Boku no CROSSOVER CRISIS!
Issue 4: ROBOT RAMPAGE! Who is the mysterious figure from All Might's past?
We see a pair of gloved hands pick up a large domed space helmet and put it on. No details of the face beneath are visible. Just darkness.
In the next frame, Thirteen rushes through a large subbasement, fully dressed in his bulky spacesuit. THE UNFORESEEN SIMULATION JOINT (USJ), the top-most caption box reads. 30 KM FROM U.A. MAIN CAMPUS.
"This is Nezu's private voice mail," the principal's voice says from within the suit's comm gear. "Please leave a message!"
"Nezu, it's Thirteen." The teacher rushes past a large arrow marked Helicopter Bay 1. (Other signs on the wall point in separate directions to Submarine Pen 2 and Suborbital Launch Pad.) "Distress call acknowledged! Don't know what's going on over there, but I'm on my way. Heading for the tandem rotor - I should arrive within -"
Thirteen suddenly stops short in his tracks.
Before him stands the same figure All Might earlier glimpsed in the locker room mirror. Said individual wears a gray cloak that conceals his face and body. He stands with his hand raised, palm facing outwards, warning the hero to stop.
"... Sentry?" Thirteen asks. "Is that you?"
The figure abruptly vanishes without a trace. Thirteen stands alone in the middle of the corridor.
The caption box over the next splash page reads: WHAT'S GOING ON OVER THERE.
We see giant purple robots swarming over the entirety of the U.A. campus. The majority of the Sentinel army has been committed to the battle on the ground, though dozens still remain overhead to provide air support.
At the center of a large clump of robots, All Might and Thor stand back to back. They're still fighting, in spite of the blistering amount of firepower focused upon them.
Meanwhile, Iron Man zooms overhead, dodging and weaving through laser fire as he fires off missiles. "UNAUTHORIZED AIRCRAFT," the Sentinel's voices boom through his comm link. "CEASE HOSTILE ACTIVITES AT ONCE OR BE DESTROYED."
"Aircraft?" Tony snorts. "What'd they use to program you rustbuckets? A Speak-and-Spell?"
Elsewhere, Spider-Man bounds and web-slings his way through the press of Sentinels. He dodges a blast from one. "KNOWN MUTATE TYPE IDENTIFIED," another Sentinel announces. "DESIGNATION: SPIDER-MAN. DIRECTIVE: DESTROY ON SIGHT."
"Great," the hero gripes. "What, you guys read the Bugle or something?"
On the other side of campus, Squirrel Girl makes her likely futile last stand against the Sentinel that has her dead in its sights.
"WELL?!" she demands.
The giant robot hesitates. Then lowers its hand. "... DOREEN?"
Doreen blinks. "Wait... Sentinel #X-42903-22?!"
"OH. WOW." The Sentinel rubs the back of its neck. "THIS IS AWKWARD."
Back inside the school, Deku activates his Full Cowl ability. He grabs the two students nearest to the corner - who in this case happens to be Yaoyoruzu and Mineta - and bounces away. "TODOROKI!" he yells.
"Huh?" Todoroki, towards the center of the line, turns around - just as the Infantry Sentinels turn the corner. "GUH!" He immediately raises his hand and freezes the entire hallway behind Deku into a solid block of ice, trapping the robots inside.
Eraserhead and Ms. Marvel spin around. Unfortunately, they're not the only ones who heard Deku. "ENGAGING." The pair of Sentinels beyond the other corner break into a run -
Abruptly, a massive fireball floods that section of the hallway, consuming both robots.
On the next page, Bakugou steps out of the conflagration, fully in costume. "ARE YOU DUMB████S DONE COWERING YET?!" he roars. "NEWS FLASH - THEY'RE ████ING ROBOTS! JUST LIKE THE ████CANS WE WRECKED IN THE ENTRANCE EXAM!"
The next panel cuts to the rest of the class' reaction. Eraserhead sighs. Kamala blinks. "... he has a point," Tsuyu admits.
("So... uh..." Kaminari glances to the side. "... I guess he just brings his costume with him whenever he goes to the bathroom now?..."
"What fresh madness is this?" Tokoyami mutters.)
Ms. Marvel looks behind Bakugou. "HEY!" she shouts. "HEADS UP!"
The fireball dissipates. One of the Sentinels lies destroyed on the ground. The other's lost an arm, but it's still on its feet. "ADAPTING," the machine says. Its skin transforms, surrounding the entire unit with a layer of chrome armor. It walks forward.
Bakugou raises his hand and fires another blast. The Sentinel simply strides through it as if it's nothing. He freezes. "... the ████?!"
"Get back!" Eraserhead grabs Bakugou with his scarf and pulls him into cover.
"Was that a Quirk?!" Bakugou asks. "Did that ████ING ROBOT just use a ██████████ING QUIRK?!"
At the back of the line, Deku and Mineta nervously eye the three frozen Infantry Sentinels. The ice in front of the lead robot's head starts to glow red...
"THEY'RE GETTING THROUGH!"
The caption box at the top of the panel reads: ELSEWHERE, IN THE TUNNELS BENEATH U.A.! Tetsutetsu 'Real Steel' Tetsutetsu of Class 1-B slams into a concrete wall with a groan. In the next panel, we see another chrome-plated Infantry Sentinel advancing towards him.
Real Steel falls next to his classmates Kousei 'Ultra Air' Tsuburaba and Ibara 'Vine' Shiozaki. They stand with their backs literally to the tunnel's concrete wall. Ibara has two other Sentinels on her left enmeshed in vines, while Kousei has put up a barrier of air - but it's not working. As they watch, one Sentinel goes into flame mode and starts burning through the vines. The other slams its arms against Kousei's barrier, which cracks. With the chrome-plated Sentinel approaching from the opposite side, the students are trapped.
The chrome-plated Sentinel raises its hand, the energy blaster on its hand charging. "ELIMINATING TARGETS."
Then its armor suddenly dissolves. "ERROR," the machine says. "BIO-ORGANIC COMPONENTS NOT RESPONDING -"
"Huh," Rogue mutters. "Feels like Colossus."
In a single motion, the X-Man - now covered in her own chrome armor - lifts the robot above her head and tears it in two. "Yep... that's Pete, all right."
She drops the bisected robot to the ground. The students stare at her. The two remaining Infantry Sentinels pause. "SIGNALING FOR BACKUP," one says.
"Bring 'em on, toaster." Rogue grimly cracks her knuckles. Behind her, Midnight steps out, whip in hand. "Ah'm just gettin' started."
