Author's note: Thank you all for the amazing response to this story, for all the support and encouragement! This one had some minor hiccups. Normally, I leave myself a buffer, but I wasn't satisfied with the previous version so I axed it. Not to mention I've also been working on my other story, The Cure for Loneliness. Don't worry though, I'm keeping my update schedule. =D
Enjoy !~
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Spiderling
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Chapter 5
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There had been an extra spring to Izuku's step on his way to lunch today, despite the anxiety caused by the homeroom earlier. He couldn't help being excited. He had officially made a first good (hopefully) friend yesterday. Of course, the whole event brought untold embarrassment to him afterwards, whenever he went back in his memories to review it.
It had been early evening when he and Hatsume (Mei, he mentally corrected himself) had finished watching the various video footage of Izuku using his quirk, while discussing various things ranging from his agility to the mental mathematics that had become second nature by now, involved in web swinging. Surprisingly enough, Power Loader hadn't minded them staying so long, since he had a project of his own to work on.
It was while they were walking out of the school and towards the train station that Izuku realized he liked spending time with Hatsume. She was incredibly smart and witty, to the point she not only managed to keep up whenever he went on one of his muttering tangents, but could even give her own input on the matter. Of course, there were things that annoyed him, like her complete disregard for personal space or boundaries, how she would touch his things without permission and even go on to dismantle them, and her constant referring to inventing as "making babies". All in all, she was rather weird. But so was Izuku and it seemed like she didn't mind.
"Hatsume," he had found himself suddenly blurting, stopping the girl mid-rant about some flying boots.
"Hmm?" she turned towards him quickly and he noticed how her yellow eyes changed whenever she focused completely on something or someone.
"We're friends, aren't we?" his mouth asked quickly before his brain lost his nerve. His question had made the pink haired girl stop completely and give him a blank look. Izuku panicked. "It's just.. Well, I've never had a real friend before, I mean my last one was Bakugo, and you know how that went, and well we have a lot in common, and you don't think that I'm weird, and we share some interests, and it's fun discussing inventions, and you understand most of the things I'm saying, and we're friends right?" he finished nervously.
Hatsume kept staring at him a moment longer and Izuku felt his face turning red in embarrassment. What the hell was wrong with him?
"Of course we're friends," she finally said, giving him a more subdued smile than normal. "Mind you, I've never had a real one before either, but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to ask like that." Her usual grin returned and Hatsume once again entered his personal bubble and tried to poke him in the ribs, which he parried deftly.
"Sorry, it's just.. Well, it's cause I.. uhm.." Izuku stammered and scratched his neck.
"It's fine, I get it," the pinkhead waved her hand. "You're not good with social interactions."
"I don't want to hear that from you!" Izuku yelled in embarrassment, which only caused the girl to laugh.
They had exchanged numbers afterwards, agreed to meet at lunch the next day, and went on their ways. Afterwards Izuku realized that whole episode from his side had really been weird. But after the disastrous "friendship" with Bakugo, Izuku wanted things to be clear and spelled out. He'd rather be weird than go through something like that again. Besides, Mei didn't seem to mind.
So here he was, having lunch with his friend, Mei. Someone who would share their thoughts or give a different point of view on matters. Someone he could count on for support and encouragement, whenever he needed it.
"You know, you haven't really struck me as the leadership type," Mei said while absentmindedly stabbing some pasta with a screwdriver.
Izuku sighed and gave her a flat look. "Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," he snatched the screwdriver and replaced it with a fork. "I could actually say the same about you."
"Being class president for Support is different than Heroics," Mei wasn't even fazed at the switch and carried on eating her food. "Mmm, delicious. In Support, I'll be in charge of ordering and managing equipment and materials. I'll also be monitoring each of my classmates' usage in case someone is being wasteful. But the best part: I can give myself benefits without anyone realizing." She let out a wicked grin at the last part.
"I'm pretty sure that's not how it's supposed to work and there are rules against that," Izuku shook his head. "And there is still some leadership aspect of it."
"Eh, I'm sure there are loopholes I can exploit," Mei shrugged unconcerned. "And I agree, but that's fine too. I consider this training for one day having my own company and employees," she smiled broadly. "Hey, with both of us being our respective class presidents, it'd probably be even easier to find those loopholes!"
"Ugh, I dont know if I'll even keep the post! To be class president one needs to be decisive, assertive, good with thinking on their feet, and last but not least, to be able to inspire others. I'm not sure if I'm filling in any of these criteria," Izuku said in exasperation.
"Then why did you put your name forward and vote for yourself?"
"I didn't. I voted for Iida, he seemed perfect for the job, he even has the look of it down," the spider-teen shook his head.
"So you were able to get 3 votes despite not even voting for yourself?" Mei whistled. "It seems to me you've managed to inspire at least 3 people then. Look, I know it may not be easy, but if you don't gi-" the girl was interrupted by the loud sound of alarm.
