The young heroes were taking the emergency stairs to climb up to the 200th floor. Melissa was regretting arriving in heels, unlike the other girls who wore Mary Janes. She quickly ditched them and kept running with the others. They had reached the 80th floor, only to find a security shutter cutting off their route.
"Heads up! Roadblock!" Minoru called out.
"Should we try breaking through it?" Shoto suggested.
"I volunteer!" Nimona grinned as she transformed into an elephant, preparing to use her whole body to break through before Hilda reined her in with [Blackwhip].
"Whoa, easy there, sister!"
"Thanks, Hilda. It would have been a bad idea either way." Melissa said. "If we do that, then the security system will react, and the villains will notice us."
"Then why not go through here?" Ben suggested, gesturing to a side door.
"The plant factory, where they study the effects of anomalies on fauna. There's probably a way to move up from there, but it's a security lock." Sonia said.
"Well, no time like the present!" Ben said as he covered his leg in granite and kicked the door open. "Ladies first!"
Specs got the alert when the security door opened.
"The heck? Who could still be able to move in this situation? I could have sworn I scanned each level." He brought up the security feed and spotted the young heroes running through the halls. "Damn it... Wolfram! We have stragglers on the 80th floor! Looks like they're making for the emergency stairs!"
"That's what we get for not fully checking the network first," Wolfram, the merc leader, said. "Nothing for it. Trap them on the 80th using the security barriers. I'll send Nobu and Daigo up to capture them."
As the young heroes saw the barriers closing up, Shoto quickly shot out an ice stream to wedge the closest one open. Tenya quickly leaped through the opening at high speed and struck the door behind it.
"Get inside! Quickly!"
They quickly ran into the room, finding themselves in the plant factory. As they ran, Kyouka's ears picked up the small humming noise of an elevator coming up, stopping them before pointing towards the main elevator. There, they saw the electronic panel signaling someone was coming up. Figuring that it was the villains using it, they quickly went to hide behind some bushes.
"We're gonna stand out in our clothes. And they aren't just gonna pass unless they search every inch of this place and find nothing." Denki said.
"I wonder if we can use that elevator to get to the top floor." Mipha wondered.
Nimona nodded. "Would be better than running all the way up."
"No, only authorized people can operate the elevator. And it's made as sturdy as a bomb shelter, so we can't destroy it." Melissa rejected.
"Come on, let us use the conveniences of modern civilization!" Minoru complained.
"If it was that easy, this chapter would be 500 words long." Ben flatly pointed out as Penny, Izuku, Ochako, and Hilda giggled at his joke.
Soon, the elevator stopped right on the 80th floor, opening up to reveal two villains wearing the same terrorist clothes as the others, only unmasked now. One was a skinny, strange-looking man with pale yellow skin and a face similar to a goat with a mohawk while the other was a rather short stocky middle-aged man with a round head and a thick neck.
"They said the kids were here," The short one, Daigo, said as he looked around.
"They came to an annoying place," Nobu, the taller one, growled as he looked at all the plant life around the area, taking in where they could be hiding in such a giant area.
"They have military-grade body armor. These guys are professionals. Just staying here and hiding isn't gonna be an option." Izuku noted as he got a good look at the two, using the [Calm-Calm Fruit] to create a barrier of silence to hide everyone's presence.
"But we can't waste any time fighting them either," Kirby said. "The longer we take, the more time these people have to get whatever they came for."
"It's only two people though, babe," Katsuki said. "Three or four of us can keep them here while the rest keep going. We just need to make sure those four can handle these extras."
Izuku nodded. "Kaachan, you, Kirishima, Todoroki, and Kirby hold them here."
"Leave it to us." Shoto nodded before launching an ice sheet at the two villains.
"The hell?!" Nobu called out as he activated his Quirk, [Displacement], spreading out his hand in a webbed pattern as a transparent orb appeared in it. The sounds of the orb's effect could be heard on the other side of the ice sheet.
