Ignited Spark

by 3PeopleInACoat

When Midoriya Izuku was four years old, his quirk finally manifested - not a combination of his parents' quirks, but an entirely different mutation of its own. With the ability to blast lightning out of his body, a horrible accident convinces Izuku to give up his dreams of becoming a hero. But with the help of two girls, Izuku finds the inspiration to fight and become a true hero!

16. Storms (Part Three)

Okay. When Nejire had gone down to the water to face the villains and create a distraction while they tried to escape, Yui didn't think that she would go ahead and create a goddamn tsunami.

She and Tsuyu had nearly reached the bottom of the slide, trying to pay attention to the sounds of battle below them while carefully climbing down and hoping that they wouldn't lose their grip and fall the rest of the way into the water - and probably their deaths, given the height and the fact there might've been villains still around. They had been debating quietly what they could do while Nejire distracted the villains somewhere in the large lake, coming to the agreement that they were going to go and assist her, when a weird, bright yellow light underneath the water had caught their attention - and not two seconds later, the entire lake exploded upwards with a blast of water that immediately rose up into a tsunami.

Yui had nearly lost her grip and balance, and probably would've fallen in and get carried away with the wave, had it not been for Tsuyu's quick thinking, wrapping her tongue tightly around the support and Yui's waist, and holding onto the slide for dear life less they get dragged off to somewhere else in the USJ with the wave - and it probably wouldn't have been a nice ride for either of them.

Finally, the water seeped out of the lake to crash down on the rest of the facility, the large tsunami slamming into everything and carrying several of the villains along for the ride. As they dangled on the support, both of them panting and spitting out some water, Tsuyu and Yui glanced at each other - the rampaging waves that had crashed into them meant that they were both dripping wet, Yui's hat long gone, with the stoic girl patting the top of her wet hair and pouting when she couldn't find it. They very quickly looked back around to inspect the rest of the facility, and saw that most of the water from the lake - an area of water, keep in mind, that wasn't too big, but probably large enough that only Tsuyu would be able to swim all the way across - was now spread across the facility, leaving the lake a large, empty hole in the ground, with streams of water slowly washing back into what remained of the shipwreck zone.

But their attention was immediately drawn to a shimmering yellow light still in the lake - until it suddenly flickered, and died away.

"Do you think that's -"

"Yes, kero. It's probably Hadou," Tsuyu unwrapped her tongue from around Yui's waist, giving the spot they had seen the light a worried look, "we need to get over there."

With two grunts, one normal sounding and one with a ribbit, the two girls hopped down from where they had been clinging for dear life on the supports. Thankfully, it wasn't a huge drop, with Yui only stumbling a bit and Tsuyu landing on all fours, but that beat Yui landing wrong and breaking both her ankles.

"Kero," Tsuyu shook her head, looking around the empty lake with her already big eyes growing even wider, "it looks like there's no one left - they must've been carried along with the wave across the facility."

"Except for Hadou, you mean," Yui pointed out, grunting as she shook her hands out (they felt positively raw from all the climbing she had to do) and quickly began hurrying away in a quick jog, "let's just hope that we can get to her before any of the villains can come back and try to look for us."

"Good idea, kero."

Quickly, the two girls took off in a run towards where they had seen the yellow light flicker out - it had been kind of hard to exactly tell where it was in all the darkness, but it had been around near the middle of the lake, so they would keep their eyes open as best they could in the dark. The two girls kept close together, Tsuyu running on all fours while Yui tried to pretend she wasn't ridiculously out of shape as she ran a much longer distance than what she was used to. They only had to stop once, ducking when a loud clash of lightning had shattered the ceiling of the USJ, but luckily none of the glass fell on top of them, so they were good to keep searching for their classmate.

Once they found the spot they had seen from the slide, it didn't take long to find her - thankfully, since it seemed like she had been at the bottom of the lake, Nejire's blast had only driven her into the ground rather than carrying her away with the rest of the villains, leaving her in a small, cracked crater. Still though, it wasn't a good sight - she was laying motionless on her back, skin pale and eyes closed, and the large gauntlets she used for her costume were lying in pieces.

"Hadou!" Tsuyu quickly skidded to a stop beside her, feeling a bit panicked at how pale her face was, and quickly bent over so she could move her ear towards her classmate's mouth. Thankfully, Nejire was breathing - it was a bit shallow and raspy, but it was consistent. "Oh, thank goodness, she's still alive."

"Yeah," Yui quickly moved to a stop on her other side, kneeling down to inspect Nejire and furrowing her brow, "but is she okay? She was underwater, wasn't she? Shouldn't she be …?"

"No," Tsuyu glanced down near Nejire's head, wincing and moving back slightly, "it looks like she's already puked out the water from her lungs, there's a - er - puddle here. It looks like she had enough time to puke up any water before she passed out."

"And she passed out because …?"

"I think she mentioned one time before that her quirk draws on her stamina, kero. So if she used it to create that tsunami -"

"Then she'll probably be out for a while," Yui finished for her, glancing back down at Nejire's unconscious body with a frown before glancing around, "so in that case, we should probably pick her up and get out of here before anyone has the chance to -"

"Asui! Kodai!"

Both girls jumped about a mile high at the sound of a familiar voice approaching, accompanied by the sounds of engines firing off. They quickly looked over their shoulders to see Tenya sprinting right towards them, his eyes wide at the sight of the unconscious Nejire on the ground, and after quickly sliding to a halt, turned off his quirk and ran the rest of the way over at a normal speed.

"Is Hadou all right?! Does she require CPR?!"

"No, she's still breathing," Tsuyu assured him, while Yui leaned back so Tenya could quickly kneel down beside her to inspect their unconscious classmate, "she's just unconscious - we think she overused her quirk to create that tsunami, so she's probably going to be out for a while."

"Oh! Well, thank goodness - er, not thank goodness, but it's a relief to hear she's alive."

"Anyway, is everyone else alright, kero? Did they get separated like we did?"

"I'm afraid that I'm not sure about everyone else," Tenya shook his head, raising his hand to wipe his sweaty brow, "Shouji, Ashido, Tokage, Sero and myself were left behind at the entrance with Thirteen. But Tokage managed to escape just a few minutes ago, so she is headed back to the school to get us help! Thirteen asked me to come check on the lake and come straight back with anyone I found - in any case, let me take Hadou for you, and I can carry her back to the entrance before I return for you both."

"Right," Tsuyu nodded, glancing up and around at the other zones they could still somewhat see from their spots in the hole, "you should get Hadou to safety, Iida - but I want to head over to the other zones as well, just to see if there's any more of us that are trying to escape and may need help. I'll probably start with the downpour zone, that's the closest to us."

"I - what?!" Tenya gasped, looking shocked. "I - I do understand why you would want to do that, Asui -"

"Call me Tsuyu, kero."

"I - well - very well, but in any case, I must protest that course of action!" Tenya quickly chopped a hand at the frog girl while Yui glanced over at him, "Everything has gotten far too dangerous! Those villains have taken some kind of drug to amplify their quirks, there is no way we would be able to get to our classmates safely without waddling through an army of villains with that in their systems! The best you can do is wait for me to return, and I can get you both back to the top of the stairs so we can await further instructions!"

"But the rest of our friends are in danger, kero, we can't just flee to the top of the stairs," Tsuyu argued, frowning as she sat up and faced him, "we can't just run. You should definitely get Hadou to safety, of course, but I can move around and see if there's anyone we can help. We shouldn't just leave them for the rest of these villains."

"I - but -" Tenya was clearly in conflict with what they needed to do, raising his hands to his forehead to grab it as he tried to sort through their options. He wanted to do what his teacher instructed him and bring everyone to safety - but he knew that Tsuyu had a point, and there was a part of him that did want to find the rest of their classmates.

It was just - he couldn't just decide - he needed to -

Before he could stew in his thoughts any longer, however, he felt a hand suddenly touch his arm, just above his arm guard. He quickly looked up to see Yui staring at him, her expression still blank and her hair soaking wet from the waves that had splashed over her - but then his gaze flickered to her eyes, and he felt himself falter.

Rather than the blank, emotionless expression over her face, her eyes told a different story - showing understanding and compassion, something that took Tenya aback and made his heart, which had been hammering in his chest, skip a beat for some reason as she leaned in slightly.

"Help Hadou," She asked him in a quiet voice, "get her to safety. Tsuyu and I will go around and help everyone else - we won't fight the villains, we'll just find our classmates and help them get back to the stairs. But Hadou definitely needs to get out of here - she's a sitting duck."

Tenya stared blankly at her for a moment - and then he let out a shuddering breath, shaking his head and closing his eyes briefly. There were another few moments of silence, with Tsuyu glancing between the two of them, before Tenya sagged a bit, and then moved to scoop Nejire up, putting his arm underneath her knees. Tsuyu and Yui helped him lift the unconscious girl into his arms, Nejire's long blue hair hanging loosely and dripping a lot of water onto the ground, and Tenya straightened up, glancing down at the unconscious girl in his arms.

Yui was right - before anything else, Nejire needed to get to safety, and being left here while they argued was not an option.

"I will get Hadou back to the stairs," He informed the two girls, turning around with Nejire secured in his arms, "and once she's secure and with the rest of our classmates, I will meet with you both at the downpour zone!"

And with that, Tenya took off, the engines on the back of his legs roaring to life and going turbo as he raced across the emptied lake at great speeds, running up the small ramp at the edge of the hole and then taking off towards the stairs, going behind the zones just to be sure no one spotted him and attacked them. The girls watched him race away until he eventually vanished from sight.

"Hm," Tsuyu poked her lip, "it's like I thought - he's got a bit of a pole up his butt, doesn't he? But he seems like a good guy."

"I wish he would stick his pole up my ..." Yui muttered quietly to herself, before realizing what she was saying and quickly shutting up, Tsuyu looking around at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What was that, kero?"

"Nothing whatsoever. C'mon, we've gotta get over to the downpour zone."

With Tsuyu giving her a serious case of the side-eye that Yui completely ignored, both girls began following Tenya's path out of the shipwreck zone, both of them trying to keep quiet just in case one of the screaming villains above them heard their and came to investigate. They only had to stop and duck for cover once when they heard the sound of another bolt of lightning striking the facility again, and glanced up to see a flash of green energy blasting out of the conflagration zone, but other than that no one seemed to be looking around for them as they climbed out of the lake zone, Tsuyu carrying Yui with her tongue as she quickly crawled out, and then both girls headed towards the downpour zone, the zone's power apparently still on as lightning flashed and rain poured down within.

As they skidded to a stop at the entrance, looking into the darkness of the zone further empathized by the lack of light outside it, Yui and Tsuyu glanced at each other, uncertain about how to go from here.

"So … do you have a plan for how we're going to do this?" Yui raised an eyebrow at her smaller classmate, "Because I definitely don't."

"Well, I was thinking that we would go in quietly, kero," Tsuyu glanced back into the darkness with a weary, intimidated look, "listen for our classmates, and if we spot them, I can use my tongue to zip them to safety, and then we can make a run for it."

"..."

"..."

"... that's a stupid plan."

"I'm more than aware, kero. Do you have any better ideas?"

"Nope. Which is why I'm annoyed we're going to have to go with this one."

"Kodai! Asui - I mean, Tsuyu!"

The girls looked around to see Tenya returning, sliding to a stop near the entrance of the zone and then quickly and quietly jogging over, wincing as the water from the lake that was now on the floor splashing everywhere with each step and making more noise.

"Hadou has been safely left with the rest of our classmates at the top of the facility," He quickly confirmed, "Shouji is looking over her, and both Tsunotori and Awase are back with Aizawa-sensei - he was injured by the villains, but they're going to look after him. Did you two run into any trouble?"

"No, we were fine," Yui looked back into the darkness of the downpour zone, rolling her shoulders slightly as she prepped herself up, "we were just debating how we were going to do this. Tsuyu had a dumb plan."

"Kero, I'm still waiting to hear your own plan."

"Well, you can keep waiting because I don't have one. Which is why we're probably going to go with your plan."

"That's what I thought."

"W-well, clearly, if you are having doubts about your plan, we should take this moment to discuss and potentially improve on it!" Tenya protested, looking between both girls with shock as they shrugged their shoulders sheepishly, "We should not run all willy-nilly into the lion's den, we should take a moment to come up with a more solid plan that does not end up backfiring on us! May I please know whatever 'dumb' plan Asui was planning? I assure you, you appear to be quite the intelligent individual, so I'm certain that your plan is well thought-out!"

"It's Tsuyu, kero."

"My apologies!"

"Her plan was to go into the zone quietly," Yui informed Tenya, not looking back at him as she slightly raised her eyebrow, "look for our classmates, grab them if they're in trouble, and then haul ass."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... you can say that it's a dumb plan, Iida," Tsuyu smirkeda bit as Tenya clearly froze, "it is pretty dumb."

"I - n-no, it's - it's not, Asui - I mean Tsuyu!" Tenya tried to assure her, clearly lying through his teeth as the two girls glanced at each other knowingly, "it's - well - it's a viable strategy, certainly! It's just - er - well - we could maybe work on it a bit more before -"

Before he could finish whatever white lie he was supposed to make Tsuyu feel better with, however, they suddenly became aware of another sound. All three of them quickly straightened up and whipped back around to the entrance of the downpour zone, where they could hear what sounded like - like the sound of wet feet hitting the floor, moving right towards them out of the darkness.

Tenya quickly moved forward, throwing out his arms and shielding Tsuyu and Yui from whatever was approaching. Tsuyu quickly bent down into a combat stance while Yui gulped and glanced around for anything that she would be able to shrink and use as a weapon.

Fortunately, from within the darkness, a familiar shape suddenly began emerging, making Yui blink and squint her eyes to have a better look. Whoever it was was about her height, wearing what looked to be a small dress and - wait, no, it was a kimoto, Yui realized, lined with a fur collar.

"Yanagi?"

"Wha - Yanagi!" Tenya straightened up with a small gasp, eyes widening. Indeed, it was their classmate running towards them out of the zone, absolutely drenched and as stoic as Yui. But still, they couldn't help but feel their stomachs tense a bit - Reiko looked physically fine, at least, but there was an air of panic about her, running away from the downpour zone as quickly as she could and looking relieved to see people she actually recognized.

"Are you - are you alright?" Tenya quickly chopped his hand at her as Reiko stumbled to a stop, almost tripping over herself if not for Tsuyu quickly moving forward to assist her, letting Reiko pant and bend over to hold her knees, "It's alright now, Yanagi - we we have someone running for help, Tokage managed to escape the facility! If there's any more of us in the zone, we can go in and help out. If you keep going that way, you'll make it to the stairs, where Thirteen-sensei has -"

"No," Reiko suddenly shook her head, finally managing to find her voice as she looked up at the three of them, "I - I can't leave yet. There's - there's something we have to do before we're able to escape, or - or we'll all be in danger."

"Kero?" Tsuyu blinked, poking her lip, "What's going on, Yanagi? Was there someone else warped into the zone with you?"

"Yes - Tokoyami and I. We were the only ones teleported to this zone," Reiko quickly explained, straightening up and glancing behind her with a worried look in her eye, which made the other three feel nervous for some reason, "and there were villains there waiting for us. They attacked, and … well … things backfired quite fast."

"Mm-hm," Yui nodded, knowing what she meant by that as she also glanced into the darkness of the downpour zone's entrance, "the villains have Trigger, the ones in our zone injected themselves with it too. Does that mean that Tokoyami is -?"

"No. They never had the chance to inject themselves with it."

The three arriving teenagers blinked, looking around at Reiko as she likewise glanced back into the darkness. It was about then that they heard something else - or rather, felt something beneath them. It was like there was something rumbling the ground, making everything shake, and it was almost like it was coming closer.

"When we were coming here on the bus," Reiko explained, a shake in her voice, "I sat down with Tokoyami and inquired to know more about his quirk, since it fascinated me. He explained that the more light there is, the easier it is for him to control Dark Shadow. But when there's an absence of light … and things that cause him to stress out … it makes it harder to control."

Tenya, Tsuyu and Yui felt their eyes widen, realizing what Reiko was talking about as they stiffened up. The rumbling sound came closer.

