Following Thirteen and Aizawa into USJ, Ochako couldn't help but have a little bounce in her step. She was living a dream at the moment. The USJ was the premiere rescue training center and Thirteen was the premiere rescue hero. Her obvious hero crush made Izuku laugh as he leaned over and whispered, "So this is what it's like on the other side."

Ochako blushed, and playfully shoved Izuku away, "I'm not as bad as you are."

"Yes you are."

"Completely."

"The resemblance is uncanny."

Ochako turned and stuck her tongue out at the other three members of the squad, earning her a few more chuckles from them. Once the class was inside the facility, all the talking came to a stop as they got their first look at the inside of the enormous facility. While the class stared in awe, Thirteen turned and swept her hand over the whole building, "I designed this facility to have multiple different accident and natural disaster scenarios to test and prepare people for the work they will be doing in the field: shipwrecks, landslides, city wide fires, and typhoons. Here, you will learn the heroic act of saving a person's life. This is my Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or USJ. Welcome everyone."

While the class continued to marvel, Aizawa walked over to Thirteen, "Where's All Might? He was supposed to…"

Izuku's ears perked up at the mention of All Might's name. While the teachers' voices had lowered so he couldn't over hear them, he watched their interaction and saw Thirteen hold up her hand with three fingers held up. Leaning over Izuku whispered to Ochako, "I don't think All Might is going to be teaching the class today."

"Eh?"

Izuku pointed towards the teachers, and Ochako saw that Thirteen was still holding up her hand.

"I bet he used up his time this morning."

"Sounds about right." Ochako agreed, "You think he'd be more careful when he has a class to teach."

Izuku shrugged with a smile, "Well, it is his job to be a hero after all."

Ochako frowned, but was quick to hide it. A part of her couldn't help but disagree with Izuku.

I'm sorry Deku, but that's not completely right. He should be making sure you are ready for One-for-All when he finally passes it down to you.

Aizawa groaned, running a hand through his hair, "That man is the definition of irrational. We should still be able to have the lesson at least."

Thirteen chuckled, "I'm sure you'll give him a piece of your mind when this day is done."

"I guess we'll go ahead and get started then."

"Actually, I'd like to address the class first, if you don't mind."

With a nod, Aizawa moved off to the side, giving Thirteen the floor.

"Everyone, before we start, I'd like to say a few things. As I'm sure a few of you are aware, my Quirk is Black Hole. With it I can suck up anything and turn it to dust."

"It's an incredible quirk that you've used to save so many people from horrible disasters of all kinds," Ochako blurted out.

Thirteen chuckled softly, "Yes, that's right." Her voice though lost its levity as she continued, "But this is a power that can also easily kill someone."

The mood of the class changed in an instant.

"I am aware that some of you have Quirks that are like that. You have so much power, but since we live in a society where yours and everyone's Quirks are documented and regulated, you may not think about the kind of power you actually have. I implore you all to always remember that all it takes is one misstep for a tragedy to occur."

Many students found themselves looking at each other or even themselves. Mina glances down at her skin; its pink color a side effect of the acid her body produces. She had burned through more than a few pieces of clothes when she was still learning to keep her fluids neutral. How easy could it have been a person she had burned instead. Shouto reached up and gently touched the scar on his face, before he pulled his hand away with a frown, the ice covering his left side cracked and creaked some as he got his emotions back in check. He knew the damage fire could bring. Denki nervously rubbed his hands together; he could still recall all the electronics he had shorted out when he was little. What would have happened if he shorted out someone's pacemaker, or worse? Ochako frowned as she thought back to a few of her more angry thoughts when she was dealing with Katsuki. She had even made the threat to him about what she'd do if he attacked Izuku again, but really thinking about it, she could hurt a lot of people with only a touch.

Katsuki looked down at his hands for a second before grunting. He was bored with the speech and ready to get the lesson underway.

"Now, when you all took Aizawa's special...physical fitness test, you got the chance to find out the hidden possibilities your quirks are capable of. Then, with All Might's mock battles, you experienced using your Quirks on other people and being on the receiving end of them. This class, however, will be different than either of those. Today you will learn how to use your Quirks to save the lives of people in danger. If there is one thing I hope you take from this lesson, it's this: your powers are not meant to hurt others, but to save them."

The class, moved by the speech, started clapping and cheering for the rescue hero. Thirteen bowed before turning to Aizawa, "So shall we get started?"

"Yeah. Class reps, I want you to divide the class into-"

Above everyone, the lights illuminating the giant facility flickered and sparked. While the class looked around, down in the courtyard at the center of the room, the very air began to twist in on itself. As the air continued to warp, it darkened until a large wall of black mist expanded out in both directions. Soon people began to walk through

Eijirou glanced down at the courtyard, "Hey what's that down there? Are they part of the lesson?"

Izuku took a step forward, "Oh, is this like the entrance exam, where the lesson just sta-" He didn't get to finish as he was suddenly yanked back by Himiko, "Toga what's...wrong?"

He stopped when he saw her. Her normal smile was gone, replaced with a snarl while her eyes were narrowed into slits, "Izuku, stay back. Those people are dangerous."

A few other students looked at Himiko confused. When they took a step forward to see what was going on, Aizawa stepped in front of them, "None of you move!"

"Sensei, what's going on?" Ochako asked, worry etched across her face.

"Those are villains."

As more villains poured through the black warp gate, Tomura soon joined them while a large silent monster kept to his side. With them being the last two to step through, the black gate twisted and reformed into the shape of a tall man.

"Everyone is accounted for Shigaraki. They are all in place."

Tomura nodded as he overlooked the courtyard, "and the heroes and kids?"

"They are still up at the top of the stairs. I counted all twenty-two students...and two heroes."

Glancing up Tomura quickly found the group. Frowning he reached up and scratched at his neck, "Only two?"

"The rescue hero Thirteen and Eraser Head," Kurogiri clarified.

Tomura scratched at his neck harder, leaving red marks on his skin, "The teacher's schedule I found yesterday said that All Might was also supposed to be here." His voice started to raise, the pitch on the verge of cracking, "Where is he? I even went through the trouble of bringing this whole crowd, too. Do you know how long it took to find all these people? How utterly boring it was? Are you telling me I wasted all that time!?"

"Shigaraki, please calm yourself. It is possible he is simply late. There were reports of him performing some heroics in the city not that long ago."

The fingers clawing at his neck stopped, and fell to his side, "All Might, the great symbol of peace is tardy?" A dry chuckle, a sound almost like dry leaves, escaped the young man's throat, "I wonder, Kurogiri; will he show up faster if we start killing the kids? Heroes are supposed to come and save the day after all."

Looking to his side, Tomura examined the giant that stood completely still, "Maybe I should sick the Nomu on a few. Wouldn't that be fun?"

Nomu, hearing their name, twisted its head around, their beak and jagged teeth making them look like they were smiling.

"You want to kill something, don't you? Don't worry. One way or another, you'll get your blood; I promise."

Aizawa frowned as he surveyed the courtyard below.

An attack the day after the incident yesterday. No way that's a coincidence, and they showed up just as this class was starting. This attack of theirs has been carefully planned. So they must have some sort of goal in mind.

Himiko glanced around, "Hey shouldn't there be alarms going off right now?"

"There should be, yes; all school facilities have them," Aizawa answered. He paused then added, "We'd be able to hear the other facilities if they were also under attack…More than likely they chose to attack this building since it's isolated."

Himiko huffed, "Great, guys that are stupid enough to attack a school filled with heroes, but smart enough to do it with a plan."

Aizawa turned to look at her. While the other students were doing their best not to break into a panic, Himiko had walked away from them and was analyzing the situation like he was.

"Get back with the others, Toga. You'll be evacuating with the rest of them."

The two stared at each other. Aizawa could see the bloodlust building behind her eyes. While he was tempted to throw the living blender at the large group of villains, she was, despite her past, his student. And he was going to protect her.

"You have people you want to protect right, Toga. Stay with them."

Himiko's eye twitched to the side, towards Izuku and the others, before she fell back in with the rest of the students.

"Thirteen! Have you been able to contact the school?

"No, I've been trying to get in contact with the school and police, but all my calls are getting blocked."

So they must have someone to disrupt our security and someone that can stop us from calling for help. Someone with a radio-wave-type or electromagnetic wave type Quirk perhaps.

"Alright, Thirteen, our first priority is getting the students out of here. Start the evacuation, and try getting in contact with the school once you are out of the building. Kaminari!"

Upon hearing his name, the electric boy bolted to attention, "Yes sir!?"

"I want you to try contacting the school with your Quirk too. See if you can break through whatever is blocking our communications by boosting the charge in your head set."

"Oh, right! I can do that!"

Satisfied, and seeing the students converging on Thirteen, Aizawa turned and slid his goggles on.

"Sensei? What about you?" Izuku, noticing that his teacher was not joining them stopped and asked, "You're not planning on fighting them yourself? Even if you erase their Quirks, there's still so many villains. Isn't your fighting style more surprising the enemy and then capturing them? A frontal assault is-"

"Midoriya," Aizawa gently cut him off, "Something you'll learn about being a hero: you don't survive long if you rely on just one trick. I know what I'm doing."

Taking one last look at his class, Aizawa turned back to the courtyard, and the mass of villains, "Thirteen, I'm leaving it to you. Get them out of here!"

With a running start, Aizawa launched himself down the steps and into the horde below.

All Might frowned as he hung up his phone. His attempts to contact Aizawa and Thirteen had both gone straight to voicemail.

I guess the class must be in full swing at this point. It's not surprising they aren't picking up at the moment.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, All Might groaned in annoyance. He had pushed himself this morning and had ended up using almost all of his time. So he was forced to wait in his office, in his smaller form, and hope he would recover enough to catch the tail end of the class.

I really am bad at this whole teaching thing, aren't I? Regardless of the reason, because of my off hour activities, I am being forced to neglect my duties as a teacher.

He had hoped that his time training Izuku and Ochako would prepare him somewhat for what was going to be asked of him when he started teaching at U.A. At the very least it could help him manage his teaching time, and his heroics time.

Well that sure didn't happen.

Despite his sour mood, All Might couldn't help but smile at the fond memories thinking about the months he had spent training his young protégés. It had been a simpler time.

I could go for one of Inko's dinner's right about now. I should probably give her a call or something pretty soon. Say I'm checking up on everyone. It would be bad if I suddenly just dropped off the face of the earth. She'd probably give me a hard time if I did that… she'd definitely give me a piece of her mind if she found out I wasn't teaching her son like I was supposed to, that's for sure...

Sighing deeply, All Might leaned back, "I've gone and done something very foolish, haven't I."

"I'd say that's a given."

All Might jolted up, at the door Principal Nezu smiled brightly as he walked in. A bit too brightly if All Might was to say honestly.

That's his, 'I know you did something and am now going to lecture you' face. I'm about to be in trouble. I think I'd prefer getting scolded by Inko… actually maybe not. She can get really scary.

"Good afternoon, Principal. Your coat is looking extra glossy today."

"The secret is keratin; helps me get a color and luster no human could hope to achieve. We can talk about it later if you'd like. I'd much rather talk to you about something else at the moment."

Taking out a tablet, Nezu scrolled through some news articles before stopping at a picture All Might, after stopping a crime, "All Might Resolves Three Incidents in Only One Hour!" Nezu read off the title, "You really outdid yourself this morning, didn't you?"

"I have...no excuse."

"There are many agencies in this town that can handle these kinds of incidents. You don't have to go running off every time a cat gets stuck in a tree. Your time could be much better spent, don't you think. For a real emergency, or your students."

All Might winced.

"Or your successor?"

All Might winced harder.

"Even with your injury and its effects on you, you still want to be seen as the symbol of peace, but doing so is becoming much harder for you. Since the incident, your time has continued to shrink. You becoming a teacher and slowly fading from the public eye was the best course, I thought. If it suddenly got out you were weakened, it would be very bad."

All Might didn't want to think about that. After spending so much time as a pillar for the people, the thought of what would happen if that was gone was not pleasant. Nezu was right; working as a teacher was the best way for him to step back in a way that the public would accept.

"Even if it's a cover for you, you still must take your responsibilities seriously. Those students deserve to be taught by the best. And so does Midoriya, don't you think?"

"Of course, you are right."

Nezu nodded before getting onto the couch and fixing himself and All Might a cup of tea, "Tell me, how long until you plan of passing One for All to the boy?"

"I plan on giving it to him around the start of his second year. By then he should be ready physically and mentally. He'll also have a better grasp of his own quirk before adding my power to it."

Nezu frowned as he looked at his reflection in his cup, "Cutting it a little close, don't you think?"

All Might didn't answer as both heroes sat in silence. Both thinking the same thing.

This year, or the next.

"...If something happens…" All Might stopped, taking a breath, "Then the responsibility is on me. As long as it's just my life that's... I will not rush this just because of some arbitrary time table. Young Midoriya doesn't deserve to have that on his shoulders. It is my burden to bear."

"Perhaps, but if you hadn't spent a year before hand training someone fresh, and then waiting another year for them to be ready, we wouldn't be having this issue I think."

All Might frowned at that, "I've chosen who I believe deserves to be the next to have this power. Young Midoriya is worthy of it."

"And none of the candidates you were shown when you first arrived here were?"

Recalling the students he saw, All Might nodded, "They were all fine young men and women. Each of them will become fine heroes, of that I have no doubts. But I was looking at something more than just skill and drive. I needed to see...a spark. Something that can't be measured… or described very well I'm afraid."

"A spark, huh? Did Toogata Mirio not have this spark?"

That name made All Might flinch.

"If I recall, you were very impressed with the young man back in his second year."

"That's true, he was… is very impressive."

Nezu took a sip of his tea, "You've been keeping track of the boy?"

"I have, yes."

"Because you are impressed with his progress, or because of who has been training him?"

The "who" hung in the air as both heroes sat in silence. Sir Nighteye: All Might's estranged former sidekick. It had come as quite a shock when he learned that Mirai had helped train the boy, and had pushed for him to be the top candidate for One for All.

"All Might… Toshinori, there is something I have been meaning to ask you. I understand that ultimately, who you pass One for All to next is your decision. And while I don't think you would do this, I still have to ask. Did your decision to pass over Toogata for Midoriya have anything to do with the troubled past you have with Mirai?"

"No, not at all," was All Might's instant response.

"Young Toogata has a good head on his shoulders, is strong, and is developing instincts that will serve him well into his future. He has also developed his quirk into something truly magnificent."

"And he has that spark as well."

All Might nodded, "true."

"And Midoriya? What made you pick him?"

Pausing, All Might leaned back into the sofa, "When I first met the boy, in every way measurable, Young Toogata was better than him. Young Midoriya was...well a bit of a shrimp...that stays here right?"

"Afraid of something?" There was a hint of amusement in the principal's eyes.

Something? No. Someone, or two someones? Yes. If either the boy's mother or Young Uraraka heard me say that, I'd be dead before I hit the ground.

"Er, anyway. As I was saying, the boy was lacking in everything that Young Toogata excelled in. Physical strength. Quirk capabilities, and self esteem."

"Every measurable way."

"That's right. Young Midoriya had even asked me if he could be a hero. I had said no…" All Might felt shame build up in his chest. Looking back, he had been very quick to judge the boy, and more than a little harsh in crushing his dream so quickly. "But, not even an hour later the boy showed me something."

"His spark."

"Yes. This timid, shy, and honestly weak boy saw someone in danger, and rushed in to help without hesitation. It was inspiring. Both boys, side by side, you would say at that moment there was clearly one winner. One was faster, stronger, and far more experienced. However, at that same moment, Young Midoriya's spark blazed just as brightly as Young Toogata's. Maybe even more so. And afterwards, when I looked at him, I didn't see him as he was. I saw what he could become."

"And that's why you picked him."

"Yes."

"You have a lot of faith in this young man."

"I do."

"Then don't you think he deserves you teaching him, like you're supposed to be?"

Sighing, All Might lowered his head, knowing that Nezu was right.

"At least you should be able to make it for the end of the class if you rest up a little longer. However after today, I really hope you take the students' needs into account before you rush off again."

"Of course."

Nezu got up and was about to leave, but stopped momentarily, "Did you ever end up calling Sir Nighteye and talk to him to let him know you'd picked someone else for One for All?"

All Might winced, "I let him know, but there wasn't a lot of...talking."

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that."

