Chapter 87: FIGHT!
Nezu stared into the data reader, lines of information streaming across it. Power Loader sat nearby, doing the same thing with his own data.
"He hasn't warped in a bit," said Nezu. The data coming in from the device they had attached to Doko Katayama's costume had reduced from a stream to a trickle.
Power Loader grunted. Behind them, a radio was running the news. The battle was worsening. "...it seems a massive dust cloud of some kind forming over Iwate…unknown if everyone is fully evacuated…"
"I should be out there," Power Loader muttered.
"But this could be even worse," said Nezu, not breaking his gaze from the code, his analytical brain taking it all in almost immediately. "We have no idea what we're dealing with on this si-"
Both of them gasped at the same time. There was a massive spike in the data.
All the lights in the lab flickered.
Power Loader gulped and looked up at the principal, a bead of sweat running down his neck. "What just happened?"
Nezu's fur had stood up on end. "Something's here," he whispered, in a hushed rushed voice. "Not here in the school, but…here. On Earth. Something's just…arrived."
More dramatic spikes on the data, and then a horrific drop.
"Did the boy just die?" Power Loader spilled.
"No," Nezu said authoritatively. "Death would not look like that. He's…he's…"
The lab doors flew open so hard they nearly came off the hinges. Power Loader spun angrily. "Hatsume, we are having a private meeting in he-"
It was All Might, bent over and out of breath. "Principal!" he gasped, looking more panicked than Nezu had ever seen him. "It's…it's…"
"Toshinori!" Nezu leapt down from his stool. "Deep breaths! We must act decisively!"
"It's SHINSO! He…we were watching the news and I got so caught up in it that…he's gone. He took my…he took my car. He's going to fight."
"Fantastic," said Power Loader, dryly. "What do we do?"
"You'll have to take one of the school cars to get after him," said Nezu, pacing toward the exit of the lab. "And we need to accelerate the defensive operation. Power Loader, give the robots the protocol. The time is now."
"Huh? But the battle is so far away…"
"It can move to wherever it wants immediately. There is a new enemy upon the board." Nezu's brain undulated, and when he looked down at his paws, he saw that they shook.
All Might fell to his knees. "I am a failure."
Power Loader gaped at him. "Yagi, what are you talking about? We still have time to…"
"It wasn't just Shinso," All Might breathed.
…
Hitoshi changed lanes, sweat pouring down his face as he looked frantically into the rearview mirror. Driving, it can't be that hard, he thought, and almost laughed bitterly to himself. I'm gonna die before I even get a chance to help!
It was still another half hour to the path of Gigantomachia, which the helicopters on the news were tracking. The giant villain was being predicted to rampage his way through an area populated by over thirty million people. But does he talk, though? That's the question. The only question I need.
Hitoshi wasn't dumb, even if he had been left out of this operation entirely. The heroes had mounted an attack on the villain's base and that monster had gotten past them. All physical Quirks must have failed.
So it is only me, then. Well, that makes things simple. He changed lanes again, a bit too closely, and got honked at. "Sorry," he muttered, his heart racing a mile a minute.
"You're supposed to use a turn signal," a small voice put in from the backseat.
Hitoshi shrieked and nearly jumped out of his seat. Miraculously, he kept control of the steering wheel, though his foot did slam down on the gas and jolt the car forward in a rush, nearly rear-ending the person in front of them.
The purple-haired boy wheeled about to look into the backseat. Sitting there was Eri, cross-legged, looking almost casual.
"What the he…on EARTH are you doing here?!" Hitoshi hissed.
"I'm going to help," she responded, tapping her horn, which had grown in size again. "Mr. Aizawa and Mr. Yagi have been training me for this."
"That is insane. You're like, seven years old. You can't be here."
"Neither can you," she shot back. "You can't even drive."
"When did you get such an attitude? This is a horrible idea. I'm going to turn around. I'm…"
"If you do, and we meet Mr. Yagi and Nezu-san, I'm going to tell them you forced me to come," Eri said, her voice dripping with innocent manipulation. "That'll ruin everything you want, right?"
