The battle for the USJ continues. Suri meets a villain that makes her remember a night she's been running from for a long time now. Is this really the time to be second guessing yourself when lives are on the line?
Peering down the stairs, Suri was letting her power begin to build and spread over her skin as she slowly lowered herself into her pouncing stance. Her focus stayed on the villains that were pouring from the black abyss in the plaza, counting more than two dozen bad guys. Briefly, she heard Todoroki talk about how, yes, this was a stupid plan on the villains' parts, but they weren't going about it in a stupid way. They were smart and Suri agreed which made them all the more dangerous. She was on the brink of shifting, on the verge of the same display of power that she had shown off back in the cafeteria. This time, her and her friends, her classmates, the ones she had come to call as her pack a mere moment ago were in danger and she wouldn't hold back.
"I said stay back, Kuroyashi," Aizawa glared at her. He had pulled his scarves up to cover part of his face and had pulled on a pair of gold, visored goggles. "That's an order."
"But sir," she snarled back at him.
"Stay with your class. Thirteen, take the students and get them out of here. Alert the main campus," he turned back to look at Suri and the rest of her classmates then furrowed his brow as he looked up at the flickering lights. "Actually, if they've got the ability to block our sensors, they've probably jammed our main communications as well. Kaminari! Use your Quirk to try and get in touch with the main campus!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Sir, what are you going to do? You can't fight this many by yourself," Midoriya called out. Suri's thoughts echoed his own. "Even if you can nullify their Quirks. Your Quirk is better suited for stealth and one-on-one fights."
"He's right, Mr. Aizawa! No offense, but you're not made for taking on groups like this," she added as she and Midoriya shared a knowing glance and nod.
"You can't be a pro if you've only got one trick up your sleeve," he smirked to the two students and then soured his expression as he looked back down the stairs. "I'll leave it to you, Thirteen."
Before either of them could say anything else, Aizawa was gone, leaping into the awaiting villains at the bottom. Suri growled as she watched him throw himself into the frey, wanting to be there to help him. Wanting to pull her weight and prove her worth. For those few seconds, she watched Aizawa and let out a sort of sigh of relief because he proved his words. He wasn't some one trick pony. He was goddamn magnificent as he began his one man tear through over twenty villains, making them all look completely and utterly worthless.
"Come on, let's go," Thirteen called out and motioned the students with her as they began running for the doors to the outside.
They all came to an abrupt stop however, as one of the whirling abysses from before appeared sprawled out along the ground in front of them. From it rose a dark figure with glowing amber eyes that peered coldly at Thirteen and the group of teens.
"There is no escape for you," the fog-like figure spoke with a deep, echoing voice. "It is a pleasure to meet you all, we are the League of Villains. I know it may be impolite, but we invited ourselves here to your haven of justice to say hello. This seemed a fitting place for All Might, your Symbol of Peace to take his last breath. I believe he was supposed to be here today and yet I do not see any sign of him. There must have been a change of plans we could not have foreseen."
The villain stretched out, the darkness that came with him spreading across as he narrowed his eyes at the students in front of him.
"In the end, it doesn't matter. We all must play our roles."
Before he or anyone could do or say anything more, Suri growled and ran to the front of the group and joined Bakugou and Kirishima in the air. She was on Kirishima's right, putting him in the middle of the three as the small group yelled and drove their fists, and in Bakugfou's case, an explosion directly into the mass of dark smoke.
"Did you think we were just gonna stand around and let you tear this place to shreds?"
"You're delusional if you think we're just gonna let you get away with trespassing on our turf!"
Kirishima and Suri were both grinning sharp smiles as the red head spoke. They waited for the dust to clear and Suri sharpened her gaze as the black mist among the smoke seemed to settle back into place.
"You live up to your school's reputation," the voice spoke. "But you should be more careful, children. Otherwise someone might get hurt."
"You three, get out of the way! Now," Thirteen shouted.
"I'll scatter you across this facility to meet my comrades, and your deaths!"
The villain spread wide and a mass of black smoke and mist surrounded all of them and everything turned to complete and utter darkness. Suri felt herself lifted into the air, floating upwards and then a sudden jolt of motion sent her stomach into loops. Her gut soon hated itself even more as she felt herself falling and she soon found the ground coming up rapidly underneath her. The bare soles of her feet smacked against the hard ground but she managed to land on them, if only for a second. She stumbled forward on hands and knees after coming from the darkness and had to grab a wall to steady and then lift herself.
Her first thought was that the ground felt unstable and out of balance which she found was the exact truth. The room she was in was off kilter, leaning sharply to its side. Once she was able to let her stomach settle and swallow down her nausea, she looked around and quickly took in her surroundings. An office building of some sort. She was on a large open floor that had cubicles that were uprooted and thrown to the back of the room. Towards the front was the edge of the office building with bays of empty or broken windows lining it that showed the rest of the USJ on the horizon over several other toppled buildings.