"When we were warped in there … without any light, with the villains surrounding us and attacking … he lost control. He managed to take down all the villains before they took the Trigger, and I managed to hide, but …"

And that was when they all saw a pair of glowing red eyes suddenly emerge from the darkness, glaring straight at them.

"... but if we want to get out of here in one piece," Reiko gulped, beginning to slowly walk back into the downpour zone, "we're going to have to get him to calm down first."

---

"Sh-shtr-shrength ... shhhooooow me ... mooore o-of your ... s-strength ..."

One moment, the hooded man who had punched Izuku across the foyer was standing where he had initially struck him, his crooked mouth continuing to spread open into a bloodthirsty grin as Izuku stared up at him in shock and terror. And the next, in the blink of an eye, he was next to the water fountain, standing over Izuku and throwing his fist forward.

With a gasp, Izuku acted on instinct, ducking underneath the blow as his fist smashed into the fountain, breaking it easily and sending the overflowing water within flying everywhere before draining out even faster to join the water on the floor. Izuku didn't have time to gather his thoughts, though, as the moment he had rolled onto his feet, the hooded man was back on him, arms raised as though in a boxing match and throwing another fist at him, and this time Izuku wasn't fast enough to move out of the way.

BAM

The breath in Izuku's lungs left in a gasp as the fist, wrapped up tightly in gauze, struck him straight in the chest, making his eyes bulge as the force of the low rocketed him backwards, flying off his feet and briefly into the air - and then in a blur of movement, the hooded man twirled on his leg, spinning with his other leg out, and catching Izuku straight in the face, making him grunt as he was flung away from Nine and Slice, both villains watching with raised eyebrows as Izuku was smacked around.

The moment Izuku hit the ground again, rolling briefly, the hooded man was back, snarling with glee as he kicked back up into the air, the boy letting out a small rasp as he felt something break in his midsection - probably his ribs - before the hooded man grabbed him by the back of his costume, stopping his ascent, and then slammed the teenager down hard onto the wet floor, water splashing everywhere. Growling, the hooded man grabbed Izuku by the ankle, his eyes narrowing behind the hood, and threw Izuku back towards the fountain.

Hitting the ground and sliding towards the fountain, which he fell against roughly, Izuku let out several panting breaths, blood slowly trickling out of his nose and a bruise forming near his eye from the initial kick, and stared at the hooded man in terror as he rounded back on him.

"N-no … no, no, no!"The hooded man shouted in rage, his eyes shining insanely behind his hood as he childishly stomped his foot. "Y-your sth-strength! Your - your power! Where is it? S-show me y-your s-strength!"

For a brief moment, Izuku tried to gather his thoughts, feeling like his hammering heart practically trying to escape out of his chest from the sheer terror of the situation before him. It was clear that this guy, whoever he was, outclassed him in power and speed - he was able to smack Izuku around effortlessly, and was clearly fast enough to keep Izuku on the defence, or rather, being unable to defend himself. Right now, he needed to -

- and without warning, the hooded man was back on him again, grabbing Izuku by the other ankle and making the boy gasp as he was ripped into the air and thrown towards the stairs, tumbling a bit while Nine and Slice watched in amusement.

This time, though, Izuku managed to focus as he flailed through the air, and quickly threw his hands out. He was still uncertain about using his quirk against others - but he had no problem with using it to make sure he didn't crash!

BOOM

With two lightning bolts, Izuku managed to get control of his tumble before he crashed down hard on the stairs, and was instead jerked upwards. With a bit of flailing, Izuku managed to land near the top of the stairs with a grunt, wincing as he hit his tailbone, but at least he hadn't hit his head at all from the crash.

"M-Midoriya-san!"

Izuku jumped at the small gasp, and quickly looked around. He could see Pony and Yosetsu tending to Aizawa, the teacher managing to look up through a bleeding face and a clear, painfilled expression before slumping back down, while Mina and Hanta took care of Thirteen, and Mezo had his arms wrapped around an unconscious Nejire. He couldn't quite keep his attention on them, however, as he heard a roar below him and quickly looked down to see the hooded man at the foot of the stairs, looking up at him in surprise and delight.

"There!"The hooded man shouted, clenching his fists in excitement. "T-that power! The - the l-light - the lightning! More! MORE!"

Izuku didn't hesitate this time as the hooded man leapt up, a blur of black streaking up the stairs. He immediately slammed his palms against the top of the stairs, and with another electrical explosion, was rocketed straight up, flailing a bit in panic but still fast enough that the hooded man struck where he had been a few seconds ago, making Pony, Yosetsu, Mezo, Hanta and Mina jump in surprise and terror as he effortlessly broke the stairs.

Snarling, the hooded man whipped back around, seeing Izuku flailing in the air, and quickly leapt after him, blood streaking out from his knuckles where he had punched the stairs.

"Oh, no!" Pony gasped, realizing the danger that Izuku was in. She quickly got back up to her hooves, about to run over to jump into the air with her horns and back up Izuku before the hooded man could -

"Tsunotori, wait!"

She faltered as someone reached out to grab her shoulder, making her quickly look around at Mezo as he glanced down at Aizawa on the ground before looking back up at her.

"Sensei is still bleeding," He said in a quiet voice, regret and guilt in his tone as he realized what he had to do, "he - you can't just jump after that guy, he needs your help."

"I - but - but Shouji-kun!" She protested, looking back around at where Izuku was still fighting the hooded man while Hanta likewise looked conflicted, "Midoriya-san can't fight that guy! He needs back up!"

"But what can we do?" Yosetsu shook his head slowly, looking just as horrified as the rest of them as they watched Izuku fight against the villain, "There's no way any of our quirks can put a dent in that guy - at least Midoriya's quirk is powerful enough to fight back! But we - we can't just leave Hadou, Thirteen and Aizawa here, they - they need us!"

"But - but -" Pony looked back around, seeing Izuku trying to keep away from the hooded man midair - and then the hand that was on her shoulder tightened somewhat, making her look back around at Mezo as he gave her an understanding look, Nejire still secure in his arms.

"We won't be able to do anything against that guy," He gently told her, "and Aizawa-sensei needs us. We need to find a way to wrap up his injuries so he doesn't … bleed out. I'm sorry, Tsunotori, but - but he needs us too."

Pony winced at that, stealing a small glance down at their unconscious teacher's injuries - his arms twisted to horrifying angles, blood pooling out from his head - and she quickly nodded, looking back around towards Izuku and thinking a silent apology, before kneeling back down beside Aizawa to start ripping out pieces of her hero costume to wrap up his wounds, Yosetsu doing the same as he unwrapped the bandanna from around his forehead.

Down below, Izuku grunted as he landed about half-way down the stairs, quickly looking around for the hooded man and feeling his eyes widen as the villain spun in a circle through the air, giggling with glee. Quickly, thinking back to when he had fought the slime villain last year and how he had jumped at him to get to Katsuki, Izuku slammed his hands against the stairs and blasted off again, managing to just dodge the hooded man from landing on top of him and pinning him to the floor. If the hooded man was in pain from punching concrete, blood leaking through the gauze around his hands, he didn't show it, instead leaping up into the air after Izuku, the boy feeling lightning curling in his hands.

As he flew through the air again, Izuku felt himself wince, glancing down at his hands and seeing them starting to turn red from the use of his quirk at full power. He was still hesitant to use his quirk against someone else, despite the fear of what would happen should this guy get his hands on him - and deep down, he knew that he needed to get over it, and fast. The hooded man leaping after him with a wide, vicious grin clearly overpowered Izuku in both speed and power, and while Izuku could try and avoid him by keeping on his toes, it would only be a matter of time before he got tired or his quirk injured him too much, and then it would definitely be game over.

Flying through the air, Izuku threw his hand to the side to unleash a blast towards the ruins zone, jerking him to the side to avoid the hooded man grasping out at him and narrowly avoiding the hand the size of his face from grabbing him. Izuku continued to use his quirk at full blast to keep himself away from the villain, wincing at each blast emerging from his hands that sent huge spikes of pain throughout his body, to essentially fly through the air and avoid the hooded man as he fell back to the ground, landed, and then leapt back up into the air after the teenager.

Unfortunately, Izuku might've found it a bit easier to keep blasting to stay airborne, but he was clearly unused to staying in the air for long, and had to contend with the fact that he didn't have Ochako's anti-gravity quirk on him to keep him up in the air. He let out a squeak as he began to somewhat plummet towards the ground, glancing back nervously and seeing the wet floor coming up to meet him, and quickly threw his hands back down to fire off another blast of lightning to bounce himself back up into the air.

Once the lightning hit the ground, Izuku let out a small grunt as he was pushed straight up - and then he felt his eyes widen when he heard the sound of something descending on him from behind.

Barely having enough time to look over his shoulder, this time Izuku wasn't quick enough to dodge out of the way of the hooded man's fist, only having enough time to twist somewhat in the air so that instead of hitting him full in the back, the hooded man only struck him in the shoulder. Unfortunately, even a glancing blow from this guy hit like a truck, making Izuku shout in pain as he was sent flying towards to the ground.

The hooded man didn't relent in his assault, however, giggling gleefully as he grabbed the back of Izuku's costume by the hood and tugged. Izuku gasped as he was choked briefly, and as soon as the hooded man landed back on the stairs, he used his strength to throw Izuku down the rest of the way.

Grunting as he rolled painfully down the steps, Izuku finally landed at the bottom, pain ripping through his body as he finally managed to roll to a stop. The hooded man didn't give up though, using his enhanced speed to slide down and kick Izuku back up into the air, sending him up before grabbing him by the arm and slamming him back down on the ground. With a growl, the hooded man grabbed Izuku by the throat, the respirator around his neck breaking in half, and quickly dragged Izuku back to his feet with a roar.

Izuku tried to raise his hands to defend himself, electricity sparking, but the hooded man quickly landed a blow in his stomach, making Izuku keel over, before a knee hit him straight in the mouth, jerking his head back up. The hooded man punched and slammed Izuku around briefly, the boy too painfilled and terrified to get his thoughts together, before the hooded man raised his foot to spartan kick him, sending Izuku flying through the air before landing and sliding through the water, and finally coming to a stop near Nine and Slice, both villains having watched the fight with interest.

"Hm," Nine raised an eyebrow, watching as Izuku panted and cringed on the floor, "perhaps we were mistaken, Slice - he doesn't seem to have much control over his quirk after all. Hood," He turned his gaze to the villain who had begun to take a few more eager steps towards Izuku as the boy rolled onto his side, "stop for a minute."

The hooded man froze where he stood, looking around at Nine with rage in his eyes as his shoulders tensed. It looked as though he was about to defy his leader for a moment, or turn his anger on him as his fists clenched, but finally, he took a small step back, turning his crazed glare to Izuku again as though daring the boy to get back up.

Once he was sure the hooded man wasn't going to move, Nine returned his gaze to Izuku, approaching him slowly. The boy rolled onto his hands and knees, taking several shaking, tear-filled breaths as pain ripped through his body, barely able to sit himself up.

"Have you ever felt this kind of pain before?" The villain asked him, smug as Izuku tried to get back up again before stumbling, blood dripping from his nose and mouth as he panted. The cloaked man let out a small grunt as he knelt down in front of the boy, hovering over him. "The feeling of powerlessness, of helplessness, of weakness? I imagine that not many of you all-powerful UA students are used to the feeling. From what I hear, students with weak quirks aren't able to enter the hero course, can they? I have to say, I approve - it's a good way to weed out the weaker ones. In my new world, should I choose to let UA stand, I think I'm going to be keeping that rule."

Izuku merely stared at his reflection, the blood coming out of his mouth and falling down to the water to turn it crimson as Nine chuckled.

"Still, it must be surprising for you, isn't it? To be reminded of how weak you truly are. I gave you a chance to work things out, boy - but of course, you had to punch above your weight. Truly pathetic."

Izuku panted, glaring at his reflection for a moment before his eyes slowly trailed to Nine's own reflection - and then, with a yell, quickly threw his fist forward towards Nine's face, wanting to take advantage of how close they were to knock him on his ass. The villain saw it coming from a mile away, however, smirking as he easily caught Izuku's fist - and then twisted it into a painful angle. As Izuku screamed in pain, Nine threw back his other fist and then forward, driving it into Izuku's face and knocking him back over onto his side, the boy panting and raggedly wheezing as more pain exploded on his cheek.

With a small sigh, Nine stood back up, waving his fist around gingerly for a moment as he gave Izuku a disappointed look, Slice approaching him from behind and resting her chin against his shoulder as she smirked down at him.

"I won't lie," Nine shortly told the student, "when I saw that I'm a bit disappointed in you. And on so many levels as well. I'm disappointed that you didn't seem to want to cooperate with me, even when I was the one extending the olive branch. I'm disappointed that you're utterly wasting your quirk's potential - you could be so much more, boy, and yet all you use it for is to fly around and avoid a fight. And I'm disappointed that I don't have room to take your quirk to put it to better use - which means that it's going to die with you today. Truly, what a waste."

"Well, we don't necessarily have to," Slice offered, smirking a bit as she hugged him from behind, "we can always bring him back with us so our benefactor can have a look at him."

"Unfortunately not," Nine said with regret, "I'm still weak from the last operation, which means that they'd have to keep him around for months before I'm ready for another one. And I don't want to be cheated out of this quirk by him, so no. If I can't have it, no one can."

"And what about the other student who created that tsunami? I thought you said that you wanted their quirk."

"Well …" Nine paused for a moment, clearly thinking, before he shook his head and glanced down at his palm, "... I think this is a side effect of my operation, Slice - I have the need to steal quirks, but … I don't have the room for them or the opportunity to switch them out, the two quirks I have right now are too important. If I try to take anyone else's quirk, stop me."

"Of course, Nine."

While the two of them spoke in quieter voices, Izuku merely wheezed, not even listening as he attempted to get back up. He was aware of the hooded man watching him hungrily, pacing back and forth while waiting for his chance to continue the fight, and the other large monster, who Nine had called Nomu, blankly watching him. Slowly, Izuku rolled back onto his front, putting his hands back into the water and wincing in pain as his broken wrist painfully reminded him that he wasn't exactly in the best shape at the moment.

From what Izuku could gather as he tried his best to recover, his right arm, where the hooded man had struck the Gauntlet, was as broken as his support item, as was his left ankle and right leg. From the pain ripping through him in his chest, there might be something broken there as well, but hopefully there was no internal damage, and there was more than a likely chance that his ribs were broken as well. And that wasn't even covering the pain in his hands from using his quirk, feeling like an intense heat was burning through his palms and up his arms, shaking them and making sure that they were unable to support his own weight.

In short, he'd been fighting this guy for about five minutes, and he had gone from in slightly good shape to about five minutes from getting beaten to death, if he didn't think up something soon, and fast.

There was a sudden burst of wind from above them, and both Slice and Nine looked up to see Chimera flying down towards them, landing with a grunt and a splash beside the other members of the Consortium. As the heteromorph brushed himself off and took out a cigar, Nine observed his ripped and damaged clothing before glancing back around at the broken mountain zone, putting the dots together in his head.

"I take it things didn't go too well in your zone?"

"I got a bunch of crazies, if that's what you mean," Chimera growled, putting his cigar in his mouth before puffing out some fire to light it up, "four girls blew up the goddamn mountain and buried our boys. I only got away 'cause I tried to find higher ground before I got buried."

"Is that so?" Nine sounded interested, looking around at his comrade as the taller villain shook his head, "And where would these students be?"

"No idea. Not sure if they got buried or not, but the rest of our boys over there are buried underneath the rubble, along with the rest of the assholes from the shipwreck zone that got washed in. Anyway, what's up with this one?" He gestured with his head towards Izuku, seeing the boy raise a shaking hand up to grasp at the fountain and letting out a small cry of pain. "Looks like you're kickin' the crap out of him."

"Just a student who needed a lesson in humility pounded into him," Slice huffed, flipping her hair behind her shoulder as she stepped back from Nine, "we'll have our friend here finish him off in just a second."

