villain, standing in confusion as his Quirk failed to activate. Which gave Aizawa enough time to send him flying to his right, slamming into another. With practiced moves, Aizawa began dodging between attacks, his scarf flaring out and entangling foes in a deadly dance. Izuku wished he could focus long enough to watch, but the damned headache was killing him.
"Come now, do as your teacher said," Thirteen said, trying to usher the students out. A swirl of black-purple smoke filled the space between them and the exit, the smoky figure appearing before them.
"I'm afraid I can't allow that. I am Kurogiri, and as a member of the League, I must inform you that you cannot leave. You must be sacrificed, to make certain that All Might suffers for his failure and can be broken. I would advise not fighting back too much. It will simply make the pain last longer."
"Fuck that and fuck you!" Katsuki shouted, blasting forward, Kirishima rushing up beside him. Thirteen had been raising her hand to trigger her Quirk at Kurogiri, but quickly had to drop it with a wordless shout of fear as the two young men rushed in her way. Kurogiri scoffed, a wave of black smoke billowing out from him to cover the various students.
Ochako grabbed the closest person to her, the pink-skinned Mina, and dove to the right. Shoji leapt backwards, his arms reaching out and yanking Ida to his side as Sero threw his tape out from both arms simultaneously, managing to grab Kaminari and pull the two of them to safety, but the rest of the class were dropped into the smoke, their cries swallowed up.
Thirteen quickly looked at Kaminari, the blonde tapping the side of his headset repeatedly. "Can you call for backup?"
Kaminari shook his head. "Nothings going through! Someone has to have an interference Quirk or something!"
Thirteen cursed under her breath. "Ida! You must run back to the school and get help as quickly as possible!"
Ida, having just been released from Shoji's grip, rapidly shook his head in denial. "No! I cannot abandon my classmates now!"
"It's not abandoning them, it's saving them! You're the only one fast enough to get someone back here in time!" she shouted back.
"Planning in front of the enemy? A foolish move," Kurogiri stated, his form billowing wider as he loomed over the remaining students. A moment later though, a cord wrapped around the metal neck-brace, his form suddenly collapsing to the ground with a grunt of pain.
Ochako gulped, the nausea roiling in her stomach but refused to release her hold over the portal villain. "Ida, go! Please!"
Ida froze in place for a moment, before letting out an angry shout as he turned towards the gate. Kurogiri snarled from where he was, his form sinking into the floor a moment later, Ochako's cable snapping as the portal he dove into closed behind him. He reappeared between Ida and the door, black smoke pouring towards him once more.
Ida's engines burst to life with blue flame, the armored boy rocketing towards the door and directly towards Kurogiri. Thirteen stepped forward, her gloves popping open as her Quirk pulled at Kurogiri's misty body, the villain snarling in response. But a brief moment later, a portal opened behind Thirteen, and before anyone could shout a warning, the back half of Thirteen's costume ripped open, the teacher screaming in pain as her own Quirk was turned against her. She collapsed to the ground, her power sputtering out, as Kurogiri collected himself and sent a portal screaming at Ida's running form.
Just as the portal had reached Ida, Kurogiri's body was yanked to the side by Sero's tape, the black-haired boy having noted what Ochako did to get ahold of Kurogiri and snatching the villain by the metal brace. Sero pulled with all his might, making Kurogiri fall off balance, just in time for Shoji to grab the brace and fling the portal villain down the stairs.
Ida blasted past everyone, leaping into the air with one leg cocked. As he reached the gate, he kicked the door, the metal shearing apart as he rammed into it at an insane speed. Without letting it halt him, he used the metal piece that was flying away as a course correction, giving him enough of a platform to redirect his motion to the right, towards where UA's main building was.
'Just hang on! I swear, I'll be back as soon as I can!' he thought grimly, wishing his thoughts could reach his classmates.
'Well, the headache hurts less," Izuku thought to himself as he fell, splashing into water and falling beneath the surface. The shock of the water mildly reduced his headache, but he was having trouble concentrating still. Not only was the pressure immense inside his skull, but his Quirk Vision kept flickering on without his permission, randomly shifting between his normal view and a series of bright, white lights.
It made him think about the oddity he witnessed though, right before Aizawa rushed into the fray. From the ground, he'd managed to glance up at the villains who had entered the USJ, namely the ones that seemed to be in command. Though he couldn't tell most of their Quirk's at a glance, two things stood out to him.
One, the giant, black-skinned villain with the exposed brain was…wrong. Instead of the brilliant white he was used to of an unknown Quirk, or even the broken, cracked signature he saw within Eri, it was an oily black that almost seemed to boil and bubble, swirling and oozing like some sort of monster from a fantasy game. Even looking at it felt dirty, wrong…unclean.