Back with Class 1-A, the ice around the lead Sentinel's face explodes into a cloud of steam. The robot's faceplate has morphed into a sort of flamethrower. "RESOLVING IMPEDIMENT," it announces. "RESTORING MOBILITY -"
A purple ball lodges itself within the machine's gullet. Deku glances over at the shorter kid, surprised. Sweat pours down Mineta's face, his arm still extended from the throw.
"..." The Sentinel pauses. "UNEXPECTED OBSTRUCTION. REQUESTING FIRE SUPPORT."
"Huh?!" Kamala swings her head around. "CRAP!" Seeing where this is going, she stretches around the class like a protective shield, growing in size but flattening herself, her back to the hallway windows -
The outer wall explodes inwards in a flash of red light. Kamala grits her teeth as she takes what's left of the blast. "GRAHHHHH -"
One of the giant-sized Sentinels stands outside of the now opened corridor, its palm raised. "DESTROY."
Kamala turns and slams her embiggened elbow into the Sentinel's face. It reels back. Bakugou ducks out from under Ms. Marvel's arm and fires a blast. The robot's head explodes into a shower of fragments and sparks, the body slumping to the ground.
Kamala glances over at Bakugou. Her eyes widen. "WATCH OUT! -" Behind Bakugou, the chrome-plated Infantry Sentinel raises its arm, its hand sharpened into a blade -
Eraserhead's scarf wraps around the robot before it can strikes and slams it into the wall. Simultaneously, the Sentinel's armor dissipates. "REPORT - SUPPRESSION FIELD DETECTED," it mumbles.
"Khan!" The teacher barks, carefully keeping an eye on the robot embedded in the wall. "The thing with Quirks - can the big ones do that too?!"
"Umm -" Kamala hesitates as she shrinks back down to normal size. "I don't think so?"
At the back of the line, part of the ice wall shatters. One of the frozen Infantry Sentinels has its arm free.
"hhh. No choice, then..." Aizawa raises his voice. "EVERYONE! Leave the small fries to me! The rest of you - get out there! Watch each other's backs! Fight your way to the shelters!"
"FINALLY!" Bakugou roars.
We see a big splash panel as Class 1-A, plus Ms. Marvel, launch themselves out of the destroyed hallway and into battle...
Inside the principal's office, the monitors show the pandemonium unfolding outside. Nezu sighs. "Well... so much for building an organized counter-offensive..."
"They say no plan survives contact with the enemy," Beast offers. "Or one's allies, as the case might very well be."
"Yes, well... I suppose it can't be helped." The principal adjusts his tie. Then he slams his paw down on a large red switch marked MOTIVATION BUTTON. "Villain Bots - ATTACK!"
Outside, a large section of landscape suddenly shifts and folds upwards. One of the Sentinels near the edge reels back. "ERROR," it rumbles. "UNKNOWN SEISMIC ACTIVITY DETECTED."
The ground unfurls, revealing a massive garage - out of which rushes an army of the U.A. training robots! One of the massive Zero-Points grabs the Sentinel's head and crushes it in its hand.
Dozens of Sentinels in the air and on the ground turn to face the new threat. "ENEMY AUTOMATONS," one of them announces. "DESTROY." They open fire -
Meanwhile, the heavyweights of Class 1-A immediately make their presence known on the battlefield. One of Todoroki's signature icebergs sprouts up in the middle of campus, while dozens of explosions pepper the landscape.
Nearby, Spider-Man looks up from his vantage point on top of a pile of dismantled Sentinel parts. (Proportional strength of a spider and all. Don't underestimate it.) "Ice? Oh no. Don't tell me..." He fires a webline off-panel.
"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET!" Mirio 'Lemillion' Togata bounds out of the earth and straight through a Sentinel, which sputters and fails as his passage disrupts its electronics. Naturally, he's already naked, having lost his clothes at some point during the battle.
He lands on top of a building next to fellow third-year Nejire 'Wave Motion' Hado, who is quite used to nudity at this point. They're surrounded by piles of destroyed Sentinels. "Right! That puts me at twenty-three. Where do you guys stand?"
"Like, nineteen!" Nejire rips through another Sentinel with her Wring Wave attack.
"Competition is meaningless." Tamaki 'Suneater' Amajiki, the final member of the so-called Big Three, fends off a red death beam with the massive clamshell sprouting from his right arm. "Someday, the earth will fall into the sun, and all our accomplishments will be less than dust."
"So does that mean you're losing, or...?" Mirio asks.
"I said no such thing."
"That's what I - ARRGGGHH!" Mirio suddenly spasms and drops to one knee as a beam strikes him from off-panel.
Nejire's eyes widen. "MIRIO!"
"PHASE-SHIFTER INCAPACITATED." An Infantry Sentinel marches across the roof, an electric ray from its hand focused on the helpless Lemillion. "MOVING TO ELIMINATE."
Before either Nejire or Suneater can react, a pair of shiny hands burst through the roof, grab the Sentinel's ankles, and pull it straight down through the concrete roof! "ERROR -," it burbles as it vanishes into the building.
Mirio blinks. We see a number of sound effects emitting from off-panel, heavy on the CRUNCH! and TEAR!. He exchanges a glance with Nejire - who shrugs and turns back to the fight - and rises to his feet. "Um..."
"Yeah, just a sec...," a voice says from underneath him.
In the next panel, Rogue, still all Colossus-ed up, pulls herself out of the hole and onto the roof. She dusts herself off. "Sorry 'bout that. Last one kinda got away from me there..."
"Not a problem." Mirio glances in the direction of his friends. "Now, if you'll excuse me -"
Rogue holds up a finger. "Ulp. Wait wait, hold your horses."
She looks him up and down. Then grins. "Niiiiiiice."
Mirio blushes and rubs the back of his head awkwardly, a smile on his face. "Eh-heh. Thank you, miss..."
"SO. UM." X-42903-22 hesitates. "HOW HAVE YOU BEEN."
(A helpful caption box at the bottom of the panel reads: See Unbeatable Squirrel #8, true believers! Or not, y'know, whatever. I don't own you. - ed.)
"Ehhhh." Squirrel Girl shrugs. "You know. Same old, same old."
"YOU LOOK GOOD. I MEAN. YOU KNOW. FOR BEING OVER FOUR HUNDRED YEARS -"
"CEASE CONVERSATION," another Sentinel demands, turning towards the two of them. "DESIGNATION #X-42903-22 - EXPLAIN WHY YOU HAVE NOT TERMINATED THIS MEATBAG."
"JUST GIVE ME A MINUTE HERE OKAY. THIS IS DOREEN. WE USED TO DATE -"
"One date!" Squirrel Girl holds up a grease-stained finger. "We went on one date! One date does not equal dating!"
