I wasn't really listening to the Undersiders talk as the described what was around us. Nor was I keeping a close eye on where we were going through the destroyed city. I couldn't. If I did I'd start thinking about what happened. About allowing myself to float above the city and hoping someone would spot me. About forcing myself to ignore my nausea so I wouldn't release us too early and send us into the water. About the fear I felt when I realized I that no one had noticed me, that I had to release my power and fall to the ground. And the sudden biting pain I felt when I heard the sound of my bones breaking. About lying in agony as I prayed for someone to come save me.
"Mom, Dad, I will see you again. I will get home, and we'll go on a vacation to Hawaii. I promise," I whispered to myself, clenching my fists, keeping my pinky out to prevent my power from going off. Tsuyu glanced over to me from where she was standing by Deku's, I mean Midoriya's side.
"You okay, ribbit?" she asked, softly.
"Yeah," I said, nodding. "Just, uh, thinking about my family."
"I miss my family too," Tsuyu said, sympathetically. "But I'm sure Izuku will get us home."
"How do you have so much faith in him?" I asked, cocking my head and staring at Tsuyu. "I mean, don't get me wrong. Deku, I mean Izuku,I mean Midoriya, is great! He's already an awesome hero. But this city is crazy. Even Thirteen," I stopped, my throat clenching so hard I couldn't continue talking.
"You didn't see him during the USJ attack. We were trapped on a boat, surrounded by villains, and Mineta was panicking. And he immediately came up with a plan that not only saved all of us, but utilized all of our Quirks to ensure that he wouldn't need to use too much of his Quirk and cripple himself. Then from that he saved Aizawa Sensei from those villains and while we were being sucked into the portal he came up with a plan to keep us together, and didn't panic when we were attacked by Leviathan. He came up with the plan to save us from the tidal wave, he identified that Leviathan was using Todoroki's ice as a weapon. And then, with a broken arm, he went with Skitter and Bakugo to fight Leviathan again. He's beyond amazing and if anyone can get us through this, it's him," Tsuyu said, a hint of passion filling her voice by the end.
I looked over to Deku, and smiled. Somewhere, somehow, he had gotten a hold of a notebook and was furiously scribbling in it as he listened intently to Tattletale's words. I snuck up behind him and looked over his shoulder at what he was working on. I was amazed at what I saw. Not only was he faithfully recording every word our guides were saying, but he was sketching a map of the city and writing notes about Skitter's power and how she could have beaten Bakugo.
"You're right," I whispered to Tsuyu. "He is amazing. So we'll just have to keep up!" I added, clenching my fists.
"Ribbit?" Tsuyu croaked in confusion.
"Well we can't be holding him back, can we?" I said. "If he's going to be amazing, than we'll just have to be amazing too! We're his partners after all, so if we want to stand beside him, we're going to have to give it our best!"
"Hmm," Tsuyu hummed, before giving me an admiring look. "You are quite amazing your own self," she said. I felt myself blush.
"I-I'm not that amazing!" I stammered.
"You are. You did save us all from the tsunami and-,"
I abruptly looked away. I knew Tsuyu was still talking, but I couldn't hear her over the roaring in my mind, as I remembered Sero shouting something as I floated up in the air. I hated myself for it, but I couldn't remember what he said. His last words, and nothing. I was too focused on watching Thirteen and the monster killing her. I felt so guilty about that, and I felt so guilty about watching Thirteen die. I knew that was silly. Thirteen was a hero and our teacher. It was her job and duty to protect us from that monster and she did. I should be grateful to her, and not allow this horrible guilt to twist me up inside.
"Uraraka? Are you okay?" Deku asked, his voice snapping me out of my fit.
"Umm, y-yeah, I'm okay, Deku," I said, shakily giving him a thumbs up. "I don't want to distract you."
"It's okay. Really," he said. I blinked and looked around. Aside from Tsuyu, we were alone and there was a pool of darkness ahead of us, blanketing the street. "Grue decided to give a demonstration of his power," he explained. "We stayed behind to take care of you."
"You didn't have to do that," I said, automatically.
"Of course we did. You are our friend. We'd never leave you behind," Deku said, warmly, giving me a smile. I couldn't help it. I burst into tears and threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around him.