But the other thing was the one that seemed to be in charge. The one who gave the orders. From the second Izuku saw him, something about him felt familiar. But with his vision flickering, he couldn't get a good read on his facial features, only the long white hair and the strange black mask. However, his vision noted something…the man's signature was not white. Part of it roiled and oozed just like the black-skinned creature, but there was one burst of color within the man's chest, one that looked like a shimmering purple, sparkling and moving like the wind. The problem was he never even tried to guess the Quirk! So…why could he see the Quirk color?
His musings were cut short, reminding him 'oh right, I'm in danger' when a figure came swimming out of the darkness of the water, a villain with a massive shark head, teeth bared. Izuku tried to move himself in position to bring up a barrier to protect himself, the villain approaching from behind, but before he could summon it, a pair of legs slammed into the villain's skull, knocking it off course.
The lithe, green-clad figure of Tsuyu reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist, rocketing out of the water and depositing him onto the deck of the ship that sat in the center of the shipwreck zone. A second later, a purple-haired boy was deposited next to him, gasping for air and dripping just like he was.
"Asui! Thank you!" Izuku said, smiling at her in gratitude. Shinso, coughing to clear his lungs, didn't speak but gave a weak thumbs up in agreement.
"Call me Tsu," she replied with a tone that made it clear she was used to repeating this.
"Right, sorry!" Izuku sheepishly replied.
"Is that really the most important thing right now?" Shinso asked, having finally cleared his throat enough to speak.
Tsuyu shrugged. "Eventually he'll remember."
Izuku grinned nervously. Shinso rolled his eyes before clambering to his feet and looking over the edge into the water. "What now?"
Izuku followed Shinso's example, eyes going wide as a pain shot through his head a moment later. He grabbed Shinso by the arm and yanked him back, just barely managing to avoid what looked like an axe made of water careening out of it towards the two of them.
"I would suggest we not stay long," Izuku said as calmly as he felt he could.
"We're in the middle of the lake, and while I can swim, I'm no Tsuyu," Shinso deadpanned. "The villains would catch us for sure if we tried to escape."
"True. I'm also not even sure why, if their goal is to kill All Might, they chose to attack us. Seems like a waste of effort, not to mention how do they even plan on doing it?" Izuku wondered, one hand on his chin.
"Does it matter? We've got to get to safety first, then we can worry about All Might," Shinso shot back.
"You're not wrong. Yeah. We can't waste time on that. Our only chance here is to fight our way and win, then we can regroup with the others!"
"Fight and win? And how are we going to do that?"
"I can swim faster than any of the villains I think, but I saw at least a dozen in the water, maybe more. I don't think Shinso can control that many, ribbit," Tsuyu said.
Shinso shook his head no. "I can't. I can get one at a time only. And the moment they get a tiny bit of pain it snaps."
"Yeah…but they don't know that, else they wouldn't have sent Asu-err, Tsuyu here," Izuku replied quietly.
"How do you figure?"
"If they knew what your Quirk did, they'd send you somewhere else, like the conflagration zone. But they didn't. I don't think they know what any of our Quirk's are. We've got the element of surprise. Especially you, Shinso. In fact…don't use your Quirk here. I think Tsu and I can get us out of here. We may need you once we get to land."
Shinso and Tsuyu blinked at Izuku in slight confusion. Shinso opened his mouth. "When we get to land? Thinking a bit far ahead don't you think?"
As Izuku stepped towards the railing, he created a small field in his left hand, one not unlike the one he used at the entrance exam. The nitrogen and oxygen began swirling around him, coalescing into his hand, the green glow becoming more fierce as he focused. "The goal is survival. Our best bet for that is to win against whoever comes against us. We have limited options for flight with Kurogiri around. So no, it's not too early to plan our next move."
"Won't that hurt you?" Shinso asked, nodding towards the field in his hand.
"This isn't nearly as big as the one I used at the exam. Just enough to displace the water. The recoil will suck but my arm'll be fine. Once I fire it, we jump as far as Tsuyu can take us, and I'll plant another platform. We should be able to cross it within one or two fields, while they get stuck temporarily. Then we approach the plaza and see if we can sneak past. If not, we circle into the other zones and try to make our way around that way."
Tsuyu placed one finger against her lip, tilting her head to the side as she stared at Izuku with wide, blank eyes. "And you wonder why you were voted as class rep, ribbit."
