Hello everyone and welcome to another chapter of Legion!
And damn is this going to be a heavy one.
Reviews
Sixsamchaos: Alternate timelines indeed!
The mysterious Mr. E: Thanks!
Firem78910: Yep.
Wolves567: Our vengeance burns brighter still.
EWR115: Pain.
Monkey D. Conan: Probably not to that point, but OFA will continue to grow.
THE-Twilight-BlazeKnight: Yeah, all the trauma for these kids.
Maniacalharp747: That'd be cool.
Shobu556: For now…and actually for a while! Well…depending on who actually.
Redmen6blight: TO ARMS!
The Thanatos 0513: Compensation? In this economy? HA!
Austin: He'll definitely have more eyes looking on him.
Ghostwarrior935: Interesting, I'll have to look into it.
Surprisingly not as many reviews as I though there'd be but oh well.
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Remember, important announcements are posted on it and we're growing to have a nice community!
LEGION: ALL FOR ONE
"Never give up hope, no matter how dark things seem."
Inside the war room, several heroes, clones, and Commission members were assembled, all of them discussing what actions they should take now that they had gotten the location of the villains' hideout.
"We have received some encrypted coordinates, most likely from Sentinel and his squad who went radio silent a few hours after returning to U.A. after the camp. The most likely locations are here, and here," Cody said as he marked the coordinates with a marker on the map they were looking at.
"This is a crisis on another level… We need to apprehend this villain at all costs and his colleagues. We need to strike fast and swiftly! The clones should go in first, followed by the heroes." A Commission member said.
"Are you suggesting using the Vod'e as cannon fodder again?" Midnight said, her eyes squinting at the member.
"Well, I mean… they have a point. What else are they good for? They're clones, which means they're expendable. There's practically an infinite number of them," A hero said, to which the entire UA faculty and a few of the pros glared at him.
Kamui Woods walked up to the pro and slammed his hands on the table.
"They. Are. Not. Expendable." He said, his fingers digging into the wood, nearly making it crack.
Before an argument could break out, another figure entered the room followed by a few others. A slender woman clad in armor approached the group, with those following her lining up next to the clones in the room.
"This is no time for infighting. We're all heroes here, no?" She said, all while noticing one of the Commission members groaning slightly.
"Why are you here, Nite Owl? This isn't your area of jurisdiction. Shouldn't you be back in Zundari with your agency?" The Commission member asked in frustration, as the Number 50 hero took a seat by the table.
"The Vizla Agency is more than capable of watching over Zundari on their own. They can handle me not being there for a few days. Especially if the threat is so great that several of the Top Ten are here." Nite Owl replied, keeping her helmet on as she seemingly scanned the room.
"Then what about Koncordia?"
"The Wren Agency. I heard that Ursa Major's daughter got her license recently, so this will be a good opportunity to capture some minor villains in her home city." she waved off, before lacing her fingers together.
"So… What's the plan?"
"The plan so far is having All Might and his strike team attack the main complex with the commandos, while the secondary demolishes the other place where this 'Sentinel' fellow supposedly is," The Commissioner said, showing their plan of attack.
"This is in the middle of Camino… What about the civilians?"
"They have already been given orders to evacuate."
"Thousands of people are living in that city alone… They can't possibly all escape in time!"
"Listen here, Nite Owl. Sometimes, sacrifices must be made. We don't like it either, but if we really are going up against the most infamous villain in the history of Japan, then casualties will be inevitable…" Another Commission member said in a somber tone, clearly not liking the idea of having to strike in the middle of an inhabited zone either.
"Wait, back up, infamous villain?"
All the heroes perked up with that question.
"Yes…we've been briefed by All Might. The true master of the League of Villains…and one we thought he defeated six years ago. Bear in mind that this is Japan's first and only Supervillain."
Everybody gulped.
Everybody knew about villains…and as cheesy as it sounded, Supervillains were an entirely different breed of evil.
"He shouldn't come out unless his safety's at stake, but if he does, this is somebody that All Might and only All Might can fight against."
A few minutes of pondering later, Nite Owl stood up.
"I need to talk with my daughter before we go," She said as she left, the rest of her people followed her soon after.
"Or Mand'alor?"
Izuku gulped.
"Does it truly matter?" He asked.
All For One chuckled, amused at the naivete of youth.
"But of course," He replied. "Names, after all, have power. All Might chose his, and ended up portraying himself as a mighty god for the masses, unknowingly leaving a shadow so great that hero society has atrophied."
He then gestured to himself.
"I, of course, named myself after my quirk. And my name strikes terror into the heart of the Underworld. My horror is still so great, that the sheep refuse to even whisper my name for fear that I will arrive at their doorstep."
He then motioned toward Izuku.
"So tell me…Mand'alor…what does that name mean for you?"
Izuku gulped again.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Indulge me."
"Mand'alor means…leader, but more than that, I want it to mean Hope. Whenever somebody hears me or my brothers, they know that a better future awaits."
Upon hearing that, All For One chuckled.
"Well then, how interesting," He said as Izuku suddenly began to feel as if he was being suffocated as an invisible pressure began to exert itself upon him.
"You are certainly quite the interesting little successor," All For One's tone became much more menacing. "So young and already becoming a thorn in my side. Your clones did surprisingly well against the droid army, and even prevented me from attaining one of my own goals."
He then chuckled darkly, the noise sending chilling Izuku's blood.
"And, they're not afraid to kill. The USJ Nomu, along with two minor villains, the Hosu Nomu, Moonfish and Muscular…and if I'm not mistaken, you're not afraid to kill yourself."
Izuku then fell to his knees as the pressure became unbearable.
"You just haven't had the chance to…and perhaps you won't even get the chance."
Izuku choked, almost feeling his heart stop from the sheer amount of pressure and fear he was feeling.
Then it disappeared.
"But perhaps, I am being too hasty."
Izuku gasped, panting as he desperately tried to catch his breath.
"After all, I still have to thank you."
"Thank me?" He gasped out.
"Indeed, were it not for your actions, your influence on Tomura, his growth would not be nearly as high as it is now."
Izuku's eyes widened in horror.
"...What?"
"Yes, because of you and your clones, Shigaraki was forced to look at himself in the mirror, see what was wrong and change accordingly. He was particularly animated after your little talk at the mall."
'What have I done?'
"Oh, now don't feel too guilty, child. Tomura would have grown up eventually, you merely accelerated it," All For One said without a care. "Truth be told, had it not been you I would have taken other measures to ensure his growth."
"Still though," He continued. "Now onto other matters of business."
Ethereal chains then appeared and held him down in place as he was forced to bow before him.
"Now this is a familiar sight," All For One chuckled as Izuku was then strung up with the chains and dragged towards him. "One For All, fallen before me."
Izuku tried to resist but was useless without his strength.
"I do wonder, what secrets Legion and One For All hold together?"
His eyes widened in fear as All For One's hand reached towards his face, his heart pounding louder and louder as each second passed and it came closer and closer.
"After all, according to my calculations, you should have aged considerably, yet the only damage I can detect is the scarring on your body."
The hand was an inch from his face.
"So I do wonder, Midoriya Izuku, what made you so special?"
Izuku closed his eyes and his breath hitched as the palm finally touched his forehead, the fingers almost wrapping around his skull.
Yet nothing happened.
"But alas, Tomura has requested that no harm come to you yet," All For One said as he let go. "So I will have to sate my curiosity another day."
Izuku tried to control his breathing and steady his heart rate but his panic and fear were palpable to the tyrant before him.
"But rest assured, Mand'alor," He said mockingly. "We will meet again."
Kurogiri's dark portal began to manifest around him, swallowing his vision.
"After all…" All For One continued.
"I still have to reunite with you, little brother."
Izuku gasped as he fell to his knees before rough hands picked him up and shoved him against the wall where his cuffs were suddenly energized, creating a tether to said wall.
"Izuku!" Denki cried out from his restraints.
"Denki!" Izuku exclaimed in shock. "They got you too?"
"Yeah…" Denki said before sighing heavily. "Somehow, my uncle's returned."
"What?"
"I…I don't know…but he completely overwhelmed me. He and that Compress guy caught Kyoka and I off guard…he took me…left her behind after I…proved myself," He said as he bowed his head.
"Denki…"
"I…I tried to fight it man, but once I got angry…"
"You unleashed your full power, Denki," Relampago stated as he entered the room they were in. "And that power is but a fraction of your full potential."
"What the…how?" Izuku muttered as he saw the gaping hole in the villain's chest cavity.
"I presume that you're wondering as to my current state of being?" Relampago said as he shifted his attention to Izuku.
"Let's just say that I am a special breed of villain, saved by All For One and his cohorts after my demise, he actually took inspiration for my resurrection from an old Spanish villain, Arrancar."
Izuku gulped, said villain had caused a lot of devastation in their short time.
"And me, well, I wanted to pay homage to that, you may call me Relampago."
He then turned back towards Denki.
"Now, where were we, Denki?"
"I won't join you," Denki said defiantly from his chains.
"Oh my dear boy, you'll soon realize that there's no such thing as choice when it comes to our kind," Relampago replied almost sympathetically.
"What?"
"Denki…I used to be just like you, idealistic, naive, listening to every single thing my sister said, but the more I used my power, the more my mind began to change," Relampago said as he stalked around the room.
"Soon enough, it didn't matter what I wanted…I changed…and I've become all the better for it." He said, letting electricity crackle between his fingers. "I found true joy."
"You murdered people!"
"So for you, my boy," He continued, ignoring Denki as he got close. "It doesn't matter."
"My will…is strong enough…I'm strong enough," Denki replied, trying to assure himself more than defy his uncle.
"And like I said, this isn't a matter of will, this is a matter of nature. Your own biology is your enemy, the more you use your quirk at higher levels, the more you are changed."
Placing his hand on Denki's head, he then stared directly into the young boy's fearful eyes.
"The faster you accept that change, the easier this will be," He whispered.
"I won't give in! You can't make me use my power!" Denki yelled as he shook his head, trying to break free only for the restraints to become tighter, as more chains appeared, wrapping around his body.
"Haha, can't I? You still don't understand, Denki."
Relampago then started to charge his quirk, and Denki could feel his own electricity begin to flow against his will.
"Electricity flows through the path of least resistance, well, in this case, that's me," Relampago said with a grin. "I don't need your compliance Denki."
Denki grunted as the power flowed through him, as the flow increased, they became more frequent and drawn out.
Then he began to scream.
"That's it, my boy… feel your powers flow through you… how about this… when you've seen your light, we'll find your little sister so you won't be alone." He chuckled while pouring in more and more of his electricity through his nephew's head whose own quirk crackled and sparkled.
"Get out of his head, you bastard!" Izuku yelled, trying to reach out to his friend, only for the shackles around his wrists to stop him mere inches from Denki.
"Kurogiri! Be a dear and take our dear Mand'alor to his own room, after all, he has his own guests waiting for him."
"NO! Denki! Stay strong! Denki!" He roared as he was swept away once more.
"DENKI!"
Izuku was panting heavily as he appeared in another room, looking around for anything around him.
The feminine giggling made him shiver.
Back at the hospital, Nite Owl landed on a balcony and looked inside to see her daughter currently crying into her hands, before opening the door and entering.
"Hello dear…" She whispered, making her look up from her hands, her eyes red and puffy from all the crying.
"...Mom…" Itsuka whimpered out as she hugged the taller woman who returned the gesture as she bent down to her height.
"I heard and saw everything. The recording you sent me? You couldn't have chosen a better partner." Her mother whispered tenderly, putting her hands on her shoulders while looking into her teal eyes.
"I-I couldn't save him… If only I had been stronger, then maybe-"
"You would have been with our ancestors now. Itsuka… even if you had been there, no matter how much you train yourself, a martial artist will almost always lose against a gun without protection." She said, sternly yet in the always motherly tone.
"B-but I-" she stammered before being pulled close to her mother again, her entire body trembling as her tears kept on flowing, the feeling of her parent gently stroking her hair soothing her slightly.
