Here. We. Go.
This chapter has some violence. Scratch that, quite a bit. But nothing too bad, so it should be alright.
I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 09 - RAID
Izuku stood on the edge of the building, staring down at the street below him. His rabbit ears swayed in the light breeze as he firmly grabbed his backpack by the shoulders.
It might be a dumb move to bring along his backpack, but what if he needed to carry something with him? Besides, it wouldn't slow him down that much. He could at least handle that, right?
The first concern was getting past the entrance. Either he needed to figure a way to avoid a confrontation at all, or he needed to knock out everyone all at once.
Heh. I've only been here for three days and I'm already putting myself into difficult situations. Aizawa-sensei will definitely expel me for this one.
So… what's his move?
From a quick analysis of the street below, Izuku deduced that the blonde haired guy was likely the biggest threat. He was the one in charge of leading the workers inside, so that meant he had to be someone important. Of course, he could be wrong, but there was no evidence to the contrary.
If he wanted this to go as smoothly as possible, he would need to knock him out. Hopefully that would convince the workers to quit moving materials inside and cooperate. From there, he could figure out what to do next.
Izuku charged his legs with One For All and jumped from the building. Gravity took its effect quickly and he began to fall. Thankfully, UA had a lesson on how to properly land from a large height, so he wasn't concerned about being injured.
He landed right behind the blonde haired guy and punched him in the face, putting in a tiny bit of OFA to ensure he was knocked out. He was knocked out quickly, but Izuku caught him before he could land on the floor.
The workers in front of him froze. They stared at Izuku with eyes full of fear. It was clear that they were not trained soldiers.
Looks like he needed to start talking.
"Everything will be alright!" The quirk user shouted. "I will not hurt you! I'm just here to stop the group who bases here!" If they were actually part of UNDER, then they would likely try to fight back. But if they weren't…
"W-What do you want with us?!" One of the workers cried out. "W-We were just g-given orders to d-deliver materials to this b-building! P-Please believe us!"
"Don't worry! I believe you!" Izuku gave them his best smile, although with his eyes obscured by the night vision glasses, the effect was lessened. Still, the workers did noticeably relax slightly. Which was good, because that was what he was going for.
Now, about the blonde haired guy...
"Does anyone have any rope?" He had no clue how long he would remain knocked out, so tying them up would keep them from interfering. Hopefully long enough for Yomikawa or Anti-Skill to arrive.
For a few seconds, no one spoke up. That was until one of the workers hesitantly raised their hand.
"U-Uh… There's some in this crate…"
Izuku ran over to the worker, who had already opened the crate. Indeed, there were multiple strands of rope inside. He pulled out several of the shorter ones, which would be enough to hold the blonde haired man. The extra ones were for if he needed to tie up more people.
There was a pole nearby, so the quirk user dragged the guy and tied him against it. Thankfully, he was still knocked out by the time he was done.
The workers were still nervous of the strange person with bunny ears, but they didn't seem to want to attack them. They were prepared to run away, but the man had one final question.
"Do you know anything about the group that operates here?" Izuku asked the group.
Most of them shook their heads. "W-We were only ordered to place the boxes inside. Nothing else," one of them piped up.
Hmm, so I'm still going in blind. I guess I should look inside.
He thanked the workers and carefully stepped into the building, just in case there was a hidden soldier. Luckily, there was not. Inside was a large room, filled with dust and reeking of something terrible. The only objects were the crates the workers carried in. On each wall was an entrance into a hallway.
Izuku quickly deduced that the important stuff was to the left, as the majority of the boxes were closest to that entrance. He stealthily stepped into the hall, making sure to make little sound. Along the walls were doorways, most of them lacking any door into the rooms. But after a little bit of walking, he started to hear voices. Unfortunately, they were muffled, so he couldn't make out any words.
They gradually got louder, until Izuku came upon a door. It looked slightly newer than the rest, although it still fit in with the rest of the building. Here, the voices were loud enough for him to make out the words.
"-eady?"
"Aye. Delivery should be done in a few. The movers are ready to do their jobs."
"Perfect. Once Otani gives the signal, we'll get moving. Remember, we have to do this quickly!"
From the sounds of things, the rest of the base was beyond that door. But how would Izuku be able to get there?
Either he would have to knock out everyone inside, or he would need to sneak past. Both options would be difficult, but he wanted to resolve this with as little injuries as possible on both ends. Sure, he accepted that he would have to fight eventually, but if he could just sneak past them, it would be faster and less painful.
Now, how would he sneak past them?
The signal would be an option, except Izuku had no idea what the signal was. And considering the blonde haired guy (Who he assumed was Otani) was knocked out, he couldn't ask him either.
Was it a shout? Was it the sound of gunfire? Or-
"U-Um… what was the signal again?" The voices behind the door started speaking again.
"How did you forget again?! When he starts shouting, that's when we'll know."
Wow, I got really lucky with that one. Honestly, the entire operation felt like it has been luck based so far. From first hearing the whole plan to having the workers cooperate with him.
It was a good thing Izuku practiced his All Might face and voice when he was younger. Thanks to that, he could replicate nearly anyone's voice. It would be more difficult with Otani, since he only heard a little bit of his voice, but it was still doable.
The quirk user returned to the main room with the crates. Outside, the workers were standing around and doing nothing. With a gentle smile, Izuku let them know that they were free to leave.
"You guys didn't do anything bad, so you don't have to stay." All of the workers nodded and quickly ran towards the truck. Within a minute, they were gone.
He quickly checked the crates to see the status of the materials and if there was anything else he could use. He let out a sigh of relief when he realized the bombs were deactivated. It would likely take time to activate them.
He took another glance at the crate with rope. With some hesitation, Izuku took a long strand of rope with him. There was a possibility that he would need more. He stuffed it into his backpack, which was starting to overfill with items. Looks like he'd need a new one soon.
With that completed, he stood at the edge of the hallway leading towards the base. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath.
"Ready!" He shouted out, doing his best to copy Otani's voice. It was far from perfect, but the distance from the door would hopefully allow for some leeway. Then he ran into one of the empty rooms in the hallway and waited.
It took a minute, but he eventually heard footsteps. A flurry of people walked past the open doorway, all of them looking focused.
"Get to work! I'll go find Otani, since he disappeared like the rat he is," one of them said with a feminine voice. That made Izuku realize he had a time limit. He continued to lay in wait until the last person walked past the doorway. Without looking back, he activated One For All and ran as fast as he could towards the door with the base.
Thankfully, the door was already open. He ran into the room, which looked similar to the empty room he was just in. The difference was that there was a stairwell on the floor. Also, the reeking smell was nonexistent here.
