'Survival is of paramount importance for a hero. A hero that chooses to sacrifice themselves is a liability. To die is to leave the civilians that you are protecting to the whims of villains. To die is to leave your teammates demoralised and facing a greater threat. In team battles involving an initial death, forty percent will lead to a team wipe. The longer you work with a team, the more reliant you become on your teammates. They react when you do and cover your unconscious weaknesses, making up for any deficiency in your capabilities. When that crutch is gone, the chance of death increases exponentially. Therefore, you must train your body, your mind, and your will. One day you will fight alone and you will have to rely on yourself.'
—Excerpt from the 'Tenets of Combat' likely authored by an underground hero or vigilante.
Shouta Aizawa is tense, nervous and tired. It's a bad mix on the best of days. Today is the worst of days.
He doesn't know what to do about Izuku, doesn't know how to heal that relationship or if mending it is even possible. All he wants is to sit down with the boy and speak to him when they both aren't angry. To speak honestly and kindly and try to find some middle ground. And yes, he's aware that he could have handled things better.
Most of all, he worries about the students he has expelled. A list that seems to get longer and more terrible with each year. Some days he counts them off. Those who are dead—and any number over zero will be too many. Two who became criminals, one a terrorist and one who worked with the Yakuza. He thinks of those hiding in the jungles of Malaysia, a war-torn region, and wonders what they hoped to find there.
Fumikage is on his mind the most. One student stolen from him, beyond his means to retrieve. He isn't so arrogant as to think he could march into the Imperial Villa and demand his student back. And even if he could, he doesn't know if Fumikage can be a hero any longer.
He puts those thoughts away and deals with the situation at hand. Namely, the outhouse burning to the ground.
"Move!" he orders, knowing Sekijirou will keep the students safe and deal with the fire.
It takes him no time at all to reach the door. He slams it open and steps out. Instinct screams at him.
He ducks beneath a gout of fire. His capture equipment snakes out and wraps around the villain's legs. He tugs and brings the villain down.
"Damn, you're quick," the villain says.
He sees a spark of blue flame. Before it can get any further, Shouta activates his quirk and neutralises the villain's abilities.
With a quick move, Shouta's pinned the villain to the ground, digging his knee into the villain's back and grinding his face against the rock.
"Names, numbers, quirks?" Shouta growls out
"Fuck off. Well, see ya."
The villain disintegrates.
Shouta raises a brow in confusion at the puddle of goop. It had happened suddenly. One moment the villain is solid, the next a grey liquid.
Cloning abilities? He wonders, terrified. If that's the case, it means there might be dozens of each villain. They may very well be outnumbered.
And that's not a situation his students are ready for. He's taught them technique and quick thinking. Hopefully, their internships taught them how to handle stressful situations.
This isn't a stressful situation. No, it's much worse. This is life or death. That villain had been out to burn him to a crisp.
"Get moving," Seikijirou says, his blood solidifying over the flames and snuffing them out. "They won't get past me."
Shouta nods, grateful. He won't have to worry about the students there.
"Contact security."
"I know how to do my job," Sekijirou growls, staring off into the distance. "I don't think they'll help much."
He sets off quickly, heading towards the fire. That's likely where the real villain is and, if Shouta can take him down, it may be the difference between victory and defeat. The gas cloud and the fire are there to funnel people into kill zones—at least, that's what Shouta would use them for.
A rustle makes him tense, instinctively rolling to the side just before someone streaks past him. His quirk is active until he lays eyes on the person.
It is Midoriya carrying Kouta. Midoriya looks like he's been through hell and is wreathed in green lightning, ready to keep battling. One arm is hidden by a makeshift sling, but what little he can see is a horrible purple colour. His torso is a motley collection of bruises, and, if Shouta's guess is right, probably internal bleeding.
"Aizawa," Midoriya says, surprised. "Take Kouta. He has a water quirk and—"
"What happened?" he asks instead, focused on Midoriya's other arm. It has a red sheen on it, one that can only have come from hastily wiping away blood with a dry cloth.
"He was going to kill Kouta," Midoriya says quickly. "I couldn't-I had to stop him."
"Listen to me," Shouta says. "It doesn't matter what happened. You kept him safe and that's all that matters. Do you understand?"
Midoriya nods. "They're after Shouto. He said there's a list. I need to go."
He wants to say no and force him to stay here. But, above all, he knows Midoriya has combat experience. It hurts, but right now, he needs to consider his students as chess pieces. Injured as he is, Midoriya is still likely stronger than most pro heroes.
Shouta needs to move him like a chess piece against his opponents.
Damn it, Midoriya. Damn it, Nezu. Damn it all.
"Get to Mandalay," Shouta orders. "Let her know everyone is authorised to fight but they should all fall back to the hall. Stay safe and don't be reckless."
"Do you even care—"
"Don't accuse me of that," Shouta says, keeping watch. "Whatever else you think of me, just know I care about you more than you can imagine. I care about all my students. And right now, my only option is to have you fight. So, when I say stay safe, I fucking expect you to do it instead of being a whiny brat. Understood?"
"Yes."
"I know you've fought at this level of chaos. Prioritise a retreat. Never attack unless you outnumber them. And remember, if you die, it will make everything worse."