"You can't save everyone… just like I wasn't able to save your father… Just know this, my dear daughter; We would have gladly accepted him into the family."
A few minutes passed before Itsuka took a deep breath and gently pushed away from her mom to look at her better.
"Mom… I have a request for you…"
"Speak your mind, Itsuka."
"...I would like to get my old costume back." She said, a dead-set determination in her eyes, to which her mother nodded.
"I will soon be going to the heroes meeting again to discuss the rescue of your partner's brother. But rest assured that your costume is in prime condition and will be sent to you shortly." She informed, to which Itsuka nodded.
"Thank you, mom…"
A knock on the door and Ochako peeked her head in.
"Is this a bad time?"
"No…what's up Uraraka?"
Ochako's eyes veered towards her mother who met her gaze before smirking.
Recognizing the hero, Ochako's eyes nearly bulged out before regaining her composure.
"You are…" She said, before being interrupted by the older woman.
"You want to fight…don't you?"
"...Yes…will you stop us?"
"Considering everything that happened, I imagine that my daughter would want to join you. And we are also talking about avenging my late Son-In-Law. So no, I won't stop you, young hero."
"...mom…we were barely…"
"Please, don't think I didn't see how much you adored him…I loved him too you know? As if he were my own son. He was a good man."
Ochako grimaced.
"I'm sorry."
Itsuka shook her head, tears pooling in her eyes again but she refused to cry again.
"...what are you planning?"
"We're still in the planning stages…and the teachers don't know yet, but…Izuku gave me the Darksaber."
Itsuka's eyebrow peaked in confusion.
"It means that I'm Mand'alor now."
Itsuka's eyes widened in shock.
"W-what?! I thought Mand'alor was Midoriya's hero name?" She said, confusion beginning to replace her sorrow, if only briefly.
"Ah, yes… I've heard of that device. I guess that it relates to the concessions that Nezu had to agree with before Mand'alor got permission to receive his license, correct?" Itsuka's mother said, to which Ochako nodded.
"How did you-"
"Why do you think the Commission pressed that rule on him? It was so they could have a chance to seize the power of the strongest fighting force on the planet if he were to 'disappear'."
"Strongest fighting force?"
"Have you ever considered just how broken Midoriya's quirk is? I don't know the specifics, but from what I can tell, his quirk isn't just manpower and armaments. I've read the reports, his quirk adapts to the situations that are thrust upon him with technology beyond what's available today. Hovercraft, blaster weapons, armor, medical technology, and he's only 15. His armaments even surpass what we use in my agency," She said, to which Ochako slowly seemed to realize just how Izuku and his brothers would look from an outsider's point of view.
"They didn't, however, say, that said device or person who could take control of the Vod'e in the case of its leader's absence, had to be from or in possession of the Commission." Itsuka's mother snorted.
Her mother then sent off a quick message before making her way out.
"You two would best be on your way to your friends. From what I've heard, they're preparing for a war." She said over her shoulder before leaving.
She had some people to call.
After she had left, Ochako looked at the redhead next to her.
"I still can't believe your mother is-"
"Yes, yes… I know… let's get going…"
"Ah right. Meet me at Tipoca…Bring those who you can trust, alright?" Ochako said, to which her friend nodded.
Back at the school, some of the students were assembled in Tipoca Dorms, each of them being in a different state of hurt, some of them having bandages around them along with bacta patches.
From 1-A: Tenya, Yuga, Mina, Toru, Kyoka, Shoto, Momo, and Tsuyu.
And from 1-B: Reiko, Setsuna, Shishida, Pony, Komori, Shiozaki, and Tetsutetsu.
Oh, and Hatsume was there too for some reason.
Apparently, she was in the workshops and decided to join them.
Ochako and Itsuka suddenly entered the room, garnering the attention of the students and clones present.
What struck a chord in them, however, was Itsuka's costume.
Instead of it being the teal qipao she usually wore, she was instead clad in armor. Armor that looked very similar to what the Vod'e wore, except for a few things.
"Wait a minute… Isn't that?"
"The armor ours is based on?" A few clones muttered as they went closer to get a better look, along with some students.
Hatsume immediately pushed her way through the crowd to get a better look, before confirming that it indeed was the armor she used to base the Vod'e armor just as someone noticed the crest on Itsuka's right shoulder plate.
"Hold up… the Owl Eyes… that's the symbol of the number 50 hero, Nite Owl!" One of them exclaimed in shock, the room suddenly going quiet enough, that one would have been able to hear a needle drop.
"Sigh…yes…I am Nite Owl's daughter," Itsuka said before taking a deep breath and palming the cyan shoulder plate.
Her eyes then hardened.
"I am Itsuka Kendo-Katan of Clan Kyrze, daughter of Bo-Katan Kryze. I am here to avenge my love and help save Mand'alor and Buurenaar."
"And I am Uravity…Mand'alor has passed me the Darksaber in his absence, therefore, in his stead I will lead you as Mand'alor," She said while holding up the mentioned blade.
The clones slammed their vambraces twice and shouted as one.
"KOTE!"
"Ochako…why have you called us all here?" Momo said.
"I have called you all here because we have all been hurt, we have all suffered loss, friends, loved ones, brothers," Ochako began as she motioned to them all. "The Vod'e have tracked down the League of Villains. They have already stated their intention to fight alongside the heroes to save our friends."
She then took a deep breath.
"I propose that we join them and this time, we take the fight to them."
Murmurs began to rise from the students that were in the crowd.
"The Commission thinks that sending only a few commandos is enough, but they've only ever seen action behind their desks, far away from the frontlines… your brothers are strong, but we all know that even they won't be able to hold out against Nomu for long." She said, to which some clones nodded, while others murmured about needing some training from Sentinel, who had recently gone dark along with his personal squad.
"We need to be able to move out and provide aid to them. Especially now with the droid army potentially coming back. Without help, we'll risk losing several heroes in one fell swoop alongside All Might!" She said, making more and more of the students shudder.
"Therefore I ask you… will you join me?" She asked and extended her hand, being met with silence.
Fearing that no one would heed the call, the brunette began to lose hope, before someone stepped forward. It was Reiko holding the scimitar she had taken from Grievous.
"You have my blade." She replied, Spectre and Phantom coming out of stealth the moment she said it.
Tenya moved forward, truth be told he would have moved faster but he had been stunned by the enormity of it all.
not functioning for a bit there.
"Mand'alor has saved my life, how could I not do the same in return."
"You have me," Momo said as she walked forward, before summoning a bo staff and slamming it into the ground. Wolffe and the others standing behind her. "And you have my brothers."
Tsunotori and Shishida were up next.
"We are also at your service. How can we call ourselves heroes if we can't even save a comrade in need?" He said while the American girl nodded as Keeli holstered both his pistols, followed by more clones in the same maroon red he had painted his armor in.
Rex soon followed, alongside Domino Squad, all of them standing in a formation with blasters heating up.
Setsuna placed herself next to Tenya with Waxer, Boil, and Mayhem.
The sound of machinery and heavy metal steps was then heard as Lightning Squadron arrived on their AT-RTs.
"Lightning Squadron, at your disposal," Blitz said with Kyoka climbing up to sit next to him. The latter, who was currently mute, gave a thumbs up in reply to help.
Shiozaki, who had grouped with the mediclones, nodded her assent, Kix and the others readying their medical equipment.
"May the Lord bless us in our righteous endeavor, to save and help those who saved us in turn." She prayed, clasping her hands together
Yuga approached them as well.
"The Vod'e have sacrificed so much for me…I will do the same," He said as he stood solemnly as Fordo walked over to him and joined their group.
More and more of them joined in until just about everyone in the room had agreed to come along with them, each now holding a blaster of some kind.
As everyone began to get hyped up about joining the fight, one voice cried out in denial.
"WAIT!"
Everybody turned to see Tsuyu, shakily standing against them.
"Please…don't do this…I know that we're all in pain, that we're all horrified by all this…but…we can't just run to fight like this! We're just students…and Vod'e, you're the same age as us…let's leave this to the heroes…we can't…I can't lose more friends," She sobbed as she began to break down.
Ochako walked forward to meet her crying friend and hugged her tightly.
"We do this…because we have to…"
"Please don't do this, Ochako…if you do…I'll go to Aizawa-sensei and the others…I can't risk losing you guys too," She pleaded, staring her friend in the eyes, tears slowly starting to form, just as the door behind them opened and a familiar red-painted clone stood in the entrance.
"What is going on here?!" Fox called out as he and the UA guard entered the room and formed a circle around the assembly.
"Is this an AWOL mission? Does the faculty know of this?!" He shouted, looking at each and every one of them in confusion as he had a difficult time wrapping his head around this.
"Don't do this Fox…" Rex said to his brother who looked between him and Tsuyu, trying to assess the situation currently happening in the dorms.
"Fox," Tsuyu said as she broke away from Ochako and approached him. "They want to join the heroes for the fight…please…stop them…or tell the faculty…"
"Fox," Ochako said as she called his attention and stood in his line of vision, Darksaber in hand.
"..."
Fox looked at Ochako before his helmet slightly tilted down so that he could look at Tsuyu.
He then approached the shaking girl and placed his hands on her shoulders before drawing her into a hug.
"It's going to be alright, Tsuyu…" He whispered.
PEEEEWWW
"...agh…"
Just then, the froggy girl glowed blue for a brief second, before collapsing into his arms, revealing him holding his pistol on the stun setting.
"Fox! What are you doing?!" Echo said and ran over with Fives to check if she was ok.
"I heard something from the dorms, gathered the guard, and came over to find Tsuyu collapsed on the floor out of exhaustion. I saw nothing else," He told the two who looked up at him in shock.
"Go."
Ochako nodded at him though she was also crying.
Although it was well-intentioned, it did not change the fact that they had betrayed Tsuyu.
But it would have to be something that would be dealt with later.
Just before they managed to leave, they were interrupted once again.
"Hold it!" A voice said over a speaker as another room opened, smoke coming out of it as ten figures walked out, the majority of people looking in said direction.
The smoke soon cleared to reveal Orion standing in front of the group along with Spartan, each with heavily customized armor.
"Aaaah, craaaap… we can't fight them!" A clone said as the squad approached them before surprisingly Fordo stepped forward and looked at Orion, the two staring each other down for several seconds that felt like hours.
"You aren't going anywhere without us, Vod," Orion said, ax in one hand and blaster in the other.
Fordo nodded, before he stood next to him and the others, the remaining eight stepping forward.
The first of the ARCs had a mainly gray color scheme, his visor being red on one side and blue on the other, along with purple accents in between the lines of his armor, with his Heart of Iron being the same color. He wore a backpack with what looked like a cannon sticking up on the right side, along with wielding a vambrace on his right arm that looked to be a blaster, the equipment, and his entire right arm painted black. His armor was a mix of standard armor and Commando armor, his chest and shoulder plates being the biggest example.
"I am Megatronus of the Thirteen, The Gladiator. I am at your service, Mand'alor. My brothers, today, we take the fight to the villains!" He shouted, before pulling out another weapon, this time something akin to a flail, as he and Orion put their weapons together.
Next up was a clone who was taller than his peers, only a head shorter than Shouji, his armor being a mix of red and blue like Orion's however, there were the standard white mixed into his, most notably on his shoulder plates, gloves and front of his helmet, while his arms and legs were mainly blue and his chest was red.
On his helmet were two antennae while his visor was blue and wore neck armor like Rex did and wore a shorter, blue, and red kama holding blaster pistols.
In his right hand was a long warhammer.
"I am Ultra Magnus of the Thirteen, the Peacekeeper. My hammer shall strike our foes, and bring our comrades home." He said, slamming the handle into the ground and like Megatronus before, put his weapon to the other two.
Next up came one with a silver and red color scheme, along with a strange head crest that looked slightly like a mohawk.
His chest plate, shoulders, and back bore the silver color, while the rest of it was red, with leather brown lines going crisscrossed on his boots. Unlike the others, he wore a cape as Sentinel did, the two looking very similar, save for the eagle on this one's chest, the lions on his shoulder plates, and the flame pattern on his cape.
