Tenya had heard about Midoriya, of course.
The Iida family was close knit, and Tenya was very close to his brother. As such they spoke often, whether it be on Tensei's visits home or over the phone, during their bi-weekly phone call approximately two hours before bed. Tensei had mentioned the curious discovery of Present Mic's that was traveling in a ripple through the hero community, first locally and then further to the rest of Japan: a set of notebooks full of truly enlightening analyses, and the first year UA student who had apparently written them.
Tenya had been curious which of his classmates was such a gifted analyst, but Tensei said that it was a Gen Ed student, who would surely soon be transferring to the support course. Tensei had always been one to work as closely as possible with his talented support staff, and he encouraged Tenya to be kind to the boy when he inevitably began working with the hero classes to perfect his analysis skills. Hero work could entail just as much networking as any other high profile profession, and it was an area Tenya needed to work on. This analyst, who would surely be in high demand upon graduation, would be an excellent subject on which to practice those skills.
When Aizawa-sensei had announced that the mousy looking boy with untidy green hair standing by the buses was the analyst Tenya had heard about, he'd wanted to go talk to him right away, to try and make him feel welcome. Kirishima, however, had immediately monopolized his attention, and Tenya's duty as the Vice President of the class had ended up mandating that he not ride the same bus as the two of them. As they entered the USJ Tenya was just deciding that he'd simply have to take whatever suggestions were offered him gracefully and then thank Midoriya humbly when class was over.
Then, once they were inside the USJ, the warp gate opened, and Tenya stood frozen in horror alongside his classmates as what were clearly villains streamed into the facility. He didn't know what to do. Things like this simply didn't happen at UA High School. This had to be some part of the simulation, another 'logical ruse' like Aizawa-sensei's quirk assessments, but villains weren't what this facility was supposed to be for and-
"Iida ," came a voice in Tenya's ear, snapping him out of his trance.
"Midoriya," Tenya said, touching his earpiece so it would pick up his voice, "do you know what
we're-"
"You have to run," Midoriya's voice interrupted. "You have to get back to the main campus and get help!"
"What?!" Tenya sputtered. "And abandon my classmates?!"
"Vice President," the formal address by his title made Tenya straighten his back, "think about what's happening. Those people aren't supposed to be here, yet they got in with no trouble. The alarms aren't going off, so no one knows they're here. We have two Pros and twenty hero students, and I already count thirty villains out there. We need back up; that's what the class needs from you right now!"
"You're right of course," Tenya agreed, but still he hesitated. "But-"
"You're the fastest!" Midoriya's voice rose in pitch as he began to speak more emphatically. "The doors are closing, go go go!"
Tenya looked behind himself, to see that the enormous doors were in fact sliding shut behind them. As he stood there, paralyzed with indecision, a piece of advice Tensei had once given him rang in his ears.
Remember that you're part of a team, Tensei had said. You do what the team needs, regardless of how glamorous it is or how useless it feels. People are counting on you, Tenya.
Without giving it another thought, Tenya revved his engines and shot straight through the gap in the doors. Once he was outside he heard them close ominously behind him, but he paid them no attention. He had to get to the main campus. His classmates were counting on him.
Izuku realized the flaw in his system as soon as he saw the class all react as one to something Eraser said.
He could get in contact with the individual students through their earpieces, but not only did Eraser and Thirteen not have earpieces, but he couldn't hear what was going on out on the main floor. Judging by the way one of the villains, a gray haired man with what looked like disembodied hands grasping him all over his body, was gesturing with his arms, he was saying something. The students and Pros could hear it. Izuku could not.
"Yaoyorozu?" he asked, turning the dial back to the Class President's channel as soon as he had finished persuading Iida to get help. "What's he saying?"
"He's saying he's here to kill All Might," Yaoyorozu explained. "He intends to start killing students until All Might arrives."
"Then you have to get into a formation," Izuku told her, his mind already racing ahead of him. "Get the class to cluster together, and-"
Before Izuku could finish, two things happened in quick succession. First, Eraser leaped down the stairs, throwing himself into the mass of villains to face them head-on. Izuku felt his heart jump into his throat as the vanguard turned their attention to the hero before them, already aiming what looked like projectile quirks at him. Eraser wasn't suited to big group fights, he was a precision instrument meant for stealth missions and single combat. Izuku braced himself, sure he was about to watch Eraser get overwhelmed by the three in front, but as he watched transfixed all three of them looked in confusion down at their own hands long enough for the capture weapon to seize all of them and knock their heads together, dropping them unconscious to the ground.