"That sounds like I've only bought five minutes at most. You guys need to get going." Shoto said.
"We can take care of these chumps!" Kirby said as she ate some stray plants and transformed into Leaf Kirby.
"Good luck, people!" Sonia cheered as Shoto created an ice platform to elevate the rest of the group, minus Katsuki, Eijirou, and Kirby, to the upper level. Nobu managed to break through the ice, Daigo stepping through to confront the young heroes.
"You wanna pick a fight? Then let's see how tough you are!"
He activated his Quirk, [Brute], which enlarged him to a form similar to a purple hairless gorilla. He smashed through Shoto's ice, but was blown back by one of Katsuki's explosions.
As Daigo recovered and went to counterattack, he was blocked by Eijirou in his hardened state, but the blow sent him right into the wall. Nobu launched his Quirk to attack, only to be forced to dodge out of the way when Kirby sent a pillar of leaves at him.
The others broke through the other side of the room, only to find the shutters sealing their exit to the stairs. They quickly looked around for another way up when Izuku noticed a ceiling hatch at the far side of the room.
"The maintenance room for the sunlight system!" Melissa exclaimed.
"Wouldn't that have an emergency ladder?" Tenya asked with a grin, knowing that any proper building that followed safety codes would have such a thing.
"It's true that there's a manual one, but we can only access it from the inside," Sonia replied.
Izuku used the [Mochi-Mochi Fruit] to fire a tentacle of mochi that yanked open the hatch before Penny picked up Minoru and threw him like a baseball through the hatch.
"Hey, why me?!"
"Because we trust you to do the right thing, Mineta!" Penny smiled.
"Dammit! I can't say no to that pure-hearted smile!" The dwarfish boy cursed.
"Awww, don't worry about it!" Nimona grinned as she transformed into a hummingbird and flew into the hatch with him. "I'll come with ya, big guy!"
Soon, the two were able to lower the ladder down for everybody to climb up.
Swordkil and Specs were getting annoyed as the kids kept bypassing the security, shutting down the cameras as they went.
"I can't keep track of them at this rate!" Specs complained.
"Where did these kids come from?" Swordkil grumbled before contacting Nobu. "Hey, Nobu! You and Daigo are letting the kids get past you!"
"Kinda busy with four of them down here!" Nobu replied angrily. "I don't know who they are, but they aren't just normal tourists!"
Nobu and Daigo were tough, but once Shoto, Kirby, and Katsuki knew what they were dealing with, it wasn't hard to keep them on the ropes. Katsuki slammed Daigo into one of Shoto's ice pillars while Nobu backed away as Kirby sent a torrent of sharp leaf blades at him.
"Time to bring you down for good!" Katsuki said as he jumped into the air and started spinning with his Quirk active. "HOWITZER IMPACT!"
The powerful blast sent Daigo flying as his Quirk shut down. Nobu gasped at his partner's defeat and moved to avenge him, only for Kirby to surround him in a tornado of leaves.
"LEAF STORM!"
Nobu did his best to guard, but the barrage of super-fast leaves striking him everywhere eventually wore him down as he fell on his hands and knees, allowing Shoto to knock him away with a short burst of flames before trapping him in an ice prison.
"That outta keep those chucklefucks contained," Katsuki said proudly as he and Kirby went over to check on Eijirou, who finished pulling himself out of the wall Daigo knocked him into.
"Sorry that we stole your kill, Kirishima," Kirby said. "Can a hug make up for it?"
"Thanks, Sakurai."
Just then, numerous security drones started coming out of the woodwork.
"Looks like they're stepping up their game," Shoto realized.
Kirby took a deep breath, inhaling one of the drones and suddenly being decked out in full mecha armor.
"OH YEAH! MECHA KIRBY, BABY!"
Katsuki grinned. "Goddammit, I love that woman..."
"Wolfram, I managed to ID the kids in the tower. They're UA High students. Hero Course, Class 1-A." Specs noted.
