Chapter 3: The Fight Begins

Chapter Text

A chorus of "All Might"s could be heard throughout the USJ, from villains and students alike. The villains' were said out of fear and intimidation, the students' of relief and joy. All Might himself paid them no mind, simply staring down at the figures below. His steps, carefully measured, his arms, swinging lightly.

"I apologize for not being here earlier," All Might stated, his frown turning into a grimace, "I had made a poor mistake in the morning, one that you students are unfortunately paying the price for. Fear not, everything is fine now. I am here!"

Kagero stood up fully, "I was beginning to wonder if that heroling actually made it out. It's like I went for an autograph but came out with a phone number!"

All the villains Eraserhead initially knocked out were already standing, but were slowly taking steps back. They knew that if they couldn't stand up against a nobody, there was no way they could stand up to the All Might. All Might crouched down in preparation for a jump, and the villains tensed in hopeful response. All Might vanished from view, and they all went down.

In the blink of an eye, All Might took out the villains and was already standing back at the base of the stairs, holding an unconscious Eraserhead in his arms, "I'm sorry, Aizawa." He faced Kagero and the students, again disappearing and reappearing with them in his other arm, a safe distance away from the villain.

Sometime during All Might's dash, he landed a glancing blow on Kagero, enough to blow his hood off and tear the mask from his face. Kagero's face was partly covered by windswept hair, but he pushed it out of the way, crouching down to pick up his mask.

"Amazing, simply amazing!" Kagero exclaimed with joy, puffs of flame coming out of his mouth, "So fast. To be able to move that fast while carrying a full-grown man, three teenagers, and hit me without me even reacting? You're something else, Number One!"

The students shifted uncomfortably while All Might took on a readying stance, finally able to get a look at the villain's face. His hair was the same forest green as his mask with black undertones, a wild and curly mess. His face round, but with a slightly chiseled jaw, fair skinned if a little on the paler side. His eyes, an iridescent green that looked as if they were glowing, but what was most noticeable was the scar on his face. A gash lead from the middle of his left cheek down to his chin, continuing on his neck.

Kagero replaced his mask and took a deep breath to calm himself, "But I was still able to follow you. I've heard rumors, but it seems like there was a grain of truth in them. You really are getting weaker."

The students picked up Eraserhead and were about to leave before Shimura spoke up, "Unc- All Might, that brain villain, the Nomu. It has super regeneration or something, I- I touched it and it came back! I don't know what else it can do, but those muscles must mean it's strong too!"

"Young Shimura, if it's only super regeneration and strength, this will be much easier than I was expecting!" All Might flashed him a smile and a thumbs up. Shimura and the others walked away, fully trusting him to deal with the villains.

With the students out of harm's way, All Might went in for the attack, crossing his arms in an X position, "Carolina Smash!"

Kagero didn't move a muscle, "Nomu."

Again, the beast came between him and the attack. Taking the full force of All Might's smash, the Nomu was flung backwards, forcing Kagero to step aside to avoid getting caught up. The Nomu flew through the air, skipping a few times before hitting the walls of the Downpour Zone, chest caved in, and arms mangled.

All Might was never one to gloat, but with the day he's been having, he let himself slip a little in appearances, "It appears those muscles were all for show after all." He turned to Kagero, "Now, villain, surrender now and we can call this attack a failure."

Kagero tilted his head to the left in confusion, "Surrender now? Call this a failure? You seem to misunderstand, Number One, this is only the beginning."

With his mask covering his face, All Might couldn't see, but with how the villain's eyes were crinkling, he could tell that he's smiling. Not willing to let things continue, All Might pressed the attack.

"Nomu, stop playing around and fight." All Might raised his eyebrow in confusion but moved on anyway. As he threw a fist straight at Kagero, he found himself interrupted once again.

A cloud of smoke was in his way, but he knew his fist was solidly in the body of the Nomu, completely healed. So that confirms Tenko's claim for super regeneration. The rest of the smoke cleared, showing the Nomu standing there completely unaffected. His brows raised and his eyes widened a fraction, but why didn't it go flying like last time? The Nomu raised its arms trying to grapple him, but All Might dodged out of the way.

"Confused?" he heard the villain call out. He would've looked at him, but his focus was now on avoiding getting grabbed. "The heroling, Young Shimura, you called him? He was right, Nomu does have super regeneration, he saw it in action after he nearly took it down."

