Izuku awoke with a groan. His head aching, throbbing mercilessly. His ears rang with a perpetual, pitched sound that was so high his hands grasped his head, shaking it slowly to ease the pain. He plants his forehead on the earth's floor while continuing to shake the pain away. Luckily the throbbing began to fade-away along with the ringing in his ears.
He sighed in relief that the awful storm of pain from his head had subsided. When he cracked his eyes open to try and see if he and his friends were still where they stood, he found himself in what looked like a bedroom. Where did the villain go? Izuku faced forward and slowly sat upright on the bed.
"What was that?" Asked Izuku under his breath. Then Izuku flinched—it struck him like a bell being pulled back and forth when memories of the recent event started coming back together.
Their mission . . . the forest . . . and the villain.
His friends. . .
Filled with worry and piqued with concern he jolted fully awake quickly getting to his feet. He Jumped out of bed and looked down. Doing so, his heart calmed down then let out a relieved sigh at the sight before him. Young Bakugou and Todoroki were in good condition, no sign of injuries or bruises. Reassured that they're alright he first walked towards his childhood friend who's face and belly were on the ground. He goes down on one knee, stretches his arm to reach for his shoulder then nudges it gently.
"Kacchan? Kacchan, please wake up." When Bakugou didn't respond, he repeated himself a bit louder. This worked as he heard a muffled groan while also slapping Izuku's hand away. He left him alone and headed over to Todoroki repeating the same process he did with Bakugou. This took time as the same merciless-pain that had come over to Izuku was now on them; and so he waited for it to wear off on them.
When it did they picked themselves up from the ground—still holding their heads. Shoto was the first to ask. "Midoriya... are you alright?"
Izuku nodded. "Yeah. What about you, how're you feeling?
"Felt worse but I'll be okay." Shoto replied.
"Damn it!" Bakugou cursed, stomping his foot on the ground out of anger. "We almost had him, he was right there in our grasp. Did we not tell you to wait, damn Deku?!"
"Not sure about him.." Shoto added.
Izuku retreated backwards, distancing himself from Bakugou. He smiled nervously while rubbing the back of his nape with his hand.
"Heh heh, I'm sorry," he said, "I saw the opportunity right in-front of me and I thought I could grab him at arm's reach—"
"He was leading you to a trap and you fell for it. If you had listened, icy-hot over here could've just flanked him and frozen him from the spot; then I would've taken the turn to finish him off. But now he's gone!" Bakugou shouted, anger evident in his tone.
While the hot-air head continued to shout at Izuku, Shoto couldn't help but notice something odd. They were obviously in a bedroom, which Shoto had no recollection of seeing beforehand, but this wasn't exactly an ordinary room. It was decorated to be spacious and lavish, filled with expensive looking furniture and expensive artwork adorning the walls. Shoto had never seen this type of space before, and the sheer amount of money invested in such a place seemed excessive. But that wasn't what worried him.
"Hey guys, where's our friends?" Shoto asked suddenly. Bakugou stopped yelling at Izuku and the pair looked around. Their faces fell.
"I don't know," answered Izuku after thinking about it for a moment, "I think the villain's quirk must've separated us all. They're probably somewhere else.."
Izuku reached for his walkie-talkie that resided near his backpack. Right thumb pressed the side button. He listened to the buzzing hiss of static.
"Uraraka-san, do you hear me? Anyone?" Izuku asked into the small device. Silence greeted him. The only reply to his voice was another buzz, followed by a short burst of static.
"We should go and find them." Shoto suggested. Izuku nodded in agreement.
Izuku placed his walkie-talkie back into his bag while Bakugou started towards the door. Bakugou reached for the knob, twisting it to the side. He pushed the door open revealing a winding hallway that led to multiple doors lining both sides of the hall. Izuku followed Bakugou's trail, Shoto trailing behind. They passed by a few rooms, some closed shut.
It was then that Izuku noticed something about the perceptible shift in the atmosphere.
The hallway was silent.
Izuku's heartbeat fluttered, and he felt a familiar rush of adrenaline. Besides their footsteps, it was deathly quiet.
Izuku glanced over his shoulder at Shoto then back to Bakugou and saw that they had slowed down as well upon noticing the silence. Shoto and Bakugou looked around cautiously, glancing through every room they passed. None of them saw anyone inside except a few paintings and sculptures scattered about the entrance. There was a moment when they halted upon hearing strange noises echoing throughout the halls. When the noises faded, the trio proceeded forward, cautious yet eager to reunite with everyone.
They rounded the corner, walking down yet another winding hallway. But Izuku noticed something wrong with it. He stared down the hall.
Shards of broken vases littered the floor, along with the shattered remains of various figurines. All manner of glass shards lay strewn on the long stretched carpet. Some of the doors they passed were partially busted, as if someone or something tore it apart with brute force. Vents in the ceiling were blown open wide, causing air to swirl freely in and out. The stench of burnt flesh lingered, making Izuku's stomach lurch. He fought to keep his nausea at bay.
