Rumi Usagiyama, otherwise known as the fifth ranked hero Mirko, traveled down the cold dimly lit metallic hallway which led to the meeting room she was expected to arrive at shortly. Normally she would tend to arrive at these sorts of things fashionably late as she liked to call it, but with the state their society was in and the seriousness of what called for the meeting, she decided to show some urgency.
"That kid, Midoriya…" muttered to herself Mirko, allowing some uncharacteristic worry to slip into her voice. The news about his kidnapping hit her like a truck, especially due to the circumstances of her whereabouts when it transpired.
She had been well informed about the UA kids' collaborative operation with Endeavor to retrieve Midoriya and had even specially requested to take part in being a member of the backup team with the other pros incase anything went south. Just like Hawks, she had a bad feeling about the whole thing long before the heroes deployed. And the idea of sending out these kids to basically do their job for them because they'd been incapable of doing it themselves, well, it pissed her off.
Despite her request for participation however, she was presented with an opportunity that she never saw coming and took her completely by surprise. One of the local teachers from UA, and a man that she had come to learn had played a critical role in the fight against Shigaraki, Erasure Head, approached her with an offer for a little girl named Eri to use her quirk on her to potentially heal her lost limbs from the war.
At the time, she was at a loss for words. How could such a quirk possibly exist? Rewind? The ability to reverse a being's body back to a previous state? Even the possibility of a power like that could send the governments of the world into a frenzy of trying to claim it for their own. Which is probably why she'd never heard of it until Aizawa told her.
She didn't know how to approach the offer to restore her limbs. She lived her life by the philosophy that when it came time for her to die, then she would go without any regrets at all. She couldn't decide if restoring what she lost in the war would be contradicting that. But more importantly than that, and what was causing the real conflict in her mind, was the awful timing of it all.
The mission was already about to get underway, as the UA students were as unrelenting as ever and had wanted to leave as soon as possible. Endeavor and Hawks had already left the safe zone to ensure the students route would be free from any villain activity, and the rest of the squads were preparing to head out as well. There was no time for her to get some restoration surgery done, it was already time for her to leave!
Aizawa informed her that they'd understand if she wanted to wait until after they got back from retrieving Midoriya, but she'd have to wait an uncertain amount of time to get the restoration done for her if she did. There apparently was a line of a couple other people who also were in need of help from Eri's quirk, and that it took a fluctuating amount of time for her energy to replenish before she could use Rewind again.
But waiting was fine in Mirko's eyes, she felt that she was needed elsewhere anyway. She would've turned down the offer and headed out right away for Midoriya had it not been for Best Jeanist' intervention. He had caught her just as she was about to turn away from Aizawa, and somehow knew exactly what she'd been thinking.
Although with much arguing, the third ranked hero managed to convince her to take the procedure. He was very persuasive with points about how the heroes were already weakened enough as they were, and how they desperately needed her at full strength if they wanted to have a chance against All for One and his forces in the war to come.
He argued that the top three heroes were already heading out to support the UA students' efforts, and they'd be more than enough to deter any villain from making an attempt on Midoriya.
Images of Tomura Shigaraki sleeping in that tube struck her mind like a bullet, filling her with anguish over her failure to stop his awakening. If she'd just been a little faster, a little stronger, then none of this would've ever happened. The league would've never escaped and thrown the state of Japan into the apocalyptic mess that it was… All for One's original body and the rest of the Tartarus convicts would've never been liberated… and Midoriya would've never been taken by some lunatic.
"Damn it!" grunted Mirko, angrily throwing her restored fist into the tungsten wall beside her, slightly denting it.
Any hopes of her going into this meeting with a faked version of her signature manic smile was gone entirely, erased by what would be a long-lasting scowl that made itself home on her face. Retracting and flexing her fist, she continued her march to her destination at the end of the hall. Thanks to her superhuman hearing provided by her rabbit quirk, she'd been able to pick up on faint voices coming from behind the closed heavy doors, and their tones were clearly distraught.
Releasing one final deep sigh as she reached the end of the hall, she raised a leg and kicked the double doors open, nearly breaking them apart entirely.
