Chapter 26: Bakugou and Pals, Part 2
"All Might, just who is this homeless man you've drug off the streets?" Endeavor sneered.
All Might and Detective Tsukauchi exchanged nervous glances, but Thor didn't budge at the provocation. Indeed, the God of Thunder and his brother stayed in the corner of the room, discussing their plans in a foreign tongue.
"I assure you, Endeavor, this man is here to provide assistance if needed," All Might replied after a pause. "Now come on, you're an alumni of UA, and this child is a friend of your boy; we should be focused on the task at hand."
Endeavor huffed to himself, not exactly thrilled to have to save the boy who defeated his son at the Sport's Festival, but unwilling to let All Might and some blonde hobo take all the glory for taking down the League of Villains. "Fine then."
All Might looked to his team of Pros and Police Force. "Everyone know their positions with the two locations?"
He was greeted with nods.
"Alright. Let's go get young Midoriya!"
--
Bakugou hung up the phone with his mother, muttering, "Goddamn bitch," under his breath after letting her know he wouldn't be home until later because he had, "stuff," to do. "Needs her fucking attitude checked," he grumbled.
He stood outside the hospital, checking the time on his phone to see if it was time to go.
"Hey, Baku-Bro!" A familiar voice called from behind him.
"Figured you'd be here first, Shitty Hair," Bakugou said, turning around and ignoring Kirishima's prompt for a high five.
"Well, duh, I never left the hospital," Kirishima replied, putting his hand down awkwardly.
After a few minutes, two boys in hoodies walked by discreetly. Once in view, they pulled down their hood to reveal Iida and Todoroki. "Right where you said you'd be, Bakugou." Iida said, curtly.
"The fuck you doing here, Four Eyes?" The blonde spat venomously. "Thought the class president wouldn't be doing something so illegal?"
Iida scowled at Bakugou. "It's precisely because I'm class president that I'm here. I have a responsibility to look after my classmates. That includes not only rescuing my friend, but also to keep an eye on you to make sure you DON'T do anything against the law."
"I don't plan on it, if I can help it," Bakugou replied. "Grab the shitty Deku and go. It'll be easy if none of you extras drag me down."
"If we were dragging you down, you wouldn't have recruited anyone else in the first place," Todoroki said with an exaggerated roll of the eyes.
"He's got you there," came the voice of Setsuna as she approached from the opposite direction Iida. "Also, you guys are really loud. It's not a stealth operation of blondie here is screaming."
Bakugou scoffed, but remained silent. After a few more minutes passed, he checked his phone once more and looked at who was with him; just the five he expected. "Alright, guess no one else is coming. Let's get this over with..."
"Um! Guys, wait!"
This time the voice came from the hospital. They turned to see Yaoyorozu herself rushing out the front door, bandage over her head the way Bakugou himself was still wrapped up around the arms.
"I'd like to come as well," she said, nervously. "I feel like I should have done more and -"
"I don't give a shit what your reasons are, let's just go," grunted Bakugou, turning to leave.
"Jeez, pretty unmanly, bro," Kirishima scolded. "Sorry, Momo..."
"It's okay," she replied, "I want to prove myself and help Midoriya. He'd do it for us."
Still, the six of them began to make their way towards the nearest rail station, when they were stopped yet again.
"Wait up, kero!"
"NOW WHAT?!" Bakugou yelled in frustration, making everyone jump as they turned to see Asui running towards them.
"Just wait," Asui croaked as she caught up to them, stooping over to catch her breath.
"You're not here to turn us in or convince us to stop, are you?" Iida asked.
She straightened herself up and shook her head. "No, kero. I want to help."
--
Midoriya sat, muscles aching and stiff from the chair he was chained up to. For the third time that hour, Shigaraki replayed his fight with Bakugou from the Sports Festival. Disturbingly, everytime he struck Bakugou on the video, Toga sighed happily.
After the fight was over, Shigaraki turned and sat across from Izuku, slouching lazily across another chair. "You know what I love about that fight the most, Midoriya?"
Midoriya glared. "I have a feeling you're going to tell me anyway."
"HA! Got 'em." Twice laughed from the corner.
Ignoring the jabs, Shigaraki continued. "It's that anger. That... hatred you displayed against that loud-mouthed Heroic wannabe. All that hatred and all that destruction at your fingertips. With that... you could change an entire society."
"I say thee nay," Midoriya replied proudly. "I'm a Hero. I will protect society from people like you. Not change it FOR you."
"But why?" Shigaraki asked, an earnest air to his voice. "Why protect a society that ridiculed you for YEARS for being Quirkless."
Izuku's throat ran dry momentarily, "What?"