"There has been a level 3 security breach," a female voice was heard over the speakers. "All students, please evacuate outside promptly."
It only took 3 seconds for the relatively calm lunch hall to descend into chaos, with everyone jumping from their seats and rushing towards the exit. Izuku jumped as well, but not before grabbing Mei, and webbed to the ceiling. He observed the literal stampede of students that was making its way towards the large doors.
"Eugh," he heard from the girl, "I think I'm gonna be sick. That was really fast. And disorienting."
"S-sorry.. My spider sense went nuts," Izuku stammered. "What's a level 3 security breach?"
"Either someone is trespassing on school grounds or an experiment has managed to gain sentience, escape, and is wreaking havoc in the school," the girl replied dazedly.
Well, nothing we can do if it's the second one, Izuku thought quickly and looked towards the windows. Maybe I should break some, we are on the ground floor after all. No, people might get hurt on the glass. That's when he noticed there was a crowd of people on the school grounds.
"Oh.. I think we found our trespassers," he said, making Mei turn towards the window as well and using her quirk to zoom in on them.
"Those are reporters.. The ones from this morning!" she exclaimed confused. "How did they manage to get in?"
"It doesn't matter, we need to let everyone know so they stop panicking," Izuku said, looking down at the other students. There was so much pushing and shoving in the panicked crowd that it was only a matter of time until someone got seriously injured.. or worse. He secured Mei with a web to the ceiling, "This is the time, in case you have some crazy invention with you that can help."
"All my babies are in the workshop or at home," the girl shook her head before slapping a hand over her mouth. Izuku hoped she wouldn't lose it.
"All right, I'll just try to grab everyone's attention," he put on his second glove and shot towards the exit of the lunch hall. "Try not to stutter!" Izuku heard Mei yell "encouragingly" behind him and rolled his eyes. Yeah, this friendship thing is really paying off.
"Seems to me those 3 people were right after all," Mei told him later that day. By now it had become a habit for the two of them to meet at the workshop after school, although this time Izuku was sitting at Mei's corner. His friend was working on one of her latest babies for some competition. She had even asked him to be a test subject at some point. "In case you don't realize it, you pretty much filled the checkboxes on all the requirements you yourself listed for being class president. Hand me number 9."
Izuku blushed and used searching for the wrench as an excuse to look away. He gave her the tool and thought back to what had happened at lunch. He still wasn't sure what had come over him, but he had managed to yell at everyone to calm down and amazingly enough they had listened. After the whole affair was concluded, he had gotten praise from his classmates before the rest of the roles for class council had been filled. Since Iida and Yaoyorozu had gotten an equal amount of votes, it had fallen onto him to pick who would be VP. It was a no brainer, he had voted for Iida himself after all and besides, the girl had rubbed him the wrong way the previous day while the class had been discussing the Trial of Battle.
The spider teen came back to himself and looked towards Mei again. His friend seemed to have realized he was in his own world and was just focusing on her project. It was actually quite an interesting idea - she was trying to create adjustable weights.
"It's only in moments like those that I can perform in such a way," Izuku admitted. "Most of the time.. Well.. I just wish I could wear my mask constantly."
"Yeah, it's quite the amazing transformation," the girl returned the number 9 and asked for the cross screwdriver. "Oh I got an idea earlier! One word: web-grenade!"
"Web grenade?" Izuku asked doubtfully. "Those are two words."
For the first time since he'd met Mei, the girl actually blushed. "There's a dash in between!"
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The next day turned out to be pretty special for Izuku's high school life. For starters, he didn't have to rush to school and had actually arrived with about 20 minutes to spare. It was actually all thanks to his idol. Izuku had been about to intervene and fire a web at the runaway tire when All Might appeared out of nowhere, bursting with energy and catching it between two fingers. After that the spider-teen decided to just head to school - if All Might was patrolling around, he doubted the number 1 hero would leave any incidents for him.
Of course he still entered the classroom normally. Just because he wasn't rushing didn't mean he had to use the door. Besides Aizawa-sensei wasn't there to see him, so all was good. High school was so much better than what he'd expected or at least so much better than middle school had been. He was surrounded by like-minded aspiring heroes, he had managed to make a true friend and was even cultivating good relationships with his classmates. Iida had seemed moved yesterday, after Izuku had chosen him for VP and also told him that he had gotten the spider-boy's vote. Ochaco was also incredibly friendly and talkative, which was good since Izuku still had a hard time saying longer than 5 word sentences in normal situations. He had also exchanged numbers with the two of them and much to his surprise with Kirishima and Kaminari as well.