He doesn't want to think of what will happen if that occurs. The death toll will be massive if only because of the rampage Midoriya will go on if he dies.
Kouta screams suddenly, pulling him out of his thoughts.
A burst of blue fire forces him to jump back. Midoriya jumps in the other direction. A line of fire separates the two of them.
Shouta glances to the side.
Two enemies approach, another of the man with the flame quirk and a Nomu.
How many are there? He wonders, not sure if he's referring to the Nomu or the pyro clones.
It doesn't matter. This is just one more fight. One more chance to lose and die.
"Midoriya, take him and go," Shouta snaps, quirk active and already neutralising the enemy's fire abilities.
"But—"
"Keep him safe," Shouta snaps, capture equipment at the ready. "That's an order."
Out the corner of his vision, he sees Midoriya nod. Then, he vanishes in sparks of green lightning.
This isn't a good matchup.
The Nomu alone likely has physical abilities that completely outmatch him. It's the other villain, however, that's the real problem. With that fire, the moment Shouta stops using his quirk, he'll have to contend with fire on top of whatever abilities the Nomu has.
The Nomu rushes him, fast as a bullet. Shouta barely dodges the blow, jumping further away from the fire.
It means he must take his eyes off the villain.
Another wave of fire forces him back, the heat so hot that the air scorches his throat and lungs. He feels the hair on his eyebrows burn off as he scrambles back.
His capture equipment snakes out and wraps around the Nomu's legs. Before he can tug, the creature generates a chainsaw and cuts through the strands.
Fuck, he thinks, dodging to the left and closer to the pyro.
He flips over another gout of flame and dashes towards the dark-haired man. He makes it maybe halfway there before the Nomu is on him. It slams an arm against Shouta.
He gasps in pain as he flies away. He hits the ground and skids across it. Through years of instinct, he lands in a perfect three-point crouch.
He doesn't let the pain show on his face.
This isn't good. There's a path to victory somewhere and in another situation, where most of his attention wasn't on the possibility of dead students, he would be able to find it. Right now, though, the best idea he can come up with is to retreat and let Sekijirou join the battle.
A shockwave slams into the fire villain. It sends the villain flying into a tree. The villain lets out a pined grunt before he disintegrates.
Nejire Hado walks past the treeline.
"Hey, Sensei," she says cheerily. "Need some help?"
Well then, this just became a fair fight.
Nejire is like a storm, fast and imposing and implacable. It makes him proud that she is a UA student as she battles the Nomu, taking no damage at all.
The fight ends quickly with her help.
Just like the villain, the Nomu disintegrates. Shouta swallows nervously. That means the original is still out there somewhere.
"Hado, situation?"
"Oh, we're losing," she says with a levity that doesn't reach her eyes. "I found bodies."
"No," he whispers. "Who?"
"A girl from your class."
She leads him to the body. Every step forward fills his heart with dread, cold tendrils clawing down his spine. Only experience keeps his hands from shaking.
He recognises her immediately. There's no world in which he would not recognise her. Green hair and soft features.
There is a single perfect cut across her throat tarnishing every memory of her. Every member of her dry humour and awkward smile.
Every single memory of Tsuyu Asui will always be overlaid by this final sight of her, bloody and her features frozen in terror. There is no life to those eyes, and he knows they will haunt him to his dying days.
He closes his heart to the pain. It's hard, almost impossible. The grief is thick in his throat and the magnitude of his responsibility hits him now more than ever.
How many more? he wonders, terrified. Then he forces himself to be strong. No more. Not today.
"Hado, you can fly. I need you to find students and get them to safety. Understood?"
"Yeah."
"Don't take any risks. No one else dies tonight. This is as far as the villains get. This far, and no further."
-TDB-
Ochaco Uraraka decides that she loathes camp and will never, under any circumstances, go to another camp. The movies make camp out to be this fun time to spend with your friends in the middle of nowhere, breaking rules and just being kids.
They never talk about camps being attacked except in bad B-list slasher films. And whilst she has a fondness for how over the top and cheesy they are, she never wants to be in one. Because now she understands how people fail to run in a straight line without tripping.
One of the villains is a nightmare raining down saw-like teeth everywhere. It's the reason she's been split up from Asui and anyone else who might have been on the 'scare path' and she decides that Aizawa chose the worst possible night for a teaming bonding exercise.
She leaps to the side just as a wave of blue fire incinerates much of the forest to her right. She doesn't know who the hell that is, but she'd like it if Todoroki could get off his ass and deal with the fire. Maybe that's not fair but she can hear fights in every direction and has no way to communicate.
"Ochaco!"
She pauses, glancing to the side. It is Asui sprinting towards her, eyes wide and shifting every direction as she tries to avoid the fire. There's a bit of blood on her, Ochaco notices distantly.
"What happened?"
"Villain," Asui says, matching pace with Ochaco. "Cut me up."
Ochaco nods and sets her sights to camp. The fire's blocking their way so she'll have to circle around. It will mean a longer time and they might encounter more villains. Still, it is a safer path than wading through the fire.
She tenses when she hears the ground explode. Then she sees the glacier of ice in the distance, expanding endlessly away from camp.