Soon, Nezu left, leaving All Might alone with his thoughts. Glancing back over at the clock All Might poured himself a new cup.

If I wait a few more minutes, I'll be able to reach the class and stay for a few minutes at least. Hopefully Aizawa and Thirteen have everything under control.

Tomura hated heroes. He hated them with every fiber of his being; but he could appreciate a good beat down, and that was what he was getting. Even if technically he was on the losing side.

"That Eraser Head isn't that bad. He's making short work out of all our men."

Immediately after landing among the group of villains and criminals, Aizawa began picking them off, one after another. It wasn't just the physical beating that was throwing off the group, but the psychological attack as well. Seeing someone next to them suddenly lose the ability to use their Quirk was enough to spread panic through their ranks, which Aizawa capitalized on.

Sighing, Tomura couldn't do much but shrug, "it really shows the difference in quality vs quantity. The masses just don't stand a chance against a pro like him."

While Tomura was watching the fight, Kurigiri was watching Aizawa specifically. Once the fight had started, he had felt the heroes eyes on him, keeping him from being able to put the next step of the plan into motion.

"He's strong, and with those goggles you can't tell who he's looking at. He's also keeping you in his field of vision so you can't warp. I really hate pro's like him."

"True, Shigaraki, but," Kurigiri trailed off as he felt it. For the briefest instance, the pressure on him vanished, "no one is perfect." Not letting the chance slip by, Kurigiri's body twisted and then he was gone, leaving only a few puffs of black mist behind.

Alarmed, Aizawa scanned the courtyard, "Damn! The moment I blinked the guy who looked like the most trouble got away. He must have been waiting for his chance."

But where did he go?

Izuku, despite the current situation, couldn't help but watch as his teacher worked over the group of villains.

"Wow, Sensei's fighting style is so different from All Might's, but he's holding his own against so many people. Incredible!"

He didn't get more of an opportunity to watch, however. as he felt a hard tug on the back of his costume, pulling him back from the steps, "Huh!?"

"Deku, there is a time and a place for you to fanboy, and it's not NOW!"

Ochako spun Izuku around and grabbed hold of his wrist, pulling him with her.

Hitoshi nodded as he pulled up alongside the two, "No kidding, we need to get out of here."

"I'm afraid I can not allow you all to leave."

In front of the exit door, a pillar of black mist rose from the ground, blocking the class' path. Bright yellow eyes narrowed as Kurigiri looked over the students and teacher. An arm slid out from the black mass and crossed over his chest as he bowed respectfully to them, 'It is a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Kurugiri of the League of Villains. It may have been rude of us, but we have invited ourselves into your school in order to finally lay the symbol of peace, All Might, to rest."

Izuku and Ochako glanced at each other in alarm, while a few students muttered amongst themselves.

"Our intel said that All Might should have been here. Was there some kind of change? Hmm well, that is neither here nor there I suppose. I am here to make sure my part dealing with you all is carried out."

Thirteen narrowed her eyes at the villain, while the cap on her gloved finger popped off as she readied herself to attack the villain in front of her and give the students an opening to run. She didn't get the chance, however, as several rushed past her. Katsuki, Eijirou, Himiko and Tenya rushed to attack Kurigiri. Himiko swung a knife into the center of his mass while Tenya swung a kick at his right, with Eijirou following it up with a swing to the left. Katsuki came down from above and unleashed an explosion that covered the area in smoke.

Katsuki smirked, "Did you think we'd just stand around and let you carry out your plan?"

"The guy was just standing their monologuing. Lame," Eijirou added.

As the smoke began to clear however, black wisps of mist broke through, before Kurigiri reformed in front of everyone.

Tenya frowned, "If his body is made of that black mist, can he even be damaged?"

Himiko held up her knife, there was a small stain of fresh blood on it, "No, look; I cut him. He has to have a body under all of that."

"My, my, that was very dangerous. How foolish of me to forget. Even if you are students, you are still the future heroes of this society. I mustn't underestimate any of you."

This isn't good!

Thirteen could tell the villain was about to do something, "All of you, move out of the way now!"

"As I said, I have a part to play, and that is scattering all of you to be tortured to death!"

In an instant, Kurigiri's body exploded outward, sending tendrils of black mist in all directions, encircling the students. Shouji leapt to his side, wrapping his six arms around the nearest students he could and pulled them out of the way, while Denki in a panic started letting loose bolts of electricity to try and keep the darkness away from him. Feeling the ground disappear from under her feet, Ochako tried to make sure she kept a hold onto Izuku, desperate not to get seperated. Unfortunately, the shock of the attack and the sudden feeling of falling was enough to rip Izuku free of her grip.

"DEKU!"

"URARAKA!"

With a grunt and a crash, Izuku fell through a black portal into a small dark room. Slamming into the floor, Izuku hissed in pain while objects around him clattered to the floor or on top of him. Desperately, Izuku kicked the objects away as he fought to stand up. Once standing, he leaned against a wall and tried to get his bearings.

Okay, calm down. This is no time to panic. Just calm down.

Looking around, Izuku was able to see that he was in a storage closet of some kind, and after a quick examination of himself, saw that while his landing had been rough, he wasn't hurt.

Alright, first things first. The class is under attack by a group of villains that are here to kill All Might. They have a member with a teleportation or warp quirk of some kind, and he used it on the whole class. That must mean I wasn't the only one that got moved around. Uraraka was right next to me; but she isn't here now, so where we were teleported must have been random...I think.

Izuku closed his eyes and took another deep breath.

She's okay. Uraraka is strong, so she will be okay. She will be okay.

Izuku repeated that in his head several more times, trying to make himself believe it. At least he was able to calm himself down a little.

I need to find out where I am. Then I need to regroup with everyone else. After that...after that...I'll think about that when I get there.

Nodding to himself, Izuku was about to open the door of the closet and step outside but stopped when he heard voices just outside.

"Did you guys hear that?"

"One of those kids must have been dropped off here somewhere."

"Let's keep looking, I'd love a chance to get my hands on one of those kids. Teach them a thing or two about wanting to be a hero and making my life miserable."

"You're just a lazy fuck that would rather steal than actually work."

"HA HA HA HA HA!"

Izuku held his breath, waiting for the group to pass by, hoping they would continue to walk by, and not check the room he was in. He kept listening as the group walked off, and only when he was sure they had walked off did he finally leave the room.

The building looked like an everyday office building, but much more rundown. Walls were cracked, and there was debris everywhere.

This must be the ruins zone, and I'm not alone. Great. It might be better to try and avoid them for now. Focus on getting out of here, that's what's important. Get out and get help.

Doing his best to keep quiet, Izuku made his way through the building, weaving around the ruined and broken halls.

Uraraka, everyone, please be okay.

Moving through the halls was slow going. The terrain was just rough enough that Izuku had to be careful where and how he moved around. Hanging lights, large cracks in the floor, entire sections of the hallway split and twisted. A misstep here could easily cause him to trip and fall, making all his work trying to go undetected for nothing.

I was only a few stories up when I got warped here, and I've been able to make it down two. If I can go at least one more I might be able to jump out a window and make a run for it.

Reaching a turn in the hallway, Izuku came to a stop just before the corner. Much to his chagrin, he didn't have to even bother to look to know there were villains down the corridor. Their voices were carrying down the hall. Frowning Izuku berated himself, he should have heard them sooner, but he had been so preoccupied with keeping silent and following the signs pointing to the exits and stairs.

I should backtrack. A building this big should have more than one exit; I just need to find it.

Izuku was about to start moving back when he heard what the villains were saying.

"So the boys found two of them then?"

"Yeah, one group radioed in saying they found one of the kids down below. Said he was going to take some men and take him out."

"That was a while ago wasn't it?"

"Eh? Maybe? If they were having trouble they would have called for help."

"It's a kid. They'll be fine. They're probably just taking their time as they kill him."

Izuku bit his lip as he tensed up.

I'm not the only one here?! Two more he said. Oh no, what do I-

"That slime bastard got real lucky I heard. Found a real cute one to play with. Poor girl."

Izuku froze.

"No kidding, that guy's a real sick fuck. Likes to play with his food way too much. The guy is going to break that pink chick."

What?

"Wouldn't be so bad if the bastard shared. I'd love a chance with her; girl was fine as hell."

"Maybe you can have what's left."

"I bet if we're quiet we'll hear her pretty soon."

The group laughed, and Izuku felt cold.

Pink chick…

Images of Ochako, proudly wearing her hero costume flashed through Izuku's mind.

Slime bastard…

The sludge villain, and the horror of feeling him choking the life out him as he tried to steal his body.

Real broken.

Izuku almost screamed as he forced the horrible thought from his mind. His stomach twisted and he could taste bile in his mouth.

I bet if we're quiet we'll hear her pretty soon.

If they could hear from this hallway, then she was close. She was close, and those villains were in his way.

She was close, and those villains were in his way.

They were in his way.

Suddenly, Izuku didn't feel cold anymore.

One of the villains, a large multi armed man with rock like skin wiped at his eyes, he had started laughing so hard he was almost crying. Bent over he took a second to catch his breath, "oh man, that's funny. Who wants to bet how long it takes to go from pain to pl…" he trailed off as he looked up, just as Izuku came around the corner and started walking right towards them, "whaaat the fuck is that supposed to be?"

Another villain, with antler horns and a large single eye, tilted his head to the side, "it's a student, Rock Nuts."

"No, I mean what is he supposed to be. Are those ears?"

A woman with drills in her hair snickered, "The Green Rabbit."

A man that was a cross between a bearded lizard and a man hissed, "Nah it hassss to be more edgy than that. Oh, like the Emerald Hare. Sssshit like that."

That got the group to laugh again, but Izuku did not care, "You're in my way. Move."

Izuku's voice made it clear, he wasn't kidding around. The villains just didn't care, breaking into a new fit of laughter, some almost doubling over. Izuku kept walking forward, eyes going over the group as he advanced.

The closests villain was a tall four armed man, with skin that resembled stone, gray and jagged, with a face covered by a black mask. Another villain to his side was another man, with an over-all unimpressive skinny body, but his head was a large venus fly trap. Further down, a woman in a red leotard and sporting two large drills in her hair. There was a short, bearded-lizard man, hunched over hanging on the wall. Under him was someone that looked like a human cutout made of paper, with red eyes painted on. A woman with a large scar across her face wearing a short purple kimono whose arms were folded in like an accordion. A villain with a single large eye and large moose-like antlers jutting out from his forehead flanked by a man dressed as an old american biker with a chainsaw blade that ran through his forearm and over his knuckles. Finally the last two at the back, a woman with the lower body and bladed arms of a praying mantis next to a large bull of a man with large horns a spotted body and a large golden ring that pierced his nose on his bull face.

Ten villains stood between Izuku and the door. Ten villains that had no issue with the idea of killing his classmates- of killing him. Of doing all kinds of horrible things. Their callous words about the pink girl rang in Izuku's ears. The odds were ten-to-one against him. Ten-to -one, and Izuku did not care.

"I told you to move."

The large rock villain sighed and started walking towards Izuku, "Kid, if you're gonna try for the indimiation act, at least look the part. I mean look at you, doing your slow serious walk, trying to look all bad ass, but you look like a fucking green bunny."

The villains behind him snickered.

"Come on kid, there must be something you can do to try and sell this bull shit you're putting on."

A short time after finishing his training, Izuku began to notice a change in himself. He had always been observant, especially when it came to quirks. He would notice details even experts in the pro hero message boards didn't notice. After he had gained confidence in his quirk and started practicing with it though, that trait, that gift of observation shifted. He could still pick out quirk details better than anyone he knew, but he also started to notice things around him more. A useful trait when your quirk could turn any object lying around into a projectile. From small things like pens, marbles, coins, and trash. To large things like tables, chairs, desks, and doors. Doors that were hanging by only a single hinge. Metal doors hanging by only a single hinge that a villain just walked in front of.

Izuku's quirk flared, its intensity matching his resolve, bathing the hall in emerald green light.

"Ha, so you can glow in the dark? That's real cu-!"

Izuku ripped the door off its hinge and slammed it against the rock villain, pushing it and him right into the cracked glass of a window, then through it. The villain screamed as he was thrown out of the building, and kept screaming for a few stories until he hit the ground with a crash of shattering stone and concrete. Izuku pulled the door back and twisted it to his side, just above his head, ready to fire.

"That's one."

For a moment, the hallway went dead silent as each villain looked from the smashed open window, then towards Izuku. The shock quickly faded as the biker villain charged at Izuku, chain blades whirling to life, "I'm gonna rip you apart, you little shit!"

Moving the metal door in front of him, Izuku blocked the man's punch. The villain, however, pressed forward, driving his fist and chain blade against the door, showering the floor with metal shavings and sparks before his fist punched through and he drove his arm clean through the door, up to his shoulder, "You think this little door is gonna stop me!?"

Izuku answered, but not with words. With a twist of his wrist, and door wretched around, at the same time, a very audible SNAP came from the man's arm. Making a fist, Izuku drove his hand down, at the same time driving the door, and biker villain, through the floor.

"Two."

While Izuku had been focused on the biker, the paper man shot past and wrapped his arms around Izuku, securing him, "Someone hit this kid!"

Izuku struggled to get free, but was too late. The one eyed villain rushed up, and slugged Izuku across the face, cracking his respirator. The next punch shattered it, cutting his lip. The villain then changed tactics and started going for body shots.

"Dude, shoot him with your eye lazer!"

The next punch stopped as the villain screamed, "I keep telling you, I DON'T HAVE A FUCKING EYE LASER!"

"Then what's the point of the one eye!?"

"You stupid fuc-!"

"AHHH!"

Izuku sucked in a breath and screamed, focusing on the floor right under the one eyed villain's feet. The villain only had a moment to look down at the glowing floor, before Izuku ripped up a chunk and drove it right into the man's groin. Foam sprayed from the villain's mouth, and his giant eye rolled back into his head as he collapsed to the ground. The paper villain, shocked to see the other man go down, moved an arm up from Izuku's body and around his neck, desperately trying to strangle him, "Choke you little shit!"

Dazed, and now cut off from any air, Izuku desperately tried to think of what he could do. He was vaguely aware of the other villains advancing on him. He needed this guy off him now.

I need to stick a pin in him and focus on what's coming next.

The thought triggered something in Izuku's head as he got an idea. Even with his arms held down, using his quirk Izuku opened one of the large pouches on his utility harness and yanked out several of the large metal darts he had been given by the support department. Floating them up, Izuku turned them around so that the pointy ends faced himself and the paper villain. The villains grip loosened a bit when he saw the darts, "Oh fuck me."

Clenching his fists, the darts fired, going past Izuku's body, but right into the villain behind him, ripping him off Izuku and pinning him to the wall by his arms legs and shoulders. Freed, Izuku gasped for breath as he snarled at the approaching villains, "four!"

"STOP COUNTING!"

The mantis woman screeched as she brought both of her arms down where Izuku was. Pushing himself back, the woman's blades sliced through his chest, but the cut was shallow. Her mistake was putting so much force into the strike. Since she mostly missed, her arms drove into the floor. Izuku watched her try to tug her arms back. After confirming she was stuck, Izuku wound back as he got ready to throw a punch. The woman didn't even get a chance to wonder if Izuku was willing to hit a woman. He was, of course, months of sparing with Ochako had driven home that a woman was just as capable of kicking butt as any man, and if he hesitated, he was going to regret it. With a scream, Izuku swung a haymaker that connected with the woman's jaw, and dropped her like a sack of potatoes.

"Five."

CRACK!

Izuku's head snapped back as a fist smashed into his face. The female villain retracted her arm back from a few yards away, "Don't go getting so full of yourself, you little shit!"

Both of her arms folded in, compressing until her fists were almost flat against her shoulders, "Rapid Fire Assault!"

The attack name was enough to tip Izuku to what was about to come next. He only just got his arms up as the flurry of punches hit. The punches were coming in so fast, there was no way he was going to be able to duck and weave his way through. If he wanted to keep pushing forward, he was going to need to find a way to make her stop. Glancing around, Izuku saw the lizard man had climbed onto the ceiling and was advancing towards him.

That'll work!