"Why are you so good at this?" I sobbed as he blushed and babbled incoherently. After a few moments, I felt Tsuyu wrap her arms around us both. She gave us a squeeze and began murmuring in our ears. It felt like hours, but must have only been minutes until I stopped crying and pulled myself together. I pulled away, shooting Tsuyu a thankful smile before turning to look at Deku's blushing face. I took a deep breath, but he interrupted me.
"I'm not that good!" he said, quickly.
"Of course you are. You and Tsuyu both! You are both so composed and I'm a complete wreck!" I said. "I think about what happened and I just...freeze up! I can't save anyone like this! How do the two of you stay calm?"
"I don't know," Deku said. He bit his thumb, mumbling something unintelligible. "I think it's because of All Might. He told me once that he's always afraid, but he keeps smiling anyways. To reassure everyone else that things are going to be fine. And I feel like I have to live up to that."
"Why?" Tsuyu asked, tilting her head in puzzlement. "Trying to live up to All Might's abilities is a bit much, isn't it?"
"Oh, you know, he's my favorite hero and all, so I just kinda, yeah?" Deku babbled.
"How do you do it though?" I asked, interrupting his babbling. "How do you push through your feelings to do what All Might would do? I mean, Deku, you break your bones every time you use your Quirk. Aren't you afraid of the pain?"
"I-I don't really know, sorry. When someone's in trouble my body just moves, and I'm too busy thinking about what to do next to panic. As for the pain, I'm used to it, and flinching away never prevented pain before so..." Deku said. My tears returned, and I wrapped in another hug.
"Sorry, I forgot. First off Deku, you're amazing. That doesn't really help with my problem, but I wanted you to know that. Secondly, don't ignore your pain. Being used to it...well that's very bad, okay? I don't care if it helps you use your Quirk. Third, Tsuyu do you have any advice? You seem to be keeping very composed," I said, squeezing him tightly. Deku didn't answer me, and when I released him his face was completely crimson from his blushing.
"Hmm, well I did cry last night. That made me feel better," Tsuyu said, humming and tapping her finger against her chin. "But I wouldn't say I'm doing that well and neither is anyone else."
"But you are so composed! And nobody else has had a panic attack," I protested.
"Kaminari is barely functional. Hagakure has been very quiet. And I think Mineta has completely given up on being a hero," Tsuyu said, counting off each with her fingers. "And those are just the ones I've noticed."
"That's..." I paused, thinking over what Tsuyu was telling me. Was everyone else putting on a mask as well? Pretending they were okay when they were barely holding on? "What do we do then?"
"I don't know," Tsuyu said. "I'm putting my faith in Izuku but I don't know if that's the right decision or not."
"What? But I'm nothing special, I'm just a, I mean, I can barely use my Quirk. I'm just a-"
"A hero who saved both of us," I said, firmly, cutting off Deku's stuttering. "And if you can be a absolutely adorable stuttering mess and still be our hero than I think it's okay for me to be having some problems right now," I blushed and continued, "Because I want to be someone you can count on. Both of you," I added turning to look at Tsuyu as well.
"I told you that you are amazing," Tsuyu said, smiling. "And look, it looks like they are wrapping up," she added, pointing behind me. I turned to see the cloud of darkness dissipating. Tattletale glanced over us, her eyes meeting mine. She smiled encouragingly, and began to speak.
"Alright! So now that you've got an idea on what it's like to be in Grue's darkness, let's get back to the tour!"
/*/
Now that I was paying attention my mind was reeling with what we were facing. A man who could turn into a wolf made of metal? Someone who cause blades to rise from any metal surface? Someone who turned into a cloud of acidic fog? And that was just one gang! The most dangerous one according to Tattletale but still!
"So a single flick should be enough to disperse Fog," Deku said. I smiled, not that any of this bothered Deku.
"Right, than we just need to disable Night. Tsuyu would you be able to catch any flash bangs she throws?" I asked.
"Call me Asui," she said, nodding. "And yes, I could." I smiled back at her.
"Great. Without that, she can't activate her Quirk. Deku and I should be able to disable her then. Who should we cover next?" I ask, looking to Deku.