Izuku's confidence vanished in a moment as he sputtered in surprise, his cheeks going slightly pink in embarrassment. Shinso snorted at him, a rare grin crossing his face. The brief moment of levity was broken as the ship cracked, the back half of it beginning to sink into the water as it split clean off from them, a massive wave of water shaped like a blade cutting the ship clean in half. Izuku's expression hardened.
"Time to go!" he shouted, running towards the railing. A field appeared beneath his feet, launching him into the air as he aimed his left towards where the villains were congregating. With a deep growl, he shouted "Air Impact!", releasing the stored pressurized air in a massive, directed burst. He winced as his entire arm ached from the sheer force, but with it not being nearly as much as the one he used at the exam, it didn't dislocate…but boy did it hurt.
A brief second later, he felt Tsuyu's tongue wrap around his midsection, yanking him along and towards her. With a tiny field to adjust his position, he managed to plant his feet right where the arc of Tsuyu's leap ended and she began to fall, getting a field for her to push off of. She released him as she did, his own ability allowing him to bounce off the same field, the two of them landing nearly perfectly at the edge of the shipwreck zone, Shinso being released from Tsuyu's grip a moment later.
"Awesome job guys!" Izuku gushed, smiling widely. Shinso rolled his eyes at the green-haired boy, Tsuyu just looking at him placidly.
"It was well done, but we need to focus, ribbit," she reminded him.
Izuku shook his head quickly. "You're right. Let's see…" he glanced around, trying to get a vision of what was going on. He could see some of his classmates still up at the entrance, but it was too far away to get a good view. Down in the central plaza, many villains were laid unconscious or beaten, Aizawa having brought most of them down.
"Sensei is pretty badass," Izuku mused. He looked about, trying to see what the best method would be for reaching the others at the top of the stairs, but had to clench his fists as he realized there was no clear way to get up there without crossing in front of the villains line of sight. "Okay, there's no way to not get noticed. But if we cross carefully, maybe we can-"
"Nomu," the white-haired man who seemed to be in charge said. "Kill Eraserhead." As if in slow motion, the trio at the lake edge watched in horror as the black-skinned creature moved, so fast it practically blurred. It slammed Aizawa's face into the ground, bones cracking as Aizawa shouted in pain. Blood ran freely as Aizawa's arm was snapped, the cracking of bone echoing throughout the central plaza. Tsuyu's placid expression broke, eyes welling up with tears as she gasped out loud.
Nine looked over at the trio. "Ah, I see we have some voyeurs. Slice. Dispose of them."
They had little time to react, as the red-haired woman's hair suddenly shifted, her smug grin becoming manic as she spun around, a barrage of sharpened red quills shooting out at the trio. Izuku's vision changed as he internally thought about what her Quirk was, but he reacted out of instinct, his foot slamming into the ground, a green wall erupting between them, the quills shattering against it and falling to the ground.
"Oh, little boy has some backbone. This'll be fun," she grinned. "But I have a better idea…Nomu, kill them."
The black-skinned creature vanished from their sight, appearing behind the trio, its arm raised up above Tsuyu. Time seemed to slow down, Shinso opening his mouth to shout something, Tsuyu turning around and looking up to see the falling arm. Instinct took hold, Izuku reaching out and snatching Tsuyu around the waist, leaping backwards as he formed a disc with his free hand, launching it forward as quickly as possible to make the creature back off.
To his horror, the creature didn't even try to dodge it, the sharpened disc carving through its arm, cutting it clean off at the shoulder, the dismembered limb falling to the floor with a disgusting squelch. Izuku froze in shock, Shinso recoiling back as Tsuyu shivered in Izuku's grasp, eyes wide and panicked.
"Aww, are the poor kids worried about Nomu? Don't you fret, he's got a few tricks up his..sleeve," the red-haired woman, previously identified as Slice, smirked. As the trio watched, Nomu's dripping, bloody wound in its side just started to bubble and roil, shift and surge, as a new arm burst forth in a spray of viscera. Nomu flexed its arm once, turning its eyes back onto the trio.
"Nomu. Halt," Nine called, the creature freezing in place as Slice turned to look at Nine in confusion. The white-haired man strode forward towards the trio, Izuku shoving Tsuyu and Shinso behind himself as he prepared to pull up another barrier. "Calm down. I want to speak to you."
"I have nothing to say to you," Izuku growled, the constant pulse of his headache that had been randomly flaring up as the villains moved starting to get to him. His vision flickered back to the energy seeking version, the strange inky darkness of Nomu's and the flickering purple light within Nine flaring up and seeming to consume his vision.
"You can speak to me, or your teacher can die here and now," Nine countered, pointing towards the limp body of Aizawa on the floor. The Nomu vanished and reappeared next to Aizawa, one hand held up as if it were preparing to smash Aizawa into the ground once more.
