A/N: Hello readers. Time for the final chapter of the HSI arc. Hope you all enjoy it. Also, saw Heroes Rising last week and it was AWESOME!
Class 1-C snuck through the halls of HSI. Thankfully, with Overdrive's group needing three full squads to hold the three classes from U.A, they were rather short handed. Yamagori doubted that with those three squads and the group working on grabbing the support items, there would be much manpower left for standing guard.
As they reached a corner, Yamagori peeked a look at what was around. She noticed two villains standing guard. They were on high alert. It was likely they had someone watching all the security cameras and saw them deal with the villains in the training area. 'It was a smart move to take out any cameras we saw along the way. We need to keep them as blind as possible.'
"There's two of them about fifty meters down the hall." she whispered. "Izumi, there's an outlet behind them. Think you can travel there and shock them from behind?"
"I think so." Daiki nodded.
"Good. The rest of us will get their attention and hold a defensive position." Yamagori instructed. "Once we do, it's up to you to hit them with a surprise attack."
Once everyone was ready, the class went into action. Yamagori revealed herself to make her presence known. The villains noticed her instantly.
"It's Medusa! Get her!" one of them shouted as he and his partner prepared to attack. Not long after they took off running however, Daiki emerged from the outlet near where they hand been standing. He reached out and touched both of their backs before turning his body into electricity once again. Both villains became electrocuted as they fell over.
"Nice job, Daiki!" Marcus said.
"Heh, it was nothing." Daiki grinned.
"Don't dawdle. We have to keep moving." Yamagori said as she ran on ahead. "The main control room should be just a little bit farther."
Class 1-C ran on ahead with their teacher. It was weird to them to see Yamagori acting like an actual role model, instructing them perfectly to best use their Quirks to deal with the villains. But with her help, they had managed to quickly take down each villain they had encountered in the building while keeping risk to themselves minimal.
"It should be right around here." Yamagori said. Finally they found the door they were looking for. "Here."
"Alright, let's hurry in there and do what we gotta do." Hyde said.
"Wait." Yamagori told him, holding him back with her arm. She soon heard a sound from the other end. "Everyone! Move away from the door! Now!"
Quickly obeying her instruction, the students each leaped away. Just in the nick of time as well as the door was burst open by a new villain. This one was rather muscular and had a beast-like appearance. A mutant type Quirk they could only assume.
"You've sure got some balls doing this after the boss's generous offer, Medusa!" the villain said as he went for her. "But now you're dead!"
"Ms. Yamagori!" Sakura exclaimed.
Acting quickly, Yamagori ducked under the hand that came for her and slipped past the villain with snake-like movements. As she did, she brought out a whip and hooked it around the villain's neck while pressing her foot against his back, choking him.
"You idiots with muscular Quirks are all the same. Always relying on brute strength." Yamagori said. "At least make your movements less predictable."
Within a minute, the villain passed out and Yamagori released her hold. She looked at the whip in her hand. "Not the same as the one I used in my pro days, but it'll do. Good thing this place has so many things to help heroes."
The rest of their class widened their eyes. A collective thought went through their minds. 'That was badass.'
Yamagori entered the room. She saw a few workers tied up and gagged. "Get them free." she said.
The students quickly got to work on untying the workers and taking the gags out of their mouths. They were relieved to be free finally. "Thank you." they said.
"Can you get the audio system on?" Yamagori asked them. "We need to send a message to the rooms the other classes are in."
"Of course. But it'll go through the entire building. The villains elsewhere will hear it too." one of the workers explained.
"That's fine. We can deal with that." she said. "Just get it working so I can send a message."
The workers quickly got to work as they took their stations. They soon had everything set up. "Alright. It's ready."
Yamagori stepped forward to the mic. She took a deep breath. This would require quick action. But Aizawa and Vlad were pros. They wouldn't let a split second opportunity pass them by. Even with Aizawa bandaged up from the USJ attack, the small time villains wouldn't be hard to deal with since he had his students to help. She readied herself and yelled into the mic. "Eraser! Vlad! The hostage is safe! Take them out!"
It was clear that the villains were thrown off guard by the sudden announcement. But the very millisecond Yamagori finished her message, the two teachers sprung into action. With a bit of help from the students, the villains were quickly restrained.
There was no way for them to hear anything from the other side, making communication one way only. On top of that, they couldn't plan in advance since anything she said over the speaker system would be heard by Overdrive and his crew. That limited their options with how to deal with the situation. Right now, getting everyone out safely took priority.
One of the workers widened their eyes at something and their face became full of dread. "Oh no… The villains are going for that!"
