Howdy folks, how's it going?
I hope you all had a pleasant holiday season, as much was it was possible within the constraints of the current situation.
At any rate, here we are, closing up this clusterfuck of a year with yet another chapter to what is swiftly becoming my most popular story. People like psychopathic comedy, who would've thought?
As always, a shout out to Chaos Productions for his continued assistance.
And as always, I own neither WH40K nor BNHA.
Enjoy, ya gits.
/
"What the hell are you grinning about, you crazy bastard?! We are surrounded by villains!" Mineta screamed frantically, tears of pure panic flowing down his face as he stared up incredulously at Midoriya, and for once, Momo had to concede that the class pervert had a point. To say that their situation, surrounded on all sides by people with obvious ill intentions, in rather perilous terrain to boot, was precarious would be the understatement of the century.
And yet there the green-haired boy stood, staring around like Momo imagined a kid in a toy store would.
"I know!" Midoriya agreed eagerly, not even sparing Mineta a glance. "Innit great?! Been way too long since I'z had a gud scrap."
…
…
"…Midoriya, you got in a fight yesterday during hero training." Somehow the sheer need to point this particular fact out helped Momo overcome the initial surprise and fear that being dumped here via portal caused, and once more she looked around, more closely observing the villains. They were a big group, 15 in total, most of them obvious mutant types, ranging from blades for hands to rocky bodies, things that the pony-tailed girl figured might be useful in the mountainous terrain of this zone, which said to the tactical side of her mind that this had been planned in advance, a worrying prospect…
"Yah, like I sed, too long." The boy once more agreed easily, before, much to Momo's confusion, his delighted grin turned into a reluctant grimace. "… Oh, right. There's a lot o'dem… so, how'd ya wanna split'em? 5 each?"
…
…
…
"Are you fucking insane?!" Mineta screamed, looking like he'd have been tearing his hair off right now if he had any.
This time, Midoriya did look, but not immediately. With an odd look of confusion on his face, the green-haired boy stared aimlessly around, before his eyes finally fell on Mineta and he… squinted?
"…Where dah zog did you'ze come from?" He asked, sounding as if he just now realized the diminutive boy was there.
"Hey, that's mean! I was dumped here with you and-waitafuckingminute, don't change the subject!" Mineta ranted, panicked terror and shocked disbelief warring in his face. "These are villains! We're just students! And they have us surrounded! We're fucked! And you want us to fight 5 of them each?!"
"Well, not really." Midoriya admitted, rather grumpily. "I'd love tah fite'em all meself, but mah always sez dat I shuld share. Ya know, dat I shuld be… wot'z dat word fer finking' bout what otha' gits want?"
…
…
…
It was a testament to how odd that statement was that even the villains paused at it, sharing uncertain and confused glances among each other. There was just… something, something in the way the kid spoke without a single shred of fear or apprehension regarding them, something in the way he held himself before them, that went so against what they had been expecting to deal with in this job that it had them hesitating from the sheer confusion.
"…Considerate?" Momo offered after a moment's consideration of the inanity of Midoriya's words, figuring that a few more moments of flabbergasted confusion from the villains were a few more moments they bought for aid to arrive…
"Yeah, dat." Midoriya confirmed with a nod before giving her an inquisitive look. "An' since it seems Grapey Boy dun want tah foit, I guess dat leaves half a'dem for each of uz?"
"Is this brat for real…?" The slasher movie rip-off villain finally managed to overcome his confusion enough to ask, looking around to his companions as if wanting to make sure everyone had heard the same thing as he, the shrugs he got in response indicating that had indeed been the case. "You know what, I don't even care. Let's just kill that cocky little shit first and have our fun with the others."
To Momo and Mineta's great distress, at his words the rest of the villains seemed to finally remember that what they were here to do and how much they outnumbered the students, so with malicious grins, disturbing leers at her in particular, and the wicked confidence that their targets had nowhere to run, the circle began to slowly enclose upon them.
"Oh, we'z startin' already?" Midoriya simply said in mild yet pleasant surprise. "Aight den, guess it'z gun be first come, first serve. Now lesse here…"
Without a care in the world, Midoriya reached into the pouch in his leather apron, rummaging around in there amidst bouts of incoherent mumbling until… "Ahah!"
Momo eyed the contraption that Midoriya pulled out with a triumphant cry, and couldn't help but blink in confusion. It just seemed like… well, as far as she could tell it just looked like a flat square of folded metal panels, the only distinguishable feature being a big red button on one of the sides.
Whatever it was, however, it once again made the villains briefly pause in wariness, trying to determine whether or not it was a threat.
It soon proved to be a massive mistake on their part.
With a grin that could only be described as bloodthirsty, the green-haired boy slapped the contraption against his chest and slammed the button. With a series of whirring clicks, the metallic plates opened, attaching to his chestplate, two sets of metallic bands unfolding over and under his shoulders to connect to the generator pack at his back. From there, with a low thrum of power, more and more plates of metal kept unfolding, expanding and covering Midoriya's body in the metallic frame. His feet vanished within metallic clamps, which then lifted off the ground as they were surrounded by thick plates of metal in a rough shape of steel-toed boots. His hands closed around grip-like handles, before disappearing beneath a row of four massive talons on the right and the many barrels of an imposing gatling gun on the left. His grinning face was surrounded by plates until a metallic arc formed over it giving the illusion of a hump, and then vanished under a closing blocky helmet that gave the impression of a leering skull with a toothy underbite grin, green lenses flaring to life in the place of eyes.
