A/N: We've finally reached the USJ Chapter~! Whooo! I'm technically posting this on Tuesday night instead of the normal Wednesday because I babysit all day tomorrow and I'm pretty sure I'll be too tired to remember to update.
(Also, to clarify, this version of Robin is based off the Young Justice version, as that's the version I'm most familiar with. Well, that one and The Batman's [2004] version.)

Chapter 6: USJ

Izuku would've been awed at the interior of the building, if he wasn't so jumpy with adrenaline. He hyper-analyzed everything, hand hovering over his staff, ready to snatch and extend at a moment's notice. Whatever was about to happen had him on edge more than stealing Alfred's cookies.

"Thirteen, where's All Might? He was supposed to meet us here." Aizawa asked, looking around.

"About that…" Thirteen held up three fingers. Izuku knew what that meant. He ran out of Hero time. What an irresponsible… He tried to quell the sickening feeling welling up in his belly.

He tried to listen and pay attention to Thirteen's inspiring speech. He really did. But before he knew it, his classmates were clapping and Thirteen was bowing and that feeling got worse.

"All right. First let's—" But Aizawa didn't finish his sentence.

The lights flickered, and the water in the fountain down in the square spluttered. A black warp opened up in the air, and Aizawa stiffened and turned around in horror. Izuku fell into a battle stance in the front of the class, staff out and extended as he followed Aizawa's horrified gaze.

A hand reached through the swirling purple portal, and a blue-haired man with a hand covering his face peered out. Izuku caught sight of his single visible red eye, and shivered. That look… he knew that look. This man was the same kind of crazy that he saw back in Gotham. This was bad.

"Gather together and don't move!" Aizawa ordered, loosening his scarf. "Thirteen, protect the students!"

Eijiro looked over, and noticed the portal. "What's that?" Villains started pouring out of the warp gate. Bad got worse. "Is this like the entrance exam where the lesson's already started?" He made a move forward, but Izuku held his hand out to stop him.

"Don't Move!" Aizawa snapped at them as he put his goggles on. "Those are Villains."

The class froze; the sudden reality of the situation hit them hard.

"Midoriya!" Aizawa looked at Izuku. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, before he spoke with a fierce undertone. "Protect the students. Be. Careful." He stressed. The students didn't understand why Izuku was suddenly placed in the same position as Thirteen. They didn't know that Izuku had experience fighting villains. But they also didn't get the chance to answer as Izuku nodded, a hard gleam to his eye.

He saw Thirteen shoot him a somewhat awed look (or at least he assumed it was awed, as it was hard to tell with their helmet).

"Come back alive, Aizawa." Izuku ordered, as Aizawa jumped into the fray.

Thirteen started to herd the students out. "I'll guard the rear!" Izuku informed Thirteen, as he made sure the stragglers were safe.

"W-what's going on, man?" Kaminari asked Izuku, bewildered. "I mean, I know you're class rep, but…"

"No time to explain. I'll tell you later." Izuku promised. "We need to make it out alive, first."

But then that warp villain blocked their path. For a moment, Izuku feared that Aizawa had been killed. He shook his head; this was no time to think such things. The sound of the fight in the background assured him that Aizawa was most definitely alive.

Things happened almost too fast for him to react. Almost. When the man, Kurogiri, surrounded them with his mists, Izuku snatched the two students that were closest to him—Asui and Eijiro. He would protect anyone he could.

Then they were falling. He saw the water below them, and while he knew Asui would be fine, he doubted Eijiro would fare too well. He noticed an extra person, who Asui had wrapped her tongue around—Mineta.

"Hang on!" He ordered them, and felt their arms tighten around him. He snagged his grappling hook and roughly deposited them on the boat. Shipwreck zone. He realized.

He was on his feet in an instant, surveying the deck for enemies. He realized that they must not know their Quirks (or skills) if they'd dropped Asui here in the Shipwreck Zone. Which meant… Yep. The villains were staying in the water. They may have been cannon fodder, but they weren't that stupid—they were waiting it out, trying to figure out what their skills were before engaging them in combat.

He had to think fast to get them out of this situation unharmed. And damned if he wasn't going to protect these kids, because they were his responsibility. And he may (technically) be a kid himself, but he'd lived, like, seven years before being forced back into his nine-year-old body, so he was really in his early 20's or something. So yeah, kids.

"Asui."

"Call me Tsu."