"Okay okay, fine! What the hell do you want?" Izuku shouted, eyes wide in fear as he glanced over at Aizawa.
Nine tilted his head to the side. "You have a powerful Quirk, and good instincts. What you did was ruthless. I am almost impressed. Why don't you join us?"
"...what?" came the confused, breathless whisper from Izuku.
"We will rebuild society, one in which the strong need not fear nor obey the weak. We are going to make certain that those will the will to power and the power to enact their will are the ones who make the rules. We could use someone with strength like yours. I can see it within you. Why not join us?"
Izuku's expression fell into a scowl, his eyes narrowed. "I will never join you."
"Fine. Have it your way. Twas but a passing mercy I offered. I will grant you a swift death at least." With those words, Nine lifted one hand in the air, the entirety of the USJ darkening. As they looked up, they could see clouds swirling above, blotting out the sunlight. The air became charged, the scent of ozone flickering into life, as the purple light that Izuku had witnessed within Nine's chest flared into brilliance.
And Izuku remembered. As if through an old television, staticky sounds and sensations filling his senses, colliding and tearing, ripping at him from the inside out as memories flooded through his entire being.
The white hair.
…bzzt…
The gray eyes, fearful and panicked, locking onto Kacchan.
…bzzt…
The clouds roiling into existence, covering the sky, turning day into night.
…bzzt…
The scent of ozone in the air, the feeling of his skin prickling, the chills down his spine.
…bzzt…
The fear, the panic, the need to save Kacchan, his friend, his brother.
…bzzt…
Agony, sweet sweet agony, the roaring and ripping and freezing and burning, the channeling through his limbs, screaming and crying and begging it to stop.
…bzzt…
It bubbled and swirled, roared and reared, a maelstrom, a tempest, an entire storm system in his chest, desperate for escape, for release, he was no longer a boy, now a being of pure energy and anguish and pain, so much pain, he couldn't hold it…
Izuku snapped out of it at the fearful whimper from behind him, only now realizing that the very earth beneath his feet was cracked and rippling, emerald lightning sparking off his body as Nine had paused in his motion, looking at him curiously. Izuku knew now who stood before him. The man who destroyed his life. The man who ruined everything, who took everything he held dear from him.
A green glow began to emanate from him.
Kurogiri had blinked away after Ida escaped, leaving the other five to try to come up with a plan. Thirteen's unconscious form lay on the ground, the back of her suit ripped open and exposing her bloody back, ripped and torn from the force of her own Quirk. Mina was on her knees beside her, eyes wide, desperately trying to figure out what to do.
"I-I-I don't know, what, what are we supposed to do? I never did first aid at school, i-it wasn't an option, what-"
"Mina!" Ochako shouted as she slid to her knees beside the pinkette. Ochako reached out and grabbed her hands, forcing her to turn and look at Ochako. Ochako stared straight into the pink-haired girl's eyes and spoke quietly. "Calm down, take a deep breath. We can do this. Sero!"
"Yes?" the black-haired boy asked, coming over to the two as well.
"How tough is your tape?"
"Pretty tough. Holds my weight and then some."
"Okay. We need to put pressure on these wounds, but if we just use your tape it could hurt her later when it needs to come off. Mina?"
"Y-yeah?" Mina asked, her eyes continuing to flicker over to the downed Thirteen.
"Can you make your acid really sticky? Like glue, kind of?"
"I-I can make it really viscous, yeah. It's not like real glue but it holds in a pinch. I can control the PH too, so it doesn't hurt people."
"Good. Here's what we do. Sero, we'll take your tape and press it against itself to create some bandages. We'll use a little bit of your tape and some of Mina's acid to make it adhere to Thirteen. This way it'll hold for now but be easily removed later. Okay?"
"That's some quick thinking, Uraraka," Shoji commented, his gaze fixated beyond as he tried to get a read on where the rest of the class was, his arms extending up and shifting into extra pairs of eyes and ears.
"Nighteye made us go over emergency procedures repeatedly. Pretty sure we could do CPR in our sleep at this point," she remarked, taking the makeshift bandages from Sero and placing them carefully but firmly, directing Mina in where to place her acid for the maximum effect without hurting the pro hero.
"Y-you're really cool, Ochako," Mina murmured, her shoulders trembling in worry.
"Hey…um…what's that over there?" Kaminari asked in a worried tone, pointing.
Where Kaminari pointed, a green glow began to appear.
Dark Shadow slammed another villain through a wall, the shadow creature cackling madly as Tokoyami winced in strain, trying to control it through the dark, rain-filled storm that he and Koda found themselves in. They were nearly to the exit of the downpour zone, the few remaining villains mostly fleeing from them once they realized the sheer power Dark Shadow had.
