Chapter 39: Backup
"I AM HERE!" All Might announced his presence as he slowly placed Bakugou and Izuku on the ground, "No need to worry, my students! I shall defeat these villains soon!" he promised as he got ready to leap into action but instead tripped over Shouto's ice, "Wait, All Might," Shouto said in a commanding tone, raising some eyes.
All Might sensed there was no room for argument and obliged, "What is it?"
"Don't rush straight into the villains without a plan,"
"I assure you, I can handle it," All Might got up.
"The purple villain and the hand guy are strong when they link up so look out for them. The hand guy has a decay quirk and the purple one has a warp quirk. As for the monster with its brain out, it's under Hitoshi's control so don't try to fight it or you will erase the brainwash. If it does break free, avoid it. It has multiple quirks,"
"M-multiple quirks?" All Might stuttered on his words, thinking he had wrong.
Shouto nodded, "Watanabe used his infrared vision and saw that there were four different heat signatures in it and thought it meant that there are four bodies and four quirks in it. Don't ask me how, but it probably has something to do with a quirk power,"
All Might gulped, "Four different bodies," the words echoed in his mind, "That would mean heis back, but... I killed him!" All Might argued in his brain, yet he couldn't discredit Watanabe's findings, knowing that he was trustworthy. One aspect would prove whether All For One was back, "Does it have immense physical strength even without the quirk?"
"Yes, even though Aizawa-sensei erased its quirk, it was still able to keep up with Izuku's flicks," Shouto replied.
The words plunged Yagi's world back into darkness. That final piece was enough to make him sure that All For One was back. Only by combining many bodies could someone stand up to be strong enough to withstand One for All. He and his sensei had faced people with such abilities, granted they didn't look like this monster. Yagi wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing.
Memories of All For One killing Nana flooded his mind but he shook his head, now was not the time to get nervous. He had limited time in this form and he would need to act fast. There was also the chance that it was someone else. Nighteye had told him about an upcoming member of Shie Hassaikai with an overhaul quirk. It might be his doing but now, he would need to capture the two main villains. The rest had been defeated very swiftly which meant they were just pawns. The real danger was the Nomu, Shigaraki and Kurogiri.
All Might was thinking of a way to subdue the warp gate first and also make sure the Nomu couldn't move. He looked around for an idea and got it! He bent down to Aizawa and whispered, "I'll need to borrow this," he plucked the capture scarf from his colleague. Then he rushed forward and tied up the Nomu tightly. All Might had seen Aizawa's capture scarf in action and knew it was strong enough to hold back Izuku's One For All, which meant it would be more than enough.
Then he launched a ling range wind typhoon with his fists in an effort to blow away the cloudy warp gate. His effort succeeded but he had hoped that Shigaraki would be blown off course from the Warp Gate and he could pick the two off one by one. Instead, Kurogiri had warped away with Tomura and All Might had to scan the entire plaza for a glimpse of a warp gate reappearing.
All Might gasped for air as blood spurted from his injury. He quickly jumped out of the way and turned to face the warp gate that had appeared where he was standing. The villains just had to hit him directly at his injury. He brushed it off as a coincidence but unfortunately, Shigaraki wasn't too smart.
Shigaraki started laughing maniacally, "Well All Might, how was that!? I bet you didn't think we knew about your injury, huh!?"
All Might's eyes widened as he unconsciously clutched his injury. There was no way that the villains could know about his injury. The only people who knew were Nedzu, Nighteye, Recovery Girl, Tsukauchi, and the team that had operated on him, all of whom he trusted. On a better note, he could chalk off Shigaraki's intelligence which made him a lesser threat. However, Kurogiri was the highest priority for All Might. His battle sense, agility, and intelligence as well as quirk were far too strong to leave to the villain side.
All Might flung himself straight at Shigaraki this time and connected for a split second before Kurogiri warped away to the side once more. Shigaraki hissed with pain as he held his limp, broken arm, "Bastard! You're gonna pay!" he yelled and ran towards All Might. All Might readied himself. He would use his smash as soon as Shigaraki came closer and would knock him out. However, Shigaraki thrust his arm through Kurogiri. All Might jumped to the right, anticipating an attack on his injured left.
"We aren't that stupid!" Kurogiri shouted. All Might jumped straight into Shigaraki's open hands and nearly screamed as agonizing pain hit him but he fought through it and now, it was his turn for a counter-attack. He grabbed Shigaraki's hand and pulled him through the warp gate. Kurogiri's eyes widened and he moved to stop Yagi but he had already smashed Shigaraki into the ground knocking him out. He didn't waste a second and threw himself towards Kurogiri who simply opened up a warp to fling All Might into the air.
Kurogiri knew that it was over and collected Kurogiri. He moved to the Nomu to retrieve it as well when he was suddenly cut off by a cement wall. He turned to see Cementoss and Ectoplasm arriving to surround him. He hadn't even heard or seen them enter. Scowling, he left the scene.
Meanwhile, All Might jumped down safely over the rocky area. He sighed in relief as he saw the other teachers arriving and released his form. He had reached his limit and couldn't maintain muscle mass anymore.