"I'm being blackmailed by a toddler."
"Besides," she said, and her voice took on a strange, frighteningly adult quality. "You can't turn around even if you want to. You must go forward, right? You feel like you're the only one that can do anything. That was why you slipped away and stole Mr. Yagi's car in the first place."
Hitoshi kept his eyes on the road, but his mouth twitched. A pause.
"That's right," he said, finally.
"It's the same with me," said Eri. "You don't think I can take care of myself. You're probably right. But I MUST take care of others. Like Everywhere-san. We were granted these powers, and so if we don't use them for good, then…" she lifted her hands. "What's the point at all?"
Excellent work, Katayama, you fucking idiot. You radicalized a little girl with your bullshit. But she was right, wasn't she? At least about Hitoshi himself. He was thinking the same thing, feeling the same thing.
"When we get there," Hitoshi said, "You are staying in the car. You will not get out until I tell you it is safe to do so, and when you do, you will stay with me the entire time. Do you understand?"
Eri nodded. "I understand." Her voice sounded so serious; it broke his heart. He had no intention of actually letting her out when they got there.
In the passenger seat, his vocal chord mask rolled around. It seemed to grin up at him, almost taunting him.
Twenty-five minutes to go. Hang in there, guys, Hitoshi prayed. Just a little longer!
…
Midnight closed her eyes and prepared to die.
"She's mine!" the goon growled, lifting his weapon. The other behind him had some kind of blades coming out of his mouth, and there was another with sparks dancing from his fingers…and she was out of energy.
There was a time when I could have escaped this with ease, she thought dimly, leaning against that tree in the middle of the hell they'd created, surrounded by smoke and fire and death, blood leaking from her forehead.
But that time has passed.
Huh. That was curious. Her life really did seem to flash before her eyes. She'd always assumed that was just a joke.
One moment in particular jolted out at her, seemingly randomly. A green-haired girl falling into her arms in a forest like this one, after a fight like this one…
You did so well, dear. You did good, Midnight told her, as Shiozaki collapsed, unconscious…
I was able to save those two, at least.
Vines swept through the clearing, whipping against the goons and wrapping them all up, lifting them into the air.
"Huh?"
"WHAT THE FUCK?"
"You…"
They kicked and struggled, their weapons falling uselessly to the ground. Midnight's eyes widened a crack. "What…?" she croaked.
Ibara Shiozaki stood on the edge of the clearing. "You stay away from her," she snarled, and slammed her vines into the ground. The villains all expelled air, the wind getting knocked out of them. Then she slammed them repeatedly a few more times, violently, and whipped them all sideways, crashing them into a tree.
But more were coming. Ibara pulled her vines back to herself and then backwards, digging them into the ground and pushing herself forward, stretching them and using them like a catapult. She reached Midnight and lifted her up with her hair, forming a bed of vines like a cradle under her fallen teacher.
"Stay with me, sensei. You aren't dying today. Not on…"
"OUR WATCH!" finished Sero, diving forward as more villains arrived. He elbowed one in the face, ducked, shot out tape low around another's ankles, yanked him off his feet. He spun and shot tape onto a tree branch, swinging up and flipping. He did a split kick in midair, his boots hitting the heads of two others at the same time, and then launched off of them, shooting out more tape toward the last guy. He retracted the tape, pulling their two bodies together, and then clotheslined the villain as they collided, choke-slamming him into the ground. It was over in less than ten seconds.
"Sero…" Midnight husked.
"Don't talk." He rushed over to her side, both of the students looking over her, attending to her.
"We've got to get her downhill," said Ibara.
"I know."
"Kids…did you take out Gigantomachia…"
"They got some drug into his mouth. I don't know if it's worked yet," Sero reported.
"They meaning Kirishima and Yaoyorozu," Ibara put in.
"Those two…of course…their determination is unmatched…" Midnight coughed up some blood.
"Sensei!" Ibara cupped her face concernedly. "Let's move now!"
