Chapter 18: Plans in Motion
Shimura stared down his opponent, picking them apart as he worked from the bottom up. Iida stood opposite him, doing the same thing. Shimura noticed that his eyes focused more on his hands than anything else. He tested it by flexing them, seeing Iida's eyes squint ever so slightly. Shimura smiled to himself. If he could get Iida fixated on watching his hands, he'd be able to clinch the win.
"Are you ready?" Midnight started, her whip poised in the air.
"Win or lose," Shimura called out to Iida, dropping into a readied stance, "No hard feelings, right?"
"Of course not! May the best man win." Iida easily replied, dropping into a stance of his own.
Midnight looked between the two boys, satisfied that they're ready to begin, "Start!"
Immediately, Iida rushed forward, timing his steps so he would lead with a roundhouse kick to the head. Shimura gaped in surprise, barely dodging the kick. He felt the air rush past his face as Iida's foot passed harmlessly over his head. Iida's foot landed, causing him to run out and away as jets do as they swoop around for a second run. Shimura couldn't even bring his hands up to defend himself. Iida was moving faster than he could respond, and from what he could tell, he hasn't even pulled out his super move.
Iida came out of his go-around approach and was closing in quickly. In the back of his mind, Shimura remembered what Iida said to himself when they went through Aizawa's quirk apprehension test.
For fifty meters, I can only go up to third gear, he remembered.
Shimura studied the arena, each concrete slab looked about three meters by three meters, and the platform itself looked like it was set up six slabs by ten. Realizing he was about to attempt a complicated equation in the middle of a fight, Shimura shook his head, dismissing the thought, before running to meet Iida in the middle. If he could close the distance faster than Iida could kick it into a higher gear, then his speed would count for nothing.
Shimura ran out, his right arm outstretched, looking to clothesline Iida. To his credit, Iida didn't change his speed, momentum, or direction, but chose to barrel through the obstacle. Shimura felt Iida slam into his arm, feeling it nearly come out of its socket before he realized his feet were no longer planted on the floor. Iida had grabbed his arm and was dragging him towards the boundaries.
"Like hell you're doing that to me," Shimura grunted.
He flexed his arm in Iida's grip, making his body as rigid as possible so he could maneuver his way into a position with more base. Shimura's feet skipped once, then twice, on the ground as he finally gained enough control before jumping on Iida's back, Shimura's legs wrapping around Iida's torso.
Iida stumbled as he came onto the added weight, nearly falling head over heels. Shimura wrestled his arm out of Iida's grip. Iida fought against him, attempting to throw Shimura off his back, but only succeeding in bringing them both to the ground. Shimura laid under him, but despite being stuck, he was in a much more advantageous spot.
Iida knew that as soon as he hit the floor it would only be a matter of time before Shimura had him pinned, so he scrambled as hard as he could. Iida grunted, fighting his way up as Shimura did his best to drag him back down.
"I apologize for this, Shimura," Iida warned.
Shimura paused momentarily, "What are you-"
Iida threw his head back, slamming into Shimura's face. Shimura felt his nose crumple under the assault, his head slamming into the ground. He yelled out in pain, his grip loosening just enough for Iida to get free. Now out of his grasp, Iida scrambled back to his feet, getting as far back on the arena as he could. Shimura recovered from his attack and shot back up as well, but didn't chase.
He blinked the tears out of his eyes, wiping away the excess as Iida resituated himself.
"And here I thought you didn't know how to play dirty, Vice Pres," Shimura taunted. "What happened to the strait-laced Iida I've come to appreciate?"
Iida balked at the insinuation, "Wha- I would never. I have always…"
Shimura let Iida stutter through his denials, using the time to recover from the headbutt. Iida eventually recovered, shaking his head of the thought and crouched down into a runner's stance. Shimura tensed in response; this was what he was expecting from the very beginning of the fight. He didn't need to hear Iida to know what was happening. Over the roar of the crowds, he could make out the engines in Iida's legs revving.
