There was no mighty roar when the faculty arrived; instead, many sank to their knees in mental exhaustion at the plight they had just been through. Izuku was at Momo's side checking on her; Mina had moved to be by his side and was clinging to an arm. Slowly they made their way to their feet as the teachers swarmed the USJ. He saw a third-year group behind them and rushed to the students to check their wounds. Izuku saw Nejire land near them.
"Are you ok?" she asked.
"No, not really, but we will survive." He responded, "Thank you, Senpai; check on the others. I can handle these two for now."
With a nod, she moved to the next group; he was amazed at the shift in her demeanor from bubbly airhead to licensed pro.
All-Might approached them, and Izuku glared at him. "Where the hell were you? They didn't come here for us. They came for you!"
"I was running late, young Midoriya. I am sorry…."
"Save your apologies," Izuku rose and helped the two girls up to their feet to leave to receive medical aid.
Brighton was receiving some attention from a third year, "You are remarkably uninjured; please head outside for evaluation from Recovery Girl."
Brighton expressed relief, saying, "I'm grateful, but I don't know what force was looking out for me." Unaware of the strange looks from Ochaco and Denki, he left, feeling frustrated that Momo had not thanked him for saving her from the portals and allowing the faculty to arrive. He tried not to dwell on the white fire that had given him renewed energy at the end, enabling him to move despite overusing his quirk.
Nezu gathered reports that despite evidence to the contrary, most students had been recently healed from major injuries but still had several minor ones. Rikido and Yuga emerged from the forest area, visibly distressed and in tears upon seeing the heroes. Yuga's behavior was erratic, alternating between tearful outbursts and manic laughter as he stared at his hands.
The class seemed to gather and move out as one unit, with Brighton and Bakugo the only outliers. Toru tenderly reached out for Shoto's hand and was relieved when he didn't pull away instead of taking her hand in his. Others were doing the same, just wanting physical contact with those they had stared down death with. Mina just said nothing and was clinging to Izuku's arm.
Once outside, when every student or faculty approached her, she screamed for them not to touch her. It was a manic and frantic scream; the only person she would allow to touch her was Izuku. It wasn't till he had to empathically soothe her that she could withstand treatment from Recovery Girl. Izuku relayed what he had encountered to Momo, who was dealing with her own shock and troubles. Not only had she almost died, she saw the world as it was about to burn; the Dark Phoenix was before her. She was sure he needed more than one anchor, but all she wanted right now was to hold him and let herself release all the emotional turmoil that was being held inside.
It was the same for every student as their wounds were bandaged, Yuga had to be sedated, and the rest just made their way to the waiting area huddling together. Momo could rebuff Brighton when he came to check on her; his fake insincerity was almost enough to make her vomit. When Detective Tsukauchi came to try and question them, he immediately knew this would be a terrible task. Trying to separate them from each other was borderline impossible. Everyone that approached them made them jump. Ultimately, it was only possible to do so with a line of sight from the group and a distance they all found acceptable.
Thankfully he wasn't alone, and he had brought a female detective with him, Detective Starling; he noticed that most of the girls immediately relaxed at seeing she would be handling their questioning. It made his blood boil because he could already piece together what he hoped only attempted upon them.
-Brighton Freadom, aka the Smarted Person in the Room-
"I understand this may be difficult, Mr. Freadom, but could you answer a few questions?" Detective Tsukauchi asked.
"Despite some minor injuries, I feel rather well, Detective. I have no problem giving you my statement." Brighton responded his voice sure and full of confidence.
"Ok, where were you when everything started?"
"I was near the doors above the fountain area when the villains appeared." TRUTH
"What was your reaction?"
"Confusion at first," TRUTH
"Then?"
"When the mist villain, their teleporter appeared to block our path, I began to think of how best to survive." TRUTH the detectives quirk rang out.
"When he began to take your classmates, what was your reaction."
"I tried to save who I could." LIE
"Very noble of you, How did your group fight against their teleporter?"