They used her vines like a stretcher, carrying her down the hill. More goons were heard in the vicinity, but they were distant and few.
"You two didn't have to come for me," Midnight said.
"Hush with that," Sero responded. "What were you thinking, trying to die on us? I'd have hoped you'd gotten a little better at not giving up since I beat you so easily at final exams."
She laughed weakly at that. "Ibara, don't…cough! Don't ever let this clown get away from you."
"I don't plan on it."
…
Tomura had never felt so alive.
"HELL CURTAIN!" Endeavor roared, enveloping him with fire. The fire hurt, but it was like his nerves were singing. They healed instantly, his body going through the life and death cycle over and over again. His mind and heart soared. He felt like he could do anything, and even better, he actually could.
Tomura leapt high out of the plume of flame, getting out of Endeavor's sightline. He reached out a hand. "Your reign was short-lived, Number One!" he cackled.
Endeavor blasted sideways. The two of them chased each other at impossibly high speed, dust and fire billowing out around them, the massive clearing of ruined city forming their arena.
"DAMMIT!" the flame hero roared. "How are you surviving this much firepower?! JET BURN!"
Another massive blast. Shigaraki moved himself sideways like a ragdoll in midair with air blasts. So many Quirks at my disposal now. How do I know what ones to use, Master? I can't just fall back on a few. I must use my entire arsenal!
From All For One, there was no response.
"He can regenerate instantly!" Endeavor was shouting into his comm. "I need backup, NOW!" He dived in for another attack.
Tomura lifted his hand. "Show me…One for All…!" The power is telling me to take it. But…it feels incomplete somehow! Like the desire isn't at full strength…
Master? Did you die? How? How did that happen?
There was something he was forgetting. Something he was yet unaware of, but he just didn't know what. And it nagged at him.
If I get One for All, I'll be unstoppable. That's all I need. Whatever it is, if I have OFA…nothing can stand in my way.
Endeavor faltered in his attack. "What the hell is One for-"
"Time to break your communication," Tomura crackled, using his Radio Waves Quirk.
Endeavor winced and fell back, bolts of electricity shooting out of his earpiece. He clutched his ear and hissed, throwing the useless device aside. In that moment, Tomura dashed forward to end it…
…And Ryukyu slammed directly into him from the left, pushing him sideways through the air.
"THERE'S MORE OF US STILL IN IT YET!" the dragon heroine roared, her massive wing nearly enveloping Tomura.
Tomura used air blasts to slow them down. Ryukyu pushed back, and the two forces stilled, colliding in midair, a stalemate. Endeavor rocketed around wide to break it. Tomura reached out to decay the dragon wing away.
And nothing happened.
"Huh…?" he flipped over in midair, looking backwards.
Shota Aizawa stood tall across the battlefield, his hair flared up. Two more heroes were supporting him from either side, holding him in place, keeping his eyes open.
"This is it, Shigaraki!"
Tomura chuckled. "You really are pretty cool...Eraser Head."
…
Tsuyu Asui was in the midst of yelling at Uraraka through the comms to back off and run, when the radio wave hit.
"Uravity-chan?" she squeaked. "Ochaco, ribbit…are you there?"
Nothing. Just a weird shocking feeling against her ear. Tsu took the earpiece off and looked at it. Something had fried it.
She looked around wildly, then at the sky. "URAVITY!" she screamed. Nothing.
The streets were nearly empty. It was just a matter of getting her and her friends out now. But where were they? Was the dust wave still coming? Tsu felt a feeling she rarely felt - indecision. She had no idea what to do next.
"Help!" a voice called, faintly.
Tsuyu hopped in that direction immediately, grateful for a straightforward goal she could accomplish right now. She swore she heard the sound of distant explosions and rumbling, and didn't want to think about it.
She turned the corner of a street, and saw a girl there. She was normal-looking, maybe a bit younger than Tsuyu, with dark hair. And she was dragging two adults behind her. Her parents…?
