"I wonder if some dead kids will bring him here?"
The grating voice of the handsy villain was enough to send a shiver down Izuku's spine. All of class 1-A were feeling the same sinking feeling.
They were here for rescue training, but in an instant their class was being invaded by villains. The type of villains that pros were always fighting out in the field. They were only hero students. Students in training. They couldn't help but feel intimidated by the dramatic entrance.
"What kind of villains are dumb enough to break in here in broad daylight?!" Tohru clicked her tongue, "Doesn't this place have an alarm system?"
"Yes, it does. Or, it's supposed to…" Thirteen answered.
"If we're being invaded, is it possible the main campus is being attacked right now?"
The class flinched at Todoroki's question, the implication somehow making their situation feel worse than it already is.
"If the sensors aren't working, then it's most likely one of their quirk's doing… we're far away from the campus, and they chose to show up when there are few people here. They're not as dumb as they seem. They must have an objective in mind to plan a coordinated sneak attack like this…"
If Aizawa was stunned at Todoroki's words, he didn't show it, 'where did that kid get so good at making theories?'
"Thirteen! Kobayashi-san! Evacuate the students! And try calling the school! One of these villains must be jamming the sensors."
Izuku's eyes widened, "Tohru-"
Tohru shook her head, "No, the only 'quirks' I can sense is from that portal, and a couple of the low-levels in the front lines…"
'Tsukauchi is going to have a field day with them…'
"I don't know who's jamming the sensors right now."
Aizawa frowned, "Can't be helped. Kaminari. Try using your quirk to signal for help."
"G-got it!"
"Wait! You're not planning on fighting them, are you?! But your fighting style involves Erasure and quick capture tactics. A head on battle isn't…"
"Midoriya. No good hero is a one trick pony… Take care of them, you two." Aizawa said, nodding at Tohru and Thirteen's direction.
With those final words, Eraserhead fixed his goggles on and fastened the ends of his scarf in his hands. Without a running start, or hesitation, he leaped off the stairs.
"Shooting squad! In position!"
Three villains moved forward for their first line of defense, ready to fire with their quirks.
"Didn't the Intel say it was only Thirteen and All Might? Who's this guy supposed to be?"
"I'unno. But he's coming at us all alone."
"Which makes him a dead man then!" Cocking his gun barrel fingers and his smile, the villain led the first attack. With the confidence of a leader, or a man hiding behind a gun, he readied his aim and pulled the mental trigger needed to fire his quirk.
An audible clicking noise erased the grin from his face. "Huh? I can't shoot…"
As he and his comrades stood around in confusion, thick binding cloths wrapped around them.
Eraserhead yanked all three of them off the ground, cracking their skulls against each other right above him as he made his entrance.
"You idiots! He can cancel out quirks! It's Eraserhead!"
The warning fell on deaf ears, as the three villains were knocked out, and the next villain to step up for a fight was feeling confident about himself.
The next villain flexed his four arms, "He cancels quirks, huh? Well I bet that won't work on a heteromorphic type like me!" As he made his taunt, he dived at the hero, ready to grapple him.
"No, it doesn't." Eraserhead answered as he dodged each grapple attempt. "Guys like you tend to go for close quarters combat." He punched the villain's nose in, sending him tumbling back on one leg, then swiveled to avoid an attack from behind. "That's why I developed countermeasures for villains like you!" Capturing the four-armed villain's raised leg, Eraserhead quickly yanked him into the air, swinging towards the villains behind him, crushing them under the weight of an overweight mutant.
The hand villain watched the whole scene, with irritation in his voice, and a bit on his itchy neck, he said, "Good at hand-to-hand… And those goggles make it hard to tell whose quirk he's canceling. A monster house like this isn't enough to slow him down it seems…" He began to scratch at his neck, pieces of skin flaking off. "I hate pro heroes, ordinary villains don't stand a chance."