Through dodging and counterattacking, All Might grunted out, "Keep his name out of your mouth, villain!"

"Shimura-chan only guessed one of its quirks right."

Hearing that, All Might froze for a fraction of a second. The Nomu took advantage of this and tightly gripped All Might's waist, picking him up and suplexing him, bringing up a massive cloud of dust. When it settled, All Might found himself pinned, much like Kagero had Eraserhead before.

Kagero walked up and kneeled down in front of All Might, confident he wouldn't break out, "What happened, Number One? Something catch you off guard?" All Might struggled slightly in response, but Kagero waved him off, "No matter. Care to take another guess? Here, I'll even give you a free shot. Nomu, let him up."

The Nomu did as it was told and got off All Might. All Might himself got up slowly, carefully watching the villain and Nomu for any signs of deceit. He rolled his right arm out a little, moving away to a position where he could see both opponents, eyeing them both.

"What tricks do you have up your sleeve?"

"No tricks," Kagero just shrugged, "Nomu has two quirks. One you already know as super regeneration, the other still unknown. Go ahead, take a shot. Figure it out."

All Might didn't move a muscle, "Who are you?"

"Kagero Shigaraki, leader of the League of Villains. Now are you going to take your shot or not? I want to get this over with, I have other things still to do."

"How will I know you won't attack me when my back is turned?"

"You won't."

All Might stood there, watching Kagero closely. Nothing about his body language suggested he was lying, and his tone seemed genuine enough, but that could very well just be a ruse. Kagero crossed his arms and started to tap his finger, seemingly losing patience. Not wanting to have to deal with two dangerous villains at once, All Might heaved a sigh, nodding.

Kagero seemed to light up upon seeing this, "You get one shot, on the Nomu only. I'll give you a little time to think before continuing the fight."

All Might nodded and squared up to the Nomu, its eyes looking at him but not seeing, arms hanging limply at its side. All Might closed his eyes and took a deep breath, opening them again he rushed forward, "SMASH!"

Unlike before, no cloud of dust kicked up and the Nomu didn't go flying either. In fact, the Nomu looked completely unaffected. All Might stared at the beast in shock. No one has ever taken a hit like that before, not since that villain a few years back, but there was no way this was him. All Might couldn't find his voice, his mouth opening and closing.

Kagero seemed to be grinning behind his mask, his voice giving it away, "No guesses? I thought you were smarter than that, Number One." All Might regained enough of his senses to remember he was still in the middle of his fight and prepared himself again. "Its second quirk is shock absorption. Have fun, Number One. Nomu, three seconds."

All Might was still busy processing the new information, completely missing the fact that Kagero had slipped through a portal and was gone. All Might caught a glimpse of movement and immediately snapped back to attention. The three seconds Shigaraki mentioned must have been a countdown to let him get away.

Looks like he has his work cut out for him.

Kagero stepped out of the portal, finding himself at the top of one of the buildings in the Collapsed Zone with a clear view of the fight between the Nomu and All Might. Next to him, the mist coalesced and receded, changing its form into the shape of a body, clothed in attire that looked akin to a bartender at a fancy restaurant.

"Was it wise to tell All Might the Nomu had multiple quirks?" Kurogiri asked, "Master wanted to stay hidden for a while longer."

Kagero brought his hand up to his mask, pressing on the two lower canines, causing it to recede into pieces stuck behind his ear, "Master is still presumed to be dead to those in the know, and is completely unknown to the general public. Regardless of me telling All Might Nomu's quirks, he would've found out eventually."

"But now All Might knows for certain that there are beings with multiple quirks, there is only one person who has the power to-"

"There are two, and countless others are close to achieving it, perhaps within my lifetime. Master is of course the first, original, and the main, but times have changed. The idea of producing a multi-quirked being has been in the works since the advent of quirks. All major countries will deny this, but they all have scientists attempting to achieve this goal. Me telling All Might this has only shaken his belief that he already completely defeated Master.

Kagero rolled his neck, a few pops sounding out, "He'll most likely try to re-confirm everything from their fight - the location, the people involved, even the documents he signed off on to keep things under wraps, he'll go through everything before coming to the conclusion Master has his hand in this. When he finds out nothing has changed, he'll relax a little, but the thought of possibly having failed will stay with him."