The chatter came to an abrupt halt, as the rabbit hero had successfully drawn everyone's attention by making her typical excessively noisy entrance. Looking around to see if everyone was present, she found Ryuko, Kamui Woods, Edgeshot, Best Jeanist, Mount Lady, Lemillion, and sitting at the end of the long dark metallic table was an exhausted looking Endeavor.
"Yo." Spoke shortly Mirko, her scowl and foul mood still clear as day. Her demeanor did nothing to change the atmosphere in the room, indicating to her that the feeling must've been mutual among the other heroes, although there were signs that some were irritated with her manner of entrance.
"Welcome, Mirko. Now that you're here we can get started once you have a seat." Greeted Jeanist, attempting at least a small formality as he extended his hand out to direct her to the last remaining chair. She simply nodded, walking to the opposite end of the table of Endeavor and kicking up her feet once she pulled out her chair.
With the final member of the group present and seated, Endeavor gave one last look around before gathering himself. "You all know why we're gathered here today. It would be a waste of time debriefing you on the how. Instead, I'd like to direct our attention on the what we're going to do about it." He stated firmly.
"As expected, we're assembling a task force in response to Midoriya's capture. The majority of the team is already decided, but there are still a few slots that need to be filled as soon as possible. Once this meeting is concluded, the team will be deployed into action immediately. Recovering Deku is now our number one priority." Added on Jeanist.
"What about the search for All for One and the League? We can't afford to halt our search for them and give them time to complete Shigaraki's body." Questioned Edgeshot, sounding displeased over the idea of the hunt for the villains becoming a secondary objective.
"I'll still be leading the charge in that front. Besides, it's likely that Midoriya's location will be the same as All for One's. Assuming that Himiko Toga took him straight to their hideout that is." Said Endeavor, folding his arms in front of his chest.
Mirko grit her teeth at the mentioning of Midoriya's kidnapper, still failing in recollecting her cool. "If we're assuming that Midoriya's been taken to All for One, then wouldn't that mean that he's already stolen One for All?" she questioned further.
"I don't understand it fully myself, but during our battle against Shigaraki he made contact with Deku but wasn't able to steal his quirk. I remember it being said that it was because his body was not yet complete at the time, so they weren't ready to overpower the will of One for All. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I believe they won't be able to take Midoriya's power until Shigaraki is complete." Responded Endeavor.
There was a collective sigh of relief that passed through the heroes at the revelation of Deku's quirk not yet having fallen into the hands of AFO, meaning that there was still a semblance of a chance that they could stand up to the villains. It was well known that the alternate scenario would've meant game over.
"Do we know how long we have until Shigaraki's completion?" Mirko pressed on; wanting to know how much, or rather, how little time they had to find Midoriya.
Endeavor hesitated, not knowing the exact answer himself. "He woke up a month early thanks to your work at destroying that tube he was resting in. Now that we have doctor Garaki in custody, we can assume that it should take a little bit longer than it would normally to resume his progress. Although the liberation of All for One's original body may give us a shorter amount of time than we'd like… I'd say that we have around a month and a half of time to find them."
Silence befell the group. While it was nice to know that they had more time than they thought to find the villains, the dreadful truth was still hard to ignore. They could be anywhere in the country by now and searching everywhere in a little over a months' time with the resources available would be impossible.
Japan had shut down any flights exiting the country for the foreseeable future to hinder any villain attempt at fleeing to the rest of the world, but that could only help so much.
"Don't think about all the what ifs and potential negatives of our situation! Don't you all realize what this means? Midoriya's still alive! That's what's important right now. The fact that he's alive out there and can't have his power stolen means that we still have a chance, and we have to use it and find him!" stepped in passionately Lemillion, standing from his seat and slamming his hands on the table.
The sudden outburst caught most of the heroes off guard, even making Mount Lady flinch due to being seated right next to the permeation user. Endeavor looked at the student with a neutral expression, before giving him a nod displaying his gratitude. Jeanist remained quiet, while Mirko actually managed to gain a genuine smirk from his optimism.