"Moving on to the next gang we've got Coil and the Travelers! Now Coil is an unknown. His power apparently lets him 'choose' a future, but I've got no idea on what the specifics are. Trickster can swap two similar objects around and primarily uses it to mess with your positioning during a fight. Ballista can launch any object at near supersonic speeds. Sundancer can create a miniature sun. Genesis can transform into nearly any sort of monster, but it takes her time to change forms." Lisa announced. "Worst of all, Coil kidnapped a young girl by the name of Dinah Alcott, a powerful Thinker who can predict the likelihood of any particular future. He's currently got her addicted to drugs to ensure she can't escape and to force her to act as his private oracle. "
"How do you know that this girl was kidnapped by Coil? And what he's doing to her?" Todoroki asked. I blinked. How did they know that? I had been too focused on the Traveler's powers to realize that.
"Because the Undersiders used to work for him of course," Tattletale said, lightly.
"Than why didn't you stop him?" Deku asked, his eyes fixated on Skitter. She didn't reply, but I saw her clench her hands into a fist. Tattletale immediately moved over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"That's a little complex to get into and it isn't nearly as important as what I've got to say next. Coil, more than any other villain in this city, has agents inside the PRT that work for him. However due to the chaos of your arrival and the fallout from Leviathan's attack, it is likely that he doesn't know about the Undersiders joining the heroes. So we've got an opportunity to rescue Dinah, with your help," she said.
"Uh oh," I said, softly. I didn't like where this was going. The Traveler's powers were ridiculous and we didn't even know what Coil's power was. Plus they had an oracle! How could we catch them by surprise when they could know about any attack by simply asking 'will we be attacked today?'
"Don't worry about Dinah's ability," Tattletale said, looking me straight in the eyes. "She's likely burned out right now. Coil almost certainly pushed her ability to the max during Leviathan's attack to ensure that the Traveler's could do as much damage as possible to that monster while also keeping them safe." I let out a sigh of relief. That made sense. But that meant they'd have to move fast.
"So where is she?" I asked, as boldly as I could. "Lets cut to the chase. You clearly intend for us to go rescue her. And I bet you brought us out on this 'tour' of yours to make sure none of his agents would see us coming. So lets get it over with and go rescue Dinah."
"Hold on a moment," Grue said, stepping forward. "You're right about our plans, but we aren't going to force you into this either. This is volunteer only. Anyone who doesn't want to participate can wait here, or if you just want a safer role, well we need people to watch all the exits of the base to make sure Coil doesn't escape."
"I'm in," Deku said, stepping forward with zero hesitation. I gulped and stepped up beside him, and saw Asui join me out of the corner of my eye.
"I will assist," Todoroki said. Soon the whole class was split up, with the majority of us being ready to fight. Hagakure, Tokoyami, Shoji, and Kaminari would remain on guard outside while the rest of us would enter the base with the Undersiders.
"We will split into two teams. The first team will be lead by Grue, who will be accompanied by Tattletale and Regrent. They've got the most important job of actually rescuing Dinah," Skitter said, in Japanese with a thick American accent. "Bitch and I will take another team to confront Coil. Hopefully if we capture him we will be able to get everyone else to stand down. But remember, the goal here is to rescue a traumatized and abused child. Not to take out the Travelers, or to capture Coil. So once we secure Dinah we'll retreat," she continued, as the rest of the Undersiders split us into two groups.
"Why am I on your team?" Deku asked Skitter, his voice tight with tension and his fists clenched.
"Because if you need to retreat after using your power we will be closer to the exits. And won't have to climb up a ladder with a broken arm," Skitter replied. She looked at him silently for a few seconds. "We might not be the ones to carry her out of the room she's being held captive in, but we are still doing our part to rescue her," she said, suddenly.
"Wha? I mean-" Deku stammered.
"I get it. You want to be the one to rescue her. I want to save her as well. But we can't place our personal satisfaction above her safety or the safety of our friends. So we'll do our jobs, take down Coil and whoever he has guarding him. And if that means we never even see Dinah, so be it," Skitter said, firmly.
"Why? I mean, why do you want to save her?" I asked, thinking about our conversation about Skitter last night. I could see what Deku meant now. A villain wouldn't give a speech like that. So why was Skitter a villain?
