"If the rest are small fries like these guys, are class will be fine." Bakugou said to Kirishima tossing the knocked out villain to the side like a crumbled up piece of paper.
The building they were in was crumbling at the seams, but by god's will was still standing after the explosive attacks Bakugou had thrashed around. The fight with the villians wasn't challenging in a combat sense but in an overwhelming sense. Wave after wave of vicious and violent criminals came at them tiring out the teens so they would be to fatigued to go on. Instead, Bakugou and Kirishima pulled through with sweat and pride.
It truly was amazing that the unconscious bodies laying before them actually wanted to kill the two. Stab, shoot, choke, whatever it took to make the heroes stop breathing. To think that these adults seemingly ranging in all sorts of ages were fine with ending teenage lives for some personal gain. The mental state of the criminals were deplorable, perfect for this type of mission.
"So if were not going to help our classmates, what is the new plan." Kirishima curiously asked the blonde.
"I'm planning on beating the shit out of that mist guy." Bakugou simply said walking off.
"What makes you think it will be different this time." Kirishima retorted. Admittedly, it was a manly move to go back and fight someone who bested you, but was this the right way to go about it? These were real villains who had a major goal in mind, to kill The Symbol of Peace once in for all. They didn't see a problem with adding teenagers to their body count.
"We know his quirk now. Blasting him to smithereens will be a lot easier this time." Bakugou said.
The red head smiled, "Wow I never expected this out of you."
"What?" Bakugou asked turning and facing his classmate.
"Usually your not so calm and rational like this. Most of the time your usually like DIE DIE DIE!" Kirishima said.
"I'M ALWAYS CALM AND RATIONAL YOU RED HAIRED LOSER!" Bakugou screamed.
"There it is. That's the Bakugou we all kn-" He stopped mid-sentence.
A rumble was felt through the building making the two feel unbalanced until it ceased.
"What was that?" Kirishima wondered.
"Trouble." the explosive boy said. "Let's head to the plaza."
(X)
Midoriya, without a strategy or plan, launched his body at the nomu who was smashing Rex's head in. It didn't feel like Midoriya was in control, but his body thinking before his mind did again. An instinct like swatting at a mosquito biting your arm or stepping around a puddle on the sidewalk. All he knew was that standing by while someone needed saving was not virtuous. He was needed in the fray even if Mr. Aizawa, his classmates, or the armored guys didn't approve.
The young boy made contact sending a shockwave of sound and kinetic energy throughout the building. Nearby plants and rock flew up in the air and glided like birds in all directions. The impact caused dust to fly in the face of Midoriya making him feel like he was punching a sandstorm. All he hoped was that Rex was okay.
The waves of energy made it to the lights surrounding the interior making many rumble, shake, and some shatter. The students and villians brawling in the biomes took a break from the action wondering what could have happened. When the shaking stopped, everyone continued fighting their enemies.
After the punch, Midoriya half expected his arm to be mangled like the times before. Looking down, he was shocked to find it still intact. Maybe he finally figured out how to use One For All.
The happiness would only last seconds as something more frightening emerged. When the dust settled, the nomu appeared having stood its ground against the boy's quirk. As a bonus, the beast still had a hold on Rex, squeezing his midsection with intense force. Blood slowly started dripping in streams out of the armor plating as the nomu's claws dug into the captain.
A mist appeared floating next to Tomura. The hand man paid no mind to him as his attention was drawn towards the kid with the super punch quirk.
"You got guts kid, to bad my friend is going to have to rip 'em out of you." Tomura said. "Nomu. Kill him and the idiot your holding."
The creature heard this order and flinged Rex down on the plaza ground. His body twitched and a pool of blood flowed from his wounds surrounded him. He wasn't going anywhere, so focusing on the target still intact was the prime objective for the nomu.
The beast had made its decision. It clasp its fist together ready to spread Midoriya's insides out with a ground slam.
Midoriya couldn't move. A combination of fear and confusion didn't allow him to. Thoughts raced through his head as the massive blue hands came crashing down above him.
"How can I beat him? He's to strong. It took a hit from All Might's power. How is that possible? Why do I have to die like this? What is that slimy feeling around my waist?"
Tsuyu pulled Midoriya out of the way right in the knick of time as two fists slammed down. By now the boy was used to the tongue wrapping around his waist even if it was sticky and gooey. "Thank you Asui!"
"Agaaainnn, calllll meeee Tssssuyu." trying her best to pronunciate the words while her tounge hanged out. "Lettsss geeet ouuut oofff heeerre!"
Landing back at the lake's edge, Mineta decided to give Midoriya a piece of his mind.
