Okay, was Kirishima's name always spelled "Eijirou"? I've been reading/writing it as "Ejirou" this whole goddamn time. I know there are different ways to spell a handful of the names, but I went back and fixed it (thankfully his first name has only been used twice. Bullet dodged)
The air was heavy with fear, and coming in waves from the swirling mass of purple, was malice. The acrid stench burning Hitomi's nose and making her eyes water. Whoever stood facing them now, dozens of lumbering figures coming out like woodwork, truly despised her and her classmates. They had to, to make the smell reach all the way to them.
"The only real Heroes I see are Thirteen and Eraser Head." A low rumbling voice spoke from somewhere inside the purple portal. "Perplexing. According to the schedule we retrieved from UA, All Might should be here as well."
Mr. Aizawa took a fearless step forward. "So you scumbags used the press as a cover and sneaked onto campus."
Hitomi flinched, hanging her head in shame. She should have noticed! Should have smelled something. Should have sensed something—
No, no. She couldn't do that to herself. Even the legit Heroes hadn't felt anything was wrong, so of course she wasn't expected to be able to pick up on it either. Her instincts weren't infallible, they had their limits, and it was reckless to assume they didn't.
There must have been dozens of Villains approaching now, a seemingly nonstop stream of them coming from the swirling portal, all shapes and sizes, but not a single one looked friendly. The smell they brought with them made it hard to breathe.
The one in the center, with severed hands disconcertingly covering several places on his body— most notably his face —spoke up. "I went through the trouble of bringing so many friends who're eager to meet him." The rasped words held a tone that sounded unhinged, teetering on the edge of something seriously dangerous. "They want All Might. The great Symbol of Peace. I can't believe he's not here." He growled, body slumping with disappointment, until he perked back up like a marionette on strings. "Maybe if I kill a few kids, he'll come out to play."
Standing in front of his terrified class, Mr. Aizawa's black hair flew up, defying gravity along with his incredibly long scarf. It whipped up in a way that reminded Hitomi of a threatened cat, making itself larger with its fur standing on end.
"What? Real Villians? No way." Kirishima still denied, voice strained. "How could so many of them get into a facility this secure?"
"Yeah, Thirteen." Momo took charge, looking to their second instructor. "Why aren't the alarms going off?"
Thirteen looked up at the dead lights. "Good questions. I'm not sure."
"Is the entire campus under attack?" Todoroki asked. "Or is this their only target? Either way, if the alarm sensors aren't being triggered, then one of these Villains must have a Quirk that's masking their presence here. They carefully chose this isolated facility as an entry point at a time when a class was being taught. They're fools for trespassing here, but they've thought this out." He surmised, easily exceeding the most Hitomi had ever heard him speak. "Whatever their plan is, they must have a concrete objective in mind. But what is it?"
"All Might."
A few of her classmates turned to her, including Midoriya, Bakugou, and Todoroki. It only then occurred to her that she had been the only one able to hear what the Villain wearing hands had said.
"T-they're here for All Might." She hastily repeated, hands coming up to tug on her hair nervously. "That's what the one in the middle said. A-also…" She bit her lip, ears tucking back.
Mr. Aizawa turned his head just enough to look at her over his shoulder. "What else did he say, Saito?"
Hitomi winced, shoulders hunching. "He said… he said, maybe if he starts killing a few of us, All Might will show up."
Some of the classmates around her gasped in shock and horror, and she could hear a few of their heartbeats now, adrenaline making them race just hard enough for her to catch.
Mr. Aizawa tensed, hands clenched into fists. "Thirteen, get them out of here. And alert the main campus. Actually, if they've got the ability to block our sensors, then they might be jamming our regular communications too. Kaminari," without turning, he addressed the blonde, "try using your Quirk to contact the school."
"Yes sir." Kaminari put a hand to the white antenna-ed box over his right ear.
"Wait, what're you gonna do?!" Midoriya panicked, moving forward as if to stop their teacher. "You can't fight them on your own! There's too many of them. Even if you can nullify their Quirks, your fighting style's not suited for this! Your power works best in stealth and one-on-one fights." Midoriya looked down in dejection. "That's not gonna help with a group."
Mr. Aizawa glanced back at them over his shoulder, past his bobbing scarf. "You can't be a Pro if you only have one trick." He gave one last nod to his fellow teacher. "I'll leave it to you, Thirteen."
Giving no warning, Mr. Aizawa— Eraser Head, launched himself into the air, bypassing the long staircase down to the plaza, hands gripping his scarf with a measured ease. He hit the ground running, never faltering even as three Villains stood in his path, each one smirking and rearing up to attack.
They never stood a chance.