"What the hell are you doing?" she mutters, worried.
Todoroki's one of their top fighters. Even Ochaco isn't so arrogant as to think she could beat him in a fight. Him and Izuku are so far beyond her abilities that she had to contend with her bitterness and jealously every day.
Tokoyami she could take any day of the week. Not that she'll ever see him again.
Another burst of fire makes her tense. Asui shoves her aside and they tumble to the ground, landing in an ungraceful heap as the air above them heats up.
"Thank y—"
Ochaco coughs suddenly, tasting copper and seeing red flecks on Asui's grinning face. She blinks slowly, trying to understand what's going on.
She looks down and sees a knife lodged right in her sternum. Her dark shirt is stained with blood. It isn't the gush of blood she expects after so many bad horror films. No, it's just a dribble of blood.
"You're not—"
She chokes on her blood once more.
"Kuro said the big boys can't kill you," Asui says cheerfully. "But it's just us girls here. We don't have to follow the rules. We can have some fun."
Asui rips the knife out.
It doesn't hurt immediately. There's a part of Ochaco completely divorced from events. Yes, her best friend just tore out a significant chunk of her torso. Yes, that's definitely her lung that's been punctured from the sudden weight. Yes, that's her lifeblood leaking profusely.
Then the reality of it hits her. A flare of heat and agony runs through her body, a pervasive and all-encompassing pain like a thousand needles. She opens her mouth to scream, to say anything, but she merely coughs blood.
It's hard to keep her head up. The world shifts in and out of focus, spinning lazily.
She sees Asui lick the knife sensually, a perversion of everything she knows Asui to be. She can only watch helplessly as the person above her become her mirror image.
She tries lifting her hand. If she can just touch Asui, then maybe she can win. It takes everything she has to raise her trembling hand. The villain cocks her head, then smiles. A moment later, that knife has pinned her hand to the ground.
That grin haunts her. It seems so sincere and at odds with the casual violence.
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Ma, dad, take—
Ochaco Uraraka dies with only a villain for company.
A minute later, Ochaco Uraraka blinks at the body beneath her, cocking her head carefully. No, that movement feels a bit too exaggerated. She slaps her cheeks gently. There, that feels a bit more accurate.
She stands, startled by the strength in her muscles. Ochaco is fit, incredibly so, despite what her appearance may suggest. There's a level of strength and endurance that she just hadn't expected. Well, anyway, she might as well take advantage of Ochaco's cute face.
"Hey Dabi," she says into her radio, "do you think you could stop trying to burn me down."
"Sorry. New body?"
"Yup," she says cheerfully. "I like it. You think you can set this section on fire so no one tracks me down?"
"If you go make yourself useful and get one of our targets."
Ochaco giggles, then pauses. No, Ochaco isn't the giggly sort. More likely to smile broadly and laugh deep in her chest.
She sets off, getting used to a new gait. It doesn't take very long given the amount of experience she has. She has a rough idea of where the fight is and decides to head towards Spinner. The lizard's nice and he even protected Mustard whom she may have a bit of a crush on, not because he's particularly attractive, but because she wants to see him drenched in blood.
That would make him appealing. That pale hair dyed burgundy by blood, his mouth opened as he tries taking his last breaths. She won't kill him. Kurogiri seems to like him to an absurd degree which makes her think he's got a dead child somewhere in his history, especially given how he mothers Shigaraki.
Maybe she can engineer Mustard's death. No, even better, she can find out if he has any family and tear through them. That would probably leave him a gibbering mess.
She twists on the spot just before a blur of green lightning streaks by her.
Ochaco wants to grin but that isn't something she would normally do. Instead, she shouts, "Midoriya," in a steady voice.
Her classmate turns on the spot, eyes wide. One of his arms is in a sling and he's shirtless—it takes everything she has not to pounce on those rock-hard abs because those pale scars need to be traced by her deft hands, and maybe in the process, she can get him mewling beneath her touch—with Kouta on his back.
His eyes have a glint to them that almost makes her smile. It's a cold viciousness that she would recognise anywhere. Those are the eyes of someone who has killed, willingly and fully aware of their choice.
Okay, tonight's going to be fun, she thinks. I wonder who he killed?
"Ochaco," Izuku says breathlessly though he's not breathing hard—delayed panic reaction. "Where's everyone?"
"I don't know," she says honestly. "I'm trying to get back to camp."
"Fuck. I don't… Kouta, say hi to Ochaco."
"Hi," the little boy says.
"Izuku, I'll take him," Ochaco says earnestly. "You go fight the villains. I'll look for the other students."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"She's going to take care of you for a bit, okay?"
The boy nods, sliding off Izuku's back. He looks uncertain, wary of her. This is why Ochaco dislikes kids. They're perceptive in a way most adults aren't.
"Stay safe," Izuku orders. "The Pussycats are fighting some lizard guy back that way. They should be done soon."
She nods, offering him a small smile. He smiles back and then vanishes in a burst of speed, sparks of green lightning lingering after he's gone.
"I don't like you," Kouta says bluntly, arms crossed as if half the forest isn't on fire.
Ochaco smiles back at him. Just because he's cute, she isn't too rough knocking him unconscious.