"Tsu, I need you to tell me about your Quirk. You too, Mineta, Eijiro."

The three talked, and Izuku was slowly forming a plan. "Okay… I think I know what we can do." He explained his plan before he ran into the boat's interior. Perfect! He found an area to hack from. He traced the signal from the boat to the control board, and remotely hacked it, activating the whirlpool in the water.

"Now, Mineta!" He shouted, and the boy started throwing his sticky balls into the water like no tomorrow. Sure enough, the enemies all got caught, and by the time Izuku deactivated the whirlpool, they were all either unconscious or stuck together like one giant villain-raft.

"That was a good plan, Midori."

"Izuku. If I call you Tsu, you call me Izuku."

"Okay, kero."

"Damn, man, that was awesome!" Eijiro grinned.

The four of them got to shore, and started making their way carefully around the square, trying to avoid getting caught up in Aizawa's skirmish.

But the movement of the fight still drew their attention. They couldn't help but look. And then they were transfixed in horror when the blue-haired man, Shigaraki, disintegrated Aizawa's elbow.

"Move, now!" Izuku whispered urgently to the other three. "Help whoever's at the entrance."

"What about you, Izu?" Tsu asked in concern.

"Yeah, we're not about to leave you!" Eijiro refused.

"Y-you can't possibly be thinking about fighting that?! He's a pro and he's getting hurt!" Mineta freaked.

"Quiet!" He snapped. "Unless you want to draw their attention. Just do as I say." He didn't bother trying to reassure them that he'd be okay—lies like that tended to jinx what little luck someone had.

And then Nomu smashed Aizawa into the ground. The creature moved faster than Bane, and seemed three times as strong. He shivered as blood flew through the air. Izuku stilled himself—forced himself to stay where he was. If he rushed out now, he'd just put his classmates in danger.

But Kurogiri came back and informed Shigaraki that Thirteen had been taken care of, and someone escaped and was running to get help.

"Ah… it's game over…" He muttered to himself in disappointment.

He's a child. He's a man-child with about as much sanity as Joker… terrifying. Though now that he was really looking at Shigaraki, he realized that the blue-haired man still had much more sanity and self-preservation than Joker. I suppose even in the future, nobody can measure up to Joker's unique brand of insane. Somehow, this thought comforted him. Shigaraki wasn't anywhere near Joker's level.

Still a threat, yes—especially to these untrained kids. But suddenly Shigaraki wasn't so intimidating to Izuku anymore. Still just as dangerous, though.

"But before we go, let's crush the Symbol of Peace's pride." Shigaraki grinned as he moved almost too fast for Izuku to see. Almost.

Being best friends with Kid Flash gave one unreal reflexes, after all. And never had Izuku been more grateful for his long-time friend.

Moving just as fast as Shigaraki, he shoved himself in front of Tsu, blocking the blow with his left arm.

"Izuku!" Tsu's eyes were wide in horror as she processed what had happened.

He bit down a cry as the pain hit him, before it abruptly cut off. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aizawa using the last of his power (how was he even conscious?!) to erase Shigaraki's Quirk.

He didn't waste a single precious second that his sensei had bought him, and punched the blue-haired man in the face, smirking as he felt his nose crack.

He leapt out of the water as Shigaraki stumbled back, barely dodging Izuku's kick.

"NOMU!" He cried out, and the creature abandoned his still awake prey and dashed for Izuku. Again, he thanked his time spent around the two fastest men to ever walk the Earth. Without them, he never would've been able to dodge Nomu's hit.

The villains stared at Izuku in shock as he stood just at the edge of the massive crater that Nomu had created.

"Who are you?" Shigaraki asked, interest piqued. "No normal kid can dodge something as fast as Nomu…"

"I'm a hero." Izuku grinned. "And the biggest thorn you'll ever have in your side."

"Nomu! Catch that brat!" Shigaraki growled. "But don't kill him."

Ooh! I pissed him off. He grinned excitedly. He shot a brief look over to Eijiro and Tsu before glancing at Aizawa. The kids looked on in horrified awe, and Eraserhead was sporting a very similar look (though his was laced with concerned anger and his face was covered in far more blood than was healthy).

Izuku knew he couldn't keep dodging for long. The Nomu was way too fast, but he managed—barely. He threw a bird-a-rang at Shigaraki. It missed, landing at his feet.

He laughed at Izuku's shitty aim… until it exploded.