For some reason, a cloaked villain, who had been hiding more towards the back, took that as his cue to step up. "Ordinary villains, huh?" With unwarranted swagger, the villain removed his hood, showing his slicked back blonde hair and smug grin. "It's a good thing you guys have a great wizard like me to save you!"
Most of the villains standing, and some on the floor, couldn't help but audibly groan at the man's self introduction. A couple of the other villains face-palmed.
Eraserhead shifted his eyes around him, noticing the reaction of the villains, 'guess this guy isn't well liked… Wonder why-?'
"You say he can cancel quirks, huh?! Well it's a good thing I have no use for such useless trickery like that when I have my genuine magic!" The villain proclaimed, as his grin threatened to split his face with the impatient anticipation of someone who believes is about to show off.
'Ahh~ He's one of those Chuunibyou… I swear I get one once a month…'
From his long sleeve, the villain conjured up a wand (a freakin twig!), waving it around he proudly proclaimed, "It's wizard time, mother-! Huh?!"
But all that came out of the wand were small sparks.
"Wha-! No-! Where's my- my fireball?!"
Eraserhead sighed, these types of villains tend to react more horribly than most.
A quirk was a part of someone, a part of their DNA. He understood how unsettling it must feel for people to suddenly have their quirk erased. Most villains he used it on tend to break under pressure, unsure how to fight without the one move they've relied on their whole life. Others react violently, going feral as they're forced into fighting a quirkless battle despite looking down on such things. These guys, however…
"AHHH! WHERE IS IT! You nullified my magic?!"
'Man, this country has some crappy mental health services…'
While the syndrome wasn't originally an actual illness, cases of it got worse after the development of quirks. But at the same time there was a great drop in the number of instances, causing most countries to turn a blind eye to the unusual disorder.
Eraserhead remembered one of the first instances of something like this happening, and his friend Mic's words…
"With how they react, you should definitely take advantage of it! You could end a fight in seconds with just your quirk!"
"How?... Exactly…?" Aizawa would ask.
His other friend made a suggestion…
The 'great wizard' continued to stare at his hands in horror, "How?! How did you negate it?! It's not possible-"
Eraserhead grabbed at the front of his cloak roughly, staring into the man's eyes as the glow of his own quirk peeked through his goggles.
"I am the spirit that negates. And rightly so, for all that comes to be. Deserves to perish wretchedly."
"You should just play along with their game! Scare the ever living crap outta them when you erase their magic! Make 'em think you're their worst nightmare!"
The poor fool fainted at the sight, sinking to the floor and foaming at the mouth.
Eraserhead sighed yet again, it wasn't the best suggestion in the world. It was definitely wrong to mess with the mind of someone who was already delusional. But he was willing to commit to the performance since one: he wasn't a therapist. And b: these were still villains that needed to be taken down.
(It didn't make him feel any better whenever Mic referred to it as his 'Penance Stare'.)
The hand villain paused at the sight, "Honestly…? I'm glad someone got that guy to shut up…"
There was a snorting sound.
The hand villain's eyes widened as he looked over his shoulder, "Kurogiri… did I just hear you laugh…?"
The unemotional mist seemingly composed himself, "No, must be your imagination…"
"Don't you have some kids to take care of?"
"Ahh… Yes, of course. I'll be right back."
"Oh my god, he's so cool~!" Hitoshi couldn't help but hero worship.
"Oh, so he can hold his own…" Izuku muttered, having been corrected.
"You guys! This is no time to stand around! We have to evacuate!" Iida called.
"R-right!" Izuku made his way over the group, having to pull Hitoshi with him.
"How fast can that bus drive?" Tohru asked Thirteen.
"Wait Kouhai! Didn't you say you have a portal ability?" Thirteen asked.
"Oh, right. I keep forgetting about that…" Tohru clapped her hands to gather 1-A's attention, "Alright! Single file line, chitlins! I'll have you back in class in a-"
"Hm? Something wrong?"
Tohru chuckled nervously, "Heh, you're going to hate me for this… but I still haven't placed a magic marker at UA yet…"
"M-meaning…?"