"Whoah," Izuku breathed, uncaring that he was still on Yaoyorozu's channel.
Then, as Eraser turned his attention to a large, beefy villain with an obvious mutation quirk, the second thing happened. The warp quirk villain suddenly vanished from his position in the center of the floor, and reappeared between the students and the door. The class was already trying to follow Iida, but they all stopped when the villain blocked their way. Izuku again cursed his lack of audio; he couldn't see the villain's mouth moving, but he knew he was talking, and any hint as to their plans could make or break his counterattack strategy.
He wasn't entirely sure when he'd decided that he was going to form a counterattack strategy, but he wasn't about to question the decision now.
Desperately Izuku turned the dial to channel 21, hoping that all the earpieces at once would be able to pick something up.
"In the end I suppose it doesn't matter," came a many-layered voice, faint but unmistakably the voice of the villain. "I still have a role to play."
Izuku couldn't see Thirteen's fingers at this distance, but he could see them raising their arm, and he knew they were about to use their quirk to reduce this villain to dust. He hoped it would work, the villain seeming to be somewhat noncorporeal, but he had faith that Thirteen would be able to do something. Then, before Thirteen could suck the villain up, suddenly Kacchan and Kirishima were leaping forward.
"No!" Izuku shouted, standing up in his chair, but it was too late. His view was obscured by a cloud of smoke from Kacchan's quirk, and by the time it cleared Kacchan and Kirishima were standing between the villain and Thirteen.
"Get out of the way!" Izuku shouted desperately, and faintly he heard Thirteen calling the same instruction.
They were not given time to react though, the villain was already speaking again. "I'll scatter you throughout this facility, to meet my comrades and your deaths!"
Again Izuku's vision was obscured, this time by a massive dome of the same dark energy the villain seemed to be made of. He could hear exclamations of alarm coming through the earpieces, but he couldn't see anything that was happening. Then suddenly the dome vanished, and Izuku looked on in horror to see that everyone who had been underneath it was gone.
Izuku's eyes darted to the other cameras, hoping to catch some glimpse of the others. As he watched he saw swirling purple portals open all around, on over half the monitors displaying the various disaster zones. Each one spat out a handful of students, who landed with wildly varying degrees of grace, and then closed.
For a moment, Izuku allowed himself to breathe. He was still tuned to channel 21, so he could hear all of the students exclaiming in alarm, but he had released the button on the microphone, so they could not hear him for the moment. His hands were shaking as he flipped through the pages on his clipboard, making mental notes of where everyone had landed. He had accounted for almost all of them by the time he started to hear voices calling his name, students wondering where they had ended up and whether everyone else was alright. Maybe, if he could-
Suddenly the door to the control room, the one that led to the interior of the facility, banged open. Izuku jumped and spun around, to see a skinny, nearly skeletal villain with no shirt and a bald head. He reached for Izuku with long fingers that seemed to have too many joints, grinning wickedly, but before he could get far suddenly another body collided with his. He and another villain, this one bigger and stronger looking, both slammed into the doorframe, then dropped unconscious to the
floor.
"Uraraka!" Izuku exclaimed as a girl with nut brown hair and round, rosy cheeks came around the door. He had only seen her briefly before getting on the bus, but he had seen her name beside her picture.
"Release," she said, pressing all five of her fingers together, and the bigger villain fell deeper into his slump. Then she turned to Izuku. "You should know there are a handful of villains heading for this control room. Thankfully I was dumped between you and them."
Izuku looked at the monitors again. Sure enough, as he watched the various hero students get their bearings each group suddenly found themselves squaring off against yet more villains. In every instance they were outnumbered, but none of the students looked ready to give up, and all of them were preparing to face their opponents.
"You should get out of here while you can," Uraraka said, drawing Izuku's attention back to her. She gave him a determined look, one clenched fist held up before her. "It's my duty as a hero student to get the civilians out safe. Take the outside door, and I'll cover you."
Izuku hesitated. He looked back at the monitors, at the hero students who were drawing their weapons and firing up their quirks. He looked at the door to the outside, to a retreat that would probably save his life. He looked at Uraraka, willing to go down fighting to give him a chance to escape.
Izuku shook his head.
"I have to stay and help," he said resolutely. "That's what I'm here for and that's what I'm going to do. If you can handle the villains for a little while, I think I can help guide everyone out of the areas where they've been trapped and get them back to the center. Then we can all face this together, OK?"