"We know all about how you grew up," Shigaraki chuckled. "Diagnosed as Quirkless at age 4, bullied on the playground all up until a little more than a year ago... when you show up with a magic hammer and powers that could make even All Might jealous. Did you really think anyone wouldn't connect the dots about you and the old God of Thunder from history?"
Midoriya stayed silent, bravely maintaining a determined eye contact with his captor.
"The world has not been kind do you, Midoriya Izuku," Shigaraki continued. "Just as it has not been kind to us. Just like you being seen as undesirable by a society for being a Quirk, we're all looked down upon... be it due to the functions of our Quirks or our appearance, or some other ridiculous perceived flaw. What's the value in that sort of society? A society that breeds people like you and me daily?"
"You can pull the, 'we're not so different,' card on me all you want," Midoriya replied, "but we're fundamentally different. You can sit here and tell me society as a whole is broken, but I would never sit by and ignore someone who was in danger. I'm going to save people, and all you're looking to do is kill anyone in your way. That puts us and our goals at odds, and that won't change. Period."
A heavy tension hung in the air as the rest of the League of Villains looked from Shigaraki to Midoriya. After a moment, Shigaraki laughed. "Well then, new God of Thunder, I suppose you'll just have to take it up with my Sensei. Call him, Kurogiri."
Kurogiri, from the bar, adjusted the knobs on a video screen, until a shadow figure appeared on them.
"Kurogiri?" The voice on the other end rasped.
--
The seven students of UA had arrived brightly-lit city area, and had disguised themselves at the behest of Yaoyorozu. Then, having followed the tracking device that she had produced, found themselves outside of a run down looking warehouse.
"You sure this is the right place?" Todoroki asked, checking around the dim alleyway to make sure there was no one in earshot.
Momo checked her device again. "Yes, though the signal hasn't moved since I produced it. Is there anyway to check inside."
"On it," Setsuna replied, popping her eyes out of their sockets and floating them towards the skylights on top of the building.
"Me too!" Asui exclaimed, leaping onto the side of the wall, clinging to it, and climbing up.
It was a rather awkward few moments as the other five students sat around, looking at the eyeless Setsuna as she shifted her weight from one leg to another.
"Oh wow..." She frowned. "That's... huh."
"Well, what the -" Bakugou began, voice growing, but Kirishima put his hand on his shoulder. The two made eye contact, and Kirishima shook his head, gently reminding his bro not to start screaming during a stealth mission. "...the fuck are you seeing?"
"It's... it's a whole warehouse of those monster-looking guys. You know, those Nomus that attacked the USJ and the training camp."
"A whole warehouse?" Iida repeated, alarmed.
"Yes, did I stutter?" Setsuna replied, annoyed. "They're just sitting in tanks. I can even see the little tracker Yaoyorozu put on one of them."
"Can you see Midoriya anywhere?" Momo asked.
Asui had retreated back to the group. "No," she croaked. "Just rows and rows of those tanks."
"Oh shit! Guys, hide!" Setsuna cried out, her eyes zipping back to her and popping back into her eyes out of nowhere.
"Villains?" Todoroki asked.
"No, Mt. Lady!" Setsuna hissed. "Get behind a wall or something or we're going to get busted!"
The seven students scrambled behind the brick wall in the alley as Mt. Lady and Death Arms arrived at the building.
--
Midoriya squinted at the darkened silhouette on the screen, trying to make out the voice.
"Sensei," Shigaraki rasped, utterly joyed to be hearing from the man on the screen. "It's him, Sensei."
"Oh..." the man on the screen seemed almost surprised. "Yes, young Izuku..."
Izuku's throat went dry. Something about this man's voice sent shivers up his spine.
"So," the Sensei said, "you're the new God of Thunder... I never thought such an opportunity would come."
That was about as far as the man got, as the wall the television was mounted on imploded as All Might himself punched through the wall.
"LACQUER PRISON!" Shouted Kamui Woods, next to All Might. Branches erupted from Kamui's arms, wrapping up the League before any of them recovered from the surprise of a giant man destroying their wall.
"Wood?" Dabi smirked. "Not much of a match for OOMPH!"
The oomph was a small, elderly man Deku had never met zooming at lightning speeds and kicking Dabi across the face. "I think that's enough lip out of you sonny."
Midoriya was stunned, wishing he could pinch himself to make sure this wasn't a dream he was having. But no, it seemed he had been saved after all. "A-All Might?!"
"Yes, Young Midoriya!" All Might crowed, walking over to his student. "There's no need to worry about these evil doers anymore, FOR WE ARE HERE!"