"Dudes right. There's no use in us sitting around here wallowing away in our pitiful sorry states. Midoriya's out there somewhere being held prisoner by the villains. Whether he's a student or not we should have never thrown such a responsibility on his shoulders to be in the position that he is now." The rabbit hero stated, rising out of her seat and slamming a foot on the table proudly. "I'd like to get out of here and start searching for him immediately. That being said, I want in on the team."
"I want in as well." Joined in quickly Lemillion, looking the fifth ranked hero in the eye and giving her a prideful thumbs up.
"I figured that you'd both be the first to jump on the opportunity of joining the team." Chuckled to himself Jeanist, lightly shaking his head at the thought of any other scenario. "That would settle it then. The Deku rescue team will consist of Mirko, Lemillion, Kamui Woods, Ryuko, Dynamite, Shoto, and when he's properly healed from his wounds, Hawks."
We'll find him. There's no doubt about it. And when we do, we're gonna crush any villain that we find along the way. We won't allow psychos like you, Himiko Toga and Tomura Shigaraki, to continue torturing this world any longer. thought to herself Mirko, getting herself hyped for the mission at hand.
The rest of the seated heroes proceeded to rise to their feet as well, turning their attention to Endeavor expectantly for the conclusion of their meeting.
"With that being said, I will be leading the other squad in the search for All for One and Tomura Shigaraki, while also combating any other villains we find along the way. My squad will have Mount Lady, Edgeshot, Suneater, Nejire, Best Jeanist, and potentially a few members from the UA class." Explained Endeavor, taking his time to look each member of the present heroes in the eye before continuing.
"We've already failed our duties as heroes twice. The first being our defeat in the war against the Paranormal Liberation Front. And the second being when we allowed Deku to go out on his own, and ultimately get captured. The people have lost all faith in our hero society, and the villains are running rampant and having their way with the country. We cannot fail a third time. Now it's time for us to go out there and find Deku, find All for One. And show these villains that no matter where they may be hiding; we won't allow them to darken our future any further. Understood?!" concluded the Hellflame wielder with a fiery first crashing against the table.
"Let's kick some ass!" exclaimed thunderously Mirko, jumping for the exit along with Lemillion. The two wouldn't waste another second before getting out on the field and searching. There was someone out there who needed saving, and they'd be damned if they wouldn't do everything they could to get to him.
Soaring through the sky was a green blur going at incredible speed that was certainly impossible for any living creature to handle. But at the same time, anyone who managed to catch a glimpse of it would be able to tell that it was too small to be some sort of aircraft. The force that accompanied the speed would've been enough to shatter any window or shard of glass that would be unfortunate enough to be caught in its wake. So therefore, Izuku Midoriya elected to travel at an altitude that rivaled the clouds instead of going through the city.
Sparks of lightning trailed him as he used the combined force of Float and One for All to reach the target that Danger Sense was alerting him of. It was many miles away from the home that he and Toga had agreed to use as their base and had been having breakfast in at the time, but the moment he started feeling that familiar buzz Danger Sense provided him he didn't waste a moment before jumping into action.
It had only been a couple of days since he agreed to form his partnership with Himiko, and since then villain activity had been unusually quiet compared to when he was going at it with Endeavor and Hawks. Although he thought it was strange, he still took advantage of the opportunity to use the time to study the surplus of files on the Tartarus escapees. Learning about the dozens of quirks that he previously knew nothing about would greatly increase his fighting chances against the villains he would surely have to face at some point.
Some of the quirks he read about were extremely alarming due to how powerful and dangerous they could potentially be depending on the mastery of the villains who wielded them. It was no surprise to him that the most dangerous amongst the group had yet to show their faces. Without a doubt AFO only deployed his soldiers depending on how valuable he saw them. He was more than likely saving the deadliest of the escapees for when the final confrontation of the heroes and villains commenced.