Uraraka looked at him worriedly for a moment, then her face broke out in a vicious smile. "OK!" she said enthusiastically. "If you want to be brave I won't stand in your way! I'll hold off the villains for as long as I can!"
Izuku nodded, and Uraraka nodded back. Then she reached in and pulled the door shut, leaving Izuku alone in the control room once again.
Izuku took a deep breath and went back to his seat. After a quick glance at the monitors, he turned the dial.
"Asui, I mean, uh, Tsu?" Izuku said into the microphone. "Is the ship you're on sinking?" *
"Yep," Tsuyu said into her earpiece, watching as water rushed into the middle of the boat. "We're definitely sinking, and there's a lot of those villains in the water. I don't think I can fight them on my own, ribbit."
"Let me just ask Mineta something," Izuku said, and the earpiece went dead.
Tsuyu went to watch the hoard of villains in the water as Mineta explained how his quirk worked to Midoriya. There certainly were a lot of them, their heads peeking out from the water like the fins of sharks, but none of them were coming any closer just yet. Probably they were waiting for the ship to submerge, leaving her and Mineta vulnerable in the water.
"Hey Midoriya," said Tsuyu as Mineta finished and her own earpiece began to emit the slight static that meant Midoriya's mic was back on. "It seems like these guys don't really know what we're capable of necessarily. They seem to want us to come to them, rather than engaging us out of their element."
"Perfect," said Midoriya, "that means they'll all go into the ship once it's underwater. You're going to set a trap."
After they had their preparations finished, Tsuyu stuck herself to the ceiling of the highest room in the ship, waiting for their trap to spring. Mineta had already groped her once, so she held him as far away as possible with her tongue. She had half a mind to leave him there, but it had been his quirk that would supposedly get them out of here.
"What are these things?" came the voice of one of the villains from deeper in the ship, the part that was already underwater.
"Hey, I'm stuck!" came another voice.
Soon a chorus of complaints were coming up from below, and Tsuyu decided it was time to climb out onto the roof. She surveyed the water around the ship, to find that it was completely devoid of villains. All of them had gone into the ship to look for them, and all of them had been caught in Mineta's sticky balls they had placed in long strings trailing off every surface.
"Good thinking Midoriya," said Tsuyu as she leaped high in the air, dragging a screaming Mineta behind her. "Where to now, ribbit?"
"The central plaza," Midoriya said into her ear. "I have another plan." *
Momo jammed the base of her staff into another villain's eye, knocking him backwards a couple of steps and clearing the space around her once more. Beside her, Kaminari and Jirou were dealing with villains of their own, but didn't look like they needed her help right now. She looked around, seeing no other immediate threats, and put a hand to her earpiece once more.
"Midoriya?" she tried again, hoping that he would hear her this time.
To her surprise, the earpiece crackled to life. "Yaoyorozu?" came Midoriya's voice, high but determined.
"Thank goodness," Momo sighed. "I thought you might be hurt. Are there villains at the control room? Are you safe?"
"There are, but Uraraka's taking care of them," Midoriya assured her. "Are you doing alright? I think I have a plan to finish off these villains."
"So do I," Momo said, keeping her voice low enough that Midoriya could hear here, but the villains could not. "I'm going to make a sheet of insulation to cover myself and Jirou, so Kaminari can go all out against these guys."
"I have a better idea," Midoriya said immediately. "Make a metal net."
"A metal net?" Momo questioned. One of the villains was starting to edge closer again, so she swung her staff, catching him on the side of the head. "What good will that do?"
"Cast it over the villains," Midoriya said. "If you and Jirou can get behind Kaminari, he should be able to electrify the net without overloading himself. That last thing you need is a gibbering idiot wandering around right now."
Momo considered this, then nodded. "Good idea," she said, realizing that Midoriya probably couldn't see such a minute movement on the cameras. "It'll be less work for me too."
She turned her back on the villains and concentrated on the molecular structure of copper, the best conductor of any metal strong enough to make wire. It was easier to make a crisscrossing pattern of simple copper wire, rather than a thick sheet of insulation, so almost immediately it was flying out of the back window in her costume and settling over the villains. She grabbed Jirou and pulled her out of the way before the net could come down, ducking behind Kaminari.
"Don't go overboard!" she called to Kaminari, who seemed to have gotten the idea. He grabbed hold of the net, and with a loud buzzing and the sickening smell of burning hair, every villain in front of them was on the ground.