In his right hand, he held a vibro sword shaped like a gladius, and in his left hand a tower shield almost as tall as himself. His vambraces had the same pattern as his boots, along with whistling birds on the left and darts on the right while also having what looked like a katana on his back and a small ax on his right hip.
"I am Centurion, the General. I pledge my allegiance to Mand'alor the Second, as do my brothers." He called out, placing the sword with his brother's weapons.
A new ARC trooper stepped up, this time with a blaster cannon and rocket launcher on each shoulder attached to a backpack while his vambraces consisted of twin mini rotary cannons, several concussion missiles, and whistling birds launchers attached on his leg armor and two bandoliers holding grenades and blaster packs across his chest along with two DC-17 blaster pistols in the holsters on his hips and chest.
His armor was primarily black with golden accents, with his helmet having patterns looking like gun ports at the temples, along with machine gun belts painted on him, making him look like a walking armory.
"I am Arsenal. I lend you my strength and firepower for the upcoming battle," he said, slamming his fists together before placing his arm at the weapon pile.
After him came a clone who had a backpack with boosters, and a blaster cannon along with a missile launcher, with two arms extending out from it, before they activated and created two energy shields similar to Sentinel's.
His armor was primarily blue with a few red accents, while his feet, helmet, thighs, and upper arms were white, along with a golden V fin on top of his helmet.
His vambraces also each held a personal shield while the right one had a dual blaster cannon.
"I am Armament, the Barrier. I shall provide protection and cover fire with my shields. My loyalty lies with Mand'alor." he nodded and put his arm with the others.
The ARC trooper after Armament had armor colored like a typical hand grenade seen with the American military, carrying around two bandoliers and a backpack filled with different types of explosives.
His armor was bulkier than the others to better withstand the concussive force of the explosions his primary weapons made, and carried around a DC-17 in its grenade launcher configuration, while also having a C4 strapped to each of his legs.
"I am Faultline, the Demolitionist. I shall clear the path with my explosives. My allegiance is with Mand'alor and the Vod'e." he announced as his weapon also joined the pile.
The next to last clone had a small red fin in the shape of horns on top of his helmet, the visor glowing blue, his gloves, shins, and boots being red, while the majority of his armor was white and his arms and helmet were lime green with red accents.
The most noticeable on him, however, was the giant medical symbol on his chest plate and his belt of medical supplies.
He didn't seem to be armed whatsoever, save for a singular blaster pistol, with the rest of his gear being either medical equipment or tools such as scalpels, bactasprays, and tiny vibro blades.
Other than that, he had a towing cable and searchlights on his helmet, with the visor blinking red, green, and then purple for a brief second, indicating the function of both infrared, x-ray, and ultraviolet settings.
"I am Ratchet, the Healer. If you have any injuries or pains, I will do my best to heal and provide treatment." The clone announced in a gentle yet firm voice and placed his hand with his brothers.
The last one came up with white armor with green and red accents, as well as odd adornments on his helmet and carrying a rocket launcher attached to his right shoulder.
"I'm Wheeljack, the Engineer. You have my tools," he said, the helmet ornaments glowing blue every time he spoke, as four smaller mechanical arms extended out from his backpack, one holding a blowtorch, the other a grappling hook, the third a drill, and the fourth a hammer.
Ochako felt overwhelmed at the support that she was getting and nodded at them all.
"Then we charge together!" She roared as ignited the Darksaber and raised it high. "OYA!"
"OYA! OYA! OYA!"
"Vod'e, [To Arms!]" She yelled with the others present, raising their weapons in response.
Nite Owl would meet with them as they exited the school and they planned their insertion.
"We'll remain on standby, I know you kids want to fight but we can't go in half-cocked. That's how good heroes die and I'm already gonna be in a world of trouble for helping you out with this."
"I know…thank you so much for this, Mom," Itsuka said as she hugged her mother.
"Hey kiddo, as I said, I cared about him too…"
"What would you recommend then, Nite Owl?" Uravity said, knowing that the Vod'e were already using the LAATs.
"Have I ever told you I'm ex-military? Spec Ops if you can believe that."
"Oh, that explains a whole lot… But what does that have to do with anything right now?"
"Well, it just so happens that I still have connections within the JSDF Special Forces, and I managed to pull a few strings."
She then led them to the vehicle bay that Cementoss had been kind enough to build for them after the first speeders were created. Expanding it continuously after seeing the AT-RTs and, due to planning ahead, had plenty of room for the LAATs and another vehicle.
"I specialized in rapid insertion operations, with experimental jetpacks, you'd think we'd be able to get a support company to fund us but no, everybody cares about heroes only," She said as she led them down the vehicle bay. "Still, my training did help with my hero work, although I've been longing to take this baby for a spin."
The ship was beautiful, about 50 meters long with what appeared to be rotating wings.
"Behold, the Gauntlet-class fighter. First and only of its kind, specializing in rapid insertion of soldiers with either parachutes or my case, jetpacks. Considering how you guys have some pretty good hardware, you can guess where I'm leading with this."
"It's perfect," Ochako grinned.
"Now remember-"
"Mand'alor Uravity!" A clone called out from the side.
"What's the matter trooper?"
"Sentinel went online again, he says that they've found a nomu factory at the second location, but we soon lost contact with them again!"
"Just got a report! The strike team has attacked the bar and found the villains but they're getting surrounded by nomu!"
"Mand'alor Uravity!" Another called out. "Reports just came in on the news, Camino's just been devastated in a villain attack! The entire ward's just been turned into a crater!"
"Impossible…"
"Not impossible, this is what All Might warned us about," Nite Owl said, recalling his warning about a potential villain that should he come out, only he would be able to fight against.
"All Might's en route to the Camino ward with Arashi!"
"All units! Load up! It is time to show the world what we're made of! Earn your colors, boys!"
"OYA!"
A few hours earlier
League of Villains Hideout
Camino
Izuku couldn't hear Denki anymore and that worried him greatly.
He could only hope that he could withstand it until help arrived.
But now he had other matters to attend to, including the girl that was twirling the knife in her hands and looking at him like he was a piece of meat.
It creeped him out to absolutely no end.
"You look even better in person, dear~" the blonde girl chirped as she bent down to be at his eye level, their noses practically touching.
"...You know, usually we're supposed to introduce each other before pet names like that…" Izuku sarcastically said.
"Right, right, where are my manners? I know all about you Izuku-kun, but you don't know me yet," The clearly insane blonde said as she stared at him with some insane, lovesick expression. "I'm Himiko, Toga Himiko."
Izuku gulped.
"Well then, Toga-"
"Himiko," She demanded, the knife pressed against his jugular.
"...Himiko," He said after swallowing thickly. Why? Why did he have to get the yandere? Did whatever cosmic beings that existed out in the universe really hate him that much?
Bah! He was rambling again!
"What do you want from me? And why do you act like I've known you for a long time?" he said, somewhat afraid of the answer, but he felt his curiosity needed to be sated.
"How cruel you are… I've already drunk your blood lots of times now… You should be able to remember that." She pouted at him.
At that moment, the sound of glass breaking could be heard, after Kurogiri dropped a bottle by accident somewhere in the hideout after sneezing.
"Then again…those clones of yours…none of them could beat the original, that I'm pretty sure."
"...Oh you did not just say that…" Izuku muttered under his breath as his eyes hardened.
Her gaze twitched.
"How many?" Izuku snarled. "How many of my brothers did you kill?"
"Hmmm? Brothers?" Himiko asked almost mockingly. "Now that's interesting."
"How many!" He demanded to know.
"I don't know…but I remember one of them pretty well, he and the others took out hundreds of those droids…I wanted a taste so I sent three of Twice's clones…"
'Clones? Another clone user? Wait… the guy who was reported as going insane not long before I discovered Legion?'
"He took the three of them out…but he died along the way… How sad… Buuuuut, I think I may pay a little visit to his little redhead girlfriend for some romantic advice!" she giggled.
'Redhead girlfriend…' Izuku's eyes widened in horror and he bowed his head in grief.
"...Thorn…"
"Yeah…that was his name…quite the charmer too, if the clones were real, I'm sure they'd be nice and bloody too…he wasn't afraid to kill…I wonder what that says about you?"
Izuku looked up again, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.
"Why? Why would you do this? You're my age and you've thrown your lot in with villains!"
Her gaze darkened, and Izuku felt that he might have hit a touchy subject.
"Not all of us get a choice…Izu-kun…" She said, the light glinting off of her fangs. "But that's fine…after all, where else am I going to get such delicious blood?" She said as she licked her lips.
"What-urk!" He grunted as she then bit down on his collar and began to suck up his blood.
Shigaraki had ordered her not to cut him up, so she'd just have to get his blood straight from the source.
His blood was divine, a thousand flavors, more even, mixed into one.
Izuku groaned in pain at the action, already feeling lightheaded.
'Not exactly how I wanted my first hickey to go…'
But then suddenly, Himiko wrenched herself from his collar and began to choke, falling to her hands and knees she began to sob and shake, every inch of her body trembling as she clutched her head.
"...I'm sorry…I didn't want to, I'm sorryI'm sorryI'm sorry…"
Izuku groaned in pain again but her actions caught his attention and he was confused.
"What the…hey! What'd you do?"
Himiko gasped and turned to face him, her face frantic, her eyes wide in fear and horror.
"I…I…your blood…too much…too rich…brought me back…"
"Brought you back? What…?" Izuku thought before taking a closer look at her, seeing her state of disarray, noticing her wording about his blood…
"Quirk insanity…you have quirk insanity, don't you?" He asked.
'Damn it, it's just like Shigaraki…I should be hating her for what she did, but now…I just pity her…'
A blood-user, they were almost as vilified as the hardcore mutants. Vlad King was one of the lucky ones, his quirk uses his own blood and he doesn't need as much as she does apparently.
He then remembered the conversation he had after encountering Shigaraki at the mall.
"If your compassion leads to the chance of somebody taking the path towards the light, use it. You will not only save their life, but also the lives of those who would have been affected by them."
"They're right, Izuku," Nana said from the Mindscape. "However unlikely the scenario, every person deserves the opportunity for redemption. Without that hope, we may never achieve lasting peace."
Izuku sighed before addressing her…for the moment, he would have to put her actions to the side.
"...Hey…look, I don't know completely what's going on with you, but maybe I can help you…"
"No…no…it's too late for me…I've done too much…I…"
Himiko kept shaking her head as she was assaulted by her memories.
"Hey, come on, it's not too late, just…listen to me, we can figure something out-"
"NO! I…I can't-"
'She can't handle the weight of her actions now that her sanity's back!' He thought.
"NO, WAIT!"
Himiko then shoved her fingers into her mouth and Izuku turned away as he heard her retching, liquid hitting the floor and the smell of iron in the air.
The girl spent a few minutes on the floor, coughing and throwing up a bit more before standing up and wiping her mouth.
"...Himiko?"
"...hahahaha…ah…Naughty, naughty, Izu-kun…trying to take me back to the prison that is abiding by the law… I prefer living as a bird, free of everything rather than having to follow a stupid set of rules limiting me to not be who I am!" She giggled while spinning around like a ballerina.
Izuku bowed his head in grief…as much as he despised this girl's actions, he hated himself even more for not being able to help.
Maybe in the future, when she was arrested, he could try again, but for now, she and every other villain here needed to be taken down.
"You will pay for your transgressions, but it won't be by my hands…" Izuku whispered looking up at her again, eyes void of life as he stared directly into her yellow ones.
"Now whatever could you mean by that, Izu dear?" She asked, curious about what he was implying.
"Have you ever heard of the saying, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'?" he said, leaving the blonde girl confused as to what he meant.
After the entire Himiko debacle, he was put back into the room with an unconscious Denki, Izuku trying multiple times to awaken him to no avail.
Izuku could only hope that he'd recover from whatever torture he'd been put through.
"I've been hoping to get another chance to talk to you, Mand'alor," Shigaraki said as he appeared from the side.