"We didn't. Hitoshi was able to use his quirk to hold him in place. After that, Momo and a few others went to work on the door, Ochaco tended to Thirteen, and I was sent to look for a manual override in the control room." TRUTH
"Were you able to do so?"
"After some searching." LIE. "I was able to locate it when two villains burst in; while defending myself, I threw one out the window of the control booth. Unfortunately, she collided with the Mist villain breaking him free of Hitoshi's control. But thankfully, Ida got out and notified the school." TRUTH.
"What happened next?"
"The monster that the main villain had brought with him came crashing down; it attacked Ochaco and Momo. When I ran in, it tracked my movement and hit me, sending me over the edge. I landed amid a group of villains and fought my way out using my quirk. And made my way back to the group and the monster." TRUTH
"Anything happen along the way?"
"No." LIE
"Then what?"
"When I returned, the beast had been what we thought was severely injured by Shota, but it broke free and began to regenerate. Its attention was focused on me for some reason. To keep my classmates safe, I tried to lure it away." LIE
"Anything else?"
"No, I could not witness anything until the faculty arrived." TRUTH.
"Thank you, Mr. Freadom. Your statement has been most enlightening."
-The trip back-
Reports were filed in as the student's testimony was taken; Nezu was taken aback by the number of critically injured villains found and the dead. Midnight did her best to calm the students while getting some details; her training as a counselor told her this would be a terrible task. The trauma of the day was so painfully evident. Once the preliminary statements were given, she got the students on the bus to get them back to the campus as the USJ was in the rearview it was then that the first sob broke from Mina, then it triggered others as the class began to grieve together. Brighton seemed annoyed that Mina and Momo were crying on Izuku's shoulders and that no one was paying him much attention.
Bakugo sat in the corner, staring out the window; he knew he should be dead. If it weren't for Aizawa, that hand fucker would have killed him.
Ochaco was talking to Denki in the back of the bus.
"How did you end up in that group of Villains?"
"I don't know, one second, I was looking down the stairs and saw Brighton. The next, I was flying through the air. Why?"
"I think he threw you?"
"Why would he do that? Isn't his quirk some teleportation?"
"I don't know, but some things aren't adding up, like when he got back to where we were fighting that thing, I am sure he put Tsu and Toru between him and it to by himself some time."
"That's a serious accusation Ochaco."
"Yea, but remember what Tsu said during the training that she went to leap away, but something grabbed her leg and pulled her back, and when I was trying to get to Misty, time seemed to slow down. There was no way I should have been able to dodge that portal."
"Still to think he would do something like that?"
Once they were back on campus, they made their way to the locker rooms; it took some coaxing from Izuku to get Mina to separate to get changed. She clung to Momo as they made their way; Mina was in the showers for a while; she responded to questions with a single word with some aid. She got dressed. Once they stepped out, she seemed relieved to see Izuku and grabbed his arm again. Everyone's costumes were in tatters and wrecked. They just left them to be collected by the staff.
-The Dorms-
Everyone piled into the common area, not attempting to separate; the nearness of their comrades was what they all craved. Even Bakugo sat on the steps, just processing everything. Mina broke the silence, "I killed people today." She said hollowly, her head resting on Izuku's shoulder.
"As did I," Fumi said. "They talked about doing horrible, unspeakable things, and I lost control. I couldn't take it. I knew what Dark Shadow would do, but I couldn't let them walk away or escape."
"I am sure I crippled some people," Shoto said. "I can still smell the fur on that monster burning."
"We all did something that we aren't proud of," Itsuka said, her and Kyoka leaning against Mezo, who was doing his best to calm his nerves as he looked down at the severed stumps where he had lost some appendages, thankfully he had been informed but Recovery Girl that they would be able to be reformed it was still difficult to look at.
"You're the one that healed us, aren't you, Izuku, Kero," Tsu said from her spot.
"Yes." Was the boy's response.
"How can you do that with Telekinesis?" she pressed.