"No need to panic! The next closest marker in Musutafu is in Izuku's apartment. So…"
"It'll have to do, just make a portal, hurry!"
"..."
"Tohru? Is something wrong?" This time, it was Izuku asking.
"I can't make a portal…"
"What?!"
'Am I somehow in his line of sight?' Tohru turned back around to look at Eraserhead, who was still busy taking care of villains. 'No, if he erased my magic I would have turned back into a dragon… this is… different.'
"Tohru? What's wrong?"
"I can't make a portal…" Tohru repeated. "There's nothing wrong with my magic… I just… can't make a portal…"
"That would be my doing…"
A cloud of dark mist loomed over them in front of the entrance to the USJ, blocking 1-A's would-be second choice for an escape route.
"My quirk blocks out all other portal quirks, no one is allowed to teleport while in my vicinity…" The entity proved itself to be alive, with its eerie voice, cold stare, and overwhelming presence. The class stood in fear as the recently interposing villain gave an introduction, "Greetings, we are the League of Villains."
Kacchan snorted, "How long did it take to come up with-?'
"Five minutes… Excuse the intrusion, today we've come to UA high… this citadel of heroics… to kill All Might…"
"Huh?!" As the words sank in for his class, Izuku still couldn't believe the declaration made, 'kill All Might?'
The mist continued to monologue, "We were under the impression he was going to be here today… Was there a reschedule…?"
Tohru clenched her teeth, ready to take a step forward, but Thirteen stopped her with a single arm. Tohru looked at her nonplussed, but Thirteen made no sound, instead, raising her other hand to show Tohru she was readying her quirk. Tohru nodded, the message was sent, 'I'll distract, you protect.'
"Well no matter, my role remains the same-"
From the front of the group, both Katsuki and Kirishima rushed in towards the villain. Katsuki raised his arm for an explosive punch and Kirishima hardened his arm for a swipe.
"Not if we kill ya first!"
Tohru cursed, 'Damn! I was a split second away from restraining Katchin!'
The blow from the two managed to make the villain's head space disperse a bit, unfortunately the villain was left unscathed as his vague head shape reformed.
"Hmm, a little too close… Though children you may be, you're still students of UA, the best of the best…" The villain began to shudder.
"Get back you two!" Thirteen tried to warn.
"Begone…" In an instant the villain expanded, engulfing the class in purple fog. As the students of 1-A suffocated the villain threw out one last taunt, "Writhe, suffer, and perish."
Aizawa stood his ground, resting his eyes. The aura he emitted (and earlier display of skills) keeping the villains at bay. He kept his guard up, knowing that getting distracted for even a second could be his downfall.
He was momentarily distracted by the appearance of purple mist at the corner of his eyes. Flinching at the sight and believing the mist villain was attacking him, he jumped back.
Only to spot the familiar maid dress. Tohru had appeared from the portal, unceremoniously falling face first onto the ground.
"Kobayashi-san? What are you doing down here? What happened?"
Tohru stood up, dusting herself off, 'He uses the portal spell… a tough spell for a human to learn… not only that, but he has enough mastery over it to have a passive skill that blocks other portal spells…'
"A freakin portal mage…"
"What?"
Tohru grimaced, 'They're annoying as it is when that's the only spell they use, making it hard to hit them… but when they're powerful enough to block my own portals…'
"Our evacuation was compromised." Tohru explained with a sigh. "The warp gate can block out my portal spells-"
"You have portals?"
Tohru blinked, "Uh… yeah? Didn't your principal pass around those sheets explaining my spells to the staff?"
Eraserhead shrugged, "Oh, right. I never bothered reading that actually."
"Right…" Tohru sniffed the air. "Thirteen is still up there, with six of the students…"
"And the rest…?"
"I can sense Izuku across that pond over there… If I'm here, then, the warp villain must've teleported the rest of the students all over the USJ…"
Even with his eyes open, all Izuku could see was black. The feeling of the mist was cold, which was very much not helping him feel calm in this situation. When his arms and face finally touched fresh air the first thing he noticed was that he was also immediately falling from the sky.