"So we're not just dealing with a bunch of snot-nosed brats with a hero complex, but well-trained fledglings who know what they're doing. They must be trying to regain control of the security system." Wolfram realized. "Be on alert. You made sure to send security drones out to the 80th floor, right?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then raise any barriers between Floor 100 and 130."
"Are you sure, boss?" Hacker asked. "That'll just make it easier for them."
'Just do it, idiot! We need to capture them before they screw everything up!"
The students themselves had noticed that the shutters had been raised once more, wondering just why such a thing had happened.
"They're leading us somewhere, aren't they?" Momo concluded.
"A trap for us," Mipha confirmed.
"Even so, to get further ahead, we'll take it," Izuku said. "We'll go where they want us to go for now."
Soon, they made it to the 130th floor, where they saw dozens of security robots patrolling the room.
"It looks like the enemy has changed from shutting us to trying to capture us," Tenya whispered.
"I'm sure they realized that we're UA students," Izuku nodded, knowing the system would've logged their information in upon entering I-Island. It was only a matter of time before matching the faces.
"Then let's mess up their optics!" Hilda grinned as she used [Smokescreen] to cover everyone.
Minoru used his hairballs to trap the first wave of drones before the second wave was washed away by Mipha's water. Ben sent a powerful blast of entropic energy to vaporize the third wave and Penny used Configuration: Creation to create a minigun from data energy to open fire.
"Time for a full frontal assault!" Hilda grinned as she donned the Full Gauntlet. "JOHTO SMASH!"
The sudden shockwave knocked the entire group of drones out of the way.
"That generator behind them!" Melissa called out. "It holds the drones' IFF data! Scramble it and they shut down!"
"Allow me!" Denki called out. "ONE MILLION VOLT FIRING!"
He launched an electrical beam that struck the generator. Instantly the drones started to shut down, allowing the team to keep moving.
"Melissa, Sonia, this Full Gauntlet is a godsend!" Hilda beamed.
"Glad to see you like it, babe!" Sonia grinned, slapping Hilda's butt playfully, making her blush and for Denki and Minoru to have nosebleeds.
"Boss, we have a problem. The drone sensors are shut down. We've lost those kids." Swordkil called Wolfram.
"They must have hit the IFF generator," Wolfram realized, scowling in frustration. "Lose the chatter. One of those brats might have some sort of spy Quirk. Let Specs know he has full authority to handle the security situation."
"Got it."
All-Might carefully eyed Wolfram as he kept patrolling.
"He'd be smarter to maintain communication. Young Jiro's hearing doesn't extend as far as he fears, but for the things it can hear it's infallible. By now I'd imagine the young heroes are reaching the server rooms. They're almost there..."
Specs took direct control of the drones and had them converge on the server room in the 138th room.
"We can hold them off here!" Tenya said. "Midoriya, you, Torekuroshi, Polendina, Yasakani, and Uraraka keep taking Melissa and Sonia to the security room!"
"Think you got the guts, girlfriend?" Sonia asked, patting Momo's belly.
"I think I have enough for a few large constructs, don't worry.
Denki channeled his electricity into physical strikes similar to natural lightning, aiming to use force to stop the drones since they couldn't be shocked. Mineta fed his hairballs into a cannon Momo created to stick the drones in place.
"Awww yeah!" Nimona grinned, turning into a grizzly bear and tearing through the drones with her claws and teeth.
"Watch yourself, Nimona!" Mipha warned her classmate as she created a large sphere of water to trap several drones in before swimming around it and condensing the ball to crush them all.
Swordkil was watching this all go down from the security monitors as he clutched at his hair in frustration.
"At this rate, we'll run out of drones! Can't take any from outside or people will realize something's up. Not to mention encourage the heroes we contained to free themselves and unload on us. We should focus on the ones that broke off."
"I'm already looking for the kids, but I'm not seeing them on any of the upper floors. How else do they expect to get up here? Isn't the vault open yet?" Specs asked.