Kurogiri stayed silent, knowing that arguing the point further will only cause them both to lose focus. Turning his head, he studied Kagero's expression. He could see his eyes moving about wildly as he tracked the movements of the fighters, he could see his mouth slightly moving, no doubt providing a silent commentary on the battle, he could see Kagero's right hand move as if it were writing and his left hand move as if it were typing, already making extensive notes about what was going on below.

Kurogiri heard an explosion behind them and looked to Kagero to see if he had noticed as well. Considering the only response he got was a barely noticeable gesture in the direction of the noise, Kurogiri was on his own to investigate. He moved from building to building, trying to find the source of the noise, only to find the villains he sent to the zone in various states of disarray.

Their clothes were sporting burn marks, or their gear cracked and shattered on the ground. Scorch marks and fist-sized holes could be seen on all the surfaces, whether those came from the villains or the students he brought here, he couldn't tell. Moving slowly, he delved deeper into the building, following the unconscious bodies on the floor.

Eventually, he heard voices, one was loud and abrasive to the ears, the other cheerful and somewhat calming. Fading into the shadows, Kurogiri moved himself into the room to get a look at the people inside.

"Is this really what villains are like? They're so damn weak!" the loud voice yelled out, belonging to a teen with spiky, ash blond hair.

"It's not manly to talk down on people, bro," the other responded, this one with bright red hair in a ridiculous fashion, "Especially if they're not here, or well, awake to defend themselves."

"It's not talking down if it's true. You go do whatever, I'm gonna find that mist fucker. He was the one who brought them here, so he's probably the one to bring them out."

"Shouldn't we look around the zone for an exit? Or try to regroup? I'm worried about the others, not everyone has offensive quirks like us."

"Didn't you hear what I just said, spiky-hair for brains? If you wanna worry about the others and go help them, then go!"

Kurogiri was getting a headache listening to the conversation when he noticed something on the wall. It appears that one of the villains has a camouflage ability and was sneaking to get an attack in.

"Listen good, cause I'm not gonna repeat myself again. You wanna save the others? Go save the others, I'm gonna," the camouflaged villain took their chance and jumped in. Without missing a beat, the blond stuck his hand out and released a little explosion, the smoke cleared to show the villain covered in soot, "I'm gonna find the misty shit. You wanna stick together? Then keep up."

Kurogiri felt like watching this any further was a waste of time. He moved to portal back to report to Kagero when he found himself in the middle of an explosion, being blown outside. The blond landed on top of him, his hand on the metal bracer around his neck, releasing little pops in warning.

"Found you," the blond growled, an almost manic smile on his face. Kurogiri's eyes squinted a little as he attempted to open a portal below him, but he felt the pops get stronger, "Hup bup bup, no moving misty bitch. I don't know what this is, but it seems kinda important. You move in any way I don't like, and I'll blow you to bits."

The red head finally caught up to them, "Dude, are you alright? We were walking out and then- Is that the warp guy!? How did you find him so fast?"

"For whatever reason, purple punk's portals make the air in the area a little colder. When we were in the room, I felt the temperature drop, so I knew he was close. I just didn't know where exactly until foggy here tried to leave," the blond leaned in, "So, you shitty fog machine, where's your boss at?"

At being mentioned, a figure turned around to look at the scene. The two teens noticed they weren't alone where they landed. The building they were in previously overlooked the one that Kagero was originally transported to. After the explosion, they landed right behind Kagero.

"I'm right here," Kagero replied, "Kurogiri, you let yourself be captured? I'm disappointed."

Kurogiri answered, "My apologies Kagero Shigaraki, the loud blond is far more perceptive than I could've guessed. He got the better of me."

A bigger puff of fire escaped from Kagero's mask, "Unfortunate. You, brat, what do you want?"

Briefly stunned at the incredible stroke of luck, the blond didn't respond immediately, "Hah? What do I want? What do you want, lizard face? You came in here guns blazing with villains up the ass. For what? You're just gonna get beat anyway."

"Hey, um, bro? You might not want to antagonize him. I'm getting a bad feeling just being in the area as him," the red head tried to reel the other back, but he wouldn't listen.

"I've got the leverage here," he released more crackles into the bracer, "Without cloudy boy, the villains can't leave, and All Might's here. They have no chance."

Kagero nodded, "All good points, but I do need my warp gate back. So again, brat, what do you want?"

"Give up."

"No."

"Are you blind too? I'm in control of this situation. Give up."