"Don't diss my toys, man, not cool! I work hard on those, you know!" Izuku let loose his signature cackle as he used the brief confusion to strike Shigaraki again. He was pleased to see the broken nose from his earlier work, and the new black eye he'd just given him. He almost didn't dodge Nomu's next attack, but blinding pain radiated from his neck as Shigaraki finally got a hit in. Luckily, it was brief enough that it wasn't fatal. But still…

Too close! So he can control how quickly something disintegrates. All five fingers are needed for his Quirk to activate…

This went on for several minutes—Izuku dodging both the Nomu and Shigaraki. Though Shigaraki had caught his shoulder once, disintegrating it nearly to the bone. And didn't that hurt like a son of a bitch?

Nomu finally caught him by his bad arm—the one he'd all but sacrificed for Tsu—and held him in the air. He bit down a scream when Nomu snapped his arm like a twig, and glared at Shigaraki as the man smiled back.

"You are an interesting one… You're not an NPC like all these others… You're a higher level than these other brats… a mini-boss? Or a boss later in the game?" He grinned madly, and Izuku smirked back.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" If I can keep him talking, then his attention is on me. And if it's on me, then it isn't on Tsu, Eijiro, Mineta, and Aizawa. He hoped they'd managed to grab Aizawa and get out of there, but Izuku knew better than to look. He couldn't risk drawing Shigaraki's attention to anywhere but himself.

"At least tell me your Quirk before I kill you. Sensei may want it." That statement sent a small shiver down his spine, and he filed away the statement for later evaluation.

"My… Quirk?"

Izuku couldn't help it. He laughed. Bloodied and mangled, facing down an insane villain who thought he was about to kill him… This brought back memories, for sure. But the idea that this villain thought he was about to kill him was laughable. Robin had been in so many hopeless situations… And this was far from hopeless. There were people nearby who could move and fight. Nobody was dead (yet, his mind supplied), and backup was on the way (assuming that Yamada took his message seriously).

More than that, he laughed because this guy hadn't realized that Izuku was Quirkless! He was looking forward to seeing the man's reaction.

"Hate to tell you this—Shigaraki, was it?—but I'm Quirkless. Two pinky-toe joints." He wiggled his foot to prove his point. "You're being bested by a brat who doesn't even have a special power."

Shigaraki's face morphed into an expression of loathing as his eye gleamed with malice and hatred (and was that a little hint of respect?). Though it was meant to be intimidating, it was entertaining to Izuku (because all his encounters with Joker and the other Gotham regulars apparently did leave him a little unhinged, himself). "How dare you mock me?!" He reached out a hand towards Izuku's chest. "I was going to make this fast, because you're actually really cool, but now you've pissed me off. You're going to suffer."

"Hate to tell you this, Five finger Death Punch wannabe, but I've been tortured by scarier dudes than you. And they didn't need Quirks to get the job done." Izuku grinned as Shigaraki came closer.

Maybe he'd thought that Izuku would be in too much pain to move. Maybe he'd thought that Nomu had a tighter hold. Maybe he was just too pissed to think about it.

So when Shigaraki came closer, Izuku was able to deliver a nice hard kick between the legs with one steel-toed boot, and an equally harsh kick to his stomach with the other.

The blue-haired man crumpled to the ground in pain, even as Nomu screeched, throwing Izuku right into the fountain with deadly force. He saw stars, but had had just enough time to make sure he hit that fountain in a very specific and practiced manner.

Not for the first time, he was grateful for his experience as Robin—if he hadn't been thrown through brick walls more times than he could count, he probably wouldn't have survived being thrown into the stone fountain with a force rivaling Superman's strength. (Though Izuku would argue that All Might—and by extension, Nomu—was actually somehow stronger than Superman, but they'd never truly know.)

He barely managed to avoid a nasty concussion. Staggering to his feet, he noticed that Tsu, Eijiro and Mineta had grabbed Aizawa, and the three were hidden near the staircase, watching the fight unfold in horror. Aizawa, in particular, looked like he had half a mind to come over and fight alongside Izuku (or kill him himself), though his two broken arms and extreme head trauma prevented that. Seriously, how is he awake?! Even Bruce couldn't stay conscious after that kind of beating!

Izuku would've sent them a reassuring smirk, but he couldn't risk drawing any attention to them.

At that very moment, the doors of USJ flew off their hinges as All Might came in. For the first time since the Slime Villain Incident, Izuku was relieved to see the Number One Hero.