He was also yet to come up against any of the high end Nomu. They knew of the few near high ends that aided the leagues escape during the war, but aside from that there was no way of knowing what else All for One had hiding away. What made it worse was that with all the time they had available while keeping themselves hidden from the heroes was how they'd most likely spent a good majority of that time developing even more Nomu. I have to find them before All for One creates an army of them…
His thoughts were disturbed by a vibration coming from one of his many pockets on his freshly cleaned and repaired hero uniform. Significantly slowing himself down, he reached down and pulled out a heavy-duty phone-like device that Himiko gave him so they could communicate when they were apart. Seeing as that was the sole purpose of the device, there was no mystery about who was calling him.
"Hello-?"
"Do you have any idea what kind of a mess you made!" the voice of Toga exclaimed through the phone so loud that Izuku had to move it away from his ear for a moment.
"Um, hello Himiko. What were you saying just now?" questioned dumbly Izuku, unsure of how to approach the clearly angered girl.
With an audible deep breath coming from the other end of the line, the girl continued. "You can't just go exploding out of the living room in your full cowling or whatever you call it in the middle of breakfast. We had our documents on the table and ottoman with our food and you sent it flying everywhere!"
He cringed at the thoughtless chaos he must've sent their study session into upon his abrupt departure earlier this morning. He rushed what was probably a hard to understand explanation of what was going on as he was jumping out the window, and it was only now that he thought about how rude it'd been.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that. I'll try not to make a mess of things next time. In case you didn't understand me when I left; I'm sensing activity coming from Hosu City and I'm heading there right away. I'm pretty sure there's more than one villain, but only getting there and seeing for myself will confirm it." He apologized, while trying to split most of his focus on identifying how many villains he could be dealing with.
"It's fine, I just don't like getting ditched Izuku. Sweep me up in your arms next time and take me with you!" said cheerfully Himiko, giggling to herself over the stunned silence that she caused over the phone. "I'm kidding. Mostly. Anyways, the tracker we placed in your suit is working well, I already put together that you were heading towards Hosu. I'll get there as soon as I can, but it'll take me a bit. I can't fly like you after all."
"That's fine. I'm hoping that I'll have everything handled by the time that you get here. We need to be quick with our work if we want to avoid any encounters with the heroes." Looking a little further into the horizon, he saw the beginning image of Hosu coming into view.
"It looks like you'll be arriving at whatever's going on soon. I'm gonna be on my way now, be careful, Izuku." She said in farewell, with barely audible sounds of the clicking of her equipment getting put on coming through the phone.
"I will, don't worry. See you soon." Sliding the phone back into his pocket and strapping it shut, Izuku decided to prepare for combat by equipping his respirator and mask to conceal his face.
There were a few modifications done to his suit done by Toga on his request. To make himself less recognizable, they modified his suit to make the primary color black instead of green, and the secondary color a goldish yellow. His arms adorned his usual red arm braces, and regular gloves. He kept Gran Torinos cape, fitting well with the black and yellow theme of his new style.
The fact that he was going to such lengths to avoid getting identified by the heroes saddened him greatly. It hurt to have to hide himself from the people that he was fighting to protect, but it was for the greater good. Just like the previous wielders of One for All, the pro heroes and his former classmates would never understand his partnership with Himiko, or the need for him to go out on his own to keep them from danger.
His confrontation with Bakugo and the others only proved to him that there was no hope in convincing them of his beliefs. And that they would resort to conflict if he wouldn't go back to UA with them willingly. The bigger problem is now that they think that I've been captured, they'll more than likely deploy the majority of their hero force to take me back next time. I don't know if I can escape the combined might of Endeavor and the others. And if they find Toga…
He couldn't afford a confrontation for many reasons, but the main one being Toga. The heroes were bound to deal with her in a much harsher manner than they would have otherwise after what had happened. And if Hawks were involved, he wasn't sure if Toga would be able to keep her cool either. He had a lot of work on his hands when it came to her, and the heroes posed a major threat to his hopes for saving her. Therefore, avoidance was a top priority.
Ridding the rest of his distracting thoughts from the task at hand, Izuku set his eyes on the destination right in front of him, or rather, below. He'd been flying absentmindedly over Hosu for a few minutes now, but Danger Sense alerted him that the villains he'd been searching for were right below him. Bringing Full Cowling up to sixty percent; he charged up his energy before violently launching himself out of the cloud he'd been floating in, causing it to completely disperse.