Kagero stayed quiet, studying the boy. The boy's quirk is explosion, or something related given what I saw, heard, and the grenade shaped gauntlet. Quirk is focused around the hands, but what causes the explosions? There's always some kind of catalyst.

He looked closely at the boy, noting how he was significantly sweatier than the other. He took a deep breath in from his nose and caught scent of something sweet. Sweet? Not black powder, that would've been obvious. Maybe the sweat? But no, sweat doesn't smell sweet, not even the best deodorant can stop the stench. Nitroglycerin? That could pass as sweat, but that's odorless. So maybe it's something like that?

The blond watched as Kagero seemed to freeze, unsure of what to do. Kagero's gaze was still piercing him, tracing him up and down, "Oi! Lizard brain! I'm talking to you!" Lifting his right hand, he released more mini explosions.

The sudden sound seemed to bring Kagero back, his eyes regaining the intensity they had before, "Make me."

Caught off guard by the sudden switch of personality, the blond let out a confused, "What?"

"Make me give up. You said it yourself, you've got the power. So why don't you use that power to make me give up?" Kagero egged him on, "Or maybe you're not as strong as you think you are?"

The blond tried to hide his reaction, but still flinched at the implication. Underneath Kagero's mask, he was smirking, Bingo. The blond raised his right palm as Kagero was emptying his lungs, "I'll show you who's weak!"

The blond let loose a large explosion, but just as it came out, it suddenly fizzled away, "What!?"

Kurogiri took advantage of the confusion and portaled out from under him, reappearing next to Kagero once again. Kagero was taking a deep breath in, smoke pouring out from his mouth. The red head's eyes widened in realization, tackling the blond as he activated his quirk, shielding them both.

"See you around, herolings," Kagero gasped out, finally releasing his breath. What came out was a massive stream of fire, completely blanketing the teenagers and the entire zone behind them.

Shimura, Asui, and Mineta finally made it to the entrance of the USJ, regrouping with the others there. The pink-skinned girl was the first to notice them, "Guys! You made it! Thank god!"

Hearing the exclamation, the others hurried to receive the others, gently picking up Aizawa and laying him next to Thirteen.

"I'm so glad you're all alright!" the girl in the pink and blue body suit yelled, her brown bangs shaking back and forth, "Shoji-kun told us you made it out but were stuck down there. You must've been terrified."

Tsu hugged the girl, "Ochako-chan… We were lucky to get out of there. The villain was about to attack us, but Aizawa-sensei saved us at the last second."

Ochako tried to stop the tears from coming, but couldn't, instead choosing to bury her head into the crook of her friend's neck.

The tape-armed teen walked up and placed his arm around Shimura who was still clutching his hand, the other on Mineta's shoulder, "Are you two alright? I mean, you faced down that big scary thing right? What happened?"

Mineta was first to respond, "It was crazy! We were just sitting behind the bush, hearing the mask villain talk about leaving and then boom!" he raised his hands in exaggeration, "He was right on top of us! I thought for sure we were gonna die. And then Shimura went crazy and tried touching the villain but then the big black thing-"

"Nomu," Shimura supplied numbly.

"But then the big black Nomu thing was right there, and then Shimura was touching it. It was super gross, and the Nomu thing started screaming, and then it started healing itself, and then All Might was there! And now we're here."

At the end of Mineta's recap, he was hyperventilating from the lack of breathing. Everyone listened in, nodding and crying as they heard what the trio went through. Shimura just stood still, holding his broken hand close to his chest while staring at the other.

The teen with big lips and in the yellow costume awkwardly cut in, "But at least All Might's here now, right? We'll be good until the other heroes get here."

Shoji maintained vigilance as he was watching the fight between All Might and Nomu, reporting what he saw, "At the start it looked like All Might was losing, but the Nomu is on the backfoot now. All Might is giving it way more blows than taking any.

Small cheers came up from the gathered students, "That was a big blow. I think the Nomu is done for."

From down in the pavilion, the students could hear the final blows of the fight, "PLUS… ULTRA!" With a resounding boom, the Nomu was sent flying in the air, through the dome of the USJ.

At the same time, a bright light and explosion brought everyone's attention to the Collapsed Zone, they all gasped in horror as it was covered in a wave of fire, so intense they could feel it.

Shoji collapsed to his knees, the others looking to him to hear what happened, "That's where Bakugo and Kirishima were…"

Everyone else followed suit, falling to their knees and let out a disheartening wail.