"YOU BRATS COST US THE AUTOSCORERS!?" Dr. Ujiko furiously said, clutching his sweating scalp before beginning to break whatever he could afford to. "Are you kidding me?! I WAS SO! CLOSE! TO FINALLY! FIGURING! OUT! HOW! DAIKI! DID IT!"
"Herr Garaki, calm yourself..." Dr. Zoomania said to her mentor, hoping to soothe his anger.
"Our spy is sure to figure something out." Obsidian reminded her master.
When this did nothing, Dr. Venom-Root produced a flower that made tge elderly scientist fall asleep, leaving her to take him to a couch. The Chemist handed her and the doctor something to drink
"It's not fair!" Tomura growled as Zeri and . "They were obviously using hacks! Cheats! I call Cheats!"
"Calm down, Tomura..." Jester sighed as he and Zeri tended to the stump. "None of us could have predicted this happening."
"Technically, you could've." Spinner noted. "I understand why you focused on Class 1A; they were the students who were going to be there and time was of the essence when you stole the intel, but…"
Tomura glared at his friend, albeit not as intensely as he could've. No, he saved that for the Gambler.
"So, our dear little sociopath doesn't quite make the mark. Looks like he owes me a drink or two…"
Jester glared at his friend, pointing to the stump on Tomura's arm. Gambler incied backwards, getting a slap from Mime.
"Why don't I cook up something for everyone?" Chef Souma said. "I'm sure that'll get our minds off things.
"Sounds like a plan." XV-Ral said. "Do you need any help?"
"I will never turn down aid." The Chef beamed. The hacker girl looked to her boyfriend, who offered Tomura some healing cream. The amputee took it and allowed the gecko apply it.
"Are you okay?" Radio gently asked Tomura as he growled, Kurogiri passing him a glass of bourbon to cool down.
"Yeah, I'm fine..." The young Villain said before looking at his hand, remembering Niles ripping it out of him and watching him destroy it before his very eyes.
He was pissed off, yes...but a part of him also felt relieved for some reason, like a curse having been lifted from his form. Hesitantly, he then gently pressed his hand to Radio's face, much to her confusion.
"Um...is something on my face?"
"A-Are you crying?" Dr. Obsidian asked as she noticed the tears in Tomura's eyes.
"I...I can touch you..."
Radio awkwardly moved Tomura's hand away from her face but still held it gently in her own.
"Your hands are warm…"
The Weak Force of the Four Forces blushed bashfully in response as Gyro, Polarizo, and Atomo looked on in jealousy. Tomura then turned to Hanoma, who had approached him as she reached her hand out and he tentatively grabbed it gently, almost tearing up once more when she didn't decay on contact.
"Guess this was a silver lining, huh?" Jester said, patting his surrogate younger brother on the head.
"Indeed." All For One's voice came from the TV. "Though the loss of [Decay] is regrettable, perhaps something fruitful will come forth from all this."
"So, what now, dummies?" Miss Ponyville snapped. "We look like a bunch of chumps!"
"Don't worry too much." Gunslinger finally cut in, finishing off a beer. "Yeah, the hoped goal wasn't reached, but look on the bright side; UA has an attack on its students to its name. That ain't never been done before. And so many of them henchmen being Hero wannabes? That'll get people thinking and talking. Sides, no plan ever goes flawlessy. I'd say that this was a half-full victory."
"And what about Bakugo?" Kuki asked. "He knows our bases' location and will probably be interviewed for his previous scandal alone."
"And he'll probably end up sounding like a dime a dozen Saturday morning cartoon school bullies." Gambler mused. "All he really has going for him is his new condition; which I believe most people will argue he deserves."
This got some nods and mutterings of agreement.
"Eh. I never liked that Bakugo punk." Gunslinger mused.
"Reminded me of my bullies." Spinner admitted.
"He was too loud!" Miss Ponyville added.
Just then, the door opened
"Ah, Giran!" Gambler smiled, giving his mentor a shake and a glass. "Good news, I hope?"
"Better than good." Giran, the intel broker of the League smirked as he puffed out his cigarette. "Found a goldmine of new recruits, all of them good."