There was another movement in the air behind them, and the three villains turned to see a warp gate slowly opening before them, turning bigger and bigger until Mummy emerged, looking very angry and smelling slightly of smoke. However, before anyone could ask what was wrong with him, his gaze flickered to Izuku on the ground, and he blinked in surprise before a smirk appeared behind his wrappings surrounding his lower face.

"Well, well, well," He chuckled lowly, walking over and looking down at the weakened and bloody Izuku, "I was wondering where you went off to while you made us look like fools. Looks like you didn't get too far, did you, boy?"

Izuku merely spat out a bit more blood into the water. Mummy chuckled again, and then threw his foot back and forward, driving it into Izuku's stomach. The boy gasped as the air was driven out of his lungs once again, bending back over and coughing as he struggled to breathe again.

"Leave him, Mummy," Nine shook his head, giving Izuku another disappointed look as he put his hands in his pockets, "we're about to have our benefactor's little experiment over there finish him off. I don't want to just use our toy here to kill All Might before we have to send him back - we can have a bit more fun."

"Very well, Nine."

"Nine," Kurogiri appeared through the warp gate, sounding displeased as he shimmied the black mist around him back down to form a solid body, "I'm afraid that I come bearing bad news. I was able to put Thirteen out of action - there is no possibility of her getting back up to fight again - but there were students I was unable to disperse. One of them managed to leave the facility and run away."

"Is that right?" Nine mused, turning his gaze back up to the ceiling and seeing his storm continuing to rampage. Raising his hand, he curled his fingers, and the storm somehow worsened, rain beating down harder on them and lightning flashing menacingly as several lightning bolts began to slam down on UA's grounds.

"There," He nodded to himself, "at the very least the storm will probably knock around whoever escaped, and they won't be able to make it to the school. Or they'll be hit by lightning, that's also preferable. In any case -"

He was interrupted, however, by a sudden spike of pain ripping through him. Gasping out, Nine quickly fell to his knees, grabbing his face from beneath the hood as excruciating pain tore its way through his entire body. Slice let out a small gasp as she quickly hurried to her leader's side, falling to her own knees and ignoring the water splashing around and soaking her as she grabbed his shoulder and brought him to her, laying his head against her and rubbing his arm.

"Take it easy, Nine," She muttered to him, seeing him grabbing his face as he took several deep, shaking breaths, "just ride out the pain, we're here, don't worry."

After a few moments of heavy panting and cringing, Nine's breathing began to slow, and he lowered his hands to look down at them. He shook as he saw the familiar purple glowing veins begin to appear beneath his skin, and he could feel the burning, stinging infliction begin to crawl over his body, reaching his face and making him shake.

"The side effects are starting to catch up with me," He muttered, shaking his head as a bit of his long white hair fell, "but I can't take the Trigger drop, that's - ergh - that's the failsafe. If I -"

"Just take it slow, Nine," Slice assured him as Chimera, Mummy and Kurogiri looked down at him slowly getting back to his feet, "just try and take a deep breath, and stop using your quirks for a little bit. All Might will -"

"You're a hypocrite."

The five villains gathered around in a circle stopped at the sound of a weak, but furious voice just ahead of them. Slowly, Nine's gaze flickered back up to Izuku, seeing the teenager finally manage to sit back up, giving them a good look at the blood leaking down his forehead, mouth and nose. His face was a mess, littered with purple bruises and cuts from all the blows the hooded man had rained down on him, but if Izuku cared about that he didn't show it, instead glaring angrily at Nine as he sat up and braced himself against the broken fountain.

"All that crap about me being … being weak and wasting my quirk …" Izuku spat out a bit more blood, huffing, "... and look at you. W-what was it you said? That it must've been - *cough* - surprising to be reminded of how weak I really am? And then look at you. You're no better than me."

Nine narrowed his eyes beneath the hood.

"You're not as impressive as you think you are," Izuku glared into the darkness of his hood, seeing a few purple glowing lines becoming visible within, "you blew this entire thing when you realized that All Might wasn't here, and you decided to throw all these villains on Trigger at us … and now here you are, with everything backfiring on you, and now you're collapsing and debating taking Trigger yourself."

Watching as the villains around him began glaring at him, Izuku shook his head, managing to get back up on shaky feet as he glared at their leader.

"You go on and on about strong quirks and strong people, and look down on us," He glared at Nine, "but you're probably the weakest person here."

There was a small silence in the pavilion as Chimera's fur bristled as he growled lowly, Mummy narrowing his yellow eyes, and the ends of Slice's wet hair sharpening as she glared up at Izuku, as rain continued to beat down on all of them from the broken window above.

And then Nine, in a cold, emotionless voice, said, "Kill him."

This time, Izuku was ready, immediately throwing his hands down to the ground the moment Nine spoke, and unleashed another blast of lightning, up and away as the hooded man lunged at him and barely missed where his head had been.

Flying up into the air, Izuku knew that he had no chance, but if he stayed still for even a moment, then the hooded man would turn him into paste. But maybe … maybe instead, Izuku could try and draw the villain away. His gaze flickered down, looking around at the other villains still fighting around the facility. There were still loads of Trigger villains around, fighting each other - and this hooded guy kept screaming about Izuku showing him power.

There were loads of villains with 'power' around here … maybe if he lured him over to one of the Trigger villains, and had him -

And that was when the hooded man threw his hand forward, still at his spot near the fountain, and with a sudden CRUNCH of bone and ripping of cloth, his arm extended. Flying straight up into the air as it stretched out, skin ripping and exposing blood, muscles and veins beneath, the hooded man's hand wrapped tightly around Izuku's throat, making his eyes bulge in surprise and pain as he was choked.

Growling, the hooded man reeled his arm back in, and Izuku grunted as he was suddenly ripped back through the air towards him. Automatically, Izuku's hands charged up with lightning, but before he could think to attack, the hooded man kicked out, and like his arm, it horrifically stretched out, skin and muscle ripping, to strike Izuku straight in the chest. With a wheeze, Izuku was driven hard into the ground with a crash, bouncing off the ground with a small crash as he bounced off the floor.

Landing in a heap, Izuku quickly scrambled to his feet, looking around at the hooded man slowly brought his two extended limbs back in, both of them soon reverting back to their normal length, the villain now being down a sleeve and pant-leg. He had to suppress the urge to vomit when staring at the blood, muscle and ripped flesh of his limbs, before they slowly began to melt shut, the hooded man shuddering as his gaze flickered back up to the boy on the ground.

It was … some kind of muscle augmentation quirk, Izuku quickly realized as he watched the flesh seal shut. The clothes gave Izuku a good look at the lines of pink muscle fibres as he healed - and then the hooded man lashed out again with his other arm, growing it out and stretching it with a sickening wet crunch to hit Izuku.

The boy quickly dived to the side, wincing as he slid through the water, and watched as it soared straight over his head and hit the tree beside where Izuku had landed, ripping it out of its roots and sending it flying through the air to land on the other side of the facility. The hooded man chuckled, and Izuku watched in horror as the hand drew itself back, the bones crunching beneath his skin as he healed, but if the hooded man was in pain he showed no sign of it, that cracked, ugly grin of his visible even in the darkness as lightning flashed above them. If Izuku were to look closer, even, he could almost make out what looked to be a pair of yellow, subtly glowing eyes underneath the hood.

"S-strength,"He muttered to himself, "b-blood. Y-you were - you - you were so s-strong. T-the - the lightn-ning. S-show it - show it to me ag-again."

With that, he lashed out again, his leg stretching up high before being thrown straight down at Izuku as his leg extended out with a horrific crunch again. Izuku barely had enough time to roll away as it collided against the ground, but quickly his mind went into hyperdrive as the hooded man streaked back towards him, his arms posed as though he were in some kind of boxing match - but it let Izuku think as he did his best to dodge out of the way of the blows.

His quirk ... it wasn't like he was opening up folded joints. His limbs themselves were transforming, their core structure stretching out, Izuku's mind quickly concluded. It was some kind of cellular propagation, but at lightning speed - it was letting him heal his body after breaking his arms out to stretch, alter its structure, and bulk up on the fly. This guy's quirk … it was crazy! Izuku could barely dodge the villain's speed, grunting when one of the hits collided with his arm and sent him spinning through the air, collapsing into the water, but adrenaline allowing him to roll quickly to his feet as the hooded man leapt up and landed down in an attempt to stomp on the boy, his bare, bloody feet barely missing Izuku's head.

But now that he had a chance to focus, Izuku could feel a strategy come to mind. This guy was fighting as though he were some kind of martial artist, or boxer, and training at the Kendous' meant that Izuku had experience with those kinds of fighters - after all, one of the fighting styles Teko had taught him had been kickboxing. This guy, whoever he was, clearly had these moves drilled into his head, either through muscle memory or something else. He was a fighter, that much was clear, but after a few minutes of this, Izuku knew that his fighting style wasn't compatible with his -

- and that was when Izuku felt his foot slip on something beneath him, forcing him to lose his balance as his eyes widened. And in that moment of hesitation, the hooded man struck out, his fist slamming directly into Izuku's chest.

The boy let out a gasp as he was slammed hard into the ground again, his head bouncing against the concrete, and the hooded man did not hesitate, quickly leaping up and then down onto Izuku. The boy felt himself being slammed back as the hooded man straddled his stomach, throwing up another fist as the muscle in his arm bulked up again.

"Enough!"The hooded man snarled. "I'm b-bored! You were - you were strong! S-so show ... me ... y-your ... STRENGTH!"

And then the fist came down.

---

"I - whew - I - holy crap -" Kyouka panted slightly behind them, clutching her side as she winced in pain, "I'm - I'm really out of shape."

"Shh!" Momo quickly shushed her as they rounded another corner on their path, her eyes widening as they continued to sprint through the trees, "I believe I can see the pavilion from here - we're almost there!"

Behind them, Ochako panted a bit, glancing backwards towards Itsuka as she lagged a little behind the other three girls. They had made some pretty good progress after running from the mountain zone through the forest that had been set up in the middle of the facility, but she could tell that Itsuka wasn't doing as good as the rest of them - her limp was gradually getting worse as they ran along, and the arm she had in a sling was getting purpler by the minute, which made Ochako feel a bit queasy to look at.

Although at this point, that was the least of her concerns about her friend. She had … honestly no idea what had happened at the zone. She had no idea how Itsuka had managed to destroy a freaking mountain with a single punch and why she had been glowing. And … she really had no idea what had been going through both their minds when … that happened, Ochako thought with a blush.

But at this point, she couldn't really focus on that, even if her mind was screaming at her to stop for a moment and actually think about everything that had just happened in the last half hour. She could hear the familiar loud blasts of lightning from ahead of them, which meant that Izuku was nearby, and her heart was hammering at the potential reasons why he kept using his quirk - either he was doing something weird with it, or he was being attacked, which meant that she had to find him, and fast.

But still …

"Kendou, are you doing okay?" Ochako lagged behind a bit, keeping pace with Itsuka as she ran with her limp behind them, "We can slow down a bit if you …"

"No, no, I'm fine," Itsuka shook her head, eyes narrowed somewhat in determination and pain as she wobbled along, "just … y'know. It freaking hurts. Ow."

"Y-yeah," Ochako nodded a bit, glancing down at her friend's arm and wincing a bit in sympathy, "Is - is there anything we can do for you in the meantime to help soothe it, though? We can -"

BOOM

The four girls yelped and skidded to a stop, water splashing everywhere, at the sudden sound of an explosion ahead of them - but it didn't sound anything like Izuku's lightning strikes. It sounded as though something big had just … slammed into the ground. Giving each other worried looks, Itsuka and Ochako hurried their pace, Itsuka biting her lip somewhat in pain from her ankle, as they caught up with Momo and Kyouka and finally rounded the corner, exiting the forest and returning to the pavilion.

It didn't take long for them to find the source of the explosion - there was a large column of dust and water rising from a spot near the fountain before the water fell back onto the floor, the four girls quickly spotting it as they slid to a stop. If they squinted carefully, they could make out the five villain ringleaders at the front of the fountain, looking at the rising dust curiously while the other Trigger henchmen continued to trade blows with each other around them, one of them running towards the five ringleaders only for Kurogiri to warp him up into the air, resulting in him plummeting back to the ground a good distance away from them.

Gulping, the four girls moved down to hide behind the trees near them, hoping that they didn't get spotted, and Momo quickly surveyed their surroundings, her eyes trailing to the ruins zones and blinking when an explosion suddenly blasted somewhere.

"I think … I think Bakugou is at the ruins zone," She muttered, the three other girls glancing around to see the destroyed city lighting up with brief blasts of fire, "he might still be in trouble."

"And look," Itsuka pointed out, the three girls glancing around at where she was pointing at the downpour zone. It was still dark, but then a small flash of lightning from within illuminated the city - and the shadow of a large creature shrieking, looking oddly birdlike.

"Is that … what's his name … Tokoyami?" Ochako remembered, sitting up a bit straight.

"Yeah," Itsuka slowly nodded, furrowing her brow, "and he doesn't look like he's doing so hot."

"Then we should help him," Momo nodded, adjusting herself from where she had been standing behind the tree and glancing around, "and Bakugou, in case he needs it. I say we split up - two of us will head to the ruins zone, and the other two to the downpour zone to see what's going on and if we can help. We'll stick to the trees so that no one sees us."

"Well, as much as I don't wanna help Bakugou," Itsuka sighed, shaking her head and likewise straightening up, "he probably needs backup, even if he doesn't wanna admit it. Uraraka and I can head to the ruins zone - you two head to the downpour zone and -"

"Uh … guys?"

The three girls blinked at Kyouka's small, unsure voice, and looked around at her. She was staring at something in the courtyard, and they turned their eyes towards the cloud of dust from before - just as they saw something shifting inside the cloud, hunched over and slowly rising back up to a kneeling position.

With a small wave of his hand, the hooded man grumbled lowly to himself, staring down at something beneath him in the ground. His right sleeve and pants were ripped up, showing the bloody and bruised skin, looking utterly nasty with large amounts of blood continuing to seep out. If he was in pain he did a good job hiding it, his concentration locked on whatever was in the ground. With a growl, he reached down, grabbing whatever it was he was staring at, and lifted it out of the rubble.

Itsuka and Ochako stared nervously at the hooded man - they hadn't gotten a good look at him before when this nightmare started, but it was clear that he was tough, or at least tough enough that he didn't mind having bits of his body mangled up as he fished out whatever he was grabbing and lifted it up. The two girls glanced over at the boy he was holding before glancing back around, deciding to avoid him at all costs as they moved through the trees to go help their classmates -

- and that was when something clicked in their minds. Both of them whipped their gazes back to the person the hooded man was pulling roughly out of the ground, and both of them felt their stomachs clench painfully.

"B-b-boring,"The hooded man grumbled as he picked up the prone, unconscious, dead-looking Izuku off the ground as though he were some bag of groceries he had dropped, looking around at Nine with a disappointed look, "are there … any more … s-strong heroes … a-a-around?"

Momo let out a quiet, horrified gasp, her hand rising to hold over her mouth, and Kyouka felt her jaw drop, the cramp in her side from all that running completely forgotten as she stared in petrified silence at the mangled state Izuku was in. His face was almost unrecognizable, a mess of bruises and cuts, and his nose was horribly crooked. Blood mangled his curly green hair, and there was a slash near his mouth, a deep cut that poured blood down his neck. His costume was ripped, the shoulder-pads he wore broken, and blood from large slashes throughout his torso bled through his green costume, visible even though he was drenched in water and giving the impression that black blood was leaking from him.

In short, he looked like he had been beaten to death, his eyes closed and his mouth hanging open slightly, which clearly terrified Momo and Kyouka.

But for Ochako and Itsuka, time slowed to a crawl.

Ochako's leftover nausea from using her quirk, Itsuka's broken ankle and arm … all of that was forgotten as their eyes stayed frozen on Izuku's lifeless body, watching as the blood leaked down from the various cuts from his body and dripped to the ground below, the hooded man growling at him like he was a toy he had broken. Ochako felt her heart hammering in her chest, a tight, uncomfortable feeling as her jaw dropped slightly and tears immediately built in her eyes, and Itsuka' stomach clenched again as she let out a quiet, shuddering breath.