Tokoyami paused as Dark Shadow froze in place, before the shadow creature whipped back to his side, wrapping around him and placing its hands on his shoulders. "Fumi! Fumi, do you feel that?"
"Feel what? What are you sensing?" Tokoyami asked, confused.
"That!" Dark Shadow said insistently, shaking Tokoyami by the shoulders.
"Speak plainly or not at all," Tokoyami scolded. "We do not have time for riddles, we must locate our fellow classmates as soon as possible."
Dark Shadow paused for a moment in contemplation, even while Koda and Tokoyami reached the exit. As they opened the door to escape, the shadow creature hissing at the brighter light, they bore witness to the sky outside the USJ darkening, as clouds began to cover the building.
"That!" Dark Shadow cried out insistently, pointing in the distance, where green began to glow.
"Pitiful," Todoroki scoffed as the dozen villains came rushing at him. With but a touch of his foot upon the ground, a line of ice shot out in an instant, encasing them all from neck down in frigid ice. He strode up to the one closest, grabbing him by the chin and forcing the villain to meet his eyes. "I'm disappointed in how poorly you performed. How did you plan on killing All Might?"
"I-I-I'm not t-telling you a t-thing!" the villain replied, his teeth chattering from the cold.
"It takes less than thirty minutes for wind and cold alone to cause frostbite. But you're encased in ice. It will take less than five minutes for it to set in. The odds of you losing a limb is high if I leave you here. I would rather not have that as the start of my hero career. So I ask you again: How were you going to kill him?"
"O-okay! I'll t-tell you! The guy in the -mask, he had some sort of c-creature thing called a Nomu! It's the t-thing with the brain s-sticking out! The guy cut off its a-arm and it just grew back, and it t-took a full powered punch from the b-blue guy without flinching! It's some sort of crazy e-experiment! I dunno anything else man, w-we just signed up for this! N-now let us out!"
"Hmm. I can't trust you not to-" as Todoroki spoke, he dodged, narrowly avoiding a spear coming from behind. Clasping it with his right, the spear froze as did the villain holding it. "Really? You continue to disappoint. There is no way you could have killed All Might, even with a monster like that. You can't even hurt a college student."
"Um…is now the time to be lecturing them, Todoroki?" The boy in question turned around to see the yellow-clad form of Sato clambering out of a nearby building, a pair of villains unconscious behind him.
"They had one job. And failed at it," Todoroki replied.
"...Uh…okay," Sato mumbled back. "Um…what do we do with these guys?"
"We cannot allow them to continue on. Knock them out and restrain them. We will return to our class in…wait. What is that?"
A green glow appeared in the distance.
"Shit!" Kyoka cursed, ducking under a swing by a villain, the metallic arm barely grazing her. Quickly she stabbed with her jacks and amplified her heartbeat, the woman screeching in pain and falling backwards.
"Here!" Momo shouted, tossing a sword over to her, a moment later parrying a strike from another villain. She leapt up, using the staff as a pole to hold her up as she kicked the villain away.
"What makes you think I know how to use this?!" she shouted back, barely managing to block a strike from another villain.
"Would you rather I left you helpless?" Momo shouted back.
Kyoka shot her earjacks into her boot speaker, amplifying the sound and sending an echoing sonic wave out, forcing multiple enemies back. "Okay, no, I didn't mean it like that," she managed to get out, diving to the side to avoid a series of quills being fired at her.
Momo cursed internally. There were far too many foes, and they didn't have a good way to get them all at once. While Kyoka could create devastating sonic waves, she was limited in how much could be output from her speakers, and they seemed to go only forward, which meant they'd miss the other enemies. Unless…her eyes went wide
"I have a plan!" Momo shouted. "I need thirty seconds! Hold them off!"
"Oh sure, I can do that, no problem, just me versus twenty villains, I'm great at that!" the purple-haired girl snarked back, half-manic. Despite her sarcasm, she had confidence in Momo's plan, and it wasn't like she had any better ideas…the problem was she wasn't confident in her own ability to hold them off.
"Close your eyes and ears!" Momo shouted, one hand holding up a small series of dolls. Kyoka reacted immediately, obeying the heiress and slamming her eyes shut while reaching up to grip at her ears. Forgetting she had the sword, she managed to get one covered, but panicked internally when she realized she'd have to drop the blade or fail to cover it.
Her panic did not lessen but did change to a very different kind when Momo's free hand wrapped around her head, one hand covering her ear and pulling her into Momo's side, her other hand and ear being pressed against something she was not going to think about right now or the fact Momo Yaoyoruzu was practically hugging her to her side!