"...Shigaraki…"
"The news has been running rampant about our little excursion. I admit, I thought the two villains your clones killed at the USJ were one-offs, and I can understand the nomu, after all, they're not human anymore, just monsters…"
He then turned to face the glaring boy.
"But Muscular and Moonfish? I saw their deaths, your clones executed them…I have to admit…I'm impressed."
Izuku gulped but he'd researched those villains in particular. Moonfish was already on death row, and they probably had no choice with Muscular.
"What's your point, Shigaraki?"
"My point is that we're not so different, you and I…we both want to make a change, Mr. Rising Symbol of Hope…and we're not afraid to get our hands dirty."
Izuku snarled.
"I am nothing like you!"
"Oh? Maybe for now you think so, but eventually, you'll realize the farce that hero society is," He said as he took a drink. "After all, let's say you manage to defeat me and my crew…who do they send after you?"
"What?"
"You haven't seen the news yet, it's really enlightening," Shigaraki said as he turned on the TV.
"Principal Nezu! What do you have to say about the tragedy of the summer camp this year? Forty dead, over a hundred wounded, a few dozen in critical condition, many o' students amongst them, and two have been captured! Not to mention the whole debacle at the USJ where there were a thousand casualties. Please tell us how we can be sure that our children will be safe when two attacks so close to home have struck so close to each other." One reporter asked the dean of the school, holding up a microphone to the critter.
"I know how worried you are, I am too but so far we are in the dark about the whereabouts of the students, but rest assured that the students and the wounded are in the best of care-"
A helmet slammed onto the table, interrupting Nezu's response.
"My name is Marshall Commander Cody, I was there at the USJ, I fought alongside my brothers…and to start with…I'd like to thank you."
The reporter blinked in confusion.
"All the questions we've heard, none of them have addressed the Vod'e as honest casualties, as people, as men who died in the line of duty."
"I-"
"To the rest of the world we're clones…and that's true. We are clones…we were made to fight, and we were made to die. That's the pure truth of the matter. I can tell you with certainty that each one of my brothers who fell, did so because they wanted to protect the future of Japan."
Cody continued to address the crowd, with Nezu and the other teachers supporting him.
"Those students are the future heroes of Japan, more than that, however, they are our friends, our family, and more."
Cody then gestured to the crowd for extra emphasis.
"This, however, only proves that U.A. has only the safety and security of the students in mind. That we only have that in mind. Imagine if we weren't there? How many students would be dead instead of injured? How many more would have been captured?"
"But I am also worried about you and your brothers though…" The reporter sulked, before retreating into the crowd.
"And we appreciate that," Nezu said, taking over after overhearing the comment. "I want to foremost assure that we are not using the Vod'e as cannon fodder. They have become a respected part of our faculty and have integrated into U.A. with Several of them even forming friendships with the student body." He, as he displayed several pictures of students with their faces blurred out interacting with clones and vice versa.
With more questions flooding towards him, one reporter with blue skin and pink hair stepped forward into the front of the crowd and would have nearly walked up on the stage, had it not been for the clones stationed as a perimeter.
"And how can we be sure that these aren't staged, principal Nezu?" The woman said, with the rodent silently gnashing his teeth at the sight of her. He knew who she was and had hoped she wouldn't have shown up.
"I assure you, Miss Kizuki, we at U.A never fabricate anything when it comes to our student body," he said, feeling his fur rise, slightly baring his fangs at the woman who just had a confident smirk plastered on her face.
"Either way, we should get to the crux of the matter, no? The capture of two U.A. students. Midoriya Izuku, the infamous Mand'alor, and Kaminari Denki, aka Buurenaar," She said before going further.
"Midoriya already has records of his clones killing villains without hesitation. In fact, two more deaths can be attributed to them from the camp. And Kaminari is not only a lightning user but also the nephew of the deceased villain, Flashover, who, as we recall, went insane before he was executed by his own sister."
Nezu's fur bristled as he knew where this was going.
"What's to say that this League of Villains didn't capture him in the hopes of doing the same? What assurances does U.A. give that Kaminari Denki will not follow in the footsteps of his uncle?"
Elsewhere, Denki's mother snarled in fury as she saw this shameless reporter slander her son on live tv. The only reason why she wasn't calling her certain things right now, was because she was holding Hoshino in her arms.
"Easy, Arashi…save your fury for the raid…"
"Right…"
"That's enough out of you. You have been asking questions for more than ten minutes now, and the other reporters are getting impatient." Ponds said as he almost walked over to the blue-skinned woman who just glared at the clone, something he returned.
Aizawa however, held his hand and Ponds stopped.
"I can assure you that Kaminari Denki is one of the best students that I know. He is motivated and caring. He willingly came to U.A. knowing the dangers ahead of him both from villains and from his own quirk and has not let that impede him."
"Has he made mistakes? Yes. But like every other student at U.A., he's done his best to improve. He was among the first to befriend the Vod'e, and he risked his life to save his friends and protect others," Aizawa declared firmly.
"There is no doubt in my mind that Buurenaar will become one of the best heroes there is."
"We'll shall see…" Kizuki sneered as she disappeared into the crowd, just as another familiar face showed up.
"Sorry about my cousin, Aizawa, Nezu… You know how she is…" Riyo Chuchi said as she bowed to him.
"It is quite alright… Now, Riyo, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask." Nezu breathed out, happy that at least a few reporters had any amount of sense in them.
"Who will be part of the rescue operation?" she asked.
Back in the lair, Shigaraki shut off the TV before the last blue-skinned reporter had arrived, therefore not catching the last bit.
"You see? Even the rest of the world agrees with me. You and I aren't so different. You kill just as callously as I.' He grinned to which Izuku scowled at him.
"The only reason why my brothers have ever even killed in the first place was as self-defense or as a last resort. If you don't remember, your nomu killed a thousand of my brothers, and your goons that were killed at the camp were on death row, to begin with."
"Still doesn't change the fact that you killed two human beings. You're on the right path to becoming a villain."
Izuku kept on glaring at him. He still couldn't believe he was feeling pity for this person.
"Now, I would love to continue this little chit chat, but the others are waiting. Come on." he grinned, as two droids entered the room, both of them being a reddish gray color and carrying swords on their backs.
The machines grabbed him beneath the arms and dragged him out of the room and down a hallway filled with the droids that had attacked the camp.
Soon after he was dragged into a bar, the rest of the league being assembled there, with the two droids forcing him onto his knees and keeping him there.
"Well well well, if it isn't Mand'alor…"
"And who are you?" Izuku asked as he stared at the villain who was glaring at him with burning fury, wisps of blue fire erupting from him.
His right arm ended a bit below the elbow, now connected to something that looked like a cannon.
"I'm Dabi."
"Ah…so you're the one who got his hand shattered…by the way, how's the arm Spinner?"
"Don't fuckin' talk to me!" The reptilian man said, a bandage wrapped around where his arm had once been.
Izuku snorted in derision before his eyes widened in horror as two clones were brought up as well and forced to kneel.
'No…'
"Looks like we have a few guests, and haven't had the chance to test this thing out!" Dabi cackled as he aimed his arm cannon at one of the clones and charged it up.
"Brothers!"
"Vod…Honor to the End…" The first declared as he was blasted away.
"NO!"
"Hot damn! That's some recoil! But I must say that this makes me feel that much stronger! I need to thank your brothers for making me realize just how much my old flesh was failing me!" Dabi announced as he aimed at the other one.
"[Not gone]…" The other said, before being consumed by the flames, leaving only scorched armor behind that quickly collapsed as the helmet rolled over to Izuku.
"[...merely marching far away.]" Izuku said as he bowed his head.
He then looked up and glared into Dabi's eyes.
"Bottlecap and Chord." He said, making the stitched up villain tilt his head in confusion.
"Those were the names of my brothers you just killed. Remember them, because they will be the last people you see once you are hunted down." He said, voice cold and eyes piercing.
"That's pretty big talk for someone outnumbered more than a hundred to one." Dabi said, walking down to the greenet and looked him straight in the eyes.
"How does it feel, Mand'alor? To be helpless to help your brothers? To be useless? You couldn't save more than one thousand of them just like the first one… Who was he again? Oh right, Jango." he smiled as he waited for him to break down in tears.
"Keep my brother's name…" Izuku replied, slowly lifting his head and looking at the scorched excuse of a chicken nugget.
"Out of your DAMN MOUTH!" he roared, headbutting him right in the nose with a sickening crunch, making him stumble back and fall on his ass, a small trail of blood following.
"Argh! You bastard! I'll kill you!" Dabi said, clutching his now broken nose as blood flowed out between his fingers as he aimed his cannon at the young hero.
The door, however, was suddenly knocked upon, making everyone stop what they were doing.
"Camino Pizza Delivery!"
"Twice…did you really order piz-"
"SMASH!"
The entire wall exploded, All Might bursting inside followed by Kamui Woods, Edgeshot, Arashi, and even Gran Torino, along with Delta, Omega, and Foxtrot squad, the wooden hero wrapping up the villains while the clones gunned down the droids present.
"Everyone freeze! Try anything and we'll have to get brutal!" Boss shouted as he aimed his blaster at Spinner and then Mr. Compress.
Dabi tsked and ignited his flames, only for Gran Torino to zip around and brutally roundhouse kick him across the face, knocking him out as well as Kurogiri.
"You youngsters, so impetuous."
"Don't try anything, punks," Sev threatened, his finger on the trigger as the other clones gathered around.
"Surrender villains! For we are here!"
"Buir!"
"AD!"
"Where's my son?"
In the chaos, however, Shigaraki only had eyes for one person.
"All Might…" He growled. "You're everything wrong in this worthless society!"
All Might's attention was caught by the young villain.
"But don't worry…things are about to change very soon."
Gray fluid then exploded out of the villains' mouths and nomu began to appear out of nowhere.
"Bui-agh!"
"IZUKU!" Toshinori roared as he tried to grab the boy, only for him to disappear.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"All Might!" Boss yelled as he opened fire on a nomu. "We've lost contact with Sentinel at the second location, reports are coming in of a devastating explosion! You need to get there, now!"
"Grr…right!"
"All Might, take me with you!" Arashi demanded. "My son must be with them."
"Then hold on tigh-argh!" All Might roared as he was dogpiled by nomu. "OKLAHOMA SMASH!"
After sending them flying he then looked outside to see Endeavor, clones, and police fighting against the nomu that were attacking them.
"Come on, there's no time! Leave this to them!" Arashi said after shocking another nomu.
"Alright, hold on tight!" All Might ordered as he grabbed on to her and leaped to the sky.
They could only hope that they wouldn't be too late.
Earlier
Sentinel's squad was on the prowl.
They'd kept to alleys and side streets, away from the main populace until they got to the more abandoned parts of town tracking the signal that one of the Vod'e had managed to attach to a retreating nomu.
Finally, the signal led them to a warehouse in Camino where they were able to get a peak in.
"By the Lost Legion…it's an entire nomu factory…"
"What?" Sentinel asked in shock before he was granted space to look inside the warehouse.
'Disgusting…'
"We need to report this, we're going back online," Sentinel ordered as he reactivated his comm.
"Sentinel to U.A. We've found a nomu factory at the marker-"
#Sentinel! Get out of there! The HPSC told the heroes that you cleared the area already! They're about to bulldoze the place!#
Sentinel's eyes widened in shock before he ordered his team to move out, just in time to see Mt. Lady rise up with her quirk and bring her foot down on the warehouse.
Debris fell all over them as the remains of the warehouse were now scattered over the general area.
'Damn HPSC…they didn't even check to see if we were here.'
They could hear however, the strike team entering with Best Jeanist at the lead.
But a chill appeared in the air, and Sentinel could hear voices arguing.
Then the world exploded.
"Tomura finally started thinking and making decisions for himself…" A man floating as if he was hanged, said in the middle of the sheer devastation he'd just caused.
His aura permeated throughout the entire area, striking fear into the hearts of all those around him.
Sentinel couldn't breathe, couldn't think.
None of his brothers could, all of them haunted by hallucinations of their own deaths.
'Is this what you've been facing, vod?' He thought as he struggled to even move.