"Waah?!"
Then splashed into the water of the flood zone.
'He teleported us?! They want to kill All Might?' Izuku tried to get his bearings, he scanned his eyes all around him, checking to see that he was, in fact, in a very deep pool. 'Man they have a lot of money-'
"Found one!" A wild villain approaches.
"Gahhh!" Izuku screamed, losing a lot of breath as he was, in fact, still under water.
"Nuthin' personnel, kid, but- !"
His words were cut short after getting his face stomped in.
Izuku had been saved by Asui, who then proceeded to use her frog tongue to catch Izuku and carry him out of the water. With both Izuku and a half passed out Mineta, she swam towards the surface where a ship was located. She placed both of her classmates onto the deck with her tongue before climbing onto the ship herself.
Izuku forcefully spat out some water, "Is this a yacht? How much money do these people have?! -Oh, I mean, thanks Asui…"
"Call me Tsuyu. It looks like we're in a bit of a situation here…"
"A situation?!" Mineta wailed, "We were ambushed by villains and you're here saying it's a situation?!" Mineta shook his head, "No, what am I saying? You're right! All Might was supposed to come here today, right?! Once he gets here he'll beat up all the villains and then we can go back home and this'll just be a funny story for the year books! I mean, there's no way they can kill All Might like they said they would, right?! …haa~ah~haaaaa… what a bunch of-"
"They must have a way." Asui pointed out, "Why else would they go through the trouble to get here? That handsy guy seemed pretty serious about it. He even said he was going to kill us. There's a low chance of us being able to hold back the villains by the time All Might gets here. And even when he does show up, he might get killed…"
With each word, Mineta was driven further into despair, "M-Midoriya… make her stop-" He tried tugging on Izuku's sleeve but…
"So they came up with a way to beat All Might? Probably… that must be it. Wouldn't make sense to come here otherwise…! (But why kill him?) (Because he's the symbol of peace?) There's a specific reason… right? A reason? (Reason?) (...reason?)"
Between Izuku's muttering and Asui's dead stare, Mineta continued to whimper, "At least it can't get worse-"
"That brat! I'll kill her!" A school of villains appeared, surfacing on the water.
"I'm going to die here."
"I can't contact Aizawa or Thirteen… Even Kobayashi-san isn't answering… normally she would pick up on the first ring, call me a slur, then immediately hang up…"
Toshinori was resting in the break room, his busy morning run taking up more time than he realized.
'Why would she agree to exchange phone numbers if she never bothers to have a conversation?'
Toshinori released a heavy sigh, "Still, putting hero work before my teaching job… I'm going to be hearing about this from-"
"Hello All Might!"
"Principal Nezu?! Uh, what brings you here- my!- your coat is looking splendid today sir!"
"Are you suggesting it didn't look good the previous days…?"
"...no?"
Nezu laughed Toshinori's worries away (well actually he made it worse), "Ha-Ha! I'm just messing with you! Anyways, I'm just here to show you this!"
Nezu held up his tablet, showing an article with the headline 'All Might resolves 36 cases in under an hour.'
"Did they count all those cats I saved as separate cases?"
"Eh, you know how these articles are… clickbaits and all that…"
"Wait… you use yahoo news? I thought you were supposed to be the smart one-?
"Enough about that!" Nezu threw the tablet away, "The ne'er-do-wells never let up, even after you showed up to this city. Still, you don't let that stop you, rushing off to find the next trouble you hear, you haven't changed at all. But you must remember, between your injury, and its… many after effects-"
Toshinori coughed up some blood.
"-and the fact that you're a teacher with a successor to mentor. It's finally time you need to learn how to take things easy once in a while. Even with that pendant Kobayashi-san gave you, it was meant for you to attend your classes, not peruse around the city at your leisure. You don't need One for All to power it, sure, but that doesn't mean you can just waste your time limit until you have nothing left. That disguise of yours only works if the man behind the curtain is still able to stand after all."