Midoriya's eyes scanned the room, seeing All Might, Endeavor, the elderly man, and Kamui Woods. From the multiple flashing blue and red lights he was seeing behind the destroyed wall, it seemed there was an abundance of police support backing them up as well. He could feel his eyes water.
--
"I don't get it," Kirishima hissed, "what are they doing?" He was standing on Bakugou and Iida's shoulders, peering over the wall as Mt. Lady and Death Arms investigated the outside of the warehouse.
"I think the same thing we're doing," Setsuna said to the rest, her eyes hovering next to Kirishima's. "Trying to see if Midoriya's in there."
As the two Pros circled the building, without warning, two flying Nomus burst out of the skylight windows, and began flying off towards the same spot. Mt. Lady ran towards them before she was radioed. Setsuna sent her ear over as close as she could without it being obvious.
"Midoriya's at our location! Take yours down!" The voice on the radio said.
"You got it," Death Arms confirmed. "Two of those things got away, alert whoever is in the area. We'll knock this place over."
He signaled something to Mt. Lady. She nodded, and found a truck to put on her foot like a shoe in order to demolish the building.
Setsuna retracted her eyes and ear, and frowned to the other students. "Guys, bad news..."
--
All Might surveyed the scene, the League of Villains all either grumbling miserably or unconscious, like Kurogiri and Dabi were. His triumphant smile gleamed; the plan had gone off without a hitch.
"You must have been scared Young Midoriya." All Might said, patting the boy on the shoulders gently., "But you've handled yourself admirably. You should be very proud of yourself. Now, let's get you out of these restraints. Care to help?"
Midoriya looked past All Might, realizing the question wasn't meant for him. Behind the Symbol of Peace, Thor stood there in his, "Midgardian hoodie," beaming at Midoriya. The two grinned at each other as Thor held up Mjolnir in his hands.
"I've got something for you," Thor said, proudly.
All Might ripped one of the chains holding Midoriya down out of the ground, allowing the boy to straighten his back somewhat. But before he could smash the hand restraint, the elderly hero shouted, "On your toes, boy! Something is happening!"
A red mist began to eek in through the hole in the wall. As it did, screams and gunfire began to erupt from the street below.
"I'm on it," Endeavor grunted, jumping out the side of the wall.
The momentary distraction was all that was needed; the red mist poured into the nose of Kurogiri, and portals formed around the League of Villains, sucking them in.
Midoriya's eyes widened as one formed under him, and he fell through it staring into the shocked faces of All Might and Thor.
A second later, he was toppling across the pavement, the wooden chair he was chained to smashing to pieces under him. Now, the only thing restraining him was the metal contraption keeping his hands from opening.
The League of Villains stood up and all rushed past Midoriya, clamoring towards a figure that Deku could feel standing a few feet behind him.
"Sensei!" Shigaraki cried, on the verge of tears. "You really came!"
"Of course," the raspy voice from the video answered. "I told you I'd always be there to watch out for you."
Struggling, Midoriya looked up from the ground at his surroundings; he was in the ruins of some smashed up warehouse. What had gone on?!
"HEY!" A familiar voice yelled. "STOP RIGHT THERE!"
Deku looked up, recognizing the booming voice as Mt. Lady herself. She reared back to punch the down at the League of Villains, but before she could, the raspy man's fist exploded in size and stretched into the sky, uppercutting her. The ground shook as she crashed to the ground.
"I've already taken care of Death Arms before you arrived," the raspy man wheezed. "We should be... all alone until All Might arrives."
"Sh- um - shouldn't we leave?" Magne asked, nervously. "That was a little close for comfort."
From the ground, Midoriya saw his opening; a gap in the wall of the destroyed warehouse. Summoning all his might and courage, he placed the metal restraint firm against the concrete and pulled his knees up under him. In a swift movement, he pulled himself up to his feet and took off in a sprint towards freedom.
He hadn't gotten more than ten feet when vines wrapped around his ankles and pulled, sending him crashing to the ground again. He was dragged along the ground, and he could already tell he was being pulled in by this mysterious, "Sensei," himself.
From the ground, Midoriya turned himself around and looked up at the man, having to stop himself from gasping.
The League flanked the sides of the rasping man, who had sustained such terrible injuries his face was almost unrecognizable. His eyes had been crushed, and there were no visible sockets or eyelids. His mouth, wrinkled and cracked, curled into a twisted smile as Midoriya looked over him. The contrast of his features to his neatly pressed suit made it all the more jarring.
"Hello Midoriya," he rasped. His chapped lips curled into a hideous, yellow-toothed grin. "I'd like to discuss your powers. But oh, where are my manners." He waved his hands to his sides, gesturing at the League of Villains. "I'm... All for One. Leader of the League. Now... let's chat before the Heroes show up."