"I told you all that I can affect things on smaller levels; that's why I call it Psychokinesis; it works on a molecular level. That is how I can produce fire. I didn't so much as heal you but stitched up the worst of the wounds."
"And that connection?" Ochaco said. "I don't know about all of you, but when he did it, I felt like we were all connected."
"No idea," He lied.
"What happens now?" Toru asked, her voice wavering.
"Ideally, we should try and rest, but I don't know how well that will work," Ida said. "I feel so ashamed that all I could do was run and get help."
"Don't, Ida," Hitoshi said, speaking up, "You were the only one with us that could; all I could do was hold off Misty for a bit; after that, all I could do was try and drag people out harm's way."
"I don't want to sleep alone," Mina said. A mummer of agreement washed through the group as others echoed similar statements.
"I think I would like to sleep here with all of you," Momo said.
"I can use my quirk to bring down blankets and stuff; if you give me permission to open your rooms, we don't even have to leave the common room to get our stuff," Izuku volunteered.
With some nods and others going and gathering their stuff themselves, soon they were all there under blankets, but sleep would not come easy. Bakugo didn't leave, but he didn't bring his stuff down.
"Something is bothering me?" Itsuka said as everyone had returned.
"What's that?" Kyoka asked. "Beyond the obvious."
"When the portals started appearing, I thought I was out of the way, but then it felt like something shoved me, and next thing I knew, I was swallowed up." She replied. Brighton said nothing his heart rate increasing.
"Same here," Izuku added.
"I thought I was going to get pulled in for sure, but then I got yanked out of the way; I thought you did it, Izu," Momo said.
"Wasn't me. I was trying to pull you to me."
Kyoka noticed the sudden uptick in someone's heartbeat, it took her a moment to pinpoint it, but then she saw it was coming from Brighton.
"Maybe it was some villain's quirk." He added. Kyoka noticed the way his heart was rapidly beating he was lying about something.
"Yea, but what villain?" Momo responded. "The only one that we saw was Misty. Why didn't they do anything else if there was a second villain there? And if it was part of Misty's quirk, then why did any of us escape the portals, and why target Izuku and Itsuka."
"The villains had no idea what our quirks were," Bakugo added. The class turned and looked at him. "They dropped me in the fire zone, Frog Face in the water zone, Tweety in the storm zone; if they knew what we could do, I would have been in the ice zone. Instead, they just upped my firepower."
"That was our thought when they dropped Denki in the flood zone, ribbit," Tsu said.
"So, who shoved me into the portal?" Itsuka said.
Before the conversation went any further, almost everyone's phones started ringing. People began to separate to other parts of the room as parents had received the news and were now reaching out to their children. Mina did her best; if it weren't for Izuku soothing her empathically, she wouldn't have gotten through the conversation.
Most of the class held off their parents, claiming exhaustion and the need to rest; they were assured that such things would not hold them back tomorrow.
Hitoshi noticed that Brighton was going up the stairs while the group had separated.
"Hey Brighton, you ok?"
"Yea, I just…."
"Got you? Come back downstairs," Hitoshi said with a growl.
"Hitoshi, what the heck are you doing?" Ida demanded.
The rest of the class was stunned at what was transpiring. "Come on, Ida, don't you think it is weird that the people he has been sucking up to are the ones that managed not to get sucked into a portal except Itsuka and Denki. And the object of his obsession just happened to get pulled out of a portal."
"He is hiding something. His heart rate has been through the roof as soon as we started talking about what happened," Kyoko added.
"But to use your quirk on him," Ida protested.
"Fine, let's just ask him; if he didn't do shit, you can turn me in," Hitoshi said. "Either way, if he did fuck us over, I would like to know if I can trust him."
"Me too," Tsu said. "I don't trust him; if he didn't do anything, then…."
"I think he was the one that threw Denko off the stairs," Ochaco said. "And I saw him put Tsu and Toru between him and that monster."
"Brighton, did you shove Itsuka and Izuku into those portals?" Hitoshi asked.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"So, I could save Momo and get her into bed out of gratitude; Itsuka didn't seem like she was going to go along with my plan's about Izuku."