As she watched utterly flabbergasted the activation of this suit of armor that somehow seemed to violate far more laws of physics than should be possible, Momo could not help but notice the paint job. Besides the checkered black-and-white patterns at the base of the feet, knees, elbows, and across the shoulders, there was the dark blue torso, the blood red limbs, and the yellow helmet…
"Aight, den." Midoriya said as the deployment finished, rolling the shoulders of the blocky and unyielding looking thing with deceptive ease, his voice now with a deep, gravelly, modulated echo to it. "Come have a go, ya gits! WAAAAAAAAGGGHH!"
His bellow echoing through the artificial peaks, the boy charged the closest cluster of villains, the heavy footfalls of the mechanized suit carrying him forward with surprising limberness. Caught off-guard by the unexpected development, the slasher villain didn't manage to move out of the way before a massive shoulder plate slammed into his torso, sending him flying off the plateau and into a screaming tumble down the side of the mountain.
The sudden disappearance of one of their own finally roused the others into action, and with an outraged cry a villain that more closely resembled a golem of craggy, dark brown rock moved forward, throwing a massively oversized fist at the student, only for said fist to be separated from his body by a flash of raking steel talons, sending the man into a crash like a crumbling mountain as the sudden loss of weight led him to overbalance and topple over.
"Why, you little-Oh shit!" His furious curse was cut short as the gatling gun was trained on his head, and the natural process of erosion went into overdrive as the deluge of bullets reduced the rocky villain's head into a stump.
The slowing barrels hadn't even stopped smoking when the next two closest villains, one looking like some odd mix of a boar and a porcupine, the other with an insectoid tail that ended in a cluster of spikes, wisely decided to keep their distance and instead opted on firing a barrage of quills at the armored boy. To their horror, none of the projectiles, which had been shot with enough force to pierce through solid rock, had any sort of effect. In fact, none of them even actually hit, plinking harmlessly off some sort of invisible surface inches from the armor, that grinning toothy helmet turning in their direction with an unimpressed leer.
"What the fuck is wrong with this bra-aaaarggh!" The spike-tailed villain didn't have the time to finish asking before the taloned hand clamped around his tail and swung him like a flail into his partner, sending them both tumbling into a rough crash down the mountain.
At this point, it finally dawned on the remaining villains not within the armored student's immediate line of sight that they should probably go for an easier target, and as the boy focused his attention on a hapless minotaur-looking villain, the others acted on that realization, closing in on the other two students present.
Midoriya's rampage however, had given Momo the time she needed to prepare. Before they could get too close, a cluster of black spheres came rolling in their direction, detonating in a series of disorienting flashes, halting the villains and scattering them in clusters of loud, confused cursing. Two of them did not have the time to recover before two clean hits from a freshly created quarterstaff sent them into unconsciousness, the pony-tailed girl able to move unobstructed courtesy of the extra-dark glasses she'd prepared.
The next three, a woman with elongated, scythe-like talons not unlike the one on Midoriya's power claw, a man with goat-like horns, hooves, and eyes, and another with thin, tail-like tendrils sprouting out of his wrists, took that time to shake off the daze, quicker than the girl had expected, and glowering at her, they promptly charged her to prevent any further surprises. Momo's eyes widened at the sight, too short on time to make anything else. But amidst the panic that she had every right to feel in this situation, the rational part of her mind realized that she did not have the time to be frightened at his point, and with the best CQC training her family's money could buy kicking in, the pony-tailed girl took a combat stance, ready to meet them head on.
As this was unfolding, Mineta had taken the opportunity to sneak behind a small boulder to hide, and as he observed, the diminutive boy was man enough to admit to himself that he was on the verge of soiling himself in sheer terror. Why was this happening? How was it possible that they were facing actual fucking villains like this?! They weren't even heroes yet. Hell, they were barely even students.
And yet Midoriya and Yaoyoruzu were facing down those villains, without a shred of fear, and going by the way the former was currently repeatedly bashing the bull-man's face against the surrounding boulders, laughing all the way, with relish even.
Crazy idiots, the two of them.
And yet…
As Mineta cowered in his hiding place, the rational side of his mind telling him to keep his head down and pray to whatever deity would listen that the heroes came to their rescue, another voice, one he hadn't heard very often, suddenly made itself heard. A voice that asked what did it say about him, that he was hiding, when the others were fighting?
The rational side retorted that it made him the only sane person here, that he was the only one doing the smart thing keeping his head down, but the nagging feeling insisted, increasingly louder. Mineta hadn't decided to pursue a career in heroics for the sake of altruism, he just wanted to be popular with the ladies, however, while he was rather… enthusiastic about his interests, he wasn't stupid. He was aware, on some logical level, about the dangers of this profession, about what he was getting himself into. He had just, perhaps naively in hindsight, thought that it'd be worth it, that he'd have plenty of time to get ready before shit got serious.
Well, shit was getting serious now, and here he was, cowering in fear. Midoriya and Yaoyoruzu may be crazy, but at least they were trying to do something. With far more success than they should have, he was even forced to admit.
This was the life he was choosing for himself.
…Was he really cut out for this? Should he really even be here…?
His thoughts came to a head when he saw the three villains bum-rushing Yaoyoruzu. There was no way she was gonna be able to beat all of them, and while Midoriya seemed to have finally realized her predicament, he was too far away to intervene.