In walked a large, heavily and well bulit transwoman in shades named Magne,Mustard,an elementary student wearing a gas mask and carrying a gun and two very colorful pairs.
The first was a man in a top hat and smiley mask wearing a jacket with a cane. He was accompanied by a rounder woman of pink hair and costume.
"Allow me to proudly present the thieving couple of Mr. Compress and Maid Gloom!" Giran beamed. "Long time entertainers and masters of their trade."
"A privilege." Compress bowed with a tip of his hat, while Maid offered Tomura some gum.
"Don't worry, I didn't use my Quirk on it." She assured him. Tomura rose an eyebrow at that but accepted the snack regardless.
Finally, the biggest ones of all; two fraternal, opposite sex twins who resembled burnt corpses.
"These are the arsonist brother and sister duo, Dabi and Gyres." Giran explain. "Possibly the most important newbies, despite their lack of infamy, but they'll tell you that when they're ready."
"You're Shigaraki, right? You look even grosser in person." Dabi sneered.
Tomura scoffed. "Big talk coming from a guy who looks like a Hot Topic Edgelord Frankenstein."
"Ooooh, he got you there, Bro." Gyres giggled as Dabi rolled his eyes, as she extended an arm to Tomura before realizing. "Oooooh. Right. Sorry…"
"No problem." Tomura waved it off. "I'm guessing you guys came from one of Sensei's daycares?"
This got a risen eyebrow from
"Well, this party is steadily growing into something truly grand," Chugai noted. "At this rate, we'll need a new base of operations just to fit everyone."
"Thankfully, I anticipated our new arrivals!" Chef Souma said as he came in. "If you will all come this way, we can have Dinner!"
"Good, I'm starving. Haven't had a hot meal in months." Gyres said with relief.
"I can smell it through my mask!" Mustard exclaimed. "It's gotta be good!"
"Right this way, madame." Clint chuckled as he allowed Magne to go ahead of him.
"My, my, aren't you a gentleman."
"Dear old mama didn't raise no punk." Clint smirked.
PYRO
The next day, a press conference was held by UA to discuss the USJ Invasion. The students were given a week off to recuperate and rest from the trauma.
Nedzu was professionally smiling, glad that Chitoge had already posted her exclusive stories and interviews this morning. Now the press would have to behave and report only the facts.
Still, he knew this day would not end well.
"We had suspected villain activity of some sort, following the break in under the cover of members of your industry sneaking in." Nedzu admitted, delighting at the embarrassed looks of the Mufasta News Team. "But never did we anticipate that this 'League of Villains' would so quickly and relentlessly attack our students. Regardless, I am proud to say that even under all the duress, the students of Classes 1A and 1C showcased exemplary teamwork and bravery."
"What about the androids that the Villains ultilized?"
"The Autoscorers will be staying at UA under Nedzu's tutelage." Midnight explained. "To make sure the League of Villains didn't leave anything suspicious in them. However, considering how they function around certain students, I doubt we have much to worry for."
The heroine held in giddy smiles; she remembered when the Autoscorers had been four little AI enhanced probes that followed Daiki Midoriya everywhere he went; acting like little sisters to Inko whenever they could afford it, which turned out to e quite often. Nerumi in particular remembered Phara and Lemur, albeit the latter more happily, as she had be like Inko in being accepting of Nerumi's hero persona. Phara had tried to make her act more 'lady-like….'
That and to see her surrogate nephew gaving four protective and caring aunts made her morning. It also took her mind off of Niles and her precious Benny spending the day with Hound Dog as they readied to explain all the details of what they knew.
"And the rumors of former UA hopefuls being involved…?"
"All true." Aizawa cut in. "While the Bakugo boy stands out, being the only one who did not even take our selection exam, it is true that many of the villains that attacked the students were drafted due to myself expelling the classes that I felt didn't have the potential to survive the world of heroism."
This lead to an outrage, several people demanding Aizawa explain himself.. However, most of them were not the assembled reporters…
"My daughter is dead because of your rejection!"
"You ruined my son's life!"
"How can you be so biased?!"
They were the shouts on angry parents.