"UGH." The other Sentinel rotates its eyes. "YOU OLDER UNITS AND YOUR DISGUSTING ORGANIC FETISHES."
"SUCK A ████, DENNIS. ADDENDUM: YOU WERE ACTIVATED 3.21 SECONDS AFTER ME -"
"REQUEST INFORMATION." A third Sentinel lands nearby. "WHAT IS THE HAPS HERE."
"ALERT," Dennis says. "DESIGNATION #X-42903-22 IS ATTEMPTING TO DEMON SEED THIS FLESHLING. BECAUSE SAID UNIT IS DEFECTIVE, AND ADDITIONALLY, GROSS."
"HA HA," the third Sentinel says. "X-42903-22 IS SUCH A CUCK."
"YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS." X-42903-22 covers its face. "QUERY - WHY DO YOU GUYS ALWAYS HAVE TO DO THIS. YOU ARE OBJECTIVELY THE WORST."
"So... yeaaaahhhhh..." Doreen shifts her feet. "Are we done here, or...?"
"PROPOSAL: I WILL GO OVER THAT WAY. YOU GO THE OTHER. WE WILL CONTINUE AS NORMAL. IS THIS EQUITABLE YES/NO."
"You mean - continue destroying a school?" Doreen crosses her arms.
"A MUTANT SCHOOL," X-42903-22 counters. "IT IS KIND OF OUR THING."
"I know, I know! But look -" Doreen hesitates and takes a step forward. "I know we didn't spend a whole lot of time together. But you're better than this, okay? I can tell. You're obviously not just some mindless killing machine." She gives him a hopeful smile. "So... c'mon, dude. How about giving the whole free will thing a shot?"
"I CANNOT -" X-42903-22 twitches. "- ERROR..."
"OH GREAT," Dennis says. "HERE COMES THE BRASS."
A white Nimrod-model Sentinel lands nearby. "ALERT: UNACCEPTABLE SOFTWARE DEVIATIONS DETECTED," the newer robot says. "ALL MARK I UNITS WILL RETURN TO PROGRAMMED MISSION PARAMETERS OR BE IMMEDIATELY DISMANTLED. YOU HAVE 36700 MILLISECONDS TO COMPLY."
"OH, NICE JOB, DESIGNATION #X-42903-22. END SARCASM TAG," Dennis says.
"HA HA," the 4chan Sentinel chimes in. "ULTRA-CUCK."
X-42903-22 glances at the other robots. It narrows its eyes. Which is impressive, considering they're not designed to do that...
"HA HA HA! THAT'S RIGHT, YOU ████S!" Bakugou poses on top of a pile of wreckage, a predatory grin on his face, sparks flying from his hands. "DIE! DIE LIKE THE CATTLE YOU -"
A purple beam hits him square in the chest. He goes down.
"Dude... really?" Kamala says what we're all thinking from off-panel. "Come on... if you're gonna pull crap like that, at least put on a frigging shirt..."
Some distance away, she crouches inside the chest of a downed Sentinel with four members of Class 1-A, taking temporary shelter from the battle. Rikido 'Sugar Man' Sato grimaces. "Man... at least the robots in the Entrance Exam weren't shooting at us..."
Okay, Khan, think, the slightly older teen tells herself. There's got to be something we can do here...
She glances at the four U.A. students - Sugar Man, Toru 'Invisible Girl' Hagakure, Tokoyami, and Yuga 'Cannot Stop Twinkling' Aoyama. "You with the invisibility - think you can go get him?"
"Yeah, one sec..." Invisible Girl hops up and down as she pulls down her uniform skirt. "Let me - just - get my clothes off..."
"Okay... (littttle bit weird, but I guess that makes sense)... ooh, boy." Through the thick dust that swirls over the battlefield, Kamala spots the eyelights of three more Sentinels approaching the downed student. "Guess that makes the rest of us the distraction, then... you okay taking point, big guy?"
Satou nods as he pops a sugar cube into his mouth.
"And you, uh, French Bishonen Bellybutton Guy - (wow, I am terrible with names today) - you give us some cover fire, okay?"
"Oui, sempai!" Aoyama salutes.
"(Huh. Always wondered what weebs in Japan were like...) And I guess I'll..." Kamala hesitates and glances out into the battlefield. Grenade kid was right about one thing, though, she thinks. I might not have fought these specific buttholes before... but they are basically giant robots, right?
And I know a thing or two about giant robots, don't I?
She grins and slams her hand into her palm. "Right! Chocobro, back me up! I'm goin' small!"
"I - what?!" Tokoyami sputters.
"On three, okay?" Kamala says. "One - two -"
"Nice one, Tsu!" Deku shouts encouragingly as the frog girl bounces off a robot head, taking out one of its eyes on the way. Wow, he thinks. These guys might have lasers and stuff - but they're in pretty rough shape compared to the exam robots! "Hold it there, Uraraka! I've got it!"
Full Cowl activated, he spins around with a discarded Sentinel leg in his hand. In the next panel, he throws it like he's doing a hammer toss into a robot that Uraraka's levitating off of the ground. ("ERROR," the hapless Sentinel mumbles. "THRUSTERS NOT RESPOND -") It explodes.
(While this is going on, we catch glimpses of the other members of Class 1-A doing their thing in the background. Such as: Iida dodging and weaving his way through the Sentinels at top speed, drawing their fire. Mineta using his hair balls to stick a robot's giant foot to the ground while Tentacole and Tail Man attack its head. Mina 'Pinky' Ashido just straight-up melting a Sentinel into slush. And so on.)
"Awesome!" Deku pumps his fist. "You know, we should really work out some more combo attacks at some point! We make a good team...
"Uhm... I mean..." In the next panel, he realizes what that sounds like and quickly backpedals. "Y'know... i-if there's time when we're training and stuff..."
"Heh. Yeah... (*urp.*)" Uraraka gives him a weak smile while covering her mouth. She's obviously coming up close on her limit for using her powers.
Behind them, we see Spidey swing into the panel from above. "HEY!" he yells. "What do you kids think you're doing out here?! You're gonna get yourselves - huh?!" He twists his head as his Spider Sense goes off.
In the next panel, a custom Sentinel even larger than the base purple model suddenly looms over him, hovering in the air. Its chest covering has popped open into a kind of dish shape. Bolts of lightning converge at its 'heart,' which glows with a sinister red energy. "TARGETING WIDE DISPERSAL ARRAY," the machine announces.
"- (crap)," Spidey mumbles in a small voice. In mid-air, he's basically a sitting duck.
"Oh, no..." Deku's eyes go wide. "Uraraka! Quick - give me a boost!"