The nagging reached a fever pitch in the back of his head, and against any and all self-preservation instincts he had, the diminutive boy found himself jumping on top of his hiding place, his body almost on automatic pilot, and with a cry that he had meant to be intimidating but came out more as a terrified squeak, he began ripping the spheres from his head and lobbing them forward at a rate that could only be described as frenzied.
Claw woman and goat man where caught by surprise by the sudden barrage, the sticky spheres pelting them all over. The former stopped her charge only for the latter to slam into her back, trapping them together as they fell to the floor in a tangle of cussing, limbs and sticky balls, smacking heads upon impact and putting them out of comission.
The tendril villain, a bit further behind, saw the barrage coming and managed to move out of the way. As the pain of his bleeding scalp finally forced Mineta to stop, he could only stare on very shake legs as the bulky man grinned nastily at him, and once again began advancing towards him and Yaoyoruzu…
"Hedz'up!"
A massive projectile, which revealed itself to be the unconscious and quite roughed up minotaur, came flying into the tendril guy, knocking him out instantly.
It took a moment for Mineta to process what just happened, his eyes slowly moving from the villains to Midoriya, who was now approaching them with ponderous stomps, to Yaoyoruzu, who after a sigh of relief, stared back, and gave an appreciative nod.
Maybe he wasn't hopeless at this after all…
He noticed far too late how the girl's eyes suddenly grew wide in alarm. Before he could react, someone had grabbed him by the back of the neck.
"I've gotta hand it to you little shits." A voice said, as the limb that had grabbed him slowly rose off the ground, the rest of the villain soon following. "You were tougher than we thought. Guess they really do start raising them young these days. But that just means that we've gotta stop messing around."
Momo could only stare in frustrated alarm as the man held Mineta off the ground, the boy frozen in horror as tears pooled at the corners of his eyes. The remaining four villains gathered behind their comrade, glaring hatefully at her and Midoriya, wounded egos that no longer saw them as helpless kids to toy with, but as genuine threats to be dealt with.
"Drop your weapons. Or I snap this snot-nosed little brat's neck." The hostage taker ordered, tightening his grip just slightly for emphasis, making the boy whimper.
Momo gritted her teeth at their current predicament. It was so obvious what'd happen if they complied that it didn't even deserve consideration, but if they didn't, Mineta was doomed. Neither prospect appealed, but what could she really do about it…?
"Oi, Grapey Boy." Midoriya cut through her worried thoughts with an oddly stern tone, as the armored boy came to stand beside her. "Don't move."
Then before she could do anything to stop him, he raised his gatling gun.
"What the-What are you doing, you bastard?!" The lead villain floundered in sudden panic, raising the purple-clad student as a pseudo-shield. "I'll kill him, I'll fucking kill-!"
"Waaaaaaggghhhh!"
His threats were silenced by the combination of Midoriya's bellow, the roar of his weapon firing, and the terrified, high-pitched shriek of Mineta as bullets started flying. The villains didn't even have the time to look for cover.
In the silence that followed as the smoking barrels were lowered, the lead villain risked opening his eyes.
Nothing… happened?
He looked down at himself, patting here and there with his free hand. No bullet wounds anywhere. He checked the brat in his grip, but other than the now nasty smell on him he was otherwise fine. He then glanced at the other villains around him, themselves in similar unharmed states of shocked, disbelieving confusion, before once more turning to the armored brat.
"…You missed." Was all he managed to say.
"Sez who?" Was the cheeky reply, before the boy stomped his foot on the ground. Hard.
A low rumble made itself heard, growing steadily and increasingly louder, and the villains noticed with some confusion that it was coming from… behind them?
It was only far, far too late that they realized their tactical error. The plateau-ed area they were on wasn't the highest point of this artificial mountain, and they'd been standing with their backs to the sheer rocky side of an outcropping.
Their cries of terror were swiftly drowned out by the roaring rockslide that collapsed on top of them.
By the time the dust cleared enough for Momo to be able to see, Mineta covered in a thick layer of dirt and debris, was lying unmoving on his back, inches away from the rubble that had entombed the villains.
"And dat, iz why ya shuld bring a helmet when out hikin' in dah mountainz." Midoriya commented in a lecturing tone.
…
…
"Midoriya…" Momo eventually said, as she surveyed the wreckage somewhat uncertainly. "Did you know that Mineta would be just out of range of the rockslide because of how the villain was holding him?"
"…Yah, sure, why not." The armored boy replied, not too convincingly, somehow giving the impression even from beneath his helmet that he was shiftily glancing from one side to the other, before he stomped forward towards Mineta, who was staring up at the ceiling of the USJ from where he lied, his eyes of those of someone who was a thousand miles away right now. "Ya doin' ok, Grapey boy?"
"…I think I just shat myself." The shorter boy replied in the careless, half-delirious tone of someone who starting tofeel the withdrawal of an adrenaline rush, making Momo wrinkle her nose in disgust despite herself.
"Ain't dat why you'ze wearing dat diaper?" Midoriya asked, in a tone of genuine confusion, and the innocent question seemed to help the diminutive boy snap out of his funk, his head snapping to the now much, much taller boy with a heated glare.
"It's not a diaper, you dick! It's meant to represent a bowl, as in a bowl of grapes. It's my hero brand! Also, what the fuck where you thinking firing that thing with me in the line of fire-?! I could've died!"
"…Lookz like a diaper to me." The armored boy replied after a moment of quiet staring. "And you'ze way too small to make a proppah target, dat'z why it worked."