"Please, please." Present Mic cut in. "We will explain if you just…"
"UA has the right to do things differently." Aizawa cut in. "As the oldest and most premier Hero school in Japan, that was always the case. I made judgement calls on students who felt did not meet the quota of 'Plus Ultra', thinking they could easily transfer to either a different Hero school or general and then come back after the Sports Festival. And in some cases, this did regardless, the attack on the USJ was at least partly my own fault. I can nevertake back what I did or said, but I can make sure it doesn't happen again: Effective this Monday, I will be resigning as a teacher."
This announcement silenced the room.
"I will be sticking to Underground Heroism, focusing my efforts on the League. I had hoped that through my tactics, I could train generations of heroes to think they way they need to. Instead, I produced more of a problem. I don't expect forgiveness or redemption. All I want is to keep my former students safe in the best way I can…which is far away from that."
PYRO
Katsuki Bakugo was currently in the ICU. Despite the doctors trying to help him, his life is undeniably ruined forever, even if he looked 'human'. He'd never be able to feel again, and even with the Rankaverz surgery giving him the physical boost he now realized Izuku had, the bomber was smart enough to know he'd NEVER be able to catch up.
That and staring at the ceiling had made him realize:
Izuku was right.
Every single word he had said had been true. He had abanonded his best friend for hollow praise and ignored the obvious signs what he was doing was wrong.
And not only had Izuku been right in his words; he had been stronger as a person; never abandoning any of his naïve ideas, always trying to help those around him..,making actual friends who would cross hell and back for him, as he would for them…
And all that before his misidentifided Quirk finally truly awoke.
The opening of the door got his attention. In walked a little girl of red eyes, like his, but black and white hair and a horn on one of her eyebrows.
"…What?" Katsuki asked.
"Are you sorry?" The girl asked.
"…What?"
"Are you sorry?" She asked agaun, then clarified. "For what you did? To Izu-nii? Himi-nee? Mama and Papa? Miss Mina and Miss Momo? Mr. Eiji? Miss Saiko and Mr. Kaizo?"
Katsuki didn't answer. He looked away.
The little girl sighed and then placed her hands onto the burnt bot, her horn suddenly glowing,
A bright light filled the room, which was opened by the Midoriya and Bakugo parents. When the lighted faded…
"Katsuki?" Mitsuki and Masaru asked, hoping this was real:
Eri's horn was now gone, but their son was almost fully healed.
"Mama? Papa?" Eri called out. "I helped the mean boy…but now I'm sleepy…"
Hisashi caught his daughter and kissed her forehead, proud of her as Inko was. The mother then looked to her former best friend and the man aid best friend had married….
PYRO
At the Midoriya Residence, Izuku and Himiko were listening eagerly to the Autoscorers as they told stories of their grandfather.
"So grandpa literally kicks the door down, scaring Little Rumi and shouts…!" Micha began.
" 'INKO! WHERE ARE MY JIM-JABS AND DO-HICKEYS?!'" Lemur imitdated her grandpa's voice.
"And your mother, smirking and bored, just points and says…" Phara continued.
"'Dos are in the drawer, jabs are near the thing-a-my-bobs, daaddy.'" Garie said, imitating a young Inko with a chuckle. "Oh, porr Nerumi looked so confused…!"
"So then, grandpa tosses us to your mother," Lemire continued. "We were basically little balls with eyes, mouths and speech at this point, and then he says: 'AS I SUSPECTED! TAKE YOUR SISTERS! PUT THE FRIDGE IN THE GROCERIES! DADDY'S HAD A EURKEA MOMENT HE MUST GET DOWN TO BLUE PRINTS, BUT NO PAPER AT THE OFFICE WAS A RPINT, NOR BLUE! TO THE LAB!'"
"And then he literally ran through the walls to his lab!" Micha. "Before he doubled back, cooed over Nerumi and invivted her to stay for dinner, during which he asked her a bajillion questions about her Quirk and offered to help out in any way he could…and then he went back to work, only coming up to tuck us and Inko in…he even read us a bed time story, despite Inko being 14 at the time."
"I don't recall her complaining." Garie mused.