The quirk user walked over and peeked his head down to the floor below. He saw blank white walls and no people. There aren't a lot of guards in this place here, huh?
Izuku carefully stepped down the staircase, doing his best to make no sounds. Once he was on the ground, he began walking down one of the hallways. Whilst doing that, he started to think.
Where is the leader? Actually, who is the leader? His lack of information was seriously hindering his progress. His success so far was mostly because of luck. Maybe he should interrogate someone…
The issue was, there was no one to interrogate. Which begged the question: Where is everyone? If the hostage plan was going to happen, wouldn't everyone be preparing? Unless there are more floors. Maybe that's where everyone else is.
He continued to walk down the hall, passing by several doors that led to who knew where. In addition, there were still no people around, giving the floor an eerie feeling. Izuku tried his best to ignore the feeling as he wandered through the various different hallways, trying to find either a staircase or another person.
After what felt like hours, the quirk user finally came upon a staircase being guarded by two people. One had short black hair while the other had long brown hair in the style of a mullet. Both looked tired and unfocused, a contrast to the movers from the floor above. What happened to that group anyways? Is there a second staircase I missed, or are they lost?
Leaving those thoughts for later, Izuku quickly charged One For All and ran right at the two guards. They barely had any time to react before he stunned them with a neck chop. With no time to waste, he tied them up and moved them away from the staircase. Thanks to his quirk, he was able to do it in record time.
When the two guards came back to their senses, they started panicking.
"Please don't kill us!" "We're just doing our jobs!" Both cried out, startling Izuku slightly. That wasn't the reaction he expected.
"I won't." The green haired teen kept his voice level and his face as obscured as possible. "Just tell me everything you know about this base." Maybe I shouldn't have been so direct…
The two guards looked at each other with hesitation, before the one with the mullet turned to Izuku. "O-Okay… this base has four underground floors. Most people are gathered on the third floor, but the last floor has no one."
That worked?! Am I that scary looking?
That said, he knew there was a possibility the two were lying about the information. But how could he know?
"...Anything else? Like who the leader is?"
The duo suddenly glared at the quirk user. "We would never leak their information to someone like you!" "How dare you ask that?! You don't have the right to know!"
Izuku stepped back in surprise. ...Okay, don't ask about that. With the mood they were in now, it would be wise to not badger them any further.
"Okay. I guess that's all." He hesitated for a moment. "If I let you guys go, will you promise to not attack me?"
The one with the mullet opened their mouth to speak, but the black haired one cut in first. "Why would we do that?!"
"What are you doing?!" The mullet guy turned to his partner with a glare. "We could have lied!"
"I would never promise anyone who disrespects the leader like that! Even as a lie!"
"But now we'll be stuck here! How can we help the leader like this?!"
That caused the mullet guy to close his mouth in realization. "Shit… I messed up!"
...Is this a cult?
As the two were shouting at each other, Izuku slowly backed away from the duo. He was almost at the staircase when they finally noticed him.
"Hey… that intruder is getting away!" The black haired guy exclaimed.
"Get back here you bastard!" Mullet cried out.
The quirk user would have let them go, but he knew if he did that, they would just attack him. So with some hesitation, he forcefully turned his head away and walked down the staircase.
Unlike the previous floor, the next one was a huge room. Towers of crates covered his vision, making it difficult to see. It was also darker than the first floor, so his night vision goggles would be more effective here.
As he walked down the stairs, he suddenly heard voices.
"Jeez, those crates were a pain to carry."
"Yup. Didn't help that Sakurai had to warn the leader. Speaking of which, how do you think Otani was knocked out?"
"Who knows? Otani's a smart guy, but he also has done some really stupid things. Maybe he ran into a pole or something?" At that point, three people appeared behind a wall of crates. "Then again, it could be an intruder."
Izuku recognized one of the voices from when he overheard the group earlier that day. I think it was… Okubo? The other two weren't recognizable though.
Wait, I'm in trouble now! If they saw him, they would either fight or warn the others. That would end extremely badly for him. With only seconds to spare, he jumped off the staircase, making a loud noise as his feet touched the floor. He ignored it and ran behind another wall of crates.
"Hm? Did you guys hear that?"
"That sound? That was probably one of the others dropping a crate, you know? It always makes a loud thud."
"...Well, let's not worry about it. We need to check on Yamaha and the other guy."
The three reached the bottom of the staircase, forcing Izuku to make a quick decision. Should he knock out the three, or should he let them go?
He hesitated for quite a bit, but he couldn't let anyone know there was an intruder just yet. With great reluctance, he charged his hand with One For All at 20% and flicked three of his fingers, one for each person. He didn't intend on knocking them out yet, so he was surprised when all three of them collapsed.
H-Huh?! The quirk user ran up to the three and checked their bodies. Thankfully, they all fell forwards onto the stairs, so he didn't accidentally cause any severe injuries. Phew… I don't want anyone to be badly hurt from this. It wasn't like they had actually done anything bad yet.
Well, as far as he knew.
He carefully picked up one of them and carried him down the stairs, placing him next to the crate wall. Anyone walking this way would be able to find them easily, but they would still be hidden long enough for Izuku to get away. He did the same thing for the other two.
Once he was done, Izuku left them and started wandering around the floor. He was trying to find the staircase to the third floor, which was apparently where everyone was gathered. That was assuming the guy from the floor above was telling the truth.
I guess I'll find out soon…
It didn't take him very long to find the next staircase. Unlike the previous one though, it wasn't guarded by anyone. Despite that, he could hear shouting coming from the floor below, which meant there was something going on. So the guy wasn't lying about that. I wonder what it's about though.
Izuku searched around him for a second, before he took a few steps down. Doing this would grant him a view of whatever was occurring below him. Once he stopped, he sat down on the stairs and turned his head to the right.
Around 30-40 people were gathered, all of them teenagers. That made him wince. As he thought about it, he realized that, other than maybe Otani, UNDER was made of people who weren't even adults yet.
That thought unsettled him greatly. W-Why are people my age in a group like this? He knew that high school gangs existed in his world, but they usually didn't pose a huge threat. Especially when there were heroes around. Yet, there was a group full of teenagers talking about kidnapping people and using them as hostages.
What is going on in this city?
He shook his head. That wasn't something he could worry about right now. His goal was to take down the group, preferably with as little violence as possible. Of course, he wasn't so naive as to believe it would be resolved peacefully. As evidenced by the fact he had to knock out several people already, the group would not go down easily.