"Long story short, it's my fault Coil was able to kidnap her in the first place," Skitter said, evenly. "So it's my responsibility to make sure she's saved."
"What? How did that happen?" I asked, shocked.
"You heard Tattletale, the Undersiders used to work for Coil," Skitter said, sighing. "We were sent on a mission to rob a bank in order to distract the heroes. Not that we knew that at the time. Or that Coil was our mysterious boss for that matter. Regardless, while we were robbing the bank, he had Dinah kidnapped."
"So why did it take you so long to try and rescue her?" Deku asked.
"Like I said, we didn't know Coil was our boss. We knew Dinah had been kidnapped sure, but we had no idea it had anything to do with us. It wasn't until right before Leviathan's attack that I learned about Coil and that he had Dinah," Skitter explained. "Since than I've been planning to rescue her, but until you arrived I couldn't come up with anything worth trying."
"So what did you come up with?" I asked.
"My bugs will take care of most of his goons. I can't get close to Sundancer and Genesis can take a form that's immune to my bugs. If I sneak up on Ballista or Trickster, I can eliminate them easily, but if they spot me, I'm finished. Coil himself is a complete unknown. His power could be useless or it could guarantee my failure," she said, ticking the points off her fingers.
"And now that you have our help? How does that change things?" Deku asked.
"I can focus on blinding Ballista and Trickster so someone else can get in close and take them down. With this wide of a variety of powers, Genesis can't counter us all. And honestly, the best way to beat a Thinker is with overwhelming force," Skittter said.
"What about Sundancer? How can we overcome someone who can create a minature sun?" I asked, thinking hard.
"I'm honestly not sure," Skitter said, her voice remarkable steady. "But she's not invincible and she can't be everywhere at once. Keep an eye out for opportunities to take her down, and if we can't find one, we'll go around her instead."
"Right, got it," I said, nodding. I looked over the rest of our team. Besides Deku and Asui, we also had Ashido, leaving the other team with Todoroki, Sato, Kirishima, and the villains; Grue, Tattletale, and Regrent. I looked over at the villain named Bitch. She was silent, and her plastic dog mask may have been cheap, but it did a good job of hiding her expressions away. Skitter said something to her, and she nodded, the dogs at her side suddenly expanding in size.
"Wow! Some sort of gigantification Quirk? No, their shapes are also changing. A Quirk that changes their shape? And maybe-" Deku said, excitedly.
"Her power creates sort of biological suits around dogs. The dog itself is perfectly safe inside the suit, even if the suit itself is badly damaged. If a suit is killed and Bitch isn't able to deactivate her power, we'll expect you to cut the dog out of the flesh," Skitter said, rejoining them. "The dogs are just that, dogs. Bitch has trained them well, but they are still dogs. Don't expect too much from them. Anyways, we've got a few more moments until Bitch has finished powering up her dogs. Any final questions?"
"Umm, yeah, what exactly do you want me doing?" Mina asked.
"You'll melt open any locked doors we run into," Skitter said.
"But won't the other team need to do that? And is the more important team since they are actually rescuing Dinah?" Mina asked.
"That's why they have Tattletale. She's an expert at breaking through any kind of security," Skitter said. With that we waited a bit in silence as Bitch's dogs grew bigger and bigger. I licked my lips and clenched my fists, trying to calm down. Until finally the heavy set girl stood up from her monstrous dogs.
"Done," she said.
"That took longer than before. Why?" Skitter asked, matter of factly.
"Trying something new," Bitch said.
"Oh? Did it work?" Skitter asked. Bitch just grunted, which must have meant something to the bug villain, because she nodded and with that a swarm of insects flooded into Coil's lair. A moment or two later she gestured for us to get moving. We entered the building at a walk, making our way towards the entrance to Coil's lair. I took deep breaths as Skitter's bugs swarmed around us. It was freaky and weird, but Deku had warned us that she was going to do this, and that it would help prevent Coil's minions from shooting us. As creepy as it was to feel flies and other bugs crawl into my hair, I kept my hands strictly by my side, refusing to give into my instinct to swat the bugs. So we made our way into the facility, the bugs moving away from my every step, Deku at my side, Asui somewhere ahead of us, and Mina was complaining bitterly about the bugs surrounding us.