'Is this the great terror that All Might spoke of? The great evil that Mand'alor may have to one day face?'
'He was talking about Tomura…that means Shigaraki…that means…'
The man remained floating, ashes and cinders floating by him.
'All For One?'
"Now then, shall we begin?"
"I…I can't believe this…in what appears to be one single attack, Camino ward has been reduced to rubble…I can't even begin to imagine how many people are…have been affected by the devastation," A reporter said as she looked on from the news copter.
Across Japan, people turning on the news were horrified at the sheer devastation that had been caused.
"Hey…what's going on?"
"Camino's been wiped out!"
"Where are the heroes?"
"Where's All Might?"
"Does this mean the clones will turn against us?"
Clapping emanated in the area, it was the only sound that could be heard really as All For One applauded Best Jeanist's quick actions.
"As expected of the number four hero, Best Jeanist," He said as he continued clapping. "I thought I'd blown everyone away…to be able to manipulate everyone's clothes and pull them to the side in an instant…"
"That quick decision-making…and skill…you must have nerves of steel."
Best Jeanist could barely move, almost paralyzed by fear as he recalled the words of the brief.
A villain whose strength was comparable to All Might's and wasn't expected to show his face.
'Regardless if that's not true, I won't falter!' He thought as he prepared his threads and launched an attack.
'A hero never-'
PFEW
"Agh…"
POOOM!
"KAGH!" He gasped as a hole was torn into his abdomen and the ground exploded beneath him, his hand falling to the ground.
"I see…" All For One idly commented. "This is a strength from a huge amount of practice and practical experience."
"I don't need yours," He said with a certain regret. "I'm afraid it doesn't quite fit with Tomura's disposition."
Sentinel was still awake, but most of his squad was unconscious.
"Agh…"
And it looked like he was definitely broken in some places.
Still, he needed to warn them.
"Sentinel to U.A. All For One is here…hero strike team is down…my squad is down…"
"-KAGH!"
Sentinel jerked once he heard the familiar voice.
Izuku coughed out the muck in his mouth from whatever had been used to teleport him.
'Izuku!'
"...Mand'alor is here!" Sentinel whispered.
"I apologize, Mand'alor."
"...you…"
But before he could say anything else, more black and gray…portals, for lack of a better word, appeared, dropping off the rest of the league.
"BLEGH!"
"What the–?"
"Something stinks! Smells good!"
"Sensei," Shigaraki greeted with a slight bow while on his knees. "I have failed you."
"Ah, but you are recognizing your mistakes," All For One replied as he walked forward to the younger man. "But do not be discouraged. Just try again. I have brought your associates as well. Even Mand'alor because he is your rival."
All For One then stood right in front of him with his hand extended.
"Do it over as many times as you need to. That is why I am here," He said to an awed Shigaraki. "It's all for you."
Sentinel was worried now. With all of the League nearby, there wasn't anything he could do to help his brother.
"Sentinel to U.A. The League is here as well…" He passed on.
The All For One turned.
"So, you're here as well, aren't you…?"
And from the skies, bursting through clouds like a meteor, All Might rocketed through with his fists, All For One catching them with his hands, the force causing the earth to erupt around them.
"I'LL HAVE YOU RETURN MY STUDENTS, ALL FOR ONE!"
"Will you kill me again, All Might!?"
The force between them then exploded, sending Izuku and the villains flying away from the epicenter.
Sentinel dug his staff into the ground to not be blown away while grabbing hold of one of his brothers who still hadn't woken up.
The others, unfortunately, were blown away.
'He resisted All Might!'
"You're pretty late," All For One observed as he lightly shook his hand. "The bar is little more than five kilometers from here, it was easily 30 seconds after I sent the nomu before you arrived.
He turned to face All Might, who was in a three-point pose and angrily glaring at him.
"You've gotten weaker, All Might."
"What about you? What's with that industrial mask you've got on?" He asked before standing. "Aren't you overexerting yourself?"
'He held back Buir with his bare hands…' Izuku observed before noticing the League begin to get up and face him.
"I won't make the same mistake I made 6 years ago, All For One," All Might declared as he warmed up. "I will get my students back, and this time I'll throw you in prison for sure!"
He leaped forward with a punch. "YOU AND YOUR MISERABLE LEAGUE!"
"There's so much to do…it'll be tough," All For One said as he raised his arm, his suit bulging around him. "For both of us."
A blast of air exploded from his arm, stopping All Might's punch in its tracks and sending him back flying through multiple buildings!
"Air Cannon plus Springlike Limbs, Kinetic Booster times four, Strength Enhancer times three…" All For One observed. "What a fun little combination, maybe I'll add a few more enhancer types."
"BUIR!" Izuku cried out.
"Oh don't worry child, we both know that he won't die from something as simple as that."
He then addressed Tomura. "Run away from here, Tomura. Do what you will with Mand'alor," He said as he activated his quirk, black and red tendrils piercing Kurogiri's unconscious body.
"Kurogiri, get everyone out of here."
"Hey," Magne cried out. "Wait! He was defeated and knocked out! I'm not sure what's going on but if you can use Warp then why don't you get us away?"
"I just got mine, Magne," He replied. "On top of only being able to transport short distances, unlike his coordinate transport, I can only bring people to me or away from me, and only to those I am very familiar with."
"So I'll have Kurogiri do it," He declared. "Forcible Quirk Activation!"
"Now, go!" He ordered.
"What about you?" Tomura asked before an eruption of rubble showed All Might bearing down on them again.
"Think constantly, Tomura!" All For One said as he floated upwards. "You still have much more room to grow!"
"I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY!" All Might roared as his fist crashed into All For One, the latter blocking again.
"Sensei…"
"Let's go, Shigaraki! With that pipe mask guy holding off All Might, we have a chance!"
"Crap…" Izuku cursed as the entire League now faced him.
"Don't think that you'll escape so easily, Mand'alor…" Shigaraki said, jumping back as lightning struck where he was just a moment earlier.
"Mand'alor!"
"Arashi!?"
"I'm here to help," She said as she broke his cuffs. "Where's Denki?"
"I don't know, last I saw him, he was getting tortured by Relampago," Izuku said with a snarl as One For All returned to him with its comforting presence. He quickly summoned two pistols and readied himself to fight.
"I'm going to kill him!" Arashi snarled before pausing as she heard a familiar chuckle.
"Are you really going to bring yourself to kill me again, dear sister?"
"Flashover!" She spat.
"Oooh, not even my name? And it's Relampago now, by the way. But truly, such anger," He said mockingly. "I certainly didn't expect that from you, dear sister."
"Don't you dare call me that! You lost the right to call me sister long ago, you walking corpse!"
Relampago merely chuckled in reply.
"Where's my son!?"
"Your son? Oh, he's been dying to see you again…Oh, Deadvolt~!" He sang out.
A yellow flash and Kirai couldn't even react before she felt a hand grab her face and was being dragged across the sky.
"ARASHI!" Izuku yelled as he saw her disappear into the distance in an electric flash.
"This will be interesting," Relampago said as he glowed with energy and followed.
Just as Izuku was about to try and run after them, he felt an uncomfortable heat and looked over his shoulder, where the world had seemed to slow down, as the fire Dabi had launched from his arm cannon slowly traveled towards him.
"Dank farrik! How did I forget about the League?!" He thought to himself, just as someone jumped in front of him and blocked the blast.
In front of him stood Sentinel, a small amount of blood dripping from a few cracks in his armor, while he held up his arm with an activated shield that flickered out, the heat having overwhelmed the components.
"Are you alright, Ori'vod?"
"I should be the one asking that question, Sentinel!" Izuku yelled at him, due to how scorched he looked.
"What, this? This is nothing compared to what we usually do. Now get moving somewhere safe and gear up. I'll hold them off," He said, taking his blaster from his back and extending it into its bo staff mode, activating its electric fields on both ends.
"As if I would let you, you're down an arm and I'm still weak from some blood loss. Alone we're screwed…but together…"
"...Together we might just make it…"
Suddenly Spinner charged towards Sentinel, blade in hand and hatred in his eyes.
"You may have won our first match, but now you're just the same as I! Down one arm! Now DIE!" he yelled and swung his blade.
Only for Sentinel to sidestep the villain and jab him in the stomach with his staff, shocking him both mentally and quite literally physically.
Izuku then, while charging up with his quirk, spartan kicked him and sent him flying before crashing into the ground in circles, digging a small trench while doing so.
"Give it a rest, Spinner. You're pathetic for a swordsman…" Sentinel deadpanned, just as he blocked some knives thrown at him with his staff and shoulder armor.
"Ah, shoot! That armor is such a pain, dearie!" Toga giggled as she threw another knife which was also deflected.
"Jeez, vod… How long did you have to deal with this crazy bitch?" Sentinel asked Izuku who just sent a glare his way, as a method of saying 'Don't ask'.
"Surrender, Player Two! You're obviously outnumbered! All of us are the final bosses, and you didn't grind enough to take us on alone!" Shigaraki grinned as he and the rest of the league surrounded the duo.
"Oh, I wouldn't exactly say 'outnumbered'" Sentinel said, confusing Izuku slightly.
"Sentinel, what did you do?" he asked, to which his brother just grinned beneath his helmet, just as Twice let out a scream of pain, as purple electricity coursed through him and caused him to collapse.
The one responsible was soon revealed to be one of Sentinel's squad members coming out of stealth, holding a staff similar to Sentinel's but without the blades.
More soon followed, each of them holding an electric close-combat weapon; dual batons, staffs, and even war hammers.
"What!? This isn't fair! Cheat codes! Hacker! I call bull!" Shigaraki yelled, before regaining his composure. "But… Just a minor setback… Nomu! Kill them!" he shouted, just as several white Nomu burst out of the rubble and slammed their fists into the ground.
One was about crush a clone before he let out a roar and rammed his staff into its chest and put the other end of it into the ground, preventing it from pushing him too far, while another one with shock batons ran up to his brother and jumped off of his shoulders, putting the nomu into a headlock and jamming one of his batons into the brain of the creature, bringing it to the ground as a third armed with a hammer came running and crushed its head to mush.
"It's these guys again!" Magne exclaimed in anger and annoyance, the wounds from the camp flaring up in remembrance.
Izuku cracked his neck, noticing All Might trying to get close to help but being dragged and then launched away by All For One.
'Those two are at a stalemate, but as long as we're here All Might can't go all out!'
"Sentinel!"
"Yes?"
"We can't capture them now…we have to force them to retreat! Cover me!"
"Right!" Sentinel said as they closed ranks around him.
And when they reopened ranks?
The League's eyes widened in fear.
"Surprise, motha-"
DAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKA
The spinning barrels of a Z-6 rotary cannon provided a more than an adequate deterrent for the League of Villains as they were forced to scatter.
Then a few heroes began to arrive.
First of which was Gran Torino who managed to knock out, Compress, Magne, and Twice in one fell swoop.
"Gran Torino!" Izuku said in excitement, also noticing the other heroes coming around to help with the evacuation.
"You're too slow!" All Might said after breaking off from his nemesis.
"You're too fast!" Gran Torino replied. "We're lucky that those clones were there, otherwise we'd have taken longer! More heroes are arriving to help with the evacuation of civilians and the injured!"
"Then that means that soon enough I'll be able to go all out!" All Might replied as he turned back to face All For One.
The supervillain began to laugh.
"Perhaps so, All Might…but you've forgotten one thing. Can you face me? And keep all of them safe?"
Then more explosions came out of the rubble.
The sound of metal marching in the distance.
And blaster fire echoed in the city.
#All units! Reports are coming in from the heroes, droids are marching in and opening fire on the populace! Hero and civilian casualties!#
"Monsters!" Nite Owl cursed as she pushed forward on the controls, the Gauntlet lurching forward.
"Alright kids, looks like we're going in and going in hard!"
#Roger that, Nite Owl!# Uravity said as her friends readied themselves for the drop.
"I'll set a waypoint with the LAATs, we'll be evacuating civilians to the nearby hospitals."