Ten seconds. Ten seconds is all I need. That, or bank on getting a solid hold without losing my arms in the process.
"Recipro Burst!" Iida yelled for the second time today.
Iida's form blurred into a mess of blue, white, and red as he closed the distance in a blink. Shimura felt his legs leave the ground again, as Iida grabbed the back of his shirt, dragging him along like a sack of potatoes. On instinct, Shimura reached back to grab at the offending hand. He felt Iida's wrist in his palm, and clamped down as hard as he could, making sure to leave his pinkie fingers up.
"You let me go now, or you lose your hand!" Shimura screamed over the howl of the wind.
Iida ran for a few seconds longer before abruptly stopping, using his forward momentum to aid in throwing Shimura through the air. He skipped a few times before rolling to a stop, landing just short of the arena's boundary. Moving on instinct, he jumped back up and braced himself for the final blow that would take him out of the competition. He brought his arms up in an X to block his face, clenching his eyes in suspense, but the punch, kick, push, whatever he was expecting never came.
He opened his eyes slowly, seeing Iida standing still a few meters away, his face screwed in frustration.
Iida cursed himself, "I was certain that I was rested enough and drank enough orange juice to perform it again."
Midnight paused in confusion as she took in the sight, but figured it out soon enough, "Iida, are you able to continue?"
Iida tried to move his legs but found that he was rooted to the ground. He shook his head dismally, "I am not."
Midnight raised her whip in the air, "Iida is unable to continue. Shimura moves on to the final round!"
The crowd stayed quiet for a beat, not expecting such an anti-climactic result to the match, but quickly found their fervor again, bursting into their normal frenzy of excitement again.
Shimura slowly walked up to Iida, his hand raised for fist bump, "That was a good fight, Iida. You had me on the backfoot the entire time."
"I wouldn't say that," Iida shook his head, returning the fist bump, "I wasn't sure how to proceed knowing how your quirk works. Whenever you grabbed me, I had to refrain from giving up right then."
Shimura gave him a small smile, "I'm sure you would've figured out how to beat me. Can you walk, or do you need me to carry you?"
Iida gave him an embarrassed look, "If you wouldn't mind."
Shimura huffed and rolled his eyes good naturedly, walking in front of Iida so he could piggyback him. Iida hopped on, trying his best to remain composed as he was carried off the stage.
"And look at that sportsmanship!" Present Mic boomed, "That right there, Listeners, is the true spirit of competition!"
Safely hidden from sight in the tunnels again, Iida spoke up, "I do hope my brother was able to watch my fight. I'm just worried I might've disappointed him. Oh, you can put me down now, I think I can walk again."
Shimura chuckled, squatting a little so Iida's legs were touching the ground. When he felt the weight release off his back, he sighed in relief.
"If I know anything about your brother between what I've read myself and what you've said about him, I think he'd be proud of what you accomplished," Shimura replied easily.
Iida nodded, content to let the conversation drop as they fell into companionable silence. As they were reaching the door for the section reserved for Class 1-A, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.
"Ah, that must be him," Iida excused himself, "I shall catch up with you and the rest of the class soon."
Answering the call, he was surprised to find his mother's voice on the other side.
"Mother, I lost my match, I'm sorry if I disappointed you or…" Iida greeted.
"Oh, Tenya," his mother cut him off, "I'm not worried about that, you performed admirably. But that's not why I called."
"Mother?"
"Tenya, please stay calm, but it's about your brother, Tensei."
Iida heard his mother sob over the phone, worry leaking into his voice, "Mother? Are you alright? What happened to Tensei?"
"He- Your brother is in the hospital. A villain attacked him."
Iida didn't hear the rest of the call. He dropped his phone, too shocked to really process what he was just told. His mind flashed to moments of his brother, both in and out of his costume, seeing him smile and laugh alongside family and sidekicks alike. He knows that being a hero is a dangerous job, but he also knows that his brother is extremely skilled, and has never been injured to the point of needing to go to the hospital.