The latter two boys had been swallowed up in the stampede of yesterday's panic attack and had been rather impressed with how Izuku had stepped up to the plate. The green haired teen was pretty sure no one had ever described him as manly in his life before, but the red spiky haired and feral looking Kirishima had made sure to throw the adjective at him at least once in every following interaction. Speaking of..
"Oh Midoriya, you're not late!" Kirishima said surprised as Izuku was descending upside down to his desk via a web.
"I.. I never am!" the spider-teen replied flustered and flipped, finally landing on the chair without falling. Another milestone. "I just get sidetracked, alright?"
"Chill dude, I'm only joshing you," Kirishima laughed. "So, want to meet up this weekend and have a fight?"
"Wha..What?!" Izuku asked startled.
"Like a spar, bro! Your quirk is super manly and you have enhanced strength and everything. My quirk also increases my strength, although it really excels in durability. I just want to see how it stacks up against yours," Kirishima grinned challengingly.
Izuku felt a shiver and it wasn't one of fear. Honestly, since he had witnessed the other fights during the Trial of Battle, there was a growing feeling in him, a curiosity that wanted to be sated. The spider-teen couldn't help but wonder how would he stack up against some of his classmates (with the exception of Bakugo, that was a can of wasps he was not going to open). He wasn't keen on fighting by nature, but it would definitely be a learning opportunity.
"That doesn't sound bad," Izuku replied with a smile of his own. "I even know a place where we can escape prying eyes, since I doubt two aspiring heroes fighting will go well with the school."
"It's sparring, sparring!" Kirishima corrected him and his grin widened, showing all of his sharp teeth. "Sounds good, you can text me the details later and then we can decide on a time."
"Everyone stand up and greet the teacher!" Iida yelled, making both boys turn towards the vice-president.
Kirishima shook his head, before heading for his desk, "If you're not careful Midoriya, Iida will steal more and more of your duties."
Maybe Kirishima is right, Izuku thought later as they were preparing to board the bus for the next Foundational Hero Trial - Rescue. Iida was instructing everyone to line up so they could properly and in an orderly fashion board the bus. Then again, the spider-teen didn't really have an issue with Iida doing things like this. The bespeckled boy seemed to enjoy it after all and was pretty suited for it.
"Huh.. You're wearing a different costume, Midoriya?" Kirishima asked him from behind.
"Yeah," Izuku turned around. "One of the sleeves of the other one got pretty tattered after Bakugo's attack, so the whole jumpsuit needs to be replaced. This is one of the previous versions, it's actually made of two parts." It also had a different colour scheme, the pants, shirt and mask were completely dark green, while only the gloves and boots retained their red colour. In addition, instead of the usual web, there were now two large white spiders, one on his chest sitting on a smaller web and one on his back.
"Wow, you make your own costumes?! And you have multiple versions too?"
"Well, I uh.. I've been messing around with costume ideas since I first got my quirk," Izuku rubbed his neck and looked away.
"Dude, that's pretty manly! It's like heroics is in your whole being!"
Izuku got even more embarrassed, yet couldn't help a feeling growing in his chest. Not many people had told him that and actually being acknowledged by a peer like this made him really happy.
In the end it turned out there was no need for the whole lining up thing. Izuku ended up sitting between Sato and Asui, who suddenly spoke up.
"I say whatever comes to mind," the girl with long straight green hair somehow tied in a bow said and turned to him, "Midoriya-chan.."
Of course, the same thing as always happened to Izuku whenever a beautiful girl spoke to him - his brain overheated and his mouth took the reins. "Oh, you have the same issue like me. Is that a product of your quirk too?"
"No, it's just how I am," Asui's monotone voice did not betray her surprise. "But I guess it's another thing we share in common. Our quirks are really similar."
"You know, that reminds me of a species of tarantula spiders common to the jungles of South America, Xenesthis immanis, that actually keep a species of frogs, Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata, as pets."
In the silence that followed, Izuku's brain finally caught up with what he had just said. The teen turned crimson and hid his face behind his elbows, expecting laughter.
"That's interesting information," Asui said as if she was completely unfazed and handed him a straw. "Are you saying you want to partner with me in this trial?"
"Yes!" Izuku took it like the drowning man he was. "That's exactly what I meant, Asui-san!"
"Call me Tsuyu-chan, Midoriya-chan."
Oh what the hell, I'm already deep in it anyway, more embarrassment won't change anything at this point. "Only if you call me Izuku," the spider-teen replied before he lost his nerve. He noticed Kirishima giving him a thumbs up from behind Tsuyu and his cheeks somehow turned even redder. The girl agreed and the conversation moved to discussing everyone's quirks. They reached their destination without any other social disasters, although it was mostly because Izuku spent the entirety of the rest of the bus ride completely in silence and staring directly ahead through a window. Not even the prospect of teasing Bakugo snapped him out of his stupor.