"Fuck you, Midoriya, just, just… fuck you…"
"Boys." Momo interjected, placing herself between the arguing duo. "I'll agree that things could've gone… smoother, but right now, we have more pressing matters. We still don't know what these villains want or what have they done to the others and-"
She was interrupted then, by two simultaneous events. To their left, just behind another mountain, roughly around where the ruins zone should be, a massive wall of ice jutted towards the ceiling, before slowly toppling over, the echoing, rumbling crashes that followed suggesting that it had started a domino effect in the facsimile city. And over on the other side of the distant plaza, the massive lake that was the flood zone suddenly lit up like a Christmas light, lighting up the entire park before fading like a blown-out fuse.
…
…
…
"…Welp, dat wuz dem Frosty and Zappy boy doin' sum stompin'." Midoriya commented, his tone one of impressed approval. "Guess dah baddies spread uz out thruh dah park."
"Uh… yes, so it would seem." Momo was forced to concede.
"That still doesn't explain why hell are villains attacking UA?!" Mineta yelled frantically, his panic at the situation now returning in full. "Who would be stupid enough to try to attack the top Heroics school in the country?! What would they even gain?!"
"Gud kweshtoon." Midoriya agreed, before turning to survey the field. "We shuld ask'em."
Momo blinked at that, before looking in the same direction, towards the few remaining villains strewn around the plateau, and realized not all of them were down for the count. The golem villain, whose head was halfway through rebuilding itself, was trying to get himself back on his feet, which was proving to be difficult as his bulk and caused his arms and leg to snap off during his fall. She decided it was best not to ask whether Midoriya knew that he could regenerate…
"Well," She said, somewhat hesitantly. "I suppose we could try an interrogation…"
"You two get right on that." Mineta replied, starting to awkwardly walk away from the duo towards a huge boulder a little to the side. "I gotta… take care of the baggage. I knew I should've gone this morning…"
Pointedly ignoring the implications, Momo made her way towards the villain, Midoriya following behind her, his ponderous steps drawing the rock man's attention, one reformed crystal-like eye glaring at them.
"Why you little shits…" He grumbled cavernously, trying to reach for them with stumpy arms, obviously to no avail. "Just wait until my limbs grow back. I'm gonna crush you!"
Momo could not help but find that, now that he was in this sorry state of helplessly trying to get up, the threats were a lot less intimidating.
"Somehow, I doubt that." She answered coolly, adopting a serious, professional demeanor. "We have some questions."
"I'm not gonna tell you shit!" The villain spat defiantly.
"Oh yes, you iz, ya craggy git." Midoriya cut in as he stomped forward.
"Or you'll what, brat, give me a lecture?" The man scoffed, clearly unimpressed. "You're just brats in training, but you're still heroes. You already caught me, what else can you do now other than reading me my rights?"
"Well, actually," The armored boy answered, his gatling gun aiming at the man's crotch with an ominous click. "I wuz finkin' on startin' by shootin' yer rocky junk off, and work mah way up from dere."
…
…
"A-ahh, good luck with that, brat!" The man taunted with an obviously forced confidence. "Long as I'm touching ground, I am always gonna piece myself together. You can't do shit to me!"
Momo couldn't help but think, given how proud he was looking even as he revealed how his quirk worked to them, that this villain clearly wasn't the most intelligent sort. That meant, most likely, he and the others here were mere hired muscle…
"Fine, den, be dat way. Oi, Boss Lady, can ya makez a tarp?" Midoriya asked her, briefly catching the girl off-guard with the odd request, before her mind caught up and she realized what he was playing at. It could work…
With a nod, she set to work, a large, deep blue, wrapped sheet of tarp sprouting from her gut. Without a word, she unfolded it on the ground and took a couple of steps back, giving Midoriya the needed room to grab the now protesting and cussing villain and drag him on top of the thing.
"Dere, now yer not touching ground." The armored boy said, pressing the barrels of the gun right against the side of the villains head. "Now start talkin', or dey won't find enuff'a you'ze tah piece together."
"Y-you're bluffing." The man stammered, suddenly a lot less confident. "You're bluffing. You can't do that. You're heroes in training. Heroes don't kill!"
"Well, technically," Momo interjected, trying to sound as casually polite as she could. "You and your colleagues attacked us first. We may just be students, and not even have a provisional license, but in this situation, we can just claim whatever happens was self-defense. You people are jamming communications, which probably means the surveillance systems too, and all the other villains here are unconscious. Nobody would know. However, we could avoid all that… unpleasantness, if you just told us what we want to know…"
For a long moment, the villain looked at her with his one good, very wide eye, mouth working up and down in incoherent, frightful mumbling. As a final touch, in that moment the barrels of the gatling gun begun to slowly spin…
"Wait, wait! I'll talk! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!" He cried out fearfully, and with a glance in her direction, Midoriya removed his weapon from the villain's face, though he never stopped aiming.
"Alright then," Momo stated, holding back a sigh of relief at her bluff succeeding. "Let's start with what brought you all here."
"We, we were approached by those guys." The villain started, shivering fearfully. "The one wearing a hand as a mask and the one made of smoke, Shigaraki and Kurogiri, they're called. Say they're part of a "League of Villains" and they've been recruiting for this job for weeks now. Said they wanted muscle to break into U.A. To kill All Might."