"The wave of…destruction…" the girl choked out, pleading at Tsuyu with her eyes. "It hit our house…help me with them, please…"
Tsuyu rushed over, wrapping her tongue around the man, the heaviest one. He blinked groggily. She then helped the girl carry the mom, putting one arm over her shoulder. "You're going to be okay, ribbit," she promised. "Let's get to the evac zone."
"Are you…" the girl whispered. "Are you a student?"
"Yes." The man was extremely heavy. Tsuyu felt her tongue strain under his weight and forced herself to ignore it. To keep going down the street.
"Do you know my brother?"
Tsuyu gave the girl another look, and a shiver went up her spine. She remembered her conversation with Dokkun on the landing.
"You're Akane," she muttered.
The girl's eyes widened. "Ah! Uhh...yeah."
Tsuyu blinked, and looked back at the two adults she was carrying. Doko's abusers. Her skin crawled, and for a moment she wanted to reflexively let go of them.
No! She screamed at herself. Doko's not here, but he would want me to save his sister! And she wants to keep them alive, so…I must do so!
"That means you're…ah! Quirkless. Ribbit." Tsuyu was finding it harder to speak under the strain of weight and walking.
"Yes. I'm sorry I can't be of more help to you."
"That's…okay. My partners…I can't get into contact with them. I think all radio was…knocked out in the area."
"That's not good," said Akane darkly. "How far is it to the evac zone?"
"Several…blocks. We're just gonna have to…keep going. Ribbit."
Akane raised a concerned eyebrow. "His weight is too much for you, isn't it? And Doko would have told you all about…"
The father groaned. He stirred, and blinked up at the frog girl that was carrying him. "What the hell is this?" he slurred. "Take me back to my house."
"Our house is gone, Dad," Akane told him. "Destroyed."
"Those damn heroes…those damn Quirked…they've ruined everything…" he blinked sleepily. "Is this your tongue? Let go of me, you mutant…scum…disgusting…"
"FATHER!" Akane screamed hoarsely. "Oh my God, I'm so, so sorry about him."
"It doesn't matter," Tsuyu said, setting her jaw. Tears were threatening to rise in her eyes. All the old insecurities threatening to resurface. My friends abandoned me to go off into danger again. I'm being attacked by the very people I want to protect again. But…
The rumbling in the distance was growing louder. And louder. Closing in on them. They were not making fast enough progress, dragging and carrying through the street like this.
Akane and Tsuyu turned to look down the street from the direction they'd come.
Another smoke cloud was billowing in the distance, like an approaching storm. Even from here, Tsuyu could see bits of debris flying all over the place from a central point, as if being rammed…driven aside.
A distant silhouette slowly resolved itself out of the gloom, moving fast. A giant, hulking creature. Each footstep it took shook the Earth.
"Holy shit," Akane muttered. "Holy SHI-"
"Don't panic!" Tsuyu said sharply, and looked back forward. "Sir, I'm sorry if me carrying you disgusts you. Actually, I'm not sorry, but that's just courtesy. I plan on keeping you alive. Not just because it's the job I signed up for when I applied for that high school. But because I care about your well-being. Yes, even yours."
The man groaned again, and Gigantomachia rumbled closer.
"You're going to survive, all of you," Tsuyu said. "I mean to make it happen. You're going to survive long enough to change your mind about everything you've ever believed about people like me."
And she pulled the mom higher up on her shoulder, and picked up the pace.
…
Shota Aizawa stared in horror at the destruction that had been wrought.
I erased his Decay…but even with that, he still has this natural strength?
Tomura Shigaraki was standing over a defeated Endeavor and Ryukyu, standing on top of them, his fist raised into the air. His other arm had been burned away, but even from here Shota could see it growing back, like a timelapse of a flower.
"One…for All…" he croaked, seeming almost dazed.
He's like a perfected Nomu. The doctors have performed another horror, but this one is even worse than Shirakumo. This is…this is the end of the world.
Tears were rising in Shota's eyes, but he could not close them. Manual and Rock Lock were keeping them open. But what good was it even doing? If he didn't even need decay, then?
