The wind's chill wrapped around his body as he lay in the snow, the three or so thick layers of woolen cloth protecting his skin from the air doing quite well. The heat from his body starkly contrasted the withering cold in his mouth, which was packed with snow to prevent any sort of steam his breath would produce. All to conceal his presence of course; the mission was sensitive, and God's wrath would smite him if he had to blow the operation.
The clouds were simulating an overcast day, preventing much of the sun's glare from blinding his watchful eyes. Which meant he could see a lot clearer, sure, but it also meant his camouflage was just that teensy bit less effective, and although he'd be in the craft for half a decade, that was one of the things that always bothered him.
Tuning his mind back into the craggy valleys and cliffs beneath him, Izuku kept a watchful eye on the scene before him. Although his contacts did great in letting him know what was going to happen, they didn't do a great in letting him know when. Which meant he'd been sitting and waiting for quite some time. Izuku tightened his grip on the handle of his hand-crafted .50 BMG Marksman Rifle, and let out a muffled sigh.
Waiting was what he was good at after all.
His rangefinder was honed in on Thirteen as she continued to deliver her speech to Class 1-A, and he reran the mental calculations that'd he'd done five times prior, adjusting for windage and elevation disparity, bullet drop and ballistics profile. Not that that mattered at this distance, .50 BMG was a hell of a round that packed more than just a punch. His green eyes focused on the Pro Hero as she turned to explain each of the zones to the Hero Hopefuls behind her, before rotating back to finish up what she was saying to the class. They all seemed eager to get on with the exercise, it would seem.
Eraserhead's quick retrieval of his goggles from inside his scarf and the activation of his quirk let him know that it was going down now. Confused looks travelled through the student body like a wave, slowly turning to horror at whatever Eraserhead called out to them, but Izuku payed them little attention as he turned his gaze to the plaze. A black, whispy mist had formed, with a large group of villains emerging from within; standing at the back of the crowd, Tomura Shigaraki and that abomination. Kurogiri would be soon to join them, he was sure. For now, he had to bide his time for the perfect opportunity.
Eraserhead was quick to launch himself into combat, eager to protect the youth under his protection. Izuku watched as he mowed his way through the crowd, decimating the unprepared or cocky bastards who were too prideful to take that hobo-ninja seriously. A small smirk placed wormed its way onto Izuku's face, and sure it was unprofessional but there was no one around to judge. It was always fun watching Eraser work.
Kurogiri had taken the chance to go discuss politics or some other thing with the students, before forcing them into portals and teleporting them to a number of the zones. Three of them fell into the valleys of the Mountain Zone beneath him; a boy with blonde hair and black stripes, two girls, one who looked like a rockstar and the other wearing a red leotard.
"Denki Kaminari, Kyouka Jirou, and Momo Yaoyorozu." His mind supplied, the files rising to the surface of his brain. "I'm not sure the league researched the class, their quirks are extremely suited for combat in this time of zone." Ah well. They'd learn soon.
He turned his attention back to the slowly shrinking group at the centre of the USJ, and slipped the rangefinder back into it's dump pouch. Reupholstering his rifle, the scope scanned the area around Shigaraki and Kirogiri. The Nomu wasn't engaged yet it would seem, as it stood beside it's Masters, awaiting commands. Pity, it would be a clear shot if the damn thing was facing two degrees to the right. He really only had one shot at this, and he really didn't want to have the thing fly over to the mountaintop flat he was on and turn him into something resembling the watermelon Miruko crushed with her thighs for advertising that one time.
Yeah he enjoyed watching that clip, sue him.
Eventually, Eraserhead had began to engage Shigaraki. Both were extremely quick combatants who focused on close quarters combat, but it was clear that the years of experience beneath Eraserhead gave him the upper hand. Even a lifetime of experience can't prevent us from making mistakes though, and Tomura eventually grabbed an elbow coming his way. The decay started immediately, and Izuku could see pain in every corner of Aizawa's face through the high-powered optic. The man quickly regained his footing however, disabling Shigaraki's quirk and throwing the man away from him.
Nomu then stepped in, and slammed the mans head into the concrete, cracking it and Aizawa's arm if the angle was what Izuku predicted it would be.
"Yes, though I walk through valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me." Izuku began to mutter to himself.
Quickly, he lined up the Nomu's exposed brain with the center of the scope's reticle, and watched as it stood defiant over it's prey.
"Your rod to protect and your staff to guide, they comfort me."
He hit the rifles bolt release, as satisfying click as the incendiary round fell home in the chamber. Gently, he lowered his finger onto the trigger.
"May the Lord take mercy on your soul."