"What were you thinking?! If Asui didn't come in to save you, we would be back down to twenty students in class!" the purple boy started tearing up again as he ranted on.
"That man needed help and no one else was there to save him! That's why!" he yelled back at Mineta which silenced him. Sure it was a corny response but he did have a point. They were heroes, and they needed to act on a hero's instinct.
Looking behind Midoriya, Mineta started his screaming again out of nowhere. "Guys look out!"
The nomu charged at the three on all fours. Its tongue hung and flopped in the wind like a crazed wolf ready to strike. They were staring death in the face and were scared, but not frail.
Clutching Mineta's head, Midoriya jumped to the side along with Tsuyu and waited for the nomu to come barreling passed them. But it never did. Instead it was stopped in its tracks by their classmate Ahsoka. Using the force, she held the monster down not allowing it to move anywhere.
The group had finished off the robots and ran over to help in finishing the fight in any way possible.
"Concentrate fire on the head." Tup yelled to his brothers. Laser after laser struck not particularly injuring the animal but sure as shit pissing it off.
"Grab the wounded and go!" Ahsoka screamed as she was slowly loosing control over the nomu. It was now flailing its arms like a five year old throwing a tantrum. The clones saw this action and formed a plan against it.
"Fire a cable Jesse!" Dogma yelled.
The two then fired their cable lines at the nomu's arms wrapping them around on each one. This led to almost no struggle on the beast end as he swung his arms up with ease giving an on hands experience on how strong he was.
Midoriya, Tsuyu, and Mineta knew they had little time. They could only pick one of the men and lead them safely up the stairs if they wanted to get out quickly.
"Who should we grab?" Mineta said aloud.
The nomu had already broken free from Ahsoka's grip and was now swatting at her as she flipped and dodged around it. They had to act quickly and choose wisely.
The closest one to them was Rex on the ground still bleeding. He almost looked lifeless as he didn't even twitch as a red lake formed around him.
Midoriya pointed at him. "Rex needs assistance more than anyone else. It's our duty to save him." The two others agreed and made their way to him.
The first thing they did was flip over the teacher so they could see how bad the wounds were. Upon doing this they were astonished find out that his armor held up in almost all the areas that weren't affected by the things fingers. Still, blood continued leaking in large amounts falling off his stomach onto the ground like a waterfall.
They were ready to lift with Mineta in the middle while Tsuyu and Midoriya focused on the shoulders and legs when Rex awakened.
"What the hell is happening? he asked in a barely conscious gargle. The pain he was expierencing around his waist was unbearable, but he didn't have the strength to reach around and apply pressure. The time between him getting tossed on the ground and being picked up by the three had seemed like hours. He was sure there was ruptured internal bleeding after what his body went through.
"Were carrying you out of here. You need medical attention badly." Tsuyu said.
Rex would have loved to see a doctor in that moment. Hell, a witch would have been fine. Except, a little voice in the back of his head told him something different. "Remember your training, you matter last."
"No!" Rex groaned loudly.
This got the three teens to hesitate in confusion of the teachers singular word spoken. "What do you mean?" Midoriya questioned.
"Mr. Aizawa... Get Aizawa out of here! I'll be fine." he responded.
Mineta again began crying over this stressful situation. "That's stupid! Your bleeding out way more than Mr. Aizawa did! You don't even have a quirk to defend with if we leave you-"
With little energy he had left, Rex firmly grasped at Mineta's shirt collar bringing the boy face to helmet. "If anyone dies here, It's on me! And if that happens, I'll never be able to live with myself! I know your a smart kid just by being able to earn a spot in the hero program! Now do what I'm asking and get Shota to safety!"
Mineta wiped his tears away while quietly pondering what Rex had said. Sure what he was saying was insane that he was ordering them not to save him, but it was also noble to a degree. Maybe he was right. A bloody mess on the dirt but right. He turned to his classmates. "You heard him lets save Aizawa!
As the three left Rex to run over and pick up there homeroom teacher, Ahsoka and the clones were still holding the nomu off.
The beast had gotten smart with the clone's cable lines and pulled on them sharply flinging Jesse and Dogma over his head and landing back on the ground harshly. After that move, it slapped Tup with the back of his hand causing the clone to go flying before landing on his back. This left Hardcase and Ahsoka standing alone.
"Any ideas commander?" Hardcase said actually sounding concerned for safety.
"Keep firing and I'll do the rest." she said.
Hardcase fired his mini gun at the nomu cutting its skin exposing the red layer of flesh while Ahsoka ran up to the beast with one intention in mind.