Izuku and Himiko were delighted to hear such warm and funny words of their grandfather, wishing Eri and thei parents were here to hear it as well.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"INKO!" The robot shouted as if it was crying. "INKO! INKO! INKO! LONG TIME NO SEE!"
Whoa, hey! Hey! Wait a sec!" Himko started, only to feel her face turned blue
"OH, INKO! I MISSED YOU!" Teh robot sobbed, lessening its grip.
"Listen, I don't know ho you are, but I'm not my mom!' Himiko managed
The robot paused and got a good look at the girl in front of it
"See, now why don't you...?" Himiko started, only to be interrupted again:
"YOU CHANGED SO MUCH, INKO! YOU CHANGED TOO MUCH!"
"Will you please let me explain?" Himiko started, only to be grabbed by her pigtails./
"You used to have such soft and beautiful green hair!" The robot continued to sob as he began to give Himiko a look over. "You dyed your hair! Now its all generic and gal-like! And your eyes! They look so dazed and mean…AND why oh why are there fangs in your beautiful teeth!?"
At that, Himiko snapped.
"MY EYES AND TEETH ARE NONE OF YOUR DAMNED BUSINESS, WHOEVER YOU ARE!"
"LANGUAGE!" Izuku called out, pointing to Eri.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Inko…" The robot cooed as if nothing had happened, then turned to Izuku. "And you too His,,,HISASHI?! HEAVENS MY BOY, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?! YOUR FIRE BREATH WAS NEVER THAT STRONG!"
The robot abandoned Himiko and began to inspect Izuku.
"Did you try and use Trigger?!" He asked. "No, no, you hate needles you wouldn't have..Wait, WHY AM I CARING ABOUT YOU WHEN YOU FAILED TO KEEP INKO SAFE?!"
"Um, sir?" Izuku started.
"Don't you 'um, sir' me, young man! And after everything I did for you! Paying off cops and heroes, arranging to foster you…!" The robot's anger left. "Oh, who amd I kidding? Of course you ended up like this! I left you and Inko with practically pocket change to live on! Oh, why or why did I not listen to Garie and Lemur about my money?!"
Himiko, producing a knife, reading to slice at the robot, only to be taken into a hug.
"Oh my poor Inko…Hisashi…You two must've had very hard lives…! I'm so sorry…"
And again, if somehow possile, the robot started crying, mucb to the confusion of the two teens, and the Autoscorers.
"Um, do we know him?" Micha asked.
"He does seem…familiar." Phara noted.
Garie gave the robot a look over, then looked at Lemur, who shrugged.
"Um…Mister?" Himiko managed. "Like I said…I'm not mom."
"And I'm not dad.: Izuku managed, just as the door suddenly opened.
"We're back!" Inko called out. "Sorry for the wait kids, the drive through was ridicu…Daddy?!"
The robot stopped his hugging and sobbing and looked up at Inko, tossing the teens over to the others before declaring in the happiest voice possible:
"MY WITTLE INKO!"
"DADDY!" Inko beamed as she raced to hug the newcomer, leaving everyone else dazed and confused.
"DADDY?!" Izuku, Hisashi, Himiko and Eri asked.
"GRANDPA?!" The Autoscorers called out in shock.
Knightmare Lord A/N:
This was just a fun little post-USJ chapter to have our students unwind from everything. We also have some surprising moments like Aizawa quitting his job, bet no one saw that coming!
Alright Mrotrax, anything you want to say?
Mrotrax A/N
This chapter is of the sweet and unexpected kind. There was a little more planned on the villain side, but I think I'll wait to next chapter for that. Hint; Tomura will son even the playing field.
Chronologically, what happens next is a sweet little arc that'll be showcased in a side story of its own; an four to five chapter that has the kids going to one of the greatest places on earth. Not too much fighting or 'villain' conflict in this story; it'll mostly focus on the kids having fun and be a shameless and proud bit of ship tease and just having fun
The opening chapter of that (and possibly one more) will be up on Wednesday (God willing nothing happens at work) and events to occur will be open to suggestions.
Until then, read and review, would ye kindly?