And then both of them were moving.

"W-wait!"

"What the fuck are you two doing?!"

Both girls ignored Momo and Kyouka's cries behind them as they sprinted out of the forest and ran straight for the hooded man, because only one thing mattered - getting to Izuku and getting that guy off of him. Ochako felt her face twist into a snarl, her teeth clenching tightly as she sprinted head on towards the guy who had injured her best friend so heavily, and Itsuka's limp was all but forgotten as she grew out her free hand with her quirk.

The hooded man had just enough time to look at the charging girls in curiosity before Itsuka's enlarged fist punched him straight in the face, sending him flying through the air as he dropped Izuku out of reflex, the boy's prone body hitting the ground again with a loud THUMP as the hooded man bounced against the concrete, until he finally smashed into the fountain and made the four villains jump a bit in surprise.

Quickly, Ochako skidded to a stop, letting out several tear-filled breaths as she fell to her knees and grabbed Izuku's head from the ground, lifting it back up. Seeing how bruised and injured he was up close, she stared down at him in horror as tears began streaking down her cheeks.

"D-Deku! Deku, wake up!"

"Get him out of here!" Itsuka shouted over her shoulder, not even minding her broken ankle as she didn't pause her assault, sprinting straight towards Nine. Slice barred her teeth and sharpened her hair, but Nine merely raised his hand to stop her, watching in intrigue as the orange-haired girl charged them, her hand growing out as large as she could make it as she threw it back in a challenging shout.

"Oh, please."

BAM

The power behind Itsuka's hit probably would have shattered every bone in Nine's body had he not raised his hand to deflect the blow, the yellow shield emerging from his hand to collide with Itsuka's fist. The orange-haired girl clenched her teeth tightly in pain - it felt as though she had just struck a wall, the reverb of the hit forcing itself back into her arm - but she didn't relent, simply throwing her fist back and hitting the shield again while Nine watched in amusement, Chimera growling at the girl in recognition as Nine's red eyes flickered back to yellow.

"Nine!" Slice looked around at him, completely shocked, and not noticing Ochako glancing up at her with a bit of weirdness - as though she recognized her voice - "I thought I said you shouldn't use your quirks!"

"Don't worry, Slice - I'm not feeling too overexerted, this girl's hits are weak. As for you, girl, I'd think of a different strategy soon," Nine dismissed Itsuka in a huffing tone, "you may be physically strong, but your quirk is -"

BOOM

Despite himself, Nine raised his eyebrow at the ferocity Itsuka was striking his shield. In curiosity, Nine let the quirk aura ability he had stolen from one of the heroes he had attacked a few months ago activate, and turned his gaze to look at her. Sure enough, he was able to read her just fine - a transformation quirk, allowing her to grow her fists and -

- and -

Actually taking a look at her as she raised her fist again, Nine faltered, staring at her as she continued to pound on his shield with the full intent of getting behind it and ripping him in two. A transformation quirk, yes, that he could plainly see … but … there was … something else.

There was something else lurking inside of this girl. Her power levels were … unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Far too powerful to just be a transformation quirk. It was as though there was something else in there, something so powerful he had only seen it once before - and that had been when he had used this quirk on their benefactor.

It was as though she had -

"S-STRENGTH!"

At the loud shout behind her, Itsuka quickly turned her head as she reared her fist back again to hit the shield - and then gasped as she ducked under another fist being thrown at the yellow barrier, roughly where her head had been. This time, though, Nine wasn't prepared for the power behind the hit, and grunted as he was forced back by the hooded man's blow, rounding on him in anger as he realized that the maniac's attention was no longer on the boy Nine had wanted him to execute.

"Don't!" He barked at the crazed lunatic, "Don't attack this girl, Hood! I need to -"

This time, however, the hooded man wasn't in the mood to listen. Whipping around at him with his glowing yellow eyes filled with insanity, instead of merely backing away at his command, the hooded man threw out his fist again and slammed it hard against the shield. Normally Nine wouldn't be affected by the hit - the shield quirk was strong, and relatively simple to master to its full potential - but he knew that he was weaker at the moment, so the power of the blow threw him off his feet, slamming him back into the ground with a grunt of surprise and pain. Slice, Chimera and Mummy quickly bent down to help their leader up, looking up in shock and rage as the hooded man pointed a bleeding finger at him.

"S-shut up,"The hooded man muttered, a line of drool slowly escaping his lips from the darkness of the hood as he slowly looked back around at Itsuka, "or I'll k-k-kill you, you - you piece of c-crap. Youuuuuuuuu …" His gaze flickered to Itsuka, making her shake a bit at how insane this guy appeared to be, "y-you're strong? M-maybe ... maybe ... s-show me. Shoooow me your s-strength."

And with that, he lunged right at her, Itsuka's eyes widening as he came at her with a lot more speed than she had anticipated. She barely had time to duck underneath the fist being thrown at her face, attempting to shrink her hand a bit to better move around, but the hooded man was even faster, his foot coming out and kicking her straight in the gut. Gasping as the air was driven from her lungs, Itsuka was thrown off her feet, skidding across the ground before rolling to a stop, and the hooded man let out a gleeful laugh as he charged right after her.

"K-Kendou!" Ochako gasped, seeing her friend being kicked away as though she weighed nothing, and quickly moved to stand up, floating the unconscious Izuku and holding him protectively to her chest. She knew that she should be running right now, getting Izuku to safety, and she could hear Momo and Kyouka trying to get her attention … but seeing the hooded man assaulting her friend made her heart hammer in her chest as she quickly slung Izuku's arms over her shoulders, wincing at how broken they felt, and made sure that he wasn't going to fly away from her.

As soon as she made sure Izuku was securely floating on her back, Ochako didn't hesitate to charge across the foyer to help Itsuka, keeping her eye on the five villains and seeing them content to sit back and watch the show. Glancing back around her shoulder, she saw Momo being held back by Kyouka by the arm, both girls looking clearly conflicted about what to do, and she quickly shouted, "Get out of here, guys! Just get back up the stairs!"

"But -" Kyouka protested, about to take a small step forward - and then Momo suddenly grabbed her own shoulder. The punk girl blinked and looked around, about to ask why she was the one getting restrained now, only to falter when she saw Momo's eyes flickering. Turning her head to glance at the ruins zones, and then the downpour zone, and then the villains at the foyer. And then the ruins, then the downpour, and then the villains.

"Yaoyorozu?" Kyouka asked quietly, watching Momo's face carefully. It was clear that there were gears beginning to turn in the class rep's head, Momo's eyes narrowing a smidge as she thought - and then she nodded, and turned to look back at Kyouka.

"I … I believe I have a plan," She explained shortly, her grip on Kyouka's shoulder tightening a bit, "just - I don't want to leave Kendou and Uraraka, but if we're going to make sure the villains don't get away … we'll need more than just the two of us."

Kyouka faltered again, glancing between her and Ochako continuing to charge at the hooded man - and then she sighed and nodded.

"Alright," She gave her, "if you got a plan, I'm with you."

"Thank you, Jirou. L-let's go. And quickly."

Straightening up, the two girls began sprinting through the trees, Kyouka raising an eyebrow as Momo led them towards the ruins zone - she wasn't really sure what her plan was, but if it meant that they could get out of here in one piece, and make sure the villains didn't get away, she'd trust in Momo.

Across the foyer, none of the villains noticed the two fleeing girls, mostly because their attention was now on Ochako as she ran towards the hooded man, the larger man now trying to swat the serpentining Itsuka.

"Oy," Chimera narrowed his eyes, growling as he recognized both girls easily, "those are the pups that tried to bury me, Nine. I should be the one takin' them out - they're a lot more dangerous than they look."

"Patience, Chimera," Nine shook his head, his eyes never leaving the ensuing fight as he brushed himself off from where the hooded man had shoved him over, "there's no chance that they'll be able to overpower Hood. They won't last much longer, and then Hood will turn his attention back to the brat who insulted me," His gaze flickered to Ochako as she charged the hooded man, watching the unconscious boy floating on her back, "and then we'll send him after -"

"No."

Nine blinked in confusion, as though unsure if the deep voice behind him had really contradicted him. He quickly turned around to face Kurogiri as the warp villain stared down at the four of them, Slice, Chimera and Mummy also looking around in confusion, as the yellow, glowing eyes of their business partner narrowed at them, and began slowly opening a warp gate.

"No? What do you mean, no?" Mummy asked, his voice tense.

"We warned you this would happen," Kurogiri shook his head, "my master told you that Hood was not ready to enter the field. The procedure to turn a test subject into a High-End is a long and difficult one, and he is still in the middle of the process. We told you that he would be difficult to control should he become overwhelmed, but you ignored his warning. And now he has lost control, and is already attacking you - the one he's supposed to take orders from."

"As long as he does his job," Slice huffed, "we won't have any complaints."

"And I shall do mine. I was told specifically by my master - if Hood loses control, it will not take long for him to slaughter everyone in this facility. And that includes us as well. My master has interest in your development, Nine, so your death will set us back. Now, I shall warp him back to our base for my master and the doctor to calm him down - it will take a while to bring him back under, considering the base instincts of the villain we used to create him."

"Don't you dare think of warping him away from here," Nine suddenly growled, his red eyes glaring into Kurogir's as lightning flashed ominously above them, "the plan requires both of them to defeat All Might."

"You were told that you only needed Nomu here to take down All Might." Kurogiri reminded him in a quiet voice, and soon leaned down to breathe directly into Nine's ear, "Remember - we created this Nomu with All Might specifically in mind. He will be more than enough to overwhelm and kill him. We allowed you to bring Hood along to show that we were serious about our organizations partnering up - but we cannot allow the possibility of All Might surviving and discovering our involvement. That will make things difficult in the long run ... for bothof us."

Nine merely fumed.

"When All Might arrives," Kurogiri made clear, "I will warp Hood back to base. Trust me, Nine ... Nomu will be more than enough to bring the Symbol of Peace to his knees. For now, just sit back and enjoy the show," The yellow eyes flickered back up to Ochako as she finally reached the hooded man as he threw another punch at Itsuka, "I imagine you'll take great enjoyment as he tears these children apart."

Back across the foyer, panting and trying her best to keep the unconscious Izuku secured to her back, Ochako threw her hands out, pointed straight at the back of the hooded man as he focused on throwing punches at Itsuka that she was barely dodging in time - only for him to suddenly move off to the side as though he had expected her to attack, making Ochako gasp as she stumbled a bit. Thankfully, Itsuka was quick enough to grab Ochako by the arm, dragging her and Izuku away as the hooded man's fist almost hit her, grazing her arm and making her wince in pain as the two girls faced off against the villain, Izuku still breathing unevenly on their backs and making them shake at how quiet it was.

"Y-y-yessssh …" The hooded man giggled, his voice slurring as the bright yellow eyes within the hood glanced between Itsuka and Ochako as they quickly backed up from him, "... k-keep fighting … a-a-are you both s-strong? If I … if I kill you three … then - th-hen - I would - I'd - be - th-the - the strongest."

The two girls glanced between each other nervously as he growled - they knew that despite there being two of them and one of him, they were the ones at the disadvantage, what with the side effects of using Ochako's quirk catching up with her and Itsuka only having one arm to fight. Itsuka supposed she could have used One for All … but then her gaze flickered down to her broken arm, and glanced over at the other villains watching the fight.

No … no, she couldn't do that, Itsuka quickly shook her head. She might be able to win this specific fight, but there were still other villains around that wouldn't just let her leave, and she couldn't fight them with two broken arms. That would mean that she would have to -

Unfortunately, the hooded man decided that it was tired of letting them stand around, and in the blink of an eye leapt back into battle, forcing Itsuka to jump back and flinching as his fist barely missed her face and grazed her nose.

The hooded man then threw his leg out, stretching it with a sickening crunch, to launch it straight at Ochako's head, forcing her to duck down low so that it didn't hit Izuku due to her not moving down far enough - and leaving her directly open for the hooded man to leap up into the air, giggling as he aimed to stomp right on Izuku's back and drive them both into the concrete.

"Uraraka, move!"

Ochako acted on instinct the moment she heard Itsuka's panicked voice shout at her, pressing her hand to her side and activating her quirk. While her stomach clenched in protest, almost forcing her lunch back up, Ochako tried her best to ignore it as she leapt from the spot she had ducked on just as the hooded man's feet came down, barely missing Izuku and leaving cracks in the concrete. Cackling madly, the hooded man whipped back around at Itsuka and charged, throwing several jabs that Itsuka was barely able to dodge and block, and the ones that did connect made Itsuka flinch in pain - this guy could hit like a goddamn truck.

But … but she could feel a strategy starting to form in her mind, she thought as the hooded man let out another howl of rage and exhilaration, charging straight at her with his fists flying through the air. The way he had his arms raised defensively - it was something she recognized, she realized as she jumped left and right to avoid the blows, and Ochako quickly unfloated herself from behind them, straining when Izuku's weight was restored on her back and she had to take a moment not to puke her guts out.

When he wasn't using his quirk, or his superhuman strength, he fought like a boxer, Itsuka quickly realized. She'd fought a few boxers before, back in her grandfather's dojo when she was teaching the class about fighting people with different styles of fighting - the hooded man would make quick jabs, keep on his toes and not let her have any breathing room to reorganize. But that was his weakness as well, she narrowed her eyes as her fist grew back out.

The fighting style he used wasn't compatible with his quirk. They didn't mix well - bulking up his arms and legs and stretching them out shifted his weight off balance, and threw off his center of gravity. And that meant if she watched carefully … him winding his arms and legs back for hits tended to lag, and his reaction after throwing out the strike would be delayed.

That meant if she got ready for when he used his quirk …

Itsuka took another few hops back as the hooded man threw another fist backward, hearing the telltale sound of his bones cracking as he threw it forward to hit her - only for her to lean out of the way just in time, his fist sailing straight over her head. While he stumbled forward a bit, Itsuka's enlarged fist flew upwards to drive straight into his stomach, punching as hard as she could. The hooded man grunted as the air was driven from his lungs, his eyes snapping to Itsuka leaning beneath him -

- and then trailed up as Ochako rejoined the fight, Izuku floating on her back again as she gritted her teeth.

Leaping up, Ochako kicked out, her shoes connecting with the hooded man's shoulder and side and knocking him off his feet, taking advantage of him being off balance to knock him over. Growling, the hooded man fell on his side, quickly scrambling up - just in time for Itsuka's foot to connect with the side of his face, throwing his head back. Not giving him any time to recover, Ochako landed and launched her fist into his gut, wincing at how hard it felt, and Itsuka struck him again in the face, knocking the villain back.

It was here that they had the advantage over him - he couldn't focus his attacks on one of them since they were both attacking, with Ochako landing a hit, jumping back while Itsuka landed her own hit, and then she would jump back in as Itsuka moved around him. The two girls worked together to drive the hooded man back, punching and kicking and not giving him any time to look for openings, until at last, the two girls punched him at the same time, Ochako in the face and Itsuka straight in the throat, and the hooded man was knocked onto his back.

Both of them panting, Itsuka and Ochako glared down at the hooded man as he rolled onto his hands and knees, quickly looking up at them with surprise and delight while Ochako waved her fist gingerly - unlike Itsuka, she didn't have any guards for her knuckles, meaning that they were bruised and bloody from all the hits she had landed.

"Mmmgh ..."The hooded man grunted, a thin line of saliva leaving his lips and dripping into the water on the floor, "the pain - it hurts - you're - you're both sh-strong ..."

"Yeah," Itsuka huffed, stomping her foot down in the water and splashing it everywhere as she raised another threatening fist, "we're strong. Now are you gonna stay down, or do we have to keep beating you over the fucking head?!"

"Mrrrgh ..."

As he whined and groaned on the ground, Itsuka and Ochako finally found the moment to breathe again, taking deep, unsteady breaths as they turned their attention to Izuku, their training partner still unconscious on Ochako's back. He was still out, obviously, his bruised face twisted into a small grimace of pain, the sight of which made both girls feel like their hearts were breaking.