With the city now fully in view and the ground approaching at wild speed, Izuku expertly spotted exactly what he was looking for. There were multiple figures on the street, including an individual wearing a white and gold robe, and two large incredibly dark purple skinned creatures that were clearly Nomu. The others amongst the gathering looked to be civilians, who were all cowering on the ground, with some breaking out into terrified screams.
The slightly smaller of the two Nomu who was missing its two arms, took a few steps towards the civilians, and started grotesquely opening its mouth wider than any creature should be capable of. The people who weren't screaming before now were as they watched the creatures' teeth start to grow out from its mouth, looking as sharp as a blade.
Not wasting another moment, Deku changed his trajectory at the last possible second to avoid slamming into the ground in between the two groups, and immediately resumed his flight by launching himself past the presumed villains. As he flew by, he conjured three tendrils of Blackwhip to connect to his opponents as the first step of his attack.
Flying approximately two hundred feet further, he cancelled out Float and slammed his feet into the ground to come to a violent stop. Carrying the momentum through his arms and the tendrils, he added some extra strength through One for All to pull his captives and launch them over his head towards an empty bus he spotted further down the road.
The two Nomu and singular robed man went careening through the air and straight into the bus, perfectly as Deku planned out. The crash was violent and sent the vehicle toppling over into several rolls before it came to a stop. Not willing to waste any time, knowing how crazy a Nomu's durability could be, he turned towards the stunned civilians to give some orders.
"If you're all okay, then I need you to get out of here immediately! Head to the nearest emergency shelter as fast as you can!" he shouted at the top of his lungs so they could hear him despite the distance. Seeing slight hesitation to follow his directions from the civilians, while also feeling a spark from Danger Sense, he decided to yell one last warning. "GO!"
Incredibly sharp and long bladelike teeth shot out of the bus directly at Deku, giving him little time to react. Thankfully he was much faster than whatever this creatures quirk was, which allowed him to slide underneath the teeth to catch them in the middle where he planned to create a breaking point.
Texas Smash!
The wind pressure created by Deku's punch obliterated the targeted portion into nothing but shards, making the ends that were intended to stab him useless as they fell to the ground. Turning his attention to the source, he watched the toothy Nomu groggily stumble out of the crash. The few moments it took for the other Nomu to emerge made him hope that it had been incapacitated, but that hope was crushed as it stepped out too, looking mostly unharmed.
The second one was a behemoth; a massively built male even for All Might's standards. It looked disturbingly still humane despite the purple skin. It carried receding white hair and a long scar running down the right side of his face starting above his hairline down to his jaw. Its right eye was milky white and the other glowed yellow like the other Nomu.
Carried carefully in its massive arms was the robed man, who although looked disgruntled, also turned out to be mostly fine as he stayed balanced on his feet after the Nomu let him down. That giant Nomu protected the robed man from my attack despite only having a couple seconds to react. Not only is this thing most likely intelligent, but its reflexes are also on a whole other level. He'll be the toughest challenge here.
As Deku assessed the situation, he dreadfully concluded that he was dealing with at least one high end Nomu. He wasn't sure about the smaller one, but it did have the durability to survive his first attack, which put it at least in the near high-end range. There's something familiar about the smaller one's tooth quirk. But the person who originally used it wasn't a Nomu. I think the villains name was Moonfish? If this thing really is that guy, or at least has the same quirk, then I should take him out first to avoid having to dodge his blades while fighting the others.
"Is that you, Izuku Midoriya?" called out the robed man, throwing himself into a coughing fit after speaking while also interrupting Deku as he was charging up another attack. "I was told that the wielder of One for All dressed in green; not black and yellow. But I definitely just heard you yell smash… it's you in there alright."
Izuku halted in his charge, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. "Are you another assassin All for One's sent after me? You should know that it hasn't worked out too well for the others who've tried. I suggest you take this chance to surrender and come quietly." That robe he's wearing is making it hard to identify him. I've studied most the files on the escapees, but that won't be too helpful until I figure out who this guy is.