Meeting the Space Hero 13 on the other hand did. Disaster relief and rescue work was after all one of the things Izuku had considered doing when he became a hero one day. Naturally, he had done his due diligence and researched the different pro heroes that worked in that particular field and 13 was one of the very top. Being able to learn directly from him was an incredible opportunity.
"Greetings everyone! I have been expecting you!" the pro-hero waved. "Welcome to the Unforeseen Simulation Join! It is an area I have specifically designed to contain all sorts of natural and man-made disasters, ranging between a shipwreck, a landslide, an inferno, a hurricane and many others."
Aizawa-sensei approached his colleague, "Hey 13.. Where is All Might, he was supposed to meet us here?" The Space hero approached him as well and some silent words were exchanged before Eraserhead shook his head. "How reckless. Well, it's not like we didn't prepare for that."
Izuku listened raptly to the rescue hero's lecture about the dangers of improper use of quirks when his spider sense suddenly started issuing warnings. Something dangerous was about to happen. He was so dazed from the feeling that he hadn't realized he was moving until Aizawa-sensei put a hand on his shoulder.
"Midoriya? What's wrong?"
"Sensei.." Izuku looked around and noticed everyone was staring at him. He had stopped at the top of the stairs leading down to the main plaza. That's exactly where he looked back again. "Something bad is about to happen."
Aizawa followed his gaze and that's when electricity started going through the lighting of the huge dome, shorting it out. A dark black and purple portal appeared in front of the fountain of the plaza from where terrifying and deranged looking people started to come out of. Aizawa quickly pushed Izuku back, while the teen brought his mask over his face. "Everyone, gather together!"
The spider boy flipped backwards and landed in his usual crouch in front of his fellow classmates. "What's going on?" Kirishima asked trying to get a better look at all the weirdos. "Is this like the entrance exam where the trial has already started?"
"No.." Izuku replied uneasily. "I think those are actual villains."
"Nobody move," Eraserhead instructed while putting his goggles on. "It seems like the attack from yesterday may be linked to this."
"But Sensei, what about the school sensors?" Yaoyorozu asked.
"We have them, but.." 13 said with uncertainty.
Todoroki stepped forward. "The question is if this is the only part of the school they are attacking or if it's a much bigger infiltration. If it's the former, considering the alarms haven't activated, then most likely they have someone whose quirk can counteract the sensors. This is a planned attack on a class of students while isolated and away from the main campus. It seems they've done their homework and most likely have a specific goal in mind."
"13, start the evacuation and contact the school," Eraserhead told his colleague. "Kaminari you try doing the same with your quirk." The pro hero then stepped to the edge of the stairs.
"Wait, Sensei!" Izuku yelled and stepped forward. "You can't fight them all by yourself, there's too many of them, even if you erase their quirks! Let me come help you, I can cover your back with my webs!"
"No," Aizawa-sensei said calmly and gave him a brief look. "Help them, Class President."
The Pro hero then jumped down the stairs and charged against the villains. The students watched in stunned silence before Izuku rallied. "Everyone, we have to evacuate! Run towards the exit, we have to trust in Sensei!" His classmates didn't need to be told twice and everyone started running towards the large doors. However, halfway on the way they were met with the same black and violet portal from before which this time had a pair of yellow eyes to accompany it.
"I'm sorry heroes. I'm afraid I can't allow you to go anywhere. We from the Villain Alliance have taken the liberty to infiltrate this Academy with the sole purpose of killing the Symbol of Peace, All Might. Yet he's not here, even though the schedule said he would be. I wonder what happened?" The villain didn't get to say much else, since Bakugo and Kirishima chose that moment to attack him.
He's unharmed. Izuku observed after the dust settled. So he can not only warp to any location he pleases, but he can also warp attacks away as well. His spider sense began tingling again, their opponent was about to do something.
"How dangerous," the misty villain said. "You're all future heroes after all, so I guess it's to be expected. However, my other role is to split you all apart to be tortured and killed." Black tendrils spread from his body and engulfed the group of students.
Izuku reacted quickly, grabbing his nearest classmate, which happened to be Tsuyu and jumped out of the black mist. "Everyone, hold onto each other, he's trying to split us! Tsuyu, Sero, try to grab people with your quirks," he yelled and shot a web with his free hand back into the mist. He felt it impact someone and quickly pulled before landing on the ground some ways away, followed closely by the surprised Kirishima. He noticed Tsuyu's tongue also went into the purple-blackness to pull out Todoroki. When the black dome finally dissipated, he could see that most of his classmates were still here. It seemed like Iida had managed to pull Sato and Urakara away, while Shoji had covered Ashido and Sero. Unfortunately, it looked like the rest of Class 1 A had been split apart.
"Status report, is everyone okay? Are they still on the grounds?" Izuku asked, wishing they had the radios from the Trial of Battle. Then again, if there was a villain who could interfere with radio waves, then they wouldn't have been that good.