The lizard blinked when suddenly the ceiling tiles and light fixture he was holding onto glowed, just an instant before Izuku ripped them down, making the villain fall right into the path of the rapid punches. The woman swore in surprise but was not able to stop herself in time before she landed enough punches to send the man down to the ground in a daze. Seeing his opening, rushed forward, making sure to kick the man in the head as he passed by so that he stayed on the ground. The woman threw two hard punches that arced to drive Izuku into the ground. Izuku dodged to the side, making the first punch go wide. He ducked the second, her fist punching through one of his costume's 'ears'. While bent down he picked up the fallen light fixture and raised it above his head as he charged forward. The woman gulped, desperately trying to retract her arms. They slapped into place, just as Izuku brought the ficture down and shattered it over her head.

Izuku looked up just in time to see the giant jaws of the venus fly trap villain about to close around his head. Izuku jammed the remains of cheap sheet metal and fluorescent bulbs into the villain's 'mouth'. As the villain began to freak out, Izuku spread his arms out and slapped both sides of the villains head, driving his mouth closed. The villain dropped to the floor, writhing in pain, green puss dripping between his teeth. Standing up straight, Izuku stared right at the last two villains in the tight hallway, who were still blocking the door he needed to get through.

"Eight."

Drill hair turned to the minotaur villain and shrieked as she started to panic, "What are you waiting for!? Get him!"

"Moo?"

"You're five times bigger than him, Tank! Kill him!"

While the two villains bickered, Izuku reached behind his back, and opened another pouch on his belt, filling his hand with marble-sized, steel ball bearings. With his fist full, Izuku pointed it out in front of him, as the rest of him glowed, the ball bearings looked like little balls of fire.

"Delaware Smash!"

Izuku opened his hand, and fired the bearings like a shotgun shell, making sure to keep the spread as close as possible. Each ball hit the hair drill villainess, shutting her up and dropping her to the floor where she lay, twitching.

"Nine."

Tank's eyes went wide as he looked down at his fallen comrade. Shakily he turned to look at Izuku, standing in the middle of the ruined hall, that was now littered with all the other villains. Tank threw his hands up, "Dude, I give! I give!"

Izuku's eyes narrowed as he listened to his voice.

"I don't even like these guys, man. My gym got shut down, and I needed money. This guy with the hands said he was going to make us famous, and that we'd go down in history and…"

"You…"

Tank blinked, "Me?"

"You're the one that said, you'd 'love a chance with her'."

Tank blinked a few times, "wait...you heard all that?"

Izuku's glare was his only answer.

If it was possible for a minotaur to pale and start to sweat, Tank was the perfect example as he backed up until his back hit the door behind him, "Come on man, it was just talk'n shop. You know, locker room stuff. When you see a fine piece of ass like that you can't really help but want to be...you know, the one breaking it in. Ya know what I'm saying?"

In one motion, Izuku reached out with both hands, green glow blinding Tank so he didn't see the door, the door frame, the wall and a large portion of the ceiling glow as well. Clenching his fists, Izuku pulled it all down as hard as he could, driving the man into the floor. A white hand was all that was sticking out of the rubble, twitching uselessly, pawing at the ground. When Izuku walked over the pile, he made sure to stamp his foot as hard as he could as he stepped on. A grunt and the fading groan Tank made was music to Izuku's ears.

"Ten."

Walking through the opened wall, Izuku looked around. He was in a large stairwell. So he had to decide which way to go.

Up or down?

A sudden scream from above made his decision for him.

Izuku raced up the stairs, only making it halfway before a thought crossed his mind.

That scream didn't sound like a girl's.

When Izuku reached the floor, the door in front of him burst open as a man came stumbling past him clutching his face and screaming, "MY EYES! THE BITCH GOT ACID IN MY EY-!"

His screams were quickly cut off as Mina ran up behind him and gave him a strong kick in the back, sending him tumbling down the stairs and landing in a heap.

Mina stood at the edge of the stair, glaring down at the man, "And you tell the rest of your friends, that's what you get when you try and mess with me!"

"Ashido?"

Pink girl? Oh! They meant Ashido. Because of her skin.

Mina had clearly gone through a time of her own. The fluffy collar of her tan jacket was almost torn off. Her mask was cracked under her eye, and her cheek was a much darker shade of pink, almost magenta. Her knuckles were a little roughed up and her knees were scraped up enough to tear through her costume. She either fell, or someone had pushed her down to her knees... Izuku cut that thought off as fast as he could.

Mina turned, fists raised, acid seeping through her fingers, looking ready to keep fighting, Izuku threw up his hands trying to look as nonthreatening as possible, "WAIT! I'm not a villain!"

"Wait? Midoriya!? It's you, oh thank goodness I heard that...oh god…" Her initial shock, then joy came to a stop when she got a look at him, "Oh my god, Midoriya you're hurt!"

"I'm alright, really."

"Your chest is cut open!"

"It's just a scratch!"

"Your face?"

"Uraraka used to hit me way harder when we would practice sparring. I'm fine really, it wasn't...this isn't that big a deal."

Mina didn't hide that she didn't buy a word coming out of Izuku's mouth. As Izuku tried to ward off Mina's questions and concerns he finally got a look inside the room she had been in and had to do a quick double-take. Mina had clearly fought through a group of villains all her own, just like he had. The first man was obvious, a basic thug that was laying at the bottom of the stairs. In the actual room itself a person was knelt over, their head sticking through the wall. Another was a man laying on his back, with a face that had been clearly pummeled. Judging by Mina's knuckles, Izuku guessed she spent a good amount of time punching him in the face. The final thing in the room puzzled Izuku. A large puddle of some neon blue something was bubbling and fizzing all by itself.

Mina noticed Izuku's inquisitive glance and turned to look at the blue puddle, "it was a villain with a quirk that gave him a body of slime."

The slime bastard.

Izuku remembered and shuddered.

"He said he was gonna get inside me and," Mina made air quotes with her fingers, "'have some fun'."

Izuku's face twisted in disgust.

"Buuut," Mina continued, a smirk forming, "when he tried, I got my hand free and jammed it inside him. Pumped him full with as much acid as I could before I had to deal with the other guys here. I don't think he's dead, but I'm pretty sure no other girl is gonna have to worry about him ever again."

"And you're okay?"

Mina nodded, though hesitantly, "Honestly I think the shock of everything hasn't worn off yet. Not looking forward to when that happens. But right now I have to make sure I live long enough to deal with it."

"I was headed down to get out of the building and regroup with everyone outside."

"Sounds like a good plan."

"But then I overheard some villains say there was one other student in here below us. And that he might be in trouble."

Mina's face hardened, "Then we have to find them then."

Izuku nodded and both headed down the stairs, Mina pausing only a moment to look at the gaping hole in the wall, and the multiple villains laying about. Pointing into the hallway, Mina asked, "Not that big a deal huh?"

Izuku just shrugged, looking surprisingly sheepish considering his current state, "They were talking and made it sound like you were in trouble and they wouldn't let me through. So...I just forced my way through, is all."

Shaking her head, Mina decided not to press but made a mental note to be sure to store this little event for later. She was sure there were a couple of girls in her class that would want to hear about this. Not that they needed more fuel for their obvious crush.

Rushing down one more flight, both came to a stop when they heard a large crash. Both looked at each other and were about to reach for the door when it was suddenly thrown open and a pudgy, short man came stumbling out, holding a two-way radio in one hand screaming, "Is no one on the radio anymore? This kid is destroying us- HUH?!"

In one swift motion, both Izuku and Mina pulled back and punched the man in the face, knocking him senseless and dashed into the hall. They didn't make it far in before they found who they were looking for.

In the room in front of them, a loud commotion could be heard, before a villain was sent flying through one wall and into the next right before the two. He was joined by two others as Dark Shadow slammed them into each other before dropping them to the floor.

"Oh hey, Fumikage, I found them!"

Fumikage stuck his head through the large hole in the wall, "Found who, Dark Shadow: our classmates or more villains?"

Turning he found Izuku and Mina, who was waving at him, "Ah Ashido, Midoriya! You're both unharm…" Fumikage trailed off when he saw Mina's slightly roughed up appearance, and went completely silent when he saw Midoriya's.

Dark Shadow peeked over Fumikage's shoulder, "Wow, you look like shit Midoriya."

"Dark Shadow!"

"What? He does."

Izuku sighed in defeat, while Mina looked into the room Fumikage was in, "Wow, you sure trashed these guys, huh."

Dark Shadow puffed up, while Fumikage shrugged, "They were little more than street thugs."

"Well at least that's the last of them." Mina said with a smirk.

"Hey, anyone still got their radios on? What's the update on the kids? Did you say he was trash, or you were getting trashed?"

All four heads turned to look at the radio, that was still in the pudgy villain's paw. When Dark Shadow opened his beak, Mina held up a hand to shush him, "That does not count as a jinx! It's not like I said, it could be worse, or something."

"Listen, I'm sending the rest of the boys up. You guys are taking too long to kill three kids."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I swear, not a word from any of you."

Izuku decided to wisely not comment on the jinx and moved onto coming up with a plan, "We're on the third floor right now, right?"

"I believe so," Fumikage confirmed.

"Is that low enough that Dark Shadow can lower us out of the building?"

"Easily."

"Then let's find a window and get out of here. If we leave from the outside, we should miss everyone they send up. Should make our escape even easier."

Mina gave a thumbs up, "Sounds like a plan."

Izuku was quickly able to find an external window and blew it out. Quickly, Dark Shadow lowered the three down the side of the building. Free of the ruined structure, they made a mad dash for the courtyard. As they ran, Izuku thought back. First, that warp villain, Kurogiri, and then that guy in the hall, they both had said something that was now eating away at Izuku, now that he actually had the chance to think it over.

That Kurogiri said they were here to kill All Might, and even that bull guy said he was here to become famous. Killing All Might, or even being part of the group that pulled it off would do it. Villains have tried before and they've all failed. So what makes this time different? What's their plan?

"Midoriya, you're mumbling."

Izuku's head snapped up, "Oh! Sorry, Ashido. I'm just trying to figure this whole attack out."

"You mean why this group seems to think they have a chance to kill All Might?" Fumikage clarified.

"Yeah, I'm just trying to think what their plan is."

"Well, it won't matter in the long run. Pretty soon, this place is going to be crawling with heroes, and these villains will be hauled away." Mina said with confidence.

I hope you're right Ashido. I really do.

The black mist in front of Ochako vanished as she fell through. To her shock and confusion however, she didn't see the exit of the building or any other of her classmates. What she saw was a wall of water that was fast approaching. The warp had left her momentarily disoriented as she tried to figure out what she was seeing. A wall of moving water didn't make sense; why was she looking at that?

Wait, that water isn't coming at me, I'm going towards it-OH CRAP I'M-

Ochako didn't get a chance to finish her thought before slamming into the water, sinking deep underneath the surface. By some miracle, even if the impact from hitting the water had driven most of the air out of her lungs, Ochako was able to keep herself from trying to suck in a breath of air as she finally came to a stop.

Crap crap crap! I got caught up in that villain's warp quirk along with everyone else.

Grunting, Ochako kicked her legs and pushed herself towards the surface.

That guy, Kurogiri, said he was gonna scatter us. He must have warped everyone to different places, but there was something else he said…

Ochako caught a blur of motion out of the corner of her eye cutting off her train of thought. Turning, Ochako let out a silent scream as a shark-quirked villain swam right at her, jaw open, exposing rows of razor sharp teeth. Ochako's mind raced, trying to think of a way to defend herself, but under water there wasn't anything she could do. Fortunately, she wouldn't have to do anything. When the shark villain was almost within arms reach, Tsuyu came out of nowhere and slammed into the villain, throwing him off and sending him tumbling through the water past Ochako.

"Uraraka, hold on, kero!"

Ochako gasped when Tsuyu wrapped her tongue around her waist and pulled her through the water. It was then she noticed that Tsuyu had her arms wrapped around someone else.

So I'm not the only person that got dropped here?

Tsuyu glanced around noticing that the shark villain was not alone, and that any path back to dry land was effectively cut off. The large boat sitting in the middle of the artificial lake however was clear of anyone else. Knowing she was running out of time, and her classmates were running out of breath, she kicked her legs and swam for the boat, reaching it as quickly as she could. As gently as she could, she lifted Ochako out of the water and dropped her onto the deck.

As Ochako coughed and gasped for breath, grateful that at least she was out of the water. That momentary gratefulness was short-lived as Tsuyu deposited the other person she had been carrying.

"Damn it, what the hell happened?"

Ochako suppressed a groan.

Great, just who I wanted to see: Bakugou.

Climbing on board, Tsuyu looked at the two, "are you both okay?"

Ochako gave the girl a smile, "Yeah, thanks a lot for saving me. I don't want to think about what would have happened if you hadn't shown up."

"You'd probably have been eaten," Tsuyu said simply.

Katsuki frowned as he removed his gauntlet and turned it over, a stream of water emptied out of it and onto the deck of the boat, "motherfucker, of course I got dropped into a lake."

Tsuyu eyed the giant gauntlet, "Is it broken?"

After giving the gear a good shake, Katsuki stuck his hand back and inspected it, "Nah, but it's gonna take me a bit to build up enough sweat to use it."

While it was a useful bit of gear, Ochako couldn't help but be grossed out that it was full of his sweat. How the things didn't stink was beyond her.

"So what do we do now? I don't think I'm fast enough to outswim all those guys while carrying both of you." Tsuyu glanced over the boat's railing at the group of villains that were surrounding them, and slowly inching closer.

Katsuki huffed, "What do we do? We fight and kill the fuckers, obviously."

"But does your quirk work in the water?"

Katsuki grumbled as he looked down at his hands, "I can still blow the fuckers up when they get up here."

"Or you'll blow up the boat."

"Frog-Legs, I swear to fucking-!"

"HEY ENOUGH!" Ochako snapped, "Bakugou, Tsu is…" She paused, glancing over at Tsuyu to make sure using the nickname was alright before continuing, "Tsu is right. You're grounded until we get back to dry land."

Katsuki was about to tell Ochako just what he thought of that, but Ochako continued over him, "We don't have time to argue; we need a plan, and we need to figure out why the villains are here."

"They said they were going to kill All Might." Tsuyu answered simply. After saying that she tapped her chin in thought, "he isn't here, but that warp villain thought he would be like we all did. How did they know he would be here now, I wonder?"

"How they knew isn't what we should be fucking worrying about right now."

"He's right."

"Oh?" Tsuyu looked at the two, "What do you two mean?'

Ochako glanced over at Katsuki, the serious look on his face confirming to her that he was thinking the same thing as she was, "They wouldn't be here if they didn't think they had a chance to actually kill All Might."

"So how the fuck do they think they're going to be able to pull it off?"

Ochako thought back, remembering everything that Kurogiri had said, trying to pick at anything that could give her a clue. Then she remembered something she had been thinking of before she was attacked and rescued by Tsuyu, something that sent made her blood go cold, "separate and torture us to death…Oh my god."

"What's wrong, kero?"

Ochako fought down the panic that threatened to burst out, "We weren't the only ones caught up in that attack. That villain warped us here where there were villains waiting for us. He must have done the same to everyone else!"

Deku, he was right next to me, so he must have gotten warped too. Warped right to another group of villains!

Katsuki shrugged, "You just figure that one out? Damn you're slow."

Ochako whirled around, eyes blazing, "You bastard! Deku- everyone- is in danger and you just-"

"We're all in danger you stupid bitch. Worry about what you can do here and now."

"Don't you dare tell me what to worry about!"

"You want to die?! Stop thinking about that shitty Deku and focus!"

Tsuyu raised her hands trying to get the two to calm down, "both of you please, this isn't the time to-"

"DID YOU BRATS FORGET ABOUT US?!"

While the three had been distracted, many of the villains had climbed up the side of the boat and were hanging on the outer railing. The shark faced villain had made it over and was reaching for Tsuyu, claws ready to grab the poor girl by the head, "You little frog, I'm gonna rip you limb from limb!"

Ochako and Katsuki turned to reach her, but they were too far, and the villain too close.

"TSU, LOOK OUT!"

"FROG-LEGS, MOVE!"

The shark grinned, rows of teeth ready to tear into Tsuyu, "I'm gonna drag you down and eat you alive you little-"

Something bright flashed and whirled by both Ochako and Katsuki's heads.

THUNK!

The shark villain stopped just short of Tsuyu, blinking in confusion. Tsuyu also titled her head to the side. The large webbed claw that was only a few inches from her face now had something new stuck to it. Some kind of black handle. While Tsuyu looked from the front, the shark villain looked at the back of his hand, just as confused, wondering why there was a large piece of metal on his hand.