She activates the radio. "Hey, Mister Compress, I got one of the targets," Toga says brightly. "He's really cute."
"I'm a bit busy. Give me fifteen minutes."
"Sure," Ochaco says. "I'll get another one as well."
Compress doesn't respond. He might be in a fight. Ochaco shrugs, setting the boy down in a spot a bit out of the way of the trees. She relays the coordinates to Dabi so he doesn't accidentally kill the boy.
Now, she has to go help out Spinner.
She sprints in the direction Izuku came from. It's rather easy to follow given the rows of flattened trees that he ran through. The idea that he has so much power makes her shiver, and she falls in love with him all over again.
He's strong and handsome and kills people, she thinks cheerfully, smiling. I think I want to marry him.
Which is odd. She's never really liked anyone so much. Then again, no one is like Izuku Midoriya. No one's willing to stand against the world the same way he is. No one embodies Stain's beliefs more than he does.
He's everything she could ever want.
The sounds of battle pull her from her thoughts. She spies Spinner holding off two pro heroes with a long knife held in his hands. His giant weapon is a ruined mess, blades scattered about everywhere.
But, it's an advantage of its own. Spinner leaps back and grabs a knife on the floor, throwing it to Mandalay to force her back just before he swings to fend off Tiger.
"Mandalay," she says loudly, drawing their attention. "It's Kouta and he's bleeding and—"
Spinner throws a knife towards her. Mandalay leaps forward, pulling her to the ground before it can hurt her.
"Tiger—"
"I'm good," the big man grunts, grappling with Spinner for control of his long blade.
The hero grabs hold of her. "Where?"
"I can show you," Ochaco says, scrambling up and running back the direction she came. "I left him with Asui so he should be safe."
"You did good," Mandalay says.
Ochaco preens under the praise, hiding her flush by turning her head. It's odd running with Mandalay. The pro is faster than she is but stays exactly five strides ahead of her. Probably to face a threat first if one emerges.
It's something any pro hero would do. It's what makes them heroes in the first place.
It's also what makes them predictable.
"He's not subtle," Mandalay says as they pass the flattened trees.
"Nope. But he's a good guy."
They come across Kouta's resting spot.
"Where's Asui?" she asks, faking her concern perfectly.
Mandalay doesn't answer, moving towards the boy quickly. She's too focused on everything else to notice Ochaco remove a sedative from her pocket.
She always carries a sedative on her just for situations like this. Her costume may be lost somewhere in the forest but she still has some of the equipment from it.
Mandalay doesn't have more than a moment to think before the needle's in her neck and the contents depressed. It's a fast-acting thing, built on two centuries of medical advancements and the need to contain superpowered individuals with abnormal biology.
Mandalay collapses on the ground. Ochaco smiles, glad that she wasn't discovered.
"Well," Compress says from above her, "you've been busy."
She looks around and finds Kouta gone already.
"Did you get any?" she asks, taking a bit of blood from Mandalay.
"Yaoyorozu and Magne. The big girl took a pretty bad beating but she'll make it."
Ochaco smiles. She rather likes Magne. There aren't enough girls on the team.
When she looks up again, Compress is gone along with Mandalay. She rolls her eyes.
Ochaco drinks Mandalay's blood and slowly becomes her.
It takes her a moment to get used to the height difference. Mandalay is quite tall, all things considered. She's very bottom heavy, her legs feeling a tad too long for her height.
She heads back in long confident strides. Mandalay would know this forest perfectly and would never need to look down.
Mandalay heads back to Tiger's position. And finds the situation has deetiolated once more.
Spinner's on the ground, slinking away from earth beasts courtesy of Pixie Bob. Tiger slams into him from the side and the two go tumbling down in a vicious melee.
Mandalay runs forward. "Pixie Bob," she calls, startling her teammate. "I found Kouta. He's safe for now."
Pixie Bob nods.
Then her teammate punches Mandalay across the nose, stunning her.
"Did you think I wouldn't know?" she asks threateningly. "She never surprises her teammates."
Toga inclines her head because that's on her. She never did account for how a telepath might talk to their teammates.
But Pixie Bob makes a mistake and looks away for a split second.
That's all it takes for Toga to twist out of her grip and mask her presence. Before Pixie Bob can fully process it, she's already flipped over her.
She wraps her legs around Pixie Bob's neck and uses her forward momentum to flip the hero over. Pixie Bob slams into the ground but recovers quickly, rolling to the side.
Too slow.
Toga is on her and punches her in the sternum. She twists around and slams an elbow in the hero's armpit, dazing her once more.
Then, Toga brings her down with another flip. She forces Pixie Bob into a submission hold. There's no way she can break free of it. Toga squeezes as hard as she can whilst Spinner fights Tiger.
If she can take out Pixie Bob then that means they won't have to face a dozen enemies. Besides, Pixie Bob is on the list of targets.
Pixie Bob thrashes wildly, futilely. Toga has leverage on her side and a lot of experience fighting people bigger and stronger than her.
The heroine slaps the ground and makes an Earth Golem.
"Spinner," Toga snaps because she can't let go, not yet.
The lizard moves like a blur, elbowing Tiger in the chest. Toga wants to scream because he could have just killed the hero right then and there.