"We - we need to get him out of here," Itsuka muttered, raising her hand to gently brush against Izuku's cheek to comfort him, "to - to a doctor, or Recovery Girl."

"Yeah," Ochako quickly nodded, glancing around. From their spot at the end of the pavilion, they could see the Trigger villains still brutally fighting each other, unaware of anything that was going on, and the five villains that were still watching them. "Those - the villains at the foyer, though - it'd be tough to get past them."

"We will," Itsuka nodded, narrowing her eyes at Kurogiri especially as she straightened up and balled a fist, "we need to get Izuku out of here. Follow my lead - I'll distract the villains, and you try to get to the -"

CRACK

Itsuka's small plan, and Ochako's determination to get Izuku to safety - both faltered at the sound of something wet crunching behind them, and the hooded man letting out a small gasp of pain. Slowly, they both turned to look back down at him, seeing where he was kneeling and staring at the ground, slowly placing his palms down into the water - and without another crunch, his back suddenly pushed out, just like his arms and leg did when he used his quirk. Instead of shrinking back down to normal size, however, it instead continued to grow, making the villain subtly begin to grow bigger as his arms and legs likewise swelled.

Ochako and Itsuka took a small step back, eyes widening in horror and revulsion as the muscle fibers on his arms pushed out out his skin, blood beginning to leak down not just from his limbs, but under his clothes as well as they darkened with blood, just like Izuku. And then, slowly raising his head to look at them, both girls felt themselves shake at the sight of a bright, yellow eye staring at them as an insane giggle escaped his cracked lips.

"Fun ..." He breathed out, "... s-so much fun!"

The two girls took another step backwards, a sudden chill spiking up their spines as they watched the hooded man slowly get back up, continuing to grow even bigger. With a growl, he suddenly slammed his arms against the concrete again, hard enough to crack it and make the two girls stumble a bit, and his bones continued to snap with wet crunches before quickly resetting - from his ribs to his arms, to his legs to even his neck, as he slowly rose back up to his feet, and his neck snapped to an odd angle as his grin widened, his eyes never leaving their faces.

Soon enough, the hooded man's transformation had been completed - he now towered over everyone else in the facility, his clothes straining from how large had become as he continued to glare down at Itsuka and Ochako in glee. In short? He'd gone from a regular sized martial artist, probably about a head taller than them, to an absolute monster as he reworked his body's very structure to look like something straight out of a nightmare.

"S-s-str-strength,"He slurred, "b-b-blood! G-give it - give it to me!"

At once, he threw his fist down, moving much faster than someone his size could, with Itsuka barely managing to jump out of the way as it drove itself hard into the ground and knocking Ochako back - but she wasn't able to dodge the hooded man's other leg from snapping out, catching her right in the ribs. Feeling her eyes widen and blood and spit escaping her mouth, Itsuka was sent flying through the air at shocking speed, bouncing off the ground with a cry of pain.

As she flew through the air away from them, the hooded man was immediately on her trail, giggling gleefully as he ran across the ground on all fours like some kind of rampaging gorilla.

"K-Kendou -!" Ochako cried out to her, attempting to run to her friend - but the hooded man kicked back out at her this time, catching her right in the arm. Ochako screamed in pain as she felt something crack in her elbow, knocking her off balance - and sending Izuku flying off her shoulders, the girl letting out a small gasp as she immediately whipped around to where he was floating away from her.

But it seemed that the hooded man was awfully good at multitasking, even in his berserker rage, as he kept his eyes locked on Itsuka as she slid to a stop -

- and then suddenly reached out, his elongated hand snatching Izuku's floating body out of the air and dragging him back to the monster.

"Deku!" Ochako screamed in panic, her eyes widening briefly in horror - and then she quickly crawled back to her feet from where she had been knocked over, her eyes narrowing back to slits, and she charged after the hooded man as he quickly crawled away on all fours, Izuku's body banging against the ground with each movement forward. From her spot where she landed, Itsuka looked up at the beast, spotting Izuku immediately and feeling her eyes widen - and then she was back on her own feet in an instant, ignoring the blood leaking down her face from where she had bumped her forehead on the ground, and ran straight at the hooded man, her teeth barred into a snarl.

Both girls knew that they didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of taking this guy down - but they needed to get Izuku to safety, and if that meant ripping this guy's fingers off his hand to get him to let him go, then so be it.

The hooded man let out another gleeful noise as Itsuka charged him, throwing his fist up with the full intend to smush Itsuka into the ground - but she was even quicker, sliding underneath his body as her mind suddenly went back to her first fight with Gran Torino, months ago on the beach. As the hooded man moved over top of her, his neck crunching to look at her underneath him, Itsuka balled her hand into a tight fist, taking a deep breath, and then punched out.

BAM

The hooded man's eyes widened as she threw her good fist up, and at the moment it struck him dead center in the chest, activated her quirk. The enlarged fist pushed him up slightly into the air - his body was heavier than a car, so there wasn't any chance of her sending him flying up too high - but what he didn't account for was for Ochako jumping into the air with her quirk activated, releasing it, and then landing straight on his shoulders.

With a shout of rage and desperation, Ochako did the only thing she could think of to get this guy's attention on her and off of her friends below him - grab the hooded man by the sides of his head, angle her thumbs, and push in.

The hooded man shrieked in pain as her thumb drilled into his eyes, rearing back with a loud shout that echoed throughout the USJ. Ochako yelped as he bucked a bit, trying to keep herself balanced as Itsuka rolled over beneath the thrashing villain, attempting to pry his enlarged fingers off of Izuku's unconscious form - but the hooded man seemed coherent enough to know what she was trying to do even when Ochako was digging her thumbs into his eyes, and doubled his grip on Izuku, making him groan in pain as the hand crushed him against the floor.

"Let go of him, you bastard!" Itsuka screamed as she punched uselessly at his hand, but the hooded man only growled, ignoring her as he reached up with his other hand and attempted to grab Ochako's face. The smaller girl was quick enough to duck underneath his grasping hand - but not quick enough to jump off of him he suddenly began to roll over onto his back.

Ochako's eyes widened as she realized that she was about two seconds from being crushed under this guy if she didn't move at once, and as quickly as she could, braced herself so that she could leap off his back, her thumbs leaving his eyes and wincing at the blood on them. With a loud crash, the hooded man slammed his back against the concrete, Ochako barely managing to get clear as she floated into the air - only for the hooded man to quickly roll back over, snarling as he threw out his free hand at her.

This time, with Ochako floating up in the air with her broken arm distracting her, she didn't have enough time to unfloat herself, letting out a scream of pain as his large hand squeezed her tightly, and quickly whipped her down to slam her against the concrete, making her gasp as the air was driven from her lungs - and unknowingly making the boy in the hooded man's other grasp stir, his eyes flickering slightly.

"Uraraka!" Itsuka screamed for her, horrified that both of her friends had been pinned by this monster, and quickly scrambled back to her feet - only for the hooded man to raise his leg and snap his knee to a horrifying ninety degree angle, and then kicked up. The foot slammed directly into her side, sending Itsuka flying away again to collide against the ground, grunting when she felt something crack in her back as she rolled to a stop.

Slowly, she rolled onto her side, coughing and spitting up blood as she stared blankly at nothing for a moment, before rolling onto her back and staring up at the broken roof, seeing light begin to shine in as she cringed in pain. Her entire body was screaming in agony right now, and not just from her arm and ankle - her ribs were definitely broken from all the hits she had taken from the man, making it difficult to breathe, and she could feel blood running down her arms and mouth from the blows. Groaning, she attempted to roll back onto her side, her vision blurring -

- and then she spotted the hooded man standing back up, keeping Izuku and Ochako pinned to the ground as the brown-haired girl weakly hit his arm with her unbroken one, trying to get him off her.

"N-not strong,"The hooded man noted, sounding disappointed, "y-y-you - you aren't - I - I thought y-you were - you were s-strong … b–b-but - but you're not. You - you're boring."

With that, he slowly began to apply more pressure to his hold around Ochako, the small girl crying out in pain as he began squeezing her midsection tighter. With a pathetic grunt, Itsuka sluggishly tried to climb to her feet, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks, and tried to get back to them despite how weak her knees felt, ignoring the reality that there was no way she would be able to get to them before the hooded man crushed Ochako to -

BOOM

Before the hooded man could apply any more pressure to the young girl he was squeezing tightly, however, the three of them were suddenly blinded by a burst of bright light. Itsuka winced and quickly raised her good hand to cover her eyes, while Ochako screwed her eyes shut in pain as the hooded man howeld, his grip on Ochako automatically loosening as he sat up, shaking and spitzing as electricity slammed directly into his chest, the pain of the green lightning burning into his chest making him shriek in both pain and delight.

Ochako managed to squint her eyes open slightly, wincing from the brightness of the green energy as it shot out at the hooded man from somewhere on her … left … where …

And that when it came to her. Her eyes snapping open, Ochako quickly whipped her gaze around, and felt tears return to her eyes at the sight of Izuku somehow managing to sit up, fully conscious as he kept one hand extended as he released a long stream of lightning straight into the hooded man's chest to drive him back, sparks flying everywhere.

There was a look of such utter rage and fury on his face that Ochako had never seen before. She had seen him angry before, of course, but that was nothing compared to how tightly his teeth were clenched together, eyes wide and pupils shrunk as he used the full power of his quirk on someone for the first time in years. As the hooded man screamed to the ceiling, his limbs spread out as he absorbed more and more of the electricity, Izuku pulled his hand back slightly - and then shoved out. With an even larger blast of lightning, the hooded man was rocketed off his feet, flying through the air as smoke trailed behind him from where Izuku had pretty much burned a hole through his chest, and came back down to the ground on the other side of the pavilion with a loud crash, water flying everywhere as he tumbled ass over head.

As the hooded man landed far away from them, Izuku let out a tense breath, the electricity slowly flickering away from his arm and leaving an intense burning feeling in his entire arm - and then he let out a groan of pain as he slumped back down onto the ground.

"D-Deku!" Ochako scrambled to her hands and knees, quickly crawling over to roll him onto his back and ignoring the pain of her broken arm. There was the sound of feet splashing against the ground, and Itsuka quickly skidded to a stop before them, tripping and falling onto her side before she managed to get back up and help Ochako with sitting Izuku up properly.

"Deku?! Deku, are you okay, can you hear me?!"

"Midoriya!"

"I …" Izuku wheezed out, his voice weak and strained as he fell back against Itsuka, the orange-haired girl letting him lean heavily on her, and then he opened his eyes slightly, letting out a small cough. His vision was slightly blurry, but he knew who was there, seeing the familiar brown hair and hearing the familiar voice behind him, and a small smile appeared on his face.

The sight of that weak smile, especially on his bleeding and bruised face, was what finally sent both girls over the edge. The stress of the last hour immediately caught up with them, with tears streaming down both of their faces as they helped Izuku carefully sit up, and once they were sure he wasn't going to fall over, Ochako buried her face in his neck, sobbing as she wrapped her arms carefully around him, and Itsuka weakly pressed her face into the back of his head, sniffling. Izuku couldn't do much to assure them, but he still smiled gently as he laid his head against Ochako's, letting out a shuddering sigh.

As soon as she calmed down a little bit, Itsuka raised her head, giving a quick look around. The Trigger henchmen were still fighting amongst themselves, but it wouldn't take long for them to eventually notice them, and go back on the attack. Nine and his group were still watching them, all of them frowning over the fact that they had managed to overpower their muscle, and looking like they were about to head on over to finish the job, which definitely wasn't good - her entire body was pretty much screaming in pain, and Ochako seemed to be in the same boat as her, scratches and blood littering her body. And that wasn't even mentioning Izuku's current state.

None of them were in any condition to fight at the moment, so what they needed to do was get the hell out of there and back up to the top of the stairs.

"C-c'mon," She managed to mutter to them, sounding choked up as she gently began raising Izuku off the ground, "let's - let's g-get you out of h-here, Midoriya. We need to -"

"YES!"

All three teenagers jumped at the sound of a familiar voice screaming out. Horror crawling up their spines, Itsuka and Ochako whipped around to see the hooded man managing to rise to his feet, his glowing yellow eyes wide and a horrifying smile visible beneath the darkness of the hood as his gaze snapped to Izuku, the half-conscious boy feeling himself tense. They watched as the bloody, burnt hole that Izuku had burnt into him began to slowly close, the skin healing quickly as he let out another roaring bellow.

"THE - THE LIGHTNING!" He shouted, drool and blood escaping from under the hood. "THE POWER! S-SHOW IT TO ME A-AGAIN! SH-SHOW ME - Y-YOUR - B-B-BLOOD!"

With that loud shriek, the hooded man began to charge, keeping low on the ground as he sprinted towards them with the full intention of finishing this fight. With no other options, Itsuka felt herself tense - this was the end of the line. There was no way any of them could keep fighting, there wasn't any backup coming, and there was nowhere they would be able to run and escape this guy.

Acting on instinct, Itsuka threw herself over her two friends, attempting to shield them with her body, and held them tight to her, squeezing her eyes shut as tears streamed down her cheeks.

I'm sorry, Mom! She quietly apologized, I'm sorry, Dad! I'm sorry, Grandpa! I'm sorry, Gūdo! I'm - I'm so sorry!

From their spot at the pavilion, Nine smirked as the three teenagers huddled together. It looked like the feeble fight they'd been watching was about to come to an end, and it was good timing as well. It had been entertaining to watch the girls fight a hopeless battle against their monster, and now that it was a bit brighter, he'd have a much better time watching what their monster was about to do to them -

- wait.

Bright?

Nine blinked, his brow furrowing slightly, as he felt his gaze begin to trail around as he realized something that he hadn't noticed before. There was … light. And not electric light, they had made sure to cut the power by completely destroying most of the generators, with the exception of the downpour and conflagration zones to let their henchmen use their elements for their quirks. Natural sunlight was pouring in from the window above them. Slowly, he and Kurogiri, who also seemed to pick up that something was wrong, turned to look straight up, their eyes widening.

They hadn't even noticed it during the heat of the battle, and watching the two girls fight for their lives, but the storm that Nine had summoned was … gone. There were still dark clouds hanging in the sky, but no more rain drenched them, no more lightning flickered and boomed. Instead, the sun was gleaming through the dark clouds, illuminating the chaos-filled USJ.

Nine … hadn't turned off his quirk, or pushed away the storm clouds. Even if something were to happen to incapacitate him, or the effects of his quirk would render him unconscious, the weather would have raged on. It was almost as though … as though …

Kurogiri was the first one who realized what was happening, his yellow eyes widening - and then quickly whipped around to where the hooded man was charging at Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka with the clear intent to rip them to pieces. Throwing out a tendril of dark mist, he managed to hit the hooded man dead center in the chest, the monster's eyes widening in shock and rage as the warp gate began to teleport him away.

"NO!" He screamed out, throwing out his hand to try and grab Izuku by the face even as Itsuka and Ochako weakly tried to cover his body with their own, "S-STRENGTH! I - I CAN STILL - F-FIGHT -!"

And then he vanished through the portal, his entire body warped out of the USJ, and the hand that barely managed to reach Izuku's face, scratching it with his fingernails, vanished within the darkness, before the warp gate closed, making the three teenagers blink and look up in shock as the warp gate faded into nothing.

"What the hell are you doin'?!" Chimera barked, wheeling on the warp villain and shouting at him as Slice and Mummy likewise threw him dirty looks, Mummy's wrappings beginning to float up and Slice's hair sharpening. "He nearly had 'em!"

"I am a man of my word, Chimera," Kurogiri narrowed his eyes, "Hood would be sent back home in order for our benefactor to calm him down. Nomu here will still serve your purposes well. Besides, I don't hear your leader complaining," He turned to look at Nine, seeming him slowly walk towards the stairs, "I believe the entire reason you all planned this attack has finally arrived."

"He's right," Nine nodded, his eyes narrowing beneath the hood as there was a sudden loud BANG above them, and the two blue doors that led to the outside of the USJ were blown off their hinges. "He's here."

---

To say that All Might was furious would probably be the understatement of the century.