The monster swung its fist at Ahsoka making her duck and dodge it. It punched once more only for Ahsoka to dodge the attack again by flipping over its head.This however, gave Ahsoka an opening. With a rapid swipe of her blades, she cut the right arm of the nomu off letting it tumble onto the ground. "That's for my friends you hurt."
A brief moment of happiness washed over the two as they seemingly now had an advantage over the monster. But again, it was only brief.
A red substance started pouring out of the nomu. "Impossible! That wound should be cauterized from my lightsaber for at least another few minutes." Ahsoka said to Hardcase.
Upon closer inspection though, they noticed that the wound was not leaking blood but infact healing itself. Tiny ropes of flesh spurted out and formed a brand new arm and hand identical to the other one.
"That's enough Nomu!" A voice rang out.
The thing acknowledged the order and backed off from the jedi and clone.
Ahsoka looked over at the fountain and noticed two figures standing next to each other. One was the hand man she saw right before diving into the fight. The wild events had allowed her to almost completely forget about his presence. The other figure was the mist man. "He's quick on getting around." she thought to herself.
"You idiot!" Tomura cackled taking steps towards Echo's still unconscious body. "Not only does my Nomu have super strength, he also has a healing factor." Tomura was now standing over the clone, hands in his pockets, and an unoticeable smile under his hand mask. "I don't want to be one to assume things but I'm pretty sure you two don't have a healing quirk. So instead of delaying your inevitable doom, why don't we strike a deal teach?"
It took a moment for Hardcase to realize that he was referring the question to him. "Of course, he thinks I'm a teacher."
The clone was definitely not used to a situation like this. Making deals with terrorists was an outlandish routine for a ground trooper to try. He was a soldier, not a negotiator. Actually he was a soldier in his own galaxy, in this one, he is Mr. Hardcase, teacher and protector of U.A. students.
"I'm all ears right now like your all hands." he said back unsure of himself.
"My proposition is asking you which lives I should take to get All Might to hurry here. Those students near the entrance, or you two and your armored up friends? The choice is yours."
The way Tomura's last sentence rolled off his tongue caused Hardcase to sweat. It was so menacing and filled with evil. Do you allow me to kill children or your life long friends.
His mind raced to form an idea on how to take down the nomu. "Lasers and swords didn't work, what will? Nothing. That thing is invisible. We need to accept the facts here."
With that settled out Hardcase brainstormed the villains options. "I can't let anyone here die. But I'm so lost. What do I do?"
"Tik tok num skull. What's it gonna be?" Tomura grabbed Echo off the floor and placed his hand on his armored chest. "Take to long and I'll turn him to dust with my quirk."
Ahsoka had longed noticed the look of dread on his face. She couldn't really blame him. All his life he had been trained to shoot first and ask questions later. She needed to interject to calm his nerves on something he had most likely never done before.
"Hardcase." Ahsoka said finally speaking "I trust you to make a decision. A good decision."
This was the most reassuring sentence he had heard today. "I'm a person who can make good decisions that effect others. I'm not just another number. Thank you Tano." he whispered to himself.
Suddenly an idea popped into his head. He grabbed Ahsoka's attention and whispered so the villains couldn't hear.
"Well what is it?!" Tomura shouted know thoroughly annoyed.
"You can have my friends. But your going to have to kill me first!" he shouted.
"Works for me." Tomura said ready to dust Echo.
"Now Ahsoka!" Hardcase shouted giving the signal.
Using the force, the padawan grabbed Echo quickly out of the villains hands before he had time to react. Much to her distaste, the clone's body ragdolled twenty yards before sliding onto the ground to a complete stop. As much as she would have rathered carried him to her, a quick yank from the force would have to do for what was about to come.
Barely dodging the attack, Ahsoka jumped out of the way of the nomu's ground slam. Hardcase was not hit but was knocked off his feet from the move. The beast decided to still go for Ahsoka scratching at her but missing everytime. The padawan used her blades to chop another arm off but it seemed to grow back even faster this time. She attempted to slice the head off but failed every try as the monster would weave out of the way of her blades. Everything was going nowhere fast.
"DIEEEEEEEEEE!" a voice shrieked before an explosion set off behind Kurogiri knocking him down.
Tomura turned around in the knick of time to see Kirishima launch himself at him. Luckily, he jumped out of the way before recieving several hard rock like hits to the face.
Last but not least, Todoroki surfed in on an ice trail allowing him to freeze Tomura's feet while he was distracted by Kirishima.
While the events unfolded, Midoriya, Tsuyu, and Mineta watched from afar as they continued climbing the stairs carrying the wounded teacher to safety.