Still, it means he gets close enough to shove aside the golem.
Toga stands. Two on one odds sound pretty good to her. Well, that is until a pillar of earth slams into her side.
She curses as she hits the ground, her side burning with pain. She lets out a pained grunt, unable to master her pain. Her disguise slides away, Mandalay's features shedding away and leaving Himiko Toga.
Spinner slams his foot down on Pixie Bob's head, rendering her unconscious. The lizard grins, savouring the act of violence.
Toga tries standing but something's broken and she just lists to the side weakly.
And then Tiger is on her, his massive hand around her throat.
-TDB-
Mirio Togata is a cheerful and warm person, a classmate everyone likes and a great hero in the making. Right now, he has no smile, no laugh ready.
He's outnumbered four to one against a group of villains. One with razor-sharp teeth that is absurdly fast. A woman whose quirk keeps him off-balanced, pulled from one direction to the next if he stays exposed for more than a second. And though he may want to take her out first, she's protected by a Nomu with chainsaws.
Why does it have to be chainsaws? He wonders, leaping through the earth and coming out behind the villain in a black straitjacket. He knows Moonfish the cannibal and has read his dossier, so Mirio is completely unsurprised when he flips on a dime and dodges Mirio's blow.
These aren't amateurs, he thinks when Magne, another villain famed for her brutality in dealing with police, sends him crashing down with her magnetism.
At the last moment, he activates his quirk. Changes direction. Rockets out to hit the fourth enemy, a Nomu that's been spreading purple balls everywhere.
The purple balls stick to everything they touch. Thankfully, Mirio doesn't need to worry about them given his quirk.
He can see the frustration mounting in Magne as he weaves between their blows. He can't go on the offensive given how organised they are, but his quirk means that they can't hit him.
Which is fine. He's not out to win. He knows what will happen if he makes a silly mistake and gets injured. No, all he cares about is keeping these villains occupied and away from Tamaki Amajiki who has five students to shepherd to safety.
All he has to do is hold out until Tamaki comes back which might be in ten minutes or ten hours depending on how fucked the situation is. Right now, it looks pretty fucked.
His distraction nearly costs him an arm courtesy of Moonfish's teeth. As it is, the villain scores a clean gouge before Mirio turns impermeable.
Magne makes a signal and the purple Nomu pulls back.
Not happening.
Mirio dips beneath the ground and chases after it. It's headed deeper into the forest, possibly where other students are fighting. He can't let it get away.
He surfaces, ready to kick it down and stop it.
Then he's tugged back and flies through the air. He turns impermeable before a chainsaw can bisect him.
He is coming to hate Magne more and more. Her power completely nullifies the benefits of his intangibility. She can use it when he's in the ground, the air or on land, regardless of how impermeable he is.
With the Nomu, he can't reach her since she can react fast enough to send him flying back. With Moonfish around, he can't stay tangible long or risk a serious injury. And when he's tangible, he's at risk of getting stuck on the adhesive spheres.
He'll win, given time, there's no doubt of that. It's just a matter of how badly injured he is by then and if some of the students wander into the battle zone and place themselves in danger.
A wave of ice splits the battlefield in half.
Mirio sighs in annoyance.
He knows Todoroki by reputation, having witnessed his duel during the Sports Festival. The kid is powerful, of that Mirio is certain.
But he's also arrogant as hell. He's walking casually as though there isn't a battle going on. Then again, he's flinging spears of ice that keep Magne and the Nomu distracted without looking at them.
Moonfish screeches, an endless deluge of teeth raining down upon them.
Todoroki raises a brow and lifts his hand. Instantly, a barrier of ice manifests, blocking Moonfish's attack.
"I'll deal with him," Todoroki says flatly, telling an inviolable law of the universe.
For a moment, Mirio imagines he sees a flash of black fire, a spark of heat that burns away any other possibilities.
"Sure," he says, the words escaping his mouth before he can really think them through.
Todoroki meets his gaze, still firing ice spears. His black eye—Wasn't it grey?—seeming to see everything that Mirio is or ever will be. Then, his lips quirk up.
"Don't get distracted or they'll kill you."
Mirio huffs. "I should be telling you that."
Todoroki settles into a stance. In the next moment, there is a giant pillar of ice. Mirio blinks in surprise, seeing Todoroki riding the pillar that's still growing.
It slams into Moonfish, sending him flying.
He watches, incredulous, as Todoroki seemingly walks on air, making temporary ice platforms that last only for a split second.
Still, he won't look a gift horse in the mouth. That's one less enemy to deal with. Three opponents he can fend off easily enough.
And just for his distraction, he takes a blow from Magne's giant magnet.
It leaves him rattled and disorientated, and he just knows some of his ribs are broken. He twists in the air, trying to activate his quirk. Then he sees the Nomu with one arm raised—one of its none lethal arms.
Sometimes, winning is about trickery.
He activates his quirk a second too late intentionally. The Nomu's giant arm slams him down. He shoots through the ground in the darkness.
Note to self: don't get distracted.
With that in mind, he rockets upward.
He comes out the ground and his fist connects with the Nomu. It stumbles back, swinging wildly with its six arms.