"Nice work," said Midoriya's voice in her ear. "You've got one more guy to deal with, I think he has an electricity quirk, but he should be weak to Jirou's sound attack. After that, head to your right, and you should come to the exit of your zone pretty fast."
"Where to from there?" Momo asked, leaning on her staff. "The central plaza," Midoriya told her. "I have an idea."
Shouto looked at the villains trapped in his ice with contempt. Honestly, they had barely even put up a fight. If they intended to infiltrate a place like UA, then they had better be ready to deal with people who had trained their whole lives to be heroes. They ought to be ashamed of their weak attempts at threatening hero students.
He was just about to lecture them on that very point when suddenly his earpiece crackled to life for the first time.
"Todoroki?" came the voice on the other end, the analyst who had come with them.
"Yes?" Shouto asked, unsure of what Midoriya could want from him. "I don't think this is the time to be making notes on my performance."
"If you want notes you should probably pay more attention to who you have with you," Midoriya told him, his voice oddly steady. Shouto thought he remembered it being shaky and nervous before. "Hagakure got dropped in the same place you did, so be careful not to catch her in your ice."
"Noted," Shouto said, recalling now that he'd heard the sound of running feet somewhere behind him, but hadn't seen anything when he'd looked back. "Is there anything else?"
"Just that you can get out of your zone by going around that outcropping to your left, then heading straight down," Midoriya told him. "After that, head for the center."
"I have every intention of going to help our teacher," Shouto informed him, a little annoyed that Midoriya would doubt it.
"Good," Midoriya said, not seeming at all phased by whatever annoyance had shown in his tone.
Maybe none had. "Please hurry, we're going to need the entire class if my plan is going to work." "What plan?" Shouto asked, interested despite himself.
"You'll see," said Midoriya cryptically, then the connection cut off.
Shouto sighed and headed in the direction he'd been given. Midoriya had more courage than he'd given the Gen Ed student credit for, if he had stuck around this long. He might have escaped with his life, but he had stayed, and apparently come up with a plan. There was something to be admired in that, in perseverance despite such limitations. Shouto was certain his father wouldn't see it that way, so he decided to follow along with whatever scheme Midoriya was orchestrating. Anything that set him apart from Endeavor was a good idea.
Eijirou felt really bad about getting in the way.
In hindsight it seemed obvious what he should have done, letting the Pros handle it without getting involved unless he had to. He had been so eager to prove himself, to prove he could be strong and save people, that he hadn't even thought twice before jumping into the fray. He had acted rashly, and he had endangered the lives of his classmates. This was all his fault.
The only thing he could do now was try to be better, he thought as he smashed one hardened arm against a villain's skull. He had to get through this, take care of these thugs and then get back to somewhere he could help. He knew Aizawa-sensei would have his hands full with the hoard in the middle of the facility, so he had to do whatever he could to lighten that load. The villain who had spoken about All Might, and the villain with the warp quirk, seemed to be in charge. If he could take them out, the attack would be over.
Beside him, Bakugou was making equally quick work of the villains that had come after them. He was brutally efficient, taking out first one and then another, none of them managing to pin or sneak up on him. Eijirou had to admit, the fire zone was a pretty ideal place for someone with an explosion quirk to be fighting. No risk of lighting anything on fire, when it was already burning.
"Kirishima?" came Midoriya's voice in his ear, just as they were clearing a room.
"Midoriya?" Eijirou asked, one hand to his earpiece. "You're in the control room right? What's happening out there?"
"I'm guiding everyone towards the center," Midoriya said. "Get out on the street, then I'll tell you which way to go."
Without any more encouragement Eijirou ran for the door. He could hear Bakugou yelling behind him, but the other boy seemed to be following, so he didn't look back. Once they were out on the street Eijirou turned to him.
"Midoriya's going to guide us out," he said, indicating his earpiece. "We should-"
"Like hell I'm listening to that little bastard!" Bakugou yelled, explosions popping from his hands. "He's just trying to make me look bad! I'll find my own way out of here!"
With that he took off down the street, running full tilt into the inferno. "Bakugou!" Eijirou called, but if Bakugou heard him, he didn't respond.
Eijirou swore, looking after his classmate. The kind thing to do would be to go after him, try to persuade him to follow directions. An uncharitable part of his brain told him that none of the teachers had ever gotten Bakugou to follow directions, so his chances of achieving that were slim. Still, would it be a greater mistake to leave the rest of his classmates in the lurch?