"It's a complicated lock. I have confirmation from our boys that Professor Shield is still working on opening it, with no indication that he's trying to stretch it out." Swordkil explained. "But it's a multi-level password and each piece is only known to a specific individual. Good thing all of them were at the party like we planned."
Melissa and Sonia led Izuku, Hilda, Ochako, Ben, and Penny out to the wind power turbines outside the tower.
"There's likely to be more drones in the building," Melissa explained. "Our only chance is to climb this and reach the upper levels using the emergency exit at the top."
"Ugh, I don't know if I have the strength to go on, Melissa-Baby..." Sonia sighed, wiping some sweat from her brow. "I've already dropped 10 pounds this chapter!"
"I don't know why, but I've been feeling more and more energized since we've been moving!" Hilda noted, rubbing her chins in thought. "Could it be...?"
"Don't worry, I can get us there!" Izuku said as he used the [Float-Float Fruit] to levitate everyone to the door. "Alright, let's knock the door down!"
"Knock-Knock!" Ben said as he turned his fist into a giant metal gauntlet and punched the door open as everyone went inside. Suddenly, those with Haki-sensitivity felt danger come their way as Ben created a blade of ice to block Swordkil as he jumped them.
"So, the Big Bad sends his top lackey here. Too bad you're outnumbered!"
Swordkil grunted in anger as he made another move to attack, only for wires to wrap around and tighten. Penny approached, the wires coming from her fingers as she detached them, leaving Swordkil detained.
"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" Ben smiled.
"No, I don't think so." The Android giggled, giving Ben a peck on the cheek.
"Awwww, you guys are so cute~!" Ochako gushed.
With only basic gunmen left to defend the control room, it was easy for the group to take them down and reach the top floor.
"Open sesame!" Sonia said.
Melissa gasped when she saw several gunmen guarding David, making him work on the security system for the vault with Sam. David sighed as the last code was entered.
"There. The vault's open. Now just what do you want from it?"
"The research you were working on regarding Quirk enhancement," One of the gunmen explained, "Which part of the vault is it in?"
David narrowed his eyes. "So that's it. Block 11-37. However, the device is incomplete and still unstable, just a prototype. And I had the research frozen for safety reasons."
"I'm sure we can find someone as talented as you to finish it, not that we plan to kill you after all this, but our boss knows your cooperation would likely end here, so he doesn't want to push his luck. Just open the locker."
David glared at the man but did as instructed. Sam went and got the device, opening the case.
"You did it professor!" Sam grinned "Everything is here."
"You seem excited about this, Sam," David said, narrowing his eyes. "Just what's your stake in this?"
Sam's smile dropped as a guilty look crossed his face before his eyes narrowed.
"I'm sorry, David. I treasured all the years we worked together but you let what could have been our greatest scientific achievement be frozen so easily! If I didn't get some sort of compensation out of this, then it was a waste of my time!"
"I can't believe you, Sam!" Melissa called out as she stepped out. The gunmen turned on her, only for Hilda to instinctively get in front of her and charge, being surrounded by some kind of kinetic energy field as she bounced into them, knocking them down like bowling pins.
"Whoa! What was that?!" Sonia gasped.
Hilda stood up, feeling the energy fizzle out. "I think...I may have awakened the Quirk of the 3rd User of OFA, [Fa Jin]!"
"Professor Shield, what's going on here?!" Izuku asked David.
"It's the Quirk Enhancement Device. It was meant to help Heroes fight bigger and more dangerous Villains. It's able to magnify a person's Quirk similar to Trigger but without the negative side effects." David explained. "I had first made it in hopes of healing All-Might and helping him continue as a Hero after he was first injured but the I-Island board of directors was worried about what would happen if it fell into a Villain's hands, so I had the research shut down."
"But from what we just heard, it seems Sam didn't want all his hard work to go to waste without some form of monetary compensation." Ben deduced.