Her first thought was the aftermath of a giant earthquake or villain attack that had toppled a city. Her second thought was that, if today were different, they'd probably be sent in here to find survivors and pull people from the rubble. That actually sounded enjoyable. Rescue practice sounded like a lot of fun right now, all things considered. She then thought of her classmates and a spike of fear jolted through her entire body and she raced towards the open windows and let her nose hit the open air. This was it, time for her to practice reducing others, starting with her classmates.
She scented for everyone, all of her friends and classmates, her teacher, anyone she knew and was able to track almost everyone, even though several of them were incredibly faint. And mixed in with the scents she did know, were dozens she didn't. She didn't like the unfamiliar scents, several of which were within meters of her. In fact, they were above her where she heard the sound of an explosion accompanied by feral screaming.
"Bakugou," she whispered to herself and tightened her grip on the window panes.
Suri was about to jump through the window to the floor above her when she heard the sound of metal swinging through the air. She bent herself backwards and watched as a metal baseball that had been hit a few too many times swung wide over where she had been standing. She rolled herself backwards in a somersault motion before coming upright in a crouched squatting position that readied her to pounce. The off kilter of the floor made it harder to come back upright the way she needed but saw that it was affecting her attacker as well as he swung himself off balance. When the villain came to a stop she got her first good look of the chimpanzee-like man wearing an old timey white baseball uniform with thin black pinstripes.
"Nice dodge, kid," he spoke in a gravely, ten pack a day smoker's voice. "But you ain't gonna make it to home plate safe, ya hear."
"Yeah," Suri smirked and lowered herself even more so that her knees rose past her hips. "I am, actually. Ya hear?"
The ape man didn't like the imitation that Suri had given him and set up for a swing. When he followed through, a thick burst of air shot outwards from the bat like a shockwave that sent loose debris flying out of the windows. Suri sunk claws into the floor and growled as she stood her ground and then jolted forward and sent a right kick into his gut. He stumbled back a step or two and then gripped the bat like an axe and held it over his head before coming down with another powerful strike.
The impact cracked the floor beneath them and it was only thanks to Suri quickly sliding herself along the ground between his legs to the other side of him that she avoided the attack. When she came up she eyed the back of his uniform which had 666 embroidered in black and Devil Ape embroidered in red with a black outline above it in the old school jersey font. Honestly, she kind of liked the uniform. He probably could've been a cool pro hero if the circumstances were different. But he was a villain and she had to stop admiring the costume.
She jumped forward as he was still crouched over from his attack, using his rear and then lower back as makeshift stairs to give her something to jump from as she went up. The last of her steps sent him downward more before she brought her knees to her chest and then shot them down beneath her. She rocked the back of the monkey man's head, knocking his baseball hat off and let his face have a forceful meeting with the floor beneath them. The ground gave way and the villain fell through the floor before going through another and another while Suri skidded onto her knees towards the edge of the building.
"I know Bakugou is a floor or two above me," she said to herself, thinking out loud. "I think I smell Kirishima too along with," she scented the air again, "half a dozen baddies."
Suri's ears twitched and her attention was instantly drawn from her classmates' predicament above her to her own as she saw a blur of white heading towards her. She jumped backwards out of the building taking her chances at the open air and a dozen meter fall to avoid a wide maw and two massive fangs with her name on them. As she began falling she was abruptly grabbed and then spun back towards the uprooted skyscraper. Her entire body began to hurt as her upper body was squeezed tightly inside a coil of smooth scales, the pressure made her clinch her eyes shut and snarl.
"So we're just a bunch of baddies to you, huh? Just cause you got lucky with your Quirk!"
There was a hiss to the voice that spoke and Suri was met face to face with a large snake head who's slitted eyes furrowed into a deep scathing glare. There was pure venom and disdain in that look that Suri dared to look away from and take a quick glance at her situation. One she was shocked to find; she was still in the air, held outside of the window she had jumped from by a long white and salmon pink colored serpent tail. That tail connected to a set of hips and a humanoid torso topped with a serpent's head that was flanked by a cobra like crown. The serpentine villain wore a dark green and black school girl uniform pleated skirt that draped over her wide hips. A simple white button up shirt was tied up at the bottom to show off the girl's lithe stomach and was only buttoned by one button above the knot to show off the small amount of cleavage her small tight breasts could provide. Suri imagined that, if she had legs, the outfit would come with thick scrunched socks to complete the gyaru look.
"The hell you talking about," Suri grunted out as the snake girl flexed the incredibly strong muscles in her tail. "You don't know shit about my Quirk, honey!"
"I know that yours is pretty to look at, you're not a freak like me! It's easy for you to get to be a hero because no one can't stand to look at you," she spat back.
"Hah, you have no idea," Suri laughed vindictively. If her classmates or the public saw her during the full moon when she went full beast? Yeah, pretty wouldn't be a word they'd use.
"Yeah! Laugh at me just like the others," the snake girl's eyes narrowed and a thunderous hiss rolled from her throat. "If I can't have my dream, then neither can you and your friends."