The recoil hit him first, the impulse from the round pushing the stock deeper into his shoulder. The shockwave blowing out the muzzle brake hit second, as well as a wave of snow dust it had kicked up. Izuku watched the round travel for a tenth of a second, burning a bright and scorching red as it slammed home right between the left and right lobes of the Nomu's brain. The monster's head was immediately turned into nothing but a pile of gore, which rained down onto the Hero beneath him. He'd make sure to apologise for that later, as the Nomu slumped over on top of Aizawa. Regeneration didn't mean shit if your head was literally reduced to nothing.
"Can't dodge what you don't know is coming you ugly bastard."
Izuku had to move fast, he dropped the DMR out of his hands and kicked the blanket covering him off. Grabbing his Kalashnikov from beside him, he dropped the safety lever down to semi and racked the slide back to chamber a new round as he stood up. He switched to carrying it one handed, the rifle's hanguard in his right hand and jumped off the perch he was resting on, beginning his descent down the side of the mountain.
His boots hit the soft, snow piled ground as he landed in the middle of a group of villians moving towards the sounds of the students fighting. They glanced at him as they tried to ascertain whether he was one of them, the black assault gear he was wearing providing him with a moment of confusion which he took to his advantage. He grabbed the rifle with two hands, and let three rounds loose into the chest of the nearest man before switching targets to a woman and firing two rounds into her right knee. The muzzle's flash and sound of gunshots bought him memories of his training, and a smile once again graced his face.
The remaining three villains seemed to realize he wasn't one of them, and began to rush at him with their quirks active. He dodged what smelt like a ball of plasma, before firing a round into the mans head. Spent brass went flying past the side of his head, smoke rising off the barrel, and he rolled under the attack of a man who had a blade based quirk. Coming up behind him, he turned and slammed the rifle butt into the back of his head, knocking him unconscious. The last villain had turned to run away from the reaper before him, and Izuku let him run for about five metres before delivering a single shot to the back of his head.
He turned and began to run towards the plaza, checking his magazine as he did. "Twenty-four rounds left." He muttered to himself, the custom-designed sedative filled bullets staring back at him from within the magazine. They weren't lethal of course, although the villains certainly deserved it, but fuck did they hurt - Izuku would know, he'd shot himself with one before. For testing purposes of course.
Somewhere behind him to his left, a massive wave of electricity burst through the air, and Izuku realised that the students were probably doing fine without him.
He found his way to the centre of the building, where Shigaraki was having a man tantrum about his "pride and joy being cheated away by some hacker", and quickly switched his magazine out for some actually lethal ammunition, racking the bolt back to eject the chambered sedative round and rechamber a fresh round.
Kurogiri was attempting to calm the man down when Izuku blindly fired an accurate burst of gunfire into the smoke, and if the pings of metal were any indication he'd hit home, as Kurogiri's mist began to flicker and waver. Shigaraki quickly turned to face the newcomer, and a violent flash of recognition filled his eyes at seeing him.
"I should've known it was you, you ungrateful reject. Of course you had to come ruin my plans, after you spit in Sensei's face." Hatred was laced clearly in his voice, and he turned to move towards Izuku. "I'll kill you."
"Yeah yeah, you've said that before" Izuku shot back, before shouldering his rifle and letting loose a burst of automatic gunfire that clocked the man directly in the leg, casing him to fall to his side, blood spurting from the wounds. He began walking towards the man with rifle up, and his head clearly in sight.
"Make a move and I'll do to you what I did to that thing my sperm donour created." Izuku called out, as Shigaraki hissed like a wounded cat at him. As he stepped closer, he took aim at Shigaraki's hands and shot a finger off from each. The screams that emerged from the downed man were almost euphoric to him. Karma really was a bitch. He quickly holstered the rifle, before bending down and flipping the man onto his front roughly.
Who knew getting shot would really take the fight out of a guy?
Pulled some quirk supressant cuffs off his belt, he quickly bound the man's hand's behind his back, and went to tie his legs with paracord before a loud boom rang out through the plaza. Izuku turned his gaze towards the front of the USJ, and relief flooded his body at the booming voice that followed the entry.
"HAVE NO FEAR, FOR I AM HERE!" All Might announced to the world.
Izuku stood up to his full height and waved at the man.
"I suppose that I'll have to explain all this to ol' Yagi, won't I?" He mused, watching a brief flash of confusion overtake Yagi's face at the scene. "Ah well, that's something for the interrogation room."
He glared down at the man beneath him and placed his boot on the back of his head, a grunt of pain coming from Shigaraki.
"You're going away for a long time dickhead, and Daddy won't be saving you now."