Wait, that wasn't right, both thought. Soon it finally dawned on both, that the two were looking at different ends of a very large knife. A knife that had gone right through and was now stuck in the villain's hand. The moment it clicked for the villain was the exact moment the shock had worn off, and he finally felt what had happened to him.

"AHHHHHHH! MY HAND!"

While the villains looked over at their comrade, clutching the wrist of his stabbed hand and screaming, Ochako, Katsuki, and Tsuyu all turned to where the knife had come from. There, on the far end of the deck, stood Himiko, eyes blazing with rage and hate. Her mouth, twisted into a snarl of pure malice that made her fangs all the more terrifying.

Dashing forward, Himiko slammed her bladed bracer onto the railing as she ran past all the distracted villains hanging on. The blades slicing through hands and fingers, sending each and everyone falling back into the water, screaming and splattering blood everywhere. She quickly reached the shark villain, who had been just tumbling backward over the railing, the pain in his hand had made him forget where he was. Reaching out, Himiko snagged the handle of the knife and twisted, keeping it stuck and making sure the shark villain was left dangling over the railing. The villain gulped, the hate in Himiko's eyes making him unable to look away. So he didn't see her reach up with her free hand and pull out one of the other large knives she had hanging on her side. If he had, he would have seen what was coming next and tried to avoid it.

Himiko pressed the blade against the villain's elbow, "Don't you ever try and touch my friends again."

With a yank, the villain was falling back into the water, relieved that he was getting away from the monster, but as he fell, he couldn't help but wonder why she was still holding his arm, way up on the boat. The pain and realization hit him just as he crashed into the water.

Himiko had cut off his arm at the elbow.

Himiko watched the water for a second, eyes focusing on the red cloud that was forming on the surface of the water, then with a huff, took the knife that wasn't stuck in the severed arm's hand and wiped it clean on her skirt and slid it back into its holster.

"No one is allowed to touch my friends."

Ochako stood, in shock. One moment, she had been rushing to try and save Tsuyu, now she was standing in what looked like a horror scene. Blood splatters and drips covered the boat railing, fingers and a couple of hands lay on the floor, and a large pool of blood it was forming from the arm Himiko was still holding. Even Katsuki was left speechless by the sheer brutality of what he had just seen. When Himiko turned around, all three were taken aback, seeing the girl now covered in blood splatter from her attack.

The sudden chorus of screams from below shattered the calm as all the villains that had tried to board the boat and been cut off resurfaced from the water, screaming in horror.

"My hand! Where's my hand!?"

"My fucking fingers!"

"ARHHH!"

"What the fuck is happening!?"

"That crazy bitch!"

"Oh god, oh god!"

Ochako watched as Himiko, still covered in blood, quickly walked over to Tsuyu and returned to her normal self, "Tsu, are you alright? That horrible villain didn't touch you, did he?"

The sudden switch in personality threw everyone, so Tsu could only shake her head. Himiko sighed in relief, her smile returning to her face, "Oh good. I'd just hate it if you got hurt."

"Why the fuck are you still holding that arm!?"

Despite herself, Ochako found herself nodding in agreement. She could not think of a single reason why Himiko hadn't thrown the arm away right after cutting it off. Himiko rolled her eyes, "You guys are just big babies. You look like you've never seen a hunk of sashimi before."

Katsuki gagged, while Ochako was suddenly very grateful all her quirk training had helped her get a strong stomach. Tsuyu, who while a little grossed out, was able to recover first, "I don't think just because a person has a fish quirk, that makes him food."

Himiko sighed, "I swear you guys are no fun. Can't take a joke or anything."

Yanking the knife out of the hand, Himiko whipped it in the air a few times, spraying much of the blood coating the blade off and onto the nearest wall, before wiping it on a clean-ish part of her costume and putting it away. Walking to the edge of the deck, Himiko scanned the water while she discreetly pulled one of her large syringes and flicked out the long needle. From behind her, none of the others could see her stick the needle in and drain the arm of blood.

No reason to let this go to waste. Might have to go swimming later.

"Toga, what are you doi-"

"MY ARM! THE BITCH CUT OFF MY FUCKING ARM!"

Ochako was cut off when the shark villain resurfaced from the water screaming bloody murder. Pulling the needle from the arm, and letting the syringes tube pull the cylinder back into place, Himiko made a show of pulling back, holding the severed arm like a stick, "Here! You can have this back!"

Chunking the arm as hard as she could, she gave a little cheer when it hit the shark right in the face. Smiling, she turned back around to look at everyone and shrugged, "I'd make a 'stop hitting yourself joke,' but that's beneath me."

"You're fucking nuts."

"I'm literally covered in knives; did you think I wouldn't ever use them?"

"At least…" Ochako began, "At least the villains shouldn't try and get back on now. We should have a few moments to figure stuff out now."

"Like where the fuck Psycho-Bitch was?" Katsuki mumbled, more to himself.

"I was warped into the boat, not the water."

"Ah," Tsuyu said, "That's good. I was worried I missed you or something. So what now? Uraraka is right, we need to figure out what we're going to do now that we have the chance."

Despite the unsettling scene that had just played out, all four agreed they needed to come up with a plan. Ochako crossed her arms and she started speaking, "We need to get out of this water zone, and try and regroup with the others. They must be in situations like ours in the different zones in the facility."

Himiko's smile faltered as she scanned the domes and ruins around them, "Izuku's in danger, isn't he? Tenya and Hitoshi too."

"We're all in fucking danger. We need to worry about ourselves first." Katsuki made a point of looking right at Ochako. Despite her resentment for the other boy, she couldn't help but agree. While she was worried sick for Izuku, for everyone. There was nothing any of them could do about their friends at the moment.

Seeing that they all seemed to be on the same page, tsuyu started, "One thing at a time then. We need to get out of here. Any ideas, kero?"

"Swimming is fucking out. I don't think Frog-Legs can carry three of us and out run the rest of these guys."

"Uraraka could float us and then Tsu could carry us?"

Tsuyu shook her head, "Weight isn't the real issue, it's the drag you'd have in the water."

Himiko nodded, "Well water is out; how about over them?"

This time it was Ochako who shot the idea down, "Getting everyone over puts you all at risk if they have any kind of ranged attack."

Growling, Katsuki slammed a fist against the side of the boat, "We're in a fucking boat; let's just drive this thing!"

"I don't think this has an actual engine."

Everyone looked at Himiko, "How do you know that, kero?"

"Pretty sure the engine room was where I was warped."

"MOTHERFUCKER!"

Ochako groaned into her hand, her mind racing. They couldn't just stand here coming up with ideas that wouldn't work.

Toga freaked them out, but there's no way they'll stay back for much longer. Floating might be our best option...Maybe I could take everyone to the ceiling, but that's a long way up and it still leaves us open...Think Ochako. There has to be a-

"ROUND FACE, MOVE!"

Startled, Ochako didn't have time to react as Katsuki threw her out of the way, raised his hands, and unleashed a huge explosion that ripped apart a giant hand of water that had been about to crash into them and the boat.

While Tsuyu helped Ochako up, Himiko rushed to Katsuki's side pulling several of her throwing daggers from her thigh case, "Baku-Bitch, which one did that!?"

"The white faced basta...WAIT WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BITCH?!"

Himiko looked where Katsuki had been pointing, finding the villain with his hand raised and still encased with water. Himiko fanned the daggers out in her hand, then, in a blur chunked them right at her target. All three hit, sinking into his chest and shoulders with solid thuds.

While the villain screamed in pain, both Katsuki and Himiko growled down at the villains, "If any of you fuckers want to get blown up, then keep pushing your luck!"

"I'll be more than happy to make you match all the other fucks I cut up!"

While the two screamed down at the villains, Tsuyu made sure Ochako was alright after getting knocked aside, "You sure you're alright, he wasn't exactly gentle."

"I'm fine, really."

Tsuyu nodded then looked over at the two, "That blast was so strong, I thought he was about to launch the whole boat."

Ochako almost laughed, "yeah, he's almost a living rocket...engine…"

Everything in Ochako's mind came to a grinding halt before the gears in her head slammed into place and started turning again. She looked at Katsuki, remembering how during the quirk assessment test, how he had used his explosions to propel himself in the long jump. Then she looked at the boat.

Back to Katsuki.

The boat.

Katsuki.

Boat.

"Bakugou!"

Katsuki turned and looked back at Ochako, "What?"

"Can you fire off consecutive blasts like that? The big ones, not the small ones you used during the long jump test."

As Katsuki thought over the question, Himiko and Tsuyu looked between the two, wondering what was going on. Ochako watched as Katsuki's confused face morphed into a feral grin.

"Yeah, I can do that. Easily. Can you do your part though?"

Ochako's smile matched Katsuki's, it was almost frightening.

"Easily."

Himiko scratched her head, "Wait, what's going on here?"

Ochako pointed towards the back of the boat, "Everyone get to the rear of the ship, now! We're flying out of here!"

Katsuki was already running off while the other two pulled up alongside Ochako, "Wait, I thought you didn't want us floating off the boat because we'd be sitting ducks in the air?"

Ochako smiled confidently at Himiko, "Who said we were leaving the boat?"

"Eh?"

Reaching the back, Ochako pointed at Tsuyu, and Himiko, "You two grab onto something This is probably going to get bumpy really fast. Tsuyu, I want you to hold onto Bakugou if you can."

Tsuyu glanced over at Katsuki and after seeing he had no objection, wrapped her tongue tightly around his waist

Himiko finally got what Ochako and Katsuki were planning and started grinning

Once she was sure the other girls were anchored down, Tsuyu sticking to the floor while Himiko slammed down a pair of knives to act as a hand hold, Ochako turned to find Katsuki leaning forward, his boots grinding into the wall behind him, securing himself in place.

"You ready Bakugou?"

"Of course I'm ready."

While he was still facing forward, his eyes glanced down to Ochako as she knelt down and readied herself, "You going to be able to do this, Round-Face?"

Ochako smirked, "Do you think Deku was the only one making his quirk stronger over the ten months we were training?"

Ochako pressed her fingers into the deck, and she immediately felt the effect. Her stomach twisted in pain, but she was able to push it down. It wasn't as bad as she was worried it was going to be, at least.

Tsuyu and Himiko gasped as the boat suddenly felt a lot more unsteady, rocking side to side. It almost felt like it could tip over at any moment.

"Bakugou, NOW!"

"Stop giving me orders!" Katsuki screamed as his palms ignited and unleashed a torrent of blasts.

The villains in the water weren't sure what was going on. The ones not bleeding out into the artificial lake, or being helped by their comrades watched as the group of kids pulled back and then ran for the back of the boat.

"Hey, let's get to the front; we can sneak onboard and get them."

"Yeah, good idea."

"We'll surprise those little brats and make them pay."

The group moved to the bow of the boat. As they all grouped together, a pink flash enveloped it.

"The heck was that?"

"Hey, does it look like the boat is lifting out of the water?"

"Um…?"

Before the group of villains could figure out what was happening a series of explosions fired off from the boat's stern, rocketing it forward, and slamming into the group flinging them off in every direction.

Kyouka gasped when the ground under her vanished right from beneath her feet. Falling through the black void, she felt her sense of gravity shift as she fell onto her back, hitting her head. Even from behind her eyelids she could see the stars circling around. Groaning, she started to sit up, but she was not able to get far. Suddenly, something was driven into her chest, slamming her back into the ground and driving the air out of her lungs. She didn't even have a chance to scream out in pain as a pair of hands wrapped around her throat and squeezed.

A villain had fallen upon her the moment she had been tossed out of the portal, driving his knee into her chest and strangling her. Disorientated from the warp, dizzy from hitting her head, and panicking from not being able to breathe, Kyouka could do little else but paw helplessly at the villain's hands, not even able to find the strength to leave a scratch.

Oh god, oh god! I'm going to die! Oh god!

The villain, so triumphant in his victory, never bothered to see if anyone else had been teleported near him. So he never saw the other student land and immediately rush to Kyouka's aid. He did, however, feel the wooden bat breaking over his head, sending splinters everywhere.

The pressure now off her chest and throat, Kyouka gasped for air, desperate to give herself the oxygen she was just denied. In her current state, however, she was not able to tell that the person who bent down and pulled her up by her arm was a fellow classmate, so on instinct, she began trying to pull herself free. Hitting, scratching, and even biting at the hand holding her.

"Jirou! Jirou, please calm down!"

HOW DO THEY KNOW MY NAME!?

Fresh panic set in. This person knew her. Did they know where she lived? Did they know who her parents were? It was getting harder to breathe again.

"LET ME GO! LET GO!"

"Jirou, please!"

"NO NO NO!"

"...I'm sorry, but this is for your own good."

SLAP!

Kyouka's head whipped to the side, the harsh sting in her cheek enough to get her to focus on her surroundings. She was surrounded by high cliffs and rocky terrain.

Mountains?

Confused, she looked up and saw the USJ ceiling.

Oh, I must be in one of the rescue-training zones.

Letting her head look back down, she finally recognized who it was that had saved her and had snapped her out of her panic.

"Yaoyorozu?"

Momo sighed in relief, "I'm glad that worked. I was worried I might have to slap you again."

Kyouka rubbed her cheek, "Yeah, I'd rather you didn't."

"HEY, I THINK THOSE KIDS ARE UP HERE!"

"GRAB 'EM!"

Kyouka and Momo jumped in alarm. The villains were closing in on them. Thinking fast, from her thigh, Momo created a short and narrow metal cylinder, with a ringed pin at the top. It took Kyouka a moment to realize that it was some kind of grenade.

"Jirou, please close your eyes!"

Pulling the pin out, Momo tossed the stun grenade over where the voices of the villains had come from. A loud pop and blinding light bathed the area as the villains cried out in pain and alarm.

Creating a metal bo staff for herself, Momo started creating weapons for Kyouka as well, "Take something. We need to take as many of them out before they snap back to their senses!"

Reaching out, Kyouka gripped two handles that had started to form from Momo's back. The first weapon was a metal bat, which had a nice heft to it that Kyouka approved of. The second weapon made her pause for a second.

This is a machete… Okay I guess we're going full metal then.

The start of their counter attack had gone off without a hitch. Still blinded by the stun grenade, the villains were easy targets for the two. Kyouka sped through as many as she could, striking them over the head with her bat or using the machete to help hack through some that were armored. Momo also displayed a great composure as she twirled her staff around, tripping up villains and striking them in any vulnerable areas she could find.

Soon, however, the stunned villains began to recover and push the girls back. Momo attempted to stun them again, but the villains, wise to her plan, knocked the stun grenade away so that it went off harmlessly in the distance.

"You're a real idiot if you think we'll fall for that again, kid!"

"Yeah, try something new!"

Two villains laughed as they charged Momo. They skid to a halt when Momo formed a cannon and pointed it right at them. "Is this new enough for you?"

The first blast sent the two villains sailing through the air. The next couple of blasts did the same to several other villains.

Kyouka brought her machete up as she blocked a knife from one villain, while at the same time she jammed an ear-jack into the villain's chest, sending a vibration strong enough to knock the air out of his lungs. When he fell to the ground, she made sure to give him a good tap with her bat. Noticing a large group heading towards her, Kyouka plugged her other jack into the speakers in her boots, hitting them with a strong blast of sound, leaving them momentarily stunned as they covered their ears to try to block it out. Momo, seeing the stationary targets, formed a new weapon for herself: a pump action grenade launcher. Slamming the forend down to load a shell- which Kyouka thought made Momo look badass- Momo pressed the stock into her shoulder and pulled the trigger.

A loud thump echoed in the mountain range before the shell hit where the villains were standing and exploding. Kyouka turned and caught another group of villains with her soundwaves as Momo reloaded and fired again. They were able to do this a few more times before the grenade launcher ran out of ammo. Working together they had been able to get through almost half of the villains, but they were still outnumbered.

Panting, Kyouka did a quick head count and swore to herself, "There's still almost twenty villains here. I don't think we can keep this up before we get swarmed."

"I agree, we need to do something that'll take them all out at once."

The villains kept advancing, and the two now had their backs against the wall.

"Jirou, I have an idea, but it's dangerous."

"As dangerous as what these guys will do to us if we get caught?"

"No, I guess not."

A couple of loud thuds let Kyouka know that Momo had made something new. Looking over, Kyouka's eyes widened. Momo had created two of the largest standing speakers she had ever seen, but instead of making them face the villains, they were facing the cliff face behind them.