#Blue Leader to Red Leader! BARCs are nearing the zone!#
#Gold Leader to Red Leader! Scout walkers are right behind them!#
"Copy that, Blue Leader, Gold Leader. Oddball, follow my lead!"
#Copy!#
"Kids, your priority will be evacuation! Get Mand'alor and those civilians outta there! I don't want any stupid heroics. Is that understood!?"
#YES, MA'AM!#
#K'oyacyi!# Uravity called out!
#OYA!#
"Approaching drop point! We can't get too close to All Might's fight; the winds are already buffeting us from here, so you'll have to travel a bit, good luck, kids!"
Ochako took a deep breath as they flew through the air, the ship buffeting from the titanic clash that they couldn't see.
The past few hours had been jetpack training for all the students, just enough so that they could maneuver themselves in and out.
She could tell that they were all nervous.
So was she.
"My friends…when we make it out of this…and we will…just know that I was honored to fight by our sides."
"Likewise. I don't care if we end up in trouble with the faculty after this. If I can save a friend, I am more than satisfied." Tenya said as he checked his armor.
#We're approaching the DZ, kids. T-minus ten seconds.# Nite Owl reported as she began counting down from there.
The last few seconds were silent in the cabin as everyone tensed, knowing what was to come.
#3, 2, 1, Drop!#
Ochako could feel her stomach lurch, as she suddenly fell, the sensation somewhat similar to her quirk.
For just a few seconds, she could feel the wind rushing by her body and see the flashing red lights that were now being combated by blue and a mixture of quirks.
Then she looked forward and ignited her jetpack, the force stabilizing her as the students rallied by her as well as the clones who jumped from the LAATs.
She grabbed the Darksaber and ignited it, pointing it forward as they moved forward.
"FOR MAND'ALOR!"
"FOR MAND'ALOR!"
Back in the crater, things weren't looking good for the heroes or clones. Several of the local heroes who had arrived to help in the fight after the destruction of the Ward had fallen to blaster fire, with the few remaining along with the raid team, police, Commandos, and Purge troopers currently being rounded up by the numerically superior droids.
To make matters worse, All Might was knocked into the middle of the group, a few helping him up as he groaned and glared up at his hated enemy.
Just as he had landed though, the droid and nomu army seemed to stop, powering down their blasters and the beasts just snarling at them.
"All Might! You have fought gallantly! Worthy of recognition in the archives of heroes past and future! Now… it is finished. The end has arrived for you and the rest of hero society," All For One said sadistically as he charged up another air cannon.
"NEVER!" All Might roared as he jumped up and clashed with his nemesis again.
"And so now you leave your allies behind? How blind of you and I'm the one who can't see," All For One chuckled.
"You still have one glaring weakness, All For One! You still underestimate those you see beneath your notice!"
"So you say, but it still stands that they'll die, and you'll be helpless to do anything while I am here!"
Just as the words had left his mouth, the droids powered up their blasters once again, along with the Nomu beginning to march forward.
Kamui Woods prepared himself for the fight of his life, just as Mount Lady lifted her head, having recovered from the blast by All For One.
"Look!"
As the rest of the heroes and the remaining clones looked up, the LAATs descended, guns blazing and cutting through swathes of droids at the same time, while also taking some heat off of the heroes who finally had some breathing space to get in close and personal.
From the distance, they could hear something moving in quickly and spotted the BARC speeders that were coming in droves and shooting down the droids or crashing into them.
"Create a perimeter around the survivors!" Orion yelled from the gunship he was standing in, several of them dropping off AT-RTs before landing to form a defensive wall around the officers and injured heroes, who quickly began to mount into them.
Meanwhile, the students and jetpack clones began to break off, heading in various directions to help out where they could.
Ochako dived alongside a group as they headed down to Izuku's position, providing more support for him and the clones with fire from above.
However, one of them broke off as soon as she spotted her target.
"HAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
"Itsuka, wait!" Ochacko yelled as she tried diving after her, before having to dodge out of the way from blaster fire.
She did however notice why she had broken off though. A blonde girl was currently standing amongst some villains.
Her yelling was to no avail as she crashed into the other girl and tackled her into the sky before disappearing over a toppled building.
"Damn it," Uravity cursed. "You two, follow after her!"
"Roger that!"
"Moving!"
The two clones split off and went after her, while she and the others landed and surrounded Izuku and the injured clones.
"Ochako!"
"You and I are going to have a talk about just surrendering to the League!" Ochako yelled as she slapped him upside the head.
"Ow!"
"And it's totally going to be over mochi!"
"Huh?" Izuku asked in confusion.
"Well, you still owe me a date, mister!" She said before passing the Darksaber to him.
Izuku was a bit dumbfounded but then took the blade with a grin.
"Thank you," He replied, just as Rex landed with a costume suitcase.
"Brought the essentials, Ori'vod." He said as he opened it, presenting him the helmet, chest plate, and vambraces along with a new addition. A cape.
"A cape?"
"Sue me, the License exam inspired me."
On the other side, however, Shigaraki was snarling. As much as he hated it, he had to admit that he'd been outmaneuvered, and now he was outnumbered.
All For One, still dealing with All Might, knew the truth as well, quickly knocking him back with another air cannon, he floated down to be nearer to Tomura, much to the apprehension of the rescuers who, due to the sudden increase of his aura, couldn't even raise their blasters.
'Has this been what Izuku's been dealing with?'
"They've turned the tables on us, oh well, it's no matter…like I said, Tomura! We can always fight another day!" He said before he began to pull over a nomu, using a telekinesis quirk and activating Magne's quirk so the league got attached to it, before more or less kicking them into one of Kurogiri's portals.
"Wait! Toga isn't here yet! She's right in the middle!" Twice yelled, just as they began to disappear.
"She will either have to find her way back to us or get apprehended here. This is survival of the fittest. Now go! We will return someday tenfold in strength! I'll rejoin you once I've finished All Might." he said and turned back to his old nemesis.
The roaring of a jetpack and the rush of wind filled Himiko's ears, not even able to catch her breath from the brutal impact to her abdomen from the armored warrior that had tackled her into the air.
Suddenly the jetpack stopped, but her momentum kept her moving and she harshly crashed into the ground and rolled a few times before stopping.
She coughed and gagged, desperately trying to catch her breath as she got up to her knees.
Her vision then went white as a burning pain emitted from her cheek in response to the brutal blow she'd just received.
"Get up!"
She was roughly grabbed by her sweater and yanked up before another blow to the face knocked her down.
"I said GET UP!"
A brutal kick to her abdomen knocked the breath out of her again and made her throw up the last remaining blood she'd had that day.
Gasping for air, she heard the sounds of boots approaching her, while her blurred vision only spotted the figure of a woman clad in armor who kicked her again, sending her flying into the wall along with cracking a few ribs.
"Not so easy without those clones of yours helping you, huh?"
Another strike to the head made her eat dirt.
"Or how about those knives?"
She was grabbed again and tossed away from the wall into an open area.
"Or how about fighting somebody full of energy, RIGHT!?"
She felt her head get grabbed, the armored woman slamming her knee into it.
Once.
Twice.
This time one of her hair buns was torn off before she was straddled by her attacker who began to beat her mercilessly.
"COME ON! FIGHT BACK! USE THOSE CLONES! USE THE KNIVES! FIGHT AGAINST SOMEBODY WHO CAN FIGHT!" Blood splattered against the concrete with each blow that she delivered.
Itsuka then tore off her helmet, tossing it to the side, and grabbed her by the choker, cocking back her fist.
Himiko's face was bloody, bruised, and missing teeth, tears of pain trailing down her cheeks.
"Look me in the eye as I kill you!" Itsuka sneered, tears of both rage and sorrow running from her own.
With the other bruised shut, Himiko's lone eye, the sclera now red from a burst blood vessel, turned to face her.
And she smiled.
And she laughed, blood mixing in and causing her to choke.
"...You…really did…love him…hahaha…cough cough..ack…gasp…"
Itsuka temporarily paused, struck dumb by the sheer insanity in her gaze.
"Does that…cough…make us…sisters of love…? Wheeze…"
"...What…?" She asked in revulsion.
"...I think-gasp-I like that…you're just-wheeze-like me…Willing to kill for those you love…"
Itsuka felt her rage and disgust starting to reach its boiling point, as she grew her fist to be about the same size as a bowling ball while cocking back her arm once again.
"I am nothing like you!"
"...really? Wheeze…don't you see it though-gasp-the blood trailing down your fist-wheeze-down your face?-wheeze-all my pretty blood-wheeze-I bet it feels good…right?"
Itsuka began to pant, almost hyperventilating as all the stress began to crash down on her.
"Shut up…" She hissed.
"Heehee–wheeeze-haaahhh…is this how-wheeze-you show your love? Wheeze- I can't wait to show mine-wheeze-to Izu-kun…wheeze"
"I said…shut…up…"
"What was…wheeze…his name…?Wheeze...Thorn?"
"SHUT UP!" Itsuka screamed and brought down her fist, just as it was hit by several blaster bolts, causing her to grasp her wrist and scream in pain as she fell off the girl.
"KENDO!" The two clones who came after her screamed as they landed and provided cover fire to the girl who was forced to scramble away from the oncoming blaster fire.
Droids began to appear, with some of them beginning to drag away Toga who could only smile at her newfound kinship with the redhead.
"Dirge! Thrust! Ramjet! This is Acidstorm and Sunstorm! We're under attack by droids and require assistance! Kendo's hurt!" The acid green clone said as he fired his vambrace blaster at the approaching machines, before taking out a grenade.
"Here! Kind regards from Ashido!" he yelled and threw it into the air where it exploded and started raining acid down on the machinery which started to melt.
"NO!" Kendo roared as she grabbed a blaster and opened fire to where Toga was, only for droids to already be covering her position.
The worst part is that she could still hear it.
The incessant giggling, surrounding her.
Mocking her.
She winced as her injuries flared up before she was dragged away, much to her protests.
"Let me go! I need to go after that bitch!" She screamed while the two jet troopers kept on dragging her.
"We can't! That trio we just mentioned will be here soon! And they're packing heat!" Sunstorm yelled, just as their three brothers flew overhead and into the air, before thrusting out both their vambraces and firing.
Whistling birds howled as they spiraled down, hitting each of the droids in vital areas and making them shut down, however, Toga was long gone by that point.
Itsuka had seen it, some sort of grayish-black liquid appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the droids.
She screamed.
Panic began to spread slowly as people's eyes were glued to the screens for any updates on the situation, with the live news from the helicopter only furthering the suspense.
They cheered when they saw All Might arrive on the scene but were horrified to see him be blasted away.
It was unfathomable but they held on hope that their Symbol of Peace would win.
Then more heroes arrived, and they could see them evacuating civilians.
Suddenly, however, they heard and then saw it. The metal menace.
The sounds of thousands upon thousands of metallic feet marching in unison.
A brief moment of hope ignited, however, as more heroes stationed in Camino showed up. Nearly two hundred of them in fact came out from either the rubble or arrived by different methods and joined the fray.
But it was still too much.
"I..cannot describe the carnage that I'm seeing…this is truly Japan's darkest day yet…All Might is preoccupied with a villain who's taking him on toe-to-toe, and the heroes are being overwhelmed by the droids," The reporter inside the helicopter said before noticing something in the sky.
"Hold up, what's this?"
The camera turned and they saw the LAATs and the Gauntlet appear in the sky before dozens of lights popped up in the night sky from the students and troopers on jetpacks.
"Th-the Vod'e! U.A.'s clone battalion is arriving on the scene!" The reporter said in awe. "From the sky! And the ground, too! The droids are being decimated!"
While many in Japan began to cheer, back at U.A., Cody was now dealing with some angry teachers.
"You knew about this," Aizawa questioned. He recognized some of those wearing armor.
"And you didn't tell us about this? We could have stopped them!"
"All due respect, sir," Cody replied. "No…you wouldn't have."
"Your class is a hell class, Aizawa…" Vlad King muttered.
"Kan," Nezu called out as he pointed to the screen where a focus on the small army of flying people with jetpacks was shown.
He recognized the green scales.