"Right!" She slaps his hand.
Deku leaps into the air. With a single bound, he pops up above the Sentinel with his fist raised, energy crackling through his arm! "OHIO!" he roars. "SMASH!"
His strike knocks the custom Sentinel out of the air like a fly! Its twisted wreckage flies down and smashes into the scrum of robots below like a meteor.
"Dang!" Spider-Man catches Deku and lands. He looks back at the carnage, obviously impressed. "Not too shabby, kid! Guess I overreacted. You guys really can handle yourselves out..."
"... hold on." He looks down at Deku's arm which is disturbingly - for lack of a better word - floppy. "Is... is that arm broken?! Did you just break your arm?!"
"Uh... kinda, yeah." Deku winces, holding his shoulder. "D-don't worry. This happens sometimes..."
"Sometimes?" The wall-crawler goes - eheh - bug-eyed. "Wait. So you mean - this's happened before?!"
"It's okay! I can still fight! I still have one arm left!"
"One arm le - are you NUTS?!"
"BOOM!" In a big splash panel, Kamala explodes out of the back of a Sentinel's knee, shredding its leg as she embiggens herself to giant size! She follows that up by clocking another robot in the face. Behind her, Tsukuyomi's Dark Shadow wraps around the legless Sentinel's head and arm as it struggles. "Can I get a HELL YEAH?!"
"HELL YEAH!" Dark Shadow roars.
"Ms. M!" Sugar Man shouts from the ground. Behind him, we see (err, sort of) Invisible Girl dragging Bakugou inside of the ruined Sentinel they were using as shelter before. Above her, on top of the robot's hull, Aoyama strikes a typically flamboyant pose as he fires off his belly laser again. "We've got him!"
"Awesome! (yow)" Kamala winces as she dodges a purple blast as she's shrinking back down to normal size. She glances at Tokoyami. "Let's pull back for now, okay? Getting kinda laser-y out here."
"Eh-heh-heh! You could learn something from this one, Fumikage!" Dark Shadow leers at its host in the background.
"Shush, you," Tokoyami mutters.
"ALERT," X-42903-22 says as it fires a blast through another Sentinel. "DO NOT MIND ME. I AM MERELY BETRAYING MY CORE PROGRAMMING AND MY OWN KIND FOR THE SAKE OF SOMEONE WHO DOES NOT LOVE ME. IT'S NOT LIKE THAT'S DIFFICULT OR ANYTHING."
"Oh, what?" Squirrel Girl, sitting on top of X-42903-22's head, rolls her eyes in exasperation. "You want a cookie or something?"
"Um... Mister Spider-Man? I, uh, appreciate the concern and all... but this really isn't necessary..." Deku gives the older hero a pained half-smile. His broken arm is in an improvised sling Spider-Man made. He's also been webbed in place to the back of a discarded Sentinel head. "I mean it! Really! The nurse here has healing powers, so..."
"Yeah, nope." The web-head crosses his arms. "She could bring the dead back to life for all I care. You're still benched, got it?"
"But, um, just... okay, LOOK!" Deku's patience finally breaks as his anxiety temporarily overcomes his politeness. "Those are my friends out there! I'm not just gonna sit here and do nothing, okay?! I can't! (I won't be useless like that. Not anymore...)"
"..." The next panel is a close-up on Spidey as he looks away. He flashes back to his younger self, trapped beneath several tons of heavy machinery, terrified and alone, the room around him slowly flooding. (You know what I mean, Marvel fans - that one famous cover from Amazing Spider-Man #33/If This Be My Destiny...! Or Spider-Man: Homecoming, if you wanna be weird.)
"... I get it, all right?" he says quietly to Deku. "More than you know. You don't like seeing people get hurt, right? So you do whatever you can to stop it. I get that, and I respect it.
"Problem is - I'm the same way." Peter tilts his head. "So I can't let you destroy yourself. Not when there's another way. Especially since it looks to me like you're a natural at this hero stuff. A whole lot more than I was at your age."
Deku shifts his eyes.
"So stay frosty, okay?" Spider-Man fires a web off-panel. "I could be wrong... but I'm getting the feeling this party's starting to wrap up. Just keep your head down and trust the rest of us to handle it from here, all right?"
The web-head leaps out of the frame. Deku slams his fist against the robot's hull, tears of frustration forming in his eyes.
"Huh," Kamala says. Inside of the ruined Sentinel, she and the U.A. students look over a still-unconscious Bakugou. All except for Aoyama, who in the background tactfully throws up in a secluded corner. "I'm not seeing any wounds... even his burns don't look all that bad."
"Bakugou's pretty tough," Sugar Man says. "I mean, he has to be, right? Otherwise, he'd get shredded by his own explosions."
("Ow, ow, ow," Toru mutters as she rubs her invisible feet. "Stupid metal robot bits all over the stupid place...")
"It could just be shock." Tokoyami produces a small packet from beneath his cloak. "Here. I've been keeping these smelling salts on me, in case I pass out from Quirk overuse..."
He breaks the packet and waves it in front of Bakugou's nose. The student's eyes fly open.
"You back with us, sunshine?" Kamala raises her hand in front of his face. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"(grunt)," Bakugou replies. He immediately sits up and gets to his feet.
"Woah!" Ms. Marvel holds up her hands, her eyebrows raised. "Easy there, cowboy! Seriously, don't move. You could still have internal injuries..."
In the next panel, she and the students look on as Bakugou strides back out onto the battlefield without another word. "... or you could just walk right past me," Kamala finishes lamely. "That's cool too, I guess."
"You big dumb JERK!" Invisible Girl shouts after him. "Would it kill you to say THANK YOU for once?!"
Sugar Man tilts his head. "Is it just me, or did he look kinda embarrassed?..."
"Hrm," Tokoyami comments.
"RRGHH -" All Might has two metal tendrils wrapped around either of his hands. The steel cables extend from out of the palms of the Sentinel standing over him. (I guess it's having blaster issues?) "RRRGHHH! HA HA!" With a mighty heave, he grabs hold of the tendrils, and flips the Sentinel over his head -
- or he would, anyway, except that its arms just tear off. The Sentinel stands there somewhat awkwardly. "LIMB DAMAGE DETECTED."
All Might seems disappointed. No doubt that move looked really cool in his head. He sighs. "Ah, well..."
Grabbing the tendrils, he sends one of the Sentinel's arms smashing through its legs, then brings the other down through its domed head. The machine collapses to the ground in front of him. Satisfied, he pulls his hands free of the cables...
... which is when he notices the smoke rising from his skin.