"We can't give up!" Gran Torino shouted. He was standing before the Eraser trio, guarding them. But now he was the only one capable of moving against Shigaraki.
He did so now, the old man dashing forward with his Quirk. Shota felt his heart break. How is it you're still out here fighting, Gran Torino? We should have made it so you could retire a long time ago.
"You're all such a hindrance," Shigaraki snarled. He zoomed past Torino with ease, coming straight for Shota.
Aizawa wasn't even necessarily surprised. One natural punch from this lab-grown mongrel will kill me. He kept his eyes open, but in his mind he closed them, preparing for death.
And a flash of green light leapt over the top of his head.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY TEACHER!" Izuku Midoriya roared, and slammed into Shigaraki with the force of a colliding asteroid.
The shockwave that swept up was so powerful that it would have knocked Shota across the Pacific…if not for Rock Lock's Quirk, holding them in place at that spot on the ground.
Shigaraki and Deku locked together in midair. The former had an expression of glee. "There you are," he hooted.
Deku just snarled back.
Then…Bakugo was there, winding his way in and around with explosions, backhanding one up against Shigaraki's legs. "DIE!" he shouted.
Tomura slid backward through the air, now on the ropes. Deku shot out a black whip and yanked him back. Bakugo sent another explosion. They pinballed him between the two of them for a moment, landing several hard blows, but Tomura right himself in midair and dodged out of the way fairly quickly, readjusting.
Bakugo and Deku landed behind Gran Torino.
"You two should be far, far away," the old man growled.
"Yeah right!" Bakugo scoffed. "As if you can handle this on your own."
"Aizawa-sensei's the only one preventing this from getting even worse right now!" Deku declared, raising his fists. "Our number one priority should be protecting our teacher!"
Gran Torino looked back at him. "But what about…"
"I've been waiting for this day, Izuku Midoriya," Tomura interrupted. He was standing across the battlefield now, smoke billowing around him, fully regenerated. "The doctors nearly completed me. But I need just one more thing. You."
Shota's heart skipped a beat. What the hell is he talking about?
"You can't have me!" Deku promised. "Or anyone else! We're gonna put you right back to sleep!"
"That's fuckin' on!" Bakugo agreed, firing an explosion into the air. "I've got unfinished business with you, freak!"
Tomura just grinned. "What is it you always call people you don't think are relevant, Katsuki Bakugo? ...Extras? Yeah. Well, let's just say you're an extra to me right now."
Bakugo let out a scream of rage. The two boys dashed into battle. Gran Torino let out a resigned sigh and followed them. "DON'T LET UP, ERASER!" he called behind himself.
…
"We lost connection with Froppy!" Ochaco shouted to Nejire, as the two of them hopped rooftops.
Nejire seemed distracted. Her eyes were focused off to their left, where the dust cloud had stopped. Whatever battle was happening was over there, but…
"...There's something else coming from behind us," Ochaco said. "Another cloud. From the other end of the city!"
Nejire's blue hair whirled as she looked back. She bit her lip. "I don't know what that is!" she said. "But I know I have to help Izuku!"
Ochaco felt some last vestige inside her heart snap and break in two. "Go, then," she said, almost emptily. "He's fighting over there, right? He'll be fighting Shigaraki."
Nejire gave her a strange glance. "How do you know that? All the other students should be back at the evac zone."
"I just know it. Deku probably broke away from them. Bakugo probably went with him." As for the others…Iida. Mina. Todoroki. Even Koda, you too. I'm…I'm really sorry.
"Uravity…" Nejire said softly. "Come with me. You said yourself that you have unfinished business with Shigaraki."
Ochaco turned again to look at the approaching thing, the one that was still moving. Still several miles away, but getting closer and closer.
"More people are going to die," she said, adjusting her helmet. "I'm going down there. Goodbye, Hado-senpai."
A bittersweet feeling passed between the two girls. And then they separated.
…
I have to get up, thought Enji Todoroki.