Mirio leans back, dodging the blow easily. And then he's flying forward, pushed by Magne's quirk. He goes intangible with a sigh. This fight is just getting tedious.
He needn't have worried.
A beam strikes the Nomu and it goes tumbling wildly through the air. Mirio grins. A moment later, Nejire lands beside him.
"Hey, you."
"Need a hand?" she asks.
"Take the Nomu. I'll deal with her."
Magne attacks more aggressively now that she has no one defending her.
Mirio keeps with his deception, letting his quirk flicker on and off as though it has a limit. He takes a few glancing blows intentionally, none that would hurt him or even debilitate him. But they have the benefit of making Magne reckless in her assault, certain that she can win.
He is completely solid now when Magne pulls him with her magnetism.
At the last moment, he goes impermeable. He has the pleasure of seeing her eyes widen in shock just before he kicks her will his strength.
She goes flying. At the apex of her arc, one of Nejire's beams strikes her. She screams out in pain.
Mirio winces as she slams into the ground.
He turns and gives Nejire a thumbs up. She's still dealing with her Nomu, though five of its arms are shattered. She takes a step back to dodge its attack.
Nejire gets stuck on one of the balls. She yelps as she falls back onto her ass.
"Nejire!" he roars as the Nomu pounces.
A moment later, she fires a beam that pushes it back.
"I'm fine. Focus."
"Sure, I'll—"
Time compresses very suddenly. Nejire is in the middle of a dodge whilst the Nomu is frozen mid-step. There forest fire seems almost like stained glass for all that it moves.
Finally, he sees Magne and she's the only person who seems to be moving in real time.
He sees Magne grinning at him, her fingers splayed in a code-signal.
And then time resumes.
Mirio Togata's world is one of pain. He looks down and sees the bright red blood coating his torso. More so, he looks to the blood seeming to float in the air, shaped like claws.
He tilts his head back, body weak, and sees nothing behind him. Going impermeable doesn't work when there's something through his torso, and he's liable to lose concentration and fall forever.
A shimmer of light. He blinks tiredly as the light shimmers once more. And then, he sees the creature. Tall and imposing, grey like the other Nomu. But this one fades between view and invisibility with ease. It opens its mouth to reveal sharp rows of teeth, glistening with saliva.
The first row of teeth instantly pierce his skull and tear through his brain.
He doesn't feel it when the creature rips his head off in a bloody mess of flesh and bone. He can't hear Nejire's scream of anguish nor can he notice how the other Nomu capitalises and gouges through her throat.
Mirio will never notice any of this. His is just one death amongst many that night.
One simple mistake is often the difference between life and death.
-TDB-
Katsuki Bakugou is angry.
No, anger doesn't begin to describe the immensity of his feelings. He is so angry he's gone past rage and bluster and headed towards calm.
He's with Momo and they're cut off from Jirou. She's someone deeper in the forest but the villain with the teeth had separated them before the fires made things worse. To top it all off, there's a cloud of poison gas and for some unfathomable reason, Momo thinks they need to help the side characters no one gives a shit about.
"Don't be an ass," she says.
"I never said anything," he mutters.
"But you were thinking it."
He rolls his eyes, keeping careful track of their surroundings. It sounds like a warzone out there. He doesn't know how, but he suspects fucking Izuku has something to do with half the mountain collapsing. No one else has that kind of strength to them.
The other, far worse option is that a villain did that. And if anyone but Izuku was fighting him, then they're probably—
"Pay attention," Momo snaps as he nearly steps over a student.
He doesn't apologise but he does place the gas mask over Kaminari's face. He throws Kaminari over his shoulder, grunting in surprise. He didn't think Kaminari of all people would weigh so much given how skinny he is.
Metal bones? he considers for a moment. Then he decides it doesn't matter right now. He can poke and prod Kaminari later when they're all safe.
As it is, he lets Momo place under his arm. There's no way that Momo could carry either of them alone and they may as well have someone with free hands should they be attacked.
"I'm not a fucking pack mule," he mutters but there is no heat to it.
He hears a rustling and tenses, ready to drop them and attack.
One of the Pussy Cat's, the blue one with the earth powers, slides into view. She looks unharmed, surprising given the fact that there's a fucking war going on.
"Where are you going?" she snaps like she has any right to. "Camp's the other way."
"Fuck you," Katsuki says reflexively.
"We're trying to get to the gas cloud," Momo explains a beat later, holding up one of the gas masks.
Pixie Bob hesitates for a moment. "You need to head back. What are you going to do when you're carrying people?"
Katsuki rolls his eyes. "Maybe you can stop being a shitty side character and help. I don't know, make some fucking earth monsters and carry them back to camp."
"Bakugou," Momo hisses.
He clicks his teeth in annoyance but stays silent. He's not the best at figuring out when he's gone too far. Which is good because neither Momo nor Jirou has any fear of telling him off.
"No, you can't…" she trails off, one head cocked as though listening to something distant. "Kouta."
Her features harden, a mix of grim determination and resignation. She slams her hands on the ground. Instantly, five of the same golems that plagued their first day of camp materialise.
She's glaring at him, eyes hard as steel.
"Stay safe. Don't be reckless."
"Yeah, fuck you too."