"Tch, looks like they were more prepared than I thought," Skitter said, coming to a halt. "We've got flamethrowers ahead. They are clearing out my swarms."
"I'll handle them," Asui said, confidently.
"Me too," I said, my mouth dry as I joined Asui. Skitter just glanced at us and nodded. I breathed in and tried not to cough as the smell of smoke and fuel filled the air.
"I'm-" Deku began, only to be cut off by Skitter putting a hand on his chest.
"Not yet. If they can't handle the flamethrowers then we'll bring you in, but until then we're keeping you in reserve. Bitch, can your dogs handle fire?" Skitter said.
"Yeah. They can't feel the fire through my power," Bitch grunted.
"Okay girls, Bitch's dogs will knock down the mercenaries with flamerthrowers. That's your chance to disable them. When Bitch says go, that's your signal. Got it?" Skitter ordered. We nodded and moved on. The corridor began to heat up and we could finally start seeing flickers of flame through Skitter's dense swarm when Bitch pointed down the hallway. Three mercenaries in silvery proximity suits were spraying flames to form a wall of fire in front of them.
"Attack," she said, loudly and clearly. Her monstrous dogs immediately leaped forward, plunging into the fire without hesitation before suddenly collapsing on the ground. "What?! No!" Bitch yelled, running forward herself. I gasped, unsure about what I should do, but Asui didn't hesitated. She crouched low to the ground, and lashing out with her tongue, she wrapped it around the leg of one of the mercenaries and pulled him off his feet. I looked around frantically for something to throw at them, before my eyes rested on the dogs. I grabbed one by its whip like tail and activated my Quirk before tossing the entire dog at the mercenaries.
"And release," I touched my fingers together, dropping the massive dog on the frantically dodging mercenaries. The were buried under an avalanche of flesh, and Skitter's bugs soon started pushing down the corridor again. There was a sound of static from the walls and Bitch's dogs soon got up, one of them giving itself a shake.
"What did he do to my dogs?" Bitch demanded, as Skitter caught up.
"Some sort of tinker tech sound he's broadcasting with the PA system," Skitter explained. "It is too high of pitch for us to hear it, but my bugs can feel the vibrations it is making. On that note, it looks like the rest of the mercenaries up until Coil himself are all covered in similar suits. He's been preparing to fight us," she said.
"The seer," Deku muttered. "She must have seen your attack coming and was forced to warn Coil."
"Regardless of how, this means Bitch is out of the fight. There's no point bringing her dogs along if they are just going to get disabled. Go wait at the entrance for the others to retrieve Dinah," Skitter said. Bitch scowled, but headed back down the corridor. "As for us, I'll use my bugs to keep them blinded, but I can't bring them down. I did gum up their guns, so we should be safe in that regard, but they've got combat knives and batons aplenty. We'll have to take them down in hand to hand," she said, pulling out her own baton and a knife.
"Right, we can do that," Deku said, eagerly stepping up. "I don't need my power to fight," he said, defensively, when Skitter glanced at him. She simply nodded.
"As a reminder, just because I think I got all their guns, doesn't mean I did get all of them. So watch out for any surprises," she said.
"Got it," I said. My heart was pumping, my mouth was dry, and I could barely think. I saw Asui running down the corridor and I raced to keep up. We shot like a bullet down the corridor, Skitter's bugs guiding us past the various doors along the way. We hit a metal door, and Mina melted the sides of it, letting Deku kick it open. On the other side waited a full squad of mercenaries, covered in bee suits or proximity suits. I rushed towards them, just slightly behind Deku. One of the guards brought his baton down in a strike at Deku's head, who went to grab his arm. The solider immediately tried to pull back and jab Deku instead, but Deku just grabbed onto his bulky suit instead and flipped him over his head, slamming him into the ground.
A man in a bee suit came at me with a knife. He thrust and I tried to mimic Deku's grab, but was too hesitant, and only got a cut on the back of my hand for my troubles. He moved forward and I retreated desperately, accidentally slipping to the ground. He went to stab me when a swarm of moths suddenly shot forward and batted harmlessly against his mask. He swiped them away and started to come after me again, but Skitter intercepted him. She batted away his knife with her baton and then cut a hole in his mask without even looking. Bugs immediately flooded into his suit and he fell to the ground screaming. Skitter didn't hesitate and kept moving forward. She took down her next opponent with similar ease before three mercenaries came at her at once.