At that moment, Momo's free hand snapped down, the dolls exploding in a burst of light and sound, the pained cries of the nearby villains echoing even through the muffled noise Kyoka had with her current position. The light burned even behind her closed eyelids, and her hearing being as sensitive as it was still was painful, but she was able to blink away the spots and ignore the pain enough to see Momo move away from her, the telltale glow of more creation appearing around her abdomen.
"Still need thirty seconds, but that should help!" Momo gasped, stepping back unsteadily. Having covered Kyoka's ears, she wasn't able to cover her own, and though her hearing was much less sensitive there were still trickles of blood dripping from her ears. Kyoka's eyes went wide with fear and guilt, but seeing Momo ignore the blood and focus back on her creations made her grip the blade in both hands and step forward to make sure any of the villains who could still move, would not reach her.
Only a few were standing, all but one unsteady on their feet, which the one, a hulking behemoth of a woman with dark gray scales covering her arms and legs, bolted towards Kyoka , her size nearly three times the petite, short-haired girl. Kyoka's jack shot into her boot once more as she sent out another sound burst, wincing as she felt her own heart stutter as she forced it to beat faster once again. The behemoth winced, but fought through the sound, pushing forward one step…two…three…four…
Each step harder for Kyoka to keep up the wave of sound, her own breath coming in shorter gasps and her chest feeling pained. Her body was adapted to ramp up her heartbeat at will for short bursts of sound, but trying to hold it for too long would push back against her, her heart beating faster and faster the longer she tried to hold it. It hurt, both in her chest and her ears, as every time it would echo between the two, creating a reverb effect.
But she just needed to give Momo thirty seconds, just thirty seconds, she got it, she could do it, she could-
"It's done…Jiro!" Momo shouted, a small explosive filled with an entrapment foam launching from her hand at the villain approaching the petite rocker, her arms raised to slam down on Jiro. The explosive erupted, covering the villain in the foam, freezing her in place long enough for Momo to yank Jiro to the side, canceling the sound waves and letting Kyoka take a much needed deep, painful breath.
Kyoka looked up at Momo, seeing the sweat covered face and how she looked a little thinner than before. She glanced behind the heiress, eyes going wide as she saw a trio of massive amps, half as tall as her, set in a half-circle facing the villains. Momo smiled down at her tiredly. "One more blast. You got this."
"...okay," Kyoka managed to whisper. Momo pulled her behind the half-circle, pointing towards a small device in the center with room for her jacks, connecting up all three amps. She connected her jacks, her chest still in pain but knowing that all she needed was one more blast, one more shockwave. She could do this. With a bracing breath, she closed her eyes and sent out one more sonic wave, the amplifiers turning a powerful sonic attack into a scream, a devastating wave of sheer force that ripped apart the terrain and sent the villains, most of whom were still recovering from the flashbangs, flying through the air, slamming into it with force, all unconscious and likely with broken bones.
She collapsed to one knee, chest aching, whimpering in pain as she held one hand over it to try to relieve some pressure, some pain, anything. Momo knelt beside her, one arm around her shoulder, the other one gently stroking her hair and she whispered how helpful and powerful she was, how she saved her, how good she had done.
It took a good few minutes before she could stand to open her eyes, but once she did, Momo smiled down at her. "You back with us, Jiro?"
"Y-yeah," she managed to croak out, wincing at her own voice crack. She cleared her throat, annoyed at showing weakness, standing to her feet on shaky legs.
Momo opened her mouth to speak, "I…wait…what's that?" she pointed towards the central plaza, her original thought thrown by what she could see.
"Is that…Green?"
A green glow appeared in the distance.
"Nice try girly, but you can't take on all of us!" the villain boasted, his fists covered in a molten, glowing ooze that seemed to melt anything it touched. Himiko smirked, one hand on her hip, the other one pointing at him. With a wink, she pointed down towards his crotch, snapping her fingers.
The villain went cross-eyed as he felt a force crash into his genitals, instinctively covering them with his hands. Which then led to him screaming in pain as the molten ooze touched them, falling over as even Himiko winced at the sight. The two other men with him looked at the fallen one wide-eyed, before bolting from the building and back into the searing heat of the conflagration zone. Himiko walked up to the in pain villain and kicked him in the head, knocking him out cold, before slapping her hands together.
"Nice move, Toru," she remarked, beaming in happiness at how well they'd worked together.
"This is kinda fun," the invisible girl giggled. "Watching them freak out as they think your Quirk is some kind of impact where you point is great."