The sound of footsteps slowly walking through the haze of dust that had been picked up from the doors being punched off their hinges echoed throughout the USJ, the students near the doors quickly looking around as the pro hero walked through the entrance and into the facility. He held his jacket in tight grip, glaring ahead as he slowly emerged from the dust cloud, his eyes flickering to the fallen form of Thirteen being cradled by a tear-eyed Mina, then over to Aizawa's broken body on the ground as Pony and Yosetsu tended to him, and then to the unconscious Nejire wrapped securely in Mezo's arms.

And All Might's blood boiled even more.

"I had tried to call the teachers here a few more times back at the school," He informed them as he walked closer to the top of the stairs, giving the students an assuring look as Hanta, Yosetsu and Mezo collapsed onto their butts in relief at the sight of him, and Pony teared up, "but when the lightning storm got worse, I had the suspicion that something more was going on. I decided to disperse it before heading over here, and I came across Young Tokage fighting her way through the storm. Thanks to her, I've been caught up to speed on the utter villainy that has occurred here today."

He couldn't help but clench his teeth slightly, remembering the state he had found the young girl in. He had punched the storm away and quickly found her hurrying through the storm without her lower body, and she had broken down in tears when he had ran to her. The longer he had spoken to Setsuna to find out what happened, the angrier he had become, to hear how her voice trembled and shook with sobs, until he had pretty much been shaking with fury as he told her to wait for the teachers, giving her his phone and instructing her to call Principal Nezu to tell him what happened.

This was his fault above all else. If he hadn't wasted his time this morning, stopping villains left and right, he would've been here. The children wouldn't have been terrified and injured. His juniors wouldn't have had to fight so hard. All of this could have been avoided if he had just been here. And now … he was running on fumes. He only had about five minutes left before he wouldn't be able to maintain his muscle form, and after that, he would be useless.

But that didn't matter now, he shook his head as he finally reached the edge of the stairs, immediately spotting the five villains below that matched Setsuna's description of the ringleaders, all of them quickly turning to look up at him. What mattered was that he was there now. These children did not need to fight against these villains any longer, although pride swelled in his chest for them for the bravery they showed today.

"It's all right now," All Might slowly reached up for his tie, unfastening it a bit, and then ripped it straight off, glaring down at the villains in barely suppressed anger, "for I am here."

Even though he spoke calmly and in his regular tone of voice, it echoed throughout the facility, gathering the attention of the Trigger henchmen, the villains unaffected by the drug, and all of the students still scattered around. He saw the water from the shipwreck zone everywhere, the boat laying on its side not far from the pavilion. He saw the window above them, broken. He saw the hole in the dome of the conflagration zone, the ruins of the mountain zone, and clenched his teeth.

These villains must've had fun, terrorizing his students with their new enhanced power. Well, the fun was about to stop now -

"A-All Might!" Pony suddenly gasped, drawing the teacher's attention as he looked down at the terrified girl, tears sprinkling her eyes, and All Might tried to smile down at her as he raised a hand.

"Young Tsunotori, it's alright now -"

"All Might! T-there! Midoriya-san!"

At the sound of one of his pupil's names, he stopped, blinking down at the young girl as she quickly pointed towards something at the bottom of the facility. Quickly whipping around, All Might's gaze trailed around, searching for -

- and then he spotted them, huddled into a small group. Izuku on the ground, beaten to hell with spots of blood all over his body, his costume ripped up, the Gauntlet broken around his wrist, and his face bruised and littered with gashes. Beside him was Ochako, her own costume ripped up, a nasty bruise swelling near her eye, and her arm lying broken in her lap, looking a nasty red color just below her elbow. And guarding over both of them was Itsuka, her face and body as bruised as her training partners, with the addition of her ankle swelling up and her arm in a makeshift cast, a nasty purple bruise that went all the way up to her shoulder.

And all of them were staring up at him in shock, as though not believing he was really there.

All Might didn't even register moving. He didn't register the Trigger villains screeching and running up the stairs to engage him. He didn't even register the villains' leader, and whatever taunts he might've been sending up to him as he called to the pro hero. All he knew was that he needed to get to his pupils, and if that meant throwing a few of these lunatics aside and getting the leader to shut up, then so be it.

BAM

BAM

BAM

BAM

BAM

In a flurry of movement, all of the Trigger henchmen that had been running or flying towards him were backhanded, punched, or thrown out of the way as All Might flew down the stairs to the ground level. One of the Trigger villains approaching had balked in surprise or terror, but All Might showed him no mercy, punching him hard in the chest and sending him flying. Landing at the bottom of the stairs, All Might moved immediately, his gaze locked on the cloaked villain as he quickly raised his hand, as though anticipating he would be next, and a shield quickly appeared as All Might threw his fist forward.

BAM

All Might's fist didn't break down the shield, unfortunately, but there was still enough force behind the blow that Nine grunted in surprise as he was pushed off his feet, stumbling backwards and colliding into Chimera just as the heteromorph grabbed him to hold him up. Slice and Mummy quickly balked, taken aback by how fast All Might truly was, but luckily for them, All Might's attention wasn't on them at the moment.

Indeed, once he was sure the villains weren't going to strike out at him from behind, the pro hero quickly hurried over to his pupils, kneeling before them and placing his hands carefully on both Itsuka and Ochako's shoulders.

Both girls stared blankly up at their mentor for a moment, seeing his face fall as he took in the full extent of their injuries - and then Itsuka sniffed, and quickly moved back down to hug Izuku, crying a bit in relief as Ochako likewise imitated her and bowed her head against Izuku's shoulder. The boy himself seemed half-conscious, looking up at All Might in a haze as his mentor smiled gently at the three of them.

"It's alright now, Young Midoriya," He spoke in a quiet voice, patting Itsuka's shoulder, "it's alright. I'm here now. Everything's going to be okay."

"A-All Might …"

"I'm insulted."

All Might tensed at the sound of a monotone voice speaking up behind him, and turned his head, a frown on his normally smiling face. Nine seemed unperturbed by All Might's appearance, chuckling as he walked towards him with his hands in his pockets to stare down at the larger man, while the creature with the pulsing brain, which had been standing back for a while, had its attention solely focused on the pro hero, cracking its knuckles.

"Here I am, organizing what could be the start of a new society," The villain leader huffed, "and the first thing you do is ignore me and check on three broken teenagers. I have to say, I was expecting some kind of cheesy one liner. "This is job for All Might!', 'Have no fear, hope has arrived!', something along those lines. I'm almost disappointed."

"Shut up," All Might narrowed his eyes, making Nine raise an eyebrow under his hood, "I'll be dealing with you in a moment."

Turning back to look down at Itsuka and Ochako, both girls staring up at him with teary eyes, he muttered, "Get Young Midoriya back to the entrance. I'll cover you."

Quickly nodding, the two girls grunted as they managed to get back up onto their feet, Itsuka gingerly holding her broken ankle above the ground, and carefully helped Izuku back up, tearing up as he winced and whined briefly in pain before managing to suppress his noises of discomfort by biting his lip. As All Might stood back up, whirling around to glare at the villains, the trio quickly attempted to get out of the way of what was about to be a very brutal beatdown of them -

- but then a warp gate opened in front of them, making Itsuka and Ochako quickly skid to a halt as three sharp pieces of hair shot out, pointed straight at their throats. All Might quickly looked around, seeing Slice emerging and holding her sharpened hair to his students' throats, and smirked up at him as the pro hero bristled, clenching his fist tightly and looking like he was about to beat her down over daring to attack the injured children.

"I'd ignore Slice for now, All Might," Nine waved his hand dismissively, "as long as those three don't move at all, they have nothing to worry about."

"Leave them out of this!" All Might whirled back around at him with a glare, his eyes narrowing as Chimera and Mummy likewise smirked at the teenagers' predicaments, "They are merely children. You've terrorized them enough today!"

"You know something, All Might? I agree with you," Nine smirked, "I have terrorized them enough. But I don't want them to leave just yet - I want them to stay for this. I want them to watch their teacher in action as he finally meets his match - they were so enthusiastic to throw themselves into battle with someone who heavily outclassed them in power, so I want them to watch the mighty Symbol of Peace do the same. So Slice, if these children even think of moving, either towards the stairs or to help our dear All Might - slit their throats."

"Of course, Nine," Slice giggled, moving around so that she could somewhat embrace the two girls and Izuku from behind. "I'm sure the four of us will have so much fun watching what's about to unfold. Won't we, girls? Buddy?"

Itsuka and Ochako bristled at the villain touching them, but they did nothing as the sharp blades slid gently against their throats, making them wince, and Izuku, managing to keep himself conscious, glanced fearfully between All Might and Nine as the pro hero glared at the villain and Nine glanced back up at the ceiling, looking at the sun.

Raising his hand, Nine made a small, twirling gesture, and at once, the rampaging storm clouds that had terrorized UA returned, lightning flashing and rain falling through the hole again, and casting the USJ into darkness. Nine suppressed a small cough, feeling the familiar sting of pain from overusing his quirk, but did his best to hide it as he turned back around to All Might, a pair of glowing blue eyes glaring into his red eyes as the two studied each other.

"I hope you don't mind that I made it a bit dark again," Nine asked in a sarcastic, concerned voice, "I just wanted to properly set the mood."

"Huh," All Might huffed, straightening up as he glared at the villain leader, "one for the dramatics, are you? Can't say I'm too impressed - I handle punks like you every other weekend."

"Well then, I hope that I'm memorable," Nine humored him, moving back to slowly pace as All Might's eyes trailed after him, "or at least, I hope that I can be remembered by all of your students - I'm afraid that after I'm finished with you, you won't be doing much reminiscing. Or, you know, anything at all, once you're dead."

"We'll have to see about that."

"That we will. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, by the way. I'm Nine of the Villain Consortium. As it's been mentioned to your students, we're here for one reason and one reason only - to make you into a martyr for our cause."

"Sounds interesting," All Might suddenly grinned, flexing his arms, "but I'm not interested!"

Without warning, All Might leapt forward, drawing his fist back as he glared at the villain leader. From the looks of things, this guy was the brains behind this crisis - take him out, and the others would either flee or fall into chaos. Quickly crossing his arms, All Might let out a challenging, " CAROLINA -"

"Nomu."

"- SMASH!"

All Might quickly slashed his hands downward, intending to send Nine flying through the air and into the hole that the lake used to be - only for him to blink in surprise. Instead of hitting the villain leader, in a mere second, another villain had stepped in - one about as large as he was, who took the blow as though it was nothing.

The pro hero faltered for a moment as the villain with the brain protruding from his head aimed its gaze at him - and then it quickly swiped at him.

"Whoop!" All Might grunted, leaning back just in time to avoid the villain from grabbing him into a bear hug. This guy was quick - much quicker than he anticipated, barely missing the slightly smaller pro hero. With a small frown, All Might threw a fist forward, driving it hard into the villain's abdomen - and then blinked in surprise when the villain merely quivered at the moment of impact, before quickly steadying itself and reaching back down to grab All Might by the back of the head.

"Holy crap," Itsuka breathed with widened eyes, watching as her mentor attempted to duck and weave through the villain's attempts to grab him, "it's … All Might's not doing anything to that guy."

"Of course not," Slice laughed haughtingly, making Ochako turn to glare at her - and then faltering a little bit as she aimed her glare at the brown haired girl, something about this woman seeming familiar, "you didn't think we'd just bring along nobodies to bring down All Might? Our friend over there - Nomu - he's been bioengineered to defeat All Might. Consider him the anti-Symbol of Peace."

The three teenagers tensed, turning their gazes back to All Might as he ducked through Nomu's attempts to grab him, punching and kicking him without any change as the pro hero furrowed his brow.

"You know something, All Might," Nine sighed to himself, putting his hands back in his pockets as All Might continued to try and strike the villain while dodging its attempts to grab him, "I do regret having to come to this - I respect you. You may think that I'm being sarcastic right now, but honestly, I really do. Strength is one thing I admire more than anything in this world, and as you're considered the strongest man alive … well, I truly admire you."

All Might paid no attention to his rambling, instead ducking underneath another blow being thrown at him by Nomu.

"But alas," Nine tsked, "if I'm going to make a statement, it's going to have to be a rather big one. Which means that, to my regret, you're going to have to die for our cause. Pretty horribly, I might add."

"Ha! You seem to be under the impression that I'm just going to sit down and let your little delusions of grandeur continue!" All Might grinned through the pain, already feeling the stress of holding his muscle form start to catch up with him as he ducked under another one of Nomu's strikes, "Too bad that I'm not exactly one to take things lying down! As for you, big guy," His gaze flickered back to the monster before him, seeing Nomu grinning wickedly at him, "I'm starting to figure out your tricks. Some kind of shock absorption quirk, eh? Well, it'll help you for now - but not for long!"

There was the sound of several more powerful blows being slammed into Nomu as All Might ducked and struck out under Nomu's attempts to grab onto him, and the villains watching the fight turned to glance at each other.

"Alright," Chimera raised an eyebrow at Nine, "time to get started with the plan?"

"Indeed," Nine nodded, smirking beneath his hood, "Kurogiri, get into position. Chimera, you know what to do."

Kurogiri slowly faded away, chuckling sinisterly under his breath, and Chimera turned to whistle loudly in the direction of the fighting Trigger henchmen. They all whipped around, snarling a bit at the high-pitched noise that had startled them - and then their eyes flickered to All Might battling Nomu, and they felt their eyes widen briefly before letting out several shrieks of glee as they began charging, ignoring each other as their black tongues hung out of their mouths.

All Might felt his eyes narrow as he glanced at the approaching henchmen, all of them screaming for his blood. So that was the game here - overwhelm him with the Trigger henchmen while the one villain that could take his blows and then some would finish the job while they kept him distracted. Clever, maybe - but All Might wouldn't give up that easily.

"You talk a big game about respecting me," He addressed Nine, seeing the villain leaning back against the fountain as All Might continued to duck under Nomu's attacks, "and yet you have no problem throwing more villains at me in order to overwhelm me? Not exactly fighting fair, are you! And you say you're just here to kill me, but let's not pretend that you didn't throw these villains gleefully at my students!"

"Well," Nine shrugged while smirking, "I did need to get our boys here a little bloodlusted before you arrived. I'll give your students this, though, they're much harder to kill than I anticipated. There's plenty of strong quirks around … I have to say, I'm impressed."

"I'll say," Slice giggled, sliding the back of her hand against Itsuka's cheek and making her recoil in disgust, not able to stomp on the villain's foot in fear that the blade pointed at her throat would dig into it, "the three of you definitely lasted a bit longer than I anticipated. I'm surprised - I got the impression a few days ago that you three were too busy tripping over yourselves to cause any problems."

It was that last sentence, unknown to her, that made Ochako falter. She blinked, staring blankly at nothing as Slice's words echoed around in her head - and then she carefully turned her head, looking up at Slice as the villainess turned her gaze back to the fight, and felt the dots in her head begin to connect as her eyes widened.

She hadn't thought about it at all since this whole nightmare began, but Slice ... now that she was thinking about it, she felt her stomach twist, making her shake a bit in realization. The red hair, even if back then it was tied into a bun. The way her face was shaped, obvious even if she was wearing a mask. The deep voice.

She'd seen her before. She'd seen her at ... at the ... at the gate, a few days ago. The reporter that she had fell into. That had helped her up.

"... you?" Ochako whispered, horrified as Slice glanced down at her curiously - but then a loud explosion suddenly drew their attention, drawing both eyes back to the battle.

With a grunt of exertion, All Might barely managed to duck out of the way as Nomu's fist struck the ground, causing a loud explosion of sound that made everyone wince a bit - but that was what All Might had been looking for, grabbing the villain's extended arm and grunting as he lifted Nomu off his feet. With a laugh, All Might twirled in a circle, using Nomu as a bat to hit aside several of the Trigger henchmen that had been charging at him from behind, and once they had been knocked aside, All Might threw Nomu as hard as he could at Nine, Chimera and Mummy.