"That villain said this thing was built to kill All Might. What chance would they have against it? I have to go down there or else someone might die." the thoughts in Midoriya's head continued to race as the dead weight of Mr. Aizawa kept slowing them down.
"I have to go help them! You guys continue to carry him!" he yelled dropping Aizawa on top of Mineta.
"Midoriya! Get back here!" Tsuyu shouted knowing full and well that the green haired boy had made up his mind.
Back at the plaza, all the clones with the exception of Rex and Fives had woken up and were now recovering to get back into the fight. Bakugou was standing on top of Kurogiri warning "the bastard" that if he moved he would die. Kirishima backed off of trying to attack Tomura after Todoroki warned him of his quirk.
"How do you know what it is?" the red head asked puzzled.
"Got some information from his men. I also know that thing over there was designed to kill All Might." Todoroki said pointing his finger at the nomu who was frantically punching the air trying to hit the speedy Ahsoka.
"A little help?!" the padawan yelled weaving another fist with a backflip.
Todoroki wasn't to pleased with the sarcastic tone of Ahsoka but obliged none the less. With a flick of his hands, ice protruded and shot out at the nomu in a wave like projectile.
When the ice made contact, the beast froze to a standstill. But like the other attempts to stop him, the nomu broke free loosing an arm in the process and regrowing it in no time.
"COME ON! CAN'T YOU IDIOTS DO BETTER THAN THAT?!" Bakugou screeched while continuing to hold down Kurogiri. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU RED HEADED MORON! GET IN THERE AND HELP THEM!"
"As much as I would like to rush in guns blazing, that thing could kill me if he got so much as a strong hit, even in my hardened form." Kirishima rebutaled. "We need a plan."
Precious seconds ticked by as the boy for once in his life stopped and let the world move without him. Everything else in his life had been smash first and ask questions later. Kirishima never had any bullies for long periods of time thanks to his quirk, but this bully was different. He was ruthless, enormous, and not far off from All Might's strength.
"COME ON! USE YOUR HEAD STUPID!" Bakugou yelled after seeing the red head stand still for far to long.
At that moment a light bulb clicked. "That's it! Bakugou, keep holding him down." he said sprinting off towards the fight.
"HEY! WHAT'S YOUR PLAN!" Kirishima heard as the distance grew between the two.
"Todoroki use your ice powers!" the red head said.
"What do you think I've been doing?!" Todoroki said with hints of anger towards Kirishima's moronic sentence.
"No! I mean freeze his face! Focus his face!"
After stopping to heat up his body with the other half of his quirk, he answered. "Fine. We'll do it your way for now."
"Sweet!" he said before turning to Ahsoka.
"Ahsoka, stay back until we can blind him!"
"Understood!" she shouted fully trusting whatever plan was in the works.
By now the remaining clones had recovered and were now firing at the nomu from all directions. The bird creature was dazed and confused not knowing exactly what to do without its master. Before it could make a move Todoroki blasted its face with a full frontal assault of ice freezing it.
Now the nomu was truly pissed at his indignant treatment. He couldn't see anything as his arms smashed the ground beneath him sending dust and rocks flying every which way.
While this happened Kirishima took a deep breath. His plan was coming into full effect, It just needed one last distraction. After calming his nerves, Kirishima charged at the blinded nomu. The closer he got the more anxious he became. The thought of death frightened him, but it was a risk he was willing to take.
"Now is not the time to freeze up. Be a manly hero!" he said to himself while hardening his body.
A second later, Kirishima scored a direct hit on the nomu's back. It absorbed the punch taken and snatched his attention on the teen standing before him. The nomu couldn't see him but it knew he was there. With its limited information, the monster grabbed at the air luckily catching the teen in his hands.
Being held by it was not a pleasant feeling for Kirishima in anyway. Its hands were quite moist, probably from all the regenerations it had just gone through. Although it would have been scarier if the ice did not cover the nomu's zombie face. Having its cold, dead eyes staring back would have been horrifying.
"AHSOKA GO FOR IT!" Kirishima finally shouted.
Leaping back into the air, Ahsoka positioned herself to land right where the nomu was. She had just one shot.
Raising the lightsabers, she slashed them back down cutting into the beasts neck. The thing didn't make a sound as Ahsoka tumbled onto the ground rolling before getting back up.
For what seemed like an eternity, the nomu stood still, arms down by its side looking as if he was standing in a lunchline. The head soon fell off decapitated from the rest of the body landing with a louder than life thud to the ground. Ahsoka had killed the nomu.
"NO! NO! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" a voice yelled.
Turning around, the clones and students realized that Tomura had escaped from his ice prison.