"Girl, I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at your assumptions," Suri grunted back. "Haven't you ever heard that you can't assume without making an ass out of you and me?"
"Oh, you got jokes, huh?"
The coiled tail gripping Suri's body tightened even more, making it harder for the beast girl to breathe as her arms, chest, and hips began screaming in pain from the intense pressure. She could feel herself on the edge of having dislocated shoulders, some cracked ribs, and a cracked hip if this went on for much longer. Suri took in a deep breath, forced herself into a neutral expression despite the pain and looked directly into the serpent girl's deep amber eyes.
Looking into the girl's eyes, honestly and truly, she thought they were gorgeous. The longer she stared, she began to feel herself to lose tension and her body began to radiate with warmth, filling with ease and a sense of security. Suri caught that thought. It was a false sense of security. And yet, she felt compelled to tell the snake girl any truths she wanted.
"Has anyone ever told you your eyes are gorgeous?"
"What," the snake girl raised a scaled eyebrow and seemed to be taken aback a little by the question. "No… I mean-"
"So no one's ever told you you're beautiful?"
The snake girl flinched like she had been struck and recoiled, slipping both her and Suri back into the building. Suri felt a flex in the grip, ever so slightly easing around her as she slunk backwards. Wait. Did that mean the answer was no? Her clouded mind told her that that didn't seem right at all. Then she thought about how superficial a lot of teenagers were, especially like some of the ones she knew back home and it clicked. The snake girl broke their gaze and the entire sense of security and safety vanished and her body instantly ached again. Though, at least she had something to help.
She hoped.
"Not one person?"
"T-that's none of your business!"
The grip around Suri flexed again and the beast girl slipped her arms out of the coil, resting her forearms and palms along the snake girl's skin. Truth be told, Suri liked snakes. She thought they were gorgeous creatures and she remembered the feel of her friends' pet python along her fingertips. Now, her entire palm was getting a ghost of that sensation her fingertips had. It was fascinating. Her eyes looked over her captor again and couldn't help but bite her lip as her golden green eyes traced the other girl's exposed abdomen. The scaled skin made the near perfect V shape that started high on her hips and disappeared beneath the hem of the girl's skirt stand out. In fact, the scales made all of the toned muscle underneath stand out like she had been carved from stone. Standing still, she had a statuesque beauty. And that beauty was screaming at Suri to run her hands along the other girl's stomach, hips, and more.
And that was when her hormones - and her inner beast - did the talking.
"Gods be damned, you're hot as fuck…"
Her voice was a breathy whisper, thick with that sultry tone that her other side had. The part of her brain that did have some clarity was screaming at her. Was she actually going to flirt with a villain that was moments away from crushing her? Sure, because flirting and being overly horny when you were probably going to be crushed to death was such a great idea. Then again, it would be the last thing either of them would expect.
"W-what did you-"
"Girl, I said you're fucking hot."
The snake girl stared at Suri, dumbfounded and shocked as her thin forked tongue darted from her mouth, tasting the air much like her much smaller serpentine counterpart. A shiver ran through the girl's body and she took another step - for lack of a better word - backwards.
"Y-you-"
The girl tasted the air and again, flinched. She was shocked. It was like a kid hearing that Santa wasn't real for the first time. It was like hearing something for the first time, wanting to believe it's a lie but, knowing in your gut it…
"Wait, you can taste a lie, can't you?"
This startled the villain girl again. And it clued Suri in on just how fresh of a villain this girl really was. She couldn't have been older than her and, if Suri was to take a guess, this girl was younger, on the brink of high school. She'd be a first year student next spring, Suri would bet on that. So what was a young girl like the snake girl doing hanging around with villains? Let alone infiltrating UA for whatever purpose they had.
The snake girl just kept becoming more fascinating.
"Lemme get this straight. You're pretty damn fast, you've got a decent amount of strength, you can taste or sense when people are lying and I'm guessing that's not the only thing you can do. Plus you have some sort of glamour ability that you can entrance people with if you look them in the eye? Shit, Deku would have a field day analyzing you and your Quirk," she chuckled to herself.
She had pulled a Midoriya all because she suddenly got the hots for another girl.
Go figure.
"And on top of that, you're gorg-"
"Stop it!"
And just like that the coiling came back in full force, squeezing Suri tightly and making her choke to take in air. Between the choking, she grunted as her ribs and hips tightened just on this side of cracking and being snapped. Suri flexed her hands, digging her nails against the girl's scaled skin, trying in vain to push the thick appendage away from her.
"Like, I know what you're doing," the girl hissed. "I don't need your pity!"
Suri gritted her teeth and struggled to breathe as her entire body began to swell with a hazy tingling sensation that prickled along the surface of her skin like millions of ants. Her vision was becoming cloudy and her head felt heavy. She cursed in her head, as the feel of passing out was coming crashing down on her. That being said, her last clear vision before going dark, she could've sworn the villain was crying. And just as her jaw began to widen and a pair of fangs retracted from the roof of her mouth, Suri slipped into darkness.