The pony-tailed girl's eyes widened in shock at the words. A plot, weeks in the making, all just to target the Number 1 Hero…
"Oh please," Midoriya cut in, clearly giving the impression that he was rolling his eyes even under all that armor. "Like a bunch of' Z-list gits like all'a you'ze could make it. If ya barely made fer a warmup fer me, ya couldn't even touch All Moigt."
"That's kinda what we said when they came to us." The villain admitted nervously. "Laughed at the very notion, we did. I mean, All Might gone would be good news for every villain out there, but even me and the guys knew this was way above our weight class. And then Shigaraki reduced our boss to dust with a touch and suddenly we weren't laughing no more. He said he had the means to deal with All Might. We just had to come along to take care of the "students adds"."
"How exactly would he "deal" with All Might?" Momo followed up, with a somewhat skeptical tone. It was worrying that this lead villain seemed to believe it to be possible, but the man was the world's greatest hero for a reason.
"It's that other guy he's got following him around. Shigaraki called him Noumu. Honestly, there's something off about that one. Bigger than All Might even, his brain is exposed, looks like he's dead to the world unless Shigaraki gives him orders. It just feels wrong." The villain shuddered. "Shigaraki said Noumu would be the All Might killer. And that is all I know, I swear."
After a few moments of silence as the two students considered the villains words, Midoriya nodded, seemingly satisfied…
"Thank you'ze fer yer honesty."
Crack!
… And proceeded to use his claw to rip off what remained of the villains arms and legs.
"OH COME ON!" The man roared angrily. "I told you everything!"
"Ya did, and dat'z why I haven't turned ya into a pile'o rubble." The armored boy replied casually, shutting the villain up. "Just makin' sure ya won't be going nowhere till' dah copz get here."
With that, the boy turn around and began walking towards the edge of the plateau, and Momo followed.
"Nice work wiff dah interrogatin', Boss Lady." Midoriya suddenly said as they stood there, looking towards the central plaza in the distance. "Ya convinced dah git gud."
"Well, to be fair, he wasn't particularly clever, falling for your bluff about shooting him apart." The pony-tailed girl deflected somewhat bashfully, caught off-guard by the sudden praise, before she curiously stared at the boy, now having to look up to meet his eyes. "And if I might ask, what's with that armor? How did you manage to make it so… compact when not in use?"
"… Yah, sure, bluff. Tah answer yer kweshtoon, dis be mah mega armour. Been workin' on it fer a while. And I got the idea tah give it a foldable frame from an ol' pre-quirk timez webtoon series. T'wuz cancelled before it finished an' after dah first few seasons started gettin' too crappy fer me tastes, but had sum awsome fite scenes and weapon ideas I been tryin' tah re- tah repli-tah copy! Errythin' could turn into shootas!" The boy explained quite eagerly, before apparently realizing something and shaking his head. "But we'z can talk moar about dah laterz. Wot we do know?"
Deciding he had a point, Momo pondered the question, thinking about what they'd just learned. After a moment's consideration, the girl created a set of binoculars.
"Let's try to see what's happening down there…"
"Hey guys," Mineta called out as he approached them, now walking properly once again. "Sorry about that. Also, I took the liberty after I was done to trap the other villains." He threw a thumb to the big pile of ball-covered bodies behind them. "They're not going anywhere until tomorrow at the earliest. So, what I miss?"
"Dese dumb gits came'ere tah try tah krump All Moigt."
"To what?" The diminutive boy asked, confused by the statement.
"It seems like this whole attack was a ploy to assassinate All Might." Momo clarified, still calibrating the binoculars for an optimal view.
"Really?" Mineta commented disbelievingly. "How could they possibly think that's a good idea? I mean, he's the Number 1 Hero for crying out loud!"
"Ya, dat'z wot we thot, but it seemz like dese gits came wiff a plan. We'z trying tah see wot'z going on down dere so we can decide wot tah do an-"
"Oh no…" Momo muttered in sudden alarm, earning the two boys attention.
"Wot'z wrong, Boss Lady?"
"It'z Aizawa-sensei." The girl replied worriedly. "I see him in the plaza. He's engaged the villains there, but that… Noumu the villain talked about is there, as has begun advancing towards him. There's no way he can-Oh my God, he just snapped Sensei's arm like a twig!"
Mineta gasped, looking horrified at the information, and Midoriya, Midoriya suddenly went very, very still…
"…Oh, zog no." He breathed out, his tone one of utter seriousness. "No way Imma be missin' out on DAT scrap! WAAAAAAGGGHHH!"
Before either Momo or Mineta could realize what was happening much less say anything, Midoriya was already gone, trundling down the mountainside.
/
"I've got to give you the due credit, Eraserhead." The villain known as Shigaraki commented in a bored, careless tone as another crack followed by an agonized scream echoed through the plaza. "You surprised me. I thought you were specced for one-on-one duels, but going by the way you cleared most of my party, you clearly invested into some crowd control skills. Unfortunately for you, that doesn't mean anything against the Noumu."
Said Noumu, the gift given to him by Sensei to see this mission done, was currently in the process of slowly and methodically pummeling the Erasure hero into a stain on the ground. It was rather overkill, Shigaraki had to admit, to sic your strongest party member on a far weaker enemy, but then wasn't that one of the most cathartic things you could do in a game? Why shouldn't he be allowed to vent his frustrations?