Izuku paused.
Burnt flesh?
Before Izuku could process any further thoughts, a faint muffled scream emanated from the hall. In the distance, Izuku and his friends set their sights on a door at the end of the hall. Izuku sprinted ahead towards said door with Bakugou and Shoto trailing behind. The door opened automatically by rising from its own accord. The three teens ducked as dust and smoke billowed from behind the door.
The billowing smoke cleared once more, revealing a large scorch mark that spanned across the wall, charred wood splintering everywhere. As the smoke faded away, the three teens began to hear a chorus of screams and wails coming from beyond the new hall. Their eyes widened when they saw dozens, perhaps hundreds of corpses lying on the ground. Some were completely burned; others were mangled beyond recognition and unrecognizable. A few of the corpses had hands and heads missing as though they had been ripped off.
Another corpse had two gaping holes in her chest as though she had been speared from behind, leaving only a bloody mess. In the distance, an ocean of people were running for their lives, screaming as they went past. The whole group appeared particularly frantic; their clothes torn, hair wild, and faces contorted with fear and desperation.
Some of the individual's clothes were stained with blood.
One thing stood out amongst the mob of fleeing survivors. Behind the fleeing group, the trio saw five humanoid creatures chasing after them. The five creatures were missing their lower jaws, revealing gums and flesh. All five of them were naked and were covered in blood from head to toe. It seemed as if someone poured a bucket of blood onto them to create a bloody painting of horror and death.
Their elongated arms were adorned with bone-like talons. Their skeletal spine protruded from the skin's surface and their pupils were missing, leaving blank sockets.
Izuku couldn't comprehend the monsters he was witnessing, or even identify them. They resembled nothing but nightmares.
"What the hell..?" Bakugou muttered under his breath.
"What are those things?" Shoto asked, his eyes transfixed upon the sight of one of the monsters sprinting terrifyingly fast after the fleeing survivors.
"Oh god, help me!"
A man rounded a corner, separating from his group that fled further down the hall. His shoe caught on a plain box and he fell face-first into the carpet floor. He dragged himself along the floor and whimpered like a beaten dog. Behind him, the creature slowly stalked him. It growled indifferently while taking its time; it knew he had nowhere left to run.
The man turned over onto his back and tried crawling up the wall. Tears streamed down his face as he desperately pleaded for his life, his body trembling uncontrollably due to fear. The creature approached, slowly closing in on the frightened man who cried out as loud as he could.
Any fear or dread Izuku had was washed away the second the man cried for help. Izuku felt a rush of courage coursing through his veins.
Determination laced through Izuku as his eyes narrowed, the leather squeaked as he bawled both his hands to a fist. His face illuminated as glowing, crimson veins appeared from all parts of his body, dancing their way towards his head. The veins quickly faded away and his figure was coated by sparks of emerald lightning. Bursting with speed he leapt towards the creature.
"St. Louis Smash!"
Izuku shouted with a swing of his leg, lashing his foot onto the creature's face. A shockwave of emerald energy pulsed outward. The creature shrieked in pain as Izuku sent it flying in the air then indented its body into the wall. Life expired from the monster and its head hung limp on its shoulders.
Izuku turned his gaze towards the man who was already looking up at him. Fear was etched into the man's face as he looked straight into Izuku's green eyes. Izuku's face softened, his lips pulling into a warm smile as he took one step towards him. With gracious gesture, Izuku extended his hand towards the man.
"It's fine," Izuku reassured softly, "You're safe now."
The man eyed Izuku warily, reaching out his hand. He didn't understand what the boy said, due to the language barrier. After a moment, the man grabbed onto Izuku's hand and pulled himself onto his feet. The man stumbled slightly as he gained his footing, but he continued staring into Izuku's eyes. Izuku looked over his shoulder, and saw that the survivors stopped upon seeing the action that took place.
A gurgling growl reverberated from the hallway. The growl was answered by a similar call, and then another, until everyone saw the huge group of slashers trotting towards them.
The survivors proceeded to run forward down the hall with the man Izuku saved trailing after them. Izuku stood before the slashers in the distance, channeling his percentage of One for All up to twenty percent. Bakugou and Shoto stood alongside him, the pair activating their quirks in anticipation.
A terrible realization dawned on Izuku.
If he and his friends have to deal with them here, what if the others are also dealing with them as well?
A/N: There you have it young readers. Izuku and his friends have entered the Dead Space universe. These Necromorphs are gonna have a bad time with 'Final battle' Izuku, who can control 45-50% of One for all currently, but with Fa Jin, can go to Faux100%. I have thought about putting a language barrier in this story but won't abuse it too much to the point where no one can understand them, due to them speaking an entirely different language. That is something that'll be worked on in the next chapter.
With that, I'll be taking my leave. See you in the next chapter!