The darkness faded only somewhat as Suri found herself inside that moonlit clearing inside the dark recesses of her mind and soul where her beast resided. The beast who was rolled onto its back with its head hanging over the side of the rock it slept on. She watched the human girl curiously in her upside down position as she entered the beast's domain.
"You know," her inner beast spoke quizzically, "the last time we were threatened and about to be eaten alive, we ripped the man's throat out and bled him for his efforts."
"We were pissed off at the time. We had a shit ton of anger and rage to justify what we did. Right now," Suri shrugged and sunk her hands into the gym uniform's pants pockets.
"We are to be eaten and you don't feel any sort of rage?"
"Don't you?"
Her beast seemed to think about it for a moment and then the animal awkwardly shrugged from where it lay.
"I don't feel any disdain for this one, per say. Frankly, I'd like to mat-"
"So you feel anger, but not towards her?" Suri interrupted before her beast could finish that thought. "Why?"
"We share thoughts, body, mind, and soul, yes? We shared the thought of her being appealing, and therefore we share the confusion that no one else had similar thoughts. Correct?"
"So she's right. We do pity her, don't we?"
"Rather, pity the fool that hadn't given her the time of day."
Both of them chuckled softly to each other. Because who wouldn't get a kick out of a giant animalistic creature doing a Mister T, impression, voice and all. Her beast then tilted its head with a certain look of curiosity.
"She hesitates."
In the back of her mind here, Suri could sense the coil on her unconscious form loosen. If the girl was hesitating on something like taking a kill then Suri had more of a chance of being a villain than this girl ever would. In fact, she had. This girl. She ran to the villains just like she had run to Japan. A way to escape her problems, to try and do something new. Breakout on her own. Only, Suri had people in her life that she looked to that told her that she could be a hero. A hero even though she had this thing inside her. A hero even though she had blood on her hands. Did this girl have anyone like that? Could Suri be that someone?
Suri turned back towards the dark forest of her mind and began walking towards the pitch black tree line as her beast watched on.
"We're going to do that wave of power thing again."
"Oh? Are we?"
"Yup," Suri smirked. "We're going to save her."
Her beast laughed with a radiating warmth and rolled back onto its stomach before following the human part of herself towards the darkness. She watched her human counterpart with a grin. Suri really did want to do this whole Queen of 1-A and Pro Hero thing, didn't she? Never a dull moment with this girl.
"As you wish, partner."
Suri felt herself wake with a short gasp. Her eyes were still closed and her head was sunk forward, all but offering herself to the snake girl as a meal. And yet, here she sat. Unharmed save for the soreness her body had experienced from being inside the warm vice grip of the snake girl's body. In the instant she had woken up, a roll of otherworldly energy poured from her and spread throughout the room. Her body had shifted, even inside the grip of the serpent's grasp with her tail pressing into the narrow space between her legs. Her ears extended to points, her fangs and claws lengthened, and her face reshaped, not yet animal but no longer human. She was halfway into her beastwoman form, the furthest into her transformation she had ever gone without the full moon's help.
Her clawed hands gripped at the snake girl's long tail that coiled around her and, with a rippling force throughout her, she pushed, forcing the girl to loosen her grip even more. It was enough that Suri gracefully jumped enough to gently land on her feet on top of the muscled appendage that had been her cage.
"If you can't take the killing blow," Suri spoke, her voice layered with her beast's voice, "you're not worth a damn as a villain."
Suri rose upwards, still standing on top of the snake girl's tail, enough that she now stood over the frozen girl. Her slitted eyes were wide as she stared into the chartreuse fire of the beast girl's eyes.
"But you never had it in you. You don't have what it takes to kill," Suri growled as she lowered her face towards the snake girl, her lips then curled to show a fanged smirk. "But I do."
With a flash of speed, Suri lurched forward, planting a hand around the girl's throat while another pushed into her stomach and with a forceful sweeping motion the snake girl soon found herself upside down careening towards a far wall and then through it. The snake girl screamed as she crashed through the wall and into the ground. As she rolled herself and steadied upright she found herself thrown to the ground again with the wolven girl on top of her. In a plea of desperation she lunged forward reading to strike with her venomous fangs only to have her snout forcefully grabbed and gripped shut. Suri's claws pressed lightly into the scaled skin, a flinch away from penetrating and drawing blood.
Suri let a sinister grin curl across her lips as she lowered herself in a predatory display, bringing her head down to the same level as the cobra girl. The fiery glow of her eyes stared into the golden amber and watched the slitted pupil shrink in fear and as Suri all but straddled the younger girl to ground she felt a shiver of fear run through her entire body.
"Not such a pretty Quirk now," she whispered with a threat of viscous intent. "Is it?"
A weak noise of fear slipped from the snake girl's throat.
"Where's all that strength and ferocity you had before? Don't tell me you're yet another little yappy dog that I have to keep in line" with that she looked up towards the ceiling. Her eyes traced to where another barrage of explosions and screams rang out from. "Listen closely, little one," Suri moved slowly and brought her forehead to the other girl's and laid it there, closing her eyes. "Whoever told you you were a freak... is a fucking idiot."