"Eh, Yaoyorozu?"

"I think it's time to… oh what's the phrase? Bring down the house?"

Kyouka was stunned. With the small speakers in her boots, she could make a sound blast strong enough to stun a group. With these?

"But that'll?!"

Momo smiled, "I have a plan. Please trust me."

Oh what the hell!

When the villains saw Kyouka connect with the speakers, they knew immediately something was up. They couldn't predict what came next however. Momo raced for Kyouka and wrapped her arms around the other girl just as Kyouka put the speakers to work. The sound blast slammed into the mountain side, shattering stone and dislodging huge rocks. Even the stone they were standing on began to shatter. She had caused a landslide. As everyone began to fall, Momo created a cocoon of metal around them, a shelter from the collapsing mountain.

The two held onto each other until the roar of falling rocks and stone finally stopped.

When the black mist cleared, Eijirou looked around and was horrified to see almost all his classmates were gone. Right next to him was Denki, who had fallen onto his knees, sparks of lightning still crackling around him. How Eijirou hadn't been electrocuted being so near him, he had no idea. Shouji unfolded his arms, showing he had grabbed Kouji and Rikidou. Tooru's floating gloves could just be glimpsed behind Thirteen, who was dusting herself off as she stood herself up, keeping her eyes on the villain. Kurogiri was keeping his distance from the group, eyeing all the ones that he could see.

"Hey! Hey! Where is everyone!? Ashido?! Ashido?!" Eijirou's head whipped around as he tried to see if anyone else was still with them.

"Kirishima, please stay calm." Thirteen said, "We must not let ourselves panic now. Shouji, can you check to see where everyone is?"

Mezou nodded and extended his arms out, the ends turning forming multiple ears as he scanned the whole building, "It sounds like everyone is still here. He just dropped them off at different sections of the USJ."

The rest of the students sighed in relief, but a grunt from Mezou stopped them, "They aren't alone though. There are… a lot of villains with them."

A cold chill fell over the group. The thought of their fellow classmates and friends facing such a danger filled each of them with dread.

Damn it, Eijirou swore to himself.

This is just like last year with that giant. I wasn't able to do anything then, except now it's Ashido that's in trouble.

"We need to do something!"

"We will," Thirteen reasured him. Though at this point she wasn't exactly sure what.

"I'm afraid the only thing you will be doing is dying. While you were able to escape my Warp Gate, I am more than capable of dealing with the six of you," Kurogiri said simply. It wasn't a threat or a boast; it was a simple truth.

Denki blinked and started to look around and do a headcount, but a sudden, discrete, smack to his back from Rikidou stopped him. His message was clear, and now everyone knew it. Kurogiri had not noticed Tooru yet.

"You five, come here now." Thirteen called for the other students to close ranks, while, keeping her hands behind her back, felt around for Tooru. She found the girl's shaking hand and made sure she was directly behind her so that her gloves and shoes were out of sight. She wished she could speak to the girl, to reassure her, or make sure she would understand what she was planning. She would just have to hope that Tooru would pick it up. Before turning her attention back to the other students and Kurogiri, she pulled lightly at Tooru's glove.

"All of you listen, we have no alarms and no phone signal. Even with Eraser Head dealing with the villains below, nothing has come back on. So they must have hidden the one interfering with everything someone else in the facility. At this point, by the time we could find this person, it would be too late."

There were a couple of audible gulps. They knew what too late meant for them.

"However, even if they have someone hidden away that is interfering with our ability to communicate, it must only be around this building. If they disrupted phones any further out, it would cause a commotion that I'm sure they don't want."

Kurogiri's eyes narrowed, while the students nodded that they understood.

"Kaminari, Eraser Head had you try to contact the school, but you weren't able to, correct?"

"Oh...um, no. Even when I boosted my headsets power to extend the rage, it was still getting blocked."

Thirteen nodded, "The headset is getting blocked inside here, but outside, away from the building, it should be able to break through and contact the school."

Taking a breath, Thirteen continued, "I want you to take that headset, get outside and call for help."

Kurogiri sighed, "setting aside the obvious that you assume I would let the boy escape…"

Kirishima stepped forward, arms and hands cracking as he hardened them. Rikidou pulled a few cubes of sugar from his belt and quickly swallowed them, his muscles bulging as he took up a fighting stance. Kouji, even though he was still clearly scared, stood right beside Rikidou. Ready to help the plan work. Mezou spread his arms out in front of Thirteen and Denki, blocking Kurogiri's view.

"...Saying what your plan is in front of the enemy is the very height of foolishness!" Kurogiri screamed as he launched himself up into the air, a tidal wave of black mist ready to crash down on the group.

Denki bolted, running as fast as he could around Kurogiri. The villain started to turn towards him, but Thirteen reached out her hand. One of the caps on her fingers popped back, and a great vortex sucked up everything in front of her, including the villain.

"I won't let you! Black Hole!"

Kurogiri grunted as he was hit by the attack, but was able to just hold himself together.

"I see; yes, that Quirk is indeed dangerous. If I didn't know about you, hadn't prepared for you, I would have been completely at your mercy."

Thirteen blinked, Prepared?

Thirteen didn't notice the black warp gate form behind her.

"You are an excellent hero, Thirteen. But you specialize in rescue operations, not combat. So compared to other heroes like Eraser Head, you don't even have half the experience of a normal hero."

Kurogiri opened a portal in front of himself, while at the same time opened the one behind Thirteen, hitting her with her own Quirk. Immediately she could feel her back being ripped apart, the pain making it impossible to even think. She tried to close off her glove, but the pain made it impossible. She couldn't focus.

Kouji and Mezou rushed forward. Mezou smashed Thirteen out of the way of her redirected attack, while Kouji grabbed her glove and forced the cap back over her finger. They hit the ground, with the two boys doing everything they could to soften the landing for their teacher.

Denki stopped running, horrified at what had just happened, but Mezou shouted out, "Keep going! DON'T STOP!"

"I'm afraid I can not allow that."

Kurogiri twisted around and rushed for Denki. Gasping, Denki took off, but the warp villain was already on top of him, "I'm afraid I can not allow you to call for help."

With Kurogiri over Denki, he was trapped, ready to be warped away, but that never happened. With a sudden and loud thud, Eijirou slammed into Kurogiri, his arms cracking the metal brace that Kurogiri wore.

"Great throw, Satou!"

Rikidou smirked, "Toga was able to cut you and Kirishima saw that brace. So you must have a body that can take damage in there!"

When both hit the ground, Eijirou slammed a boot onto the brace, while he began to wail on the villain, "Lets see how much damage you can take!"

"That is ENOUGH!"

A wave of black slammed into Eijirou, knocking him back and onto the ground. Writhing around, Kurogiri warped himself away, reforming right in front of Denki, "I have had enough of this! You will not leave this place!"

"Ah crap!" Denki let off bolts of lighting, but Kurogiri opened a warp gate anyway, "I may not want something so lively going through me, but the alternative is too dangerous for the League. Now be a good boy and-"

Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. Looking down at Denki, Kurogiri's eyes scanned him from top to bottom. It took him a few seconds before he was finally able to realize what was missing.

Where's the boy's headset? He was going to use it to break through our interference and call for help. But he doesn't have it? If he doesn't, then who?

Kurogiri looked up, examining each student. None of them had it. He was about to turn his attention back to the boy in front of him, but he stopped. A little ways away from where Thirteen lay- being tended to by two Kouji and Mezou- were a pair of shoes and gloves. Just lying on the ground.

The front doors to the USJ opened and Kurogiri turned his head in alarm, just in time to see a seemingly floating headset split right through the opening.

WHAT!?

Denki cheered, "Hagakure made it! Score one for our invisible girl!"

Invisible!?

"You...you were just!?"

Denki smirked, "Just the distraction! Now that she's out there, you would be able to find her even if you wanted to!"

Eyes narrowing, Kurogiri lifted himself up into the air, away from the bolts of electricity the boy was still shooting off.

This… this is very bad.

Twisting in on himself, Kurogiri vanished, leaving the group alone at the entrance.

Eijirou looked over at the injured Thirteen, "did we win?"

Mezou turned, looking at the door then back at the rest of the facility, where their classmates were fighting for their lives, "We'll know if the heroes get here in time."

Mashirao panted heavily as he did his best to keep himself from collapsing onto the ground. Scorch marks covered his costume and he had burns that criss-crossed over his hands, feet and tail. To his side, he could hear his classmates as they tried to recover from the villain's vicious attack. Hanta, Yuuga, and Minoru were doing what they could to hold themselves up like Mashirao was. None of them had expected this much trouble from the lone skull-faced villain in front of them. In a matter of seconds, he had turned the tables on the students.

When the four had first fallen out of the black warp gate into the Landslide Zone, they were immediately set upon by villains. Minoru in a panic had started throwing the balls from his head at anything around them. Hanta saw that the villains had started to freak out since they couldn't get the purple balls off themselves. Working together, with Yuuga holding Minoru up above his head so that the smaller boy would be able to reach more villains, Mashirao and Hanta worked quickly to force together as many villains as they could. Getting them stuck together and helpless made them easy targets for Yuuga to blast with his Naval Laser.

The plan had worked, and the four had been able to take out the group of villains. Except for one, a villain that had stayed back while the rest had charged in and gotten stuck. Yuuga had noticed the villain first. He turned so that he could shoot him with his Naval Laser, but the villain rushed forward in-between everyone. Electric bolts crackled over his skin as he slammed himself into the four, delivering painful strikes and electrical burns wherever he touched.

"What gives with this guy? We took care of all those other chumps. Why's this one dude kicking our butts?" Hanta complained, wincing as the burns over his chest made it hard to breathe.

Minoru, using Yuuga's cape as a handhold, "Why am I stuck with the scary strong guy? I bet no one else is dealing with this."

Yuuga was holding his stomach, he was close to his limit from his attacks against the other villains earlier.

The skull face villain laughed, "Kids like you might be able to take on a bunch of idiot adults, but none of you stand a chance against someone like me."

Mashirao frowned, "It's still four-on-one. I wouldn't be so sure of yourself."

"Says the kids that look ready to run home crying to their mommies."

Hanta caught Mashirao's eye. The other boy had steadied himself and looked ready to go. Mashirao kicked off, twisting in the air to slam his tail down on the villain's head. The villain dodged to the side and reached out to grab hold of Mashirao, lightning arcing from his fingers. Hanta shot out a ribbon of tape that wrapped around the skull-faced villain's arm, yanking the arm back and away from Mashirao. Yuuga gulped, fighting down the sickening twist he felt in his stomach as he aimed and fired his laser.

The skull-faced villain acted fast. Grabbing some of his downed comrades he threw them into the laser, protecting himself. The lightning covering his body burned the tape off his arm, freeing himself. Twisting around he blocked a strike from Mashirao, making the boy wince as his hands hit the villain's electrified skin. Grabbing the front of Mashirao's costume, he wrenched him to the side and tossed him into Hanta.

The villain yanked off the remains of the tap from his arm, "You kids are out of your league. If you had done what smart little kids do, you would have run. Maybe you'd have survived until we killed All Might. But now? The best you can hope for is that my electricity fries your brain before I make you all suffer."

Minoru whimpered while Yuuga practically waddled over to the other boys. The pain in his stomach made it impossible to stand up and walk.

"Mon estomac. I think something is going to leak very soon."

Hanta frowned, 'We need to find a way to make him sit still for at least a few seconds. If we could do that, I'm sure me and Mineta would be able to trap him like the other villains."

"Even if one of us could hold him, he'd just shock up on the spot." Mashirao frowned as he glared at the villain. He was sure he'd be able to hold him. He had been taken off-guard before, but he was sure he'd be able to catch him this time. He just needed something to at least dull the villain's electric Quirk. Looking down Mashirao saw the charred remains of Hanta's tape.

"Sero…" Mashirao started, keeping his voice down. "When you had his arm wrapped up, were you getting shocked at all?"

"No, I wasn't. I guess my tape isn't very conductive."

Mashirao paused, then looked at Yuuga, "Aoyama, do you think you can fire one more laser? If you can distract him, I may be able to hold him just long enough for Sero and Mineta to capture him."

Yuuga gulped. After a few seconds of thought, the twinkling hero nodded, "Je vais...I will try my best."

Minoru's head whipped around as he looked up at Mashirao, "Hey, what are you planning?"

The skull-faced villain frowned as he watched the kids, "Are you brats going to actually do something? If you're just going to give up, you're taking all the fun out of this."

"No, we aren't giving up. Aoyama, NOW!"

With Mashirao's yell, Yuuga forced himself up and fired the largest, and brightest beam he could through all the lenses throughout his suit. Most didn't come close to hitting the villain, but the brightness of it made it impossible for him to see. As the light began to fade, he caught a glimpse of something heading right for his head, reaching out with both hands, the villain grabbed Mashirao's tails, stopping him just short.

"You think a trick like that would work on me? Get real!"

Lighting arcs from the villain into the tail. He could smell burning, but was confused when he didn't hear the boy screaming. Then he got a clearer view of what he had grabbed. It was Mashirao's tail, but it had been wrapped up in a thick layer of tape. So while the villain's lightning burned the tape, it didn't electrocute him through it.

Mashirao wretched his tail from the villain's grasp and closed the distance, grabbing his wrists with his hands and arms covered in protective tape.

"SERO! MINETA, NOW!"

Minoru screamed as he ripped off more of the purple balls from his head and threw them into the villains back, "Please work! PLEASE WORK!"

The villain tried to free himself, sending bolts of lightning into Mashirao and burning the tap around his hands and arms, but he held firm. Not letting the villain escape. Hanta at the same time shot out twin streaks of tape that wrapped around the villain's shoulders. Gripping the tape, Hanta twisted around and pulled as hard as he could. The villain was pulled off his feet and slammed onto his back, where all Minoru's purple balls were, sticking him to the ground.

Hanta rushed to Mashirao's side as he hurried to help put out the burning tap and get it off. Yugga was lying on his side whispering "Ne coule pas. Ne pas fuir s'il vous plaît."

Minoru stomped over the villains side, hands on his hips, "How's that for a bunch of ki-OUCH!"

The villain, while stuck, was still awake, and, with a scream, tried to zap Minoru when he got too close, "You brats are dead. Do you hear me?! When I get free I'm going to rip each and every one of you apart!"

"Yeah, good luck getting free, pal; I took a great dump today, so my balls are nice and sticky."

"Please do not antagonize the villain," Mashirao pleaded.

"Yeah, and that's gross man," Hanta said, but he wasn't very convincing, as he said it while holding back a snicker.

"Hey, we won; we should celebrate!"

Mashirao looked at the captured villains then out past the zone towards the courtyard far in the distance, "I think I'll celebrate once this is all over, and all the villains are gone."

For the multiple villains waiting, they felt like they had drawn the short straw. Their orders were simple: enter the warp gate, get stationed in different areas of USJ, wait until Kurogiri drops some unlucky kids into the zone, then kill the kids.

Simple.

Easy.

For the group of villains waiting for their prey, it was anything but.

"Why in the hell is it raining inside?!"

"Errrr, I think because it's supposed to be like a monsoon or a typhoon."

"NOBODY CARES!"

More villains grumbled in agreement. They had all agreed to come and help with Tomura's plan to kill All Might, but being forced to wait around in the middle of a huge rain storm getting soaked had left them in a bad mood.

"I swear, if that warp bastard doesn't drop a kid here in the next minute, I'm out."

"Dude, it's just a little water."

There was a crack of thunder that echoed in the large domed city. While the villains were sure it was their imagination, it felt like it was raining even harder now.

"I'm taking the first kid I can get my hands on and drowning them in one of the street drains."

"Okay, no need to be a drama queen."

"I'm drowning a fucking kid! Die wet, you fucking brat!"

Further complaining and grumbling was cut off when a black warp gate started to form above them.

"FINALLY!"

"About time!"

"The first one is mine! I want to drown them!"

"...You know, it'd really suck if whoever Kurogiri dropped had some kind of lightning Quirk."

"..."

"..."

"Why the fuck would you even say something like that?"

A single student fell out of the gate and hit the wet street with a thud.

"Just one?"

"MINE!"

"Dog pile him quick!"

As the villains rushed the fallen student, their day quickly went from bad to much, much worse. In an instant, all the water flash froze and the Downpour Zone became the Blizzard Zone. Anything that had been covered in water was frozen solid: buildings, plants, streets, cars, and villains.