"Yeah, Nighteye said misdirection and keeping your Quirk secret is the best defense when you're someone who wants to go underground and have a Quirk like mine."
"How many is that, anyways?" Toru asked, looking around.
Himiko shrugged. "Half-dozen, maybe. Don't know how many more are here. We have to get out sooner rather than later though, the heat's getting to me. And I know it's bothering you more."
Himiko couldn't see the full body flush that Toru gave, but it was somewhat obvious in her voice. "Y-yeah, just a little. The support department said they were working on my new costume, but it would take a few weeks, so…I'm still using my old one, and no clothes means no heat resistance…and the floor is really hot."
"Sexy as the thought may be, it's still impractical,' Himiko mused, looking out the nearby window of the building they had taken shelter in.
"S-sexy?!" Toru almost shrieked, quickly covering her mouth in shock at her own volume.
Without looking in her direction, Himiko replied absently as she scanned over the area. "You know, no clothes. We know you're pretty, not like we can't see your shape in uniform, and with how fun and adorable you are, we already know you've got a gorgeous personality. So, you know…sexy."
"...aren't you with I-Izuku and Uraraka?" Toru asked meekly.
"Didn't remove my eyes, you know. Oh, there! We can sneak along the edge there and get to the exit!" Himiko's musings cut off as she spotted a narrow pathway between two nearby buildings.
"Um, yeah, sure!" Toru piped in. She followed behind the blonde girl, creeping along quietly. A few times, she almost lost track of Himiko, the blonde's ability to sneak almost surpassing her own. She thought she really should try to learn some tricks from her, because she didn't have an invisibility Quirk and yet somehow was being even stealthier than she was.
They managed to avoid any further villains as they reached the exit. Taking a deep, cleaning breath as she got out, she was startled out of her enjoyment by a small black cloth being shoved in her face, the blonde girl holding it out to her.
"I keep it with my first aid kit. Izuku suggested I should keep stuff like that around just in case," the blonde remarked, shaking the cloth once more. Toru took it meekly, wiping away at some of the sweat and soot that had accumulated on her. She opened her mouth to say something else, but blinked in confusion and pointed, not realizing Himiko couldn't see her hand.
"What's that?"
A green glow appeared in the distance.
"Fuck off!" Katsuki snarled, slamming another villain to the ground with an added explosion for good measure.
Eijiro blocked a blade coming swinging at him with his hardened arm, snapping it in half. As the villain rocked back in shock and fear, he shoulder checked him into the wall and then slammed him down with his fist, knocking him out. He swiped at his forehead. "Okay. We should go back and regroup with the others. If we're here, I bet the rest of them are. I'm worried about those who don't have Quirks for fighting."
"Fuck that. I'm going after that purple mist fucker."
Eijiro gaped at Katsuki, eyes wide in confusion and hurt. "And abandon the others?! That's not how a hero works bro!"
"Idiot! While that fuckers on the field, we can't escape! He'll just keep sending us around, scattering us. Or worse, he'll get bored of that and send us in the sky and drop us! You and me might live through that, but not everyone can do that shit! If we want to help, we have to stop him first. Not to mention he's the enemy's way out. We stop him, we corner everyone else, we blow them the fuck up and everyone's safe."
Eijiro went to reply, but a sudden attack from behind Katsuki had him opening his mouth to shout a warning. Katsuki dodged with a bored expression, one hand gripping the revealed villain's head and smashing it down to the ground with another explosion. He sighed.
"Besides, if this is the caliber of villain the others are fighting, they'll kick the shit out of them in no time. Zu, Cheeks, or Fangs could probably beat them all with their hands tied behind their back, I'm sure the rest are just as fucking good. We all got into UA for a reason, Eijiro. Have some faith."
"...that's the nicest thing you've said about the others yet. Believing in them is super manly!" Eijiro cheered, smiling wide.
"Oi fuck off with that shit," Katsuki grumbled, cheeks flushed, turning away from the red-head with his too bright smile and very visible muscles and stupid sharp teeth and too much admiration in his eyes. "Let's get out there and fuck that bastard up, then we'll get the rest."
"Yeah!" Eijiro cheered again, his smile even wider than before (to Katsuki's extreme consternation). The two of them strode through the ruins zone, little to no fear of reprisal from any remaining villains since Katsuki just knew how weak they were. They reached the entrance, ready to exit safely, when Eijiro paused, blinking in confusion.
Katsuki glanced back at him. "The fucks your problem?"
"What's that?" the red-haired boy said, pointing.