The girl looked up at Suri in complete shock, frozen as a mix of emotions washed over her and painted her face in a flurry of them. She remained silent even after the claws that had forcefully pinned her mouth closed had left their position and even still as Suri sat back, straddling the snake girl's waist.
"You're not even in high school yet, are you?"
"I-I… n-no," she spoke nervously. "No, I'm not."
"I'm gonna guess that you don't even have a record, do you?"
"No," she said in a small voice.
"What the hell is a middle schooler, that's probably never even been late to class before, doing running around with villains trespassing on U.A. grounds?" Suri shook her head, swiping a hand from her forehead in a sort of 'mind blown' motion. "Seriously, girl, what the fuck?"
Suri showed the girl a flare of rage as she looked down at her, making the younger girl flinch from the glare. The flinch made Suri mentally cringe. She knew the flinch was a reaction that her and the girl shared. Sometimes, you weren't just hit with words or death glares.
"I-initiation…"
"So what, instead of getting jumped in, you get thrown into something like this?"
"No, I got jumped in too," she replied, looking away. "I… fought back and…"
"They live?"
"Barely. I," the snake girl paused, looking miserable. "I know I can control the toxicity of my venom, I can even make antivenoms but-"
"You can't control it, yet," Suri finished. She smirked hearing about the girl's abilities, really she could be an amazing hero if she went straight now and not get dug in deeper. "It's not exactly your fault. Governments don't let us practice and get used to our Quirks before we're almost adults and some of us… that can be extremely dangerous."
Quirks and lycanthropy honestly were regulated about the same. You could be born a lycanthrope and start getting your first full moon transformations and your otherworldly abilities around five or six. Same with Quirk manifestation. The changes were heavily regulated in packs to the point the hierarchy structure had pack members designated to teach children about the change and did what they could to try and keep children from going full beast until puberty. That was another monster in and of itself.
"I-I'm sorry for earlier, I just," she sighed and let out a frustrated whine.
"Wanted to feel like you belong. You wanted to prove you could do the hard shit and make your tormentors regret making fun of you. I get it. I really do." Suri smirked and let a fanged grin curl across her lips as she looked down at the girl she sat upon, "so how's this little villain thing going for you anyway?"
The snake girl snorted and let out a choked laugh and gave Suri an 'are you serious' look.
"Isn't it obvious?"
"Well," Suri shrugged," why not go for the hero gig? That was the dream you were talking about a bit ago, right?"
The younger girl just stared at Suri with a shocked face, like she had said one of the most profound things she'd ever heard. Then there was the questioning look again before looking around like she was looking for a hidden camera.
"You're, like, dead serious."
"Damn straight."
"H-how? After this?"
"Only criminal charge so far I can think of is breaking and entering. I'd say assault but, shit, I look pretty unharmed to me," Suri replied, mockingly looking herself over. "No harm, no foul kinda thing right? If you want to pay me back, you can start by telling me what the plan was. What was the endgame and why did you come along?"
"I-I um, this is going to sound stupid but," she looked legitimately embarrassed. "I wanted to see All Might in person…"
Suri looked the girl dead in the eye, snorted, and then laughed for a moment looking down at the girl beneath her. After a moment she looked back down at the girl with her own 'are you serious' expression.
"Takashi said it would be the last time to get the chance," she quietly continued.
Suri's smile vanished instantly.
"So that smoke guy was serious? They came to kill All Might?"
"Yes. I don't know exactly how but, like, the leader... I don't know who he is. I've never seen or heard of him before in my life but, like, he's scary. He's totally crazy and like, almost everyone that came today is terrified of him. Mostly cause of his Quirk cause it's, like, crazy too. He just creeps me out but he, like, straight up believes he can kill All Might."
"So when All Might didn't show up?"
"The plan went off the rails. Like, we were supposed to help fight him and the other teachers. This whole thing," she gestured to their surroundings. "We didn't know this was going to happen. At least not the gang I was with."
"Yeah," Suri sighed and let out a chuckle before pointing upwards to where more explosions were coming from. "Us three kinda fucked that up for ya."
With that Suri grinned and stood up and then extended a hand towards the girl she had been pinning to the ground. The girl in question stared at the clawed hand for a moment and then up towards the older girl that hand belonged to. She was serious about the no harm, no foul thing wasn't she?
"Anyway, c'mon, let's get outta here. Start your hero shit by helping me rescue the two dumbasses upstairs."
Suri watched the girl's expression change in an instant from being dumbfounded, deer in the headlights, to predatory and full of intent to harm. The snake girl coiled back and then shot forward with a loud hiss, knocking the older girl backwards with enough force that the air in her lungs was expelled in a wheezing cough. Suri rolled back from the blow, tumbling over backwards to get herself back onto her feet and ready to strike at the girl but froze momentarily as her eyes refocused. The snake girl was on the ground where she had been standing crumpled under a section of the floor above and possibly the floor above that. Her eyes were glazed over, looking blankly into the room beyond Suri and the look alone made the beast girl scramble forward towards the serpent.