Nezu plopped himself onto the couch.
Toshinori nodded, "Right, I get it. But I'm fine now, the pendant helped me pace myself a little better than I normally would. So I was just about to head to-"
"But there's no rush, right?" Nezu poured himself some tea, "You should rest a little longer. They already expect you to show up by the end of the class so you might as well rest a little longer. In the meantime we can have a little chat here."
'He's pouring tea… there's no stopping him now… still, I can't help but feel like somethings wrong at the USJ.'
"Why don't you tell me more about that pendant? If you can? I just find it interesting how Kobayashi-san can pour her quirk's energy into such a simple object."
Toshinori gulped, 'This is going to be a hard conversation to navigate through… I just hope that Izuku and his friends are having an easier time right now.'
"No! I can't go! A class president can't just abandon his class-"
"You have to! These guys are only causing trouble here, if you make it out they won't follow you!"
"Please use your quirk to save us all!"
"It will be like in the cafeteria! You have our support!"
"...you guys realize I'm still standing here, I can hear your plan…"
"You all lost to a kid… how pathetic…"
"Yeah! You show them Todoroki!"
'...who said that…?'
"Keep up Drowzee! Don't you know how to use that scarf?!"
"Only barely! I've only had one week of lessons you know!"
"But you almost beat Bakugo in our first hero lesson…"
"Heh-heh… yeah, dumb luck, I guess?"
"Oh that's it! We're having a rematch after this!"
"Jiro, do you know how to use weapons?"
"No, I've never even picked up- aaaand you're handing me a sword…"
"Could I get one of those too?"
"Our best chance of survival would be to fight-"
"What do you mean you want to fight right now?! Are you out of your mind?! Our best chance at survival would be to hide!"
"Those guys down there are obviously suited for aquatic battles, right?"
"Don't ignore me!"
Ignoring Mineta, Izuku said, "Whoever planned this invasion recruited these villains based on the different environments. Their Intel told them about the different zones but… Asui-"
"..."
"I mean Tsuyu! …They sent you here."
Asu-Tsuyu was picking up on his line of thinking, "So they don't know our quirks? Otherwise, they would have sent me to the fire zone."
"Right, their plan was to separate us then overwhelm us with numbers! We can use the fact that they don't know our quirks to our advantage!"
"Why are you guys talking like you're actually considering this half-baked plan?! We need to hide!"
Mineta's screaming was somehow drowned out by the sound of the ship breaking in half.
"I'm getting bored, let's finish this already!" One of the villains had gotten impatient, using his quirk for a powerful attack to drag the students down into the water. With the eagerness of a man who is about to kill a couple of kids the villain prepared his quirk for another attack.
"What a powerful quirk, he split the ship in two."
"Yeah, but I've survived worse, I think I can handle-"
Mineta, in pure terror, began throwing sticky balls into the water, "YAAAH!" With no real aim whatsoever. When it hit none of the villains he continued to cry to Izuku while pointing at the villains like an upset toddler.
"Don't panic! They're going to know your quirk!"
"Mineta. Did you really come to UA to become a hero?"
"Shuddup! I'm not crazy! You're crazy for not being scared! You too Midoriya!"
"I didn't even-"
"No! You're both insane! We were middle schoolers just a couple months ago! How can you two be so calm?! You're acting too nonchalant about everything! And Midoriya is acting like he can fight all these guys!"
"I've… survived worse…" Izuku grimaced, "The first three times my life flashed before my eyes all happened on the same day. Two of them from this one villain, who I ended up having to fight less than a year later. And a week after that incident I got stabbed by a freakin ritual knife of all things… I don't know what's Tsuyu's excuse…"
She ribbited, "You know how some frogs get you high when you lick them…?"
"...what?"
She shrugged, "Nothing, nevermind."