The quirk user shifted his attention back to the floor below. The people gathered were all seemingly sorting through items. He saw a pile of what looked like… grenades?! And guns?! I know there were bombs upstairs, but this…
His eyes moved over the entire room, his face filling with fear as he took in the sight. Yet, it gave him more determination to stop the group. Even if it wasn't his own world, he was not going to let these people execute the plan!
The sudden surge of determination nearly made him stand up. But before he could, someone else suddenly shouted below.
"Attention everyone!" An… attractive black haired girl seemed to suddenly appear out of nowhere. "There is a possible intruder inside our base! Please be on the lookout!"
Izuku froze. That wasn't good.
Almost right after that proclamation, someone shouted, "There's someone on top of the stairs!" And suddenly, the entire floor was staring at him.
It was as if the gods of luck had enough and dropped him to the demons. Oh no…!
He only had a split second before they suddenly launched different colored rays at him. His reflexes were the only thing that prevented him from becoming a puddle of blood. The quirk user was able to dodge them without getting hit.
Unfortunately for him, the stairs weren't so lucky. Right as he landed on another step, the whole thing came crashing down. Izuku barely activated One For All in time to leap off. He hopped onto one of the walls, before he jumped towards the floor. He landed safely away from the remains of the staircase.
"You stupid asses! We trained your aim for this reason! Now we can't go back up!" The girl stamped her foot in frustration. "And you!" She pointed a finger at Izuku. "You're here for a reason, no? Tell me about it!"
He raised an eyebrow at her straightforwardness, but hey, maybe it would help stop her? "I'm here to stop your hostage plan! And while I'm at it, you need to stop doing illegal things!"
The room was silent for a few moments, before the girl let out a haughty laugh. "Hahahaha! Are you naive enough to think you can stop something like that with just a few words? Dumbass!" Along with her, the majority of the teenagers laughed as well.
Izuku kept his expression blank as he stared at the girl. He was expecting that sort of reaction from her. He changed his stance so he could move quickly if necessary.
The girl's laughing gradually calmed down and she glared at the quirk user. "Of course, I'm curious as to how you found out about that. Mind telling me, no?" She took a step closer to him and started flaunting her body. "I'll reward you if you tell me everything and give up here~."
In a normal situation, Izuku would have started stammering and freaking out. But this was far from normal. Instead, his mouth remained closed and he kept his focus on the task at hand.
When he didn't answer, the girl frowned. "Seriously? Nothing? Ugh, fine." She abruptly disappeared in front of him. His eyes widened in shock as he rapidly turned his head back and forth, trying to find the girl. Is her power super speed? Or is it-
His train of thought was interrupted by a sudden kick to his back. It was strong enough to make him stumble forward, but he maintained his balance enough that he didn't fall to the floor. Izuku turned around, ready to fight, only to see no one there.
"H-Huh?" He accidentally let out a sound of confusion. Where is she? I swore there was someone behind me! Then he was kicked on his right side, making him stumble and nearly fall to the floor in pain. But truthfully, this was nothing compared to his other battles. Thus, he persevered through the pain and remained standing.
Ok, so I can't see her. It could be a speed power, but I'm starting to think it's something else. The only other possibility is… invisibility! Or a form of it, at least.
Now that he identified the girl's power, he needed a way to know when she was approaching. Unfortunately, he couldn't rely on sound, since the others on the floor were cheering his enemy on. Which meant there needed to be something else.
If only these glasses had infrared…
Right as he had that thought, however, he heard a loud footstep from right behind him. That made him realize he was about to be attacked. The girl probably wants to finish this quickly, so the next place will be…!
Izuku bent his neck forwards and felt the wind of a punch go by above his hood. Then he reached upwards and felt someone's wrist. He twirled his body around and raised the girl above the air, before smashing her into the ground.
"AHHH!" The invisibility wore off and the girl gradually returned to his sight. Seeing her injuries made Izuku immediately feel guilty for having to resort to that move, but he had no choice. "D-Damn you!" She was able to stand up, but her condition wasn't very good.
"Stop this fighting! Please!" Izuku pleaded. Even as he shouted though, he knew it would be a futile effort. He had a feeling that the girl was one of the top in UNDER. Those kinds of people tended to stick all the way until the end.
His thoughts were proven when the girl turned invisible again. Unlike last time, however, Izuku noticed through his night vision goggles that the air shifted. And as time passed, the shifting of the air gradually moved closer to him. He wasn't sure if that was already there, but now he had a way to detect the girl.
His eyes followed the air until the shifting was right next to him. When the shifting seemed to stop moving, that was when he suddenly stepped backwards.
"E-Eh?" The girl let out a sound of confusion. "You dodged it?!"
Izuku felt a glare burning through his body, followed by more shifting of the air. This time, instead of letting her attack, he took several steps backwards and flicked a finger with One For All at 20%. It created a wind burst heading straight for the girl.
"Gah!" The burst struck the girl and he heard a loud thump, followed by the girl's invisibility running out again. She was laying on the floor and looked more injured than before. "You're so fucking annoying!" She pulled herself off the ground, although with difficulty. "H-How are you able to see me? Answer me, no?!"
Izuku merely shook his head in refusal. That caused the girl to suddenly dash towards him while screaming, "I'll kill you!" She didn't even activate her invisibility, showing that she was starting to get careless. With some hesitation, he flicked another finger, creating another burst of wind. Thanks to the distance, it directly hit her and she fell to the ground. This time, though, she wasn't getting up.
The quirk user ran over and checked that she was still breathing. Thankfully, she was. She was only knocked unconscious from the wind bursts. Considering how many villains he had to face, he was surprised at how quickly she was knocked out. Unless… She's also a teenager? One who never trained in this kind of stuff? That seemed like the most logical explanation.
He stood up and stared around him. The crowd was now frozen and looking fearfully at Izuku. Even though they were part of a criminal organization, he still felt extremely guilty. He never wanted anyone to look at him like that. He was almost about to apologize right then and there, before he reminded himself that they were supposed to look at him fearfully.
He took a deep breath and shouted, "I have defeated your leader here! So please give up here and I will let you all go free!" Maybe it was a mistake saying that, but he already felt guilty enough fighting other teenagers who seemingly haven't done anything bad yet. It was entirely possible that they were being manipulated, right?
It was silent for a few moments, before someone chimed up. "Um… what's your level then? Are you maybe a Level 4?" That question caused half of the crowd to suddenly tense up.
But Izuku shook his head. "I… don't have a level. I'm-" He was about to say he was new here, but he cut himself off before he could. He felt like it would end badly if he said that. The crowd was looking at him suspiciously though. I need to say something else. "I'm… Deku."
That caused much of the crowd to wince. "You're calling yourself useless?" One of them asked.