"How did you do it?"
"With my quirk."
"What is your quirk?"
"I can slow time down in a given area."
"For only yourself?"
"No, I can choose who I affect and who I don't."
"So you could have saved everyone from going through the portals?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you?"
"I didn't care."
"How long did it take you to find the override for the door?"
"I found it almost immediately."
"Why didn't you open it?"
"I was hoping that Izuku would get hurt if not killed, and I wanted to wait to claim more of the glory, as I felt that I wasn't in any danger."
"What about the rest of us?" Itsuka yelled.
"I didn't care."
-Faculty-
Midnight and Ectoplasm stood in front of the holographic projection of the USJ, moving people around according to the reports amassed from the students. Things weren't adding up. The first question to fly out from Ectoplasm was, "Why did Mr. Freadom act sooner?"
"I don't understand it either; he could have stopped all of them from being sucked in and separated, yet according to the report, we can only tell that he saved Ms. Yaoyorozu. From the reports, it can be inferred that he shoved Mr. Midoriya and Ms. Kendo into the portals." Midnight responded, looking up from the projection.
"It can also be inferred that he threw Mr. Kaminari into a group of villains to save himself as well, but we will need to question him with the aid of the detective to confirm," Ectoplasm added. "Either way, I have to question his actions severely. If his classmates figure any of this out, we could have a dire situation, and he would essentially be a traitor in their midst."
"There would be no justification for his actions; we need to report this to Nezu immediately and get him out there for now." Midnight said. Truthfully she wanted to throw the little bastard to the wolves, but she needed more evidence.
Nezu was reading all the reports, including the very disturbing one from Detective Tsukauchi and his information from the interview with Brighton Freadom. As he began to put together all the elements of the incident, his mind suddenly painted a clear picture. He understood that Brighton was here to report back to his father, but he hadn't suspected that the boy was foolish enough to attempt to sacrifice other students for some petty gain.
His mind clicked all the pieces together, painting a clear picture of some events; he immediately pulled up the security feed for the 1-A dorm's common room. His eyes widened as he slammed down on the intercom.
"ALL FACULTY REPORT TO THE 1-A DORM IMMEDIATELY; WE HAVE A CODE RED. REPEAT CODE RED."
Midnight and Ectoplasm broke into a dead sprint.
-1-A Dorms-
No one could believe what was said, and no one moved to stop Mina, who screamed in fury and ran and punched Brighton with every ounce of strength. She wasn't alone. As he regained his senses, his mind flared in pain as a giant fist snatched him off the ground and punched across the room. As he landed, he activated his quirk; he could see the rage on their faces; he remembered Hitoshi talking to him, he must have used his quirk on him, his heart dropped.
He had to run; he went to move only to feel unable to move.
"Where do you think you are going?" Izuku said.
"How?"
"I told you at the party that you were out of your league; now you will catch the ass whopping you deserve."
Time began to flow again, he tried to stop it, but he felt a mental block in place. No running away now. He heard Izuku's voice echo in his head.
He turned in time to catch a knee to the gut from Rikido; as he doubled over, looking for any friendly face, he saw none. An invisible knee crashed into the side of his head, and he went sprawling; Tsu followed up with a powerful kick driving what remaining air was in him out. Ida tried to call everyone to calm down, but people were flaming. Momo was shaking in anger, trying her best not to join in.
Mina had yet to respond. She descended upon him in a rage of righteous fury; he managed to get his arms up to try and defend himself.
"IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU MOTHER FUCKER; THEY TRIED TO RAPE ME, THEY TRIED TO FUCKING RAPE ME, I WAS ALL ALONE. I HAD TO KILL TO SURVIVE, YOU SON OF A BITCH." She screamed as she rained down wild blows; he created some distance and slapped her, knocking her off him.
"Get the fuck off me, you psycho bitch." He cried. As he struggled to his feet, he felt a brutal kick to his back from Mezo.