With another frustrated sound, Eijirou touched his earpiece. "Which way am I going Midoriya?" he asked, turning away from where Bakugou had taken off.
"Pretty much the opposite direction from Kacchan," Midoriya said, sounding a little sheepish. "Go to the end of the next block, then hang a left. The exit should be right in front of you."
Eijirou sprinted along the path Midoriya had laid out for him, trying not to breathe in the smoke. The air was hot and dry here, and it burned his lungs as he ran. At the end of the block he turned left, and sure enough saw a glowing exit sign not ten yards ahead.
"Thanks Midoriya," he said, and in a few moments he was bursting out of the fire zone, completely on his own.
Izuku sighed as he watched Kirishima leave the fire zone without Kacchan. He'd hoped that coming from a hero classmate Kacchan would find taking direction more palatable, but apparently not. Still, no one could say he hadn't tried.
Suddenly there came a banging on the inside door, and Izuku jumped. "Uraraka?" he called nervously, making sure his finger was off the button to activate the microphone.
"Get out of here!" Uraraka's voice came through the door. "There's more of them, but I'm exhausted. I can't use my quirk any more!"
Izuku didn't give himself time to think, he launched himself out of his chair and went to the door. When he jerked it open Uraraka fell forward inside, apparently having been leaning against it. Ignoring her protests he dragged her into the control room, then stuck his head out to have a look.
Three villains were advancing on the control room. One of them was big, with a mutation quirk that made him look like a humanoid panther. Another one had a big metal plate on his chest with a series of holes in it, which Izuku was willing to bet shot something out of them. The third didn't have an obvious quirk, but his expression was cruel enough to send shivers down Izuku's spine.
"Hold on," Izuku said to Uraraka, and closed the door behind himself.
The panther villain was bringing up the rear, with the two in front level with each other and the third standing between them, but a few feet back. Izuku immediately darted between the two leads, drawing their attention onto himself as he faced off against the projectile user.
"Hit me!" he invited cheerfully, surprised by the way his voice didn't shake.
The holes in the metal plate began to glow, but Izuku was already moving, and before they had fired he was out of the way. He heard the other villain scream as he was hit. One down.
"Bastard!" screamed the downed villain as Izuku dove between Panther's legs.
There was a strange, squishy thump, and when Izuku popped back to his feet behind his third opponent he could see the villain on the ground grinning viciously, his arm having elongated into some kind of spear, down which dark red blood was running. Two down.
Panther was starting to turn around, so Izuku crouched and jumped as high as he could. He managed to get a fair amount of the way up the villain's broad back, and grabbing handfuls of fur he began to drag himself upwards. Panther growled, and a paw came back to swipe at him, but the angle was awkward and so the claws barely grazed his side. As soon as he was high enough Izuku reached out and bit down hard on the back of Panther's neck.
Immediately Panther slumped, the automatic response all cats had to being grasped by the back of the neck kicking in and making his body seize up. Izuku held tight as he went crashing to the ground, teeth still dug into baggy flesh. He knew he didn't have long, so without letting go he looked around for a heavy object, and found that one of the villains Uraraka had taken care of had lost a steel toed boot. Izuku grabbed it, and holding it as best he could, he brought the metal down hard on the back of Panther's skull. Three down.
The villain beneath him went limp, and when Izuku released him and sat up, he didn't move. Neither did the other two villains. Izuku breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could congratulate himself too much he saw the door to the control room opening, and Uraraka poked her head out.
"Holy cow," she said, staring at the three downed villains.
"No time," said Izuku, standing on shaky legs and running back to the control room. "How long do you need to rest? Even if you can't use your quirk, can you stand and look menacing?"
"Just another minute," Uraraka said. She wiped sweat off her forehead, then grinned savagely. "If I don't need to use my quirk, I can at least stand on my own two feet."
"Good," said Izuku, and shut the door behind himself. "Take a minute, then get to the center. This strategy is going to take all of us."
"Are you gonna be ok here on your own?" Uraraka asked nervously.
"That was the last of them," Izuku said. "Everyone else has pretty much finished off their villains. We may not look like much, but we're winning."
"Good," said Uraraka, then leaned against the wall, eyes closed. "That's good." *
Shouta watched as another villain went down, felled by his capture weapon without his even needing to touch them. He was nearly finished taking out these thugs, but he estimated there were more in waiting, and every minute he wasted on this battle was a minute his students were fighting alone. He knew what they were capable of and he knew they could hold their own. He also knew that if one of them got hurt, or worse, he'd never forgive himself.