"This was supposed to be such a simple mission. Get in, kill All Might, maybe some brats as a side objective, get out. Bam, just like that. Instead I'm stuck here, with the main objective nowhere in sight, and going by the spectacles coming from three of the zones, with the cheap, disposable troops I brought with me proving they weren't worth the effort to recruit." The macabrely masked villain sighed, considering the prone, bloody, barely conscious form the hero lying defeated before the Noumu, who stood there, patiently waiting for his commands. "I hope you understand, Eraserhead, that you make for a very poor consolation prize, but at this point, I'll take what I can get. Noumu, kill-"
"A GIT SEZ WOT?"
"-What?"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!"
Shigaraki barely had the time to register the words before the distinct roar or flying bullets filled the air, and suddenly his field of vision was obscured by the bulk of the Noumu, the creature acting on its deeply engrained orders to protect him at all costs. From the safety of this very convenient meat shield, the man had the time to look, and realize that yes, his attacker, some odd robot looking thing, come charging in from the direction of the mountain area (He really should probably invest in more competent mooks next time…) was indeed firing a massive arm-mounted gatling gun at him, the bullets slamming to the Noumu's entire backside with no real damage.
"…Oh wow." He stated mildly. "I knew Heroics were just state-sponsored violence, but this is a bit much."
The figure didn't stop firing until he was standing between the villains and the hero, who was so barely capable of staying conscious he didn't even react to the sudden intrusion.
"Oi! Why dontcha gits pick on someone who can put a foit?!" The tin-can demanded with leering green lenses, the voice making Shigaraki realize that this was likely one of the brats inside that suit. Now that he got a closer look, he noticed the paintjob, and this made him feel very annoyed.
"…Let me guess, another brainwashed All Might fanboy, sticking their noses where it doesn't belong because it's the oh so heroic and righteous thing to do." The dry-skinned man commented in equally dry contempt. "You do realize that you're going to die now, right?"
"Yer othah gits tried already. Didn't turn out so well fer'em." The brat replied, and Shigaraki briefly wondered what the hell was that accent. "Come'ere, I'll show you'ze how it went."
"Those guys?" He snorted dismissively. "Just cannon fodder. It's disappointing that they're failing so badly, but hardly surprising. Noumu here, though, is another matter entirely. He's my MVP, costume made and specifically created to kill the vaunted "Symbol of Peace". To put an end to the tyranny he represents and destroy this corrupted-"
Bullets started flying again, making the Noumu once more dash to stand before the villain.
"…Don't they teach you brats it's poor form to interrupt a monologue?" The villain asked, sounding thoroughly offended as he scratched at his neck.
"All I'z hearin' iz BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!" The student bellowed in reply. "I don't give a zog wotchu want or how yer dressin' it up, you'ze here tah hurt people, I'z here tah stop ya! Now quit borin' me tah deff an' come fite already!"
"…Suit yourself." The villain shrugged, then the thin veil of casual politeness vanished from his tone, leaving only dripping malice. "Noumu, kill this brat."
At the command, the grotesque creature's lifeless eyes snapped towards Izuku, and with a monstrous roar, it charged forward, faster than the eye could follow, closing the distance in a second and launching a devastating punch straight into the brat's chest with a thunderous sound…
…Which against all of Shigaraki's expectations, failed to smash said armor like a soda can and cause the mashed-up brat inside to erupt out like shaken soda. Instead, it only pushed him back, his firmly planted feet carving gouges on the ground.
"What the…?"
"Dis git meant tah krump All Moigt, uh?" The brat asked, sounding most definitely unmashed-up. "Welp, fun fact, I made dis Mega Armour tah fite like'im! Lesse who did it bettah! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!"
/
"This is insane." Mineta ranted, not for the first time since they began their track down the mountain, much to Momo's growing annoyance. "Why are we heading towards the villains?"
"Because, Mineta-san," She reminded, both for him and herself, if she was being entirely honest. "We have a better chance at safety if we can make our way back to the entrance. Moreover, Aizawa-sensei and Midoriya-san might need our help."
"But that means we're putting yourselves within range of the villain who they seem to believe can take down freaking All Might!" The diminutive boy stressed, staring up at her disbelievingly. "How the hell are you not freaking out about this?!"
"Oh, I assure you, I am terrified right now." The girl admitted easily. "I just don't think it's struck me fully yet, and I am trying to stave off the inevitable freak out with the thought that there are people needing help-"
Another loud crash rang out from further ahead, followed by the roar of bullets and Midoriya's rather distinctive war cry.
"-Like Midoriya needs right now. Now shush." She said as they sneaked behind some of the bushes around the outer circle of the area, and carefully peaked out to see…
Crash!
"DAT ALL YA GOT, YA BIRDBRAIN GIT!? ME MAH HITS HARDAH THAN DAT!"
…
…
"Well, maybe help might be too strong a word…" She couldn't help but comment.
What she and Mineta were witnessing could only be described as a stalemate.
The Noumu, and Momo found herself agreeing with the villain's assessment that there was something seriously wrong with that thing, towered over even the armored bulk of Midoriya's mega armour, and each blow it landed released shockwaves through the plaza not to dissimilar to what All Might himself could do. That however, seemed to mean very little for the boy, who took each blow without a care, probably thanks to the effects of his force field generator, if Momo had to guess, and eagerly retaliated with claw and gun, which in return did next to nothing to the creature, which wasn't fazed in the slightest even when shot at point blank in the face.