I lunged forward, grabbing a hold of the mercenary who attacked me with a knife, and activated my Quirk. I flung him at one of the mercenaries attacking Skitter, who dodged out of the way. I charged the man and desperately dove to dodge his baton lashing out at me. He went to stomp on my head, but I caught his foot with my hands, and took away his gravity. I pushed up, forcing him to flip repeatedly. He tried to catch himself with his hands, but I kicked him in the gut and sent him flying down the hallway. I turned to see Skitter pinned underneath of of the mercenaries, who was screaming in pain and fury as he stabbed at her with his knife. Eyes wide, I touched his back, and Skitter pushed him off of her with a knee to the gut. He floated up to the roof, writhing in pain, his suit torn in multiple places and full of bugs.
"Skitter, are you alright?" I shouted.
"i'M fInE, mY sUiT pRoTeCtEd Me," she said, her bugs speaking with her and sending a shiver down my spine. "LoOkS lIkE wE'rE fInIsHeD hErE," she added. I looked around to see she was right. Deku was panting and trying to get his breath back, but looked to be unharmed. Asui was untouched, and was barely sweating. Mina had a split lip, but was smiling widely anyways.
"Uraraka! Are you okay?" Deku shouted, running up to me. He gently took a hold of my hand and stared at the gash on the back of it.
"One second," Skitter said, speaking normally. She went over to a room and quickly returned with a first aid kit. "It looks like you'll have a scar," she said, matter of factly, as she sprayed my cut with antiseptic mist.
"That's okay," I said, wincing in pain and trying to keep my hand still. Deku took over wrapping my hand with bandages. "Thanks," I said to the villain. She stared at me for a second, her mask hiding all expressions, before giving me a nod. Deku quickly finished wrapping my hand, taking care to leave my fingers free. "Okay! I'm ready to go!" I said, standing up.
"Good," Skitter paused, before rising to her feet. "It looks like Coil has pulled his remaining mercenaries back to defend him personally. Along with Genesis. I don't know what she's become, but she's cleared out all the bugs in the room, so they might be able to fix their guns by the time we arrive."
"None of us have any defenses against bullets," Asui said, frowning. I gulped, looking at my bandaged hand.
"My suit should be bullet proof, but I don't want to put it to the test," Skitter said. She looked over to Deku. "I think it is time for you to use your power. What is the weakest blow you can use?" she asked.
"Umm, if I flick my fingers it can create a powerful windstorm," Deku said.
"Perfect. That will throw them off balance. Ochako, I need you to remove the gravity from the door and use it as a shield so we can close the distance to them. Ashido you, myself, and Ochako will focus on taking down the mercenaries. Izuku, you and Asui need to deal with whatever Genesis has become." Skitter ordered. I clenched my jaw, not liking a villain calling me by my first name, but not willing to say anything about it.
"Hey, don't call me Ashido," Mina said, her swollen lip exaggerating her pout.
"Ah," Skitter paused. "My apologies, we never did get your hero names did we? What should I call you?"
"Oh, umm," Mina said, pausing and thinking furiously.
"Froppy," Asui said.
"Umm, call me Uravity," I said, quickly.
"Um um um, Alien Queen!" Mina said. Skitter nodded and looked over at Deku.
"Ummm, I don't know, I didn't really think of a hero name yet," he said, looking down and fidgeting.
"In that case, I'll call you Green. Still, does anyone have a problem with my plan?" Skitter asked. We shook our heads and with that we moved on. We reached the door that Skitter said lead to Coil's lair, and Mina began melting it off of its hinges.