The villain covered in hands seemed to be the leader, but he apparently wasn't content to hang back anymore, and as Shouta turned to him he suddenly found the villain racing towards. He was muttering something, but Shouta wasn't paying much attention.
"Final boss," Shouta concluded as he darted to meet the villain.
He slammed into the villain with one arm, but immediately found himself caught as the villain stood his ground and stopped his assault without toppling over. As the villain continued to taunt him he kept his quirk activated for as long as possible, but before long the urge to blink became too strong and he closed his eyes. Immediately a searing pain his elbow revealed that it was pressed to the villains' palm, and this villain apparently had a touch-based quirk.
"Don't push yourself too hard now," the villain said mockingly. "You might just fall apart."
Shouta leaped back, putting some distance between him and the villain. A few of the stragglers surrounded him, but he made quick work of them despite his injury. The villain was still talking, but Shouta was more focused on fighting. That was probably why he didn't see it.
"By the way," said the hand villain as Shouta turned to see the big fellow who had previously hung back beside his leader just behind him. "I am not the final boss."
The enormous man raised one massive clawed hand, and Shouta braced himself for pain. It didn't come. Instead a huge ice wall erupted between him and his opponent, stopping the blow but raining ice chunks down on Shouta. He leaped back, out of the way, then looked around wildly for Todoroki.
Instead of just Todoroki however, he found himself surrounded, but not by enemies. Nearly all of his students were standing at the edge of his battlefield, forming a ring around the three remaining villains. He wasn't sure how any of them had gotten out of their own battles so quickly, but the only one he counted missing besides Iida was Bakugou. He hoped that didn't mean the hothead had gotten himself hurt.
Shouta looked back at the hand villain, waiting for his reaction. The fight wasn't over yet. *
"Well, it seems we have company," said the villain with all the hands, looking around at the assembled students. "I guess UA students really do live up to their school's reputation."
Izuku, listening in on eighteen out of twenty earpieces, took a deep breath. Now was the time. Everyone was assembled, which meant it was time for him to take the lead. If his plan was going to work, it would have to be now.
He steeled his courage, turned the dial to channel zero, and pressed the blue button.
"That's right," said Izuku, looking into the camera. He could see the holographic projection of a screen hovering over everything on the monitors. The positioning was a little off, but it was in full view of the villains. "Those students made pretty quick work of your forces, and now I'd say they're a little bit ticked off. You're the only one left for them to take that anger out on."
Quickly he switched the dial to channel 21 again, anxious to hear what the villain would say to that.
"This isn't right," the villain was saying, less to Izuku and more to himself. "This isn't right! All Might was supposed to be here! My Nomu was supposed to destroy him!"
"I checked the news on my way into school today," Izuku informed him, trying to sound authoritative, not sure he managed it. "All Might stopped three different crimes in the time it took me to ride the train. Clearly he has better things to do than teach a class today."
"The schedule said he would be here!" snapped the villain, answering one question for Izuku. "What do you want to bet on?" Izuku asked. "A hero's need to do good, or a list of things that were
supposed to happen?"
The villain growled, scratching agitatedly at his neck. "No fair!" he said indignantly. "My Nomu has three of the best quirks, the perfect combination for destroying All Might! How can I kill him if
he won't come out and face me?"
Three quirks? How was that possible? He had to be some kind of genetic experiment. Izuku's mind reeled, but he forced himself to focus on the task at hand.
"Sounds like you better rethink your plan," Izuku said. He was speaking louder now, and though he was unsure of why, it made his voice steadier. "Better to take your tinker toy and try again another day."
"Why should I?" the villain said petulantly. "My Nomu can take out all of you! And still beat All Might when it's done!"
"Can it?" Izuku couldn't raise one eyebrow, but he gave his best condescending look. "You're surrounded by a whole class of hero students and a Pro. They've wiped the floor with every villain you brought with you, and they're not prone to giving up. Do you think Nomu can take them? All of them?"
The villain growled again, but said nothing. He scratched his neck, looking left and right, trying to make a decision.
"Tomura Shigaraki," said the warp quirk villain suddenly, drawing the hand villain's attention. "It may be time for a tactical retreat. We may win this fight, but at what cost? Perhaps it is better to withdraw."