"What...the...fuck!?"

Shouto grunted as he got back onto his feet, flexing his right arm which was a little numb. He was pretty sure he'd fallen on his funny bone. Dusting off some stray powdered snow off his body, Shouto looked around and confirmed he had frozen all the villains in the vicinity. None looked like they would be able to break free.

That Kurogiri said he was going to scatter us and torture us to death. I guess he meant to have these guys pick us off or something.

Looking over the villains, he could tell, even while they were covered in ice, that none of them looked too intimidating.

All this water made it easy to freeze them all, but I doubt even without it they'd have posed a threat to me.

"I'd say I was sorry for treating you all so rough, but you all look like thugs that decided to take the easy route since you didn't know what to do with your quirk. So at least use this time to reflect on your actions that lead you here."

When the attack first happened, and that guy said they were here to kill All Might, I figured they were trying to ambush him and overwhelm him with sheer numbers. They seemed to know he was supposed to be teaching this class today too, which is concerning. But none of these guys could possibly pose a threat to him, no matter how many they brought. They're just a bunch of thugs, probably random people pulled from the street. Only a couple that I saw looked like they were actually dangerous. The guy that warped me here...the guy covered in hands, and that giant monstrous-looking one. What could they be planning? Unless the goons were for us and the other teachers maybe?

Standing in the middle of the group, Shouto addressed them all, "If you all stay frozen like this, you'll get frostbite, and eventually suffer from cell death."

A few of the villains noticeably gulped. Some were starting to panic.

"First your toes and fingers, then your arms and legs will die and have to be amputated. And that's if someone gets to you in time. If they don't...well freezing to death is a grizzly way to die."

More panic spread throughout the group.

"I'm trying to be a hero, so I'd rather not have that outcome on my conscience, so I will ask you all just once: how do you plan on killing All Might?"

Looking around, Hitoshi wasn't sure what to make of his surroundings or his day. At first it had been normal. Wake up, have breakfast, go to school, meet up with his new friends for class, wonder from which angle Himiko would latch onto Izuku( it had been from underneath, and he didn't want to know how she pulled that off). Then it was Home Room, Math, English, Lunch, and finally a bus ride for Heroics. Then suddenly his class was under attack, and he was at the front of USJ surrounded by a black cloud, created by a member of the League of Villains. Now? Now he was in a city he didn't recognize at all, and to top it all off, it was on fire. Everything was on fire. Why was everything on fire? Hitoshi was a little beyond caring at this point.

"Hitoshi, you are having a day today huh. Yes you are... I swear if I got teleported to some post apocalyptic future, I'm done. I am too tired to deal with that level of bullshit."

"Then perhaps you should start going to bed earlier, Shinso. A Hero-in-training must not allow himself to become tired when it's only mid day."

Tenya chastised Hitoshi as he made his way over to him.

While he was relieved to see his friend, he still couldn't help but roll his eyes, "nice to see you're still taking your class rep duties seriously, even when we've been transported by who-knows-who to who-knows-where."

With Tenya wearing his helmet, Hitoshi wasn't sure how he looked, but when Tenya put his hand on his shoulder and asked, "are you alright?" He liked to think his friend was smiling.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just was not expecting this when I rolled out of bed today."

Tenya could understand. He was also doing his best to cope with the sudden turn of events.

"At the very least let me put some of your worries to rest. We are still within the USJ. We have not been transported forward in time."

Hitoshi groaned, "Great, you heard that? Wait, you're sure this is the USJ? It looks like we are in a city."

"Of course. The USJ has multiple training zones that simulate different disasters, remember? When we first came in you must have seen the giant dome with fire painted along its side. This is where they simulate citywide fires."

Tenya pointed up when he mentioned the dome. When Hitoshi looked up he could see that ceiling of the dome peeking through the clouds of smoke.

"Okay, so we got warped here, then everyone else must have been warped around to the other zones as well."

"A reasonable assumption."

"But why go through the trouble of just dropping us off here? If they really wanted to, they could have just put us in the courtyard and let all those villains attack us."

"'Scatter and tortured to death' is what that Kurogiri said. We must have been warped here for a reason."

Hitoshi tensed while both he and Tenya looked around their surroundings, "I don't suppose you know where the exit to this place is?"

"No, I don't. While I'm tempted to hurry and find it, perhaps a more discrete method of escape would be better for us."

"Yeah lets...let's get off the main roads here. Running around in the open, even at your speeds probably isn't the best idea right now. Plus, you'd have to come back for me anyway."

Tenya scratched at his mask, under his chin, "I could-"

"If you say carry me, I'll smack the chrome off that suit of yours."

Their decision to get off the main street quickly turned out to be the correct choice. Moments after they had moved into an alley, a large group of villains came running around the corner.

"I'm telling you, I heard someone talking over here."

"Are you sure? All this fire is so damned loud; it's hard to hear myself think."

"Right, like you have a brain big enough to actually think."

"You wanna say that to my face, punk?!"

"Bring it on, Jar Head!"

"My head is a lava lamp, and I will destroy you!"

"Oh, will the two of you just shut up?!"

The largest of the group screamed over everyone, making the two other villains fall silent.

"Lets fan out and see if we find something. The attack already started, so some of those kids should have been dropped off by now."

From their alley, both boys glanced at each other and slowly backed up further away from the group.

"Okay, so now what?" Hitoshi hissed between his teeth.

"We should fall back."

"Yeah, but what are we going to do after that?"

"If we're lucky, this will have been all of them, and we might still be able to sneak by and find the exit."

"And if we can't?"

Tenya glanced back over his shoulder at the large group. They were splitting up, checking buildings, cars and even alleys, "Then we may need to come up with a plan to even the odds."

When the two made it to the other side of the building, they confirmed what they had been afraid off. The villains had already surrounded the area. Any real chance of a stealthy exit was all but impossible at this point. Moving to the center of the maze of alleys, both ducked away and began to come up with a plan.

"Most of those guys don't look too tough. A good kick to the head would probably knock them out cold."

"The problem is I don't want to fight them in the open. They could overpower us just from their sheer numbers.

Hitoshi nodded, "So we should keep the fight in the alleys. Their numbers won't matter much in here."

"We should also see if we can take advantage of the fact they are splitting up. If we could lure one or two at a time away and neutralize them quietly, we'll increase our chances of success. The only issue is how do we set up a trap and keep ourselves safe at the same time?"

Hitoshi plucked one of the mini speakers off his belt and tossed it to Tenya, "I think I can help with that."

Tenya was able to quickly spread out a few of Hitoshi's speakers throughout several alleys around the building. While he did this, Hitoshi climbed up a fire escape and positioned himself so that he had a birds eye view of each place a speaker was left. The plan was simple, if a villain strayed too far from the rest of the group, Hioshi would use the speaker to draw in the villains and when they got close he would say something to get them to reply.

He would pretend to be a scared student, or he would insult them. He was also able to fool them into thinking that one of their comrades was calling after them.

"Hey! What are you two doing? You find those kids yet?"

"Eh? No nothing ye-"

"Huh hey what's your deal? You look zoned out."

"You're an idiot."

"The he-"

Hitoshi sighed. The trap was tricky when there were more than just a single person. He had to be quick to snag the other guy before he got too freaked out. Hitoshi was also now realizing that while his set up let him extend the range of his Quirk, it was still limited. He still had to see the person he was going to brainwash. He was also learning that trying to disguise his voice was killing his throat.

Tapping another mic, he contacted Tenya through the speaker he had given him, "Got two more for you. Up by the north speaker."

"I will be right there!" Tenya's voice came in over his headset.

Tenya, after setting up the speakers, would stay hidden until a villain was caught. He would then rush to where the villain was and Hitoshi would order the villains to follow him to the main building. Tenya would then secure them and stash them away in closets or locked offices. Before leaving, he would deliver a swift kick to the head to each villain, knocking them out, and freeing up Hitoshi to use his Quirk on someone else.

This method had worked wonderfully for a time, and the two had been able to take out several villains, greatly improving their odds. As long as they kept this up, they would be able to take out enough villains to make their escape and none would be the wiser.

"HEY, UP THERE! IT'S ONE OF THE KIDS!"

Hitoshi looked over the railing and swore, right below him was a villain pointing right at him, "Oh crap."

"Shinso? What's wrong!?"

"I got spotted. And he's calling for his friends. Where are you?"

"Still in the building. I just bolted the room with the last two villains we captured."

"GUYS! I FOUND A STUDENT!"

Hitoshi leaned over the and screamed, 'Will you shut up!"

"HA! Fat chan-"

The villain fell under Hitoshi's control, falling silent, but it was too late. He could hear more villains coming.

"I'm going to have to make a run for it."

"I will find you!"

Hitoshi quickly slid down the ladder and was about to make a run for it, before he turned to look at the villain that spotted him, "You. Slam your face against that building as hard as you can."

Running he could feel his hold on the villain break. He just hoped that the villain hit himself hard enough that he was out cold on the concrete.

"And where do you think you're going!?"

"Crap!" Skidding to a stop, Hitoshi turned and bolted down another alley that wasn't blocked by villains. Unfortunately for him, this alley led right into the open, where the remaining villains were waiting for him.

Well this is just great.

Several of the villains sneered at him while a few were eyeing him cautiously. Hitoshi found it odd they weren't just attacking him out right. What could be holding them back he wondered.

"You the reason over half of us are missing?"

"Yeah, what'd you do to them?!"

Oh! They noticed that, but they don't know how me and Iida pulled it off. Actually they might not even know about Iida at all.

Hitoshi crossed his arms and stared the villains down, thankful that all the fire and heat made for a good excuse for how much he was sweating from how nervous he was.

"If you all know what's good for you, you'd all be running right now."

"Is that a-"

When the villain fell silent, several from the group looked over at him, confused. Hitoshi however didn't want them to think about that. He needed to get them scared.

"You, walk over here." Hitoshi pointed to his side and the villain followed his command.

"What the heck?"

"Why is he doing what the kid said?"

"It's like he's mind controlled or something..."

"..."

"..."

The villains looked at each other and then Hitoshi, "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!"

Hitoshi pointed at the villain, doing his best to be as menacing as possible, "You wanted to know what happened to your guys? I took over their minds, and made them walk into the nearest burning building."

A few gasps.

A few shudders.

A few worried glances.

I got them spooked. Now I just have to hope none of them have a brain in their heads and start to ask-

"Hey, if he could do that, why not just mind control all of us right away?"

...Crap…

"Hey, you're right. He only got one of us."

"I bet he has a limit on the people he can control."

"Let's just rush the kid already!"

Crap crap crap crap.

The villains rushed for Hitoshi, but only got a few feet towards him. In a blur of silver and blue, Tenya rocketed down the street dive kicked right into the middle of the group, sending most of the villains flying into the air. The couple few that were still standing, and hadn't recovered from the shock of the surprise attack, Tenya dispatched with a quick kick to their faces.

'Are you alright, Shinso? I got here as fast as I could."

Hitoshi let out a huge sigh, "Class Rep, if nothing else, you have your dramatic timing down pat."

"Er, thank you? We've dealt with most of the villains now. I say we make our run for it."

"Yeah, let's get going."

Ochako could feel the strain of her quirk really starting to affect her. Her stomach was starting to twist into knots, and she was pretty sure she could already taste her lunch and breakfast. The uneven way their ship was being propelled didn't help her stomach either. Though she wasn't about to tell Katsuki to take it easy since one: they needed to get out of the water, and regroup with the others, and two: she would be damned before giving him the satisfaction of seeing her need him for anything.

"HEY OCHAKO!" Himiko screamed over Katsuki's explosions.

Daring to look up, Ochako found Himiko still nailed in place with her knives, smiling at the fun ride she was on.

"What!?"

"How are we going to stop?"

Ochako blinked. Tsuyu let out a nervous ribbit, and Katsuki actually stopped firing off blasts. Himiko looked from Ochako to Katsuki, her smile fading, "Wait, did neither of you take into account what was going to happen if this boat hit dry land going this fast?"

"Fuck."

Ochako's mind raced, "Wait we just need to fire off some explosions from the other direction! Bakugou move to the-!"

Ochako wasn't able to finish her thought in time. The boat's bow slammed into the edge of the courtyard. The front crumpled in on itself while the back was lifted up into the air and flipped over. Tsuyu, still holding onto Katsuki, launched the two of them off the stern.

"Toga, give me your hand, hurry!" Ochako screamed as she reached for Himiko.

Yanking the knives out of the floor, Himiko leaped forward and grabbed Ochako's hand. Ochako activated her quirk on both Himiko and herself letting the two float in the air safely as the boat pulled away from them and fully flipped over into the courtyard where it broke in half. The bow of the ship coming to a stop and floating lazily over the edge of the water and courtyard and the other half that slammed into the courtyard fountain before getting stuck.

Several villains gaped at the destruction they had just witnessed before turning on the kids and screaming, "Are you kids nuts!"

"What the hell was that!?"

"Wait, shouldn't the water guys have drowned those brats?"

"Why the hell was the boat flying!?"

Katsuki put his thumb to his throat and dragged it across, sticking his tongue out at the villains as he did, "Hurry up and die, you worthless ass holes! I don't have time to waste on pawns like you."

Tsuyu shook her head, "Right, because antagonizing the hoard of villains is the best thing we can be doing right now."

Ochako released her quirk, making the bow of the boat slam into the ground, making a few of the villains that had started to advance on them scurry back.

Himiko smirked as she and Ochako landed next to the other two, "Oh, let him have his fun. He's like a kid in a candy...store… Oh... shit." Himiko's smile faded completely and her whole demeanor changed. She was actually shocked by something. The other three turned to see what had gotten her to go silent. They all looked as some distance away, Aizawa was thrown to the ground by the giant Nomu with a sickening crunch, and skidded across the concrete floor.

No one moved as they looked at their fallen teacher, each in varying stages of horror.

The monster tilted it's head to the side, waiting to see if their prey could still move.

Gingerly, painfully, Aizawa's head turned so he could look up at his students. His face bloodied, his eyes swollen and broken. He looked at each of the four as he gathered his strength. Not enough to fight, not even enough to stand. He had just enough strength to give them one order, even if they were too far away to hear it, "Get...out...of...here…"

Nomu growled and began to advance on the teacher. They had been ordered to kill him, and nothing was going to stop them in their mission.

Ochako felt panic grip her heart. She was vaguely aware of Tsuyu saying something, and Katsuki screaming an answer. Himiko was doing something, but she couldn't look. Her eyes could pull away from the scene in front of her. Her teacher was lying on the ground beaten and bleeding all over himself, and that monster was advancing on him.

With each step Nomu took, the panic inside Ochako broke, little by little. Broke and was washed away as a new feeling filled her.

Rage.

How dare these villain's attack her class.

How dare these villain's hurt her teacher.

Her rage focused on the monster in front of her, and in a moment of pure instinct, Ochako acted on that rage.

To her side, the bow of the boat still lay on its side, teetering on the edge of the courtyard. She ran for it, startling her fellow classmates. One of them asked what the fuck she was doing. It was probably Katsuki, or it could be Himiko. She couldn't tell, too focused on stopping the monster before it hurt her teacher anymore. Gripping a section of undamaged railing, Ochako lifted the bow up above her head. With it broken in half, the pain it caused her stomach was greatly reduced, but it was still half a boat. So it would still cause a lot of damage.

The villains around her gasped, and scrambled back, horrified that the little girl had been able to pick up the large wreck.

"GET AWAY FROM MR. AIZAWA!"

Ochako reared back, the villain's horror became outright panic and fear as they realized just what Ochako planned to do next.

Ochako chunked the bow as hard as she could, sending the front of the boat careening right towards Nomu, with the other villains jumping or ducking out of its way. What happened next, left everyone speechless.

It wasn't the boat slamming into the monster, leaving it a smear on the concrete floor.

It wasn't the monster, using its brute strength to catch the boat.

It wasn't the boat shattering into pieces when it made contact.

It was that nothing happened.

The boat hit Nomu dead on, but it didn't break, or splinter or anything. It simply bounced off and came to a stop. Ochako couldn't understand what she was seeing. Something should have happened. Even if the monster had some kind of invulnerability Quirk, then at least the boat should have been damaged where it struck it.

It's like, all the force behind it just vanished. It made no impact.

Nomu stopped and turned their head, eyes focusing on the girl that had attacked him then at the floating bow to their side.

