Chapter 15

Chapter Text

Hitoshi would never be able to say for sure exactly what knocked Shigaraki out of his control—the vibration in the floor when All Might landed beside them, the scream Papa let loose in the opposite direction when villains tried to rush the front door probably to escape being arrested, or the villain himself—but the effects were immediate.

Shigaraki lunged forward, aiming for Hitoshi's face while screaming at Nomu to kill All Might. The man…creature…thing moved so fast that All Might barely had enough time to turn and meet Nomu head on. The shockwave from their clash knocked everyone off their feet—Shigaraki included, thank fuck—but it didn't stop the madman from trying again.

Todoroki's ice wall didn't last long against a disintegration quirk but it gave Hitoshi, Todoroki, and Bakugo precious moments to retreat. Shigaraki advanced on them again, screaming vile threats to both the heroes and the villains he'd brought with him. Apparently this was one very dangerous guy because even the villains who'd been happy to wait and be arrested rallied toward their leader, encircling the three of them and cutting off all escape.

"What the fuck?" Bakugo growled when some sort of black smokey tentacle-like substance grabbed Hitoshi and Todoroki and lifted them out of the circle of villains. Bakugo used his explosions and was quick to follow.

Fortunately, even though they had no idea who owned the quirk they were taken outside and deposited beside Recovery Girl who was currently trying to convince Dad to take a damn nap. He looked far better than he did when Hitoshi had last seen him but he was still pretty banged up.

Hitoshi was about to ask who the hell had rescued them—and to maybe profusely thank whoever that was—when a loud crashing sound filled the air. It took another moment or two to realize that Nomu had crashed through the ceiling of the USJ and was hurtling through the air.

"That thing didn't look capable of flight," Todoroki said in his usual quiet tone.

"It's not flying," Bakugo said with a smirk. "That's what happens when you piss off All Might."

"Any idea where that's going to land?"

"Hopefully not in a populated area," Todoroki said, watching the trajectory closely.

"Wrong direction," Recovery Girl said, pointing a finger at Dad in warning even as she glanced toward the soaring villain. "It's heading for ground beta, and with the school on lockdown it should be deserted."

"Perfect aim," Bakugo said with a smirk.

"Careful," Hitoshi teased his sort-of-adopted brother. "You're starting to sound like a fanboy."

"Eh," Bakugo said, smiling despite trying to sound grumpy. "Worse things could happen."

"Very true," Todoroki agreed.

~*~

"Well done, kid," Nana said, trying to hug the representation of the ghost-form of Midoriya. It sort of worked, but with the green-ish mist still covering most of his body it was damn awkward.

Midoriya nodded in acknowledgment, his bright eyes clearly indicating a happy smile hidden under the mist that kept him silent.

"You're not done yet," Banjo said, urging their attention back to Toshi.

"Smokescreen," En said, pushing his quirk forward. "Quickly, before All Might loses control over his form."

They all held breath they didn't actually need and watched as Midoriya struggled to use En's quirk.

"Relax kid," Banjo said. "I think maybe you're trying too har—"

Somehow smokescreen became a smoke bomb, thick grey blanketing the entire area.

"Ah…" Nana said, managing to hold back a snort but not the laugh. "That's one way to use it I guess."

"It worked," Izuku said, grinning at his ghostly counterpart. "It might even last long enough for All Might to regain his large form."

"Probably," Nana agreed, winking at Midoriya when she noticed his rosy blush of embarrassment. "Well done, kid. Well done."

~*~

"One-hundred-and-forty-three petty criminals were rounded up and arrested," Nedzu reported to the gathered teachers. "I apologize for keeping you so late, but that was a lot of backgrounds to go through."

As usual Nedzu had processed and collated in mere hours what would have taken others many days or even weeks.

"Anyone stick out?" Shota asked, glancing through the glass door to assure himself that Toshi and Katsuki were still sitting together doing homework in the teacher's lounge.

"Not really," Nedzu said, sounding a little less that his usual cheerful self. "As far as we can gather Shigaraki offered them all a few thousand yen each for a 'day's work' and a front row seat to the death of All Might."