Hitomi's mouth fell open in awe, watching as Eraser Head erased their Quirks, wrapped his scarf— capture weapon, around them, and pulled. The three met in the air, heads colliding with enough force to knock them out of commission in one hit. He tossed them aside like it was nothing, his weapon unraveling from around them as if it were following direct orders from him. His control over it was enough to instil fear, even without considering his Quirk to go along with it.
Another Villain ran at him, this one with a mutation based Quirk, with rock-like arms sprouting out of his back, giving him two sets. One of them pulled back, aimed squarely at the Hero's face.
Eraser Head ducked and sidestepped to the left in one move, using the momentum from the quick change of direction to punch the Villain in the jaw first. It was strong enough to send the Villain flying back, but before he could hit the ground, Eraser Head threw his weapon out, getting it around the Villain's ankle. In succession so fast it was hard to tell exactly what happened, Eraser Head turned, slamming his knee up into the sneering face of a Villain sneaking up from behind, then pulled down on the weapon, bringing the four-armed man down so harshly he kicked up dust when he collided with the ground.
And he did all this while verbally ridiculing them as easily as breathing.
Eraser Head was amazing. Their teacher was amazing.
And Hitomi actually started to feel safe, despite being surrounded by people out to hurt them. Because she knew Mr. Aizawa wouldn't let that happen, not if he was still standing.
He smelled of determination, and protectiveness.
"Alright kids, let's go!" Thirteen ordered, herding them all toward the door, which unfortunately was fairly far back, leaving them open to attacks if Eraser Head didn't keep the Villains' focus entirely on him.
Momo dragged Hitomi behind her, pulling the pinkette's mystified gaze away from their teacher. But Hitomi wasn't the only one left stunned.
"Whoa. He's holding them off. I guess I shouldn't have underestimated him." Midoriya hesitated by the stairs, watching the fight play out as Eraser Head made a steadily growing pile of unconscious Villains.
"This is no time to be analyzing! We have to go!" Iida called, getting both Midoriya and Hitomi's attention.
She finally stopped dragging her feet, running to catch up with the rest of the class, Midoriya and Momo beside her.
About to reach the door, the worst possible thing happened. The purple Villain, who had used whatever his Quirk was exactly to help all of the Villains inside, materialized in front of them, blocking off the exit. Thirteen threw her arm out to stop anyone from coming any closer.
"There is no escape for you." A pair of angular yellow eyes narrowed at them from within the mass. "It's a pleasure to meet you. We are the League of Villains. I know it's impolite, but we decided to invite ourselves into this haven of justice to say hello. And besides, isn't this a fitting place for All Might, the Symbol of Peace, to take his last breath? I believe he was supposed to be here today, and yet I see no sign of him. There must have been some sort of change in plans we could not have foreseen." Two wisps of purple folded out from the rest, resembling arms. "Ah, well, in the end, I suppose it doesn't matter. I still have a role to play."
Thirteen uncapped one of her gloved fingertips, raising her hand in order to suck the Villain into her Black Hole. She would have been able to do it, if it hadn't been for two massive idiots.
Bakugou and Kirishima threw themselves at the Villain with a war cry, both poised to hit him, despite none of them having any idea as to if he even had a tangible body to strike.
Knowing what was about to happen, Hitomi hunkered down and covered her ears. Right after, the air lit up with a resounding explosion, Bakugou's one gauntlet he brought making his Quirk that much more powerful.
"Did you think we were just gonna stand around and let you tear this place to shreds?" Standing beside Bakugou, smirk on his face, Kirishima held his arms in an 'X', skin hardened in defense.
The smoke began to clear, and what they saw wasn't good.
"You live up to your school's reputation. But you should be more careful, children." The Villain reformed his fractured body, completely unfazed in doing so. "Otherwise, someone might get hurt." His eyes turned to slits.
The bloodlust coming from him was so strong, Hitomi wondered how no one else could smell it.
"You two, get out of the way, right now!" Thirteen shouted at Bakugou and Kirishima, hand still raised, but unable to be used with them standing in front of the Villain.
Before they could do as Thirteen said, the Villain drew taller, and blanketed them all in a haze of the thick purple miasma, making it nearly impossible to see anything, even each other.
"I'll scatter you across this facility to meet my comrades and your deaths!"
"Momo!" Hitomi blindly reached to her left, where her friend was supposed to be. What encompassed them was so dense she couldn't sniff anyone out, and the blood rushing in her ears was disorienting enough that combined with everyone yelling it made it nearly impossible to listen for her. "Mo— AH!" Hitomi tried calling again, only to scream in fright as the floor suddenly vanished out from under her.