Neither side could hurt the other, but neither could make the other move, and every time the other villain, Shigaraki she realized, tried to join the fray, Midoriya simply aimed at him and the Noumu would disengage to act as a shield, momentarily breaking the standoff. Briefly she wondered just how much ammunition the boy had packed…
"Gotta admit, that's a sturdier piece of scrap than I thought. Guess you invested heavily into armor crafting." Shigaraki said, his tone thick with that level of petulant annoyance only children should be able to reach, with brought to Momo's mind concerns about his mental stability. "But how much longer can you go on like this? You can't so much as put a scratch on the Noumu, and even if you could, it wouldn't mean much. Your only chance would be to try to gouge out his flesh, but it's not like he's gonna let-"
It struck the pony-tailed girl as rather odd, the way Midoriya seemed to… perk up at the words.
"Ohohohoh, really?! Thankz fer dah tip, ya Facepalmy Git! I finally get tah really turn dis on!"
The steel talons of the armored boy's claw clenched, and a low thrum of power could be heard as a faint, green glow briefly crackled through their surface. Uncaring of this, the Noumu wound up for yet another punch that would've pasted a man…
Snip.
When it suddenly stopped, staring dumbly at the bloody stump where it's arm should've been.
"What the fuck?!" Shigaraki cursed, suddenly a lot less calm, staring at the scene with the same shock Momo herself felt. "What kind of bullshit trick is this?! Noumu has shock absorption! His defense was raised to the max to tank anything All Might could throw at him! And you weren't even scratching him until now!"
"It'z game rulez basics, ya dumb git! Armor dun mean zog against armor pen, and I'z got that tah spare!" As if to emphasize the point, Midoriya swung again, lopping the Noumu's other arm off while it was just standing there, staring blankly.
At point that point, while she was watching this confrontation unfold with undisguised shock, something caught the pony-tailed girl's attention from the corner of her eye. Unnoticed by the villain, a trio composed of Tsu-chan, Sato and Kaminari were sneakily swimming to the edge of the lake on the other side of the plaza, the latter looking rather out of it. If she had to guess, the earlier light show had been the result off the frog girl pragmatically solving their own villain problem by dumping the boy into the lake and letting physics run their course.
As they approached and took stock of the situation, Tsu-chan's eyes (slightly wider than normal, the only outward sign of her surprise) found Momo's, and in unspoken communication both girls both turned towards the bloodied form Aizawa-sensei, giving each other a small nod.
Without a word, she motioned for Mineta to follow, and the duo continued sneaking around the outer edge of the plaza, towards their injured teacher, hoping dearly that Midoriya would be able to keep holding the villains attention without getting himself killed…
"…Ok, you surprised me again. You are starting yo become a very annoying thorn on my side. I hate surprise side-encounters." Shigaraki had begun saying, scratching at his neck with both hands. "But it still doesn't mean anything. Noumu, stop messing around."
Almost as if at the man's command, the stumps on the creature's arms suddenly began twitching and shifting, sickening bursting noises filling the air as a pair of brand-new arms sprouted from them.
"Regenarashoon…?" Midoriya breathed out, for once sounding genuinely surprised at the development, not that Momo could blame him given the impossibility of it all.
"That's right." Shigaraki gloated, with a leer that indicated that he was grinning behind his gruesome mask. "Shock-absorption and regeneration, the perfect minmaxed quirk build to counter the Symbol of Peace. Do you finally understand how pointless your efforts are? How inevitable your defeat and gruesome demise is?"
…
…
…
"Are you'ze fer zoggin' real?" Midoriya asked drily, as if that had been the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. "Dis' be dah bezt news I'z had all day! Means I can stop zoggin' around and do fings like THIS!"
To the confusion of everyone watching, he proceeded to square his shoulders and lean forward slightly. Confusion that was quick to turn to shock when with a small click the checkered shoulder plates opened to reveal a pair of rockets!
BOOOM!
The shockwave knocked Shigaraki flat on his arse, while the explosion engulfed the Noumu and send it flying into the forested area at the other end of the plaza with a thunderous crash.
"Aaaaaaahhh, feelz gud tah be able tah get serious…" Midoriya commented in the silence that ensued, sounding positively giddy, his tone one of pure catharsis, before he turned, green lenses staring at the Momo's hiding place as if he knew she was there all along. "The rest a' you'ze guys shuld prolly get to dah Boss and get'im out a here before fings go down again. He's been stomped pretty bad…"
At that point, Aizawa let out a groan, the detonation having rocked him back into full consciousness, which coupled with Midoriya's prompting shook both Tsuyu and Momo out of their surprise enough to risk leaving their hiding places to tend to the teacher, the other students following soon after.
"Get… out of here…" The teacher struggled to say, upon suddenly finding his hazy field of vision filled with concerned and horrified students.
"Will do, sensei, but you're coming with us." Momo replied, as she created a neck brace and swiftly placed it on the man in an attempt to keep him stable, swiftly followed by a stretcher, before addressing the others in a tone of forced calm. "Sato, Tsu-chan help me carry him. Mineta, help Kaminari along. We're going back to the entrance."
None of them objected, gently moving the feebly protesting teacher into the stretcher and lifting him up.
"Midoriya," Momo then said, turning to the boy somewhat hesitantly. "Do you think you can…?"
"Get goin', Boss Lady." The boy replied, for once throughout this entire debacle sounding as serious as the situation demanded. "I'll keep Facepalmy and Birdbrainy busy. Dey'z ain't getting' past me."
Quite honestly, Momo hated this idea, and looking around, it was clear none of the others were too enthused by it either. They were all training to be heroes, they shouldn't be leaving one of their own behind to deal with the mess, now matter how much he actually seemed to want to. But from a purely logical standpoint, with Midoriya being the only one present capable of dealing with the Noumu's monstrous strength, this was really the only choice they had.