Pixie Bob nods towards one of the beasts. He gets the idea and deposits Jirou and Kaminari onto the beast.
"Listen, this isn't a game," she says harshly. "They're playing for keeps. Do you understand?"
Momo tugs him back before he can curse her out again. He doesn't stay silent because he agrees but because it fucking hurts his right arm, the one still in a brace that feels like molten fire when he can feel something through it.
She winces, somehow seeing the pain he's hiding. "I'll keep him safe."
Pixiebob nods once before mounting the beast and setting off back to camp.
That just leaves the two of them. They head towards the source of the gas, moving quickly. They stay silent, wary of an ambush.
He sees a giant glacier form in the distance and wonders just who Todoroki is fighting. He puts it aside given that the glacier is moving away from him rapidly.
She grabs him and forces something into his pocket before he can process it.
"The fuck?"
"So we can find each other," she says, showing him a device glowing green.
"You think they're gonna fucking give us a chance?"
The golems are arrayed around them in a defensive pattern as they go further into the forest.
It happens out of the corner of his eye, at the very edge of his vision. His instincts scream and time seems to slow. Even then, all he sees is one of the golems explode outward.
He steps forward, putting himself between the enemy and Momo as the dust back just as the dust clears.
The man is massive, a hulking monstrosity of power and muscle. He grins cruelly at Bakugou, dripping malice with every movement.
"Oh, you were on the list," he intones. "Give me the girl and I'll kill you quickly."
"Fuck you."
Bakugou is fast, all things considered. He might not be as fast as Iida in a straight line or anywhere close to Izuku turning on the spot, but his reactions are second to none.
As such, he has the privilege of seeing the villain destroy the stone golems.
The man punches the first golem before it can react, his fist slamming through its throat and coming out the other side. With a sharp tug, the villain rips his arm free and shatters the golem in the process.
Katsuki has only just taken a step back before the villain pounces on the second golem.
He doesn't bother with anything fancier than a punch that disintegrates the golem in an instant. Shards of stone arc through the air and one even slices Katsuki's face.
Katsuki's is pushing Momo further back when the villain attacks the third golem. He crosses the distance so fast that Katsuki can't track the motion. He slows down when his leg makes contact with the golem. And then its rocketing high into the air.
In the space it takes Katsuki to get in a position to attack, this villain has already destroyed three golems.
Katsuki doesn't hold out much hope that his attack will help. Either way, he brings his hands together. He doesn't have to worry about making enough sweat given that he's been sweating bullets ever since the villain appeared.
"Ka—"
Momo is only just now catching up to everything. She's not as fast as he is and it must have been disorientating to have been pushed whilst there was destruction all around her.
"—tsu—"
It doesn't matter. He closes his hand, letting only a tiny circle remain exposed. The villain cocks his head, glaring at Katsuki with disdain.
"—ki—"
He activates his quirk.
The explosion isn't a wide and dispersed thing like he usually does. No, this is a beam like a lance of raw fire. It slams into the villain.
Boom.
He waits, tense, as the smoke fades away.
The villain stands, completely unharmed. What was once a normal arm is now covered in a mass of red muscle.
"Good try," the villain says with a mad grin. "My turn."
The golem from earlier, kicked into the air, crashes down.
Katsuki doesn't see him move but he feels the effects all the same.
The blow is thunderous. It is the power of a speeding train or a falling mountain. It destroys every defence he has and sends him flying.
At some point, he slams into a tree that arrests his momentum. He gasps, stunned, and falls face first to the ground.
He tries crawling forward but something, maybe everything, is broken. He can't see much. The villain is a red blur and maybe that's Momo or maybe that's a fucking tree.
Katsuki blinks.
When he opens his eyes, there is a yellow blur standing near Katsuki.
"Oh, my dear Muscular, what have we here? A sweet little girl and broken boy."
Katsuki blinks again. When he opens his eyes, the yellow villain is in the trees.
"And now we just have a broken boy."
"I'm going to kill him now," Muscular says.
"Are you now?" the other villain asks, gesturing theatrically. "Interesting fact. You, my dear brute, are dead. Killed by another little boy."
"What?" the villain asks, deathly quiet and perfectly still.
"Just that you failed. You won't be missed. I bid you, adieu, dear Muscular." The villain bows once and then vanishes.
Muscular roars in rage, his murderous intent crashing down on Katsuki. It is the weight of a mountain, a promise of death and unending pain.
Katsuki blinks, too tired and broken to care.
He opens his eyes, surprised that he isn't already dead. Someone stands between Katsuki and death.
A long tentacle swings out and slams into the villain. It cleaves the villain in half and he disintegrates.
"Hey, can you hear me?"
Bakugou groans out a simple, "Fuck off."
The student inspects him, touching his neck and chest—which makes Katsuki roar in pain—and finally his legs.
"Broken ribs," the student mutters, shifting aside Katsuki shirt. "Possible internal bleeding. A concussion. Come on, let's get you somewhere safe."
The student picks him up.
Any other time, he might be furious at being carried like a fucking princess. Right now, staying conscious is the best he can manage.
-TDB-
Shouto Todoroki walks on platforms of ice that appear for a moment before vanishing, driving Moonfish back. It's quite easy to achieve. All it takes is making an avalanche of ice.