Izuku said nothing. The hero students said nothing. Eraserhead said nothing. The whole facility was quiet as they waited for the villain's -- Shigaraki's -- decision.
"Fine," said Shigaraki. "Take us home Kurogiri."
The warp villain made another dome, this one encompassing Shigaraki and the Nomu. Eraser had to jump out of the way to avoid being caught as well, but he managed to stumble away before the circle of dark energy vanished, taking with it the leaders of the villains. In their wake they left nothing but a wall of ice and the scattered unconscious bodies of their comrades. There was no one left to fight.
A cheer went up from the hero students, and as Izuku watched even Eraser's shoulders slumped in relief. Izuku hit the blue button again, banishing the holographic screen, before collapsing back in his chair. All the strength seemed to have gone out of him, leaving him bone-weary and exhausted. It was over. It was over .
"Midoriya," came a voice through the speaker, and Izuku had to think for a moment to identify it as Todoroki's.
"Yeah?" he replied, turning the dial to the proper channel.
"You realize you may have made yourself a target of this villain, don't you?" asked Todoroki's voice. There was something in it, almost like worry, but he was too stoic for Izuku to be sure. "Someone like him doesn't forget being bested like this."
Izuku gave a faint smile, even though Todoroki couldn't see him."If it gets everyone out of here safe, then it's worth any risk to me."
There was a moment of silence, during which Izuku wondered if Todoroki was done talking to him. "That's very brave of you," Todoroki said at last.
"No it's not," Izuku shook his head tiredly. "Yes," said Todoroki. "It is."
Alright, Izuku admitted, maybe it isn't over yet.
Hizashi bolted down the stairs, uncaring of how dignified it was or wasn't to rush in. As he went he counted students. Gathered in a ring around Shouta, there were eighteen total. With Iida amongst the reinforcements, there should be twenty counting Midoriya. Where was Midoriya?
He took the last few stairs at a flying leap, using a slight burst of his quirk to break his fall. All the villains seemed to be down, unconscious or immobile on the floor. None of the students he could see were hurt, or at least not hurt enough for it to be pressing, so he darted between Tokoyami and Hagakure and went immediately to Shouta.
"Where's Midoriya?" he asked urgently, gripping Shouta by the arms.
Shouta grunted as though in pain, and Hizashi looked down to see that his elbow seemed to be missing most of its skin, bloody flesh exposed as though the outer layer had been peeled away.
"You're hurt!" Hizashi cried, a little louder than he'd meant to judging by Shouta's wince.
"I'm fine," Shouta assured him, straightening a little. "Midoriya's in the control room, but you might want to go check on him. Uraraka came from that direction, and she's in pretty bad shape."
Hizashi looked over in the direction of the control room, to find that Uraraka had indeed collapsed to the floor. She was being tended to by Yaoyorozu, who had produced a paper fan and was vigorously waving it at Uraraka's shining face. He looked back at Shouta, guilt gnawing at him, unsure of where he should be.
"Would any of the villains even be interested in the control room?" Hizashi asked, trying to make the choice easier.
"If not before, they are now," Shouta told him. "He put on a truly heroic display, got the leaders to retreat. If any villains are still conscious, that's where they'll be headed."
"A heroic display?" Hizashi mused, more to cover his hesitation than anything. He knew Shouta would tell him all about it later.
"I'm fine," Shouta repeated, and suddenly his scarf wrapped around his injured arm, becoming a bandage as easily as it became a weapon. "Go check on your problem child."
Reluctantly Hizashi left Shouta to the others and ran for the control room. He paused briefly at Uraraka, but Yaoyorozu had evidently overheard their conversation and waved him on. It was some distance away, but the facility had a relatively open floor plan, so it came into view fairly quickly. Hizashi squinted as he approached, seeing that there was someone by the door. As he got closer he could see more clearly. The figure was too tall to be Midoriya.
Hizashi drew breath, ready to blast the villain into next week with his voice, but before he could shout suddenly there was a loud thud like a door slamming, and the man crumpled to the ground. As Hizashi's strides ate up the distance he saw the door open again, and Midoriya stepped out. He looked down at the villain, almost as though surprised that his attack had worked, but he looked up when he heard Hizashi's hurried footfalls.
"Midoriya!" Hizashi cried, letting out a great rush of breath but careful not to use his quirk.