Izuku was tempted to explain, but he held back. Instead, he moved to a different line of questioning. "Can someone here tell me more about this group?"
"Now now~. Calm-ity down." A long brown haired girl stepped out of the crowd before anyone could reply to him. Her left arm was wrapped in bandages. "A filth-ity Level 4 esper like you beating Okumura? I'm afraid-ity I cannot accept that," she said with a smirk.
Who's this? And did she not hear what I said? "I don't have a level!"
"Ha!" She barked out a laugh. "Like I'd believe that! Academy Cit-ity is obsessed with categorizing every-ity person who lives here." She pointed a finger at Izuku. "Your power is beyond Level 3, yet you are clearly-ity not a Level 5."
The girl turned back to the crowd. "With the exception-ity of the Number 6, we know all of the Level 5s. How could someone like this," she pointed at him again, "be one of the greats?"
The crowd started mumbling and nodding, making the girl smirk. "Exactly. Therefore, the only possible level they could be? A Level 4!" She raised her arms above her head. "We do not want those-ity kinds of bastards here! So eliminate him!"
That riled up the crowd and Izuku suddenly felt dozens of death glares land on him. He shivered at how well the girl manipulated the crowd into following her commands. Is she the leader of this group? If not, she's at least one of the people at the top.
She turned to the quirk user, still smirking. "Of course, I'd love to join-ity them, but I'd like to keep my hands clean. So have fun!" And with that, she picked up the black haired girl from earlier and disappeared into the crowd.
Speaking of which, that crowd was slowly walking closer to Izuku, ready to attack him if he tried escaping. Against large numbers of people, he wasn't confident that he could successfully win a fight, even if they all held weak powers. What should I do?!
Maybe he could escape? But where would he go after that? He forgot to search for the next staircase earlier, so he would be searching blind. Plus, there was nothing stopping the crowd from going after him.
Well, he could try diplomacy again?
"I told you! I don't have a level!" He hesitated for a second. "...I've only been here for a few days!"
"Yeah right!" "Quit lying bastard!" "Explain your power then!" The crowd shouted at him.
It took him a second to remember the term that he needed. "I'm a gemstone esper!" That was obviously a lie, but they wouldn't know any different.
That caused them to falter. "Oh… that makes sense." "If he's new to the city, then he wouldn't have taken the system scan yet…" "He might even be a Level 5!"
Huh, that actually was pretty effective. Now that the crowd was in a docile mood, he could ask them more questions again. He had to be quick, before any other UNDER people interfered again.
"I'm curious, why are you guys so hateful of Level 4s?" Izuku asked.
He got several different responses. "Have you SEEN them?!" "One of them arrested my friend for nothing!" "They're minions of the board!" "They can easily do math without any problems!" "They get away with everything!"
...Really? Half of these just seem super petty. The other half could be fair, but… "What makes them different from the Level 5s?"
"They're so cool!" "I saw one of them in-person. He was so hot!" "The city can't control them!" "Nothing will stop them from their goals!"
…What? Izuku had no words for what he just heard. They were clearly acting like fanboys for the Level 5s, yet they hated the Level 4s? I seriously think this is a cult. Oh god, is this what I sound like when I fanboy over heroes?
Nono, he had reasonable reasons to fanboy over them! They saved people! And who could hate a hero costume? Aside from the villains, but that was a given.
...He seriously sounded like a fanboy there. But the issue wasn't their fanboying. It was their hatred of the Level 4s. Plenty of the reasons they listed for their hatred could easily be applied to the Level 5s, yet they all held no animosity towards them. Maybe they were manipulated by the upper people to only hate them?
Izuku decided he needed to find the person controlling everything. "Ok, I get what you mean." He really didn't. "But I'd like to talk to your leader. Where can I find him?"
Several hands shot up into the air. "He's a very busy man, but I think-" "He's on the floor below us!" "No fair! I wanted to say it!"
...It's like I'm in a classroom full of excited children. Again, this is totally a cult! "How do I get to the floor below us?"
"The staircase is over there!" Several people pointed to the corner of the floor. "It's covered, so you just need to lift up the floor!"
That's good to know! "Thank you for the help! I'll go talk to your leader!" The crowd happily parted ways in order to let him through. He started walking, keeping his guard up in case they attacked him.
He had just exited the crowd, when one of them spoke up. "Wait… didn't Wakabayashi tell us to attack him?" Izuku sped up his walking when he heard that.
"...You're right! But he said he wanted to go talk to the leader, right? When he sees the leader, he will surely join us!" One of them pointed out.
"Oh, that's true!" And so, they didn't bother attacking the quirk user. He let out a sigh of relief at that. Looks like he wouldn't have to fight them after all. Well, unless this apparent leader ordered them to attack, but hopefully it wouldn't have to come to that.
He reached the corner that was pointed out and started searching the floor. Thanks to his night vision glasses, he was able to quickly detect the piece that covered the staircase. However, he wasn't sure how to remove it.
"Um, does anyone know how to get this open?" He asked the crowd. Immediately, a black haired guy runs out of the crowd, giddy at the chance to help someone meet their leader!
"Of course!" The guy crouches on one of the ends. "First, you gotta open this piece right here." He pressed his finger on the floor and slid it forwards, revealing a small panel with a small handle. "Now you just pull on the handle!" He pulled on it, opening the staircase for anyone to use.
"Oh! Thank you!" Izuku gave a short bow to the guy, before he started walking down the staircase. He expected the guy to come along, but to his surprise, he stayed on the floor above. "Um, are you going to come?"
"Oh, no no!" The guy rapidly shook his head. "I could never see the leader without permission! I could never do such a thing!"
Izuku raised an eyebrow at that, but chalked it up to more cult weirdness. It was about time he met the leader of this organization.
He continued to walk down the stairs, which were longer than the other ones. As he walked, he realized that the guards he met earlier had lied to him. 'The last floor has no one.' So they were trying to stop me from going there. But why did they want him to not meet the leader, while the ones he saw just now were basically pushing him towards them?
Not to mention… I think it was Okumura? Anyways, she tried to fight me and possibly kill me, while that brown haired girl manipulated the crowd into almost killing me. Izuku was still surprised that he managed to get out of that situation without any harm.
Before he could think about it anymore, he reached the bottom of the stairs. Unlike the previous floors, this floor was very dimly lit. It was a good thing he had his night vision glasses with him.
With his glasses, he could see five figures sitting around some sort of table. Well, four were sitting, while one seemed to be laying down on several chairs. It was difficult to pick out different colors in the dark like this, even with night vision.
"I see our guest has... arrived." The figure at the end of the table suddenly spoke. "Nice to meet you, Deku."