Another explosion from Bakugo crackled in the air, blurry through his half-closed eyes. Deku streaked around, green lightning wreathed about him. They seemed to move around Shigaraki like beams of light, the three of them dancing, outmaneuvering each other, whiffing blows like misfires of nukes into the sky.
Where's…Shoto? Did he not come with them?
Ryukyu was stirring. Her wing moved. If she gets up, I must do so as well. But everything hurt. He'd almost used everything up. And Shigaraki came on, inexorable. He had the power of All For One. How can you stand against that?
But All Might did. He beat All For One, when he was number one, when he was the nation's symbol. I must be as good, right? As the new symbol? I have to hold up to…the same standard…
Endeavor struggled upward. The battle had moved to the ground. Shigaraki had shimmied past Bakugo and Deku's latest attack, and was now meeting Gran Torino in the middle of the battlefield.
There's this sense of something…large. Going on around me that I know nothing about. Something with Deku and legacy and all this…but I don't care. All I care about is…atoning. Protecting this country. Protecting my family. It's not a question of whether or not I can. It's not a question at all!
He lit his fire behind himself, forcing his body upward.
Gran Torino reached out for a kick to Shigaraki's head. "Stop trampling over Nana Shimura's memory!" he let out gruffly.
Tomura just gripped his foot. Blood splattered. "Who…?" the villain asked emptily, and slammed Torino into the ground. More blood. An eruption of it.
An awful, unholy shriek escaped Deku's mouth. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he roared, and all of Endeavor's skin crawled with gooseflesh.
Moving at impossible speed, Deku flew forward. Shigaraki flew back away from him, and…
Ryukyu pushed him into her wing. She'd gotten up and moved back into battle.
Endeavor closed his fists. Deku's blackwhips flared out like a thousand eels, constricting Shigaraki, holding him in place from one side while Ryukyu pinned him from the back. "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" Deku promised, screaming. "NEVER!"
"DEKU! RYUKYU! MAINTAIN THAT...EXACT POSITION!" All of Endeavor's neurons fired. He drew back his fist, launching himself forward. One more Flashfire! Gotta squeeze it out! One more…to finally end this!
Something small and red tumbled out of Shigaraki's hand. Endeavor faltered for a split second.
The villain grinned, even as Deku grabbed the top of his head with whips, and yanked his jaw clean off, blood and bone and green lightning flying everywhere. The Quirk-erasing bullet fired. He used telekinesis of some kind! It's going toward…it's going toward…
Toward Eraser Head.
Bakugo had gone to recover Torino's body out of the battlefield and put it far away. He was rushing back now, screaming and shouting, but he wasn't close enough to stop the bullet. No one was.
Then a wave of something shining and gooey slashed downward through the air, and the bullet dissolved into nothing, less than five feet from Aizawa.
…
The white hot rage dimmed inside Izuku, replaced by confusion and shock. He was so surprised to see the person he was seeing that Shigaraki actually swatted him away.
"ASHIDO-SAN?"
"What the hell are you doing here?" Bakugo roared.
"You think you two are the only ones who can go off on your own?" Mina demanded, a twinkle in her eye.
"Ashido, no…get away…" Aizawa begged. "I can't lose more of my students on my account…"
"You're not losing nothing," she promised.
"Your grammar never did get very good…"
Shigaraki had repelled further attacks from Endeavor and Ryukyu, and now his jaw was regenerating. "You," he growled at the pink-skinned newcomer. "From Hosu. The rooftop."
"I should have ended you when I had the chance," Mina said. "Then…all this wouldn't have happened." She raised her fists, standing between him and Aizawa.
Tomura grinned. "Yeah, you should have. We were evenly matched then. You three hero brats against me and my Kurogiri. Now…I fear you're a bit below my power level."
"Is that so?" Mina crouched into a battle stance. "You may be the king of villains now, but I've always been the Queen. Try me."
He did.
Izuku and Bakugo both moved to intercept him, both absolutely confident that he would immediately kill Mina if he reached her. But he went right between them, fast as a bullet.