Katsuki swore loudly when he saw the Nomu raise its hand, "DROP THE FUCKING BOAT! DROP IT NOW!"

Ochako's eyes went wide; then as fast as she could, she slammed her fingers together, screaming, "Release!"

Just as the Nomu raised it's hand and struck the side of the boat.

With its gravity back, plus the force propelling it, the bow struck the ground and bounced just over Ochako's head, bits skipping off her visor as it exploded into bits and pieces and rained down into the lake behind her.

Ochako, however, did not have time to comprehend just how close to dying she just came. In the blink of an eye, the monster covered the distance between the two and was standing right over Ochako. Reaching out one of it's giant hands to grab her, and to tear her apart.

"Frog-Legs grab her NOW!"

Katsuki charged forward as Tsuyu launched her tongue out and wrapped it around Ochako, yanking her back. Katsuki, as Ochako sailed past him, yanked back the safties on his gauntlet and aimed it right into the Nomu's chest, "Eat shit and die, you ugly fuck!"

Pulling the pin, a blast of concentrated fire slammed into the Nomu, engulfing it and everything right behind in smoke and flames.

Tsuyu stared in shock while she put Ochako down, "Didn't he try and use that against Todoroki back during the mock battle, kero? Scary."

Katsuki grinned, "I wasn't going to kill him. Don't worry about stupid shit like that."

Around them, the villains were understandably freaked out.

"What the hell is wrong with these kids!?"

"Why does he have a cannon? Who gives a kid a cannon!?"

With his grin taking on a feral quality, Katsuki turned to the group of villain, raising his hands up and he popped off some explosions in his palms, "That's right, you fucks. You should be terrified of me. I'm the next number urk-!"

Tsuyu's tongue shot out and ripped Katsuki off his feet pulling him back towards the group.

"Frog-legs, what the hell are you doing!?"

"Bakugou, shut up!" Ochako screamed. She pointed at the clearing smoke, "Look!"

Katsuki did and tried his best not to show how freaked out he was.

Are you kidding me!?

The smoke had cleared enough to show the Nomu, still standing, and besides some scorch marks on its pants, completely unharmed. The villains seeing their monster unharmed cheered.

"What the fuck does it take to hurt this guy!?"

"He's got to have some kind of invulnerability quirk," Ochako reasoned.

"On top of fucking super strength?" The flying boat parts were still fresh in Katsuki's mind.

"So where does that leave us, kero?"

"Fucked," Himiko added grimly.

Nomu crouched down, getting ready to charge the four students, before it could, however, "Nomu, don't move."

The crowd of villains parted, as Tomura walked through them. This action, on top of him, being able to tell Nomu what to do got Ochako's attention.

"The boss?" She whispered.

"Probably. The others are scared of him at least," Himiko noted as she watched some of the villains go out of their way to put some distance between themselves and the man in black.

"Who the fuck are you, Hand-Man?" Katsuki asked, while making sure to keep an eye on the now-still giant.

"You're awfully noisy, brat. I am Shigaraki Tomura, the leader of the League of Villains."

Himiko blinked, sharing a glance with Tsuyu, "There's a league now? When did that happen?"

Tomura ignored her, his eyes set on Ochako and Katsuki, "You four, or really, you two have made quite the mess haven't you. Aren't heroes supposed to keep catlateral damage to a minimum?"

"Fuck you."

Tomura sighed, "Keep talking like that, brat, and I just might change my mind and sick Nomu on you after all."

"What do you want?"

Tomura glanced over at Ochako, who flinched at the glare he gave her, "I want All Might to die."

The four glanced over at the giant monster as they remembered that Kurogiri had said the same thing.

I was wondering how they thought they'd be able to do it. That...Nomu must be how they plan on doing it.

"But since he isn't here yet, I want to have a little fun." Tomura continued, "watching you four die would be a perfect way to pass the time. Having Nomu kill you, however, would be too quick. I want you four to suffer. I want Eraser Head to watch as his students die in front of him and know there's nothing he can do to save you. I want this to last as long as possible. So…" Motioning to the crowd around him, "I'll let my men rip you apart."

Katsuki growled, more pops and sizzles crackled in his palms as he looked over the villains, "You want to send your troops into a meat grinder? Be my guest."

"Please don't speak for all of us," Tsuyu grumbled as she knelt down onto her hands.

Himiko pulled two knives from her holsters, twisting them in her hands. Ochako crouched down, readying herself for the fight.

When no one moved for the first few seconds, Tomura turned to his men, "What are you waiting for? Get. Them. NOW!"

Whatever reservations the villains had, going up against a group of kids, one of which could throw a boat around, and another that had cannons for arms, they were nothing compared to the fear they felt for the man giving them order.

With a chorus of yells, the villains charged.

The first ones to run up on Katsuki were promptly hit in the face with multiple explosions, sending them crashing to the ground, burnt and charred. A villain dove for him, hoping to grab onto him, but Katsuki used the man's face as a step as he propelled himself up into the air. Grabbing the grenades at his belt, Katsuki tossed them into the crowd. While several villains rushed to get away, there were many who were still too bunched up and tripped over each other. The grenade's explosions threw many of the villains up into the air, where they either crashed down onto the hard ground or onto other less fortunate villains. Twisting his hands back, Katsuki shot himself forward into the largest group he could see, slamming his boots into one villain's face to break his fall.

Keeping herself low to the ground, Tsuyu launched herself into the first villain she saw, slamming her shoulder right into his gut knocking the air out of him. Landing, she twisted herself around and kicked the falling villain as hard as she could, and, since her Quirk was Frog, she could kick really hard. Sent flying backwards, Tsuyu heard several satisfying grunts and thuds come from behind.

"Come here, little girl!"

A large bug faced villain stood over her, menacingly.

"I'm gonna ACK!"

Not letting the villain finish, Tsuyu spat out a large glob of mucus into his face. While not very strong or acidic, suddenly having a large, slimy thing stuck to your face- that also did burn a little- was enough to make anyone freak out. While he clawed at his face, Tsuyu leapt up onto his shoulders and drove his face into the ground.

Ochako recalled everything Gunhead had taught her as she ducked and dodged around the numerous villains as they attacked her.

Make them miss.

Sidestepping a wild punch, Ochako drove her elbow into the man's jaw. Dropping him and his teeth to the ground.

Capitalize on their mistakes.

When two villains tried to charge her, only to get into each other's way, Ochako ducked forward and tapped both with her fingers. Immediately after their gravity was taken, she gripped both their fronts and tossed them into the air.

Punish anyone who gets lucky.

A glancing blow skipped off Ochako's visor. Grabbing the arm, Ochako brought her bracer down on it as hard as she could. The snap was oddly satisfying for her to hear.

Someone got their arms around her from the back while another woman reached for her neck. Ochako drilled her elbow into the villain's ribs, forcing him to let go. With her other hand, she grabbed the woman's shirt and yanked her forward, slamming her face against her visor. Her visor was made to handle large impacts, but the woman's face, not so much. Twisting around, and seeing the other villain was still bowled over, Ochako slammed the side of her boot into the man's head as she delivered a hard kick that sent him to the ground, out cold. More villains rushed forward, but Ochako was ready for them. Soon more villains were bouncing off the ceiling.

The moment the villains surrounded them, Himiko vanished. She had told Nezu that a crowd of people was the best place to disappear, and her immediate actions were living proof of that. Unlike the students from before, these villains had left enough space between themselves so they could attack her without hitting themselves in the process. This was just the right amount of space for her to get to work. Diving into them, Himiko's knives and blades cut through flesh and bone and tendon, spraying blood everywhere and causing more than enough confusion and panic that everyone lost sight of her.

There were no rocks, or trees to hide behind. No alleys and dark corners to fade away in. Just people, and that was enough.

"Where did she go!?"

"Did she turn invisible!?"

"Maybe she AHHH!"

With a more than necessary twist, Himiko yanked her knife out of a villain's knee, while at the same time slicing through the achilles tendons of a four-legged man. She heard a gasp; looking up, Himiko saw a villain open her mouth to scream she had found her.

Yeah, no.

Himiko slammed her fist right up into the woman's ribs, driving the blades on her hand into the woman's lung, making sure she didn't scream, and wouldn't be able to call for help. She left her other lung un-stabbed so at least she wouldn't suffocate.

In theory.

Honestly, she wasn't sure if that was how lungs worked.

Weaving around, Himiko kept her eyes on her target. With every down villain she got closer.

Tomura Shigaraki.

He was the leader of this league. Take him out, and the rest would devolve into panic. She had seen it many times before while living on the streets. Gangs liked to see themselves as an unstoppable force, but kill the leader and the members either scatter or kill themselves with in-fighting.

She had made it to the edge of the crowd, and Tomura was right in her line of sight, busy watching the fight. While there were no more villains between her and him for her to hide in, she had ways of slipping by. Her Quirk, Transformation, made it real easy to sneak up on people. And as luck would have it, she was coated in more than enough blood to hold a form long enough to get over to the leader and take him down. Better yet, none of her friends, especially Izuku, were close enough to see her use her Quirk, so she wouldn't have to explain anything and freak them out. She gets to stop the bad guy, and no one would question how she did it. Win-win.

Maybe Izuku will be so impressed he'll want to celebrate.

Big win.

Raising up one of her bloody knives, Himiko stuck her tongue out and ran it up the side, getting enough of a taste that she felt shivers run up her spine. She had missed this. The taste of real blood. Not the fake stuff she was forced to drink.

The taste of real blood ignited a fire inside of her. Urges burned, begging to be let free. It took a great deal of will to force them down. She had a job to do. She had people counting on her, which was a new feeling she was desperately trying to deal with. Besides, this wasn't the blood she really wanted to drink. No, this taste was just for her Quirk, and nothing more. This was business, not pleasure. No, the blood she wanted to enjoy, to revel in its taste, its flavor, belonged to a boy with green hair and freckles she desperately wanted to spend all night counting and to see just how far down they went.

Focus, girl. It's time to go to work.

Himiko felt the change come over her as her new form took shape.

I guess now I'll get to find out if those nut jobs actually made me something that won't get destroyed when I transform in it.

Tomura sighed as he watched the fight unfold.

"What the hell are they teaching these kids? They're so violent."

Another explosion went off, while at the same time more of his men were sent sailing weightless into the air before suddenly plunging back to the ground. He could see the green girl hopping from one person to another, jumping off their heads, and kicking them into the one another every time she jumped.

That's three of them, but where did that fourth one go?

The other girl had been swarmed by the villains, and he was sure she was about to get crushed, but soon pained and panicked screams echoed over the crowd. People started getting picked off, and no one could find where the girl had disappeared to. Movement to his side made Tomura look over, and see one of his villains walking the outer edge of the crowd, moving away from it. A large man with a stone jaw, was putting some distance between himself and the comotion.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? I don't want cowards in my league."

"Just waiting for an opening, boss. Can't do much when everyone is all crowded together."

Great, the pawns are trying to think for themselves.

"Your job isn't to try and think about what to do. Just do what I say."

The man grunted, but kept walking around. At first Tomura didn't really care. He could just kill the man later if he felt like it, but soon something started to feel off. He just didn't know what it was but something had his instincts on edge. Red eyes scanned the courtyard. Nomu was standing by as ordered. Kurogiri was still up by the entrance, though the commotion he had heard from that direction had given him some cause for concern. Eraser Head was still lying on the ground, though it looked like he had started to try and crawl towards his students. However, he was so injured there wasn't much reason to be worried about him anymore.

Tomura looked at the approaching villain, before shaking his head.

Maybe I should just kill this guy now. He's starting to piss me off.

That could be the reason for his onease. He just didn't like when someone didn't listen. He looked back towards the fight. More of the villains were crawling away now. Some burnt, some nursing some nasty bruises, either from a kick, or belly flopping onto the concrete floor. Most of them were bloody messes, clutching at severed or deeply cut limbs. One man was clutching at his knees.

Tomura blinked.

The man was nothing special, except he had a stone jaw. Just like the man walking up to him. Who was almost next to him.

The man noticed Tomura looking back from him and then the crow. He looked and saw the bleeding double.

"Shit."

The villain yanked out two large knives and drove them right into Tomura's chest. Since Tomura had already been on edge and had seen the man's double, he was able to get his hands up in time and catch the knives. While he now had deep cuts in his palms, he was able to stop the knives just shy from going right into his chest.

Himiko clucked her tongue in annoyance, "Damn, just my luck that the person I copied crawled out like that."

Pushing forward, Himiko frowned as Tomura was able to keep the knives away.

Damn guy I transformed into looks big, but he's weak as shit.

"Look at you, catching my knives like a real badass."

Tomura tightened his grip on the knife blades, "you tried to kill me."

Himiko laughed, which sounded strange coming from the big man's mouth, "you're the big bad villain here. Don't think you're in a place to throw stones."

"And you're supposed to be a hero?"

"Pfft, hell if I know. I'm just here to stop you."

This time it was Tomura that laughed, "U.A. sure let in some strange ones this year."

"Oh, you have no idea."

"But how exactly do you think you're going to stop me?"

Himiko's manic grin came through, even while looking like the stone jawed man. If anyone else had seen it, they'd probably be a little freaked out, "I'm going to stop you by jamming these knives right into your chest. If you're lucky, you'll still be alive when the heroes get here."

Tomura's smirked, though you couldn't see it past the hand over his face, "Knives? What knives?"

Himiko blinked and glanced down. To her shock she watched as the bright steel of the knives darkened and then exploded into a cloud of dust in Tomura's grip. It wasn't just the blades that fell apart however. The black leather grips rotted away and the plastic handle turned to dust.

A deep painful itch ran up her fingers into her hands. The skin was turning gray and cracking open. The same pain was spreading up her arms as well. Distracted by the sudden turn, Himiko only just saw Tomura reaching for her face, his fingers just brushing the skin. The brief touch was enough. The same pain was spreading out everywhere.

Snarling, Himiko kicked herself backwards, getting as much distance as she could as quickly as she could. At the same time, she tore her disguise off her body, the gray goo of its remains splattering on the ground, though this leftover residue quickly dried and decayed away. Hurriedly, keeping an eye on Tomura, Himiko checked her hands, arms, and face. Confirming that it was only the disguise that had been affected, and not her actual body.

Though I bet if I had waited even a second longer, I'd have been a goner no matter what I did.

Reaching up, Himiko pulled another set of knives out while at the same time confirming that at least she did still have all her gear. She made a quick mental note to thank whoever made her costume.

Twirling the blades in her hands, mostly to make sure everything was still working, Himiko eyed the man in front of her.

"Okay, Mr. Bad-Touch, now I get what's going on."

With a loud explosion, Katsuki blasted away the last of the villains in front of him, opening a path for himself, Tsuyu and Ochako. The three rushed out as the villains behind did their best to recover. Ochako gasped when she saw Himiko in front of them, staring down the leader of the League of Villains Toruma.

How'd she get in front of us? I was worried when we couldn't find her, but I guess she was just fine.

"Toga! Are you alright!?"

Himiko kept her knives pointed at Tomura as she backed up, falling back with the other three, "Guys! Do not let that one touch you!"

"Toga?"

Katsuki scoffed, "The hell has you so spooked?"

"I just saw this guy's Quirk. Remember the break in yesterday, and how the gate was so torn up?"

Ocako nodded, she could still clearly see Izuku picking up a piece of scrap off the ground and easily crushing it in his hand.

"He's the one that did it."

"Kero!?"

"Wait what?"

"This skinny bitch?"

Himiko nodded, "He turned my knives into dust, and...I saw what it does to a person. It's some kind of destruction Quirk. He touches something and it just...dies."

"Decays actually. Everything can be destroyed: gates, people, societies. All of it. All it takes is a little...touch."

There was an unhinged tick to Tomura's voice that sent a shiver up the three students' spines. Katsuki recovered and flipped Tomura off, "Yeah, big scary villain. Like I give a shit. His Quirk is worthless if he can't touch us, so don't get touched."

Around them, the remainder of the villains began to converge on them. As the four got ready for another round, the air next to Tomura twisted as Kurogiri warped next to him.

"Oh great, this guy again," Ochako grumbled. The idea that they could get warped again, and worse, get split up was not something she was enjoying thinking about.

"Shigaraki…"

Tomura turned and looked over at the warp villain, "Oh you're back? Have you killed Thirteen already?"

Ochako felt her blood freeze.

What?

"I was unable to. There were students that escaped my warp gates that prevented me from finishing her off."