"Shame he didn't realize just what sort of people he was truly dealing with."
Everyone whirled around to see Wolfram approaching.
"And who are you?" Penny asked, getting into a defensive stance.
The man chuckled. "You can call me Wolfram and I'm the leader of the men currently occupying this tower."
Izuku, Ben, Hilda, and Penny needed no further prompting as they raced towards Wolfram but he simply placed his hand on the vault door, causing the handrails to bend and morph as they shot out and wrapped around the four.
"As much as I'd like to skewer you brats for good measure, your little altercation with Swordkil showed any attempts to harm you are an effort in futility. So I'll settle for just keeping the four most dangerous ones out of the way for now."
"Nice Quirk you got there!" Ben said as he struggled to move.
"Like it? It's pretty straightforward, it's called [Metal Manipulation]. I can bend, morph, and control any metal I touch. Never really cared about becoming a Hero, gunrunning is just in the family business." Wolfram chuckled before turning to Sam. "Now then, Sam, if you'll hand over the goods, we'll be sure to vacate the island as intended."
"I'm sorry, David..." Sam said to his old friend apologetically. "But not all of us are as noble as you and All-Might..."
"Oh, one more thing..." Wolfram began before drawing a gun and shooting Sam in the stomach, much to his shock. "You know it kinda disgusts me that you did all this to make a quick buck, but then again I'm in the same boat so I'm not one to talk. Still, maybe if you could control that greed you might not have ended up here."
"B-But why...?"
"Let's just say a little birdie told us about what we were grabbing and I made a change in plans," Wolfram smirked. "We figured we could get even more money selling it off to the highest bidder. Plenty of people would pay at least twice what you offered us for such a device. And since you were so kind as to pay us up front...our contract is officially terminated."
Wolfram fired another shot, straight through Sam's head, ending his life right then and there. David, despite his anger at Sam's betrayal, let out a furious yell as he rammed into the villain before he could turn his gun on him.
Ben let out a shout as he manipulated the metal binding him to burst off of him before using his elemental powers to manipulate the metal holding Izuku, Hilda, and Penny to free them.
"Damn it! It's always something!" Wolfram growled as he threw David off of him and kicked him in the stomach before turning to Specs. "Grab the briefcase, we're out of here!"
Specs moved to grab the briefcase but David managed to recover from the blow Wolfram gave him and grabbed the hacker's leg, making him fall as Wolfram made his own move to grab it, only to see Izuku and Hilda charging straight at him while Ben made sure Penny was okay along with Ochako, Melissa, and Sonia.
Seeing the two powerhouses coming for him, Wolfram slammed his palm on the ground and erected a metal barrier, stumbling back as Izuku and Hilda struck the wall and shattered it in half with their combined punches, Armament Haki coating their fists for extra emphasis.
"SHIT!" Wolfram cursed before picking up the case and bolting.
"You can run, villain, but those kids are the next generation of Heroics." David smiled as he rubbed his bruised stomach, turning to see the security network reset thanks to Melissa and Sonia working together. "And Melissa and Sonia are like the next generation of Support."
The gunmen still at the party were shocked to see the Pro Heroes get released from their restraints. The two near All-Might found their heads smashed together once he was free.
"You really should have figured it out; Somehow villain schemes always seem to have a hole in them. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an old friend to save!"
He quickly raced through the halls to the upper floors. He got stopped by a call on his smartphone.
"Uncle Might! Thank goodness I got through!" Melissa's voice came on the other end. "Those villains stole some of Papa's research. You need to stop those villains from escaping, the research they took can magnify Quirks!"
"So that's the big secret Dave was working on..." All-Might said, remembering when David talked to him not too long after he had first been injured. "No wonder he agreed to shut down the research. I'm on my way!"
I hope this chapter worked for all of you! We're in the final stretch of the Two Heroes Arc! Hope you like the action that's coming your way!
Also, hope to see somebody update this story's TV Tropes page since I can't do it without getting canned.