"We're scattered and in disarray, but it seems everyone is still within the park limits," Shoji answered him from one of his mouth tentacles.
"That was quick thinking, Midoriya. It seems like you and Asui have managed to keep some students from being warped away," 13 said, making a stand between the villain and the remaining students. "I have another task for you, Class President. I need you to go back to the school as fast as possible and notify the faculty of what is happening here."
"I'm sorry Sensei, but I think I should remain," Izuku replied while giving a resolute look, which would remain unseen because of his mask. "While I can traverse great distances quickly, I need appropriate high buildings to use for web swinging, which there were almost none of on the way here. I think Iida would be more suited for this task, since he is the fastest out of all of us on the ground."
"What?! You expect me to leave and abandon you all!? As the Vice President I need to stay and help as much as possible!"
"Iida, we have no way to communicate with the school and we've been split and scattered. If we don't receive reinforcements things will get even worse for us." Izuku turned to look straight at his comrade. "Right now the best way you can support everyone is by going back and getting help. Can we count on you, Vice President?"
"My my, I can't believe you're letting me hear your plans like that," the villain snapped everyone's attention back to him.
"That's because it won't matter if you hear them!" 13 said and one of his fingers opened up to create a vortex. Izuku looked back to the two adults and noticed a black portal appearing behind the teacher. He shot a web at the teacher's back, but knew he'd be too late.
Or maybe not. A wall of ice appeared between 13 and the portal, shielding the teacher long enough for Izuku to pull him away. "That was close," the pro hero said. "Thank you students, I'll be more careful in the future. Vice President, you should really go."
After seeing the teacher almost get defeated easily, Iida did as he was told and immediately rushed for the exit. A black portal appeared in front of him, but a spear of ice shot from the ground blocking it, so Iida just kept running.
"Those plates on his body.. They seem solid enough," Izuku muttered, catching Kirishima and Tsuyu's attention. The green haired boy shot a pair of webs and at the plates pulled them hard, while his two classmates each directed a punch and a kick respectively at the villain, who was caught off guard and let out a grunt. Todoroki didn't miss the opportunity to encase the plates and the black mist around them in ice immediately afterwards. Izuku quickly looked up and saw there was no more purple blackness chasing Iida and the Vice President successfully managed to escape.
"Good work everyone," 13 said. "That was some amazing teamwork you all displayed. Don't let your guards down though, he may still have some tricks up his sleeve." Everyone turned to the villain whose.. body? was frozen to the ground. The pro hero continued, "Now we best follow Iida's example and evacuate immediately."
"But sensei, what about the others and Aizawa-sensei?" Urakara asked.
Before the pro hero could respond, Izuku felt his spider sense scream. "WATCH OUT" he yelled but it was too late. A huge black thing appeared out of nowhere and punched 13 hard enough to send the teacher flying into the nearest wall. To their horror, the pro hero did not move or even twitch anymore.
Izuku looked at the new attacker. First of all it was huge, as tall as All Might and with the same incredible muscle definition. No doubt it had some sort of strength or physical enhancement quirk. But its head was all weird, it had some sort of beak with teeth for a mouth, its brain was exposed and its eyes were directly attached to it.
"What is that?!" Urakara yelled in shock.
"It's going to try and free its portal buddy!" Kirishima said and hardened his entire body before standing between the frozen villain and the new arrival.
"Forget about him, we have to escape now! Everyone grab 13 and evacuate, I'll distract this thing," Izuku yelled and shot a web into the monsters eyes. To his shock and disgust, the thing just pulled the web, seemingly unconcerned it also pulled out its eyes. The spider boy stared dumbly as they just regrew effortlessly. His spider sense tingled again and Izuku dodged the fist that was powerful enough to make a small crater in the ground right where he had been a second ago.
"GO, NOW!" his second yell finally made everyone burst into action, however not in a way he had intended. Todoroki froze the ground and the monster's lower body with incredible speed, while Kirishima punched it in the legs, shattering them. Meanwhile Tsuyu shot her tongue towards 13 and pulled him right into Shoji's arms who held the bulky hero effortlessly. The two of them started running along with the rest of the students afterwards.
Izuku stopped paying attention to his classmates, since it seemed like they'd be able to escape safely. His task now was the monster who was quickly regenerating its legs. "I think I told you guys to escape as well."
"Yes, it was very manly, Class Prez," Kirishima said hardening his arms and body. To Izuku it looked like he had blades instead of fingers. "But I think I'll stick around to give you a hand."
"That's right, we have a bigger chance of delaying it together." Todoroki attempted to freeze the villain again, but this time the monster dodged with incredible speed and threw a punch at the scarred boy. Kirishima managed to intercept it, however his durability and strength weren't enough to withstand that thing's raw power and both of them were sent flying. The beast wasted no time in going to its fellow villain and freeing him from the ice. The black mist guy rose from the ground effortlessly.