"Hm?" Yamagori took a look at the security cameras. The one showing Overdrive seemed to be near a large vault. "What's in there?"
"It's a top secret support item that was going to be shipped out tomorrow." the worker explained. "It's extremely powerful. It can greatly increase the physical strength of the user."
"What?!" Alicia exclaimed.
"If the villains get their hands on that, that'll be really really bad." Jill said.
'Damnit. And Overdrive is already a powerhouse as it is.' Yamagori thought to herself. 'Ugh, can't this day give me a break already?'
"What do we do, Ms. Yamagori?" Fiona asked.
Yamagori considered their options. She could try and meet up with Aizawa and Vlad and have all three of them try to take down Overdrive. But there was no guarantee that they'd have enough time to do so. She only had one option. Go herself and hope they could catch up.
"Aizawa. Vlad. Their boss is after a specific support item. It's in the storage vault. Meet me there." Yamagori explained into the mic. She knew Overdrive would hear this as well, letting him know they were onto his goal. But she at the very least could intercept him and buy some time.
"Damnit. To think Sienna would cause this much of a problem." Overdrive said. "Seems we're gonna have to hurry boys. Get that vault open."
"I'm working on it, but this thing's really thick." one of the villains said, working on heating the perimeter of the door with a fire based Quirk. He was only halfway done though. At the rate things were going, they wouldn't be able to get away.
"Should we give up and run, boss?" another one of them asked.
"No way." Overdrive said. "We've come too far to give up now. Besides, once we have that support item, those heroes won't be able to touch us." He looked at his henchman that was weakening the door. "Move aside. It should be weak enough for me to handle it now."
The villain did as he was told and stepped away. The others distanced themselves as well. They knew just how powerful their boss's Quirk was.
Overdrive grinned as black smoke began to burn out from the pipes on his shoulders. "Let's bust this baby down." He swung his fist as hard as he could. The devastating force of the punch knocked the door down, giving them entry into the vault.
Inside the room was a wide variety of expensive high-tech support items. It was where HSI kept their top of the line stuff before it got shipped out. And every single one of them was now theirs for the taking. The main one Overdrive cared about though was a set of equipment at the far end of the room. A pair of gloves and boots, all connected together by straps that seemed to make the entire thing one piece. A big grin came to Overdrive's face as he looked at what he had come for.
"Jackpot."
Yamagori rushed through the halls as she hurried to the vault. The students of Class 1-C followed closely behind her. It was a race against the clock. They had to stop Overdrive before he could get his hands on that support item. They were the closest to the vault so it was more likely than not that they would reach it before Vlad or Aizawa. But that loud boom she had heard a minute ago had Yamagori on edge.
"Listen up." Yamagori told her students. "When we get there, you all provide support only. Whatever happens, you are not to fight Overdrive. He's on a whole other level than the lackeys you've fought so far. Is that clear?"
"But what about you then? Can you take him?" Dan asked.
"I don't need to beat him. Just buy time for Eraser Head and Vlad to show up." she explained. "Overdrive's strong, but even he can't take those two and myself together."
"What about your Quirk? Can't you just paralyze him with a look?" Shiro pointed out.
"Yeah if I was fighting an idiot, or someone that didn't know about my Quirk. Unfortunately, he's neither of those things." she said. "Overdrive knows my Quirk, and he'll be wary of it."
As they turned the corner, Class 1-C could finally see the vault. But to their misfortune, it was already open. Standing at the broken down door were a pair of villains.
"Tsuki! Reikon!"
Alicia and Shinobu took the front and fired off their Quirks, quickly taking out the two villains. They laid down in defeat. But soon, the big boss himself showed his face. A yellow visor was worn over his eyes, but the gleam they had was still viewable through them.
"Nice of you to join us, Sienna." Overdrive smirked. "You can help me take my new toy for a test drive."
Without warning, Overdrive sped towards the class. He threw a downwards punch at Yamagori, who quickly dodged by leaping up and to the side. The force of the resulting shockwave from Overdrive's punch however blew everyone back and forced Yamagori up, making her hit the ceiling.
'What the hell is this? He was nowhere near this strong last time I saw him.'
"Aw yeah! This is sweet!" Overdrive said with a grin. He grabbed Yamagori by the head and threw her down the hall. He then chased after her.
"Ms. Yamagori!" Vivi exclaimed.
"Stay back!" she shouted at the students as she flew midair. "Remember what I told you! Leave him to me!"
"And you'll be able to stop me? What a joke!" Overdrive said with a grin as he delivered a powerful punch to the teacher's gut. She slammed into the ground with a painful thud, cracks forming in the floor. He cracked his knuckles. "This new support item sure is handy. Especially with a Quirk like mine. I've already burned enough energy to beat you into the ground with ease."