"You took your sweet fucking time!" He twitched in annoyance. He ducked to the side, having seen movement out of his peripheral vision, only to relax upon realizing that it was just Shigaraki finally getting up.

"Looks like we get a continue…"

Maybe Izuku had hit his head a little, because though he could follow All Might's impressive speed (which he noted was still slower than Nomu), he wasn't able to dodge the man's hand that grabbed him, and safely deposited him with his classmates and severely injured sensei.

"Izu!" Tsu had tears in her eyes as she looked him over.

"Holy shit, man! What the hell was that?!" Eijiro looked at him with wide eyes.

Aizawa glared at him as Izuku quickly got out his First Aid Kit. "Stop glaring and be still." Izuku sent Aizawa a glare of his own as he (awkwardly yet expertly) wrapped the man's head to stem the bleeding. He didn't want to mess with Aizawa's arms. They were far too shattered for him to deal with. Instead, he wrapped his elbow and carefully slid his arms in a makeshift sling to prevent them from worsening, before doing the same for his own shattered left arm.

"You've done this before." Eijiro accused.

"Of course I have." Izuku then threw his dislocated shoulder into the side of the staircase, relocating it with a sickening pop. "Ow. I hate relocating shit." He quickly shook himself. There was nothing more he could do for his left arm now—that needed a medical professional. And he couldn't feel any other major injuries that couldn't be treated later. "All right. Field treatment's done." Izuku nodded to himself.

"We need to get Aizawa out of here and regroup with everyone else." He looked up at the other four people he was with.

"Problem Child." Aizawa growled out through clenched teeth.

"Save your strength, but try to stay awake. Head injuries are a bitch." Izuku shook his head. "Keep talking, but don't you dare try to move."

"Thank you." He gave Izuku a meaningful look.

"If you die, I'm going to bring you back and kill you myself." Izuku promised.

"Same to you, brat."

"Nobody's dying!" Eijiro denied as he carefully scooped Aizawa up into his arms.

"Eiji, keep him talking. If he falls asleep with that head injury, he may never wake up." Izuku stated firmly.

"R-right." He hesitated. "You were so badass out there." He rambled for a minute.

"Nice try, kid." Aizawa slurred out. "We'll work on your rescue form later in the year."

Izuku snorted. "You'd better hold on to teach us, then, Eraserhead."

All Might had been fighting Nomu up to this point—was still pounding away at the creature that Shigaraki had claimed held several different Quirks. But then… Izuku felt it before he saw it.

Shigaraki's hand flew through a portal created by Kurogiri. Izuku's eyes locked with Shigaraki's and he knew. In that moment, though Shigaraki's original goal had been to kill All Might, the villain had found a more pressing goal—Izuku. In landing several hits and hurting Shigaraki's pride, Izuku had managed to paint himself as the villain's equal. Now, it would seem that Shigaraki saw Izuku in the same manner that Joker once saw Batman. And Izuku couldn't say he was overly pleased by the sentiment.

Izuku felt the five fingers brush his right cheek as pain blossomed. Shigaraki wasn't going for a kill shot—he could feel it. This was more than that. A warning. A mark. He wanted to brand Izuku as his rival—as his antagonist. And the pain right below his right cheekbone flared as Shigaraki's Quirk ate away at his skin. At the same moment, he threw a knife, which gave Shigaraki a deep cut on his left cheek—one that would surely scar. He was still locked in an intense staring contest with the man, who grinned, and—

BANG!

The hand vanished as Shigaraki held his shoulder gingerly, blood blossoming like a flower on his shirt. Izuku let out a breath, the moment of intensity gone.

The cavalry had arrived.

Present Mic saw them first, and when his eyes landed on Aizawa, his expression changed to beyond livid.

"YEEEEEEAAAAAA!" He all but screamed in the loudest voice Izuku had heard in his life. Luckily, it wasn't directed at him.

Several villains who'd just started coming to and had been gearing up to attack the injured group crumpled to the ground.

"You guys alive?" Present Mic asked, jumping down to assess the situation. He would've sounded casual to anyone else, but to Izuku, who had learned to listen to the slight influxes of tones and body language to understand the emotions of The Batman, Present Mic's fear and concern were as loud as his Quirk.

" 'm alive…" Aizawa reassured.