"Yes well, unfortunately my colleagues weren't entrusted with commanding any Nomu, were they? And lucky for me I have two here who are just dying to get to know you." The bigger of the two monsters took an ominous step forward, cracking the ground under its weight. The other one was still struggling to retract the broken remains of its teeth, looking just about defenseless in the meantime.
Deku was going to fly forward and take out the smaller foe but was met head on by the giant at speed that should be impossible for its size. "WOAH!" barely putting his arms up to defend his midsection from a violent uppercut, he was sent soaring in the air. His arms cried out in pain, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.
Activating float and shooting Blackwhip at the nearest buildings, he steadied himself midair and calculated his next move. Looking down, he could see that the monster was expecting him to come plummeting down as evident by its cocked back arm waiting to hit something. Deciding to take the chance that the monster most likely wouldn't be as dangerous in an aerial fight, he elected to stay put and wait for it to make a move.
Come on… come and get me!
Once it realized that he had no plans of coming down, it squatted its legs and shattered the street beneath it upon its jump.
Air Force: Smash!
Using his arm that wasn't covered in Blackwhip, Deku punched the air to send a powerful torrent of wind to break the creature's momentum. The beast grunted and slowed significantly, no longer in control of its ascent. Seeing his opportunity, he released Blackwhip from the two buildings he was holding on to and shot it towards his opponent's head. Once connected, it roared out furiously and tried to claw the black energy off its face but to no avail.
"Come here!" Deku pulled as hard as he could to fling the thing towards him, but it was heavier than it looked; and that was saying something because it already seemed like it was heavy as a tank. With just about a dozen feet separating the two, his eyes widened in shock as he watched more toothy blades pierce straight through the beast and continue their path towards him.
The blood spilling into the air through the freshly cut wounds made Deku sick, but he had no time to pay them any mind. Hesitation would mean death, so he had act. Remembering the way Shigaraki dodged one of Endeavors attacks midair during their fight, he decided to mimic the motion to the best of his ability.
Perhaps a little later than he would've liked, he flung out his arm to propel himself out of harms way just through pure physical strength. "Gah!" he grunted painfully, as he sent himself crashing through a concrete pillar of one of the many tall buildings in the area, landing himself flat on his back of a table in what looked like a meeting room for whatever it business was.
Catching his breath in seconds, he performed a kickflip to get back on his feet and observe the situation outside. Danger Sense wasn't alerting him of any impending attack, so he deemed approaching the gaping hole exiting the building to be safe to peer through.
Gruesome was probably the only word accurate enough to describe the sight awaiting him. The bigger Nomu was still right there, laying limply in the air being held up by the blades which impaled it. It didn't twitch or show any signs of being in pain, but it was definitely still alive. Deku knew this, because its head was turned to look directly at him in the building he emerged from.
The next thing he knew, the blades retracted much faster than before, emitting a sickening sound as they passed through the beast's body for a second time.
As the last of the blade was passing through, it quickly raised its arm towards Deku, while Danger Sense screamed at him to move at the same time. Black and red lightning cracked through the air as what looked like a whirlwind formed in its palm. The next second the mini tornado launched towards the building, once again providing Deku with just a fraction of a moment to react.
Kicking the floor beneath his feat, he jumped out of the building towards the ground just in time to avoid getting caught in its destruction. Landing on the street but making sure that he was a safe distance from his enemies, he looked back up to see the entire upper half of the building collapse while the Nomu fell.
He knew that the civilians were a safe distance from the clouds of debris that were bound to spread throughout the area from the building, but he still hated the senseless destruction.
So much for keeping the cities damage to a minimum… Whatever, I won't beat these things by avoiding collateral damage of an already ruined city. I gotta take things up a notch.
"Whoa! Now this is turning out to be the spectacle that I was hoping for! Good, Conquest and Moon! Take the boy out!" joyfully shouted out the robed man, lifting his arms in the direction of the debris that made their way down to cover the streets of Hosu.