Izuku internally panicked for a second, before he remembered that he said his name to the crowd earlier. The brown haired girl probably told the figure about it.
"Welcome to UNDER. We're a group fighting the unfairness in Academy City." The figure continued to speak. "Why don't you join us for our discussion?"
He originally had no plans to do so, but why not? Why not talk it out with them? If he could resolve this peacefully, that would be good, right?
The quirk user took several steps towards the table, when he realized that those thoughts came out of nowhere. That made him freeze in place.
"W-What was that?" He accidentally sputtered out. It was like I got a sudden compulsion to sit and talk...
"Hm? What do you mean?" The figure asked. "We were about to have a discussion, right?"
Right. They were going to talk things out. Maybe he could strike a deal with this person. Get to know him a little better and-
Izuku suddenly gasped and started coughing. What the hell was that?! And right when he asked himself that question, the answer came to him immediately.
"Your- cough- esper power. Stop using it on me!" He shouted out.
"What?" Was it just him, or did the figure's voice crack slightly for a second? "I'm not using any esper powers. Maybe you're just going crazy?"
That made sense. He was just being-
"Stop this!" His own mouth shouted out before he realized it. "You're lying!"
The figure wasn't giving up yet. "I would never lie! That would go against my moral code!"
Yeah- SHUT. UP. At this point, Izuku was actually starting to feel furious, which he usually never felt. That only happened if someone he cared for was hurt. Yet, this time, it was only him.
He raised his arm and aimed his fingers at the figure. Before he could make any moves, the figure once again spoke up.
"Hm? So you really are resistant. That's a shame." The figure turned to his right. "Shiba, please turn on the lights. And Imada," he turned to his left, "Please take care of this young man."
The lights immediately turned on, blinding him for a moment. Then he heard a loud crash from nearby. "Yes sir! I'll kill this little bastard!"
Izuku's eyes cleared up enough for him to see a large and bulky man marching towards his location. Behind him was the brown haired girl from earlier.
"Ooh! Can I join-ity him?" She exclaimed.
"Of course." The light revealed that the figure was wearing a hood, making it difficult to make out their face. "Imada may need some… assistance."
The bulky guy ran straight for Izuku, his arm reeled back. "I'll crush you to a pulp!" He swung his arm downwards and struck the floor. From the point he hit the ground, waves emerged, all of which were aimed at the quirk user.
His eyes widened at the familiarity of the power. It's slightly different, but that guy at the provisional license exam had a similar quirk. And compared to Shindo's quirk, this one wasn't as strong. All he would need to do is jump above it.
He quickly charged his legs with a small percentage of One For All and jumped over the wave. Then he aimed his fingers at the burly guy and flicked it with 20%. The resulting wind pressure bursts struck the guy, making him cry out in pain.
"Gah! What the hell were those things?!" He shouted out.
"Relax, Imada." The brown haired girl piped up. "Those are just little-ity bursts of wind pressure. You can handle them just fine."
Didn't she see me knock out Okumura with them? Even without his specialized gloves, a 20% wind burst still packed a punch. Izuku landed back on the ground, only to receive another wave attack. Like before, he jumped up to avoid it.
Unlike before, however, the waves struck him, causing him to be thrown back. "GAHHH!" he cried out as he struck the ground. His backpack was knocked a distance away from him.
"Hahahaha! You did awesome, Hitomi!" Imada cheered.
"Don't. Call. Me. By. My. FIRST. NAME!" Hitomi roared back. "You will never-ity have the right to say that!"
"Oi, shut the hell up! Your last name is way too long to say!"
"Don't care!"
As the two argued, Izuku attempted to push himself off the ground. But when he tried, a flare of pain shot down his right arm. He had to bite his lip in order to prevent himself from screaming. D-Did I land on my arm when I crashed onto the floor? If he did, then it was definitely sprained or broken.
He tried again, this time focusing on using his left arm. There was still a little pain, but it was manageable. By the time he stood up, the other two espers were finished with their argument.
"Oh great! That bastard is still up and moving! It's all because you wanted to argue about your name!" Or not…
"Now now, please calm down." The figure spoke up. "Focus on the task at hand."
"Sigh. Whatever you say-ity." Hitomi turned to the quirk user with a sneer. "We'll take care of this guy real quickly-ity."
Izuku's face remained resolute as he faced the two espers. He needed a new plan to deal with the muscular guy, as jumping over his waves won't work anymore. But I can't run around them. There's no space to do so. The only option he had was to destroy the waves, but how could he do that?
He didn't have much time to think before Imada sent another wave right at him. In his panic, he lifted his left arm and flicked several fingers at only 20%. He expected it to fail, but to his surprise, when the wind bursts struck the earth waves, it fell apart.
Imada was startled for a moment. "E-Eh? What just happened?" Seizing an opportunity, Izuku fired off wind bursts at the muscular guy, which directly impacted his body. "OW! You bastard!"
Hmm, this guy is much stronger than Okumura. I don't think my wind pressure bursts will be able to knock him out. Obviously, there was the option of using 100%, but that would essentially create a mini tornado. That would be overkill and likely cause more damage than he wanted.
Wait, why was he limiting himself to wind pressure bursts? He could easily just punch the guy in the face. The only concern was needing to avoid the earth waves.
He started running towards Imada, making sure his left fingers were aimed at the guy. When he noticed Izuku rushing towards him, he angrily created another wave. The quirk user flicked a finger, destroying the wave.
He jumped above the guy and reeled his left arm back. Imada's eyes widened, before his face was struck by Izuku's punch. He fell down to the floor, teetering on the edge of consciousness.
"Y-You… B-Bastard…" The muscular guy cursed, before he fell unconscious. Izuku let out a sigh of relief.
"Yawn. Somehow, I just knew Imada would lose-ity like that." Izuku's head snapped up. Hitomi was lazily sitting on the table. "I may have helped him out-ity with his 'wave spam', but I figured he would eventually fall apart. Wouldn't you agree?"
The hooded figure nodded. "Indeed. Unfortunately, a Level 3's powers pale against one who is above their level." They stood up from their chair. "Perhaps I may have to be involved."
"Ooh! I'm excited-ity! I don't remember the last time you fought!"
"Ahem." For the first time, the short boy with glasses spoke up. "The last time Leader fought was approximately two months, thirteen-"
"Shut the hell up Shiba!" Hitomi interrupted, glaring at the boy. "You're such an annoying little brat!"
Izuku stared blankly at the arguing espers. One second, they're working together. Then they're arguing over petty reasons. It sort of reminded him of his relationship with Bakugou.