Before the monster could hit them, a warp gate opened, immediately swallowing Nomu. All Might's eyes widened as he heard another warp gate open behind him, and quickly ducked as Nomu shot out of it like a bullet, barely missing All Might as he flew over his head and smashed into the fountain, breaking it further. As soon as it was back on its feet, however, Nomu quickly got up and charged straight back at All Might, the pro hero shooting like a rocket towards the more physically powerful villain to meet him head on, and threw another punch that the beast didn't react to at all.

As the battle continued, All Might punching the villain back and ducking under Nomu's attempts to grab him, Mummy furrowed his brow, tilting his head slightly.

"This doesn't make any sense," He muttered, drawing Chimera's attention as the heteromorph looked over to him, "he said that All Might would be weaker when he arrived. But he's still going at Nomu like there's nothing wrong at all."

"Just wait, Mummy" Nine shook his head, watching the show as he smirked beneath his hood, "it won't be obvious at first - but if All Might really had the power to take out Nomu, he'd have done it already."

As All Might threw out another fist to slam straight into the creature's face, he blinked in surprise as Nomu easily caught it, the creature letting out a strangled noise as he then threw his hand out to grab the pro hero by the throat. With a snarl, it threw All Might away as hard as it could - and since it was freaking strong, that was a pretty long distance.

Ochako and Itsuka flinched as All Might was thrown all the way to the ship that had been beached by the tsunami, grunting when his back hit the hull with enough force to dent it - and then quickly ducked when Nomu raced over in the blink of an eye, its fist barely missing All Might's head as it slammed straight into the boat and broke a massive hole through it, the creature growling as it tried to free its stuck hand.

"You pack quite the punch!" All Might noted, quickly raising his foot and slamming it down into the side of Nomu's knee. The creature buckled a bit, clearly taken aback by its loss of balance, and All Might took advantage of that to grab the creature by the back of its head and slam it straight into the ship's hull, its beak getting stuck as well. Nomu was undeterred, though, managing to rip its stuck arm free - and then angled it down, and striked backwards with its elbow, straight into All Might's side.

The pro hero's eyes widened a bit, wheezing as he backed up in shock and pain, holding where Nomu had hit him with one hand - and then he suddenly heard a few screeches from behind. Before All Might could turn around, his arms were suddenly seized, and another hand wrapped around his throat. Choking a bit, he was quick to throw one of the Trigger henchmen away, the power of his arm tossing the villain right up into the air -

- but that was when Nomu freed himself from the boat, capitalizing on All Might being still for just a second, and quickly tackled him. All Might let out a grunt of surprise as Nomu slammed him straight into the ground, the other Trigger henchmen being quickly punched away by the beast - and then quickly moved down, its hand grabbing his side and squeezing tightly.

Ow!All Might yelled in his mind. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! It got me right in my weak spot!

"And there we are, Mummy," Nine chuckled, straightening up and getting ready to walk over as Nomu pinned the pro hero to the ground, "that wasn't so difficult, was it?"

"All Might!" Itsuka yelled for her mentor as the Number One Hero was slammed back into the ground by the monster. Izuku likewise tried to lurch forward in an attempt to run over and help, but Slice was quick to point her blade straight at his throat as a warning, with Ochako quickly grabbing her best friend and making sure he didn't fall over onto the blade.

"What did I say?" Slice hissed from behind, "Don't move, or I'll be finishing the job Hood started."

"Listen to her, students!" All Might quickly threw his hand out as though to stop them, despite the pain he was in as Nomu's fingers dug deeper into his side. "Do nothing! I've got this!"

"Do you now?" Chimera sneered as the three other villains approached All Might, reaching into his pocket for another cigar as he smirked down at the pro hero's feeble attempts to get Nomu's hand off of him, the monster quickly sitting down on his stomach to prevent All Might from squirming out from underneath it. "Looks like we've gotcha pinned, don't we?"

"I agree, Chimera," Nine chuckled as he stared down at the pro hero, lightning flashing in the skies above them, "it's not looking too good for you at the moment, oh mighty Symbol of Peace."

"You three are awfully good at acting smug," All Might said through the pain, straining to get Nomu's grip off of him, "I'll at least give you that! But it'll take more than your little monster sitting on me to keep me down!"

"You know something, All Might?" Nine smirked beneath his hood, "I completely agree. Kurogiri?"

Shimmering in the air, Kurogiri reappeared, the warp villain chuckling as he slowly spread out his arms. All Might tilted his head up with a confused grunt as a portal opened up right beside where the pro hero's head was, and then another one opened up right beside it. With a sickening growl, Nomu began to push, angling himself to get off of All Might slightly but keeping his intense grip on him, and began to slowly slide him through his portal, the two hair antennas on All Might's head slowly beginning to move into the darkness.

"You see," Nine began pacing around All Might as the pro hero struggled to get out of Nomu's grip, "before we came here, I put a lot of thought into what could actually kill someone like you, All Might. You've been in this business for a long time now, so you know the ins and outs of what makes you tick, after all. General physical violence? Beating you to death? It's possible, maybe, but of course there's no guarantee. So I thought to myself, why leave things up to chance? Why put you in a situation where you could use your fists to get out of trouble?"

"Ergh -!"

"So I decided to leave your death in the capable hands of Nomu. After all, Nomu was specifically designed to kill you - if there's anyone here that has a better chance of finishing your life, it's him. I'd wanted Hood here to make sure there was no chance of you escaping, but he had to be excused from the party early - but if what Kurogiri said is true, then Nomu will be all we need. But then I thought to myself - who would believe me if I said that I killed the Symbol of Peace? Which is why," Nine leaned down a bit, All Might glancing into his red, sadistic eyes as he was pushed a bit more into the portal, "I'm going to need proof."

This is bad! All Might thought in a panic, evidently catching on to what the villain was thinking as his two pieces of familiar blonde hair appeared through the other portal.

"Now, Nomu is going to push you through the portal, just until you're about up to … here," He used his hand to point at a specific part of All Might's neck, "and then whenever someone dares to question my authority … I'll be able to point out your head as my trophy to keep them in line."

Oh, that's very bad!

As Nine smirked, straightening back up as All Might struggled in vain to get Nomu's tight grip off of him and resisting being pushed through the portal, the villain's gaze flickered back up to the three teenagers Slice was holding hostage. His friend was watching gleefully as the pro hero was being shoved through the portal, but her hair kept the three wounded students in place, Itsuka and Ochako having to hold Izuku back from struggling out of their grip to help even though he could barely keep himself conscious.

"Oh, come now, you don't need to struggle that much, boy," He laughed at Izuku as the boy looked up at him with a wild glare, "it's over. You tried, and I'll give you that much. Now stay where you are, and once we're finished with All Might here -"

And that was when everything went absolutely chaotic.

BOOM

Nine grunted as a pair of boots suddenly slammed into his back, shoving him forwards without warning as he stumbled, and an explosion suddenly slammed directly into Kurogiri's back, making the villain covered in black mist grunt in surprise as he was tackled to the ground, slamming hard into the water still slowly draining back into the lake. Chimera and Mummy quickly whipped around, their eyes wide, as Katsuki grabbed the warp villain by the back of his head, a wide, vicious smile on his face as he leaned down, ignoring the various scratches and blood lining his body from all the fights he had been in.

"Got you by surprise that time," He gloated, "misty bastard!"

"You little brat -" Chimera snarled, his talons extending as he whipped around at him, but before the heteromorph villain could even think to scratch out at the blonde boy, he suddenly heard a familiar voice shout.

"Now!"

All at once, the upper hand the villains had been gloating that they had over All Might was lost. Chimera let out a grunt of surprise as a large, shadow covered fist slammed into his back, shoving him straight into the ground, and Fumikage and Dark Shadow were quick to wrap him up in a tight grip, the raven-headed boy looking thunderous while Dark Shadow looked on the verge of another freak out as he shoved the villain even harder into the ground.

Slice snarled from her spot near the three shocked teenagers, feeling more of her hair sharpen - and getting ready to shove the blades pointed at their throats in to finish the job - but then there was the sound of a cannon firing behind her, and something wrapped around her, pinning her arms and hair to her sides. Gasping in surprise, Slice quickly looked down, feeling her eyes widen at the sight of a pair of ropes around her - but before she could think of cutting herself out, the ropes somehow tightened into a crushing grip, and something pink and fleshy like a tongue wrapped around her feet.

With a yelp of surprise, Slice was ripped off her feet, slamming into the watery ground, and quickly dragged away from her hostages, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka looking around in shock as what looked to be glowing ropes yanked her away from them. As she was dragged across the ground, Slice looked around wildly for whatever had a hold on her, until she finally stopped at the foot of Reiko, the silver-haired girl covered in cuts and bruises and looking very angry as Yui quickly came up beside her and aimed one of the machetes Momo had created straight into the villain's face, while Tsuyu kept her tongue wrapped around Slice's feet to prevent her from moving.

"Like you said when you were threatening Itsuka," Yui said stoically, although her eyes looked thunderous, "don't move. Or we'll squeeze you even tighter until you pop like a balloon."

Near where Nomu had All Might, the pro hero looking around in surprise at his students, Mummy quickly prepared to throw out a few wrappings at Katsuki, prioritizing their escape route's release - but then he heard two twin shouts, and someone tackled him from behind. With a grunt, Mummy was likewise slammed into the ground by Eijirou and Denki, both boys tightening their holds on him and grabbing him by both wrists, angling them up into the air while he growled in pain and anger.

And now that all five villains were scattered around or likewise restrained, Nine still attempting to get back up after being knocked aside by Katsuki, none of them were around Nomu to back it up. And that meant that, with a sudden sound of rockets activating, Tenya leapt up, letting out a grunt of exertion as he slammed his foot directly into the side of the monster's head. The creature didn't move much from the blow, and the hit didn't seem to affect him - but his grip momentarily loosened on All Might, and that was what all the pro needed.

With a grunt, All Might managed to slide away from both the portal he was being pushed through and under from Nomu's body, his knee coming up and hitting it straight in the jaw and forcing its head up. Freeing his other arm from where Nomu had pinned him, All Might quickly flipped to his feet, and threw his fist back to strike Nine directly in the face. The villain was quicker, though, swiftly bringing his hand up to activate his shield and block the blast, although he was definitely forced back by the strength of the blow.

He couldn't stay still for long, though, as he glanced out of the corner of his eye towards where the students had appeared, and saw Momo standing near where she had shot Slice with her cannon, and Kyouka quickly plugged her earphone jacks into the speakers on her legs to blast out a shockwave of sound at him. Growling, Nine quickly brought up another shield to deflect the blow - and shot another spike of pain through him from the overexertion, a groan of pain escaping his lips as he quickly backed away from All Might, and glanced down to see the purple veins crawling up his arms from his hands.

Finally, the chaos of the last minute or so faded into silence, everyone tense as the standoff began. Nine quickly looked back up, observing his surroundings - Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako were still on their own in their small group, as shocked as he was from the sudden ambush as Itsuka and Ochako helped the boy in the middle stay on his feet and conscious; Slice was being held down by Yui, Tsuyu and Reiko, restrained by Reiko's quirk tightening their hold on the ropes her and Tsuyu's tongue holding her feet together; Mummy was pinned by Eijirou and Denki, the electric boy grabbing the back of his head with his other hand and using his quirk to threaten him into staying down; Chimera was restrained by Fumikage and his sentient quirk, the shadow growling and pressing him harder against the ground; Nomu was still free, but frozen in place and awaiting instructions; and All Might quickly getting back up onto his feet, rubbing his side where Nomu had grabbed him and glaring at Nine.

For a moment, they were all at a stalemate. Sitting down on top of Kurogiri, Katsuki grinned viciously up at the villain leader as Nine observed his surroundings.

"I figured you all out," He sneered up at him, spitting out a bit of blood into the water around them, "you slipped up, bastard! It's just like I thought - the parts your little warp gate extra here could turn into portals are limited. And he's using that misty crap to hide his real body! So as long as I've got your little portal out of here under control, you aren't going anywhere."

"Hm," Nine hummed, unable to stop a small smirk from appearing on his face despite the situation being turned on him, "how … observant of you."

"Ergh - get off me -" Kurogiri growled, attempting to get back up - only for Katsuki to grab his metal brace threateningly, chuckling lowly.

"Don't even think of moving," He sneered, leaning down to get in the warp villain's face, "if I even think you're doing something fishy, I'll blow you straight to kingdom come!"

"That doesn't sound really hero-like, dude!" Eijirou grinned weakly at the blonde boy while restraining Mummy beneath him.

"You little bastards really think you can keep us down?!" Chimera snarled, attempting to get back up, only for Dark Shadow to apply more pressure and slam him back onto the watery floor.

"I wouldn't move, if I were you," Fumikage coldly informed him while Dark Shadow growled menacingly, "the darkness your master has summoned once again has Dark Shadow on edge. We managed to get him to calm down for a while there to create a plan while there was still light out - agitate him at your own peril, minion of evil."

"Midoriya! Kendou! Uraraka!" Tenya gasped as he ran over to the trio, looking at the utter mess of blood and scratches they all were in with complete horror. "What on earth happened?! It looks like you were all hit by a truck!"

"Kinda feels like it," Ochako coughed weakly, spitting out some more blood, and let Tenya gently wrap his arm around Izuku to hold him up, while Momo and Kyouka ran over to do the same to them, Kyouka carefully wrapping the brown-haired girl's arm over her shoulder while Momo let Itsuka lean heavily on her.

"All of you," All Might grinned around at his students, before swelling back up and turning his glare to Nine, trying desperately not to think about how little time he had left, "have my thanks! It was looking kind of hairy there for a moment, ha, ha, ha! Now then, as for you, Nine - as shameful as it is to have to rely on my students to keep your Consortium down, you are outnumbered! The teachers from the school will be here any minute now - it won't take long for you all to be arrested. Surrender peacefully, before I have to put you on the ground with the rest of your friends!"

Nine slowly nodded as he hummed quietly, looking around at the various states his Consortium were in through the students' ambush, and seeing All Might preparing to attack him while Tenya, Momo and Kyouka were making movements to get Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako to safety - and then he let out a small sigh, putting his hands back in his pockets and feeling the syringe there rolling against his palm. He quietly debated with himself for a moment, and then smiled, shaking his head.

"I'll admit," He shrugged, his low, quiet voice somehow audible for everyone around, "that I didn't exactly expect things to go this way. I thought we'd get our Trigger boys here to rip the students apart to get them all bloodthirsty with their new power, but the children turned that around on us. I expected our friend Hood to be here to help kill you, All Might, but he had to leave the party early after he lost control. And I expected you to die like the good little hero you are, but once again, I underestimated your students. Truly, you've all put quite the damper in my plan."

After a small pause, Nine sighed, and raised his hand to scratch his cheek, "So in that case, I'll just have to begin improvising. Nomu - free my friends."

All Might's eyes widened at once, realizing what that meant as a small whoosh of air passed him by. His eyes trailing to the monster moving straight towards Katsuki, raising his fist, All Might moved at once.

BOOM

All of the students restraining the villains let out cries as Nomu moved in the blink of an eye. One moment had been crouched behind All Might, unblinking and unmoving, and the next he was throwing a punch at their faces as he moved from one group to the next before they even had a chance to react. There was a sudden explosion of water blasting straight upwards, making Itsuka, Izuku and Ochako wince as they screwed their eyes shut - and then they all blinked as there was a sudden crowd of students surrounding them, sitting on their butts and looking confused.

"Huh?" Yui blinked, looking around at everyone as they suddenly registered that they weren't threatening the villains anymore. Katsuki grunted as he sat up, blinking when he realized he wasn't holding Kurogiri down anymore, as the teenagers looked around at each other.

"Uh …" Eijirou trailed off briefly, completely confused, "... what the hell just happened?"

"Did - wait a second, did we all just dodge that guy?!" Denki was looking around wildly, eyes lighting up. "Holy crap, we're awesome! That was just like anime, guys!"

"No, you idiot," Kyouka shook her head, tapping him with her foot as she held Ochako up, and looked around, "we sure as shit didn't just dodge that - we got fucking pushed out of the way."

"Then - who did -"

And that was when the haze of water that had risen up from the explosion finally fell, and the group of students went silent, their eyes widening slightly at what they saw.