Mina stood steady right where she was.
And then…she blasted acid from every pore in her body, forming her armor, her Acid Queen. A goopy alien creature with her at its center.
Shigaraki hit it, and suddenly skated backward, hissing. His skin smoked and crackled, regenerating but badly damaged.
"Fuck…" Bakugo swore.
"What the hell?" Rock Lock exclaimed.
Endeavor and Ryukyu both used the opening and went back in on the offensive, pushing Shigaraki further away.
Izuku's eyes widened at his female classmate. In that moment, Mina had completely negated Shigaraki's attack. Something not a single one of them had managed to do since the battle started.
Shigaraki looped back around. "It'll hurt, but I'll penetrate that, you little brat," he promised at a hiss, Endeavor and Ryukyu hot on his trail.
The pink-skinned girl stood tall inside her dripping shield, a terrifyingly sad smile on her face. "Finally," she said, in the most mature voice Izuku had ever heard her use. "An opponent I can melt."
And she shot more acid at him.
…
The giant was nearly upon them.
Each rumble shook the ground hard enough to make them lose their footing for a moment. They were now running, stumbling, and dragging their way through the street. The mother had regained consciousness, and she was now helping Tsuyu and Akane carry the father. But Gigantomachia was too fast. He was less than a kilometer away now, and closing.
"We're gonna die," Akane kept repeating. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, we're gonna…"
"Shut up!" her mother told her. "If you keep repeating that, you'll make it true."
Tsuyu hated to agree, but… "We have to make it, ribbit. Make it to this corner!"
A street turn ahead. If they could just get some sideways space away from his path, perhaps he'd ignore them. Maybe. It was a big if.
Fifteen yards. Ten. Five. They were going to make it. They were…
A gunshot crackled in the air.
Tsuyu and the Katayama family turned and looked up at the roof above them. A woman was crouching there. She had multicolored hair, and a sniper rifle emerging from her elbow. She fired again, right at the giant's face.
"What is she thinking? That's not going to do anything," Akane commented.
"You down there!"
Tsuyu looked straight up. There was a flash of something purple, something very familiar. And then there was a bearded man plummeting toward them.
He almost fell on top of them, but he bounced off some kind of air-barrier and righted himself. "You, heroine!" he pointed at Tsuyu. "I shall assist you in getting these folk to safety, but we need to come back here as soon as possible!"
"You're…you're Gentle Criminal, ribbit! Why should I trust you!" Tsuyu's mind spun.
"I agree, it's crazy," said another voice, a much hoarser one.
Another flash of purple on the ground, and Tsuyu recognized this one for what it was. One of Kurogiri's portals. Kurogiri, from the League, from the USJ.
The person who stepped out of it was Stain, the Hero Killer.
"Oh, my God," Mrs. Katayama said, and fainted into her daughter's arms.
"Damn!" Gentle commented. "Alright, young girl. Help me with your parents."
Akane slowly started to obey, glancing at Tsu in confusion. "No!" Tsu urged her. "STAIN! Why are you here! How did you all break out of…"
"We didn't break out!" the woman on the rooftop called down. "We were released. And now we're fighting for you."
"You really expect me to believe that, ribbit?"
"Trust is hard to come by these days." Stain planted himself in the middle of the street, his sword out. Gigantomachia came closer and closer, unperturbed by the sniper bullets. "However…if you must know, this is a matter of catastrophe. The end of the world. There are worse things coming than us, UA student."
"Yeah!" the woman on the rooftop put in. "But first we need to stop that thing!" she pointed at the oncoming giant.
"Froppy-san!" Akane cried. "Let's just…let's just do this! We don't have another choice!"
Tsuyu sighed. "...Alright." She let Gentle Criminal take the unconscious parents. "The evac zone is three blocks to the south!" she told him. "Get them there and come straight back, if you mean what you say about fighting for good, ribbit."