"Yagi-sensei, you should really be careful about shifting your form,"
Yagi tensed and turned furiously but relaxed seeing it was only Watanabe and Kaminari, "Oh, it's only you guys, phew,"
"My point stands," Watanabe urged, "You could have been seen by Momo, Jiro, and Hitoshi too but we got separated by villains. You're lucky it's just me and Kaminari,"
Yagi chuckled and nodded but was interrupted by a raging Kaminari, "Hold up for a damn minute!" he shouted, "What the fuck do you mean by it's just you and me?" he asked Watanabe, "Did you know that Yagi-sensei is All Might!?" he demanded.
Watanabe and Yagi simultaneously paled and looked at each other, "Umm... yes," Watanabe said quietly.
"Wait, does Izuku know too?"
Yagi nodded.
"How long?"
"Since the first time we met," Watanabe replied, abashed.
"And none of you told me!"
"We thought you couldn't keep it a secret given your... track record," Watanabe replied as Yagi facepalmed. The boy was just digging himself into a deeper hole.
Kaminari fumed and turned to Yagi, "And what about you? Why them but not me!?"
"Umm... it was sort of necessary for Izuku to know and Watanabe kinda found out," Yagi gave a shaky laugh.
"Why was it necessary for Izuku to know?" Kaminari asked, puzzled until things clicked, "Wait a minute, Tsuyu was saying how All Might and Izuku's quirks are similar. Did you," Denki paused, momentarily soaking in how unrealistic his theory would be, "Did you pass on your quirk to Izuku?"
Yagi looked to Watanabe who just nodded, "...Yes,"
Kaminari fumed even more and started to crackle some electricity, "Surprise?" Watanabe offered and was instantly tased slightly by his friend, "S-sowwy," Watanabe said, his tongue numb.
"Kaminari, it was my fault for not telling you," Yagi frowned.
"Yeah, but you're my teacher and you taught me well. Plus, it is your secret so I understand. The reason I electrocuted him," Kaminari pointed to Watanabe, "is because I CAN KEEP A SECRET!" he screamed in Watanabe's face who nodded furiously.
"All right, I guess we will head outside to your classmates," Yagi said. The three walked together as Kaminari asked more and more questions to understand some of the things that had happened in training the previous year. He had loudly promised to also berate Izuku the moment he saw him. Yagi chuckled and couldn't help but feel a load taken off his chest. He didn't have many friends and these three were the closest thing he had, weirdly.
Yagi jogged up to Nedzu, "How did you guys get in? I only saw Ectoplasm, Snipe, and Recovery Girl come through the main entrance,"
"We knew that the students were scattered from Iida so we knew heading straight in would take too much time and might cause any villains to see us and act swiftly to maim the students. We simply had powerloader dig up holes and got in through the underground. Ectoplasm's clones outnumbered the villains and we got them all!" Nedzu said, "And I see all three, now know about your actual form," Nedzu smiled earning a chuckle from Yagi.
"In that case, I should also introduce myself. I have been waiting for this a long time!" Nedzu cackled.
Watanabe stared at Nedzu with wide eyes, "What do you mean by introducing yourself? We already met at the court and in your office,"
"Yes," Nedzu replied, "But you didn't know I was the one who proofread your article!"
Kaminari and Watanabe's mouths fell, "You're the one who fixed up our article and published it!?"
Nedzu nodded with a chaotic grin, "And I must say, you and Izuku are really talented. Especially Midoriya considering he wrote out the entire thing. Not to say you didn't do anything, Watanabe, your ideas were superb as well!"
"Thank you," Watanabe smiled, "Man, now I want to talk about so much of the stuff that happened!"
"We will in due time. Wouldn't want Midoriya to miss out!" Nedzu said.
"Oi, oi! Don't knock around the Nomu!" Kaminari yelled to the Ectoplasm clones that were trying to carry it to the transport van.
Nedzu raised his eye, "Is there a problem?"
"The Nomu is under Hitoshi's brainwash. If it gets a shock, the brainwashing will fail and the Nomu will break free," Kaminari explained.
"interesting. But, when we arrived, Hitoshi had been knocked out by another villain already," Nedzu informed.
"Oh," Kaminari said, a bit embarrassed.
"Nothing to be embarrassed about," Nedzu assured with a smile as he waved Ectoplasm's clones to carry on, "Ialready asked it some questions and all it does is squawk, so it can't speak probably. I'm intrigued to know why you are so scared of it,"
"It's got multiple bodies in it, probably as an effect of a quirk. But anyway, in Infrared vision I can see 4 different heat signatures. The only way that's possible is if four bodies are in it, which means four different quirks," Watanabe explained.
"But it could just be animal bodies, hence why it can't speak properly," Nedzu offered.
"Well... I suppose so," Watanabe conceded. However, Yagi had sent Nedzu a brief nod to signify that Watanabe was probably right in thinking that it was several humans built into one. Nedzu could already feel a headache coming on but he would have Tsukauchi try his luck into interrogating the Nomu first.
His headache seemed to grow worse as Koda appeared in front of the police officers and clones, apparently angry, "Stop hurting it! It's in pain!"
Tsukauchi turned to face Koda, "I assure you, we're being careful,"
"But they're telling me they're in pain!"
Nedzu, Yagi and Tsukauchi froze, "They?" Tsukauchi asked for clarification.
Koda nodded, "Yup, there are a lot of voices coming from it," he pointed to the monster.
Tsukauchi nearly dropped his notepad in surprise, "You can talk to it?"
A/N: On a technicality, Koda should be able to talk to the Nomu. If only the parts of the brain that can receive orders and do actions are working, the Nomu is basically an animal. In my opinion at least.