[Overdrive. Quirk: Body Engine. He can burn his own energy for a powerup to his physical abilities. Doing so costs him stamina however. When he burns his energy to power up, smoke emits from the pipes on his back.]
'Damnit…' Yamagori thought as her body ached with pain. 'He's already equipped the support item. But if we're this close…' She looked into his eyes and quickly used her Quirk to try and paralyze him.
"Sorry. That won't work." Overdrive grinned. He grabbed her by her head and lifted her up, still able to move freely.
Yamagori widened her eyes. "What's going on? You looked directly at my eyes. How can you move?"
"Another nifty little item I swiped here." he said with a smirk as he tapped the visor with his finger. "This little guy here keeps me from being affected by Quirks that deal with my eyes. Think of it like a barrier between me and Quirks like yours."
'This is bad.' Yamagori thought. 'My Quirk is useless here.'
"I acted so kind to you. I gave you a chance to get in on this payday." he told her with a smug grin. "But you refused. And on top of that, you even got in my way. So you really must think you are a hero?"
"You're the one who went back on his word and involved my class." Yamagori told him with a glare. "So don't give me that crap."
"Sorry about that. It's just business!" Overdrive said as he threw a punch her way, making her tumble along the hallway.
Yamagori struggled to stand up. Overdrive's blows had already dealt plenty of damage to her. At this rate, she wasn't going to last long enough for Aizawa and Vlad to show up.
Overdrive turned his head to the students behind him. "Maybe I should try and teach these kids in your place." he said with a chuckle. He began walking towards them. "I'll make sure it's a lesson they'll never forget."
The students of Class 1-C tensed up as some of them prepared themselves to fight. They weren't sure what they could do however against a monster like this. As he walked towards them, he felt a sting come to his back. He turned around and saw Yamagori with her whip.
"You're fight's with me." she said with a glare.
"Heh, if you insist. Your funeral either way." Overdrive said as he brought his attention back to Yamagori. "If you want to keep playing that much, then I'll make sure to extend your suffering as long as you want!"
Yamagori turned around and ran towards the vault. She knew what she had to do. She had only one chance at winning against Overdrive.
"Hahaha! So now you want to play tag? Fine by me!" Overdrive said as he chased after her.
'What the hell am I doing? Why did I even come after Overdrive? I should have just let Eraser Head and Vlad handle it.' Yamagori told herself as she half-ran, half-limped away from the villain. 'I wasn't even thinking when I came here. My mind just decided that on its own. But why?'
"Tag! You're it!" Overdrive yelled as he hit Yamagori with a kick this time. She flew back and hit the wall before falling to the ground painfully.
Yamagori managed to get to her feet, but she was bleeding and she was pretty sure she had a couple broken bones. The power of the support item Overdrive had was no joke. But despite the pain she was in, she managed to crack a grin. "What's the matter? Is that all you've got? I would have thought you'd kill me by now. Maybe you're not as strong as you claim to be."
Overdrive's expression quickly turned to a scowl. "That's some pretty big talk for a wimp that can barely stand."
"But I'm still standing nonetheless." she said. "If this is your max power, then that's pretty sad."
Overdrive growled as he glared at Yamagori. "You want to see my max power? Why don't I show you just how strong I am!" He roared as he burned more of his energy, smoke erupting from the pipes in his back. His muscles grew in size as he readied another attack.
'I really hope this works.' Yamagori thought to herself.
"DIE!" Overdrive roared as he sped at the woman.
Yamagori waited until the last moment before leaping away. She avoided a direct hit, but was still blown back from the shockwave as Overdrive's fist went straight into the wall. Her breathing was heavy but she was still standing as she kept her distance from Overdrive.
Overdrive pulled his fist out from the wall. "I'm getting really tired of this."
"Then maybe you should give up while you're ahead."
Overdrive cracked his knuckles as he prepared to attack once again. "You shouldn't get so cocky, Sienna. You can act like you're a hero all you want. We both know the truth." He rushed at her with another punch, but Yamagori managed to dodge just in time once again. "You're not a hero!" Once again, another attack came that was evaded. "You're just a pathetic failure that couldn't make it as a pro!" Rinse and repeat. "You're nothing more than a worthless pile of trash!"
Yamagori dodged yet again. Looking at Overhaul, she could seem him starting to get tired. She smirked. "You're right. I am garbage. A worthless failure that wasn't able to make it as a pro." she said. "But there's one thing I do know. Something that was drilled into me a long time ago."
"And what is that?"