What villain could attack and injure my brother so grievously and get away with it?
Stain sat atop a water tower overlooking Hosu, basking in the city's lights and sounds and cleaning his blade. He had just finished dealing with another fake, the scent of blood still lingering on his clothes.
"This city is a cesspool," he spoke to himself. "Far too many fakes in one city, it's no wonder crime runs wild here. There is no one to enforce law and order."
He finished cleaning his sword, swinging it around and sheathing it on his back in one fluid motion, "Four is simply not enough this time."
He jumped off the water tower, plunging into the city's depths, looking for the next fake.
All For One turned off the audio feed from Kagero's living room, satisfied with the way things were progressing now on his end. It was unfortunate that Kagero and Stain didn't see eye to eye on things when they first met, but now that it seems that Kagero is willing to try again, he has high hopes for the next phase of Kagero's plan.
"Doctor," he called out to the room.
A few seconds passed before he received a response, one of the many speakers crackled to life, "Yes, my lord? I apologize for my tardiness, it won't happen again."
"It's no problem," All For One dismissed, "How is the latest batch of Nomu coming along?"
"Progress is going at the expected rate. I'm able to successfully create Lower Ends near consistently, and with each success for the Lowers, I get that much closer to perfecting the later iterations," the Doctor reported, "Were you looking to evaluate them yourself?"
"No, not yet, I trust in your work. How many are available for action?"
The Doctor hummed, "Currently I have ten Nomus: four Lowers, three Middles, and three Upper Ends. There are also those in various stages of the development process, but they're not stable enough to be brought out of their tanks yet."
"I see. Reserve one of each for Kagero. I want them on standby for him to use until I say otherwise."
"Of course, my lord. It will be done." The Doctor signed off with a click.
All For One steepled his fingers in thought for a moment. He went through all the possibilities that could come of Kagero's next meeting with Stain. Having plotted out a path that would work best, he opened the audio channel.
"Kagero," he spoke.
"Master," Kagero eventually replied.
"You are alone now."
It was a simple statement, but one that commanded respect and fast obedience.
"I am," Kagero confirmed.
"What do you think of your new recruits?"
Kagero let loose a chuckle, "I think they're pieces of work, but they all bring something helpful to the table. Dabi and Mustard have decent offense and widespread attacks, and both can use them for isolation. Toga's arguably the most useful out of all of them so far; I know I'll be utilizing her skillset more than the others'."
"Do you trust them to follow your orders to the very end?"
"I trust them to know what'll happen if they don't. Dabi's the most problematic because I know his true loyalty lies with Stain, but he at least knows to respect his superiors. Mustard's main issue is he's too young to comprehend what's happening, but that can be fixed with time, and Toga seems fully on board."
"Don't grow complacent with any of them."
"Of course, Master. It's as you've said, 'only trust someone after they've died in front of you'."
All For One smiled in his chair, a feeling almost akin to pride bubbled in his chest, "Very good, Kagero."
"Was that all, Master?"
"No. Was there anyone else besides Shimura that caught your eye?"
"Among the herolings? Sure, but none of them in the same way Shimura has." When All For One didn't reply, Kagero added on. "Of the finalists, the ones that stood out were Shinso, Tokoyami, Yaoyorozu, and Uraraka."
"You didn't mention the powerhouses." All For One noted.
"I didn't, and it's because their quirks are one dimensional, and their users even more so." Kagero scoffed, "They know they have strong quirks, and flaunt them. But the others, there is so much untapped potential. Shinso has a mental quirk, I'm certain of it. Tokoyami and his Dark Shadow is something that I would love to explore, as I'm sure so would the Doctor. Yaoyorozu's quirk has limitless capabilities, and Uraraka's breaks all the known laws of physics and logic. If I had the chance to work with one or all of them, I could increase their effectiveness."
"Then I suppose we should create an opportunity for you to do so."
"I suppose we should," Kagero agreed, "But first I need to bolster my numbers. Multiple targets require more eyes, after all."