"This isn't how the game was supposed to end! I'll kill you!" the man yelled in his blind rage. Without hesitation, he sprinted toward Bakugou who was still after all this time holding down Kurogiri. Reaching out with his hand, Tomura was prepared to make the explosive boy disappear forever.
The clones fired there weapons but were to far put of range to hit any part of him. Luckily for Bakugou, a higher power must have been watching over him.
Midoriya was able to wrap his arms around the boy flinging them both out of the way before Tomura made contact.
"DAMMIT DEKU! I WAS JUST ABOUT TO KNOCK HIM OUT WITH A BLA-" Bakugou became quiet once he noticed Midoriya's purple and bruised legs.
Now that Kurogiri was free he opened a portal and urged Tomura to step on through.
"NO! I CAN'T GO BACK A FAILURE TO HIM!" he said sprinting at another target.
Tomura was in a full on anger driven rage. Weeks of planning had on to shit thanks to these... teachers. Who else could he blame but these teachers who had just showed up out of thin air in the last several days. He needed to take his anger out on someone, and Rex's body was ripe for the taking.
Again he sprinted, this time towards the downed clone. Just as before he reached out his hand attempting to kill for the sake of sweet revenge.
Slice
The pain didn't show up until Tomura was able to identify his problem. But as soon as he noticed his right hand was gone, the torment began manifesting. He couldn't believe it. In less than a minute, he failed to dust people twice.
This of course was nothing new to Ahsoka. Chopping off limbs was on her job description. Now it was time to finish what she started cutting.
Sadly for the padawan, it didn't happen. Kurogiri swooped in just in time and flew out with Tomura still screaming in pain.
"This isn't the last of us!" the mist shouted before disappearing through which they came. For a second all was quiet. The heroes and students stood still and examined the plaza. Tomura's severed hand was gone. Probably grabbed in their hasty escape. The nomu's body was now leaking blood onto the ground by the gallons. The only sounds heard were light whimpers from Midoriya cause of his broken appendages. They had won.
Moments later, cheering was heard from up the stairs. The group below couldn't tell what was going on until he emerged into view. All Might had arrived!
With one mighty leap he landed perfectly where the group was. "What have I missed?" he said studying the corpse of the nomu.
"You've missed quite a lot actually." Echo said. "A few of us are wounded and most of the students were scattered across the facility to be hunted down."
All Might smiled. "Do not fear, for I am here. Here to defend my students. Leave these villains to me so you can get everyone out of USJ.
Echo was a little weirded out by the heroe's reaction to there predicament, but also impressed by the confidence oozing from him. "Yes sir."
That sir caught Todoroki's attention. "Yes sir? Isn't he also a teacher like All Might? Why did he say sir?" The boy decided to let it go as some sort of mistake. It must be nerve-wracking speaking to the number one hero, maybe he didn't mean to word it like that. Plus, after what they had gone through, there were more important things to think about.
Before he left, All Might turned around and faced his students one last time. "Whatever happened here, I'm proud of you all. I'll be happy to get a full story later."
While he said this, he stared at one green haired boy in particular who was trying extremely hard not to cry.
After All Might ran off towards the mountain biome, the clones tended to and carried Fives, Rex, and Midoriya up the staircase back towards the entrance. Walking beside them, Kirishima had a blank expression on his face as he walked methodically up. Ahsoka seeing this poked him in the arm getting his attention.
"I thought you would be happier." she said.
"How come?"
"Your plan worked perfectly. Thanks to you we defeated that thing."
This caused a flash of a smirk to appear for only a noticeable second. "I know and thank you for the compliment, but it doesn't feel right."
"Why?" Ahsoka asked tilting her head slightly in confusion.
"This might sound rich coming from me and telling it to the person who sliced its head off, but it didn't feel right killing the thing."
This hit Ahsoka like a freight train. How could she be so stupid. Looking around she saw uncomfortable faces on the rest of the students as they continued walking. Not sad but not happy either. They looked like they were still trying to process what just happened.
In that moment, so much realization made its way through Ahsoka. It wasn't normal for kids her age to kill and be unphased by it. She had done it and will likely do it again a hundred more times. She was the abnormal one here not them.
"I have to remember. Unlike them I've left death in my path. That what separates me from being normal." she thought.
In the distance, a cloud of dust formed over the mountain biome indicating that All Might had gotten to work. Ahsoka stared back in amazement seeing one man doing so much on his own. "Wish we had you back home." she whispered.
(X)
What's up. Sorry for the lack updates. It's been hard balancing between my job and this story. Hopefully I can get the next chapter out quicker.
Follow and leave a comment... or don't. I'm not your dad after all. =)