"Anyways, I think I have a plan… If I use my full power into the water's surface it'll spread, then once it rushes back to the center all the villains will be grouped up and, Mineta, that's your chance to capture them all with your quirk!"
Mineta whimpered, "That is a terrible-!"
But Izuku was already jumping over the deck, "Go to hell!" He taunted the villains.
One of the villains said, "Yep, just some dumb kid."
Another said, "Once he lands, we'll gut him!"
But Izuku never landed, "Huh?" And his quirk didn't activate. He looked at his finger in confusion when it didn't produce the power he was expecting when he flicked it. Unbeknownst to him, there was something else going on with him.
"Uhh, Midoriya?"
Izuku turned back towards Tsuyu, who was still somehow in his line of sight, "Huh?"
"You're floating, ribbit…"
Izuku looked down at his body, and at the water's surface below him, he was hit by sudden vertigo as he realized that he was in fact floating.
"Whoa! What?! What's happening?!" He began flailing his legs around, trying to make sense of the situation.
"Hey! Get down here already!" The villains yelled.
Izuku suddenly had an idea, "Uhh… yeah! This was intentional! You idiots look like ants from down there! And you can't hit me when I'm all the way up here!"
"What did you say?!"
"Come on boys! Group up! We're going to hit him with all our quirks at once!"
Izuku couldn't help but smirk, 'Gotcha!'
"Now! Blackwhip!"
From his arms, a mass of tentacles shot out, ensnaring all the villains below him in one fish net trap.
"Ahh!"
"What the hell?!"
"This kid's got two quirks?!"
The villains began to panic, wriggling around in the improvised net, but Izuku's hold didn't waver.
"Mineta now! Use your quirk!"
Mineta clenched his teeth, but did what he was told, "Yeah! Take that you idiots! You shouldn't have underestimated us!"
Tsuyu said, "Looks like you were right Mineta, Midoriya is crazy… but at least we won our first battle, so good job you two." She ribbited. Subtly, she licked her lips, a habit she desperately wished to break considering the side effects of licking her own skin.
'Still though, how did he start floating like that? Is it a part of his quirk?'
From within the darkness, another council was held.
Almost all members seated stared at one of their own in silence, finally one of them spoke.
"You mind explaining yourself, Seventh?" The First spoke.
The shadow figure tried to stand her ground, before breaking under the pressure from her peers, "Alright! I'm sorry, okay! I panicked!"
Banjo said, "Not as easy as it looks to hold back, huh?!"
"Who gave you permission to leave your corner?!"
Author's note: Cripes, what was the author's note for this chapter again? I write all these before the chapter is uploaded, so as to make sure they stay short and to the point without any rambling. But sometimes, I forget to say some things, on the account that I write these notes from memory.
Omake
Erase
Shigaraki-san: Damn that quirk of his is annoying, I wish I could just… erase it, or something…
Eraserhead
Thug: No! Stand back! I'm about to… transform!
…
…
Huh? What happened? The moon is out but I'm not changing?
Eraserhead: That would be my doing… I erased your quirk…
Would-be-wolfman: That's amazing! You stopped my curse! You're a miracle worker!
Mic: Cool, I wonder if every one of these Chuunibyou types will react positively like this?
Thirty-three cats
All Might: Where did all these cats come from? And why are they just roaming around the city getting stuck on trees?
Eraserhead: Did I remember to close my door before leaving today?
L.O.V.
Shigaraki-san: Okay how about this? Every Villain Is Lemons! Otherwise known as E.V.I.L!
Shigaraki-san's Portal Mage Butler: I have a… decent-er idea.
Play a song 2
Kaminari: Hey, I know we're in the middle of a fight… but I wanted to apologize about what happened at the bus-
Jiro: Whatever man, I'm over it. I'm sure everyone else forgot about it by now…
1-A: 'That song is still stuck in my head…'
Master Tactician
Izuku: Alright, I'll distract them
Tsuyu: Wait, I think we should come up with a better plan-
Izuku: Leeroy~ Jenkins!