"Even if I am every single one of those things… I can still be a hero." she said.
"Well you're about to be a dead hero then!" Overhaul prepared to attack once again, but his body suddenly felt sluggish. 'What? Damnit, did I already reach my limit?'
'Finally. He's out of stamina and can't burn his energy anymore.' Yamagori realized with a grin. "I guess it's time to wrap this up." she said as she called out to her class. "Fukuyame! You're up!"
"You got it!" Melody said. She began to sing, focusing the effect of her Quirk on her teacher. "Let's go, let's go! Rah! Rah! Kick 'em to the curb! Lessons will be learned! This is your story! Knock 'em dead with a flurry!"
As Melody sang, Yamagori felt her energy revitalized. She was still in pain, but she finally had some of her strength back. She was standing tall and ready to deliver a well deserved beatdown.
Overdrive noticed Melody singing and realized a Quirk was at play. He prepared to go after her, but Yamagori quickly stopped him as she wrapped her whip around his right arm.
"Here's today's lesson for you, Overdrive!" Yamagori said. She used all her strength and swung her whip, bringing Overdrive along for the ride. He wasn't able to put up any resistance with how exhausted he was. "A hero can always break out of a tough spot!"
'Why am I saying this?'
She swung him against the wall. Overdrive let out a grunt of pain. "They will always find a way for justice to be served!"
'The very lines I mocked and said were worthless. Why do they suddenly come back to me now like this?'
Yamagori wasn't done. She reeled her whip in, pulling Overdrive towards her. Bringing her body low, she delivered an upwards kick to his gut and sent him into the air. "You might have heard these words before, but there's a little saying we have at U.A."
'Is it because deep down I still want… to be a hero?'
Yamagori leaped into the air, getting herself above Overdrive who was beginning to fall back down. She swung a kick that sent him crashing into the floor. As gravity took over and she began her descent back down, the woman reeled her fist back. "Go beyond"
Overdrive watched as Yamagori came down towards him. He was too weak to guard himself. 'No… I can't lose… I was so close.'
"Plus Ultra!"
Yamagori dived down and delivered a vicious punch to the villain's face. The visor he had on cracked and broke apart. There was no longer any point in her using her Quirk on him though. Overdrive was out like a light. He wasn't getting up anytime soon.
"Woah…" Nene gasped. "Did you guys see that?"
"She took him down. That was amazing." Satoshi said.
"Way to go, Ms. Yamagori!" Hikari cheered. "That was awesome!"
The boost from Melody's Quirk finally ran out and exhaustion washed over Yamagori. She sat down and caught her breath. "Why can't villains ever just surrender peacefully? It would make being a hero so much easier."
"Hey! Is everyone alright?!"
The new voice caused everyone to turn and see both Aizawa and Vlad come running towards them. The two teachers came up to Class 1-C. "Are all of you safe? Any injuries?" Vlad asked.
"We're all good." Sakura said. "We took down the villains. And Ms. Yamagori handled their boss."
The two teachers hurried over to the vault, seeing Overdrive and all of his lackeys down for the count. Yamagori noticed the two of them and greeted them with an exhausted grin. "Took you two long enough."
"Are you alright?" Aizawa asked as they walked over to her.
"I'll live." she said. "Best get this big lug restrained though, before he wakes up. And make sure you get that support item off him. Otherwise we'll have a lot on our plate when he comes to."
Aizawa quickly got to work on tying up Overdrive and his crew. Vlad looked at the Class 1-C students. "All of you fought as well?"
"Well duh. No way teach would have been able to handle all this on her own." Hyde grinned.
"D-Don't get the wrong idea though! Ms. Yamagori had us following her instructions the entire time so we didn't needlessly endanger ourselves!" Sakura explained.
Aizawa and Vlad looked at the woman. "You let them fight?" Aizawa asked.
"Yeah. I did." she admitted. "Look, I didn't have much choice. It was either that or-"
"Good call."
Yamagori blinked her eyes in surprise. "Come again?"
"It was the right call. Plus you made sure to take the students' safety into account when ordering them." Aizawa said. "Good work."
Yamagori hid a small smile forming on her lips. "Yeah, well… It's not like I needed your approval or anything. I knew it was the right call."
"Classes A and B are already at the lobby." Vlad said as he turned to the students. "Hurry and get yourselves over there too while we clean up the mess."
Class 1-C nodded together and walked away, making their way back to the lobby where the other first year hero students were.
When the police finally showed up, Overdrive and his crew were taken into custody. The people of HSI thanked the teachers for their help in preventing their inventions from being stolen. Unfortunately, the field trip was cut short as a result of the incident. All three classes headed back to the school. When they returned, they were all told to wait in their classrooms. Although the school day was over, they still needed to confirm a few things.