"Shitshitshitshitshit," she mentally screamed as she took those couple quick steps towards the debris and the girl.
With a throaty growl, Suri grabbed at the pieces of debris that covered the younger girl and tossed them aside. Once her long white and pink scaled body, now decorated in splashes and streams of crimson, was uncovered, Suri quickly laid her ear to the other girl's chest and listened as closely as she could.
There was a heartbeat.
And with a rise and fall of the girl's chest it signaled she was still breathing.
And then a whine and groan of pain.
Suri smiled softly as she looked into the snake girl's eyes as she blinked up and the milky haze seemed to wash away. As her consciousness seemed to float upward, Suri quickly scanned the girl's body, taking notes on dozens of minor cuts and scrapes but zeroing in on several deep gashes and lacerations. She then eyed her clothing and the girl's clothing, scrunching her lips at the lack of materials needed for makeshift bandages and leaving enough clothing not to flash the goods to her classmates. The snake girl's unique body structure also presented another challenge; she was slender but she wasn't as skinny as say Jirou or Tsu.
"You all right, honey," Suri asked softly, her voice no longer doubled but holding a velvety rasp.
"I hurt," she replied with a lazy smirk. "Everywhere."
"C'mon, let's get you out of here and get you to Recovery Girl," Suri slipped her arms underneath the serpentine girl and let out another rumbling growl as she lifted. Shit, she was heavy. She let out a deep breath as she got to her feet while the other girl tentatively wrapped an arm around Suri's neck. Suri drew on her inner power source, bringing her beast towards the surface to tap into that otherworldly power that made it possible for her kind to bench press cars and small trucks.
"Y-you're amazing," the girl whispered as she took in the experience of being lifted and carried bridal style with any sort of ease.
Suri just smirked and gave the girl a cocky glint in her eye.
"This? Shit, this is nothing compared to All Might or my dad."
Suri looked toward the doorway that would lead towards the building's stairwell and then upwards towards the holes in the floors above them that had caved in on them moments before. The beast girl opted for the debris pile that gave a sort of ramp upwards to the floor she needed to get to Bakugou and Kirishima.
"Why help me," the snake girl asked. "After what's happening to you and your classmates."
"I could ask you the same thing," Suri replied. "Why push me out of the way and take a hit for someone you don't even know."
"I-I… my body," she stammered, took a deep breath, held it, and then let it out. "My body, like, moved on its own, I guess."
"My uncle said that every hero has at least one of those moments in their lifetime."
"He did?"
"Yup," Suri chuckled. "While I was in the hospital after sacrificing myself to save a friend. I decided then and there I'd either go here to UA like him and my dad, or try and get into Xavier like my older brother, Dante."
There was a moment of silence just before Suri got to the floor they needed before the snake girl looked up to the beast girl carrying her. The snake girl felt something eating at her and before they got any closer to the commotion they could hear, she broke the silence.
"Yumei."
"Huh?"
"My name," the serpent girl spoke shyly and bowed her head into Suri's chest before a shade of pink grew across her cheeks. "Yumei Nagamaki."
"Suri Kuroyashi," the beast girl replied with a warm grin, giving the girl a playful wink to go along with the smile. "Nice to finally put a name to a pretty face."
"L-Likewise."
Suri entered the room where Bakugou and Kirishima were standing with the red head lamenting about how they'd screwed everything up and should go look for the rest of the class. Suri partially agreed. Bakugou on the other hand was yelling about trying to go after the smoke villain that had scattered them throughout the USJ by himself.
"... he's their way in and out. If I cut off their escape route they'll be stuck here and have to pay for what they've done!"
Suri mentally shrugged. Bakugou did have a point.
Hold that thought.
Suri's nose scented the villain sneaking towards the two, seemingly invisible save for the knife that he pulled out, and lunged forward as he prepared to attack Bakugou. Her clawed hand gripped at scaled skin on the back of their invisible enemy's head and held him in place midair just as Bakugou reached towards them and set off a series of explosions from his fingertips. The villain, a now very visible and very unconscious humanoid chameleon, dropped to the floor as Suri dropped the back of his head and was met with a crimson glare.
"The reaction time," Kirishima blinked in amazement. "That was insane, you two!"
"Nice of you to finally show up," Bakugou growled. "Where the fuck you been? And who the hell is this?"
"Nice to see you too," Suri rolled her eyes and gave Bakugou an unfriendly look. "I was one floor down, not sure why. But I had my own bad guys to handle on my own."
"Looks like you missed one, dumbass."
"No, I actually didn't."
"So what, you're buddy buddy with a fucking villain?"
"Hey man, Baku-"
"She saved my life, no thanks to you."
"The fuck's that supposed to mean?"