That thought unexpectedly started bringing back his memories of being in his own world. He shook them off before they could take hold. If he let his brain ponder on those, then he'd lose his focus on the fight in front of him. That can't happen yet.
"Now now, let's return our focus to the issue at hand." The hooded figure turned his head to the quirk user. "Mr. Deku here is being… uncooperative. His strength is beyond what we expected, so we must be careful around him."
"For your information, I have calculated their height to be approximately 166 centimeters, or five feet and five inches tall."
The short boy, named Shiba, abruptly cut in. Izuku's eyes widened at the accuracy of his height. How…?
"Thank you, Shiba." Then to the quirk user's surprise, the hooded figure let out a small smirk. "I guess it's time to show off a true Level 4's power."
Suddenly, the hood was thrown into the air, revealing the figure's body. It was another guy, but his hair was pale white and his eyes were a disturbing color of green. He was only wearing a tank-top, showing off his well-toned body.
Hitomi widely smirked at the reveal. "Oh ho, you're getting serious-ity!"
The white haired guy only laughed at her words. "I can tell Deku here is quite the threat. It would be best to not hold back, after all."
Izuku could tell that this guy was stronger than the ones he fought earlier. And what did he mean by 'A true Level 4?' Whatever it meant, he would hopefully find out soon. His goal right now was to defeat the guy.
If only he didn't sprain his right arm!
"Now, please stand back for now, Hitomi. It would be best if I dealt with this alone. I will only ask for your help if it is necessary."
The brown haired girl only leaned back, staying silent. Izuku was mildly surprised that she didn't say a word about the use of the first name, but shrugged it off. He pushed his focus onto the leader, who seemed awfully relaxed.
That changed quickly when his green eyes suddenly took on a fierce look. The next second, he was running straight at Izuku. He was shocked for a quick second, before he barely dodged to the right. H-He's fast!
The leader turned in the direction Izuku dodged and leaped at him. He had his arm reeled back and ready to punch. Only the quirk user's quick reflexes prevented his stomach from being crushed. Not wanting to be close at the moment, he leaped back a distance away from the white-haired guy.
I haven't really been using Full Cowl too much yet, but I'll definitely need it if I hope to win. He was mostly only using One For All when firing off his wind bursts. With a deep breath, he pulled on the quirk. He felt it gradually fill his body, producing the green lightning that he radiated out.
"Oh ho ho! Now what's this? An electrical ability?" The leader noticed the lightning. "Perhaps his ability is an elemental one. Or… he's a dual-skill user!"
Dual Skill? As if he heard his question, Shiba spoke up. "Dual-Skill is used to refer to an esper that holds more than one ability. However, this has been largely theoretical, as it is believed that it is impossible for one esper to have more than one ability."
"But if you have it…" The leader widely grinned. "Show me your lightning ability!"
Huh? I don't have one…? He imagined Kaminari accusing him of stealing his thunder (Pun not intended), making him laugh internally. Anyways, don't they realize my strength is what produces the wind bursts?
Then Izuku realized that he had an opportunity here. By making them think he had a lightning ability, he could trick them into being cautious of him, giving him some time to think and produce a plan.
The quirk user let out a grin and left One For All activated. While the leader remained in place, Hitomi and Shiba noticeably took a couple of steps away. Hopefully they would stay out of the way so Izuku could focus on one person.
However, he couldn't start brainstorming a plan before the leader laughed. "I see what you're doing. That's not really electricity, is it?" Opposite to what Izuku expected, he took several steps closer to him. "I've never seen a power like yours! Tell me about it!"
Izuku suddenly felt the urge to explain everything about his quirk, but he forcefully pushed it down. That would have ended terribly if he spilled the beans on One For All to a stranger. Instead he decided to go on the offense.
He charged towards the leader and drew his fist back. They dodged the attack, but Izuku quickly turned around and threw his punch. It barely missed impacting him, but the wind produced caused him to be pushed back.
"Oh ho! You're quite the difficult fighter! It's best not to underestimate you, even if I haven't suffered damage yet." He turned his head to face Hitomi. "Feel free to fight our visitor! I bet you'll enjoy it!"
The girl barked out a laugh. "Seriously-ity? This loser? I think you're overreacting!" She jumped down from the table. "Though, I'm pretty bored-ity right now, so maybe this will alleviate my boredom!"
She placed a hand on the floor. Then suddenly, the ground suddenly seemed to extend upwards a couple of meters, knocking Izuku off balance. The leader only grinned at the action, as he kept his balance.
This is going to get really annoying if she keeps doing this! He needed to knock out the brown-haired girl quickly, before the fight could get any harder. I just need to get my balance, and then...
Izuku stumbled slightly as he tried regaining his balance. The floor was constantly changing heights, making it difficult. But eventually, he found himself in a rhythm of hopping that let him maintain a balanced state. He raised his left arm, already filled with One For All, and flicked a finger.
The wind burst struck the girl, making her gasp out in pain. "What the hell?!" She glared at the quirk user. "You little shit! I'll kill you!"
Suddenly, the floor below started rapidly moving up and down, nearly making Izuku collapse to the floor. He had to struggle in order to keep himself standing.
The leader appeared to also be having the same issue. "Hitomi! What the hell are you doing?!" he shouted out as he attempted to maintain his balance. The brown haired girl ignored his words and tried to crush Izuku into the ground. To her dismay though, he was managing to stay balanced.
His fight against Overhaul was somewhat similar to this (albeit far more dangerous), so he already had some experience dealing with uneven floors. But he couldn't maintain this forever. I need to knock her out, and quickly!
Izuku was prepared to use his left hand once again, but he realized that his fingers were starting to bruise. Normally, that wouldn't have stopped him. However, even though his right arm was sprained, he still had mostly unharmed fingers he could use. Thus, while keeping his balance, he lifted his right arm with his left, pushing through the pain.
It was intense, but honestly, he'd been through worse. He aimed his right arm at the girl and flicked four of his fingers in rapid succession.
Normally, Hitomi would have been able to dodge anything, but her rage was so large that she was only focused on crushing Izuku with the ground. Thus, the wind bursts rammed right into her without her even trying to move out of the way.
The first one made her gasp. The second snapped her out of her state of constant rage. The third knocked her back. And the fourth knocked her out completely.
When she went unconscious, the ground abruptly stopped shifting around. Then it gradually returned to its original state. Izuku let out a sigh of relief. Now I can focus on-
WHAM
Izuku turned around in surprise. The leader had just punched the floor with a rage-filled expression.
"D-DAMN YOU, DEKU BASTARD!" He roared out. "I can't believe Hitomi was defeated so fucking easily! SHIBA!" He twisted his head to face the short boy. "I want you to give me every single weakness this little shit has!"