"Thank you, Nomu. I won't let them surprise me again."
Alright, alright I get it! Izuku told his spider sense with annoyance. He didn't need it to realize he was in deep. He heard footsteps coming up the stairs and turned to see some guy wearing black with a lot of severed hands holding different parts of his body. Worse yet, he was accompanied by quite a few villains. Aizawa-sensei! Izuku jumped to the nearest pillar and looked down in the plaza with horror. The pro hero was lying on the ground, his head in a small crater and blood pooling around it. This was bad, he had to save him.
"What happened Kurogiri? Weren't you supposed to take down 13 and separate the golden eggs?" The voice came from the severed hands guy. Figures, why was the most deranged looking guy the one in charge?
"They caught me off guard and one of them managed to escape, Shigaraki Tomura," the warp villain who was apparently named Kurogiri replied.
"Damn.. Damn.." the hands guy, Shigaraki(?), started shaking. "It's game over.. It's game over now! My plan to kill All Might has failed! He's not here!" Great, he's also really unstable, Izuku thought. "It seems like we should hop back.. But first, let's hurt his pride a bit and kill some students." The deranged man looked at Izuku in particular when he said that.
"Now would be a good time for reinforcements," Izuku muttered. It seemed the villains had heard him, since everyone took a moment to look around, especially at the big entrance doors. To the teenager's relief, it looked like his classmates had managed to escape with 13.
Great, now I have to think of a way to do the same with Aizawa-sensei, Todoroki, and Kirishima. Wait what about the rest? "Nomu, squash that annoying little spider," the Shigaraki guy said. Shut up, shut up, I know! the freckled boy thought.
Izuku jumped from the pillar a second before it was completely wrecked by the Nomu thing. It was incredibly fast, by the time Izuku landed in front of one of the other remaining villains, it was already upon him. The spider teen flipped to his side in the nick of time and the punch meant to turn him into a smear hit the villain and sent her flying. Good, it's not very smart, I can use this.
He repeated that same tactic 2 more times, but got a nasty surprise on the third one - when he dodged, the deranged man was waiting for him and unfortunately his spider sense hadn't been much help considering it had been screaming constantly since the Nomu started chasing him.
He wasn't sure what the enemy's quirk was, but was preparing for the worst when he felt the pull. He was quickly deposited next to Tsuyu and Todoroki who immediately put an ice wall up between them and the villains, taking care to once again freeze the Nomu. Izuku noticed Kirishima was there as well, holding an unconscious Aizawa-sensei over one shoulder.
"Good job holding them off for so long, Izuku-chan," the frog girl told him.
"No, I was a goner there, thanks for having my back, Tsuyu-chan," Izuku said, mentally adding another tally to the times he's been saved by pretty girls by now.
"You did a pretty manly job at disabling most of the remaining villains using that thing," Kirishima grinned. "But damn did it pack one hell of a punch, I used my best hardening and it still hurts like hell." Izuku realized then the redhead wasn't grinning, but grimacing.
"Unfortunately, it seems like they'll be getting reinforcements," Todoroki motioned to the plaza behind them where more villains were gathering. "I'm thinking they're probably from the other areas, considering they were planning to split us. But since it didn't go according to their plan, those villains must have decided to come here."
"Did the others escape?" Izuku directed that at Tsuyu and the frog girl nodded.
"Yes, while you three were fighting the Nomu.. I was worried and decided to check up on you," she said with some.. hesitation? It was hard to tell with her, but maybe she was worried Izuku would be mad she hadn't listened to him?
"That's good to hear," he said instead. "So to summarize, we are surrounded by villains, we don't know how the rest of our classmates are doing, and the 3 likely most powerful enemies are standing between us and our only escape. On top of that, Kirishima is wounded, we have to carry an unconscious Aizawa-sensei as well, and we have no idea when reinforcements are coming."
"On the bright side, they're being so nice to give us so much time to regroup and plan," Kirishima offered.
"I think it's more because this time I froze the thing completely and it's having difficulty escaping, unlike the previous times when I froze only parts of it, which it could regenerate easily after ripping itself apart. Probably the other two are trying to free it," Todoroki said.
"Any idea what the hand guy's quirk is?" Izuku asked, but only got shakes as a response. "Okay, our priority is reaching the gate and getting Aizawa-sensei medical attention. Todoroki and I are most suited for distracting and delaying the villains, while you two are good with mobility and endurance, which is needed to carry him to safety. Not to mention, Kirishima needs help as well."
"If I can't handle this much, then I'm not a real man," the spiky haired boy said immediately.
"What happens after we get to the exit?" Tsuyu asked with her finger over her mouth.
"We cover your escape and delay the villains to prevent them from going to the other areas. Hopefully the teachers will arrive by then."