Midoriya's eyes widened when he saw Hizashi, and he immediately stepped around the fallen villain to meet him. Hizashi dropped to his knees as soon as he reached Midoriya, catching the boy up in his arms and hugging him close to his chest. He squeezed tight, but Midoriya let out a little cry of pain, and Hizashi released him to see that his uniform was torn and bloodstained on one side.
"Damn it!" Hizashi swore, uncaring of the little squeak of surprise Midoriya let out. He lifted the jacket and undershirt, to see four shallow claw marks in the boy's side. "How did this happen? Are you hurt anywhere else?"
Midoriya pointed at another one of the unconscious villains littered around the floor, a larger one that looked like a panther. The claws on his right hand were bloodstained, and Hizashi fought the urge to blast an opponent already defeated into next week.
"He got me before I got him," Midoriya explained simply. "They're not deep."
"It still shouldn't have happened," Hizashi insisted. He had nothing to press against the wound, but thankfully it wasn't bleeding much.
"None of this should have happened," Midoriya pointed out reasonably. "Really Sensei, I'm fine."
Hizashi paused, staring at the child before him. Midoriya had never called him anything but 'sir' before, and this change, with nothing to mark it, seemed significant. Hizashi had been called 'Sensei' by many students before. Somehow this title from Midoriya's mouth meant more than all of them. It meant something entirely different.
"You're very brave, 'lil listener," Hizashi said, instead of commenting on his change of title. "No one could have expected this much from you, but you rose to the occasion."
Midoriya shrugged. "It's only what the hero students did."
"You're not a hero student," Hizashi reminded him gently. The statement seemed to ring false, but if Midoriya felt so he didn't say anything.
"We all did what we had to," he insisted.
Hizashi nodded. Then he stood, and placing himself beside Midoriya he pulled the boy against his side. He did not comment on the hand fisted in the back of his jacket. If he could steady Midoriya at all, he would gladly do so.
"C'mon," he said, rubbing a little at the arm beneath his fingers. "Let's blow this popsicle stand."
Midoriya laughed weakly, and Hizashi felt as though he might have recovered a little of his Present Mic charm.
"So," said Shouta, once the rest of the staff had started to secure the villains and the class was milling around uncertainly, "which one of you can tell me what happened to Bakugou?"
Kirishima slowly raised his hand, looking somewhat ashamed. "I left him in the fire zone," he confessed shyly. "When Midoriya told us where to go he ran off in the wrong direction. I think he's still there."
Shouta glanced at Snipe, who finished handcuffing the villain he was standing over and then stood up to head for the fire zone. Hopefully Bakugou hadn't managed to get himself into any more trouble there. It wasn't a surprise to Shouta that he couldn't follow directions, even under these circumstances. They would have to do something about that.
"Aizawa-sensei," called Yaoyorozu, drawing Shouta's attention to where she was kneeling beside Uraraka.
Shouta walked over to them, slow and deliberate. His legs barely wanted to obey him, and he was afraid if he moved too quickly his knees would buckle.
"She overused her quirk," Yaoyorozu reported, "I think by a lot. She needs medical attention."
Once it became clear that Uraraka wasn't going to revive with a little bit of air, Shouta picked the girl up and carried her towards the stairs. Yaoyorozu hovered a moment, not sure if she should still be helping, but Shouta shooed her off to make shock blankets for everyone. The ambulances would be here soon, and they were bound to be short.
"Aizawa-sensei," Uraraka said weakly, her eyes barely open as she looked up at her teacher. "Rest now," Shouta told her, as gently as he could. "It's over."
"I tried to protect Midoriya," she told him. Her throat sounded dry. He'd have to get her some water. "I tried, but he ended up protecting me."
Shouta nearly missed a step in surprise, but managed to keep his footing. "What do you mean?" he asked carefully.
"You should have seen him," she said, a little woozy now. "He took out those three villains like it was nothing."
"You were all very brave today," Shouta said, even as his stress-scrambled brain began once more to connect one thought with another.
Midoriya had taken out villains. Three of them, at least. There might have been more after Uraraka left, or before Hizashi arrived. These might have been low level thugs, but they were career criminals. A quirkless Gen Ed student taking out three of them was no joke.
"I'm sure Midoriya did his best," Shouta continued, when Uraraka didn't respond.
Her eyes were closed, and he almost thought she might have been asleep when suddenly they fluttered open again. "He fought like any other hero student," she said, then slumped in his arms with her head on his chest.
"Like any other hero student, huh?" Shouta whispered to himself. That was certainly an interesting development.