Yamagori made her way to the conference room. Nezu had likely already heard all of the details from Aizawa and Vlad. She wasn't looking forward to this, since it likely meant she was being fired and sent back to prison. But if it was happening either way, she figured it was best to just get it over with.
Once she knocked on the door, she heard Nezu's voice on the other side. "Come in."
Walking into the room, Yamagori saw all of the other pro hero teachers there. It was like she was walking into her own public execution.
"Thank you for coming, Sienna." Nezu said.
Yamagori took her seat and sighed. "Alright, just say it already. I'm headed back to prison, aren't I?"
"Eraser Head and Vlad filled me in on what happened during the field trip." Nezu told her. "And after confirming everything, I felt there was something you needed to be told."
'Here it comes.'
"Thank you."
It took a second for those words to register with Yamagori. She blinked her eyes in surprise. "What?"
"In addition to Eraser Head and Vlad's testimonies, I also talked with the students of your class. They explained everything that happened, filling in the blanks." Nezu explained. "You took the situation into account and decided on the best course of action that would resolve the situation and keep your students in relative safety. It was the right move to make."
"But I had them fight."
"And you were directing them the entire time. As a result, none of them were injured." Nezu told her.
"So… I'm not getting fired?" she asked.
"Of course not." Nezu told her with a small laugh. "As long as you're willing, I'd love for you to continue your year of working here. I believe your students have much they could learn from you."
"But I thought you all thought I was a traitor."
"I suppose that's on me." Present Mic said. "I may have overreacted a bit. My bad."
"Regardless, you've shown that you are deserving of the trust of everyone here." Nezu told her. "I hope you will continue your good work."
Yamagori could barely believe what she was hearing. It was the exact opposite of what she was expecting. She almost cried.
"Now then, I believe that is all." Nezu said. "Everyone is dismissed."
Yamagori got up from her seat and walked to the door. When she reached the exit, she spoke up. "Hey… Nezu?"
"Yes?"
"I think I understand the lesson you wanted me to learn finally." she said, not turning around to show the smile on her face. "More than anything… I still want to be a hero."
Nezu smiled and nodded his head. "I'm glad you think so."
"Do me a favor though. Next time, just tell me the damn lesson instead of making me have to figure it out myself." she said with a small chuckle. She walked out of the room and made her way down the hall.
Everything had turned out far better than expected. She was still a teacher. She wasn't headed back to jail. And to top it all off, she had never felt more at peace with herself. However, there was still one thing nagging at her. One thing she still had to do now. Face her class with them knowing about her past and her reasons for being here.
Yamagori slowly made her way to the room for Class 1-C. When she reached it, she stared at the door for what seemed like forever. Finally, she sighed to herself and walked inside. Each of the students were conversing with each other, but when she walked into the room they all quickly moved to their desks and sat down.
Walking up to her desk, Yamagori sat down on it. She sighed as she addressed the students. "Look, I know none of you particularly like me right now. But whether you like me or not, I'm going to be here for the year as your homeroom teacher. So you brats are just going to have to deal with it." she told them. "And I'd rather not spend the year getting snide remarks, so if any of you have something to say, just say it already and let's get it over with."
The students all looked at each other, with none of them making a move. Finally, Vivi stood up from her seat. Yamagori could only expect this one to be the harshest of them, considering she had been held hostage.
But to her surprise, Vivi instead bowed her head. "Thank you for saving my life, Ms. Yamagori."
"... What?"
"You took action in order to save me." Vivi told her. "So even if you do have a criminal record, and even if you're not a pro hero… I wanted to thank you."
"Yeah. All things considered, you did pretty well." Hyde said with a smirk. "I mean, we stopped the villains and none of us got hurt."
"The entire time, you made sure we didn't do anything stupid that would get us injured." Dan told her. "So what we really all want to say is… thanks."
"Yeah. It's not like you were a part of the attack or anything. You stopped those villains." Jill said.
"Plus it was so awesome the way you took down their boss." Shiro added. "It was totally badass."
"Everyone…" Yamagori shed a tear, but quickly wiped it away.
"Aw, are you gonna cry teach?" Hyde asked.
"Shut it, Gekido." she told him with a slight grin. "Alright then you brats. If you're all really ok with me being your teacher… then I suppose I better start taking this role seriously." She looked at all of them with a smirk. "On one condition. Since I'm gonna start putting effort into this thing, you all better make sure to be the top class of the school. I don't want you all making me look bad, got it?"
"Right!" the entire class said in agreement.