Todoroki jumped suddenly and froze the stairs, making the villains that were traversing them slip and slide to the bottom. "We're running out of time, better get going now." No sooner had he said that and a huge impact was heard from the ice wall.
It seems like the Nomu is free. Izuku thought. "Alright, let's go!" He shot a web to the top of the wall and pulled himself up. He saw Shigaraki was near where the Nomu had been frozen with the Kurogiri guy behind him. The Nomu was punching the wall, causing huge chunks of ice to fly away, but Izuku stood his ground despite the shaking. He fired a web straight at the thing's eyes and blinded it once more. It wasn't a useless gesture, after all it took about 10 seconds for the Nomu to rip the web away and to wait for the eyes to regrow.
He saw his 3 classmates run towards the exit from the side, which caught the Nomu's attention the moment it could see again. Izuku fired a web at its hands this time and the thing pulled him hard, something the freckled boy had been counting on. He used his momentum on top of removing any limiters to his strength and planted a solid kick into the monster's head.
To his shock, the Nomu was completely unfazed and simply reached for his legs. What the.. It should have felt that! Izuku thought furiously as he dodged and fired another web at the thing's eyes. This time it blocked with its forearm, which gave Izuku enough time to web swing away. What kind of quirk did that thing have?! Regeneration and enhanced fitness he could understand, they could be linked together. But being able to absorb physical strikes on top?! Wait, is this how they plan on defeating All Might?
Instead of chasing him, the Nomu charged towards the other 3 teens and the unconscious teacher. However, it seemed Todoroki had expected that and a spike of ice appeared in the creature's path, which made it impale itself in the chest. Shigaraki charged as well, but Izuku managed to fire a web at the villain's left ankle and the following pull made the deranged man fall flat on his face. The green head quickly landed behind his classmates and they all managed to reach the doors unimpeded.
I spoke too soon, Izuku's eyes widened at the portal that had appeared behind them, from whence the Nomu appeared and directed an incredibly fast punch towards Kirishima. Several things happened at once - Izuku fired a web at the thing's hand and tried to pull it back only to get pulled himself; Kirishima dropped Aizawa-sensei, hardened his forearms and chest, made a cross shaped guard in front of him, and was launched through the exit gates despite all of that, right into a large man who caught him easily; Tsuyu successfully managed to catch the teacher with her tongue and pull him and herself away from the creature; a huge fist garbed in a golden yellow sleeve punched the Nomu in the face hard enough to push it away.
"You have made me incredibly proud, students, to have managed to withstand this long against the villains while helping your classmates escape and saving your teacher. But you can relax now. Why?" All Might ripped his tie away. "Because I AM HERE!"
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Izuku was sitting in a chair and staring blankly at who would hopefully be another good friend, after the events of today. Kirishima was sleeping peacefully in an infirmary bed, Recovery girl had explained that her power didn't magically heal wounds but accelerated the body's own healing process, which normally took out a lot of energy from a person. The red haired boy would make a full recovery, he had only suffered fractures in his right arm and two of his ribs. Yet, despite Recovery Girl's reassurances, Izuku had insisted he wanted to stay until his classmate woke up. Iida and Tsuyu had offered to stay as well, but the green haired teen had told them to go home and rest. The Vice President had agreed easily enough (after a 20 minute debate on the pointlessness of all of them staying there), but it had taken more persuasion for the frog girl. She had finally acquiesced after a long worried look coupled with a promise to text her once Kirishima woke up. Izuku was so deep in thought, he almost had a heart attack when the infirmary doors opened and Mei stormed in. "I heard what happened, are you okay?!" the pink haired girl rushed towards him quickly.
"Y-yeah.." he replied shakily and flinched when he felt Mei's hands on his shoulders. The girl stared at him, before pulling him in a hug. "I was so worried.. When I heard you were here I thought.. I thought you were hurt."
It took a full 5 minutes for the tension to leave Izuku's body so he could return the hug. He rested his chin on his friend's shoulder and felt his whole body shake. "N-no, no, I'm.. I'm good. We were lucky, only Kirishima was the most injured.. Well, excluding the teachers."
"I hate to break the touching moment, but you two are really loud," speak of the devil. Izuku and Mei immediately broke the embrace and turned towards the lying boy.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Izuku asked worriedly.
"Thirsty," Kirishima croaked. "What happened, I feel like I got hit by a train."
"It wasn't a train," Izuku replied while he went to get some water. When he came back, Mei had brought another chair and was sitting in it while rummaging through her backpack. The freckled boy handed the cup which Kirishima took and emptied greedily. "Do you feel pain anywhere, want me to call Recovery Girl?"
"No, I feel fine, just tired.. Wait, she's not in the infirmary?" Kirishima asked confused.
"She's attending to the teachers," Izuku explained and sat down.
"How are they? And what happened, how did we escape?"