Kirishima put his hands up and tried moving between Suri and Bakugou to defuse the situation but was ultimately ignored by the both of them. He looked to Nagamaki who gave him a look that was equally worried and silently asking what was going on. Then a third look was shared between them as they looked each other up and down and tried to hide the faint blushes that stained their cheeks for a split second. The snake girl then blushed deeper as Suri's hand that was nestled under her back cupped lower to support the girl one armed. The arm that had been cradling where her lower thighs would have been was now shoved into Bakugou's chest, digging a finger at him.
"It means that you were a dumbass and went off blasting every which way without even once considering what kind of zone you were in. This building is shaky as fuck and apparently really really likes falling apart. And gee, I wonder why that is," she motioned angrily towards the rest of the scenario outside the building they were in. "Training zone, fake simulation, whatever you want to call it, it still mimics real life and mister grumpy ass boom boom die die die made the fucking floor over there collapse. Almost on my fucking head, thank you very much."
"Keep talking, bitch, and I'll shut you up myself," he let his fingers give off a few pops.
"You kiss your mother with that mouth of yours?"
"At least the stupid hag wants me, little miss daddy issues."
Suri's blood ran cold and the entire world froze around her. She had no idea how or when he had learned anything about her, her family, or the fallout her and her father had. But he had. And he just sucker punched her with it. There was a loud smack that rang throughout the room and, when Suri blinked, there was a red mark across Bakugou's face and her hand was stretched out. She'd slapped him and hadn't even realized it. The two just stared blankly at each other, not knowing what had happened or what to say. The moment of silence let anger and pain boil up before Suri broke first.
"If you're done, Bakugou," Suri said in an emotionless, neutral tone. "We should get going before they kill us all."
"Kuroya-"
Kirishima was reaching towards Suri, most likely to comfort her but stopped as she turned to look at him. It wasn't a face he could call a friend. He flinched when he saw her eyes. Cold, swallowed by a slush of sorrow, pain, anger, rage, and bitterness.
"Make sure the yappy little thing keeps up. I'm taking her back to Thirteen. If I stay around him any longer," she gave Kirishima a forced smile and a slightly higher pitched tone. "I'm going to kill him."
Before either of them could say anything, she was gone, massive snake girl in her arms and all. Kirishima had blinked and she was gone with the remnants of rushing wind blowing through his hair. Suri had leapt with every ounce of her beast's energy, covering a hundred meters in no more than a second. They were falling and bounding through the Building Collapse Zone before Nagamaki even realized what had happened or what was happening. She'd never traveled so fast in her life before. She looked back to Suri, her rescuer, her wolf girl in shining armor and her eyes showed nothing. The beauty she had seen minutes before was completely gone.
"Kuroyashi," she spoke gently. "Is everything…"
"No," Suri choked out. "And fuck, I don't think Bakugou even knows what he just did to me. He's so fueled up on his own pride and self importance that he never even thinks of the consequences of his words, his actions, or his attitude. Guess that's why he reminds me of him."
"Who?"
"Dad."
"Oh… I-I," Yumei paused and looked at the older girl. "Did you mean what you said back there?"
Suri looked down at her with a minutely curious look.
"The part about killing him or the fact that I have killed someone before?"
The snake girl's eyes went wide in shock. Suri hadn't been bluffing at all.
"I… was it like mine?" Nagamaki asked cautiously.
"Self defense? Yeah, more or less anyway," Suri sighed. She was about to tell a stranger her problems and hang ups. Did she actually trust Yumei or was it lingering results of her Quirk?
"I put myself in the middle of pack business. There was a challenge of power, which is normal. Some of the pack doesn't see my brother fit to be acting Ulfric when dad is technically our pack's king but has his pro hero duties to attend to. This newcomer made a play up the ranks. I didn't like him and my instincts were saying not only no but hell no to him as Ulfric or anywhere near the top of the pack's hierarchy. Dad made the rule when he became Ulfric that in challenges of power it was no longer to the death like it had been when he was younger. During his challenge he made verbal threats towards me, my brothers, my mothers, our friends and families and then went for Mathias' throat. Had it nearly torn out before I went ballistic on him. He intended on killing me, my family, and my friends to gain power. I made sure he couldn't do any of those or harm anyone else."
Suri choked out a laugh as she rushed Yumei up towards the front entrance of the USJ.
"Dad went off on me. Of course for the kill, but more than that, he said I ruined the pack's image, damaged the power structure and undermined him, my brother, my family, and the tradition of the clan. I saved my brother's life and all they could talk about was their pride as wolves."
Suri's expression became sullen and pained as a lump in her throat swelled up.
"Then someone said that 'of course she doesn't understand, she's a mutt, what hope does the little bastard child know of our clan'... I packed a bag and got on a plane that night… I've been in Japan for just under five months now."
"I know it's not much but… I'm glad you're here. I don't think that Bakugou guy would've been so willing to give me another chance."
That earned the snake girl a smile before Suri took a deep breath and swallowed back her pain and her last memories of home in America.