Deku looked at the two Nomu, now known to be named Moon and Conquest, and sized them up while visibility was still present. That confirms that the smaller one is, or at least once was Moonfish. All for One must've had him turned when they reacquired him from Tartarus. The bigger one's name is Conquest, and seems to hold an unknown surplus of quirks, judging off its insane strength, super regeneration, and some sort of air manipulation quirk. The robed man seems content on spectating for the time being, so I'll take advantage of that.
Focusing his senses on enhancing Danger Sense, he could practically feel where his opponents were even with his vision blocked. Navigating the unknown obstacles of the collapsed building as it continued to pour down could pose a challenge, but he wouldn't back down. Besides, he'd been training with the sixth wielders Smokescreen, so he was well equipped to deal with this.
Danger Sense burned in his mind, giving him plenty of time to dodge in a sidestep the tooth blades that flew at him again. Almost in the instant that Moon realized it made no contact, the blades retracted back to their source. The retraction speed is continuously getting faster the more he uses them. They also regenerated from when I first destroyed them. It's safe to say that he most likely has a regeneration quirk as well.
With the feeling of the ground shaking, and the sound of metal snapping, Deku prepared for an attack from Conquest next. The beast appeared in front of him, with its arm raised holding what looked to be a broken off piece of Moon's blade to throw an overhead slash. Jumping back with speed provided by full cowling, he avoided an attack that would've surely sliced him in half had he been caught.
Smash!
Using the opportunity of Conquest being out of position to defend itself by stretching himself out, Deku mustered a fully charged punch that landed without interruption square on its massive shoulder. He felt the bones under the skin shatter upon impact as he sent the thing flying back to whence he came. As expected, more blades came flying his way immediately after his attack, but they never had a chance of hitting their target.
Using Float and Blackwhip, he safely lifted himself into the debris filled air for both the purposes of dodging the blades and testing the limits of the Nomu ability to sense him. They've been coming right at me despite visibility being practically nonexistent. Moving up here will confirm whether or not they have a quirk to help them see me.
He didn't have to wait long for his answer; something was shooting at him in a straight line from where he sensed the Nomu, but it definitely wasn't the tooth blades. Not liking being left in the unknown or leaving things to chance, he flicked his fingers in the direction of the attack, launching a concentrated small air blast to disperse whatever was coming.
His air blast left a small trail of clear air in the debris that he was able to look through to see what was going on. What he saw however left him gulping back in slight fear and regret for the counterattack that he chose. I messed up!
The air blast hit square on with what looked like a large beam of water shooting straight at him, and when it made contact it did the exact opposite of what Deku was trying to achieve. Instead of repelling the attack, the only reward he got was separating the singular beam of water and making it go cascading out in a rainstorm of torture.
He wouldn't have been worried about it if it were just normal water, but Danger Sense alerted him that the temperature promised to be beyond scoldingly hot. He attempted to kick the air to propel himself out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough. Before he knew it, unbearably hot droplets of water rained down on his covered body. His costume did very little to protect him from the heat, which he prayed would alleviate soon as he held in a cry of pain.
In the middle of his torment, he dully became aware of a presence behind him only slightly higher in the air. He was caught in a compromising position, unable to fully defend himself from whatever attack his aggressor would choose. Feeling trembles in the air, he had a vague idea of what was coming. Familiar black and red cracks of lightning appeared all around him, as a blast of air wrecked him in his side as he failed an attempt to turn around to block the attack.
The force of impact was so great that he wasn't able to brace himself for his crash landing; leading to a brutal collision with a sedan model vehicle parked on the side of the road. The hard metal dented and broken under his body didn't help to assuage the pain in the slightest, as he groaned out miserably while struggling to hold on to as much consciousness and alertness as possible.
Opening his eyes, he saw that the wind attack that hit him had accomplished at least one positive amidst all the negatives. Most of the clouded debris had been cleared from the area, granting everyone participating in this battle full visibility. The clouds would have worked in his favor, if it weren't for whatever sensory quirk that the Nomu had been granted to see him perfectly through the mist.