"Prevented you? So you ran away?"

"Not exactly. During my confrontation, one of the students was able to escape. She is most likely already contacting the school for help."

"And you didn't go after her?" Tomura's voice cracked and his fingers twitched.

"She is invisible."

Hagakure!? She got out!? Then back up is on the way!

While Ochako and the others felt some relief hearing this news, their attention was immediately brought back as Tomura began to shake. His fingers clawed at his neck, digging his fingernails into the skin. Tearing at it until the welts began to bleed.

"Kurogiri...you…"

Just when it seemed he was about to rip his own throat open, his hands fell to his sides and his whole body slumped, his face staring up at the ceiling, "Oh maaaaan. This means it's game-over already. This sucks."

EH!? What the heck!?

Ochako was completely thrown. One second tham man looked ready to murder anyone next to him, and now he was whining like a spoiled child.

Katsuki's eye twitched as he had no idea what to make out of what he just saw. Tsuyu just croaked nervously, Tomura's unhinged personality making her more nervous than before. Himiko was completely flummoxed; she couldn't get a read on this person, and coming from her, who prided herself on reading people, this said something about the man in front of her.

"Kurogiri, we can't win if she brings all the teachers from U.A. here. That many pro's, we'd be crushed instantly. This really is game over for us. Let's just go home."

Around them, the remaining villains were clearly in agreement. None of them wanted to be around when the teachers got there.

Ochako narrowed her eyes as she watched the man, He's just going to give up? This whole operation was to kill All Might, right? He should know that U.A. is going to beef up security now. He won't get another shot like this again. He's treating this like, likes it's a…

"He's treating this like a game. This whole thing was a game to him. He's like...he's like..."

Himiko glanced over at Ochako, "He's like a child. Throwing a tantrum one second and just giving up the next."

"So he's a fucking cry baby. What's the big deal?"

"Have you ever seen a little kid lose gracefully before?" Tsuyu asked. Everyone looked over at her, "When my little sister loses, she'll flip over the board and send the pieces everywhere."

Ochako felt a new feeling of dread come over her. USJ was the board, and they were the game pieces.

Straightening up, Tomura looked over at the four, "Oh yeah, before we go, there's one last thing I want to do."

Himiko felt the killing intent first. Alarmed she pushed the two closest to her away, only to find that Tomura had already covered the distance between them.

Shit, he's fast!

"I'm going to kill some of these kids and smash All Might's pride!"

Himiko dodged to the side, but her eyes widened when she realized she wasn't the target. Nor where the two she had been able to push aside. Tomura had his hand reached out for someone else.

"OCHAKO, MOVE! DON'T LET HIM TOUCH YOU!"

Ochako was frozen in place. Everything had happened too fast. She didn't have time to react. Even when she heard Himiko's warning, even when she realized she was the villain's target, even with his hand going for her throat, she wasn't fast enough to get out of the way.

He was too close to dodge.

Too close to block.

She was caught.

All she could do was close her eyes.

Time passed. One heartbeat. A second. A third. Nothing had happened. Confused, Ochako opened her eyes and was greeted with a sight she wasn't sure what to make of. Tomura was standing right in front of her, hands reaching out to grab her neck, but now, he was glowing. He, along with all the villains around them, were glowing bright green.

Green? Wait...GREEN!?

The moment it clicked for her, and the others, a new voice echoed into the courtyard.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Past Tomura, past the ring of villains, Izuku stood, glowing brighter than Ochako had ever seen him before as he held Tomura and all the villains in his Quirk's grasp.

"We're out! Finally!" Mina cheered as she and the others leapt over the wall that separated the Ruins Zone and the central courtyard of the facility.

"We should still be cautious; there were many villains emptying into here when the attack first began," Fumikage warned.

Grunting as he landed, Izuku steadied himself. "He's right. We should try and not draw attention to ourselves and make for the entrance."

Mina and Fumikage nodded, though Mina let her gaze linger on Izuku, "I wish you'd let us try and patch you up some. You're still bleeding you know."

Izuku looked down at his chest. While the cuts that the mantis villain had given him were long, running diagonally from his collar bone to just over his naval, they were not very deep. Though that didn't stop them from bleeding quite a bit, staining his costume red. They were going to need stitches, he guessed. Mina had pushed multiple times during their escape to stop and let her and Fumikage bandage him up. They had plenty of first aid materials between the three of them, but Izuku declined every time. It would take too much time, and they needed to capitalize on their head start.

"We're in the open now, Ashido. It's not safe."

Mina rolled her eyes before adding sarcastically, "If this is a macho thing, it doesn't suit you at all."

"It's not. There are just more important things that need to get done first."

This was the fourth or fifth time they had done this dance, so Mina was at the point of just accepting it, and making a mental note to make sure she let Ochako and maybe Himiko know about all this. Mina was sure that between the two girls, they'd be able to knock some sense into the stubborn boy.

"Hmm, interesting."

Izuku and Mina looked over at Fumikage, "What is?"

Fumikage pointed to the center of the court, "is that a boat?"

Mina tilted her head to the side, "Yep, or at least half a one. How'd that get there? Also is it just me, or should there be more villains, yah know, everywhere?"

Izuku scanned the courtyard, "You're right. It looks like most of them are gathering over by the lake."

"Then I'd say we have our opening."

Izuku and Mina agreed with Fumikage. Carefully, but quickly, the three made a dash for the entrance. As they crossed the courtyard, Izuku started to hear more of the commotion where the villains were located. Glancing back over, he tried to see what was going on. There was the crowd, where some smoke and flashes of light peeked through. Then a little ways off, he saw three villains off to themselves: a smaller man in black clothing and covered in hands; a giant monster who looked even taller than All Might was further back; and another villain that was walking around the group. Izuku's eyes stayed on the smaller man. There was something about him that caught Izuku's attention. Before he could start to think why that was, Mina grabbed his and Fumikage's arms.

"Guys! LOOK!" Mina pointed a little away from the villains. There was Aizawa, lying face down in the ground.

"Mr. Aizawa!?"

"He...isn't moving?"

"We...we have to help him, right?"

Izuku snapped his head to the stairs leading to the entrance, then back to Aizawa. Running for him would put them out in the open. They had a clear shot for the stairs at the moment, but there was no telling if that was still going to be the case for much longer. Added together, the answer to what to do was obvious.

"Let's go get our teacher!"

The three sprinted as fast as they could as they crossed the open courtyard. Reaching their teacher, each sucked in a deep breath seeing how hurt he was.

"He's not…"

Fumikage knelt down and was about to put his fingers to Aizawa's neck to check for a pulse, but stopped when he cracked open one of his eyes and looked at the three, "What… are you...three doing?"

Tears brimmed in Mina's eye while Izuku let out a sigh of relief, "We're saving you, sir."

"Yeah, and I don't think you're in a position to complain." Mina added.

"Dark Shadow, carry Mr. Aizawa."

"Right!"

As Dark Shadow scooped up Aizawa, Izuku was about to tell everyone to make a break for the stairs, but some instinct kept him from speaking. They were much closer to the group of villains, and Izuku could hear what had been going on. He had been hearing explosions and what sounded like fighting until recently, but now the whole villain group had gone quiet.

Turning around, Izuku froze. The warp villain was now standing next to the smaller man and the monster was still a little ways off, but he could also see Ochako, Himiko, Tsuyu and Katsuki.

Uraraka!? Toga!? Kacchan and Tsuyu!? What are they doing over there!?

He could hear Mina and Fumikage telling him they needed to go, but another voice drowned them out.

"OCHAKO, MOVE! DON'T LET HIM TOUCH YOU!"

The man had suddenly dashed forward, Himiko as she jumped back had pushed Tsuyu and Katsuki clear but hadn't been able to reach Ochako. And Ochako was the villain's target.

Don't let him touch you.

For an eternity. those words echoed in Izuku's head.

Don't let him touch you.

For an eternity, Izuku watched the villain's hands reach for Ochako's throat.

Don't let him touch her!

Don't let him touch her!

Don't let any of them touch her!

In that instant, Izuku dug as deep as he could, and pulled out all the power he could. Shooting his hands out, Izuku grabbed onto everything the villains were wearing that he could, and held them back.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

"Hey, I can't move!"

"The heck, my shirt is strangling me?!"

"Why am I green?!"

"What's going on?!"

"Help!"

All around, villains cried out in alarm as they suddenly found themselves unable to move. Tomura screamed in frustration as he pulled at his invisible bond, futilely reaching for Ochako, who had recovered from her shock and had taken several giant steps back.

"What the hell is this?" Tomura growled. It felt like his own clothes were pulling him back.

"Kurogiri! DO SOMETHING!"

Twisting his head to the side, he found the warp villain pressed into the ground, the metal brace around his 'neck' glowing green. Black mist slapped at the metal as he tried to wretch it off, but to no avail.

Screaming in frustration, Tomura tried to push himself forward, but Izuku wouldn't let him. Gripping his fists tighter, Izuku pulled down, dragging the villains down onto the ground, "No you DON'T!"

"Deku!?"

Ochako was shocked. She had never seen Izuku do something like this before. She knew he had been practicing using his quirk on people in different ways, but to do something on this scale was unreal.

"Dang, Izuku…"

"Kero…"

While Katsuki didn't say anything, he was giving Izuku a look that wasn't angry or contemptuous.

Try as Izuku might, however, the big villain was still standing, but at least he wasn't moving so his four classmates were safe, at least for the moment. He could feel each and every villain fighting against him. The feeling in his head was beginning to remind him of back during the entrance exam and the zero pointer. He could not afford to let himself end up like he had, so he knew he wasn't going to be able to keep this up for much longer. Worse yet, there were other villains in the court yard that hadn't been at the edge of the lake that were beginning to notice their comrades were in trouble.

Everyone needs to move now!

Glancing to his side, Izuku found Mina and Fumikage looking at him, shocked and worried. Aizawa, even wrapped up by Dark Shadow, was watching him intently. If they stayed for much longer, their clear shot for the entrance would be gone.

"GO! Get Aizawa Sensei out of here!"

"Wait, hold on!"

Mina began screaming her objections before Izuku cut her off, "Ashido, I can't hold them forever. You have to go now! Please! Before more villains show up."

A hand on her shoulder from Fumikage stopped Mina from attempting to argue any further. Giving Izuku one last look, Mina took off. Fumikage lingered a step behind, "Good luck, Midoriya." was all he said before he and Aizawa were gone.

With that taken care of, Izuku turned his attention back towards Ochako and everyone else.

There's too many villains still between them and the stairs for them to make a run for it. They'd have to fight through and I know I won't be able to hold all these guys for that long.

Grunting as the pain in his head continued to build, Izuku racked his brain for some idea.

We could try and all make a run for it, but I don't think I can move right now. It's taking everything I have to hold them down. If they came to me, maybe someone could carry me or something...no, that's no good. Uraraka could float me but they'd still waste time getting over here. The villains would be on top of us by then...Wait… float...carry? THAT'S IT!

"Uraraka!"

Ochako looked up when she heard her name shouted.

"Float everyone now!"

Katsuki frowned, "Why the hell does he want you to do that? We'll be sitting ducks when those other guys get here!"

Tsuyu nodded in agreement, while Himiko eyed the downed Tomura. He was helpless now. A perfect target.

"Uraraka, please! I can can you all out of there. Trust me!"

Ochako stiffened. Everything was happening so fast. One second she was about to be strangled, and now she was trying to understand just what Izuku was thinking.

He asked me to trust him...Then what the hell am I waiting around for?!

Himiko took a step forward, gripping her knife tightly in her hand. So focused on Tomura, she didn't have a chance to tell Ochako to stop when the other girl rushed over to her and tapped her shoulder and lifted her up into the air.

"The hell, OCHAKO?! I was…"

Himiko shut her mouth, deciding maybe it was better not to say how she was about to deal with Tomura. Tsuyu was tapped next, but as Ochako rushed for Katsuki, the other boy backed up, sneering, "Don't you fucking touch me, Round Face. I'll be damned before-"

SMACK!

Ochako didn't have to slap Katsuki to make him float. She also didn't have to metally yell yeet when she tossed him into the air a little harder than she had with Himiko and Tsuyu. But she didn't not have to either. Tapping herself, Ochako pushed off the ground and floated into the air along with everyone else.

Tomura growled out in rage as he watched them float away.

"Okay, so now what?" Himiko asked. Tsuyu shrugged while Katsuki glared daggers at Ochako, who didn't care.

"Deku screamed for me to float us. This is his plan."

"Fucking Deku! I swear I'm going to...What the shit!?"

Ribbitting in surprise Tsuyu looked alarmed as Katsuki started to glow green. Quickly, Tsuyu also glowed, followed by Himiko and Ocahko. Ochako gasped at the feeling. This was exactly like her first time at the beach. Instead of just grabbing her costume, Izuku had grabbed her whole body. The warmth, and the pressure brought a feeling of just being safe despite the immense danger they were in.

Himiko's eyes fluttered, as she groaned into her hand, teeth biting into a finger as she tried to keep herself under control, but that was hard to do when she felt Izuku all around her.

Don't...not here. Not here! Oh god this feels incredible! NO! No exploding!

The moment Izuku saw everyone in the air, he acted, praying his idea would work. He hoped that with their gravity removed, it would make moving them much easier. Lifting a hand up, and gently closing it, he split his attention away from the villains and took hold of his classmates. He could still feel their bodies repel his quirk, but it wasn't as intense as when he'd first tried it. An effect of a few more months of practice, or not having a gravitational force acting on them, Izuku wasn't sure. What he did know was that he was able to hold them, and move them. Pulling his arm out he pointed it towards the entrance stair, and willed them over. As fast and high enough that they were out of danger of the villains still on the ground.

When they rocketed by, Izuku could hear Katsuki swearing something about this not counting. Himiko may have been shouting 'whee' and for a split second his eyes caught Ochako's. So many different emotions passed between the two. From him, relief that they were getting away safely, while from her, worry that he was getting left behind.

It's alright. This is alright. I can still make it.

The pain was getting worse. Using his Quirk like this hurt, but it was worth it if he got them out safely.

Once they make it, I'll have to make a run for it. If I'm lucky the villains will be too confused to chase after me right away. Time to put all those laps on the beach and around the city to work I guess.

"DEKU WE'RE AT THE STEPS! DROP US!"

He could only just make out Ochako's voice. She was so far away now, she must have screamed herself hoarse to make sure he had heard her. But he had. With a sigh, he let go, and hoped that they would be able handle their own landing strategy.

Alright time to-

"NOMU! KILL THIS FUCKING KID, NOW!"

A sharp burning pain stabbed into Izuku's head as something ripped itself free of his Quirk. The sudden pain twisted Izuku's stomach and made him feel like the whole world had shifted underneath his feet. He had no time to recover though. Suddenly, Izuku found himself in the shadow of the giant Nomu. In the blink of an eye, Nomu raised their hand up, and like they were killing a fly, swatted their giant hand into Izuku's right side.

Izuku's arm shattered and his shoulder and collar snapped instantly from the force of the hit. However, Izuku never felt the pain. The strike launched him off his feet so fast, he tumbled across the ground where his head slammed into the concrete floor with a sickening crack before he landed in the open water of the large indoor lake.

The cold unforgiving water dragged Izuku's lifeless body into its depths. Ripples danced across the surface where he'd sunk, soon joined by a cloud of blood that stained the rich-blue water red.

Notes:

...Soooo I'm just gonna go hide in a nice fallout shelter.

This was a lot of fun to write. There were several scenes that I'd been planning since day one of this fic. I'd always wanted to give Izuku a Dare Devil style hallway fight. Himiko FINALLY getting to go nuts and just cut people up. Ochako throwing the boat (which in fairness I remembered being a LOT smaller than what it actually is in canon) at the Nomu. Tooru being the one to sneak out since you know INVISIBLE! And yeah, also the ending. That was something that I'd wanted to do as well. It seemed to fit since Izuku would, of course, stick his neck out to save Ochako and his friends. So yeah, if everything goes to plan, we'll have two more chapters left of USJ. The conclusion and the fallout chapters.

I hope you all liked this chapter, its actually the longest thing I've ever written, to date. I want to give a huge shoutout to my beta reader Tmalasia for going through this chapter and cleaning it up. Thank you so much. And of course, to you all reading it now, thank you for your time. You all have made writing this little story so much fun.

Please if you like what you saw, or have any critisims, feel free to leave a review or comment!