"The only real heroes I see are Thirteen and Eraser Head."
His voice was exceptionally deep, as if spoken from the depths of an unexplored cave, "Perplexing. According to the schedule we retrieved from UA, All Might should be here as well."
"So, you scumbags used the press as a cover and sneaked onto campus!"
Aizawa's on-point accusation went ignored by the four figures standing behind dozens, if not hundreds, of low-ranked thugs, criminals and common hoodlums.
"Where is he?" fingers scratched at rough skin, "And after I went through the trouble of bringing so many friends who are eager to meet him," tired red eyes narrowed as their owner staggered forward to get a better look, "They want All Might, the great symbol of peace. I can't believe he's not here," a murmur. Another scratch. He could see a couple of pros. And students. But the reason he'd spent so much time setting up this party was nowhere to be seen, "Hey, maybe if we kill a few kids he'll come out to play. What do you think?"
"We'd need to go through Eraser Head."
Standing loyally next to Shigaraki without a single errant thought, Kurogiri carefully observed the pro hero throw himself at their gathered forces before giving the equivalent of what could only be called disdainful annoyance when his Warp Gate was deactivated, "He's constantly looking in our direction, ensuring I cannot use my Warp Gates to prevent the students from leaving."
Another scratch, "That's annoying."
The black mist's glowing eyes shifted towards the muscular creature standing beside them, "Perhaps you should consider using the Nomu?"
"Use the Nomu…"
As if responding to a higher authority, said monster's unfocused eyes swiveled around its exposed brain.
Shigaraki scratched at his neck, digging into dry skin with increasing fervor, "…that sounds like such a waste," while thinking about the situation, disappointed and annoyed, he calmly watched Eraser Head make short work of his friends. One after another, their Quirks would deactivate, followed by the pro using hand-to-hand combat and his scarf to violently knock them unconscious, "Nomu was designed to kill All Might, not deal with cannon fodder," twenty-three seconds and Eraser Head's hair settled back down, followed by a pause to catch his breath, then back to business, "How annoying. And here I thought All Might would be standing front and center like a true hero. Not hiding in the shadows."
A grimace.
"That said – let's give All Might another five minutes," something resembling frustration twisted his voice, "If he's still not here, Nomu will just have to start having fun without him."
Her presence was almost unnoticeable. A barely observable sensation on the edges of one's vision. Tapping a pink boot against the ground on the other side of Kurogiri while twirling an umbrella between dainty fingers, pinks and purples twisting into a pastiche of color, she watched Aizawa tear through the cheap rough-and-tumble forces before silently, perhaps gleefully, strolling in the opposite direction.
"Where do you think you're going?"
He'd hoped to save the big surprise for All Might, but this was a good consolation prize until the main boss arrived.
"I don't remember saying you could leave."
The great thing about Nomu was that he didn't need to give orders.
A wonderful friend.
"You're fast," one moment, Nomu was standing next to him, ready to play with Eraser Head if the pro thought he was ready to skip the current level. And the next, it not only grabbed the wretched woman's arm before she knew what happened, but squeezed tightly enough to crush bone into dust, "But I'm afraid Nomu is a little bit faster."
He expected one of several reactions.
Laughter wasn't one of them.
"~Sorry~"
Stuck for the moment, not that she couldn't move if she actually wanted to escape the abomination's vice-like grasp, the woman's laughter was muffled by a porcelain mask completely devoid of features except for a pair of multicolored eyes – black around purple around pink – and resembling, in the vaguest sense, a cartoonish yet unsettling rabbit, "But I have my own business to attend to. Besides – "
It happened so quickly.
One moment, Nomu was crushing her arm with enough force to break even All Might's resolve.
" – this was your idea, remember?" she stood tantalizing close, purposely tempting him with something they both knew he wasn't fast enough to pull off. Separated from his fingers by only a couple of inches, her voice was worse than nails on a chalkboard, "It would be awfully rude for little old me to give you orders. Unless you don't think you're up to it."
The sarcasm was obvious.
Shigaraki scratched his neck.
He truly hated her.
"So, that's who you wanted to meet, huh?"
If she weren't an important 'ally' and too darn fast to catch, he'd have killed her months ago. But if she wanted to belittle him, fine. Two could play at that game, "The so-called great Isshin Matoi's daughter," his baggy eyes drifted away from Eraser Head to the students near the entrance, "Ryuko, was it? I wonder what her Quirk is."
"You don't need to worry about something like that," her voice remained as saccharine as ever yet possessed an underlying menace impossible to ignore, "Just focus on taking down All Might," her back was to Shigaraki, flaunting every moment he'd been unable to touch her, "Because it would be a real shame if we came all this way only for your adorable pet to be a completely disappointment."
And then she was gone.
As if she was never there.
His fingers stopped scratching raw skin.
"I hate being told what to do, but a promise is a promise," he felt something almost like excitement as Eraser Head continued making fools of his pawns. Nineteen seconds. Red eyes narrowed. He'd thought his new friends would be enough to overwhelm UA's teachers, but it appeared they lived up to their hype, "Kurogiri, let's split up their party," another shout of pain followed by Eraser Head taking a moment to catch his breath, "And make sure our friend has lots of time to chat. Oh, and throw in another student to make things interesting."
"As you wish."
The misty darkness enveloping Kurogiri exploded omnidirectionally before abruptly collapsing upon itself.
"Ryuko…Matoi…"
Alone with only Nomu standing between himself and the pros, Shigaraki repeated the name, boredom slouching his shoulders, "I wonder what makes her so special."