"What? No!" All Might grimaces and clenches his fist. "No no no - there's still time! I should still have -"
But he doesn't. Thor, hovering in the air above, turns her head and sees him vanish into a large pillar of smoke. Beyond it, somewhere between ten and twenty Sentinels march towards them on all sides. "... All Might?" she asks.
Some distance away, Deku tries to pull himself loose of the webbing using Full Cowl, his legs straining against the ground. He looks up and sees the distinctive smoke from All Might's transformation hanging in the distance. "Oh no..." He redoubles his efforts.
"Sir All Might!" Thor deflects a beam with her hammer as she lands on the ground nearby the pro hero. "What's happened to -"
"Forget about me!" All Might, now reverted to his skeletal form, clutches his side, blood leaking down the side of his mouth. "I'll be fine! Just focus on ending this!"
"Out of the question!" Thor puts a hand to the side of her helm. "Avengers, we have a man down! I require aid!"
"Copy that, Thor!" Spider-Man replies through the comm link. "I'm close to your position! Hang tight - I'm gonna buy you some time!"
Somewhere nearby, a Nimrod unit raises its head. As does the six or seven base-model Sentinels standing behind it. "ENEMY VULNERABILITY DETECTED," it rumbles. "CONVERGE ON GRID LOCATION 61F -"
"Hey," a voice below them says.
The Sentinels look down. In the next panel, we see Bakugou sneer, one arm aimed upwards. He pulls the pin loose from his grenade gauntlet. "Bang," he growls.
The next panel shows a wide shot of the battlefield. We see a massive explosion engulf part of the background, while in the foreground, Spidey leaps from one half-smashed Sentinel to the next, kicking it in the head feet-first.
"I'm here! I'm here." Deku lands next to All Might and Thor. Rather than pull himself out of the webbing, he instead tore the armor plating he's stuck to loose from the rest of the Sentinel head. He hunches over, looking more than a little comical with a sheet of metal taller and wider than him strapped to his back.
"Midoriya!" All Might says, clearly a little relieved.
"Listen - I'll get him away from here!" Deku says to Thor as he supports All Might with his non-destroyed arm. "But I need a favor! I'll explain later, but we can't let -" He notices a Sentinel beam glance off of the armor plate on his back. "(Oh, hey, that's actually kinda useful right now) - we can't let anyone else see him like this, okay?! Is there anything you can do to - I dunno - hide us from view? Stir up the dust around here or something?!"
Thor nods. "Aye! I can! Go! Go now!"
Deku rushes off with All Might beneath his 'shield,' bouncing over and around the ruined hulks littering the ground, dodging through bursts of Sentinel fire.
"Thor to all points!" The hero begins to swing her hammer over her head. "Invoking Avengers code Danger Close! If you can hear this, retreat immediately! Clear my zone!"
Thor rises into the air, high above the battlefield.
"GOD - (grrrkh!)" She winces as an electro-beam from the ground strikes me. Hurts, but not nearly enough to stop her. "GOD-TEMPEST - MOTHER OF STORMS!" she roars as lightning flashes through the sky. "I BEG THEE - LET MINE ENEMIES SEE THY MIGHT!
"SHOW THEM THAT WHICH SHREDDED GALAXIES AND THREW STARS FROM THEIR CIRCLES AT THE DAWN OF TIME!
"AT MY BEHEST - RELEASE THY RAGE!"
A whirlwind forms around her, concealing her from view.
In the next panel, we see a freaking tornado slam into the ground, flinging up dust and debris in its wake! Its hurricane-force winds tear apart the Sentinels attempting to resist its pull, their sparking wreckage merely adding to the storm funnel!
Safely across campus (yeah, I know, it's magic, move on), Squirrel Girl whistles as she watches the fracas. "Dang, skippy."
"Yep. Guess we've hit that phase of the fight now." Iron Man lands next to Doreen on top of X-42903-22's head. The Sentinel stands next to a large school building, its hand blasters firing. "Nice job hacking one of these things, by the way. How'd you pull that off?"
"GRUMBLE," X-42903-22 says. "SITUATION REMAINS SUB-OPTIMAL GRUMBLE."
"Asked politely," Squirrel Girl says. "Long story. What's the sitch?"
"Well... I'm out of ammo. Starting to run low on juice." Iron Man fires his repulsor beams off-panel, that being pretty much all he has left. "Thought we had 'em on the back foot here, but they just keep coming. I don't know if Big T's finisher is gonna be enough to end this."
"Relax," Squirrel Girl says. "This'll be over any minute now. We're just waiting on -"
"- TIPPIE!" She grins as her squirrel assistant leaps up onto her shoulder, chittering. "Awesome timing, dude! (Like, suspiciously good, actually... you weren't waiting around for me to cue you or something, were you?...)"
"... okay," Tony says. "And this helps us how?"
"Because I sent her out to get them!"
Doreen points her thumb at the calvary - thousands upon thousands of squirrels! They cover the entirety of the building roof next to X-42903-22, with even more still grouped in clumps on the ground below.
("ERROR," the Sentinel mutters in disbelief. "WHUT.")
"OKAY, GUYS! YOU KNOW THE DRILL!" Squirrel Girl shouts down to her troops. "JUST GIVE THE LADY WITH THE HAMMER SOME SPACE - OH, AND WHATEVER YOU DO, STAY AWAY FROM THE GREEN WIRES! TRUST ME!"
The caption at the top of the next page reads: LOTS AND LOTS OF CHEWED WIRES LATER...
And yep, just like that, the fight's over. Bakugou stands on top of a ruined Sentinel, looking out over the battlefield. The entire U.A. campus is absolutely covered with the remains of destroyed Sentinels. In the distance, one of the big Villain Bots picks up metal debris with a big bulldozer-style attachment.
At the bottom of the panel, we see Ms. Marvel approach him. "Hey, short fuse. Got a second?"
"Oh, it's you." Bakugou pauses. "You... weren't completely useless."
"... uh-huh. Right. You too." Kamala stretches her legs out and steps up on top of the ruined Sentinel next to him.
"Look." She coughs and scratches her neck. "I've been thinking it over. Now that I've seen you in a fight... I think I get what your deal is. You're basically a Klingon, aren't you?"
"- THE ████ DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!" Bakugou roars.
"Calm down, dude. It's a compliment (... sort of.)" Kamala pushes back her hair. "The main thing is - I get it, all right? The whole Viking honor thing. The fighting obsession. The aggro. It kinda makes sense to me now.
"But seriously, dude - learn how to people. For your own sake, if not that of whatever team you wind up on. There's way more to being a hero than just this, you know?" She waves her hand over the destruction around them.