"Okay, okay," Deku said, closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths. "Now! SMASH!" he yelled, springing into the door way as the door feel with a loud clang. He flicked his fingers and a mighty windstorm filled the room. I quickly tapped the fallen door as I heard men yelling in panic. We charged into the room, Skitter's swarm leading the way. Almost immediately they were sucked upwards by hundreds of tongues that shot out in a pink blur, dragging hundreds of bugs up per tongue per second. There were seven people in front of us, six mercenaries and a man in a skin tight bodysuit who must have been Coil. I looked up as we charged them, and saw what looked like an anteater crossed with Cuthulu. It had a giant mouth, from which its tongues emerged, and a giant brown body with shaggy fur. It clung to the roof with six massive claws that dug into the metal and held it in place.
"Ribbit, get off me, ribbit!" Asui croaked in distress. I wanted to help her, but I had no time. I was already coming up to my first guard who had almost gotten to his feet. I swung my door at him, and he caught it with one hand.
"Release!" I restored the gravity of the door, and it immediately slammed down on the man's foot. I shoved him, knocking him over, and reactivated my power on the door. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a mercenary raising his gun to aim at me. I tried to bring my door around to shield me, but I knew I was going to be too slow. Before the man could fire, a glob of acid landed on the gun, melting it in his hands.
"I've got ya girl!" Mina shouted, skating by on a trail of acidic slime. She threw some more globs at other mercenaries and one of them managed to get a quick shot off, a purple laser flashing out, and burning Mina across her shoulder. "Ahh," she cried, in pain, quickly spraying injury with some more slime. I threw my door at the man, releasing it at the last second and crushing him underneath it. The mercenary at my feet grabbed my legs and pulled me down. I activated my power on him and tried to kick him away, but he grabbed onto me and pulled himself until he was fully on top of me. He tried to headbutt me, but his bug net softened the blow.
"Get off, get off, get off, get off!" I screamed, flailing wildly. I huffed as he slammed his fist in my gut. I went limp in shock, and the mercenary got his hands around my throat. I tried to pull his hands off, but he was just too strong. There was a loud band, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Skitter collapse to the ground. My ears were ringing, but I saw Mina fall beside me, her eyes glossy. Tilting my head up, I could see Deku and Asui tangled up in Genesis' tongues. My strength was fading fast, and my vision was going blurry.
"SMASH!" Deku yelled. There was a blast of air, as a brown blurry object shot over head.
"Get off of her!" Asui yelled, roundhouse kicking the man on top of me. I gasped for air as he lost his grip and went flying across the room. Skitter suddenly rose to her feet, her knife flashing as she slashed the last mercenary standing. He collapsed and suddenly there was only Coil left.
"R-release," I said, weakly, sitting up with Asui's help. I glanced over at Deku whose entire hand looked red and swollen. Mina was still lying on the ground, but she was groaning, so I knew she was alive at least. Skitter was holding her bloody knife, while Coil had his handgun pointed at her.
"Surrender," Skitter said, coldly. Your guards are down, you've got no help coming, and we've got you surrounded. Whatever your power is, you are no match for five parahumans." Coil stood perfectly still, barely even breathing, his gun pointed steadily at Skitter. We didn't dare move, afraid that breaking the stalemate would cause things to end badly.
"...And give you the satisfaction of a clean and tidy ending? No, no, I don't think so," he said, suddenly. His gun barked twice as he shot Skitter once more, who grapsed her chest and staggered backwards. Coil dove for his fallen desk, but Mina sprayed acid over it, making it impossible to touch. "Damn you," he snarled. He looked wildly between us, as Skitter got back to her feet. "I won't let you take me," he yelled, pointing the gun at his own head and pulling the trigger.
Author's Notes: So Uraraka does some fighting and gets her butt mostly whooped! Even with her power almost giving her an autowin if she can just touch them, being a relatively untrained high schooler means an adult mercenary is going to give her a hard time.
Deku on the other hand is way above human strength even without using his Quirk. Well, way above is an exagerration, but a lot of that trash he cleaned was too big for a single person to move and he did it anyways. So he is much better off. While Froppy and Mina are just better equipped to fight in general. Particularly for Mina in the first fight since once she melted holes in their suits, Skitter would just eliminate them.
If you are curious how Deku vs Genesis went down it was basically this: Deku and Froppy are entangled by the tongues. Deku sees things start to go bad. He uses his power to yank Genesis down, and then grabbing onto her, throws her full force at another mercenary. If Genesis didn't start to fade away, he would've done more damage and might've actually killed someone.