Katsuki followed his line of sight, able to just barely see the white-haired villain from earlier and Izuku facing off. The green glow was coming from Izuku, a crackling, swirling vortex of energy around his body that he'd never seen Izuku do. But he could see Izuku's expression, and that's when fear and rage both shot through his veins, his eyes going wide as he remembered the white-haired villain.
That horrible day, inscribed into his mind and heart and his very soul, carved into it by a storm, by white hair, by a bastard villain who would kill some kids just to make his escape. And Izuku was there, and Izuku was glowing, and Izuku had that expression…his mind was tossed back to the day Himiko asked him about Izuku's temper.
Katsuki ran his hand through his hair, mussing it up. "There's a quote from an old, pre-Quirk book. It goes 'There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in a storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man'. Well…Izuku's your gentle man in this scenario."
"...I have no idea what you're talking about."
Katsuki rolled his eyes. "Look, you know how I got a fucking temper problem and had to take anger management and shit? Yeah, Izuku did too. He's just got a better handle on it. Which is why when he gets pissed, he goes cold. Analytical. He doesn't normally go feral like my dumbass does."
"That implies he does go feral sometimes," she pointed out.
Katsuki said nothing for a good minute, crossing his arms over his chest and staring into the distance. After a little bit, he let out a tch noise. "Just hope you're not around when he does."
"...shit."
Tsuyu was scared. Scared of the villains, scared for her Sensei, scared for her new friends and classmates, scared of the hulking black creature that had absolutely broken her teacher. But right now…she was scared of Izuku more than anything.
The green-haired boy had frozen in place when Nine lifted his hand, eyes wide and unseeing for a brief moment. His body had begun to shake, to shiver, his fists clenching at his sides. Emerald lightning lit up around him, red lines snaking through his body, the very concrete beneath his feet cracking and quaking. She felt, more than saw, the sheer anguish in him, almost as if she could feel his emotions. She felt pressure, like the weight of the world weighing her down. She felt fear, every instinct in her screaming at her to run, to hide, to flee as fast as possible.
Beside her, she could tell Shinso could feel the same she did, the purple-haired boy almost taking a step back at the sheer presence that was practically dripping off Izuku. This wasn't normal anger, or sadness, or even rage. This was something else, something darker, deeper, more visceral. It wasn't…it wasn't right, to see it on Izuku. She'd only known him a couple days, but in that time he'd been kind, gentle, intelligent, and heroic to a fault. Even when he'd had that panic attack caused by Kaminari, he tried to make Kaminari feel better about it.
She knew something had happened in his past, Bakugo had made that clear. She knew that his girlfriends knew what it was, and all four of them had kept rather tight lipped about it, but even with that, his first instinct every time seemed to be to help. He'd helped Kaminari and Shinso at the entrance exam, saved Toru according to the invisible girl, apparently helped save that incredibly adorable child Eri (and every time she watched them interact all she could think of was how good a father Izuku would one day be), and then saved Momo when Bakugo's gauntlets malfunctioned.
And here, within moments, he'd come up with a plan to escape the villains in the water, one that kept them all as safe as possible. He's protected her and Shinso with his barrier and then again against the Nomu creature. So why? Why was he so angry, so upset, what did Nine do just then that set him off? If anything, she expected another panic attack from the rumble of thunder, but this…this was no panic attack
It was almost more terrifying when the light faded. The lightning disappeared, the pressure on the air vanished, the cracking of the ground ceased as his head dropped low, looking down at the ground. Izuku's shoulders slumped, his arms hanging limply. With a gulp, Tsuyu stepped forward to his side, ignoring the curious gaze of Nine and Slice, the two villains seemingly willing to wait to see Izuku's next move. She tilted her head to the side to try to look into Izuku's expression, but his voice froze her as surely as Todoroki's ice would.
"You said your name is Nine, correct?" Izuku's voice was quiet, cold, a whisper as smooth and frozen as the touch of death itself. She felt her body shiver, those instincts that had quieted down just a tiny amount flaring back into life. Izuku did not wait for an answer as his head began to lift from his chest.
Izuku's head rose up to fully face Nine, and Tsuyu took an involuntary step back, eyes wide. His eyes glowed, a radioactive green, shadowed underneath the fringe of his unruly green hair. His expression was flat, blank, relaxed…and then he smiled, a smile that held no cheer, no joy, a smile that made her understand what feeling it was, whatever that dark sensation she could somehow feel flowing off of him. It was hatred. She wanted to stop him, to stop what he said next, but she couldn't move in time, couldn't escape her own fear, not fear of him, but fear for him, because she could tell he was going to say something he'd regret. And then he spoke, his voice somehow echoing throughout the area, every set of eyes snapping towards his calm voice.
"My name is Izuku Midoriya…I'm going to kill you now."