"I'm still breathing." Izuku coughed up a small bit of blood—one hand tracing what he knew was going to be a new scar on his right cheek. He winced as the sweat and dirt on his hand caused the open wound to sting even more fiercely.

"Cementoss! We've got injured down here!" Present Mic called up. "Hold tight, we'll take care of this." He smiled. "You're safe, now."

The other kids relaxed, but Izuku kept his form rigid and tense, ready to fight at the drop of a hat if need be. There was no logic in relaxing when your enemy had access to a literal wormhole.

"Careful. Blue-hair—Shigaraki—has a disintegration Quirk. All five fingers need to touch his target, and he can control the speed and rate of the disintegration. It's stronger when he's pissed." Izuku informed. "The guy covered in shadows has a Warp Quirk."

"Right. Thanks, Little Listener." He smiled before running off to join the fray.

Cementoss made his way towards them along with Midnight. As the two teachers reached them, Izuku felt the odd compulsion to turn around and look at the square they'd just left behind. He locked eyes with Shigaraki again.

The man grinned, a sick twisted smile spinning out on his face. "I'll look forward to our rematch…" His voice was quiet, but it echoed in the building eerily. Izuku vaguely noticed that the entire area had gone silent as Shigaraki had one foot in the portal of his escape as he spoke. "Izuku…" He could feel the teachers stiffen and look at him with a dawning horror. "I acknowledge you as my nemesis. I will kill you." Izuku felt Aizawa shift and Midnight and Cementoss stand a little closer to him, as if to protect or shield him from his newfound enemy.

But Izuku met Shigaraki's gaze steadily, a burning fire in his eyes. "You can try, Shigaraki." His own voice echoed as he tried to fight the urge to cough up more blood. Instead, he gave him a wicked smirk through bloodied teeth, conveying strength borne from countless hardships. He ignored the pain in his body as he shifted to a deceivingly relaxed yet confident posture—one he'd used constantly as Robin. He was silently telling Shigaraki that he wasn't worried about his declaration. "But you're going to have a very hard time achieving that goal. I refuse to die by your hand."

"Then it appears we've come to an impasse. It seems I've found a bonus level." Shigaraki laughed, a new gleam of excitement in his eye as he and Kurogiri made their escape.

Everyone was still for a moment. The cannon fodder villains had been rounded up, and nobody knew quite what to say after that.

"We should find the remaining students." Nezu said, snapping everyone out of their stupor.

Midnight carefully took Aizawa from Eijiro's arms as Cementoss approached Izuku and carefully picked him up, too. "I'm not sure if that speech of yours was powerful or stupid, but either way, you're badly hurt—you shouldn't be walking." Cementoss reminded him.

"I suppose that's fair." He coughed up more blood. "Though I might've pissed him off a bit much."

"You think?" Eijiro scoffed.

"Do you think it was the kick to the nuts?" Izuku wondered aloud.

"Did you really kick a villain in the sack?" Midnight stared, lips twitching.

"He did." Aizawa smirked.

"Good, you aren't dead yet." Midnight smirked. "Try to stay awake without your devil's drink."

"It's effective." Aizawa argued.

"Be that as it may, it's a heart attack in a cup." She shook her head as they walked across the platform.

Izuku winced as a rather violent coughing fit had blood spilling from his mouth like All Might. "God, I hate internal bleeding. This sucks."

Cementoss sent him a look of disbelief. "You…" He shook his head as he followed Midnight outside. "I can't believe that 'this sucks' is his reaction…" Cementoss grumbled under his breath.

"Midoriya!" Iida's eyes widened in fear when he saw the teacher carrying out his friend who was covered in blood. The bone of his shoulder was showing, and his left arm was held in a hastily made sling.

"I'll be fine, Iida." Izuku waved him off with his good arm. "I've had worse. Is everyone else okay?"

"Yeah… everyone's fine." Kaminari piped in, worry etched into his face.

"It looks worse than it is." Izuku reassured them.

"Why do I not believe you?" Kaminari shuddered.

Nobody else got the chance to protest as Izuku was loaded into the back of an ambulance and rushed off to the hospital.

He abruptly felt bone tired. His eyelids sagged as the adrenaline finally started to filter out of his system. The pain started to register and he realized he was probably a little more hurt than he'd first anticipated. But he'd still had worse. He'd be fine. Though the ambulance was new to him. He missed the Batmobile…

He finally let the day catch up with him, as he succumbed to the darkness. Damn. So much for patrol tonight.