Setsuna…and if she was there…
"I'm going to kill those kids."
"Get behind me."
"Please tell me that somebody competent is with them at least."
"Nite Owl, sir."
Nezu guffawed as Aizawa groaned.
"Competent she is, Aizawa…but you and I know she's always been a rule breaker."
"Let's just hope this doesn't bite us too much in the ass later."
"Sensei! Please!" Tomura yelled as he was forced into Kurogiri's portal.
He didn't want to be left alone again, not when Sensei was the only one who cared.
"Tomura…you must keep fighting," All For One declared as the portal closed, sending his successor to safety.
All Might roared as he charged once more against All For One.
"Warping…"
Gran Torino was sucked up into the black-grey goop and All Might thrust his fist forward.
"Plus Shock Inversion!"
All Might's fist brutally crashed into Gran Torino's face, just barely able to reduce the power to not kill the older man.
The power then inverted on him, sending his arm back.
"I-I'm sorry!"
In the pause, All For One spoke again.
"I only came to save Tomura, but if you say you're going to fight, then I will, too."
He then recalled all the actions that All Might had committed, how he'd destroyed his allies.
"In the past, that fist crushed one after another of my comrades, and you were extolled as the Symbol of Peace."
He opened his arms, leaving himself 'unguarded' as if he were the victim.
"The view you had atop of our sacrifices…" He said as he then raised his hand and charged another air cannon. "It must have been a great one."
"DETROIT…!" All Might growled as he grabbed Torino and moved out of the way as he struck his opponent. "SMASH!"
The two forces clashed again, further devastating the landscape as All Might's costume began to disintegrate from the forces applied to it, All Might himself being pushed back as blood finally began to spurt from his mouth.
Although he was lasting much longer than expected, he was reaching his limit.
'He forcibly negated it, huh?'
"I won't let you fight without reserve, though," All For One mocked. "Heroes have a lot of things they need to protect, don't they?" He asked, referencing the countless heroes and clones fighting against the droids and rescuing civilians.
"Shut up…" All Might growled.
"Hn…"
"You always toy with people like that! You break them! Steal from them! Take advantage of them and control them!" He protested.
"Scoffing irrationally at people just trying to live their lives!"
All Might burst forward.
All For One tried to counterattack but his arm was already in a crushing grip.
"I cannot…"
'Oh no…time for Warping…'
But it was too late.
"...FORGIVE THAT!" All Might screamed as his fist punched through All For One's mask and sent him to the ground, cratering it.
Gran Torino groaned as he woke up from the unintentional blow and gasped in shock as he looked at Toshinori's current state.
The latter was steaming and coughing, blood trickling down his mouth.
"Toshinori…"
His face was half full and half thin, although admittedly, not as thin as it could have been.
"You've reached your limit…!"
All Might panted in fury, still glaring at the figure below him.
…
"What's wrong?" He heard from below.
All Might gasped.
"You seem to be very worked up about something, All Might," All For One commented, almost uncaring of the fist still planted on his head.
"I heard the same line before…hehehehahahaha…"
All Might gasped again as her memory flowed in his mind.
"...the previous successor of One For All…Shimura Nana…!"
'My origin…' Toshinori remembers.
"I want to make a world where everyone can smile and live together. A symbol is necessary for that to happen."
"A symbol?"
"A Symbol of Peace…the reason crime in this country isn't decreasing is that the citizens have no support…they have no pillar they can rely on."
A young Toshinori turns to face the woman with a white cape.
"That's why I will become that pillar!"
"Is that why you want to become a hero? Even though you're quirkless?"
"Yes."
"Heh…Yagi Toshinori, right?" She asked as she faced him. "You're really funny. You're crazy."
"You really are similar to her," All For One commented. "But what else should I expect?"
"Be proud, Toshinori!" He remembers Nana saying. "It's different than if you had one to begin with. You worked hard to secure that power!"
"Do not sully the name of my honored master…with that filthy mouth of yours…!"
"She was a woman with no skill whose ideals got ahead of her," All For One retorted. "She was an embarrassment to me as the creator of One For All."
All Might growled.
"She died in a really pathetic way, don't you remember? You were there too…"
A yellow glove pushed against him, launching him away before Gran Torino tackled him and took him farther.
"Master!"
How he was helpless to even have a hope of a chance against the horrifying power of All For One.
"I'm leaving the rest to you. Sorahiko, make sure his dream comes true."
"Master! Master!"
How she pointed at him one last time.
"All Might," She says before clenching her fist and facing him with a smile on her face. "I'm counting on you."
'MOTHER!' He thinks but can't bear to say.
"MASTER!" He cries out instead in agony as Gran Torino sheds his own tears.
Nana faces her death.
"Thank you for the wonderful comedy."
And an entire island is destroyed.
"Of course," All Might's attention is returned to the enemy below him. "You left before the real fun stuff started…where shall I begin?"
"ENOUGH!" All Might roared as he cocked his fist back, only for All For One to take the opportunity to shoot him point blank.
All Might was sent flying back into the air, coughing out blood from the serious blow, almost crashing into a newscopter before Gran Torino intervened.
"Sensei!" All Might calls out.
"You're in the way…" All For One mutters as he gets up.
"This is the same as six years ago! Calm down, Toshinori! You got so caught up by his words that he escaped and then you got that hole torn into your stomach!"
The two crashed into another crater, with Gran Torino continuing to caution his student.
"Don't exchange words with him!"
"Yes…sir…"
"His fighting style and Quirk are completely different from last time. You won't be able to get a good hit head on, you'll have to be tricky!"
"Can you still move? It's time to go beyond your limit! Plus Ultra time!"
"Yes, sir!"
"This is unprecedented… what was once a duel between a hero and a villain, has turned into a fully fledged warzone between two armies!" The news reporter announced.
Kizuna grinned from her apartment in Deika city as she went on a call with her boss.
"Seeing the news?"
"That I am. I must say, that those students and meta lifeforms are a great example. They charged into the fray without a license. Please, reach out to them and try to recruit them to our glorious cause."
"It might be difficult, what with Nezu there…but considering everything that's happening…"
"I believe that things will change a lot regarding U.A. after this debacle…I'll get Trumpet on it though."
All Might coughed a bit into his hand before All For One's voice caught his attention.
"I'm a bit conflicted," He said as he extended his arms again. "The trust in heroes that Tomura has steadily chipped away combined with the sheer carnage and devastation of the droid army…I wonder if it's okay for me to land the decisive blow…"
"But you know, All Might," He continued. "As much as you hate me, I hate you in the same way."
"I killed your master," He placed a hand on his chest. "But you took away the things I built up too, right?"
He let his hand fall.
"That's why I want you to die the ugliest and most gruesome death possible!" He roared as he charged up an attack.
"A big one's coming! Dodge and counterattack!"
"Is it enough to dodge!?"
All Might gasped as he noticed a civilian still stuck in the rubble behind him.
Gran Torino moved quickly to intercept.
"I will steal away the things you protected until NOW!" He roared as the attack struck.
The heavens and earth split as All Might blocked the blow, dust, and debris spreading all over the battlefield once more.
Blood began to drip to the ground from a much skinnier arm.
"First, your self-respect you kept even with your injury. Show the world your pathetic form, "Symbol of Peace.," All For One mocked as All Might's true form was revealed.
By this point in time, not only Japan was paying attention to the news, but also those around the world.
None could believe that All Might had been reduced to this…thin man.
The literal mountain of muscles was reduced to someone who only looked fit above average.
Many felt shock.
Many felt fear.
Many began to panic.
A few, however, felt joy and even celebrated.
In Deika city, several of the denizens of its higher echelons opened a bottle of champagne from before the Dawn of Quirks.
"My friends! This is a most glorious day! The new era is upon us, and with that big of All Might reduced to this, nothing will stop the liberation of Japan!" A man with brown hair and a long nose laughed while the rest of his inner circle raised their glasses.
In another city, another hero could only groan in defeat.
"I warned you…" Nighteye said with grief. "And now, it comes to fruition…"
"...the end of All Might."
The students who hadn't been specifically called in to help, could only observe in horror as their greatest hero was revealed to be someone entirely different.
Bakugo Katsuki himself was catatonic, his entire world crashing down on him.
All Might, the Symbol of Victory, the man who never lost…was reduced to this?
For once in his life, he didn't know what to think.
"T-this can't be real… right?" Rin said in denial as he looked at the screen, not knowing what to tell himself.
"I… Don't know…" Ojiro replied as he kept on observing the steaming All Might standing on what looked like on the brink of defeat.
"Thiscan'tbehappeningThiscan'tbehappeningThiscan'tbehappening!" Tooru muttered to herself as she felt like curling into a ball and hoped to wake up from what seemed like a nightmare.
"Guys, Kodai is waking up." Shoda said, making the people in the room look towards the portable bacta tank currently there.
It was luckily one where only the head and shoulders of the one inside was visible, meaning that a certain someone wouldn't be able to sneak a peek, even if his mind was completely focused on the screen.
Although…considering everything that was happening…
He was certainly putting his priorities in perspective.
The girl in question groaned slightly, blinking a couple of times as she looked around, not knowing where she was, as the last thing she saw before going under was Fil's face.
"Yui!"
"Easy guys," First Aid said as he partially drained the tank enough to prevent her panicking from being underwater.
"Kodai, this is First Aid…can you hear me?"
She whimpered but nodded.
First Aid opened the part of the tank where her head was and took off the breather, allowing her to talk.
"What…happened?" She coughed, looking around the people surrounding her.
"You're inside a bacta tank, healing from the wound you received. We're currently at U.A. and surrounded by friends and family," First Aid said as he went to the tank's terminal to monitor her vital signs.
"Where's…Fil?"
"Right here, Yui…I'm right here." He whispered, not wearing his armor as he gently reached down to hold her hand when she lifted it up.
Once their hands touched, she did something she rarely ever did in front of others.
She smiled.
"I'm glad…you're safe…"
"I think I should be the one saying those words," He said as he slightly teared up.
Her vision focused more, she then turned and gasped at the screen.
"What's happening?"
"Mand'alor was captured, the heroes are fighting to get them back but the droids came back too, almost the entire U.A. Battalion is fighting on the front lines."
"But…All Might?"
"Everything will be explained later…right now, you need to rest and heal up…"
"...I should be there…I see the others…" She said, referencing the occasional shots of her friends in their armor, fighting alongside the Vod'e.
Fil merely shook his head.
"Just for now, focus on healing…alright?"
"Alright…"
Elsewhere in U.A., Inko, Mandalay, Eri, and Kota were also watching the news, although the adults had wanted the children to not see this, they'd been stopped short by Kota's words.
"Is it any worse than what we already saw?"
"W-what do you mean, Kota?" Shino asked, confused as to what he meant.
"Like I said… is it any worse than what else we saw?" He asked while hugging Eri under the blanket the two kids were currently wrapped in.
They had no response to that.
"...Please…I wanna see Izuku…" Eri sniffled.
"I…okay…"
They didn't know how to console her. Not without her rescuer there to help cheer her up or come out of her shell.
Yet, something was odd to All For One. He could tell that something had happened to All Might. The skeleton-like form he expected was not there. Sure, he was skinny, but it was less than what was desired.
That, combined with the longer time before his form failed, the somewhat greater strength than initially anticipated, told him one thing.
"You've somehow been healing yourself…just enough to take the edge off, truly commendable. I didn't think that you'd take time out of your busy schedule to help yourself. Something's changed, hasn't it, All Might?" All For One observed.
"But no matter, either way, this is the real you. The one hiding behind the facade of an almighty champion for the people."
All Might still glared at him, blue blazing brightly.
"I see…"
"Even if I hadn't been healed…even if my body were to wither and rot, even if you expose me to the world!" He clenched his fist."My heart will remain that of the Symbol of Peace!"
"NOT EVEN YOU CAN STEAL A SINGLE PIECE OF THAT FROM ME!"
"...Wonderful. I give up," All For One said exasperated. "I'd forgotten what a naughty and stubborn child you are."
He then raised a finger.