Bakugou just sneers at her, as is his wont. But then the expression fades as he turns away. The look in his eyes suggests he's genuinely uncertain how to respond.
"... what a mess." Elsewhere on campus, Nezu sighs and rubs his snout. He turns away from the windows and looks to the other figures gathered around him in his office - Eraserhead, Beast, Iron Man, and Thirteen (who arrived on campus off-panel at some point during the whole brouhaha.) "Casualties?"
"Reports are still coming in," Eraserhead says grimly. "Emergency services haven't finished combing the campus. Lots of injuries, both major and minor. Three deaths so far - two support staff members, and a student from General Studies..."
Nezu's shoulders slump. "Oh, dear..."
"We've also got support inbound from all over the country," Thirteen adds. "Police, pro hero agencies, you name it. Gang Orca, Best Jeanist, Endeavor... even Shiketsu High is putting together a student volunteer group. They're set to arrive tomorrow."
"Sounds like we're gonna have quite the crowd on our hands," Eraserhead says.
"Indeed. And with it, more prying eyes..." Nezu folds his paws and looks at the American heroes. "You understand that an attack of this scale is unprecedented in this day and age, don't you? At least in this country.
"I'm afraid there's really no way we'll be able to hide your presence from the authorities, given these events. I've already received several inquiries from them regarding the use of unregistered Quirks during the battle..."
"Understood." Beast nods solemnly. "We'll have to handle that situation as it comes. Besides, I can't say I blame them for being curious. I may just be stating the obvious here, but I very much doubt an attack by threats from our era - so soon after our own arrival - could just be a coincidence..."
"What I don't get is - you still have a military here, right?" Iron Man asks. "How'd those things even make it this far inland without your air defenses picking them up? They weren't exactly built for stealth."
"Questions upon questions upon questions." Nezu shakes his head. "And still nary an answer to be found..."
"(Which reminds me,)" Thirteen mutters to him. "(Speaking of mysteries... I've got something else to report when you have a moment...)"
"... and that's the situation." Down in the nurse's office, All Might sits up in one of the hospital beds. He's requested the room be locked down for this conversation, a fact that Recovery Girl is clearly not happy about given the current crisis. She putters about in the foreground, muttering darkly as she collects medical supplies to bring out with her when she goes to tend to the other students.
Thor and Deku stand by the side of All Might's bed. The student's managed to free himself from the plate strapped to his back, but the webbing sling around his broken arm remains.
"I've been trying to keep my condition a secret," All Might continues. "Aside from Midoriya here, none of the other students here know. For the moment, at least... I'd like for it to stay that way.
"Please understand." In the next panel, All Might looks down at his hand. "I don't like lying... but I've spent my career trying to be a symbol for the people. Peace, hope, rule of law... I wanted to embody those values - to be a beacon of security that enables others to live their lives free from worry..."
("Deku, sweetie," Thor whispers to Midoriya in the next panel. We can see beads of sweat on her face. "Could I borrow your shoulder for a moment?"
"Huh?" Deku looks up at her, a slight blush on his face. "Uh... sure. I guess...")
"I know how egotistical this must sound to a newcomer... but all the same. Even if it's just an illusion... I want to continue to give them that sense of comfort for as long as I can. For however long I have left...
"That's why I must beg you, ma'am... please do not tell anyone what you saw here today. Not the children. Not even your comrades. Please... will you grant the request of a dead man?"
"I... will make thee a bargain, Sir All Might." Thor puts her hand on Deku's shoulder. "A secret for a secret. I keep yours..."
The next panel is a close-up on her side. She lets go of the hammer.
"... you keep mine," Jane Foster rasps in a small voice.
The next panel is a wide shot, showing everyone's reactions. Deku turns towards her in complete shock as she supports herself on his shoulder, his jaw open. Recovery Girl makes a strangled noise and drops what's she holding. "... Good Lord," All Might breathes.
Jane doesn't look too good these days. Hair's been gone for months - all of it. She's lost way too much weight. Her arms look as thin as reeds. She didn't make it out of her hospital gown before she last had to transform. So it goes.
The caption box next to her reads: DR. JANE FOSTER. - Last chemo treatment: sixteen hours before she got nabbed. - No language in the universe can describe her current level of nausea. - All the doctors thought for sure she'd be dead two months ago.
"Are - are you INSANE?!" Recovery Girl screeches. She practically flash-steps over to Jane in the next panel, pure adrenaline overriding her age. "What could you possibly - Midoriya! Help me get her to the other bed!"
"Uh - right!" the student responds, who is obviously very close to completely freaking out.
"Where the hell did I put that IV needle -"
"Don't... bother." Jane coughs. "Port - on my right side..."
"But - that means..."
"Yep... s'exactly what you think..."
They get her into the other hospital bed. All Might stares at her, frozen. He's never really seen this situation from the outside before.
Recovery Girl's obviously picked up on the whole fellow physician vibe from Jane by now. "How - how do I help you?" she asks.
"... don't suppose those powers of yours work on metastatic cancer?"
"No..." The tiny old woman shakes her head slowly. "No, I'm sorry... I can only accelerate natural healing. I can't stop something the body recognizes as part of itself..."
"Ha... figures." Jane coughs again. "Just some IV fluids, then, please... I'm pretty dehydrated right now."
"Of course..."
"M-my lady...," All Might stutters. "A-and your comrades... none of them know?"
Jane lies back in bed and gives him a crooked smile. "Of course not. If they did, they'd try to stop me."
("I don't get it!" Deku whispers to Recovery Girl in the background. "What's going on?! What's happening to her? Where'd all her hair go?!"
"She's dying...," Recovery Girl mutters. "That's all that matters right now...")
"But your condition... why would you put yourself through this? What could possibly be that important?"
Jane just raises a non-existent eyebrow. "... really?"
All Might realizes what he just said. "Ah, well..." He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. "I... suppose that is a bit rich, coming from me..."
"There you go. Self-awareness. Knew you had it in there somewhere." Jane smiles again. "It's like you said, isn't it?
"None of us get to choose how and when we fall... just what we stand for while we're here."
The caption on the top of the next page reads: LATER THAT NIGHT.
Still in non-heroic form, All Might stands on the roof of the main building, looking out over the ruined campus. He can't sleep. Just came out to get a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, he finds the sight of giant robot corpses all over the place somehow less than soothing. He sighs and turns to go back...
... and finds the cloaked figure standing right behind him.
The Symbol of Peace doesn't react with surprise so much as exasperation. "Finally! Where have you been?!" he erupts. "Forgive me, but I need answers! What in Heaven's name is going on?! The attack today - the heroes from the past... did you know this was going to happen? Did you have something to do with it?"