"I lost fucking limbs because of you,"
Denki grabbed him and let loose an electric jolt. "You tried to sacrifice me to save yourself, you piece of shit."
Brighton screamed as he tumbled, desperately reaching for his quirk only to find that block in place. Dark Shadow erupted and grabbed him violently before throwing him into a wall, causing it to spiderweb from the impact.
"You did all this because you couldn't handle rejection!" Momo yelled as she dragged him to his feet. "You disgust me; I would rather have soiled myself with a villain from the attack than let you touch me." She reared back and slapped him. Ochaco stepped in and punched him.
"I hope you burn in hell, you piece of shit." She spat out.
"FACULTY!" Izuku shouted. Everyone stepped back with their hands in the air as Vlad King, Ectoplasm, Midnight, and President Mic burst in with Nezu on their heels.
Izuku was holding Mina back, desperately trying to break free to keep attacking; it took considerable effort to calm her.
"What the hell is going on here?" Vlad King roared. "After what just happened, why would you attack one of your own?"
"He threw some of us into portals during the villain attack, delayed opening the manual override in hopes of getting a student seriously injured or killed, put two students directly in the path of the weird monster thing, and threw another into the villains to save himself, he could have prevented all of us from getting pulled apart, and he chooses not to," Momo said. "And that was just during the attack."
"Why would he do such things?" President Mic asked. "And how do you know all this?"
"Because he wanted to try and get me to spread my legs," Momo spat out.
"We know this because I used my quirk on him," Hitoshi said, stepping forward. "I know it was wrong, but I knew he was hiding something; I accept full responsibility."
"Vlad King, take Mr. Freadom to the infirmary but make sure to place him into custody before you do," Nezu said.
"Sir?"
"While I cannot verify their claims, the evidence suggests they are correct. He has already given a partially false statement to the police detective."
"That's a lie!" Brighton yelled.
"Mr. Freadom, before you utter another syllable, you should be made aware that the detective's quirk is called Lie Detector."
Brighton froze. Vlad King did as he was instructed, if not only to remove the boy for his safety but if their claims were correct, leaving the young man here would be a death sentence. And Vlad King could find minor fault in that case of mob justice.
Brighton desperately looked for a sympathetic face; at last, his gaze fell on Bakugo, who looked away in disgust. "Bakugo?"
"Don't look at me, you piece of shit; I agreed with you that Deku was a piece of trash and had probably coerced Ponytail somehow; in no way was I going to agree with you in sacrificing any of these extras to a bunch of villains. Fuck Deku, yes, any other bullshit you were up to, you can just fuck off."
Izuku looked at Bakugo and shook his head. The class could hear Brighton ranting as the cuffs were placed on him and he was dragged out of the dorms.
"Food will be delivered soon; you will all be confined to dorms pending a thorough investigation, and do expect some form of punishment. I can only imagine today's trauma and stress placed upon you all. Then to find what amounts to a traitor in your midst that could have turned the tide of events today was probably more than you could process. Do try to get some rest. We will address this later." Nezu said as he led the teachers out of the dorm.
"Sir, is it wise to leave them like this?" Ectoplasm asked as they walked away.
"They are lucky to be alive, and mentally they are hanging by a thread; the only thing holding them together is each other; finding out such a terrible thing shook them even more. If we attempt to step in and separate or punish them now, we would be doing even more harm than good. We failed them today; they had to make decisions and take actions that most pros will never have to in their entire career. We need to focus and provide them with all the support they need; after the report gets out, the Commission will come after us in full force for the injuries and deaths that occurred. We need to know precisely what happened to the best of our abilities. I first want to know how these bastards got into my school." Nezu finished with a growl.
THOU SHALL NOT PISS OFF NEZU!
*Authors Note*
I hope Brighton getting exposed and getting his ass kicked was cathartic for those calling for it for a while now. It is not over for everyone's favorite character; he will still have some a role to play coming up. In any case, I hope you enjoyed and as always, thank you for reading and your time.