"I do mean it, dear girl." There was a twinkle in his eye. "The portal spread us apart, it seems…but I am in league with two of your classmates. One former, one current. They will have landed nearby. Be on the lookout for them."
"Two of my…huh?" But everyone was on this mission already. Tsuyu watched him bounce away with the Katayama family in tow, using air membranes. "To the evac zone we go!"
Akane followed him, on his exact path. Tsuyu watched them leave, and as they went Gentle said to the Quirkless girl, "Oh? You're quite good at jumping on my barriers."
"I'm a volleyball star! I was made for this!"
They turned a corner toward the evac zone, gone. Tsu looked back at her new companions, the Hero Killer himself and some woman with a sniper rifle, who had hopped down from the roof.
"What's your name?" the woman asked. "Frog girl."
"Tsuyu Asui."
"That's cute." The conversation was oddly casual, as the giant grew closer and closer. "My own name is Tsutsumi, which sounds kinda similar. But everyone calls me Lady Nagant."
"Well, Lady Nagant. Stain. What exactly…is our plan?"
Stain pointed at Gigantomachia with his sword. "First, we back off and make some space for ourselves," he said. "But ultimately…this is a nigh-unstoppable creature. But he is not in league with the other nigh-unstoppable creatures we must face. We need to figure out how to get them to fight each other!"
Lady Nagant raised an incredulous eyebrow. "And how are we supposed to do that?"
Stain's eye twitched. "Still working on that one. Now we run!"
And the three of them took off.
…
One street over, Ochaco was looking up at Gigantomachia as he knocked an entire building aside. An hour ago, that would have killed a thousand people.
But she'd gotten everyone out. She and the others. Hopefully, right? But if there were any stragglers…if there was anyone left…
Ochaco ducked into a wide alleyway that was nearly a street. The whole world rumbled around her. She knew it was dangerous to be in a tighter space, but she could see more houses at the other end that might still be occupied.
A portal opened in the wall next to her.
Ochaco was so shocked by this, she fell backward against the opposite wall of the alley. A swirling purple portal, one of Kurogiri's. She knew how it looked all too well, from Hosu. But how…?
Denki Kaminari stepped out of it.
Ochaco didn't hesitate. She dashed forward and grabbed him by the arm, yanking him toward the ground. Kaminari let out a yelp. "ARGH! Uraraka, what the hell-"
She pummeled him. Punched him again. And again. He cried out, let out a small shock that pushed her back, and kicked himself out from under her, scrambling backward, his eyes wide. "Uraraka, listen to m-"
She swung another punch, which he ducked. "LISTEN!" he demanded.
She punched and kicked and grappled him down the alley. He dodged most of it. His speed's improved, but I won't let him inject this day with more chaos. Whatever assignment the villains have him on, I'll stop it right here!
She got five fingers on him, floated him, and then grabbed him by the leg, throwing him against the wall. Kaminari choked out a single word.
"Help…"
And Ochaco suddenly saw purple on the edges of her vision. A small blast of energy erupted against her side, forcing her backward…and reality seemed to turn inside out.
She skidded her boots against the ground, someone having pushed her away from finishing Kaminari, and planting themselves between them.
"You…!" Ochaco blew her bangs out of her face and looked at them.
Doko Katayama smiled sadly. "You never could beat me, Uraraka-san."
"Ka…Katayama! Wha…" Ochaco's fists dropped. Not another betrayal! No! Instead of rage, her heart seemed to wither and fall apart. I couldn't possibly take it.
"Uraraka, it's not like that." Katayama had read her face. "Kaminari is helping me."
"As am I," a voice whispered from the wall, and then Kurogiri emerged from their own portal, yellow eyes flickering.
Uraraka's eyes flittered nervously about like a cornered wild animal. She was half a heartbeat away from trying to take out all three of them. But I would never be able to fight Katayama and Kurogiri's Quirks at once.
Kurogiri's voice sounded different, though. Like…like more than one person.
And that detail was enough to make Uraraka warily give Katayama a glance. "Explain," she demanded.
Doko opened his mouth and began to tell her about the end of the world.