Could he defeat Moonfish—whose name is writ upon the villain's soul and that's there for Shouto to see—in a few seconds? Yes. But where is the fun in that?
Shouto cracks his neck.
"It's been a while since I killed anything," he says once he's put a few kilometres between him and the main fights. "Make it fun for me."
Shouto lets his platform vanish and drops to the ground. It is a good two hundred metre drop, fatal for most standard humans. For him, it's just a slightly longer fall.
He lands in a crouch, sending his inertia, momentum and kinetic energy to another reality in the instant before he hits the ground. He rolls his shoulders, hearing them pop.
He walks slowly, destroying those endless teeth with entropic ice. This villain, a top tier enemy, is nothing compared to him. He is sport, nothing more.
"You see, I have some anger issues," Shouto says, deflecting long lances of teeth with a tidal wave of ice. "And I'm trying to work through them. But fuck if it's working out. So, I'm going to kill you because I've had to act like a good little hero for the past month and it's driving me mad."
He raises a wall of ice without thought. It deflects the jagged teeth of the villain.
He tracks Moonfish's heat signature with his right eye through the ice. When Moonfish comes into view, Shouto sees a world in which the teeth burn, and so reality shifts to accommodate.
Moonfish screeches in fear, skittering away like a massive insect.
"Do you know what a godling's heart tastes like?" he asks patiently, following Moonfish lazily. "Have you ever heard the suns sing your name in worship? Have you ever consecrated a world in your image? Do you have any idea how crazy I'm going acting like I'm weak and powerless because of some petty human laws? At least Fumikage doesn't have to pretend anymore. He better thank me later."
He cocks his head, feeling Mirio die. You should have paid attention, he thinks callously.
"No? Well, I guess you can serve as sport. Your death won't be quick. It won't be painless."
Right now, he's dealing with his frustrations. He wants to punch Izuku and beat the shit out of him. And since he's not here, since he's constantly surrounded by petty mortals, he'll settle for murdering someone unimportant.
Then, he raises his hand and manifests a spear of godflame. He flings it forward and it shoots past Moonfish. In an instant, that entire section of the forest goes up in black flames that chew through wood and animal flesh and stone in an instant.
A moment later, the fire is gone, as is that area of the forest.
"A long time ago I made a deal to become God with a big G," he explains to the villain trying to flee. "It cost me my love and my hate. You'd think that would do something for my anger issues. Nope. All it did was make me less empathetic. I don't give two shits about the law or decency or being a hero. I don't even know what I want, but it isn't that."
Sorry Fuyumi, your advice was wrong.
He steps forward, burning away time and space. In a flash of black flames, he crosses the distance between him and Moonfish. He manifests at the same level as Moonfish, a hundred odd metres above the ground.
Before he can fall, he burns away the concept of gravity as it affects him. Just like that, he's floating. It isn't anything particularly special. Gravity, like the nuclear forces and electromagnetism, belongs to the godflame.
With contemptuous ease, he generates dozens of pillars of ice to trap Moonfish. The villain thrashes, trying to escape. His teeth do nothing to ice that can't ever be affected by time.
"Let me tell you something, Moonfish," he says softly, observing the villain like the insect he is. "You are nothing. You will never amount to anything. I've seen you across a thousand possible futures and your existence is a cosmic dead-end. This day is always the final day of your story. After this, you die or go to prison or fade to obscurity."
He smiles, summoning the godflame to his hand. He holds the infernal flame that is one-third of all reality and it is his to command. A part of him knows how easy it would be to scorch the world and remake it in his image.
But he rather likes his sister and Izuku and Fumikage and his mother, and they all like this earth.
For their sake, he limits his power to only setting Moonfish on fire. He watches the villain burn in agony, screaming in anguish as the infernal flame burns him away. It burns the concept of Moonfish away not simply in this world, but a thousand others.
This is his right as a king.
In the pyre, he sees a shadow of a coming future. No, he sees the coming future of this world.
"What the fuck?" he wonders, parsing through the patterns of probabilities to try and find the causal weakness.
He recoils, blinking in shock. He's hit by a wave of horror and revulsion at what will come to pass. It almost leaves him frozen in fear and, for a single moment, he finally understands why Izuku wants to save everyone. It's to spare them from the pain of loss.
Then he finds the weakness in the pattern. Time's running short, all possible futures collapsing and converging to one reality that he and Izuku and Fumikage will have to live through.
"Monoma, you fucking coward," Shouto growls, turning back to the camp, and searching for the bastard. "No, no, no, no."
Come on, come on, come on, he thinks, trying to find the one signature that corresponds to Monoma. There are dozens of people fighting, dozens of burning souls that he must sift through. Doing so reveals those who have already fallen but he ignores them because they don't matter anymore. Right now, he needs to stop whatever's about to happen.
Found you, he thinks, ready to vanish in a burst of fire.
Too late.
The explosion is glorious.
A rippling conflagration of flame and heat that lights up the night sky like another sun. He feels every death as it occurs, sees every soul as they are burnt away by the heat of the explosion. The shockwave smacks into him, and in his shock, it strikes him down.
Shouto falls from his throne in the sky, cast down from grace by purely human means.