Oh. He's mad. Very mad.
The short boy looked concerned for a moment, before he schooled his features. "If you wish. His right arm appears to either be sprained or broken. I would advise trying to attack his right side, as it would be harder for Deku to defend from there."
"Great! Hey, you!" The leader pointed a finger at the quirk user. "You're FUCKING DEAD!" He charged straight at Izuku with an extremely determined expression. He widened his eyes, before dodging by twisting his body to the left.
Unfortunately, the leader quickly changed course and threw a punch directly at Izuku's face. It connected, causing him to stumble backwards. A bruise was starting to grow on his cheek, but he shrugged it off.
The white haired guy, however, wasn't stopping. He continued to dash at Izuku, trying to punch his face into a heap of blood. However, since the quirk user knew what to expect, he was dodging all of the attacks. And whenever the leader exposed himself a bit too much, he threw a few punches himself, although they all missed.
The next few minutes were spent with both sides throwing flurries of punches and dodging them respectively. A few of them connected, but the other side counterattacked and ultimately resisted the damage. It brought immense frustration to the leader, while Izuku was content with this. His stamina reserves were quite high, thanks to his training.
Eventually, the quirk user finally landed a 8% punch, causing the leader to stagger back. He started spitting out blood, making Izuku worried he dealt too much damage. But the guy wasn't done yet. Once again, he ran straight for the quirk user, intending to punch him once again. However, his speed was lower than it was just a minute ago. Thus, Izuku was able to easily dodge his attacks.
After another minute of this, the leader stood back, panting. "Y-You're... so… fucking… annoying!"
For the first time in a while, Izuku finally spoke back. "What's the point of doing all of this?"
"Oh, so NOW you're curious? I don't owe you any explanation!" Like before, he charged at the quirk user. But at this point, his exhaustion had slowed him down severely. Izuku easily dodged his attacks again.
Once again, he asked, "Why would you make a group about killing Level 4s?"
The leader remained silent and continued trying to fruitlessly land something on the green haired teen. It seemed like he wasn't going to give up.
"Last chance. Why are you doing all of this?" Izuku did his best to be intimidating, in hopes that he would answer. But alas, he acted like no questions were asked. With a deep sigh, the quirk user threw a punch at his stomach, making him gasp and crash to the floor.
Finally, he was knocked out. I never got any answers. Well, I guess I should tie them up with my rope. He started walking over to his backpack, but then he heard a sigh from across the room.
"Sigh. I cannot believe Kinoshita let himself be clouded by his emotions." Izuku turned his head to see the short boy approaching him. His expression was neutral, not showing any emotions. "A shame that he lost his way. Now our plan cannot be put into place."
"What plan?"
"One that I am pretty confident you are already aware of, Deku. The hostage plot that you managed to get your hands on, of course."
That sent a short burst of anger through his body, but he forced himself to remain calm. "Why would you involve hostages in this? What's the point of this group?"
Shiba's expression remained unchanging as he spoke. "Have you noticed how unfair Academy City treats the different levels of espers?"
No? He'd only been here for a few days, how would he have noticed that. All he knew was that the city seemed slightly suspicious. Izuku remained quiet, waiting for Shiba to continue.
"First, there are the seven Level 5s. They get treated like royalty, being allowed to do basically whatever they want. You could say they are the lapdogs of the city."
Izuku cut in before he could speak again. "But I heard that you guys like the Level 5s. Yet, you hate the-"
Shiba raised a hand, cutting him off. "Allow me to continue. The Level 5s are incredibly powerful. A level 4 couldn't hope to defeat one normally, even if multiple of them teamed up together. Thus, they deserve such a position."
Where's he going with this?
"But, what about the Level 4s themselves? Sure they may be strong, but a group of Level 3s could quite easily take one down." Shiba started walking back and forth. "And yet, Level 4s act like everyone is below them. Isn't that pathetic?"
His voice took on some emotion for the first time. "They hurt me and Kinoshita! And only because we dared challenge their authority!" He made a fist and tightened it. "The Academy City Level 4s are not deserving of their power! Only the ones who reject the city will truly reach that level!"
Izuku tilted his head in confusion. So… they made this group because a Level 4 did something to them? That kind of made sense, in a way? But…
"Then what's the point of involving hostages?!" He wouldn't have ever thought of involving innocent people in a completely unrelated plot to get back at a specific group of people.
Shiba sighed . "Deku, you should know. We intended to get an item from a District 7 restaurant, but someone interfered before we could retrieve it. The hostage plan is merely a way to get the materials into our hands. It's not our fault that we had to resort to this."
At this point, Izuku's anger was rising. Not their fault?! "That's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard!"
The short boy wrinkled his nose. "Consider it a necessary evil. And besides, it's not like we can go through with it anymore. You ruined that." He pointed at the quirk user. "Now I'm left with an issue: Do I give up and go with you? Or do I fight back?"
The two went silent for a minute, before Shiba spoke back up with a chuckle. "Frankly, giving up was never in my books. And yet, I could never hope to defeat someone like you on my own."
The boy started walking away from the quirk user with a smirk. "Which is why…"
Izuku realized what he was about to do. He was walking towards a wall with some sort of audio device. If Shiba got to it, there was a chance he would call for reinforcements!
By instinct, Izuku fired a wind burst at the guy. Apparently, he didn't expect it, because it directly struck him and sent him falling to the ground.
"GAH! You attacked me?!" Shiba sounded more surprised than angry, if anything. "That's not how it's supposed to go!"
"Eh?" What did he mean by that?
"You're clearly against attacking people! I've seen how you minimize the damage towards most of our group! Yet, you attack me with no remorse?!"
Izuku almost started to feel guilty, before he realized that Shiba was trying to manipulate him. He forced the guilt back down and glared at the short boy. "You were going to summon reinforcements!"
"That's not the point! You attacked me! ME! ME!"
Shiba began to rant. "The fact that someone like you would dare attack someone of our caliber is simply unforgivable! How could you have no remorse for this?! This is why I hate all of the Level 4s! They think they can attack someone without having consequences! Stupid! Stupid! I'll make sure you regret this! UNDER will rise again and the first thing we will do is eliminate you! You're the biggest enemy to the peace of this city! How could you reject that peace?! You bastard! I'll-"
His rant was cut off when Izuku fired a weaker wind burst. It was enough to knock him out. He let out a sigh, glad that the fight was finally over.
He walked over to his backpack and pulled out all of the rope he took from the crate. Then he tied up every person who was down here and checked them for any serious injuries. Luckily for him, their injuries were mostly minor.