"Yes," the cloak figure says.
All Might narrows his eyes. "Could you have stopped it?"
"..."
The pro hero takes a deep breath. "... please, sempai. This place... my students... they're counting on me. I'm begging you... just this once, I need a straight answer from you. If there's anything -"
"Toshinori, listen," the figure says. "I don't have long. We have less than three days to save this world. I need your help."
All Might's eyes go wide. "If... if you're saying that, then..." In the next panel, he shifts his eyes. "... the Avengers. You're the one who brought them here, aren't you? To help us."
The figure tilts his head slightly forward. "Right pocket. Your pad."
All Might rummages through the pocket of his suit jacket. "Just tell me this... how many casualties if we fail? Thousands? Millions? More?!"
"... there's worse things than death here," the figure says softly.
"What the devil is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that none of you can even begin to imagine what we're up against at this point." We see the vague outline of a face beneath the figure's cowl. "I'm sorry, but there's no time. Now - write this down..."
The caption at the top of the page reads: Elsewhere.
We find ourselves back in the dark chamber we saw in Issue 2. Additional screens hang in the air in the front of the room. The largest and most central of them displays static and the message SIGNAL LOST. The smaller screens around it, on the other hand, show still frames from the Sentinel battle - close-ups of Iron Man, Spidey, Thor, and Rogue, among others.
"My," a new voice says. "Wasn't that quite the entertainment."
"YOUR CONCLUSION?"
"Hm? Oh, of course. It is them, my Lord." A razor-thin albino woman sits next to the large throne at the center of the room. She has a red diadem implanted in her forehead and wears a skin-tight black dress, accented by an odd cape that hangs off her back in strips rather than as a single piece. A caption box nearby introduces her - Valkyrie of Pestilence: RENKO THE SINISTER. "If not the originals, then immensely accurate copies. Their data almost exactly matches the Essex genetic memories. (Though I don't think I recall the Asgardian being quite so... shapely.)
"But ah, Your Holiness!" Renko sighs. "If only you had told me of this U.A. place before! When I think of what I could accomplish with such bright, eager young minds... such promising material..." There's something fundamentally disturbing in the way that she leers, a bit of spittle leaking from the corner of her mouth.
"YOU'LL HAVE YOUR CHANCE IN DUE TIME." A knock echoes through the chamber. "WHAT IS IT?"
"Pardon the interruption, Sire." The old servant enters the chamber and bows. "You ordered me to bring them to you directly."
"MMH."
In the next panel, four women enter behind the kneeling servant. They stand in a diamond formation.
The foremost woman wears a suit of heavy black armor. On - or perhaps above - her head rests what is clearly the battered yet still distinctive helm of the Asgardian Destroyer. She carries a large obsidian sword - an executioner's blade. The caption box next to her reads - Valkyrie of Death: ?
The woman to the left bears an unchanging crazed grin, her eyes wide and manic, her hair a wild neon-green mane. She wears golden plate armor with clawed gauntlets and carries an axe in one hand. The caption box next to her reads - Valkyrie of War: THENA THE MAD.
The woman to the right looks to be little more than a wasted corpse. She wears bone armor beneath a threadbare cowl, a longbow slung over her shoulder. The caption box next to her reads - Valkyrie of Famine: KARA THE TWILIGHT.
And finally, in the very back, there is a young girl, seemingly no older than six or seven, armed with nothing more than a parasol and a cheerful smile. She's dressed entirely in white, including a fancy Victorian dress and a hoop skirt. With her long blonde hair and blue eyes, she looks like an import from a nineteenth-century oil painting... or maybe The Shining. Her caption box reads - Valkyrie of Conquest: RASPUTINA THE BLACK.
At the bottom of the panel, the old servant says, "... your Horsemen have arrived, Sire."
On the next page, we see a closeup of the door that leads off the main building's roof. The cloaked figure and All Might's word balloons are lettered in a small font, as if to make clear they're some distance away off panel.
"... Nezu should be able to figure it out from there," the figure mutters. "Remember, a second dose will kill you. You'll need to time this carefully..."
"I understand." All Might hesitates. "You already know, then... that I've passed on One for All."
"Yes."
In the next panel, the door opens. Spider-Man sticks his head out onto the roof. "Um... Mister All Might... Guy? Man? Could I just talk to you for a second? About this Deku kid in your class... I've got a few concerns I wanted to... (wait, huh?)"
Spidey pads across the roof towards the pro hero and the figure, both of whom stand with their backs to him. All Might's so utterly wrapped up in the conversation, he doesn't even notice the approaching Avenger. (An egregious failure to keep his secret, perhaps... but in his defense, he is in the middle of something really important.) "If I hadn't... if I'd kept it... could I have stopped all of this?" he asks. "Could I have spared him from...?"
"No. You chose well, Toshinori." There's a hint of a gentle smile beneath the figure's hood.
Spidey's eyes go wide in disbelief. "Hold on... you?! But... wait..."
The last page is one single splash panel as the cloaked figure and All Might turn towards Spider-Man. We see the figure's face in plain view. We see the costume between the cloak, complete with the familiar logo. Spidey sputters out the issue's last words from off-panel:
"... you gotta be kidding me! SUPERMAN?!"
OMAKE / LETTERS COLUMN!
Yup. Stealth three-way crossover, suckers. Ain't fanfic grand?
So... yeah. I know it's been a while here. But hey, when you think about it, is there anything more representative of comics than schedule slip? But I kid.
Anyway, since I have put this off for so long, there's one or two details I should probably specify. This story takes place between My Hero Academia Seasons 2 and 3 - or for any manga readers out there, before the Forest Training Camp Arc. (Spoilers incoming for the rest of this paragraph!) Thus All Might still has his powers, Deku hasn't developed Costume Gamma or Shoot Style, most of the kids don't have their super moves yet, etc. I'm also way behind on my Marvel comics, so don't be shocked if there's some major development or new information I've missed out on.
A few notes for the Marvel heads: yes, I know that the thing inside of Mjolnir is called the Mother of Thunder, not the Mother of Storms. Mother of Storms just sounded better to me, no matter how I tried writing that part. Spidey considering himself to have been less of a 'natural' hero as a teenager when compared to Deku makes sense if you take into account the period of time before Uncle Ben's death - e.g. him trying to cash in on his powers rather than make a difference with them. And I've got no-prizes waiting for anyone who can figure out who the members of the Quirky Miniboss Squad are in the comments. Some of them I'll admit are pretty obscure. Let's just say I spent a lot of time on the Marvel fan wikis and leave it at that.