Yagi moved uncomfortably in his seat. Two weeks ago Shota would have assumed his discomfort came from discussing an attempt on his life, but now that he knew the man a little better Shota was certain he was more concerned for the students who would have witnessed such horror than the idea of dying himself.

"Most are claiming shock and horror at being expected to kill children, and since the majority of them were warped into areas that the children never reached we can't really prove intent. They're being charged with trespassing and should get the maximum punishment, but unless they have a heap of priors or outstanding warrants the courts will have no choice but to release them with a hefty fine."

"That is very frustrating."

"Indeed," Nedzu said. "We're still trying to track down anyone with a teleportation quirk that pours from the transportee's mouth."

Mic shivered beside him and Shota allowed himself a small smile as he patted his husband's thigh under the table. Mic hated bugs and the goop had looked a lot like millions of bugs crawling out of someone's mouth. He hadn't been the only hero startled by the horrible choking sounds Shigaraki and his warp gate user—identified by others as Kurogiri—had made moments before they'd disappeared from the USJ.

It had clearly not been Kurogiri's quirk—he'd been under arrest and in suppression cuffs at the time—but it either had limited capacity or every other criminal they'd left behind had been unimportant to their operation. Judging by the background checks it could have been both.

"What about Nomu?"

"Chiyo?" Nedzu asked, clearly deferring to her medical knowledge.

"Not fully human, as far as I can tell. Early analyses of his remains suggest that Nomu was somehow an amalgamation of several different DNA hosts. From first-hand accounts—and the footage we were able to get from the USJ's security cameras—he seemed to have multiple quirks and no mind of his own."

Shota nodded in agreement. "Hitoshi reported that even under the influence of his quirk, Shigaraki gave instructions to Nomu like he was an attack dog."

"Attack dog seems pretty accurate," Yagi said tiredly. "It took everything I had to take it down."

"Or up," Snipe said with a wry smile.

Yagi nodded, a small frown tilting his lips. "I didn't want to kill it, but gravity was the only way I could think of to stop Nomu's regeneration quirk before it managed to kill me."

"Gravity certainly worked," Chiyo said, reaching for her notes. "The bots are still scraping up the pieces."

None of them needed the reminder that it was the second time in two weeks the salvage bots had been needed.

"Have we figured out who set off the alarm?"

"Unfortunately, no," Nedzu said, obviously quite annoyed at his lack of information. "Whoever set it off used the panic button outside the front door."

"And with the cameras being jammed until the emergency override rerouted them we don't have a visual either," Power Loader added.

"Speed quirk?" Mic asked, having come to the same conclusion as Shota.

"That or an invisibility quirk," Nedzu agreed. "The footage starts even as the glass hits the ground but there isn't anyone in the shot."

"What about the smoke bomb?" Yagi asked.

"Another mystery," Nedzu said. "None of the people arrested have a quirk that matches the ability."

"The smoke produced seemed far too large and thick to be a support item or type of grenade," Maijima added. "We didn't find any casing or debris either."

"It was damn good timing," Yagi said. "I was moments away from revealing my true form to everyone in the USJ. The smoke took so long to clear that I was able to rest long enough to walk out as All Might."

"A pre-planned distraction for the villains? Or another guardian angel for us?" Mic asked.

"Anybody's guess," Vlad grumbled, crossing his arms in frustration.

"Which leads us to the tentacle things that were throwing villains around. Another quirk? Another guardian angel?"

"Or the same one?" Nedzu said, clearly intrigued by the mystery.

~*~

"Tentacle things?" Banjo grouched. "Tentacles?"

Izuku giggled.

"Enough out of you," Nana said, trying not to laugh at Izuku's knowing smile. He'd been a fifteen year old with access to the Internet. He undoubtedly knew why Banjo was pretending to be upset.

"Did they just call us a guardian angel?"

"That they did," En confirmed. "Not a bad debut, kid."

Izuku grinned. "It was a team effort," he said diplomatically, "but you've got to admit ghost-me sure learns fast."

"That he does," Nana said with a satisfied nod.