And so with a reluctant nod, the small group began moving away, as swiftly as their gravely injured cargo allowed.
"…Just what is this bullshit?" Shigaraki chose that moment to ask, finally getting himself back on his feet, a now manic edge to his already quite unhinged voice as he glared at them in undisguised hatred. "Am I seriously being faced with a surprise boss in mook's clothing? There's no way in hell in any conceivable universe that any of you disgusting, snot-nosed little brats should've been anything more than inconsequential background NPCs…I'm going to kill you. You're dead, you hear me? Dead! YOU ARE ALL GOING TO DIE AS SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY AS POSSIBLE!"
…
…
"Welp, if ya gonna go'an be like dat." Midoriya replied, not sounding the least beast intimidated by the villain's unhinged rant. "I shuld prolly shoot yer legs off and save us all dah bother."
Without preamble, the boy trained his gatling gun on the villain and let loose yet another inordinately large hail of bullets…
…Which were ingulfed by the swiftly opening black vortex in front of the villain, before being sent back at the surprised boy through another portal opening directly on top of him. Fortunately, they all pinged harmlessly off his force field.
"About damn time, Kurogiri." The hand clad villain growled, as the shimmering, misty form of his apparent second in command manifested besides him.
"My apologies, Tomura Shigaraki." Kurogiri replied, his voice the picture of calm, professional politeness. "While I managed to incapacitate Thirteen, the students left at the entrance proved craftier than I expected. They managed to pin me down, and I only got free due to a momentary distraction."
"…Useless, the whole lot of you." Shigaraki retorted angrily, clearly displeased by the news. "How can any of you call yourselves villains when a bunch of freaking brats are giving you this much trouble?!"
"It would behoove us not to underestimate them, Tomura Shigaraki, as they're already shown the consequences of such." The shade-like villain replied in a somewhat placating tone. "And alas, I'm afraid one of them got past me and got away. Reinforcements from UA should be arriving shortly."
At those words, hope surged amongst the students. Help was on the way, they just had to hold out a little while longer…
The lead villain, obviously, was much less enthused.
"…Ok, alright. Fine, fine, this is fine…" Shigaraki started mumbling only halfway coherently, scratching that his neck until the raw skin started bleeding. "The jig is up, the plan's a bust, but it's fine, we can still walk away from this with a victory… NOUMU, GET YOUR BIO-ENGINEERED REAR INTO GEAR, AND END. THESE. BRATS!"
From the trees on the other side of the plaza, an inhuman roar echoed, and before anyone could react, a massive black blur came surging at them with all the force of a meteor. Momo barely had the time to register the death that stood before her as the Noumu, still singed and burned in places but looking no worse for wear, was suddenly upon her, that massive fist coming closer and closer, almost in slow motion…
…Another blur, this one red, blue and yellow, jumped in front of her, and with a roaring shockwave that sent them all to the ground, was sent flying at terminal velocity against the stairs leading up to the entrance, the impact so strong a massive plume of dust and debris shot up high into the air.
It took a long, long moment for the horrified realization to set in, that the one thing keeping looming death for them all at bay had just been taken down trying to protect them.
"Finally, the damn brat's dead." Shigaraki commented quite happily in the silence that followed. "That's what heroism gets you, brats, not that any of you will live to have the opportunity to pointlessly sacrifice yourselves anyway. Noumu, kill-"
"Eheheh…"
…
…
The villains words were suddenly interrupted, interrupted by what it took some time for all those present to realize was laughter. Laughter that started out low and raspy, but swiftly grew louder and louder.
As one, as if mesmerized by the noise, all eyes in the plaza turned to the crater, where the stairs had just been, and all the while the laugh, a laugh that sounded completely unburdened by such paltry things as reason or sanity, with a gravelly, modulated echo that almost seemed scratch at their brains, just kept getting louder and louder.
Then, from the dust and debris, Midoriya rose. The blow had not left him unscathed. His mega armour was dented and bent all over, the generator at this back fritzing out and releasing sparks of green electricity, the right side of his helmet torn off completely, revealing the green-hair and red eye beneath. Seemingly realizing this, the boy used his claw to tear off the rest of it, leaving his face plain to see as the laughter never ceased.
During the brief time she had known him, Momo had considered Midoriya to be many things. Boisterous, deceivingly smart, possibly not entirely sane, yet rather good natured.
But now, as she saw that face, blood dripping from the corner of the mouth and a cut to the forehead, eyes wide in a sort of manic glee and a grin that threatened to split at the seems in apparently honest, genuine joy?
This was the first time she ever saw him as terrifying.
Then, the mad laughter died down, giving way to a much lower, much more restrained chuckle. Simple, quiet, menacing.
"I ain't so easy to kill…"
And without another word, the boy charged back into the fray.
/
Beware the Orks when they are loud, but fear them when they get quiet…
Hope you all enjoyed this version of the villain attack at USJ, the conclusion of which we will see next update. For what is worth, I am sincerely sorry about the cliffhanger.
I also apologize for the lack of an Orky translation corner. Time constraints kinda left me behind schedule on those, but rest assured, enough people liked them that they shall be continued.
Next up, however, at the beginning of the next year, we go back to Through the Eternities, so look forward to that.
Whether you're still waiting for it or it has already arrived, I wish you all a happy new year, and may it be better than the last one, not that that'll be hard.
Cya all on the next one.