The villains that they had pinned to the ground in Momo's plan were slowly getting back up, brushing themselves off and whipping around to glare at the students, Slice's hair sharpening and making Reiko and Yui gulp - but All Might was currently on his knees in front of the students, taking a moment to pant as he slowly lowered his arms from the brace he had them in. A closer inspection showed the sleeves for his dress shirt ripped to shreds, and several red bruises lined his strong arms, as though he had taken several punches - and that was when it clicked for them.

Nomu was fast - but All Might was faster, moving quickly to take the hits for his students and getting them out of the way just in time.

With a small cough, wincing as pain ripped through his body, All Might whipped his gaze up to Nine, seeing him smugly studying the pro hero as he snarled, "You would have your beast try and kill my students when they weren't prepared, you coward?!"

"Coward?" Nine laughed, helping Slice to her feet and wrapping his arm around her waist as she glowered at the students, "I prefer the term 'pragmatic'. I was outnumbered, All Might, what would you expect me to do? And look, they're fine - they've got enough breathing room to see us tear you to pieces, don't they? Now then," He turned his gaze to Nomu, "Nomu, I've had enough of this. The moment he moves, bring me his head."

"All Might!" Tenya called to his teacher, unsure of what to do as he let Itsuka weakly take Izuku back, Momo reaching out to hold him up and Ochako likewise grabbing onto him, as the students scrambled to their feet to rejoin the fight again - but then All Might threw his hand up to stop them in their tracks, shaking his head while his smile quickly reappeared on his face.

"You've all done enough," He told them gently, keeping his eyes on Nomu as it slowly lumbered back over, "and I thank you all for getting me out of that jam - but at this point, this fight is mine. All of you, get back up the stairs! Young Midoriya, Kendou and Uraraka are injured. Get them to safety! It's time to show what happens when a pro gets serious!"

All of the students hesitated, none more so than Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako as the three injured teenagers watched their mentor shift his feet and get ready to charge. The trio had glanced down at his hands as he balled them into fists, and felt themself tremble at the sight of All Might shaking.

It was obvious to them - All Might wasn't in prime condition at the moment. The thoughts Izuku had in the conflagration zone came back to mind - All Might must be running on fumes at the moment, and at this point he would probably not be able to truly fight with his all -

- but before any of them could blink, All Might's eyes flashed, and he suddenly took off.

The five villains, gathering in a small circle, flinched a bit in surprise as All Might flew across the USJ towards them like a rocket, but Nomu quickly took point, immediately charging in and throwing his fist forward the same time All Might did. Their fists collided together, the muscle of Nomu's arm warping a bit, before a powerful shockwave blasted out, making Nine back up a bit and bring back up his shield to guard Slice, Mummy and Chimera, smirking a bit as All Might threw out another blow. They'd already done this song and dance before, after all, so it was clear that the pro hero was -

"As I thought!" All Might suddenly laughed, making Nine stop his inner gloating as the pro hero continued to trade blows with Nomu as their fists began to blur in a flurry of motion around them. "Your quirk is shock absorption, isn't it? It's a powerful quirk ... but it's not nullification! That means that there has to be a limit to what you can take, right?!"

As All Might threw another punch, Nomu quickly landed a heavy blow on his left side, right on top of his wounded spot, which made All Might stagger briefly with a grunt of pain - only to come roaring back with even more power, his punches increasing in speed. The students felt their jaws drop as All Might pushed Nomu back, with the four members of the Villain Consortium faltering for the first time, Slice blinking in surprise, Chimera tilting his head slightly, and Nine's smirk falling a bit as their muscle was suddenly put on the defensive.

"So you were made to kill me, huh?!" All Might grinned triumphantly as his fist slammed into Nomu's face, the beast flinching a bit for the first time, "In that case, if you can really withstand everything I've got - then I'll just have to go beyond that!"

Both the students and the Consortium watched in shock as the battle increased in ferocity, All Might keeping up his assault and driving Nomu back. For every blow the creature landed, All Might landed ten more, hitting twice as hard. Nomu attempted to do its best to keep up the fight, but it was clear that whatever advantage it had over the pro hero was gone - All Might was faster, fought smarter, and hit even harder than it could as he finally landed one large blow that knocked it off its feet and sent it flying back - only for All Might to suddenly charge after it, grabbing it by the ankle and yanking it back as he threw his fist backwards.

"A true hero ..." All Might threw the punch as the two were airborne, slamming directly into the side of its face, "... will always find a way for justice to be served!"

With that blow, Nomu was punched straight into the ground, the monster bouncing off of it briefly - and then All Might landed straight down, turning his glare to the creature as he swelled up a bit more.

"Now then ... villain ... it's time for a lesson," He raised his fist back, gritting his teeth as he ignored the pain traveling through his body, "you may have heard these words before, but I'll teach you what they really mean! Go beyond! PLUS ..."

BAM

"... ULTRA!"

With one last explosive punch, the fight had finally been decided. All Might's fist slammed directly into Nomu's chest with the power of a missile, and the monster's absorption quirk finally hit its breaking point, deforming his body but not being able to shrug off the power of the blow. With a loud explosion of wind and sound, Nomu was launched straight into the air, smashing through the roof of the USJ and creating another large hole, as it shot out the facility like a rocket into the sky, blowing apart one of the dark thundering clouds before finally vanishing from sight.

The students stared in shock and silence at the sheer power that was just displayed, All Might slowly lowering his fist and standing back up straight to look back over at the stunned villains - and then Eijirou threw his fists out and let out a loud cheer, and that broke the tension. All of the students began cheering and clapping for their teacher for his victory, with Denki shaking Kyouka (which prompted her to poke him with her jacks), Tsuyu letting out a happy ribbit, and Katsuki to stare at the hole created by Nomu's body, shocked into silence.

But for Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka, they couldn't celebrate. Their eyes were drawn to All Might as he faced the villains, and felt their stomachs clench at the sight of steam beginning to pour from his body, cloaked by the dust rising around him from the hit as he addressed the Villain Consortium.

"So," He grinned confidently, "what's your plan now, villains? Your monster's long gone, so I don't think you'll be having my head. Do you wanna go another few rounds, or is it about time you finally leave my school? You've definitely overstayed your welcome."

Whatever smugness and self-assured confidence the villains had was gone - Slice took a fearful step back, glancing between the pro hero and the hole he had created with their muscle's body, while Chimera and Mummy shook in barely held back rage. Nine, however, stared blankly at All Might, the shadows of his hood giving nothing away as All Might faced him down.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" All Might challenged, smoke continuing to blow off his body as he subtly shook. "You were acting so high and mighty before when you had that thing on top of me. Where did the confidence from before go? Come and get me if you can."

At All Might's dare, silence fell again, everyone's breath held as they waited for whatever decision the villains came to. Itsuka and Ochako were glancing between All Might and the remaining villains in the Consortium, their hearts hammering in their chests as Izuku weakly raised his head, trying desperately not to slip back into unconsciousness. It was clear to the three of them that All MIght was bluffing - beneath the cloud of dust, more steam was blowing off him as All Might fought to stay in his muscle form. If he even so much as twitched wrong, he'd revert back to his true form, exposing himself in front of these villains - and give away that he was on his last legs.

All he could do now was maintain the form for as long as he could, and pray that the villains thought that they were outmatched and flee. Or that the teachers would arrive soon and back him up.

Glancing at the villains, Izuku felt a small hope in his chest - it appeared that they were hesitating to make a move. Slice's smirk was long gone, staring at All Might like he was some kind of monster and taking another cautious step back; Chimera's fur was bristling, but he made no move to attack; and Mummy was staring at All Might with widened eyes and a dropped jaw. Kurogiri's eyes narrowed somewhat, and Nine's own reaction was unknown due to the darkness covering his face.

"Well?! What's wrong?!" All Might barked. "Come on!"

The three villains flinched, and quickly looked to their leader as Nine continued to quietly stare at All Might. Another silence fell, with the students praying that the Consortium took the hint and booked it, and Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka held their breaths.

And then Nine, in a quiet, monotone tone, asked, "Why don't you come over here and finish us off, then?"

All Might was thankfully able to keep a poker face, even though he was cursing inside as he tensed. Nine tilted his head somewhat, a smirk slowly returning to his face as his comrades looked around at him, seeing their leader slowly take in All Might's appearance.

"Look at him," He mused to them quietly, "he's definitely been weakened from Nomu's attacks. If he was able to finish us off, he would have done it already. And look," His gaze flickered to the group of students huddled near each other, "they're hesitating as well. The Trigger in our henchmen won't last much longer … but they'll have enough time before whatever reinforcements from the school arrive, and they can keep them distracted. Kurogiri … prepare a warp gate. We're about to leave."

"And what of All Might?"

"I'll finish him off."

At that, All Might flinched a bit, but tried to keep himself calm as Nine took a step forward, lowering his hand to his pocket and lifting something out. The students froze as Nine held up the syringe, a drop of green liquid inside, that he brought to his neck and pushed the needle in, inserting it into his bloodstream. Behind him, the warp gate blasted open, letting Chimera and Mummy quickly step through and vanish from sight - Slice, however, remained behind, staring at Nine as the villain hunched over a bit, groaning as the small amount of Trigger infected him.

And then he threw his hands up. The students flinched as lightning flashed and thunder rumbled loudly with even more ferocity than before, seeing Nine raise his head, eyes glowing a bright red, to glare at All Might as the pro hero squared his shoulders in preparation for what was about to happen. Itsuka and Ochako felt themselves shake, staring in horror at their teacher as they realized that there was no way he would be able to dodge what was coming.

In the state they were all in, there was no way they'd be able to outrace a bolt of lightning - not them, and not All Might. All they could do now was watch.

"Goodbye," Nine smirked, and then threw his hands down, "Symbol of Peace."

KRACK-BOOM

A bolt of lightning streaked through the air.

But it didn't come from the sky.

Itsuka, Ochako, and the entire group of students jumped in surprise as Izuku suddenly lurched forward, his eyes wide with pain and rage, and quickly threw his hands together. With a shout of pain, he blasted out a large bolt of green lightning - one far stronger than they had seen from before, with Ochako and Katsuki not having seen this kind of blast since they were children. But in a flash of light, the bolt blasted through the air, passing straight by All Might and making him twitch a fraction -

- and then striking Nine dead center in the chest, just before he could activate his quirk and blast the pro hero with a bolt of lightning.

The villain's eyes widened under the hood as pain ripped through his body, blasting him off his feet and sending him flying through the air. Slice let out a gasp and quickly stepped in to catch him, grunting as they collided and nearly bringing them both to the ground. As she quickly lowered him down onto his knees, she looked over her leader, tears prickling in her eyes as she saw the large hole burnt through Nine's cloak, and hearing him letting out several rasping breaths of pain and shock as he stared blankly at nothing.

Quickly, she whipped her gaze back up to Izuku, seeing him collapse onto the ground with Itsuka and Ochako breaking out of Momo and Kyouka's holds to grab him before he fell on his face, and felt her teeth bar as she whipped around, seeing one of the Trigger henchmen, a particularly large one, lumber towards her.

"Kill him!" She screamed at him, pointing straight at Izuku as the Trigger henchman stared down at her. "Kill him, rip him to shreds!"

The villain stared blankly at her for a moment - and then threw its hand back with shocking speed, preparing to launch it towards her face. With a snarl, Slice acted automatically, her hair sharpening and shooting upwards to stab straight through the Trigger henchmen with enough force to throw him away, probably killing him as the students gasped in horror.

Which was why Slice was confused when, instead of falling over dead, the villain burst into a large collection of gray sludge, and out from it came a short girl with blonde hair tied into two messy buns, her yellow eyes narrowed to slits as she threw out a knife towards the older villainess.

Slice grunted as the knife sliced her arm, quickly shooting out another red blade to slice at the heroine - noticing her wearing some kind of hero costume, with a short skirt and a sleeveless top with black and red accents - but the girl was faster, jumping out of the way and deflecting the blades easily with two knives in her hands. Kurogiri's mist swirled around both of the villains on the ground, preparing to warp the younger girl who appeared out of nowhere away - and then they became aware of the sound of stone crumbling.

Looking around, they saw a young man at the top of the stairs, looking very angry as Hanta and Mina helped out the fallen Thirteen, and bent over to press his hand to the ground. At once, several lines of decay shot out down the sides of the stairs, moving underneath the Trigger henchmen's feet and making them trip. As the crumbling rocks shot towards them, Kurogiri was quick to open a few more portals in an attempt to drive away the decay before it could hit them, and shot out another warp gate to hit the blonde girl away, although he growled at the good job she was doing to avoid them.

BAM BAM BAM

As Tenko worked on the ground control, his decay spreading over to the other Trigger henchmen drawn to the foyer by the blast of lightning, and Himiko danced around the multiple portals Kurogiri was creating to trap her as a means to draw his attention, the sound of gunshots filled the air, making everyone flinch and instinctively look around, their eyes widened, Standing at the top of the stairs, beside the rest of the students that had been stranded at the top, was Snipe, taking careful aim towards the black mist and attempting to hit the two villain masterminds still in the facility.

"Apologies for our lateness!" Nezu called down to them from the top of the stairs, perched on Vlad King's shoulder as several of the teachers began running down the stairs towards where their students were tearfully looking up at them in relief, Setsuna quickly reattaching her lower body to her upper one while taking deep, steadying breaths, "We had to get through the storm while gathering up everyone who was immediately available, and then calling in additional reinforcements. Now then, teachers - split up, and escort our students out of the USJ while we clean up the villains!"

"Yes, sir!"

Quickly, Ectoplasm opened his mouth wide and spat out a few clones to fight against the charging, screaming villains as Snipe continued to fire off more shots, trying to aim for Nine and Slice as the villainess attempted to drag her prone leader through the portal - only for them to grunt when Thirteen, held up by Hanta and Mina, held out her hand and activated her quirk on Kurogiri, dragging him closer. On top of the stairs, Pony and Yosetsu helped Aizawa up onto Mezo's back, while the larger student still held the unconscious Nejire in his arms, and all three of them quickly hurried out of the USJ.

As Black Hole dragged Kurogiri closer to them, the warp villain growled in anger, but it was clear that the heroes were too far away to properly capture them - so that meant that it was time to finally go. Turning his gaze down to the two remaining villains, Kurogiri quickly surrounded them in black mist, beginning to warp them and himself out of the USJ before the arriving heroes could capture them.

As the darkness swirled and lightning flashed above them, Midnight and Hound Dog reached the crowd of students at the bottom of the stairs, quickly beginning to escort them away as Present Mic let out a loud scream to push the charging Trigger henchmen back. Hound Dog bounced over to the trio of wounded students, grunting as he bent over to pick up Izuku, and Midnight quickly ran over as well to wrap Itsuka and Ochako's unbroken arms over her shoulders, while another clone of Ectoplasm shouted, "All students, get up the stairs and head straight out of the USJ!"

Everyone quickly nodding, the students began to follow their teachers back up the stairs, more than happy to finally get out of the utter nightmare their day had become as lightning flashed above them. In that brief moment, however, with Kurogiri's warp gate closing on the two remaining villains and Hound Dog lifting Izuku up into a carry as Midnight helped Itsuka and Ochako towards the stairs, with the rest of the teachers running into the USJ to hold off the Trigger henchmen - no one noticed Izuku returning his gaze to the two villains vanishing through the portal, his vision filling with black spots. And at the same time, by complete coincidence, Nine also managed to raise his head, his hood ripped and finally exposing his painfilled, enraged face.

And then, as though both of them noticed someone looking at them, their eyes met.

With long white hair hanging over his face, Nine glared into Izuku's eyes, his red eyes burning through the boy who had just maimed him and denied him his victory as a slab of cement covered All Might, blocking him from view. And Izuku returned the heated glare tit-for-tat, his wide eyes narrowing at the villain who had tried to kill him and his friends.

Green eyes met glowing red as the two glared at each other - and then the portal finally closed, letting Nine, Slice and Kurogiri fade into nothing.

And it was at that moment darkness swirled around Izuku, and he finally fell back into unconsciousness.