Sliding himself off the vehicle, he took his time to recompose himself thanks to the lack of activity from Danger Sense. Although strange that they weren't taking advantage of his injured state, he wouldn't complain about being granted a breather. After a few more moments of resting on a single knee, he rose to his feet to continue the fight.
He was met with the sight of Moon returned to the side of the robed man, who although had his face mostly covered, still had a confident and pleased smirk visibly plastered on. Deku didn't have to wonder of the whereabouts of Conquest for long, because the beast came crashing down on the man's other side almost instantly, sending tremors all throughout the area from his immense weight.
"Unfortunately, I've been ordered to take you in alive. Now that you've had a plentiful taste of what my Nomu are capable of, I'd suggest you take this chance to come quietly." Mockingly stated the robed villain, making a play at the warning Deku had given him at the beginning of the fight.
Taking another deep breath through his slightly damaged respirator, he raised Full Cowling up to seventy percent in response to the villain's confidence. "All for One give you those orders? Does that mean that you know where he's hiding?" I've had so many failures with interrogating assassins sent by All for One… I've defeated so many of them yet never even gotten a crumb of information on his whereabouts. Please let this be the exception.
"Ha! I'm sure you've ran this routine with every villain you've faced! Well, I'm sorry to tell you but even if I were remotely intimidated of you, I still wouldn't tell you a thing." Laughed the man as he started to pace back and forth in front of the Nomu. "The consequences of giving you anything of value would be far worse than anything you could fathom. All for One's wrath is a force to be reckoned with, and I am well more than happy to be an ally to him rather opposed." He stopped in front of Conquest, lifting a hand to touch the beast's enormous chest.
"Just look at this Nomu here, his name is Conquest." He continued, turning his attention away from Deku to look up at the monster. "Conquest is blessed with far more quirks than even most of the other high ends. Super Regeneration, Superhuman Strength, Air Cannon, Hydro Cannon, Heat Signature Sensory, and a whole lot more. And this isn't even the most powerful of the soldiers that he's engineered!" he cried out hysterically, turning back to face Deku as if it were putting emphasis on his words.
"So you serve him out of fear? How can you stand to live like that? Constantly afraid that the slightest mistake could mean your life just because you disappointed your master. I don't know who you are, but surely there's a better way for you to live than servitude to an evil like All for One." Reasoned Deku, half trying to convince the man to change his mind and half trying to buy himself a few more seconds. Thanks for the confirmation on some of that thing's quirks… now keep talking just a little bit longer…
"You're missing the point, Izuku Midoriya. You've been getting your ass handed to you by a creature that he engineered to not even be the strongest amongst his ranks. How can you possibly hope to ever defeat him if you can't even stand up to Conquest?"
Lightning cracked around Deku, as a whole different glow started to luminate off his body. Figuring that he wasn't going to get much more meaningful details out of the man, he prepared to show his opponents his real power, and what he'd been charging up throughout the entire fight. "Because…"
The robed man stiffened at the tone that Deku spoke to him with and shivered at the way the air seemed to vibrate in response to the wielder of One for All. Conquests yellow eye glowed brightly in activation in response to the threatening aura he picked up on and kicked the ground to charge at his opponent before he could make the first move.
Fa Jin: One Hundred Percent, plus Full Cowling: Seventy Percent!
Launching past the charging Conquest with relative ease; completely outmatching him in speed thanks to the boost from Fa Jin, he made his way straight for the lesser of the two Nomu to deal a crushing attack.
Detroit Smash!
Unleashing a beyond devastating uppercut directly under the jaw of the unprepared Moon, Deku launched the Nomu soaring into the remains of the already mostly destroyed building from earlier, damaging it even further. Blood trailed the path in which the creature flew through and stained the glove he had struck with, but the young hero didn't care.
Additionally, the strike unleashed wind levels that sent everything nearby, including the robed villain, flying in any given direction; creating a safe distance for wielder of One for All to not have to worry about a surprise attack.
"I'm the only one who can." Finished his statement powerfully Deku, turning around in preparation to fight the remaining Nomu.
Next Chapter: Conquest: Part 2