"They are heavily wounded.. I haven't heard much honestly," Izuku replied hollowly. "And as for what happened, All Might arrived."
"You gotta give me more details than that, man," Kirishima grinned at him.
"Wanna watch?" Mei asked suddenly, showing her tablet.
"Mei! Did you hack the school system again?!" Izuku asked exasperated. "And how is there footage even, I thought the camera feeds were interrupted?"
"Oh the cameras still kept recording, even though they were disconnected from the school network. When the attack was repelled and they regained network access, they automatically uploaded their footage to the cloud server, which I conveniently have access to," the girl explained happily.
"I do want to see it," Kirishima spoke from the bed, after lifting himself in a sitting position. "There are some moments I'm missing, like when that bastard punched me the first time." Both he and Mei gave him an expectant look and after frowning for a bit, Izuku made a show of sighing in exasperation. "Oh fine, let me just message Tsuyu-chan that you're okay."
Mei lifted a brow and grinned a grin that woke the freckled boy's spider sense up. "Tsuyu-chan?" Izuku blushed and just focused on his phone and the text he was going to write. After he was done, Mei sat in between the two boys and started the footage. They decided to watch their battles first and as usual it was quite bizarre for Izuku to watch himself in action from an outside view. The pink haired girl paused the videos a couple of time since Kirishima had a question or two, which Izuku answered. And then came All Might's part.
Seeing the fight once again, with the benefit of slow motion this time, was incredible. The number 1 hero had danced circles around the Nomu while effortlessly exchanging blows. He had at one point grabbed the thing and performed an effortless German suplex. But..
"That's so dirty! Those guys aren't manly at all!" Kirishima exclaimed when he saw Kurogiri had used his quirk to warp the Nomu for a sneak attack underneath All Might. To the red haired boy's delight, that was when Izuku and Todoroki had interfered and helped the pro hero escape.
What followed was the most incredible exchange of raw strength any of them had ever seen with the big finisher of the Nomu being sent flying through the USJ's dome. The other teachers had arrived in that moment and the villains had been forced to run with their tails between their legs.
"That was incredible," Kirishima let out a large breath and leaned back. "Makes you realize what a long way we still have to go."
"I'm definitely rewatching this," Mei seemed to agree looking straight ahead of her. "And making copies. And sharing it with friends. Wait, I already just did that."
"Wait! What's that! Pause it!" Izuku had been the only one that kept watching the video. After the fight, Cementos had erected a wall between the students and All Might. The teacher had told them to hurry up, get checked, and leave the cleanup to the pros. The spider-teen had thought it was a bit weird at the time, but the adrenaline slowly draining out of his system along with the realization that they had all somehow managed to survive, had forced him to agree.
Now, the three teens were looking with confusion at All Might. Or what should have been All Might. Instead, there was a skeletal man, wearing All Might's golden striped suit, with blood dripping from his mouth down his chin, and barely standing where All Might should have been standing in victory.
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To be continued..
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From an Alternate Universe of this Alternate Universe:
Aizawa-sensei approached his colleague, "Hey 13.. Where is All Might, he was supposed to meet us here?" The Space hero approached him and some silent words were exchanged before Eraserhead shook his head. "How reckless. Well, it's not like we didn't prepare for that."
13 seemed to agree before he motioned towards a burly feral looking man standing to the side. "Everyone, since All Might is unavailable, we have prepared a special substitute teacher. Here, all the way from the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters in New York is our newest exchange teacher, the Wolverine."
"But you kids can call me Rogan-sensei," the man said in perfect Japanese, surprising everyone. Izuku was frowning at the new teacher. He had a feeling he should know that name and this man. He felt someone lean on his shoulder and turned towards Kidpool.
"Oh man, I bet if any villains happened to execute a surprise attack on us right now, they'll be in for quite the nasty surprise."
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Author's scribbles: Wow, this one is much longer than normal. Usually I try not to exceed 6000 words, but a lot of important things had to happen in this chapter. I actually separated 2 scenes and left them for the next chapter, which will show some different POVs.
I hope you all enjoyed the fight. I rewrote it 3 times and this final version feels really hectic and tense to me. Reading it myself, it feels like everything just happens so quickly! I'm also hoping I managed to showcase Izuku's awkwardness appropriately. I used myself as the template when I was his age. XD
That was also the last cameo I had planned. So there won't be anymore bonus scenes from an Alternate Universe, unless something pops up in my mind. =D
I would love to hear your thoughts, gentle readers, so please leave a review! If you're feeling extra generous, a favourite and a follow will be much appreciated as well!
In other news, I'm going on vacation for 3 weeks from next Friday. There'll still be a chapter on that day and I'll also have my computer with me. Hopefully, the buffer will allow me to update like normal. If not, I'll let you all know!
Ta-ta !~
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