"Then perhaps this will not hinder your heart either: You know, Shigaraki Tomura is Shimura Nana's grandson."
…
All Might's eyes widened in disbelief.
"I kept thinking about what you would hate the most. I created chances for you two to meet, though, granted, they didn't work out. Either way, due to his encounters with Mand'alor, you've probably had no trouble at all of thinking to put him down like any other villain you've faced with a smile, right?"
…
"...Lies…" Toshinori whispered.
"It's the truth…you really think I'd lie about something as good as this?" All For One chuckled. "You're realizing it right now even. It's exactly what I would do."
He chuckled again.
"Oh? That's strange, All Might," He laughed as he placed his thumbs on his cheeks and mimicked Nana's trademark, "Where's that smile of yours?"
"When you have to save someone, that means that the person went through something scary. So true heroes don't just save lives, they save hearts, too."
All Might's fist fell, and his hands began to twitch.
"That's what I think. No matter how scared you are, you should smile to show that you're okay."
Nana placed her fingers over her cheeks and pushed them up.
"Because the strongest are those who smile."
"You…bastard…"
"Haha, this is really fun!" All For One laughed as he finally dropped his hands. "I guess I was able to steal some of that spirit in the end, no?"
"My…master's grandson…? What have I done…?"
He couldn't take it anymore.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
And in his moment of horror…
"Hehehehe…sigh…"
All For One raised his hand and charged an attack.
"Fall."
The attack would have launched forward, battering an unprepared All Might directly in the chest, crushing his bones and organs and ensuring that Japan would forever fall into despair.
But in a flash of emerald light and shrieking black, Mand'alor appeared, blood trailing behind his now torn legs.
The Darksaber blurred as Mand'alor slashed down.
Flesh burned, blood evaporated, and bone was seared.
All For One screamed.
Away from the immediate chaos, clones and heroes were working together to defeat droids and other villains coming out of the woodwork and help evacuate civilians to safety.
They were in all parts of Camino ward, but some areas had admittedly less action than others.
Further inside the ward, Waxer and Boil were walking around the ruins, searching for survivors, and had their blasters at the ready in case any droids or small-time villains decided to show up due to the chaos.
"By the Lost Legion… Look at this mess…" Waxer muttered as he surveyed all of the ruined homes, both saddened and glad that he didn't see any bodies. On one hand, it could mean they had managed to escape, but on the other hand, it could mean they had been buried beneath all of the rubble.
The fighting was still going on, but they were part of the contingent that was focusing on the outer edges of Camino, where there could be civilians trapped and would otherwise be overlooked since the majority being evac'd were those in immediate danger of the droids.
Boil walked over to one building and put his hand on a wall, before removing it and finding his glove stained with red.
"Agh… Poor guy…" He muttered, not wanting to think how the blood had ended up caking the wall like this.
"Let's just…keep mov-"
The sound of rocks and pebbles falling caught their attention, and they quickly readied themselves for a confrontation.
They moved into an alley, blasters at the ready.
And found a small blonde girl, staring at them in fear.
"A child?" Boil said, lowering his blaster followed by his brother.
"What are we gonna do with her?" Waxer asked, looking towards Boil.
"What do you mean? We're taking her with us of course. Wouldn't be very heroic to leave a kid in a place like this. Remember what Ori'vod did. When he found Eri, he took her with him the moment danger arose." Boil replied like it was the obvious thing to do.
The girl suddenly flinched and hid behind a piece of rubble.
"She's afraid of us, it seems."
"Who wouldn't be at that age? Look at us. We don't exactly look friendly with all of this on." Waxer replied before kneeling down and taking off his helmet, showing off his face.
"Look, it's alright, I'm flesh and blood, like you. See?" he said, taking off his glove to show that he indeed wasn't just a droid wearing a mask.
"She looks half-starved… Quite possibly her quirk being at play."
"Uh, here," Boil said as he passed a ration to Waxer, who passed it to the girl.
The girl started to speak something in a foreign language, before taking the ration and eating it. Boil then took off his helmet, showing their similar appearance.
"Frère? Frère?" She said, pointing at each of them.
"No, I'm Waxer, he's Boil."
"Frère, frère."
"Looks like you made a friend, we should go now," Boil said as he put his helmet back on. "...get her to safety. I don't think there are any other survivors nearby…but droids…"
"Come on, kid," Waxer urged after putting on his helmet and beckoning her to follow them, reaching his hand out. "Come on!" he said, with the girl tilting her head, before she walked over to him and wrapped her hand around some of his fingers.
As they kept on walking, they passed several ruined buildings, with Waxer shielding the girl's eyes from some of the more macabre parts they found.
"Think any of these could be…?"
"Possibly. But let's hope that's not the case." Waxer replied, just as the little girl suddenly started running towards a building.
"Hey! Wait!" He called in worry as the two began to follow her inside one of the collapsed structures, the two checking if there was anything hiding in there, before relaxing a bit, taking the time to take off their helmets once again to look around.
"I guess, this was her home… Poor kid, she's lost everything…" Waxer sighed as he took in what had once been a living room, just as he spotted a little plushie lying amongst the rubble.
Picking up the toy, he gently handed it to the girl, who eyed it and immediately hugged it close to herself, crying over the traumatic events that had happened in the past hours.
Waxer gently held her chin and soothed her.
"It's okay now, we're here to help."
The girl sniffled before she rushed forward and hugged him, the latter slowly hugging her back.
Boil couldn't help but wipe a tear from his eye, this world was too unfair, especially to little ones like her.
He approached her and kneeled.
"Don't cry kid, we'll keep you safe. I…I promise."
She looked back at him and gave out a little noise as she jumped forward and hugged him too.
The moment, however, was interrupted by the sound of wheezing along with metallic steps.
"Nomus and droids. Blast it." Boil said as he prepared his blaster.
The little girl however, began to pull Waxer towards the place where he had found her plushie and pointed to the floor, making a lifting gesture to which he complied.
A part of the floor was revealed to be removable and led down into a tunnel of some sort.
"Boil, get over here. We can't fight all those things alone, but our little friend has found a tunnel." he said, as he jumped down, followed by the girl.
"Ah… Why do we always get the fun missions?" Boil asked himself before following and covering up the floor again.
They'd made it just in time to not see the absolutely enormous explosion of debris that erupted from the epicenter of Camino nor the tower of golden lighting that took its place soon after.
"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" An officer swore as he fired the last rounds of his pistols into the sea of droids and villains amongst them who laughed maniacally over their predicament, using the moment to sow mayhem and rob the buildings that were still intact.
Just as a droid peered over him, causing him to scream, it was hit by a flail and sent flying into some villains, knocking them down.
Looking up, he saw a gray clone holding said weapon, which then connected its loose sections into a mace, before he lifted his arm and fired a huge blaster bolt at a super battle droid, destroying it and some of its mechanical brethren behind it.
"W-who are you?" the officer asked the clone who helped him up.
"I am Megatronus. An ARC Trooper of the Vod'e, we're here to help." He announced, just as several jet troopers arrived and performed strafing runs on the droids and villains.
One landed next to him.
"Commander Megatronus. The Seekers have performed surveillance and strafing runs everywhere. We've only found a few survivors, sadly…" The gray, red, and blue clone sighed solemnly.
The ARC Trooper put a hand on his shoulder.
"You and our brothers did your best, Starscream. Take pride in that," He replied, to which Starscream saluted.
Just as they finished, a high-pitched roar rang throughout the air, as a giant of a villain with an insectoid quirk landed in front of them, Megatronus getting in front of the officer and his brother.
"And who might you be, Hercules?" He asked, noticing the bug in question was a Hercules beetle.
"I am Gensei, you pathetic print of a human! And I. Am. Your. Doom!" He roared and slammed his two fists down on the ground, Starscream taking the officer and flying off to bring him to safety.
Cracking his neck after landing, Megatronus sighed as he readied his flail and even had a vibroblade come out from his vambrace beneath the blaster.
"You might prove to be a challenge. Something I've longed for for a while. Now show me what you've got!" He roared back and charged towards the villain who swung down on his smaller foe, who dodged out of the way and slammed his mace into the side of the villain, the exoskeleton sparking and cracking slightly.
Tsking, he blocked another swing, being sent flying a few feet away, with Gensei taking off the ground with his wings and flying towards the ARC Trooper, tackling him and slamming the soldier into the building behind them.
Rearing his arm back, Gensei grinned just before he was slashed across the face by the vibroblade, making him scream in surprise and let go of the clone who landed on the ground, rolled out of the way, and fired his wrist blaster on the villain, the bolts causing the armor on the insectoid man to crack more and more.
The insectoid villain charged him again, ignoring the pain as he finally reached him, grasping him by the arm and crushing the vambrace, making Megatronus roar in pain, before he turned the mace back into a flail and hit him in the face, knocking off a mandible and a few teeth.
"You are indeed a worthy opponent, Gensei, but this ends now!" The clone yelled.
Just as the two were about to clash again, they were interrupted by a pillar of light and debris flying, making them stop dead in their tracks.
"What in the name of the Lost Legion…" Megatronus muttered as he looked at the pillar in the distance.
"Damn it, I shouldn't have let him go…" Ochako cursed as she helped another civilian enter the LAAT."
"Negotiator's at full capacity! We'll drop them off then head back for another pickup!"
"Copy that, Oddball! Good luck!"
"No use worrying now, he was going to fight with or without armor!" Momo replied as she helped deal out medical supplies.
"How are things going?"
"So far, we're doing good! The droids don't have aerial capabilities, so the jet troopers have been hitting them from above and the ships have been carpet bombing them whenever they come back," Momo replied before their attention was caught by another.
"Keep bringing in the injured! I want every single soldier, officer, and civilian with even the smallest scratch here pronto! We can't let even one of them succumb to injuries, or I would be ashamed to call myself a medic!" Ratchet barked as the mediclones and even some hospital staff they'd found scrambled around to help.
"Have there been any casualties?" Momo asked. "From the Vod'e?"
"So far no, just injuries…the shield walls are helping but every moment they're at risk of dying once they head out…"
"We just have to trust them, Ochako…the good thing is that these droids are automatons, they fight by marching. As much as I hate to say it, all this destruction provides them plenty of cover for counterattacks and other tactics."
Ochako nodded and then left with a squad of clones to venture out for more injured.
A large explosion at the epicenter, however, caught everyone's attention as the ground trembled and winds passed over everyone.
"I think something just happened with All Might's fight…"
"I-"
Ochako was interrupted by the pillar of golden energy that erupted near ground zero.
"...Something's wrong!" Ochako called out. "I recognize that pillar…!"
It was the same as Izuku's from the USJ.
"Izuku…"
"This is not good… the numbers are off the charts but… they're dropping rapidly," Ratchet said as he checked his vambrace.
"What numbers?"
"The numbers that show his strength, "Ratchet replied grimly.
"Whose?"
…
"All Might's…"
Now we're getting to the good stuff!
Keep on the lookout for the next chapter!
Omake by CT
"Well then, how interesting." He said, just as he activated one of his quirks that played ominous background music.
"I must thank you though, for helping my dear Shigaraki to become so motivated. He has become much better… what is it the youth call it? Ah yes. RTS Gamer. Ever since the USJ, he stopped doing his Zerg Rushing and instead has chosen the Deathball route, so I must thank you for that. You have done splendidly."
"But I have a proposition… you have been cast down your entire life, haven't you? Rejected and mocked by the masses. A quirk like yours would be a waste protecting those who shunned you. No, it would be of much better use to conquer Japan and then the world." He said, before extending his hand. "Join me, and together we shall rule the world as master and apprentice." He said, just as the music swelled.
"You've gotta be kidding me… are you nothing more than a gamer and chuunibyou like the crust shabuir too?!" Izuku said, more shock and anger rather than trembling with fear as he had hoped.
At that moment, the music stopped, accompanied by the scratch of a record needle.
"Ex-excuse me?"
"You are literally, almost word-for-word, saying what Shigaraki said to me with his gamer lingo."
…
"Eherm…my apologies, it seems that Tomura has been influencing me more than I care to admit."