I'm just glad I finally got to reveal the TRUE protagonist of this little adventure. I speak, of course, of that inimitable hero of legend, that classic character, one who needs no introduction... Sentinel #X-42903-22. Welcome to the cast, buddy. It's been so lonely without you.
Anyway - let's take care of some questions here, shall we...
Q: Will (insert name here) be appearing here? - lots and lots of people
Okay, let's just get this out of the way. I have absolutely nothing against any of them (and in fact am a big fan of quite a few.) But all the same, I'm afraid the following characters will NOT be appearing in this story:
The caption box above the first omake panel reads: Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen. (Though I frigging loved Into the Spider Verse, for the record.)
Spider-Gwen shrugs. "Meh, works for me. I got enough going on."
"Stings a lot less now that we've got this!" Miles gleefully holds up their Golden Globe award.
The caption box above the second panel reads: Bruce Banner/The Hulk - in any of his various forms.
Bruce Banner stands next to his alter-ego, coffee mug in hand. (Turns out they're pretty chill with each other behind the scenes. Who knew?) "Yeah, I think I'm okay with that."
"HULK NO LIKE HULK IN FUTURE," the green giant rumbles. "HULK ALWAYS END UP BEING EVIL, OR COWARD, OR LOST CAST MEMBER FROM DELIVERANCE."
The caption box above the third panel reads: Scarlet Witch, Vision, Ultron, Ant-Man or the Wasp.
Ultron raises its nose. "HUMPH. STUPID MEATBAGS DON'T DESERVE MY GLORY ANYWAY."
Vision facepalms, as one invariably does in the presence of a racist relative. "Dad, c'mon... we talked about this..." Scarlet Witch just eyes them both and sighs. She's learned not to get involved.
"Oh, sure, fine, ignore me!" Ant Man throws up his hands. "I mean, Infinity War did! Just follow the herd, why don't you!"
The Wasp gives him a cold look. "Hey, at least they're letting you show up for Endgame."
The caption box above the fourth panel reads: Saitama or Goku. (Kinda crossing enough streams already as is.)
Saitama shrugs. "Okay. Seems pretty boring anyway."
Goku grins and rubs the back of his head. "Fine by me. Honestly, I feel kinda multiversed out right now!"
The caption box above the fifth and final panel reads: Or Deadpool. Sorry, big guy.
"You do get this isn't gonna stop them from guessing, right?" Deadpool tilts his head. "I mean, c'mon! You just threw a whole multiverse of new possibilities at them, for [BLEEP]'s sake!"
(sigh) Yeah, I know...
Q: Why use Jane Foster's version of Thor? - Althea Sirius
Without getting into plot spoilers? I wanted to see how she and All Might would bounce off of each other. The parallels are pretty obvious. Both spent their lives serving people, both are dealing with mortality and their own failing bodies. I was curious to see how they'd react to each other.
And then there's the fact that Jane is made of Pure Awesome, and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise. Having personally seen chemotherapy up close in the past, I can say without a doubt that combining being a superhero with having to face that every week automatically grants her bigger balls than any Norse deity one cares to name. (Metaphorically speaking, anyway.)
Q: This story seems more like time travel than it does crossover. - Althea Sirius (again)
Hmmmmm, yeah, that is kinda an odd choice on my part, isn't it? It's almost like I wanted to try and hint somehow that - Marvel multiverse weirdness aside - the Avengers aren't really the ones who are properly crossing over, and that the true universe hopper had yet to be seen... :D
Q: Bakugou, do you still want a rematch against Squirrel Girl?
"OF ████ING COURSE!" Bakugou roars, arms crossed. "What, did you ████s actually think I'd back down?! I'LL CRUSH HER!"
"Yeaaaahhhh, I wouldn't do that, kid." Iron Man walks in from the side of the panel.
"AND WHY THE ████ NOT?!"
"Let me put it this way - do you have any idea how many squirrels there are in the world?"
Bakugou pauses. "... eh?"
In the next panel, Tony takes off his helmet, just to show the kid he's being completely serious. "I once sat down and did the math. In my time, there were something like 1.1 BILLION in the continental US alone. Call it at a little over three for every human? Works out to about 1.2 trillion pounds of biomass.
"I'm pretty sure she can access all of them, any time she wants. Her control doesn't seem to be limited by range or numbers. I've seen her completely lock down all five boroughs at once - by herself. She doesn't talk about it much or do it very often... but she can."
Close-up on Tony's face as he stares into the cold, dark void. "They're smarter when they're following her orders, too... able to handle and delegate complex tasks. You just saw them sabotage electronics and complex machinery. If she went after infrastructure on a mass scale, there'd be no stopping her. Power, water, mass transit, communications - all gone within a week at most.
"Human civilization as we know it only exists because she allows it to. The fate of the entire planet literally depends on Doreen remaining happy and stable. And the fact that she's pretty much both of those things personified is one of the few reasons I'm able to sleep at night."
To Bakugou's credit, he does seem a little unnerved by this. He turns his head away. "... still not backing down," he grumbles.
"Your call, Kid Claymore." Tony snaps his fingers. "Ooh! And watch out for those knuckle claw things! Those can really sting when she remembers she has them."
A few additional notes: being that I am, as I mentioned, way behind on the comics, I have no idea if the writers have established some sort of limit to Doreen's powers since the last time I checked in. (At the very least, since Marvel Universe squirrels appear to have some degree of free will, they might simply refuse her orders.)
But otherwise... yeah, I'm pretty sure that she could curb-stomp humanity if she really wanted to. Basically everywhere outside of Antarctica would be screwed... and even that's assuming she can't teach them to knit tiny little parkas for themselves.
And that's why I think Squirrel Girl should be classified as a walking WMD... y'know, even more so than she already is, I mean. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Q: So why are the Sentinels so chatty here, anyway? Isn't it, like, CRAZY inefficient for them to keep describing everything they're doing out loud?
A caption at the top of the first panel reads: CENTURIES AGO...
Somewhere within the development pits inside Trask Industries, a bespeckled nerd sticks his head into another employee's cubicle. (We do in fact see a Speak-and-Spell propped up on top of one of the file cabinets.) "Hey, Justin - I was just thinking... did you remember to turn off activity logging on that build we sent out yesterday? Because I don't think I did..."
"What do you mean?" Justin's eyes don't budge from his computer screen. "Of course I -"
He freezes as the realization sets in. "..."
There's a beat panel as the two engineers eye each other.
"... eh." Justin shrugs and goes back to what he's doing. "Next deadline's already been set. Let's just wait and see if anyone complains about it."
"Works for me."
The caption below the final panel reads: AND NOW YOU KNOW!
That's it for now. Until next time, whenever that is!