"Nagamaki, if you keep being this sweet and cute you're gonna owe a girl a date," Suri chuckled as she neared the top of the stairs.
"I-I," the snake girl let out an embarrassed 'eep' and became a stuttering and blushing mess almost as bad as Midoriya. Suri could've sworn she heard the girl whisper something about that she wouldn't mind that. "S-so, what you said w-when we were fighting… t-that was true?"
Suri just gave the younger girl a wide, toothy grin. She knew the snake girl would have tasted or sensed - or however her Quirk worked - a lie then and knew that she knew it still was true now. The beast girl wasn't bashful or reserved about sexuality, her ideals of attraction, or any of the nuances that came with it. She wasn't the type to beat around the bush when it came to that. It made it easier on all parties involved and at least in one thing, she was and always would be an open book.
The beast girl's grin, however, disappeared as soon as she reached the top of the stairs. The warp gate user was gone but in his wake there was destruction left behind. Suri's eyes quickly focused on Mina, Uraraka, and Tooru who were huddled around a fallen Thirteen. The space hero had the entire back of her space suit like costume disintegrated, exposing a blackened abyss that was her body. She wasn't moving and the three girls were sobbing by her side. All the while Shoji and Sero stood guard as sorts at the top of the stairs, both of them holding wavering looks as they met eyes with her, the girl she was carrying, and the scene below which she hadn't seen as of yet.
She had a priority. And now a second priority.
"Shoji! Sero! You two all right?"
"Yeah," Sero replied with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.
"What happened? Are you the only ones up here with Thirteen and the girls?"
"We are," Shoji answered. "Iida made it out to go get help while Sero and I held that mist villain off. For a while anyway. We're in bad shape here."
"Aizawa," Suri's eyes went wide as she remembered their homeroom teacher rushing down to meet the villains head on. She quickly looked back and her stomach sank as she watched her teacher being beaten into the ground by the massive, muscle bound monster standing above him. Her blood ran cold as she watched the creature take his arms and snap them like they were young forest saplings.
"T-that's it," Nagamaki spoke quietly. "That villain is the one that's supposedly strong enough…"
"To kill All Might," Suri finished cautiously as she watched the blackened monster.
"What?!"
Shoji and Sero looked at the two with shock and horror and then back to the scene below.
"There's no way right? Sure he's strong but he can't possibly… right?"
"Suri!" Tooru called out as she ran towards her friend.
"Tooru, I'm glad you're safe," Suri gave the invisible girl a smile, already walking towards her to meet her halfway. Tooru's cry gained the attention of Mina and Uraraka, the acid user getting to her feet and rushing to meet them.
"I'm so glad you're safe! What happened? And," Mina looked to the snake girl, letting the question hang on the tip of her tongue.
"Me, Bakugou, and Kirishima got sent to the collapse zone and got ambushed by some villains. And before you ask," Suri spoke quickly and sternly. "This is Nagamaki, she's on our side now."
"Now?" all of her classmates asked slowly and cautiously.
"It's a long story and I can explain it later but I owe her my life. If you have a problem with it then take it up with me after all this."
Everyone, including Yumei, gave the girl a surprised look, all of them in complete shock. The shock went on even as Suri came to Thirteen's side and placed the snake girl down beside her and then turned back towards the stairs. Suri's eyes were hyper focused, seeing only their injured teacher and being reminded of the fight between Mathias and Hyrum, as the latter was going for the killing blow, reaching for her brother's throat.
"Where are you going?! You just got back," Uraraka exclaimed with a panicked voice.
"I know. And I'll be right back, but first," Suri replied without looking back. "Our classmates and friends are still in here, they're not safe yet. And Mr. Aizawa needs help so I'm going to go down there and do what I can."
"Suri, I know you're strong but," Mina had rushed towards her friend and grabbed the girl's hand, trying to keep her from going. "We need you. We need our class rep."
"It's a class rep's job to keep their classmates safe and in line, right?"
Mina looked wide eyed at her friend and nodded, wanting to say more but Suri stopped her.
"That's what I'm going to do. Besides, I'm not just the class rep, right Tooru?"
The invisible girl let out a sound of surprise as she was caught in the green gold gaze of her friend who somehow always knew where she was standing when no one else did. Said invisible girl had come up beside their pinkette friend.
"I… h-how do you do that?"
"I'm not just the class representative. This class, you're not only my friends, I'm staking my claims right here and right now."
Suri looked back down the stairs towards the beating that was being taken on Aizawa and her eyes narrowed into a deep rage filled scowl. Her beast's power flourished with that rage and it poured out, off of her skin, and filled the space around her. The power that had once slapped against her friends earlier in the day and had stung them instead became a source of heat and warmth that embraced them. The monster inside of her roared towards the surface and pushed more of her animalistic features towards the surface, on the brink of going full beast once again.
Tooru had called her a queen earlier today. It was about damn time she acted like it.
"I am Lupra!" She roared, her human voice no longer present. "I am the Queen of 1-A and this is my pack. And no one, I mean absolutely no one, fucks with my pack."