Perhaps he should call Yomikawa now? Someone had to arrest the people here, and he already planned on her knowing about the raid. He pulled out his phone and dialed Yomikawa's number.
It only rang once before she picked up. "Midoriya?"
"...Um, hi?"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Izuku had to pull the phone away from his ears. Looks like this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation.
Finally, it's done. Hooray!
That was the longest chapter yet, clocking in just over 10k words. And I managed to get it out in about 2-3 weeks too. Not as impressive as my 18k in two weeks, but it is all original content, so I guess its harder to write.
On another note, thanks for 180 Favorites and 258 Followers! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, as its my first time writing out a whole raid. Also my first time writing out a long fight sequence as well.
Now, I do have some bad news. This will likely be the last chapter for this story for a while. Why? I have college coming up very soon and that will likely take up a ton of the time I'll have up there. In addition, I would like to work on my other stories before I come back to this one.
Ok, chapter explanation time!
So, if you go back to Chapter 7, there was that short scene with the six people gathered around a table. Those people are the people who lead UNDER. I think I made it clear who was who, but maybe I didn't.
If their personalities seemed to randomly change, that's because they did. Espers aren't supposed to be the most rational people, and this group is crazy. I only hope that I made their fights at least somewhat interesting.
I also know that there were a few things said by the espers that weren't explained. Those explanations will happen later.
...Uh, I think that's all that I wanted to explain? Next chapter, whenever that will be, will show the aftermath.
Time for the review response! Remember, If you read last chapter, you'll remember that I said I would be responding to reviews from both Chapter 7 and 8. I'll put the chapter the review is from, so you can see what you originally said. Some reviews may have a 1 next to their name, which just means they replied on chapter 1.
Kamijou Touma1 (7): After doing some reading and stuff, I realized you're mostly right. Although, in the current season, he's been stuttering a fair amount. Not enough to warrant my earlier use of stutters, but he does still stutter.
Vasto-Lorde-Ash-Ketchum (7): Uh, you'll have to find out. So far, as you can tell, Izuku has mostly been doing his own thing. But the future plans do involve him being a lot closer to canon. That means he will interact more with the main cast.
F.B.100 (7): Well, here's the ass-kicking you asked for! Of course, it wasn't entirely perfect, but Izuku handled it mostly fine. And yeah, his reliance on wind might seem a bit odd compared to canon, but I'm planning on including more kicks in future fights. It just wasn't needed this time. I'm glad you are enjoying this story!
Kisame Hoshigaki (7): Alright, thanks for that info. That would be pretty funny if he did that.
craytherlay (7): Don't worry, I plan on referencing canon events whenever they come up. It would better cement the idea that 'Oh. Izuku is in THE Academy City'. As for his reaction to the powers of them... well, you'll find out eventually.
Your suggested explanation for the magic gods sort of makes sense, but I'm not entirely sure. The science of magic gods (heh) is quite confusing, so I don't really feel like using my brainpower on that right now.
craytherlay (8): I figured since I just responded to your review, I'd just do it again.
Uhh, your timeline of events is off by quite a bit. I think I've stated the date is July 31 (Or August 1st). Unless the Toaru wiki is lying to me, Touma and Accelerator don't actually fight until August 20 something. Technically, Deep Blood hasn't even occurred yet either (Happens on August 8th). It'll be a while before that happens, but his reaction would definitely be hilarious to see! And hah, I thought the same thing while I was writing that part. That would create a whole other can of worms.
blackberry1773 (7): This specific arc is all original, no canon involved. However, as the story goes on, it will get closer to canon and those events will start to be involved.
H7712 (7): Wow, that's a long review. Woo, let's get into it!
I agree. The prologue is really weak and will require a rewrite. I have an idea in mind for a new prologue, but that won't come for a while. Your idea is good though and I might incorporate some of it. Thanks! And I hope that the UNDER Arc (There's technically one chapter left, dealing with the aftermath, but ah well) satisfied your expectations!
Don't worry, I can guarantee that Izuku will be involved in canon heavily at some point. I agree that stories who don't bother to cross over with the main series tend to be weaker and far less interesting to read. I'll do my best to make it a compelling read while having it all make sense!
While I haven't exactly decided how I'm going to use Touma yet, he's definitely going to be a major character in this story. Hell, he's one of the characters listed. Index stories that don't have Touma in it tend to be... not as interesting, in my opinion. Whether he'd be a sort of second protagonist is yet to be seen, but that probably won't occur for a while.
Oh, you definitely don't need to worry about me not messing with canon much. Hell, (minor spoiler warning), the UNDER arc is going to have some effects for some of the later arcs from canon. Thanks for all of the tips and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
woguy21 (1): Yeah, you right. Idk if you're reading this, but this chapter has little stuttering. I'll fix the stutterings in previous chapters later.
gianluca30 (7): Whos friend? Hah, just kidding. Whether Izuku helps Frenda or not... that's a spoiler. you'll have to keep reading to find out!
LegendaryMob (3): Consider it an early writing mistake. That said, I've seen no evidence that his mumbling goes away in the newer seasons. The stutter is definitely an issue though. Apologizes for that one.
LegendaryMob (7): While I tend to agree with you, this Izuku doesn't really know what the experiments really entail, only that they exist. Maybe he's a bit too uncaring at the moment, but once he really learns about what happens, his reaction will definitely be different.
ProjectIceman (8): Ah, you're on here instead of AO3! Anyways, Izuku really doesn't rely on adults, especially ones he doesn't know or trust much. Just telling Yomikawa is a decent step forward for him.
Nihatclodra (8): I really like this idea! So much so, that I might consider incorporating it into the story! Though, if it happens, it won't be for a while. Those interactions would be really fun to write and read.
The following reviews are all from Chapter 8. They're all guests, so I just labeled them by Guest 1, 2 and 3.
Guest (1): I'm glad you liked how I update my profile. I always like to get progress updates on my favorite stories, yet most authors just don't do that. So at least readers of my stories get to know what's happening. SNAFU:R Episode 2 will be written soon!
Guest (2): Wow, thanks! I appreciate the compliment!
Guest (3): Small spoiler, but I will say that Izuku will interact with a Level 5 soon!
And done! That was a long review response, but makes sense when you have to do two chapters worth instead of just one. As stated earlier, with college coming soon, I won't be able to update this story for a while. SNAFU:R Episode 2 (One of my other fics) will hopefully receive an update this month, but after that, I have no idea when any more updates will come.
For any progress updates, PLEASE check my profile. I list my progress for all my stories there.
Ok, well, see you guys whenever Chapter 10 comes out!