Stomach dropping, Hitomi attempted to get her hair out of her face in order to see clearly, but the wind rushing against her as she fell whipped it around chaotically. To her shock and concern, she heard another voice scream out in fear somewhere next to her. It sounded feminine, and unless it was Uraraka, she likely wouldn't be able to use her Quirk to slow herself down. And with how long they had already been falling, she would need to.
Hitomi finally acted, kicking herself for not doing so sooner, and activated her Quirk. Her hair left her vision, making the ground quickly approaching them visible. Holding her breath in preparation, she tensed all her muscles, wincing as she braced for impact. All four paws touched down hard enough to crack the concrete beneath her, shockwaves of pain shooting up and making her whimper.
The person with her yelped, and Hitomi heard the sound of fabric tearing. Shrinking down back to her regular body, Hitomi whirled around, looking frantically for her classmate. If she could spot them and transform again just in time, she could soften their landing.
Hopefully.
Something sparkly caught her eye, and she zeroed in on it eagerly.
Oh.
Aoyama dangled about ten feet in the air a couple yards away, his cape pierced by a wayward pole jutting out. It was then she noticed where they were, in the middle of what looked like a half-finished construction site.
"Are you okay?" She jogged over, stopping right below him.
Aoyama's face was a mixture of white and green. He nodded with a halfhearted hum.
"Okay." Hitomi murmured, taking a deep breath as she bent her knees until she was in a low squat. Snapping them straight, she managed to grab onto his ankles, holding on as she awkwardly kicked her legs and wiggled around. After a few seconds it worked, his cape ripping a bit more, and the pole getting pulled out of the wall as it stubbornly snagged on the glittery fabric.
Aoyama yelped as he hit the ground, laying there for a moment to collect himself.
Hitomi leaned down, picking up the barely bent rod of metal, inspecting it. It was solid iron, going by the hefty weight, and the length was almost as tall as she was, at about four feet. Just one foot and five inches short. (Not including her ears, which would have added another ten inches)
"What now?" The blonde sat up, too shaken to fret over his damaged costume. "Are we meant to fight serious Villains?"
Hitomi frowned, holding a hand out to help him up. "We might have to, yeah."
Aoyama made a sort of croaking noise, but took her hand nonetheless.
She sighed at the strong waves of terror coming off of him, and debated with herself on whether or not sharing something with him would help.
"Look, uh, don't worry, okay? I kind of know a lot about Villains and how they operate. My, uh… my parents, they—"
"Looky looky, what do we have here?"
He literally could not have been more cliche.
When Hitomi and Aoyama turned toward the slimy voice, they were met with a small cluster of Villains, eight of them in total. Most had mutations, which made it easier to tell what they were dealing with. She kept her eye on one which brandished razor sharp talons, each one almost two feet long.
Maybe if she was fast, Hitomi could transform, grab Aoyama, and run. The biggest problem with that plan, however, was it left her classmate vulnerable, dangling by his already shredded cape from her mouth. And she didn't know what kind of range or aim he had with his laser, so him shooting at them while they retreat was a shaky plan at best.
So that left her with a simple decision. Quirk, or no Quirk?
The metal weight in her hand gave her an idea.
"Aoyama, how good are you at hand-to-hand?" Hitomi settled on her choice, heaving the pole to rest casually on her right shoulder.
Aoyama's lips trembled. "A-ah, I haven't—"
"Like you even have a chance!" The clawed Villain mocked, charging at the teens without preamble.
Aoyama squealed, ducking behind his classmate.
Hitomi squinted.
In a series of what seemed like snapshots, several things happened nearly at once. The Villain, surprisingly fast on his feet, reached the two with an arm raised, poised to slice them in half. With an ease that spoke of much time being spent on similar maneuvers, Hitomi shifted her hands on the pole. Her left cupped the bottom of it loosely, keeping it from tipping over her shoulder when she released the hold she had on the base with her right. That hand, she held flat, thumb extended as a sort of hook, pressed lightly on the underside. Then, as fast as she could, she pushed her left hand down and toward herself, while her right hand shoved upward and out.
Just as the Villain got within reach of them, he was halted as the pole came down on the top of his head. A distinctive crack came from his skull, before he dropped like a sack of flour.
Hitomi blinked at his lax body, the rest of the Villains doing much the same. Slowly, she looked down at the metal rod.
"...I was trying to point it at him threateningly. It's longer than I'm used to." She shrugged, unbothered by the body, able to hear his breathing. But fortunately for her and Aoyama, the rest of them had no way of knowing that their comrade was still alive. "Oh well. Besides, this way's easier." Hitomi twirled the pole, making an effort to add enough flair to the show to make it seem like she knew what she was doing using it as a weapon.
Who knew Ayami forcing her into as many clubs as she could would ever actually pay off? Hitomi would never complain about how grueling baton twirling practice had been ever again.